IGN Live was able to exclusively reveal the first five minutes of SYFY's upcoming adaptation of Revival, and we also had the chance to speak to the series' co-creator and showrunner, Aaron B. Koontz, about why this show about the dead coming back to life in surprising way will be well worth a watch.Revival is set to debut on SYFY on June 12 and is based on the Harvey Award-nominated comic from Tim Seeley and Mike Norton that ran for 47 issues from 2012-2017. In our exclusive clip you can watch below, we are introduced to this world on 'Revival Day,' which is the day the dead rise. However, these aren't zombies; the undead are very much the same as they were when they were alive. PlayThese few minutes are very much the same as the opening of the comic, and Koontz shared why that was such a great thing."It's one of the first scenes in the comic, and we were like, this hooked us," Koontz said. "I thought it was really cool and had no idea where this was going to go. And I will say, without giving things away, this scene is also more than just a scene. You'll see, after watching later episodes, that these first few minutes were hiding so much more than you realized."One of the big moments from the clip is one of the undead being cremated at Randy's Crematorium in Wausau, Wisconsin, and trying to break free and then running around on fire. That was all practical and not some CG wizardry."I wanted to be ambitious," Koontz said. "I wanted to set people on fire and I didn't want to do CG. We were also in such a small town where there weren't a ton of extra ambulances and we felt really bad because so many medical personnel were there. I remember thinking, 'I hope nothing bad happens in the town tonight because they're all sitting on our set!'" And of course, we got to spend some time with Randy himself, who is played by Graeme Barrett of Divorced Dads and Court of Chaos fame. Koontz actually found him on Instagram and thought he "fits the vibe of what we want juxtaposed against the serious business.""I think one of my favorite things in the script was like, okay, but these are not our main characters," Koontz added. "So, how do you get them right to the main characters and what's there? And I love that Randy saying it's not my fault is also similar to the very first line you hear Wayne Cypress say. And you're immediately in a fight with Wayne and Dana, and so you're seeing and feeling the dynamic of the Cypress family, which is important because the Cypress family is the heart of this whole show."PlaySo, all in all, Revival isn't meant to be a "super serious scary thing." Instead it aims to have scary moments, melodramatic moments, and also a lot of fun moments. Koontz said it's a mix between Mare of Easttown and Fargo, filled with weird, quirky characters, full on horror thriller elements, and the good parts of the zombie tropes with a twist that makes it unique.Revival will premiere on SYFY on June 12 and will be available on Peacock the following week. The series stars Melanie Scrofano (Wynonna Earp), Romy Weltman (Backstage), David James Elliott (JAG), Andy McQueen (Mrs. Davis), Steven Ogg (The Walking Dead), Phil Brooks aka CM Punk (Mayans M.C.), Gia Sandhu (A Simple Favor), Katharine King So (The Recruit), Maia Jae (In the Dark), Nathan Dales (Letterkenny), Mark Little (Doomlands), Glen Gould (Tulsa King), Lara Jean Chorostecki (Nightmare Alley), and Conrad Coates (Fargo).The series is based on the Harvey Award-nominated 2010s comic title of the same name from writer Tim Seeley and artist Mike Norton, which ran for 47 issues from 2012-2017 from Image Comics.For more, check out our exclusive trailer reveal for Revival and everything else happening at IGN Live.Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst,Instagram, and TikTok, and listen to his show, Talking Disney Magic.

This castle is the iconic centerpiece for LEGO and Harry Potter fans everywhere.

AGI will be embedded into humanoid robots, which makes white-collar and blue-collar jobs a target ... More for walking/talking automation.getty In today’s column, I examine the highly worrisome qualms expressed that the advent of artificial general intelligence (AGI) is likely to usurp white-collar jobs. The stated concern is that since AGI will be on par with human intellect, any job that relies principally on intellectual pursuits such as typical white-collar work will be taken over via the use of AGI. Employers will realize that rather than dealing with human white-collar workers, they can more readily get the job done via AGI. This, in turn, has led to a rising call that people should aim toward blue-collar jobs, doing so because (presumably) those forms of employment will not be undercut via AGI. Sorry to say, that misses the bigger picture, namely that AGI when combined with humanoid robots is coming not only for white-collar jobs but also blue-collar jobs too. It is a proverbial double-whammy when it comes to the attainment of AGI. Let’s talk about it. This analysis of an innovative AI breakthrough is part of my ongoing Forbes column coverage on the latest in AI, including identifying and explaining various impactful AI complexities (see the link here). Heading Toward AGI And ASI First, some fundamentals are required to set the stage for this weighty discussion. There is a great deal of research going on to further advance AI. The general goal is to either reach artificial general intelligence (AGI) or maybe even the outstretched possibility of achieving artificial superintelligence (ASI). AGI is AI that is considered on par with human intellect and can seemingly match our intelligence. ASI is AI that has gone beyond human intellect and would be superior in many if not all feasible ways. The idea is that ASI would be able to run circles around humans by outthinking us at every turn. For more details on the nature of conventional AI versus AGI and ASI, see my analysis at the link here. We have not yet attained AGI. In fact, it is unknown as to whether we will reach AGI, or that maybe AGI will be achievable in decades or perhaps centuries from now. The AGI attainment dates that are floating around are wildly varying and