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Marvel and Arc System Works announce Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls

by admin June 5, 2025

Marvel Games and Arc System Works are creating an original new fighting game with Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, a 4v4 tag-fighter. Arc showed off the new game during Sony’s State of Play event on Wednesday, with a hype teaser trailer showing off the gorgeous game.

Anime interpretations of characters such as Iron Man, Captain America, Ms. Marvel, Storm, Star-Lord, Ghost Rider, Spider-Man, and Doctor Doom are seen in the clip fighting with over-the-top attacks and finishers. Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls will be released for PlayStation 5 and Windows PC in 2026.

The 2.5D fighter is a new direction for Marvel fighting games, as Marvel’s heroes and villains have historically been associated with Capcom.

Capcom and Marvel first worked together in 1993, with the release of the beat-’em-up game The Punisher. The game’s success led to a fruitful relationship between the two companies throughout the ’90s, with iconic titles like Marvel Super Heroes (1995), X-Men vs Street Fighter (1996), and Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1997). This series of games kick started the Marvel vs. Capcom franchise, which yielded four titles, with the last game being the commercial failure that was 2017’s Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite — a game devoid of X-Men or any other character owned by 20th Century Fox at the time.

Capcom and Marvel most recently worked together on 2024’s Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics. The move made fans believe that a potential fourth MvC game was on the way, and while it still could happen, it appears Marvel has other plans for its fighting game endeavors.

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June 5, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

The ultimate 5.1 surround sound SteelSeries Arena 9 gaming speaker system gets a big $130 discount

by admin June 5, 2025

Gaming and media are all about immersion; the more you feel a part of it, the more engrossed you get, and the enjoyment level skyrockets. Having great visuals from a good monitor is certainly important, but in my opinion, the sound should be a bigger consideration. Sound effects from the environment, directional sound profiles, and musical game scores can transport you to other worlds and really capture the imagination.

Headsets are very good at isolating you and providing a superb experience with faux surround sound, but if you want the absolute best-in-class experience, true surround sound is the pinnacle to reach. Enter the SteelSeries Arena 9 5.1 surround sound speaker system at $549. Available at Amazon, the 6-speaker setup is reduced by $130 from the $679 list price. It’s worth keeping your eye on the upcoming sales too, as the Arena 9 has been on sale for lower prices during key events.

The Arena 9 gets our recommendation for the best 5.1 speaker system for a PC, thanks to its excellent sound quality and immersive surround sound experience. The Arena 9 comes with five satellite speakers, a center channel speaker that sits under your monitor, two left and right front channels, and two left and right wireless rear channel speakers, as well as a 6.5-inch down-firing subwoofer.

The rear satellite speakers are wireless, making for an easier setup experience than trying to run speaker cables under carpeting and flooring. The rear speakers connect to each other and are powered separately, but connect to the system wirelessly. There’s also a handy control pod, which features an informative OLED display and touch-sensitive buttons for controlling all aspects of the speakers.

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June 5, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

EA’s cancelled Black Panther game would have featured an evolved take on Shadow of Mordor’s Nemesis System

by admin June 3, 2025

Towards the end of last month, EA cancelled its single-player Black Panther game and closed the developer behind it, Cliffhanger Studios. At this time, an email seen by the media said this decision would enable the publisher to “sharpen our focus and put our creative energy behind the most significant growth opportunities”.

Since then, a Bloomberg report has revealed a few more details from Cliffhanger Studios’ now-cancelled Marvel game, including that the project was looking to build upon ideas from Monolith’s Shadow of Mordor game, such as its Nemesis System. The Nemesis system is a clever in-game mechanic, which in Shadow of Mordor tracks a player’s actions to create enemies who remember past encounters.

Cliffhanger was going to expand on this mechanism, with playable heroes such as T’Challa, Killmonger and Shuri all competing to earn the title of Black Panther. According to the report, players would select one character to play as, with the others then becoming rivals they could build a relationship with.

