By NICHOLAS FANDOS, MAGGIE HABERMAN and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT from NYT U.S. https://nyti.ms/2WuKYVs
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Later this year, Nintendo is set to open Nintendo TOKYO, its first official store in Japan.
Revealed during Nintendo's financial results briefing, Nintendo is hoping that Nintendo TOKYO will "be a new point of contact between consumers and Nintendo that a wide range of people, regardless of age, gender, or experience with games can enjoy."
In addition to merchandise, Nintendo plans on hosting events in a similar way as Nintendo's New York store, as well as this shop ideally being a "new base for communicating Nintendo information in Japan."
Nintendo TOKYO is scheduled to open in Fall of 2019 in the tentatively named Shibuya Parco building in Tokyo, Japan.
Nintendo is focused on expanding the reach of its IP by "actively leveraging the worldwide ubiquity of smart devices and on
IP expansion business, which includes theme parks, video content, and character merchandising."
During Nintendo's financial results briefing, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa discussed how Nintendo has evolved its strategy of "gaming population expansion" during the Nintendo DS and Wii era to its new focus to "expand the number of people who have access to Nintendo IP."
Nintendo's "gaming population expansion" strategy was adopted due to a preconceived notion that "games were only for a select group of fans," and it wanted to ensure everyone could game, "regardless of age, gender, or gaming experience."
Since its launch in September of 2018, Nintendo Switch Online has gained over eight million subscribers, not including free trials.
During Nintendo's financial results briefing, it revealed the milestone for Nintendo Switch's online service and said that it is "working on continuing to expand the service offerings."
While it currently provides subscribers with such features as cloud saves, online play, and an ever-growing library of NES games, there have been reports that SNES games may be added to the service in the future.
Nintendo has announced that the Super Mario Bros. animated movie is scheduled to be released in theaters in 2022.
During Nintendo's financial results briefing, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa confirmed that "the development of animated film based on “Super Mario Bros.” with Illumination is moving along for an anticipated theatrical release around 2022."
Revealed in early 2018, this new film will be "co-produced by Nintendo representative director Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri."
The CW’s “Elseworlds” crossover was definitely an entertaining spectacle, but the most exciting aspect of this year’s annual Arrowverse mashup was what it revealed about where the CW’s superhero universe might be headed. Not only are we now officially slated to get the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” adaptation every DC fan has been praying for since The Flash pilot aired, it seems as though the network may be considering what to do with the series that started it all.
Arrow will wrap up its seventh season this year, and the dangling “Elseworlds” plot thread of a mysterious deal between Green Arrow Oliver Queen and multiverse guardian the Monitor leaves the CW with several options for how to continue it. The CW has just renewed Arrow (and the other DC TV shows) for another season, but at the moment there’s no guarantee that it will look anything like the show we’re watching now. Why? Well, for starters, it feels a lot like Arrow could be looking for a way to write out its lead. According to THR, CW boss Mark Pedowitz "said it's highly likely that the 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' crossover would feature a character death" when speaking to reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour this week.
Full spoilers follow for this episode.
And finally… the Klingons return! Not only are L’Rell (Mary Chieffo) and Tyler/Voq (Shazad Latif) back for the third episode of Disco Season 2, answering some long-lingering post-war questions while also teeing up a bunch of new ones, but there are also B and C storylines this week that keep “Point of Light” jam-packed and pumping speedily along… even while setting up that Section 31 spin-off series we’ve been hearing about lately.
The Chancellor and her torchbearer have been missed since last season’s finale, so catching up on all the intrigue going on in the Klingon High Council chambers -- the Klingons are always good for palace intrigue -- is long overdue. L’Rell, who ascended to the leadership of the Empire in that finale, is under siege from various political enemies, who are suspicious of not just a woman leader, but one who keeps the counsel of a human. Of course, Tyler/Voq isn’t really human -- he’s some kind of human/Klingon hybrid. But still, try explaining that to your average angry, human-hating Klingon.
The iconic manga Battle Angel Alita tells a story about the distant future, when a teenaged cyborg is found on a giant scrap heap, and discovers who she is - and who she wants to be - through one amazing action sequence after another. It’s an astounding work of fiction, and it’s now an astounding-looking motion picture, which crams so much plot into one film that there’s practically no room for the actual point.
The film, renamed Alita: Battle Angel, stars Rosa Salazar (Bird Box) as Alita, the amnesiac cyborg who views this dystopian world with wide-eyed wonder. Christoph Waltz co-stars as Ido, the kindly cyborg repairman who repairs Alita and becomes her surrogate father. Ido wants Alita to find her own destiny, free of the baggage that comes with her high-tech body. Nobody seems to know where she came from, why she’s so advanced, and why she’s an expert in a long-lost cyborg martial art.
