After briefly going private, subreddit r/wallstreetbets is back up. Moderator user zjz posted a response to why the subreddit was briefly taken private alongside the account’s Discord server being banned.
“We wrote software to do most of the moderation for us but that software isn’t allowed to read the Reddit new feed fast enough and submit responses, and the admins haven’t given us special access despite asking for it,” zjz writes. “We’re suffering from success and our Discord was the first casualty. You know as well as I do that if you gather 250k people in one spot someone is going to say something that makes you look bad.”
They continue: “We blocked all bad words with a bot, which should be enough, but apparently if someone can say a bad word with weird unicode icelandic characters and someone can screenshot it you don’t get to hang out with your friends anymore. Discord did us dirty and I am not impressed with them destroying our community instead of stepping in with the wrench we may have needed to fix things, especially after we got over 1,000 server boosts. That is pretty unethical.”
According to The Verge, Discord banned the WallStreetBets server for “hateful and discriminatory content after repeated warnings.”
HBO Max is releasing two Warner Bros. theatrical films on its streaming platform for February 2021.
To kick things off, the streamer is debuting Judas and the Black Messiah on February 12. This historical drama centers on “Bill O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield), who infiltrates the Black Panthers per FBI Agent Mitchell (Jesse Plemons) and J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen). As Black Panther Chairman Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) ascends, falling for a fellow revolutionary (Dominique Fishback) en route, a battle wages for O’Neal’s soul,” according to the synopsis from Warner Bros.
HBO Max will also be home to the new Tom & Jerry film, which premieres on February 26. In this adventure, the dynamic animated duo are in New York City “on the eve of the wedding of the century, forcing the event’s desperate planner to hire Tom to get rid of him.” Tom & Jerry is directed by Fantastic Four and Ride Along’s Tim Story.
In terms of some DC classics, HBO Max is releasing Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman film, as well as the Justice League Unlimited animated series on February 1.
Check out the slideshow gallery below for the highlights of HBO Max’s February offerings, followed by the full list:
Destruction AllStars received its own State of Play today, detailing game modes, currency, hero abilities, the challenge series, and much more for this PlayStation exclusive launching on PlayStation Plus on February 2, 2021.
This 8-minute deep dive began by discussing the game’s three types of vehicles. The first is all about speed, which can drift and take corners like no other. The second is all about agility and was built specifically for giving the maximum amount of control. The third type are the heavy vehicles and can endure the most damage.
These cars are disposable by design and you are meant to constantly be jumping in and out of vehicles to earn points and destroy your opponents.
When you are evading, wrecking enemies, and getting pick-ups, you will be charging both your hero vehicle ability and hero ability, each which are unique to the one of 16 characters you choose.
The State of Play revealed Lupita’s trail of fire abilities that damage all in their wake, while Shyft’s are more strategic as they can turn them invisible and allow them to disappear from the mini-map.
All heroes will be able to move faster and double jump while in hero mode. Inside or outside of hero mode, all heroes can wall-run, vault, vault-boost, ricochet off walls, dodge, and more.
Currency was also discussed, and it’s comprised of both All-Star Coins and Destruction Points. All-Star Coins are earned by playing online and earning XP, while Destruction Points can be purchased from the PlayStation Store.
Following launch, there will be daily and weekly challenges players can compete in to earn Destruction Points.
Lastly, the Challenge Series was teased, which focus on a single all-star and their rival. Besides getting a “little bit of backstory and motivation,” there will be unique challenges and gameplay and it will all culminate with a final showoff against their rival.
HBO is getting ready to explore the greater world of Westeros in the upcoming Game of Thrones sequel series House of Dragons, but the network is already prepping a second series, according to a report from Variety; this time, though, it’s animated.
HBO has not commented on the story, so we know nothing apart from that. Whether the show is sequel, prequel, or side story, and whether it deals with characters we know, are all up in the air.
The animated series, along with the recently-rumored Dunk and Egg series, according to THR, is “part of a larger strategy to expand the world of creator George R.R. Martin’s fantasy drama,” with network execs working directly with the author to expand his world.
