While Hasbro is primarily known for action figures like the Marvel Legends or Power Rangers Lightning Collection line and for board games, the company has really been delivering on some great-looking replica collectibles. Star Wars: The Black Series Force FX line has seen releases of numerous Jedi and Sith lightsabers, with the most recent being Darth Revan. Now, Hasbro is dipping into the Ghostbuster franchise to create collectibles that recreate some of your favorite items from the films.
The Ghostbusters Plasma Series Spengler’s Neutrona Wand is a bit of a mouthful for a collectible, but the second you see it, you’ll get flashbacks to the first time you saw Ghostbusters. However, this is a replica from the upcoming movie Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which hits theaters on March 5, 2021. Hasbro sent us the replica, and you can check out a few images below.
Much like the Darth Revan Force FX lightsaber, the Neutrona Wand has an LED light tube incorporated into the collectible that flashes when activated. There are four different modes for the LED tube: Proton Stream, Slime Blower, Stasis Stream, and Meson Collider. Of course, it makes sounds from the movies as well, and it vibrates to give you the feeling of you actually busting ghosts.
Where the Neutrona Wand really shines is the design. Sure, the bells and whistles of noises and colors are cool, but just look at the finer details in this collectible.
It’s a fine toy, for sure, but the subtle details are fantastic, like the welding of the handle to the main box, wires that are almost in your way while you hold it, and the random flips and buttons on the wand. It embodies the DIY spirit of the Ghostbusters movies. Writing and paint are worn off of the replica, and overall, aesthetically, it’s a home run.
However, there is one major drawback. It’s currently sold out. Normally, you would be able to purchase this item from the Hasbro Pulse site for $100 USD, but it is sold out. Amazon has it listed at a higher price through third-party sellers, but your best bet, if you want to pick this up, is to order it through GameStop. It is on backorder, and there is no shipping date currently, but you’ll be paying $100 USD instead of trying to find it on Amazon–and the cheapest we saw was for $165.
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.
By now you’ve almost definitely heard of Among Us, the exceedingly popular deception-based party game that’s netted several millions of downloads in the last few months alone. While Among Us is enjoying massive success–no doubt due to lockdown, its accessible crossplay support, and the fact that it’s free to play–it isn’t the only game of its kind. If you’re on the hunt for similar social deduction games that boast a fine balance between cooperation and deception and can be played online, no contact necessary, check out some of our favorites in the roundup below.
Push the Button (Jackbox Party Pack 6)
Voting players off in Push the Button from The Jackbox Party Pack 6.
Like Among Us, Jackbox Party Pack 6‘s Push the Button is a social deception game that supports 4-10 players. It’s also set in space and separates teams into humans and aliens. The humans’ goal is to identify the aliens and eject them from the ship while the aliens work to sabotage those plans and get the humans to misidentify each other. I prefer Push the Button to Among Us for its more humorous minigames and deliberation sessions. In one minigame, players have to draw a picture based on a prompt, but the aliens are given a slightly different prompt. If an alien “hacks” one of the tests, a human player might be given an alien prompt, which could bring them under scrutiny from their teammates.
By making the actual “tasks” more interesting (tests rather than chores), Push the Button encourages more friendly banter throughout the game rather than just during the brief meeting periods where players discuss their suspicions. It also provides more unique opportunities for deception and comedy, as alien players might be forced to justify a strange test result.
You can play Push the Button in The Jackbox Party Pack 6, which is available on pretty much all major platforms and digital storefronts.
– Chloi Rad (Editor)
Secret Hitler (Web version)
The unofficial web version of Secret Hitler, based on the tabletop game.
Secret Hitler is a battle of wits and restraint. As someone who is notoriously terrible at restraint, this game forced me to reel back the knee-jerk gasps that give me away in so many of those games. While Secret Hitler shares Among Us’ core element of deception, the perpetrator isn’t as easily identifiable. You can’t just point to someone else, claiming you saw something–this is about the long game. And messing with people’s minds. There’s a lot of that.
