SEATTLE (AP) — As Seattle Mariners chairman John Stanton spoke fondly of Rick Rizzs on Wednesday morning, the longtime play-by-play broadcaster pulled a box of tissues close and looked around the team’s interview room in anticipation of the inevitable.
Rizzs, who will retire at the end of the 2026 season after his 41st year in the booth in Seattle, could only hold back tears for so long while manager Dan Wilson, superstar Cal Raleigh and dozens of others looked on. And as the 72-year-old Rizzs recollected stories of both listening and writing to former Cubs broadcaster Jack Brickhouse as a kid while growing up on Chicago’s South Side, he finally let the waterworks flow.
“You get to a certain point where you’re not that little kid watching the games on TV,” said an emotional Rizzs, “wishing you were Jack Brickhouse at 12 years old.”
When Rizzs got the chance to call major league games after being hired by the Mariners in 1983 to pair with Hall of Fame broadcaster Dave Niehaus, he had already lived out his dream. After broadcasting minor league baseball games in Alexandria, Virginia; Amarillo, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; and Memphis, Tennessee; Rizzs’ goal was to be in the big leagues for just one year.
Instead, he’s in his fifth decade in Major League Baseball. Rizzs also broadcast games for the Detroit Tigers from 1992-1994. But, it was in the Pacific Northwest that Rizzs became a household name, laid down roots and was part of some of the most memorable moments in Mariners franchise history.
“I made Seattle my home,” Rizzs said. “I grew up in Chicago, but Seattle’s my home.”
Rizzs said he had been contemplating retirement, and even considered calling it quits on a storied career after the 2025 season, one of the most successful in franchise history. In consultation with the Mariners, Rizzs decided to embrace the spotlight and enter the 2026 season with the public knowing it would be his last.
As much as Rizzs has cherished his career as a broadcaster, he recognizes he has missed a lot, and at this stage of his life has spent a lot of time contemplating how he wants to spend it. Rizzs would like to spend more time with his grandkids, play a bit more golf and travel — to cities of his choosing, that is.
“I want to get on a plane that I want to get on,” Rizzs said to roars of laughter. “I want to go to a place that I want to go. I want to go to Italy and eat my brains out.”
But, Rizzs insisted he is not going away quite yet. He intends on going to spring training each year in Peoria, Arizona, and spending plenty of time around the Mariners. And should Rizzs have it his way, the Mariners will improve upon last year’s disappointing finish in which Seattle lost Game 7 of the American League championship series to the Toronto Blue Jays.
“We’re going to get to the World Series this year,” Rizzs said, “and we’re going to win it this year.”
Though the Mariners’ on-field performance is out of Rizzs’ control, what will be within it is cherishing every moment of his season. Rizzs looks forward to arriving early to the ballpark, chatting with players and coaches alike each day and enjoying every remaining broadcast.
From Rizzs’ point of view, it’s all been gravy after that first season broadcasting for the Mariners.
He’s been in the booth for the Mariners’ magical 1995 run to the AL Championship Series, which coincided with the King County Council approving funding for a new stadium. Rizzs donned a headset during the Mariners’ 116-win season in 2001, and was on the call for Raleigh’s game-tying, eighth-inning home run against the Blue Jays in Game 5 of the 2025 ALCS.
Suffice to say, when Rizzs said he has enjoyed the “greatest life in the world,” he meant every word of it.
“This has been truly a joy,” Rizzs said. “Lou Gehrig said it best: I’m the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.”
The fifth episode of Rapman’s Supacell resolves the previous episode’s cliffhanger, showing us what it’s like for several superheroes to be in the same location and the same fight. Episode five focuses on Rodney Cullen (Calvin Demba) as the super forces collide.
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Rodney decides to visit his mother, with whom he has an estranged relationship. In a quick but informative scene, we learn that she’s staying with a man Rodney doesn’t approve of. He offers to help financially, but she promises she’s got a good life and is happy. Distraught, he asks to stay and even offers to pay rent, but she denies him because her partner, Rick, is not approving. The implication is that Rodney’s white mother chooses this new person and new family over him, her biracial son, motivates Rodney to reunite with Michael and the other superheroes.
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Throughout the series, we’ve seen an experimental facility in which a white man oversees the superheroes and Black captives behind bars. In this episode, we learn that he and his staff have been actively tracking the main characters, and that he takes a special interest upon learning four of them have been in the same location concurrently. The facility gets more cut scenes this episode, emphasizing how they are invasively tracking the superheroes.
Whenever multiple heroes are in proximity of each other, the people in the facility take notice. Because community social worker and Michael’s fiancee Dionne doesn’t have superpowers, she’s able to operate under the radar as she investigates disappearances.
We continue to see the devastating impact of Sickle Cell Disease as Michael’s mother experiences a crisis. He stays overnight at the Sickle Cell Center, then decides to tell Dionne the truth about the future and her possible murder, as he learned about it by visiting the future the first time he used his powers in the initial episode. He laments being unable to change the outcome of her death, even when given some of the information he might need to do so.. The disproportionate presence of Sickle Cell Disease in Black communities, the lack of support for patients and families struggling with this disease, and Michael’s perceived inability to change outcomes for both his mother and Dionne represents a large picture in the struggle of the Black communities represented in the show, and the greater human experience – it’s like always swimming against the current.
As we now know, the Sickle Cell gene is also related to the superpowers the characters have, exposing pain in a more chronic way, and bringing characters together to heal.
