Xbox Game Pass has come a long way since its 2017 launch. When it debuted, Xbox Game Pass was home to just over 100 games, with some of the biggest being Halo 5: Guardians, Payday 2, Saints Row 4, and NBA 2K16. Seven years later, Xbox Game Pass is now home to almost 500 titles, many of which can be played on consoles, PC, or on a variety of devices thanks to Xbox Cloud streaming.

Dreams on a Pillow is a video game experience about the 1948 Nakba, an event where roughly 700,000 people were displaced from their land and homes due to Zionist occupation.The game, described as a pseudo-3D stealth adventure game about a land full of people being made into a people without land, is from Palestinian developer Rasheed Abu-Eideh. But before I tell you more about that, let me tell you about his previous game.In 2016, Abu-Eideh released Liyla and the Shadows of War, a game about a 2014 assault on Gaza by Israel, known as Operation Protective Edge. Liyla follows a Palestinian girl and her family as they navigate attacks in their neighborhood. Its short but emotional, and it blends elements of platformers and choose-your-own-adventure storytelling. In 2021, the game was a part of an Indie Bundle Pack that raised nearly $900,000 for Palestinian aid through UNRWA USA. @polygon Dreams on a Pillow by Rasheed Abu-Eideh is a video game experience about the 1948 Nakba- plus how you can support it at the end of the video. original sound Polygon Currently, Liyla and the Shadows of War is free on mobile and Windows. But back in 2016, it was initially rejected as a game in the Apple App Store. Abu-Eideh was told to remove all description of it as a Game and re-categorize it as News or Reference due to its political nature. The hypocrisy of the decision was noted by many at the time: As reported by Eurogamer, Apple denied Liyla as a game, but allowed a game called Israeli Heroes in the game section. After Abu-Eideh spoke about Apples decision on social media, Apple finally allowed Liyla to be categorized as a game.Dreams on a Pillow is currently being crowdfunded by Abu-Eideh on LaunchGood till Jan. 13, and funds raised from the LaunchGood campaign will go towards asset creation, outsourcing, and salaries for the current team of 9 individuals. The game is aiming to launch in Q4 2026.

We live in a landscape where words like reboot and retcon are common knowledge. Hollywood executives use the word multiverse in complete seriousness. No one can talk about Batman in the movies anymore you have to specify. Nolan Batman? Snyder Batman? Reeves Batman? Bryan Singers Magneto, or the First Class one? Raimi Spider-Man or the Amazing run or the MCU version? Superhero movies dont have to explain comics anymore. They can just be like comics places for creative folks to drop in, do their take on a long-established character, and see what the audience thinks about it.The gift this era has given me, as a comics fan and a critic, is a new thought experiment: What would I think of this superhero movie if it had been a comic book? Did the movie find something insightful to say about a decades-old character? Did it play well in the space, relative to all the other stories that have gone before it?I think Matt Reeves The Batman might actually have been even better as a 12-issue alt-universe miniseries, giving its characters more time to breathe in a new variation on Gotham. On the other hand, the original Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has so much to say about Spider-Mans themes of responsibility and identity, and its also so inventive with the form of the animated film that converting it into a comic would definitely rob it of some of its magic.But this year, I found my experiment running aground when considering Todd Phillips Joker duology. Setting aside my own problems with Phillips writing and directing, did these two movies which reimagine the Joker as the alternately pathetic and dangerous failed comedian turned successful murderer Arthur Fleck have something to say about the iconic supervillain? And how did that statement measure up against the comics themselves? With Joker: Folie Deux now streaming on Max, it seemed like a good time to reconsider the question.And heres my conclusion: Todd Phillips Joker movies dont have anything to say about Joker comics, because they are simply not about the character of the Joker in any recognizable way. Who is the Joker?The mutability of a character is a sign of its strength, but characters are not endlessly mutable. How much mutation is acceptable before a character becomes unrecognizable is a topic upon which gallons of metaphorical blood have been spilled in forums digital and in person.But I think we can agree that that line exists.You could slowly make changes to Batman give him guns, make him OK with killing criminals, take away his money and friends, give him a differently themed costume and eventually he would simply become the Punisher. We can argue about exactly where the line between the two of them would be, but that line exists.And where the Joker is concerned, I believe, that line is about his interiority.Phillips makes a lot of changes to the Joker. His films give him a name, Arthur Fleck, and an inciting incident: getting roughed up by some corporate bros and blowing them all away. They give him mommy issues and a yearning for a romantic partner, and remove his rivalry with Batman and his context within a world of theatrical supervillains and powerful superheroes.Folie Deux has Arthur meditate aloud on the question of Who is Arthur Fleck? via a sad and profoundly delivered knock-knock joke recited during the closing argument of a trial in which he has elected to defend himself, no less.You can make a lot of changes to the Joker, because good characters are mutable. You can remove him entirely from a setting where superheroes and villains are commonplace, or remove Batman, and therefore his rivalry with him, entirely. You can make him a silly trickster or a horrifying psychopath or a Lego man. You can give him obsessions like getting Batman to acknowledge me or obstacles to overcome like accidentally committing tax evasion.But if you give the Joker a parsable human interiority, I would argue youve stopped interacting with the idea of the Joker in any meaningful way. I think this is the fundamental nucleus of his character, as whittled down, sharpened, and compressed to a fine point by 80 years of Joker stories and hundreds of striving creative minds.Batmans dark mirrorWe like to say that the best supervillains are mirror reflections of their heroes, which is fun to apply to Batman and the Joker, because I dont think theres anyone out there who, when asked What is the opposite of a bat? would answer A clown. Dig a little deeper and you can pull some oppositions from the way theyre typically characterized: Theyre equally theatrically invested in fear, but they aim it in opposite directions.Batman is taciturn where the Joker is chatty, and dark where hes colorful. Batman represents order, while the Joker is chaos. But careful! Batman is mutable. Hes not always frightening, grim, and lawful, and neither is the Joker always flamboyant, deadly, and philosophically chaotic.Whats immutable about Batman is that he does what he does for extraordinarily specific reasons. His motivations are entirely known, and constantly restated to the audience. His core character trauma is infamous for how often its been recreated in adaptation. Its been memed into immortality. With Spider-Man as a close second, Batman is the origin-story superhero. And so by force of the narrative Joker is the anti-origin-story villain.We dont know why he does what he does. Its not even clear whether he knows. His interiority is a black box, open to embody our worst fears about mans inhumanity to man. Titans of the genre have tried to give the Joker a motivating origin story, and none of them have succeeded in crafting one that sticks. And while we should never dismiss something as impossible just because nobodys done it yet, I also think it behooves us to learn from history.Even recent history would suffice: Its hard to find a compelling emotional throughline if you cant peek into your main characters thoughts, but Matthew Rosenberg and Carmine Di Giandomenicos 2022 series The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing gets around that issue by featuring a main character who isnt sure whether hes really the Joker, or just a guy the Joker brainwashed into being a Joker decoy. Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentinos 2019 series Joker: Killer Smile, meanwhile, is actually a series about the Jokers new psychiatrist.James Tynion IV and Guillem Marchs 2021 Joker series tells a great story about the Clown Prince of Crime based on the extremely cogent observation that ex-police commissioner James Gordon might be the only person in Gotham City more personally wronged by the Joker than Batman. Their book features Gordon as the point-of-view character on a Catch Me If You Can-style manhunt for the Joker, wrestling with whether he should just put a bullet in the murderer for the good of humanity instead of apprehending him.Said the Joker to the thiefThis is why I struggled to apply the Is this a good Joker story? framework to Todd Phillips Joker and Joker: Folie Deux. The Joker resists origin stories and clear motivation because theyre fundamentally opposed to the narrative purpose he fulfills as the summation of all that Batman opposes. At his most immutable, Batman is the guy who says A senseless thing happened to me, and thats why I have to stop more senseless things from happening. And what has made the Joker his perfect foil is that at his most immutable, the Joker is a machine for making senseless things happen.If you remove Batman, the character the Joker was molded around, you might still have a Joker story on your hands. And if you change the Joker so that hes the main character of the story, you might still have a Joker story on your hands. But if you do all that and you examine who the Joker is and why he does what he does you are simply not making a story about the Joker anymore.And thats fine! There are a lot of characters who are not the Joker, and I think we can agree that some of them are even quite compelling. But youre not telling me anything salient or new about the Joker, a character honed over 80 years into a highly efficient narrative machine for making senseless things happen. Youve made him make sense. Youve made up a new guy for your story, and slapped Jokers name on him.That is, I think, what I most want to explain to any creative who, like Phillips, sees the superhero genre as a means to an end. I dont just want to point out the faux pas of dismissing the work of the creators who came before you, of picking up someone elses toys while not playing in the space. Not because I dont think thats important, but because I just think that if youre a person who sees superhero cinema as a means to an end, you probably dont care about being rude to comics creators.What I want to get into the skulls of this particular kind of superhero filmmaker is that comics have already done the work. What youre dismissing is decades of evidence of what succeeds, doesnt succeed, or only succeeds if you do it like this. Phillips saw the Jokers lack of an origin story as freedom to make his own take, not a sign that his origin storys very absence, despite 80 years of opportunity to create one, was significant.Declining to learn from decades of stories made by hardworking creatives developing the same character is rude, sure, sure. But its also shooting yourself in the dang foot.