Players are divided into two teams: liberals and fascists, the latter with a randomly selected Hitler. Each round, the rotating role of President is in charge of passing policies along with an elected Chancellor. These policies are drawn face-down from a deck, and it’s up to the two of them to figure out which ones to choose. For the liberal party, the goal is to pass five liberal policies or assassinate Hitler. As for the fascists, they win if either six fascist policies are implemented or when Hitler gets elected to Chancellor. At the end of each round, everyone can discuss what happened and what to do next. That’s when the fun (and panic) starts.
You can let the other players argue among themselves, allowing paranoia to take cautious guesses to emotionally charged heights, or you can attempt to corral the masses with a desperate, imploring speech. If a fascist law passes, was it on purpose or an accident? Toward the end, all of you will look like Charlie in the mail room from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. I guarantee it. And even then, the game will still manage to surprise you.
– Ashley Oh (Senior Social Media Producer)
Trouble in Terrorist Town (Garry’s Mod)
The Traitor’s buy menu in Garry’s Mod game mode Trouble in Terrorist Town.
Trouble in Terrorist Town is one of the most iconic game modes from Garry’s Mod, and it still holds up over 10 years later. Players are divided up into a team of Innocents, a team of Traitors, and a team of Detectives. Traitors must eliminate all Innocent players while Innocents and Detectives must survive while positively identifying all Traitors. Both Traitors and Detectives can purchase weapons and other equipment from an exclusive buy menu, which Innocents don’t have access to. Detectives even have access to a DNA scanner and a few other devices that can provide more information on the circumstances of a player’s death.
Because of the large maps, action-oriented gameplay, wide arsenal of weapons and tools, and built-in voice communication, Trouble in Terrorist Town has a lot to offer in terms of emergent comedy and psychological mind games. You’ll need both Garry’s Mod and Counter-Strike: Source to play, which makes it a little less accessible than some of the other games on this list. But if your crew is on Steam and doesn’t mind a more dated option, Trouble in Terrorist Town remains a classic of the genre.
– Chloi Rad (Editor)
Hidden Agenda
Interactive mystery thriller Hidden Agenda on PS4.
The folks who made Until Dawn and The Dark Pictures Anthology are also behind Hidden Agenda on PlayStation 4. Like Among Us, it’s a low-impact party game that works well even for people who don’t play a lot of video games. The entire game is played with a smartphone app, and like Until Dawn, it’s largely about watching interactions, learning about characters, and making choices about how the story unfolds.
Hidden Agenda is something of an interactive movie in which several characters hunt a serial killer. Your interactions with the game include finding objects in investigations and voting on dialogue choices with the other players. The thing is, some of those players might have, surprise, hidden agendas. Not everyone has the same conditions to win the game, and some people might try to sabotage your progress.
Hidden Agenda’s presentation–more of a cinematic thriller than a traditional video game–and its use of the PS4 PlayLink app as a controller means it’s the kind of game you can play with just about anyone. Its skill requirements are pretty low, and it rewards people who pay attention and think out their choices carefully. You also can play it without differing agendas, so all players can focus on discovering who the murderer is in the game’s story, rather than discovering who the imposter is among your friends.
If you liked Until Dawn but wished there was more police procedure and lying involved, this is a fun one to check out.
– Phil Hornshaw (Editor)
Project Winter
Multiplayer social deception and survival game Project Winter.
Take Among Us, throw it on a mountain, and call it Project Winter. You and up to seven other players work together to get everything you need to call a helicopter and escape with your lives–except two of those players are actually working against you. No one knows who the traitors are, and because voice chat is proximity-based, they’ll have to be smart about when they coordinate their moves to prevent the survivors from leaving the mountain. Leading a survivor to their demise in the thick wilderness is a risky play; you never know if another survivor will show up to see you deliver their comrade’s final moments. Survivors constantly question who they can trust, but with the threat of wild animals and the treacherous climate, they can’t complete their tasks alone. And if a traitor happens to reveal themselves, it’s not as easy as ejecting them into the void of space. They still pose a threat and can pick off each survivor one by one… but how do you know this supposed traitor wasn’t just defending themselves from the real traitor? Welcome to the paranoia of Project Winter.
