Yes, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth also has Kiryu in it, but he's the same ol' Kiryu we've known and revered for years and years. This is cute Kiryu, with an oversized head and a li'l Astro Bot mask on. And instead of fighting back when you punch him, as we've been trained to believe he would do for almost two decades, he just produces a bunch of familiar items from the Yakuza series like traffic cones, stop signs, and dart boards. Check it out:

Joking aside, cute Kiryu won't be enough for Astro Bot to become my GOTY. I remain skeptical that the overall experience will be as memorable as the latest Like a Dragon and Final Fantasy games - even though it is getting better reviews than both - but he certainly makes me more open to the idea. I'm also highly encouraged by the Astro Bot director saying "12 to 15 hours of condensed fun" are better than 40 hours playing a game with parts "you feel like skipping," simply because I don't have time for another 100 hour JRPG.

Astro has more than 150 cameos from various franchises, mostly Sony-owned, but obviously with certain exceptions like Yakuza, which was still largely PlayStation-exclusive for its first 15 years or so.

Our Astro Bot review called the game "a near-perfect platformer".

The sequel to the underrated platform gem Astro's Playroom, which is bundled into all PS5s as a purchase bonus, launched this week to absolutely stellar reviews. I think the most efficient way I can express just how much people are digging this game is by pointing out how many reviews compare it to Super Mario Bros. I mean, you just don't invoke that name unless you mean serious business. And serious business these critics mean.

Our own 5/5-star Astro Bot review says the sequel "soars above and beyond [Astro's Playroom] to serve up a near-perfect platformer to rival – and possibly surpass – the best of Super Mario's Mushroom."

I was already sold on this game and was excited to dive in this weekend, but these latest comments from Doucet, from an interview with Bloomberg, have me straight buzzin' for Astro Bot. Any frequent reader of mine will know well how much I detest that industry trends have driven up the average length of big new games to the point where I have no hope of keeping up with everything being released.

"Having something that’s 12 to 15 hours of condensed fun, where there wasn’t five minutes in which you felt it was long or lacking, is much more valuable than 40 hours when you have some moments that you feel like skipping," Doucet said to thunderous applause from me and my cats. "Being able to be OK with that, goes in some way to keeping things under control."

Another core design tenet of Astro Bot, according to a Doucet who spoke with VGC in a separate interview, is that it fills a gap missing since PlayStation Studios "went from making cartoon games" to "mature, hyper-realistic games". And you know what? I quite like that as well even though you can argue games like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Astro's Playroom itself were already partially filling that gap.

Ready to jump in this weekend? Here's how to unlock all Astro Bot collectibles, including Bots, Puzzle Pieces, and Warps. 

The latest live-action Tolkien gig came in second place to Worst Ex Ever, a new Netflix true crime documentary show. Per Netflix, the logline is: "From chilling betrayals to murder plots, this true-crime docuseries dissects the dark side of love through eyewitness testimonies."

According to Variety, the series came in at around 633.3 million minutes watched, with The Rings of Power racking up 553.5 million minutes watched. Much like the Lord of the Rings spin-off, the true crime doc is airing weekly – rather than the full season being available to watch all at once. The first four episodes focus on spouses who have discovered that the person they married is not who they seem, with one woman finding herself in a murder plot following their divorce. Other details about the show, such as crew production, are murky at this time.

"We’re looking to bring people to the service and we’re hoping to get lots of signups again," Vernon Sanders, head of U.S. and global TV for Amazon and MGM Studios told Variety, explaining Amazon's $100-150 million investment in each season of The Rings of Power. Basically, they're determined to stay at the top spot (and there's no way we aren't getting a third or even fourth season.)

The Rings of Power season 2 is streaming now on Max. Worst Ex Ever season 1 is streaming now on Netflix. Check out our guide to The Rings of Power season 2 release schedule and our The Rings of Power season 2 review.

