Man Dresses Up Like Will Ferrell’s Elf To Meet Biological Father, Who Hadn’t Seen The Movie

A Maine man recreated the scene from Jon Favreau’s modern classic Christmas movie Elf, dressing up like an elf and greeting his biological father with a song when meeting for the first time.

Doug Henning, who is in his 40s, met his biological father, Raul, for the first time recently at Boston’s Logan Airport dressed up like Will Ferrell’s Buddy the elf, but unfortunately for him, his dad hadn’t seen the movie and didn’t get the joke. Still, it sounds like a pleasant encounter in the Boston.com report.

From the report:

“As Raul, Henning’s father, strode toward him at the airport, Henning broke into Buddy’s familiar song about father and son finding each other. He couldn’t get the whole thing out before Raul wrapped him in a hug.

“When he came out of the airport, he probably thought I was a lunatic,” Henning said. “It was a really good way to break the ice.”

In the movie Elf, Buddy grew up on the North Pole in Santa’s village. In this story, Henning was raised by his adoptive parents, but he was interested in learning more about his life, so he used Ancestry.com to get answers.

A cousin eventually sent him an email, and connected him with one of his biological sisters. This sister then put him in touch with his father, who, like James Caan’s character in Elf, did not know he had a son.

Everyone involved got a COVID-19 test, and then Raul got onto a plane to visit Henning in Boston where they had the meet-up. As it happens, Henning had only seen Elf just days before meeting his father; watching the film prompted him to dress up to recreate the scene.

Check out the full story at Boston.com, and be sure to watch the video there, too, as it may warm your heart.

2003’s Elf was a big success at the box office (it earned $223 million at the global box office against a $33 million budget), and it’s always very popular around the holidays, but a sequel was never made. According to Caan, Ferrell and Favreau clashed, and this is one of the reasons why the sequel never got off the ground.

Call of Duty Franchise Has Earned $3 Billion Over the Last 12 Months

Following the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Activision has revealed that the Call of Duty franchise’s net bookings have surpassed $3 billion in the last 12 months alone.

Net bookings, according to Activision, are “an operating metric that is defined as the net amount of products and services sold digitally or sold-in physically in the period, and includes license fees, merchandise, and publisher incentives, among others, and is equal to net revenues excluding the impact from deferrals.”

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In 2020, Call of Duty’s net bookings saw an increase of 80% year-over-year, with units sold through also increasing by 40%. Furthermore, Activision revealed that over 200 million people have played a game in the Call of Duty franchise in 2020.

On console and PC, Call of Duty has seen its biggest player count in recorded history for the franchise, and November 2020 was the biggest November ever in terms for monthly players and hours played.

Call of Duty: Warzone, which is free-to-play, was a big factor in these numbers and has seen a player count of over 85 million since its launch on March 10, 2020.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has a ton of support on the way, and Season One is set to be released on December 16. This update will include the integration of Black Ops Cold War content into Warzone, and includes new maps, modes, challenges, and more.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

SNL’s Eminem Parody About Wanting A PS5 For Christmas Is Very Relatable

With Christmas coming and global stock shortages continuing, those of us without a PS5 have to face facts–there probably won’t be a new console beneath the Christmas tree this year. In the latest episode of SNL–hosted by Jason Bateman–the long-running sketch show included a filmed segment about wanting a PS5 for Christmas–and it’s also a parody of Eminem’s 2000 hit Stan.

This version is called Stu, and features Pete Davidson doing his best Slim Shady impression (which is, honestly, pretty good). He’s reaching out to Santa (Bateman) because there’s just one thing he wants for Christmas this year–a PlayStation 5.

While SNL can be very difficult to access outside of the US, the Twitter video of Stu is currently not geoblocked–you can watch it below. We won’t spoil how they handle the Dido section from the original song, suffice to say that it’s pretty funny.

The PlayStation 5 is limited, but it looks like, at the very least, there’s one floating around 30 Rockerfeller Plaza, where SNL is shot.

Keep an eye on GameSpot’s PS5 buyer’s guide for more stock–but expect to be waiting until 2021.

Viggo Mortensen Reacts To Amazon’s Lord Of The Rings Series

The Lord of the Rings actor Viggo Mortensen has shared his thoughts on Amazon’s new Middle-earth TV show, which is currently filming in New Zealand with a big cast.

