Author: Trafficblast

IKEA has spent years working on a line of gaming furniture, and now it’s finally ready. The Swedish furniture giant has announced its gaming range that it developed in partnership with Republic of Gamers, and it includes everything you need to deck out your gaming room and potentially some stuff more esoteric items.

In a statement, IKEA said getting into gaming was a “natural step” for the company due to the increasing number of people who enjoy games. Acknowledging its lack of knowledge and experience in gaming, IKEA said it found a good partner in Asus’s Republic of Gamers brand to help the company behind $1 hot dogs design the furniture.

“Combining the best of these two worlds, the collaboration aimed to democratize the gaming experience, by creating relevant, functional, beautiful, and affordable products and complete gaming solutions to make it easier for everyone to create the setup and the home they want,” IKEA said.

Without further ado, IKEA’s gaming furntiture and accessories lineup includes the following product categories targeted at PC gamers specifically: HUVUDSPELARE, UTESPELARE, MATCHSPEL, GRUPPSPEL, UPPSPEL, LÅNESPELARE.

There are more than 30 products included in IKEA’s gaming line, including desks, chairs, and accessories like a big wooden hand to hold your headset. The product line also includes a cup holder that attaches to your desk and a special pillow with pockets that you can put your hands in to keep them warm, I guess. Some of the items, like the ring light, appear to be aimed at streamers.

“The needs of billions of gamers around the globe are very diverse, whereas the existing offer is rather technical and often perceived as masculine design-wise, despite around 46% of gamers being female,” IKEA’s Ewa Rychert said. “We believe there’s a lot to be done to democratise the gaming experience. Now we take the first step on our gaming journey, and we do it by presenting affordable, high-performing gaming products and complete solutions that we hope reflect people’s personality and taste.”

This product line rolled out in China at the end of January. It is scheduled to release in Japan in May 2021 and then in October 2021 in the rest of the world.

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The official Zack Snyder’s Justice League Twitter account posted another teaser video before the full trailer reveal on February 14. With the latest teaser, DC fans get a better look at one of the villainous New Gods, Darkseid.

It’s still a couple days away from the release of the full trailer for the Snyder Cut of Justice League, which arrives on HBO Max on March 18, but the daily releases of these teasers give fans a greater idea of how different this movie is going to be. Check out the video for yourself below.

Snyder’s new cut of the movie is twice as long as the theatrical release–which was directed by Joss Whedon–coming in at four hours, making it the longest superhero movie to date. But that’s also because of a whole lot of reshoots.

Darkseid hasn’t been the only big reveal for the new Justice League Snyder Cut. Another recent teaser showed off Superman in his black suit, and we learned that Jared Leto is returning as the Joker. Considering how long this movie is, there will surely be plenty more surprises.

Zack Snyder’s Cut of Justice League comes to HBO Max on March 18.

Actress Mila Kunis has been voicing Meg on Family Guy since she was 15 years old. In a new interview she said it’s the best job she’s ever had and she hopes it never ends, going on to playfully state that she believes Family Guy will eventually overtake The Simpsons in terms of the number of seasons.

“I hope this never ends,” she told Collider. I’m so grateful for this job. I can’t believe people still care. I’m so happy that we have the writers that we have. I’ve been recording it through all of quarantine from my closet. I started it when I was 15. It’s been the greatest job ever. Ever. Hands down. I dare anybody to tell me they have a better, more amazing job.”

As for surpassing The Simpsons, Kunis thinks it’s definitely going to happen, maybe. “Are we going to overtake The Simpsons? Hell yes. Also, false sense of confidence,” she said.

The Simpsons is currently on its 32nd season, while Family Guy is on its 19th. The only way for Family Guy to catch up to its sister show is for The Simpsons to end or pause, and there is no end in sight for either show at this time.

The Simpsons and Family Guy are two of Fox’s animation crown jewels that Disney inherited when it acquired the majority of Fox’s entertainment assets.

Fox canceled Family Guy after its second season, and then canceled it again after its third season before bringing it back due in part to strong DVD sales and syndication numbers. It’s been on the air ever since.

While theatres continue to get ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic, the moviegoing industry is also paying attention to the federal government’s moves. With Congress pushing to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, the theatre industry strongly opposes the plan.

According to Variety, executives within the moviegoing business claim that the increase to the minimum wage would “kill” the theatre industry, arguing that it’s not sustainable for business. It’s worth noting that big chains like AMC and Regal keep only about 50% of the money they take from ticket sales each year, while smaller theatres keep roughly 40% of their ticket sales.

“That would kill us,” said Byron Berkley, owner of Foothills Entertainment in Kilgore, Texas. “We couldn’t justify raising our admission prices and concession prices to compensate for that kind of increase and still expect people to patronize the business. It would be disastrous.” Workers in Kilgore make a minimum of $7.25 an hour, with the poverty line hovering at $6. Those employed by Berkley at Foothills Entertainment allegedly make just $8 an hour.

The federal minimum wage currently sits at $7.25, though most states have higher minimums. California, for example, has one of the highest minimum wages in the U.S. at $13 an hour. The only states to top California are New York and Washington, D.C., which have a $15 minimum.

Democrats in Congress are looking to bump the minimum wage up nationwide to $15 an hour by 2025. This would be the first time the minimum wage has increased since 2009, which saw the minimum wage get a paltry boost from $6.55 an hour to $7.25 an hour. Several states, including California and Illinois, are on track to meet that pledge in the four-year time frame.

Other executives within the moviegoing industry claim the increase to the minimum wage would be a “disservice” to unskilled employees who might find themselves in lucrative roles when they have no one to support but themselves. In other words, theatre bosses are concerned that the $15 minimum might stymie economic growth and employment prospects.

“I think it’s a real disservice to the young, unskilled employee when we start pricing them out of the market,” said Russell Allen, president of Allen Theatres in Las Cruces, New Mexico. “We’ve hired 16-year-old kids that don’t know what a broom is, much less how to use it.”

While the lobbying group the National Association of Theatre Owners has yet to comment on Democrats’ renewed interest in raising the minimum wage, the organization opposed the plan back in 2014, noting that a theatre job is typically a new, younger worker’s first job.

“While cinema owners and operators laud efforts to improve the standard of living for all Americas, NATO believes that applying a universal wage increase to economically disparate regions would stifle both the nation’s economic growth and employment prospects for first-time workers,” NATO said when the minimum wage was proposed to increase to $10.10.

Big theatres, like AMC and Cinemark, might survive the minimum wage increase, according to Kendrick Macdowell, the former general counsel of the Independent Cinema Alliance.

“The big circuits have larger margins, and buying power that enables them to keep costs to a minimum,” Macdowell told Variety. “The independents are operating on such a slim margin.”

North American professional esports organization Team Liquid has announced an apparel collaboration with the long-running popular anime and manga series Naruto Shippuden, which on Friday will be launching a line of stylized hoodies, long-sleeve shirts, and T-shirts. The synergy between both brands also marks a celebration of both Team Liquid and Naruto’s 20-year anniversaries.

“With both brands celebrating our respective twentieth anniversaries, this is the prefect time to team up,” said Alexander Lee, senior licensing manager at publisher VIZ Media, in a statement. “Anime and esports fashion is constantly evolving and we are ecstatic to be an integral part of this unique collaboration… Like our fans, we love anime, and Naruto is one of the most successful anime franchises of all time.”

Among other pieces, the new collection will include a leaf village denim jacket, rogue ninja hat, Naruto vs. Sasuke cargo joggers, and jonin-inspired parkas. Previous Team Liquid collaborations include Marvel Entertainment, tokidoki, and Stance. According to a release, licensing laws prohibit the sale of the Naruto items outside of the United States, but Team Liquid is “exploring expanding the countries we sell this collection to in the future.”

Naruto has been an expansive franchise that has spanned 72 book volumes, 220 anime episodes, 11 films, and many video games on various consoles. Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, as its name implies, is a sequel/spin-off to the original series, which kicked off in 2016 and is still going strong with new issues rolling out this upcoming year.

Zawe Ashton (Velvet Buzzsaw, Doctor Who) has reportedly been cast in Captain Marvel 2, according to Deadline. Disney and Marvel Studios have not yet issued an official statement, but Deadline is indicating via unnamed sources that the actor will co-star as the film’s villain.

Captain Marvel 2 is due out November 11, 2022 as part of Marvel Phase 4. So, it’s no surprise that details have been pretty sparse overall on the film since it wasn’t even clear until recently that this sequel would even exist. (For the record, the only MCU movie to not get a sequel or have one in the works was The Incredible Hulk.) CM2 will follow both Thor: Love and Thunder and Black Panther 2.

As reported by Deadline previously, Ashton will join Brie Larson in the sequel to the 2019 MCU film that will be directed by Nia DaCosta (Candyman). Megan McDonnell, who is a story editor on Disney+’s WandaVision, wrote the script for the sequel, but the story and even minor plot points are all still largely unknown. Teyonah Parris, who appears as the adult version of Monica Rambeau in WandaVision, will also figure into the movie. Marvel boss Kevin Feige has stated that Ms. Marvel will also make an appearance.

Captain Marvel, which also starred a digitally de-aged Samuel L. Jackson, as well as Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn, Annette Bening, Djimon Hounsou, Gemma Chan, and Lashana Lynch, made more than $1.1 billion at the global box office.

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