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Double Fine’s Rad preview and interview – ‘I like things that are charming and disturbing at the same time’

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Rad - Double Fine does an 80s style roguelike
Rad – Double Fine does an 80s style roguelike

GameCentral talks to the makers of Psychonauts about their new ‘80s-inspired roguelike and the burden of having to be funny.

thumbnail for post ID 10558948Moment naked 'burglar' got stuck in chimney of house he targeted

Despite having been around for almost two decades now, and employing over 50 staff, Double Fine still feels like the quintessential indie developer, making games based purely on their own whims and fancies, with no reference to current trends or what is likely to sell. Frankly, we’re shocked they’re still going but thankfully they managed to hold on long enough to be bought out by Microsoft and as such Psychonauts 2 will end up as their last multiformat game. Before that though there’s Rad…

We had played Rad briefly at E3, back in June, and found it to be an enjoyably odd roguelike action game. The premise is that every ‘80s fear about nuclear annihilation has come true and you’re stuck in a post-apocalyptic world ruled by mutants and dominated by the strange ruins of a second civilisation that grew up immediately after our current one.

The main gimmick of the game though is that you can constantly mutate your main character to give them new powers and abilities. In our hands-on we didn’t play long enough to get anything other than the power to shoot fireballs but speaking to director Lee Petty in a phone interview last week he described more extreme examples, such as power called Warhead where you can launch your head out of your neck and turn it into an explosive grenade, regrowing a new one afterwards.

One of the most extreme is called Death Roe (the names are great) that has you grow a tail and lay eggs which hatch ‘spider-looking babies’ that have your head on them. But mutations combine and if you have Warhead and Death Roe then they’ll have flaming skulls instead and be even more dangerous.

Petty has been responsible for some of Double Fine’s strangest games, from 2011’s Stacking, in which has you playing a Russian matryoshka doll, and 2016’s Headlander – a ‘70s style sci-fi Metroidvania in which you control a flying head that can possess robot bodies. So it seems he’s proceeding in his normal, unusual fashion.

Rad - what mutation will you get today?
Rad – what mutation will you get today?

Because Rad is a roguelike you lose everything when you die but anything you’ve done to expand and open-up your base camp is retained, ensuring an advantage in the next procedurally-generated world; especially once you gain the ability to use the cash machines that are dotted around everywhere.

Although we didn’t get far enough in our demo to see any of the more outrageous mutations we were definitely intrigued and happy to talk to Petty about the release of the game – which is somewhat unfortunately set to take place on the first day of Gamescom on 20 August next week.

Hopefully Rad won’t get lost in the news cycle, and we’ll be able to review it before we leave for the event, but either way Petty makes a compelling argument for the game and Double Fine’s continued indie attitude – even if, corporately-speaking, they’re now the furthest thing from independent you can get.

Formats: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Developer: Double Fine
Release Date: 20th August 2019

GC: Compared to Stacked and Headlander this almost seems like a sane and normal idea. Were you purposefully trying to do something a little more traditional and accessible?

LP: I guess it sort of depends on where you’re looking in the game. I wouldn’t say that Rad is more traditional than Headlander or Stacking, but on the surface it probably seems a little easier to get your teeth into.

There’s a layer of post-apocalypse and 80s nostalgia which gives players a place to start. But I think the game gets a little more surreal and alien as it progresses. And I think some of the themes that we’re exploring with Rad are pretty unusual in games.

But every game is a little different here and we try and we just kind of allow the game to go where it wants to go and follow the fun and where our aesthetic inspirations lead us, you know?

GC: What came first, the desire to make a roguelike or the 80s nostalgia angle?

LP: I’m a child of the 80s, and for me the initial inspiration came from the nuclear panic of the 80s. And not just that but the weird creativity that sprang out of it; there was this kind of Hollywood take on it which could be very strange. Movies like Solarbabies and Cherry 2000 and some of the European comic books and artists like Moebius and Métal hurlant and 2000 AD.

I’m always interested in this idea of an impermeant player character, the ability to take on someone else’s identity, and I think my feeling on Rad was I was thinking about being in this volatile world and not just having the randomness in the world generation itself, or the items that you find, but also the player character. In Rad, since you kind of randomly mutate, and you’re not going to be picking an archetype or a class, you’re challenged to deal with these mutations as they come at you.

And that’s kind of what I was interested in at the start and a roguelike seemed to serve that well because they naturally have these relatively short loops with lots of randomisation built in and where you have to start over if you die. And what a roguelike has in common with some of these mutation ideas, to me, was the idea of unexpected drama. You’re not necessarily exactly sure what’s going to happen and then you adapt your play session to the events or imperfect tools that you’re given.

GC: It’s interesting that there is actually a thematic link with Stacking and Headlander. In a way it’s like a more literal kind of role-playing, where it’s not just the stats that are changing but the whole character.

LP: I think there’s always an interesting dissonance between the player and the character and who’s experiencing what and how those stories are told. And I think by questioning that identity, or at least exploring that space a little bit – what makes you you in the game world – has always fascinated me.

When you would take control of another character in Stacking people’s dialogue responses to you change and then they were seeing this kind of outer shell, so it had that social interaction layer. And in Rad you’re playing this teen that goes out to solve the problems of your ancestors, or the previous generation.

