The Popzara Podcast

Back when I was just getting into gaming on PC, I remember hearing about comic artist Benoît Sokal jumping into the gaming world with Amerzone: The Explorer’s Legacy in 1999 on PC and the original PlayStation. I also remember how he continued teaming with game developer and publisher Microids with the famed Syberia titles that made him and the company legendary.

After years of overstuffed narratives, forgettable villains, and an overreliance on the multiverse to generate excitement, Thunderbolts* arrives as a much-needed reset for Marvel. It’s a sharp, character-first film that favors substance over spectacle.

In today’s contentious social climate, it’s undoubtedly difficult to urge an audience to be sympathetic towards a select group of people without being accused of making those people feel helpless in the process. As though pity has become a bad word.

Free at last, free at last, Thank God almighty, Ryan Coogler (Creed, Black Panther) is free at last! From languishing in the corporatized big-budget prison known as IP, one of Hollywood's few fresh black faces has delivered an original story as timely as it desperately needed. Sinners is a beautiful, stylish, fun genre film that feels like a breath of fresh air against the stale franchise fare usually taking up the time slots for your local IMAX.

Few genres of game have been through the wringer of public opinion quite so much as the humble Japanese RPG, or JRPG, if you prefer. It wasn't that long ago when a game could expect to lose a fair chunk of Metacritic score if it featured turn-based combat or - horror of horrors - had an anime aesthetic.

There are films that entertain, and then there are films that stay with you - Sinners is the latter. Ryan Coogler’s latest is bold, haunting, and deeply human.

Lunar: The Silver Star is a cornerstone of my gaming life, as it’s the first RPG that I fully committed to back in early 1994 on my Sega CD. Everything about it made me so glad I had Sega’s infamous add-on, from the cool looking anime artwork, to the amazing soundtrack and voice acting, it’ll always have a special place in my heart and mind.

When I first saw Rusty Rabbit and the cute but grizzled main character named Stamp, I didn’t know what to think. At first I thought it was going to be some Animal Crossing wannabe title, but was completely wrong once I saw him leaping into a mecha-like suit and drilling and dashing his way through levels.

I’m a pretty big fan of action-platform games, especially some of the classics such as Donkey Kong Country, Crash Bandicoot, and others. The game developers at VEA Games feel the same way as they’ve made a personal love letter to those titles with the release of Nikoderiko: The Magical World - Director's Cut.

26 years is how long the SNK faithful have been waiting for Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves to finally arrive, the follow-up to 1999’s Garou: Mark of the Wolves. Obviously, comparisons will be made but Fatal Fury has since become a staple that endures in a charming old-school way that contemporary Street Fighter and Tekken entries no longer possess.

Arcades in the early 1980s enjoyed an explosion of popularity as the new art form swept the world and collected millions of quarters in the process. Kids love them.

Arcades in the early 1980s enjoyed an explosion of popularity as the new art form swept the world and collected millions of quarters in the process. Kids love them.

Ever since the glory days of construction paper and glue, I've been absolutely hopeless at crafting. Sorry, world, but you're not going to get any fantastic handiwork out of me.

SteelSeries continues to knock their awesome lineup of products out of the park with one of their latest releases, the SteelSeries QCK Performance Mouse Pad. Going back to the drawing board on their original QCK pads and reworking them to be better in every way, they’ve come up with a perfect variety of new ones to fit any kind of PC gaming style.

If I’ve learned one thing as a parent, it’s that kids love Jack Black. They loved him as the evil Bowser in The Super Mario Bros.

A Minecraft Movie is a loud, chaotic rollercoaster built for one specific crowd: TikTok-savvy teens and gamers fluent in Minecraft-speak. If you’re not part of that world, buckle up - this movie doesn’t ease you in.

Milestone has been handling the official Supercross game releases for quite some time now. While some of them have been hits, a few of the later entries haven’t hit pay dirt like they should.

It’s The State of Gaming Podcast, Popzara’s in-depth look at what’s shaking up the gaming landscape delivered on a monthly basis. Listen as hosts Cory Galliher and Nate Evans guide you through the best, worst, and everything else making headlines and headway in the world of interactive entertainment. The Biggest Games of April 2025 The biggest games of the month include: South of Midnight, Steel Hunters, The Talos Principle: Reawakened, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 2, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero, and Tempest Rising Other notables include: Blue Prince, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (PS5), The Last of Us Part II Remastered (PC), Days Gone Remastered (PC, PS5), Forza Horizon 5 (PS5), Monument Valley (1+2 Switch), Ninja Hayate HD and Time Gal HD Remaster, Lunar Remastered Collection, Commandos: Origins, and Promise Mascot Agency. Everything Else But there’s more! Nintendo makes the Switch 2 official!

Unless you’re a student of photography or heavily interested in animation, chances are your only exposure to the name Eadweard Muybridge in recent pop-culture has been the brief mentions he gets in Jordan Peele’s 2022 release Nope, where Keke Palmer's character describes a two-second clip of a galloping horse being shown as the first example of a ‘motion picture’. It’s actually from a later effort, "Plate Number 626", in which the horse, Annie, is named while the jockey riding her is not.

There are two ways to talk about Rendering Ranger: R2, a hybrid run ‘n gun platformer and shmup (shoot ‘em up) from German developers Rainbow Arts released only for the Japanese Super Famicom back in 1995. The first would be to discuss the game on its merits, specifically how Rainbow Arts attempted to push Nintendo’s 16-bit hardware further than most in a time when the switch to newer 32-bit consoles was well underway.