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The latest event announced for WotC’s D&D Live event is the Chaos Carnival table, a live event that will see some of WWE’s superstars enter the world of Dungeons and Dragons. Joining Dungeon Master Aabria Iyengar will be wrestlers Xavier Woods, Ember Moon, MACE, and Tyler Breeze.

The quest these wrestlers will have to undertake “involves high-flying attractions and wildly dangerous stakes,” which DM Iyengar thinks will suit her superstar players well. “Each player at the table lost something precious to them at the Chaos Carnival years ago… can they unravel the secrets below the Big Top before they become the next main attraction?”

The event will be raising money for Connor’s Cure, a charity chosen by the table’s participants.

The Chaos Carnival table is one of four that will take place at the D&D Live event. WotC has already announced the Lost Odyssey: Last Light Table, which will feature the likes of Jack Black, Kevin Smith, Reggie Watts, Lauren Lapkus, and Jason Mewes, hosted by Kate Welch.

D&D Live will also serve as a promotional event for WotC, involving announcements and new information for both upcoming D&D content, and other WotC properties like Magic: The Gathering. The event will be livestreamed on the newly resurrected G4 network, as well as on Peacock and on the official D&D social channels, taking place on July 16 and 17.

The biggest draw of A Pirate’s Life, the new expansion content for Sea of Thieves, might be Captain Jack Sparrow and the many other Pirates of the Caribbean characters now a part of the live game’s world. But while it’s nice to delve into the crossover content to see nods to both Disney’s films and its theme park attractions, the story and Easter eggs aren’t the reason you should check out A Pirate’s Life. What the new expansion really excels at is giving new pirates and lone scallawags a new, low-stakes way to engage with Sea of Thieves without the threat of getting riddled with enemy cannonballs and losing hours of progress.

A Pirate’s Life launched as a free expansion to Sea of Thieves this week, and while it makes a few changes to the game at large, it mostly consists of five new “Tall Tales” that specifically concern Pirates of the Caribbean mainstays Jack Sparrow, Davy Jones, Captain Barbosa, and others. These stories take you on a journey to uncover what’s brought Captain Jack to the Sea of Thieves, sending you to some new locations that haven’t been part of the game before.

These aren’t the only Tall Tales in the game–there are quite a few others that take you on lengthy voyages all over Sea of Thieves–but the story chapters in A Pirate’s Life (or at least the first three, as that’s all I’ve completed so far) are a bit of a different speed than the rest of the game. They represent a pretty solid on-ramp into Rare’s excellent swashbuckling adventure game if you’ve never played it. They’re also fun to take on alone, filling a gap in Sea of Thieves content that’s been there throughout the game’s life.

For new players, A Pirate’s Life is a nice way to get started in Sea of Thieves. You can jump into the new content as soon as you’ve completed the tutorial mission, Maiden Voyage. After a quick story introduction, you’re able to sail your ship straight into a portal that takes you to the Sea of the Damned, a new location for A Pirate’s Life. Once you’re through the portal, you’re alone in the new area (unless you brought a crew, that is), free to explore its story, solve its puzzles, and uncover its secrets.

The Tall Tales of A Pirate’s Life feel like more traditional, linear video game levels than most of the rest of Sea of Thieves, and that’s handy if you’re learning the ropes. The content has you figuring out how to make your way through the Sea of the Damned’s locations, but it won’t really test you. Die in combat or fall too far as you’re climbing a wrecked ship, and you’ll respawn shortly to give it another go.

That gives you a chance to get the feel for Sea of Thieves while also giving you something interesting to explore without the risk of running afoul of other players. Pirates marauding the waves are the central draw of Sea of Thieves, but also its greatest annoyance–because even if you’re just starting out, you’re always at risk of getting run down, cannoned, boarded, and slain by other cutthroats. It can make getting used to the game harrowing. Since you’re alone in the story of A Pirate’s Life, however, you have a chance to get used to the game before going up against other players.

