The best of 2018 in entertainment and pop culture – The Verge The Verge is about technology and how it makes us feel. Founded in 2011, we offer our audience everything from breaking news to reviews to award-winning features and investigations, on our site, in video, and in podcasts. 2019-01-07T17:15:07+00:00 https://www.theverge.com/rss/stream/17910769 https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/verge-rss-large_80b47e.png?w=150&h=150&crop=1 Noah Berlatsky <![CDATA[In 2018, superhero stories doubled down on maintaining the status quo]]> https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/7/18168909/2018-superhero-movies-marvel-dc-black-panther-infinity-war-aquaman 2019-01-07T12:15:07-05:00 2019-01-07T12:15:07-05:00

2018 saw the release of a record-breaking number of major superhero films. That includes Avengers: Infinity War, the first superhero film to gross more than $2 billion worldwide, and Black Panther, which grossed $1.34 billion, making it the fourth highest-earning superhero film ever. It was a year in which superheroes triumphed - but it was, also, unfortunately a year in which ugly political realities made most superhero fantasies seem increasingly strained and irrelevant. The superhero genre is clearly one of the major draws for moviegoers at the moment. But it feels less and less like what we need as a culture.

Superheroes have always bee …

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]]> Verge Staff <![CDATA[This is the pop culture that helped us survive 2018]]> https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/2/18150278/best-of-2018-culture-entertainment-infinity-war-steven-universe-hereditary-botnik-studios 2019-01-02T14:46:17-05:00 2019-01-02T14:46:17-05:00

As always, the first days of January are a time to look back on the previous year and wrap it up into a neat package, usually by thinking "Oh geez, did that actually happen last year? It feels like that was a decade ago." That's why it can be fun to look back on our favorite things of the year, the culture that endured with us past release weekend or the latest news cycle. Here's what made a difference to us in 2018.

The fan art phenomenon

When Noelle Stevenson's Netflix reboot of She-Ra: Princess of Power dropped its first preview images online, a familiar dank, never-pleased subsection of the internet started griping about them. But a comp …

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]]> Bijan Stephen <![CDATA[Fortnite was 2018’s most important social network]]> https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/21/18152012/fortnite-was-2018s-most-important-social-network 2018-12-21T14:37:30-05:00 2018-12-21T14:37:30-05:00

It's easy to forget that Fortnite - a cultural phenomenon that now has over 200 million registered players - began as a failure. It was conceived as a player vs. environment game that Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney described as a cross between Minecraft and Left 4 Dead in 2015, before co-opting the last-man-standing mechanics of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and becoming the biggest game on the planet. Fortnite stole that idea and then perfected the formula by making it less technical and more accessible; it won the fight for battle royale's soul by being bigger, wackier, and just more fun than PUBG's sterile, militaristic experience. Fortni …

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]]> Laura Hudson <![CDATA[Why Return of the Obra Dinn is my game of the year]]> https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/21/18151422/return-of-the-obra-dinn-game-of-the-year-lucas-pope 2018-12-21T14:13:26-05:00 2018-12-21T14:13:26-05:00

2018 has been a good year for video games. From blockbuster epics to smaller indie experiences to inventive takes on VR, the breadth and variety of games that came out over the last 12 months is astounding. To celebrate, Verge staff members are writing essays on their own personal favorite games, and what made them stand out above the crowd.

Return of the Obra Dinn begins at the end. The end of a story, the end of a life, the end of a barrel of a gun.

It begins with a body, a desiccated pile of bones moldering on the deck of a ship that set out from London in 1802 to round the Cape of Good Hope and washed up five years later without a livi …

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]]> Andrew Liptak <![CDATA[Our favorite science fiction and fantasy books of 2018]]> https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/21/18127146/best-sci-fi-fantasy-books-2018-jemisin-chambers-kowal-liu-valente 2018-12-21T09:00:03-05:00 2018-12-21T09:00:03-05:00

The long and bleak year of 2018 is almost over. It was a year full of devastating storms and disasters, scandal after scandal from tech companies, and chaotic politics from around the world. If there was any bright point in the year, it was that 2018 also brought with it a bumper crop of fantastic science fiction, fantasy, and horror novels that served as an oasis to examine the world around us, or to escape for brighter pastures.

