If you've spent any time on the internet over the last week you'll know that Marvel's Black Panther has had what can only be described as a sensational reception. Reviews for the superhero flick have been overwhelmingly positive and, based on early figures, it's on track to be one of Marvel and Disney's most successful movies yet.
In our Black Panther review Michael Rougeau said it is "a top tier Marvel movie with all the humor, style, action, passion, and fun that the MCU has come to embody." Not to mention "a cultural event that's going to be hard for Marvel to top."
We've been thinking about where the Marvel Cinematic Universe goes from here, and while we can only take guesses at how the story plays out, we're confident that Marvel is going to change the way they make films. The success of Black Panther, which feels different to previous entries in the MCU, could serve as a new template for Marvel's movies, much like 2008's Iron Man established the framework for most of the films up until now.
That's the argument that Tamoor makes in the video above, where he talks through how he feels main character T'Challa is different from other heroes like Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and Stephen Strange, and what makes his first standalone film unique from a characterization perspective. On top of that, he discusses why, alongside Thor: Ragnarok, Marvel is starting to lean towards creating films with a unique identity, instead of a bunch of flicks that feel uniform.
In related news, Chris Evans, who plays Captain America in the MCU, has indicated that a standalone Black Widow film starring Scarlett Johansson is in the works. Prior to this, it was reported that writer Jac Schaeffer had been hired to pen the script. However, as of yet, there has not been official confirmation from Disney or Marvel.
Success in NXT does not guarantee success on WWE's main roster.
The bottom halves of Raw and SmackDown's rosters are a testament to an unfortunate truth: just because a gimmick worked in a small venue at Full Sail University, does not mean it will translate to a massive arena with less intimacy and higher stakes.
The Ascension held the NXT Tag Titles for 344 days--longer than any other tag team in NXT history. Today, Viktor and Konnor are perennial enhancement talents; the last time they won a 2-on-2 tag team match was on February 8, 2016, over two years ago. Or take Bo Dallas, for instance. The third-generation Superstar held the NXT Championship for 261 days. Now, he's a whipping boy and lackey for The Miz; he's the ringside replacement for Maryse ever since she went on maternity leave.
If a former NXT champion has that much difficulty? Imagine how difficult it is for the average NXT midcarder--a guy who never even held an NXT title--to get over on Raw or SmackDown. Such is the struggle of Elias Samson, who got his name shortened to Elias after debuting on Raw.
WWE has never treated Elias like a main event player. In fact, he tried out for the company four times before they offered him a contract. Once he got to NXT, he served as enhancement talent for Baron Corbin. And even when he started his unique "drifter" gimmick, Elias lost the majority of his feuds--most notably to Kassius Ohno, who defeated him in a "Loser Leaves NXT" match. It would have been reasonable to assume that Elias would fight on Raw for a month or two before being released. If he couldn't even get a title shot on NXT (let alone win an actual title), what chance did he have of succeeding on the main show?
WWE did something smart: They didn't make a big deal over him. For the first couple of weeks he was on Raw, Elias didn't even have any matches. The backstage camera would occasionally catch him in the background, strumming his guitar and humming to himself, but that was it. It was a master stroke of understatement; the NXT fans who knew him would cheer, and the casual WWE fans were left wondering, "Why is everyone else cheering? Who is that dude?" It created a sense of mystery and suspense for when the man would actually fight, without shoving him down people's throats as "the next big thing."
When he finally debuted, he lost more than he won. He put over Finn Balor. He put over Jason Jordan. He even put over Kalisto. But more importantly than winning (at least in this early stage of his Raw career), he got the fans to know who he was.
Every week, the WWE writers sat him in the center of the ring with a guitar, and they gave him approximately three minutes to do whatever he wanted. He made jokes. He played songs. He insulted the home crowd. These pre-match segments had a loose, improvised feel to them, especially compared to the rest of the tightly scripted show.
Wrestlers with guitars are either heels (like Honky Tonky Man or Jeff Jarrett) or comic relief (like Kurt Angle or The Rock). Elias manages the unenviable task of being both.
The comedy derives from Elias being the straight foil rather than from Elias being the clown. He has great reaction expressions and great timing, and that gives him narrative flexibility. If WWE ever decides to turn him face, he won't have to change much about himself. All he has to do is sing songs insulting his opponents, or sing songs insulting Boston in front of a New York crowd, and he'll be good to go.
Elias racked up two notable wins in recent weeks. The first came against Matt Hardy, who he defeated on January 29 to qualify for Elimination Chamber. The second came against John Cena and Braun Strowman, who he defeated in a Triple Threat match on February 5. He toppled both the top guy in the company and the future monster in a single night--no small matter, even if he had to play them against each other to secure the win. And since he will now be the last man to enter the Chamber, he will likely play a pivotal role in the match's finish.
Elias's slow narrative burn has finally paid dividends. Against all odds, the NXT midcarder, who never had a title shot, is fighting in Elimination Chamber's main event to determine who faces Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. He won't win, of course. But considering how far he's come in the past year, his involvement is an implicit statement from management to the fans. This guy is going places. And sooner than later (if they don't already), millions of fans will want to walk with Elias.
Although the Transformers franchise has proven to be a hugely poplar one, 2017's The Last Knight was the least successful film by some distance, suggesting that audience interest in the series might be fading. The spin-off Bumblebee is due out later this year, but a new report states that beyond that, Paramount is planning to reboot the whole series.
