For me this was a shocker I never thought would happen as Defender of the Crown, a classic strategy game from the late 80's is getting a modern release called Defender of the Crown: The Legend Returns. This new version will include the original Amiga version but also include a modern version with updated visuals and gameplay. 

After the King of England is assassinated, the various Lords wage battles to conquer as much land as possible and proclaim themselves as the new King. I had this game on the NES and as a kid I had no idea what I was doing but when I got older I went back and played it again and absolutely loved it.

Defender of the Crown: The Legend Returns features three modes of play... 

Retro mode

• Lets you play the original Amiga version of the game with quality of life enhancements but as close to the original version as possible.

Classic mode

• A reimagined mode featuring updated graphics, updated mechanics and smoother gameplay. 

Kingdom mode

• Features procedurally generated maps, unlockable abilities, dice rolls, and multiple difficulty levels. .

Defender of the Crown: The Legend Returns launches sometime this year on PC, Switch 2, PS5 and Series X. 

When I first heard that Mighty Coconut's new Walkabout Mini Golf course was called "Passport: Hollywood", I pictured myself putting my way through scenes of famous Hollywood films. I thought I would be driving my ball through space battles, putting between tanks in war scenes, and dodging bullets in bank heist gun fights. And that's kind of what this new course is all about, and kind of not.

As usual, Mighty Coconut puts an unexpected and delightful spin on players' expectations with Passport: Hollywood. Instead of playing through the movies themselves, players are guiding through the backlot of a 1950's Hollywood backlot, with holes nestled among the props, lights, and cameras during various film shoots. As soon as I loaded into the course and saw the Warner Brothers-style front gates and water tower, I immediately knew that the reality was even better than my expectations.

Passport: Hollywood is arguably the most detailed setting yet released for Walkabout Mini Golf. The player weaves their way through three separate film sets - an Invasion From Mars-style 50s thriller, a bank heist noir film, and a pirate adventure. On each of these sets are the prerequisite filming equipment, but there are also signs of life from the film crew. Tools are left scattered about. A stray sandwich is positioned just off-camera. At one point, the player can divert and explore a prop room off to the side of one hole, just for the fun of it.

It's fun to see the way filming techniques and special effects have been woven into the experience. The two-by-fours used to rock a car back and forth for a chase scene become obstacles on one hole. Players can dip behind rear-projection screens, and closely examine miniatures and models used for filming, even getting a hole that goes through the model-making workshop.

Lots of hiding places in this room.

Folks like me that are addicted to Walkabout's hidden-ball finding minigame better buckle up, as all of this detail means that there are a lot of places to explore in the search. It took me two times through the course to find the ten balls required to open up the Hard version of Passport: Hollywood (and I haven't made par yet - my record is +1, which makes me insane). 

While the difficulty on the easy version of the course is not overly challenging, the Hard mode is absolutely diabolical. As usual, Mighty Coconut alters some holes with simple tweaks that can stymy players, but other holes have been completely redesigned to offer a much greater challenge. I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say that the 18th hole has been escalated in a way that had me ripping my remaining gray hair out of my head.

Walkabout Mini Golf remains one of the best values in gaming, and though Mighty Coconut has scaled back slightly in their cadence of delivering new courses, Passport: Hollywood shows that while the company is slightly lowing the quantity of DLC, it is certainly not skimping on the quality. So hop in and have fun - just remember to keep it quiet on the set.

Leverless controllers freak me out. Once, because I may have been a little too disappointed when I lost a Street Fighter V match to a guy with a leverless controller, and because I just don't understand it. The controller is literally all buttons. To move up, down, left and right, it's all buttons. To do a hadouken, I push the down and forward BUTTONS once after another, I guess. I don't really know. They freak me out. My friend Jason Young once told anyone who would listen, that I could adjust to any controller to play video games. I'm disappointing him with this post. 

Turtle Beach has updated their Vitrix Pro KO Leverless Fight Stick to the Street Fighter Championship Edition. The 2024 EVO Award winning controller has all the same goodness of the current one, but now sports a Street Fighter II' Champion Edition makeover. If I could play fighting games with this, it would be a day one purchase for me. 

The Victrix Pro KO Leverless Fight Stick - Street Fighter II: Champion Edition is compatible with PS4/5, and PC, and will run you $299.99/€279.99/£249.99. It launches April 9th, and preorders and more info is available here. 

Gaming giant Acclaim has announced Super Basketball Classics, a retro arcade basketball title inspired by the classic 8-bit and 16-bit hoops games. It will also feature the Harlem Globetrotters as a part of their 100-year anniversary (wow, time flies) and is coming to PC and consoles, though no specific platforms or release date were announced.

Super Basketball Classics features retro-style arcade basketball with some modern upgrades such as smoother controls, improved animations, and modern competitive balancing, as well as the Globetrotters signature moves and trick shots. It will include three modes – Exhibition, Season, and Tournament – as well as couch co-op and competitive play.

Check out the new teaser trailer below:

There's some really big games coming soon and they're going to look their best, thanks to RTX Path Tracing from NVIDIA. Tides of Annihilation, Control: Resonant, Pragmata, and 007 First Light will be exhibiting those sweet, sweet lighting effects on GeForce RTX cards.

