Category: Games

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales launches for PS4 and PS5 on November 12, giving you another reason to swing through the (now snowy) streets of Manhattan as new spidey on the block, Miles Morales. And while it’s full of its own touching story moments, one of its most impactful might be at the end.

In the credits for Spider-Man: Miles Morales, developer Insomniac Games has included a tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman. The Black Panther lead sadly passed away earlier this year but left behind a strong legacy with his turn as the superhero on screen, providing many young fans with their first taste of representation in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“His honor, strength, and compassion will reverberate for generations to come,” reads the tribute, with Insomniac dedicating its latest work to the actor.

This tribute to Chadwick Boseman isn’t the only notable one featured in Miles Morales. Situated in Harlem, you can find a massive mural dedicated to the Black Lives Matter movement, along with a suit for Miles that represents the movement’s yellow and black colors.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales is much more than just the same game with a different protagonist. Insomniac has paid attention to Miles and his characterization, which critic Jordan Ramée positively pointed out in our Spider-Man: Miles Morales review. “The way he leaps off of rooftops and flips backwards to face the camera before falling into a headfirst dive is just full of the exaggerated swagger of a Black teen,” writes Ramée. “It gives me goosebumps every time he does it, especially as the music begins to swell.”

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about the Halo TV series in the works at Showtime. After going into production at the end of 2019, the making of the series was paused–like almost every other TV show and film–due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With shows and films slowly going back into production, we’re finally getting some new and interesting information about the video game adaptation.

It was originally revealed that Natasha McElhone (Californication) would take on the role of Dr. Catherine Halsey, the person behind the Spartan supersoldier program, as well as the artificial intelligence construct Cortana. After all, in the game Cortana is based on a cloned copy of Halsey’s brain. However, a major casting change has taken place.

While McElhone will continue playing the role of Halsey, she will no longer portray Cortana. According to a report from IGN, Jen Taylor–the actress that’s played Cortana in all of the main Halo video games–will portray the blue AI character. It remains to be seen, though, whether Taylor will simply voice a CGI character or actually appear in-person on the show.

Whatever the case, she joins an impressive cast for the series. In addition to McElhone as Halsey, Halo will star Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief, and a number of other actors and actresses playing roles from the Halo video games and companion novels.

Chances are, though, the thing you’re most curious about is the one question on everyone’s mind: Will we see Master Chief’s face? In the games, he never takes off his helmet. That could change for the series, though Showtime hasn’t confirmed one way or the other. “It is a key question and an important part of our series is all I’ll say,” the network’s president Gary Levine previously told GameSpot.

At this point, a release date has not been announced for the Halo TV series.

Pokemon Sword and Shield players in some European countries will soon have a chance to get Zarude, the brand-new Mythical Pokemon featured in the series’ latest animated film, Pokemon the Movie: Coco. Serebii reports that GameStop stores in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland will distribute download codes for the Mythical Pokemon starting November 13.

After players have picked up a code for Zarude, they’ll need to fire up their copy of Sword or Shield and input the code via Mystery Gift to claim the Mythical Pokemon. The codes will be available in-store until December 13. Serebii also notes that download codes will be distributed online in some of the aforementioned countries starting December 1.

Currently, this distribution event has only been confirmed for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland; no Zarude giveaway has been announced for the US as of yet, so the Mythical Pokemon currently remains unavailable in the region.

As previously mentioned, Zarude is a new Mythical monster introduced in Pokemon the Movie: Coco. It’s a Dark/Grass type that’s capable of learning a brand-new move called Jungle Healing, which restores HP to Zarude and any ally Pokemon on the field while also curing any status ailments.

Although Zarude may not yet be available in the US, Sword and Shield players can claim a different Mythical Pokemon: Gigantamax Melmetal. Those who transfer a Pokemon from Pokemon Go to Pokemon Home will receive the special Melmetal waiting via their Gift Box. The ability to move Pokemon from Go to Home is currently only available to Pokemon Go players who are level 40, but it is gradually being rolled out to other users as well.

After a long wait, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot‘s next DLC, A New Power Awakens – Part 2, finally has a release date of November 17. Based on the Resurrection of F film (which was later adapted into a story arc in the Dragon Ball Super anime series), the iconic Dragon Ball Z villain Frieza has been resurrected and is stronger than ever.

The story DLC will arrive on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and with backwards compatibility on next-gen consoles, you’ll also be able to play the expansion on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PS5.