The CW has officially renewed 10 shows for the 2019-2020 television season, including all of the Arrowverse shows, Riverdale and more.
These early renewals were announced by CW president Mark Pedowitz during the network’s session at the Television Critics Association Press Tour in Pasadena, California. Returning shows include Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning, Charmed, Dynasty, Legacies, Riverdale and Supernatural.
"The early renewal of these signature CW series gives us a head start on laying out the 2019-2020 season, and this is just the beginning,” said Pedowitz. “These shows provide a strong foundation for our multiplatform programming strategy, and we look forward to building on this with even more returning and new shows as we approach the May upfront.”
Weeeeeelcooooome back to Nintendo Voice Chat! On this week's episode, Casey DeFreitas is joined by Zach Ryan, Brian Altano, and Tom Marks to mourn the death of the Wii Shop Channel, finally chat about the big Metroid Prime 4 news, and run through Nintendo's latest sales numbers.
Amazon Prime Video’s Invincible animated series based on the Robert Kirkman comic series of the same name has officially cast Mark Hamill, Steven Yeun, J.K. Simmons, Seth Rogen and more, and will premiere in 2020.
This eight-episode series follows 17-year-old Mark Grayson (Yeun), the son of the most powerful superhero on the planet, Omni-Man (Simmons). As he develops his own powers, Mark finds that his father’s legacy isn’t what it seems.
Though which characters they’ll be playing haven’t been revealed, other actors cast in the series include Sandra Oh, Gillian Jacobs, Andrew Rannells, Zazie Beetz, Walton Goggins, Jason Mantzoukas, Mae Whitman, Chris Diamantopoulos, Melise, Kevin Michael Richardson, Grey Griffin, Max Burkholder and more.
UltraViolet, the service that provided customers who bought movies or shows on Blu-ray or DVD with a digital HD copy of the media, will be shutting down on July 31.
The service recently sent out an e-mail to customers who have signed up for an UltraViolet Library in the past, and updated its official website with a similar goodbye message. Between now and July 31, customers can still access UltraViolet movies and shows through the retailers linked to their UltraViolet libraries, which includes Fandango Now, Vudu and more.
Customers can continue to purchase new movies and shows and redeem digital codes that are still active by following their normal redemption instructions. Depending on the associated retailer, they may or may not be added to the user’s established UltraViolet library.
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Alienware was one of the first boutique gaming PC brands to hit the consumer market, and its trademark Alien-like chassis has been no stranger to the world of PC gaming. Ever since buying out the Alienware brand in 2006, Dell has continued to maintain Alienware's legacy by offering a gaming rig with quality components, stalwart warranty, and a staggering array of customization options to satisfy even the most demanding of gamers.
A premium pre-built PC usually comes with a daunting price tag. Fortunately, unbeknownst to most shoppers, Dell offers plenty of ways to get these rigs at a respectable price. Our article here compiles all the Alienware deals we've found at significant discounts, and will constantly be updated.
As hard as it is to believe, Family Guy first aired 20 years ago, debuting after Super Bowl XXXIII on January 31, 1999. It's been a long, interesting road since. Family Guy managed to develop a cult following, survive cancellation, and return to FOX more popular than ever. It's spawned a spinoff series and made creator Seth MacFarlane a major player in Hollywood.
And while Family Guy isn't exactly always known for its highbrow quality, what with its emphasis on cutaway jokes, shock value, and pop culture references over plot, it's still delivered some pretty memorable episodes over the course of 17 seasons. In honor of this anniversary, we've selected the 20 best episodes from Family Guy's long run.
Miss Bala's biggest problem comes before the film even begins. The strange choice to promote it as some kind of female empowerment flick immediately sets the Catherine Hardwicke-directed action film up to fail, as while it's a passable genre distraction it treats the woman at its core like an uninteresting MacGuffin to push forward an unoriginal and often problematic narrative.
Miss Bala is based on a Mexican film of the same name that was loosely inspired by a true life story about a beauty queen who was arrested alongside a gang. This version changes the original premise, introducing Gina Rodriguez's Gloria as a makeup artist -- she's only given as much interior life as that, she does makeup as a job -- who travels to Tijuana to help her friend Suzu compete in a beauty pageant. After a visit to a club to network with some powerful people involved in the contest, Gloria and Suzu are separated during a shootout and Gloria begins her bafflingly convoluted attempt to find her friend.
