Sony Pictures is so confident that Jack Black’s upcoming film Goosebumps is going to be a box office success that they’re already preparing to make the sequel. The first film isn’t set to be released in theaters until October 16th, but they are obviously banking on it being a successful franchise. 

The movie is based on the popular children’s horror stories written by R.L. Stine, which have quite a huge following. A lot of kids grew up on those books, and many of them, who are older now, seem really excited about this movie coming out. 

The movie looks like it will provide some decent entertainment, especially for the kids, but I wish that they would have done one adaptation per book instead of cramming all of the monsters into one movie. If Sony Pictures had done it that way, they would have had an even stronger film franchise that could bring in even more money. I think the fans would have much rather seen something like that, but it looks like they’ll settle for what they’re getting.

According to The Tracking Board, the studio is also on the hunt for a writer to script the sequel, which is obviously in the early stages of development. If the first movie bombs, though, I’m sure the studio will cancel any plans that they have come up with for this sequel. 

Here’s the synopsis for the upcoming film:

In Goosebumps, upset about moving from a big city to a small town, teenager Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) finds a silver lining when he meets the beautiful girl, Hannah (Odeya Rush), living right next door. But every silver lining has a cloud, and Zach’s comes when he learns that Hannah has a mysterious dad who is revealed to be R. L. Stine (Jack Black), the author of the bestselling Goosebumps series. It turns out that there is a reason why Stine is so strange… he is a prisoner of his own imagination – the monsters that his books made famous are real, and Stine protects his readers by keeping them locked up in their books. When Zach unintentionally unleashes the monsters from their manuscripts and they begin to terrorize the town, it’s suddenly up to Stine, Zach, and Hannah to get all of them back in the books where they belong.

Are you excited about the prospect of Goosebumps becoming an adventure horror film franchise?

Key & Peele had a great episode last night, and one of my favorite bits that they did was a running gag spoofing Neil deGrasse Tyson's Cosmos. These things segments are hilariously brilliant.

The spoof revolves around the astrophysicist, who, in order to get out of arguments with his wife, immediately jumps into explanations of the vast scale of the cosmos, time, and other mysteries of the universe.

Thanks to Crackle, we have six posters to share with you for their hilarious looking new series SuperMansion. The posters introduce us to the main cast of characters who will be a part of the story. I’ve also included some information on each of the characters.

A satire of comic book do-gooders, SuperMansion hails from creators Zeb Wells and Matthew Senreich of “Robot Chicken” fame and began life as a pilot for Adult Swim in 2013 titled “Übermansion” (which you can view here). It chronicles Titanium Rex and the rest of long-in-the-tooth hero team The League of Freedom, who all live together in the same mansion as they attempt to stay relevant in the modern world.

The new SuperMansion cast includes Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, Argo) as Titanium Rex, Keegan-Michael Key (Key & Peele, Tomorrowland) as American Ranger, Tucker Gilmore (Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen) as Black Saturn, Tom Root (Robot Chicken, Titan Maximum) as Brad, Heidi Lynn Gardner (Dibs!) as Cooch, and Zeb Wells (Robot Chicken, Titan Maximum) as RoboBot.

SuperMansion comes from Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, which is behind the hilarious series Robot Chicken. The series is being executive produced by Seth Green, John Harvatine IV, Eric Towner, and Bryan Cranston.

Some of the guest stars who will provide voices for the series include Chris Pine, Ron Perlman, Donald Faison, Jordan Peele, Nick Kroll, Anton Yelchin, Famke Janssen, and Breckin Meyer. The series will premiere on Crackle on October 8th.

If you haven’t seen the 2013 Adult Swim pilot episode of the series, which was called Übermansion, click here.

American Ranger (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key)
Age: 22
Powers: Wings for flight, an eagle eye for spotting trouble and a beacon of the American Dream. He’s also skilled in traditional soldiery combat and peeling potatoes. Specialty: Finding a way to perform in bed with his 90 year old wife.

Black Saturn (voiced by Tucker Gilmore)
Age: 28
Powers: Never misses with his assortment of throwing disks
Specialty: Brooding. Bleakness. Frisbee Golf

Brad (voiced by Tom Root)
Age: 43
Powers: Incredible strength, augmented musculature, invulnerability, superhuman lung capacity
Specialty: Taking one day at a time. While high.