After an eye-watering eight years in development, Concord's abrupt and shocking cancellation makes it a stronger contender for the worst launch of 2024, and arguably one of the poorest performances of any online game of the last decade or so. I can only think of a few off the top of my head whose launch states and shutdowns overshadowed the game itself to such an overwhelming degree. 

Anthem, maybe? But at least EA and BioWare tried salvaging that with post-release content and then a switch to seasonal updates before ultimately cancelling all future content two years after its launch. Somewhat similarly, in 2015 Turtle Rock took a lot of heat for Evolve's infamous 44 DLC packs and the general development direction at launch, but it still stumbled through a months-long comeback strategy that culminated in the scrapping of future content plans in October 2016 and, ultimately, the shutdown of dedicated servers in September 2018. There was a faint attempt at reviving the zombie shooter in October 2022 when 2K reenabled the free-to-play Evolve: Stage 2 servers, but the servers were taken down "for the final time" in July 2023.

I'm genuinely struggling to remember any instance where an online game of Concord's profile - that is, from a publisher as big as PlayStation - was taken down just weeks after it went live. And refunded, at that. Regardless, Concord is no longer playable and PlayStation's plans for the IP are unclear aside from the recent report claiming it'll still rather awkwardly be a part of Amazon's anthology TV series Secret Level.

In the final days of Concord's short life, it was filled with players throwing themselves off maps as quickly as possible in a desperate attempt to unlock the game's Platinum trophy. Now that the game's offline, whoever wasn't able to snag one is presumably out of luck for good, so as we bid farewell to the short-lived hero shooter, let's also pour one out for the trophy collectors who missed out.

At least we still have these picks from our list of the best FPS games to play.

In The Rings of Power season 2 episode 4, Elrond and his troops are attacked by a merciless group of Barrow-Wights. If you listen closely, the incantation, "Cold be hand and heart and bone" is being sung over the score.

The full incantation is as follows: "Cold be hand and heart and bone, and cold be sleep under stone: never more to wake on stony bed, never, till the Sun fails and the Moon is dead. In the black wind the stars shall die, and still on gold here let them lie, till the dark lord lifts up his hand over dead sea and withered land."

This is recited in the chapter, "Fog on the Barrow-downs," which is the eighth chapter of the first part of the novel The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings. In the chapter, a barrow-wight sings this after it traps Frodo, Sam, Pippin, and Merry.

It's a cool Easter egg, especially given that the last time we heard it in a live-action Tolkien venture was The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Gollum eerily recites a few lines, though with the words changed just a bit: "Cold be heart and hand and bone, cold be travelers far from home, they do not see what lies ahead when sun has failed and moon is dead."

Tolkien nerds have won yet again. Everyone say, "Thank you Bear McCreary."

The Rings of Power season 2 is streaming now. Check out our guide to The Rings of Power season 2 release schedule and our The Rings of Power season 2 review.

The backdrop to this is a measurable – albeit not entirely unexpected or atypical – decline in Destiny 2's player count, with the new Episode model seemingly failing to keep some players on the hook long-term, not to mention unrest exemplified by devoted players like community icon Datto. There have also been rumors of a dramatic shift in business model for Destiny 2, with major expansions potentially getting the axe and with new owner Sony reportedly poised to plunge its hands deeper into Bungie's operations. Inexplicable technical issues – my team ran into all-new raid bugs just last night – haven't helped either. 

Many had hoped that the upcoming 10th anniversary of the Destiny series, which launched way back on September 9, 2014, would serve up an event capable of giving Destiny 2 a shot in the arm. In a new blog post, Bungie says it only has plans for "fun and light" 10-year fanfare. 

"We’ll have a small in-game celebration for you all next week, along with some beautiful art the team has made throughout the years," the post reads. "There will be some Legendary armor freebies, a fun Title to earn, some Bungie Rewards, and more. Check back next Monday at 8am PT for our blog coverage." 

