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Paramount+ Revival Of The Rugrats Gets New Trailer

Paramount+ has released a full trailer for Rugrats, a 3D CGI revival series of the popular ’90s Nickelodeon cartoon that had the same name. The reimagining will hit the streaming service on May 27.

Like the original, this version “follows Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, Susie, and Angelica as they explore the world and beyond from their pint-sized and wildly imaginative point-of-view.” It has not yet been disclosed how many episodes this reboot will feature, but the May 27 premiere will be an hour-long episode featuring dinosaurs–most likely, Reptar, the much-loved Godzilla-like dino from the original, will make an appearance. Check out the new trailer below to get a sense of what the show is like after making the leap from 2D to 3D.

The trailer also noticeably features the original voice actors E.G. Dailey (Tommy), Nancy Cartwright (Chuckie), Cheryl Case (Angelica), Cree Summer (Susie), and Kath Soucie (Phil and Lil). Though not all featured in this clip, new voice actors joining the series include Ashley Rae Spillars, Tommy Dewey, Nicole Byer, Tony Hale, Natalie Morales, Omar Miller, Anna Chlumsky, Timothy Simons, and Michael McKean.

Rugrats is just one of many ’90s revivals on its way from streaming services. Paramount+ is also bringing back Beavis and Butt-Head in a new movie, but it still hasn’t been disclosed whether series creator Mike Judge is involved. Judge, meanwhile, is also rumored to be in “hot negotiations” to revive King of the Hill. Dexter, Head of the Class, and Party Down are just three of many revivals due in the near future.

Epic’s Cross-Play Pressure Campaign On PlayStation Revealed in Court Documents

The Epic Games v Apple trial continues to spill out interesting details about other games companies and Epic’s relationships with them. In a new trove of email documents, we get an inside look at Epic CEO Tim Sweeney pressuring Sony’s Phil Rosenberg on enabling cross-play for Fortnite–with the help of the ticking clock of an impending E3.

“Many Fortnite players are kids, and their friendships are being torn apart by Sony’s segregation of players on competing platforms,” Sweeney said in an email dated June 1, 2018. He went on to argue that Sony’s approach could violate European law, and that the company was “prepared to pursue this course with all available resources, wherever it leads us, and for however long.” He implored Rosenberg to pass this message along to Tsuyoshi Kodera, then-president of Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Rosenberg’s response was to assure Sweeney he had forwarded the documents and was awaiting a response, after which Sweeney stressed impending announcements planned for E3. He said E3 was to be a “definitive” moment for Fortnite, with plans to announce the Switch port, esports details, and cross-purchase and cross-play across every platform except Sony’s. But, he said, those plans could be changed if Sony made a firm commitment.

“We won’t delay partner announcements by weeks or months on the mere hope of future Sony-Epic discussions being fruitful,” Sweeney wrote. “If we could reach a definitive agreement on cross-console by E3, Epic would be very flexible on the timing of announcing cross-console and even all console esports. We’d ideally like to announce both at E3, but could delay announcement or implementation of either or both to allow more time to sort out the details.”

Rosenberg once again expressed skepticism that Sony could reach a decision by E3, as it was only a week away. Near the end of the email exchange, Sweeney made a note about his tone.

“In processing tone and thoughts in these emails please understand that Epic much prefers, and we assume Sony also prefers, to have the frankest possible policy discussions in private now than to have any sort of public conflict later,” he said.

Epic ultimately did announce its Fortnite Switch port at E3 2018, and predictably enough, Sony had to address the backlash from fans over its refusal to enable cross-play on its platform. Sony ultimately relented later in 2018.

This is the second big reveal of new information about Epic’s work behind the scenes with Sony during the time period, the first of which came in a newly revealed set of emails on Monday. All of this ostensibly relates to the Epic v Apple trial, as the evidence is being presented to show various Epic partner relationships. But it’s also an interesting look behind-the-scenes at how Epic has leveraged the popularity of Fortnite in its business relationships.

