While Avengers: Endgame hasn't even been in theaters for a full week, many people are speculating about the future of the MCU. In fact, GameSpot already has a few villains we think the Marvel heroes should fight next. But did the end of Endgame actually drop hints at what's coming next? Get ready for some speculation.This is your final warning for spoilers.According to Reddit, there is a huge reveal in the background during the final moments of Endgame. In the scene where we see Ned Leeds and Peter Parker reunited at a high school, there is a school administrator greeting the students, high fiving them. According to the poster, the actor playing that role is Ben Mendelsohn. In Captain Marvel, he played the Skrull Talos, disguised as SHIELD's high-ranking member Keller. Could this be Keller or Talos disguised as Keller?In the comics, Skrulls disguised themselves as humans and launched an all-out attack in the story Secret Invasion. The Skrulls even had sleeper agents, aliens disguised as humans the didn't know they were invaders. Could this quick shot be a hint at what's coming? It's hard to make out if the man in the shot is Mendelsohn, as it's obviously been taken from someone's phone in a movie theater, but that's not the only possible hint at what's coming.In what seems like a throwaway line early on in Endgame, Okoye is talking to Black Widow via holograms, and Okoye mentions there was an earthquake under the ocean. At first, we all thought this was nothing, but GameSpot's Meg Downey reminded us that Wakanda has had a long-time feud with Atlantis and its leader, Namor. Could this line of dialogue be a clue as to what's coming next? Could the next Black Panther or Avengers movie be a battle against Atlantis?At this point, we know a little about what's happening with Phase 4 of the MCU, but there haven't been many official announcements about what's coming next. Spider-Man: Far From Home hits theaters on July 2, but it will actually close out Phase 3.If you're looking for more hot Endgame content, check out the spoiler review of the movie, all the Easter eggs and references, every moment from the trailers not in the movie, and everyone from the MCU that dies or stays dead in Endgame.Info from Gamespot.com

Gearbox is soon giving fans another look at its upcoming loot shooter, Borderlands 3. The developer is livestreaming a "worldwide gameplay reveal" tomorrow, May 1, starting at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET, which will showcase "the first hands-on gameplay of Borderlands 3."Gearbox hasn't shared many details about what the stream will entail, only that fans will be able to potentially earn some in-game loot by watching Twitch streamers play the game via a new Echocast extension. The stream will be broadcast on the Borderlands website and Twitch channel. You'll also be able to tune in right here on GameSpot and watch the stream above.Borderlands 3 Gameplay Reveal Stream Start Times10 AM PT1 PM ET6 PM BSTBorderlands 3 had long been rumored, but Gearbox officially announced the title last month in a rather...memorable livestream presentation during PAX East 2019. A few days later, the developer shared another trailer for the game. This one introduced its cast--including its four new playable Vault Hunters--and confirmed its released date: September 13, 2019.The latest Borderlands 3 trailer also gave us our first look at the game's antagonists, the Calypso twins, and confirmed a handful of returning characters. You can read more about the upcoming game in our roundup of what we know about Borderlands 3.Borderlands 3 is coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC. However, players hoping to pick it up on the latter will need to do so from the Epic Games Store, as the game will be exclusive to Epic's storefront until April 2020. That move certainly wasn't met without controversy, however, and users began review bombing previous Borderlands games on Steam in response.Info from Gamespot.com

As those living in Japan enjoy the annual week-long vacation period known as Golden Week, those of us living in other parts of the world are enjoying some perks of our own in the form of game deals across several digital stores. The PlayStation Store and Steam have both launched Golden Week sales recently, and now Nintendo is getting in on the fun with a publisher sale from Nippon Ichi Software, the developers behind games like Disgaea and Phantom Brave. It's a small sale, with only 18 games, but there are some decent deals here worth checking out.Disgaea 1 Complete and Disgaea 5 Complete are marked down--the classic strategy RPGs are currently selling for $40 and $30, respectively. Disgaea 1 Complete has been remastered to match the quality of Disgaea 5 for the Nintendo Switch, with improved sprites, character portraits, and backgrounds, as well as a new playable character and a few other UI tweaks. Disgaea 5 Complete comes with all DLC content, including eight bonus scenarios and more characters and classes.You can grab Yomawari: The Long Night Collection for just $30 on Switch; the bundle includes both Yomawari: Night Alone and Yomawari: Midnight Shadows. Each game has a unique story, but in both you'll play as young girls making their way through a bizarre, spooky rural Japanese town at night. Another solid deal: The Longest Five Minutes, a game about a hero who loses his memories in the last five minutes of a final boss fight, which is available for 50% off ($20).Nintendo's Golden Week Sale is running through May 7 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET / 3 PM GMT (1 AM AET on May 8), so you have about a week to claim these deals. According to an NIS America blog post, the sale is available in the US, Europe, and Australia Eshops (prices may vary).SHOP NINTENDO'S GOLDEN WEEK ESHOP SALE »And see the full list of game deals below:SwitchDisgaea 1 Complete -- $40 (20% off)Disgaea 5 Complete -- $30 (25% off)Fallen Legion: Rise to Glory -- $30 (25% off)God Wars: The Complete Legend -- $30 (25% off)Happy Birthdays -- $30 (25% off)Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk -- $40 (20% off)The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince -- $15 (25% off)The Longest Five Minutes -- $20 (50% off)The Lost Child -- $25 (50% off)Penny-Punching Princess -- $20 (50% off)Touhou Genso: Wanderer Reloaded -- $30 (40% off)Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle -- $12 (40% off)Yomawari: The Long Night Collection -- $30 (25% off)Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana -- $42 (30% off)3DSCuldcept Revolt -- $21 (30% off)Rodea the Sky Soldier -- $10 (50% off)RPG Maker Fes -- $21 (30% off)3DS deals exclusive to UK/AUEtrian Mystery Dungeon -- 25% offEtrian Odyssey Untold -- 25% offEtrian Odyssey II Untold -- 25% offLegend of Legacy -- 50% offShin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker -- 25% offShin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers -- 25% offStella Glow -- 50% offWii URodea the Sky Soldier -- $10 (50% off)Info from Gamespot.com

The eighth and final season of HBO's Game of Thrones was one of the most anticipated TV events of recent years, and last weekend, Episode 3 finally delivered the Battle of Winterfell. Fans have waited a long time for this epic confrontation, and as a result, the episode has smashed viewing records.HBO states that the episode, titled "The Long Night," delivered 17.8 million viewers, making it the most-watched episode in the show's history. This figure includes replays and streaming; in terms of on-air viewing, the episode drew an audience of 12 million across two airings on Sunday night. The previous record was held by Episode 1 of Season 8, which was watched by a total of 17.4 million viewers earlier this month. "The Long Night" was also the longest Game of Thrones episode ever, clocking in at 82 minutes.While these figures make Season 8 the most popular to date, the show has been a ratings hit from the very start. The show is HBO's most popular series of all time and the most watched scripted show on TV. There are three episodes remaining in Season 8--Season 4 airs next Sunday, while with the final one hits on May 19.Despite the huge viewings figures, "The Long Night" received a mixed response from some critics and viewers. In his review, GameSpot's Michael Rougeau argued that the episode "subverted all our expectations in the worst ways possible. We expected some real, impactful main character deaths in this episode, and it turned out the stakes weren't nearly as high as we thought. We expected some payoff for things Game of Thrones has spent seven seasons setting up, and the reality is much of it was simply pointless."For more on the latest episode of Game of Thrones, check out our look at the Night King's true goal, what happened to Rhaegal and Ghost, and all the Easter Eggs and references you probably missed.Although Game of Thrones is nearing the end, there is a prequel spin-off on the way. X-Men: First Class' Jane Goldman will serve as showrunner and has developed the story with George RR Martin, who wrote the original novels. Earlier this year it was reported that the show will start filming early this summer. However, another potential spin-off, from Game of Thrones writer Bryan Cogman, is no longer happening.Info from Gamespot.com

Following a leak or two, Valve has now formally debuted its virtual reality hardware solution, named Valve Index. The official site promises high-fidelity VR with superior comfort and control. Pre-orders begin on May 1, and pricing has been announced for the full set along with the a la carte pieces of it.The centerpiece of the VR kit is the headset, which boasts two 1440x1600 RGB LCDs, promising more pixels and less screen door effect than OLED displays. It also runs at 120Hz (with optional 90Hz and 144Hz modes) for higher framerates. Valve promises a greater field-of-view than other devices, and the headset itself sports two off-ear near-field speakers to balance comfort and sound quality. It also has an adjustable head band for head size, ear placement, and angle, and swappable face pads for sharing the kit. Finally, the headset has room for expansion and mods with cameras and a front expansion slot.A pair of custom-built controllers strap onto your hand and respond to natural movements like throwing or dropping held objects. Valve boasts that each controller has 87 sensors to help determine your movements and intent. The grip input helps determine how you're holding objects and finger tracking, and the controllers sport a full range of standard buttons along with a track button. A pair of base stations have a 160º x 115º field-of-view range, and are expandable to up to four stations.The full Valve Index set costs $1,000, while the headset and controllers alone are $750. The headset is the most expensive single part at $500, and a pair of controllers are $280 by themselves. A single base station costs $150. Each of these are planned to ship by June 28, 2019.This gives PC users another option for their VR support, as the race for headset dominance continues with other companies like Facebook and HTC having gained a following with their own devices. Consoles are looking to support VR as well, and Sony has hinted that its next console will continue to support PSVR.Info from Gamespot.com

Origin Forme Giratina may no longer be available in Pokemon Go, but some new Legendaries have taken its place in the hit mobile game. The Lake trio from Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum--Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie--have begun appearing around the world--and this time, you won't need to battle them in Raids.Unlike most of the other Legendaries to appear in Pokemon Go, Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie aren't available as Raid bosses; rather, the Legendaries are spawning in the wild like typical Pokemon. However, as befits their status, the Pokemon are quite rare, so the odds of running into one are fairly low.Moreover, it appears that each Pokemon is currently only available in a specific part of the world. According to Serebii, it seems Azelf is only appearing in America; Mesprit is available in Europe; and Uxie is currently spawning in Japan. Just as in the mainline games, the Legendaries are also reportedly appearing near bodies of water.It's unclear how long the new Pokemon will appear in Go, but Legendaries typically hang around for approximately a month before Niantic cycles them out for new Pokemon. With the reports that each one is only available in a certain area, it seems likely that the Legendaries will swap regions before they leave the game entirely.Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie aren't the only Legendaries currently available in Pokemon Go. Groudon has also returned to the game for a limited-time as one of the game's Earth Day bonuses. On top of that, Ground-type Pokemon are spawning more frequently than normal, and Shiny Diglett is appearing for the first time. However, these Earth Day bonuses will only be live until May 2.Shiny Meltan is also appearing once again Pokemon Go until May 5; be sure to check out our guide on how to catch one while it's still available. Meanwhile, Pokemon Go's next Community Day is scheduled for Sunday, May 19. The featured Pokemon this month will be Torchic, the Fire-type starter from Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire.Info from Gamespot.com

Woody and Buzz aren't the only famous movie dolls returning to the big screen this summer. The long-awaited Pixar sequel Toy Story 4 hits theaters on June 21, and it will be joined that day by the horror reboot Child's Play, featuring iconic killer doll Chucky. A new Child's Play poster has now been released to mark the movies' shared release date.The poster shows Chucky as he walks away from another scene of slaughter. Unfortunately his victim seems to be poor Woody, the cowboy star of the Toy Story movies. Check it out below, as tweeted by IMDB:Child's Play stars Aubrey Plaza (Legion), Brian Tyree Henry (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), and Gabriel Bateman (Light's Out), plus Mark Hamill as the voice of Chucky. It's directed by Lars Klevberg, who has also helmed the upcoming horror movie Polaroid. The second trailer for Child's Play was recently released, and you can also check out our ranking of every movie in the Child's Play series.In a recent interview with Nightmarish Conjurings, Klevberg talked about the new movie's twist--Chucky can now control electronic devices. "I think that every good horror movie connects to its generation," he said. "Right now, we all trust devices like Alexa to control all the electronics in our homes and to help organize our life. But what if that device took on a human form and could walk around? Then it would be something completely different and our film is just taking that concept to another level."Confusingly for fans, there's also an unconnected Child's Play TV show being developed for SyFy, simply titled Chucky. It's produced by series creator Don Mancini, and follows on from the 2017 movie The Cult of Chucky.Info from Gamespot.com

Mortal Kombat 11 received some criticism for its in-game economy and grind, but NetherRealm has started to address those progression issues with a series of patches. As part of the make-good effort, the studio has also bundled the latest patch with a thank you gift, awarding a big dose of currency to players.The bundle includes 500,000 Koins, 500 Hearts, 1,000 Souls, and 1,000 Time Crystals. Time Crystals are the premium currency, and so the amount here equals about $10--enough for two of the premium skins. The rest of the currency types are used in the Krypt, to unlock various rewards. It's only available on PC and PS4 so far, with Xbox One and Switch incoming.You'll have to claim the reward through your notifications area. Make sure you claim it by May 6, 2019 at 6 AM PT.That injection of kash came alongside a big update for MK11. It fixes several exploits and makes changes to matchmaking, but the bigger adjustment for the player grind will be that it's softened the edges for the Towers of Time. The patch notes say it adjusts the AI difficulty curve for the Towers, tweaked elements like health reductions in high-level Towers or Koin rewards, and adjusted some daily modifiers. All of that seems aimed at making a smoother ramp for players to enjoy the Towers, which were a common criticism among reviews and early player impressions."Streamlined mechanics keep the act of fighting furiously exciting no matter what your skill level, and comprehensive tutorials encourage you to dig into the nitty-gritty," Edmond Tran said in GameSpot's review-in-progress. "There's a diverse roster of interesting characters and playstyles, and the story mode is an entertaining romp. The unfulfilling approaches to the game's dynamic single-player content and progression may feel like they've totally whiffed (at least at this early stage), but Mortal Kombat 11 hits where it matters."Info from Gamespot.com

Warning: This post is full of spoilers for Avengers: Endgame. If you haven't seen the movie, you're probably going to want to stop reading before it's too late. How about reading our spoiler-free review instead?So the theories were right: Avengers: Endgame is a time travel story, in which the superheroes work to undo Thanos's devastating snap by revisiting a bunch of the events from their past. The plan is to acquire the Infinity Stones from times before Thanos collected them all, then use them back in the present (five years after Avengers: Infinity War) to undo Thanos eliminating half of all life in the universe. That means the characters had to split up to pull off multiple "time heists" in what amounts to the most fun sequence of the film.With time travel operating at the center of the movie, Endgame's characters spend a lot of time explaining what the deal is. They make a point to note that they're not going back to prevent Thanos from accomplishing the snap--they're going to gather the Stones and use them to undo it in the present. The movie establishes rules of time travel to keep the logic straight.Unfortunately, Endgame is rather bad about sticking to its own parameters, and in the end, its time travel doesn't really make sense. For all the effort spent on running down what you can and can't do in the past, Endgame abandons any effort to stay in the lines whenever it becomes inconvenient. As a result, the plot--while a lot of fun--doesn't make much sense if you apply any scrutiny. Of course, that's what we're about to do.Now, as a side note: Saying that Endgame's time travel (and by extension, a lot of its plot) doesn't make logical sense is not saying that you can't enjoy it. But the movie sets some rules to navigate a notoriously confusing idea, so clearly it cares about them--and we're here to break down how they're handled. Caution: Get ready for full-on Avengers: Endgame spoilers from here on out."Back To The Future Is Bull****"First, let's look at how Endgame explains its time travel. In a fun scene, Banner lays down the essentials of venturing to and potentially altering the past, noting that most of the movies made about time travel are more Hollywood than theoretical physics. Banner is the one who notes that the Avengers can't go back in time and prevent Thanos from doing the snap by stealing the stones from him--the past is the past and cannot be changed.Banner says, "Think about it: If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future, and your former present becomes the past! Which can’t now be changed by your new future!" Not exactly helpful, really.Though he does a really bad job of explaining it, what we're actually seeing in practice in Endgame is a version of multiverse theory. You can't change the past to affect your present, because once you're in the past, your former present is no longer accessible to you. It exists separately from the timeline you've just created by entering the past and changing it. The very act of time travel creates a split in the timeline, because the time traveler interacting with the timeline changes how events play out. Everything from the time traveler's arrival is different by virtue of their arrival.So if time travel splits the timeline, how do the Avengers get back to their original present? Shouldn't their presence in the past place them in a new timeline branch, with history playing out differently thanks to their influence? Answering this is where the Quantum Realm comes in, along with the idea of a multiverse, or multiple universes. As Banner puts it, you can't alter your past through time travel--it happened and it's set, and it's the series of events that led you to time travel in the first place. Time travel doesn't overwrite your original timeline, as Banner assures us; it creates a new timeline (or, as in multiverse theory, a whole new universe), separate and distinct from the original.The Quantum Realm connects these distinct universes together, which we see when the Avengers travel through it. That's how they can travel both through time and through space at the same time; just as they're moving through the Quantum Realm, they're leaving it at distinct exits that are in both the place they want to be, and the time they want to be. Meanwhile, the Quantum Tunnel machine that Banner creates gives them an exit point back in their original present in Avengers HQ, so they can always find their way back to their original universe.So that's how it works: The Avengers go into the past, creating alternate universes (or "branch realities," as the Ancient One puts it), where they can grab the Infinity Stones. This means that changes to the past won't mess up the Avengers' present--essentially, as soon as they arrive, it's not their past anymore.Good thing, because they mess up a lot of stuff.All Kinds Of Altered TimelinesWhen the Avengers head back in time, their goal is to snag the various Infinity Stones from key moments without being detected. They also observe Back to the Future II rules: They try not to interact with their past selves. But as we see throughout the time heist, the Avengers' presence in their own past is fundamentally changing things. Since they're in alternate universes, or branch realities, that doesn't actually matter (for now).We see a bunch of alterations to the timeline as we know it during the time heist, but since the Avengers return to their own, unaltered present, it reaffirms that what we're seeing are new, alternate universes. And they have some new and pretty big differences to the original, as we see throughout Endgame.One big change, obviously, is Loki. When Ant-Man and Tony Stark attempt to get the Tesseract (which houses the Space Stone) away from the past version of the heroes in the aftermath of the Battle of New York in 2012, they mess it up. The Tesseract falls out of the case in which Past Tony was transporting it. Loki, the villain of The Avengers who the heroes have just defeated and taken prisoner, grabs the cube, uses it to open a portal in space, and disappears.At this point, this alternate universe is going to be completely different from the one the Avengers started in. In the original version of events, Loki was captured, taken to Asgard, and imprisoned there until the events of Thor: The Dark World. The Tesseract was locked in Asgard's vault, where it waited until the events of Thor: Ragnarok. Now Loki is out in the universe with the Tesseract--essentially a weapon of mass destruction--after having just failed his megalomaniacal mission of taking over and ruling Earth. Whatever he does out in the universe is going to have serious consequences in that timeline. But Loki in the original timeline is still dead; this is a different Loki, in a different universe, presumably wreaking new and different havoc.We see a number of other differences the Avengers create in their new alternate universes. Captain America's "Hail HYDRA" may well change a bunch of later events in that universe, as will his fight with the past version of himself, who he distracts with the revelation, "Bucky is alive." War Machine punches out Star-Lord on Morag, which would alter that universe's version of Guardians of the Galaxy, since Korath the Accuser is about to show up to try to nab the Power Stone from Star-Lord. Tony's interaction with Howard Stark in 1970 could change how that universe's version of Tony grows up, which might fundamentally alter his path to becoming Iron Man.Then there's the question of Past Gamora, Past Nebula, and Past Thanos and his forces following the Avengers back to their original present. Since we've established those folks are from an alternate universe--the one in which Nebula and War Machine went to Morag to get the Power Stone--their presence in the Avengers' present doesn't alter the events of Avengers: Infinity War or anything else. Thanos still gathered the Infinity Stones, killed Vision, and did his snap; Gamora was still killed for the Soul Stone; Nebula still joined the Avengers. What we're seeing are other versions of them from a different universe. The alternate universe Gamora and Nebula are from before the events of Guardians of the Galaxy, which means they don't know any of the Guardians (hence Gamora kneeing Peter in the nuts). When Tony wipes out Thanos with his snap, it's an alternate universe's Thanos, not the one that Thor beheaded. So that other universe is probably in a lot better shape now.But if the Avengers are just getting Infinity Stones from alternate universes, why do they need to return them? The Ancient One has the answer to that question.The Infinity Stones And The Flow Of TimeThe Avengers make a big deal about discussing how they'll take the Infinity Stones from the past, use them in the present, and then return them to their spots in the past. Because of Banner's explanation, we know that removing the stones from their moments in time won't alter the Avengers' present; they can't go back in time and prevent Thanos. There's no possibility of removing the Infinity Stones from alternate realities messing up the Avengers' universe.But as the Ancient One points out, taking the Infinity Stones from the alternate universes in which they belong could seriously mess up those timelines."The Infinity Stones create what you experience as the flow of time," she explains. "Remove one of the stones and that flow splits. Now this may benefit your reality, but my new one, not so much. In this new branch reality, without our chief weapon against the forces of darkness, our world would be overrun, and millions would suffer."Basically, the Ancient One is describing the alternate universes we've been talking about all along: Travel back and remove a Stone, and you're creating a new universe that is missing a Stone. And we know from the events of Doctor Strange that without the Time Stone, the Ancient One's universe would be overrun by Dormmamu, who Strange defeated by using the stone.The Avengers aren't looking to save their universe from Thanos's snap by wrecking a bunch of other universes by removing their Infinity Stones, which is why Banner explains they're going to return those Stones to the moments they were taken. That would "erase" the alternate universes in which the Stones are missing--in the timelines of those universes, since they're returned at the moment they were taken, they effectively never left. For the Ancient One, even though Banner takes the Time Stone with him, he'll bring it back to the second he left, and the Time Stone will be there for Doctor Strange to use against Dormmamu later.As for what the Ancient Ones means when she says the stones create "the flow of time," uh...who knows. It doesn't seem strictly necessary to understand what kind of space magic she's talking about. What is worth acknowledging is that, according to this movie's surprisingly lax rules of time travel, while all time travel creates alternate universes, only the ones created by removing Infinity Stones are so messed up that they require fixing (or erasing, as Banner puts it).Captain America's Ending Breaks All The RulesEndgame ends with Captain America heading back through time to drop off the Infinity Stones in their various locations (which seems like a job for more than one guy, and especially not one guy who's never been to Asgard or Morag, but whatever). When Banner goes to bring Cap back to the Avengers' universe, though, he doesn't show up. Instead, Sam and Bucky find an old man version of Cap sitting on a nearby bench.The idea here is that, rather than come back with the time machine, Cap just decided to hang out in the past and live the several decades he'd originally missed while frozen in ice after the events of Captain America: The First Avenger. The movie also implies that Cap went back to the past and married Peggy Carter.Of course, this doesn't track with the rest of the movie's conception of time travel: Steve should have been living in a new, alternate universe created by his presence and influence on the past. Just waiting for years for his time to catch up to the Avengers' wouldn't allow him to meet Bucky and Sam as an old man--under the rest of the movie's rules, he should need Banner's time machine to return to his original universe.There are a bunch of ways Cap's presence in the past should alter things so that he can't return to his original universe's present. We know from