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Spider-Man and Doctor Strange Co-Creator Steve Ditko Dies

Legendary comics artist and Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko has died at age 90.

THR reports Ditko was found dead in his apartment on June 29. No cause of death has been announced, but it is believed Ditko passed away two days earlier.

Ditko, along with Stan Lee, came up with the idea for Spider-Man in 1961 after Lee wasn’t satisfied with Jack Kirby’s take on a teenage superhero with spider powers.

Ditko is credited with creating Spider-Man’s costume, its red and blue design, and the web shooters. He also helped create a variety of classic Spidey villains, such as Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Sandman, and the Lizard.

Kill la Kill the Game: If ‘Should Feel Like an Episode of the Anime’

It’s been four years since Kill la Kill ended, and animation studio Trigger, Arc System Works, and APLUS are teaming up to finally make a Kill la Kill game – and from my interview at Anime Expo, they made it pretty clear that there is a big emphasis on working together to get the details of this game right.

During my interview Trigger’s Hiromi Wakabayashi revealed that the Kill la Kill the Game: If’s original story is being written by the Kill la Kill scriptwriter Kazuki Nakashima, which is a promising step toward this game feeling like a good extension of the anime.

“I think there can be a lot fans can expect from the story,” Wakabayashi said. “It’s not a continuation of the anime or a new anime by any means, but it is a very deep look into the story that’s done by Nakashima-san himself.”

Fortnite Continues to Be a Problem for Children in School

Fortnite’s popularity hasn’t slowed down and neither have the problems it’s causing for children in school.

Today alone, several local news outlets have reported ongoing problems with Fortnite and its incredibly strong hold it has on students. West Witney Primary School performed a survey on whether or not to ban the incredibly popular game. Older students ultimately voted in opposition to banning and the school went on to warn parents the game is not suitable for younger children.

Another school went a more detailed route and banned Fortnite dances like “Floss” and other emotes. Head teacher Catherine Cox went on to explain these dances were being used to “surround and intimidate other children” and that Fortnite is showing “obsessive and overactive behavior” in students that play. The school was met with backlash when parents took to social media to express their concerns.

Star Wars Episode 9: JJ Abrams Bringing Keri Russell To The Cast

Star Wars: Episode IX is set to start production this summer ahead of its December 2019 release. The Force Awakens director JJ Abrams is returning to the director’s chair, along with most of the main cast from The Last Jedi. But as ever, there will be a host of new characters, and it has been reported the The Americans star Keri Russell has joined the cast.

According to Variety, Russell was one of several actors that Abrams considered for the currently-unknown role. Russell has worked with Abrams before, having appeared in the director’s 2006 action hit Mission: Impossible III. As well as the lead role in FX’s acclaimed show The Americans, Russell also appeared in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, and Oscar Isaac are all expected to return for Episode IX. Ridley has already stated that this will be her final Star Wars movie. “I am really, really excited to do the third thing and round it out, because ultimately, what I was signing on to was three films,” she said. “So in my head, it’s three films. I think it will feel like the right time to round it out.”

Abrams joined the movie in September last year, following the departure of original director Colin Trevorrow. Although little is known about Episode IX at this stage, Abrams has already stated that he won’t play it safe with his second Star Wars film. “I feel like we need to approach this with the same excitement that we had when we were kids loving what these movies were,” he said. “But at the same time, we have to take them places that they haven’t gone, and that’s sort of our responsibility.”

Episode IX hits theaters on December 20, 2019 and is currently the only other Star Wars movie on Disney’s release schedule. Despite rumors that the studio might have stopped development on some of its planned spin-offs following the financial disappointment of the recent Solo: A Star Wars Story, last month a Disney spokesman denied this was the case. In addition, there are two separate Star Wars movies series in the works, one from The Last Jedi‘s Rian Johnson, the other from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.

WWE Extreme Rules 2018 Match Card, Daniel Bryan, Alexa Bliss, Dolph Ziggler, And More

Are regular wrestling bouts not enough for you? Do you crave something more, like superstars jumping off of ladders, hitting each other with chairs, and powerbombs onto thumbtacks? Well, you’re in luck–minus the thumbtacks–as WWE’s most hardcore PPV of the year, Extreme Rules, comes to the WWE Network on Sunday, July 15.

This year’s event will take place at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and those going to the event or watching from the comfort of their homes will be in store for a night of hard hits and unconventional items being used as weapons. For those not attending the live event, Extreme Rules begins at 7 PM ET/4 PM PT with a Kickoff Show starting one hour prior. Normally, one match takes place during the Kickoff, but as of this writing, nothing has been announced.

For the first time in a while, there’s actually a few fun tag team matches happening at a major WWE event. Daniel Bryan and Kane reunited recently on Smackdown, and now, they have a chance to win the Smackdown Tag Championships from The Bludgeon Brothers. Additionally, it’s brother (Bray Wyatt) against brother (Bo Dallas) as the champions The Deleters of Worlds take on The B Team (The “B” stands for “Best”) for the Raw Tag Championships. There are seven championships on the line that evening, and the only major title that won’t be defended is the Universal Championship–because Brock Lesnar never defends it. At the time of this writing, there are nine matches on the card. More than likely, at least one more will be added.

Strangely enough, as of this writing, there is only one Extreme Rules match for the PPV, and that’s for the Raw Women’s Championship. Surely, at least two more of these matches will get the extreme treatment before the PPV hits the airwaves.

Extreme Rules Match Card:

Roman Reigns vs. Bobby Lashley
Finn Bálor vs. “Constable” Baron Corbin
Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Seth Rollins (30-Minute Iron Man match for the Intercontinental Championship)
The Bludgeon Brothers (c) vs. Team Hell No (For the Smackdown Tag Championship)
Deleters of Worlds (c) vs. The B-Team (For the Raw Tag Championship)
Carmella (c) vs. Asuka (For the Smackdown Women’s Championship)
Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Nia Jax (Extreme Rules match for the Raw Women’s Championship)
Jeff Hardy (c) vs Shinsuke Nakamura (For the United States Championship)
AJ Styles (c) vs. Rusev (For the WWE Championship)

Make sure to come back to GameSpot on Sunday, July 15 for live coverage of WWE’s Extreme Rules.

WWE Extreme Rules 2018: Predictions For Every Match, Start Time, Date, And Location

It’s time for things to get extreme, but not in like a late-90s/early-00s type of way with dirtbikes doing backflips and Jnco jeans. WWE is taking things to the extreme in its aptly titled Extreme Rules PPV. The event is coming to the WWE Network on Sunday, July 15, and the show will take place at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, PA.

Like most of WWE’s PPVs, Extreme Rules will start at 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT, with a Kickoff Show airing on the network–and most likely YouTube–one hour prior. As of this writing, there are nine matches on the card for the evening, one of which will be on the Kickoff, and we should still see another match added.

Everyone who’s getting ready for Extreme Rules has their favorites to win each match, and GameSpot is no different. We’ve gone through the upcoming card and decided with great certainty who will win each of these matches. There may be a few title changes for the evening, but one thing is for sure: it’s going to be a Happy Rusev Day, no matter who wins.

Make sure to come back to GameSpot on Sunday, July 17 for live coverage of WWE’s Extreme Rules as well as some followup pieces as well. If you’re looking for more wrestling, check out these WWE movie cameos you might have missed.

5 References to the ‘PlayStation5’ and ‘Xbox Two’ Next-Gen Consoles

While we’re constantly speculating on what the future of video games has in store, E3 2018 marked the beginning of folks in the industry directly referencing the next generation of consoles. Not mid-generation improvements like the Pro and the X, but, for lack of official names, the PlayStation 5 and the “Xbox Two,” which seems to be codenamed Scarlet. More on that later.

From rumors to speculation to concrete details, here are are 5 references to the next generation of consoles that came out of E3 2018.

