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Hitman 3’s new DLC, Season of Pride, is out now alongside a big new patch. The new DLC is part of the Seven Deadly Sins content, and it adds new content and some spiffy new cosmetics for Agent 47, while the patch overall includes numerous fixes and improvements.

The Nintendo Switch version of the game also gets special attention with a 60fps “performance mode” to help the game look and run better on the hybrid console.

Available from May 10 in Hitman 3 is a new Escalation contract called The Sebastian Principle. It challenges players to hunt down a target living in Dubai who is overly proud of himself and in need of someone to teach him a lesson, I guess.

Then on May 12, a new Elusive Target called The Iconoclast comes to Hitman 3. Your target is also a contract killer who is too proud to share the stage and wanted all the glory.

On May 14, Hitman 3 welcomes a new bonus mission in Sapienza called The Icon. Available until May 23, the mission calls on players to take down a washed up movie director and actor. There are also new community-created contracts in the new season.

You can check out the video above to get a glimpse at the new content coming to Hitman 3 in the Season of Pride.

The first act of the 7 Deadly Sins DLC was focused on Greed. After Pride comes Sloth, Lust, Gluttony, Wrath, and Envy, so Hitman 3 fans have a lot more to look forward to.

The paid content for each season individually costs $5. Otherwise, all of the seasonal content comes as part of the Seven Deadly Sins DLC, which costs $30 total.

In addition to its ongoing development on Hitman 3’s DLC, IO Interactive is making a new James Bond game with an original story. Additionally, it was recently reported that IO is making a fantasy game with dragons as an Xbox exclusive.

Patch Notes And File Size:

As for the new patch, the update brings the game up to version 3.30 on all platforms and is available now. The download is around 3.5 GB on all systems, except Stadia and Switch because those versions are streamed from the cloud.

One of the biggest updates in the patch is a performance mode for the Switch version of Hitman 3. This allows users to play at 720p/60fps, which compares to the standard 1080p/30fps. Additionally, the Switch version gets a Steady Aim feature on the L button, following this feature’s release for the other console versions earlier.

“This allows you to improve your aim and slow time when aiming with a Sniper Rifle with the Marksman perk, especially useful for the Sniper Assassin game mode and certain Mission Stories. The in-game UI and controller maps will display this accurately,” IO Interactive said.

You can see the complete patch notes below, as detailed by IO on the Hitman 3 website.

General Updates

Challenges, Fixed

We’ve resolved issues that would prevent players from unlocking the following challenges: Cleaning Up (Colorado), Electric Boogie (Marrakesh, HBoS), Urine For It (Sapienza, Landslide), Estate Wines (Mendoza) and Got My Boomstick (Carpathian Mountains).

We’ve also fixed an issue that prevented the Bullet Train (Carpathian Mountains) trophy/achievement from unlocking.

Notebook Challenges

We’ve fixed an issue where completed Challenges would still be shown as ‘locked’ when viewed via the in-game notebook. Players would previously need to save/load or restart the mission to see accurate challenges displayed during the mission, even though completion status was correctly being tracked.

Legacy Lighting Pass

We’ve adjusted and tweaked various lighting issues across locations from Hitman 1 and Hitman 2. Only the ICA Facility and New York have not had any changes made related to lighting.

Our focus was to tweak extremely bright reflections or glows, transitioning between dark and bright areas, navigating/seeing textures in dark areas and to ensure that screenspace reflections look as expected with these changes.

Legacy Load Errors

We’ve made changes to resolve an issue that would prevent players from saving/loading when using items from Hitman 1 or Hitman 2 Basically, the one with the “Load Failed” error message that asked you to check that you had access to specific content.

NPCs Ignore Toilets

Toilets are now more appealing to anyone affected by emetic poison. In other words, we’ve resolved an issue where NPCs would prefer to use a rubbish bin / trash can rather than the toilet to throw up. Now, they will use the more logical choice, more often.

Leaderboard Percentiles

We’ve fully implemented a new feature to the Detailed Score Screen to give an at-a-glance look at how your score compares to the selected leaderboard. It’s also possible to see where the majority of players rank for each mission.

MiniMap Overlay

We’ve resolved a minor visual issue where icons near the minimap and prompts could overlap when viewing the inventory.

Sieker 1 Out

We’ve changed the properties of the Sieker 1 Emetic Gun to fix an issue where it could not be selected in Offline Mode.

Taunton Sieker

We’ve resolved an issue that would cause the inventory images of the Sieker 1 and Taunton Dart Gun to be swapped, depending on what was unlocked and in what order.

Identical Explosives

We’ve tweaked the inventory images for the ICA Explosive Images so that they better reflect the in-game versions.

PS5 Game Help

We’ve resolved an issue where placeholder text was showing for some steps of the PS5 Game Help. It had nothing to do with our pet cat.

Caught Bald-Headed

Agent 47’s bald head will no longer poke out the top of the Arkian Tuxedo suit.

Featured Contract Rewards

We’ve tidied up how the Featured Contracts rewards challenges are being tracked to fix a few issues. Some context: Our intention at launch was for players to complete unique Featured Contracts to earn the different milestone rewards (10, 20, 30, 40, etc). However, it was possible to reach these milestones by repeating the same contract. After reverting back to the intended structure, it caused a few irregularities on the challenge progress depending on the extent of players’ progress.

