August has been a great month for Netflix so far, most notably thanks to the addition of plenty of classic films that will stoke the flames of nostalgia for many subscribers. You could sit down and watch the entire Jurassic Park trilogy, check out the often forgotten Adam Sandler comedy Mr. Deeds, watch Mel Gibson's road rage in Mad Max, or have a few laughs with the quirky time travel romance Safety Not Guaranteed.
The COVID-19 coronavirus has done its job of ensuring that 2020 is a pretty awful year all around, having now infected over 20.5 million people worldwide with a death toll reaching 750,000. And as if the effect it's had on the health of people isn't bad enough, it's also made for a really boring year for those who are social distancing to avoid contracting the virus. With nearly no major events being safe to attend, social gatherings frowned upon, and the majority of movie theaters closed, there's not a lot for people to do outside their homes.
If you're a Netflix subscriber, you're probably still knocking out the last few episode of the recently-added second season of The Umbrella Academy or catching up on all of the other awesome stuff the platform added last month. But rest assured that when you're done with that, August's content drops will have you covered with plenty more to add to your list. So far this month, we've already seen the addition of all three of the excellent Jurassic Park films, 1993's adorable live-action Dennis the Menace, and Jim Carrey's strange and dramatic Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Nearly half a century after George Lucas introduced the world to Star Wars, the franchise remains a household name and one of the biggest media properties of all time. With nine mainline films and two spinoffs, multiple television shows, a bevy of video games and a variety of comics, there are few people who haven't at least heard the names "Luke Skywalker" or "Darth Vader." So, it's no surprise that any company that can capitalize on the success of the series using their respective form of media, and that's exactly what EA has done since 2013 when they purchased the exclusive rights to create Star Wars games for the indefinite future.
Video games are rarely perfect, as many may be too difficult for some players, have cumbersome menu systems or interfaces, or otherwise impose irritating limits that reduce the fun that can be had. Thankfully for PC gamers, mods have allowed both amateur and professional creators the opportunity to alter games and bring new life to the experiences through improved or entirely redesigned gameplay, art, and controls.
With next generation consoles set to arrive later this year, it's an exciting time to be a gamer regardless of which hardware you prefer. We can expect the PlayStation 5 to bring with it Sony's incredible, award-winning exclusives and exciting new ways to play, thanks to its interesting new controller and game-changing SSD. Meanwhile, the Xbox Series X may take a hit from having Halo Infinite delayed, but it will come out swinging with four generations of games and Game Pass, which is arguably the best deal in the industry.
Gamers have a bevy of fighting games to choose from these days, and the options only continue to grow. Just in the past few years, the fighting game community has been granted such huge hitters as Street Fighter V, Mortal Kombat 11, Soul Calibur VI, and Tekken 7, proving that the genre and its most beloved franchises are as strong as ever. Of course, there are newer entries into the arena, too, but that doesn't make them any less sought after – and that goes double when they're based on established properties that almost everyone enjoys.
2020 hasn't been the best year for most people or companies, largely thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic that seems adamant about sticking around for the foreseeable future. The outbreak has now infected at least 20 million people worldwide and resulted in nearly 750,000 deaths. Meanwhile, many businesses have either been forced to remained closed or deal with extremely strict cleaning policies and safety precautions to help mitigate the spread of the novel virus.
If you're a fan of battle royale games, you have no dearth of choices to play in 2020. Just this month alone has introduced two new major entries in the genre in the form of Ubisoft's competitive shooter Hyper Scape and Mediatonic's hilarious party game Fall Guys, both of which have received tons of praise from gamers so far. But many players are still hooked on their favorite titles from earlier in the genre's life, and one such game is continuing to provide plenty of reasons for people to remain invested.
