Microsoft and Mojang have announced that Minecraft Dungeons is getting new DLC and a free update later this month, and both are going to add some interesting stuff to the game. The paid DLC is called Flames of the Nether, and it will take players to that lava-filled core, where they will take on the toughest challenges in the game yet.
The DLC will add six new missions, as well as two skins and a Baby Ghast pet. On the free side of things, the upcoming update will add Ancient Hunts to the game, a new feature that introduces procedurally-generated endgame missions that take place both in and out of the Nether. It sounds like this is the only way that players can get the best gear in the game–the so-called Gilded tier–so die-hards will definitely want to check that out. You’ll also receive a new currency called Gold, which can be traded with a merchant in your camp.
Both the free update and the Flames of the Nether DLC will come to Minecraft Dungeons on February 24. No price has been announced for the DLC, but it’ll probably be $6 like the previous packs. Minecraft Dungeons got cross-play and fresh DLC late last year, so you can play it with your friends on other consoles. If you’re still wondering what a Creeper tastes like, there’s a Minecraft cereal out in the wild these days.
Fans of Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile have an exciting month ahead of them with the game’s latest 1.2 patch. Players can experience a new quick-play game mode and a special Valentine’s Day theme to feel the love this month.
If you like power armor, you’re in luck. The new EvoGround gameplay mode is Power Armor Mode, and as the name implies, it’s bringing power armor to Livik with extra abilities. Players will be able to forge their own suit of power armor by bringing an Armor Blueprint and Nano Crystals to the Matrix base.
There are three pieces of power armor players can create: Power Armor Chest, Power Armor Arms, and Power Armor Legs. Their names are pretty self-explanatory, but each provides a different bonus. The Power Armor Chest reduces chest damage and increases your backpack capacity, the Power Armor Arms reduce arm damage and increases melee damage, and the Power Armor Legs reduce leg damage, decrease fall damage, and grant the ability to sprint. If you assemble the full set, you’ll unlock its ultimate weapon: The Dragon’s Breath grenade.
Even if you’re not a fan of American football or The Weeknd, the Super Bowl was worth watching for the new trailer for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The second live-action Marvel series on Disney+ is drawing closer to its March 19 debut, and we’re starting to get a better picture of the conflict awaiting Sam Wilson and his reluctant partner Bucky Barnes. Spoiler alert – they still don’t get along very well.
Even as the plot begins to coalesce, fans still have plenty of questions surrounding the new MCU show. Why has Baron Zemo returned? Who exactly is the masked woman fighting the Winter Soldier to a standstill? Is that the Madripoor skyline we see? Let’s take a deep dive into this new footage and explore what we know about the next big MCU epic.
Sam and Bucky will be battling a familiar face in this new series, with Daniel Brühl reprising his role as Baron Helmut Zemo from 2016’s Captain America: Civil War. Since that movie is nearly five years old now, it’s probably worth recapping who Zemo is and why he hates superheroes so much.
As we learned in Civil War, Zemo was the leader of a Sokovian commando squad until that Eastern European country was devastated in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Zemo lost his wife and children in the disaster, sparking an intense hatred of the Avengers. Zemo spent the months after the events of Age of Ultron preparing for his ultimate goal of fracturing the Avengers and shaking the public’s confidence in costumed heroes. He found the key to his plan after uncovering the existence of the Winter Soldier and using the brainwashed Bucky as the wedge to divide Cap and Iron Man. Though Black Panther prevented Zemo from committing suicide, the villain was ultimately successful in his goal. When we last saw him at the end of Civil War, he was imprisoned by the U.N. and gloating in his victory.
Zemo’s mission is still only half-finished.
The trailer makes it clear Zemo has escaped imprisonment. We wouldn’t be at all surprised if “The Blip” in Avengers: Infinity War has something to do with it. Either Zemo survived the Blip and his jailers didn’t, or else he was blipped and returned five years later after his cell was long since removed. Of course, with roughly seven years having passed in the MCU since the events of Civil War, it’s also possible Zemo was simply released from prison.