wildly unsubstantiated by any credible evidence or ironclad logic. ASI is even more beyond the pale when it comes to where we are currently with conventional AI. AGI Problem Only Half Seen Before launching into the primary matter at hand in this discussion, let’s contemplate a famous quote attributed to Charles Kettering, a legendary inventor, who said, “A problem well-stated is a problem half-solved.” I bring this up because those loud clamors right now about the assumption that AGI will replace white-collar workers are only seeing half of the problem. The problem as they see it is that since AGI is intellectually on par with humans, and since white-collar workers mainly use intellect in their work endeavors, AGI is going to be used in place of humans for white-collar work. I will in a moment explain why that’s only half of the problem and there is a demonstrative need to more carefully and fully articulate the nature of the problem. Will AGI Axiomatically Take White-Collar Jobs On a related facet, the belief that AGI will axiomatically replace white-collar labor makes a number of other related key assumptions. I shall briefly explore those and then come back to why the problem itself is only half-baked. The cost of using AGI for doing white-collar work will need to be presumably a better ROI choice over human workers. If not, then an employer would be wiser to stick with humans rather than employing AGI. There seems to often be an unstated belief that AGI is necessarily going to be a less costly route than employing humans. We don’t know yet what the cost of using AGI will be. It could be highly expensive. Indeed, some are worried that the world will divide into the AGI haves and AGI have-nots, partially due to the exorbitant cost that AGI might involve. If AGI is free to use, well, that would seem to be the nail in the coffin related to using human workers for the same capacity. Another angle is that AGI is relatively inexpensive in comparison to human labor. In that case, the use of AGI is likely to win over human labor usage. But if the cost of AGI is nearer to the cost of human labor (all in), or more so, then employers would rationally need to weigh the use of one versus the other. Note that when referring to the cost of human labor, there is more to that calculation than simply the dollar-hour labor rate per se. There are lots of other less apparent costs, such as the cost to manage human labor, the cost of dealing with HR-related issues, and many other factors that come into the weighty matter. Thus, an AGI versus human labor ROI will be more complex than it might seem at an initial glance. In addition, keep in mind that AGI would seemingly be readily switched on and off, and have other capacities that human labor would not equally tend to allow. The Other Half Is Coming Too Assume that by and large the advent of AGI will decimate the need for white-collar human labor. The refrain right now is that people should begin tilting toward blue-collar jobs as an alternative to white-collar jobs. This is a logical form of thinking in the sense that AGI as an intellectual mechanism would be unable to compete in jobs that involve hands-on work. A plumber needs to come to your house and do hands-on work to fix your plumbing. This is a physicality that entails arriving at your physical home, physically bringing and using tools, and physically repairing your faulty home plumbing. A truck driver likewise needs to sit in the cab of a truck and drive the vehicle. These are physically based tasks. There is no getting around the fact that these are hands-on activities. Aha, yes, those are physical tasks, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that only human hands can perform them. The gradual emergence of humanoid robots will provide an alternative to human hands. A humanoid robot is a type of robot that is built to resemble a human in form and function. You’ve undoubtedly seen those types of robots in the many online video recordings showing them walking, jumping, grasping at objects, and so on. A tremendous amount of active research and development is taking place to devise humanoid robots. They look comical right now. You watch those videos and laugh when the robot trips over a mere stick lying on the ground, something that a human would seldom trip over. You scoff when a robot tries to grasp a coffee cup and inadvertently spills most of the coffee. It all seems humorous and a silly pursuit. Keep in mind that we are all observing the development process while it is still taking place. At some point, those guffaws of the humanoid robots will lessen. Humanoid robots will be as smooth and graceful as humans. This will continue to be honed. Eventually, humanoid robots will be less prone to physical errors that humans make. In a sense, the physicality of a humanoid robot will be on par with humans, if not better, due to its mechanical properties. Do not discount the coming era of quite physically capable humanoid robots. AGI And Humanoid Robots Pair Up You might remember that in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the fictional character known as The Strawman lacked a brain. Without seeming to anthropomorphize humanoid robots, the current situation is that those robots typically use a form of AI that is below the sophistication level of modern generative AI. That’s fine for now due to the need to first ensure that the physical movements of the robots get refined. I have discussed that a said-to-be realm of Physical AI is going to be a huge breakthrough with incredible ramifications, see my analysis at the link here. The idea underlying Physical AI is that the AI of today is being uplifted by doing data training on the physical world. This also tends to include the use of World Models, consisting of broad constructions about how the physical world works, such as that we are bound to operate under conditions of gravity, and other physical laws of nature, see the link here. The bottom line here is that there will be a close pairing of robust AI with humanoid robots. Imagine what a humanoid robot can accomplish if it is paired with AGI. I’ll break the suspense and point