Almost every day for the last two years, Vincent “VDogg” Hubbard has stood outside the Louisiana Fried Chicken at Manchester and Normandie avenues with a suitcase full of cocoa butter and a traveling chess set.
Slight in stature, with a gap-tooth smile and a blunt tucked into his beanie, the 44-year-old is South L.A.’s preeminent purveyor of everything from African black soap to charcoal toothpaste to bundles of sage. But if you’re a chess enthusiast, you’re more likely to stop by for an over-the-board “a— whooping,” where he’ll snap up your pieces with a side of smack talk before “leaving ’em with two pieces to go.”
“Just without the chicken,” he chuckled, while scanning the dinner rush for potential customers or competitors. “And I usually have ’em before their order’s up.”
As part of the tight-knit street chess community below the I-10, Hubbard is one of many formerly incarcerated gang members who used to play in prison to barter for contraband items or commissary goods. While others may drop the game upon release, chess continues to play a huge part in his life as a viable source of income in a job market that turns its back on people who’ve done time.
Vincent Hubbard poses for a portrait outside his friend’s party bus in South L.A. Hubbard perfected his chess game serving a 10-year prison sentence and now is trying to turn his skill into a career. He’s found it hard to find a job that will hire the formerly incarcerated.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Hubbard packs up his chess board and belongings after spending the afternoon playing chess outside of the Louisiana Fried Chicken.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Hubbard usually measures his wins in $20 bills, earned from speed games against a curious onlooker or a cocky passerby. Unlike the regulars, they don’t know his losses are in the single digits, only that he looks like “a real thug from the ’hood” until he begins to attack, quickly picking off pieces and relentlessly checking his opponent.
“I’m on your head like hair,” Hubbard said, recalling a recent game against a flustered opponent.
“I’m coming out with missiles and whatever. I’m coming out strong,” Hubbard said, playfully boxing the air. And with his unfettered confidence, natural talent and unconventional play style, Hubbard wants to make it known that “nobody could f— with me.” In his mind, not even five-time world chess champion Magnus Carlsen.
After all, he’s already squared off against titled players and is a two-time champion of South L.A.’s Make a Move, but there’s a big difference between winning an amateur tournament like that one and being recognized as a professional player in the highly competitive chess world.
Hubbard is already a pro in the eyes of the United States Chess Federation, but if his ultimate goal is to be one of the very few to make chess a full-time job, he’ll need to receive a certified rating. Culled from the results of several tournaments, his rating will determine how much he can charge for lessons and whether he’ll be able to compete in certain competitions, where the prize money can be in the millions.
Hubbard — a self-taught player — started that path in October by competing in his first rated tournament against established professionals from the Santa Monica Bay Chess Club. It’s a small classical tournament, where one game can last upwards of six excruciating hours. The competition is fierce, mostly motivated by ego and ratings rather than the $200 prize. That’s less than a weekly grandmaster lesson or the entry fee for the upcoming North American Chess Open. For Hubbard, though, that money could be food or more merchandise to sell. It could be rent for the house he shares with several other people waiting for Section 8 vouchers. It could even be the bus fare for the two-hour ride from South L.A. or the $25 entry fee for the club’s next tournament, which he needs for experience if he wants to keep moving up in the chess world.
Vincent Hubbard sets up outside of the Louisiana Fried Chicken for $20 speed games. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
Vincent Hubbard says he learned chess on his own so doesn’t play like others who were taught specific maneuvers. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Chess offered escapism in prison
Born and raised in the Jordan Downs housing project in Watts, Hubbard spent his childhood bouncing between foster care, older relatives and juvenile hall. Initiated into the Grape Street Crips the first day of junior high, he spent his young-adult years in and out of L.A. County Jail, where he realized chess was not only “a good way to pass the time” but a way to obtain some of his favorite snacks, whether they be noodles or Little Debbie’s oatmeal pies.
However, things took a turn when he was arrested in Oklahoma on drug-trafficking charges in 2000, just three days shy of his 21st birthday. Sentenced to 10 years in the state penitentiary, Hubbard perfected his game over the next decade, studying Aron Nimzowitsch’s “My System” and playing correspondence chess with other inmates.
“In maximum security, we’d draw a board and then shape tissue with water into the pieces.”
— Vincent Hubbard
“In maximum security, we’d draw a board and then shape tissue with water into the pieces,” he said, explaining that he’d send messages containing his moves via old chewing tobacco cans, thrown “24 cells down from the dude I’m trying to play.” And with not much else to do, Hubbard used chess as his “PlayStation,” a mental escape from prison life where he could focus on a singular goal — checkmating his opponent — by finding innovative ways to adapt to unexpected situations or setbacks.
“Chess is an outlet, and it’s a way for me to use my brain,” he said, adding that he eventually became known as the Oklahoma State Penitentiary’s “Evil Emperor.” With his ability to conquer the chessboard, Hubbard would immerse himself in the game, spending countless hours in his cell, treating his makeshift pieces like “those little feudal societies where the king’s gonna take over other kingdoms.”
He snickered, “I’m out there in the South, and I’m like, ‘Come through. Who thou plays me thou peasants?’”
In addition to playing $20 street chess, Vincent Hubbard also sells goods like cocoa butter, which he carries along with his chess set.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Between these little quips and his winning streak, Hubbard is a beloved and well-respected figure within the street chess community, said Make a Move tournament founder Jerimiah Payne.
“Everyone loves V’s charisma, and it’s really good to see somebody like that in these kinds of spaces,” said the West Adams-raised player, who began the roving event as a more “comfortable” alternative to other L.A. chess events, which can feel unwelcoming to outsiders.
“[It’s for people] from the neighborhood that would probably never compete at one of those other chess tournaments, like the … rated ones,” he said. Because, contrary to stereotypes, Payne explained that chess is a “great unifier,” before adding that Make a Move was partially inspired by seeing Bloods and Crips play together when he went to jail for burglary.
At its core, Make a Move is a love letter to the street chess community, cultivating an environment that mirrors the players’ welcoming attitudes and willingness to help one another grow. Yet despite its increasing popularity within the L.A. chess scene, Hubbard said the warmth has rarely been reciprocated when he walks into an “established” chess event. Rather, he feels a palpable chill in the air. “People be clutching their purses or their wallets when they go by. You see their body language, freezing up,” he said. To him, the message is clear: You shouldn’t be here.
Vincent Hubbard competes at a tournament hosted by the Santa Monica Bay Chess Club at St. Andrews Lutheran Church.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Breaking in as ‘the black sheep’
“When you think chess, you think of class and prestige … respect and nobility,” Hubbard said, alluding to how he’s constantly underestimated by more affluent players.
The microaggressions happen irrespective of setting. At casual meetups in bars and cafes, they’ll inch closer together, avoiding direct eye contact in favor of pointed whispers and sideways glances. At the tournament, the room goes silent and everyone stares when they think he’s not looking, especially the helicopter moms waiting for their chess prodigies. Everyone seems both curious and afraid of what could be inside his suitcase.
“[I’m] the black sheep,” Hubbard shrugged. “But I’m used to being the bad guy in the movie anyway.”
It’s “TenTrey Day” — the biggest holiday for Grape Street Crips — and Hubbard is completely “graped out” to represent his roots at the Santa Monica Bay Chess Club tournament. Dressed in head-to-toe purple, he’s easy to spot inside the beige meeting room of a small Sawtelle church, with his bright bandanna and matching camo pants and T-shirt. This time, everyone seems too scared to look at him, even when his back is turned.
For this game, it’s his turn to play black pieces, which move second and, theoretically speaking, lose more often than white. The obvious symbolism doesn’t escape Hubbard while he’s outside taking a mid-game smoke, watching his opponent ponder their next move. Coincidentally, his competition is also in a purple shirt, which Hubbard finds almost as funny as the old man who tosses a barely smoked cigarette into the gutter to avoid him.
He makes a teasing comment about the other man’s eagerness to run back inside. It’s like the way he used to speed-walk to the other side of Watts, just to learn basic chess moves on a church computer. The only difference, he laughed, is that he was getting chased through rival gang territory.
“I had to figure out all the other s— for myself, honestly,” Hubbard said. He sounds tired, his voice missing its usual bravado as he admits to having a rough start to the tournament. He’s won one game and drawn another and, after a particularly disheartening defeat, he even skipped a round to save the last of his cash, opting to play on the street instead, “because why show up if I’m gonna lose anyway?”
“A lot of these dudes, all they do is study lines. They read books. Some of them got photographic memories,” Hubbard said while nodding toward the tournament hall.
“Whereas on the street, or in the ’hood, or whatever, the average player just plays,” he explained. “They don’t understand the intricacies or the fundamentals of chess,” Hubbard sighed. “Chess is so simple but complicated. It’s easier said than done.”
While in prison, Vincent Hubbard crafted chess pieces out of paper towels and water. Now he hopes to turn chess into a career by competing in competitions and teaching others.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Evolving from a pawn
However, fellow street player and Hubbard’s longtime family friend, William “Chill” Somerville, used a more apt allegory to describe their intertwined chess journeys, explaining that everyone forgets a pawn’s innate potential — the power it has once it crosses the board.
“If you make the right moves in the right steps, it can become a rook, it can become a queen, it can become a bishop,” he said. “And life is like that.
“So if you make the right moves and steps, then you can be bigger than a pawn. Even if they looking at you as one.”
— William Somerville
“So if you make the right moves and steps, then you can be bigger than a pawn. Even if they looking at you as one,” he continued, before explaining that this is why the two decided to create Prolific Chess, a new organization that aims to make the game accessible to everyone from schoolkids to people living on Skid Row.
With a gentle demeanor and a sprinkle of gray in his beard, Somerville similarly fell in love with chess in L.A. County Jail. While he was being held on two charges of attempted murder prior to his acquittal, chess became a way to “relax,” to create and think outside of the box, which ultimately helped him realize, “You’re bigger than what you’re looking at.
“You’re bigger than what the people say you are,” he said, almost like a mantra. “You’ll become what you want.”
Since then, he’s become a Watts community ambassador and mental health advocate who wants to help people gain confidence from chess. So after years of playing against Hubbard in a shipping container on the empty lot next to his house, Somerville refurbished a party bus with a stripper pole and alligator skin upholstery into a suave mobile chess center. He brings chess tournaments, workshops and seminars to every corner of South L.A. through Prolific Chess.
Vincent Hubbard takes a smoke break during the Santa Monica Bay Chess Club tournament. After this one, he’ll have to keep competing to solidify his official rankings with the U.S. Chess Federation.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
For both men, chess was a lifeline during hard times that turned into a lifelong passion. And now, Hubbard hopes to break further into the professional chess community so that he can build a career that extends beyond the streets. He has a provisional rating with the U.S. Chess Federation that puts him in the 80th percentile of members, but he must keep competing for that rating to become official.
“I represent a lot of [the] misfortunate, or underprivileged, or have-nots,” he said. “Regular people out here that might not have opportunities.
