Author: Trafficblast

In August, Disney+ is offering up plenty of reasons to stay at home with fresh content arriving throughout the month. This includes new movies, series, and classic catalog titles.

There’s only a few truly bright spots in the new batch of content hitting the streaming service, and Marvel’s What If…? definitely leads the pack on August 11. The animated series dives into various Marvel multiverses and the many possibilities for its character beyond what went down in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s the studio’s first animated series, though it will feel familiar–it features a voice cast that includes many actors from the MCU, including Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, Josh Brolin as Thanos, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger, and Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster. And that’s just to name a few. Check out the trailer below.

If the notion of alternate histories in the Marvel universe sounds daunting, August 4 brings about Marvel Studios Legends, which “serves as an exciting refresher for the various heroes and villains making their way to the highly anticipated streaming shows premiering on Disney+.” The show is intended to “set the stage for upcoming adventures.” The most immediate upcoming episodes will feature Peggy Carter, The Avengers Initiative, and The Ravagers.

Finally, Cruella finally hits Disney+ on August 28. Disney, already very pleased with the film’s performance, has indicated that a sequel to the Cruella de Vil origin story is already in “early development.”

New to Disney+ in August 2021

August 4

• America’s Funniest Home Videos: Animal Edition (S1)
• Cesar Millan: Better Human Better Dog (S1) Ep. Fit For Service
• Cesar Millan: Better Human Better Dog (S1) Ep. One Brick At A Time
• Disney Junior Fancy Nancy (S2)
• Short Circuit (Shorts)
• Chip ‘n’ Dale: Park Life
• Marvel Studios Legends
• Monsters at Work
• Turner & Hooch

August 6

• Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2
• Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3: Viva La Fiesta!
• Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted (S3) Ep. Finland’s Midnight Sun
• Killer Shark Vs. Killer Whale
• Mrs. Doubtfire
• The Mysterious Benedict Society
• Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Episode 115

August 11

• Breaking Bobby Bones (S1), 8 episodes
• Cesar Millan: Better Human Better Dog (S1) Ep. Front Of The Pack
• Cesar Millan: Better Human Better Dog (S1) Ep. Canine Quarantine
• Disney Gabby Duran & The Unsittables (S2), 10 episodes
• Disney Junior Chicken Squad (S1), 7 episodes
• What If…?
• Chip ‘n’ Dale: Park Life: Episode 103
• Monsters at Work: Episode 107
• Turner & Hooch: Episode 104

August 13

• Aquamarine
• Shark Attack Files (S1) Ep. Sharks Gone Rogue
• Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Episode 116

August 18

• Cesar Millan: Better Human Better Dog (S1) Ep. Pack Attack
• Cesar Millan: Better Human Better Dog (S1) Ep. Blind Faith
• Disney The Owl House (S2), 5 episodes
• Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet (S9)
• Life Below Zero: Next Generation (S1)
• Life Below Zero: Next Generation (S2)
• Diary of a Future President: Season 2 Premiere
• Chip ‘n’ Dale: Park Life: Episode 104
• Monsters at Work: Episode 108 “Little Monsters”
• Turner & Hooch: Episode 105 “Road To Smell Dorado”
• What If…?: Episode 102

August 20

August 25

• Cesar Millan: Better Human Better Dog (S1) Ep. Twin Trouble
• Cesar Millan: Better Human Better Dog (S1) Ep. Dogs V Cats
• Dr. K’s Exotic Animal ER (S9)
• Gigantosaurus (S2)
• Wicked Tuna (S10), 12 episodes
• Disney Gallery: Star Wars: The Mandalorian
• Chip ‘n’ Dale: Park Life: Episode 105 “Dog In The House / Cone Alone / Highway To Hugs”
• Monsters at Work: Episode 109 “Bad Hair Day”
• Turner & Hooch: Episode 106 “The Fur-gitive”
• What If…?: Episode 103

August 27

• Cruella
• Dan in Real Life
• Disney Princess Remixed: An Ultimate Princess Celebration
• Underdog

Shoe scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could engineer Jurassic Park sneakers, that they never bothered to check if they should create them. That tinkering has resulted in a collaboration between Reebok and Amblin Entertainment that celebrates the 1993 film by proving that life finds a way to don some fashionable kicks.

There’ll be quite a few of these sneakers available with various price points. At the top of the shoe chain there’s the $200 Instapump Fury OG which looks like it was built out of a Jurassic Park touring vehicle and has some tasteful battle damage.

The Jurassic Stomper also costs $200, but it has a more tasteful design inspired by the infield InGen staff uniforms. Then there’s the $200 Pump Omni Zone 2 that features a Dilophosaurus theme, complete with carnivorous aesthetics. Sadly, the shoes lack any other flair that can be used to terrify would-be theme park saboteurs.

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At $140, the Zig Devil Kinetica also resembles a Jurassic Park SUV, specifically the one used to go much faster than a Tyrannosaurus Rex. If you’re into chaos theory and Jeff Goldblum, there’s a classic leather option available for $120 and features a “chaotic lateral side” to its design. Finally, $110 and the magic word gets you a Denis Nedry-inspired Club C 85 shoe that features the same floral pattern on it as the first shirt that he wore in the film.

Some of the footwear will be released in packaging that resembles the toy packaging from 1993, while the rest of the shoes will arrive in their own themed boxes when they go on sale on July 30. If shoes aren’t your thing, there’s plenty of other Jurassic Park-related activities on the horizon. Jurassic World Dominion–the third movie in the Jurassic World franchise–is in development, while park management simulator Jurassic World Evolution 2 will be released later this year on PC and console.

All that and the new VelociCoaster attraction at Universal Studios Orlando’s Islands of Adventure theme park that allows you to outrun some very clever girls.

The first trailer for the Chucky TV series is here. The Child’s Play spin-off show premieres on SyFy and USA Network on October 12.

The trailer is very short and doesn’t give too much way in terms of the plot. However, it does reveal how cursed doll Chucky ends up in the hands of a new family. He’s picked up at a yard sale–but not before he takes one of the knives being sold right next to him. The rest of the promo is a quickly cut montage of characters and scary moments and ends with Chucky’s distinctive evil laugh. Check it out below:

The cast of Chucky is a mix of new actors and names that will be familiar to the long-running series. New stars include Zackary Arthur (Transparent), Bjorgvin Arnarson (The Seventh Day), Teo Briones (Ratched), Lexa Doig (Stargate SG-1), and Devon Sawa (Final Destination).

Brad Dourif returns as the voice of Chucky, and he’ll be joined by Jennifer Tilly, who will play Tiffany, Chucky’s equally dangerous bride. Other returning cast members include Alex Vincent as Andy, the young boy from the first two Child’s Play movies, Christine Elise McCarthy as Andy’s foster sister Kyle from Child’s Play 2, and Fiona Dourif as Nina Pierce.

The Chucky showrunner is Don Mancini. With the exception of the unconnected 2019 Child’s Play remake, Mancini has written every movie in the series to date, and directed the last three. Mancini has also written every episode of the show, and will direct the first episode.

In an interview with SyFy Wire, Mancini explained that the new show will deal with the issues of growing up in the 21st century, as well as delivering some old-school scares. “It’s a return to the straightforward horror scariness of the first couple of movies involving a whole new group of kids,” he said. “One thing I think I can probably safely say is that it’s a look at what it means to be a kid today in the 21st century as distinct from what it was like to be a kid in the 1980s when we first showed up on the scene. I think the prospect of seeing Chucky sharpen his skills and add to his toolbox, some of the technical goodies that we have at our disposal now, that’s something I think people will find pretty interesting.”

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

The Steam Deck looks to be a high-tech way to play your PC games library on the go, but Valve has emphasized that it’s first and foremost a PC at heart. That means you can load it up however you might outfit a standard PC, which has raised the question: can we use Xbox Game Pass on it? So far there are more questions than answers.

For its part, Microsoft isn’t giving a clear answer. A Microsoft spokesperson simply told GameSpot, “We’re always excited when companies create new ways for people to play the games they love.” Xbox head Phil Spencer also lent his public congratulations on Twitter.

It stands to reason that the Steam Deck could potentially be made to run Game Pass games, which would grant it a massive library, including a steady stream of new first-party games. That’s an enticing possibility that makes the value proposition of the Steam Deck that much more appealing, especially if you’re already a member of Game Pass anyway. And Microsoft hasn’t shied away from the centrality of Game Pass to its overall market strategy. The company plans to bring it to TVs without an Xbox, so it would make sense for it to explore support for a device like Steam Deck, which would offer a portable version of Game Pass that doesn’t rely on cloud streaming.

Some questions remain open, though. For one, which Game Pass are we referring to in this dream feature? Microsoft offers three separate tracks of Game Pass–console, PC, and cloud. There’s plenty of overlap between the three, but the libraries differ slightly. As the Steam Deck is a PC at heart, it would probably be easiest to make it work with the Game Pass PC library. But some of those games are more targeted at KB/M controls, which wouldn’t necessarily work well with the Steam Deck controller. It’s also difficult to tell if text that was meant to be read on a monitor would cleanly transfer to a much smaller screen, though this is a problem potentially facing all PC games played on Steam Deck.

There is also the underlying technology at play. Steam Deck runs SteamOS by default, which doesn’t run Game Pass by itself. You may have to install a separate OS on the device, and we’re not yet sure how complex that process could be. You may have to choose one OS over another, and lose the SteamOS interface in the process.