Here’s what will happen with the release of the 3.30 patch:

– Players who have reached the specified milestones when 3.30 is released will earn the related unlocks. (Example: If you currently have 32/30 contracts completed and no way to earn the unlock, 3.30 will grant you that unlock and mark the challenge as completed.)

– All uncompleted Featured Contract Reward challenges will accurately display the number of unique Featured Contracts that have been completed. (Example: If you played the same contract 29/30 times at launch, 3.30 will adjust that challenge progress to 1/30.)

The idea here is that we want to keep the intended structure of these challenges going forward, but without punishing players who played by the ‘rules’ at launch.

Featured Contract Counter

We’ve resolved an issue that could prevent the first completed Featured Contract from being registered on the “Featured Contracts – Track” counters, which could lead to irregularities in the progression.

FC Disconnect

We’ve resolved an issue that could cause players to disconnect when completing a Featured Contract. The contract completion was properly registered in the Featured Contracts Track challenges, but any unlocks that should have been awarded were not granted.

Queued Cues

We’ve made some changes to ensure that the proper audio cues play when unlocking new items through mastery unlocks or when new complications for Escalations are introduced.

Already Registered

We’ve updated the error message players receive when trying to log in to their IOI Account and are told that they are ‘already registered’ but unable to log in. Players are now told that they need to visit the IOI Account website and log in using their preferred platform. (This was mostly occurring for PC players who had previously signed up for an IOI Account but are playing HITMAN 3 on Epic for the first time.)

Xbox One Rendering Quality

We’ve added a ‘Rendering Quality’ toggle to the Options>Graphics menu on Xbox One X and Xbox One S that allows players to choose between High Quality or High Framerate modes.

A Brief Moment

We’ve resolved an issue that could cause in-game dialogue to continue after entering the inventory wheel and then choosing an item to store in a briefcase. It’s intended that the entire game is paused when players are in all inventory menus.

Challenge Filter

We’ve added a new option to the Challenge menus that will make it easier to filter the challenges depending on what you want to see.

Colourblind Guards

We’ve adjusted the guard dialogue lines that trigger when they’re hunting 47 to more accurately describe the suit he was wearing. In some cases, certain suits would trigger placeholder dialogue lines describing 47 in the Requiem suit.

Precision Aim

When playing on a controller, you can now press the L1/LB button to activate the ‘Marksman’ perk, which will improve your aim and slow down time. This has been implemented as part of a important change for Nintendo Switch players but will work for other controllers and platform too. The in-game UI and controller mapping will still show R2/RT as the default option for non-Switch players, but we’ve noted it here seeing as the option will be available.

Typo Thief

We’ve fixed a typo in the description of the Taunton Dart Gun. From Steal to Steel.

Tactical Placeholder

We’ve updated the description of the Tactical Turtleneck suit in the inventory to remove placeholder text.

Poison Pen

We’ve updated the Italian description for the Siringa Emetica a Forma di Penna ICA to better reflect that it is an emetic device, not lethal.

Stability Improvements

We’ve resolved issues that could cause the game to crash or be unstable.

Where It’s Due… 3.30

We’ve updated the credits to reflect work done since the last patch.

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Location Changes: Dubai, UAE

7DS: Exiting Dubai

We’ve resolved an issue where the unique ‘exit music’ from The Greed Enumeration would trigger when exiting the Dubai location in content not associated with the DLC.

7DS: Voice of Greed

We’ve made a change so that dialogue from the The Greed Enumeration now stops playing when players skip the end cutscene.

The Sound of Carpet

We’ve resolved an issue that could prevent carpet sound effects from playing in Dubai. There was nothing wrong with the carpet itself, but 47 was not *quite* touching the carpet.

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Location Changes: Dartmoor, England

Best Intensions

We’ve fixed a typo in the subtitles near the end of the “Means, Motive and Opportunity” Mission Story. We’re not going to tell you too much about it because spoilers.

Left In Suspense

We’ve resolved an issue where Agent 47 could get stuck when vaulting over walls in Dartmoor, especially near the Trophy Room.

Hang Down

We’ve fixed an issue where the phone in the Lawyer’s Office was always standing up.

My Room

We’ve fixed an issue where 47 can be spotted through a wall in Alexa’s bedroom.

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Location Changes: Berlin, Germany

[This month, there are no patch notes specific to Berlin.]

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Location Changes: Chongqing, China

A Very Observant Lady

We’ve reinforced some of the walls in the restaurant to prevent NPC’s from seeing 47 through specific walls.

Paper Town

We’ve resolved an issue where some buildings in the background of Chongqing appeared to be made of paper, or not connected to one another.

Wet Suit(s)

We’ve removed a layer of waterproof coating from the Raver Suit, Futo Suit, Freedom Phantom Suit and Lynch Suit so that they look wet when outdoors in the Chongqing rain. Same goes for 47’s head.

Apartment Stalkers

We’ve fixed a few tiny holes in the walls of the apartment staircase that allowed eagle-eyed NPC’s to see 47 performing illegal actions. They could probably see him perform legal actions too, but nobody reported that as a problem.

Inside Rain Out

We’ve tweaked a few things so that players no longer hear the ‘outside sounds’ of rain and traffic from certain places in the facility in Chongqing.

