Hulu Releases Little Fires Everywhere Early

Hulu has released the first three episodes of its new eight-part limited series Little Fires Everywhere slightly earlier than intended, as more viewers become marooned at home in the wake of the response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Hulu confirmed the news via Twitter.

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Set in 1990s Ohio and based on Celeste Ng’s bestselling 2017 novel of the same name, Little Fires Everywhere stars Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington.

New episodes of Little Fires Everywhere will stream each Wednesday on Hulu.

While the spread of COVID-19 has resulted in a considerable amount of upheaval within the entertainment industry, more importantly there are number of things you can do to stay safe during this pandemic.

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People Are Spending Much More Time Playing Games During COVID-19 Outbreak

Today in news that will surprise no one, Verizon has released numbers that show time spent gaming has increased dramatically as people stay home from work and school due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Verizon, which is one of the largest telecom companies in America, announced that it has seen a 75 percent increase in gaming during peak hours compared to the week prior.

Additionally, video streaming (Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.) jumped by 12 percent. Overall web traffic on Verizon’s networks jumped by around 20 percent compared to last week. Virtual private network (VPN) usage jumped by 34 percent. Time spent on social media sites was flat.

Verizon said in a statement that its online networks have remained reliable during this period of increased traffic across sectors. In some cases, Verizon has added capacity to meet demand. All of these numbers apply to America only, and are based on Verizon’s own metrics.

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“We’re in an unprecedented situation,” Verizon’s Kyle Malady said in a statement. “We continually evaluate peak data usage times and build our networks to stay ahead of that demand. “While it is not clear yet how having millions of additional people working from home will impact usage patterns, we remain ready to address changes in demand, if needed.”

For its part, Microsoft announced that Xbox Live usage had increased in the wake of COVID-19 as people stay home from work and school. It’s expected that PlayStation Network and Nintendo Switch Online are also experiencing surges in demand.

A number of high-profile in-person competitive gaming tournaments, including the League of Legends LCS, Overwatch League, and Call of Duty League, have been either canceled or postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Binge It! Brotherhood Is the Perfect St. Patrick’s Day Crime Series

Brotherhood is currently available on Showtime, Hulu, YouTube TV, and Amazon.

Welcome to IGN’s new recommendation series, Binge It! Movies, TV shows, books, comics, music… if you can binge it, we’re here to talk about it. In each installment of Binge It!, we’ll discuss a piece of content we’re passionate about… and why you should check it out.

You can’t celebrate out at the pub — because of you know what — on this St. Patrick’s Day. Instead, you’re at home trying to figure out something to watch — and maybe have a pint or two — to compensate for that. Luckily, I’ve just the show you can start to binge-watch on this very holiday.

Before The Departed, before Black Mass — and before the real-life Irish-American gangster James “Whitey” Bulger who inspired both films was caught, incarcerated, and killed behind bars — there was Brotherhood.

Brotherhood, which ran for three seasons on Showtime, transposed the now widely known story of gangster Whitey Bulger and his politician kid brother Billy from South Boston to Providence, Rhode Island, and followed the parallel rises to power of Irish-American mobster Tommy Caffee (Jason Isaacs) and his politician brother Michael (Jason Clarke).

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And like Whitey corrupting his FBI handler and fellow Southie resident John Connolly, Tommy and Michael have a complicated relationship with their childhood pal Declan Giggs (Ethan Embry), a Rhode Island state trooper who often finds the lines between right and wrong, loyalty to the badge and to his friends, blurred.

Running from 2006-2008, Brotherhood was a serialized story about the complicated bond between brothers, each of whom are corrupt and righteous in their own ways. Indeed, the “bad” brother and the “good” brother weren’t always so easy to distinguish. The series wasn’t just about the brothers, mind you, but also their conniving mother Rose (the great Fionnula Flanagan), their criminal cousin Colin from Belfast (Brian F. O’Byrne), Tommy’s no-nonsense boss Freddie Cork (Kevin Chapman), Michael’s estranged wife Eileen (Annabeth Gish), their kids, their neighbors, and assorted other morally challenged characters they interact with for power, money, love, or to settle scores.

There was plenty of violence and scheming, as well as a host of powerful performances from the entire stellar ensemble. Brotherhood is an engaging crime drama about family, tribal loyalties, and the pursuit of power. Give it a binge.

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Check out IGN’s safety guide for COVID-19 here.

Xbox Series X’s Full Specs Have Us HYPED

Microsoft has revealed the full tech specs for Xbox Series X and we are pumped. We discuss the ingredients of the next-gen Xbox that have us the most hyped for the new console, from Xbox Velocity Architecture to raytracing. P.S. Please bear with us on our first-ever remote-location episode!

Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, or grab an MP3 download of this week’s episode. For more awesome content, check out the latest episode of IGN Unfiltered, featuring an interview with DOOM Eternal director Hugo Martin and executive producer Marty Stratton:

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It’s already an incredibly fun year of Xbox coverage, and the best is yet to come. Join us!

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Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan, catch him on Unlocked, and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.

Borderlands: The Handsome Collection And Four Other Titles Leaving Xbox Game Pass Soon

Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, which consists of Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, will soon be removed from Xbox Game Pass. This means that folks looking to get the last few Xbox Achievements, or dive into these games for the first time without purchasing them, don’t have long left to do so.

As is the case with all games leaving the popular subscription service, Xbox Game Pass subscribers can purchase the game at a 20% discount if they want to continue playing. An exact removal date has not been announced.

