Rockstar Games’ plans to launch a standalone version of Grand Theft Auto Online were prompted, at least in part, by sheer market saturation for Grand Theft Auto 5.
“As you sell that many units, you will at some point arrive at the conclusion that you’ve saturated for purchasing the title,” Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said at a Morgan Stanley technology conference. “At that point you’re willing to experiment with the possibility that maybe there is another way to bring people into the online experience. Make it super-low friction, low price point. Sure, you don’t have access to the original single-player experience, but you do have access to an online world. Our view is perhaps that’s a different market and that’s a way to expand the player base.”
He said the company’s experience with putting out Red Dead Online as a standalone release, apart from Red Dead Redemption 2, was a proof-of-concept. That gave Red Dead Online its biggest month since launch, and the people who get in using the online experience might upgrade to the full version too. He sees it as an opportunity to bring in a larger player base, which then helps feed long-term success.
The standalone version of Red Dead Online is regularly priced at $20, but it was 75% off for the first several weeks, bringing it down to $5. We might see a similar approach for GTA Online, but Take-Two and Rockstar have not announced release or price details.
Grand Theft Auto Online has sold 140 million units, and often makes the top ten in NPD sales despite having been out for several years already. Take-Two has often boasted that its GTA Online microtransactions have served as a boon for the company, which may help to explain why we still haven’t heard word on a GTA 6.
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Wolf Armor is the sixth tier of protection you can get in Valheim, but like everything else in the Viking survival game, crafting it isn’t easy. You’ll need to locate Silver, one of the toughest metals to find, and that takes special requirements. On top of that, you’ll have to survive the cold of the Mountain, which can be lethal all on its own. This guide will help you find Silver, give you all the info you need to survive the mountains, and run down the requirements for each piece of armor, so you know exactly what to hunt for before you get started.
Locating Silver in the Mountain biome is a multistep process. It’s buried underground, rather than popping up on the surface like Tin and Copper. That means Silver is a way more difficult ore to mine, and you won’t find it without a little help or a lot of luck. To find Silver underground, you need a special item called the Wishbone.
How To Get The Wishbone
You’ll need the Wishbone in order to find Silver, which you can only obtain by beating the Swamp boss Bonemass.
The Wishbone is an item you can only earn by defeating the Bonemass, the boss of the Swamp biome. That’s a lengthy process on its own, one that requires delving into the Sunken Crypts dungeons found scattered around the Swamps. For that, you’ll need the Swamp Key, which you can earn by defeating the Black Forest boss, the Elder.
Beating the Bonemass can be tough, so you’ll want to search for Iron and gear up long before you go after the boss itself. To find it, delve into Sunken Crypts and look for a rune stone that will mark the Bonemass on your map. Once you’ve done that, you’ll need to find its altar and make a sacrifice of 10 Withered Bones to draw the giant blob out to fight you.
The Bonemass does a ton of damage with its melee swipes, and most of its attacks will leave you poisoned, so make sure you’re making Poison Resistance Mead ahead of the battle. Blunt damage works well against the Bonemass, so the Iron Mace is a good melee weapon to bring along too. We found the most success, however, with Frost Arrows. The Bonemass resists piercing damage but is susceptible to Frost damage, which still makes the arrows very effective. You’ll need to venture into the Mountain biome to get them, though.
Kill the Bonemass, and it’ll drop a Wishbone, which is an equippable item. With that in hand, you’re ready to head to the Mountain biome to search for Silver.
How The Wishbone Works
When the Wishbone is equipped, you’ll see turquoise sparks fly off your character as you near buried treasure. The faster the pulse, the closer it is.
The Wishbone detects buried treasures, and it does so basically by acting as a metal detector, blinking and beeping when you draw close to underground items. With the Wishbone equipped, you’ll see turquoise lines emanate from your character and hear a sort of pinging sound when you draw close to something that’s buried. That’s your indicator that you’re on the right track–but don’t start digging just yet.
