Comic Years |
- Animal Crossing New Horizons Version 2.0 Launches Two Days Early
- A John Krasinski Fantasy Comedy Is Coming And Will Star Ryan Reynolds!
- The Teaser Trailer for Moonfall Shows a Whole New Conspiracy Theory
- Harry Potter Mobile Game Shutting Down in 2022
- Morbius Trailer Highlights Spider-Verse And MCU Connections In Vampire Solo Film
- Pay-To-Win Avengers Over As Square Enix Removes Option From Marketplace
| Animal Crossing New Horizons Version 2.0 Launches Two Days Early Posted: 04 Nov 2021 09:29 AM PDT Let’s just say Nintendo knows how to wiggle its way out of a bad PR climate. On November 5, Animal Crossing New Horizons version 2.0 was scheduled to launch. The update came two days early instead. While it’s not confirmed, the expedited release of the major update to one of the 2020 Game of the Year favorites certainly seems intentional. With some really bad press related to the launch of the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pass, it seems like the content quieted online complaints. Sure, some people are still upset about the lag and weird changes to Nintendo 64 titles, but here’s the thing. Why stress when you can sail the seas with Kapp’n? We’ve got your full rundown of the surprise content drop so let’s get to it. What’s New in Animal Crossing New Horizons Version 2.0? Image Credit: Nintendo As previewed in their free update and DLC announcement, Nintendo just released a ton of new content for Animal Crossing New Horizons version 2.0. We’ll still have to wait until Friday for the Happy Home Paradise DLC, but this was a welcome surprise. As previewed in the presentation earlier this month, the free update comes with some great changes. When you load the game, you’ll see a ton of mail in your box outside your home. These various letters from Nook will explain some of the major changes. Overall, you’ll want to head straight for Resident Services and spend some Nook Miles on new capabilities. These include the ability to build 2 more bridges and inclines. Additionally, you can now cook food, as previewed in the presentation. It’s really cool seeing these major updates come to the game. Honestly, I haven’t been this excited to play Animal Crossing New Horizons in months. Like a lot of people, I put hundreds of hours into the game at launch. I’m currently sitting at over 510 hours to be exact. That’s wild, and makes me feel accomplished and a little embarrassed at the same time. Nevertheless, additions like Brewster’s Café and Kapp’n taking you to remote islands help bring the game to a new life. If you’re someone who stopped playing the game for awhile, then the updates will come as a pleasant surprise. Of course, the update does come at a time where Nintendo needs some positive press. The launch of the Switch Online Nintendo 64 content in particular is grossing some serious criticism online. The game emulation isn’t quite up to snuff, and it seems like Nintendo didn’t put a ton of time into making sure it was. I didn’t notice anything wildly annoying when playing for our mini-review, but here’s the thing. Traditionally, I’m a lot less bothered by stuff like that. More passionate fans than myself are keener to pick up on those little bugs and issues. With some bad chatter online, Nintendo likely said what the hell, give them their AC: NH content. And like the good little gamers we are, we’re thrilled. Of course, that doesn’t excuse lackluster content. Today, however, this is a nice little treat. Download the Happy Home Paradise DLC for Animal Crossing New Horizons on November 5 Image Credit: Nintendo If you’re excited about the New Horizons DLC, then let us know in the comments! The paid content releases this Friday, November 5. If you picked up the Expansion Pass to Nintendo Switch Online, then you’re going to get to play it for free. Non-subscribers will need to pay $30 for the additional game content. Overall, the update is substantial enough to get longtime dormant players back to work on their islands. As you return to your villagers, don’t forget to check out all the cool new updates. And yes, that means picking your weeds and clearing your home of cockroaches. Thanks for reading Comic Years for all things gaming, comics, and pop culture. Featured Image Credit: Nintendo Animal Crossing New Horizons Version 2.0 Launches Two Days Early  |
| A John Krasinski Fantasy Comedy Is Coming And Will Star Ryan Reynolds! Posted: 04 Nov 2021 06:19 AM PDT Everyone’s favorite office friend-turned-action-hero is writing and directing a fantasy comedy movie for Paramount! John Krasinski, of The Office fame, is teaming up with Ryan Reynolds on a movie called Imaginary Friends, which is going to start production next summer in time for a 2023 Thanksgiving release. Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) and Fiona Shaw (Killing Eve) will also star. This John Krasinski fantasy comedy already sounds like a hit! Sign me up! What Will This John Krasinski Fantasy Comedy Be About?According to People, Imaginary Friends will revolve around a man who can communicate with other people’s former imaginary friends, some of whom he discovers are angry or sad about being cast aside. While not much else is known, it’s said the story is based on an original idea of Krasinski’s about a child's journey to rediscover their imagination. There’s also no word on what kind of characters Krasinski, Reynolds, Waller-Bridge, or Shaw will play.
Krasinski has been spending more time behind the camera rather than in front of it as of recent. He directed A Quiet Place and worked with Paramount on the sequel. We also know that he can be funny (duh, The Office), but also creative as seen in his pandemic show Some Good News. Reynolds is also highly entertaining and delighted audiences as the foul-mouthed anti-hero Deadpool as well as the adorable Pikachu and overly optimistic Guy in Free Guy. Krasinski and Reynolds are both acting as producers. Krasinski is producing with his Sunday Night partners Allyson Seeger and Andrew Form. Reynolds is also a producer via his company, Maximum Effort, while Maximum Effort's George Dewey will executive produce. Krasinski and Reynolds' production banners have first-look deals with Paramount. Reynold’s pact was struck when former 20th Century Fox production chief Emma Watts, who obtained Reynold’s Deadpool franchise, came to Paramount in 2020. Imaginary Friends is set to release around Thanksgiving 2023.Are you looking forward to this John Krasinski fantasy comedy? Let us know in the comments below! Featured image via Paramount Pictures A John Krasinski Fantasy Comedy Is Coming And Will Star Ryan Reynolds!  |
| The Teaser Trailer for Moonfall Shows a Whole New Conspiracy Theory Posted: 04 Nov 2021 03:22 AM PDT A surprising amount of individuals believe that the moon landing in 1969 was faked. The Apollo 11 did lose contact with the world for two whole minutes, after all. But one new movie is set to provide a different answer for why this occurred. Rather than denying the history-making mission, the official teaser trailer for Moonfall creates a theory even more outrageous and far more cinematic. Watch The New Teaser Trailer For Moonfall BelowMoonfall promises to be the most innovative disaster thriller in ages. The film follows the potential apocalypse that occurs when our very own moon is knocked off of its course and sent towards Earth. But this is no accident. Apparently, those two minutes where Apollo 11 lost contact with Earth were just long enough to find something that would come in handy during a threat like this, and it’s time for the secret to reveal itself. Halle Berry plays Jo Fowler, a NASA executive who isn’t ready to accept the fate of being crushed by a moon (*cough* Iron Man *cough*.) She is joined by on-screen astronaut Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson) and John Bradley’s K.C. Houseman, a conspiracy theorist that is in for the thrill of his life. Donald Sutherland (recently appreciated in The Hunger Games) will also reunite with the film’s distributor, Lionsgate. Director Roland Emmerich (2012, Independence Day) is no stranger to science fiction. This film gives us plenty of opportunities for breathtaking visuals and high-stakes action to make us want to watch it in IMAX.  Image via Lionsgate. Catch the film shown in the Moonfall teaser trailer when it hits theaters on February 4th, 2022.Readers, let us know what you think of the trailer. It is reportedly one of the most expensive independent films ever, with a budget of $150 million! It may not be the biggest blockbuster of 2022, but it’s definitely one that we can get on board with. Featured image via Lionsgate. The Teaser Trailer for Moonfall Shows a Whole New Conspiracy Theory  |
| Harry Potter Mobile Game Shutting Down in 2022 Posted: 04 Nov 2021 12:11 AM PDT Whether you still play it or not, Pokémon GO is still a global hit. Even in the pandemic, people played the game at an increasing rate. What makes the game so charming other than the adorable little Pokémon? Well, the game sparked a community passion for gaming together out and about in the places we live. That first month or so the game launched was truly revolutionary. While it might seem like less people walk around playing today, the opposite is true. Other IPs tried to match the success of Pokémon GO to varying success. One example was actually created by Niantic; the same company as Pokémon GO. The company announced that despite the success of its other major game the Harry Potter mobile game will be shutting down in 2022. Here’s why the game is coming to an end in 2022. Why is Harry Potter Wizards Unite Shutting Down? Image Credit: Niantic On the game’s official website, Niantic and Warner Bros. announced that Harry Potter Wizards Unite, the IP’s mobile game, is shutting down after the new year. The game will continue to be playable until January 31, 2022. On December 6, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will leave the App Store, Google Play and Galaxy Store. In a separate blog post, Niantic expressed its admiration for those that played the game. The team explained that not all games last forever, and that the experience of playing the game wasn’t a failure, stating “we accomplished [this] together, delivering a two-year narrative story arc that will soon complete.” As the press release states, Niantic and Warner Bros. applied the same concept as Pokémon GO to the world of Harry Potter. “When we launched Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, our vision was to allow players to experience the wizarding world right in their real-world surroundings as they stepped outside and explored their