When discussing Stan Lee‘s legacy, it’s easy to get distracted by the flourishes and flares. After all, as the man who co-created heavy hitters like Spider-Man or The Fantastic Four, it’s not hard to see why — there’s no small amount of glitz and glamor to be had. But buried beneath Lee’s massive roster of creative contributions to Marvel’s pantheon is a detail that may be considerably less flashy than the Bang! Zoom! Pow! of his costumed heroes, but is no less monumental in scale. By crafting himself into a bombastic, over the top editorial voice — “Stan The Man” or “Smilin’ Stan” — that featured heavily in every Marvel publication, Lee was leading a quiet revolution in not only the comic book industry’s business practices, but the world of superhero fandom as a whole.
Civilization VI: Gathering Storm Will Add Maori Civilisation
Civilization VI’s upcoming Gathering Storm expansion will add a new Maori civilisation led by the legendary figure Kupe. According to Maori mythology, Kupe was responsible for the Polynesian discovery of New Zealand in the 10th century after setting sail from his home of Hawaiki.
In line with the history of Kupe and his status as a navigator, the Maori civilisation will start at sea and earn Science and Culture for every turn prior to settling its first city. The unique Leader Ability “Kupe’s Voyage” will also reward the Maori a free Builder, extra population in the capital, and additional Housing and Amenities once settled. Another unique ability “Mana” unlocks Sailing and Shipbuilding from turn one.
Xbox One Games On Sale This Week On Xbox Live
Each Monday, Microsoft refreshes its weekly sale on digital Xbox One and 360 games on Xbox Live. This week’s sale is up on the site, so let’s take a look at some of the best games you can get for low prices. Note that some of the discounts are reserved for Xbox Live Gold members, while others are available to everyone.
There aren’t a lot of big games on sale this week, but if you don’t mind picking up racing games that aren’t the latest in the series, you can save some serious cash. Need for Speed and Need for Speed Rivals are on sale for $5 each. A bundle containing Forza Horizon 3 and Forza Motorsport 6 is down to just $32–significantly less than if you wanted to pick up racers of a more recent vintage.
All episodes of the mystery adventure game The Council are on sale, but if you’re in for a penny, why not go for the whole pound and grab the complete season for $20? And for those whose interests span both football and fantasy (the Tolkien kind), Blood Bowl 2 will be right up your alley; it’s on sale for $5.
But not every game needs to last dozens of hours. It’s always nice to have a few smaller games you can play for 10 minutes here and 15 minutes there. A number of those are on sale right now, including Clustertruck for $7.50, Coffin Dodgers for $4.80, and the king of them all, Peggle 2, which is on sale for just $2.40. Do yourself a favor and pick that one up if you don’t have it.
You’ll find more games on sale this week below, or you can view the whole list on Major Nelson’s blog.
Pokemon Go PVP Doesn’t Reinvent Battles, But Adds Some New Twists
After two full years and tease after tease, Pokemon Go finally has competitive Trainer Battles on the way.
While this new PVP mode isn’t the full battle system rework some people were hoping for, it also isn’t entirely identical to the Raid and Gym battles players are already used to. Niantic has started with some simple changes that are a potential foundation for some much bigger ones, and also introduced new reasons to maintain your friendship levels and battle regularly.
Becoming Captain Marvel: How Brie Larson Crafted the MCU’s Most Powerful Hero
With Captain Marvel joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a solo feature hitting theaters in March of 2019, IGN is finally able to break the seal on our visit to the film’s set earlier this year and share what actress Brie Larson told us about playing the title role. We’ve already heard Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige say how Captain Marvel will be the most powerful hero in the MCU, and given that Nick Fury paged her for help at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, it’s led fans to speculate that the high-flying hero will be key to toppling Thanos in Avengers 4. That’s a lot of pressure for one hero, no matter how much cosmic energy she can blast out of her hands. But before we see how the Avengers saga pans out, the Captain Marvel movie will take us back to the ‘90s to see Captain Marvel’s beginnings as Air Force pilot Carol Danvers.
Battlefield 5 Overture Update Delayed
Battlefield 5’s Chapter 1: Overture update has been delayed due to technical issues.
DICE has announced that today’s scheduled update for Battlefield 5 has been delayed after the team “discovered an issue,” but has advised that the patch won’t be postponed for long, although a new date has yet to be confirmed.
“The team has discovered an issue with the Battlefield V Chapter 1: Overture update,” the studio tweeted. “Rather than create issues in the game, we’re holding the update for the time being. We don’t anticipate a long delay and we’ll be back with more news
or as soon as we have it.”
Pokemon Go PvP Trainer Battles: How They Work, How To Start, And More
After a few teases, Niantic recently confirmed that PvP Trainer Battles are coming to Pokemon Go. Now, the developer has announced even more details about how Trainer Battles will work, who can participate, and more. We also went hands-on with a demo version of these battles, which currently don’t have a firm release date–though they are set to arrive in Pokemon Go soon.
