One Of The Rarest Video Game Consoles Ever Sells For A Record-Breaking Price At Auction

The “Nintendo PlayStation” console, one of the rarest and most fabled gaming systems in history, has sold at auction for a massive price.

The Heritage Auctions listing (via AresTechnica) shows that the console sold on Friday, March 6, for $300,000. The unspecified person who won the auction actually paid $380,000 with the “buyer’s premium” included.

The $300,000 sale price is far and away the highest-ever price paid for a single gaming item. The previous record belonged to a sealed, unopened copy of Super Mario Bros. for the NES that sold in 2019 for $100,150, according to USGamer.

The identity of the winner was not revealed. Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey previously revealed himself to be the highest bidder at one point earlier in the auction period, but it’s unclear if he was the winner in the end.

The Nintendo PlayStation was publicly unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in 1991, but Nintendo backed out of the arrangement with Sony and, at that very same event, announced it would be entering into a partnership with Philips, which would result in the infamous Philips CD-i (and its notorious Zelda titles). The 200 existing prototypes for the Nintendo PlayStation were said to be destroyed, and some things that should not have been forgotten were lost.

The falling out between Nintendo and Sony is reportedly part of what drove Sony to get into the gaming market to begin with. Both companies have enjoyed great success in gaming, with Sony’s PS4 recently surpassing the Wii with more than 100 million in sales. Nintendo’s newest console, the Switch, is also a sales juggernaut that keeps growing.

NHL 20 Patch Adds One Very Specific Thing

NHL 20 has received a new patch, but don’t expect much from it. The official patch notes for Patch 1.5.1 are just one sentence long, adding one new feature.

The March 8 update for NHL 20 adds content from the recently announced esports tournament, the 2020 NHL Gaming World Championship, for the Hockey Ultimate Team mode.

That’s it. That’s the update.

Some people on Twitter roasted EA Sports for this, including popular NHL streamer Nasher. He joked that this update was so large and substantial that it brought back the much-requested features like GM Connected mode and a story mode for Be A Pro. But this was just trolling. He joked that these features might be added in NHL 27.

The NHL Gaming World Championship starts qualifier matches on March 10. Anyone can take part in the online qualifiers for a chance to rise through the tournament and win $60,000. For more on the tournament, check out the detailed breakdown on NHL’s website.

Now Playing: NHL 20 – Snoop Dogg Content Announcement Trailer

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The Last Of Us Writer Teases New HBO Series

Game of Thrones network HBO recently announced a partnership with Sony for a TV show based on The Last of Us, and now some new details about it have come to light. Or at least a new tease.

Neil Druckmann, who wrote The Last of Us and is also writing the TV show with Chernobyl’s Craig Mazin, has teased that The Last of Us TV show may feature characters from The Last of Us: Part II.

For International Women’s Day, HBO released a reel of some of its most iconic characters from across the network’s programs, including Game of Thrones, Big Little Lies, Westworld, and others. Druckmann re-tweeted the tweet with a cryptic caption.

“And now you have Ellie, Riley, Tess, Marlene, Maria, X X X X, and a few others! ;),” Druckmann said.

Druckmann left four blank spaces for one of the woman’s names, so people are speculating about who it might be. Some are suggesting Ellie’s mother, Anna, could appear. She was was spoken about but never seen in the first game. She is dead, but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t appear in some capacity in the TV show.

As for the “few others,” this could be a reference to characters from The Last of Us: Part II. As announced previously, the HBO series will cover the events of the first game, “with the possibility of additional content based on the forthcoming game sequel.”

The Last of Us TV show also features Games of Thrones producer Carolyn Strauss, who has won five Emmys for Game of Thrones and Chernobyl, as an executive producer. Naughty Dog’s president, Evan Wells, is an executive producer as well.

The Last of Us was first announced as a movie from Sony Pictures, but IGN reports that the new TV show will be made instead of a movie.

There is no word yet on when HBO’s Last of Us TV show will premiere or who will star in it. Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson performed the voices and motion-capture for Joel and Ellie in the two main Last of Us games. The Last of Us: Part II launches in May exclusively for PS4.

