The Early Days of Blizzard With Co-Founder Allen Adham

It’s been an interesting time for Blizzard of late. 2018 was particularly turbulent, with a lot of changes within the company, from the departure of long-running president and co-founder Mike Morhaime, through to shake-ups on other teams, such as major turnover on Hearthstone’s Team 5. Even BlizzCon, usually a celebration of all things Blizzard, turned toxic after the ill-advised BlizzCon reveal of Diablo Immortal. And then, to close out the year, there was the announcement that development on Heroes of the Storm would be scaled back and its esports program axed.

Of course, the year held plenty of highlights for the company too. There was the inaugural season of the Overwatch League, which drew a wide range of viewers and fan support from across the globe, while World of Warcraft received a brand-new expansion in the form of Battle for Azeroth, among many other updates to the studio’s stable of titles.

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Game Of Thrones Season 8: What’s Going On In The Premiere Date Trailer?

Mortal Kombat 11 Gameplay Reveal And More Next Week

It’s going to be a big week for Mortal Kombat 11. The previously announced community reveal event is slated for January 17, and it looks like it’ll be a big event you’ll want to watch.

In addition to premiering the first gameplay from Mortal Kombat 11, a description of the reveal event promises “exclusive reveals.” It’ll also contain details on the game’s story and characters, as well as some of its “new features.”

Whether or not there are any character reveals remains to be seen. Pennywise the killer clown from the It franchise is rumoured for the game, and given that the film comes from NetherRealm’s owner, Warner Bros., it seems like it could happen. An It sequel is also on the way in 2019, and putting Pennywise in Mortal Kombat 11–which is also due out in 2019–could help promote the film. This is all speculation at this point, however.

The event will be broadcast live, and you’ll be able to watch on Twitch and other streaming sites. Check back later for more on how, when, and where to watch the event.

Mortal Kombat 11 launches on April 23 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch, and those who pre-order a copy will receive Shao Kahn as a playable character.

Pre-orders on PS4 and Xbox One also come with access to the fighting game’s pre-launch beta. The test will be held for those two platforms sometime in March, although further details have yet to be announced.

In other news, Mortal Kombat 11’s cover art has been revealed–check it out here.

True Detective Season 3 Premiere Review

Warning! Full SPOILERS below for the Season 3 premiere of True Detective, titled “The Great War and Modern Memory.” 

Let’s be real: four years ago True Detective spun right off the rails in Season 2, so much that the very thought of the anthology series returning seemed like a distant – and quite exasperating – possibility. But the premiere episode of Season 3 – titled “The Great War and Modern Memory,” directed by Jeremy Saulnier and written by series creator Nic Pizzolatto – promises that it is back on track with a crisp, haunting episode seeped in mystery.

And it’s not only the mystery of the criminal case at the center of the narrative – the sudden disappearance in the Ozarks of two children in 1980 -that is so compelling. It’s that of its characters, Detectives Wayne Hays (Mahershala Ali) and Roland West (Stephen Dorff), whose enigmas only enhance the tension. Part of that is because their stories are told non-sequentially, beginning in an Arkansas office in 1990 where Hays has been called in to discuss the still unanswered case.

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Game of Thrones’ Final Season’s Premiere Date Revealed

Game of Thrones’ eighth and final season will premiere on April 14, 2019.

Announced by HBO, the date was accompanied alongside a teaser that features Jon Snow, Arya Stark and Sansa Stark walking through the Crypt of Winterfell.

As Jon, Arya, and Sansa are walking through the crypt, we hear from some of those no longer with us, and the teaser ends with the three characters arriving at statues of themselves, as darkness and ice threaten to consume them.

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20 Essential Travel Tips for Gamers Going to Japan

If you grew up playing video games, chances are you feel some kind of connection to Japan. So many of the iconic games we all played – and the consoles we played them on – came from this densely-populated island nation. Perhaps you’re even planning a trip over there for the cherry blossoms in April, or to hit up Tokyo Game Show in September.

This feature should be useful if a trip is on the cards and you haven’t spent much time in Japan before. You may also like to check out my profiles of two of Tokyo’s most legendary game arcades – Taito Hey! in Akihabara and Game Center Mikado in Takadanobaba.

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Game Of Thrones Season 8 Premiere Date Revealed In Cryptic New Video

HBO’s titanic hit series Game of Thrones is coming back for its eighth and final season this spring. Before the premiere of the new season of True Detective, HBO aired a brief video showing three of the four remaining Starks, which the series has followed, then revealing the April 14 premiere date for Season 8.

In the video, which you can watch above, Jon Snow (Kit Harington), Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), and Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) are in the crypts below their home of Winterfell, when everything freezes over. Winter is here, and it’s going to be a challenge for everyone in Westeros.

As you probably remember from the end of Season 7, the Night King reanimated one of Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons–who died in the north–and it is now a part of the undead army, trying to head south. The only thing in the army’s way was The Wall, which the reanimated dragon burned down, giving the White Walkers an opening to invade.

However, we won’t know what’s in store for the Starks–as well as the villains we love to hate like Cersei Lannister–until this spring, when HBO releases the final episodes in this story, for now. Hopefully, Bran can make it to the Stark family reunion because as every Game of Thrones fan knows, people you love tend to die.