As reported by Transformer World, toy manufacturers Hasbro confirmed at the company's Toy Fair 2018 Investor Preview that the series will be entirely reset. In addition, a new agreement with Paramount means that Hasbro will have greater control over the property, including greenlighting movie projects. The site also reports that no Transformers movies beyond Bumblebee remain on Paramount's release schedule.
This is something of a change in fortune for the series. In October 2015, Hasbro announced that there would be at last four more movies, and that a "writers room" had been established to map out the next decade of Transformers across movies, TV, and digital. Following this, Paramount confirmed that Transformers 6 would arrive in 2019, which seems to be no longer the case.
The Last Knight made $605 million worldwide. This was well below the $1.104 billion haul for its predecessor, 2014's The Age of Extinction, and less than the first movie made back in 2007.
Scribblenauts Showdown is designed primarily to be played with friends: up to four players can partake in "more than" 25 mini-games, which are served up in different forms depending on which mode you select. Showdown is a competitive mode in which finding the best word the quickest is the key, while Versus supplies various mini-games for you and one other friend to battle in, one-vs-one--check it out in the video above.
Sandbox is a more traditional Scribblenauts mode that will be familiar to fans of the series. Here you can summon a variety of objects--publisher Warner Bros. says over 35,000 items are available in-game--to achieve objectives either by yourself or with a friend. Eight new levels are included, as are hidden collectibles and achievements. Take a look at some Sandbox gameplay below.
The Scribblenauts series made its debut in 2009 on the DS, becoming popular for its creativity in letting you conjure a number of items by simply writing down your desired object. It has since spawned four sequels on various platforms, though none of those successors ever came to PlayStation or Xbox. The most recent in the series was Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure, which came to 3DS, Wii U, and PC in 2013. A sixth game in the franchise was planned, but it was canceled after developer 5th Cell ran into financial trouble and was forced to lay off a number of employees. Showdown is being made by a Miami, USA-based developer called Shiver.
The first Metal Gear game since Hideo Kojima left Konami is very different from Snake's sneaking missions. This open-world survival game is all about scavenging for resources to build weapons and defenses. You can take the challenge solo or with friends in co-op.
After a delay, the best way to play this classic strategy game is launching this week. It's souped-up for the modern era with 4K support, brand-new narration, and rebuilt sound effects--but you can always turn all that off and play in Classic Mode too. Definitive Edition includes the base game and the Rise of Rome expansion.
This first-person game has you exploring the titular station as it orbits above an alien planet in the midst of a civil war. For you, that means finding out what happened and deciding the fate of the alien race below. There's a lot to discover as you learn the truth and solve puzzles around the station.
Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 Plus -- February 22
Available on: Switch
Championship Edition 2 is coming to Switch with new features. First and foremost, you can hand your friend a Joy-Con and play co-op. And of course there are plenty of boards and bosses to complete in both Time Attack and Adventure modes. Watch out for ghost trains!
If this cartoon-looking fighter seems familiar, that's because it comes from the same mind behind My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. But don't let the cutesy look fool you: this fighter takes cues from series like BlazBlue and Guilty Gear, so don't expect an easy battle.
Star Wars Battlefront II continues to evolve, and it's now done so again with the much-anticipated 1.2 update. The patch is available now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and it adds lots of new content including a new mode, additional skins, and more.
The new game mode is called Jetpack Cargo. It's only available for a limited time, and it grants every player a jetpack and a rocket launcher for the entire round.
Additionally, new skins have been added to the shooter. Han Solo, Princess Leia, and Luke Skywalker can each now equip their Hoth appearances, which EA says are earned "through a series of in-game Challenges that will be available over time." All players will also receive two emotes for their Troopers, so while you can still unlock more, you will now at least be able to taunt your nemeses from the get-go.
Elsewhere, the new update tweaks a bunch of characters. Boba Fett's jetpack now has greater maneuverability, says EA, while his EE-3 weapon has received a damage and recoil buff. Rey, meanwhile, has seen her Insight ability nerfed, reducing its radius by nearly half. Luke's speed has been increased, as has Yoda's lightsaber damage, while Emperor Palpatine now needs line of sight to trigger his Lightning ability. Read more in the update's full patch notes, via EA, at the bottom of this article.
We've made a substantial change to the way Boba Fett's jet pack feels when flying. We think you're going to love the increased maneuverability! Furthermore, we improved his efficiency at distance with the EE-3. Previously, it could be frustrating to try to shoot with the EE-3's high dispersion, especially while flying. As a result, we improved the EE-3 in a few areas and we hope this will combine with the jetpack changes to make Boba Fett even more fun to use on the battlefront.
Jet Pack - Jet Pack controllability improved
EE-3 - Reduced the minimum dispersion angle from 0.6 to 0.4
EE-3 - Reduced the maximum dispersion angle from 1.2 to 0.8
EE-3 - Increased End Damage from 20 to 25
Increased damage drop-off start distance from 15 to 20 meters
Iden Versio
We've heard your feedback that Iden's Droid Stun was very difficult to predict. We've made it much snappier and feel this should be a significant improvement to Iden, even though the droid's damage has been slightly reduced.
Fixed an issue where Iden's Droid Stun didn't give damage on the first attack
Droid Stun - Reduced the time between the ability activation and shock
Reduced the damage from 40 to 50
Bossk
Bossk's Relby V-10 had a somewhat awkwardly high recoil. We reduced it a bit while adjusting the animation to make it feel more responsive. We also reduced the damage output of the Explosive Traps as we felt it was a bit too high. The Multi-Trap Star Card values were incorrect and the Epic Star Card could increase the radius of the damage past what was listed on the card. This unintentionally lead to Bossk having very high AoE damage.