Now Playing: The Last of Us Part II – Inside the Demo Trailer

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Top New Game Releases On Switch, PS4, Xbox One, And PC This Week — March 8-14, 2020

This episode of New Releases is one of the most action-packed we’ve ever had. Ori & the Will of the Wisps continues the cinematic flair of the first game, and Nioh 2 pits you against all manner of monsters from Japanese folklore. Fighting game fans can throw down with both My Hero One’s Justice 2 and Granblue Fantasy Versus, while the more strategic crowd can plot their victory in Langrisser 1 and 2.

Ori & the Will of the Wisps — March 11

Available on: Xbox One, PC

While it sports the same gorgeous look as Ori and the Blind Forest, this sequel is changing things up–and not just by taking the adventure beyond the forest itself. The first game had manual checkpoints, but this one features auto-saves. Where the first game offered linear upgrades, the sequel instead lets you purchase powers using collectible shards. And yes, Ori will be available on Game Pass on launch day.

More Coverage:

Langrisser I & II — March 10 (US) / March 13 (EU)

Available on: PS4, PC, Switch

Langrisser I & II
Langrisser I & II

The first two Langrisser games are 30 years old, so the revamped graphics in this remaster are worlds apart from the original. That said, it’s still the same strategy game it always was, letting you level up commanders and choose their classes. A demo is available on the PS4 and Nintendo Switch if you want to sample the remaster beforehand.

Nioh 2 — March 13

Available on: PS4

Nioh 2
Nioh 2

This is actually a prequel to Nioh, so instead of playing as samurai William Adams, you’ll create your own custom character. You’ll still have to change stances and manage your stamina as you take on big bosses, but fortunately, you can do so with friends in three-player co-op. What’s more is that you can actually transform into a yokai yourself if you collect a monster’s Soul Core.

More Coverage:

My Hero One’s Justice 2 — March 13

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch

My Hero One's Justice 2

One’s Justice 2 picks up right where the first game left off, featuring even more scenarios from the anime series to battle through. The roster has grown too–it now features 40 playable characters with their own quirks and special abilities. Bandai Namco also promises bigger, crazier Plus Ultras.

More Coverage:

Granblue Fantasy Versus — March 13

Available on: PC

Granblue Fantasy Versus

This fighter is based on the Granblue Fantasy fantasy mobile RPG. Characters battle using special powers called Sky Arts, lifted directly from the mobile game. The PS4 release of Versus launched earlier this month, but PC gamers can get in on the action this week. This being a PC release, it does offer custom graphics options and both keyboard/mouse and gamepad support.

More Coverage:

There’s still a lot of March to go, and the month has more highly anticipated games on the horizon. Next week, we’ll take a look at two massive games dropping on the same day: Doom Eternal and Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Now Playing: Top New Games Out On Switch, PS4, Xbox One, And PC This Week — March 8-14, 2020

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare Is Not Awarding XP Right Now, And Fans Are Upset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is currently facing what sounds like a pretty big issue. In some cases, the game is not awarding XP after matches, which is pretty much the whole reason to play.

The issue was first acknowledged by Infinity Ward’s Twitter account earlier in the day on March 8, and then the studio said hours later that it’s still investigating the issue. “We’ll keep you updated and thank you again for your patience,” Infinity Ward said. So far, however, there is no timeline for when the fix will be available, or details on what was causing the problem in the first place.

A quick Twitter search for “modern warfare XP” shows that a lot of people are experiencing this issue, so hopefully it gets resolved quickly and that XP can be retroactively restored.

Modern Warfare is expected to add a new battle royale mode called Warzone in March. While this has yet to be confirmed, a lot of details about the mode have emerged ahead of time.

Modern Warfare also recently added a new pet, Tamagotchi-style creatures called Tomogunchi pets. It’s a bit confusing how they work, so check out this explainer to find out what you need to know to grow and evolve your pet.

Now Playing: What You Should Know About Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare’s Tomogunchi

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Box Office: Pixar’s Onward Does Well In US But Stumbles Internationally Amid Coronavirus Concerns

The latest box office numbers are in, and Pixar’s Onward was unsurprisingly the biggest movie of the weekend in America. The film raked in $40.4 million in the US, which is a huge number, but it’s also well below the $50 million that estimates suggested.

The downturn in the US isn’t due to the coronavirus, Deadline reported. Instead, “it’s Onward itself here that isn’t working,” the site reported. The site points out a number of issues with the film and how it’s framed, but it’s too soon to say for sure why it’s come up short against expectations.

