Now I'm imagining all his Spider-Man scenes except that it's done in Skyrim for some reason
Battle Royale: The Last Generation Of An SNES-CD Saga
- Thread starter RySenkari
- Start date
Invincible for me. “You’re only level eight and you’re trying to fight a giant? THINK MARK THINK!”
December 2018 - It Always Fits, Eventually
For fans of the Mario Bros. games, Phil Lord and Chris Miller's animated “Super Mario Bros.” is a delight, and a far better film than the live action disaster from a quarter century ago. Nintendo's insistence on retaining the voice cast from the games, with Charles Martinet as Mario, Luigi, and several others, Jen Taylor as Princess Peach, and Kenny James as Bowser, was a very smart decision, and the main characters sound just as they do in the games, though, of course, all of them have a lot more to say.
Spoilers abound in this next paragraph, as I will be covering some of the major plot points and twists from the film itself, so come back after you've seen the movie. The film takes place in the Mushroom Kingdom, and doesn't go too much into the lore of the series itself, as there's really not that much to talk about. Mario and Luigi are plumbers caught up in fantastical adventures, Peach rules the kingdom with wisdom and kindness, Bowser kidnaps her, we all know this. Of course, as this is a 90-minute movie rather than a platforming adventure, the plot does have to be a bit deeper than the typical Mario game, and Lord and Miller, with their comedic genius and subtle character humor, have created something that makes complete sense within the confines of the Mario universe while also capable of keeping general audiences hooked. Bowser remains the main villain here: there's no “bigger bad guy” who comes along to force him to work with the Mario Bros. He wants to rule the Mushroom Kingdom with Peach at his side, and though he gets plenty of comic relief moments, he also gets to be quite menacing, and the fact that he gets to do this while also clearly being genuinely in love with Peach is an example of the film's excellent writing and just how well it captures these characters. At the same time, Mario and Luigi are written perfectly as well: Mario is brave and adventurous, Luigi is a bit cowardly, they both have their differences but also lots of similarities, and work together perfectly in the film, with tons of great brotherly moments between them. Other Mario characters like Yoshi, Toad, Wario, Daisy, and yes, even Waluigi, also get important moments in the film and get their chance to shine, but it truly is about the main four and how much character humor can be drawn out of them. The characterization of Peach, who never just waits around to be rescued but who is always actively working against Bowser and who plays a major role in the final battle, is also perfectly executed, and we even get a chance to see her share some scenes with Daisy in both the beginning and end of the film, scenes that give Daisy's character a distinct personality and role separate from Peach. Bowser's underlings, including his Goombas, Koopas, and Magikoopas, also get plenty of fun and humorous moments through the film, and there are tons of jokes and references that Mario fans will lap up, some of which can even be appreciated by those who've never picked up a video game! Super Mario Bros. is a fun, hilarious, and at times even heartwarming film, a love letter to the Mario franchise and to video games in general, and is an example of a Mario film done right, even if it sticks so closely to the video game formula. What Lord and Miller have done is nothing short of a miracle, and deserves to stand alongside Pixar's Sonic films as an example of how to bring a beloved video game character to life.
3 ½ stars out of 4
-from a review of Super Mario. Bros on Aaron's Film Critiques, posted on December 13, 2018
Dec. 14-16: $85,470,335
Dec. 21-23: $55,732,064
Dec. 21-25: $81,618,336
Dec. 28-30: $37,560,443
Dec. 28-Jan. 1: $60,181,336
Jan. 4-6: $19,053,714
Jan. 11-13: $12,763,528
Jan. 18-20: $8,374,576
Jan. 18-21: $10,225,744
Jan. 25-27: $4,990,736
Feb. 1-3: $3,775,684
Feb. 8-10: $2,551,848
Feb. 15-17: $2,071,400
Feb. 15-18: $2,461,339
Total Domestic Box Office: $373,907,861
Total Worldwide Box Office: $1,001,457,516
-Box Office Mojo's breakdown of the box office revenues of Super Mario Bros. (2018) (first ten North American weekends, plus domestic and worldwide figures, though the film didn't quite beat out the two Sonic the Hedgehog Pixar films at the box office, it still made far, far more money than it cost to produce, and was a huge success for Fox and Nintendo)
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A year after the Kadokawa Massacre, many in the anime industry have begun to move forward, with new projects finally emerging from the shadow of the worst terrorist attack in Japanese history. Though the attack left an indelible stain on many, with many beloved creators, writers, and seiyuu killed, those who were left behind are putting forward some of the most heartfelt and inspiring projects in many years, and in 2019, we're likely to see the first work made that reflects the changed landscape of the industry. Studio Trigger's Billionfold, which revolves around a disillusioned high school girl who is forced to come to terms with her own mental health problems after inadvertently becoming the vessel for a sentient mecha from the ancient past, is said to be "directly influenced" by the events of the Kadokawa tragedy, with the anime's protagonist Kitaya fearing that she may hurt others after being plagued by violent thoughts. The series also pays homage to Neon Genesis Evangelion, though its creator has stated that its plot deals less with the spiritual and more with realistic issues in modern society. The show, which will consist of 24 episodes, is expected to debut in Japan in January of next year, and will be making its way to the West with a fully dubbed version a few months later. Many of Japan's most prominent and popular mangaka and anime creators had close friends who were killed in the tragedy, and tributes to the departed have begun to pop up, mostly in manga, over the past year. The incident is said to have effected Naoko Takeuchi, who narrowly avoided serious injury or worse after backing out of the event where the tragedy took place at the last minute, profoundly, and has delayed production of the long awaited continuation of the Sailor Moon manga, which is now expected to be released in 2019. Takeuchi has mentioned the incident in interviews only a few times, and says that it will likely influence how she creates "for the rest of her life". She has already stated that she will be changing one of the storylines in the upcoming manga, not because it has anything that might be viewed as insensitive in the face of recent events, but, according to Takeuchi, "because my changed worldview has affected how I write certain things, and I was no longer comfortable with how this story thread was going, so I will be doing something entirely different and that required a complete rewrite of an early chapter".
With 2018 seeing the delay or outright cancellation of many anime projects, it's been seen as the "missing year" in the eyes of many hardcore anime fans, and response to this has been controversial, with some supporting studios' decisions to scale back certain projects, and others railing against them. Many of these projects have been moved to 2019, which could end up being the most diverse and crowded year ever for new anime releases, but the loss of so much from 2018's anime landscape has altered the way that many fans view the medium, and some fans have taken to "web anime" as a way to fill the void left by the absence of these projects. While not nearly as sophisticated and skillfully crafted as official anime, web anime, which has popped up on sights like Nico Nico as well as Videocean and others, has proven itself to be quite popular, with Cherry-Cherry Chan, focused on a shoujo superheroine who saves people who don't want to be saved, and Kurayami, a horror-themed anthology in which the creator adapts so-called "creepypastas" to strange visuals and disturbing soundtracks, have been amongst the most popular. Another web anime, Kinoko Saibai, focused on sentient mushrooms who transform into humans to battle evil, started in 2014 but has seen its popularity explode over the past year, especially amongst Western fans. Web anime, with its more independent focus and not having to answer to fan controversies or major studios, has also been able to address the events of the Kadokawa massacre directly, with one popular video on Nico Nico depicting a fan who transforms into a superhero to beat the would-be attacker to death before he can harm anyone. Other webtoons have been more subtle or poignant, showing anime characters mourning the dead, or depicting the killer's thought process via the use of cartoons inhabiting their mind.
The Kadokawa massacre forever altered the landscape of Japanese animation, but the response from both studios and fans has shown that anime and manga are resilient media, and that it will take more than one incident, no matter how terrible, to keep them from entertaining and comforting fans around the world.
-from an article on Tubehound, posted on December 8, 2018
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*A young woman, Rose Alvarez, stands on the GameTV stage. A 22-year-old and original to this timeline, Rose was brought on to replace Mari Takahashi, who stepped down from the show earlier this year.*
Rose: With Super Mario Bros. lighting up the box office, and Squaresoft announcing that their live action TV series Final Fantasy: The Warriors Of Light will be coming to Netflix next fall, adaptations of video game franchises have become a big deal. Some, like Metroid and the Blockbuster Tomb Raider series, have been great. Some, not so much. Many people say that video games should strive to be more true to the games themselves, so we here at GameTV have decided to make our own Final Fantasy series to show what it might be like if the show more accurately replicated people's experiences playing the games. Enjoy!
*We then go to a field, where Austin's character is running around in circles, stabbing goblins with his sword every once in a while.*
Austin Watson: I'M GETTING RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPED!!!! *shows that his muscles are growing every time he stabs a goblin, and he keeps running around in circles doing so*
Christina Grimmie: Ah, Downpour! I can see you're getting leveled up, but shouldn't we go buy some armor?
Avan Jogia: But where are we going to get the money?
Austin: *stabs another goblin, causing gold coins to fly out of its corpse like blood in a Kill Bill movie*
Avan: Ah, works for me.
*They wind up at the armor store, where the proprietor is showing off an incredibly skimpy outfit that's more like a bikini than an actual functional suit of armor*
Christina: Yeah, I'm not wearing that.
Proprietor: But it totally works! *takes the party outside to show the outfit on a training dummy* I call forth the ultimate power!
*A massive dragon summon nukes the training dummy from orbit. It's completely unscathed.*
Christina: Still not wearing that.
Austin: I'll take one!
*The next scene shows the party marching into battle, Avan and Christina's characters are fully decked out in armor while Austin is wearing the skimpy outfit from before. A man playing the Evil Emperor character laughs wickedly.*
Evil Emperor: Now it's time to face your fate! Battle me, for I- *gets struck down by lightning from the heavens*
Christina: What the hell?!
Austin: Look!
*Another powerful evil character descends from the heavens.*
Bryce Papenbrook: Ha! I'm the true enemy!
Christina: Wait, aren't you like God or something?
Austin: Yeah, we were just in church praying to you to revive our fallen teammate and singing worship songs. *quick flash to a scene showing the party in church, singing "Omniwrath is pretty good and totally not evil and stuff" to a melody that sounds a lot like the song "Awesome God"*
Rose: *in an Aerith costume, shown with a massive stab wound through her chest* I'm fine.
Bryce: Well, I'm actually evil! Because controversy!
Avan: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! *falls to the ground, sobbing and having an existential crisis*
-from the December 20, 2018 episode of GameTV
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Game Spotlight: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is an action/adventure video game based on the Spider-Man series of comics, particularly centered on Miles Morales, who plays a similar role in the comics ITTL as he does IOTL. While it does take a few story beats from OTL's animated movie, and also features a somewhat similar comic-inspired animation style, the overall plot is entirely different, focusing more on Miles' individual adventures and relationship with his friends and family, rather than focused on a multiversal crisis with Spider-Men from all around the multiverse. While the game does feature alternate versions of Spider-Man (hence the game's name), they don't play as much of a role in the overall narrative of the game as in the OTL movie, with the role of the alternate Peter Parker being significantly reduced. Instead, Miles' main ally in the game is Spider-Gwen, AKA Gwen Stacy, who in this game isn't from an alternate dimension, but is instead a school-mate of Miles' who has, like him, been leading a secret double life as a superheroine. The game is published by Electronic Arts and developed by a medium-sized studio that's never worked on a Spider-Man game before but has worked on some recently popular games, including TTL's Steep and the Gate series of games. The game plays somewhat like the OTL PS4 Spider-Mans, with a bit less of an open world feel but some slightly improved combat mechanics and web-slinging. The game also makes great use of its comic-like art style, allowing for some fun and unique visuals and jokes that add a bit of comic relief to the game. The player can level up Miles' abilities as they play through the game, either by using them or by collecting power-ups in the game world. It is possible to do side quests and missions in the game, though many of these side quests consist of performing certain tasks in storyline missions, which are a bit more open-ended than in a typical game of this nature. Subduing bad guys in a certain way, taking time to rescue a character or stop a crime in progress, or even talking to certain people can all earn power-ups, and since it's possible to go back and replay missions, none of these optional power-ups are missable. There are also certain segments where it's possible to play as Spider-Gwen, and she has her own set of unique skills and abilities. It's possible to level her up as well, though her skill tree is more straight forward, as you don't get to spend nearly as much time playing as her as you do with Miles. The game features a fairly diverse voice cast, a mix of industry veterans and newcomers, with both Miles and Gwen voiced by young actors fairly new to the industry but both still quite talented in their roles, their performances highly praised. The game's primary antagonist, Doctor Otto Octavius (Doc Ock) is voiced by Darin De Paul.
Into The Spider-Verse begins somewhat like the OTL movie does, with Miles Morales, a brilliant but troubled teenager, becoming Spider-Man after being bitten by a radioactive spider. Unlike in the film, Peter Parker never existed in this world, but Miles isn't the first to have been afflicted, as Gwen Stacy had her own encounter with a radioactive spider about six months earlier. Gwen, who was once sickly as a child with numerous bouts of cancer, was terminally ill when she had her own incident, and made a miraculous recovery since then, after which she became the Ghost Spider and began fighting crime ("Spider-Gwen" is a nickname that Miles gives her after learning her secret about a third of the way through, it annoys her at first but she later comes to find it endearing). Miles struggles to acclimate to his powers until he falls through a dimensional vortex and encounters the Peter Parker Spider-Man in the other world, later, this Spider-Man accidentally gets brought back through. Meanwhile, Doc Ock, whose experiments have caused both the dimensional tears and the mysterious radioactive spider incidents, is looking to travel to other dimensions in order to gain the technology required to solve the problems on Earth, not knowing (and later, we find out, not caring) that he's destabilizing the timeline. His only child, a son, was in the cancer ward with Gwen, and was a dear friend of Gwen's, but died around the time she became Ghost Spider. Miles uses his growing powers to battle mostly petty criminals and a few minor rogues' gallery villains. Meanwhile, he sees Dr. Octavius as a scientific mentor, not knowing that Octavius is causing the growing problems and chaos in the city. Eventually, Miles and Gwen team up, while the other dimensional Peter Parker begins rounding up alternate versions of Spider-Man who have been exiled from their own worlds by the rifts generated by Octavius' activities. As events progress and Miles becomes closer with Gwen, he also has to deal with growing strife from his parents and little brother, who are not only increasingly worried about him, but also getting caught up in the various events caused by all the extradimensional shenanigans. Finally, about two-thirds of the way through the game, Miles finally realizes that Octavius is the one behind everything, but as he realizes this, Doc Ock's activities cause absolute chaos in the city, bringing in all sorts of otherworldly threats and villains. Miles and Gwen team up with the alternate Spider-Man crew to stop these threats, but it eventually comes down to a showdown between Miles and Gwen vs. Doc Ock and a massive combat mech augmented by extradimensional tech (again, in a difference from the film, the alternate Spider-Men aren't involved, as they've returned to their own dimensions to deal with their own villains conjured up by Ock). The final battle requires the player to make good use of both Miles and Gwen's abilities, but it's Miles that lands the finishing blow, and Ock's tech is destroyed. The mad scientist goes to prison, while Miles and Gwen begin formally dating. Of course, they both know that a superhero's work is never done, and after the ending credits, they team up to do battle with another dangerous villain.
Spiderman: Into The Spider-Verse is released on December 3, 2018, to tremendous critical praise toward the game's graphics, gameplay, and storyline, with its characterizations of Miles and Gwen especially highly praised. It's considered the best superhero game of all time by many critics at the time of its release, enjoying much the same level of praise as the recent OTL Spider-Man games, or the Arkham series. It sells extremely well, becoming easily the best selling new game of the month, and one of the best selling titles of the holiday season. It also leads to increased recognition of Miles Morales in the Spider-Verse, much like the OTL movie did. Unlike IOTL, the game would be released with Stan Lee still around to see it: he's still alive as of the end of 2018, though he would pass away in 2019. He plays a small cameo role in the game, not as a costume salesman, but as one of Miles' teachers who imparts some sage advice to him. Though Stan Lee wouldn't play the game himself (as IOTL, he was quite frail by this time, with failing vision and a litany of health problems), but he was still well enough to appreciate the game and the critical reception to its release.
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Other Significant Titles For December 2018:
Phantasy Star X: Darkness Across Space And Time: Released as a Virtua exclusive, the tenth game in the Phantasy Star series is also the most hyped and expensive JRPG of the year, with outstanding graphics and a combat system mixing traditional turn-based with some modern action flourishes such as timed hits and context sensitive actions. Its protagonists are a group of futuristic space travelers who witness the destruction of their civilization by the forces of darkness and travel back in time to set things right, battling villains from across the series in the process, with the game serving as a love letter to the series as a whole. More than a "greatest hits" compilation, the game features its own distinct plot and unique villains as well, with a sorceress named Lachesia serving as the game's primary antagonist, working alongside Dark Falz to bring darkness and chaos across all dimensions and time periods. It's a sprawling and epic game, and takes many beats from the online games as well, with its plot interweaving somewhat with that of Phantasy Star Online 3. It's not hugely popular in the West, with reviews criticizing the length and perceived tediousness of the game, but in Japan it becomes the second biggest Virtua hit of the year, just behind Panzer Dragoon Aquarius.
Celeste: OTL's indie darling about a young woman who ascends a mountain is brought to TTL, about a year later than its release IOTL due to some production delays and creative choices on the part of the creator. The game's plot and gameplay follow most of the same overall beats as the OTL game, but it's a bit longer, with slightly more polished gameplay and some different characters and storylines throughout the middle section of the game. Regardless of the TTL changes, it's still considered an outstanding and very challenging platformer and one of the best games of 2018. It would come to all current consoles and handhelds, even the fading Gemini, and would even see a mobile port eventually.
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December 24, 2018
Lizzie Mellner had endured one of the most difficult years of her professional career. That it had also been the most rewarding had not been lost on her, but there had been so much work to do to get to where she was now. She'd endured death threats, hate mail, verbal abuse from all sides, but still, she knew she'd made a difference, even if she knew so many people resented her for it.
The media publication that she'd taken over, Cressida Lane, had been at the center of the #SpeakOut controversy. First to break some of the initial abuse allegations against some of the world's most powerful media figures, and the publication that had reported so vigorously in its favor... her staff had brought some of the most influential people in the world to justice, but at the same time, she'd angered a lot of people. She was no stranger to that, but this was so much different than anything she'd endured before. Even her old boss Meghan had called to apologize, but Lizzie knew it wasn't her fault. She'd planned to leave Cressida Lane for months before these stories broke... Lizzie just ended up being in the center of it all through sheer fortune.
Covering the misconduct in the video game industry had been the most trying. Lizzie had been one of the industry's most outspoken defenders, but as allegations piled up against companies like Ubisoft and Acclaim, she'd been forced to take a stand that it wasn't always comfortable to take. She especially disliked giving up the Miraculous Ladybug games... sure, Michel Ancel was no longer in charge of those, but his fingerprints were all over them... same with Beyond Good And Evil, which had been one of her favorite series of all time. She couldn't play those games ever again, and they were pioneering games full of feminist themes.
The year had been tough, but Lizzie was tougher.
