Monthly Archives: November 2019

The Black Widow Movie’s Yelena Belova Explained

Did you know Natasha Romanov (Romanoff in the movies) isn’t the only Russian agent to operate under the codename Black Widow? In the early 2000s, another agent designated as a Black Widow -- Yelena Belova -- made her first appearance, and she had Natasha in her sights from the get-go. Florence Pugh will be playing Yelena in the upcoming Black Widow solo film (watch the trailer here!), so there’s no better time to meet the super-spy than now.

From her origins in the Red Room to a strange, temporary turn as a supervillain, here’s everything you need to know about the second Black Widow. These are the topics we’ll be covering here:

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Ian McKellen Defends Cats’ Controversial CGI: ‘They’re Not Real Cats’

Sir Ian McKellen has delivered a purrfect response to the controversy surrounding the use of CGI technology in the live-action(ish) movie adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical Cats, as he reminded people that they're not actually meant to be "real cats."

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, McKellen, who plays Gus the Theatre Cat in the upcoming musical, explained that director Tom Hooper turned to digital fur technology because the story is supposed to be about human characters discovering their feline instincts.

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Obi-Wan Kenobi: Everything We Know About the Disney+ Series

Hello there. You may have heard that Jedi Master and former Clone Wars General Obi-Wan Kenobi is getting his own series on Disney+. It's an elegant series for a more civilized streaming service.

While the new series is still a ways off (and doesn't even have an official title yet) we're learning more and more about the plot and setting of this Star Wars spinoff. From the involvement of star Ewan McGregor to the time period, here's everything we know about Disney's Obi-Wan Kenobi series.

Be sure to also check out everything we know about Wonder Woman 1984 and everything we know about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

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How the Google Stadia Controller Was Designed

By the Google Stadia team's own admission, it's not easy designing a new controller to compete with the DualShock and the Xbox gamepad in the hearts and minds of gamers. The final piece of hardware they've arrived at feels very good, based on our early impressions, and so we went to Google's controller design lab in Mountain View, California, to get a look at many of the early prototypes and see how they built it.

We interviewed Google Stadia Design Director Isabelle Olsson about the process, which involved literally hundreds of design iterations and some pretty unconventional approaches to the task that we think you'll want to hear about. Take a look at the video above, and don't miss the video below to learn everything you need to know before Stadia's upcoming launch:

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Terry Bogard is Available Now in Smash Ultimate

Terry Bogard from Fatal Fury is now available to download and play in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director, Masahiro Sakurai, held a 45-minute livestream showcasing Terry’s moveset and stage – which also revealed 50 tunes from SNK’s library that will be added to the game as part of Challenger Pack 4.

Terry’s moves are inspired by his many appearances in SNK fighting games, and his kit brings a number of unique mechanics to the roster. Similar to Street Fighter’s Ryu and Ken, Terry automatically turns to face his opponent in one-on-one matchups to make it easier to use his classic fighting game command inputs. He has weak and strong versions of each of his special moves, and the strength is determined by how long you hold the button.

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The Best Essential Tech Gifts 2019: SD Cards, SSD and More

The holidays are the perfect time to get someone the best possible tech gift, whether it's upgrading their PC storage with a spacious SSD, giving them a little more play room on their Nintendo Switch with a micro SD card, or getting them the ease and convenience of an Apple iPad. We've got plenty of great tech gift ideas to give this season, so you can make sure everyone is up to date with the latest and greatest electronics.

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Best Essential Tech Gifts 2019

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Stephen King Claims Doctor Sleep Redeems Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining

Novelist Stephen King has packed on the praise for Mike Flanagan's Doctor Sleep, claiming the movie "redeems" what he didn't like about Stanley Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of The Shining.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, King, who is known to dislike the Kubrick film, explained how the recent big-screen adaptation of his sequel novel helped to alleviate some of the issues that he originally had with its predecessor.

"I read the script to this one very, very carefully," the writer revealed. "Because obviously I wanted to do a good job with the sequel, because people knew that book The Shining, and I thought, I don't want to screw this up.

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Hearthstone’s New Battlegrounds Mode Is Available to Early Access Players

After whipping the cloak off its eight-player autobattler mode last week at BlizzCon, Hearthstone has now made Battlegrounds available to select fans for a week of early access.

The mode is currently only available to those who attended BlizzCon in California, those who nabbed a BlizzCon virtual ticket, or players who own a Descent of Dragons pre-purchase bundle. Battlegrounds will eventually open up to all players as an open beta on Tuesday November 12, when the early access period finishes.

Battlegrounds takes place on an "ever evolving board" where players are pitted against randomly selected opponents in turn-based combat. Players choose from 24 heroes, then recruit minions in Bob's Tavern that can be strategically deployed across the board between rounds until one challenger is left standing.

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Netflix Is ‘Taking The Fantasy Out’ Of The Witcher And Leaning Into Horror

With a couple of months to go before The Witcher drops on Netflix, the show's visual effects supervisor has promised it will be more frightening than fantastical.

Julian Parry told SFX Magazine (via GamesRadar), "I definitely think it leans more towards horror. We’re definitely taking the fantasy out. I can honestly say we’re not fantastical. I mean, it’s fantastical but in a grounded horror sense."

He used the example of Striga monsters - women who are cursed to turn into beasts - as the embodiment of "gnarly-looking" body horror rather than fantasy escapism. The new trailer also includes its fair share of creepy monsters, like what appears to be a necrophage of some kind (perhaps a ghoul or foglet).

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