That’s also what makes the new content a great addition for solo pirates. You can play Sea of Thieves alone normally, but it is a fraught life on the high seas. Sailing a sloop on your own is exhilarating, and Rare’s sandbox leads to some great things when you’re alone. You’ve got to constantly scan the horizon for other, stronger ships that might decide you’re a plump target, and if you spot someone, Sea of Thieves quickly becomes a stealth game to avoid detection–or a horror game if your hold is full of treasure and you need to run.

The fact that Sea of Thieves can support so many different experiences is great, but playing it alone is also often frustrating. Spot a galleon while you’re hauling treasure or trying to advance your various in-game rankings, and you can lose a lot of progress. Getting chased around islands can suck up hours as well. With a crew of friends, this unpredictability is the draw of Sea of Thieves, but alone, it can get frustrating to constantly be disadvantaged as a buccaneer. Have enough sloops sunk beneath you, and you might decide the pirate’s life isn’t for you, after all.

So these new Tall Tales help fill a void in Sea of Thieves by making it a little more viable to play on your own. There’s a little bit of high-seas travel involved, but for the most part, you’re off in your own little world as you uncover these stories. Though they include combat with various enemies and creatures, including bosses, they’re not so difficult that you can’t handle them alone. Rare has also worked to make resources plentiful whenever you’re challenged, so it’s hard to get wrecked in a solo fight. Even if you do, though, you can just respawn straight back into the fray and try your luck again.

It’s nice to have content in Sea of Thieves that doesn’t require coordinating with a bunch of friends and clearing a block of time to play, and really, Rare should think about this sort of design more often. Sea of Thieves is a great game, with a lot of compelling ideas and mechanics–but it’s particularly great with other people, and a lot less so when you’re alone. Stuff like A Pirate’s Life can make the game a little more fun for a variety of players, whether they’re just starting out in the game or don’t have access to a crew but would still like to raise a sail and draw a sword.

Jerry Seinfeld is making a movie about Pop-Tarts for Netflix, according to Deadline. The superstar comic has signed with Netflix to star in, direct, and produce Unfrosted, a movie inspired by a joke he started telling about the rectangular breakfast treat as far back as 2010.

While there was reportedly a quiet bidding war over the project, Seinfeld has signed with Netflix thanks in part to his previous relationship with the streaming giant, which previously produced his Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, along with a pair of his stand-up specials.

The plot of the film is unclear at this point. The joke itself had Seinfeld guiding audiences through his personal discovery of Pop-Tarts.

“How did they know that there would be a need for a frosted, fruit-filled, heated rectangle in the same shape as the box it comes in, and with the same nutrition as the box it comes in?” Seinfeld asks in the bit. The video above has the comedian deconstructing the joke for the New York Times back in 2012.

“Stuck at home watching endless sad faces on TV, I thought this would be a good time to make something based on pure silliness,” Seinfeld said in a statement to Deadline. “So we took my Pop-Tart stand-up bit from my last Netflix special and exploded it into a giant, crazy comedy movie.”

Production on Unfrosted will begin next spring. Seinfeld already has a first draft of a script ready, co-written with Spike Feresten and Barry Marder.

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Strange Planet, a popular webcomic about extraterrestrial beings participating in human norms, is getting a 10-episode animated series on Apple TV+.

Strange Planet creator Nathan Pyle and Dan Harmon of Rick and Morty fame will co-create the new show. Amalia Levari will be the showrunner. Apple’s in-house animation company Apple Studios and ShadowMachine (BoJack Horseman) have been tapped to produce. On ShadowMachine’s side, Alex Bulkley and Corey Campodonico will exec produce alongside Steve Levy and Taylor Alexy Pyle.

Joining Central Park, Stillwater, Doug Unplugs, and The Snoopy Show, Strange Planet will be Apple TV+’s fifth original animated show. Apple recently also purchased streaming rights to original animated film Wolfwalkers, further expanding viewers’ options for animated content.

Strange Planet began in 2019 online, creating a buzz for its whimsical depictions of aliens participating in the song and dance of human rituals. Pyle also published three graphic novels that are spin-offs of the original comic: Strange Planet, Stranger Planet, and Strange Planet: Existence Chronicles.