“So when I’m playing chess, I’m representing everybody in my neighborhood. Everybody in my city … Wattsangeles.”
Hubbard smiles down at his phone, looking up which bus will take him back to South L.A. “Because how many people there get to say that they play chess, and that they’re now a professional?”
The Finals, one of the buzziest new shooters of 2023 despite only existing in beta, finally has a release date. It’s out… right now! Developer Embark Studios announced the news at the 2023 Game Awards.
Created by ex-Battlefield devs, The Finals is a free-to-play first-person shooter in which various teams of three shoot each other a bunch to see which team is the best at shooting the other teams. Embark Studios ran a closed beta in the spring and an open beta spanning from late October through early November that racked up 7.5 million players.
One of the huge draws of The Finals is that it’s not a battle royale. There’s no circle or storm or slowly encroaching safe zone. You also don’t really get punished when you get eliminated, save for a brief 20-second respawn timer. Matches last no longer than 15 minutes. It feels like a throwback to the deathmatch modes that dominated the mid-2000s, except it’s as gorgeous and technically impressive as any other modern shooter. Nostalgia for an earlier, arguably simpler era of gaming is no doubt a factor in The Finals’ popularity.
The other huge draw is that every single building can explode.
Last week, I got a chance to play The Finals during a closed media session meant to illustrate The Finals’ final state before its launch. I cannot express how frequently the thing I was standing on exploded.
Image: Embark Studios
For the most part, that tracks with Polygon’s more extensive preview of The Finals from earlier this year. The general concept is that you’re a contestant in some sort of shiny, violent, futuristic game show. Matches take place on maps like Monaco and Las Vegas. (Get it? Because gambling!) When you’re eliminated, you turn into a pile of coins. (Also because gambling.) Buildings, however, don’t suffer such a cartoonish fate. Shooting a wall or floor with an RPG causes it to collapse into a pile of rubble. When a building takes enough structural damage, the whole thing comes crashing down — even if you’re meticulously perched on the eaves, trying to get the drop on an opposing team.
You can choose from three classes, simply named “light,” “medium,” and “heavy,” each replete with all the gear and movement speed (or lack thereof) you’d expect from those barebones classifications. For the session, Embark paired attendees off into squads of three. We played two different quick-play modes: Quick Cash and Bank It. Both modes tally your score not by how many eliminations you have but by how much cash you can steal from opponents and deliver to various drop points. But I’ll be honest: The shooting in The Finals is so distractingly solid — so emblematic of the golden age of Battlefield — I couldn’t help but spend my time prioritizing spraying and praying over learning “rules” and “objectives.” You’re welcome, teammates!
Image: Embark Studios
The Finals also features a tournament component with higher stakes than the quick-play modes. If your squad doesn’t finish in the top two for your existing round, you’re eliminated from the bracket. (I’m not sure what happens after the first round, because our squad finished last. Twice.)
I’d be remiss not to mention our experience playing The Finals was marred by technical difficulties. Such things are generally excusable for a beta; that is, after all, the whole point of betas. Still, for roughly half the games we played, one or two players of our three-person squad would inexplicably fail to load in. When we’d successfully get into a match, for about half of those matches, one player would get dropped. Since The Finals does not have an option to rejoin an existing match, one party member getting kicked out meant we all had to quit. (Let the record reflect that we totally would’ve won all of those matches otherwise.)
Aside from those hiccups, which may very well not be present at all in today’s full release, The Finals is an energetic and competent multiplayer shooter I could see myself dipping into for a few rounds when Halo Infinite gets too frustrating. Players have by and large moved on from the sort of arena-style gameplay on display here, so sure, like the contest that defines this game’s minimalist lore, The Finals is ultimately a gamble. But it’s one I hope pays off.
The Finals is out now on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.
Fortnite has shared a trailer for Festival, a new music-based experience within the game, that features the Weeknd as a headliner. Developed by Rock Band studio Harmonix, Festival allows players to hit notes in time to a song while watching an artist onscreen. Players have the option of performing in a band with their friends or playing solo onstage. It launches on December 9 only in Fortnite. Watch the “Take My Breath”-featuring trailer below.
Though Fortnite was created as a battle royale game, it recently announced an expansion of its creative mode by introducing different in-game experiences like Rocket Racing, Lego Fortnite, and the aforementioned Fortnite Festival.
Fortnite has steadily built up its reputation for crossover music events. Over the years, it has hosted concerts by Travis Scott, Ariana Grande, Kid Cudi, Marshmello, and—as of last weekend—Eminem. It’s also served as a unique place for artists like Dominic Fike and J Balvin to debut songs while performing in the game.
While Rockstar hasn’t given the next GTA game a proper name yet, it’s almost assuredly going to be titled Grand Theft Auto 6 (or Grand Theft Auto VI). And we know some details about GTA 6, after an unprecedented leak of the game in 2022. But thanks to Rockstar’s secrecy and the enormous task of following up one of the biggest games of all time, much about GTA 6 is still shrouded in mystery.
Here’s everything we do know about Grand Theft Auto 6 so far.
When does GTA 6 come out?
Rockstar hasn’t announced a release date yet for GTA 6, but parent company Take-Two Interactive might have revealed a release window for the next Grand Theft Auto game. In August, Take-Two told investors the company plans to see a “significant inflection point” during its 2025 fiscal year, which has been interpreted by analysts to mean that GTA 6 will be released sometime between April 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025. Obviously, that’s a pretty big window, but it could point to a 2024 release for GTA 6.
While GTA 6 may be targeting a 2024 launch, Rockstar is famous for delaying its biggest games in the name of polish. Its last major release, Red Dead Redemption 2, was publicly delayedthree times. And back in 2013, Grand Theft Auto 5 saw a significant delay, slipping from its original spring release date to its ultimate September 2013 launch.
In other words, even if Rockstar gives us a release date or window by the end of 2023, history tells us that nothing is set in stone.
When does the GTA 6 trailer come out?
Rockstar co-founder and president Sam Houser has only confirmed an “early December” release for the first GTA 6 trailer. It may or may not coincide with The Game Awards 2023, which streams live on Dec. 7. It’s more likely that Rockstar will release the trailer on its own schedule, without competing with a bunch of other game announcements.
Where does GTA 6 take place?
According to a massive leak of early gameplay videos and early reporting on the game, Grand Theft Auto 6 will be set in Vice City, the GTA version of Miami. That location was previously explored in 2002’s Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and that game’s 2006 prequel Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. Those entries were set during the mid-1980s, but GTA 6 will reportedly tell a modern-day, Bonnie and Clyde-inspired story featuring two leads named Jason and Lucia, based on early gameplay videos. Lucia would be the GTA series’ first female lead playable protagonist in a mainline game.
The videos show robberies, gunplay, open-world driving, a police chase, a crowded nightclub scene, and conversations with full voice acting. The game footage was clearly not intended to be shown publicly, with debug programming elements visible on-screen at the time.
One of the longer videos showed the female player character robbing a diner, as well as threatening staff and customers, who react in fear to having a gun pulled on them. Then she and her male accomplice get in a shootout with police before jumping in the police patrol car and driving off. The game’s graphical treatment is quite realistic, but still consistent with GTA games’ style.
TBD, but PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X are a safe bet. Unlike previous Grand Theft Auto games, which saw staggered releases on consoles versus PC, it seems more likely than ever that Rockstar would release all versions of the game on the same day. But given Rockstar’s track record, the PC version could lag behind PlayStation and Xbox releases.
There’s also another platform coming that could be home to Grand Theft Auto 6: Nintendo’s Switch successor. Rockstar has embraced the Switch with releases like L.A. Noire, Red Dead Redemption, and Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy — The Definitive Edition, so don’t rule out an eventual release of GTA 6 on Switch 2.
How much will GTA 6 cost?
Rockstar and publisher Take-Two haven’t announced a price point, but it seems likely that Grand Theft Auto 6 will carry a $69.99 price point, increasinglythe standardfor AAA video games with big budgets.
Don’t worry about those unfounded rumors that GTA 6 will cost $150, or will be priced per hour, based on misinterpreted comments from Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick. There may be higher-priced premium or collector’s edition versions of GTA 6 that cost more than the industry-standard $69.99, but hold your horses (and your pre-orders) until Rockstar makes it official.
What happens to Grand Theft Auto Online when GTA 6 comes out?
Rockstar hasn’t said, but given the massive popularity of GTA Online, which is also sold as a stand-alone experience, it will likely continue. Rockstar may have more grand ambitions for an online mode for GTA 6, and it may run two versions of the online experience for each game. The future of GTA Online is one of the biggest open questions — not to mention Rockstar’s trickiest needle to thread — when it comes to discussing GTA 6. Rockstar may very well keep those plans under wraps for the foreseeable future.
The video game industry’s string of layoffs continues: Digital Bros. Entertainment and Kongregate have both announced job cuts.
Digital Bros., which owns Control publisher 505 Games and other studios, is laying off 30% of its workforce — roughly 130 people — as part of an “organization review,” it announced Tuesday. The job losses will largely impact Digital Bros.’ studios, according to a news release. Beyond 505 Games, Digital Bros. Entertainment owns DR Studios (Terraria for mobile and console), Kunos Simulazioni (Assetto Corsa), Infinity Plus Two (Puzzle Quest 3), Supernova Games, Nesting Games, Avantgarden (Last Day of June) and Ingame Studios (Crime Boss: Rockay City).
Kongregate, the online gaming portal and publisher, has cut more than a dozen jobs across several departments. Kongregate has not responded to Polygon’s request for comment. The layoffs span multiple departments, including art, VFX, marketing, community management, and production. It’s been a challenging few years for Kongregate, which made a name for itself in the early 2000s as the online portal for Flash games. When Adobe dropped Flash support for good in 2020, Kongregate had to shift toward preserving its Flash games.
In July 2020, Kongregate announced it was no longer accepting user-created games, as it moved toward its own internal development. At that time, it laid off several people to “reshape” the company. One person laid off by Kongregate told Polygon it came as a total surprise.
Three video game studios have laid off workers in as many days: Amazon’s gaming division announced layoffs on Monday. More than 180 people have been cut from Amazon’s Crown Channel and Game Growth programs as the company “refocuses” on Prime Gaming, according to a staff memo sent by Amazon Games vice president Christoph Hartmann. Humble Games, which publishes video games like Coral Island and Mineko’s Night Market, also laid off an unknown number of staffers this week, it confirmed to GLHF. Over the past year, more than 6,000 people have been laid off in the video game industry, according to a layoff tracking website.
A couple of significant things happened in the world of online gaming over the first weekend of November. At its BlizzCon convention in California, Blizzard devoted quite a lot of time to World of Warcraft Classic — the nostalgic, retro version of its 19-year-old massively multiplayer game — and revealed surprisingly ambitious plans for Classic’s future. At the same time, Fortnite’s servers were melting under the load of its biggest day ever, which was all down to the launch of Fortnite OG, a special season bringing back the game’s original map and 2018 gameplay.
