Look closely at Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa, one of Japan's most famous works of art, and the brilliant whites seem almost painted onto the scene. Yet the white foam of the waves, the snow covering Mount Fuji, and the clouds in the sky contain no white pigment at all. Their brightness comes from light scattering off the exposed fibers of the traditional washi paper.
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This effect is known as structural whiteness. Rather than relying on a colored substance, it emerges from the way a material's microscopic structure interacts with light.
The same basic phenomenon appears throughout nature. Sea spray, clouds, and snow all look intensely white because their structures scatter visible light extremely efficiently. Similar effects can be found in plant tissues and even in the foamy protective nests made by some frogs. In many cases, these structures consist largely of air, yet they can produce striking whiteness without any pigment.
That natural strategy inspired an international team led by Professor Easan Sivaniah of Kyoto University's Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), working with researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University and Donghua University. Their goal was to create a new foam-based materials platform that could address two major challenges facing commonly used materials.
Alternatives to Titanium Dioxide and PFAS
White packaging, films, and coatings often depend on titanium dioxide (TiO2), which provides both brightness and opacity. However, safety concerns recently prompted the European Union to ban titanium dioxide as a food additive.
Another widely used group of chemicals, known as PFAS, helps materials repel water and oil. These fluorinated substances are increasingly under scrutiny because they can persist in the environment and may pose environmental and health risks. Those concerns have intensified efforts worldwide to find alternatives.
The researchers approached both problems by focusing on physical structure rather than added chemicals. They engineered carefully controlled porous materials that imitate the way natural foams scatter light while also drawing inspiration from water-repellent surfaces found on leaves and flower petals.
"A key challenge faced by biomimetic science is realizing environmentally friendly material designs inspired by nature at the scale and cost of existing materials," said Assoc. Prof. Taiki Yanagishima of Tokyo Metropolitan University.
Light and a Mild Solvent Create the Foam
The manufacturing method is relatively simple. First, the polymer is exposed to light. That light breaks the polymer into smaller molecular fragments. The material is then treated with a mild solvent, which interacts with those fragments and causes the polymer to swell.
As the material expands, it develops an open network of microscopic pores. This single transformation gives the material two useful properties.
Inside the material, the porous structure scatters light so effectively that it appears intensely white without any added pigment. At the surface, the foam develops an extremely rough texture that strongly repels water, much like the surface of a lotus leaf.
The team calls the process Deep Foam Photolithography (DFP).
From Polymer Films to Fabrics
In collaboration with textile researchers at Donghua University, one of China's leading institutions for textile science and engineering, the researchers showed that the method works on more than just printable polymer films. It can also be applied to fabrics.
Another advantage is that the process does not depend on developing entirely new specialty chemicals. The researchers have already demonstrated DFP using several commercially available polymers.
The resulting printable materials platform can achieve ultrahigh resolution (20,000 DPI). At the same time, it combines structural whiteness with water-management functionality without titanium dioxide and without PFAS.
Building Function Into the Material Itself
The approach could create new opportunities for lighter materials while reducing reliance on mined mineral pigments and persistent fluorinated chemicals.
Instead of adding pigments to produce color or applying persistent chemical coatings to control how surfaces interact with water, the researchers build those properties directly into the material's physical structure.
By using microscopic architecture to control light and water, the technology offers a fundamentally different and potentially more sustainable approach to designing everyday materials. Rather than depending primarily on chemistry, the material itself is structured to provide the desired function. %!s()
Is Game Pass still worth it? It's an open question. After a big price increase and another confusing restructure of the subscription service's various tiers in late 2025, the price was reduced, but the service also started losing features — so the question is harder than ever to answer. As ever, it's subjective, and depends on how you play games. But there's no denying that Game Pass still has a huge catalog of great games available, and we're here to help you navigate it with our pick of the service's best PC and Xbox games across all the tiers.
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After a huge 2025, which saw the addition of the likes of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Hollow Knight: Silksong, 2026 has been a bit quieter for the service. But there have been some monster back-catalog additions, including CD Projekt's Cyberpunk 2077 and a huge tranche of Ubisoft games, plus a few notable day-one drops, including Forza Horizon 6 and Halo: Campaign Evolved.
