Sharon Tal Yguado, a former executive at Amazon Studios, has responded to the recent news about The Lord of the Rings TV show's astronomical season 1 budget. Posting on Twitter, Yguado laughed at the $465 million number for season 1, saying, "Imagine if you actually had the correct numbers and didn't report fake news."She was seemingly reacting to the price tag and former Hollywood Reporter editor Matthew Belloni's own take on the story. He criticized the reported massive budget, saying, "Imagine if Amazon put this kind of money toward creating a world we *haven’t* already seen in six movies."LOL. Imagine if you actually had the correct numbers and didn’t report fake news. https://t.co/L3h3a3Uw3c — Sharon Tal Yguado (@SharonTalYguado) April 16, 2021New Zealand's minister for economic development and tourism, Stuart Nash, said in an interview with Morning Report that Amazon is spending $650 million NZ ($465 million USD) for season 1 alone. The Hollywood Reporter said it was able to confirm this number.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

If there's one thing you have been able to bet on in 2021, it's video game delays. Yet despite the continued pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic on development, Double Fine says that Psychonauts 2 will finally launch this year.The studio tweeted the affirmation, saying that the game is playable and looking good for a launch sometime this year. Despite Double Fine being owned by Microsoft, Psychonauts 2 will still launch on PS4, alongside Xbox One, PC, and Xbox Game Pass.The wait for Psychonauts 2 has been a long one. The game was originally announced in December 2015 as one of the first campaigns on the investor-focused crowd-funding platform, Fig. Double Fine was acquired by Microsoft in 2019, with the game being delayed to 2020. In July 2020, the game was delayed again into 2021, which Double Fine says will allow them to add Xbox Series X optimizations for launch.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

A class-action lawsuit that alleges that Microsoft knowingly distributed poorly-designed controllers has moved into arbitration. The console giant moved to settle the case through an impartial adjudicator back in February.The lawsuit, which was originally filed in April 2020 by US law firm Chimicles, Schwartz Kriner, & Donaldson-Smith (CSK&D), claims that many Xbox players have reported "stick drift" as a result of normal use. CSK&D's suit alleges this drift is due to a manufacturing flaw, and publicly stated that they have a "sufficient volume" of defective controllers to support these claims. In an interview with The Loadout, the law firm acknowledges that these controllers were obtained in return for an undisclosed fee.As part of the suit, an expert examination of the controller claimed that the stick drift is caused by an issue with the controller's potentiometer, which is "the mechanism that translates the physical movement of the thumbstick into movement within the video game." Stick drift is far from a Microsoft-specific issue: fellow console manufacturers Sony and Nintendo are facing lawsuits due to PS5 and JoyCon drifting respectively. The sheer volume of public criticism surrounding the JoyCons led Nintendo's president to apologize for the issue last year.Info from Gamespot.com

Respawn has released a new trailer for Apex Legends Season 9: Legacy, which showcases the backstory of the season's new playable character, Valkyrie. The developer has also revealed that Season 9 will introduce a new bow and arrow weapon as well as change up Olympus.As seen in the new trailer, Kairi "Valkyrie" Imahara is the daughter of Viper, one of the Apex Predator Pilots that you face in Titanfall 2. Viper piloted a specially modified Northstar Titan, one designed primarily for aerial combat. Thanks to some tinkering from Rampart, Valkyrie utilizes the flight core of her father's old Titan as a jetpack, soaring into the skies as Apex Legends' first flight-based hero.On the Apex Legends website, Respawn writes, "Bold, brash, fiery and fierce, Kairi Imahara grew up in the shadow of her father's legacy. But now she's ready to launch her own."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

If you've ever visited Amazon's daily deals page, you'll know that discounts on the company's own smart devices, like the Echo and Kindle, tend to pop up more often than any other product. However, you can find a particularly nice bundle on sale for today only: You can get the Fire HD 8 (32GB) tablet with a Blink Mini camera for just $75 today, down from the list price of $125. The Fire HD 8 tablet goes for $90 on its own, and a Blink Mini sells for $28 right now. Note that the same bundle offer is available in Best Buy's daily sale as well. Fire HD 8 with Blink Mini Deal of the Day: $75 (was $125) See at Amazon The Fire HD 8 is an excellent tablet for general use, whether you're reading, watching videos, or browsing social media. Featuring up to 12 hours of battery life, the Fire HD 8 naturally comes with Alexa built in so you can play music, check the weather, place phone calls, and more using just your voice. And, of course, you can play games on it as well, which is particularly nice when you're on the go.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Respawn has announced that the first regional beta tests for Apex Legends Mobile will be beginning this spring. For now, the tests are exclusive to India and the Philippines but Respawn plans to expand to other regions."Apex Legends Mobile is specially designed for touchscreens, with streamlined controls and thoughtful optimizations that result in the most advanced battle royale combat available on a phone," Apex Legends game director Chad Grenier said. "It's a new version of Apex Legends, but it's true to the original."The first of the regional beta tests for Apex Legends Mobile will only be available for Android. As the test expands, iOS support will be added alongside the new regions.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

It sounds like Nick Fury will be in good company in the upcoming Marvel's Secret Invasion series on Disney+. Samuel L. Jackson will reprise his role as the former leader of SHIELD on the show and it looks as if he'll be joined by Oscar winner and Broadchurch star Olivia Colman.The news comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which states that the actress is currently in talks with Marvel Studios about taking on a role in the series, though it's unknown who she would portray. While we don't know too much about the show at this point, the Secret Invasion storyline in the comics focuses on the invasion of the Skrull alien race on earth, who can shapeshift into other beings.Captain Marvel was the first time the Skrulls were seen on the big screen, led by Talos (Ben Mendelsohn). The actor will reprise his role in this series.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Activision has announced the key details on the upcoming Season 3 event for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone, and there is a lot coming. The publisher ran through the update in a blog post, and we've collected the key points here.Activision published a content roadmap for Season 3 that highlights all the key additions to the new season. This includes more multiplayer maps for Black Ops Cold War, an "update" to the Warzone map, a Hunt for Adler event in Warzone, and more new Zombies content. There are also new weapons and Operators coming, along with new vehicles and new prestige levels. You can see the roadmap below. Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Sony has reversed course on a controversial move, stating that it now plans to continue supporting purchasing functionality for the PS Vita and PS3 after previously planning to shut down the stores this summer. The PSP will still be closed as planned.The move comes amid weeks of outcry from PlayStation fans, many of whom criticized the company for removing their ability to continue purchasing games for platforms they still used. In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan explained that the company understood it was the wrong move."Recently, we notified players that PlayStation Store for PS3 and PS Vita devices was planned to end this summer," says Ryan. "Upon further reflection, however, it's clear that we made the wrong decision here. So today I'm happy to say that we will be keeping the PlayStation Store operational for PS3 and PS Vita devices. PSP commerce functionality will retire on July 2, 2021 as planned."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

DC's upcoming Flash solo movie has finally begun filming, according to director Andy Muschietti who took to Instagram today to both announce that "day 1" was underway and to unveil the project's new logo. Take a look at Muschietti's post below. View this post on InstagramA post shared by Andy Muschietti (@andy_muschietti)The road to this point has been a very rocky one for The Flash. The movie has been stuck in development for years and has gone through a revolving door of directors who entered and then departed the project for a variety of reasons that were publicly boiled down to "creative differences." However, it seems the curse is finally broken.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis will have a closed beta test this May on PC. Set a thousand years after the events of PSO2, the upcoming expansion will completely redesign the game. According to a blog post on the game's official website announcing the closed beta, applicants will be allowed into the beta on a first-come, first-served basis.The closed beta will run from May 14 to 16 and will be exclusive to PC. Registration will begin April 21 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET through the Xbox Insider Hub application, and those who participate will receive an exclusive in-game reward.The moment you have been waiting for is almost here, Arks! The #PSO2NGS Global Closed Beta Test will begin on May 14th! To learn more, visit: https://t.co/4qjlNWU9B8 pic.twitter.com/8AHvAi7Z8S — Phantasy Star Online 2 - Global (@play_pso2) April 14, 2021New Genesis was announced back in July 2020, and will totally overhaul every aspect of PSO2, similar to other MMO reboots like Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. However, unlike A Realm Reborn, vanilla PSO2 will continue to exist, and characters can be shared between the two games. However, almost all progress will be independent in each version, due to the design differences between base PSO2 and New Genesis. Additionally, the game will be coming to Xbox Series X. PS4 and Nintendo Switch versions of the game have been confirmed in Japan, but it's unclear if they'll be available in Western territories.Info from Gamespot.com

Celeste developer Extremely OK Games has revealed its next project. Titled Earthblade, the studio describes it as an exploration action game but says it's still a while away from launch.In a blog post, designer and director at Extremely OK Game, Maddy Thorson, explained that the studio had gone through three previous prototypes before eventually settling on what is now Earthblade. These prototypes weren't bad but strayed too far into unknown territory for the studio to feel comfortable about finishing."Prototypes EXOK1–3 taught us a lot, but ultimately, we ventured way too far from our comfort zone for them to realistically ever get finished," Thorson writes. "It took a while, but we feel like we've settled on the right compromise between the two with Earthblade."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The Lord of the Rings Online celebrates its 14th anniversary this month, and developer Standing Stones Games is marking the occasion with a special event.A new update, version 29.5, arrives today and adds new content called The Further Adventures of Bilbo Baggins. This is a collection of missions focused around one Hobbit in particular: Bilbo Baggins. These missions are free for VIP members and cost 495 LOTR Points for everyone else. Now through May 9, however, you can use the code SAVEBILBO to play them for free.Additionally, a celebration event is planned for April 21-May 11. There will be an in-game festival featuring various activities, while players will earn rewards based on how long they have been playing LOTR.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Best Buy has kicked off its latest sale, marking down a wide assortment of gaming, tech, and entertainment products through Thursday, April 22. Games featured in the sale include hits from last year such as Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Watch Dogs Legion, and Star Wars Squadrons. You can also save on some great smart TVs, including a Sony 65-inch 4K TV. Laptops and tablets for work and school are prominently featured, with deals on Lenovo and Microsoft Surface products. And if you're looking for a new pair of headphones, multiple Beats models are steeply discounted. We've rounded up the highlights of Best Buy's new sale below, but make sure to take a look at site to see everything available. For more deals, check out our roundup of the best deals available today. See all deals at Best Buy Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The penultimate episode of Falcon and The Winter Soldier snuck a massive cameo into the mix: Emmy Award winning actor and TV icon Julia Louis-Dreyfus made her surprise MCU debut as Val, or, Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. And though she had only one very mysterious scene in the episode, according to Variety, Marvel's got some big things lined up for her in the future.Louis-Dreyfus was, apparently, originally intended to make her debut in the extensively delayed Black Widow solo film, which would have likely provided slightly more context for her Disney+ scene. In the episode, she waltzes up to a recently court martialed John Walker and introduces herself before praising Walker's work and making him an ambiguous offer of support--complete with an ominously blank business card. We can't be sure if Walker actually accepts this offer (or how he would contact her, given the lack of info on the card) but it certainly seems like Val is the sort of person with power and influence that could help Walker get an outlet for all his obvious anger issues.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com