So you have this underdog character and when you mutate we do visualise it on the character, it’s not just a stat somewhere, and not only does it change your ability and your presence, but we’ve written a lot of dialogue for the characters that will change based on your appearance or your abilities. So even though the game is much more action-based than Stacking those kind of elements, and exploring some of those same themes, is definitely there.

Rad - there's nothing quite like 80s neon
Rad – there’s nothing quite like 80s neon

GC: When I played my hands-on demo it was only right at the end of maybe 20 minutes or so play that I actually got a mutation, is that you again trying to slowly ease people into things?

LP: Yeah, that’s something we thought about a lot, because in a more linearly-structured game you can control what they see and when they’re introduced to things a lot more. But in a roguelike people are replaying some of the same segments even though the world is procedurally generated. You have to find the balance between not presenting too much upfront and making sure they don’t see the same thing 500 times.

If we started you with a mutation right away and you maybe didn’t want to play as that one, we don’t want you to think, ‘Oh, I’ll just kill myself and get another one’. Also, the mutations can get more extreme when you start getting multiple ones together. And we want it to get progressively a little more disturbing as it goes on. I like things that are both charming and disturbing at the same time, that’s kind of the tone of the game.

GC: That’s a very 80s thing as well, isn’t it? That was the era with cartoons based on 18-rated movies and where even the kids’ films were scary and weird.

LP: [laughs] Yeah, absolutely. I think it was probably a way of processing some of those truly horrific worries about a nuclear holocaust or, nowadays, the complete collapse of our ecosystem. I think these ideas are riding through the culture and people are naturally processing it in different ways.

GC: The writers would’ve been aware of the situation and even if they’re writing a kids show those worries, even if they were subconscious, would have come through.

LP: Right, right. And I want us to kind of channel some of that. I think there were things made at the time that have aged better than others but I kind of like that, because there’s a certain idiosyncratic charm in there. I mean, obviously you want to make things that are relevant now but I don’t know… I like to capture a bit of that.

GC: Well, I think we’re getting a similar sense of existential dread back now.

LP: [laughs] Yeah, I think you’re right.

GC: I do enjoy roguelikes but I also think some developers get too obsessed with making them ultra-difficult or relying too much on procedural generation, how have you handled those aspects?

LP: I mean, for us difficulty means that it serves the function that you’re going to probably die a number of times and in doing so you’re going to get to live that experience of randomly mutating and seeing a lot of different possibilities. That being said, I would say overall Rad is a little easier than some roguelikes. We do actually want people to do successful runs. We do have special story sequences that happen at the end of runs and they progress the meta story that runs through it all.

In terms of the world itself, most roguelikes are done with 2D tiles but we wanted the challenge of making a more complex 3D world. That’s not just interesting for us but hopefully for players too, and it gives you a game that feels fresh even when it’s in a familiar genre.

You don’t want to be exploring and know there’s always going to be a chest there or an enemy here. But I enjoyed the challenge of getting that to work and for me, when making a new game, I like the idea of trying to create a new visual style for each game… or a new way that the world is built. You know? That’s the fun of making a video game.

GC: One thing I always wondered about Double Fine is do you feel the pressure – because of Tim Schafer and his legacy – to always be funny?

LP: [laughs]

GC: I think some people expect all your games to be comedies.

LP: It’s funny because I do feel that pressure sometimes, even though Tim and I have a very different sense of humour. Tim’s a great joke-teller, you know, he’s great at dialogue. And I’m more interested in the sort of theatre of the absurd, where it’s uncomfortable humour and a little dryer. And sometimes when we release games some people like that and some people are like, ‘Well, this isn’t very funny for a Double Fine game’.

But the reality is we’re a group of different creators here and I think the sensibilities that I feel Double Fine games all have in common are more about just an overall sense of personality and making some unusual design choices and pairing that with like a distinct aesthetic. Humour can be a component of some of those unusual choices, but other times it’s not.

It’s funny when you encounter a guard and he’s got a backstory about having irritable bowel syndrome and that’s why he’s uncomfortable standing by this gate. Most developers wouldn’t do that. We would, but it’s not only in terms of comedy, I think it’s in service of personality.

GC: The problem is that even in the rare instances where they attempt it most video games are so terrible at comedy; it almost seems like you have a responsibility to be funny just because you can.

LP: [laughs] I know what you mean. But the problem is humour is very specific. It’s much easier to get a broad group of people to agree that the controls are reactive or the gameplay mechanics are good than it is to agree that a particular joke is funny.

GC: Considering Headlander was set in the 70s and this is inspired by the 80s your next game needs to be a 90s sex comedy. Because sex is the other thing that video games are terrible at.

LP: [laugh]

GC: All you’ve got to do is beat Leisure Suit Larry, so that bar is not high.

LP: [laughs] Yeah, true. That’s very true. Maybe we can put that into a roguelike as well. You know what, I’m going to explore that idea. I like that. [laughs]

GC: I guess I better finish off by asking you about the Microsoft acquisition. Now that you’ve got infinite money at your disposal.

LP: [laughs]

GC: Are you suddenly thinking of all the things you could’ve done with this game, or others, if you’d only had a bigger budget?