Harmon’s Rick and Morty kicked off the fifth season on June 20. The first episode is free-to-watch on Adult Swim’s YouTube channel currently! To watch the full season, viewers have a couple of options. If you have cable or satellite, you can access the show online at Adult Swim’s website. HBO Max and Hulu are also options, though it’s unknown how soon Season 5 will be available on either platform.

Warning: Full spoilers follow for Loki: Episode 3.

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We’re back with the Slack! Welcome to Slackin’ Off: Loki Edition, where IGN’s editors and writers spitball and speculate about all things God of Mischief. This week, we’re sharing our inter-office chatter regarding Episode 3, “Lamentis,” which featured Loki and “Sylvie” reluctantly teaming up in order to survive a lunar apocalypse.

This is just a quick look at some of the friendly theorizing and wonderment from IGN’s Loki Slack channel. Like you, we all don’t know what’s coming so none of these are intended to be spoilers. However, if you don’t even want to look at other people guessing their butts off, y’all should stay away from this.

In “Lamentis,” Loki and Sylvie clashed in the hallways of the TVA as she tried take a golden elevator ride up to the Time Keepers. Her intentions? Unknown at this point but they definitely differ from those of Loki, who wants to overthrow the space lizards and run the TVA himself.

Finding themselves stranded on the doomed moon Lamentis-1, as a planet threatens to obliterate all lunar life, these two Loki Variants have to overcome a lifetime of mistrust in order to work together and power up the drained TemPad. And while Loki shared much about his life with Sylvie, Sylvie was more cagey and cryptic. Also adopted, she taught herself how to enchant people’s minds, which involves intricate mental illusions if the victim’s mind is too strong. She’s also rejected the name Loki for two episodes now, though she’s never explained why. So what’s going on with this Lady Loki who prefers a totally different name?

Here are some of our thoughts. Oh, and be sure to drop your own take on Loki’s premiere in the comments — and don’t forget to vote in our poll at the bottom of the page!

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Loki Theory: Sylvie “Enchants” as an Homage to Amora the Enchantress

To be exact, in the comics there is a difference between Loki in female form and one “Sylvie Lushton,” who was a young girl living in Oklahoma who was given powers by Loki (who was acting on a lark). Apparently he just liked the idea of transforming an immortal into someone who thought they were an Asgardian. Anyhow, Sylvie began going by Amora the Enchantress. Which is a different Enchantress than the original comics Enchantress, also named Amora.

By the way, THAT Enchantress’ sister, Lorelei, appeared in two episodes of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, played by Elena Satine.

Anyway, everything we know so far about this Sylvie says she’s a Loki Variant. Plus, she rejects the name Loki. Or at least she says “I’m Sylvie now,” indicating she perhaps once went by Loki. Her ability to control people’s minds is referred to several times in the episode as “enchanting.” This could just be a nod to Sylvie from the comics or this specific character, played by Sophia Di Martino, could be a blend of the female Loki and Sylvie/Amora the Enchantress. Things aren’t exactly clear yet, but hopefully they will be in a week.

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Theory: Loki Is Being Enchanted by the Variant

Sticking with “enchanting,” does anyone else think there’s some mind meddling going on here? Once we saw how Sylvie works inside someone’s memories, like with the hunter she tricked into giving up the location of the Time Keepers, it’s not a huge leap to assume that Loki himself is inside a large illusion — one that she’s based on his memories. Either the entire time they’re on Lementis-1 is a trick or perhaps something happened on the train when she took a nap where a switcheroo was made.

Or… OR… Loki is a quick learner and he’s actually enchanting Sylvie. Again, it could have happened when she fell asleep. Maybe the TemPad didn’t break at all and it’s all been an elaborate illusion. She did tell him how it all works, right? Like how she puppets people? Also, even though it was with the Mind Stone, Loki is fresh off of a failed Earth invasion where he controlled people’s minds. People with strong minds who were also trapped inside their own head with Loki while they were following his orders. (Remember, this is the 2012, post-Avengers 1 Loki!)

