Month: January 2021

Actress Brie Larson is kicking off 2021 by signing on to star in a new TV show for Apple TV+. The Oscar-winning Captain Marvel actress will appear in and executive produce the new show Lessons in Chemistry, a 1960s period drama about a single mother who wants to be a scientist but ends up hosting a cooking show.

The TV show is based on the 2022 book from Bonnie Garmus. Larson plays the character Elizabeth Zott. Here is the official description, as relayed by Variety:

“Set in the early 1960s, Lessons in Chemistry follows Elizabeth Zott (Larson), whose dream of being a scientist is put on hold in a society deeming that women belong in the domestic sphere, not the professional one. When Elizabeth finds herself pregnant, alone and fired from her lab, she musters the ingenuity only a single mother has. She accepts a job as a host on a TV cooking show, and sets out to teach a nation of overlooked housewives–and the men who are suddenly listening–a lot more than recipes, all the while craving a return to her true love: science.”

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Coming off the success of last year’s Tony Hawk Pro’s Skater 1 + 2, developer Vicarious Visions is undergoing a major adjustment. Activision Blizzard has confirmed that the company will be moved from Activision’s umbrella into Blizzard, pivoting the studio to be “fully dedicated” to Blizzard games going forward.

According to GamesIndustry.biz, the transition is effective immediately, with Vicarious Visions remaining in Albany, New York. The 200-team studio will now be “fully dedicated to existing Blizzard games and initiatives.” Starting today, Vicarious Visions, which has led development on a majority of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater franchise, will no longer work on the famed IP.

A spokesperson told the publication that Vicarious Visions would be a great fit to offer Blizzard Entertainment’s development studios “long-term support” going forward.

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This week on Wrestle Buddies, GameSpot’s professional wrestling podcast, Chris E. Hayner and Mat Elfring are revisiting a short-lived gimmick from the late ’90s that they love too much, and welcome AEW superstar Scorpio Sky and his new podcast co-host, Funhaus’s James Willems.

First, it’s a time warp back to 1998 for the introduction of Man’s Man Steven Regal. Yes, that’s the same person as proper British gentleman William Regal. At one point, he was repackaged as a tough guy that does manly activities like shaving outdoors, chopping wood, and squeezing fresh orange juice. That’s what was considered macho in WWE at the time, for one reason or another.

Next, we welcome AEW’s Scorpio Sky and Funhaus’s James Willems to talk about their new podcast, Wrestling with the Week. During their visit, all manner of topics are discussed, from what video games everyone is playing to Sky’s love of the reality TV show 90 Day Fiance–a show Mat also happens to be obsessed with.

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The classic SNK fighter SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium has apparently received a rating for Nintendo Switch by the Gaming Rating and Administration Committee of Korea.

According to the rating, the game is set for everyone 12 years old and up, with the reason being SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium contains some minor violent expressions. Gematsu notes that the rating suggests the 2D fighter could be the next entry in SNK’s Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection on Nintendo Switch, though there’s no confirmation of this yet.

SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium launched in November 1999 for the Neo Geo. It’s a crossover 2D fighter featuring 26 characters from various Capcom and SNK games, including the Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury, King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown, and Street Fighter. Eight of the 26 characters are hidden and come from titles such as Darkstalkers and The Last Blade.

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After a massive year of acquisitions and investments in 2020, the Chinese internet company Tencent has bought another prominent game studio.

It was confirmed on Friday that Tencent has acquired Klei, the developers of Shank and Don’t Starve. Klei confirmed the buyout in a post on its forums.

“I want to take a moment to announce that we have agreed to deal for Tencent to purchase a majority stake in Klei Entertainment,” the studio said. “As part of this agreement, Klei retains full autonomy of creative and operations across all aspects of the studio, including projects, talent, and more.”

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Between December 21-27, the top streamed piece of content in the United States was none other than Pixar’s Soul–which was released on December 25 on Disney+. Also making that week’s Top 10 are Bridgerton, The Office, and The Mandalorian.

The Nielsen streaming ratings state that 1.6 billion minutes were viewed for Soul, and while this is for the week of December 21, Soul premiered on Disney+ on December 25, so these numbers account for only three days. The only other Disney+ content that landed on the top 10 was The Mandalorian, as Season 2 came to a close on December 18. Check out the full top 10 list below.

While Wonder Woman 1984 debuted on HBO Max on Christmas as well, the Nielsen ratings do not take into account viewership for that streaming service. In fact, this list only covers Amazon Prime, Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix. Content from HBO Max, Peacock, Apple TV+, and the various other streaming services are not included in the Nielsen ratings.

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The third movie in the Kingsman franchise, The King’s Man, has been bumped from a March 12 release date to August 20 this year. The move was reported by The Hollywood Reporter, and this film alone is one of many that has had multiple delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic–when it was first announced in 2020, it was expected in theaters September 18 of that year.

Despite being the third movie, it’s actually a prequel set decades before the first two movies in the Kingsman series, and as such, it doesn’t feature star Taron Egerton. It explores the origins of the franchise’s secretive spy organization. Check out the film’s official trailer below.

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The CW has released a more in-depth trailer for the up-and-coming series Superman & Lois, which debuts on February 23. And if the new video is any indication, it will be super-emotional.

Although the newly released season trailer for The CW’s Superman & Lois series is barely more than a minute long, chances are pretty good within its minute and 10-second runtime you’ll instantly be able to tell if the show is for you. For example, in a voiceover, Lois Lane talks about millennials losing jobs and “teens with severe anxiety” and a young, moody Clark Kent (or Jon Kent?) at a garden party groans to himself that he “really wishes he could get drunk sometimes.” Who knows if the series will be this tongue-in-cheek but this trailer definitely has a mood it’s going for.

This overall vibe was not present in a trailer released last month, but that clip was meant to showcase the look of Superman’s suit. (New stills were released just before that clip.) But ever since the show was first ordered in January 2020, it’s been made clear that the show was intended to be and bring something different to the canon–an emphasis on family and the sacrifices being a superhero would really require. The family dynamic is likely to be fairly complicated, as the show will feature an expanded role for Jon Kent–Clark and Lois’ son Jon, who was introduced in the comics several years ago and eventually took over the Superboy mantle. Jon was introduced in live-action as a baby during the Crisis On Infinite Earths event.

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Dishonored and Prey developer Arkane is putting the final touches on its new IP, Deathloop, before it launches later this year, allowing the team to start delving into some of the aspects of its world design.

Although most of Arkane’s games have given you the freedom to deal with enemies in different ways, Deathloop might have you questioning the motives of its protagonist entirely. Speaking to the Official PlayStation Magazine for its February 2021 issue, Deathloop’s game director, Dinga Bakaba, explained that the central villains might not always be people deserving of death.

“We didn’t want to make a game where somehow the targets deserved to die,” explained Bakaba. “There are somethings that you might not feel very comfortable with doing. But sadly, this is your condition, or you can stay here for eternity.”

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