James Gunn on Threads:

Get ready. Superman 7.11.25 @dcofficial … The above photo was taken on set by Jess Miglio and was entirely in-camera.

Here we go, folks. After what feels like ages of hype and excitement, the first fruit of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Comics movie universe has been revealed, as we get a look at David Corenswet (The Politician) as Kal-El/Clark/Superman.

I’ve attached the image to this post, and I have to say: I really like the vibe here.

After what feels like ages of Hollywood looking at Superman and having only the creatively bankrupt idea of “What If Superman was…evil?!” as if it were a new, original thought, to see a more…mundane version of Superman is kind of wild.

You can practically hear the sigh, as he remembers that his job isn’t done, he’s gotta go back to work, pull on the boots, and face down evil and terror once again.

It’s humanizing, something that is so easily forgotten about who Superman is as a character.

Given that James Gunn made a world care about a talking raccoon and a tree, I feel like that his version of the Last Son of Krypton will speak to us all. Finally.

Superman hits theaters on July 11, 2025.

Germain Lussier, Gizmodo:

io9 is honored to exclusively debut a brand new poster for Godzilla Minus One by Phantom City Creative. Released by Bottleneck Gallery and Ish, it’ll go on sale Friday, May 3 at noon ET at this site. Capturing Godzilla in a cloud of fire, the poster comes in three different editions, all 24 x 36 inch screenprints.

Godzilla Minus One was one of my favorites of 2023, and this poster is absolutely stunning. I’ve featured the black-and-white variant in my post here, and if you want to see all three versions, head to the source link above.

Should you be interested, hit this link on Friday, May 3, 2024 at Noon Eastern.

Luke Plunkett, Aftermath:

Remember how in February publisher Take-Two–who, thanks to Grand Theft Auto, have more money than you or I could ever conceive–had no current layoff plans, then two months later went out and laid off 600 people? We’ve learned today via Bloomberg that among those 600 people are everyone at two of the company’s studios: Intercept Games (Kerbal Space Program 2) and Roll7, which are both being closed.

While it’s still unclear what the future will hold for Kerbal Space Program 2–a game that hasn’t had the best time since launching last year, but will apparently still be receiving “updates”–I had a particular fondness for Roll7, a studio that was only bought by Take-Two in 2021! It had been around in some form since 2008, and in that time had developed a ton of very cool video games, from the side-scrolling skateboarding series OlliOlli to rollerskate murder simulator Rollerdrome to the much-expanded OlliOlli World.

This absolutely sucks. The OlliOlli games – along with Rollerdrome – are some of the most fun, polished, unique and engaging experiences I’ve had in gaming over the last few years, and now, because they were acquired just 3 years ago, and Number Must Go Up, this talent team is being gutted, drawn and quartered.

Going beyond official recognition, I also honestly believe the OlliOlli titles are some of the best skateboarding games ever made, and that the studio should be applauded for the work they put into making their games look amazing as well; Roll7 games had such a unique and vibrant style that in a previous life I wrote art features on both OlliOlli World and Rollerdrome in the same year.

But now two entire studios are toast, all because a company with revenue in the billions woke up one day and decided it didn’t need to keep them around anymore. And why would they, when all they really care about is shaking people down for spare change every second minute they’re playing Grand Theft Auto Online or NBA 2K.

And that’s the point. What’s the line in Mad Max: Fury Road? “Do not, my friends become addicted to water, it will take hold of you and you will resent its absence.”

These super studios are so massive, and so dependent upon the recurring DLC revenue of live service games and its ilk, that they’re cutting themselves down to just those sorts of titles. Much like the drum I keep beating about movies, we’re fast approaching in gaming the place that the movie industry has arrived in: you get two games now – the massive AAA blockbusters like Grand Theft Auto VI or Assassin’s Creed: This Years Location and Era or the stunning, quirky indie successes, like Vampire Survivors or Balatro.

The last two weeks, I’ve found myself immersed in the gaming of the 90’s and 00’s, thanks to Delta on my phone and the Miyoo Mini+ I just got in the mail. You know what’s great about those games? They’re simple. The gameplay is the focus. You don’t need to buy DLC. The experience is contained.

I may be Old Man Yelling At Cloud here, but game studios – seriously – lower the production values, up the actual value for the customer. There’s a reason why so many years on, the Nintendo Switch was outselling the new gen systems.

In the meantime: I hope the Roll7 team lands as well as they can, and should they decide to re-form and start a Kickstarter for their next project, I’m there Day One.

Barry Petchesky, Defector:

For I am a baby gamer: I do not wish to be unduly or excessively challenged by video games. I wish to die a maximum of, let's say five times before beating a boss or passing a section. I wish to have fun, and I do not find it fun to be frustrated. That happens enough in real life for me to want to experience it in my free time too. In games, I want to see the entire package, and appreciate the developers' work from start to finish. I want to revel in transversal or combat or exploration or physics or plot—and I want it to be easy to see and do it all.

I can hear you now. Skill issue. Damn right it's a skill issue! I am a grown man who until the pandemic had not played games since the Nintendo 64, outside of some dorm-room Madden sessions. I suck at this! Do not think I am ashamed of it. Once, I was a capital-G Gamer. I mastered landing on the carrier in Top Gun. I played TMNT's dam level until I beat it. As a kid, I happily put in the hours necessary. As an adult, I do not have the time to git gud, as the youth say. I respect a game that respects my time.

Perhaps even more important than a lack of time is a lack of inclination: I do not obtain satisfaction from overcoming a video game challenge. Memorizing enemy attack patterns, or mastering my own fast-twitch reflexes does not give me a sense of accomplishment. If it does for you, that's fine, but I promise you I feel no less fulfilled for having beaten Tunic with damage turned off.

Goddamn, I felt this post with my soul.

As a holy shit I’m almost forty year old, I’ve done my time in the trenches, but some of the most fun I’ve had with gaming in recent years are with the games that I’ve played on Easy. Or even Very Easy!

Star Wars: Jedi Survivor? They tell me the gameplay is a Souls-Like, but I like the power fantasy of wrecking peoples shit with Jedi powers. I turn that sucker onto Easy (or whatever fancy name they give it), and I’m slicing troopers up with lightsabers, tossing aliens around with the Force, and I feel awesome.

Spider-Man 2? I get to enjoy the story and explore NYC without stress, as I have all of the power, and less of the responsibility.

Hell, my dirty secret of the last week is that I’ve been putting a lot of time into some old GBA favorites from the Metroid and Castlevania franchises via Delta, and you bet your ass I’ve got GameShark / Action Replay codes on.

But there are some games that I’d love to apply this logic to, where it’s just not an option. Elden Ring is visually and conceptually very much My Shit™, but the gameplay is punishing, so I’ve been unable to dig into it. Much as its discused in the piece, I don’t have the time to Get Gud. I want to Have Fun, and while I understand the why in 2024 that a GameShark/Action Replay/Game Genie isn’t really an option in the time of the online game, I long for the ability to turn on Infinite Health and just see all of the Lands Between. I suppose I could just check out the amazing looking art books, but it’s just not the same.

Let me meet you where I am, games. Make it so I don’t get achievements, I don’t care. I want to give you $$$ and enjoy your efforts — let me play on Easy.

Edward Zitron, Where’s Your Ed At?:

This is the story of how Google Search died, and the people responsible for killing it.

The story begins on February 5th 2019, when Ben Gomes, Google’s head of search, had a problem. Jerry Dischler, then the VP and General Manager of Ads at Google, and Shiv Venkataraman, then the VP of Engineering, Search and Ads on Google properties, had called a “code yellow” for search revenue due to, and I quote, “steady weakness in the daily numbers” and a likeliness that it would end the quarter significantly behind.

A blistering read from Ed Zitron breaking down the managerial changes and overall focus on profits before people which has – perhaps irreparably – ruined Google search.

I feel like the term “enshittification” has become an overused shorthand for “thing I don’t like”, but this is the term at its purist. A focus on Fuck Yours, Got Mine on a massive level, which trickles down across the web as a whole.

A reckoning is coming, of this, I am sure.

Jason Koebler, 404 Media

For years, people who have found Google search frustrating have been adding “Reddit” to the end of their search queries. This practice is so common that Google even acknowledged the phenomenon in a post announcing that it will be scraping Reddit posts to train its AI. And so, naturally, there are now services that will poison Reddit threads with AI-generated posts designed to promote products.

A service called ReplyGuy advertises itself as “the AI that plugs your product on Reddit” and which automatically “mentions your product in conversations naturally.” Examples on the site show two different Redditors being controlled by AI posting plugs for a text-to-voice product called “AnySpeech” and a bot writing a long comment about a debt consolidation program called Debt Freedom Now.

This here is why we cannot have nice things.

That said: the name of the tool being “Reply Guy”? Honestly, no notes. What a perfect assessment of this internet ruining tool.

Marvel Entertainment on YouTube:

LFG.

Watch the new trailer for Marvel Studios’ #DeadpoolAndWolverine. Only in theaters July 26.

I’ve always been in a state of liking the Deadpool films, but not loving them. (Prefered 2 to 1, for whatever that’s worth.)

Turns out what Reynolds’ version of the character needed was a really strong opposite, which Hugh Jackman appears to have in spades.

Bring on the X-Men.