Matthew Jacobs, The Ringer:

If a single quotation can distill an entire subset of pop culture in the 2000s, these 12 words work pretty well: “You gotta hear this one song. It’ll change your life, I swear.”

Most millennials can immediately identify Garden State, Zach Braff’s indie phenomenon from 2004, as the source. For some, the quote is a nostalgia portal, bringing their bygone youth into focus. For others, it’s naive, cringe-inducing corn. But two decades ago, it was kind of the hipster way to trumpet a semi-obscure track like the Shins’ “New Slang” as a metamorphic experience. It was the heyday of Pitchfork, MisShapes, mix CDs, and Seth Cohen. You gotta hear this one song epitomized a generation transitioning from the sovereignty of MTV to the curatorial power of Myspace. Braff loaded Garden State with the sort of in-the-know music recommendations that had become currency.

It’s really hard to communicate how much of a moment this album and movie was for millennials like myself. I can self-aggrandize by saying “I knew most of these bands before this soundtrack”, but to hear these songs and see them used so well justified years of MP3 blog diving.

The movie itself I saw in theaters multiple times with countless friends, and watched the DVD regularly, but I haven’t revisited the film in well over a decade. I wonder how it holds up. I can at least say that the trailer holds up as something special.

Borys Kit and Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter:

The Russo Bros. are in early talks to return to Marvel Studios to direct not just one, but the next two Avengers movies, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.

The hiring ends a months-long, high stakes search by the studio for filmmakers to oversee the fifth and sixth Avengers movies. Multiple names were in contention, including Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy, who was offered the gig. Sources say the talks are in the early stages.

Thanos, Avengers: Endgame (2019):

You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me.

With just a week until San Diego Comic Con 2024 kicks off, Deadpool and Wolverine hits theaters, and Marvel Studios begins its attempt in earnest to turn things around with fan sentiment after the spotty output since Avengers: Endgame, it’s no shock that word is officially getting out early about who Kevin Feige has appointed to turn this bus around.

Look, some of the issues are not of their own doing – Disney certainly didn’t expect that their next big villain would end up having such high profile issues with the law – but I do also wonder if this is a safe, “Lets Play The Hits” sort of move from the Mouse House.

Again, I really adored what the MCU was through Endgame, and since, there have been projects I liked, but on the whole, it’s felt shaggy and lifeless.

Maybe next Saturday, in Hall H, the comeback begins. Let’s hope.

Marvel Entertainment / YouTube:

Enter a brave new world.

Marvel Studios' #CaptainAmericaBraveNewWorld, only in theaters February 14, 2025.

A bit earlier than I expected, the first trailer for the 4th Captain America has hit the web. I expected it to be attached to, say Twisters or, of course, Deadpool & Wolverine, but instead, its on the web a smidge early.

Let’s ignore that the movie has a crazy budget, tons of reshoots, has had its release date moved multiple times (shout out COVID and two strikes), and got somewhat spoiled by a McDonald’s Happy Meal in May…this looks…or looked… promising.

Honestly, it’s until the end of the trailer that I was totally in. This felt like a gritty return to the comic-book-movie-as-political-thriller vibes which made Captain America: The Winter Soldier arguably the best MCU movie.

And then there’s the stinger at the end. With Red Hulk.

Marvel isn’t hiding Red Hulk by any means, see the attached poster image, but the usage of the character feels so out-of-left field in this trailer, I can only imagine how it feels in the movie proper.

With the movies since Avengers: Endgame being such a mixed bag, while watching this trailer, I was hyped to see a lower stakes, focused movie, less about “The Universe” and more a story which could stand alone.

Instead, here comes CG Punching.

As I’ve discussed recently with friends, the promise of the MCU as a long time comic book fan has become somewhat of a curse. They were giving me amazing, well told interpretations of characters and arcs I loved. And somehow, the entire world was loving it to. But now, like comic books themselves, even the best runs get snuffed out by crossovers and a need to have read it all.

Perhaps I will eat these words come February 2025, but right now, I’m already bothered by the lack of Marvel’s convictions when it comes to this story.

I don’t think this would be relatable to too many people, but watching The Boy and the Heron last night, I was hit with a really strong sensory memory.

When Otakon was based in Baltimore, they’d use some of the bigger panel halls as “Video 1”, and it’s where they’d show movies, sometimes even on 35mm. Understandably, I’d go there a lot. I got to see Seven Samurai and My Neighbor Totoro this way.

You’d walk in to this cavernous room and wait for the movie to start. Sure, there maybe was a packed audience, but all was quiet. The only noise was the air conditioning kicking in. The lights were low, and the air was cold.