Investigating the disappearance of Jasmine, Dionne (Adelayo Adedayo) tracks down her parents. She learns that Jasmine’s father has Sickle Cell Disease, but Jasmine was able to heal his pain using her superpowers. Brought back together by Michael’s mother’s health crisis, Dionne and Michael get a chance to talk – but they’re interrupted by Rodney, who insists Michael leaves now.
This is hard to watch. Michael has been on a quest to be there for everyone, save everyone, and do the right thing, and he drops the ball. Instead of telling Rodney he needs to hold on a moment, Michael abandons Dionne, delaying off their big conversation.
Supacell and women characters
This could have been an opportunity for Michael to be truthful, but instead he falls short, and for a weak reason.. In the beginning of the series, Michael was so easy to root for. But like many of the male characters, he treats women as an afterthought if not an object, and this makes it hard to believe he’s going to act with responsibility in the future–even though he can see the future himself.
My assumption is that his failure to warn Dionne or be honest with her will lead to her death, making her a plot point and another fridged female character in superhero history, because having a motivational tragedy for Michael is more important than having him treat his fiancee with respect. I hope the show moves in a better direction, but it isn’t looking good in conjunction with Sharleen’s (Rayxia Ojo) abuse becoming her personality in addition to a plot point. Taze (Josh Tedeku), meanwhile, potentially murders a woman in broad daylight, leading him to be a less redeemable character by the minute.
Sharleen’s constant dive into danger overshadows Sabrina’s (Nadine Mills) good news. Here, however, it’s not careless writing buried in tropes, but it’s clearly meant to be an injustice that Sabrina’s career achievement is overshadowed by abuse and violence.
The male characters in the show are constantly examined, judged, and captured by systems in society. In truth, most of them don’t trust each other, which is why it takes so long for Michael and Rodney to get Andre (Eric Kofi Abrefa) to trust him and consider joining the team. And even then, Rodney only wants to help Michael because he thinks Michael can and will rewind time to help his injured friend. The overarching power structures intentionally damage the trust and the Black community. But it’s clear the women suffer most, and the men can’t break free of the cycle of both receiving and perpetuating unfairness.
Overall, this episode should have had more like pieces come together, but instead the storytelling was disjointed and it fell flat. Hopefully, the final episode packs more of a punch when it comes to connectedness, or permits Michael to use his powers to access the past in a way that changes the story and empowers all of the characters, including Dionne.
Human instinct dictates that when we see a toy, we want to open it. It’s why old toys that are still in their box are so valuable. Everyone who bought them as a child opened and played with them, making ones still in the package much rarer. But what if there were toys that went against that instinct? Toys not meant to be played with. Toys meant to be displayed where the packaging is as much of the experience as the figure itself, if not more so?
That’s exactly the type of toys artist Adam Perocchi makes. A New England resident and native, under the name “Readful Things” Perocchi makes art in the shape of a toy, package and all. It’s a way for him to explore a love of pop culture, as well as sculpting and painting. “I’ve been painting/drawing since I was a kid [and] I got into sculpting about eight years ago,” Perocchi told io9. “I wanted a way to combine my sculpts with my artwork, so I thought carded action figures would be a good way to marry the two things.” Which he now does almost daily, working on five or six pieces simultaneously, sculpting a figure as well as doing the artwork for the package.
Perocchi covers all types of subjects, from classic pop culture to new favorites, or even sometimes things that are much more specific. “Occasionally I’ll do some current pop culture internet zeitgeist thingy (Pop Tart being cooked alive, Star Wars Cerveza Cristal, etc), and those will supersede everything else,” he said. In this slideshow, you’ll see a bit of all of it. We’ve hand-selected just a taste of Perocchi’s incredible work, running the gamut of genres, eras, and more. And to see even more, you can visit his Instagram where he showcases most of his work, or his official site, where he occasionally does art without the toy.
Chicagoans like to celebrate, especially when there’s eating and drinking involved, and this week, a week that included an Election Day that didn’t go especially well for Mayor Brandon Johnson, the mayor celebrated his proclamation of honoring Rick Bayless, arguably Chicago’s best-known celebrity chef.
Johnson dubbed Thursday, March 21 “Rick Bayless Day,” in honor of the 37th anniversary of Frontera Grill, the Chicago restaurant often cited as a catalyst in popularizing regional Mexican food and elevating it in the eyes of Americans to the same levels as other cuisines. This specific anniversary has special meaning for Bayless, who took a victorylap throughlocal mediato explain that he’d always aimed to build a restaurant that could last as long as Hickory House, his parents’ barbecue restaurant in Oklahoma City that endured for 37 years.
In celebration of nearly 40 years of serving Chicago, March 21, 2024, will now be known as “Honorary Chef Rick Bayless Day” recognizing the legendary chef’s brilliance and longtime commitment and contributions to our city.
Over his nearly four decades in Chicago hospitality, Bayless oversaw a dramatic transformation in the once-gritty streets of River North and went on to open a clutch of decorated restaurants alongside Frontera, including Michelin-starred Topolobampo, the more casual Xoco, and subterranean cocktail bar and restaurant Bar Sotano, which he operates with daughter Lanie Bayless.
