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Screenshot: Absolum In my mind, DotEmu is associated with retro beat ‘em ups because of their success with games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge  and Streets of Rage 4 . Of course, they’ve dabbled in other genres with Windjammers 2, Pharaoh: A New Era, and Metal Slug Tactics being some stand-out examples. But all of these are games that are both retro-inspired and are already part of existing IPs. That’s what makes Absolum the real standout in Dotemu’s offerings. I know everyone is hyped for Marvel Cosmic Invasion , but I think there should have been more buzz around Absolum  – I absolutely loved the hours I put into it. Absolum isn’t the first roguelike beat ‘em up that I’ve heard of, but it’s probably one of the most polished I've played. This isn’t a genre/sub-genre mash-up that comes around very often, and never has a developer with such pedigree handled the idea. Fortunately, Dotemu knocks the concept out of the park. Screenshot: Absolum Absolum plays like a standard beat ‘em up: fight enemies, destroy environmental items, and sometimes pick-up weapons (there are only throwable weapons in Absolum) or other items like health. There are two initial characters to choose from, with a roster of four characters to work towards. Each character has a different feel and moveset. Galandra mixes quick strikes with a slow, heavy sword attack. Karl (which is hopefully a Deep Rock Galactic reference) is a dwarf that uses a blunderbuss and his fists to dispatch foes.  Screenshot: Absolum As you progress through Absolum on your journey to dispatch Azra, the game’s advertised big bad, you will meet lots of different enemy types and interesting ways to dispatch them. You can collect rituals and trinkets on your journey, both of which have the ability to drastically change how effective your character can be. And that's the biggest difference in Absolum versus your average beat ‘em up:   its roguelike structure that gives you the ability to upgrade your character with abilities that have the potential for some absolutely devastating synergy. And that’s why I like to play roguelikes. As with most roguelikes, you have some agency over where you can go on the world map. Except in Absolum, you determine which fork to take. Sometimes these forks are hidden or blocked off by some puzzle. It’s not possible to see all of Absolum in one playthrough, but that also means you’ll be playing the same areas repeatedly.  Screenshot: Absolum Thankfully, Dotemu anticipated returning to areas over and over again and made going back and exploring already tread ground a little more interesting than just seeing the same stuff over and over. Sometimes new events will pop up, or characters you met on your travels will catch up and pop in for some help or guidance. There are also a handful of sidequests and other secrets to uncover that will require multiple runs to complete. Obviously, there is also a true end boss and other hidden bosses to discover and brutalize.  There is a lot of heart put into Absolum , and that’s evident in both the game’s tight gameplay and its lore. Each of the four characters you can unlock are unique and have distinct personalities. The worldbuilding is superb, though it's very derivative of similar works that came before it. Absolum ’s strength is in DotEmu’s fantastic execution, however, and not its originality.  Screenshot: Absolum If I did have any substantive complaint about Absolum is that it feels much too short, and too easy. I was able to see most of the game within the first 4-5 hours of playtime, and I'm not exceptional at beat ‘em ups nor roguelikes. In fact, I had such an easy go of it that once I finally got a character powerful enough to meet the end boss, I steamrolled him without breaking a sweat. It was often the case that I would find myself either vastly overpowered or not at all prepared for a fight, with few encounters that were in-between. Absolum is one of my games of the year. I have a feeling it's slipping under the radar a bit, but I hope it’s successful enough that Dotemu keeps working on these new IPs, because their first truly novel offering in a long time is an absolute gem.  Absolum is out now.

Federal Judges have issued rulings temporarily blocking the Trump administration from mobilizing the National Guard in Illinois and the use of certain types of weapons and tactics during protests. Protesters gathered in Grant Park in Chicago for a rally and march against the deployment of National Guard troops in the area and continued ICE raids. Photo by Aaron Cynic. On Thursday, a judge granted a temporary restraining order  prohibiting the Trump administration from “ordering the federalization and deployment of the National Guard of the United States within Illinois" until at least October 23rd. Speaking from the bench in her ruling, U.S. District Judge April Perry said that the Department of Homeland Security’s perception of events in and around Chicago that those protesting ICE raids are engaged in a “rebellion” are “simply unreliable,” according to The Chicago Tribune . Judge Perry said that deploying the National Guard on the streets of Chicago would only make an already volatile situation worse. She said that troops are “not trained in de-escalation or other extremely important law enforcement functions that would help to quell these problems,” and mobilizing them would “only add fuel to the fire that the defendants themselves have started.” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker celebrated the decision, writing on Bluesky  that the Trump administration is “not above the law.” “Donald Trump is not a king — and his administration is not above the law. Today, the court confirmed what we all know: there is no credible evidence of a rebellion in the state of Illinois. And no place for the National Guard in the streets of American cities like Chicago.” Some 500 National Guard troops began deploying in the Chicagoland area on Wednesday. Some were seen outside the ICE detention facility in suburban Broadview. The ruling comes one day after thousands of Chicagoans took to the streets in the Loop to protest both the deployment of the Guard and continued ICE raids in the area, which have terrorized communities since the beginning of “Operation Midway Blitz” last month. ICE has disappeared more than 1,000 people in the Chicagoland area since the operation began. Chanting "Chicago isn’t licking boots, no Trump, no ICE, no troops,” and "up up with liberation, down down with deportations,” they marched along Michigan Avenue to Trump Tower after a rally beginning in Grant Park. A person dressed as the Statue of Liberty at a rally in Chicago before a march against the deployment of National Guard troops and continuing ICE raids in the area. Photo by Aaron Cynic. “What we are seeing is an administration that is sending troops in to scare us into silence,” Alderwoman Jessie Fuentes told the crowd. “To punish dissent. And we will not allow that here in the city of Chicago.” Fuentes was violently handcuffed and detained by ICE agents at a local hospital in her ward while advocating for a person ICE had brought there after detaining them. For weeks, residents protesting the administration’s continued kidnappings throughout the area along with journalists and others have been met by heavily armed agents who’ve deployed tear gas, pepper balls, flash bang grenades, and other munitions and tactics indiscriminately and without warning. Photos by Aaron Cynic Federal agents have attacked peaceful protesters and journalists alike outside the facility in Broadview on a regular basis and tear gassed a large swath of the Brighton Park neighborhood after shooting a motorist which they accused of allegedly ramming a vehicle, though evidence suggests otherwise. Agents also tossed tear gas out of a vehicle onto a street near a school in Logan Square, and have violently confronted residents for legally filming their activities, something elected officials in Illinois have encouraged. Federal agents attack protesters outside the ICE dention facility in Broadview, Illinois. Photo by Chris Riha. Also on Thursday U.S. District Judge Sara L. Ellis issued a temporary restraining order preventing federal officers from using these tactics and weapons against peaceful demonstrators, members of the clergy, and journalists reporting in the area. "Individuals are allowed to protest,” Judge Ellis said while issuing the order. “They are allowed to speak. That is guaranteed by the First Amendment of our constitution, and it is a bedrock right that upholds our democracy.” Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include multiple media outlets like the Chicago Headline Club, Block Club Chicago, and Raven Geary and Steve Held of Unraveled Press, along with the Chicago Newspaper Guild Local 34071, the National Association of Broadcast Employees & Technicians Local 54041, and several clergy members who have been targeted by agents for weeks, according to a press release from Loevy and Lovey, the law firm representing them. Steve Art from the firm celebrated the ruling, saying: "For weeks, federal forces sent to Chicago have terrorized residents. They have used incredible violence against civilians, against demonstrators, against religious and political leaders, and against the press. They hope to scare us into silence and submission. But the community here in Chicago will not be bullied. Today, because of the work of hundreds of brave community members, a federal judge has entered an injunction prohibiting the illegal conduct of federal agents in the Chicago area. We applaud the Court’s ruling, which will protect constitutional rights and many members of our community." “I saw snipers on the roof of the detention center, pointed down at us simply trying to pray from our beliefs, in what we believed was a country of freedom,” said Father Brendan Curran, a Dominican priest who has led prayer vigils outside the Broadview facility for nearly 20 years. "Today's ruling would not have been possible without the bravery of the Plaintiffs and many others who stood up in the face of egregious state violence and misconduct," said Daniel Massoglia, Director of the Civil Rights Clinic at First Defense Legal Aid. "It sends a powerful message in favor of press freedom, religious freedom, and the freedom to dissent against government abuses."

