Insurgency Sandstorm offers a realistic take on the tactical shooter genre and includes a range of contemporary weaponry such as the Heckler & Koch G36, the British SA80 rifle, and, of all things, a Welrod silenced pistol from the Second World War.
In the above video Jonathan Ferguson, a weapons expert and Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries, breaks down the guns of Insurgency Sandstorm and compares them to their real-world counterparts.
Rare’s canceled game Dinosaur Planet, which would eventually be overhauled and released as Star Fox Adventures for GameCube, has leaked in its original state online. The game was planned for the Nintendo 64, and much of its DNA still exists in Star Fox Adventures–hence that game’s major differences from the rest of the series.
Shared by the Nintendo historian Forest of Illusion on Twitter and spotted by VGC, Dinosaur Planet is fully playable via this leaked version, though the account said it won’t run perfectly on emulators. The build appears to be from after Nintendo had already decided to mix in elements of Star Fox, as you can see Fox McCloud himself in one of the screenshots. The game was still called Dinosaur Planet at this point, however.
It’s peculiar to see how Fox had been seemingly shoehorned into the game at this point, wearing his usual outfit but with a sword on his back. He ended up using a staff as his main weapon in Star Fox Adventures but went back to his blaster and other sci-fi technology for Star Fox Assault a few years later.
Forest of Illusion went on to say in the Twitter thread that they purchased a disc containing this build from a collector in Sweden, and the build is from the very end of 2000. Star Fox Adventures would ultimately release in 2002, suggesting it was a relatively quick turnaround to shift it into a Star Fox game. There are still space combat sections in Star Fox Adventures, but the vast majority of the game is Zelda-esque exploration and dungeons.
Rare has been mostly developing games for Microsoft’s systems ever since. In fact, Microsoft purchased the developer just a day after Star Fox Adventures released in North America. Though very different from the rest of the series, it’s arguably one of the best Star Fox games.
If you don’t know the name Keith Gill, you at least know what he did. The investor, who often posts on the WallStreetBets Reddit page, was largely responsible for triggering a massive spike in the price of GameStop stock, ultimately becoming a multimillionaire and hurting short-sellers who bet on the stock to fail. But even Gill doesn’t really know how everything works here.
Speaking during a Congressional hearing about the GameStop situation (via PC Gamer), Gill admitted he “barely” understands certain elements of the previous month’s events, including Robinhood halting purchases when GameStop’s stock had peaked at several hundred dollars.
“It’s alarming how little we know about the inner-workings of the market, and I am thankful that this Committee is examining what happened,” he said.
Alongside Gill, who is named in a class-action suit alleging fraud on his part, others summoned as part of the hearing included Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, Melvin Capital CEO Gabriel Plotkin, and Reddit CEO Steve Huffman. Melvin Capital is a hedge fund that had shorted GameStop and needed to be bailed out after losing a massive amount of money as the price shot up.
Despite answering the questions thoroughly, Gill clearly thought the hearing was funny, as well. At one point he said he was “not a cat,” referencing a recent viral video of a lawyer who accidentally used a kitten filter on Zoom while addressing a judge.
The GameStop situation is far from over, but we’re glad even attending a serious hearing couldn’t stop the memes. We promise we are also not cats.
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BlizzCon veterans Metallica returned for this year’s only-only BlizzConline festivities, but the thrash metal band’s performance was ruined by a most unlikely culprit: Twitch. Right in the middle of one of its songs, the audio was replaced by some easy listening bell music, presumably to avoid having Blizzard banned for a false DMCA notice.
The clip, which esports expert Rod Breslau shared on Twitter, shows the band rocking out, with lead guitarist Kirk Hammett shredding, completely unaware that people were hearing what sounded like the main menu theme for a Teletubbies game.
Several commenters online have pointed out the irony of this happening to Metallica. The band, particularly drummer Lars Ulrich, has been heavily critical of online music sharing, and the band had a high-profile case with Napster back in 2000.
Still, we have to imagine the band is “madly in anger” with Twitch over the fiasco. The performance was one of the only semi-normal BlizzCon elements that could continue during the pandemic, as Blizzard has hosted big-name musicians for its celebrations going back to The Offspring in 2005. No one could “come out and play” this year, so the virtual show was all fans could get.
Ahead of Monster Hunter Rise‘s release, Capcom is hosting a trio of Monster Hunter streams next month. First, the publisher will air a Monster Hunter Digital Event on March 8. That stream will kick off at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET and feature both Rise and Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, which is also coming to Nintendo Switch later this year.
The following day’s stream will begin at the same time and features new Monster Hunter Rise gameplay, as well as hunting tutorials and a Q&A session with game director Yasunori Ichinose. Capcom is collecting fan questions on Twitter for the March 9 stream.