Despite being plagued with release and production delays, Disney+’s Marvel Cinematic Universe projects are still very much moving forward. The upcoming Ms. Marvel TV show has found its lead in newcomer Iman Vellani who, will be taking on the role of Kamala Khan, The Hollywood Reporter reports.
Kamala Khan, who recently took center stage in the Avengers video game, has become a massively popular character in the Marvel universe following her debut in 2013. A Muslim teenager from New Jersey, Kamala was introduced as a passionate superhero fan. Kamala initially believed herself to be just a regular girl, but when an attack from the Inhumans covered parts of the globe in mutagenic “Terrigen Mists,” Kamala learned that there was a secret locked deep within her DNA. The mists triggered a transformation in her that activated a superpower to grow and change her body’s size or “embiggen, as she puts it.”
Kamala was eventually given the name Ms. Marvel by her personal hero, Carol Danvers. It’s not entirely clear where the Ms. Marvel show will fit into the MCU timeline or with the on-screen Carol whose own solo movie was set in the 1990s, but it is safe to assume that Carol’s legacy will play some role in Kamala’s on screen debut.
In a detailed blog post that revealed information about Zombies, Activision said squads in the mode can be “formed across platforms and generations, marking the first time in franchise history this co-op mode is available via cross-play.” Regardless of whether players are on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, or Xbox Series S/Series X, everyone can play together in Black Ops Cold War.
Though the blog doesn’t explicitly state it, the Zombies mode is also likely to include cross-progression support just as the rest of Black Ops Cold War does. Activision confirmed that a player’s progress will be tied to their Activision account. This feature lets players freely switch between platforms, taking their save data to the console of their choosing. The same should be the case for Zombies data.
Activision did specify in the blog post that Zombies will support cross-generation, meaning no matter what console generation players are switching between, their progress will also travel with them. While not the same as explicitly confirming cross-progression, the fact that battle pass progression and loadouts will carry over between modes seemingly indicates Zombies data is not tied to any particular console.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War drops on November 13 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/Series X. Check out our Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War preorder guide to learn about the various bonuses and editions available.
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Ah yes, Among Us, the latest game that’s taking over our social feeds and seizing our memes. Back in 2018, it was a way to connect with my friends back home and realize they’re all still really bad liars, but have the most infectious giggles when they get caught and know I can’t whoop their asses–I miss them very much. So with all that experience in catching liars, I’m here to help all you bad liars become better imposters.
Admittedly, it’s a bit tough to guide folks through Among Us because success revolves around social interaction, not necessarily being good at a certain game mechanic or grasping deep gameplay systems. There are optimal ways to manipulate your environment or understand how certain tasks work, but when it comes down to identifying the imposter or defending yourself from being ejected from the crew, you have to be ready to speak up. This may not be ideal for some players, so take what you feel comfortable with from this guide.
Depending on the rules, Among Us pits a number of innocent crewmates against one or two secret imposters, but lumps them all into one group of up to 10 players. Crewmates need to complete a number of tasks across the map before imposters kill enough of them, and imposters need to be clever about how they blend in and commit murders. Everyone deliberates when a dead body is reported or when an emergency meeting is called, and can subsequently vote on who to eject from the group, in hopes of ridding the crew of its imposters.
Veteran players know how this all works, but regardless, be sure to check how the host has configured the rules of the game before playing. Pay particular attention to the imposters’ cooldown timer for kills, the parameters for tasks and types of tasks that have been set, player vision settings, and whether imposter confirmation upon ejection is enabled. Alright, that’s enough setup,: let me show you how to be a better imposter –and feel free to share your own tips in the comments, too!
Make sure you take note of the rules before starting the match.
Make Sure You Know Your (Fake) Tasks
When you’re designated imposter, you’ll be given fake tasks across the map. These are in spots where real tasks happen, and provide effective opportunities to blend in with crewmates and act normal among them. You don’t actually get to do anything for these “tasks,” though. However, understanding what these tasks are is a key piece of concealing your identity throughout a match
It isn’t much use if you don’t know what those tasks entail, since some take longer than others, and some are multi-step processes that make you go to different locations on the map. Knowing the task’s requirements gives you an idea of how long you should be at that location, especially when other players are keeping a watchful eye. During discussion phases, aggressive crewmates tend to question what others’ tasks are and what they had to do, so you better be ready to reasonably lie your ass off to blend into the discussion and explain the tasks you were “supposed” to complete.
Track Where Others Are Going And Have Been
Sometimes it’s not enough to just state your case when lying in discussions. You might also want to blend into talks by taking note of where crewmates have been and where they’re going. This helps you look active in the process of weeding out imposters, but can also present opportunities to seed suspicion of others who might trip up defending themselves.
This is especially useful when you start killing crewmates yourself. When someone reports a dead body, everyone will question crewmate locations and tasks. If you can pin it on someone else because you saw them in rooms or hallways near the body, more power to you.
Work With Your Fellow Imposter
All the matches I’ve played have been set with two imposters among our group. And I found that chances of success increase significantly when working in tandem. Of course, you can’t be talking with anyone during gameplay phases, but you should keep tabs on how they’re moving and sometimes move with them.
The best reason for this is to set up double kills. Although there tend to be few opportunities to pull this off, it’s especially effective when you have the chance. You can rid the crew of two players simultaneously and prevent either one from reporting dead bodies in that moment. It’s dangerous, for sure, but it’s efficient when you both slip away unnoticed.
You’ll know that your partner used their kill cooldown around the same time as you, too. It’s sort of a waste of time for one imposter to use their kill and have a body reported before the other imposter can pull off their kill in that same round.
Oof, ya hate to see it.
Kill The Sharpest Crewmates Early
I have this one friend who is very observant and actually good at tracking who’s doing what in relation to the rules and tasks given. He tries too hard, but I respect it. You know who you are, Jeremy.
That said, they should be in your sights early on, especially if the rest of the crew doesn’t know you have it out for them. The last thing you need is them keeping a long list in their mind of where you’ve been and what you say you’ve been doing. This kind of player will grill you on your task list, what those tasks required you to do, why you took so long in one area, or why you moved on so fast from a task that should’ve taken longer. You don’t need that energy in your hunt for crewmates.
Don’t Sit On Your Kill Cooldown For Too Long
It’s tempting to go for a kill once your cooldown recharges. It goes without saying that you should be very careful of when and where you kill a player, as well as being mindful of players in the vicinity and how you could create an alibi. But you should also be quick in getting that kill in.
After deliberations, whether it be from an emergency meeting or body report, imposter cooldown timers will restart when you get back to the game. It hurts to sit through that timer again and keep trying to fake tasks and hide in plain sight, so get to work on that kill as soon as is reasonably possible.
When playing with other tryhards, like my aforementioned friend Jeremy, keep in mind that they tend to use up their chance to call an emergency to simply reset the imposters’ cooldown timer in the mid-to-late game. I hate it when this happens, so don’t let it happen to you.
I stay winning with this guide.
Kill The Lights To Cover Up Or Setup A Kill
As the imposter, you have a few map-wide distractions, called sabotages, at your disposal, which throw off the crewmates from their normal tasks and draw their attention to a temporary, but critical task. One of them can be the ability to turn off the lights on the map, which shrinks everyone’s vision to what’s immediately next to them, creating a dense fog of war for you to take advantage of.
The best use of this is to cover up a dead body, since you’re limiting player vision, or to set up a kill and make sure no one else who might come around sees it happen. Turning off lights right after a kill can also buy you time to relocate and create a new alibi before someone discovers the body. On top of that, it’ll also draw players to the task of restoring the lights.
Understand What Each Sabotage Does And Where It Forces Crewmates To Go
In a broader sense, imposter sabotages can be the key to pulling off slick kills unnoticed. However, each sabotage draws players to specific locations on the map, so you need to be mindful of where it takes them.