And as she sat at the bar of that club in San Francisco on that Christmas Eve afternoon, ready to head home to have a quiet night with her wife Wendy, she thought about the past year and all its trials and tribulations, and was grateful for the people closest to her. They'd been the ones to get her through everything. Wendy especially... as much as Wendy loathed video games, openly railing against them week after week on Cressida Lane during the worst of the #SpeakOut revelations, she still accepted that Lizzie liked them, and even watched her play games that she personally despised, without a single "I told you so". She was the most supportive wife anyone could have, and Lizzie wished that all the people who'd directed so much hate at Wendy over the years could've seen how wonderful a person she truly was.
Yeah, right. Her being such a good person would probably make them hate her even more.
As Lizzie sighed, a familiar person sat down next to her. Lizzie turned and her eyes widened in happy recognition.
"Polly, what the fuck are you doing here?" said Lizzie, in about as friendly a tone as one possibly could when asking that question. "Don't you have like, kids or something?"
Polly Klaas giggled. At 37, she was now one of America's foremost experts in mass media's influence on human psychology, working as a professor at Stanford University, while also appearing as an expert on various TV shows and in various publications, including Cressida Lane. She too had followed the #SpeakOut movement with tremendous interest, and was enormously proud of her best friend for working so hard to share victims' stories with the world.
"Well, a little birdie told me that you'd be hanging out here, and I'm all done with my Christmas shopping, so I thought I'd stop by."
Lizzie gestured for the bartender to come over, and pointed at Polly.
"My friend can have anything she wants, on me," said Lizzie. The bartender nodded, and Polly preceded to order a very fancy, albeit non-alcholic drink, along with a light appetizer.
After placing her order, she then turned back to Lizzie, and the two briefly spoke about what had been happening with them both during this very busy week. Still best friends, the two spoke on the phone at least once a week, but their schedules rarely allowed them to meet up in person anymore, and so this chance Christmas Eve encounter was a rare treat for both of them.
"So is your husband still like, trying to get that house built?"
"Oh yeah, but you know how contractors are," said Polly. "It's been a minor nightmare, but the house is looking really lovely and we should be moved in by this time next year."
"God damn, that can't be cheap."
"We should get more than enough from our old place to cover the new one, with housing prices going up so much lately. And how about you, are you and Wendy enjoying your new place?"
"It's nice, but definitely not as cozy as the old one," said Lizzie with a laugh. "Whenever we snuggle on the couch it feels like we're wasting so much space."
"You two should adopt," said Polly with a smile. "Kids are fun... you do end up worrying a lot, though."
"Well, I can't blame you for worrying so much," Lizzie replied. "We've thought about adopting, but Wendy's kind of against it... considering how busy we both are, we don't really have the time to properly take care of kids right now."
"Understandable."
"...hey, is Nintendo still sending you a free game every month?" asked Lizzie.
"Why? Miss Big Shot with a big house can't afford to buy her own games?" Polly replied, snickering. "Yeah... I still get an email from them every month asking which one I want. 'Lifetime gift' means 'lifetime gift', though it's not like I'd get upset if they ever stopped. I let the kids pick for me now... this month they picked out that new Naruto game."
"Oh geez, that's still going, huh?" groaned Lizzie, rolling her eyes.
"Well, now it's his kid, Boruto or something."
Lizzie groaned again.
"Not a fan?"
"I couldn't care less about Naruto or Boring or whatever," said Lizzie. "I just like things to end. The Simpsons has been going on forever, Survivor is still going..."
"So's The Amazing Race, but I don't see you complaining about that."
"You were on there, they get a pass."
Polly sipped from her drink and smiled, looking around at the fairly sparsely populated bar. People were talking, the news was on...
"Looks like impeachment proceedings are about to start for Alex Kozinski."
"Good, fuck him," said Lizzie, sipping from her own drink. "Goddamn sexual abusing prick."
"I agree," Polly replied, though she wouldn't have used language quite that colorful. "Think he'll step down before they proceed with the trial?"
"Ugh, probably not," groaned Lizzie. "And it's gonna be close. I can't believe some Republicans are actually doing the right thing and considering voting to convict. Might actually have a chance of getting him off the bench."
"Hard not to considering what he's accused of," Polly said, taking another sip from her drink, then thanking the bartender as her food arrived. "Anyway, I hope things have been going well for you this year... I know it hasn't been easy."
"I'll be okay," said Lizzie, smiling warmly. "You've been through worse."
Polly shook her head.
"The people who tried to hurt me are gone," she said. "You still have to put up with so much."
"I've been putting up with death threats and misogyny for fifteen years," said Lizzie, taking a very long gulp from her drink before slamming her glass back down. "I'm numb to it now... you still have trauma, right?"
"I haven't had a nightmare in seven years."
"Seriously?"
"Mmhmm," said Polly, nodding and smiling.
Lizzie leaned over and hugged her friend tightly.
"That's the best news I've heard all year," said Lizzie.
"Better than Bill Cosby getting arrested?" replied Polly, returning Lizzie's hug.
"A smidge better, yeah," said Lizzie.
"Mmm... thanks for always being there for me," said Polly, finally parting from the hug. "You're probably the biggest reason I stopped having the nightmares."
"Hopefully a lot of victims will be able to say that soon," Lizzie said, her voice shaking slightly as her friend thanked her. "...Merry Christmas."
"You too, Lizzie," said Polly, before taking another sip from her drink. "You really have helped a lot of people."
"No," Lizzie replied, smiling. "They helped themselves."
Spoilers abound in this next paragraph, as I will be covering some of the major plot points and twists from the film itself, so come back after you've seen the movie. The film takes place in the Mushroom Kingdom, and doesn't go too much into the lore of the series itself, as there's really not that much to talk about. Mario and Luigi are plumbers caught up in fantastical adventures, Peach rules the kingdom with wisdom and kindness, Bowser kidnaps her, we all know this. Of course, as this is a 90-minute movie rather than a platforming adventure, the plot does have to be a bit deeper than the typical Mario game, and Lord and Miller, with their comedic genius and subtle character humor, have created something that makes complete sense within the confines of the Mario universe while also capable of keeping general audiences hooked. Bowser remains the main villain here: there's no “bigger bad guy” who comes along to force him to work with the Mario Bros. He wants to rule the Mushroom Kingdom with Peach at his side, and though he gets plenty of comic relief moments, he also gets to be quite menacing, and the fact that he gets to do this while also clearly being genuinely in love with Peach is an example of the film's excellent writing and just how well it captures these characters. At the same time, Mario and Luigi are written perfectly as well: Mario is brave and adventurous, Luigi is a bit cowardly, they both have their differences but also lots of similarities, and work together perfectly in the film, with tons of great brotherly moments between them. Other Mario characters like Yoshi, Toad, Wario, Daisy, and yes, even Waluigi, also get important moments in the film and get their chance to shine, but it truly is about the main four and how much character humor can be drawn out of them. The characterization of Peach, who never just waits around to be rescued but who is always actively working against Bowser and who plays a major role in the final battle, is also perfectly executed, and we even get a chance to see her share some scenes with Daisy in both the beginning and end of the film, scenes that give Daisy's character a distinct personality and role separate from Peach. Bowser's underlings, including his Goombas, Koopas, and Magikoopas, also get plenty of fun and humorous moments through the film, and there are tons of jokes and references that Mario fans will lap up, some of which can even be appreciated by those who've never picked up a video game! Super Mario Bros. is a fun, hilarious, and at times even heartwarming film, a love letter to the Mario franchise and to video games in general, and is an example of a Mario film done right, even if it sticks so closely to the video game formula. What Lord and Miller have done is nothing short of a miracle, and deserves to stand alongside Pixar's Sonic films as an example of how to bring a beloved video game character to life.
3 ½ stars out of 4
-from a review of Super Mario. Bros on Aaron's Film Critiques, posted on December 13, 2018
Dec. 14-16: $85,470,335
Dec. 21-23: $55,732,064
Dec. 21-25: $81,618,336
Dec. 28-30: $37,560,443
Dec. 28-Jan. 1: $60,181,336
Jan. 4-6: $19,053,714
Jan. 11-13: $12,763,528
Jan. 18-20: $8,374,576
Jan. 18-21: $10,225,744
Jan. 25-27: $4,990,736
Feb. 1-3: $3,775,684
Feb. 8-10: $2,551,848
Feb. 15-17: $2,071,400
Feb. 15-18: $2,461,339
Total Domestic Box Office: $373,907,861
Total Worldwide Box Office: $1,001,457,516
-Box Office Mojo's breakdown of the box office revenues of Super Mario Bros. (2018) (first ten North American weekends, plus domestic and worldwide figures, though the film didn't quite beat out the two Sonic the Hedgehog Pixar films at the box office, it still made far, far more money than it cost to produce, and was a huge success for Fox and Nintendo)
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A year after the Kadokawa Massacre, many in the anime industry have begun to move forward, with new projects finally emerging from the shadow of the worst terrorist attack in Japanese history. Though the attack left an indelible stain on many, with many beloved creators, writers, and seiyuu killed, those who were left behind are putting forward some of the most heartfelt and inspiring projects in many years, and in 2019, we're likely to see the first work made that reflects the changed landscape of the industry. Studio Trigger's Billionfold, which revolves around a disillusioned high school girl who is forced to come to terms with her own mental health problems after inadvertently becoming the vessel for a sentient mecha from the ancient past, is said to be "directly influenced" by the events of the Kadokawa tragedy, with the anime's protagonist Kitaya fearing that she may hurt others after being plagued by violent thoughts. The series also pays homage to Neon Genesis Evangelion, though its creator has stated that its plot deals less with the spiritual and more with realistic issues in modern society. The show, which will consist of 24 episodes, is expected to debut in Japan in January of next year, and will be making its way to the West with a fully dubbed version a few months later. Many of Japan's most prominent and popular mangaka and anime creators had close friends who were killed in the tragedy, and tributes to the departed have begun to pop up, mostly in manga, over the past year. The incident is said to have effected Naoko Takeuchi, who narrowly avoided serious injury or worse after backing out of the event where the tragedy took place at the last minute, profoundly, and has delayed production of the long awaited continuation of the Sailor Moon manga, which is now expected to be released in 2019. Takeuchi has mentioned the incident in interviews only a few times, and says that it will likely influence how she creates "for the rest of her life". She has already stated that she will be changing one of the storylines in the upcoming manga, not because it has anything that might be viewed as insensitive in the face of recent events, but, according to Takeuchi, "because my changed worldview has affected how I write certain things, and I was no longer comfortable with how this story thread was going, so I will be doing something entirely different and that required a complete rewrite of an early chapter".
With 2018 seeing the delay or outright cancellation of many anime projects, it's been seen as the "missing year" in the eyes of many hardcore anime fans, and response to this has been controversial, with some supporting studios' decisions to scale back certain projects, and others railing against them. Many of these projects have been moved to 2019, which could end up being the most diverse and crowded year ever for new anime releases, but the loss of so much from 2018's anime landscape has altered the way that many fans view the medium, and some fans have taken to "web anime" as a way to fill the void left by the absence of these projects. While not nearly as sophisticated and skillfully crafted as official anime, web anime, which has popped up on sights like Nico Nico as well as Videocean and others, has proven itself to be quite popular, with Cherry-Cherry Chan, focused on a shoujo superheroine who saves people who don't want to be saved, and Kurayami, a horror-themed anthology in which the creator adapts so-called "creepypastas" to strange visuals and disturbing soundtracks, have been amongst the most popular. Another web anime, Kinoko Saibai, focused on sentient mushrooms who transform into humans to battle evil, started in 2014 but has seen its popularity explode over the past year, especially amongst Western fans. Web anime, with its more independent focus and not having to answer to fan controversies or major studios, has also been able to address the events of the Kadokawa massacre directly, with one popular video on Nico Nico depicting a fan who transforms into a superhero to beat the would-be attacker to death before he can harm anyone. Other webtoons have been more subtle or poignant, showing anime characters mourning the dead, or depicting the killer's thought process via the use of cartoons inhabiting their mind.
The Kadokawa massacre forever altered the landscape of Japanese animation, but the response from both studios and fans has shown that anime and manga are resilient media, and that it will take more than one incident, no matter how terrible, to keep them from entertaining and comforting fans around the world.
-from an article on Tubehound, posted on December 8, 2018
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*A young woman, Rose Alvarez, stands on the GameTV stage. A 22-year-old and original to this timeline, Rose was brought on to replace Mari Takahashi, who stepped down from the show earlier this year.*
Rose: With Super Mario Bros. lighting up the box office, and Squaresoft announcing that their live action TV series Final Fantasy: The Warriors Of Light will be coming to Netflix next fall, adaptations of video game franchises have become a big deal. Some, like Metroid and the Blockbuster Tomb Raider series, have been great. Some, not so much. Many people say that video games should strive to be more true to the games themselves, so we here at GameTV have decided to make our own Final Fantasy series to show what it might be like if the show more accurately replicated people's experiences playing the games. Enjoy!
*We then go to a field, where Austin's character is running around in circles, stabbing goblins with his sword every once in a while.*
Austin Watson: I'M GETTING RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPED!!!! *shows that his muscles are growing every time he stabs a goblin, and he keeps running around in circles doing so*
Christina Grimmie: Ah, Downpour! I can see you're getting leveled up, but shouldn't we go buy some armor?
Avan Jogia: But where are we going to get the money?
Austin: *stabs another goblin, causing gold coins to fly out of its corpse like blood in a Kill Bill movie*
Avan: Ah, works for me.
*They wind up at the armor store, where the proprietor is showing off an incredibly skimpy outfit that's more like a bikini than an actual functional suit of armor*
Christina: Yeah, I'm not wearing that.
Proprietor: But it totally works! *takes the party outside to show the outfit on a training dummy* I call forth the ultimate power!
*A massive dragon summon nukes the training dummy from orbit. It's completely unscathed.*
Christina: Still not wearing that.
Austin: I'll take one!
*The next scene shows the party marching into battle, Avan and Christina's characters are fully decked out in armor while Austin is wearing the skimpy outfit from before. A man playing the Evil Emperor character laughs wickedly.*
Evil Emperor: Now it's time to face your fate! Battle me, for I- *gets struck down by lightning from the heavens*
Christina: What the hell?!
Austin: Look!
*Another powerful evil character descends from the heavens.*
Bryce Papenbrook: Ha! I'm the true enemy!
Christina: Wait, aren't you like God or something?
Austin: Yeah, we were just in church praying to you to revive our fallen teammate and singing worship songs. *quick flash to a scene showing the party in church, singing "Omniwrath is pretty good and totally not evil and stuff" to a melody that sounds a lot like the song "Awesome God"*
Rose: *in an Aerith costume, shown with a massive stab wound through her chest* I'm fine.
Bryce: Well, I'm actually evil! Because controversy!
Avan: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! *falls to the ground, sobbing and having an existential crisis*
-from the December 20, 2018 episode of GameTV
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Game Spotlight: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is an action/adventure video game based on the Spider-Man series of comics, particularly centered on Miles Morales, who plays a similar role in the comics ITTL as he does IOTL. While it does take a few story beats from OTL's animated movie, and also features a somewhat similar comic-inspired animation style, the overall plot is entirely different, focusing more on Miles' individual adventures and relationship with his friends and family, rather than focused on a multiversal crisis with Spider-Men from all around the multiverse. While the game does feature alternate versions of Spider-Man (hence the game's name), they don't play as much of a role in the overall narrative of the game as in the OTL movie, with the role of the alternate Peter Parker being significantly reduced. Instead, Miles' main ally in the game is Spider-Gwen, AKA Gwen Stacy, who in this game isn't from an alternate dimension, but is instead a school-mate of Miles' who has, like him, been leading a secret double life as a superheroine. The game is published by Electronic Arts and developed by a medium-sized studio that's never worked on a Spider-Man game before but has worked on some recently popular games, including TTL's Steep and the Gate series of games. The game plays somewhat like the OTL PS4 Spider-Mans, with a bit less of an open world feel but some slightly improved combat mechanics and web-slinging. The game also makes great use of its comic-like art style, allowing for some fun and unique visuals and jokes that add a bit of comic relief to the game. The player can level up Miles' abilities as they play through the game, either by using them or by collecting power-ups in the game world. It is possible to do side quests and missions in the game, though many of these side quests consist of performing certain tasks in storyline missions, which are a bit more open-ended than in a typical game of this nature. Subduing bad guys in a certain way, taking time to rescue a character or stop a crime in progress, or even talking to certain people can all earn power-ups, and since it's possible to go back and replay missions, none of these optional power-ups are missable. There are also certain segments where it's possible to play as Spider-Gwen, and she has her own set of unique skills and abilities. It's possible to level her up as well, though her skill tree is more straight forward, as you don't get to spend nearly as much time playing as her as you do with Miles. The game features a fairly diverse voice cast, a mix of industry veterans and newcomers, with both Miles and Gwen voiced by young actors fairly new to the industry but both still quite talented in their roles, their performances highly praised. The game's primary antagonist, Doctor Otto Octavius (Doc Ock) is voiced by Darin De Paul.
Into The Spider-Verse begins somewhat like the OTL movie does, with Miles Morales, a brilliant but troubled teenager, becoming Spider-Man after being bitten by a radioactive spider. Unlike in the film, Peter Parker never existed in this world, but Miles isn't the first to have been afflicted, as Gwen Stacy had her own encounter with a radioactive spider about six months earlier. Gwen, who was once sickly as a child with numerous bouts of cancer, was terminally ill when she had her own incident, and made a miraculous recovery since then, after which she became the Ghost Spider and began fighting crime ("Spider-Gwen" is a nickname that Miles gives her after learning her secret about a third of the way through, it annoys her at first but she later comes to find it endearing). Miles struggles to acclimate to his powers until he falls through a dimensional vortex and encounters the Peter Parker Spider-Man in the other world, later, this Spider-Man accidentally gets brought back through. Meanwhile, Doc Ock, whose experiments have caused both the dimensional tears and the mysterious radioactive spider incidents, is looking to travel to other dimensions in order to gain the technology required to solve the problems on Earth, not knowing (and later, we find out, not caring) that he's destabilizing the timeline. His only child, a son, was in the cancer ward with Gwen, and was a dear friend of Gwen's, but died around the time she became Ghost Spider. Miles uses his growing powers to battle mostly petty criminals and a few minor rogues' gallery villains. Meanwhile, he sees Dr. Octavius as a scientific mentor, not knowing that Octavius is causing the growing problems and chaos in the city. Eventually, Miles and Gwen team up, while the other dimensional Peter Parker begins rounding up alternate versions of Spider-Man who have been exiled from their own worlds by the rifts generated by Octavius' activities. As events progress and Miles becomes closer with Gwen, he also has to deal with growing strife from his parents and little brother, who are not only increasingly worried about him, but also getting caught up in the various events caused by all the extradimensional shenanigans. Finally, about two-thirds of the way through the game, Miles finally realizes that Octavius is the one behind everything, but as he realizes this, Doc Ock's activities cause absolute chaos in the city, bringing in all sorts of otherworldly threats and villains. Miles and Gwen team up with the alternate Spider-Man crew to stop these threats, but it eventually comes down to a showdown between Miles and Gwen vs. Doc Ock and a massive combat mech augmented by extradimensional tech (again, in a difference from the film, the alternate Spider-Men aren't involved, as they've returned to their own dimensions to deal with their own villains conjured up by Ock). The final battle requires the player to make good use of both Miles and Gwen's abilities, but it's Miles that lands the finishing blow, and Ock's tech is destroyed. The mad scientist goes to prison, while Miles and Gwen begin formally dating. Of course, they both know that a superhero's work is never done, and after the ending credits, they team up to do battle with another dangerous villain.
