In an interview with IGN, Resident Evil Village art director Tomonori Takano elaborated on how the design for Lady Dimitrescu came to be. The team started with the concept of a “bewitching vampire” and went on to pull inspiration from several femme fatales including Anjelica Huston’s Morticia Addams, Japanese urban legend Hashaku-sama, and 16th-century Hungarian noblewoman/serial killer Elizabeth Báthory.
“In the early stages of planning, we decided on going with [a] castle and vampires motifs,” Tomori told IGN. “However, we did not want to be constrained by how vampires have been portrayed in various forms of popular entertainment.”
It’s true that the internet’s favorite Big Lady™ doesn’t really look like your traditional vampire babe. While her daughters certainly have a Dracula’s Mistresses vibe about them, Lady Dimitrescu’s aesthetic feels more like something out of a 1920’s period film. Not to mention, her staggering size definitely sets her apart from other vampire royalty. “The very first piece of concept art I drew was the scene in the trailer where Lady Dimitrescu ducks down to walk through the doorway,” Takano said. “From that moment, I knew I had to do that scene.”
But it’s not just that which sets her apart. Lady Dimitrescu, like the women she’s patterned after, may be scary, but she’s also elegant. While her daughters are repeatedly shown to be covered in gore, the lady of the house always looks pristine–even when she’s skewering your skull. This was intentional from the art direction team. Tanako said that they didn’t want to “lean too heavily into gothic horror designs for the entire village,” and that they had purposefully included “elements of the Great Depression-era into the overall design.”
The RE team put research into how effective their character designs actually were to make sure they were keeping with the new direction Resident Evil 7 took. “We analyzed the characters and elements in the Resident Evil series so far to see if they were truly scary,” Tanako said. “Or if they had become so conventional that they lost their effectiveness in scaring players.”
Series longtime producer Jun Takeuchi agreed saying: “If we want people to be scared, we need to think beyond the stereotypical zombies.” As the internet’s reaction has shown, a gigantic and murderous vampire with a Prohibition-era flare is certainly a step in an interesting new direction for the series.
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The Flash is finally coming to Fortnite. He was scheduled to arrive on Saturday, February 13 according to an announcement from Epic Games but instead, The Flash chose to enter the “Loop” early in hopes of scoping out the competition for The Flash Cup.
What is the Flash Cup in Fortnite?
Starting at 3pm PT/ 6pm ET/ 11pm GMT on February 10, the Flash Cup is a duos tournament where players can team up with a friend to compete in a maximum of 10 matches within three hours for a chance to win The Flash skin and The Speed Force back bling. In order to compete, players must have an account level of 30 and have two-factor authentication enabled.
For more specific timing for each region, we suggest checking the Compete Tab while in-game.
How to Unlock The Flash Skin
The top-performing duos in each region will not only unlock The Flash outfit but also the Speed Force back bling. To do so, they’ll need to beat out the competition by earning the most points within The Flash Cup’s 3-hour time slot.
Victory Royale: 42 Points
Second: 36 points
Third: 32 points
Fourth: 30 points
Fifth: 29 points
As placement drops from here, amount of points earned goes down by one
According to the Flash Cup rules on the Epic Games site, A Victory Royale will net you the most points. Reaching the top two, three, and so forth, follows in descending order. Getting a victory isn’t the only way to score points though, as each elimination (worth 1 point each) also adds to your total. The following rank placements will qualify you for The Flash outfit and back bling prize:
North America East
1st – 1,750th
North America West
1st – 500th
Europe
1st – 3,500th
When Will The Flash Set Be in the Item Shop?
Don’t worry. If you aren’t one of the top teams, you can still nab The Flash before he dashes away. On February 13th, he’ll be available for purchase in the Fortnite Item Shop starting at 3pm PT/7pm ET and the following day at 12am GMT. Epic Games will also release The Flash Set, which includes:
The Flash Skin
The Speed Force Slasher Pickaxe
The Speed Force Back Bling
The Quick Bite Emote
The Flash is the latest licensed character to join Fortnite this season. And while he wasn’t introduced via the battle pass, his presence helps in highlighting a prolific roster. With heroes and villains like the Mandalorian, Predator, Terminator, and so on, there’s no telling who’ll be joining Fortnite next.
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Kenneth Seward Jr. is a freelance writer, editor, and illustrator who covers games, movies, and more. Follow him @kennyufg and on Twitch.
After 10 years behind the microphone, Roger Craig Smith is finished voicing Sonic the Hedgehog in Sega’s video games. Who will take over? That remains to be seen, but now actor Ben Schwartz, who voiced Sonic in Paramount’s movie, said he has not been approached to do it.
Speaking to ComicBook, Schwartz said he hasn’t given it any thought because the role had been Smith’s for so long. Now that Smith is ending his run, the question about who will replace him has come up and entered his mind, but no one has approached Schwartz about the job.
“The first time that it’s ever come up was because Roger seems to be stepping away, so, the first time ever, people are asking me I wonder, nobody’s asked me, between you and I, I haven’t really answered this question yet but nobody’s come up to me and said anything so my assumption is that, who knows?” he said. “But I wonder.”
Schwartz said he loves the Sonic universe and the fans, who he says have been supportive to him in his movie role.
“I wonder what would happen. But as of now, nobody’s had a conversation with me about any of that,” Schwartz said.
The actor also took some time to praise Smith for the job he did voicing Sonic.
“Roger Craig Smith is an absolute legend,” Schwartz said. “Like, his VO work, Sonic being one of them, but his career is unbelievable for a VO artist. He is so talented.”
Schwartz’s next project is the superhero comedy Flora & Ulysses, which comes to Disney+ on February 19. Schwartz plays the father of a little girl, Flora, who befriends a squirrel, Ulysses, who is a superhero.
The second patch in as many days is now available for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. This newest patch for February 10 includes bug fixes and further tweaks across multiplayer, the newly announced League Play competitive mode, and Zombies.
For multiplayer, the Spycraft daily challenge is now fixed–previously it wasn’t able to be completed normally. In terms of the new competitive-minded League Play, the studio has addressed issues with Parties and Create-A-Class, while the UI has been changed so it now properly shows Victory Flames. Previously, this might display when the player wasn’t on a win streak.
For Zombies, there are stability improvements for situations that could previously cause the game to crash during certain rounds. Additionally, the update addresses multiple exploits, including one that could cause the player to become invincible and another that could lead to players losing their weapon.
The previous February 9 patch contained stability improvements for Zombies, while it also included some important restrictions for League Play.
Outside of Black Ops Cold War, Activision continues to update the battle royale game and do what it can to stop cheaters from plaguing the battlefield. The company issued a new ban wave this week, bringing the total number of bans to date above 300,000.
Black Ops Cold War February 10 Patch Notes
Gameplay
Closed an exploit where a player could teleport out of the Village using Aether Shroud Tier III.
Closed an exploit where a player could become invulnerable to damage after using a Molotov and a Chopper Gunner.
Addressed a rare issue that caused players to lose their weapon when re-rolling attachments at the Arsenal.
Perks
Tombstone Soda
Addressed an issue where shadow form visual effects could stay active when viewed as a spectating player.
MULTIPLAYER
Challenges
“Spycraft” Daily Challenge can now be completed properly by hacking 5 enemy Field Upgrades.
LEAGUE PLAY
Parties
Addressed an issue where the party leader backing out of a queue could cause the party to disband.
Create-a-Class
Addressed an issue where League Play Create-a-Class could incorrectly revert to default Multiplayer classes instead of CDL classes after a match.
UI
Addressed an issue where players could see Victory Flames even when the player was not on a win streak.
Addressed an issue with “Bronze” and “Level 1” showing up in different places even though a player had not completed Placement Matches yet.
Addressed controller-related issues with the Rank UI element being offset.
ZOMBIES
Stability
Fixed crashes related to the Mimic and Assault Rounds.
Gameplay
Closed an exploit where a player could teleport out of the Village using Aether Shroud Tier III.
Closed an exploit where a player could become invulnerable to damage after using a Molotov and a Chopper Gunner.
Addressed a rare issue that caused players to lose their weapon when re-rolling attachments at the Arsenal.
Perks
Tombstone Soda
Addressed an issue where shadow form visual effects could stay active when viewed as a spectating player.