Finally, on March 10, Capcom will air a Monster Hunter Rise community livestream. Timing and other details for that broadcast will be announced at a later date.
Monster Hunter Rise launches for Nintendo Switch on March 26. Nintendo and Capcom shared a new combat-focused trailer for the game during the February 2021 Nintendo Direct. Nintendo also confirmed that the Monster Hunter Rise-themed Switch console and Pro Controller are likewise releasing on March 26. The Switch bundle retails for $370, while the Pro Controller costs $75.
Monster Hunter Stories 2, meanwhile, is slated to launch sometime this summer. Little has been revealed about the game so far, but it’s an RPG spin-off that puts players in the role of a Monster Rider who can befriend monsters. The game will also have some connectivity with Monster Hunter Rise.
Blizzard has shown off an Overwatch 2 behind-the-scenes featurette and, as part of that, given fans a glimpse at new additions and improvements being made for the sequel. During the flurry of BlizzConline 2021 announcements, Blizzard showed a behind-the-scenes featurette video for Overwatch 2, which revealed new details about the game’s locations, playable heroes, and enemies.
In the presentation, we get our first look at two locations in the upcoming multiplayer-focused hero shooter: Rome and New York City. The former will be the setting for one of the maps for Push mode, one of the new additions in Overwatch 2. The Overwatch version of Rome was described as being created to reflect a romanticized notion of the location, especially through its architecture. It features the colosseum and the grand hills as a backdrop. New York, meanwhile, was described as being “authentic” but with an Overwatch spin. It has pizza places and small shops that evoke the Village. “It feels like something you haven’t seen in other games before because it is uniquely Overwatch,” a dev said.
Unlike its predecessor, Overwatch 2 will have both permanent PvP and PvE modes. In PvE, you’ll fight computer-controlled enemies, and the new featurette reveals what some of them will look like, such as Null Sector’s Stalker and Breacher. The featurette also provides more context for how progression, story and hero missions, and hero customization will work in Overwatch 2’s PvE. In this mode, you’ll have the flexibility to customize abilities to tweak them to your liking.
Changes To PvP
On the subject of Overwatch 2’s PvP, Blizzard said it was upgrading how combat will feel, to the point that the experience should feel like a pretty big departure from what’s it’s like to currently play in Overwatch. Weapon feel was particularly focused on, with animation and sounds updated to better focus on enhancing the way that combat looks, sounds, and feels.
Role passives are a big new gameplay addition–these are passive attributes based on class. Tanks, for instance, will have resistance to knockback. Tanks, as a whole, will undergo a big shift. The class will now be toe-to-toe brawlers instead of characters that stand back and protect. For example, Reinhardt will be able to use two Firestrikes, steer his charge, and cancel it.
Sojourn, a new hero coming for Overwatch 2, was also briefly shown. She, according to Blizzard, was built around the railgun, a classic weapon in the first-person shooter.
Hero Missions
One big new feature for Overwatch 2 is Hero Missions, which are co-op, PvE experiences where players can level up heroes and progress their development. In Hero Missions, players will be asked to do things like gather resources to keep them safe, while enemy units are trying to take you out.
According to Blizzard, it is aiming to make hundreds of hero missions with a variety of enemy units, bosses, and new spaces that will be added to existing maps. King’s Row, for example, now has a gate that opens and lets players move into a new area. This also means the payload can take new routes.
On the environmental side, weather effects have been added. Dynamically, sandstorms, blizzards, and other effects can come into play. There are also shifts in time of day. This will have a dramatic improvement in how cinematic an Overwatch PvE experience becomes.
How Progression Will Work
Everything will feed into progression and talents, further developing individual characters. Talents allow heroes to be played in various different ways, depending on the skill tree that a player picks. Different paths will result in noticeable changes in how characters feel and play. Soldier 76 was shown moving his healing field, while Mercy launched missiles from her healing beam. The talent trees add a layer of RPG mechanics to Overwatch.
Talent trees will be a part of PvE, changing up how you fight in order to take on the diverse assortment of enemy types. One of these is the aforementioned Breacher, which is a walking bomb. Slicers, meanwhile are described as deadly chicken-like enemies that quickly move around. The Polar is a tall, elegant, creature that makes things a bit spookier–much like the Witch in Left 4 Dead. Elite units such as the Elite Omnic Grunt is way more powerful than the usual type and will have different behavior, such as crawling towards you when downed.
Enemies also have improved reactions to taking damage, so that they’re more readable. You can shoot off parts of Null Sector killing machines, and there are even “chain hit reactions” so enemies that take damage that are positioned close to others will impact them.
