Columbia has announced a new entry in its line of Columbia Classics, a selection of films that get the 4K Blu-ray treatment and are packaged inside of a deluxe box set. For this release, Columbia has reached into its archive for its fifth volume, and this six-movie set will contain A Man For All Seasons, Little Women (2019), The Age of Innocence, Tootsie, On The Waterfront, and All the King's Men. The collection launches October 1 and preorders are available now at Amazon.

Preorder at Amazon Columbia Classics Volume 5

The entire package is $216, but the price is worth it, considering just how much content you're getting in the box. In addition to the six award-winning films in the set, there'll also be over 20 hours of new and archival special features, commentary tracks, deleted scenes, making-of documentaries, and much more. Columbia is also including an extra disc featuring four Columbia Pictures silent films from the 1920s; Ladies of Leisure, The Desert Bride, The Scarlet Lady, and The Belle of Broadway.

These are some great classics in the collection, showcasing a wide variety of genres in Columbia Studio's film catalog. On the Waterfront stars Marlon Brando as a washed-up boxer mixed up in the dirty business of unions, Greta Gerwig's 2019 adaptation of Little Women features an all-star cast, and Tootsie sees Dustin Hoffman create a female alter-ego to help him land a job in the cutthroat world of acting.

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Lego and Fortnite fans are in for a treat. as Lego Fortnite sets have officially been confirmed for an October launch this year. Based on the hit video game, the four new sets include the iconic Fortnite Battle Bus, Durr Burger, Supply Llama, and Peely Bone, with minifigures featuring signature Fortnite tools like pickaxes and Chug Jugs.

Lego Fortnite Preorders

• Lego Fortnite Durr Burger -- $15
• Lego Fortnite Supply Llama -- $40
• Lego Fortnite Peely Bone -- $100
• Lego Fortnite Battle Bus -- $100

Lego Fortnite

Gallery

Kicking off the line is the Fortnite Supply Llama, a 691-piece set priced at $40. All the details of the in-game Supply Llama are present on the Lego version, and it comes with accessories like the Grappler, Slurp Juice, Rough Ruby, a Fortnite backpack, good luck charms, Slap Juice, and a few sticks of dynamite. For something a little smaller, there's the Fortnite Durr Burger, a cute replica of the restaurant mascot ​found in the game. This set features 193 pieces and is priced at $15.

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It's been almost six years since a new Mega Man game came out, but Capcom claims it still has future plans for the franchise. The company was asked about the Blue Bomber series during a recent shareholders meeting.

According to VGC, a person inquired about what's going on with the traditionally side-scrolling series, which hasn't seen a new entry since Mega Man 11 in 2018. Capcom responded: "Mega Man is one of our highly valued IPs, and we are considering how to create games for it on an ongoing basis."

Last month, Nintendo Switch Online members got five Mega Man titles from the original Game Boy. This is the first instance of the Blue Bomber showing up for core Switch Online subscribers. Previously, only Mega Man: The Wily Wars on Sega Genesis has been available as part of the higher-priced Expansion Pack tier.

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Ascendant.com (previously known as just Ascendant) advertises itself as the world's first adaption shooter, claiming to shake up each match with game-changing events. And although the squad-based shooter is good--I think it might even have the capacity to be great--it doesn't seem to deliver what's advertised on the tin. At its core, Ascendant.com feels like a solid shooter with an engaging capture-the-flag gameplay loop, but the various in-match events I experienced didn't impact the flow of the game to the extent that I needed to change up my strategy between games. Ascendant.com has all the markings of being a good time but doesn't seem to be all that different from any existing squad-based first-person shooter out there.

Each match of Ascendant.com puts you into a team of three and tasks your squad with hunting down one of the various biocores scattered about its map. While hunting these cores down, you can take the time to complete optional objectives--kill hapless wildlife to earn in-match currency, for example, or discover spawn points that will allow you or your allies to get back into a fight faster. It's up to you whether you prefer to run straight for one of the various biocores or spend time outfitting yourself in case you run into one of the opposing teams. Once your team has successfully nabbed a biocore, you have to make the long walk back to your squad's original spawn point, where you will defend the biocore for several minutes while it extracts. The team with the most biocores extracted at the end of the match wins.

Calling in an airstrike can be a quick way to thin the numbers of multiple enemy teams.

There's an entertaining cat-and-mouse dynamic to this set-up that feels reminiscent of The Finals or other extraction-focused shooters. Your team can choose to be aggressive and go for the closest biocore, play it safe and only go for a biocore once most teams are fighting over a different one, or let other teams handle the heavy lifting and simply steal a biocore from a weakened team. There are a lot of ways to go about completing your objective, and I had just as much fun raucously laughing at my helpless victims as I beat a biocore out of their hands as I did sneaking through a hallway with bated breath on our way to the next biocore.

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The summer of gaming continues this August with Gamescom, which is one of the largest gaming-focused shows on the planet. More than 320,000 people attended last year's show, and expectations are high for this year's event as well. In this post, we're rounding up all the key things to know.

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• When is Gamescom 2024?

When is Gamescom 2024?

Gamescom 2024 takes place Wednesday, August 21 through Sunday, August 25. August 21 is for media and business people only, while August 22-25 is open to the public. The event takes place at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany.

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The US government didn't let Microsoft buy Activision Blizzard without a fight, although the Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit to block the merger ultimately failed. Earlier this month, the FTC took aim at Microsoft again with a filing in federal court that claimed the new Xbox Game Pass tier was a "degraded product." Now, Microsoft is firing back.

Via Game Developer, Microsoft responded to the FTC with a court filing of its own that was posted online by The Verge's Tom Warren. The short version is that Microsoft acknowledges that the new Game Pass Standard tier is more expensive than the discontinued Game Pass Console tier, but it also offers multiplayer functionality that was previously sold separately. Additionally, the company argues that Game Pass Ultimate's price increase is justified because more new games will be available day and date on the service.

Essentially, Microsoft is claiming that the the FTC is trying to "reinvent" its case against the company's Activision Blizzard acquisition, and that it's "wrong to call this a 'degraded' version of the discontinued Game Pass for Console offering." The filing also notes that the FTC "barely mentioned subscription at trial" and restates that Microsoft signed a 10-year deal with Sony to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation as part of the original conditions for the merger.

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A new Fanatical bundle deal is live, with the titles on offer being a healthy mix of award-winning AAA games, retro collections, and popular indie games. If you're interested, you can pick two games from the Fanatical Build Your Own Bundle: Elite Collection for $15, three games for $21, or five games for $35. Each game is Steam Deck Verified, so you can install them and start playing them without having to worry about any possible compatibility issues.

Fanatical Build Your Own Bundle: Elite Edition See on Fanatical

• Choo-Choo Charles
• Deathloop
• Ghostwire: Tokyo
• BROK the InvestiGator
• Paper Trail
• Capcom Arcade Stadium
• Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium
• Vox Machinae
• Kingdom Shell
• Asterigos: Curse of the Stars
• Bore Blasters
• Lords of Exile
• Wave Break
• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2
• Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise Of The Dragons
• Undying
• Cattails: Wildwood Story
• Inkulinati
• Beneath Oresa
• Spin Rhythm XD
• Shantae and the Seven Sirens

The most-notable game on offer here is Deathloop, GameSpot's Game Of The Year for 2021. Groundhog Day with guns and a much cooler protagonist than Bill Murray, Deathloop's slick visuals and open-ended design was a breath of fresh air when it first arrived, and a couple of years later, it's still a masterpiece.

If you'd prefer to revisit an older era of gaming, you can also check out Capcom's Arcade Stadium games. Both editions are on sale in this promotion and are strong reminders of how Capcom ruled arcades back in the day. Not only is there a fantastic selection of curated games, but the experience feels like a tribute to the days of coin-operated gaming thanks to all of the delightful extra touches in these titles.