out that AGI paired with humanoid robots means that those robots readily enter the blue-collar worker realm. Suppose your plumbing needs fixing. No worries, a humanoid robot that encompasses AGI will be sent to your home. The AGI is astute enough to carry on conversations with you, and the AGI also fully operates the robot to undertake the plumbing tasks. How did the AGI-paired humanoid robot get to your home? Easy-peasy, it drove a car or truck to get there. I’ve previously predicted that all the work on devising autonomous vehicles and self-driving cars will get shaken up once we have suitable humanoid robots devised. There won’t be a need for a vehicle to contain self-driving capabilities. A humanoid robot will simply sit in the driver’s seat and drive the vehicle. This is a much more open-ended solution than having to craft components that go into and onto a vehicle to enable self-driving. See my coverage at the link here. Timing Is Notable One of the reasons that many do not give much thought to the pairing of AGI with humanoid robots is that today’s humanoid robots seem extraordinarily rudimentary and incapable of performing physical dexterity tasks on par with human capabilities. Meanwhile, there is brazen talk that AGI is just around the corner. AGI is said to be within our grasp. Let’s give the timing considerations a bit of scrutiny. There are three primary timing angles: Option 1: AGI first, then humanoid robots. AGI is attained before humanoid robots are sufficiently devised. Option 2: Humanoid robots first, then AGI. Humanoid robots are physically fluently adept before AGI is attained. Option 3: AGI and humanoid robots arrive about at the same time. AGI is attained and at the same time, it turns out that humanoid robots are fluently adept too, mainly by coincidence and not due to any cross-mixing. A skeptic would insist that there is a fourth possibility, consisting of the possibility that we never achieve AGI and/or we fail to achieve sufficiently physically capable humanoid robots. I am going to reject that possibility. Perhaps I am overly optimistic, but it seems to me that we will eventually attain AGI, and we will eventually attain physically capable humanoid robots. I shall next respectively consider each of the three genuinely reasonable possibilities. Option 1: AGI First, Then Humanoid Robots What if we manage to attain AGI before we manage to achieve physically fluent humanoid robots? That’s just fine. We would indubitably put AGI to work as a partner with humans in figuring out how we can push along the budding humanoid robot development process. It seems nearly obvious that with AGI’s capable assistance, we would overcome any bottlenecks and soon enough arrive at top-notch physically adept humanoid robots. At that juncture, we would then toss AGI into the humanoid robots and have ourselves quite an amazing combination. Option 2: Humanoid Robots First, Then AGI Suppose that we devise very physically adept humanoid robots but have not yet arrived at AGI. Are we in a pickle? Nope. We could use conventional advanced AI inside those humanoid robots. The combination would certainly be good enough for a wide variety of tasks. The odds are that we would need to be cautious about where such robots are utilized. Nonetheless, we would have essentially walking, talking, and productive humanoid robots. If AGI never happens, oh well, we end up with pretty good humanoid robots. On the other hand, once we arrive at AGI, those humanoid robots will be stellar. It’s just a matter of time. Option 3: AGI And Humanoid Robots At The Same Time Let’s consider the potential of AGI and humanoid robots perchance being attained around the same time. Assume that this timing isn’t due to an outright cross-mixing with each other. They just so happen to advance on a similar timeline. I tend to believe that’s the most likely of the three scenarios. Here’s why. First, despite all the hubris about AGI being within earshot, perhaps in the next year or two, which is a popular pronouncement by many AI luminaries, I tend to side with recent surveys of AI developers that put the date around the year 2040 (see my coverage at the link here). Some AI luminaires sneakily play with the definition of AGI in hopes of making their predictions come true sooner, akin to moving the goalposts to easily score points. For my coverage on Sam Altman’s efforts of moving the cheese regarding AGI attainment, see the link here. Second, if you are willing to entertain the year 2040 as a potential date for achieving AGI, that’s about 15 years from now. In my estimation, the advancements being made in humanoid robots will readily progress such that by 2040 they will be very physically adept. Probably be sooner, but let’s go with the year 2040 for ease of contemplation. In my view, we will likely have humanoid robots doing well enough that they will be put into use prior to arriving at AGI. The pinnacle of robust humanoid robots and the attainment of AGI will roughly coincide with each other. Two peas in a pod.Impact Of Enormous Consequences In an upcoming column posting, I will examine the enormous consequences of having AGI paired with fully physically capable humanoid robots. As noted above, this will have a humongous impact on white-collar work and blue-collar work. There will be gargantuan economic impacts, societal impacts, cultural impacts, and so on. Some final thoughts for now. A single whammy is already being hotly debated. The debates currently tend to be preoccupied with the loss of white-collar jobs due to the attainment of AGI. A saving grace seems to be that at least blue-collar jobs are going to be around and thriving, even once AGI is attained. The world doesn’t seem overly gloomy if you can cling to the upbeat posture that blue-collar tasks remain intact. The double whammy is a lot more to take in. But the double whammy is the truth. The truth needs to be faced. If you are having doubts as a human about the future, just remember the famous words of Vince Lombardi: “Winners never quit, and quitters never win.” Humankind can handle the double whammy. Stay tuned for my upcoming coverage of what this entails.

“Dungeons & Dragons” IP owner Wizards of the Coast is moving on from its “Baldur’s Gate” video game franchise with a new single-player action-adventure game set in the world of the popular tabletop fantasy roleplaying game. From game developer Giant Skull, the untitled project based on the “D&D” world is “marks a definitive moment in both companies’ gaming ambitions,” per the Hasbro-owned Wizards of the Coast. The game is currently in development for PC and console as part of a new exclusive publishing agreement Wizards has signed with Giant Skull. Related Stories The deal comes on the heels of the end of Wizards’ pact with “Baldur’s Gate 3” maker Larian Studios. Popular on Variety In addition to this new project, Wizards of the Coast’s growing lineup of current and upcoming games includes: “Exodus,” an epic sci-fi RPG that puts players at the center of an emotional story; a game centered on Snake Eyes, the legendary ninja/commando from “G.I. Joe”; another “Dungeons & Dragons” action-adventure game centered around magic; and an untitled project from studio Skeleton Key that the company says “blends suspense, horror and memorable gameplay experiences.” The Wizards of the Coast team also continues to expand ongoing online game “Magic: The Gathering Arena.” Founded by CEO Stig Asmussen, who was most recently the game director of “Star Wars Jedi: Survivor” and “Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order” for Respawn Entertainment and EA, Giant Skull was founded in 2023. Asmussen has also previously worked as the game director on “God of War III” and the art director for “God of War II” at Sony Santa Monica. “Stig and the team at Giant Skull are exactly the type of exceptionally talented creators we want to work with, and I’m so happy to be reuniting with him on this new project,” Wizards of the Coast chief and digital gaming president at Hasbro John Hight said. “In our time working together on ‘God of War I’ got to see firsthand Stig’s artistry and expertise, and he and the Giant Skull team are the perfect fit for our new game. Worldbuilding and storytelling is in our DNA, and this collaboration reflects our evolution and commitment to our ‘Playing to Win’ strategy, building a stronger presence in digital play. We look forward to revealing more about this brand-new ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ game in the future.” “Our talented and experienced team at Giant Skull is built on creativity and curiosity,” Asmussen said. “Our goal is to craft a rich new ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ universe filled with immersive storytelling, heroic combat and exhilarating traversal that players will fully embrace.”

Today, Sony held its latest State of Play and while it didn’t include some of the bigger games that people were likely hoping for, like a new God of War spin-off, it did include some cool surprises, including what might be the best-looking fighting game I’ve seen in years and a remake of a beloved Final Fantasy title. Suggested ReadingTears Of The Kingdom's Newspaper Questline And The State Of Hyrulean Journalism Share SubtitlesOffEnglishview videoSuggested ReadingTears Of The Kingdom's Newspaper Questline And The State Of Hyrulean Journalism Share SubtitlesOffEnglishHere’s the full State of Play if you want to watch it all: State of Play | June 4, 2025 [English]Lumines Arise Lumines Arise - Announce Trailer | PS5 GamesThis fun announcement kicked off the 45-minute show. It’s from the devs behind Tetris Effect, and it looks (and sounds) awesome. This one is coming to PS5 and PSVR2 in Fall 2025.Pragmata delayed againPragmata - First Contact Trailer | PS5 GamesCapcom had a new gameplay trailer for its long-awaited space-adventure-action-horror game featuring a young robot girl and a cool astronaut dude fighting robots. The game was set to come out in 2022, got delayed until 2023, and then got delayed again. Now it’s set to arrive in 2026. Romeo Is a Deadman looks wildRomeo is a Dead Man - Announce Trailer | PS5 GamesZombies attack, nearly killing Romeo, but luckily his grandfather shoves a big sci-fi thing into his head and turns him into a sword-wielding half-dead undead killer. Okay, I’m interested. This one is “maybe” arriving in 2026. No shock that Suda51 and Grasshopper Manufacture are behind this wild-looking game. Silent Hill F arrives in SeptemberSilent Hill f - Release Date Trailer | PS5 GamesI’m very happy that we’ve entered a new and better era for the Silent Hill franchise after so, so many years of crap and lukewarm slop. This latest entry looks very different than past games, but still seems properly foggy, spooky, and creepy. And that’s all I need in a Silent Hill sequel. Don’t have to wait long for this one as it launches September 25, 2025.Bloodstained: The Scarlett Engagement is revealedBloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement - Announce Trailer | PS5 GamesSurprise! We are getting a new Bloodstained game. What started back in 2015 as a crowdfunded attempt to make a new Castlevania-inspired 2D action game has expanded into a large franchise of its own. And it’s about to get bigger when this new entry arrives sometime in the future on PS5. Digimon Story Time StrangerDigimon Story Time Stranger - Release Date Trailer | PS5 GamesWow, it’s wild how much better Digimon games look than Pokémon games. This latest time-traveling RPG set in the universe features some slick visuals and a lot of people screaming about the digital world. As someone living in 2025, I’m fine with the digital world being burned to the ground. Time Stranger is out October 3, 2025. Final Fantasy Tactics is finally getting a remakeFinal Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles - Announcement Trailer | PS5 GamesYou can read more about this in our story here, but suffice it to say that the legendary tactics RPG is, at long last, getting the remake fans have been clamoring for for ages. Sony devoted a few minutes to sharing trailers and a few bits of info on these four games, one of which is launching on PS4. Wild. Baby Steps - Release Date Announcement | PS5 GamesHirogami - Pre-order Trailer | PS5 GamesCairn - Release Date and Demo | PS5 GamesNinja Gaiden: Ragebound - Release Date Announcement | PS5 & PS4 GamesMortal Kombat Legacy Collection looks amazingMortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection - Announce Trailer | PS5 & PS4 GamesDigital Eclipse, the retro game wizards behind some excellent old-school video game collections, is taking on the Mortal Kombat series in 2025. Legacy Collection will contain a ton of games from the series, including handheld, console, and arcade ports, as well as rollback netcode and documentary content. I’m very excited to see more of this thing.Sony is making a fight stickProject Defiant Wireless Fight Stick - Teaser TrailerNot much info beyond that. Here’s Sony’s official description of the device:Join the fray at home or away with the Project Defiant wireless fight stick*. Take the fight to your opponents with the included sling carry case, and enjoy precise in-game response with ultra-low latency wireless and wired play options, along with a durable, ergonomic design that’s built for battle.New Metal Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater trailerMetal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater - Gameplay Trailer | PS5 GamesThe Ape Escape mode is back and looks bigger than before. But the big news is at the very end, where Konami is teasing what looks like a multiplayer mode. Is Metal Gear Online returning? I hope so. Nioh 3 is coming in 2026, a demo is out nowNioh 3 - Announcement Trailer | PS5 GamesTeam Ninja is back with Nioh 3. The game will let players swap between a samurai and a ninja on the fly during combat, and looks slick as heck. This one drops in 2026, but you can check out a demo for it today on PS5. Thief VR spin-off coming to PSVR2 this yearThief VR: Legacy of Shadow - Reveal Trailer | PS VR2 GamesWhen I saw this trailer, I thought, “Hey, this looks like a new Thief game.” And I was right. Thief VR Legacy of Shadow arrives in 2025 and is being co-developed by Eidos-Montréal and Vertigo Games. Tides of Tomorrow looks like a colorful Waterworld gameTides of Tomorrow - Release Date Trailer | PS5 GamesI love colorful-looking games, so Tides of Tomorrow instantly caught my eye. The mix of online asynchronous gameplay and having to deal with other people’s decisions in a dying and flooded world sounds interesting. Tides of Tomorrow arrives in February 2026.Astro Bot is getting even more levels! Astro Bot - Challenge DLC Trailer | State of Play 2025One of the best PS5 games ever made, Astro Bot, is getting even more free levels later this month. Five new levels will soon be added to Astro Bot. And Sony is bringing back the fan-favorite Astro Bot PS5 controller that sold out instantly last year.Sea of Remnants is another colorful pirate gameSea of Remnants - Announce Trailer | PS5 GamesWait a minute, another colorful and fun-looking ocean-based adventure game? That’s strange. But anyway, this third-person pirate game has a cool style and big bosses to fight. and ship gameplay. And mermaids. It arrives on PS5 in 2026. Sword of the Sea is coming to PS PlusSword of the Sea - Launch Date Announcement | PS5 GamesThe people behind Abzu and Pathless have a new game coming out, and it looks like you’ll be doing a lot of sick sword surfing. This launches on PS Plus on August 19. More games coming to PS Plus Classic CatalogDeus Ex’s PS2 port - Jun 17Twisted Metal 3 and Twisted Metal 4 - July 15Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 - Later this summer007 First Light reveals its new Bond“Bond is a bullet without a target. Let’s give him one.” This new trailer looks exciting as heck, but I’m really bummed by how boring the new Bond himself looks. This is out in 2026. Read more here. Ghost of Yotei will get its own digital eventSony is promising a big gamepaly deep dive for Sucker Punch’s upcoming samurai game. Expect to learn more in July. MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls | Announce TrailerWell, this is a wonderful surprise. Sony, Marvel, and Arc System Works (Guilty Gear, BlazBlue, Dragon Ball FighterZ) are teaming up to make a 2.5D Marvel Comics tag-team fighting game. And it looks sick as hell. Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is coming out in 2026 on PS5 and PC. Here’s a separate video Sony posted about how the game came about and the work going into it: MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls | From Japan to the World

The Wicked movie was only half of the story from the hit Broadway musical. The conclusion — literally the entire second act of the show — is the basis for Wicked: For Good, featuring the same cast (including Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande) and directed once again by Jon M. Chu.The first trailer for the movie features the song that gives the film its subtitle, and teases a larger role for Dorothy and the rest of her friends from The Wizard of Oz than existed in the first Wicked movie (and maybe even the Wicked stage play). It’s also got even more beautiful costumes for Glinda and Elphaba — Elphaba’s new cloak with those big lapels is really sharp.You can watch the trailer below:READ MORE: Why Are Trailers For Musicals Afraid of Their Music?There’s a new trailer for the film as well.UniversalUniversalloading...Here is the film’s official synopsis:Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), now demonized as The Wicked Witch of the West, lives in exile, hidden within the Ozian forest while continuing her fight for the freedom of Oz’s silenced Animals and desperately trying to expose the truth she knows about The Wizard (Jeff Goldblum). Glinda, meanwhile, has become the glamorous symbol of Goodness for all of Oz, living at the palace in Emerald City and reveling in the perks of fame and popularity. Under the instruction of Madame Morrible (Oscar® winner Michelle Yeoh), Glinda is deployed to serve as an effervescent comfort to Oz, reassuring the masses that all is well under the rule of The Wizard. As Glinda’s stardom expands and she prepares to marry Prince Fiyero (Olivier award winner and Emmy and SAG nominee Jonathan Bailey) in a spectacular Ozian wedding, she is haunted by her separation from Elphaba. She attempts to broker a conciliation between Elphaba and The Wizard, but those efforts will fail, driving Elphaba and Glinda only further apart. The aftershocks will transform Boq (Tony nominee Ethan Slater) and Fiyero forever, and threaten the safety of Elphaba’s sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode), when a girl from Kansas comes crashing into all their lives. As an angry mob rises against the Wicked Witch, Glinda and Elphaba will need to come together one final time. With their singular friendship now the fulcrum of their futures, they will need to truly see each other, with honesty and empathy, if they are to change themselves, and all of Oz, for good.Well that was quite extensive. Wicked: For Good is scheduled to open in theaters on November 21.Get our free mobile appThe Best Food and Drink at Epic UniverseIf you visit Universal’s Epic Universe theme park, here are the foods and drink you have to try.