There's also advances in the foliage with the help of Mega Geometry. The clustering of areas helps the card work on large scenes at a faster rate. One game that will probably benefit greatly from Mea Geometry and the new foliage system with increased detail will be The Witcher IV. With a more accurate lighting and higher detail in forest areas, this tech should make for games taking place in outdoor worlds to be much more visually appealing.

Shouting it from the rooftops - starting today, March 10th, MONOPOLY GO! welcomes Hello Kitty and friends to the wonderful world of the virtual gameboard. For a limited time, players have the opportunity to enjoy mini games, collectibles, and customizable tokens during this exciting, limited time collab.

This event runs from March 10th - March 29th, so make sure you don't miss your opportunity to see your favorite lovable Sanrio characters in action! From racing around colorful tracks to uncovering hidden treasures, you'll will love playing amongst the sweetest iconic characters imaginable: Hello Kitty, Cinnamoroll, My Melody, Keroppi, Pompompurin, Pochacco, and Kuromi.

You know if it's Hello Kitty I'm gonna write about it, right?

Developer ProbablyMonsters has shared a new narrative trailer for its single-player, third-person action game, Nekome: Nazi Hunter, which is coming to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, though no release date has been announced. The new trailer sheds some light on protagonist Vano Nastasu’s blood-soaked quest to kill the Nazis that brutally murdered his family.

Inspired by grindhouse cinema, Nekome: Nazi Hunter blends stealth and visceral melee combat together. Playing as Vano, you’ll scout enemy routes, use the environment to turn the odds in your favor, and then engage in close-quarters melee combat using improvised weapons and brutal finishing blows. A notoriety and fear system means enemies may panic, hesitate, or flee altogether based on whether players kill with precision or chaos, which sounds pretty sick.

This looks and sounds fantastic. Check it out for yourself in the new trailer below. It's so violent that you can't even watch it without signing in.

WWE 2K26 has launched in early access, with the release of the standard edition this Friday and we finally have a full list of DLC for this years game.

There are some pretty great additions here with Demolition finally making their way to the WWE games along with the two I'm sure everyone screamed in excitement when they were announced, The Hardy Boys. We are also getting four more AAA stars spread out throughout the year. What's also crazy is the fact that they were able to get both Royce Keys and Danhausen in this year who both debuted in the WWE in January and February respectively. 

Here is the full list of DLC for the year and the months their seasons will start

Season 1 - Launch

• El Hijo Del Vikingo
• Lady Flammer
• Psycho Clown
• Mr. Iguana

Season 2 - April

• Axe
• Smash
• Crush
• Kelly Kelly

Season 3 - June

• Matt Cardona
• Brian Pillman
• La Parka
• Torrie Wilson

Season 4 - July

• Matt Hardy
• Jeff Hardy
• Lady Shani
• Jelly Roll

Season 5 - September

• Bam Bam Bigelow
• Brie Bella
• Pagano
• Danhausen

Season 6 - October

• Royce Keys
• Earthquake
• Typhoon
• Octagon Jr. 

After having WWE 2K26 for a few weeks now I do like the idea of the Ringside Pass but absolutely think some changes need to be made. Mainly in how long it takes to unlock the DLC wrestlers. Level 20 is too much and should be Level 10 at the latest. 

I reviewed WWE 2K26 and personally think that it's is the best WWE game 2K have made yet, with tons of updates and new additions that are a ton of fun but for other people I wouldn't blame them if the very aggressive monetization this year really puts them off of the game. 

Early access is officially here if you plunked down that fabulous moolah for the King of Kings, Attitude, or Monday Night Wars edition of WWE 2K26. But that's not what we're here to discuss. 

WWE Games has confirmed that there are past and present superstars coming to the game via Ringside Pass. I know you have mixed feelings about it. And that's ok. Here are the confirmations so far. 

Matt Cardona - Season 3

Brian Pillman - Season 3

Lady Shani (AAA) - Season 4

La Parka (AAA) - Season 3

Octagon Jr (AAA) - Season 6

Brie Bella - Season 5

Bam Bam Bigelow - Season 5

Torrie Wilson - Season 3

The Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon) - Season 6

Kelly Kelly - Season 2

The Hardy Boyz - Season 4

Pagano (AAA) - Season 5

That's it so far. If you did get the game early, there's a early adopter locker code for MyFaction. BSTINTWRLD26 will get you 2 My Faction Packs. Enjoy! 

Open-world arcade adventure, The Coin Game, is releasing a 1.0 version on March 19^th for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. The release version will include new locations, vehicles, side quests, quality-of-life improvements, performance enhancements, and a new Survivor Mode.

The Coin Game lets you visit an island packed with ticket games and realistic arcades with machines inspired by some of the real-life classics. After playing and earning tickets, you swap them for prizes at various redemption areas. You can also play laser tag, go indoor go-karting, or visit a ‘90s-style indoor mall that has a food court, shops, and a cinema. If you run out of money to play games, you can explore the island to scavenge dumpsters, deliver newspapers, or sell items at the pawn shop.

I want this. Check out the console announcement trailer below: