Game developer Markus "Notch" Persson, who created the Minecraft franchise and sold it to Microsoft for $2.5 billion USD, will not be involved with the franchise's upcoming 10th anniversary celebration event. A spokesperson for Microsoft told Variety that they are excluding him due to his "comments and opinions.""His comments and opinions do not reflect those of Microsoft or Mojang and are not representative of Minecraft," a representative told the site.As part of Microsoft's acquisition of Minecraft and developer Mojang, Persson stepped away from the series. The Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that this remains the case; he hasn't worked on the franchise since he sold it to Microsoft years ago.Microsoft did not point to any specific comments or opinions from Persson that led to his exclusion from the event, but a number of his tweets and comments on a variety of subjects have garnered criticism.Persson reportedly owned 70 percent of Mojang, so he could have made more than $1.5 billion in the Microsoft buyout between cash and shares. He spent $70 million on a Beverly Hills mansion that Beyonce and Jay-Z were also eyeing. Persson's exclusion from the May 17 Minecraft celebration event in Stockholm is not the first instance of Microsoft distancing itself from Persson. In March, an update to Minecraft removed a reference to Persson, though he is still listed as the game's creator in the credits.As for the upcoming Minecraft event, it aims to give fans a look at the "past, present, and exciting future of the decade-old franchise."Minecraft remains one of the most popular games ever. Available on basically every platform that plays games, Minecraft has 91 million monthly players as of October 2018, which is many millions more than Fortnite has. Info from Gamespot.com

George R.R. Martin has often cited J.R.R. Tolkien as an inspiration for his own A Song of Ice and Fire series. So it's exciting news that Martin has been announced as the moderator for a discussion and Q&A about the new movie, Tolkien.Martin will moderate and discussion and Q&A with the movie's stars, including Nicholas Hoult, Lily Collins, and director Dome Karukoski. The event is taking place on May 8 at the Regency Westwood Village where the film is premiering in Los Angeles."Modern fantasy would not exist without J.R.R. Tolkien and Lord of the Rings… and that most definitely includes my own A Song of Ice and Fire," Martin said in a blog post. "Tolkien's work redefined fantasy, and all of us who have followed in his footsteps owe him a profound debt. "But who was the man behind the Shire, the Hobbits, and the One Ring? Tolkien, the new motion picture about JRRT’s early life, aspires to answer that question."The discussion and Q&A will be broadcast live on the Tolkien movie's Facebook page, beginning at 9 PM PST. Last week, the Tolkien Estate disavowed the movie Tolkien. The Estate said it was not involved in and does not approve of the new film, which stars Hoult as Tolkien and Collins as Edith Bratt. In response, film company Fox Searchlight said it is proud of the movie, adding that it has the "utmost respect and admiration for Mr. Tolkien and his phenomenal contribution to literature."Info from Gamespot.com

The Nintendo Switch Online paid membership program is doing quite well, it seems. Nintendo has confirmed that 9.8 million people have signed up for the paid program since the service launched back in September. This excludes free trial memberships, but it does include family subscriptions.Nearly 10 million subscribers paying a monthly fee is likely good news for Nintendo's bottom line, as it gives the company yet another way to make money on a regular basis. Software and services are historically the money-makers, so Nintendo investors are likely happy with this strong start for Nintendo Switch Online.Also in the report, Nintendo called out Tetris 99 as a success story for Switch Online. The game is free, but it requires a Switch Online membership, and so far the game has been played by 2.8 million accounts. The title helped improve overall "engagement" on Nintendo Switch, the company said."We plan to implement in-game events to encourage consumers to keep enjoying the game," Nintendo said.Another pillar of Nintendo Switch Online is the library of NES titles that subscribers get access to. The library grows every month, and Nintendo said this program is being enjoyed by subscribers. Looking ahead, Nintendo said it is looking at ways to make Nintendo Switch Online "more attractive" going forward, but it didn't say how.In other news, a cheaper Nintendo Switch model is reportedly on the way, while the core console will supposedly receive a "modest upgrade." If these consoles are indeed in the works, they won't be announced at E3, as Nintendo has already ruled that out. Info from Gamespot.com

Warning: major Endgame Spoilers to follow!One of Avengers: Endgame's most unlikely heroes is a character who has been around since the beginning: Pepper Potts, who's last proper run-in with the front lines of a superhero showdown came in Iron Man 3. Things are a lot different this time around, thankfully, and Pepper is no longer infected with a lethal virus burning her up from the inside out--now she's just got her very own armor, and it's straight from the comics.Sort of.So, just how and why is Pepper armored up now? Let's really dig into it. And in the meantime, check out our Avengers: Endgame review, Easter Eggs and references list, and our look at Captain America's major moment and Tony Stark's story arc.Where did the armor come from?Somewhere in the five-year time skip, Tony built Pepper her very own armor as an "anniversary present"--something she apparently rarely uses, according to Tony, but she has it nonetheless. This all happens off screen so we're left to fill in the gaps for ourselves about why a set of armor would be a great gift--did Pepper request it? Did Tony just build it because that's what he does? Honestly, who knows. The point is, Pepper has a suit and somewhere in the last five years she apparently learned how to fly it really, really well.The armor itself is never given a name in the movie, which is a little unusual given how much Tony likes to name things, but it's a sleek purple get-up that seems to have all the capabilities and features of Tony's more recent suits, including detachable wing-like guns, blasters, and more repulsor weapons than you could shake a stick at. It doesn't appear to be nano-tech, however, but we don't see it long enough or closely enough to really say for certain.Where does the armor actually come from?Pepper suiting up is a two-fold pay off. The first part is strictly for fans of the MCU who remember her brush with armoring up back in Iron Man 3 when she was infected with the deadly Extremis treatment which had been designed to help regenerate damaged tissue by the dubiously ethical Advanced Idea Mechanics, or AIM. She never actually--or willingly--suits up in that movie, but much like Steve's tease with Mjolnir back in Age of Ultron, the wink to a possible future was laid out.The idea is not unique to the MCU incarnation at all, however. Over in the comics, Pepper actually had a relatively long run as an armored hero named Rescue. Rescue's story comes from an era in the comics where Tony Stark was declared a fugitive by Norman Osborn and HAMMER, when he refused to give Osborn the list of superhero identities and code names from the Superhero Registration Act. Osborn hunted Tony down by systematically attacking Stark Industries locations, leaving Pepper frantically trying to escape. Luckily, she found the "Mark 1616" armor Tony had made for her in secret and was able to escape Norman's relentless attack unschathed.To make sure the Registration Act data never fell into Norman's hands, Tony began erasing his own mind, leaving Pepper to pick up Iron Man duties in his place--but with a twist. Norman had declared all of Tony's various tech illegal weapons of mass destruction, making the traditional Iron Man approach completely untenable. To circumvent this problem, Tony built the Mark 1616 without any weapons--a purely defensive suit--that would effectively loophole all of Norman's legal maneuvering and allow Pepper to operate in public: hence the name "Rescue."Pepper eventually gave up the Rescue identity when Tony was back on his feet, but it remains one of her most defining eras in comics, not to mention one of her coolest.So is that really Rescue in Endgame?Not really. Endgame's version of Pepper's armor is definitely inspired by Rescue in the design silhouette, and the purple color palette was used in the Iron Man: Armored Adventures cartoon, but that's about where the similarities end. It does carry with it plenty of implications about the future of Pepper's character, though--and it's always nice to see a vague idea realized completely, even if it took six years.Whether we'll see Pepper return for future movies is a mystery, but at the very least, we now know that anyone--even someone who isn't an engineer or a military pilot--can eventually learn to pilot an armor in five years or less. The tech has definitely come a long way in terms of user-friendliness since Tony's first days of testing in his garage. Info from Gamespot.com

This review contains minor spoilers about mission structure and overall story direction. There are no spoilers for major narrative moments.Around 10 hours into Days Gone, you're thrown into a hunting tutorial apropos of nothing. The over-the-top libertarian character takes you out with a rifle and shows you how to track a deer, although you've already had a tracking tutorial. You're then tasked with getting more meat for you and your buddy because your supply is running low, something you never have to do again. You also don't cook or eat; you can only donate meat to camps around the map to earn a negligible amount of trust and money with them. After a little while, even stopping to get meat off wolves that attacked you doesn't seem worth it.Like many things in Days Gone, hunting exists just to be there, an idea that is picked up and then abandoned at random. Unlike hunting, some of those ideas are even good in the moment. But most aspects of Days Gone lack purpose. Its many narrative threads flirt with being meaningful and interesting but never quite commit, with characters whose actions and motivations don't make sense. Riding a souped-up motorcycle through the world and taking out zombie nests and hordes is satisfying in the way that completing open-world checklists often is, but by the end, you're left to wonder what the point of it all was.The first act of the game--about 20 hours or so--sets up quite a few narrative arcs. Two years after the initial "Freaker" outbreak, biker buddies Deacon St. John and Boozer have become drifters doing odd jobs for nearby survivor camps and keeping mostly to themselves. Deacon's wife, Sarah, had been stabbed at the very beginning of the outbreak; Deacon put her on a government helicopter bound for a refugee camp so she could get medical attention, but when he and Boozer arrived, the camp has been overrun by Freaks, and Sarah had apparently died. Deacon is understandably not coping with it well. Boozer suggests riding north and leaving the memories behind, but Deacon's bike breaks down and is subsequently looted for parts, so one of your main goals is to earn trust and credits at the nearby camps in order to rebuild your motorcycle.The motorcycle is central to everything you do in Days Gone. Getting anywhere, including by fast travel, requires your bike, and if you want to save while out in the world, you better be right next to it. Getting off your bike is a matter of both your entrance and your exit; you need to stop far enough away from enemies so they don't hear you coming, but you also need to be able to run to your bike quickly if things go south and you need to escape. And, as you're sneaking past Freakers to loot things like bandages and ammo, you also need to be on the lookout for a gas can and some scrap metal to keep your bike in top shape--if it breaks down or runs out of gas, you're basically screwed. That said, gas and other loot do regenerate if you leave and return to a location, so you'll never truly run out of anything so long as you put in the time to look for it.At the beginning, you do jobs for two camps: Copeland's conspiracy theorist stronghold and Tucker's hellish forced-labor camp. Copeland's has a mechanic capable of upgrading your bike, while Tucker's has a well-stocked weapons merchant. Your starter junk bike gets about a mile per gallon, and you can't store a gas can on your bike or your person, so you either have to return to a camp to fuel up or constantly scrounge for gas cans out in Freaker territory. This makes wandering around and doing things in the open world frustrating at first, so you do a lot of throwaway missions for the two camps to start.Many of these early missions consist of cookie-cutter bounty-hunting and rescue jobs in which you go to a place, track a person using your apparently psychic Survival Vision to highlight footprints and other clues, and then kill some bandits or Freakers. Some of these require you to take the target alive, which often means chasing them on your bike and shooting at their tires with your pistol. If you happen to run out of gas or ammo, or if your bike is already weak and breaks down after a couple of bumpy turns, you auto-fail these missions and have to start over. You also accelerate with R2 and shoot with R1, which, while not horrible, is clunky and awkward.One early scene involving a drug thief kicks off a series of missions like these that, once completed, has no bearing on the rest of the game despite initial appearances; once you track down the stolen drugs you have to choose which camp to return them to, but there are no consequences either way, and then the situation is dropped entirely. The only result is getting some trust and credits with one of the camps--I chose Copeland simply because I wanted money for a better fuel tank. A lot of the story missions going forward, as you discover a third, more narratively relevant camp, follow the same structures as these earlier missions. But the focus on Tucker and Copeland specifically amounts to hours of nothing in the grand scheme of the story. Tucker's forced labor doesn't come back to bite anyone, and while Tucker and Copeland don't seem to like each other, doing work for one camp doesn't affect your relationship with the other. Once you get to the third camp, Lost Lake, Tucker and Copeland cease to matter at all, not least because Lost Lake has both a better mechanic and better weapons.Once you upgrade your bike a bit, though, the world opens up. No longer bound by low gas mileage and a weak arsenal, you can head further out and more handily take on enemy-controlled areas around the map. You clear ambush camps by killing everyone present and eliminate Freaker infestation zones by burning all their nests. In addition to trust and credits, clearing an ambush camp nets you resources to loot, a map of the area, and a new fast travel point; destroying an infestation zone allows you to fast travel in the area. Unlocking the map and neutralizing threats is satisfying in the way that cleaning up clutter bit by bit is, and you can see your work pay off in your bike's upgrades. However, there's little variety between each ambush camp and infestation zone, and they get repetitive early--especially because Deacon dry-heaves and whines about the nests smelling horrible at each one.The real motivation to do all of this is twofold. Early on in the game, Deacon's best friend Boozer is attacked by a group of Rippers, a doomsday cult with a number of bizarre rituals. The Rippers singe a tattoo off Boozer's arm and leave him with third-degree burns, so Deacon's purpose in life is to keep Boozer alive and healthy. This mostly involves finding sterile bandages and the one mission where you gather meat