Fortnite Festival Season 5 launches this weekend with a headliner who's a pretty major pivot from Metallica: Colombian pop and reggaeton singer Karol G. As has been the custom for each season of Festival so far, Karol G will have two skins available to obtain--one in the Season 5 Festival Pass, and one in the item shop--along with a variety of instruments, jam tracks, emotes and other cosmetics. For good measure, Karol G will have her own Fortnite concert experience next weekend, and the new Festival season is bringing us some highly requested quality-of-life changes.

Season 5, which runs until November 2, adds an all-new Festival Pass to the game. The pass costs 1800 V-Bucks, as it did in previous seasons, and includes both free and paid tracks. Buying the pass will immediately get you the Bichota Season Karol G skin, and completing the pass will unlock a Karol G-themed mic stand and guitar, as well as four jam tracks--Qlona by Karol G, My Oh My by Ava Max, The Nights by Avicii, and Take Over Control by Afrojack and Eva Simons.

The free track, meanwhile, includes three jam tracks by Epic Games, an emote, an aura, and an extremely cool looking keytar at the end of the pass.

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Preorder Inside Out 2 4K Steelbook Edition

$38+

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Inside Out 2 is putting up ridiculous numbers in theaters, pulling in well over $1 billion globally. That makes it the year's biggest film and one of the biggest films of all time--falling just shy of hits like Spider-Man: No Way Home and Avengers: Infinity War. Now that its theatrical run is coming to an end, you can now preorder the Inside Out 2 4K Steelbook, which arrives on September 10 and is loaded with bonus features.

Preorder Inside Out 2 4K Steelbook$38+The Inside Out 2 4K Steelbook

The big draw of this version of Inside Out 2 is the adorable steelbook. Featuring all the main characters from the film, it's one of the cutest steelbook designs we've seen this year. Not only will it protect your Blu-ray, but it'll look great on a shelf in your home theater. Aside from looking good and getting you a 4K version of the film, the Inside Out 2 4K Steelbook includes a variety of bonus features such as an exploration of Riley's repressed memories, a look at the creation of Anxiety, Embarrassment, Ennui, and Envy, and a ton of deleted scenes.

Keep in mind that Amazon preorders come with a preorder price guarantee. This entitles you to any discounts and price drops that occur after reserving a copy. And since the film is currently $68 at Amazon and $38 at Walmart, it's all but guaranteed we'll see at least a $30 price cut in the coming weeks. You also won't be charged until the item ships.

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Bill Lawrence, the creator of Scrubs, Cougar Town, and recent hit Shrinking, as well as megahit Ted Lasso, has been busy with his new show for Apple TV+, Bad Monkey, starring Vince Vaughn. The show focuses on Vaughn as a former Miami cop who’s now a Florida Keys health inspector but trying to get back on the force.

Even when promoting Bad Monkey the conversation goes back to Scrubs, the second show he co-created and one of the biggest hits of the early aughts. Scrubs ran for nine seasons total, seven with NBC and two with ABC, and is the subject of a constant conversation of a reunion, possibly a revival like Frasier and Will & Grace.

Talking to Variety, Lawrence believes there's some "real momentum" to make something like that happen, but it boils down to simple business standing in the way. For example, Scrubs is a Disney show, and Lawrence currently has a deal with Warner Bros. television. Even aside from that the original cast is busy with steady projects.

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In 2015, Mike Colter entered the MCU as Luke Cage in a supporting role in Jessica Jones Season 1 before starring in his own Netflix series in 2016. However, the Luke Cage series was cut short after only two seasons, and Colter hasn't reprised the role since his guest appearance in Iron Fist Season 2 in 2018. Now that Daredevil: Born Again has paved the way for the former Marvel Netflix series to make a comeback, Colter is open to reprising his role on Disney+.

"I would love to explore it, if they found some story, some way, somewhere, to take it," Colter told ComicBook.com. "And I'm happy that Charlie Cox and those are getting it rebooted, but I don't have any [idea if Luke Cage is getting rebooted]. I'm not holding anything back."

Colter also shared his thoughts about the initial attempt to make Born Again a reboot of the Daredevil TV series rather than a direct continuation of what came before.

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For the first time, Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings TV show, The Rings of Power, will be available to stream for free. Amazon and Samsung have partnered up to make Season 1 of the fantasy series free on Samsung TV Plus, but only for a limited time.

Samsung TV Plus is Samsung's free TV package. You don't need a credit card, nor do you have to sign up for a contract. You just need to have a Samsung TV that was released after 2016. Alternatively, Samsung TV Plus is available on Galaxy devices, refrigerators, and the web.

Best Buy is currently offering some good deals on Samsung TVs, in case you're looking to buy one.

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The end of Destiny 2's Episode: Echoes Act 2 finally reveals the identity of the Conductor, a new threat on Nessus who has taken control of the Vex on the planetoid for spooky and nefarious reasons. The community has long suspected exactly who the Conductor might be, and with the cutscene that played at the end of this week's story mission, we have our confirmation.

Spoilers for the Echoes Act 2 story mission to follow, so stop reading now if you still haven't run through the mission.

As was a pretty easy guess at this point, this week's cutscene revealed that yes, the Conductor is actually Maya Sundaresh. This is a character who has been a part of Destiny 2 lore for a long time, although she has never actually appeared on-screen in any real capacity until now. But Maya has been casting a shadow over Destiny 2 since the vanilla days, and was a big part of some of the best original Destiny lore from the game's very start. Her appearance is a pretty big deal.

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The tech tree is getting an upgrade for Sid Meier's Civilization series. That's because the contentious 2K launcher won't be needed for Civilization VII when it launches in 2025. Additionally, the launcher was removed from Civilization VI on Steam this week.

The announcement was made on the Steam page for Civilization VI, with no further explanation provided. However, the 2K launcher had been "causing technical issues" for Civilization VI over the past couple of months on Steam, requiring hotfixes in June and July.

It's not the first time the 2K launcher has created problems for a game, either. In 2022, Marvel's Midnight Suns players on Steam figured out that disabling the launcher solved some performance issues related to frame rate. Needless to say, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive on the Civilization subreddit regarding the news.

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AMD Ryzen 9 9900X

$500

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AMD Ryzen 9 9950X

$650

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The premium AMD Ryzen 9 9900X and 9950X processors are now available on store shelves, but it looks like they may not stick around for long. Best Buy has already sold out of both models--and other retailers are likely to follow suit. For now, you can still find them at Amazon. We'd recommend moving fast, however, as there's a very real possibility that they'll sell out soon.

AMD Ryzen 9 9900X $500

This 12-core, 24-thread unlocked processor can hit speeds up to 5.6 GHz and supports overclocking. Based on the new AMD Zen 5 architecture, this is one of the most premium CPUs in the Ryzen lineup. AMD says it'll deliver frame rates over 100fps for most of today's hit games, and early reviews appear to back up the claim. Your purchase includes a nice three-year limited warranty, as well as Amazon's 30-day return policy.

See at Amazon See at Best Buy AMD Ryzen 9 9950X $650

This 16-core, 32-thread processor is the most expensive one in the lineup. AMD says this one is designed for "creators and gamers," capable of hitting 5.7 GHz and putting up performance numbers well above the Ryzen 9 9900X. So if you want to run games at 4K or are a professional photographer or content creator, the power offered by the 9950X should be mighty appealing. A liquid cooler is recommended for use with the CPU, so make sure your rig is properly specced before adding this to your build. Like the 9900X, this one comes with a three-year limited warranty and Amazon's 30-day return policy.

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Two other AMD Ryzen CPUs are part of the newly launched 9000 Series--the Ryzen 7 9700X and the Ryzen 5 9600X. These clock in at just $359 and $279, respectively, making them a better option for shoppers on a budget.

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Journey to the West, Revised Editions (4 Volumes)

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We're less than a week away from the release of Black Myth: Wukong on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. A souls-like with fast-paced combat set against a backdrop of Chinese mythology, Wukong is heavily inspired by the classic novel Journey to the West. In some respects, you could call Wukong an adaptation. For instance, the game's main character, the Destined One, is a nod to a primary character from book named Sun Wukong (the Monkey King). The Destined One's wields the Monkey King's magical staff (Ryu Jingu Bang). Considering the parallels, souls-like fans who are interested in Black Myth: Wukong may also want to read Journey to the West and its sequels. Let's check out your options for physical editions of Journey to the West below.