Spiderman: Into The Spider-Verse is released on December 3, 2018, to tremendous critical praise toward the game's graphics, gameplay, and storyline, with its characterizations of Miles and Gwen especially highly praised. It's considered the best superhero game of all time by many critics at the time of its release, enjoying much the same level of praise as the recent OTL Spider-Man games, or the Arkham series. It sells extremely well, becoming easily the best selling new game of the month, and one of the best selling titles of the holiday season. It also leads to increased recognition of Miles Morales in the Spider-Verse, much like the OTL movie did. Unlike IOTL, the game would be released with Stan Lee still around to see it: he's still alive as of the end of 2018, though he would pass away in 2019. He plays a small cameo role in the game, not as a costume salesman, but as one of Miles' teachers who imparts some sage advice to him. Though Stan Lee wouldn't play the game himself (as IOTL, he was quite frail by this time, with failing vision and a litany of health problems), but he was still well enough to appreciate the game and the critical reception to its release.
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Other Significant Titles For December 2018:
Phantasy Star X: Darkness Across Space And Time: Released as a Virtua exclusive, the tenth game in the Phantasy Star series is also the most hyped and expensive JRPG of the year, with outstanding graphics and a combat system mixing traditional turn-based with some modern action flourishes such as timed hits and context sensitive actions. Its protagonists are a group of futuristic space travelers who witness the destruction of their civilization by the forces of darkness and travel back in time to set things right, battling villains from across the series in the process, with the game serving as a love letter to the series as a whole. More than a "greatest hits" compilation, the game features its own distinct plot and unique villains as well, with a sorceress named Lachesia serving as the game's primary antagonist, working alongside Dark Falz to bring darkness and chaos across all dimensions and time periods. It's a sprawling and epic game, and takes many beats from the online games as well, with its plot interweaving somewhat with that of Phantasy Star Online 3. It's not hugely popular in the West, with reviews criticizing the length and perceived tediousness of the game, but in Japan it becomes the second biggest Virtua hit of the year, just behind Panzer Dragoon Aquarius.
Celeste: OTL's indie darling about a young woman who ascends a mountain is brought to TTL, about a year later than its release IOTL due to some production delays and creative choices on the part of the creator. The game's plot and gameplay follow most of the same overall beats as the OTL game, but it's a bit longer, with slightly more polished gameplay and some different characters and storylines throughout the middle section of the game. Regardless of the TTL changes, it's still considered an outstanding and very challenging platformer and one of the best games of 2018. It would come to all current consoles and handhelds, even the fading Gemini, and would even see a mobile port eventually.
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December 24, 2018
Lizzie Mellner had endured one of the most difficult years of her professional career. That it had also been the most rewarding had not been lost on her, but there had been so much work to do to get to where she was now. She'd endured death threats, hate mail, verbal abuse from all sides, but still, she knew she'd made a difference, even if she knew so many people resented her for it.
The media publication that she'd taken over, Cressida Lane, had been at the center of the #SpeakOut controversy. First to break some of the initial abuse allegations against some of the world's most powerful media figures, and the publication that had reported so vigorously in its favor... her staff had brought some of the most influential people in the world to justice, but at the same time, she'd angered a lot of people. She was no stranger to that, but this was so much different than anything she'd endured before. Even her old boss Meghan had called to apologize, but Lizzie knew it wasn't her fault. She'd planned to leave Cressida Lane for months before these stories broke... Lizzie just ended up being in the center of it all through sheer fortune.
Covering the misconduct in the video game industry had been the most trying. Lizzie had been one of the industry's most outspoken defenders, but as allegations piled up against companies like Ubisoft and Acclaim, she'd been forced to take a stand that it wasn't always comfortable to take. She especially disliked giving up the Miraculous Ladybug games... sure, Michel Ancel was no longer in charge of those, but his fingerprints were all over them... same with Beyond Good And Evil, which had been one of her favorite series of all time. She couldn't play those games ever again, and they were pioneering games full of feminist themes.
The year had been tough, but Lizzie was tougher.
And as she sat at the bar of that club in San Francisco on that Christmas Eve afternoon, ready to head home to have a quiet night with her wife Wendy, she thought about the past year and all its trials and tribulations, and was grateful for the people closest to her. They'd been the ones to get her through everything. Wendy especially... as much as Wendy loathed video games, openly railing against them week after week on Cressida Lane during the worst of the #SpeakOut revelations, she still accepted that Lizzie liked them, and even watched her play games that she personally despised, without a single "I told you so". She was the most supportive wife anyone could have, and Lizzie wished that all the people who'd directed so much hate at Wendy over the years could've seen how wonderful a person she truly was.
Yeah, right. Her being such a good person would probably make them hate her even more.
As Lizzie sighed, a familiar person sat down next to her. Lizzie turned and her eyes widened in happy recognition.
"Polly, what the fuck are you doing here?" said Lizzie, in about as friendly a tone as one possibly could when asking that question. "Don't you have like, kids or something?"
Polly Klaas giggled. At 37, she was now one of America's foremost experts in mass media's influence on human psychology, working as a professor at Stanford University, while also appearing as an expert on various TV shows and in various publications, including Cressida Lane. She too had followed the #SpeakOut movement with tremendous interest, and was enormously proud of her best friend for working so hard to share victims' stories with the world.
"Well, a little birdie told me that you'd be hanging out here, and I'm all done with my Christmas shopping, so I thought I'd stop by."
Lizzie gestured for the bartender to come over, and pointed at Polly.
"My friend can have anything she wants, on me," said Lizzie. The bartender nodded, and Polly preceded to order a very fancy, albeit non-alcholic drink, along with a light appetizer.
After placing her order, she then turned back to Lizzie, and the two briefly spoke about what had been happening with them both during this very busy week. Still best friends, the two spoke on the phone at least once a week, but their schedules rarely allowed them to meet up in person anymore, and so this chance Christmas Eve encounter was a rare treat for both of them.
"So is your husband still like, trying to get that house built?"
"Oh yeah, but you know how contractors are," said Polly. "It's been a minor nightmare, but the house is looking really lovely and we should be moved in by this time next year."
"God damn, that can't be cheap."
"We should get more than enough from our old place to cover the new one, with housing prices going up so much lately. And how about you, are you and Wendy enjoying your new place?"
"It's nice, but definitely not as cozy as the old one," said Lizzie with a laugh. "Whenever we snuggle on the couch it feels like we're wasting so much space."
"You two should adopt," said Polly with a smile. "Kids are fun... you do end up worrying a lot, though."
"Well, I can't blame you for worrying so much," Lizzie replied. "We've thought about adopting, but Wendy's kind of against it... considering how busy we both are, we don't really have the time to properly take care of kids right now."
"Understandable."
"...hey, is Nintendo still sending you a free game every month?" asked Lizzie.
"Why? Miss Big Shot with a big house can't afford to buy her own games?" Polly replied, snickering. "Yeah... I still get an email from them every month asking which one I want. 'Lifetime gift' means 'lifetime gift', though it's not like I'd get upset if they ever stopped. I let the kids pick for me now... this month they picked out that new Naruto game."
"Oh geez, that's still going, huh?" groaned Lizzie, rolling her eyes.
"Well, now it's his kid, Boruto or something."
Lizzie groaned again.
"Not a fan?"
"I couldn't care less about Naruto or Boring or whatever," said Lizzie. "I just like things to end. The Simpsons has been going on forever, Survivor is still going..."
"So's The Amazing Race, but I don't see you complaining about that."
"You were on there, they get a pass."
Polly sipped from her drink and smiled, looking around at the fairly sparsely populated bar. People were talking, the news was on...
"Looks like impeachment proceedings are about to start for Alex Kozinski."
"Good, fuck him," said Lizzie, sipping from her own drink. "Goddamn sexual abusing prick."
"I agree," Polly replied, though she wouldn't have used language quite that colorful. "Think he'll step down before they proceed with the trial?"
"Ugh, probably not," groaned Lizzie. "And it's gonna be close. I can't believe some Republicans are actually doing the right thing and considering voting to convict. Might actually have a chance of getting him off the bench."
"Hard not to considering what he's accused of," Polly said, taking another sip from her drink, then thanking the bartender as her food arrived. "Anyway, I hope things have been going well for you this year... I know it hasn't been easy."
"I'll be okay," said Lizzie, smiling warmly. "You've been through worse."
Polly shook her head.
"The people who tried to hurt me are gone," she said. "You still have to put up with so much."
"I've been putting up with death threats and misogyny for fifteen years," said Lizzie, taking a very long gulp from her drink before slamming her glass back down. "I'm numb to it now... you still have trauma, right?"
"I haven't had a nightmare in seven years."
"Seriously?"
"Mmhmm," said Polly, nodding and smiling.
Lizzie leaned over and hugged her friend tightly.
"That's the best news I've heard all year," said Lizzie.
"Better than Bill Cosby getting arrested?" replied Polly, returning Lizzie's hug.
"A smidge better, yeah," said Lizzie.
"Mmm... thanks for always being there for me," said Polly, finally parting from the hug. "You're probably the biggest reason I stopped having the nightmares."
"Hopefully a lot of victims will be able to say that soon," Lizzie said, her voice shaking slightly as her friend thanked her. "...Merry Christmas."
"You too, Lizzie," said Polly, before taking another sip from her drink. "You really have helped a lot of people."
"No," Lizzie replied, smiling. "They helped themselves."
You're really making it feel like the end is coming with this...which is it, obviously, but still.
Well spectacular job! Waiting for 2019, and the COVID-19 and the eventual Disney/Fox merger might be butterflied away.
I hope that COVID-19 gets butterflied as well, but I'd rather have Disney pick a card from Universal Studios and expand their theme park relationship with Fox to include Bob's Burgers, Don Bluth's Anastasia, Home Alone, Ice Age, and other franchises that the other theme park chain in Orlando and Hollywood hasn't touched yet. Not a full-blown acquisition, but a split of the IPs between the biggest names in that particular industry. Kind of like how WB gave Universal the theme park rights to Harry Potter, yet the latter doesn't own the full rights to the franchise.
I'm pretty sure neither of those things will happen ITTL. Pandemics are much more subject to change than anything and Ry already made an update with a Corona computer virus going rampant. Meanwhile Disney and Fox are both very different companies now, especially with Fox being the one to buy Marvel, which despite having real competition from DC, has them as one of the blockbuster machines now.
That reminds me. Who owns the companies in this list?
List of acquisitions by Disney - Wikipedia
2018 In Review
2018 Was Huge Year Across The Board For Hardware, Software, According To NPD Group
Another year is in the books, and according to the NPD Group, which tracks North American sales of video game hardware and software, video game sales revenue was up significantly from the previous year, owing to a strong economy and a bumper crop of highly regarded games including Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare, Doggerland, Devoid, and Vegas. All three current consoles saw increased sales over the previous year, with Apple's Virtua console seeing the biggest jump from 2017. The Virtua's strong sales can be attributed to numerous popular games including the aforementioned Vegas, a price drop that brought the base console's MSRP to $249, and strong sales for the Oculus VR handheld, which received numerous updates over the past year to refine its capabilities and keep up with Nintendo's improved VR offerings. Apple was packaging the Virtua, Oculus, and Panzer Dragoon Aquarius together for $349, which many gamers considered an offering too good to pass up. Nintendo's Reality enjoyed continued strong sales, and sold more units overall in 2018 than the Virtua, though the gap between the two in yearly sales did close significantly. The Reality now sits at 115 million total units sold worldwide, while Apple's Virtua surpassed the 90 million figure and looks likely to hit 100 million, making it the third console of this current generation to do so. Meanwhile, Google's Nexus actually saw increased sales after the Stadia successor platform released, and its current overall sales sit at just over 110 million overall. The Nexus didn't quite beat out the Reality this year like it did in 2017, but remains one of the most popular consoles of all time, as well as the most popular non-Nintendo console of all time, passing the iTwin's total sales earlier this year.
On the handheld front, the Nintendo Connect remains highly popular, though sales did see a dip from the previous year's figures. Pokemon Brave was by far the most popular game on the Connect this year, though other games such as Donkey Kong City and WarioWare Gold, both first party titles, saw overall sales top a million units during 2018. Meanwhile, Apple's Gemini had sales slip significantly, with the only bump coming after the release of Deus Ex: The Coded Mystery. With a new Apple mobile gaming announcement now all but confirmed for this week's MacWorld event, the Gemini's days are clearly numbered, though at just over 60 million units sold, the device was still a hit for Apple, if not a smash hit. Google's Stadia platform continues to enjoy a massive install base, with nearly 50 percent of players who tried out the platform during the free trial period that ended on January 1st staying on with a monthly subscription. That gives the Stadia service more than 20 million monthly subscribers so far, with hundreds of thousands of players still joining the service daily. Google has estimated that there could be more than 50 million subscribers by the end of the year, which, if true, would bring in an enormous revenue stream for Google and would make the Stadia service the most successful first year platform launch in game industry history.
-from a January 14, 2019 article on Gamespot.com
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Top 20 Best Selling Games Of The Year:
(Note: Multiplatform sales are combined. Only console games first released for consoles in 2018 are included. Does not include pack-in and bundle sales. Includes all North American software sales between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2018.)
1. Doggerland
2. Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare
3. Madden NFL 19
4. Metal Gear Black
5. Devoid
6. Super Mario: Mecha-Koopa's Revenge
7. Assassin's Creed: Confederation
8. Benefactors
9. Pokemon Brave
10. Vegas
11. NBA Elite 19
12. Mystic 3
13. World Of Warcraft (Stadia)
14. The Elder Scrolls VI: Elsweyr
15. F-Zero XR
16. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
17. The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar
18. Thrillseekers: All-Stars
19. Far Cry 4
20. Acclaimed Champions 2
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“I want to make it very clear today that the future of handheld gaming is the iPhone. The days of a dedicated handheld device that only plays video games are over. The success of our iPhone, the most popular smartphone ever created, proves that people want a do-it-all device, and what we're going to introduce today will truly bring the worlds of smartphone versatility and hardcore handheld gaming together for the first time. Today, I'd like to introduce the iPhone G.”
-Steve Jobs, at the 2019 MacWorld conference, January 15, 2019
Apple's newest iPhone model, the iPhone G, is in many ways a modified iPhone SE dedicated to handheld gaming. Comparable in power to the iPhone 8, but streamlined, with gamer-friendly features including built-in controls, extra memory, passive cooling, and a wider screen with no bezel, the iPhone G is designed with gaming first, but includes all the features that one has come to expect from the iPhone, including, of course, phone calls and texting, web browsing, and multipurpose apps. It's slightly wider and larger than the typical iPhone, but will still fit in most pockets, and the slide-out controller accessory is quite similar to the one featured on the iPod Play more than a decade ago. The controller, which Jobs demonstrated, actually functions quite well despite the shorter analog sticks and slightly closer together buttons, though if one wants a more traditional controller setup, it's also possible to keep the built-in controller retracted and use the iPhone G with controller accessories (including, curiously, the Stadia Grip, though this capability wasn't demonstrated at the show for obvious reasons, and the iPhone G, like all other Apple devices, won't be able to run Stadia). The iPhone G will be launching with a sidescrolling Sonic title, Sonic Forever, which combines elements of endless runners with traditional Sonic platforming. We also got to see a new IP, Slapstick: Robot Assembly, which will allow players to create their own robotic creatures and journey through a series of 3-D action platforming stages, utilizing a variety of different abilities. On the more serious side, the handheld will also launch with a new No One Lives Forever game, and this title did a great job of showing off the iPhone G's capabilities. It's more powerful than the Gemini, making it the most powerful gaming handheld to date, and the new No One Lives Forever game, subtitled Spy Games, will see Kate Archer in a brand new adventure hearkening back to her oldest missions. Finally, we got a preview of an exclusive Dragon Quest game, Luminaries Of Legend, an action-RPG spinoff featuring a mix of new characters and old favorites, with an open world and gacha mechanics. The iPhone G will have two models: a base model with 64GB of built-in memory retailing for $299, and a model with 256GB of memory retailing for $399. It's expected to be offered at game stores, electronics stores, and cellular service providers, and Jobs announced that it will be available for purchase in April.
-from an article posted on January 15, 2019 on Kotaku
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MTV Video Game Awards 2018:
Game Of The Year:
Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare
Devoid
Doggerland
Metal Gear Black
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Handheld/Mobile Game Of The Year:
Deus Ex: The Coded Mystery
Pokemon Brave
Russian Baywatch: The Game
Sonic Rockets
Spiritrealm
Indie Game Of The Year:
Celeste
Into The Breach
Millicent The Millipede
The Phantom Pants
Subnautica
Action/Adventure Game Of The Year:
Assassin's Creed: Confederation
Devoid
Metal Gear Black
Masqueworld
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Epic Game Of The Year:
Benefactors
Doggerland
The Elder Scrolls VI: Elsweyr
Phantasy Star X: Darkness Across Space And Time
Scavenger Of The Slums 3
Sports Game Of The Year:
F-Zero XR
Madden NFL 19
NBA Elite 19
Surf Revo
Thrillseekers: All-Stars
Shooter Of The Year:
Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare
Covenant Squadron
Far Cry 4
Panzer Dragoon Aquarius
Vindicate 2
Best Graphics:
Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare
Devoid
F-Zero XR
Far Cry 4
Vegas
Best Soundtrack:
Benefactors
Devoid
F-Zero XR
Lyric Of Mana
Ori And The Will Of The Wisps
Best Storyline:
The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar
Assassin's Creed: Confederation
Devoid
Far Cry 4
Stream Story
Best Original Game
Benefactors
Celeste
Devoid
Doggerland
Masqueworld
Best Licensed Game
Gundam X VS Arc
Harley Quinn
Magic The Gathering: Arena
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Terminator: Skynet
Best Online Game:
Doggerland
PirateQuest 2
Terminator: Skynet
Unreal Tournament: Blood War
Warhorses
Best New Character:
Kala (Mystic 3)
Landen (Devoid)
Simon Cartwright (Assassin's Creed: Confederation)
Uthar (Doggerland)
Veetor (Benefactors)
Most Improved Sequel:
Captain Shock Returns
The Elder Scrolls VI: Elsweyr
Far Cry 4
Scavenger Of The Slums 3
Unreal Tournament: Blood War
Best Voice Performance:
Jack Black as Ralph Waskett (Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare)
Khary Payton as Simon Cartwright (Assassin's Creed: Confederation)
Lyssa Fielding as Harley Quinn (Harley Quinn)
Mark Hamill as Dr. Verne (Open Ocean)
Mayim Bialik as Kaia (Devoid)
Game Company Of The Year:
Activision
Capcom
Electronic Arts
Google
Rockstar
-
The United States men's team will hope to build on their performance in last year's World Cup, where they lost to host country and eventual winner Spain by a score of 2 to 1. The national team is now in preparation for Olympic qualifying, and is currently ranked 14th in the world, but has been doing well in international competition during the past two years. The women, led by stars Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe, are currently favored to win the upcoming women's World Cup in France and repeat their 2015 championship run, but they're expected to have stiffer competition this year, with Canada, Russia, and host country France all expected to field strong teams. One player to watch for the US women is young phenom Meka Sutherland. At just 20 years of age, she'll be the youngest player on the team, but has already made a huge splash in competition, finishing second in scoring during the qualifying rounds behind only Morgan. As the American women continue to dominate on the pitch, taking not only the 2015 World Cup but the 2016 Summer Olympics gold medal as well, they also continue to fight for equal pay, and President Kennedy has recently shown support for increased pay for American women's soccer players in a tweet made last week.
