Luke Brown

Nine-hundred and ninety-nine feet below the surface of Donut County, there is a group of people gathered around a camp fire. Everyone there knows exactly how they each came to be in this strange new place, but none of them can agree on the reason. Could it be snakes? Perhaps it was the devious raccoons? All anyone can say for certain is Mira, the owner of the local donut shop, seems to be at the center of it all. We know better though. We know "a hole" lot better.

The cold was getting unbearable as the storm rolled in. What's worse, all the snow and winds had made it harder to know whether our quarry was lying in wait, or quietly stalking us without our knowledge. As we made our way through the shrinking arena, a feeling of creeping dread washed over us. Suddenly, we were struck from behind. That dastardly opponent had been with us the entire time, biding his time for the perfect kill. Fortunately for us, the Director had other plans, and our battle on The Darwin Project was only just beginning.

The last 20 years have seen more games released than we could possibly count, but one sports franchise has stood out above all the rest. We're writing about it now, so you already know where we're going with this. Everybody's Golf (formerly known as Hot Shots Golf outside of Japan) arrives this year to celebrate the anniversary milestone, and it's not a moment to soon for devoted fans. It's been six years since Hot Shots has graced a PlayStation console, but this year's entry is not only the best looking, it's also been revamped from the ground up to be even more accessible to newcomers than ever before.

The annual release schedule for Madden NFL has typically left the development team at EA Sports with little room for improvements beyond technical adjustments to the way we play on the gridiron. However, with Madden NFL 18, the game isn't just switching engines from the sports-focused Ignite to the DICE-developed Frostbite, it's also taking some calculated risks with new gameplay elements. As much as the Madden-head in me is interested in the physics and football-related improvements Frostbite is bringing, it's the new single-player story mode that has my attention.

We hit up Steve Evans, director of design and development for Hasbro's Star Wars series, to talk about Hasbro's 40th Anniversary figures, the return of the Vintage Collection, and what lies ahead for the Star Wars Black Series.

Just when you thought the Terminator franchise was dead, along comes a mobile game developer to prove you wrong. Hitting mobile platforms today is Terminator Genisys: Future War, a new clan-based multiplayer game from Plarium Games. Why the developer wanted to hitch its wagon to the least-successful sequel in the series is beyond us, but setting Future War in the post-Skynet timeline where humans battle machines was definitely a smart choice.

There are very few certainties you can count on in this life. Death and taxes are often at the top of that list, but Baby Groot being cute af might soon usurp one of Benjamin Franklin's oldest adages. Hot Toys knows you're going to be unable to resist the sapling's charms, and that's why it's making a life-size version of the ittiest, bittiest Guardian of the Galaxy to add to your toy collection.

Since debuting with the New York Mets in 2015, pitcher Noah Syndergaard has become a fan-favorite in the Big Apple. As one of the most awe-inspiring aces pitching in Major League Baseball today, Syndergaard was quick to establish a memorable persona. That was doubly helped when a photo of him working out dressed like Thor made the rounds. The flowing blonde locks, the Norwegian name, and the larger-than-life profile made the nickname stick. Now, Marvel and the Mets have teamed up to give "Thor" his very own bobblehead in a promotion this season. Rather than just making a plain Thor in Mets colors however, the team and publisher are going all out with this original and exclusive design.

Baby Groot may be in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 for really real reasons that are super important to the plot and not at all as a ploy to sell adorable toys, but that doesn't mean the pint-sized version of the hero can't have it both ways. Though much of merchandising plan for Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 remains a secret, we have seen some of the toys we can expect to hit shelves this spring and beyond. Baby Groot may have been absent from those initial reveals, but just ahead of the holiday, NECA is here to assure us Baby Groot won't be forgotten.

Earlier this year Warner Bros. Interactive announced a two-pack of remastered Batman classics in the form of Batman: Return to Arkham. The game combines Rocksteady Studios' first two Batman games --- Arkham Asylum and Arkham City --- into a new package remade entirely in Unreal Engine 4 by Virtuous. Originally, this remaster was set to arrive in July, but Warners decided the game needed a few more months of polish before it could be released. Now, Batman: Return to Arkham has an officially official new drop date in October, and with it comes a comparison trailer showing off the differences and improvements from the PlayStation 3 version to the PlayStation 4 version.

Four years ago, Topps released its Star Wars Galactic Files trading cards --- a massive 350-card set that documented the entire history of Star Wars character, vehicles, moments and more from across the first 35 years of the franchise. In addition to providing some insight into all those aspects, the cards also featured stats for each character, much like the old Marvel Universe cards. It was a fun way to look back at these characters and see how they truly ranked, with characters like Luke getting better stats as the films progressed. Next year, the Galactic Files will be "reborn" as a new set, adding in The Force Awakens, as well as the Clone Wars and Rebels animated series. Now we'll finally know just how powerful characters like Rey, Kylo Ren and Kanan are compared to the rest of the Force-sensitive heroes and villains from the saga.

Now in the third year of the newest console generation, Madden NFL 17 finds itself served well by the combined efforts of the past as well as a number of great small improvements.