Jim Bell, who served as the chief financial officer and executive vice president at GameStop has resigned from both roles and will depart on March 26, Gamasutra reports. No reason has been given for his departure.
GameStop announced Bell’s departure in a press release, noting that he had seen the company through the trying times of the COVID-19 pandemic. During much of his time at the company, GameStop was carrying out an ongoing transformation plan as it struggled to compete with the dominance of software game sales and online retailers like Amazon.
While the company saw a boost from the release of a new generation of consoles, the increasing focus on diskless consoles bodes poorly for the future of traditional games retailers. The company has now closed hundreds of stores and more dramatic changes are seemingly in store, with ecommerce-favoring investor Ryan Cohen now on the board of directors.
The outgoing CFO also oversaw the company’s finances during a Reddit-led stock market upheaval that saw GameStop’s stock price rocket to over $400 and then settle back to $50 over the course of one tumultuous week. The company itself was unable to capitalize on the sudden rally due to regulatory concerns.
The press release states that senior vice president and chief accounting officer Diana Jajeh will step up as interim CFO if a permanent hire hasn’t been made by the time of Bell’s departure on March 26.
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
Roblox has set a rough date for going public with a direct listing, Business Insider reports, after filing late last year. The company initially planned on an IPO last December, but that was called off in response to volatile openings by keenly-watched tech companies including DoorDash and Airbnb.
The games company now plans to go public via a direct listing around March 10, after its plan for a February direct listing was delayed by an SEC inquiry into its finances.
Roblox functions more as a platform than a game, with third-party devs able to create and release their own experiences onto the platform. It’s popular with younger gamers and regularly posts impressive earnings statistics, such as lifetime revenue of over $2 billion on mobile platforms alone.
In the latest statement of its finances presented prior to going public, Roblox has shown massive growth through 2020. It reported $924 million in revenue representing a year-on-year growth of 82%, as well as 32.6 million daily active users for a year-on-year growth of 85%.
The Legend of Zelda isn’t the only major Nintendo franchise celebrating an anniversary this year: Pokemon’s 25th anniversary is this Saturday, February 27, marking 25 years since the release of Pokemon Red and Green in Japan. However, the celebrations have begun early with all sorts of freebies, new product announcements, and more. If you’re looking to pick up a new Pokemon game or snag some collectibles, now’s a great time to do so as well, as many retailers are offering deals on Pokemon Switch games and merch right now.
Below, we’ve rounded up some of the best Pokemon deals floating around this week ahead of the official 25th-anniversary celebration. GameStop is worth checking out this week in particular, as it’s running a big sale on Pokemon apparel, Funko Pops, and other collectibles–though many things are already starting to sell out.
Last year’s Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX is secretly one of the best Pokemon games available on Nintendo Switch. A remake of 2006’s Red Rescue Team (Game Boy Advance) and Blue Rescue Team (Nintendo DS), Rescue Team DX gives the first game in the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon spin-off series a modern makeover with a gorgeous watercolor-esque art style and multiple gameplay improvements. However, the roguelike dungeon-crawling gameplay and fantastic story about a human-turned-Pokemon remain the same. If you’re looking for a new game to scratch that Pokemon itch before New Pokemon Snap arrives, give Rescue Team DX a try. It’s on sale for $45 right now, a rare discount for the Switch title.
Aimed at those who are new to mainline Pokemon games, Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee and Let’s Go, Pikachu offer a trip back to Gen 1’s Kanto region, reimagined with modern 3D visuals and Pokemon Go-inspired catching mechanics. Each game is on sale for $45, and while we’ve seen these games go for as low as $30 during Black Friday sales, you don’t see them on sale too often throughout the year.
Despite being released in 2017 as an enhanced port for Nintendo Switch, Pokken Tournament DX is rarely included in Switch game sales, for some reason. This week, however, you can snap a copy of the Tekken-inspired arena fighting game for $45, down from $60.
Pokemon Sword and Shield are, of course, the most recent mainline games in the series, and they’re currently on sale for $10 off at Walmart. Since release, Sword and Shield have received two major expansions: The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra, which are available with an expansion pass.
Despite this year marking Pokemon’s 25th anniversary, only one new Pokemon title is confirmed to release this year so far: New Pokemon Snap, a sequel to 1999’s N64 Pokemon photography game. While no discounts are available this week, there’s a preorder bonus available at GameStop, where you can get a double-sided poster with your copy of the game.
Some of the newest Pokemon Funko Pops are available in a bundle at GameStop this week, and it’s even on sale. Ponyta, Raichu, metallic Pikachu, and adorable little Mew are the latest Pokemon vinyl figures, and you can get all four of them for $40 (down from $48).
On the topic of Funko Pops: GameStop’s Pokemon Funko collector’s box is also discounted this week as part of the retailer’s anniversary celebrations. For $28, you’ll get an assortment of figures, key chains, stickers, and pins inspired by two of Gen 1’s most iconic Pokemon: Pikachu and Squirtle.
Who can resist this adorable Gengar’s devilish grin and oh-so-huggable shape? If this Ghost-type Pokemon is your favorite, you can add this 24-inch Gengar plush to your collection for $32.
This Bandai Spirits model kit features two of Pokemon’s best dragons: Charizard and Dragonite. When assembled, each figure stands at over 3 inches tall and has limited articulation. These would make a great gift for young Pokemon fans–or to add to your own shelf.
While the GameCube’s Super Smash Bros. Melee is nearly 20 years old, some Smash fans still prefer the feel of a GameCube controller when playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the newest game in the series. PowerA’s wireless GameCube-style Switch controllers are made for those looking to use the classic controller with Ultimate on Switch, and they include a larger D-pad and left-shoulder button as well. The Pikachu-style controller is on sale for $28.75 this week. Note that it uses AA batteries (and comes with two), though PowerA promises up to 30 hours of gameplay.
The MCU’s third Spider-Man movie has been given not one but two titles thanks to stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jacob Batalon’s posts on Instagram, which have dubbed the movie Spider-Man: Home-Wrecker, Spider-Man: Home Slice, and Spider-Man: Phone Home, as well as teasing photos of Peter, MJ, and Ned from the movie.
And it’s not just the subtitles that contradict one another–the logo treatment in either post is completely different with Phone Home boasting some very green (Green Goblin, perhaps?) and yellow colors, Home Slice having a more vibrant pinkish purple loo, and Home-Wrecker going for a much more understated grey with blue and red drop shadows.
The movie stills show Ned, Peter, and MJ in what looks like a dilapidated building, with one room at least partially covered in snow and another apparently some sort of basement.
Tom Holland may be a Marvel Cinematic Universe darling as Peter Parker, but he’s also notorious for “accidentally” leaking critical information about his projects on social media–so much so that Marvel Studios has made his infamously bad secret-keeping something of a bit for major announcements–but the added layer of Batalon’s contradictory post does make this something of a head-scratcher.
It could be a nod to the multiverse–a concept that the MCU is introducing through shows like WandaVision and upcoming films like Dr. Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness–after all, a movie with a multiversal spin could definitely have two (or more) completely different titles. This could make sense, given the casting rumors swirling around the project and potential returns for former Spiders-Men like Andrew Garfield and Toby McGuire–though Holland himself has spoken out against the buzz.
Tom Holland is scheduled to appear on Jimmy Fallon tonight at 11:30pm. These teasers could hint at the real title may be revealed during the show, so Spider-fans may want to keep their eyes peeled.
If you boot up Apex Legends, you might notice that prior to character selection, you’ll see a loading screen where Caustic is overlooking a place on Kings Canyon. If you head to that location, you’ll find a cool map change, which may hint that a Caustic town takeover will be coming soon.
The location in question is between Crash Site and Artillery, as noted by FrozenFroh on Twitter. The currently empty location previously sparked a comment from Caustic, who was fascinated by the toxic changes to the lakes after the fuel from the crashed ship leaked into the water. Now there’s a giant gas canister there.
Next to the canister is a tablet, implied to be the one that Caustic was holding in the aforementioned loading screen. Interacting with it allows you to hear a recorded message left by Caustic.
“The erupted gas pocket and fuel have combined to create a gargantuan supply of toxin,” Caustic says, “If there was a way to refine it, I could mold it into something spectacular.”
Small, legend-focused map changes like these typically tease and precede the addition of brand-new town takeovers, which are map landmarks that are themed around a specific character. Kings Canyon currently supports four: Gauntlet, Labs, Map Room, and Mirage Voyage. Fans are speculating that this latest map change may be hinting at the addition of a Caustic-themed town takeover.
Click To Unmute
Year 2 Of Apex Legends: Highs, Lows, And Biggest Changes
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
In the midst of its transformative second year, Apex Legends started hosting limited-time events back-to-back. As soon as one ends, another usually begins. After being extended by a week, the Anniversary Collection event will now end on March 2. It stands to reason that a new event will begin immediately after, with Caustic’s town takeover added to Kings Canyon as part of the event. Nothing has been confirmed yet though, so we’ll have to wait and see.
Character themes do a lot of heavy lifting, whether it’s Danny Elfman’s dark Batman theme, the mournful Binary Sunset from Star Wars, or a classic sitcom intro, they tell us a lot about a character in just a few seconds. One of the best and funniest character tracks, which debuted in WandaVision Episode 7 last week, is now available on Spotify.
Spoilers follow for WandaVision Episode 7.
While Wanda’s emotional arc is certainly about her coping with the death of her robot boyfriend, Vision, there’s more going on behind the scenes. It turns out that one Agatha Harkness has been pulling strings behind the scenes all along.
The track, titled “Agatha All Along” was written by Kristen-Anderson Lopez and Robert Lopez, and sung by actress Kathryn Hahn, who plays Agatha on the show, and has a distinctively Munsters/spooky surf guitar sound to it.
Agatha began her run on WandaVision as Agnes, the nosy neighbor that had way too much personality to be just a neighbor. Episode 7, “Breaking the Fourth Wall,” brought Wanda’s world in the 2000s with an Office-style theme song and “confessional cam” moments for Wanda and Vision. As Wanda explored her increasingly unstable home, though, she finally discovered that, along with everything going inside her head, her neighbor Agnes is a powerful sorceress named Agatha Harkness.
In the comics, Agatha is sometimes friend, sometimes enemy for the powerful Wanda Maximoff. She has trained Wanda in using her Chaos Magic, and is the one who reveals to Wanda that her seemingly impossible children (robots can’t have babies, after all) are left-over soul fragments from Mephisto, Marvel’s Satan-equivalent. Wanda and Agatha’s track record in the comics could point us toward what happens in the final two episodes of WandaVision. Until then, we’ll have to listen to this absolute banger of a song over and over. WandaVision Episode 8 hits Disney+ this Friday, February 26.
A new Fortnite hotfix has vaulted one weapon and unvaulted another, as well as removing the Machine Pistol, which seems to have been mistakenly released into the Unvaulted LTM. The update shelved the popular Flint-Knock Pistol, but brings back the Hand Cannon in its place.
A new Hotfix is live! 🔫The Flint-Knock heads back to the vault, but something handy took its place this week. 🔁New LTM later this week: Comeback Squads. Every life your loot gets better, but you have limited respawns! pic.twitter.com/W7DJD1yInf
First introduced in March 2019, the Flint-Knock was reintroduced in a February 16 patch, enjoying just one week back in the game before being vaulted again. The newly returning Hand Cannon is even older, returning from its initial run in February 2018. The weapon changes were announced in a tweet, along with an upcoming LTM called Comeback Squads. The new mode is a high risk, high reward situation, where your loot gets better every time you die, but you only have limited lives to spend.
The Machine Pistol update was picked up by Redditors on the Fortnite Battle Royale subreddit, who picked up that the fabled weapon was available in the Unvaulted LTM barely 10 hours before it was then quietly moved back to the vault.
The Machine Pistol, previously known as the Submachine Gun, was one of the first weapons to be vaulted after appearing in Seasons 1 and 2, though it seems to have been further developed since then. A version of the weapon with new stats and a new model was briefly leaked at the start of Season X, but was quickly removed again–as seems to have happened again here.
One Redditor managed to catch a snapshot of the weapon’s stats before it was removed from the game again. The post that announced the Machine Pistol’s speedy removal from the game also indicated that the Witch’s Broom had also been removed from Unvaulted, but it appears that the seasonal item is still available to find in the LTM.
Update (2/23/21) – Zendaya has shared her “title announcement” on Instagram, revealing it to be Spider-Man: Home Slice. She also wrote, “So excited to announce the new Spider-Man title. So proud of this one…FOS is back!” (Click right to see the logo!)
Original story follows.
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Spider-Man 3 actors Tom Holland and Jacob Batalon are both teasing the name of the upcoming sequel to Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Tom Holland, Spider-Man himself, started this game on Instagram by saying “So excited to announce the new Spider-Man title. Can’t wait for you to see what we have been up to. Love from Atlanta.” The post also shared what looks to be an image from the upcoming film and a logo that revealed a title of Spider-Man: Phone Home. (Click right to see the logo!)
As the entire internet celebrated this new name, Jacob Batalon, who plays Ned Leeds, shared his own post with another image and a different title – Spider-Man: Home-Wrecker. He also wrote “We’re so excited to share the TITLE of our new movie!! Swipe right for the big reveal!!! Also, enjoy this exclusive still from the movie, just an extra gift from us.”
The two actors are clearly playing into the first two films containing the word home in them – Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home – and it’s important to note that while both stars included an image with Zendaya in it, she has yet to post her take on what this title may be.
Persona 5 Strikers has finally launched worldwide for PlayStation 4, PC, and Switch, and you probably know by now that it’s a sorta-sequel spinoff that continues the timeline of Persona 5. But with the original RPG not being available on non-PlayStation platforms, the question of whether or not newcomers can still enjoy Strikers is a pertinent one. And the simple answer is: Yes, but your mileage will vary.
In my Persona 5 Strikers review, I praised the game’s action-RPG combat mechanics, excellent soundtrack, and new characters, among other things. And the fact that I got to see my old friends, the Phantom Thieves, again as they go on a summer vacation to enjoy life and save the world one more time was a real treat. The opening hours do spend time plainly re-establishing the personality traits of its returning cast, but of course, it’s not the same as seeing them grow into who they are in their 100-hour journey prior. So if you want to have a really deep bond with the cast, I’d recommend playing Royal first.
Nevertheless, the charisma of the Phantom Thieves shines through in how they express themselves and fight in the Metaverse, the alternate dimension where all the battles take place. If they don’t make a strong impression on you when meeting them in their normal lives, they’re sure to win you over with the way they stylishly tear through demonic adversaries. Their personas, special attacks, and unique animations in Strikers really embody the Phantom Thieves’ fighting spirit, and that alone says a lot about who they are.
When I take a step back and think about Strikers’ callbacks to the original story of Persona 5, they help provide context for who the characters are, why they carry a specific demeanor, and draw parallels between the two games. Other than taking place a few months after the end of Persona 5, very few story-critical things in Strikers are a direct continuation of previous storylines. There is no “the story so far” kind of recap, but that also wouldn’t be entirely necessary.
Every characters style and swagger in combat is an expression of who they are.
Knowing Persona 5’s story is not imperative to understanding the events of Strikers, as most of the major story beats early on harken back to what a particular character experienced in that game. However, having a frame of reference and context certainly enriches the characterization. For example, Ann deeply sympathizes with the first villain because they faced similar struggles–you then come to understand that a few important factors in life led them down very different paths. It’s a narrative device that’s used with Yusuke and Haru in a similar fashion. While this historical context doesn’t obscure the story’s events to the point they lose all impact, you won’t get the full connection and may be left wondering why the Phantom Thieves act or feel a certain way.
As you get further into Strikers, it starts to take on a direction of its own. That can mostly be attributed to the characters Sophia and Zenkichi, who make their debut in this game. As their stories come into clearer focus in the second half, the Phantom Thieves become more of a lens to perceive these characters and a vehicle to help them grow, and many of the overarching messages would still come through. There is a late-game dungeon that spells out a decent chunk of what happens in some of Persona 5’s concluding hours, but so much happens in the original game that it’s more about the journey than the destination.
Zenkichi is a great character who newcomers and long-time fans get to know.
Another question is if you need to play Persona 5 Royal (the definitive version that features exclusive story content). I mean, you should; it’s one of the few games that has earned a coveted 10/10 from GameSpot. However, Strikers doesn’t pull anything directly from Royal. There are a few lines of dialogue that could be perceived as allusions to what transpired in Royal’s story content, but even that’s debatable. As long as you finished the original version of Persona 5, you’ll be set going into Strikers story-wise.
Given the relatively light reliance on knowing exactly what happened in the original RPG, Persona 5 Strikers just might be what draws you into the series, and it could be your next favorite thing.
At the end of the day, Persona 5 (and Royal, in particular) is one of the best games of the previous generation. But given the necessary time investment, it’s still a lot to ask to play it just so you can check out Strikers. Instead, you can think of Strikers as a more streamlined experience of what a Persona game can offer while being meaty enough to hold its own in its 40-ish hour runtime. The exceptional combat system, premise of going on a road trip across Japan, and incredible soundtrack are reason enough to jump in. As to whether or not you need to play the original RPG before giving Strikers a shot, I’d say it’s a strong recommendation that you do, but not a necessity.
Admittedly, I’ve played some games within a series out of order and came away hooked enough to seek out previous entries. I can see a scenario where you play Strikers and come away with a strong curiosity for where these characters came from and how the Phantom Thieves came to be. Given the relatively light reliance on knowing exactly what happened in the original RPG, Persona 5 Strikers just might be what draws you into the series, and it could be your next favorite thing. I’d go as far to say that there is no wrong way to go about it.
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
