Evening Reading - December 16, 2022

Hello, Shacknews readers! We have one final round of news, memes, and entertainment for 2022. Welcome to the last Evening Reading of the year!

In case you missed it at Shacknews:

• Shacknews Hall of Fame: Class of 2022
• Studio MDHR discusses the Cuphead Collector's Edition and the game's 5 year anniversary
• Hello Neighbor 2 review: The house that Mr. Peterson built
• Splatoon 3 Splatfest 4 pits Spicy vs. Sweet vs. Sour in early January 2023
• My Hero Academia cosmetics are coming to Fortnite
• Guerrilla Games is creating a Horizon online game
• Henry Cavill to star in and produce Warhammer 40,000 series for Amazon
• Latest Ford F-150 Lightning EV price hike to drive starting cost up 40% since launch
• John Carmack exits Meta, stating he's 'wearied of the fight'
• Shack Chat: What is your Game of the Year for 2022?

And, because it's the weekend, go find yourself something to play!

• Weekend Console Download Deals for Dec. 16: Xbox Countdown Sale
• Weekend PC Download Deals for Dec. 16: Epic Holiday Sale

Around the gaming horn

ARK: Survival Evolved now has a substantial story update. Look for new story content featuring characters voiced by Wheel of Time's Madeleine Madden and Doctor Who's David Tennant. Can you survive the epic clash against Rockwell? The update is free and it's available right now!

Those looking for the latest information on Diablo 4 can check out this developer update livestream, which aired earlier today.

What sets the PS5 version of Forspoken apart? Square Enix is here with the answer.

And prepare to return to the Digital World, as pre-orders for Digimon World: Next Order are now open.

And now... Other Stuff From The Internet!!!

(Ok, so to end this year, I'm going to attempt to take the "F*** Elon" challenge. Can I make it through this last Evening Reading of the year without using Twitter embeds and patronizing this journalist-banning fascist douchenozzle? Let's find out.)

End of the (Victory) Road

After 25 years, Ash Ketchum is finally the very best, like no one ever was. Pikachu wept, for there were no worlds left to conquer.

With nowhere left to go, The Pokemon Company is sending Ash and Pikachu off into retirement with 13 final episodes. A new Pokemon series is coming in 2023 and will feature a brand new protagonist for the first time since the anime began in the late 90s.

Still Stranding after seven years

It feels like just yesterday that Kojima and Konami had their falling out. Time works differently when you're stranding, I guess. Yes, Kojima Productions is now seven years old. To celebrate, here's a message from Kojima and a look at the developer's new studio.

Pitch, please

A day after DC decided to go in a different direction with Superman and leave Henry Cavill out to dry, here's a Pitch Meeting on Superman Returns.

WELL, BLOW ME DOWN!

Maximilian analyzes Street Fighter 6's box art and Luke's Popeye impression.

Meanwhile, the latest Street Fighter 6 beta is underway, so jump in while you can!

Ladies and gentlemen, The Weeknd

There will be a lot to talk about with Avatar: The Way of Water over the next few weeks. For now, let's enjoy this track from The Weeknd from the soundtrack.

Nothing but the Hotfix

GDQ's What's Faster? series is always fascinating, just because of the two games that they select. For today and for science, let's see what's faster between Mario Party Superstars and a Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past randomizer run.

GDQ's Hotfix shows air every week and you can catch them all at the Games Done Quick Twitch account.

Under the learning tree with Masahiro Sakurai

Masahiro Sakurai started a YouTube channel! Let's learn from his decades of experience together by looking at one of his latest videos. This week, we learn about jobs in the wonderful world of game development.

This week in Shaqnews

Shaq and Chuck hug it out for the holidays, giving everyone hope for world peace in our lifetime.

IT'S STILL REAL TO ME, DAMMIT!

One of the biggest TV upsets since Razor Ramon vs. The 1-2-3 Kid, as Chris Jericho gets knocked off by some random kid named Action Andretti.

Tonight in video game music

Shacknews E6 performer Lacey Johnson celebrates this week's release of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion with this cover of "Why."

That's your Evening Reading to send you into the holidays!

And that's it for us here at Shacknews for 2022! We want to thank you, our readers, for another wonderful year. Our best days are still hopefully ahead of us. We'll continue to do our best for you and keep bringing you the best in gaming, tech, gaming tech finances, and everything in-between.

Be sure to check out our Year of the Games posts, which will roll out over the next two weeks, culminating with our selection for Game of the Year. Chatty posters, I will check in with you guys around that time, as well, to give you the results of this year's community vote.

Until we return, be sure to keep the spirit of the classic Evening Reading alive by jumping into the comments about whatever you see here or whatever randomness you'd like to discuss. Join the conversation and dive into the Shacknews Chatty comment thread below. I'll see you all in 2023!

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?