Evening Reading - July 7, 2023

Hello to everybody at Shacknews! Hope everyone's gotten the fireworks out of their system. My neighborhood certainly hasn't. It's time for a fresh round of news, memes, and entertainment. It's the Friday edition of Evening Reading.

In case you missed it at Shacknews:

• Bungie hints that the Vex might be the main threat after The Final Shape
• NBA 2K24 will feature crossplay for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S
• Diablo 4 Update 1.0.4 patch notes
• Former Sonic Team lead Yuji Naka hit with $1.2 million fine for insider trading
• Mark Zuckerberg says Threads has had 70 million signups since launch
• Street Fighter 6 has sold 2 million copies since launch
• Rashid will be eligible for the Street Fighter 6 tournament at EVO 2023
• Sega will keep blockchain & Web 3.0 out of Sonic, Yakuza & other major franchises
• Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin brings RTS gameplay to the Mortal Realms
• Shack Chat: What character do you want to see return in Mortal Kombat 1?

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

• Weekend Console Download Deals for July 7: Play ball with MLB The Show 23
• Weekend PC Download Deals for July 7: Steam Summer Sale continues

Around the gaming horn

If you missed the Panel from Hell Showcase, catch up with it above. You won't want to miss all things Baldur's Gate 3.

Dig deep into the archived catacombs of Halo's cutting room floor and restore a treasure trove of creatures, weapons, vehicles, maps, and other lost goodies coming to MCC PC through mods very soon.

🏗️ https://t.co/sVHwuFo4C5 pic.twitter.com/kWR9UMiR3K

— Halo (@Halo) July 7, 2023

Well, hot damn, look at what Halo's cooking up for the PC version of The Master Chief Collection.

If you can't get enough of Armored Core 6 gameplay, check out these reactions from Summer Game Fest.

Mario Kart Tour takes the Pipe Tour.

And finally, learn more about Basim, the main character of the upcoming Assassin's Creed Mirage.

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

Hail to the King

https://t.co/v8q6jPburb

☢️

— DNF2001 Restoration Project ☢️ (@DNF2001RP) July 7, 2023

If you missed it during E7, thank you once again to the Duke Nukem Forever Restoration Project for joining us. To learn more about what they do, check out ModDB.

Ninja Rap

Could very well be the case. 🐉 https://t.co/acWuvkdy5D

— Ed Boon (@noobde) July 8, 2023

Add in Chameleon switching colors all over the place and we got something. (Yes, I said "Chameleon." Remember, "Khameleon" imitated the female Outworld ninjas.)

Scenes from Zeldathon Echoes

The Zeldathon team is back together again, this time to raise money for Charity: Water. Here are a few clips from the marathon so far.

OOOOOOOOOH YEAHHHHHHHH!

The dunk tank showing that water is indeed wet.

This is ideally not how you deal with unwanted hitchhikers.

It's been a good week for Nic Cage.

Remember to get your donations in. Sadly, Lyric won't always be that surprised to see herself on camera when they come in.

A second water project has been funded! Thank you so much for your donations and let’s keep this momentum going! pic.twitter.com/mpQo5COcZb

— Zeldathon (@Zeldathon) July 8, 2023

Congratulations to Zeldathon for the goals the team has hit so far.

Get your donations in while you can! Depending on how much you donate, you can trigger secret sounds when your donation comes in. Here's a full list of the secret sounds, courtesy of Bokoblin. I'm always partial to donating $10.20 and reminding Dormammu that I've come to bargain.

Nothing but the Hotfix

If you've enjoyed the Super Mario Maker 2 relays, then you'll want to check out this special Kaizo Mario Showcase on the Hotfix. Watch as Shoujo and Shovda run through some supremely difficult Kaizo Mario hacks. 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, Sakurai discusses the importance of taking things in and putting things out as a game designer.

This week in Shaqnews

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by DR. SHAQUILLE O'NEAL Ed.D. (@shaq)

Putting LeBron on this list ahead of Shaq is a choice, but I'm not Jeannie Buss.

IT'S STILL REAL TO ME, DAMMIT!

I was in the crowd when Mark Briscoe fell short against Samoa Joe and that was a sad sight. Here's his second shot. Can he hit it this time?

Tonight in video game music

The Super Guitar Bros. have put up their cover of Peaches from The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

The one and only Jack Black takes center stage at the Hollywood Bowl performing “Peaches” from The Super Mario Bros. Movie live with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, exclusively for The Game Awards 10-Year Concert. (Filmed courtesy of the LA Phil). pic.twitter.com/H67u4Rxber

— Illumination (@illumination) July 6, 2023

If you'd like to see the real thing, here's Jack Black from The Game Awards 10-Year Concert at the Hollywood Bowl.

That's it for the first Friday Evening Reading for the month of July! 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 next week!

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?