Hearthstone’s New Battlegrounds Mode Is Available to Early Access Players
After whipping the cloak off its eight-player autobattler mode last week at BlizzCon, Hearthstone has now made Battlegrounds available to select fans for a week of early access.
The mode is currently only available to those who attended BlizzCon in California, those who nabbed a BlizzCon virtual ticket, or players who own a Descent of Dragons pre-purchase bundle. Battlegrounds will eventually open up to all players as an open beta on Tuesday November 12, when the early access period finishes.
Battlegrounds takes place on an "ever evolving board" where players are pitted against randomly selected opponents in turn-based combat. Players choose from 24 heroes, then recruit minions in Bob's Tavern that can be strategically deployed across the board between rounds until one challenger is left standing.
Netflix Is ‘Taking The Fantasy Out’ Of The Witcher And Leaning Into Horror
With a couple of months to go before The Witcher drops on Netflix, the show's visual effects supervisor has promised it will be more frightening than fantastical.
Julian Parry told SFX Magazine (via GamesRadar), "I definitely think it leans more towards horror. We’re definitely taking the fantasy out. I can honestly say we’re not fantastical. I mean, it’s fantastical but in a grounded horror sense."
He used the example of Striga monsters - women who are cursed to turn into beasts - as the embodiment of "gnarly-looking" body horror rather than fantasy escapism. The new trailer also includes its fair share of creepy monsters, like what appears to be a necrophage of some kind (perhaps a ghoul or foglet).
Zorro TV Show In the Works Focusing on the Masked Hero’s Legacy
A new Zorro reboot starring a female protagonist is currently in production thanks to a new deal between CBS and Propagate, according to a report by Deadline.
The female Zorro series will focus on not the original masked swordsman, but is actually set in the modern-day. The series will follow Z, a descendant of the same lineage that produced the original Zorro, and her efforts to protect people in her community.
The female Zorro reboot is being written and executive produced by Alfredo Barrios Jr., who previously produced Magnum P.I. and Burn Notice among other series. The deal between CBS and Propagate is what’s known as a “first-look” production deal, meaning that CBS has the right to the first look at a new property before investing in or purchasing it, usually in exchange for a development fee.
Most Anticipated Disney Shows to Rewatch on Disney+
Disney+ launches in just one week on November 12, and in addition to big new shows like The Mandalorian, Disney's new streaming subscription service will also be bringing with it enough nostalgic Disney television shows to fill several houses of mouse.
So, with that in mind, IGN's new show Power Ranking polled IGN fans across platforms, including IGN.com, YouTube, Twitter, and Snapchat to see which Disney shows they were most excited to rewatch. Watch the video above to see how the ranking worked out in the latest episode of Power Ranking.
Taking some of the most popular choices into consideration, we had the audience vote on which of the top five shows they can't wait to rewatch most and the results, from about 434,000 votes, were:
Epic Finally Brings a Harpoon Gun to Fortnite
Fortnite Chapter 2 has been full of surprises thus far. Ever since the Black Hole event which essentially shut down the game for almost 48 hours, Epic is seemingly striving to make Chapter 2 a mysterious one.
With the new version of Fortnite well underway, it seems Epic is still holding tight to this version's mystery theme. After queuing up the game earlier today, Reddit user Ep8Script stumbled across a Harpoon Gun, something that fans have been wanting for a while now.
The Batman: Andy Serkis Confirmed to Play Alfred Pennyworth
UPDATE, Nov. 13: The Batman director Matt Reeves has confirmed that Andy Serkis has been cast as Bruce Wayne's trusty butler and mentor Alfred Pennyworth.
Reeves took to Twitter to share the message "And here comes Alfred!" with footage of Serkis running down a red carpet high-fiving fans.
Serkis and Reeves previously worked together on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes.
Our original report from Nov. 5th follows.
A pair of character castings are being lined up for Matt Reeves' The Batman movie, one friend and one foe. Andy Serkis is reportedly in talks to star as faithful butler to Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, according to The Wrap. And Deadline says that Colin Farrell is in talks to play the villainous Penguin.
Japanese Spider-Man Confirmed for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Sequel
The 1978 Japanese live-action incarnation of Spider-Man will appear in Into the Spider-Verse 2, according to a tweet from producer Phil Lord.
Lord responded to a fan who originally asked that, if the movie contained the Japanese Spider-Man, if he could help design the Into the Spider-Verse 2 version of the character. Lord responded simply enough: “He’s designed!”
He’s designed!
— Phil Lord (@philiplord) November 5, 2019
Persona 5, Shadow of War, and Hollow Knight Join PS Now
PlayStation Now’s November update adds Persona 5, Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, and Hollow Knight to Sony’s subscription service.
Persona 5 and Shadow of War are the latest rotating titles to join PS Now, and Sony’s official blog post says they’ll be available to stream and download until February 4, 2020.
Sony also shared the most popular PS Now games in October. Grand Theft Auto V tops the list, with God of War, Uncharted 4, and Infamous Second Son right behind. Those four titles joined PS Now last month, and are playable until January 2, 2020.
Snake Eyes Movie: Every Actor Confirmed or Rumored
Snake Eyes, the movie based on the legendary G.I. Joe character, is coming out on October 16, 2020.
The movie is currently filming in Vancouver, according to The Georgia Straight, and a Hollywood Reporter writer on Twitter says the movie will eventually shoot in Japan.
Paramount has been pretty quiet about Snake Eyes so far, but several actors and characters have been confirmed in trade reports... all of which have been rounded up in this article!
Henry Golding as Snake Eyes (CONFIRMED)
Overwatch 2 Reportedly Has at Least Four More Unannounced Characters
Blizzard usually announces one new Overwatch hero during Blizzcon, and this year’s event was no different. Even though the company took the opportunity to announce Overwatch 2, the developers also shared new heroes like Sojourn (and maybe Echo). But according to Game Informer, at least four other new heroes are waiting in the wings for a big reveal.
Game Informer’s cover story for this month is all about Overwatch 2, and the magazine’s executive editor Andrew Reiner was able to visit Blizzard and meet with Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan to prepare for the story. During their meeting, however, Reiner caught a glimpse of four unannounced Overwatch heroes.