HBO Max has ordered a 10-episode reboot of the 1980’s ABC sitcom Head of the Class, according to Deadline. The revival will be helmed by Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence and American Vandal writers Amy Pocha and Seth Cohen. This full order also comes after this version of Head of the Class was given a pilot order and five additional scripts back in May 2020.
For those who need a refresher, Head of the Class followed a group of gifted students and their teacher, who wanted her group of overachieving students to also prioritize experiencing life. Isabella Gomez (Modern Family) will star as Alicia Adams, the teacher who will serve the same function in the series. Not all the new roles or actors have yet been announced, but so far Jorge Diaz (The Long Road Home), Jolie Hoang-Rappaport (Watchmen), Gavin Lewis (Little Fires Everywhere), Brandon Severs (Diary of a Future President), and Christa Miller (Cougar Town) are among those in the cast. Production is expected to begin sometime this summer in Los Angeles.
Lawrence, who also created Cougar Town, is having more of his own past brought back thanks to the revival of his short-lived but widely loved 2002 animated series, Clone High. While Lawrence doesn’t seem to yet be involved, series writer Erica Rivinoja will serve as showrunner and will co-write the pilot with fellow co-creators Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who have since become filmmakers perhaps best known for The Lego Movie as well as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (which is expected to have a proper sequel in 2022). Lawrence is also keeping busy currently as co-creator, writer, and executive producer of Apple+’s breakout hit Ted Lasso.
New DLC is coming to the wacky shark game Maneater, and no, this is not an April Fools prank (we think). Maneater: Truth Quest is a story-driven expansion that puts you back into the cartilage of a bull shark in a story involving mysteries and conspiracies. 30 Rock actor Chris Parnell is back, too, reprising his role as the investigative journalist Trip Westhaven.
The DLC is focused on the Naval Wildlife Organization and how they might not be all they seem to be. For those just catching up, Maneater is the name of the game and the title of a reality TV show hosted by Westhaven. The Truth Quest DLC touches on the next chapter of the story where Westhaven looks into what he believes to be a government cover-up. He believes the existence of the super-charged man-eating shark is proof that the government is secretly creating uber-animals.
“Trip Westhaven, driven to the brink of madness, fires up his ViewTube channel ‘Truth Quest,’ to take his followers, the ‘Questers’ into deep waters in an effort to uncover the dark secrets behind this whale of a tale,” reads a line from the description.
Truth Quest features two new episodes of the in-universe show, along with a new region to explore. The DLC raises the level cap to 40, adds new evolutions to grow your shark to become even deadlier, while the maximum shark size has also been increased.
Players will also encounter new “Uber” predators and “evolved” creatures to fight. The military continues to track you in this expansion, and now they will hunt you by air through helicopters and using new weapons, making it more difficult to escape and survive. The Truth Quest expansion also adds new objectives, including a time trial that challenges you to swim through all the required rings in a certain amount of time, and another that asks you to tail-whip objects to destroy an objective.
Truth Quest is coming sometime this summer and it will cost $14.99 / €14.99 / £12.99 when it arrives. It’ll be available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, as well as PS4 and Xbox One. Maneater is also coming to Nintendo Switch in late May, but this DLC hasn’t been announced for that version of the game.
“With the sharply written, hilariously delivered narration and story beats to freshen up the experience as you go along, Maneater becomes a goofy, fish-flopping romp, with a good balance of limbs to sever, boats to wreck, and challenging creatures to render into bite-sized chunks,” reviewer Phil Hornshaw said. “Maneater isn’t a perfect shark simulator, but it is a fun and funny one whose positive adaptations outpace its drawbacks.”
Maneater was developed by Tripwire Interactive, the Georgia-based studio known for its work on the Killing Floor series, among others.
Jonathan Ferguson, a weapons expert and Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries, breaks down the insane weaponry of Splatoon 2, including the iconic Splattershot, the brutal Splat Roller, and the rapid-fire Hero Shot–a weapon that has a striking resemblance to the FN P90.
Want to play MLB The Show 21 but aren’t satisfied with the current roster of baseball players? The game also includes a selection of legends from the game’s past–dating back decades–so you can have your own Field of Dreams moment with a ridiculously good team.
The game’s latest trailer shows the legends playing in modern parks, and we see a selection of both pitchers and position players. Babe Ruth, Mike Schmidt, Rollie Fingers, Tony Gwynn, Chipper Jones, Mariano Rivera, and Roberto Clemente are among the players featured. If you want to hit the catcher’s mitt in the exact same spot with every pitch, you can also play as Greg Maddux, and pitching legend Pedro Martinez is also included.