Journey to the West, Revised Editions (4 Volumes)

Journey to the West was published in China in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and is widely considered one of the best Chinese novels and best novels of its time period written anywhere in the world. The story chronicles the pilgrimage of Tang Sanzang, who is based off of the real Tang dynasty Buddhist monk Xuanzang. His journey to the west is focused on finding sacred texts.

• The Journey to the West Volume 1 (Paperback) -- $28 ($31)
• The Journey to the West Volume 2 (Paperback) -- $31
• The Journey to the West Volume 3 (Paperback) -- $33
• The Journey to the West Volume 4 (Paperback) -- $33
• The Journey to the West 4-Volume Collection (Paperback) -- $45

Sun Wukong is one of three protectors appointed to help provide Tang Sanzang with safe passage. Wukong is a monkey with supernatural abilities who defied the gods and was imprisoned for 500 years as punishment. His journey protecting Xuanzang is described as an act of atonement.

Journey to the West combines the real-life events experienced by Xuanzang with Chinese folklore and other fictitious plot points introduced by author Wu Cheng'en.

The classic novel has proved to be extremely influential, as it has inspired Dragon Ball, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, One Piece, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and more.

To complete the whole story, you'll need to read through all four volumes, but it's a very lengthy tale. Volume 1 of these eye-catching revised editions is 576 pages, while the other three volumes are just under 450 pages each. Each volume is around $30 each, but Amazon does have an older box set featuring all four volumes for $45. The box set contains more compact paperbacks, so the page count increases to 2,346 pages total.

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If you've ever signed up for Disney+, is it a reasonable assumption that by clicking on the user agreement for the streaming service, the terms can be extended to protecting the company from going to court over a wrongful death that happened in one of its theme parks? According to Disney's lawyers, the Disney+ user agreement is the company's justification for trying to send a British man's lawsuit over the death of his wife into arbitration.

Via BBC, Jeffrey Piccolo filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Disney after his wife died, following a severe allergic reaction after she ate in one of Walt Disney World's restaurants. However, Disney's lawyers are contending that because Piccolo once signed up for a free trial of Disney+ and signed the user agreement--which stipulates arbitration be used in place of a lawsuit--he can't sue the park. Piccolo's Disney+ trial was in 2019, and the company argues that he agreed to the terms again when he purchased the couple's Disney World tickets last year.

This is an untested legal theory, to say the least. Piccolo's lawyers are countering that Disney's filing "is based on the incredible argument that any person who signs up for a Disney+ account, even free trials that are not extended beyond the trial period, will have forever waived the right to a jury trial."

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Springloaded, the team behind Let's Build a Zoo, has just announced its latest game, Let's Build a Dungeon. This time, instead of building the perfect zoo, players will be in charge of running a gaming studio with the goal of creating an MMORPG.

According to the game's Steam page, one of the first things players will need to do is look through applications to ensure they're hiring the right developers for the job. In addition to getting the right devs, players will also need to create proper schedules, oversee advertising campaigns, and build relationships with the press.

Once all the proper devs are hired, they must ensure their game has an active player base. As for some of the customization mechanics, it appears that players will be able to create their own town and, of course, a dungeon. In the dungeon, they'll be able to place whatever items they want inside, such as weapons, structures, and even enemies. All of these can be changed whenever they see fit. Players will also be able to play the game that they made.

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Gotham City has a thousand stories to tell, and if you're looking to discover what happened between the events of the 1989 Batman movie and its sequel Batman Returns, then you can soon crack open the spine of a direct sequel to Batman '89. Published by Random House and slated for October 15, Batman: Resurrection is an official 336-page novel written by John Jackson Miller. He has plenty of experience writing stories set in the worlds of beloved franchises, including Star Wars, Star Trek, Halo, and Planet of the Apes. Batman: Resurrection is available to preorder in hardcover format at Amazon for $27.49 (was $30). The Kindle ebook version is available for $15, and the audiobook will launch the same day, too.