In the DLC, Goku and Vegeta will have to face off against Frieza, who has been brought back to life and is ready for a grudge match. While Frieza has a new transformation that puts him on par with the Saiyan heroes, they’ll also be able to transform into a new state that gives them more power and brighter-colored hair than ever before.

You can view the Super Saiyan Blue transformation and the battle with Golden Frieza below in a gameplay preview from Bandai Namco:

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot’s first story DLC in April also allowed players to further increase their power with the Super Saiyan God transformation during their battle with the god of destruction Beerus. That ability allowed for an increase in attack power without needing to sacrifice energy, and Super Saiyan Blue further refines that power-up and its emphasis on perfect Ki control. There’s also an indicator of how much energy you’ll need to pull off an attack that can demolish an entire planet, which is useful.

This hasn’t been the only DLC that Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot received during the months-long gap between episodes, as an entirely new card game where players assemble decks of famous Dragon Ball Z characters and battled it out was available as a free update in October.

Goku’s latest adventure scored a 7/10 in our Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot review. “If you’re looking for an enjoyable way to see the life and times of adult Goku through a new perspective, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot will grant your wish,” wrote critic Heidi Kemps.

Dragon Ball FighterZ has been a lot more regular with DLC updates since it launched, adding Master Roshi to its roster in September.

Pokemon Go support has finally been added to Pokemon Home, meaning you can now transfer your Pokemon over from the mobile game to the cloud storage service. The process works a little differently than transferring Pokemon from other games, however, so we’ve put together this step-by-step guide outlining how to move your Pokemon from Go to Home.

Connect Pokemon Go To Your Nintendo Account

Before you can transfer a Pokemon, you’ll first need to connect Pokemon Go to the same Nintendo Account you have linked to Pokemon Home. After you’ve fired up the game, tap on the Poke Ball icon at the bottom of the screen and then select the Settings option in the top right-hand corner. Scroll down and tap Pokemon Home; you’ll then be prompted to sign in with your Nintendo Account.

Bear in mind that the ability to transfer Pokemon from Go to Home is currently limited to level 40 players, so you may not see the option listed in the Settings menu yet. Niantic is gradually rolling the feature out to more users, so keep checking back to see if it’s become available.

Select Pokemon To Transfer To Pokemon Home

After you’ve linked Pokemon Go to your Pokemon Home account, you’ll be able transfer most monsters from the game to the storage service (barring a few exceptions, which we’ll delve further into below). To start the transfer process, go to the Pokemon Home section in Settings and tap Send Pokemon. This will open the Go Transporter. Tap on the Pokemon you’d like to send over to Pokemon Home and select Transport to move them.

Restrictions

There are a few caveats to keep in mind before transferring a Pokemon. First, the Go Transporter requires sufficient energy to send Pokemon to Home. Certain monsters will use up different amounts of energy depending on their rarity; for instance, Shiny or Legendary Pokemon will cost significantly more energy to transfer than a standard Pokemon. The Go Transporter will be fully energized the first time you use it, but you’ll need to wait a set amount of time afterward for the Transporter to build up energy again. You can also bypass the wait time by spending PokeCoins, but it will be very pricey.

As previously mentioned, not every Pokemon can be transferred from Go to Home. Go-specific monsters, such as Armored Mewtwo or any costumed Pokemon that were available as part of a Pokemon Go event, cannot be transferred to Pokemon Home. You also can’t transfer any Shadow, purified, or Lucky Pokemon, as well as any monsters that are currently Mega-Evolved.

Certain Pokemon that are in an alternate form will change after they’ve been transferred to Pokemon Home. For instance, Origin Forme Giratina will transform into Altered Forme once it’s been moved to the storage service, while Sunny or Rainy Castform will revert back to its normal appearance. These forms are not treated as separate Pokemon in the mainline games, so they can take on their alternate forms again if you transfer them into Pokemon Sword or Shield and meet the right conditions.

Finally, as is the case when you transfer monsters over from Pokemon Bank, each transfer is a one-way affair. Any Pokemon that you move from Go to Home cannot be returned to its original game, so keep that in mind before you transfer any of your monsters to the storage service.

Receive Your Pokemon

After you’ve sent Pokemon using the Go Transporter, you’ll need to receive them in Pokemon Home. Open the app on your mobile device, tap on the menu button on the bottom of the screen, and select Options. Scroll down until you see Pokemon Go Link, then tap Receive to complete the transfer process.