Functionally, Trainer Battles work similarly to Gym or Raid Battles in Pokemon Go. They are more or less real-time and require you to tap the screen to attack, which builds up a stronger “charge attack” that you can unleash for a ton of damage. There are a few differences, however. There’s no dodging; instead, before your opponent uses a charge attack, you’ll have the option to use a Protect shield to block it. You have a limited number of these per battle (we had two in the demo), so timing their use properly and considering the Pokemon in play adds a bit of strategy to the simple tapping system.
As previously announced, there are three “leagues” to help make Trainer Battles accessible to all levels of player. The Great league is capped at 1500 CP, the Ultra league caps at 2500, and the Master league has no CP limit. Before battling, you can set a battle party in each of the divisions. You’re allowed three Pokemon per party, rather than the traditional six; Niantic representatives said that six-Pokemon battles dragged on far too long for an on-the-go game. Trainer Battles also have a current time limit of 240 seconds to avoid overlong matches. Note that while Legendary Pokemon are permitted, Ditto and Shedinja won’t be allowed in Trainer Battles at launch.
You can battle either in-person or remotely, though long-distance battles have more limitations. You can only battle with faraway friends you’ve been friends with for a while–specifically, you have to be Ultra Friends or above in Pokemon Go. In person, you can battle anyone, even if you aren’t friends in the game, just by scanning a QR code in a new battle menu. You also have the option of battling one of the three NPC team leaders for practice.
One of the best things about the new Trainer Battle system is that there’s no reason not to do it. Both winner and loser get rewards, and each one has the same chance to get a particularly rare item: a Sinnoh Stone, which is used for evolving certain Gen 4 Pokemon. While there’s no limit to the number of battles per day, you’re limited to three rewards per day when battling real people and one reward per day from the NPC battles. On top of that, the game tracks wins but not losses, and you won’t need any healing items post-battle like you do after Gym and Raid Battles, so there’s really no downside to battling.
Finally, the update will introduce the ability to unlock a second charge attack on any Pokemon using Stardust and candy, though the exact resource cost hasn’t been confirmed. The second attack can be used in any type of battle, and it affords you more flexibility with a Pokemon and the type matchups it’s prepared for.
No release date for Pokemon Go’s Trainer Battles has been announced, but a Niantic representative told GameSpot that the update “will begin to roll out to players worldwide later this month.” While you wait, Niantic is bringing back six Legendaries for December’s Field Research tasks, so it’s a good time to stock up on strong Pokemon.
The Best 1080p 144Hz Gaming Monitor
Be sure to visit IGN Tech for all the latest comprehensive hands-on reviews and best-of roundups. Note that if you click on one of these links to buy the product, IGN may get a share of the sale. For more, read our Terms of Use.
Updated: October 2018
Monitors with 144Hz refresh rates aren’t new, but they’re more popular than ever because, quite frankly, they are pretty awesome. Plus midrange GPUs capable of 100+ FPS on high settings at 1080p are increasingly affordable. Back in the ancient days of 2015 that just wasn’t possible unless you dropped some major coin, so as performance has increased monitor manufacturers have responded with corresponding features such as ultra-high refresh rates. If you’re in the market for a new display, be sure to check out our list of the best 1080p 144Hz Gaming Monitors.
Fortnite’s Game Awards Announcement Has Nothing to Do With the Launch of Season 7
Epic’s senior PR guy has teased a possible in-game event for Fortnite to be announced at The Game Awards this week.
The Game Awards’ Geoff Keighley teased a Fortnite announcement for this Thursday, that players speculated was going to be a peek at Season 7 which launches the same day. However, Epic Games’ Nick Chester has confirmed that this is definitely not the case, and instead seems to be teasing an in-game event.
“I can’t stress enough how much we have going on this week,” he tweeted, adding, “Geoff isn’t talking about Season 7 launch here. Tune in!”
Keighley’s initial tweet mentioned a Fortnite announcement and world premiere from Worldwide Creative Director of the game, Donald Mustard.
The Twilight Zone TV Show Adds To Its Excellent Cast
The new Twilight Zone TV anthology series has big shoes to fill. Rod Serling’s original is regarded as one of the best shows of all time, and part of what made the program great was its excellent writing and performances.
The new version is assembling some excellent talent, too, with news today from THR that John Cho (Star Trek, Searching), Allison Tolman (Fargo, Castle Rock), and child actor Jacob Tremblay (Room, Wonder) have joined the cast that already includes Adam Scott, Kumail Nanjiani, and Sanaa Lathan in starring roles.
Cho, Tolman, and Tremblay will star in an episode called “The Wunderkind.” No further details about the episode or the story were divulged. The new Twilight Zone officially entered production in October,
One of the best episodes of the original Twilight Zone featured a child actor as well. The episode “It’s a Good Life” features a six-year-old boy who terrorises his community with his ability to read minds and manifest anything he wants.
The original Twilight Zone featured numerous actors who went on to become very famous, including William Shatner, Ed Wynn, Cloris Leachman, Don Rickles, and Robert Duvall, among many others.
The new Twilight Zone comes from the mind of Jordan Peele, who entered a new stratosphere and success after his acclaimed 2017 film Get Out, for which he won an Oscar. It’s incredibly exciting to think about what Peele, who is narrating, may bring to the table with the new Twilight Zone. The show airs in 2019 on CBS All-Access.
Disclosure: CBS owns GameSpot