Updated Character Models
Additionally, the featurette revealed what McCree, Reaper, Widowmaker, and Pharah would look like in Overwatch 2. The former has a longer beard and has a good balance of the tech-aesthetic and the classic cowboy vibe. Pharah meanwhile, has had her visor updated; it is a little more transparent, which means her emotions are more visible. Reaper’s mask is completely silver, instead of bone white. Widowmaker has become more cyberpunk-y, giving her a futuristic femme fatale vibe.
Telling A Story
Story is a major pillar for Overwatch 2. After reuniting the team in Zero Hour, there’s a new Omnic uprising. Overwatch 2 explores who is behind the uprising, how widespread it is, and what the threat truly entails. There are in-game cinematic intros and outros for all story missions, and the narrative will be integrated into the overall game (unlike the original Overwatch, where the story was primarily told outside of the game via animated trailers). Heroes will have in-game dialogue, NPCs will be present, there are in-mission events, and more.
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In WandaVision Episode 7, we learned a shocking (or not-so-shocking, depending on how deeply embroiled in fan theories you’ve been since the show’s premiere) truth about Kathryn Hahn’s Agnes. Surprise! She’s actually been Agatha Harkness all along, and she even gets her very own theme song to prove it.
But, like many things in WandaVision, this reveal only served to raise more questions than it answered–namely: Who the hell is Agatha Harkness and why does she matter in Wanda’s story? And naturally, while this is still very much a mystery for the MCU, we can look to Agatha’s bizarre comic book history for clues.
Agatha Harkness was first introduced in Fantastic Four #94 back in 1970, but before you break out the red string and start connecting dots on your MCU F4 conspiracy walls just yet, know that her role with the first family of Marvel was a little odd. Rather than existing as a villain for anyone in the Richards family, Agatha was a governess–a fancy nanny–to Reed and Sue’s son, Franklin. Franklin is his own extremely bizarre can of worms, so don’t worry too much about him just yet. The long and the short of those early stories was that Agatha was basically a witchy, more dour version of Mary Poppins. She saved the Fantastic Four a handful of times, and always seemed able to out-smart or out-maneuver their superpowers, despite being a frail looking old lady.
It was revealed that, of course, she was anything but a normal old lady–she was actually an immortal witch with roots going back to ancient times. She was even among the witches who settled in Salem, Massachusetts back in the 17th century, where she survived the witch trials.
Agatha spent a substantial amount of the ’70s jumping around different Marvel titles, assisting in the background with her powerful magic until she eventually came in contact with Wanda Maximoff, who at the time had magic-based powers rather than a mutation. Agatha began tutoring Wanda in witchcraft to help better hone her abilities and eventually even “helped” Wanda and Vision get pregnant with Billy and Tommy 1.0 (for more on that, check out our breakdown of what’s going on with the twins).
Unfortunately, the magic she worked to allow a human and a synthezoid to conceive had a bit of a price and it was revealed that the babies were actually “soul fragments” of a demon that Agatha had repurposed. The end result was, uh, baby arms, a lot of angst, and a Marvel universe without a Billy or Tommy for a while (they were eventually reborn demon-free, though, so don’t worry.)
This is where things start to get a little more bizarre. Rather than ever coming clean about her soul fragment mess, Agatha opted to simply wipe Wanda’s memory of her children and continue on her merry way. This worked for a given amount of time–memory wipes were, and in many cases still are, a very common part of most superhero stories, especially after writers have painted themselves into a bit of a corner–but years later, the bill had to be paid. This came through one of Wanda’s more catastrophic breakdowns (no, not House of M), in the Chaos arc of Avengers: Disassembled, a crossover story that ran in the early ’00s.
Avengers #503
During Disassembled, Wanda inadvertently had her memory of her children jogged which set of a series of deeply unfortunate events, resulting in the temporary deaths of several Avengers and the eventual confrontation between Agatha and a troubled Wanda. Apparently–though it never actually happens on the page–Wanda murdered Agatha in cold blood when she learned the truth of Agatha’s schemes, such as they were.
The reality of the situation is that Agatha’s motives were never explicitly laid out. She was eventually resurrected, but dropped further into the background, escaping to a life on Wundagore Mountain mostly away from the hustle and bustle of the superheroic world.
Following her debut on WandaVision, Agatha’s place in the live-action MCU is even more puzzling. Though she has never been the warmest or the most overtly loving character in Marvel history, she’s never been a flat out villain, which is what the WandaVision “Agatha All Along” theme song seems to suggest of her live-action counterpart. This could just be a simple case of the MCU making changes and updates to characters to better fit the story in a new medium–it definitely wouldn’t be the first time something like that has happened and it most definitely won’t be the last. MCU Agatha might just be an evil person, full stop.
