Today, oddly at 5:58pm EST, Mai Shiranui's gameplay trailer was released, and whomever out there is saying that Street Fighter 6 is dying has so much explaining to do. The trailer starts off with her against Chun Li, and has a special flair to it. Off the top, I'm wondering if this is coming in a new update to make it more personal between character matchups. Moving on, Mai comes out swinging, showing off what she's bringing over from the Fatal Fury universe. 

The Fan Toss is here, and can be thrown with a fire modifier. She can also lane change like Terry can. She has an air super, and fire modifiers for even more moves. Her critical art ends very cinematic, similar to Jamie's, and her win pose is going to test the wills of your eyeballs. I've watched the trailer too many times already. Street Fighter 6 is cooking, with the exception of no release date. YO NIPPONICHI! (Which is NOT "Me Bouncy", you nasty people.

Awesome Games Done Quick is a yearly fund raiser. The whole idea from it is to raise money to fight cancer, while watching users speed run games. But this isn't just beating Super Mario Bros. in under 5 minutes. This week long event is usually highlighted by some zany ways to speed run games. Someone beat Punch Out blindfolded. Someone else played NEW Super Mario Brothers, while playing the soundtrack to NEW Super Mario Bros. on the piano, with Joycon's strapped to his feet and head. And as cool as that was, what I discovered was absolutely insane. 

Chuckles825 introduces himself and tells us that he is going to play the Crazy Box game mode for Crazy Taxi for the Sega Dreamcast. Then he introduces us to the live band singing and playing the soundtrack LIVE. The Offspring and Bad Religion are represented here, and because I want you to watch the video, I won't give you too much more. However, the band even stops when the stage is complete, or at any failures, even in mid lyric. Check it out! Games Done Quick means this video  And hopefully we'll get some new info on the new Crazy Taxi here soon. 

SMITE 2 is getting ready to finally enter it's free to play open beta and they recently had a big patch which added the returning Assault game mode, more SMITE 1 gods including Geb, Mulan, Ullr and Agni and a brand new updated Conquest map.

Today we get one final update before the big launch and it includes the new Joust game mode and the newest character to join the roster, Aladdin. Aladdin brings some game changing elements to the game and some abilities that weren't possible in the original SMITE. For starters he has a brand new movement ability with the ability to wall run and the idea behind his ultimate was basically "1v1 me bro" as he throws his genie lantern and traps himself and an enemy inside the lantern to have a 1v1 face off with an opponent. 

Also available today is the new Joust map with an Arthurian theme which looks amazing. Joust is a smaller 3v3 game mode with a single lane and a very small side jungle. The objective remains the same as you need to take down your opponents single tower, Phoenix and then their Titan for the win. 

SMITE 2 enters an open free to play beta tomorrow where everyone will be able to download and play the game for free without the need of an access key or by buying one of the Founder's packs. 

It's no secret that Marvel Rivals has taken the PvP world by...Storm. With the one time only paid for battle pass, two new characters, two new stages, and all the modes of a very good hero shooter, NetEase has done the impossible. They have struck gold. They're bringing more for you, too. They're not going to give you time to complain. 

Season 1, that's right, season ONE, brings you double the content from Season 0, and includes 10 costumes. Eternal Night Falls brings costumes from the Dark Hold, and also comes with a whole lot of sprays and emotes. Additionally, the Sanctum Sanctorum, and the Midtown Map are also here. It's the game that keeps on giving. Of course, completing the battle pass gets you some of the in game currency back, to buy even more. Marvel Rivals is killing it. If you haven't played it yet, I really think you should. 

Free-roaming exploration game, Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip, will make the move to PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch on February 13^th after previously releasing on PC. In it, you play as flip flop-donning Terry, attempting to help him achieve his dream of turning his car into a spaceship and blasting off into space. To do so, you’ll explore the small open world of Spranklewater, collecting turbo junk parts and annoying the locals in a wholesome manner.

Steam reviews are high on the game, and it seems to be a relatively short yet sweet adventure. I’m looking forward to checking it out next month. Have a look at the new console announcement trailer:

Despite releasing version 1.4 just a month ago, Zenless Zone Zero is nearing the arrival of version 1.5 on January 22^nd, bringing with it a significant content update. Dubbed “Astra-nomical Moment”, this new update will add an in-game concert event from New Eridu celebrity Astra Yao which will introduce a new quest to players. The event will also an see S-tier version of fire-based character Evelyn become available to join your team of agents.

In addition, two new game modes are being added – Endless Tower: The Last Stand, and Perpetrator Battle. Endless Tower sees players battling through 10 floors of enemies with specific combat modifiers, while Perpetrator Battle designates certain agents and gear for players to use to defeat challenging levels. The 1.5 update is also adding a Bangboo (in-game companion) beauty pageant and a fishing tournament.

If you haven’t picked-up on it yet, Zenless Zone Zero is certainly not a zero when it comes to the amount of content available. Check out a new trailer below ahead of version 1.5 dropping in a couple weeks.

This year was the first time I’ve met with Audeze, a very highly thought of audio company. Many swear by their headphones and they’ve got a few good ones it seems for gamers. While they didn’t have anything new in terms of gaming headsets to announce at CES, I was privy to learning more about the company and experiencing their CRBN2.

If you don’t know about Audeze, they specialize in headphones utilizing planar drivers. Their two gaming headsets, the Maxwell and the LCD-GX, are super high quality headsets that deliver top notch quality sound. The Maxwell is probably the one that you’re familiar with the most as that’s a pretty popular model amongst gamers and I’ve seen many streamers use them.

At the meeting, I found one of the more interesting tidbits was that because the Maxwell has the ability to do spatial sound with their head tracking feature and is Dolby Atmos certified, creators can use the Maxwells and the Dolby Atmos software to create spatial audio for their games or maybe even movies. Whereas before you would need an expensive setup and array of speakers to achieve this, it’s possible to just use the headphones and software to accomplish this task. Doing so could save a creator money and open this type of audio engineering up to a lot more people who can’t afford an expensive setup.

One of the most impressive audio headsets I’ve ever heard was the CRBN2. While not really game specific, these headphones that are priced at $5995.00 were truly mind blowing to me. You see, I sometimes have difficulty deciphering whether an audio product truly is good or if my ears are just not in tune with what other people hear. That said, when I heard music through the CRBN2, I was flabbergasted by how clear and clean it sounded. The strings on the bass in one song was just so crisp and the vocals were incredibly reproduced by the CRBN2.

I can’t comment on the comfortability of them because I didn’t get to wear them long term, but for the short period I had with them they felt good. The clamping force didn’t feel overtly strong and my ears fit nicely in the cups of the CRBN2. It’s an open back design, a design that I don’t have much experience with as well.

You’ll need a pretty good amp to drive these, but I feel if you can afford to buy a CRBN2, you’ll probably have the necessary equipment or can get the necessary equipment to drive the CRBN2 to its fullest.

There’s been a few times in my career as a reviewer where I was so impressed by an audio product that I could not wait to get my hands on it to use. The CRBN2 is on that short list, but then again what do you expect from a pair of headphones that cost more than most high end PC setups. I could have just sat there and listened to music all day with them on and I think those who are able to afford one will find that the CRBN2’s are some of the best sounding headphones produced. These electrostatic headphones are in a tier all by themselves.

According to developer Wizards of the Coast, "Every monster is a springboard to adventure." But just as we reported back July of last year, D&D is redesigning the Dragons part of Dungeons & Dragons. When it came time to approach the new D&D 2024 Monster Manual—and dragons in particular:

• The art had to be thrilling
• The stories had to be on point
• Their legacy had to be respected
• The gameplay had to be ferocious, majestic, terrifying

Wizards of the Coast wanted to ensure that dragons were "really bringing the hurt." But on the flip side of that coin, to ensure that dragons allied with the players brought pain and destruction to the players' enemies.

Because there are two types of dragons, broadly speaking. Chromatic dragons are generally evil: villainous, greedy, and out to destroy the world. Metallic dragons are generally good: encouraging and bolstering heroic folks.

They want dragons that, as they go up in Challenge Rating, they became harder and harder to combat. That tougher Armor Class and more Hit Points. But also: mechanically, what are they doing.

In adult and ancient dragons, spellcasting is incorporated into their stat blocks. This is to make it easier for a Dungeon Master to whip spells out, and to make spellcasting less of an "optional" activity for dragons and more of a The Monsters Know What They're Doing part of combat. 

They don't want to limit dragons to claws and breath weapons. Those are all well and good. But how about you let the players chew on a Fireball spell for once? Or did the Black Dragon just cast Vitriolic Sphere—one of the new spells in the D&D 2024 Player's Handbook. Some of those news spells were specifically introduced in the Player's Handbook in order to enhance dragon stat blocks in the Monster Manual. Devious!

One benefit to building all three of the new Core Rulebooks together—the Player's Manual, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual—was to create nasty little synergies, just like the one proposed above.

They even took the "spiciest" Lair Actions from previous scattered writings and slotted them right into the dragons' stat blocks. You may now find:

• Black Dragons summoning a swarm of insects. 
• Blue Dragons causing a sonic boom that casts the Shatter spell on players.
• Every single dragon type has some new schtick like that.

I can understand after looking at all the buffs given to players in the Player's Handbook that you might now think D&D is the players' friend. But no. That was to trick players into thinking they were in a safe space. The D&D 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide, however, chipped away at that facade. And now the upcoming Monster Manual all but shatters that misconception entirely.

Dungeon Masters rejoice. Wizards of the Coast didn't forget about you. D&D didn't abandon you. They are equipping you, O masterful DMs, with the tools you need to shake your players' confidence, yet leave them begging for more. 

I've kind of fallen behind a bit with Destiny 2 after the main campaign for Final Shape concluded. I logged in a couple of times to work on the Revenant story and the recent holiday events (Festival of the Lost and Dawning), but didn't realize just how far behind I was in the story until I noticed that Act III of Revenant launched on Tuesday. In Act III Guardians will jump into the new Kell's Fall exotic mission and obtain a new vampiric-themed Exotic Void Shotgun called Slayer's Fang. If you haven't played any of the Revenant episode yet, you still have a few weeks to experience it before the next episode, Heresy, launches on February 4th.

Never Gonna Give Synth Riders Up?

Don't Stop Synth Riders Now?

Just Like Synth Riders?

I wasn't sure which bad joke I wanted to make, to be honest.

Synth Riders is pretty much my favorite VR game, and has been my exercise app of choice during these cold snowy months. When I need to get my blood pumping, there are few things better than popping into the game's great library and dance-playing my way through several songs at a time. I particularly enjoy the 80's Mixtape release - the INXS song is a personal favorite. The only way to describe the feeling I get while dancing around in my office by myself and yelling out the lyrics to New Sensation is "pure, unadulterated joy". 

I have a lot to celebrate, because the gang at Kluge Interactive is releasing the 80s Mixtape - Side B music pack today, and it includes some absolute bangers. Take a look at this track list: