Summer movie season is here, where every release is huge and the competition ramps up each week. It’s also a season of familiarity, and the first half of this summer is just that. Two movies are based on video games, the rest are sequels. Early summer just isn’t the time Hollywood takes risks on movies that aren’t based on existing materials.

While Atlus and Sega have their own visual novel character fighting game, It was only a matter of time before Nitroplus characters would get their own. Much like those other games, it also proves that you don't need to know these properties to give someone a beat down and have a good time.

As mentioned in these articles numerous times, every year studios are defying former scheduling expectations and releasing big budget blockbusters in typically non-peak movie seasons. For example, most of the films below could have held their own in the summer, but opted to avoid competition instead. The movie goers end up being the beneficiary in the end because we get to watch summer movies nearly all year long now. Let’s dive in to this year’s impressive “spring” offerings.

The secret's out - I bought myself a Tesla last year. Traded in an old 2004 Mustang Convertible V6 for it, and it was one hell of an upgrade. It has pretty much changed my life in the sense that I actually enjoy road trips now. After years of averaging about 6-8k miles a year on the Mustang (which was still a great car for me) I put 12k miles in eight months on my Tesla. So, when the opportunity arose to drive to MAGFest this year, I jumped at the chance, and decided to share the experience with all of you.

On a cold but sunny weekend in February, Bobby Blackwolf and Rob Roberts traveled to National Harbor, MD (just south of Washington, DC) to attend MAGFest - the Music and Games Festival - and amidst the Colossus Roars, we were able to talk to some of the indie games that were accepted into the MAGFest Indie Videogame Showcase.

The coming year's going to be a busy one for RPG fans the world over. Outside of the expected staples found in titles such as Final Fantasy XV to the potential for Mass Effect: Andromeda coming out, many indies that are also expecting to make their debut this year, many of which are also Kickstarter darlings that are either way overdue or are finally seeing the light at the end of that long, crowdfunded tunnel.

Winter movie season: Hollywood's snowy dumping ground for films that couldn't make the cut elsewhere. Okay, maybe that's a bit rough, but it can be somewhat lackluster. That seems to be the case for January, as there isn't much to look forward to, but February is there to save the day with superheroes and supermodels.

While Rodea was originally planned as a Wii game, numerous delays almost saw the project canceled. Years later the game finally released on the 3DS and Wii U, but it had undergone many changes, many of which were either negative or just plain unnecessary. Chalk up another title to those that become worse due to publisher meddling, because Rodea the Sky Soldier is one such game, with the 3DS version being the worst of it.

As with any film with the tremendous cultural expectations and setting the tone for a revival of a beloved franchise, imperfections will become glaring, even when a reasonable perspective is applied. The bottom line is that this is about as strong a return to the Star Wars universe as one could expect, and it’s going to be a long wait until Episode VIII!

This is setting up to be quite the interesting holiday season at the box office. Potentially two of the biggest movies ever are launching within a month of each other and there isn't much substantial in between as it seems everyone is avoiding competing with them directly. On one hand, it's smart because no studio wants to see their big movies dwarfed, but it also guarantees that these tentpole films will have a free ride to the top of the box office charts. Let's take a look at the big behemoths and the few movies that did decide to release around the same time.