It’s been pretty quiet when it comes to the final season of Game of Thrones, but we do know a few things. The premiere of the new season will mirror Season 1 in various ways, so it may be a good time to go back and rewatch the show before the April premiere. The final battle for the new season is the largest in the series to date and most brutal as well. Additionally, there is a Game of Thrones prequel on the way, which has cast a few actors and a director.

Game of Thrones returns to HBO for its final season on April 14 at 9 PM ET / PT.

Yet Another Video Game Streaming Service Is Coming

It appears the next big battleground for gaming might be in the streaming world. Yet another major company, Verizon, is reportedly launching a game-streaming service of its own to presumably compete against what could be similar offerings from companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Sony, Electronic Arts, and others.

According to The Verge, Verizon is launching a game-streaming service called …. Verizon Gaming. The platform is reportedly already being alpha-tested with the Nvidia Shield device. In the future, it’ll be rolled out for Android smartphones, according to the report. It’ll support an Xbox One controller paired wirelessly with the Shield or Android device, apparently.

More than 135 games are currently up and running with the current testing phase, including Fortnite, Red Dead Redemption II, God of War, Battlefield V, and and many others. The current testing period is focused on making the experience as smooth as possible, the report said.

There is no word yet on a release date or pricing for Verizon Gaming; as mentioned, it sounds like it’s still very early days for the platform.

Whatever the case, it is becoming clear that game-streaming could be a very big deal in the gaming world, and perhaps sooner rather than later. While OnLive might have been a failure, the fact that companies like Verizon, Microsoft, Sony, Amazon, EA, and others are now investing in game-streaming suggests that it might be time now that streaming has enough resources and momentum behind it to actually catch on in earnest.

The appeal of game-streaming is that you don’t need powerful, expensive hardware to play games at home or on the go. Instead, streamed games run on hardware at data centres and then get streamed to (theoretically) whatever device you might have. Physical games and gaming hardware like Xbox and PlayStation consoles are not likely to vanish anytime soon, as internet availability and speed is not consistent or reliable around the world.

Microsoft is known to be working on multiple new Xbox consoles, while Sony has said it may release a PlayStation 5. Nintendo, for its part, has said it may eventually exit the hardware market, but that may not happen soon, if it ever does.

Streaming is already commonplace and accepted for movies, TV, and music–so it was always seemingly only a matter of time before games caught up.

For more on the new game-streaming platforms coming out, check out the news stories below.

Microsoft

Electronic Arts

Google

Amazon

This Year’s Super Bowl Music Act Is A Safe, Expected Choice

As rumoured, Maroon 5 will perform at the halftime show of Super Bowl LIII, the band confirmed today. It was also announced that Travis Scott and Big Boi will be the supporting acts for the big game taking place in Atlanta, Georgia early next month.

This confirmation comes after reports that Jay-Z, Cardi B, and Rihanna said no to performing at the Super Bowl as a show of solidarity with former NFL player Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick made headlines when he kneeled during the National Anthem in protest of the racial inequality in the United States, and he hasn’t played professionally since 2017.

Scott told Billboard that he only agreed to performing at the Super Bowl if the football league agreed to make a donation to an organisation fighting for social justice. Scott himself donated $500,000 to Dream Corps.

Super Bowl LIII will be broadcast on CBS and and streamed on CBSSports.com on Sunday, February 3. CBS and GameSpot are sister companies.

Some of the biggest names in music and entertainment have performed at Super Bowl halftime shows over the years, including Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Aerosmith, Tom Petty, and Bruce Springsteen just to name a few.

In other news, EA Sports typically releases a “Super Bowl” edition of the latest Madden game at a lower price and with some extras packed in, so keep checking back with GameSpot for more.

Aquaman Crosses $1 Billion At The Box Office, But It’s Not The Biggest DC Movie In The US

Aquaman is doing big business. The superhero movie has now passed $1 billion at the global box office, making it one of the most successful movies in the history of cinema. After yet another weekend atop the box office charts, it’s now made $1.02 billion worldwide.

Only 36 other movies have made $1 billion at the box office, according to Forbes.

Aquaman is now the second-biggest DC Comics movie ever, surpassing The Dark Knight ($1.004 billion). It’s still behind The Dark Knight Rises ($1.08 billion), however. As Entertainment Weekly reminds us, ticket prices have been rising over the years, which may inflate figures.

In the United States and Canada, Aquaman has pulled in $287 million, which is below the domestic box office hauls of Wonder Woman ($412.5 million), Suicide Squad ($325.1 million), and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($330.3 million). The film is performing far better internationally; it’s made $300 million in China alone. All told, the movie has pulled in $732 million from overseas markets.

Aquaman the fifth movie released in 2018 to pass $1 billion at the global office; the others were Avengers: Infinity War ($2.045 billion), Black Panther ($1.346 billion), Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ($1.309 billion), and Incredibles 2 ($1.242 billion).

Director James Wan responded to the news of Aquaman passing $1 billion, thanking the cast and crew of the film for the incredible achievement. He also said Jason Momoa’s performance as Aquaman will help the character become the “gold standard for this character for generations to come.” You can read all of his tweets below.