Next-gen talk kicked into gear during the final moments of Bethesda’s E3 2018 conference. After showing off extended demos Rage 2 and Fallout 76, both of which should be in our hands in less than a year, Todd Howard capped off the show with two brief, but important announcements. Starfield, the long-rumored “third open-world pillar” for Bethesda, and The Elder Scrolls 6.

MoviePass vs. AMC Stubs A-List vs. Sinemia Comparison–We Put All 3 To The Test

When MoviePass announced in August 2017 that it was changing its business model to a monthly subscription that cost $9.95 and allowed users to see a movie every day, the floodgates were officially open. Since then, the idea of a movie ticket subscription service has become the norm for those that like to see a lot of movies.

Now, though, there’s competition. MoviePass isn’t the only subscription service in the game anymore–and it might not even be the best, either. To find out which subscription service offers the best value, GameSpot put MoviePass, Sinemia, and AMC’s Stubs A-List to the test.

MoviePass

The service that started it all. MoviePass was the first to offer a massive number of movie tickets for a low monthly price and has made quite a name for itself in the process. How can you not when charging $9.95 a month for a movie ticket every day?

What Works

If you go to the movies a lot, MoviePass is a great option. The ability to see up to 31 movies every month for a $10 flat rate is hard to beat–even if there aren’t 31 movies released in any given month. In theory, you could stay up to date on every major release. Additionally, MoviePass offers in-app ticket purchases from select theaters, which is a nice perk.

What Doesn’t Work

The theaters that offer in-app ticket purchases are rare. The only other option is to check into the theater when you arrive and buy your ticket on the spot. All tickets must be purchased the day of the screening, so you can’t plan ahead too far. Another wrinkle is that premium formats (3D, IMAX, etc.) are not available with the service at this point.

Additionally, MoviePass has begun assessing upcharges–Peak Pricing–for “in-demand” movies. However, the company hasn’t revealed how it will determine what is in demand or how much the upcharge will be in all cases. According to the company, the new charge will start at $2.

The biggest knock against MoviePass, though, is the service itself. The terms of the subscription keep changing. Over the last year, this service has not only begun restricting you from seeing a movie a second time but is also requiring users to submit photos of their ticket stubs and is tinkering with temporarily locking specific movies in certain locations. When attempting to buy a ticket to a screening of Red Sparrow back in March, the title was simply blocked out on the app. When I tweeted MoviePass to ask why, it quickly responded, “As we continue to enhance our service for everyone, certain inventory may not be available at all times.” Of course, there was no warning that this would be happening.

AMC Stubs A-List

The newest player on the block is AMC’s response to MoviePass. The world’s largest movie theater chain has integrated a subscription service to its loyalty points system. AMC Stubs A-List offers three tickets each week for the monthly price of $19.95.

What Works

The most exciting thing about A-List is it’s all contained within the AMC Theaters app–it’s where you find the movies, buy the tickets, and have them scanned at the theater. With that in mind, it’s also linked to your Stubs account. As a member, you get access to Stubs Premium, which allows you to collect points from concession purchases that earn you rewards.

The nicest perk of A-List, though, is access to premium formats. Not only can you watch movies repeatedly, but you have access to IMAX, 3D, Dolby, and AMC Prime screenings. There are no restrictions.

What Doesn’t Work

The big problem with A-List is it only works at AMC theaters. While it is the world’s largest theater chain, that doesn’t mean everybody lives near one. If there’s not an AMC in your neighborhood, you’re out of luck.

Of course, there’s also the fact that you’re paying twice as much as MoviePass for less than half of the movies. However, this should only concern you if you know you’ll be seeing more than three movies each week.

Sinemia

Sinemia is seemingly a dark horse that came out of nowhere. However, it’s been around since 2014 with offerings in the UK, Canada, Turkey, and Australia. It made its presence known in the US market in May with four different pricing options:

$4.99 per month for 1 standard movie ticket
$6.99 per month for 2 standard movie tickets
$9.99 per month for 2 of any movie ticket (3D, 4D, IMAX)
$14.99 per month for 3 of any movie ticket (3D, 4D, IMAX)

What Works

The best thing about Sinemia is it allows you to purchase tickets to just about any movie theater. Those locked out on MoviePass typically aren’t in Sinemia and it also works for the AMC theaters found in A-List. There are also a variety of plans to meet your moviegoing needs, provided you don’t head to the theater multiple times each week.