Relby V-10 - Reduced recoil from 5 to 2.2
Explosive Traps - Reduced damage from 80 to 76 per trap
Multi-Trap - Fixed the Blast Damage Radius to fit the star cards numbers
Rey
Rey's signature Ability Insight had an incredible range and could go as far as 75 meters when paired with certain Star Cards. This was a bit too much and we've decided to reduce it drastically. We'll monitor how this change affects Rey's performance.
Mind Control - Reduced Mind Control radius from 20 to 18 meters
Insight - Reduced Insight radius from 50 to 30
Far Sight - Reduced bonus by 10% (now 10, 20, 30, 40%)
Kylo Ren
Kylo Ren had two of his Abilities on a 25 second timer, effectively making him less efficient and fun to play than other characters. As such, we reduced the cooldown for Pull and Freeze. We also felt he needed some damage absorption while being close to his targets, so we gave him some while Frenzy is active.
Pull - Reducing Pull recharge time from 25 to 20 seconds
Freeze - Reducing Freeze recharge time from 25 to 24 seconds
Frenzy - Kylo Ren now has 40% damage absorption while Frenzy is active
Luke Skywalker
We heard your wishes to have Luke traverse faster so we increased his sprint speed as much as possible without breaking the animation. Related to that update, we decided to push Luke more towards a "Hit & Run" game style. He'll quickly jump into a skirmish and then bounce out to regain health before heading off for the next battle.
Increased Luke's sprint speed by .6 meters/second
Increased Luke Health from 700 to 750
Increased Health Regeneration rate from 50 to 110
Decreased Regeneration delay from 5 to 2.7
Decreased Max Regeneration amount from 250 to 200
Emperor Palpatine
Emperor Palpatine now requires line of sight on his target to trigger damage with his Dark Aura and default Lightning ability. Both abilities will no longer go through obstacles and walls. While we loved the fantasy fulfillment there, the frustration of not knowing what was damaging you was too high for us not to act on.
Lightning - Increased reach of the ability from 12 to 14 meters to compensate for the tighter collision check
Chewbacca
Chewbacca had one of the longest stun duration abilities in the game and it made him quite powerful. However, we wanted the stun to be a bit more tactical, so we reduced the duration.
Stun Grenade - Reduced the shock time from 1.6 to 1 second
Reduced Bowcaster side projectiles explosive damage from 25 to 21
Reduced furious Bowcaster side projectiles explosive damage from 12 to 10
Yoda
Yoda's lightsaber attacks were very weak compared to all other lightsaber wielders, so we have increased his attack damage significantly to bring him on par with the others. Additionally, in an effort to make Yoda feel more true to character, we've made a change to his Barrier ability. It now will break immobilizing effects upon activation.
Lightsaber - Increased damage from 80 to 115
Barrier - Added the functionality to break out of immobilizing effects on activation
Unleash - Increased energy holding time from 0.7 to 0.9 seconds
Unleash - Increased angle from 40 to 45 degrees.
Unleash - Increased first tier damage from 100 to 110, second tier damage from 125 to 130, third tier damage from 150 to 160, and fourth tier damage from 175 to 190
Lando Calrissian
We felt that Lando needed a boost to increase his effectiveness against lightsaber users. The best tool he had against them had a 25-second cooldown. To combat this, we significantly reduced the cooldown of Disruptor and of Smoke Grenade.
Disruptor - Reduced recharge time of disruptor from 25 to 19 seconds
Smoke Grenade - Reduced recharge time from 15 to 14 seconds
Darth Vader
We changed how Choke works in order to simplify comprehension for the player that is Darth Vader and for their target. In an effort to also make Darth Vader more "tanky" we granted him a health bonus when activating Focused Rage.
Focused Rage - Vader now receives 200 temporary bonus health when activating the Focused Rage ability
Reduced max health from 900 to 800
Captain Phasma
We took notice of your feedback regarding the utility of Captain Phasma's staff. We are improving it so that it feels faster and more fluid when used.
Staff Strikes - Increased the animation speed of the ability
Staff Strikes - Increased the transition speed between each strike
Increased how quickly Captain Phasma can use her blaster after performing a Staff Strike
Hero And Villain Bug Fixes
Lightsaber closers are deactivated while blinded
Fixed an issue where you would be in a "stun" state forever.
The maximum stun duration is now 5 seconds
Boba Fett - Fixed an issue that prevented Boba Fett from using his Jetpack ability when "For the Hunt" was activated while his Jetpack fuel was depleted
Luke Skywalker - Epicenter - The ability will now deal the proper amount of damaged when used
Yoda - Feel the Force - Edited the description of this ability to make it clear that all friendlies will receive a health bonus when used
Yoda - Enduring the Force - This ability will now apply the proper amount of bonus time
Yoda - Master of the Force - This ability will no longer damage players inconsistently and only when released at maximum power
Finn - Deadeye - The targeting crosshair should be properly removed after the ability has been used
Classes, Special Units, And Infantry Combat
The Dodge ability has been proven to be too powerful, which was not our initial intent. Dodging granted far too many benefits like damage reduction, the inability to transition into a hit animation, ignoring lightsaber damage, and the inability to be targeted by lightsaber closers.
In order to handle this, we added an "unstaggerable" window during a set period of time when you dodge. You will still receive the same benefits during that window, but now you have a narrow time in which to gain those benefits. Now you'll need to time your rolls better and predict attacks. While testing these changes, we feel good with the results so far and we really hope that you do too. This is a change that we will monitor closely.
