Sales Of Friends On DVD And Digital Spike After The Show Leaves Netflix

Friends, one of the most popular sitcoms of all time, left Netflix at the end of 2019, and until it reappears on HBO Max in May it’s currently unavailable on any streaming services in the US. Because of this, fans are turning to DVD, Blu-Ray, and digital releases to get their hands on the show, and sales have gone way up.

According to a report on Variety, sale of Friends on disc and digital have “roughly tripled” since the show disappeared from Netflix. According to Rosemary Markson, senior vice president of TV marketing at Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, it has been the “top-selling catalog-TV franchise in home entertainment” since the beginning of 2020.

The show’s portal on the Warner Bros website directs potential customers towards stores where they can potentially buy the series, which debuted almost 26 years ago. Friends: The Complete Series on Blu-Ray sells for $115 on Amazon.

The report also notes that disc sales were down 20% in revenue overall in 2019, but that some TV shows, like Game of Thrones, did very well, and that digital sales were up 5% on 2018 numbers.

A Friends reunion, while not officially confirmed, is looking more and more likely, with an apparent budget of $20 million having been set to get the show’s six stars back together.

2020 will be the final year that The Office will be available on Netflix, too. It will transition onto NBC’s streaming platform, Peacock, in 2021.

Now Playing: Netflix Is Paying A Massive Fee To Keep “Friends” On Its Platform, Report Says – GameSpot Universe News Update

League Of Legends Dev May Need To Pay Much More To Settle Gender Discrimination Lawsuit

In December, it was reported that League of Legends developer Riot Games would pay $10 million to settle a gender discrimination lawsuit. However, this settlement total was later thought to be many millions lower than what it should have been, and now it’s been withdrawn by the legal team representing the staffers who filed the lawsuit in the first place.

A new team of lawyers hired by the former female employees of Riot Games withdrew the proposed settlement of $10 million, saying it was the result of “alleged mistakes and improprieties by prior class counsel,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The members of the class action group have now hired women’s rights attorney Genie Harrison and employment lawyer Joseph Lovretovich to take over for the previous counsel.

The new legal team will fight for a much larger payout for the class group. The California Department of Fair Employment and House and the Department of Labor Standards and Enforcement said in January that the initial $10 million settlement was “rushed.”

The groups maintain that Riot Games should actually be on the hook for a further $390 million in damages, bringing the total settlement to $400 million.

All of the approximately 1,000 female employees who worked at Riot from November 2014 until the settlement is complete are set to receive a share of the payout. If it does come out to $400 million, and if it is divided equally, it would work out to $400,000 each–but that won’t be how it works. The Los Angeles Times reports that the payouts will depend on the length of their employment and their status as full-time versus contractor.

“These brave women spoke out against gender inequality and sexism, and I want to make sure they are fairly compensated,” Harrison said. “Our well-qualified statisticians are already analyzing pay data. We intend to recover the compensation due to the women of Riot Games and achieve institutional reform, in order to level the playing field for women.”

Lovretovich added: “We don’t step into these types of cases lightly, but where questions of fairness and justice are at stake, we want to ensure these class representatives are getting the justice they seek.”

An August 2018 expose from Kotaku’s Cecilia D’Anastasio contained numerous serious and dramatic accusations about the “bro culture” within Riot. Among the details was that managers were said to have had lists where they ranked women by attractiveness.

In August 2019, when the initial settlement was first announced, Riot maintained that it doesn’t have systemic issues related to gender discrimination, though it did acknowledge that the workplace environment was less than ideal.

“After extensively reviewing these issues, we can confidently state that gender discrimination (in pay or promotion), sexual harassment, and retaliation are not systemic issues at Riot,” the company said. “But, what we also learned during this process was that some Rioters have had experiences that did not live up to our values or culture. In addition, we’ve encountered considerable fatigue among Rioters, who have been drained by constant engagement with the internal and external dialogues emerging from these lawsuits and recurring media cycles.”

Riot Games is yet to comment on the withdrawal of this $10 million settlement.

Riot is owned by Chinese internet giant Tencent. The free-to-play MOBA reportedly brings in billions of dollars in revenue every year.

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See How Star Wars: The Mandalorian Used Fortnite Engine’s Tech To Film The TV Show

The new Star Wars TV show, The Mandalorian, makes use of a variety of special effects that Lucasfilm created in partnership with iconic effects studio Industrial Light and Magic and Fortnite studio Epic Games. A new behind-the-scenes video showcases the fascinating technology that was used to bring The Mandalorian’s sets to life.

