Back in the series finale for Star Trek: The Next Generation, Picard experienced a version of his own future, in which he’d retired to his family vineyard on Earth in a similar turn of events to what’s at the start of Star Trek: Picard. In that timeline, Picard suffers from Irumodic Syndrome, a neurological disorder marked by the breakdown of his synaptic pathways. It essentially causes him to hallucinate and lose the ability to distinguish reality from fantasy, before eventually killing him. During the finale, Dr. Crusher notes that Picard has an abnormality in the structure of his parietal lobe that could eventually cause neurological disorders later in life.
While the future we see in the finale, “All Good Things,” didn’t come to pass, it seems the possibility for Picard suffering from a neurological disorder has. Though we don’t know the details, his meeting with Dr. Benayoun confirms the worst. Something is wrong with Picard’s parietal lobe, and it sounds like he has an unpleasant end waiting for him as the disease progresses.
Lethal Weapon is one of the most popular action franchises of the ’80s and ’90s, with the last movie, Lethal Weapon 4, released in 1998. In more recent years, the series has been rebooted for TV, but it now seems that the original movie’s stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover might return for a fifth movie.
Lethal Weapon producer Dan Lin spoke about the potential Lethal Weapon 5 during a Hollywood Reporter roundtable event. He revealed that not only were Gibson and Glover on board to reprise their roles as Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh, but original director Richard Donner was in talks too. “We’re trying to make the last Lethal Weapon movie,” he said, via The Playlist. “And Dick Donner’s coming back. The original cast is coming back. And it’s just amazing. The story itself is very personal to him. Mel and Danny are ready to go, so it’s about the script.”
News of a potential Lethal Weapon 5 was first reported in 2017. Back then, Deadline stated that Gibson, Glover, and Donner were all interested in a new film, with Lethal Weapon 4 writer Channing Gibson (no relation to Mel) set to write the screenplay. It’s unknown whether the “personal” story that Lin mentioned is the script written by Gibson.
The original Lethal Weapon was released in 1987. It was the first screenwriting credit for Iron Man 3 and The Predator director Shane Black, and was a huge hit, influencing many buddy cop movies over the next decade. The sequels followed in 1989, 1992, and 1998.
As for the TV show, that was cancelled in May last year after three seasons. The show was hit by controversy when star Clayne Crawford was fired following allegations of abusive on-set behavior. He was replaced by Seann Wiliam Scott for the third season, but after co-star Damon Wayans left the series too, the whole thing was axed.
Nintendo has revealed that, as of December 31, 2019, Nintendo Switch hardware unit sales have reached 52.48 million and that Pokemon Sword and Shield unit sales have reached 16.06 million.
These sales figures were given in Nintendo’s latest earnings release and also confirmed that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has sold 22.96 million units, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has sold 17.68 million units, Super Mario Odyssey has sold 16.59 million units, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sold 16.34 million units.
Luigi’s Mansion 3, which launched on Halloween of 2019, has sold 5.37 million units.
Nintendo Switch Passes Super Nintendo in Lifetime Sales
To further breakdown the sales of Nintendo Switch, Nintendo showed that the original Switch model made up 47.3 million units of the 52.48 million, while the Nintendo Switch Lite accounted for 5.19 million units sold.
Nintendo, during this last quarter, sold over 10.8 million Nintendo Switch units, and this helped in its decision to change its forecast for Switch units sold from 18 million to 19.5 million for this financial year.
Nintendo Switch sales reaching 50 million also means that it has officially passed the Super Nintendo, which sold 49.10 million units in its lifetime.
Nintendo’s consolidated net sales through its third quarter for its 2020 fiscal year have reached $3.8 billion, which is a slight increase from last year’s $3.7 billion through the same time frame.
Sales outside of Japan, through Nintendo’s third quarter of its 2020 fiscal year, accounted for 77.8% of the total, a small increase from last year’s 77.7%.
Digital sales accounted for 28.6% of total sales, an over 5% jump from last year’s 21.8%.
Sales Updates for Nintendo 3DS, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, Super Mario Maker 2, and More
To round out the game sales, Super Mario Maker 2 has sold 5.04 million units, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening has sold 4.19 million units, Super Mario Party has reached 9.12 million units, Fire Emblem: Three Houses sold 2.58 million units, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is at 5.85 million units, Ring Fit Adventure has sold 2.17 million units, Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! are at 11.76 million units, Splatoon 2 is at 9.81 million units, Astral Chain sold 1.03 million units, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order has sold 1.02 million units.
Nintendo 3DS hardware sales saw a 73% decrease year-over-year, only selling 620,000 units, while 3DS software sales also dropped 63% with 4.1 million units sold.
The only titles with a 2020 release date are Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition, Bravely Default II, and two Famicom Tantei Club titles (Japan).
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN who can’t wait and is so excited he just can’t hide it. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
Just about the first thing to happen in the second episode of Star Trek: Picard is a throwback moment to ’90s Star Treks–a lengthy investigation scene, laden with tough-to-follow techno-babble. One episode in, Picard does some things well, like presenting a darker and more relevant take on the Federation and pitting the titular captain’s ideals against a world that doesn’t value them. But it also struggles with pacing, and in Episode 2, “Maps and Legends,” Star Trek: Picard slows to a crawl.
To be fair to the series, Episode 2 is carrying even more story setup baggage than the premiere episode, “Remembrance.” In the wake of Dahj’s death at the hands of secret Romulan agents operating on Earth, Picard works with his Romulan buddy Laris to try to locate her android twin. That quickly exposes the fact that he’s on his own in his investigation–Starfleet is unwilling to help Jean-Luc. Meanwhile, we get a slightly better look at what’s going on aboard the wrecked Borg Cube known as the Artifact, and a sense of who might be behind the conspiracy to eliminate Dahj and her sister, Soji.
But Episode 2 also isn’t very forthcoming with information that would help keep the story engaging. We know there are bad guys around, and that they’re probably Romulan, but their motivations are foggy at best. We know that the Romulan Free State, what’s left of the Romulan Star Empire in the wake of the destruction of their homeworld, is doing something aboard the Artifact, but that’s also pretty opaque. We know Picard is facing some kind of unnamed neurological disease, but not how that might affect him going forward. We know spooky people are watching Picard, but we’re given little info as to what exactly they’re doing, why they’re doing it, or what they hope to accomplish overall.
Of course, that’s kind of the mystery of Star Trek: Picard at this point: Figuring out what this conspiracy is all about, who’s a part of it, and how the captain will fight against it. Star Trek: The Next Generation had its share of conspiracies, especially related to the Romulans, so what’s in “Maps and Legends” isn’t too far afield for fans of the franchise.
The trouble is that the serialized nature of Star Trek: Picard means information is getting dolled out at a snail’s pace, and not a lot happens in Episode 2. Some characters, including Soji and Romulan bad guys Narek and Narissa, get a little more development, but not enough to make them especially compelling yet. Narek’s role as a Romulan spy makes him particularly resistant to sharing information about himself, and so we’re stuck wondering what his deal is with only a few significant glances and innuendo-laden conversations to offer hints. In broad strokes, Episode 2 shows us that a lot of people are up to something, but without more to go on, it’s hard to see what the stakes are, and that makes it hard to care.
The entire episode meanders from one information dump to the next, starting with that plodding investigation that wants to be one of those classic (if hard to follow) Trek moments of smart people using science to solve problems, but gets bogged down in pseudo-science. Scenes on the Artifact don’t illuminate what anyone is hoping to accomplish as they study the “Nameless,” former Borg drones from species nobody can identify. As in the first episode, lots of time is spent on things that don’t really seem to matter, while other significant details–like the fact that Picard’s Romulan friends are apparently former Tal Shiar secret agents?–are practically glossed over. And when we’re not caught up in scenes of characters doing unclear things for unclear reasons, we’re listening to people try to explain Romulan secret societies and Starfleet’s current feelings on internal security.
“Maps and Legends” kills what momentum “Remembrance” might have had in favor of filling in context, and often in the wrong places. It all seems like a necessary evil for the story Star Trek: Picard wants to tell–one of spies infiltrating once-noble institutions and governments turning their backs on those in need–but two episodes in, we’re still waiting for Jean-Luc to even get to space, much less do anything meaningful or effective.
