Month: February 2020

We explored the island and stopped by Able Sisters, Nook’s Corner, and the Museum on Nintendo Switch!

As filming gets underway in San Francisco, The Matrix 4 continues to add to its cast. The Wrap reports that Spartacus actress Ellen Hollman has been cast in an unspecified role in the upcoming action movie starring Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Jada Pinkett-Smith.

Hollman would be just the latest new addition to the cast, following Neil Patrick Harris, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.

Given her background as a Jiu Jitsu martial artist, we might see Hollman performing stunts or action scenes in The Matrix 4, but this is only speculation. Hollman played Saxa on Seasons 2 and 3 of Spartacus, while she also had roles on Into the Badlands and NCIS: New Orleans.

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After tallying “millions” of votes from around the world, Greninja has been named 2020’s Pokemon of the Year.

The final evolution of Pokemon X and Y water-type starter Froakie, Greninja earned over 140,000 votes, topping second-place finisher Lucario by 38,000, according to The Pokemon Company. Mimikyu, Charizard, and Umbreon rounded out the top five.

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Aside from its recognition as a Stage 2 starter Pokemon, Greninja is a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and is featured prominently in the Pokemon XY anime as Ash’s main companion in the Kalos region.

The top vote-getters from each region are as follows:

• Kanto – Charizard
• Johto – Umbreon
• Hoenn – Rayquaza
• Sinnoh – Lucario
• Unova – Chandelure
• Kalos – Greninja
• Alola – Mimikyu
• Galar – Dragapult

Other notable Pokemon in the overall top 30 include Bulbasaur (13), Pikachu (19), Eevee (20), and Blaziken (29).

The announcement comes on National Pokemon Day, which also featured the reveal of Zarude, a new mythical Pokemon for Sword and Shield.

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Jordan is a freelance writer for IGN. 

An explosion big enough to fit fifteen Milky Way Galaxies in a row has been discovered.

CNN World reports the record-breaking explosion originated inside the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster 390 million light-years away. Experts also say the explosion was likely created by a supermassive black hole.

Black holes are well known for sucking in matter, but they also shoot it outwards in the form of jets or beams. The energy behind this explosion breaks all previous records, beating the previous largest known explosion five times over.

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Astronomers observed the explosion from both ground and space-based telescopes like NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton X-ray space observatory, Australia’s Murchison Widefield Array, as well as the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope located in India. However, the explosions were also noticed several years ago in 2016 but were so large astronomers at the time believed it was too unlikely to be one.

It wasn’t until now that the X-ray data was combined with radio wavelength data from ground-based telescopes to help confirm the cavity created by the explosive black hole. These observations also tell us that the explosion is no longer occurring as the jet activity has stopped meaning there’s no longer any gas to power the explosion.

This subsided explosion isn’t all astronomers have been up to recently. Radio signals have been picked up repeating in an odd pattern and a new method to detect potentially habitable planets using radio waves has been developed. As for other big destructive forces, stay tuned for six billion years from now when the sun destroys our solar system’s asteroid belt.

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[poilib element=”accentDivider”]Hope Corrigan is an Australian freelance writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising came out on top of the domestic box office Wednesday, opening with $1.7 million from 1275 theaters, according to early morning estimates (via Deadline).

Heroes Rising’s $1.7 million put it above Disney’s Call of the Wild, which came in second place Wednesday with $1.5 million, and Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog, which earned $1.1 million the same day, according to Deadline.

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Wednesday, Feb. 27, was also Heroes Rising’s first day in theaters so its earnings are at $1.7 million. That’s less than Funimation’s other hit anime movie, Dragon Ball Z Super: Broly, which brought in over $7 million on its first day, but $1.7 million is nothing to scoff at. That tracks higher than the first My Hero Academia movie released in theaters, My Hero Academia: Two Heroes, which earned roughly $2 million in its first two days at the box office.

Two Heroes only opened at 500 theaters though whereas Heroes Rising nearly tripled the amount of U.S. theaters for its theater release. We thought Two Heroes was good, giving it a 7.7 out of 10. We thought Heroes Rising was even better and gave it an 8 out of 10.

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Heroes Rising comes off the momentum of the latest My Hero Academia season, which is still ongoing with episode 19 being the latest to drop. We imagine this movie will bring more eyes to the upcoming My Hero Academia game, My Hero One’s Justice 2. If you haven’t seen that game in action, you can check out some of our gameplay from a Deku vs Overhaul fight.

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Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN who’s trying really hard to catch up on My Hero Academia so he can catch Heroes Rising out while it’s in theaters. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

Welcoooome to Nintendo Voice Chat! This week, Casey DeFreitas is joined by Peer Schneider, Brian Altano, and Tom Marks to talk about all things Nintendo. First up, the Nintendo Switch is almost three years old, and the panel reflects on the system’s launch, some of Nintendo’s wacky experiments on Switch, and their biggest surprises and disappointments so far.

Then, in the news, hear about Platinum’s recently announced project, a new Samurai Jack game headed to Switch, details from the Yacht Club Games livestream, and a whole lot more. Finally, hear another round of questions on this week’s Question Block.

Timecodes!