for him. On top of that, though, Deacon sees a helicopter belonging to the government agency NERO, which had been involved in the initial relief effort, flying overhead. That gives Deacon a bit of hope that Sarah might still be alive, since he'd put her on a NERO helicopter after she was stabbed, so you start stalking the NERO soldiers and scientists to investigate further.There are a number of flashbacks to Deacon's relationship with Sarah before the outbreak, bolstered by his hope that she's alive. They're largely awkward cutscenes interspersed with short sections of walking slowly while Sarah and Deacon talk about surface-level topics, and they don't ever provide a convincing reason why they're together. Deacon is a biker and Sarah is a "nice girl" scientist, which is fine, but "opposites attract" isn't enough to make their relationship compelling. It's romantic in that Deacon hasn't given up on Sarah, but the main takeaway from the flashbacks is that they're physically attracted to each other and that Deacon doesn't talk about his feelings.The NERO arc is where things really pick up. Spying on the NERO scientists consists of insta-fail stealth missions. They can be frustrating before you unlock abilities to improve your stealth skills, but the conversations you overhear are legitimately interesting and answer questions that other zombie fiction often neglects. For example, you learn from one eavesdropping on a scientist studying Freaker scat that they eat more than just other people and each other--they also eat plants, and that means they're not going to starve any time soon (like in 28 Days Later). Deacon quickly gets in contact with a NERO researcher who uses government resources to track down what might have happened to Sarah. Even though their relationship is confusing, it is a tempting mystery.Abandoned Nero medical units and research sites contain more small details, including recorders that play snippets of scenes--a scientist studying a Freaker specimen, the moment a camp got overrun, or just banter between soldiers. Getting inside a unit is a matter of refueling the generator, making sure to find and disable every speaker nearby so the noise doesn't attract Freakers. Finding each speaker can be a bit tricky at certain sites, which makes the moment you turn the power on more exciting and the realization that you're in the clear more of a relief. And in addition to satisfying your curiosity, you're also given the more tangible reward of an injector that improves your health, stamina, and bullet-time-like focus ability.As you learn more about NERO and the Freakers, you're introduced to new, more powerful types of Freaks, including a berserker and an all-female variant that screams to attract more Freaks your way. They don't really provide new challenges so much as slow you down, and they feel like a stopgap measure to tide you over until the first horde-based mission around 40 hours into the game. That first horde mission is exhilarating--running around while using tight spaces and molotovs to keep the horde off you, eventually taking out hundreds of Freakers, is a well-earned victory. But that mission is followed very quickly by another one, and after a short break, you have two more nearly back-to-back horde missions that lead up to the end of the main story. Without any breathing room, the hordes are exhausting to deal with, and you'll likely have to stop everything to loot and rebuild your stockpile of resources after each one just so you can progress.Ultimately, though, Days Gone isn't about NERO or Sarah or the Freakers. It's about Deacon, and what he wants is what matters. Narrative threads are dropped as soon as Deacon no longer has a use for them. Copeland and Tucker only matter until Deacon gets to a camp that has better supplies. Boozer's health is only important because it's Deacon's reason for living. Even the fascinating little details about the Freakers are useless to Deacon, who only cares about Sarah--but not what Sarah wants or needs, just that his "ol' lady" might be alive somewhere. Every character is seen through this Deacon-focused lens, and as a result, they're two-dimensional.Deacon is selfish, and it's simply boring that the game is uncritical of him.Deacon does not learn anything over the course of the game, and the story is concerned with validating his actions and feelings above all else. When one character urges him not to kill anyone in cold blood, Deacon "proves" that murder is better than mercy. As Boozer nearly breaks through to Deacon about learning to let go, Deacon learns something new about NERO and clings to his hope even harder. Deacon also has a policy where he doesn't kill unarmed women, which does not affect the story in any way and goes completely unexamined. There's no introspection here; Deacon is selfish, and it's simply boring that the game is uncritical of him.I did a lot of things in Days Gone. I burned every single Freaker nest; I cleared every ambush camp; I maxed out my bike; I took out a few optional hordes just because. Like Deacon with Sarah, I kept going because I hoped to find something, to follow a thread to a possibly fascinating or satisfying or impactful conclusion. But at the end of it all, I'd only gotten scraps.Info from Gamespot.com

At the heart of any European town founded before the 19th century lies a church. It's the same with Anno 1800. At the center of your city sits a magnificent cathedral, its spectacular steeple reaching for the heavens and illuminating the lives of everyone who passes by. It’s a very beautiful church, but it’s hiding something.At the heart of Anno 1800 lies an intimidating and complex financial simulation. It may seem like you're overseeing the rise and occasional fall of a European-style city as it comes of industrial age. But really, you're juggling numbers, thumb wedged in the accounts ledger, finessing production efficiencies and stabilizing trade fluctuations. Anno 1800 is perhaps the prettiest spreadsheet I've ever seen.Each randomly generated map in the core sandbox mode unfurls as a mostly blank canvas, a glistening sea dotted with fertile islands waiting to be claimed by you and your (AI or human) opponents. As you grow and expand your reach across multiple islands and into the New World--and your empire undergoes its Industrial Revolution--you'll employ more advanced technologies, extracting coal and oil to fuel great belching factories and formidable steam engines. But the basic principle remains constant: Satisfy your population by employing them to manufacture natural resources into commodities that encourage more people to move to your cities.Everything becomes a production chain for you to configure, massage and optimize. Early on the choices you're making here are relatively simple; the virgin terrain of your first settlement makes it easy to place the knitter near the farm so the wool is delivered swiftly and the warehouse within range so the finished goods can be collected for immediate sale. But soon the need for a navy means you've had to build a sailmaker's yard which is now diverting wool previously used by the knitter. Building another sheep farm means finding the physical space for an additional farm as well as for all the extra housing for the new farmers. Extend this scenario a few hours into a game and it will encompass dozens of productions chains of increasing complexity and inter-connectivity.Managing these productions chains--whether it's work clothes and sails or beer and pocket watches--is an enjoyable exercise in a kind of "balancing the books" sense. You know you have to spend resources to grow, but your success depends on finding that ever-moving sweet spot between overreaching and not pushing far enough. It's necessary to keep the requisite resources flowing and meet the housing and job demands of your population, but it's not sufficient. To maintain a firm hand on your economy you have to appreciate the various financial levers available to you, allowing fine