It’s time for your weekly dose of wholesome content and Good News Games is here with a big ol’ spoonful–open wide. Video games continue to surprise and delight us and, as always, the community around them lifts our spirits in fun, quirky, and downright hilarious ways. We’ve rounded up our favorite things from gaming over the past week for this episode of Good News Gaming, so watch along for a lovely time.
This week we’ve got a really tiny version of Beat Saber that you can play with just a couple of fingers. It looks satisfying in the same way it is when you hold one of those mini fizzy drink cans and pretend you’re a giant–everyone does that, right? And what better way to celebrate the announcement of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 being remastered than with a TikTok? Trust us, it’s a good one.
Epic Games is helping out indies by making UE4 royalty payments a little more developer-friendly. Now a studio only has to pay royalties to Epic once its game his a million dollars in lifetime revenue, and if the revenue drops below $10k per quarter, royalty payments cease. Nice one, Epic.
We also mark the 15th anniversary of a gaming legend: Leeroy Jenkins, whose acquisition of chicken was more important to him than the biggest World of Warcraft balls-up in history. Yes, we know it was staged but does that make it any less funny? Absolutely not. Will it still put a smile on your face? Sure will.
Then there’s a new perspective fo Red Dead Redemption, a YouTube arts and crafts channel that makes amazing pieces from clay, the best Terrace House and Animal Crossing: New Horizons mashup you’ll ever see, and a follow-up on that Through the Fire and Flames at 165% speed run that involves the actual guitarist for DragonForce getting involved.
When Avatar: The Last Airbender premiered 15 years ago, no one could have predicted how this animated show aimed at kids would become one of the greatest animated series of all time. The show explored complex themes such as genocide and imperialism, as well as more abstract questions of fate and destiny, while giving us a world full of rich and vast mythology and a lot of stunning action on par with big-budget live-action films. From The King of Omashu to Sozin’s Comet, here are out picks for the 15 best episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender you can stream right now on Netflix.
The Batman may be over a year away, but we have plenty of information about the upcoming superhero movie.
A good Batman story never goes out of style and while the project Ben Affleck had been circling once upon a time is now long dead, a new one has stepped up to take its place. Director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, War for the Planet of the Apes) has joined forces with Robert Pattinson (Twilight) for a brand new take on the Dark Knight, due out next year.
Though there’s still over a year’s worth of waiting to do for the new movie, plenty of information has been made available to us thanks to Reeves’ active presence on social media and various interviews given by the cast. We now know exactly who will star as major Gotham City characters like The Penguin, Catwoman, and The Riddler. We’ve also gotten a good look at Pattinson’s Batsuit and all-new Batmobile. We’ve even been given some clues as to what we can expect from the story and, suffice to say, it sounds like something completely and totally new for the modern era of Batman films.
We’ve broken down everything we know about The Batman and will continue to update as new information trickles in.
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It’s been delayed
Originally scheduled to hit theaters in June of 2021, COVID-19 related production shutdowns have pushed the release date back to October 1, 2021.
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The cast is loaded with A-listers
Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman
Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin
Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman
Paul Dano as Edward Nygma/The Riddler
Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth
Jeffery Wright as Commissioner James Gordon
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It will be more “detective-focused” than other Batman movies
Not much is known about the specific plot details of the new film, but director Matt Reeves has given some hints in interviews. Namely, he’s confirmed that the story will place more emphasis on Batman as the world’s greatest detective than fans have seen before.
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It will focus on the second year of Bruce Wayne’s time as Batman
Though this doesn’t mean the movie will directly adapt the Year Two storyline from the comics, Matt Reeves has been open about the relative timeline the movie will work in, saying it will cover the second year of Bruce’s time as Batman.
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It features a new Bat Suit
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And a new Batmobile
Reeves also shared photos of the new Batmobile, which looks like it draws inspiration from classic muscle cars more than high tech military vehicles.
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The Riddler was nearly played by Jonah Hill
Before Paul Dano was confirmed for the role of Eddie Nygma, comedian Jonah Hill was reportedly in the running. He dropped out of the running for reasons unknown.
