Jenna Ortega says Wednesday season 2 was inspired by Poe's The Masque of the Red Death, a short story Mike Flanagan fans will be familiar with - games news - NewsLocker (2024)

Wednesday star Jenna Ortega has revealed that season 2 was directly inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque of the Red Death, a short story genre fans will likely be familiar with. Netflix subscribers, too, it turns out, given that it was also the basis for one of the gnarliest episodes in Mike Flanagan's macabre miniseries The Fall of the House of Usher."I think the feel that we're going for is a little bit more horror-inspired," Ortega told Vanity Fair recently, though it's worth noting that

Terraria creator once again proves he's his own game's biggest fan by getting Zelda-inspired fan art of an iconic sword tattooed on his shoulder

The creator of Terraria has shown off a couple of new tattoos inspired by his own game.Andrew "Redigit" Spinks, the president of studio Re-Logic, took to Twitter to reveal two tattoos inspired by Terraria. On one shoulder, Spinks has both the iconic forest tree that appears in the game's title screen and a version of the Terra Blade inspired by fan-art that incorporates the blade into a mock-up of the cover art for The Legend of Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link.The artist who created the Zelda fan

Arrowhead CEO says a Helldivers 2 test server is "on the wishlist"

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has suggested it plans to add a test server to the game at some point.Test servers are fairly common in online games; Diablo 4 for instance got its first public test realm (PTR) with Season 5, allowing Blizzard to run test updates for folks on the PTR to try out before anything's made official. Developers typically use feedback from those trial runs to make targeted changes before releasing updates into the main servers that everyone plays on.Helldivers 2 players

The new Uncanny X-Men #1 explained - Everything you need to know about the new team and their mission

Marvel's big X-Men relaunch rolls on with the resurrection of the team's classic title Uncanny X-Men, which has been dormant for several years. This time, Uncanny X-Men #1 is launching as the second of the X-Men line's three core titles, following the adjectiveless X-Men, and preceding September's Exceptional X-Men #1.Written by Gail Simone with artist David Marquez, colorist Matthew Wilson, and letterer Clayton Cowles rounding out the creative team, the new Uncanny X-Men focuses around Rogue, G

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Inspired by Pokemon Snap, MMO fan builds their own RuneScape Pokedex by spending 4 years tracking down over 500 players with Pokemon usernames worth billions of gold

One MMO player's fun Pokemon Snap-style challenge has turned into more than four years of hunting down RuneScape and Old School RuneScape players who hold coveted, one-of-a-kind Pokemon usernames, all so they can say hello and log them in one of the most unique Pokedexes ever made.Zarmos shared their ongoing Pokedex with the OSRS Reddit community earlier this week, collecting over 500 Pokemon usernames in one impressive gallery which begins with the one and only adventurer, "Pokemon." The

Blizzard confirms a Diablo 4 Season 5 bug was dishing out millions of free XP, but says it wasn't caused by Rogues – it was the new Unique Umbracrux gone haywire

Diablo 4 developer Blizzard has temporarily disabled the Umbracrux Uniqueand confirmed it was responsible for the game-breaking Season 5 exploit that was dishing out millions of free XP.For some context, players identified the bug shortly after Diablo 4 Season 5 went live last week, with Reddit users sharing videos of them leveling up dozens of times in an instant after beating certain Stronghold bosses. In one case, Reddit user Neamins shared a video of them beating the Stronghold boss Ni

This new rom-com manga seems normal until Deadpool shows up – you can read the first chapter for free, and you really, really should

The creators of the popular Deadpool: Samurai manga, Sanshiro Kasama and Hikaru Uesugi, have teamed up for a new manga from Viz Media titled Secret Steward, a romantic comedy with an almost unbelievable twist.Just as the story gets going in the first chapter - which you can read right now for free - Deadpool shows up in the most ridiculous way possible. And frankly, we really can't say any more than that without spoiling an incredibly weird and fun story that fans of the Merc With a Mouth really

Superman's Fortress of Solitude has been the Man of Steel's HQ and home-away-from-home for decades – until now

