If you’re heading out to the E3 show floor this year, you might want to keep your eyes peeled for Monster Hunter: World. Capcom is hosting a doubles time attack tournament, challenging two-player teams to take on the Nergigante and Pink Rathian in the shortest amount of time they can.
Make sure you get your practice in on the missions “The Awakened Satsui no Hado I” and “Empress in Full Bloom I” as this tournament will feature them both. Players will also have the chance to play as Ryu and Sakura from Street Fighter.
The tournament will be held on June 12 and 13 at Capcom’s booth (#2223) from 2:30 pm to 5 pm PST. If you’re not able to make it out to cheer on your favorite hunting duo, the entire tournament will be streamed on Capcom’s Twitch and Facebook.
Registration for the tournament will begin at noon and end at 2 pm PST both days. It will be limited to 12 players each day, so you’ll want to grab some wiggly litchis and make it to the booth quick. This is a doubles tournament, so everyone will be required to have a partner. Not going with a friend? Head to the booth a little early to find another hunter who might need a pal.
Every participant will take home a Nergigante statue like the one included in the Monster Hunter: World collector’s edition. One duo a day will walk home with exclusive Monster Hunter: World E3 2018 Time Attack Champion trophies. But the winners won’t get all the spoils. Capcom will also host raffles throughout the tournaments for the audience.
Capcom isn’t the only booth with special goodies for attendees. Bring your Switch to Nintendo’s booth, and you might get a special collectible pin. For everything else E3, head on over to our E3 2018 hub.
Action fans have a lot to discover on Netflix, including ultraviolent thrillers, adventures for all ages, buddy cop comedies and classic animation. These are the best action movies on Netflix Streaming right now.
Evolve will see its dedicated servers and in-game shop close on September 3.
According to an announcement on 2K’s official support site, the multiplayer-only Evolve Stage 2 will have its virtual currency bundles removed from purchase on July 2, followed by the shutdown of the in-game store and dedicated servers on September 3.
Peer-to-peer multiplayer will still be available on the PC and console versions of Legacy Evolve, the renamed original game before it was given the free-to-play treatment back in July of 2016. Evolve Stage 2 will be removed on PC.
Though Solo: A Star Wars Story tells the origin of the most beloved scoundrel in the galaxy, and in doing so fills in a lot of the blanks in Han Solo’s past, the movie is also loaded with other connections to the larger Star Wars universe. If you’ve yet to see Solo, consider this a spoiler warning. You should stop reading now.
Whether it’s references to other characters and planets, or the cameo by Warwick Davis reprising his role from Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, there’s so much for Star Wars fans of all ages to enjoy about Solo. However, there is one particular character appearance that might have really caught audiences by surprise.
After the death of Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany), Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke) makes contact with his superior to inform the mysterious figure that she will be taking Vos’s place in the Crimson Dawn criminal syndicate. That superior is none other than Darth Maul, making his first big screen appearance since The Phantom Menace in 1999.
If you’re a Star Wars fan who sticks to watching only the movies, Maul’s presence might be a bit confusing. During the climax of Episode 1, the Sith was cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi’s blade and fell down a shaft, presumably leaving him dead. In the end, though, it’s simple. Rumors of Darth Maul’s death have been greatly exaggerated. While being cut in half would kill most, that just doesn’t seem to be the case for Maul.
For fans of the Star Wars animated series, this isn’t news. Maul has played a major role in both Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, which expand on his story, taking it all the way to his actual death before A New Hope. What’s more, while Ray Park reprises his role as the physical premise of Maul, he’s voiced by Sam Witwer, the voice actor behind Maul in the animated series and Star Wars: Battlefront II.
The Clone Wars and Rebels have become integral pieces of Star Wars canon thanks to the standalone movies thus far. In Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Forest Whitaker plays Saw Gerrerra, a character first introduced in The Clone Wars. What’s more, he then went on to voice Saw in Rebels. Additionally, Chopper, a droid from Rebels, made a brief appearance in the background of a scene in Rogue One, as did the Ghost ship that the Rebels crew inhabits. Interestingly enough, Han references the VCX-100 ship model while gambling with Lando, which is the line the Ghost belongs to.
The inclusion of Maul in Solo, however, is the next evolution of Star Wars incorporating its animated universe into the movies, and it’s the perfect example of a bridge between the two. With a galaxy full of stories to tell and only so many movies each year, using other mediums to populate the franchise with character backgrounds to enrich plots is exciting.
While introducing a secondary character from The Clone Wars, like Saw, is a welcome addition, Maul is a well-known piece of the Star Wars universe that is immediately recognizable to practically any fan. Revealing that he’s not only alive but has mechanical legs immediately places him within the animated continuity for fans of the shows. However, it also invites fans unfamiliar with that side of the franchise to explore his story arcs on both The Clone Wars and Rebels–including his continued battles with Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Jedi. From there, Maul has even more of his story told in canonical comic books.
This idea of expanding continuity across multiple mediums seems simple enough, especially when you have an audience constantly craving more. Still, there is another franchise that includes both movies and TV that just can’t seem to get the hang of it–even though they’re owned by the same parent company as Star Wars. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, when it first launched Agents of SHIELD, left fans believing the two sides would interact with each other fairly regularly. That’s never been the case, though. While SHIELD reacts to things that happen in the films now and then, the movies never acknowledge the show. What’s more, the TV side of the universe has become too fragmented between ABC, Netflix, and Hulu, where the shows don’t even manage to reference each other.
Meanwhile, Star Wars is only continuing to make that bond stronger by showing what happens on the small screen is important to the rest of the story. Speaking to GameSpot, even Solo co-writer Jonathan Kasdan recognized the importance of The Clone Wars and Rebels when it came to featuring Maul in the film. “I did my homework to know that, because of Rebels, because of Clone Wars, we were in a position where this part of his life was grey enough that we could fill it in with this thing,” he explained. “And it worked nicely with Rebels and Clone Wars in that he did survive that incident with Qui-Gon, and he did go into the world of crime and self-interest and was separated from the Empire and the Sith and that whole thing, to go pursue his own life.”
Now, as the Star Wars franchise continues, the links between the two sides of this galaxy will only grow stronger. With Rebels finished, its co-creator is already at work on his next project. The animated Star Wars: Resistance is set before The Force Awakens and will focus on a new Resistance pilot named Kazuda Xiono. It will also feature appearances by Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie) and BB-8. Beyond that, Jon Favreau is developing a live-action TV series set seven years after the events of Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and introducing yet more new characters to the franchise.
The force is clearly strong with the Star Wars franchise. Hopefully, that’s a trend that continues as Lucasfilm continues to make movies and TV shows that further expand upon this unique universe. Now if only they were easier to stream. While The Clone Wars is waiting for you to binge on Netflix right now, the same cannot be said for Rebels. However, you can purchase it digitally or on Blu-ray.
Epic has kicked off a new contest in Fortnite: Battle Royale on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and mobile. On top of the two limited-time modes going on now in Battle Royale, players can participate in the game’s second competition: Blitz Showdown. [Update: The Blitz Showdown competition is coming to a close very soon. The contest is scheduled to end tomorrow, June 4, making this your last opportunity to participate for a chance to win V-Bucks.]
Like the Solo Showdown contest that was held last month, Blitz Showdown is a limited-time competition against other self-selected participants. This time, however, players compete in Blitz matches, meaning each one will be much faster-paced than before. “Circles will be faster, combat more rapid, and eliminations now factor into the final scores,” Epic says.
In Blitz Showdown, players vie to earn a spot in the standings; those who rack up a high enough score by the end of the contest will earn a sizable prize of V-Bucks, Fortnite’s in-game currency. You must play at least 25 matches in order to be eligible for one of the prizes, and your ranking will be determined by your placements in each match.
The top 100 players in each server region will take home a prize. The player who comes in first will receive 20,000 V-Bucks. Those who come in second through fifth will get 13,500 V-Bucks, while the remaining players within the top 100 will receive 7,500 V-Bucks. You can read the rules for the Blitz Showdown contest on the official Fortnite website.
Blitz Showdown runs from now until 7 AM PT / 10 AM ET / 3 PM BST on June 4. Epic will track the standings for each region throughout the competition on its blog. The developer also teases Showdown competitions will become a regular fixture of Battle Royale. “We’ll be exploring different Showdown formats on a regular basis in the future,” Epic said.
In addition to the Showdown, players can still participate in squads matches of Blitz v2, as well as the returning Teams of 20 limited-time mode. As its name implies, the latter divides players up into five teams of 20, with the objective being to be the last team remaining. For this iteration of the mode, each time flies in on their own battle bus, and Chests and Supply Drops also spawn extra consumables and ammo.
The Arrowverse crossover has become a tradition, as with 2017’s “Crisis on Earth-X” and 2016’s “Invasion!” But now that Season 6 of Arrow has come to an end, we can’t help but wonder where next year’s crossover between that show, The Flash, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow will take us.
This February I went on a Twitter rant about my local Cinemark movie theater after a humiliating encounter I had with management over reserved seating. I use a wheelchair that required a handicap space and my companion needed a seat. The problem? The handicap seats had apparently been reserved online. Once the feature started the adjoining seats were still empty, so I transferred out of my wheelchair into a more comfortable seat than my own. Enter three able-bodied twentysomethings who didn’t just want the seat I was in, but the seat my companion had as well. In the end, it wasn’t me who had a seat, but the able-bodied people who had reserved seats they knew were for the disabled. Why couldn’t going out to see a movie be easy? Because if you’re a person living with disabilities, movie theaters aren’t thinking of you.
