Yearly Archives: 2020
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Reunion: Will Smith Reveals First Look Photos
James Avery, who Smith was referencing in his post, played Uncle Phil on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and passed away in 2013 at the age of 65.
As for Hubert, Smith surprised the cast when he revealed he sat down with her for a "emotional reunion and a candid conversation" that will be part of this upcoming special. Hubert played Vivian Banks for 74 episodes from 1990-1993, before Daphne Maxwell Reid took over the role through the end of the series.
The second photo features members of the main cast, including Tatyana Ali (Ashley Banks), Karyn Parsons (Hilary Banks), Joseph Marcell (Geoffrey Butler), Daphne Maxwell Reid (Vivian Banks), Alfonso Ribeiro (Carlton Banks), and DJ Jazzy Jeff (Jazz), who all came together for a "family reunion on the set of the Banks' home in this one-time special" that was taped today, September 10, 2020.
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In addition to hearing from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's series regulars, this special will also feature guest appearances, music, and dancing.
While this reunion may only be for one night, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is getting a reboot with a darker and more dramatic tone. It's is being developed by Morgan Cooper, who produced an unlicensed faux-trailer for a proposed Fresh Prince reboot, and is being co-produced by Smith's Westbrook Studios and Universal TV.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.GameStop Plans to Close Around 450 Stores
Moon Review – The Bright Side
Imagine if you somehow found yourself as an NPC in the world of your favorite classic RPG adventure. Not as a monster-slayer, item-maker, or advice-giver, mind you... just as an average Joe Schmoe who's trying to live their life as the chosen hero goes off to fight the forces of evil. Now, imagine if, upon materializing in this world, you learned that the story the game told you wasn't entirely accurate to that world's reality--and that the "hero" was a bumbling psychopath who can't carry a two-sided conversation, raids townspeople's drawers and cabinets looking for loot, and cuts down any animal he comes across in a crazed craving for EXP. What would your life in this world be like? Could you do anything to help make the world better?
This is the idea behind Moon, an "anti-RPG" originally released in Japan on the PlayStation in 1997 that has garnered much acclaim since. Though it was only available in Japanese for quite some time, Moon's cult-classic status among gamers and developers has given it a powerful reputation, bolstered by Toby Fox of Undertale fame citing it as one of that game's influences. With an English version finally available after almost a quarter-century, does Moon live up to the expectations? Yes, indeed--though its age certainly shows in many places.
Moon begins with a youngster playing an RPG called Moon World, which looks like a standard 16- or 32-bit JRPG. A chosen hero is going on an epic journey to recover the light of the moon from a wicked dragon, collecting gear, gaining levels, and slaying monsters while earning the adoration of the townsfolk. As the child's mother tells them to turn off the console and go to bed, the youth suddenly finds themselves in the actual Moon World, which looks quite different from the game they were playing. A mysterious being appears and tells you that the only way to exist within the world is to find and collect love from its populace. And thus, your journey of discovering ways to appreciate the world and do random acts of kindness begins.
Continue Reading at GameSpotMoon Review – The Bright Side
Imagine if you somehow found yourself as an NPC in the world of your favorite classic RPG adventure. Not as a monster-slayer, item-maker, or advice-giver, mind you... just as an average Joe Schmoe who's trying to live their life as the chosen hero goes off to fight the forces of evil. Now, imagine if, upon materializing in this world, you learned that the story the game told you wasn't entirely accurate to that world's reality--and that the "hero" was a bumbling psychopath who can't carry a two-sided conversation, raids townspeople's drawers and cabinets looking for loot, and cuts down any animal he comes across in a crazed craving for EXP. What would your life in this world be like? Could you do anything to help make the world better?
This is the idea behind Moon, an "anti-RPG" originally released in Japan on the PlayStation in 1997 that has garnered much acclaim since. Though it was only available in Japanese for quite some time, Moon's cult-classic status among gamers and developers has given it a powerful reputation, bolstered by Toby Fox of Undertale fame citing it as one of that game's influences. With an English version finally available after almost a quarter-century, does Moon live up to the expectations? Yes, indeed--though its age certainly shows in many places.