As you get closer to a buried item, the Wishbone will pulse faster and faster, so it’s a good idea to have your sound turned up to help you identify when you’re drawing closer to an item. If the pulses are a few seconds apart, you’re still a pretty long way from your destination. Don’t start mining in earnest until the pings are pretty close together.
You’ll also need to note that some Silver is probably beneath your feet a fair distance. This can make it tough to locate, although your pickaxe will take you down pretty quickly. Keep your Wishbone equipped the entire time you’re mining, as it’ll help you figure out if you’re moving too far away from a Silver vein. The actual Silver nodes can be tough to spot, but you’ll know you’ve found some when your Wishbone quits blinking altogether.
How To Explore The Mountain Biome
Make the Wolf Fur Cape as early as you can–it’ll help you withstand the cold of the Mountain biome and fend off Freezing.
You’ll find mountains before long as you explore in Valheim; essentially, if the elevation is rising ahead of you, you’re on the right track. It can be tough to see through forests and swamps to find the Mountain biome, so if you’re having trouble locating the right place on foot on a given island, consider hopping into a boat and sailing around a bit. Mountains aren’t especially common as far as the other biomes go, but they can be much easier to spot at a distance.
The thing to remember is that mountains are cold. Venture too high in elevation and you’ll suffer from the Freezing debuff, which will slowly sap your health until it kills you. Freezing, like poison, can quickly be your undoing if you encounter any of the Mountain biome’s denizens, so don’t start climbing until you’re ready to go.
To circumvent freezing, you’ll want to make Frost Resistance Mead. You’ll need both a Cauldron and a Fermenter to make the potion, but it’s worth the effort. Use the Cauldron to make Frost Resistance Mead base from 10 Honey, 5 Thistles, 2 Bloodbags (taken from Swamp Leeches) and 1 Greydwarf Eye. After brewing that, toss it in the Fermenter and wait–brewing takes about an hour, but you’ll get six Frost Resistance Mead potions for your trouble, and each one will protect you from the cold for 10 minutes.
You’ll also want to gear up as best you can with Iron armor and weapons from the Swamp biome. The Mountains are full of tough enemies, not the least of which are Wolves, who will likely rip you apart a few times as you explore the area. Keep lots of arrows handy for your bow, and get ready to make a run for it if a pack of wolves descends on you. They attack fast, hit hard, and can easily stagger you if you try to block them with a shield.
Mountains are steep but note that with some Stamina, you can usually sprint up their slopes. Just make sure you have a plan for where you can stop and recharge your Stamina before you start venturing upward.
Once you can start making Wolf Armor, it’s recommended that you craft the Wolf Fur Cape as soon as possible. Wearing either the Wolf Fur Cape or the Wolf Chest Armor will give you Frost Resistance, making you immune to freezing; the Wolf Fur Cape requires the least amount of Silver, so it’s your best bet for fending off the cold right away.
What You’ll Need To Mine Silver
Silver veins are often deep underground, so make sure you bring the means to protect yourself from both cold weather and wolves while you mine for it.
As with Copper and Tin, you’re going to need a pickaxe to mine Silver, but your old Hard Antler pickaxe won’t do. Silver is too hard to break with anything less than an Iron Pickaxe, so factor in the extra 20 Iron you’ll need to make one into your plans for upgrading your gear in the Swamps.
The first thing you should do in the Mountain biome is set up a base. A house with a fire will give you a place where you can survive should your Frost Resistance Mead run out. It’s a good idea to fashion a portal in this location as well so you don’t constantly have to climb up and down the mountain to get anything done. A house will also help you avoid getting mauled by wolves as you cross country. Bring Wood, Fine Wood, Surtling Cores, and Greydwarf Eyes with you before you venture out, so that you can rig up some shelter and a portal on the fly. These things will definitely help you get out of emergencies. Just remember to fashion the other end of the portal before you leave your main base–and don’t forget to label it so you can make the connection.
What You’ll Need To Create Wolf Armor
You’ll have to hunt wolves in the mountains to get what you need for much of the armor you can make with Silver–but they’re not the only enemy that drops resources required for the set.
