Wakanda Forever

It is with great sadness that we report that actor Chadwick Boseman (21 Bridges, Black Panther) passed away at 43 years old, ending a 4 year battle with colon cancer. Although he is known for bring king T’Challa to the big screen via the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Boseman also bought various black historical figures to the big screen. Among these figures were baseball player Jackie Robinson (42), singer James Brown (Get On Up), and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall (Marshall). His most recent effort, Da 5 Bloods is currently streaming on Netflix, and he was gearing up to play Yasuke, a black samurai in 16th century Japan. His final film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom will be released on Netflix later this year. Based on the play by August Wilson, the film stars Viola Davis as legendary blues singer Ma Rainey, with Boseman playing as her trumpeter Levee. As you can see, every time he appeared on the screen, Boseman portrayed Black excellence. What makes this real wild is that Boseman had been shooting these roles in between bouts of surgery and chemotherapy. Without a doubt he will be missed, both as an actor, and as a human being. There was never a man like Chadwick, and there will never be one again.

#THPS is back! Original maps, original skaters, and songs from the original soundtrack… plus new features. Thanks to all the fans of our series for keeping this dream alive. https://t.co/uqEeD0kjWc

— Tony Hawk (@tonyhawk) May 12, 2020

On his 52nd birthday, Skateboarding Pro Tony Hawk announced on twitter that Tony Hawk 1 and 2 will be receiving remasters. Said remaster will be released on Xbox One, PS4, and PC (via the Epic game store) on September 4th later this year. With it will be all the original skaters, all the original skate parks, all the original tricks, and most of the original sounds (because, licensing issues). There will be some new tricks, a revamped create-a-park editor, local/online multiplayer, and enhanced graphics.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

Looks like more content is on the way for MK 11. Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath is releasing later this month, bringing new features, new single player content, and new characters. The trailer is above, and you can see details on what’s coming below. Spoiler Alert: The above takes place after the end of MK 11’s story mode, so if you haven’t completed it yet, you might want to do so now before going any further.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

Update: Looks like there is indeed a new WWE game coming. Click below the jump for details.

As of now, WWE and 2K games has confirmed that there will be no new installment of the WWE 2k franchise this year. This is no surprise as the future of the series was in the air even before the COVID-19 outbreak. WWE 2k20, the most recent installment, was the first developed solely by Visual Concepts, as opposed to co-developing alongside longtime franchise developer Yukes. As such, it launched with sub par graphics, several bugs, and missing features. Things got so bad that at one point Sony issued refunds to anyone who bought the digital version of the game from the PlayStation Network Store, and a bug caused the game to be unplayable on New Years day of this year. Even now, several months later, and after several patches, the game still has unresolved issues that have yet to be addressed. The rumor floating around was that WWE 2k21 will be canceled in favor of a new non-simulation WWE title. At least half of this rumor is true. As for the other half, WWE CFO Frank Riddick announced that they will be sharing details of the franchise’s future this coming Monday at 10 am EST. For now, we’ll see what this will entail. This rumor was confirmed this morning by WWE and 2K games. So while WWE2k will get a year off, we will be getting a new WWE game this year. For now, if 2k wishes to continue working with the WWE license, it’s clear that they will have to go back to the drawing board if and when they produce the next entry in the WWE 2k franchise. In the meantime, fans looking for some non-WWE squared circle gaming can check out Fire Pro Wrestling World on Steam and PS4, Chikara Action Arcade on Steam, and the upcoming Retromania Wrestling coming to Switch, Steam, PS4, and Xbox One this July.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

A new 6 inch scale action figure line for GI Joe was announced at New York Toy Fair; GI Joe Classified. This follows the popularity of Marvel Legends and Star Wars The Black Series lines of 6 inch scale figures. Starting in the 1960s as a 12 inch scale line of toys, the franchise pivoted in the 1980s to a 3 3/4 inch scale that it has largely stuck to until today. While other lines, including Marvel Universe and Star Wars, have experimented at the smaller scale, this is the first time the franchise is trying out the 6 inch scale for its main line, though there was an attempt at a 7 inch scale for Sigma 6 (2005-2007).

The line up for the first wave includes the following:
Duke
Scarlett
Roadblock
Snake Eyes (Hasbro Pulse Exclusive)

Attendees at the NYTF panel also received an exclusive poster promoting the line with character art of the first wave and beyond.
        

Preorders are available below:

Snake Eyes on Hasbro Pulse

Phantom Dust was an Xbox game that merged card-collecting with arena combat. Although it was fairly well received (especially in Japan), it never took off, becoming a cult classic of sorts. Microsoft had announced a reboot at 2014’s e3, but it ended up being cancelled. Fortunately Xbox head honcho Phil Spencer and lead developer Yukio Futatsugi still had love for the series, and therefore an HD remaster of the game for Xbox One and PC was announced at last year’s E3. While information about the re-release was scarce, Microsoft Game Studios guaranteed that the game would be released before e3, and lo and behold, MS stayed true to its word. Not only that, Phantom Dust is free! The game contains a single player story mode, Xbox Live Anywhere, and a starter deck for multiplayer, so fans can jump into multiplayer right from the get-go (rather than having to unlock cards like in the original Xbox game). Hopefully a second lease on life for this game will allow it to gain the audience it deserves, or better yet, lead to another attempt at a reboot. Expect to see more about the game on an upcoming $20 Game of the Week.

Remedy has recently announced that they are pulling down Alan Wake from Xbox Live, Steam, and all other digital stormfronts and recalling it from storeshelves on Monday May 15 due to licensing issues. If you played the game you already know the game contains music from David Bowe, Depeche Mode, and Old Gods of Asgard (Poets of the Fall). Because music is such an integral part to the experience, Remedy can’t simply remove the songs from the game. Remedy is looking into re-licensing the songs, however it’s unknown when of if it will be possible. If you haven’t played this classic yet, Steam has it, its DLC, and the side game American Nightmare on sale with the entire collection available for $4. It should be noted that this does not affect American Nightmare, as it will still remain on the storefront. Also, if you already own the digital copy of the game, be it on Steam or Xbox Live, you can still download it after next Monday. If you haven’t played this game, now is the perfect time to do so. It’s a highly underrated game that didn’t get the attention that it deserved.

With Injustice set to hit stores next week, new details have come out concerning new Premier Skins and DLC. As you can see, the first 3 DLC characters will consist of Teen Titan Starfire, Batman ally Red Hood, and Mortal Kombat’s Sub-Zero. You can check out the DLC trailer above, and you can see details about the some of the game’s Premier skins after the jump.
[Read the rest of this entry…]