Aaron Donald earned a record seventh straight 99 overall Madden rating because he’s Aaron Donald

Donald deserves so much respect.

When Aaron Donald finally hangs up his shoulder pads and helmet, he will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the greatest NFL players of all time. Heck, he’s in the conversation for the best defender ever. Period.

Even after a down 2022 season by Donald’s astronomically high standards, it should be no surprise he’s still viewed as an unstoppable game-breaker. Build up goodwill like three Defensive Player of the Year awards and seven First-Team All-Pro selections, and it’ll be hard for anyone to knock you down a peg.

The proof is in the pixelated pudding. Donald earned his seventh-straight 99 overall rating in Madden 24 on Tuesdaythe most all-time in the video game franchise’s history.

And it’s some of the least surprising news of the football offseason.

I respect Donald’s greatness. I count myself as one of the people who would name him the best defender in football history. There has never been more of a dominant interior pass rusher who could carry a defensive unit by himself like Donald.

He is in a class all to his own.

On the flip side, Donald’s best days are likely behind him. The 2022 season was the first time Donald missed more than one game in a campaign since the 2017 season. The difference this time around is he’s 32 years old with over 7,600 snaps of mileage. His performance could theoretically fall off a cliff at any moment.

With that said, the coming next few years might be the last we see of a true titan of the sport. And he’ll still be elite, and he’ll still be worthy of the highest virtual recognition.

We should appreciate Donald (even) more while we still can.

Limited Run is reviving classic PlayStation games for Switch and PC

Limited Run Games is bringing two classic PlayStation game franchises back for modern platforms, including Switch and PC

Limited Run Games is bringing two classic PlayStation game franchises back for modern platforms, including Switch and PC. The publisher announced a Tomba remake and a revival of the Gex trilogy during its annual summer showcase and said both projects are rebuilt in Carbon Engine, Limited Run’s internal development engine, and Tomba will feature a remixed soundtrack from Harumi Fujita, who composed the game’s original score.

Limited Run didn’t say whether Dana Harvey, Leslie Phillips, or Danny John-Jules will reprise their roles as Gex.

Neither project has a release date, though the Gex remastered trilogy and Tomba will launch for PS4 and PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. Since it’s from Limited Run, you can pretty much bet there’ll be a physical version of each and probably a collector’s edition as well.

Tomba was a PlayStation 1 exclusive, a quirky platformer that follows a wild young pink-haired man on a mission to recover a family heirloom from evil pigs, who he bites into submission and throws into bags.

Gex is a bit more rooted in its own time. The trilogy of platformers stars a smart-talking gecko who rattles off endless celebrity jokes and ‘90s pop culture references and is, himself, a riff on Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond. Even some of the levels are ripped from classic movies and TV shows of the time.

How well that lands with today’s audiences, we’ll just have to wait and see. 

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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Pikmin 4 fans were so delighted to see Captain Olimar twerking on a big screen in Times Square

Captain Olimar has some slick dance moves!

For over two decades, Nintendo has used the Pikmin franchise to captivate us with a cutesy “expedition” look at the lives of micro-beings on Earth.

You are Captain Olimar. You are exploring a strange planet (Earth). And you get the help of the half-plant, half-animal eponymous Pikmin with various elemental abilities. It doesn’t get any better (or weirder) than that for a Nintendo game’s concept.

With the release of Pikmin 4 on the way later this month, there was a rather special way of promoting the game in the heart of the Big Apple. Any pedestrians walking in Times Square could’ve had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Olimar … twerk on screen.

Yes, really:

For a game marketed to children (and nostalgic adults), I honestly can’t think of a better way to sell it with one virtual stone. Why yes, I just might buy Pikmin 4 if I can make Olimar dance like that. And even if I can’t, I appreciate the nerve to make him do it in an unofficial commercial.

