We're looking for new writers to join us!

In D&D 2024, attacking a dragon in it's lair is the worst idea ever, worse than ever before, please don't do it

by: Randy -

You know how it's a bad idea to ever fight a dragon? Well now it's an even worse idea if you fight a dragon in its lair. In the Dungeons & Dragons 2024 Monster Manual, Adult and Ancient Dragons gain Legendary Actions. Legendary Actions are terrible things a dragon can do in between everybody else's turn in combat.

So instead of taking one turn every round, a creature with Legendary Actions gets to make extra little moves and attacks every round, after other creatures' turns—and they refresh the ability to do so every round.

That's nothing new. What's new is: Dragons get an extra Legendary Action when in their lair. Instead of three, they get four.

Legendary Action Uses: 3 (4 in Lair). Immediately after another creature's turn, the dragon can expend a use to take one of the following actions. The dragon regains all expended uses at the start of each of its turn.

We posted about the Legendary Action that replaced (most of) the dragons' Frightful Presence. But here are the other Legendary Actions each dragon will be slotting in between you and the rest of the party's turns:

DRAGON LEGENDARY ACTION 1 LEGENDARY ACTION 2 LEGENDARY ACTION 3
Black Dragon Cloud of Insects Frightful Presence Pounce
Blue Dragon Cloaked Flight Sonic Boom Tail Swipe
Green Dragon Mind Invasion Noxious Miasma Pounce
Red Dragon Commanding Presence Fiery Rays Pounce
White Dragon Freezing Burst Frightful Presence Pounce
Brass Dragon Blazing Light Pounce Scorching Sands
Bronze Dragon Guiding Light Pounce Thunderclap
Copper Dragon Giggling Magic Mind Jolt Pounce
Gold Dragon Banish Guiding Light Pounce
Silver Dragon Chill Cold Gale Pounce

If that Pounce sounds boring, you're right, it's a little boring. But sometimes you just need to be able to move up to half your dragon Speed and make one Rend attack. Just to keep your players' despair levels topped off.

If you can trick a dragon into fighting anywhere else other than its lair, you'll be better off. But if you can't, and you're just poor little Bilbo Baggins in the thick of it, trading riddles with Smaug while sliding down piles of gold and jewels, then you're in a worse spot than before with the increased number of Legendary Actions. Even if it's only one more Legendary Action per turn, it's bad news for you.

Something is happening with Marathon, Bungie’s next game

by: Jason -

It has been almost two years since Bungie announced Marathon, a first-person sci-fi PvP extraction shooter that is a reimagining of their 1994 Apple computer game. Today, the Marathon social media pages sprung back to life, sharing a cryptic video clearly teasing something, and we likely won’t have to wait long to find out more.

This sudden resurgence has caused the game’s Steam page to be updated, PlayStation social media account banners to change photos, and, of course, internet sleuths trying to decode whatever the message is embedded in this new teaser. Check it out for yourself here, as well as the original announcement trailer below. I can’t believe it has been two years since announcement, but my body is ready to know more.

DJ Salvatore Ganacci announced for Fatal Fury COTW

by: Joseph -

With a whole case of what is happening, Salvatore Ganacci is a character in Fatal Fury: COTW. Do I have any idea who that is? No. You might. I do not. So I did my research.(crazy) I found out that he's the person who got all the other DJs to make the music for the game. So now his music, and he himself, will be in the game as a playable fighter.

I was very confused, and I said the same about Cristiano Ronaldo also coming to Fatal Fury. So after opening the training mode for the second open beta, I'm going to be on the receiving end of many losses online. I just know my place. I'll see ya'll in April I guess. I'm going to get my teeth kicked in. 

 

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 shares new trailer and graphical options ahead of April 24th launch

by: Jason -

Stunning-looking RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has shared a new character trailer today, and additional details on graphical settings across the game’s various platforms. First up is a spotight on Sciel, one of the playable characters that you can discovery during your journey. Gustave, Maelle, and Lune were previously highlighted, with Monoco the Gestral getting a turn next week.

On the technical front, Clair Obscur will allow PC players to choose from Low to Epic graphical presets for the Unreal Engine 5 title. Over on console, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X players will have Performance and Quality modes, though no specifics were provided for each mode. PlayStation 5 Pro owners will seemingly get the best of both worlds between graphical fidelity and framerate. Developer Sandfall Interactive also revealed that there are 55 Xbox Achievements and 56 PlayStation Trophies (one extra for the Platinum), which should keep all you trophy/achievement hunters out there busy for a spell.

Check out the new Sciel trailer below. Clair Obscur: Expedition will be available day one on Xbox Game Pass, in addition to Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC.

South of Midnight Early Access starts today

by: Joseph -

Just a reminder that if you got the deluxe version of South of Midnight, you can play it today before it comes out "Day 1" on Gamepass. The action adventure featuring protagonist and weaver Hazel has quite the quest to navigate through, while trying to find her mother.. The game comes out on April 8th, for everyone else. 

If you're in the New Orleans area, the game us available to also play inside Two Toed Tom, one of the characters in the game. Two Toed Tom, is a 40 foot gator, on a floating island, and you can play the new game inside. I had to type that twice to believe it.

You can actually register to a chance to visit Tom on April 5th and play the game on it's 42" screens as part of the Jean Lafitte Swamp Tours in Marrero. Louisiana. Check out more details here.  Our review is pending, and should be in by the weekend. 

Nintendo Treehouse shows off early games, don't read the live chat

by: Joseph -

You can skip through all 4 hours of this, but this morning, Nintendo showed off some in depth looks at Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong: Bananza, The Welcome Tour Software, and Metroid Prime 4. 

From what I saw, there are some pretty cool features for the new iteration of Mario Kart. I'm not completely sold on the free racing mode, but it does look as gorgeous as ever. 24 racers, and you don't start in position, you start in mid acceleration. It was pretty fun to watch. 

I'm glad I got to see more for Donkey Kong Bananza. It looks like he can practically smash through anything and it looks like you have to find huge gold bananas to keep the game going. It's the Super Mario Odyssey Donkey Kong treatment. I think it's going to be massive, and it looks great. 

The Metroid Prime 4 makes me want to dive into the Metroid Prime games. The FPS aspect made me shy away from it, but when I found out it was on sale, I snatched up the remastered version of part one. Nintendo showed off the game with using mouse controls for aiming, and it was pretty cool, especially if you're a PC gamer. Look at that, you can have both things. 

People are in New York as we speak with their first hand impressions coming out the woodwork. This writer will just sit and keep posting articles, trying not to argue with the know it all people that is the internet. Be careful enjoying things out there. 

D&D dragons no longer just make everyone run away screaming—now they've got more nuanced forms of crowd control

by: Randy -

All dragons used to have a Frightful Presence in the Dungeons & Dragons 5e 2014 Monster Manual. Not anymore.

Now, in the new D&D 5e 2024 Monster Manual, that Frightful Presence is transmogrified into different powers. Rather than just a blanket 120-foot sphere of Fear, the Red Dragon, for instance, casts Commanding Presence as a Legendary Action. The Gold Dragon can simply Banish you. The Black Dragon summons a Cloud of Insects.

Much more flavorful on the battle map, even if none of these strike raw Fear into a dragon's enemies like the old Frightful Presence used to.

Here's a breakdown in each 2024 dragon (their Ancient and most powerful setting):

SPECIES OLD POWER NEW POWER

Black Dragon

Frightful Presence. Each creature of the dragon's choice that is within 120 feet of the dragon and aware of it must succeed on a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute... Cloud of Insects. Dexterity Saving Throw: DC 21, one creature the dragon can see within 120 feet. Failure: 33 (6d10) Poison damage, and the target has Disadvantage on saving throws to maintain Concentration until the end of its next turn...

Blue Dragon

See above. Cloaked Flight. The dragon uses Spellcasting to cast Invisibility on itself, and it can fly up to half its Fly Speed...

Green Dragon

See above. Noxious Miasma. Constitution Saving Throw: DC 21, each creature in a 30-foot-radius Sphere centered on a point the dragon can see within 90 feet. Failure: 17 (5d6) Poison damage, and the target takes a -2 penalty to AC until the end of its next turn...

Red Dragon

See above. Commanding Presence. The dragon uses Spellcasting to cast Command (level 2 version)...

White Dragon

See above.

Frightful Presence. The dragon casts Fear, requiring no Material components and using Charisma as the spellcasting ability (sepll save DC 18)...

Brass Dragon

See above. Scorching Sands. Dexterity Saving Throw: DC 20, one creature the dragon can see within 120 feet. Failure: 36 (8d8) Fire damage, and the target's Speed is halved until the end of its next turn...

Bronze Dragon

See above. Thunder Clap. Constitution Saving Throw: DC 22, each creature in a 20-foot-radius Sphere centered on a a point the dragon can see within 120 feet...

Copper Dragon

See above. Giggling Magic. Charisma Saving Throw: DC 21, one creature the dragon can see within 120 feet. Failure: 31 (9d6) Psychic damage. Until the end of it its next turn, the target rolls 1d8 whenever it makes an ability check or attack roll and subtracts the number rolled from the D20 test...

Gold Dragon

See above. Banish. Charisma Saving Throw: DC 24, one creature the dragon can see within 120 feet. Failure: 24 (7d6) Force damage, and the target has the Incapacitated condition and is transported to a harmless demiplane until the start of the dragon's next turn...

Silver Dragon

See above. Cold Gale. Dexterity Saving Throw: DC 23, each creature in a 60-foot-long, 10-foot-wide Line. Failure14 (4d6) Cold damage, and the target is pushed up to 30 feet straight away from the dragon...

The White Dragon is the only dragon that still has Frightful Presence. Though its area of effect is reined in. Instead of the 2014 dragons' Frightful Presence hitting everyone within 120 feet with Fear, the 2024 Frightful Presence—which likewise operates like a Fear spell—nevertheless has a reduced area of effect of a 30-foot cone.

A lot more changes have gone into effect, not only for dragons, but for every creature you can get your dirty paws on

Nintendo Switch 2 launches in June

by: Nathan -

The Nintendo Switch 2 Direct has just concluded and we finally have a release date for the Switch 2. The Switch 2 will launch on June 5th 2025 and there will be two options available for purchase. The Switch 2 itself or a bundle with Switch 2 and a digital download of Mario Kart: World. No pricing or pre-order information was provided. The official website for the Switch 2, with more information will go live later today. 

EDIT: The Nintendo Switch 2 website has gone live and confirms the price of the console. The Nintendo Switch 2 will retail for $449.99. The Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart: World bundle will retail for $499.99.

Gamecube Games coming to Nintendo Switch Online exclusively on Switch 2

by: Nathan -

Nintendo Switch Online and the Expansion Pass is coming to Nintendo Switch 2 and a new system has been confirmed to be available to play. Gamecube games will be available when the system launches. Two games were confirmed to be available at launch including.. 

  • The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
  • F-Zero GX

More titles were confirmed to be coming in the future including the following

  • Super Mario Sunshine
  • Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
  • Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness
  • Super Mario Strikers
  • Luigi's Mansion
  • Chibi-Robo
  • Pokemon Coliseum 

The Switch 2 launches on June 5th 2025.

Street Fighter 6 Years 1-2 Fighters Edition announced

by: Nathan -

That title is a doozy. Street Fighter 6 will be launching a new version of the game in June called Street Fighter 6 Years 1-2 Fighters Edition and as you would expect this is a bundle of all the content released in the game so far. This version will include all of the DLC fighters released for the game including Ed, Rashid, AKI, Akuma, Bison, Terry, Mai and Elena. It will also include all of the DLC stages, Outfit 1 for each character and all of their colors. 

Hey we also get to see new art for Elena who has yet to get an official trailer. 

Street Fighter 6 Years 1-2 Fighters Edition will release in June and has also confirmed to be available on Nintendo Switch 2