Moon begins with a youngster playing an RPG called Moon World, which looks like a standard 16- or 32-bit JRPG. A chosen hero is going on an epic journey to recover the light of the moon from a wicked dragon, collecting gear, gaining levels, and slaying monsters while earning the adoration of the townsfolk. As the child's mother tells them to turn off the console and go to bed, the youth suddenly finds themselves in the actual Moon World, which looks quite different from the game they were playing. A mysterious being appears and tells you that the only way to exist within the world is to find and collect love from its populace. And thus, your journey of discovering ways to appreciate the world and do random acts of kindness begins.
Continue Reading at GameSpotStar Renegades Review – The Heat Of The Moment
I grew up on RPGs with turn-based battles, but I don't play them much anymore. Too often, they're designed for quantity over quality, leading to long strings of fights you can grind through on auto-pilot. It's ironic, then, that Star Renegades, which applies the run-based roguelite structure of games like Into the Breach and Dead Cells to a gauntlet of turn-based RPG battles you repeat over and over again, would find a way to reinvigorate them. Tactically taxing and demanding in every moment, Star Renegades makes every turn feel like a new crossroads where the fate of the world (or at least your playthrough) hangs in the balance. Whether it elicits ecstasy or agony, it's always exciting.
The "run" in Star Renegades is a truncated RPG quest. Your party, which begins as a trio and maxes out as a group of six, repels a multiverse-conquering invasion force. Taking a cue from Into The Breach, failing in Star Renegades prompts you to send a robot messenger to the next dimension so it can prepare to defend itself. On the journey, you move your party around world maps, level up, equip weapons and armor, learn bits and pieces about your heroes' backstories, and, of course, fight.
Star Renegades' RPG trappings allow its pixel art aesthetic to shine. In moving back and forth from world map to combat screen, you get to see the vibrant, colorful sci-fi world from both a bird's-eye and ground-level view. With little room for actual narrative, so much of Star Renegades' world and characters is conveyed through its look and feel.
Continue Reading at GameSpotStar Renegades Review – The Heat Of The Moment
I grew up on RPGs with turn-based battles, but I don't play them much anymore. Too often, they're designed for quantity over quality, leading to long strings of fights you can grind through on auto-pilot. It's ironic, then, that Star Renegades, which applies the run-based roguelite structure of games like Into the Breach and Dead Cells to a gauntlet of turn-based RPG battles you repeat over and over again, would find a way to reinvigorate them. Tactically taxing and demanding in every moment, Star Renegades makes every turn feel like a new crossroads where the fate of the world (or at least your playthrough) hangs in the balance. Whether it elicits ecstasy or agony, it's always exciting.
The "run" in Star Renegades is a truncated RPG quest. Your party, which begins as a trio and maxes out as a group of six, repels a multiverse-conquering invasion force. Taking a cue from Into The Breach, failing in Star Renegades prompts you to send a robot messenger to the next dimension so it can prepare to defend itself. On the journey, you move your party around world maps, level up, equip weapons and armor, learn bits and pieces about your heroes' backstories, and, of course, fight.
Star Renegades' RPG trappings allow its pixel art aesthetic to shine. In moving back and forth from world map to combat screen, you get to see the vibrant, colorful sci-fi world from both a bird's-eye and ground-level view. With little room for actual narrative, so much of Star Renegades' world and characters is conveyed through its look and feel.
Continue Reading at GameSpotMarvel’s Avengers Review – Infinity War
Marvel's Avengers is the Incredible Hulk of video games. The rage-filled Avenger and his scientist alter-ego are the same person and yet wholly different from one another, and Avengers is similarly split between two, sometimes diametrically opposed, personalities. One is a single-player story campaign that can be emotional and thoughtful, tuned to bring you into the shoes of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, while also spending time with them as people. The other is a multiplayer-focused live game full of huge levels where you punch all manner of enemies, without many worries as to why. Both sides work in their own way, but they never quite mesh, leaving Marvel's Avengers a somewhat confused, haphazard game--but a fun one, despite all its inner turmoil.
Like the Hulk's mild-mannered counterpart, Bruce Banner, the single-player story campaign of Marvel's Avengers makes a strong first impression with its more thoughtful approach. It's set in its own alternate Marvel Comics universe where the superheroes that make up the Avengers--Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, the Hulk, and Thor--are famous and beloved. You start the game as Kamala Khan, a young girl who's a huge fan of the heroes, when she attends an Avengers celebration called A-Day in San Francisco. Soon, Kamala will become a superhero in her own right, following a terrorist attack and a tragedy that causes the Avengers to disband and spreads superpowers throughout a segment of the population. And while you'll spend time as each of the titular team, the single-player portion of Marvel's Avengers is really Kamala's story, and it works because she provides it a moral and emotional heart.
But this is a superhero game, and that means there are supervillains--and they need punching. The core of Marvel's Avengers is an action-RPG brawler, with you playing a range of characters that deliver beat-downs to Marvel creeps such as Abomination, Taskmaster, and MODOK, as well as their many robotic and human minions. You're treated to a host of moves, which include light and heavy melee strikes, ranged attacks, hero-specific special abilities that have cooldown timers, and extra abilities triggered by using Intrinsic Energy, a resource that generally builds up over time and allows you to activate boosts for damage or defense. Combat in Marvel's Avengers is about stringing together combos and abilities based on the enemies you're facing, with various threats demanding that you kick them into the air to juggle them, break their shields with heavy attacks, or dodge and parry their incoming blows to defeat them.
Continue Reading at GameSpotMarvel’s Avengers Review – Infinity War
Marvel's Avengers is the Incredible Hulk of video games. The rage-filled Avenger and his scientist alter-ego are the same person and yet wholly different from one another, and Avengers is similarly split between two, sometimes diametrically opposed, personalities. One is a single-player story campaign that can be emotional and thoughtful, tuned to bring you into the shoes of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, while also spending time with them as people. The other is a multiplayer-focused live game full of huge levels where you punch all manner of enemies, without many worries as to why. Both sides work in their own way, but they never quite mesh, leaving Marvel's Avengers a somewhat confused, haphazard game--but a fun one, despite all its inner turmoil.
Like the Hulk's mild-mannered counterpart, Bruce Banner, the single-player story campaign of Marvel's Avengers makes a strong first impression with its more thoughtful approach. It's set in its own alternate Marvel Comics universe where the superheroes that make up the Avengers--Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, the Hulk, and Thor--are famous and beloved. You start the game as Kamala Khan, a young girl who's a huge fan of the heroes, when she attends an Avengers celebration called A-Day in San Francisco. Soon, Kamala will become a superhero in her own right, following a terrorist attack and a tragedy that causes the Avengers to disband and spreads superpowers throughout a segment of the population. And while you'll spend time as each of the titular team, the single-player portion of Marvel's Avengers is really Kamala's story, and it works because she provides it a moral and emotional heart.
But this is a superhero game, and that means there are supervillains--and they need punching. The core of Marvel's Avengers is an action-RPG brawler, with you playing a range of characters that deliver beat-downs to Marvel creeps such as Abomination, Taskmaster, and MODOK, as well as their many robotic and human minions. You're treated to a host of moves, which include light and heavy melee strikes, ranged attacks, hero-specific special abilities that have cooldown timers, and extra abilities triggered by using Intrinsic Energy, a resource that generally builds up over time and allows you to activate boosts for damage or defense. Combat in Marvel's Avengers is about stringing together combos and abilities based on the enemies you're facing, with various threats demanding that you kick them into the air to juggle them, break their shields with heavy attacks, or dodge and parry their incoming blows to defeat them.
Continue Reading at GameSpot