Our latest update to this list on Sep. 9 added Forza Horizon 6, Luna Abyss, Denshattack!, Blood Dungeon, and Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Remastered.
How we pick the best games on Game Pass
With the sheer size and the bounty of choice it offers, Game Pass can be a bit overwhelming to digest. But we’re here to help. The Polygon staff plays a lot of video games, and everything in this list comes personally recommended by at least one of us. We determined what should be on our list of the best games on Game Pass by looking at the quality of each title, but also with an eye for breadth and variety — so you should find something on the list you’ll enjoy, no matter what genres of game you like, how much time you have, or what vibe you are after.
1
Forza Horizon 6
Image: Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios
Where to play: Game Pass Ultimate on Windows PC and Xbox Series X
Playground Games' world-conquering driving games ought to be running out of steam by now, and it's true that the open-world framework and festival vibes of Forza Horizon 6 are deeply familiar and fairly light on innovation. But the thing is, it still works — it really, really works. The new map, based on Japan, is the series' most beautiful and soul-stirring yet (which is really saying something). And the racing action is endlessly rewarding and engrossing, while being tuned to be a little less overwhelming and scattershot than Forza Horizon 5, with more purposeful progression. Forza Horizon will be dethroned one day, but that day is yet to come. —Oli Welsh
Read Oli Welsh's full review of Forza Horizon 6.
2
Luna Abyss
Image: Kwalee Labs/Kwalee
Where to play: Game Pass Ultimate on Windows PC and Xbox Series X
Luna Abyss is a short and sweet sci-fi shooter from indie developer Kwalee Labs, which sadly had to close after the game was widely ignored at launch. That's a shame, because it's well worth your time. This short-and-sweet sci-fi shooter melds intense, punchy firefights in the style of Doom with Metroid Prime's lock-on combat and fluid first-person platforming, adding the bullet-hell boss fights of Returnal and Saros for good measure. It's stylish, confident, gonzo action: a perfect Game Pass game. —OW
Read Giovanni Colantonio's impressions of Luna Abyss.
3
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Remastered
Image: Level-5/Bandai Namco Entertainment
Where to play: Game Pass Premium and Ultimate on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X
This gorgeous turn-based RPG from 2011 centers on a young boy who dons a magical cloak and enters a fantasy world where he engages in high adventure and tactical battles featuring a range of adorable critters. It's a collaboration between genre specialist Level-5 (Professor Layton, Dragon Quest 8 and 9) and the revered animators at Studio Ghibli, who contributed some cutscenes. There's also a beautiful musical score Ghibli's regular composer Joe Hisaishi. Perfect comfort gaming. —OW
4
Denshattack!
Image: Undercodes/Fireshine Games
Where to play: Game Pass Ultimate on Windows PC and Xbox Series X
This totally original, scintillating indie is a barmy mash-up of train simulator and extreme sports game, with an aesthetic inspired by the cel-shaded Dreamcast classic Jet Set Radio. It's a lightning-fast take on a score-attack arcade game, in which you jump, drift, and flip your train car around a surreal post-apocalyptic Japan, participating in the illegal train stunt races staged by a rogue community of surface-dwellers. It's blindingly fast, yet somehow your fingers keep up, and it's guarnateed to plaster a huge grin on your face. Pure, distilled video gaming. —OW
Read Giovanni Colantonio's full review of Denshattack!
5
Blood Dungeon
Image: Messhof
Where to play: Game Pass Ultimate on Windows PC and Xbox Series X
There's a brutal, scuzzy simplicity to this lo-fi dungeon crawler from Messhof, makers of Nidhogg. It mashes up Vampire Survivor's "bullet heaven" style of auto-shooter with 2D platforming and a gleefully immature sensibility in which crude doodle figures transform into unstoppable murder machines. It's got a faster pace than some other games in the genre, while the platforming gives you a little more to do, but it's still all about escalating your firepower as fast as possible over repeated runs. Dumb but totally hypnotic. —OW
Read Giovanni Colantonio's full review of Blood Dungeon.
