We currently live in a world where video game movie and TV adaptations have finally, in most people’s estimation, reached their peak. HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us broke ratings records; the Sonic the Hedgehog movies made all kinds of money. And hell, even the 30-year stink of Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. live-action movie has given way to what looks to be a pretty excellent animated film. Another franchise with a bad 1990s movie will soon get a similar reprieve. In 2023, we learned that Legendary obtained exclusive live-action film and TV rights to Capcom’s Street Fighter franchise. What’s more, a Street Fighter movie is on the way from Legendary and Sony. The Street Fighter movie will release in 2026.

According to Deadline, the movie lost its original set of directors, Danny and Michael Philippou, who created the popular A24 horror movie, Talk to Me. The publication additionally reports there is no word yet on the Street Fight movie’s plot.

Legendary will co-develop and produce this Street Fighter movie with Sony and Capcom, and Legendary and Capcom will work together on any future titles. Capcom has had success with the Resident Evil movie franchise, though those aren’t particularly faithful to the games. Legendary, meanwhile, saw success with its live-action Pokémon Detective Pikachu movie in 2019.

One of the highest-grossing video game franchises in history, Street Fighter all but invented the fighting game as we know it today. From 1987, the games have introduced and perfected a particular kind of superpowered brawler and introduced memorable and beloved characters like Ryu, Chun-Li, and Guile. Dozens of anime adaptations grew the game’s lore and roster, showcasing a global fight tournament against the evil M. Bison.

A 1994 live-action adaptation starring Jean-Claude Van Damme didn’t quite live up to anybody’s expectations, but is still fun if you’re into that particular mood. We can’t wait to hear more about this Street Fighter movie as it develops.

Editor’s Note: Nerdist is a subsidiary of Legendary Digital Networks

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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When I decorated my current home office, the first dedicated office space I’d had in years, I did so knowing how much time I’d spend in it. I made the space warm with a palette inspired by the earthy tones of Dagobah. Then I acquired shelves to hold my many, many books. I found the right desk and added décor that brings me joy. But one element was never quite right: my desk chair. I wanted something that fit the room’s aesthetic while also being supportive of the body I contort in unhealthy ways while I work and write. I went through two chairs that didn’t leave an impression until Secretlab sent me a TITAN Evo to try.

I hadn’t considered gaming chairs when I looked for the right addition to my office because when I play games, it’s usually while curled on my couch holding my Nintendo Switch Lite. Being so literal about a chair’s purpose was silly. If you’re sitting at a desk for hours on end, you benefit from an adjustable chair that offers support. Gaming chairs are ideal for this. After about a month of solid use, I can’t claim the TITAN Evo has cured my terrible posture, but I can say my bones are generally happier after a full day at my computer since I can adjust the chair to accommodate how I sit.

Set up is a process. The chair comes in a massive box, and I had to wait until I had assistance to move it into my office and assemble it. If you’ll be moving it up stairs, prepare yourself. Definitely put it together in the room you plan to leave it in. While it takes a little time to sort everything, it’s relatively straightforward. I recommend taking the time during assembly to understand which levers control the various parts of the chair.

While I wish I could say the TITAN Evo’s ergonomic touches alone were enough to sway me, they were not. It was the most comfortable chair I’d put at my desk by a factor of many, but it was plain. But then I added the Ahsoka Tano SKINS Secretlab also sent. Secretlab has a line of premium chair sleeves that enable you to personalize the Evo and give the chair some zhuzh equal to its comfortable design. Ahsoka is just one of the Star Wars SKINS available. Adding the SKINS sleeve over the chair’s back and seat was simple and quick. It hugs the existing chair structure in every spot, so there aren’t weird gaps or areas without coverage.

The Ahsoka design fits my office vibes perfectly. Having a chair that looks as nice as it feels to sit upon has made my time at my desk more appealing. My cat (also named Ahsoka) agrees. She’s never stolen an office chair from me like this before.

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Ravensburger has stretched and shaped Disney Lorcana since the trading card game’s first release in August. With the most recent set, Ursula’s Return, the gaming company released a standalone game that brings a whole new way to engage with Lorcana. Ravensburger sent Nerdist a copy of Illumineer’s Quest Deep Trouble for review. After putting in time trying to defeat Ursula, we collected our thoughts. Overall, Deep Trouble is a challenging battle and an excellent way for single players to access Lorcana.

What We Like About Illumineer’s Quest Deep Trouble

We love seeing a spin on the way players engage with Lorcana. Deep Trouble features all the same gameplay mechanics you’re used to from regular play, but the twist with Ursula makes it feel different and fresh. Ursula is a powerful villain, and the story and her deck reflects this. The dark nature of her deck adds a cool selection of beautifully creepy art to the game, too. This separate game enriches the lore of Lorcana, which we always enjoy seeing.

I appreciate how Deep Trouble allows for a single-player match or cooperative play with others. Having both options is helpful for those who may not play in a Lorcana league but still want to collect and play. The game’s set up is simple and quick to learn. Assuming you know how to play Lorcana, you’ll be up and running in less than 10 minutes.

Deep Trouble is a challenging game, as I guess it should be since you’re fighting Ursula. It’s a thing worth noting so you can set expectations. I was convinced I was doing something wrong because I lost so badly. Out of three solo games, I won against Ursula only once with the provided Amethyst and Steel deck. In the other two games and in another one with two players, Ursula won by hilariously large margins. I played all the games on the easiest mode. If you advance to more challenging modes, you’ll need your own custom decks to stand a chance—the rules for Deep Trouble even suggest this.

What We Don’t Like About Illumineer’s Quest Deep Trouble

My quibbles are largely related to design and packaging. Deep Trouble replaces the gift set for the Ursula’s Return release, so the packaging is similar to that of a gift set. However, this is its own game. Once you open the box, there’s nothing to contain the pieces in. You can use your own deck boxes and storage, of course, but I wish this came in a dedicated game box to hold the playmat, Ursula’s deck, the two player decks, and the encounter cards.

The playmat has only a single row to track lore. So basically, you can track Ursula’s lore. If you try to stack up the lore trackers for two players in that same row, you run out of space. Yes, there’s a place to track lore for Deep Trouble in the app, but I don’t want to default needing to have my phone out.

Illumineer’s Quest Deep Trouble is available wherever you buy Disney Lorcana.

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The house always wins. As the only human cameo from the Fallout games thus far in the Prime Video TV series, and with New Vegas very literally looming on the show’s horizon, it seems only natural that we’ll see Robert House appear at some point in Fallout season two. In fact, the series showrunners recently confirmed, “Many of our lead characters are Vegas-bound… Las Vegas in the world of Fallout is Robert House’s town. Robert House will be involved in Season 2.” 

Fallout‘s Robert House is an insufferable libertarian to some and based inspiration to others. Here’s everything the Fallout games tell us about New Vegas’ enigmatic autocrat. 

Who Is Robert House in the Fallout Universe?

Robert House is the founder and CEO of RobCo Industries. His company is the source of much of Fallout’s classic tech, such as the Mr. Handys (the robotic butler we see trying to ‘borrow’ Lucy’s organs in the show) and, of course, the Pip-Boy, a product that was a partnership between RobCo and Vault-Tec. Worn on the wrist of every game protagonist, and now with Lucy carrying on its tradition—RobCo is an inescapable force in the Fallout universe. 

Robert House’s History Before the War

Robert Edwin House was born on June 25th, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada, to the owners of the H&H Tool empire. House was orphaned at age two when his parents died in a freak auto-gyro-lightning-bolt accident. (Fallout is weird.) House was cheated out of his sizable inheritance by his half-brother Anthony. However, with that chip firmly on his shoulder and a genius IQ under his belt, House persevered. He eventually got into the Commonwealth Institute of Technology, the Fallout universe’s MIT equivalent. After graduating at the ripe old age of twenty-two, House founded RobCo industries. 

Thanks to House’s impeccable business acumen and intrinsic technical know-how, RobCo became one of the most profitable companies in the world over the next eight years. House was known for his ruthless, excessive corporate expansion. He’d gobble up smaller companies and eventually create a veritable monopoly in some tech markets, especially software. If you look closely at any terminal in the games or show, you’ll see that it’s running on a RobCo operating system. 

Robert House as a character was very much in the spirit of Howard Hughes a.k.a. the classic eccentric billionaire trope. But House, and by extension his hobbies, were more bizarrely pragmatic. House personally designed mathematical paradigms to attempt to predict major world events. He’d base this on a stream of constantly updating information with thousands of geopolitical and socio-economic factors.

House determined that on October 23rd, 2077,  at approximately 8pm EST, nuclear fire would rain from the sky. You gotta give it to the guy. He was only off by twenty hours. 

Mr. House Devises a Plan for Las Vegas to Survive the Impending War

With the date in mind, House began working towards making sure that Las Vegas would survive the war, and just as important—he would survive the war. Like any good billionaire, House owned a Vegas casino known as the Lucky 38. Using the vast wealth and resources of RobCo, House began outfitting the Lucky 38 so that it could protect Vegas against the brunt of a nuclear assault. He also decided that drastic measures would have to be taken for him to remain alive indefinitely to handle the crisis personally. House had his fleshy, mortal body sealed into a life support device that would keep him alive—relatively and theoretically—forever. Meanwhile, his brain was wired into a massive supercomputer. 

House also created an army of Securitrons to act as his eyes, ears, and hands post-war. The Securitrons are some of RobCo’s stronger combat robots. He knew they would at least be enough to deter most trouble makers that might crop up after the end of the world. House knew that the current capabilities of the Lucky 38 and the Securitron army that he possessed were not going to be enough to completely spare Vegas. The Strip would likely remain relatively unharmed, but the surrounding environs, not so much.

A new operating system (OS) was designed, one that would upgrade House’s laser grid to better ensure a completely untouched Las Vegas. It would also greatly increase the offensive capabilities of his Securitron army. The OS was downloaded onto the Platinum Chip, and was set to be delivered via courier to House the morning of October 23rd, 2077. Unfortunately, the courier didn’t make it in time. 

Even with the inferior operating system, House was still able to stop sixty-eight of the seventy-seven nuclear missiles from hitting Las Vegas. While portions of the city were still destroyed, it was largely spared. When the impact hit, House’s life support systems went out of whack, and he fell into a coma for the next fifty years, while chaos reigned unchecked in the world outside. 

Robert House Comes Out of a Post-War Coma and Establishes New Vegas

House regained consciousness in 2138. He initially chose to bide his time and observe the goings-on of the Mojave Wasteland instead of immediately revealing himself. Waiting and watching, House made his move when reports of NCR scouts in the area reached him around 2274. The Securitrons finally, after so many years, left the Lucky 38. With the hopes of having staff that had pulses, House gave the raiders currently occupying the Vegas Strip three options. They could leave, work for him, or die. Three raider tribes chose to work for him. They became the Chairmen, the Omertas, and the White Glove Society, who would run New Vegas’ three restored casinos.

Once established and later ensconced within the cultural and economic conscience of the Mojave, House made a deal with the NCR to coexist in relative peace. The NCR got to have McCarran Air Force Base and an embassy on the Strip. House got to have free power from Hoover Dam, and all the money from the NCR citizens desperate for a vacation. What happened to New Vegas and Mr. House after 2281—well, only the show can really answer that now. 

What Is Mr. Robert House Up to in Fallout?

House’s morality (or lack thereof) has been debated among the Fallout fanbase for the past fifteen years. House is a man with a single-minded focus who allows for no distractions. Monitoring or controlling the lives of the people in the Mojave has never been of any interest to him. The preservation and newfound flourishing of mankind, through throwing off the shackles of the past is, by all accounts, his singular interest. However, with a goal so large and lofty, you can imagine that the man behind these plans might find singular human lives, or even large groups of them …fairly insignificant. His take on democracy is also not the most positive one. 

Love him or hate him, House is a force to be reckoned with. Once the Fallout show confirms which of the multiple endings from New Vegas is canon, we’ll see how Mr. Robert House is going to play into the events of the show moving forward. Can you imagine House and Cooper in a room together? Because I’m imagining it, and I’m loving it.

Originally published on April 25, 2024.

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For decades now, LEGO has brought its singular brand of brick-building fun to licensed properties. Almost as long as that, it has also produced video games based on those licensed properties. After dozens of Star Wars, Marvel, Batman, and more titles hit consoles, we finally have an ouroboros. The latest LEGO video game, announced at the Nintendo Direct, is based on a non-LEGO video game for PlayStation. Feast your eyes on LEGO Horizon Adventures.

The open-world action game puts players in control of Aloy, a girl from a future agrarian society after an unspecified apocalypse made animal-like machines the dominant creatures on the planet. She must learn about her past and save her people while also battling robot velociraptors and shit. This LEGO edition will bring together the events and characters from 2017’s Horizon Zero Dawn and 2022’s Horizon Forbidden West, but in the inimitable cute building style.

Why this game exists, I don’t really know, but for fans of both the LEGO games and the Horizon games, this is probably a no-brainer. LEGO Horizon Adventures hits Nintendo Switch this holiday season.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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Nintendo sure does love putting the Mario Bros. on islands. It feels like that’s all they ever do! But at least they’re together. That continues in Mario & Luigi: Brothership, the latest entry in the franchise which the company announced during the Nintendo Direct. The below announcement trailer starts with Mario once again saving Luigi from any number of silly troubles before arriving on the island…that is also a ship.

The RPG takes the brothers to Shipshape Island, on which they travel the vast world of Concordia. Along the way, players and the brothers will meet new people and familiar faces like Peach and Bowser. They’ll need to use patented Bros. Moves in order to get by obstacles and solve puzzles, and just generally need to be adorable brothers to accomplish anything.

Mario & Luigi: Brothership will hit Nintendo Switch November 7, 2024.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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Get your friends together and compete in 110 new mini games in Nintendo’s Super Mario Party Jamboree. The below announcement trailer was just one of the new games offered as part of Nintendo Direct for June 2024. The game also boasts seven new game boards, including the Rainbow Galleria, which is literally a mall. You can go to a mall within a Mario game. What a world.

The latest in the super popular party game series, Super Mario Party Jamboree will take players to a massive resort setting, which will include five brand new game boards and two fan-favorites returning. The new Koopathlon mode will also allow up to 20 players to go head-to-head online. That is a lot of players, I think you’ll agree.

