This is the best present since Icarus Wings.
A video game producer most recently credited for his work on last year's ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove is set to appear on Season 10 of the cult television show American Horror Story.
Via Instagram, American Horror Story series producer Ryan Murphy confirmed gaming enthusiast Macaulay Culkin is joining the cast.
Culkin serves as the head of Bunny Ears Gaming, the video game division of the media company Bunny Ears, which he also owns and operates. Bunny Ears frequently features satirical content about video games, such as a recent piece titled "All The Pills From Dr. Mario Ranked By How High They Get You." He also hosts the Bunny Ears Podcast, where he's hosted guests such as YouTuber Angry Video Game Nerd and Tony Hawk, who is widely revered for the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series of video games that bear his namesake.
Culkin is passionate about retro games, favoring titles such as Mass Effect 2 and Left 4 Dead.
"I play more old-school kind of things," he told Engadget last year. I play a lot more Nintendo and Super Nintendo games than I do probably anything else."
He got involved with the ToeJam & Earl sequel in 2018 after tweeting an image of himself playing the classic ToeJam & Earl video game, which debuted on Sega Genesis in 1991. Soon after he tweeted that image, he arranged a meeting with the Back in the Groove development team.
ToeJam & Earl follows the adventures of two alien party monsters named ToeJam and Earl, who have crashed their spaceship on planet Earth. They must recover ship pieces to rebuild their ship so they can change lands and return to their home planet of Funkotron. Throughout the levels, players can collect food, presents and money that makes them richie rich.
Taking a page from the master, ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove is a remake of the original. It's designed with enhanced graphics and new gameplay mechanics, such as in-game challenges and additional present options such as rose bushes that deter any sticky bandits. There are also new playable characters, such as my girl Latisha, who deals extra damage with tomatoes. Advances in technology since the original release also allow the game to be saved! more frequently.
And of course, like any good son, these aliens love to eat. The game has several rhythm games elements, so it's a surprise it doesn't include any pizza-themed songs that the duo could theoretically perform with an underground band.
Culkin, like a cool uncle, bucks the naysayers to continue to explore his creative pursuits in gaming and beyond. The announcement that he's joined American Horror Story negates any perception that, as some people believe, he's somehow lost in New York.
The video game producer will star alongside Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson Kathy Bates, Lily Rabe and Finn Wittrock in the American Horror Story cast. Fans can only hope the show's next season is so scary, they won't want to watch it while home alone.