The latest issue of Absolute Power – published today by DC – sees the heroes who haven't yet been caught and imprisoned by Amanda Waller reconvene at Superman's Fortress of Solitude to plan their next moves. It's a meeting that leads to the election of a surprising new team leader (more on that here) and gives the heroes a stronger sense of purpose amid the current chaos.Unfortunately, that all proves to be the calm before the storm, particularly for the Man of Steel who is alr

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Glen Schofield says The Callisto Protocol cost 4x more than Dead Space, needed 3 more months of work, and wasn't meant to be one-and-done: "The discussion we had was ... look at The Witcher"

Dead Space creator and longtime Call of Duty lead Glen Schofield has shared a lengthy post-mortem of The Callisto Protocol, the distinctly Dead Space-esque survival horror shooter he led after founding developer Striking Distance, which didn't meet sales expectations and saw middling reviews in 2022. (Currently: 69 critic score and 6.9 user score on Metacritic. Nice?)Schofield, who's since left Striking Distance, says the game was unfairly rushed out by the project's overseers, still deser

"It took 5 years, but our cave generation finally delivered": At last, the Deep Rock Galactic devs have found their holy grail - a big stone penis perfectly crafted by the game engine

Traditionally known for its wholesome, welcoming community, Deep Rock Galactic has just taken a rare step towards something significantly less wholesome after its procedural cave generation system served its developers a big stone penis.In a tweet earlier today, developer Ghost Ship Games shared a clip of a character nonchalantly wandering around a cave, throwing lights as they go. Out of the corner of their eye, however, you can glimpse a particularly phallic-looking rock formation. As the play

Bungie owner Sony responds to the Destiny 2 studio's massive layoffs in the most corporate owner way possible: "We have to enhance the efficiency of the business"

A week on from the mass layoffs at Destiny 2 developer Bungie, Sony Interactive Entertainment's chairman has pointed to "efficiency" and "portfolio optimization" as the reasoning behind 17% of the studio's staff being laid off.Bungie CEO Pete Parsons announced in a blog post last week that 220 of the studio's staff were being laid off, and that an extra 155 roles are being integrated into Sony Interactive Entertainment "over the next few quarters." Development of an upcoming new science-fa

2 years and 800 hours later, solo Final Fantasy 14 grinder finally completes one of the MMO's most punishing challenges, immediately starts another run that's just as bad

A Final Fantasy 14 mastermind has achieved a personal 800-hour holy grail by completing one of the hardest challenges you can subject yourself to in the MMO. Faced with what to do next, Deep Dungeon expert Aurora Moon can only do the other impossible task he spent the past two years joking they may get around to.One of the many optional activities you can do in Final Fantasy 14, Deep Dungeons are ever-changing challenges that scale many, many floors, making them somewhat roguelike in natur

Spider-Man and Geralt might be lost to Fortnite's exclusivity void, but future Battle Pass collabs will now have the chance to return to the shop after 18 months in exclusivity prison

Huge changes are coming to Fortnite's controversial Battle Pass exclusivity, as Epic Games has announced that all future Battle Pass items now have the chance of appearing in the regular Item Shop 18 months after they become inaccessible.Up until now, everything you unlocked in a Fortnite Battle Pass has been exclusive to that Battle Pass. Each season's pass brings with it new skins, emotes, and more that can only be unlocked by diligently leveling up during that season. It's a great incentive t

Baldur's Gate 3's least-popular Origin character has an ending so rare that Larian says only 34 players have ever even seen it

Baldur's Gate 3 has an ending so rare that only a few dozen players have discovered it, and I'm struggling to find even the most cursory evidence that it even exists.This article contains spoilers for Baldur's Gate 3's endings.In a new set of infographics celebrating the RPG's first anniversary, Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian revealed some of the game's most popular endings. 3.3 million players, for instance, took down the Netherbrain, while a further 1.8 million betrayed the Emperor and took

Baldur's Gate 3 on Honor Mode is apparently one of the hardest RPGs of all time, with over 1.2 million deaths and barely a 10% success rate

Larian has been talking about how many of you have completed Baldur's Gate 3's Honour Mode, and it ain't many.To celebrate the hit RPG's one-year anniversary, Larian is busting out the stats. A special infographic dedicated to the single-save permadeath mode reveals that 141,660 have survived a run since the difficulty tier was added late last year. That's cool, but Larian also reveals that 1.2 million of you failed, which means Honour Mode barely has a 10% success rate.Not content at stopping t