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Location Changes: Mendoza, Argentina

Villa? On Top.

We’ve tweaked the drainpipes on the Villa Roof to make sure they’re visible from all angles.

Legal Rifles

Sniper Rifles are now considered to be ‘illegal’ when carried in any outfit in Mendoza, to be consistent with all other locations.

Location Changes: Carpathian Mountains, Romania

Improbable Proloff

We’ve tweaked some of the parameters of the Proloff Parable to allow players to earn the Silent Assassin rating on all three levels.

Sieger 300 Arctic

We’ve tweaked the inventory image of the Sieger 300 Arctic to better reflect the suppressor on the weapon.

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Legacy Location Changes: Hitman 1 and Hitman 2

Marrakesh: Zaydan’s Prisoner

We’ve put the bag back on the prisoner’s head.

Sapienza: Solo Personale Autorizzato

We’ve fixed a sign on the door to the cave tunnel that was only visible when the door was open.

Isle of Sgail: Washing Ton

We’ve updated the description for the “Ghost of Janus’ Past” challenge to have the correct spelling of ‘Sophia Washington’.

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Virtual Reality (PS VR)

Font Eligibility

We’ve made tweaks to the font colours to make them easier to read, depending on the background colour.

Textures

We’ve fixed several issues that were causing missing textures, visual issues and other environment art issues when playing in PS VR.

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Platform-Specific Changes: Switch

Performance Mode

We’ve added a toggle to enable Performance Mode at 720p/60fps over the default option of 1080p/30fps.

Precision Fire

We’ve added the Steady Aim feature to the L button on Nintendo Switch. This allows you to improve your aim and slow time when aiming with a Sniper Rifle with the Marksman perk, especially useful for the Sniper Assassin game mode and certain Mission Stories. The in-game UI and controller maps will display this accurately.

Helpful note: It’s possible to toggle whether you hold or tap ZL in order to aim a weapon. Look for the Toggle Aim option in Options>Gameplay>Weapon Aim. Note that this won’t affect 47’s ‘aiming’ when throwing; this will still require the play to hold the button to move 47’s throwing arc.

Dubai Demo

We’ve added a new 10 minute trial available for all Nintendo Switch players, allowing them to experience the new Performance Mode on the opening level of the game; Dubai.

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Platform-Specific Changes: Stadia

Muffled Audio

We’ve resolved an issue that could cause dialogue and gunshots to be heavily muffled when choosing the default starting location on Dubai.

State Share Where

We’ve added the name of the in-game location (Dubai, Dartmoor, etc) to State Share captures.

Saving Consistency

We’ve made a change to be consistent with how the game handles game save files that include items that are unique to each game from the trilogy.

The first trailer for Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage has arrived, and guess what? It features Carnage! But who exactly is the very red, very scary symbiote bad guy?

It all started with Spider-Man’s black alien costume in the comics, which betrayed him and wound up in the hands of his bitter rival Eddie Brock — who became Venom. But it also spawned an even meaner and deadlier nemesis in the form of Carnage. This bloodthirsty sadist has racked up quite a body count over the years, and even the Avengers have been hard-pressed to bring him to justice.

And now the Woody Harrelson character (also known as Cletus Kasady) is finally arriving on the big screen. With that in mind, here’s everything you need to know about this symbiote psychopath…

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Carnage Explained: The Basics

Carnage is basically the closest thing Spider-Man’s rogues gallery has to a Joker. Most of Spidey’s enemies have some tragic or redeeming qualities. Not Carnage. He’s a force of nature who lives to kill, destroy and sow chaos. And he’s not particular about the order in which he does so.

Cletus Kasady was already an accomplished criminal and sadist even before gaining superhuman powers. But after spending some time as Eddie Brock’s cellmate and gaining a symbiote costume of his own, he’s become one of the most proficient killers in the Marvel Universe. He’s incredibly strong and very difficult to put down once the blood starts flowing. A mutual hatred of Carnage is about the only thing that can make Spider-Man and Venom put aside their differences and work towards a common goal.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/venom-let-there-be-carnage-exclusive-trailer-breakdown-with-director-andy-serkis-ign-rewind-theater”] 

Carnage’s Powers and Abilities

Carnage is basically a meaner, stronger version of Venom. His costume is an offshoot of the Venom symbiote, and like Venom, Carnage has access to amped-up versions of Spider-Man’s powers, such as boosted strength, agility and speed. Like Venom, Carnage can block out Spider-Man’s Spider-Sense, even while he has access to enhanced senses of his own.

However, because Carnage’s symbiote gestated on Earth rather than the planet Klyntar, it’s stronger and more unstable. Carnage is powerful enough to fight both Spider-Man and Venom to a standstill. He can reshape his symbiote tendrils into various deadly weapons and even launch them as projectiles. The symbiote also grants Kasady a Wolverine-like healing factor, allowing him to survive what seemed like certain death on multiple occasions.

Fortunately, Carnage does have weaknesses. He’s not as susceptible to sonic weapons as Venom, but he is even weaker than Venom is when faced with fire. He’s also extremely vulnerable to the touch of Anti-Venom, a hero whose entire purpose is to hunt down and destroy symbiote. And in Venom 2, director Andy Serkis says Carnage’s powers are somewhat different, including the ability to turn into mist!

