Ahead of the release of Marvel’s Avengers on April 15, 2020 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Google Stadia, the comic book giant is releasing a series of prequel comics that tell the story of the iconic superhero dream team prior to the events of the game. The first issue, called Marvel’s Avengers: Iron Man, is out today.
The comic’s store page sheds some light on what to expect from the brand new Marvel story, at least in the build-up to the game. The Avengers will be going up against the Lethal Legion, an odious group of villains that have appeared throughout Marvel comics history, reforming with a new leader each time they return. They’re not the most well-known antagonists, with the group consisting of the likes of Porcupine, Metal Master, Man-Ape, Batroc The Leaper, and even demonically-enhanced versions of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and Nazi official Heinrich Himmler. It’s probably a safe bet to say the latter two won’t be making a reappearance here.
“When Tony Stark discovers his enemies have co-opted Stark technology for nefarious purposes, it’s up to him to stop the leak,” the synopsis says. “But can his teammates be trusted, or is something more sinister at play? Featuring the debut of the game’s Avengers, as well as never before seen takes on some classic villains, you won’t want to miss this landmark moment in comics history!”
Marvel has plans to release more comics in the series, with each member of the game’s Avengers getting their own starring role. Thor #1 releases on January 8, 2020, followed by Hulk #1 on February 5. Both Captain America and Black Widow will see their comics released in March.
Marvel’s Avengers was first announced back in 2017, but we finally got our first glimpse of the game in action at E3 earlier this year. It’s a third-person action title with some RPG elements, letting you take control of Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hulk, and Thor. Somewhat surprisingly, however, Kamala Khan’s Ms. Marvel is the real star of the game. We’ve played it, and finally understand what exactly it is.
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We’re rolling out sneak peeks for Netflix’s The Witcher all month long as part of our IGN First exclusive set visit. Keep it locked right here for never-before-seen interviews and behind the scenes footage of the White Wolf, Ciri, and Yennefer. And be sure to check out The Witcher when it premieres on Netflix on Friday, December 20, 2019.
When we first encountered Henry Cavill’s Geralt of Rivia on the set of Netflix’s The Witcher series in Budapest, there were no massive green screens or charging hordes of enemy combatants. Instead, Cavill stood stoically near a riverbed, accompanied by his horse, Roach, and the bard Jaskier (Joey Batey) — also known as Dandelion in the games and English translations of the novels. Before embarking on our journey to the Continent, we had already devoured Andrzej Sapkowski’s books and played hundreds of hours of The Witcher video game franchise, and it was truly surreal to see Cavill’s Geralt out in the wild.
Back in 1993, Wizards of the Coast released a card game that would change tabletop gaming forever–Magic The Gathering. 26 years later, the series is stronger than ever and a new set is just weeks away.
This January, Magic: The Gathering put gods in your control with its new set Theros: Beyond Death. Wizards of the Coast has given GameSpot a heads-up on a few of the new cards arriving in this set, which you can check out below along with alternate art.
Ashiok is a legendary Planeswalker that can bounce permanents to the owner’s hands, create nightmare creature tokens–that can exile opponents deck cards–and can cast exiled opponent cards. Ashiok can use your opponent’s deck against them. The other revealed Planeswalker is Elspeth, and she has the abilities to create soldier tokens, heal the player, and buff two target creatures a turn. Both of these cards are in the main set.
The third card revealed is the buy-a-box promotional card for Theros: Beyond Death–Athreos. Costing 6 mana to cast (1 white, 1 black, and 4 colorless), Athreos is indestructible. The creature–who isn’t a creature depending on your devotion–has the ability to bring back creatures from exile and put them directly onto the battlefield.
As for Theros: Beyond Death, the new set has more than 350 new cards with new and returning mechanics. The pre-release begins on Magic: The Gathering Arena on January 16, and in the real world on January 17. In order to ensure you get a copy if Athreos, you can pre-order a box at any Wizards Play Network store, and in addition to Athreos, you’ll get a foil Nyx basic land while supplies last. Check out Magic’s website for all the details.
A piece of cut content from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has been uncovered, and it recontextualizes an important moment late in the game. Spoilers follow.
The modder Lance McDonald, who is known for having uncovered cut content in previous FromSoftware games, found an important but missing piece of dialogue surrounding the character Anayama. If he catches Dragonrot, he can be cured, but he curiously lacks any kind of dialogue when it happens.
Apparently that’s not the case if he’s cured using a special curative pellet that was cut from the game. In that instance, he was going to have an exchange in which he refused to accept the item for free, and so Sekiro charged him a nominal fee of a single Sen. That information changes the context of a later story event, when Sekiro meets Anayama for the last time near the end of the game. At that point, Ayanama offers the Promisory Note for a single Sen, effectively exchanging the kindness back in return.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was one of our nominees for the best games of 2019, which are being detailed throughout this week. GameSpot’s top Game of the Year winner will be revealed on December 17.
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It’s back: Amazon has resurrected its best deal ever on the Echo Dot. First run back in October, the deal gets you a third-generation Echo Dot and a one-month subscription to Amazon Music Unlimited for just $8.98. That’s $41 off the normal price of the Dot alone, plus you get to listen to pretty much any song you want for a month.
The only potential hitch is that you have to be a new Amazon Music Unlimited subscriber. And if you don’t want to continue your subscription, you’ll want to cancel before you’re billed for the second month. Do that, and you’ll save a heap of cash.
Echo Dot + 1 Month Amazon Music Unlimited for $8.98
Infinity Ward has just rolled out a multiplayer playlist update for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The update rotates in some new game modes (including an old fan favorite), adds a new map to Ground War, and includes new additions to the shooter’s Hardcore mode.
For starters, Gunfight has now been replaced by Gunfight: OSP, which adds a twist to the small-scale 2v2 mode introduced in this year’s Call of Duty. The setup is much the same, with the key difference being players will have to scavenge weapons on the battlefield as opposed to being provided with a loadout at the start of each round.
The fan-favorite Infected also makes its way to Modern Warfare for the first time. Originally introduced as an April Fool’s joke in Modern Warfare 3, the mode has since become a staple of the series, pitting a randomly selected “infected” player against everyone else. Uninfected players have to avoid or kill the infected, while the infected player has to spread the so-called disease until the uninfected’s player numbers dwindle and there’s eventually no one left.
Both modes will be leaving the game in just over a week on December 18, so make the most of them while you still can.
In addition to Gunfight: OSP and Infected, the playlist update also adds the Aniyah Palace map to Ground War–the large-scale 64 player mode that’s got more than a little Battlefield about it. Aniyah Palace was actually one of the first Ground War maps Infinity Ward showed off prior to Modern Warfare’s release, and it’s finally made its way into the game now. A smaller version of the map was previously available in 10v10 modes, but even then the map felt too big for the player numbers, so it was removed.
Elsewhere, the Hardcore playlist has added Shoot House 24/7, another NVG Moshpit, and a Free For All mode.
Season One of Modern Warfare kicked off last week, bringing with it new content and a 100-tier Battle Pass. It also marked the opening of an in-game store, which has now been stocked with a couple of new cosmetic bundles: Cold Blood and Mother Russia. Activision described both bundles in a blog post, saying, “The ‘Cold Blood’ bundle is fit for a cold and hardened Operator. Pick it up to look fierce in the ‘Winter Warrior’ skin for Golem, take out the competition with the ‘White Out’ handgun weapon blueprint, or take some time with the ‘Precious Commodity’ watch, and more. Get this collection of chill items to look the part of a stone-cold killer.
“Say ‘Dasvidaniya’ to your foes and channel the menacing force of the Red State with the ‘Mother Russia’ Featured Bundle. The bundle includes the ‘Commuter’ Operator skin for Yegor to blend in with the locals, the ‘Old Country’ LMG weapon blueprint for high damage eliminations, the ‘Brass Tactics’ Finishing Move to pummel your enemies, and more. Get the ‘Mother Russia’ bundle for themed goods from the Motherland.”
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Before launching on the Epic Games Store tomorrow as a timed exclusive, developer Quantic Dream has released the minimum and recommended specifications to run Detroit: Become Human on PC. We’ve compiled the list below so that you can check to see if your machine can withstand the game’s demands.
The official Detroit: Become Human Twitter account shared the announcement, with the minimum and recommended specs comprising two separate tweets. The account said in another tweet that “further specs” will be revealed when the game launches on December 12. Pre-orders for Detroit: Become Human on PC are now open, with the title retailing for $40 USD on the Epic Games Store.
Detroit: Become Human Full PC Requirements
Minimum
OS: Windows 10 (64 bit)
Processor: Intel Core i7-3770 @ 3.4 GHz or AMD FX-8350, 4.2 GHz (6 to 8 logical cores minimum highly recommended)
Memory: 8GB RAM
Video: Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 or AMD Radeon HD 7950
Video RAM: 3GB or more
Recommended
OS: Windows 10 (64 bit)
Processor: i5-8400 @ 2.8GHz or Ryzen 5 1600
Memory: 16GB RAM
Video: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 580
Video RAM: 4GB or more
Detroit: Become Human continues to be a success for Quantic Dream. In October 2019, the French studio announced on Twitter that the adventure game sold 3.2 million copies globally on PlayStation 4. This is up from the 2 million copies the game shipped in December 2018.
We gave the title a 7/10 in our Detroit: Become Human review, saying, “Detroit is well worth playing, but it struggles to strike the right balance between giving you freedom of choice and reminding you that it’s all a game in the end. Cage and Quantic Dream are getting closer to nailing this style of game, but it’s obvious that there’s still room to grow.”
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Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was a major success in 2017 when it scored well with critics and went on to make a gargantuan $962 million at the global box office. The sequel, The Next Level, opens in theatres on December 13 behind a lot of anticipation and hype.
Reviews for the big-budget action film, which stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillan, have begun to appear online. To help you decide if it’s worth your time, we’re collecting excerpts from reviews into a roundup so you can get a glimpse at the critical reception quickly.
Like the 2017 film, The Next Level sees a group of teens–and this time a pair of old men played by Danny DeVito and Danny Glover–get sucked into the video game Jumanji. In the jungle world of Jumanji they take on different avatars of younger people. An adventure full of action and silliness ensues.
Crazy Rich Asians star Awkwafina and Game of Thrones actor Rory McCann also join the cast for The Next Level, while Nick Jonas and Rhys Darby reprise their characters from the first movie. Jake Kasdan, the son of legendary Star Wars writer Lawrence Kasdan and director of 2017’s Jumanji, returns to direct The Next Level.
Scroll down to see excerpts from reviews, while you can visit GameSpot sister site Metacritic to see a deeper breakdown of the movie’s critical reception.
The Jumanji series is based on the Chris Van Allsburg children’s book. It was first adapted for the screen with 1995’s Jumanji starring Robin Williams, Bonnie Hunt, and Kirsten Dunst.
Jumanji: The Next Level
Directed By: Jake Kasdan
Written By: Jake Kasdan, Jeff Pinker, Scott Rosenberg
Starring: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Danny DeVito, Danny Glover, Rhys Darby, Awkwafina, and Nick Jonas.
Release Date: December 13 (US)
GameSpot
“All told, Jumanji: The Next Level just never manages to find enough a solid enough foundation to make things work the way they ought to. Sure, you’re going to probably get a handful of decent laughs and, if you’re a person who plays video games, you’ll catch more than a few clever nods to various genre conventions and story tropes, but there just isn’t enough meat on those bones to make its 2 hour run time worthwhile.” — Meg Downey [Full review]
IGN
“Jumanji: The Next Level is a blast. Instead of relying solely on its proven premise, we get to know more about the kids and the adults playing the game. There are still moments of silliness, but there is also a whole lot of heart here. What seems like something that is going to be a tired retread turns out to be far more fun than expected.” — Jenna Busch [Full review]
The Wrap
“It is, most importantly, amusing and creative. It may not follow its storylines to the most logical conclusions, and it may not reinvent the action movie as we know it. It’s still an enjoyable blockbuster sequel that tries to infuse the original idea with a couple new ideas, while setting the stage for more exciting adventures to come.” — William Bibbiani [Full review]
Consequence of Sound
“As kids’ fare goes, this series remains weird enough to not totally write it off. But for the next version, they might have to work out some of the bugs.” — Clint Worthington [Full review]
Entertainment Weekly
“But maybe, like adolescent heroes, movie franchises go through growing pains, too; if Sony comes up with a third boss to best, there’s plenty of room in Jumanji to let more feeling in alongside the action. Because even if The Next Level doesn’t set a new high score, it still proves this franchise isn’t out of lives just yet.” — Mary Sollosi [Full review]
The Hollywood Reporter
Viewers who think the movie hangs onto enjoyability as precariously as an action hero with seven fingertips clawed into a crumbling cliffside may sigh with relief when, once they’re safe back home, our young stars swear enthusiastically never to go back to the world of Jumanji. Those viewers would be wise to note that nobody swore the studio wouldn’t someday soon bring the world of Jumanji to them. — John DeFore [Full review]
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Microsoft has confirmed that its next-gen Xbox will once again have a name that is built around its purpose rather than following the PlayStation’s numbered system.
Stevivor asked Xbox chief Phil Spencer at X019 if naming the next-gen Xbox – currently known to the public as Project Scarlett – has been difficult due to the naming conventions of previous Xbox consoles. “It hasn’t,” Spencer said.
Compared to Sony’s example of having numbered consoles that form a sequence – PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, PS5 – naming an Xbox seems like it could be more difficult. First there was the Xbox, then the Xbox 360, and after the Xbox One.