How To Claim Your Free Gigantamax Melmetal

After you’ve transferred a Pokemon from Go to Home for the first time, you’ll receive a special gift: a Melmetal that’s capable of Gigantamaxing. To claim the Pokemon, open the mobile version of Pokemon Home, tap on the menu button on the bottom of the screen, and select Mystery Gift. You’ll find the special Melmetal waiting in your Gift Box.

That’s not the only present you’ll receive for transferring a Pokemon; you’ll also get a Mystery Box in Pokemon Go (if you haven’t already received one by transferring a Pokemon into Let’s Go, Pikachu or Let’s Go, Eevee). The Mystery Box is a special item that causes Meltan to spawn in the wild for a limited time, making it the only way to catch the Mythical Pokemon.

Amazon Prime Video is already home to one hugely popular superhero series in the form of The Boys, and now they’re preparing to add another to their lineup. Invincible is finally making the jump from comics to TV, and the story of Mark Grayson’s evolution from ordinary teenager to the world’s greatest hero will play out in a whole new medium.

But what exactly is Invincible, and why does this particular superhero saga rise above the rest in a very crowded genre? Read on for a full breakdown of the comic and its 15-year journey. Here are the topics we’ll cover:

• Who Is Invincible?
• Invincible’s Origin
• Invincible’s Powers and Abilities
• The Heroes and Villains of the Invincible Universe
• Invincible’s Connection to Spawn and Other Image Comics Heroes
• Invincible: The Road to TV
• Invincible’s Most Shocking Plot Twist

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Who Is Invincible?

Mark Grayson is just your average, ordinary American teenager. He’s a comic book geek trying to make it through high school and get his dream girl to notice him. Oh, and it just so happens that Mark is the son of Omni-Man, one of the world’s most powerful and beloved heroes. When Mark’s own superhuman abilities begin to reveal themselves, he wastes little time in taking up the mantle of Invincible and following in his father’s footsteps.

Invincible is Mark Grayson’s coming-of-age story. The series follows his early growing pains, his tragedies and triumphs and his evolution from rookie hero to seasoned veteran and the most important weapon in Earth’s fight against a far more powerful enemy.

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Invincible’s Origin

Invincible is a collaboration between writer Robert Kirkman (whom you may also know from an obscure little property called The Walking Dead) and artists Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley. The character briefly debuted in a preview story featured in 2002’s Tech Jacket #1 before quickly spinning out into his own monthly series with 2003’s Invincible #1. Invincible ultimately spanned 144 issues and assorted spinoff series before wrapping up in 2018.

Invincible #1 introduces Mark Grayson, the half-human son of an ordinary Earth woman named Deborah and an alien named Nolan, a man whom the world knows as the superhero Omni-Man. When Mark turns seven, his father reveals himself to be a Viltrumite – a member of an incredibly strong alien race who seek out new worlds and use their abilities to protect the innocent and uphold peace throughout the universe.

Though Nolan promises his son will one day manifest superhuman powers, Mark spends most of his childhood fearing he’s just an ordinary human. Only at the age of 17 do Mark’s powers finally reveal themselves and he takes up the mantle of Invincible.

Invincible’s Powers and Abilities

To an extent, both Invincible and Omni-Man are inspired by Superman, and so their superhuman powers closely resemble those of the Man of Steel. Invincible has super-strength, invulnerability and the power of flight, along with accelerated healing. While he can’t recover from wounds as quickly as, say, Wolverine, Invincible has repeatedly bounced back from injuries that would have killed a lesser hero. Invincible doesn’t have Superman’s more outlandish powers like heat vision or cold breath. However, he’s very good at punching evil into submission. In fact, one of the things that makes the series stand out from most mainstream superhero comics is the fact that many of the battles scenes are incredibly gory and very NSFW.

Early on, Omni-Man’s powers are shown to be much greater than his son’s. But over the course of the series, Mark finds his strength steadily growing with both age and experience. By the end, he’s easily among the most physically powerful beings in the entire universe.

The Heroes and Villains of the Invincible Universe

While Invincible is mostly focused on Mark Grayson and his family, the series features a massive cast of heroes and villains to rival both the Marvel and DC Universes. That cast includes both the Justice League-esque Guardians of the Globe and the Teen Titans-inspired Teen Team. Given that Mark himself is a teenager when the series begins, the early focus is more on the latter, particularly characters like Mark’s superhero crush Atom Eve and her obnoxious boyfriend Rex Splode.