6
Hades 2
Image: Supergiant Games
Where to play: Game Pass Premium and Ultimate on Windows PC and Xbox Series X
Supergiant's sequel to its universally adored hit roguelike finally arrives on Xbox — and on Game Pass. Officially the best new game of 2025 if you believe Metacritic (or second best, if you believe us), Hades 2 is another sexy, circuitous, sharply drawn and designed dungeon-crawl through the highways and byways of Greek mythology. This time you play Melinoë, princess of the Underworld and sister to the first game's protagonist, Zagreus, and your mission is to kill Chronos, the Titan of Time.
Hades' brilliant structure hasn't changed at all; you're still dying and starting again, dying and starting again. The game's focus is less on increasing your power than increasing your tactical options, and steadily inching forward the storyline and relationships, too. Hades 2 fixes some things and adds quite a lot more; arguably it embellishes a little too much, given the first game was nearly perfect. But it's still a fabulous, beautiful, challenging, and beguiling action game. —OW
Read Ari Notis' full review of Hades 2.
7
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Image: Warhorse Studios/Deep Silver
Where to play: Game Pass Premium and Ultimate on Windows PC and Xbox Series X
While you could hardly call it ignored — it was a big hit on its release in 2025, and it got excellent reviews — Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is still somewhat underappreciated, and hopefully it will find a new audience on Game Pass. Warhorse's RPG is nothing short of a masterpiece of medieval realism that stops at nothing to put you in the muddy boots of Henry of Skalitz, a former blacksmith's apprentice who starts the game as a lowly peasant.
From the deep storytelling and rich dialogue system to the way the game pays close attention to social status and its brutally unforgiving and unglamorous combat, Deliverance 2 is a deeply immersive experience that's quite distinct from the wish-fulfilment fantasies of other open-world games — even The Witcher 3, with which it shares a certain central European griminess. The lively characters, spirited dialogue, and captivating side-quests only enrich it further. Starting the game in such a low station is rough, but don't be put off: Deliverance 2 will repay your investment tenfod. —OW
Read Marloes Valentina Stella's full review of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, "the best RPG I've ever played."
8
Minishoot’ Adventures
Image: SoulGame Studio/IndieArk
Where to play: Game Pass Premium and Ultimate on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X
Sometimes the recipe for a great game really is as simple as sticking two much-loved but seemingly unrelated game concepts together. Minishoot' Adventures asks: What if a Geometry Wars-style twin-stick shoot-'em-up was also an old-school 2D Zelda game? You'd have an absolute gem of an indie, that's what.
Minishoot' Adventures developer SoulGame Studio doesn't elaborate on this concept, particularly, but it doesn't need to. Instead, it concentrates on nailing the feel of the game: the pop and tinkle of combat and collectibles; the well-judged RPG-lite progression as you improve your little craft's fire rate, damage, and so on; the clear-cut challenge of the bullet-hell boss fights. It even has dungeons. A brilliant idea, executed to perfection. —OW
Read Giovanni Colantonio's full recommendation for Minishoot' Adventures,"one of 2024's best indies."
9
1000xResist
Image: sunset visitor
Where to play: Game Pass Premium and Ultimate on Windows PC and Xbox Series X
As a pure narrative experience, 1000xResist — a 2024 release from indie developer Sunset Visitor — might be the best, most gripping, and most artfully composed game-as-story available on Game Pass. It's a deep, nuanced sci-fi tale about Watcher, one of many clones of Iris, a survivor of an alien pandemic that all but wiped out humanity. Iris' immunity to the disease has brought her close to godhood, but as Watcher and her sisters explore Iris' memories, they realize she might have feet of clay.
Gameplay-wise, 1000xResist is very simple, closer to a visual novel than anything else. But the dialogue, character work, and sensitively handled, complex themes raise the bar for video game storytelling. A one-of-a-kind experience. —OW
Read Yussef Cole's full review of 1000xResist.