We know a lot more about House of Dragons. The prequel series, which may already be shooting, is a ten-episode season set 300 years before the events of the Game of Thrones series. Inspired by the author’s Fire & Blood, which acts as a sort of historical account of Westeros, the series focuses on the rise of House Targaryen. The series began casting this summer, settling on actor Paddy Considine (Hot Fuzz) for King Viserys Targaryen. Since then, the network has added Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, and Emma D’Arcy to the cast. HBO scrapped another prequel series, to which Naomi Watts was attached, in 2020, as well.
House of Dragons is set to broadcast in 2022, so it seems likely that this potential animated series will arrive in 2022 or later. And while we’re waiting for House of Dragons, the Tales of Dunk and Egg, and this animated series, we can also continue to wait for Winds of Winter, which continues to not come out. Or we can look back at our review and recap of the series finale, “The Iron Throne,” to remember where exactly the bar has been set for these new series.
Nintendo is following Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ January update with another free content update in March. The company has shared very few details about that patch as of yet, other than confirming it will introduce some Mario content to the game, but here’s what we can generally expect.
Although Nintendo hasn’t shared much information about Animal Crossing’s March update, the company had previously announced that a line of Mario-themed furniture will be added to the game that month. We don’t know exactly how many pieces of furniture will be added or just what they’ll look like, but Mario items have been a staple of the Animal Crossing series since the beginning. Previous entries have featured wallpaper and flooring inspired by the original Super Mario Bros., as well as furniture based on the Super Mushroom, Super Star, fire bar, and other iconic Mario items. There were also Mario clothing and accessories, including the plumber’s signature cap and mustache.
Given that Nintendo has been redesigning many of Animal Crossing’s older furniture sets for New Horizons, it’s possible the developer could take the same approach with the Mario line and redesign existing items or even introduce completely new ones. In either case, it seems likely that some or even all of the aforementioned Mario items could be added as part of March’s update (the tease at the end of the game’s latest trailer featured the Super Mushroom and Super Star, so it seems safe to say furniture based on those power-ups will be added at the very least). How players will be able to obtain them remains to be seen, however; it’s possible that Nintendo could introduce the items as part of an in-game event, or implement them as DIY recipes and have players craft the items themselves.
Mario isn’t the only Nintendo series that has a history with Animal Crossing. Every main Animal Crossing to date aside from New Horizons has featured a variety of Nintendo-themed items and furniture, from replica Master Swords and Arwings to Pikmin hats and Metroid clothes. The original Animal Crossing even contained a handful of classic NES games (including Super Mario Bros.) that could be placed in players’ homes and played.
In the past, these Nintendo items were typically distributed through special means, primarily as part of events or promotions. In New Leaf for 3DS, however, players could acquire them through Fortune Cookies, which could be purchased at Timmy and Tommy’s shop using Play Coins accumulated while walking around with the system in sleep mode.
Ganon’s house in Animal Crossing: New Leaf
New Leaf took the Nintendo collaborations further than most other Animal Crossing games; following the title’s big Welcome Amiibo update, players could use Amiibo to invite a handful of Splatoon- and Zelda-themed villagers such as Epona and Ganon to live in their town. These villagers aren’t currently available in New Horizons, although it wouldn’t be surprising to see them re-introduced down the line.
In the meantime, Animal Crossing’s January update arrives this Thursday, January 28. It introduces the Festivale event, which takes place on February 15 and is hosted by Pave the dancing peacock. The update will also add an assortment of new seasonal items, as well as new reactions to go along with Festivale.
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A mod that allowed players to sort of have sex with Keanu Reeves’ character Johnny Silverhand in Cyberpunk 2077 has already been disabled by CD Projekt Red.
The mod, created by modder Catmino and hosted on Nexus mods, allowed players to swap skin textures onto different models in the game. By swapping Johnny Silverhand’s skin texture onto one of the robot sex workers (joytoys) around Night City, players could have sex with what looked like Silverhand. Swapping textures would do nothing for the robots’ voices, and they remained clothed, so the mod wasn’t exactly a great replica, but it garnered enough attention to be reported on by Eurogamer earlier today. Soon after that post was published, the mod was removed from Nexus.
In a statement to PC Gamer on why the mod was removed, CD Projekt Red said: “Our most important rule regarding user-generated content, game mods in particular, is that it can’t be harmful towards others. In the case of model swaps, especially those that involve explicit situations, it can be perceived as such by the people who lent us their appearance for the purpose of creating characters in Cyberpunk 2077.” Basically, they don’t want modders putting Keanu into NSFW situations he didn’t sign on for.