Carnage: Origin and Background

Given the breakout popularity of Venom after 1988’s Amazing Spider-Man #300, it was only a matter of time before Marvel further exploited the concept. Carnage was the first (and by far the most popular) of several new symbiote villains introduced in the early ’90s, with Cletus Kasady making his first appearance as Carnage in 1992’s Amazing Spider-Man #360 (created by writer David Michelinie and artists Erik Larsen and Mark Bagley) and quickly became a recurring presence in the franchise.

1993 brought about a massive Spider-Man crossover called “Maximum Carnage,” arguably the biggest Marvel storyline ever to revolve around this character. It even inspired a video game of the same name (more on that later). “Maximum Carnage” forced Spider-Man and Venom to join forces with other Marvel heroes like Captain America, Black Cat, and Cloak and Dagger to battle Carnage’s alliance of evil.

Carnage remained an active player in the Spider-Man comics throughout the ’90s, with several stories featuring the symbiote bonding with characters other than Cletus Kasady. That resulted in some less than beloved hybrid characters like Spider-Carnage and Cosmic Carnage. Eventually, most fans agreed that the villain had become overexposed. Even Marvel seemed to agree, and an early issue of 2004’s New Avengers featured Carnage being ripped in half by the Sentry and left to die in Earth’s orbit.

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But few characters stay dead forever in superhero comics, and Carnage eventually made his comeback in a 2010 miniseries called, appropriately enough, Carnage. That book revealed that both the symbiote and Kasady survived bring torn in half. Carnage and follow-up stories like Carnage USA and Superior Carnage restored the villain to his old status quo and once again made him a force to be reckoned with in the Marvel Universe. Still, that didn’t stop Carnage from briefly turning over a new leaf in 2014’s Avengers & X-Men: AXIS. There, a villain named Red Onslaught (part Red Skull and part Professor X) inverted the minds of many heroes and villains and rendered Carnage temporarily heroic.

Carnage underwent his most significant overhaul in “Go Down Swinging,” the final chapter in writer Dan Slott’s decade-long Amazing Spider-Man run. There, the Carnage symbiote bonded with Norman Osborn to form a new villain called the Red Goblin. Spider-Man managed to defeat this terrible combination of his two deadliest foes, but little does he know that traces of Carnage remain inside Osborn’s grandson, Normie. Do we smell another Carnage comeback in the wind?

Carnage: Beyond the Comics

Carnage has had plenty of room to shine on the small screen. Carnage first appeared in animated form in 1994’s Spider-Man: The Animated Series (voiced by Scott Cleverdon) and served a a major antagonist in several episodes. He also played a big role in the spinoff series Spider-Man Unlimited (voiced this time by Michael Donovan).

Carnage missed out on appearing in 2008’s Spectacular Spider-Man, though he was slated to show up if the series had lasted longer than two seasons. He did play a recurring role in Marvel’s next Spider-Man cartoon, Ultimate Spider-Man (voiced by both Dee Bradley Baker and Fred Tatasciore). That series continued the comic-book trend of having the Carnage symbiote bond with other Marvel characters, resulting in mash-ups like Carnage-Ock and Carnage-Hulk.

Carnage has also enjoyed a healthy video game career dating back to the 1992 Game Boy title The Amazing Spider-Man 2. He was a major boss character in 1994’s Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage and its sequel, Spider-Man and Venom: Separation Anxiety, both of which are inspired by the comic book storylines of the same name. Carnage has also appeared in everything from LEGO Marvel Super Heroes to Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions to Marvel Puzzle Quest. The video game adaptation of 2014’s Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie even offered a glimpse of what Carnage might have looked like in Sony’s rebooted Spider-Man universe (of the time).

For years the villain was rumored to be the main antagonist in Sony’s Venom solo movie. At one point that movie was even reportedly titled Venom Carnage. However, Riz Ahmed’s character Carlton Drake wound up being the main baddie — as a different symbiote villain called Riot — in the film. Woody Harrelson had a small role as Cletus Kasady in the movie, setting up his transformation into Carnage for the sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, where he will co-star with Tom Hardy.

May 10, 2021: This story has been updated with the latest information about Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

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Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

The first Venom: Let There Be Carnage trailer has arrived, and Woody Harrelson’s Cletus Kasady is looking quite different.

Audiences were first introduced to Woody Harrelson’s Cletus Kasady in the post-credits scene of 2018’s Venom, with the incarcerated villain sporting a killer mop of hair. His curly crimson locks drew some criticism at the time, with a few people poking fun at the actor’s clownish wig, but it appears that the hardened criminal has had his hair hacked to pieces since his last cinematic appearance.

Director Andy Serkis spoke to IGN about the drastic change in Cletus’ hairstyle between movies, explaining how the character’s shorter ‘do reflects the passage of time and the evolution of his mental state. “We wanted to give a sense that he’s been in there for some time and that he’s gone through various changes… so that we could really [see] what’s going on with the darkness of the character.”

As the trailer shows, Cletus’ madness is reflected through the strange, intricate drawings lining the walls of his cell. Those drawings may or may not have a special significance to the plot, but they definitely offer insight into the villain’s terrifying mind and his erratic array of emotions, which Serkis says jumps between “his anger and frustration and his sadness and his desperation and his loneliness.”

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/05/10/venom-let-there-be-carnage-exclusive-trailer-breakdown-with-director-andy-serkis-ign-rewind-theatre-uk”]

Cletus’ alter-ego Carnage was the first (and by far the most popular) of several new symbiote villains introduced in the comics of the early ’90s, with Cletus Kasady making his first appearance as Carnage in 1992’s Amazing Spider-Man #360. As a recurring presence in the franchise, many fans have been reviewing the character’s comic book appearance compared to his live-action look.

#ヴェノム

Cletus Kasady is a psychopathic serial killer and Eddie Brock’s cellmate. When the Venom symbiote came to break Eddie out of prison, a symbiote that was a spawn of Venom, bonded to Cletus and turned him into Carnage. pic.twitter.com/IPBD71r1m7

— G1 Grimlock (@G1Grimlock1) May 10, 2021

I will say that Cletus Kasady looks a lot better in Venom 2 pic.twitter.com/b5YbYTpPw9

— Jeffrey (@WakkoKing) May 10, 2021

i’m so happy they changed cletus’ hair omg honestly that wig looked so horrific at first I AM SO HYPED

— nate (@heymrloki) May 10, 2021

Didn’t watch the first one, probably won’t watch this BUT Cletus looks much better in this one design wise(fixed hair n stuff) and carnage looks great, glad they got that part right https://t.co/iRW5bHWlNf

— Rectify WonderBread (@WonderBread4510) May 10, 2021

THE WAY WOODY HARRELSON IS LOOKING AMAZING AS CLETUS KASADY#Venom2 i’ve been waiting so long to see carnage on the big screen!!!

— steph. (@agonicks) May 10, 2021

Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasady might go down as one of the best Marvel castings ever. It’s a little too perfect.

— 2 Dose Banks (@TheNextBlGThing) May 10, 2021

In addition to Harrelson, Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams are reprising their respective roles as Eddie Brock and Anne Weying in Venom 2, together with Reid Scott who is returning to portray Dr. Dan Lewis, Weying’s boyfriend. Let There Be Carnage also features several newcomers, including Naomie Harris, Stephen Graham, Sean Delaney, and Larry Olubamiwo.

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After a delay, Venom: Let There Be Carnage will be released in US theaters on September 24 (or September 15 in the UK, and September 16 in Australia).

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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

It’s time, once again, to look at which games cracked the top 20 list of most-downloaded titles on PlayStation Network across PS4 and PS5–and for April 2021, an older game does not hold the top spot on either list. The US and Canada PS4 and PS5 charts are both topped by new releases, with MLB The Show 21 grabbing the number one spot.

For the last few months, both PS5 and PS4 charts in the US and Canada have been dominated by GTA V or Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, but that’s changed in April 2021. On the PS5 list, MLB The Show 21 takes the top spot despite it being free with Game Pass on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S; Outriders and the PS5-exclusive Returnal come in at 2 and 3. In Europe, FIFA 21 continues to reign, with Outriders at second and It Takes Two at third.

On PS4, MLB The Show also dethroned GTA V and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, although those two titles still achieved second and third place, respectively. Nier Replicant snuck in at 15, making it the only other April release to crack the top 20. Other notable titles include Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker at ninth place, PGA Tour 2K21 at 12th place, and Gang Beasts at 20th place.

Not much has changed on the PlayStation VR charts, as Beat Saber and Superhot VR continue to dominate. The Free-to-Play PS4 and PS5 chart is also not particularly surprising, as Call of Duty: Warzone, Fortnite, Rocket League, and Apex Legends top the list.

You can see the top ten most-downloaded PS5 and PS4 games below, while the complete download charts can be seen here on the PlayStation Blog.

Top 10 PS5 Downloads of April 2021

US/Canada	Europe
MLB The Show 21	FIFA 21
Outriders	Outriders
Returnal	It Takes Two
Mortal Kombat 11	Returnal
It Takes Two	Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War	Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
FIFA 21	Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Spider-Man: Miles Morales	Mortal Kombat 11
NBA 2K21	Marvel’s Avengers
Madden NFL 21	Disco Elysium – The Final Cut

Top 10 PS4 Downloads of April 2021

US/Canada	Europe
MLB The Show 21	Grand Theft Auto V
Grand Theft Auto V	FIFA 21
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War	F1 2020
Outriders	Minecraft
Mortal Kombat 11	ARK: Survival Evolved
Minecraft	The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Game of the Year Edition
NBA 2K21	Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Ark: Survival Evolved	Gran Turismo Sport
Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker	eFootball PES 2021 Season Update
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	Ghost of Tsushima

With the first trailer for Venom: Let There Be Carnage now out, the old question of “where’s Spider-Man” inevitably will crop up. Venom, a.k.a. Eddie Brock, a.k.a. a very bemused and amusing Tom Hardy in the new trailer, of course got his start in the pages of the Spider-Man comics. And indeed, Peter Parker originally wore the Venom suit/symbiote before rejecting it, at which point it bonded with Brock. But you know this already because you’ve seen Spider-Man 3!