10
The Alters
Image: 11 Bit Studios via Polygon
Where to play: Game Pass Premium and Ultimate on Windows PC and Xbox Series X
One of the great strengths of Game Pass is the frequency with which it serves up fascinating games from ambitious, mid-sized studios that you might not have thought to buy, but that can quickly take over your life. 11 Bit Studios’ The Alters is a perfect example. It’s an engrossing, thought-provoking, and gripping sci-fi adventure about cloning yourself to survive an inhospitable planet, and somehow keeping all your clones happy.
As you might expect from the studio that made the bleak city management game Frostpunk, The Alters is heavy on resource management and time management, agonizing moral quandaries, and enjoyably stressful scenarios. The gameplay loses a little steam in the game’s later stretches, but the story will compel you to keep you going until its roundly satisfying end. —OW
Read Austin Manchester’s full review of The Alters. %!s()
Labor won’t race One Nation to the bottom on migration, Hill says
After the South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, sternly warned his federal counterparts against engaging in a race to the bottom with One Nation by drastically cutting migration, the assistant multicultural minister, Julian Hill, says that won’t happen.
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Malinauskas said in a speech in Sydney last night that populism has well and truly arrived in Australia and the government should push back against it – and said this morning that Labor should be speaking more positively about migration.
Speaking to RN Breakfast earlier this morning, Hill says Labor has learned its lesson already … with the Greens.
double quotation markI learnt this 20 years ago. You can’t outgreen the Greens. If we say 10, they’ll say 20. We say 20, they’ll say 40. It’s a populist business model.
The government has no intention of engaging in a race to the bottom that would destroy the economy or, frankly, smash family life for millions of Australians across our country.
Key events
23m ago
Labor won’t race One Nation to the bottom on migration, Hill says
1h ago
Former Liberal MP Moira Deeming announces she will join Family First party
2h ago
Lambie furious over ‘disgusting’ One Nation video calling Hastie a ‘traitor’
3h ago
Hastie labels Hanson ‘weak and glass jawed’
4h ago
Don’t appease One Nation on migration, Malinauskas warns
4h ago
Australia should ‘put shoulder to the wheel’ on multilateral diplomacy: Rudd
Digital duty of care draft bill ‘unacceptable’ to the Coalition
Angus Taylor has confirmed the Coalition won’t support the government’s digital duty of care bill in its current form, because it would enforce political censorship.
Speaking alongside the Nationals leader, Matt Canavan (who has gone out particularly hard against this legislation), and the shadow communications minister, Sarah Henderson, Taylor says the government’s can’t be trusted with these rules.
The opposition has said the government has too many powers to broaden the definitions of harm that tech platforms will have to protect adults and children against. The government has said any changes will be able to be rejected by the Senate.
Taylor says:
double quotation markThis exposure draft, this bill, is unacceptable in its current form because the reality is it’s providing a blank cheque for political censorship to the minister, to the government.
Canavan adds:
double quotation markI don’t want to see a government be given a virtual iron dome to protect themselves and insulate themselves from people’s feedback.
The Labor party, in recent weeks, has blamed an election loss in Western Australia on social media and so the people, the same people that are complaining they’re losing elections, losing political debates based on what is said on social media, can’t be given the power then to regulate what you can say and read online.
Labor won’t race One Nation to the bottom on migration, Hill says
After the South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, sternly warned his federal counterparts against engaging in a race to the bottom with One Nation by drastically cutting migration, the assistant multicultural minister, Julian Hill, says that won’t happen.
Malinauskas said in a speech in Sydney last night that populism has well and truly arrived in Australia and the government should push back against it – and said this morning that Labor should be speaking more positively about migration.
Speaking to RN Breakfast earlier this morning, Hill says Labor has learned its lesson already … with the Greens.
double quotation markI learnt this 20 years ago. You can’t outgreen the Greens. If we say 10, they’ll say 20. We say 20, they’ll say 40. It’s a populist business model.
The government has no intention of engaging in a race to the bottom that would destroy the economy or, frankly, smash family life for millions of Australians across our country.
Greens support strengthened powers for eSafety commissioner on social media ban
The Senate is currently voting on the government’s bill to increase the powers of the eSafety commissioner in her quest to crack down on tech platforms breaching the under-16s social media ban.