Either way, he’s on the lam and resuming his one, true mission. Zemo’s narration in the trailer makes that clear, as we hear him say, “Superheroes should not be allowed to exist. I have no intention of leaving my work unfinished.”
We assume Zemo is miffed that the Avengers rallied to save the day in Endgame and is determined to prove that even having restored billions of lost souls to life, the Avengers are not to be trusted. And maybe he’s not entirely wrong, considering it was their failure that led to the Blip in the first place. Though by that logic, Zemo is himself to blame because he ensured the Avengers weren’t able to make a united front against Thanos. Somehow, we doubt he’s capable of that level of self-reflection.
The most obvious change to Zemo this time around is the fact that he’s finally wearing his iconic purple mask from the comics. There may be practical reasons for donning a costume this time. For example, in the comics the mask is shown to give Zemo resistance to psychic attacks, similar to how Magneto’s helmet safeguards against Professor X’s powers.
But the real significance of the purple mask lies in its family history. In the comics, Helmut is actually the second character to use the Baron Zemo title, after his father Heinrich Zemo. That Baron Zemo was one of Cap’s biggest WWII-era nemeses alongside the Red Skull, and he also wore the purple mask. In fact, the mask became permanently attached to his face after Heinrich had a bad run-in with a super-glue called Adhesive X. The comic book version of Helmut Zemo has his own Adhesive X-induced facial scars, and he also sometimes uses it as a weapon against the Avengers.
The MCU has never given any indication Cap fought the elder Zemo, but it’s possible The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will fill in some of that back-story and explore how Helmut is following in the footsteps of an ancestor. The series probably won’t get into any of that Adhesive X business, but you never know…
The idea of the past resurfacing to haunt the present will likely be a big theme in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Supergirl actor Carl Lumbly has been cast in an undisclosed role, with many fans speculating he’s playing Isaiah Bradley, one of the main protagonists of 2003’s Truth: Red, White & Black. Bradley is one of the few survivors of a top secret program where African American soldiers were used as test subjects in an attempt to recreate Dr. Erskine’s lost Super-Soldier Serum formula. Few lived through the inhumane experiments, and only Bradley survived the end of the war. That’s the dark truth behind America’s bright and shining hero, and we could easily see Zemo wanting to expose that truth to the world.
The question is how Sam and Bucky will react to the truth about Captain America and whether that will impact Sam’s commitment to follow Steve’s path.
Who Is the Masked Woman?
The first two trailers have shown Sam and Bucky going up against a group of masked terrorists. The ringleader of this cell is a woman who appears to have super-strength, at least enough that she’s able to easily hold her own against the former Winter Soldier.
Thanks to some leaked merchandise, we know that anarchist terrorist group to be the Flag-Smashers, with the ringleader (whom we assume is also called Flag-Smasher) played by Solo: A Star Wars Story’s Erin Kellyman. In the comics, Flag-Smasher is a deeply anti-patriotic villain who despises Captain America and the government he represents. Flag-Smasher eventually forms a terrorist group called ULTIMATUM, so the Flag-Smashers could be the precursor to that organization in the MCU.
Based on her fighting abilities, we wouldn’t be surprised to learn Flag-Smasher has some version of the Super-Soldier Serum running through her veins. She and Zemo may be united in their desire to expose the dark truth of Captain America and turn the world against its heroes.
One of the last scenes in Avengers: Endgame shows an elderly Steve Rogers passing the shield and mantle of Captain America to Sam Wilson. Unfortunately, that doesn’t automatically make Sam the new Cap in the eyes of the US government or the world at large. Presumably, one of the major plot points in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will involve the uphill battle Sam faces in winning the right to be Cap. Again, assuming he even decides that’s what he wants in the end.
