Dave Bautista Still Frustrated At Marvel’s Treatment Of Drax

Actor and former wrestler Dave Bautista, perhaps best known for his role as Drax the Destroyer in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, continues to have strong opinions about Marvel’s treatment of that character in the MCU. Recently, Bautista shared that he “was never asked” to voice the character in the upcoming Marvel animated anthology What If…?. On Monday, he tweeted that he now regularly “shakes [his] head” that the character won’t get a satisfying conclusion.

Such comments are not unusual for Bautista, who also back in May let it be known that he wishes Marvel “would invest more in Drax… Drax has a really interesting backstory which they dropped the ball on.” Clearly, Bautista feels a strong affinity for the character, though he is by far not alone in his fondness for his own performances. While Marvel has not responded to Bautista’s criticisms, his own Guardians director, James Gunn, also voiced his astonishment over the character’s subsequent treatment. Check out Bautista’s latest comments in the tweet below.

When it comes to What If…?, at least, Bautista is hardly the only actor who isn’t returning to their famous Marvel roles for the series. The actors who have historically played Tony Stark, Peter Parker, Steve Rogers, Carol Danvers, Ultron, Wanda Maximoff, Natasha Romanoff, Shuri, and Pepper Potts are now instead being portrayed by different actors. Although the animated series doesn’t hit Disney+ until August 11, and Bautista isn’t alone, it’s still a bummer.

In related Bautista news, filming started earlier this summer in Greece for Knives Out 2. The actor is part of an impressive ensemble that also includes Daniel Craig, Kathryn Hahn, Kate Hudson, and Ethan Hawke. The plot details for Knives Out 2 are still unknown, but there has been speculation that it’s about a wealthy family on a vacation gone horribly wrong.

Avatar Legends Becomes the Biggest Ever Tabletop RPG on Kickstarter After Just a Few Days

Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game launched on Kickstarter on August 3 and has since become the highest earning tabletop RPG to launch on the platform after just a few days of being on the site.

The officially licensed tabletop RPG by Magpie Games, which is set in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, went live on Kickstarter with a crowdfunding target of $50,000 on August 3. The game smashed through its initial target in just 16 minutes before raising over $1,000,000 in just its first day on the website.

Things have barely slowed down since – the tabletop RPG has now raised over $4,000,000, eclipsing the previously held Kickstarter record for a crowdfunded TTRPG by some margin. Matt Colville’s Strongholds and Followers, an unofficial Dungeons & Dragons crowdfunded campaign, previously held the record for the highest crowded funded TTRPGwhen it raised $2.1 million in 30 days in 2018. Not only has Avatar Legends blown the previous record out of the water by comparison, it still has 24 days left of its campaign.

As previously reported by IGN, fans of the Avatar-based RPG have worked their way through a number of different stretch goals since fully funding the core game. Included within the game’s surpassed stretch goals are a range of additional NPCs, a velvet dice bag, various physical playbooks, and more. Magpie Games added additional funding updates as recently as August 8 (from time of writing) and so it remains to be seen whether the company has an upper limit for stretch goals and, if so, what that limit is.

For those of you who haven’t kept up to date with the story so far, you can find out more about the premise of Avatar Legends, as well as the basic principles behind the tabletop game’s mechanics in our original article. Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game will remain on Kickstarter until September 3.

For more on Avatar: The Last Airbender, why not check this article about the Avatar and Spongebob podcasts announced by Nickelodeon in May and later released in June. Alternatively, you can read this article detailing how Nickelodeon has started to lay the groundwork for an “Avatar Airbender universe” that will feature multiple series and movies.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Sega’s Humankind Joins Xbox Game Pass For PC At Launch

Xbox and Sega have announced a new grand strategy, as Amplitude Studios’ upcoming PC-exclusive strategy game Humankind has been confirmed for Xbox Game Pass on August 17, the day it launches.

The announcement was made on Xbox Wire, confirming that the game will be coming to Xbox Game Pass on PC only. There has been no word on whether or not the game will come to consoles, either standalone or as part of Xbox Game Pass.

“Humankind is a convergence of culture, history, and values that allows you to create a civilization that is as unique as you are,” the official blog post writes. “You’ll be re-writing the entire narrative of human history (…no pressure) from its humble beginnings in the Neolithic Era, as you set out to leave the biggest mark on the world.”

Humankind tasks players with building their own unique civilizations using moral choices and real-world cultures to pull from, in the hopes of gaining enough “fame” to win the game. Humankind was delayed earlier this year from April 22 to August 17, though last month Sega and Amplitude did offer a closed beta.

For more, check out the full list of everything offered on Xbox Game Pass right now, as well as everything you need to know about the Xbox Game Pass service.

The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.

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Xbox Night Mode Lets You Dim Your Screen And Controllers

Microsoft is currently testing a system-level night mode for Xbox consoles, with users in the Xbox Insiders Alpha Skip-Ahead ring having access to the options right now.

The new update will give you the ability to set schedules for when your console goes into night, including manually scheduling and automatic scheduling according to your time zone’s sunrise and sunset times. In night mode you can set several parameters to make gaming in the dark more comfortable, such as an adjustable blue light filter (which can affect your ability to fall asleep) and the overall brightness of the image sent to your display.

