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One Of Mario Kart World's Best Improvements Is Hidden, But Clumsy To Use

Whether it’s from familiarity with the franchise or through cultural osmosis, launching a Green Shell forward to hit another driver is something everyone knows to do in Mario Kart World. Those with more experience also know that many power-ups can be thrown forward or backward. And now in Mario Kart World, you can…

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Nightreign's Everdark Sovereigns Will Return, Here's How To Prepare

Last month, Elden Ring Nightreign introduced Everdark Sovereigns, which are beefed up versions of the game’s Day-Three bosses. They are much harder and often have new mechanics, behaviors, and attacks that make them more formidable than their original counterparts. So far, we’ve received three of them, which include…

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Twisted Metal Season 2 Trailer Finally Shows Us Live Action Axel, And He Rules

Twisted Metal fans, our wait is (somewhat) over. After showrunner Michael Jonathan Smith confirmed in April that fan-favorite Axel would make his live-action debut in Season 2, we’ve all been wondering how they’d bring a half-man, half-vehicle to life. The first trailer of the season gives us our best look yet—and he…

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Kai Cenat Describes Having 'PTSD' After Streaming For 30 Days With No Break

On a recent episode of the popular web series Hot Ones, famous streamer Kai Cenat claimed he went through “PTSD” in the aftermath of being in front of a massive audience for 30 days straight on Twitch. He also ate some hot wings covered in very hot sauce and screamed about it, because that’s what you do on that show.

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Quick, Exploit The Hell Out Of This Item Duplication Glitch In Oblivion Remastered Before It Gets Patched

The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered has been a huge hit since its release back in April, and fans are still having fun with it. But it’s not just the game’s large world or buffet of endless side quests. No, sometimes screwing with the game and exploiting glitches is all you need to keep coming back. This is the…

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One Of Pokémon’s Most Prominent Voice Actors Has Died At 71

James Carter Cathcart, a prolific voice actor known for his work on the Pokémon anime English dub, has passed away at the age of 71. Voice actor Erica Schroeder confirmed Cathcart’s passing on Instagram.

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Major Nintendo Switch Piracy Website Seized By FBI

One of the biggest Nintendo Switch piracy sites around has been taken down by the FBI as “part of a law enforcement operation” on Thursday. Nsw2u was one of the better-known repositories for Switch ROMs online, allowing people to play games on hacked Switches or emulators on PC without legally purchasing the games…

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Fallout 76 Boss Teases Future Fallout Season 2 Crossovers

2018's online MMO Fallout 76 wasn’t a smash hit right out of the gate. In fact, it was a complete mess. But over the years, after updates added NPCs and new areas to explore, the game turned into something pretty cool. And now, the director behind Fallout 76 is teasing future plans involving the next season of…

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Astro Bot's New Update Finally Adds A Character Fans Have Been Waiting For

Astro Bot, Team Asobi’s delightful PlayStation tribute platformer and Kotaku 2024 Game of the Year, is still getting free updates. Today, the team put out a handful of new levels and Special Bots, or little robot guys dressed up as different characters from PlayStation’s history. These updates have given Astro Bot more…

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Nintendo Has The Best Reason For Why Pauline Is In Donkey Kong Bananza

Pauline is gaming’s original damsel in distress, captured by Donkey Kong as a guy with a hammer dodges barrels and climbs scaffolding to save her. Now she’s returning to the DK universe with the Switch 2's Donkey Kong Bananaza, but this time as a kid. Some fans have wondered what the hell is going on with the timeline.…

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Astro Bot Now Has Over 90 Levels After Getting More Free Ones Today

Astro Bot, one of the best PlayStation 5 games around, is growing a bit bigger. Today, the wonderful platformer is getting five new and totally free levels via an update. And developers Team Asobi are teasing something special if you beat them all.

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As Fantastic Four: First Steps Nears, Fans Brace Themselves For The MCU-ification Of Its Heroes

For nearly two decades, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been so prevalent in pop culture that their entire vibe has infected almost every facet of the creative output of Marvel as a larger comic-book and multimedia company. Projects like Crystal Dynamics’ ill-fated Avengers game forgo the source material’s comic…

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With The End Of Poker Face Season 2, It's Time To Binge One Of The Best Shows On TV

While I occasionally work as a games critic and editor, my full-time job is telling people to watch Poker Face. Absolutely no one has heard of it, despite its being one of the best things on TV right now. So here I combine my roles into one. Season two of the Peacock show wraps this week, meaning right now is exactly…

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Mario Kart World Has Some Fantastic SNES-Era Throwback Tracks You Need To Try Out

394 P-Switch challenge missions might just be the biggest time sink in Mario Kart World’s Free Roam mode. These missions can involve anything from collecting a certain number of blue coins to navigating around an obstacle course using a particular item. Seven of these tasks that particularly stand out are the short…

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Destiny 2 'Lootapalooza' Derailed As Fans Mass-Delete Characters

Bungie has been paving the way for Destiny 2's upcoming The Edge of Fate expansion with a week of free loot for players. Once every day, fans can log in, visit the Emissary vendor, and claim an Infinite Nonary Engram, which drops all sorts of cosmetics players normally have to pay real money for. Not content with just…

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Nintendo Is Killing The Best Deal On Switch But Not Before You Can Use It To Save On Pokémon Legends: Z-A