-from a January 10, 2019 article on Yahoo Sports
-
Games Over Matter Awards 2018:
Game Of The Year:
1. The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar
2. Doggerland
3. Celeste
4. Panzer Dragoon Aquarius
5. Subnautica
Best Graphics:
1. Doggerland
2. Devoid
3. Panzer Dragoon Aquarius
4. Mystic 3
5. Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare
Best Sound:
1. Subnautica
2. Tetris Effect
3. The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar
4. Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare
5. Benefactors
Best Gameplay:
1. The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar
2. Doggerland
3. Subnautica
4. Celeste
5. Masqueworld
Best Thematics:
1. The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar
2. Celeste
3. Metal Gear Black
4. Devoid
5. Doggerland
Most Innovative:
1. Doggerland
2. Fairy: The Endling
3. The Godfrey's Valley Conspiracy
4. Tetris 99
5. Subnautica
Best Multiplayer:
1. Doggerland
2. Tetris 99
3. Covenant Squadron
4. Drone Pro-Am
5. PirateQuest 2
Best New Character:
1. Anna Goldstar (The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar)
2. Celeste (Celeste)
3. Uthar (Doggerland)
4. Kaia (Devoid)
5. The GM (Far Cry 4)
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Nintendo Direct Brings Slew of Mega Man News, Mega Man Will Be Final Smash Character
Nintendo hosted a fairly short Direct earlier today, with some news about upcoming titles, most of which have already been announced. The biggest game reveal of the Direct was arguably Super Mario RPG: Voyage Of The Star Seekers, a brand new turn-based Mario RPG title which will see Mario and friends blast off into space in search of magical stars that have been stolen by a mysterious evil entity. However, fans of Mega Man got some huge news as well, including the confirmation that many previously Apple-exclusive Mega Man games would be coming to the Reality and Connect in 2019, the confirmation of a brand new open world Mega Man RPG coming in 2020 called Mega Man Destiny, and, most surprisingly, the reveal of Mega Man as the final DLC fighter in Super Smash Bros. Reality. After a thrilling trailer, in which the classic Blue Bomber showed up and helped Mario and Link beat back a horde of enemies, we then got some information about his moves, and finally, the reveal of the DLC's release date... later this month, just a couple short weeks away. Mega Man is one of the most iconic characters in gaming, and it's somewhat surreal to see him in a Smash Bros. game, especially after he spent several years exclusive to Apple. Now, it feels like he's back home where he belongs, and with all the Mega Man games that will soon be coming to Nintendo systems, it's only appropriate that he joins the battle. Mega Man's confirmation as the final DLC character does de-confirm a number of notable other characters that many fans had hoped were coming to the game, including Raquel from the Squad Four series, Sadira Blackheart from the Blackheart games, and Bomberman from the Bomberman games, with fans of those characters now forced to wait for the next Smash Bros. game to see if their favorites will have a chance to get in.
-from an article on Games Over Matter, posted on January 10, 2019
-
2019 is looking like the year of girl power at Nickelodeon, as animated fantasy hit "Trixxia" will be renewed for its third season, which is expected to begin airing this fall. The second season, currently running on the network, is Nickelodeon's highest rated cartoon, with more than two million viewers a week. The show centers around a young illusionist named Davina, who's studying to be a great magician so she can host her own show in Las Vegas someday, only to find out she has real magical powers and becomes part of a group of girls with similar powers. With its bright and colorful animation and strong cast of characters, along with its somewhat more serious tone than typical Nickelodeon animated fare (the show is among many influenced by Cartoon Network's Lyte and Darke series, with the second season, produced after Lyte and Darke began airing, showing a noticeably more mature and serious tone than the first). It's surged past The Loud House to become the network's most popular cartoon. Meanwhile, The Loud House has seen its ratings stagnate, and though it's expected to keep airing episodes into 2020, the prospects of another season afterward are looking increasingly grim, especially after #SpeakOut related allegations against the show's creator Chris Savino.
Expected to debut later this year is Sara And The Neighborhood, an animated series themed around a 14-year-old Latina girl named Sara Quinones, who moves to the big city after her dad takes a new job, and is forced to adjust to her new life and new friends while attending a new high school. Directed by Lalo Alcarez and produced by Alcarez and stand-up star Cristela Alonzo (who also voices Sara's mother), the show is being compared by some to Taina, the hit live action musical show from the 2000s which proved to be a groundbreaking show for Latin-American culture on children's television. Though Sara And The Neighborhood isn't a musical, and looks to have a bit more of a "fantastical" element than the more grounded and realistic Taina, it could enjoy a similar level of success, and is one of the most anticipated new Nickelodeon animated shows in the last decade. It joins several upcoming live action titles, most notably detective-themed Michaela Mysterie, in forming a very strong upcoming lineup of shows revolving around female characters, with tremendous diversity to boot (with Davina from Trixxia being African-American, the protagonist of Sara And The Neighborhood being Latina, and the titular protagonist of Michaela Mysterie being Asian-American). Michaela Mysterie, which will feature a teenage sleuth solving mysteries around her town, is being compared to the short-lived show The Mystery Files Of Shelby Woo, which aired just six episodes back in 1996 before being shelved in favor of pirate-themed Swashbucklers. People who remember that show are celebrating the announcement of Michaela Mysterie as a sort of "second chance" for Shelby Woo, which became a cult hit of sorts, especially as many of the show's small but devoted legion of fans believe it may have gotten a raw deal due to its Asian-American female protagonist (in favor of Swashbucklers, which featured a nearly all-white cast).
-from a January 21, 2019 article on Tubehound
-
Other Awards:
IGN (Editor Top 10):
1. Doggerland
2. Devoid
3. Celeste
4. Open Ocean
5. Subnautica
6. F-Zero XR
7. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
8. The Godfrey's Valley Conspiracy
9. Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare
10. Mystic 3
Edge (Game Of The Year- Editors' Choice):
Doggerland
Famitsu (Game Of The Year- Readers' Choice):
Panzer Dragoon Aquarius
Sylph (Editors' Choice Top 5 Games Of 2018):
1. Celeste
2. Netizen X: Hacker Story
3. Subnautica
4. Devoid
5. The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar
Destructoid (Top 10 Games Of 2018):
1. Devoid
2. Celeste
3. Tetris Effect
4. Open Ocean
5. Doggerland
6. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
7. Vegas
8. Drone Pro-Am
9. The Cabin
10. Masqueworld
PowerGamer (Top 5 Of 2018):
1. Devoid
2. Doggerland
3. F-Zero XR
4. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
5. Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare
Eurogamer (Game Of The Year 2018):
Doggerland
Ars Technica (Top 20 Of 2018):
1. Doggerland
2. Subnautica
3. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
4. Celeste
5. Benefactors
6. Devoid
7. The Cabin
8. The Godfrey's Valley Conspiracy
9. Super Mario: Mecha-Koopa's Revenge
10. The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar
11. Fairy: The Endling
12. Vintage Speed Virtua
13. Deus Ex: The Coded Mystery
14. Blood And Victoire
15. Masqueworld
16. F-Zero XR
17. Scavenger Of The Slums 3
18. Metal Gear Black
19. Ori And The Will Of The Wisps
20. Tetris Effect/Tetris 99
GameTV (Top 10 Of 2018):
1. Devoid
2. Doggerland
3. Benefactors
4. Celeste
5. F-Zero XR
6. Masqueworld
7. Drone Pro-Am
8. Phantasy Star X: Darkness Across Space And Time
9. Vegas
10. Subnautica
BAFTA Game Awards:
Game Of The Year: Doggerland
British Game Of The Year: Doggerland
Action/Adventure: Masqueworld
Artistic Achievement: Masqueworld
Audio Achievement: Subnautica
Debut Game: Subnautica
Family Game: Tetris 99
Game Design: Doggerland
Innovation: Doggerland
Mobile/Handheld: Deus Ex: The Coded Mystery
Multiplayer: Doggerland
Original Music: Tetris Effect
Performer: Katharine Kingsley as Angie in Blood and Victoire
Sports Game: Madden NFL 19
Story: Celeste
Strategy/Simulation: Into The Breach
-
Gabe Newell Sees "Opportunities" For Stadia/Valve Cooperation, Competition
The continued success of Google's Stadia platform has attracted a great deal of attention from some of the most powerful figures in gaming, and few are as powerful as Valve's Gabe Newell, whose Steam platform remains the most successful PC game store, and whose company is also responsible for some of the biggest game franchises of all time, including the Half-Life series, and, via Bioware, hits such as Necrocracy, Gearworld, and Benefactors. Newell has expressed enthusiasm about Stadia's potential, despite the platform also being perhaps the most dangerous rival to emerge to his Steam service. Numerous previously Steam exclusive titles, including Half-Life 3 and Gearworld, are expected to come to Stadia in 2019, with Half-Life 3 scheduled for June, and Gearworld scheduled tentatively for "Q4 2019".
"The nature of Steam is such that we really don't need exclusive titles to push people to the Steam platform," said Newell, when asked by an interviewer why he would authorize ports of some of his company's most successful games to the Stadia service. "If people want to download our games on Stadia, we're still selling the games. The only reason the games aren't being ported to Reality and Virtua is because those systems aren't powerful enough to handle them, especially Gearworld."
Newell expressed openness to porting Half-Life 3 and Gearworld to the next consoles put out by Nintendo and Apple, assuming they're powerful enough to handle those games, though he also made it very clear that he expects Stadia to become the biggest dedicated games platform on consoles, and that it "probably won't be close".
"They have so many games, they made it so easy... they have quite nearly solved the service problem that we set out to solve when we created Steam. We've become as big as we are by making it extremely easy for people to play the games they want legally, and Google realizes that that's the best way to sell games. Apple does to to some extent, while Nintendo is still lagging behind."
On the subject of lagging behind, Valve's Steam Box has only sold a few million home console units over the past few years, but Newell isn't too worried about the lack of physical hardware sales for what he says is a "side project".
"The Steam Box is for people who absolutely refuse to play PC games on a PC because of whatever problems they have with PC gaming. We'd like to put out more Steam hardware for those kinds of people, especially to compete with Google's Stadia consoles."
Newell absolutely sees Google as a competitor, though he doesn't think they'll be able to catch up to Valve's control of the PC gaming market. Instead, he says, he expects Google to fill a niche for those who like Google as a platform and want to play their games everywhere they go.
"If you just want to play PC games, you'll keep swearing by Steam as long as we keep the service user-friendly and stocked with good games. That's what I expect going forward. Google will likely take a share of PC gamers who also play console and want to hop back and forth. I like what Google's doing. They'll be tough to deal with."
Newell also expressed that he would like games to "distinguish" between Steam and Stadia users for purposes of competition.
"I think it would be interesting to see who plays certain games better, Steam or Stadia users. It could be fun to host those stats on certain games, get competitions going."
It seems, if Gabe Newell has his way, the console wars could take on brand new meaning... with a pair of PC platforms at the center of it all.
-from a January 24, 2019 article on Games Over Matter
-
And as we near the halfway point of President John F. Kennedy Jr.'s first term in office, we look back at a president who has been able to accomplish a great deal of his domestic agenda. From signing off on a landmark new healthcare plan, to raising the minimum wage for millions of Americans, to passing significant environmental legislation and making serious progress toward getting Americans back to the Moon, Kennedy has fulfilled a number of campaign promises. He's gotten to confirm a Supreme Court justice, and is almost certain to confirm another in the next couple months, as Alex Kozinski is expected to resign from the bench or face impeachment and removal due to a major sex scandal. Kennedy has enjoyed somewhat muted success in the foreign policy arena. His first two years in office have seen tensions flare up in North Korea, Pakistan, and Israel, and he's also lost some of the goodwill President Huntsman had with the reformist leader of Iran, who, over the past two years, has turned his country back toward fundamentalism in the face of an increasingly militaristic Iraq. Kennedy has reached out to Cuba, and even plans an official visit to the country in February, leading to cries of indignation from the right, with one Fox News commentator stating on air that Kennedy's father, the late president John F. Kennedy, is "rolling in his grave", a comment that drew considerable controversy when it aired last month. Kennedy will no doubt face a strong field of Republican contenders, including South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, Florida senator Marco Rubio, and former Arizona governor Cindy McCain, who declined to serve a second term after her husband's death in 2017, but who many believe is preparing for a presidential run. Rubio in particular has been highly critical of Kennedy in a recent series of speeches attacking the president's economic policies, which he told a group of more than 15,000 people in Miami, many of them Cuban exiles or descendants of Cuban exiles, are "pathways to Castro-style Marxism".
Kennedy's approval ratings remain high, well over 50 percent, and in polls taken where votes are given a choice between Kennedy and several Republican contenders including Graham, Rubio, and McCain, Kennedy beats them all, with only Rubio giving him somewhat of a fight (at 52-47 in an Ipsos poll taken back in December). Kennedy's public option health care plan remains highly popular, and in polls focused solely on the health care plan, the biggest gripe that a plurality of Americans have with it is that it's "not strong enough", with a growing percentage of Americans wanting single-payer health care. Kennedy has expressed that he would be favorable to single-payer health care, but at the moment, it wouldn't have enough votes, especially in the Senate, to pass Congressional muster. Kennedy has expressed reluctance to slash the country's military budget, citing concerns about North Korea, Iran, and Pakistan and saying in a speech given to a crowd of veterans in Washington DC that America "must maintain its active military readiness and its status as the strongest military in the world for the sake of our national security". Kennedy has shored up the United States' presence in military bases in Turkey and Kurdistan, and has also entered into tentative negotiations with the Russian government over a limited counter-terrorism intelligence collaboration. The negotiations, said to be the closest since the end of the Cold War that the United States has come to forging any kind of partnership with Russia, arose over concerns about terrorism in Europe and North America, after a number of small attacks in Russia and Eastern Europe, said to be perpetrated by Pakistani splinter groups. Kennedy has also expressed concern with aggressive rhetoric directed by the Russian leader Vladimir Putin toward Pakistan, and has stated that these negotiations are intended to help both countries forge a "calmer, more rational path forward" in a press conference during Putin's visit to the United States last year. Kennedy's relationship with Putin is said to be "cold, but professional", with an observer notably stating "they don't like each other, but they both express a willingness to get things done that Putin hasn't seen in any other American leader since he's come to power", and characterizes their relationship as "one of mutual respect, finding willingness to cooperate out of their unwillingness to back down".
-from a January 2, 2019 article on U.S. News And World Report
-
DICE Awards 2018:
Game Of The Year:
Benefactors
Celeste
Devoid
Doggerland
Mystic 3
Action Game Of The Year:
Devoid
Metal Gear Black
Ori And The Will Of The Wisps
Scavenger Of The Slums 3
Super Mario: Mecha-Koopa's Revenge
Adventure Game Of The Year:
Celeste
Doggerland
Masqueworld
Mystic 3
Open Ocean
Family Game Of The Year:
The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar
The Cabin
Stadia Homestead
Super Mario: Mecha-Koopa's Revenge
Tetris 99
Online Game Of The Year:
Doggerland
PirateQuest 2
Recruit
Stadia Homestead
Visions Of Artemisia
Portable Game Of The Year:
Among Us
Deus Ex: The Coded Mystery
Flowers Of Fury
Pokemon Brave
Spiritrealm
Racing Game Of The Year:
Drone Pro-Am
Eighth Cycle
F-Zero XR
Google Gyrocycles
Vintage Speed Virtua
Role Playing Game Of The Year:
Benefactors
The Elder Scrolls VI: Elsweyr
Faded World
Phantasy Star X: Darkness Across Space And Time
Pirate: Uncharted Waters
Strategy/Simulation Game Of The Year:
Battle For Antarctica
Into The Breach
Nexus Homestead
Spell Skirmish
Stable Manager
Sports Game Of The Year:
Golden Slam Tennis
Madden NFL 19
NASCAR 2K19
NBA Elite 19
Thrillseekers: All-Stars
Fighting Game Of The Year:
Acclaimed Champions 2
Facebeater
King Of Fighters Legacy
Mortal Kombat: Wrath
UFC: Pound For Pound
Outstanding Art Direction:
Celeste
Masqueworld
Ori And The Will Of The Wisps
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Tetris Effect
Outstanding Character Creation:
Angie Lorde (Blood And Victoire)
Anna Goldstar (The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar)
Celeste (Celeste)
Korgarreth (Fairy: The Endling)
Valentina (Masqueworld)
Outstanding Character Performance:
Abby Trott as Anna Goldstar (The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar)
Katherine Kingsley as Angie Lorde (Blood And Victoire)
Khary Payton as Simon Cartwright (Assassin's Creed: Confederation)
Laura Bailey as Kala (Mystic 3)
Robbie Daymond as Landen (Devoid)
Outstanding Animation:
Devoid
Masqueworld
Mystic 3
Ori And The Will Of The Wisps
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Outstanding Game Design:
Benefactors
Celeste
Devoid
Doggerland
Vegas
Outstanding Game Direction:
Benefactors
Celeste
Devoid
Doggerland
Mystic 3
Outstanding Innovation:
Doggerland
Drone Pro-Am
Fairy: The Endling
Open Ocean
Tetris 99
Outstanding Online Gameplay:
Doggerland
F-Zero XR
Tetris 99
PirateQuest 2
Visions Of Artemisia
Outstanding Original Music:
The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar
Fairy: The Endling
Masqueworld
Mystic 3
Tetris Effect
Outstanding Audio Design:
Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare
Devoid
Doggerland
Subnautica
Thrillseekers: All-Stars
Outstanding Story:
Benefactors
Blood And Victoire
Celeste
Devoid
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Outstanding Technical Achievement:
Benefactors
Devoid
F-Zero XR
Mystic 3
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
-
Top Rated Games Of 2018 (Metacritic)
(NOTE: Only games with a Metacritic rating of 90 or above. Only newly released games or full remakes are included, no remasters. If more than one version of a game is released, the top rated version will be shown here.)