All of a sudden, in the proudly impermanent world of online gaming — where change is always good, and if it’s not, never mind, because here comes more change — winding back the clock is big business. It’s a kind of paradox: Because online games are always evolving, a sense of scarcity and intense nostalgia forms around the way they used to be. If you can find a way to bring that feeling back, especially for an audience that’s getting jaded, then you’re on to something.
Blizzard initially seemed reluctant to get on board with a growing movement in WoW’s community that wanted to go back to the way things were in 2004-2005. It squashed unofficial “vanilla” servers and prevaricated over creating an official alternative for years. In a way, it’s understandable: If you have spent many years of effort on (in your eyes) modernizing and improving your game, why would you want to indulge this rose-tinted exercise? Isn’t World of Warcraft just better now?
Of course, that’s a value judgment — but what’s undeniable is that WoW is now extremely different from how it used to be. And that’s exactly what makes Classic a viable and interesting, if slightly old-fashioned, alternative. After Classic arrived in 2019, included in a standard WoW subscription, it became a roaring success, partly because of the strong contrast between it and the two unloved expansions (Battle for Azeroth and Shadowlands) it launched between.
But what’s really fascinating about Classic is where Blizzard is taking it next — because Classic is an online game, and no online game can stand still, even a throwback. It began as a relatively faithful version of the original MMO with smart tweaks: It moved through content patches at an accelerated rate, while locking to a single iteration of game design and balance. Then it bifurcated, with some servers moving forward through classic expansions, while others stayed in the “vanilla” era. This year, it acquired a third track, something completely new that WoW had never had before: a permadeath Hardcore mode, which turned out to be a game-reviving innovation that was quite brilliant in its simplicity.
From its showing at BlizzCon, Blizzard is doubling down on morphing WoW Classic into its own game. The expansion servers are moving on to Cataclysm, which is probably the point at which “classic” becomes a misnomer: Whatever your feelings about this divisive expansion, its sweeping rewrite of the “old world” questing experience is the point at which original WoW died, and is still represented in the game today. Blizzard is going even further than it has before in tweaking and fixing this expansion for Classic, accelerating leveling, adding quality-of-life features, and throwing in new dungeon difficulties and loot.
World of Wacraft Classic’s Season of Discovery seeds the well-explored world of Azeroth with secrets.Image: Blizzard Entertainment
But that isn’t even the headline. Blizzard — drawing inspiration from sister series Diablo, as it did for the Hardcore mode — is also introducing a fourth track to the WoW Classic servers that seasonally remixes the original “vanilla” game. Season of Discovery, which launches on Nov. 30, seeds entirely new content across the original world of Azeroth in the form of Discoveries, which producer Josh Greenfield said at BlizzCon were a way to disrupt the “solved nature” of original WoW and restore a “feeling of adventure and exploration.” It also offers a Rune Engraving system that endows classes with entirely new abilities, even allowing them to switch archetypes (you’ll be able to create a tank Warlock or a healer Mage, to name a couple).
The game is furthermore being broken up into level-banded phases — the initial level cap will be only 25 — and interpolated with all-new endgames, one for each phase. The first of these reworks the classic leveling dungeon Blackfathom Deeps as a 10-player raid, but Blizzard is also teasing adding unfinished or cut content, and even all-new dungeons, to Season of Discovery. It’s not just a new way to think about classic WoW — it’s a new approach to structuring MMOs, borrowing liberally from across the online gaming landscape. It’s pretty exciting.
That Blizzard is going to all this effort shows that WoW Classic is working both for the business and for the WoW community. It also demonstrates that for an online gaming nostalgia mode to succeed in the long term, it needs to evolve away from being an emulation or restoration of a bygone experience, and become a (sort of) fresh game in its own right. (Or, in Classic’s case, four games.)
Tilted Towers has returned in Fortnite OG.Image: Epic Games
Currently, Epic has no plans to keep Fortnite OG going past its current monthlong season, which sprints through six seasons of the game’s Chapter 1 in a matter of weeks instead of months. The branding clearly allows for OG to return and revisit later chapters, but given the enormous surge in interest, Epic would be foolish not to be considering ways to keep some of these new or returning players in the fold permanently.
It’s true that WoW and Fortnite are very different games with, crucially, different business models. Splitting the game’s audience might be more of a worry for Epic than it is for Blizzard, which is presumably happy as long as all those players stay within the one subscription-paying bucket. But WoW has proven that a big online game — especially one with a history — can support a family of sub-communities enjoying different flavors of the same game. Indeed, that might be the healthiest way forward for a game of that sort, certainly one approaching its 20th anniversary.
More importantly, perhaps, what WoW Classic and Fortnite OGdemonstrate is that the history of online games doesn’t have to be consigned to the scrapheap of memory. There’s a genuine hunger from players to turn back the clock, which, when met by an inventive studio that understands what was special about what it created but is willing to take some risks with it, can create something vibrant and sustainable in the long term — a kind of multiverse of paths not taken for your favorite old multiplayer games. What’s next, Vault of Glass in modern Destiny 2? Sign me up.
Surrounded by a sizable, colorful cascade of plushies — largely Nintendo-themed — and an impressive retro game collection, Ash goes live on Twitch five days a week. She’s played everything from Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion to Sierra Entertainment’s Quest for Glory,focusing on games that evoke a sense of nostalgia. The one thing that stays the same each stream is the way Ash ends them, with a message to her viewers: “Don’t forget to tell your friends Ash said hi!”
When Ash, who goes by AshSaidHi online, first envisioned her Twitch channel, she started with the name. “I knew I had to have a tagline or a call to action,” she told Polygon. “That’s where the name AshSaidHi comes from, because I wanted it to be like, Oh, that friend, they told me to tell you hi. It sticks in your brain a little bit.”
Over the years since Ash started her Twitch channel in 2019, she’s worked to build a community and a business that matches her values — a place where she could have a work-life balance that her previous career didn’t allow for, and a community of support Twitch can provide.
“People go to Twitch to connect about the things they love and find other people that are into the things they love,” Ash said. “That’s how I built an engaging community.”
Ahead of TwitchCon 2023 in Las Vegas, Polygon spoke to Ash about how she’s carved out her own space on Twitch.
[Ed. note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]
Polygon:First, I just want to let you know I love the collection in the background.
AshSaidHi: Thank you! That’s years and years of work. My parents got me into video gaming when I was really young. Even my mom, she still plays video games. I texted her the other day and was like, “Did you download Lies of P?” and she was like, “Yeah, but I really like Lords of the Fallen.” And I was like, “What?”
She’s a big Soulsborne, like Elden Ring, player. She just bought a PS5 and was like, “When are you getting a PS5?” I was like, “Mom, I play retro games on Twitch. OK?”
I know you started your Twitch channel in 2019. What prompted you to start streaming?
I was working in an industry where I didn’t have a work-life balance. And after I left it, I was like, Oh, I want to get into content creation. And I got into a different industry. It allowed me time to create content. So I was like, I think I’m gonna start on Twitch. I have a degree in advertising. The first thing I wanted to do was create a concept for my channel. And I knew I had to have like a tagline or a call to action. So that’s where the name AshSaidHi comes from, because I wanted it to be like, Oh, that friend, they told me to tell you hi. It sticks in your brain a little bit. And so it’s like, “Oh, don’t forget to tell your friends Ash said hi.” That’s how I always wanted to end my videos.
I started on Tetris 99 and Breath of the Wild. Those were the first games I broadcast on Twitch. But I have this big backlog of video games. Why don’t I start getting into retro games? And that’s how it it really snowballed. I got into a retro games, and the community was wonderful. They taught me the ropes, I met a lot of friends — friends that I still have to this day. It changed my life for the better in so many different ways.
I really, really love being a creator on Twitch. The magic is in the sense of community that you get when you meet people and they share the love of the same things. I met like people who were into Amiga 500 gaming, and Commodore and NES and Super Nintendo and all that kind of stuff. I knew I found my people.
Do you stream full time?
It’s what I mainly spend my time doing. It’s always a funny question because when people say “stream full time on Twitch,” they imagine it means eight hours a day, five days a week. But I think it means that I put all my focus on it. I do a lot of sponsorship work and a lot of offline work for my channel. So technically, yes.
How long did it take to get to the point where you could spend that time on Twitch and the business behind it?
I started in 2019 and then I got Twitch Partner in November 2020. And I was like, OK, wait a minute, people really like what I’m doing here. I have an engaging community, I try to never miss a message in chat — I literally have chat up on like three or four screens.
Once I hit Partner, I found out about the Twitch Ambassador program, because I saw somebody with a check and I clicked it. I applied and talked about all the skills that I had learned. And I talked about why I was passionate for what I do. They called me back a few months later and were like, “We want to invite you into the program.”
I was announced March 2021, and at the time, they also had a billboard in Times Square. I’m originally from New York, but I no longer live there. They put my picture up on that billboard. And at that point, it kind of gave me a kind of sense that there’s credibility to what I’m doing, which is really important for me. I flew up from where I live back up to New York, and I told my mom and she was freaking out. It was such a surreal moment. For me, in my hometown — the crossroads of the world — here is a picture of me. Then it snowballed from there. I knew I wanted to take it seriously.
If you would have told me 2 years ago on this day when I had my VERY FIRST broadcast that just 24 months later I would be on a @Twitch billboard in Times Square, one of the most iconic places in the world & my home, I would have told you “NO WAY” yet here we are. Forever grateful pic.twitter.com/BSq5fiaa0X
One of the things that I do that helps me sustain my business is sponsored broadcast. Because of my professional background, and the way that I communicate — I work on trying to build good bonds with developers or marketing people. I make sure that I do my due diligence, to be on time and to be mindful in the moment and be professional. Whenever I’m called upon for a job, I put a lot of pride into what I’m doing. I knew things were getting serious when people started paying me to play video games.
I love that it allows me freedom to be able to travel to things like TwitchCon. And it allows me to go spend time with my mom, or to just take time to relax, like I can have that work-life balance and not have to request this time off or things like that. And my mom is really proud of me. When I talk about it to my family members, they’re always so happy for the things that I’m doing.
It’s cool to hear you talk about that work-life balance, because I think sometimes when you hear about people doing Twitch, it can be grinding out streams for 12 hours straight. It’s nice that you’re able to have a balance.
That’s key, right? I can’t do my best work if I’m not taking care of myself. I understand why that’s the mindset of constantly streaming, like you’re not discoverable if you’re not live sometimes. That’s the conundrum. But I do feel like if you put your time and effort into things like, I’m going to start writing a little bit, or I’m going to start making short video that I can post on social media so people can get a sense of who I am. Even when I’m not broadcasting, people can find AshSaidHi. When I’m not live, those things helped me bridge the gaps.
What have you learned since you started streaming about carving out that engaging community you mentioned earlier?