Additionally, Cliffhanger’s Black Panther game would feature Marvel’s fictional race of extraterrestrial shapeshifters, the Skrulls. In the game, the Skrulls would be attempting to invade Wakanda, with some of the alien creatures posing as allies. Meanwhile, other members of the Skrulls “might have remembered the player’s behaviour and acted accordingly, sort of like in Shadow of Mordor,” the report stated, calling it an “ambitious system”.

However, despite its vision, the Black Panther developer had a hard time showcasing the game’s procedural narrative experiments, with those close to the project stating that processes were slowed due to the team building both a new game and a new studio at the same time.

Reportedly, the game had begun gaining more momentum prior to its shock cancellation, with many of those laid off only being hired within the last year. However, according to sources, EA executives had been left frustrated by the fact the game had not yet left the pre-production phase, despite it being in the works for nearly four years.

Image credit: EA

While EA may have cancelled its Black Panther Project, the company still has an Iron Man game in the pipeline. In October 2022, EA signed a multi-game deal with Marvel.

Away from EA, Amy Hennig’s own Black Panther-starring game is also still in development. Known as Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, the upcoming release is slated for next year, and will focus on four central characters: a young Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America; Azzuri, T’Challa’s grandfather and the WWII-era Black Panther; Gabriel Jones, a US soldier and member of the Howling Commandos; and Nanali, a Wakandan spy embedded in Occupied Paris.

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June 3, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

EA’s Black Panther Game Would Have Had An Evolved Nemesis System, Report Says

by admin June 2, 2025

EA confirmed this week that it had canceled its upcoming Black Panther game and closed its developer, Cliffhanger Games. A new report provides more context and background as to the situation surrounding the game’s cancellation and what the game was aiming to be.

Bloomberg reported that the Black Panther game recently passed a development milestone, and the project was gaining momentum. However, sources said EA executives were upset that the game was still in pre-production after almost four years of work. After a portfolio review from EA management, the company reportedly chose to axe games in development for an extended period of time without making sufficient progress, and this included Black Panther.

Also canceled in this process were multiple titles at Apex Legends and Titanfall studio Respawn, including a new Titanfall game, according to previous reporting.

EA’s Black Panther game was going to build on some of the ideas that Cliffhanger boss Kevin Stephens had worked on with the Shadow of Mordor series when he was at Warner Bros., including the Nemesis system, the report said. For the Black Panther game, T’Challa, Killmonger, and Shuri would be playable characters, vying to become the new Black Panther.

Players were going to fight against the Skrull shapeshifting aliens, who had come to Wakanda. Some of these characters in the game might be impostors, and would have remembered and learned from player behavior, similar to how orcs in Shadow of Mordor would remember players and act based on previous interactions.

Developers had a hard time showcasing what made the Black Panther game special in presentations with management, and processes were slowed due to the team building a game and a new studio at the same time, the report said.

Following the game’s cancellation, staffers who worked on the project spoke out to praise the work the team did on what they hoped would be an “amazing” game. While the Black Panther game is no longer moving ahead, EA is still building an Iron Man game and multiple Marvel projects as part of a multi-game deal with Marvel.

EA’s Black Panther game is dead, but Amy Hennig’s Marvel game, Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, features Black Panther prominently. The game was delayed and is now coming in 2026.

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June 2, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Cliffhanger’s Black Panther game reportedly would have built upon the famously patented Nemesis System

by admin June 1, 2025

Earlier this week, EA did the thing they oh so frequently loves to do, which is making a bad decision. This time, it was cancelling Marvel’s Black Panther, alongside shutting down the two year old studio that was making it, Cliffhanger Games. As every single announcement like this over the past few years has been, it was an incredibly frustrating one that can’t be justified. Now, a new report from Bloomberg has shed a bit of light on why it was cancelled, as well as what the game might have been like.

For starters, according to the report, the announcement came as a shock to Cliffhanger staff. This was in part because the studio was actively hiring, and Black Panther had passed a “gate”, a term EA use for when executives look at how a game is doing and decide whether production should continue.

Some sources did also say that EA executives were still frustrated it hadn’t left pre-production despite being in the works for four years. That slowness was apparently due to the fact that a lot of now laid off staff were hired within the last year, even just the last few weeks and months.