Former Star Wars Jedi director Stig Asmussen’s independent AAA studio Giant Skull was formally unveiled last March, with the developer confirming at the time that it was working on a AAA single-player action-adventure title developed on Unreal Engine 5. Now we know a little bit more about what the game will be. It has been announced that Giant Skull has partnered with Wizards of the Coast to develop an action-adventure title based on Dungeons and Dragons. Work on the AAA single-player title is underway, though further details on the game, what exactly players can expect from it, or when more will be unveiled are currently scarce. The game is in development for PC and consoles. Giant Skull CEO and former Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and God of War 3 director Stig Asmussen said, “Our talented and experienced team at Giant Skull is built on creativity and curiosity,” said Stig Asmussen, CEO, Giant Skull. “Our goal is to craft a rich new Dungeons and Dragons universe filled with immersive storytelling, heroic combat and exhilarating traversal that players will fully embrace.” President of Wizards of the Coast and digital gaming at Hasbro John Hight said, “Stig and the team at Giant Skull are exactly the type of exceptionally talented creators we want to work with, and I’m so happy to be reuniting with him on this new project. In our time working together on God of War I got to see firsthand Stig’s artistry and expertise, and he and the Giant Skull team are the perfect fit for our new game. Worldbuilding and storytelling is in our DNA, and this collaboration reflects our evolution and commitment to our Playing to Win Strategy, building a stronger presence in digital play. We look forward to revealing more about this brand-new Dungeons and Dragons game in the future.” Stay tuned for more details on the project in the coming months and years.

Wizards of the Coast has signed a publishing deal with Giant Skull to build another video game set in the D&D universe.

During most of the introduction to the Wake Up Dead Man portion of Saturday night’s Netflix Tudum event, writer-director Rian Johnson and his starry cast, led by a folksy Daniel Craig, had fun hiding what the third Knives Out mystery is about. In fact we really don’t know. But as judged by the first teaser trailer for the movie, it is going for a darker and more oblique tone than the general playfulness viewers remember from Knives Out and Glass Onion, marketing included. In the teaser, a church bell ominously sounds in the distance as images suffused in shadow and nocturnal rains cascade down around Craig’s unexpectedly stoic Benoit Blanc. Without a charming witticism or visual gag in sight, Blanc tersely intones during the trailer, “The impossible crime. For a man of reason this is the Holy Grail.” Through it all, a haunting hymn plays as an elegiac and Southern voice cries, “O Death, O Death, Won’t you spare me over til another year.” While we still know relatively little about the plot of Wake Up Dead Man beyond its terrific ensemble—which includes Glenn Close, Kerry Washington, Jeremy Renner, Josh Brolin, Andrew Scott, and Cailee Spaeny—the song choice might tell us a lot about the film’s setting, and possibly the dark places it intends to go. Initially speculation regarding the third Knives Out picture assumed that it would be set in England where most of the film’s production occurred. And while that might still be the case, we suspect the English countryside might be used to substitute for something a little closer to home for American viewers—and distinctly Southern. Indeed, many fans of the Coen Brothers likely recognize the song “O, Death” used in the trailer, for it is the exact version sung by the late bluegrass artist Ralph Stanley in Joel and Ethan Coen’s O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). Stanley, it should be stressed, is a legend in the bluegrass and folk sound of music who won a Grammy for this version of “O Death.” However, his vocals were used in O Brother (and now Wake Up Dead Man) to send a chill up the spine when sung a cappella style in the third act of the Coens’ Mississippi-set Depression fable. After all, on screen the song is being sung not by a simple musician, but by the grand wizard of a Ku Klux Klan chapter which has gathered to lynch and murder a young Black man on a trumped up accusation based in superstition. The Coens’ choice of this song to be sung by the KKK in the 1930s is probably not accidental either. The standard version of the song’s origin is that it’s a traditional Appalachian folk song written by Baptist preacher Lloyd Chandler. Chandler certainly performed the song in the 1920s in North Carolina, allegedly after receiving a vision from God of the song in 1916. However, further research has proven that Chandler’s composition bears an uncanny similarity to a 1913 printed version of a folk song (that is therefore likely much older) in Journal of American Folklore. The journal asserted the song was sung by “Eastern North Carolina Negroes.” Which is all to say, the song’s ambiguous origin is rooted in the cultural milieu and tensions of the American South during the days and decades of Jim Crow and after the Civil War. It was used by the Coens as a disturbingly beautiful song of annihilation put in the mouths of mass murdering racists, and it is now used to signal what appears to be the first Benoit Blanc mystery to return to the region of Benoit’s home: the American South. (This setting is seemingly further verified by the fact that one of the film’s law enforcement figures is dressed like someone from an American sheriff’s office as opposed to an English village.) This is all of course speculation, but to use this song and Stanley’s Grammy-winning version of it specifically is likely a deliberate choice on Johnson’s part. And given how Johnson is unafraid to use what on the surface appear to be cozy murder mysteries to interrogate larger issues of social rot and inequality in the modern world via both Knives Out and Glass Onion, we are left to wonder just how deeply Southern the roots of his third murder mystery will run. Wake Up Dead Man premieres on Dec. 12 on Netflix.

Pros Excellent cooling performanceBrilliantly designed front fan bracketsBeautiful lighting effects in tested Ambience Pro RGB versionElaborate, web-accessible software controls for lighting, fans Cons Only minimal dust filtrationHigh price for our Ambience Pro test model Fractal Design Meshify 3 Specs 120mm or 140mm Fan Positions 6 120mm to 200mm Fans Included 3 Dimensions (HWD) 20.1 by 9.1 by 17.2 inches Fan Controller Included? Front Panel Ports HD Audio Front Panel Ports USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A (2) Front Panel Ports USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C Included Fan Lighting Color Addressable RGB Internal 2.5-Inch Bays 6 Internal 3.5-Inch Bays 2 Internal Chassis Lighting Color None Maximum CPU Cooler Height 173 Maximum GPU Length 349 Motherboard Form Factors Supported ATX Motherboard Form Factors Supported MicroATX Motherboard Form Factors Supported Mini-ITX PCI Expansion Slot Positions 7 Power Supply Form Factor Supported ATX Power Supply Maximum Length 180 Power Supply Mounting Location Bottom Side Window(s)? Yes (Tempered Glass) Weight 20.2 All Specs Fractal Design boosts its latest Meshify PC case with a trio of 140mm ARGB fans behind its now-iconic “crumpled mesh” front face. Starting at a mid-market $139.99 for its base model, the Meshify 3 also comes in upgraded versions with nifty extras that creep up the price. These include items like ARGB fan trim, ARGB side panel lighting, an ARGB strip surrounding the face panel, and even an ARGB controller that connects to the web. Taken together, all that can bump the price as high as the $219.99 MSRP for the deluxe, spectacular Ambience Pro RGB version of the case we tested. Whatever the feature mix you opt for, the case’s robust cooling performance shines. At the high end of the range, though, factor in the case’s biggest shortfall—its lack of inlet-air dust filtration—given what competitors deliver in $200-plus cases. Our current ATX tower favorite, the NZXT H7 Flow, isn't much better equipped with filters and isn't as striking as the Ambience Pro case in all its lit glory, but it costs much less.Design: A Crumpled ClassicPC-case feature trends have changed a bit in the eight years that Fractal Design has been putting its signature crumpled-mesh faces on classic mid-tower cases. (The aesthetic crumpling is easier to see in photos of the shinier black finish, such as the Meshify 2 we reviewed in 2021.) This latest version adds an air deflector at the front of the power supply shroud to force a bit more airflow past your hot graphics card. This Ambience Pro RGB variant’s feature set, as noted, has a USB-based ARGB controller, as well as lighting around the front face, along the bottom of the left side panel’s window, and on the three fans. Buyers willing to forgo most of the lit-up bling can get the basic “RGB” version with just the fan lighting for $159.99, and those willing to give up even that helping of ARGB can get the base “TG” version for $139.99. Our sample was in white; all three models are also available in black, and buyers who yearn for further simplification will find an additional “Solid” variant sold exclusively in black, with a painted steel panel on the left side in place of the window.Fractal Design has merged the headphone and microphone jacks of previous versions into a single four-pole connector on the Meshify 3. This connector functions as a normal headphone jack when one is plugged in; the extra pole serves the monaural microphone of a combined headset plug. Fractal also ditched the reset button of previous cases, but kept the twin USB 3 Type-A and a single Type-C port. And, this time around, the lighted power-on indicator ring that surrounds the power button is ARGB.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)Though the mesh that covers the face and top panel could potentially filter out some inbound dust, the only part of the Meshify 3 that’s explicitly designed as a dust trap is under the power supply’s air inlet. Sliding out from the case’s side, it’s partially disguised as a portion of the rear case foot.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)The Meshify 3’s back panel features a pattern of vent slots spaced to allow a fan to be screwed directly into the slots. Also back here are surface-mounted PCI Express expansion-card slots with replaceable covers, a plastic screw-tab cover with a built-in push tab at the bottom to ease its removal, and a removable power supply bracket that’s secured with two large knurled screws. Power supply insertion is through the case’s rear panel; the design lacks the space to slide in the power supply from the side.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)Both side panels are secured at the top with snaps, and Fractal Design added a pair of tabs to make that task a little easier. Those tabs also have screw holes, enabling you to further secure your side panels against accidental removal.A nylon pull tab at the center of the top panel’s back edge serves a similar function. To release that panel and lift it off, you must first slide it back a quarter inch or so.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)The front ARGB fans have 140mm frames, but there’s too little space behind them to mount a 420mm-format radiator vertically. That’s because radiator end caps tend to extend the total size by around 40mm (give or take 6mm).(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)On the other hand, those really motivated to place a radiator behind the front panel’s fans will find that a 360mm-format unit will work, but only by removing the 140mm fans and flipping the fan-mount brackets over. (They are visible in the image below.) Fractal Design’s brilliance shines through with these very basic sheet-metal brackets that flip to support either 120mm or 140mm fans without hindering airflow.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)The top panel is fully removable to ease radiator installation and removal, but it does not benefit from the front panel’s design wizardry. While its straight-edged brackets will cover a portion of the fan’s blades when fans are mounted directly on them, its 330mm-plus of length is sufficient to support every 280mm-format radiator we can think of.Also, notice the removable cable shroud running up and down the case near the front. It is adjustable to fit motherboards up to 10.9 inches deep. That is less than the 13-inch max depth of Extended ATX, but it’s still sufficient to fit the slightly oversized enthusiast-class motherboard models that sometimes still get called EATX.