The SteamOS also uses Proton to make non-Linux games playable, but that could mean extra work for Microsoft to ensure that each Game Pass game is compatible with Linux or Proton. That could ultimately lead to some Game Pass games being supported and not others, which could be awkward and confusing for casual players who enjoy the simplicity of Game Pass as a service. That alone might be enough to make it not worthwhile for Microsoft, at least until Steam Deck establishes a large enough install base to warrant the effort (which would track with Xbox’s reluctance to meaningfully get into VR).

And then of course there’s the question of market considerations. The Steam Deck should be very customizable, by nature of being a PC, but Valve is still aiming to push its closed ecosystem. Analyst Daniel Ahmad speculated that Valve is using the default Steam storefront to boost its profit margins for the Steam Deck, so that it doesn’t need to rely on the hardware itself to generate a profit.

If that’s the case, Valve may not be too keen on helping on-board customers into a competing service for which it makes no profit. Whatever work may need to go into helping Game Pass run on Steam Deck, Valve might not be jumping at the opportunity to do it.

Suffice to say that Game Pass on Steam Deck is an exciting possibility, but there are plenty of hurdles to overcome–both internal and external to the device itself. If it does work, though, it makes the promise of a decently-powered PC in your hand that much better.

The Steam Deck preorders open today at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. Check out our Steam Deck preorder guide for more details.

The first trailer for Netflix’s new Monster Hunter movie, Legends of the Guild, has arrived. The trailer introduces viewers to the main character, Aiden, who is defending his village from a dragon.

Aiden is voiced by Dante Brasco, who played a major role in the Steven Spielberg movie Hook and is also known for his voiceover career, most prominently in the role of Prince Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild comes to Netflix on August 12. It’s directed by Steven F. Yamamoto, who has done visual effects for Transformers and is making his directorial debut with the film.

“A young man named Aiden, who calls himself a hunter, protects his isolated village. One day, he learns that his village is threatened by an Elder Dragon, a monster cloaked in mystery. Needing to find a way to save his village, Aiden leaves his home and sets off on a journey into the unknown alongside Julius, a first-rate hunter and member of the Hunter’s Guild, and his companions,” reads a line from the film’s description (via Eurogamer). “Thus begins an original story that shines the spotlight on characters in the world of Monster Hunter who have remained in the background until now.”

The movie was produced by Pure Imagination Studios. It’s the second Monster Hunter movie in under a year, following the live-action Monster Hunter film starring Milla Jovovich. GameSpot’s Monster Hunter live-action movie review said it was a “monstrous miscalculation.”

Backwards compatibility has been a key factor in Microsoft’s gaming strategy, as its current generation of Xbox Series X|S consoles are compatible with a wide range of original Xbox and Xbox 360 games, as well as the entire Xbox One library. Some other companies have a very different approach to games preservation, something which Xbox head Phil Spencer wants to change.

“I do worry a little bit about losing our artform and the history of it,” Spencer said on this week’s Kinda Funny Gamescast, where he also spoke about potential future acquisitions for Xbox. “When I think about old ROMs and MAME and these things of where these old games are going to go as the hardware that’s capable of running those games. I really wish as an industry we’d come together to help preserve the history of what gaming is about, so we don’t lose the ability to go back.”

Spencer believes that major platform stakeholders need to come together and archive older games or risk losing access to the titles that helped shape the industry.

As for Microsoft’s ongoing efforts, Spencer noted games that required the Kinect would be harder to bring to Xbox since the original peripheral is no longer supported. For other games though, Spencer added that cloud-based gaming could be an ideal solution.

“On preservation, one of the things that the cloud does offer us is the ability to throw more hardware at some of the emulation scenarios, to make it possible to really emulate,” Spencer said. “When we’re in the cloud, we don’t have to worry about the local compute capability to emulate those old systems. It’s one of the reasons why we look at the cloud and we continue on some of our backward compatibility work, which we are still working on, because I want those games to still be playable.”

Microsoft’s work hasn’t just made its older games playable; it has improved on them as well with 4K upgrades, auto HDR, and FPS Boost. As for Sony, PS4 games are backwards compatible with the newer PS5, but you’ll need to track down the original console hardware if you’re looking to try out some PS3 or PS Vita games. Fortunately, the digital stores for those consoles still remain open for now.

Other initiatives do exist to archive games, such as the non-profit Video Game History Foundation that built a dedicated research library that preserves all manner of items from the industry. This week also saw the Museum of Play track down a rare copy of Id Software’s port of Super Mario Bros. 3 for MS-DOS, which Nintendo rejected at the time as it simply wasn’t interested in the PC market.