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Yoshi's New Game Rethinks What A Platformer Can Be
Nintendo was a trailblazer of the platformer genre, but violence has always been baked into its formula. One of the very first things you do, in the very first Super Mario Bros. game, is stomp on a Goomba. Yoshi games have typically skewed to the younger side of Nintendo's target audience, but they're often still recognizable as traditional, if gentle, platformers. Yoshi's next game, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, is so gentle it has eliminated combat almost entirely. You can't die. You mostly don't eliminate enemies. But in its place, Nintendo has found an inventive new hook focused on creative play.
The eponymous Mysterious Book here is Mister Encyclopedia, aka Mr. E, a talking compendium of all the various flora and fauna that inhabit this land. His pages have gone blank, and he asks for the Yoshis' help restoring them. That framing makes your job squarely about research and observation, which in turn makes the proceedings mostly peaceful and playful.
To aid in the research, Yoshi's 2D moveset is even more generous than usual. You can still grab things with your tongue, but it's multidirectional. You can aim eggs using the right stick. You can flutter-jump seemingly endlessly, which keeps you at a steady height but can't keep reaching perpetually higher. And you can use a tail-swipe move to have a creature ride on your back, or switch between them. You're always Yoshi, but which rider is with you can have different effects. With this suite of moves in tow, you can open up the book and peer into its pages, using Mr. E's magnifying glass monocle to identify which creature habitat you want to examine. Then your chosen Yoshi will jump into the book and start poking around.
Continue Reading at GameSpotAway From Life: Odyssey Survival
Tides of Tomorrow
Masters of Albion
Roblox Can’t Seem To Keep Anyone Happy Right Now
Roblox has a tricky tightrope to walk between making its online sandbox safe and keeping it fun. On one side, players rail against changes locking off social settings and requiring privacy-threatening age checks, and on the other side Roblox is beset by lawmakers claiming the platform isn't doing enough. It's a balancing act, but at the moment Roblox doesn't seem to be pleasing anyone.
Roblox has long faced controversy fuelled by its young-skewing player base, from accusations of child labor exploitation to a bombshell Bloomberg report that alleged Roblox had become a hotbed for child predators. The company has faced legal action from many states across the US and internationally, including from LA, Australia, Texas, Louisiana, California, and more.
The company's responses to such accusations haven't always made for great PR, from CEO David Baszucki's notoriously poor handling of a New York Times interview to studio head Stefano Corazza saying Roblox was doing a good thing by allowing 15-year-olds to work. While defensiveness has often been the company's go-to response to accusations around safety, the mounting pressure has now seen Roblox pull the trigger on a number of sweeping platform changes.
Continue Reading at GameSpotOne Of The Year's Biggest Horror Movies Is Getting A Gnarly Steelbook Edition Blu-Ray
Lee Cronin's The Mummy Limited-Edition Steelbook (4K Blu-ray)
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Most people think of an enjoyable romp starring Brendan Fraser or a forgettable box office flop when they hear The Mummy. But this year, director Lee Cronin is aiming to make you feel pure terror with his reimagining of the cult-classic horror franchise. Preorders are now live for Lee Cronin's The Mummy, and you can choose from 4K steelbook, standard 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD editions ahead of its release later this year. The Blu-ray launch date isn't locked in yet, but we have seen the cover for one edition, the spooky steelbook that reminds you some things should stay buried.
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Here’s Why Fans Think FF7’s Tifa Is Coming To Street Fighter 6
Last week, a new trailer for the upcoming Street Fighter movie celebrated the Capcom franchise's return to the live-action limelight for the first time in over 15 years. This week, it's the current game, Street Fighter 6, and rumors of its next batch of DLC fighters that has fans riled up--rumors which include Final Fantasy VII's Tifa Lockhart, which would make her Street Fighter's first-ever guest character from a non-fighting franchise.
Per WCCFTech, a post on the Street Fighter subreddit surfaced that highlights series veteran Vega, also known as Balrog or "Claw," as a potential inclusion in SF6's Year 4 Character Pass. The post features a comment by user RnK_Clan not only listing Vega, but also naming Gouken, Mike Haggar from Final Fight, and Tifa as the other three characters.
RnK_Clan speaking to the Year 4 Pass lineup is notable, as they previously correctly predicted Fatal Fury's Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui appearing in 2024's Year 2 Pass. No other details about the rumored batch of DLC was shared by RnK_Clan, and an attempt for comment from Capcom has gone unanswered as of this writing.
Continue Reading at GameSpotMindsEye Devs Demand Answers Regarding Corporate Surveillance Issue
More trouble is brewing at MindsEye developer Build A Rocket Boy (BARB), but it has nothing to do with the studio's debut title. A group of employees led by the IWGB Game Workers Union have initiated legal action in response to Build A Rocket Boy leadership's decision to install surveillance software on employees' devices without their knowledge. According to the workers' union, after 40 employees filed a grievance demanding the removal of the software (called Teramind), it was removed from employee devices in March. But now, those workers want to know exactly how much data was collected without their consent--and what was done with it.
"[Build A Rocket Boy] failed to meet the aggrieved workers' other demands for transparency and accountability, refusing to explain what data was collected, how it was used, and why the software was installed in the first place," reads a press release from the IWGB Game Workers Union. "Now, IWGB members are escalating the matter through ACAS and the Information Commissioner's Office."
Build A Rocket Boy was founded by former Rockstar boss Leslie Benzies in 2016, with former Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard becoming co-CEO in 2024. The studio's debut release, the very clearly GTA-inspired MindsEye, quickly became one of the worst-reviewed games of 2025. The game's difficult launch was followed by claims of employees being subjected to excessive crunch time in an attempt to fix the game's many issues, followed by layoffs that employees say weren't handled properly.
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