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The hugely anticipated superhero movie Avengers: Endgame had its premiere in Hollywood tonight, and before reviews come in, people who saw the film have posted their reactions.

Here in this post we’re rounding up opinions of the film from movie critics and other people. We’ve attempted to keep the reactions to the ones that were mostly spoiler-free, but as always, especially if you’re searching Twitter with the Avengers hashtag, be careful out there.

Endgame opens in Australia on April 24 before coming to the US and other parts of the world on April 26. The movie is expected to have a massive start at the box office; it’s potentially tracking to have the best start in movie history in the US.

In other news, Fortnite has teased a new Avengers-themed crossover event–get all the details here.

Avengers: Endgame First Reactions:

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Author: Eddie Makuch

The next episode of Game of Thrones will be the longest ever for the acclaimed HBO series. Season 8, Episode 3 has a run time of 82 minutes, which is 2 minutes longer than the Season 7 finale, “The Dragon and the Wolf,” which was the previous record-holder for length.

The new episode, which doesn’t have a title yet, airs Sunday, April 28. It’ll be followed up by three further episodes that are all within four minutes of the record for longest-ever. Episode 4 is 78 minutes long; Episode 5 is 80 minutes in duration; and the series final Episode 6 runs for 80 minutes. The episode runtimes were announced by HBO back in March.

Given the way things ended in Episode 2 and the first teaser for Episode 3, this new episode could be the one that shows some or all of the epic battle scene that’s been hinted at since the show started back in 2011. The Night King and his army are lined up to do battle against Jon Snow, Dany, and other fighters at Winterfell in what could be the show’s defining moment.

Episode 3 is directed by Miguel Sapochnik, who previously directed the Battle of the Bastards episode. According to a report, the upcoming Battle of Winterfell scene “longest consecutive battle sequence ever committed to film.” At 40 minutes, the Helm’s Deep battle from The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers is said to be the longest battle sequence from cinema history.

Co-executive producer Bryan Cogman spoke about the epic battle scene, calling it unprecedented for TV or film.

“What we have asked the production team and crew to do this year truly has never been done in television or in a movie,” he explained. “This final face-off between the Army of the Dead and the army of the living is completely unprecedented and relentless and a mixture of genres even within the battle. There are sequences built within sequences built within sequences. [Showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss wrote] an amazing puzzle and Miguel came in and took it apart and put it together again. It’s been exhausting but I think it will blow everybody away.”

Filming the episode took 11 weeks of night shoots. According to the report, up to 750 people worked all night for almost three months in sub-freezing temperatures and enduring cold rain, mud, and heavy wind.

The actor who plays Ser Jorah Mormont, Iain Glen, said filming the battle was the “most unpleasant experience I’ve had on Thrones.”

“A real test, really miserable. You get to sleep at seven in the morning and when you wake in the midday you’re still so spent you can’t really do anything, and then you’re back,” he added. “You have no life outside it. You have an absolute f**ked bunch of actors. But without getting too method [acting] about it, on screen it bleeds through to the reality of the Thrones world.”

For lots more on this week’s episode of Game of Thrones, check out the stories below:

• Game Of Thrones Finally Fulfills Two Years-Long Fan Ships
• Game Of Thrones Season 8: Jon Snow’s Direwolf Ghost Is Back–Did You Catch His Stealthy Return?
• Game Of Thrones Season 8 Episode 2 Review: A Long Night And A New Knight
• Game Of Thrones Season 8: This Theory Explains How Sean Bean’s Ned Stark Might Return In Episode 3
• Game Of Thrones Season 8 Episode 2: The Meaning Behind “Jenny’s Song”
• Game Of Thrones Season 8 Episode 2: Brienne And Jaime Just Made Westerosi History
• Game Of Thrones Season 8 Episode 3 Teaser Previews The Big Battle Coming

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Author: Eddie Makuch

A new update for Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts III is coming soon. As announced on Twitter, the new update is coming during morning hours PT on April 23. It adds the Critical Mode.

If it’s the same as in previous Kingdom Hearts titles, Critical Mode is a new, more challenging difficulty level, above Proud Mode. As IGN reminds us, Critical Modes in previous Kingdom Hearts titles added things like more damage taken and dealt by enemies, and other things. It remains to be seen how Kingdom Hearts III’s Critical Mode varies from past games.

Critical Mode is free for all players; there is no word yet as to exactly when in the morning PT time the update will arrive, but keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.

Kingdom Hearts III launched back in January for PS4 and Xbox One. The game quickly shipped more than five million copies, making it the fastest selling game in the series.

GameSpot’s Kingdom Hearts III review score the game an 8/10.

“What sticks with me is the exciting battle against elemental titans with Hercules, taking Rapunzel out into the unfamiliar wide world for the first time, snapping selfies with Winnie the Pooh, and going toe to toe with Davy Jones,” critic Tamoor Hussain wrote in GameSpot’s review. “In 2002, as Sora, I left Destiny Islands to travel across the universe and make new friends. In 2019 I brought old ones home, and I had so much fun doing it.”

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Author: Eddie Makuch

Game of Thrones Season8, Episode 2–“A Knight of Seven Kingdoms–aired Sunday night–and it was a good one. You can check out GameSpot’s Lucy and Ryan break down the episode in the video embedded above, while HBO has released a video of its own.

Showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff break down the emotional and impactful episode, taking you through all the key moments. It’s a nice treat to hear directly from the creators about particular scenes and the decision-making process. Check out the video below.

For lots more on this week’s episode of Game of Thrones, check out the stories below:

• Game Of Thrones Finally Fulfills Two Years-Long Fan Ships
• Game Of Thrones Season 8: Jon Snow’s Direwolf Ghost Is Back–Did You Catch His Stealthy Return?
• Game Of Thrones Season 8 Episode 2 Review: A Long Night And A New Knight
• Game Of Thrones Season 8: This Theory Explains How Sean Bean’s Ned Stark Might Return In Episode 3
• Game Of Thrones Season 8 Episode 2: The Meaning Behind “Jenny’s Song”
• Game Of Thrones Season 8 Episode 2: Brienne And Jaime Just Made Westerosi History
• Game Of Thrones Season 8 Episode 3 Teaser Previews The Big Battle Coming

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Author: Eddie Makuch

HBO has released a new teaser for next week’s episode of Game of Thrones–and it is very dramatic and foreboding. The teaser for Episode 3 shows the Night King’s army preparing to face off against Dany, Jon, and the rest of the gang at Winterfell. In one sequence, Jon remarks, “The Night King is coming.” Dany then says to him, “The dead are already here.”

That line is intriguing, given that it could be Dany referencing a theory about the Night King bringing the dead back to life from the crypt inside Winterfell. We’ll have to wait a bit longer to find out what happens, but it’s clear that the battle at Winterfell is upon us.

Next week’s Episode 3 is 82 minutes long, which is the longest of the entire Season 8. The battle scene said to be one of the longest battle sequences in the history of film or TV, eclipsing the 40-minute Battle of Helm’s Deep from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

For lots more on this week’s episode of Game of Thrones, check out the stories below:

• Game Of Thrones Finally Fulfills Two Years-Long Fan Ships
• Game Of Thrones Season 8: Jon Snow’s Direwolf Ghost Is Back–Did You Catch His Stealthy Return?
• Game Of Thrones Season 8 Episode 2 Review: A Long Night And A New Knight
• Game Of Thrones Season 8: This Theory Explains How Sean Bean’s Ned Stark Might Return In Episode 3
• Game Of Thrones Season 8 Episode 2: The Meaning Behind “Jenny’s Song”
• Game Of Thrones Season 8 Episode 2: Brienne And Jaime Just Made Westerosi History

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Author: Eddie Makuch

The next big PlayStation exclusive game, Days Gone, arrives this week, and ahead of that, the action-adventure games’ official soundtrack has been released. The 25-song soundtrack features music by Nathan Whitehead, who also did the music for movies like The Purge, Keanu, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

The soundtrack also features artists like Jack Savoretti, Billy Raffoul, and Zander Reese, while singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi is featured with the song “Days Gone Quiet.”

“The ideas that define the score are the tenacity of the human spirit and the value of relationship,” Whitehead said in a release.

Whitehead worked with Sony Bend creative director John Garvin on the music. Garvin told Whitehead that the theme of Days Gone the game is not just about surviving, but also why people like main character Deacon want to survive in the first place.

“When I heard that, I was instantly excited about all the places the music could go,” Whitehead said. “I found it really interesting to be navigating the survival aspect and also this introspective aspect at the same time. The Pacific Northwest setting is absolutely beautiful and it really felt like the score needed to connect to this environment as well. Deacon and the environment seemed to call for an organic, lived-in sound with a touch of Americana.”

Days Gone follows the story of a bounty hunter named Deacon St. John, who travels through the Pacific Northwest in a world two years removed from a “global pandemic.”

Days Gone launches on April 26. Keep checking back with GameSpot for more.

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Author: Eddie Makuch

AT&T may have just amicably settled a false advertising lawsuit with Sprint over its “5G Evolution” branding, but the company’s apparent marketing strategy here is proving to be a disaster. Rather than taking a victory lap for arriving at real 5G faster than its US competitors — AT&T’s actual 5G network currently supports more cities than Verizon’s — the company is still clinging to a meaningless, confusing logo it refuses to walk away from.

While AT&T has stated plainly that 5G Evolution isn’t actually 5G, in that it doesn’t meet the technical or speed standards to be classified as such, the end goal seems to be tricking its own customers into thinking they’re accessing a next-generation network through pure obfuscation. The end…

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Author: Nick Statt

The first season of YouTube Premium’s Cobra Kai came out of nowhere and blew everyone’s expectations out of the water. Really, a TV show that follows the story of a movie as beloved as The Karate Kid that comes out 30 years after the franchise launched doesn’t immediately spark confidence. Thankfully, the show was excellent and got well-deserved critical appraise.