And overall, that makes Episode 2 of Star Trek: Picard feel dull. The show is taking its sweet time setting things up, and in the meantime, it hasn’t given us much reason to care about what we’re learning. “Maps and Legends” shines a harsher light on Star Trek: Picard’s biggest problem after two episodes: too much plot and not enough character. Hopefully in its next episode, the show will manage to get out of its own way and let its legendary captain start leading.
Disclosure: ViacomCBS is GameSpot’s parent company.
The company also revealed that Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Super Mario Maker 2 both sold over five million units. The nine-month period detailed in the report also covers the launch of the Nintendo Switch Lite and, as a result, “Nintendo Switch performed well without losing momentum, resulting in significant sales growth for the entire Nintendo Switch family that surpassed the same period in the last fiscal year.” As it stands, total Nintendo Switch sales–combining both the standard Switch model and the Lite–has reached 52.48 units.
Overall, the financial report shows Nintendo had a very healthy nine-month period, with increases in sales and profit. Digital revenue also showed growth, rising by 48 percent year-on-year, while revenue generated from mobile games such as Mario Kart Tour grew by 10 percent compared to the same period in 2018.
Looking ahead in 2020, Nintendo’s major release is set to be Animal Crossing: New Horizons. However, the company has a number of new games in major franchises in development, including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, Bayonetta 3, and Metroid Prime 4. As of yet, these games do not have release dates.
In our Pokemon Sword & Shield review, Kallie Plagge awarded the game a 9/10. “In collecting, battling, and exploring, Sword and Shield cut out the bloat and focus on what makes these pillars of the Pokemon games so captivating in the first place,” she said. “You’re not held back by overly complicated back-end systems or hoops to jump through; from the outset, you can start wandering the Galar region, seeing its new Pokemon, and trying out its new battle strategies with very little in your way. This leaves you free to enjoy what Pokemon is all about, and that makes for an incredibly strong showing for the series’ proper debut on Switch.”
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The breakout star of Star Wars: The Mandalorian was undoubtedly Baby Yoda, the baby creature who obviously comes from the same species as Yoda and Yaddle from the film series. Baby Yoda (referred to as “The Child” in the series) has already been announced for Build-A-Bear and has its own toy range, but for the truly dedicated, there’s a bigger version coming.
Sideshow Collectibles is releasing a $350 life-size replica of “The Child,” which will stand 16.5″ tall. It’s a mixed-media statue that stands on a small black platform, and while it won’t coo or use the Force like the one of television, it’s still pretty adorable. It’s holding the little shifter knob that it grows so attached to in the series, and the baby’s head is covered in a fine fuzz of hair.
It’s not cheap, but this looks like a pretty authentic replica of the character. They’re not expected to ship until the period between August and September 2020–an exact date has not been set.
It’s a bit cheaper than the $5 million that the actual puppet used in the series cost–but then, maybe this version won’t look quite as authentic cradled in George Lucas’ arms.
The Mandalorian will return in fall 2020 for a second season. Barring a huge time jump, Baby Yoda should be returning, too.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive first released in 2012, but work is still ongoing on the popular competitive shooter. The latest patch notes show what has changed in this new update, which includes the removal of a glitch that was preventing detonations from doing damage and some tweaks to a few maps.
The map that’s seeing the most substantial changes is Mirage, which is shifting and adding a few features to open up new tactical options. If you know these maps like the back of your hand, there might be some changes that will catch you by surprise. Here’s the full list of changes introduced by this update.
[ MAPS ]
Cache:
Various visibility improvements
Optimizations
Various minor bug fixes
Updated radar
Studio:
Fixed players not taking damage from bomb detonation
Clipping improvements
Improved visuals of CT / T streets
Various minor bug fixes
Train:
Opened up skybox over building separating Ivy/A site
Various visibility improvements
Various minor bug fixes
Dust2:
Opened up skybox from B halls towards site
Mirage:
Added AWP wallbang spot from palace to scaffolding close corner, A site
Added bench in mid allowing jump up to window boost spot/peek towards cat
Widened T entrance to mid
Lowered trim around B site balcony
Blocked a jump-peek from middle of B site towards cat
[ MISC ]
Increased the size of HLTV broadcast server info message, controlled by a new setting “tv_broadcast_server_info_message_size_kb”.
Added a setting spec_xray_dropped_defusers to show xray outlines on dropped defuse kits.
Added a setting spec_xray_dropped_unoccluded to always xray dropped C4 and defuse kits.
Game state integration now allows to control precision of reported floating point values using an additional configuration section:
From North Yorkshire in England comes a delightful story of a missing ring. Officers in the township announced on Facebook this week that they were looking for the owner of a “distinctive silver ring” that they recovered after a home burglary. Officers attempted to find the rightful owner, but alas, they could not.
Given how precious the ring is, detective constable Pete Wilson and the police department announced they were looking to the public for help.
“As it is such a distinctive piece of jewellery, we’re hoping that someone will recognise the markings and be able to tell us who it rightfully belongs to, as I’m sure someone, somewhere is missing it,” Wilson said (via BT).
The comments in the Facebook thread poured in quickly–and delightfully. People immediately recognized what the authorities did not: This was clearly a replica of The One Ring from J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy series, and not merely a “distinctive silver ring.”
Here are some of my favorite responses:
“…And the Ring of Power perceived its time had now come. It abandoned Gollum. But something happened then the Ring did not intend. It was picked up by the most unlikely creature imaginable. A Police Officer, from the North of the (York)Shire.” [Source]
“That truly is a precious ring. Sadly, I wouldn’t translate that. It’s in the black tongue of Mordor and isn’t very nice. Best off throwing it into a river or mountain volcano or something. If unclaimed can I challenge you guys to riddles for it? I have a buyer with their EYE on it.” [Source]
“There are other forces at work in this world besides North Yorkshire. Maybe You were meant to find it…” [Source]
The North Yorkshire police are taking it all in stride. The authorities replied in the thread, “We obviously need to brush up on our movie knowledge!”
Blizzard has canceled multiple professional Overwatch League events in China following the Coronavirus outbreak that has claimed the lives of close to 200 people so far.
In a statement, Blizzard said it’s canceling the tournaments scheduled for February and March, adding that it expects to go forward with the remaining matches in China later this year.
“We have decided to cancel our February and March matches in China in order to protect the health and safety of our players, fans, and staff,” Blizzard said. “We hope fans have a safe and happy Lunar New Year, and we remain incredibly excited to play Overwatch League matches in China later this season.”
The Overwatch League events were not the only professional gaming tournaments to be canceled or delayed after the virus outbreak. The League of Legends Pro League announced it is postponing its Spring event because of the Coronavirus.
The Coronavirus has been traced back to the city of Wuhan, reportedly originating at the end of 2019. The death toll has surpassed 170, while cases of the virus have been reported in countries around the world, including the United States, Japan, Australia, and Thailand.
Warcraft III: Reforged is out now, and players who delve into the user agreement they must agree to before playing the game are finding that the terms and conditions have changed compared to the original release. Now, anything you create in Custom Games is immediately owned by Blizzard.
Warcraft III has had a substantial modding scene, and custom games are an important part of the game’s infrastructure. Now, Blizzard is looking to retain rights to anything created within Warcraft III: Reforged. USGamer picked up on the new wording in the game’s user agreement, which states:
“Custom Games are and shall remain the sole and exclusive property of Blizzard. Without limiting the foregoing, you hereby assign to Blizzard all of your rights, title, and interest in and to all Custom Games, including but not limited to any copyrights in the content of any Custom Games. If for any reason you are prevented or restricted from assigning any rights in the Custom Games to Blizzard, you grant to Blizzard an exclusive, perpetual, worldwide, unconditional, royalty free, irrevocable license enabling Blizzard to fully exploit the Custom Games (or any component thereof) for any purpose and in any manner whatsoever.”
This is likely sparked by the success of Defense of the Ancients (Dota), which started as a community-made mod of Warcraft III and eventually spawned a Valve-developed sequel, Dota 2, as well as the whole MOBA genre. Blizzard seemingly wants to ensure that if anyone invents a new genre, or creates a breakout title in Warcraft III, they are not left out of potential profits.
However, players are also now welcome to take donations for the creation of their work, allowing top Warcraft III modders to theoretically directly profit from their work.
For more on Warcraft III: Reforged, check out our huge interview with lead producer Pete Stilwell. He talks about why Warcraft III was chosen for an overhaul, what design challenges the team faced, and what players can expect from custom games and maps.
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