Batman: Resurrection - A Novel by John Jackson MillerBatman: Resurrection

Set shortly after the Joker lost a fight with gravity, a stone gargoyle, and the hard pavements of Gotham, Batman: Resurrection examines the lasting impact of the clown prince of crime. The remaining members of the Joker's gang have set up a cult of personality centered around their dead leader, and with wannabe Jokers joining the ranks, they've begun a campaign of arson that threatens to engulf Gotham in flames. Greedy opportunists like Max Shreck have started to exploit the situation and survivors of the Joker's chemical weapon Smylex are overwhelming the city's hospitals.

Caught in the middle of all this chaos is Batman, who continues his fight to protect the innocent as the Caped Crusader.

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There is a major item-duplication bug in Diablo 4 right now, one that has forced Blizzard to disable all trading in its ARPG as it investigates the issue.

As spotted by Diablo content creator Rob2628, a duplication bug seemingly introduced as part of Season 5 was highlighted in a recent stream on Chinese video platform bilibili. Players were shown duplicating some of Diablo 4's best items and most sought-after materials.

There is a massive duplication exploit going on in #DiabloIV right now. Trading of any kind has been disabled as thousands of dupes materials are flooding the market.
There apparently has been a stream in China where the duplication exploit has been shared publicly to thousands… pic.twitter.com/OisZzHvTjQ

— Rob2628 (@Rob_2628) August 14, 2024

Images from the stream show players with inventories full of Mythic Unique items like Harlequin Crest and thousands upon thousands of Stygian Stones, a material needed to summon Diablo 4's most difficult (and most rewarding) bosses. Just a few months ago, a small stack of Stygian Stones would sell for dozens or hundreds of millions of gold, but a look at Diablo trading websites reveal players selling hundreds or even thousands of the boss-summoning materials for just a few million gold, as duplicated items look to have started hitting the market more widely.

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Prime Video is potentially expanding its video game-themed offerings, as a new report claims Deadpool 1 director Tim Miller will helm a new video game anthology series for the Fallout TV show streamer.

Deadline was first to report this, saying the show--apparently called Secret Level--will be an animated series that represents one of Prime Video's "biggest bets in the adult-animated space to date." The show is said to be similar to Miller's popular Love, Death & Robots anthology series at Netflix. Like with that show, Miller will reportedly produce Secret Level with his Blur Studio company.

Secret Level will consist of original short stories set within the worlds of "beloved" video games, the report said, noting that New World (which is published by Amazon), Spelunky, and unspecified PlayStation franchises could be among them. Prime Video and Sony are already working on a God of War TV show, so the two have an existing business relationship.

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Branching dialogue trees are nothing new in gaming. Titles from Telltale Games to RPGs like Baldur's Gate 3 have utilized them for years. However, The Chinese Room--the developers behind Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2--is taking a different path in the upcoming sequel. The words you choose can do more than hurt or help your relationships with other characters, but you won't always be able to count on getting the same reaction twice.

TCR Senior Narrative Designer and writer Sarah Longthorne has posted a developer's diary for Bloodlines 2 that explores the way that dialogue will work in the game. "Conversations are not an exception to gameplay, but an expression of it," explains Longthorne. "And if gameplay is a test of skill, conversations are a test of emotional intelligence."

Essentially, characters will respond to your dialogue choices based on their personal preferences as well as their interactions with your playable character, Phyre. Longthrone noted that players will have to figure out the dispositions of the NPCs to learn what they respond to. As an example, she included a sample interaction between Phyre and a character named Lou Graham. The same response from Phyre was interpreted differently by Lou based on how the player had interacted with her in the past.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 releases in October, but the game's multiplayer beta arrives later this month. If you're not interested in preordering the game or you don't have access via Game Pass, there is another way to get in to the early access period of the test.

As is becoming a yearly tradition, Xfinity internet subscribers can get early access to the multiplayer beta. Members can navigate to the "Rewards" hub on the Xfinity website or app to claim a code for early access. Early access begins August 30, and unlike in years past, all platforms can get in at the same time. The multiplayer beta then opens for everyone on all platforms starting September 6.

In previous years, Activision gave PlayStation users first access to Call of Duty betas because Sony paid Activision for this. However, now that Microsoft owns Call of Duty, everyone across Xbox and PlayStation will get in at the same time. Xbox's Phil Spencer promised "parity" for the Call of Duty series between Xbox and PlayStation, and this seems to be part of that. The executive also recently discussed how Microsoft wants to avoid "slimy" platform policies surrounding exclusive content for Call of Duty.

