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Netflix's Spirit Crossing Is A Gorgeous Cozy MMO With A Lot To Prove

Netflix's Spirit Crossing Is A Gorgeous Cozy MMO With A Lot To Prove

Yahoo22-03-2025

Spirit Crossing is the next life sim from the Netflix-owned studio Spry Fox, makers of the beloved Animal Crossing-like Cozy Grove. Netflix announced the ambitious social MMO this week alongside some other games and a renewed commitment to investing in gaming for years to come. Spirit Crossing will be a big test of just how serious it still is about that.
A trailer revealing the game shows characters fishing, dancing, and gliding around a Studio Ghibli-esque world. Alongside Animal Crossing, there are clear influences from other Nintendo games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, with the cute rituals and interactions of Cozy Grove blown out into a more full-fledged online social sim. There will be building, exploration, and more. It could end up being a great game, but will it be great on mobile?
Netflix purchased Spry Fox in 2022, a year after Cozy Grove blew up during the pandemic, thanks in part to it being a great Animal Crossing-inspired cozy game that wasn't exclusive to the Switch. Last year, the studio released Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit exclusively on mobile, an uneven sequel that drew lots of complaints for its smaller form factor and Netflix exclusivity.
Using the touch screen to maneuver around, do odd jobs, and interact with the game's eclectic anthropomorphized cast turned out to be surprisingly cumbersome. 'The touch controls are the worst but thankfully phone controllers are super compatible and work like a charm!' one player wrote on Reddit, echoing a common refrain among the series' veteran fans.
Netflix's confusing gaming strategy was recently punctuated by the closure of its AAA studio and numerous departures, including that of former head of development Mike Verdu. His replacement, former Epic Games exec Alain Tascan, told Bloomberg at GDC this week that Netflix is focused on mobile and TV and wants to cut down on the amount of potential friction for new players, like needing to own a console.
The company also expects its first Smart TV games to launch later this year, he told The Verge. No microtransactions or in-game ads, but also fewer indie games. It's part of a five-year plan for Netflix to find its own Roblox- or Fortnite-style killer app for games. This is apparently supposed to be a more focused approach than the company has employed in the last few years, though the genres Netflix is doubling down on—party games, kids games, narrative games, and 'mainstream' games—suggest this is more of a 'we'll know it when we see it' type of thing.
I'm skeptical that anything will be different this time around, if only because it still seems like the mandate to make great games is hemmed in by Netflix's existing business model. The subscription service is essentially a bundle, but it's trying to grow games like it's a platform. You can understand why Netflix would be keen to get games running natively on smart TVs, or streamed to them, where it doesn't have to pay Apple a 30 percent App Store fee.
But smartphones as controllers can be extremely limiting. Surely Netflix will have to start making its own gaming controller at some point, right? And at that point you're half way to being a game console anyway. What's the point of keeping your games off of PlayStation 5 and Switch 2 when other companies (Microsoft) are rushing to go multiplatform? The most popular games—Fortnite, Roblox, Genshin Impact—are on (almost) everything. This is why I'm so curious to see Spirit Crossing in action. Maybe Netflix is finally onto something, or maybe it's still trying to pound a square peg into a round hole.
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Jamie Foxx's daughters left in tears as he accepts BET's Ultimate Icon Award
Jamie Foxx's daughters left in tears as he accepts BET's Ultimate Icon Award

