Evening Reading - May 9, 2025

Hello, Shacknews. It's East Coast Ozzie this week, as I'm coming to you from Boston for PAX East. Let's close this week out with another round of news, memes, and entertainment. This is the Friday edition of Evening Reading.

In case you missed it at Shacknews:

• Shack Together 062 - GTA VI Trailer, GTA Trivia, EA and AMD Earnings, feat. TJ Denzer
• Doom: The Dark Ages review - Rip and tear and parry
• Killing Floor 3 gets July 2025 release date
• Dead by Daylight Five Nights at Freddy's crossover coming summer 2025
• Dead by Daylight devs talk Five Nights at Freddy's crossover
• Dead by Daylight devs on the game's 9th anniversary & what's next
• Dead by Daylight director on Hellraiser content removal: 'Forever contracts don't exist'
• Epic Games has officially submitted Fortnite to Apple for republishing on iOS
• Deltarune will feature cross-buy between Switch & Switch 2

Your weekly reminder to check out ShackMaps, our growing collection of video game maps to help enhance your gameplay experience!

• Introducing Shackmaps - Free interactive video game maps

And, because it's the weekend, go find yourself something to play!

• Weekend Console Download Deals for May 9: PlayStation Plus users get Balatro
• Weekend PC Download Deals for May 9: Sus

Around the Gaming Horn

Here's some rapid-fire news to wrap up your week and there's quite a bit of it on this PAX East Friday.

One of the wildest announcements came early this morning overseas from EVO Japan, as Overwatch 2 is getting a crossover with Street Fighter 6.

🚨 ✨ WILDGATE OPEN ✨🚨

Our #Wildgate playtest is NOW LIVE on Steam, PS5, and Xbox!

Be sure to join our official Discord server for all the latest Community Preview updates, news, crews, support, shenanigans, and more.

🎉 https://t.co/3UQyegcfcp pic.twitter.com/ktPpbaCWCF

— Wildgate (@playwildgate) May 9, 2025

The latest community test for Wildgate is now open. If you want to know what this game is, check out our Wildgate preview.

The Beta Weekend for #DuneAwakening has begun!

This Beta has no NDA. Share any info you want with friends, or even stream the game for all to see.

If you'd like a chance at a Beta Weekend key, request access on Steam and watch our Global LAN Party tomorrow!

Read our FAQ to… pic.twitter.com/Dw7RZDVGak

— Dune: Awakening (@DuneAwakening) May 9, 2025

The large-scale beta for Dune: Awakening is now underway.

And if you missed it, watch the full Gearbox stream from PAX East.

Oh, and the World of Warcraft panel too, while you're at it.

And now... Other Stuff From The Internet!!!

Today in Bubbletron

Be sure to play Bubbletron today!

The Pigeon Develops Adult Anxiety

Author Mo Willems has sold millions of books and won many awards, but the accolade that means most is when a parent says their child read aloud for the first time from one of his books.

[image or embed]

— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) May 9, 2025 at 10:00 AM

Finally, a book that you can buy your high school graduate other than "Oh, The Places You Will Go."

Just when I thought I was out...

I downloaded Balatro on my phone

[image or embed]

— AndresPlays🎮 (@andresplays.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 3:21 PM

You can also get it back on your PS5 too. It's free for PS Plus users.

Nothing but the Hotfix

GDQ recently celebrated AAPI Heritage Month. Let's check out this Quake 64 run.

GDQ's Hotfix shows air every week and you can catch them all at the Games Done Quick Twitch account.

This week in Shaqnews (and Chucknews)
**BUT ALSO**
IT'S STILL REAL TO ME, DAMMIT!

What is this, a crossover segment?

It is! That's because WWE World Champion John Cena showed up on Inside the NBA. Before long, Shaq and Chuck couldn't see him, because they were busy getting into a grappling contest of their own.

Tonight in video game music

Let's go acapella with Smooth McGroove.

That's it for the second Friday Evening Reading for May! Be sure to keep the spirit of the classic Evening Reading alive by jumping into the comments about whatever you see here or whatever randomness you'd like to discuss. Join the conversation and dive into the Shacknews Chatty comment thread below. If you want to go new school and find different ways to leave your feedback or talk about whatever, join us in the Official Shacknews Community Discord. I'll see you all next week!

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?