With this being a major milestone, the sort where virtually all other MMOs would roll out the red carpet with weeks of events and rewards, the cynic in me can't help but read this as a sign that post-layoff Bungie may not have the resources to spare for major celebrations. There is, however, unconditionally good news this week: Bungie is ready to properly talk about the future of Destiny 2, namely Codename: Frontiers, the next leg of the journey which was teased earlier this year. 

On September 9, Bungie will release "a short Dev Insight blog article discussing our goals for the future of Destiny. Destiny 2 Game Director Tyson Green and Destiny 2 Narrative Director Alison Lührs will be guiding the conversation. Where have we been, where are we now, and where do we want to go? Most importantly... how are we going to get there? 

"We want to be clear about our commitment to ongoing communication with you. This marks the beginning of regular updates from our development team about what's next for Destiny 2, including details about its systems and future plans. While the updates may be a bit rough around the edges as they are early in the development process, we're excited about sharing our goals and progress with you."

This first bite sounds unsurprisingly nonspecific, but as the Destiny 2 community struggles with the absence of the 'what comes next' anticipation that buoyed the game during previous dips, it'll be good to get any sense of what's on the horizon. "This will be the start of a conversation," Bungie says. "Our main goal is to provide bite-sized, direct to the point articles over the next few months rather than mega-blogs where it’s too easy to get mired in the details." 

Not for the first, second, or third time, Bungie reiterates that "the Light and Dark saga may have ended, but the future of Destiny is still unfolding before us." This section of the blog post ends with a broader tease that "this universe is big, bright, and full of wonder. We’re looking forward to exploring it and hope to see you join us starside as we approach new frontiers." On this, at least, I am not at all cynical; it smacks of what Destiny 2 game director Robbie Stevens told Edge magazine about the future of the game, and it does sound exciting. 

"A lot of that thinking about year 11, and how we start really getting into the next journey here after these Episodes, we're going to be leaning on that thinking as well," Stevens said. "Because we've been doing this linear thing for a while now, and we want to get back to expanding our worlds and world-building, expanding the universe of Destiny in general." 

Phil Spencer says he's made some of the "worst" decisions when it comes to Xbox exclusives, like not signing Destiny or Guitar Hero.

In a machine-translated Famitsu interview, Sakaguchi confirmed he's still working with the same team behind the 2021 mobile RPG Fantasian, which is finally getting a console and PC release this winter, on a brand new project, although he had no new updates to provide.

"I made Fantasian thinking it might really be a retirement piece, but yes, I am withdrawing it," Sakaguchi said. "We are starting to make progress on a new work ... which means we are working on a new one."

This isn't a new announcement, by the way. We first learned back in December 2022 that Sakaguchi was working on a "dark fantasy" game after he made comments suggesting Fantasian could be his final project. In November 2023, he again affirmed he was working on a new "dark fantasy" game, and at the top of this year he revealed he'd finished a plot outline despite being kept thoroughly busy playing Final Fantasy 14.

Now, for the first time, he's given one definitive reason he decided against leaving game development, and it's really simple: "One thing I can say is that game production is fun. It may be more of a pleasure than a job."

He continued: "It may be that I am getting older, but I really feel that friends are really nice. I am excited to be able to develop games with everyone again. On a personal note, I am expecting a grandchild soon. I hope to incorporate what I feel at that time into the new game."

The idea of Sakaguchi drawing from his experience as a new grandparent is exciting – much, if not all, of his best work was directly shaped by powerful experiences and emotions. Welcoming a new family member would certainly fit that bill. One way or the other, I'd imagine many JRPG fans are happy to hear we haven't seen the last of Sakaguchi. He only recently reconnected with Square Enix after decades away, which he described as "like returning to your home in the countryside, this old home that your parents always had."

Find out which Final Fantasy game made our list of the best JRPGs ever made.

After the Borderlands movie made just $8.8 million against its $110+ million budget during its opening weekend, Boll - who has secured multiple Golden Raspberry nominations for his video game adaptations - decided to gloat. "My movies were rated R and made more money than this," he said on social media (via PC Gamer), noting Borderlands' drop from an R rating to PG-13.

