The 2023-24 season has wrapped up, and there are still quite a number of sci fi and fantasy television shows waiting to hear if they will stick around for another year. I expected more cancellations than usual this year, and we haven’t quite seen that yet, but that could change depending on how many of these shows end up getting sent to the Network Executioner. So far, 21 genre entries were cancelled or ended in this past season (27% of shows tracked) while 34 have been renewed so far (44%). You can see the full rundown of shows with all of their statuses at our Cancellation Watch Page, and below I look at the ones that have not received either a cancellation or renewal announcement yet.

The shows that I have flagged as On the Bubble can certainly use a Call to Action from fans on the social networks. And pretty much every show that has not been renewed yet could benefit from any form of fan support. We have seen genre entries like The Expanse, Lucifer, and Manifest saved by fan campaigns in the past, and perhaps one of the shows below could be the next to get an extended lease on life. Be sure to follow this site and our Twitter and Mastodon accounts for updates and breaking news on these shows as well as the genre entries for the 2024-25 season.

See all the upcoming sci fi and fantasy TV premieres at this link and keep up with the weekly schedule at this link.

The Acolyte (Disney+, Renewal Possible): This live-action Star Wars entry is not quite a Bubble show yet, but pretty close. Showrunner Leslye Headland has plans for more seasons of this show, but there have been rumors that Disney+ is not planning on continuing it beyond its first year, largely because it is so expensive to produce. It did make an appearance in the Nielsen Streaming Rankings, though, so maybe that will help its chances.

The Ark (Syfy, Renewal Possible): The second season of this space opera has just started, and Nielsen ratings data for the cable channels is sparse these days, so it is hard to make a call on this one at this point. Syfy has been bad about promoting its originals, and reviews have been mixed on the show, so I would not count it as a strong genre entry at this point. But perhaps it will do well enough to journey into a third season.

Ark: The Animated Series (Paramount+, On the Bubble): This animated entry released the first six episodes of its first season with no advance notice in March 2024, with the remaining seven set to be released later in the year.  It was originally supposed to premiere in 2023, but the show got shuffled around and Paramount+ does not appear to be giving it much promotion.  This is a co-licensed production with Studio Wildcard and Tiger Animation, and it may end up getting only the one season from the streaming service, though it could get shopped around to other venues.

Beacon 23 (MGM+, On the Bubble): This show had originally been a joint production by AMC and Spectrum and had been picked up for two seasons according to an interview with executive producer Glen Mazzara. It shifted over to MGM+ when AMC and Spectrum backed out, and there are plans for additional seasons. It is unclear if that network has an interest in keeping the show going, though, or if they just picked it up for a burn-off run.

Cult-SciFi.com: Looking Back at Cult Movies, TV Shows, Books, and More from the Worlds of Sci Fi, Fantasy, and Horror

The Changeling (Apple TV+, On the Bubble): This horror series did not develop too much buzz in its first season, but its creative team has a two-season plan in place that will wrap up all of its storylines. Showrunner Kelly Marcel says that “season one was a setup of a lot of questions, and season two is the answer to all of those questions”. However, there has been no word on that second season yet, and with Apple TV+ looking to cut back on spending for its original content, this show’s fate could be very much in doubt.

Chucky (Syfy/USA, Renewal Possible): There has been no word on a fourth season of this horror/comedy yet, but creator Don Mancini has already made a pitch to Syfy for where the show can go next. In addition, fans have an opportunity to support the show by calling 1-201-500-3347 to demand more adventures from Chucky. Its linear viewing numbers dropped off in its third year, but perhaps this one could stick around for another season (maybe becoming a USA exclusive like Resident Alien) if the fans lobby for it.

Creepshow (Shudder, Renewal Possible): This horror anthology has proven quite popular for the Shudder streaming service, setting viewership records and also receiving good buzz from critics and fans (plus, it has done well in its encore runs on AMC). There has been no word on a fifth season yet, but I am guessing that this one is not done yet.

Dark Matter (Apple TV+, Renewal Possible): This sci fi entry has not made it into the Nielsen Streaming Rankings so far, though it currently has mostly positive feedback, holding an 81% Fresh Rating and 82% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes. Series creator Blake Crouch has indicated that he has ideas for a second season in an AMA he did on Reddit, though he has also suggested that the first season told the full story that he had planned. With Apple TV+ looking to cut back on spending for its original content, it is unclear where this one stands, but it could stick around for another season.

For status updates on the current sci fi and fantasy shows along with breaking news on cancellations and renewals, follow our Cancellation Watch posts.

Dead Boy Detectives (Netflix, Renewal Possible): This series spent three weeks in the Netflix Top 10 and two weeks in the Nielsen Streaming Rankings, though that may not be enough to satisfy the completion rate that Netflix execs are looking for. It is tied to the same universe as The Sandman, and perhaps that connection will keep it going, but the streamer is known for cutting bait on shows it does not believe are performing up to its viewing standards.

Hit Monkey (Hulu, On the Bubble): This animated entry is the last surviving show from the Marvel Television days before Marvel Studios took over production on all of the TV entries. It did not make it into the Nielsen Streaming Rankings in its second season and it has received very little buzz so far. There are plans for a third season, but my confidence is not high that it will go forward.

Orphan Black: Echoes (AMC, Renewal Possible): This Orphan Black spin-off has not drawn much of an audience so far based on the linear ratings and it has received mixed reviews. But AMC continues to advertise it pretty strongly, so perhaps they want to keep this franchise going. It may be performing better in digital viewing (I have not seen any numbers for that), and that may help get it to a second season.

Pluto (Netflix, On the Bubble): This animated series did not place in the Netflix Top 10 during its first-season run, and it adapted the full Manga across its eight episodes. If there is no word on it over the next month or so, I will consider it ended.

Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale (AMC+, Renewal Possible): This supernatural drama arrived without much advance notice, though it did get a fair amount of promotion from AMC once it started streaming. No viewership numbers are available, and it did not develop much buzz during its first season run. But it is likely not too expensive to produce and there is still a chance that it could return for a second season.

For the weekly schedule of sci fi and fantasy shows along with news and the latest trailers, follow our Sci Fi TV Highlights posts.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (Netflix, On the Bubble): This animated continuation of the feature film made it into the Netflix Top 10 the week after its premiere, but according to creators Bryan Lee O’Malley and BenDavid Grabinski, they consider the first season to be one-and-done and currently have no ideas for a second year of the show. They have not completely ruled out a continuation, but if there is no word on it in the next month or so I will consider it ended.

Strange Planet (Apple TV+, On the Bubble): This animated series based on the webcomic of the same name came and went with very little fanfare and did not make any noise in the streaming charts. It has been a year since it premiered with no word on its fate, so likely this is one-and-done, especially considering that Apple TV+ is cutting back on spending for its original content.

Sugar (Apple TV+, Renewal Possible): This mystery series with sci fi elements developed some good buzz during its first season run, and from what I understand it performed well compared to other originals on Apple TV+. There has been no word on a second season yet, and Apple TV+ is cutting back on spending for its original content, but perhaps it could stick around for another year.

Sunny (Apple TV+, Renewal Possible): This sci fi dramedy arrived with very little fanfare and has not developed much buzz so far. It is still releasing episodes from its first season, and Apple TV+ may not have made a decision about its fate yet. But that streamer is cutting back on spending for its original content, so it is unclear whether a second season is a possibility for this show.

Keep up with sci fi TV news, updates, trailers and discussions at r/SciFiTV.

The Swarm (CW, Renewal Possible): This German-made series is an acquisition by The CW and its viewership in the U.S. will likely have little impact on whether it gets renewed. It is an expensive show to produce, but it did perform well in its home country during its first season run and a second season is possible. But if there is no word on that in the next month or so, I will consider it ended.

Them (Prime Video, Renewal Possible): The second season of this show made a brief appearance in the Nielsen Streaming Rankings and showrunner Little Marvin has indicated that he has plans for a third season. There has been no word on that yet, but this one could stick around for another year or so.

