Game Topz (gamtopz@gmail.com)

Hey, it's the first of February. So that means if you're an Xbox Live Gold subscriber, you have more free games waiting for you. As announced previously, the first February freebie for Xbox One is Shadow Warrior . A reboot of the 1997 FPS of the same name, the new game sees you play as a powerful ninja as you fight a lot of monsters. Additionally, one of January's Xbox One freebies, Ubisoft's zombie game Zombi, will remain free through February 15 . Moving to Xbox 360 , the Disney-published high-octane racing game Split/Second is free through February 15. It is playable on Xbox One through backwards compatibility , so you can pick it up and play even if you don't have an Xbox 360. Then on February 16, a new set of freebies will be available. On Xbox One, the side-scrolling Assassin's Creed spinoff, Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India , will be free, while the wacky driving game Crazy Taxi will drop to the low, low price of $0.00 on Xbox 360. You can se...

Wrestlemania 34 is coming to the Big Easy, New Orleans on April 8, and while we're still a couple months away from WWE's biggest event of the year, it's never too early to think about dream matches for the final card. As of this writing, there is only one confirmed match for the card: AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Championship. After winning the men's Royal Rumble match, Nakamura declared he'd like to challenge Styles for this title. In addition, women's Royal Rumble winner Asuka will face either Charlotte or Alexa Bliss for one of their titles, depending on who the Empress of Tomorrow chooses. Ignoring these confirmed matches for Wrestlemania 34 , here are five other matches we'd love to see, even if they aren't too plausible. Mickie James vs. Trish Stratus The women's 2018 Royal Rumble match got a lot of people talking and not just because Asuka won. We saw Mickie James and Trish Stratus face off for the first time in years. Trish...

Wrestlemania 34 is coming on April 8! Mat is back with the five best matches we'd love to see at WWE's big event.

The SNES Classic is selling really well. Nintendo announced today in an earnings report that the micro-system has now reached 4 million units sold worldwide following its release at the end of September. By comparison, the NES Classic shipped 2.3 million units before it was discontinued, Reggie Fils-Aime revealed to Time last year . Nintendo will resume production of the NES Classic this year , so sales will grow further. The SNES Classic will remain on sale, too. Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima said Nintendo views these retro consoles as a means to help drive interested in the Nintendo Switch . "We view them as an opportunity to garner interest in Nintendo Switch from those who have not interacted with video games in a long time, or ever," he said. The SNES Classic is a micro-sized version of the iconic Nintendo console. It comes with 21 games, including the previously unreleased Star Fox 2. The NES Classic has 30 games, including some of Nintendo's most famou...

The games-as-a-service model is becoming increasingly popular in games today, and now Nintendo has said it is interested in this as well. Speaking today during an earnings presentation , Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima said Nintendo is planning to release "even more" DLC for its games, and hold more in-game events, to keep players coming back. "To promote longer gameplay for individual software titles, we plan to implement even more downloadable content and events that build excitement for games," Kimishima said. Nintendo of course is no stranger to DLC. Many of its games over the years have been supported with extra content with the aim of keeping the experience fresh (and making money more money beyond the initial game sale in the process). The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 's latest DLC, The Champions' Ballad , launched in December. In other Nintendo online news, the company also today announced that the Nintendo Switch's paid membership...

I don't even. What is happening. Nintendo just announced that Mario Kart is coming to mobile via a new game titled Mario Kart Tour . Due out sometime before March 2019, we've got loads of time to wildly speculate what this game is going to be about. Judging by Nintendo's other efforts on mobile, I doubt it's going to be anything close to a "full" Mario Kart game, but, stranger things have happened. The checkered flag has been raised and the finish line is near. A new mobile application is now in development: Mario Kart Tour! #MarioKartTour Releasing in the fiscal year ending in March 2019. pic.twitter.com/8GIyR7ZM4z — Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 1, 2018 I'm wondering if they're going to try to apply the CSR Racing formula to Mario Kart characters? Their mobile portfolio is filled with games that take the core concept of a game and distill it down to its absolute essence. What do you guys think? What's Mario Kart To...