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Just as PS5 consoles have been difficult to find in stock since launch, the same goes for some of the accessories. That includes the most exciting PS5 accessory, the Pulse 3D Wireless headset, which for months has been selling out minutes after retailers have gotten it in stock. It would appear the times are a-changing, because Sony’s Pulse 3D Wireless Headset is back in stock at a handful of retailers, and it seems to be staying available–at least for now (see it at Amazon).
Even though it’s been available for a day or two, it would still probably be wise to grab one sooner than later if you want one. There’s no telling when it will vanish again.
The Pulse 3D Headset works with both PS4 and PS5, though PS5 owners will get even more out of it. That’s because it takes advantage of the new console’s Tempest 3D AudioTech, which provides three-dimensional audio and surround sound while playing games designed to use the feature. That means you can identify where enemies are, for instance, by the sound of their footsteps.
In Spider-Man: Miles Morales, the ambient sounds of New York feel like they’re coming from all around you. Standing in virtual Times Square, you can hear cars and people coming and going from every angle and every distance. To simply describe it as “immersive” sells it short: The nuanced, accurate layers of sound gives the game world a volume that you cannot achieve by simply generating a 3D space. It makes the city feel more alive.
It’s a nice-looking headset that’s clearly meant to complement the PS5’s white, wavy design. It only weighs 295 grams, so it won’t weigh you down even during long play sessions. Speaking of play time, Sony says the Pulse 3D headset gets around 12 hours of use on a single charge.
Humans colonizing the asteroid belt might sound like sci-fi – The Expanse, to be exact – but Pekka Janhunen, an astrophysicist with the Finnish Meteorological Institute, wants to make it a reality. He recently published a paper theorizing about the feasibility of a “megasatellite” settlement, tethering together tens of millions of square miles of habitats, high in the orbit of dwarf planet, Ceres.
Located hundreds of millions of miles from Earth, Ceres is found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Even powerful telescopes have difficulty getting a clear image of its surface. Janhunen envisions using its resources to build rotating habitats that generate artificial gravity by completing a full rotation every 66 seconds. A 636-mile elevator cable would help bring supplies from Ceres to the settlements.
“Ceres has nitrogen for making the habitat atmospheres, and it is large enough to provide almost unlimited resources,” Janhunen told Universe Today. Each habitat would be similar to the population density of the Netherlands (around 13,000 people per square mile), with the 56,700 residents getting around 21,500 square feet of space, each.
The habitat would have both rural and urban spaces. Strategically aimed mirrors would help provide sunlight, though the urban areas would be artificially lit and windowless. In addition to a way to shield inhabitants from radiation, these floating worlds would need oxygen.
Janhunen told LiveScience construction could begin within 15 years, and it would take another 22 years on top of that to actually build the elevator, power system, and habitats. It would be an enormous undertaking, and Florida Institute of Technology astrobiologist Manasvi Lingam foresees a few potential issues with Janhunen’s timeline.
“The first is a question of other essential elements, other than nitrogen,” Lingam told LiveScience. It’s not clear how inhabitants would get something like phosphorus, for example.
The 22-year estimate also assumes the operation runs smoothly, something even Janhunen isn’t sure about. “It is likely, of course, that the actual bootstrapping timescale would be longer, or much longer, and instead of physics, it would be driven by technological delays and the logistics of transporting the inhabitants from Earth,” he wrote in the paper. Another potential issue for the habitats are asteroids, though Janhunen thinks it would be easy enough to move the habitat out of its path or evacuate residents to safety.
In 2015, the Dawn space probe orbited around the protoplanet, gathering most of the information we have on its topography. Dawn’s images were illuminating, but much about Ceres is still unknown. A recent Astronomy article about the dwarf planet is full of words like “mystery, hints,” and is unclear. The first residents would have a lot to learn before starting construction in its orbit.
HBO Max has announced series orders for three new adult animated shows, including a Scooby-Doo spinoff that will tell the origin story of Velma Dinkley, and a revival of Clone High.
The original and comedic series, aptly titled Velma, will unmask the complex and colorful past of the underappreciated brains of the Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc. gang, Velma Dinkley, voiced by executive producer Mindy Kaling (The Office). Charlie Grandy, Howard Klein, and Sam Register will also be serving as executive producers on the 10-episode series, which is being produced by Warner Bros. Animation.
In addition to Velma, HBO Max ordered two seasons of Clone High, a reimagining of the Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and Bill Lawrence 2002 series set at a high school for clones of historical figures. As well as writing the series, Lord and Miller will be reteaming with Lawrence to serve as executive producers on the MTV revival, with Erica Rivinoja assigned as showrunner.
