Author: trafficblast

The month of love is here, and this episode of New Releases is taking a top-level look at some of the biggest games of February. The new month kicks off with The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics and closes out with One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows. In between, PS4 players can enjoy exclusives like Dreams and the Yakuza 5 remaster. Platinum Games fans can also revisit Bayonetta and Vanquish with their 10th Anniversary Bundle.

The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance Tactics — February 4

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch

Netflix created a series based on the cult-classic film, and now that series is getting its own game. As the name states, this is a tactics game, and it features over 50 skirmishes to win, 14 characters to lead into battle, and plenty of custom jobs to assign along the way as the war between the Gelflings and Skeksis rages on.

More Coverage:

• The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance Tactics–Release Date Announced In New Trailer

• Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance Tactics Reveal Trailer | Nintendo Direct E3 2019

Yakuza 5 — February 11

Available on: PS4

The Yakuza Remastered Collection is a one-time purchase, but that buy-in gets you remasters of Yakuza 3, 4, and 5. Those three games got staggered release dates, but the final entry arrives this month. Taking after the “5” in its name, this particular entry is set across five different parts of Japan and features five playable characters, including everyone’s favorite ruffian Kazuma Kiryu.

More Coverage:

• Yakuza 5 Review

• New Yakuza 5 Screenshots Highlight the Five Main Characters

Dreams — February 14

Available on: PS4

Media Molecule, creators of LittleBigPlanet, have crafted another deep tool set with Dreams. This PS4 exclusive lets you sculpt objects, build worlds, and create pretty much any type of activity you can think of–someone even remade Final Fantasy VII within the game. What will you dream up?

More Coverage:

• Media Molecule’s PS4 Exclusive Dreams Has Gone Gold

• Game Making Made Easy In Dreams

Bayonetta & Vanquish 10th Anniversary Bundle — February 18

Available on: PS4, Xbox One

These Platinum Games cult classics launched 10 years ago, and they’re being bundled together on PS4 and Xbox One to celebrate. Those of you with a PS4 Pro or Xbox One X can even experience them in 4K resolution at 60 frames per second. Seems like a good way to refresh yourself before we finally get Bayonetta 3.

More Coverage:

• Bayonetta And Vanquish Anniversary Bundle Confirmed For PS4, Xbox One

• Bayonetta And Vanquish 10th Anniversary Remaster Bundle Announcement Trailer

One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows — February 28

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC

Based on the smash-hit anime, this arena fighter stays true to One Punch Man in a clever way. Saitama does indeed win every fight with a single punch, but if you choose him for your team during any of the 3-on-3 fights, he’ll take a while to actually show up, leaving you to fight at a disadvantage until he arrives. Of course, there are plenty of other fan-favorite characters to choose from too.

More Coverage:

• One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows’ Saitama KOs Everyone In One Punch

• One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows – Official Gamescom Character Reveal Trailer

February is just getting started, and there are plenty of games on the horizon. Next week, we’ll dive into the souped-up release of Street Fighter V: Championship Edition and a new expansion for Dead Cells, called The Bad Seed.

BB-8 and his evil doppelganger BB-9E are coming to Star Wars Battlefront II this month. The update bringing the two droids has been delayed from its original January 31 date, and it will now arrive on February 3 for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One game. The two droids have now been detailed extensively on the game’s forums, so we know what to expect from them.

BB-8

BB-8, the famous droid from the recent new Star Wars trilogy, is defined by his speed–not only can he move very quickly, but the droid captures Command Posts at twice the rate of other characters. He can roll even faster with his Rolling Charge attack, which lets roll zoom straight forward into opponents. His Shock Prod attack lets him deal electrical damage to enemies. BB-8 can also use his “Resistance Backing” ability to reveal enemy locations (while also increasing the damage they will take), and he can use his Cable Spin ability to hit enemies around him using three tow cables.

Here’s the complete list of other abilities, functions, emotes, and poses for BB-8.

Passive Abilities

Technical Support

• BB-8 will count as two units when capturing a Command Post, and activating an objective device is much faster.

Swift Reaction

• BB-8 increases the cooldown speed of nearby friendly character’s abilities.

Health on Kill

• Upon defeating an opponent, BB-8 will receive some health back.

Movement Type

Dodge

• Quick Dodge to the side

Jump

• A quick impulse jump that is slightly higher than blaster heroes

Speed

• Similar to a Force user in terms of sprinting speed

Flashlight

• Ability to turn on and off a flashlight

Star Cards

Self Repairs

• BB-8’s maximum health regeneration is increased.