Once you’ve got a base set up and start mining Silver, you can get together the other items you’ll need to craft Wolf Armor and other Silver gear. The prerequisites are pretty involved, though–you’re going to need at least some Copper at some point, and some Iron Chains or Bronze as well.
First and foremost, you’ll need both a Workbench and a Forge, with both upgraded to Level 2. It’s probably a good idea to create a Mountain base that contains a Smelter and a Kiln so you can refine Silver Ore on-site. You’ll also need Copper to build your Forge, and Bronze for some of the Forge upgrades.
You’ll unlock a bunch of recipes once you refine Silver Ore. Here’s the armor you can make with Silver:
Wolf Chest Armor
Wolf Leg Armor
Drake Helmet
Wolf Fur Cape
Each item has its own unique requirements to craft, however. While you’re in the Mountain biome, you’ll need to hunt wolves and drakes, the flying ice dragons you see hovering around the area.
Wolf Chest Armor Requirements
Forge Level 2
20 Silver
5 Wolf Pelts
1 Iron Chain
Wolf armor generally requires a lot of Silver and a few wolf pelts, but each piece of armor also has an extra, slightly less obvious requirement. For the Wolf Chest Armor, that’s an Iron Chain. Find these in the Sunken Crypts of the Swamp biome. You’ll only need one for the armor, but if you can find a few more, Iron Chains are useful for building Forge Bellows, which can upgrade your Forge fairly easily; the other Forge upgrade add-ons require Bronze.
Wolf Leg Armor Requirements
Forge Level 2
20 Silver
5 Wolf Pelts
4 Wolf Fangs
For the Wolf Leg Armor, you’ll need Wolf Fangs in addition to the usual crafting materials. The good news is that these are fairly easy to come by; you should get them naturally as you hunt wolves for their pelts or just fight them off as you explore the mountains.
Drake Helmet Requirements
Forge Level 2
20 Silver
2 Wolf Pelts
2 Drake Trophies
Though it’s part of the Wolf Armor set, the Drake Helmet adds the requirement to hunt drakes as well as wolves. You’ll find these creatures easily enough–they’re flying blue dragons you can usually spot at a pretty decent distance. Use your bow to take them down; they’re not tough to fight and don’t have a ton of health, but make sure to keep moving when the drake stops flying to hover and shoot ice blasts at you. The enemy will fire three at a time, but you can dodge them without much trouble.
Watch out for flying Drakes in the mountains–they’re fairly easy to kill and avoid, but they can ambush you easily. Look for Drake Trophies to make the Drake Helmet.
Drake Trophies might require you to hunt for a bit since not every drake will drop them. But like wolves, drakes are plentiful in the Mountain biome, so you should meet this requirement without too much trouble.
Wolf Fur Cape Requirements
Workbench Level 2
4 Silver
6 Wolf Pelts
1 Wolf Trophy
The Wolf Fur Cape takes the least amount of Silver to craft, so you’ll want to knock it out first rather than last. That’s because wearing the cape will give you automatic Frost Resistance and keep you from freezing in the Mountain biome, and that’ll make continuing your mining operation a whole lot easier. You’ll need a Wolf Trophy for this one, so keep an eye out for star-quality wolves as you hunt. Also, note that you’ll make the cape at your Workbench, so you’ll need to upgrade it once to get access to the recipe.
A full set of Silver armor gives you a lot of protection, while making you immune to the lethal effects of the cold.
With the complete Wolf Armor set, you’re ready to start hunting down Moder, the dragon boss of the Mountain biome. It’s a good idea to keep mining Silver to make additional weapons and further upgrade your armor to make it stronger, because your next stop is Valheim’s toughest region: the Plains.
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After being announced in the patch notes for Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War‘s zombie-heavy Season 2, Treyarch has announced that Dead Ops Arcade: First Person will be arriving for Black Ops Cold War on March 4. While previous versions of Dead Ops Arcade allowed players to briefly enter first person via a power-up, this is the first time the arcade mode is entirely playable in first person.
Dead Ops Arcade: First Person launches in Public matches tomorrow for a new 4-player Zombies experience!
Fight through 60+ rounds, discover treasures & power-ups, explore randomly generated Dungeons, and team up against Margwas, Crawlers, Blightfathers, Werewolves, and more. 🧟 pic.twitter.com/vpWgMG14Tx
While the first-person mode looks to be mostly the same as the classic Dead Ops Arcade 3 experience, it adds a few special abilities not available in the top-down view. When the new mode launches you’ll be able to sprint, jump, slide, and swim, making DOA: First Person a true hybrid game mode.
While the Dead Ops Arcade mode has long been a fan favorite, some players have warned that the arcade mode–and its first person variant–don’t award EXP for play, meaning any hours spent playing DOA won’t count towards game progression.
The first-person version of Dead Ops Arcade launches in Public matches on March 4. Treyarch hasn’t announced whether the new variant is a permanent mode or if it will only be available for a limited time, so you’re best to get playing while you can.
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Last year Los Angeles’ Anime Expo was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the organizers shifting focus to a 2021 event. The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation’s Ray Chiang has now announced that the event will not go ahead in LA this year either, with the organization planning another “Anime Expo Lite” online event instead, as reported by Anime News Network.
“With the continued uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, it is apparent that we will not be able to safely hold a physical show this July for Anime Expo 2021,” the statement by Chiang reads. “Anime Expo Lite will return on July 4th weekend! While we know that nothing can ever fully replicate the magic of in-person events, we recognize that online communities have long been an integral part of Anime Expo’s culture. Anime Expo has been streamed since 2017 and will continue to be part of the experience.”
2021 marks the 30th anniversary of the USA’s largest anime convention, and while there won’t be a physical event to mark the occasion, the SPJA has invited Anime Expo’s fans and past attendees to continue to use the hashtag #AnimeExpo30th to celebrate their memories of the convention throughout the year.
The SPJA hosted an Anime Expo Lite event online last year with over 50 hours of content including panels, interviews, and new announcements from game and anime-related companies including Square Enix, Crunchyroll, Viz Media, and more. The event saw over 500,000 views from virtual attendees spread across more than 70 countries.
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Upon completing Outriders‘ prologue, you’ll be able to pick one of four classes. You need to choose carefully–your class is permanent (though you can adjust your character’s appearance whenever you want upon entering Outriders’ first hub area). In the following guide, we break down the benefits and drawbacks of the Devastator, Trickster, Pyromancer, and Technomancer so you can more easily decide which is right for you.
During the Outriders demo, you will be able to unlock the first four abilities of each class, giving you a pretty good idea of how they all play. While all four classes are geared towards fighting out in the open, they differ primarily in playstyle and methods. But each class isn’t entirely a cut-and-dried role; each possesses specializations that allow you to twist them into fulfilling specific squad-based roles.
The Devastator commands gravity, ripping apart the earth around them both as a means of protection and offense. This class excels in the heat of battle and its abilities allow it to take quite a bit of punishment before going down, possessing a 15% boost to maximum health and 30% increase to armor. If you typically play as the tank role in your group of friends, the Devastator is for you.
The Devastator’s first four abilities are Earthquake, Golem, Gravity Leap, and Reflect Bullets. Your two offensive abilities, Earthquake and Gravity Leap, do devastating amounts of damage–the former sends out a linear shockwave while the latter sees you fly into the air to select a target to careen into like a murderous meteor. In both cases, you’re doing a lot of area-of-effect damage and getting right into the thick of things, where the Devastator excels. Abilities such as Golem and Reflect Bullets ensure you’ll survive your consistent charges into battle. Golem pulls up the earth around you to act as a protective shell, while Reflect Bullets allows you to catch projectiles in midair and send them flying back at the fools who tried to shoot you.
Choosing to go with Devastator means you’ll be forgoing long-range weaponry. Devastators excel with shotguns, assault rifles, and light machine guns. Putting points into the Vanquisher skill tree will boost your effectiveness with these firearms. If you prefer to become the ultimate tank that soaks up damage like it’s nothing, invest in the Warden tree. Seismic Shifter is the tree that’s most ideal for those looking to use the Devastator’s abilities more offensively and more often.
As a final note, every close range kill heals the Devastator by 24 percent of their maximum health (meaning you will have a higher chance of dying if you choose to run from a fight than stubbornly pushing towards it), and the class’ unique melee attack sends a shockwave that causes targets to bleed and take damage over time. All in all, the Devastator is a pretty simple and easy class to use, regardless of whether you’re playing through the game on solo or in a team.
Trickster – Rogue Class
If wielding gravity as a weapon isn’t your speed, then perhaps the Trickster and their command of time and space will be more appealing. This fragile but powerful class is Outriders’ take on the traditional rogue role, specializing in hit-and-run tactics. To help alleviate the pain, the Trickster gets a 5% increase to maximum health and 5% damage mitigation to shields. It’s honestly not much–if you go with this class, you’ll have to constantly be on the move and rolling out of the way of attacks. Sitting still for any moment will likely lead to death.
The Trickster’s first four abilities are Temporal Blade, Slow Trap, Hunt the Prey, and Twisted Rounds. As the Trickster is all about outmaneuvering enemies, you’ll likely always want Temporal Blade or Slow Trap (or both) equipped. Temporal Blade paralyzes and damages all enemies immediately in front of you, giving you time to roll out of harm’s way and reload. Slow Trap erects a small bubble that slows down all enemies and their projectiles inside it for 10 seconds, allowing you to more easily dodge melee swings and bullets. Hunt the Prey is a great ability for starting a fight or getting out of one, teleporting you behind an enemy and buffing your shields. Twisted Rounds is a straight damage buff, increasing the power of your gun’s bullets until you switch firearms or reload.
Because of how fragile the Trickster is, you’ll always want to be running, rolling, and shooting in quick bursts. This makes weapons like shotguns (especially auto shotguns), pistols, and submachine guns all effective choices. Master of Space is the skill tree you want to get greater use out of these firearms, though Harbinger is also a great choice–this tree will buff your health and survivability, large benefits for the Trickster. However, if you’re confident enough in your dodging skills, then put points into Assassin, a tree which will greatly boost your abilities.
Like the Devastator, the Trickster heals by killing at close range, though it only gets a boost of 20% of its maximum health per kill instead of 25%. To make up the difference, close range kills also grant 12% of your shield. If you’re in trouble and your abilities are on cooldown, remember to melee–the Trickster’s unique close-range attack will temporarily slow down the time of a target, giving you ample chance to escape or reload. The Trickster is also not a very difficult class to master, though its low survivability does mean that it will be much easier to use as part of a team than on your own.
Pyromancer – Spellcaster Class
The Pyromancer commands fire, existing as Outriders’ resident spellcaster. Like the Trickster, the Pyromancer is a fragile class. However, instead of mitigating that disadvantage with speed, it excels in outright firepower. In terms of just dealing damage with abilities, the Pyromancer is at the top of all four classes, getting a 10% boost to ability damage on top of its impressive repertoire of fiery moves.
The first four abilities for the Pyromancer are Heatwave, Feed the Flames, Thermal Bomb, and Overheat. As a mid-range class that doesn’t do very well at long-range and can get easily overwhelmed at close-range, having Heatwave or Feed the Flames (or both) will keep you alive. The first sends out a wave of flame that can push approaching enemies back, while the second pulls enemies in and suffocates them into place. Between the two, you’ll be able to keep targets in that ideal sweet spot where your other abilities can deal the most damage. Thermal Bomb is great–it deals a lot of damage, and if the target is killed within a few seconds, they’ll explode and do tons of damage to everything around them. If you’d rather share the pain, Overheat affects all enemies within a set radius, though it only does minor damage.
The Pyromancer is a bit of an outlier among the four classes. While the other three are all about using specific firearms and then amplifying their combat effectiveness with abilities, the Pyromancer is all about using abilities first and foremost. That said, guns are a good way to mop up stragglers you don’t manage to burn alive–consider using assault rifles and/or sniper rifles. In an ideal scenario, your enemies should never manage to get in close enough that you’d need something like a shotgun. If they ever do, that’s what your sidearm (or fire-based melee attack that burns enemies) is for. That said, you can invest in the Ruler of Ashes skill tree to improve the Pyromancer’s skills with firearms. Scorcher and Tempest may be better trees to invest in though, especially the latter, which includes the skill Phoenix Nestling, allowing you to rise from the dead upon being killed–an excellent boon to have for such a fragile class.
For lack of a better term, choosing to go with the Pyromancer is a slow burn. It’s a weak class at first, but it can quickly grow more powerful over time if you learn how to effectively use its abilities. Whenever the Pyromancer hits an enemy with an ability, the enemy becomes marked. Marks only remain for 15 seconds; if the enemy dies (either by falling victim to you or to an ally) while marked, you’re healed by 24% of your maximum Health. This means you can’t just kill targets to get your health back like the Devastator or Trickster–you need to be strategic and try to only kill enemies after you’ve marked them. This makes the Pyromancer rather tough to use until you’ve unlocked several abilities, especially if you’re playing solo. If you’re willing to endure the learning curve until you unlock more abilities and master the necessary skills for keeping enemies not too close and not too far, it’s a powerful class. But maybe only go for Pyromancer if you’re experienced with shooters or you’re planning to play through Outriders with friends.
Technomancer – Support Class
Technomancers pull together pieces of discarded and broken technology to form powerful gadgets like turrets, rocket launchers, and landmines. As most of their constructs are stationary, Technomancers need to always have a good view of the battlefield so they know where to best place and aim their abilities. This means that Technomancers excel at long-range. This class recovers a portion of its health simply by dealing damage, and the amount of damage it deals with its abilities and long-range firearms is amplified by 15%. If you’re more of a lone wolf that enjoys sniping targets from afar or supporting your teammates from a distance, then the Technomancer is for you.
The Technomancer’s first four abilities are Scrapnel, Cryo Turret, Pain Launcher, and Blighted Rounds. The first three abilities all serve the same purpose: keeping enemies off you while repositioning yourself to a new sniper perch. Scrapnel sees you throw out a proximity mine that deals explosive damage; Cryo Turret places an automated turret that deals damage and freezes enemies in place if they get too close; and Pain Launcher puts down a turret that fires a bunch of missiles in a straight line before falling apart. Similar to the Trickster’s Twisted Rounds, the Technomancer’s Blighted Rounds buff a gun until you switch it out or reload. However, instead of increased damage, Blighted Rounds add a poison buff to your bullets that inflict toxic on a target–toxic will slowly damage an enemy over time and will poison other enemies if they get too close.
Sniper rifles are your friend if you go with the Technomancer. Rely on your abilities (or your icy melee attack) to slow enemies down so that you can create some distance and then murder from afar. High-accuracy assault rifles can be helpful if you want something that shoots a little bit faster for when enemies begin to crowd you, but ideally, careful ability management should ensure it never has to come to that. The Pestilence skill tree will boost your effectiveness with long-range weapons, even decreasing the distance for an attack to count as long-range. If you want to take on a bit more of a summoner role, go with the Tech Shaman tree, which will increase the effectiveness of the turrets you summon to help you fight. And if you’re looking for more of a middle ground between the two, then put points into the Demolisher tree.
The Technomancer is the hardest class to use, primarily because it’s geared more towards supporting other players. When you’re on your own, this puts you at a pretty severe disadvantage, especially within enclosed spaces where it’s more difficult to create room between you and a target. If you plan on going with Technomaner, be prepared to face a tough uphill battle in lots of fights. This, of course, doesn’t apply if you’re playing with a friend. With a partner or two, the Technomancer becomes one of the easier classes to play. While the Devastator or Trickster jump into the thick of things and the Pyromancer controls the flow of the battleground, the Technomancer can pick off stragglers from a distance or utilize its assortment of abilities to quickly aid an overwhelmed teammate. Plus, the Technomancer’s ability to freeze targets comes in clutch during harrowing moments, slowing down enemies long enough to revive downed allies, give teammates time to reload or recharge their abilities, or simply regroup after a failed assault.
A new high-resolution texture pack is coming for Warzone and Modern Warfare players on PS4 Pro, PS5, and Xbox Series X. The texture pack is the third to be made available, and players will receive an automatic prompt asking if they want to download it after the next update.
As reported by VG247, the pack is 8.4GB on PlayStation consoles, and while the size on Xbox Series X hasn’t been reported yet, it’s likely to be similar. With the file size of Warzone and Modern Warfare already incredibly large, players should make sure they have the space to spare before downloading.
File sizes on the recent Call Of Duty games have expanded so much that Activision recently had to warn players that Modern Warfare, Warzone, and Black Ops Cold War would no longer fit all together on a 500GB PS4 with all extra content installed.
The new texture pack “supports the most detailed textures for weapons and Operators,” according to the description on the download page.
The texture pack is just for Modern Warfare and its battle royale spinoff, Warzone–despite the launch of a new season of Warzone based around Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. The new season is running concurrently in both Black Ops Cold War and Warzone, and includes an ongoing “Outbreak” zombie event. Check out the details of the Season 2 update here.
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The live-action Pinocchio remake for Disney+ continues to fill out its cast.
Cynthia Erivo will play the role of the Blue Fairy for the film, per The Wrap. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was also announced as the voice of Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio’s wisecracking companion. Other casting news includes Keegan Michael-Key as Honest John, the swindling fox antagonist, and Lorraine Bracco as Sofia the Seagull, a new character that did not appear in Disney’s 1940 original animated film.
They join a cast led by Tom Hanks as Gepetto and Luke Evans as The Coachman. Benjamin Evan Ainsworth will voice Pinocchio.
Director Robert Zemeckis, who worked with Hanks on films like Forrest Gump and Cast Away, is helming the project. Production is set to begin this month and the film will debut on Disney Plus. No release date has been announced yet.
Gordon-Levitt is known for his roles in The Dark Knight Rises, Inception and Looper. Last year, he starred in The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Project Power. Erivo starred in Bad Times at the El Royale and Widows. More recently, she was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in 2019’s Harriet.
Pinocchio is just one of several live-action remakes that Disney is planning for both theatrical and streaming releases. Emma Stone stars in Cruella, an origin story for the 101 Dalmations villain, which is set to hit theaters on May 28. Other upcoming projects include a follow-up to The Lion King directed by Barry Jenkins and a Beauty and the Beast prequel series. Disney unveiled many live-action reimaginings during the company’s Investor Day last December.
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J. Kim Murphy is a freelance entertainment writer.
Nintendo is allegedly set to reveal a new model of the Nintendo Switch with a bigger Samsung OLED display later this year that will be able to output 4K ultra-high definition graphics when in docked mode.
As reported by Bloomberg, Nintendo is planning to unveil this new model in hopes that the “larger touchscreen can prop up demand in time for the holidays.”
Samsung Display Co. will start mass production of 7-inch, 720p-resolution OLED panels as early as June 2021 with an “initial monthly target of under a million units.” These displays would then be sent to assemblers in July.
For reference, the current Nintendo Switch model features a 6.2-inch, 720p-resolution screen. This new screen would look as if you extended the current Switch’s screen that replaced most of the black bezel around it.
“The OLED panel will consume less battery, offer higher contrast and possibly faster response time when compared to the Switch’s current liquid-crystal display,” said Yoshio Tamura, co-founder of display consultancy DSCC.
The report also claims that Nintendo has decided to go with rigid OLED panels for this new model, a “cheaper but less flexible alternative to the type commonly used for high-end smartphones.”
IGN asked several industry analysts about their predictions on when and if we’d see a new Switch in 2021 or beyond, and the responses are range from no Switch pro this year to one possible coming before the year ends.
