Weekend Discussion - February 11, 2024

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! Let's kick off game day with a brand new Weekend Discussion.

In case you missed it at Shacknews:

• Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League review: Task Force Dreck
• How Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's first chapter deepens Remake's core mystery
• Exploring Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's open world and its relationship goals
• Shack Chat: What was your favorite game from the January 2024 PlayStation State of Play?
• Homeworld 3 has been delayed to May 2024
• Disney to invest $1.5 billion into Epic Games to create games & experiences with Fortnite
• Counter-Strike 2 gets popular Arms Race game mode in latest update
• Arm Holdings Q3 2024 earnings results beat EPS & revenue expectations
• Completing Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth demo unlocks gear & a story skip in the main game
• EVO 2024 main game lineup includes Tekken 8 & Street Fighter 6

I had my first experience with Helldivers 2 this week with our very own Donovan Erskine on a ShackStream and we had a blast. Well, I also got blasted by him. But, we were definitely doing our part out there! Here's a clip of one of our shining moments from the stream. You can catch the full VOD of the stream on YouTube here.

I've been really enoying the Silent Hill: The Short Message playthroughs from friends and other content creators this week. You can catch a full playthrough on our YouTube channel.

Around The Internet

The Puppy Bowl has been around for 20 years now so I figured we could warm up for a brand new battle for pup supremacy by watching some highlights and cute moments from the past 2 decades.

WWE is cooking right now. I was a bit worried a week ago but after the shenanigans that fans got to witness live at the Wrestlemania 40 Kickoff Event in Vegas, it seems like WWE has never been hotter. To be fair, they are also in the hotseat for some other reasons too, but this segment really salvaged what appeared to be a missed opportunity to finish the story between Cody and Roman.

I still can't believe that Shannon Sharpe conducted a nearly three-hour interview with Monique but it happened and it was full of the spiciest of tea. If you've somehow avoided this over the past few days, there's several interesting conversations had throughout the entire video. From Oprah to D.L. Hughley, the chopper is singing for some of the Hollywood elite! 

I've got to show some love to that Knuckles trailer. The use of "Knuck if You Buck" by Crime Mob was glorious. Happy Black History Month!

Weekend Vibes

I've got to show some love to Kelela who is one of my favorite artists when it comes to providing a unique soundscape with creative visuals and she always kills it when it comes to her remixes as well. A full year after her album release, RAVEN, Kelela has dropped a full remix album this week called RAVE:N, The Remixes and it is definitelly hitting the sweet spot for me. 

I stumbled on to this rendition of Beneath the Mask from Persona 5 and I love Aiasha Jackson's voice so much here. Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

This last track made me chuckle. I really dig Infinity Song's vibe as a band. There's also not as many family acts out there nowadays and that is even more true when it comes to Black family bands. They dropped a new album not too long ago and this song is definitely taking off. Go ahead and dedicate this one to the haters. 

And that's a wrap on another Weekend Discussion. Enjoy your Sunday and hopefully whichever team you are rooting for finishes on top tonight. Keep an eye out for more from Shacknews next week.  Please consider subscribing to Shacknews Mercury to support our site for as little as $1/month. Don't have a dollar? You don't need one to download Shackpets on iOS or Android. It's our first, free official app that's all about pictures of cute pets! Upload a photo of your pet and challenge other pet pictures to an epic battle of cuteness! You can also give Bubbletron a try for free as well! Cheers!

Dennis White

Community Manager

Denny is the current Social Media & Community Lead for Shacknews. He loves to be part of the conversation with readers and the gaming community as a whole. Denny is very passionate about making the game industry and associated media spaces more inclusive. He's also a huge fan of fighting games, hosting live tournament events with some fun color commentary. When he’s not gaming, you can find him diving into the discount comics bin or enjoying a horror movie with the lights off. He’s also been a content creator on Twitch since 2015 and has spoken live at Twitchcon, C2E2, and several other events along with providing D&I consulting for up and coming brands in gaming.