Month: October 2024

History is built in layers. This was the key concept Firaxis kept in mind as it planned Civilization VII, the next entry in its long-running 4X strategy series. Civilizations are not static; they rise and fall, and new cultures take over and build on top of them. With Civ VII, Firaxis is aiming to make its playable journey through history more dynamic than ever, capturing how civilizations themselves change and adapt over time.One of the keys to this new approach is a trisected campaign, splitting the historical drama into three distinct “Ages:” Antiquity, Exploration, and Modernity. Each of these roughly tracks to moments and advancements that are familiar for longtime Civ fans, but introducing these eras is aimed at providing better pacing and a sense of culmination for each era, as secu…

If you’re an avid Tolkien fan and have a particular fondness for The Hobbit, the upcoming Hobbit Encyclopedia should be on your radar. The 336-page book takes a deep dive into the lore of Middle-earth, covering everything from iconic characters and places to sacred objects and other essential lore. The Hobbit Encyclopedia releases September 3, and preorders are currently seeing a nice discount.

The Hobbit Encyclopedia

$31 (was $40)

…

Actor Glen Powell is making waves in Hollywood through a number of roles in high-profile films like Top Gun: Maverick, Hit Man, Anyone but You, and Twisters–but could he do a comic book movie next?Powell told The Playlist that he enjoys DC and Marvel movies, but no one from those companies has called and asked him to star–at least not yet (Powell has, however, played a small role in a Batman movie already). “You know I’ve never gotten a call from DC or Marvel,” he said. “But I’m a fan of everything they do.”Powell went on to say that he saw Deadpool & Wolverine and said he thoroughly enjoyed it. “I think what Shawn [Levy] and Ryan [Reynolds] did with that is like extraordinary and just such a fun flavor for audiences. And I cheer for them. And I love what [they do],” he said.Powell a…

Last month was the 20th anniversary of Catwoman, a spin-off from the Batman films starring Halle Berry in the title role. Although the film references Michelle Pfeiffer’s Selina Kyle from Batman Returns, Berry’s Catwoman was Patience Phillips, and the story had nothing to do with Gotham City or Batman. At the time of its release, Catwoman was a flop and it was also denigrated by critics. But now, Berry is more forcefully defending her film, and she’s willing to reprise her role.Via Variety, Berry was a guest on The Tonight Show, where she was asked by host Jimmy Fallon if she would play Catwoman again. “Maybe if I could direct it,” replied Berry, who previously helmed the sports drama Bruised for Netflix in 2020. Earlier in the interview, Berry spoke about Catwoman finding a new audience t…

Fanatical has dropped a fresh bundle of PC games on its storefront, and if you’re looking for a varied selection of titles to choose from, you can score a pretty good deal here. Like previous promotions, the Build Your Own Trinity Bundle will let you select games from a curated list. You can get three games for $5, five games for $8, and seven games for $10. If you want even more, that works out to $1.43 per game. See on Fanatical The bundle offers several gems, and many of the games are Steam Deck-compatible. The biggest of these is easily Garfield Lasagna Party, a collection of mini-games starring the Monday-hating cat and friends. There’s a healthy selection of activities to engage in like snowball fights, obstacle courses, and a pizza-slicing minigame. Is it a crime that Garf…

Against all odds, isometric computer-style RPGs are popular again. While the breakout popularity of Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3 is certainly the watershed moment for the modern CRPG resurgence, numerous other companies have also aided in the genre’s resurrection over the years. Some of the most notable are Beamdog Studio’s enhanced edition re-releases of classics like Planescape: Torment and Neverwinter Nights, and Owlcat’s recent Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader–and thanks to a new Humble Bundle deal, you can grab PC versions of some of the best CRPGs from both studios for cheap. This bundle launched alongside Humble’s Summer Spectacular Sale, which features hundreds of PC game deals. See at Humble Humble’s Beamdog and Owlcat: RPG Masters bundle includes up to seven games and…

Prime Video’s superhero TV show The Boys crushed it in terms of ratings for the end of its fourth season. Nielsen has released its latest top 10 streaming list for the week of July 15-21–a period that covers when the Season 4 finale arrived on July 18–and The Boys took the stop spot.During that week, The Boys tallied more than 1.3 billion minutes streamed throughout 32 available episodes. House of the Dragon landed in the No. 2 position with 1.1 billion minutes streamed over 16 available episodes, with Cobra Kai, Love Is Blind, and Bluey rounding out the top five, each with over 1 billion minutes streamed that week.As reported by TV Line, The Boys has now reached a billion weekly minutes of streaming time for the eighth time since the show debuted; that’s the most for any Prime Video rel…