CD Projekt Red went on to state: “Therefore, when making fan content, creators have to make sure they’ve got permission from all the concerned parties (which might be people other than CD PROJEKT RED). For the characters we’ve invented for the game, we broadly permit you to tweak the game at will and just have fun. When it comes to models of real people whom we’ve asked to participate in the game, we kindly ask you to refrain from using them in any situation that might be found offensive if you don’t have their explicit permission.”
After all the other controversies this game has faced, it’s probably not a bad move to keep players from messing with real likenesses too much.
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Pokemon Go is following its ongoing Johto Celebration with a Team Rocket-themed event. The Team Go Rocket Celebration kicks off next Tuesday, February 2, and it features new Shadow Pokemon to catch, special Team Go Rocket-themed Research tasks to complete, and other in-game bonuses.
The event begins at 10 AM local time and runs until 8 PM local time on February 7. Throughout that time, the following Pokemon will be appearing more frequently in the wild than usual:
Golbat
Koffing
Ariados
Qwilfish
Sneasel
Houndour
Nuzleaf
Stunky
Skorupi
Venipede
In addition, a variety of new Pokemon will be hatching from the recently added Team Go Rocket eggs. These Pokemon will be available even after the event ends:
Qwilfish
Larvitar
Corphish
Absol
Skorupi
Sandile
Scraggy
Pawniard
Deino
Beyond that, Team Go Rocket grunts you encounter will have new teams of Shadow Pokemon. Some new monsters will also be available in Shadow form for the first time, including Swinub, Nosepass, Aron, Spheal, Lileep, and Anorith. You’ll also receive a new Team Go Rocket gift sticker for defeating one of the team leaders during the event, and there will be new event-exclusive Field Research and Timed Research tasks to complete.
Finally, eggs that you place in Incubators during the event will hatch at half the distance they normally require, and certain Pokemon like Nidoqueen, Alolan Grimer, and Alolan Meowth will be appearing in Raids. You can read more details about the Team Go Rocket Celebration on the official Pokemon Go website.
In the meantime, the Johto Celebration event is running until January 31. Niantic is also hosting a Sneasel Limited Research event on January 30 that will give players a chance to catch Shiny Sneasel.
When Young Rock premieres on NBC in February, the half-hour comedy series will tell the story of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s life at three formative ages–10 years old, 15 years old, and 18 years old. Of course, The Rock’s life is a pretty unique one, making it the perfect setting for a weird and wild love letter to pro wrestling that recreates the industry as it was in the 1970s.
The son of WWE Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson and a descendent of the legendary Anoa’i wrestling family, The Rock was practically born into professional wrestling royalty and surrounded by the industry from a very young age. The wrestling industry as he knew it, though, is quite a bit different from today’s sports entertainment. In portraying that, Young Rock is able to give an honest look at the industry that made Johnson famous, for better or worse, and the impact it had on his life.
“From my perspective, this was truly a love letter to professional wrestling, which is a business that I grew up in and a business that I’ve loved all my life and learned some of my most valuable, while very unorthodox, lessons coming out of the world of pro wrestling,” he explained during the TCA winter press tour. “So to highlight and showcase these men who were, in essence, my superheroes–they didn’t wear capes when I was a little boy.”
While these wrestlers were superheroes to a young Johnson, the series also portrays some of the realities of the industry and goes out of its way to show the hustling mindset of many wrestlers. “All of these men [were] so successful with what they did. But yet, interestingly enough, they played that role 24 hours a day, even if that meant they lived in small apartments, even if that meant they lived paycheck to paycheck,” Johnson said. “I look back with such a profound gratitude that I’m able to share these stories.”
And those stories are filled with familiar faces to fans of professional wrestling. The first episode alone sees actors playing characters like Andre the Giant, the Wild Samoans, Iron Sheik, and Johnson’s own father. Joseph Lee Anderson takes on the role of Rocky Johnson and, according to The Rock, the actor was committed to bringing the character to life–right down to the wrestling ability.
“He had to go from not being a professional wrestler to actually learning how to wrestle professionally, which is an incredibly difficult thing to do,” Johnson said. “And my dad was a bad dude in the game and he had a lot of charisma and tons of athletic ability and Joseph really did a tremendous job.”