For example, in the snow map Polus, initiating the seismic stabilizer sabotage will take players to the two northern corners of the map to disable the countdown. This will help draw attention away from the lower end of the map, which could be useful if you’re making a killing in those areas. Shutting down comms disables player task lists, so this would be good to disperse the overall group as they scramble to get comms back on and get back to tasks, especially if you’re feeling uneasy about how you’ve been faking your own tasks.
Use Vents Sparingly
Imposters can use vents to hide away from everyone else. It’s important to know where vents are to conceal yourself in butt-clenching situations when you have nowhere else to hide, or when you want to pull up on someone who enters a room alone. But you can’t rely on vents too much.
Vents pause your kill cooldown timer from recharging, so hiding in one wastes precious time that can be spent setting up a kill. Staying in a vent too long can also hinder your ability to form an alibi when crewmates start to question where others have been and what others have been doing–no one can vouch for you (not even yourself) if they haven’t seen you around.
Wow, it was purple in medbay.
Self-Report And Frame Others Only With Confidence
If you’re a real savage, you can report a dead body yourself, but you better be ready to play it off. This can go two ways: you can either be like “wow, I found the body in [x] room, damn, ya hate to see it,” or “WOW, I JUST SAW [other player] COMING FROM [X] ROOM, YOU LOOKIN REAL SUS BUDDY.” Either way, you need to be able to play the part just like you would as a crewmate, and make sure you can cover your tracks. You also want to know who’s been in the general vicinity, because you’re the only one who’s going to look suspicious if a dead body is in a spot no one else has been for a good long while.
Another similarly bold move is to kill someone right in front of another player, report the body, and immediately sell everyone on the lie that you saw that other player commit the murder. You basically have to lie so good that you’re even convincing yourself of it. And you need to make sure the player you’re pinning it on has either ambiguous or dubious status among the crewmates.
Please note that this method only has a chance of working when the option for imposter confirmation upon ejection is disabled. Even then, you’ll want to use this sparingly; if anything in your case starts to fall apart, the only one looking sus is you.
The Infamous Stack Kill
I’m not going to say I’ve had success doing this, but damn do I respect a good stack kill. A stack kill is when a bunch of players stand in one spot doing a task–ideally more than four–and you hit the kill button, leaving everyone there wondering who the hell it was in that group that just committed murder in plain sight. Of course, this puts you in the conversation of suspicious players if you’re noticed as one in the stack. Just be ready to defend yourself incessantly.
The “Nacht der Untoten” map is coming back from Call of Duty: World at War. That was the first game to feature the Zombies mode, and it was a secret mode that would become unlocked after finishing the campaign. This time it’s being revised to fit the new Cold War setting. You’ll see the outpost as it looks in the 1980s instead of the ’40s, and it’s been significantly expanded to include the lab that houses Die Maschine and the outdoor area surrounding the lab.
The story will bring back a familiar character, as well. Grigori Weaver from the original Black Ops will lead a CIA-backed team, codenamed Requiem. Weaver’s team is investigating a bunker which has also attracted the attention of the Soviet clandestine force Omega Group. Activision promises the story of Zombies will unfold slowly over time, but this refreshed version of Zombies won’t necessarily tie neatly into the previous canon.
A multiplayer beta is coming next month–without Zombies, it appears–and preordering Black Ops Cold War will get you early access. PS4 has the earliest unlock time due to its exclusivity arrangement with Activision. Then Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is coming November 13, just after the launch of Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PlayStation 5. For more details, check out our Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War preorder guide.
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CD Projekt Red Head of Studio Adam Badowski has responded to a Bloomberg report about mandatory crunch at the studio, saying the move was “one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make”, but noting that Cyberpunk 2077’s developers will be “well compensated for every extra hour they put in.”