The trailers certainly hint the government has its own candidate picked out to be the new Cap. Overlord’s Wyatt Russell is playing John Walker, a character better known to comic book readers as U.S. Agent. Walker briefly filled the role of Cap in the comics after Steve cut ties with the government, before eventually adopting his own superhero identity. But it’s worth noting that Marvel Studios has only ever referred to the character as John Walker in its promotional material. The character seems to be kept under an intentional veil of secrecy, to the point where we’ve only gotten a good, official look at Russell’s John Walker thanks to a Topps trading card.
Most likely, the US government will be attempting to establish Walker as the new Captain America in the eyes of the public. Given Walker’s physical resemblance to Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers, the government may be trying to maintain the illusion this is the same Cap Americans have always known. As it is, we don’t know how much the general public knows about the events of Endgame and Steve’s sudden disappearance from public life. While the MCU Steve has never really tried to maintain a secret identity, we can probably assume that most of what the public knows about his origins and personal life is heavily controlled and sanitized by the government. Both trailers have shown us similar shots of a costumed Walker gallivanting before an audience at a football game. That suggests his role is more performative than one rooted in actual missions and military operations. In other words, much like Cap’s original job as a propaganda tool in the early days of WWII. The idea and symbol of Cap is what the government wants to maintain, and that may be exactly what Zemo and the Flag-Smashers are trying to destroy.
Is Madripoor Making Its MCU Debut?
Based on the two trailers released so far, it would seem The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has a much bigger scope than WandaVision. Rather than taking place mostly inside one New Jersey suburb, the series will apparently feature epic train battles, a major action sequence set inside the Grand Canyon and various other international locales. One landmark that keeps cropping up in this footage is of a mysterious, neon-soaked city skyline. That city appears to be located in China or somewhere else in Asia. That’s already led many fans to speculate – could the series introduce Madripoor to the MCU?
If you’re not familiar with Madripoor, it’s basically the Mos Eisley of the Marvel Universe – a wretched hive of scum and villainy where few heroes dare to tread. Madripoor is like Singapore in that it’s a small island nation comprised of one city. Founded by pirates and filled with corruption at every level of the government, Madripoor is a safe haven for every criminal and supervillain who doesn’t want to worry about international extradition. It also happens to be the frequent stomping ground of Wolverine.
That in itself raises some interesting questions. Assuming this is Madripoor we’re seeing in the trailers, could Wolverine also make his MCU debut in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier? We know Marvel Studios is still years away from releasing a dedicated X-Men movie, with only the Ryan Reynolds-starring Deadpool 3 confirmed to be in the works so far. But that doesn’t mean we might not see these characters and concepts begin to crop up in other projects. It’s not a huge stretch to imagine this series using the Madripoor setting to at least tease Wolverine’s debut, if not outright feature the iconic X-Man.
Just an ordinary day in Madripoor.
As it is, Wolverine, Captain America and Bucky have a long, shared history together. Logan fought alongside Cap in WWII and encountered the Winter Soldier during the Cold War. The animated series X-Men: Evolution even introduced the idea that Wolverine and Cap were among the soldiers who rescued a young Magneto from a Nazi concentration camp. That would certainly make for an interesting MCU flashback – one of many ways the series could feasibly work Wolverine into Sam and Bucky’s world.
Wolverine and Cap are also products of the same scientific program. Weapon X and Project Rebirth are both offshoots of an organization called Weapon Plus. In fact, writer Grant Morrison’s New X-Men comic revealed that Wolverine’s Weapon X codename actually stands for “Weapon Ten,” and Cap himself was the original Weapon One. If The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is digging into the dark truth behind Captain America, it only makes sense to reference this shared history. Even if we don’t actually see Wolverine in the flesh, perhaps we’ll see blueprints or X-rays of a mysterious, six-clawed test subject called Weapon X. It’s a start, bub.
What Is the Song in the Trailer?