Doggerland: 95
F-Zero XR: 95
Devoid: 94
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse: 94
Tetris Effect: 93
Ori And The Will Of The Wisps: 93
Open Ocean: 92
Masqueworld: 92
Fairy: The Endling: 92
Deus Ex: The Coded Mystery: 92
Benefactors: 92
Celeste: 92
The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar: 91
The Godfrey's Valley Conspiracy: 91
Drone Pro-Am: 91
Scavenger Of The Slums 3: 91
Mystic 3: 91
Blood And Victoire: 91
The Elder Scrolls VI: Elsweyr: 91
Subnautica: 90
Into The Breach: 90
Panzer Dragoon Aquarius: 90
Metal Gear Black: 90
Super Mario: Mecha Koopa's Revenge: 90
Netizen X: Hacker Story: 90
-
January 12, 2019
"Whew... that was so much fun, right?"
Regan Hardwick leaned back on the couch and let out a long sigh, unable to wipe the smile from her face. A massive projector screen, now displaying images from an episode of Boruto, was hanging up about fifteen feet away. Earlier that evening, it had been showing the third season premiere of Lyte and Darke, and there had been at least two dozen more people in the room. Now, it was just Regan and her friend Inez, with Inez's mom Sonora occasionally poking into the room to pick something up. The party had lasted for hours after the show ended, and now it was well past midnight. Inez looked up at her friend and smiled, nodding her head and letting out a yawn.
"Wish we could have a party like this for every episode," said Inez.
"You can," Regan replied, giggling.
"No, you can't," said Sonora with a smirk, putting the last of the trash into a bucket. "Not here, anyway. Have one in your dorm or something."
"They won't let Regan in the dorm after a certain time, even on weekends."
"Say I'm your little sister," said Regan. "It's not like it'd be a lie."
Inez smiled warmly. The two had been close for the past four years now, ever since they'd started recording Lyte and Darke, almost to the point of inseparability. Inez, now nearly 19, was a freshman at UCLA, majoring in business but taking a lot of acting courses on the side. Regan, 14, was now a high school freshman at the same private school Inez had attended. They definitely considered each other sisters, having bonded during the most stressful time of Regan's life, in the aftermath of the death of her mother. Things had gotten easier since then, though the past year had been a struggle... Regan's father had been in the news, due to allegations made by his new romantic partner of emotional abuse. Though an investigation had been conducted, and the allegations had been proven to be somewhat exaggerated, Regan knew that some had been true, and though she could chalk up some of his behavior to continued emotional stress, it didn't accuse his actions. It was especially true in the wake of the recent #SpeakOut movement, which both Regan and Inez had vocally supported. Though it had been somewhat bad for Regan, it had been worse for her older brother Arturo, who was still reeling from his mother's death, and had to undergo treatment for depression after the allegations against his father.
During all of that, Inez had been a source of emotional support for both Regan and her brother, and the two girls would sometimes spend hours video chatting when their schedules prevented them from meeting in person. Their sisterly bond also led to some truly incredible Lyte and Darke recording sessions, including the climactic scene of season three, in which Lyte had learned of her sister Theresa's death at Darke's hands, causing the two characters to engage in an all-out fight to the death. The scene had shocked both girls when they first read the script, and it took a tremendous emotional toll on both of them to record it, with both girls in tears by the time it was over. They were about to begin recording season four within a few weeks, though they'd both already been assured by the show's creators that both of their characters would be okay.
"We're both famous," said Inez. "Everyone knows we're not really sisters, it wouldn't work."
"We could have the parties at my house," Regan replied. "Dad still owes me for being such a tremendous jerk and causing me so much stress."
"Don't blow that on viewing parties for a TV show," said Inez. "Save it for something really big, like when you get your first car."
The two girls shared a laugh, knowing that they probably wouldn't be able to have any more big viewing parties for Lyte and Darke until at least the season finale later that year.
"Man, that's going to blow people's minds," said Regan. "Lyte and Darke get so close this season, and then...."
"Poof," said Inez, using her hands to make a puff of smoke gesture. "Goddamn-"
"Language," scolded Sonora from across the room.
"You don't mind when I say 'fuck'!"
"Don't blaspheme," Sonora clarified.
"Yeah, okay, sorry," said Inez with a sigh. "But yeah, Regan... you were amazing."
"So were you."
"No, no, no... Regan... I worked myself into an angry frenzy to deliver the lines I did, but I didn't start crying until I heard you. Like... I just wanted to lean across the booth and hug you, that's how bad I felt."
"Awwww," said Regan sweetly. "I made you feel bad."
"You're gonna win an Emmy."
"Psssh, no way, it's always the comedy performances that win the voiceover Emmys," said Regan with a laugh. "How many has Dan Castellanetta won by now?"
"Five," said Inez. "But he never had to do the voice of a girl in agony over accidentally killing the little sister of the only person she's ever loved, who's now trying to kill them!"
"True, but he did 'I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T! I mean, S-M-A-R-T!'"
Inez began giggling loudly at Regan's impromptu Homer Simpson impression.
"Besides, comedy's harder than drama, that's what mom always said. She always said she had a way tougher time making people laugh than making them cry."
"Well, I can believe that," said Inez, looking on as Regan softly clutched the little blue pendant around her neck that held some of her mother's ashes. "She'd have been so proud of you, you know?"
"I know," Regan replied with a soft smile. "Andrea says that all the time too. I know I shouldn't try to live up to mom-"
"You shouldn't. Regan, you're not your mom. You're your mom with a fifteen year head start on show business. You're like your mom's New Game Plus."
Regan laughed softly to herself, shaking her head.
"It's true."
"Maybe, but..."
Regan sighed.
"Inez, I want to go into singing. I've been practicing with Crystal a lot, and Selena says I have a really good voice for singing, and it's a lot of fun, and I'm getting over my shyness, and-"
"Do it! ...if you want to."
"What if she's right, Inez? What if she's right and I am that good at singing and I start doing it and everything changes?"
"...do you want to sing?"
"Yes."
"Are you scared?"
"Yes."
"Of what?"
"Of what? Look at Crystal, she's... so famous, everyone knows her, she has zero privacy, she has to have tons of security all the time, she can't breathe without TMZ writing an article about it, she's younger than me and everyone in the world knows who she is! That scares the shit out of me, Inez!"
"...yeah," said Inez, pulling in Regan and hugging her tightly. "Scares me too."
"Why?"
"Regan, I'm close with Crystal because her mom is my godmother, but you are my sister. You are the only sister I have ever had and the only sister I ever will have, and if anything ever happened to you..."
Regan began sobbing.
"I'm sorry..."
"What? No, no!"
Inez pulled Regan out of the hug to look into her eyes, and wiped all the tears from her face.
"I'm sorry I'm worrying you."
"No! Regan, listen to me, if you started singing and you became the most famous person in the world I would be thrilled! I would be scared out of my g... my fucking mind, but I would be happy because it would mean that everyone sees how special and talented and amazing you are! But... I wouldn't be happy if you weren't happy. You don't have to do anything for anyone, you know?"
"I want to," said Regan.
"Then whenever you're ready, you do whatever you want and I will be right here no matter what, okay?"
"Mmhmm," said Regan, nodding her head.
"And who are you doing it for?"
"Me," said Regan.
"Not me, not your brother, not your mom, for you."
"Me," said Regan, nodding again.
"For who?"
"ME!" shouted Regan excitedly, smiling even as more tears came down her face. Inez giggled and wiped those tears away before hugging Regan tightly.
"Have you talked to Selena about it yet?"
"A little," said Regan. "Not dad though."
"Scared to tell him?"
"No, just not sure if I want to, so I don't want to get him thinking I'm going to do one thing and then change my mind later. He's... supported me a lot, even if he's made some mistakes with other people."
"Yeah, sort of like how Bobby Kotick is super nice to me and my dad even if he is a greedy billionaire asshole."
"Oh, you did not just compare my dad to Bobby Kotick!" shouted Regan, laughing and playfully shoving Inez. "Shut the fuck up!"
Inez began laughing as well, and Regan grabbed the nearest couch cushion and began hitting her friend with it repeatedly.
"Is this how the end of season three goes?" asked Sonora as she walked by, prompting both girls to laugh even louder.
Another year is in the books, and according to the NPD Group, which tracks North American sales of video game hardware and software, video game sales revenue was up significantly from the previous year, owing to a strong economy and a bumper crop of highly regarded games including Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare, Doggerland, Devoid, and Vegas. All three current consoles saw increased sales over the previous year, with Apple's Virtua console seeing the biggest jump from 2017. The Virtua's strong sales can be attributed to numerous popular games including the aforementioned Vegas, a price drop that brought the base console's MSRP to $249, and strong sales for the Oculus VR handheld, which received numerous updates over the past year to refine its capabilities and keep up with Nintendo's improved VR offerings. Apple was packaging the Virtua, Oculus, and Panzer Dragoon Aquarius together for $349, which many gamers considered an offering too good to pass up. Nintendo's Reality enjoyed continued strong sales, and sold more units overall in 2018 than the Virtua, though the gap between the two in yearly sales did close significantly. The Reality now sits at 115 million total units sold worldwide, while Apple's Virtua surpassed the 90 million figure and looks likely to hit 100 million, making it the third console of this current generation to do so. Meanwhile, Google's Nexus actually saw increased sales after the Stadia successor platform released, and its current overall sales sit at just over 110 million overall. The Nexus didn't quite beat out the Reality this year like it did in 2017, but remains one of the most popular consoles of all time, as well as the most popular non-Nintendo console of all time, passing the iTwin's total sales earlier this year.
On the handheld front, the Nintendo Connect remains highly popular, though sales did see a dip from the previous year's figures. Pokemon Brave was by far the most popular game on the Connect this year, though other games such as Donkey Kong City and WarioWare Gold, both first party titles, saw overall sales top a million units during 2018. Meanwhile, Apple's Gemini had sales slip significantly, with the only bump coming after the release of Deus Ex: The Coded Mystery. With a new Apple mobile gaming announcement now all but confirmed for this week's MacWorld event, the Gemini's days are clearly numbered, though at just over 60 million units sold, the device was still a hit for Apple, if not a smash hit. Google's Stadia platform continues to enjoy a massive install base, with nearly 50 percent of players who tried out the platform during the free trial period that ended on January 1st staying on with a monthly subscription. That gives the Stadia service more than 20 million monthly subscribers so far, with hundreds of thousands of players still joining the service daily. Google has estimated that there could be more than 50 million subscribers by the end of the year, which, if true, would bring in an enormous revenue stream for Google and would make the Stadia service the most successful first year platform launch in game industry history.
-from a January 14, 2019 article on Gamespot.com
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Top 20 Best Selling Games Of The Year:
(Note: Multiplatform sales are combined. Only console games first released for consoles in 2018 are included. Does not include pack-in and bundle sales. Includes all North American software sales between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2018.)
1. Doggerland
2. Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare
3. Madden NFL 19
4. Metal Gear Black
5. Devoid
6. Super Mario: Mecha-Koopa's Revenge
7. Assassin's Creed: Confederation
8. Benefactors
9. Pokemon Brave
10. Vegas
11. NBA Elite 19
12. Mystic 3
13. World Of Warcraft (Stadia)
14. The Elder Scrolls VI: Elsweyr
15. F-Zero XR
16. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
17. The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar
18. Thrillseekers: All-Stars
19. Far Cry 4
20. Acclaimed Champions 2
-
“I want to make it very clear today that the future of handheld gaming is the iPhone. The days of a dedicated handheld device that only plays video games are over. The success of our iPhone, the most popular smartphone ever created, proves that people want a do-it-all device, and what we're going to introduce today will truly bring the worlds of smartphone versatility and hardcore handheld gaming together for the first time. Today, I'd like to introduce the iPhone G.”
-Steve Jobs, at the 2019 MacWorld conference, January 15, 2019
Apple's newest iPhone model, the iPhone G, is in many ways a modified iPhone SE dedicated to handheld gaming. Comparable in power to the iPhone 8, but streamlined, with gamer-friendly features including built-in controls, extra memory, passive cooling, and a wider screen with no bezel, the iPhone G is designed with gaming first, but includes all the features that one has come to expect from the iPhone, including, of course, phone calls and texting, web browsing, and multipurpose apps. It's slightly wider and larger than the typical iPhone, but will still fit in most pockets, and the slide-out controller accessory is quite similar to the one featured on the iPod Play more than a decade ago. The controller, which Jobs demonstrated, actually functions quite well despite the shorter analog sticks and slightly closer together buttons, though if one wants a more traditional controller setup, it's also possible to keep the built-in controller retracted and use the iPhone G with controller accessories (including, curiously, the Stadia Grip, though this capability wasn't demonstrated at the show for obvious reasons, and the iPhone G, like all other Apple devices, won't be able to run Stadia). The iPhone G will be launching with a sidescrolling Sonic title, Sonic Forever, which combines elements of endless runners with traditional Sonic platforming. We also got to see a new IP, Slapstick: Robot Assembly, which will allow players to create their own robotic creatures and journey through a series of 3-D action platforming stages, utilizing a variety of different abilities. On the more serious side, the handheld will also launch with a new No One Lives Forever game, and this title did a great job of showing off the iPhone G's capabilities. It's more powerful than the Gemini, making it the most powerful gaming handheld to date, and the new No One Lives Forever game, subtitled Spy Games, will see Kate Archer in a brand new adventure hearkening back to her oldest missions. Finally, we got a preview of an exclusive Dragon Quest game, Luminaries Of Legend, an action-RPG spinoff featuring a mix of new characters and old favorites, with an open world and gacha mechanics. The iPhone G will have two models: a base model with 64GB of built-in memory retailing for $299, and a model with 256GB of memory retailing for $399. It's expected to be offered at game stores, electronics stores, and cellular service providers, and Jobs announced that it will be available for purchase in April.
-from an article posted on January 15, 2019 on Kotaku
-
MTV Video Game Awards 2018:
Game Of The Year:
Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare
Devoid
Doggerland
Metal Gear Black
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Handheld/Mobile Game Of The Year:
Deus Ex: The Coded Mystery
Pokemon Brave
Russian Baywatch: The Game
Sonic Rockets
Spiritrealm
Indie Game Of The Year:
Celeste
Into The Breach
Millicent The Millipede
The Phantom Pants
Subnautica
Action/Adventure Game Of The Year:
Assassin's Creed: Confederation
Devoid
Metal Gear Black
Masqueworld
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Epic Game Of The Year:
Benefactors
Doggerland
The Elder Scrolls VI: Elsweyr
Phantasy Star X: Darkness Across Space And Time
Scavenger Of The Slums 3
Sports Game Of The Year:
F-Zero XR
Madden NFL 19
NBA Elite 19
Surf Revo
Thrillseekers: All-Stars
Shooter Of The Year:
Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare
Covenant Squadron
Far Cry 4
Panzer Dragoon Aquarius
Vindicate 2
Best Graphics:
Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare
Devoid
F-Zero XR
Far Cry 4
Vegas
Best Soundtrack:
Benefactors
Devoid
F-Zero XR
Lyric Of Mana
Ori And The Will Of The Wisps
Best Storyline:
The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar
Assassin's Creed: Confederation
Devoid
Far Cry 4
Stream Story
Best Original Game
Benefactors
Celeste
Devoid
Doggerland
Masqueworld
Best Licensed Game
Gundam X VS Arc
Harley Quinn
Magic The Gathering: Arena
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Terminator: Skynet
Best Online Game:
Doggerland
PirateQuest 2
Terminator: Skynet
Unreal Tournament: Blood War
Warhorses
Best New Character:
Kala (Mystic 3)
Landen (Devoid)
Simon Cartwright (Assassin's Creed: Confederation)
Uthar (Doggerland)
Veetor (Benefactors)
Most Improved Sequel:
Captain Shock Returns
The Elder Scrolls VI: Elsweyr
Far Cry 4
Scavenger Of The Slums 3
Unreal Tournament: Blood War
Best Voice Performance:
Jack Black as Ralph Waskett (Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare)
Khary Payton as Simon Cartwright (Assassin's Creed: Confederation)
Lyssa Fielding as Harley Quinn (Harley Quinn)
Mark Hamill as Dr. Verne (Open Ocean)
Mayim Bialik as Kaia (Devoid)
Game Company Of The Year:
Activision
Capcom
Electronic Arts
Rockstar
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The United States men's team will hope to build on their performance in last year's World Cup, where they lost to host country and eventual winner Spain by a score of 2 to 1. The national team is now in preparation for Olympic qualifying, and is currently ranked 14th in the world, but has been doing well in international competition during the past two years. The women, led by stars Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe, are currently favored to win the upcoming women's World Cup in France and repeat their 2015 championship run, but they're expected to have stiffer competition this year, with Canada, Russia, and host country France all expected to field strong teams. One player to watch for the US women is young phenom Meka Sutherland. At just 20 years of age, she'll be the youngest player on the team, but has already made a huge splash in competition, finishing second in scoring during the qualifying rounds behind only Morgan. As the American women continue to dominate on the pitch, taking not only the 2015 World Cup but the 2016 Summer Olympics gold medal as well, they also continue to fight for equal pay, and President Kennedy has recently shown support for increased pay for American women's soccer players in a tweet made last week.
-from a January 10, 2019 article on Yahoo Sports
-
Games Over Matter Awards 2018:
Game Of The Year:
1. The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar
2. Doggerland
3. Celeste
4. Panzer Dragoon Aquarius
5. Subnautica
Best Graphics:
1. Doggerland
2. Devoid
3. Panzer Dragoon Aquarius
4. Mystic 3
5. Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare
Best Sound:
1. Subnautica
2. Tetris Effect
3. The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar
4. Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare
5. Benefactors
Best Gameplay:
1. The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar
2. Doggerland
3. Subnautica
4. Celeste
5. Masqueworld
Best Thematics:
1. The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar
2. Celeste
3. Metal Gear Black
4. Devoid
5. Doggerland
Most Innovative:
1. Doggerland
2. Fairy: The Endling
3. The Godfrey's Valley Conspiracy
4. Tetris 99
5. Subnautica
Best Multiplayer:
1. Doggerland
2. Tetris 99
3. Covenant Squadron
4. Drone Pro-Am
5. PirateQuest 2
Best New Character:
1. Anna Goldstar (The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar)
2. Celeste (Celeste)
3. Uthar (Doggerland)
4. Kaia (Devoid)
5. The GM (Far Cry 4)
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Nintendo Direct Brings Slew of Mega Man News, Mega Man Will Be Final Smash Character
Nintendo hosted a fairly short Direct earlier today, with some news about upcoming titles, most of which have already been announced. The biggest game reveal of the Direct was arguably Super Mario RPG: Voyage Of The Star Seekers, a brand new turn-based Mario RPG title which will see Mario and friends blast off into space in search of magical stars that have been stolen by a mysterious evil entity. However, fans of Mega Man got some huge news as well, including the confirmation that many previously Apple-exclusive Mega Man games would be coming to the Reality and Connect in 2019, the confirmation of a brand new open world Mega Man RPG coming in 2020 called Mega Man Destiny, and, most surprisingly, the reveal of Mega Man as the final DLC fighter in Super Smash Bros. Reality. After a thrilling trailer, in which the classic Blue Bomber showed up and helped Mario and Link beat back a horde of enemies, we then got some information about his moves, and finally, the reveal of the DLC's release date... later this month, just a couple short weeks away. Mega Man is one of the most iconic characters in gaming, and it's somewhat surreal to see him in a Smash Bros. game, especially after he spent several years exclusive to Apple. Now, it feels like he's back home where he belongs, and with all the Mega Man games that will soon be coming to Nintendo systems, it's only appropriate that he joins the battle. Mega Man's confirmation as the final DLC character does de-confirm a number of notable other characters that many fans had hoped were coming to the game, including Raquel from the Squad Four series, Sadira Blackheart from the Blackheart games, and Bomberman from the Bomberman games, with fans of those characters now forced to wait for the next Smash Bros. game to see if their favorites will have a chance to get in.
