Happy Sunday, Geekly Gang. Kyra Kyle here with another week of Geek News. I wrote this post a day or two early because my birthday is this weekend. Yay! I’m leveling up another year. But before I eat my body weight in key lime pie and beef stroganoff, we have some Geek News to cover, starting with the final Fantastic Four: First Steps trailer. I know. I know. We’ve covered every Fantastic Four trailer. Somehow, I keep missing some of the Superman trailers. I’m equally excited for both films.
Marvel Releases Fantastic Four: First Steps Final Trailer
The MCU released the final trailer for Fantastic Four: First Steps. I appreciate that we didn’t get too many new spoilers with this trailer, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some peppered in. We may venture into spoiler territory.
The trailer begins with the Fantastic Four at the Ted Gilbert Show when an alarm on their watches sounds. The scenes before this moment give us the longest looks we’ve seen of Marvel’s first family using their powers: Mr. Fantastic stretching, Invisible Woman throwing up a force field and manipulating objects, The Human Torch flying past a Coppertone billboard of himself and setting it on fire, and a bystander wanting The Thing to say, It’s Clobbering Time.
I love the running gag of everyone trying to coax The Thing into saying, “It’s Clobbering Time.” This is a trope used in certain Fantastic Four comics, where The Thing may have said Clobbering Time once, or it was used for a television show (in First Steps, it’s a cartoon), and I can’t wait to see the payoff because, undoubtedly, he will say Clobbering Time, perhaps in the scene where Johnny carries The Thing (with a beard–look at his rock beard, that’s awesome).
A few more moments stick out. We get a better look at Shalla-Bal. I’ve talked about how I didn’t like the CGI for this Silver Surfer, and I’m glad to see an improvement with this trailer. We get an extended look at Galactus, but not a straight-on look at the titan. The Fantastic Four fly into a black hole, and it’s implied that Sue may be pregnant with Franklin at the time. Flying into a black hole while Sue is pregnant with Franklin could supercharge Franklin’s powers. Someone in the crowd by the Fantastic Four carries a sign that reads, Earth Believed In You, which implies that the Fantastic Four have already failed in some way.
And there are those three massive devices. One is by the Eiffel Tower. I’m unsure where the other two in the distance are from Paris. Could this be what Reed was working on with his massive blackboard? We’ll have to find out. I’ll paraphrase one of the top comments on this trailer. The marketing team is doing a great job by holding back three things: 1) Galactus’s face, 2) The Thing saying, “Clobbering Time,” and 3) Johnny saying, “Flame On.” I agree. It’s best to see and hear these things when Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters on July 25th.
Grail Games Launches The Pixel Series on KickStarter
Grail Games returns with a trio of retro-art board games. Even though Aliens Attack!, Ohio Bob, and Harvest Valley use the same 8-bit art style, they couldn’t be more different in gameplay. Aliens Attack! is a tower defense game, Ohio Bob offers a fun adventure, and Harvest Valley is a farming sim. All three games are smaller, easier to store and transportable.
The Pixel Series even features some board game designing giants like Bruno Faidutti and Hisashi Hayashi. You can back this project and receive individual games for $10 or the entire set for $26.You can even throw in a fourth game in the series, Level 10, which is a reprinting of Okey Dokey.
I like Level 10’s retheme of guiding Izzy through a video game level without the character perishing. If you’re interested in Grail Game’s Pixel Series, check out their KickStarter page.
Mesopotamia by Meeple Pug Launches on GameFound
Even though it isn’t the Mesopotamian Royal Game of Ur, the board game Mesopotamia does include knucklebone game pieces, which were game pieces in the classic board game. Meeple Pug’s Mesopotamia puts players in the role of civilization leaders in this stunning 4X game (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate). Mesopotamia foregoes a tech tree for research tiles that make each player’s civilization unique.
I love Mesopotamia’s customizable player boards. This gaming component could spark a series of games with a similar component. Mesopotamia’s gameplay encourages trading, exploration, and combat. Those knucklebone game pieces come in handy when attacking one of your opponents. Mesopotamia’s game pieces are top-notch. This is a gorgeous game, and that’s before considering the prelaunch Hanging Gardens Miniature.
That miniature looks amazing, and Mesopotamia has plenty of other detailed miniatures. I like the addition of note one, but three solo-player modes: exploration, siege, and castle defense. Mesopotamia offers a lot of gameplay options. It launches early next week, so we don’t yet know how much this campaign costs. If you’re interested in Mesopotamia, follow its GameFound page.
Modern Classic Board Game Colosseum Receives a Glow-Up on GameFound
Yes! If you’ve ever been interested in the Wolfgang Kramer and Markus Lubke design Colosseum, The Grand Spectacle may be the edition to add to your collection. Ian O’Toole is one of the best board game graphic designers/artists working today, and Colosseum: The Grand Spectacle is a feast for the eyes.
I’ve always liked Colosseum’s take on the roll/spin and move game mechanism, which is often maligned and hated in the board game community. Colosseum does it right; take some of the chance out of rolling dice. I also agree with the Dice Tower’s Tom Vasel. Colosseum works at 5-players, which is rare in a game of this type.
If you’ve ever wanted to run your own Colosseum, you should check out Fantasia Games’ reprint of this modern board game classic. Colosseum: The Grand Spectacle has a variety of pledges, ranging from $80-140.
Death Stranding 2’s Mysterious Update
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach was released this past week and topped video game sales. In case you haven’t played the original, the first Death Stranding is on sale for most systems. Modern video games have updates during their first week, so Death Stranding 2 adding one a day after its release doesn’t raise any eyebrows. Oddly, we know nothing about this Death Stranding 2 update. The update offers no information about what it’s patching. The Death Stranding 2 team offers no clues. No one seems to know what this patch does. Hopefully, it fixes some of the game’s audio issues. Perhaps Hideo Kojima likes keeping this update a mystery.
Tamagotchi Plaza Releases on the Nintendo Switch 2
Tamagotchi Plaza, a shop simulator, was released for the original Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. It looks adorable. I have fond memories of Tamagotchi, and I’m happy if Tamagotchi Plaza popularizes the pet raising sim to a new generation of gamers. Tamagotchi Plaza looks interesting–I may check out this title at some point–but Tamagotchi Plaza continues a disturbing trend for Nintendo Switch 2. If you already own a game for the original Switch, you can play it on the Switch 2 for a small Switch 2 upgrade fee.
While the upgrade fee isn’t the same price as a full-fledged game, it comes off as a shameless cash grab. Why should I have to pay an additional $10 for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild when I already own the game? Yes. $10 isn’t that much, but if you convert each one of your original Switch titles to the Switch 2, that adds up quickly. And this practice will embolden other console producers to do the same. We already got a Horizon: Zero Dawn remaster for the PlayStation 5 when it was released on the previous console.
Tamagotchi Plaza is a new game, and players would have to buy the Switch 2 upgrade for a game they just bought if they were to pick up a Switch 2 later this year. Okay. I get it. You could play the original version of Tamagotchi Plaza, but the Switch 2 version adds new shop types. Why would you want to play the Switch version if you were to upgrade to a Switch 2 after it becomes available again? I’m concerned about this business model for the video game community. But, hey, many of us–myself included–have purchased Skyrim eleven times. How’s this any different?
That’s all we have for Geek News this week, Geekly Gang. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
jkgeekly.com 