Super Mario Party Jamboree launches on the Nintendo Switch October 17.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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Magic: The Gathering‘s Universes Beyond collections take Magic cards to all kinds of exciting new worlds. We’ve loved the adventures that Magic has cooked up for us via this format, which have included traveling through time and space in the Tardis with Magic‘s Doctor Who collection and meeting dinos with its brilliant Jurassic Park collection. Of course, we eagerly anticipate entering Magic: The Gathering‘s version of the Marvel multiverse sometime soon. But, more immediately, we’re taking a Leap of Faith into a brand-new destination. Yes, the Animus is ready to transport us into a universe we know and love. Magic: The Gathering‘s latest Universes Beyond collection is bringing us Assassin’s Creed decks. Below, we reveal four brand new Assassin’s Creed Magic cards for you to get excited about.

Nerdist Exclusively Reveals 4 New Cards From Magic: The Gathering‘s Assassin’s Creed Collection

We’re excited to exclusively share four new Magic cards that you’ll be able to find in the Assassin’s Creed Universes Beyond collection. These four cards are The Capitoline Triad, Hookblade, Restart Sequence, and Bleeding Effect. You can check out their Main Set forms below.

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Assassin’s Creed true hearts will recognize these four features of the game, now in Magic card form. It’s always fun to see one version of a game translated into another. For example, Assassin’s Creed‘s “scientific” Bleeding Effect phenomenon becomes an enchantment. We also enjoy seeing quotes and other Assassin’s Creed Easter eggs pop up on these Magic cards.

Click To View Gallery

Of course, these cool cards also come in Foil-Etched versions, which the sly assassin will be able to snatch up from the pile.

Finally, you can check out The Capitoline Triad in its unique Borderless form. We wouldn’t want these scientists-turned-gods, seen through a Magic: The Gathering lens as “God Artificers” staring down… or up from a table… at us.

More About Magic: The Gathering‘s Assassin’s Creed Decks

Of course, there are many more than just four cards coming to Magic: The Gathering‘s Assassin’s Creed collection.

A release shares:

The Animus has a new destination: Magic: The Gathering. Take a Leap of Faith into a new format of the game you love and find the weapons, characters, and real-world locations waiting on the battlefield. The only way to uncover the secrets of the past is to follow in the footsteps of the assassins who came before, and if you’ve learned anything, it’s that you must be swift, precise, and never show your hand.

Here are some of the product highlights you can look forward to as you build your new order.

COLLECTOR BOOSTERS: Get decked out like a master Assassin with Collector Boosters full of Rares, shining foils, and exclusive special treatments. Every pack contains 2 Foil-Etched cards!

BEYOND BOOSTERS: These 7-card boosters provide a curated opening experience for fans, including a Borderless card and shining foil in every pack. The past is yours to explore!

BUNDLE: Leap into history with a box full of Assassin’s Creed-themed cards and accessories, including 9 Beyond Boosters, a special alt-art promo card, 40 Lands, and more.

STARTER KIT: Your Assassin training starts here. Gear up for your first games of Magic with two Assassin’s Creed-themed decks and learn the ropes with the included guide.

When Will Magic: The Gathering‘s Assassin’s Creed Decks and Cards Release?

So, when will you be able to don your hood, grab your dagger, and enter the world of Assassin’s Creed via the vision of Magic: The Gathering? The Magic: The Gathering Assassin’s Creed collection will be released on July 5.

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The day has finally come, and the kingdom can rejoice. After years of folks confusing Link and Zelda, players will finally be able to say, I’m playing as Princess Zelda in a The Legend of Zelda game. Yes, Nintendo has revealed that in the upcoming new Zelda game, Zelda, the princess of Hyrule, will be your playable hero, while Link has mysteriously vanished into a strange rift. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom will also introduce a brand-new weapon for Zelda, the Tri Rod, and offer a unique form of gameplay that will challenge the cleverness of its players. You can take a look at playable Zelda in the announcement trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.

Playable Zelda Is Here in New The Legend of Zelda Game Trailer

The synopsis for this new Legend of Zelda game shares:

It’s up to Zelda and her wisdom to save the kingdom of Hyrule in a brand-new story in The Legend of Zelda series. The people of Hyrule are being stolen away by strange rifts that have appeared, with a certain swordsman among the missing. Team up with the mysterious fairy, Tri, and use the power of the Tri Rod to create echoes – imitations of things found in the environment. Then recreate those echoes whenever you like to solve puzzles and defeat enemies. Use echoes of water blocks to reach new heights, make bridges out of old beds, throw rocks at foes – or find your own creative combination of echoes to do things your way. You can even create echoes of monsters to fight at your side in combat.

We’re thrilled to see Zelda shine here, although we hope one day she gets to do so in one of The Legend of Zelda‘s more elaborate outings. Still, we will celebrate this victory for her and us!

When Does The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Release?

Zelda’s day in the sun is almost here. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom releases on September 26. Echoes of Wisdom is a Nintendo Switch game. A Nintendo Switch Lite inspired by The Legend of Zelda series will also be available at launch. We’re sure all of this will be available for pre-order soon on Nintendo’s website.

Playable Zelda, here we come!

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Disney Lorcana is a game that has only continued to pick up speed and fan love. And without anyone realizing it, the release of Disney Lorcana‘s fifth set is here. Ravensburger has announced the next set of Disney Lorcana cards will be called Shimmering Skies and has given us a brand new look at what’s in store. Here’s everything we know about this magical fifth set, Disney Lorcana: Shimmering Skies.

Title

As mentioned, the fifth set of Disney Lorcana cards is called Disney Lorcana: Shimmering Skies.

Disney Lorcana: Shimmering Skies’ Story

Disney Lorcana‘s fifth release will continue the story told in the first four sets of cards. A release shares, “The realm of Lorcana holds a great festival to celebrate its recent victory over Ursula, which concluded the previous set, Ursula’s Return, filling the realm with fun and revelry. During the celebration, a new mystery begins to unfold as parts of the Great Illuminary fall off, crashing down around the crowd.”

Uh-oh, what could that mean for Disney Lorcana? We’ll just have to play Shimmering Skies and find out.

Disney Lorcana: Shimmering Skies‘ New Franchise and Characters

One of the most exciting parts of Disney Lorcana is the gorgeous new renditions of familiar and beloved Disney characters. Disney Lorcana: Shimmering Skies will bring Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph into the mix. A release notes, this Disney franchise will join “Lorcana in a substantial way and is the franchise’s first appearance since Ralph appeared on the Pick a Fight action card in Rise of the Floodborn.” That’s very exciting for fans of this particular Disney adventure. New Wreck It-Ralph characters coming to Disney Lorcana: Shimmering Skies include “Wreck-It Ralph, Vanellope Von Schweetz, King Candy, Fix-It Felix, Jr” Additionally, Elemental spirits from Frozen 2, including Bruni and Gale, will join in the Disney Lorcana fun.

Click To View Gallery

A release additionally shares, “Shimmering Skies features Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph with the introduction of Disney characters like Vanellope Von Schweetz and Fix-it Felix, Jr. In addition, players can anticipate new gameplay mechanics with an evolved story with gorgeous art – all of which is infused with electric energy that amplifies both the celebration and the gameplay. More details on mechanics and other cards will be unveiled closer to availability. All cards in this set can be used to update existing Disney Lorcana TCG decks or played alongside the previously released sets, The First Chapter, Rise of the Floodborn, Into the Inklands, and Ursula’s Return.”

What Disney Lorcana: Shimmering Skies Will Include

The Disney Lorcana: Shimmering Skies release will include the following

• Two Starter Decks
  • Amethyst and Ruby (Elsa and Wreck-It Ralph) 
  • Emerald and Steel (Scar and Kronk) 
• Illumineer’s Trove
  • Contains: (8) booster packs, lore counter, card dividers and new shimmering dice
• Two new Deck Sleeves and Boxes
  • Featured glimmers are fan favorites from sets 1 and 2
    • Tiana – Celebrating Princess
    • Aladdin – Heroic Outlaw
• Two New Portfolios
  • Back of card artwork (Front and back)
  • Six glimmers by artist Nicholas Kole across the front and back

Disney Lorcana: Shimmering Skies Release Date

Disney Lorcana will be released at local game stores, Disney Stores, and Disney Parks on August 9, 2024. Shimmering Skies will then be released by mass market retailers and DisneyStore.com on August 23, 2024. 

A Disney Lorcana and Disney VIllainous: Introduction to Evil Crossover

Disney Lorcana: Shimmering Skies and Disney Villainous: Introduction to Evil will be having a crossover this summer. An exclusive, alternate-art, foil version of the Disney Lorcana: Shimmering Skies card, Prince John – Gold Lover, will be available in new, stickered, and limited copies of Disney Villainous: Introduction to Evil board game. This limited-edition Disney Lorcana card will be illustrated in the art style of Disney Villainous.

The post Everything We Know About DISNEY LORCANA’s Next Set, Shimmering Skies appeared first on Nerdist.

Following the smash success of Baldur’s Gate 3 last year, it only seems reasonable for other game devs to want to replicate some of that success. A fantasy RPG with a colorful and varied band of classes and races, sounds pretty fun, right? BioWare is hoping to grab some of that BG3 magic with the latest game in their perennial Dragon Age series, Dragon Age: The Veilguard. And the trailer, which you can view below, sure looks upbeat and irreverent!

In the trailer, we get to meet a ragtag band of whosits and whatsits, each with their own specialty. They are: Harding: The Scout; Neve: The Detective; Emmrich: The Necromancer; Taash: The Dragon Hunter; Davrin: The Warden; Bellara: The Veil Jumper; and Lucanis: The Mage Killer. Your player character, the mysterious hooded figure toward the end, will get to be the leader. Pretty good gig if you can get it.

The official synopsis for the game reads:

When corrupt gods break free from centuries of darkness, the odds will be stacked against you. You can’t do this alone. Rally a team of seven companions, each with rich lives and deep backstories. These are characters to befriend, and even fall in love with. Among them, an assassin, a necromancer, and a detective will each bring their own expertise and unique abilities to the fight. You are never alone; decide who to take into battle and together face down demons, dragons and even ancient gods.

The gameplay trailer for Dragon Age: The Veilguard will drop June 11, so come back to take a look at that. Release date for the game is Fall 2024. It will be available on PlayStation, Xbox, Steam, and the Epic Games Store.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

The post Meet the Crew of DRAGON AGE: THE VEILGUARD’s Reveal Trailer appeared first on Nerdist.

No one thought a 1:1 Earth flight simulator would have been among the best games in recent memory. That sounded dumb and boring. But in the midst of lockdown, people loved the peace and grandeur of Microsoft Flight Simulator. Now, as part of the Xbox Games Showcase 2024, the follow-up is here. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 somehow looks even more beautiful, robust, and real than its predecessor. Just take a look!

Microsoft promises the game will be “the most ambitious consumer flight simulator ever undertaken,” and will utilize the “latest technologies in simulation, cloud, machine learning, graphics and gaming.” Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 goes beyond merely operating the aircraft; it will allow simmers to pursue their dream of an aviation career. Loads more aircraft types, and actual life out there in the game.

The game is an Xbox Games Studios project, so it’ll only be for Microsoft devices (sorry PlayStation gamers), but it’ll be available on Gamepass day one, so that’s nice. And what is that day? November 19, 2024. Just in time to pretend to fly for the holidays.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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Are you ready to head back to the Mos Eisley cantina? Ubisoft has just revealed a brand new gameplay trailer for Massive Entertainment’s upcoming Star Wars Outlaws open-world video game, arriving this summer. This is our best look at the gameplay so far. The events of the game are set right in the middle of the original trilogy, between episodes V and VI. Once again, the desert world of Tatooine will be a major location in the game, and it’s all about the scoundrels of the galaxy. You can watch the Star Wars: Outlaws Official Gameplay Showcase video right here:

And here’s the official synopsis for Star Wars: Outlaws from Ubisoft:

If you’re willing to take the risk, the galaxy is full of opportunity. Experience the first-ever open world Star Wars game, set between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Explore distinct locations across the galaxy, both iconic and new. Risk it all as Kay Vess, a scoundrel seeking freedom and the means to start a new life, along with her companion Nix. Fight, steal, and outwit your way through the galaxy’s crime syndicates as you join the galaxy’s most wanted.

Outlaws will also visit other familiar worlds from the franchise. These include Canto Bight from The Last Jedi, and Kijimi, the smugglers’ planet from The Rise of Skywalker. Outlaws‘ creative director Julian Gerighty told Entertainment Weekly a bit more about the game, saying “The pure scoundrel fantasy really takes flight when the galaxy is in chaos. The Rebels have lost the battle of Hoth and they’re on the back foot. The Empire is taking more and more power in the galaxy. That creates a space for criminal activities and criminal syndicates. That’s really the time of the underworld.” 

Star Wars: Outlaws comes to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on August 30, 2024.

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Harrison Ford went on a grand adventure for the last time with last year’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. But even though Ford hung up his famous fedora, it doesn’t mean that’s the end of the character. Indy will continue in other media, like the brand-new Xbox game that was recently announced by Bethesda Softworks and Lucasfilm Games, Indiana Jones, and the Great Circle, which has a five-minute long trailer reveal from Xbox Games, which you can watch right here:

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Trailer and Synopsis

Here’s the game’s official description:

Uncover one of history’s greatest mysteries in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, a first-person, single-player adventure set between the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. The year is 1937, sinister forces are scouring the globe for the secret to an ancient power connected to the Great Circle, and only one person can stop them – Indiana Jones. You’ll become the legendary archaeologist in this cinematic action-adventure game from MachineGames, the award-winning studio behind the recent Wolfenstein series, and executive produced by Hall of Fame game designer Todd Howard.

The game will take players “From the halls of Marshall College to the heart of the Vatican, the pyramids of Egypt, the sunken temples of Sukhothai, and beyond.” This looks like everything anyone could want from an Indiana Jones game.

Where on the Indiana Jones Timeline Does the Great Circle Take Place?

As mentioned in the synopsis, the events of this game fill in the timeline between two franchise movies. Timeline-wise, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle fits in between Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, which took place in 1936 and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade which happened in 1938. It will be interesting to see how the film evolves the canon, offers Easter eggs, and sets up the events of its “future.”

To tease us, MachinesGames’ co-founder and lead game designer Jerk Gustafsson shares, “He has separated from Marion… We know that he is sort of lost again after that. He is adrift.”

Who Voices Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle?

If Indy’s voice sounds familiar in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, it’s because Indiana Jones is voiced by Troy Baker, who gave voice to Joel on The Last of Us. We love this nerdy connection.

Who Can We Expect to See in the Game and When Will The Great Circle Release?