Putting aside the fact that Borderlands scraped to nearly $30 million by the time it left theaters and that none of Boll's movies have had that kind of turnaround, it seems that the Postal director might have been a bit premature in his mockery. Last week, he kicked off a crowdfunding campaign to raise $2.5 million for a sequel to his 2007 Golden Raspberry winner Postal, which grossed less than $150,000 worldwide. That film was based on the Postal games, the most recent of which is currently sitting on a rating of 30 on Metacritic.

That crowdfunding campaign was, to be clear, an abject failure, raising just $850 from 16 backers before it was canned. At time of writing, the campaign's title simply reads "cancelled all pledges refunded we had no choice," and is accompanied by a video of Boll saying that it "was just not worth it." Boll seems to think he might still make Postal 2 if he can find the money somewhere else, but it's pretty clear that the community support he was hoping for wasn't really there. Hey, at least Randy Pitchford has Borderlands 4 to fall back on.

For a few beautiful hours, the Borderlands movie's $90m flop wasn't even the worst-reviewed film of the summer.

"I was frustrated that she went that way, but then, she was frustrated in the scene.  So of course she deserved better. I wanted more but she's so frustrated in that moment with Jonathan [Pryce] so that's part of it, that's how you know you're doing it right," Dormer told Collider Ladies Night. "She's vindicated in the end, it's a couple sentences, but it's all that needs to be said. She was vindicated and I felt like I could let her go in that moment. Because she said it, man."

Margaery dies in season 6 episode 'The Winds of Winter', after Cersei orders Qyburn to set fire to the Sept. The Sept instantly bursts into flames, killing Margaery instantly. It's a ghastly green blaze that kills hundreds of others. It's Margaery who tells everyone to flee, meaning she was right all along. Many fans were upset by her death, given how much her character suffered (she was married to Joffrey for chrissake) only to go out the way she did.

"If Margaery had to die, how would I want to her to die? Via dragon probably," Dormer previously told GamesRadar+. "That would be the most apt wouldn’t it? But that would mean that Dany would have to get over so who knows?" Well, a fiery blaze is close enough.

Game of Thrones is streaming now in its entirety on Max. For more, check out our list of the best new TV shows coming your way in 2024 and beyond.

According to the game's director Ryosuke Horii and game design supervisor Hirotaka Chiba who spoke to Automaton about the minigame, Sicko Snap actually fixed a very real problem elsewhere in the Yakuza RPG, even if it made the producers ask, "What the hell is this?" 

"Sicko Snap was not originally planned, as opposed to minigames like Crazy Delivery and Dondoko Island, which were a part of the original proposal," Horii explains. "Sicko Snap was the result of our attempts to solve a problem that arose during development."

When developer RGG began implementing trolleys, a common form of public transport in the game's real-life Hawaii counterpart, the team soon discovered that the rides "felt kind of boring" because the sluggish vehicles were too slow and cramped to fit any battles inside. That's when Horii thought of adding a picture-taking minigame to the trolley rides, though it was first focused on dogs, not sickos.

"There was the issue of regular dogs on the map being indistinguishable from dogs placed for the purpose of the minigame, but also, it felt kind of ordinary," Horii adds. "There’s no good reason one would take pictures of dogs either. We needed something a little more 'out there.'" When the team "tried putting in sickos wearing nothing but a pair of panties," that's when the mini-game finally clicked into place for Horii since "they really stood out against the background nicely."

"There's nothing wrong with dogs, but we weren’t sure if it was the right choice for Infinite Wealth," Chiba adds. As bonkers as Sicko Snap is, it fits right in with the diaper-wearing gangs, queer crustacean substories, and overall zaniness carved into every other Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth moment - and I hope it only continues in whatever the Yakuza studio announces in September. 

Yakuza has seen a “large increase in new fans, including women,” but the JRPG series will continue being about “middle-aged guy things.”