Author: Trafficblast

The 11 Most Bizarre Moments Throughout Star Trek: The Next Generation

The final frontier was filled with weirdness.

The final frontier was filled with weirdness.

Star Trek: The Next Generation, like all Star Trek television shows, is sanctified by the passage of time. There aren 178 TNG episodes; the sheer volume and relative consistency means that the great episodes rise to the forefront of our memories, and the remaining ones blur together as solid Trek.

It also helps that Star Trek: The Next Generation was a character-driven show rather than a plot-driven one. People may have tuned in for the science fiction, but they stayed for the characters–the senior crew that included iconic, sympathetic characters like Data, Worf, and of course, Captain Jean-Luc Picard. The characters redeem even the worst episodes; we may not remember the details of yet another hostile alien race that attempted to take over the ship, but we always felt reassured that Picard would fight them off, most likely by using his words instead of a photon torpedo.

The show’s most jarring moments are when the main players behave wildly out of character. Many of these moments are from the first season, when the show was finding its footing. Others were the result of failed comedy or left-field premises.

As we get ready for Star Trek: Picard, which debuts on CBS All Access on January 23, 2020, we’re looking back at the good Captain’s illustrious career. Here are the 10 most bizarre moments from Star Trek: The Next Generation. And if you liked this gallery, check out our galleries on the greatest TNG Picard episodes, the most badass Picard moments, and everything you need to know about the Borg.

Disclosure: ViacomCBS is GameSpot’s parent company.

Was a Young Kanan Jarrus in the Newest Clone Wars Trailer?

SPOILERS AHEAD for Star Wars Rebels.

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A brand-new trailer for the seventh and final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars has been released and, while it gave us another glimpse at some of our favorite characters (Ahsoka!) from the show that hasn’t aired since 2014, it also appears to show a young Kanan Jarrus from Star Wars Rebels.

Spotted by those like @ThomasLHarper on Twitter around the 25-second mark, viewers can catch a glimpse of a young Padawan standing next to Jedi Master Depa Billaba.

KananAs was revealed in Star Wars Rebels and expanded upon in works like the comic series Star Wars: Kanan – The Last Padawan, that boy was named Caleb Dume and would grow up to take the name Kanan Jarrus following the tragic events of Order 66.

During Order 66 on the planet Kaller, Master Billaba sacrificed herself to save Dume and he ended up meeting a smuggler named Janus Kasmir. He was forced to hide that he was a Jedi and had to learn to live as a fugitive to survive in a world where Jedi were being openly hunted.

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Dume went so far as to abandon his name and past, and thus became Kanan Jarrus. While he was lost in his purpose for a while, he eventually ran into a Twi’lek female named Hera Syndulla and the rest, they say, is on Disney+. Seriously, go watch Star Wars Rebels.

While we don’t know if we will see or learn more about Caleb Dume besides this one cameo, it is pretty clear that this final season will venture into the timeline of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. What’s even more, it appears we will see scenes from Episode III played out in animation form, as you can see below from @ImmortalSoldier.

There are other small Easter Eggs in this trailer that hint at the ROTS timeline, including the shot of Anakin and a seemingly-pregnant Padme holding virtual hands by @Sithreeepio. We know Anakin didn’t find out she was pregnant until the third film, so this would indicate the timelines will be crossing.

Screenshot_2020-01-22 (1) Memo on Twitter Padmé holding her belly she's pregnant here right https t co 9pHeQwJzIC TwitterThis also backs up previous statements by both Dave Filoni and Pablo Hidalgo in 2015 who had hinted that, before its cancellation, there were plans for Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ final episodes to have taken place after Revenge of the Sith.

It won’t be long until we all find out the truth when we return to our favorite galaxy far, far away for Star Wars: The Clone Wars final twelve episodes on February 21, 2020.

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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN who can’t wait and is so excited he just can’t hide it. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Hellblade 2 Will Show How “Suffering Shapes Myths, Gods, And Religion,” Says Dev

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is one of the three upcoming projects coming from Ninja Theory designed under the developer’s mission to craft life-changing art with game-changing tech–the third of which, Project: Mara, was just announced. In a YouTube dev diary, Ninja Theory revealed what type of story Hellblade II will tell.