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The future has arrived, and it looks like... a robotic vacuum? Perhaps that's not the fantastical future you expected to see, but several of these automated devices are on sale now at Walmart. And while we’d all rather spend our money on video games and comic books, we need to clean up after ourselves if we don’t want to gross out our guests. If you're just here for deals on games, that's cool -- check out our Daily Deals for that. But if you could use some help cleaning up, having a robotic vacuum around is just the ticket.
The Walking Dead Season 9’s midseason return will appear on the AMC Premiere premium service on Super Bowl Sunday, a full week before it appears on AMC.
The episode will be available to AMC Premiere customers on Sunday, February 3, remaining on the on-demand service all week leading up to the traditional premiere on AMC at 9pm on February 10.
AMC Premiere is a $5 per month upgrade option for viewers who already receive AMC as part of their television service, and offers commercial-free viewing of in-season original AMC series in addition to exclusive and first-look content, extended episodes, curated movies, and more.
Marshmello, an American DJ and electronic music producer, will almost definitely be playing a concert in Fortnite this weekend.
Though Epic has not made any official announcements, the evidence that this concert will be happening is solid. First, on Marshmello’s website, he's listed that his next official concert will be happening at Pleasant Park on February 2. Meanwhile, a stage is currently being set up within the Pleasant Park suburban area of the Fortnite map, right on top of a football field.
Then, most tellingly, there are multiple posters advertising this concert in Pleasant Park on February 2 at 11am PT/2pm ET as part of a showtime challenge - check out our wiki guide to see exactly where these posters are. As reported by Forbes, there was also a major series of leaks that include a Marshmello skin, other Marshmello event challenges, animations for the event and more.
Masahiro Sakurai, game director of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, has revealed some interesting data from the game's online mode, including victory rates and which characters are used the most.
Via a translation by Nintendo Everything, Sakurai published a column in Famitsu talking about how Nintendo gave him permission to talk about the previously mentioned data that was collected over one week - from December 30, 2018 - January 5, 2019.
The first game type discussed was 1-on-1 victory rates, where he confirmed that "no fighter is lower than 40% and no fighter exceeds 60%," in terms of winning percentage.
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Logitech has long been a recognized and respected name in the computer hardware game, and right now there's a big sale on Logitech PC hardware going on at Amazon.
Out of everything on sale, my personal recommendation is the Logitech C922x webcam. It's 50% off right now and if you're looking to kickstart your streaming channel, or just want a really nice USB 1080p camera and don't want to spend a lot, absolutely grab one.
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Netflix is adding the superhero series Umbrella Academy to its lineup of original content. This new series is based on the award-winning comics from former My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way and artist Gabriel Bá.
If you're not sure what makes Umbrella Academy special or what the premise of this X-Men and Doom Patrol-inspired franchise is, fear not. We've got a breakdown of all three Umbrella Academy graphic novels. We'll explain the basic plot, key characters, and the conflict of each story, but avoid major spoilers. Read on to learn more about this incredibly dysfunctional super-team.
This week's comic book lineup included the latest dramatic chapter of DC's Heroes in Crisis and a new issue of Amazing Spider-Man, one kicking off a new storyline that paves the way to the "Hunted" crossover. We also got an early look at Spencer & Locke 2, the sequel to a surprisingly excellent crime parody of Calvin & Hobbes.
Scroll down to check out our new reviews and thinkpieces, and be sure to let us know your favorite books of the week in the comments below.
To celebrate the launch of Anthem we're giving away a huge prize bundle – all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning it is play the upcoming public demo and send us your finest moments.
We want to see Anthem played at its best – heroics, skill, and whole lot of kills are a must, but other than that you're free to do whatever you want.
You can play alone or in a squad, choose whichever javelins you like and take on any enemies - just make sure you send us your best footage from the demo, which runs between 1st-3rd Feb. If we judge it to be the best you'll win this lot:
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The Nintendo Switch is continuing its successful run as sales of Nintendo's latest console have surpassed 32 million units.
Nintendo announced the news this morning and confirmed that, as of December 31, 2018, the Nintendo Switch sold 32.27 million units and software sales for the console have reached 163.61 million units.
The Switch sold 14.49 million units between April and December of 2018 and, as of October, Nintendo confirmed Switch was at 22 million units sold. These sales numbers helped the Switch become the best-selling console of 2018 and become the best-selling Nintendo console during a Thanksgiving weekend in the U.S.
Nintendo has released sales figures for its top-selling titles across the Switch and 3DS consoles.
The official Nintendo website shows the figures for the best selling titles on all of its consoles. It's worth noting that these numbers likely reflect the number of units sold to stock stores, rather than those that were actually sold through and picked up by consumers.