The best books of this year told stories of interstellar colonization, of fantastic magical civilizations, optimistic alternate worlds, and devastating potential futures. They brought us fantastic characters who s …

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]]> Patricia Hernandez <![CDATA[In 2018, Ninja became Twitch’s first mainstream star]]> https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/20/18147238/fortnite-ninja-tyler-blevins-twitch-celebrity 2018-12-20T10:54:05-05:00 2018-12-20T10:54:05-05:00

"More people watch gaming video content than HBO, Netflix, ESPN and Hulu combined," data crunchers at Nielsen say. It feels like we get metrics like these every year, meant to prove just how big and influential platforms like Twitch are. Somehow, though, the cultural impact of live streaming hasn't felt entirely real. (If it was, Nielsen wouldn't have to say so.) Sure, tons of people might watch a man in a wig shoot people's faces off for hours every day, but next to a pop culture giant like Kanye West, a successful Twitch streamer is a microcelebrity. Well, until this year.

2018 saw the rise of the world's first game for the meme generatio …

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]]> Sam Byford <![CDATA[PlayStation VR has had a quietly awesome year]]> https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/20/18150109/playstation-vr-2018-astro-bot-tetris-effect 2018-12-20T10:47:24-05:00 2018-12-20T10:47:24-05:00

For VR enthusiasts, 2016 feels like a long time ago. That was the year that virtual reality hype hit its peak with the launch of three major headsets and accompanying platforms - Facebook's Oculus Rift, HTC and Valve's Vive, and Sony's PlayStation VR. All three systems had their pros and cons, and it turned out that none of them would change the world.

But while Oculus' future is unclear and HTC has turned to China, enterprise markets, and the ultra high-end, PlayStation VR has quietly established itself as the strongest platform for most people. VR gaming still has the same drawbacks it did two years ago, and Sony hasn't done much to solve …

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]]> Sam Byford <![CDATA[Why Tetris Effect is my game of the year]]> https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/20/18149908/tetris-effect-game-of-the-year-ps4-psvr 2018-12-20T08:53:49-05:00 2018-12-20T08:53:49-05:00

2018 has been a good year for video games. From blockbuster epics to smaller indie experiences to inventive takes on VR, the breadth and variety of games that came out over the last 12 months is astounding. To celebrate, Verge staff members are writing essays on their own personal favorite games, and what made them stand out above the crowd.

How could I pick a single favorite game of this year? 2018 has been incredible - for my money even better than 2017 overall. Monster Hunter World was a masterful update to my favorite series; I can't get Red Dead Redemption 2 out of my head; Celeste is one of the tightest 2D games ever made. Those are j …

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]]> Andrew Liptak <![CDATA[Our 11 favorite new podcasts of 2018]]> https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/19/18106662/best-podcasts-2018-npr-slate-serial 2018-12-19T14:26:20-05:00 2018-12-19T14:26:20-05:00

Over the past few years, podcasts have developed into an incredible medium for long-form reporting and creative fiction, with shows like Serial and Welcome to Nightvale garnering massive mainstream followings.

If you're a fan of these types of programming, and want more to add to your listening queue, there are 11 of our favorite podcasts that debuted (or ran a new season) this year.

Bear Brook, NHPR

33 years ago, a hunter in New Hampshire stumbled upon a gristly find: a pair of bodies that had been abandoned in an oil drum in the forests of Bear Book State Park in Allenstown, New Hampshire. Decades later, another such barrel was discover …

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]]> Casey Newton <![CDATA[Why Spider-Man is my game of the year]]> https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/19/18145230/spider-man-game-of-the-year-ps4 2018-12-19T09:30:04-05:00 2018-12-19T09:30:04-05:00

2018 has been a good year for video games. From blockbuster epics to smaller indie experiences to inventive takes on VR, the breadth and variety of games that came out over the last 12 months is astounding. To celebrate, Verge staff members are writing essays on their own personal favorite games, and what made them stand out above the crowd.

For me, the modern superhero video game starts with Batman: Arkham Asylum. The 2009 game from Rocksteady Studios that took a clever story inspired by comic books and infused it with an effortless blend of stealth combat, melee attacks, detective work, and lively gadgets. Punctuated by a series of memora …

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