Or, there could be something else at play here. Even though Episode 7 laid out many of Agatha’s manipulations over the season, it only answered the “how,” rather than the “why.” We still have no idea why Agatha seems to be puppeteering Westview, what she hopes to gain, or why she’s targeting Wanda in the way she seems to be. If it’s a simple game of two witches trying to one-up one another, like some sort of superheroic spin on The Craft, wouldn’t it have been much easier to leave Vision out of it? And if Agatha really is powerful enough to out-magic Wanda, why all the Westview pageantry?
Of course, we also don’t know what’s going on with the twins now, either, which seems significant. Though Agatha’s drive behind allowing Wanda to conceive in the comics was misguided but ultimately altruistic, in the MCU it could be entirely villainous. Agatha could be working toward–or working for–someone who needs that sort of “soul fragment” style manifestation or power to enter the MCU’s main reality–someone like Mephisto, perhaps, or any number of the multiversal “demonic” entities the Marvel universe has to offer. After all, Doctor Strange villain Dormammu is still out there, in theory, and who knows what sort of issues Endgame’s “time heist” causes on his Infinity Stone-constructed prison.
Alternatively, MCU Agatha really could just be an evil person who is strictly in it for herself. Sometimes comic book villains don’t have complicated schemes for world domination; sometimes they just want to prove that they’re the best at what they do–and if you’re a witch, that could very easily mean making a public show of throwing down with someone like Wanda Maximoff.
With only two episodes of WandaVision remaining, definitive answers are hopefully coming soon.
It’s hard to imagine the Guardians of the Galaxy films without Drax the Destroyer, and it’s even harder to imagine anyone other than Dave Bautista bringing the ultra-literal strongman to life, but it turns out that almost didn’t happen.
Director James Gunn is more active on Twitter than ever, offering fans of his work almost daily insight into his projects, and he’ll often answer fan questions with surprising candor and transparency. He took a moment off of shooting Peacemaker today to answer a few incoming queries.
“What’s a decision you had to fight tooth and nail for on a movie?” one fan asked. “Like looking back you still wonder why did the studio fight so hard against it?”
“I’d say hiring Dave Bautista on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1,” Gunn replied. “The first thing Kevin Feige told me after seeing the first cut is how right I was about him.”
The whole movie was a long shot, the first time since Iron Man that fans looked at a Marvel Studios film and collectively wondered if the Marvel magic was strong enough to make such an obscure team work. Now, the whole crew, including Bautista‘s quirky portrayal of Drax, are MCU stalwarts who featured heavily into the last two Avengers films and have a third standalone Guardians film on the way.
Gunn answered a few other questions, too. The hardest movie Gunn ever made was Super, the 2010 superhero-themed thriller starring Rainn Wilson and Elliot Page. Gunn described the experience as “grinding, hellish, uncomfortable days, averaging over 40 camera setups a day with one camera–one day we did 54,” he said, which is all thanks in part to the movie’s comparatively tiny $3 million budget. For contrast, Gunn said, big movies sometimes don’t even do ten camera setups. “It felt like sprinting for five weeks.”
Talking about his latest film, the upcoming DC film The Suicide Squad, Gunn confirmed that it has the most practical effects he’s ever done in a movie. How many? “Times five,” Gunn said. The Suicide Squad is complete and currently scheduled to hit theaters on August 6, 2021. The Peacemaker standalone show, starring John Cena, hits HBO Max in January 2022.
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Martian Manhunter is one of several new characters appearing in Zack Snyder’s Justice League who wasn’t in the original theatrical release. Thanks to DC Comics, we now have a better idea of what actor Harry Lennix will actually look like as J’onn J’onzz.
That tease comes in the form of a new variant cover to March’s Justice League #59, drawn by DC’s Chief Creative Officer Jim Lee. The cover suggests a fairly comic book-faithful approach to Martian Manhunter, though one that emphasizes his gangly Martian form rather than his more rounded and muscular superhero look.
Art by Jim Lee. (Image Credit: DC)
Lee and fellow DC artists Lee Bermejo (Batman: Damned) and Liam Sharp (The Green Lantern) are all drawing variant covers for Justice League #59, with the full team roster (and Darkseid!) divided among the three covers. DC is also offering black and white versions of these covers. You can check out all six covers in the slideshow gallery below:
Lennix previously appeared in 2013’s Man of Steel and 2016’s Batman v Superman as Lt. General Calvin Swanwick, though we now know Swanwick is actually a disguised Martian Manhunter. Even Lennix himself didn’t know the truth behind his character until he was approached to reprise his role in Justice League. At the time, Lennix’s schedule didn’t allow him to return, but he’s since filmed new scenes for Snyder’s revamped version of the film.