For the Nintendo Switch, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe leads the pack with 15.02 million units and is followed closely by Super Mario Odyssey at 13.76 million. The recently released Super Smash Bros. Ultimate comes in at 12.08 million units and was the best selling game in December 2018, selling over 3 million units in the first 11 days.
AMC has released a slew of new photos from the midseason premiere of The Walking Dead Season 9, which returns February 10.
The second half of Season 9 will introduce us to the leaders of the Whisperers, Alpha and Beta, after the group made a major impact in the midseason finale by killing Jesus.
The new photos see Negan out and about in Alexandria after he escaped his cage in the last episode. Michonne, Daryl, Carol, and Ezekiel also take center stage in the images, with much of the group seen outside the walls of their communities, likely attempting to track the mysterious attackers who took out one of their best warriors.
With the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 2.0.0 update that came Tuesday evening, some players are experiencing difficulty when trying to redeem the long-awaited Piranha Plant to add to their roster.
Players are having trouble with both redeeming the code from Nintendo or just finding it in their email, along with having Piranha Plant wipe out their save files entirely after they used it in the game's All-Star Mode.
Nintendo support posted an entire FAQ on how to troubleshoot unlocking Piranha Plant without having to call in, as their call volume is so high that people are reporting error messages.
The full main cast of Zombieland is returning for its sequel, and they’ve taken the opportunity to do their own 10-year challenge via a movie poster comparison.
The film, which appears to be called Zombieland: Double Tap if the new poster is anything to go off of, stars the four main actors of the first film: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin. The first poster for the film was revealed on Twitter alongside the original 2009 film’s poster, with the actors in the same order and similar poses.
#10YearChallenge? Challenge Accepted. #Zombieland2 pic.twitter.com/cA1DL1bVZQ
from IGN All http://bit.ly/2CUq88W
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Alienware was one of the first boutique gaming PC brands to hit the consumer market, and its trademark Alien-like chassis has been no stranger to the world of PC gaming. Ever since buying out the Alienware brand in 2006, Dell has continued to maintain Alienware's legacy by offering a gaming rig with quality components, stalwart warranty, and a staggering array of customization options to satisfy even the most demanding of gamers.
A premium pre-built PC usually comes with a daunting price tag. Fortunately, unbeknownst to most shoppers, Dell offers plenty of ways to get these rigs at a respectable price. Our article here compiles all the Alienware deals we've found at significant discounts, and will constantly be updated.
Sony has announced the free games coming to PlayStation Plus in February 2019, and they include For Honor, Hitman: The Complete First Season, and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
Announced through the PlayStation Blog, PS Plus users will also be getting a massive boost in cloud storage for game saves and character profiles, increasing from 10GB to 100GB.
The free games will become available starting February 5 and include Ubisoft’s action game For Honor and IO Interactive’s stealth compilation Hitman: The Complete First Season, which includes seven episodes and bonus content. Both games will be available to download for free until March 5.
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In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, matches are won by milliseconds. A quick grab here, a well-timed jump, a perfect shield… these things add up and can massively influence the result of a battle. A good controller isn’t going to make you automatically better, but it will definitely give you an advantage. And while purists will tell you a fight stick is the only way to compete in other fighting games, Super Smash Brothers’ simplified control scheme makes them impractical.
Matt Reeves, known for his work on the Planet of the Apes reboot series, Cloverfield and more, has given new details on his upcoming noir film, The Batman.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Reeves touched on the film’s casting, it’s general tone and plot, a possible release window and its villains.
"What's exciting about Batman is how it relates to now and also how personal it can be,” said Reeves. "It's very much a point of view-driven, noir Batman tale. It's told very squarely on his shoulders, and I hope it's going to be a story that will be thrilling but also emotional. It's more Batman in his detective mode than we've seen in the films. The comics have a history of that.
Kingdom Hearts 3 includes eight Disney worlds — three returning (though two in a different form) and five franchises completely new to the Kingdom Hearts series.
Below, we break down each of those worlds, including the general story of each one. Be sure to check out the gallery below for world art and in-game screenshots from each location, or read on for info on each.
And, if you haven't, be sure to read our Kingdom Hearts 3 review and watch the Kingdom Hearts series' story told in, roughly, five minutes, as well as our breakdown of almost every major Disney character in Kingdom Hearts 3.
DC Universe is continuing to expand its roster of TV shows, films, and comics for members, with a number of beloved titles heading to the subscription service this February - along with the anticipated premiere of Doom Patrol.