past movies like The Winter Soldier that Peggy had a whole non-Cap life, marrying and having a family, serving as a founder of SHIELD and a secret agent. We can't help but assume Steve showing up and marrying her would have fundamentally altered all of that--which would mean the present that Steve left in the time machine wouldn't be the same as the one he wound up in as he aged. (There are a lot of other issues with Steve's ending as well.) There simply is no way to slice it that makes sense.All of this is to say that while Endgame is relatively consistent with its use of time travel (even though it is confusingly explained, sometimes in contradictory terms), it doesn't actually always adhere to the guidelines it sets down. In the case of Captain America, the time travel logic doesn't follow. But at least the reason that the Avengers can undo the snap while all the other character deaths remain constant makes sense.And it seems some of the time travel-slash-alternate universe confusion Endgame creates may be fodder for other stories, like the Loki-focused show confirmed for the Disney+ streaming service. Loki escaping with the Space Stone might be the entire basis for that upcoming show, and we just don't know it yet.Endgame's time travel might be tough to follow, but its various jaunts into the past do a good job of creating fun situations. Endgame is still a pretty good time--just don't think too hard about it.If you can't get enough Avengers: Endgame, we've got lots more coverage. Check out our full review of the movie; we've got rundowns of all the Easter eggs hidden throughout its three hours, and a list of every MCU character that appears in the film. You can also get an explanation of the movie's ending, Doctor Strange's plan, and what happened with Loki and the Tesseract. and read our opinions on why Captain America's final moments don't match his character and how Endgame fails Black Widow and most of the other characters.Info from Gamespot.com

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is barely a month old, but as usual your patience has already been rewarded if you waited for a deal. It's already down to $45 on Amazon in the US, for the PS4 and Xbox One versions. Amazon's sale prices come and go rather quickly, so if you want in on the deal you should probably grab it to be on the safe side.This marks the lowest price we've seen on consoles so far, and even cheaper than a recent Newegg sale price. Some brick-and-mortar retailers have also been known to price-match Amazon, if you'd rather pick it up yourself, but call ahead first.GET SEKIRO: SHADOWS DIE TWICE FOR $45 AT AMAZON » Sekiro is the latest From Software title, following up on hits like Dark Souls and Bloodborne. The studio has gained a reputation for the genre it helped shape--nicknamed "Soulsbornes." Their games (and now, many imitators) make a point of tough combat and resource scarcity to instill a feeling of accomplishment. Sekiro is in the same vein as its predecessors, so be ready to die a lot if you take the plunge.The game had a strong start in sales, hitting 2 million copies in just its first ten days. That's a big accomplishment for a new franchise in a genre that is known for being niche and putting off some players. While From is committed to maintaining its challenge, it did recently issue a balance patch aimed at encouraging use of the full suite of tools."The orchestration of intense one-on-one boss encounters that truly test your mettle, and slower-paced stealth sections that let you take on battles at your own pace, is masterful," Tamoor Hussain said in GameSpot's review. "More so than in previous games, From Software has honed in on the inherent tension found in the challenging nature of its games, and uses it to incredible effect. Sekiro marries the developer's unique brand of gameplay with stealth action to deliver an experience that is as challenging as it is gratifying."Info from Gamespot.com

When it came to telling the life story of WWE Superstar Paige on the big screen, it would have been nearly impossible to complete the movie Fighting with My Family without recreating one of the most memorable moments in WWE Raw history. It was April 7, the night after Wrestlemania XXX, when Paige made her main roster debut and--shockingly--captured the WWE Divas Championship in her first match, dethroning reigning champion AJ Lee.To capture that moment on film, Fighting with My Family director Stephen Merchant worked with producer--and former WWE superstar--Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to actually film the scene live in front of a rowdy WWE crowd in Los Angeles, which is detailed in the exclusive clip above from the movie's digital release. "When I got the job, Stephen met me for breakfast just to basically sit me down and say, 'You will be wrestling in the Staples Center pretty soon, in front of a live audience,'" the movie's star Florence Pugh remembers.To pull off the visually impressive moment, Merchant and the film's production team was given one hour with the Raw audience, following the conclusion of an episode. While wrangling a massive group of WWE fans after a three-hour TV taping would normally be an uphill battle, the movie had an ace up its sleeve in The Rock."Dwayne came down, he was going to emcee the event," Merchant recalls. "I said to him, 'Please don't get carried away when you get in the ring because we've only got an hour.' Then he goes out there, and he does 20 minutes on the mic. He's talking to the fans, doing his catchphrases. 'Can you smell...'" Finally, though, Johnson took his leave from the ring and let Pugh and her co-star Thea Trinidad--otherwise known as WWE's Zelina Vega--film their championship match.For Pugh, it was a truly memorable moment. "Before I went on, I remember just putting my hand on the wall and the wall [was] just throbbing, honest to God," the actress said. "I had never heard that many people before in one space."Now the moment will live forever in Fighting with My Family, which is available digitally now and hits Blu-ray on May 14.Info from Gamespot.com

Warning: This post is going to completely spoil Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 3. You might want to wait to read it if you haven't already watched the latest episode of the show's final season.The third episode of Game of Thrones Season 8, The Long Night, upended a lot of expectations. The Night King's attack on Winterfell was met by the combined forces of the living, including Daenerys and her dragons, the North, the Dothraki, and the Unsullied. Prophecies and plot lines were drawn to their conclusions, and things we've been expecting to happen finally did--but not always in the ways the show has hinted they might.The big twist was that it wasn't Jon Snow or Daenerys who wound up killing the Night King in the final battle. The pair have been the subject of all kinds of speculation about which of them (among several other characters) might be the reborn Azor Ahai, the Prince That Was Promised, destined to defeat the Night King and the White Walkers. Melisandre resurrected Jon in Season 6 because she believed he was Azor Ahai; in Season 7, Missandei corrected a gender-related mistranslation from the prophecy, suggesting it could be Daenerys. And then, at the end of The Long Night, Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) stepped