adjustments to tax rates and production ratios that can genuinely mean the difference between keeping it in the black and going bankrupt.Of course, it's also just as enjoyable to play the more visual puzzle game of city planning, slotting in that new building not only where its specific dimensions fit, but where it also retains proximity to its related structures in the chain. Nobly assisting matters here is the "move" tool that lets you--for no resource cost at all--pick up and move any building to another location. Need to pop a police station downtown but there's no room? Just move the nearby houses further down the street to open up the space. It really does look utterly beautiful when it all comes together, too, like an exquisitely detailed diorama that you can poke, prod and tweak to your heart’s content. There’s even a first-person mode that lets you walk the streets and observe all your townsfolk going about their day to day business. I especially welcomed the moments I was able to spend admiring the view before some new urgent matter warranted investigation and I had to return to crunching those numbers.Spinning all the plates becomes even trickier as you advance into the Industrial Age. Production chains that were once straightforward, one-to-one input/output ratios turn into logistical nightmares as multiple buildings start feeding into multiple other buildings. The demands of the job are only exacerbated by a lack of clarity in the feedback you're given when things aren't operating at full capacity. Simple things like knowing how many flour mills and grain farms support a bakery just aren't communicated clearly enough in-game or in the non-existent manual. I spent hours engaged in trial and error in such situations before finding a comprehensive external wiki that I found myself alt-tabbing to constantly while I played.There is a campaign mode that functions as a tutorial before it segues into the main sandbox. And there is an additional setting that enables a more guided experience, providing you with specific goals at the appropriate moments. I found both very welcome, even as someone who had played some of the previous Anno games. But at the same time, I felt that other important aspects weren't explained thoroughly enough, if at all, and it was frustrating to guess at solutions to problems I wasn't confident I'd even diagnosed correctly.Much of Anno 1800 is spent watching numbers go up and down. Total gold is going down. Now it's going back up again. There aren't enough workers for the number of available jobs. Okay, now there are too many workers and not enough engineers. Sometimes it's clear why these things are happening and sometimes it's obvious what you can do to rectify the situation. However, other times it isn't and it's really quite panic-inducing. My stomach tightened whenever the numbers plummeted into the red, but as soon as they shot back into the black I would feel a surge of relief. Even so, outside of these sharp swings, when the numbers remained relatively stable and my economy seemed to be ticking over steadily, I couldn't shake this nagging sense that everything was always on the verge of complete collapse.I spent all of my time playing Anno 1800 in a mild yet pervasive state of anxiety. As a city-building sim that emphasizes economic management, it is as robust and powerful as the steel factories it allows you to pollute the skies with. But for all the natural beauty of its island paradise and the architectural splendor of its churches, theatres, and piers, it's just a little too cold in its reliance on numbers and a little too impenetrable in its reluctance to show you its workings. I'm glad I visited, but I don't think I'd want to live there. Info from Gamespot.com

Avengers: Endgame's title is a reference to a line Doctor Strange utters toward the end of its predecessor, Avengers: Infinity War. After Thanos leaves Titan with the Time Stone, the fifth of the six Infinity Stones he needs to complete the Infinity Gauntlet, Strange tells Tony Stark, "We're in the endgame now." Strange is telling Tony that, while it seems like the Avengers have lost, this is actually a necessary part of his plan for beating Thanos, and there's more to the fight against the Mad Titan than just this battle. (Check out our Endgame review to see if the finale measures up to the setup.)Infinity War ended with Thanos's victory and his snap, in which he used the Infinity Stones to eliminate half of all life in the universe. Among those who ceased to exist was Doctor Strange, who never got a chance to explain what his big plan was. Now that Avengers: Endgame is here, we can see what he was thinking--and why he changed his mind about allowing Thanos to get the Time Stone.First, it's important to remember exactly what Strange said in Infinity War. Originally, his plan was to keep the Time Stone away from Thanos by any means necessary, but he was unwilling to let Tony destroy it or otherwise take it away from him--Strange was insistent that he keep the stone. After he was kidnapped by Thanos's lieutenant, Ebony Maw, and rescued by Tony and Spidey, Strange reiterated that the most important thing in the fight was the stone. He pointedly told Tony that no matter what happened, he would protect the stone, even at the cost of the lives of Tony, Peter Parker, or both.When they reach Titan, Doctor Strange spends part of the discussion of how to take down Thanos using the Time Stone. He watches some 14 million possible timelines, and as he tells Tony, and only saw one in which the Avengers won the battle. The fight ensues with the team coming close to getting the Infinity Gauntlet away from Thanos, which could have allowed them to stop him, but they're unsuccessful. In the final moments of the fight, Thanos stabs Tony in the gut, then prepares to finish him off.This is the moment where Strange changes things. He makes a bargain with Thanos: Spare Tony's life in exchange for the Time Stone. It's a big shift from Strange's earlier declaration that the stone was more important than anyone on the team. Strange's comment about being in the endgame comes soon after, once Thanos has departed from Wakanda. That reveals that Strange changing his mind and saving Tony services some greater agenda, more important than keeping the Time Stone away from Thanos.We all know what happens next: Thanos wins. But Endgame reveals why Strange made the decision that he did, because Tony's survival in Infinity War is essential to everything that happens. When Scott Lang returns from the Quantum Realm, he reveals that Hank Pym's shrinking technology can make time travel possible--but it's Tony Stark who figures out how the team can travel to specific places and times, without getting lost along the way. Strange knew that the Avengers couldn't beat Thanos in a straight fight, but that they'd be able to eventually undo the snap--if Tony was still alive to help them figure out how.Strange and Tony have another big moment during the climax of the film. As Tony is battling Thanos, trying to get the Gauntlet away from him so he can't use the Infinity Stones again, he catches Strange's eye. The pair have already had a conversation about the future; as Strange puts it, telling Tony about what was going to happen would cause it not to happen, because the knowledge would cause Tony (and potentially everyone else) to change how they would act.In the final moments of the fight, Strange, meeting Tony's eyes, raises one finger. It calls back their earlier discussion--this is the one successful version of events, telling Tony they're on the right path. But Strange is also signaling what Tony has already realized: that it's up to Tony to defeat Thanos, and to use the Infinity Stones to do it. And Tony knows from seeing both Thanos and Hulk use the Gauntlet that it'll likely kill him.The reality is that Strange has known this was how things had to go the whole time. He stopped Thanos from killing Tony in Infinity War because he knew that Tony had a huge role to play in the rest of the fight. Tony would be essential to helping secure time travel; he'd be necessary to get hold of the Space Stone and build the gauntlet that would allow the Avengers to use the Infinity Stones; and he'd be the one to finally defeat Thanos.And when Strange said he couldn't tell Tony the outcome or it would change, it was because he knew that Tony still had one more role to play: He'd have to sacrifice himself to beat Thanos.The bummer is that Strange knew all this, but in 14 million timelines, couldn't see another way forward--maybe one where Tony got to live a long and happy life with his family. But with the Marvel Cinematic Universe's big arc beginning with Iron Man and closing with Avengers: Endgame, it's pretty fitting that the key to everything would be Tony Stark, doing the very thing Steve Rogers said Tony was incapable of during their first mission together in The Avengers: sacrificing himself for the greater good. Info from Gamespot.com

