Popzara Podcast

Article: The Extincts: Flight of the Mammoth

I had a good feeling about Scott Magoon’s The Extincts when I first saw the covers to the first book and this sequel, The Extincts: Flight of the Mammoth, and I’m happy to say this one delivers just like the previous entry with plenty of action, adventure, humor and educational moments that’s fun for any reader. Are anthropomorphic animal heroes, The Extincts, are back and still recovering from their previous adventure that turned everything they thought they knew upside down.

Article: The Extincts: Quest for the Unicorn Horn

Once I saw the front cover of Scott Magoon’s The Extincts: Quest for the Unicorn Horn and noticed the simple yet striking artwork, I knew I had to give it a look. It also doesn’t hurt that I’m a sucker for anthropomorphic animals, and this graphic novel delivers the goods for young and older readers with adventure and some nice educational moments along the way.

Article: John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)

Keanu Reeves is back once again in the 4th installment of the action-thriller franchise John Wick: Chapter 4. The sequel to John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum has Wick (Keanu Reeves) still on the run and still seeking revenge against members of the High Table.

Article: Suzume (2023)

When Your Name was released back in 2016, it was a total game changer for anime films. It was honestly the first time I heard people who didn’t have any particular connection to anime get so excited about an anime film, and for good reason.

Article: GIGABYTE B650I AORUS ULTRA AM5 Mini-ITX Motherboard

Mini-ITX motherboards are decidedly niche in the consumer PC world. There are numerous reasons for their select appeal and some equally compromised disadvantages, but people who opt for small form factor machines have very specific reasons why they’d choose something like the GIGABYTE B650I AORUS ULTRA AM5 motherboard.

Movie Time! The Super Mario Bros. Movies (1993 – 2023), Hollywood Gaming, and Future Nostalgia

It’s Popzara’s Movie Time! Podcast!, where our own movie nerds Ethan Brehm and Nate Evans take you on an unscripted journey yakking and chatting about some of their favorite movie moments and cinematic scenes, from past and present, presented without snark and snobbery for your listening pleasure.

Is a double-dose of Nintendo nostalgia as the guys revisit the original – and infamous – live-action Super Mario Bros. (1993) starring Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo and Dennis Hopper. A notorious box-office disaster, audiences weren’t ready for its bizarre mix of Max Mad, Blade Runner, and fetish dancing in a film that was “Mario” in name only.

The same can’t be said of the new animated blockbuster The Super Mario Bros Movie (2023) from Illumination Studios starring Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Jack Black, which has broken box-office records and could signal Hollywood’s next obsession. It’s truly a love letter to Brooklyn’s favorite brothers (and Nintendo).

Article: Steel Defier

There was a time once when game discussion revolved around, well, games. We're talking about gameplay, controls, that sort of thing; it's a little more rare these days, since the focus tends to be on whatever cultural monomania has gripped the Internet that week.

Article: GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4070 Ti GAMING OC 12G Graphics Card

The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti has arrived, and I’ve finally spent some time getting acquainted with the GPU that was originally supposed to be the "RTX 4080 12GB". This little tidbit of its’ “unlaunching” meant a couple things for this rereleased GPUs: this card comes with a $100 MSRP discount to better align in the model hierarchy, and for unknown reasons—NVIDIA themselves skipped out on making a Founders Edition variant.

Article: The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

Ever since I saw the trailers for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, I could see how Illumination worked closely with Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo to bring the famed game series to the big screen, as there was fun and adventure from the games popping up in every frame.

Article: Tombs: Junji Ito Story Collection (2023)

The onslaught of freshly-translated works from Junji Ito continues! It’ll never end! The legendary Japanese horror manga maestro’s popularity has exploded in recent years thanks to (what feels like) an endless influx of new and older titles making their way to Western audiences thanks to his absurdly stacked back catalogue and other appearances. Maybe you caught the Netflix anthology Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre? Or enjoyed last year's digitally created The Liminal Zone? Perhaps you spotted him hamming it up with Guillermo del Toro in Death Stranding? Regardless of how you got here, Tombs: Junji Ito Story Collection includes nine short tales from an earlier period in Ito’s career (between 1994 - 1997), some of which have been animated in that above-mentioned Netflix anthology.

Article: Tetris (2023)

The 1980s were chock full of Cold War pop flicks like Red Dawn, Rocky IV, and WarGames. There was no sympathy to be had for the other side, only paranoia.

Article: Creative Stage SE Soundbar

Leave it to Creative to keep making a variety of awesome audio accessories for PC, consoles, TVs and more that fit whatever consumers need them for. This most certainly goes for their latest device, the Creative Stage SE that’s the perfect sized soundbar for PC gamer desks and their monitors, but can also be used for anything you can think of.

The State of Gaming March 2023: Resident Evil 4, The Last of Us, Bayonetta Origins, Wo Long, Fatal Frame, Tchia, E3 Canceled, Tetris Movie, and NPD is Circana

It’s The State of Gaming Podcast, Popzara’s in-depth look at what’s shaking up the gaming landscape delivered on a monthly basis. Our hosts Cory Galliher and Nate Evans guide you through the best, worst, and everything else making headlines and headway in the world of interactive entertainment.

The Biggest Games of March 2023

The biggest games of the month include: Resident Evil 4 Remake, Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon, The Last of Us Part 1 (PC), Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure, Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key, and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty.

Other notables include: Sifu (Xbox), Remnant: From the Ashes (Switch), Have a Nice Death, Tchia, and Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania.

Circana (Formerly NPD): February 2023

New name, same Mat Piscatella! NPD is now Circana – and remains the gaming industry’s best snapshot of what’s moving and shaking up both physical and digital retail shelves across the country. All estimates are for entertainment purposes only. Total sales of new gaming hardware and software topped $4.6 billion, a 6 percent increase over last year.

On the software charts Warner Bros’ Hogwarts Legacy unseats Activison’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Remake for the top spot, while EA’s Dead Space remake stays cozy in third. Sony’s The Last of Us: Part 1 returns in sixth, EA’s Wild Hearts debuts high in eighth, Sega’s Like a Dragon: Ishin! enters the list at ninth, while Square Enix’s Octopath Traveler II sneaks in at tenth.

Elsewhere on the list Nintendo’s Kirby’s Return to Dream Land debuts at fifteenth, Sega’s Company of Heroes 3 lands in sixteenth, Sony’s The Last of Us: Part II returns in eighteenth, and Square Enix’s Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line rounds out the list in twentieth.

Everything Else

But there’s more! E3, formerly the biggest gaming event in the world, has been canceled yet again. Maybe this time for keeps? Sony’s The Last of Us renaissance continues with the release of The Last of Us: Part I on PC…but was it worth the wait? Warner Bros’ Smash Bros. ripoff homage MultiVersus is set to be shut down this summer – but will it return? Word on the street Sony’s PSVR2 isn’t selling that hot – but Cory still loved it anyway!

Will 2023 be the year that game movies finally take off? Apple TV’s Tetris and Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game provide some biographical references for game/movie fans everywhere – all from the comfort of home. Check out our interview with the Pinball directors when you’re done listening to this!

Article: Infinity Pool (2023)

Watching yourself die and living to tell the tale isn’t something anyone on this Earth could ever relate to. And yet that’s what Brandon Cronenberg’s latest film Infinity Pool concerns itself with.

Article: Digimon World: Next Order

Raising a pet is pretty hard work. Kids? Kids are cute, so they can be forgiven for their misdeeds.