Author: Trafficblast

Amazon’s Lord of the Rings TV show is one of the most buzzed-about upcoming shows on streaming or network TV, in part for the $1 billion that the company is reportedly spending to produce it. It’s going to be a prequel to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but that’s almost all we know about it. While we wait for more details, a prominent Hollywood writer has come forward to say he’d like to work on it.

J. Michael Straczynski–who created or co-created the shows Babylon 5, Crusade, Jeremiah, and Sense8–says he would “give a lung” to be its showrunner. It’s 2018, so this all happened on Twitter, where Straczynski accidentally tagged Netflix in his post instead of the show’s actual network, Amazon. Whatever the case, he’s clearly passionate about The Lord of the Rings, saying he reads the books every two years and has seen all the Lord of the Rings movies “dozens of times.” Not only that, but he also wrote a term paper in college completely in Elvish. Yeah, I’d say he knows his stuff.

Straczynski also thinks Sean Astin, who played Sam in the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings movies, would think Straczynski would make a good showrunner. Astin chimed in as well to say Straczynski’s take on The Lord of the Rings “would have passion and integrity.”

Here are the relevant tweets:

Straczynski’s tweets were in response to him being named on The Lord of the Rings fansite The One Ring’s list of people they would like to see serve as the showrunner. Amazon has yet to make any announcements about the talent in front of or behind the camera for the show. Given that the show needs to be in production in the next two years, we expect more details to come relatively soon.

Straczynski also wrote the Clint Eastwood-directed movie Changeling, which was nominated for three Academy Awards.

While no new Lord of the Rings films have been announced, a movie about Tolkien’s relationship with with his wife Edith Bratt and his time in World War I is in the pipeline. Another film will explore the author’s relationship with Narnia writer C.S. Lewis and how he helped convert Lewis to Christianity. In other news, Universal might be working on a Lord of the Rings amusement park in Florida.

This week’s Switch news isn’t too packed, but there are quite a few gems to keep your eyes one. We got our first look Dark Souls Remastered and Dragon Quest Builders 2, Owlboy has a release date, and indie-darling Firewatch is on its way to the console.

Aside from forthcoming titles, 19 new games were added to the Eshop this week. A good handful of the platform’s best titles are also on sale right now, including Arms, Rocket League, and L.A. Noire. As far as industry news, the publisher behind L.A. Noire and GTA 5, Rockstar, is in hot water this week after a report revealed its male employees are making more than its female employees; the developer has promised to do better in the wake of the disparity.

Forthcoming Releases

Here’s How Dark Souls Remastered Looks On Switch

Nintendo Switch Getting Acclaimed Adventure Game Firewatch

This New Racing Game Is Like F-Zero Crossed With Splatoon

PS4 / Xbox One Owlboy Versions Finally Get Release Date

First Dragon Quest Builders 2 Screenshots, Details Revealed

Updates and DLC

Rocket League WWE Items Coming During Wrestlemania 34

Deals

All The WWE 2K18 Deals For Wrestlemania 34 Weekend

Eshop

Best Nintendo Switch Eshop Games On Sale Now In The US

Nintendo Switch Adds “Lost” Arcade Version Of Punch-Out

Nintendo Switch Eshop Launches 19 New Games, Plus Fire Emblem And Xenoblade DLC

Industry

Here’s Why Dragon Quest 11 On Switch Is So Far Off

Report Shows Women Earn Less Than Men At GTA 5 Studio, Rockstar Promises To Do Better

It’s finally time for WWE’s biggest event of 2018, Wrestlemania 34. The professional wrestling giant continues to raise the bar at its yearly event by offering more matches, more celebrities, and more memorable moments, year after year. 2018 will be no exception as former UFC Champion Ronda Rousey teams with Kurt Angle to take on Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.

This year’s event takes place at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, and if you live in the area, there are still tickets available to see it live. As you’ll see below, the card is stacked with 13 confirmed matches and one more that will most likely be added during the PPV. Every single main roster title is on the line, which means there will be nine title matches, including one for the vacated Cruiserweight Championship, which is from the Tuesday night show on the WWE Network, 205 Live.

If you want to know more, you can check out our in-depth match card, predictions, the length of the show, and how to watch it, as well as a round-up of all our Wrestlemania stories from the past month, including the best times to use the restroom for this action-packed show.

Here’s the card lineup for the event:

• Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Roman Reigns (For the Universal Championship)
• AJ Styles (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (For the WWE Championship)
• Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey vs. Triple H & Stephanie McMahon
• Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Asuka (For the Smackdown Women’s Championship)
• Daniel Bryan & Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
• John Cena vs. Undertaker – NOT CONFIRMED
• The Miz (c) vs. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Bálor (For the Intercontinental Championship)
• Randy Orton (c) vs. Bobby Roode vs. Jinder Mahal vs. Rusev (For the United States Championship)
• The Bar (c) vs. Braun Strowman and unnamed partner (For the Raw Tag Team Championships)
• Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Nia Jax (For the Raw Women’s Championship)
• The Usos vs. The New Day vs. The Bludgeon Brothers (For the Smackdown Tag Team Championships)
• Cedric Alexander vs. Mustafa Ali (For the Cruiserweight Championship) – KICKOFF SHOW
• Women’s Battle Royal – KICKOFF SHOW
• The Andre the Giant Battle Royal – KICKOFF SHOW

The Wrestlemania 34 Kickoff Show starts on the WWE Network at 5PM ET / 2PM PT. The actual Mania PPV begins at 7PM ET / 4PM PT on the WWE Network and on PPV. Below, you’ll find the winners of each match as it happens.

In case you’re not caught up, don’t worry; we put the final results in spoiler blocks.

Kickoff Show

The Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal

Matt Hardy wins at 16:36.