Over time, the Guardians become much more integral to the plot of the series, to the point where the team was even given its own spinoff series. Much like The Seven in The Boys, the original incarnation of the Guardians is heavily modeled after the Justice League. The roster includes The Immortal (Superman), War Woman (Wonder Woman), Darkwing (Batman), Red Rush (The Flash), Aquarus (Aquaman), The Green Ghost (Green Lantern) and Martian Man (Martian Manhunter). Omni-Man isn’t officially a member of the team, though he does frequently fight alongside them.

Most of the Guardians are killed in Invincible #7 – an early sign the series isn’t overly precious about its ensemble cast. Only Immortal Man (a literal immortal whose past cover identities include Abraham Lincoln) survives that massacre. Afterwards, the Guardians take on new members like Robot (a deformed human who relies on a series of robotic drones as proxies) and ex-Teen Team members like Rex Splode and Dupli-Kate. That new team becomes a government-run organization supervised by Agent Cecil Steadman. Steadman and Invincible have an antagonistic relationship that ebbs and flows over the course of the series.

Invincible also has a hefty rogues gallery. Early on he battles an alien warrior named, weirdly enough, Allen the Alien. However, the two quickly become friends and allies, and Allen plays a heavy role later in the series. Mark’s primary nemeses also include the dimension-hopping mad scientist Angstrom Levy, the human/dinosaur hybrid Dinosaurus and the cybernetic crime boss Machine Head. There’s another group of villains who move to the forefront of the series in its final years, but it’s hard to say much about them without spoiling some of Invincible’s biggest twists.

One of the common threads with Invincible’s supporting cast is that many characters tend to straddle the line between hero and villain, sometimes crossing back and forth between the two. Allen the Alien is the earliest example, but many characters close to Mark Grayson eventually transform from hero to villain, and vice versa.

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Invincible’s Connection to Spawn and Other Image Comics Heroes

Invincible is easily among the most popular superhero comics not published by Marvel or DC. Part of the appeal of the franchise is that it’s entirely creator-owned, giving Kirkman and his collaborators the freedom to make sweeping story changes that actually last and avoid the revolving door of death and resurrection that defines so many Marvel/DC stories. But one thing Invincible does have in common with various Marvel and DC properties is that it’s part of a larger, shared comic book universe.

Technically, Invincible exists in the same universe as various other long-running Image Comics titles like Spawn, Savage Dragon, Noble Causes, The Darkness and Witchblade. In fact, one of Mark Grayson’s earliest appearances came in Savage Dragon #102, before Invincible #1 arrived in stores. That shared universe also once included teams like WildCATS, Wetworks and Youngblood, though those properties are now controlled by other publishers.

These various comics have never been closely linked. Just because a destructive alien invasion takes place in Invincible doesn’t mean that event will be referenced in Spawn. For the most part, each series operates inside its own bubble, with outside characters making quick cameo appearances where appropriate. For example, characters from one series will appear during a superhero funeral in another series. Or in another case, readers learn Mark’s mother Deborah is friends with Claire Armstrong, wife of cyborg hero Superpatriot.

There have been a few cases of Image toying with bigger, more traditional superhero crossovers (including the infamously short-lived Image United). Invincible #60 features Mark teaming up with his fellow Image heroes to stave off an invasion from his interdimensional doppelgangers. Mark also briefly crosses over into the Marvel Universe and joins forces with Spider-Man in Marvel Team-Up Vol. 3 #14.

Kirkman has tended to work some of his other comic book creations into the fabric of Invincible, with characters like Brit, Tech-Jacket and The Astounding Wolf-Man playing fairly significant roles.

Invincible: The Road to TV

Rumors have swirled for many years about a possible film or TV adaptation of Invincible. But whereas The Walking Dead made the jump to TV years before the original comic ended its run, the Invincible animated series will debut several years after the comic wrapped up with Invincible #144.

That said, this technically isn’t Invincible’s first time getting the animated treatment. Back in 2008 the series was converted into an animated “motion comic” and broadcast on MTV2. The franchise has also enjoyed a handful of cameo appearances/references in other TV series, including multiple episodes of Fox’s animated sitcom King of the Hill. Eagle-eyed fans might even spot a package of Invincible action figures in a Season 6 episode of The Walking Dead.