LP: It’s an interesting question. I’ve never really wanted to work on any kind of big project. I think if I was a writer I’d tend more towards novellas than writing War and Peace. So to some extent there’s not really anything I’d change. But like every game developer you do have to leave things on the table and it would be nice, with more money, to go deeper into some of the weirder details.

I like to create things that not every player can find easily but those are very hard to do when you’re always facing aggressive budgets or timelines. So if I had infinite money it’d be more to go down these kind of strange tangents, so that people who are interested in living with the game for a bit, instead of just burning through it, get a chance to fine all these little secrets. But that’s all.

GC: You’re technically no longer an indie developer but I imagine Microsoft doesn’t want you to change your approach. They didn’t buy you so you could help make a Call Of Duty killer.

LP: Exactly. We’re not going to be making the next Forza or something. Because if we did it’d have exploding heads in it. [laughs]

My assumption is that that is indeed why they bought us. Like a lot of other bigger players in the market they’re looking for something to make their platforms more distinct. And I think maybe they thought we could help with that.

I can’t imagine any other reason you’d buy Double Fine other than to think that we could make interesting experiences. It’s not like we have world crushing technology or a $1 billion franchise. We haven’t been hiding our Fortnite from everyone.

GC: [laughs] That’s great. Okay, well thanks for your time, that was very interesting.

LP: No problem, it was good talking to you too.

Email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk, leave a comment below, and follow us on Twitter


Janet Jackson’s two-year-old son could be child prodigy as he sleeps with violin and creates melodies

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Janet Jackson
Eissa takes after his mother (Picture: Stellar Magazine; Getty)

Janet Jackson has opened up about life with her son Eissa, revealing that the two-year-old could follow in the family footsteps and become a musical child prodigy.

The 53-year-old pop icon gave birth to her first child in 2017, and told Australia’s Stellar magazine that there were promising signs of musical prowess on the horizon for her son.

‘He kept taking his drum stick and running it across his guitar,’ Janet revealed.

‘I thought, “Why is he playing it like a cello?” He went into his room and got a figurine of a violin and brought it to me. Then he grabbed his drumstick and guitar and kept going.’

She continued: ‘So I came home with a toy violin, showed him one time how to hold it and that was it. Then I bought him a real violin and he got so excited.’

Eissa may only be two, but it looks like the little boy is desperate to join his mum in the Rhythm Nation.

Janet Jackson Glastonbury Festival
Miss Jackson put on an impressive performance at Glastonbury (Picture: Aaron Chown/PA)
Janet is still a cover girl at 53 (Picture: Stellar)
Janet is still a cover girl at 53 (Picture: Stellar)

‘He sleeps with it. He eats breakfast, lunch and dinner with it,’ Janet laughed.

‘I show him little kids playing violin on the iPad, then he was finding them himself, all these child prodigies. He creates melodies.’

It sounds like Eissa is off to a great start if he wants to take after his mum, touring the world playing four decades of hits to adoring fans!

However, balancing a busy work schedule with single motherhood hasn’t been easy for Janet, who split from Eissa’s father, Qatari billionaire Wissam Al Mana, three months after their son was born.

‘It is hard being a working mother,’ Janet recently opened up. ‘I don’t have a nanny. I do it all myself. If my mother did it with nine children, there’s no reason I can’t.’

Despite having support from her ex-husband, the singer, who headlined Glastonbury Festival in June, does the bulk of the parenting herself.

‘Of course, when I’m working someone watches him, but it’s my baby and me,’ she said.

‘It’s not easy at times, but my life has changed. Obviously, my baby comes first.’

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New GI Joe movie is happening and it’s coming out next year

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Picture: Paramount GI Joe movie in the works
A new GI movie is currently in the works (Picture: Paramount)

A new film is set to be released starring the all-fighting action figure GI Joe.

Two films have previously been released based on the famous GI Joe toy, but it looks like Joe’s got a bit more fight left in him as Hasbro and Paramount have confirmed two more films from the GI Joe universe are currently in the works.

A third instalment of the film series titled GI Joe: Snake Eyes is scheduled for release on 16 October 2020, with the script being worked on by Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles writers Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec.

A fourth movie titled GI Joe: Ever Vigilant has also been announced, according to the The Hollywood Reporter, although there’s been no confirmed release date yet.

There’s been no word yet on the cast of either of the new movies, but since the last films featured a star-studded cast, we could be in for a treat.

Picture: Paramount GI Joe movie in the works
Dwayne Johnson starred in 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation (Picture: Paramount)

Starring roles across the series’ last two films – 2009’s GI Joe: The Rise Of The Cobra and 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation – have included Ray Park, Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dwayne Johnson and Sienna Miller.

One character that seems set to be part of the new films is Chuckles, a criminal investigations and intelligence specialist, who got his debut as a GI Joe character in 1987 as part of the series’ toy and comic line but has yet to feature in any major GI movie.

Hasbro’s GI Joe began as a series of action figures in 1964 but has since expanded to include a range of films, TV shows, comic books and video games.

But the toy company is perhaps best known for its Transformers franchise.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk last year, the star of Transformers spin-off Bumblebee John Cena gave his opinion on the theory that his character from the movie Jack Burns, a former US Army Colonel and agent of Sector 7 is actually a GI Joe, forming a crossover from the two universes.

‘Whoever is coming up with those theories is my best friend,’ he said.