I learned to be authentically myself — be present in the moment. I always tell people this when they meet me in person, that you’re meeting the Ash that you see on camera. I’m always talking about my mom and my dad and how they got me into video games. I feel like I’m sharing the best parts of myself — what I grew up with.
I talk about food all the time on my channel. If you meet me, I know all the places in New York where you could get some good food, you know what I’m saying? Like, that is like a big part of who I am. I love Star Trek, I love Nintendo, I love drawing, I love all of those things. And I love sharing those things with people. Being excited about the things that we love… I think that’s key — being able to share the things about you would that you could connect with people.
I think that that’s also the magic of Twitch — connecting with people. It’s a people platform first to me. We go on there, we play video games — whether it’s playing video games or cooking, exercising, ASMR, chatting or whatever it is on Twitch. People go there to connect with people. People go to Twitch to connect about the things they love and find other people that are into the things they love. That’s how I built an engaging community.
What should people know about your career as a streamer, or about Twitch itself?
I would love to share the power of community on Twitch. There is the Twitch Women’s Guild, which is incredible, because not only does it connect women and empower women to be who they are on Twitch, but it’s a place where we cheer each other on. It is a safe space for us to kind of talk about the things that impact us in our daily lives as broadcasters.
I did a Creator Camp with some of the women that are in that group and it was incredible. And I also did a show called Streamer Strategies. I try to do a show once a month where we talk about different strategies that you might be thinking about for streaming. The first one I did was creative monetization. But the next one I did was collaboration. I feel like a lot of really wonderful opportunities come from being able to connect with other people like that. And it’s such a great program. It’s one of the best things that Twitch created because it gives us a space to learn. And it gives us a space to speak about our experiences. They also give a lot of tools to us to help us extend our skills.
Especially for women, Black people, people of color, things like that solidify the fact that we belong in this space. And I think that it is so important to inspire people who feel like they don’t know if they belong, right? Because we see so much of that. I’m really grateful for all of those opportunities that I’ve been given. I just want to make sure that people know how awesome those kinds of tools and resources are, because without things like that, you question whether or not you can do it.
How many times have you worked on something and people are like, “Oh, can you really do it?” They’re questioning your intelligence, or they’re saying, “You just got by on, like, certain qualities.” But no — there’s so many hardworking individuals that get a space because of things like that. I just love that space for us.
On Tuesday’s edition of her weekly podcast, “The Morning After,” Kelly Stafford talks about a very adult scene that played out in one of the suites at the game, which she attended with her daughters and nephews. In what has been described as a strip-club atmosphere, Blueface could be seen throwing dollar bills at several women in thongs who were dancing while bent over with their exposed rear ends in the air.
“This is our game-day experience.” Stafford said.
“What I am so mad about is this is supposed to be a family experience, coming to a football game. There were children in the suites next to them. … If you have that kind of stuff happening at games, adults are not gonna want to bring their kids.”
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford celebrates with wife Kelly and their four daughters after winning the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium in February 2022.
(Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images)
A SoFi Stadium spokesperson told The Times on Thursday that the stadium and the Rams do not condone the lewd behavior that took place inside Blueface’s suite and did not give permission for such activity to take place. When stadium officials were made aware of the situation, security was sent to the rapper’s suite, according to the spokesperson. Blueface and his companions were allowed to remain at the game and no further inappropriate activity occurred, the spokesperson said.
Blueface posted a video of the NSFW scene that took place in his suite on his Instagram Stories during the game, and Stafford said on Tuesday’s podcast that footage made it back to her and her young companions.
“My nephews, who are older, have Instagram. They were at the game, and they were like, ‘Oh, my gosh. Look what’s going on here.’ They found it,” Stafford said. “And my daughters are sitting right next to them. They were like, ‘Mommy, there’s a lot of butts here.’ I go, ‘Butts? What are you talking about?’ And then I got sent it and I was like, ‘Oh!’
“So my daughters saw that. Not OK! And not OK that my nephews saw it either.”
She added: “It’s just a little disappointing. It makes me not want to take my kids to the game, ‘cause I’m like, ‘What’s gonna happen next?’”
The Times reached out to Republic Records for a comment from Blueface and did not receive an immediate response. But the rapper does not seem to be bothered by any backlash for his antics.
He reposted two X (formerly Twitter) users who made negative comments about the footage of him and the dancers — one read, “First and Last Rams game attended for Blueface today,” and the other said, “Rapper BlueFace brought a bunch of females to the #Rams game today and then started throwing a lot of money all over them. With kids sitting right there [flushed-face emoji].”
Blueface had a lot going on at the game, as he also proposed to rapper Jaidyn Alexis, who was not one of the dancers and is the mother of two of his children. She said yes, and he posted a video from the happy occasion on Instagram.
Tuesday’s NBA season tipoff includes a historic moment for Highland Park native Che Flores.
The longtime basketball referee announced their status as nonbinary and transgender in an interview Sunday with men’s lifestyle magazine GQ. Flores is the league’s first such referee and is believed to be the first out nonbinary and transgender official in all major U.S. and Canadian sports.
Flores, who uses the pronouns they and them, was not available for comment Tuesday. But their former coach Jim Couch, who coached Flores at Burbank’s Bellarmine-Jefferson High School and Los Angeles Pierce College, said he wasn’t surprised Flores “climbed their way to the top.”
Flores “was a special player whose passion and effort led to [their] success,” Couch said. “That success is not a surprise.”
Flores, who grew up in Highland Park, is starting their second season in the NBA after working as a non-staff official during the 2021-22 season. They previously worked 10 seasons in the WNBA and nine seasons in the NBA G League, according to their National Basketball Referee Assn. profile. Flores worked both association’s finals series in 2022.
Previously, Flores spent 13 years officiating several NCAA leagues, including the Pac-12, Big 12 and Mountain West. They also worked the women’s Division I title game in 2021 and the Final Four in 2019.
Flores, 44, told GQ they weren’t seeking any spotlight with their announcement. Instead, they said, this is a way to provide visibility for queer youths.
“This is just to let young kids know that we can exist, we can be successful in all different ways,” Flores told the magazine. “For me, that is most important — to just be a face that somebody can be like, ‘Oh, OK, that person exists. I think I can do that.’ ”
A starting point guard on Bellarmine-Jefferson’s CIF Southern Section Division IV-A title team — the school’s first— Flores played with future WNBA player Jaclyn Johnson. Couch coached Flores at Bell-Jeff as the senior upped their postseason play, averaging 18 points, 8.4 assists and seven steals, topping their average of 11.9 points, 6.2 assists and 5.6 steals in the regular season.
After graduation, Flores moved on to Pierce College before transferring and playing two seasons at Cal State Northridge. There, Flores played 27 games over two years, finishing with 26 points, 18 rebounds, 19 assists and 10 steals.
Couch, who retired as Pierce College’s women’s basketball coach, last saw his former player in 2010 when they were officiating a community college women’s basketball game between Pierce and Ventura College, which the latter won by a few points, according to Couch.
“It was a game where I could have used a couple of calls, but [Flores] wasn’t having it,” Couch said with a laugh. “I think I had more calls against me.”
Flores’ announcement comes at a time when legislators and governing bodies worldwide have restricted or banned the participation of transgender athletes.
House Republicans passed a bill in April barring transgender females from participating on girls’ or women’s sports teams in federally supported schools and colleges.
World swimming’s governing body, FINA, also banned transgender women from competing in female events in 2022.
Flores told GQ that “being misgendered as she/her always just felt like a little jab in the gut.” But since the announcement, Flores said they “can go through the world, and even my job, a lot more comfortably.”
Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass subscription service is having another banner year in 2023, with over 450 games now available for console players and over 400 for PC players.
The service has recently been bolstered with the addition of two huge Xbox Game Studios exclusives, Starfieldand Forza Motorsport, while Cities: Skylines 2 is a big-deal day one addition for the PC crowd. Atlus’ JRPG classics Persona 4 Goldenand Persona 3 Portable made their debut on Xbox consoles earlier in the year, and Tango Gameworks’ surprise release Hi-Fi Rushtold a cathartic rock ’n’ roll story with clever mechanics. Blockbuster titles are well represented with the likes of Assassin’s Creed and Hitman, cult favorites like Lies of P popped up, and Game Pass has continued its strong tradition of curating the best of the indie world with the likes of Cocoon. Even Grand Theft Auto 5 — and its extremely popular online mode — has returned to the service once more. That’s a lot of “free” video gaming to be done!
With the sheer size and the bounty of choice it offers, Game Pass can be a bit overwhelming to digest. But we’re here to help. Here are the 25 PC and Xbox Game Pass games that you should be checking out if you subscribe to Microsoft’s flagship service.
[Ed. note: This list was last updated on Oct. 24, 2023, adding Cocoon, Lies of P, and Party Animals. It will be updated as new games come to the service.]
Assassin’s Creed Origins
Image: Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft
Assassin’s Creed Originshas always been good — but it was only in hindsight, three years after its release, that I began to consider it great.
It’s a phenomenal concoction of historical tourism, sci-fi storytelling, and open-ended combat. It also displays a confidence that the more recent Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla can only partially match. Whereas the two most recent entries embrace the insecure ethos of “content” that has so defined the last decade of open-world games, Origins is content to leave vast swaths of its world empty and to let things burn slowly, in ways both narrative and explorative. Its map unfurls over deserts, mountains, oases, and sun-swept cities slowly being buried in sand, all while its two central figures (Bayek and Aya) navigate one of video games’ most compelling romances.
It’s not completely averse to daily challenges and cosmetic DLC packs. But it’s the rare open-world game that trusts my attention span. It understands that pastoral beauty and tragic storytelling, successfully interwoven, are worth more than any number of distractions its successors can throw at me. —Mike Mahardy
Assassin’s Creed Origins is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Chicory: A Colorful Tale
Image: Greg Lobanov/Finji
Chicory: A Colorful Tale tells the story of a small dog who accidentally inherits a magical paintbrush. As you travel around the black-and-white open world, you use your new paint powers to bring color back to the environments. Everything is your canvas, and you can color it all to both solve puzzles and customize the setting to your liking.
The gameplay of Chicory is cute and relatively simple, even as you unlock new powers. But the reason it made it to the No. 2 slot on Polygon’s 2021 Game of the Year list is the story it tells about the destructive powers of self-doubt — the way it cruelly infects even the greatest artists out there.
Chicory is a game that’s not about coloring in the lines or even making something beautiful. It’s about making something — painting something, in this case — that you are proud of, that makes you happy. And if that creation also brings joy to those around you? Hey, that’s great too. —Ryan Gilliam
Chicory: A Colorful Tale is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Cities: Skylines
Image: Colossal Order/Paradox Interactive
There’s a reason Cities: Skylines is often held up by literal city planners as the pinnacle of the genre: It doesn’t fall into the trap most city-builders do of treating all its resources and systems as mere data points on a list, gaming by way of a spreadsheet. Cities: Skylines is the real deal, letting you get into the weeds of urban micromanagement and understanding how and why metropolises morph in response to the needs of their citizens. (It’s also proof that planned cities are a crime against humanity.)
