Games

Spider-Man’s upcoming appearance in Brand New Day will include team-ups with some iconic heroes. Fans can expect to see Jon Bernthal as The Punisher, bringing a dynamic from the comics to the screen for the first time in a film. Mark Ruffalo will also reprise his role as Bruce Banner, transforming into The Hulk. Recent marketing materials reveal The Hulk will be referred to as “Savage Hulk” in the movie, and hints suggest a possible strategy for Spider-Man to defeat him.

Despite claiming it’s not connected, Spider-Noir feels very much like a spin-off of Sony’s excellent Spider-Verse animated films. Nicolas Cage plays a character almost identical to his Spider-Verse counterpart – same comic book origins, costume, voice, style, and overall mood. The show immediately emphasizes that its universe is different, and that’s all that matters, likely due to licensing issues. Ultimately, it shares so many similarities with the Spider-Verse version that it might as well be considered part of that world, and it’s a surprisingly smart and welcome addition to the broader Spider-Man universe.

On top of everything else, the film is being directed by two of the most celebrated directors currently working, and based on a script from a highly-regarded, award-winning writer. After almost 50 years, everything is finally coming together to share this beloved story with a new audience.

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight celebrates different interpretations of Batman while maintaining the fun and humor that LEGO games are known for. The game isn’t just one of the best Batman titles in years—it’s an experience that most Batman fans are sure to enjoy.

Man, I still think about Perfect Dark all the time. It came out way back on May 22, 2000, and Rare really knocked it out of the park. For me, it’s still the best shooter on the Nintendo 64, even better than GoldenEye 007. GoldenEye was amazing for its time, but Perfect Dark took everything and just made it better. The enemies were smarter, the guns felt great, multiplayer was way more in-depth, and the story was just more ambitious overall. It’s a shame, though, because it feels like the series is totally stalled out. They were working on a reboot, but that got canceled, which was a huge bummer. Still, with some of the recent changes happening at Xbox, I’m holding onto a little bit of hope that we might see something new someday.

Patrick Rothfuss’s first novel, The Name of the Wind, came out in 2007 and quickly became a bestseller, winning the Quill Award. The sequel, The Wise Man’s Fear, released in 2011, also topped the New York Times bestseller list and earned the David Gemmell Legend Award. However, fans have been waiting a long time for the third and final book, The Doors of Stone, as its release date remains unknown. A television adaptation has also stalled; although Lionsgate acquired the rights in 2015 with Lin-Manuel Miranda involved, the project is currently on hold after Showtime decided not to move forward with it in 2022. Luckily, readers who have enjoyed the first two books can find other fantasy novels to read while they wait.

As a film fan, I’ve noticed villains have really evolved, and honestly, that’s partly because filmmaking itself has gotten better. But the first time we saw these particular baddies, they were instantly iconic. They just had that special something, and they really raised the bar for every villain that followed. DC Comics absolutely knocked it out of the park with these ten – they created characters that set the template for pretty much any villain archetype you can imagine.

I don’t want to make anyone feel old, but that’s more than 18 years ago! My first trophy is old enough to vote now.

The new movie, Made in Abyss: Awakening Mystery, hits theaters on October 23rd, and a new trailer has just been released! The series follows young adventurers exploring a dangerous and mysterious place called “The Abyss,” where they face terrifying creatures and unsettling challenges. The original manga is still being created, so there’s potential for even more anime in the future. Awakening Mystery continues the story from previous films like Journey’s Dawn, Wandering Twilight, and Dawn of the Deep Soul, meaning fans can expect to see Riko and her friends back on screen for a while. Check out the new trailer below!

According to Circana, the best-selling video game in the US right now is Nintendo’s Tomodachi Life Living the Dream, which launched exclusively for the Nintendo Switch on April 16th. Interestingly, it hasn’t been released for the newer Nintendo console, despite the Switch being backward compatible. This is the third game in the Tomodachi series, which began with Tomodachi Collection on the Nintendo DS in 2009 and continued with Tomodachi Life on the 3DS in 2013. The first two games sold around 10 million copies, a strong performance, but Tomodachi Life Living the Dream seems to be exceeding expectations by currently leading monthly sales, even against more prominent titles.