You’d come out 2 hours later, to a warm, loud convention hall, people laughing, people having a great time. It was such a juxtaposition, you truly felt like you came out from underground to a new world.

…I kinda miss that.

Andrew Liszewski, The Verge:

The archives of the MTV News website, which had remained accessible online after the unit was shut down last year by parent company Paramount Global, have now been completely taken offline. As Variety reported yesterday, both mtvnews.com and mtv.com/news now redirect visitors to the MTV website’s front page.

Truly sad, especially given that the upkeep of these archives must have been – at best – a rounding error for Viacom.

For Gen Z, Alpha, and those to come, it’s both going to be odd to explain that, “Yes, MTV once played music videos, and was not wall to wall Ridiculousness.”, but also: “When this intro played, you knew that shit was about to go down.”

Kurt Loder + Tabitha Soren forever.

Jason Zinoman, The New York Times:

Since leaving late-night television in 2021, Conan O’Brien, 61, has become more reflective about life (and death), given to philosophical flights of fancy that he compulsively alternates with comic tangents. O’Brien famously champions the intersection between smart and stupid, but in conversation, what stands out is how quickly he moves between light and heavy. In one of several interviews, I asked him if he was happier now than when he was on television and his response was to question happiness itself. “At best it’s a fleeting moment after a rainstorm when the sun’s coming out,” he said. “Being contented comes in little moments, here and there.”

The only thing trickier than being a late-night talk show host is being a former one. Some relapse (Jon Stewart). A few vanish (Johnny Carson, Craig Kilborn). Most enter a more modest era (David Letterman, Jay Leno). Since he started writing for “Saturday Night Live” in the 1980s, Conan O’Brien has built one of the most consequential careers in comedy. And while his late-night tenure is beloved by comedy nerds, helping define a sensibility for a generation of comedians like Bill Hader, Eric André and Nikki Glaser, his postshow work may turn out to be more impressive.

Besides being an influence to me and my sense of humor, especially for whatever comedy “career” I’ve built for myself, it’s funny how much I found myself relating to Conan and how his brain works – the light and the dark.

Heck of a read.

Nathan Grayson, Aftermath:

Nintendo knows what works for it, and over the years it has stayed that course, at times to its own detriment. But when it works, it really works. The Switch has been a smash success, which has allowed Nintendo to stick to its guns even as it navigates an industry that’s doubling down on fewer, bigger games. It is notable that Nintendo hasn’t laid off hundreds or thousands of workers in the past couple years, nor has it jumped aboard the forever game bandwagon (unless Mario Kart 8 counts). I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the former is a result of labor law as much as it is anything else, but there’s also a hopeful truth at the core of Nintendo’s approach: If you create something good and dependable, people will appreciate it. You don’t have to trick or trap them to build a successful business.

I mean…this is why Nintendo is able to do what it does so well. They play the long game. Sure, they’ve had their bumps and bruises (Wii-U, Virtual Boy), but this article – along with the latest Nintendo Direct – illuminates why they’ve been able to cut out a market for themselves and ultimately side-step the console wars.

It’s funny, I can sit here right now in 2024 and say that I will for sure be picking up a Switch 2 (or whatever its called), but I am already skeptical – without a game or acknowledgement of it existing! – about what a PlayStation 6 will bring. That is the confidence Nintendo has built.

After this morning’s Nintendo Direct, I’ve got about 10 new games I want to pick up.

I’d already wanted to check out Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, but, I also find myself excited for…

• Mario & Luigi: Brothership
• Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition
• Donkey Kong Country Returns HD
• Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake (along with the I & II remakes announced)
• Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics (Though I may pick it up on PS4 instead)
• Super Mario Party Jamboree
• The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Turns out, Zelda’s the girl.)
• And, of course…Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, which I can’t help but feel like is the cross-generational game, a’la Breath of the Wild for the Wii-U/Switch transition.

For a system which just past its seventh birthday, that’s pretty amazing.

Kyle Orland, Ars Technica:

In a wide-ranging interview with Windows Central, Blizzard's general manager of Diablo, Rod Fergusson, said that they launched Diablo IV under "the assumption that D4 was meant to be more D2-like." That meant, in part, increasing the length of time required to discover the game's most valuable items after post-Auction-House Diablo 3 made rare item drops much more common.

"One of the assumptions was that people were going to be okay with the long grind for the Unique or an Uber Unique in particular, because in Diablo II, it can go years," Fergusson said. "You can go three years before you find the Uber you're looking for... and so we were like, okay, this is what people love about the progression of D2, that idea of that very long chase."

