Andrew Garfield’s career jolted on a completely different trajectory after it was announced that he would no longer be playing Spider-Man, and that the Amazing Spider-Man franchise had been dissolved. Suddenly Garfield had the free time to work on projects like Hacksaw Ridge and Silence, both of which have seen him touted for Oscar nominations. But that doesn’t mean that his departure from the Spider-Man franchise was all of his own volition. In fact, Andrew Garfield has now teased that it was a little messy, but refused to admit that he was fired in the process.

Andrew Garfield made this admission during an interview with the Guardian to mark the release of Silence, the spiritual Martin Scorsese drama that has received plenty of plaudits, a healthy portion of which have been directed towards the English actor. The conversation soon turned to his work on The Amazing Spider-Man as Peter Parker, and the way it suddenly came to an end. When quizzed about whether he was fired by Sony, Garfield responded,

No, I don’t think so. What I’ll proudly say is that I didn’t compromise who I was, I was only ever myself. And that might have been difficult for some people.

The speculation that Andrew Garfield was fired from The Amazing Spider-Man franchise previously emerged courtesy of the hacking of Sony’s emails in May 2015. These suggested that Andrew Garfield was “let go” because he didn’t turn up to an event in Brazil where The Amazing Spider-Man 3 was set to announced, with its release date planned for July 2017. What made it umpteen times worse was that Sony boss Kaz Hirai was the one all set to announce the film.

Andrew Garfield insists that he didn’t turn up because he had a sickness that was caused by jetlag, and the above quote was in response to whether he’d self-sabotaged himself. Following on from the disappointment of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and with Sony having planned a tremendous expansion of the franchise that would have included four spin-offs, the studio decided to cancel them all. 19-year-old Tom Holland has since been cast as Spider-Man, and he’s even been folded into the Marvel Cinematic Universe after a deal was worked out with Marvel and Sony.

The failure of The Amazing Spider-Man franchise shouldn’t reflect poorly on Andrew Garfield, though, who has always managed to bring a gentle charisma and subtle power to his performances that he can manifest across eclectic roles. Take Silence for example, where he dominates the screen for its entire running time, and is just as integral as director Martin Scorsese for making the audience lean further and further in as it progresses. You can check out a snippet of his performance inSilence below:

Read more about it: https://www.cinemablend.com/news/1607460/was-andrew-garfield-really-fired-from-amazing-spider-man-heres-what-he-says?sl_source=CROW

One of the most exciting upcoming revivals is definitely the Netflix series Fuller House, which will bring most of the original cast of Full House back to the small screen for more family-friendly shenanigans. We’ve known for quite some time, however, that Michelle Tanner will be absent, given that the Olsen twins declined to take part in the revival. Now, thanks to Fuller House executive producer Bob Boyett, we finally have the real reason why Mary-Kate and Ashley won’t be sharing the role of Michelle one more time.

Ashley said, ‘I have not been in front of a camera since I was 17, and I don’t feel comfortable acting.’ Mary-Kate said, ‘It would have to be me because Ash doesn’t want to do it. But the timing is so bad for us.’

Disappointing as it is that Michelle won’t be around with sisters D.J. and Stephanie on Fuller House, the Olsen twins have solid reasons for not joining the cast. Twelve years working away from cameras on the fashion scene is a big departure from acting full-time as child stars, and we can’t blame Ashley for not wanting to jump back into such a famous role. Besides, timing can’t be helped. The stars may have aligned to bring the rest of the cast back to Los Angeles for Fuller House, but the New York City-based Olsen twins have full plates on the fashion and business front.

There’s also the point that the Olsen twins undoubtedly have different memories of their time on Full House than the rest of the cast. They were only nine months old when the show started, so the period that was so huge for some of the other actors must be mostly fuzzy for the actresses who brought Michelle to life. Dave Coulier — who reprises his role as Joey for Fuller House – sympathizes with them. Here’s what he told People:

They’re family members. But I think they have a different perspective. When we get together and we reminisce, they were babies [at the time]. So they don’t share those same memories. I can’t really speak for them but I would understand why they don’t have the same sentiments that we all do.

On the whole, it’s good to know the real story behind Michelle’s absence on Fuller House. Rumors have abounded ever since John Stamos first broke the news of the Netflix series, ranging from the twins saying that they hadn’t originally been contacted about appearing to Stamos making remarks about them skipping the family reunion to their younger sister Elizabeth Olsen being approached to take on Michelle in their stead. The truth behind the lack of Michelle is certainly more straightforward than salacious, but it’s nice to know nonetheless.

Fuller House premieres on Friday, February 26 at 12:01 a.m. PT on Netflix. Reviews have been mixed so far, but any fan of Full House is definitely going to want to check it out. Michelle may be off-screen managing her fashion empire, but the rest of the Tanners will be back.

Read more about it: https://www.cinemablend.com/television/1418789/We-Finally-Know-Why-Olsen-Twins-Aren-t-Fuller-House?sl_source=CROW

When running a multiplayer-driven game like Sea of Thieves, it’s imperative to rely on the community for guidance on where to go next with the title. Sometimes it’s a mix of using the community feedback and creating your own direction for the game and seeing where it takes you, almost like what Blizzard does with games like Overwatch and World of Warcraft. In the case of Rare’s Sea of Thieves, the developers are looking to give the gaming community more of what they want and explained how they’re taking fan feedback into account for future content rollouts for the PC and Xbox One exclusive.

Speaking with Gamespot at this year’s E3, Sea of Thieves executive producer, Joe Neate, and the senior designer, Shelley Preston, along with design director Mike Chapman, explained what makes the game tick, where they’re going next with the title, and most importantly how fan feedback fuels the progress for the game. Chapman in particular explained:

It’s a mix of giving players what they want, putting that Sea of Thieves spin on it, but also surprising them. It’s the fact that a lot of players would ask, ‘I would really like an expanded world. I want more regions to explore.’ We haven’t just given them that, we’ve actually gone and made the visuals a core part of the gameplay and added in a whole region with volcanoes that’s geologically unstable. We want to surprise players, and there’s things we do in the game that won’t be expected and I think both of those aspects are at a healthy mix right now.

I think that’s the best way to go about it.

A lot of times it’s easy to get wrapped up entirely in the negative criticisms of a game and attempt to appease all the naysayers while forgoing the identity of the game and what its original vision was supposed to be. We’ve seen games like Firefall become a victim of design by committee, and it eventually had to shut down.

We’ve also seen other games that don’t take player feedback into account in a timely enough manner and lose a lot of players in result, similar to what happened with PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, which peaked at over 3.2 million players back in January of 2018, but has steadily lost half its audience according to Steam Charts. A lot of players cite their reasons for leaving being the lack of the developers fixing the latency issues, slow content rollout, and the constant performance issues.

It’s important to be able to balance out the complaints with being able to carve out a game’s own identity. Rare seems to want to run that fine line between the two ideologies of building a game.