Bayless’ influence, however, extends beyond Chicago thanks to his television show Mexico: One Plate at a Time, which ran for a dozen seasons on PBS, and his victorious run on Season 1 of the reality competition series Top Chef Masters. The man penned nine cookbooks, has seven James Beard Awards under his belt, and even managed to make O’Hare International Airport into a dining destination with Tortas Frontera, his quick-serve torta shops with locations in three terminals. The Frontera brand of chips, salsa, and spice kits has been wildly successful, with the chef selling the company for more than $100 million.
The tale of a white, Oklahoma-born chef achieving fame and fortune through Mexican cuisine raised questions over the years about culinary heritage and appropriation. Over time, Bayless has shown more openness to dialogue on these issues and has spoken out in support of raising wages for restaurant workers. On Rick Bayless Day, however, all was sunshine and positivity, at least in the comments section on a celebratory Instagram post from the Illinois Restaurant Association. Prominent leaders in Chicago’s Mexican American restaurant scene shared their congratulations, including James Beard-nominated chefs Diana Dávila Boldin (Mi Tocaya Antojeria) and Marcos Carbajal (Carnitas Uruapan), as well as the team at Bucktown’s Taqueria Chingon.
Despite Bayless’ fame, not all Chicagoans were clued into the nature of the festivities. On X (nee Twitter), one local inadvertently stumbled into a Rick Bayless Day prix fixe event. “I accidentally just crashed Rick Bayless’ birthday party oops,” they quipped.
I accidentally just crashed Rick Bayless’ birthday party oops
Zack Snyder, Film director and guy-who-spells-Zack-correctly, is out promoting his new Netflix film, Rebel Moon. But because he’s talked about Epic’s popular battle royale shooter Fortnite in the past, people keep asking him about the game and recently, someone wondered if he would be willing to direct a movie based on the franchise. According to Snyder, “of course” he would.
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Rebel Moon is a gritty, space-adventure that is poised to set up a larger franchise for Netflix. Let’s check out what the critics are saying about Snyder’s newest movie…oh…oh boy…ouch…well…uh… actually, let’s talk about something else and not that seemingly horrible film. Instead, Snyder has some thoughts on the world of Fortnite and making a live-action movie based on the ever-expanding free-to-play game he’s been enjoying for years.
As spotted by IGN, during a December 15 interview with Etalk, the film director behind Man of Steel, 300 and that Dawn of the Dead remake where the zombies run was asked if he would ever “want to combine” his two passions for filmmaking and playing Fortnite.
“I mean, of course,” Snyder quickly replied. He further added that he was trying hard to get skins based on Rebel Moon added to Fortnite, a game that is famous for its many brand crossovers. That didn’t happen, but Snyder doesn’t seem bitter about it and is still into the Fortnite universe.
“Look, Fortnite is an amazing world, and it is an amazing distraction for me,” Snyder said. “It’s really cool, and the alchemy that they’ve created there is really unique. When I started playing it I thought I knew what it was and then it was something entirely different.”
When playfully pushed by the interviewer about his vague answer, Snyder added: “You definitely don’t know. You definitely can never say never. That’s my mantra in this business.”
If Zack Snyder does end up making a Fortnite film, I will expect a big starring role for Rick and Morty’s Mr. Meeseeks as that is, according to the filmmaker, the main skin he uses when playing the game. What a movie that will be.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is almost here (or already out if you’re reading this after October 20) and you might want a refresher on the first game, from way back in 2018, before swinging back in and seeing what’s next for everyone’s favorite webhead.
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Spider-Man 2 actually does include a short recap video before you start playing, and it’s worth watching. But that video leaves out some key details and moments from the first Spider-Man game’s DLC episodes, as well as theMiles Morales-focusedspin-off. Never fear, True Believers. I’ve taken the time to concisely (as much as possible) summarize everything that happened in the first game, all its DLC, and the PS5 launch title, Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Ready? Here we go!
Marvel’s Spider-Man (2018)
Spider-Man starts with a call to Peter Parker from NYPD Captain Yuri Watanabe to assist with the arrest of Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin. Spider-Man—with a hyphen as explained by the superhero himself—joins in, helps the police capture Fisk, then quickly leaves to get back to work at his day job.
Peter Parker aka Spider-Man (don’t tell JJ Jameson) is revealed to work for Dr. Otto Octavius. In the comics and films, he’s known as the villain Doc Ock, and has giant mechanical arms. But this time around, Dr. Octavius isn’t evil and instead wants to help people, even if it doesn’t always pay the bills, which inspires Parker to be even better. Boy, I hope this lovely relationship between surrogate father and son doesn’t get ruined…
A few days later, after defeating C-tier villain Shocker, Spider-Man encounters Mary Jane Watson during a museum heist. But Parker and Watson aren’t dating or married in this version of the Marvel universe. Instead, they broke up before the game started and are now separated. And yeah, it’s kind of awkward.
digitalshot / Marvel / Sony
After working together to help foil the heist—though failing to stop the gang from stealing a folder with important info—MJ and Parker meet up at a favorite restaurant to chat about things. It goes about as well as you’d expect between two exes who haven’t talked in a bit. Later, after some police sirens bring their meeting to an abrupt end, Parker heads over to FEAST, a homeless shelter run by his Aunt May and created by Martin Li. During the heist, MJ grabbed a creepy mask worn by the gang members and Parker thinks Li—an art expert—can help shed some light on it. Li warns Parker the masks are used by a dangerous gang and that he should stay away. Li seems nice but actually…
Li is a powerful supervillain, Mr. Negative, and is running a gang called the Inner Demons—the same ones who robbed the museum and grabbed the folder. It turns out Li hates Norman Osborn, who is mayor of New York City. With Fisk gone, Li and his gang take over Kingpin’s turf and resources with plans to use them against Osborn and the city. Oh and also, guess who else hates Osborn? Dr. Otto Octavius. He holds a grudge against the mayor for betraying him and kicking him out of Oscorp after they founded the company together.
We also learn that Octavius is suffering from a disease that’s destroying his body. However, Peter helps the doctor work on mechanical prosthetics that can be controlled via neural implants. Regardless, the disease (and hatred) corrupt the doctor and soon he’s scheming to hurt Osborn and get his revenge. Anybody else in this city have problems with Osborn…?
Later, at a rally for Norman Osborn’s re-election, Li and the Inner Demons attack. Norman Osborn gets away, but Miles Morales’ father—a police officer who helped Spider-Man—isn’t so lucky, and perishes in a suicide bomber’s blast. Parker tries to connect with Morales, as he knows how he feels, and ultimately gets him to join FEAST. Oh, and during the attack on the rally, Peter Parker sees Martin Li turn into Mr. Negative.
At some point, while helping out at FEAST, the still grieving Miles Morales is bitten by a strange spider accidentally brought in by MJ after she sneaks into Osborn’s labs. Wonder if that means anything…
Santosx07 / Marvel / Sony
Following some investigating, Spider-Man and MJ discover that Martin Li has stolen a bioweapon, called the Devil’s Breath, that Osborn inadvertently created while searching for a universal cure for all diseases. (Wonder why he wants that…) Li and his demons then attempt to deploy it but are stopped by Spider-Man and MJ. He’s arrested and sent to the Raft, a super-secure prison. Meanwhile, Dr. Octavius goes full Doc Ock, building powerful mechanical arms and staging a prison break of the Raft, freeing classic Spider-Man villains including Rhino, Scorpion, Vulture, and the recently arrested Martin Li.
After almost dying while trying to stop all of the villains from escaping, Spider-Man is left drifting in the waters outside NYC. Meanwhile, Doc Ock goes to Times Square and releases the dangerous Devil’s Breath bioweapon into the air, causing any who come into contact with it to develop a deadly disease. But don’t worry, there is a cure! Bad news: Osborn has it and he’s hiding behind private mercs he hired to capture the Demons. These mercs are led by the badass Silver Sable. She… doesn’t like Spider-Man.
Later, Spidey is rescued by NYPD Captain Watanabe. He’s hurt, but he pushes through the pain and goes after the villains who are now causing chaos across an infected NYC. After cleaning up that mess, Spider-Man tracks down Martin Li, who has discovered Osborn’s location and is holding him hostage.
Spider-Man fights Li, but eventually convinces him to give up his need for revenge against Osborn, who in the past tested Devil’s Breath on Li, which gave him his powers, but also led to the deaths of his parents. However, at just that moment, Doc Ock shows up and overpowers Spider-Man, nearly killing him. Octavius then leaves with Osborn and the cure. Silver Sable, who at this point realizes that Spider-Man is good and Osborn sucks, helps bring Spider-Man to FEAST where he recovers for a bit.
Targa / Marvel / Sony
Once he’s feeling better and has built a new, tougher suit, he goes after Doc Ock. During the fight, Octavius reveals that he’s known about Peter’s secret identity for quite some time now, angering Peter as it means that the doctor has, essentially, been trying to kill him or at least let him get killed for days now. Rough stuff. Thanks to Peter’s new suit, he beats Doc Ock, who gets arrested, and brings the cure back to FEAST, where Aunt May is dying from exposure to Dragon’s Breath.
Because this is a Spider-Man story, Peter is forced to make a gut-wrenching choice. There is only one vial of the cure. He can use it to save Aunt May, but that’s it. Or he can give it to a scientist helping them who can, in a few days, turn it into a cure for everyone. Although Peter wants to save May, he knows he can’t. Before she dies, May reveals that she’s known Peter’s secret for a while. May also tells him how proud she is of him and reassures Peter about his choice to save the city over her. She then quietly dies next to Peter. And I cried.
In a mid-credits scene, we learn that Morales has developed Spider-Man-like powers and Peter Parker reveals his secret to the young teen. In a post-credits scene, Norman Osborn’s son and Parker’s best friend, Harry Osborn—who is said to be visiting Europe—is revealed to be in a coma inside a large medical tank. A strange black goo is wrapped around him, helping him fight a disease that killed his mom.
Marvel’s Spider-Man DLC (2019)
A few months have passed since the destruction of Fisk’s empire, and all the damage wrought by the Inner Demons and Dragon’s Breath. After all that, another power vacuum has formed in NYC and the Maggia crime families want to take over. MJ learns that a lost painting is currently on display and the Maggia crime family wants it. Spider-Man is alerted and stops them from stealing it; however, master thief Black Cat gets her hands on it and breaks it open to grab a secret data drive.
Spider-Man learns that Hammerhead, one of the five heads of the Maggia crime empire, has hired Black Cat to steal four data drives belonging to the other dons. Spidey tracks down Black Cat and confronts her about why she’s working with Hammerhead and what’s up with these drives. She won’t say what’s on the drives, but reveals that if she doesn’t do what Hammerhead wants, they will kill her son. Later, MJ discovers that long ago the families agreed to combine all their assets in one place to create peace. The ability to access these assets was split across five USB drives, and whoever gets them all can take everything and bankrupt the families.
