For three decades, Charles Martinet was the official voice of Mario across Nintendo's platforms. Although Martinet retired from the role in 2023, he still has a great deal of appreciation for his former alter ego.

Martinet recently took part in a Q&A session on the Nintendo Today app (via GamesRadar), and he reiterated the connection he felt to Mario as well as his desire to be more like the character he became synonymous with.

"Everything about Mario is someone I want to be like," said Martinet. "Kind, passionate, always optimistic, facing adversity with a 'let's-a go!' [These are] the sort of characteristics I think the whole world needs more of, and it's certainly who I want to be as a man and as a human being."

The calendar for video game fans has a few notable highlights checkered throughout the year--shows like Summer Game Fest and The Game Awards, tentpole publisher presentations, and increasingly, the regular occurrence of Steam Next Fests. The Next Fest has been growing in size and stature for years, and now it's among the best ways to get a glimpse at future big PC games and sleeper hits alike. It is also now, unfortunately, a regular reminder that the Steam Deck's sorting features are severely lacking.

As someone who's naturally curious to see what's next, both personally and for this job, I'm always excited to check out Next Fest. The biggest draw of Next Fests are the slew of demos, numbering in the thousands. I don't have the time or the storage space to check out more than a few dozen at most, but I'm always eager to browse and find the ones that catch my eye. Which makes it all the more baffling that Steam's signature piece of hardware, the Steam Deck, has no dedicated Demos section.

I suspect how Valve envisions this working is that users will browse the store and download demos directly from their Steam Deck, at which point they'll be added in chronological order to the home screen hub. And that works well enough, if you're only trying a handful of demos at a time.

Veteran screen and voice actor Ben Starr--best known in gaming circles as the voice of Clive in Final Fantasy XVI and Verso in Clair Obscur--is joining the cast of Fortnite as The Visitor. As far as Fortnite characters go, The Visitor is a big one, because he was Fortnite's first actual character when he first popped up during Chapter 1. But this isn't a recasting of the role, because The Visitor didn't speak when he originally appeared. He was the only member of Fortnite's The Seven to appear in the game without speaking. Until now, anyway. You'll be able to hear Starr's performance as The Visitor by doing story quests and picking up audio logs around the Battle Royale island.

I’m joining Fortnite as The Visitor.
I’m so excited to bring back this iconic member of The Seven. I imagine I’ll be very normal about it. pic.twitter.com/cUNBkr2gWG

When Epic Games began the hype cycle for Fortnite Chapter 7 in November, the company marketed it as "Chapter Seven," a very clear nod to the team of Fortnite-original multiverse warriors that have been missing from the game entirely since the end of Chapter 3. But their return hasn't been quick. It began with the appearance of the character known as The Order appearing in a locked cell under Classified Canyon, and continued with story quests to free her. The Visitor will be the next interloper from The Seven.

But it won't actually be the same Visitor from Chapter 1. This version, which debuted on the Season 5 OG Pass last summer, is a variant from a different timeline than the original one. Since Brie Larson's version of The Paradigm was also an alternate-reality variant of that character, The Seven actually has nine current members that we know of.

Kratos doesn't tend to talk too much, saying only what he needs to and grunting the rest of the time. However, he had a lot to say this time, with voice actor Christopher Judge talking a bit too much about developer Santa Monica Studio's God of War trilogy remake.

As spotted by Kotaku, YouTuber Fuzhpuzy posted their encounter with Judge at Fan Expo Vancouver 2026. The video has since been deleted, but mirrors of it are still up. Fuzhpuzy had asked if Judge was playing Kratos in the remake trilogy, to which he reiterated that Kratos' original voice actor, T.C. Carson, will reprise his role as the God of War.

Judge also told Fuzhpuzy that the team is "putting all the new technology in it [and] adding more stuff" to the God of War remake trilogy, including "a fighting system." He later said that "you'll then be hearing about what we're doing probably later this summer." And no, he doesn't voice Kratos in God of War Sons of Sparta, either.