You may be right that there are some advantages to holding it this way. When I look up the tournament play footage, the pros hold it similarly, but have all of their fingers on the mallet, keeping them protected. They aren't letting their fingers droop down, like flesh-colored targets.

Spielberg has been real hit or miss over the last 25 or so years, especially when it comes to sequels and action. In a year where WB had massive hits with both Sinners and Weapons, it's a shame they feel they need to make these safe nostalgia-fueled legacy sequels.

But he did the second one because Warner was going to go ahead without him. I will feel a little better if he turned down the third movie and said that it was in good hands, but not if they skipped right over him to fast-track a sequel few people are asking for.

Pretty sure they are tied together through demon realm (or whatever they called it), but most (if not all) of the heavily lifting that went to directly connect the two franchises was done in extended lore after the fact.

Not my Spider-Man ... er, I mean Nathan Drake.

I was won over with the freedom of GTA3 and ended up being the Rockstar critics for a couple of sites I freelanced for over the years. I feel like they've had a good evolution on the gameplay, though I will admit that it's often the weakest part of their games.

I'll be really interested to see how hyperbolic the GTA6 reviews will be. Or perhaps the critics will be less generous than they were with GTAV, now that we're 13 years removed. I was one of those critics who gave GTAV a perfect score on day one.

10 - 15 years ago, when I was doing more freelance work, I was always chasing those triple-A titles. They were the only reviews people wanted. These days, I'm having much more fun playing the indie games and exploring that scene. Constantly impressed and amazed at the new concepts and ideas.

I look forward to the big games coming in 2026, even though I know they will likely dominate most of the gaming discussions. But you're right, the last few years have been pretty good for smaller titles demanding the spotlight. Some real unexpected success stories lately, which is great to see.

As companies reckon with over-budgeted games that under-perform, I have a hunch we'll get more mid-tier titles. We already see Nintendo signaling that this will be their direction over the next few years.