Eventually, Spider-Man tracks down the last data drive, but Black Cat beats him there, and a chase ensues. When he finally catches her, he convinces her to let him help her break free of Hammerhead. The plan: Spidey will look for Black Cat’s son while she stalls the gangster. This leads to Black Cat learning about a massive vault Hammerhead recently bought, and she deduces that her son is being held in there.
With Spider-Man’s help, and after learning that Hammerhead has taken Sable merc weapons and tech from the NYPD after the Devil’s Breath crisis, Black Cat finds the vault. (Yes, Silver Sable’s mercenary company is called Sable.) But she leaves right as some goons show up. Once defeating them all, Spidey enters the vault and sees a briefcase inside that once held a USB drive.
Shirrako / Marvel / Sony
Black Cat then traps Spider-Man in the vault and reveals that she took Hammerhead’s own drive—contained in the secure vault—and gave the gang leader fake USB drives and kept them all for herself. Also, she lied about having a son to trick Spider-Man into helping her. She escapes, but Hammerhead soon learns of her deception and plants bombs in Black Cat’s penthouse, blowing it up and seemingly killing her in the process.
A few days pass and all-out war engulfs NYC as the Maggia families have united against Hammerhead’s goons. Spider-Man and Captain Watanabe help lead a SWAT team assault on one of Hammerhead’s bases to possibly capture him. But after getting split up, Yuri Watanabe and her team are ambushed by Hammerhead who kills everyone and nearly gets Watanabe before Spider-Man saves her. This deeply traumatizes the NYPD captain and she vows revenge.
Later, Spider-Man learns that Hammerhead is after “Project Olympus” and plans on capturing and killing the other Maggia family dons. Despite police trying to protect the family heads, Hammerhead captures them and brings them to a construction site to kill them.
Spider-Man shows up just in time to save them, but runs into Hammerhead who is now wearing a powerful suit of armor—revealing what “Project Olympus” was—and the two fight. Spider-Man wins (duh…) but Watanabe interferes and shoots Hammerhead dead. Or so everybody thinks, as we later see him revived and carried away by his goons.
A short while after all that, Spider-Man and MJ learn that Hammerhead is alive and in hiding. He’s trying to steal more Sable tech and this leads to Sliver Sable returning to stop him. She works with Spider-Man and they discover Hammerhead wants to meet her on top of a tower in NYC. She goes after him, even though Spidey warns it might be a trap. Spoilers: It’s a trap.
Spider-Man saves Silver Sable and they fight together to defeat Hammerhead’s goons. Eventually, Hammerhead himself shows up and is now a full-on cyborg thanks to more Sable tech he stole. He fights the Sable and Spidey, nearly winning. But Black Cat shows up and saves Spidey, while Hammerhead gets away with Silver Sable. Black Cat apologizes for all the deception and gives Spider-Man a data drive that will help him beat Hammerhead.
MrRedRivers / Marvel / Sony
Spider-Man tracks down Silver Sable, who is being held in the sewers. He saves her from being tortured and, using the data drive, they discover they must melt down Hammerhead’s steel head with a massive amount of heat to finally defeat him. Using a powerful Sable-tech laser, Spider-Man and Silver Sable break through his steel-plated head and they eventually defeat him.
In a post-credits scene, Miles Morales is seen training with Spider-Man, which takes us right into…
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (2020)
Set roughly a year later, Miles Morales opens with Peter and Miles working together as Spider-Men and fighting Rhino. During this fight, Miles Morales discovers he has a unique electricity-like power referred to as “Venom.” (Not to be confused with Venom, the character that is appearing in the sequel.) Anyway, Parker tells Morales that he is leaving with Mary Jane to help her with a news story in Symkaria, aka the homeland of Silver Sable.
Now alone, Miles Morales is protecting NYC by himself. To help the lone Spider-Man keep the city safe, Morales’ friend Ganke creates an app that lets people report crimes and strange events happening around New York City. Later, Morales has to stop a criminal gang known as the Underground from stealing a powerful prototype energy source, Nuform, from the Roxxon Energy Corporation.
While all this is happening, Mile Morales’ uncle, Aaron Davis, figures out his nephew is Spider-Man. He promises not to tell his mom and tells the young Spidey to call him if he ever needs help. He seems like a good dude!
Jekavac TV / Marvel / Sony
Shortly after all that, another big fight happens between Roxxon and the Underground. During this tussle, Spider-Man learns that the leader of the gang, a villain known as The Tinkerer, is actually none other than his childhood friend Phin. Cue the dramatic music! While trying to stop more Nuform from being stolen, Morales accidentally destroys it with his new Venom powers, and the citizens of New York grow upset with the new Spidey. But Morales does figure out another neat trick he can do: This Spider-Man can turn invisible.
After some investigating and punching, Miles learns that Phin, aka The Tinkerer, had a brother, Rick, who created Nuform while he worked at Roxxon. However, the powerful energy source made him sick. Phin and Rick work together to try and expose the truth about Nuform, that it’s dangerous and deadly, but Rick gets killed before the public can be warned. Phin, desperate and angry, works with Miles to help stop Roxxon and its CEO, and warn people about Nuform.
But wait, remember Uncle Aaron? Well, he is the Prowler, a dangerous villain who sometimes kills people for money. Boy, Miles Morales knows a lot of secret superheroes and supervillains.
At first, Prowler helps Miles infiltrate Roxxon to get revenge for Rick’s death and expose the truth about Nuform. But eventually, Prowler betrays Miles, capturing the younger Spider-Man and holding him for his own good, or so he believes. He explains that it’s best to let Roxxon and the Underground destroy themselves. But Miles disagrees, explaining that heroes don’t sit back while people get hurt. Spider-Man escapes using his powers and fights Prowler, beating up his uncle in the process.
Miles Morales then learns that Phin and the Underground’s plan to destroy the Roxxon building will also destroy most of Harlem. Wishing to save his neighborhood and stop Phin, Morales quickly goes after her and stops her just before it’s too late and convinces Phin that what she’s doing is wrong. She agrees and helps Miles stop the explosion.
Cinema Clips / Marvel / Sony
To do so, Morales uses his Venom abilities to absorb all the energy of the Nuform into his body and Phin flies him into the air high above the city, where he can detonate all that stored-up power safely. Miles Morales lives, but Phin doesn’t.
The incident puts a spotlight on Roxxon, its CEO, and Nuform. Roxxon ends up in hot water and its CEO is arrested. Aaron, inspired by his nephew, turns himself in as the Prowler and reveals to authorities that Roxxon hired him to do criminal acts. He testifies against Roxxon, helping seal the CEO’s fate.
Meanwhile, after he risked his life to save Harlem, NYC’s populace is back on Miles’ side. Peter Parker returns and the two Spider-Men catch up and get back to protecting New York City, together.
Finally, in a post-credits scene, we see Norman Osborn talking to Curt Connors aka the Lizard. They are discussing Harry Osborn, who is once again seen inside a tank covered in black goo. It seems he’s getting released soon…
Fortnite, Epic Games’ crossover meme of a video game, is once again becoming the stage for some historical education, as a group of developers has used Epic’s Unreal Editor For Fortnite program to create an in-game museum dedicated to the Holocaust.
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As absurd as that might sound in premise, Fortnite did this in an official capacity for Martin Luther King Jr., and it was a well-intentioned if incredibly jarring tribute to a civil rights figure’s legacy. However, unlike that display, which was done as part of an official Epic Games partnership with the DuSable Museum of African American History and the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., this is from Luc Bernard, who directed The Light and the Darkness, a free historical game meant to educate players on the events of the Holocaust.
Bernard posted about the in-game display on Twitter, saying bringing something like this to Fortnite’s millions of players can bring museums and all their information to people, as a vast majority of people never visit these places in-person. According to a study, around 80 percent of people have never visited a Holocaust museum, so a digital alternative may at least reach some new people. In an interview with Euronews, Bernard said this was especially to reach Fortnite’s younger audience.
If you want to see the museum for yourself, it’s not live yet. But when it is, the code for the map is 4491-8501-3730.
All UEFN projects go through Epic, which has veto power over anything that comes through the system. So between the people making it and the big corporation approving it, I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt that this will be informative and respectful, even though Fortnite feels like a strange platform for this kind of thing. The game’s scale and reach makes it ideal for creators and historians to use it, but all the best intentions won’t make it any less ridiculous when you see Rick from Rick and Morty and Master Chief reading about one of the most heinous acts of human cruelty known to man. All that being said, kudos to the team, and I hope this reaches people and proves Fortnite can be more than just a meme.
Yesterday, after 1,410 days (or 3 years and 10 months) the Grim Medicine cosmetic set—complete with the popular Plague Doctor skin—returned to Fortnite’sin-game store, letting players buy it for the first time since the start of the covid-19 pandemic. And many believe it was the pandemic itself that kept the plague-themed items and skins out of the game for such a long period of time.
I doubt I need to explain Fortniteto you, but just so everyone’s on the same page: Epic’s Fortnite is a free-to-play battle royale PVP shooter available on nearly every modern platform out there. It supports crossplay across all of them and for the last few years has been one of the most popular games in the world as it continues to expand and include more characters from other franchises, like Star Wars,Dragonball Z,and Street Fighter.
But Fortnite also has plenty of its own original skins and cosmetic items too, like Peely and the previously mentioned Plague Doctor. But until yesterday, these plague-related items hadn’t appeared in the game since March 1, 2019, making them extremely rare, as the only people who could use them were folks who bought them back when they were last available. Meanwhile, most other skins appear again and again in the store every few weeks or months.
Fans had theorized that the Grim Medicine cosmetic set had been blacklisted and retired by Epic due to the covid-19 pandemic. This makes sense, as including those skins during the height of the deadly pandemic that has killed over 6 million people worldwide as of January 2023 would have been a bad look.
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The working theory is that the skin popped up in the store on March 1, 2019. Then before it could appear again in the store, covid-19 was detected in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and eventually spread around the world, officially becoming a pandemic according to the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. It’s not unreasonable that Epic saw this happening and decided to pull the plague-themed items from the store’s rotation in order to avoid any controversy.
The thing is, Epic has never officially confirmed this theory at any point. Kotaku has reached out about the skin and the long gap in time between it showing up, but didn’t hear back from the company. Still, even if Epic hasn’t officially confirmed the reason for the Grim Medicine items going missing for nearly four years, the covid-19 theory doesn’t seem unreasonable to me. And regardless of why, many players were excited to see it return, even if only to make a joke about its long absence. Or to point out that covid-19 is still a thing in 2023, which it is, and it’s still deadly and dangerous, too.