Cities: Skylines forces you to grapple with the beautiful, messy truth of what your citizens are: people. In other words, Eric Adams, please play Cities: Skylines! —Ari Notis
Cities Skylines is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Citizen Sleeper
Image: Jump Over the Age/Fellow Traveller
Citizen Sleeper is a hyper-stylized tabletop-like RPG set in space. In a capitalist society, you find yourself stuck on a space station. You’ll need to manage your time, energy, and relationships to survive the collapse of the corporatocracy and the anarchy that follows. You’ll roll dice and make decisions to get paid and help those around you.
Aside from its interesting setting, Citizen Sleeper features a vibrant cast of impactful characters, making each interaction memorable. It follows an excellent trend of table-top inspired games to encourage you to find your own objectives, and to revel in the story when things fall apart. It’s packed with tense decisions, great writing, and striking visuals. —Ryan Gilliam
Citizen Sleeper is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Cocoon
Image: Geometric Interactive/Annapurna Interactive via Polygon
A mysteriously beautiful, exquisitely paced puzzle adventure from some of the minds behind Limbo and Inside, Cocoonshares those games’ wordless delivery and stark aesthetic. But it’s more abstract and contemplative, and perhaps even more involving. It’s a game of pocket universes, one inside another, inhabited by buglike techno-organic life-forms — including the player character, a scurrying little beetle-thing. The conceit is that you can step up out of one reality and move it around another on your back, in a gently glowing sphere that also interacts with the world around it, before diving back in — or swapping it for another entirely.
Like so many puzzle adventures, it’s essentially a game of locks and keys, plus the occasional ingenious boss fight. But like the very best of them — Fez, for example, or Portal — Cocoon plays games with perception and reality that rewire your brain in pleasantly tortuous ways. —Oli Welsh
Cocoon is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Crusader Kings 3
Image: Paradox Interactive via Polygon
Imagine if Succession unfolded between the years 867 and 1453, in the throne rooms, banquet halls, and torchlit back corridors of European castles. Monarchs rise and fall, small-time fiefdoms become bona fide kingdoms, and nonmarital children exact revenge after decades of being shunned. Crusader Kings 3is the story of the Roy family if we could pick any character, see them through to their death, and assume control of their orphaned heir — at which point, we can completely alter the course of the dynasty through petty gossip and underhanded murder attempts.
In Paradox Interactive’s vast suite of grand strategy games with complex systems that give way to thrilling emergent storytelling, none have made me cackle with glee quite as much as Crusader Kings 3. In one playthrough, I wed my firstborn son to the daughter of a powerful neighboring king, only for said daughter to declare a holy war on me one decade later. In another, I strong-armed one of my vassals into remaining loyal, shortly before knighting his cousin and sworn rival; I didn’t want to be a jerk, but my characters were jerks. I was just following the script down the path of least resistance.
Much like Succession, Crusader Kings 3 is at its best when tensions finally boil over between the emotionally stunted members of a dysfunctional family. Unlike Succession, though, Crusader Kings 3 never has to end. —Mike Mahardy
Crusader Kings 3 is available via Game Pass on Windows PC and Xbox Series X.
Death’s Door
Image: Acid Nerve/Devolver Digital
Death’s Door is a cute little Soulslike game. You play as a raven who works as a kind of grim reaper for the bureaucratic arm of the afterlife. It’s your job to adventure in the world and claim the lives of a handful of bosses. The world of Death’s Door is charming, as are its characters, with excellent dungeons to explore and puzzles to solve. There are also giant enemies who will test both your skills and patience.
Still, Death’s Door has a friendly air around it. It wants you to succeed, and does a nice job easing you along with easy-to-read enemy and boss patterns. It’s a great, challenging Game Pass game to cut your teeth on before venturing into even more difficult titles. —Ryan Gilliam
Death’s Door is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Doom (2016)
Image: id Software/Bethesda Softworks
2016’s Doom builds off of one of the oldest franchises in gaming history with speed, acrobatics, and an absolutely killer soundtrack. Doomguy moves extremely quickly, swapping between a variety of guns, grenades, melee attacks, and a giant chainsaw to blow up demons off of Mars.
The game is bloody, metal as hell, and surprisingly funny. Doom makes you feel like a god, capable of clearing any hurdle the game could throw at you, and it doesn’t offer a single dull level in its lengthy campaign. —Ryan Gilliam
Doom (2016) is available via Game Pass on Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
Forza Horizon 5
Image: Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios via Polygon
Forza Horizon 5 is the latest racing game to land on Xbox and Game Pass. It’s a visual feast filled with some of the most realistic-looking cars you’ve ever seen. But anyone who loves any of these Forza games will tell you that the Horizon series is so much more than its graphics.
Horizon 5 takes place in a fictionalized Mexico, and gives you the freedom to drive around a massive map in whatever car you want. You can drive a nice sports car while off-roading, or drive a hummer off a massive ramp.
Forza Horizon 5 gives you the freedom and choice to drive how and where you want inside a legion of incredible cars. —Ryan Gilliam
Forza Horizon 5 is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Grand Theft Auto 5
Image: Rockstar North/Rockstar Games
Grand Theft Auto 5 is one of the most celebrated games of the last decade. In that time, it has appeared on three different generations of consoles, seen numerous graphical improvements, and gotten new modes, like its sweeping first-person alteration.
The main story focuses on three criminals from three very different backgrounds bumbling their way through numerous heists in the city of Los Santos — a fictional version of Southern California. And in order to tell the stories of Michael, Franklin, and Trevor, the game implements a feature that allows you to swap between the protagonists at will, offering a new perspective on the city and letting you play multiple roles per heist.
Grand Theft Auto games usually live long past their time, but GTA 5 has remained especially relevant due to GTA Online, the sprawling MMO-like experience that Rockstar Games created inside the world of San Andreas. It’s the massive GTA 5 sandbox — plus a little extra — without any of the constraints found in the story mode.
The parts of GTA 5 that annoy — such as the more misguided aspects of its American commentary, or the occasional tailing mission — are distant memories compared to the chaos you can cause every five minutes. If futzing around a semi-realistic metropolitan area is something you really enjoy, it’s hard to imagine anything on this list entertaining you for as long as Grand Theft Auto 5 will. —Ryan Gilliam
Grand Theft Auto 5 is available via Game Pass on Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Image: 343 Industries/Xbox Game Studios
The Xbox brand might never have taken off without the Halo series, the first-person shooters that helped to popularize local competitive multiplayer on consoles before taking the party online after the launch of Xbox Live. The Master Chief Collection package includes multiple Halo games, all of which have been updated to keep them enjoyable for modern audiences.
But what’s so striking about the collection is how many ways there are to play. You can go through the campaigns by yourself. If you want to play with a friend but don’t want to compete, there is co-op, allowing you to share the games’ stories with a partner, either online or through split-screen play. If you do want to compete, you can do it locally against up to three other players on the same TV, or take things online to challenge the wider community.
These are some of the best first-person shooters ever released, and they’re worth revisiting and enjoying, no matter how you decide to play them. Sharing these games with my children through local co-op has been an amazing journey, and this package includes so many games, each of which is filled with different modes and options. It’s hard to imagine ever getting bored or uninstalling the collection once it’s on your hard drive.
This is a part of gaming history that continues to feel relevant, and very much alive. —Ben Kuchera
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker
Image: Blackbird Interactive/Focus Entertainment
Hardspace: Shipbreaker is another game poking fun at corporate greed and its general indifference toward the working class — seen in other excellent building games like Satisfactory. But Hardspace takes it further than just tongue-in-cheek poking by asking: What happens when the workers have had enough? Hardspace: Shipbreaker’s pro-union message is a delightful backdrop for an incredibly deep and stress-filled puzzle game.
As a Shipbreaker, your job is to break apart and recycle small spaceships. With your handy welding tools and futuristic gravity tethers, you’re able to carefully carve up these once-great hulks and repurpose them for the future. Sometimes that means throwing all the metal plates into the furnace to be melted down, and other times you’ll need to comb through the skeletons, grab salvageable items, and extract them still intact.
As you improve your skills, the game will test you with harder and larger ships. Suddenly, you’ll have to start worrying about the active nuclear reactors that are still in these vehicles, or pressurized cabins that explode if you open them in the wrong order.
And all of this danger circles Hardspace: Shipbreaker back to the conversation it starts at the very beginning. Hardspace is a game about focus, and how taking your eye off the ball for even a second can end in explosive death, or worse: a career spent toiling under forces that couldn’t care less about you. —Ryan Gilliam
Hardspace: Shipbreaker is available via Game Pass on Windows PC and Xbox Series X.
Hi-Fi Rush
Image: Tango Gameworks/Bethesda Softworks via Polygon
Rhythm games, for players who prefer to shoot, dodge, punch, and jump on their own time, can be a tough sell. But such is not the case with Hi-Fi Rush, the action game from Ghostwire: Tokyo developer Tango Gameworks. It provides an array of visual cues to help rhythmically challenged players, but crucially, it doesn’t require that protagonist Chai attacks according to the game’s metronome. Instead, its rhythm elements are an optional layer to interact with, offering score chasers something to aspire to. For everyone else, the game’s vibrant world, rock n’ roll storytelling, and entrancing traversal stand well enough on their own. It’s a cathartic triumph of a game.—Mike Mahardy
Hi-Fi Rush is available via Game Pass on Windows PC and Xbox Series X.
Hitman World of Assassination
Image: IO Interactive
Hitman, Hitman 2, and Hitman 3 are some of the best sandbox puzzle games ever made. As Agent 47, you’ll climb buildings, sneak around parties, and murder spies and debutantes with all manner of tools. Hitman World of Assassination includes the campaigns from all three of the games in IO Interactive’s recent World of Assassination trilogy, giving you more than a dozen maps to play on. Just last week, it also added Freelancer mode, which functions like a roguelike as Agent 47 kills his way through four major crime syndicates, fleshing out his safehouse as he goes.
The Hitman series may be about violence and murder, but it manages to stay lighthearted and fun with its wild physics and silly scenarios. It’s the perfect series to goof around in if you feel like being stealthy, or just want to see what happens when you drop a giant chandelier on a crowd of snobby jerks. —Ryan Gilliam
Hitman Trilogy is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Lies of P
Image: Neowiz
One of 2023’s most delightful surprises, Lies of P is a Soulslike starring a noticeably hot Pinocchio, of all things, from relatively unheralded Korean developer Neowiz. It turns out to be one of the most original and interesting takes on the genre from outside FromSoftware — although more so in its strong storytelling and themes than its gameplay, which is heavily influenced by Sekiro and Bloodborne in its aggressive, rhythmic focus on parry-and-thrust.