Now Playing: Xbox Console Evolution: Xbox To Series X

In line with brightness controls, night mode also allows you to toggle HDR on and off based on the time of day, which will prevent games from booting up with eye-searing brightness levels. The update will also finally let you toggle the brightness of the Xbox logo on both your controllers and the console itself. Sony has allowed a similar brightness adjustment on controller since the PS4.

The update is still in testing and might change as Microsoft gathers more feedback but features like this in the alpha ring usually don’t take too long to eventually find their way to all users. Speaking of updates, Microsoft is planning another livestream during Gamescom this month, with several updates on already-announced titles planned for the show.

Here’s A Sneak Peek At Valheim’s New Food System With Hearth & Home Update

Iron Gate Studios provided a sneak peek at some of the new changes that will be coming to Valheim and its food system as part of its upcoming Hearth & Home update. This overhaul is meant to balance health vs stamina to allow players to be more creative and versatile in their playstyles.

Currently, eating food provides your character the same amount of stamina as it does health. But in Hearth & Home, food will now be split into three categories, based on whether a piece of food replenishes health or stamina. A red icon means that a piece of food will restore mostly health, while yellow indicates stamina. A white icon means both health and stamina will restore evenly.

The food bar will now be replaced with timers so that you can more accurately see how much time you have left before you need to each more. Food icons will still start blinking when they’re halfway depleted.

Iron Gate will go more in-depth later about how this new food system will affect the minute-to-minute gameplay. But broadly speaking, in order to build out your base and terraform, you’ll want to eat food that will provide you with enough stamina to keep building. However, make sure you also have enough health so that you can survive a plunge if you accidentally end up falling to your death. During battles, you’ll most likely opt for more health or stamina, based on your preferred combat style.

Valheim is currently available right now on PC through Steam Early Access. The Hearth & Home update is currently on track for a Q3 release this year.

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Darksiders 3 For Nintendo Switch Releasing On September 30

Darksiders III is coming to Nintendo Switch, and it’ll be here in September. THQ Nordic has announced that the action game will launch on September 30, both digitally and in stores.

The Switch edition includes the base game and two expansion packs, Keepers of the Void and The Crucible. The game will retail for $40/£35/€40. The existence of Darksiders III for Switch is not a total surprise, as it was leaked on a Russian store in July.

Now Playing: Darksiders 3 Review

Darksiders III was originally released in 2018, so Switch fans have been waiting for a while. The PS4/Xbox One edition of the game that launched in 2018 was developed by Gunfire Games, but it’s not immediately clear if that studio or another one is responsible for the Switch version.

It’s not the first Darksiders game on Switch, however, as the top-down action RPG Darksiders Genesis was released in 2020 for Switch (as well as PS4 and Xbox One). Before that, Darksiders Warmastered Edition and Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition were released on Switch in 2019.

GameSpot’s Darksiders 3 review scored the game a 4/10.

“There are remnants of a good game here, buried within the vivacious combos of a combat style this game doesn’t want to embrace. Unfortunately, it’s buried far too deep to ever salvage,” critic Richard Wakeling said.

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PlayStation Exclusives Sale At Amazon: Returnal, Marvel’s Spider-Man, And More

PS5 and PS4 owners will definitely want to check out Amazon’s latest game promotion, which discounts select PlayStation exclusives to Prime Day-level prices. You’ll also want to take a look at PS Direct’s August Savings sale for even more PlayStation game deals. A number of PS5 exclusives are featured in the sales, including a trio of great games for $50 each: Returnal, Demon’s Souls, and The Nioh Collection. We’ve rounded up the best PlayStation game deals at Amazon and PS Direct below:

PlayStation game deals at Amazon and PS Direct

A couple of great PlayStation accessories are also on sale for solid prices. The PS5’s HD camera is $40, down from $60, while the DualShock 4 back button attachment is only $15.

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Watch Creepy First Trailer For Netflix’s Midnight Mass, From Bly Manor Creator Mike Flanagan

The first trailer for Midnight Mass has been released. The new horror show from Haunting of Bly Manor and Doctor Sleep director Mike Flanagan hits Netflix on September 24.

Midnight Mass is set in an isolated island community, known as Crockett Island, to which a disgraced local played by Friday Night Lights star Zach Gilford returns. When a mysterious priest named Father Paul also arrives, strange supernatural phenomena start to happen, further disrupting the community. The trailer doesn’t give much more away than that, but it looks likes an eerie and atmospheric show that will hopefully deliver the same mix of drama and horror that made Bly Manor and its predecessor, The Haunting of Hill House, so effective. Check it below:

The show also stars Kate Siegel (Bly Manor), Hamish Linklater (The New Adventures of Old Christine), Annabeth Gish (Halt and Catch Fire), Michael Trucco (The Bye Bye Man), Samantha Sloyan (Hush), and Henry Thomas (Hill House). It’s a seven-episode series.