Finally, we might as well touch on one of the bigger questions surrounding the new trailer. For those wondering, the song “Is You Ready?” by Migos serves as the background music for this new footage. There’s not much to be gleaned from that needle drop, but the song is appropriate given how often it repeats the line “Is you ready? Whole squad ready.” It’s clearly celebrating the fact that the Falcon and the Winter Soldier are back in action, and with Don Cheadle’s War Machine for good measure. Or is the song teasing an alliance of villains, including Baron Zemo, the Flag-Smashers and whatever other villains might be lurking in the shadows?
How do you think Zemo and the Flag-Smashers will factor into the plot? Will The Falcon and the Winter Soldier introduce Madripoor and Wolverine to the MCU? Let us know in the comments below.
Obsidian is preparing the second DLC expansion for The Outer Worlds, Murder on Eridanos, and it’s closer than you might expect. As part of Take-Two’s earnings report, the company noted that it expects the DLC to launch in this fiscal year, which ends March 31.
The company didn’t give further details on when to expect the DLC, or any more gameplay details. But with less than two months remaining before release, we should expect to hear more about it sometime soon. The same financial statement also notes that we’ll see the Switch version of the DLC coming sometime this calendar year.
Murder on Eridanos is the second half of the two-part expansion pass that also includes the already-released Peril on Gorgon. Given the name, it sounds as if you’ll be a gumshoe investigating a murder, which would be fitting for Outer Worlds’ classic pulp style.
Actor Viggo Mortensen revealed that he turned down the role of the X-Men’s Wolverine thanks in part to his son Henry.
On an episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast (via MovieWeb), Mortensen detailed how an early meeting with 20th Century Fox and director Bryan Singer colored his thoughts on potentially being locked into a superhero role for years to come. Besides his own personal misgivings, Mortensen’s young son Henry, a fan of the X-Men, noted how different Singer’s incarnation of the superhero group looked.
“The thing that bothered me at the time was just the commitment of endless movies of that same character over and over,” Mortensen said. “I was nervous about that. And also there were some things… I mean they straightened most of them out, but I did take Henry to the meeting I had with the director as my sort of good luck charm and guide. In the back of my mind, I was thinking he could learn something, too, because I did let Henry read the script and he goes ‘This is wrong, that’s not how it is.'”
Singer eventually asked Henry if he was familiar with Wolverine, Mortensen said.
“And he goes ‘yeah, but he doesn’t look like this,’ And all of a sudden the director is falling all over himself and then the rest of the meeting was him explaining in detail to Henry why he was taking certain liberties,” Mortensen said. “We walked out of there, and Henry asks if he will change the things he told him about, and I say I don’t think so. I’m not going to do it anyway, because I’m not sure I want to be doing this for years, and then a couple of years later I’m doing three Lord Of The Rings [films] so who knows.”
While three Lord of the Rings movies is quite the project, it ended up being far less of an ask than what Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman got over the course of seven (technically eight) X-Men movies, most of which focused on Wolverine as the central lead. It’s well-known that Jackman wasn’t the first choice to play Wolverine, but call it a happy accident, considering Jackman is easily the most lauded and popular part of the X-Men film franchise.
Mortensen even turned down a role in the Hobbit trilogy prior to that franchise’s filming way back in 2008. The actor is definitely the type to be careful with his role selection, typically appearing in only one to two movies per year. His most recent major appearance in 2019’s Green Book (alongside Mahershala Ali) earned him an Oscar Award nomination for best actor. He most recently made his directorial debut for 2020’s Falling, starring Mortensen as a gay man caring for his dementia-ridden homophobic father.
Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon has set a new animated comedy with Fox, which will debut in 2022. The untitled series will reportedly be set in ancient Greece and be centered on “a flawed family of humans, gods, and monsters that tries to run one of the world’s first cities without killing each other.”
The announcement came via a release from Fox, in which president of entertainment Michael Thorn further said: “Leave it to Dan Harmon to turn the mythos of early Greek civilization into remarkably sharp commentary on today’s politics, celebrity, and pop culture. This project is an incredibly irreverent family comedy as told by one of the town’s most inventive storytellers. We are proud to be partnered with Dan on this series, which strengthens our hold on the animation space and, as we continue to build Fox Entertainment, marks an important first step for us with our first fully owned scripted property.”