You have probably heard the Super Mario Bros. theme covered on guitar many, many times already. It's very popular on YouTube. But have you ever seen John Petrucci, the legendary prog rock guitarist from Dream Theater, perform the song? Now you can. Petrucci appeared in a new FamilyJules video on YouTube and ripped out a crushing rendition of one of gaming's most iconic songs. "Mario will never be the same," Petrucci said on Twitter . As you'll see, Petrucci not only nails the main theme but he also launches into a solo in the middle, sweep-picking and tapping in a way that only Petrucci can. He also appears to be using a Mario pick. Check out the impressive video below; it's also available on Spotify . Petrucci is considered by many to be one of the greatest guitarists to have ever lived. He is best known for Dream Theater but he is also a founding member of Liquid Tension Experiment. Looking for another Super Mario Bros. cover? Here's a rad video of...

Kirby: Star Allies is a drop in, drop out coop game that lets Kirby befriend his enemies. But more importantly, Kirby gets throw down against a buff King Dedede.

The Nintendo Switch has gotten off to a resoundingly positive start, working its way up to being the fastest-selling console in the US, Europe, and Australia ever . 2017 was filled with AAA and indie titles for the console, but for 2018 Nintendo has been much more secretive about what software to expect. But one game we did get to check out recently is Kirby Star Allies . Like previous Kirby games, the focus of Star Allies is the titular pink puff mascot who has the ability to swallow up enemies and absorb their powers. But Star Allies take the cooperative gameplay further than previous games through the use of special co-op abilities. In the gameplay clip above, you can watch us take on some four-player cooperative challenges and fight a weirdly buff King Dedede. Kirby Star Allies is a Nintendo Switch exclusive that's set to release on March 16 worldwide. And for more games on the way to the console, you can check out our complete list of 2018 Nintendo Switch exclusive in our f...

Back in August of last year Bandai Namco announced a new built-for-mobile entry in their long-running fighting game franchise Tekken , with said mobile game soft-launching in the Canadian App Store at that time. Unsurprisingly, this was not a traditional fighting game like the Tekken games you'd find on console and desktop, but rather a simplified "swipe fighter" in the vein of the Injustice mobile games, Marvel: CoC , and the mobile version of Skullgirls . While certainly disappointing to some, I'm actually a big fan of the swipe fighters and was eager to take the soft-launched Tekken for a spin. While the fighting mechanics aren't quite as tight as my current favorite Skullgirls , Tekken mobile was still a lot of fun and was really one of the most visually impressive games on the entire iOS platform. Its free to play system was pretty typical as well, with a decent amount of content thrown at free players and speeding up the upgrade grind being the main sou...

What To Watch More and more anime, as well as anime-inspired movies and series, are making their way to Netflix. Originals like Castlevania and the live-action Death Note movie join classic series and upcoming ones on the service, and it can be tricky to know which ones you should binge and which you should let be. While there's a lot of great anime on Netflix, there are some you should prioritize. Click forward to see all the best series you can stream right now. Death Note If you haven't seen it yet--or if you thought the Netflix's live-action Death Note was interesting and wanted more--now's the time to watch this classic crime series. Light Yagami, a brilliant high school student and son of a police chief, finds the Death Note, a notebook with the power to kill anyone whose name is written in its pages. The mysterious killer is dubbed "Kira," and a top detective known only as "L" is given the task of tracking him down. The series is kn...

Ever since Google's Project Zero unveiled security issues inherent in CPUs from Intel and AMD (to some extent), manufacturers have been scrambling to patch up the problem software-side. These mitigations have had varying degrees of success; Microsoft administered an emergency Windows security update, while Intel had to retract an early version of its own patch . As Intel and AMD look toward the future, both companies' CEOs have promised to take care of Spectre/Meltdown on hardware level with their next generations of processors. During an investors conference call, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich stated, "We’re working to create silicon-based changes to future products that will directly address the Spectre and Meltdown threats in hardware. And those products will begin appearing later this year." Krzanich also went on to say that the vulnerabilities won't impact sales. No details were given as to which "future products" he was referencing, but it's rumor...

Despite the launch of two new consoles last year, PC dominated much of the conversation in 2017 thanks to the phenomenal success of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds , which released in Early Access in March and proceeded to shatter player and sales records throughout the remainder of the year. But while PUBG may have been the platform's biggest success story in 2017, it certainly wasn't the only noteworthy PC game to come out last year, with critically acclaimed titles like Divinity: Original Sin II and Doki Doki Literature Club all releasing exclusively for the platform. 2018 is likewise shaping up to be another great year for PC players. In terms of breadth, no platform has more exclusive games on the way this year than PC. Hundreds of games are set to launch on the platform over the course of the next 12 months thanks to digital storefronts like Steam and GOG, which allow independent developers to release their titles to the public more easily than they would traditiona...