Time Bandits (Apple TV+, Renewal Possible): This reboot of the 1981 Terry Gilliam film is another new entry from Apple TV+ that did not receive much promotion before its premiere. The early reviews have been mixed on this one and no viewership numbers are available, so it is hard to make a call at this point. Apple TV+ is cutting back on spending for its original content, and this looks like a costly production, so if the viewership is not there it could end up as another one-and-done genre entry from that service.

Velma (Max, On the Bubble): People were surprised that this show received a second season after the first was pretty widely panned, but apparently that had been planned in advance. It did not make it into the Nielsen Streaming Rankings across its two seasons, and it currently holds only 38% on the Tomatometer scale and a 10% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes. A third season seems unlikely at this point, especially as Max is cutting back on its original content.

Wolf Like Me (Peacock, Renewal Possible): This Australian-made supernatural dramedy has received very little attention for its run in the States on Peacock. But it is relatively inexpensive to produce and could stick around for another season or so, especially since it has an international partnership propping it up.

Be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site  for breaking news and updates. And for the latest news and discussions on sci fi and fantasy television, follow r/SciFiTV

Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.

The post Bubble Sci Fi TV: A Look at the Shows from the 2023-24 Season Still Awaiting Word on Their Fates appeared first on Cancelled Sci Fi.

Introduction to 'My Happy Marriage' on Netflix. 

Weekly Episode Releases and Season Length

 

The Storyline of 'My Happy Marriage

What is My Happy Marriage about?

"My Happy Marriage" is an anime series that follows the story of Miyo Saimori, a young woman from a noble family known for having special powers. Despite her family's importance, Miyo faces difficulties due to her mean stepmother.

When Miyo becomes old enough to get married, her dreams take a hit when she finds out she's supposed to marry Kiyoka Kudou, a commander known for being cold and unkind.

But as time goes on, Miyo learns that Kiyoka isn't as bad as she thought. They start to understand each other and realize that they could find real love and happiness in their unexpected marriage.

Audiences are in for a treat with "My Happy Marriage." This TV series beautifully brings to life the wonderful story of Miyo and Kiyoka as they search for true love and happiness. The show is based on a popular romance novel from Japan, which has become really famous.

With amazing visuals and a touching plot, this anime version is expected to have 12 episodes in this season. It's likely to hold people's attention with its deep emotions and characters that feel real. As you watch Miyo and Kiyoka, you'll see a mix of romance, drama, and personal growth, sharing in their happy moments and challenges.

"My Happy Marriage" isn't like other anime shows. It goes beyond with its exciting story and captivating animation, raising the bar for this type of show. In the end, this anime gives you a wonderful break from everyday life and brings you on a special adventure filled with love, change, and fate.

Nintendo.com microsite – Official website – Wikipedia page

When you purchase games on the Nintendo eShop, you earn store credit. I usually save up a lot of my credit and purchase a smaller title with it. One of these titles I purchased a few months ago is named Little Noah – Scion of Paradise. After playing it for a bit, I was surprised that it was the perfect game to play on my commute to and from work. I played it on a few train rides, and I think I’m ready to share my opinion on this game. This game is something unique and now that I have beaten it once, I really want to talk about it. Wait, beaten it once? What do I actually mean? Let’s talk about it in this article, while I invite you to leave a comment with your thoughts and/or opinions on this game and/or the content of this article in the comment section down below.

Zipping Kitty Attempts

In this game, we play as an alchemist called Little Noah. She is in a long journey to reunite with her father. While she is looking for her father, her airship gets caught in a storm, and she crashes near a mysterious ruin.

In that ruin, she meets an amnesiac cat named Zipper. Well, she names it Zipper. Together, they start to explore this ruin because they encountered a dark wizard named Greigh, who wants to enable a powerful machine which is dormant in the ruin.

Now, if you are looking for a deep story… I’m going to have to disappoint you. The story of this game isn’t the main focus of this game. The story in this game is fine for what it is and does its job, but there is nothing more to it. Personally, I don’t think it’s a negative for this game. Because the story takes a backseat, the gameplay loop is a lot more polished. Also, I don’t think it was the intention to have a very in depth story.

The voice actors in this game did an amazing job and brought the characters and the world of this game to live. The amount of personality they brought to their characters is really well done and really fits the atmosphere of this game like a glove. The amazing voice acting is one of the main reasons why I didn’t mind the “To be continued” at the end of the game at all. This small title really feels like the developers are testing the water if people who be interested in a larger game set in the world of Little Noah.

So, what do I mean by “small title”? Well, this game can be beaten in an afternoon. Now, the game has quite a lot of replay value in my opinion. The gameplay loop of this game is quite enjoyable. It has quite the potential to grow into something unique that I don’t often see in these rouge lite games. But, I’ll talk more about the gameplay later.

According to various sources online, this game has been worked on by a small team of 30 people. Even by some industry legends like Yukio Futatsugi, who had his hand on another title I played in the past called World’s End Club. The amount of love and care put into this title is quite impressive and gets a thumbs up from me. I know that this game is based upon an earlier mobile game from the same developers called Battle Champs. Yet, I think it’s great to see the developers repurpose the assets after the shutdown of that game and make something new about it.

If you have ever played a game like Rouge Legacy, you’ll feel right at home in this game. In this game, you have to explore a dungeon and fight bosses. During your exploration run, you gain various special items that give you all sorts of buffs.

In terms of difficulty, this game is very balanced. While you can get lucky and get amazing items and buffs to make it quite far in the game, with enough skill and understanding of the game… you can even outplay the game if you get bad items and not good buffs. Now, I’m reading mixed things about the hard difficulty online, but I have been playing through this game on normal difficulty and I found it pretty fair and balanced. So, let’s do one more dive to explain how this game works.

One More Dive

I want to talk about the unique mechanic in this game. The combat system in this game is something I wanted to play for a long while. In this game, you are accompanied by Lilliputs. These are special creatures who attack for you. You start each run with three basic Lilliputs. During your run, you can find other Lilliputs and make yourself stronger.

Each Lilliput is very different in terms of strength, element, attack, and unique attack. You can only have five Lilliputs for your main attacks, and you have two special attack slots where you can place one Lilliput in each. So, you really need to balance your Lilliputs well. The order is also quite important, you don’t want a whole row of slow attacking Lilliputs in an area with a lot of range attacking enemies. Also, you don’t want to use a weak element compared to the enemies you are facing. If you are focusing on wind, you will have trouble with fire enemies.

It’s extremely important to understand your Lilliputs. Since, once you started an attack, you are somewhat locked into that attack. You can’t start another attack while an attack is in progress, excluding the special attacks that is. So, if the enemy moves to the other side of your attack, though luck. This game is a whole balancing and time act, and it’s a lot of fun. The randomness in this whole game makes each run unique, and you can never predict how far you’ll be able to go.

Now, dying in this game isn’t the worst thing. All your items and Lilliputs get converted into mana, which you can use to repair your airship. The more you repair your airship, the more advantages and buffs you can unlock to make even better runs. You can also use special treasure chests you can pick up in your run to either increase the strength of your unlocked Lilliputs or give to Zipper for a special bonus for your next run.

So, how does a run go? Well, allow me to compare it to a crusade in Cult of the Lamb to a degree. In that game, you go into a dungeon, and you have to go from room to room, defeating every enemy in that room before you can progress to the next room. Unlike Cult of the Lamb, some rooms give you a special challenge. These challenges are reaching a certain amount of chained damage or hits, not being hit or defeating all the enemies in a limited amount of time. When you complete this challenge, you receive an additional bonus when you defeat the room.

There are also special rooms that can spawn. A shop where you can spend the gold you earn during a run, platform challenges with a strong treasure chest at the end, (combat) challenge rooms and rooms where you can get special buffs from a crystal and a room where you can get Lilliputs or a buff item. All of these special rooms have a special icon on the map. The map also shows little icons when there is still something you can pick up in the room.

Complete exploration of a dungeon is a very risk/reward thing. You do risk your health to go into an additional room to get additional buffs, or do you want to save your health for the next (mid)boss level? In order to beat this game, you have to beat three worlds. Each world works like this: level – level – midboss – level – boss. Be warned, you can only replenish your health potions at the start of a level. During (mid)boss fights, you can’t replenish your health potions, so keep that in mind when you are deciding if it’s worth the risk to go into that challenge platforming room.

Overall, the gameplay in the dungeon is quite addictive and the fast-paced decision-making you have to make is something that got me hooked. I don’t spend a lot of time on my airship, outside repairing it and setting up the right buffs for my next run. I always want to do one more dive and try and beat the game again. Now, the airship itself is build quite well. You can also re-read the tutorial boxes in case you want to refresh your memory on certain mechanics.

Repetition of Diving

Something that really impressed me is how smooth this game actually runs. The optimization of this game is incredible. I didn’t have any frame rate issues or slowdowns at all. Even when I’m preforming my ultimate attack, which causes a lot of visual flair and effects on the screen.

The controls are extremely responsive as well. Very rarely I felt like I wasn’t in control, and I think some of these moments might even have been a false positive where I was trying to blame my mistake on the game. In terms of the controls, there are only a few nitpicks I can give. The first is the decision to place “R” as the interaction button. This feels quite unnatural and took me some getting used to. Also, I think a left-handed mode would have been welcome since I think left-handed people who appreciate the “L” button then for interactions.

Why am I placing so much attention on this? Well, because you don’t pick up items or Lilliputs automatically. You have to stand next to them and interact with their medal or crystal. But items like health drops or burst gauges are picked up automatically.

The other nitpick I have is that when you start your dive, you get a fixed amount of mana from the first dungeon. Why can’t we skip this little cutscene that plays every time? It breaks the flow of the start of a run. Since you are stopped in your tracks every time.

Another nitpick I have with the controls is how the Lilliput attack order can be decided. The problem comes when I just want to swap two Lilliputs of their place. This is something you can’t do. Unless you swap them from your inventory to the main line OR from the main line to a special attack slot and vice versa. Swapping two Lilliputs in the main line is somewhat clunky to do and feels unpolished.

Visually, this game is extremely colorful and charming. While this is a side view game, like a 2D Mario game, the backgrounds are also incredible. The team that worked on the visual presentation of this game did an amazing job. I only have one nitpick about it and that’s somewhat shared with a nitpick I have with the audio design.

I feel like the frozen status isn’t communicated clearly enough to the player. Several times I was unable to move Noah and I couldn’t figure out why. It took me sometime to realize that she was frozen and that’s the reason why I couldn’t preform an action. Either a more exaggerated visual of a frozen Noah could solve this or more sound effects when you try to do something while frozen.

Apart from that, I don’t have any complaints about the visuals. The animation feels amazing, and you feel the impact of the attacks of your Lilliputs and it feels so rewarding, adding more immersion to the gameplay loop. This game is something where I felt: “One more dive” after each time I died and returned to the airship. Each time I wanted to go and explore the amazing caverns. While I was afraid that this game would suffer from long play sessions, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t the case for me. At the end of a long play session, I have to admit that the game felt a bit repetitive… But I don’t mind repetitive gameplay too much when the core gameplay loop and level design is fun.

The only negative I have about the level design is that you very quickly see all the possible room lay-outs there are in this game. While the dungeon is randomized each run, it doesn’t take long before you see similar rooms. A couple of times, I even had the same room back-to-back. This isn’t a huge problem perse, but I felt that the developers could mask this a bit better with different decorations or minor changes like one of the platforms having a possibility of crumbling or not.

The music and sound effects in this game are really catchy. I would love to add it to my playlist. Sadly, I can’t really find a way to listen to the soundtrack or even buy it. The tracks in this game are charming when they need to be but are also quite action-packed during fight scenes. The sound effects and visuals inform you quite well when an enemy is going to attack.

Now, I have said everything I wanted to say about this game for now. I think it’s high time for my conclusion of this game. Let’s dive into the summary and my final thoughts of this game.

Summary

The bad:

– Some minor nitpicks with the controls.
– Story is fine, but lacks some depth and is predictable.

The good:

+ Very addictive gameplay loop with high replay value.
+ Amazing voice acting.
+ Breath taking visuals.
+ Extremely optimized gameplay.
+ …

Final thoughts:

This game is a small indie title created from the remains of an old gotcha game. It’s only 15€ on the Nintendo eShop and it’s totally worth it’s price in gold. While the game lacks some depth and is quite short, the replay value this game has is something that’ll make you replay this game just one more time.

While playing this game, I felt that this game was an experiment. The developers were testing the waters if the gameplay would work or not. This game feels like a prequel to a much larger game and if I’m right, I can’t wait to see what the full game or the sequel is going to be like.

Even when this game is going to be a standalone game, I don’t really mind if that’s the case. This game is a game I can highly recommend if you enjoy games like Rouge Legacy or Cult of the Lamb. While it doesn’t have a lot of, if any, base building… It’s another amazing title in the genre.

While outside of the combat mechanics, it doesn’t do a lot of things you haven’t seen (a lot) before in other similar games. But, that isn’t a bad thing. Since, sometimes a game where all the good ideas from other games come together into one title can be a lot of fun as well.

I’d love to see another game in this universe where there are a bit more stakes in using your Lilliputs. What if certain Lilliputs get weaker when you pick up items of their opposite element? Or Lilliputs that can do a special attack with another Lilliput present…

There is so much more you can do with this combat system and I think that if the developers expanded on the core mechanics, this game sequel could reach quite far. Since, the game we already got placed an amazing foundation for an amazing series. I love this game to bits and I’m so glad I gave this game a chance, since it was an amazing pleasant surprise to playthrough. It comes highly recommend from me. After I finished the game once, I let me hunger for more. I wanted to play it even more. And the fact that I barely have any complaints about this game apart from a weak story and some nitpicks… This game just has a lot of care and lot put in by the developers and everything works and fits together so well.

With that said, I have said everything I wanted to say about this game for now. I want to thank you for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article, but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care.

Score: 90/100

Steam store page – Wikipedia – Official website

So, when I’m writing this, it is 2024. I turned 31 years old back in February. I still love playing video games and surfing the internet since I was a young lad. Besides that, I also have a fascination for anything that has to do with dreams and their meanings. And then a game called Hypnospace Outlaw turns up on my radar. A game that promises to bring back the early years of the internet that I remember. Not only that, we are going to have to moderate the internet with a new technology that allows people to surf the internet while they are dreaming. We have to play as an unnamed enforcer to keep the internet safe and on top of that, we can create our own pages and mod this game easily. But before we start spending time on that, let’s find out if the base game is actually good and if it’s worth to start playing this game or if it’s something we should skip. Also, feel free to leave your thoughts and/or opinions on this article and/or the game in the comment section down below. Besides, dear enforcer and MerchantSoft, this isn’t harassment, this is a fair review/critique of the game. Removing this from HypnoOS isn’t the solution.

Dreaming Up Nostalgic Investigations

In this game, you play as an unnamed enforcer for MerchantSoft. A company that developed a headband that allows users to surf the web in their dreams. Your goal is to clean up the HypnoSpace for everybody. You start in late 1999, where your first case is assigned. When your first case is assigned, you are left to your own devices, and you can explore the internet by yourself. And let me tell you, there is a lot of internet to explore.

The story of this game is fascinating. You get to dive and explore through various pages on the internet about various things. A long time before social media was a thing and everybody had a website for their own creations. The HypnoSpace has several zones, with each their own theme. If you remember AOL, you will know what I’m talking about.

If you want to get the most out of this game, I highly advise you to take your time with this game. Don’t rush it at all. This game is sadly rather short if you only follow the main story of the game. It’s only 6 hours long and shorter if you know what you are doing. I mean, the speedruns are only around 11 minutes. The strength of this game is the depth it has. This game has three main chapters, and there are clear triggers that separate the chapters.

