Fortnite Had Biggest Month Ever in August With 78.3 Million Players
Fortnite’s popularity just keeps growing, as it had its biggest month ever in August with 78.3 million players, according to Epic Games.
Announced through the official Epic Games website, while giving some new Fall Skirmish details, Epic said it has hardened and scaled Fortnite’s systems and infrastructure to account for rising player numbers that occurred during the Summer Skirmish.
Epic said, "August was Fortnite’s biggest month yet, with 78.3 million of you showing up to play. This exposed weak points and allowed us to make targeted improvements to critical systems, such as stats and servers. The Summer Skirmish also, as you all probably noticed, highlighted problems with performance and spectating, which we’ve been working on ever since."
Amazon’s New Microwave Automatically Orders Popcorn When You’re Getting Low
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Amazon's Alexa-enabled microwave oven is a real thing, putting us even closer to realizing the promise of a voice-controlled future.
The AmazonBasics Microwave includes "includes dozens of quick-cook voice presets." That means you can cook food with the power of your voice, just like they do on Star Trek. Kind of.
"Customers only use a fraction of the features" of a microwave, Amazon said. It hopes voice commands and Ask Alexa integration will change that. The microwave also has integrated Dash Button functionality, so it can "automatically reorder popcorn."
Star Trek: ‘Short Treks’ Coming to CBS All Access
CBS All Access announced Thursday that Star Trek: Short Treks will officially begin their launch on Oct. 4 on the streaming platform.
Although some details were revealed at San Deigo Comic-Con earlier this year, the plot details and premiere dates have now been released.
Each short will have a runtime of approximately 10-15 minutes and is being released in anticipation for the upcoming return of Star Trek: Discovery in early 2019. The shorts are meant for fans to discover deeper themes and characters that will be a part of Star Trek: Discovery and the Star Trek universe overall.
Inside Ralph Breaks the Internet’s Most Talked About Scene
The upcoming Wreck-It Ralph sequel is called Ralph Breaks the Internet, and that’s practically what it did, at least amongst Disney fans, when the trailer first premiered.
That’s where we got our first glimpse of a scene where Vanellope von Schweetz, the princess (and president) of the video game Sugar Crush, came face-to-face with all the other Disney Princesses in the green room of OhMyDisney.com.
It’s a confrontation that goes in unexpected directions, from the classic princesses’ inability to understand why Vanellope has never been kidnapped and why she doesn’t have “daddy issues,” but at least they can bond with their shared frustration when the male characters get all the credit for saving the day, and their mutual love of comfortable clothes.
We’ve Seen New Footage from Ralph Breaks the Internet
The following preview describes footage that was screened for the press by Disney, but some of it may - for some readers - qualify as SPOILERS.
The sequel to Wreck-It Ralph is on its way, and this time everyone’s favorite video game bad guy - who isn’t really a “bad” guy - wrecks the internet. Or rather, Ralph Breaks the Internet. (Marketing can be weird.)
Disney Animation held a preview for Ralph Breaks the Internet at their historic studio in Burbank, CA, where co-directors Rich Moore and Phil Johnston showed off new footage from the movie, and answered questions about what it all means.
At the end of Wreck-It Ralph, Ralph (voiced by John C. Reilly) has earned the respect of his peers and solved his own insecurities, but Ralph Breaks the Internet actually began by exposing how unsatisfying the original journey was.
Kristen Bell Confirms New Veronica Mars Series Coming to Hulu
The Veronica Mars revival is official. Hulu has ordered eight new episodes of the hour-long drama for 2019, with Kristen Bell reprising her role as the titular character.
"BREAKING NEWS out of Mars Investigations!" Bell wrote on Twitter, alongside a 20-second video of the announcement. "Thank you to all the marshmallows for staying excited and to Hulu for giving Veronica a chance to wear her big girl pants."
Here's Hulu's official logline for the new series:
Spring breakers are getting murdered in Neptune, thereby decimating the seaside town’s lifeblood tourist industry. After Mars Investigations is hired by the parents of one of the victims to find their son’s killer, Veronica is drawn into an epic eight-episode mystery that pits the enclave’s wealthy elites, who would rather put an end to the month-long bacchanalia, against a working class that relies on the cash influx that comes with being the West Coast’s answer to Daytona Beach.
Rocket League Surpasses 50 Million Players
More than three years after its initial release, Rocket League continues to pick up steam. Developer Psyonix revealed yesterday that Rocket League has now surpassed 50 million total players.
"Rocket League now has more than 50 MILLION players worldwide!" tweeted Psyonix. "Thank you to our ever-growing global community for helping us reach this incredible milestone."
The top fan reply to the tweet is a request for cross-platform party functionality. It's a feature Psyonix originally promised would be available this month, but last week delayed indefinitely to ensure it operates "flawlessly on all platforms before its release."
Marvel’s Spider-Man Is the Fastest-Selling PlayStation Exclusive of All Time
With 3.3 million copies sold within the first three days of its release, Insomniac Games' Spider-Man for PS4 is the fastest-selling first-party PlayStation game of all time.
USA Today reported the sales milestone for Marvel's Spider-Man, indicating that, assuming all copies were sold at the standard MSRP of $59.99, USA Today worked those 3.3 million copies sold out to be about $198 million. Though of course the collector's edition of the game would factor into those sales.
Not included in either of those figures are copies that were sold as part of the $399.99 PlayStation 4 Pro bundle that comes with a copy of Spider-Man packed in.
Daredevil Season 3 Trailer Shows Kingpin’s Return
The Devil of Hell's Kitchen is back with an exciting new teaser trailer for Marvel's Daredevil Season 3.
Premiering on Netflix on Friday, October 19, Matt Murdock will confront his old nemesis, Kingpin, aka Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio). The last time we saw Fisk, he was still safely behind bars, but according to Matt, evil "will find a way to come back even stronger."
For a look at Daredevil in action, check out the trailer below or watch it here:
Ghostbusters World Fixes Some of Pokemon Go’s Problems But Lacks Its Heart
A huge wave of nostalgia hits me when I think of Ghostbusters. Hearing the theme song or seeing the Ecto-1 immediately evokes memories of watching the original films and playing with Ghostbusters toys as a kid. But despite years of loving the franchise and many occasions of pretending to be a Ghostbuster on the playground, my fantasies never involved collecting teams of ghosts to battle against other Ghostbusters or walking through the city searching for spirits.
This is where Ghostbusters World, the upcoming free-to-play mobile game from publisher FourThirtyThree, finds itself in a precarious spot. Ghostbusters is absolutely a beloved franchise that’s ripe for a great game adaptation, but not one that necessarily lends itself to the gotta-catch-‘em-all mentality as easily as Pokemon.