20 years ago this month, the original Super Smash Bros. launched for Nintendo 64 in North America. It hardly needs to be stated how important that game would prove to be for Nintendo's fortunes. The mascot brawler would eventually grow into one of the company's most beloved and lavish franchises, selling millions of copies and inspiring a string of imitators on other platforms in its wake. But despite all of the marquee characters attached to the game, it was also a big risk for Nintendo, a curious experiment within a genre it had little familiarity with, and its eventual success was far from assured.By the time Super Smash Bros. arrived in 1999, Nintendo was already well-versed in spinning its mascots off into seemingly incongruous genres. The company's dungareed workhorse, Mario, had by that point starred in even more off-shoot games than he had platformers, running the gamut from puzzlers to racers, and he certainly wasn't the only one; the lovable puffball Kirby had a similar predilection for genre-hopping, appearing in his own interpretations of pinball, Breakout, and even minigolf, while the Pokemon series would go on to inspire a raft of its own off-shoot games following its explosive debut.N64's Super Smash Bros., however, differed from other spin-offs in one significant way: it marked the first time these disparate characters appeared together in the same game. While its roster may seem quaint by today's standards, at the time it was a veritable all-star cast of Nintendo mascots. Mario, of course, featured prominently in advertisements and on the game's box, but now he shared the spotlight with Link, Pikachu, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, and even a couple of relatively obscure characters like EarthBound's Ness and F-Zero's Captain Falcon, representing a cross-section of the company's biggest franchises.Few other games at the time attempted to bring this many properties together under one banner, giving Super Smash Bros. the air of a blockbuster crossover event. However, it wasn't always envisioned as such. The game initially began life under the codename "Kakuto-Geemu Ryuoh," a side project that Kirby creator Masahiro Sakurai and then-HAL programmer (and future Nintendo president), the late Satoru Iwata, collaborated on in their spare time. From its inception, Sakurai wanted the project to offer a different type of experience than other fighting games on the market, emphasizing four-player free-for-alls and easy-to-learn controls.When it came time to replace the game's generic stand-in fighters with an actual cast, Sakurai asked to use characters from Nintendo's vast stable of mascots, but the idea was initially met with some reluctance. "Nowadays, we take it for granted, but at the time, people had reservations about mobilizing an all-star cast of characters," Iwata recalled during a 2008 interview with Sakurai. "I guess fans were upset by the prospect of pitting characters like Mario, Link, and Pikachu against one another. We had a hard time convincing them the fun and depth that were so obviously present in the Smash Bros. trademark fighting style."Despite this hesitance, Sakurai's instincts proved to be correct, and Super Smash Bros. would go on to become one of the N64's best-selling releases thanks in large part to its star-studded roster. The diverse cast of fighters gave the game a crossover appeal that many of Nintendo's other spin-offs lacked. While Mario's sports outings inherently drew in those who were already fans of the plumber, Super Smash Bros. appealed to anyone who had ever played a Nintendo game, be it Zelda, Donkey Kong, or Pokemon. Moreover, it allowed for some hilarious, never-before-possible confrontations, further adding to the novelty. Here was an official Nintendo game in which players could shoot Pikachu in the face using a ray gun or smack Yoshi with a hammer and send him flying into the background.It certainly helped that the title was easy to pick up and play as well. Sakurai's work as a game designer had long been characterized by its accessibility, and with Smash Bros., he applied that same sensibility to what was traditionally an inaccessible genre. Where most contemporary fighting games required players to memorize complex strings of inputs to pull off combos, Smash emphasized simplicity, tying each character's full repertoire of attacks to two buttons and directional tilts. This setup still afforded enough nuance for advanced play, but even those who had never proven to be particularly adept at fighting games were able to pick the title up and join the fray with relative ease. The stages on which these bouts were contested also contributed to the unpredictability, as each featured its own unique hazards that players needed to carefully navigate while fighting.Super Smash Bros. would go on to sell more than five million copies worldwide. While it wasn't enough to reverse the N64's fortunes against Sony's insurgent PlayStation, it helped solidify the system's reputation as a party machine. More importantly, it laid the groundwork for even greater things to come. While the original game was a commercial success in its own right, the series wouldn't truly explode in popularity until its sequel, Super Smash Bros. Melee, arrived two years later on the freshly launched GameCube. And the franchise only continued to grow from there, each successive installment introducing more fighters, gameplay modes, music, and other content until each game became a spectacle unto itself.All of these advances would eventually culminate in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for Switch, which is far and away the largest installment in the series to date, dwarfing the original's humble 12-character roster with more than 70 playable fighters. Despite only launching this past December, Ultimate has already become the best-selling game in the franchise, moving more than 13 million copies in four months--a testament to the series' enduring appeal even two decades after its debut. While the original Super Smash Bros. may seem antiquated compared to the games that would follow, it'll always be remembered for kickstarting one of Nintendo's most beloved and lucrative franchises, and it wouldn't have been possible if two visionary designers hadn't worked on a weird little experiment in their spare time 20 years ago.Info from Gamespot.com

As expected, Marvel's Avengers: Endgame is a massive, record-breaking success at the box office. It's made $1.2 billion worldwide after just five days, which is by far the biggest global opening for any movie in the history of cinema. Endgame made $350 million in the US/Canada for its opening frame, which is a new domestic record. It's also the first movie to ever make more than $300 million in its opening weekend in the US and Canada. Endgame also holds the domestic box office records for fastest to $100 million (17 hours), as well as biggest single day, biggest Saturday, and biggest Sunday in the history of movies. It's also the most widely screened film in US/Canada history, showing at 4,662 theatres. The previous biggest US/Canada opening weekend box office record-holder was Avengers: Infinity War ($257.7 million). In terms of Endgame's international release, it set the record for biggest opening weekend in history, coming in at $859 million and surpassing Infinity War's $443 million from last year. This includes China, where Endgame made $330.5 million over its opening weekend to set a new all-time record for biggest opening. Endgame also set various box office records in countries all over the world.Deadline has a full breakdown of Endgame's box office results.Given Endgame's strong start, it'll be interesting to see where the movie finishes when it ends its theatrical run. James Cameron's Avatar holds the all-time global box office record with $2.78 billion. After just one weekend, Endgame is already the 18th biggest box office success in history, but it still has much work to do to climb the ladder. Infinity War ended its theatrical run with $2.048 billion.All of these box office numbers come from Box Office Mojo.For more on Endgame, check out GameSpot's review. We also have a dedicated Endgame hub where you can find everything you need to know about the movie.Info from Gamespot.com

Technology giant Microsoft is rising to new heights. After reporting strong earnings results last week, the company reached a valuation above $1 trillion for a period of time.This happened by way of Microsoft's share price jumping as a result of the positive earnings report, which in turn pushed the company's total market valuation to above $1 trillion for the first time ever. Share prices later dropped, decreasing the overall valuation to around $995 billion. Apple and Amazon are the only other companies to ever reach a $1 trillion market valuation based on share prices. They have also retreated. Microsoft's $995.4 billion market valuation currently is ahead of Apple ($973.2 billion) and Amazon ($942.8 billion). Stock prices are constantly changing based on a variety of factors.What propelled Microsoft's share price to climb was likely the strong third-quarter earnings results it announced last week. Microsoft's revenue jumped 14 percent to $30.6 billion, while net income rose a healthy 19 percent to $8.8 billion. Yes, that's $8.8 billion in profit for three months.As GameSpot sister site ZDnet reminds us, Alphabet (which owns Google) is now the only remaining member of "The Big Four" to reach a $1 trillion market cap.Microsoft's earnings report also provided some insight into the health of the Xbox division. While Xbox One console sales are down (just like PS4 sales are), total gaming revenue at Microsoft jumped by 5 percent. This uptick in revenue was driven by Xbox game sales and services, which rose by 12 percent.Microsoft just announced a new disc-free Xbox One, but that's not the only console the company has in the works. At least one next-generation console might be announced at E3 2019 in June, so keep checking back for more.Info from Gamespot.com

The new big bad in Mortal Kombat is named Kronika, and she's causing a ruckus by messing with time and rewriting history. Characters are getting erased or colliding with their past selves, while alliances are reverting and new ones are being made--it's the kind of chaos that's ripe for conflict. Nothing that happened with Mortal Kombat before really matters anymore; the series is giving itself a clean slate, and not just with the lore in the story. Netherrealm's multifaceted fighting system has been streamlined, and comprehensive tutorials and practice functions are focussed on making sure no matter where you're coming from, you're well-equipped to dive deep into Mortal Kombat 11.It's hard not to get excited about the story mode in a Netherrealm game given the studio's history of crafting involved narratives, and Mortal Kombat 11 unsurprisingly delivers an entertaining and polished blockbuster-style cinematic experience with its tale of Kronika's time-bending antics. Combat is woven in with a number of cutscenes, though you'll probably spend more time watching well-choreographed action rather than participating. But the story is a great primer for some of the series' more popular characters nonetheless, and the joys of Kronika's time manipulation means that even if you're a passing fan and aren't up-to-date with all of the wacky stuff that's happened in the universe lately, you can still get a kick out of seeing classic versions of familiar faces, who are just as baffled as you about what's happened to their future selves since.Watching the character interactions between young and old selves are a highlight, and with the exception of a somewhat flat Sonya Blade, the solid performances are endearingly sincere with some unexpected moments of introspection. By the time it ended I was eager for more--more of Johnny Cage being embarrassed by his younger self, more of the bromance between Liu Kang and Kung Lao, the sappy dynamic between parents and children. But the story mode hits that perfect balance of being just enough and not overstaying its welcome. The plot conceits are regularly ridiculous, especially when family members and lovers get into fatal tiffs, but it's a delightfully bombastic and outlandish visual spectacle if nothing else.Mortal Kombat 11's eclectic roster includes a solid selection of the series' iconic fighters, along with some of the great additions from Mortal Kombat X, like gunslinger Erron Black and the grotesque insectoid D'Vorah. Three brand new characters do their best to help the lineup branch out--Geras is a tanky character with the ability to rewind and manipulate time, Cetrion is an elder god with flashy elemental powers, the Kollector has a wonderfully unsettling, six-armed demonic design--and they all add an inspired diversity to the familiar roster of magical ninjas and military hard-asses. Character variations also help to keep things diverse. A returning concept from Mortal Kombat X, each character can select between different sets of special moves that alter their playstyle. You can now customize these loadouts in MK11, but only two predetermined movesets are acceptable for serious competitive play. Even so, it means there are a few things to consider when picking which fighter to use.Some key changes streamline the mechanics of MK11, resulting in a fighting system that somehow feels more active and aggressive than its predecessors. The special meter system has been simplified to allow for amplified offensive and defensive maneuvers to be used at almost any time--gone is the idea of needing to hold back and save up two or three bars of a meter to perform a particular kind of technique. Dedicated meters for defensive and offensive techniques, along with rapid recharge rates mean amplified techniques can be used a little more liberally. "Fatal Blows" replace MKX's X-Ray techniques, serving as a last-ditch comeback mechanic that can be activated once per match when your health is nearly depleted, adding a heightened tension when things get down to the wire. Significant block damage discourages you from being overly defensive, while learning the perfect-timing demands of the "flawless block" system is encouraged to mitigate some damage and open up turnabout opportunities. Running and stamina meters have been removed and dash distances feel shorter, honing MK11's focus on always being within striking distance of your opponent. All of these tweaks mean there is rarely a low moment in a Mortal Kombat 11 fight.If you're new to the series, learning all those intricacies of the fighting system, special moves, and combo strings for characters can be intimidating. Fortunately, Mortal Kombat 11 does a lot to help onboard you to almost all of its concepts. Following the good work seen in Injustice 2, Mortal Kombat 11 features a comprehensive series of fantastic practical tutorials, with everything from teaching you basic attacks to more advanced lessons on managing the ebb and