Museum features consoles from 1983’s Famicom to 2017’s Switch, as well as honouring Nintendo’s pre-video-game era Traditionally, visitors to Kyoto in October come for momijigari, the turning of the autumn leaves in the city’s picturesque parks. This autumn, however, there is a new draw: a Nintendo museum. The new attraction, which opens on Wednesday, is best described as a chapel of video game nostalgia. Upstairs, Nintendo’s many video game consoles, from 1983’s Famicom through 1996’s Nintendo 64 to 2017’s Switch, are displayed reverently alongside their most famous games. On the back wall, visitors can also peer at toys, playing cards and other artefacts from the Japanese company’s pre-video-game history, stretching back to its founding as a hanafuda playing card manufacturer in 1889. Downstairs, there are interactive exhibits with comically gigantic controllers and floor-projected playing cards. Continue reading...

A Twitch streamer claims to be able to control games with her mind. I thought it was telekinetic baloney – so I went round to give it a go I am sitting in a house in North London with electrodes attached to my temporal lobes to supposedly learn how to control video games with my mind. Wait, let me explain. In July, twentysomething Twitch streamer Perri Karyal hit headlines when she claimed to have defeated two bosses in Elden Ring by thought alone. The cynics, being cynics, were soon to call her out on social media. “It’s faked,” posted @gamerguru2924. “What a fraud,” yelled @saucypepperoni. “This is some bullshit, why are you fools believing this?” considered @Pennywyze-ub7ry. Continue reading...