Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto says even if gen-AI "were to eventually handle everything, there will always be a role left" for human designers

Legendary Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto will receive Japan’s highest honor for cultural merit next month. The 73-year old is the first video game developer to receive the Order of Culture, which is presented by the Emperor of Japan. “I feel incredibly awkward but truly honored to be selected for such a prestigious award,” Miyamoto told the press on October 23. “As I often point out, I don’t create games on my own. This award is the result of working together with a great number of people, so I will accept it on their behalf.”“Recently, I’ve been privileged to work with people from many different fields, not just games,” he added, referencing Super Nintendo World attractions at Universal Studios and films like The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. “I’d like to share the joy of this award with everyone.”Miyamoto at Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood. Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images. Miyamoto is currently Nintendo’s Executive Fellow and Representative Director. He joined the company in 1977, playing a pivotal and formative role in Nintendo’s move towards making video games.

Every year to mark Culture Day in Japan, the government—on behalf of the Emperor of Japan—honors people whose cultural contributions have had a major impact on shaping the national image of the country. This year, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto was recognized for his contributions to gaming. During a public press conference expressing his gratitude for receiving the honor (transcribed by Denfaminico Gamer), the longtime developer reflected on the evolution of the games industry over the past 50 years, as well as the future of the industry as a result of AI. “Video games are not a thing that can be developed alone, but are the result of groups of people coming together to create,” Miyamoto said at the ceremony, stating that he received the award as a “representative” of all the people he worked with to make his various games. “Especially recently, I’ve been working Universal Studios Japan on Super Nintendo World and with many people in different fields of work.

I have spent so much time these past three days writing about the closure of BioWare that I feel like I’ve not really gotten to stop and take a moment for myself. Yeah, I vented about how avoidable this whole thing was, but that’s anger, not grief. I braced myself for years, anticipating the moment when EA would finally bring down the hammer on the Mass Effect studio, so you’d think I would have already given some serious thought to what I’d want to say when the day finally arrived. In all honesty, however, I haven’t been able to figure it out.  The night it happened, I reinstalled my copy of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, the 2021 remaster of the original trilogy. I hadn’t accessed my save file on there in years, but that playthrough had been completionist one. That last time I played through the games, I devoured them. My encyclopedic knowledge came in handy; I didn’t have to use a guide to make sure I saw everything, completed every quest, and soaked in every drop of my favorite video games on a modern console.  © BioWare / Kotaku So when I booted this save file up, I was caught off guard by the deafening silence of the Normandy SR-2’s CIC.

You’d think that an “ecosocialist utopia” game made by a prominent leftist game developer who developed it “with locally sourced talent and minimal involvement from capitalists, marketers, or profiteers” would be free of generative AI, right? … Right? Released in September, Future? No Thanks! is an adventure game developed by Paolo Pedercini, better known by the pseudonym Molleindustria. It follows an out-of-place, curmudgeonly old man who aims to complete his bucket list before undergoing assisted suicide in a future where “climate change is finally being tackled, democracy thrives, and technology serves the public good.” However, it’s now in hot water over initially undisclosed generative AI use. In a blog post this week (thanks, Rock Paper Shotgun), Pedercini confirmed that the game includes AI-generated content, including two text-to-speech voices and two music loops generated with Suno, despite later writing that “AI is a technofascist, anti-human and anti-art project.” He also mentioned that “a tiny fraction” of code was debugged with ChatGPT and Claude. On Friday, he posted another blog post to clarify that the AI content (aside from the code) has been removed from the game.

Valve has released a list of the 20 most-played Steam Next Fest demos so far, with the event running through this weekend and concluding through Monday, October 26 at 10am PT/1pm ET. The top-20 list includes quite the eclectic mix of games, from comedic co-op adventures to more mechanically-deep action and survival affairs. Check out the list below, and be sure to try the demos out for the ones you like as soon as possible before this edition of Steam Next Fest ends. In no particular order, the top 20 are:Worst Class Ever Probably Stolen - Cyberpunk Shopkeeper Sim ArcheAge Chronicles Find the Needle Fart Together Character House - Desktop Companion Frostrail Loftia just volleyball Abyssal Lapidary Mortuus Dumpster Gang HANDS OVER Haunted Paws Emberville No Body No Problem! Deadzone Rogue 2 Wyldheart Grr Grr Gnomes Never Be AloneSome of these you might be familiar with, and some you might not, and that's part of the fun of Steam Next Fest! IGN readers might have the most familiarity with the extremely promising Emberville, which we previewed last month and will be launching next week into Steam Early Access.

The new season of Chris Pratt's show, a beloved anime, and more Happy weekend! It’s a slow week for TV releases. Over the past month, shows like Carrie, Crystal Lake, and VisionQuest dropped, keeping many viewers busy. But things are picking up soon. In the coming months, we’ll have the return of the final season of Yellowjackets, the third season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and more. In the meantime, we have some shows to recommend. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is back with its second season, bringing viewers back to Night City, which looks just as incredible as it did the first time around. The romantic comedy Nobody Wants This continues to explore the romance between Joanne and Noah, who’ve just moved in together. There are also various offerings for genre fans. Yaga, a Canadian series starring Heated Rivalry’s overnight star Hudson Williams, is inspired by the legend of Baba Yaga (but is unrelated to John Wick). Lupin returns with its fourth season, continuing the story of a charismatic con artist. Orphan Black is streaming in full on HBO Max, making it the perfect opportunity for it to reach a wider audience.