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)The lower front fan’s air deflector is removable and sits far enough above the case’s floor to be used in conjunction with a pair of 2.5-inch drive bays hidden beneath it. (We don’t even want to think about how we’d manage the cables in that configuration, however.)We removed the cable shroud for a clearer shot of this area. Keen observers might note the mounting slot for its lower edge at the top of the photo.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)Two drive trays, three push-in cable clips, and the ARGB controller are all found behind the motherboard tray. The card bracket’s removable covers and the removable power supply bracket are shown in the image below detached and in front of the case, and the photo also shows the gap beneath the removable front fan duct into which some builders may want to install a pair of 2.5-inch drives.Recommended by Our Editors(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)More drive storage is visible here on the back of the motherboard tray. Configured from the factory to hold two 3.5-inch drives, these brackets on the back of the motherboard tray can be repositioned to hold four 2.5-inch drives instead.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)Held in place by a hook-and-loop Velcro-style strap, the included ARGB controller has USB and PWM input on the top, proprietary combination connectors on the side, and an old-fashioned SATA power connector on its bottom to power it up.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)Note that Fractal designed special outer shells on the proprietary ARGB/PWM combo connectors. This design is to prevent them from being mistakenly connected to anything USB Type-C, from which they appear to borrow their form. As with several others, this photo again shows the 10mm gap between the bottom panel’s 2.5-inch drive mounts and the underside of the front fan’s air guide.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)As for the controller box itself, here’s a shot of the connectors that we couldn’t see in the ARGB controller’s previous photos, including the SATA power inlet.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)Of the two output cables we did see, one is for the case's chain of fans, and the other is for this version of the case’s “Ambience Pro” lighting. Four telescoping contact pins allow the front panel’s portion to separate easily from the rest of that latter cable without an awkward tether.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)Building With the Fractal Design Meshify 3: Perfect Parts PacksFractal's accessory kits are hard to top in terms of neatness and clear labeling. Start with the screws: The Meshify 3 includes 24 M3 mounting screws, nine #6-32 screws to attach the motherboard to case standoffs, four #6-32 screws with hex/Phillips combo heads for power supply installation, and eight #6-32 shoulder screws for mounting 3.5-inch drives on damping grommets. (Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)You also get eight damping grommets, four cable ties, and an extra motherboard standoff. (But no extra screw for it! Such is life.) Our case being the Ambience Pro RGB version, it also includes a breakout cable that goes from the case’s proprietary ARGB/PWM connector to a standard ARGB strip and a standard PWM fan, along with an extension cable for the proprietary connector.Connecting the case to our motherboard are a power-button lead, an HD Audio header cable for the headset combo jack, a 19-pin USB 3.x for the Type-A ports, and a Gen 2x2 Type-E internal cable for the single Type-C external port. The case’s RGB controller also connects to one our motherboard’s USB 2.0 breakout headers and one of its PWM fan headers.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)The white version of the Meshify 3 includes chrome hardware, but since our standard Asus ATX test motherboard is black, I flexed my design chops and used black screws to attach it. I can also divulge that I initially forgot to reinstall the cable shroud, which required me later in the build to remove the graphics card, install the shroud, and reinstall the card. Oops!(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)The RGB controller uses a web interface to select its various lighting and fan modes, rather than forcing users to install software, and it stores those settings on the controller rather than leaving components in the OS. You can dictate a "startup" lighting effect separately from the regular run of lighting that the case cycles through. Using it allowed us to switch from the case’s soft blue default to something a little more, shall we say, festive.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)The light controller’s “Sunset” mode looked like a softer variation of our CPU cooler’s Rainbow mode in this test. Nice.(Credit: Thomas Soderstrom)Testing the Fractal Design Meshify 3: Cool It, ManToday’s build leverages the ATX hardware from our most recent case evaluation platform, including its full-sized Cooler Master GX III Gold 850W power supply and mid-size Corsair iCue H100i RGB Pro XT CPU cooler.Apparently, that little scoop that pushes air upward from the lower of the three front fans does have some positive effect on overall case temperature. Our CPU, motherboard (voltage-regulator), and GPU numbers all show slightly lower temperatures than its five most closely-matched recently reviewed rivals. (These include the Corsair Frame 4000D, the SilverStone Fara 514X, and the MSI Velox 300R.)And just in case you thought that Fractal Design might have gotten its high score by overspeeding its fans a bit…it didn’t. Fan noise is tied for second place in this test group, behind the Super Flower Zillion Direct.The biggest nit we can pick is that some of the Meshify 3’s airflow enhancement might be due to its lack of flow-restricting dust filters.