Once the game launched, though, Fergusson said the development team was surprised to find players complaining of how long it took to get some items—our own review expressed concern about the "'loot treadmill' approach to the endgame" and "loot drops [that] seem tuned a bit low for my taste." "We found out very quickly that if you don't give me my Uber in my [months-long] season, then I'm upset," Fergusson said. "And so we're like, oh, wow, okay."

Just a fascinating little bit to note here, as game developers learn that the age of their average player has gone up, and the hours available to game have gone down.

I know I’ve spoken in the past on here about my “I’m Old, I Have Limited Gaming Time, Let Me Select Easy Mode” opinion, and this feels like an extension of that.

It’s not that we don’t want to enjoy the game — it’s that we can’t dedicate ourselves to it the way we once did.

It’ll be interesting to see how game developers address this moving forward.

Weirdly enough, I’ve been addressing it by playing older games via emulator, and cheating the crap out of them (shout out Gameshark and Action Replay codes!), but I don’t think that’s gonna be everyone’s favorite way of handling this.

The announcement of a Sheetz location coming to my neck of the woods has realized I haven’t poked this bear in a bit.

So, what are your rankings of convenience store / gas station food?

Mind, I’ve not had Buc-ees, but my picks are…

1. Sheetz - Awesome variety of food, usually prepared well, great drink menu.
2. Wawa - If their menu were a bit more eclectic, I’d give them the nod, but even with the latest additions (pizza), it’s a lesser option than Sheetz.
3. Royal Farms - The chicken is awesome. But that’s the thing: just the chicken is awesome.
4. Highs - Their ice cream is decent? 🤷‍♂️
5. 7-Eleven - Trash. Every now and then a taquito hits a spot, but for the most part, not worth the time or money.

What say you? This, of course, is with the asterisk of Japanese Convenience Stores being far far better than anything US ones have produced.

Wisconsin State Fair:

For 10 years, The Sporkies have encouraged our State Fair vendors to create next-level foods… and drinks worthy of mouth-watering Instagram pics. The Drinkies, State Fair’s non-alcoholic beverage competition! This sip-tacular competition will refresh the drink options at the State Fair for all ages.

Once again, we have ourselves the annual listing / competition for the most bizarre, insane, intense and absolutely ridiculous fair food.

Among the, uh, highlights (?) this year…

• Loaded Baked Potato Churro
• Elvis Nachos
• Cool Ranch Doritios Pickle
• Deep Fried Lemonade Bites

You can view the full breakdown of entries for The Sporkies here.

What a world.

David Pierce, The Verge:

But I’d wager that if you wanted to see the most exciting drama happening at the MGM on this Friday night, you’d have to walk through the casino and look for the small sign advertising something called The Active Cell. This is the site of the play-in round for the Excel World Championship, and it starts in five minutes. There are 27 people here to take part in this event (28 registered, but one evidently chickened out before we started), which will send its top eight finishers to tomorrow night’s finals. There, one person will be crowned the Excel World Champion, which comes with a trophy and a championship belt and the ability to spend the next 12 months bragging about being officially the world’s best spreadsheeter. Eight people have already qualified for the finals; some of today’s 27 contestants lost in those qualifying rounds, others just showed up last-minute in hopes of a comeback.

I did not expect to be enthralled by a write up about a spreadsheet writing competition. Yet, here I am.

I very much recommend clicking through if just to see the awesome visual style that The Verge’s team applied to the article. Nice touch, and helps make the site feel like a magazine.

Alex Young, Consequence:

HFStival, the long-dormant, yet supremely iconic Washington, DC-based alt-rock music festival, looks to be making a comeback in 2024.

Today, the social media accounts for both the 9:30 Club and Nationals Park in Washington, DC indicated the festival would return on Saturday, September 21st, 2024, at Nationals Park.

The flashback vibes, they are strong.

For those not from the DMV region, WHFS was an incredibly important alternative rock station, who held an annual event, called the HFStival. Tens of thousands of teenagers/early 20’s folk would descend upon an area stadium, and enjoy the bands of the day. Famous alums include Rage Against the Machine, Eminem, Red Hot Chili Peppers, but also made sure to spotlight area bands.

In 2010 and 2011, these were run again as a nostalgia play, but today, we’re getting a possible return.

My hope is that it focuses on what alt is in 2024 – even with a throwback headliner or two – and maybe, just maybe, has a path to return of the station?

Kyle Wiggers, TechCrunch:

Wix, the platform known chiefly for its web design tools, is launching a generative AI feature that’ll let customers create and edit iOS or Android apps by describing what they want to see in plain English.

