lists

Here’s a number for you: this year, I reviewed 69 games for Destructoid. Nice. It wasn’t intentional, but it almost was. I thought I was at 68, so I was trying to figure out how to fit one more in. But it turns out that OpenCritic is missing one, and poorer for it. What are we here for? Right. My favorite games this year, in no particular order. It is always hard for me to put year-end lists together because I can barely remember what I played last month. That’s it. There’s no “but” to that statement. Okay, roll the,…

Each year, we’re treated to a new collection of lovable characters in video games. Some of them might be returning, familiar faces or mascots. But plenty of new characters made our favorite games of 2023, too. Within a single character, there’s a huge amount of work done behind-the-scenes. It’s not just design, or writing, or even direction. The actors themselves put themselves into it, and in a time where stabs at so-called AI are propagating at an uncomfortable rate, celebrating all the minds that make these…

Top songs with African ingenuity from acts like Burna Boy, Bien, Libianca, and beyond As our new digital homelands power global connectivity, the world has shrunk, and Afropop’s fandom has grown. Young powerhouses like Tyla, Amaarae, and Libianca set new trends at the head of a class of bold artists remaking African music in their image. Rolling Stone’s second-ever list of the year’s best Afropop songs features quite a few musicians who are freshly forging their paths in the…

David Johnson, who co-founded Etkin Johnson Real Estate Partners with Bruce Etkin in 1989, is selling his 8,300-square-foot Cherry Hills Village mansion made with $1 million of imported Belgian glass. Johnson listed the two-story, six-bedroom, five-bath home on Random Road, which was designed by Michael Brendle for $8.5 million on Nov. 17. He purchased the home for $3.6 million in 2003. Johnson said the glass walls make the home unique. “The natural light you get is stunning. You get to experience being outside while…

Fast and Furious actor Vin Diesel is at the center of serious allegations regarding se*xual assault, brought forth by his former assistant, Asta Jonasson, during the filming of “Fast Five.” This lawsuit was reported by Vanity Fair and has stirred significant attention. According to the lawsuit, Jonasson was employed by One Race Productions in 2010, working on “Fast Five” when the alleged assault occurred. She claims that while at a party and in close proximity to Diesel as part of her job,…

A South Park Hill home that the current owner wants to demolish, but that some neighbors want to see preserved, is now being marketed for sale. A listing for the 4,500-square-foot home on 0.43 acres at 5013 E. Montview Ave. went live on Zillow last week with a $2.73 million asking price. Owners Mark and Marianne Rinehart purchased the home on 0.43 acres through a trust for $2.5 million in September 2022, records show. They want to demolish the structure and build a larger single-family home, according to documents…

Drake, Sexxy Red, and Lil Yachty made rap sound fun, and artists like Ken Carson and Baby Keem pushed us into new sonic territory While plenty of energy was spent this year debating whether or not rap was still at the forefront of pop culture as it reached its fiftieth anniversary, there was no shortage of exciting new music to enjoy. There was Lil Yachty’s generational run of loosies, each an introduction of new vocal terrain for the increasingly prolific musician, the rise of…

Gut-churning doom, hip-hop-influenced industrial metal, avant-garde black metal, thrash for the ages, and so much more This list goes to 11 … and that Spinal Tap joke is about as far as headbanging traditionalism goes with this list of 2023’s best metal albums. The past year has seen beloved metal titans like Metallica and Godflesh expand their signature heavy riffage in unexpected ways, and it has given a platform for daring bands like Khanate and Agriculture to explore the…

From viral dances to lil-stinker promo shots to songs we couldn't get our of our heads, our favorite Very Online moments of the past years 2023 was a heck of a year on the internet. Whether we were eating our girl dinners or declaring our allegiances in the orca wars, this year was jam-packed with memes that captivated us even harder than the Roman Empire. The following are some of the most defining memes of 2023, from nepo babies to…

Few would disagree that 2023 was, in the world of technology at least, dominated by artificial intelligence. The dictionaries have taken note in their “word of the year” lists, and notably all the AI-related words they highlight are, in fact, existing words that have been appropriated and regurgitated with new meanings. A little on the nose, isn’t it? Cambridge’s word is “hallucinate,” which is of course the habit of generative AI models like ChatGPT to invent anything from dates to entire people rather than admit it…