Four other titles are also being removed from the service, and they’re all pretty interesting. Vampyr, The Golf Club 2, Lego Worlds and Operencia: The Stolen Sun are all being removed from Game Pass soon–again, the specific date is unclear.

It’s a pain, although one of these games is less of a loss than the others. If you’re a Game Pass Ultimate subscriber, or have been on Xbox Live Gold for a while, odds are that you have The Golf Club 2019, too–it was free in May 2019, and it follows on from The Golf Club 2.

On the plus side, Xbox Game Pass subscribers recently got their hands on Ori and the Will of the Wisps as part of their subscription, and will still have access to over 100 other games.

If you’re new to Xbox Game Pass, you can subscribe now for just $1.

Now Playing: Quick Look: Borderlands: The Handsome Collection

New Star Wars: The Clone Wars Trailer Gives Us More Ahsoka

It’s been six years since season six of Star Wars: The Clone Wars aired, but now fans have finally gotten the final season they have been waiting for. So far this season we’ve seen Anakin and Obi Wan taking a final stand against the Separatist forces, but there’s been no mention of where Ahsoka is.

After leaving the Jedi Order at the end of season 5, Ahsoka is still getting into all sorts of trouble, even without Anakin or Obi Wan. Ahsoka finds herself entangled with the underworld of Coruscant after being enlisted to help build dangerous droids. She intends to keep her past as a Jedi a secret from her new friends Trace and Rafa Martez, people she comes across who are in need of help.

Ahsoka is a big fan favorite in the series, so seeing her get more of a spotlight in the new season is a huge deal. Here’s hoping that the writers do her character the justice she never got in the prequels.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ final season began on February 21, and is available to stream on Disney+. The next episode, Gone With A Trace, will be available on March 20. For more content to watch while stuck at home, here’s everything else that has come or is coming to the service this month.

Now Playing: Star Wars: Clone Wars – Season 7 Release Date Trailer

George RR Martin Working On Winds Of Winter During Coronavirus Isolation

Game of Thrones fans rejoice, George RR Martin is not going to let self-isolation stop him from writing. Instead, the author will be bucking down and putting pen to paper, or so he says. This isn’t the first time we have heard from GRRM about his so-called ‘progress’ on The Winds Of Winter.

Previously Martin has uploaded on his blog various postings about how he intends to finish the next A Song of Ice And Fire book, even joking about allowing New Zealand to imprison him in a small cabin on White Island until he completes the draft if he didn’t finish the Winds Of Winter by Summer 2020.

His latest blog post outlines his current emotions and thoughts about the coronavirus and how it seems to be affecting everyone. Martin has had to close his independent theater, the Jan Cocteau Cinema, where he puts on a variety of independent and mainstream films each month in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

While the cinema never gets more than 50 attendees at one time, he is eering on the side of caution and shutting down the cinema until April 15, at which point they will reevaluate the situation. Martin’s non-profit television and movie classes and workshops for kids, the Stagecoach Foundation, have also been shut down for the foreseeable future.

The blog post goes on to say that he has been writing every day, spending more time on Westeros than in the real world. Martin is taking precautions due to his age and physical condition, making sure to stay healthy during the coronavirus scare. All we can do is hope for his good health and that he finishes his draft soon.

This Overcooked-Style Chaotic Co-Op Game Just Released A Free Demo On PS4, Xbox One, Switch

Moving Out, the whimsical, ’80s-inspired co-op game where you play as a member of a moving team known as F.A.R.T, has launched a free demo to help give people an idea about what it’s all about. The free demo is available now across the PlayStation Store, the Xbox Store, and the Nintendo eShop.

Developed by Australian outfit SMG Studios, Moving Out is also getting a pre-order bonus. Everyone who pre-orders the game will get the “Employees of the Month” pack, which includes an Australian character named Bruce the Koala. The name comes from the Monty Python sketch about a group of Aussies named Bruce. The bundle also includes Professor Inkle (an octopus), Sprinkles (a doughnut), and Dials (a CRT TV). Check out the trailer below to see more of each character and the game overall.

Moving Out has you playing as Furniture Arrangement and Relocation Technician (F.A.R.T). With up to three others, you must work together to move objects from inside a building to a moving truck outside. It’s not always so simple or straightforward, however, as some objects require two people to move and you must also coordinate your timing to toss objects over obstacles or into the truck.

There is also an Assist mode that allows players to turn down the difficulty or extend the timers, among other things that should help everyone have a good time. There are also character customization tools that allow you to change hairstyles and color, while you can also give your creature a wheelchair or a hijab.

Moving Out launches on April 24 for $25 USD. The game bears a resemblance to another popular co-op game, Overcooked. The two games share the same publisher, Team17. You can check out some brand-new gameplay in the videos embedded above.

Now Playing: Moving Out Gameplay – Overcooked But For Moving Furniture

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Moving Out Gameplay – Overcooked But For Moving Furniture

Moving Out is a whimsical, ’80s-inspired co-op game where you play as a member of a moving team known as F.A.R.T and GameSpot is bringing you some brand-new gameplay footage that you can watch in the video above.

Moving Out has you playing as Furniture Arrangement and Relocation Technician (F.A.R.T). With up to three others, you must work together to move objects from inside a building to a moving truck outside. It’s not always so simple or straightforward, however, as some objects require two people to move and you must also coordinate your timing to toss objects over obstacles or into the truck.

Moving Out launches on April 24 for Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One, and PS4. You’ll probably notice that the game bears a resemblance to another popular co-op game, Overcooked. The two games share the same publisher, Team17.