Balatro is getting a "major gameplay update" this year with "new ideas and strategies" as the roguelike poker sensation sells 2 million copies

Balatro's solo developer has celebrated two million sales of their roguelike game by announcing three surprises, the first of which is a free "major gameplay update" coming this year.Just revealed today, Balatro's debut update is being billed by solo developer LocalThunk as a "major gameplay update," which will "bring new ideas and strategies to the game." This is a token of thanks from LocalThunk to Balatro's players, as the excellent roguelike card-based game has smashed through two million sa

Balatro is getting a "major gameplay update" next year with "new ideas and strategies" as the roguelike poker sensation sells 2 million copies

Balatro's solo developer has celebrated two million sales of their roguelike game by announcing three surprises, the first of which is a free "major gameplay update" coming next year.Just revealed today, Balatro's debut update is being billed by solo developer LocalThunk as a "major gameplay update," which will "bring new ideas and strategies to the game." This is a token of thanks from LocalThunk to Balatro's players, as the excellent roguelike card-based game has smashed through two million sa

Larian unveils a full year of Baldur's Gate 3 player stats: Astarion is the favorite, Paladin is best class, and "a surprising amount of you enjoy bear sex and tentacles"

Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian released a year's worth of player stats to celebrate the RPG's first anniversary, confirming what most people apparently knew all along: Paladin is the best class, everyone loves Astarion, and too many of y'all cannot be trusted around tentacles.Ending spoilers for Baldur's Gate 3 ahead.In a lengthy thread packed with fascinating infographics, Larian confirms "Astarion has been your favorite Origin character avatar, shortly followed by the wizard of W

22 years after The Bourne Identity, Matt Damon reflects on a "radically different" experience working with director Doug Liman on new movie The Instigators

Upcoming thriller action flick The Instigators marks not only Matt Damon’s return to the genre but his reunion with director Doug Liman 22 years after the release of The Bourne Identity, which star Damon says was a radically different experience to the new movie."Thankfully, we're both 20 years older and more experienced," says Damon, speaking to GamesRadar+ and the Inside Total Film podcast. "But yeah, the first time I worked with him, it was pretty fraught, and the word on the stre

Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman must answer to a new boss in a game-changing issue of Absolute Power

In case you missed the memo, Absolute Power is DC's latest crossover event, running across a four-issue limited series as well as the current issues of all of DC's core books. In it, Amanda Waller has, with the help of Failsafe and Braniac, faked some global attacks, turning the world against superheroes. Not only that, but her Amazo robots are capturing metahumans and draining them of their powers.Absolute Power #2 is out today and it's an absolute barnstormer of an issue, one that makes a few

First look at Saturday Night Live movie from Ghostbusters director sees Succession and Bodies Bodies Bodies stars play comedy icons

The first look at Jason Reitman's Saturday Night has arrived – and we're feeling nostalgic.The photos, which can be viewed below, give us our first look at Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels, Dylan O'Brien as Dan Aykroyd, Rachel Sennott as Rosie Shuster, Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris, Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner, Emily Fairn as Laraine Newman, Matt Wood as John Belushi, Nicholas Braun as Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson, Matthew Rhys as George Carlin, Jon Batiste as Billy Preston, J.K. Simmons

MMO fashionistas rejoice as Blizzard finally allows World of Warcraft players to assess their collections properly after an almost 13-year wait

It's been a long time coming, but World of Warcraft just became way more accessible for the MMO fashionistas and completionists out there, as Blizzard has allowed players to view their full collection of item appearances and transmogs on third-party websites without using add-ons.For the uninitiated, transmogrifying in World of Warcraft allows you to change the appearance of your gear to take on the look of something else, essentially allowing you to create stylish, coordinated outfits, wh

After working with M. Night Shyamalan and Christopher Nolan, Trap’s Josh Hartnett knows what they have in common: "They don’t feel the need to guard their creation"

We’re currently in the Josh Hartnett renaissance era. Initially positioned as a Hollywood heartthrob in his early career, the actor made a comeback-of-sorts as physicist Ernest Lawrence, an integral part of Oppenheimer’s ensemble cast.Now, the actor is striking out as a lead once more in M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap as Cooper, a doting dad accompanying her daughter to a concert – but one harboring a dark secret (if you take the trailers at face value, anyway).But not many ge