The government sold it as pretty uncontroversial legislation that gives the commissioner powers like being able to compel more hard evidence like paper documents from tech platforms to show they’re doing the right thing.
The Greens are voting for the government amendments to the legislation, but the Coalition aren’t.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says:
double quotation markIt’s very hard, of course, to implement any of these rules if these companies can keep their tricks and tactics locked down in secret, it’s why we need proper transparency when it comes to exactly what is going on what is happening under the hoods of these toxic algorithms.
Former Liberal MP Moira Deeming announces she will join Family First party
Benita Kolovos
Moira Deeming, the former Victorian Liberal MP, has announced she will lead the conservative Family First party at the November state election.
Joined by the party’s leader, Lyle Shelton, at parliament this morning, Deeming told reporters Family First was a “good fit”.
double quotation markA lot of parties invited me [to join] … and it was very flattering and very gracious to them all. But I had to have a really good think about it. And as I said, I’ve known Lyle for so long, and I know that he’s a man of good character and I know that he’s never going to ask me to be quiet about child safeguards and sex-based rights.
Deeming, who sits in the upper house for the Western Metropolitan Region, quit the Liberals in July after she was disendorsed by the party. It came after she accused fellow Liberal MP Matthew Guy of grabbing her “violently” in a headlock, but later said she misunderstood the meaning of headlock.
Her first term in Victorian state parliament has been marred with controversy, including when she successfully sued former Liberal leader John Pesutto for defamation after he falsely claimed she was associated with neo-Nazis who crashed a rally she attended.
Moira Deeming. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP
Jumping back to that press conference on the national gas reservation scheme, the government says it’s long overdue.
Tim Ayres says:
double quotation markWe are the only gas producing economy in the world on any scale that does not have an obligation on our domestic producers to secure gas for our own industry and its own households
Madeleine King says that the east coast and west coast will be treated as two different markets. Why? Because they currently produce gas separately and there’s no connecting pipeline between them, which means the east coast won’t be able to fill their reservation requirements just by selling to the west and vice versa.
Hanson says she has never called Hastie a traitor
Pauline Hanson was tight-lipped on her way into parliament this morning when swamped by journalists at the doors.
This is all she said:
double quotation markI have never called him a traitor. End of question.
Andrew Hastie has said Hanson should take ownership for the language in the One Nation cartoon, which is pinned to the top of her X account.
Labor confirms watering down of gas reservation plan
The government will require gas producers to save “up to” one-fifth of their production for the local market instead of a hard 20%, in a watering down of the policy.
Labor is releasing the draft legislation for the scheme this morning - the energy minister, Chris Bowen, industry minister Tim Ayres and resources minister, Madeleine King, are holding a press conference.
Here was the original plan, where the government said an oversupply of domestic gas would help to reduce prices for households and businesses.
But now the government has slightly changed its tune after consultation. Bowen says:
double quotation markThere is an obligation to supply gas to Australian industry. But there are other things where we’ve had suggestions about how we can effectively achieve that modest oversupply that we said all along was our objective and we’ve incorporated that in the design. So this sets us up for the future.
It’s good policy for certainty, it’s good policy for our environmental credentials as well. Our requirement in many ways, despite the complexity is modest. Keep up to 20% of your gas for Australians. So Australian gas should be for Australian use.
King says existing contractual obligations will remain the same.
The scheme will commence on 1 January 2027.
Andrew Hastie being dubbed a traitor is ‘disgraceful’, the Greens’ David Shoebridge says
They may not align politically, but Greens senator David Shoebridge has also come out swinging in defence of Andrew Hastie and his fight with One Nation.
Shoebridge tells News24 it’s “disgraceful” for One Nation to attack Andrew Hastie for giving evidence against Ben Roberts-Smith in his failed defamation trial.
And he sounds pretty furious too.
double quotation markI disagree with pretty much everything that comes out of Hastie’s mouth, like his whole suite of policies are things that I tend to oppose. I’m not saying it 100%, but pretty much everything comes out of his mouth.
But for the life of me, I can’t work out how any political party can stand by an attack on somebody because they go into court and they tell the truth as they understand it. And doing it in circumstances where you’re facing a whole bunch of pressure and the idea that you make that your political attack on somebody.
I mean it’s actually pretty fucking disgraceful to attack him for that.
‘No graver accusation’ than One Nation labelling Hastie a traitor, Paterson says
The shadow defence minister, James Paterson, has come out to bat for his colleague Andrew Hastie in his fight against One Nation.
Speaking to News24 earlier, the Victorian senator said the rightwing party had crossed a line and said they “should be ashamed of themselves”.
Paterson echoed the call of Hastie, that Pauline Hanson should take responsibility for the One Nation cartoon video labelling the SAS veteran a traitor, and called her weak for not owning it.
double quotation markI’m conscious that I’ve not served today in uniform. And like Pauline Hanson and James Ashby and most of One Nation, I would never dream of accusing someone who has served in uniform for our country of being a traitor. There’s no graver accusation to me particularly about someone like Andrew Hastie.
I think they should be ashamed of themselves. And I think Pauline Hanson showed her weakness last night in her interview with Chris Kenny, where she refused to take responsibility for a cartoon, which is pinned to the top of her X page, which she authorises, which she provides the voiceover for … she refused to take responsibility, but she also refused to repeat those words about Andrew Hastie. I think that shows weakness and I think, frankly, she should toughen up and take responsibility.
James Paterson. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Lambie furious over ‘disgusting’ One Nation video calling Hastie a ‘traitor’
Jacqui Lambie, an independent senator and defence veteran, has blasted Pauline Hanson and One Nation’s cartoon video calling Andrew Hastie a traitor after he gave evidence against Ben Roberts-Smith in his failed defamation trial.
Lambie doesn’t mince her words. Like Hastie, Lambie says the video is an attack on all veterans and says Hanson is showing her “true colours”.
She tells RN Breakfast the cartoon should be removed immediately:
double quotation markWhat she’s doing in those cartoons is absolutely disgusting. They are full of bloody violence. I mean, how people can watch that rubbish is beyond me. But attacking Andrew Hastie, a veteran that has served in our Afghanistan war, or any other veteran, is the lowest ebb you can possibly do. That woman is nothing less than a bloody coward.
I tell you what, you’re seeing her true colours start to shine now. You watch this, the Australian people. Here comes coward Hanson. What needs to happen? I think what she should do is instead of saying, oh, it’s everybody else’s, these cartoons, those cartoons that she’s running out there, they are disgusting. They are absolutely disgusting. And she should remove that one of Hastie down right now today. And any veteran out there thinking about voting for One Nation or standing for them, I tell you what, you had better think twice.
Israeli government’s policies and actions ‘unconscionable’
Julian Hill says he’s been “extremely outspoken” about the increasing settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, but won’t say how far the government will go with new sanctions.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, this week announced the government would take more action against the settlements but wouldn’t follow the UK in implementing trade bans.
Hill tells RN Breakfast:
double quotation markThis is against international law and the current Israeli government’s policies and actions are unconscionable. The government has already taken significant steps. We’ve sanctioned Israeli ministers, we’ve sanctioned individuals, we’ve sanctioned entities.
We never speculate on specific measures before we take them. Sanctions are ultimately an expression, a serious powerful legal tool, an expression of our national interest looking at the international circumstance. And when the foreign minister signs off on new measures, she’ll announce them at that time.
Julian Hill, right, with Anthony Albanese. Photograph: Erik Anderson/AAP
MrBeast can add best-selling author to his resumé.
The creator (real name Jimmy Donaldson) and James Patterson‘s new novel, The Most Dangerous Games, has debuted at No. 3 on The New York Times hardcover-fiction bestseller list.
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In addition, the book ranks at No. 1 on Amazon’s list of mystery, thriller and suspense new releases and No. 2 in action and adventure new releases. It also reached No. 2 on Amazon new-release list and is on the top 10 list of USA Today‘s bestsellers.
Donaldson is also selling the book on his own website, but those numbers don’t factor in to the bestseller lists.
Meanwhile, sources inside his company confirm there are active talks around film rights.