-from an article on Games Over Matter, posted on January 10, 2019
-
2019 is looking like the year of girl power at Nickelodeon, as animated fantasy hit "Trixxia" will be renewed for its third season, which is expected to begin airing this fall. The second season, currently running on the network, is Nickelodeon's highest rated cartoon, with more than two million viewers a week. The show centers around a young illusionist named Davina, who's studying to be a great magician so she can host her own show in Las Vegas someday, only to find out she has real magical powers and becomes part of a group of girls with similar powers. With its bright and colorful animation and strong cast of characters, along with its somewhat more serious tone than typical Nickelodeon animated fare (the show is among many influenced by Cartoon Network's Lyte and Darke series, with the second season, produced after Lyte and Darke began airing, showing a noticeably more mature and serious tone than the first). It's surged past The Loud House to become the network's most popular cartoon. Meanwhile, The Loud House has seen its ratings stagnate, and though it's expected to keep airing episodes into 2020, the prospects of another season afterward are looking increasingly grim, especially after #SpeakOut related allegations against the show's creator Chris Savino.
Expected to debut later this year is Sara And The Neighborhood, an animated series themed around a 14-year-old Latina girl named Sara Quinones, who moves to the big city after her dad takes a new job, and is forced to adjust to her new life and new friends while attending a new high school. Directed by Lalo Alcarez and produced by Alcarez and stand-up star Cristela Alonzo (who also voices Sara's mother), the show is being compared by some to Taina, the hit live action musical show from the 2000s which proved to be a groundbreaking show for Latin-American culture on children's television. Though Sara And The Neighborhood isn't a musical, and looks to have a bit more of a "fantastical" element than the more grounded and realistic Taina, it could enjoy a similar level of success, and is one of the most anticipated new Nickelodeon animated shows in the last decade. It joins several upcoming live action titles, most notably detective-themed Michaela Mysterie, in forming a very strong upcoming lineup of shows revolving around female characters, with tremendous diversity to boot (with Davina from Trixxia being African-American, the protagonist of Sara And The Neighborhood being Latina, and the titular protagonist of Michaela Mysterie being Asian-American). Michaela Mysterie, which will feature a teenage sleuth solving mysteries around her town, is being compared to the short-lived show The Mystery Files Of Shelby Woo, which aired just six episodes back in 1996 before being shelved in favor of pirate-themed Swashbucklers. People who remember that show are celebrating the announcement of Michaela Mysterie as a sort of "second chance" for Shelby Woo, which became a cult hit of sorts, especially as many of the show's small but devoted legion of fans believe it may have gotten a raw deal due to its Asian-American female protagonist (in favor of Swashbucklers, which featured a nearly all-white cast).
-from a January 21, 2019 article on Tubehound
-
Other Awards:
IGN (Editor Top 10):
1. Doggerland
2. Devoid
3. Celeste
4. Open Ocean
5. Subnautica
6. F-Zero XR
7. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
8. The Godfrey's Valley Conspiracy
9. Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare
10. Mystic 3
Edge (Game Of The Year- Editors' Choice):
Doggerland
Famitsu (Game Of The Year- Readers' Choice):
Panzer Dragoon Aquarius
Sylph (Editors' Choice Top 5 Games Of 2018):
1. Celeste
2. Netizen X: Hacker Story
3. Subnautica
4. Devoid
5. The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar
Destructoid (Top 10 Games Of 2018):
1. Devoid
2. Celeste
3. Tetris Effect
4. Open Ocean
5. Doggerland
6. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
7. Vegas
8. Drone Pro-Am
9. The Cabin
10. Masqueworld
PowerGamer (Top 5 Of 2018):
1. Devoid
2. Doggerland
3. F-Zero XR
4. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
5. Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare
Eurogamer (Game Of The Year 2018):
Doggerland
Ars Technica (Top 20 Of 2018):
1. Doggerland
2. Subnautica
3. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
4. Celeste
5. Benefactors
6. Devoid
7. The Cabin
8. The Godfrey's Valley Conspiracy
9. Super Mario: Mecha-Koopa's Revenge
10. The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar
11. Fairy: The Endling
12. Vintage Speed Virtua
13. Deus Ex: The Coded Mystery
14. Blood And Victoire
15. Masqueworld
16. F-Zero XR
17. Scavenger Of The Slums 3
18. Metal Gear Black
19. Ori And The Will Of The Wisps
20. Tetris Effect/Tetris 99
GameTV (Top 10 Of 2018):
1. Devoid
2. Doggerland
3. Benefactors
4. Celeste
5. F-Zero XR
6. Masqueworld
7. Drone Pro-Am
8. Phantasy Star X: Darkness Across Space And Time
9. Vegas
10. Subnautica
BAFTA Game Awards:
Game Of The Year: Doggerland
British Game Of The Year: Doggerland
Action/Adventure: Masqueworld
Artistic Achievement: Masqueworld
Audio Achievement: Subnautica
Debut Game: Subnautica
Family Game: Tetris 99
Game Design: Doggerland
Innovation: Doggerland
Mobile/Handheld: Deus Ex: The Coded Mystery
Multiplayer: Doggerland
Original Music: Tetris Effect
Performer: Katharine Kingsley as Angie in Blood and Victoire
Sports Game: Madden NFL 19
Story: Celeste
Strategy/Simulation: Into The Breach
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Gabe Newell Sees "Opportunities" For Stadia/Valve Cooperation, Competition
The continued success of Google's Stadia platform has attracted a great deal of attention from some of the most powerful figures in gaming, and few are as powerful as Valve's Gabe Newell, whose Steam platform remains the most successful PC game store, and whose company is also responsible for some of the biggest game franchises of all time, including the Half-Life series, and, via Bioware, hits such as Necrocracy, Gearworld, and Benefactors. Newell has expressed enthusiasm about Stadia's potential, despite the platform also being perhaps the most dangerous rival to emerge to his Steam service. Numerous previously Steam exclusive titles, including Half-Life 3 and Gearworld, are expected to come to Stadia in 2019, with Half-Life 3 scheduled for June, and Gearworld scheduled tentatively for "Q4 2019".
"The nature of Steam is such that we really don't need exclusive titles to push people to the Steam platform," said Newell, when asked by an interviewer why he would authorize ports of some of his company's most successful games to the Stadia service. "If people want to download our games on Stadia, we're still selling the games. The only reason the games aren't being ported to Reality and Virtua is because those systems aren't powerful enough to handle them, especially Gearworld."
Newell expressed openness to porting Half-Life 3 and Gearworld to the next consoles put out by Nintendo and Apple, assuming they're powerful enough to handle those games, though he also made it very clear that he expects Stadia to become the biggest dedicated games platform on consoles, and that it "probably won't be close".
"They have so many games, they made it so easy... they have quite nearly solved the service problem that we set out to solve when we created Steam. We've become as big as we are by making it extremely easy for people to play the games they want legally, and Google realizes that that's the best way to sell games. Apple does to to some extent, while Nintendo is still lagging behind."
On the subject of lagging behind, Valve's Steam Box has only sold a few million home console units over the past few years, but Newell isn't too worried about the lack of physical hardware sales for what he says is a "side project".
"The Steam Box is for people who absolutely refuse to play PC games on a PC because of whatever problems they have with PC gaming. We'd like to put out more Steam hardware for those kinds of people, especially to compete with Google's Stadia consoles."
Newell absolutely sees Google as a competitor, though he doesn't think they'll be able to catch up to Valve's control of the PC gaming market. Instead, he says, he expects Google to fill a niche for those who like Google as a platform and want to play their games everywhere they go.
"If you just want to play PC games, you'll keep swearing by Steam as long as we keep the service user-friendly and stocked with good games. That's what I expect going forward. Google will likely take a share of PC gamers who also play console and want to hop back and forth. I like what Google's doing. They'll be tough to deal with."
Newell also expressed that he would like games to "distinguish" between Steam and Stadia users for purposes of competition.
"I think it would be interesting to see who plays certain games better, Steam or Stadia users. It could be fun to host those stats on certain games, get competitions going."
It seems, if Gabe Newell has his way, the console wars could take on brand new meaning... with a pair of PC platforms at the center of it all.
-from a January 24, 2019 article on Games Over Matter
-
And as we near the halfway point of President John F. Kennedy Jr.'s first term in office, we look back at a president who has been able to accomplish a great deal of his domestic agenda. From signing off on a landmark new healthcare plan, to raising the minimum wage for millions of Americans, to passing significant environmental legislation and making serious progress toward getting Americans back to the Moon, Kennedy has fulfilled a number of campaign promises. He's gotten to confirm a Supreme Court justice, and is almost certain to confirm another in the next couple months, as Alex Kozinski is expected to resign from the bench or face impeachment and removal due to a major sex scandal. Kennedy has enjoyed somewhat muted success in the foreign policy arena. His first two years in office have seen tensions flare up in North Korea, Pakistan, and Israel, and he's also lost some of the goodwill President Huntsman had with the reformist leader of Iran, who, over the past two years, has turned his country back toward fundamentalism in the face of an increasingly militaristic Iraq. Kennedy has reached out to Cuba, and even plans an official visit to the country in February, leading to cries of indignation from the right, with one Fox News commentator stating on air that Kennedy's father, the late president John F. Kennedy, is "rolling in his grave", a comment that drew considerable controversy when it aired last month. Kennedy will no doubt face a strong field of Republican contenders, including South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, Florida senator Marco Rubio, and former Arizona governor Cindy McCain, who declined to serve a second term after her husband's death in 2017, but who many believe is preparing for a presidential run. Rubio in particular has been highly critical of Kennedy in a recent series of speeches attacking the president's economic policies, which he told a group of more than 15,000 people in Miami, many of them Cuban exiles or descendants of Cuban exiles, are "pathways to Castro-style Marxism".
Kennedy's approval ratings remain high, well over 50 percent, and in polls taken where votes are given a choice between Kennedy and several Republican contenders including Graham, Rubio, and McCain, Kennedy beats them all, with only Rubio giving him somewhat of a fight (at 52-47 in an Ipsos poll taken back in December). Kennedy's public option health care plan remains highly popular, and in polls focused solely on the health care plan, the biggest gripe that a plurality of Americans have with it is that it's "not strong enough", with a growing percentage of Americans wanting single-payer health care. Kennedy has expressed that he would be favorable to single-payer health care, but at the moment, it wouldn't have enough votes, especially in the Senate, to pass Congressional muster. Kennedy has expressed reluctance to slash the country's military budget, citing concerns about North Korea, Iran, and Pakistan and saying in a speech given to a crowd of veterans in Washington DC that America "must maintain its active military readiness and its status as the strongest military in the world for the sake of our national security". Kennedy has shored up the United States' presence in military bases in Turkey and Kurdistan, and has also entered into tentative negotiations with the Russian government over a limited counter-terrorism intelligence collaboration. The negotiations, said to be the closest since the end of the Cold War that the United States has come to forging any kind of partnership with Russia, arose over concerns about terrorism in Europe and North America, after a number of small attacks in Russia and Eastern Europe, said to be perpetrated by Pakistani splinter groups. Kennedy has also expressed concern with aggressive rhetoric directed by the Russian leader Vladimir Putin toward Pakistan, and has stated that these negotiations are intended to help both countries forge a "calmer, more rational path forward" in a press conference during Putin's visit to the United States last year. Kennedy's relationship with Putin is said to be "cold, but professional", with an observer notably stating "they don't like each other, but they both express a willingness to get things done that Putin hasn't seen in any other American leader since he's come to power", and characterizes their relationship as "one of mutual respect, finding willingness to cooperate out of their unwillingness to back down".
-from a January 2, 2019 article on U.S. News And World Report
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DICE Awards 2018:
Game Of The Year:
Benefactors
Celeste
Devoid
Doggerland
Mystic 3
Action Game Of The Year:
Devoid
Metal Gear Black
Ori And The Will Of The Wisps
Scavenger Of The Slums 3
Super Mario: Mecha-Koopa's Revenge
Adventure Game Of The Year:
Celeste
Doggerland
Masqueworld
Mystic 3
Open Ocean
Family Game Of The Year:
The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar
The Cabin
Stadia Homestead
Super Mario: Mecha-Koopa's Revenge
Tetris 99
Online Game Of The Year:
Doggerland
PirateQuest 2
Recruit
Stadia Homestead
Visions Of Artemisia
Portable Game Of The Year:
Among Us
Deus Ex: The Coded Mystery
Flowers Of Fury
Pokemon Brave
Spiritrealm
Racing Game Of The Year:
Drone Pro-Am
Eighth Cycle
F-Zero XR
Google Gyrocycles
Vintage Speed Virtua
Role Playing Game Of The Year:
Benefactors
The Elder Scrolls VI: Elsweyr
Faded World
Phantasy Star X: Darkness Across Space And Time
Pirate: Uncharted Waters
Strategy/Simulation Game Of The Year:
Battle For Antarctica
Into The Breach
Nexus Homestead
Spell Skirmish
Stable Manager
Sports Game Of The Year:
Golden Slam Tennis
Madden NFL 19
NASCAR 2K19
NBA Elite 19
Thrillseekers: All-Stars
Fighting Game Of The Year:
Acclaimed Champions 2
Facebeater
King Of Fighters Legacy
Mortal Kombat: Wrath
UFC: Pound For Pound
Outstanding Art Direction:
Celeste
Masqueworld
Ori And The Will Of The Wisps
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Tetris Effect
Outstanding Character Creation:
Angie Lorde (Blood And Victoire)
Anna Goldstar (The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar)
Celeste (Celeste)
Korgarreth (Fairy: The Endling)
Valentina (Masqueworld)
Outstanding Character Performance:
Abby Trott as Anna Goldstar (The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar)
Katherine Kingsley as Angie Lorde (Blood And Victoire)
Khary Payton as Simon Cartwright (Assassin's Creed: Confederation)
Laura Bailey as Kala (Mystic 3)
Robbie Daymond as Landen (Devoid)
Outstanding Animation:
Devoid
Masqueworld
Mystic 3
Ori And The Will Of The Wisps
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Outstanding Game Design:
Benefactors
Celeste
Devoid
Doggerland
Vegas
Outstanding Game Direction:
Benefactors
Celeste
Devoid
Doggerland
Mystic 3
Outstanding Innovation:
Doggerland
Drone Pro-Am
Fairy: The Endling
Open Ocean
Tetris 99
Outstanding Online Gameplay:
Doggerland
F-Zero XR
Tetris 99
PirateQuest 2
Visions Of Artemisia
Outstanding Original Music:
The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar
Fairy: The Endling
Masqueworld
Mystic 3
Tetris Effect
Outstanding Audio Design:
Call Of Duty: Undead Warfare
Devoid
Doggerland
Subnautica
Thrillseekers: All-Stars
Outstanding Story:
Benefactors
Blood And Victoire
Celeste
Devoid
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Outstanding Technical Achievement:
Benefactors
Devoid
F-Zero XR
Mystic 3
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
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Top Rated Games Of 2018 (Metacritic)
(NOTE: Only games with a Metacritic rating of 90 or above. Only newly released games or full remakes are included, no remasters. If more than one version of a game is released, the top rated version will be shown here.)
Doggerland: 95
F-Zero XR: 95
Devoid: 94
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse: 94
Tetris Effect: 93
Ori And The Will Of The Wisps: 93
Open Ocean: 92
Masqueworld: 92
Fairy: The Endling: 92
Deus Ex: The Coded Mystery: 92
Benefactors: 92
Celeste: 92
The Adventures Of Anna Goldstar: 91
The Godfrey's Valley Conspiracy: 91
Drone Pro-Am: 91
Scavenger Of The Slums 3: 91
Mystic 3: 91
Blood And Victoire: 91
The Elder Scrolls VI: Elsweyr: 91
Subnautica: 90
Into The Breach: 90
Panzer Dragoon Aquarius: 90
Metal Gear Black: 90
Super Mario: Mecha Koopa's Revenge: 90
Netizen X: Hacker Story: 90
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January 12, 2019
"Whew... that was so much fun, right?"
Regan Hardwick leaned back on the couch and let out a long sigh, unable to wipe the smile from her face. A massive projector screen, now displaying images from an episode of Boruto, was hanging up about fifteen feet away. Earlier that evening, it had been showing the third season premiere of Lyte and Darke, and there had been at least two dozen more people in the room. Now, it was just Regan and her friend Inez, with Inez's mom Sonora occasionally poking into the room to pick something up. The party had lasted for hours after the show ended, and now it was well past midnight. Inez looked up at her friend and smiled, nodding her head and letting out a yawn.
"Wish we could have a party like this for every episode," said Inez.
"You can," Regan replied, giggling.
"No, you can't," said Sonora with a smirk, putting the last of the trash into a bucket. "Not here, anyway. Have one in your dorm or something."
"They won't let Regan in the dorm after a certain time, even on weekends."
"Say I'm your little sister," said Regan. "It's not like it'd be a lie."
Inez smiled warmly. The two had been close for the past four years now, ever since they'd started recording Lyte and Darke, almost to the point of inseparability. Inez, now nearly 19, was a freshman at UCLA, majoring in business but taking a lot of acting courses on the side. Regan, 14, was now a high school freshman at the same private school Inez had attended. They definitely considered each other sisters, having bonded during the most stressful time of Regan's life, in the aftermath of the death of her mother. Things had gotten easier since then, though the past year had been a struggle... Regan's father had been in the news, due to allegations made by his new romantic partner of emotional abuse. Though an investigation had been conducted, and the allegations had been proven to be somewhat exaggerated, Regan knew that some had been true, and though she could chalk up some of his behavior to continued emotional stress, it didn't accuse his actions. It was especially true in the wake of the recent #SpeakOut movement, which both Regan and Inez had vocally supported. Though it had been somewhat bad for Regan, it had been worse for her older brother Arturo, who was still reeling from his mother's death, and had to undergo treatment for depression after the allegations against his father.