The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau says the technology, which uses Epic’s Unreal Engine to project scenes onto LED screens surrounding the physical set, will impact and influence how TV shows and movies are made in the future. In the video, it’s not hard to see why.

With LED screens in the background projecting anything imaginable, the actors on set can physically point at things and actually see what they’re looking it. Not only that, but this technology allowed the producers to have sunrises and sunsets that could last all day. They could also literally move mountains in the background because they’re digital. This opens up incredible new possibilities for digital filmmaking.”

Take a look at the full video to learn more about the new LED tech that was used in the making of The Mandalorian. Presumably this will continue for Season 2, which is due out in October 2020.

Like Season 1, the sophomore outing of The Mandalorian will stream exclusively on Disney+. Recently, Disney announced that the service had reached 28.6 million paying subscribers.

Now Playing: Baby Yoda’s Best Moments In The Mandalorian

Dragon Ball FighterZ Showcases Upcoming DLC Fighter Kefla’s Moves In New Video

The third Fighters Pass for Dragon Ball FighterZ was recently announced, and will begin on February 28 with the release of Kefla. She’ll be the first of five new characters coming to the game, with Ultra Instinct Goku and three unannounced warriors also joining the battle.

Bandai Namco has released video of a fight featuring Kefla, showing off her fast kicks and red ki blast attacks. It looks like she’ll move fast, and the video shows off some of her longer potential combos as she cuts through Frieza, Goku, and Vegeta.

Kefla, who debuted in Dragon Ball Super during the Tournament of Power, is a fusion character–she’s Universe 6 Saiyans Kale and Caulifla fused together. She joins Vegito, Gogeta, and Gotenks, the other fused Saiyan fighters in the game.

Her super move is pulled from her iconic battle against Ultra Instinct Goku–it’s a giant ki wave fired from both hands.

Dragon Ball FighterZ will feature in the Evo 2020 line-up in July, where we could potentially see combatants fighting using Kefla and any new fighters added to the game by then.

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Westworld Season 3 Trailer: 33 Things You Missed

Westworld Season 3 Trailer: 33 Things You Missed – GameSpot

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Disclosure: ViacomCBS is GameSpot’s parent company


Watch the Intense Opening Credits for Al Pacino’s Hunters

If you’re looking for another blood-soaked action series with comic book sensibilities while you’re waiting for Season 2 of The Boys, Amazon is likely hoping that its new Al Pacino-fronted thriller, Hunters, makes it onto your watchlist.

Centered around a group of Nazi hunters in 1970s New York, led by Pacino’s Meyer Offerman (who recruits Logan Lerman’s naive young comic book aficionado, Jonah Heidelbaum, to the cause), Hunters was created by David Weil, who was inspired by his grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, to tell a fantastical but all-too relevant tale about a young Jewish kid who is able to reclaim power from his oppressors.

“She would tell me stories about her time during the war. And as a young kid, five, six years old, hearing those stories, they felt like the stuff of comic books and superheroes. And as I got older I struggled with that feeling of birthright: What was my responsibility now to continue her story? So many Holocaust survivors are no longer with us and that community is growing smaller and smaller by the year,” Weil pointed out during Amazon’s presentation at the Television Critics Association winter press tour. “And so for me this was a love letter to my grandmother. It was a quest to don that vigilante cape in the face of rising antisemitism in the world, racism, xenophobia. It was a desire to shed light on hidden crimes and hidden truths. And it was also kind of a desire to create a sense of catharsis and wish fulfillment for a young Jewish kid growing up on Long Island who wanted to see superheroes who looked like him on screen.”

IGN has an exclusive sneak peek at the show’s stylized opening credits, showing Meyer’s band of hunters set against the Nazi leaders who have infiltrated US society, including those played by Dylan Baker and Lena Olin.

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The cast also includes Jerrika Hinton, Josh Radnor, Carol Kane, Tiffany Boone, Greg Austin, Louis Ozawa, Kate Mulvany, and Saul Rubinek, and was executive produced by Jordan Peele through his Monkeypaw Productions banner, alongside executive producer Nikki Toscano and Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, who directed the first episode.