Persona 5 voice actor leaves Twitter after harassment over AI

Erica Lindbeck, known for her role as Futaba in Persona 5 e deleted her Twitter account following harassment over AI voice acting programs

Erica Lindbeck, popular video game voice actor known for her role as Futaba in Persona 5 and Jessie in Final Fantasy 7 Remake deleted her Twitter account following harassment over AI programs imitating voice actors. The problem started when Lindbeck was made aware of a video that used AI to replicate her voice as Futaba and used it to sing lyrics to a Bo Burnham song.

Lindbeck and other voice actors requested that the video be taken down, and the creator took it down. So far, so normal. Then the video started reappearing under other accounts. Lindbeck said it felt like a violation to have her voice used without consent for someone else’s purposes, and the backlash from that comment, which circulated on ResetEra as well, snowballed until she deleted her account.

Other voice actors tweeted their support for Lindbeck and expanded on the industry’s concerns over AI to try and help people understand. 

“The worst part for me about the current AI situation is that now I don’t feel comfortable doing voicelines of my characters for fans, in case they are recording me to put into AI,” Erin Fitzgerald, known for their role as Chie Satonaka in Persona 4 among other roles, said on Twitter.

Kyle McCarley posted a lengthy thread explaining just a few of the problems with the situation, including the fact that actors don’t own their own performances of these characters. Using them in unapproved ways threatens the actor’s standing with their clients, and if the fake is good enough, clients could even believe an actor said something inappropriate or hateful when it was actually an AI model.

While the WGA writer’s strike began in part over the lack of protections against AI that writers and actors had, there has been no similar movement yet in the animation and voice acting sectors.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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Why college football players are considering boycotting EA Sports’ new NCAA Football video game

This could be a huge problem for EA Sports’ upcoming NCAA game

After so many years of begging and pleading EA Sports and the NCAA to finally work something out to bring back the NCAA Football video game, we’re finally getting what we’ve been asking for.

The NCAA Football video game series is slated to come back next year in 2024. The best part? Players are actually going to get a chance to opt-in to having their likeness used in the video game for the first time. Instead of using QB #13 for USC, for example, we’ll actually get a chance to play the game as Caleb Williams. And that’s awesome.

Well, it would be. Except there’s one tiny problem — it might not actually happen that way.

The NCAA’s players are currently being advised by the College Football Player’s Union to boycott the game, according to On3. All of a sudden, the game that we all thought was coming back better than ever is now marred with controversy once again.

Let’s talk about why.

College football fans were psyched to learn that the new NCAA video game will reportedly feature real players

NCAA Football is really coming back. Wow.

It has legitimately been a decade since we got the last iteration of EA Sports’ NCAA Football video game. Denard Robinson was on the cover — that’s how long it’s been.

When we got the news that the game was finally coming back after the NCAA solved its name, image and likeness problem by finally allowing players to be paid by outside sources, fans were all thrilled about it.

Rightfully so. We were all finally getting the video game back that we grew up on. If we’re being sincere, there hasn’t been a good football video game since NCAA 14 dropped.

The pot just got even sweeter, though.

Though we were getting our game back, there was a bit of a snag in that the game still needed to be able to have the license to use every individual player’s likeness to make the game happen.

Lo and behold, EA Sports has reportedly found a way.

For the game’s return in 2024, EA is working with a company called OneTeam Partners to reportedly “facilitate collegiate athletes’ names and likenesses” into the game, according to a report Wednesday from ESPN.

Essentially, FBS players will be given the opportunity to opt-in to being part of the game. Each player will be able to choose whether they’d like to have their likeness included in the game or not. They will be paid for it if they choose to participate.

Here’s more:

Details — such as how much an athlete will receive and the structure of payments — are still being finalized, but the EA Sports representative said the goal is to be “as inclusive and equitable as possible.” On the OneTeam website, the company stated that if the influence of individual sales couldn’t be figured out — including for video game licensing — then “revenue will be divided equally among the athletes included in each licensing program.”

It’s happening, y’all. Not only are we getting the players back in the game, but the days of referring to, say, Tim Tebow as QB #15 are over. Huzzah.

Fans of the gaming franchise were absolutely pumped to hear this news.