Clemente is arguably the best Pittsburgh Pirates player of all time, known for an unmatched throwing arm–seriously, it has been ranked as the greatest in baseball history. He recorded his 3,000th career hit before tragically dying in a plane crash while on a humanitarian trip when he was just 38 years old.
MLB The Show 21 is making some big improvements and adding several features this year, particularly on next-gen systems. A new stadium creation tool allows you to make the wackiest park possible and share them online, and for the first time in the franchise’s history, the game is also available on Xbox systems. It even has cross-play, so new Xbox Series X and PS5 owners can play together and argue online about whether Willie Mays or Ted Williams was the better player.
MLB The Show 21 releases for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S on April 20, with collector’s edition purchasers getting it four days early.
Developer Torn Banner Studios has revealed that a cross-play closed beta for its swords and shields multiplayer game Chivalry II will arrive on April 23. PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S participants can try out the 64-player combat of the game, as well as its four base classes that can be expanded into 12 subclasses in the Team Objective mode.
Team Deathmatch and Free-for-all match modes will also be available on the new map The Siege of Rudhelm, and Torn Banner has released videos detailing two of the factions that players can join. The first video is for the Mason Order that wears distinctive red and black colors on the battlefield, and the second video is for the Agatha Knights who have adopted a royal blue and gold color scheme.
The beta will start at 7.30 AM PDT / 10.30 AM EDT on Friday, April 23, and will end at 7.30 PM PT / 10.30 PM ET on Monday, April 26.
Console pre-orders for Chivalry II are now live ahead of its June 8 global launch, with the standard edition costing $40 and the special edition retailing for $50. Pre-order incentives include the Royal Zweihander weapon skin in the standard edition, additional exclusive items in the special edition, and access to the cross-play closed-beta for both versions of the game.
Free cross-generational upgrades from current-gen versions will be supported, if you decide to a PS5 or Xbox Series X|S in the future.
TokenWave is an app for both iOS and Android that allows users to purchase NFTs, or Non-Fungible Tokens, with a marketplace containing more than 10 million tokens for purchase. Funko’s majority stake in the company is part of a strategy to combine NFT sales with rare Funko collectibles in the future, with the first run of tokens going on sale for $10 in June. A new token will be released weekly thereafter.
According to Funko, the idea is to have rarer NFTs correspond to real-life figures that can be redeemed with the digital token. This will intrinsically tie the collectible to the token, although how that might affect the resale value of either has yet to be determined.
Funko Pops will soon have corresponding NFTs on the blockchain
“Our strategy in this space is clear – bring the value-added NFT opportunity to our licensing partners to leverage our broad range of existing pop culture content across Television, Movies, Sports, Music, Anime, Video Games and Comic Books,” explained Funko CEO Brian Mariotti. “Our amazing licensing partners are excited about our entry into this new digital space and we believe the diversity of our licensing portfolio sets us up for long-term success.”
Unlike many other NFTs, Funko will be leveraging the WAX platform for sales instead of one on the Ether blockchain. If you’d like a crash course on what NFTs are and what they could mean for the future of gaming, be sure to check out our in-depth breakdown of the new crypto craze.
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.
A series of Among Us plushies are now available for preorder through GameStop. The collectible plushies come in three sizes, ranging from $6 to $30.
The smallest size ($6) are blind bag plush bag hangers measuring 3 inches high. You’ll get one of five Crewmates in different colors and wearing various headwear. Red is the standout of the collection, looking like he’s just about to get away with murder. Those are releasing July 1, 2021.
The next size up, with a release date TBD, are 9-inch plushies for $17. They come in six colors: red, teal, yellow, pink, black, and white. Finally, the Mega Plushes for $30 are 15 to 16 inches, available in brown with a toilet paper hat or purple with a mohawk. Like the bag hangers, those are expected to release on July 1.
The plushes come right alongside the recent release of the Airship map, a new environment that developer Innersloth has been teasing for months. And upcoming quality-of-life updates planned for the game include a total revamp to the art style along with larger lobbies.
The big Airship update for Among Us is out now, and as can often happen with big additions, the patch also added some bugs and issues to the game. Developer Innersloth has outlined these known issues and while it’s still fixing some of them, it also provided some workarounds you can use to keep playing in the meantime.