Internationally, it’s a different story. The impact of the coronavirus seems more readily visible. Onward made only $28 million from 47 international markets, which is well below the $40 million – $55 million range that was forecasted. In total, Onward has made $68 million after its first weekend, which is significantly below the $100 million forecast.

There’s concern here that coronavirus fears have curbed business in SouthEast Asian territories (like Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand) in the wake of China and South Korea’s grappling with the current crisis, and of course what’s going on in Italy is causing greater alarm in Western Europe,” the site reported.

Go to Deadline to see a full rundown, recap, and analysis of the weekend’s box office performance, including concern about and the impact of the coronavirus.

Onward is Pixar’s 22nd movie, and the first since 2019’s Toy Story 4. It’s also the first Pixar movie to release following the company’s statement that it wants to move away from sequels and make more original films.

Onward is directed by Monsters University director Dan Scanlon, and features the voices of Chris Pratt and Tom Holland as elves who go on an adventure to find magic. Octavia Spencer and Julia Louis-Dreyfus also have major voice roles in the movie.

March 6-8 US Box Office

Via EW

  1. Onward— $40 million
  2. The Invisible Man —$15.5 million
  3. The Way Back — $8.5 million
  4. Sonic the Hedgehog — $8 million
  5. The Call of the Wild —$7 million
  6. Emma — $5 million
  7. Bad Boy for Life — $3.1 million
  8. Birds of Prey — $2.2 million
  9. Impractical Joker: The Movie —$1.8 million
  10. My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising — $1.5 million

Now Playing: Disney Pixar’s Onward – Official Trailer

WWE Elimination Chamber: Full Match Results

It’s the final stop on the Road to WrestleMania!

WWE’s Elimination PPV will feature two Chamber matches. One will determine who faces Becky Lynch for the RAW Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 36 and the other has The Miz and John Morrison putting their SmackDown Tag Team titles on the line against five other teams.

I’ll be live-tweeting the event as well as running this live-blog, so follow me over at @TheMattFowler, if you’d like.

Elimination Chamber will also feature The Street Profits defend their newly-won RAW Tag Team titles against former champs Seth Rollins and Buddy Murphy along with AJ Styles vs. Aleister Black, and Andrade vs Humberto Carrillo.

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This…isn’t exactly a stacked card. Becky Lynch and Bayley aren’t defending their championships. Goldberg and Brock are nowhere to be found (naturally). Hell, Roman Reigns doesn’t even have a match. It just doesn’t feel like the PPV you’d get right before WrestleMania. Of course, that doesn’t mean the people who don’t have matches can’t show up, in some capacity, but it sure feels empty without them.

And while we’re at it, let’s also hope for cameos, run-ins, or segments from Bray Wyatt, John Cena, and The Undertaker.

Vikings Raiders vs. Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder

Huh, so we’re not even getting a competitive match for the Kickoff bout. Okay, pre-show. Okay. I see what you’re about now. At lest this means Daniel Bryan vs Drew Gulak is definitely on the main card.

Okay, so they had Hawkins and Ryder deliver a bit more offense than they would on Monday Night RAW. Just to pad things out. Plus, it’s WrestleMania season. This is when these two underdogs shine the brightest. Ultimately though, leave it to this particular PPV, which feels very “meh” on paper (a lot like TLC did in December), to give us one of the most underwhelming pre-show contests ever.

Winners: Viking Raiders

Daniel Bryan vs. Drew Gulak

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This is a match fans have wanted ever since Drew got drafted to SmackDown in the fall. Hopefully it’s a feud that doesn’t end tonight. With the right tweaking, it can feed into ‘Mania! Let’s find out…

Post-Fiend, it’s the perfect time to reboot Bryan and even him out with Gulak, who wouldn’t be on Bryan’s kayfabe level normally. We got a got a rare catch-as-catch-can clinic here as Gulak got elevated up to a tier where he could go toe-to-toe with Bryan, even staying a few steps ahead of him. Bryan’s neck injury also came into play since Gulak is all about exploiting his opponent’s weakness. In many ways, this match felt more vital and dangerous than Bryan’s PPV main event matches with The Fiend.

As a match that got added last minute, this is already the sleeper hit of the PPV. And Gulak passed out in the Yes-Lock. He never tapped. This one’s not over! What a fun way to start a show where the main draw is a giant cage of gimmickry.

