Author: Trafficblast

We’re slowly learning and seeing more of the new Spider-Man game for PlayStation 4 from Ratchet & Clank developer Insomniac Games. Today, some fresh gameplay footage from superhero action game swung in, showing off a new look at Peter Parker/Spider-Man in combat, traversing the city, and the cool camera angles that Insomniac is using to give Spidey a sense of speed and momentum. The footage comes by way of a Game Informer video in which developers discuss the game briefly.

They talk about how you’ll be playing as a more experienced Spider-Man, one who swings around Manhattan “with style and confidence.” They wanted to make a Spider-Man who is capable and confident in his abilities, and is able to smoothly switch between shooting webs, swinging around, and in melee combat. The developers use the terms “speed,” “style,” “flow,” and “fluidity” to describe their goals for Spider-Man’s movements. Also in the video, the developers discuss how, although Spider-Man is older and more refined, this is still an underdog story that will see the character overcoming the odds to win the day.

Insomniac’s Spider-Man game was announced at E3 2016, and has since been confirmed to be a standalone experience not directly tied to any new Spider-Man movies.

“I think we’ve been inspired by all the different mediums that Marvel has, whether it’s film, animation, live-action, comic books, even t-shirts,” Marvel Games creative director Bill Rosemann said previously. “So we’re looking at everything and we’re blending it all together. But it’s standalone; all-new story, all new world. We’re always stretching, we’re always challenging, we’re always moving the characters forward.”

Insomniac says its open world will be much larger than that of one of its previous games, Sunset Overdrive. There’s no release date at this time, but the game is confirmed for 2018.

The Lord of the Rings is one of the biggest and best known media properties on the planet, so it’s no surprise that companies are looking to license it for their own endeavours. Amazon reportedly paid The Tolkien Estate $250 million for the rights alone to The Lord of the Rings for its upcoming TV show. And now, a report claims that theme park giant Universal is considering adding a Lord of the Rings area to its upcoming fourth park in Florida.

This information comes by way of the Disney & More blog, which itself says it received the information from a “reliable insider source.” Additionally, SlashFilm reports that the blog has accurately reported on unannounced theme park news in the past. That being said, this is far from official at this stage, though it is exciting to think about.

This is not the first time we’ve heard about a potential Lord of the Rings theme park. All the way back in 2010, a survey reportedly from Universal asked respondents if they would be interested in a theme park and attractions that let them travel to Middle-earth.

One part of the survey reportedly contained the following language:

“Imagine if you will a world unlike any you’ve ever visited before: it’s Middle Earth, the ancient and beautiful land forged by J.R.R. Tolkien as the backdrop for his two most well known creations, Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Walk as a human among dwarves, elves, orcs and hobbits–all faithfully recreated and portrayed in the spirit of the original characters as they appeared in both the books and the movies. In this land you’ll experience one-of-a-kind rides and attractions that bring to life some of the most memorable experiences of Tolkien’s world including Bilbo’s hobbit hole, the fortress at Isengard (before it was destroyed) and even the dark world of Mordor — including the terrifying volcanic Mount Doom.”

According to Disney & More’s source, Universal’s fourth park is codenamed Project 314. In addition to The Lord of the Rings, the fourth park could be home to the already announced Super Nintendo World area. The blog adds that Universal is trying to work with The Pokemon Company to add Pokemon to the Super Nintendo World.

The report goes on to claim that Universal is considering a new Harry Potter area called “Ministry of Magic,” themed around the Fantastic Beasts franchise. Universal already has a major Harry Potter zone in the form of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. A new Jurassic Park/World ride is reportedly being considered for the fourth park as well.

Disney & More’s source said Universal is working “full speed ahead” on its fourth park, with the estimate currently that the park would open before 2023-2024. Another interesting element to this story is that, if the park is indeed happening, that would put some kind of pressure on Disney–which has a major park very close to Universal’s–to create new attractions and experiences.

If there’s one character who represents Mortal Kombat as an iconic video game franchise, it’s Scorpion. The yellow ninja has been around since its inception, which means he’s been dishing out fatalities for well over 25 years. We took a look at how those gory finishers have evolved, and what can we say? The man loves fire.

Scorpion has evolved as a character in that time, becoming an undead ninja specter and arch-nemesis of fellow ninja Sub-Zero. It’s only fitting that his deadly moves revolve primarily around fire: setting his foes on fire, spitting fire, blowing fire, puncturing a basketball-sized hole through their chest with fire, and so on. It’s best not to think too much about the physics of how these toasty skeletons stay standing as he chars them to a crisp.

But what’s a ninja without a weapon? As the character evolved he became less reliant on his spicy breath and more on his signature sword. All this culminates in a fatality from Mortal Kombat X that is so gross we recommend not eating for two hours before watching it. Check it out, along with all the others, in the video above.