Photo: Chris Riha ( @superbia454 ) The ongoing feud between the sitting president, the Chicagoland area and State of Illinois continues to escalate. Operation Midway Blitz has been underway for a month and has involved US Immigration and Customers Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as well as several other federal agencies. In this past month, we've seen agents deploying tear gas in several Chicago neighborhoods , violently handcuffing a city alderman , arresting journalists , as well as having heavily armed agents rappelling from Blackhawks into a South Shore neighborhood to conduct a raid on an apartment building where numerous US citizens, including at least four children , were detained. Photo: Chris Riha ( @superbia454 ) Trump has now also announced that he will deploy the Illinois National Guard against its commander in chief's wishes, also deploying members of the Texas National Guard, to 'protect' agents from the city he also frequently refers to as a "war zone." IL Governor Pritzker has been an outspoken opponent of Trump and these actions, and has worked with Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson to block the moves with a federal lawsuit. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on his way into Manny's Deli on election day in 2023. Photo : Aaron Cynic Mayor Brandon Johnson has also recently signed an executive order to establish "ICE Free Zones" which prohibit use of city property for federal immigration operations, according to an official press release on chicago.gov . “We will not tolerate ICE agents violating our residents’ constitutional rights nor will we allow the federal government to disregard our local authority. ICE agents are detaining elected officials, tear-gassing protestors, children, and Chicago police officers, and abusing Chicago residents. We will not stand for that in our city,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson. “With this Executive Order, Chicago stands firm in protecting the Constitutional rights of our residents and immigrant communities and upholding our democracy.”    The city's resistance to this illegal invasion appears to only be inciting the wrath of Donald Trump, who again took to social media to rant about imprisoning both Pritzker and Johnson : "Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] Officers!" "Governor Pritzker also!" Photo: Aaron Cynic This is not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested,” Mayor Johnson posted on social media. “I’m not going anywhere.” Pritzker also responded in his own series of social posts on "X" stating "I will not back down. Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power. What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?" In an interview with MSNBC after speaking at a rally at Federal Plaza in Chicago for workers affected by the government shutdown, Pritzker called Trump "unhinged." "This guy is unhinged. He's insecure," said Pritkzer. "He's a wannabe dictator. And there's one thing I really want to say to Donald Trump. If you come for my people, you come through me. So come and get me." BREAKING: The Chicago Teacher's Union has Denounced Trump's Targeting of Chicago's Mayor in an official statement that follows: CTU Denounces President Trump’s Targeting of Chicago’s Mayor: Chicago Will Continue its Proud Tradition of Protecting City Residents and their Liberty in the Face of Troops Call for Johnson’s Arrest is Latest Sign Trump is Waging War on Successful Black Political Power, Using Government for Personal Agenda, Unfit for Office Chicago, IL. In response to Donald Trump calling for the arrest of Brandon Johnson, Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates cited the city’s 1850 council resolution calling on local police to not aid and abet fugitive slave patrols, and denounced Trump’s targeting, claiming it is making everyone less safe. “A hundred and seventy five years after Chicago passed resolutions refusing to aid and abet fugitive slave patrols, we have a mayor who is taking every step to once again protect Chicagoans from lawless capture and we have a sitting President who is attacking him for it. Sen. Stephen Douglas denounced Chicago for refusing to support the agents deployed to take away Chicagoans’ liberties and Trump is doing the same today. Our democratically-elected mayor is making our city safer by keeping a bright line between local government and the lawless invasion of our city being carried out at the order of the President. He should be celebrated and protected for it. More to come on the situation unfolding in Chicago as it happens

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said that President Donald Trump plans to federalize 300 or more National Guard troops to send to Chicago, along with other cities like Portland, Oregon. Federal Agents with the Bureau of Prisons and other law enforcement officers push protesters outside of the ICE detention facility in Broadview, Illinois. Photo by Chris Riha . “This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” Pritzker said in a statement on Saturday . “In the coming hours, the Trump Administration intends to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard. They will pull hardworking Americans out of their regular jobs and away from their families all to participate in a manufactured performance — not a serious effort to protect public safety. For Donald Trump, this has never been about safety. This is about control.” A memo obtained and published by CBS News  on Sunday confirmed this. “Up to 300 members of the Illinois National Guard will be called into Federal service effective immediately for a period of 60 days. The Chief of the National Guard Bureau will immediately coordinate the details of the mobilization with you, in coordination with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Commander, U.S. Northem Command. The mobilized Service members will be under the command and control of the Commander, U.S. Northern Command." The statement says troops would be deployed "to protect Federal property, at locations where violent demonstrations against these functions are occurring or are likely to occur based on current threat assessments and planned operations." Sunday night, Pritzker reiterated the statement and added more context, saying that the Texas National Guard would be deployed to Illinois, Oregon, and other locations and called it an "invasion." “This evening, President Trump is ordering 400 members of the Texas National Guard for deployments to Illinois, Oregon, and other locations within the United States. No officials from the federal government called me directly to discuss or coordinate. “We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion. It started with federal agents, it will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will now involve sending in another state’s military troops." The announcement(s) come as the Department of Homeland Security continues to escalate its attacks on the people of Chicago, its suburbs, and the collar counties surrounding Cook County. In just the last week, in addition to regularly kidnapping people off the street in the Chicagoland area, ICE conducted several large-scale raids, including one in the South Shore neighborhood that featured Blackhawk helicopters with heavily armed agents rappelling from them, doors broken down, homes broken into, property stolen, and people, including children, zip-tied and disappeared into vans in the middle of the night. Beginning on Friday and through the weekend, ICE agents also deployed tear gas in several Chicago neighborhoods, including near a hospital in Humboldt Park, a school and grocery store in Logan Square, and through a swath of the Brighton Park neighborhood after community members began a spontaneous protest in response to agents shooting a motorist. Additionally, agents violently handcuffed Chicago Alderwoman Jessie Fuentes at a hospital, who was advocating for a person in the custody of federal agents. DHS released a statement  alleging that the agents in Brighton Park were “rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars” while “patrolling in the greater Broadview area,” which is some 15 miles northwest of the neighborhood. According to an 8 page criminal complaint published by the Sun-Times , the motorist allegedly "drove aggressively and erratically towards” agents' vehicles, disobeyed stop signs, red lights and drove “the wrong way down one-way streets in order to pursue the CBP Vehicles.” Evidence of the allegations has still yet to be confirmed, and video circulating