Still, as we know from the first Venom film from 2018, the Tom Hardy version of the character has so far existed without any wallcrawler needed. And yet, the trailer for Venom 2 does give us a couple of Spidey hints, as did the trailer last year for another Sony/Marvel film that’s currently in the works, the Jared Leto-starring Morbius.

All that said, Let There Be Carnage director Andy Serkis tells IGN that his film is meant to exist apart from Spider-Man and his universe. For now, anyway.

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“Obviously, there are links between Venom and Spider-Man and the Marvel Universe and the Spider-Man story,” says Serkis. “We’re treating this very much as it’s his own world. The Venom story is his own world. There are nods and little moments [like the shot of the newspaper the Daily Bugle], of course, but on the whole he’s unaware. They are unaware, at this point, of other characters like Spider-Man. So, that’s the way we’ve chosen to play this particular episode of the movie, but, well, we’ll wait and see. We’ll see what little things you can pick out of it.”

Even if there is no hard connection between the two worlds, there have been hints. Let’s dig in a little more on how the Venom 2 and Morbius trailers have tied back to Spider-Man so far.

The Daily Bugle

Spidey’s very own hometown newspaper — and place of employment — the Daily Bugle is glimpsed in the Let There Be Carnage trailer (and it appears this version of the Bugle has the same title treatment and stylings as the version from the Sam Raimi Spidey movies). This is perhaps the closest the Venom movies have gotten yet to acknowledging the existence of Peter Parker’s world, though of course just because there’s a Daily Bugle in the Sony/Marvel-verse, it doesn’t mean that there’s a Spider-Man in the Sony/Marvel-verse.

Indeed, Eddie Brock is a reporter, so he may very well be working for the Bugle in Venom: Let There Be Carnage (no, you don’t have to live in the same city as the outlet you work for!). Sure, this could just be a fun Easter egg for comics fans, but it could also be seen as a small step into a larger, MCU-ish world (where, don’t forget, the Bugle also exists — though so far we’ve only seen it as a sort of talk show/hype train for J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man: Far From Home).

You can also spot what might just be a reference to the Avengers in the paper. Within the pages of J. Jonah’s beloved rag, it looks like a headline reads something like “Avengers Lose to Nightmare.” Nightmare, of course, is a Marvel villain (who has been rumored as a possible player in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which come to think of it is also being directed by Sam Raimi).

Smash That Spider!

This is a small moment in the trailer — literally, in that a spider can be spotted before its untimely demise. Was it radioactive?! We’ll never know, for the poor thing is taken before its time when it’s squished by someone (apparently Carnage himself).

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This is almost certainly nothing more than a wink to the spider-ness of the Sony/Marvel universe, but it’s another acknowledgment for fans that, yes, the studio is aware that you want your Spider-Man and your Venom to meet up someday.

(Or maybe that was the radioactive/genetically-altered arachnid that would’ve given the Venom reality’s version of Peter Parker his powers! And now puny Parker will never get bitten and just keep getting beaten up in high school instead…)

Meanwhile, in the Morbius-verse

We don’t know if Morbius, which stars Jared Leto and will be released on January 28, 2022, is part of the Venom world of Sony/Marvel movies or not. But why wouldn’t the studio at least leave the door open to the two characters sharing the same universe? After all, Morbius — a.k.a. the Living Vampire in some circles — also debuted in the pages of Spider-Man way back when. And like Venom, he also walks the line between hero and anti-hero, what with the whole vampire thing.

The Morbius movie was delayed from its original July 2020 release along with much of the rest of Hollywood’s offerings because of the pandemic, but we actually got a trailer for it way back in January of 2020. And in that trailer, the image of Spider-Man could actually be glimpsed very briefly when Michael Morbius (Leto) walks down a New York City street and passes artwork of Spidey on a wall that, get this, has “murderer” graffitied across it.

The murderer accusation would seem to mean that Morbius takes place after Spider-Man: Far From Home, which ended with Peter Parker being set-up by Mysterio to appear to be a killer. That’s also where the wallcrawler’s identity was outed by a taped message form Mysterio… which aired on J. Jonah Jameson’s Daily Bugle video blog/show. So all in all, this feels like a pretty strong tie to the current Spider-Man movies. Unless it’s just another fun Easter egg. And speaking of Morbius…

Michael Keaton’s Vulture, Flying Across the Multiverse?

At the very end of the Morbius trailer from last year we saw Michael Keaton, who of course played Adrian Toomes/the Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming. It hasn’t been confirmed by the studio that Keaton is playing the Vulture in Morbius, but it would seem to be too cute by half to cast him in any other role in a Spider-Man-adjacent movie.

You can see police lights behind him in the Morbius trailer, and it seems like Keaton is wearing the same white uniform top he had on in prison at the end of Homecoming. What does this all mean? Is Morbius teaming up with the Vulture? Could this be the start of a Sony/Marvel take on the Sinister Six? Hard to say right now.

But if Morbius is in fact meeting the Vulture, then why wouldn’t Venom meet up with these two as well at some point? Probably not in Let There Be Carnage, but maybe eventually? And after that, why wouldn’t they all meet up with Spider-Man?

What do you think is going on with the Sony/Marvel-verse of characters? How could it connect to the MCU? Let’s discuss in the comments!

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1080p resolution remains the most popular in Steam’s hardware survey, but higher resolutions have steadily grown to 15 percent of the pie. Large monitors are frequently out of stock as demand from gamers continues to outpace supply.

Asus’ ROG Swift PG329Q represents the cutting edge of 32-inch gaming monitors. It touts 1440p resolution, a refresh rate that can overclock to 175Hz, Nvidia G-Sync support, and HDR 600 certification, all for $699. That’s not cheap, yet finding the PG329Q in stock at MSRP is a struggle.

Does this 32-inch monitor deserve to be at the top of your list?

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Asus ROG Swift PG329Q – Design

The Asus ROG Swift PG329Q is part of the Republic of Gamers sub-brand and unsurprisingly embraces its design language. That means a large, bold stand with a dramatic twist and asymmetric legs. The monitor has bright RGB backlighting that supports Asus’ Aura Sync for synchronization with other compatible peripherals.

Asus’ ROG monitors tend to remind me of Michael Bay’s Transformer movies, and I don’t mean that as a compliment. They seem desperate to make a dramatic statement with busy design and odd angles that never look quite right. I prefer the sleek Space Odyssey vibes of Alienware’s monitors, like the AW2721D.

Functionally, however, there’s not much to complain about. The monitor’s divisive design is easy to ignore because the large screen, which is surrounded by thin bezels, hides the stand. Adjustment options include 100 millimeters of height, 25 degrees of swivel and 25 degrees of tilt. There’s no option to pivot the display into a vertical orientation because the stand isn’t tall enough to allow it.

Asus ROG Swift PG329Q – Features

Asus tends to go overboard with features, and the ROG Swift PG329Q is no exception. It has a long list of gaming-focused options including a built-in crosshair and time, an FPS counter, a sniper mode (which zooms a small portion of the display), gobs of genre-specific image quality presets, a black equalizer (called Shadow Boost), and Aura RGB backlighting.

I think competitive shooter fans will be happy with what’s offered. The combination of a crosshair, zoom, timer, and black equalizer makes for a sweet setup if you want to maximize visibility and situational awareness.

Connectivity is excellent. The monitor packs two HDMI 2.0 ports, one DisplayPort 1.2, a USB 3.0 upstream that powers two USB 3.0 downstream ports for connecting peripherals, and 3.5mm audio jack. While some gamers will be disappointed by the lack of HDMI 2.1, especially given this monitor’s size, it’s only really necessary if you plan on hooking up a PS5 or Xbox Series X.

The PG329Q provides a handful of detailed image quality settings. These include three specific gamma presets, three vague color temperature presets, and the option to tweak RGB color and overall color saturation. This is fine for a gaming monitor but not ideal for content creators craving a monitor for both gaming and work.

A joystick is used to control the monitor’s on-screen menu. It’s paired with four physical buttons that are hidden along the right flank. The buttons aren’t labeled aside from the on-screen menu, but they’re large, so I rarely hit the wrong one. Asus’ menus are easy to navigate, though the sheer number of options is sure to overwhelm some gamers. The default settings are great for most games, so owners don’t need to spend much time in the menus.

There is one feature completely absent: built-in speakers. This is surprising given the PG329Q’s size and price. Plan to use external computer speakers or a gaming headset.

Asus ROG Swift PG329Q – Performance

The Asus ROG Swift PG329Q packs surprisingly excellent color performance. It’s a wide color gamut display that, in my testing, can display 100% of the sRGB and AdobeRGB gamuts, as well as 95% of DCI-P3. Its color accuracy can rival the very best professional monitors, and it even supports true 10-bit color. The PG329Q notably defeats the Alienware AW2721D, which also advertises a wide color gamut, and trades blows with the BenQ EX2780Q.

It’s interesting, refreshing, and a bit confusing to see this level of color performance from the PG329Q. On the plus side, the monitor can serve content creators who want accurate color despite its slim image quality customization. However, I’m not sure everyone will be happy with 2,560 x 1440 resolution on a 32-inch display.

The monitor’s pixel density works out to about 91 pixels per inch, which is identical to a 24-inch 1080p monitor. This is fine for day-to-day productivity and web browsing. Distracting aliasing is noticeable on fonts and interface elements, but I didn’t find it uncomfortable or annoying. It’s less impressive when editing photos and images, as the lack of sharpness and resolution means you’ll have to zoom in more frequently to see fine detail in large images.

Many streaming platforms, especially those focused on movies and television, don’t stream at native 1440p. This underscores the lack of alignment between the monitor’s color accuracy and its resolution. Blockbuster movies benefit from realistic color but can also look soft compared to a smaller 1080p display or modern 4K TV.

Asus ROG Swift PG329Q – Gaming Performance

Asus’ ROG Swift PG329Q looks good straight out of the box. It delivers a vibrant image that relies heavily on the strength of its wide color gamut and precise color accuracy. You’ll enjoy the monitor in games that lean heavily on bold color and flashy presentation, like Final Fantasy XIV or Overwatch.

The monitor’s 2,560 x 1,440 resolution is a good fit for PC gaming. It of course lacks the ultra-sharp look for a 4K gaming monitor, but you may find the difference hard to appreciate in modern titles, especially if the monitor is placed more than three feet away from you or the game has a quality anti-aliasing feature.

On the downside, 1440p isn’t great for console gaming. The PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch lack native 1440p support, so games and menus will look softer than you’d expect.

Dark scene performance is a problem. IPS monitors always struggle in this area, but the PG329Q looks especially hazy and bright when displaying scenes that should look dark and foreboding. This hurts games that lean towards a realistic look. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, I noticed that forest scenes lacked a sense of depth because shadows were foggy instead of deep. Objective tests returned a contrast ratio of 590:1, which is very low for a modern gaming monitor.

The PG329Q is VESA DisplayHDR 600 certified, and I was pleased by the monitor’s overall HDR performance. Image quality is sharp and colorful with the feature turned on in Windows. I recorded a maximum sustained luminance of 529 cdm/2, which is incredibly bright for a display. You’ll likely need to turn down HDR brightness in Windows for comfortable use.

Brightness becomes key to the PG329Q’s overall presentation. Because of its poor black levels, the PG329Q relies on brightness to provide a sense of contrast and depth. It looks great in brilliant outdoor scenes, like those found in many open-world games, but falls short after dusk or in tight, dimly lit corridors.

Local backlight dimming is provided by 16 edge-lit zones. My review monitor, like most modern edge-lit monitors, had several hazy spots that were obvious with local dimming off. Local dimming improved on them by turning off the backlight entirely in areas where it didn’t need to be on.

The ROG Swift PG329Q left me with mixed feelings. It looks outstanding in bright and colorful games, especially those that support HDR, but games that aim for a gritty look are muddled and muted.

Asus ROG Swift PG329Q – Motion Performance

Refresh rate is the Asus ROG Swift PG329Q’s headline feature. It defaults to 144Hz out of the box and can overclock up to 175Hz with the flick of a few settings. This is excellent for a 32-inch display.

Gameplay looked smooth at 144Hz, as expected. Ramping the monitor’s overclocking feature up to 175Hz didn’t make gameplay more fluid but also didn’t introduce distracting halos or trails behind moving objects.

Asus offers six levels of Variable OverDrive that decrease response times. It’s set to “Level 3” by default, and I’d recommend sticking to that, as I noticed bright streaks behind some moving objects at higher settings. I saw no improvement with less aggressive settings.

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The monitor offers Asus’ ELMB Sync, a backlight strobing feature that is compatible with G-Sync. It reduces motion blur by pulsing the display on and off at a frequency higher than your eye can see.

The clarity of ELMB Sync will help you track fast-moving objects and fine details, like the motion of an enemy in a distant window. ELMB Sync shows a distracting “double image” effect that is common to all backlight strobing features. With that said, the “double image” effect is more subdued than on competing monitors, and you may prefer playing with ELMB Sync on.

Backlight strobing features like ELMB Sync reduce perceived brightness, which can be a problem in bright rooms. This isn’t an issue with the PG329Q. ELMB Sync darkens the display, but it remains bright enough to use even in a sunlit room.

The PG329Q is officially certified for G-Sync. FreeSync support isn’t advertised, and I wasn’t able to test the monitor with an AMD video card. However, other reviewers and owners have noted the PG329Q works with AMD FreeSync.

The monitor’s variable refresh range is from 50Hz to 175Hz. This is better on the low end than competing 32-inch monitors from LG and Samsung. You’ll appreciate this if you own an older graphics card that can struggle to deliver high framerates in demanding games.

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Purchasing Guide

The Asus ROG Swift PG329Q should retail for $699 at Amazon and Newegg.

Seth Rogen has said he doesn’t plan on working with James Franco again following accusations of sexually inappropriate behavior.

According to Variety, Rogen made the comments during a recent interview with The Sunday Times, in which he addressed the allegations made against Franco in 2014 and again in 2018. In particular, he spoke about how the accusations of sexual misconduct against his former collaborator had affected their professional relationship, having previously worked together on multiple projects.

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Rogen said in 2018 he would continue working with Franco, but that stance appears to have changed now that some time has passed by. “What I can say is that I despise abuse and harassment,” he said. “I would never cover or conceal the actions of someone doing it, or knowingly put someone in a situation where they were around someone like that.”

“I also look back to that interview in 2018 where I comment that I would keep working with James, and the truth is that I have not and I do not plan to right now,” he added, noting that the end of his professional relationship with Franco was “not a coincidence” as “many things” had changed in regards to their personal dynamic with one another.

Franco dealt with allegations of inappropriate behavior in 2014 when he was accused of propositioning a 17-year-old girl on Instagram. Franco, then 35, addressed the situation on Live! With Kelly and Michael, claiming it was a case of “bad judgment.” He faced further accusations of sexual misconduct in 2018 when five women publicly accused him of inappropriate or sexually exploitative behavior.

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Variety reports that the allegations — which Franco repeatedly denied — eventually “turned into a lawsuit, which was settled in February.” Franco has appeared in a few roles since the accusations were made against him, but none with Rogen. The duo previously worked together on Pineapple Express, The Green Hornet, The Interview, and many more.

Rogen and Franco last starred together in 2017’s The Disaster Artist, which was directed by Franco. The movie’s screenplay was adapted by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber from a 2013 book of the same name written by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell. IGN called the story “a hilarious and heart-wrenching ode to outsider art” that “would be impossible to believe if it weren’t apparently true.”

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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.