‘I love the Transformers universe and I love the GI Joe universe. I may or may not have a painting of Cobra Commander action figure in my home. Something I can neither confirm nor deny.

‘If [a crossover] ever happens, that would be special. But if not, it’s a two-story franchise…in this day and age never say never.’

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Noel Gallagher finds cocaine ‘boring’ but admits he wrote ‘amazing songs’ while high

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Noel Gallagher
Noel Gallagher opened up about his relationship with drugs (Picture: Rex)

Noel Gallagher isn’t really into cocaine anymore, just FYI.

The former Oasis star opened up about partying hard when he was younger, but is now quite bored by that whole scene.

And, while he’s not bothered by people taking ‘mountains’ of drugs in front of him, he has realised nights take a ‘s***’ turn when they come out.

Speaking about his relationship with cocaine, the 52-year-old said: ‘It doesn’t bother me. I can sit in a room full of people doing f***ing mountains of cocaine – it doesn’t bother me in the slightest.

‘I could sit with people smoking and all that. You just know that when the coke comes out the night is going to take a s*** turn. It’s always like fun and games and once someone gets the coke out then all of a sudden it’s, “Well, it’s time for me to go anyway, because this is now boring”.’

Noel also lifted the lid on his decision to quit drugs, explaining he didn’t ‘need’ to go to rehab, but instead woke up one morning and told himself ‘that’s it’.

Noel Gallagher
Noel also revealed he wrote some of his best songs while on drugs (Picture: Rex)

‘I wasn’t planning on such a major lifestyle change,’ he said. ‘But after about two weeks I was like I f***ing much prefer this! Much prefer it.’

However, the Wonderwall star – who also came for ‘boring’ Eminem in the same chat – admitted he did some of his best work while on cocaine.

‘I’ve written songs on coke and it’s been complete gibberish and it has been f***ing amazing,’ he added to the Irish Independent. ‘Supersonic, for instance. Then I’ve written s*** like a lot of Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants where I had nothing to say. And I was literally trying to make the words rhyme because we had a tour booked and we had to go on tour. But that’s part of it.’

Noel recently made headlines after ending his much publicised feud with Lewis Capaldi, after questioning the singer’s talents.

Lewis Capaldi
Is Lewis Capaldi the man to bring Oasis back together? (Picture: PA)

Ermmm, has he not heard Somebody You Love?

But after the pair made up, Lewis is now convinced he’s the man to do the impossible and finally reunite Oasis, bringing Noel and Liam Gallagher back together.

During an interview on Radio X, he joked: ‘Both of you probably don’t like my music and wouldn’t you love to not see me be in the charts?

‘If you guys got back together and do an Oasis album repackage. You’ll knock me out of the charts for sure.

‘I mean Noel for one, you don’t like the tunes, my man… and Liam you probably don’t like them either…

‘So if you guys want to eradicate me from popular music, what you’re gonna have to do is get together and reform and I’ll see you there!’

Over to you, Noel and Liam…

Got a showbiz story?

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Kate Winslet insists ‘I ain’t posh’ as she discovers Swedish ancestors on Who Do You Think You Are?

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Kate Winslet on Who Do You Think You Are?
Kate approached the BBC to trace her family lineage (Picture: Stephen Perry)

Kate Winslet has revealed that her family struggled with money when she was a child, after admitting she’d be disgusted to learn that her ancestors were rich on Who Do You Think You Are?

The Titanic actress, who is worth an estimated £35 million, traces her family roots on Monday night’s episode of the popular genealogy programme, and opened up about her own humble beginnings on the show.

‘I ain’t posh, mate,’ Kate insisted.

‘My parents never had money. It was always a struggle. Our family of six lived in a rented home.’

She continued: ‘My dad Roger, an actor, always had to get whatever odd job he could. So I’m not posh at all.’

While appearing on the primetime BBC programme, the 43-year-old actress travelled to Sweden in search of the Scandinavian side of her family, after only learning about their existence from her mother just before she died.

Kate Winslet
Kate is now worth a whopping £35 million (Picture: Gregory Pace/REX)

On the show, Kate was left ‘sobbing [her] heart out’ after finding out that her great-great-great grandfather, a stable groom, was sentenced to 35 lashes after stealing potatoes and honey to feed his family.

However, speaking about her time on the programme, Kate revealed that her parents would not have been impressed if she’d learnt that their family tree involved the aristocracy.

‘My roots are socialist, working class and, in a funny way, my parents frowned upon the wealthy,’ the mother-of-three told the Radio Times.

‘I would have been upset and disgusted if I had come from wealth or royalty.’

Kate personally approached the producers of Who Do You Think You Are? in order to trace her lineage, in a new series which has already seen Daniel Radcliffe, Naomie Harris and Jack Whitehall dive into their pasts.

Things got particularly emotional for the Harry Potter actor, who discovered in the show’s opening episode that his great grandfather had died by suicide after reading the note he left.

‘Everything he had worked for and that his father had worked for, has sort of been destroyed,’ Daniel said.

‘You want to just reach into the past and just go, “Whatever you’re going through, you have so much to offer the people who are around you still … you have so much to give to them. And, they still would all have loved you”.’

Who Do You Think You Are? airs every Monday at 9pm on BBC One.

