Call of Duty Action Figure Line Announced

McFarlane Toys has teamed up with Activision to make action figures of popular Call of Duty characters.

The first wave will include John “Soap” MacTavish and Simon “Ghost” Riley from the Modern Warfare series, with “more characters spanning the franchise to be revealed at a later date.”

Simon "Ghost" Riley Simon “Ghost” Riley

Todd McFarlane, CEO of McFarlane Toys, said, “This franchise has delivered incredible experiences full of iconic and memorable characters, and we’re delighted to bring these characters to life as collectibles to fans.”

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Pokemon Go Year of the Dog Event Announced

The Pokemon Go Year of the Dog Lunar New Year event has been announced.

Revealed on the Pokemon website, the Year of the Dog event, which features dog-like Pokemon, starts now and runs until February 17.

During the event, Poochyena, Growlithe, Eevee, Snubble, and Electrike spawn rates will see a boost and catching any of the canine-shaped monsters will give players triple the usual stardust.

Unrelated to the Lunar New Year festivities, purchasable Team Rocket outfits have also just been added to the game.

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Uwe Boll Says Phantom Thread Ripped Off BloodRayne Poster

Director Uwe Boll has accused Phantom Thread, and its director Paul Thomas Anderson, of ripping off his BloodRayne poster.

Boll shared his frustrations on Twitter, saying Paul Thomas Anderson knowingly copied BloodRayne’s one-sheet after Boll criticized Phantom Thread on his online talk show. Check out an image of the two posters below.

The BloodRayne and Phantom Thread posters, via Boll’s Twitter account.

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Rocket League Tournaments Coming in Spring

Psyonix has announced tournaments will be coming to Rocket League this spring with a beta to begin this month.

The details were revealed on the Rocket League website which states the beta, designed to test the new UI and general functionality, will run from February 21 to 23 on Steam.

The beta will allow players to create their own tournaments as well as join in on competitions created by other users.

Players wanting to get involved in the beta will need to own a copy of Rocket League on Steam. They can right click on the game from their Steam library, select properties, go to the betas tab and select “Tournaments Betas” to update the game to the required version.

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Titans Live-Action Series Casts Doom Patrol’s Leader

WBTV’s upcoming Titans live-action series has cast The Doom Patrol’s leader.

Deadline reports Narcos star Bruno Bichir will play Dr. Niles Caulder (aka The Chief), a brilliant but controversial pioneer in medical science who helps those in need. The character made his debut in 1963’s My Greatest Adventure #80, and is most promptly known as the leader of the misfit heroes with powers, The Doom Patrol.

Bruno Bichir Bruno Bichir

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Pokemon Go Lunar New Year Event Going On Now For A Limited Time

Pokemon Go‘s Valentine’s Day event may soon be coming to an end, but a new one has now begun in the popular mobile game. Niantic has kicked off a Lunar New Year event in Pokemon Go, which will fittingly reward players with bonuses when they catch certain dog-like Pokemon.

To celebrate the start of the Year of the Dog, Pokemon Go players will earn triple the normal amount of Stardust when they capture Poochyena, Growlithe, Snubble, Eevee, or Electrike. All of the aforementioned Pokemon will also spawn more frequently for the duration of the event. However, like the Valentine’s Day celebration, the Lunar New Year event will only be around for a very brief period of time, running from February 15-17.

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Pokemon Go players in Taiwan can participate in a separate Lunar New Year event. From February 26 to March 3, Niantic is hosting a Safari Zone event at the Chiayi Lantern Festival. Players will have a chance to encounter Dratini, Mr. Mime, Growlithe, and other Pokemon during the day, while Chinchou and Lanturn will spawn at night when the lanterns begin to glow. You can read more about the Safari Zone even on the Pokemon Go website.

Pokemon Go’s Valentine’s Day event was scheduled to conclude today, February 15; however, due to a server issue that prevented many players from logging in to the game, Niantic has extended the event by an additional 24 hours. That gives players another chance to encounter increased spawns of Luvdisc and Chansey and earn triple Stardust for each one they catch.

Niantic recently introduced another batch of Gen 3 Pokemon to Pokemon Go, which consisted primarily of Dragon- and Flying-types like Salamence and Altaria. A new Gen 3 Legendary, Rayquaza, is also now available in the game. The Sky High Pokemon will appear in Raid Battles at Gyms until March 16.

The second Pokemon Go Community Day is still slated to take place later this month, on February 24. Like January’s Community Day, which featured a Pikachu that could use Surf, players will have a chance to encounter a Pokemon that knows a special move during the event. Niantic hasn’t revealed what that move will be, but the Pokemon this time is the rare Dragon-type Dratini.

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NASA Is Sending One Very Old Rock Back to Mars

American space agency NASA is sending an ancient meteorite back to its home planet, and then blowing it up. The meteorite, not the planet.

A small piece of a larger meteorite that crashed to Earth millions of years ago is headed back to Mars, where it originated. It’s part of NASA’s 2020 Mars rover mission.

The part about it getting blown up? That’s completely true, but it’s not just to make an example for the other Mars rocks. It’s actually part of the calibration process for the rover’s hyper-sensitive laser measurement device, known as SHERLOC.

While the rock is quite rare here on Earth, with only 200 or so positively identified chunks of Mars having ever been found, it’s no big deal on Mars, because Mars is made of… Mars rocks.

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Despite Setting A 2K Record, Mafia 3 Dev Hit With Layoffs

Hangar 13, the studio responsible for 2016’s Mafia III, has been hit with a wave of layoffs. Publisher 2K confirmed the news with GameSpot, though the exact scope of the “staff reductions” is unclear at this point.

“2K can confirm that there have been staff reductions at Hangar 13 in order to ensure that the studio’s resources are properly aligned with its long-term development plans,” a 2K spokesperson said in a statement. “These reductions will not influence 2K’s ability to create and deliver its products that are currently in development. We never take these matters lightly, and are working with the affected employees to support them and explore potential opportunities throughout our organization.”

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The news was originally reported by Kotaku; sources speaking with the site indicated that a “large portion” of the studio’s staff have been laid off. At least prior to Mafia III’s release, Hangar 13’s staff count was in the neighborhood of 150 people.

Mafia III was the debut game from Hangar 13, which was formed in 2014. (The first two titles were developed by Silver Wish Games, now known as 2K Czech.) Its next project had not been officially announced, though Mafia III itself was seemingly a success for the company. It shipped 4.5 million copies to retailers during its launch week, which was a new record for 2K at the time. By the end of March 2017, it had shipped 5 million units.

Although shipment numbers were strong, critics were not as kind–our Mafia III review scored it a 6/10, and the Metacritic average landed in the 60s. Following launch, the CEO of 2K parent company Take-Two, Strauss Zelnick, admitted, “The scores were lower than we would have liked.” He highlighted the positive reviews and chalked up others as “some anomalies in the review system.”

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Here’s How Bayonetta’s Switch Eshop Discount Works

Bayonetta 2 arrives on Nintendo Switch very soon, and alongside it, Nintendo and Platinum Games are bringing the original Bayonetta to the console as well. Those who pick up a physical copy of Bayonetta 2 will receive a download code for the first title, but the two games will only be sold individually on the Switch Eshop. While it appears it would cost more to buy the games digitally than at retail, getting both together will still work out to the same price, thanks to an offer from Nintendo.

On the Eshop, each game is available for a different price: Bayonetta 2 costs $50, while the original Bayonetta runs for $30. However, purchasing either one of them will entitle you to an automatic discount on the other, bringing the total cost for both games to $59.98 (before tax)–about the same price as the physical release. If you buy Bayonetta 2 first, you can nab the original for about $10; conversely, buying the first Bayonetta will drop the price of Bayonetta 2 to about $30. You also don’t need to purchase both games immediately in order to receive the discount.

Nintendo held a similar promotion when Bayonetta 2 first released for Wii U back in 2014. The initial physical run of the game was likewise bundled with the original Bayonetta, but the two titles were only available separately on the Wii U Eshop, and purchasing one from the digital store would give you an automatic discount on the other. Nintendo later released Bayonetta 2 as a standalone physical release, though the company hasn’t announced if it will do the same for the new Switch version somewhere down the line.

Bayonetta and Bayonetta 2 launch for Switch on February 16, headlining a packed week of new releases for the console. The latter in particular was very well received by critics when it first released, earning a rare 10 out of 10 from GameSpot. Critic Mark Walton called it “a masterclass in pure, unadulterated action-game design” in our Bayonetta 2 review. You can see what other critics are saying about the Switch port in our Bayonetta 2 review roundup.

The two Bayonetta games arrive on Switch ahead of Bayonetta 3, which was one of the many surprises revealed during The Game Awards back in December. Nintendo didn’t share any concrete details about the game, except that it will be released exclusively for Switch. You can watch the first Bayonetta 3 trailer here.

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Stardew Valley Might Get Multiplayer Beta This Spring

Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone (aka ConcernedApe) is planning to launch the game’s multiplayer beta this spring.

Barone revealed progress on the game’s multiplayer update is coming along nicely. This is thanks to Tom Coxon, who’s helped Barone with completing all the network coding to turn Stardew Valley into a multiplayer game.

As such, work on the new features is finished with the new text currently being translated into different languages. Once Barone receives the new text, the next step would be QA testing and then, hopefully, the launch of the beta.

“Once we’ve received the translated text and integrated it back into the game, we’ll begin a serious QA phase involving thorough testing of all new features in both multiplayer and single player contexts,” Barone wrote. “When that is finished, the update should be ready for a public beta. I am still shooting for a spring release for the beta.”

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