The deeper you dig and the more you read up, the more interesting lore gets revealed. I actually started a second playthrough to try and find the things I missed. And honestly, this game is one that gets ruined by playing it with a guide in any sort or form. Do not play this game with a guide. It’s a lot less rewarding if you play it with a guide in your first or second playthrough. The wonder of getting lost in all of these pages is just so nostalgic.

Now, while I was playing, I was wondering if it would appeal to the younger players out there. I’m somewhat on the fence about that. While it tackles a lot of subjects that are still somewhat relevant, I honestly think that it’ll mostly click with those who grew up with the internet of the ’90 to early ’00. With that said, I think that it still might click with the younger people, but know that the internet was very different back then.

Point-And-Click Detective

This game is a point-and-click adventure game in any sense of the word. You get a case, and you have to explore the internet to see if anyone broke the rules or not.

Each infraction you find, will reward you with HypnoCoin. You can use these coins to buy various things in the Hypnospace. This can go from stickers, wallpapers, themes, applications to so much more. But be careful, it’s quite possible that some of these downloads are infected with malware. And back then, malware was a lot more visual and less aimed at serving you a lot of ads or stealing your information.

The controls of this game are quite easy. You mostly click with your mouse and input things sometimes in the search bar. If you know how to do basic things with a computer, you’ll very quickly find your way around with this game as well. While I sometimes struggled with opening apps, I didn’t have too much trouble with the controls. Thankfully, there are some options to tweak the controls to your liking, like disabling that double-clicking opens apps. But, I’m a Windows user and the double click to open apps is just hardwired in my brain.

Visually, this game really looks like you are playing with the old internet. When I noticed that there was a mod that changed the OS into Windows 95, oh boy, I was sold. There are various themes for the OS in this game, and they go from amazing to silly. There is even a fast food theme. Now, if you read that this game is mostly created by a team of 5 people, it’s even more impressive. Not only that, one of the main designers of Dropsy is part of the team.

The creativity of this game never ceased to amaze me. Let me continue on the trend of the visuals and say that the little details on how the webpages look is just so realistic. The little typo’s here and there, the rabbit holes you can jump down, the crazy visuals on various pages… Even the “help me, I can’t remove this” and “Test 1 2 3″… I made me crack up and remember my early days when I used to write webpages in plain HTML with barely any coding knowledge as a young teen.

While I knew that wiggling the mouse sped up the loading of the webpages, I just never really did. I just enjoyed the webpages loading slowly and having that experience again when I was a teenager before Facebook or any other big social media started to take over. Yes, even before MySpace. While I only experienced the late “pre-social media internet”, I do have amazing memories of it.

On top of that, you have the amazing wallpapers and sticker packs you can buy and play around with. With this, you can really make your desktop your own. But, something that really triggered memories for me were the viruses you can encounter. Back as a young teen, I was a lot less careful in what I downloaded and seeing the visual mess some viruses can create in this game, it triggered some nasty memories.

Memories like how one time, I got a very nasty variant of the SASSER worm and each time I installed something new, my computer would lock up and crash. Yes, even when you tried to re-install Windows, it locked up and crashed the installer. After a lot of digging, I found that it was caused by a program starting with boot and I had to screw out my hard drive, connect it with somebody’s computer and then remove the start-up file from there. I also had a piece of malware that looked like the ButtsDisease virus in this game. Where it started to change all the text on a webpage to another word. Oh man, those were the days.

So, during your investigations you can encounter various things. Things like people breaking the rules, and you have to report those. You mostly need to focus on one of 5 categories. Copyright infringement, harassment, illegal downloads/malware, extra illegal commerce and illegal activity. Each law gets several infractions, and you do have to look for them. At one moment, I really that to take notes. I really have to say, taking notes for this game is really helpful, you even have the notes’ app in HypnoOS.

Sticking in your brain

Now, something I have to commend the developers for in this game is that they also took accessibility into account. Something I have to commend the developers for as well is the amount of content in this game, even when the main story is extremely short. I already talked about the visuals and how much I love them, but the music in this game is something else.

Some of the music tracks are really stuck in my mind and I wouldn’t be surprised that if I ever write another article in my favorite game music series, some of them will pop up in that. Some tracks are real earworms and got stuck in my brain. The music for some of the parody products in this game is so good, that I wish they were real.

The music in this game is a mixture of various styles, and I find some of them more catchy than the others, but it’s really impressive at how many styles there are in this game. If you know that this game has over 4 hours of music in it, that’s an amazing feat.

There is even a whole suite where you can create your own pages, music and mods released by one of the main developers of this game. It works only on Windows and you can read more about it on the itch.io page of Jay Tolen here. There were even various community events where your stuff could appear as an Easter egg in the main game. Yet, these tools are now part of the main game and are in your installation folder.

Speaking about this, modding this game is extremely easy. There is even a build in mod browser, and it’s a piece of cake to install and downloads mods. If you use the in-game mod menu, you don’t have to reboot the game for most mods to take effect. Just go to the main menu, choose the mods button and install the mods you want. Now, there are a lot more mods out there then just what you can find in the in-game mod browser, so check them out here.

The game has an autosave, it doesn’t really show when the game gets saved. There are three save slots, so if you want to replay the game, you can pick another save slot. Now, if there is one mod I highly advise is he expanded endgame cases mod. This mod expands the game quite naturally and is a lot of fun and additional challenge. But don’t read the description when you haven’t finished the game, since it contains quite a lot of spoilers.

This game can be quite tricky. Sometimes the solution isn’t the easiest to find. It’s even possible you don’t find the solution to every puzzle out there. Now, there is a built in hint system for this game. It’s somewhat hidden to avoid immersion breaking, but for a small HypnoCoin fee, you can get a hint to progress. I really love this system, since I rather have you getting a crowbar to get yourself unstuck than you getting a guide where it’s very easy to other things and spoil the whole experience. Since the fun of this genre depends highly on solving the puzzles with what’s given to you. If you want to get a hint, just search hint.

Overall I have been extremely positive about this game, and I have to say that overall this game is extremely well-made. I rarely found any moments where I thought, this isn’t right. But does that mean that this game doesn’t have any negatives? Well, sadly enough there are a few things I didn’t like about my experience and that I want to talk about.

First of all, I wish the default text-to-speech voice wasn’t the default language of your system if you aren’t English. I’m from Belgium and my text-to-speech voice reads English extremely weird. Thankfully, I had the English soundpack installed on my computer so after I went into the BIOS settings, I was able to quickly change it to the English one and it sounds a lot more natural and better.

Secondly, this is an issue in general with point-and-click games but the replay value just isn’t here. Once you explored everything, you have seen everything. There are various mini-games, but those are quickly beaten. While I personally don’t really see this is a negative, since not every game needs high replay value and sometimes playing it once and having the whole experience engulf you is the idea… I want to mention it, if somebody is looking for replayable games.

Third, you can find more infractions than what’s required to close the case. While I can understand that the game doesn’t tell you how many other things there are out there for immersion reasons, as somebody who wanted to experience everything, I was sometimes a bit annoyed that I couldn’t make sure I found everything. If only there was an option you could toggle to see completion percentage or something of that nature. Since, because of this, it’s possible to lock yourself out of achievements or content in this game.

Yes, this game has achievements and some of them are extremely tricky to get. It took me a lot of researching and exploring in HypnoSpace to find all the material. Thankfully, taking notes really helped me to find it all.

And the final thing is that the final chapters of this game feel a bit rushed and undercooked. One of the final cases is a breeze to solve if you have written notes during your playthrough and it feels like there is content cut out of the game. The ending comes a bit out of nowhere and if you didn’t explore everything or didn’t register certain things, the ending won’t make sense to you and it will loose it’s impact. Thankfully, the mod I shared earlier resolves this to a degree.