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Pattinson believes this Batman to be more “emotional”
In an interview, Pattinson explained that his take on the Dark Knight is more akin to the feeling and vibe of a concert than a gothic drama, relating Bruce Wayne to the band The Pixies as an example. We’re not totally sure what that means, but we can’t wait to find out.
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Ben Affleck will not return, we’re not sure if it’ll be part of the shared universe
Personal issues made filming features like Batman vs Superman and Justice League challenging for Ben Affleck, who recently opened up about why he abandoned his own solo Batman project. Affleck will obviously not participate in this film, which means it likely will not connect to the greater shared universe of the DCEU. But whether or not that means it will be as disconnected from the bigger DC picture like Joker was last year remains to be seen.
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Alfred and Bruce’s relationship will be key
Andy Serkis recently explained in an interview that Alfred and Bruce’s emotional connection will be a foundational part of the film, and that his performance is not based off any of the Alfreds who came before him.
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Disclosure: ViacomCBS is GameSpot’s parent company
Add another name to the list of new cast members for Season 2 of The Mandalorian. The Disney+ Star Wars TV show has already wrapped filming and there have been plenty of reports about new additions, from the first live-action portrayal of Ahsoka Tano to the iconic character Boba Fett. Now another acclaimed actor is reportedly being added to the list.
If you’re looking for other things to watch while waiting for the next Mando installment, consider listening to GameSpot’s weekly TV series and movies-focused podcast, You Should Be Watching. With new episodes premiering every Wednesday, you can watch a video version of the podcast over on GameSpot Universe or listen to audio versions on Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, and Apple Podcasts.
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Big changes are coming in Destiny 2‘s fourth year, and new details have shown just how much they’re going to affect players and the loot they’ve been chasing. According to Bungie’s latest rundown of what’s to come, some of the best, most sought-after and most-used guns in the game will become obsolete in the coming months. That includes The Recluse, The Mountaintop, Luna’s Howl, Not Forgotten, and more.
In its This Week at Bungie blog post, the developer outlined new details about changes to its weapon and armor Power system that will be visible in Season 11, which starts in June, and go into full effect in Season 12, which kicks off in the fall. The changes in the system will introduce a Maximum Power stat for weapons and armor, which will put a cap on how strong they can become using Destiny 2’s Infusion system.
The new system effectively adds an expiration date to all the gear in the game–three seasons after it’s released, you won’t be able to raise the Power level of that gear any higher, which will mean you’ll need to replace it with new, higher-level gear to participate in the toughest Destiny 2 activities, such as its raids.
Exotic weapons and armor aren’t affected by the change, and raid gear from the Last Wish and Garden of Salvation raids will have an extended period of usefulness, so they’ll still be good for a while. Every piece of gear that was released with the Shadowkeep expansion and beyond will be viable for a year after its release. But everything from the first two years of Destiny 2 will hit its Maximum Power level in Season 12 this fall–which means that, in Season 13, it won’t be able to hang with any of Destiny 2’s endgame activities.
That doesn’t mean the gear will be completely useless. You’ll still be able to use it in any activities that don’t require high levels, or in the Crucible, where most of the game modes (including the ranked Competitive playlist) balance all players’ Power levels automatically. That means you’ll still get chewed up by a Recluse/Mountaintop combo in Control or Elimination rounds, at least for a while. But in the Trials of Osiris or the Iron Banner, those guns will fall out of favor at the end of Season 12.
The good news is, we’ve still got two good seasons for these Pinnacle weapons to remain viable. And while a lot of people are unhappy about Bungie sunsetting great weapons and armor that were very tough to earn, there is some fairly compelling reasoning behind the move. Director Luke Smith has said the issue is Destiny 2 is piling up guns and armor that nobody uses, and that’s a real complaint. The developer can’t just continually release “better” weapons and armor to replace the ones that exist, because that’ll lead to an endless creep of players using better and better guns, killing enemies (and each other) faster and faster, until the game no longer plays as intended. The new Power system will push old equipment out of the way for newer stuff, which will encourage experimentation with character builds and finding new favorites.
That would be nice, if the new system works out that way, rather than just creating a new arbitrary grind for players every so often that forces them to chase down new equipment to maintain parity with everyone else. Whether the system works as Bungie intends will likely come down to compelling weapon and armor design. Bungie has to find a balance between making new guns worth the chase to acquire them, but not so amazing that it’ll be too hard to abandon them later when something new comes along. In Season 12, we’ll start to see if such a balance is possible in Destiny 2.