up without a shred of prophecy behind her and offed the Night King in one killer move.Arya leaping through the air to bring down the scariest baddie in all of Westeros seems like a clear choice in retrospect--after all, she's been training in the art of being an underestimated small-fry killing machine for literally years at this point--but that didn't stop some people on the internet from taking issue. In the aftermath of The Long Night, a discussion popped up in which some complained about Arya's victory (which is probably the smartest thing about an otherwise messy episode, as GameSpot's Mike Rougeau noted in his review). Some derided Arya as a "Mary Sue," implying that her victory against the Night King was unearned.If you're unfamiliar with "Mary Sue," it's a term coined way back in the 1970s from the world of Star Trek fanfiction. In 1973, Paula Smith used the name in a parody story satirizing some of the stories submitted to her Star Trek fanzine. Mary Sue came to refer to a protagonist character who would show up in the story with no flaws and who was instantly great at anything they tried to do, and mainly served as an insert for the author to live out fantasies of joining the Star Trek crew and hanging out with (and/or romancing) the series' stars.Lately, the wider usage of Mary Sue has evolved to be any character who's always just good at everything and who seemingly has no flaws. The author insert idea doesn't really fit the current usage since the term is usually applied to TV shows and movies; it's more akin to deus ex machina, where someone or something appears to magically or easily solve the problem of a plot, rather than the characters in the story doing so through conflict and growth. And since the term Mary Sue was tossed around in relationship to protagonist Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it has popped up in online discussions with a decidedly sexist tinge--men don't generally get called Mary Sues, only women (even though a lot of male heroes ought to fall into that category).So calling Arya a Mary Sue is saying that she's more of a plot tool than a character in the battle against the Night King, while implying that she's the sort of character who is "good at everything" without having "earned" those capabilities, partially (or wholly) because she's a woman. It's an incredibly stupid argument if you think about Arya Stark's journey through all of Game of Thrones for even a second.Nobody has earned their skills in Game of Thrones the way Arya has. She has literally been training to be a fighter and assassin since the very first season, as a child. Arya was a talented archer at a young age, but she trained in swordplay with Syrio Forel, the former First Sword of Braavos, way back in Season 1. She learned more about fighting while traveling with the Hound, one of the toughest warriors in Westeros, in Season 4. And then she studied abroad at Getting-Awesome-At-Killing-People School, the House of Black and White, in Braavos. We even see Arya practice the exact knife-drop maneuver she uses against the Night King when she and Gwendoline Christie's Brienne of Tarth spar back in Season 7.Arya earned her killer skills through observation, hard-won victories, and brutal training. She practiced her "water dancing" combat style every single day while on the road with the Hound. She learned to fight the waif while blind. She escaped assassination after getting stabbed--repeatedly. It took seven full seasons for Arya to become the warrior she is, and we've watched every step. That's more than can be said for any other character in Game of Thrones, and in many other shows and movies besides.Obviously, Arya isn't a Mary Sue, and to throw the term around in relation to this week's episode is a complete misunderstanding of her character and the work that has gone into her story, the events that happened in The Long Night, and the term itself. There isn't a character who has come further or earned her position and skills more than Arya Stark. That she was the one to kill the Night King is, in hindsight, a great culmination of her arc, and maybe the smartest decision made for this episode. If you watched the last seven seasons of Game of Thrones, it should be clear to you that there's no reason to label Arya Stark a Mary Sue. So if you're really still upset that the toughest woman in Westeros took down the show's biggest bad guy, you should take a long, hard look at your own biases and seriously rethink that position.Need more Game of Thrones? Check out our review of Season 8 Episode 3, a rundown of who has died this season, a list of the Easter eggs and references you might have missed in The Long Night and some theories for the rest of Season 8. We can also catch you up on what happened to Jon Snow's dragon, Rhaegal, and his direwolf, Ghost. We know both of those made it out of Episode 3 and may now play some role in securing the Iron Throne as the action shifts toward King's Landing in Episode 4 and beyond. Info from Gamespot.com

At a meeting in 2012, long before 40-year-old Omeed Dariani became one of the most powerful gamer managers on Earth, he wrote a single, foreboding sentence in his notebook: "Figure out Twitch."These were the halcyon days of video game influencers, a few short years before Twitch started bringing in as many viewers as MSNBC and CNN, and Dariani was brought on board as a senior global brand manager at Sony Online Entertainment to get the company's massive games library into the hands of an insurgent, enigmatic group of internet creators. Partnerships like that are commonplace in 2019, but in those days, Dariani didn't have a precedent to work from. He remembers sending hundreds of emails to every streamer he could find, with the hope of establishing some inaugural deals in a brave new world. Dariani was stonewalled, receiving around 10 actual responses. Some video game streamers said they'd play Sony games for $25,000, some said they'd do it for free, and some left their emails unanswered. There was no rhyme or reason, no institutions, no rules."The [amount of money people were asking to stream games] was completely random. I was like, 'What is going on?'" he remembered. A year later, Dariani set up a mixer at PAX and got his answer."That's how I met a couple of our first clients. As I got to know them, they were telling me, 'Look, it's really difficult to connect with the companies we want to work with, we don't know anybody, I'm just a guy who lives in Florida,'" he said. "They didn't know how to review contracts, they weren't lawyers or business people, they didn't know what to charge for anything, they were terrified. ... I was like, holy crap. We started doing more deals with content creators, and I saw how often they were getting massively ripped off. [They were] signing contracts where they lost tons of their rights, with the companies taking huge amounts of the money. It really pissed me off. After I left Sony, a couple of them suggested, 'Hey, maybe you could manage us.'"Today, Dariani is the owner of the Online Performers Group, which he claims is the first-ever talent management firm explicitly designed for people who record themselves playing video games professionally. Scroll through the clients' page and you'll find movers and shakers like CohhCarnage, Ellohime, and Angry Joe. The company