The game itself sounded interesting too. Cliffhanger were being led by former Monolith head Kevin Stephens, the same studio behind the Middle-earth: Shadow series of games. Monolith’s beloved (and patented) Nemesis System was apparently going to be the basis of a new system in Black Panther expanding on those ideas. This included things like being able to play as T’Challa, Killmonger and Shuri, all of which would be competing for the Black Panther role.

You’d be able to play as one of them, with the other two becoming rivals that you could form relationships with. There would be Skrulls, shapeshifting aliens, that would have been trying to overtake Wakanda, some of which might pretend to be allies, others acting based on previous things you as the player might have done. You can see the similarities to the Nemesis System.

However, showing off this feature to executives was apparently difficult; building a game and a studio side by side was part of the struggle here, reportedly. On top of that, Cliffhanger were based in Kirkland, Washington, an expensive city that meant staff would need appropriate (and deserved) wages. EA also recently put in a return to office mandate, so it all seems to add up to the game not being far enough along with a studio that costs too much to run, in their eyes. Probably worth a reminder that EA CEO Andrew Wilson and EA Entertainment president Laura Miele took about $40 million home last year.

The whole thing is just tremendously unfair, and a massive shame. I would have loved to have seen a studio build upon the Nemesis System, easily one of the most interesting gameplay systems in the past decade locked behind something as stifling as a patent. As always, big solidarity to those affected by the layoffs.

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June 1, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Canned Black Panther Game Featured Nemesis System And Skrull

by admin May 31, 2025

Image: Marvel Comics

The team behind EA’s Black Panther game was working on a vertical slice before it was killed this week. That’s according to a new report by Bloomberg that sheds some light on what the canceled project was shaping up to be, including its story based around the alien Skrull and the evolution of Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor’s acclaimed nemesis system.

This Marvel Snap Deck Features A Devious, Devastating Combo

Bloomberg reports that developers at Cliffhanger Games were caught off-guard by the sudden cancellation of the game and closure of the studio. Given just 30 minutes’ notice before the news was announced by EA in an internal meeting, the studio had apparently just recently successfully passed one of its development milestones and was working toward a vertical slice that would show a chunk of the game in action.

The story reportedly revolved around playing as T’Challa, Killmonger, or Shuri as each vied for the mantle of Black Panther which would grant them superhuman powers. The game would also feature fights with the shapeshifting Skrull showcased in Marvel’s popular Secret Invasion comic-book crossover event. The gameplay was also aiming to incorporate elements of the Nemesis system from Shadow of Mordor such that enemies might remember past encounters with the player and relationships with aspiring Black Panther rivals might evolve.

It appears the most likely reason EA may have decided to walk away from the project was the lack of progress after several years of prototyping, even as some of those laid off in Cliffhanger Games’ closure had only just arrived at the studio earlier this year as it scaled up its development capabilities. Several developers spoke up about the project online this week following its cancelation.

“Well, it was a good run while it lasted,” posted software engineer Ted Snook. “Found out today that Cliffhanger Games is shut down by EA. We had a great team, and the project was starting to get some momentum. This industry is just so brutal.” Narrative designer Ricky Llamas added, “What stands out to me about this studio is how open folks are to having frank conversations and working through our problems together. It helps create a healthy dynamic that’s rare to see.”

EA’s latest cancellation comes amid a recent wave of hundreds of layoffs and as the publisher “narrows its focus” on its biggest franchises like The Sims, Battlefield, and Apex Legends. At the same time, the company claimed its three-game deal with Disney remains in effect, and it still plans to eventually ship two more after EA Motive’s Iron Man comes out in the years ahead.

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May 31, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Oblivion Remastered just got a full Skyrim-style smithing system thanks to a modder, in case you’ve missed making stuff by getting very good at banging hot things

by admin May 31, 2025

Right, so. Oblivion Remastered modders continue to find ways to pull off really cool stuff despite not having any official tools. The latest interesting new mod to drop adds a whole Skyrim-style smithing system and skill to the game, and it’s by someone who’d already blown us away with their faction overhauls.

