HBO Max Announce Cheaper, Ad-Supported Tier Without Theatrical Releases

WarnerMedia has announced that it will roll out a cheaper, ad-supported tier for HBO Max in June. The news of the tier comes from AT&T’s analyst and investor day, though the company didn’t announce the price and official release date.

Alongside the cheaper price tag, the ad-supported tier will also remove day-one theatrical releases. Meaning anyone hoping to watch movies like Dune on HBO Max will have to pay for the full ad-free version.

And the day one theatrical movie releases are part of WarnerMedia’s big push to get the HBO Max subscriber numbers up. WarnerMedia made waves (and maybe even a few enemies) when it announced that its entire 2021 theater release line-up, including films like Godzilla vs. Kong, Mortal Kombat, and Dune would also be released on HBO Max the same day they’re set to be released in theaters.

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WarnerMedia reported around 40 million subscribers as of January 2020, this trails Disney+’s 100 million subscribers, and Netflix’s 200 million. But according to Variety, WarnerMedia appears optimistic as it raised its subscribers forecast to 120 million by 2025, an increase over its initial 90 million projection.

A cheaper ad-supported tier could shore up those numbers and give customers a chance to try out HBO Max’s library, and then potentially commit to a more costly, ad-free experience with day one movie releases. The standard HBO Max subscription currently costs $14.99 a month.

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An ad-supported option is already offered by other streaming services. Hulu offers an ad-supported version as does Peacock, which actually offers three tiers of subscriptions with different offerings at each level.

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Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s News Editor.

WandaVision’s Jac Schaeffer Insists Mephisto Red Herrings Were Unintentional

WandaVision’s series finale aired last week, with the aptly titled episode “The Series Finale,” and head writer/executive producer Jac Schaeffer (Captain Marvel, Black Widow) has spoken in a new interview about how the unusual show came together. Speaking with Mashable, Schaeffer discusses the show’s teasing deceptions both intentional and unintentional, and about the challenges WandaVision presented in the writing.

As Schaeffer explains, she feels a lot of the scrutiny and avalanche of fan theories the series has received about where it was heading plot-wise was “directly tied to the year-long gap in Marvel content and the fact that everybody is house-bound.” For example, Schaeffer had said in another interview that she “naively” didn’t expect fans to have a huge reaction to Pietro, Wanda’s dead brother, making an appearance. As she said in an interview with Variety, “We didn’t anticipate that the show would drop after a full year of MCU drought in the middle of a pandemic.”

But Schaeffer maintained to Mashable that, “There was never any conscious intention on my part to create any Mephisto red herrings, because I didn’t know who Mephisto was until I started doing press.” Instead, she dismissed fan theories connecting dots to the contrary because the show talked about the devil so much as “a real coincidence… [Mephisto] wasn’t ever part of our storytelling conversations. We were very clear that the big bad is grief.”

Fans can decide for themselves, but as the final episode’s title makes abundantly clear: There will be plenty of time to continue to theorize because, at least for now, there will be no more WandaVision–that we know of. But in the meantime, as of March 12, fans can get a peek behind the curtain with the newly launched Disney+ series Assembled, a new documentary series of specials that goes behind the scenes of Marvel Cinematic Universe television shows and movies. Assembled kicks off with a deep dive on WandaVision, one of the MCU’s more unusual offerings bursting with homages to sitcoms.

Now Playing: Evan Peters’ Best Quicksilver Moments From X-Men & WandaVision

Wild West Dynasty Officially Announced

Toplitz, the publisher of Medieval Dynasty and Lumberjack’s Dynasty, and developer Virtual Magic Games have officially announced Wild West Dynasty, the latest entry into the Dynasty simulation series.

As Toplitz describes it: “Emerge from being a lonesome cowboy to founding a settlement and becoming the mayor of a gold-digger town:  your personal endeavors know no bounds. Soon, other settlers will join you in your quest for happiness. Find a wife, produce a hardworking heir, and start your legacy.” The trailer below gives you your first look at what to expect.