on social media appears to contradict the DHS narrative. In the wake of the shooting, DHS agents deployed a host of chemical munitions on people at the scene, including members of the Chicago Police Department. The motorist and one other person have been charged with felony assault. Law enforcement from federal, state, and local agencies have also ramped up attacks and arrests on people protesting outside of the ICE detention facility in Broadview, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. For weeks and months, community members, activists, and elected officials have been protesting outside the facility, where many of the people kidnapped by ICE in the greater Chicagoland area are held and “processed.” Those who’ve been inside the facility, including Steve Held, a journalist with the outlet Unraveled , who have been documenting the situation for weeks, described deplorable conditions detainees face. “Reportedly some ICE detainees are held for days, even up to a week,” Held wrote in a thread on Bluesky , after being released from being arrested while covering protest outside the facility. “Our room stank of sweat & pepper ball powder after just a few hours. Their room appeared dirty, filled with men dressed for labor, trying to get comfortable to sleep in chairs or on the cold floor in the cinder block room.” Governor Pritzker has directed pleny of fiery rhetoric towards Trump and has repeatedly told residents of Chicagoland to protest and film what ICE does when they kidnap people off the street. At the same time, the Illinois Department of Transportation set up large concrete barricades outside of the facility in Broadview to designate a "free speech zone." Various federal agencies still attacked demonstrators anyway, with the help of the Illinois State Police and other local agencies. Photo by Chris Riha Photo by Chris Riha While National Guard troops were not yet seen on the streets of Chicago or the surrounding area on Sunday, the war of words between President Trump and Governor Pritzker continued. Speaking to Jake Tapper on CNN’s State of the Union,  Governor Pritzker called the raid in South Shore “shameful,” and said that the state’s Department of Children and Family Services is investigation what happened to the children who were zip-tied and elderly people who were held in a truck for more than three hours. “What kind of a country are we living in? And this raid at this building is emblematic of what ICE and CBP and the president of the United States, Kristi Noem and Greg Bovino, are trying to do,” said Pritzker. “They want mayhem on the ground. They want to create the war zone, so that they can send in even more troops.”   Monday morning, the State of Illinois filed a lawsuit attempting to block the deployment. “The American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly not simply because their city or state leadership has fallen out of a president’s favor,” the complaint reads, according to The Hill.

There are no bad Paul Thomas Anderson movies. And while lately there has been a bit of ebb and flow after There Will Be Blood and between unparalleled masterpieces like 2012’s The Master and 2017's Phantom Thread and lighter but excellent fare in 2014's Inherent Vice and 2021's Licorice Pizza , you can't deny PTA’S artistry and style. That seems to be the guiding force of One Battle After Another , which ranks high on the upper echelon of his work. Despite being worked on for two decades, One Battle After Another feels uncomfortably timely or unfortunately prescient. The film centers around members of a revolutionary group called The French 75, specifically Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) and Ghetto Bob/Rocketman (Leonardo DiCaprio) who run around California releasing illegal immigrants from detention camps, blowing things up, robbing banks to fund their missions, and various other acts to battle fascism, which is embodied in the personage of Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn). Their stories interlock and come to a head when their decisions tear a rift through The French 75, propelling Ghetto Bob and his new born daughter Charlene into hiding. This section of the film immediately hearkens back to 70's style filmmaking. From the heavy grain on the film stock to the tight close ups to the pacing, it all meshes together into an almost grindhouse film that is elevated to arthouse. Feels weird to say that, especially with the recent backlash on elevated horror, but it works so damn well here. The closest thing I would liken it to is a pop version of postmodernism. The rest of the film jumps forward 15 years where we meet with the new cast of characters. Beyond the aforementioned leads you have people like Sergio St. Cloud, hilariously portrayed by Benicio del Toro, balancing life as a martial arts sensei and expert at helping migrants in the US, a secret cabal of racists with a name I won't spoil who let loose a preppy fixer to alleviate some unwanted pressure, and a group of former revolutionary who, once again, I refuse to spoil their names or newfound callings. Before all this conspiratorial mess comes crashing down, we do get a brief moment to "relax" and meet Ghetto Pat/Rocketman, now Bob Ferguson, and his teenaged daughter Charlene, portrayed by an incredible Chase Infiniti, now Willa in their new lives. Now to the action. Those final 2/3rds are a series of elongated cat and mouse games between several characters that is as thrilling as anything put to film in the last several decades. Every scene has this kinetic energy that refuses to dissipate as Bob haphazardly evades Lockjaw and his forces while Willa learns of her families origins as she is separated from her father. This all culminates in a breathtaking final set piece that is masterfully handled. Another thing One Battle After Another does incredibly well is being inspired by Thomas Pynchon's Vineland rather than directly adapting it. If you've read the book, you can definitely see characters, motivations, and even absurd plot lines lifted directly from the surprisingly digestible tome. But ultimately the story is much more streamlined and despite its complexities, is very easy to follow as it focuses so heavily on Bob and Willa’s fleeing from the overwhelming breadth of Lockjaw’s blind retribution. That is not to say that the intensity of the revolutionary acts or the militaristic forces outweighs the other big thing that makes the film great: the comedy. One Battle After Another is a satire and a very, very funny one as it successfully has its cake and eats it too. It's wild and goofy with moments of anachronism and absurdism (the maybe takes place now more or less) standing shoulder to shoulder with plenty of serious elements to ground the whole thing, making the juxtaposition of the two contrast heavily and taking the inherent hilarity in crazy names to a new level. If you're not cackling at a group of fascist racists calling themselves...I still won't spoil it..., then you're taking the movie way too seriously (or don't know that the real life Proud Boys take their name from a song cut from the Aladdin movie that was later included in the musical version.) Acting wise everyone here is doing top tier work. Leonardo DiCaprio has allowed himself to take on roles of aging out of their element characters (see Once Upon A Time in Hollywood ) and is excelling at it. Sean Penn is bored online unrecognizable as his face is in a constant grimace, his hair cut in such a way that you can't help but think fascist, and his overall being feeling imposing as he struts around like Vince McMahon or nefarious Popeye. Chase Infinity, whose real name seems plucked for the mind of Pynchon himself and could frankly be an apt name for her character, is maybe giving the best performance in the movie. She truly embodies the scared teenager being swept up in this conspiratorial plot. The supporting actors like Benicio del Toro and Teyana Taylor steal their scenes while more subdued choices from Regina Hall lend some much appreciated gravity to the film. While One Battle After Another may not be as dense as it's source material, it still manages a complex array of themes that I'm sure every viewer will take something from this film. Whether it's the political criticisms, the father/daughter dynamics, the consequences of peoples past defining them or being the thing they need to let go; there are just so many themes running around that it's impossible to focus on just one. PTA hasn't made a bad movie yet, and One Battle After Another is another notch in the masterpiece column.