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The 2016 DC movie Suicide Squad might not have been a hit with critics, but there’s no denying it was a box office success. The film, which was directed by David Ayer (Bright, Fury), made more than $746 million at the worldwide box office and was one of that year’s biggest grossing films. The sequel was announced in early 2017, with Mel Gibson and Jaume Collet-Serra considered as directors, before The Accountant’s Gavin O’Connor signed on in September that year.
However, that movie didn’t happen. Actor Joel Kinnamon suggested the movie would start shooting in 2018, but it was never given a release date by DC and never went into production. In October 2018, Variety’s Justin Kroll reported that the plot O’Connor was developing for Suicide Squad 2 was very close to that of Birds of Prey, which was in development at DC at the same time. When Birds of Prey was greenlit ahead of his Suicide Squad sequel, O’Connor left the project.
Nevertheless, a different Suicide Squad movie is on the way. The film, titled The Suicide Squad, is currently set for a 2021 release. And while it’s not a direct sequel like O’Connor’s movie was intended to be, it’s not a complete reworking either, as some of the first film’s cast are returning to the same roles. But while there is still a lot of mystery about the film, quite a bit of information has been confirmed. So here’s everything we know so far about The Suicide Squad.
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Who’s the director?
James Gunn is the writer and director of The Suicide Squad. Gunn is, of course, also the writer/director of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and is the first filmmaker to work for both the MCU and the modern DC movies. Gunn was hired by DC after he temporarily left the Marvel family following the controversy over his old tweets in 2018–but has since returned and will make Guardians 3 after The Suicide Squad. Gunn was initially announced as The Suicide Squad’s writer, before it was confirmed he would direct as well.
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What’s the release date?
The Suicide Squad is currently schedued to hit theaters on August 6, 2021. Although many movies set to be released over the next two years have been delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Suicide Squad had already completed production before much of Hollywood was shut down. In April, Gunn tweeted: “Right now there’s no reason for The Suicide Squad release date to move. We are on or ahead of schedule. We were extremely fortunate to wrap shooting and set up editing from our homes (due to a post-production team and studio with foresight) before quarantine.”
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Who’s new to the cast?
Since this isn’t a direct sequel to the first Suicide Squad movie, there are a lot of new names in the cast. Many of the characters haven’t been revealed yet, but in terms of those we do know, David Dastmalchian (Ant-Man, The Flash) will play Polka-Dot Man, Daniela Melchior (Black Book) is Ratcatcher, and Steve Agee (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2) will perform the voice of King Shark.
The list of stars in undisclosed roles is very impressive too. It includes Idris Elba, John Cena, Nathan Fillion, Peter Capaldi, Pete Davidson, Alice Braga, Michael Rooker, and Taika Waititi. While it was initially rumored that Elba would take over the role of Deadshot, played by Will Smith in the first movie, it was subsequently reported that he will be playing a new character.
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Who’s coming back?
Despite the predominantly new cast, there are a handful of stars returning to world of Suicide Squad. Margot Robbie will play Harley Quinn for the third time, following her performance in the 2016 movie and this year’s Birds of Prey. She’ll be joined by Viola Davis as government agent Amanda Waller, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, and Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang.
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If it’s not a sequel, what is it?
The filmmakers of The Suicide Squad have emphasized that it’s not a direct follow-up to the first movie. In April 2019, producer Peter Safran told ComicBook.com: “It’s not Suicide Squad 2. It is not a sequel,” and described it as a “total reboot.” What that means exactly is unclear, since four of the first movie’s cast are back in the same roles that they played in 2016. But even though the filmmakers are keen to distance themselves from the first movie, its director David Ayer has given James Gunn his blessing. “I think it’s an incredibly brave and smart move by the studio,” he said. “James is the right man for the job.”
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What’s the story?
There are no official details about the plot of The Suicide Squad so far. In March 2019, The Hollywood Reporter stated that Gunn’s script “draws heavily from Jon Ostrander and Kim Yale’s ’80s run, rather than the more recent New 52 iteration that inspired Ayer’s film.” Although, confusingly, those comics focused heavily on Deadshot, who might not feature. One thing to know however is that the film will be funny. In an interview with Variety, Kinnaman said: “[Gunn has] written a fantastic script. It’s so funny… I feel like I’m shooting my first comedy.”