And thankfully, according to the wrestler-turned-movie star, the elder Johnson would approve of his portrayal on the show. “He would have loved this and would have been so proud because for the first time, certainly in prime time, we are showcasing this world that he and all of his brothers of the ring, so to speak, those men in the ’70s in the ’80s, that they gave their life to,” Johnson said. “To showcase it like this, and to showcase it through the lens of something that’s positive, I know that it meant a lot to my dad because a lot of times the world of pro wrestling isn’t always looked at through that lens in a positive way. And there’s a lot of positive stuff that we can take out of this.”
Young Rock premieres February 16 on NBC.
Image credit: Getty Images/Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/Contributor and NBC
The original Guitar Hero team reportedly thought the guitar controller was a “stupid” idea. We gained this and other insights from Vice’s report on the game’s history.
RedOctane and Harmonix were the dynamic duo responsible for Guitar Hero. RedOctane started as a video game rental service in the vein of GameFly, but made the pivot to manufacturing peripherals, specifically DDR dance mats, after the dot com bubble burst. Harmonix was the brainchild of two MIT grads who wanted to create ways for anyone to make music, regardless of their talent or ability. The two companies came together to merge RedOctane’s peripheral manufacturing experience and capabilities with Harmonix’s game development skills to create a new kind of guitar game.
There were a litany of reasons why the partnership and ensuing game should have failed instead of rocketing to success. Both music games and games that used peripherals were not all that popular or commercially successful in the US at the time. Plus, the addition of the peripheral meant that any game using it would automatically have a fairly high price point. And RedOctane was not only a small publisher, but an extremely inexperienced one. Despite all these reasons to say no, Harmonix accepted because this was “the exact game, the game that we felt born to make,” according to co-founder and CEO Alex Rigopulos.
Most of the developers on the Harmonix team thought the idea of a guitar controller was stupid at first. “My initial thoughts around the controller were that it was goofy and it wouldn’t work,” said Harmonix artist and animator Jason Kendall. Many of his coworkers felt similarly. But an early build that was already functional made many change their minds. Meanwhile, RedOctane was impressed from the first prototype onward, though it also imposed several restrictions on the game to ensure it would be on store shelves for the 2005 holiday season. This gave Harmonix 9 months to ship a completed game. The number of venues, characters, and several other design choices we saw in the original Guitar Hero were influenced by this time constraint.
The team hit the mark, and Guitar Hero released November 8, 2005. Within two months it had made $45 million, an instant success. RedOctane and Harmonix made two more games under their contract together–Guitar Hero 2 and Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80’s. But both were being courted by other companies, and both eventually sold; RedOctane was acquired by Activision and Harmonix went to Viacom. The genre grew too large too quickly in the years after RedOctane and Harmonix parted ways though, and soon a game type that had shaken the industry began to fade away. By 2017 Rock Band was done, with Guitar Hero having already been dead for about seven years at that point. The dream was over, but the legacy lived on in all the people, including artists like Post Malone, who were exposed to new music thanks to Guitar Hero.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons‘ free January update arrives tomorrow, January 28. In addition to adding the Festivale event to the game, the update will introduce a variety of new seasonal items, and Nintendo has now shared some screenshots of these on its Japanese website.
The items will appear in Nook Shopping’s Seasonal tab throughout February and include a football rug for the Super Bowl, a Mr. Resetti model for Groundhog Day, and a red envelope for the Lunar New Year. You will also be able to purchase a box of chocolates and a heart-shaped rose bouquet for Valentine’s Day. You can take a look at the items below.
Mr. Resetti model for Groundhog Day
Gallery
The biggest addition in New Horizons’ January update is the aforementioned Festivale event, which falls on February 15. As part of the event, Pave the dancing peacock will visit your town, and you’ll be able to catch different colored feathers and exchange them for rewards. Nintendo is also introducing new clothing items and reactions to go along with Festivale.
Animal Crossing’s next update is slated for March. Nintendo hasn’t shared many details about the update yet, but the company had previously said it will introduce Mario-themed furniture to the game, in honor of the Super Mario series’ 35th anniversary. Nintendo is also bringing the previously Japan-exclusive Animal Crossing Sanrio Collaboration Amiibo cards to the US in March.
In other Animal Crossing new, PowerA is releasing two new Animal Crossing Switch controllers featuring Tom Nook and Isabelle. The controllers launch on February 14 and retail for $25 USD each.