One of the things the team really wanted to focus on was getting more emergent tools into the game to encourage positive player interactions, such as the Hungering Deep update that forced multiple teams to work together in order to take down the Megalodon.

On the positive side of things, the majority of the feedback from gamers has been that Sea of Thieves is fun to play, but it needs more content. And of course, Rare is happy to oblige. The team plans on fleshing out more things to do around the game world and give players more opportunities to have fun playing with and hunting down other players.

Read more about it: https://www.cinemablend.com/games/2443759/how-sea-of-thieves-takes-fan-feedback-into-account

Fans of NCIS got some big news earlier this week with the announcement that one of the longest-running members of the cast would be departing. Pauley Perrette has played forensic specialist Abby Sciuto on NCIS since the very beginning, and her reveal that she’d decided it was time to move on means that the show will look very different in the not-too-distant future. While many fans were shocked by the announcement, the NCIS showrunners were not. Executive producers George Schenck and Frank Cardea had this to say about Perrette’s upcoming departure:

We’ve known for some time this would be Pauley’s final season on NCIS and have been working toward a special send-off. From day one, she has brought incredible passion and specificity to the role. Abby is a character that inspires millions of fans around the world, and all of us at NCIS are appreciative of Pauley for portraying her.

The producers have been aware that Pauley Perrette intended to leave NCIS in Season 15, and they’re apparently planning on sending Abby off in a way that honors her many years of service to the NCIS unit. Hopefully that “special send-off” descriptions means that we don’t have to worry about Abby being killed off. Michael Weatherly got a pretty fitting farewell when he left; fans can almost certainly agree that Perrette deserves one as well, and not one that involves Abby in a body bag. Deadline reports that NCIS has already started setting the stage for Abby to bow out, although no details have been confirmed at this point. Abby’s stories in Season 15 are certainly going to be ones worth watching.

The “special send-off” should be reassuring to any who were afraid that Abby would be simply removed from the narrative. As unlikely as it is for such a major character to exit without a fuss, there’s precedent on television in the last couple of years. Hotch was written off of Criminal Minds after many years as lead due to the on-set behavior of the actor, and a Blue Bloods actress was written off the show over hiatus, and viewers learned in the season premiere that her character had been killed. Then, of course, there’s Erinn Hayes from Kevin Can Wait, although obviously starring in a single season of a sitcom doesn’t compare to Pauley Perrette’s decade and a half at NCIS.

Abby has been a pivotal part of NCIS, to the point that she has even become a role model for women interested in pursuing science and math. She will certainly be missed on the show. We’ll have to cross our fingers that NCIS won’t bid her too final of a farewell so we can at least hope that Pauley Perrette will one day reprise her role. Only time will tell.

CBS has not yet revealed when we’ll see Pauley Perrette make her exit from NCIS, so be sure to tune in on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET to see how the show sets the stage for her departure. For your other viewing options in the coming weeks, take a look at our fall TV guide.

And you can currently watch all seasons of NCIS streaming on CBS All Access.

Read more about it: https://www.cinemablend.com/television/1711059/how-ncis-will-handle-that-big-cast-departure?sl_source=CROW

While the whole Playground LTM didn’t quite go off without a hitch for Epic Games’ Battle Royale action game, there was a separate event that did manage to go off without a hitch, and it was the countdown event. The event took place across the Fortnite servers and finally revealed exactly what the countdown was all about. So now that the countdown is complete, a lot of gamers are probably wondering what exactly happened and what exactly did it bring to the Fortnite universe?

According to Gamespot, once the countdown finished a rocket blasted off into the sky from the Anarchy Acres lair. The missile was seemingly aimed at taking out the Titled Towers in the distance and — as pointed out in the article — it looked like the towers were about to bite the dust in the world of Fornite. However, the towers were spared a destructive fate when the rocket hit an invisible portal and then teleported into a different location, blasted into the sky, and then the explosion ended up creating a rip in the very fabric of reality.

The tearing of the sky created an electric rift within the world, spawning a series of electrical anomalies. Filmmaker Ryan O’Donnell actually captured the event across a series of images and shared it on Twitter, showing the smoke trail from the rocket as it jettisoned into the sky, the explosion, and the eventual electrical anomalies as a result.
So far, Fortnite gamers have no idea what’s up with the electrical anomalies. Fans of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. might be used to it, but the Battle Royale crowd probably isn’t sure what it’s looking at. The anomaly in the image actually looks like some kind of electrical charge redirecting energy from an invisible shield of sorts. Many gamers who witnessed it in real-time noted how cool it looked and how everyone stopped fighting to see the event taking place. So what does this mean for the future of the game? We don’t know… yet.

Obviously, Epic Games has some big plans for the event; the company just isn’t laying out all the details yet. Apparently, this also has nothing to do with the Playground LTM that ran into some server issues recently, requiring Epic to postpone its release for the general public.

According to the Gamespot article, this could tie into the Season 5 rollout for Fortnite, following up on the Season 4 events, which were themed around meteor strikes and superheroes. Thanos from Avengers: Infinity War proved to be a rather popular addition to the game, and so maybe we’ll see something similar in terms of crossover potential during Season 5?

So far the game has garnered massive amounts of popularity since the Battle Royale mode was introduced last summer. Epic has managed to amass more than one hundred million players and has even vowed to dedicate time and energy to the e-sports scene. In the meantime, gamers will have to try to figure out exactly what’s going on with the electrical anomalies.

Read more about it: https://www.cinemablend.com/games/2443749/fortnite-countdown-has-completed-heres-what-it-brought

Microsoft is running double duty when it comes to offering gamers content for its digital services. If you have an Xbox Live Gold subscription you can already look forward to a nice cache of games set to be made available throughout July, but if you’ve gone a step further with the Xbox Game Pass, you can gain access to even more games throughout July. To help entice gamers into picking up an Xbox Game Pass subscription, Microsoft announced that there are some brand new games coming to the pass in July, including Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Over on the Xbox News site, there’s a quick rundown of the new games added to the Xbox Game Pass for July, things kick off with Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Fallout 3. Both games are older titles from the Xbox 360 generation, but they’re also backwards compatible for the Xbox One.

Both games sold huge when they released, with Oblivion taking a lot of what Bethesda had accomplished with The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and then elevated it to the nth degree by adding more NPCs, a larger world to explore, better graphics, and improved cinematic qualities.

Fallout 3 was the first game in the series to deviate from the isometric, turn-based strategy design of the previous entries and instead focus on a third-person or first-person action-RPG setup.

But that’s just the start.

Microsoft also managed to secure Epic Games’ Shadow Complex Remastered for the Xbox One, giving gamers an opportunity to check out one of the most celebrated Unreal Engine side-scrollers from the seventh generation of gaming for the Xbox One. It also comes with all new master challenges, improved melee takedowns, and more than 10 hours worth of gameplay and exploration.