This follows a report yesterday, which contained an email from Badowski sent to CD Projekt Red staff. The reported email says that the studio will be enacting mandatory six-day workweeks in the run-up to Cyberpunk 2077’s November release after “extending all other possible means of navigating the situation.” CD Projekt Red had previously promised its employees that they wouldn’t be forced to crunch on the game, in an interview with Kotaku in 2019.
Badowski issued a statement in response to Bloomberg’s reporting on Twitter. “These last 6 weeks are our final sprint on a project we’ve all spent much of our lives on. Something we care for deeply. The majority of the team understands that push,” Badowski’s statement reads.
“This is one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make, but everyone is well compensated for every extra hour they put in,” Badowski adds. “And, like in recent years, 10% of the annual profit our company generates in 2020 will be split directly among the team.”
If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of crunch, it’s a term used in the video game industry to describe situations where employees are asked to work overtime to meet project deadlines. For more information, check out our article covering the state of mental health in game development.
Activision reportedly banned around 20,000 Call of Duty Warzone cheaters as the game’s Season 6 update began.
A report from Vice citing an Activision spokesperson and “people familiar with the matter” says that the publisher issued a ban wave on Monday, with some terminations related to the use of a popular cheating program called EngineOwning.
The EngineOwning website now lists its Modern Warfare 2019 cheat as “detected” suggesting that Activision has successfully halted its use in-game, wiping the accounts of thousands of cheaters in the process.
The Vice report specifically mentions the case of streamer Nick ‘Wagnificent’ Wagner, whose account was permanently banned in the middle of a livestream. Sources told Vice that Wagner was using the now-detected cheat in Warzone, which resulted in his ban.
NetherRealm Studios has revealed a new Halloween-themed character skin pack for Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath, which is available now for all players who own the expansion.
You can check out the skins in full below, which include a ‘Blizzard King’ skin for Sub-Zero, a ‘Bad Medicine’ skin for D’vorah which turns her into a nurse, and a ‘Beast Within’ skin for Johnny Cage which gives Cage 80’s Werewolf features.
The All Hallows’ Eve skin pack is available free for all owners of Aftermath, a major expansion to Mortal Kombat 11 which arrived in May 2020 and added a brand new story arc to the game and a trio of characters: Sheeva, Fujin & Robocop. The new stages, fatalities and friendships added in the expansion have been granted to all Mortal Kombat 11 players as a free update.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has announced the main cast members for his upcoming NBC comedy series Young Rock.
Johnson shared the casting news in a series of Instagram posts on Wednesday, revealing the actors that have been selected to portray younger versions of himself and his family members on the NBC sitcom, which he says is based around his “wild and unpredictable childhood and formative years growing up.”
Three actors have been cast to portray Johnson throughout the various stages of his life. Adrian Groulx has been given the role of 10-year-old “little Dewey” Johnson (a nickname given to Johnson by his Godparents) while Bradley Constant has been tapped to play a 15-year-old version of The Rock. Finally, Marco Polo star Uli Latukefu has been cast to play Johnson at 20 years old when he was playing football on a scholarship at the University of Miami.
In addition to those casting choices, Johnson announced that Stacey Leilua will be playing his mother, Ata Johnson (AKA “Mama Rock”), while Joseph Lee Anderson will take on the role of the star’s late father, Rocky Johnson (AKA “the OG original Rock”). Ana Tuisila rounds out the cast in the “highly entertaining” role of Johnson’s grandmother, Lia Maivia. Johnson noted that the first episode will be dedicated to his late father, who passed away earlier this year.
According to Variety, the series will chart Johnson’s childhood “from growing up in a strong and resilient family, to being surrounded by the wild characters of his professional wrestling family, to playing football at the University of Miami. It will explore the rollercoaster that has shaped Johnson into the man he is today and the larger-than-life characters he’s met along the way.”
Production is now officially underway on the previously-announced series, which is being executive produced by Nahnatchka Khan, Dwayne Johnson, Jeff Chiang, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia, Brian Gewirtz and Jennifer Carreras. Young Rock is expected to debut on NBC sometime in 2021, so stay tuned to IGN for all of the latest updates and announcements.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