The streaming company further filled out its adult animation slate with Nate Sherman and Nick Vokey’s Fired on Mars, an existential workplace comedy set on the Martian campus of a modern tech company; SNL’s Pete Davidson will be lending his voice to one of the characters. HBO Max also renewed JG Quintel’s adult-animated comedy Close Enough for two more seasons.
“It is a tremendous privilege to build on the 100 year-plus legacy of ‘cartoons’ at this company. We can draw a straight line from our hundreds of childhood hours spent watching Bugs outwit Elmer to the current slate of adult animated projects we are building here at HBO Max and we think fans will agree,” said Suzanna Makkos, HBO Max’s EVP of Original Comedy and Adult Animation. “We are proud to introduce this distinctive group of series from a wide range of diverse creators that will form a first stop destination for animation lovers everywhere.”
These new projects join an already-packed slate of upcoming adult animated shows, with the likes of Harley Quinn, The Prince, Santa Inc., 10 Year Old Tom, and The Boondocks previously announced by the network, as well as an all-new roster of HBO Max adult animated originals, including Hello Paul, Obi, Uncanny Valley, and Cover, which are all currently in development.
Bravely Default II arrives on Nintendo Switch later this month, and ahead of its release, Nintendo and Square Enix have shared a new trailer that provides an overview of the game’s unique battle system.
Like many classical RPGs, Bravely Default II features turn-based combat, but it weaves in an extra layer of strategy with its titular Brave and Default mechanics. Selecting Default makes your character assume a defensive stance, forgoing their turn to amass one Brave Point. The Brave command, meanwhile, lets you use bankedBrave Points to perform multiple actions in a single turn. As the new trailer explains, carefully utilizing both the Brave and Default commands will be vital to defeating many of the game’s tougher adversaries.
Despite the number in its title, Bravely Default II is actually the third proper entry in its series. This entry follows four heroes of light–Seth the sailor, Gloria the princess, Adele the mercenary, and Elvis the scholar–as they set out on an adventure across the continent of Excillant to restore the magical Crystals. The game was originally slated to release in 2020 but was pushed back to further fine-tune the experience.
If you’re interested in trying the title out ahead of its release, a free demo of the game is available on the eShop. The demo takes place partway through the story and lets you tinker around with several different job classes. As an added bonus, you’ll get 100 My Nintendo Platinum Points if you download the demo before Bravely Default II launches.
Netflix is developing a feature film and TV series based on Brian Jacques’ Redwall books.
According to Variety, the streaming giant recently inked a deal with Penguin Random House Children to secure the rights to the sprawling 22-book Redwall saga, which follows the fantastical adventures of the anthropomorphic animals living at Redwall Abbey. On the back of this deal, Netflix has already revealed plans to develop an animated feature and an event series from the franchise.
Check out Pierre Breton’s visual development art for the adaptation below:
Image Credit: Pierre Breton/Netflix
The animated film is being penned by Patrick McHale, the writer of Guillermo del Toro’s forthcoming stop-motion Pinocchio, and will adapt the first book in Jacques’ series, titled Redwall, while the TV series will be based on the character of Martin the Warrior, the mouse co-founder of Redwall Abbey, who headlined the sixth Redwall novel.
“We couldn’t be more delighted to announce this deal,” said Ben Horslen, fiction publisher at Penguin Random House Children’s.”These perennially popular stories have been etched onto the hearts of millions of readers, and we are thrilled to partner with Netflix to bring those beloved characters on screen for families worldwide to enjoy.”
The deal between Netflix and Penguin Random House Children marks the first time that film rights to the entire book series have been held by the same company, and it’s the first time that any of Jacques’ works have been adapted into a feature film, per Variety’s report. However, three of the books were previously adapted for television — that animated series ran for three seasons from 1999-2002.
Netflix’s Redwall adaptations join a slate of upcoming animated features on the streaming service, including Richard Linklater’s Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Adventure, Chris Williams’ The Sea Beast, Nora Twomey’s My Father’s Dragon, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, an Aardman sequel to Chicken Run, and an all-new animated Sonic the Hedgehog series, which is set to premiere worldwide in 2022.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