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Blue Ivy’s already an ‘amazing makeup artist’ according to Beyoncé’s mum, but Jay Z isn’t happy about it

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Blue Ivy with her parents Jay Z and Beyoncé
Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s eldest daughter Blue Ivy Carter is already a pro at makeup (Picture: Getty Images)

It comes as no surprise whatsoever that Blue Ivy Carter know how to slay when it comes to makeup.

The seven-year-old has been making her grandma proud when it comes to her skills, but it turns out papa Jay-Z isn’t as keen for Blue to start playing around with so much makeup.

‘I’ve bought Blue so many makeup kits, much to her dad’s dismay. Dad’s don’t like that. But it’s just for playtime,’ Beyoncé’s mother Tina explained to Entertainment Tonight. ‘We have fun. And she’s quite a makeup artist. She’s amazing.’

And Bey’s baby girl has mastered the art of flawlessly applying eye makeup – because she’s Blue Ivy. Duh.

‘Eyes [are her speciality]. Oh my god, she puts stones and all this fancy stuff,’ the 65-year-old added during her interview at Beautycon. ‘She can do a perfect cat-eye. She would love it here.’

Considering Blue gets to watch her mama Beyoncé glam up all the time for music videos, red carpets and stage performances, it makes sense that she’s picked up a few impressive skills at such a young age.

Beyonce, Blue Ivy Carter, and Tina Knowles attend the 67th NBA All-Star Game: Team LeBron Vs. Team Stephen
Beyoncé’s mum Tina Knowles admitted Blue can already slay when it comes to a cat-eye (Picture: WireImage)
Hip-Hop Artist Jay-Z and daughter Blue Ivy Carter during The 59th GRAMMY Awards
But Jay-Z isn’t too thrilled about Blue playing around with makeup all the time (Picture: Getty Images)

Plus being good at makeup kinda runs in the family seeing as Tina used to be the hairdresser and makeup artist for Destiny’s Child back when Beyoncé was coming up in the music scene.

At this rate, we wouldn’t be surprised if Blue launches her own kids’ makeup line and knocks the likes of Kylie Jenner and Rihanna from the makeup mogul thrones.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BdT8CgNF6ak/

Tina also admitted that she didn’t stop her daughters Bey and Solange from getting into makeup when they were still young teens.

‘I let my girls start wearing makeup when they were about 13,’ Tina admitted. ‘When they turned into a teenager. A little lipgloss, maybe a little blush.

‘And I always believed in a little mascara; that’s so fun. But not any base and all that stuff. That’s a little much.’

No wonder the Knowles ladies always look so damn flawless.

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Marvel fan spots Tony Stark Easter egg in Avengers: Endgame

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Tony Stark in Avengers: Endgame
We miss Tony already (Picture: Marvel)

It’s been nearly four months since Avengers: Endgame hit the big screen and we’re still finding previously undetected moments scattered throughout the film.

Early on in the movie, we see Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark wasting time while stranded in space by teaching Nebula, played by Karen Gillan, the intricate skills needed to flick a ball of paper back and forth.

However, beyond serving as some light relief amid the three hour epic, Reddit user JSwanny theorised that this moment was more important than you’d first think.

During one of Endgame’s many pivotal moments, Tony is later forced to flick Ant-Man onto the old version of Iron Man in the hopes of completing the Time Heist and stealing the Tesseract.

The Marvel super-fan suggested that Tony’s seemingly pointless paper football game had set him up for this flicking important moment, sharing a picture of the two scenes with the comment: ‘You never know when useless life skills may come in handy!’

Just when we thought we’d wheedled every possible meaning out of this film…

You never know when useless life skills may come in handy! from marvelstudios

It’s fair to say that Avengers: Endgame has been a humongous, sweeping up at last night’s Teen Choice Awards, with Robert, Scarlett Johansson and Josh Brolin all taking home acting prizes (or surfboards), while the super film also won the award for best action movie.

The movie, which is released on DVD in September for us to watch again and again, may have been released in April but has continued to smash records well into the summer and in July was declared the highest-grossing movie of all time.

Disney revealed that the film, which also starred Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans and Mark Ruffalo, had earned £2.3 billion in the global box office, just surpassing the record previously held by Avatar.

We imagine the cast got a pretty sweet paycheque off the back of that…

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From Doctor Strange’s portals to Tony Stark’s final stand: Marvel Boss Kevin Feige’s Avengers Endgame secrets

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Kevin Feige
Kevin Feige will tell you his Marvel secrets (Picture: Getty Images for THR)

If you wanted to get the goss on the latest Avengers quest, Endgame, Kevin Feige is your man.

As the head of Marvel Studios he also served as a producer on the latest epic which saw the Avengers finally down the mighty Thanos.

We lost some buddies along the way, in the form of Black Widow and Iron Man, but we got a downright zesty appreciation for all that goes on in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Now with the balance of a few months behind us since its April release, Kevin himself sat down for a special Endgame podcast with Chris Hewitt of Empire magazine and we were blessed to listen to the man who knows all.

So what did we learn?

Quite a lot actually.

You’d think for a man that talks about Avengers and Endgame nearly on the daily he’d be done with the stories – but from elaborating further on Captain America’s near decapitation at the sword of Thanos to Robert Downey Jr’s final scene as Iron Man, we’ve got a lot of Endgame secrets to see us through to phase four.