All Classes - Fixed an issue on Blaster Rifles and the S-5, weapons that can be toggled with a high zoom level through Dual Zoom, where the scope glint would always appear when zooming. It now only appears when the dual zoom scope is equipped and toggled to its highest magnification level.
All Troopers have now received two default emotes.
Reduced the time it takes until you can shoot after executing a melee attack
Assault - Vanguard Shotgun - Lowered start damage per bullet from 14 to 12
Assault - CR2 - Fixed an issue with inconsistent Super Success triggers compared to other blasters
Heavy - Supercharged Sentry - Reverted the heat per bullet tweak made for 1.1 patch, from 0.17 to 0.15
Officer - Blurrg-1120 - Lowered start damage from 37 to 35 and end damage from 20 to 16
Milestones
Milestones are now claimed automatically upon completion! Furthermore, we changed how Milestones and Challenges are sorted. Now, all completed items are on the bottom of the Career tab and we sort the active items by the amount left until completion.
"Making an Impression" - Changed criteria from 25 to 10 kills
"Starting Heavy Training" - Changed criteria from 10,000 to 2,500 score
"Stay True" - Changed criteria from 40 to 20 kills
"Starting Assault Training" - Criteria changed from "Get 5000 Assist Score with Scan Dart" to "50 Targets Scanned"
Location Design Balance Changes
Kamino - Phase 1 and 3 in Galactic Assault has been made easier for attackers
Tatooine – In Phase 1 of Galactic Assault we adjusted spawn points, added cover, and tweaked the out of bounds area to make this phase easier for attackers
Hoth – In Phase 2 of Galactic Assault we adjusted spawn points to prevent players from being targeted by the AT-AT
Naboo - Phase 2 of Galactic Assault has had balance tweaks
Endor – Galactic Assault has extended the fallback timer from 30 to 45 seconds before the attackers' spawn points are moved forward
Location Design Bug Fixes
Jakku - Fixed an issue in Galactic Assault where the out of bounds warning message would not trigger correctly under certain conditions
Jakku - Tweaked the combat area on Jakku in Galactic Assault in order to prevent an exploit where players could circle around the map with the AT-ST
Jakku - Fixed several collision issues
Endor - Fixed a bug in Galactic Assault that caused the Endor AT-AT Orbital Strike to break
Endor - Fixed a bug in Strike where players could spawn outside the combat area
Crait - Added delay before attacker spawns are moved forward in Galactic Assault
Crait - Fixed several collision issues
Takodana - Fixed a bug in Galactic Assault that prevented the First Order AT-ST from being available in Phase 1
Hoth - Fixed a bug in Galactic Assault that prevented players from passing through doors when retreating during the last Phase
Kashyyyk - Fixed an issue where players could get stuck between containers
Kamino - Mobility improvements on platform ledges
Yavin 4 - Fixed an issue where Boba Fett could reach restricted areas
Fixed an issue where grenades could fall through the floor on Naboo and Kashyyyk
Fixed various collision issues across all locations
Fixed issues where players could get outside the intended play areas of various locations
Fixed an issue where AI units would move through objects in Arcade
Fixed an issue where environmental fire damage would not cause high enough damage to players standing in it
General Improvements And Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where players would not receive credits for duplicate star cards - Players who encountered this issue previously will retroactively be awarded with the proper amounts of credits over time.
Increased Credit payout for duplicate items - Common – From 200 to 300 - Uncommon – From 400 to 600 - Rare – From 800 to 900 - Epic – From 1200 to 3600
Increased the glow of blaster bolts to make them look more vibrant
Increased the dismemberment probability of the B1 Battle Droids from 20% to 40%
Reduced the stretched bloom effect for a clearer image
Improved the glow, thickness, and lighting of lightsabers
U-Wing - when firing from the gunner position, the gun, muzzle flash, and blaster bolt are now shown properly
Fixed an issue where the camera would enter a bad state when being the target of Darth Vader's Choke
End of Round - Fixed an issue where the map would sometimes overlap with the intro video in Starfighter Assault
Fixed an issue where the wrong loading screen would be seen when loading a level
Fixed an issue where some menu options would disappear under certain conditions
Fixed an issue where the camera would stutter when spawning in with a Hero in Custom Arcade
Fixed an issue where the AT-RT Repair ability did not work correctly
Fixed an issue where players would not get the "Heroic Sacrifice" scoring event when defeated by a Hero
Fixed an issue where Darth Vader would not take any damage from Luke Skywalker's Push ability if standing near a wall
Fixed an issue where the AAT would take too much damage when colliding with surrounding objects
Fixed an issue where Turrets and Grenades could inflict damage after the round ended
Fixed an issue where players would not receive Score for grenade kills made after their character had died
Fixed an issue where a friendly First Order AT-ST showed up as an enemy on radar
Fixed an issue where players could survive when knocked down from a platform in Heroes vs Villains
Fixed an issue where players could equip class specific Star Cards to other classes
Tweaked the color-blind settings to make Squad members easier to distinguish on the minimap
Fixed an issue where Brawler boost card didn't refresh some ability cards.
Fixed an issue where players could force respawn during the Heroes vs Villains intro sequence and respawn in a new location
Reduced the amount of Battle Points you received when attacking the objective on Crait with a Ski Speeder
Fixed an issue where the character would disappear on the client after combat rolls
Fixed an issue in the Campaign where the weapon HUD wouldn't indicate when aiming at an enemy
Fixed an issue where AI troopers in Arcade would constantly melee attack each other
Fixed an issue where Assault troopers in Arcade would attempt to use the Scan Dart ability as a regular weapon
Various bug fixes in Arcade
Several performance and stability improvements
Fixed several localization issues
Various UI improvements and bug fixes
Known Issues
Yoda does not break out of several immobilizing abilities when using Presence
Darth Vader's Punishing Grip Star Card effect is not applied when Choke is used
Finn's targeting marker from Dead Eye will sometimes persist after the ability effect has ended
Emperor Palpatine's first basic and secondary attack deal no damage
Yoda's Feel the Force Star Card description is incorrect
Yoda's Master of the Force Star Card does not work as intended
Rey's Mind Trick ability can affect players further than intended
Rey's Far Sight Star Card is increasing Insight ability range more than specified in the Star Card
EL-16HFE scope glint does not appear with dual zoom equipped and is toggled to the highest magnification
If you open a crate that grants a duplicate item and it shows the old value for credits rewarded, you need to restart your game client. You did in fact get the new reward amount, but the client will show the old values in the UI until you restart the game.
Rainbow Six Siege will soon be giving a number of its Operators away for free, Ubisoft has announced. Starting with the new season of DLC on March 3, all versions of the game except for the Starter Edition will include all 20 base Operators for no extra charge. In addition, all past and future weapon attachments will now be unlocked from the get-go, and the game's Starter Edition will now include six Operators rather than four, as was the case before.
Currently, players wanting to unlock more Operators are required to either spend in-game experience points, called Renown, or pay real-world money to purchase various season passes. Going forward, all 20 Operators included with the game at launch will be automatically unlocked, along with all weapon attachments. The move comes just weeks after Ubisoft announced it would be discontinuing Siege's Standard Edition in favor of a more expensive Advanced Edition, before reversing that decision based on fan feedback. The company says these new changes will ensure new players get more options from the beginning and a better experience when playing online.
Additionally, Ubisoft has unveiled more of its plans for Year 3. It's introducing a new PvP mode called Pick & Ban that allows each team to prevent their opponents from choosing two Operators of their choice for the entire match. The catch is your team is also banned from choosing those two Operators for the match, as well as the two your opponents choose to ban. Pick & Ban will be introduced as an option in Custom Games only at first, with the potential for a rollout in public matchmaking further down the line if things go smoothly.
Later in Year 3, a number of maps will be receiving updates, some of which are minor and some major. The smaller of these, called buffs, will change maps in subtle ways such as adding a room between Bedroom and Cash Room on Clubhouse. The first map to receive a larger rework will be Hereford, in Year 3 Season 3. It will keep the British theme but the map's layout will be completely changed and aesthetic very different to that of the current Hereford base.
Although it's coming a bit later than expected, the new update for Fortnite has arrived on all platforms. The version 2.5.0 patch makes some big changes and additions for both Battle Royale and Save the World modes, including the addition of a new weapon to obtain and new areas to explore in the popular PvP mode on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Battle Royale is now home to the Impulse Grenade, a new type of explosive that, after a short delay, sends all nearby players flying a long distance. It's a Blue rarity item, and it can only be found in Treasure Chests and Supply Drops. You can get a glimpse at what it can do in the brief video clip below; it may lead to some hilarious match endings in the final circle.
Among the places you'll now find Treasure Chests in during Battle Royale matches are new "thematic Shrines hidden across the map." One of these is pictured in the gallery below, and they appear to have a Chinese architectural look to them. Meanwhile, Save the World has introduced new heroes and Dragon weapons themed around the Lunar New Year (also pictured below).
Other notable changes to Battle Royale include some technical changes for PS4 and Xbox One players. The standard versions of those consoles now feature dynamic resolution and high quality temporal upsampling; the former seeks to ensure a smooth framerate by decreasing the resolution when necessary. Those on an Xbox One X can now play at "full" 4K, while PS4 players should no longer experience excessively slow Fortnite patch downloads.
In terms of balance, a variety of adjustments have been made, including the temporary removal of the SMG weapon, which was done to create some breathing room for other weapons that have been added to the game. Additionally, several items are now less likely to drop, including the crossbow, minigun, and Chug Jug. There have also been some notable audio improvements, such as the crossbow making a noise when it's ready to fire again. There are also now "above" and "below" versions of footstep sounds when running on wood, stone, or metal.
Save the World--which remains in paid early access but will eventually be for free everyone--also receives some significant additions in this update. In addition to the aforementioned Dragon weapons and Lunar New Year heroes, the Heartbreaker Crossbow is now available. Most importantly, the Spring It On event has begun, introducing new quests and rewards, with more to be added in the coming weeks.
All of this is available now. For a complete rundown on what's new, check out the full patch notes here, or look at the silly new cosmetics now available. And if you're new to Fortnite: Battle Royale or are just looking for some tips, have a look at our Fortnite building guide or our discussion about what makes the mode so popular.
Rainbow Six Siege's third year of DLC is about to kick off, introducing a new, limited-time co-op event and two new Operators. We'll have more on Outbreak--the elaborate co-operative missions set during an extraterrestrial invasion--soon, but for now, let's look at how Siege's new characters will change the way you play its traditional PvP mode.
Operation Chimera, as this first new season of content is called, introduces a new Russian Operator, Finka, and an additional French character, Lion. The former is essentially an attacking form of Doc: she comes equipped with a stim pen that applies a 20 HP boost to both herself and every teammate for 20 seconds, and it even revives any downed allies, wherever they are on the map. In addition, each of the three adrenal surges grants the team a movement and reload speed buff for the same period, as well as a reduction in recoil and resistance to stun effects. Be warned, however: the health boost--like Doc's--slowly depletes back to your normal HP level, and if you get hit while buffed to below 20 HP, you will be immediately downed when the buff ends.