A full-blown adaptation only really started gaining momentum in 2017, when it was announced that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (who have also executive-produced comic adaptations like Preacher and The Boys) were attached to a feature film at Universal Pictures. That project may or may not still be in the works, but for now the focus seems to be on Amazon’s animated series.

The Invincible animated series is executive-produced by Kirkman, Simon Racioppa, David Alpert and Catherine Winder, with Racioppa also serving as showrunner. The series stars Steven Yuen as the titular hero, along with J.K. Simmons as Omni-Man and Sandra Oh as Deborah Grayson. The cast even includes a number of Walking Dead veterans playing the Guardians of the Globe.

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Warning: The remainder of this article features some major spoilers for the Invincible comic (and most likely the animated series)!

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Invincible’s Most Shocking Plot Twist

It’s difficult to talk about what makes Invincible so memorable and unique without discussing the most significant plot twist in the series. While it remains to be seen just how closely the animated series will follow the comic, it stands to reason that same twist will play out in Season 1.

Invincible #12 throws readers for a loop with the reveal that Omni-Man is not at all what he seems. Rather than being a benevolent hero representing a peaceful alien culture, Omni-Man is actually an advance scout for a bloodthirsty race of conquerors. He was sent to infiltrate Earth and pave the way for a Viltrumite invasion. When the truth comes out, Invincible has no choice but to fight his father, a battle that ends with Nolan nearly killing his son and fleeing Earth in shame.

As you’d expect, that surprise twist dramatically shapes the direction of the series from that point on. Mark is forced to grapple with his first true failure as a superhero and the knowledge that his father has secretly been grooming Earth for an alien takeover. It’s a pivotal step on his journey toward becoming the hero Earth needs. As for Omni-Man, the series gradually explores his conflicting motivations and his ultimate struggle to choose between his own people and his adopted home.

As the series progresses, more and more attention is paid to the growing conflict between Invincible and his intergalactic allies on one side and the Viltrumite Empire on the other. That struggle is further complicated through the addition of new characters like Mark’s half-brother Oliver. The series’ ultimate villain turns out to be General Thragg, a mustachioed emperor of seemingly limitless physical strength. We probably won’t meet Thragg in Season 1 of the animated series, but he’s bound to be out there somewhere, just waiting to fold Earth into his ever-expanding empire.

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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

CANSADO de las FAKE NEWS.
Os dejo un video MIO explicando porque es Fake lo de la consola “Quemada” y como han logrado este efecto incluso estando la consola “APAGADA” pic.twitter.com/LfXzIBSu6N

— Xbox Studio (@XboxStudio) November 11, 2020

Jason Blum has revealed that the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie is still in active development, though he admits the Blumhouse team “haven’t quite figured it out” yet.

Speaking to Inverse about the long-gestating video game adaptation, Blum opened up about some of the challenges that the creative team have faced in trying to bring the story to the big screen. He revealed it had been particularly difficult to choose which narrative threads to pick up for the screenplay, considering the range of expansive stories within the Five Nights universe.

“It’s still active,” Blum assured fans. “We haven’t quite figured it out, but we’re getting closer every day.”

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He elaborated further, saying, “The story is the big challenge. You know, Five Nights at Freddy’s should have been easier because there are books, there’s a lot of lore and storytelling. For a video game, I think it has more storytelling than almost any other. But still, the story goes down so many rabbit holes. It goes down so many different directions. It’s big. Choosing which part to tell the first time out of the gate — and how to tell it — has been tricky.”

A movie based on the creepy video game franchise has been planned since 2015 but the movie has been met with several delays and roadblocks during its development. In February 2018, it was announced that Chris Columbus would direct and write the movie while also serving as a producer alongside Blum and Five Nights at Freddy’s creator Scott Cawthon. However, the production hit another snag in November 2018 when Cawthon rejected the greenlit screenplay.

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For those unfamiliar with the FNaF franchise, the original 2014 video game follows a group of animatronic robots terrorizing a security guard at a Chuck E Cheese-esque kid’s restaurant called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. The popular horror video game series spans several titles, including a number of sequels, prequels, spin-offs, and even some bestselling novels.

The Five Nights at Freddy’s movie is just one of many titles in a growing slate of video game movies and TV series’ that have been announced, planned, or are currently in production, including Amazon’s Fallout TV series, Netflix’s Cyberpunk 2077 anime, and Sega’s live-action Yakuza movie, which is being produced by Erik Barmack, Roberto Grande and Joshua Long.

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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.