All Hell Is About to Break Loose on The Magicians
Full spoilers for The Magicians continue below.
There's a problem around every turn on The Magicians right now. The Hedgewitches have it out for the magicians at Brakebills. None of the main characters have any strong grasp of their powers or the range of their abilities. To make matters worse, The Beast is off torturing people in Fillory, which is a real place. And all this within the series' first five episode.
If you're surprised by the breakneck speed of the Syfy series, star Arjun Gupta wants you to know that things are about to get even more crazy. Gupta, who plays Penny, got on the phone with me to talk about what that big reveal of The Beast at the end of "Mendings, Major and Minor" means for the show, how the next episode is going to mark a big shift and why he thinks his version of Penny isn't that big a change from the character in Lev Grossman's novel.
Suck Less at Street Fighter 5
With every new fighting game release comes a wave of new players, most of whom claim that they suck at fighting games. But we don’t want that to be your experience with Street Fighter 5, so we’ve put together this short list of basic tips to help you improve your fundamentals. Check out the video above for visual references to all five. They won't make you an expert, but they will help you stop mashing, and start playing. Enjoy!
...or at least jump a lot less. Jumping is a bad idea in Street Fighter. It locks you into moving in a pre-set arc, limits your offensive options, and eliminates all your defensive ones. You’re basically asking to be tagged with an anti-air attack, giving free damage away to your opponent. Also keep inmind that players tend to jump when they feel that they’re losing the ground game, so be sure to have your best anti-air ready, like Ryu’s crouching heavy punch, when your opponent starts recklessly taking to the skies. By doing this, you'll take fewer senseless hits over the course of a match, and pick up a few free ones for yourself.
Hasbro Reveals Monopoly: Star Wars Rey Figurine
Hasbro has revealed Rey in the newest edition of Monopoly: Star Wars, coming this fall.
According to The Verge, the figurine for Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ heroine was on hand at Toy Fair in New York City.
Hasbro received a great deal of criticism for the exclusion of Rey in Monopoly: Star Wars.
The original release of the game featured all male characters — Finn, Luke, Kylo Ren, and Darth Vader.
Better Call Saul’s Return is This Week’s TV Highlight
We've got a big week of TV and Streaming ahead of us as Netflix launches Judd Apatow's new comedy series, Love, Hulu airs 11.22.63 from J.J. Abrams and Stephen King, and History's Vikings returns for a fourth season.
Our highlight this week though is AMC's Better Call Saul, which returns on Monday for a second season. One devoted to displaying Jimmy McGill's ongoing descent into sleazy mall lawyer territory. AKA the "Saul Goodman" character we knew him as on Breaking Bad.
When we last left Bob Odenkirk's Jimmy, he'd just discovered that his ill (and perhaps mentally ill) brother, Chuck (Michael McKean), had actually been working to undermine him, having never believed in the first place that a former con man could work his way up to becoming a successful lawyer. Bitter and disillusioned, Jimmy rejected a job at a high-profile firm and the rest is...Season 2.
Out This Week: Street Fighter V, Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright and Conquest
With so many new games and movies coming out, it can be hard to keep up. Lucky for you, IGN is here to help with a weekly round-up of the biggest releases each and every week. Check out the latest releases for this week, and be sure to come back next Monday for a new update.
Note: The prices and deals compiled below are accurate at the time we published this story, but all are subject to change.
Dark Souls Being Added to Xbox One Backwards Compatibility
The first Dark Souls is being added as a Xbox One backwards compatible game, according to the Australian Xbox Store.
What's more, the listing (which you can view by setting your store location to AU) states that those who digitally pre-order Dark Souls 3 will get access to Dark Souls on Xbox One for free.
Players who pre-order will get a code for the original game sent to their Xbox message center within 7 to 10 days. The window suggests that the game could be coming to Xbox One within the next week.
The game has yet to be officially announced for Xbox One backwards compatibility and the pre-order bonus is not live on the US Xbox Store. We've reached out to Bandai Namco for comment and will update the story if we hear anything back.
Gotham Stories Chapter 3: Run, Penguin, Run!
IGN has your exclusive first look at the third installment of Gotham Stories, the new motion comic from FOX, Warner Bros. TV and DC Entertainment that bridges the first and second halves of Gotham: Season 2.
In this chapter, having barely escaped Victor Fries/Mr. Freeze and his deadly freeze gun in Chapter 2, Penguin finds his new enemy won't let him go that easily.
The storyline for Gotham Stories was outlined by Gotham Producer/Writer Rebecca Cutter and Senior Writer/Producer, FOX On-Air Promo Creative, Bart Montgomery, with a script by Tony Bedard and artwork by Matt Haley. The series is produced by VP, FOX On-Air Promo Creative, Julio Cabral.
Gotham cast members Robin Lord Taylor (Penguin), Camren Bicondova (Cat), Nathan Darrow (Victor Fries), Ben McKenzie (Jim Gordon) and Donal Logue (Harvey Bullock) all lend their voices to Gotham Stories.
New 52 Superman Meets Old Superman in May
DC has released new covers and preview art shedding light on the upcoming "Super League" crossover. This crossover will see writer Pete Tomasi take over all four main Superman titles (Action Comics, Superman, Superman/Wonder Woman and Batman/Superman) in April and May and explore what happens when a re-powered Man of Steel attempts to build a bigger, better team of heroes.
Check out covers and some preview art for all eight chapters of Super League:
The biggest selling point of this crossover might be the fact that Superman will cross paths with his pre-New 52 counterpart in May's Action Comics #52. That Superman was given a second lease on life thanks to last year's Convergence crossover, and the mini-series Superman: Lois and Clark has been following the character as he makes a new life for himself and his family in the New 52 universe.
Knack 2 Coming to PS4, According to Animator’s Resume
A sequel to Sony's PlayStation 4 exclusive Knack is reportedly in development.
According to the LinkedIn profile of Mindy Liang—a 3D animator at XPEC—Knack 2 is currently in the works for PS4, and she's been working on the title since May 2015. The information has since been deleted, but not before NeoGAF user qualitydisc captured a screenshot of her job description:
Xbox Live Arcade Creator Urges MS to Bring Back XBLA
Xbox Live Arcade creator Greg Canessa strongly believes Microsoft should bring back XBLA for Xbox One.
In the latest episode of IGN Unfiltered debuting tomorrow, Canessa discussed the value of XBLA and why it should make a return. "First of all, bring back the brand," he said. "I think that is probably the most financially, commercially successful brand—at least in the last ten years of consoles—that has been decommissioned," he added, calling it "a multi-hundred-million-dollar brand with tons of equity amongst 50 million gamers."
Canessa went on to express his bewilderment in why there isn't a dedicated XBLA destination in the Xbox One dashboard, saying it would be "easily fixable." He also spoke to the value of curation, offering a demo with every game, and having a specific destination where it would be easy to discover and spotlight new games, urging Microsoft to bring back Summer of Arcade and XBLA Wednesdays.