neighborhoods,” the company stated. While the Harry Potter fandom is as active as ever, the game never took off like other Niantic projects. Gaming industry firm Sensor Tower shared data that certainly doesn’t look like the mobile game was a failure. Over the course of over 20 million downloads, the game generated nearly $40 million in revenue. At first glance, that’s quite strong. Unfortunately, compared to other mobile giants like Genshin Impact, that’s small ball. In fact, Genshin Impact mobile revenue topped $1 Billion in under six months. Luckily for both Warner Bros. and Niantic, other projects ahead point to potential future successes. A Harry Potter RPG is on the way for Warner Bros., despite getting delayed this year. Similarly, Niantic isn’t suffering too large of a loss considering the continued success of Pokémon GO. Despite the Shut Down, Mobile Games Like Pokémon GO are Set to Grow in 2022 Image Credit: Niantic Niantic is certainly not hurting given the success of Pokémon GO. While gaming in the COVID-19 pandemic led to record revenue in mobile gaming, the medium has continued to grow in popularity and revenue for years now. Titles like Genshin Impact, Pokémon GO, and Call of Duty Mobile continue to rack in record earnings. While it’s certainly disappointing for both Warner Bros. and Niantic to see a project this bold end earlier than likely anticipated, it’s no reason to panic. If you play this soon to be extinct Harry Potter mobile game, then let us know what you think about it shutting down. Thanks for reading Comic Years for all things gaming, comics, and pop culture. Featured Image Credit: Niantic Harry Potter Mobile Game Shutting Down in 2022  |
| Morbius Trailer Highlights Spider-Verse And MCU Connections In Vampire Solo Film Posted: 03 Nov 2021 04:27 PM PDT The much-delayed film from Sony and Marvel featuring comics' the living vampire is mere months away and will follow closely on the heels of Spider-Man: No Way Home. We've seen a few trailers that do a good job of explaining the premise and show us little of the film itself. The latest trailer for Morbius continues this tradition, but it does give us clues to its place in both the MCU and the Spider-Verse. The unprecedented partnership between Sony and Disney is essentially over. The deal that put Spider-Man back in the MCU was for two films: No Way Home and an unnamed Marvel Studios feature. Star Tom Holland said multiple times he's no longer under contract to play Spider-Man, so this suggests that he shows up again in Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness. Yet, given the post-credit scene of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, it's clear Sony is cooking up a series of shared-continuity films of their own. Perhaps the most worrying thing about this latest trailer for Morbius is the collective focus on the MCU and Spider-Verse connections. Part of the reason the original Venom was a surprise success is that it was a unique sort of origin story for a fairly familiar character. Morbius the Living Vampire is not Venom, and star Jared Leto does not seem to be going the Tom Hardy route and making him charming. It seems that almost everyone is more interested in this movie for what it portends for Sony's future than in the character. From the trailers we've seen, Morbius looks like a standard origin story that wants to genre-bend into an action horror film. What This Latest Footage Tells Us About the Morbius Movie Image via Sony The accepted wisdom with superhero comic book storytelling is that one can tell an odd story or tell a story in an odd way, not both. (Perhaps this is why conventional critics are having a hard time with Eternals.) In the case of Morbius, it seems that the storytellers opted to tell an odd story in a very conventional way. It's almost formulaic (and I don't mean that as a criticism). Effectively the main character is intelligent but suffering from something he can't outsmart. The chase to cure whatever this is leads to him discovering his super-abilities. It's an effective way to introduce a new superhero setting, because you establish the rules of the universe. (More on that below.) One thing the Morbius trailer shows us is that they are taking a more anti-heroic approach. Morbius definitely kills people and drinks their blood, as one would expect of a vampire. So, naturally, this makes him seem like a threat and not a hero in the eyes of everyone but the audience. It feels very Punisher or Wolverine from the early X-Men films. These characters kill, but don't kill recklessly. This is important because it creates situations in shared universes where the heroes who don't kill have conflict with those who do, usually while a more nefarious enemy is up to their machinations. It's a solid foundation from which to build something. However, every time Sony Pictures uses a film to set up future films, it's not worked so well. My favorite thing about this trailer is the way it depicts Morbius using his powers, from the unique flying effect to the "bat-radar." The thing that will really help audiences connect to this character is if, like with Venom, his powers are "fun." Drinking people's blood isn't exactly that, so hopefully there is a