All three of the aforementioned titles will be joined by Human Fall Flat, which is a physics-based 3D platforming puzzle game, where players attempt to guide a character through a series of sandbox puzzles using ragdoll physics as a way to explore the environment, complete tasks and reach the finish line.

But wait, there’s more!

The zen-like underwater exploration game, Abzu, which first appeared on PS4 and Steam, will be available for the Xbox Game Pass this July. The game isn’t just about underwater exploration, it’s also a sci-fi supernatural tale that gamers might enjoy, especially if they liked thatgamecompany’s Journey for the PS3.

Bomber Crew is another game joining the list, along with Rebellion’s highly popular Zombie Army Trilogy, which features 15 different levels to complete across three different campaigns. Zombie Army Trilogy also features single-player and online multiplayer co-op play.

The last two games on the list are Warhammer: Verminitide 2 from Fatshark Games, and DiRT 4 from Codemasters. Vermintide 2 just recently came out earlier this year, while DiRT 4 originally released back in mid-2017. Both games have received critically positive feedback from gamers, and if you have the Xbox Game Pass you’ll be able to check out both of those titles, along with every other game listed above for the Xbox Game Pass offerings in July.

Incredibles 2 Fan Art Imagines A Dark Sequel for Pixar’s Superheroes

New fan art for The Incredibles 2 has surfaced online, depicting the characters in a much grittier tone than that of the animated Pixar films. Warrick Wong, an Australian concept artist, shared renderings of the film’s characters this past week via Instagram.

The Incredibles 2 released on June 15, already passing the $500 million mark at the worldwide box office in its second week. The long-awaited and much-anticipated sequel came fourteen years after its predecessor. Brad Bird’s follow-up to the 2004 hit was heavily delayed, before its release date was eventually shifted ahead of Toy Story 4, which itself was delayed to 2019. While the wait for The Incredibles 2 was agonizing for some fans, it seems the time spent in development was beneficial, given the film’s “Certified Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

RELATED: BOB PARR IS A NOT SO INCREDIBLE HUSBAND IN ‘INCREDIBLES 2′

On his Instagram account, Wong posted his concept art for a version of the Parr family much darker than audiences are used to. Wong shared a different piece of art every few days, beginning with a version of Jack-Jack that is far older than his infant counterpart from the movie. Since then, Wong also shared photos of Dash, Violet and Mr. Incredible. All the characters appear worn from battle, their red and black spandex torn and tattered. Each piece also showcases the characters’ respective superpowers. Noticeably absent from the photo set is Elasti-Girl/Mrs. Incredible, the star of the new film. Wong explains that in the alternate reality this art is set in, Mrs. Parr is “presumed dead” and Violet has become the new matriarch of the family. However, “presumed dead” could mean that Wong will surprise us with a gritty portrayal of Mrs. Incredible after all.

As an illustrator, Wong has an impressive online portfolio that boasts renderings of characters from fandoms like Marvel and Star Wars. The Incredibles are also not his first gritty reimaginings, as he’s previously drawn up intimidating interpretations of normally cute Pokémon like Squirtle and Pikachu. While it’s likely that we’ll never see a dark, violent version of The Incredibles hit the big screen, it’s hard to deny that Wong’s fan art – and his extremely creative backstory behind it – is fun to behold and ponder.

Pixar’s newest release is yet another huge hit for the studio. Given the first film’s release date, many who saw The Incredibles as children were likely excited to see the sequel as adults, which no doubt helped fuel its mammoth box office. The next film on the slate for Pixar is Toy Story 4, an entry in another franchise that has seen the lucrative value of nostalgia. However, only time will tell if the demand for that sequel will be as high as that of The Incredibles 2. If it is though, it’ll be interesting to see if Wong draws similar gritty versions of Toy Story characters like Woody, Buzz, Rex, and Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear.

Read more about it: https://screenrant.com/incredibles-2-fan-art-pixar-dark-sequel/

Pixar is well known for hiding numerous fun easter eggs and references inside their films. It’s only fitting that such a tradition be kept up when one of Pixar’s biggest films becomes a video game. The new LEGO The Incredibles video game is the first time the popular game series has been based on a Pixar property and it has taken the opportunity to go all in on the Pixar universe by including lots of playable characters and buildable setpieces from other Pixar movies.

However, beyond that, the story mode of LEGO The Incredibles, which takes you through the plots of both Incredibles films, also includes several references to other Pixar movies within the story, just like a Pixar movie. Here are a few of our favorites.

Ratatouille
Ratatouille is one of Pixar’s underrated gems and it also happens to be directed by Incredibles director Brad Bird. It follows the adventures of a rat who falls in love with cooking, so it makes sense that this reference can be found in a kitchen. During the playthrough of Incredibles 2 ‘s story campaign, your characters find themselves on board a ship where Violet and Dash are trying to catch up to Jack-Jack. The pair enter the ship’s galley, which the baby has inadvertently set on fire. As you enter, one of the NPCs is heard to wonder aloud if she’s suffering the effects of smoke inhalation, or if she actually saw a rat cooking.

Finding Nemo’s Seagulls
Co-op gameplay is a hallmark of the LEGO video game franchise, which means that one of the things the game has to do in the story mode is change the story up so that there are always at least two characters in every scene. When playing through the story of the first Incredibles movie, that means both Frozone and Mr. Incredible go the island together to fight the Omnidroid the first time. This allows Frozone to make a comment to Mr. Incredible about another super who would have especially liked all the bird life on the island. She was capable of speaking to birds, which was great, except for seagulls, who it turns out, were quite selfish, always saying “mine,” just like the birds from Finding Nemo. Later, while infiltrating the island, the rest of the Parr family actually runs into a flock of the birds crying “mine” as they fly away.

The Luxo Ball
The Luxo Ball is one of Pixar’s most iconic images and it appears in every movie that Pixar has ever made. It also shows up in the video game based on some of those movies. Early in the portion of the story dealing with the original Incredibles movie, Mr. Incredible ends up in a bank where he has been chasing a henchman of Bomb Voyage. If you move down to the bottom of the screen when you first arrive at the bank and get paired up with Buddy, you can see the Luxo Ball sitting on a table. The table and everything around it can be destroyed to pick up more studs, but the ball is invincible.

Dory
Finding Dory is still Pixar’s highest grossing film of all time, though there’s a good chance that Incredibles 2 could take that title before its over. LEGO Incredibles tips its hat to the box office powerhouse during the sequence where Dash, Violet, and Elastigirl are working to save themselves after Syndrome has blown their jet out of the sky. At one point, Violet needs to sink beneath the water to obtain a key object. Surrounded by her shield so she can breathe, Violet starts to repeat “just keep sinking, just keep sinking,” a reference to Dory’s oft-repeated catchphrase, just keep swimming.

Buy N Large
Buy N Large is the massive corporation that sends all the humans to live in space in Wall-E. The company has appeared in other Pixar movies as well such as being a race sponsor in Cars 3, but it also appears in LEGO Incredibles. At the end of the final story mission, as the Parr family is battling the Omnidroid, a shop one end of the map appears to be a Buy N Large ice cream parlor. A giant milkshake or ice cream soda sits above the door complete with a B ‘N L logo on the side of it.