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Expect gameplay depth to be surprising, if the official 1.0 launch trailer for Lumberjack’s Dynasty is any indication. There is no release date or window given for Wild West Dynasty just yet, but you can wishlist it on Steam.

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Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan, catch him on Unlocked, and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.

How Demon’s Souls’ Voice Actor Made Dying Sound Convincing

On this week’s episode of GameSpot After Dark, the actor Alex Jordan joins us to talks about what it’s like to work on a Souls game. If you want to hear the full interview be sure to check out GameSpot After Dark’s podcast feed which you can on your podcast provider of choice. In this snippet, Alex Jordan talks about his experience voicing the masculine character option in Demon’s Souls, the PlayStation 5 exclusive. Later in the video he even talks about what it was like working with Sony and some of the we

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Fallout 76 April Update Bringing CAMP And SPECIALS Loadouts

Fallout 76‘s April update will introduce a few big changes to the online game, letting players swap out their CAMP and SPECIALs quickly, and for free. The update is coming April 27 and adds a lot more options for players, with low friction to try new things. Bethesda detailed these additions in the latest Inside the Vault, along with some other features about to go through the test server.

First, the new CAMP slots feature will let you save multiple configurations of your homestead. Your CAMP is a big part of Fallout 76, letting you create a customized house with all your decorations and equipment. The CAMP slots feature will let you build multiple versions of your home, in case you want to swap out different decor, or have one that’s just the essentials and another that’s more lavish with lots of homey elements. You can only have one CAMP deployed at a time, but there will be no cost to switch between your slots. A video showing the feature in action made it look pretty fast and easy.

Similarly, the April update will introduce SPECIAL loadouts. Just like the CAMP slots let you swap your base on the fly, these loadouts will let you change your entire character’s stat makeup quickly, and for free. The loadouts will be managed by punch card machines located both at your CAMP and train stations, so you can switch from being a burly brawler to a perceptive genius as the situation demands.

In the meantime, the Public Test Server (PTS) has returned to the PC version of the game, so you can dive in and try out new features like the CAMP slots and SPECIAL loadouts before they become available in the live version of the game. Bethesda is also giving away a PTS-themed Pennant you can hang in your CAMP as a bonus for those who play in the PTS at least one hour per day on three different days.

This comes just after Microsoft officially finalized its deal to acquire Bethesda and its many studios. Microsoft has confirmed that future Bethesda games will be exclusive to platforms that support Xbox Game Pass, but has not shared more details. The companies promised more news to come this summer. For now, though, a massive glut of Bethesda games have become available on Xbox Game Pass, including Fallout 76.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

The Borderlands Movie Adds Haley Bennett As A New Character Connected To Lilith

The Borderlands movie continues to add to its cast. IGN is reporting that Haley Bennett, who appeared in the recent Netflix movies The Devil All the Time and Hillbilly Elegy, has been cast as a new character created for the movie.

There is no word on the name of the character, but the site reported that this person will play a “key” role in the character Lilith’s past. Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett will play Lilith in the movie.

The Borderlands movie has assembled a big cast of huge names including Jack Black as Claptrap, Kevin Hart as Roland, and Jamie Lee Curtis as Tannis, in addition to Blanchett as Lilith. Ariana Greenblatt, who played young Gamora in Avengers: Endgame, will play Tiny Tina.

Actor and director Eli Roth (Hostel, Inglourious Basterds) is signed up to direct the Borderlands movie from a script by Craig Mazin, who is also writing the Last of Us TV show for HBO. Mazin also wrote HBO’s Chernobyl as well as the Hangover and Scary movie sequels.

Production on the Borderlands movie is expected to begin soon in Budapest.

As for the Borderlands video game series, Borderlands 3’s anticipated director’s cut has been delayed to April due to the wild storms in Texas where developer Gearbox is based.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

What Other Arcade Classics Deserve Sequels?

Welcome back to Game Scoop!, IGN’s weekly video game podcast. This week your Omega Cops — Daemon Hatfield, Tina Amini, Sam Claiborn, and Justin Davis — are discussing the just-announced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. The team has more thoughts on Yakuza: Like a Dragon. A fan is pouring one out for the lost Start and Select buttons. And, of course, we play 20 Questions!

