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Talos Actor Ben Mendelsohn Thinks That Marvel Losing Spider-Man Would Have Been A Disaster

Despite the critical and commercial success of Spider-Man: Far From Home, for a while Spidey’s future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was uncertain. Although discussions seemed amicable between Marvel Studios and Sony, the plan was originally for Spider-Man to revert back to being entirely under Sony’s control, which would have removed Tom Holland’s version of the character from the established MCU. Thankfully, a deal was eventually struck, and Spider-Man will return for a third standalone movie (and Tom Holland’s sixth overall in the universe) on July 16, 2021.

During all of this, the stars of the films spoke out about what was going on: Tom Holland said that the movies going forward would be very different, while Jeremy Renner (who plays Hawkeye) asked for Spider-Man to return. Now another star from the MCU has spoken out about the debacle in amusing fashion.

Ben Mendelsohn, the Australian actor who plays Talos in Captain Marvel (and has a cameo in Spider-Man: Far From Home), spoke with candor about the whole deal with UK site Metro. “I think what happens in these things is, most of the time, cooler heads prevail,” Mendelsohn said. “Sometimes we end up in a situation which feels like it’s going to be the lead up to World War I.” The actor didn’t mince words when talking about how important Spidey is to Marvel. “But s*** man. You can’t lose Spider-Man from the Marvel universe. He’s one of their absolute motherf***ing pornstars. Boy, I could name 30 that you could quite comfortably lose before you start thinking about losing Spider-Man.”

The actor went on to say that he “cannot think of a single character who’s more important to Marvel than Spider-Man,” saying that losing him “would have been a disaster.” He’s clearly a fan.

Ben Mendelsohn can currently be seen in The King on Netflix alongside Timothée Chalamet, Joel Edgerton, and Robert Pattinson.

NHL 20, Which Is An Ice Hockey Game, Adds Football And Basketball Players

In a completely unexpected move, EA’s NHL 20 has added three new athletes, none of whom actually play professional ice hockey. Through a partnership with apparel company Adidas, EA has brought professional basketball player Kyle Lowry, along with NFL players Adam Thielen and Juju Smith-Schuster, into the newest hockey game.

The players are available as playable characters in NHL 20’s pond hockey mode, NHL Ones. They’re also available in the Hockey Ultimate Team mode and the World of Chel mode.

Lowry, Thielen, and Smith-Schuster also have their own unique apparel in NHL 20, including hoodies, jerseys, and skates, that players can unlock in NHL 20. This apparel can also be purchased in real life from adidas.com.

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In Hockey Ultimate Team mode, players can take on each athlete’s Squad Battle challenge to earn their home jersey. These run for a period of one week, beginning now with Thielen’s challenge, then Smith-Schuster’s from November 14-20, and finally Lowry’s from November 21-27.

Go to the NHL 20 website to get all the details about this special crossover promotion. This campaign is part of NHL 20’s ambition to appeal to new players and try new things. The game also has plans to introduce celebrity commentators at some point in the future.

NHL 20 released in September for PS4 and Xbox One. GameSpot’s NHL 20 review scored the game a 9/10, praising its controls and presentation in particular.

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Star Wars: Billie Lourd Reflects on Passing of Mother Carrie Fisher

Billie Lourd, daughter of the late Carrie Fisher, wrote an emotional essay about her mother and how she is proud to have become the “Keeper of Princess Leia.”

Lourd wrote her story on Time and began by saying how she “grew up with three parents: a mom, a dad, and Princess Leia.” She compared Princess Leia to her stepmom – “technically family, but deep down

didn’t really like her.”

“She literally and metaphorically lived on a planet I had never been to,” Lourd wrote. “When Leia was around, there wasn’t as much room for my mom–for Carrie. As a child, I couldn’t understand why people loved Leia as much as they did. I didn’t want to watch her movie, I didn’t want to dress up like her, I didn’t even want to talk about her. I just wanted my mom–the one who lived on Earth, not Tatooine.”

Five Free Games You Can Play This Weekend On PC And Xbox One

It’s a big weekend for free play days–there are five separate games available to play for free over the weekend running from November 8 until November 11. If you want to test something new out, here’s what’s available.

The Elder Scrolls Online currently has a free trial period, which is running until November 13 on PC, Xbox One, and PS4 (you’ll need Xbox Live Gold to access the trial on Xbox One). You can test the game out for free, and then if you decide to jump in after that you can continue your progress without needing to start over.

If you’re after something completely different, you can jump onto Steam and try American Truck Simulator for the next three days. If you like it, you can grab the full game with a 75% discount until November 15 and keep driving down the game’s recreated American highways. The game’s user reviews average out as “very positive”; play it and see why.

Just Cause 4 is also enjoying a free weekend on Steam. This is, specifically, the ‘Reloaded’ edition of Just Cause 4, which comes with a few extras: the ‘Skystriker’ Weaponized Wingsuit, the Black Hand Stealth Micro Jet, the Neon Racer Pack, the Deathstalker Scorpion Pack, and the Renegade Pack. The game is also on special, as are several bundles collecting the game and various pieces of DLC–test it out and see if you’d like to keep playing.

Two different iterations of Cities: Skylines are also free to play this weekend. The PC version can be found on Steam, and is also on sale with a 75% discount from now until November 12, for both its standard and deluxe edition versions. The Xbox One version is similarly on sale at 75% off, and free to play over the weekend. This version is also available on Xbox Game Pass for consoles.

Finally, the Xbox One version of The Surge is free to play this weekend. You can download it now and test it out over the weekend, and then–once again–buy it at a 75% discount. The Surge is also available on Xbox Game Pass for consoles, so subscribers can play it at no additional cost.

That should be enough to keep you busy over the weekend.

Activision Is Planning More Mobile Games, All Franchises Under Consideration

Activision is interested in ramping up its mobile game development. During an earnings call, Activision Blizzard president and chief operating officer Coddy Johnson said the company is looking at every one of its franchises to potentially bring to mobile.

He started off by reminding people that Activision Blizzard is already a company that is focused on mobile devices, with one-third of its total business coming from mobile. This is no doubt fueled in part by King, the mobile giant behind Candy Crush that Activision acquired in 2015.

“A third of our business is on mobile already. We have the largest mobile gaming presence in the west. So we want to build on that leadership position. We think it’s a foundation of strength to do that. [Mobile] is a massive opportunity, and we think not just for Call of Duty and not just for Diablo Immortal,” Johnson said.

The executive added that mobile devices are becoming more and more powerful, and this is helping Activision to adapt its traditional AAA franchises to smaller screens.

“The AAA kinds of games we make are ready to work on mobile because of the improving compute and graphics capability [of the mobile devices],” he said. “And honestly because of evolving player expectations. It’s now the case that many of the most successful global games are first-person action, strategy; those all align, as you might imagine, very well with our portfolio. [And] we have a growing ability to execute”

Johnson went on to say that Activision is uniquely positioned for success in the mobile market because it owns some of the biggest names in gaming. He pointed out that Call of Duty Mobile‘s recent release was enormously successful, with 100 million downloads, and this level of success might have only been possible because Call of Duty is such an established brand.

“We’re seeing that franchise familiarity and awareness matter–they matter fundamentally to the tune of hundreds of millions of people. When you reach out in the right way with franchises they’re willing to come in. So let’s the level of opportunity we see,” he said.

Johnson was asked directly if Activision might bring World of Warcraft or Overwatch to mobile, but he wouldn’t confirmed anything. However, he teased that Activision is considering “all of our franchises” for potential adaptation to the mobile market.

“In terms of what we’ll make, you might imagine we’re looking at all of our franchises. We want to do it where it makes sense,” he said.

Activision will consider releasing new mobile games under three main brackets. The first of these is a game that would “extend existing gameplay,” with Call of Duty Mobile as an example of that. Johnson pointed out that Call of Duty Mobile has maps, weapons, and characters from the console version, and similar adaptations could happen for other franchises. Johnson teased that Activision sees “a number of opportunities” to do this with other series.

Activision would also consider releasing mobile games that are “reimaginations” of a console/PC title. The card game Hearthstone–which exists in the Warcraft universe–was an example of this, Johnson said, and he teased that Activision has “a number of ideas like that” looking ahead. The third bracket is a “true cross-platform title” that is cross-compatible between console/PC and mobile right from the start, Johnson said.

Keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest on Activision’s plans for more mobile games. In other news, Activision announced that it made $700 million from microtransactions in the last quarter.

The Outer Worlds Has Exceeded Publisher’s Expectations Critically And Commercially

The Outer Worlds hasn’t been out for long, but it’s already making waves for publisher Take-Two Interactive. The Obsidian-developed space RPG has performed well critically and commercially, and has apparently exceeded expectations.