The first Incredibles movie is a stone cold classic
It is hilarious, but also as exciting as any action movie, yet also incredibly sweet and touching.

And now, 14 years later, we have a sequel. The Incredibles 2 has already had amazing reviews in America, and is out in the UK later this month.

Of course, a lot has changed in 14 years – superhero movies were big in 2004, but they weren’t quite the all–conquering juggernaut that they are today.

But one of the biggest changes is obviously the improvements in technology. The Incredibles still looks amazing today – all Pixar movies still hold up to be honest, because the characters and the stories are timeless. But the advances made in computer animation over a decade are clear for all to see.

And this comparison video perfectly highlights that.

Here are two shots of Dash, the top from 2004, the bottom from 2018.

The amount of additional detail is clear to see.

Last week, HBO announced that the first (and possibly only) of the five prospective Game of Thrones prequel spin-offs to get a pilot order will go way, way, way back into Westeros’ past, to a time period before recorded history, where the truth is lost in a fog of legends and myths. Of all the eras worth exploring, it’s the one with the most question marks, which is why it makes the most sense for a new (old) story. More than any other period from George R.R. Martin’s insanely deep and complex history of the Seven Kingdoms, it offers the most freedom to tell a story even the most ardent fans of A Song of Ice and Fire don’t already know. Unfortunately that’s exactly why, along with a familiar enemy, it could end up hurting the original show.

This is the official synopsis for the series from HBO:

“Taking place thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones, the series chronicles the world’s descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour. And only one thing is for sure: from the horrifying secrets of Westeros’s history to the true origin of the white walkers, the mysteries of the East, to the Starks of legend … it’s not the story we think we know.”

George R.R. Martin himself further revealed how much the story will revolve around the infamous invasion of the dead; he thinks the unnamed series should be called “The Long Night,” suggesting that, just like on Game of Thrones, the blue-eyed ice demons will likely be the show’s big baddies. But also like with Game of Thrones,there are still tons of other important figures and events from that era, which in many ways shaped the Westeros we know today.

The Age of Heroes is the time period after the First Men and the Children of the Forest had ended their war with one another and lived in peace. Thought to have taken place 10,000 years ago—though, as Martin points out, the maesters think it was only half as long ago (and I think the maesters are right)—it features larger-than-life figures like Bran the Builder, the founder of House Stark credited with building the Wall, Winterfell, and Storm’s End, as well as Lann the Clever, founder of House Lannister. And those are just the most well-known figures for Game of Thrones viewers, who might not be as familiar with other important historical figures (real or legend), like Garth Greenhand and Durran Godsgrief, not to mention the founding of the Night’s Watch.

While the generally accepted timeline of Westeros puts the Age of Heroes at 10,000 years ago, until the start of the Long Night roughly 2,000 years later (8,000 years before Aegon’s Conquest), the timeline is completely unreliable. Recorded history didn’t begin in Westeros until long after the first Long Night, when the Andals invaded from Essos anywhere between six and two thousand years before the events of Game of Thrones. I tend to think all of these numbers are hugely inflated, simply because it’s hard to keep one single house in continuous existence for 10,000 years when a single plague could wipe out an entire family.

A compacted, accurate time period would make for a much more exciting show, because it would create far more overlap with these hugely important historical figures and events. Maybe Bran the Builder really was just one person who did all of these things, and maybe he knew all the other great heroes, including Azor Ahai (who might also have been the original Prince That Was Promised), the “last hero” who is credited with leading the First Men to victory over the Night King.

The fact that we don’t really know is why this is a perfect time to set a prequel. I am fascinated by the Targaryen kings, and I’m especially obsessed by the famed Blackfyre Rebellion that nearly tore the family apart. But not only do I know how that story ends, I know most of the major players and events of that Civil War. I still hope HBO turns it into a spin-off series, but it would be limited in what new information it could bring in ways this Age of Heroes series wouldn’t be. There’s also the fact that magic in the world might never have been greater than it was when the White Walkers first invaded (on the backs of giant ice spiders!), as opposed to the mostly magic-free world of Westeros under the post-dragon Targaryens. Game of Thrones is better for having magic present in the story, so wouldn’t a spin-off series also want to keep that element?

But giving us answers to mysterious questions isn’t always a good thing, and when mishandled they can even hurt the original story. I love the theory that Brandon Stark from Game of Thrones is also Bran the Builder from the myths, and that all Brandon Starks in history are in fact the same person. Not because I agree with it, but because it’s fun to debate and think about. That all goes away if we find out that all Brandon Starks merely have a high midichlorian count.

A big part of what makes George R.R. Martin’s insanely detailed history so intriguing to obsessives like me are all of the spots where we don’t have answers, because it allows us to explore the gaps without being disappointed by where we end up. I genuinely trust Martin’s judgment, and if he believe this is a story worth telling it probably is, but the freedom granted by this time period also includes going down roads we will have preferred to avoid.

On top of this, the new show seems like it will have, in some form, the exact same main villain as Game of Thrones, with the White Walkers playing a major role. It’s possible the Night King might have been an important member of House Stark, or someone even more shocking, and that the beginning of the White Walkers’ story could be far more fascinating than their end, which we will presumably get one way or another with Game of Thrones. But either way, their mere presence will only invite comparisons to the original show, which could unfairly hurt it in the eyes of viewers. Any spin-off of the single most popular TV series in the world will live in a huge shadow, one that will only get bigger by repeating the villain.

None of this means this series won’t work, or that the show won’t actually enhance how we view Game of Thrones if its answers add new depth and nuance to original story. The Age of Heroes and the first Long Night offer a bounty of incredible possibilities for an amazing story full of fascinating characters, fantastic elements, and major events, because what we “know” about that time period is made of sand that can be molded into something great.

But if it’s true that sometimes what you don’t know won’t hurt you, the opposite is true too.

What do you think? Do you want to learn more from this mysterious time period, or would you rather some question remain unanswered? Tell us why in the comments below.

Normally, when put together, the words “wedding” and “Westeros” result in a whole lot of blood and despair. But this past weekend the Seven Kingdoms saw something rarer than a sober Cersei when the cast of Game of Thrones came together in Scotland to see onscreen couple Jon Snow and Ygritte get married in real life. If you can believe it, not a single person was murdered or poisoned!

On Saturday, Kit Harington and Leslie Rose, who died on the show in Jon’s arms, officially said their I-dos (rather, their I-am-hers-and-she-is-mines) at their wedding in Scotland’s Kirkton of Rayne church, surrounded by friends, family, and many of their co-stars from the Realm. According to ABC News, the HBO guest list included Peter Dinklage, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Emilia Clarke, Liam Cunningham, Ben Crompton, John Bradley, and Joe Dempsie, all of whom managed to avoid being shot by an arrow during the festivities at Rose’s ancestral family castle.