On Android/Google, some Among Us players are reporting “GoogleAuthNoToken” and “LinkAccountFail” errors. Innersloth is aware of this and is looking into a fix. In the meantime, players are advised to use a guest account. This locks them to Quick Chat, but the studio is hopeful that a true fix will come soon.
Some Among Us users are also experiencing an infinite loading screen. To get around this, Innersloth said players can restart the game and it should fix the issue. The studio is aware that some people still get the issue after restarting, and it’s looking into a fix.
Another issue people are experiencing is an error message that says, “The Among Us servers could not authenticate you.” To overcome this, players should create an Among Us account or log in as a guest and then restart the game. This could take “a while,” the studio said, due in part to “server overload.”
For players experiencing issues signing into their accounts, Innersloth said they should double check to make sure you’re not trying to log into multiple accounts (Steam, Google Play, Epic, etc). “Right now the game only supports connecting one account to the game. This also could happen if you are logged into the same account on multiple devices,” Innersloth said.
In terms of known bugs, Innersloth is aware of issues regarding broken sprites, problems with Quick Chat, and getting stuck in place. You can see a rundown of these issues below, some of which have workarounds.
The Airship is a free addition to Among Us, with the game supporting cross-play across PC and mobile, and you also get cross-play on the Nintendo Switch version released just last year. Among Us is console to Xbox later this year, but a release date hasn’t been announced.
Among Us Known Bugs
If you get stuck in place after a meeting, open and close the Settings menu and you should be free to move again.
If you are above the minimum age of consent within your country (mostly 13+) and are still locked into Quick Chat (and are logged in, not on an Android device) make sure you change to Free + Quick Chat in the game Settings.
Certain players are seeing broken player sprites as pink rectangular shapes. This a very specific hardware issue, finding fixes now.
Your randomized name will keep changing unless you open Account window > tap ‘randomize name’. Then the name you pick sticks
The Airship cosmetic bundle availability is currently bugged – the RHM hat is not available for those who have purchased the bundle. Fixed on version 2021.3.31.3, but Steam is still on version 2021.3.31.2.
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Treyarch has released a new set of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War patch notes just a short time after it released a separate, major content update. This update adds three new features to the game, including a Calling Card Showcase and a few quality-of-life improvements for multiplayer. It also includes the operator Wolf, available in a nine-item bundle.
Calling Card Showcase allows you to select up to three of your Calling Cards in order to show them off together. If you’re having trouble deciding on just one you’ve unlocked, this is a great option. As with things like emblems, you can find it in the Barracks under the Player Identity menu.
You can also now inspect other players’ operator models while you’re still in the lobby, and you can set favorite cosmetic options from bundles in Create-a-Class to use Quick Equip automatically, applying your favorites without having to cycle through all the options you have.
The update post also included a tease of what to expect for next week, including Gunsmith Customs, which let you create and save your own custom Blueprints by mixing features from other ones. We’ll also get the ZRG 20mm sniper rifle and the return of Gunfight Blueprints. Lastly, Gunfight Tournaments will make its premiere with “exclusive rewards.”
In other Call of Duty news, a cannabis-focused DLC has apparently leaked for both Black Ops Cold War and Warzone.
The full set of patch notes are below.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Patch Notes (March 31)
GLOBAL
Features
Calling Card Showcase
Choose up to three Calling Cards to display in your Showcase, now available in the Player Identity menu at the Barracks.
Set as Favorite
Players can now use the “Set as Favorite” option in Create-a-Class to designate a target class for the Quick Equip feature. Weapons equipped through Quick Equip will automatically appear in this class.
Player Inspect in Lobby
Players can now inspect other players’ Operator models while in the Lobby.
Operators
Wolf
Wolf Operator Bundle now available in the Store.
UI
Addressed an issue where a pop-up message stating “Quitting with 3 or fewer players on your team will result in a loss and a ladder point penalty” could erroneously appear when attempting to join on a friend.
MULTIPLAYER
Maps
Miami Strike
Addressed an issue where attackers/defenders could spawn on the same spawn side in CDL Custom Games.
Daily Challenges
The “Junked” Daily Challenge now tracks progress for destroying enemy Field Upgrades by interacting with them, not just by shooting them.
Stability
Fixed a rare crash related to players joining a match in progress in Search and Destroy.
Fixed a rare crash in Multi-Team related to radiation clouds.
CODCaster
Addressed an issue where CODCaster could be selected in non-team-based modes.
ZOMBIES
Menus
Moved the Private Match Server Pause feature to an option in the Pause menu to allow the host of a match to apply a Blueprint from the Pause menu without inadvertently pausing the match.
