!.06-GameSpot - All Content

!.06-GameSpot - All Content

WandaVision First Reactions: Disney+'s First MCU TV Show Praised For Being Weird, Fun, And Bold

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 09:59 AM PST

In less than a week, the first Marvel Cinematic Universe project since 2019 will be released. WandaVision, the first MCU TV show, premieres its first two episodes Friday, January 15, on the Disney+ streaming service. While reviews for the upcoming series have not been released yet, the first reactions from reporters and critics have arrived via social media.

Members of the press have been shown the first three episodes of WandaVision Season 1, which will include nine installments. And while the trailers might make it hard to decipher what, exactly, the show is about, the first reactions are overwhelmingly positive. It seems this new step for the MCU is a strange but exciting one.

"It's great, weird, loaded with sitcom tropes and, what I wasn't expecting, kinda scary," GameSpot's Chris E. Hayner wrote. "I love old sitcoms and this show's dedication to the bit of resembling shows like Bewitched, I Love Lucy, and The Brady Bunch had me staring at it dreamily."

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Most Of The Games Sold In The UK In 2020 Were Digital

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 09:38 AM PST

It appears that digital game downloads dominated the UK market. Of the almost 43 million games sold in total there in 2020, 24.5 million were digital downloads, as reported by GamesIndustry.Biz. This is up 74% from 2019's sales figures.

To assemble this analysis, GamesIndustry used data from the GSD, which covers all physical retail sales, as well as download sales for most major games companies. Not all publishers submit their sales data to the GSD for analysis however, so figuring out exactly how these trends have shifted since last year isn't fully possible, but GamesIndustry broke the figures down as best they could without including information from Bethesda and Nintendo. Two-thirds, or 67% of AAA games sold in the UK were purchased via a digital storefront like Steam, Nintendo eShop, PSN, and Xbox Live. This is a 15% jump from 2019's figures, where 52% of games were purchased from digital storefronts.

Despite this, physical games still saw some growth in 2020. There was a 2% increase in boxed game sales in 2020 over 2019, and including console hardware and accessories, the physical games market in the UK is worth over £2.1 billion. That's a 28% increase from 2019.

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Valorant's Episode 2 Introduces New Agent Yoru, Competitive Changes

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 09:34 AM PST

Riot's competitive shooter Valorant has enjoyed a steady drip-feed of new content over the past few months, but the Episode 2 update promises to shake things up quite a bit. Episode 2 will hit January 12, and it adds a new Agent to the game, Yoru, as well as introducing some major competitive changes, a new battle pass, and revisiting some skins from Episode 1.

As revealed by a Riot stream, Yoru is a "duelist," meaning that he focuses on setting up solo plays and notching kills to cripple the enemy team. His kit is designed to mix up the opponent via misinformation and high mobility. For example, his Fakeout ability allows him to deploy fake footsteps to mislead his opponents, and his Gatecrash ability lets him set up a teleportation beacon for quick escapes.

He also has Blindside, a flash grenade that only triggers once it's bounced against a surface. His ultimate Dimension Drift makes him temporarily invisible and impervious to damage, meaning he can reposition to take the enemy by surprise, or perhaps just scout ahead to see how the other team is set up. According to Riot, Yoru is intended to be a completely different breed of Duelist when compared to the other characters in the game, one focused on a playstyle that the studio calls "Stealthly Infiltration."

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Harry Potter Series Grants Teachers Open License To Stream, Read Books

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 09:20 AM PST

When the COVID-19 pandemic first started changing life as we knew it last year, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling announced she would be relaxing the usual copyright requirements to allow and encourage teachers to post videos of themselves reading aloud from her books. On Monday, Rowling announced that she would be extending these relaxed copyright policies for Harry Potter books 1-7 and The Ickabog (a fairy tale published by Rowling last fall) through to February 19--at which point the policy will be reviewed. The official guidelines for teachers can be downloaded here.

It's a refreshingly kind gesture for the author, who has in the years since all the Harry Potter books and movies become a controversial figure given to making transphobic comments online. Nevertheless, a next-gen Harry Potter video game from Avalanche Software--known for its work on Disney Infinity before becoming acquired by WB--is still on-track.

The popular series has spawned stage adaptations, multiple video games, spin-offs, a theme park (The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando in Florida), and a tourist attraction in the United Kingdom that doubles as a behind-the-scenes walking tour. Since COVID-19 alone, New York-based playwright Matt Cox has written three plays in the Puffs spin-off universe, which takes place at the same time of the books, but retells that story by focusing instead on a young wizard named Puffs.

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Deadpool 3 Will Be Rated R, Marvel Boss Says

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 09:14 AM PST

One of the big questions for superhero fans after 2019's Disney/Fox deal was what will happen to the Marvel characters previously owned by Fox--and in particular Deadpool. While many fans would agree that the main X-Men series was in need of a reboot, the Deadpool films have been hugely successful, both critically and commercially. However, there were doubts whether the R-rated Deadpool movies will fit alongside the more family-friendly Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Last November, it was reported that Marvel was moving forward with Deadpool 3, with Bob's Burgers writers Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Loeglin working on the script. Now studio boss Kevin Feige has commented on both the movie's status and its potential rating.

Speaking to Collider, Feige stated that the film would indeed "be rated R" and part of the MCU. He also explained that while star Ryan Reynolds was currently overseeing the Deadpool 3 script, it wouldn't start shooting in 2021. "Ryan is a very busy, very successful actor," he said. "We've got a number of things we've already announced that we now have to make, but it's exciting for it to have begun. Again, a very different type of character in the MCU, and Ryan is a force of nature, which is just awesome to see him bring that character to life."

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Google Stadia, Nvidia GeForce Now Coming To 2021 LG TVs

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 09:02 AM PST

Along with a new range of OLED TVs for 2021, LG has announced that native support for Google Stadia and Nvidia GeForce Now is coming to its TVs later this year.

This will be the first time both services are offered through a TV directly, previously requiring hardware such as a Chromecast or Nvidia Shield to run. Announced at CES 2021, Stadia will launch on LG's new TVs in the second half of 2021, with support for its premium tier which delivers games at 4K and 60FPS with HDR and 5.1 surround sound.

LG stated that TVs will require webOS 6.0 to access Stadia, which will ship with its new TVs. Older sets, such as last year's LG CX, will need to wait a bit longer. LG says support for webOS 5.0 is coming later in the year.

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Arcade1Up Unveils New Cabinets At CES 2021: X-Men, Killer Instinct, And More

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 09:00 AM PST

CES 2021 kicks off this week, and one of the first announcements out of the gate is from cabinet maker Arcade1Up. The company is known to make several announcements during CES, and this year, it's unveiled six new cabinets and a four-player pub table. No prices or release dates have been announced for the new machines, though the full games list for each cabinet has been revealed. Arcade1Up is set to bring classic beat-em-ups, fighting games, and more to its 3/4-scale cabinet line.

Arcade1Up has six new cabinets in the works, including ones for the classic 1992 X-Men beat-em-up, the beloved Killer Instinct fighting games, and iconic Don Bluth laserdisc game Dragon's Lair. All three feature more games than just what the cabinet advertises with its panel art--X-Men and Killer Instinct also have online multiplayer functionality.

The cabinet maker also unveiled its new Legacy Edition cabinet line, in which each machine pays tribute to a specific company's past. The first three honor Atari with a Tempest machine, Capcom with a Street Fighter II machine, and Namco with a Pac-Man machine. These cabinets contain 12 games each, providing a range of titles.

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Star Wars Video Games Now Live Under The Lucasfilm Games Umbrella

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 08:52 AM PST

Lucasfilm has announced a change for its gaming projects. Going forward, the company's video game ambitions will live under the "Lucasfilm Games" umbrella, Disney announced on the Star Wars website.

This will be the catch-all name that is the "official identity for all gaming titles from Lucasfilm, a name that encompasses the company's rich catalog of video games and its eye toward the future."

You will see the re-branding on Twitter and Facebook, and on those places you can expect to see "breaking news and more directly to fans." There is a new logo as well, which you can see below and in the sizzle reel video that the company released with this announcement.

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HyperX Reveals New Compact Gaming Keyboard, Xbox Series X Charging Station For CES 2021

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 08:41 AM PST

CES 2021 officially kicks off today, and that means the biggest tech and accessory brands are showing off their new products hitting the market this year. Among them is HyperX, which today announced a brand-new compact keyboard, the Alloy Origins 60, as well as a new licensed charging station for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One controllers.

HyperX Alloy Origins 60
HyperX Alloy Origins 60

The HyperX Alloy Origins 60 is the brand's first 60% keyboard, meaning it has 60% of the keys that a standard keyboard does. The mechanical keyboard features a space-saving layout, letting you maximize desk space for mouse movement and more. Its compact form also makes it ideal for traveling. The Alloy Origins 60 uses HyperX's red linear mechanical switches, which are known to be smooth and responsive, and they have exposed LED lighting that can be personalized. The keyboard also has a Game Mode and macro setting, with up to three profiles available with on-board memory.

The Alloy Origins 60 gaming keyboard will release on February 22 for $100 MSRP in the US. It'll be available to buy directly from HyperX.

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You Can Play Pokemon Red Inside A Twitter Avatar

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 08:40 AM PST

We've seen Twitch "play" a lot of games, most famously Pokemon, as the audience controlled a rudimentary voting system to determine what the on-screen game would do. Now a variation of that has appeared with the same basic gist playing out inside a user's Twitter avatar.

Twitter user Constantin Lietard set up a script that makes a move in Pokemon Red every 15 minutes, based on replies to a pinned tweet. Then the current status of the game is taken as a screenshot and uploaded as the new Twitter avatar. As of the time of writing, Ash appears to be exploring some tall grass.

The game has only been going on for a few days, and with a move being made every 15 minutes, progress is slow. The crowd chose Squirtle as its starter, and it just battled a Zubat. It may be a long wait before the crowd makes it to the Elite Four.

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Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies Goes Free Very Soon For A Limited Time

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 08:34 AM PST

It appears that Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's Zombies mode will have a free week coming up soon. CharlieIntel spotted a store page on Xbox that states a "Free Access" trial for Zombies will run January 14-21.

If that is indeed the case, an official announcement may not be far off. We have contacted Activision in an attempt to get more details and will update this post with anything we hear back.

Presumably the Free Access trial for Zombies, if it is real, will also be available on other platforms beyond Xbox. Keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.

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LG's 2021 OLED TVs Feature Its Brightest Panels Yet

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 08:18 AM PST

For 2021, LG isn't overhauling its popular line of OLED TVs. Instead, it's addressing one of the most common complaints with the technology: peak brightness.

With its more expensive G-series of OLED TVs, announced during CES 2021, LG is promising better overall brightness levels with what it's calling OLED Evo. This should, in theory, make picture quality better in brightly lit rooms, where the lower brightness levels of OLED vs. LCD struggled.

LG isn't including this with its new C-series line, the follow-up to arguably one of the most popular TVs series around the launch of the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. The new C1 comes in various sizes, including 48", 55", and 65", and features a refreshed panel, LG's new 6.0 webOS, and a more powerful a9 internal processor to help power this year's iteration of AI picture enhancements.

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Fast & Furious Star Vin Diesel On Han's Return And Heading To Space

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 08:13 AM PST

The ninth Fast & Furious movie was one of the first films to be delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, and it still won't be with us until late May. We did however get to see the F9 trailer before the delay was announced, and it revealed that fan favorite character Han will be making his return to the series. Now star and producer Vin Diesel has spoken about Han's return and what fans can expect from the next movie.

Han, played by Sung Kang, was seemingly killed off in 2006's Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift and shown again in Fast & Furious 6--which takes place before Tokyo Drift--leading to a fan campaign termed "Justice for Han." But as last year's F9 trailer revealed, he's very much alive. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Diesel explained that the character is a vital part of the series.

"Han is an integral character in this franchise," he said. "If you remember, he's kind of responsible for the away years of [Diesel's character] Dom Toretto. He's the one doing jobs with him in Mexico, he's the only one who knows where Dom is, and in many ways is the bridge for Dom when Dom comes back in Tokyo Drift. So there's something very special and magical about the Han character. When you see the movie you'll feel it, but I believe at the core it's another testament to, not only don't turn your back on family, but don't give up on family."

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New On Netflix This Week: Disenchantment, Hook, and More

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 08:01 AM PST

This is not exactly the busiest week ever for new shows and movies hitting Netflix, but what will be on offer is thankfully pretty solid. With just a handful of new content coming to the streaming service, there still is somehow something for pretty much everyone.

Easily one of the big standouts among the upcoming days is Season 3 of Disenchantment--landing on the streaming service January 15. Where creator Matt Groening's The Simpsons is a satire of modern life, and Futurama was a send-up of sci-fi, Netflix's Disenchantment is an animated sitcom both celebrating and skewering fantasy tropes. While the offbeat show has not exactly blown up since debuting in 2018, fans of Simpsons sensibilities and animation style have a lot to love in this show that follows the story of Bean, a rebellious and alcoholic princess. (It's funnier than that sounds.) This season will be the show's true test, as it will now be up for renewal after getting the greenlight for an impressive three seasons when first getting picked up.

Also that day, Steven Spielberg's Hook surfaces on Netflix. It really says a lot about the 1991 film (and the actor, for that matter) that Robin Williams as Peter Pan is one of the actor's more grounded performances, and his chemistry with Dustin Hoffman as the arch Captain Hook is likely more nuanced than most people remember. (Julia Roberts is also excellent as the digitally shrunken Tinkerbell.) The film is flat-out fun, which is just what these winter months call for.

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Danny Boyle To Direct FX Limited Series About The Sex Pistols

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 07:35 AM PST

FX has ordered a limited series about the famous and infamous punk band the Sex Pistols. The show, Pistol, is a six-episode arc based on guitarist Steve Jones' 2018 memoir Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol. The series is set to begin production on March 7.

Academy Award winner Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting) will direct and executive produce the series, which comes from writers and fellow executive producers Craig Pearce (Romeo + Juliet) and Frank Cottrell-Boyce (Doctor Who). Pearce is the show's creator.

"Imagine breaking into the world of The Crown and Downton Abbey with your mates and screaming your songs and your fury at all they represent," said Boyle in a release. "This is the moment that British society and culture changed forever… At its center was a young charming illiterate kelptomaniac--a hero for the times--Steve Jones, who became in his own words, the 94th greatest guitarist of all time. This is how he got there."

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