During all of that, Inez had been a source of emotional support for both Regan and her brother, and the two girls would sometimes spend hours video chatting when their schedules prevented them from meeting in person. Their sisterly bond also led to some truly incredible Lyte and Darke recording sessions, including the climactic scene of season three, in which Lyte had learned of her sister Theresa's death at Darke's hands, causing the two characters to engage in an all-out fight to the death. The scene had shocked both girls when they first read the script, and it took a tremendous emotional toll on both of them to record it, with both girls in tears by the time it was over. They were about to begin recording season four within a few weeks, though they'd both already been assured by the show's creators that both of their characters would be okay.
"We're both famous," said Inez. "Everyone knows we're not really sisters, it wouldn't work."
"We could have the parties at my house," Regan replied. "Dad still owes me for being such a tremendous jerk and causing me so much stress."
"Don't blow that on viewing parties for a TV show," said Inez. "Save it for something really big, like when you get your first car."
The two girls shared a laugh, knowing that they probably wouldn't be able to have any more big viewing parties for Lyte and Darke until at least the season finale later that year.
"Man, that's going to blow people's minds," said Regan. "Lyte and Darke get so close this season, and then...."
"Poof," said Inez, using her hands to make a puff of smoke gesture. "Goddamn-"
"Language," scolded Sonora from across the room.
"You don't mind when I say 'fuck'!"
"Don't blaspheme," Sonora clarified.
"Yeah, okay, sorry," said Inez with a sigh. "But yeah, Regan... you were amazing."
"So were you."
"No, no, no... Regan... I worked myself into an angry frenzy to deliver the lines I did, but I didn't start crying until I heard you. Like... I just wanted to lean across the booth and hug you, that's how bad I felt."
"Awwww," said Regan sweetly. "I made you feel bad."
"You're gonna win an Emmy."
"Psssh, no way, it's always the comedy performances that win the voiceover Emmys," said Regan with a laugh. "How many has Dan Castellanetta won by now?"
"Five," said Inez. "But he never had to do the voice of a girl in agony over accidentally killing the little sister of the only person she's ever loved, who's now trying to kill them!"
"True, but he did 'I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T! I mean, S-M-A-R-T!'"
Inez began giggling loudly at Regan's impromptu Homer Simpson impression.
"Besides, comedy's harder than drama, that's what mom always said. She always said she had a way tougher time making people laugh than making them cry."
"Well, I can believe that," said Inez, looking on as Regan softly clutched the little blue pendant around her neck that held some of her mother's ashes. "She'd have been so proud of you, you know?"
"I know," Regan replied with a soft smile. "Andrea says that all the time too. I know I shouldn't try to live up to mom-"
"You shouldn't. Regan, you're not your mom. You're your mom with a fifteen year head start on show business. You're like your mom's New Game Plus."
Regan laughed softly to herself, shaking her head.
"It's true."
"Maybe, but..."
Regan sighed.
"Inez, I want to go into singing. I've been practicing with Crystal a lot, and Selena says I have a really good voice for singing, and it's a lot of fun, and I'm getting over my shyness, and-"
"Do it! ...if you want to."
"What if she's right, Inez? What if she's right and I am that good at singing and I start doing it and everything changes?"
"...do you want to sing?"
"Yes."
"Are you scared?"
"Yes."
"Of what?"
"Of what? Look at Crystal, she's... so famous, everyone knows her, she has zero privacy, she has to have tons of security all the time, she can't breathe without TMZ writing an article about it, she's younger than me and everyone in the world knows who she is! That scares the shit out of me, Inez!"
"...yeah," said Inez, pulling in Regan and hugging her tightly. "Scares me too."
"Why?"
"Regan, I'm close with Crystal because her mom is my godmother, but you are my sister. You are the only sister I have ever had and the only sister I ever will have, and if anything ever happened to you..."
Regan began sobbing.
"I'm sorry..."
"What? No, no!"
Inez pulled Regan out of the hug to look into her eyes, and wiped all the tears from her face.
"I'm sorry I'm worrying you."
"No! Regan, listen to me, if you started singing and you became the most famous person in the world I would be thrilled! I would be scared out of my g... my fucking mind, but I would be happy because it would mean that everyone sees how special and talented and amazing you are! But... I wouldn't be happy if you weren't happy. You don't have to do anything for anyone, you know?"
"I want to," said Regan.
"Then whenever you're ready, you do whatever you want and I will be right here no matter what, okay?"
"Mmhmm," said Regan, nodding her head.
"And who are you doing it for?"
"Me," said Regan.
"Not me, not your brother, not your mom, for you."
"Me," said Regan, nodding again.
"For who?"
"ME!" shouted Regan excitedly, smiling even as more tears came down her face. Inez giggled and wiped those tears away before hugging Regan tightly.
"Have you talked to Selena about it yet?"
"A little," said Regan. "Not dad though."
"Scared to tell him?"
"No, just not sure if I want to, so I don't want to get him thinking I'm going to do one thing and then change my mind later. He's... supported me a lot, even if he's made some mistakes with other people."
"Yeah, sort of like how Bobby Kotick is super nice to me and my dad even if he is a greedy billionaire asshole."
"Oh, you did not just compare my dad to Bobby Kotick!" shouted Regan, laughing and playfully shoving Inez. "Shut the fuck up!"
Inez began laughing as well, and Regan grabbed the nearest couch cushion and began hitting her friend with it repeatedly.
"Is this how the end of season three goes?" asked Sonora as she walked by, prompting both girls to laugh even louder.
Really interesting. Still waiting for the new year, and January 2019 is coming up!
I'm surprised there's not more discussion about the last update, we got a lot of big stuff! 2018's big awards, the last new Smash character, Apple's new handheld, a lot of Nickelodeon news, some world news updates, a really heartfelt scene with Inez and Regan... Feels like people would have more to say, but I've had smaller updates get more random questions asked than this one's had any kind of reaction... Not sure how to feel about that honestly! ^_^;;;
Well I was busy the day you posted, so I kinda just skimmed through. For the new iPhone, all I want to ask is if it is more durable than an actual iPhone?
Well, since you asked, I personally have some things to say on the matter...
The fact that Mega Man capped off the Smash franchise as far as this timeline is concerned makes me jealous of how Smash rosters end in the P2S universe, given how Smash Bros. ends with characters like Jigglypuff, Mr. Game and Watch, Wolf, Duck Hunt Duo, Bayonetta, Incineroar and/or Piranha Plant, and Byleth. Not necessary big names. In fact, the biggest name in this list is either Duck Hunt, Jigglypuff, or Wolf, and I don't think they got in due to Smash demand to put it mildly.
The iPhone G sounds like a good handheld, especially as someone who uses a phone to play mobile games possibly more than I do calling or texting someone.
The awards shows and news updates are nothing to write home about IMO. Just your standard trivia answers in the grand scheme of things.
However, my opinions on the Nick announcements may be the largest bit in this post. First off, the plot of Sara and the Neighborhood just sounds like a TTL counterpart to The Casagrandes, except without the excess popularity of The Loud House to justify its status as a spinoff. Speaking of Lincoln's family, I can expect the show to end in 2021 or 2022, rather than in 2025 at least in our timeline. Third off, Trixxia sounds like a cross between Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Winx Club from its premise alone, while Michaela Mysterie should have been a Shelby Woo reboot instead. I swear, a single season of six episodes is absolutely PITIFUL to witness!
On a sidenote for the network, how's Spongebob holding up? I think he wound up on Cartoon Network ITTL, while Nick got both Recess and Ed, Edd, n Eddy, but what were the fates of those three late-90's treasures of animated television?
Finally, I feel a twinge of sadness at Ines and Regan's interaction, but the bit with Poly Klass was made just a bit more somberly at times gone by.
I think SpongeBob still went to Nickelodeon ITTL, though it ended in 2004. Rocket Power took its place as the show Nick just won't let die.
I'm also wondering how Jeopardy plays out ITTL, especially seeing who the new host could be if Alex Trebek retires early or sadly still gets cancer like OTL.
Me too actually, people must've been busy...
Would you say it's more like the OTL Sony XperiaPlay or the PSP Go, aesthetically?
I know it has two analog sticks and is basically an iPhone, but I mean in terms of how the controls slide out.
Which I loved!
Gave me the feels; though I must say, them feeling like sisters to each other must make it really awkward when they inevitably get ship'd/asked if they're as close as their characters.
People must've been busy and not caught up yet, or there was so much to unpack that they're taking time to come up with a deluge of questions.
Or maybe they just think that if they hold off on question they can postpone the inevitable...if only for a few more moments.
Much like Gen1 of Thrillseekers ITTL, nobody wants to see the TL end, even though we all know it has to at some point and that it's better to go out on high note.
Yes, a decent amount more durable.
Spongebob ended with the movie in 2004. As for Recess and Ed, Edd, 'n Eddy, I'd have to go back and check for sure but I know that neither one of them did more than they did IOTL.
I may address Jeopardy at one point in 2020 or in the final epilogue post. I will say that if Brittany Saldita hadn't died, she would've eventually been the one to replace Alex Trebek as the host of the show, emerging as a dark horse, absolutely crushing her audition episodes, and ending up the surprise pick and hosting for 27 years.
I'd say it's more like the Xperia Play. It's hard to say EXACTLY how it's designed but it feels really, really good in either mode, it's designed extremely ergonomically well.
It'd be extraordinarily weird for them, since Inez is 4 1/2 years older! They ARE as close as their characters, but it squicks them out when people actively think they should hook up
Also, Inez only likes guys. Regan is bi (though she won't really realize this until beyond the scope of the timeline), but she's not into Inez in that way.
January 2019 - Axe Of The Gods
Disney Mulls Acquisitions As It Prepares To Launch Premium Streaming Service
The Walt Disney Corporation is expected to launch its highly-anticipated streaming service, known as "Disney Premium", later this year. The service will host film and television content from across Disney's vast collection of properties, throwing open the so-called "Disney Vault" and allowing their animated and live-action classics to be streamed any time, any place for the first time ever. However, some critics are decrying a lack of content on the service, and point to Disney's lack of meaningful acquisitions as a potential source of their skepticism. Disney hasn't made any major moves to acquire outside IPs since 2004, when it formally acquired Pixar (a company it had already had a major role in founding and assisting with the distribution of its films). Before that, Disney acquired the ABC television network and its family of content, including the cable channel ESPN, back in 1996, but since then, Disney hasn't had any significant acquisitions. Indeed, in recent years the company has been the target of acquisition rumors itself, from companies like Apple earlier in the decade, to 20th Century Fox, which at one point was being rumored to be in pursuit of a merger with Disney. A statement from an insider at Fox said that "though Fox considered making a bid to acquire Disney and its IPs, in the end the move was seen as being too risky, and that Fox didn't think it could effectively market Disney content and maintain its own separate image." The insider went on to state that "Fox couldn't imagine a world in which Disney and itself ever joined forces, according to one prominent executive in the company". Though Disney's fortunes have flagged at times during the 21st century, the company has seen a recent surge of popular content, including the hit Pixar film Sonic the Hedgehog 2, its own animated musical Written In The Stars, and a bevy of popular televised content, including the surging musical comedy She's Got It! and the hit animated show Goldilocks: The Series, which is expected to air its fourth and final season beginning later this year. Disney is expected to produce original content for its new streaming service, some of which will feature some of the company's more obscure IPs, including an animated show based on Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, expected to take place in a "dark, parallel universe with plenty of twists and turns". Though Disney Premium is likely to feature very little in the way of content outside Disney's classic library, it's important to remember that the company has produced some of the most beloved films and characters of all time, and these classic films will likely prove highly attractive to millions of potential subscribers. Though Disney Premium will likely live or die on the strength of its original content, it should have a good rock on which to build its church.
-from a January 13, 2019 article on Tubehound
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Alli Mecklenberg: As the Gibraltar Bridge nears its planned completion date in early 2021, the prospect of a similar American megaproject might be attractive, but critics say there's just no political will to build a bridge across the Bering Strait, even with the recent improvement in relations between Russia and the United States. Future climate change could make such a project more attractive in the future, but right now, it would be a bridge "from nowhere to nowhere", and a bridge too far even in the most favorable conditions. For CNN, I'm Alli Mecklenberg.
Jake Tapper: Thanks, Alli, and we've got some major breaking news about the Supreme Court, right now.
*The CNN Breaking News animation plans on screen.*
Tapper: Just out of Washington DC, we have just been told and can report that Supreme Court Justice Alex Kozinski plans to retire effective later today. This news, though coming as no surprise to those who have been following the mounting scandals against the beleaguered jurist, is still monumental, as it will fundamentally alter the balance of the Supreme Court by giving President Kennedy the chance to fill a seat that was previously filled by a Republican president, Jon Huntsman. We're going to go to Washington right now, Josh Raskell has the story, and Josh, Justice Kozinski just released this a few moments ago?
Raskell: That's right, Jake, Justice Kozinski has just put out a statement, and let me read part of it for you now. He says that, "even though I maintain that I never have and would never sexually assault anyone, I realize now that some of my actions may have indeed been inappropriate, and in some cases, highly so, and for that reason, I am resigning from the Supreme Court as of 5:00 PM today. I can no longer burden my colleagues on the bench or the people of this country with a continued air of controversy, and so I will step down and allow the president to appoint a new Supreme Court justice as quickly as possible". He goes on to urge President Kennedy to nominate someone with a similar love of freedom who will issue rulings with deep consideration for the Constitution of this country, and he also goes on to thank the previous president for giving him an opportunity to serve.
Tapper: Of course, Justice Kozinski was facing mounting pressure to resign, and numerous Republicans had publicly come out and said that they were willing to consider voting to convict and remove him from the bench, is that correct?
Raskell: That's right, Jake, a number of senators including Maine's Susan Collins and Alaska's Lisa Murkowski basically came out and said that they would indeed be voting to remove him, and even Marco Rubio from Florida, who is considered to be a major contender for the Republican nomination, said that he would be considering a guilty verdict if enough evidence was presented, and that I think was pretty huge and played a big role on Kozinski's decision, considering the political consequences of such an admission for Rubio.
Tapper: The walls, I think, were clearly closing in on Justice Kozinski.
Raskell: The House was probably a week away from voting to impeach him, which they certainly would have done, and many here in Washington believe the conviction vote would've been extremely close, with 62 or 63 senators almost certain to vote guilty, and at least five mulling it over, which, of course, if they all voted guilty would have been enough to remove him.
-from a CNN Breaking News report on January 15, 2019 at 2:12 PM EST
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Sri Srinivasan Confirmed To Supreme Court By 82-18 Margin
Today, the Senate officially confirmed President Kennedy's nomination of Sri Srinivasan to the United States Supreme Court, to replace the seat left vacant by Alex Kozinski, who resigned from the Court after a sex scandal. Srinivasan, who was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals in 2008 by President Al Gore, is the second American of South Asian descent to be confirmed to the Supreme Court, after Kennedy's appointment of Jacqueline Nyugen in 2017, and the first Hindu to be appointed. Srinivasan, who is considered to be a center-left jurist (similar to Merrick Garland, who was appointed in 2008), was met with little controversy at the Senate, though 18 of the senators did choose to vote against him, with some of those opposed wanting Kennedy to appoint a purely centrist justice. Many of the senators who voted against Srinivasan are facing primary elections in their states next year. Srinivasan's confirmation shifts the balance of the Supreme Court back to the left, for the first time in nine years following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2010. Srinivasan joins Garland and Kennedy in the court's "centrist" bloc, replacing Kozinski, and could be a potential swing vote on a number of issues including campaign finance spending, abortion, and transgender rights, all of which have cases pending before the high court this year. The Supreme Court could be an important issue with voters going into next year's election, as Justices Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer are both potential candidates for retirement, and whoever wins 2020's upcoming election may be able to fill both seats, potentially swinging the court back to a 5-4 conservative majority, or cementing a 6-3 liberal majority on the bench for the next generation.
-from a January 31, 2019 article on Yahoo! News
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Enix-Keiken's latest handheld endeavor, Sword Of Elfsbane, is launching on Nintendo Connect and mobile this week, and is expected to come to the iPhone G at release. It combines action-RPG elements with gacha mechanics, and though the latter is somewhat disappointing, denying some of the game's best features to players who aren't willing to spend extra cash on top of the game's $39.99 MSRP, it does excel at the first part, being a very good action-RPG. It takes place across a massive world, and features a stellar story, which, thankfully, you don't have to spend a dime to experience in full. The game's full 30+ hour quest comes with tons of side missions and plenty of towns, dungeons, and secret areas to explore, and features some of the best combat mechanics we've ever seen in an action RPG, with sword moves straight out of the best hack-and-slashers, and incredible boss fights that will prove a significant challenge for even veteran RPG players. However, the fact that a majority of the game's playable characters (16 out of 24) are locked behind a grindy gacha mechanic, and the fact that the game's best sidequest, a deep monster arena accessible about two hours into the game and the source of some of the best loot is not only paid DLC but also requires gacha mechanics to get the best monsters and materials, is really disappointing. Enix had been leaning heavily into mobile gacha games even before their merger with Keiken, and now, the mechanics are in all the company's games, and will also be present in the upcoming iPhone G exclusive Dragon Quest: Luminaries Of Legend. It's a sad state of affairs for what was once a worthy rival to Squaresoft, and the sad part about it all is that the base game is good, really, really, really good, which could open up a lot of wallets that it wouldn't have opened up if the game was merely average. Our advice: if you can resist the temptation to spend money, Sword Of Elfsbane is still an excellent action-RPG. And if you do want to spend the cash, hey, go ahead, it's your money. But if you're the kind of person who finds themselves easily sucked into these kinds of predatory game mechanics, we recommend staying away.
Our Score: 4.5/5 (if you can ignore the gacha), 3.5/5 (if you can't)
-from RPGamer's review of Sword Of Elfsbane, posted on January 20, 2019
*mocking Skeletor voice* SWORD OF ELFSBAAAAANE...
*normal voice* "Sword Of Elfsbane... the game has nothing to do with killing elves, what a stupid fucking title."
