Link Tank: Best Video Games for Young Kids
Video games for kids, George R.R. Martin, Maya Rudolph's Beyonce-Hot Ones skit on SNL, and more in today's Link Tank.
From Among Us to Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, check out the best video games young kids can play.
“With each passing year, the idea that video games are only for children becomes an increasingly alien concept. Today’s biggest hits are mature, not just in their levels of copious violence, but also in their attempts to grapple with serious themes. Whether or not they succeed is a matter of opinion, but they are trying. These games are proving time and again that there’s a real audience of adult gamers. That said, we should never forget that kids are a crucial part of the video game community, too. After all, it was during our childhoods when so many of us fell in love with video games.”
George R.R. Martin has reportedly signed a new five year contract with HBO, meaning The Winds of Winter could get pushed to the back burner again.
“George R.R. Martin is responsible for HBO’s biggest hit, Game of Thrones. Since the show ended, the network has been green lighting prequels to get the people hype again. Now The Hollywood Reporter shares that HBO has gotten the writer himself on lock for a contract that spans five years and is worth mid-eight figures.”
We don’t mean to dunk on herbal tea fans, but here is the reason why your hot drink of choice may not technically be tea.
“You might not recognize the name, but you’ve had tisanes (pronounced ti-zahns) if you’ve had mint, rooibos, chamomile, or other herbs and aromatics steeped in hot water. The category is more commonly known as herbal tea, but according to The Kitchn, herbal tea technically isn’t tea at all.”
Enter The Gungeon is the best indie shooter game to come out of 2016. Now you can add it to your PlayStation for free.
“Procedurally generated roguelite games and the bullet hell genre (imagine a very extreme version of Space Invaders) share a unique allure to completionist sadists. Now, you have the opportunity to add a masterpiece of both genres to your game library. It boasts fuzzy retro aesthetics, furious pacing, and enough lethal projectiles to cause an acute existential crisis in even the most French of fancy philosophers.”
Let’s talk about the mild homoeroticism in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 2 and whether or not that could be queerbaiting.
“For years, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s textual approach to LGBTQ+ characters has been heavy on speculation and light on actual representation. Fans have spent years and years shipping Avengers with other Avengers in romantic crossovers to rival Endgame, while the studio has either asked them to wait, or offered them a Russo brother in trying times. So far, it seems like The Falcon and The Winter Soldier’s taking the former approach—although it could end up giving fans the latter.”
Maya Rudolph’s performance as Beyoncé on Hot Ones makes for one of the best Saturday Night Live skits in history.
“The only thing Beyoncé is more famous for than her singing is her near-perfectly curated life, down to her Instagram account, her ability to drop entire albums at a moments notice, and her rare interview appearances. She probably wouldn’t sit down and do an episode of the wing-eating interview show Hot Ones, for example. But anything’s possible on Saturday Night Live, and this weekend’s episode hosted by erstwhile SNL star Maya Rudolph brought Beyoncé to the table, and the spicy wings nearly gave her an identity crisis.”
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