Another great discount program bites the dust on Switch. Months after abandoning its gold coin cash-back program for digital game purchases on the eShop, game vouchers for Switch Online subscribers are also going away. Nintendo announced it won’t be officially killing the deal until January 2026 though, so fans have…

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11-Month Battle Over AI Finally Ends As Striking Game Actors Reach Tentative Deal [Update]

A nearly year-long battle between SAG-AFTRA game actors and the major publishers over AI protections for performances is set to end, after both sides reached a tentative agreement this week. Details of the deal haven’t yet been released, but the union says it includes “necessary AI guardrails” as companies adopt tools…

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The Best Characters And Karts For Smashing Mario Kart World Time Trial Records

Earning first place in Mario Kart World‘s 150cc races depends on a lot of factors, ranging from shortcuts, knowing where to wall ride, and how to deal with the uncertainty of getting bombarded with shells. That hasn’t stopped players from figuring out the game’s unspoken meta, locking down which vehicles and…

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GameStop Auctioning Off Infamous Staten Island Switch 2 Stapler For Charity

Last month, during the excitement and chaos of the Nintendo Switch 2 launch, a story broke through the noise. At least one person’s Switch 2 was ruined by GameStop after someone at the store stapled a receipt to the box and punctured the screen. Now, a month later, the video game retailer is auctioning off the stapler…

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Sims 4 Update Turns Everyone Pregnant And Makes It Hard To Be A Vampire

Earlier this month, The Sims 4 released a new patch ahead of the July 10 release of Enchanted By Nature. As is often the case, this new patch broke some parts of the game. This time around, a lot of people are being marked as pregnant even though they aren’t, and this is having some weird side effects, which have…

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Forget About The Damn Spice And Focus On Your Thirst Meter In Dune: Awakening

Arrakis is an unforgiving planet, characterized by its vast desert and rocky terrain. Its only redeeming quality is in its spice, but that’s secondary to your need to survive. You require water. Without a constant supply of hydration, the massive sandworms roaming the dunes will be the least of your worries. The game…

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Report: Subnautica 2 Team Could Miss $250 Million Payout After Publisher Delays It To 2026 Against The Founders' Wishes

Subnautica 2 is one of the most wishlisted games on Steam, and it’s no longer coming out in 2025. According to a new report by Bloomberg, publisher Krafton has decided to delay the underwater survival sim until 2026 which would likely deny the developers making the game a $250 million payout. That’s despite Unknown…

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Mario Kart World: 8 Clever Ways To Dodge Blue Shells And Keep Your Lead

There is nothing more dreadful in Mario Kart World than losing your lead because of a Spiny Shell, a.k.a. the dreaded Blue Shell. The potential threat of a power-up item that specifically targets the driver in first place ensures you never feel quite safe. Thankfully, avoiding them isn’t as impossible as their…

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Team Liquid 'Disappointed' CEO's Story About Growing Up Gay Was Censored From Esports Documentary In Saudi Arabia

Queer messages, characters, and storylines being censored in media in certain territories is nothing new, but just because it’s a regular occurrence, that doesn’t make it any less disheartening when it happens. The latest offender is an Amazon Prime documentary, Level Up, which follows several subjects involved with…

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The Rarest Mario Kart Track Is Playable Once More

There are many Mario Kart tracks. But one of them, Piranha Plant Pipeline, is only available in Nintendo’s mobile phone game Mario Kart Tour. However, it’s only ever made playable for a limited time. This makes it arguably the rarest and hardest-to-play Mario Kart track in the franchise. And this rare track is…

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KPop Demon Hunters Is Worth The Hype

It’s taken a couple of weeks for the full extent of KPop Demon Hunters to enter my field of view. For a while, all I’d seen of the Netflix animated phenomenon was the extremely…uh, exuberant early scene of its main cast of KPop idols getting real excited about their dinner, and the gifs from it being used in some…

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Everything In Destiny 2 Is Free Right Now If You Can Convince Anyone To Play With You

Destiny 2's next expansion, The Edge of Fate, goes live later this month. It will provide the foundation for the struggling live-service shooter for the foreseeable future, and Bungie is making everything currently in the game free for all players on every platform. It’s a pitch to get lapsed fans back into the fold…

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Robert Downey Jr. Explains How Ironheart Fit An Entire MCU Movie Into One Episode

It’s official: Iron Man loves Ironheart. While we didn’t get a crossover with the two heroes in the first season of the Disney+ limited series, we did recently get a nearly 14-minute conversation between Robert Downey Jr. and the show’s star, Dominique Thorne, in which the former gushed over how the show’s first…

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Say It Ain't So, Charge Jumps Are Slowing You Down In Mario Kart World

If you’re like me, you might have booted up Mario Kart World and immediately started spamming Charge Jumps as soon as you learned how to do them. After all, they seem like a Drift that lets you keep moving straight, and Drifts are awesome! Charge Jumps generate Mini-Turbos just like drifting does too, and Mario Kart…

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New To Rainbow Six Siege X? These Operators Should Help You Win

Did you know there are currently 74 playable operators (75 if you count Recruit) available in Rainbow Six Siege X? Back when I used to play daily on PS4, there were, like, twelve. It was manageable. Nowadays? Not so much. How is a new player supposed to sift through thIS broad assortment of characters, find one that…

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