2024

Over the weekend at San Diego Comic Con, Marvel made some pretty big announcements for the future of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The biggest ones are that the next two Avengers movies will be directed by the Russo brothers. They previously did the last two Avengers movies, Infinity War and Endgame. A few years ago it was announced that Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars would be the next ones, with Jonathan Majors playing Kang the Conqueror. Majors played multiple instances of Kang in Ant-Man and Loki, but had some legal troubles that lead to his firing. Since then, people wondered if he would be recast or if they would drop the Kang storyline all together. There were some rumors suggesting Majors had it in his contract that he is the only person who would be allowed to play Kang. Now we have some idea of what Marvel’s plans actually are. Joe and Anthony Russo will be directing Avengers Doomsday and Avengers Secret Wars.

The second and probably bigger announcement that was made, is that Robert Downey Jr. will be coming back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He won’t be playing Iron Man though, instead he will be playing Doctor Doom. There is no word yet on if this will be a Tony Stark variant or if he will be playing Victor Von Doom. The only clue we got was that Robert Downey Jr. said on stage as well on his Instagram post “new mask, same task”. What does this mean? It could be a hint that Doctor Doom and Iron Man have the same goal, protect their worlds.

Robert Downey Jr said “new mask, same task” after being revealed

So far, Doctor Doom has appeared in every Fantastic Four movie made, first by Julian McMahon and then by Toby Kebbell. Robert Downey Jr. almost played Doctor Doom before being beat out for the role by Julian McMahon previously.

The first Fantastic Four movie made by Marvel Studios titled The Fantastic Four: The First Steps has just started production. It will star Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards AKA Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm AKA The Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm AKA Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm AKA The Thing. The movies will be set in a 1960s New York City that is in a different universe than the main MCU. Robert Downey Jr.’s Victor Von Doom could come from that universe. We already know that variants may or may not look identical, as we saw Benedict Cumberbatch as multiple versions of Stephen Strange, but also saw John Krasinski as a different Reed Richards in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. If Robert Downey Jr. does not appear in The First Steps, then it will be the first Fantastic Four movie without a Doctor Victor Von Doom.

The Fantastic Four comic first debuted in November 1961 written by Stan Lee and with artwork by Jack Kirby (no relation to Vanessa Kirby). The original Secret Wars comic was written in the 1980s by Jim Shooter and the art was done by Mike Zeck and Bob Layton. As far as I can tell, there is no Doomsday comic series or event by Marvel, however since Doomsday is another word for the last day of the world and in Doctor Stange in the Multiverse of madness, Strange was told that he helped cause an incursion to occur, the two could very well be related. Perhaps in Avengers Doomsday earth-616 and the Fantastic Four’s earth are about to collide. Doomsday could be the last days of the worlds and Doom doing anything in his power to save it, hence Robert Downey Jr’s “new mask, same task” line, since Iron Man sacrificed himself to save his universe in Avengers Endgame.

No matter what happens, this is probably some of the most exciting news I heard come of San Diego Comic Con. Avengers Doomsday comes out on May 1, 2026 and Avengers Secret Wars comes out over a year later on May 7, 2027. What do you think, are you excited about the next Avengers movies? How do you feel about the directors or actor announcement? Was something else announced that has you hyped up? Let us know!

Dead by Daylight has become a staple in the horror genre. With their own original killers as well as the licensed ones in the game, it can feel like playing a horror movie. Like many franchises, people love to see team ups. Freddy vs Jason, Alien vs Predator, these movies bring together franchises and can serve as fan service. When it comes to Dead by Daylight, that kind of fan service always felt like it was lacking since the killers were pretty isolated. Yes, you could have Laurie Strode face off against Leatherface or Freddy Krueger, but honestly the killers are the stars of the franchises and they were always separated in their own trials. At least they were until last week. Last week, Dead by Daylight finally released their highly anticipated limited time 2v8 game mode. In it 8 survivors face off against 8 killers. While all survivors are available, only 5 killers are able to be chosen. There’s also only 5 maps that you can be sent to. This is only the first iteration of this mode and Behaviour Interactive has said that in the future it would return with more maps and killer options and that it may eventually become a permanent game mode.

Gameplay Differences

Survivors

The survivor objective is the same, do generators and get out, but there’s a number of differences in this mode. First off, you need to do 8 generators instead of just the 5. 13 generators in total will spawn on the maps as well. When you complete all 8 generators, it powers 3 doors instead of just 2. Killers don’t need to take you to a hook, instead they just stomp on you and you’re put in a cage. You have 3 cage states, just like hooks. If a killer gets too close to a cage, you’re then transported somewhere else on the map. Unlike being hooked, you cannot try and pull yourself off out of a cage. Another change is that when there are two survivors left, 3 hatches will spawn. On each map there are 20 chests for you to get items from, which is good as you can’t bring in any items.

Items aren’t the only thing you won’t be able to bring in when playing the 2v8 mode, there are no perks in this mode. At least not in the traditional sense anyway. There are 4 classes that you can choose from: escapist, guide, medic, and scout. Each class has separate abilities. You use 3 standard perk slots with each class. The fourth perk slot is reserved for a self heal that is usable after 2 cage states (basically the same as last hook).

Killers

Trapper, Wraith, Hillbilly, Nurse, and Huntress are the 5 killers that are playable during this mode. Admittedly I have not played killer as of yet, but I am having so much fun as survivor, I don’t feel as though I am missing out on much. Killers an queue up with each other, but there can not have 2 of the same killers in a match. Killers don’t have perks either and some of their limitations are not there, such as Trappers and other killers cannot be caught in bear traps. Killers have one unique perk to them and one perk that is unique to them, but is a team perk, for example when a Trapper sets a bear trap, he and the other killer gain 150% haste.

Back to the Fog

Personally, I didn’t play Dead by Daylight for a while. I did check out some of the other limited time modifiers that Behaviour put into the game, but it still felt the same to me. I love a good horror game, I played a lot of DBD in the past, but it didn’t feel new or refreshed, even with the modifiers. This 2v8 mode feels good, it feels like the game has some new life. I really hope that it becomes permanent. Between this mode, other modifiers, plus the new cross progression features, I could see me playing more Dead by Daylight than I have in a while. Who knows, maybe I will play enough that I will want to unlock the survivors that I am missing, though Lara Croft is pretty tempting already.

It sucks that cross progression doesn’t unlock the same Achievements I unlocked on Steam in the Windows and Xbox Series X/S editions of the game, but it is nice that I have all the characters and perks that I paid for on the Windows Store edition, so now I can play and get reward points for them.

Have you tried out the new 2v8 game mode? What changes would you like to see made to it? What modes would you want to see added in the future? Do you think this is just the beginning and we might see something like a 4v16?

Microsoft has announced that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will be coming to Game Pass starting on July 24, 2024. That’s right, starting tomorrow, you can enjoy Modern Warfare 3 on Game Pass for console, PC Game Pass, and Game Pass Ultimate.

After I posted about other Activision Blizzard King (ABK) games coming to Game Pass in August, rumors popped up saying that the latest Call of Duty would be hitting the service later this month. Those rumors turned out to be true, which has me excited. I personally haven’t played a COD since Black Ops 4 I think and even then I am pretty sure I just played Warzone, so I am excited to jump in on this one and try out the multiplayer. When and if the other games hit the service, I might play through the story modes too.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 is the second ABK game to be announced for the service. In March, Diablo 4 came to the service. It’s anticipated, that like Diablo 4, COD will require you to have Battle.net installed on your PC to play the game.

If the other rumors are true about more ABK games coming to the service soon, then that is a welcome addition, especially after Microsoft announced a price increase for the service as well as a new tier last week. Any added value to the service is a welcome addition.

Earlier today, I asked ChatGPT to summarize LepsLair.com. This was my prompt: Can you summarize the content of the posts at lepslair.com into a 500-word blog post?

LepsLair is a multifaceted website that offers a wide range of content primarily focused on gaming, programming, and personal insights from its creator, known as leprakhauns. The site caters to a diverse audience with interests in video games, coding tutorials, and fan communities.

Gaming Insights and Reviews

LepsLair features detailed reviews and discussions about various video games. One such game is “A Little to the Left,” a puzzle game where players organize household items, often disrupted by a mischievous cat. This game is available on multiple platforms, including Windows, MacOS, and consoles like Nintendo Switch and Xbox? (LepsLair)?? (LepsLair)?. The site also explores gaming rumors, such as the potential addition of Ubisoft+ Classics to Xbox Game Pass. This would include older Ubisoft games, enhancing the value of the subscription service for gamers? (LepsLair)?.

Programming Tutorials

LepsLair is a valuable resource for budding programmers. The site offers tutorials on fundamental programming concepts, enabling learners to grasp the basics that are transferable across different programming languages. Topics covered include the basics of JavaScript, PHP, and C++, providing step-by-step instructions and practical examples. For instance, a tutorial on using PHP’s CURL function demonstrates how to fetch and display content from other websites, an essential skill for web developers? (LepsLair)?.

Personal Blog and Community

LepsLair also serves as a personal blog where leprakhauns shares insights and experiences. Topics range from dealing with ADHD to thoughts on popular culture, such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The blog section provides a glimpse into the personal interests and life of the creator, fostering a sense of community among readers. Additionally, the site features fan listings for comics and musicians, offering a platform for fans to connect and share their passion? (LepsLair)?.

Conclusion

LepsLair stands out as a comprehensive platform that combines gaming reviews, programming tutorials, and personal blogging. It caters to a wide audience, from gamers looking for the latest news and reviews to aspiring programmers seeking foundational knowledge. With its blend of informative and personal content, LepsLair creates a unique and engaging online space for its readers. Whether you are a gamer, a coder, or someone looking to connect with like-minded individuals, LepsLair has something to offer.

I’d say this is pretty accurate actually. I know AI isn’t always that great, but in this case I think it did a pretty decent job.

I use ChatGPT for work occasionally. Mainly when I am stuck with WordPress functions and especially with regular expressions. No matter how many times I need to use them, both seem to always confuse me.

Do you use ChatGPT for your job at all?

It’s already been confirmed that Call of Duty Black Ops 6 will be arriving day 1 on Game Pass on October 24, 2024. What about the other games though? Well after a claim by eXtas1s on eXputer forums and Windows Central who backed up the claim, we will start getting Activision Blizzard games in August. This is after Diablo IV came to the service months ago.

According to the report, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, which is a remaster of the original three Crash Bandicoot games, will be the next one on the service. EXtas1s also reports that Tony Hawk 1+2 Remake and Spyro Reignited Trilogy will also be coming very soon as well. They won’t say if that will be in August or in the following months though. While these are all great games, there’s no word or even rumor about when the Call of Duty games will end up on the service, though I imagine they would want to put them there before the launch of the latest one in October. Being able to play all the Back Ops games up until that point would be great, especially for me who missed a few of them and never touched the campaigns.

I am excited more for Tony Hawk as I loved those games growing up and never picked up the remake. Spyro and Crash Bandicoot I played a little bit, but never did all those games, so it could be fun to get into when they drop on the service as well. I am surprised at how slow these games are coming… I thought we would have had most games on the service by now. I understand they don’t want to drop everything at once, but I didn’t expect almost a year after closing the deal that there would only be one game on it.

Either way, I am excited for the games whenever they come, what is your favorite Activision Blizzard King game that you are hoping to see come to Game Pass?

Emergence Day or E-Day as it is commonly called in Gears of War happened on the 79th day of the year 14AE. It is when the Locusts came out from underground and began an organized surprised attack on the cities across Sera. E-Day lead to massive casualties for humanity, in 26 hours, 25%, of the human population had been killed. Up until that point the general population were unaware of the Locust, though there was some rumblings of something going on. Leading up to the attack there were reports of miners disappearing or encountering strange things underground, but these were often dismissed.

The Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) were caught off guard, like the general public. Once the initial shock subsided, the COG mobilized its military forces and deployed troops to try and repel the Locust attack. They also setup emergency evacuations and defensive perimeters.

Adam Fenix came across the Locusts accidentally due to his research on Imulsion. He was one of the first to know about them and tried his best to prevent E-Day, but despite his best efforts, he failed to prevent it. He was taken captive and believed to have died during the invasion, though it would be discovered that he was alive in captivity. His research before E-day was important to defeating the Locusts and while in captivity he learned of their motivations and about their biology. Adam’s son Marcus is a COG soldier and the main protagonist of the series.

Marcus’ whereabouts E-Day are vague and will probably be covered more in Gears of War: E-Day, but as of now we know that he was a high ranking officer in the COG army and he was teamed with Dominic Santiago to protect people in the Kalona District.

Nintendo has announced that on June 18, 2024 they will be hosting their Nintendo direct at 7AM PT, 10AM ET. As stated in a previous post, there will be no mention of the Switch successor during this time. Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa has confirmed that we will be seeing it soon though, as they plan to reveal it before April 2025.

I previously questioned if this would be showing just games coming up in the next year and it seems to be the case. They stated that this will be 40 minutes of games coming in the second half of 2024. One game a lot of people have been anticipating is Metroid Prime 4. The game was announced seven years ago and then announced a few years later that they would need more time as they were going to scrap what they had and start over again. Could we see a look at Metroid Prime 4 tomorrow?

There is a good possibility, last week Nintendo NYC showed off this gorgeous Samus statue. What a better time to show off a statue than right before we see the new game?

Will you be watching the direct live or waiting until later to watch it?

Join us for a #NintendoDirect livestream focused on #NintendoSwitch games coming in the second half of 2024! There will be no mention of the Nintendo Switch successor during this presentation.

? June 18
? 7:00 AM PT
? Roughly 40 minutes

Watch it here: https://t.co/rYjTHHpayb pic.twitter.com/uAs6JYu31A

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) June 17, 2024

The LepsLair articles go back many years. I’m talking almost 20 years. A lot has changed. In the beginning, I wasn’t using categories. Custom post types weren’t a thing. Many things have changed and evolved in the 20 years since I started writing here. Some posts weren’t really well written and have a lot of thin content. Some were sponsored posts. I’ve decided to make a change that may or may not help in the long term and may or may not eventually get reverted.

First up, I changed the Uncategorized category to Miscellaneous. In this category you will get a bunch of random stuff, mainly from back before I was using categories at all. I also added a new category called Archived. With archived posts, you won’t be able to read them individually. Since these will be the ones with the thin content, you will be only able to read them on yearly category pages. On these new pages, posts will be shown in their entirety.

My hope is that doing this will make otherwise thin content get some value when matched with other content. On these new pages all links will be removed as well. With 20 years of articles to go through, it will take a while to sort through which are of value and which have no value. I am hoping in the next week that Google starts to really archive things and I can get a better idea of if this will help with the thin content and if it can be valuable in some way.

I figured this would be the better than just deleting 15 years worth of content. Even though there probably is no value to anyone else and even this probably won’t get any value to Google or to most people, I do enjoy going back and reading what was going on. That is one of my annoyances in recent years, I barely write. No matter how many times I try to write more or want to write, it just doesn’t happen. I say it will happen, I think it will happen, but then it never does. It’s a vicious cycle at this point. Maybe it will change, maybe it won’t. I know in some ways I am writing more with the Games Section, but that isn’t personal. Even this doesn’t seem personal most of the time with me writing about technical and gaming, but I do add my own opinion in.

Journalism was always hard for me. I know being unbiased is important, but I am way too excited about a lot of things and I put that into my writing. I always have. It’s why I was better at being an editor of a literary magazine than taking a journalism class. It’s also something that I never saw as a flaw even if teachers did. Without passion, without emotion, do you really care? Knowing what is going on in the world is important, but knowing there is someone at the center who’s life is being affected in some way, good or bad, resonates more personally. Maybe I’m wrong in that opinion, but what I’ve come to realize is that if I feel a particular way, then somewhere there’s others who feel the same.

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So Summer Game Fest 2024 has come and gone and we’ve seen games from some of the biggest studios. Both Xbox and Playstation had their showcases. It’s been big and we’ve had a lot of announcements and trailers. New games, new content, new DLC, there’s a lot of stuff coming and a lot to talk about!

A Little to the Left: Seeing Stars

I played A Little to the Left recently and I liked it. Sometimes you just need a cozy puzzle game. Now there is even more game to love. A Little to the Left: Seeing Stars is all about multiple solutions. It features 33 new levels with 100 new solutions, it’s sure to keep you busy thinking for a while. It launches on June 25th, 2024.

Doom: The Dark Age

I have been playing Doom for close to 30 years at this point. In 2025 Doom: The Dark Age is set to take the battle to new places. I can’t wait to use a shield saw to take down the enemies out to kill the Slayer.

Gears of War: E-Day

The of War is back in Gears! I was expecting Gears of War 6 or the Marcus Fenix Collection, so E-Day came as a shock to me. It does look amazing though based on that trailer and we get to go back to the beginning of the war. Plus we get to hang with Dom again!

Goat Simulator 3: Multiverse of Nonsense

I love fun games with no premise and Goat Simulator fits that description pretty well I think. Multiverse of Nonsense looks to be a fun addition to the game that I will probably be checking out and playing when it drops on June 19th, 2024.

The Casting of Frank Stone

This game looks insane. I played a lot of Dead by Daylight over the years and to have content that doesn’t involve generators is something I’ve looked forward to for years. We will be running from Frank Stone later this year!

There are many more games shown and the ones here are just the ones I am most excited about. The summer is still young (hasn’t even officially started yet) and there is still lots to come. Rumors say that Gamescom in August is going to have an Xbox showcase just as big as June’s and at some point Sony is supposed to officially announce the PS5 Pro.

One company that has been silent is Nintendo. That looks to be ending come next week though, as they did announce they were doing a showcase in June. The next console is set to be revealed sometime before April 2025, but they said it won’t be during June’s showcase, which means that what they show could be coming within the next year or so.

What has been your favorite announcements been? Let us know.

Summer Game Fest is coming up fast. Though we may already be in the middle of it because Sony’s State of Play is part of it, but who’s counting? As I said, Summer Game Fest is coming up fast, it’s in 5 days. In 5 days we will hear the biggest news from the biggest publishers in the gaming world. From Microsoft to Ubisoft, there will be a lot of stuff to see, so let’s break it down to when you will be able to watch it.

As I said, May 30th was the Sony State of Play, where Sony showed off their big upcoming games. Fourteen games were shown across PS4, PS5, PC, and PSVR. I posted my thoughts on it already, you can read that here.

On Friday, June 7th at 5PM Eastern, live from the YouTube Theater, we have the official Summer Game Fest conference. We’re sure to see some exciting announcements there from all over the industry. At 7PM Eastern, we have Day of the Devs which will show off independent games. Devolver Digital will round out the day at 8PM with their annual Devolver Direct press conference.

Saturday, June 8th at 11AM Eastern we have the Future of Play Direct that is fun for the whole family. Then at 12PM we have another indie showcase, Wholesome Direct. At 1PM there is a Latin Direct which will show off games from only Latin American developers. There will be a conference showcasing games from only women lead studios at 2:30PM. At 3PM Eastern the Future Game Show Summer Showcase will happen.

On Sunday, June 9th at 1PM Eastern Xbox will take the stage and show off what they’ve been working on. Immediately following that will be a deep dive into this year’s Call of Duty and yes, COD will be day 1 on Game Pass. At 4PM we will get the usually campy, but entertaining PC Gaming Show.

Monday, June 10th has Ubisoft Direct. Expect to see big things from one of the world’s biggest studios, including possibly more info on the latest Assassin’s Creed game.

Are you excited for the upcoming conferences? Do you think this is a good replacement for E3 or do you miss that showcase? I liked the live aspect of E3, the tech fails, anything could happen, it seemed more exciting with the crowd there roaring or booing the announcements. Maybe one day we will get back to that kind of gaming conference, but for now this is a decent replacement, even if most of it is prerecorded.

I was a little underwhelmed with the State of Play. They showed off 14 games and I know a lot of people are excited about them, but personally there’s only a couple that looks interesting to me.

Silent Hill 2 Remake looks great, but I never played any other Silent Hill games. The closest I have come to having anything to do with the franchise is when Pyramid Head came to Dead by Daylight. A few years ago after streaming all the Resident Evil games, I did look into Silent Hill. I may even own some of the games, but I would want to start with the first Silent Hill game and the only way to do that is to emulate it. Maybe they will add it to Playstation Plus closer to the release of the remake, I would love to check it out.

I love the Supermassive games that I’ve played. Man of Medan and the Quarry were really well done and I’ve had Until Dawn on my list of games to play for a while. The game is coming to Playstation 5 and PC. I usually play games on my Xbox if I had the choice, but since it was a PS4 exclusive I had planned on playing it there. Now I may pick it up on PC whenever it does come out.

Marvel Rivals is a PVP team based shooter based on Marvel characters. Basically Overwatch with Marvel. It’s been on PC for a little while now and it is coming to both Playstation and Xbox. Xbox, PS5, and Steam will be having a beta in July for the game.

The rest of what was shown is pretty exciting, but personally a lot of it just isn’t for me. God of War Ragnarok I played on PS5, Conchord is another PVP game like Overwatch, and I don’t have VR to even look at those games. I will say when it comes to Marvel Rivals and Conchord, if either game decides to do a PVE mode then it could take over Overwatch. I know Overwatch’s PVE being cancelled upset a lot of people and putting out a PVE mode for those games could help draw in that audience.

There is going to be a lot more news, rumors, and leaks over the next week or so and I cannot wait for it. What was your favorite part about the State of Play?

Update 2: Thursday May 30th there will be a State of Play at 6PM Eastern.

Update 1: It doesn’t look like there is a State of Play today, but they have confirmed Days of Play will be on the 29th. It is possible we still get a Days of Play soon though.

This time of year is packed with gaming news. What used to be E3, is not Summer Game Fest and around it is a bunch of showcases and press conferences that showcase upcoming video games, consoles, accessories, everything you could imagine. We already know that June 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th are packed with press conferences. In those four days, ten showcases are already announced. There are two big companies that are missing in those days. Nintendo and Sony have not announced any conferences, This isn’t surprising, for years the two have shied away from the traditional E3 style showcases that Ubisoft, Xbox, and others have done. Normally they do have a showcase all their own around the same time.

This year, May 28th, 2024 is the rumored date for the Playstation State of Play. While it’s not officially announced, the 28th would fall in line with their past events. In 2023, they did a showcase on May 24th.

On May 29th, assuming that May 28th is the State of Play, should start the Days of Play sale. Expect to see games, consoles, accessories, etc on sale. One item that I personally am excited to see if it goes on sale is the PlayStation Portal. It’s been hard to keep in stock as is and having it on sale would only increase the demand even more. I have to admit I didn’t see the appeal at first, it seemed like it would only work on your home Wifi, but I am happy that isn’t the case. While streaming to a phone would have been more convenient, the Portal is the next best thing.

I can’t wait to see whatever Sony is up to, especially since it seems that 2024 will be a light year for first party titles, maybe they have some surprised for the latter half of the year? We will just have to wait and find out.