As Pinocchio lies and battles his way around a crumbling Belle Epoque town that’s been overrun by its servant class of automatons, Lies of P’s grim tale bends to the player’s choices in ways that convince and intrigue. This works particularly well with Pinocchio’s dual nature as a half-human half-puppet who can be modified with gameplay-altering tools; Lies of P presents an illusory society that you can tinker with and change, just as it tries to manipulate you. —Oli Welsh
Lies of P is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition
Image: BioWare/Electronic Arts
The Mass Effect franchise was gigantic for the Xbox 360 era, but it didn’t transfer to future platforms well — purchasing and downloading the entire story became confusing and expensive when moving to the Xbox One and Xbox Series X. But 2021’s Legendary Editionfinally made the entire Mass Effect trilogy accessible in one package.
The story follows Commander Shepard, a futuristic military hero, who’s tasked with gathering a collection of alien misfits for a variety of missions. Each game is wonderfully crafted, with stand-alone stories and breakout characters that don’t rely on the series’ wider narrative. As a trilogy, the games build on each other with meaningful choices that carry over to the next entry, giving weight to your choices.
The Legendary Edition is the way to experience Mass Effect, and it’s a must-play whether you’re on your first run to save the galaxy or your fifth. —Ryan Gilliam
Mass Effect Legendary Edition is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X, but only for those that have Game Pass Ultimate.
Party Animals
Image: Recreate Games/Source Technology
Look, it’s not rocket science. Sometimes you just want some truly dumb, violent nonsense to play with your friends, and fulfilling that need is just as important for a well-rounded subscription service like Game Pass as serving up expansive RPGs and intriguing indies. Party Animals is a multiplayer party brawler about cute critters knocking the stuffing out of each other. That’s it. It’s not Smash Bros., and nor does it pretend to be; it’s more like an aggressively cute Gang Beasts, or a Fall Guys that’s just about fighting. It’s a little slow, but that just makes it easier to revel in its soft-bellied slapstick. Turn your brain off and enjoy. —Oli Welsh
Party Animals is available via Game Pass on Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
Pentiment
Image: Obsidian Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios
Pentiment is the most immediately striking and recognizable game on this list. Inspired by the art of classic manuscripts, Pentiment sucks you into its beautifully designed version of 16th-century Europe, when books were still being written by hand in monasteries.
You play as Andreas, a young artist looking to make his fortune in an ever-changing world. And as you explore a small village and the grounds surrounding it, and go to work drawing magnificent pictures in custom manuscripts, you’ll meet new people and further flesh out Andreas’ personality and background.
The story will take you through murder, scandal, and a variety of other dramatic events in Andreas’ life. But the plot is secondary to the game’s incredible style and dialogue. —Ryan Gilliam
Pentiment is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Persona 4 Golden
Image: Atlus via Polygon
Persona 4 Golden follows a boy who goes to stay with his uncle and cousin in a small Japanese town. But almost immediately after his arrival, a serial killer starts murdering civilians, all of which have an unknown thread connecting them.
As with all Persona games, Persona 4 Golden allows you to play out your time in school, improving your character’s social stats and friendships before diving into dungeons to help further the plot. But the cast of characters in Persona 4 Golden is unlike any other in the series, offering some of the most memorable party members in any RPG.
Now on Xbox, Persona 4 Golden looks wonderful and plays beautifully. It’s a smart turn-based RPG that’s loaded with conversations to be had and mysteries to solve. —Ryan Gilliam
Persona 4 Golden is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
PowerWash Simulator
Image: FuturLab/Square Enix
PowerWash Simulator is the perfect game to sit on your couch and space off to. As the name suggests, you’re a professional power washer, and your job is to use your washing tools to obliterate grease, grime, and goop off of vehicles, buildings, and even entire playgrounds.
There are some minor upgrade and currency systems, but PowerWash Simulator mostly takes a minimalistic approach — you power wash stuff, no more, no less. Sure, you can take special jobs where you wash something wild like a Mars rover, but it’s really just about making things clean. And while it might sound like boring yard work, it’s actually quite meditative.
Blasting the black film off of a colorful slide provided me with one of the biggest serotonin bursts I’ve gotten from any piece of media in years. It’s a delightful, peaceful game that never fails to relax me after a long week. —Ryan Gilliam
PowerWash Simulator is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Slay the Spire
In Slay the Spire, I play as one of three unique characters, in order to fight my way through a randomly generated map filled with battles, treasure chests, and RPG-like encounters. Combat is similar to that of a turn-based RPG, but instead of selecting attacks and spells from a menu, I draw cards from each character’s specific pool of cards. These cards allow me to attack, defend, cast spells, or use special abilities. Each character has their own set of cards, making their play styles radically different.
I also learned to buck my expectations for the kinds of decks I should build. The key to deck-building games is constructing a thematic deck where each card complements the others. In card games like Magic: The Gathering, this is easy enough to do, since you do all your planning before a match — not in the moment, like in Slay the Spire. Since I’m given a random set of cards to build a deck from at the end of each encounter, I can’t go into any run with a certain deck-building goal in mind. I have to quickly decide on long-term deck designs based on what cards are available to me after a battle. The trick with Slay the Spire is to think more creatively and proactively than the typical card game requires. —Jeff Ramos
Slay the Spire is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
You start the game by inheriting a farm from your grandfather, and you then move to a sleepy town to take over the diminishing acres. For the next 10, 20, 50, 100-plus hours, you work to turn that farm into a modern utopia.
This is easily the most relaxing game on Game Pass. All you do is plant seeds, care for animals, mine some rocks, and befriend the villagers. There’s plenty of drama to be had — with the Wal-Mart-like JojaMart and an army of slimes trying to stop you from mining — but at the end of the day, you’re still going to pass out in your farmhouse and get ready to plant more strawberries the next morning. —Ryan Gilliam
Stardew Valley is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Image: Tribute Games/Dotemu
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revengeis already a classic Turtles brawler. If you could’ve overheard a bunch of kids talking about their dream TMNT game while playing the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade cabinet at a local pizza bar in 1989, or Turtles in Time in 1991, this is the Turtles game they’d be imagining.
But over 30 years later, Shredder’s Revenge implements some features that distinguish it from the days of the coin operated arcade. There’s a world map, side-quests, new heroes, experience points, and online matchmaking that help modernize the throwback trappings. Shredder’s Revenge manages to balance itself nicely between the world of retro and revamp.
With only 16 “episodes,” it’s the perfect Game Pass game to jump into with some pals at a sleepover — as long as there’s pizza, of course. —Ryan Gilliam
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition
Image: Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks
The Elder Scrolls 5, better known as just Skyrim, is a classic. And while you can play it on almost any console or device known to humankind at this point, it’s still worth playing on Game Pass if you’ve never given it a chance, or are just craving another journey in its sprawling world.
Like most Bethesda RPGs, Skyrim is a first-person game with a giant, living world. There are dungeons to crawl, stories to uncover, and a variety of guilds to join. But you can also go off the beaten path and discover your own fun in Skyrim — it rewards you for being curious. It’s the kind of Game Pass game that you can play for hundreds of hours and never get bored. —Ryan Gilliam
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
The only control you have over the game is what character you select, what items you choose during your run, and where your character moves. Depending on your weapons of choice, knives, whips, flames, magic bolts, bibles, or holy water fly out of your character in every direction, decimating hordes or pixelated movie monsters, earning you cash for your next adventure.
Though extremely simple on its face, Vampire Survivors is one of the best games of 2022. It perfectly walks the line between peaceful and stressful, requiring the perfect amount of attention for success. It also facilitates growth through skill and through roguelite progression, ensuring that each run is a bit different from your last. —Ryan Gilliam
Vampire Survivors is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Various campaigns are underway offering opportunities to be whitelisted for the coming PFP sales day
ROAD TOWN, Virgin Islands (British), August 10, 2023 (Newswire.com)
– AKIVERSE INC. has announced the commencement of sales of the first batch of 1,111 NFTs on August 24 at 6:00 PM JST, as part of our 5,555 NFT PFP (Profile-Picture) project on the Web3 gaming platform “AKIVERSE.” Preceding the PFP sales, various campaigns will be held offering a chance to win a place on the PFP whitelist (granting special tickets, guaranteed purchase rights, priority purchase rights).
About the AKIVERSE PFP Project The AKIVERSE PFP project comprises a total collection of 5,555 NFTs.
These represent gamers in the virtual world of AKIVERSE, portraying the players deeply immersed in the games. Designed to appeal not just to players of AKIVERSE but gamers worldwide, these profile pictures are set to become key items that enhance and extend the global gaming community.
Besides being used as NFT icons, PFPs will grant their holders numerous benefits like integration with the games and tokens in the AKIVERSE platform, access to exclusive holder events, and more. Additionally, each piece of art, infused with high-end 3D graphics and diverse traits like hairstyles, eyes, outfits, and accessories, holds its own value as an NFT art collectible.
Details of the AKIVERSE PFP Sale Batch 1 In this first batch of sale, 1,111 out of the total 5,555 NFT collection will be available for purchase starting from August 24 at 6:00 PM (UTC +9). These NFTs will be sold in a “reveal-style” sale, with traits and rarity being completely random.
Overview of the Batch 1 sale ・Total supply for this sale: 1,111 ・Purchase Limit: Unlimited ・Sales Schedule and Pricing: – Presale ① – Date: August 24 (Thu) from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM (UTC+9) – Eligible Buyers: Those with guaranteed purchase rights (first-come-first-served basis)
– Presale ② – Date: August 24 (Thu) from 10:00 PM to 12:00 AM (UTC+9) – Eligible Buyers: Those with priority purchase rights (first-come-first-served basis)
– Public Sale – Date: August 25 (Fri) from 8:00 PM onwards (UTC+9) – Eligible Buyers: Open to all (first-come-first-served basis)
For more details, check the PFP official website. Details about the subsequent batch of sales will be provided when finalized.
Your Last Chance to Win a Whitelist (Special Ticket, Guaranteed Purchase Right, Priority Purchase Right) for the PFP
PFP By AKIVERSE Whitelist Campaign【VER3.0】 ・Application period: August 10, 4:00 PM (UTC+9) to August 20, 11:59 PM (UTC+9). ・Winners: 333 spots. ・Where to apply: campaign page.
Participate in the AKIVERSE SPARK Quest ~Win PFP Special Tickets and More~ For more details on the gaming event, please check here.
First PV depicting the world view of the virtual world “AKIVERSE”.
ROAD TOWN, Virgin Islands (British), June 27, 2023 (Newswire.com)
– AKIVERSE INC. announces the partial release of sales information regarding the PFP (Profile-Picture) project on its Web3 x gaming platform, AKIVERSE. Additionally, a campaign to win priority purchase rights for PFPs will be held prior to the start of PFP sales. Furthermore, a PV depicting the world view of the virtual world “AKIVERSE” has been released for the first time.
AKIVERSE Player PFP Sales Overview
-What is AKIVERSE Player PFP AKIVERSE is a world hidden away in darkness. Players are the only ones able to illuminate the world and eliminate this darkness, by honing their gaming skills continuously. We now present PFPs, which is a generative NFT that proves the player’s contribution towards saving AKIVERSE.
