Category: Games

Last week, the Biden administration outlined a massive infrastructure plan that includes $100 billion toward giving all Americans access to broadband internet. Some companies have protested this decision, but Amazon evidently isn’t one of them.

“We support the Biden Administration’s focus on making bold investments in American infrastructure. Both Democrats and Republicans have supported infrastructure in the past, and it’s the right time to work together to make this happen,” CEO Jeff Bezos, the richest person in the world, said in a statement. “We recognize the investment will require concessions from all sides–both on the specifics of what’s included as well as how it’s paid for (we’re supportive of a rise in the corporate tax rate).”

It makes sense that Amazon would be in favor of this plan, as its streaming services–both Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Luna–would benefit from all Americans having access, particularly if data caps were eliminated.

Big internet service providers like AT&T don’t see this plan as being in their interest, as it said most Americans don’t require fiber-level speeds. Amazon does actually have some sort of plan to become an ISP, though it’s unclear whether this factored into its support or not. It’s also worth pointing out that while Amazon favors an increase on the corporate tax rate, it has often had to pay nothing in federal income taxes. The proposed raise from Biden would bump the rate to 28% from the 21% it was lowered to under Donald Trump. Previously, it was as high as 35%.

It’s true that most content, including video streaming and general web surfing, will run perfectly fine at lower speeds. However, game downloads are only getting bigger high-quality video streaming requires faster speeds, and those living in areas without fast internet will be left in the cold as we head toward an increasingly digital industry.

The first trailer for the upcoming action thriller Those Who Wish me Dead has been released. The movie stars Angelina Jolie, and it hits theaters and HBO Max on May 14.

Jolie plays a firefighter named Hannah, who is stationed near fire-prone woods in the Montana wilderness. One day she encounters a young boy is on the run from some deadly assassins, who have already murdered his dad and now want to finish the job–and are quite happy to kill Hannah in the process. The movie is directed by Taylor Sheridan, who previously wrote Sicario and created the show Yellowstone, and knows all about staging exciting neo-western action. Check the trailer out below:

Those Who Wish me Dead also stars Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max Fury Road), Aidan Gillen (The Dark Knight Rises), Jon Bernthal (The Punisher), and Tyler Perry (Gone Girl). It’s written by Michael Koryta, Charles Leavitt, and Sheridan, and is based on Koryta’s 2014 novel.

Sheridan has also written the screenplay for the thriller Without Remorse, which hits Amazon Video on April 30. The movie is based on the Tom Clancy novel, and stars Michael B. Jordan as vengeful NAVY Seal John Clark. The final trailer was released this week.

For more, check out GameSpot’s guide to the biggest upcoming movies of 2021.

The AK-47 is one of Call of Duty’s most revered assault rifles. In and out of the series, the gun represents all things villainous and badass. The assault rifle has been featured in several of main series’ entries including the entire Modern Warfare saga. In later games however we see less of it within the Black Ops’ futuristic titles. Its return to Modern Warfare 2019 and Cold War were no surprise because love it or hate it, the AK47 is legendary.

Despite being produced in the late 40s, we didn’t see much of the AK in early Call of Duty games like 1, 2, and 3. It wasn’t until the WWII craze ended that we saw the Russian rifle popularized in video games. Beginning with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, most enemy forces in the modern-day setting are equipped with AK, while domestic forces like the Army Rangers always carried the M4 or M-16A4. This (and the entire 1980s) popularized the rifle as the ultimate “bad guy” weapon.

In futuristic titles like Black Ops 3, we hear less and less from the AK-47. Instead, most of these titles feature the AN-94 or KN-44 platform series. Over the years, the AK has also been featured in the popular Black Ops Zombies mode. When pack-a-punched for extra firepower, the AK is called “Reznov’s Revenge”- an homage to World at War and Black Ops 1’s Victor Reznov.

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In the announcement trailer for Mainstream, Andrew Garfield’s YouTube personality Link is almost indistinguishable from many of the video platform’s real-life stars. The movie by Palo Alto director Gia Coppola follows Andrew Garfield and Maya Hawke as YouTubers gaining in popularity while they struggle with a messy love triangle.

