New York Times Strands: Hints and Answers for June 29, 2025

Strandshas another challenging puzzle for today. In order to win, you need to find nine words hidden inside the letter grid while using all the letters and not overlapping any letters. And today’s puzzle is even more challenging than therules of how to playStrandsmight suggest. You will need to have a good understanding of the category without knowing what it is first, and you will need a little luck to get started....

July 8, 2025 · 2 min · 377 words · Diana Walker

Nightmare On Elm Street: How Did Freddy Krueger Gain The Power To Enter Dreams?

1980s horror doesn’t get much better than Wes Craven’sA Nightmare on Elm Street. Though the sequels might have gone a bit off the rails, they’re all still good fun in their own right. It’s a wacky franchise with a lot of really fantastical elements, and the nature of the plot makes for a no-limits approach to the kills. There’s no other series quite like it, and there’s certainly no villain like Freddy Krueger....

July 8, 2025 · 4 min · 822 words · Christopher Mcclain

Nintendo Should 'Steal' Minecraft's Best Fan Activity for Animal Crossing

The success ofAnimal Crossinghas shown that numerous fans are dedicated to the franchise. Though there’s no telling what the next mainline entry entails, the community will start buzzing with activity once it’s revealed. If there’sone thing likely for the nextAnimal Crossingtitle, it’s that Nintendo will attempt to find ways to make it bigger and more popular than its predecessors. One of the ways it can do so is by copying a particularMinecraftcommunity activity that has gained fame since its inception....

July 8, 2025 · 4 min · 754 words · Jamie Morgan

One Key Difference Between Zelda: A Link to the Past and Tears of the Kingdom Shows How the Franchise Has Grown

Summary Many years have passed between the release ofA Link to the Pastand the most recentThe Legend of Zeldainstallment,Tears of the Kingdom. However, when comparing the two entries in the long-running franchise, there is an unexpected sign of justhow far theZeldagames have come;A Link to the Paststarted a tradition of addingMario-centric Easter eggs into the games. As the third entry into the series,A Link to the Pastbrought fortha new chapter for theZeldagames, which included some surprise inspiration from Nintendo heavy-hitterMario....

July 8, 2025 · 3 min · 556 words · Andrew Peck

One Piece: Does Caribou Know Too Much?

Summary When the post time skip Straw Hats returned to Sabaody,One Piecemangaka Eiichiro Oda introduced fans to a large cast of new characters. Many remember the fake Straw Hats as they have gone down in theOne Piececommunity’s history as an inside joke, but that story-line also brought about the introduction of the evil brothers Coribou and Caribou. Blood-Splatter Coribou hasn’t been seen since he was featured alongside his brother in a Dressrosa Arc cover story, however, Wet-Haired Caribou ended up saving Luffy on Wano and even reached Egghead Island as a stowaway upon the Thousand Sunny....

July 8, 2025 · 4 min · 764 words · James Gardner

Overwatch 2 Player Finds Classic World of Warcraft Reference on Samoa Map

Summary AnOverwatch 2fan recently discovered a reference to Onyxia, one of the most iconic bosses inWorld of Warcrafthistory. This literal Easter egg is tucked away in the volcanic region of the new Samoa mapOverwatch 2added in Season 7. Rise of Darkness,Overwatch 2’s seventh batch of seasonal content, recently began, bringing with it a new Battle Pass, a rework to Sombra, and aDiablo 4-themed PvE mode. However, one of the most influential additions from the season gameplay wise is the new Samoa Control map, which has been added to the rotation for both Quick Play and Ranked....

July 8, 2025 · 2 min · 395 words · Jordan Hunt

Overwatch 2 Season 2 Trailer Highlights New Skins, Upcoming Events, and More

One week before the beginning ofOverwatch 2Season 2, Blizzard has shared a new video highlighting the new features coming this season. Players can get a better look at the new hero and map coming toOverwatch 2, as well as the new skins inspired by Greek mythology and the new upcoming limited-time game modes. Each season ofOverwatch 2comes with a batch of improvements to Blizzard’s FPS, from minor hero adjustments to the release of new characters or maps....

July 8, 2025 · 3 min · 435 words · Jared Greene

Pokemon Fan Creates Paradox Form for Clefable

Clefable is the latestPokemonto get a Paradox-form reimagining from a fan-artist. Paradox forms, as introduced inPokemon ScarletandPokemon Violet, have opened up a vein ofPokemoncreativity within the game franchise’s community.Pokemonfans clearly love seeing what their favorite Pokemon might look like if they were from the far future or ancient past. Clefable’s new fan-design is just one example of the inspired art fans have made. Paradox forms, for those unfamiliar, are exclusive to bothPokemon ScarletandViolet....

July 8, 2025 · 2 min · 410 words · Brian Johnson

Pokemon Gen 9 Should Replicate One Major Sword and Shield Change

While story may not be the main drive for those who playPokemongames, it certainly is an important aspect, as aPokemonregion’s characters, areas, and the Pokemon themselves are largely all based around the game’s story. For the most part,Pokemonlore tends torevolve around legendary Pokemon.Over the years, the lore surrounding thePokemonuniverse has become more and more in-depth, largely starting withPokemon Ruby and Sapphirewhich introduced Kyogre and Groudon as rulers of the land and sea, and then expanding greatly withDiamond and Pearl’s introduction of Arceus, the creator of the universe....

July 8, 2025 · 6 min · 1068 words · Shawn Wells

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's The Teal Mask DLC Has More Expectations to Live Up to Than The Indigo Disk

The Teal Mask and Indigo Disk DLC expansions forPokemon Scarlet and Violetare set to take players on new adventures outside the Paldea Region and feature a handful of new and returning monsters for players to collect. While these DLCs were not unexpected afterPokemon Sword and Shieldreceived two expansions – The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra – there are higher expectations for these new expansions than for Gen 8’s DLCs....

July 8, 2025 · 3 min · 621 words · Rebecca Torres

Rumor: Final Fantasy 7 Legacy Collection Coming to Nintendo Switch

With the long-awaitedFinal Fantasy 7 Remakereleasing to rave reviews, interest in theFF7story is at an all-time high. Many fans know that the story extends beyond the original game with things likeCrisis Core: Final Fantasy 7andDirge of Cerberus, but those games are only available on older platforms, and not easily accessible to most. However, if a recent rumor is to be believed, that could be changing in the near future. A Reddit user going by the name sqeueenixleaker0404 claims that something calledFinal Fantasy 7: Legacy Collectionis in the works for the Nintendo Switch....

July 8, 2025 · 2 min · 421 words · Gilbert Sanchez

Sandra Bullock Gives A Clue About The Superhero Role She Turned Down

Sandra Bullock has talked about being offered a superhero role in the past only to have turned it down. The actress also wouldn’t reveal what the project itself actually was, but she did address whether it was forMarvelor DC. The topic of superhero movies is definitely a divisive one in the cinephile world. Directors, writers, and actors all have their respective views of these movies. It seems that there isn’t a unified vision for where everybody sees this genre going....

July 8, 2025 · 3 min · 441 words · Sharon Gibbs

Shojo Manga You Should Read (Now They Are Complete)

Shojo manga is one of the most popular categories in manga, spreading tales of romance, friendship adventure, and comedy to its captive audience. Although this style of manga is typically geared towards adolescent and young adult women, that is not to say readers of other genders or age groups can’t enjoy the stories. RELATED:Best Shonen Jump+ Manga You Should Read With there being hundreds of ongoing shojo manga, it can be difficult to decide on what to read, especially since the demographic is quite wide and vast....

July 8, 2025 · 5 min · 1019 words · Gabriela Johnson