Listen closely, youngs. We want to tell you about a time when people would take their entire computers to other people’s houses, connect them all up at one person’s house, fire up the microwave, pour the Doritos, and game together. It was called a LAN party, and it was one of those weird things where you suddenly decide maybe it WOULD be awesome if you could hang out with all your gamer friends IRLsies. And it was. You could eat a bunch of snacks, play a bunch of couch co-op, explore new games, and team up for co-op action where you could actually communicate with other people easily and in the same room. Ok, sure. We only did that once, but lots of people did it way more often. And I get it. I game to escape too. I like to cozy up with my console or hunker down in my office with a great game and forget the rest of the world exists. But there’s something wonderful about getting around other people who love games the same way you do. We’re extremely lucky to be where we are as a publication, because Chicago has long been home to iconic game companies, from pinball giants like Williams and Stern to arcade giants like Midway - even Bandai Namco and Atari had HQ here back in the day.  That’s not remotely all though, as the indie game scene in Chicago continues to shine, and gain national recognition.  We can lay claim on everything from Mortal Kombat to Killer Queen Black, Bugsnax, Cosmo’s Quickstop, Cold Calling, and a myriad more. What else we can lay claim to is an amazing culture around indie games that’s accepting, cool, and supportive. Chicago’s indie game scene is familial, fun, and intimate. You don’t just get to play a lot of cool games - you get to talk to their creators, and cheer them on later when you see their games in a Nintendo Direct, a PlayStation showcase, or Steam Next Fest. CIGS 2025. Photo: Marielle Bokor We’ve been surfing the scene since the very first BitBash. We were there for the Logan Playtest parties, VGA Gallery openings, collabs at MSI and the Art Institute, and the opening of Chi Gamespace. Sadly, a lot of that magic seemed to have vanished in the post-pandemic world, and we’d be lying if we said we didn’t miss it. Until we made it through the doors at the Chicago Indie Game Showcase presented by Indie City Games. In their own words, Indie City Games is : “a Chicago-based non-profit working to provide local independent game developers and artists with space to create, share, meet, collaborate, and showcase their work. Our mission is to foster an intentional, mutually supportive community around multimedia, interactive art.” And what it felt like to us when we walked in was the return of an old friend. Just like some of the first Bitbash events we attended, it was FULL of people ready to jump in to the amazing, quirky, silly and social world of indie games. There were familiar faces with developers Young Horses of Bugsnax sponsoring along with Big Sir, creators of Cosmo’s Quickstop, which we first saw in its earliest iterations at a Logan Playtest party in years past. Cold Calling was on site, and plenty more people who’ve been here all along.  There were all kinds of new and interesting games, too, from brand new developers and those who’ve been around the block some time. There were great DJs, ‘zines, games with alt controls, arts and crafts, drinks, and killer after parties, and we ate up every minute of it.  The full list of games (which you should absolutely check out) is pictured in this graphic for the event, but here’s a few picks from our staff stroll through.  Contract Rush DX What happens when you mix the shoot ‘em up genre games like Metal Slug with early internet flash cartoons? I would say, you end up with something like Contract Rush . A shooter that plays in that perfect nostalgia old school shooter realm but with so much charm and wit to the overall story that makes the levels vastly different in game play. There’s a lot to explore with multiple unlockable characters and each level having a unique mechanic, so strap in for some Contract Rush DX! - Alex Beatdown City Survivors Beatdown City is an ongoing series of beat ‘em ups that are throwbacks to the old school NES games. Now, they're flipping that all on its head by moving into the Vampire Survivors space with Beatdown City Survivors . Much like Vampire Survivors, you are moving around a level, auto attacking as hordes of enemies attack. What makes this cool is all the Beatdown City flavor with characters, movesets and unlockables that really lend itself cleverly to what we already know about Beatdown City. This is definitely one to keep on your radar.  - Alex Wordlock I love me a good dungeon crawler, but we are also big fans of typing games. Smash both of those worlds together and we have Wordlock , a dungeon crawling typing game. You play as a wizard, roaming a dungeon and typing to cast spells. Each spell is set to a specific key, and you've just gotta hit the key to equip the spell, then hit the space bar to start the casting process. A word will appear above your head, and typing it correctly will unleash the spell on an enemy. This is the same for opening chests and doors, so there’s a lot of fun typing action to be had. One neat detail is that when you start to type, the game enters a slow-mo bullet time mode. This is already on my watch list and it should be on yours too if you are into typing games.  - Alex Escape from Slumberland We blindtested this game without knowing it was in fact, a Big Sir game. See, in our time in Chicago, we’ve found a lot of great people, and Big Sir are certainly that. Their first game, Cosmo’s QuickStop, has long been a game we’ve personally been in love with and in our opinion, something more people should know about. But, this time around, Big Sir has something spooky, artistic, and immersive going. Escape from Slumberland evokes that cozy but creepy sort of Alice meets Tim Burton and Beetlejuice sort of spooky vibe. We got a chance to play around in solo mode, but the game will be a four player co-op adventure you can play online. It’s got a great atmosphere, with that great balance of silly, acerbic and scary that means you can play it with your older kids or in a group of friends on a Friday night with some brewskis and it’ll be fun either way. You find toys, grind them up (say goodbye to Pookie!) and then collect moonbeams to be released from your dream dungeon. In co-op mode, dead players who are spectating can even buff their teammates. Simply put, it looks like it’s going to be a blast.  We can’t wait to get our hands on this when the release date is announced. - Marielle Hyper Typer 2000 “I love a good typing game” I said enthusiastically, enjoying a moment of pure chaotic confidence before my downfall. See, one of my journalist superpowers is a very quick typing speed (with good accuracy!) so I thought “I’m about to CRUSH this.”  How sweet and innocent I was then. See, HyperTyper 2000 isn’t one of those “simply type fast and you’ll be fine” games. No, no no. It involves being able to prioritize threats, only type with the left hand, and use combat tactics like parrying and secondary weapons. As you beat waves, you get cooler upgrades, but the enemies become harder.  The different upgrades are well-balanced, the controls are simple but tricky, with variants like numbers if you want to try your hand at that instead, the soundtrack slaps, and the balance between bullet hell and typing game is absolutely addictive. A regular bullet hell gives me anxiety and I panic and fold, but Hyper Typer 2000 makes me want to come back and get that high score every time. I played the demo far more than I had to to do this review, and it’s just because it’s that fun.  - Marielle Take That Mainstage! -  The Take That Mainstage! demo was the most involved one we sat down to play at CIGS. This is another genre mashup, and while we love those in theory, in practice it’s not always something that works. So when we say it’s a mashup of a management, conversation battle and rhythm game that actually somehow combines the genres in a meaningful way, it’s a compliment.  It reminds us a little bit of Boyfriend Dungeon, a game we thoroughly enjoyed for the depths of its world and the chaos of its battles. In Take that Mainstage, you’ll have to craft songs, manage relationships, find places to play, and then actually get up on stage and play the monstrosity of a song you put together earlier, hoping it’s not too hard to actually get through now that it’s in Guitar Hero form. ((Spoiler alert: we chose poorly, opting to see what a chord called K would lead to, and in the end, were practically booed off stage)) While we did think that there’s a bit of information overload going on as you start the game, it actually means there’s a lot of depth to the gameplay once you’ve mastered the rounds, so to speak. Talking to people garners information, of course, but also inspiration, and after a while starts to flavor your runthrough, and when wading through a bunch of walls of text in conversation battles can be fun for some, it’s still a nice respite to get a little more active with rhythm game segues.  We’ll be wishlisting this just to get a little more time with it when it releases in Q2 of 2026. At the end of the day, it’s easy to put a bunch of games in a room and call it a festival. Hire a DJ, now it’s a party. It’s harder to nail a vibe, but CIGS did it effortlessly. Coming into the Indie Games Showcase felt like coming into the living room on a Saturday morning ready for your favorite cartoons - knowing for sure that things were going to be awesome - but all your friends are there too, and some of them made the things you’re playing. It’s discovery, art, and plain fun all at once, and it’s our favorite flavor of gaming event. Lucky for us, there’s more to come from Indie City , with Chicaghoul kicking off at Night City tomorrow. This three week game jam with an emphasis on horror and Halloween runs September 28th through October 18th, with a pop-up showcase at Night City on October 25th , but you can start playing the games via Itch.io  now. If you’re in Chicago, and you love games, you need to have Indie City on your radar, because these are events you won’t want to miss, and a community you ought to get to know.