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Theory: The TVA Doesn’t Kill People, It Resets Them

TVA-wise, the biggest news this week involved the fact that the Time Keepers did not create everyone who works at the TVA out of thin air. They actually lived lives before. Sylvie used margarita-fueled memories from the hunter’s past (hundreds of years ago, to be exact) to get answers out of her. This would explain why Mobius has a connection to jet skis (other than the fact that they were a “beautiful union of form and function”). It’s a holdover from his former self. A person he doesn’t even remember. (Probably.)

Regardless, the fact that the TVA is full of Variants has yet to be sorted out. What we are wondering though is… does the TVA actually erase people? You know, with those weaponized batons? Are they taken out of existence or are they sent somewhere else and rebooted? Maybe they go to a sort of limbo-type place and get brought back to life as minutemen?

Theory: The Time Keepers Are All Lokis

Since the main story so far has been “send a Loki to catch a Loki,” it stands to reason that the Time Keepers that Loki so desperately wants an audience with are, well, also Lokis.

Going further, the Lokis already in charge are trying to wipe out all the other Loki Variants because they know all Loki Variants want to take over the TVA. We assume that the TVA actually has other Variants they’re tracking down. Ones that aren’t Lokis. But… do they? We’ve seen one arrested, back in the first episode, bragging about how his father was on the board of Goldman Sachs. The character’s name is Martin and.. .remember his hair? It was basically Loki’s hair.

Question: Are the TVA Made Up of Mind-Wiped People from the First Multiversal War?

Sure, now we know that the Time Keepers didn’t create the minutemen. But how did they choose who got their mind wiped and rebooted into the TVA? Were these all leftovers from the first Multiversal War? Or even former perpetrators who sparked the war? What better punishment then to now have to work for the TVA protecting the one true Sacred Timeline?

Question: Will Mobius Rescue Loki and Sylvie From Lamentis?

Provided that everything we saw this week wasn’t part of an enchantment, will Loki and Sylvie be saved by Mobius? Sure, the TVA is currently in chaos, but Mobius specifically knows about the apocalypse trick and would be searching for them inside these zero-survivor disasters. Given how many there are it would make sense for him to have taken a while to track them down on Lamentis-1. Especially since Sylvie said it was one of the worst ones to wind up in.

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Did you have any lingering questions or theories? Share them below, and vote in this week’s poll too! And for more on the show, check out the Loki release schedule, find out if there are Loki post credits scenes each week, and learn about how Loki evolved from Marvel villain to agent of chaos.

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Ex-Street Fighter Producer Yoshinori Ono is back in the fighting game, uh, game, after joining Delightworks as COO and president. Delightworks is working with Notes Co., Aniplex, and developer French-Bread to release Melty Blood: Type Lumina on September 30.

Melty Blood: Type Lumina is a prequel to the cult-fighting game Melty Blood based on the Type-Moon visual novel Tsukihime. The original Melty Blood fighting game is a beloved title within the fighting game community, but the lack of official tournament recognition has forced its acolytes to play the game anywhere if given the chance.

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Melty Blood: Type Lumina will feature a roster of 10 characters, and will have extensive voiceovers as a result.

There will be two versions of Melty Blood: Type Lumina at launch, a Deluxe Edition which costs $70, and a standard edition that will cost $50. The Delux Edition will include a digital copy of Melty Blood Archives which will run down the entire history of the Melty Blood series, along with a digital soundtrack.

Ono is best known as the producer and developer behind the Street Fighter series. After almost 30 years, he left Capcom and joined mobile game studio Delightworks in 2021. Delightworks is the company behind Fate/Grand Order, one of the most popular mobile games in the world.

The Fate series focuses on mages who can summon historical figures from the past like King Arthur and fight over the Holy Grail. The visual novel has become an empire unto itself and has spawned wave after wave of spinoffs, including Fate/Grand Order.

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In a translated message to his fans back in April, Ono said that he was looking forward to spending time with the FGC again, and with the new Melty Blood this might be what Ono was referring to.