During Take-Two’s investor call today, they discussed recent sales milestones for their biggest titles, as well as the company’s approach to microtransactions. The Outer Worlds was singled out separately as a title that had performed well, both critically (check out our 9/10 review) and commercially.

Company president Karl Slatoff called The Outer Worlds a “critical and commercial success” in the call, stating that it was “exceeding our expectations, and reviews have been outstanding.” Specific sales figures for the game’s launch period were not given, but the game is evidently doing well. This is especially good news for Microsoft, which recently bought out Obsidian with hopes of franchising The Outer Worlds on Xbox.

During the call, Take-Two also discussed the time frame for The Outer Worlds’ Switch release, which has now been narrowed down.

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A New Weeds TV Show Is Coming With Original Star, But Creator Is Not Involved

Weeds, the popular TV show about a mother who sells pot, is coming back. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Starz is working on a new Weeds show with original series star Mary-Louise Parker coming back to play Nancy Botwin again. She will also executive produce the show. However, Weeds creator Jenji Kohan is reportedly not involved at this stage.

The show is said to take place 10 years after the events of the original show. In this timeline, marijuana is now legal in some American states, just like it is in real life. Weeds ended with a time skip that showed Nancy operating a legal pot business, so this is presumably where the new show will pick up.

There is no word yet on if any of the other actors from the original Weeds will come back. The show also starred Hunter Parrish and Alexander Gould as the Botwin brothers, with Kevin Nealon as the questionable lawyer Doug Wilson. Justin Kirk played another one of the leads, Andy Botin, while Elizabeth Perkins played Nancy’s friend Celia.

The original Weeds ran for eight seasons, from 2005 through 2012. Johan, the show’s creator, went on to make Orange is the New Black for Netflix.

Lionsgate, which owns Starz, announced the new show during an earnings call. CEO Jon Feltheimer said the company is “thrilled” to bring back the show, which it is calling “Weeds 4.20,” at least as a working title.

The original Weeds ran on Showtime, which is owned by GameSpot parent company CBS.

Pistol Whip Review

My favorite virtual reality games to date are the ones that find the middle ground between giving you full control over movement and having you stand in place. Pistol Whip deserves comparison to virtual reality highlights like Beat Saber and Astro Bot: Rescue Mission thanks to a similar approach to camera management that moves everything around you in order to let you focus on where it excels: the shooting and the intense, driving soundtrack.

Pistol Whip takes the familiar but largely forgotten genre of the arcade on-rails shooter best known for Time Crisis and House of the Dead, places you in a strange, pulsating environment, and couples it with score incentives to fire your bullets on a rhythm. You won’t find a story conceit for why you’re steadily floating along a series of abstract, predetermined paths where bad guys want to shoot you, and that’s just fine. The look of the world and thumping soundtrack are enough to keep me engaged and firing at enemies, and making their low-detail forms collapse into a pile of pixels is rewarding every single time.

AHS: 1984 – Episode 8 “Rest in Pieces” Breakdown

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At Least Four New Heroes Could Be In The Works For Overwatch 2

Overwatch 2, which was revealed at BlizzCon last week, will introduce new heroes, maps, and modes. The only new hero officially confirmed during BlizzCon was Sojourn, and although we’re not yet sure how she’ll play, we know that she will be the first new character added to the game.

But several other characters are seemingly in the works at Blizzard too, even if they’re not ready to show them off yet. Game Informer was given an early look at the game back in early October, and saw a brief glimpse at some character art that hasn’t yet been shown off.

During a PowerPoint presentation at Blizzard’s office, run by game director Jeff Kaplan, four silhouettes for previously unseen heroes briefly appeared on screen. Game Informer believes that three of the four were likely women, but only got a proper look at two of them.

One was a woman with short hair, who had a “fuzzy little critter with pointy ears and an equally pointy tail” at their side. She wielded a “giant four-sided weapon,” which Game Informer compares to a thicker version of Yuffie’s shuriken from Final Fantasy VII. The other, who appeared to be a man, “held a crooked staff, looking somewhat like a wizard, warlock, or voodoo priest.”

Kaplan would not provide any further details about the heroes, and the slide was not up for very long, but it sounds like these four concepts are being worked on for eventual release. Overwatch 2 is a unique sequel in that a lot of the game’s content will also appear in the first Overwatch, including all new characters and maps. The new Story Mode will be exclusive to the sequel, however.

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