Author: Trafficblast

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For many comic book fans, Christian Bale is most associated with DC, having starred in Christopher Nolan’s hugely successful Batman movies, as the Caped Crusader.. However, it looks like the actor is about to move over to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It has been reported that he is in talks to appear in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bale will join Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman in the fourth Thor movie. No details about Bale’s character have been revealed so far. Thor: Love and Thunder will be directed by Taika Waititi, who also helmed 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok, and arrives in November 2021.

Waititi recently confirmed that the movie will start shooting in Australia this summer. Hemsworth stars as Thor, a role he last played in last year’s Avengers: Endgame, while Portman will appear as Jane Foster once more. Portman had a small cameo in Endgame, but she hasn’t played a major role in any MCU movie since 2013’s Thor: The Dark World. Her role in the new film was confirmed at San Diego Comic-Con last summer, where Portman revealed that she would be wielding Thor’s hammer Mjolnir this time around.

There are several other MCU movies set to hit theaters as part of Phase 4 before we get to Thor: Love and Thunder. Black Widow and The Eternals arrive later this year, while Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and the third Spider-man movie are scheduled for May and August 2021 respectively. In addition, Thor’s villainous half-brother will make his small screen debut in the upcoming Disney+ show Loki.

If you’re looking to add a little bit of flair to your Dungeons & Dragons game, there is a new kit featuring a bunch of items that could help you out. D&D recently announced the Laeral Silverhand Explorer’s Kit, which features a few items that can elevate your tabletop gaming.

Coming in mid-March, the new kit features dice, a dice tray, a map of the Sword Coast, and more to help add some depth to your campaign. Check out the contents below.

The map and cards can help flesh-out important details within your campaign, including the residents of the land and the cities you may visit. Costing $30, the new set features items expanding upon the world of Forgotten Realms to give your game and character some help with that oh-so-important flavor text. Here’s what’s in the box.

• 11 dice (two d20s, one d12, two d10s, one d8, four d6s, one d4).
• 20 illustrated, double-sided cards detailing Laeral’s expert insights on key characters, locations, and lore from across the Forgotten Realms.
• A durable, felt-lined box that functions as two dice trays.
• Foldout double-sided map of the Sword Coast and the city of Waterdeep.

Laeral Silverhand Explorer’s Kit

$30

Laeral Silverhand Explorer’s Kit goes on sale on March 17.

The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.

Disney+‘s first major series The Mandalorian may have come to a close, but there is still plenty original content coming in 2020. Aside from original programming, TV shows and movies trickle out, week after week, for you to watch. Check out what’s headed your way for the week of January 5-11 below.

This Wednesday, you can watch the live-action remake of the classic Disney movie Aladdin. Starring Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, Marwan Kenzari, and Will Smith, the movie follows a street kid–more like adult if you ask me–who comes across a magic lamp and a genie that can bring him riches, wealth, and the hand of a beautiful princess. In his review of Aladdin, GameSpot’s Chris E. Hayner said, “Aladdin is good. It’s not perfect, but it’s a big, extravagant musical that’s filled with fun performances, bright colors, and some exciting moments. Will Smith’s turn as Genie isn’t better than what Robin Williams brought to the character, but it’s different enough that it stands on its own merit. And, if you’re into this sort of thing–and you should be–Smith has a new rap over the end credits that is themed to the movie.”

On Friday, Disney+ is dropping a bunch of content, including Season 3 of Marvel’s Runways, a Hulu original series. High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Encore, and One Day at Disney get new episode releases. And finally, there’s a new episode of The World According to Jeff Goldblum, where the titular host dives into the world of cosmetics, where he’ll surely be confused by every aspect of the main topic, like he has been on every previous episode of the series.

Below, you’ll find everything coming to Disney+ this week, and for more streaming news, check out everything coming to Amazon, Hulu, and Shudder for the week of January 5 as well.

What’s new on Disney+ this week?