Speaking to NME, Mortensen responded to the interviewer’s suggestion that Amazon’s Lord of the Rings TV show might be more adult-themed, not unlike Game of Thrones. Mortensen, who played Aragorn in Jackson’s movies, said he’s not over the moon about the idea of a Lord of the Rings TV show adding “arbitrary violence.”

But overall, Mortensen said he’s optimistic about the series because of the talent behind the camera, including director J.A. Bayona, along with the fact that it’s filming in the closest thing we have to Middle-earth: New Zealand.

“That they would try to be like Game Of Thrones and have a certain level of arbitrary violence and stuff like that? I dunno. I know it’s J.A. Bayona, who is a Spanish director who’s very talented. They are doing it in New Zealand, so I would imagine they would have the benefit of Peter Jackson’s advice and maybe some of the crew members. I would think that they have every opportunity to do it right. They have a good example to follow.”

For what it’s worth, Jackson is not involved in Amazon’s Lord of the Rings show in an official capacity. The show has, however, hired artist John Howe, whose illustrations served as the inspiration for the look of Jackson’s movies. Amazon was working with renowned Lord of the Rings scholar Tom Shippey, though he is said to have left the project.

Jackson worked with the New Zealand-based props and digital effects company Weta on the Lord of the Rings series, but it’s unknown if Weta is working on Amazon’s show. Jackson is a co-owner of Weta.

There is no word yet on when the Amazon Lord of the Rings series will premiere. Work on the show is progressing along, with more than 20 actors recently joining the cast. The show takes place in the Second Age of Middle-earth, which is long before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Amazon is also working a new Lord of the Rings MMO, but it doesn’t tie into the game. We recently learned a lot about this game, including a targeted release date and more.

Netflix Won’t Add A Disclaimer To The Crown Calling It Fiction

The Crown, Netflix’s hit show about the still on-going reign of Queen Elizabeth II, is based on true events, but is dramatized in many ways–the show’s creators don’t have unfettered access to over 50 years of royal life, after all. Because of this, there has been some call for Netflix to put a disclaimer at the start of the show, but the streaming giant has stated definitively that it has no plans to do so.

In a statement to Variety, Netflix has stated that there’s no need for such a thing. “We have always presented ‘The Crown’ as a drama–and we have every confidence our members understand it’s a work of fiction that’s broadly based on historical events,” a spokesperson said. Thus, Netflix can “see no need” to explain that the show is fictionalized in places.

The UK Culture Secretary has previously claimed in an interview with The Daily Mail that Netflix should implement a disclaimer, and has contacted Netflix privately about his concerns.

There’s going to be a bit of a break between the recently released Season 4 of The Crown and the upcoming Season 5–don’t expect the show to return until 2022. The show will end with Season 6, and the final cast will include Imelda Staunton (Queen Elizabeth II), Jonathan Pryce (Prince Phillip), Lesley Manville (Princess Margaret), Dominic West (Prince Charles), and Elizabeth Debecki (Princess Diana).

Queen Elizabeth II hasn’t been the only queen doing big numbers on Netflix–The Queen’s Gambit recently became the streaming service’s biggest ever miniseries.

Now Playing: 24 TV Shows Netflix Has Canceled In 2020 (November 2020)

The Game Awards Player’s Choice Game Is Down To Five Titles, With A Clear Frontrunner

The Game Awards will air on December 10, 2020, and voting for the Player’s Choice game of the year is still open. Separate from the full nominee list, voted on by press and industry, the third and final round of the Player’s Choice vote has whittled the entries down to five games, with one a clear frontrunner.

The five titles, in order of votes right now, are as follows:

  • The Last of Us Part II
  • Ghost of Tsushima
  • Hades
  • Doom Eternal
  • Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

You can vote for your favorite right here.

It’s a very PlayStation-heavy list, except for Hades–which is also the only game of this five to get a 9/10 review from GameSpot.

At the time of writing, The Last of Us Part II has 40% of the vote, and Ghost of Tsushima has 34%. As this is a player-driven vote, games that sold well naturally have an advantage, and both games have been huge success stories. The Last of Us Part II was the fastest-selling PlayStation 4 game, and Ghost of Tsushima was the fastest-selling new PlayStation IP.