Endgame was devised at the same time as Infinity War during a Marvel ‘retreat’:

Kevin revealed Marvel writers and producers headed away for a retreat where they map out the next films in the saga to ‘get away from the phones and focus on the creative stories’.

 Avengers: Endgame
This was the end product (Picture: Rex Features)

‘We were on our third retreat perhaps five or more years ago when we started talking about what would become Infinity War and Endgame and how do we pay off this purple guy…’ Kevin said in London last week.

‘It was on that retreat we thought about doing two movies at the same time.’

Avengers actors worked for 200 days straight filming the two movies:

Kevin revealed the studio thought it would be brilliant to save money to film the two movies at the same time. But when it became clear that just wasn’t going to work, they decided to film them back to back with a short break in between.

What that meant though was, according to him, the stars filmed for ‘almost 200 days straight’.

‘We have a lot of actors in this movie and a lot of busy actors, a lot of famous actors who star in their own movies whenever they want to so we needed to declare this time for these two movies so [they were available]. I don’t know when we’d be able to bring them together again,’ he explained.

Tony Stark’s funeral scene was code-named ‘the wedding’:

To keep everyone off the scent, one of the final scenes of the movie, being Tony Stark’s funeral was code-named ‘the wedding’.

Kevin said: ‘I still to this day call it the wedding scene as a code word.

Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow in Avengers Endgame
We still can’t (Picture: Marvel Studios)

‘It was shot in October of 17, no maybe 16, when we released a 10th-anniversary photo and it was shot the day before that. That’s why we did that photo then as we had everyone there.

‘It was astounding having all those actors there. In the movie, it’s very solemn, on the day it was just insane.’

Both Tom Holland and Gwyneth Paltrow don’t know their co-stars:

Kevin continued of the funeral scene: ‘All these cast members together, Tom Holland saying “is that Michelle Pfeiffer, is Michelle Pfeiffer in this?”

‘Gwyneth Paltrow asking why Sam Jackson was there, the other actors saying “what are you talking about? He’s Nick Fury,  you’ve been in movies with him”.’

Kevin Feige was hiding in the cabin during the final scene – but didn’t want to do a ‘Hitchcockian cameo’:

‘[Before shooting a scene] you do last looks when the hair teams and makeup teams come in and do the final touches,’ Kevin said as he painted the scene.

‘You have a scene with two or three people that means about eight or nine people come in. I swear to you, I was on the balcony of that house, I was in that shot, right inside the cabin was video village…so I was up there as they’re getting ready.

‘They call last looks, I’m not kidding the ground started shaking and in came hundreds of hair and makeup people to deal with all these megastars.

‘It was all about Fury coming up there on that balcony at the end of that shot. I guess we did joke [about a cameo], but no one stuck their head out the window.’

Doctor Strange’s Portals didn’t bring the Avengers back from the Snap, just from another place to the battle:

‘We wanted to do them in Doctor Strange, once it’s in the MCU it goes into the toolbox. That’s how it came back,’ Kevin said. ‘How are we going to get people back from this world and this world, oh they’ll just portal back.’

How he keeps Tom Holland from spoiling things:

 Tom Holland
Tom doesn’t spoil EVERYTHING (Picture: Rex Features)

‘The truth is Tom Holland is amazing and has kept a lot of secrets. I think about the two millionth time it came up at how bad he is, he came up to me and said, “you know what I do keep a lot of secrets”. [I said] “I know, but it’s a fun thing.”

‘Then he’ll go spoil something else.

‘We did not take any special measures for Tom or Mark Ruffalo who lets his phone record at all times in all places. But they’re also so lovely you can’t get that upset with them.’

If you were dusted in the original Snap, you didn’t necessarily return to where you left:

‘If people were flying in an aeroplane when they dusted in the Snap they didn’t return at 53,000 feet and fall to their death because Smart Hulk is smart,’ he laughed.

‘You wish for everyone to come back safely? Done.’

Why Cap saying ‘Avengers Assemble’ was a low key event:

He said: ‘It was around the same time we wanted them to return as the cavalry that’s when Cap’s got to say it. We didn’t want it to be the rallying cry like it is in the comics every time more than three of them are together.

‘You need to earn it. So it was very early as we were building that ending they would all come back and he would say it.’

Jon Favreau feared he’d be talking about cheeseburgers not to Morgan Stark but to Rocket:

‘He was in video village with us talking about something, joking “you better not have me talking to racoon. I’m gonna be really mad when I see this movie and you’ve switched out the girl with the racoon. Better not be racoon!”

Kevin continued: ‘He sits down, action, and he nails it. And he crushed it and gets us choked up talking about cheeseburgers…’

Empire’s podcast will be released on 23 August, while Avengers: Endgame is available DVD on the 2 September (19 August on digital download).

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MORE: Avengers: Endgame directors tight-lipped about mysterious new franchise

MORE: Avengers’ Chris Hemsworth reveals favourite Endgame scene with Chris Evans


Pink’s real life family portrait of her kids disturbing her downtime is so relatable it actually hurts

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Pink and her children
Pink shared this relatable post with fans (Pictures: @Pink/Getty)

Pink might be an international superstar but when she comes home after a hard night of doing aerial stunts while singing to an audience of tens of thousands, she’s just a normal mum – as she proved with her latest family picture.

