Month: February 2018

Enlarge / The object of each Dig Dog stage is simple: dig through the level to find a bone. And watch out for enemies along the way.

Update: The solid, unassuming Dig Dog is kind of an ideal "Spelunky on the go" type of video game, and we enjoyed happening upon it first during the 2017 Fantastic Arcade in Austin, Texas. This weekend, Dig Dog gets a proper re-release on the Nintendo Switch, so we're taking an opportunity to resurface this article that's ultimately less review and more origin story. After all, Dig Dog isn't just a solid, cheap option to enjoy with Switch's portable mode—it's also a remarkable example of a game coded and drawn as a hands-free experiment. This piece originally published on February 9, 2018, and it appears unchanged below.

Dig Dog is a pretty fun little video game. Call it "Spelunky for kids"—and don't think of that as a backhanded compliment, either. Dig Dog, which launched Thursday on iOS, Xbox, Windows, and Mac, shaves away some of the genre's complications, controls smoothly, and has depth. It's as if the modern wave of randomly generated, dig-for-surprises adventures had existed in early '80s arcades. (And all for only $3!)

I liked Dig Dog enough when I stumbled upon it at last year's Fantastic Arcade event in Austin, Texas. But my interest in the game spiked when its creator reached out ahead of this week's launch to confirm something I'm not sure any other video game creator has done: coding an entire game by himself... without using his hands.

Enlarge / Six graphics cards sit in a mining rig built by Philadelphia miner Matthew Freilich. (credit: Matthew Freilich)

The cryptocurrency boom has created a persistent shortage of high-end graphics cards. That has been a headache for gamers, who have to pay inflated prices for GPUs—if they can find them at all. But it has been a financial windfall to leading graphics card makers Nvidia and AMD.

On Thursday, Nvidia reported soaring profits for the fourth quarter of 2017—a period when rapidly rising prices for Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies was driving a boom in amateur cryptocurrency mining with graphics cards.

"Strong demand in the cryptocurrency market exceeded our expectations," Nvidia chief financial officer Colette Kress said in a call with analysts on Thursday.

(credit: Valentina Palladino)

We, the unfeeling and tech-obsessed robots of Ars Technica, are not ones for romance. We’re usually more concerned with the inner workings of operating systems, gaming consoles, and Internet regulation than those of the human heart. But we realize that love is a powerful drug and that Valentine’s Day is a time for many Ars readers to show appreciation for their partners. It’s also, for better or worse, a time to buy things.

So to help you nerdy romantics, we’ve compiled a few Ars-y recommendations that should do right by your significant other. To be clear: Gadgets and love aren’t always a natural fit. Don’t just buy one of these things and call it a day; take your partner out to dinner, buy them chocolate, do something you both enjoy. Or mutually decide that Valentine’s Day is a commerce-manufactured, stereotype-reinforcing holiday and do nothing.

Whatever the case, here are a few suggestions for treating your dorky lover.