According to the book’s webpage, the logline is: “A thousand strangers receive the invitation. One hundred make the cut. An unprecedented competition from MrBeast, the world’s #1 creator with more than a billion followers, and James Patterson, the world’s #1 bestselling author, where the stakes couldn’t be higher.
“The Games begin in Antarctica, where one wrong step “on the ice kills you, and they never let up: Shark water off a remote Chilean island, desert heat that cooks you where you stand, storm-battered peaks, and caves so black you cannot find your own hand. No rescue. No second chances. A billion dollars to whoever is still standing.
“Then the terrain stops being the thing that can kill you, and the other players start. Alliances turn into ambushes. Trust becomes the sharpest weapon. And somewhere above it all, a hidden voice is watching every move, testing, deciding who deserves to survive.”
The book came about when Patterson traveled to Greenville, North Carolina, where Donaldson lives and operates his business, to brainstorm some ideas. While on a walk around the property, the two discussed the vision and officially greenlit the project and co-developed the core concept.
Patterson then constructed the story outline, meeting weekly with Donaldson to review drafts, provide notes and refine the narrative. It’s understood that Patterson became a writing mentor to Donaldson, who learned more about traditional storytelling outside of YouTube as well as insight into how to craft a tale of suspense, develop characters and drive the narrative.
Donaldson and Patterson have been promoting the book on social media, including in a YouTube short titled “Read My Book, You Could Win $1,000,000.” Donaldson, who has 515 million subscribers on YouTube, is known for giving away money to his followers for taking part in (and successfully completing) various outlandish stunts. He also hosts competition series Beast Games on Prime Video. %!s()
The Mother of Dragons is returning... but with a twist
Image: Helen Sloan/HBO
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It's safe to say that Game of Thrones has become a cultural juggernaut. George R.R. Martin's book series, and the web of TV series that have been inspired by it, have been dominating our pop culture for years, and a few of the biggest characters are about to make a comeback.
Game of Thrones: War for Westeros, a new real-time strategy game from Playside Studios, premiered its latest trailer at Gamescom Opening Night Live last month. The trailer showcased the best look yet at the game's epic battles, all while confirming some of the characters who can lead a player's army. In addition to Jon Snow, Robb Stark, and Jaime Lannister, the trailer unveiled the game's take on two of the franchise's standout characters: Daenerys Targaryen (modeled after Emilia Clarke's portrayal on the TV show) and the Night King.
The trailer for War for Westeros also appeared to confirm that, once a player's army wins a match, their leader gets to sit on the Iron Throne. Depending on which character's army a player chooses, this might provide a sort of wish fulfillment, as the claim to the Iron Throne became very messy in the later seasons of the show. Daenerys, in particular, was just minutes away from claiming the Iron Throne when she was killed by Jon Snow... and her trusty dragon, Drogon, melted it after her death.
While the flagship adaptation of Game of Thrones ended in 2019, the franchise has still found ways to endure. Two of the saga's prequel series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and House of the Dragon, have already aired seasons on HBO this year. House of the Dragon, which chronicles the end of the Targaryen dynasty, is expected to conclude with a fourth and final season in 2028. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, meanwhile, will get a second season inspired by Martin's novella The Sworn Sword, which is scheduled to premiere in 2027. A stage production from the Royal Shakespeare Company, titled Game of Thrones: The Mad King, also premiered over the summer, and is set to transfer to London next year.
This year also brought news that Game of Thrones will finally be headed to the big screen, as Warner Bros. Pictures is developing a movie inspired by the "Aegon's Conquest" storyline from Martin's first prequel book, Fire & Blood. While these new onscreen stories might not include Daenerys and many of the other characters from her era, at least War for Westeros will be there to keep their legacy alive when the game debuts in 2027. %!s()
Image: Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios
Image: Kwalee Labs/Kwalee
Image: Level-5/Bandai Namco Entertainment
Image: Undercodes/Fireshine Games
Image: Messhof
Image: Supergiant Games
Image: Warhorse Studios/Deep Silver
Image: SoulGame Studio/IndieArk
Image: sunset visitor
Image: 11 Bit Studios via Polygon
Image: Helen Sloan/HBO