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It's been five years since DC's Joker film swept the box office and became the highest-grossing rated-R movie of all time and even had Joaquin Phoenix take home the Best Actor at the Academy Awards. Now Arthur Fleck, this universe's Joker, is a high-profile resident of Arkham Asylum and comes across therapist Harleen Quinzel (Lady Gaga). We got our first look at the feature back in April, but we go all out with the bad romance here.

The trailer shows a musical mayhem murder tour as the couple falls in love and experiences shared delusions. Harleen slowly loses her own grip on reality and becomes the Joker's lover and accomplice. Since his murder of talk show host Murray Franklin, Fleck/Joker has been put on a pillar by those who consider themselves disenfranchised, with some of the movie centering around his trial. Check it out below.

Director Todd Phillips is returning as well as co-writing and producing the film. The sequel was officially announced in 2022, after a few years of Phillips saying he had no intention of developing one, but once the box office hit, it almost became inevitable. The first Joker film was intended as a standalone feature outside of the then DCEU, and used to launch DC Black. That label was rebranded DC Elseworlds under the DC Studios banner.

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Lord of the Rings actors Elijah Wood and Viggo Mortensen have commented on the plans to make additional Lord of the Rings films and touched on whether or not they would come back for them.

Wood, who played Frodo in the Oscar-winning series from director Peter Jackson, told JoBlo that it would be "pretty incredible" to make more movies in New Zealand with the architects of the series--Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens. "Jumping back into a world that's so beloved and means so much to me. So yeah, it would be awesome," he said.

As for Mortensen, who played Aragorn, he told The Toronto Sun that he only just started hearing about the next film, tentatively titled The Hunt for Gollum, when journalists asked for his opinion. He said he understands the team is "serious" about trying to make the movie, but said he's "not sure how they're going to do it or what their intentions are." Mortensen went on to say he looks forward to talking with the filmmakers, but it's too soon to say if Mortensen could come back as Aragorn.

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While it's not as big as Super Mario or The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo's Pikmin franchise is still a colorful series of video games and tie-in merchandise. Over at Amazon, you can even buy your own army of cute critters with this limited-time deal on the Captain Olimar and Pikmin set. Normally $25, it has been discounted to $21.10 and features the SS Dolphin captain alongside 11 Pikmin of varying colors.

See at Amazon Captain Olimar and Pikmin set.

Each figure in this collection is highly detailed and poseable, and the Pikmin come in yellow, red, blue, and purple color variants. They'll look great on a shelf, but for extra points on social media, you can snap some photos of them out in your garden.

For more related gear, there's a very cool PDP controller for the Nintendo Switch. As part of PDP's colorful REALMz line, this $59 wireless controller has a transparent shell and inside you can spot Pikmin figurines. The first two Pikmin games are both available in a bundle deal for Switch as well--the GameCube classics were remastered last year--and you can also get Pikmin 3 Deluxe and Pikmin 4 to help round out your collection.

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Hades has a flashy art style, but what if the award-winning game was several times cuter? You'd wind up with adorable versions of the game's cast, as seen here in this Nendoroid figure of Zagreus. The protagonist of Hades, Zagreus looks delightful in this form, although he's probably still a dab hand at slaying the monsters of the underworld. Normally $54, you can get this endearing figure for just $44.50 in this limited-time deal on Amazon.

See at Amazon Nendoroid Zagreus

In addition to the son of Hades, the figure also comes with accessories like a Bloodstone, Stygius blade, Aegis shield, and a bottle of nectar. If you feel like switching up his facial expressions, you can slot an alternate face-plate in to give Zagreus a roguish smile. Nendoroid figures also have several points of articulation, allowing this figure to strike an attention-grabbing pose. If you'd like to build your own underworld, you can also grab figures of Thanatos and Megayla.

• Nendoroid Thanatos -- $57.20 ($80)
• Nendoroid Megayla -- $75

Meanwhile, Hades 2 is shaping up to be one of the biggest games of the year, mere months after it went live as an early access title for PC. "Hades II is an ambitious expansion of all the ideas that came before it, balancing them beautifully to create one of the best roguelites on the market even in its incomplete state," Alessandro Barbosa wrote in GameSpot's Hades 2 early-access review.