Katseye Gap Commercial (Gap) Call it a coincidence, a competition or,perhaps, to a certain type, an 'attack,' but what you can't call it is unentertaining. (American Eagle;Getty Images) Shortly after Sydney Sweeney created a wave of ick around her "good genes" ad for American Eagle, which many thought was an outright dogwhistle to white supremacy and a show of bowing to the pressures of the current right wing run "democracy" we live in, Gap showed up to shake things up. Where companies like Target have abandoned (and then tried to backtrack) DEI and the principles of, you know, treating everyone as though they're beautiful, valuable people no matter the color of their skin, their orientation or their size, some companies have actually decided to have and maintain backbones. Gap's been doing creative, choreographed ads for quite some time, and has often pulled off some rather elaborate, amusing stuff, from the swing dancing khakis ads of the 90s to spots with Audrey Hepburn, Madonna and more -- and who could forget the iconic West Side Story inspired jeans vs khakis ad from 2000? Collabs are all the rage this...decade, really, so teaming up with someone like Katseye was a foregone conclusion. But was it also a calculated effort? What's so apparent even without the tag line is that Gap is aiming for inclusivity. Katseye represents a different generation of celebrity (members of this band were hand picked and trained in a reality series) but there's more to it. They're also known as an "international" girl group and represent not only the US but the Philippines, South Korea and Switzerland as well. Wordlessly, and stylishly, this group takes a stage and embraces diversity, while putting on a show that many people say they look up to watch again...and again. Not to "get woke" - to have fun. Because it turns out, embracing everyone's differences and letting them live their lives the way they want to is just...better. It makes the world more vibrant and fun to explore. It makes blue jeans look amazing on everyone. And if that kind of choreography, music and style makes you mad, well... Maybe it's time to examine why.

Chicagoans pack the streets of the West Loop for a rally and march on Labor Day. Photo : Aaron Cynic In a press conference that was delayed over an hour yesterday, spurring even more rumors about his health, President Donald Trump appeared alongside loyalist Republicans for a “special announcement.”  Much of his speech was a typical ramble on topics far and wide, though the purpose of the presser seems to have been mainly centered around Space Force and Space Comm and the movement of operations to Alabama. At the beginning of the presser Trump also mentioned a military attack on a Venezuelan boat, killing 11 people, which he called a "drug carrying boat." Lotta drugs on that boat,” he added. Most concerningly, Trump could not stop talking about Chicago, referring to it as a “hellhole” that was worse than Afghanistan. When asked if he would order the National Guard to the city, Trump said "we're going in," and called Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker “naive,” saying that Pritzker should call and ask him for help. “Well, we’re going in. I didn’t say when. We’re going in," said Trump, adding he had an “obligation” to do so, despite recent ruling in a California court that his actions in Los Angeles were illegal. Chicagoans rally on Labor Day to both celebrate the worker's holiday and protest President Trump's desire to send troops to the city . Photo : Aaron Cynic This, naturally, did not go unnoticed in Chicago, where activists have already been busy organizing emergency protests should the Guard deploy to the city or in Illinois.  Governor Pritzker wasted no time in his press conference Tuesday, first addressing what he called Trump’s “unhinged” remarks, reiterating that he had not and would not ask for Trump’s alleged "help." He also addressed the feelings of uncertainty and tension that many in Illinois and Chicago are feeling as this illegal deployment looms.   Pritzker affirmed the normal working relationship with federal agencies like the FBI, Secret Service and ATF, pointing out the cooperation between them as a clear illustration of the lack of coordination and communication present with this request.  “Chicago does not want troops on her streets” he said.  “I refuse to play a reality game show with Donald Trump again” he added.  “What I want are the federal dollars that have been promised to Illinois and Chicago for violence prevention programs that have been proven to work. That is money that Illinois taxpayers send to the federal government and it is an insult to any and every citizen to suggest that any governor should have to beg the president of any political party for resources owed their people.” Photo: Aaron Cynic The governor went on to inform the public about the staging of military assets at nearby Great Lakes Naval Base, which could be from agencies such as ICE, Customs and Border Control, the Department of Homeland Security and many others. He said he believes the staging began on Monday, September 1, and would likely follow the blueprint from the Los Angeles deployment, and that the targets would likely not be hardened criminals, but immigrants who are here following the law.  Pritzker went on to express concern that this month was chosen because of Chicago’s Mexican Independence Day celebrations, and reported that he’s been told “ICE will try and disrupt community picnics and peaceful parades.”  “Let’s be clear. The terror and cruelty is the point. Not the safety of anyone living here.” Photo: Aaron Cynic Pritzker also revealed that the Trump administration was already staging the Texas National Guard to be deployed to Chicago to “protect ICE.” Texas Governor Greg Abbott denied this through a spokesperson. Pritzker said that the Trump administration was looking for any excuse to deploy armed military in Chicago’s streets, and addressed the press directly, stating that as soon as someone so much as “flings a sandwich” it would cause a military response, urging citizens to “not take the bait.” As we wait to see what will transpire in the next few days here in Chicago, it feels as though most of the city has a shared goal with Mayor Brandon Johnson, who said it clearly in his remarks on Monday at a “Workers Over Billionaires” protest: “No federal troops in the city of Chicago. No militarized force in the city of Chicago. We’re going to defend our democracy in the city of Chicago. We’re going to protect the humanity of every single person in the city of Chicago.” More on this story as it develops.