“While Hellblade gave us a very personal insight into psychosis, this sequel builds on that to show how madness and suffering shapes myths, gods, and religion,” Ninja Theory co-founder Tameem Antoniades said. “Our goal is to make an experience comparable to the epic myths and sagas of old.”

Antoniades continued: “The team will be about twice the size of Hellblade’s team–still very small by triple-A standards, but it aims to prove that small teams can achieve great things using procedural technologies and smart tools.” Earlier in the dev diary, Ninja Theory commercial director Dom Matthews said that the team behind the original Hellblade was composed of 20 people, so we can infer about 40 people are on the team working on Hellblade II.

Hellblade II was announced alongside the reveal of Xbox Series X, Microsoft’s next-gen console. The first game, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, launched as a limited-time PS4 console exclusive in 2017, before releasing on Xbox One in 2018 and Nintendo Switch in 2019. The game is currently included in Xbox Game Pass.

In GameSpot’s Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice review, Alessandro Fillari wrote, “Hellblade’s most notable achievement is the handling of an incredibly sensitive subject matter within an engaging and well-crafted action/adventure game. At its heart, the story is about Senua’s struggle to come to terms with her illness. In the process, she learns to find the strength within herself to endure and to make peace with her past. And in a profound and physical way, we go through those same struggles with her, and come away with a better understanding of a piece of something that many people in the world struggle with.”

Now Playing: Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II – In Engine Announce Trailer

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Goat Simulator-Like Deeeer Simulator Sure Is Something

In case a goat or goose wasn’t enough for your gaming simulation needs, a brand-new game has debuted in early access on Steam in the same wheelhouse as Goat Simulator and Untitled Goose Game. Deeeer Simulator lets you embody a deer capable of some wacky and ridiculous feats, and it’s available now for PC.

Deeeer Simulator is a “slow-life town destruction game” in which you wreak havoc as a deer. The deer can latch onto surfaces and swing around with its stretchy neck, sprint on its hindlegs and ride horses like a human, and even combine with various other animals to create a Megazord-like deer. It’s all pretty comical.

The game shares a lot of DNA with Goat Simulator–particularly its goofy physics-based gameplay. Not only can the deer use cows as jetpacks and terrorize the cityscape on a dragon, but it can also swap out its antlers for dual pistols a la Lara Croft. And these pistols, of course, completely obliterate trees.

You can check out more than an hour of gameplay above. And, in case you’re wondering if your machine can handle it, we’ve embedded Deeeer Simulator’s minimum PC requirements below.

Deeeer Simulator’s PC requirements

  • OS: Windows 7 or Newer
  • Processor: Core i3-3120M
  • Memory: 2 MB RAM
  • Graphics: intel graphics 4000
  • DirectX: Version 9.0
  • Storage: 1 GB available space

Deeer Simulator is currently 10% off, slashing its price to $11.69 USD until January 27. Once the game leaves early access in 2021, however, the price will increase as “more content [becomes available] in the future.” A console port has not been announced.

Now Playing: We Terrorize Humans in DEEEER Simulator

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Knives Out: Blu-ray Home Release Date And Special Features Revealed

After making a killing (Get it?) at the box office earning a Best Original Screenplay nomination at the Academy Awards, Knives Out is heading to home release to let you solve the murder mystery in the comfort of your very own living room. The movie from director Rian Johnson is heading to digital release on February 7, with Blu-Ray, 4K Ultra HD, and DVD releases following on February 25.

The whodunnit thriller stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, and so many more in a story about an eccentric family trying to figure out who killed off their patriarch. In his Knives Out review, GameSpot’s Rafael Motamayor wrote of the film, “when it comes to making a movie that’s entertaining, thoughtful, sharply written, and undeniably creative, Rian Johnson is guilty as charged.”

Now you’ll be able to experience the mystery yourself, as well as a host of special features. From deleted scenes to audio commentaries, Johnson and the Knives Out team have packed the release with all kinds of bonus content to make it worthwhile. You can take a look at the list of features below.