That’s all the negative I could say about this game, in my honest opinion. When this game clicks with you, it clicks really well and doesn’t let go at all. But, I’ll leave my final thoughts after the summary of this review. So, I think it’s high time for that since I have touch upon everything I wanted to in this review.

Summary

The bad:

-Text-to-speech should use English by default

-It’s possible to miss content or lock yourself out of it.

-The game is rather short.

-Rushed ending.

The good:

+ Amazing nostalgic trip

+ Amazing music

+ Fantastic writing

+ Easy to use mod tools

+ Great puzzles

+ Great controls

+ …

Final thoughts:

Hypnospace Outlaw is an amazing nostalgic point-and-click adventure trip through the late ’90’s internet. This game might not be for everyone, but when it clicks… Oh boy does it really click. Now, this is also a game you shouldn’t rush. The charm of this game is in all the little details and references that are hidden in the pages and the world building of this game.

While the game is rather at the shortside for point-and-click games, I don’t see it as a big problem to be honest. The journey that this game took me on was a lot more worth it to me than having a long game. Since, I think it would have lost it’s charm if this game kept going and going.

While I personally have more memories with the internet time period that came right after it, the developers are already working on the sequel to this game called Dreamsettler. I honestly can’t wait to play that one, since the quality that this game has is just top notch. The music is catchy, the visuals are amazing and it alls comes together in an amazing nostalgic trip that makes you want to play more.

There are some minor blemishes on this game, but you can work with them. Like I said before, when this game clicks, it really does click extremely well. I’d compare my experience with games like There Is No Game or SuperLiminal. Amazing small titles that leave a lasting impact on those who play it. All of these games are passion projects that turned out amazing and get a recommendation from me.

If you enjoy playing unique point-and-click games and/or if you have nostalgia for the old ’90’s internet, I highly recommend that you give this game a try. While this game is on multiple platforms, I highly recommend that you play the PC version since it has mod support that gives you even more toys to play with and expands the game even more.

I had a blast with this game and it’s a breath of fresh air for me. I’m angry at myself that I rushed my playthrough, but now I have installed several mods and I’m so going to replay this game after I have published this article. I also want to earn every achievement in this game, since I really want to see everything. I’m also extremely hyped for the sequel to this game and I can’t wait to start playing that, since that is going to be an even bigger nostalgic trip for me than this game. And with the amazing set of developers behind this game, I think we get another gem in our hands.

And with that said, I think it’s high time to wrap this article up. I want to thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article, but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care.

Score: 100/100

Every writer has their own creation process. These processes are rarely to never set in stone. People change, and their habits and routines can change as well. Now for a few weeks now, I have been thinking… What is my process? How do I decide on which game to write, and how do my actual thoughts get into an article? So, I think it would be fun to explore some of those things in this article. While I have written a similar article back in 2018, I also think it would be fun to just start this article as if I have never written that article. So, here we go, from choosing the game to clicking on the button “publish”… How do I do it?

Choosing the subject

When I look at the taglines I have chosen for my blog in the past, most of them have one thing in common. They represent in a way what this blog actually is. This blog is a public diary of a Belgian game collector who shares his opinions on the games he plays. Sometimes I play with the idea to create series, where I look at each game from a series or look at several games I have played in the past.

While that could be fun, I don’t like forcing myself to play a certain game because I have to write an article about it. That’s because I might not enjoy the game since I need to rush my play through, so I can have an article out. On top of that, it might reflect in my article as well. I like to take my time when writing about a certain game. Writing about a game right away without giving it time to let things settle is such a risky idea. Since, you never know if you are overreacting on something or not.

Now, when I’m playing games, I have a rule. I never go into playing a game thinking how to turn it into an article. The only exception I make to that rule is when a developer requests me to write an article about their game. While playing the game, I let myself enjoy the game. Now, there comes a moment while playing the game, where I think… “Should I write an article about this game or not?”.

In the past, I used to have a long list of games where I answered yes to that question. When my writing day arrived, I opened the list and picked a game from that list and started the process of writing an article. But, I felt that, that system didn’t work for me anymore. I can’t tell you exactly when I stopped using that system, but I wanted to write more in-depth articles, so I wanted to more research on the game I was writing about and that was taking a lot more time compared to just having a list of games I want to write about.

So, the decision of choosing the game for the next article is a bit more complicated. Sometimes I have a game in mind that I want to write about, and sometimes I don’t. When I have a game in mind, it’s easy to move on to the next process. When I don’t, I look at the games I have played in the past months/weeks and decide from there.

Now, what do I take in consideration when deciding if a game can become a good article? The first question I ask myself is this, what can I say about this game? There are several games I play that don’t have enough things going on for me to write about. Even when they are fascinating like Yeti Quest, it’s your typical match three game like Bejeweled. But in this game, you can choose between three different play styles on the fly in this genre, and that makes it more interesting. But, besides that, there is not too much else going on. Maybe I might turn them in a short game quicky. But I find writing and creating shorter articles about a game less rewarding than writing a longer article about them.

The second question I ask myself is the same question as the first but in a different direction. The first question is actually more, how much is there to talk about, and the second question is what is there to talk about. Something I dislike writing is very negative articles. I don’t want to write an article where I just rip into the game and only talk about the weak points of a game. I also don’t enjoy reading those articles myself, and I personally rather write and read a balanced article over an overly positive or negative article any day of the week.

Now, when a developer requests an article from me and I notice that I’m going to write mostly a negative article… I actually scrap the article. From talking to various developers, I learned how much time and effort goes into creating games, and it takes a lot of courage reaching out to the press to show off your game. People sometimes base their decision on this kind of articles, and I don’t want to turn people away if the game doesn’t click with me or if I’m not the correct person to review the game. But, I do give a list of feedback back to the developer. This feedback exists out of bugs/issues I found or suggestions for improvement. That’s the least I can do for declining the article.

While I answer both of these questions, I start coming up with the theme of the actual article. What will be the core of my message? On what do I want to focus the article? The music, the game mechanics, the visuals, the writing style? It’s mostly now that I come up with the subtitle of the article. A great recent example is how I came up with the core of the Another Code – Recollection article. While playing that game and streaming it with Klamath, I remembered that I wrote an article about that game in the past. One of the game’s core story mechanics is how memory works and how people grow with them. At that moment, I decided to make that the main focus of my article. To show how I have grown as a writer, while using the memories of the past game and articles to take a new look at the game.

The actual review process

Now that I decided on which game I want to review or write about, it’s time to talk about the actual process of preparing the article.

The first thing I start to look at is the story of this game. The reason why I start with the story is simple, it’s one of the best ways to start your article, in my honest opinion. With that, you can set the scene for your readers and explain the mechanics, visuals amongst other things more easily as well. I have tried several times to write about the mechanics or something else first, but I felt that these articles didn’t flow well enough, and I rewrote the whole article. By now, it has become a habit of mine that I don’t know how to change and even if I should change it.

Then, depending on the message I have chosen of my article, I chose something else next. In most cases, that is the pacing or the gameplay, but it can also be the world building or the visuals. Besides having a core message, I also want the article to flow well. My main goal in writing these articles is not only to inform and entertain those who are reading my articles, but also as a way to easily share my opinion on the games I’m playing.

When you read my articles, you’ll notice that I don’t focus on the same things that most big reviewing outlets do. For example, I don’t focus on how realistic the visuals are or if the game is using the latest technology or running at the highest frame rate. Personally, I don’t really care about those things too much. I rather focus on the actual game over those things.

Now, when I’m looking at the visuals for example for my article… I look more at how consistent everything is. How well does everything fit together and fit together with the story and themes of the game. Are there models and moments that look rough or unpolished? Are there animations that look out of place and unnatural? Now, since I sometimes review a retro game, I take in consideration the technology of the time and the size of the studio that developed the game.

I mostly put my focus when writing about a game on the whole package. For example, if you introduce a certain mechanic in a game… how often is it used and what does it bring to the gameplay. There is nothing that annoys me more than having a mechanic in a game that is underused when it’s shown off with a lot of potential. I’m looking at you, for example, Death Mark II. There were some mechanics like the shop or the hidden teeth that were just underused. If a mechanic is going to be underused, don’t put so much focus on it.

Something I also find very important is consistency. While it can be interesting to break consistency in a game to surprise the player to keep them on their toes, there is no excuse to have an inconsistent game. I’m talking for example about huge difficulty spikes or the UI having different ways of working in the game. Let me give you a specific example, in Suikoden Tierkreis, the final boss of the game is so much stronger than all previous enemies, and it felt just unfair. Without any warning, you also had to know you had to grind certain characters and build them in a certain way. Maybe it might be less of a problem now that I know that, but it felt like a slap into the face after the balance of the game being very consistent.

So, do I take notes while I play through the game I’m going to write about? In the past I used to do that, but I stopped doing that. I started to have this bad habit of only writing down the negatives moments or just trying to work everything in from my notes and forcing some sections in. I do have an alternative when writing about a game now.

First, I play the game for at least an hour before I write about it. So, things are fresh in my mind. Also, I leave the game running while I’m writing my article. In case I’m hesitating on something, I can quickly jump in the game and replay to test something out.

And second, I’m abusing my visual memory. I have a very strong visual memory when it comes to games and I found out that when I play the soundtrack of the game, I start to remember quite a lot of things. I can’t write an article without playing the soundtrack of the game.

Sadly, a lot of things in a review are extremely subjective. The biggest thing here is finding a right balance for me. For example, if I didn’t enjoy certain tracks in the soundtrack of a game but I don’t see that complaint while doing some research, I mention it that way in my article. That it might be that the tracks didn’t click with me but that the overall impression of the soundtrack is positive.

The final part I usually do before I sit down and write is doing my research. This research consists out of just looking up this game in Google, reading through other articles, reading through press material, looking at the voice actors, looking at other projects of the developers… I have a whole list of things I want to answer and know about the game. Like how big was the studio that developed it? How long was the game in development? Sometimes reading up on the game helps to clear up things on why certain creative decisions where taken.

Writing the article

Now that I have chosen the game, played through (most of) it and did some research it’s time to start writing the article. The first thing I do is put in the title and it’s subtitle. And then, I create the subtitles and screenshots for the article. In case of a game review, I write in brackets the main themes of that section. For example: (gameplay, controls, music).

Then I put on the soundtrack of the game and I start writing the introduction and just continue to write. While writing, I look at the flow of the article and when I notice that a certain section would fit better in an earlier section, I move it. Now, when I remember a certain detail that fits in a later section, I add a small note in that section before returning to the point I was writing.

I don’t like writing out of order, since I find it more difficult to make sure my core message shines through or the flow/theme of my article stays consistent. So, that’s why I’m doing the article editing somewhat at the same time. When I’m finished with a paragraph, I re-read what I have written and think about the flow of the article and when it doesn’t fit, I just remove the whole paragraph and rewrite it. Now, I also read my paragraph again since my mother tounge isn’t English and sometimes I use certain expressions that don’t exist in English or just make silly typo’s.

While I use two spelling correctors to help me to avoid mistakes, I rather review it myself as well. Too many times I see that spellings correctors fail at understanding gaming terms or make the strangest corrections. While I know that my articles contain grammar issues and typo’s in the end, I try to catch as many as I can before they go live. During some breaks, I spend a couple of hours going through old contect and correcting typo’s and grammar issues. Also, when readers point them out to me, I try to fix them right away. Since, you start to read over your own mistakes way too easily.

While writing, I usually try to not take a break. I find it quite important to do everything in one go while writing. Apart from refilling my glass or taking a quick bathroom break, I try to keep writing. Usually, the whole writing process takes me around 4 hours on average.

After I have fully written my article, I copy it from the WordPress editor to Microsoft Word and let it check again for typo’s and grammar mistakes I missed. I also quickly skim through my article to make sure I haven’t left a paragraph on something stupid like an incomplete thought or sentence.

Now, if you would ask me what I enjoy the least in this whole process… I have to answer the whole SEO process. It’s one repetitive task that is just boring to do in my honest opinion. Looking for the right keywords, pasting the links everywhere and making sure you did everything to make the article appear in search engines. I’m always happy when that process is over and done with.

The opposite question is a more difficult to answer. I can’t really say what I enjoy the most in writing gaming articles. At one hand, I love the interaction with people who read my blog. The developers who found my blog by reading my articles and decide to request a review from me. It’s a rewarding feeling that people enjoy your creative hobby and are able to relax or find new games.

I also love talking about underrated or forgotten games. I just love when I get a reaction from people: “I totally forgot about this game! This game was part of my childhood.” It’s a great way to connect with people and make new friends and/or discover new games.

But, I also just love writing itself. I just love being creative and trying to entertain people and I find that writing and just using languages in creative ways is something I love doing the most. I love telling stories and being able to tell them through a game article without it overpowering the actual article is just a lot of fun to do.

Of course, playing the actual games is quite a lot of fun as well. Since I have such a broad taste in games, I play so many different games and it’s just a blast. I love discovering things about games and how they are developed and how the whole creative process works behind it. Especially since people don’t always stand still by the fact that a lot of things have to come together perfectly in order for a game, movie, album or any creative work to get created.

I just enjoy the whole process. If I have to give an average on how much time one article takes, I have to say that it takes at least 20 to 30 hours. And that’s when everything goes perfect. When I don’t have a writers block or when I don’t have other things going on in my personal life. I’m happy that I found this hobby for me and I’m surprised at how much you are all enjoying it. It still surprises me that some students of the school I work for discovered certain games through my blog and talk to me about them. I even have coworkers who come and ask me for game advice for themselves or their childern. Besides that, I get a lot of reaction through Discord and other platforms and it makes me just happy. Being able to make someones day or just help them (re)discover games and/or entertaining them… It’s one of the main goals of this blog and that’s just perfect.

Now, I think I have said everything wanted to say about this for now. Know that what I talked about in this article is my personal process and feel free to copy (parts of) my process but I highly advice you to make sure that your process works for you. Since, if it doesn’t work for you, you’ll hit a brick wall eventually and either burn out or just loose interest. Enjoy the process and stay true to yourself. That’s how I managed to write around ~ 600 articles over almost 15 years.

Thank you for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. What is your creative process or did you learn something from this article? I’m curious to know, so feel free to leave a comment in the comment section down below. I’m also curious if I’ll be able to welcome you in another article but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care.

Hey all, Brad here.

Way back in 2008, the original GameCritics.com Podcast was an audio project started by some of the earliest members of GC.

Hosted by the incomparable Tim Spaeth, the first episode starred owner and founder Chi Kong Lui, the “Horror Geek” Mike Bracken, and yours truly. Together we launched into the world of podcasting and turned out a good number of shows over the years. It eventually ended for various reasons and So Videogames took its place, but every so often I’ll get a request from a past listener asking where they can catch the original GC pod again.

Not the easiest question to answer!

Several years ago GameCritics changed hosting services, and at the time there was no easy way to bring all of the content over. It got done in a rough sort of way, but there was a ton of manual cleanup to do on the files and many of the pieces we thought were successfully transferred ended up corrupted and unusable.

One of the casualties was the GC pod.

None of the pages listing the shows were functional, but all was not lost — almost all of the files were still there, so I went through and saved as many as I could, and then they sat on a hard drive in my desk for quite some time.

I had always intended to go back and restore functionality to all of the shows, but it was a herculean task to take on by myself in addition to maintaining the day-to-day running of GC and all of the real-life stuff I have going on… Little things like earning a living and being a parent to my child.

But, today’s the day. After getting another request for access to the show, I think the time may be right to finally get it done.

The plan is to post at least a couple every week — no frills, but they’ll be able to be heard again, and all of the fans who want to go back and revisit those golden days will finally be able to do so.

You’ll find them in one central location here at GC, but one potential thing to be aware of is that the audio files themselves will be hosted in the same places where SVG is held. I don’t want to pay for or manage a second channel and this needs to be as easy as possible, so folks who subscribe to SVG via podcast apps and such will see the old GC episodes popping up as well.

I apologize in advance for any inconvenience, but I think it’s a small price to pay to make these shows available to all of the folks who’ve been asking over the years. If you’re not keen on hearing the old stuff, just delete it and a new SVG will be at the top of your list before you know it.

…Or hey, maybe give them a listen and see what we were up to all those years ago! ; )

Definitely loving all of this. And right up front (just in case the defendant thinks she can rob Peter Techdirt to pay Paul Eric Posey), I’ll make it clear this post will be filled with colorful expression, hyperbole, highly opinionated takes on the lawsuit, and… possibly… archaic slang.

A lot of people (especially the most awful ones) think libel laws in this country are too restrictive. They claim it’s almost impossible to rifle through someone’s wallet via court order because someone said something about them they didn’t like. In most cases, those people are like the defendant here — someone who probably thought it was impossible to get successfully sued for libel in the United States.

You know these people. They’re the ones who cry libel every time one of their own is insulted but say dumb shit like “facts don’t care about your feelings” when other people complain about the garbage flowing out their social media accounts.

The saddest thing about this case is that this person continued to do the libel even after she knew what she was saying on social media was definitively not true. (h/t Volokh Conspiracy)

A jury has awarded more than $1.1 million in damages to the drag performer who sued a blogger for defamation.

The unanimous verdict was returned Friday. The jury found that blogger Summer Bushnell defamed Post Falls resident Eric Posey when she accused him of exposing himself to the crowd while he performed in drag at the Coeur d’Alene City Park bandshell in June 2022.

That’s hilarious. Not so much for Eric Posey, who was falsely accused of exposing himself. He sued the blogger in 2022 for claiming something had happened that actually hadn’t happened.

And, of course, the posting Posey sued Bushnell over was motivated by her own bigotry. It was also an attempt to rouse a rabble that rarely needs an excuse to be roused.

The day of Posey’s performance, June 11, 2022, Bushnell posted a video of herself discussing the mass arrest of Patriot Front members near City Park, as well as footage from Posey’s performance.

“Why did no one arrest the man in a dress who flashed his genitalia to minors and people in the crowd?” she said in the video. “No one said anything about it and there’s video. I’m going to put up a blurred video to prove it.”

Yes, this is the kind of person who thinks posting an edited video can “prove” anything. However, it did prove this: there are plenty of suckers in Idaho and some of them wear government-issued uniforms. After racking up a few thousand views on social media, the edited video generated national news coverage as well as a local police investigation. Fortunately, the criminal charges were dropped after prosecutors took a look at the unedited video.

City prosecutors ultimately declined to file charges and stated publicly that the unedited video showed no exposure.

Here’s what Bushnell posted, as included in Posey’s lawsuit [PDF] against the blogger:

Here’s the same shot in unedited form:

After being sued by the drag performer, the blogger claimed this was all just an unfortunate misunderstanding. The video had been passed on to her by another person who had blurred the crotch area and Bushnell was just passing along this information.

But that excuse only lasted until she was called to the stand to testify.

Wendy J. Olsen, legal counsel for Posey, questioned Bushnell about Facebook messages she sent to multiple friends, including ones in which she references being able to see Posey’s genitals in an unedited video.

“And you knew at the time it was false,” Olsen said.

“It was not accurate,” Bushnell replied.

“You knew that at the time,” Olsen said.

“Correct,” Bushnell said.

That’s libel, folks. That’s fully admitted defamation by the defamer on the record in court during a jury trial. That can’t be undone. That’s how you lose a libel case in the United States. You say something defamatory, knowing it’s not true.

Bushnell’s lawyer, despite the $1.1 million damages award and despite his client’s own admission she had lied to people about the drag performer, continues to engage in self-delusion of his own.

Attorney Colton Boyles, who represents Bushnell, told jurors that his client’s allegations were “close to the line” but did not cross the line into defamation. He maintained that Bushnell’s “honest belief” is that Posey exposed himself, though she admitted on the witness stand that she never saw the “fully exposed genitals” she described to others.

“That remains her steadfast testimony to this day,” Boyles said.

There’s a very good reason Colton Boyles would represent someone like Bushnell. And it’s not because he’s such a great litigator. No, this is all ideological. Colton’s decision to take this case was likely motivated by his own personal animus against people like drag performer Eric Posey.

Boyles, whose full name is Dennis Colton Boyles, was recently retained by the Community Library Network – the group of Kootenai County libraries outside of Coeur d’Alene – whose board members have ambitions of restricting books and services.

He defended former Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin when she lost a public records lawsuit to the Idaho Press Club.

Boyles pleaded guilty to a driving under the influence misdemeanor late last year and is on unsupervised probation until Dec. 12.

He has appeared as a guest on far-right internet shows, such as “The Pete Santilli Show.” Pete Santilli was a vocal supporter of anti-government activist Ammon Bundy during the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Ammon Bundy’s governor campaign paid Boyles’ firm $5,000 in 2022 for legal advice.

In an Epoch Times documentary, Boyles pushed deep state conspiracy theories about Child Protective Services.

“I would say it is a state- and federal-funded kidnapping system,” Boyles said.

[…]

In 2021, Boyles donated $500 to Post Falls School Board candidate David Reilly, a former radio host who has expressed antisemitic views and attended the 2017 white supremacist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

With competent representation, the blogger may have been able to secure a settlement in the low thousands. She might have been able to walk away with nothing more than a public apology. But she chose to retain a showboating rube. I hope he can explain to Bushnell how he just cost her hundreds of thousands of dollars and makes it clear that no matter how many libs the two have collectively “owned,” being stupid on social media can’t really be considered a stable revenue stream.

It’s been almost a decade since Rebel Galaxy ably picked up the sci-fi trading and exploration mantle handed down by Freelancer, but it looks like a successor to the serene galaxy-venturing vibes of both is finally upon us. Star Trucker is exactly what it sounds like, transplanting the chill A-to-Z courier journeys of Euro Truck Simulator to the interplanetary, uh, roads of space. It’s out this September, and it looks wonderful.

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For me, sandbox games are never better when there’s an inherent chaos about to erupt at any given second. In a literal sandbox that might be anything from a kid burying a freshly-laid turd like a mischievous cat ready to be stepped on by an unsuspecting trespasser, gathering handfuls of grit to lob in a another kids’ eyes or swallowing a bunch of sand (hopefully turd-free) in pursuit of alchemising diamonds in their stomach. There don’t seem to be turds of any kind in upcoming sandbox RPG Streets of Fortuna, but that’s about the only thing that this ambitious “megasim” appears to be missing in its sprawling go-anywhere, do-anything open world.

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The god of video games news is vengeful, for this weekend He has sent forth a flood of game announcements to wipe out any remaining game journalists from this earth. Come at me, God! What have you got? Ah. It’s Ale Abbey, a management game about brewing beer in a monastery of medieval monks, and between making craft ales the priests get tipsy on their own supply. You can’t fool me, god of game reveals, this one has been openly in the works on GameJolt for 2 years. But, yes, I suppose now that the developer is teaming up with the Northgard creators as a publisher, the people must know.

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The cavalcade of June game showcases continued with the PC Gaming Show 2024 games, with the presentation hosted by Sean "Day9" Plott and Mica Burton. The showcase focused entirely on games available for the PC, though some are or will be available on other platforms too.

Some standouts include Southfield, a farming game that seems to be channeling a bit of the Totally Accurate series by adding wonky physics. We also saw a look at goofy, magical XCOM-like Tactical Breach Wizards and the anime-inspired rhythm adventure game UNBEATABLE. RTS fans were well served too, as both Stormgate and Battle Aces had sections devoted to gameplay features and even a new faction.

Here are all the June 2024 PC Gaming Show games:

You can find all the games shown at the event below. Each of the games will be available on the PC, in addition to other platforms listed.

• Among the Wild - closed alpha in 2024
• Star Birds - 2025
• Lorn Vale - 2025
• Ale Abbey - 2024
• Streets of Rogue 2 - August 14, 2024
• Wander Stars - TBA, Demo available
• Southfield - Early access starts June 24, 2024
• Steel Seed - 2024 | PS5, Xbox Series X, Demo available
• Fallen Aces - Episode 1 releases June 14, 2024
• Stormgate - Early access starts on July 30, 2024, Free to Play release on August 13, 2024
• Mars Tactics - 2024
• Toads of the Bayou - October 2024, Prologue available
• Sumerian Six - 2024, Demo available
• All Systems Dance - TBA
• FUMES - TBA, Demo available
• SULFUR - 2024, Demo available
• Phantom Line - TBA
• Killing Floor III - Early 2024 | PS5, Xbox Series X/S
• Copa City - 2025
• Tempopo - TBA | Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch
• Last Moon - 2024, Demo available
• I Am Your Beast - August 15, 2024, Demo available
• Cataclismo - July 16, 2024, Demo available
• Level Zero: Extraction - 2024, Demo available
• Battle Aces - TBA
• Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector - Early 2025
• Demonschool - September 13, 2024 - PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
• Unrailed 2: Back on Track - 2024
• UNBEATABLE - 2025 | PS5, Xbox Series X/S
• Odinfall - TBA, Demo available
• Core Keeper 1.0 and Console launch - August 27, 2024 | PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
• No More Room in Hell 2 - 2024
• STRIDEN - Demo available on June 10, 2024
• DDS2 - June 20, 2024
• Zero Sievert Zakov City Update- Autumn, 2024, Early Access available
• The Deadly Path - TBA
• Incolatus -TBA
• Inferni: Hope and Fear - July 1, 2024
• DeathSprint 66 - TBA
• Crescent County - TBA | Xbox
• Forgotten Seas - Early Access available
• Moon Mystery - TBA, Demo available
• G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra - TBA, Demo available
• Everholm - 2024, Demo available
• Shell Runner - TBA, Demo available
• Renaissance Kingdom Wars - Quarter 3, 2024
• Debtors' Club - 2024, Demo available
• The Land of the Magnates - TBA, Demo available
• Cat Quest III - August 8, 2024, Demo available June 10, 2024 | PS4, PS5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch
• Crush House - August 9, 2024, Demo available
• Go-Go Town! - June 18, 2024 (Early Access), Demo available
• Star Trucker - September 3, 2024
• Escape from Tarkov 1.0 - TBA, Early Access available
• Splodey - Available now
• Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn - July 18, 2024, Demo available June 10, 2024 | PS5, Xbox Series X/S
• '83 - TBA
• MULLET MADJACK - Available now, Demo available
• Generation Exile - 2025
• REKA - Early Access August, 2024, Demo available
• Blue Prince - TBA
• LOK Digital - 2024, Demo available
• Tactical Breach Wizards - August 20, 2024, Demo available
• Aloft - Fall, 2024, Demo available
• Screenbound - TBA
• Hotel Galactic - TBA
• Still Wakes the Deep - June 18, 2024 | PS5, Xbox Series X/S
• Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days - TBA, Demo available October, 2024
• Dwarf Fortress Adventure Mode - Beta Available now
• Caves of Qud 1.0 - Available now
• Streets of Fortuna - TBA
• Grit and Valor - 1949 - 2025 | PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
• The Rise of the Golden Idol - 2024, Demo available | PS5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Netflix Games
• Every Day We Fight - 2024
• Tales of Seikyu - 2024, Demo available
• Island of Winds - 2025 | PS5, Xbox Series X
• Airframe Ultra -TBA
• Stormforge - TBA
• Windblown - 2024
• Worship - TBA
• Gunboat God - TBA

You can watch the showcase via YouTube below

Earlier on June 9, 2024, the 2024 Xbox Games Showcase also aired with trailers for games like Doom: The Dark Ages and Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred.

The PC Gaming Show 2024 aired on June 9, 2024, on the PC Gamer Youtube channel.

The post See All the Games Shown at the PC Gaming Show 2024 appeared first on Siliconera.

Popular Twitch streamer Kai Cenat has embarked on a journey few of us could ever do: he’s been marathoning 2022’s hit RPG Elden Ring for the bulk of the last week. Cenat, who accidentally incited a riot in New York last year, announced that he would be playing the game “till I beat it” beginning May 10. It’s now been…

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In the grand tradition established by one (1) prior release, Supergiant dropped Hades 2 over the weekend and we at the Electronic Wireless show podcast have all been playing and enjoying it bunches! So we wanted to talk about the game, why we're enjoying it, some of the new aspects over Hades the first, and just generally go 'Ooh, this game is fun, innit?'. Not a complex podcast this week.

James isn't here, so Nate makes up some hardware news that's very exciting and yet disturbing, while he does have a mythology-themed mini game in the tower of jocularity. Plus: the games we've been playing this week, including a cute survival horror and RimWorld, still. Also, Nate asks me to explain what the hap was heckening with Helldivers 2, and if Joel remains safe.

You can listen above, or on on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, or Pocket Casts. You can find the RSS feed here, and you can discuss the episode on our Discord channel, which has a dedicated room for podcast chat.

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San Diego Studio rolled out a new live content update for MLB The Show 24, including a 99 overall legend card for Jake Arrieta. Here is everything you need to know about adding the pitcher to your rotation.

As part of the Team Affinity Season 1 Chapter 3 program, San Diego Studio added a 99 overall card in Diamond Dynasty for all 30 MLB teams. This includes exciting players like Cliff Lee, Gary Carter, and more. The live content update also added new season rewards, an event, Battle Royale rewards, and a 99 overall CC Sabathia card as a collection award. MLB The Show 24 put a ribbon on the large update by also introducing a new legend.

How to get 99 overall Jake Arrieta in MLB The Show 24

Players can acquire 99 overall Jake Arrieta in MLB The Show 24 by unlocking the World Series pack in Ranked. To do this, they must climb the ranks and increase their Rating to 900. Rating is earned by winning matches in Ranked. If players struggle to meet the requirement for World Series rank, they can also unlock Arrieta through the Ranked program reward path by earning 100 Program Stars, which are earned by completing innings and accumulating stats such as strikeouts, extra base hits, hits, and more.

There are only four other starting pitchers on the Marketplace, meaning you should focus on unlocking this card if possible. If you already have a strong rotation, the World Series choice pack also has 99 overall Jorge Posada as an option. The switch-hitting catcher has some of the best-hitting stats in the game mode and would easily crack anyone's lineup. In saying that, the 99 velocity and break combination for Arrieta is hard to pass up.

The post Jake Arrieta confirmed as new legend in MLB The Show 24 appeared first on Destructoid.

Over the past while a few games have had post-launch patches, the exemplars being Starfield and Stardew valley, which have post-launch patches of different kinds and for different reasons. We take some time on the Electronic Wireless Show podcast to talk about this patch of patches, and what it was like in the good ol' days, where a broken game came out and stayed broken, gosh darn it!

Nate isn't here today, which means I can make fun of him for owning fish, or whatever it is he does, but in his stead James steps up with an RGB lighting-themed game where I have to guess what accessories people stuck lights on to turn into gamer accessories. This is because Razer stuck RGB lights on a pandemic mask and are in trouble over it now. Naughty Razer. Plus, we talk about the games we're playing right now, and dish you up some juicy recommendations at the end of the show.

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This Daily Show segment on the border security circus in Eagle Pass, Texas, fully displays the Republican political stunt.

The Republicans are beating a drum about the border, even though most Americans recognize they could have passed the laws and policies they were looking for and just wanted their favorite issue to remain available to them. — Read the rest

The post Vintage racist slurs and Republican pendejos at the Texas border appeared first on Boing Boing.