Miami Herald

time31 minutes ago

  • Miami Herald

Jamie Foxx's daughters left in tears as he accepts BET's Ultimate Icon Award

Two years after Jamie Foxx spent nearly a month in an Atlanta hospital, the actor accepted the Ultimate Icon Award at the 2025 BET awards on June 9. The award, created in 2015, honors veteran artists for their significant contributions to music, dance and music videos. In addition to Foxx, Mariah Carey, Snoop Dogg and Kirk Franklin were also presented with the award. (Warning: The link below contains language some may find offensive.) During Foxx's acceptance speech, the performer grew emotional as his two daughters, Corinne Foxx and Anelise Bishop, watched from the audience. 'We used to take this saying for granted, that 'God is good,'' Foxx began before acknowledging all the love and support from his peers and his fans. 'I gotta be honest, when I saw the In Memoriam, I was like, 'Man, that could have been me,'' he continued, referencing the health scare he endured in 2023, as his daughters also grew increasingly emotional. (Warning: The link below contains language some may find offensive.) During his Netflix special, 'What Had Happened Was…,' Foxx said he was hospitalized roughly 20 days with a 'brain bleed that led to a stroke,' according to 'Today.' Foxx couldn't walk or recall what had happened from April 11, when he first began experiencing a headache to May 4, when he woke up. After undergoing rehabilitation, Foxx experienced a full recovery. 'I don't know why I went through what I went through, but I know my second chance I'm not going to turn down. I'm not going to turn down. I have so much love to give. I told Him, I said, 'Man, bro, just give me one more crack at this. And I promise.' I said, 'Whatever reason you put this on me, I promise, Imma do right, and imma do right in front of y'all,' Foxx shared. 'And I don't want to make this whole speech about that but you can't go through something like that and not testify,' Foxx continued. Foxx went on to call out each of his daughters individually, praising Corinne for getting in the driver's seat when he needed her most. 'Corinne, I cannot say enough about you. You've always taken the back seat to everything, but when you needed to drive it, you drove and you made sure I was here.' He then turned his attention to Anelise, calling her his 'baby with the big hair.' 'She hides under that hair because she got something special. You're so beautiful, man. When I was fighting for my life in there, I got to say this. They said that 'we going to lose him because his vitals is bad.' I didn't want my 14-year-old to see me like that. But my Anelise overheard the conversation, and she snuck into my hospital room with her guitar and said, 'I know what my daddy needs.' And as she played the guitar, my vitals dropped and I realized that God was in that guitar. And the nurses ran in and said, 'What did they give him?' And my daughter says, 'I got him.'' In the comment section of BET's YouTube video, fans commented on Corinne and Anelise's emotions during their father's speech. 'You can see the pain in his daughters still. So glad he won that fight,' one comment read. 'You can tell his daughters love him.' 'When he told his daughter you always took the back seat but when you needed to drive..... YOU DROVE! I fell out crying!'

The Nintendo Switch 2 is a refinement rather than a reinvention. Is that enough?
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Los Angeles Times

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  • Los Angeles Times

The Nintendo Switch 2 is a refinement rather than a reinvention. Is that enough?