Finka's gadget is clearly capable, but I fear it will--again, like Doc's--go underused. It takes considerable organization to be used to its fullest: it doesn't last long, so it's best triggered when you and a group of allies are about to breach and clear an objective room together. But these situations are infrequent, and despite some attempts to the contrary, Siege has since launch become more about individual talent than moments of coordination. And, like Doc's med pistol, it's rare you actually have chance to revive a fallen teammate before they get finished off; with Finka you stand more of a chance since you don't need to be next to the injured player. However, it's still unlikely you'll have time to activate your stim and come to your friend's aid, and even if you do, they won't have much health left once the temporary buff subsides.
Perhaps the gadget is Ubisoft's attempt to pull Siege back to its core of coordinated, timed attacks, and Finka will usher in a return to that style of offense as teams utilize her gadget's effects to storm a room together. On the other hand, it could encourage attackers to roam further away from their teammates, since they can be revived from across the map at the click of a button.
Regardless of how her gadget is received, Finka could be a popular choice thanks to her weapon. While she can pack the ASG-12 shotgun or 6P41 LMG, it's her Spear assault rifle which could propel her to similar high pickrates as Operation Blood Orchid's Ela. It has very little recoil and decent damage, and it's sure to be a go-to choice for those wanting to try out the Russian operative.
Lion--another two-speed, two-armor attacker--shakes things up in a rather more dramatic way. His gadget is the EE-One-D drone, and it can be used up to three times per round to scout out the positions of every moving member of the opposing team. Activating it not only supplies HUD markers showing you and your team which Operators opposing players have picked, along with their locations, but your squad will also see those players' exact outlines for four seconds. This let me pop a headshot through a wall on more than one occasion, and it proved a powerful tool in both racking up kills and discovering which areas of the map enemies were hiding.
The counter is that both teams receive a three second countdown after the drone is triggered but before its x-ray vision comes into effect. This allows the defending team a moment to stop what they're doing, lie still, and wait for the drone's scan to pass, meaning they'll remain undetected. On the other hand, this forces the defending team to stop what they're doing, lie still, and wait for the drone's scan to pass, so even if this happens and you don't get their outlines, you can still gain an advantage by exploiting their lack of movement. For example, three members of my team got wiped out by enemies who used Lion's ability immediately before Fuzing the objective room--the enemies already knew there would likely be at least one of us in that room, so Lion's ability was used purely to make them stay still while Fuze worked his explosive magic. If my teammates had tried to escape, the enemies would know exactly who had gone where.
Conversely, a poor Lion player could rely on the Frenchman's drone too much, assuming the coast is clear when no enemy is detected, when in fact one lies in wait around the next corner. The Operator's effects on the Siege meta are widespread: spawnpeeking is discouraged, since an early drone sweep will see you detected close to the enemy attack force or standing still in an open window, vulnerable to headshots. Roaming is also riskier, since Lion could take away your element of surprise and easily flank you. And, like Finka, Lion is useful during a final, last-minute push to the objective, when strategy goes out the broken-down barricade in favor of sheer panic. At this stage, defenders are more likely to be scrambling around, trying to cover multiple entry points, so a well-timed drone scan can be a massive advantage. Similarly, Finka's health boost and stun resistance is a huge help to any attacking team that doesn't have the precious seconds to check for Kapkan and Ela traps when dashing into the objective room, though her adrenaline does make every ally breathe faster and thereby take more damage from Smoke's beauties.
[Lion's] effects on the Siege meta are widespread ... spawnpeeking is discouraged [and] roaming is also riskier
For those thinking Lion is simply a better Dokkaebi, think again. Dokkaebi's phone hijack cannot be countered by simply keeping still, and Lion cannot hack into enemy cameras, so the Korean will still be required to help counter the increasing ubiquity of Valkyrie cams. The two are simply interesting twists on each other, and I feel at least one of those and Jackal are needed in any good attacking lineup to stop roamers from tearing an advancing attacking team apart.
When Operation Chimera launches on March 6, it will be another step towards countering roaming, pushing defending players back into the objective room just like how we all played on Siege's launch. It's interesting, then, that Ubisoft hasn't introduced another Operator to counter the current trap meta, especially after Twitch's recent nerf. Nevertheless, the two new Operators are worthy additions to Siege's roster, with Lion in particular serving as a major shakeup that I'm eager to see in the wild.
Last month it was reported that Marvel is developing a standalone movie focusing on Black Widow, the Avenger played by Scarlett Johansson, and that writer Jac Schaeffer had been hired to pen the script. Now Captain America star Chris Evans has seemingly confirmed that the film is in the works.
In an interview with ET Canada, Evans was asked about the huge success of Marvel's latest movie, Black Panther. "There's nothing they can't do, man," he said. "I'm sure it's going to have the exact same effect when Captain Marvel comes out, and then the Black Widow movie comes out. Marvel just has the winning recipe."
To date, Johansson has appeared in five movies in the MCU--Iron Man 2, The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Captain America: Civil War. She will reprise her role in this summer's Avengers: Infinity War and next year's currently untitled Avengers 4.
There has been much discussion about a standalone Black Widow movie for some time. In October 2016, Johansson said time might not be on her side. "If I did it, I'd have to do it while I still actually wanted to wear a skin-tight catsuit," she explained. "I don't know how much longer that's going to be."