Special features:

  • Audio Commentary by Writer-Director Rian Johnson, Director of Photography Steve Yedlin, and Actor Noah SeganIn-Theatre Commentary by Rian Johnson
  • Deleted Scene: “Bicycling Accident” (with Optional Audio Commentary by Rian Johnson)
  • Deleted Scene: “Don’t Do Anything Rash” (with Optional Audio Commentary by Rian Johnson)
  • “Making a Murder” Eight-Part Documentary
  • “Rian Johnson: Planning the Perfect Murder” Featurette
  • Writer-Director and Cast Q&A
  • Marketing Gallery
  • “Meet the Thrombeys” Viral Ads

Knives Out hits digital release on February 6. Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD, and DVD arrive on February 25.

Disclosure: ViacomCBS is GameSpot’s parent company.

Now Playing: Knives Out – Official Trailer

Flash Deal: The Division 2 For $9 (And More PC Games For Cheap)

Lunar New Year kicks off this week, and to celebrate, a ton of games retailers are offering huge sales. So far, we’ve seen an impressive offering of deals from stores like Fanatical and Xbox Live, but there’s a new sale live now at Ubisoft you won’t want to miss if you’re a fan of The Division, Assassin’s Creed, or other popular Ubisoft franchises. The highlight of the sale is an incredible discount on The Division 2, but it’s only available for a very short time. Keep in mind any games purchased directly from Ubisoft will be playable through the publisher’s own launcher, Uplay.

The Division 2 released a little less than a year ago, but if you’re a PC gamer who never picked it up, now’s the time to do so. For today only, you can snag The Division 2 standard edition for just 9 bucks as part of a Lunar New Year flash sale. The premium editions are discounted as well, with the Gold Edition selling for just $15 and Ultimate Edition selling for $18. Each of those premium editions includes the Year 1 Pass and bonus content, so you might want to go ahead and upgrade since it’s that cheap. The Year 1 Pass is also on sale for just $10 (down from $40) if you’d rather snag that separately.

The fantastic shooter earned a 9/10 in GameSpot’s The Division 2 review. “The range of enemy types continues to keep combat encounters challenging, the equipment I earn and pick up continues to feel different, valuable, and asks me to consider new ways of play,” wrote Edmond Tran. “The ravaged environments continue to intrigue, and sometimes they’re so stunning I find myself needing to take screenshots before I move on. It might not have much to say, but The Division 2 is a perpetual cycle of tension, relief, and reward that’s difficult to stay away from.”

If you already own The Division 2 or just aren’t interested, more flash deals will be kicking off as Ubisoft’s sale continues. The next flash deal will be revealed on January 23 and available for 24 hours.

In the meantime, there are plenty of other games discounted for the next week. The Lunar New Year sale features big discounts on Rainbow Six Siege ($6), Assassin’s Creed Odyssey ($24), Ghost Recon Breakpoint ($24), and Far Cry 5 ($15). The sale also includes apparel and collectibles for up to 67% off. You can see our picks for the best game deals below, or check out everything on offer directly at Ubisoft. The Lunar New Year deals will be available until January 30.

Best game deals at Ubisoft

Now Playing: The Division 2 Won’t Disappoint Solo Players

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Watch The Trailer For New Toy Story Short Film

Disney+ continues to deliver new original content on a weekly basis, from new episodes of The Mandalorian and The Clone Wars to short films featuring characters from the world of Toy Story. And the streaming service has revealed an upcoming short about what happened to Bo Peep prior to the events of Toy Story 4.

Titled Lamp Life, the original short will come to Disney+ on January 31, as Peep tells Woody the tale of how she ended up in the small town with the infamous antique store. Check out the trailer for the short below.

This isn’t the first Toy Story short film on Disney+. The streaming service’s original series Forky Asks A Question features the titular character, voiced by Tony Hale, asking other characters from the Toy Story universe questions about life, food, and emotions. Of course, all of these episodes get sidetracked when Forky can’t comprehend the answers he’s been given.

Additionally, there are other Toy Story shorts on the service as well, called Toy Story Toons. These were shown during theatrical releases of Disney movies, then later aired on the Disney channel.

For more on Disney+, check out everything coming to the service this January.