Pacino also shared what attracted him to the TV series when speaking to critics: “There’s an originality in this show and it’s somewhat eccentric. And all of a sudden you’ll see it from certain angles… There are a lot of elements in it that catch you off guard, and that’s part of the interest. It holds your interest because you never know when a joke is going to come,” he said. “That was what really appealed to me when I read it, that there was this element [that] things are not what they seem.”

Watch the red-band trailer for Amazon’s Hunters below:

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/02/13/amazon-prime-video-hunters-red-band-trailer”]

Hunters will release all 10 episodes of Season 1 on Friday, February 21 on Amazon Prime Video.

PUBG Update 6.2 Will Enable PS4 And Xbox One Cross-Play

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) recently released released patch 6.2 on PC, adding a team deathmatch mode to the game. The update will make its way to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game soon too, and is now available on the Public Test Server.

Beyond everything else included in the patch, this update will finally allow players to make cross-platform parties, meaning that PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players can party up before the beginning of a match.

While cross-play has been available for some time now, this is a new feature, and it’ll make it much easier for players to team up with their friends on other systems. Previously, a PUBG match could be populated with players from either console, but parties could only be formed by players on the same console; as of 6.2, that restriction will no longer be in place.

This means that the game, which was once an Xbox One console exclusive, will now bring let PS4 and Xbox One gamers play together more easily than ever.

PUBG is currently available through Xbox Game Pass, which costs $10 a month. You can currently get Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $1 for your first month and $15 a month after that–Ultimate includes Game Pass for console and PC as well as Xbox Live Gold. You can purchase PUBG for $30 on PS4.

PUBG Season 6 is currently underway, and a new map, Karakin, was recently added to the popular battle royale shooter.

Now Playing: PUBG Announces Crossplay | Gamescom 2019

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Fans Made a ‘Hot Coffee’ Mod for Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 now lets PC players grab a cup of “Hot Coffee,” if you catch my drift. But if you weren’t around for the halcyon days of 2005 then strap yourself in, because this is kind of funny.

The mod is a reference to the infamous “Hot Coffee mod” from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. It’s a mod that allowed players to take control of the protagonist CJ as they have sex with one of his girlfriends. The encounter was originally designed as a minigame but the developers eventually decided to keep the content hidden. It would not be unlockable at all through gameplay.

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Instead, it took until a year later in 2005 when San Andreas released on Windows that modders were able to unlock the previously blocked content. While the mod is decidedly un-sexy and awkward, it created a pretty big scandal, and San Andreas became rated AO for Adults Only.

Unlike the San Andreas mod, the Hot Coffee mod for Red Dead Redemption 2 isn’t unlocked content the devs kept hidden, but a deliberate homage. The mod lets players take control of Arthur Morgan during his boozy trip to the saloon where he can woo one of the patrons and take them back to a hotel room. Like in San Andreas, the Red Dead Redemption 2 version of the mod is also not sexy, and all characters involved are clothed, and the voice lines are just generic ones from the game repurposed for the mod.

Although the mod is clearly a joking reference to an older era of Rockstar Games, the developer and publisher Take-Two are reportedly unhappy with it. One of the modders confirmed to PCGamesN that they were contacted by Take-Two to take down the mod. This isn’t surprising considering Take-Two had to settle with the FTC following the fallout of the hot coffee mod, and later versions of the game completely removed the content.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/10/17/red-dead-redemption-2-pc-trailer”]

There was some question about whether or not Red Dead Redemption 2 would support mods on PC ahead of its release, but Rockstar declined to comment on the matter. But it appears now that the PC version can support mods, even if the developers don’t approve of them.

While we won’t link to the mod, it’s not hard to find with a little help from the internet. Meanwhile, check out IGN’s Red Dead Redemption 2 review and Red Dead Redemption 2 wiki for more of our coverage.

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Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.

Madden 20 Patch Out Now, Here’s What It Does

The NFL season ended earlier this month with Super Bowl 54, but EA Sports has not stopped supporting Madden NFL 20 with new updates. The latest patch has arrived, and the most notable introduction is related to the Super Bowl.

Specifically, the playbook has been updated with new plays and formations that were seen in Super Bowl 54. There are many new plays added to the playbook, including the memorable Jet Chip Wasp from the pivotal 3rd and 15 first-down conversion by Patrick Mahomes to Tyreek Hill. It’s part of the Gun Trey Y-Flex Weak formation, which you can see below.

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You can see a full list of new plays that are now available in the patch notes below. In addition to the new plays, the Madden 20 update fixes a bug that allowed quarterbacks to abort the hand-off animation during certain reverse plays.