Last year’s winner was Fire Emblem: Three Houses, but Nintendo fans seem not to have mobilized this year–Animal Crossing: New Horizons bowed out after round 2.

You can vote for the Player’s Choice award until December 7, at 11:59PM PT.

Now Playing: The Last Of Us Part II Video Review

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Cyberpunk 2077: When Is Multiplayer Coming Out?

After years of development and multiple delays, CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 is finally releasing on December 10. But launch is just the beginning. In addition to the expansions to the single-player campaign, which will be revealed later, CD Projekt Red has another team working on a standalone multiplayer game set in the Cyberpunk 2077 universe.

But when is it releasing? CDPR has not locked in a date yet, but it probably won’t be soon. In terms of a release date for Cyberpunk 2077’s multiplayer game, CDPR says you should expect it to release in 2022 at the soonest.

CDPR executive Adam Kicinski recently spoke about the game during an earnings briefing. He said it’s not right to call it just a “mode” for Cyberpunk 2077.

Instead, it should be thought of as a standalone product. “So, first, we don’t call it modes,” Kicinski said. “It’s a separate dedicated production, a big production. We think about it as a standalone product.”

The Cyberpunk 2077 multiplayer game is connected to the single-player game, but CD Projekt Red sees it as an “independent production” with a team working on it that’s separate from the team building the single-player game.

Kicinski went on to say that CD Projekt Red is purposefully keeping quiet on the multiplayer game right now, and that is likely to keep the focus on building hype for Cyberpunk 2077’s single-player game. Kicinski said people can expect news about Cyberpunk 2077’s multiplayer game to come during Q1 of 2021.

What we do know about the Cyberpunk 2077 multiplayer game is that it will have some sort of microtransaction system, but it’s unknown at this stage what business model it will use. Regarding the microtransactions, CD Projekt Red has said the goal is to provide users with content to purchase that feels like a fair transaction for their money.

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New Wonder Woman 1984 Trailer Debuts, Watch It Here

Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for Wonder Woman 1984. The 60-second spot features a heartfelt voiceover heralding Diana’s journey in the sequel.

Director Patty Jenkins debuted the new trailer at the CCXP Worlds 2020 event today.

After multiple delays related to COVID-19, Warner Bros. made a major change for Wonder Woman 1984 when it announced the film will play on HBO Max and in theatres on Christmas Day. After this announcement, Warner Bros. announced that its entire 2021 movie slate would be available on HBO Max and in theatres where they are open.

Wonder Woman 1984 brings back Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and Chris Pine as Steve Trevor, with new cast members joining such as Kristen Wiig (Cheetah) and Pedro Pascal (Maxwell Lord).

The first reactions for Wonder Woman 1984 have begun to appear before final reviews, and critics have said very nice things about the sequel.

Splatoon 2 Tournament Livestream Canceled After Players Protest Smash Bros Tournament Cancelation

In November, a major Super Smash Bros. online tournament was canceled after a cease and desist from Nintendo, which took issue with the tournament’s use of the “Slippi” mod to play Super Smash Bros. Melee–a game released for the GameCube in 2001, and never re-released–online. Now, the controversy over that decision has spilled over into the competitive Splatoon 2 scene.

Heading into the December 5-7 weekend, Nintendo was advertising the upcoming Splatoon 2 North American Open on its Twitter channels, and promising a livestream. However, on the day, the stream was canceled, with a Discord announcement (screenshotted in this Reddit thread) not providing many details for what was happening.

Fans and players are pretty sure they know what happened, though. As commentator Slimy points out, about 30% of players in the competition had “FreeMelee”, or similar, in their usernames. It’s likely, although unconfirmed, that Nintendo canceled the livestream because of this.

As a result, “#FreeSplatoon” is now trending on Twitter.

Nintendo’s track record on esports and tournaments is not the best–Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the best-selling fighting game of all time, was removed from the EVO Online line-up after the physical event was canceled, as the Switch’s online infrastructure is not considered good enough to support a professional fighting tournament. EVO Online would ultimately be canceled over sexual misconduct allegations.

It remains to be seen if Nintendo will address its perception among pro players on its own system in the future.

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