Watch the video above or hit the link below to your favorite podcast service.

Listen on:

Apple Podcasts

YouTube

Spotify

Stitcher

 

Find previous episodes here!

Deals: Arcade1Up Galaga Countercade for Just $49, $500 Off a Galaxy Note 20

Score some excellent new deals today. You can save over 63% off the Arcade1Up Galaga Countercade and up to $500 off a brand new, unlocked flagship Samsung Galaxy Note 20 5G smartphone. Both these deals will expire when the inventory runs out.

Arcade1Up Galaga Countercade for $49 (was $129)

Today there’s another big price drop on this bite-sized countercase. Most vendors (and eBay) are selling this for $90 and up. We posted it earlier at $79 and it just dropped another $30 in price. Despite its diminutive size, it’s actually very playable with an 8″ hi-res display, speaker, and full sized joystick and control buttons. Both Galaga and Galaga ’88 come preinstalled.

Daily Deals for March 12

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More Gaming Deals

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Eric Song is IGN’s deal curator and spends roughly 1/4 of his income on stuff he posts. Check out his latest Daily Deals Article and subscribe to his IGN Deals Newsletter.

Seth Rogen Launches Marijuana Company, Site Immediately Goes Down Due To Popularity

Movie star Seth Rogen and his longtime collaborator Evan Goldberg recently started a marijuana and home-goods company called Houseplant, and the launch was so successful it broke the brand’s website.

Rogen said on Twitter that he underestimated the interest in Houseplant, and was forced to bring the site down. “Due to insane traffic we took the Houseplant site down temporarily while I learn to write code,” he said. “I’m very sorry if you’ve been waiting.”

The site now operational, and it now features a virtual waiting room to help deal with traffic.

In addition to cannabis, Houseplant sells things like ashtrays and lighters, along with other wares to decorate your living room with. The launch on Thursday was not the first edition of Houseplant, as Rogen already launched the brand in Canada back in 2019. Rogen and Goldberg are working with venture capitalist Michael Mohr on Houseplant.

“Houseplant was born out of our love and passion for cannabis, design and art,” Rogen said in a press release. “Evan and I also recognize that our lifelong dream of starting a cannabis lifestyle brand like Houseplant comes with a commitment to changing the unjust and racist cannabis laws that still exist in today’s society. We understand our responsibility to help right those wrongs and are dedicated to creating a more diverse, equitable cannabis industry.”

Rogen and Goldberg personally tested “hundreds” of cannabis strains before deciding on three that they would sell through Houseplant, including two sativa strain–Diablo Wind and Pancake Ice–and the indica variant Pink Moon.

Rogen and Goldberg wrote the stoner comedy Pineapple Express, so this is not uncharted territory for them.

Legal recreational marijuana is becoming more and commonplace across the US, but right now, Houseplant is only available in select markets in California through a delivery service. Houseplant’s strains will be available at some dispensaries throughout California later this spring.

New Hot Wheels Mario Kart Rainbow Road Set Appears on Amazon

Hot Wheels and Mario Kart have been in cahoots for a while now, but this morning a new Mario Kart Rainbow Road set mysteriously appeared on Amazon without any sort of major fanfare. It’s a shame, too, because it looks extremely awesome and collectible.

The Hot Wheels Rainbow Road set comes out May 29 and includes “Mario and King Boo karts,” as well as being reconfigurable into a straight-line track.

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The playset will set you back $119.99 and you can preorder it from Amazon right now. The nice thing about preordering from Amazon is you won’t get charged until the item ships, and if the price goes down after you’ve preordered, you’ll get it for the lowest price.

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Sometimes Amazon will drop the price on preorder items for just a single day, or even a few hours, but as long as you preordered before the price drop, you lock in that price.

Not saying this set will have a pricedrop: it’s a Nintendo licensed product, after all. But if it does…

We’ve reached out to Mattel for more info on this set, and we’ll update the story with any new info.

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Seth Macy is IGN’s Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend.