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Microsoft’s console gaming division has been in turbulent territory for the past several years, with the company shutting down a number of its game development subsidiaries. Meanwhile, the company’s current home gaming console, the Xbox Series X|S lags behind the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 in terms of the number of units shipped. Over 20 years in the console gaming industry, the Xbox has already left an indelibly influential mark that its competitors have followed as Microsoft faces a crossroads with how to best proceed.

Here is a look back at how Xbox changed the face of gaming upon its launch in 2001, how the Xbox 360 maintained the momentum as console gaming entered the high-definition era, and how Xbox lost its solid footing with subsequent console generations.

Enter Xbox: Microsoft Enters Console Gaming

For years, Microsoft enjoyed the success that PC gaming brought to its desktop platforms, especially games that it itself published,...

1999 was one of the best years in video game history. Granted, 1999 wasn’t as historically great of a year for video games as it was for movies, but the end of the ’90s saw gaming’s best developers scramble to bring us into the future and honor the past. The result was a mind-blowing collection of titles that feels especially shocking to look back at when you consider how much the industry has slowed down in terms of major yearly releases since then.

What were the best games of 1999, though? The answer to that question will obviously (hopefully obviously) vary wildly from person to person. At the very least, though, it’s a fun conversation to have. Perhaps more importantly, it’s fascinating to look back on (and revisit) those games and take another look at them through a modern lens.

Before we get into that, though, here are a...

Even during the open-world genre’s earliest days when developers were forced to rely on smoke and mirrors to make their visions come to life, the very concept of open-world gaming always felt like the future of the medium. The idea of being left to your own devices in a massive digital world where nearly anything was possible was one of those things we used to only be able to dream about. Now, you find variations of that concept in many of the best modern blockbuster titles.

“Variations” is certainly a word worth keeping in mind when you’re thinking about the history of open-world games and what separates the good ones from the bad ones and great ones. Conventional wisdom once told us that open-world games would only get better as technology improved and the size of those worlds grew. While that has sometimes been the case, there are...

Making video games is tough. It can be a struggle just to turn a concept into something that actually works and is fun to play. Even if a developer manages to make a great game, it can still fail to find an audience for reasons that are quite often beyond a studio’s control.

That’s what happened with these games. All of them are fantastic in different ways, but just didn’t meet the expectations their creators had for them. Of course, that’s something of a subjective measure. Some of these games sold hundreds of thousands of copies, or perhaps found wider audiences with re-releases, but none of these games sold well when they were first released, despite critical acclaim.

15. Shenmue

Shenmue was a wildly ambitious game that the world just wasn’t ready for. Its incredible mix of murder mystery investigation, fighting game combat, and an incredibly...

Rick and Morty: The Anime to Have 10 Episodes

The upcoming anime spin-off of the popular Adult Swim animated sitcom Rick and Morty will consist of 10 episodes, according to executive producer Jason DeMarco. The series, which is set to premiere on Adult Swim and HBO Max in 2023, will be created and developed by Takashi Sano, a celebrated anime director who has worked on projects such as Tower of God, Lupin the IIIrd, and Shenmue.

Rick and Morty

Sano has previously directed two anime shorts for Rick and Morty, titled “Rick and Morty vs. Genocider” and “Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil)”, which were released on Adult Swim’s digital platforms in 2020 and 2021 respectively. The shorts received positive feedback from fans, as they showcased Sano’s unique vision and creativity in adapting the characters and themes of Rick and Morty into an anime context.

The plot of Rick and Morty: The Anime is still largely unknown,...

Before the days of in-depth single-player campaigns and cinematic storytelling, nearly every videogame shared the same basic premise: survive as long as you can. From Pong to Missile Command, most early gaming experiences weren’t about concluding story-arcs or even defeating a final boss, they simply tasked players with trying their best at a certain task until they met with an inevitable defeat – our natural instinct to persevere and earn high score bragging rights is what made that journey satisfying.

That’s why I find it curious that survival games as a genre only really took off during the mid 2010s after the success of titles like Minecraft and Day Z. While this was likely due to rapidly advancing technology allowing for more complex mechanics that could better simulate real world survival, you’ve got to admit that there’s no better universal motivator than being forced to find shelter...

Viz Media has appointed former Crunchyroll executive Sae Whan Song to the newly-created post of VP of content (animation). He will lead Viz’s content acquisition strategy and be responsible for execution of the company’s co-production strategy.

Song began his career in licensing at Toei Animation before moving over to Crunchyroll where he was instrumental in its transformation. There, he was helped build a successful rights management team before transitioning the company from a licensing and acquisitions model to co-productions and original productions strategy. Crunchyroll was acquired by Sony in 2021 and has since been integrated with Sony’s Funimation. His credits at the company include “Blade Runner: Black Lotus,” with Alcon Entertainment and Warner Media; “Tower of God,” “God of High School” and “Noblesse” with Webtoons; and “Fena: Pirate Princess” and “Shenmue the Animation,” with Adult Swim.

“Sae’s expertise has set an unparalleled standard in today’s highly competitive anime acquisition business.

More Rick and Morty goodness is headed your way.

Adult Swim has given a series order to Ricky and Morty: The Anime from director Takashi Sano (Tower of God), TVLine has learned. Sano previously wrote and directed the anime shorts Rick and Morty vs. Genocider and Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil).

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The network also greenlit Ninja Kamui, a...

“Rick and Morty” is getting the anime treatment.

On Wednesday, Adult Swim announced it had greenlit the new anime series “Rick and Morty: The Anime,” from director Takashi Sano (“Tower of God”). Sano previously directed two anime shorts in the franchise, “Rick and Morty vs. Genocider” and “Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil).” Sano will adapt themes and events of the main series for “The Anime.”

“The multiverse-straddling exploits of Rick and the gang pose challenges to the family bond, but they always rise to the occasion,” Sano said in a statement. “It’s such a life affirming sight, and Jerry is no exception. … I am honored to have been given an opportunity to tell a new story about this amazing family. I hope you enjoy their adventures!”

The new series, from Telecom Animation Film (“Lupin the IIIrd Series”), will span 10 episodes. It will air on Adult Swim and stream on HBO Max.

This article contains light spoilers for the first three episodes of Shenmue the Animation.

Adapting video games for television is not something that happens very often. Filmmakers prefer to bring their favorites to the movie theater, sometimes with big name actors and budgets. But games that tell sweeping stories and create immersive worlds deserve a more long-form retelling of their plot, for which TV is a perfect medium.

This is why it was such a good idea to turn beloved cult classic Shenmue into an anime. Released on the Sega Dreamcast in the late 1990s with two sequels churned out in the decades following, the game was revolutionary for a myriad of reasons. Not many titles were able to juggle storytelling, action sequences, and graphical enhancements like this one.

Through three episodes, the animated series is able to replicate all three of these elements in fine fashion. The story starts...