While the happy couple looked great, our favorite look went to Scotland’s own Richard Madden, who really knew how to dress for the occasion. However even if Kit Harington knows nothing about being married, we wouldn’t recommend asking Robb Stark for advice.

View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter

tierney bricker
✔
@tbrick2
how dare none of you inform me that richard madden rolled up to kit harington and rose leslie’s wedding looking like THIS

3:01 AM – Jun 26, 2018
305
79 people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
No one dying at a Game of Thrones wedding was only the second happiest takeaway of the day. When it comes to relationships forged in the Seven Kingdoms, including ones involving Jon Snow, the best news is that Kit Harington and Rose Leslie aren’t blood relatives.

Seriously, no one in the Seven Kingdoms should ever marry anyone.

Which fictional couple from Westeros would you most want to attend the wedding of? Tell us your top choice in the comments section below.

If the internet has proved anything, it’s that there a lot of people out there who are way more talented than I am. Some of those are part of a group called Elysium Fire, a YouTube channel that creates beautiful landscapes, buildings, and other architecture in Minecraft. Recently, they uploaded a video of a new project: a recreation of the city Novigrad, which is part of the world of The Witcher 3. The eight-minute video pans through the entire city and shows how they gradually built it through a time lapse.

Not only did this team take the time to actually build this huge city, but they rendered it totally accurate to the map of the game. Building took 18 builders about 1,000 hours each over a period of six months, and the filming took three teams 15 time-lapse sessions which totaled 15 hours over the course of three months. They constructed over 700 unique houses, four churches, and 10 boats. They even said they included a bunch of Easter eggs that you can go try to find as well! That’s pretty impressive if you ask me.

The best part is probably that they made the map available for anyone to download here, so you can go in, explore it for yourself, and hit up all of your favorite landmarks. What do you think? Does the Minecraft version do Novigrad justice? Where would you want to go visit in the virtual city? Let us know in the comments!

Usually, indie games have a habit of performing well on the Nintendo Switch and clearing at least 50,000 copies sold. But Hollow Knight is a special exception, as it’s managed to set an even higher sales record than its predecessors.

The game, which got a surprise release a few weeks ago during Nintendo’s E3 Direct special, has managed to sell over 250,000 copies in its first two weeks of release, according to IGN.

The developers at Team Cherry confirmed the number to the news outlet, making the Metroidvania-style open-world adventure a big hit with fans. And it’s not done yet.

Previously, Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aime had noted that the game is “doing exceptionally well” on the platform, but this marks the first time a specific number was given.

But Team Cherry isn’t resting easy, as the company is hard at work on a new patch that will address certain bugs within the game.

Miss out on Hollow Knight during its release? Here’s a breakdown of this amazing game’s features:

Classic side-scrolling action, with all the modern trimmings. Dodge, dash and slash your way through even the most deadly adversaries.
Includes all of the new items, areas, characters, and bosses from the currently released free content packs; Hidden Dreams, The Grimm Troupe, and Lifeblood. All players will also get access to the final free content pack, Gods and Glory, due later this year!
Explore a vast interconnected world of forgotten highways, overgrown wilds and ruined cities. Choose which paths you take, which enemies you face and find your own way forward.
Evolve with powerful new skills and abilities! Gain spells, strength and speed. Leap to new heights on ethereal wings. Dash forward in a blazing flash. Blast foes with fiery Soul!
A haunting, intimate score accompanies the player on their journey, composed by Christopher Larkin. The score echoes the majesty and sadness of a civilisation brought to ruin.
From what we’ve played thus far, the game is a complete blast. And its art style is pretty amazing, going with a simpler hand-drawn design that really complements the Nintendo Switch screen. It’s also wonderful for docked play if that’s your thing.

Hollow Knight is also available for Steam/PC, in case the Switch isn’t your forte.

Virtual Reality and standard gaming continue to grow, oftentimes together. As the world of VR progresses and carves out its niche in the gaming community, games like Gunheart serve as a middle ground by offering both experiences to all. Gunheart is an incredible online co-op RPG experience that allows players to get up close and personal with the shooter experience. It also offers an interesting mashup for fans of franchises such as Quake, Borderlands, and even other shooters such as Lawbreakers and Halo.

This game combines a little bit of everything from games out now and initially I went into Gunheart thinking it was going to be “just another shooter.” The tutorial right off the bat told me I was wrong on that account, and the dialogue style that would do Vault Hunters from Borderlands proud kept me going. The hodgepodge of shooter blood shouldn’t be surprising. The developer team that make up this title is a melting pot of talent from those that worked with Epic Games, as well as others that have Halo and Gears of War under their belt. That also explained some of the more free-style aspects to Gunheart, mechanically there are some subtle inspirations from Microsoft’s Halo series, as well as Bungie’s Destiny.

Gunheart-enemies

I first tried Gunheart in its standard mode, since many gamers have yet to jump onboard with the VR hype. It played like any other shooter, the controls took a little getting used to with the grappling and the teleportation. That being said, once I got the hang of both of those features – I dominated the playing field. These features made even more sense when I jumped over to try it with the HTC Vive, where the grappling became instantly easier and the teleportation became the way to travel.

VR, especially with games that aim to please both gaming communities, can end up doing a title more harm than good. That’s where the team over at Drifter Entertainment did a phenomenal job with a perfect balance executed that made the controls fun, enjoyable, and progressively smooth. Swapping out weapons was incredibly easy, as well as traversing the map areas. That teleportation mentioned earlier? Comes in handy when players get swarmed and need to take high ground quickly. The mechanics just work in this game, letting the simplicity of the graphics make perfect sense and brings the title together in perfect symphony.

Gunheart-bugs
Players have an option to customize “their body,” as the game calls it, though don’t expect your avatar to look like you. This was another aspect that reminded me of Borderlands, because the toons look like Zero from the popular series from Gearbox. I was even able to give my character a digital handlebar mustache … which, let’s be real, gave the game some major brownie points.

The voice on the other end of comms as I took on “jobs” was also very Borderlands-esque with both the sound and the manner of speech. Badassery is definitely the name of the game and that little voice in the player’s ear is meant to pump up the heat against hordes of bug-like creatures. The comedic aspect of the script also helps, because there were just some moments that were just too damn funny, although fleeting. Given the more humorous tones, however, this did keep the game a little more grounded lest it fall too deep into the Arcade-esque pit that a lot of other titles in this same genre tend to trap themselves within.

Gunheart-game-hub

Like many future-driven MMOs, most recently that of Destiny, players are also given certain quests that are definitely more enjoyable in co-op than solo. They are doable, but much more fun with friends. The overall speed of the game seemed to be much more fluid in co-op as well, more of a drive in purpose – though solo play was enjoyable as well. I noticed I lost myself in the game itself much more often when playing with a bud, but completing “jobs” had its own perks as well.

Though Gunheart does offer a sassy experience that is in tune with other beloved games out there, it’s not perfect by any means. Nothing major, but enough to make it not everyone’s cup of tea. Jumping right into the fray was fun, but nothing immediately stood out about the game as a “hook” until a little further in. It wasn’t until I had a few jobs under my belt and saw my “body” evolve a bit more that I started to feel bonded to this particular play experience.

Gunheart-aliens
There were also a few bugs I experienced during my time with the game that would cause something like a bridge toggle not to activate when I needed it to, or the teleport mechanic wouldn’t work the way it was supposed to – therefore hurtling me off the edge of a cliff when I had it set in the complete opposite direction. Honestly, though, that’s a common issue with VR shooters and one thing that games like Gunheart and others in the genre that toe that Virtual Reality line have to face.

Despite a vast open world and varying environments to explore, the AI system felt repetitive at times. There wasn’t enough of a variation when fighting enemies, making fighting the fray and continuing the story at bit monotonous at times. On the other hand, however, that comedic edge mentioned earlier definitely helped with that – so really it just comes down to the individual player as to whether or not that balance between the unbalance is enough to override the slower parts to the game.

Overall though, it was enjoyable. It was more than I was expecting and something I look forward to introducing friends to. It may not be the next Halo or Borderlands, but it’s not trying to be and I don’t think it has to be. It’s a fun experience with flaws, but enough charm to make it a keeper.

0
COMMENTS
Gunheart is available now on PC.

Ant-Man and the Wasp debuts soon and we are so excited to see the new villains, the new heroes, and all of the secrets and surprises from the mysterious Quantum Realm. Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, and Michael Douglas are back for the second installment, as well as Michelle Pfeiffer, Michael Peña, and new villain Hannah John-Kamen.

The biggest question going into this film is, when does it take place? During Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War? After? Before both? Let’s investigate.

AFTER CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR

In the first trailer that debuted, Scott asks Hope if she would have joined him in the film, Captain America: Civl War. His question is laid over scenes from the film, specifically the big airport battle where Scott turned into Giant Man. The choice to cut these scenes into the Ant-Man and the Wasp trailer deliberately lets us know that it takes place after the events of Civil War.

So Ant-Man and the Wasp takes place after the airport scene in Civil War, after Scott, Hawkeye, Falcon and Scarlet Witch were arrested by General Ross and held on the off-shore base. Scott was being held prisoner there, but was set free by Captain America at the end of Civil War. The was the last time we saw Scott Lang and his Ant-Man suit.

Per Black Widow’s line in Avengers: Infinity War, Scott has been on house arrest since those events. Both Ant-Man and Hawkeye cut deals with the US government to go on house arrest for their involvement with Captain America and his violation of the Sokovia Accords.

BEFORE AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR?
thanos avengers infinity war feature
In real time, two years will have passed between Captain America: Civil War’s and Avengers Infinity War’s theatrical releases. While Ant-Man and The Wasp technically comes out in theaters after Infinity War, the events of the film must take place between those two years.

According to Black Widow’s house arrest line, Ant-Man and the Wasp could take place during the events of Doctor Strange. It could take place during the events of Spider-Man: Homecoming. It could also take place during the events of Black Panther. That two year time period is vast and Scott could easily still be on technical house arrest when Ant-Man and the Wasp takes place.

One thing is for sure, Ant-Man and the Wasp takes place before Thanos snapped his fingers in Infinity War. A LOT of people disappeared at the end of that film, and we’re pretty sure Ant-Man wasn’t one of them. Hopefully the film answers the timeline question more succinctly, otherwise we may see a lot of dust clouds at the end of the film.

Ant-Man and The Wasp hits theaters on July 6, 2018.

With Ant-Man and the Wasp, Marvel has beautifully crafted a hilarious, touching, and inspiring film for families. While this review won’t contain any specific plot spoilers, it will cover the successes of the film, mainly the importance of family, Wasp‘s new role, the remarkably human villain Ghost, and why, out of every film Marvel has ever made, this one feels like the most perfect for families to see together.

FAMILY IS THE FOCUS

It’s rare these days to say something is a family film, especially if its live action and not animated. We’re not really in that golden age of family films anymore and yet here comes Ant-Man and the Wasp, proving that family-oriented adventure stories are indeed alive and well in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Scott Lang‘s bond with his daughter Cassie continues to be a focal point of the Ant-Man film franchise. Scott’s found family with the X-Cons Luis, Dave, and Kurt, and this serves to remind audiences that family can be the friends and co-workers that we choose. Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne’s relentless faith to save Janet van Dyne drives 100 percent of this film. Even Ava/Ghost and her relationship with Bill Foster echoes the importance of adoptive parents. Ant-Man and the Wasp is truly about family, start to finish.

A NEW FEMALE SUPERHERO TAKES FLIGHT
Ant-Man and the Wasp Hope Van Dyne
The post-credits scene in the first Ant-Man revealed Hope’s Wasp suit. It also gave Evangeline Lilly the opportunity to deliver a line that Marvel fans have been waiting to hear: “It’s about damn time.” Time for what exactly? For a female superhero to lead her own film.

Yes, technically Hope shared superhero duties in this film with Scott, but it really was her film. When the film picks up, Scott is on house arrest for aiding Captain America in Germany. Because he was wearing a Pym Tech suit while helping Cap, both Hank and Hope are on the run from the law. They spend their time off the grid building a quantum tunnel into the quantum realm to save Hope’s mom, Janet.

This quest brings out the best in Hope. She gets the wings, she gets the blasters, she gets to wear the suit and fight the bad guys, all in the name of saving her mom. Hope is no sidekick though. In fact, Scott spends most of the movie helping Hope and Hank, instead of vice versa. Hope is given all of the best action in the film, and she handles the superhero role very well.

GHOST IS NOT AN ORDINARY MARVEL VILLAIN
Ant Man And The Wasp Ghost1
One of the best characters in the film is Ava. At first, she seems like an interested third party on the hunt for quantum technology. But, as the audience gets to know her, we discover that she has a deeply personal reason for wanted to absorb quantum realm energy. It’s not for world domination or for some major quest — it’s personal.

IS ANT-MAN AND THE WASP GOOD?
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Ant-Man and the Wasp is great! Over the last few years since the first film, both And-Man and the Wasp have become very precious characters in the MCU. Hope’s quest to find Janet will require everything from her — a rare sacrifice in large tent-pole films like this.

The film maintains the humor of the first film without repeating any specific jokes. Luis steals the film, again, and the supporting cast brings home the humor while maintaining the fun! It’s a beautiful family film that ends on a very warm note.

Ant-Man and the Wasp opens in theaters on July 6, 2018.

Scott Lang is lovable in spite of all of his flaws, but no one’s going to accuse the Ant-Man of having his life together any time soon. It’s a miracle that he can even tie his shoes without Hope van Dyne, but, lucky for Scott, she remains in his corner (mostly). Don’t take any of that as a shot on the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s favorite gone-straight criminal, there are plenty of superheroes, just like Ant-Man, who would be nothing without the women who support them.