The capability, which is set to arrive in Wix’s app builder tool this week, guides users through a chatbot-like interface to understand the goals, intent and aesthetic of their app. With this info, Wix’s AI generates an app that can be customized from the app editor, and then optionally embellished with first- and third-party integrations, widgets and connectors.

What could possibly go wrong?

F’s in the chat for the App Store Review team.

20th Century Studios/YouTube:

“Alien: Romulus” takes the phenomenally successful “Alien” franchise back to its roots: While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe. The film stars Cailee Spaeny (“Civil War”), David Jonsson (“Agatha Christie’s Murder is Easy”), Archie Renaux (“Shadow and Bone”), Isabela Merced (“The Last of Us”), Spike Fearn (“Aftersun”), Aileen Wu. Fede Alvarez (“Evil Dead,” “Don’t Breathe”) directs from a screenplay he wrote with frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues (“Don’t Breathe 2”) based on characters created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett. “Alien: Romulus” is produced by Ridley Scott (“Napoleon”), who directed the original “Alien” and produced and directed the series’ entries “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant,” Michael Pruss (“Boston Strangler”), and Walter Hill (“Alien”), with Fede Alvarez, Elizabeth Cantillon (“Charlie’s Angels”), Brent O’Connor (“Bullet Train”), and Tom Moran (“Unstoppable”) serving as executive producers.

This looks big, and loud, and scary, and exciting, and dark, and gorgeous and basically everything-I-have-wanted-in-an-Alien-movie-for-years.

Hard to believe this was originally set for Hulu, right?

I will be there, August 16th.

Sony Pictures on YouTube:

Till death do they part. Tom Hardy returns in Venom: The Last Dance – coming exclusively to theaters this October.

In Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy returns as Venom, one of Marvel’s greatest and most complex characters, for the final film in the trilogy. Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance.

Venom: The Last Dance stars Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach and Stephen Graham. The film is directed by Kelly Marcel from a screenplay she wrote, based on a story by Hardy and Marcel. The film is produced by Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, Amy Pascal, Kelly Marcel, Tom Hardy and Hutch Parker.

Looks absolutely ridiculous.

Dance sequences, giant CG monsters, and crucially, VENOM HORSE. Sign me up for the next version of whatever goofiness Tom Hardy has put together here.

David Pierce, The Verge:

A year ago, Google said that it believed AI was the future of search. That future is apparently here: Google is starting to roll out “AI Overviews,” previously known as the Search Generative Experience, or SGE, to users in the US and soon around the world. Pretty soon, billions of Google users will see an AI-generated summary at the top of many of their search results. And that’s only the beginning of how AI is changing search.

And from a few months back…

David Pierce, The Verge:

A few minutes ago, I opened the new Arc Search app and typed, “What happened in the Chiefs game?” That game, the AFC Championship, had just wrapped up. Normally, I’d Google it, click on a few links, and read about the game that way. But in Arc Search, I typed the query and tapped the “Browse for me” button instead.

Arc Search, the new iOS app from The Browser Company, which has been working on a browser called Arc for the last few years, went to work. It scoured the web — reading six pages, it told me, from Twitter to The Guardian to USA Today — and returned a bunch of information a few seconds later. I got the headline: Chiefs win. I got the final score, the key play, a “notable event” that also just said the Chiefs won, a note about Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift, a bunch of related links, and some more bullet points about the game.

I think I finally put a finger on what bothers me so much about the push for AI based searches.

It reduces the entire web to an answer. Yes, many times, we want to learn one detail, but by searching for it, we may learn additional data points, find the writing of a writer we admire, or end up down an entirely different rabbit hole, which leads to discoveries of its own.

Tools like Arc Search and where Google is heading (to where web searches are going to be a toggle) essentially boil down hundreds if not millions of results – and the effort behind those results – to a pithy blurb.

It’s very similar to how we’ve reduced movies and TV to content, and our attention spans from being able to watch full movies to barely making it through an entire TikTok.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a part of, responsible for, and facing those same struggles with my admiration of and attention to the work of others…but goddamnit, we’re more than a blurb. We’re more than an answer. We’re more than a tweet. We’re more than a Reel. More than a TikTok.

And its time we start showing the web that.

Luke Plunkett, Aftermath:

For those who know what this is, stop reading and enjoy! For those who don’t know what Famicase is, every year the indie Japanese games store Meteor holds an exhibition where artists from all over the world submit fake Famicom cartridges featuring game ideas that can be cool, interesting, funny, macabre, whatever! Maybe all of those things! Note that these games aren’t real, and you can’t play them; they’re just jokes/pitches/ideas.