For the sci-fi junkies of the universe. Netflix's Altered Carbon is some heady, intense science fiction--the most hardcore sci-fi on TV in years. The first episode alone is packed with so many cryptic, futuristic terms and concepts it might make your head spin. And you wouldn't want that--who knows what it might do to your cortical stack? Don't worry if you have no idea what that means. We've got you covered with this list of the important cyberpunk and sci-fi terms, phrases, and concepts you'll need to fully grasp exactly what's going down in Netflix's noir sci-fi epic, Altered Carbon , which hits Netflix this Friday, February 2. 27. Cortical Stack The cortical stack is the sci-fi invention at Altered Carbon 's core. It shapes the story's world, and it makes all the show's events possible. Think of it like a USB drive that houses your memory and personality--everything that makes you who you are. It rests somewhere within each person...

While Black Panther looks to be a gamechanger for the Marvel Cinematic Universe based on early reactions, it's not just Marvel's first movie centered around a black superhero that is helping the movie blaze a new path. Black Panther is also a film filled with powerful female characters that are as important when it comes to saving the world as the titular superhero himself. While the previous MCU movies have introduced characters like Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Black Panther takes the inclusion of women one step further. The females of the film are put in the spotlight, thanks in large part to the Dora Milaje--an all-female group of special forces bodyguards and operatives. They are responsible for the protection of Wakanda and its royal family, with two high-ranking members, Nakia (Lupita N'Yongo) and Okoye (Danai Gurira) spending much of the film at the Black Panther's (Chadwick Boseman) side. "[They] were fully-d...

EA is continuing to roll out new content for Battlefield 1 . The second part of the game's Turning Tides DLC is now available on PC , PS4 , and Xbox One , and it introduces new maps, uniforms, an additional vehicle, and more to the WWI shooter. This portion of the expansion is called North Sea, and like previous DLC packs, its biggest addition comes in the form of new maps. North Sea introduces two, the first of which is Heligoland Bight. EA describes it as "Battlefield 1's quintessential naval map," and it features the "first ever Battlefield 1 Dreadnought vs. Dreadnought battle." The second map, Zeebrugge, takes place on the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge, and it has players fight alongside the British Royal Marines as they "wrestle to possess the German controlled, concrete mole." In addition to the new maps, North Sea adds the heavily-armed C-Class airship, which is capable of delivering "an immense payload of artillery and bombs"...

Almost 13 years ago, Team Ico released its second title, Shadow of the Colossus . It would go on to win Game of the Year accolades, top "Best of PS2" lists, and cement itself as a masterpiece in the gaming landscape. Next week, Team Ico's classic will re-release from Bluepoint Games on PlayStation 4 . Reviews have already published, praising the game's updated textures, frame rate, and visual fidelity . It's also said to maintain the spirit of the original PS2 release - the masterpiece that has remained relevant for almost 13 years. In the video above, Mike Mahardy takes a deep dive into Shadow of the Colossus, discussing why it's a masterpiece that has overshadowed numerous other modern releases, and continues to be an example of stellar game design, affecting artistry, and lasting influence.

Web-Slinging Wishes The PlayStation 4 -exclusive Spider-Man game by Insomniac is due out sometime this year. In the last two decades, Marvel's web slinger has seen more good game adaptations than bad ones. When memorable high points like Spider-Man 2: The Game and Web of Shadows come to mind, it's clear Insomniac has high standards to live up to. And with so many console releases--mostly thanks to Activision--what does a new Spider-Man have to do in 2018 to stand out? We have a few ideas, seen in this gallery of nine things we want from Insomniac's Spider-Man. Currently, Spider-Man on PS4 has no release date. However, it has been been confirmed to release sometime later this year. For a look at how Spider-Man is shaping up, watch the game's latest story trailer . And if you'd like more insight on how Marvel Games is overseeing development of Spider-Man and its licensed games as a whole, read our interview with Marvel Games vice president and executive producer ...