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Is there any footage or images?
No official images or footage from the movie have been released yet. There is a logo, however, and some behind-the-scenes images of Robbie as Harley Quinn emerged in February.
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Disclosure: ViacomCBS is GameSpot’s parent company
Microsoft is set to go into the next console generation in Holiday 2020 with the release of Xbox Series X, the fourth generation of Xbox consoles. And with that generational change, Microsoft has the opportunity to fix a long-standing problem with its Xbox consoles: Achievements and Gamerscore.
In the video above, Jordan Ramée airs his grievances about Xbox Achievements, namely that Microsoft continues to allow developers and publishers to create ones with numeric values that aren’t multiples of five. Unlocking these Achievements can lead to a Gamerscore becoming an imperfect prime number–an annoying stain to an Xbox account’s reputation.
It’s not all doom and gloom though. Jordan makes sure to point out what he likes about Xbox Achievements too in hopes Microsoft continues those trends with the release of Xbox Series X. Tracking an Achievement’s unlock rate is his favorite feature, as it gives him a sense of pride when he unlocks an Achievement that few others have, such as Titanfall 2‘s Every Nook and Cranny or Dark Souls III‘s The Dark Soul, and a sense of fascination to see where the majority of a playerbase fell off of a game.
When auditioning to get the roles they want, sometimes actors make strange choices. For instance, Anne Hathaway went into her The Dark Knight Rises audition dressed as Harley Quinn, before realizing she was there for the role of Catwoman. Sometimes, though, it’s not the actor’s idea to do strange things when auditioning. Take Nicholas Hoult, for example.
The actor has played the role of Hank “Beast” McCoy in four different X-Men movies, beginning with 2011’s X-Men: First Class. To get that role, a peculiar request was made of Hoult. “[Director] Matthew Vaughn asked me to do a couple of takes in an American accent as you kind of saw the character. But then also do a take doing an impression of Stewie Griffin from Family Guy,” he remembered in an interview with GQ.
Thankfully, Hoult knew the show well. “I had watched a lot of Family Guy in my teen years growing up, so I was like, ‘OK, I think I’ve got a pretty good impression of Stewie Griffin lined up,'” he said. He recorded himself reading lines as Stewie, along with the rest of his audition and submitted it to Vaughn. Thankfully, it worked, and the rest of history.
While Hoult’s time as Beast may have come to an end after X-Men: Dark Phoenix, there’s still at least one more movie on the way for the franchise. New Mutants, which focuses on a different set of mutants, was just given a new release date, after being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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If you’ve been playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons for a few weeks now, you’ve probably noticed that a special NPC visits your island each day. The April update even added two more visitors to the mix: Leif, who sells shrubs and flower seeds, and Jolly Redd, who sells art. However, you might not be seeing Redd–or some of the other desirable NPCs–very often. According to datamining, that’s due to how the visitor schedule works.
Twitter user @_Ninji, who has shared accurate, datamined information about much of New Horizons, explained how special visitors work in a brief thread. Provided you’ve met the prerequisites for each visitor–you can find all of them in our special visitors guide–there are certain NPCs that are guaranteed to visit each week while the rest will show up randomly on the remaining days.
so, here’s the tea on #ACNH NPC spawns every week, you’re guaranteed to get Saharah, Kicks and Leif on weekdays (if you meet their criteria, e.g. having Able Sisters built) that leaves two weekday slots that will be randomly filled by Gulliver, Label, CJ, Flick or Redd
According to Ninji, Saharah, Kicks, and Leif are each guaranteed to come each week on a random weekday, while Gulliver, Label, C.J., Flick, and Redd will randomly fill in the remaining two weekdays. For example, you might get Saharah on Monday, Kicks on Tuesday, and Leif on Wednesday, which leaves only Thursday and Friday for the rotating visitors. That means you can only get two visitors out of that group of five each week. Weekends are taken up by K.K. Slider on Saturdays and Daisy Mae on Sundays, if you’ve unlocked them.