There are actual cartridges hanging on the wall in the store if you’re lucky enough to be able to visit in person, but since most of us can’t, the best we can do is admire them from afar courtesy of Meteor’s online showcase. You can view them all there, and definitely should, but for now I’d also just like to highlight some of my favourites…

Truly, I always enjoy seeing these every year, and it’s because of Luke Plunkett that I’ve been reminded of them each time. Thanks for keeping the legacy alive, Luke!

How is there not a US version of this using NES cartridges?

Check out the full gallery here. I’ve attached my personal favorite: PermaChroma, by Joe Wright.

Chris Tapsel, Eurogamer:

If it weren’t for the people involved, in 2024, these closures would almost feel routine. This is far from the end of Xbox, of course - in Los Angeles next month, it’ll hold yet another make-or-break press conference, that maps out yet another plan for rescuing a lost generation. But be it through exasperation or exhaustion - or the wider industry’s sheer, pent-up rage - this feels like something of a nadir. Xbox has spun its wheels for more than a decade, lurching from U-turn to U-turn, strategic reboot to strategic reboot, acquisition to acquisition, closure to closure. The good times have always felt just over the horizon. Project Scorpio will set the tone; Game Pass is the future; the Series X will have the games; Starfield will jump-start Game Pass now it’s stalled. The growing sentiment today is that they’ll probably never come.

The immediate response is, justifiably, anger. Closing studios always feels villainous, but closing award-winning ones, ones with eminent talent, creativity and expertise, feels genuinely absurd - just as it did with Take-Two and the wonderful people of Roll7 and Kerbal Space Program developer Squad, only last week. But with Microsoft and Xbox, the problem feels part of something bigger. Trace a line through the modern history of Xbox - from the end of the 360 era, through the lost years of the Xbox One, to the present day - and a scarlet thread becomes clear. This is a platform holder that has lost its purpose and direction, that fundamentally - and perhaps inevitably, given the sheer vastness of its parent company - misunderstands why it exists.

The video games journalism world is whirlwind dunking on Microsoft in a way I’ve not seen since…last weekend, when Kendrick absolutely wiped the floor with Drake.

Brutal headline, too.

Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter:

Warner Bros. has made it official: It will be returning to Middle Earth.

On Warner Bros. Discovery’s first-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday, CEO David Zaslav said that the company is “now in the early stages of script development” for new Lord of the Rings movies, which he says they “anticipate releasing in 2026” and will “explore storylines yet to be told.”

Zaslav says that director Peter Jackson and his longtime writing partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens “will be involved every step of the way.”

Random news drop this morning, but its not one that should be super surprising, given that Zaslav has pushed so hard the use of WB’s existing franchises since he took over the head role there.

Thankfully, this doesn’t appear to be a remake of the trilogy, but something else in the Tolkien world. Knowing that Jackson and Boyens are involved is somewhat of a relief, but I don’t know what meat there is on the bone here.

For those who may be going, “2026? Without a script? That’s fast!” Sadly, this is the route of Hollywood now. Set the release date and work backwards. And it’s not like Peter Jackson is new to this, he infamously “winged it” during the production of the Hobbit trilogy.

Aside: Did you know there’s a CG Lord of the Rings movie that’s supposed to be hitting theaters this Holiday? Yeah. Really. For real.

EDIT: Update from Variety. Quoting a press release, the movie will be The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, and it will both star – and be directed by – Andy Serkis. Huh.

Grace Dean, Insider:

Many consumers are thinking carefully about how they spend every dollar, with some cutting back on visits to quick-service restaurants, as executives told investors on a series of earnings calls last week. To win penny-pinching customers back, some say they’re planning smaller price increases for the rest of the year.

Several fast-food chains described a gloomy outlook. The chief financial officer of Wendy’s, Gunther Plosch, told investors on Thursday that consumers were “still under pressure” — especially those with household incomes under $75,000. “They are reducing frequency, so visitation is down,” he said.

Chains raised prices drastically during the pandemic to offset rising labor and food costs, and it’s coming back to bite them. Some diners are cutting back, saying fast food is too expensive and no longer represents good value.

OK, so…the headline of this article is…

Fast-food chains are getting the message about soaring prices

And one of the first statements is…

To win penny-pinching customers back, some say they’re planning smaller price increases for the rest of the year.

So your plan to win back customers who dislike how high prices have become is to…

…continue to raise prices.

More slowly, but still. Raise.

Are we all that dumb? Number cannot forever go up. Number can drop. Number can stay maybe. But Number does not always go up.

Lower your prices, provide a better experience for employees and customers alike, and people will flock to your restaurants.

“Oh, our profits aren’t high enough!”, you’ll cry. But profits you’ll still have. And in this economy, that is your win.

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.