In related news, Captain Marvel is now in production. The movie stars Brie Larson and will be released in March 2019. Last month, an on-set image and video were leaked. They showed Larson wearing a green costume, rather than the character's distinctive traditional red, blue, and gold ensemble.
The acclaimed drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was the big winner at this year's BAFTA awards. The movie claimed five prizes at the British film awards ceremony, which is seen as an indicator of who might succeed at the Oscars next month.
Three Billboards won Best film, Best British Film, Best Actress (Frances McDormand), Best Supporting Actor (Sam Rockwell), and Best Original Screenplay for writer/director Martin McDonagh.
McDonagh was also nominated for Best Director, but that prize was taken home by Guillermo Del Toro for The Shape of Water. Del Toro's offbeat sci-fi fantasy actually led the pack in terms of nominations--12, compared to Three Billboard's nine. But in the end, it had to settle three wins--Best Director, Best Original Music, and Best Production Design.
Elsewhere, Gary Oldman won Best Actor for Darkest Hour, Allison Janney won Best Supporting Actress for I, Tonya, and Coco claimed Best Animated Film. Blade Runner 2049 won Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects, while Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya took home the Rising Star award, which is voted on by the public.
FIFA 18 returns to the top of the UK sales chart for the week ending February 17, "boosted by a heavily promoted Nintendo Switch version and smaller price drops across other formats," according to sales monitor GfK Chart-Track.
EA's sports title forces Deep Silver's new release, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, to settle for No.2 in its debut week. It manages to stay ahead of chart mainstay Grand Theft Auto 5, however. Capcom's Monster Hunter: World spends its fourth week in the chart at No.4, ahead of Bayonetta 2 for the Switch. The placement of this Switch re-release is the highest Bayonetta 2 has ever reached, as it originally debuted at No.7 for the Wii U in 2014.
EA Sports UFC 3 moves down four spots to No.6 and is followed by last weeks top performer, Shadow of the Colossus, at No.7. Rounding off the top 10 are Call of Duty: WWII, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Assassin's Creed Origins at No.8, No.9, and No.10 respectively.
You can read the full top 10 sales chart below, courtesy of UKIE and Chart-Track. Note this table does not include digital sales data, and so should not be considered representative of all UK game sales.
Toy giant Mattel has announced its next Barbie doll, and it's none other than iconic video game hero Lara Croft. Based on Alicia Vikander's version of the character from the upcoming movie, the collectible launches in March just ahead of the new movie, according to IGN.
The new Tomb Raider movie comes to theatres on March 16. Vikander, who won an Oscar for her role in The Danish Girl opposite Eddie Redmayne. Dominic West (The Wire), Walton Goggins (Sons of Anarchy, The Hateful Eight), and Daniel Wu (Warcraft) also star. The director is Roar Uthaug, who previously helmed the acclaimed disaster movie The Wave.
Like the 2013 video game reboot, the movie sounds like it will tell an origin story. "She has all the fierce, tough, curious, intelligent traits," Vikander said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. "But we've stripped away all of her experience. She hasn't gone on an adventure just yet. She thought she was a stuck up businessperson living in the modern youth culture of suburban London, but then this whole box of information. This is the beginning."
While the Xbox One does not have an official, Microsoft-approved plan for support keyboard and mouse controls (at least not yet), there are ways to do it. One way is through the use of adapters. Microsoft is apparently aware of this, but the company is not taking action in the case of multiplayer shooters--where keyboard and mouse players would theoretically have an advantage.
The reason? According to Xbox engineering lead Mike Ybarra, Microsoft could block keyboard and mouse setups on console, but won't do it because the company wants to give developers the freedom to operate their games as they see fit. Not only that, but a keyboard and mouse setup can be a helpful solution for players with accessibility considerations.
Developers have the choice to use APIs that detect and not allow these. It's up to them, but the capability is there. https://t.co/jE97R6oj0c
We could but there are helpful scenarios with these devices (accessibility for one). Our general approach is to empower the developer to manage their game how they want.
Crucially, Ybarra said Microsoft understands the concerns people have about keyboard and mouse users having the upper hand against people using a controller.
"We have to be very smart in how we do that. We'll leave it a lot up to developer choice," Ybarra said at the time. "A lot of people tweet me and say, 'You can't do this because of fairness,' and we understand that. We run two platforms; the Windows platform and the Xbox platform."
Ybarra said one solution is that developers can create systems in their games that allow players to decide if they want to play against people using controllers or a keyboard and mouse setup. In fact, Microsoft's Gears of War 4 supports cross-play between Xbox One and PC, and the company already tested the waters with controller versus keyboard and mouse setup. Xbox One players can choose whether or not they want to play with PC users.
Would you like to see official keyboard and mouse support on Xbox One? Let us know in the comments below!
JJ Watt, one of the biggest names in the NFL, wants to know: PUBG or Fortnite? Posting on Twitter today, the Houston Texans DE asked his 5 million followers to weigh in on which Battle Royale game they prefer. He initially simply tweeted the question, "Fortnite or PubG?" before following up with a Twitter poll with the same question.
Right now, Fortnite is dominating PUBG in Watt's poll. At press time, 78 percent of respondents said they prefer Fortnite, compared to 22 percent for PUBG. Almost 20,000 people have voted so far, and the poll is open for another 22 hours.
It's not immediately clear why Watt posed the question today. It could be that he's looking for something new to play (it is the offseason, after all). And, as with many other people right now, the NFL star might be considering which of the popular Battle Royale games he wants to check out.
Watt suffered a season-ending injury in October, fracturing the tibial plateau in his left leg. He is expected to return for the 2018-2019 season. After going down with the injury, Watt kept busy, raising an incredible $37 million for Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.
What do you think, PUBG or Fortnite? Let us know in the comments below!
A new trailer for an upcoming Battle Royale game that promises to support 400 players in a multiplayer environment has been released, but unfortunately it doesn't deliver what we want to see. The trailer for Mavericks: Proving Grounds shows off some nice-looking visuals and environments, but, critically, it does not show any gameplay.
Mavericks is in development at the new UK studio Automaton Games. The game was formerly known as Project X before getting its new name over the weekend during a PC Gamer event. Mavericks will have a 12km squared "living and breathing" world, the developer says. It also promises dynamic elements such as wildfire that spreads and more.
"This year, we're coming out with our competitive, Battle Royale-style mode, which we hope will show that there is so much more for that genre than what people have seen today," Automaton's James Thompson told PC Gamer. "How much more we can do with the game world and the [Battle Royale] game mode as a whole."
Mavericks' Battle Royale mode is scheduled to launch in 2018, presumably for PC, but it is just one part of the game. The full game, described as an MMO that supports 1000 concurrent players in an "ultra-high fidelity world instance, is coming in 2019.
"It is set in a huge, photoreal, and highly dynamic environment, with strong character progression, social hubs, intelligent mission systems and global-scale player-driven narrative," reads a line from the game's description.
PUBG, which supports 100 players, popularised the Battle Royale movement and made it one of the most talked-about genres in gaming. It's no surprise to see other, similar games pop up with their own unique spin on the formula. Epic's Fortnite: Battle Royale has seen a lot of success, as the game recently surpassed 3.4 million concurrent players.
Are you in the market for a new Xbox One S? If so, there are a few deals available now in the US and around the world and some coming up soon that you may want to consider.
Right now in the US, Microsoft is cutting $50 off the price of all Xbox One S bundles. This wicked-sweet deals drops the price of the console to $230, and this covers bundles that come with games such as Forza Horizon 3, Madden 18, and Minecraft, among others. This offer is available at a number of retailers, including big ones like Amazon and GameStop. You have to act relatively quickly, however, as the offer expires on March 3.
Additionally, Microsoft is launching the Xbox One S PUBG bundle, which includes a 500 GB system and a copy of the Battle Royale game for $300. This system goes on sale in the US and Canada on February 20, so there is not much longer to wait.
In other news, gamers in Canada can now save $60 CAD on 1 TB Xbox One S bundles
And in terms of Xbox One X deals, Microsoft has brought back to the deal where you get a free copy of PUBG when you buy an Xbox One X. This promotion runs through February 24 in the US, though it ends in other parts of the world on March 4. You will want to check with your local retailer for specifics around availability and timing.
Black Panther opened this past weekend, and it was a huge hit. The 18th Marvel Cinematic Universe film is expected to make around $218 million in the US and Canada for the four-day Presidents Day weekend, which is ahead of what analysts were expecting.
Black Panther's three-day US/Canadian haul of $192 million sets a new record for a film released in February. It surpasses Deadpool, the R-rated superhero movie that made $132.4 million in February 2016.
The film was directed by Ryan Coogler (Creed), and its opening-weekend box office haul represents a new record by a black director. Black Panther boasts a pretty-much-perfect A-plus CinemaScore rating (the first A-plus rating for a MCU film since Avengers 1 in 2012).
This CinemaScore rating, which is derived from movie-goer opinions, suggests the second-weekend box office performance will be strong as well on the back of positive word-of-mouth.
Black Panther, which stars Chadwick Boseman in the lead role, pulled in a further $169 million from international markets through Sunday, so it's a global success. The film reportedly cost $200 million to make. For more, check out GameSpot's review of Black Panther.
Below you can find a breakdown of the February 16-18 US/Canadian box office performance, with the four-day totals posted in parenthesis. Go to Entertainment Weekly to see a full and detailed breakdown of this weekend's domestic box office results.
Black Panther — $192 million ($218 million through Monday)
Peter Rabbit — $17.3 million ($22.1 through Monday)
Fifty Shades Freed — $16.9 million ($18.9 through Monday)
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle — $7.9 million ($10 million through Monday)
The 15:17 to Paris — $7.7 million ($9 million through Monday)
The Greatest Showman — $5.1 million ($6.3 million through Monday)
Early Man — $3.2 million ($4.2 million through Monday)
Maze Runner: The Death Cure — $2.5 million ($3 million through Monday)
Winchester — $2.2 million ($2.7 million through Monday)
Arc System Works has teamed up with Japanese game director and writer Hidetaka "Swery" Suehiro for a new project in 2018. From the mind that brought Deadly Premonition to life comes an ambiguous announcement for The Missing.
Our first look at the title in the video above doesn't say much. We weren't given any clear hints as to what the title's true premise is or what kind of platforms we'll see it on. All we know, from the Arc System Works website, is that it is expected to launch sometime this year.
"The title, The Missing, has many meanings," Swery said. "A missing person, someone who's lost, or even something lost. Maybe it's your loved one…or a place you belong. Do you ever feel lost in your everyday life? The Missing is for someone like you."
This is the first game for Swery's studio, White Owl, to be be developed in house. Swery has confirmed on Twitter that the team is still devoted to its work on his other title The Good Life, an RPG about a village that turns into cats at night. That title will be going through another round of crowdfunding in March.
"Frankly, this title will blow your mind," Swery said. "I think it's sick. I'm confident it will exceed your expectations, so please stay tuned."
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