Additionally, Franchise mode in Madden 20 has been updated with improvements for stability and connectivity. The update also fixes a bug that caused the “Route Runner” player archetype from reaching higher overall ratings.

The February 20 patch for Madden 20 weighs in at around 2 GB on Xbox One, and it should be around the same for PS4 and PC.

Madden 20 February 20 Patch Notes

Franchise Updates

  • General stability and Connectivity improvements
  • Fixed an issue with the ‘Route Runner’ Wide Receiver Archetype data that prevented those players from reaching a high OVR via progression
    • DEV NOTE: List of ‘Route Runner’ Archetype players that were most likely to demonstrate this problem as they progress in Franchise leagues:
      • Michael Thomas
      • Davante Adams
      • Julian Edelman
      • Tyler Boyd
      • Keenan Allen
      • Amari Cooper
      • Julio Jones
      • Cooper Kupp
      • Stefon Diggs

Gameplay Updates

  • NFL Live Playbook Updates:
    • Added Gun Trey Y-Flex Weak offensive package to Chiefs NFL Live Playbook, which includes the Jet Chip Wasp play from the 3rd & 15 first-down conversion from Patrick Mahomes to Tyreek Hill in Super Bowl 54
  • Added I-Form Pro PA TE Screen and Singleback Deuce Close PA Boot Corner Post to 49ers NFL Live Playbook
  • Added Singeback Deuce Close PA Slide TE Screen to 49ers, Broncos, Bengals, Falcons, Packers, Rams, Seahawks and Titans NFL Live Playbooks
  • Added Singleback Wing Slot PA Y Screen to Buccaneers and Vikings NFL Live Playbooks
  • Added Far Pro offensive formation to Browns NFL Live Playbook
  • Added Split Slot offensive formation to Bears NFL Live Playbook
  • Quarter Overload defensive formation added to Buccaneers, Cardinals, Ravens and Titans NFL Live Playbooks
  • Added Dime Rush defensive formation to Eagles, Jaguars and Redskins NFL Live Playbooks
  • Added 4-3 Even 6-1 defensive formation to Broncos and Seahawks NFL Live Playbooks
  • Fixed an issue causing zone swapping in 46 Cub Tampa 2
  • For the NFL Live Playbooks, updated offensive play-call AI to reflect the run/pass ratios for all teams based on the 2019 NFL Season data
  • DEV NOTE: As a reminder, NFL Live Playbooks can be found by toggling them on in the Team Select settings screen or via the Settings Menu on the Main Menu. In Franchise, these alternate playbooks can be toggled on for both users and AI teams by toggling them on via the Franchise Settings menu.
  • Fixed an issue allowing the QB to abort the hand-off animation when flipping a specific reverse play

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Our Hype and Fears for Animal Crossing: New Horizons – NVC 495

Welcooome to Nintendo Voice Chat! Nintendo finally delivered a ton of Animal Crossing details with this week’s New Horizons Direct, and the NVC crew is here to talk about everything we learned during the presentation. Plus, hear about Untitled Goose Game’s recent honors at the D.I.C.E. Awards, why fans shouldn’t give up hope for Persona 5 on Switch, and much more. Then, the panel tackles another round of questions on Question Block.

We’re celebrating NVC’s 500th episode with a live show in San Francisco on March 20! Tickets are limited so grab them here while you can.

Also, NVC shirts and sweatshirts are now available at the IGN Store! Use the code nvc10 to get 10% off your purchase of NVC clothes.

Timecodes!

  • 00:00:00 Welcome! A couple quick announcements!
  • 00:05:12 Animal Crossing Direct discussion
  • 00:22:12 Goose Game wins big, and more from the D.I.C.E Awards
  • 00:28:50 News time!
  • 00:46:40 Games out this week
  • 00:49:08 What we’re playing
  • 01:02:39 Question Block!
  • 01:12:44 Wrap up!

NVC is available on your preferred platform!

You can also Download NVC 495 Directly Here

You can listen to NVC on your preferred platform every Thursday at 3pm PT/6pm ET. Have a question for Question Block? Write to us at [email protected] and we may pick your question! Also, make sure to join the Nintendo Voice Chat Podcast Forums on Facebook. We’re all pretty active there and often pull Question Block questions and comments straight from the community.

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Logan Plant is the Production Assistant for NVC. You can find him on Twitter at @LoganJPlant.