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Summary Very few gaming series can claim that they introduced a wholly original idea to the table; even the likes of Mario and Zelda were simply polishing, to a sheen, formulae that had existed for years prior. But Scribblenauts is one such series. There’d never been anything like it beforehand, and there probably won’t ever be again. You’re plopped into the rooster-hatted shoes of Maxwell, who’s got himself a magic pencil that can create any noun or adjective that comes to mind....

Summary July was a historic month for workers' rights in the gaming industry. Firstly, all US-basedBethesda devs unionised, forming the first wall-to-wall union at aMicrosoft-owned company. They weren’t alone in this for long, asWorld of Warcraftdevelopers atBlizzardquickly joined them,forming their own union of more than 500 workers. It’s no coincidence that these are both Microsoft-owned studios. During its acquisition ofActivision Blizzard, the companysigned a neutrality agreement, agreeing to work “collaboratively” with workers who want to organise....

Summary Aether Studios has confirmed atEVO 2024that every character inRivals 2, including ones released after launch, will be completely free for every player. Although platform fighters might seem like they’re in a bit of a rough spot withno Smash game on the horizon,MultiVersus' relaunch getting mixed reviews, andRiot’s planned League of Legends game getting cancelled, there’s still a lot of life in the genre thanks to Rivals 2. The sequel to the beloved Rivals of Aether has been in development for a long time,but is finally nearing its release at some point in 2024....

Before speaking to Giochi Suda (AKA Suda51) and Shinji Mikami, I got the chance to play their remaster of Shadows of the Damned for 30 minutes. I selected one of the new costumes for protagonist Garcia Hotspur, the one based on villain Ocho Corazones (the flashiest one) from Travis Strikes Again, and I jumped right into the action. I spent my time delivering magical strawberries to baby faces on doors, shooting demons, listening to my talking gun joke about boners, and getting my character drunk to restore his health while he follows the steps of Paula, the love of his life, into hell....

I’ll always be a never say never kinda gal, but I’ve come to terms with the fact that we’re not getting aShe-Ramovie. More specifically, we’re not getting a feature length follow-up to the animated Netflix series from Dreamworks and showrunnerND Stevenson. It’s something fans have rallied for ever since the show came to its end four years ago, but it hasn’t come to pass. Judging from Dreamworks seldom acknowledging its popular existence and much of its creative staff moving onto new projects, it likely never will....

Summary Star Wars Outlaws' creative director, Julian Gerighty, has revealed that the biggest influence behind the game’s development was Sucker Punch’sGhost of Tsushima. Although you might think that the most obvious thing to compare Star Wars Outlaws to would beliterally any other Ubisoft game over the past decade, that surprisingly isn’t the case.Outlaws does a lot of things differently from games like Assassin’s Creed and Far Cryand feels like turning over a new leaf for whatUbisoft’s open-world games can be....

I’m a big fan of the SteamWorld series, but the original SteamWorld Heist was not my favorite. I really wanted to like it. Not just because I love SteamWorld, but because it had such a unique take on tactical strategy; an RPG-flavored evolution of Worms with a Space Western theme that checked a lot of boxes for me. Unfortunately, the execution left me dissatisfied. The engaging strategy it offered just couldn’t make up for the lack of character customization, grindy gameplay, and randomly generated maps that all felt the same....

Summary So, you want to playOverwatch 2- and survive more than just a couple of Quick Play matches. Or you might even be sharpening your skills in order to be good enough for Competitive games. Well, the most important thing for any player to know is what counters (heroes that do very well against other heroes in a firefight) to play based on their opponents’ team composition. After all, a player who knows how to switch things up on the fly is the best kind of teammate to have....

Nearly 30 Periapts have been added toShin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeancein a brand-new feature for this revamped version that rewards players who commit to rather strict party-building guidelines. You’ll unlock these over the course of the game, and while some aren’t quite worth the restrictions, others can really come in handy. Below, we’ve included our personal favorites with as much justification as we can provide on what makes them tick so well for us....

Summary While traditionalDungeons & Dragonssettings are akin to high fantasy adventures where beasts are felled by magic-wielding heroes, Some classic adventures shook things up. In Quests From The Infinite Staircase, we see a modernized version of 1987’s Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, a sci-fi adventure for level 11 characters. And there’s nothing more sci-fi than some fancy technology to pave the path forward. Classified as adventuring gear, and NOT magic items, they are not beholden to certain classifications or restrictions that magic items have, like attunements, rarities, or anti-magic fields....

The Neo sets are some of the most popularPokemon TCGexpansions of all time, offering an excellent assortment of Pokemon from Generations One and Two to collect. While these sets predate the days ofvaluable full-art Trainer cards, there are still some fantastic Pokemon to collect in Neo Revelation. If you’re a fan of shiny Pokemon but don’t enjoymodern sets like Shining Legends, then Neo Revelation even has something for you, though many of these cards feature the standard color palettes....

Summary In case you missed it,2002 cult classic The Thing is getting a remaster.Nightdive Studios, which has helped bring several other classics to modern consoles,like System Shock and Star Wars: Dark Forces, will be handling the remaster. No release date has been announced, though when the game does come out,it’ll be on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam. That said, Nightdive Studios will be fully taking advantage of modern tools to help bring the video game to current gen hardware....

Summary The Dedsec Faction inXDefiantis the only one that isn’t available immediately upon opening the game;Dedsec requires gaining 400,000 XPin order to unlock (or you may, of course, buy them). While that might seem like a ton of work, it isn’t going to take you too long to get, in the grand scheme of things. Dedsec is one of the more formidable factions in XDefiant, capable of hampering enemy movement and combat ability and even completely deactivating enemy abilities altogether....