Updating…

Marvel’s Black Panther was filled with excellent characters, but perhaps the most memorable was Shuri, Wakanda’s resident genius and little sister to King T’Challa. The character won many a fan thanks to her smarts, wit, and unwillingness to give up on her brother and her home.

Given how recently Black Panther was released, some may have thought it’d be some time before they’d see Shuri on the big screen again, but the character will play a part in the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbuster Avengers: Infinity War. This, it seems, was a big surprise to Letitia Wright, who played the headstrong hero in Black Panther.

As part of a Q&A at a recent fan event Wright was asked about her reaction to finding out she was going to be in Avengers: Infinity War, and revealed that she was caught off guard by the offer.

“Listen, I was just mindin’ my own business, trying to finish off Black Panther … as you do,” she said jokingly. “And then the execs at Marvel said, ‘We need to talk to you’ and I thought, ‘Dammit, what did I do. Did I leak something? Did I steal something? I take extra food at lunch so…’ Then they got on the phone and said, ‘Do you want to be in the next Avengers?'”

“I was like, ‘What? Just like that? What about the audition process, do I have to do something? Read some lines?’ They were like, ‘No, kid. Just say yes and be in the film, and we’ll see you in June.’ Then I met the [Russo] brothers, and they said, ‘This is your lab, this is what you’re doing.’ It was just amazing. I am so grateful to be a part of it.'”

The full extent of Shuri’s role in the movie remains unclear, but we know she’s responsible for helping get Bucky ‘Winter Soldier’ Barnes fighting fit for the Avengers’ big battle against Thanos.

During the same Q&A, directors Anthony and Joe Russo said the movie was one of the most complicated ever to be made, from a logistical standpoint. They went on to discuss some of the challenges they faced directing Avengers: Infinity War.

Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters on April 27. If you’d like to get caught up fast, check out our recap of the Marvel Cinematic Universe here. You can also read our coverage of the locations of the Infinity Stones to the Avengers we expect will die.

Avengers: Infinity War is the culmination of years of setup across multiple Marvel Cinematic Universe flicks and will bring together the most iconic heroes from the last 10 years of movies to face one, all-powerful evil. Naturally, the process of making the movie has been complicated, and during a Q&A at a fan event, directors Joe and Anthony Russo discussed some of the challenges they faced.

“Certainly, this is one of the most complicated movies ever made in many ways,” said Anthony Russo. “I think all of us appreciate what a special and unique opportunity this was. No one has ever seen a film like this. No one has ever seen this number of loved characters in a single film with this caliber of cast. And that’s really what drove all of us.

“I think everybody brought their best collaborative energy to the project. Everybody sacrificed hard for the project. It’s not only important to us, but it’s important to the audiences and everybody rose to the cause.”

Anthony Russo went on to say that, since the characters are being pulled from movies that have different tones, he and his brother relied on the actors to bring authenticity to the way each hero interacts with another.

“Being able to pull from characters that have such a wide variety of tones and films that have a wide variety of tones, and figuring out how they live in the same space together, [along with] what happens when you push them together–that’s why this film was such an intense collaborative process,” he explained.

“It’s why we had to rely so much upon the actors in terms of what their instincts were, what their sensibilities were, how would they behave when they met each other for the first time even though they were coming from places that were so different on a narrative and tonal level. It was a complex process but I think that when it’s all mixed together it makes for a pretty wonderful thing.”

Asked what they want the audience to feel after they’ve seen Avengers: Infinity War, Joe Russo said he wanted them come away with “a complex array of emotions.”

He continued: “It’s certainly going to be a lot of fun when you put all these characters together, but the theme of the movie is, ‘What it costs to be a hero in a complicated world’ and, ‘Does the value of doing what’s right outweigh the cost?’ I think there’s an important message in the film and it’s important to the world today. I think it’s going to be a really interesting ride for everyone.

During the Avengers: Infinity War fan event attendees were given an opportunity to see 20 minutes of the movie ahead of its release. Additionally, numerous members of the cast appeared to discuss the movie in a Q&A session. Along with the Russo brothers, Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Paul Bettany (Vision), Letitia Wright (Shuri), Sebastian Stan (Bucky ‘Winter Solider’ Barnes), Tom Holland (Spider-Man), and Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch).

Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters on April 27, so you’ve still got a few weeks to catch up on all things Marvel to prepare. If the sheer number of characters involved in the film is a bit overwhelming, be sure to check out our recap of the Marvel Cinematic Universe here. You can also read our coverage of the locations of the Infinity Stones to which Avengers we’re expecting to die.

It’s now 2018, and that means some of your favorite games are already having some big birthdays. Grand Theft Auto IV turns 10 this year, and turning 20 is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. 1998 and 2008 both had their share of great games, and although there’s a lot of games to look forward to this year, there’s always time to look back on the ones that were the most important to us.

As the year goes on, we’ll continue to spotlight important games on the anniversary of their Western releases. Below, you can find everything we’ve done so far, including our roundups of all the big anniversaries, celebratory livestreams, features, and more. And if you want to get really nostalgic, you can also check out our roundup of the biggest games from 2007.

1998: Games That Turn 20 This Year

The games that turn 20 in 2018 include Xenogears, Resident Evil 2, the original Half-Life, and our Game of the Year of 1998, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. You can check out all our favorites and why they impacted us in our 1998 roundup.

As the year goes on and anniversaries approach, we’ll also be doing more in-depth features on some of these games. You can find everything we’ve done so far below.

2008: Games That Turn 10 This Year

10-year-old games include high-profile sequels to some of the biggest franchises, including Grand Theft Auto, Fallout, and Metal Gear Solid. You can see all those anniversaries in our 2008 roundup.

We’ll continue to update this hub with all our anniversary features as the year goes on. Stay tuned for more!