Cooch (voiced by Heidi Lynn Gardner)
Age: 25
Powers: Super-human speed and agility. Razor sharp claws.
Specialty: Using a toilet. Most of the time.

Robobot (voiced by Zeb Wells)
Age: N/A
Powers: A robot with the ability to transform his appendages into any tool.
Specialty: Pondering what it means to be human.

Titanium Rex (voiced by Bryan Cranston)
Age: Very
Powers: Flight, Strength of a Titan, X-Ray Vision
Specialty: Close to learning email

This is a new international promotional banner for J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens. As you can see it put the focus on the main villains of The First Order. Those villainous characters include Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie), General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson), and a wickedly huge army of various stormtroopers. It looks like the heroes of this story will have their work cut out for them in their effort to save the galaxy. Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be released on December 18th!

As you know, Cary Fukunaga (True Detective) had been developing Stephen King’s IT for the big screen for years, and he recently ended up leaving the project. The studio and director came to a point where they started having creative differences and Fukunga decided to leave the project, which is a shame. I really was looking forward to seeing his vision, but apparently it was just too awesome, unconventional, and hardcore for the studio to handle. 

During an interview with Variety, the director opened up about his version of the film and why things didn’t work out, saying that they thought his version was too offensive:

“I was trying to make an unconventional horror film. It didn’t fit into the algorithm of what they knew they could spend and make money back on based on not offending their standard genre audience. Our budget was perfectly fine. We were always hovering at the $32 million mark, which was their budget. It was the creative that we were really battling. It was two movies. They didn’t care about that. In the first movie, what I was trying to do was an elevated horror film with actual characters. They didn’t want any characters. They wanted archetypes and scares. I wrote the script. They wanted me to make a much more inoffensive, conventional script. But I don’t think you can do proper Stephen King and make it inoffensive.”

Ok. First of all, their standard audience for this film is the same audience who are freakin’ fans of Stephen King books and horror movies! Does Warner Bros. really understand who their audience is for this kind of project? I guess not. It makes me wonder if any of the executives even bothered to read the book that the film is based on. You seriously can’t make a proper King adaptation without making it offensive. The studio is basically going to dumb down the story for the audience, which is bullshit! They don’t give their audience enough credit. The director went on to talk about what he wanted to do with Pennywise the Clown:

“The main difference was making Pennywise more than just the clown. After 30 years of villains that could read the emotional minds of characters and scare them, trying to find really sadistic and intelligent ways he scares children, and also the children had real lives prior to being scared. And all that character work takes time. It’s a slow build, but it’s worth it, especially by the second film. But definitely even in the first film, it pays off.”

The book itself is a slow burn! Why the hell is the studio so hell-bent on changing that!? They think they know what’s best for the film, but if this is really they case, then it proves that they don’t. Whoever is spearheading this project at the studio shouldn’t be making movies because they are taking out everything that makes this story so damn good. Fukunaga continued:

“It was being rejected. Every little thing was being rejected and asked for changes. Our conversations weren’t dramatic. It was just quietly acrimonious. We didn’t want to make the same movie. We’d already spent millions on pre-production. I certainly did not want to make a movie where I was being micro-managed all the way through production, so I couldn’t be free to actually make something good for them. I never desire to screw something up. I desire to make something as good as possible.”

Damn, that’s frustrating to hear. I’m glad he walked away from it instead of making a film that just seemed to get shittier and shittier the more the executives touched it.

“We invested years and so much anecdotal storytelling in it. Chase and I both put our childhood in that story. So our biggest fear was they were going to take our script and bastardize it. So I’m actually thankful that they are going to rewrite the script. I wouldn’t want them to stealing our childhood memories and using that. I mean, I’m not sure if the fans would have liked what I would had done. I was honoring King’s spirit of it, but I needed to update it. King saw an earlier draft and liked it.”

If King signed off on it, that’s all that matters. What a sad fate for a film that could have been absolutely great. The studio ended up hiring Mama director Andy Muschietti to take on the project, which doesn't spark much confidence. Mama was a very mediocre film that got laughably bad by the time the third act rolled around.

The studio should have just let Fukunaga do his thing. It sounds like he would delivered a film that fans of the book would have loved. Now we’re just going to get some watered down version that probably won’t even end up being as good as the 1990 TV miniseries.

