Last year changed the way many of us thought about software. It certainly changed the way I did. I spent much of 2025 building, probing, and questioning how to build software, and in many more ways what I want to do.
The study, published in the Current Psychology journal, was conducted by researchers from SWPS University and the Stefan Batory Academy of Applied Sciences, who set out to measure the 'sense of emptiness that arises after completing a deeply immersive game.' Post-Game Depression, or P-DGS, was measured across two separate studies, with a total of 373 participants.
"I helped Santa Monica to make God of War, Naughty Dog to make Uncharted and The Last of Us, and Sucker Punch to make the beautiful Ghost of Tsushima. Ghost of Tsushima was one of the last games that I worked on as the president of Worldwide Studios. But in 2019, after 11 years leading the first-party development, I was fired from the role."
Virtual Cram School Wish High is a new online school by Tokyo-based company Luminaris. According to the publication, all teachers are "active VTubers," meaning streamers who use digital avatars to represent themselves instead of showing their real faces. Tuition at the online academy is the equivalent of around $63 per course per month, on subjects including mathematics, English, physics, chemistry, world history, Japanese history, and geography.
Square Enix is partnering with Google to integrate its AI large language model Gemini into Dragon Quest X, creating a Slime character that players can chat with. This character will respond with AI-generated text, offering tips, tricks, and advice as players navigate the game.
Some part of me feels that could just as easily be one of those mementos of Earth. That's because playing feels like stepping through time, which is neither a comment on the quality of its gameplay or its fidelity, both places in which it is no slouch. Rather, it's a comment on its essence.
When a video game series goes on for a long time, it raises a question for newcomers: Just where is the best place to jump in? In the case of Dragon Quest, there are nearly a dozen mainline titles, not to mention copious spinoffs and ports that span four decades of history. Of late, though, publisher Square Enix has been releasing a number of remakes that serve as almost ideal entry points for beginners who are intimidated by all of that baggage.
Square has decided to muddy things up further by giving us Dragon Quest VII Reimagined before the expected Dragon Quest IV HD-2D Remake. What's more, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined utilizes bright, cartoony 3D character models instead of the HD-2D pixel art style of the earlier remakes. Thankfully, the models animate well, and they look particularly cool in battle. Ooooh, let me say that again: Dragon Quest fans are "spoiled for choice these days." Shiver Reimagine Dragons