Winner: Daniel Bryan

United States Champion Andrade vs. Humberto Carrillo

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Two stellar singles matches to start the show – whadya know!

In the case of Andrade and Carrillo, it’s two guys delivering a version of a match we’ve seen them have many times. Granted, it’s still a very good match, but this has to be the tenth time we’ve seen these guys clash and Carrillo come up short. Still, these two have abnormally-great chemistry. Carrillo seemed on the cusp of capturing the gold here, especially with Andrade just coming off a 30-day suspension, but they’re keeping the belt on Andrade a little while longer as the champ retained thanks to the hook of the tights here. No Angel Garza interference here, just Andrade eking out a solid heel win.

Winner, and STILL United States Champion: Andrade

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Elimination Chamber Match

WWE-Elimination_blogroll-04

The only thing inherently wrong with this match, other than the 10 minutes of entrances, were the stakes. Ultimately, it didn’t matter if Miz and Morrison retained their titles or not. The biggest story in this match was between Otis and Ziggler, and they just happened to be in tag teams.

That being said, the crowd came alive for this one about halfway through, once Heavy Machinery entered the fray. There were multiple big moves and maneuvers – including a skin the cat flip from the ceiling of the chamber from Lince Dorado and OTIS CRASHING THROUGH THE CHAMBER DOOR TO THE OUTSIDE…

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So between the Lucha House Party (who were there instead of The Revival, LOL) and Heavy Machinery both doing some spectacular spots, this one wound up getting a few “this is awesome!” chants. Credit the performers here for bringing the crowd to their feet for a match for a perpetually under-promoted championship. It all came down to the Usos and the champs – and Miz and Morrison retained using some crafty teamwork.

Winners, and STILL SmackDown Tag Team Champions: The Miz and John Morrison

Aleister Black vs. AJ Styles (No Disqualification Match)

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We knew he was coming but still…UNDERTAKERRRRRRRRR!

With Styles having Anderson and Gallows at his disposal, at any time in this No DQ match, it felt very similar to the match these he and Black had a week back when AJ made Aleister fight his cronies first. Of course, all of this, in the end, was to bring The Deadman back into Styles’ orbit so that they can fully set up their ‘Mania match.

Styles and Black work super well together. I’d like to see them do something more once the dust of Tampa settles. This bout was pretty solid (for a contest that was a long build to Taker’s appearance) and the sporadic use of weapons and tables (nice Meteora by Black!) helped keep the crowd alert after they gave all their energy to the tag team Chamber match. Aside from his teaming with Ricochet and series with Murphy, this was Black’s best main roster showcase.

Taker thwarted the O.C., chokeslammed Styles, and Styles fell to the Black Mass!

Also, depending on Undertaker’s ring shape, maybe we’ll get a Taker/Black vs. The O.C. at ‘Mania instead of a straight one-on-one.

Winner: Aleister Black

Raw Tag Team Champions The Street Profits vs. Seth Rollins & Murphy

WWE-Elimination_blogroll-02

This was a well-worked tag bout, for sure, but the crowd got a little more quiet for this one after getting up for the Chamber and Taker back-to-back. The Street Profits, though the champions, are still new to feuding with Seth’s crew, so there’s no real story outside of the championship,

Viking Raiders managed to escape the limbo of the Kickoff Show, running into the main card to chase away AoP and then, toward the end, Owens made his way through the crowd. This is when most fans started to perk up. This was all the Profits needed to keep their gold as Seth took a fateful of popcorn and Murphy took the pin. It was a little too long, ultimately, for a match that hinged on K.O.’s popcorn ambush, but decent nonetheless.

Winners, and STILL RAW Tag Team Champions: The Street Profits

Intercontinental Champion Braun Strowman vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Cesaro & Sami Zayn

WWE-Elimination_blogroll-05

HOLY S***!

Well, that was TRULY a shocker. What, by all intents and purposes, should have been an easy-ish enough win for Braun, who had just won his first ever singles title, became Sami Zayn’s biggest moment on the main roster. No, it wasn’t just one of Sami’s faction who won the Intercontinental Title – it was Sami!

And the heels didn’t even really cheat to do it. It was all built into the match as a 3-on-1 contest. It was Braun who made the mistake of thinking he could defeat all three of them. What a crazy moment. I guess they figured the best position for Braun was being an angry monster (among men) bent on revenge.

Winner, and NEW Intercontinental Champion: Sami Zayn

Women’s Elimination Chamber Match: Shayna Baszler, Asuka, Natalya, Liv Morgan, Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan

WWE-Elimination_blogroll-06

Wow, Shayna doesn’t even need to fall to the mat and drag her victims down with her to get them to submit. She just has to clamp her arms about their neck, while still standing, and it’s over. Not very exciting, to be honest. It’s more like a sleeper hold now that people just tap to very quickly.

Anyhow, this all fell into place rather dully. Ruby, Nattie, and Sarah, after beating each other to hell, got mauled by Shayna super fast. This was all about Asuka and Shayna, the two most dominant NXT Women’s Champions, finally clashing. Naturally, because they have to build Shayna up for Becky Lynch at ‘Mania, Asuka was going down. At least she got to put up a fight.

There was a comical moment though when Shayna was in the ring alone, waiting for the next pod to open, and the announcers teasing Asuka (and Asuka herself screaming from inside her pod) – and Liv’s pod was next! Of course, Liv got thrashed quick. We didn’t even get all three Riott Squad members in there at the same time!

Basically, this was like if the Brock part of the Royal Rumble lasted the entire Rumble. I get that there’s value in building someone up as a beast, but you run the risk of also putting on a terrible and boring Chamber match. Zzzzzzz.

Winner: Shayna Baszler

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Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.

Fallout 76’s Wastelanders Update Broke The Budget On Voice Actors

The Fallout 76 team has had a lot to do in the last year, working to flesh out a world once populated only by players and monsters. It may come as no surprise to find out that some of the game’s upgrades came in over budget.

In an interview published by USgamer, Bethesda Vice President Pete Hines went into some detail about the process of developing Wastelanders, discussing both the project’s goals and what went into achieving them.

With a world of new NPCs to be integrated into the game, Hines reveals that the designers went a little ham with adding dialogue that would then have to be delivered by voice actors. “They went much beyond what they were budgeted to do because designers can’t help themselves. So they blew past their word count budgets,” he said.

The design on NPC interactions and quests has had a focus on replayability, as Hines is realistic about not being able to produce content as fast as players can play through it. “There’s just no reasonable cadence that you can put out large volumes of quest content, that will keep up with the extent to which players burn through it, because it’s gonna take you six months, nine months, a year to make content that they’re gonna burn through in two weeks,” Hines said.

He also discussed the similarities in the Fallout 76 reworks to the post-release updates Bethesda had to make to Elder Scrolls Online. The approaches are so similar that Fallout 76 is even getting a One Wasteland initiative to match ESO’s One Tamriel–a series of changes that will allow friends to play together even if they are in different factions, or if they are vastly different levels.

If there’s one thing the new update won’t touch much, it’s PVP. As we reported earlier, the original release of Fallout 76 had more of a focus on PVP than the majority of players were interested in, so the new update will balance out that error.

Wastelanders will be available as a free update for all PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 players on April 7, coinciding with Fallout 76’s Steam launch.

Now Playing: Fallout 76: Wastelanders – Official Reveal Trailer

Mario Kart Tour Multiplayer Update Has Finally Arrived

Mario Kart Tour‘s long-awaited multiplayer update has finally arrived. This is right on schedule, as Nintendo previously announced that the multiplayer update was coming on March 8.

All you need to do is update Mario Kart Tour to unlock multiplayer, which allows you to finally race against other human opponents. For “Standard Races,” the rulesets will change every day, which in theory should encourage people to come back each day to see what’s new. Players can also invite specific players to custom races where they decide the rules as it relates to items, laps, etc.

Another variant is called “Gold Races,” and these are locked behind a paywall. Players must buy the $5 USD/month Gold Pass to participate in these races, which include faster speeds at 200cc. The Gold Pass also comes with an allotment of in-game currency and badges.

Mario Kart Tour released in September 2019. The free-to-play game makes money from the Gold Pass and its various other microtransactions, which have brought in more than $85 million so far.

The latest Mario Kart game for console is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and it is the most successful game for Nintendo Switch with some 22.96 million copies sold. The game originally released for the Wii U, and it sold 8.44 million copies on that system, bringing its total to 31.4 million.

Now Playing: Mario Kart Tour on Mobile | GameSpot Live

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Batwoman: Season 1, Episode 14 Review

Warning: this review contains full spoilers for Batwoman: Season 1, Episode 14!

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For a while it seemed as though Crisis on Infinite Earths was just the shot in the arm Batwoman needed. No Arrowverse series improved quite so dramatically in the aftermath of Crisis, with the emphasis on Alice’s refugee doppelganger doing a lot to address some of this series’ biggest flaws. Unfortunately, that momentum seems to be waning the farther we get from the crossover. Batwoman is beginning to feel more and more like its 2019 self again.

A lot of that has to do with the renewed emphasis on Kate and Sophie’s romance – never one of Batwoman’s strong suits even on the best of days. The whole idea of Sophie carrying on a clandestine affair with Gotham’s newest costumed vigilante just seems silly, to say nothing of her inability to recognize the bottom half of her ex’s face. There’s something to be said for the need to give Kate a victory of some kind after everything she’s suffered in recent months, but there have to be better ways of accomplishing that than this painfully awkward and very fleeting relationship.

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The one advantage here is the series is finally able to give Sophie some badly needed character development and finally give viewers reason to empathize with her. Before now, Sophie had mainly been defined by her weaknesses. She lacked the conviction to stand alongside Kate when their relationship was discovered at the academy. She couldn’t be honest with herself or her fiance about her sexuality. But this week, we finally get a sense of Sophie’s difficult upbringing and why she has such difficulty being true to herself where it comes so easily to Kate. It’s tempting to dismiss the bigoted, overbearing mother figure as an overused storytelling trope in 2020, but the sad truth is that it’s a trope for a reason.

The series also seems to be moving backwards when it comes to Jacob’s storyline. His prison stint ended so abruptly it’s a wonder that plot point was ever introduced in the first place. Granted, there are some ramifications playing out in terms of Jacob grappling with the corruption inside his own organization, but this seems like a very roundabout and inefficient way of getting from A to B. And based on this episode, it doesn’t appear as though Sophie’s suspension will do much to alter the status quo,either. Hopefully the payoff to this corruption investigation is at least worth the plodding buildup.

At least Episode 14 does a better job with its villain of the week subplot than Episode 13’s botched handling of Nocturna. This time we meet Duel Dent, a character who tends to go by the name Joker’s Daughter in the comics. There’s no hint of a Joker connection for now, and we can probably assume Warners is very protective of that corner of the Bat-verse. Instead, this version hearkens back to the early Joker’s Daughter stories when Duela was depicted as being Harvey Dent’s daughter (or in this case, his niece). An interesting shift, and certainly an appropriate one given her obsession with faces and hidden darkness.

Sidebar – it’s hard to parse Luke’s offhand mention of Harvey being “Gotham’s favorite DA.” Was it meant to be a sarcastic remark, or is Harvey still Gotham’s most revered public servant even this long after the rise of Batman? Maybe the Arrowverse’s Harvey Dent never became Two-Face? Or given how frequently this show pays homage to the Burton and Nolan movies, it may be using The Dark Knight as a model and we’ll eventually learn Batman covered up all evidence of Harvey’s crimes. Whatever the case, I’d like to see the series eventually dig into Harvey’s backstory eventually, along with some of the other key Batman rogues.

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Duela makes a strong impression despite playing more of a supporting role. Alessandra Torresani strikes a nice balance between a tormented, mentally ill young woman and a sadistic killer, helping give Duela a dose of humanity even as she targets social media influencers with all the gusto of a slasher movie villain. This episode probably could have benefited from a slightly more adult-oriented approach rather than trying to downplay the gore, though. One of these days The CW might want to look into swapping Batwoman and Supergirl’s time slots and letting the former get a little darker. Still, Duela is definitely one of the better minor villains of the season, and there’s plenty of potential for her to return in a a bigger role.

It should also be said that, as much as this episode slogs through unwanted romantic subplots and generally spins its heels, at least it presses its advantage the Alice front. Seeing Alice confront her old captor, Dr. Cartwright, is a treat. If you’ll pardon the pun, there’s a compelling game of cat and mouse developing between the two. It’s no longer clear which of the two will emerge as the final threat in Season 1. Even now, just as Alice seems to finally outwit Cartwright, he proves he still has the upper hand. Next week looks to be a very Alice-centric episode, so hopefully we’ll learn more about her time in captivity and get a better sense for where all of this is headed in the final two months of the season.