Spared Batteries

• Every trooper defeated or 200 damage to villains increases Shock Prod damage.

Shielded Roll

• BB-8 takes less damage while using Rolling Charge.

Headfirst

• BB-8 deals more damage when hitting an enemy with Rolling Charge.

Spinner

• When hitting multiple enemies with Cable Spin, the next cooldown of the ability is reduced.

Whirlwind

• Both the damage and area of effect of Cable Spin is increased.

Uncover

• Enemies revealed by Resistance Backing will take extra damage from attacks.

Trusty Droid

• When BB-8 defeats an opponent that was revealed by Resistance Backing, he will heal nearby friendly characters.

Roll Together

• The increased cooldown speed of BB-8 is improved.

Victory Poses

• Sided
• Thumbs Up
• Wired Parade
• Cables Out

Emotes

• Excited
• Thumbs Up
• Twist
• Angry Beeps

BB-9E

BB-9E, the evil version of BB-8, will also come equipped with his own Shock Prod. He can also emit a smokescreen, which will shield him while also revealing all enemies in the surrounding area for a limited time. His Charge Up attack lets him emit a pulse that allows all friendly units nearby to fire their guns without needing to worry about them overheating for a while, and also reduces the recharge time of abilities for anyone in the vicinity. BB-9E can also use Shock Spin, which pushes and damages all nearby enemies, and overheats the blasters of enemies caught within the wider range of its radius.

Here’s everything else you can enjoy with BB-9E once the update hits.

Passive Abilities

Technical Support

• BB-9E will count as two units when capturing a Command Post and activating an objective device is much faster.

Bacta Support

• BB-9E periodically regenerates the main health of friendly characters around him.

Health on Kill

• Upon defeating an opponent, BB-9E will receive some health back.

Movement Type

BB-9E is faster than most and can traverse the battlefront at great speeds.

Dodge

• Quick Dodge to the side.

Jump

• A quick impulse jump that is slightly higher than blaster heroes.

Speed

• Similar to a Force user in terms of sprinting speed.

Flashlight

• Ability to turn on and off a flashlight.

Star Cards

Full Reconstruction

• BB-9E’s maximum health regeneration is increased.

Linked Systems

• Every 200 health healed to friendly characters reduces the shock prod stun cooldown.

Hearty Exhaust

• The radius of smoke screen is increased.

I See You

• Enemies revealed by Smoke Screen will be revealed for longer.

Faster, Faster!

• If shock spin hits enough targets, its damage will be doubled for the remaining time.

Spin me Round

• Enemies hit by Shock Spin will be pushed further away, but its cooldown is increased.

Swift Power

• The cooldown of Charge Up is reduced.

Supercharged

• The radius of Charge Up is increased.

Potent Bacta

• The radius of Bacta Support is bigger, but the cooldown between heals is also increased.

Victory Poses

• Shocking Victory
• Incognito
• Vigilant
• Bow

Emotes

• Suspicious
• Alarm
• Backfire
• Spiral

There’s a huge range of additional tweaks and changes coming along with this update, too. It’s worth reading the full post to get everything, but here are the main new features and quality of life improvements that have been highlighted.

• Two new Heroes, BB-8 for the Resistance and BB-9E for the First Order, are now available.
• Supremacy and Instant Action are now available on new Planets (Takodana, Jakku, Ajan Kloss).
• Added new Capital Ship interior maps, the MC85 Star Cruiser and the Resurgent-class Star Destroyer, as part of the Supremacy game mode on the new planets.
• Hero Showdown is now available on Ajan Kloss.
• New emotes have been added for Finn (Thumbs Up) and Kylo Ren (Showdown), unlockable via milestones.
• Added era selection to Supremacy, including the option for matchmaking into any game.
• Droideka units are added as AI players on Co-Op and Instant Action.

All of these updates will be available in the BB update on February 3.

When millions of people across the country are watching the same TV network for one major event, movie studios are going to take not and drop trailers for upcoming movies and TV shows. And the NFL’s Super Bowl is the event. Throughout the evening of February 2, there were trailers for a Marvel movie–along with the upcoming Disney+ TV shows—horror flicks, and high-adrenaline action films.

We expect the Super Bowl will deliver plenty more movie trailers to get hyped about and, here, we’ll be collecting them together for your viewing convenience. Keep an eye on this page, as we’ll be adding new trailers as they appear during the broadcast, so this is your go-to place for seeing it all.

A Quiet Place 2

While John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place follow-up didn’t get a new trailer during the big game, there was a TV spot during the pre-game. In the video, we catch a glimpse of what the beginning of the invasion looked like. And director Krasinski reprised his role as Lee Abbott, before he and his family were sentenced to silence in the post-apocalyptic world.

