First 104 Xbox One Backward Compatibility Games Announced

Microsoft has revealed the first 104 games that'll make use of the Xbox One's new backwards compatibility functionality when it launches on November 12.

Highlights from the full list include all the Gears of War titles, Assassin's Creed II, Borderlands, Mass Effect and Castle Crashers. Also, if the imminent release of Fallout 4 has you in a post-apocalyptic mood, you'll be pleased to know Fallout 3 also made the cut.

New games will be added to these 104 on a regular basis starting in December. Games confirmed to arrive at some stage in the future include Halo Reach, Halo Wars, Call of Duty: Black Ops, BioShock, BioShock 2, BioShock Infinite and Skate 3.

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Fantastic Beasts: New Details on Setting and Ensemble

Several new details regarding J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them have been revealed, confirming the film is actually about four heroes and not just Eddie Redmayne's Newt Scamander.

In the same way Rowling's Potter films centered around the trio of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, Fantastic Beasts will focus on four protagonists, including the aforementioned Newt, as well as Tina (Katherine Waterston), Queenie (Alison Sudol), and Jacob (Dan Fogler).

"The assumption is Newt’s front and center, but it’s a quartet," Redmayne told Entertainment Weekly. "So that feels like it slightly takes the

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All the New Hearthstone Cards Class by Class

The next Hearthstone adventure, The League of Explorers, takes as much inspiration from Indiana Jones as it does the iconic enemies of World of Warcraft, and promises to be a huge amount of fun.

Like Curse of Naxxramas and Blackrock Mountain before it, it's structured as a series of single player challenges that will unlock wing by wing, kicking off on November 12 in North America (November 13 in Australia and some other regions). Unlike those adventures, there will be significantly more cards to unlock - 45 in all - across fewer wings - four, as opposed to five. It will still take five weeks to fully unlock, however, as there will be a break week after the first two wings.

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Rise of the Tomb Raider Actress Talks Lara’s Sexuality, Character

As the voice and mo-cap actress for Lara Croft since Tomb Raider was rebooted in 2013, Camilla Luddington has helped re-define the character for millions who grew up with her as a somewhat inaccessible aristocrat defined primarily by her disproportionate triangular breasts.

Crystal Dynamics' 'new' Lara is a much more empathetic and complex character than she was in the series' past iterations, and on the eve of her next adventure, we spoke to Luddington about Lara's strengths, weaknesses, sexuality, and more.

Mild thematic spoilers for Rise of the Tomb Raider ahead; read at your own risk. 

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New Map Combines All Your Favorite Video Game Settings

Creative production company iam8bit has a whole host of new art available, including a map that combines a wide array of various video game settings.

The print, titled Videogames World Map, was crafted by Scribblenauts artist Edison Yan and serves as an "excruciatingly nerdy illustration that chronicles nearly 100 points of interest from the breath of videogame lore." The map was first displayed at this year's D.I.C.E. Awards "as a celebration of gaming culture amongst game makers."

VWM

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Animal Crossing Lottie Amiibo Target Exclusive in US

Nintendo's upcoming Animal Crossing Lottie amiibo will be available exclusively at Target in the United States.

The news comes by way of Amibo Alerts, which posted a stock check photo confirming the figure's retailer exclusivity.

The Lottie amiibo releases on November 22 and will be compatible with the Wii U-exclusive party game Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival, which is slated to hit store shelves this Friday, November 13.

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Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s Gunnar Hansen Dies

Gunnar Hansen, the actor who starred as Leatherface in the original 1974 version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, died yesterday after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 68.

While Hansen never reprised the character in subsequent films, his role as the original Leatherface "is one of the most iconic evil figures in the history of cinema," his agent Mike Eisenstadt told the Associated Press (via Variety).

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SPECTRE Has 2nd Biggest Bond Opening Ever

SPECTRE, the 24th James Bond film, enjoyed the second-biggest North American opening in the franchise's history with an estimated $73 million. (Skyfall remains the Bond series' top domestic debut with $88.4 million.)

The Sam Mendes-directed movie also scored an "A-" Cinemascore from moviegoers.

It was even better news for SPECTRE internationally as the film's global cume is over $300 million after nearly two weeks in release, exceeding Skyfall's tally at that point in its release, according to distributor Sony Pictures.

However, given the film's massive $250 million price tag, SPECTRE will reportedly need to gross $650 million in order to break even (or $900 million, according to THR). Skyfall was the first Bond movie to break the $1 billion mark.

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