Outbreak
Stability
Fixed crashes related to Krasny Soldat and zombie pathfinding.
Gameplay
Addressed an issue where a player’s vehicle would not take damage when running into Special or Elite enemies.
Addressed an issue that caused jetpack flames to appear on an HVT when their jetpack was not in use.
Onslaught (PS4/PS5)
Addressed a progression break that could occur when killing a zombie immediately after the Surge incremented.
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Xbox boss Phil Spencer is celebrating an anniversary with Xbox. It was seven years ago, on March 31, 2014, that Spencer was promoted to Head of Xbox. It was a big, dramatic change for Microsoft and Xbox, as the company faltered under the leadership of Don Mattrick and some of the policy moves that the company pushed in regards to DRM and used games.
In short, Xbox was in a tough position back then. The Xbox One launched at $500, a full $100 above the PS4, thanks in part to Kinect being bundled with every system. Microsoft did sell 1 million units of the Xbox One in its first 24 hours, but the surge at launch could not be sustained in the long-term, and the PS4 would handily outsell the Xbox One over time.
Spencer would go on to acknowledge and own up to Microsoft’s numerous shortcomings in the Xbox One era, and in particular the controversial policy decisions from the previous leadership team. Under Spencer’s leadership, and due to a number of other factors, Xbox is in a great position right now. The Xbox Series X|S had a record-setting launch, while initiatives that Spencer spearheaded like Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Streaming have taken off to great success.
“Crazy to think it’s been 7 years. Couldn’t be more proud of the team; what they’ve learned and accomplished over the years. Lot’s more to do, thanks for all the support and feedback from the community, I really do appreciate all the positive energy,” he said on Twitter.
Looking back at the announcement from March 31, 2014 is a fun stroll down memory lane. At the time, Spencer said he was “honored to lead the team at this incredible time for Microsoft and the games industry.” His blog post was titled “A New Day at Xbox.”
Back in 2014, Spencer laid out a vision for where he saw Xbox heading in the future, and I think many would agree he achieved that and then some.
“Our mission is to build a world-class team, work hard to meet the high expectations of a passionate fan base, create the best games and entertainment, and drive technical innovation. As we continue forward, this renewed focus and mission will be a foundational part of how I lead the Xbox program,” he said at the time.
Spencer has made dramatic moves as Head of Xbox, including spending $10 billion on acquiring Mojang/Minecraft and also ZeniMax and its subsidiary studios and franchises. Those investments could pay, or in the case of Minecraft are already paying, significant dividends for Microsoft. With ZeniMax now under the Microsoft fold, Microsoft takes ownership of franchises like Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Doom, and more, and brings on eight new first-party studios to help bolster its exclusive lineup going forward. Microsoft was criticized in the past for not doing enough in terms of first-party game development and exclusives, and that argument is likely to fall apart now with all the moves Microsoft has made.
Spencer also led the team in pushing a new approach to releasing Xbox games on more platforms to help broaden the playerbase. The company previously kept Xbox games on console and PC games on PC. But now, Xbox games are released everywhere, and even beyond console and PC thanks to cloud streaming for mobile devices and tablets. The executive also led the charge in pushing for cross-play, when, in 2016, he boldly announced a plan and a willingness to work with Sony and Nintendo on cross-play.
Spencer is known for his candor and free speaking, and he has on numerous occasions taken a hard line against the idea of console wars in the gaming industry. He says it serves no purpose and has a negative effect on gaming, and has consistently called for change.
Game Pass deserves a callout as well, as Spencer helped spearhead the launch of this Netflix-style subscription service that could be Microsoft’s secret weapon. Xbox Game Pass could have dramatic, long-lasting implications for Xbox and beyond, and it’s off to a great start with 18 million subscribers and a lot of positive buzz about how great a value it is.
Spencer is known for being humble, so he wouldn’t take credit for all of Microsoft’s success stories for Xbox in recent years, and he does have a big team around him that gets the job done. But he has personally led the way in his public-facing position and he sets the tone.
It hasn’t been completely smooth sailing, however, as Spencer was part of the team that decided to cancel Scalebound, shut down Lionhead, and close down Microsoft’s ambitious Xbox Entertainment Studios division (which, to be fair, he inherited from previous management).
The future is unwritten and uncertain, but Spencer has demonstrated again and again that he is a capable, forward-thinking leader who is committed to Xbox and growing the brand.