Mulan

While a 30-second spot aired prior to kickoff, the full final trailer for Mulan was released online. The new video doesn’t give a lot more insight into the movie–with what we’ve already seen in the previous trailers–but there are some really cool action sequences there.

F9

While last Friday’s F9 trailer was amazing–primarily because Han is alive again–there was a quick, 30-second spot during the NFL game. The video featured some of the ridiculous action sequences we already saw in the trailer before, including the car swinging from a rope.

Top Gun: Maverick

It’s the highway to the danger zone in the latest Top Gun spot. If you love videos of Tom Cruise’s face while he’s flying a plane, this video is for you.

Black Widow

Black Widow didn’t get a full trailer for the Super Bowl, but there was a new 30-second spot with a few cool moments in it, like David Harbour screaming for some reason. Additionally, there were a couple new shots of Taskmaster.

Minions 2

Find out more about the world of the Minions with a sequel to the 2015 movie with the subtitle “The Rise of Gru.” There is a full trailer for the upcoming movie coming on February 5.

No Time To Die

This may be the last time we see Daniel Craig as James Bond, so let’s take him in while we can. The Super Bowl spot for No Time To Die has a lot of action packed into a 30-second spot.

Hunters

It may not be a movie, but the upcoming Amazon Prime Video original Hunters released a full trailer during the game.

MCU Shows On Disney+

In what ended up being a huge surprise, Disney+ aired a brief commercial for upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe TV shows coming to the streaming service. We saw clips from WandaVision, Loki, and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.

Disclosure: ViacomCBS is GameSpot’s parent company.

The next live-action Dinsey movie is a month away from coming to theaters. Earlier in the week, fans got a sneak peek with a new Mulan teaser, and during Super Bowl LIV, the final trailer for Mulan aired.

While only the 30-second spot aired right before the kickoff of the big game, the full trailer was released online. Coming in at over two minutes, the trailer certainly packs a punch, and you can check it out below.

The film stars Liu Yifei (The Forbidden Kingdom) as the titular character, and Mulan features Donnie Yen (Ip Man), Jet Li (The One), and Li Gong (Memoirs of a Geisha) It’s directed by Niki Caro.

There are a few more live-action remakes coming from Dinsey. The 101 Dalmatians spin-off Cruella–which stars Emma Stone–will be arriving on May 2021. Also in the works are The Little Mermaid, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Bambi, and a sequel to The Jungle Book. At this time, there is no release date for those films.

For more from the Super Bowl, check out all the commercials from the big game, as well as every trailer that aired. Mulan comes to theaters on March 27.

Marvel just debuted a new teaser for its upcoming Disney+ series, giving fans their first good look at WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki. And while the latter series is only briefly teased in this footage, it does reveal one crucial detail about Loki’s plot. The god of mischief will be butting heads with the Time Variance Authority.

Read on for more about this important Marvel organization and why Loki will be getting on their bad side in his first solo adventure in the MCU.

Loki Imprisoned

We only glimpse one shot of Loki in the Disney Plus: Big Game Spot. We see Tom Hiddleston’s familiar character wearing a strange uniform that appears to be some sort of prison garb, while he gleefully tells an unseen enemy, “I’m gonna burn this place to the ground.”

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When last we saw Loki in the MCU, his 2012 self managed to sneak away with the Tesseract and vanish right under Thor’s nose. Clearly, at some point between then and now, Loki has run afoul of a new enemy. And thanks to the logo on his uniform, we know what that enemy is. Loki’s shirt features the letters TVA, or Time Variance Authority.

What Is the Time Variance Authority?

As the name suggests, the Time Variance Authority is an organization charged with protecting the timeline of the Marvel Universe. Anyone who attempts to use time travel to alter either the past or future has to answer to the TVA. The group’s authority isn’t necessarily absolute, as they’ve never had much luck keeping powerful villains like Kang the Conqueror in check. Nor have they stopped the X-Men from screwing up reality over and over. But despite this, the TVA has done its part to keep the Marvel timeline from going too far astray.

The TVA is literally a faceless bureaucracy, as most of its agents are artificial clones called chronomonitors. A new chronomonitor springs to life every time an alteration to the timeline creates a divergent reality. The agency does have a handful of higher-ranking judges who enforce the TVA’s regulations, including Justice Peace, Justice Love and Justice Goodwill. Unfortunately, many of these judges have a tendency to go rogue and commit the same crimes they’re meant to prevent. The TVA is also led by a mysterious being known as Mr. Alternity.