The film looks like a visually spectacular, totally satirical take on the world of social media personalities, exploring the heights and pitfalls of YouTube fame. The trailer features plenty of recognizable YouTube motifs, with Garfield’s character goofing around in an oversized mansion and engaging in stunts and pranks for the sake of views.

The film also stars Nat Wolff, Jason Schwartzman, Johnny Knoxville, and more, and features a number of cameos from real-life YouTubers including Jake Paul and Patrick Starr.

Mainstream was debuted last year at the Venice Film Festival, and is set to see a release in select theaters and on demand on May 7, after IFC Films acquired distribution rights, as reported by Variety.

The Walking Dead: Survivors is a new mobile survival game based on the popular franchise, which sees players gathering resources and recruiting Survivors to help fortify their stronghold. Announced earlier this year, players won’t have to wait too long to get into Survivors, with the game releasing on April 12.

While The Walking Dead exploded in popularity thanks to AMC’s 10-season TV show, the new mobile game is based on the original comics rather than the TV adaptation. Developer Elex has announced that the pre-registration period for the game has nevertheless been a successful one, with over 1.5 million players registering interest across iOS and Android.

The titular Survivors are key to the game, with the player encountering and recruiting various characters from the comics who will help fortify their defenses. While the developer has promised that over 80 Survivors will eventually be present in the game, it’s unclear how many of them will be present at launch besides the five that have been announced by name– Rick, Glenn, Beta, and Hershel. Other characters previously announced for the game include Maya, Vayne, and Dwight.

Each Survivor has different abilities, which are grouped into two categories as either Combat or Development characters. Rick, for example, is a Combat Survivor who is “focused on fighting off walkers,” according to a details revealed in a press release. “He wields a rifle, an axe and his skills increase damage.” Hershel, on the other hand, is listed as “a Development Survivor who is a medic. He wields a rifle and he increases Healing Speed and hospital capacity while reducing healing cost.”

Sadly, despite its official license, gameplay videos from the Survivors beta that have been posted online look fairly underwhelming, with little to differentiate it from other base-building zombie survival mobile games beyond the familiar skin.

The Walking Dead: Survivors will release on April 12 for iOS and Android. You can pre-register your interest prior to the release on the game’s official website.

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The upcoming Mortal Kombat film, which releases on April 23, has a lot to live up to. Not just three decades of beloved video games, but one of the most universally beloved video game moves in Paul W.S. Anderson’s 1995 film of the same name. Getting the game’s massive cast of characters right is one of the biggest challenges, and the new “Meet the Kast” featurette give us a look at the movie’s many characters and gives the actors chance to offer up a few words.

“[Fans] deserve to see their beloved characters elevated to this cinematic height,” said director Simon McQuoid in the featurette, which looks to be a much longer and more in-depth version of the character video released on March 25.

Mehcad Brooks, who plays Jax, is no stranger to playing heightened, superhero-type characters. The actor spent four seasons on Supergirl as James Olsen, eventually becoming the vigilante superhero called Guardian for the show.

“The interesting thing about playing a video game character is, you have to walk this line of being larger than life, but also making that person real,” Brooks said. Jax is a long-time member of the Mortal Kombat cast of characters, and in an earlier trailer for the upcoming film we see him lose his arms in battle, only to come back with much stronger, cybernetic arms as a Mortal Kombat competitor (or Kompetitor, they’d probably like us to say).

The video goes into the focus on believable, grounded combat, and McQuoid’s desire to pair brutal fighting with beautiful scenery.

Mortal Kombat hits theaters and HBO Max on April 23. Ahead of that, see what the director has to say about not deviating from the source material and making sure the movie lives up to its R-Rating. If you’re wondering why Johnny Cage isn’t in the movie, blame Kano. And if you’ve missed a few Mortal Kombat games and don’t recognize every face in the featurette, make sure to check out our rundown of every Mortal Kombat character revealed so far.