Gamescom Opening Night Live was just foisted upon us, and with it, Geoff Keighley has again made himself the figurehead for all things gaming events. He uses these events to have mini-E3 Summer Game Fest type announcements and this three hour show was no exception. As such, here are our favorite big announcements from Gamescom Opening Night Live. Hollow Knight: Silksong We've been desperately waiting for the follow-up to one of the best Metroidvanias ever created: Hollow Knight. We got some bonus footage of the elusive follow up during the show but as of this writing we now have even more: a release date! Two weeks away and it can't come soon enough! The fans are already salivating for this title. Routine This upcoming game promises First Person Survival Horror but with all the retro CRT VHS filter goodness you’d want from a nostalgic piece of scary 80’s media.  PVKK PVKK or Planetenverteidgungskanonenkommandant is a narrative based game similar to Papers Please, but now with some light FMV. In it, you pilot a planetary defense cannon as humanity's last defense. But first, have a nice cup of tea.  Absolum Absolum is an upcoming 2D roguelite beat’ em-up that looks like an amazing hand drawn cartoon from the 80s. It’s fast paced and impressively animated but also, guys! There’s a frog wizard! He-Man and Masters of the Universe: Dragon Pearl of Destruction Another one to look forward to in the beat’ em-up genre hearkens back to our childhood. He-Man and Masters of the Universe: Dragon Pearl of Destruction puts you in control of the classic He-Man characters against the villainous Skeletor. Time to clock in, 80’s kids! Denshattack What if you combined Tony Hawk with Jet Set Radio, but with a fast paced train? That’s Denshattack . Ride, grind, and flip while riding a sick future train through a beautifully animated Japan. This looks so sick! Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Anime So, this isn't a game, but we finally got our first trailer of the Sekiro anime with stylish sword fighting action scenes that rival Ninja Scroll, and equally as gory. Check out that trailer! Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight The history of Lego games is long , and the newest addition, Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight has you playing all the best moments from every single Batman movie. Holy smokes! We’ve seen the Batman property mixed with Lego before, but now we can play as Christian Bale or Robert Pattinson in Lego form? Sign me up!  Fallout Season 2 Clearly, the stories we've been loving in video games since the very early days have now made their way into mainstream media - to resounding success. Shows like Last of Us and Fallout are giving video games the credit they deserve for beautiful, tragic, and interesting narratives, and we're on the brink of a brand new season of Fallout. One of our favorite moments of ONL was when we saw our first trailer for Fallout Season 2 which has our plucky group of wanderers visiting New Vegas. This trailer was all fan service and we loved every second of it! Unbeatable Do you like off the wall anime like FLCL and rhythm adventure games? Well, we got a new trailer for Unbeatable , showing off all the colorful style and flavor that we’ve been waiting for. Look for it in November. Resident Evil Requiem  The real showstopper of Opening Night Live was the announcement of Resident Evil Requiem , where we get a mysterious new protagonist, Grace Ashcroft, and the reveal of an all new creature to stalk us throughout the story. February cannot come soon enough.  Did you catch ONL? If not you can watch it in its entirety here . What announcements were you most excited about from the show? Leave a note in the comments.

Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen at Fan Expo Chicago 2025. Photo: Marielle Bokor We got to catch Ewan McGregor on his Fan Expo “Please Hire Me Back as Obi-Wan” Tour, where he was accompanied by his former on-screen padawan Hayden Christensen. However, beyond an impressive lightsaber demonstration, the two didn’t interact much beyond Ewan McGregor telling Christensen that he’ll call him–or at least that’s what I got through gestures and lip reading. So it was really two half panels rolled into one, but McGregor turned out to be the real charmer. Before the panel started we were treated to a fan tribute, which Ewan McGregor genuinely appreciated, calling it ‘touching.’ He seems to understand the fan’s love of everything Star Wars and even acknowledges the fans will know more than him when most subjects are discussed. As it turned out, fan knowledge came up quite a bit. The real deep cuts from fans came when the subject of lightsaber fights came up. McGregor was telling about how his fights with Christensen would be so fast and brutal, that not only did they need to manipulate the film to make the speeds seem more believable–they were also constantly switching out lightsabers with ones with fresh “blades” as the hollow tubed lightsaber blades used on set would bend after a while. When McGregor was talking about the sci-fi prop armorer responsible for changing those blades, an audience member yelled out “Thomas!” to which McGregor replied “I don’t even know why I’m here! You all know more than I do!” Ewan McGregor at Fan Expo Chicago 2025. Photo: Marielle Bokor McGregor also talked about his love for Andor , and how while watching it he got the idea of a potential Obi-Wan in season 3. Said Ewan said “I really liked ( Andor ) and then I got really excited. I was thinking ‘I could be in this timeline. I think I am! I think I could be in season three!." And then I realized "Oh No!” In another fun moment the actor portraying the wise Jedi Master mistook a General Kenobi figure in maroon armor as a sort of Mandalorian x Obi-Wan hybrid. But when he found out the truth, he took it in grinning stride, saying “oh, that’s right, that’s right.” In a few rapid fire question moments we got to find out whether Obi-Wan is a dog or a cat person. After a nearly 20 second pause McGregor concedes that Ob-Wan would be a dog person. Despite being a cat person, I can get behind this. When the vague question “Star Destroyer or Death Star” McGregor said “Star Destroyer.” and offered up reasons such as “they’re very pointy” and “they do that stop there” while mimicking a Star Destroyer dropping out of hyperspace with his hands. Then he spontaneously admitted “I’m still embarrassed about that Mandalorian thing.” It’s okay Ewan, we forgive you. Hayden Christensen @Fan Expo Chicago. Photo: Marielle Bokor When McGregor left the stage for Hayden Christensen’s portion of the panel, there was a bit of lightsaber fun before they parted ways. And the subject of lightsabers came up rather quickly with the prop armorer Thomas being mentioned immediately.Thinking Christensen was continuing a “bit” about Thomas the lightsaber maker, the actor instead went into how he was genuinely appreciative at the sci-fi prop armorer’s contributions–as we all are. I guess the real hero of the story here is Thomas–bringing sci-fi magic to life. Christensen also mentioned how exciting it is to work on a Star Wars film. On his experience working on the prequels he said that “one of the unique things about working on a Star Wars project is that everyone is just so excited to be there. And George Lucas got the very best people in each of their respective fields to come in and participate. "The costume design. The set design.” And of course, Thomas.

John Cena at Fan Expo Chicago 2025. Photo: Aaron Cynic John Cena made an appearance at Fan Expo 2025 in promotion of his retirement from WWE and Peacemaker Season 2, and like he has at many panels in the past, packed the room full to capacity. Also as usual, Cena, one of the most decorated WWE superstars in history, wowed his fans with his dedication and humble nature. Despite being there to promote his acting work, his wrestling career outshined anything else, as he’s retiring from an epic 20 year career. John insisted on an unmoderated panel, so he could focus on only speaking to the fans.  During his time on stage, Cena focused heavily on the three pillars of his career: Hustle, Loyalty and Respect, emphasizing that it’s more than a motto - it's how he’s lived his entire life. This showed in his humble demeanor and measured communication to the audience. He chose his words carefully, so as not to overstep but to also set communicative boundaries regarding how he interacted with the audience.  Initially, Cena insisted he didn’t want praise, but would acknowledge every single word of praise thrown at him from the audience with kindness, regardless. John Cena at Fan Expo Chicago 2025. Photo: Aaron Cynic John spoke on his “make 70% good decisions a day,” adage, initially talking about his diet but taking it to his personal life as well. The wrestler also touched on his viral video about earning the sunset every single day through positive work. Cena even spoke on his rap career, admitting he hasn’t flexed those muscles in a long time so he no longer had the skills necessary to continue rapping.  By the end of the panel, Cena had cemented himself as one of the most straightforward Hollywood/WWE superstars out there. From his modest start at the All State Arena with WWE to being in some of the biggest action and comic book IP on the planet, even if you weren’t initially a fan, he will make you a fan, if anything, out of pure respect for what he is trying to achieve every single day. As quoted by Cena: “I just want to do the most positive thing for the world that I can with my talent.” That's a goal we can all work towards. For more from Fan Expo Chicago 2025, keep it here. We've got even more amazing celebrity interviews and panel roundups to share with you.