Pink, 39, posted a snap of her with her kids on Instagram captioned ‘Family Portrait #toofunnynottoshare #mylife #worthit #familyband’.

The photo sees pink attempting to do some nice relaxing yoga, while her daughter Willow Hart and son Jameson Hart join her in the room.

Any mother will be able to relate to the scene, however, as on closer inspection Willow is eating some kind of snack on the mat while Jameson looks like he’s about to kick off, with an absolute power stance and his mouth open ready to yell.

The pièce de résistance of the whole thing? Definitely the choice of outfits… Pink’s t-shirt reading ‘I’m so tired’ while Jameson’s reads ‘I’m not tired’.

Pink shares Willow, eight, and Jameson, two, with husband Carey Hart who she married in Costa Rica in 2006.

Earlier in the year she swore off posting photos of her children on social media after she was left in tears by trolls after they criticised her for letting her son walk around their home without a nappy on.

Pink and her kids
‘Family Portrait #toofunnynottoshare #mylife #worthit #familyband’ (Picture: @pink)

She said in the Ellen DeGeneres show: ‘We live on a farm. My kids are naked. It’s what happens. I’m naked sometimes.

‘People went as far as saying, “Someone should call Child Services,” because he didn’t have a diaper on, and “How dare I?” — just some of the nastiest things.’

She added: ‘I cried so hard after that because I like to share my family. I’m prouder of my kids than anything I’ve ever done and I just won’t share them anymore. I won’t do it.’

Thankfully it looks like she’s chosen to ignore the trolls instead – and there’s nothing better than seeing that superstar mums go through the same struggles as anyone else when trying to get five minutes of peace!

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Dog the Bounty Hunter dines with female companion as he’s pictured for the first time since wife Beth Chapman’s death

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Dog the Bounty Hunter pictured for the first time since his wife died
Dog the Bounty Hunter has been pictured out for the first time since his wife Beth passes away (Picture: Splash News)

Dog the Bounty Hunter has been pictured out for the first time since the sad passing of his wife, Beth.

The reality star was spotted out with a female companion at an Italian restaurant in Los Angeles, less than two months after his wife lost her two-year battle with throat cancer.

Dog – who’s real name is Duane Chapman – and the unknown woman left the restaurant and reportedly headed back to Dog’s hotel where they continued their evening.

The sighting comes after the 66-year-old recently told Entertainment Tonight that he dropped ’17 pounds in two weeks’, due to the grief of losing his wife.

As well as the sad passing of his beloved Beth, Dog has also been the target of cruel scammers after someone sent the star a dodgy cheque for $430,000 (£396.508).

The cheque itself is actually very real but if Dog cashed it in, he’d be in big trouble.

Dog the Bounty Hunter with mystery woman after the death of his wife Beth
The reality star was spotted at an Italian restaurant with a female companion (Picture: Splash News)

Dog’s literary agent at Renaissance Talent, Alan Nevins told TMZ how the money was delivered to his office by FedEx and he immediately realised something was up.

It all started when Alan received an email that appeared to be from Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates. Using his name, it was asking if Dog wanted to come and speak at an economic empowerment convention for small business owners on 31 August.

Dog the Bounty Hunter pictured for the first time after wife Beth died
Dog has been taking time to mourn his wife after she lost her two-year battle with throat cancer (Picture: Splash News)

The contract seemed legit, containing all the proper clauses around travel, taxes and indemnity and so both parties agreed to proceed and see where things led. But when Alan called up the hotel where the event was supposedly happening, the hotel subsequently confirmed there was no such event at their venue.

Alan then received communication saying the organisers were having trouble wiring funds to the bank where he has his business account so they requested his personal account at a different bank.

Dog the Bounty Hunter bodyguard and female companion
The star’s driver and the unknown female were seen stopping to pick up items at a petrol station after the meal (Picture: Splash News)

Dog and Alan decided to leave the whole affair behind at this point and walk away. Yet a cheque for $430,000 still arrived even though Dog had literally done nothing to earn it.

While sending the $430,000, organisers asked Dog to donate $250,000 back to the organisation.

Deciding to try to get to the bottom of the mystery, Alan conducted some research and found that both the bank that issued the check, Portland, and the business that allegedly wrote it, Benson Industries, are actually real.

Dog the Bounty Hunter with his late wife Beth Chapman
Dog and Beth Chapman pictured together at the Country Music Awards in 2013 (Picture: Getty Images)

After calling them, Alan learned that even the account existed, but couldn’t say for who. Yet Benson Industries had no record of the check being cut.

If Dog had cashed in the check and paid the $250,000, he would have been left out of pocket by that much as the $430,000 would have been removed after a few days.

And just before that, thieves broke into Beth Chapman’s merchandise store in Colorado, stealing ‘thousands of dollars’ worth of stock and her personal belongings.

As if the poor guy hadn’t been through enough already!

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MORE: Grieving Dog the Bounty Hunter targetted in $430,000 dodge scam after wife Beth Chapman’s death

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Khloe Kardashian couldn’t be more proud of Revenge Body star who lost over 60 pounds

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Khloe Kardashian couldn’t be more proud of her Revenge Body star contestant who dropped an incredible 64lbs while on the show.

