Month: September 2018

Enlarge / Ready to save the day, one side quest at a time. (credit: Insomniac / Sony)

Spider-Man is the first truly Marvel Studios-caliber video game ever made. And that, admittedly, is a double-edged sword.

If you want levity, action, style, solid voice acting, likeable characters, and fun stuff to do, this Sony-produced, Insomniac-developed PS4 exclusive has you covered. It's huge. It's polished. It lives up to the Spider-Man name.

But it's also Another Superhero Game™. Spider-Man follows the incredibly solid trail blazed by the Batman Arkham series—and iterated upon by inFamous 2, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Assassin's Creed: Origins, and Insomniac's own Sunset Overdrive. Once again, you're a badass hero in a giant world, and you spend your time zipping around, beating up thugs, and tossing gadgets every which way.

Unsurprisingly, the Nintendo Switch was everywhere at this weekend's PAX West, from massive demo stations to people chilling on PAX beanbags with their own Switches. On the show floor, Nintendo took the opportunity to showcase Super Smash Bros. Ultimate one more time, which drew hours-long lines through the four-day expo. Fortunately, we’d already put that demo through its paces.

Thus, we focused our PAX time on the rest of Nintendo’s strong first- and third-party showing, including upcoming ports and indie debuts that will soon call the Switch home. (Yes, games for PCs and other consoles were plentiful at PAX West, and we'll have our full best-of list for those by week's end.)

Enlarge (credit: Getty)

Suffering heat stroke on an un-air-conditioned Tulsa, Oklahoma, transit bus, Sweet Paula Ogans-Recess' cell phone may very well have saved her life. Losing consciousness as her complexion flushed, she dialed 911. First responders traced her call, found her, and administered aid.

"I would have died... If it wasn't for the phone, I wouldn't be here," said Ogans-Recess.

It's why she never leaves home without her phone. A phone which Ogans-Recess has because she participates in the Lifeline program, a Reagan-era subsidy initiative.