Nintendo is in many ways a different company now than it was back in 2017 when it released the Switch. For one, it has sold more than 150 million units of its hybrid TV/on-the-go console, making it the defining game device of the last decade. Nintendo also expanded its universes beyond its game consoles. At long last, 'Super Mario Bros.' became a blockbuster animated film, and there are now three Super Nintendo World theme park properties, including one here in Los Angeles at Universal Studios Hollywood. That makes the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 something of an event, and arguably the most important tech instrument of the year. So, the good news. The pricey Switch 2 is a worthy successor to the original. And unlike the motion-controlled Wii in 2006 or the dual-screen Nintendo DS in 2004, this play-it-somewhat-safe console takes an if-it-ain't-broke philosophy to gaming, continuing Nintendo's legacy rather than redefining it. While it's bigger, stronger, better feeling, higher-res and comes with a couple new tricks, overall it's primarily a refinement of the original Switch's ideas. The first game company to make interactive characters household names — Donkey Kong, Mario, Link, take your pick — Nintendo has become a full-fledged, cross-media storytelling company. And it has done so via a medium that in its most mainstream form is only about four decades old. The Switch 2, officially released June 5 and selling for $449.99, is the vessel for which Nintendo will reveal its play-focused worlds for likely the next decade. The reception from consumers may be inspiring but brings with it a host of questions. The Switch itself is far from obsolete, despite being significantly less powerful than Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox consoles, due largely to its hybrid design. And consumers may be forgiven for wondering why — or when — they should upgrade to a machine that looks, feels and plays similar to the one they currently own, especially when Nintendo is unleashing only one new core game for it this month, the dazzling 'Mario Kart World.' Valid, but I believe those who make the leap will be happy in their investment, even if its lineup of exclusive games is relatively barren for now. There are enough improvements to make the Switch 2 feel fresh. I'm eager, for one, to see how its controllers, the detachable 'Joy-Cons,' evolve, as they now have the ability to act as a mouse. This has already come in handy in the strategy game 'Civilization VII,' a title I waited for the Switch 2 to play and one that can utilize the more precise maneuvers mouse controls provide. First-person shooters should benefit even more. And then there are its chat features, which can be enhanced with an optional Nintendo camera ($54.99). While serious gamers who use services such as Discord may not need a console to facilitate chatting with friends, the Switch 2 makes connecting and conversing safe and easy for the gamer who plays primarily solo. One can can only talk with approved friends, and Nintendo will verify accounts and a phone number to do so. Simply touch a button on the Joy-Con, and the chat feature is enabled. My circle of connections who own a Switch 2 is currently small, so I haven't experimented with these accouterments as much as I would have liked, especially the CameraPlay feature that allows users to overlay their own faces on drivers in the game. Other features will no doubt come in handy during 'Mario Kart World,' saving my friends and I from conversing via text. And they would have been a godsend during the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when every Switch owner was eager to share their 'Animal Crossing: New Horizons' creations with their pals. All of this says nothing about how good the Switch 2 simply feels. The Joy-Cons now connect magnetically rather than having to lock into place, and while it's perhaps an incremental upgrade, snapping them into the console is one of those tech creations that feels like magic, like the first time one uses a touchscreen. It's slightly larger, and I find a more robust Switch 2 is easier to handle, my arms less likely to grow tired when playing in bed. The screen is 1080p, making just about every old game feel brighter, crisper and less fuzzy, and the Switch 2 has support for 4K TVs. 'Super Mario Odyssey' has never looked so clear, and $9.99 upgrades to 'The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild' and 'The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom' will have you wanting to revisit — or jump back into — each of those titles, as refreshed resolutions and frame rates have us seeing the worlds anew. Battery life, however, might be a challenge. In handheld mode I was able to get about two hours of 'Mario Kart World' before needing to recharge. The console fared better with independent and smaller games. But the real reason to buy a new gaming console is for its next-generation games. Nintendo is counting on 'Mario Kart World' to be enough initially to entice buyers. It's a safe bet, when one considers that 'Mario Kart 8' is one of the bestselling games of all time, having sold more than 67 million copies. Many an original Switch was likely a 'Mario Kart'-focused machine, and though I prefer my plump plumber when he's exploring the Mushroom Kingdom on foot — running, jumping and power-upping his way to rescue his friends — I am not immune to the charms of 'Mario Kart World.' 'Mario Kart 8' was released back in 2014, meaning these cute-but-vicious races are now nostalgia bait for another generation. And 'World' marries some Nintendo weirdness — you can now race as a cow — with its penchant for playful world building. 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That's long been Nintendo's approach to play and storytelling, and that likely isn't going to change anytime soon. The Switch became the most popular gaming console of the decade by giving us games that became global phenomena, be it 'Animal Crossing: New Horizons' or 'Tears of the Kingdom' (I'm most partial to 'Super Mario Odyssey'). And to buy a Switch 2 is to trust the Nintendo design team to continue to deliver. It's early days, but I feel good about that gamble. After all, I have a cow in a kart waiting for me to get back into a race.

‘Ginny & Georgia' Season 3 Debuts Strong With 17.6 Million Views on Netflix
‘Ginny & Georgia' Season 3 Debuts Strong With 17.6 Million Views on Netflix

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

‘Ginny & Georgia' Season 3 Debuts Strong With 17.6 Million Views on Netflix

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