Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
When roommate drama destroys a professional team
Putting five hyper-competitive young adults in a stressful environment is a recipe for disaster. World-class rosters have completely imploded not because they…
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Why voice performers take shots of olive oil
Recording heavy dialogue for eight hours straight leaves throats sounding like dry sandpaper. To combat the harsh friction of constant shouting, many voice…
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Regional localizations alter character names
Because cultural context ruins everything, translation teams frequently obliterate original character identities. A protagonist named something intimidating…
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Virtual billboards serve real world advertisements
Because escaping reality should always include being aggressively sold a soft drink. Publishers figured out they can dynamically swap the textures on digital…
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The sound of rain might be frying bacon
That soothing, atmospheric sound of a gentle downpour outside your digital window is completely a lie. Audio technicians figured out that violently frying…
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Why adult women voice so many child characters
Hiring actual children to record thousands of lines is a logistical nightmare involving labor laws and unpredictable tantrums. Instead, studios rely on…
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Stunt doubles perform digital backflips in tight suits
When the script demands an incredibly athletic martial arts sequence, the main actors usually sit down and drink coffee. Actual professional stunt workers…
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Why movie dogs wear tracking suits
Because manually animating a canine wagging its tail is simply too much work. Production teams squeeze confused pets into specialized tight suits covered in…
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Why video games invent fake brands
Filling an urban landscape with realistic clutter requires thousands of unique advertisements. Instead of paying licensing fees, writers spend hours inventing…
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How a coffee cup became a monster's breath
The chilling, guttural exhale of a terrifying beast stalking you in the dark is remarkably simple to create. Sound technicians literally just whisper…
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Colorblind accessibility options change entire palettes
Making a title playable for everyone requires completely overhauling the visual spectrum. Visual directors spend months swapping out vital red and green…
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Why animators let fruit rot in the office
Making a post-apocalyptic wasteland look genuinely disgusting requires heavy reference material. Artists literally leave apples and meat out to spoil in their…
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Diablo almost became a turn-based RPG
Imagine if the ultimate action-clicker RPG played like an aggressive game of chess. David Brevik originally designed Diablo as a methodical, turn-based…
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Some N64 games needed a red RAM upgrade
Selling a console that literally cannot run its best titles without a mandatory upgrade is a bold corporate strategy. Certain demanding cartridges required…
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Sega CD attachment sat awkwardly underneath the main console
When your base hardware is already struggling, the best solution is clearly to bolt an enormous disc tray underneath it. This bulky peripheral required its…
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PlayStation 3 Super Slim possessed a flimsy sliding cover
As consoles age, manufacturers desperately seek ways to construct them using the absolute cheapest materials possible. The final iteration of this massive…
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The GameCube had a hidden online adapter slot
Hidden underneath the purple plastic box was a mysterious expansion bay waiting for an attachment that was effectively useless. A broadband adapter could be…
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Why the Nintendo Switch dock is mostly empty
You might assume the chunky block connecting your handheld to the television is full of secondary processors or cooling tech. In reality, opening the dock…
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The Xbox 360 that could not save your progress
Launching a high-definition console without anywhere to save your progress is certainly a choice. The cheapest version of the hardware shipped entirely…
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The PlayStation disc that lived inside a plastic shell
Putting optical media inside a portable device meant to be shoved into pockets was a stroke of absolute madness. Sony created the Universal Media Disc, a tiny…
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The PlayStation Vita had a touchpad on its back
Because poking the front screen wasn't enough, engineers decided the back of the device needed to be rubbed as well. A massive capacitive panel was integrated…
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Why the Sega Saturn had two processors
Why optimize your hardware when you can just violently cram more chips onto the board? Panicking over their competitors' 3D capabilities, engineers slapped a…
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Game Boy Micro was inexplicably tiny and lacked features
At the exact end of its lifecycle, a console was shrunken down to the size of a candy bar purely for aesthetic novelty. It was incredibly sleek with its…
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Xbox One S removed the massive proprietary power brick
For over a decade, fans of this brand simply accepted that their electronics came with a giant, heavy rectangular lump attached to the power cable. The…
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