Zelda players are causing hilarious chaos with their Tears of the Kingdom creations

Princess Zelda can wait, there are shenanigans to be had!

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom isn’t a game about finding Princess Zelda or defeating Ganondorf, it’s about causing some shenanigans.

Tears of the Kingdom — the newest entry in the Zelda series — is only a few days old and yet, fans are already cooking up chaos. Much like Breath of the Wild before it, protagonist Link has some powerful abilities to make traversing the lands of Hyrule easier and more fun. But instead of creating ice blocks or bombs, Link has the ability to craft intricate creations with the ability Ultrahand.

From cars to flying vehicles, the sky isn’t even a limit anymore in Tears of the Kingdom!

No surprise then that Zelda fans took this new ability and ran with it, creating some awe-inspiring constructs and getting into some hilarious hijinks. Here are the best, most chaotic creations Zelda fans have come up with in Tears of the Kingdom, from rocket-powered vehicles to decked-out robot mechs.

May 2023 game releases: Upcoming titles being released this month

There’s more than just the next Zelda game

May is just around the corner, and it looks packed with great video games to look forward to. The long-awaited sequel to one of the best games ever released will keep Switch owners busy for quite some time, while Xbox and PC gamers are getting a highly-anticipated co-op first-person shooter with vampires.

Strategy fans will be treated to a new Age of Wonders title, and a unique puzzle game − in which a dog herds human crowds to save them from falling into the abyss – is coming to PC and PlayStation, with support for VR headsets, including the PSVR2.

A Lord of the Rings game that got delayed several times is finally coming to most platforms, and a new augmented-reality pet game from the creators of Pokémon GO is due in May, too.

Plenty of titles to be excited about, so let’s have a look at the best games releasing in May 2023.

May the Fourth Star Wars Draft: Picking the best content from TV series to video games

Yes, one of the prequels was picked. Get over it.

If you’re a fan of the NFL and Star Wars, this is a great week.

The NFL Draft begins Thursday and runs through Saturday. Fans of the Carolina Panthers to the Kansas City Chiefs all have high hopes.

And in the universe of a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… The Return of the Jedi is back in select theaters this Friday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its release. Also, the latest Star Wars video game, Jedi: Survivor will be released on Friday.

Also, May the Fourth is next week.

The convergence of these events gave us – the staff at For The Win­ – an idea:

STAR WARS DRAFT.

We laid out a few ground rules, randomized a draft order, set up some categories, and went to work on our draft boards.

Each person would pick one from each of the following categories: Film, Animated Show, Live-Action Show, Video Game, and a Wild Card Extended Universe pick – which wound up being everything from comic books to Pepsi cans. For the Live-Action Show category, we made Ahsoka, Skeleton Crew, and The Acolyte eligible even though they aren’t released yet.

The snake draft order was as follows: Mike Sykes, Mary Clarke, Matt Scalici, Mitchell Northam, Charles Curtis, Cory Woodroof, and Blake Schuster.

Here’s how our teams of Star Wars content shook out. The numbers next to the selections is the overall pick in which they were taken.

The 25 most breathtaking pictures we’ve taken in Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores

Horizon Forbidden West’s new DLC may be the best looking video game to date.

Photo modes in video games are a favorite of many gamers, and for good reason. Given how incredible video games look nowadays, it’s no wonder many spend a lot of their time in games taking pictures with the extensively detailed photo modes.

Horizon Forbidden West continues to hold my top spot for the most gorgeous video game I’ve played and Guerrilla Games’ newest DLC — Burning Shores — is even more of a feast for the eyes. Given what Guerrilla Games was able to do with the base game on both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, making Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores a PS5 exclusive upped the ante in a big way.

And so, it’s only fitting that after finishing my explorations alongside the game’s protagonist Aloy in the Burning Shores, I once again close out my time with the game by celebrating its gorgeous locales. Here are the top 25 pictures I took while traversing the jaw-dropping vistas in Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores.

Location spoilers for Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores ahead. All photos were taken on PS5 on the game’s performance mode.