College Football 25, EA Sport's first college football title in more than a decade, is off to a great start with some impressive player numbers. It's not all smooth sailing for the new game, however, with a number of known issues the team is working hard to patch up post-launch. Here are all the bugs to look out for ahead of upcoming patches--note that a July 23 patch may have corrected some of these issues, as well.

Firstly, EA has reiterated that some inaccuracies with rosters and likenesses are to be expected at this point, and that it is working to fix them up. The developer even warned of this prior to launch, due to the huge number of players and schools in the game.

As an additional complication, the game is launching at the same time as the "summer roster movement that is natural to college football," EA says in its update. "For our very passionate Dynasty fans, you can hop in and play this week or wait for a roster update around college football kickoff for the most up to date experience."

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One of the best Nintendo Switch games is now available for its lowest price so far at Amazon. Super Mario Bros. Wonder, the charmingly inventive platformer starring everyone's favorite plumber, is discounted to $44.54 (was $60). Amazon's current deal is slightly better than the previous best price of $45, which was offered by Walmart during its huge sales event earlier this month.

See at Amazon

This deal is shipped and sold by Amazon and is eligible for Prime shipping. If interested, you may want to snag a copy soon, as Amazon's deals on Switch exclusives tend to sell out or disappear quickly.

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A Quiet Place: Day one has been a big hit at the box office, and if you're looking to bring the sci-fi thriller home, preorders are now open for its upcoming Blu-ray release. Like most major releases, you'll be able to choose between A Quiet Place: Day One steelbook Blu-ray or a regular release, and for an extra-special version, Walmart is offering its own steelbook version that's slightly different from the one on Amazon. Walmart has "Stay quiet, stay alive" written on its Blu-ray steelbook cover, and who knows, that extra touch could make this extra-collectible.

A Quiet Place: Day One

If you haven't seen it yet, A Quiet Place: Day One shows the exact moment a horde of almost-unkillable aliens crash-landed on Earth and wreaked havoc across the planet. Bestial and almost unstoppable, the only way to survive was to go completely quiet as the alien invaders possess an acute sense of hearing to compensate for their lack of vision. The film stars Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong'o, Joseph Quinn, and Djimon Hounsou. The real star of the show is obviously the cat Frodo, who is played by two feline actors named Nico and Schnitzel.

Special features for the Blu-ray haven't been revealed yet, but like other releases, there'll likely be behind-the-scenes documentaries, featurettes, and a collection of promotional materials on the disc. The 4K Blu-ray also comes with a standard Blu-ray disc and a digital version of the film to stream.

Walmart-exclusive 4K UHD Steelbook Blu-ray ($35) Amazon 4K UHD Steelbook Blu-ray ($45) Amazon 4K UHD Regular Edition

Several other Blu-ray preorders are also available right now, including Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Despicable Me 4, and a 20th anniversary edition of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Yes, it has been that long since Jack Black kicked Baxter off of a bridge.

For even more classic cinema, the Criterion Collection is on sale for 50% off at Amazon. This sale typically only happens once a year, so now is a great time to expand your personal film library with some of Hollywood's greatest feature films.

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The first film in actor and director Kevin Costner's epic Western series, Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 has only been in theaters for a month, but Amazon already has preorders up for the eventual 4K Blu-ray release. You can preorder Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 for $50 right now.

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Horizon: An American Saga is a passion project Costner has worked on as far back as 1988. The plan is for it to eventually comprise four movies set before, during, and after the Civil War, and leaning into the American mythology of the Old West and westward expansion. Horizon Chapter 1 covers the four years of the Civil War, 1861 through 1865, but the whole series will eventually span 12 years.

Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 on 4K Blu-ray

As is usually the case, the 4K Blu-ray also offers some other ways of watching the movie. It includes a regular Blu-ray disc in addition to the 4K version, as well as a code for a digital 4K UHD version that you can stream from anywhere using a Fandango at Home account. The 4K Blu-ray will run you $50 and releases on September 10.