Half-Life: Alyx Is Basically Done; Valve Doesn’t Expect Any Delays

On Reddit, Valve held an AMA for Half-Life: Alyx, the upcoming VR pre-sequel for the Half-Life series. During the AMA, Valve revealed that Alyx is technically already finished with the team adding some last bits of polish ahead of the game’s March 2020 release.

“With the exception of some tweaks to the absolute final scene, the game is done,” Valve wrote. “Lots of us at Valve, as well as playtesters, have played through the entire game multiple times. Right now we’re primarily polishing and fixing bugs, which is where we’d hope to be at this point in the development cycle. We’re confident we’ll hit our intended release.”

Valve added that currently there are around 80 people working on Alyx, making it the largest team that the company has ever had working on a single game.

Valve also addressed several questions about the gameplay in Alyx. “Some creatures respond to audio more than others,” the company wrote. “We don’t want to spoil anything, but there’s an example of this we’re particularly excited about.” Valve added that a limb dismemberment feature would heavily factor into one specific combat scenario as well.

Co-writer Erik Wolpaw also talked about whether Alyx (the character) would speak in Alyx (the game) or continue the Half-Life series trend of being a silent hero. “I personally prefer writing games where the viewpoint character speaks,” Wolpaw wrote. “We made the silence of the protagonist into a joke in the Portals, but you only get to pull that gag once. I had a lot [of] fun writing for the [Left 4 Dead games] where the characters were all little chatterboxes, so if I had my way we wouldn’t do any more silent protagonists. That said…I don’t get my way as often as I deserve so who knows what’s going to happen.”

Ahead of Half-Life: Alyx’s release, every previous Half-Life game is free on Steam. Additionally, you will get Half-Life: Alyx for free if you own a Valve Index VR headset prior to March 30–whether you already have it or choose to buy one before the end of March.

Now Playing: Half-Life: Alyx Shouldn’t Be Delayed – GS News Update

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What Is Locke & Key? | Comics Explained

Locke & Key was originally an IDW Publishing comic series written by Joe Hill and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez. Hill is the son of Stephen King and a skilled horror author in his own right.

Locke & Key is the story of the Locke family, which includes the three Locke siblings, Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode, their mother Nina, and their uncle Duncan. The inciting incident is their father Rendell’s murder. The video above explores more about the setting, plot, characters, the mysterious, reality-bending keys, and the comic series’ bumpy road getting to TV. You can also check out Locke & Key’s spooky trailer and info on the cast.

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare Patch Notes Add Crossbow, Loadout Slots

Infinity Ward has pushed a new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare patch, making some additions and adjustments alongside a wide array of bug fixes. The January 22 patch is now available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The big new additions are a new weapon and additional loadout slots, along with rotated playlists.

The studio has also given a warning about a possible issue when downloading the update, telling affected users to hard-close their application if they get the prompt.

The new weapon is a crossbow, which you can unlock by equipping a Marksman Rifle with a Reflex Optic, and then getting 5 kills in 25 matches. In case that extra weapon makes you itchy for more loadouts–or just because more loadouts are always good in general–the update also adds five additional slots. The playlist has been updated with Capture the Flag and Shoot the Ship, and Aniyah Palace is back in rotation.

Meanwhile, the update also makes some fixes to persistent bugs and exploits. One of those was to Aniyah Palace, which is why it’s rejoining the playlist. But by the same token, IW is removing Krovnik Farmland to work out bugs. There’s also bug fixes and balance adjustments for weapons, and some stability and display improvements on PC. You can see the full notes below.

If you’re curious what Infinity Ward has in store for future updates, you can check out its DLC roadmap, which came alongside a dedicated Trello board to keep fans informed of its plans and which bugs are on its radar. You can also still purchase the Outback Relief pack to help bushfire relief efforts in Australia through January 31.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare January 22 Patch Notes

What’s New

  • Playlist Update: Added Capure the Flag and Shoot the Ship (Removes Shoot House 24/7) playlists! We also added Aniyah Palace back into rotation
  • 5 additional loadout slots!
  • New Weapon – Crossbow! Unlocked by using a Marksman Rifle with a Reflex Optic, get 5 kills in 25 different matches!

General

  • In some cases, players could hit an invisible kill trigger in a bush that would cause them to die instantly while near A Flag on Port. This has been fixed.
  • Fixed an out of bounds exploit on Aniyah Palace
  • Temporarily removing Krovnik Farmland out of rotation while we work on a few bugs
  • Fix for a bug that could lock a PC player’s FOV at 60 until they respawn while in Ground War
  • The “Stand Together” calling card (3 Wins in Team Deathmatch) was being awarded even though this calling card is earned by default. This has been adjusted to the “Redemption” calling card.
  • The Daily Challenge for getting “10 Claymore Kills” was awarding the “One Shot” spray which is unlocked by default. This has been adjusted to the “Soft Serve” spray.
  • Fix for an issue where the playlist filter would not switch game modes, even with multiple modes selected
  • Adjusted the damage threshold for “Get X Kills while Injured” challenge to make it a bit easier to obtain
  • Various out-of-map exploit fixes
  • Fix for a few graphical errors that could occur on Ground War maps
  • Infected: Fixed a bug where the Nuke effects and audio will interrupt and overlap the final killcam if called in after death of the final survivor
  • Fixes to the Recent Players list appearing incorrectly on Xbox
  • Fixed a bug that allowed players to capture the Hardpoint while in the hotel on St. Petrograd
  • Adjusted the obituary to remove the oldest items first
  • Fixed a bug that would reset Voice Chat settings after the application was hard closed
  • Fix for a bug that allowed player collision. This has been fixed
  • Players can no longer cancel their recovery state when sliding, but will always incur the standard fire delay (visually the player will still respond)
  • On Shipment, players are able to set Care Packages on spawn points, causing players to die instantly when spawning in on these points. This has been fixed.
  • Fixed an issue where the Elite Xbox One controller had a slight bounce back with the analog sticks
  • Fixed a bug that could give players invincibility
  • Fix for some Officer Progression emblems not displaying the correct rarity
  • Fixed an issue that would lock Operator missions despite having the correct Battle Pass Tier

Field Upgrades:

  • Fixed a bug where using the ‘Stopping Power Rounds’ Field Upgrade with an empty C4 slot would cause the C4 detonator to appear before reloading with the Stopping Power Rounds
  • Fixed a bug that allowed players to reach unintended locations while manipulating the Weapon Drop Field Upgrade
  • Fixed a bug that allowed the Recon Drone to fly into geo if C4 was thrown onto it
  • Fix for Stopping Power Rounds not applying the correct damage boost to headshots

Trophy System:

  • Increased protection radius
  • Decreased the radius and the damage taken by trophy explosions
  • Fixed a bug where the explosion damage and effects wouldn’t trigger for the third explosion

Killstreaks:

  • Fixed a bug that allowed the Cruise Missile to kill players while out of bounds on Shipment

Weapons

  • Fixed a bug where the 1mW Laser would not appear equipped on the 1911 pistol while in the Gunsmith menu
  • M4A1 Blueprint “OG” ADS position moved forward; the viewmodel or gun’s position relative to the camera or player’s eye is moved forward more, so it blocks less of the line of sight
  • Changing the magazine capacity from 45 to 50 for the RAM-7 extended magazine.
  • Increasing the bullet penetration of the MK2 Carbine
  • Less horizontal recoil on the initial bullets of the FN Scar-17
  • Changed the way stats are displayed for stocks to be more consistent with other attachments (this is for the graphs only, not the actual stats)

Call of Duty League

  • Domination: Flags must be neutralized before being captured again. Settings for neutralization timing are now available in settings
  • Decreased charge time on the Trophy System
  • Headshot multiplier damage has been clamped; torso and headshots are now the same
  • Removed lightweight boost and decreased charge time on Dead Silence

COD Caster

  • Reworked minimap visuals (removed outside map background, removed minimap frame)
  • Improved readability of the killfeed and nameplate colors
  • Improved the quality of the colored arrows shown under players when using the Aerial Camera
  • Data View feature has been temporarily removed

PC

  • Tweaked parts of the Battle Pass UI in order to better support higher Aspect Ratios
  • Fixed an issue with the sound effects on the Support Helo
  • Several fixes to prevent crashes and improve stability

Now Playing: Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare Season One Cinematic

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