The Gameboo is a bit of maker brilliance. The hero who runs Casing the Joint, eight months ago, set out on a project to rip out the viscera of an old Gameboy and rebuild it, stronger and faster. The new guts come from a Dingoo Technologies A330, a handheld system that supports a variety of emulators. So while the Gameboo looks like a Gameboy, it can play emulator ROMs for the NES, Super NES, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, and Game Boy Color. And it’s got two extra face buttons and a color LCD screen. Also, it rules.

Steam, Valve’s distribution and multiplayer platform, makes it really easy to own games, with its digital downloads and seemingly-constant sales on wonderful titles. If you’re like a lot of us here at Kill Screen, Steam almost makes it too easy to own games: we end up with a hard drive full of worthy games that we can’t find the time to play. The experience of opening up Steam can then turn into a kind of paralysis: WHAT DO I PLAY? Steam Roulette, a free service, currently in beta, aims to solve that problem. You give Roulette your Steam ID, it populates…

Jason Johnson is one of the new Kill Screen staff writers, he’s an Alabama fan, which we won’t hold against him, and he’s a peach of a wordsmith. He’s so good, in fact, that the tastemakers at Longreads have selected his wonderful piece from our most recent print issue as a member exclusive. The article concerns some plucky and persistent Hungarian developers who spent two decades making a game for the Commodore 64, and you should concern yourself with it. 

CVG reports that the controller for the soon-to-be-announced PlayStation 4 will not follow the 13-year-old Dual Shock design: A senior games studio source working on an upcoming Sony game says the new system’s controller has undergone numerous iterations, few of which resemble the DualShock build that has become synonymous with PlayStation. Experiments within Sony’s R&D department are thought to have been extensive. Versions of the new PS4 pad include biometric sensors on the grips and an LCD touch screen, the development source claimed. This news makes sense. Between motion controls, touchscreens and mobile platforms, the model of the gamer-holding-a-controller has…

Let’s be honest: Square Enix has been treating Final Fantasy like Spielberg and Lucas treated Indy Jones (that’s South Park so, NSFW) for awhile now. And things aren’t looking up. Have you seen the trailer for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XII? Lorda’mercy it looks bad. Wow. So, even worse than the Assassin’s Creed-Bioshock Infinite-Final Fantasy mashup that no one asked for, is the new Square iOS Final Fantasy, All the Bravest. Everyone hates it. The best vituperation comes from Ben Kuchera at the PA Report, who absolutely lays into the game: It’s important to remember that Final Fantasy: All The Bravest costs $3.99 to buy…

-From the body text of bill H.R. 287, introduced this week by Democratic congressman Jim Matheson of Utah, which would make ESRB ratings legally binding.

Reus is a latin word that means “guilty” or “culpable”, and it’s a curious name for the forthcoming god-game from independent studio Abbey Games. What are you guilty of? Perhaps we can take the word broadly to mean “responsible”. This makes sense, because in Reus, you play as a omnipresent titan, responsible for the development of the earth and its civilizations alike. This preview video shows the titans digging lakes, pulling mountains out of the ground, fending off angry human armies and eventually meting out retribution for mortal arrogance. Unlike most god games, in Reus you, the god, are visible on screen…

John Thorne at the Atlantic has a terrific writeup on the burgeoning esports scene in the fractured North African nation. It’s your daily reminder that gaming can be a powerful agent for social good.  The Libyan gamers themselves face major challenges related to the lack of digital infrastructure in their country: The [Electronic Sports World Cup] hadn’t approved Libyan players for Counterstrike. And it wouldn’t have made sense. Gameplay moves fast, and even a split-second of lag can get you killed. Libyan Counterstrikers have trouble training online, unlike gamers in countries with fast internet. According to Saad Ksheer, the head…

The charmingly-named redditor “hairyhaggis” started a thread earlier today in r/gaming that would make many an MFA instructor swell with pride: “Describe a game from the point of view of one of its NPCs. Every else has to guess what game and NPC.” His example: [I] “Go on adventure with robot dog and mute who stares at my boobs.” The answer is Alyx Vance from Half-Life 2.  While hairyhaggis’ example might have been inelegant, it has led to some truly epic descriptions. My favorite: [–]Rodal888 7 points1 hour ago Everyday I get smacked around. Day in day out my two captors continue to…