Ghost of Tsushima: Photo Blog

 

When Playstation updated its online subscription service last month, it opened up access to literally hundreds of titles, from recent hits to retro classics. The updated online game catalog currently includes major games like "Assassin's Creed: Valhalla," "Death Stranding," "Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy," "NBA 2K22" and a game I had heard tons of great things about but never got around to - the samurai action/adventure game "Ghost of Tsushima."

I wrapped up 100% completion on "Ghost" this afternoon and earned that coveted platinum trophy and figured I'd celebrate by posting a handful of my favorite photos from my 56 hours play-through. There are a couple story-related spoilers in these pictures, so be wary of that if you're hoping to play the game in the future, but I'll post them without any context. Behold, the gorgeous PS5 graphics, stunning landscapes and wild katana-slashing violence:

What games are you playing these days? Have you checked out the new Playstation Plus? We'd love to hear your recommendations in the comments section below, on Twitter (here and here) or on Facebook.

Namaste.

"Stranger Things: Season 4" Power Rankings

We are back once again with another season of our highly anticipated, incredibly scientific power rankings! This time around, we publish the results for "Stranger Things: Season 4," as a follow-up to our previous power rankings for Season 3 and Season 2. Apparently, and this is news to us, we didn't do power rankings for Season 1, which is... regrettable.

Hot on the heels of the fourth season of Netflix's wildly popular streaming show, we asked around 700 of our closest Facebook friends to answer a handful of questions. Needless to say, we did not receive 700 responses. However, we finally wrangled up enough answers to put together some believable data.

Before we proceed - and this should be super obvious - if you haven't yet watched "Stranger Things: Season 4," you should not continue reading this blog. If you're a fan of the show and you're all the way caught up, however, you're surely chomping at the bit to see what people's opinions were, so give us just one more second here...

Insert obligatory spoiler warning:

As usual, we asked those who took our survey to rank the top "Stranger Things" characters, in order of their importance to the plot. This time around, we also asked them to rank those same characters, from "favorite" to "least favorite."

A couple notes about the ranking questions:

• We gave a list of 20 characters from this season, which was a lot to ask, but we're eternally grateful for those who devoted a few minutes of their time to do so.
• Because the "power rankings" survey is recurring, we included the +/- movement that characters featured in previous polls experienced. Because this was the first time we've done a "favorite character" poll, we don't have any previous polls to compare for movement.
• There were five characters in this season's polls that did not appear in the Season 3 poll.
• In the event of a tie (there was one in each poll), the characters will share a ranking and be listed alphabetically.

In addition to the two ranking polls, we asked eleven multiple choice or short-answer questions, two of which were optional.

With no further ado, here are the results:

Season 4 Power Rankings Survey

• Biggest movers: Max Mayfield (+10), Erica Sinclair (-8)
• New this season: Doctor Brenner (Papa)
• Dropped from rankings: Billy Hargrove, Alexei, Mayor Larry Kline
• Most powerful: No one ranked Eleven lower than #2.

Season 4 Favorite Character Survey

• People person: Everyone who took this survey had Steve Harrington in their Top Three.

Question 1: Describe Vecna in one sentence.

• "Twisted and tormented, yet powerful and looking for vengeance."
• "Creepy as heck but less scary as the season goes on."
• "The Devil."
• "Pure evil awesomeness."
• "Eeeevvvviiilll!"
• "The ultimate picture of vengeance wrapped up with perfect storytelling."
• "The artist formerly known as One formerly known as Henry Creel."
• "Pants or no pants? That is the question."

Question 2: Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)" is...

Question 3: Pineapple on pizza is...

Question 4: Who was Season 4's MVP?

Question 5: Other than an MVP candidate, whose performance in Season 4 was most pleasantly surprising?

Question 6: Whose performance in Season 4 was most disappointing?

Question 7: What deserves a trophy for "Moment of the Season"?

Question 8: Which of the main characters is most likely to die in Season 5? (Pick two)

• Eleven - 62.5%
• Steve Harrington - 50%
• Will Byers - 50%
• Mike Wheeler - 12.5%

Question 9: Rate Season 4, on a scale from 1 (bad) to 5 (amazing)

• 5 - 62.5%
• 4 - 37.5%

Question 10: Make a bold prediction for Season 5.

• "Mike and Eleven will break up again."
• "Vecna uses Will against the others."
• "Max will come back to live and will have gained some of Eleven’s powers. She will fight Vecna again and possibly take over for Eleven should she die."
• "Will is to Vecna as Harry Potter is to Voldemort. Vecna will use Eddie to torment Dustin. Max will wake up with powers."
• "Max gets powers."
• "It ends with Will. Will’s death will be necessary to end it (whether the Mind Flayer uses him after Vecna or some other connection)."
• "Hopper remembers that he absolutely wrecked his ankle with a pickaxe and begins to walk with a slight limp."

Question 11: Do you have any other thoughts not covered by the previous questions?

• "They did a great job of spreading the work among the characters, and each different story was interesting. It didn't feel as much like there was a main character this season."
• "The end of Season 4 Episode 1 was the scariest thing they've ever done in the entire series. Legitimately terrifying. Episode 7 was masterful - nearly perfect and one of the best episodes of TV that I've seen in years. Also, I don't know what happened with Robin, but her dialogue got, like, so dumb in the final two or three episodes. Overall, very strong season."
• "I wanted more from Jason’s death. He was too annoying to die so quickly."
• "It was hard to choose between Eddie and Max for MVP, and Eddie’s metal concert and Hopper’s sword fighting for best moment."
• "I think it was good but that they should have ended it with Season 4. I was ready for a kick-A ending. Also, how are they possibly gonna make it scarier? Sheesh."
• "They killed Eddie too soon. I saw it coming but I wish he could have stayed for the final season (or at least graduated high school 😭😭😭). Also I’m still upset that he’s the villain of Hawkins after the 'earthquake.'"

*****

Well, there you have it! What did we get right? What did we get wrong? What thoughts do you have about Season 4? How do you think they'll wrap this all up? Let us know in the comments section below, on Twitter (here and here) or hit us up on Facebook.

Until next time,

🙃🙃🙃