Everyone’s favorite sentient piece of fecal matter returned to South Park this week, as Mr. Hankey took to the stand to clear his good name and the series spoofed the Brett Kavanaugh hearings.
We’ll have our review of “The Problem With a Poo” up a bit later tonight. Until then, let us know what you thought of the new episode in the comments below.
Another DC comic series is headed to the small screen. Variety reports that CBS has committed to a pilot for a drama series based off Secret Six.
Rick Muirragui (Suits, Charmed) will write and executive produce Secret Six for CBS. Bill Lawrence (Scrubs, Rush Hour) and Jeff Ingold (Rush Hour, Undateable) will also serve as executive producers.
Secret Six debuted in 1968 and has followed four different teams of six, led by a shadowy figure codenamed Mockingbird. Team members have included Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Lex Luthor, Bane, the Joker, and more.
In the comics, the members of the team are blackmailed into working together by Mockingbird, whom members often suspect to secretly be one of the other five. The role of Mockingbird has been held down by different characters as well, including Lex Luthor.
BEYOND!
On this week’s episode of IGN’s weekly PlayStation show, Beyond, host Jonathon Dornbush — who is know your official, new host of Beyond — is joined by Max Scoville and Brian Altano to break down the news of PlayStation finally acknowledging the PS4’s successor. The crew discusses their dream launch games, and how realistic they think possible games might be for launch, and discuss what features they’d like to see with the new system.
Additionally, the crew discusses the new Resident Evil 2 footage, Borderlands 2 VR and the PSVR 2nd anniversary, Kingdom Hearts 3, Yakuza Kiwami, and answers YOUR questions.
Unfortunately we have no time codes this week, but the episode is full of great discussion so be sure to stick around through the entire show.
The Fallout 76 beta is set to kick off on October 23 on Xbox One, but you may be able to put the game through its paces even sooner. Bethesda has announced that before the beta launches, some Xbox Insiders will be able to take part in a limited stress test to help the studio prepare for the beta launch.
Participants for the stress test will be chosen from a pool of players who have both pre-ordered Fallout 76 for Xbox One, and who are also members of the Xbox Insider program. Fulfilling those two criteria doesn’t guarantee you a spot, but it does put you in the running. Starting on October 13, you can check if you’ve been given access to the stress test by looking at the Insider Content tab of the Xbox Insider program.
This all comes with a few caveats. This is for North American players only, and you’ll need to be an Xbox Live Gold member as well since it’s an online game. Participants will be under an NDA, and your progress in the stress test won’t be saved. The beta version set to launch later this month is an entirely separate application. You also can’t earn any Achievements.
If those sound like deal-breakers, and you’ve pre-ordered the game anyway, you may be better off waiting for the full beta. It will start on October 23 on Xbox One and follow on PC and PS4 a week later on October 30. Even if you’ve pre-ordered the game, though, you may not necessarily get into the test the moment it starts. Bethesda is planning to send invites out in waves, with a relatively small number invited to begin. You can read more details about how and when it will roll out in our beta guide.
The Xbox Insider program is a free option for Xbox One owners that gets you into some early software tests for upcoming firmware, to offer feedback. You can find more instructions through the official site.
The annual Overwatch Halloween Terror event returns for 2018, and it’s live right now. As always, its release means Blizzard has added a variety of new cosmetic rewards to obtain. The highlight, of course, are the nine new skins–including six Legendary ones–for the game’s vast array of heroes and villains. While some of these simply dress someone up in a Halloween costume, a few transform their corresponding character into a frightful monster.
Undead McCree and Spider Widowmaker–both Epic skins–are among the new options introduced for Overwatch‘s 2018 event. There are also Legendary skins, such as Jack-O’Lantern Wrecking Ball and Swamp Monster Doomfist. Like previous years, skins can be found in limited-time loot boxes or be bought for 3000 credits. The Halloween-themed skins from previous years, meanwhile, are offered at a discount. Halloween Terror 2018 is now live and continues until October 31. Once it’s over, you’ll have to wait for next year to unlock any skins you missed.
Click through the images above to see all the new skins that have been released for this year’s event. You can also check our video showcasing all the new skins. If you’re eager to get your hands on some, buying a bundle of 50 loot boxes will net you 10 bonus ones for free.
Halloween Terror’s PvE mode, Junkenstein’s Revenge, has also r eturned. Taking place in an alternate reality, Junkenstein’s Revenge tells the story of Dr. Junkenstein (Junkrat) and the Witch of the Wilds (Mercy) attempting to take over the fictional kingdom of Adlersbrunn. Their schemes are thwarted by a team of heroes composed of the Alchemist (Ana), the Gunslinger (McCree), the Archer (Hanzo), the Soldier (Solder 76), the Countess (Widowmaker), the Swordsman (Genji), the Monk (Zenyatta), and the Viking (Torbjorn).
Alongside this, there’s an alternate version called Junkenstein’s Revenge: Endless Night that mixes up the formula. For 2018, there are now 10 options for who you can play as. The new additions to the rotation are Tracer and Brigitte. The update introducing the event also makes a variety of changes to characters, as detailed in the patch notes–most notably, it reworks Torbjorn.
Alongside Fortnite‘s 6.02 update, developer Epic Games has dropped in a few new cosmetics to the game’s shop, and some accompanying challenges that will unlock a special Back Bling. On the skin side, it’s a popular returning outfit that comes just in time for Halloween season.
