(To crank it to?) The very first hint for Nintendo’s new cell phone game,Super Mario Run, is that you can play one-handed. It’s been a major part of the marketing, too. Here’s Shigeru Miyamoto playingSuper Mario Runwhile eating a large cake, from last week. And while the slogan is surely meant to communicate the ease of use and appeal to average mobile game players, folks of the online are liable to do more than eat cake whileSuper Mario Run-ing, unless by “eat cake” you mean “crank your genitals,” which I do, always....

Up to three times the performance of GTX 980 Nvidia has unveiled its latest graphics cards — the GTX 1080 and GTX 1070. Performance-wise Nvidia state the 1080 can perform up to three times better than the GTX 980 for virtual reality content, and nearly double for games likeRise of the Tomb RaiderandThe Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Real world performance and benchmarks have yet to be released by third parties to see the true potential of the cards....

It’s week two forThe Sacrifice, and that means we get to learn more about Zoey’s past. It also means plenty of additional fuel for the dedicatedLeft 4 Deadfanfic writers, bless their souls. The comic delves into the typical conflict that arises when a loved one becomes infected, although it is handled reasonably well. Apparently I have a heart made of stone, though — Jonathan Ross was sad after reading part two ofThe Sacrifice; I was not....

Titan Studios has dropped a rather big tease onits official blog, consisting of the above image and the simple battle cry: “Avast!” From the looks of things, pirates are coming toFat Princess, and while I don’t know quite how thatwould offend feminists, I’m sure they’ll find a way to be upset by it. What does this seriously mean, though? Could it be a whole new character class? Alternate costumes? Considering hats are the way classes are selected inFat Princess,it would suggest that pirates could be a brand new unit in the game....

Hot on the heels ofZeldaandMario, theStreet Fighterseries is celebrating its 25th year of existence. While the series didn’t become relevant until its second iteration, it paved the way for one of gaming’s most competitive genres. Helping to commemorate this occasion is the release of Capcom’s mash-up of fighting game giants,Street Fighter X Tekken. Two opposing forces of the fighting game world are coming together to celebrate… and pound the tar out of each other....

Knack shown played live on PS Vita TV At this morning’s Sony TGS press conference, boss Shuhei Yoshida played PS4 launch gameKnackwith a DualShock 4 controller, but then paused the game to take over using the PS Vita TV system. With a DualShock 3 controller he navigated around the PS Vita TV’s UI, showing how items can be moved and started. It looks a lot like the Vita UI. Note that the DualShock 4 controller can also be used with PS Vita TV....

The QA testers are calling on Activision Blizzard to voluntarily recognize the union Quality assurance (QA) workers at Raven Software have formed a union. The group, which has been holding a strike since December over sudden layoffs of its team members, is now calling for parent company Activision Blizzard to voluntarily recognize the union. The union at Raven Software, Game Workers Alliance, is unionizing with the Communication Workers of America. A CWA representativetold Polygonthat the union has the support of 78% of eligible workers....

For the first time in English Cute Japanese tactical RPG/visual novelEiyuu Senkiis coming to the PS3 in both North America and Europe. This was developed by Tenco and published in Japan by MAGES (part of 5pb.Games) last year, and now independent localization group Fruitbat Factory is bringing it west. In this fantastic adventure, the player finds themselves in an alternate world populated with famous characters of history and legend – who also all happen to be beautiful maidens – and must fight their way to world domination....

Another classic role-playing game retrofitted with microtransactions Namco Bandai is doing its best Square Enix impression today, as the publisher has released a free-to-play version of beloved role-playing gameTales of Phantasiaon iOS devices in North America. The classic title first hit the App Store last autumn in Japan, where players encountered ramped up difficulty designed to push players toward microtransactions. Though not necessarily required, paid items afford certain benefits, such as allowing players to continue from where they fall in battle....

Ch-Ch-Chaaaaanges! The server isn’t moving, oh god no. There will be a change in where Saturday’sBetween 2Fortwill be broadcast, it will be on Streamtoid’s Twitch channel (twitch.tv/streamtoid) instead. I had way too many technical issues with hitbox due to my rig and I’m afraid I won’t have time to get them sorted out before the interview. I’m sorry for the short post, I got caught up in quite a few things this morning....

“Project Rene” Based ona job listing posted by Electronic Arts, the next game inThe Simsfranchise may be free to play. According to the listing, developer Maxis is looking for a Head of Marketplace & Monetization for the newest entry toThe Simsfranchise (code-namedProject Rene). For reference, Maxis recentlyconfirmed via a post on the Electronic Arts BlogthatProject Reneis the next entry inThe Simsfranchise. A couple of the responsibilities of this position indicate the game could be adopting a free-to-play model:...

The Beginner’s Guide Normally, what we have here would hardly be worth a post. All we have are a handful of weird screenshots,a barren teaser website, and the following description: TheBeginner‘sGuideis a narrative video game for Mac and PC. It lasts about an hour and a half and has no traditional mechanics, no goals or objectives. Instead, it tells the story of a person struggling to deal with something they do not understand....

PlatinumGames’ Hideki Kamiya believes fun is more important than game length We still have no idea whenThe Wonderful 101will launch; I think it’s safe to say that any other significant Wii U release this Spring is completely out of the question. The issue with protracted game developments is that players are bound to have extremely lofty expectations, some which have no chance of being met. Perhaps you expect a delayed title to have a proportionally lengthy campaign that will last a week or more....