22 h. ago ‘We’re huge JRPG fans’: Purity Ring on how nostalgia for a gaming era inspired their new single

The Canadian electropop duo return with a new track (and forthcoming album) that sounds like a half-forgotten RPG you played in the 00sIf you were around for the electropop zeitgeist of the early 2010s, chances are that Purity Ring feature prominently on your nostalgia playlist. And if you were a young adult at that time, well, there’s also a high chance that you played Japanese role-playing games as a teenager – whether that was Chrono Trigger on an SNES or Final Fantasy on a PlayStation. Purity Ring’s new single Many Lives is an attempt to recapture the feeling of the RPG that you discovered as a 12-year-old and immediately made into your whole personality. Inspired by games such as Skies of Arcadia, Phantasy Star Online and Secret of Mana, it is poised to tug on the heartstrings of fans of a certain vintage.This is a bold decision for a band who have previously collaborated with Deftones and covered Eurodance classics, but members Megan James and Corin Roddick have the gaming exp...

Sport

23 h. ago Huge £50m prize money up for grabs in the eSports gaming world cup for elite players

The seven-week video game competition is being held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and games featured include Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Chess and Street Fighter 6

Economics

2 w. ago Switch 2 gets classic title to rival EA FC for nostalgic Nintendo fans

There's another cracking GameCube game coming for Switch 2 players as Nintendo reveals the next classic available – here's why it's so exciting for football fans this time around

Politics

2 w. ago Mission: Impossible theme composer Lalo Schifrin dies aged 93

The Argentinian worked extensively in film, composing the scores for classics including ‘Enter The Dragon’, ‘Cool Hand Luke’ and ‘Dirty Harry’

Events

2 w. ago Clueless review – Alicia Silverstone and Brittany Murphy are class acts in 90s Jane Austen parallel

Amy Heckerling’s high school romcoming-of-age classic, composed entirely of quotable funny lines, remains a sophisticated pleasure 30 years onThirty years ago, the world was swooning over Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle in the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice adaptation but all the time, the actual Jane Austen screen sensation that year was happening elsewhere in plain sight. Amy Heckerling’s high school romcoming-of-age masterpiece, inspired by Austen’s Emma, is now on re-release for its 30th anniversary and more than ever it feels like a complete joy, a deliciously movie-literate (and literate-literate) classic, with references to Stanley Kubrick, Oscar Wilde and William Burroughs to go with the Austen parallel.Clueless is something to compare with Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story – and Alicia Silverstone’s final, tearful scene matches, and even outclasses, Julia Roberts’ speech in Notting Hill about being just a girl standing in front of a boy. Like Withnail and I, it’s a film ...

Politics

2 w. ago Capcom Spotlight start time, and how you can watch the new Resident Evil and Monster Hunter reveals

Capcom is set to give fans a look at some of its most anticipated upcoming games, including Resident Evil Requiem, Pragmata, Street Fighter 6 and Monster Hunter Wilds

Politics

2 w. ago More Final Fantasy games teased for Switch 2 as producer says it's 'only Nintendo left'

One of the most iconic PlayStation series of all time, Final Fantasy is expected to see more games land on Switch 2 fairly soon after the game's producer said it was 'only Nintendo left'

Sport

2 w. ago Trail cam in New York captures two bear cubs copying classic children's playground game in adorable scene

Two curious bear cubs were caught on a trail cam hilariously mimicking a classic playground game, and the adorable moment is stealing hearts online.

Politics

3 w. ago Fortnite Street Fighter skins return to the Item Shop in six huge bundles featuring Chun

The Fortnite Street Fighter skins are finally returning to the Item Shop after an absence of over 1,000 days, but players will need to spend a lot if they want to get their hands on them all

Sport

3 w. ago From Street Fighter to Final Fantasy: Yoko Shimomura, the composer who put the classical in gaming’s classics

With a four-decade career beginning at Capcom in the 8-bit era, Shimomura is one of the most acclaimed names in gaming. She recalls her early struggles – and explains why her beloved classical music fits best with RPGsAlfred Hitchcock, David Attenborough, Harold Pinter, Stanley Kubrick, Ridley Scott, Hideo Kojima – these are just a few of the recipients of the Bafta fellowship, the highest honour the academy can bestow. Japanese composer Yoko Shimomura is the latest to receive the accolade; one of only 17 women and four Japanese people to have done so. She is also the first video-game composer to be recognised by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and the first composer recognised at all since John Barry in 2005.It is with good reason that the academy has honoured her. Shimomura is an icon. You’ll know her music from Street Fighter, Final Fantasy, Super Mario, Kingdom Hearts, Legend of Mana, Streets of Rage and more than 70 other games she has contributed original comp...

Sport

3 w. ago System Shock 2 remaster release date – when you can return to the newly

System Shock 2 is getting the remaster treatment, bringing the classic sci-fi survival horror game to a whole new audience. But when can you actually play it?

Events

3 w. ago My unexpected Pride icon: the diva women of fighting video games inspired me

As a young gay kid who was often teased and bullied for prancing around like a ballet dancer, I drew confidence from self-assured characters like Nina from TekkenGrowing up, fighting video games such as Tekken and Street Fighter were a core part of bonding during summer holidays for my brothers and I. For me, beat-em-ups were less about nurturing any masculine impulses toward strength and destruction, and more about the lore of the fighting game and its varied fighting styles, which played like a dance on the TV screen. That, and the ever-expanding rosters of sexy, glamorous femme fatales.There is a joke I have often heard that you know a young boy may be of the lavender persuasion if he only picks female characters in beat-em-up fighting video games – the parents might think it’s because he fancies them, but really it’s a form of diva worship. That was certainly true for me. Continue reading...

Sport

3 w. ago You are a true gamer if you can remember these 1980s video game classics

Can you tell your Pac-Mans from your Princess Peaches? 🎮

Politics