IGN can exclusively reveal that two more classic animated shows will be added to DC Universe's lineup next month: Premiering February 1, The New Batman Adventures (1997-1999) joins the two seasons of Batman: The Animated series already available to stream on the platform; while The Batman (2004-2008), with Rino Romano voicing the Dark Knight, premieres February 8. As previously announced, Titans spinoff Doom Patrol will debut on February 15, following the same weekly rollout pattern as Titans, and the DC animated movie Reign of the Supermen (read our review here) premiered on the service yesterday - the same date that the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray.
Video games are still a relatively new form of entertainment. But while games don't have the long history of other mediums, there are a number of them that are getting up there and deserve to be remembered for helping to guide the future of the art form.
With a big side of nostalgia we're remembering those games that celebrate major milestones this year: 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and yes, even 40 years old now. While we can't include them all, here are just some the biggest anniversary milestones in video gaming we can celebrate in 2019!
It would be easy to dismiss the fifth issue of Heroes in Crisis as a glorified filler issue. It's very much a middle chapter of a longer story. There isn't much in the way of plot progression to be had here. The emphasis is more on imagery and mood than story in this issue. But as imagery and mood are pretty much the two major selling points with Heroes in Crisis, that's really not a bad thing.
The series' focus remains where it has been these past few issues, with Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman performing damage control after the Sanctuary massacre while Booster and Harley continue their dogged pursuit of the "real" killer. The narrative inches forward in these pages, mainly as Tom King's script begins teasing the identity of that killer. Still, the end result is far more questions than answers, which may be a hard pill to swallow considering that issue #6 is another flashback chapter.
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When you think Humble Bundle, PC games probably spring to mind, but the latest Humble Bundle offer is a tiered collection of PlayStation 4 games you can get by spending between $1 and $15. Humble may have made a name for itself with pay-what-you-want PC bundles, but it has branched out since the early days. Now it regularly offers bundles of things like ebooks, comics, game development software, and even cookbooks.
Episode 3 of Humans Who Make Games features Christine Love, the writer and developer behind popular indie games such as Digital: A Love Story, Analogue: A Hate Story, and Ladykiller in a Bind.
Adam Conover, the host of Humans Who Make Games chatted with Love about everything from how she dropped out of college to pursue Analogue: A Hate Story to incorporating queer relationships into games.
Listen to Humans Who Make Games Episode 3.
Love's only formal programming training was at a two-week long summer camp with five other kids in a basement, as she felt more connected to writing before combining the two later on.
Up until now exposures to Rage 2 have been fairly linear affairs; the barren open world expanse of Avalanche Studios and id’s post-apocalyptic shooter sequel has remained strictly off limits in favour of highlighting the game’s overhauled and overcharged combat system. For my latest hands-on with the game I wasn’t quite given the keys to the kingdom, but I was handed the keys to a rusted out bucket of bolts generously referred to as a ‘car’ and allowed to tour a small section of Rage 2’s map.
My first stop was a return to the city of Wellspring. The ramshackle sprawl of neon and rust from the original game was begging to be reexamined, but since my time with the game was limited I decided to hustle past the bulletin boards covered in job contracts, and various other NPC quest-givers, and instead trigger the main story mission. Wellspring mayor, Loosum Hagar, was locked in a power struggle with an entitled twerp named Klegg Clayton (the wealthy offspring of Mayor Clayton from the original), and I was charged with sneaking into Clayton’s high-rise office in order to plant a bug on his computer. In order to gain access to his domain, I had to first build up my celebrity status by becoming a reality TV star in a manner so ruthless it would make a Kardashian wince.
Someone at Chucklefish clearly got tired of waiting for Nintendo to bring back Advance Wars, because Wargroove’s turn-based tactics combat is as close to a modern, fantasy-themed revival as you’ll find. But this isn’t a game that relies only on its gorgeous pixel-art nostalgia to win your love: Wargroove is a challenging and extremely fun tactics game, with great multiplayer options and a level editor strong enough to make an entire tactics game of your own.
Instead of controlling a party of bespoke heroes like in a Fire Emblem game, Wargroove gives you a unique commander and has you summon waves of disposable units mid-battle. Obviously you’ll still want to play smart and keep your troops alive, but removing that fear of losing someone with a name and a face to perma-death or having to worry about getting your favorite characters kills to level them up makes for a lighter and snappier tactical flavor.
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Sony is apparently having its first-party studios focus on PlayStation 5 game development, but we may not see the fruits of that labour for some time.
Industry analyst Daniel Ahmad – who has previously reported inside information ahead of official confirmation – took to ResetEra to explain that, "in general, most of the focus for Sony
is on PS5 right now. It is still early to talk about next gen but I imagine we'll hear some whispers come out of GDC."