promises to unlock promotional opportunities and sponsorships for anyone under its banner, but services also encompass quality-of-life support with taxes and event scheduling.Omeed Dariani, Online Performers GroupEssentially, Dariani wants to help professional gamers maximize their value while removing as many unnecessary burdens from their plates as possible. The way he talks about it, OPG sounds like a traditional Hollywood power broker. He stocks a huge waiting list of up-and-comers, and many of his new clients are recruited from referrals--just like Creative Artists Agency, William Morris, or any other giant in the representation business."Literally five minutes ago I got an email from a content creator looking to be represented," Dariani said. "They're probably way too small, but we get about five to 10 of those a day."In that sense, Dariani's goal is to add a baseline of stability to the business of influencer marketing in professional gaming, but he'd also be the first one to admit that there's still a long way to go.Feeding FrenzyIt's been five years since Dariani founded OPG, and today, the idea of "talent management for gamers" has gotten more common and more diversified. The Twitch market is one of the most valuable and desirable bulwarks in stardom; it's why Respawn Entertainment brought in Shroud as a crucial ingredient for their Apex Legends push, and it's why Ninja is booking appearances on Fallon and releasing an album with longstanding record label Astralwerks. It's truly bizarre to live in a world where full-time streamers can be categorized as a part of mainstream pop culture, but what their millions of followers don't know is how much of that momentum is orchestrated from behind the scenes.For instance, battle royale wunderkinds Shroud and Ninja have two of the highest-trafficked channels on Twitch, and they're represented by Loaded, a talent agency built last year by Brandon Freytag, who also takes the reins for other all-stars like Lirik, Summit1G, and AnneMunition. The aforementioned Creative Artists Agency, a legendary firm that names both Jennifer Aniston and J.J. Abrams among its clients, inked a groundbreaking deal with Dr.Disrespect, an FPS streamer known for performing on Twitch entirely in his own WWE-like character, back in January. What about United Talent Agency? It works with League of Legends pros Aphromoo and sOAZ, as well as Angelina Jolie. William Morris? It has mega-YouTuber JackSepticEye.The feeding frenzy is on, which is funny because, in so many ways, the mainstream media is still trying to untangle how Twitch stardom actually works. A considerable amount of the heavy lifting done by Twitch and YouTube managers and agencies is the negotiating of brand deals for influencers, but that requires the translation of an entire culture for a third-party company outside of the games industry. It's a problem that Piotr Bombol, the CEO of the Polish gaming marketing agency Gameset, runs into over and over again. His job is to help companies market themselves through gaming influencers, and he's quickly learned that the old-school calculus of marketing simply doesn't work in new media.It's truly bizarre to live in a world where full-time streamers can be categorized as a part of mainstream pop culture, but what fans don't know is how much of that momentum is orchestrated from behind the scenes."When you're a brand, and you're working with an influencer, you're paying for a result. You want your brand exposed to the community for a specific time, and then you get views or clicks," Bombol said. "So if you ask an influencer, 'Okay, let's do a campaign. We want you to do a couple of videos, with one million views, and 10,000 clicks on the link, the influencer will say, 'I can't guarantee you that. I can make the video, but I can't guarantee you that.' There's a risk. And the risk falls on the agency. So the agency says, 'Okay, we'll get these results.' And when you don't get the results, the agency needs to come to the client and say, 'Eh, we didn't make it, but it happens.'"Dariani reported the same problems. So many brands apply television logic to Twitch; they desperately want to tap into a young, agile scene of gamers, but they have a hard time understanding the value of what they're paying for. The profit propositions of, say, a Tom Cruise product placement spot were decided upon decades ago. Twitch, though? That's the Wild West, and a lot of the offers that come across Dariani's desk are hopelessly out of touch."It really comes down to how savvy a company is with Twitch," he said. "There are definitely times where we have to do a hand-holding process for how things work. A lot of times we'll have companies say, 'Can we just have him stream this thing for like 10 minutes?' Well, on Twitch something that happens for 10 minutes isn't very meaningful. Or, 'Could he just tweet about this thing 350 times?' Well, no, that's a lot [of tweets]. … Our clients turn down 90 percent of the things that come in, because the company is asking for things that are basically impossible. If you do it, it's gonna fail, and nobody is going to be happy."Piotr Bombol, GamesetBombol said he's searching for a holy grail. Nobody has yet figured out the perfect model to capitalize on Twitch celebrity. Right now, every agency and management firm involved is in an endless troubleshooting phase--figuring out what works, what doesn't, and constructing all the norms on the fly. In many ways, Dariani thinks things haven't come much further from the mixer he threw seven years ago, filled to the brim with newly-minted internet celebrities who had no idea how to organize their affairs. "They tend to be a little sharper [now], a lot more cautious about entering into things, but we still see things all the time that scare me," he said. "We have a contract. It's a pretty liberal, generous contract, and we still tell people, 'Please have your lawyer look at this before you sign it,' ... The amount of times that somebody will say, 'Oh, so-and-so said you were good so I know that you're good.' I'm like, 'Are you kidding? We could've put anything in there!'"Danotage, a streamer managed by OPG, echoed the same sentiment. He said he's "constantly paranoid about doing something stupid," and values the chance to have the safety net his management team represents that he can bounce off of if anything goes wrong. "I am able to get honest and useful information on whether it’s crazy, or just crazy enough to work," Danotage explained. "This has helped me to drive innovation and mature as a member of the internet video game streaming business in a positive and focused direction.""This infrastructure for agencies and management offices for streamers is quite bare," he added. "It is getting better, but like Hollywood, this business is extremely terrifying to most. So in order for people to become more comfortable with the business, I think it is incredibly important to have a broad infrastructure because it should allow shady companies to be held under scrutiny by their peers."Nobody has yet figured out the perfect model to capitalize on Twitch celebrity. Right now, every agency and management firm involved is in an endless troubleshooting phase--figuring out what works, what doesn't, and constructing all the norms on the fly.Twitch existed for years without a formal network of talent management, so the infrastructure is still racing to catch up. Dariani compares it to the NBA. When a player gets drafted into the league, they're usually already equipped with an agent and a lawyer, they're immediately injected into an ecosystem full of public relations professionals, and they have a coaching staff continually looking over their shoulders. All of those forces are built to catch and temper burgeoning celebrity. Those functions just don't exist for video game influencers yet."It even happens in the NBA 2K games!" he exclaimed. "You meet your press handler, you meet your concierge, you meet your support structure that will keep you out of trouble and make sure that you're fine. And that's huge for an 18-year old kid who gets a million-dollar check. It's the same thing if you get cast in a movie. The production company will say to you, 'If you're going to be in this movie, you need a manager. Here are 20 guys.' That hasn't existed in this industry. People are operating in a vacuum.""Brad Pitt didn't become Brad Pitt all on his own," finishes Dariani. "It's mind-blowing to see somebody who has millions of followers that doesn't have anyone helping them. No matter how good you are, you're just one person." Info from Gamespot.com

Microsoft had originally planned to release the first beta test for Halo: The Master Chief Collection's PC version in April, but that's no longer happening. Now, developer 343 Industries has explained why the delay was necessary.Right up top it's important to note that the PC version is being made by Splash Damage and Ruffian Games with the support for 343. "Great progress" has been made toward launching the first beta test, or "flight," for Halo: Reach, but it's just not completely ready yet."There are still a number of items to work through before we feel we're ready for the first public flight," 343 said. "While flights are obviously work-in-progress builds, they do require a certain level of polish and functionality to ensure that players can have a successful, enjoyable session and that the team is able to get the data they need to validate the flight."343's own "Pro Team" are currently testing Halo: MCC for PC with the specific focus of considering how the game feels with mouse and keyboard controls. These tests are happening as the technical work continues on the development side.In regards to what's specifically holding up the first beta test, 343 said it's finalizing the process of the technical ability for Steam users to acquire the flight. "This also includes being able to add specific content in a build while cleanly removing content that isn't needed (this helps keep the overall build size down and keep players focused on the specific areas/activities tied to the goals for the flight)," 343 said.Additionally, work is being done on Halo: MCC for PC in the areas of security, the PC-specific UI, and telemetry.A work-in-progress look at Halo: MCC's PC UIYou can sign up for the free Halo Insider program for a chance to get into the beta tests. The tests will start small before expanding to additional users over time.The full Halo Waypoint blog post offers a ridiculously in-depth breakdown of how 343, Splash Damage, and Ruffian are going about trying to make Halo: MCC for PC a "best-in-class PC shooter."Halo: MCC begins its release on PC with Halo: Reach (which is also coming to Xbox One) before continuing in chronological order thereafter--Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo 4. Splash Damage senior producer George Wright said many of the challenges in bringing Halo: MCC to PC is the scale and age of the individual games. Not only that, but the games are made with multiple different engines, some of which are not specific to Halo. Not only that, but the engines have different programming styles."Each game was also developed for a very specific set of hardware and software requirements, and we need to harmonize the games so that they’re performant on contemporary PC setups, and then start adding the features that players have come to know on PC," Wright said. "A lot of the tools used to build each title no longer exist, so we need to reconstruct, and repair these systems to make them function correctly. The games were built using older development techniques, so it’s been an interesting challenge for a lot of us used to modern AAA development to go back to the old ways--a bit like the difference between building a skyscraper and restoring the Sistine Chapel."Wright added that development is "going well," noting that Halo: Reach is already playable. "However, we have a very high bar for where the game needs to be, so have a lot more work to do before it's ready to ship," he said.Overall, 343 stressed that bringing Halo: MCC to PC is not just a simple copy/paste job--not by a long shot."Some out there may think it's 'just a lot of copy and paste' to get things to work but making games at the quality level players expect is most definitely not that simple," 343 said. "A project can have hundreds, or even thousands, of people working towards one central goal: creating fun! It is a beautiful and unique process that each studio handles with finesse and flair that helps create a unique brand of magic."Go to Halo Waypoint to read the full blog post.While all this work is going on, Microsoft also continues to work on the next mainline Halo game, Halo Infinite, which is coming to PC and Xbox One. That game is being made by a separate team at 343 Industries. The game is expected to be shown off during Microsoft's E3 2019 briefing in June. Info from Gamespot.com

A number of big-name musicians have appeared in cameo roles on Game of Thrones over the years, including Sigur Ros, members of Mastodon, and Ed Sheeran. Yet another famous singer-songwriter has joined the ranks: Chris Stapleton.In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment from Sunday's episode, "The Long Night," Stapleton appears as a White Walker in the dramatic Battle of Winterfell. His bass player J.T. Cure and tour manager also appeared in the episode as White Walkers. A big fan of the show, Stapleton asked his management to reach out to the producers for a bit role, and it all worked out.Winterfell 4.28.2019 pic.twitter.com/lqR11kHDI5 — Chris Stapleton (@ChrisStapleton) April 29, 2019"I was like, you know, I would gladly fly to wherever in the world just to be a small part and get to watch that show going down," Stapleton told Rolling Stone. He filmed his scene in Northern Ireland, and Stapleton remarked, "They were gracious enough to let me come participate that way."Stapleton's wife, Morgane, chronicled the moment that he appears in an Instagram video. Of course it contains spoilers, so be mindful of that if you haven't seen the episode yet. View this post on InstagramEpisode 3....My wildling is a white walker #gotA post shared by Morgane Stapleton (@morganwithane) on Apr 28, 2019 at 8:03pm PDT Stapleton is a celebrated country music singer-songwriter who has won five Gramm Awards and seven Academy of Country Music Awards. He collaborated with Justin Timberlake for the song "Say Something" and he also appears on the recent Pink song "Love Me Anyway."Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 3, "The Long Night," was a ratings smash. It sands as the most-watched episode in the history of the series. Info from Gamespot.com