• 00:00:00 Welcome!
• 00:02:16 Reflecting on the first three years of Nintendo Switch
• 00:24:00 News time! Yacht Club Games, Platinum, and more
• 00:31:20 Games out this week
• 00:42:10 What we’re playing
• 00:51:24 Question Block!

 

From now on, we’ll share the list of games discussed in the episode right here in the episode description! That includes games out this week, and what the panel is playing.

Games out this week:

• Rune Factory 4 Special – 2/25, $40
• Samurai Shodown – 2/25, $50
• Two Point Hospital – 2/25, $40
• Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection – 2/25, $30
• Metro 2033 Redux & Metro: Last Light Redux – 2/28, $25 each

What we’re playing:

• Casey: Rune Factory 4 Special
• Peer: Fire Emblem: Three Houses DLC, Darksiders: Genesis, Broken Lines
• Brian: Voxelgram, Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl
• Tom: Something he can’t talk about…

 

Finally, NVC shirts and sweatshirts are now available at the IGN Store! Use the code nvc10 to get 10% off your purchase of NVC clothes. Multiple styles and colors are available.

NVC is available on your preferred platform!

• YouTube
• Spotify
• Apple iTunes
• Stitcher
• Podbay
• PlayerFM
• Podbean

You can also Download NVC 496 Directly Here

You can listen to NVC on your preferred platform every Thursday at 3pm PT/6pm ET. Have a question for Question Block? Write to us at nvc@ign.com and we may pick your question! Also, make sure to join the Nintendo Voice Chat Podcast Forums on Facebook. We’re all pretty active there and often pull Question Block questions and comments straight from the community.

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Logan Plant is the Production Assistant for NVC. You can find him on Twitter at @LoganJPlant.

The Jungle Cruise tour at Disney World can get a little wet, but for some passengers today, it went underwater.

Unlucky passengers earlier today at Disney World in Orlando clung to their boat as it began taking on water. A few guests tweeted about the boat sinking as it was happening.

PHOTOS: Images Surface of Guests Clinging to Sinking Jungle Cruise Boat at the Magic Kingdomhttps://t.co/WyMYJ9vDS3 pic.twitter.com/WutkMd59SL

— WDW News Today (@WDWNT) February 27, 2020

Disney confirmed to BuzzFeed News that it immediately called the Reedy Creek Fire Department to help passengers. The boat was then towed away after everyone was safely evacuated.

The sunken boat only interrupted the attraction for 105 minutes according to an unofficial Twitter account. Despite the incident, the Jungle Cruise ride reopened for guests looking to get right back into the water.

Our boat on the jungle cruise sank today. Fun times! #wdw pic.twitter.com/jCxjIOzu9Z

— Matthew Vince (@synewaves) February 27, 2020

If you’re worried about your Jungle Cruise trip going a similar route, watch the upcoming movie instead. The trailer below provides a look at the movie coming on July 24, 2020, casting actors Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, among others.

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Take a look at our 2020 movie box office predictions and see our estimate for the Jungle Cruise movie.

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Jeffrey Lerman is a Freelance News Writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @Snakester95.

Header Image Credit: WDW News Today

James Mangold and Robert Rodriguez will reportedly direct parts of Season 2 of The Mandalorian alongside Bryce Dallas Howard, who is returning to the series after directing an episode in season 1.

Black Series Rebels (via StarWarsNewsNet) report that both Mangold and Rodriguez have contributed in the directorial effort of Season 2 of the hit Disney Plus show. Whether this means episodes or just sequences of scenes is currently unconfirmed, although Black Series Rebel seems to think the latter. We also don’t know if Mangold and Rodriguez’s names are attached together because they helmed an episode or sequence together or separately.

Season 1 of The Mandalorian had different directors direct different episodes, so having multiple director names attached to the season is not surprising. We’ll likely learn more info closer to the release of Season 2 this October when it drops on Disney Plus.

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Black Series Rebels also shared that Howard is returning to direct an episode. Howard previously directed Episode 4: Sanctuary on Season 1 of The Mandalorian last year. We thought that episode was good, giving it a 7.5 out of 10.

Rodriguez’s latest directorial credit came by way of Alita: Battle Angel, although he’s known for other movies like Sin City and its sequel, the Spy Kids movies and From Dusk Till Dawn. Mangold directed Logan in 2017 and his latest movie, Ford v Ferrari, just won some awards at the Oscars.

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We’re excited for The Mandalorian Season 2 because it means more Baby Yoda, and because we thought the first season was great. We also can’t wait to find out what happens next after that ending.

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Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN who is excited to see Baby Yoda on his tv screen once more. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

 

The original Shovel Knight saga from Yacht Club Games wrapped up in 2019 with Shovel Knight: King of Cards, the game’s final expansion. Two spin-offs have been planned, with Shovel Knight Dig and Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon both in the works, but fans might be curious about whether a direct sequel will ever follow.

Shovel Knight 2 has not been announced or confirmed, but a member of the game’s development team believes it will happen. Speaking to Dualshockers, Yacht Club Games artist Sandy Gordon says that we have definitely not “seen the end of Shovel Knight.”

Asked whether this means there will be a sequel, he says that he is “sure that’ll happen at some point: it’s something we talk about a lot.”

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