Marvel’s What If…? head writer AC Bradley has told IGN that, inadvertently, when cooking up plot points for the animated multiverse anthology, he accidentally came up with half of the storylines that will be used in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. During a brief interview, Bradley was asked to share how the animated show fits into the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe–and he immediately turned to this overlap.
However, for obvious reasons, he couldn’t discuss this much other than, yes, Marvel really had to reject some of his story ideas. “I’m going to stay away from that question,” Bradley told IGN. “So I stay away from Mr. James Gunn and his brilliance and his work, [but] I did go home after that day and cracked open a beer and be like, ‘Well, that’s going to be an amazing movie but now I gotta go back to the drawing board.'”
Further confusing these intersections is another revelation Bradley recently shared: Everything that happens in What If…? is MCU canon. What that exactly means still isn’t quite known, but if Bradley came up with the same exact plotlines we’ll be seeing in another MCU movie, then it bodes well for the series being true to the universe.
The upcoming Marvel animated anthology What If….? debuts August 11 on Disney+. Season 1 will run for nine episodes, and development is reportedly already underway on a nine-episode Season 2. It’s still gonna be a while before GotG3 is out–Gunn has said it won’t be at least until 2023.
Fortnite update 17.30 has arrived, and on top of a new weapon, a makeover for Slurpy Swamp, and bug fixes, it also brings new content for the passionate Fortnite datamining community to peruse. As always, new cosmetics, including several new character skins, have leaked ahead of their Item Shop debuts later this season, with some set to pop up this week.
We have reliable leaker @iFireMonkey to thank for the display. In his video, he goes through every new cosmetic, starting with outfits (“skins”) before also highlighting new Pickaxes, Back Bling, and more. In total, there are a few dozen new items to check out, unless you don’t want spoilers.
Highlights include Human Bill, an alien NPC modeled to look like a classic “Gray” alien, although Bill is blue. His cosmetic set includes a ton of customization options like head gear and clothing, making him not so redundant even if you’ve been collecting Alien Artifacts every week and have nearly completed Kymera.
You’ll also be able to grab The Suicide Squad‘s Bloodsport, who was first revealed last week by Idris Elba himself. There’s also a full set of dancers, each of them clad in clothing that pulsates to music. Undoubtedly, these new skins will be sold in the Fortnite Item Shop ahead of the weekend’s Rift Tour, headlined by Ariana Grande.
Other standouts include a synced hug emote for two players to embrace, perhaps after a hard-fought Victory Royale, as well as a new traversal emote, a rideable Loot Llama that looks ready to party, and more. This is your final wallet warning. These items will make their debuts in the days and weeks ahead.
Tencent’s stock has taken a dip after a state-run news agency in China said video games are like “spiritual opium” or “electronic drugs.” As reported by WSJ and Bloomberg, Tencent’s stock fell about 11% after The Economic Information Daily ran an article blasting gaming in reference to a student who said he played Tencent’s game Honor of Kings eight hours a day.
The Economic Information Daily is owned by Xinhua News Agency, a government-controlled news agency that is very influential in China. The article calling for stricter regulations on gaming in China may have caused investors to panic, resulting in the drop in stock price. The online version of the article was pulled, possibly due to the harsh comparisons.
“The word choice of spiritual opium is especially harsh, it would be surprising if the regulators won’t do anything about this,” Ke Yan, a Singapore-based analyst with DZT Research, told Bloomberg.
In response to the article, Tencent said that it will institute stricter limitations on minors’ playtime in Honor of Kings. Young gamers will be limited to one hour per day during the week and two hours per day on weekends and holidays. Anyone under the age of 12 will not be able to make in-game purchases. China already has some limitations on how much playtime minors can have, but these new limitations are more than required by the government.
“China has already implemented strict anti-addiction laws to curb gaming addiction among minors, which will continue to develop and play an integral part in the games industry there,” analyst Daniel Ahmad said on Twitter.
Call of Duty Mobile has added a new Undead Siege Zombies mode with the start of Season 6: The Heat. This limited-time mode brings the return of the iconic zombie-slaying characters of Richtofen, Dempsey, Nikolai, and Takeo. Undead Siege can be a bit of a challenge, especially if you’re trying to attempt the mode with random teammates, so we have included some tips to help you survive.
Undead Siege isn’t the typical round-based Zombies map you’d expect with these fan-favorite Black Ops Zombies characters. It’s not quite as complex and lengthy as Cold War’s Outbreak, but it is more of an objective-based defend mode. In this mobile Zombies mode, you must survive either three or five nights of the undead, with the nights required to survive depending on the difficulty selected.
There is a short tutorial you must complete before getting to select your difficulty, and that will give you the basics of how you’ll spend your days and nights. Then you’ll have the choice of a casual mode that requires you to survive three nights, or you can challenge yourself to five nights for better rewards.
Undead Siege’s daytime is used for gathering supplies and building defenses for the nighttime fights. Daytime lasts for around two minutes of in-game time, and then you must return to Richtofen’s Control Center at night to protect it from a zombie attack. And then, surviving the night means using the weapons and resources collected during the day to set up defense turrets and mow down hordes of undead. You must protect the Control Center from hordes each night to advance, and each successive night gets more difficult to defend.
Richtofen’s Control Center
Here are some tips to help you win a match of Undead Siege:
Time Management:
It’s important to spend your daytime wisely. Make sure you’re collecting supply drops and looting as many resources as you can before nightfall. You want to make use of the vehicles around you, because traversing the map on foot will take most of your precious daylight.
Communication:
If you’re playing with friends, you definitely want to have communication. Nighttime in Undead Siege is all about defending Richtofen’s Control Center at one set location, so you can get easily overwhelmed if you’re not communicating. I tried a few times with random players, but no one was using the chat feature.
Level Up Talents:
Undead Siege Talent Upgrades
Leveling up your talents is important. In Undead Siege you can have “talents” you can upgrade, which are things like sentry guns, health buffs, and tools. I definitely recommend focusing on your sentry gun upgrades. The sentry gun isn’t a great killstreak in Cold War’s Zombies, but it’s a necessity in Call of Duty: Mobile. It’s a bit of a grind to level up and upgrade talents, so you might want to play the casual mode a few times to level up and get the upgrades for the turret armor and weapon upgrade talents.
Take Out Those Elites:
A horde of Wardens attacking the Control Center
Protecting the Control Center can get tough, especially with armored enemies like the Wardens, who are heavy-hitting elite enemies who can deal damage to your base. You always want to keep an eye on your base while fighting off the horde, as the base will need to be repaired with the wrench tool if it takes too much damage. So, you’ll want to take out these armored enemies fast. I recommend scavenging the cluster grenades for use on the Wardens. Surprisingly, the wrench repair tool also works well for a melee weapon the Wardens. The wrench is a two-hit melee kill, whereas Wardens are absolute bullet sponges against your guns and turrets.
Good Turret Placement:
Nights get harder as you progress, so I also recommend moving your turrets closer to the Control Center after night two. You’re going to get way more zombies pushing into the area, and the turrets will be more beneficial if kept back a bit.
These tips should help you find success whether playing with friends or randoms. Grinding out games of Undead Siege will reward you with cosmetics like weapon blueprints and a Zombified Tank Dempsey operator skin. Call of Duty Mobile also teased an Undead Siege-themed event coming later in the season to offer more rewards, including a Zombified Edward Richtofen operator skin.
Apex Legends Emergence just rolled out in early August, but there are still many surprises to come from Season 10 of the battle royale game. A lead writer at Respawn, Amanda Doiron, recently stated that Apex’s in-game comics will be put on-hold for the time being while the studio focuses on varying up its storytelling techniques.
Another lead writer, Manny Hagopian, tweeted a list of different ways that Respawn has presented the lore of Apex over the game’s existence, including through unique dialogue, narrative Stories from the Outlands videos, and the Broken Ghost quest from Season 5. This would seem to indicate that the studio plans to incorporate experimental methods of storytelling that we haven’t seen before in Apex Legends in Season 10.
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
Now Playing: Apex Legends: Emergence – Seer Abilities Gameplay Trailer
As we head into our Emergence season tomorrow, just a heads up that we are putting our in-game comics on hold—at least for a little while. We want to explore other ways of telling story in our BR without…
– Stories from the Outlands started as an experiment. – Unique Dialogue in-game started as an experiment. – Broken Ghost? Experiment. – Comics? Experiment. – Pork Chops? Perfect from the start! Can’t wait for you to see what’s coming this season & beyond! Many tears promised! https://t.co/omSIsV9I2Spic.twitter.com/0k3vMjPi7p
While it’s not clear what these methods might look like–by their very nature–we did get a look at new Legend Seer in a Story from the Outlands that was uploaded two weeks ago. For now, however, fans are still dealing with the raft of changes that Emergence brought to the game, which included the new Rampage LMG, the Ranked Arenas mode, and several major buffs and debuffs to popular Legends like Caustic and Horizon. If you’re playing on Xbox, Apex’s Season 10 update is pretty massive at 60 GB, so make sure you have enough space for it.
Battlefield 2042’s first technical test will begin next week, with email invites detailing how to join the playtest going out now for select players. The test will run August 12-16, and will span specific three-hour windows each day.
The test is under a non-disclosure agreement, unlike Halo Infinite’s recent technical preview, so don’t expect streamers to be broadcasting this one. Players who signed up for an EA Playtesting profile have a chance to join the test, but EA has previously stressed that signing up doesn’t guarantee access tech test access and that only a small number of participants will be invited. The test is only for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
Now Playing: Battlefield 2042 – Everything You Need To Know
“This Technical Playtest will be focused on gathering intel on our core gameplay loop, technical performance, and stability,” the email invites read. “This will all be done in a closed environment and under a strict NDA – you don’t want to miss out!”
Data from the test will be used to help the DICE development team launch the game “as smoothly as possible,” the email continues.
A technical test for the game was originally scheduled for July, before being pushed back to later this summer to accommodate the desire to test cross-play functionality between Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC. It’s unclear if next week’s technical test will support cross-play or if that will be coming in a later technical test.
Battlefield 2042 recently revealed its “Portal” mode during EA Play, which will see maps, soldiers, weapons, and vehicles from previous Battlefield installments like Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3, along with custom game-modes, interact with elements from Battlefield 2042.
Producer Hiram Garcia of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Seven Bucks Production company has confirmed that the actor will not appear in the final two Fast & Furious movies.
Speaking to Collider, Garcia said Johnson made the choice after Fast 8 to step away from the series “for all evident reasons.” This might be referring to the reported beef between The Rock and Fast & Furious star Vin Diesel or perhaps something else. The Rock made his Fast & Furious debut with Fast Five and came back for the sixth, seventh, and eighth movies as well.
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
“He wished them all well and shifted our focus on to other story telling avenues,” Garcia said of what The Rock said to the team working on Fast & Furious.
Garcia confirmed that The Rock’s lack of appearances in the Fast & Furious series doesn’t mean he won’t continue with his Hobbs character from the spinoff Hobbs & Shaw.
“Obviously all these characters exist in the Fast universe and we love to see all aspects of that universe thrive and succeed,” Garcia said. “We just have specific plans for what we want to do with the Hobbs character and I think the fans are going to love it! We’re working to deliver something very unique and fresh and we know the studio is eager for us to get into it ASAP”
Garcia went on to say that they have some “very big ideas” for where to go with the Hobbs & Shaw sequel. The original movie, which also stars Jason Statham as Shaw, was massively successful upon release in 2019, bringing in close to $760 million globally at the box office.
While The Rock is no longer going to appear in Fast & Furious movies, Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe recently said he’d like to appear in the next one, but in a non-driving, desk job role.
F10 and F11 are penciled in for release in 2023 and 2024, and after that, the series could go on hiatus. “I know people are going to feel like it doesn’t have to end, but I think all good things should,” Diesel said of the forthcoming end of the F&F series. “There are reasons for a finale. I think this franchise has deserved it.”
GameSpot’s F9 review said the film is the “perfect movie to welcome you back to the theater.”
“After a year of staying home, this is worth the trip to your local cineplex. It’s loud, explosive, and filled with the type of action dying to be seen on the big screen in a room with other fans to go along with you on the ride,” reviewer Chris Hayner said.
This new trailer sets the placement for what is likely the next Black Ops Cold War multiplayer map, as the location is revealed as the Echelon NATO Listening Station in Teufelsberg, Germany.
Stitch’s plan looks to be complete, and there’s definitely a lot more action in today’s trailer than the previous teaser clip from last week. This cinematic shows the new female operator teased in today’s Season 5 date announcement, as she types in the code needed to start up the broadcast from the listening station.
The broadcast is live. 📡 Nothing stands in the way of Stitch launching the final stages of his plan. Check out the Season Five cinematic here. pic.twitter.com/7bGQGVasxX
The cinematic also reveals Woods is teamed up with a brand-new male operator in night vision goggles as they proceed to infiltrate the listening station. Unfortunately for Woods, the broadcast starts and activates Stitch’s sleeper agents, which include members of his infiltration team. Woods and the new operator barely escape the fight.
It’s uncertain how much chaos Stitch is set to cause with his sleeper agents, but we should know more as we get closer to the August 12 launch date. It’s very likely the new female working for Stitch and Wood’s masked companion will be two of the operators who arrive with this new season.
Night of the Animated Dead is an animated reimagining of George Romero’s 1968 classic, Night of the Living Dead, and it will be released digitally next month.
More specifically, Night of the Animated Dead will be released digitally on September 21 and then on physical media starting on October 5. The movie will be released in a Blu-ray combo pack and as a DVD.
Alongside news of these release dates, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment also revealed the cast of the movie and the film’s box art.
“Night of the Living Animated Dead features the voice talents of Josh Duhamel (Jupiter’s Legacy, Transformers), as Harry Cooper, Dulé Hill (The West Wing, Psych), as Ben, Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps) as Barbara, James Roday Rodriguez (A Million Little Things, Psych) as Tom, Katee Sackhoff (The Mandalorian, Battlestar Galactica) as Judy, Will Sasso (MadTV) as Sheriff McClelland, Jimmi Simpson (Westworld) as Johnny and Nancy Travis (Last Man Standing) as Helen Cooper,” a press release reads.
Warner Bros. describes Night of the Animated Dead as an “unprecedented presentation” and a “new, star-studded animated recreation” of the original Night of the Living Dead. The Blu-ray combo pack will be sold for $19.99 in the U.S. while the DVD version will be sold for $14.99, with preorders beginning on August 10.
“In Night of the Animated Dead, siblings Barbara and Johnny visit their father’s grave in a remote cemetery in Pennsylvania when they are suddenly set upon by zombies,” according to the press release. “Barbara flees and takes refuge in an abandoned farmhouse along with stranded motorist Ben and four local survivors found hiding in the cellar.”
Together, this group must fight to stay alive while confronting their own fears and prejudices, much as they did in the original 1968 movie. Beyond the actual full-length feature film, Night of the Animated Dead will feature never-before-seen exclusive animated scenes not found in the original live-action film, according to Warner Bros, as well as the Making of the Animated Dead special feature.
Richard Potter, Thomas DeFeo, and Jamie Elliott are the executive producers for the movie with Ralph E. Portillo, Robert Feldman, Michael J. Luisi, and Kevin Kasha serving as the producers. Night of the Animated Dead was animated by Demente Animation Studio and directed by Jason Axinn.
Ahead of its next major eFootball announcement, Konami has released some further details surrounding the game – including confirmation that the game will launch without microtransactions in Autumn, but that it will be similar to a demo in scope.
The information came to fans directly from the official eFootball Twitter account which shared a thread of answers to a range of common questions that had arisen over the game.
Surrounding the game’s “free-to-play” nature Konami said “During ‘Early Autumn’, eFootball will have no micro-transactions – so everything will be free-to-play at launch. We will then add more content during ‘Autumn’.” Whilst details around the Autumn follow-up content are yet to be confirmed, it sounds as if this could be the point at which Konami will introduce a form of microtransaction system to the game.
Q: What exactly will be free-to-play at launch?
A: During “Early Autumn”, eFootball™ will have no micro-transactions – so everything will be free-to-play at launch. We will then add more content during “Autumn”. Exact content details to follow.
However, the scope of that launch version seems fairly slim, and one of the questions answered was whether the game would be “basically a demo” at that point. “In many ways, yes,” was the answer. “We want people to get hands-on with eFootball as soon as possible, so we will launch with a limited number of teams and modes.” Konami has said that it will share more details about this in the near future.
Elsewhere in the thread, Konami spoke about the game’s integration on both console and mobile and how this would affect user experience. The company reassured fans in the thread, explaining that eFootball has been developed for “consoles first” but that will be a platform for “everyone to enjoy” with the game taking “full advantage of the hardware capabilities of each supported device”. Whilst the game will include “multiple features for matchmaking based on location and platform,” Konami has said that PC and next-generation console players paired up against mobile users should not see a downgrade in their graphics during gameplay.
Q: Will next-gen graphics be downgraded to play against mobile users?
A: We will make graphical adjustments to the mobile version but the next-generation graphics on consoles and PC will not be downgraded.
Konami announced late last month that it had officially renamed its titular Pro Evolution Soccer series, eFootball. The game will be digital-only and free-to-play when it releases for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC this Autumn – with iOS and Android versions to follow. All versions of the game will receive cross-play features by winter, although it is important to note that mobile players will need to use a controller when playing against console and PC players.
Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter where he is often seen supporting the northern powerhouse known as Merseyside Red.