Now, as the show enters its second season, the surprise factor is gone and expectations are through the roof. The first two episodes of the season premiered at SXSW, picking up right where Season 1 left off, reintroducing us to evil sensei John Kreese (Martin Kove), as well as teasing a full-on confrontation between the rebooted Cobra Kai dojo and the newly revived Miyagi-Do Karate.

GameSpot had the opportunity to sit down with the cast and executive producers of Cobra Kai shortly before the special screening of the first two episodes at SXSW. The show’s creators–Hayden Schlossberg, Josh Heald, and Jon Hurwitz–revealed that while they had to fill in the blanks to what happened to the characters after the movies, they did have some help from the original 1984 movie.

“When we first sold the show, we told Sony, what if we dig up all the old material and see if there’s anything we can use? And we found a ton of deleted scenes, different takes and angles from the original movies,” Jon Hurwitz recalled. “And, you know, in the very first episode of Season 1 we see that iconic fight between Johnny and Daniel but edited in an entirely different way. The scene in our show gives you more of Johnny’s point of view, instead of focusing on Daniel’s lens.”

“We reintroduced sensei Kreese in the earliest moments of that very first episode,” said Hayden Schlossberg. “John [Avildsen, director] shot that final fight in the first movie with six cameras, with dedicated cameras on Martin Kove, Billy [Zabka], and the Cobra Kai kids. We were able to use that footage to see a different angle of Johnny walking back onto the mat after his infamous talk with Kreese. We didn’t go in with Daniel, we were with this kid who is now about to make his mistake that was going to influence the rest of his life. That kind of re-edited perspective certainly helped tell our story.”

When I told the producers that I originally had very low interest in the show prior to watching the first episode, co-producer and co-creator Hayden Schlossberg seemed unsurprised–and even pleased.

“That’s the best thing ever,” Schlossberg said. “To have low-to-zero expectations was the best place for us to show up with this show, because we knew that we were bringing an intentional gravitas and respect, and we caught people off guard.”

When it came to expectations going into Season 2, Ralph Macchio, who reprises his role as Daniel LaRusso, thinks it’s all about the characters. “I think Season 2 is truly a continuation,” Macchio said. “We’re just making another section of the movie, that is hours and hours long. It’s not about figuring out how to surprise the audience this time, but about being true to these characters, and just adding to them and diving deeper into their arcs, but bigger and better.”

That certainly seems to be the approach, at least according to producer Josh Heald. “The truth is we didn’t want to change anything coming into this season,” Heald told GameSpot. “The analogy we used is, we were in the kitchen making food. People seem to like the food, so let’s just keep making it, you know? Don’t change anything. We were confident in that we had a lot of storylines and characters that didn’t get that much time in the spotlight last season, that we just kept them for this season. Like what’s going on with Kreese? We didn’t do much with him last season, so that’s what this one is for. We’re fans, this is fan fiction. It’s super high-end fan fiction, but still. Our approach was, it if ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Season 2 of Cobra Kai expands on some of the storylines from last season, and certainly on some of the characters. Not only do we see more of fan favorites like Hawk, but even Daniel’s wife, Samantha, gets more to do this time. “That’s one of the things we enjoy about the show being on a streaming service,” Josh Heald said. “The episodes run for as long as they need to be, so this season we see more of those characters.”

“Karate Kid, if you go back to it, it’s largely a high school soap opera,” said Schlossberg. “The only way these two kids can deal with their rivalry over this girl is through karate. So with this show, we wanted to honor that. There are rivalries, and humor, and of course, karate. But at the heart of it all is a high school soap opera about high school rivalries.”

Besides new characters, avid fans can notice new references to the movies–not only the 1984 original, but the sequels too. And Schlossberg teased plenty more nods to come: “Any movie with Mr. Miyagi is part of our canon. So any character in those movies is fair game in terms of cameos, or even storylines coming back. It’s all part of the show, having fun with these little nods.”

Cobra Kai Season 2 hits YouTube Red April 24.

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Author: Rafael Motamayor

Catch up on the most important news today in 2 minutes or less.
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Author: Alex Baker-Whitcomb

In late 2017, we learned that Tesla was attempting to build its very first computer chip for self-driving cars, and Elon Musk said in October 2018 that the silicon was a mere six months away. Now — in an unusual example of Elon Musk correctly predicting when a product will launch — Tesla has revealed that the chip is actually here on schedule.

In fact, Musk says it’s been shipping its new Full Self Driving Chip in the Tesla Model S and Model X for over a month now, and has been placing it in the Model 3 for ten days already.

And today, at Tesla’s Autonomy Investor Day in Palo Alto, California, the company gave the world its first, detailed glimpse at what Musk is now calling “the best chip in the world” — a 260 square millimeter piece of…

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Author: Sean Hollister