“One of my friends IMMEDIATELY dropped money into the game upon getting this notification. He’s been waiting since it was last in the shop,” tweeted one person. “LETS GOOOO! I finally got PLAGUE!!! I wanted him for 2 years,” tweeted another player upon seeing the news of the Plague Doctor’s return to Fortnite. Of course, there were other players who found it funny everybody was excited over the skin, and others who owned it already and were now sad to see their once rare skin become common once more.
Personally, I’m not excited about the Grim Medicine skins as I don’t really like how they look. And besides, I only like to buy the most cursed and bizarre skins in Fortnite, like Mr. Meeseeks from Rick and Morty.
If you’re into Rick and Morty-style humor and enjoy a good first-person shooter with some unique guns, High on Life is a damn good time. While High on Life is a fairly easy game to fire up and jump into—made even easier by the fact that it’s on Game Pass right now—there are a few things to keep in mind while romping around through space, blasting evil alien cartel members to dust.
The latest from studio Squanch Games, High on Life is available now on Xbox One, Xbox X and S, and PC. With the mind and voice of Justin Roiland fully on display, High on Life contains much of what many love (or hate) about shows like Rick and Morty. Despite a few glaring bugs and some jokes that don’t know when to stop, it’s a fun shooter that doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is a great change of pace for the genre.
Pick your poison: This is a good time while under the influence
Yes, yes, I know. It’s the game everyone jokes about getting stoned before playing, but honestly, it’s pretty good advice.
High on Life contains a certain brand of humor that comes across well while you’re in an altered state of consciousness. More than that, it’s a visual and auditory treat only heightened by substances that make colors and sounds pop. High on Life is very vibrant, with many great textures, making it splendid for moments where you just want to melt into a colorful, bouncy, wise-cracking trip.
The humor may not be for everyone, but if you love getting blasted and having a fun time with a video game, there are few games that hit this spot right now while quite High on Life.
It’s a camera. For your car. The Ring Car Cam’s dual-facing HD cameras capture activity in and around your car in HD detail.
Turn the music up!
This soundtrack kicks ass. There’s some twisted, fucked up synth shit that is just a damn joy to listen to. Electronic musician Tobacco produced the music for High on Life, and it fits the mood and feel of the game so damn well.
The default music volume setting, however, is way too low. I cranked it up all the way during my playthrough and it was a delight for the ears the whole way through, though you might find you’ll want to flip the subtitles on if you do. If you’re not into the humor or find the gameplay to be too generic, do yourself a favor and check out the soundtrack at least. It really is great.
The game needs a content warning
It’s 2023, and it’s about time we expect more from devs when it comes to giving us a heads up about the content in their games. High on Life got a ton of laughs out of me, while other jokes felt rather tasteless. I wish the game would’ve given a bit of a heads up about certain topics.
High on Life contains a good chunk of drug and substance abuse references. It also makes some jokes about self-harm. The very absurd and fictional plot also talks liberally about the enslavement of various alien species.
Many who are familiar with Rick and Morty likely knew what to expect going into High on Life, but with an informative content warning (which, hey, wouldn’t that be a cool standard for Game Pass games or something?), it could help set the table so you could be in the mood for weapons that beg you to turn them on yourself.
Gif: Squanch Games / Kotaku
Keep an eye out for Knifey’s zipline and grapple prompt
I’m not sure how a game that makes as many video game jokes as High on Life delivered a 16-hour campaign where you zip around on rails without making a single BioShock Infinite joke (and if it did, I certainly missed it). There are an awful amount of opportunities for you to zip around the map like you’re out to save some weird girl haunted by her strange pet bird thing.
That said, it can be a little tricky to spot when and where you can do this. The HUD is helpful in indicating where a rail or climbable spot is, but it can be deceptive. While a circular icon will hover over a usable zip line, you can’t actually grab on until you see the actual button prompt (E on keyboard, LB on controller) in the circle.
Learning to spot this indicator will help you zoom around maps even faster.
Always be swappin’Gif: Squanch Games / Kotaku
Screw reloading, cycle your weapons
Once I had all four main Gatlians, High on Life began to feel a lot like the Resistance shooters on PS3. If you liked those games, at least in concept, then you know the value of juggling weapons constantly. As I mentioned in my guide for beating Nipulon, cycling your weapons when they’re out of ammo is a better use of your time than reloading them, especially since all the Gatlians reload themselves while you have another one equipped.
I like to start each round of combat by aiming a Gatlian’s trickhole shot (this also gives you a quick window of bullet time to line up your aim), firing it off, and then emptying its magazine into enemies before swapping to the next gun and repeating the same process. Master this and you’ll almost never stop outputting damage. It’s a lot of fun.
If you’re stoned out of your mind, consider Story Mode. But Normal and Hunter aren’t too much of a challenge
As I said above, High on Life is just a good game to tune in and zone out too. The story is silly and not really that serious beyond a handful of delicate topics; and the gameplay has more depth than you’d assume. But the best part is that it prioritizes fun in a way that shooters sometimes forget to.
It can be a pretty passive shooter if you want it to be. If you’re just looking for a chill time with some goofy aliens who make you laugh, flip it on story mode.
But for those of us who like a bit of a challenge in a first-person shooter, you probably should just jump to the hardest difficulty. I almost finished my first full playthrough on this, but the Skrendel Bros. proved a difficulty spike I couldn’t get along with—at least in the state my poor brain was in. As a result, I played the remainder of the campaign after that fight in Normal mode.