-Holder benefits of PFP This PFP has strong utility within AKIVERSE, such as being used as an NFT icon for SNS on the ETH chain, linking with games and tokens on the AKIVERSE platform, and participating in holder-exclusive events. Furthermore, we offer an attractive “in-game utility” update that is tailored to the beta version release of AKIVERSE. In the future, we will update the utility of PFP to maintain and improve its mid-to-long-term value, along with the enthusiasm of the players for the game.
For more information about PFP, please visit the official website. Also, we will mainly announce the latest information on PFP through the AKIVERSE official Twitter account.
Win a priority purchase right for PFP. IVS KYOTO exhibition commemorative campaign is underway. As a commemoration of the “IVS Crypto 2023 KYOTO” exhibition, which starts today, on June 28 (Wed.), a campaign is underway to win a priority purchase right for PFP.
-Campaign details ・Number of winners: 333 pieces ・Application period: June 28 (Wed.) 10:00 (UTC+9) to July 5 (Fri) 23:59 (UTC+9) ・How to apply: Please apply from the PFP official website.
A PV that depicts the virtual world “AKIVERSE” is released for the first time. Today (June 28, 2023) we at AKIVERSE are delighted to have released a promotional video that displays the virtual magic of AKIVERSE. Gamers can imagine themselves as saviors in AKIVERSE, deeply immersed in the world and creating SPARKs with their gaming powers.
The city-building genre is absolutely having a moment right now, whether at the big end of the market (Cities Skylines 2) or, more popularly, the smaller end (just look at Steam’s sales charts on any day of the week). Sliding effortlessly into this latter category is Terrascape, one of my favourite examples of the genre in years.
LeVar And Mica Burton Tell Us About The Games They Love
Terrascape is a game set on a hex-based world, where you’re asked to place medieval-era buildings on the most optimal piece of land possible. For buildings that harvest resources, like woodcutters or hunter’s lodges, that means getting them as close to as many trees or wild animals as possible, and for more advanced structures that means placing them next to other buildings. The more optimal your position, based on the number of resources and adjacent structures, the bigger the score you get.
You don’t just get to build anything though, this is a very board game-like experience where you have to choose from decks based on major categories (fishing, village, farming, etc) and then are given a hand of cards, each card able to be played to drop a building on the map. Beginning with just a handful, over the course of a game you’ll unlock more cards for a deck, then more decks with new buildings.
Screenshot: Terrascape
If this is starting to sound familiar, that’s because it is. Dorfromantik did a lot of this. As did Islanders. I loved both of those games, and I love Terrascape for the same reasons, because it takes the essence of a city-builder, breaks it down into the simplest means of implementing it possible, then makes the whole thing incredibly relaxing.
There are objectives, whether you’re playing the game’s specific challenge maps (which gives you city-building optimisation puzzles to complete) or its more enjoyable sandbox mode (which just lets you loose and gives you bonus objectives to score points on), but they never feel rushed. It’s beautiful to look at, there are no time limits and the whole thing is just incredibly chill to be around, as you drop a little farm here, and oh look, a town square there, isn’t that lovely.
The way each hex’s art bleeds into the next, and the little pop every time you place a building makes the whole experience hugely satisfying. I’ve spent the last week firing this up whenever I’ve had some downtime and, rather than trying to complete any goals or objectives, have just scrolled around the map painting a town into being, like a 14th-century Bob Ross. Bobbe Rosse.
If spending your entire time in a zen-like state doesn’t appeal, though, you can still game this thing if you want (and will need to to complete some of the tougher/bigger maps). The game’s scoring system stacks, rather than remaining consistent, so if you drop a hunter’s lodge early on and score a ton of points from the nearby wildlife, you don’t lose those points if you later build a medieval village on top of it all. This makes every map a fascinating exercise in forward-planning, as you start out thinking about trees and fish and deer, before advancing through the decks and having to shift gear and start thinking about large manor houses and taverns instead.
Terrascape is still in early access on Steam, and is available now.
I’ve reviewed a lot of board game adaptations of video games on this website, and with good reason: it’s the most intimate intersection of our board game and video game coverage. In nearly every case, the key consideration has been how does the board game feel compared to the original. What kind of concessions have been made, how does it differ, does it match the video game in terms of vibes, if not exact mechanics.
Frostpunk is different. It’s a hulking huge board game that seeks, in almost every meaningful way, not to adapt the video game to the tabletop, but to bring it wholesale, warts and all. It’s an ambitious undertaking if nothing else, but I’m also not quite sure if it’s worth all the effort.
And it is an effort. When I went to play the game for the first time I was at least 30 minutes into setting it up when I started to get the sweats. I had spent half an hour painstakingly punching cards, reading the manual and placing tokens on the table and it looked like I’d barely begun. Was I doing something wrong? Was I just a very slow guy? After reading this Dicebreaker story called “I spent an hour failing to set up a board game and it made me question everything” it turns out no, thankfully I’m fine, it’s the game that’s slow.
Photo: Luke Plunkett | Kotaku
Frostpunk is one of the most complex board games I have ever played, let alone set up (and that’s not just me talking, it has a 4.32/5 “weight” rating on BoardGameGeek, which is very high). There are a seemingly endless array of tokens, multiple decks of cards that look the same but aren’t and loads of different rules that bend and sway for each player. Most maddeningly, there are eight boards you have to keep track of.
Eight. Boards. That’s too many boards.
If you’re wondering why the board game version of a (relatively) straightforward city-builder needs to be so complicated, it’s because this edition of the game, for whatever reason, didn’t want to vaguely recreate the spirit of playing Frostpunk. It wants to recreate the whole damn thing, substituting tabletop components for mouse clicks. Nearly everything you can do in the video game, from the politics to the resource gathering to the quest expeditions to city-building is here, and it works much the same way it does on PC.
It is, in many ways, a staggering achievement. Once you (eventually) get on top of the game’s vast array of components, boards and rules it really does feel like you’re playing Frostpunk, the pressures and nagging responsibilities of the digital wasteland transplanted perfectly to the physical world. Indeed some of those pressures are even better here, because Frostpunk is a co-op game, meaning there can be 2-4 of you (there’s also a singleplayer mode, but I didn’t play that) taking on different jobs within the city, working together while at the same time arguing over every decision. If you thought the social and political stuff was cool in the video game, it’s great here since you’re essentially acting out a lot of those debates in the flesh.
Yet in other ways it all feels a bit pointless? The board game cuts so close to the video game’s cloth that at times you wonder why you’re bothering at all, since the video game does all this for you, without the arduous setup time or constant consultation with the rules. Sure, that’s a more solitary experience, but there’s a point where that trade-off can be worth it, and for many people—myself included—that point can come when you’re hours into a single game and find you’re not even close to finishing it.
Photo: Luke Plunkett | Kotaku
At least some of that setup is worth it. The game ships with an enormous plastic recreation of The Generator, which doesn’t just look amazing on the middle of the table but has actual gameplay use as well, since players need to drop coal into it almost every turn as they play, an act that rivals Deep Rock Galactic’s robot mining as one of the most satisfying physical actions in recent board game history.
And, in a very rare occurrence for these reviews, I want to give a shout out to the game’s documentation. For whatever reason most board game rulebooks in 2023 still suck, but Frostpunk, despite the game’s complexity and scale, never let us down.
There’s a very specific type of person out there for this game. Someone who is into Frostpunk but gets lonely playing it, or someone who has never played the video game but is intrigued by the density and politics on offer here. Sadly I was neither of those people, I found its setup time and length just too much, but like I’ve said I can at least appreciate the exhaustive design effort that went into the approach taken here, if nothing else.
PORT SAINT LUCIE, Fla., February 9, 2023 (Newswire.com)
– The Heroines are one of the first professional women’s paintball teams in the world and in their new two-part documentary premiering Super Bowl Sunday on YouTube, they are taking viewers into a new paintball universe. The game of paintball has long been dominated by men. Now, women are on a mission to inspire and empower young female athletes to change that.
In paintball, players can be any age, any skill or any gender to compete. Traditionally women have competed on the same field on co-ed teams with men. It’s one of the things that makes this sport unique. The problem? No one ever really knew the women were there, until now.
In 2021, six paintball field and team owners decided it was time for paintball to have a league that offered women and girls a place to compete in a sport they loved while becoming visible mentors and role models to other female athletes. At the largest event of the season, NXL World Cup – an exhibition match between two all-star women line-ups, would solidify the birth of a new all-women’s professional league: The WNXL.
The league made its debut in 2022 and the Original 6 teams competed at three events held across the country. One of these original six teams are The Heroines. Based in Port St. Lucie Florida, the team is made up of girls and women ages 16-32 from all over the country who have competed all over the world, some representing the USA selected to Team USA Paintball. Their coach is a world championship 15-year professional player veteran.
“The Heroines: The Documentary” shines a light on some of the world’s top female paintball players while magnifying their hard work and dedication to a sport that is often overlooked by many. Take a journey into the world of Women’s Professional Paintball and follow The Heroines as they return one year later hoping to secure a win and a season championship in the place it all started, the biggest stage in the game: World Cup.
This action packed series will give fans an inside look at the intensity and passion of these female athletes as they battle for top honors and fight to make history. Witness firsthand the effort, dedication and passion that these incredible women put into their game. From grueling practices, tough losses and thrilling tournament wins, The Heroines will inspire more women to become involved in paintball and challenge traditional gender roles within sports. With determination and grit, this female team is leading a revolution for female athletes everywhere.
If you’re looking for the ultimate adrenaline rush this will check the box.
Follow The Heroines on YouTube, be inspired, find a field, get in the game!
Things haven’t been going great for Xbox recently. Microsoft is facing stiff resistance in its attempt to acquire Activision Blizzard. It released hardly any big exclusive blockbusters last year. And it just cut over 10,000 jobs last week, including many senior developers at Halo Infinite studio 343 Industries. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer tried to remain upbeat and do damage control on each of these points and more in a new interview with IGN.
“Every year is critical,” he said. “I don’t find this year to be more or less critical. I feel good about our momentum. Obviously, we’re going through some adjustments right now that are painful, but I think necessary, but it’s really to set us up and the teams for long-term success.”
This week captured both the peril and promise facing Xbox right now. On Tuesday, Microsoft announced a drop in net-income of 12 percent for the most recent fiscal quarter compared to the prior year. Xbox gaming hardware and software were down by similar percentages, and Microsoft said nothing about how many new subscribers its Game Pass service had gained since it crossed the 25 million mark exactly a year ago.
Then on Wednesday Microsoft provided a sleek and streamlined look at its upcoming games in a Developer Direct livestream copied right from the Nintendo playbook. Forza Motorsport was seemingly quietly delayed to the second half of the year, but looked like a beautiful and impressive racing sim showpiece. Arkane’s co-op sandbox vampire shooter Redfall got a May 2 release date. Real-time strategy spin-off Minecraft Legends will hit in April. And to cap things off Tango Gameworks, maker of The Evil Within, shadow-dropped Hi-Fi Rush on Game Pass, a colorful rhythm-action game from left field that’s already become the first undisputed gaming hit of 2023.
