Evening Reading - February 16, 2024

Hello, once again, Shacknews. I just came in from DICE and that was a fun-filled week. It was nice to meet up with friends and catch up with industry folk, as well as talk to some people about bringing some exciting things to Shacknews in the future. As I recover from the long drive home, let's get into a fresh round of news, memes, and entertainment. This is the Friday edition of Evening Reading.

In case you missed it at Shacknews:

• Shack Together 002 - Tegra X1 Power Hour feat. Xbox Exclusivity and David Craddock's Perfect Run
• Helldivers 2 review: Life, liberty and the violent pursuit of shareholder value
• Inkulinati review: Ye olde fart attack
• The D.I.C.E. Awards 2024 winners & finalists
• Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 6 notes add unique kissing animations
• Alan Wake 2 is Remedy Entertainment's fastest-selling game
• Post Malone is curating WWE 2K24's soundtrack & will be playable in the game
• Microsoft, Google, Meta & other tech firms sign pact to combat election deepfakes
• Helldivers 2 gets bonus XP & Requisitions weekend to make up for mission rewards bug
• Shack Chat: Which Xbox game do you want to see ported to PS5 and Nintendo Switch?

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

• Weekend Console Download Deals for Feb. 16: PlayStation Planet of the Discounts
• Weekend PC Download Deals for Feb. 16: Steam Remote Play Together Fest

Around the Gaming Horn

Here's some rapid-fire news to wrap up your week.

With Genesis happening right now, Smash competitor Rivals of Aether has a new character trailer for its upcoming sequel.

Ubisoft would really, really like for you to give Skull & Bones a shot, so they're allowing you to try it for eight hours.

Over on Apple Arcade, Sonic Dream Team has received its first major update.

One more push for Last Epoch, which comes out of Steam Early Access next week!

Make every second count during #PokemonGOTour: Sinnoh – Los Angeles. pic.twitter.com/8JDvYaAeNc

— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) February 17, 2024

And Pokemon GO Tour: Sinnoh touches down on Los Angeles this weekend. I will be at the Rose Bowl and I'll look to chat with Niantic while I'm out there.

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

Today in Bubbletron

Be sure to play Bubbletron today!

Slice and DICE

GOTY @larianstudios speech at DICE 2/2

"We ask you to pay one price only for the game, and that's it. You can own it for the rest of your life."

"Building a community, building a player base, building games that are actually fun is going to make you the most money." pic.twitter.com/XWdDn7nYTj

— Sarah M (@RetroCozyArt) February 16, 2024

Larian's speech after winning Game of the Year at DICE. A must-watch for anybody who's been following the misery in our industry over the last year.

NHL x Disney: Part 2

NHL’s ‘Big City Greens Classic’ returning in March https://t.co/jnWOYTDq9D pic.twitter.com/AY2pwoCwJZ

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 16, 2024

As more sports try to teach a new generation about what it means to be a fan, Disney and the NHL are teaming up for another year of The Big City Greens Classic.

One Piece, Two Piece

#ONEPIECE star Iñaki Godoy teases what to expect in Season 2 pic.twitter.com/ZiWjwyCcL4

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) February 16, 2024

As Avatar waits around the corner, we hear a small something about the next season of One Piece.

Nothing but the Hotfix

With Sonic being on a lot of people's minds lately, GDQ is getting into first-time running for Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.

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 talks about why game directors and team leaders shouldn't delay in making decisions.

This week in Shaqnews

We asked @wemby to recreate an iconic moment from Inside the NBA.

His @SHAQ impression did not disappoint 😅 pic.twitter.com/2sqh3GF7V0

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 16, 2024

Wemby shows he's got quite a Shaq impression in him.

IT'S STILL REAL TO ME, DAMMIT!

THE WOLF DOGS!

Tonight in video game music

We continue rolling through concerts from this year's MAGFest. Check out this set from Super MadNES.

That's it for the third Friday Evening Readings for February! 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. If you want to go new school and find different ways to leave your feedback or talk about whatever, join us in the Official Shacknews Community Discord. 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?