flow of a match, strategies on how to change or maintain the dynamic of a fight (like dealing with corners or projectile spam), and how to approach building your own combos. What's more, there are also a series of tutorials that succinctly break down expert-level concepts, such as one that shows you what frame data is and how it works in clear, visual terms. Not only that, there are lessons on how to interpret that information and use it in a practical scenario--it'll teach you what makes a move "safe" or "unsafe," how to create pressure in a fight, and even how to perform frame traps. It's an impressive resource that doesn't just give you a better understanding of Mortal Kombat 11's systems, but a deeper understanding of fighting game mechanics in general--knowledge that you can take to any other title.Character-specific tutorials exist, too, and are more than just a simple rundown of all available techniques. These helpful lessons focus on the most useful and practical abilities and combos for a particular character and give you suggestions on when to use them, the pros and cons of doing so, and what you could follow up with. Furthermore, the in-game move lists are incredibly comprehensive, providing all sorts of helpful data for each move's properties, so you can easily discern something like which of your character's moves has the quickest startup. It's valuable information and knowledge which Netherrealm has been building upon in its last few games and is presented at its best in MK11. Of course, if you're the kind of player that couldn't care less about the advanced stuff and just wants to jump in and see blood spilled, Mortal Kombat 11 can certainly be just as entertaining. Predetermined combo strings, flashy special moves, and humorously over-the-top barbarity means that the game is a joy to watch and participate in, whether the players are just messing around or taking it seriously.In addition to the game's story mode, MK11 sees the return of Klassic Towers, a more straightforward single-player mode where you fight a series of opponents before eventually facing big boss Kronika. But the real meat of the single-player offering is the Towers Of Time, MK11's version of the limited-time ladders seen in other Netherrealm games, which feature unique modifiers that can affect the playing field, combatants, and mechanics. The idea is that the Towers Of Time provide you with an ever-rotating palette of different single-player challenges to take on for various rewards, but the downside is that here, the odds are nearly always stacked against you.Some modifiers in the Towers Of Time can affect both you and your opponent equally, like a tilting stage that drains the health of whoever is lower. But more often, the challenges I took on featured negative modifiers that solely affected me, which means they felt horribly cruel and unbalanced. No matter how good you think you are at Mortal Kombat (or how bad you think I am), trying to fight an opponent where you're constantly being targeted and shot and frozen in place by devastating lasers from the sky, or being chased by missiles that turn your screen pitch black if one hits you, is a rotten experience. Being the loner in a 2vs1 match, or fighting a much hardier opponent whose attacks can't be interrupted, is more of an exercise in frustration than it is a hearty challenge.To overcome the more challenging Towers Of Time, MK11 encourages that you make liberal use of "Konsumables," a large variety of limited-use items that you can equip and activate during a fight. These have their own individual properties, whether it be countering a particular modifier effect, or giving you access to an additional ability. The catch is, the way that you obtain these Konsumables is through luck, perhaps earning one through completing other towers, or spending "Koins" you've accumulated from the game's activities to open one of hundreds of randomized chests in the Krypt, MK11's third-person quasi-puzzle-adventure mode designed for unlocking collectables like cosmetics, concept art, and countless other bits and pieces.So, there's no guarantee you'll have the right item to help you out on a particular tower, and if you don't, it's going to be a steep uphill battle. But in my experience, even if I did have a suitable item, using it really didn't feel like evening the odds. In the example of the aforementioned blinding missiles, using the item to counter the effects of darkness modifiers meant I could only mitigate one or two missiles before the effect wore off, at which point I would have to wait for the item to come off a long cooldown timer and then manually reactivate it in the middle of the fight, which opens me up to severe punishment from my opponent.I've only seen four days worth of Towers during the pre-release review period, so their behavior and difficulty may well change in the future. I'll continue to monitor the challenge varieties in the Towers Of Time during the week of launch to see whether the feeling of overwhelmingly unbalanced odds continues. While MK11's "Premium" microtransaction store wasn't live during the review period, the reliance on Konsumables to help even the odds in Towers Of Time, as well as the random nature of their acquisition, certainly makes me curious as to how you'll be able to spend the game's virtual currency, "Time Krystals," when the store goes live.(Editor's note: On the day this review-in-progress was published, Netherrealm representatives acknowledged the balancing issues with the Towers Of Time on their Kombat Kast livestream. They announced a fix would be made available ASAP, and we'll be considering any changes over the next week in our final review.) There's another issue in the way that the game handles its customizable gear for each character. Taking cues from Netherrealm's previous release, Injustice 2, each fighter in Mortal Kombat 11 has three interchangeable pieces of equipment that you're able to receive as a reward, level up, and equip with "augments" once you've done so. The problem is, there's not a lot of motivation to care about that stuff at all. With a few exceptions, gear parts are usually small and aren't a focal point of your character model. You're changing out weapons and pieces of flair rather than entire costume pieces--alternate costumes are predetermined and are unlocked through performing activities like Towers Of Time--so there's little motivation to change them up early on, especially when you'll likely have been earning experience on the default set you've already got equipped. Accruing experience to level up gear for specific characters is a slow process, especially if you like to use multiple fighters; the augments you can equip drop rarely, and the buffs they add for single-player activities are mostly meager. In Injustice 2, even if you didn't really care about the abilities a piece of gear had, they were at least interesting cosmetic parts that you could mix and match to customize a character in your own way for competitive play. Gear in MK11 by comparison just doesn't feel as interesting or meaningful to toy around with.MK11 also features a range of online multiplayer modes, including ranked and casual matchmaking, as well as private options like lobbies and the ability to practice with a friend. I'll be testing the performance of these modes over the next week once the game is widely available to the public. Additionally, GameSpot was not provided copies of Mortal Kombat 11 on PC or Nintendo Switch during the review period, and I'll be aiming to spend some time with those versions of the game--the PC release of Mortal Kombat X was certainly not without issues, and I'm curious to see how the game performs in the Switch's handheld mode. This review will remain in-progress until I've had adequate time to get a feel of these aspects, on top of keeping an eye on the Towers Of Time.MK11 isn't just a sequel for series fans and Netherrealm devotees, it's a gateway into the realm of fighting games for anyone who has a passing interest in watching ruthless warriors beat each other silly. 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. 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