Fan Expo Chicago 2025 was one for the record books, with a fantastic guest list and a lot of exciting things to see and do. One of the highlights of the entire con came when we had a chance to interview some of the cast of Aliens , who we'd had the pleasure of seeing together in their Friday panel. For this task, we enlisted Antal Bokor, an editor, combat veteran, and lifelong fan of Aliens , to take on the herculean task of interviewing people who quite literally influenced all of our lives growing up. Enjoy! Mark Rolston, appearing alongside cast members including William Hope at Fan Expo Chicago 2025. Photo: Marielle Bokor CULTURE COMBINE: Obviously, you played an iconic sci-fi role in Aliens . And you have been an inspiration for hundreds of soldiers -I don't know if you're aware of this. I was in the Army. I was an infantryman, and my dad was in the Army. I probably would have joined the Marines, but there were no Colonial Marines, obviously.  So, you know, I met him halfway and joined the Army infantry. And, we were either, you know, quoting Kubrick from Full Metal Jacket or Aliens , and you're obviously one of the most iconic Aliens Marines. How does it make you feel knowing that we’re quoting you, and that when I think of, badasses you’re one of the faces that comes to mind? MARK ROLSTON: I - I'm honored. I appreciate it…but you know, you all are the real deal. You know, we're just we're playing at it. We were lucky to have people like Al Matthews on set. And we had guys that were British SAS. So you know, anyone who's a soldier knows, what you, what you went through.  And luckily, they imbued us with the real reality. You know, we've had numerous former Marines and soldiers come up and say, “hey, you guys are an inspiration,” or, or “you're the reason why I joined the corps,”  and I quickly reply ‘I can’t be responsible for that.’ (Editor’s note: Al Matthews, who portrayed Gunnery Sgt. Apone in Aliens, was a member of the US Marine Corps who spent six years in service, during which he not only won thirteen combat awards, but was also the first black Marine in the 1st Marine Division to be meritoriously promoted to the rank of sergeant) CULTURE COMBINE: Good answer. MARK ROLSTON: It's amazing, you know. In Aliens , we formed bonds over a two-week rehearsal period, and then we went through a mini boot camp when all the guys from Hollywood arrived, and I think all of that preparation just, not only complements details, characterizations, and script, but, you know, obviously, also our performances.  CULTURE COMBINE:   That boot camp you went through, uh, with the SAS guys, that's famous. Everybody talks about that. I fought alongside those guys, and I know they’re tough as nails. Was that your impression? MARK ROLSTON:   I mean, well...yeah. So, first day when we had the group boot camp, the Hollywood guys arrive, and you know, we have a five o'clock a.m. call and first thing out of the gate was a five mile run. CULTURE COMBINE: Oh my. MARK ROLSTON: And I was in incredible shape because I had been training at Pinewood Studios for three and a half months prior to that because I had to go from 182 pounds - to - eventually  I was close to 230, in 3 ½ months.  CULTURE COMBINE: Yeah, i was going to say… MARK ROLSTON: I was just pumping, working, doing running, doing all that and eating like a fiend. So all the guys arrived, of course. I'm in the lead, just kicking it out, but pulling up the rear was (Bill) Paxton going  “Oh hey man, I just got here. Like, you know, uh, do I have to do this? Like, I think I’ve got jet lag”  and they were like “MOVE SOLDIER!”  I mean, they were up his ass… CULTURE COMBINE: That's hilarious. MARK ROLSTON: And yeah, just memories like that. And some of the guys who played secondary roles: Tip Tipping, Trevor Steedman,who played Wierzbowski, they had served. We were surrounded by guys who had experience. Yeah I’m lucky Jim Cameron saw what he saw in me, and when he offered me the role he said,  ‘I'm offering this to you with a mandate,” he said. “You know, you gotta bulk up.” So I wasn't doing HGH or anything, but I was drinking this Bragg's amino acid, and what it did was it increased my metabolism and, you know, I’m working out, but I was hungry all the time. And I - my first wife, you know, I'd come home from the day of working out I’d hit the door sometimes, and I'd be, you know, so into character, you know,  I was just like ‘What's for dinner!?’, you know, and she was, like,  “Oh no, no, no, no. Go outside and let all that go and then come in and say,  ‘Hello, honey! Is there dinner?’ I mean, great memory. CULTURE COMBINE: Amazing. The cast of Aliens at Fan Expo Chicago 2025. William Hope, Mark Rolston, Ricco Ross, Jenette Goldstein and Paul Reiser MARK ROLSTON:  I mean, Jim Cameron is probably the most prepared director I've ever worked with. I mean, Scorcese’s prepared, but I, we, witnessed it. Like, the day that I was offered the role I went into his office, and plastered on all four walls of his office in sequence was his storyboard, and it wasn't - he doesn't do stick figures. Jim is an extremely fine artist. They were fine art storyboards. I asked Jim a couple of years ago I said. ‘Jim, you know, do you still have your storyboards,’ He goes “Yeah, they're in a box somewhere,” and I said, ‘Dude, you should create a coffee table book with your storyboard. I'm telling you. The audience will flip out.’  CULTURE COMBINE: I can't imagine, especially with collectors. MARK ROLSTON: And I bet a million bucks that what he drew on those pictures is exactly what he shot. I'll bet I bet a million bucks. Seriously, I would. CULTURE COMBINE: He (James Cameron) sounds like an impressive man. It's amazing that you got to work with him. I've never met the man, but I know he's rumored to be extremely, you know,  intense, on set. I know he has his methods. Did you feel like you were being directed a lot by him singularly, or did he direct you guys more as a whole? MARK ROLSTON:  Pretty much as a whole - as a team. Uh, you know, because we were always on point whenever we were deployed And you know, Jim was interesting. If you were in the zone of what he wanted, he didn't mess with you. He didn't mess with me a lot. And I also wasn't a type of character that was going to, you know, scene steal, whereas Bill Paxton was always improvising and trying to get a joke in, and Jim sometimes had to say, ‘Oh, Bill, keep that, or ‘Cut  it out. Don't say that.’  So if you were in the pocket of his vision, he didn't mess with you. CULTURE COMBINE: Well, sir, your screen presence. You don't need to try to steal the scene because you are the scene. A lot of times, you're standing in it. You are incredibly intimidating.  In fact, you've kind of had a reputation for being villains, and you were on Shawshank Redemption as Bogs Diamond. That man - that man scares me. In fact, every time I think of the consequences of going to prison, I see your face.  And I don't know if that's the best thing to admit, but you are an intimidating person on screen. MARK ROLSTON:   Well, you know, I'm a classically trained actor. I've been blessed with the presence.  I mean, I can. I can stand on a stage, and I mean, I toured playing Richard II for a year early in my career out of New York, and, uh, you know, I've stood on the stage in front of 5000 people. Using my voice, no microphones. That's a gift. And Morgan Freeman was very instrumental.  And I mean I did it before, but really in Shawshank there was the quiet stillness, which makes it even more menacing, but also in film, you can just hang in the gap, you hang in the frame.  You can't be doing a whole bunch of stuff. So when I was studying acting, I used to do little student films and stuff.  And my son's godfather - he was a camera man. I remember we were on a roof in London and doing an extreme close-up. And you know he was one of the first people to say “Mark, I don't want you to turn and look. You can't do this when we're extreme.' So yeah, my very best buddy, was the first one to give me the lesson on stillness. CULTURE COMBINE: Well, you are a menacing person when you want to be. MARK ROLSTON:  I have had people say. You're the reason I never went to prison. CULTURE COMBINE: Yeah, you are. Yes, sir. You're the reason I would never go to prison.  