Elden Ring sicko takes the limiters off NG+ scaling, cranks Shadow of the Erdtree to NG+ 1,000 and still no-hits a 500,000-HP Messmer

One Elden Ring player has slain Messmer at New Game+ level 1,000, without using Scadutree Blessings or any status effects, and it only took them roughly seven and a half hours.The frankly ludicrous streamer is skumnut, and they started throwing hands against Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's Messmer earlier this week. The thing is, they've managed to unlock NG+ scaling somehow, effectively increasing Messmer's overall level scaling by 1,000 times over the base game. NG+ difficulties don'

Stardew Valley and Sailor Moon mashup launches to 'Overwhelmingly Positive' Steam reviews, teases that this is just the start with an Early Access roadmap promising pets, marriage, and more

Sailor Moon and Stardew Valley hybrid Fields of Mistria is celebrating a strong Steam Early Access launch by offering a glimpse at what's next.The first major update - due in Q4 2024 - largely expands on what's already here. We're getting six new 'Heart' events for dateable NPCs, more dialogue, and an increased progression cap for romancing.If you're more into fighting, the dungeons are getting new enemies while existing monsters will drop new cosmetics. Skill caps are being raised to level 45 f

The popcorn bucket wars didn't end with Deadpool and Wolverine as Beetlejuice 2 unveils its own ghoulish take on 2024's biggest cinema trend

Good news, movie theatergoers: if you liked the Dune 2 sandworm popcorn bucket you’ll love the Beetlejuice 2 version, which thankfully takes the classier approach to movie snacking.Did you think the popcorn wars were over? Not so fast. Tim Burton's Beetlejuice sequel, officially titled Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, is the latest movie to enter the 2024 trend. Unveiled by Regal Movies, the Beetlejuice 2 popcorn bucket features the franchise’s iconic two-headed, black-and-white-striped sand

Disney Plus is getting its second price increase in 12 months – and even these new features might not soften the blow

Do you want the good news or the bad news first? The good news: Disney Plus is introducing a new feature for those who are feeling nostalgic about the days of cable and traditional television channels.The bad news? Weeks later, Disney Plus is getting a price increase – for the second time in 12 months.As per The Hollywood Reporter, Disney Plus’ ad tier and ad-free tier will be $9.99/month and $15.99/month respectively from October 17, a rise of $2 each.Those on the Hulu plan will see

Monster Hunter Wilds' Insect Glaive looks slicker than ever with new moves - including one straight out of The Matrix: Reloaded

The Insect Glaive looks better than ever before in Monster Hunter Wilds, and it almost looks like it's drawing some serious inspiration from one move in The Matrix: Reloaded.The Insect Glaive has always been a weapon for the real Monster Hunter sickos out there. It can be a damn pain to properly learn, but once you've mastered it, you're soaring through the air, deftly slicing a path through any monsters in your way with elemental buffs and other tricks in the process.Monster Hunter Wilds has ju

Dragon Age: The Veilguard won't suffer from Inquisition's weird camera issues, because the guy who made it is creative director now, and he "heard the feedback"

Dragon Age: The Veilguard shouldn't suffer from the same camera issues that plagued some of Inquisition's conversations.In a recent Q&A on Discord (shared by BioWare expert Kala Elizabeth on Twitter) Dragon Age: The Veilguard creative director John Epler was asked whether in-game conversations would "be zoomed in like a cutscene [...] or zoomed out like in DAI?"That question seems to be referring to the way the camera worked in certain conversations in Inquisition. If you were talking with a

The Sims 4 is getting some much-needed bug fixes following its messy update and Lovestruck expansion

The Sims 4 has been filled with new bugs following the release of its recent base game update and Lovestruck expansion, but EA is currently working on more fixes that it hopes to roll out "within the next week."As the name suggests, Lovestruck is a romance-focused expansion which lets your Sims set up dating profiles, be customized with turn-offs and turn-ons, and more. Unfortunately though, love hasn't been in the air for the community thanks to a series of fresh bugs that've been plaguing the