In other fighting game news, PlayStation recently acquired Evo, the world’s largest fighting game tournament series in a surprise acquisition earlier this year. It’s unclear if this will lead to any first-party fighting games from PlayStation, but the field continues to grow as even Riot Games confirmed it’s working on a fighting game title, as well.

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Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s News Editor.

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated the roster will have 6 characters. The roster will have 10 characters. The text has been updated.

The Time Variance Authority, more commonly known to as the TVA, is in charge of making sure people stay in their lane and don’t create multiple universes with their decisions. However, during Episode 3, Sylvie revealed to Loki where the TVA agents really come from, and it’s a bit of a trip.

Warning: There are spoilers for Episode 3 of Disney+’s Loki below. If you don’t want to be spoiled, turn away now.

While Loki and Sylvie were trying to escape a planet doomed to be destroyed by its orbiting moon, Sylvie revealed some interesting information about where the TVA agents come from. To this point, the audience was to believe the agents were created by the Time-Keepers. That’s not the case. TVA agents are actually captured variants. We saw some flashbacks with Sylvie and Hunter C-20, as Sylvie was trying to find out more about the Time Keepers, and this is when Sylvie dropped the news that all TVA agents are variants.

That does bring up doubts about the reptilian Time Keepers now. If they didn’t create the TVA agents, do they even exist at all? What’s behind those gold elevators? Anyone else want to place bets that this has something to do with The Watchers–or more specifically Uatu–and because The Watchers don’t interfere, they’ve simply plucked some variants from existence to right the timeline? We saw The Watchers very briefly in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, so they’re already established.

Anyway, that’s not all Episode 3 of Loki revealed. During another conversation between Sylvie and Loki, we learned that Loki is bisexual. The series is halfway over believe it or not, and new episodes air on Disney+ on Wednesdays.

Event organizers Penny Arcade and Reed Exhibitions confirmed that PAX West will return as a physical in-person event from September 3-6.

The organizers said in a press release that PAX West 2021 will “adhere to detailed health and safety guidelines,” which are said to be revealed before the September show takes place. Meanwhile, event coordinators are “working with venue officials, local governments, and health authorities to determine [total] capacity, which will be reduced, and ensure a safe setting.”

PAX West 2021 will be held at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. Tickets will go on sale this weekend, the organizers said, with individual passes costing $60 and four-day permits running for $230.

PAX West 2020 was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The crisis impacted several industries and led to the cancelation or postponement of tons of events, including E3, GDC, and EVO 2020. PAX West 2021 marks the first major in-person gaming event since the pandemic began, which has claimed over 600,000 US lives, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Still, the COVID-19 pandemic has opened the doors to virtual events. Most cancelled or postponed conventions were replaced with digital showcases, and PAX is no different, with an online event taking place from July 15-18. Registration is free for everyone, but a $15 badge comes with early access.

Fans of symphonies and spin-dashes alike have a good reason to be excited today. It’s Sonic’s 30th birthday, and to celebrate Sega of America is hosting a symphonic concert as part of Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest. You can watch it right now to see how the songs translate to a whole bunch of string instruments.

How To Watch Sonic 30th Anniversary Concert

The concert is currently being streamed on the Sonic YouTube channel and Sonic Twitch channel. A trailer for the concert shown during the Summer Game Fest presentation included tracks from 2008’s Sonic Unleashed, although songs from other titles are sure to be included.

What To Expect At The Sonic Symphony Orchestra Stream

The Prague Philharmonic Orchestra will be performing for the majority of the show, offering up renditions of iconic songs from across the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Along with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sonic 30th Anniversary Symphony will include performances by mid-2000s Sonic composer Tomoya Ohtani and Crush 40, the band behind a few of the rock and roll tracks in Sonic games, including Open Your Heart, Live and Learn, and of course, Sonic Heroes.

Besides a live symphonic concert of Sonic music, the blue blur had a couple of other announcements recently. During a Sonic central stream from Sega, a remaster for Sonic Colors titled Sonic Colors Ultimate was revealed, along with an upcoming, unnamed Sonic title set to release in 2022. Preorders for Sonic Colors Ultimate are currently open, with the game releasing on September 7 for PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC.