The Simpsons Renewed For Two More Seasons

The Simpsons, which is already one of the longest-running TV shows in history, is coming back for even more seasons. It was confirmed today that Fox renewed the show for Seasons 31 and 32.

This will take the show up to an unthinkable 713 episodes. According to Deadline, Fox also signed deals with the cast members for Seasons 31 and 32, though terms were not disclosed.

For its current 30th season, The Simpsons continues to be a ratings success. As of January 20, individual episodes were reaching an audience of 7.5 million viewers on average across all platforms. Fans might agree that the quality of the show has declined in recent years, but it’s clear the show and wider franchise remains wildly popular.

The Simpsons’ multi-decade run hasn’t been without issues and controversy. Comedian Hari Kondabolu’s 2017 documentary, The Problem With Apu, explores Apu as a character and focuses on him as a stereotype. Series creator Matt Groening responded to the controversy by saying “people love to pretend they’re offended.”

Outside of the TV series, The Simpsons Movie was released in 2007 and there is talk about another one. There are also Simpsons theme park attractions and a multitude of merchandise like Duff beer.

In other news, Disney is buying many of 20th Century Fox’s assets, and that means the company will assume ownership of The Simpsons going forward.

The Mysterious Unannounced 2K Game Might Finally Get Revealed Soon

For a long time now, Take-Two has teased an upcoming game from one of 2K’s “biggest and most beloved franchises,” and it may soon be time that we find out what it is. As part of its earnings report, Take-Two reaffirmed that this unannounced game remains on track to release during the company’s fiscal year 2020. More interestingly, Take-Two said 2K will have “more to share” on the game in the coming months.

During the call, an analyst asked about the game, and CEO Strauss Zelnick said the company expects the game to “stay on track” following its previous delay. He added that the company has “very high expectations” for the game, whatever it may be.

This unannounced game was previously scheduled to launch during fiscal year 2019, which runs April 2018 through March 2019. However, it was later delayed to fiscal year 2020, which covers April 2019 through March 2020, so that’s when you can expect this new sequel from 2K.

Take-Two CFO Lainie Goldstein said the company has modelled some marketing spend for the new game during the current fiscal year, so that suggests the title may be announced before April 2019.

Speculation has suggested that the game may be Borderlands 3, or whatever the next title in the series ends up being called. Regardless, a new Borderlands is known to be in development. Another possibility is the new BioShock game that is reportedly in development. Back in April 2018, Kotaku reported that a top-secret new BioShock game was in the works at a studio in Novato, California.

It’s also possible that the delayed game is something else entirely, though it is expected to be a sequel given that Take-Two said it is an instalment in one of its “biggest franchises.”

In other Take-Two news, the company recently opened a new 2K studio in Silicon Valley that’s headed up by Michael Condrey, who worked on Dead Space and multiple Call of Duty games.

Fortnite’s Account Merging System Is Finally Live, Here’s How It Works

Epic’s previously announced account merging system for Fortnite has gone live. Players who have multiple Fortnite accounts across platforms are now able to unify them–and all of their previously earned skins, V-Bucks, and other items–under one Epic Account.

The tool can be found on Epic’s website, but the actual process of merging accounts is fairly complex. First, you’ll need to designate one account as Primary and the other as Secondary; you can read how to do that here. One of the accounts must also have been used on PS4 and the other on Xbox One or Nintendo Switch before September 28, 2018.

After you’ve designated a Primary and Secondary account to merge together, your Secondary account will be disabled, and all of the cosmetics and V-Bucks it contained will be held for two weeks before finally being transferred over to your Primary account. You can read additional details about the process on Epic’s website.

Epic first announced its plans to let Fortnite players merge their console accounts together last September, after Sony finally allowed the PS4 version of the game to support cross-play with other consoles. The tool was originally scheduled to launch back in November, but Epic ultimately delayed it to early 2019 due to “ongoing technical concerns.”

“We want to make sure that this process is thoroughly tested and working properly before releasing it to those of you currently looking to transfer purchases from other accounts to your primary account,” the company said at the time.

The account merging system arrives just as Season 7 of Battle Royale is winding down. Ahead of Season 8, players have begun to experience earthquakes in the game during matches, suggesting some big world-changing event will happen before the new season kicks off. In the meantime, you can peruse our complete Season 7 challenges guide for tips on how to finish any remaining challenges you may have.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile Review

This is an advance review out of the Sundance Film Festival. The movie will debut on Netflix later in 2019.

In the lore of serial killer movies, none have tried so hard to make us feel sympathetic about a man who murdered 30 women as Joe Berlinger’s Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. The performances are great, and the film tries to do something new with the serial killer genre, but its misguided tone and an abrupt change of focus halfway through the film are hard to overlook, even if it’s somehow also one hell of a courtroom comedy.

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Apex Legends Is Awesome, but it’s Not Perfect

Apex Legends is the latest entry in the increasingly crowded Battle Royale space. Created by Respawn, the developers of the beloved Titanfall franchise, Apex seems to not only take queues from other battle royales that proceeded it, but also from the hero shooter category, hence the Legends. Believe me when I say that these two aspects of game design work very well together. So well, in fact, that Apex Legends had already drawn in well over 2 million players in just its first few days. And while it seems to be getting fairly high praise from fans of the genre, there are a few aspects that could use some tightening up. Let’s dive in.

The Legends themselves are what immediately sets Apex apart from other Battle Royales. Apex shipped with eight unique characters, with a promise of more to come. So, unlike Call of Duty’s Blackout where everyone drops onto the map completely even, Apex Legends’ heroes immediately make you unique within your squad. Where one Legend may have the ability to vanish for a limited time, allowing you to escape a lethal situation, another can help spot laid traps or enemies within close proximity.

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Nick Jonas Confirms He’s Back In Jumanji Sequel

The Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle movie continues to add to its cast. Singer Nick Jonas has confirmed that he’s coming back to play Alex a second time in the sequel.

“Guess who’s back… Let’s go people!” Jonas wrote on Twitter, referencing his character’s signature line from the first movie. “The Jumanji sequel is on the way and I couldn’t be more excited to bring Alex back to the big screen,” he said.

The character Alex is a pilot who’s been stuck in Jumanji for 20 years. Jonas is best known for his music career with the Jonas Brothers and then his solo career, and he was a standout success in the 2017 Jumanji movie.

All of the other actors from the 2017 movie are coming back, including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, and Karen Gillan. The sequel is adding to its cast with a number of big names, including Awkwafina, Danny Glover, and Danny DeVito, while original director Jake Kasdan is also back to direct.

Welcome to the Jungle was an enormous success, banking more than $962 million on its way to becoming the 43rd biggest movie in the history of film. The Jumanji franchise is based on the Chris Van Allsburg book, and it was first made into a movie in 1995 with Robin Williams in the lead role.

Plot details are under wraps for the Jumanji sequel, but The Rock teased that Kasdan gave a “dynamite pitch” for the plot. The film hits theatres in December 2019.

The Walking Dead Delivers Much-Needed Zombie Carnage

Each month it grows more and more difficult to review The Walking Dead without feeling like a broken record. Whatever merits each individual issue might have, the series as a whole has been stuck in a storytelling rut for well over a year at this point. Even though there’s been some momentum in recent months, it’s beginning to look more and more like readers will be forced to wait until the big issue #200 mark to see this simmering conflict finally boil over.

This problem is even more frustrating than usual in issue #188. On its own merits, this is actually one of the more well-rounded chapters of the series in recent memory. Robert Kirkman’s script bounces between a number of different locales and characters, but not in a way that feels messy or choppy. Each subplot is given a bit of room to breathe. This issue moves the pieces around the board and inches the book closer to a major showdown between the Commonwealth and its neighbors. The problem, again, is that the book has been inching and nudging for so long that it’s impossible not to grow fed up with the overall glacial pace.

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Jordan Developing African Fantasy Epic Black Leopard, Red Wolf

Michael B. Jordan’s production company, Outlier Society in conjunction with Warner Bros., has secured the rights to the popular fantasy novel by Marlon James – Black Leopard, Red Wolf.

Variety reports James will serve as executive producer for the project, which will tell the story from the first book in his planned Dark Star Trilogy. James is better known for his A Brief History of Seven Killings and is a Booker prize winner.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf is a fantasy tale of a man charged with finding the potential heir to an empire while war and politics rage in the background. It draws on African mythology and while he said he was only joking at the time, James has described the story as an, “African Game of Thrones” perhaps due to its bloody nature and high fantasy themes.

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