Deep dive
Grand Theft Auto IV: Why Liberty City Still Gets Under Your Skin
A deep dive into GTA IV’s Liberty City, Niko Bellic, weighty driving, complicated friendships, and the two expansions that complete its portrait.
12 min readRead story
A new level of gaming
Gaming news, guides, retro deep dives & collecting
All in. All game.
Latest edition
Start exploring
Find the games, guides and deep dives worth coming back for.
OFF YOUR RADAR
A different corner of the XP archive. One click, one new rabbit hole.
The Zypher XP collection
Good stories do not expire. Search every story, revisit a franchise, or start at the beginning.
67 stories
A deep dive into GTA IV’s Liberty City, Niko Bellic, weighty driving, complicated friendships, and the two expansions that complete its portrait.
Celeste pairs demanding movement with a quick return to the next attempt. Its lasting design question is how much room a player gets to learn.
Virtual Boy’s 1995 stereoscopic hardware had an awkward fit as a Nintendo platform. Nintendo’s own account explains the mismatch, while the 2026 Classics release gives its ...
Nintendo’s 1998 Game Boy Camera and Printer made a pocket-sized path from digital pictures to physical stickers. Here is what the pair could do and what owners can still pr...
Animal transformations shape Wonder Boy's adventure, while its switchable artwork and audio let players examine what the remake preserves and reinterprets.
Zypher began as a gaming YouTube idea in 2021. More than 80,000 fulfilled orders later, DJ tells the story of the memories, obsession, reinvestment, people, and standards b...
PSP Go removed the UMD drive, added 16GB of flash storage and bet on downloads in 2009. Here is why that choice matters even more to owners now.
Target flashes, CRT scan timing, LED markers and software borders solve aiming in different ways. Here is what those differences mean for preserving a playable light-gun se...
Streets of Rage 4 makes special attacks a recoverable health risk. Here is how that trade-off reshapes crowd control, and what to know about co-op and DLC.
The 3DS still plays physical games, but its storefront and most online play are gone. Here is what remains and the final Pokémon Bank deadline.
Slim console revisions can change storage, networking, ports, compatibility and included hardware. Here is how to verify the exact model before you buy.
Shovel Knight starts with one wonderfully clear move, then Treasure Trove keeps changing what a jump, a wall, and an enemy can mean.
Why a Vita card didn't guarantee compatibility, what Sony's component write-down meant, and which PS TV functions a collector should check before buying.
Factorio ties its production lines to the trouble beyond its walls. How pollution, enemy evolution and automation make factory building a question of survival.
Sega stopped Dreamcast production in 2001, but the game library continued. Follow the business exit, later releases and hardware that collectors should keep with the games.
Stardew Valley turns farming, friendships, caves and seasons into a web of small choices. Here is why its routine still feels purposeful instead of mechanical.
A dead clock battery can reset dates and settings without erasing every save. Here is how that distinction works on GameCube, Wii and PlayStation 2 hardware.
Kinect went from a camera for movement-based games to part of every Xbox One, then became optional. The dated decisions explain what changed and what collectors need to pre...
Split-screen, system link and local wireless do more than put friends in one room. They preserve ways to play that can survive after matchmaking and hosted services change.
OpenTTD remains compelling because every jammed junction and overloaded station exposes a network problem you can actually redesign.
Google Stadia promised gaming without a console, then closed its consumer service. Here is what Google confirmed, why the strategy narrowed, and what owners can still use.
Across Fable, Fable II and Fable III, a hero’s appearance, neighbors and responsibilities turn choice into a visible life in Albion. A researched look at Lionhead’s origina...
Halo 3 gives its weapons, vehicles and equipment room to change a fight. A closer look at that design, Forge, Saved Films and the versions available to revisit.
Nintendo's own statements explain Wii U's confused pitch and stalled momentum. Here's what its commercial failure and later service closures mean for owners now.
There is always another way in
No stories match. Try a different search or clear your filters.