From what the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle game trailer depicts, we see good old Dr. Henry Jones Jr. in his prime. He’s evading death traps, scouring for hidden treasure, and of course, punching some Nazis. Also, his mentor Marcus Brody is in the game as well. Our fingers remain crossed that Sallah shows up at some point too. But we imagine Bethesda has a few surprises still in store. The Indiana Jones and the Great Circle game arrives in 2024. You can WishList the game now by heading over to the official Indiana Jones Bethesda site.

Originally Published Jan 18 2024

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“Teamwork and betrayal…in space!” That’s how Innersloth and CBS Studios describe their upcoming animated adaptation of Among Us. But we’d also add in “adorable” and “funny” after seeing the show’s first trailer. It promises a delightful take on the popular video game. But the one thing this promo doesn’t reveal it just how good its cast is.

Both fun and danger lurk around every corner in this title trailer for the new Among Us series. While this dialogue-free look at the show is more than enough to get gamers excited, it doesn’t let us hear from its immensely talented voice cast. The show will feature:

• Ashley Johnson as Purple, Chief of Security
• Elijah Wood as Green, Unpaid Intern
• Randall Park as Red, Captain of The Skeld
• Yvette Nicole Brown as Orange, HR
• Dan Stevens as Blue, Doctor
• Liv Hewson as Black, Geologist
• Kimiko Glenn as Cyan, Gemologist

The cast will also include Patton Oswalt Debra Winger, Wayne Knight, and Phil Lamarr.

Forget betrayal. That team is one we can’t wait to hear work together when the show debuts “soon.”

The post AMONG US Animated Series Releases Adorable First Title Trailer appeared first on Nerdist.

Fans of The Legend of Vox Machina can officially start making plans for their next watch party. The animated Critical Role series announced it will return to Prime Video for season three this fall. But you don’t have to wait that long to see the show’s new opening title sequence because it’s already here.

Everyone’s favorite Dungeons & Dragons mercenaries will soon return to streaming. The Prime Video animated series will debut its third season on October 3. What can fans expect when the show rolls out its new season? Here’s the official synopsis from Amazon:

Everything is at stake in the long-awaited Season 3 of The Legend of Vox Machina. The Chroma Conclave’s path of destruction spreads like wildfire while the Cinder King hunts down Vox Machina. Our lovable band of misfits must rise above inner (and outer) demons to try and save their loved ones, Tal’Dorei, and all of Exandria.

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Walton Goggin’s Ghoul on Prime Video’s Fallout series is already one of our favorite characters ever. Now Bethesda Game Studios will let us experience what it’s like to live as him. The studio is finally giving gamers something they’ve long wanted. In early 2025 a new Fallout 76 expansion will let fans finally play a main series game as a ghoul.

Fallout 76‘s upcoming Skyline Valley expansion will do more than just make the game’s map bigger. It will also allow players who reach Level 50 to play as a ghoul. Previously that was only possible in Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel and Fallout Tactics.

The game’s creative director Jonathan Rush told IGN that will mean players won’t have to worry about radiation. In fact, in true ghoul fashion, radiation will actually heal them. (As could the TV show’s yellow ghoul potion, which Rush teased could show up in the game.)

That will be just one of the “dozens of ghoul-specific perk cards” coming to the game. And without a need for Power Armor, ghouls will have other advantages a human character doesn’t.

Of course, the biggest advantage is for actual humans. We’ll now get to experience the wasteland the way Fallout‘s The Ghoul does.

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Activision has revealed a new Call of Duty game. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is on the horizon and now it’s officially shared its gameplay trailer.

The catchphrase for this game is “Forced to go rogue. Hunted from within.” It’s official description reveals, “While the Gulf War commands the global spotlight, a shadowy clandestine force has infiltrated the highest levels of the CIA, branding anyone who resists as traitors. Exiled from their agency and country that once hailed them as heroes, Black Ops veteran Frank Woods and his team find themselves hunted by the military machine that created them.” That doesn’t sound like very much fun… But it does sound like a lot of shooting.

Among other things, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 highlights that it:

• Follows an All-new campaign set in the Gulf War era.
• Contains 12 new 6v6 maps & 4 new strike maps at launch.
• Brings the return of Round-based Zombies.

The game will also feature “omnimovement.” This new kind of movement is defined as follows:

Across the entire game, players will push beyond their limits with several new global innovations, including omnimovement, the most fluid boots-on-the-ground Call of Duty movement to date, that utilizes the ability to seamlessly chain combat maneuvers in any direction.

A Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 teaser trailer was also released not too long ago. The description shared with the trailer simply says, “The Truth Lies.” Very ominous.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be the first new Call of Duty game released since 2020. Undoubtedly, fans of the long-running series will be thrilled to hear it. They’ll be even more thrilled that they can pre-order the game today, including a “Vault Edition” which features extra premium content.

Originally published on May 23, 2024.

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We feel thrilled that Star Wars will soon release an open-world game for us to explore. After all, some of the best parts of Star Wars revolve around its many detailed settings and deep lore. Allowing fans to delve into an open world is exactly the right move for a Star Wars game. But, of course, there’s more to Star Wars Outlaws than its detailed open world, the game, of course, has a fascinating story as well. And now, we finally know more about its tale, which teases, among others Han Solo and Jabba the Hutt. The full story trailer for Star Wars Outlaws has arrived, alongside a brief teaser that shares some Lando fun. You can watch these first looks below. And, excitingly, Star Wars Outlaws has also finally set its release date.

Star Wars Outlaws Reveals Official Story Trailer and Plot Details

Not only does Star Wars Outlaws lets you run around inside of Star Wars world. It also lets you experience a morally grey life which can be a ton of fun. Of course, in true Star Wars fashion, you might also be secretly part of something bigger. The Star Wars Outlaws trailer certainly seems to imply there’s more to some of our major players than meets the eye. For the curious, a release helps shed some light on what we see in the Star Wars Outlaws trailer. You can also watch a new teaser below, which reveals an exciting glimpse of playing Sabacc with Lando himself.

The release reveals that the game will focus on “cunning scoundrel Kay Vess and her companion Nix’s search for an opportunity of a lifetime. During this era, the Empire’s rule is distracted by the rebellion that won’t quit, leading to a golden age for the underworld. As a skilled thief, Kay’s antics catch the attention of Sliro, the leader of a new, foreboding criminal syndicate Zerek Besh. After Sliro places a bounty on Kay’s head, Kay and Nix are offered their one shot at freedom—pull off one of the greatest heists of all time. Kay and Nix will need to navigate the underworld across the galaxy, building their reputation with legendary criminal organizations including the Pyke Syndicate, the Hutt Cartel, the Ashiga Clan and Crimson Dawn to earn the support they need to finish the job.”

Missions from syndicates, terrifying foes, avoiding the Empire, building a crew and more, it sounds like this game will be a thrilling one for the Star Wars fandom. Douglas Reilly, vice president of Lucasfilm Games shares, “Star Wars Outlaws invites fans to experience a side of the galaxy that has a treasure trove yet to be explored, the exploits of the scoundrels taking advantage of the golden age of the underworld. We’ve been inspired by Massive Entertainment’s dedication to bringing this aspect of Star Wars to life, including both iconic and new things for fans to explore in an open world.”

Star Wars Outlaws‘ Synopsis

Alongside its trailer, Star Wars Outlaws shares a synopsis of the game. It notes:

Experience the first-ever open world Star Wars game, set between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Explore distinct planets across the galaxy, both iconic and new. Risk it all as Kay Vess, a scoundrel seeking freedom and the means to start a new life, along with her companion Nix. Fight, steal, and outwit your way through the galaxy’s crime syndicates as you join the galaxy’s most wanted.

Which Locations Will Star Wars Outlaws Bring to Its Open World Game?

In celebration of its trailer, Star Wars Outlaws also revealed some familiar and novel locations that will be a part of the game’s open world. The release notes, “Kay and Nix will travel across the galaxy to gain the right resources and crew for the ultimate heist. In their journey, they’ll travel across distinct locations, both iconic and new: Canto Bight, Kijimi, Tatooine, Akiva, and the windswept savannah of Toshara. Along the way, Kay will explore bustling cities and cantinas, race across sprawling outdoor landscapes on her speeder, and pilot her ship the Trailblazer through the wilds of space. When things go awry, the Trailblazer will also help them chase, evade and attack to gain the upper hand in thrilling dogfights with the Empire and other foes.”

Count us in on all of this excitement. We’re also curious to see how many new and old characters we run into in this game. Star Wars Outlaws‘ trailer teased Jabba the Hutt’s arrival onto the scene… And it also showed us a glimpse of Han Solo in carbonite. Very curious.

Star Wars Outlaws Sets Its Release Date

So, when will Star Wars Outlaws and its open world release for our playing pleasure? Star Wars Outlaws has set its release date for August 30, 2024. Star Wars Outlaws will be available to play on Xbox Series X|S consoles, PlayStation 5, Amazon Luna and PC through Ubisoft Connec. We can’t wait to “risk it all.”

Originally published on April 9, 2024.

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Assassin’s Creed is back, and it’s looking cooler than ever. In the first trailer for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, we journey to Japan to explore the intertwined stories of two Samurai warriors. You can watch the epic trailer in full below.

The official description for Assassin’s Creed Shadows shares:

In Assassin’s Creed Shadows, you will live the intertwined stories of Naoe, an adept shinobi Assassin from Iga Province, and Yasuke, the powerful African samurai of historical legend. Against the backdrop of the turbulent late Sengoku period, this remarkable duo will discover their common destiny as they usher in a new era for Japan.

From chaos to purpose, from darkness to light. A new Creed rises over Japan.

A shinobi assassin and a samurai? We could not be more in. A release from Ubisoft notes what we can expect from Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘ gameplay, sharing “As Naoe and Yasuke, players can master two complementary playstyles, with each character featuring their own progression paths, skills, weapon options, and stats. Whether they embrace Naoe’s stealth skills or Yasuke’s combat prowess, players will have plenty of ways to approach objectives. With Naoe, they will experience refined infiltration mechanics using light, noise, shadows, and changing surroundings to avoid detection from enemies. With Yasuke, they will be able to take on larger groups of enemies with brutal precision.”

You can even see this all come to life in the Assassin’s Creed gameplay trailer below.

Ubisoft also released an extended gameplay walkthrough, which you can watch below.

The standard edition of Assassin’s Creed Shadows will cost $69.99 on new-gen platforms, PCs, and Macs. Those who pre-order the game “will receive an additional quest.” Additionally, Gold, Ultimate, and Collector’s Editions of Assassin’s Creed Shadows are also available. Here’s what they include:

• The Gold Edition will include the base game, the Season Pass (including a bonus quest with additional unlockable content as well as two upcoming expansions) and 3 days early access to the game. 
•  The Ultimate Edition will include the base game, the Season Pass, the Ultimate Pack and 3 days early access to the game. The Ultimate Pack will contain the Sekiryu Character Pack (Naoe and Yasuke outfit and weapon, trinket and mount), the Sekiryu Hideout Pack, 5 Skill points and a Red and black photo mode filter. 
• The Collector’s Edition will include the base game, the Season Pass, the Ultimate Pack, physical content and 3 days early access to the game. The physical content will be a Steelbook, the World map, Naoe & Yasuke Figurine, life-size Naoe’s Katana Tsuba, a Wall Creed Scroll, an 84 pages collector’s artbook and 2 sumi-e lithographs. 

When Will Assassin’s Creed Shadows Release?

Assassin’s Creed Shadows will release on November 15, 2024.

Originally published on May 15, 2024.

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Dune: Part Two proved the excitement around the world of Arakkis and the plight of Paul Atreides is sky-high. The audience is certainly there for at least one more movie. However, in the meantime, you can soon take your own chances in Frank Herbert’s sci-fi universe with Dune: Awakening. The open-world action MMO will let players explore Dune and all its many dangers. Sandworms, yes, but other factions. At Summer Games Fest 2024, we finally got a story trailer for the game, and it gives us a fascinating look at when (and when not) the game takes place.

Just a heads up, the Dune: Awakening trailer has spoilers for some of the later books and potential movies. Watch with caution if that kind of thing puts you off.

The Dune: Awakening trailer gives us narration from Paul himself, some time after the events of the first book/second movie. Paul explains his visions of various timelines where key events of Dune never happened. One vision shows what if his mother Jessica gave birth to a girl, where Dr. Yueh was caught before his treason, where the Atreides don’t die at the hand of the Harkonnens, or if the Emperor and his Sardaukar army took control of spice production on Arrakis. He then explains how his path was the one path that would prevent the utter destruction of the human race, but that in these alternate Dune: Awakening timelines, we, the players, also forge potential timelines toward salvation.

The future is ours to write, and it seems parts of the Dune: Awakening game will take place off of Arrakis and potentially further into Paul’s life. How much jumping back and forth in timelines we’ll get in the game is not clear. What is clear is that all the visuals look very inspired by the Legendary Pictures films. And who wouldn’t want to live in that desert?

Dune Awakening will be released on PS5, PC and Xbox Series X/S.

Editor’s Note: Nerdist is a subsidiary of Legendary Digital Networks

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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Few Star Wars video games are as beloved as Knights of the Old Republic. The BioWare game first came out in 2003, and was an instant smash. Taking place 4,000 years before the events of the Skywalker Saga, the game took fans back to an era when there were thousands of Sith battling thousands of Jedi Knights. For years, there have been rumors about KOTOR becoming a film, or possibly, a Disney+ series. While doing press for The Acolyte, showrunner Leslye Headland mentioned she’d love to tackle an adaptation of KOTOR, focusing on one character in particular — Kreia from KOTOR II. Here’s what she told Omelete, via IGN:

“I’ve always wanted to explore a live-action version of the Knights of the Old Republic game and Kreia’s character. I think it would be a really interesting story to bring to life.”

In the game, Kreia is a character who is blind, yet Force-sensitive. She has a different kind of relationship with the dark side and light side of the Force than the average Jedi. She was the Jedi Master who trained one of the game’s principal characters, Revan. It was he who turned against the Jedi and founded a new Sith Empire. For this and other reasons, she was exiled from the Jedi Order. Star Wars fans often cite her as one of the best characters in the franchise.

So when will Lucasfilm finally adapt Knights of the Old Republic? The epic war between the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic is one of the most requested live-action projects. And Lucasfilm has teased the possibility of making it for several years. Due to their involvement with Game of Thrones, many believed that Dave Benioff and D. B. Weiss’ now-canceled Star Wars film was based on KOTOR, but it was actually another project. We genuinely believe that if and when Lucasfilm formally announces a live-action Knights of the Old Republic, it would be as big a deal as if they were to announce a Star Wars: Episode X. We’ll just have to wait and see if it ever happens.

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Disney Lorcana: Ursula’s Return has been with us since May, and we’ve all been learning how this latest chapter plays into a building storm in the magical realm of Lorcana. Ursula is nothing if not persistent. She’s also, unfortunately, super powerful. The Disney Lorcana: Ursula’s Return Illumineer’s Trove reflects all things Ursula with its moody color palette and tendrils of a dark smoke. Ravensburger sent an Illumineer’s Trove to Nerdist for review, so let’s take a closer look.

Ursula’s Return Illumineer’s Trove

To review, here’s what comes with the Illumineer’s Trove:

• 8 booster packs
• 1 lore tracker
• 6 dice to track damage
• 6 card dividers
• 1 storage box

You’ll notice this chapter’s Illumineer’s Trove sadly does not bring back the lore booklet that digs into more of the story. Hopefully we see it come back in future sets or in another form.

The MSRP is $49.99. The booster packs alone make it worth it, but then for a little extra, you get themed items to zhuzh your gameplay and storage. These extras have increased in quality with each release. The storage box has splashy art with heroes and villains fighting and emphasizing that Ursula’s Return is about action and stopping Ursula. It’s quality and the kind of box I would find a purpose for if I didn’t need it for all my Lorcana cards.

While we’ve seen dividers and a lore tracker in a previous Illumineer’s Trove, these fit right into the darker theme of this release. Wisps of smoke or a dark mist wrap the lore counter, which shows numbers in a fuchsia color. The dividers are different in that, instead of marking the color of the ink, they’re for organizing your cards by rarity. With their muted colors, these dividers fit right into the overall vibe. And hey, I like them because maybe it will help me finally memorize the rarity symbols.

Finally, my favorite part of the Ursula’s Return Illumineer’s Trove: the damage counter dice. They’re swirled aqua and purple with gold numbers—lovely with just a hint of transparency, which I choose to interpret as light hitting the shallow depths of the ocean. Also, those are just some of my favorite colors. I’m never going to be mad about adding more dice to my collection.

The Disney Lorcana: Ursula’s Return Illumineer’s Trove is available from your local game store and mass market retailers now.

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In this modern world, you may not need to send many letters. Maybe you mail the occasional card to a friend. Perhaps you have that one bill you have to pay with a check. But wouldn’t you like an excuse to send more mail? The US Postal Service has just the thing. The USPS has announced Dungeons & Dragons stamps for 2024. Yes, D&D stamps! It’s a way to level up any envelope. The set of 20 stamps features 10 different designs that revisit decades of Dungeons & Dragons art.

The Dungeons & Dragons stamps celebrate 50 years of the tabletop roleplaying game. It’s only become more and more popular in recent years with its fifth edition. Jumping into D&D is easier than ever (as long as you can find folks to play with) and it’s an excellent way to escape the world and stretch your imagination. We know mage’s spells aren’t actually real, but we like the notion that adding a D&D stamp to any piece of mail gives it magical armor.

Take a closer look at each stamp in the collection in the gallery.

Click To View Gallery

The stamps feature art from:

• The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons
• Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons
• Wizards and Spells: A Young Adventurer’s Guide
• Player’s Handbook
• Dungeon Master’s Guide
• D&D Basic Set
• Beasts and Behemoths: A Young Adventurer’s Guide
• Monster Manual
• D&D Starter Set

It seems very possible we’ll need a set of Dungeons & Dragons stamps to collect and a few sets to use for everything we mail in the next two years. The USPS will release the Dungeons & Dragons stamps during Gen Con, taking place in Indianapolis from August 1-4, 2024. They will be available at Lucas Oil Stadium as part of Gen Con and then the Indianapolis Main Post Office for those without Gen Con passes. Greg Breeding, the art director for the stamps, will be available for autographs at 10am on August 1 following the unveiling of the stamps at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Originally published on December 28, 2023.

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Minecraft is one the best-selling video game ever, but the franchise isn’t content with resting on its sanbox laurels. It’s getting both a live-action movie and an animated Netflix series. Now it’s also moving from the screen into the real world. LEGO’s newest set is a recreation of Minecraft‘s Crafting Table.

The LEGO Minecraft The Crafting Table celebrates ($89.99) the series’ 15th anniversary. This 1,195-piece collectible features detachable biomes, popular mobs, and Easter eggs for fans to find. Designed for adults, it’s many features include “Taiga with a dripstone cave, Plains with a village, Ice Spikes with an igloo, Cherry Grove with an abandoned mineshaft, and the Deep Dark with a lush cave.” It also comes with eight microfigures: Steve, Alex, a skeleton, witch, Creeper, villager, cow, and pig. It also has stickers of iconic in-game phrases. The only thing you can’t craft with it is a faster timeline to get your copy. The LEGO Minecraft set starts shipping August 1, 2024.

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The launch trailer for Dead by Daylight: Dungeons & Dragons takes us into a dark realm with the introduction of Vecna. This popular DnD antagonist’s name has certainly gotten its time in the spotlight in recent years, most notably as the moniker used for the big baddie in Stranger Things 4. (And he will presumably return in the show’s fifth and final season, too.) But, this is the real deal, actual version of Vecna the Lich, who will cause trouble for Aestri Yazar, a new Survivor.

The Dead by Daylight: Dungeons & Dragons trailer gives us a glimpse into this game that is currently available.

Good luck trying to escape and stay alive.

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The Fallout series was a tremendous hit for Prime Video. And so, it’s no surprise another game adaptation is heading to the platform. Next in line is a live-action series adaptation of SEGA’s gaming franchise Yakuza: Like a Dragon titled Like a Dragon: Yakuza. This wildly popular series of games was first released in 2005 and contains a number of entries including spinoffs, remakes, and more. It seems the series even changed English-language names over time, switching from Yakuza to Like a Dragon. (Prime Video has encapsulated both these titles in its series name). And now it can add a live-action series to its deep well. Here’s what we know so far about Like a Dragon: Yakuza.

What Is Prime Video’s Like a Dragon: Yakuza Series About?

A release shares more about what we can expect from Prime Video’s Like a Dragon: Yakuza live-action series. It seems the show will take some inspiration from the first game in the franchise while, of course, making the story its own. Prime Video shares:

Released in 2005 by SEGA, the ‘Yakuza’ game series was positioned as an entertaining game for adults, which found massive fanfare amongst its target audience. The series depicts the lives of fierce yet passionate gangsters and people living in a huge entertainment district, Kamurochō, a fictional district modeled after the violent Shinjuku ward’s Kabukichō, that acts as the backdrop of the gameplay. Like a Dragon: Yakuza showcases modern Japan and the dramatic stories of these intense characters, such as the legendary Kazuma Kiryu, that games in the past have not been able to explore. The much-loved game has captured the attention and hearts of fans not only in Japan but also internationally and will now be adapted, developed, and streamed worldwide on Prime Video. 

Seems like we’re in for a dramatic, action-packed ride that’s sure to thrill us.

When Will Like a Dragon: Yakuza Take Place?

The live-action Like a Dragon: Yakuza series will actually take place in two timelines. A release notes, “In 1995 and 2005, spanning across two time periods, Like a Dragon: Yakuza, an original crime-suspense-action series, follows the life, childhood friends, and repercussions of the decisions of Kazuma Kiryu, a fearsome and peerless Yakuza warrior with a strong sense of justice, duty, and humanity.”

Director Masaharu Take notes, “In 1995, the protagonist is still young, and he makes a lot of mistakes, and these lead to him spending a decade in prison and the consequences he faces when he got out in 2005. I tried to show those differences in the two time periods, and the cast helped to achieve this as well.”

The Cast and Creators of Prime Video’s Like a Dragon: Yakuza

As noted, the critically acclaimed Masaharu Take will direct the series. Like a Dragon: Yakuza will also star Ryoma Takeuchi as its lead character, Kazuma Kiryu. 

Ryoma Takeuchi shared, “I am truly honored to be given the opportunity to play the role of Kazuma Kiryu, a beloved character and the game series. I strongly felt that I was willing to put my life on the line. Audiences will enjoy the show’s human drama and conflict that unfolds around Kazuma Kiryu. Moreover, please take a look Kiryu’s intense fighting scenes with the Dragon tattoo on his back.”

Meanwhile, director Take revealed, “I have poured out my heart, soul, and the experience that I have garnered over 35 years into Like a Dragon: Yakuza. The unbridled passion, talent, and countless hours of efforts from the entire team have helped bring this spectacular story to life in the form of a riveting series that will be launched this year, the year of the dragon. Please look forward to Kazuma Kiryu, played by Ryoma Takeuchi.”

When Will the Live-Action Like a Dragon: Yakuza Series Release on Prime Video?

Like a Dragon: Yakuza will release its first batch of episodes worldwide on October 25, 2024. More episodes will release on November 1, 2024. The series will be six episodes long.

The post LIKE A DRAGON: YAKUZA Is Prime Video’s Next Game Adaptation Series After FALLOUT appeared first on Nerdist.

“Delicious and delectable” aren’t the first things that come to mind when we think of a nuclear wasteland. But that’s because Andrew Rea isn’t a playable character in Fallout. Fortunately he is one of our favorite YouTube chefs, and on his Binging With Babish channel he just whipped up a feast that will have post-apocalyptic ghouls, humans, and mutants alike licking their lips. (Or, at least the area where their lips should still be.)

In Rea’s newest video he serves three Fallout dishes. The wasteland menu includes the Jell-O Cake seen on Prime Video’s show, the Spam-like Cram made from scratch, and Nuka Cola served in a “radioactive” glass.

Are these dishes good enough to make living in a dystopian world worth seem like a tasty proposition? Probably not. The giant cockroaches would ruin our appetite no matter what we had for dinner. But we’d definitely like to eat them in our version of America.

The post Binging With Babish Whips Up a FALLOUT Feast of Jell-O Cake, Nuka Cola, and Cram appeared first on Nerdist.

We know Fallout 5 is in the works, but according to Bethesda’s Todd Howard, it’s not the only one. Howard recently noted, “Games take a good five-ish years. So we’re in plans for future games in this series, and nothing to talk about right now, but we’re always planning.” That’s new Fallout games in the plural. We like that, and we’re not surprised.

Fallout has always been a popular game series, but it received quite a boost from the recent Prime Video Fallout series. With so many new fans interested in the franchise, it’s a great time to make future plans. According to Variety, Fallout 76 just recently crossed 20 million downloads and plays. Howard shared more about the impact of the series, “Depending on the Fallout game, you’re looking at a 4-6x increase in daily players, which is beyond anything I’ve ever seen in my 30 years of doing this,” Howard shared and continued. “Having an event that brings that many people into games that you have and who have never played your games before, that’s a big thing. New players who have never played a game or never played one of our games. It’s a really, really unique moment.”

Fallout season two is officially on the way. So that can only spell more good news for the franchise. Will we see one of the new Fallout games dive into the world of the show? Only time will tell.

The post New FALLOUT Games Are Being Planned—Yes, That’s Plural appeared first on Nerdist.

Fans will have to wait a lot longer for the proposed Dungeons & Dragons live-action series. According to a report in Deadline, Paramount+ has decided not to go forward with the fantasy series. This news comes about a year and change since the streamer announced an eight-episode, straight-to-series order. This Dungeons & Dragons series was intended as a co-production between Hasbro’s eOne and Paramount Pictures. But this may not be the end for this adaptation of the iconic role-playing game. The series is undergoing a creative overhaul, and Hasbro is shopping the series to new potential buyers and streaming platforms.

Dungeons & Dragons has gone through a few iterations as a live-action series in recent years, with none ever going before the cameras. Derek Kolstad, the creator behind John Wick, was developing a Dungeons & Dragons series for Paramount and Hasbro a few years back. This most recent version came from Rawson Marshall Thurber, who wrote the pilot for the Dungeons & Dragons TV series. It was also his plan to direct some episodes. Now, it’s back to the drawing board again. It’s unclear if elements from this recently proposed version will appear in whatever future iteration the project takes. We’ll just have to wait and see.

While the report doesn’t cite any particular reason, it’s possible budgets have played a part. Many cite Paramount’s financial issues as the reason that Star Trek: Legacy never received a greenlit, so it’s possible these issues have also impacted D&D. Others say it’s the underperformance of the excellent Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves at the box office. Yet Dungeons & Dragons is too famous an IP to never pique the interest of some other streamer though. It’s just a question of when, and just what form the series will take. For now, however, it’s swords and shields down.

The post DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Live-Action Series Not Happening in Its Current Form appeared first on Nerdist.

Post-apocalyptic wastelands have never been hotter. Prime Video’s Fallout was not only a huge hit for the studio, it has led to a massive surge of interest in Bethesda’s video games. But unlike its playable counterparts which each feature their own characters and storylines, the show’s second season will stay on the same path. Fallout will continue to follow season one’s main figures when it returns.

Variety‘s new piece about the incredible interest in Fallout video games that has followed the debut of Prime Video’s hit show has some important information about Amazon’s adaptation. Bethesda Game Studios’ Todd Howard said the show won’t continue the video games model of introducing all new characters. Instead the TV series will continue to focus on the stars of season one. That includes its three main characters: Lucy, Maximus, and the Ghoul. But it also means more of Norm and Chet, too.

This news isn’t a surprise. It doesn’t mean we won’t see any new faces, either, just that we’re not moving on from the old ones. But it should ensure this post-apocalyptic wasteland stays hot.

The post FALLOUT Season 2 Will Continue the Stories of Season 1’s Characters appeared first on Nerdist.

Netflix has decided on the building blocks of its next animated show: blocks. The streamer has announced it’s going to play with Mojang Studios in the world’s most successful sandbox video game to bring fans an original Minecraft series. You can take a look at a teaser for this new Netflix Minecraft series below.

The announcement video for Netflix’s Minecraft series is brief, but it’s all the streaming site needs to start building excitement. The animated show (which is different from the previously announced live-action movie) will bring to life the best-selling video game of all time.

While we don’t know much about the Minecraft animated series just yet, we trust Mojang Studios. It wouldn’t be onboard if it didn’t believe Netflix could help deliver the kind of show its loyal customers will want to see.

The fact this news also dropped on the game’s fifteenth anniversary is another sign of how important it is to the studio. But now the real Minecraft series fun starts: putting it together.

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Homelander is bringing his unhinged behavior to a whole new universe. It’s no secret that Homelander is the worst superpowered being in The Boys universe and perhaps in any fictional world. He’s ready to sacrifice whomever to make himself look good and has a very dangerous legion of fans condoning his deplorable actions. We can safely say that he would cause chaos and fight wherever he goes. So it totally makes sense that the Mortal Kombat 1 video game is adding Homelander to the mix. The first look at Homelander in Mortal Kombat 1 reveals that Homelander is ready to face any mortal, supe, or god. 

The clip is a slice of delight for The Boys fans as he begins the clip by drinking milk. We know he has a sorta-secret thirst for getting cow’s (and human’s) milk straight from the source. He goes up against Liu Kang and proceeds to fight him before lasering his head to pieces. Yep, that checks out.

The latest gameplay trailer released by Mortal Kombat 1 reveals even more of Homelander in his Mortal Kombat 1 form.

You can grab the Mortal Kombat 1 Premium edition and add Homelander into the mix when he arrives on June 4.

Originally published on May 6, 2024.

The post MORTAL KOMBAT 1 Clip Shows Homelander Slicing Heads and Sipping Milk appeared first on Nerdist.

LEGO has taken us on some truly fantastical adventures in recent years. We’ve traveled from Middle-earth to the realms of Dungeons & Dragons and beyond. And now, LEGO is bringing us on a highly-anticipated outing. Yes, LEGO’s first The Legend of Zelda set has arrived, and it features a 2-in-1 build of the Great Deku Tree. No matter whether your favorite Zelda game is Ocarina of Time or Breath of the Wild, LEGO has you covered with this set. Let’s take a look at the impeccable LEGO homage to The Legend of Zelda and its iconic Great Deku Tree.

LEGO’s The Legend of Zelda The Great Deku Tree Set is a 2-in-1 Build

Although LEGO is only releasing one The Legend of Zelda piece at this time, fans actually get two different builds in the deal. When building the LEGO set, creators can decide whether they want to bring The Great Deku Tree to life as it was shown during The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time or manifest it in its Breath of the Wild form. Both, of course, are equally beautiful and come with their own unique facets and details.

A release from LEGO about The Legend of Zelda: The Great Deku Tree set notes:

This 2,500-piece set encapsulates the essence of adventure and nostalgia whilst featuring meticulous details. Fans can build a selection of their fondest moments from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time or from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild through building and exploring the depths of the Great Deku Tree.

Here’s what LEGO had to share about the different ways The Great Deku Tree can be built using its pieces.

The LEGO Features of The Great Deku Tree Ocarina of Time Build

If fans decide to build The Great Deku Tree from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, they can expect a slew of delightful references tying their LEGO adventure to the nostalgic game. LEGO reveals that “the Ocarina of Time Great Deku Tree version boasts a captivating mechanism: when activated, its mouth opens, revealing a cleverly designed Skulltula (a spider-like enemy from the games) that descends into its depths.” A chilling twist, to be sure! Who among us has not fallen prey to the Skulltula more than once?

LEGO also notes of this Zelda set, “In the Ocarina of Time version, builders will encounter a lush green foliage-adorned Great Deku Tree. This version includes Link’s House, a pivotal element tied to the Ocarina of Time narrative, adding an extra layer of nostalgia and authenticity to the set.” Link’s house is, of course, strongly tied to many fan’s first memories of The Legend of Zelda.

The LEGO Features of The Great Deku Tree Breath of the Wild Build

Meanwhile, in the Breath of the Wild Great Deku Tree LEGO build, slightly different Zelda adventures await. A release shares, “In the Breath of the Wild version, enthusiasts will marvel at the Great Deku Tree adorned in vibrant pink blossoms, accompanied by the iconic Master Sword pedestal. Notably, this rendition boasts an engaging feature: the ability to animate the tree’s expressive eyebrows and mouth, adding depth to the build.” This interactive feature can be brought to life with a simple press of a lever.

But don’t worry, regardless of whether your LEGO Great Deku tree is in its Ocarina of Time or Breath of the Wild form, you’ll get to enjoy all the set’s many facets. LEGO makes a point of assuring its fans of this. It notes, “It’s worth mentioning that regardless of which version you choose to build, you will have the ability to construct both the Master Sword pedestal and Link’s House as smaller models.”

The Legend of Zelda LEGO Minifigures and Other Buildable Characters

Of course, The Great Deku Tree’s LEGO builds will come with new The Legend of Zelda Minifigures and buildable characters. First up, the set will naturally include LEGO Link and Zelda. These are obvious choices, but we’re glad to see them anyway. But in true LEGO form, The Great Deku Tree will also bring us an assortment of fan-favorite creatures and characters that fans can actually build out of bricks. We love our Minifigures, but there’s something especially satisfying about forming characters by snapping together LEGO pieces in cool ways.

Here are all the Minifigures and buildable characters that The Legend of Zelda: The Great Deku Tree set will include:

The set includes four LEGO minifigures that showcase iconic characters from the series. In the Breath of the Wild version, Princess Zelda and Link are dressed in their recognisable blue attire. As for the Ocarina of Time rendition, you’ll find both Young Link and Link. Additionally, the set includes buildable characters and creatures such as Hestu the Korok (complete with his maracas), several smaller Koroks, Deku Babas, Navi the Fairy, the Deku Sprout, and a Skulltula.

When Will LEGO’s The Legend of Zelda Great Deku Tree Build Release?

LEGO’s first The Legend of Zelda set will release on September 1, 2024. The Great Deku Tree is now available for pre-order. This Zelda LEGO set will cost $299.99.

The post LEGO’s First THE LEGEND OF ZELDA Set Features a 2-in-1 Great Deku Tree Build appeared first on Nerdist.

“We wanted to create a place for Dungeons & Dragons fans to feel seen and special,” explains Dungeons & Dragons: The Twenty-Sided Tavern creator David Carpenter after a particularly rousing rendition of the performance concluded for the evening. Sadly, Carpenter notes, the theater isn’t a place that’s been traditionally associated with fans of this nerdy variety. But for Carpenter and co., that makes no sense. And they’re right. Given an experience as communal and theatrical as Dungeons & Dragons, the theater feels like the perfect next step to take the fantastical world. And that’s where Dungeons & Dragons: The Twenty-Sided Tavern comes in.

We at Nerdist were thrilled to attend an evening of Dungeons & Dragons theater to experience this great meeting of the minds for ourselves. Right away, the excitement among the varied audience was clear. High school-aged kids in wizard’s robes were lining up outside the theater, adults donning elf ears were rolling a mega-dice in the thematically decorated lobby, and folks more mundanely dressed were peppered between them.

It’s clear that The Twenty-Sided Tavern is filling exactly the gap that it spotted from afar. Dungeons & Dragons fans are hungry to take their experience from the tabletop to a room full of like-minded people ready to participate in a game they know and love.

Of course, like Dungeons & Dragons, no two nights of The Twenty-Sided Tavern roll out quite the same. In fact, each performance quite literally depends on the roll of the dice… And on the audience’s inclinations, thanks to a genius system called Gamiotics that allows the audience to make story decisions, participate in challenges, and make their voices heard via their phone browsers. These interactive components really center you in the action and tie you to your fellow man. And just what is the number of ways an evening of The Twenty-Sided Tavern can go? “Unlimited,” Carpenter and fellow creator Sarah Davis Reynolds reveal. To put more of a number on it, “Around 300,000.” That means you’ll have to buy a lot of theater tickets if you want to be a completionist. But that still doesn’t account for the individual decisions an audience makes together.

There are two kinds of audiences, the folks at Twenty-Sided Tavern reveal. Those who are more mechanics-driven and those who just want to have a good time. I was definitely part of a good-time audience, but that didn’t stop the Dungeons & Dragons mechanics from integrating themselves easily into the entire game, I mean, play. Happily, for novices and experts alike, The Twenty-Sided Tavern walks the audience through all the details they might need to know about D&D while keeping everything intricate enough that seasoned Dungeons & Dragons players won’t feel talked down to.

This is not even to speak of the magic of audience participation, which results in you fighting a big bad that’s also known as a “haunting outlandish chinchilla” and sees audience members pulled on stage, or the absolutely gorgeous backdrop of the play. Using an incredible video wall and highlighting the work of many genius artists, the stage believably transforms into literally hundreds of different settings, helped along by additional special effects the DM can add at the drop of the hat. I really cannot underscore enough how lovely the screen is and what a veritable feast of Dungeons & Dragons-inspired art it purveys. But if you can get yourself to the theater to lay your eyes on it, I couldn’t recommend it more.

It would also be remiss not to mention that Dungeons & Dragons: The Twenty-Sided Tavern is rip-roaring funny. The actors/comedians really are at the top of their game, cleverly combining Dungeons & Dragons references with modern nods to the world around us. Notable quips included, “Abercrombie and Leitch,” “Elven Klien,” and “Algar, not Al Gore, that’s someone else!”

Finally, of course, there’s the clear heart of the game. Dungeons & Dragons is all about the friends you make and the characters you grow to love along the way. On our night of attendance, one of our party, Ethel the Grandma, was a huge hit. And, of course, there was a Lothario Bard who was cursed to speak in only five words by the wayward role of a die. A gorgeous kind of camaraderie grew between actors, audience, DM (expertly played by DAGL, and the game. It was the experience of playing Dungeons & Dragons, but it was magnified and celebrated under the spotlight. Truly a wonder to behold.

“Going to Comic-Con felt like Christmas,” Carpenter noted to us, speaking of the wonderful sense of belonging that fans feel at large nerdy events. And we thought it could be Christmas every day.” Indeed, attending Dungeons & Dragons: The Twenty-Sided Tavern feels like being a part of a massive celebration. The experience creates a wonderful evening dedicated to the magic, beauty, power, and connection that fans create when given the right space to do so. And we could not more highly encourage each of you to make a nerdy pilgrimage to attend.

Dungeons & Dragons: The Twenty-Sided Tavern is now playing in New York City’s Stage 42. You can purchase your tickets here.

⭐ (5 of 5)

The post THE TWENTY-SIDED TAVERN Creates a Space for DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Fans at the Theater appeared first on Nerdist.

The casting director for HBO’s The Last of Us television adaptation did a pretty masterful job of assembling the right people to assay the game’s various characters. Pedro Pascal was Emmy nominated for his portrayal of Joel, even. Many of the actors from the game appeared in the series playing other roles. Most prominently these include game-Ellie Ashley Johnson playing Ellie’s mom, and game-Joel Troy Baker as cannibal James. For season one, only Merle Dandridge as Marlene played her exact game character. Season two will add Jeffrey Wright to that list.

According to Variety, Oscar nominee Wright will play Isaac in the TV series’ second season. He also played Isaac in the controversial 2020 video game, The Last of Us Part II. The character is “the quietly powerful leader of a large militia group who sought liberty but instead has become mired in an endless war against a surprisingly resourceful enemy.”

When you have an actor of Wright’s calibre both familiar with the property and the character, it’s a no-brainer to try to bring them aboard. We’re even more psyched now for The Last of Us to return in 2025.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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One of the big talking points surrounding Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is that George Miller and his co-writers had so much material for Mad Max: Fury Road, in the form of backstories and character biographies, that all of Furiosa was written before Fury Road even filmed. This is, naturally, incredibly impressive. What’s more impressive is that it’s true, and we have quantifiable evidence. In 2015, Avalanche Studios and Warner Bros. Interactive released a video game of Mad Max with seemingly tenuous connections to Fury Road. However, a ton of that material actually came from the full Furiosa bible.

The game Mad Max takes place, it would seem, just before the events of Fury Road. It begins with Max (a.k.a. you, the player) attacked by War Boys and the Interceptor stolen. Max has a fight with an all-powerful warlord who runs Gas Town. Despite Max lodging a chainsaw in his head, the war lord survives. Max then has to build a new car with the help of the Blackfinger (master mechanic) named Chumbucket.

I’ve played the game all the way through four times, the most recent of which in the past few weeks after seeing an early screening of Furiosa. I knew the game’s story came from some of Miller’s notes, but I didn’t expect there to be so many characters and events from the game in Furiosa. When seen in isolation, it feels like the game is unrelated other than name and a few basic concepts. After Furiosa, it feels like Mad Max the game is the prequel to Fury Road from Max’s point of view after all.

Gastown

First main point: Gastown is the end goal location of the game. As you and Chumbucket collect scrap throughout the dunes and wastelands, you know you eventually need to make it to Gastown in order to retrieve your Interceptor. Chumbucket calls Max “Saint” and refers to the car you build as the “Magnum Opus,” but for Max, it’s just a car for right now.

Gastown is one of the discussed locations in Fury Road, but it’s a major location in Furiosa. Dr. Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) and biker gang besiege Gastown and take it over, killing Immortan Joe’s brother, the former ruler of the refinery, in the process. The Gastown in Furiosa looks a great deal like the location in the game, including the gates and various winding roads surrounding the refinery itself.

Scrotus

The main villain of the Mad Max gang is Scabrous Scrotus, who we learn in the game is one of Immortan Joe’s sons. In Mad Max: Fury Road we only see Rictus Erectus and Corpus Colossus, so you can imagine Scrotus is just a character made up for the game. But no! In Furiosa, while we don’t see Corpus Colossus, we do see Scrotus alongside Rictus. Scrotus here is played by Josh Helman, who played War Boy Slit in Fury Road.

Scrotus in the film is a lot different in appearance and attitude than he is in the game. The film has him slightly smarter and wilier than his hulking, dimwitted brother Rictus. The game’s Scrotus is basically a Rictus clone. Another sub-boss, Stank Gum, seems a bit more like the Scrotus of the movie. That was nearly 10 years ago so maybe the original idea for Scrotus was more Rictus-like. Things can change.

Really, in the game, you only see Scrotus for one scene at the beginning and the final boss fight. However, his name and influence are everywhere. All the War Boys and War Rigs Max destroys in the game are Scrotus’. It’s clear, after the events of Furiosa, Scrotus got a chance to rule Gas Town. By the time of Fury Road, it’s Joe’s acolyte the People Eater running it. Scrotus dies at the end of the game, which explains why he’s nowhere to be found in Fury Road.

Chumbucket

Chumbucket is the player’s sidekick character in the game. He talks a lot (like a LOT) and he both fixes your car on the fly and fires the harpoon during car combat. Chumbucket offsets Max’s more stoic demeanor really nicely in the game, and he has a pretty sad arc. We learn from his dialogue that he used to be a Blackfinger for Gas Town but left after “seeing the light” of the Angel Combustion.

In Furiosa, toward the end, Furiosa builds herself a prosthetic arm and wants a vehicle to go after Dementus. She asks if anyone has a car, though non-War Party people in the Citadel shouldn’t have one. Suddenly, a little guy says he’s building a car and reveals a shabby little buggy that looks to be falling apart.

I wasn’t sure, but I had an interesting feeling. I checked the end credits and sure enough, an actor has the credit “Chumbucket,” and it was indeed that character. Thrilling is the only word for this.

Dr. Dementus

Once again, spoiler warning for Furiosa, but Dementus does not last until Fury Road. He’s Furiosa’s nemesis, not Max’s. As such, I didn’t think I’d find Dementus anywhere else. However, we do get a reference to him in the game, which I only realized on my post-screening playthrough.

Throughout the game, you get little quests from various NPCs that take you out in the wasteland. These often include finding vehicles or supplies or what have you. One such quest—given to Max via Hope, the closest thing the game has to a heroine—takes Max out to the furthest south part of the map. She tells Max that he’ll find a car designed to honor one of the Biker Lords of Old. She mentions the name “Dr. D,” and when you find the car, it has a motorcycle on the roof with a skeleton riding. The name of the car is “Demented Chariot.”

This was the coolest Easter Egg ever for me. It’s such a minor, inessential part of the game’s story, and even that utilizes lore from Miller’s universe bible. Dementus in the movie literally rides a chariot made of motorcycles. And sure enough, that is the exact car Dementus drives toward the end of Furiosa. Finding this car, in a video game, nine years before they’d even made the movie, felt amazing.

Mad Max isn’t the best video game in the world, but it’s one I return to time and again. Now knowing it really is part of the greater story, I encourage others to go check it out. Or play it again!

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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It’s no secret that we at Nerdist are huge fans of LEGO. Not only does LEGO allow builders of all ages to bring to life fantastical scenes, but the ingenuity that goes into every set design is not only inspiring, but spectacular. Some might say, spacetacular. LEGO’s latest frontier involves a slew of space sets designed to take astronauts of all kinds on new adventures. To celebrate their space-inspired collection, LEGO brought to life spaceship designs from children around the world in both LEGO and drone form. And the results were out of this world.

A release shares more about LEGO’s space-inclined adventures:

The LEGO Group asked kids across the world to share their visions of how they would like to explore the cosmos. With the help of Associate Master Builder at LEGO House, Didac Perez Soriano, a selection of these spacecrafts were reimagined in LEGO bricks. The LEGO Group then showcased the future of space travel according to a group of young budding space explorers – Lotty (10, UK), Sebastian (10, Denmark), Jace (13, Hong Kong SAR, China), Jillian (7, USA), Jordan (12, USA) and Orla (6, UK) – by blasting their unique designs, playfully coined Unidentified Playing Objects (UPOs), over the New York City skyline.

Taking over the most photographed skyline of all time, the show included a space bed UPO powered by butterfly wings complete with a snack drawer for long journeys, a turtle spaceship that walks on the moon, a dog spaceship with 360° windows to see all that space has to offer, and a dinosaur ship with a jetpack, among others.

You can check out some of the drones and their counterparts in action below. We especially love this first one from a child in Denmark, which looks like it celebrates One Piece and Hannibal at once.

As a first-hand witness to this incredible LEGO space drone show, I can attest that it was absolutely flooring. LEGO even ordered the full moon, to boot!

While LEGO’s space sets don’t include a drone show every time, they do bring that unique LEGO magic! You can peruse all the available sets below and snag them at LEGO’s official website. One of our very favorites is the Mars Space Base and Rocket (a cat on the moon? It cannot get better than that). But we also love The Milky Way Galaxy LEGO space build and the incredibly cool Space Astronaut Creator set.

Click To View Gallery

We may not all be able to take off into orbit, but we can all bring the galaxy to our fingertips with these incredible LEGO space builds.

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For an entire generation, Mark Hamill simply is the Joker. He voiced the Clown Prince of Crime first in Batman: The Animated Series, continuing the role in a variety of projects over the decades. But with the death of Batman actor Kevin Conroy, it looked like Hamill would retire his Joker. Although that still seems to be the case, both Hamill and Conroy got to play their characters at least one more time. Via IGN, we’ve learned Warner Bros. and Player First Games will include Hamill’s Joker in MultiVersus. They even made a trailer showcasing Hamill’s return, which you can watch right here:

In the teaser, the Joker says “Wait till they get a load of me.” This is a reference to yet another iconic Joker from popular culture. It’s a rather famous line spoken by Jack Nicholson’s version in Tim Burton’s Batman. We see other Warner Bros. characters who will be a part of MultiVersus in the trailer aside from Batman and Joker. There’s Arya Stark from Game of Thrones, Bugs Bunny, and Shaggy from Scooby-Doo. Those are just some of the famous characters from the Warner Bros. library who appear in MultiVersus.

In a gameplay trailer below, you can also check out more of Mark Hamill’s performance and the Joker’s MultiVersus moves.

After Kevin Conroy passed away in 2002, Hamill announced he would no longer play the Joker. He said, “Without Batman, there is no punchline.” Luckily, he had a few unannounced performances together with Conroy recorded and ready to go. One is MultiVersus, and the other appears to be the third part of the Crisis on Infinite Earths animated trilogy. The recent trailer for Crisis showed Batman and Joker fighting it out in their classic Batman: The Animated Series looks. That project is almost certainly their last one together, and should be something special for the fans.

MultiVersus launches for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X | S for free on May 28. This will include full cross-play and cross-platform support. You can check out some of the new features the game has to offer here. Hint: Joker will be joined by Jason Voorhees.

Originally published on May 9, 2024.

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The upcoming Modern Horizons 3 release will have many Magic: The Gathering fans itching to know more. But happily, as summer approaches, we’re getting a ton of new information to consider about this next big release. Recently, we learned a lot of interesting information about Modern Horizons 3, including its 40 returning mechanics, Commander Deck options, and more. Let’s take a look at some of what’s being teased for avid Magic gamers.

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Reveals 40 Returning Mechanics

Hold onto your hats, players. Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 is bringing back 40 mechanics to the game. We’ve highlighted some of them below and listed the rest. 40 shouldn’t be too many to remember, should it?

Returning Mechanics:

• Energy: Energy counters can be used to pay the costs of activated and triggered abilities that require energy as payment.
• Bestow: When a player has a card with bestow in their hand, they can either choose to cast it normally for its mana cost or cast it for its bestow cost. A creature with bestow gives you the option to cast it as an Aura that enchants a creature, granting the enchanted creature the power, toughness, and abilities of the creature with bestow. 
• Modify: Several cards in the set refer to modified creatures. A creature you control is modified if it has one or more counters on it, if it’s equipped, and/or if it’s enchanted by an aura.

The full list of Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 includes: dapt, Annihilator, Affinity, Afterlife, Ascend, Bestow, Collect Evidence, Connive, Cycling, Devoid, Devotion, Dredge, Emerge, Energy, Entwine, Escalate, Eternalize, Evoke, Evolve, Extort, Fabricate, Flashback, Kicker, Kindred, Living Weapon, Madness, Mentor, Modified, Morbid, Outlast, Overload, Proliferate, Prototype, Flashback, Reconfigure, Reinforce, Shield Counters, Spelunking, Storm, Support, Umbra Armor, and Unearth.

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Will Have Four Commander Decks

In addition to Collector boosters and Play boosters, Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 will have four different Commander Decks. Here’s what we know about them.

The Modern Horizons 3 Commander Decks celebrate the powerful mechanics and themes found across the set, including:

• “Tricky Terrain,” a green-blue deck that ramps lands for value
•  “Graveyard Overdrive,” a black-red-green deck focused on graveyard recursion
•  “Creative Energy,” a blue-red-white deck that uses energy for powerful payoffs
• “Eldrazi Incursion, a five-color Eldrazi deck that devours all opposition

The Collector’s Edition of these Commander Decks “feature an exclusive brand-new Ripple Foil treatment on all 100 cards, and each deck includes two Borderless Profile versions of legendary creatures.”

You can have a look at some Commander Face Cards below, as well.

Click To View Gallery

Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 Release Dates, Pre-Order Links, and More

In addition to all of the above, Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 teases a deep dive into familiar and expanding lore. Emrakul, Ulamog and Kozilek will all return in this game. And a release notes that fans will be able to dive into origin stories of Magic’s “most iconic characters.” As an example, “Planeswalker Tamiyo transforms from an Inquisitive Student to a Seasoned Scholar, with all new abilities and strategies to use.”

Additionally, 42 reprints will come to the Modern format for the very first time, these include the cycle of Medallions, Urza’s Incubator, and others. Additionally, Retro Frame Cards appear as a tribute to Magic‘s earliest form.

You can also keep track of all newly released Modern Horizons 3 Magic cards here.

Important Dates and Links

When will Magic: The Gathering Modern Horizons 3 release? Here are some dates for you:

• Prerelease: June 7 
• MTG Arena Launch: June 11 
• Global Tabletop Launch: June 14

You can pre-order your cards from Amazon here and from your local store here.

The post MODERN HORIZONS 3 Teases 40 Returning MTG Mechanics and More appeared first on Nerdist.

Everyone wants a piece of the Fallout pie since the massive success of Prime Video’s Fallout series. So, we’re not surprised to see a Fallout x Fortnite collaboration come to life. Fortnite recently tweeted about the collaboration teasing fans of both properties. But we’ll have to see what exactly the crossover entails.

There are definitely hints of power armor in this Fallout x Fortnite collaboration, so the Brotherhood is represented. But we’d most like to see The Ghoul come to life. It’s too early to tell if this is a more Fallout series-based collaboration, a games collaboration, or both.

We’ll keep our eyes out for more on this fun meeting of the minds. We bet we’ll see Vault Boy giving us a Fortnite thumb’s-up sooner rather than later.

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Rockstar Games announced a trailer reveal event for Grand Theft Auto VI, the next installment in the Grand Theft Auto series, for December 5. However, someone on X leaked it a day early. Given that, Rockstar let go of its December 5 launch. The game publisher officially released the GTA VI trailer a day early, saying simply, “Our trailer has leaked so please watch the real thing on YouTube.” The GTA VI trailer confirms two important things. Grand Theft Auto will return to Vice City, and GTA VI will arrive in 2025. Recently, that release window was also narrowed to fall of 2025.

Watch the sun-soaked, alligator-filled action here:

Vice City appeared back in the fourth entry in the Grand Theft Auto series. Based on Miami, that story followed a mobster and how he gained power with a criminal empire. GTA VI‘s main character is Lucia. It’s the game series’ first female protagonist in its 20+ year history. The trailer starts with Lucia in prison, but later she’s out and doing crime. It seems she’s pulling someone else into her crimes, saying they need to be a team and stick together.

“Grand Theft Auto VI continues our efforts to push the limits of what’s possible in highly immersive, story-driven open-world experiences,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games said in a release. “We’re thrilled to be able to share this new vision with players everywhere.”

We’re sure it’s going to work out fine. We won’t worry about it too much. Instead, we’ll just be excited that new Grand Theft Auto is finally on the way after a 10-year break.

Originally published on December 4, 2023.

The post Rockstar Shares GRAND THEFT AUTO VI Trailer and Sets Release Window appeared first on Nerdist.

The massive box office success of the video game adaptation Five Nights at Freddy’s last Halloween took everyone by surprise. Though to many, this adaptation of a beloved game has been years in coming. So of course, a Five Nights at Freddy’s sequel is in play. We may get it soon, too. Star Josh Hutcherson, while speaking to Variety, said “I know they’re in the process right now of nailing down the story, and they want to get going as soon as possible.” He added that his The Hunger Games co-star Jennifer Lawrence even texted him after the film’s big success. She told him “My movie’s #1 on Netflix, and yours is #1 at the box office! Let’s go!” This news was recently confirmed at CinemaCon, where Universal revealed the Five Nights at Freddy’s sequel was officially a go.

So, just how soon is soon? Universal and Blumhouse have confirmed the Five Night’s at Freddy’s sequel will have a release date of December 2, 2025. If this seems too soon, remember it’s not uncommon for big horror franchise films. At its peak, the Saw franchise was putting out a movie once a year. During their ’80s heyday, the Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street franchises dropped a movie a year too. For a Five Nights at Freddy’s sequel to shoot in mere months makes sense. That could mean a release around Halloween 2024.

In true Blumhouse fashion, the studio made Five Nights at Freddy’s for only $20 million dollars, and its box office gross finished out at $300 million worldwide. Even more amazing is that the movie made so much at the domestic box office even though it also streamed on Peacock. The fanbase really wanted the theatrical experience for this one. The Blumhouse way has always been about making low-budget horror and getting huge returns on their investments. And Five Nights at Freddy’s is one of their biggest successes in this regard.

Originally published on January 8, 2024.

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If there’s one thing users of Tarot or Oracle decks know, it’s that you can never have just one. The most recent temptation for your collection comes from Magic: The Gathering. Already known for making gorgeous cards, it’s not surprising that a Magic: The Gathering Oracle Deck is simply divine. And not only is it divine, but it can also help you divine your future path or quest. Combining imagery and lore from Magic‘s Greek-inspired plane Theros with the frame of an Oracle deck, the Magic: The Gathering Oracle Deck will help users find the answers they seek in a stylish and mythical way. To tease a little bit of what’s inside, we at Nerdist are pleased to exclusively reveal some of the gorgeous cart art you’ll find within this Magic: The Gathering Oracle deck… And the meaning these cards will hold if they turn up in your reading.

Explore the Art of These Magic: The Gathering Oracle Cards and Learn Their True Meaning

Web of Drama: Arasta of the Endless Web

The first Magic: The Gathering Oracle Deck card art we can reveal is for the card “Web of Drama: Arasta of the Endless Web.” In Magic‘s world, Arasta was a dryad, a beautiful nymph, who was tricked into becoming a monstrous spider. If Arasta turns up in your reading, she’s urging you to find some perspective and not get too caught up in the webs of drama around you.

You can take a closer look at the art from this Magic: The Gathering Oracle card below.

Transitions: Athreos

Next up is the art and card meaning from the Magic: The Gathering Oracle card “Transitions: Athreos.” If Athreos turns up while you’re using your Magic: The Gathering Oracle Deck, he’s here to tell you that transitions are inevitable in life. Though they can be difficult, the choices we make help us to thrive when they are happening. Athreos represents passing between worlds in Magic: The Gathering‘s universe. His ability to look into your soul reminds you that, sometimes, a little soul searching is a good thing.

Take a closer look at the “Transitions: Athreos” Magic: The Gathering Oracle card below.

