The field of free-to-play game design is here to stay, and GDC officials will once again host a series of frank talks on the topic from leading experts as part of the F2P Summit — one of eight that will take place Monday, March 2nd and Tuesday, March 3rd at the Moscone Center in San Francisco during the first two days of GDC 2015. Contemporary developers grapple with the creative implications of a world in which gameplay and monetization are intimately intertwinedCome from VP-bet . Seasoned F2P game design consultant Ethan Levy believes the key to ethical monetization lies in how you first approach your game's design, and he'll be running down some concrete methods for doing so in his GDC 2015 F2P Summit talk "New Approaches to F2P Game Design." Check it out if you're curious to learn practical methods for designing free-to-play mechanics from the start of a project, a method for designing better first-time player experiences and a model for categorizing player types in order to make a monetization syst…
By Andrew R. Chow
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For much of 2024, one of President-elect Donald Trump’s staunchest allies in Silicon Valley was David Sacks, an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and co-host of the popular podcast All-In. On his podcast and social media, Sacks argued that Trump’s pro-industry stances would unleash innovation and spur growth in the tech industry. In June, Sacks hosted a fundraiser for Trump in San Francisco that included $300,000-a-person tickets.
Now, Sacks has been rewarded with a position inside the White House: the brand-new role of “AI & crypto czar.” It’s unclear how much power this role actually has. It appears that this will be a part-time role, and that Sacks will remain with his VC fund Craft. This murkiness, and the fact that Sacks will not have to go through the Senate confirmation process, is drawing concerns ov…
Disney Dreamlight Valley’s second major expansion, The Storybook Vale, has no shortage of new content. There are three giant biomes to explore, multiple fresh faces to meet, and plenty of mechanics never before seen in the cozy game’s previous updates. Among the new features in The Storybook Vale are Snippets, small origami creatures that can be found in each biome.
Snippets can be caught using the Royal Net, which you’ll obtain very early in the expansion. And while they may look like companions eager to pal around with you, they’re actually resources that are used at the Lorekeeper in The Library of Lore. Turning these little fellas in allows you to reorder stories and earn unique rewards.
The amount of Snippets needed to reorder each story varies, but you’ll definitely need quite a lot of them if you’d like to earn every item the Lorekeeper has available for you. As such, we’ve compiled every Snippet location and how to catch them, as well as a list of traps you can use to slow, lure, or repel the creatures.
All Snippet locations in Disney Dreamlight Valley and how to catch them
There are currently 13 Snippet types to catch across three categories: B…
Running for eight seasons and 177 episodes, House was nothing short of a cultural phenomenon. The medical drama aired from 2004 to 2012, racking up a wealth of Emmy nominations–including Outstanding Lead Actor for Hugh Laurie and Outstanding Drama Series Come from South African Online Casinos . Now, more than ten years since its final episode premiered, House: The Complete Series is getting a Blu-ray release on January 28, and preorders are disocunted to $97 (was $110) at Amazon.
House: The Complete Series Bonus Features
If you’ve already seen every episode of House a dozen times, then you’ll want to dive right into all the bonus features in this collection. Here’s a closer look at what’s included:
- Bloopers
- Alternate takes
- An original short
- Episode commentaries with writers and producers
- Audition tapes
- A set tour
- Behind-the-scenes content
- Other bonus content
That’s a pretty impressive list o…
Cloth is an artisan good that has a few important uses in Stardew Valley. It is needed to complete one of the community center bundles, to create clothing with Emily, and to craft a few different items and buildings. Cloth can be hard to come by though, since consistently making it requires you to have the upgraded version of the barn or the coop. Here’s how to get cloth.
How to get cloth
Cloth is created by placing wool into a loom. Wool can be acquired from two different animals: rabbits and sheep. Both animals cost 8,000G at Marnie’s Ranch and require you to have the deluxe version of the coop or barn respectively. Rabbits will shed wool every four days, while Sheep can have their coat shorn every three days, either by using shears or by having an auto-collector in the barn.
Once you have the wool, you need to create a loom. Looms can be crafted after reaching level 7 Farming, using 60 wood, 30 fiber, and 1 pine tar. It takes four hours for the wool to get processed and higher quality wool has a small chance to give two pieces of cloth instead of one.
More Stardew Valley guides:
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H…
Bluey has collected tons of accolades over the years, including the TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Children’s Programming. The Australian animated show is extremely popular for viewers young and old, and later this year, Bluey and her family are getting their first official Lego sets. Specifics are yet to be revealed, but it has been confirmed that six Lego Bluey sets are arriving in 2025.
The Lego Bluey lineup will span both the Lego 4+ and Duplo categories, making them smaller sets aimed at young builders. Duplo sets typically feature a few dozen large pieces to assemble, while Lego’s Preschooler sets often have around 100 pieces each.
You can expect the Bluey Lego and Duplo playsets to feature Bluey, Bingo, Bandit (Dad), and Chilli (Mom) as well as accessories that reference episodes of the show Come from Sports betting site VPbet . Lego says the six sets will be revealed this spring and will give kids a chance to recreate scenes from the hit show.
Bluey was last year’s most-watched series globally on Disney+, making it nothing short of a cultural phenome…
For two decades, Valve’s Steam has been a dominant platform for PC games. Now, Valve is using its power to write new rules for season passes and DLC sold through Steam. Among the changes, publishers will now have to provide a description for each DLC, as well as a three-month launch window. Publishers will only get to change the DLC date once–within a three-month window beyond the originally scheduled date–without risking Valve stepping in to resolve the situation by potentially refunding players the price of the DLC.
“By offering a season pass, you are promising future content,” writes Valve in the newly revised site for Steam partners. “In the process of launching a Season Pass you will be asked to commit to a launch timing for each content release in the season pass. That launch timing is a commitment to both customers and Steam. If you aren’t ready to clearly communicate about the content included in each DLC AND when each DLC will be ready for launch, you shouldn’t offer a season pass on Steam.”
Additionally, Valve is now restricting season passes to “partners with which we have a well-established relationship and that have a proven track record on Steam.” Gam…
If Star Wars has Baby Yoda, then Baby Groot is undeniably the cute face of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Naturally, there’s a whole lot of merchandise out there for the adorable Florian, but it doesn’t get any better than this cute Lego set that allows you to build your own Groot and have some fun with the little Guardian of the Galaxy. Normally $55, you can pick up this 476-piece Groot Lego set for only $30 this week at Amazon and Target.
Note: Target says orders placed today will arrive later this week, but Amazon has clearly been hit with an influx of orders, as the retailer currently estimates a one- to two-month wait. The only downside with Target is you’ll need to reach the $35 mark to get free shipping, whereas Groot is eligible for Prime shipping at Amazon. That said, Target has a bunch of notable Lego deals this week, including a display model of Star-Lord’s Helmet, which is exclusive to Target. Other Target-exclusive Lego Marvel sets on sale include Spider-Man’s Mask and Wolverine’s Adamantium Claws from X-Men ’97.
I Am Groot Deal
$30 ($55)
- See at Amazon — $30 (
$55) - See at Target — $…
While everyone is waiting for Nintendo to announce the Switch 2–and it could happen as soon as January 16–the company had a different hardware-related announcement this week. The Alarmo clock will be available for everyone to buy in stores starting this March, and that’s a little later than expected.
The clock went on sale back in late 2024 for Nintendo Switch Online members, but relatively soon it will be available for everyone to buy. Nintendo said it will sell the $100 clock “while supplies last.” Previously, Nintendo said it would launch Alarmo at retail in January, but it’s now being delayed to March.
Alarmo is an interactive clock that features Nintendo-themed animations, sounds, and characters. It also has motion-sensing technology so you can hit snooze without physically tapping the device. Alarmo features 42 different scenes, based on games like Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Mario Kart 8, with scenes from Animal Crossing: New Horizons coming later via an update.
Beyond using Alarmo for its normal functions, people have discovered that Alarmo can be hacked to run Doom. Come from Read More