Vivid colors and deep blacks It’s Oscar season which means it’s time to binge all the nominations before the big day. Why not enjoy these pieces of art on a new TV from our friends at Samsung?
“2022 was too light on games,” Spencer confessed in his IGN interview. 2023 shouldn’t be thanks to Redfall and Starfield, Bethesda’s much-anticipated answer to the question, “What if Skyrim but space?” But both of those games were technically supposed to come out last year. Meanwhile, Hi-Fi Rush, like Obsidian’s Pentiment before it, is shaping up to be a critically acclaimed Game Pass release that still might be too small to move the needle on Xbox’s larger fortunes.
Spencer remained vague when asked how successful these games were or their impact on Game Pass, whose growth has reportedly stalled on console. “I think that the creative diversity expands for us when we have different ways for people to kind of pay for the games that they’re playing, and the subscription definitely helps there,” he said.
Hi-Fi Rush, Redfall, Starfield, and a new The Elder Scrolls Online expansion due out in June are also all from Bethesda, which Microsoft finished acquiring in 2021. The older Microsoft first-party game studios have either remained relatively quiet in recent years while working on their next big projects, or, in the case of 343 Industries, were recently hit with a surprising number of layoffs.
Following news of the cuts last week, rumors and speculation began to swirl that 343 Industries—which shipped a well-received Halo Infinite single-player campaign in 2021, but struggled with seasonal updates for the multiplayer component in the months since—was being benched. The studio put out a brief statement over the weekend saying Halo was here to stay and that it would continue developing it.
Image: Bethesda / Microsoft
Spencer doubled down on that in his interview with IGN, but provided little insight into the reasoning behind the layoffs or what its plans were for the franchise moving forward. “What we’re doing now is we want to make sure that leadership team is set up with the flexibility to build the plan that they need to go build,” he said. “And Halo will remain critically important to what Xbox is doing, and 343 is critically important to the success of Halo.”
Where Halo Infinite’s previously touted “10-year” plan fits into that, however, remains unclear. “They’ve got some other things, some rumored, some announced, that they’ll be working on,” Spencer said. And on the future of the series as a whole he simply said, “I expect that we’ll be continuing to support and grow Halo for as long as the Xbox is a platform for people to play.” It’s hard to imagine Nintendo talking about Mario with a similar-sounding lack of conviction.
It’s possible Microsoft’s continued struggles with some of its internal projects is partly why it’s so focused on looking outside the company for help. Currently that means trying to acquire Activision Blizzard for $69 billion and fighting off an antitrust lawsuit by the Federal trade Commission in the process. Microsoft had originally promised the deal to get Call of Duty, Diablo, World of Warcraft, and Candy Crush would be wrapped up before the end of summer 2023. That deadline’s coming up quickly, even as the company continues offering compromises, like reportedly giving Sony the option to continue paying to have Activision’s games on its rival Game Pass subscription service, PS Plus.
Spencer told IGN he remains bullish on closing the deal, despite claiming to have known nothing about the logistics of doing so when he started a year ago. “Given a year ago, for me, I didn’t know anything about the process of doing an acquisition like this,” he said. “The fact that I have more insight, more knowledge about what it means to work with the different regulatory boards, I’m more confident now than I was a year ago, simply based on the information I have and the discussions that we’ve been having.”
There’s only one way to enjoy all that white stuff: Embrace the snow! Here are five outdoor family ideas that are loads of fun and educational too.
1. Fill up spray bottles with water and food coloring. Use them to draw in the snow or to add some detail and colour to your snowmen or snow forts.
2. Snow tic tac toe. Kids love the challenge of this simple tried-and-true game, and it’s even more fun when you play it in the snow.
3. Glow sticks. Put them under the snow for some light up fun. This is a great witching hour activity to play after the sun goes down. Get a game of hide-and-go-seek with the glowsticks and see where you can discreetly tuck them – and how many you can find.
4. Ice discoveries. This takes a bit of prepwork but it’s super easy to do: freeze small toys in ice and then arm your kids with protective eyewear and a small hammer to see who can “discover” what;s frozen in the ice.
5. Outdoor science lab. Kids can get super messy as long as it’s outside. Set up a few plastic jars or bottles with coloured water or vinegar, and give them a bowl of baking soda. You never know what they’ll “invent”!
Have fun!
Melany xx
Married with three kids, MList’s Melany is a jack-of-all-trades. Not only is she a hardworking mom but she’s a serial saver (she loves her MList Card!), she loves to cook, she is very spiritual, and she is very organized. She is also chronically busy. Get her take on what to see, do and buy in Montreal and beyond.
Over the course of the last two years we have all been spending more time indoors with our family. One question that I’ve seen asked over and over again in social media parent groups is “can anyone recommend a family friendly board game?”. I get it, there’s only so much tv you can watch! My children and husband love board games, whereas I’d rather be reading, so it’s always great when we can find a game that appeals to all of us. I decided to reach out to Funko to do just that; find board games that appeal to gamers and non-gamers alike. Here are five games (plus an expansion) that are guaranteed to be fun for the whole family.
Something Wild! (Ages 6+)- This is a card game that comes with a miniature Funko Pop character. There’s a huge variety of Something Wild games with different themes, from Disney princesses, to Star Wars and Marvel. The game is very straight forward which makes it easy for younger players and fun for older kids as well. You can also combine the sets to expand your game play. I can’t wait to bring a few sets along with us when we go camping this summer.
Disney Pixar Toy Story Talent Show (Ages 6+) – Stuck inside on a rainy day with kids who have boundless energy? Then this is the perfect game to have on hand. The talent tricks that you can have to carry out are easy enough that younger children won’t get frustrated but still challenging enough that older kids will have fun. I also love that you collect carnival like tickets, making it reminiscent of being at a country fair.
Disney Mickey and the Beanstalk (Ages 4+) – Out of all the games we tried out I think this one surprised us the most. The objective is easy enough, collect all the food items without the giant seeing you. My favourite thing about this game is that it’s a cooperative game. Everyone has to work together as a team to defeat the giant. It took us three rounds to finally win, but after every defeat there were no tears from the children, instead they would scream ‘again!’, determined to win a round.
Disney Haunted Mansion – Call of the Spirits: Magic Kingdom Park Edition (Ages 9+) – Based on the beloved Disney parks ride, The Haunted Mansion, this spooky strategic game is hauntingly fun. The game set up and rules are a little more involved than the previous games that I’ve mentioned, however once it gets going it’s a lot of fun. One fun aspect of the game is the duel option! My youngest child used the duel often as his strategy and in the end he ended up winning. I recommend watching the quick instructional video on Funko Games website before playing.
Funkoverse: Marvel 100 4-Pack (Ages 10+) – Calling all Marvel fans! If you love everything Marvel then you’ll love Funkoverse: Marvel 100 4-Pack. Before diving into this game I do advise taking a moment to thoroughly read the instructions and watch the gameplay video on Funko Game’s website. Once the game gets rolling it’s a lot of fun. This game is played in teams so it has the cooperative aspect that I love, along with a good competition. The age rating stands true and it can be a little more complicated for younger players.
Funkoverse: Marvel 101 Expansion (Ages 10+) – If like me you don’t like the idea of playing against your favourite super heroes, then this expansion is perfect for you! Heroes unite and go head-to-head against the mighty Titan Thanos! This expansion pack must be combined with any Funkoverse 2-pack or 4-pack and is a perfect addition to your Funkoverse game play. It’s always fun to be part of team of heroes in defeating one of the greatest villains ever!
Meredith is a Disney obsessed stay-at-home mom. When she’s not planning a trip, you’ll find her with her nose in a book.
If you’re reading this ahead of buying someone a new Xbox, or you already have and are getting ready to wrap it, stop! I highly recommend setting it up ahead of time, completing most of the above suggestions before you give the shiny new console to its intended recipient—especially if that recipient is a kid who will likely want to play games, not wade through menus and wait for updates to install. So at the very least, update the console and install a few games, so they can open it up, plug it in, and start playing right away!
A new console is a great gift, but an even better gift is a new console filled with games that are already set up and ready to play.
Once you’ve got your Xbox all hooked up, installed some fun new games, got your controller updated, and your TV settings sorted, it’s time to stop reading this article and go play some video games. Well, unless you wanna dig around the comments first, as I assume a few readers might have some extra tips and tricks of their own. Either way, enjoy your new Xbox!
The best part about Christmas is time spent with family. What better way to spend quality time than to break out a board game, card game or puzzle. If you’re looking for a fun Christmas themed game, we’ve got you covered.
Elf: Journey From the North Pole(Ages 8+) – The movie Elf is a big hit in our house and it’s one that we save to watch until right before Christmas. I was excited to try out the game and was not disappointed. The object is straightforward; create a path to get Buddy the Elf to New York City. Players each have three landmarks that they need to secretly get him to along the way to score the most points. I played this game with my nine year old and it was fun to watch him strategize with the path cards. Playing this game will definitely become a holiday tradition. (Funko)
Pop! Elf Puzzle– Speaking of the movie Elf, Funko Games has now ventured into the world of puzzles and this Elf puzzle is the perfect accompaniment to the board game. With 500 pieces, it’s an easy, relaxing puzzled to piece together.
Making Christmas Card Game(Ages 6+)- I had debated whether to include this game in my Halloween roundup, or my Christmas one because of that age-old question of whether The Nightmare Before Christmas is a Halloween or Christmas movie. The object of this card game is to put together as many toys for Jack Skellington to deliver as you can. The player who matches the most toys win. It’s an easy, straight forward game that my kids had a blast playing. (Funko)
Stitch Merry Mischief Card Game(Ages 5+) – That Stitch, from Disney’s Lilo and Stitch, is always up to no good. The object is simple, try to save as many presents as possible before Stitch unwraps them all. In each round players choose up to 3 presents to sneak past Stitch, then roll the dice to find out which will be unwrapped/saved and the player with the most saved presents wins. This game all comes down to the luck of the dice. It’s a fun, quick game that’s loads of fun. (Funko)
Something Wild! Baby Groot Edition(Ages 6+) – Whether this is your first Something Wild! game or another to add to your collection, the Baby Groot is a cute as they get. We love this game and it’s fantastic that you can combine it with other Something Wild games. I love that all the Marvel card characters are dressed for the holidays in this edition. (Funko)
Planes, Trains and Automobiles The Game(Ages 12+) – This game will take you on a journey, as your goal is to make it to Chicago without going up in flames. I love cooperative games, so this one was a winner for me. It’s also a 2 player game, which is always great to have on hand for date nights. Fans of the movie will absolutely love playing this game. (Funko)
Meredith is a Disney obsessed stay-at-home mom. When she’s not planning a trip, you’ll find her with her nose in a book. Follow her on Instagram.
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