Netflix has canceled another one of its shows. The streaming network recently announced that Santa Clarita Diet, which stars Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant, will not receive a fourth season.In Santa Clarita Diet, Barrymore's character is unhappy in her life as a real estate agent. She starts eating people and her life improves in many ways. She doesn't want to go back to the way things were, so, along with her family, she finds people to kill and eat, all while concealing her true identity as some kind of zombie/cannibal person.In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix said Santa Clarita Diet was the first "zom-com," and that the network is thankful for creator Victor Fresco for bringing the show to Netflix.Fresco and executive producer Tracy Katsky said in their own statement that they'll miss the show but are proud of what they accomplished."Netflix took a chance on this odd show and for that we will always be grateful. They were supportive, ever positive, and appreciative of our work. Until about noon today," Fresco and Katsky said in a joint statement. "Still, they were just one phone call away from being a perfect studio. Not bad. Everything ends. This was a thing. And so it ended. We'll miss it but are proud of the work we did and will always appreciate the love and enthusiasm we felt from our audience."Olyphant added, "I loved working on this show. I'm going to continue coming in and doing scenes. If they don't want to film it, that's up to them."Santa Clarita Diet premiered in 2017; the third season debuted in late March this year, and all of the episodes remain available on Netflix. Info from Gamespot.com

Madden NFL 18 introduced the story-focused single-player mode Longshot, which focused on two aspiring football players, Devin Wade and Colt Cruise. It even featured a performance by Oscar winner Mahershala Ali. The story continued with Madden NFL 19, and it added Rob Schneider and Joey King from the Netflix movie The Kissing Booth.It appears the story is over.Madden NFL 20 was announced last week with no mention of Longshot. Instead, EA focused on a new career mode called Face of the Franchise: QB1. It appears this new mode is replacing Longshot.Game Informer's extensive interview feature with creative director Mike Young is worded as if QB1 is replacing Longshot. GameSpot has followed up with EA Sports in an attempt to get more details.For the new QB1 mode, players will take on the role of a backup QB at a big-time college school who has to step up in the biggest spot: in the College Football Playoff. College football is featured in Madden NFL 20, and that's a big deal because it's been away for so long due to various lawsuits and other issues. There are 10 colleges featured in Madden NFL 20, including powerhouses like Clemson and Oklahoma.Go to Game Informer to read their extensive and in-depth preview of Madden NFL 20's exciting-sounding career mode.In addition to the new QB1 mode, Madden NFL 20 introduces "Superstar X-Factor," which is a progression-based system that lets players perform jaw-dropping abilities with skilled players. It also "modernizes" the offensive playbooks, adds a new Urban Symphony soundtrack featuring traditional sports music like marching bands, and new player celebrations, among other things. Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes is on the cover.Madden NFL 20 launches on August 2, but you can play early by pre-ordering one of the game's premium editions. Here's a breakdown of all the pre-order bonuses and how to play early. Info from Gamespot.com

It's never too early to get excited about the new football season. If you're thinking about picking up the recently announced Madden NFL 20, there are a few different editions and pre-order bonuses to consider ahead of the game's release in early August.The pre-order bonuses include things like early access to the games, content for the very popular Ultimate Team mode, and special abilities for the brand-new Face of the Franchise: QB1 mode that features college football. Below is a breakdown of the various Madden 20 SKUMadden NFL 20: Ultimate Superstar Edition$100 USDThis premium version of Madden 20 includes a series of nice perks. Starting off, this version unlocks three days early, beginning on July 30. It also comes with a unique QB legend superstar ability, in the form of either Steve Young, Kurt Warner, John Elway, or Randall Cunningham. The Ultimate Superstar Edition also includes MUT content like 16 Gold packs, 1 of 32 Core Elite players from any NFL team, and more.Madden 20: Superstar Edition$80 USDThe Superstar Edition also comes with three-day early access, as well as the same options for unique QB legend superstar ability. There is also MUT content as well, including 1 of 32 Core Elite Players, 12 Gold team fantasy packs, and 1 small training quick sell.Madden 20: Standard Edition$60 USDThe standard edition, meanwhile, unlocks on the regular launch day--August 2--and it also includes the same choice of unique QB legend superstar ability. Some MUT content is also packaged in, including one of the 32 Core Elite players and 5x Gold team packs.It hasn't been mentioned by EA yet, but most EA-published titles are available early for EA/Origin Access subscribers, so that may be another way to play early.Madden NFL 20 launches on August 2 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. For more on Madden 20, check out GameSpot's previous coverage here. Info from Gamespot.com

Now that the world is seeing Avengers: Endgame in record numbers, the final installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Infinity Saga, there are many questions to be answered. And that's before you consider what happens from here in the MCU. We know some of the movies still to come, but how will Marvel Studios top what it has already done? Warning: The following contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame.While most of the questions you have will likely be answered with time, there's some we can solve right now, whether it's if there was a post-credits scene or what the ending of the film means. However, there's yet another question--a minor one, but still--that is ready to be answered.Toward the end of the film, during Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) funeral, many of those he's has known throughout the first decade of the MCU are seen, from his fellow Avengers to the Guardians of the Galaxy, to even friends like Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). There was one face in the crowd you might not have recognized, though: that of a teenage boy. At a glance, you may have dismissed him as being Peter Parker (Tom Holland), but the answer is actually a really nice Easter Egg.The boy is Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins). You should remember him as Tony Stark's kid sidekick in Iron Man 3. In the 2013 film, Tony winds up in Tennessee after an attack by the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), where he befriends Harley. The kid then helps him track down the Mandarin and plays a big role in helping Tony cope with the PTSD he's suffering from due to the fallout of the first Avengers film.Harley was not seen or mentioned in the MCU after Iron Man 3, but including him in Tony's funeral is a very nice touch--and one that shows the impact Stark had on the young man. In fact, now that he's growing up, perhaps Harley could be a candidate to become the next Iron Man. That probably won't happen, but what a fun twist it would be. Regardless, the mystery is solved.Avengers: Endgame is in theaters now. Made sure to check out GameSpot's review of the film, as well as an accounting of everyone who dies, and a deep dive into figuring out Dr. Strange's plan between Infinity War and Endgame.Info from Gamespot.com