Games

The idea of combining Pokémon and pinball is experiencing a revival, largely thanks to Stern Pinball. The company has become well-known for creating innovative and engaging pinball machines, frequently featuring popular characters and reimagining their worlds in a classic arcade format. Later this year, they’re releasing their own version of Pokémon Pinball, which is exciting news for anyone who enjoyed the original Game Boy Color game that blended these two worlds.

These days, ‘Early Access’ covers a lot of different scenarios for games. Some, like Fields of Mistria, are quite polished when they first launch, with developers planning to add more features later. Others feel more like unfinished demos, full of bugs and missing content. This makes buying into Early Access a gamble for players. However, a bigger concern is that many Early Access games are never actually completed. A recent update to Steam tries to address this by pushing developers to be more open about their plans. It’s unclear, though, if that will be enough to regain players’ trust.

Mike Flanagan, known for his work on horror series like The Haunting of Hill House, will be writing and directing a new movie based on Stephen King’s The Mist, according to Deadline. The project is currently in its initial planning stages, with no details yet available about when it might be released or who will star in it.

The popular underwater survival game Subnautica is coming to Nintendo Switch 2 on February 17th, and it’s getting a significant upgrade. Originally released in 2018 and available on Switch since 2021, the game will now run at a smooth 60 frames per second on the new hardware. When played on a TV, Subnautica will display in 1440p resolution, and the handheld version will run at 1080p. This upgraded version aims to provide a much better experience than the previous Switch release, which was limited by the older console’s power.

A recent Marvel mini-series, Spirits of Violence, brought together Ghost Riders from across the globe to battle a new enemy: the Spirit of Violence. The story resurrected Danny Ketch’s sister, Barbara, turning her into a host for this powerful spirit. It also brought back Johnny Blaze’s wife, Roxanne, as the villain known as Black Rose. As the Ghost Riders united against this threat, Danny Ketch made a final, selfless act, sacrificing himself and holding his sister still so they could both be destroyed by the Blight Blade.

Fans were genuinely surprised by one particular direct-to-DVD sequel – it was remarkably good! Not only did it surpass the previous sequel in quality, but it cleverly reminded everyone what made the original film so special. The Lion King 1 1/2, released on DVD 22 years ago today – February 10, 2004 – was a hilarious addition to the series and a refreshing tribute to the beloved original.

Bethesda might be holding off on an announcement to avoid it getting lost amongst other game reveals at the event, particularly Sony’s big titles. While that’s understandable, fans – especially those eager to play the game on PlayStation 5 – would probably welcome any news at this stage.

CM Punk walks into the arena, and a serious voice-over reveals his focus wasn’t on becoming famous, but on staying true to himself and doing things his way. The game seems to offer players a similar chance to explore an alternate path – what might have happened if he hadn’t stepped away from the public eye.

Unknown Worlds Entertainment recently shared a new developer update detailing how they’ve integrated multiplayer into the game. They want to assure players that the game will still be a great single-player experience, but you’ll also have the option to easily play with friends. Plus, with cross-platform play and dedicated player lists, finding and joining sessions will be simple and smooth, potentially creating some fantastic new memories.

Even with recent successes like the Emmy-winning shows The Last of Us and Fallout, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie making over a billion dollars, it’s still hard to make a good movie based on a video game. This is being proven again this Friday with the release of The Mortuary Assistant, a live-action adaptation of the popular 2022 horror game. The game gained a following on Twitch due to its many different endings, which depended on the player’s choices. While fans of the game will likely enjoy seeing familiar elements in the movie, others may not understand what all the excitement is about.