Unified Weapons Master is looking to usher in a new era of full contact martial arts combat that will allow people tostay safe while brutally fight each other with weapons. They've built a suit of armor that makes this possible, and they hope to turn it into a global sport. It seems like the competitions of knights and samurai warriors of old could be making a comeback!

Unified Weapons Master is the Hi-Tech Future of Combat Sport. A new, revolutionary combat sport, combining cutting edge technology with traditional weapons, allowing full contact, weapons martial arts combat in a dynamic highly entertaining format.

Imagine seeing the best Japanese Sword master go head to head with a Chinese Staff master or the best American Sword expert in an arena fighting to become the world's first Unified Weapons Master.

This looks and sounds like it could be pretty awesome. I've included a few videos below for you to watch, but you can see even more of them here. Under the videos you'll find an infographic giving you even more details about what Unified Weapons Master is looking to accomplish with this.

The company is currently in the process of funding their development on Indiegogo, so if you want to help make this a reality you can help them raise the money they need.

Fans of Marvel films have been wondering for awhile if Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner/Hulk would make an appearance in Captain America: Civil War. We've heard rumors about his involvement, but now it seems like we have a definite answer on whether or not he will be joining in the action with the other Avengers in Civil War. During an interview with BadTaste.it, the actor reveals that he was originally supposed to be in the movie, but then he was removed. He explains why in the quote below. This is a rough translation of what he said thanks to Google translate. You'll get the gist of what he's saying, though.

"Because it's still missing is not known where. I thought that I would be in the film, but in the end evidently believe that reveal what happened Hulk is something too big, and Marvel wants to use this information later. My character had been inserted in the script, but then it was taken away. Who knows, maybe Hulk will never return. However, they want to keep the revelation of what happened a secret, because it is something really big."

All I can hope for is that Marvel eventually moves forward with plans to make that Planet Hulk film that we all want. If he doesn't show up in Civil War, the next time that we see The Hulk probably won't be until Avengers: Infinity War, so we've got a long way to go, unless he shows up in Doctor Strange, Black Panther or Captain Marvel, which I highly doubt.

Captain America: Civil War is scheduled to hit theaters on May 6th, 2016. What do you think happened to Hulk after Avengers: Age of Ultron? What's this big secret? You can read some possible details on where Marvel might take his story here.

The BB-8 Droid has become a star of sorts well before its debut in Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens later this year. This video is only going to give it some more shine! Look out R2, you got some competition!

The BBC has released the first trailer for their TV movie called The Gamechangers, which focuses on the creation and battle over the ultra-violent video game Grand Theft Auto. The movie stars Daniel Radcliffe as Rockstar Games co-founder Sam Houser, who had a big hand in popularizing GTA by pushing to amp up the violence. He ended up in a battle with a Christian activist lawyer by the name of Jack Thompson, who is played by Bill Paxton. Thompson set his sights on the game and attacked Houser and Rockstar Games and tried to shut down the production of the popular video game franchise. It obviously didn't work, and it led to him being disbarred in 2008 for using unorthodox methods and inappropriate behavior to get his point across.

Rockstar Games is not involved with this project. In fact, they are actually suing BBC over the film for trademark infringement. The movie is based on a book by David Kushner called Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto, and it looks like an intriguing movie! Check out the trailer below.

Here's a detailed synopsis:

In Autumn 2013, the game’s latest iteration – GTA: V – earned $1bn in just three days, becoming the fastest-selling entertainment product in history. But this drama goes back to 2002, to tell the story of a three-year period of intense controversy in the history of this iconic game’s development. It happened when two passionate men on either side of a high-stakes cultural divide clashed. This conflict, between the creative genius behind the game and a self-styled crusader for American morality, escalated into a fight for the hearts, minds and freedoms of an entire gaming generation.

The fastest-selling entertainment product in history comes not from Silicon Valley, but is driven by a bunch of British game designers. Friends since their school days, they are led by the game’s mastermind-designer, Sam Houser. By 2002, Sam and his creative team have constructed for their fans a vast virtual world, teeming with a high-octane mix of criminal characters, lethal weapons and outrageous storylines. Here you can even shape and sculpt your avatar, crafting their character and appearance to your personal preference.

Within this fantasy landscape, some players choose to take part in a series of dangerous missions, while others become immersed in a sprawling criminal underworld, killing cops, hijacking cars and running over pedestrians. And it’s this that increasingly drives opposition to GTA. Because the game’s violent gameplay leads to fierce opposition: from parents worried about its impact on children; from politicians, fearful of its influence; and, above all, from campaigners fighting to prevent the game being played by minors.

At the vanguard of this crusade is the formidable Christian lawyer Jack Thompson, a man determined to do whatever he can to stop the relentless rise of the game and its influence on children. The Gamechangers tells the story of how British game designers pushed boundaries into uncharted territory, of how those fighting GTA became consumed by a battle which overwhelmed their lives, and how the subsequent fallout threatened to bring down leading players on both sides.

"Woody, do you really want to go to war? He is not our enemy!"

Pixar's Toy Story has been the subject of a ton of movie mashups over the years. We now have one created by CineMash that combines the CG animated classic with the trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. These two films fit together perfectly, especially with the classic rivalry between Woody and Buzz.

If you like movies with unique and bizarre premises, The Lobster is probably at the top of your list of things to see as soon as possible. It's about — get this — single people at a strange hotel who are turned into animals if they don't fall in love in 45 days. Here's the synopsis:

The Lobster is a love story set in the near future where single people, according to the rules of The City, are arrested and transferred to The Hotel. There they are obliged to find a matching mate in 45 days. If they fail, they are transformed into an animal of their choosing and released into The Woods. A desperate Man escapes from The Hotel to The Woods where The Loners live and falls in love, although it is against their rules.

Colin Farrell plays the hapless protagonist, whose brother has already been turned into a dog, and when he's sent to the Hotel, he meets Rachel Weisz, who looks like she may be doing a riff on her quirky-but-likeable character from The Brothers Bloom.

Ben Whishaw, John C. Reilly, Olivia Colman, and more co-star, and The Lobster hails from director Yorgos Lanthimos (Alps, Dogtooth). The movie played at the Cannes Film Festival last year and is set to play the Toronto International Film Festival this year. It has an October 16th release date set in the UK, but no US release scheduled yet. Hopefully that changes quickly, because this looks like it could be one of the year's most endearing films.

Think your favorite Street Fighter II character could hold his or her own again Dragon Ball hero Goku? Not according to the team at Gamebill Studio, who grabbed a bunch of sprite designs, backgrounds, and sound effects and put together a possible outcome for what might happen if the Super Saiyan hero faced off against the whole roster of the classic game.

Via: Kotaku

Oh, hell no! Yesterday, you may have heard that DreamWorks is going to leave Disney next year and they're looking to join forces with Universal Pictures, which is the original studio home of director Steven Spielberg. His career blew up there after Jaws exploded at the box-office. The news of DreamWorks teaming with Universal was reported by THR, and they dropped a quote that made me cringe with disgust. They said:

“[Spielberg] also is key on potential reboots of other Universal franchises such as Jaws and Back to the Future.”

These are two classic films that should never ever be remade. Good grief, this makes me realize that there are executives over at Universal who are actually going to be pushing for these films to get the remake treatment. With Spielberg back at Universal, you can bet there are at least going to be some new discussions about remaking these two movies. A few years ago, it was reported that the American Reunion directors wanted to remake Back to the Future, but thankfully nothing ever happened with it. I just hope to hell that Spielberg doesn't let the studio remake these classic films. 

During a recent interview with director Robert Zemeckis this past summer, he spoke out against a Back to the Future remake:

“That can’t happen until both Bob [Gale] and I are dead, and then I’m sure they’ll do it, unless there’s a way our estates can stop it. I mean, to me, that’s outrageous. Especially since it’s a good movie. It’s like saying ‘Let’s remake Citizen Kane. Who are we going to get to play Kane?’ What folly, what insanity is that? Why would anyone do that?”

Exactly! That goes for Jaws as well. If Spielberg actually allows for these films to remade, my respect level for him is going to crash and burn. 

Hot Toys has revealed two of their 1/6th scale action figures for Star Wars: The Force Awakens! They consist of the villain Kylo Ren and the Stormtroopers of The First Order. You can always expect Hot Toys to deliver the action figure awesomeness, and out of all of the toys being released for this film across all of the toy companies, these are going to be the best ones you see. They are also the most expensive. It's totally worth it if you're a hardcore collector, though! I'd love to get my hands on these! 

Star Wars: TFA 1/6th scale Kylo Ren Collectible Figure

“There has been an awakening, have you felt it?”

The newest installment of the Star Wars saga – Star Wars: The Force Awakens is coming to theatres worldwide this December! Star Wars fans around the world just can’t wait for December to come any sooner! But before the movie’s release, a wide range of merchandise based on this upcoming film is starting to hit the stores in September to let Star Wars enthusiasts to get ready for the film!

To kick off the long-awaited Star Wars: The Force Awakens collection, Hot Toys is very excited to present the 1/6th scale collectible figure of the mysterious main character in the upcoming movie – Kylo Ren! 

Kylo Ren is a dark warrior strong with the Force who gains his name from the Knights of Ren and also commands First Order missions. His unique self-made crossguard lightsaber has already captured all Star Wars fans’ attention upon its first reveal! 

The highly-accurate collectible figure is specially crafted based on the image of Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This collectible figure features Kylo Ren’s helmet with weathering effects, meticulously crafted layers of outfit, the character’s signature crossguard lightsaber with LED light-up function and weathering effects, and a specially designed hexagonal figure stand with the First Order’s emblem!

Don’t miss the chance to add this crucial character from the new movie in your Star Wars collection!

Star Wars: TFA: First Order Stormtroopers

The iconic Stormtrooper is back with a new look in the long awaited sequel of the Star Wars trilogy - Star Wars: The Force Awakens!

Although the Galactic Empire has fallen after the Battle of Endor in Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, a new organization called the First Order has come to power and this new military junta employs the use of Stormtroopers to execute its orders. 

Today, Hot Toys is excited to introduce the 1/6th scale collectible figure of the new streamline designed First Order Stormtrooper from Star Wars: The Force Awakens! 

The highly-accurate collectible figure is specially crafted based on the image of First Order Stormtrooper in Star Wars: The Force Awakens featuring the brand new designed Stormtrooper armor and helmet, highly detailed blaster rifle and pistol, and a specially designed hexagonal figure stand with the First
Order’s emblem! 

It is now the time to create your own army with the new First Order Stormtroopers!

Fans of the first season of Marvel and Netflix's Daredevil can't wait to see what the show has cooked up for season two, and one of the main reasons they're so excited is because The Punisher is coming to Hell's Kitchen. Jon Bernthal is playing the character, and he seems to be a terrific fit for the lonely, violent Frank Castle.

The second season of Daredevil won't hit Netflix until next year, but we've already seen a handful of photos of the actor in character on set, and now we have one shared directly from the man himself:

PUNISH. pic.twitter.com/kEXUQqYrNK

— Jon Bernthal (@jonnybernthal) September 3, 2015

That's a lot of weaponry, and I'm guessing he'll use every last bit of it before next season comes to an end.

The latest Honest Game Trailer from Smosh Games completely tears apart Konami and Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid franchise. This is one of those game franchises that really didn't hit with me. This trailer does a great job of explaining why with its accurate and very entertaining jabs.

The video was released in anticipation of the release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, and here's a note that came along with the video.

From the developer that fired everyone who made their classic franchises comes the game series that's named after 3 random, cool sounding words in a row. Metal Gear Solid!

Sony Pictures has released the newest poster for Spectre, the twenty-fourth film in the James Bond franchise. This will be Daniel Craig's fourth time suiting up as the British super spy, and EON Productions is certainly hoping that long-time fans recognize the nods in this new poster to previous Bond films. The white jacket is a throwback to Goldfinger, and the painted head behind him is meant to conjure memories of Live and Let Die while teasing the Mexico City Dia de los Muertos opening of this movie that we've seen hints of in production videos.

But frankly, this poster is pretty boring. Far more interesting — to me, anyway — is what I believe to be our first extended synopsis for the movie, which you can read in full below:

A cryptic message from the past sends James Bond on a rogue mission to Mexico City and eventually Rome, where he meets Lucia Sciarra (Monica Bellucci), the beautiful and forbidden widow of an infamous criminal.  Bond infiltrates a secret meeting and uncovers the existence of the sinister organisation known as SPECTRE.

Meanwhile back in London, Max Denbigh (Andrew Scott), the new head of the Centre for National Security, questions Bond's actions and challenges the relevance of MI6, led by M (Ralph Fiennes). Bond covertly enlists Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and Q (Ben Whishaw) to help him seek out Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), the daughter of his old nemesis Mr White (Jesper Christensen), who may hold the clue to untangling the web of SPECTRE. As the daughter of an assassin, she understands Bond in a way most others cannot.

As Bond ventures towards the heart of SPECTRE, he learns of a chilling connection between himself and the enemy he seeks, played by Christoph Waltz.

Spectre opens on November 6th in the United States and October 26th in the United Kingdom.

Writer: Jonathan Hickman  -  Artist: Esad Ribic

Colorist: Ive Svorcina  -  Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos

Doom Messiah

With issue one setting the table, issue two takes us on a tour of this weird new world. Most of the book is seen through the eyes of a new recruit, and it's effective since the Thors are this world's police force. It allows us to see many landmarks of Battleworld, including Doomgard, Doomstadt, Higher Avalon, Bar Sinister, The Shield, etc. Heck, even Galactus makes an appearance.

Among the heavy dose of house politics is a glimpse at what is beyond the wall, fittingly titled The Shield. The Thors help maintain this gigantic divide and keep what is beyond it at bay, whether it be Symbiotes, zombies, the Annihilation Wave (which I love is treated as a seasonal occurrence), and even the Ultron A.I. It is not a stretch of the imagination to think that all of these seeds will come into play at some point down the line.

Aside from a brief skirmish towards the end of the book, there isn’t much action in this issue, but the lore-building that Hickman does is extensive, and he fleshes out as many nooks and crannies as he can in one issue. For the most part he pulls it off, and while you know that most of this won’t be the status-quo in a few months when this event comes to a close, it still invests the reader in their current surroundings.

Ribic and Svorcina use a variety of palettes throughout, making each destination of this patchwork world feel distinct and unto itself. It should also be noted just how fantastic Ribic’s rendition of Doom is. So iconic and powerful, it might just be my new favorite.

No real reason for this one, I just wanted to include Mr. Sinister

Issue one got us here.

Issue two shows us why we should care, and goes one step further in bringing everyone to the battlefield.

Just one more group to go.

Over this last week, we've learned that Marvel Studios has severed its feature film ties with Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter, and now Kevin Feige will report directly to Disney studio chief Alan Horn. Then it was reported that Marvel's Creative Committee had been disbanded. 

It seems the difficulty of working with Perlmutter might not be the only reason why all these changes are taking place. According to a report over at Bleeding Cool news, all of this tension between the two parties came to a head with the performance of Avengers: Age of Ultron.

The movie ending up pulling in $1.4 billion dollars at the box office, but apparently that wasn't enough for Disney. If you remember, some fans and analysts predicted that Avengers: Age of Ultron would take over Avatar in the top spot as highest grossing movie of all-time. It basically wasn't a good enough film for fans to go back and watch it in theaters multiple times.

Because of that, Disney reportedly feels that the movie was a failure. The report says that this "enabled Kevin Feige to use it leverage to push out Isaac Perlmutter, without whom there wouldn’t even be a Marvel Studios. And forced the disbanding of the Marvel Creative Committee a few months ago."

If this is really the case, it's crazy that Marvel thinks $1.4 billion is a failure. That's a shit ton of money! I do find it curious that Perlmutter's name is being dragged through the mud like this. Makes me wonder if this is all a calculated effort to get him away from Marvel completely. 

Sleep is overrated, right?

After an incredible weekend in Seattle, I settle in to recuperate from the mind-altering, sleep-deprived bliss that was this year’s PAX Prime. With so much to see and do, it’s only natural that I’d require some time for reflection.

I mean really, an entire massive event devoted to all things gaming and tech? Where could the downside possibly be? You’ve got your cosplayers, your game demos, all kinds of displays and models…it’s basically a mecca for all things gaming and tech! The biggest names in the industry come together to showcase their goods and hobnob with some of the most recognized faces in gaming. With that said, there’s another part of PAX to look forward to: the indie games. With the PAX 10 released, I’m gonna pare the list down even further and give you my personal top 5 indie games of PAX Prime 2015.

5. Ninja Tag

Did you ever want to know if YOU are the ninja-est ninja? No? Well find out anyway with this adorably brutal game! Ninja Tag is a local multiplayer stealth brawler in which 2 to 4 players try to smack the ever-lovin’ hell out of each other. Invisibility, teleportation, and subsequent backstabbings are not only allowed, but encouraged! Indie developer Shin Kazuo has gone above and beyond to create a game of relentlessly quick combat featuring multiple maps, several game modes, and all kinds of visual and audio goodies.

Ninja Tag has been greenlit through Steam, and this playful action-arcade has fun music and sound effects; they’re cartoony without diving over the cliff into campy. The completion of every game rewards players with a screen of accolades, ranging from the game objective of “The Ninjaest Ninja” to the “Awardless Award” for (you guessed it) doing nothing noteworthy at all.

• Release date: “Soon.”
• Platforms: Windows, Mac

4. Tumblestone

Behold: The Stones that Tumble

From developers The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild, this bright colored grid of falling blocks initially looks like just another Match-3 category game. Like some of its genre predecessors, Tumblestone features a multiplayer competitive (AI, LAN, online) setting as well as a solo play mode with multiple game types. One of the more impressive aspects of Tumblestone is the beautiful, hand-drawn artwork in 1080p.  

The game itself is straightforward: you move your character through an overworld map, each location representing a game level. The background color of your screen tells you which color block to destroy, with the layers of stones tumbling down to meet your character at the bottom, and a dozen characters and backgrounds to unlock.

• Release date: Sometime in 2016
• Platforms:  Steam (PC/Mac/Linux) Xbox 360; Xbox One; Playstations 3, 4, & Vita; Wii U; iOS; Android; Windows Phone & Windows Store; Ouya (read: pretty much all of them)

3. Adventures of Pip

Now with animal stacking for more convenient storage!

I’m gonna' level with you: one of the main reasons this game made it into my personal top 5 is the fact that its 32-bit graphics gets me all warm and nostalgic inside. Or maybe it was just that microwave burrito (I was at PAX, don’t judge me), but we’ll call it nostalgia for now. Pip, our perpetually plucky protagonist, is a 1-pixel hero who has the ability to absorb the pixels of the enemies he destroys - and uses them to evolve into three different forms! Sort of like if Mario used spare goomba parts instead of mushrooms, but I digress.

This game runs like a solid platformer in a side scrolling run-jump-dodge galavant through five stylized worlds as he works to save his village from the evil Queen DeRezzia. While some reviewers have complained that the game is on the shorter side, we ALL know that size doesn’t matter as long as you have fun!

• Release date: Available Now
• Platforms: Steam, Nintendo WiiU, and iOS, PS4, Xbox One

2. Darkest Dungeon

“Hello, have you heard about the word of our Dark Elder God and Destroyer of all Mankind?”

On the surface, Red Hook Studio’s Darkest Dungeon looks like your standard fare of RPG turn-based dungeon crawler. Rather than playing a single character through a game, you direct parties of mercenaries through each dungeon as you fight to reclaim your family’s home and hamlet from the abomination of evil that your Ancestor (capitalized by the game) unleashed. The graphics feature a heavy, stylized look with side scrolling animation closer to an animated graphic novel rather than your usual “frames per second” type videogame.  

The sound highlights original music and ambient noises that shift to fit not only your environment and situation (combat vs out of combat) but also your coterie’s mental state. A surprisingly complex game, you must monitor the mental state of your party at all times, as shown by the “stress” meter. If the stress meter fills, the character dies. Character death is permanent in this game, with new recruits arriving by stagecoach every day - a random mix of male & female for any and all of the 20 classes. With gothic, elaborate writing, great voice acting, and the old school feel of a gritty dungeon crawler, Darkest Dungeon is a game well worth picking up.

• Release date: Available Now!
• Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, PS4, and Vita.

1. Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime

No, you didn’t drop acid. This is what the game really looks like.   

A game designed for two, Asteroid Base’s Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is a superlatively chaotic 1 or 2 player couch co-op action space shooter. Yes, that’s a genre now. In this game, you and your other (whether it’s a person or a loyal AI pet is up to you and your social life - or lack thereof) control a huge, brightly colored battleship that you control together by darting to and fro the various rooms. Each player is equally important and the game is possible only through teamwork.

An exhilarating challenge while also being accessible to new or casual gamers, the goal is to triumph over the evil forces of Anti-Love by way of rescuing kidnapped space-bunnies (not kidding) and escaping from a death in the vacuum of space! Players can find powerful space-gems and use them in various combinations to upgrade their battleships to create tools for every situation. The game uses randomized level layouts, so even veteran gamers will find something new to navigate every time they settle in to play. By beating levels, you unlock new constellations (pictured above is “Ursa Major”), with all-new places to explore!

• Release date: September 9, 2015
• Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, and Xbox One