With Ant-Man and the Wasp buzzing into theaters next week, let’s take a look at eight superheroes who are strengthened, supported, and improved by the women in their lives:

IRON MAN AND PEPPER POTTS

Whether it’s in the comics or on screen, in a relationship or merely partners, Tony Stark is nothing without Pepper Potts. Billionaire, genius, playboy philanthropist he may be, but not knowing your own social security number is a little bit more restrictive than one might think. It’s not all Tony’s fault, Howard couldn’t function on his own either, but that’s what Jarvis and Peggy were for. As hopeless as he may be, let’s call it a good thing that Tony’s found his soul mate in the saint that is Virginia “Pepper” Potts.

SUPERMAN AND LOIS LANE

Lois and Clark are the quintessential comic book ship. Even when Superman ends up in other pairings for one reason or another, it always comes back to one woman: Lois Lane. Lois doesn’t give Superman his powers. She can’t stop bullets, or run faster than a train, but she is a huge part of Clark Kent’s most important power: his humanity. The Man of Steel might be able to snatch a plane out of the air, but he’s nothing without his ace reporter.

THE GREEN ARROW AND FELICITY SMOAK/DINAH LANCE

Good old Oliver Queen has all the charm in the world and could split a strand of hair with that bow and arrow of his. He also happens to be a mess and a half without the women in his life. Dinah Lance is the perfect companion for Ollie’s comic book antics, falling in step with his swagger and having absolutely none of his nonsense. Television’s Oliver Queen might be a few shades darker than his comic book counterpart, but his sometimes agonizingly slow progress wouldn’t have even started without Felicity Smoak.

ZAN AND JAYNA

It’s impossible to have a list of male heroes who can’t function without their female counterparts without including the Wonder Twins. Their powers literally don’t activate without each other! Jayna needs Zan for her powers as well, but with Zan only able to become objects or substances, his super sister is still critical to his functionality as a hero.

THE HUMAN TORCH AND THE INVISIBLE WOMAN

Despite his occasional efforts to act otherwise, Johnny Storm is a hero. Each member of the Fantastic Four makes the team work, but no one has pushed Johnny harder than his sister, Sue. She’s calm in all the ways that he’s rash, and in turn he helps her take risks that she might not have every now and again. Like the Wonder Twins, this sibling superhero pair compliments each other nicely, but it feels safe to say that Johnny wouldn’t be the hero he is without Sue Storm.

HAWKMAN AND HAWKGIRL

If there’s one thing Hawkman makes abundantly clear, it’s that he can’t survive without Hawkgirl. Hawkman and Hawkgirl are literally linked across time and space through the power of mutual resurrection. On Legends of Tomorrow, their relationship was less than healthy, but once Hawkgirl started to get her memories back things got a little less pushy on Hawkman’s part.

SPIDER-MAN AND AUNT MAY

They say behind every good man is the woman that raised him. That phrase couldn’t be more right when it comes to Peter Parker and his Aunt May. Uncle Ben might have been the one to bestow the knowledge of great responsibility to Pete, but it was May who had to keep on living and raising a teenager who was still trying to figure out how to deal with being a superhero.

MON-EL AND SUPERGIRL

Kara Zor-El might have been a touch discriminatory towards Mon-El because of his Daxamite heritage when the two first met, but eventually they overcame their families’ prejudices and found themselves in a pseudo-relationship. When Mon-El returned from the future, he was hero who had realized that he needed to use his powers for good. This was all because of Supergirl’s influence. He founded the Legion of Superheroes in her memory, making her the reason Mon-El became the hero she knew he could be.

All of this is to say that Scott Lang, lovable mess, isn’t alone in his need for a smart woman to help him out every once in a while. All of these incredible heroes acknowledge that there’s no shame in that either. Just another trait they all share that helps make them incredible.

Funny things happen when you start attaching real-world value to in-game play. It’s a concept being explored by MEGO Games, a Chilean outfit specialising in integrating Bitcoin directly into games.

Earning cryptocurrency while you play is a relatively new concept. But very quickly, multiple versions of this idea have been realised. We covered cryptos in gaming and esports a while back in this guide:

GAMES
A Guide to Gaming and Esports Cryptocurrencies
JEREMY RAY Feb 9
While your computer is playing basic games like Minecraft, it’s not using its hardware to its full capacity. In fact, games rarely do these days. Workstation tasks like video editing and transcoding are needed to really push hardware.

So while it’s not doing much, it may as well be mining Bitcoin, right?

That’s the philosophy behind many of these systems. With Minecraft, the similarities are obvious. You mine in-game, and you’re effectively mining in the real world.

MEGO takes a bit of a different approach, however. Its server is funded through a combination of donations, sponsorships, and in-house mining. The results on player behaviour are surprising.

EMERALDS FOR NOTHIN’, BITS FOR FREE
Cristian Gonzalez is the CEO of MEGO Games. Since 2014, he’s been running a public Minecraft server called BitQuest, and observing the results of letting players mine real-world value in the game.

To create an in-game economy, he valued one bit (the equivalent of one millionth of a Bitcoin) to equal one of Minecraft‘s emeralds. Crucial to creating an even playing field, deposits of Bitcoin weren’t allowed — but withdrawals were.

MEGO is now onto its new project, Hammercoin, which is an RPG built from the ground up with Bitcoin as its currency. But not before learning a few lessons from the BitQuest project.

According to Gonzalez, venturing into the Nether zone on his Minecraft server became quite rare. Dying in the Nether leaves all of your items there for a while. All of a sudden, people had something to lose. The materials in this dangerous area became exceedingly valuable.

“Demand was created from people afraid to go into the Nether zone,” he said.

Not only did the economy change due to the new rarity of materials, some players were acting like it wasn’t a game at all. With a solid connection between in-game labour and real-world value, people started refusing to help others unless they were paid.

“If someone wanted to build a tower, they would pay other people to help build it,” said Gonzalez. “Whereas before, they might have just done it.”

Because that’s kind of what people are there to do anyway. That’s Minecraft.

IT’S A GAMBLE
Of course, it was only a matter of time for gambling to come into play.

“You can ride horses in the game, so people would collect money together into a big prize pool, and race the horses,” according to Gonzalez. “The winner of the race would get the pool.”

Though the players seemed to stop short of gambling amongst the spectators on who would win.

Unsurprisingly, Gonzalez sees the whole experiment as a fundamental shift in how games will be played. But as the head of a gaming cryptocurrency, he’s paid to think that way.

Minecraft pirate bay
“I see it as this situation in which Pay to Win has become Win to Pay,” he told us.

Certainly it’s an interesting time, when you can actually gain value for playing a game — like one of those ridiculous “Earn money while playing!” spam ads. Undoubtedly the majority of these platforms will be faring a lot better than you, as they use your graphics card’s cycles to mine away. But BitQuest, which has recently released its 2.0, seems to be more experiment than cash cow.