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Returnal’s Patch 1.1.3 Fixes Trophy Bugs, Crashes, And More

Returnal has been out less than a week, but developer Housemarque has managed to push out another patch to fix smaller issues that players have been experiencing.

Some of the most notable fixes include ones for Trophies, which haven’t been unlocking correctly at certain parts of the game. Housemarque says that the issue is resolved, but that players will need to replay those portions to trigger it again. Other targets issues with preorder suits that were causing crashes and run-ending bugs like lockdown doors never reopening, with Housemarque confirming that players are safe to use their in-game items again.

Other changes include tweaks to the number of dead scouts you will be able to find during a run, some issues with custom controller mappings, and a vague note about incorrect healing behavior at Selene’s ship, Helios. The patch doesn’t mention or address the growing outcry for the option to save a run without needing to depend on the PS5’s Rest Mode. Housemarque had to warn players yesterday to turn off automatic updates to prevent today’s patch from prematurely ending a run you might have suspended.

Returnal’s 1.1.3 patch is out now, and you can find the full changelog below. The latest PS5 exclusive is a strong one, with our Returnal review saying, “Returnal is constantly unsettling and consistently challenging. Its mysterious story and demanding action feel intense, urgent, and fresh.”

Returnal – Patch 1.1.3 Notes

  • Fixed an issue where certain Trophies might not unlock under specific gameplay conditions. Note: missing Trophies will need to be replayed to unlock.
  • Multiple stability fixes addressing rare crashes/hangs.
  • Fixed issue with pre-order suits occasionally blocking item collection and door opening.
  • Fixed incorrect healing behaviour when resting in Helios.
  • Configuration changes to increase the number of scout corpses available in all biomes.
  • Fixed issues with certain custom controller mappings.
  • Numerous minor fixes and improvements.

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Red Sonja Movie Will Star Ant-Man And The Wasp’s Hannah John-Kamen

The Red Sonja movie has found its star. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hannah John-Kamen has been cast as the iconic warrior in the fantasy movie.

British star John-Kamen is best known for her role as Ava Starr (aka Ghost) in Ant-man and the Wasp, as well as appearing in Ready Player One, Game of Thrones, and the Netflix show The Stranger. She will next be seen in the movie Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City, which hits theaters in November.

Hannah John-Kamen in Ant-Man and the Wasp
Hannah John-Kamen in Ant-Man and the Wasp

Red Sonja will be directed by Joey Soloway, who created the acclaimed show Transparent as well as producing shows such as Six Feet Under and Grey’s Anatomy. In a statement, Soloway said, “Hannah is a very talented actress who we’ve been following for years and she IS Red Sonja. Her range, sensibilities, and strength are all qualities we have been looking for and we couldn’t be more excited to embark on this journey together.”

The movie has been in development at Millennium Films for several years. An earlier version was set to start shooting in 2019, with Bryan Singer directing, but this production was canceled following various allegations of sexual assault against Singer. Prior that, Alita: Battle Angel director Robert Rodriguez was attached to a Red Sonja movie.

The character of Red Sonja was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith, and first appeared in a 1973 issue of Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian comic. She subsequently appeared in her own title. A previous movie was made in 1986, with Brigitte Nielsen in the lead role and co-starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, but this was a commercial and critical failure.

Spiral: From The Book Of Saw Debuts New Clips, Teases New Jigsaw Killer

After a year-long delay thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ninth installment of the Saw franchise, Spiral: From the Book of Saw, is just around the corner. And while the name may look a bit different, the set-up and the flavor of the torture-based serial killer horror movie franchise is as familiar as ever. Take a look at these clips of the movie Lionsgate has released.

The first teases the relationship between Chris Rock’s character, Detective Zeke Banks, and Samuel L. Jackson, who plays his father, Marcus Banks. At best, things seem rocky.

Next, we have something a bit more Saw-like: Banks being sent a USB drive marked “play me,” containing a message from the new “copycat” Jigsaw killer. In the voice over, the new Jigsaw claims that there’s a cop who refused to be “reformed” and, inevitably, wound up playing the game. Banks’ fellow detectives seem very familiar with the premise and even warn Banks that a copycat Jigsaw will be bad news.

Then, we have Jackson’s character actually caught in the middle of one of Jigsaw’s games–though it’s impossible to tell whether this is one of the franchise’s many overlapping flashback sequences based on the clip alone. It’s possible that Jackson’s character may have been one of the people to actually make it through Jigsaw’s traps alive at some point in the past.

Finally, we have Banks meeting his new partner, Detective William Schenk (Max Minghella). He seems less than thrilled by the prospect.

Spiral: From The Book Of Saw is hitting theaters on May 14, 2021.

Star Wars Actors Daisy Ridley And Ben Mendelsohn Lead Cast For New Psychological Thriller

Daisy Ridley and Ben Mendelsohn, both of whom have appeared in Star Wars movies but never together, are set to appear in a new movie from Limitless director Neil Burger.

The movie is a psychological thriller called The Marsh King’s Daughter. Mendelsohn is lined up to play Jacob Holbrook, the “Marsh King,” who in the story kept his daughter and her mother imprisoned in the wilderness for a period of years, according to Deadline.

Ridley plays his daughter, Helena, who eventually escaped captivity. Years later, Holbrook escapes from a maximum security prison and Helena, using the hunting and tracking skills she learned as a child, is sure she can track him down.

“But as Helena hunts her father to return him to prison, gradually she realizes that his escape is the first step in an elaborate scheme to kidnap her and her two young daughters. As their cat-and-quarry game unfolds, she must use all of her wilderness skills not only to thwart his plan, but to survive it,” reads a description from the book.

The movie is based on the book of the same name, The Marsh King’s Daughter, which was written by Karen Dionne and published in 2017. The screenplay was written by Mark L. Smith (The Revenant) and Elle Smith. Filming is expected to begin in Canada in June.

Ridley starred in the new Star Wars trilogy as Rey, while Mendelsohn portrayed the villainous Krennic in the spin-off Star Wars: Rogue One.

Biomutant – The Final Preview

Described as a “post-apocalyptic kung-fu fable,” the action and storytelling on display in Biomutant present an adventure that’s an intriguing mix of the classic animated film Secret of Nimh, along with the platforming and action of games like Enslaved: Odyssey To The West and Devil May Cry. And therein lies the hook for Biomutant; it wears its weirdness on its sleeve, presenting an alluring take on what the post-apocalyptic Earth would look like once the animals inherit the world.

In our preview, we got a clearer sense of the game’s focus on action and storytelling, and how the hero’s journey will evolve in a world full of talking animals and decaying automatons. First revealed back in 2017, Biomutant is the debut game from Experiment 101, made up of former developers from the Just Cause series. Biomutant is a departure from that particular series, which instead focuses more on exploring a Zelda-like map with action-RPG mechanics that blend third-person combat and RPG-like progression.

Biomutant releases for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on May 25th.

Massive Amazon Sale Features Video Game Art Books, Official D&D Books, Compendiums, And More

Video games offer vast, detailed worlds that you can truly get lost in, and sometimes, there’s more to learn about a world than what you easily pick up by just playing the game. That’s part of why video game art books and compendiums are so popular–they dive deeper into the lore and history of a game while also showing off the art and sketches that went into making a game world come to life. If you’re someone who likes to collect art books, guides, and other books around gaming, Amazon’s latest sale has an absolute treasure trove of deals to check out.

The new Amazon sale features steep discounts on dozens of video game art books, compendiums, cookbooks, novelizations, and more. But on top of these individual discounts, there’s a multi-buy deal that slashes 50% off one of your items when you add two to your cart. As usual, this’ll be the cheaper item that gets the discount, so keep that in mind. This offers stacks as well–if you buy four things, the two cheapest items will be 50% off. With these combined deals, you can stock up on any gaming books you’ve been eyeing for a great price today, so it’s absolutely worth browsing all the offers.

Highlights from the sale include Dark Horse’s entire line of video game art books, giving you a closer look at concept art, sketches, and more from games like Cuphead, Ghost of Tsushima, and Final Fantasy. Notably, the brand-new Mass Effect Trilogy: Expanded Edition art book is on sale, just in time for Mass Effect: Legendary Edition.

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If you do a lot of home cooking, official cookbooks inspired by series like Destiny and The Elder Scrolls are discounted. These make great gifts for others too (and hey, Mother’s Day is this weekend if you need a last-minute gift). Dungeons & Dragons players can save big on a bunch of official guidebooks like the Fifth Edition Monster Manual and newly released Candlekeep Mysteries. A few books about the gaming industry itself are included too, like Ask Iwata, a book about Nintendo’s iconic CEO Satoru Iwata that released in April.

The sale isn’t just gaming-related–hundreds of books are discounted and eligible for the multi-buy discount as well. Because of that, it’s somewhat difficult to parse through it all and find the stuff you’re interested in. Lucky for you, we’ve gone through and picked out as many of the gaming-related deals as we could and rounded them up below. This isn’t everything–for example, there are plenty more Halo novels and D&D books on sale if you look them up in the sale’s search bar–but this should give you an idea of the type of books on offer.

Art books and compendiums

Cookbooks

Official Dungeons & Dragons books

Novels and graphic novels

General nonfiction

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House of the Dragon Images Offer First Look at HBO’s Game of Thrones Prequel

The first images from the set of House of the Dragon have been revealed.

The photographs, taken at a beach location, show five of the key cast members. Sporting the instantly recognisable hair of the Targaryen family are Emma D’Arcy and Matt Smith as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Prince Daemon Targaryen. The second duo photograph is of Alicent Hightower and Otto Hightower, played by Olivia Cooke and Rhys Ifans. Finally, standing on his lonesome is Steve Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon, a character known as “The Sea Snake”.

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Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen is the king’s first-born child and a dragonrider. Prince Daemon Targaryen is her uncle, and younger brother of King Viserys. An heir to the throne, he is said to be a peerless warrior and a dragonrider.

Otto Hightower is the hand of the king, who believes Daemon Targaryen is the largest threat to the realm. Alicent is his daughter, and was raised in the Red Keep close to the king’s inner-circle.

Finally, the Sea Snake is the Lord of House Velaryon, a Valyrian bloodline as old as House Targaryen. He’s a famed nautical adventurer and head of a family richer than even the Lannisters.

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For more, be sure to check out our House of the Dragon explainer to learn exactly what HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel will explore.

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Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

Past Mass Effect Deluxe Edition Content Is Now Online For Free

The upcoming release of Mass Effect Legendary Edition isn’t exactly short of content, as the classic BioWare space adventure trilogy includes remastered versions of the original games and almost all of the DLC that came with them. What’s not is deluxe edition content from Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 such as soundtracks, art books, and comic books. Those additional features can be found instead on EA’s website, and best of all, it’s entirely free.

EA and BioWare have put together a 1.7GB download package that includes 88 music tracks from across the trilogy including a Resynthesis single, two digital art books, two digital comic books, and a digital lithograph of the Normandy spaceship, which can all be downloaded from this link.

As an added bonus, there’s a unique custom key art creator experience that allows you to customize your own Mass Effect Legendary Edition key art. Choose your favorite Shepard, assemble your team, a key location, and even the squad’s morality, and a custom piece of key art can be created.

EA explained that this piece can be shared online, as well as downloaded in several formats including 4K and slipcover sizing for players who want to personalize their physical copies.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition launches on PS4, PC, Xbox One, and via backwards compatibility on Xbox Series X|S and PS5 on May 14. It’ll have a sizable day one patch to download, and you can currently grab the game for $10 off at Newegg.

Now Playing: Mass Effect Legendary Edition Has HUGE Changes

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