Flanagan has also released a statement about Midnight Mass. It reads, “I’m just going to admit it… Midnight Mass is my favorite project so far. As a former altar boy, about to celebrate 3 years of sobriety, it’s not had to see what makes this so personal. The ideas at the root of this show scare me to my core.

“There is darkness at work on Crockett Island. Some of it is supernatural, but the scariest is born of human nature. The darkness that animates this story isn’t hard to see in our own world, unfortunately. But this show is about something else as well… faith itself. One of the great mysteries of human nature. How even in the darkness, in the worst of it, in the absence of light–and hope–we sing. I hope you enjoy our song.”

Flanagan is also producing a new anthology series for Netflix titled The Midnight Club, based on Christopher Pike’s 1994 novel of the same title. The show is set in a hospice for terminally ill young adults and will focus on a group of patients who form a club to tell each other spooky stories at night. The Midnight Club doesn’t have a confirmed release date yet.

Video Games Dominated This Year’s World Cosplay Summit

For cosplayers looking to show off their latest creations in 2021, this year’s World Cosplay Summit was as good a chance as any to do so provided that they could make the cut. With the finals now over, the top three teams have emerged, each one bringing to life a video game that earned them top marks with the judges.

While previous WCS events had been held in-person in Nagoya, Japan, this year adopted a safer method as participants were required to film video segments that showed off their costumes. 30 countries and one observer nation took part, and the event culminated with Elffi Cosplay and Calssara being declared the grand winners of the World Cosplay Summit 2021 Video Division.

The German duo cosplayed as Biggs and Jessie from Final Fantasy VII Remake, while second place went to the Italian team of Diaboliko Cosplay and Nero Cosplay for their Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask Fierce Deity Link and Skull Kid outfits.

Lastly, the British team of Be More Shonen and Nomes Cosplay took third place for their Zack Fair and Cloud Strife cosplays from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.

The rest of this year’s participants also tapped into video games for cosplay inspiration, as Team Mexico entered with a Resident Evil 3 Jill Valentine and Nemesis cosplay, Team Finland was inspired by Bloodborne, and Team Canada entered with a pair of costumes straight out of NieR: Automata.

Conventions have been hard-hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, but with vaccination drives taking place globally, a small number of them have been held. For the most part though, large in-person events like Dragon Con, Emerald City Comic-Con, and Los Angeles Comic-Con have shifted dates to later in the year, while other shows have opted to go online instead with a weekend of livestreams.

Marvel’s Gamora Joins Fortnite This Week – How To Unlock Gamora Early

Fortnite and Marvel are teaming up once again. This time it’s another member of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Gamora, who will be joining the ever-expanding roster of Fortnite crossover outfits, or “skins” as fans tend to call them. Here’s what you need to know about when Gamora is coming to Fortnite and how to unlock her early.

Fortnite Gamora Skin

Gamora's arrival means nearly the full Guardians of the Galaxy team is in Fortnite.
Gamora’s arrival means nearly the full Guardians of the Galaxy team is in Fortnite.

Gamora will debut in the Fortnite Item Shop on August 14 at 5 PM PT / 8 PM ET. Though a price hasn’t yet been revealed, we expect her complete bundle of in-game cosmetics to go for about 2400 V-Bucks, or about $20. Gamora will be sold alongside Star-Lord, who makes his long-awaited return to the game after previously debuting in 2019.

Players who leveled up their Season 4 battle passes enough also previously unlocked Groot with a Rocket Racoon Back Bling, meaning nearly the entire Guardians squad from the James Gunn era have come to Fortnite. (Just waiting on you, Drax.) Gamora’s full set will also include back bling, a pickaxe, and a glider.

It’s appropriate that Gamora arrives in Fortnite this season, since Doctor Slone and the Imagined Order are having such a tough time expelling the alien trespassers. Gamora knows a thing or two about fending off aliens.

Fortnite Gamora Cup: How To Unlock Gamora Early

If you're really good at Fortnite, you could earn Gamora for free this week.
If you’re really good at Fortnite, you could earn Gamora for free this week.

As usual, Epic is giving players the chance to earn a major new in-game skin before it’s on sale. On August 11, a few days before Gamora’s proper debut, players can jump into the Gamora Cup from the in-game menu labeled Competitive.

In Duos, players will have three hours to complete 10 rounds of Fortnite battle royale and accumulate points. The winners within each region will earn the Gamora outfit and the Gamora Cloak back bling. While few will be so lucky (and skilled), the bar to leave with something in hand is much lower. Any teams that amass eight or more points in the allotted time will receive the Daughter of Thanos spray.

You can find the full rulebook and scoring system breakdown on the official Fortnite site, but suffice it to say scoring eight points in 10 rounds should be quite doable for even many casual Fortnite players, so if you’re a Guardians fan, it may be worth it to try your hand at Fortnite’s competitive scene.

Gamora isn’t the only superhero from another planet coming to Fortnite this week. Alongside his very own Superman quests, the Man of Steel makes his debut on August 12. If you need more Fortnite, don’t miss the Ariana Grande Rift Tour replay, then prep for this week’s Alien Artifacts.

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