Yep, modder ColdTyrant’s back at it again, clearly not having been content with all of the interesting Oblivion Remastered modding efforts we recently chatted to them about. During that convo, they teased “a secret project” they thought everyone would dig – I’m not sure if this is that, but it’d certainly qualify in my book.

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Their latest work is ‘Skill Line – Smithing’, and as you’d expect from the name, it adds the ability to make gear at a forge to Oblivion as a totally separate thing to the established armourer skill that revolves around bashing your sword with a hammer to stop it breaking.

You’ll find new interactable forges – each made up of a “smithing chest” where you store any materials you want to use for crafting, plus an anvil and leather rack you can then interact with to turn that stored stuff into new gear or the usual processed animal bits you’ll need to forge certain stuff. There’s also an “equipment smelter” you can use to melt down existing unenchanted gear into raw materials for crafting – though in a wonderful lore-based twist, you can’t melt down Imperial Legion armour without a special permit.

The mod adds one of these forging stations to each of Cyrodiil’s major cities – you can find their exact locations by looking through the mod page’s images – as well as the Shivering Isles. In order to find out which materials are required to craft certain weapons and armour, you’ll need to consult a special smithing workbook ColdTyrant’s left a free copy of atop every anvil he’s added.

That said, you’ll also have to make sure your character’s got the smithing skills to craft what they want to, with the mod adding in a book you can use to track how good you’re getting as you craft more and more stuff. “Because it is currently impossible to integrate brand new skills into the User Interface properly,” ColdTyrant explains, “once the mod is initialized the player will be given a book in their Miscellaneous inventory category, which they can use to check not only their current Smithing level, but the percent progress toward their next level.”

As you’d expect, the further towards the level 100 cap this new skill has you get, the more stuff you’ll need to craft to keep increasing your smithing level. Oh, and if you fancy, the Shivering Isles forges will let you make Dark Seducer and Golden Saint gear, because why not?

If you fancy giving the mod a go, as with most of ColdTyrant’s other mods you’ll need to grab Oblivion Remastered’s UE4SS and UE4SS TesSyncMapInjector.

Make sure to check out all the interviews we’ve been doing with Oblivion Remastered modders who’ve been pushing the boundaries and working on interesting stuff, including that aforementioned chat with ColdTyrant.

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May 31, 2025 0 comments

EA cancels Black Panther game, closes developer Cliffhanger Games

Game Updates

Details emerge about canceled Black Panther game and the Nemesis System

by admin May 31, 2025

The entire report is worth reading, and the section that really catches my eye is about how the Black Panther game would have adapted the Nemesis System. Cliffhanger was started by ex-developers from Monolith Productions, the minds behind Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel Shadow of War, and reportedly the Cliffhanger team was attempting to create a new system that expanded on what the Nemesis System from those games could do.

Monolith’s Nemesis System involved procedurally generated enemies who had unique traits (mostly grudges directed toward the protagonist Talion) and who would eventually return for a rematch. Some would flee from battle only to come back stronger later in the game. Others perhaps defeated Talion and were shocked to later see he was battling them again. Enemies would even get promoted among the ranks of Uruks, making it feel like your foes weren’t just nameless fodder to be slaughtered.

It was a thoroughly inventive enemy system, and an expanded version of it sounds like it would have been a wild ride in Cliffhanger’s Black Panther game. According to the Bloomberg story, the game would have featured “various playable heroes” vying for the title of Black Panther, like T’Challa, his sister Shuri, and everyone’s favorite scene-stealer from the 2018 film, Killmonger. They would all be opposing an alien invasion from Skrulls, shape-shifting aliens featured in MCU films like Captain Marvel and comic event series like Secret Invasion.

Skrulls sound like such a perfect fit for the Nemesis System; as Bloomberg reported, Skrull enemies could even pose as your allies, throwing a whole new layer of intrigue and immersion into the Nemesis System, already one of the more original ideas seen in contemporary video games. I can only imagine how exciting it’d be for one of your allies to suddenly attack you, revealing themself as a Skrull leader you thought you bested for good earlier in the game.

And now because EA doesn’t seem to know what it’s doing, we won’t be getting Cliffhanger’s revamped Nemesis System. And, even worse, the talented developers behind this system are left looking for work and wondering what’s next for them.

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May 31, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

The Kingmakers system requirements show that the hardest part of running the game may be finding 80 GB free for the install

by admin May 30, 2025

The Kingmakers system requirements have just been revealed, and it is looking incredibly easy to run. Given how ambitious the game is, and the fact that it’s built in Unreal Engine 5 despite those specs, I can only hope it runs as easily as it is to play.

As spotted by PCGamesN, you have to go somewhere no person should ever set foot in to find the Kingmakers system requirements: the Epic Games Store. Notably, the Steam page for the game doesn’t have system requirements yet.

To run Kingmakers on Minimum settings, you need a 10th Gen Intel Core i5 processor or better. This could be a chip like the Intel Core i5 10600K, a relatively modest chip from 2020 we rather liked.

Fur Trim System Review: Simple, Pain-Free Body Hair Removal

by admin May 30, 2025

My relationship with my body hair remains, as it has always been, complicated. The first time I ever shaved was when I was 12, and since then, I’ve run the gamut from regular waxes every six weeks to going months without removing a single hair. I’m all for the full bush in a bikini movement, but each person has their own routines and feelings about their body hair, and getting rid of it can be downright painful. And time-consuming. And expensive!

Anybody who’s done maintenance in their nether regions knows what I’m talking about. I’ve used razors, sugaring, waxing, and tweezing, but I’m relatively new to using trimmers. I’m working on a buying guide of the best options, and so far, the Fur Trim System has made my whole-body grooming routine a breeze.

The Fur Trim System includes the trimmer itself, an adjustable guide, a razor cartridge, a razor refill, a charging pedestal, and a USB-A to USB-C charging cable that plugs into the included pedestal stand. It doesn’t come with a wall adapter.

It takes four hours to fully charge, which will get you 60 minutes of use. Upon the little blinking light turning solid, indicating a full charge, I decided to test the waters. I used this on my toes, my legs, my underarms, and my bikini area, and I was thoroughly impressed with the results.

Trimming the Hedges

The Fur Trim System is ridiculously easy to use. The handle has grooves and ridges that make it effortless to get a good grip, even under running water. The device has a built-in LED spotlight—press the button once for the light, and again to turn on the motor. I really liked this feature, since it made it way easier to see what the heck I was doing (and to spot any spots or stray hairs I’d missed).

You can choose to use the trimmer with the guide off, which results in hairs around 1 mm long. There’s also a guide that has 2-mm or 3.5-mm lengths—simply pop it on top of the trimmer and slide it until it clicks once or twice to select your setting. If you want to shave completely bare, you can swap the trimmer head for the razor blade head. You can use the razor with the light and/or vibration, or leave those settings off.

The device is water-resistant and pretty easy to clean—just pop off whatever attachment you’ve got on and rinse them both. One minor quirk is that the trimmer’s scooped underside can lead to water splashing everywhere if you’re not careful (I learned this the hard way). But pay attention and it’ll be fine, and your bathroom countertops will remain nice and dry. The device might need frequent rinsing if you haven’t groomed in a while, but that’s the case with any hair-removal gadget.

Photograph: Louryn Strampe

When I tested this trimmer, I hadn’t shaved in six months. (Don’t judge me!) I tested all three modes—the razor head, the trimmer, and the trimmer with the guard. The trimmer made short work of my underarms and legs, and it was easy to use in my bikini area too. I was nervous at first, but despite intentionally trying to cut myself, I didn’t manage to. (Don’t say I don’t thoroughly test my gear, either!) I did snag a couple of hairs and catch my skin once or twice, but nothing resulted in blood or pain. As a relative beginner to using gadgets like this, I was pleasantly surprised, and I’m sure anyone with more experience would find that it works smoothly as well. My shower didn’t look like that scene from Carrie, a fear that was thankfully short-lived.

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May 30, 2025 0 comments