For fans of premium format films, the top two plan options give access to IMAX, 3D, 4DX, and practically any other upcharge option a theater might offer–and it’s all included in your monthly price.

What Doesn’t Work

The biggest issue with Sinemia is the app itself. In trying to simplify the design, it’s become a bit confusing. Want to buy a ticket to an upcoming film? Head to the planning tab. From there, though, you’ll have to switch over to the Fandango app to find a theater and showtime.

After manually entering the information into the Sinemia app, a temporary credit card number will be unlocked that you can then transfer back over to the Fandango app–or Atom Tickets or MovieTickets.com–to purchase there. It can make for a difficult process.

There also doesn’t seem to be a simple way within the app to find out how many tickets you have left. These are all problems that could be addressed in a redesign. Still, given that you’re paying up to $15 each month for three tickets, it could make the hassle more than it’s worth.

The Bottom Line

Truthfully, each of these subscriptions has some merit. Sinemia offers the least tickets, but access to premium theaters and formats. MoviePass offers the most tickets, but more restrictions and a constant state of flux when it comes to service rules. Meanwhile, AMC Stubs A-List offers a middle-of-the-road number of tickets for the highest price, but with surprisingly few restrictions outside of only being available at AMC theaters.

In the end, though, there is a clear winner. While it may be the newest on the scene, AMC Stubs A-List is exactly what I’m looking for when it comes to a movie ticket subscription. Everything is housed within the app, it’s really easy to use, and IMAX, 3D, and other premium formats are offered–what’s not to love?

That said, if you don’t live near an AMC theater but still want to see tons of movies every month, MoviePass may be your best bet. However, if you’re part of the 88% of MoviePass’s audience that the company says sees two or fewer movies each month, check out Sinemia. It may not be the best-designed app, but it allows you to easily treat yourself to IMAX and 3D screenings.

Disclosure: Sinemia provided GameSpot with a trial subscription to evaluate the service for this story.

Explaining Ant-Man and the Wasp’s New Villain Ghost

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is getting bigger all the time, with Ant-Man and the Wasp adding several new heroes and villains to the mix. One of those new additions is Ghost (played by Hannah John-Kamen), a sinister villain who — in the comics anyway — lives to make life miserable for the business tycoons of the Marvel U.

If you’re not familiar with Ghost, here’s everything you need to know about the villain and his/her comic book background.

Where most Marvel villains are busy trying to take over the world or feuding with their superhero nemesis of choice, Ghost is more motivated by a love of anarchy and a desire to punish oppressive corporations. Ghost has dedicated himself (more on the character’s gender in a sec!) to attacking the largest corporate empires in the Marvel Universe, using a combination of elite hacking skills and phasing abilities to dismantle them from the inside out. Sometimes he works as a hired mercenary performing acts of corporate espionage. Other times he chooses his own targets. But either way, Ghost is a real thorn in the side of powerful businessmen in general and Tony Stark in particular.

Ant-Man and the Wasp’s Goliath Explained

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is expanding in a big way thanks to Ant-Man and the Wasp. Not only does the film finally put Evangeline Lilly’s Hope Van Dyne in costume and introduce her long-lost mother, Janet (played by Michelle Pfeiffer), but we also meet Dr. Bill Foster (Laurence Fishburne), a brilliant scientist and future heir to the mantle of Giant-Man (in the comics anyway). As we learned in the trailers for the film, Foster worked with Hank Pym at one time on “the Goliath program”… though he never got quite as big as Ant-Man did!

Whether you call him Giant-Man, Goliath or Black Goliath, Bill Foster isn’t a character many causal Marvel fans may be aware of. With that in mind, here’s everything you need to know about this new addition to the MCU.