-from Jim Stephanie Sterling's Shittiest Games Of 2019 List video, posted on Games Over Matter on December 30, 2019
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Game Spotlight: Valkyrie
Valkyrie is a hack-and-slash/action RPG/rhythm game. Originally promoted as a Google Nexus title, the game was later confirmed to be multiplatform, and was released on the Nintendo Reality, Apple Virtua, and Google Stadia and Nexus in January 2019. Its protagonist is a legendary valkyrie warrior named Krysja, who is separated from her fellow warrior sisters and is nearly killed when she manages to tap into a space-time tesseract to access the power of 20th century rock and metal to enhance her godlike powers. Now, Krysja must save her sisters from a terrible fate at the hands of a rogue god, utilizing the power of rock to lay waste to her foes and save Valhalla from destruction. As you can tell from that plot description, this game doesn't take itself all that seriously, relying more on "rule of cool" rather than any actual Norse legends, and though it does favor style over substance, it also happens to be a substantially good hack and slash with the best combat mechanics since Bayonetta and a badass action heroine that doesn't take shit from anyone. The game features a soundtrack of several dozen real-life rock hits, including, of course, Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song", along with Yes' "Roundabout", numerous songs from Queen ("Don't Stop Me Now", "Bohemian Rhapsody", and "Killer Queen"), Nightwish's "Amaranth", Heart's "Barracuda", and more, including several original lyrical songs composed just for the game. The combat itself combines tried and true hack and slash mechanics with rhythm game mechanics, with every major set piece battle in the game featuring its own song. If the player times Krysja's attacks with the music, their attack and defense power substantially increases. It is possible to win fights without timing attacks to the music, but if players want the easiest time and the best scores, they'll have to unleash the power of rock. The game isn't as brutal as God Of War or as sexy as Bayonetta, but with an M-rating, it can still get plenty violent, as Krysja cuts her enemies up with her sword or uses her guitar as a literal axe to chop up her foes. Level structure is similar to that of Bayonetta, mostly linear, but with some room for exploration, and the player can buy power-ups and equipment for Krysja to increase her strength and her compatibility with certain songs, giving the game its action-RPG component. Krysja is voiced by Kari Wahlgren, who even performs on a couple of the game's original songs. Valkyrie's plot focuses on an ancient battle between Norse gods and their Valkyrie allies, and a band of rogue gods led by Vidar, who is seeking revenge for a slight committed against him by a god who served as a father figure to Krysja prior to the events of the game. Krysja and her band of Valkyries offer to battle Vidar in his stead, but disaster strikes, Krysja's fellow valkyries are scattered, and Krysja herself nearly ends up killed before encountering a space-time portal that grants her the power of rock. Now Krysja is the one who seeks revenge, striking against Vidar's armies while also looking to rescue her fellow valkyries and lead a renewed charge against him. Some of Krysja's fellow valkyries don't need rescuing, while one of them joins Vidar and betrays her, leading to a climactic battle between the two former allies late in the game. Spectacular fights and incredible rock moments mark Krysja's journey as she reunites with her battle sisters and takes the fight to Vidar, eventually meeting and defeating him in one final rock-charged battle. Though Krysja and her valkyries have won, it seems there is no place for them in Valhalla anymore... so with the portal closing, she decides to bring some of her closest allies through the portal with her, becoming a modern rock band. The seeds of a possible sequel are laid as well, as after the credits, someone is shown challenging Krysja to a battle of the bands... it's the traitor valkyrie from before, thought killed after her last battle with Krysja. It seems she's made it through the portal as well, and though they're no longer mortal enemies, it seems they're still destined to be rivals on the rock stage.
Valkyrie is highly praised by critics, scoring an 87 on Metacritic thanks to its blend of excellent hack and slash gameplay with badass rock music. It's one of the more surprising hack and slash hits in recent memory, and though it sells well on all platforms, it does become an early hit for the Stadia, where its next-generation graphics and Google's strong advertising campaign boost awareness of the game significantly. The game would get at least one sequel, though said sequel wouldn't arrive until 2022.
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Other Significant Titles For January 2019:
Streets Of Rage Unbound: A 3-D beat 'em up title released for the Apple Virtua, this game takes the classic combat of Streets Of Rage and adapts it to a fully 3-D playing field. This has actually been done before, though this is a more retro take on the concept, with throwback graphics mixed with modern gameplay. It's a solid action game, but does get overshadowed somewhat by Valkyrie, and only makes back its production budget due to its success with Japanese players.
Forza Stadia: Stadia players don't have to wait long for a truly next-generation racing experience: this excellent racer comes to the platform in January 2019, and blends elements of both the Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon games, allowing for simulation-style racing or open world exploration. It features a huge amount of cars: at first, only 419, but with DLC, both free and paid, that number would eventually swell to over 1,000, racing through environments all over the world, from the legendary tracks of Indy and Daytona to the Arabian Desert and even the icy desolation of Antarctica, it's the most versatile racing game ever made as well as the most beautiful, and makes heavy use of Google's optional VR accessories, which, while not quite up to what the Reality and Virtua have on offer, still make outstanding use of the Stadia's hardware. Forza Stadia doesn't quite reach the popularity of Gran Turismo Real, but it sells millions of copies and is one of the best reviewed racing games of the year.
Final Fantasy Elementus: Squaresoft brings an action-RPG spinoff to the Reality, Virtua, Nexus, and Stadia, in which players can choose from up to 16 different elemental-themed characters and embark on a series of quests tuned to that element's strengths, before heading out into the world to take on other challenges, including challenges meant for completely different elemental characters. Like OTL's Crystal Chronicles, the game is somewhat balanced around online multiplayer, with up to four players able to team up to take down foes. It's a bit light on the classic Final Fantasy RPG elements, and is meant to be a lighthearted game for younger players, but even series veterans can appreciate some of the challenges, as well as the throwbacks to classic moments from the series. It's definitely inspired somewhat by Nintendo's Elemancers in its character designs, and overall it's just a really fun game to play, selling more than enough copies to turn a solid profit.
The Walt Disney Corporation is expected to launch its highly-anticipated streaming service, known as "Disney Premium", later this year. The service will host film and television content from across Disney's vast collection of properties, throwing open the so-called "Disney Vault" and allowing their animated and live-action classics to be streamed any time, any place for the first time ever. However, some critics are decrying a lack of content on the service, and point to Disney's lack of meaningful acquisitions as a potential source of their skepticism. Disney hasn't made any major moves to acquire outside IPs since 2004, when it formally acquired Pixar (a company it had already had a major role in founding and assisting with the distribution of its films). Before that, Disney acquired the ABC television network and its family of content, including the cable channel ESPN, back in 1996, but since then, Disney hasn't had any significant acquisitions. Indeed, in recent years the company has been the target of acquisition rumors itself, from companies like Apple earlier in the decade, to 20th Century Fox, which at one point was being rumored to be in pursuit of a merger with Disney. A statement from an insider at Fox said that "though Fox considered making a bid to acquire Disney and its IPs, in the end the move was seen as being too risky, and that Fox didn't think it could effectively market Disney content and maintain its own separate image." The insider went on to state that "Fox couldn't imagine a world in which Disney and itself ever joined forces, according to one prominent executive in the company". Though Disney's fortunes have flagged at times during the 21st century, the company has seen a recent surge of popular content, including the hit Pixar film Sonic the Hedgehog 2, its own animated musical Written In The Stars, and a bevy of popular televised content, including the surging musical comedy She's Got It! and the hit animated show Goldilocks: The Series, which is expected to air its fourth and final season beginning later this year. Disney is expected to produce original content for its new streaming service, some of which will feature some of the company's more obscure IPs, including an animated show based on Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, expected to take place in a "dark, parallel universe with plenty of twists and turns". Though Disney Premium is likely to feature very little in the way of content outside Disney's classic library, it's important to remember that the company has produced some of the most beloved films and characters of all time, and these classic films will likely prove highly attractive to millions of potential subscribers. Though Disney Premium will likely live or die on the strength of its original content, it should have a good rock on which to build its church.
-from a January 13, 2019 article on Tubehound
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Alli Mecklenberg: As the Gibraltar Bridge nears its planned completion date in early 2021, the prospect of a similar American megaproject might be attractive, but critics say there's just no political will to build a bridge across the Bering Strait, even with the recent improvement in relations between Russia and the United States. Future climate change could make such a project more attractive in the future, but right now, it would be a bridge "from nowhere to nowhere", and a bridge too far even in the most favorable conditions. For CNN, I'm Alli Mecklenberg.
Jake Tapper: Thanks, Alli, and we've got some major breaking news about the Supreme Court, right now.
*The CNN Breaking News animation plans on screen.*
Tapper: Just out of Washington DC, we have just been told and can report that Supreme Court Justice Alex Kozinski plans to retire effective later today. This news, though coming as no surprise to those who have been following the mounting scandals against the beleaguered jurist, is still monumental, as it will fundamentally alter the balance of the Supreme Court by giving President Kennedy the chance to fill a seat that was previously filled by a Republican president, Jon Huntsman. We're going to go to Washington right now, Josh Raskell has the story, and Josh, Justice Kozinski just released this a few moments ago?
Raskell: That's right, Jake, Justice Kozinski has just put out a statement, and let me read part of it for you now. He says that, "even though I maintain that I never have and would never sexually assault anyone, I realize now that some of my actions may have indeed been inappropriate, and in some cases, highly so, and for that reason, I am resigning from the Supreme Court as of 5:00 PM today. I can no longer burden my colleagues on the bench or the people of this country with a continued air of controversy, and so I will step down and allow the president to appoint a new Supreme Court justice as quickly as possible". He goes on to urge President Kennedy to nominate someone with a similar love of freedom who will issue rulings with deep consideration for the Constitution of this country, and he also goes on to thank the previous president for giving him an opportunity to serve.
Tapper: Of course, Justice Kozinski was facing mounting pressure to resign, and numerous Republicans had publicly come out and said that they were willing to consider voting to convict and remove him from the bench, is that correct?
Raskell: That's right, Jake, a number of senators including Maine's Susan Collins and Alaska's Lisa Murkowski basically came out and said that they would indeed be voting to remove him, and even Marco Rubio from Florida, who is considered to be a major contender for the Republican nomination, said that he would be considering a guilty verdict if enough evidence was presented, and that I think was pretty huge and played a big role on Kozinski's decision, considering the political consequences of such an admission for Rubio.
Tapper: The walls, I think, were clearly closing in on Justice Kozinski.
Raskell: The House was probably a week away from voting to impeach him, which they certainly would have done, and many here in Washington believe the conviction vote would've been extremely close, with 62 or 63 senators almost certain to vote guilty, and at least five mulling it over, which, of course, if they all voted guilty would have been enough to remove him.
-from a CNN Breaking News report on January 15, 2019 at 2:12 PM EST
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Sri Srinivasan Confirmed To Supreme Court By 82-18 Margin
Today, the Senate officially confirmed President Kennedy's nomination of Sri Srinivasan to the United States Supreme Court, to replace the seat left vacant by Alex Kozinski, who resigned from the Court after a sex scandal. Srinivasan, who was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals in 2008 by President Al Gore, is the second American of South Asian descent to be confirmed to the Supreme Court, after Kennedy's appointment of Jacqueline Nyugen in 2017, and the first Hindu to be appointed. Srinivasan, who is considered to be a center-left jurist (similar to Merrick Garland, who was appointed in 2008), was met with little controversy at the Senate, though 18 of the senators did choose to vote against him, with some of those opposed wanting Kennedy to appoint a purely centrist justice. Many of the senators who voted against Srinivasan are facing primary elections in their states next year. Srinivasan's confirmation shifts the balance of the Supreme Court back to the left, for the first time in nine years following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2010. Srinivasan joins Garland and Kennedy in the court's "centrist" bloc, replacing Kozinski, and could be a potential swing vote on a number of issues including campaign finance spending, abortion, and transgender rights, all of which have cases pending before the high court this year. The Supreme Court could be an important issue with voters going into next year's election, as Justices Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer are both potential candidates for retirement, and whoever wins 2020's upcoming election may be able to fill both seats, potentially swinging the court back to a 5-4 conservative majority, or cementing a 6-3 liberal majority on the bench for the next generation.
-from a January 31, 2019 article on Yahoo! News
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Enix-Keiken's latest handheld endeavor, Sword Of Elfsbane, is launching on Nintendo Connect and mobile this week, and is expected to come to the iPhone G at release. It combines action-RPG elements with gacha mechanics, and though the latter is somewhat disappointing, denying some of the game's best features to players who aren't willing to spend extra cash on top of the game's $39.99 MSRP, it does excel at the first part, being a very good action-RPG. It takes place across a massive world, and features a stellar story, which, thankfully, you don't have to spend a dime to experience in full. The game's full 30+ hour quest comes with tons of side missions and plenty of towns, dungeons, and secret areas to explore, and features some of the best combat mechanics we've ever seen in an action RPG, with sword moves straight out of the best hack-and-slashers, and incredible boss fights that will prove a significant challenge for even veteran RPG players. However, the fact that a majority of the game's playable characters (16 out of 24) are locked behind a grindy gacha mechanic, and the fact that the game's best sidequest, a deep monster arena accessible about two hours into the game and the source of some of the best loot is not only paid DLC but also requires gacha mechanics to get the best monsters and materials, is really disappointing. Enix had been leaning heavily into mobile gacha games even before their merger with Keiken, and now, the mechanics are in all the company's games, and will also be present in the upcoming iPhone G exclusive Dragon Quest: Luminaries Of Legend. It's a sad state of affairs for what was once a worthy rival to Squaresoft, and the sad part about it all is that the base game is good, really, really, really good, which could open up a lot of wallets that it wouldn't have opened up if the game was merely average. Our advice: if you can resist the temptation to spend money, Sword Of Elfsbane is still an excellent action-RPG. And if you do want to spend the cash, hey, go ahead, it's your money. But if you're the kind of person who finds themselves easily sucked into these kinds of predatory game mechanics, we recommend staying away.
Our Score: 4.5/5 (if you can ignore the gacha), 3.5/5 (if you can't)
-from RPGamer's review of Sword Of Elfsbane, posted on January 20, 2019
*mocking Skeletor voice* SWORD OF ELFSBAAAAANE...
*normal voice* "Sword Of Elfsbane... the game has nothing to do with killing elves, what a stupid fucking title."
-from Jim Stephanie Sterling's Shittiest Games Of 2019 List video, posted on Games Over Matter on December 30, 2019
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Game Spotlight: Valkyrie
Valkyrie is a hack-and-slash/action RPG/rhythm game. Originally promoted as a Google Nexus title, the game was later confirmed to be multiplatform, and was released on the Nintendo Reality, Apple Virtua, and Google Stadia and Nexus in January 2019. Its protagonist is a legendary valkyrie warrior named Krysja, who is separated from her fellow warrior sisters and is nearly killed when she manages to tap into a space-time tesseract to access the power of 20th century rock and metal to enhance her godlike powers. Now, Krysja must save her sisters from a terrible fate at the hands of a rogue god, utilizing the power of rock to lay waste to her foes and save Valhalla from destruction. As you can tell from that plot description, this game doesn't take itself all that seriously, relying more on "rule of cool" rather than any actual Norse legends, and though it does favor style over substance, it also happens to be a substantially good hack and slash with the best combat mechanics since Bayonetta and a badass action heroine that doesn't take shit from anyone. The game features a soundtrack of several dozen real-life rock hits, including, of course, Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song", along with Yes' "Roundabout", numerous songs from Queen ("Don't Stop Me Now", "Bohemian Rhapsody", and "Killer Queen"), Nightwish's "Amaranth", Heart's "Barracuda", and more, including several original lyrical songs composed just for the game. The combat itself combines tried and true hack and slash mechanics with rhythm game mechanics, with every major set piece battle in the game featuring its own song. If the player times Krysja's attacks with the music, their attack and defense power substantially increases. It is possible to win fights without timing attacks to the music, but if players want the easiest time and the best scores, they'll have to unleash the power of rock. The game isn't as brutal as God Of War or as sexy as Bayonetta, but with an M-rating, it can still get plenty violent, as Krysja cuts her enemies up with her sword or uses her guitar as a literal axe to chop up her foes. Level structure is similar to that of Bayonetta, mostly linear, but with some room for exploration, and the player can buy power-ups and equipment for Krysja to increase her strength and her compatibility with certain songs, giving the game its action-RPG component. Krysja is voiced by Kari Wahlgren, who even performs on a couple of the game's original songs. Valkyrie's plot focuses on an ancient battle between Norse gods and their Valkyrie allies, and a band of rogue gods led by Vidar, who is seeking revenge for a slight committed against him by a god who served as a father figure to Krysja prior to the events of the game. Krysja and her band of Valkyries offer to battle Vidar in his stead, but disaster strikes, Krysja's fellow valkyries are scattered, and Krysja herself nearly ends up killed before encountering a space-time portal that grants her the power of rock. Now Krysja is the one who seeks revenge, striking against Vidar's armies while also looking to rescue her fellow valkyries and lead a renewed charge against him. Some of Krysja's fellow valkyries don't need rescuing, while one of them joins Vidar and betrays her, leading to a climactic battle between the two former allies late in the game. Spectacular fights and incredible rock moments mark Krysja's journey as she reunites with her battle sisters and takes the fight to Vidar, eventually meeting and defeating him in one final rock-charged battle. Though Krysja and her valkyries have won, it seems there is no place for them in Valhalla anymore... so with the portal closing, she decides to bring some of her closest allies through the portal with her, becoming a modern rock band. The seeds of a possible sequel are laid as well, as after the credits, someone is shown challenging Krysja to a battle of the bands... it's the traitor valkyrie from before, thought killed after her last battle with Krysja. It seems she's made it through the portal as well, and though they're no longer mortal enemies, it seems they're still destined to be rivals on the rock stage.
Valkyrie is highly praised by critics, scoring an 87 on Metacritic thanks to its blend of excellent hack and slash gameplay with badass rock music. It's one of the more surprising hack and slash hits in recent memory, and though it sells well on all platforms, it does become an early hit for the Stadia, where its next-generation graphics and Google's strong advertising campaign boost awareness of the game significantly. The game would get at least one sequel, though said sequel wouldn't arrive until 2022.
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Other Significant Titles For January 2019:
Streets Of Rage Unbound: A 3-D beat 'em up title released for the Apple Virtua, this game takes the classic combat of Streets Of Rage and adapts it to a fully 3-D playing field. This has actually been done before, though this is a more retro take on the concept, with throwback graphics mixed with modern gameplay. It's a solid action game, but does get overshadowed somewhat by Valkyrie, and only makes back its production budget due to its success with Japanese players.
Forza Stadia: Stadia players don't have to wait long for a truly next-generation racing experience: this excellent racer comes to the platform in January 2019, and blends elements of both the Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon games, allowing for simulation-style racing or open world exploration. It features a huge amount of cars: at first, only 419, but with DLC, both free and paid, that number would eventually swell to over 1,000, racing through environments all over the world, from the legendary tracks of Indy and Daytona to the Arabian Desert and even the icy desolation of Antarctica, it's the most versatile racing game ever made as well as the most beautiful, and makes heavy use of Google's optional VR accessories, which, while not quite up to what the Reality and Virtua have on offer, still make outstanding use of the Stadia's hardware. Forza Stadia doesn't quite reach the popularity of Gran Turismo Real, but it sells millions of copies and is one of the best reviewed racing games of the year.
Final Fantasy Elementus: Squaresoft brings an action-RPG spinoff to the Reality, Virtua, Nexus, and Stadia, in which players can choose from up to 16 different elemental-themed characters and embark on a series of quests tuned to that element's strengths, before heading out into the world to take on other challenges, including challenges meant for completely different elemental characters. Like OTL's Crystal Chronicles, the game is somewhat balanced around online multiplayer, with up to four players able to team up to take down foes. It's a bit light on the classic Final Fantasy RPG elements, and is meant to be a lighthearted game for younger players, but even series veterans can appreciate some of the challenges, as well as the throwbacks to classic moments from the series. It's definitely inspired somewhat by Nintendo's Elemancers in its character designs, and overall it's just a really fun game to play, selling more than enough copies to turn a solid profit.