Log in
Numerous WWE departures have taken place, per Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com.
Chicago, IL
Anybody who cares about games should take the Seumus McNally Grand Prize seriously. The top award given out at GDC’s Independent Games Festival has gone to some of the best games of the century, games like Outer Wilds, Return Of The Obra Dinn, and A Short Hike. In 2012 Fez somehow beat out Spelunky, FTL, and Dear Esther; the year before that an obscure little game called Minecraft reeled it in. There are too many awards handed out to games every year to keep track of, but this is the one you most need to pay attention to if you care about games beyond their commercial potential. And this year’s winner, AP Thomson’s Titanium Court, absolutely earns it.
Titanium Court is a strategy game, a match-3 puzzler, and a tower defense game wrapped into a single package, and there’s surprisingly little tension between the three. It squeezes them together snugly and smoothly in a way that feels so natural and so obvious that it’s hard to believe there isn’t already a long history of this type of game. Here’s how it works: Every encounter has two halves. Your map is made up of tiles with various types of terrain on them, like the hex map of a wargame (only these tiles are squares); your court, which you have to protect, is usually on the center tile. During the first half you slide those tiles to make matches of three or more; the matched tiles disappear, the tiles above them fall deeper into the column, and new tiles appear to fill the open space on the map. There’s a meter to the left of the map decreasing every time you make a move, and most matches earn you a resource based on the kind of tile; forests get you wood, fields get you bread, hills get you stone, and water gets you, uh, water. If you match more than three tiles at once, you get extra resources; if you string multiple matches in a row, with tiles matching up and clearing out as they cascade down after an initial match, you’ll not only get a lot of resources but also add time back to the meter. Various enemy tiles also appear. Some are enemy courts, little pink castles that can generate different classes of warriors that will attack your court during the second phase. You also have to watch out for catapults, volcanoes, and the occasional angry goat. You can clear out enemies during the first phase by matching three of their tiles, or move your court’s tile one space at a time to put it in a better defensive position; you don’t get any resources when you do either one, though, so you’re constantly weighing the opportunity cost of every decision.
Those resources are vital in the second phase. This is when you prepare for the actual battle. You’ll use your resources to spawn your own units—some defend your court, others go out to attack enemy courts, and various worker units can collect more resources for you—or use spells and other skills to help in the fight. Once you’re done prepping, you can start the battle, which runs automatically in a tower defense style. If you withstand the assault, you’ll move onto the next skirmish, working your way through several maps toward a boss fight with a dragon, a kraken, or some other mystical beast. (Or sometimes a whole team of angry goats.) And when you fail to slay the monster again and again, you’ll see a fourth genre poking through, the roguelite, as you lose all the resources and units you’ve acquired during the run and restart from scratch the next time.
Chicago, IL
Like many of the other promoters at CinemaCon last week, The Ankler columnist Richard Rushfield was handing out free swag. It was nothing fancy, just a pin that read “Block The Merger,” referring to the monumental unification of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery that is coming up for a vote this Thursday. But Paramount didn’t appreciate the gesture, and instead of ignoring it, pulled its advertising from The Ankler and told talent not to speak to their reporters. All that for a pin.
Chicago, IL
For decades, economists gave short shrift to the idea of monopsony — a power employers can have to suppress wages. Now a wave of research suggests it's everywhere, and a new book argues it's key to understanding today's inequality.
Chicago, IL
Today it’s taken for granted that almost every major video game will eventually get a worldwide release, but this wasn’t always the norm. Before the mid-to-late-’00s, it often took years for games made in Japan to reach other regions, if ever. There’s still a long list of seminal, medium-influencing titles that never made the leap: Most of the first five Fire Emblems, Boku No Natsu Yasumi, King’s Field, and Tokimeki Memorial are missing links in the West, causing misunderstandings about what qualifies as a “dating sim,” and other goofy misnomers, to this day. Then there’s Mother 3, a game whose lack of a localization is so infamous that its phantom re-release exists alongside other legendary non-projects, like Half-Life 3 and a Bloodborne PC port (congrats to Silksong for finally graduating from this list).
Mother 3 was released in Japan 20 years ago today, at a time when localization was increasingly seen as a given for big games by high-profile publishers like Nintendo. This is one of many reasons fans remain confused about the game’s neglect. Earthbound (known as Mother 2 in Japan) came out in the States more than a decade prior, with that game’s protagonist Ness becoming a bit of a household name thanks to his inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Given that Mother 3 sold well in Japan, it seems all the more confounding why Nintendo refused to give Lucas’ debut the full attention it deserved. Sure, there were justifiable reasons for the suits’ disinterest in 2006, but things have changed since then.
The main difference is that in the years since its release, Mother 3’s reputation has grown tremendously. This is mostly because it is a very good video game. It carries on the weirdo appeal of its predecessors, lightly parodying RPG tropes as it skips over stock high fantasy and sci-fi milieus for a near-present America. Set in Tazmily Village, the story cycles between a big cast of characters with intertwining journeys, a bit like the Square Enix classic Live A Live (which recently received its first official worldwide release; take notes, Nintendo). As these locals face off against the Pigmask Army and other threats, there’s a surprisingly sharp pull towards tragedy alongside a willingness to meaningfully engage with weighty topics. This town is basically a moneyless commune, and series creator Shigesato Itoi’s script doesn’t miss opportunities to critique and satirize capitalism. Beyond this, the cast spends much of the game battling fascist monsters hellbent on destroying the natural world. Even with its heavier moments, a lot of the charm lies in its sudden, unpredictable changes in direction, as you battle a sentient jar of strawberry jam or an angry walking tree. Mother 3’s turn-based battles may be a bit straightforward, but its fusion of humor, thoughtful writing, and sheer charisma gives it a unique flavor compared to its spiritual successors, such as Undertale and Omori. It holds up exceptionally well.
Chicago, IL
"After a Supreme Court of the United States ruling in Feb. 2026, many tariffs imposed by the Trump administration were declared illegal because the president overstepped his authority," writes Slashdot reader hcs_$reboot. "As a result, the U.S. government now has to refund a massive amount of money, around $160-170+ billion, paid mainly by importers." According to the New York Times, the administration has now begun accepting refund requests, "surrendering its prized source of revenue -- plus interest." From the report: For some U.S. businesses, the highly anticipated refunds could be substantial, offering critical if belated financial relief. Tariffs are taxes on imports, so the president's trade policies have served as a great burden for companies that rely on foreign goods. Many have had to choose whether to absorb the duties, cut other costs or pass on the expenses to consumers. By Monday morning, those companies can begin to submit documentation to the government to recover what they paid in illegal tariffs.
In a sign of the demand, more than 3,000 businesses, including FedEx and Costco, have already sued the Trump administration in a bid to secure their refunds, with some cases filed even before the Supreme Court's ruling. But only the entities that officially paid the tariffs are eligible to recover that money. That means that the fuller universe of people affected by Mr. Trump's policies -- including millions of Americans who paid higher prices for the products they bought -- are not able to apply for direct relief.
The extent to which consumers realize any gain hinges on whether businesses share the proceeds, something that few have publicly committed to do. Some have started to band together in class-action lawsuits in the hopes of receiving a payout. Many business owners said they weren't sure how easy the tariff refund process would be, particularly given Mr. Trump's stated opposition to returning the money. The administration has suggested that it may be months before companies see any money. Adding to the uncertainty, the White House has declined to say if it might still try to return to court in a bid to halt some or all of the refunds. The money will mostly go to importers and companies, since they were the ones that directly paid the tariffs. While individual refunds with interest could take around 60 to 90 days to process, the overall effort will probably move much more slowly because of how large and complicated it will be.
There are also legal questions around whether companies would have to pass any of that money on to consumers. Slashdot reader AmiMoJo commented: "This is perhaps the biggest transfer of wealth in American history. Most of those companies will just pocket the refund and not pass any of it on to the consumer. If prices go down at all, they won't be back to pre-tariff levels. You paid the tariffs, but you ain't getting the refund."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Chicago, IL
Next Page of Stories