Ninji noted in a follow-up tweet that the visitors you missed in one week will have increased priority to show up the next week. There are also two nighttime visitors, Celeste and Wisp, which operate independently of the other visitors; Celeste can only appear on nights when the weather is clear and there can be a meteor shower, while Wisp will show up on a random night each week.
According to the official New Horizons guide, Saharah can also show up on weekends, though Ninji said he didn’t see anything in the code that would schedule her on a weekend. We’re working to verify ourselves if Saharah can indeed show up on Saturday or Sunday–which would be great, since that would leave a third weekday open for one of the rotating visitors.
As we continue to hunker down at home, we’re all watching a lot of television, including plenty of stuff on streaming services. Things like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and Disney+ help pass the time, and there are new movies, TV shows, and original content coming very month. Here is what Disney has planned for the month of June.
The biggest release for next month is none other than Artemis Fowl. Back in April Disney announced the film would be skipping theaters and going right to the streaming service, as the COVID-19 pandemic is keeping theaters closed. Based on the book series by Eoin Colfer, and arriving on June 12, the film follows the preteen genius Artemis Fowl, “a descendant of a long line of criminal masterminds, as he desperately tries to save his father who has been kidnapped. In order to pay his ransom, Artemis must infiltrate an ancient, underground civilization–the amazingly advanced world of fairies–and bring the kidnapper the Aculos, the fairies’ most powerful and coveted magical device. To locate the elusive object, cunning Artemis concocts a dangerous plan—so dangerous that he ultimately finds himself in a perilous war of wits with the all-powerful fairies.”
Additionally, the final three episodes of Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian arrive on June 5, 12, and 19. The series gives Star Wars fans an inside look at creating the Disney+ original series which took the world by storm. The final three episodes will cover visualization, score, and “connections.”
Below, you’ll find everything you can watch on Disney+ for the month of June. And speaking of things you should be watching, consider listening to GameSpot’s weekly TV series and movies-focused podcast, You Should Be Watching. With new episodes premiering every Wednesday, you can watch a video version of the podcast over on GameSpot Universe or listen to audio versions on Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, and Apple Podcasts.
New to Disney+ in June 2020
Friday, June 5
Alaska’s Grizzly Gauntlet (S1)
America’s Greatest Animals
Chasing the Equinox
Howie Mandel’s Animals Doing Things (S1-2)
Secrets of Wild India (S1)
The Greeks (s1)
Weird but True! (S1-2)
Wild Hawaii (S1)
Women of Impact: Changing the World
Be Our Chef: Season Finale Episode 111 “The Spectacular”
Disney Gallery The Mandalorian: Episode 106 “Visualization”
Disney Family Sundays: Episode 131 “101 Dalmatians: Onesie”
One Day At Disney: Episode 127 “George Montano: Plasterer”
It’s a Dog’s Life with Bill Farmer: Episode 104 “Disaster Rescue Dogs & A Dog Mayor”
Disney Insider: Episode 106 “Artemis Adventure, Taste of Disney, Runaway Railway”
Friday, June 12
Mighty Med (S1-2)
The Liberty Story
The Story of the Animated Drawing
Walt & El Grupo
Artemis Fowl (Premiere)
It’s a Dog’s Life with Bill Farmer: Episode 105 “The Surfing Corgi & Bee Dogs”
Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian: Episode 107 “Score”
Disney Family Sundays: Episode 132 “Winnie the Pooh: Bag Toss”
One Day At Disney: Episode 128 “Scot Drake: Imagineering Creative”
Friday, June 19
101 Dalmatians (1997) (S1)
Big Sur: Wild California
Muppet Babies Play Date (S1)
Schoolhouse Rock (S1)
Tinker Bell and the Pirate Fairy
Disney+ Originals
Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian: Finale Episode 108 “Connections”
It’s a Dog’s Life with Bill Farmer: Episode 106 “Stunt Dogs & Water Rescue Dogs”
Disney Family Sundays: Episode 133 “Monsters, Inc. Water Bottles”
One Day At Disney: Episode 129 “Candice Valdez: Radio Disney Host”
Friday, June 26
Man in Space
Mars and Beyond
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Raven’s Home (S3)
Tarzan
Tarzan II
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