The in-game shop now has the Skull Trooper (Male) and Skull Ranger (Female) skins. The former is 1500 V-Bucks, while the latter is 1200 V-Bucks. The Skull Trooper is a returning skin, except this time it can be customized to have a white or green. Those that already had the Skull Trooper skin can also pick a purple look. The Skull Ranger, meanwhile, is completely new.
On top of those to there’s the Skull Sickle Harvesting Tool, which will set you back 1200 V-Bucks, and the Crypt Cruiser Epic Glider for 1200 V-Bucks. However, if you want that Ghost Portal Back Bling you’ll have to do five challenges. In the tweet below you can see a character outfitted with all the new goodies. Notice that the new Back Bling emits ghostly apparitions of other skins, which is pretty cool.
Patch v6.02 is available now with a return from beyond the grave!
The Skull Squad Gear is available now. Complete challenges to earn the Ghost Portal Back Bling. pic.twitter.com/Yy5B0MDO32— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) October 10, 2018
Although the challenges for the Back Bling are going to be quite a time investment, you’ll also get some experience points and Battle Stars along the way. You can see the challenges, as well as the new cosmetics, below.
These won’t be the only new challenges for the week, as the usual weekly set is expected to arrive tomorrow, October 11. While we’ll have to wait until then to see exactly what players will need to do to get their hands on the Battle Stars, leaks have provided some indication of what the challenges may be.
Click image to view in full screen
Fortnite Update 6.02, meanwhile, adds a new Limited-Time Mode called Disco Domination to the game. In this, players travel to dance floors around the map and then, as you can probably guess, dance. This raises a disco ball over the dance floor, which, when it reaches the top, indicates a floor has been captured. In turn a progress bar appears and the first team to reach 100 percent capture stat on this bar wins. You can find out more about Disco Domination, as well as the new Quad Launcher weapon, in the Fortnite 6.02 patch notes.
Fifty years ago, filmmaker George Romero debuted Night of the Living Dead, a groundbreaking horror film that led to dozens of imitators. The monsters in these films weren’t called “zombies”–Romero referred to them as “ghouls”–but they created the zombie archetype that’s been used in the half century since. They reanimate. They shamble. And the only way to permanently kill them is to destroy their brains and burn them.
Romero would go on to create other acclaimed films in his “Dead” franchise, such as Dawn of the Dead (1978), Day of the Dead (1985), and Land of the Dead (2005). But Night of the Living Dead remains the scariest; even its black and white graininess adds a documentary feel to the whole thing.
The film has been interpreted as an allegory for various historical events, from the Vietnam War to the Civil Rights Movement. There was a sense, due to its realism, that this film meant to do more than make its audience jump. And that gave other horror filmmakers an inspiration to strive for more–to frame their narratives as social satire rather than pure pulp.
Today, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Night of the Living Dead, we scoured old interviews and articles to find 10 obscure facts about the film. How many of these are you aware of? Let us know in the comments.
Bungie has announced two big planned updates for Destiny 2. One of the them, Update 2.0.5, is designed to patch any issues brought up through player feedback, including a concern that the spawn rate for the Ascendent Primeval Servitor–an enemy necessary for earning the Exotic hand cannon Malfeasance–is too low.
In a blog post, Bungie wrote, “During week three of the curse cycle, also known as a full-curse week, the Ascendant Primeval Servitor will have almost the same chance to spawn as any other Primeval. We will also be increasing the chance for the boss to spawn during lesser-curse weeks, but it will still be lower than during a full-curse week.”
In order to earn Malfeasance, you need to acquire the Seething Heart quest that is only possible to attain through killing an Ascendant Primeval Servitor in Gambit. The increased spawn rate of the boss enemy should make that process easier and faster. However, Bungie adds that this change comes with some drawbacks.
“For full transparency, since the Ascendant Primeval Servitor spawn rate will increase significantly when these changes are released, we are tweaking how ship and Sparrow rewards drop from the boss,” Bungie wrote, “Vanity items are no longer guaranteed drops for subsequent boss kills after you earn the quest, instead the vanity items will now only have a chance to drop.”
Destiny 2 Update 2.0.5 is scheduled to come out on October 30. The game is available for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
Critics may not have enjoyed Venom, but Venom fans sure did. They spoke with their wallets, which we all know is the language Hollywood speaks most fluently. The new Venom movie broke box office records and outperformed expectations this past weekend. It made $80 million in the United States and Canada and $125 million internationally against a $100 million budget. With a Venom sequel now all but assured, let’s take a look at some of the source material from which they might draw next time.
For many comics fans, this movie was a palette cleanser after the much-derided Venom storyline from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3. The marketing campaign revolved around Eddie Brock’s anti-hero, brutish persona, separate from the Spider-Man mythos. And the Venom Symbiote itself looked phenomenal–a twisted, writhing, bluish-black, semi-solid mass, all bulging muscles, salivating tongue, and glistening fangs.
The Symbiote is one of the most visually impressive characters in the Marvel comics canon. By day, Eddie Brock wears it as an inconspicuous black coat. But when duty calls, the Symbiote encases itself around its host and becomes living, organic armor.
In the Venom comics, the “transition” panels, where the artist shows the host half in, half out of “disguise,” are some of the most creative. We’re highlighting ten of the best drawn, most visually memorable Venom comics panels. Unsurprisingly, the majority of them feature the Venom Symbiote in scenarios that highlight its fluid, alien nature.
Want more on the Venom movie? Check out our official Venom movie review, our explanations of Venom’s post-credits scenes, the references and Easter eggs you might have missed, and the challenges of making Venom without Spider-Man.