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A cyberattack campaign inserted malicious code into multiple Chrome browser extensions as far back as mid-December, Reuters reported yesterday. The code appeared designed to steal browser cookies and authentication sessions, targeting specific social media advertising and AI platforms, according to a blog post from Cyberhaven, one of the companies that was targeted.Cyberhaven blames a phishing email for the attack, writing in a separate technical analysis post that the code appeared to specifically target Facebook Ads accounts. According to Reuters, security researcher Jaime Blasco believes the attack was just random and not targeting Cyberhaven specifically. He posted on X that hed found VPN and AI extensions that contained the same malicious code that was inserted into Cyberhaven. Other extensions possibly affected include Internxt VPN, VPNCity, Uvoice, and ParrotTalks, as Bleeping Computer writes. Cyberhaven says hackers pushed an update (version 24.10.4) of its Cyberhaven data loss prevention extension containing the malicious code on Christmas Eve at 8:32PM ET. Cyberhaven says it discovered the code on December 25th at 6:54PM ET and removed it within an hour, but that the code was active until December 25th at 9:50PM ET. The company says it released a clean version in its 24.10.5 update.Cyberhavens recommendations for companies that may be affected include that they check their logs for suspicious activity and revoke or rotate any passwords not using the FIDO2 multifactor authentication standard. Prior to publishing its posts, the company notified customers via an email that TechCrunch reported Friday morning.

There is a new fork of GB Studio, the popular Game Boy game engine, called BB Studio that can now target the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). BB Studio is described as:BB Studio is a heavily-hacked version of the awesome GB Studio by Chris Maltby.It replaces the Game Boy target with the NES (the Game Boys Big Brother).You are strongly advised to already be familiar with the original GB Studio, before trying out BB Studio.If you are looking for the original GB Studio, the friendly downloadables can be foundHEREand the source code can be foundHERE.There are some differences you need to be aware of when developing a NES game instead of a Gameboy game:You have more screen space: 256240 instead of 160144. This can change the look and feel of your GBC game quite a bit, for better or worse.The edges of the screen will be partially cropped on a real TV this varies depending on TV model.You can only use half the number of background and sprite palettes in a scene. (for now)NES background palettes also require the first color to be the same across all 4 background palettes.Typically black is a good choice for the shared background color but your mileage may vary.The exception is palette 7. This is only used for UI, and has 4 unique colors.The NES has a limited number of total colors, and the RGB colors entered in the UI will be automatically converted to NES colors when building. They may sometimes be off from what you intended.The next version will have an option for specifying NES colors directly, to remove the guesswork of RGB -> NES color mapping.The NES graphics chip allows much fewer sprites / scanline than the GB/GBC. So you need to be much more frugal with placing sprites on the same horizontal line.The 6502 CPU may struggle to keep up with the double-clocked GBC CPU. If your game already tends to lag when running in monochrome DMG mode, it will probably struggle on the NES as well.More optimizations are planned for the next version.Key LinksBB Studio GitHubGB Studio HomepageYou can learn more about GB Studio and BB Studio for the NES in the video below.

Soon it will be 2025, also known as the year Nintendo finally pulls back the curtain on its next console. After 2024 was filled with shaky rumors, alleged leaks, and nonstop speculation about the Nintendo Switch successor, we know for a fact Nintendo will share more about the next generation in less than 100 days. If thats not exciting enough for you, the Nintendo Switch still has a few cards up its sleeve and 2025 will finally see the launch of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, eight years after its initial announcement. And, as always, there will surely be some surprises along the way, with some possibly tied to a certain plumbers 40th anniversary. Heres what to expect from Nintendo in 2025.IGN's Twenty Questions - Guess the game!IGN's Twenty Questions - Guess the game!To start:...try asking a question that can be answered with a "Yes" or "No".000/250Nintendo in 2025: Whats Already On the BooksBefore we get into Switch 2, lets recap what we already know is coming to Switch in 2025. Nintendo has been incredibly consistent at publishing a Switch game most months for the last two years, and while Im not sure theyll keep up that pace to the same degree in 2025, we already know about a fair number of games coming in the next few months.January 16 marks the release of Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, a remaster of the 2010 Wii platformer that includes the extra levels from the 2013 3DS port. Thats right, this is the third time Nintendo is selling us Country Returns and its now been more than a decade since the last original Donkey Kong Country game with Tropical Freezes launch on Wii U. Hopefully Donkey Kongs recent inclusion in Nintendos movies and theme parks will eventually result in a brand new video game, but for now youre getting Country Returns again, and you better like it. As someone whos bought and played both previous versions, it really is a fantastic platformer and one worth trying if youve never played it before.PlayWere getting another HD remaster on March 20, but this one is much more exciting. After years of fan demand, Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition is finally landing on Switch, meaning the entire Xenoblade Chronicles series will be available in one place. Xenoblade Chronicles X is the odd one out in the series: Its not directly tied to the trilogy and it was doomed to originally release on Wii U back in 2015, so this second chance at life will be many players first chance to dive into this enormous open world RPG. The visually enhanced Definitive Edition also adds brand new story content longtime fans will surely dissect and theorize about for years to come.Right now, those are the only firm release dates we have for Nintendo in 2025, but there are a few huge games coming sometime in the coming months. That includes Pokmon Legends: Z-A, Game Freaks return to the Legends subseries after Arceus successfully shook things up back in 2022. We still know very little about what Legends: Z-A will entail, other than it centers around an urban redevelopment plan in the Kalos Regions Lumiose City from Pokmon X & Y, and that Generation VIs Mega Evolution is set to return in some way. Pokmon took a much needed year off in 2024 so its exciting to see what Legends: Z-A will look like after taking a bit more time in the oven.One big third-party Nintendo Switch exclusive worth shouting out is Professor Layton and the New World of Steam, which is scheduled for release sometime in 2025. Its the big return of Professor Layton and his assistant Luke after more than a decade out of the spotlight. Im hopeful it will actually make it out on time Level-5 has been a bit too eager to announce release windows before games are actually ready, but whenever this finally comes out it will be an exciting return for a series thats always been heavily associated with Nintendo.PlayThe final TBA 2025 game on Nintendos calendar right now is the long-awaited Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. First announced at E3 2017, Prime 4 was MIA for years before its re-reveal at Junes Nintendo Direct. Prime 4 is coming from Retro Studios, developers of the original Metroid Prime trilogy, and it features the return of Sylux, a villain first introduced in the Nintendo DS spinoff Metroid Prime Hunters. The most recent trailer is absolutely gorgeous and I cant wait to see how the full adventure shapes up later this year.Well Know More About Switch 2 in Less Than Three MonthsEnough messing around, lets get into what youre all here for: the Nintendo Switch successor. Last May, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa revealed that Nintendo would make an announcement about the Nintendo Switch successor within this fiscal year. Nintendos fiscal year ends on March 31, meaning that were expecting an official unveiling sometime within the next 90 days or so. Other than Nintendos recent confirmation that Nintendo Switch software will also be playable on the Switch 2, the company has been very quiet about what the console will actually be like.However, March might not be the end of the story. Its possible we will get a quick teaser trailer before the end of this fiscal year, similar to the Switchs reveal trailer in October 2016, followed by a full presentation ahead of the official launch. Or Nintendo might tell us everything we want to know right away, which is the best-case scenario. Either way, Im confident well get a big presentation at some point this year with all the answers were looking for.Last time Nintendo held a big in-person event in Japan to properly unveil the Switch, which was broadcast live around the world. Im expecting a slightly different strategy this time as I think Nintendo will stick to its prerecorded Nintendo Direct-style presentation to show the successor off. But I think the information presented will be largely the same, where Nintendo will likely share information on the following:NameRelease DatePriceLaunch day/window game lineupSpecificationsUnique featuresPlayAs for what these console details will actually be, your guess is as good as mine. But I can almost guarantee the Switch successor will launch before the end of 2025 as I dont see a world where Nintendo announces it as early as March and waits until 2026 to release it. And Im personally expecting the Switch successor to be very iterative of Nintendo Switch, maintaining the hybrid design that made it such a global success.A new console means new games and Nintendo is definitely cooking up a big lineup for the next consoles first year. Not counting projects it was a co-developer on, Nintendos internal development teams only put out one game last year: Splatoon 3s Side Order DLC. Its clearly been full steam ahead on Switch 2 games for a while and Im expecting some heavy hitters at launch and in the first year of Switch 2.We are well overdue for a new 3D Mario because its been nearly eight years since Super Mario Odyssey. That was the last brand new 3D Mario apart from Bowsers Fury, which was a bite-sized expansion added onto 3D Worlds Switch release in 2021. Im confident Nintendo is setting up the next 3D Mario to be the Switch successors must-have game at launch, to get all of the hardcore Nintendo fans snap up the new console right away. And it just so happens that 2025 is the 40th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., and given how big Nintendo went for the 35th anniversary in 2020, I think its a safe bet that Mario will be front and center at the next console launch. But what about Mario Kart? Were even more overdue for a brand new Mario Kart entry given that its been 11 years now since Mario Kart 8s original release. Yes, we got Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Tour, and the Booster Course Pass in the time since, but its still been way too long since a wholly original home console Mario Kart. I go back and forth between thinking 3D Mario or Mario Kart is the big launch game, but either way I think we get both before the consoles first holiday season. Right now, Im feeling a 3D Mario at launch as the big single-player showcase game, with Mario Kart coming just a bit later to get families interested in picking the console up over the holidays. As much as everyone loves Mario though, Nintendo will want to diversify its launch lineup beyond its most iconic character. I could see some sort of Zelda remake or remaster in the cards to get that franchise represented as soon as possible on the next hardware, with the two most likely candidates feeling like an Ocarina of Time HD remake or a Breath of the Wild remaster that runs at a solid 60 fps. I think its a safe bet that Mario will be front and center at the next console launch.Im also expecting Nintendo to unveil some sort of brand new IP to hit the console at launch or shortly after. The Wii had Wii Sports, Wii U had Nintendoland, and Switch had 1-2-Switch, so there will likely be some sort of casual, family-friendly experience to show off what the new hardware can do.Im also hopeful we might get a glimpse of Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurais new mystery game at some point in 2025. Sakurai dropped one of the biggest plot twists of 2024 when he revealed that he prepped his entire YouTube channel in advance and has been secretly working on a new video game since early 2022. Its been in development for three years now so its not out of the realm of possibility that a reveal is planned for sometime this year. Its most likely the next Smash Bros., but I would love to see Sakurais take on a more niche Nintendo series like Star Fox or F-Zero. Speaking of F-Zero, I wouldnt be surprised if Switch 2 is home to a remaster of F-Zero GX or an entirely new game in the series. Nintendo has been building up hype for the F-Zero series for the last year now, first with the release and continued updates in F-Zero 99, followed by the addition of nearly every game in the series to the Nintendo Switch Online game catalog. I feel like its accelerating toward something big for the series and theres almost no better way to show off new, powerful hardware than a gorgeous, futuristic racing game running at a perfect framerate.Switch 1 Support Will ContinueAll eyes will definitely be on Switch 2 in 2025 but Nintendo will continue to support its 140 million-plus Switch 1 install base with new games. We already discussed the Switch games we know are coming in 2025 but there will certainly be more reveals as the year goes on. Im expecting Kirby to show up on Switch 1 in some way its been two years since Return to Dreamland Deluxe either through a remaster of a fan favorite like Kirby Planet Robobot or an entirely new game. I also think it could be time for Nintendo to wheel out some of its smaller series and Ive got a feeling in my bad knee that Rhythm Heaven could finally make its Switch debut this year in a similar fashion to Rhythm Heaven Megamix showing up on 3DS after the Switch was already out.PlayCould Next Level Games Show Up?Luigis Mansion 3 developers Next Level Games have put out a new game every three years since 2013. The studios last full game was Mario Strikers: Battle League in 2022, meaning 2025 is the year for its next project if this development cycle pattern is to continue. It could be time for Luigis Mansion 4 on the Switch successor but given how much Mario I already think is in the cards for 2025, I could also see this game getting unveiled at some point for a release sometime in 2026. While I definitely think some studios will continue developing games for the older Switch hardware, I firmly expect to see Next Level Games new project on the next console and wouldnt be shocked if we get a glimpse of it in 2025.Nintendos Entertainment Endeavors ContinueFinally, Nintendo is much more than a video game company at this point and it has some solid entertainment plans lined up for 2025. Super Nintendo World is set to open in Florida this May and it includes the Donkey Kong Country expansion thats currently exclusive to Universal Studios Japan. And Nintendo is opening its second stateside retail store when Nintendo San Francisco opens at Union Square sometime this year. scheduled to hit theaters in April 2026 so Im guessing well get the first trailer for the sequel sometime before the year is up too.PlayAnd thats everything we expect from Nintendo in 2025. Are you ready for the Switch 2 or are you still excited about the Switch 1 games we know about? Let us know in the comments. And for everything else Nintendo, switch with IGN.