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As you get better at farming in Stardew Valley, you will start to unlock different sprinklers. Sprinklers allow you to save time and energy everyday by watering your crops for you, with the trade off being that you have to build your fields around the sprinklers. Each tier of sprinkler offers a different coverage area.

How to craft each sprinkler

There are three types of sprinklers in Stardew Valley: sprinkler, quality sprinkler, and iridium sprinkler. The base sprinkler is unlocked at farming level 2 and requires 1 copper bar and 1 iron bar to craft. The quality sprinkler unlocks at farming level 6 and requires 1 iron bar, 1 gold bar, and 1 refined quartz to craft. Refined quartz can be made by putting either quartz or lava quartz into a furnace with a piece of coal.

More Stardew Valley guides:

• Every Barn Upgrade In Stardew Valley

• Stardew Valley: How To Upgrade Your Tools

• How To Get Iridium In Stardew Valley

• Stardew Valley: How To Unlock The Greenhouse

The iridium sprinkler unlocks at farming level 9 and requires 1 gold bar, 1 iridium bar, and 1 battery pack. Battery packs are obtained from lightning rods, which can be crafted at foraging level 6. During a storm, lightning will activate the lightning rod and create a battery pack.

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At D23 recently, Disney officially announced the title of the third Avatar movie--Avatar: Fire and Ash. But what is the significance of that title? Director James Cameron said in an interview that it took a while to find the right name for the film, and in the end, he hopes the title conveys that the film is focused on anger and violence, as well as the aftermath of that being grief and loss.

"It took a long time to come up with a title that I felt resonated with what's in the film," Cameron told Entertainment Weekly. "I don't think I could say too much about it until you actually see the film and you see what it means, but if you think of fire as hatred, anger, violence, that sort of thing, and ash is the aftermath. So what's the aftermath? Grief, loss, right? And then what does that cause in the future? More violence, more anger, more hatred. It's a vicious cycle. So that's the thinking."

Cameron went on to say that it's not correct to think of Fire and Ash as a "dark" film, though he acknowledged that it does indeed go to "darker places" than the first two films.

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Blizzard has just revealed more information on what players can expect in Overwatch 2's Season 12, New Frontiers, when it launches on August 20. The latest season will introduce Clash--a new game mode--as well as more maps and the new support hero Juno.

Season 12 appears to be centered around Egyptian gods. Some skins for this season include Doomfirst as Bast and as Bast and Reaper as Anubis, to name a few. One of the new maps will reflect this by taking players to the Temple of Anubis. The other map, Hanaoka, was inspired by the Hanamura map introduced in the first Overwatch.

As for Clash, it's being described as a fast-paced mode with players capturing multiple control points. It'll also feature dynamic spawns and streamlined map routes, making it easier for players to jump back into combat after dying.

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Out of all of the Daredevil cast members, Vincent D'Onofrio never lost faith that the show would return in some form. Next year, D'Onofrio, Charlie Cox, and most of the Daredevil cast will finally be back in Disney+'s Daredevil: Born Again. And if you were expecting the show's TV-MA violence to be watered on its new home, D'Onofrio indicates that the upcoming series may be even more violent than the original Daredevil.

"There are some things in this show that go much further than we did on the original show," D'Onofrio told Rotten Tomatoes. "There's one thing in particular that my character does that I can't believe made it into the cut."

Vincent D'Onofrio teases what violence fans can expect to see in the upcoming #DaredevilBornAgain series. pic.twitter.com/6YW15zzfj4

— Rotten Tomatoes (@RottenTomatoes) August 11, 2024

We saw the first trailer for Daredevil: Born Again at D23, and it was every bit as violent and graphic as D'Onofrio indicated. Considering that the original Daredevil included a scene where D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk/Kingpin murdered a man by decapitating him with a car door, it's hard to picture what he could do that would be more shocking than that. Aside from Daredevil, D'Onofrio has reprised his role in Hawkeye and Echo. The latter show teased that Fisk may follow in the footsteps of his comic book counterpart by running for Mayor of New York City.

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