Either way, it doesn’t make the change in player behaviors any less interesting. And it’s surely just the beginning.

Minecraft has undeniably been the king of the voxel-based sandbox games ever since its inception in 2009. Many others have tried to take the crown but none have had the staying power of Mojang‘s juggernaut. The newest in line to challenge the king is PixARK by Snail Games.

Let’s take a look at what this potential blockbuster has to offer.

A massive brontosaurus housing a mobile base on its back.
PixARK’s Voxel World is filled with prehistoric life.
DINOSAURS AND MORE
PixARK is inspired by the popular Ark: Survival Evolved, and the one and only Minecraft. It plays a lot like Ark, requiring the player to forage for resources to stay alive. Food, water, crafting materials, and clothes to shelter you from the harsher elements are all necessary for survival, and you’ll need to defend yourself from various predators in the wild.

These will start off as small territorial creatures, and as you explore further they will increase in size and ferocity. Though PixARK’s main theme is dinosaurs, it also has a wide array of other mythological creatures; Dragons, Minotaurs, and even Cyclops.

You’ll instantly notice that this looks similar to Minecraft, as the world and everything inside it are made of voxels, each able to be harvested with the different tools you’ll make. The 100+ wildlife in the world can all be tamed, trained, and ridden.

Building bases in PixARK are even more crucial than in Minecraft though, as larger beasts will continue to threaten your survival — even when logged out. Players can also use larger creatures like Brontosauri to construct mobile bases to increase their defensive capability.

The player’s rifle is aimed at a two headed beast.
Weapons range from the prehistoric times, all the way to modern and even magic.
NO TWO PIXARK ARE THE SAME
PixARK worlds are always randomly generated to ensure no two worlds are ever the same. The world will hold eight separate biomes, each with their own challenges and benefits. Portals will also appear in set locations for fast travelling.

This can become especially handy when completing the procedurally generated quests that pop up throughout the world. Quests are ranked by level and vary in type. Some will be simple fetch quests, some will require crafting specific items, and others may be as simple as hunting specified creatures.

A player jetpacking through the world
PixARK enables all sorts of travel methods.
PLAY Y0UR WAY
PixARK also features an experience system for enhancing and upgrading your character. Actions such as taming, exploration, killing, or building various things reward the player with experience. Leveling up allows the player to increase various statistics like strength, dexterity, and other traditional stats.

Leveling up to increase these are critical to surviving in the more difficult biomes. This is important as like Ark, death is semi-permanent. Dying resets character progression and drops all items currently in the player’s inventory where they once stood. Players will have a set period of time to reach their previous body to recover their belongings. There are a few things that will persist through death, such as earned blueprints, to help reduce the amount of time in subsequent lives crafting higher ranked items.

Players can also fully customize and create their characters however they see fit, from head to toe. As they progress and gain access to more advanced recipes, they can also choose how they want their character to play. There are plenty of options for each style of combat for players to try, including melee, ranged, and even magic.

A swarm of black dragons cover the skies of PixARK
Dinosaurs aren’t the only welcome addition to the Minecraft formula.
PixARK is currently in Early Access on both PC and Xbox One and on sale until April 3rd, 2018. Check out the official trailer below and be ready to build, craft, and tame like never before.

Minecraft may look simple, but beneath its plain exterior lies an interesting game with endless creative options. However, Minecraft isn’t just a building game. Players can explore intricate mines and battle against spiders, skeletons, zombies, or all three — which can be strangely exhilarating. But nothing lasts forever, especially games. So, once you’ve become a Minecraft god, what’s the next game you should conquer? Well, we have some suggestions for you. Here are five Minecraft-like games you can play right now.

ROBLOX
roblox
The creative alternative everyone wanted.
Roblox not only looks and feels like Minecraft, it also allows you to build an entire world from the ground up. The popular MMO game boasts an in-depth and intricate design system that allows players to immerse themselves in someone else’s creation or vice versa.

The kinds of worlds players can create range from wild pirate islands to bustling cities. And with endless items to place in each environment, the only thing limiting players is their own imagination. Building your own kingdom, beach, or city in Roblox is sure to scratch that creative itch that Minecraft left behind.

THE FOREST

Minecraft‘s survival mode can get very scary and intense, especially when your character is starving. Now, imagine an entire game built around this concept that has players fight and build shelter, tools, and fire to survive. That’s where The Forest, the Minecraft-like horror game that no one asked for but everyone loved, comes in.

With its realistic, Gothic aesthetic, The Forest pushes Minecraft‘s survival mode even further, resulting in a more bone-chilling experience. In Minecraft, enemies just kill you. However, in The Forest, enemies will knock you out and drag you into their dark underground lair where countless creature lie in wait, ready to pounce. Adrenaline junkies should definitely give The Forest a try. Just make a point to keep close to the fire and have a crafted weapon ready.

TERASOLOGY

The same look and feel — but with minions.
Terasology‘s design is near identical to Minecraft‘s. It also similarly allows players to craft, build, and mine. But Terasology has a lot to offer players that Minecraft doesn’t, such as a more realistically rendered landscape, an environment that can change over time, and even the ability to create loyal minions.

The villager NPCs in Minecraft are interesting and good for trading, but not much help in a fight. They just run around grunting or get turned into zombies. This isn’t the case in Terasology, where NPCs can be spawned from your toolbar. These NPCs can take inventory, mine blocks, build their own societies, and trade with you. This is definitely the game for those who love control but want their creations to lighten their workload.

STARDEW VALLEY

Mining and farming are some of the most important and interesting parts of playing Minecraft. Mining helps you improve your tools, while farming allows you to live on the land. While smaller in scope, Stardew Valley also allows you to care for your own farm and mine to upgrade your tools.

Unlike Minecraft, where you can only trade with villager NPCs, the RPG-style Stardew Valley allows you to cultivate and deepen relationships with characters in the town, which can lead to friendships and even a romantic relationship. Being able to take an interest in the in-game community, creates a more immersive experience for players than what’s found in Minecraft. Everyone has wanted to knock off the grunting villagers in Minecraft at some point in time, but in Stardew Valley, you won’t be able to get enough of the game’s interesting and engaging little community.

STARBOUND

Who doesn’t want to give ‘Minecraft’ in space a go?
The beginning of Starbound sees you fleeing from your home. Eventually, you find yourself stuck on a planet where you are forced to explore, construct, and collect resources to escape. The game aesthetically resembles Stardew, boasting the same RPG gaming style. But Minecraft fans will love the game’s creative crafting mechanic and intense survival mode.

A more story-driven game than Minecraft, Starbound doesn’t limit what players can achieve or create. Players can shape their own future — whether that be as a farmer or an intergalactic estate agent. There are also plenty of opportunities for players to become battle-tested through boss fights and fun and challenging dungeon runs. There’s nothing more satisfying than throwing yourself in the dark depths of a jungle in an attempt to claim the treasures within.