Wednesday, January 8

• Aladdin (2019)

Friday, January 10

• Destino (Short)
• Marvel’s Runaways (Season 3)
• High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: Season Finale – Episode 10 – “Act Two”
• Encore!: Episode 110 – “High School Musical”
• Marvel’s Hero Project: Episode 110 – “Spectacular Sidney”
• The World According to Jeff Goldblum: Episode 110 – “Cosmetics”
• One Day At Disney: Episode 106 – “Modern Family: Cast & Crew”

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Alongside its massive 292-inch TV, Samsung debuted a brand-new 8K QLED model with some of the thinnest bezel in its product lineup. Whereas the display accounts for 95% of the surface of most TVs, that figure is said to increase to 99% for the Samsung Q950TS, which was revealed during CES 2020.

GameSpot sister site CNET said the extra 4% of screen real estate on Samsung’s almost bezel-less TV, which has a 2.3mm frame around the picture, “made a big difference.” The screen goes from edge-to-edge, making the bezel near invisible from the front. With the TV itself being only 15mm deep, it has a similar aesthetic to Apple’s iPad Pro–just blown up to a larger scale. Check it out below, courtesy of CNET.

All screen all the time on Samsung’s 8K QLED TV

According to CNET’s report, Samsung isn’t just focusing on the resolution when discussing this new TV. Apparently, the 8K QLED TV will have new “local power distribution” tech to improve peak brightness by more than 20%, an Improved quantum processor capable of teaching itself algorithms to further improve picture quality, the same antiglare and viewing angle features found in Samsung’s flagship 2019 models, and more. The company has yet to announce pricing and availability for the TV. It does come in three sizes though: 65-, 75-, and 85-inches.

Samsung also unveiled a new virtual keyboard during CES 2020, which runs until January 10. The SelfieType is only a prototype for the time being and unavailable to the wider public. Still, there’s potential for it to be used with mobile gaming, as the tech accesses a phone’s camera to track the motions of your fingers. And of course, the technology company has other TVs it’s showing off on the Las Vegas show floor as well, such as a new 43-inch model that allows you to change its orientation like a cell phone.

The Consumer Electronics Show has only just begun. With Sony teasing a reveal of “the future” for later today, January 6, there’s plenty of news to come pouring out of the annual trade show. Be sure to check out our CES hub for all the latest announcements.

Samsung has introduced a new TV at CES 2020 that is built to match your mobile phone. The 43-inch Sero can switch its orientation from standard widescreen to vertical “portrait” mode. The TV, targeted toward millennial and “Gen Z” customers, launched South Korea last year and is set to expand to more markets in 2020.

CNET reports that the portrait mode is Sero’s default settings, but it sports a motorized mount that can rotate the screen as needed. You can activate the motor using a button on the remote or the Samsung SmartThings app. If you own a Samsung Galaxy phone, you can sync the two so that your TV will switch whenever your phone does–which, given the number of times per day our phones switch orientations by accident, sounds awful.

The vertical orientation is meant to look better when playing vertical videos like the ones found widely across YouTube. In theory, this functionality could be used for vertically-oriented games like retro shoot-em-ups, not unlike the Nintendo Switch Flip Grip. But that support would probably need to be applied on the developer side.

Samsung also introduced an invisible keyboard, which uses your phone’s camera to motion-track your fingers. CES is ongoing, so we expect plenty of other tech innovations coming out of the Las Vegas show. Sony has teased big things for its own CES briefing, but it’s unclear whether PS5 will be on the agenda.

CES 2020 is underway in Las Vegas, which means tech companies are busy debuting their newest technologies and innovations. One early surprise comes from Samsung, which has debuted a virtual keyboard that can be used on any flat surface.

The Verge reports that SelfieType is only a demo for the time being, but it could eventually be a commercial release. It comes from Samsung’s experimental C-Lab program, which has led to product launches before. SelfieType essentially uses your phone’s camera to motion-track your fingers, so your typing motions translate into actual keystrokes. A trailer from Samsung shows it in action.

It’s not available for public testing, so it’s difficult to tell if the tech works as smoothly as it’s shown. Invisible keyboards have already been attempted with laser projection, but this solution would work with your phone as the key piece of equipment. If it works, the same technology could potentially be used for more complex inputs in mobile games as well.

Meanwhile at CES, Sony has teased that it will show “the future” during its showcase at 5 PM Pacific on January 6. But that doesn’t necessarily mean we should expect PS5 news, even though the timing is right, because the company conspicuously didn’t mention any kind of hardware reveal coming.