Loki vs the Time Variance Authority

Marvel hasn’t revealed much about the plot of the Loki series, with director Kate Herron teasing only, “We’re taking Loki to an entirely new part of the MCU.” However, we know that a version of the character from before his death in Avengers: Infinity War is still alive and is once again in possession of the Tesseract. And various rumors and set photos suggest Loki will be travelling across time and attempting to influence the course of human history. With that in mind, it’s no surprise to learn he’ll be butting heads with the members of the TVA.

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Loki will likely find the TVA to be a very different kind of opponent from the ones he’s used to fighting. His brother Thor may be powerful, but he’s pretty easy to outwit. The generic drones of the TVA are another story entirely. This brief shot of Loki in TVA custody suggests he’ll be arrested by the organization during the course of the first season. We could even see the recently cast Owen Wilson playing the various interchangeable chronomonitors or a judge like Justice Peace (a character who actually teamed up with Thor in his first appearance). It’s not just any peacekeeping agency who can imprison an Asgardian, but Loki isn’t someone known for staying imprisoned for long.

Marvel has been teasing plenty of connections between its Disney+ shows and the MCU movies (with Loki having a direct connection to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness), but the debut of the TVA could also play into the upcoming Disney Plus She-Hulk series. The TVA has also appeared in She-Hulk’s comics, with the organization helping out She-Hulk’s law firm during an important time-related trial. We could easily see this new organization popping up in all sorts of places across the ever-growing MCU.

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For more on Marvel’s Super Bowl reveals, check out a gallery of new Black Widow character posters and learn more about Taskmaster’s familiar fighting style. And check out our roundup of all the Super Bowl movie commercials released so far.

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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Phase 4 is right around the corner.

New decade, new MCU. Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is kicking off with a bang on screens both big and small and naturally, the Super Bowl was prime time to showcase some of the upcoming projects Marvel Studios has waiting in the wings. A brand new Black Widow teaser showcased the villain Taskmaster as well as Natasha, Yelena, Melina, and Red Guardian–but that’s not all. We also got our first ever official clips of three upcoming MCU Disney+ shows: The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, WandaVision, and Loki.

Naturally, with only 30-seconds worth of footage, we were left with some pretty major questions for all three, but that’s where the fun can really begin. GameSpot rounded up their biggest and most obsessive MCU and Marvel comics fans to start doing what they do best: Theorizing wildly over every tiny scrap of information passed their way. What’s going on with Sam Wilson? Is Baron Zemo really a bad guy now? Is WandaVision actually in the Wakandan Matrix? Is Loki in time jail?

We can’t be sure–but we’re absolutely going to start guessing. Let’s break down some of the biggest and most interesting details from the Super Bowl Disney+ spot and see if we can figure out what they might mean.

1. Sam doesn’t become Captain America

At the end of Avengers: Endgame, Captain America handed off his shield to Sam–a passing of the torch–but maybe Sam doesn’t want the mantle. Obviously, as we’ve seen in the trailers, someone is in a Cap-like suit–but it isn’t Sam, it’s John Walker aka US Agent. We see Sam throwing the shield, but later, we see him decked out in his classic Falcon costume, all wings, no shield to be found. We can’t tell what order these events happen in the show based on these clips alone, of course, but the question remains. What if The Falcon and Winter Soldier just pulled the trigger and didn’t make him Captain America? -Mat Elfring

2. WandaVision takes place inside a computer

Wanda is still an Avenger, living in a world where Thanos was defeated, and everyone was unsnapped. However, Vision–for all intents in purposes-is dead. The last time we saw him, Thanos ripped the Mind Stone from his head, and he was no more. However, Shuri was trying to save him during Infinity War. What if Shuri accomplished her mission and uploaded his consciousness onto a computer in Wakanda? Everything happening on this show could actually be a weird computer simulation, as Vision has no way to cope with the traumatic experiences that happened to him during the transfer into the computer. -Mat Elfring

3. Vision is actually trapped elsewhere

Infinity Stones are weird, right? They’re unpredictable and magical, and we’re not even sure entirely how they work. When the Mind Stone was ripped from Vision’s head, maybe his essence or consciousness went with it, so he never truly died. The series WandaVision could just be Vision coping with being trapped in the Mind Stone, and that’s why it’s so bizarre. -Mat Elfring

4. Young Avengers in the making

There is a brief moment, which is my favorite thing in the trailer, where Scarlet Witch and Vision are standing over two cribs, and two pacifiers shoot up into the air–one blue, the other pink. In the comics, the couple had two kids, Thomas and William, who would later become Wiccan and Speed of the Young Avengers. The kids are canon within the MCU, so this could be the beginning of a Young Avengers more or TV show, like 14 years before Thomas and William become heroes. -Mat Elfring

5. Loki’s in continuity prison.

Loki–or, Avengers-era Loki who fled the scene back in Avengers: Endgame–seems to have been caught by someone or something. We see him here in what looks like a prison uniform with an orange logo emblazoned on the chest. It looks like it spells out “TVA,” which would be pretty appropriate under the circumstances. In Marvel Comics, the TVA is the Time Variance Authority, a sort of meta-gag that functioned as a bureaucratic continuity-policing agency modeled after real-life Marvel writer/editor Mark Gruenwald. By blipping out of the (admittedly already extremely screwed up) Avengers: Endgame timeline with the Tesseract, there’s absolutely no doubt that Loki would have wound up on the TVA’s radar–and he doesn’t seem to be too happy about it. Just listen to him: He’s gonna burn this place to the ground. -Meg Downey

6. John Walker is trying to win hearts and minds

A brief clip of US Agent attending what looks like a high school pep rally (complete with an “A” branded marching band) tells us everything we need to know about the MCU’s take on the new character–which is to say, it’s likely going to follow very, very closely to his comic book counterpart. In the books, Walker used big-budget propaganda techniques to make himself look like a favorable alternative to the current Captain America, who he smeared as old, outdated, and ineffective. Unfortunately, Walker himself was actually a zealous nationalist who used his own “patriotism” to terrorize anyone who didn’t fall in line with his own misguided “values.” -Meg Downey

7. Bucky and Zemo still have beef

It seems like Bucky and Zemo have still got some major issues to work out with one another–which is probably pretty unsurprising to anyone who watched Captain America; Civil War. A shot in this trailer seems to indicate that Bucky may even have a chance to shoot Zemo dead-to-rights, but rather than actually making the kill, opts to empty the clip from his gun with his metal hand. Maybe this is an act of mercy–or maybe it’s just another bit of fuel in the fire of their rivalry. One thing is certain, whatever happens between the two of them is going to have some messy results. -Meg Downey

8. Sparing Zemo will eventually birth the Thunderbolts

One of Marvel’s greatest anti-hero (or, well, fake-hero, it gets a little complicated and depends on which era you’re looking at) teams, The Thunderbolts, was actually started by none other than Baron Zemo–in disguise as a new hero named Citizen V, with a bunch of other villains in new “heroic” alter egos. They may have started as a conniving, underhanded ploy to topple some of the Marvel Universe’s most powerful heroic organizations from the inside out, but after a while, the Thunderbolts actually did become kind-of-sort-of heroic. And we’d really, really love to see them crop up in the MCU. There might actually be a chance if Bucky and Sam really do decide to spare Zemo’s life. -Meg Downey

Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going to be something entirely new, combining the big-screen spectacles we’ve come to know and love with smaller scale streaming TV shows on Disney+, and the Super Bowl just gave us our first look at the not one, not two, but three of the upcoming MCU shows.

The Disney+ Marvel Super Bowl spot showed us a look at The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, WandaVision, and Loki, which will begin rolling out on the streaming service this fall and will continue into 2022. First up is The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which will chronicle Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes in a post-Captain America world as they deal with not only the return of Baron Zemo (of Captain America: Civil War fame) but the emergence of US Agent, a new character who will likely pose a threat to Sam Wilson’s stake in the Captain America mantle. The clips shown in the promo gave us our first look at Sam Wilson throwing the shield, Zemo coming face-to-face with Bucky Barnes, and Bucky sporting his newly cut hair.

Next up is WandaVision, a self-described surrealist, “f***king bonkers” journey through the, uh, 1960s flavored sitcom life of Wanda Maximoff and Vision. If the clip is anything to be believed, it looks like we’ll have a lot of wackiness to look forward to–including what may or may not be a pregnant Wanda. Fans of the comics will remember that Wanda and Vision are (strange as it may seem) the parents of two other Marvel characters, Billy Kaplan and Thomas Shepherd (don’t worry too much about the last names for now), who become superheroes in their own rights.

Finally, we got a look at Loki, which features an alternate version of Loki from the Avengers timeline–that is, pre-change of heart, genocidal Loki who was still very much working for Thanos. We saw him flee the scene back in Avengers: Endgame during a kerfuffle with the Tesseract. In case you somehow forgot that this will not be cute, funny Thor: Ragnarok-era Loki, he proudly announces that he’s going to burn this place to the ground in the clip. Yikes.

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, the first of the MCU Disney+ shows, is slated to hit the streaming service this fall. WandaVision follows later in the year, and Loki arrives in 2021.