Face Your Fear: Polukranos

Oracle decks can go very deep with their readings, and the Magic: The Gathering Oracle Deck is no different. The card “Face Your Fear: Polukranos” is not a light-hearted one, but it is incredibly important. Like Magic: The Gathering‘s Polukranos, who faces a legendary Hydra in his Oracle card art, we all face fear in our lives. When fear finds us, we can become frozen, but we can also prevail. At times, fear is just a shadow on the wall. If you draw this card from the Magic: The Gathering Oracle Deck, remember to take stock of what you should really be afraid of and what lessons you can learn from your fear.

Check out this beautiful Magic: The Gathering Oracle card below.

Check Out Even More Art From the Magic: The Gathering Oracle Deck

In addition to the above, we are also happy to share art for two more cards from the Magic: The Gathering Oracle Deck. However, to unlock their meanings, you’ll need to get a copy of the deck yourself. These cards are “Focus: Chimera,” and “Resourcefulness: Phenax.” Looking at the art of these the Magic: The Gathering Oracle Deck cards, we can glean a little bit about what they might mean for a seeker. But we’ll leave you to your own interpretations.

The Magic: The Gathering Oracle Deck‘s Release Date, Price, and More

If you’re ready to have a full reading using the Magic: The Gathering Oracle Deck, here’s how you can add it to your deck hoard. The Magic: The Gathering Oracle Deck releases on May 21, 2024, but you can pre-order it today for $24.99.

Its official description shares:

From the team behind The Dungeons & Dragons Tarot Deck comes this officially licensed oracle deck comprising 52 all-new illustrations that celebrate the characters, creatures, and lore of the world’s largest trading card game. Inspired by Theros, the plane where monsters prevail, mortals endure, and heroes ascend, this Magic: The Gathering-themed deck features exclusive art of Jace, the Planeswalker; Hythonia, the legendary gorgon; and well-known creatures such as the Pegasus, Chimera, Sirens, and more.

With stunning illustrations, The Magic: The Gathering Oracle Deck also features a guidebook that introduces readers to the practice of oracle cards, including instructions on how to use and interpret the cards and descriptions of each card image. Both denizens of Theros and practitioners of oracle cards hold belief as a powerful tool that we can use to create our reality, and with this deck you’ll be inspired to explore new realms of meaning.

Happy divining!

The post Let the Gorgeous Card Art From MAGIC: THE GATHERING’s Oracle Deck Divine Your Future appeared first on Nerdist.

Chris Pratt was recently asked what we might expect in the Super Mario Bros. 2 movie. But he didn’t limit his answer to just a second movie. No, Pratt is imagining a whole “Nintendo Cinematic Universe” on the horizon. Here’s what the actor had to say to ScreenRant:

Oh, man! There’s so much to explore. There are decades worth of [games] to explore, not only with Mario and Peach and Donkey Kong and Luigi and Bowser and Yoshi; that was teased at the end. But it just gets me so excited. I was such a Nintendo head growing up, so just thinking about how everything from Legend of Zelda to the entire Nintendo cinematic universe could be created and what that could look like for all of these characters that I love? I mean, there’s really no limit. We could talk about it for hours.

Could we see Zelda and Link in Super Maro Bros. 2? Probably not yet, but it sure sounds like it’ll be an option sooner rather than later. With a live-action The Legend of Zelda movie on the horizon, why not an animated one too? Nintendo has successfully brought its gaming universe to life with many crossovers, so it seems like a Nintendo Cinematic Universe is definitely in the cards.

The post Chris Pratt Teases a ‘Nintendo Cinematic Universe’ on the Horizon appeared first on Nerdist.

Our favorite wickedly good games are expanding in 2024. Ravensburger announced two new games will join its Villainous line in 2024. These new 2024 releases will include a Disney Villainous expandalone game and a Star Wars Villainous expandalone game. The franchise will also evolve its expandalone format this year across its various arms. These, of course, include the Disney Villainous, Star Wars Villainous, and Marvel Villainous games. Expandalone sets will now feature “two characters at a more affordable price point” helping to welcome new players into the fold. But long-time fans can rest easy because these expandalone games have a few surprises in store for everyone. Let’s take a look at the new Disney and Star Wars Villainous games coming our way in 2024.

New Star War Villainous: Revenge at Last ​Expandalone Game Coming in Summer 2024

We’re heading back into the dark side of Star Wars for continued exploration of the galactic villain-verse. Ravensburger has released that the new Star Wars Villainous expandalone game, Star Wars ​Villainous: Revenge at Last, will feature two fan-favorite villains. Yes, the iconic Darth Maul and Captain Phasma are heading to Star Wars Villainous this year. That gives us absolute chills, in a good way. This will be the first first two-player expandalone game in the Star Wars​ ​Villainous​​ universe, but we’re sure more new sets will follow.

Of course, Darth Maul and Captain Phasma are more than enough. Two of our all time favorite Star Wars villains.

A release shares, “In the Star Wars ​Villainous: Revenge at Last game​, players will race to fulfill the dark destinies never achieved by either Darth Maul or Captain Phasma, two iconic villains from the ​Star Wars​ galaxy, each villain offers a “Villain Deck” of cards with a unique and immersive gameplay style inspired by that character’s motivations and stories throughout ​Star Wars ​media. Players must channel their villain’s “Ambition,” strategic thinking and luck to be the first to achieve their sinister objective. The Star Wars ​Villainous​ game also includes game mechanics unique to the ​Star Wars ​galaxy, such as a currency for Force wielders and rules for iconic ships and transports. Additional gameplay details will be revealed in June alongside the game’s pre-order.”

Darth Maul and Captain Phasma Will Make Star Wars Villainous: Revenge at Last the Most Cutthroat Game Yet

We can’t wait to see what new secrets this Star Wars Villainous expandalone game holds. But know this one will be cutthroat.  Lysa Penrose, Head of New Games Marketing at Ravensburger shares, “The ​Star Wars​ galaxy is filled with rich, nuanced, dark, tragic, wonderful stories, especially when it comes to ​fan-favorite ​villains​ like​ ​​​​Darth Maul. When it comes to celebrating the ​​​d​ark ​s​ide of the Force, we knew we had to tell the story of Darth Maul through Villainous’ immersive gameplay. How does one capture that in a deck of cards? Fans should look forward to our team’s custom art of iconic moments and an Objective more ruthless than ever before.” Dun, dun, dun. Of course, we know Captain Phasma, played by Gwendoline Christie in the live-action Star Wars movies, does not pull any punches either.

When Will Star Wars Villainous: Revenge at Last Release?

But when will we be able to get our hands on this new Star Wars Villainous expandalone game? Star Wars ​Villainous: Revenge at Last will be available for pre-order on June 24, 2024, and the new game will go on sale ​​​​​​at Target beginning July 21, 2024. It will sell for the reduced Villainous expandalone price of $19.99 USD/$29.99 CAD.

Sounds like it will be a chilling time. We’d better cuddle our favorite Loth-cat as we wait for battle.

Disney Villainous: Sugar and Spite

Sugar and spite and everything sneaky, that’s what Disney villains are made of. The Disney Villainous: Sugar and Spite expandalone game will focus on two iconic foes, King Candy and Shere Khan. A release shares about the game:

Disney Villainous: Sugar and Spite, featuring King Candy from Disney’s “Wreck-It Ralph” and Shere Khan from Disney’s “The Jungle Book,” will become the franchise’s newest expandalone when it debuts in June. A special edition of the game, featuring a candy bar-themed packaging sleeve and exclusive finish on King Candy’s mover, will be available exclusively at Target.

Who doesn’t love a good candy bar theme? We bet even tigers love chocolate. Don’t they? In any case, we can expect this duo to bring delightful menace to this Villainous game. They form a bit of an odd couple, but that feels like part of the fun. A release further shares about the Disney Villainous: Sugar and Spite and its new two-player expandalone format:

The first game to be released in the new, two-player expandalone format, Disney Villainous: Sugar and Spiteintroduces new Villain Objectives and mechanics to excite both new and first-time players. The heart of Disney Villainous is simple: Move your Villain to a new location on their Realm board and take the actions available at that location. However, King Candy’s Realm introduces the Sugar Rush Speedway, a racetrack of actions along which the King Candy mover – inspired by the character’s racecar – travels. Players can move King Candy one to four action spaces on each turn, allowing unprecedented flexibility and power in action selection. Then, the player can use the action on which they land, the one before and the one after. 

To win the game, players who choose King Candy must successfully attach a Glitch to Vanellope von Schweetz and then beat her in a Sugar Rush Race on the Sugar Rush Speedway. Conversely, players who choose Shere Khan must work to clear their Realm of fire and defeat Mowgli to prove the wicked Bengal tiger is still King of the Jungle. Just as in Disney’s The Jungle Book film, Shere Khan’s ally Kaa the Snake stands out in gameplay.

Sounds like exciting adventures lay in wait. Disney Villainous: Sugar and Spite is now available for pre-order at Target. The new game will release in-stores on June 9.

This expandalone game will also cost the new, cheaper price of $19.99 USD/$29.99 CAD.

Other Villainous Game Releases

In addition to the new Villainous expandalone games arriving in 2024, Ravensburger is also planning a wide release for its Disney Villainous: Introduction to Evil game. This game is meant to help new players understand the world of the game and get started playing.

Ravensburger had this to say about the re-release of Introduction to Evil:

First released in 2023 as a limited Disney100 offering, the game will be available nationwide in August at mass retailers and hobby stores. Introduction to Evil has been refreshed with video resources and streamlined gameplay designed to be welcoming for beginners. It includes a lower price point ($29.99 USD/$39.99 CAD) and a refreshed box, and it reintroduces some of the franchise’s first Disney Villains – Maleficent, Captain Hook, Ursula, and Prince John. The changes incorporate fan feedback and the Ravensburger team’s learnings from developing the game for over five years.

So, if you’ve been waiting to play, 2024 is your time to jump right in. We can’t wait to see what other surprises these games have in store for us this year. Who doesn’t like to dabble in villainy, after all?

Originally published on January 4, 2024.

The post STAR WARS VILLAINOUS Expandalone Game Offers Revenge to Darth Maul and Phasma appeared first on Nerdist.

From many villainous Star Wars excitements to Buttery-er Ritz Crackers to a Dragon Ball theme park coming soon to the announcement of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 3, a new Jurassic World animated series, and more; here are some of our favorite odds and ends from the entertainment world.

• Buttery-er Ritz Crackers Want You to Win a Golden Bar of Butter
• Camp Cretaceous Sequel Series, Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, Releasing in May
• Denis Villeneuve to Reportedly Helm Nuclear War: A Scenario Adaptation with Legendary Pictures
• The Poohniverse‘s Next Entry Bambi: The Reckoning Shares Teaser Trailer
• Make Yourself Up Like a Rocking Zombie with a Dreamy Corpse Paint Collection from Liquid Death x e.l.f.
• Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 3 Is Confirmed
• Star Wars: Thrawn Collection From Heroes & Villains Has Arrived
• A Dragon Ball Theme Park Is On the Way
• New Marvel Game, Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, Showcases Captain America, Black Panther, and More
• Strange Way of Life Is Heading to Netflix
• Godzilla Became Police Chief for a day in Tokyo
• Michael Rosenbaum Is Still Thinking About That Smallville Animated Series
• D&D Converse Are Coming
• David Schwimmer Will Star in Season Two of the Goosebumps Anthology Series
• Star Wars Lit Up the Empire State Building

Buttery-er Ritz Crackers Want You to Win a Golden Bar of Butter

Could Ritz Crackers be any more delicious? We would have said no! But new Buttery-er Ritz Crackers want to prove us wrong. A release shares, “The RITZ Buttery-er Crackers capture the buttery flavor that fans know and love, elevating the flaky and irresistible crackers with an extra boost of decadence in every bite.”

Not to mention, these delicious snacks come with a chance to win a butter bar made of gold.  Mayte Killeen, RITZ Senior Brand Manager shares, “The RITZ brand has become synonymous with golden buttery flavor… With the new limited-edition Buttery-er Crackers we’re taking it to the next level for our buttery-flavor loving fans by offering one lucky winner the ultimate prize of a 24-karat gold bar in the shape of a traditional stick of butter, all in homage to the extra buttery flavor they know and love.”

Yum! To win this gold butter bar worth $100,000, “fans can showcase their Buttery-er selves by creating a TikTok video using the Live Buttery-er TikTok effect created by RITZ brand starting May 1^st at 12:00 a.m. ET and ending May 20^th, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. ET. To enter, fans should post their video to TikTok and in the caption tag @theritzcrackersofficial and include the hashtags #livebutteryer and #RITZcontest. There is also a mail-in, alternative entry method.* One lucky winner will receive the coveted butter-inspired 24-karat solid RITZ-branded gold bar, because RITZ brand is *extra* like that!”

We love it! The more butter the better!

Camp Cretaceous Sequel Series, Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, Releasing in May

If you love Camp Cretaceous or any part of the Jurassic World universe, it’s time to get ready for more dino fun. Jurassic World: Chaos Theory is a new Netflix series that picks up six years after the events of Camp Cretaceous to continue the story of “The Nublar Six” and, of course, everyone’s favorite dinosaurs. The series will arrive on May 24.

You can check out the Jurassic World: Chaos Theory teaser trailer and synopsis below.

Jurassic World: Chaos Theory‘s synopsis shares:

Set six years after the events at Camp Cretaceous, members of “The Nublar Six” are struggling to find their footing off the islands, navigating a world now filled with dinosaurs and people who want to hurt them. Reunited in the wake of a tragedy, the group comes together only to find themselves on the run and catapulted into a global adventure to unravel a conspiracy that threatens dinosaur and humankind alike and finally learn the truth about what happened to one of their own.

For more Jurassic World fun, check out what we know about the new live-action movie.

Denis Villeneuve to Reportedly Helm Nuclear War: A Scenario Adaptation with Legendary Pictures

Reportedly, Denis Villeneuve and Legendary Pictures are teaming up again after the success of the Dune movies. This time, Villeneuve will helm an adaptation of the non-fiction book, Nuclear War: A Scenario. Deadline notes, “The book explores a ticking-clock scenario about what would happen in the event of a nuclear war, based on dozens of exclusive new interviews with military and civilian experts who built the weapons and have been privy to the response plans and have been responsible for those decisions should they need to be made.”

The Poohniverse‘s Next Entry Bambi: The Reckoning Shares Teaser Trailer

Strap in for the next horror retelling of a childhood favorite. Bambi is now a vicious killing machine in the trailer for Bambi: The Reckoning, the next movie in the Poohniverse which also contains Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey.

The synopsis shares, “We follow Xana (Roxanne McKee) and her son Benji (Tom Mulheron) who find themselves in a car wreck and soon hunted down by the vicious killing machine, Bambi.”

Learn more about the Poohniverse‘s plans, here:

Make Yourself Up Like a Rocking Zombie with a Dreamy Corpse Paint Collection from Liquid Death x e.l.f Cosmetics

It’s the age of the Goth Ghoul. And Liquid Death and e.l.f. cosmetics have collaborated to help you slay your look! (It even involves a keepsake coffin!) The official description shares, “It’s the new makeup trend everyone’s living for—and it’s only available from e.l.f. and Liquid Death. Slay the viral corpse paint look with this limited-edition, five-piece kit.”

Liquid Death even released a hilariously on-point ad for the collaboration, which aims to replicate retro-informercials hilariously. (And totally succeeds!)

The kit includes a “Limited-edition, 5-piece makeup set includes Matte Magic Mist & Set, O FACE Satin Lipstick, No Budge Cream Eyeshadow, H2O Proof Eyeliner Pen and Putty Applicator in drop-dead gorgeous packaging.”

Click To View Gallery

This will help you create drop-dead gore-geous looks. We adore it. The vibe here honestly reminds us of Nerdist favorite Lisa Frankenstein, but encapsulated in a makeup kit! More make-up kits need to come in coffins.

The Corpse Paint kit is available until supplies sell out! But never fear—even when the set is no longer alive, Liquid Death and e.l.f. have curated a whole set of suitably slay-tastic substitutes. You can take a look at the whole collection here. And who knows, maybe we’ll see it rise from the dead again sometime soon!

Hell yes! We love a unique makeup collaboration!

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 3 Is Confirmed

More murderous Pooh mayhem is coming our way. Variety has revealed that Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 3 is confirmed and will be hitting our screens eventually. Although we have no specific timeline for the release of Blood and Honey 3 yet, we do know that “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 3’ will have a bigger budget than the previous films and will introduce new characters from the original Winnie-the-Pooh stories, including Rabbit, the heffalumps and the woozles. All will no doubt be given sadistic, murderous twists.”

Jagged Edge is also planning a massive “Poohniverse” crossover movie with all kinds of childhood villains gone wrong.

Star Wars: Thrawn Collection From Heroes & Villains Has Arrived

Heroes & Villains are always outfitting us in the latest and greatest in nerdy-wear. And their recent Star Wars: Thrawn collection is no different. Star Wars‘ villains are having a huge moment, and the Admiral deserves some love. Check out what’s on offer below, and then head over to Heroes & Villains’ site for more.

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Check out some cool watches to go with this Thrawn collection.

A Dragon Ball Theme Park Is On the Way

One of the most beloved anime and manga series ever is now getting a theme park. The official Dragon Ball website announced that the theme park would be coming to Saudi Arabia. A release shares more about the park, noting:

The Dragon Ball theme park will boast a whopping size of over 500,000 square meters and feature seven different areas that recreate various iconic locales from the original series, such as Kame House, Capsule Corporation, and Beerus’s Planet. At the park, visitors will be able to join an adventure with Goku and pals as they enjoy the world of Dragon Ball, from the very beginning of the anime all the way up through Dragon Ball Super!”

This theme park will feature five state-of-the-art rides as part of a lineup of 30+ attractions! And if that wasn’t already exciting enough, construction of a 70 meter-high Shenron is also planned, with this landmark containing a large-scale roller coaster inside!

Dragon Ball‘s legacy is unparalleled.

New Marvel Game, Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, Showcases Captain America, Black Panther, and More

A new video game from Marvel is bringing to life some of our favorite heroes in a whole new way. Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra takes us back to, you guessed it, 1943. There “an original story that takes players on a WWII-era adventure with an ensemble of four heroes playable at different points in the game.” These four heroes are “a young Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America; Azzuri, T’Challa’s grandfather and the WWII-era Black Panther; Gabriel Jones, a U.S. soldier and member of the Howling Commandos; and Nanali, a Wakandan spy embedded in Occupied Paris.”

Captain America and Black Panther are two of our favorite Marvel heroes, and we can’t wait to see them come to life in this new game. The results will undoubtedly be epic.

The game comes from Skydance New Media, helmed by award-winning writer and director Amy Hennig, and Marvel Games.

Here’s what we know about Captain America’s next adventure in the MCU.

Strange Way of Life Is Heading to Netflix

Want to see Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawk in their queer, western short directed by Pedro Almodóvar? Well, get excited; it’s coming to Netflix on April 12.

Take a look a the trailer here.

Godzilla Became Police Chief for a day in Tokyo

Godzilla is known for crushing Tokyo, but recently, he recanted his ways and became the protector of Tokyo’s traffic. As Police Chief for a day, Godzilla set out to promote street safety.

It’s a good time to be Godzilla.

Michael Rosenbaum Is Still Thinking About That Smallville Animated Series

The Smallville animated series isn’t dead yet. Michael Rosenbaum recently revealed the following to Screen Rant:

All I could share is that it’s a great idea. We have Al and Miles, the creators of Smallville backing us up. When it’s the right time, we’d like to go and do this; pitch to Warner Bros. It has to be the right time, and right now is not the right time. We had the strike, we had a change of executives at DC — one being one of my best friends in the world, James Gunn. When the time’s right, I think it’s something that’s a no brainer, unless they have other ideas. We’d like to do it — the whole cast would like to do it. They would voice their own character from the show, and we have a concept of what the show is.

Fingers crossed!

Rosenbaum also recently spoke to the DCU’s newest Lex Luthor, Nicholas Hoult.

D&D Converse Are Coming

Get ready to roll for extra cool kicks. Converse is teaming up with Dungeons & Dragons for a line of sneakers and more to celebrate D&D‘s 50th anniversary. The color scheme is pretty cool, and we love the designs. With these on our feet, we’ll have all the initiative we need. Take a look at what’s on offer below. These Dungeons & Dragons Converse will go on sale on April 11.

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We’re also big fans of these nerdy One Piece PUMAs.

David Schwimmer Will Star in Season Two of the Goosebumps Anthology Series

The second season of the Goosebumps anthology will see a friendly face arrive (or perhaps not so friendly). David Schwimmer is set to star in the second season of the Disney+ show. According to Deadline, “Schwimmer will portray Anthony, a former botany professor and divorced parent of teenage twins whose world takes a tumultuous turn as he juggles the responsibilities of overseeing an aging parent while having his kids for the summer.”

Check out what the first season looked like:

Star Wars Lit Up the Empire State Building

What’s that, the Empire on the Empire? Star Wars recently lit up the Empire State building with a light show showcasing its many iconic villains. This is a part of its “March to May 4th” initiative. And we’re excited to march along.

Blue Milk is also involved.

Originally published on March 22, 2024.

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Sometimes, it’s best to just leave well enough alone. Fallout 4 recently received a huge update that’s been teased for nearly two years now. Thanks to the Prime Video Fallout series, more players than ever are discovering Fallout‘s world, so this seemed like a good idea. But instead of fixing things, it seems like the Fallout 4 update just made everything worse. Mods were breaking, glitches were glitching, and little helpful was added.

Now Bethesda has made an announcement that yet another new update would be coming to Fallout 4.

Bethesda doesn’t say exactly what this update will do, but hopefully, it will fix the last new update and bring peace to Fallout 4‘s world.

The post Bethesda Announces New FALLOUT 4 Update to Fix the Last Update appeared first on Nerdist.

Before joining us for the end of our Level Up! journey through Walt Disney World and Disney video games with Part 4, make sure you read the previous installments first. Part 1 explains why Disney hosted us at the parks and began our trip at the Magic Kingdom to learn about Disney Dreamlight Valley. Part 2 explores our time at the Animal Kingdom’s Pandora – The World of Avatar learning about the video game Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. And Part 3 races through EPCOT to see why the free-to-play Disney Speedstorm is a winner.

Star Wars Outlaws

The upcoming Star Wars Outlaws will be the first-ever open world game set in the galaxy far, far away. It takes place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Players will visit planets both infamous and new as a smuggler trying to establish themselves in the underworld. And while it was the only Level Up! game no one has actually played, it was also the easiest to understand why being at Disney was the single best way to promote it.

Our final full day at Walt Disney World brought us to Hollywood Studios to experience Galaxy’s Edge. It is simply the most immersive, complete, and incredible amusement park land I have ever experienced.

As a dedicated Star Wars fan who has also spent many years writing about the franchise and this attraction, I couldn’t believe I was actually there. Then I couldn’t believe it actually exceeded my impossible expectations. I was in awe in every sense of the word. It’s like walking directly into a Star Wars movie. The level of detail, both big and small, is unlike anything else. Everywhere you look, both inside and out, there’s something to appreciate.

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Galaxy Edge’s stores, especially Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities, feel like they actually exist as part of the market of distant planet. The restaurants, most notably Oga’s Cantina and Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo, are so authentic you expect to see Han Solo shooting someone at the next table. I could have spent all day just sitting in Galaxy’s Edge drinking green milk (better than the blue!) and that would have been enough for me.

Thankfully we did a lot more than that. (Like meeting the Mandalorian and Grogu. Grogu was the only character I nerd’ed out over during my time at Walt Disney World.) I know I’m not saying anything countless other Star Wars fans haven’t already learned, but Galaxy’s Edge has two rides that will blow any fan’s mind. They each left me, someone who never shuts up, speechless for different reasons. The first we went on was Smuggler’s Run.

The ride itself is super fun. It has you work as a team to steal something for Hondo Ohnaka. But it’s what precedes the actual ride that left me floored. Before you’re seated you walk into a replica Millennium Falcon. It’s one of the coolest places I have ever been, period. It was absolutely surreal and had me geeking out in ways I didn’t know I could.

Of course I sat down at the Dejarik table and pretended to be playing. How could you not!? How. Could. You. Not?

Then came the masterpiece: Rise of the Resistance. For a sentimental Star Wars fan it’s the most hypnotic ride at any of the four Walt Disney World parks, but you don’t have to know Andor from Endor to appreciate it. If you’ve never ridden it don’t watch any videos about it. Wait–hard as it might be—until you experience it in person. That’s what I did and I am so very happy I did. There’s nothing like it for reasons I refuse to spoil.

What I will say is that when Rise of the Resistance (which celebrates two of my favorite Star Wars traditions: terrible security and daring escapes) ended I couldn’t find any words to convey how I felt. My hosts asked what I thought and all I could do was stare at them in silent wonder. I simply couldn’t believe that ride was real. I felt the exact same way the second time I rode it.

If Star Wars Outlaws captures even a tiny fraction of the feeling and joy Galaxy’s Edge gave me, I am going spend a whole lot of time in front of my TV working as a smuggler in the galaxy far, far away.

I wasn’t planning to do that before Disney invited me to Orlando, which is exactly the reason they did.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist who is not exaggerating about Rise of the Resistance leaving him speechless. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

The post What Going to Disney Taught Me About Disney Video Games Part 4 – Hollywood Studios’ Galaxy’s Edge and STAR WARS OUTLAWS appeared first on Nerdist.

Before joining us on Part 3 of our Level Up! journey through Walt Disney World and Disney video games, make sure you read the previous installments first. Part 1 explains why Disney hosted us at the parks and began our trip at the Magic Kingdom to learn about Disney Dreamlight Valley. And Part 2 explores our time at the Animal Kingdom’s Pandora – The World of Avatar learning about the video game Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.

EPCOT and Disney Speedstorm

Disney Speedstorm is the Mouse House’s free-to-play answer to Mario Kart. The arcade-style game lets players race as beloved characters through Disney and Pixar movie levels. It’s also the closest any Disney game comes to recreating the feeling you get on a Disney ride.

After spending the first part of our second day at Animal Kingdom, our group reconvened at EPCOT. We were there to play some Disney Speedstorm against the surreal backdrop of Spaceship Earth. That’s also where we learned Inside Out 2‘s Joy and Anxiety are joining as racers.

Speedstorm is the fast-paced companion to the more fanciful Disney Dreamlight Valley. Those two games might seem like opposites, but in their own way they each capture the same experience of physically being in a Disney park. Speedstorm not only lets you play both as and against your favorite characters, it takes you through levels that re-create beloved Disney locales. I raced through Beast’s Enchanted Castle a day after eating at Beauty and the Beast‘s Magic Kingdom restaurant.

The combination of immersive levels, characters you know and love, and fast-paced action is why playing Speedstorm also felt like the virtual equivalent of going on a ride like Frozen Ever After or Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. Those two super fun EPCOT attractions are set in their respective movie worlds and are equally parts thrilling and enchanting. That’s Speedstorm at its best.

We also, for reasons both aesthetic and thematic, played Speedstorm in the GM Lounge above EPCOT’s Test Track ride. That’s the game’s closest, most obvious one-to-one real-world attraction. But every thrill ride at Walt Disney World is a companion to the game. That includes highlights like Tron Lightcycle Run, Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, and the absolutely amazing Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. It’s so good I’m still riding it in my sleep after going on it three times while awake. Not just because I’m a huge Guardians of the Galaxy fan, either. If you’ve been on Cosmic Rewind you know exactly why. (If you haven’t, I am sorry, but I’m also jealous you still get to do it for the first time. Besides, you’re going to be jealous of our view from the GM Lounge.)

Obviously you can’t get the same kind of physical sensation an amusement park ride provides while sitting in a chair playing a video game. There are pretty clear limits to how much you can reproduce a physical experience digitally. But with its characters, themed tracks, and gameplay, Disney Speedstorm is clearly inspired by the fun and excitement you get on a Disney ride. Races are short but exciting, just like an actual ride. And with both you’ll want to jump right into the next one. The fun of the game isn’t about fully re-creating the sensation of going on a Disney ride. The fun is trying to remind yourself of the feeling you get from a Disney attraction while at home. That’s a feeling worth chasing down.

Plus, Speedstorm does have two big advantage over its real-life inspirations. For one the line to play it at home is definitely a lot shorter than lines at Disney. And second, you don’t have to play in muggy Orlando heat.

After three parks, three games, way too much food, and even more rides, I thought I finally had a firm grasp on exactly what I was doing at Level Up! It wasn’t until our final day and stop that I truly learned why Disney parks are the best promotion for Disney games. To go from a Padawan to a Master on that subject I had to visit the galaxy far, far away.

Finish our Level Up! journey through Walt Disney World and Disney video games with Part 4: Hollywood Studios’ Galaxy’s Edge and the upcoming Star Wars Outlaws open-world game.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. He got his #1 song choice (“September”) on Cosmic Rewind his very first ride. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

The post What Going to Disney Taught Me About Disney Video Games Part 3 – EPCOT and DISNEY SPEEDSTORM appeared first on Nerdist.