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Best Buy is holding its Great Summer Sale this week. The event is coming in hot on the heels of the retailer's Black Friday in July sale from last week, giving folks another opportunity to pick up select video games, PC gaming hardware, and other electronics at a discount until Sunday, July 28.

We've gone through all the deals in the Best Buy Great Summer Sale and rounded up our favorites into this guide. Check the lists below for all the best deals on video games, laptops, iPads, collectible figures, and more, or click the links below to browse all the discounts for a given category at Best Buy.

Quick look: Best Buy's Great Summer Sale

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Epic recently announced an unexpected collaboration with Tesla, the electric car company. Starting Tuesday, July 23, players will be able to drive a Cybertruck in Fortnite and Rocket League.

The Rocket League and Fortnite X/Twitter accounts posted teasers about what players can expect. The Rocket League collaboration looks to be a standard one for the game, as real-life and fictional cars have been released as premium DLC in the past.

Drive the future.
CYBERTRUCK - TOMORROW! pic.twitter.com/B5bH2wHlxk

— Rocket League (@RocketLeague) July 22, 2024

But as for Fortnite, the collab could be anything, seeing as the most current season is heavily tied to vehicle combat. As of this writing, it's unclear if the Cybertruck will serve as a boss car or if it can be modified with weapons.

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Prior to the decision to make Cassandra Nova the villain in Deadpool & Wolverine, the filmmakers considered other possibilities for the main baddie. In an interview with Collider, star Ryan Reynolds revealed that they toyed with the idea of having Mephisto AKA The Devil be the main villain.

Director Shawn Levy said the crew had a lot of "almost" versions of the story before the writers pinned down exactly what the narrative would be for Deadpool & Wolverine, and in one version, Mephisto was the bad guy. However, this didn't go forward, but it's not exactly clear why. Reynolds previously discussed the numerous different ideas he tinkered with before Hugh Jackman joined the project and the film became something of a team-up.

Levy said he was drawn to the idea of Cassandra being the villain in part because of how she connects with X-Men's legacy. "It was this idea of Cassandra Nova as a sibling to Charles because Cassandra's link to Professor X creates an interesting dynamic and fascination in Cassandra about you [to Jackman]," Levy said.

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For music lovers, it may have been a surprise to hear Madonna's Like a Prayer in the trailers for Deadpool and Wolverine. The former Material Girl doesn't often let movies or TV series feature her music, but Deadpool and Wolverine will be one of the few exceptions. Now, director Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds have shared the story about how they convinced Madonna to let them use her song.

Via Variety, Reynolds and Levy were guests on Andy Cohen’s SiriusXM radio show when they related the tale of how they met Madonna. "Madonna doesn't just license the song, particularly that song," said Reynolds. "It was a big deal to ask for it and certainly a bigger deal to use it… We went over and met with her and and sort of showed her how it was being used, and where, and why."

According to Reynolds, Madonna not only liked the scene in question, she also gave them a note that they incorporated into the film. While Reynolds didn't specify what the note was, he and Levy praised Madonna for her contribution.

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Bethesda Game Studio has recently joined the CWA Union (Communications Workers of America), and Microsoft has recognized the union as of July 19. This makes Bethesda Game Studio the first Microsoft game studio to be unified across the board.

The announcement was made on the official OneBGS_USA X/Twitter account, and the post goes on to explain that the organization will "advocate for the betterment of every developer at BGS, setting the new standard for our industry." In a series of follow-up posts, the account explains that its goals for the organization are to have safer work conditions, job security, and compensation transparency, as well as to ensure higher-ups hear their voices to make their wishes into reality.

We, a majority of developers at Bethesda Game Studios Dallas, Rockville, and Austin, are ecstatic to announce the formation of our union with @CWAUnion. Together as #OneBGSUSA, we advocate for the betterment of every developer at BGS, setting the new standard for our industry.

— OneBGS_USA (@OneBGS_USA) July 19, 2024

When it came to voting for unionizing, 241 devs either signed a union authorization card or said they wanted unionize from an online portal. These included the likes of artists, engineers, programmers, and designers.

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