counterbalance. Either way, Morbius is going to be an interesting film, though perhaps more so because of things happening off-screen. How This Ties Into the MCU and the Spider-Verse Image via Sony Perhaps the best way to imagine the Marvel Multiverse going forward is that everything that comes from Marvel Studios itself is the prime timeline (unless otherwise specified) and everything else, specifically Sony Pictures' Marvel projects, are another one. I suspect that Sony is trying to have it's multiverse and its shared continuity, too. The very first teaser trailer for Morbius, released in January of 2020, showed Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes in the same sort of prison uniform he wore at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming. This was a surprise. Previously, we'd seen set photos from Morbius that showed the Daily Bugle logo, used in a number of films, and an image that looked like Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man. Contractually-speaking, not even Tom Holland's Spider-Man will be (technically) in the MCU after his assumed appearance in Multiverse of Madness. Perhaps Sony Pictures is going to try to develop their growing Spider-Verse and, much like Agents of SHIELD, keep it adjacent to the MCU. If Morbius is just a one-off, this could be a vague part of the Spider-Verse where different pieces of different iterations of the franchise are present. The post-credit scene of Venom confirmed his story did not exist in a world with Holland's Spider-Man. In the trailer, Morbius makes mention of Venom, so is that Topher Grace's Venom or Hardy's or neither? The answer is "who cares?" I suspect Sony is trying to thread the needle between the everything-is-connected MCU and the "It's complicated" continuity of the DCEU. Throw the animated Spider-Verse into it, and there is limitless potential for crossover of popular characters. They also may want to team up with Disney again in the future for another limited run. The trick will be for we in the press and the fans to not pressure Sony to set their continuity in stone as they try some things without Marvel Studios and Disney. Morbius hits the MCU, the Spider-Verse, and theaters in January of 2022.What do you think of the new Morbius trailer, and where it fits in the Spider-Verse or the MCU? Share your thoughts, theories, and hopes for the future of the franchises in the comments below. Featured image via Sony Morbius Trailer Highlights Spider-Verse And MCU Connections In Vampire Solo Film  |
| Pay-To-Win Avengers Over As Square Enix Removes Option From Marketplace Posted: 03 Nov 2021 12:38 PM PDT We got access to Marvel’s Avengers Beta run a while back, and though we couldn’t play much, the little bit we did see was promising. But then the game came out, and fans everywhere felt let down. The combat system, which seemed simple enough in beta, turned out clunky and overly complicated. The characters’ looks were sort of MCU but changed just slightly enough to make everyone go, “um, what?” They lost so many players that the multiplayer feature started failing. But the choice Square Enix made that upset fans the most? Boosts in exchange for real money. The outcry even threatened the sales of their new Guardians of the Galaxy game (thankfully a far superior game). However, the pay-to-win era of Marvel’s Avengers is over. Yet, is that enough to win players back after betraying the fans (they promised never to create a pay-to-win system)? By Ending the Pay-to-Win Avengers Problem, Square Enix Hopes the Controversy is Over Too. Marvel’s Avengers fans felt like that robot over the pay-to-win additions. (Image: Square Enix) In a hastily-written post on Reddit, the massive video game company tried to end the backlash as swiftly as possible. In the November 2nd post, they wrote:
However, they undercut their announcement (and apology) before even getting to it. In their intro, Square Enix claims that they “introduced [purchasable boosts] as an option for an evolving player base, and did not see them as pay-to-win since they don’t offer power directly.” It’s such a poorly-written excuse that it almost comes off as them trying to gaslight fans into thinking they were playing the game wrong. As Reddit user Taserplace noted, “they should have cut this line out.” Instead, all it does is make their comment that “that this can be the first step in rebuilding [fans’] confidence” in the company fall flat. As a result, even with the pay-to-win debacle over, Marvel’s Avengers still faces backlash. Reddit users commented that they still need to fix multiple aspects of the game, such as the costumes costing $15 each. Again, real money. That’s kind of ridiculous considering that the game is on sale at Target right now for $20. And while they did deliver interesting DLC content with Black Panther and Hawkeye, the buzz wasn’t enough to boost the game. They already isolated too many Marvel’s Avengers fans over the pay-to-win issue on top of several others. Or, as AnotherGibaway stated:
Are you interested in trying Marvel’s Avengers again?(featured image: Square Enix) Pay-To-Win Avengers Over As Square Enix Removes Option From Marketplace  |
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