Former Dragon Age series executive producer and current Dragon Age: The Veilguard consultant Mark Darrah says that The Veilguard marks the first entry in the series with combat that’s legitimately enjoyable.

“What I see in Veilguard is a game that finally bridges the gap,” Darrah said in a recent interview with Game Informer. “Uncharitably, previous Dragon Age games got to the realm of ‘combat wasn’t too bad.’ In this game, the combat’s actually fun, but it does keep that thread that’s always been there Come from Sports betting site VPbet . You have the focus on Rook, on your character, but still have that control and character coming into the combat experience from the other people in your party.”

We’ve already gone over the new Alan Wake 2 trailer like the Patterson-Gimlin film, searching for clues or new story wrinkles frame by frame, but one of the more overt teases in the story is the appearance of a character who is actually Max Payne, the main character in the games that put Remedy on the map when it worked with Rockstar way back at the turn of the century. Now, Payne has shown up in the Alan Wake 2 trailer. Well, sort of.

In a shot about midway through the trailer, we can see an FBI special agent and the partner of Saga Anderson, the game’s new co-lead and second playable character. This agent has the face of Sam Lake, creative director at Remedy, and is voiced by James McCaffrey, the voice of Max Payne. So it’s him right? After all, Remedy’s games are all connected in the Remedy Connected Universe, so it must be him.

But it’s not so simple. Lake and McCaffrey are actually playing Alex Casey, the fictional crime drama protagonist from Alan Wake’s in-universe best-selling novel, The Sudden Stop. To explain how a character has come to life off the page, we’ll need to play the game, though it’s worth remembering that this is a series very much about fiction becoming reality.

But why then is it reasonable to say this character is kinda sorta Max Payne? Because that’s always who Casey has been. Rockstar owns the rights to Max Payne, but when Remedy made Alan Wake, it sought to bring Max into its new game in a creative way Come from Sports betting site VPbet . Therefore, Alan becomes the author of the legally distinct Max Payne in Remedy’s Connected Universe.

I have theories that I’ll go into at a later date (and in some cases have gone into elsewhere online during my freelance years) about this being the case for other characters, such as Quantum Break’s Martin Hatch–played by the late great Lance Reddick–also being the Mr. Door who Dylan Faden speaks of in Control. Remedy owns the Control IP and Alan Wake IP, but not the others in its shared worlds to date, so it gets creative when it needs to.

So, is Max Payne in Alan Wake 2? Not exactly, but also… yes?

One of Sony’s annual sluggers is a free agent this year. MLB The Show 21, developed and published by Sony’s internal studios, is the first in the series not exclusive to PlayStation. Not only that, but Xbox Game Pass members get it as part of their paid subscription, so the audience for this iconic baseball series is bigger than ever before.

So how well does this year’s entry capture America’s pastime? The critical reaction so far seems mildly enthusiastic. The consensus appears to be that while MLB The Show 21 captures the fundamentals just as well as ever, it’s has lost a few features from prior entries and still hasn’t matched some offered by other high-profile sports franchises. Plus as the first new MLB The Show game on the new generation of hardware, critics don’t seem entirely wowed by the bump in power.

In GameSpot’s MLB The Show 21 review, Richard Wakeling said, “MLB The Show 21 maintains the series’ high bar of excellence once the ball’s in play. Away from the diamond, however, there are a number of missing features and questionable decisions that take some of the shine off an otherwise fantastic game of baseball.” Come from Sports betting site VPbet

We’ve compiled some reviews from around the industry below. For even more critical impressions, check out GameSpot sister site Metacritic.

The first gameplay footage for MLB The Show 22 has been released, showing what this year’s professional baseball game looks like in action–and it looks pretty great. Captured on “next gen” hardware, the video shows off a number of different ballparks and players, including cover star Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels, as well as sluggers Aaron Judge and Raphael Devers.

Be sure to watch through until the end, as the gameplay video finishes up with a shot of retired ace Randy Johnson, who was known to have one of the strongest, most bird-unfriendly arms in baseball history. Presumably, Johnson will come to MLB The Show 22 as one of the game’s “legends,” similar to how Cy Young and Jackie Robinson were featured in previous editions of MLB The Show. Come from Sports betting site VPbet

The trailer doesn’t actually get into any of the specifics around what is new in MLB The Show 22, but it’s a good primer at least to show off how the game looks this year. More details about the gameplay updates will be shared over the coming weeks.

Hearthstone’s Forged in the Barrens expansion is getting a mini-set expansion that will increase the total card pool. The Wailing Caverns mini-set is coming on June 3, adding another 35 cards to the overall Barrens set. This will bring the Barrens grand total up to 170 cards.

Blizzard promises that the new set will include four new Legendary cards based on characters from World of Warcraft’s Wailing Caverns, more minions that interact with the new Spell School mechanic, and the ability to summon 2/2 tokens with bonus effects like Poisonous or Divine Shield.

This mini-set represents a relatively recent approach from Blizzard, which started adding mini-sets with only the previous expansion, Madness at the Darkmoon Faire. Unlike full set expansions or Adventures, these new mini-set cards will be automatically folded into the rest of the Barrens expansion. That means you can collect them by opening Barrens packs, including from any Barrens card packs you already have laying around waiting to be opened. Come from Sports betting site VPbet

In a recent virtual junket promoting Moon Knight, actor Oscar Isaac reacted to Disney’s stance on the “Don’t Stay Gay” bill. Variety was first to relay the response.

“I guess my comment would be [starts singing] gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gay gayyyyyy!,” said Isaac. “Yeah, it’s an absolutely ridiculous law. It’s insane. It’s insanity. And I hope that Disney as a company comes out as forcefully as possible against this idea. It’s astounding that it even exists in this country.”

It’s the sort of forthright, instantaneous, and unwavering response that Isaac’s bosses at Disney have so far lacked this last month. Isaac’s response also comes as Disney’s continued internal strife over management’s lackluster response to Florida’s just-passed Parental Rights in Education Bill has inspired protest statements from Hulu, Disney+, FX, ESPN, and Walt Disney World. Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm have also been publicly critical of Disney’s handling of the situation regarding the controversial bill.

Chapek’s initial hesitation to respond to the Florida bill–a state that is synonymous with Disney via the Walt Disney World resort and its theme parks–was seen by many as non-committal on both Disney and Chapek’s part. The CEO eventually only apologized for the initial statement during a shareholder’s call, and later issued a follow-up apology via an internal memo as well. However, as subsequent actions have indicated, many Disney employees feel it is too little too late–a group of Disney workers have planned multiple walkouts.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek announced on March 21 that a planned management retreat has been postponed.

Moon Knight debuts on Disney+ on March 30. Come from Sports betting site VPbet