You can hit Gus’ disc to keep it moving
J.B. Smoove’s character, Gus, is your shotgun and disc launcher. That disc will ricochet around the room, causing a bad time for anyone in its way. But blink and you’ll miss the melee prompt on it when it moves near you.
Keep an eye out for the button prompt to smack the disc with Knifey to get more use out of Gus’ trickhole shot.
Zip around like it’s Halo 5, minus fighting the same boss three damn times.Gif: Squanch Games / Kotaku
At its height, High on Life is like a Ratchet and Clank and Halo 5 space brownie
That last mention may make you close this tab. Don’t! One of the coolest aspects of High on Life is the movement abilities plus the versatile guns. With the ability to jet pack and hover in the air, it reminds me of Halo 5’s advanced but underpraised movement techniques. The versatile weapons, as mentioned, remind me of Insomniac’s Resistance or Ratchet and Clank. Maybe there’s a dash of Bulletstorm somewhere in there, too.
At the higher difficulties, you’re going to want to make the most out of that movement. Prepare to dash liberally; and once you can zoom around and hover with the jet pack, you’ll find it’s essential for staying alive.
Sadly, by the time the whole ensemble comes together, the game starts to wind down its campaign. While it lasts, though, it’s a ton of fun. So if you like experimental shooters, definitely give this one a spin.
Don’t miss the upgrades in the pawn shop
I mean, I can’t imagine why you’d have a hard time spotting tiny details in a game like this, but you should keep an eye out for the Gatlian upgrades and mods you can get at the pawn shop in Blim City.
It took nearly the entire game for me to realize you could buy these…don’t be like me. Screenshot: Squanch Games / Kotaku
Each of the rectangular cardboard boxes behind the shelves have unique upgrades that enhance the abilities of your guns, giving them larger magazines or augmenting their trickhole shots as a few examples.
There are also some upgrades for your bounty hunter suit, including one that lets you zoom around when sliding like you’re playing Vanquish. How can you not use this?
Don’t forget to go back and explore previous areas
High on Life is a bit of a metroidvania kinda jam. Early on, you’ll spot items and locations that you can’t get to quite yet. As you progress through the story, you’ll unlock new movement abilities that’ll let you explore a bit more. Keep an eye out for this stuff and don’t forget to go back!
Learn to follow the waypoints
Given the altered state you may or may not be in while playing High on Life, you might be prone to getting lost. By hitting the ping button, you can highlight a waypoint. If you’re lost in a blur of colors for whatever reason, the waypoint will guide you to where you need to go, but it can be a easy to miss.
High on Life’s waypoints move through different “checkpoints.” Once you follow it to a certain point, you’ll see it turn into a check before moving to highlight an area further along. If you’re lost in any of the game’s trippy environments, just follow those markers until it begins to make more sense.
Listen to all the dialogue and take in all of the comedy
High on Life is a comedy game, one where taking in the ambience of absurdity is as much the point as firing silly, talking guns. Don’t rush through the game, and take opportunities to observe the weird and wacky things around you.
Like an RPG where you should probably talk to every NPC you see, you should take the time to listen to all the humor Squanch Games packed in here. Characters will say some wild things, and you’ll participate in some genuinely funny and uncertain moments that are sometimes as surprising as they are humorous.
Some folks out there are even beginning to discover that the various dialogue options you get in the game do lead to some different outcomes for NPCs. So don’t rush. Immerse yourself in the absurdity of this game.
Who knows? You might even find it a little cathartic given how absurd our world is anyway.
Have you ever found yourself paying for over-salted food and overpriced drinks at an Applebee’s and thought: “What if I just stayed here…forever?” Well, a bug making the rounds in the Rick and Morty-adjacent shooter High On Life is allowing such a macabre fantasy to come true.
Released earlier this month on Xbox and PC, High On Life is a shooter steeped in the wacky comedic stylings of Rick and Morty. Developed by Squanch Games, a studio founded by Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland himself, the game is about as loud and obnoxious as you’d expect. Despite obnoxiously bright colors and talking guns capable of delivering a headache or two, the game has soared to the top of Game Pass’s most-played titles. Recently, players have been finding themselves trapped in the game’s rendition of well-known American chain restaurant Applebee’s. It’s a bug for sure, but one that feels fittingly on-point for such an absurd and silly game.
“TRAPPED IN SPACE APPLEBEE’S!!” starts one Reddit thread on High On Life’s subreddit. “Hey guy’s, I love Applebee’s. Like fucking LOVE it. I thought Space Applebee’s would be better (AND IT IS!!) but I am stuck inside. This is my checkpoint, trapped inside with the 2 for $25 for all eternity. Anyone know a way out?? Plz help,” the post continues.
Searching “Applebee’s stuck” or “Applebee’s trapped High On Life” on either High On Life’s subreddit, or Twitter, yields similar pleas for help. A few have even captured some footage to share the struggle.
Others who have managed to escape are finding themselves teleported back into the Applebee’s. “Before going home I saved a human outside of the Applebee’s, I got teleported by accident to the sanctuary then I was teleported back where I was, got killed almost instantly and now I’m stuck in the Applebee’s because the door won’t open.”
In addition to asking Squanch Games for comment, Kotaku has reached out to Applebee’s to find out what one should do if you find yourself in a similar situation.