According to the release, voice casting for the program is currently underway and will be announced in the coming months. For fans who are concerned this new project will pull Harmon away from–or be the source of further delays on–upcoming Rick and Morty seasons, remember that not long ago in July, Adult Swim Con gave us a first look at Season 5, and if you’re worrying about Season 6 before Season 5 is out, well, try to stay patient. In that same sneak peek at Adult Swim Con, Harmon indicated that writing is moving along smoothly on Season 6–via Zoom.
Months after launch, both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are still rapidly selling out as soon as retailers announce they have stock. This shortage has led some UK lawmakers to call for the practice of scalping–where bots are used to purchase multiple units at once to later sell at a higher price–to be banned.
Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the problem of scalping has been exacerbated with most retailers having to go fully online to sell their wares. This makes it that much easier for automated bots to run away with surplus units their owners can then sell at a premium. While some retailers have tried to put forth preventative measures like limiting one purchase per address, scalpers have been able to figure out ways around, and even methods of stopping it have become monetized.
To combat this, Scottish National Party MP Douglas Chapman and other members of parliament are now calling for scalping to be criminalized. Chapman described the practice to Sky News as “profiteering” and “a total scam.” To combat this, Chapman has brought a private members bill called the Gaming Hardware (Automated Purchase and Resale) Bill 2019-21 forward. If it passes, scalping would be banned similarly to how ticket reselling at higher prices was a few years ago. Chapman has acknowledged that the legislation is likely a long shot, but said it was one of the actions available to him in order to make the government “take responsibility” for the issue.
Playtonic Games will reveal something new “soon,” according to their official Twitter account. Known for their work on the two Yooka-Laylee games, Playtonic’s last game was Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, a 2D spinoff of the 3D original that many reviewers compared to the Donkey Kong Country series.
We’d like to give our community, our friends, a giant hug 💚💜
We know you’re all wondering what we have cooking, and although we can’t say just yet, something will be revealed SOON.
Playtonic was formed back in 2014 by a group of developers who all previously worked at Rare. The studio’s first game, Yooka-Laylee, was marketed as a spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, one of the most beloved 3D platformers of all time, and one of the high water marks of Rare’s legacy. Our reviewer Kallie Plagge was less than impressed with the original game, writing that its “bloated levels and a largely uncooperative camera keep Yooka-Laylee from being more than just a nostalgia trip.”
Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair garnered more positive reviews from other outlets. However, our reviewer Alessandro Barbosa found that the sequel had similar problems to the original, opining that the game was still “too firmly rooted in a bygone era for platformers.” An update for the original Yooka-Laylee added a “64-bit” mode to make it resemble the games that inspired it.
What would happen if one person had the ability to control the weather? That’s the premise of Weathering with You, an anime film about a young girl who wields the strange power and uses it to her advantage. Directed by Makoto Shinkai (known for 2017’s Your Name), Weathering with You is a beautiful story that takes some surprising turns and leaves you with an ending you won’t soon forget. If you missed it when it came to theaters in January 2020, today’s a great day to snag it on Blu-ray, as Amazon currently has Weathering with You on sale for just over $15, down from its $30 list price. To get the full discount, click to apply the coupon on the listing, and you’ll save an additional $2.68 at checkout. This is the cheapest we’ve seen Weathering with You’s Blu-ray since it released.
Those who loved Your Name will find plenty to love about Weathering with You, which has a similar feel and, yes, will probably make you cry. Like Your Name, it begins with the meeting of a boy and a girl from different backgrounds: Hodaka, a runaway from a troubled home, and Hina, an orphan who becomes known as the “sunshine girl” due to her weather-controlling powers. After the two become friends, they decide to start a business where people can hire Hina to clear the sky and ensure sunny weather for weddings, parties, and other gatherings. However, the situation starts to get complicated, and they realize there could be dire consequences for wielding the power so freely.
