Popzara Podcast

The State of Gaming September 2024: Reynatis, Astro Bot, Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, BAKERU, Marvel Vs. Capcom, PS5 Pro is Real, Happy Birthday Steam and Dreamcast, and Hello Japan!

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. Listen as 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 the month include: Reynatis, Astro Bot, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, The Casting of Frank Stone, BAKERU, Marvel Vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics, and Wild Bastards.

Other notables include: Final Fantasy 16 (PC), God of War Ragnarok (PC), Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, Fitness Boxing Featuring Hatsune Miku, Yars Rising, Age of Mythology: Retold, Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, and Lollipop Chainsaw RePop.

But there’s more! Sony finally makes the PlayStation 5 Pro official! And it’s gonna cost you! Happy 21st birthday to Valve’s Steam, which revolutionized how people buy and enjoy PC gaming! Speaking of celebrating, happy 25th anniversary to Sega’s Dreamcast, gone but never forgotten (the old console even got name-checked in the 2024 Presidential election).

Did you know one of our co-hosts recorded this episode in Japan? If you aren’t insanely jealous, listen today to hear this special dispatch from the Land of the Rising Sun! Akihabara, here we come!

Article: BAKERU

BAKERU is a game all about the feels. It feels like what you’d get if you mashed Super Mario Bros, Kirby, and Sonic into a single package inspired by Konami’s great Mystical Ninja games from the 1990s, resulting in a 3D platformer that is aggressively and delightfully more Japanese than just about any game I’ve ever seen published outside of, well, Japan.

Article: Turtle Beach Kone II Gaming Mouse

It’s amazing how Turtle Beach keeps releasing gaming tech left and right, while also topping what they’ve released before. The latest series of tech they’ve gone back and made better is their Kone II lineup of gaming mice, consisting of the Kone II and Kone II Air.

Article: Turtle Beach Kone II Air Wireless Gaming Mouse

It’s amazing how Turtle Beach keeps releasing gaming tech left and right, while also topping what they’ve released before. The latest series of tech they’ve gone back and made better is their Kone II lineup of gaming mice, consisting of the Kone II and Kone II Air.

Article: Over Horizon X Steel Empire

There are two ways to look at a package like Over Horizon X Steel Empire, a collection of classic shooter (shmup) games for modern platforms. One is exploitative, given these are older titles that haven’t been remastered in any way, a barebones package with nothing to pad things out - minus the games, of course.

Article: Kinds of Kindness (2024)

Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things, The Favourite) has blazed his own off-kilter path throughout Hollywood’s landscape since he first hit the scene in 2015 with The Lobster. His dry and dark sensibilities, combined with his unique insight into the stranger side of the human condition, have left lasting impacts on critics and audiences alike, clearly shown through his numerous Oscar wins and universal acclaim over the past decade.

Article: Audeze Maxwell Wireless Gaming Headset

If you’ve been keeping up with my headset and headphone reviews, you already know I can’t get enough testing them to find the best ones out there. Just when I thought I was done looking after the numerous Turtle Beach and SteelSeries ones I was sent, here comes another challenger with the Audeze Maxwell Wireless Gaming Headset that’s hands down one of the best I’ve used.

Article: Shadow of the Ninja - Reborn

There are videogame remakes and there are videogame reimaginings, and it’s clear Shadow of the Ninja - Reborn falls into the latter, triumphantly so. Released back in 1990 on the NES, the original Shadow of the Ninja played like a cross between Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden and Konami’s Castlevania, a straightforward action platform with heavy emphasis on precise attacks and jumping.

Article: Alien: Romulus (2024)

In today’s landscape of tired, rehashed IP slop that seems to dominate the market for the better part of the last decade, it’s rare to see a film rise above the low-hanging fruit of nostalgia bait and fanservice callbacks. Alien: Romulus, despite being a brighter spot in the long-running sci-fi horror franchise’s tumultuous and inconsistent history, unfortunately never seems interested in building an identity outside what has already been accomplished.

Article: Jackpot! (2024)

Paul Feig’s Jackpot! asks a strange question: what if a film combined the maddash comedy of 1963’s It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World with the gory dystopian free-for-all premise of The Purge? You’d get a weird action-comedy that’s more of a vehicle for Awkwafina and John Cena that’s occasionally very funny, until it’s not. I couldn’t help but think that a few years back, something like this might have had a chance of becoming a minor hit in theaters.

Article: Black Myth: Wukong

As the great philosopher-musician Beck once said: in the time of chimpanzees, I was a monkey. And why wouldn't I be? Monkeys represent the heart and soul of the human experience.

Article: Bebird Home 30S Ear Cleaner

I think I speak for most people when I say keeping your ears clean is something we don’t like to talk about or get into discussing too much, but we all know it needs to be done. This is especially the case for me as I have sensitive hearing and tend to produce cerumen aka ear wax more than the average person.

Article: Alien: Romulus (2024)

Given the iconic status of the "Alien" franchise, Alien: Romulus had a lot to prove. As the newest entry in a series that's been terrifying audiences since 1979, the pressure was on to deliver a film that could stand alongside the classics.

Article: Fender x Teufel Rockster Go 2 Portable Bluetooth Speaker

For as long as they’ve been available, I’ve always wanted to check out some Bluetooth speakers but never got around to picking any of them up. It's true good things come to those who wait, as one of the best Bluetooth speakers came to me in the form of the Fender x Teufel Rockster Go 2 Portable Bluetooth Speaker, which is small but powerful and one of the best you can get.

Article: Creative Outlier Go Wireless Headphones

Since I’m usually pretty mobile when I’m out and about walking or riding my bike, I’m always in the market for some solid headphones that can play my tunes and allow me to answer calls. The Creative Outlier Go Wireless Headphones are the latest to come my way and are perfect for those wanting great sound while still being able to hear around them.