But, back to Aliens .  Your death scene is shocking - probably one of the most shocking beside Frost's death scene in the film, because you're a badass. You've got it all together. In fact, you’re in a situation where your boss, you know, doesn't know what he's doing. So, ‘we're going to take it in our own hands.’ Even for me as a soldier, we emulated you guys, because you're taking initiative.   You know, our higher ups don't know what they're talking about, and they didn't sometimes. And so, we would take the initiative, and uh, pretty much take your role in that.  But when you died, it was shocking. And obviously, it's a script and it's all pre-decided.  What's your thoughts on that as the actor or as the character in that moment, when you take the acid to your face? MARK ROLSTON:  It was -I mean, I just watched it again. I was a guest at a film festival in Spain, and they played that whole sequence. I mean, talk about action packed. I mean, that was - the actual fall, the firing of the flamethrower and the acid was the very first shot we did in the movie and then all the rest of the action was later on: a couple of days later, a week later… But, it's one hell of a sequence of action. You know, Drake is bringing up the rear. I'm just blasting away, and I think I remember the armorers giving me an extra long ribbon of dummy rounds, just so I could blast off with the area I had to cover. And you know, they were 50 caliber rounds. They made a hell of a lot of noise. And you wouldn’t do that today. Well, you wouldn't get away with it.  They don't do it on set anymore.  Now, if I think about the coolest thing, Jim had the armorer drill the muzzle of the gun in random ways so that we fired the flare -the light would refract, not just go out the end of the muzzle. Next time you see it, you’ll notice it. CULTURE COMBINE: I have noticed that, in fact. And that was James Cameron, who decided that?  I keep getting so much cool insight from you guys,  When I spoke to Jenette earlier (Editor’s note: More on this later!) I was nervous. But I’m a huge fan of hers and yours, obviously and was kind of star-struck when I talked to her, so I didn't get to ask her this question, but you guys are kind of a duo on screen - a partnership. How did that dynamic come to be between you, because it almost looks like you two could just talk without words? MARK ROLSTON:  Almost, yeah. I mean, we were in rehearsal, and Jen and I just took ourselves aside, and we were talking about things like,  ‘What do you reckon our background was?’ We came up with the fact that we were in a forced service role. And this opportunity came, and we were lifers that we weren't going to get out, and we took the opportunity to get out of the hell hole, even though we were going to take on a mission and we could die. But even if we died it was better than where we were. And she just came to me and said, “Look, you know, you've always had my back here, and vice versa, so cover me on this mission." And it was strictly platonic. There's no romance. But yeah, it's mainly because we made a pact. CULTURE COMBINE:  Well, it was conveyed very well on screen. You did an excellent job with that. I didn't realize how much of a fan I was of yours at first, because I know you portrayed Drake. and Bogs Diamond, but I didn't realize how many voiceover roles you did.  MARK ROLSTON: Yeah! CULTURE COMBINE: I guess my journalistic pedigree, so to speak, is that I'm a games journalist. I started with video games, and I noticed you, you were in Blade Runner - that old, old Blade Runner video game and you've done stuff as recent - well, I could be wrong and there’s things that are even more recent, but I know you're doing like Spider-Man 2, too because you're Norman Osborne.  MARK ROLSTON:  And we’re about to start number three. CULTURE COMBINE: Oh, okay! What's the difference between, I guess? Blade Runner and Spider-Man 2 as far as voice acting. MARK ROLSTON:  In the Blade Runner game, I was a voiceover, but for Spider-Man, I do complete motion capture, voice, and everything. CULTURE COMBINE: I didn’t realize that. That’s very cool. MARK ROLSTON: Same thing with the Batman Arkham Shadow VR game. We're about to start another one of those. I play Commissioner Gordon. CULTURE COMBINE: You were also Death Stroke/Slade Wilson for the Arkham franchise Your voice for that is amazing, and you are pretty much 'my Deathstroke' in my head the same way Kevin Conroy is Batman for me. It’s iconic. I don't really see people talking about that much. I know you were on a podcast during Spider-Man 2 for Norman Osborne, I believe.  The Behind the Voice podcast? Do a lot of people recognize you for your voiceover work? Do people talk to you about that a lot?  MARK ROLSTON:  Yeah, yeah people mention it a lot. We're a big fans of the game. Spider-Man 2 was - both of the games got great reviews. The company we work for, Insomniac Games, are really a great group of creatives who are determined to top themselves with each iteration of the game. CULTURE COMBINE: Do you have a different process for a voice role? MARK ROLSTON:  Yeah, because we’re on a stage and we’re doing a scene, and so the fascinating, thing is, when we do the next virtual reality game, I won't have to wear a suit and I can just wear street clothes, but I'll have glasses whereby when I look at you, I see your avatar and you see, mine, my avatar itself, and we'll be acting to avatar CULTURE COMBINE: That’s so cool I’ve got just a couple more things to ask about your voiceover work. When you did Norman Osborne - your voice is very iconic, and unique. But it sounds like, and I guess I should ask you - it sounds like you’re channeling a little Willem Defoe in that, from his performance.  Now, whatever, I think, it’s because I think there’s overlap that just comes from the type of character you're portraying anyways.  Just all Mark Rolston? MARK ROLSTON:  I am gonna watch Willem's performance as Green Goblin before we do the next two games, because I haven't seen a script yet to say whether number three… Number three, I have a feeling what’s gonna happen is is number three is going to show how, because it was a cliffhanger at the end of two. I let Otto Octavius out of jail and we form a pact to get Spider-Man, so I think most of the game may be us - what kind of pact we make, how… And after the cliffhanger, I imagine, might be a suggestion of being Goblin, or of my face, and I'm just trying to pad my pockets, you know, and make some more money. It's quite possible that the studio is going to have it all happen in the next game, and I'm - and I'll be involved. They have told me to be - continue to do my yoga, remain limber, because when you do the games like, I'm not gonna have to do all the stunts because you’ve obviously got to fight a lot. I just have to, you know, maintain, and get into a position. And then the stunt guy comes in. He takes the air and flips around. I’ve done a lot of stunts in my career but yeah, I'm not doing that.  CULTURE COMBINE: Besides your other upcoming video game voiceovers, do you have any other projects that are in the works coming up? Yeah, you know, I've got a film in development we're really excited about. It's a drama set in Massachusetts. My son, who is a producer, is running with it. It looks like we may get backed by the agency, and you know, we'll see. It’s an extremely well written story, so ask us. And other than the game, that’s all right now.  CULTURE COMBINE: Well, thank you. I hope to see you again soon. I've been a huge fan my whole life. Thank you so much. Like I said, you've been an inspiration for me. It's surreal that I got a chance to talk to you. So, thank you so much again. Don't miss all the Fan Expo Chicago fun with our cosplay galleries and even more celebrity news from panels , and watch out for a few more amazing interviews with some of the cast of Aliens coming soon!