Yes, Hayley Herms went through a remarkable transformation and broke the show’s weight loss record after losing a whopping 42 inches on her waist.

And her mentor couldn’t help but praise the model when watching back her journey on E!, on Sunday night.

Taking to Twitter the mother-of-one beamed: ‘Hayley, you are bada** girl!!!!!!!! That’s a lot of hard work and determination!!!

‘I am so proud of you!!! You’re beautiful inside and out love!!! You deserve so much happiness.’

The singer appeared on the show after confessing her ‘revenge’ was on her father, who she claims abused her as a child.

Revenge Body with Khloe Kardashian
Khloe Kardashian couldn’t be more proud of Revenge Body star (Picture: E! Entertainment / Backgrid)
Revenge Body with Khloe Kardashian
Hayley lost over 60 pounds (Picture: E! Entertainment / Backgrid)

As well as this, the actress explained to Koko how she turned to comfort eating when her mother passed away just months before she came onto the show.

‘Losing my mum has made me wish that I had some sort of relationship with my father,’ Hayley confessed.

Before she revealed her new bod, the reality star confronted her dad about her allegations, to which he confessed he’d ‘failed her.’

Before meeting up with him, the star said: ‘It’s been really hard to think about how I’m going to confront him, what I’m going to say.

Revenge Body with Khloe Kardashian
Khloe praised her contestant on Twitter (Picture: E! Entertainment / Backgrid)

‘But if there’s anything Corey Calliet [the programme’s fitness instructor] has taught me, it’s that these things need to be dealt with, finally.’

But despite trying to rebuild the bridge with her dad, it was confirmed he wouldn’t make it to her big reveal.

This didn’t stop Hayley from having a blast however, as she looked amazing in a floor length red gown.

Talking about her journey she said on the voice over: ‘When I look in the mirror I see a completely whole different person.

‘I’ve notice so many different changes. I feel gorgeous I feel absolutely stunning.’

She added: ‘I am so happy and so grateful to be where I am today, nothing can stop this powerhouse.’

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MORE: Pink’s real life family portrait of her kids disturbing her downtime is so relatable it actually hurts

MORE: Dog the Bounty Hunter dines with female companion as he’s pictured for the first time since wife Beth Chapman’s death

Michelle Dockery lifts lid on ‘emotional’ Downton Abbey return: ‘It shaped me as a person’

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Downton Abbey Official Film Poster
Downton Abbey the film will be released in cinemas on 13 September

The Downton Abbey film will be released next month, with Maggie Smith and co. returning to our screens for the first time since the show ended in 2015.

To say we’re excited is a total understatement.

And Michelle Dockery – who plays Lady Mary Crawley in the period drama – is right there with us.

The 37-year-old opened up on what it was like back on set, explaining she had ‘taken some things for granted’ beforehand.

‘Three years, but it felt like no time had passed at all. [I realised] I’d taken some things for granted. Like driving up to that house [the setting for Downton Abbey], it honestly took my breath away,’ she explained.

‘But I think the three-year gap was perfect, because we’d all been off doing our own thing, and it was enough time to really, really miss it.

Michelle Dockery talks about Downton Abbey film (Picture: Robbie Fimmano/InStyle) On sale August 16th
Michelle was ’emotional’ getting back into costume for the Downton Abbey film (Picture: Robbie Fimmano/InStyle)

‘For my first Downton fitting I felt quite emotional putting those dresses back on. Some were reused, but because it’s a film, we also dialled it up a notch. We could afford to go slightly grander.’

She also lifted the lid on what we can expect from the upcoming movie, revealing: ‘The film is very much a continuation of the show and everything that people loved about it. It really is
for our brilliant, loyal fans. Downton played a huge part in shaping me as a person.

‘It’s a very intricate tapestry of all these Downton characters — and surrounds this one main event, the arrival of King George V and Queen Mary. Each character has a role to play in this momentous occasion, and mine is at the helm of it.’

We are already living for it.

Michelle Dockery talks about Downton Abbey film (Picture: Robbie Fimmano/InStyle) On sale August 16th
Read the full interview in InStyle, on 16 August (Picture: Robbie Fimmano/InStyle)

And Michelle remained coy on whether this could mean more Downton movies on the way, adding to InStyle: ‘I mean, we’ll see. As Elizabeth McGovern, who plays my mother, just said, “All doors are left open”.’

Count. Us. In.

Downton Abbey the movie will be set in 1927, a year after the events in the TV series, and will be in cinemas on 13 September.

Almost all of your favourites from the series will be making their comeback with the continuation of the story, including sass queen and Dowager Countess Violet Crawley (played by Dame Maggie Smith), Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael), Countess Cora Crawley (Elizabeth McGovern), Earl Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville) and, of course, Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery).

Downton Abbey will be released in cinemas on 13 September.

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MORE: Dog the Bounty Hunter dines with female companion as he’s pictured for the first time since wife Beth Chapman’s death

MORE: Pink’s real life family portrait of her kids disturbing her downtime is so relatable it actually hurts

Roxanne Pallett shows off new man seven months after splitting from fiancé Lee Walton

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Roxanne Pallett and Jason Carrion
Roxanne Pallett has found herself a hot new hunk (Picture: Instagram/)

Roxanne Pallett ha revealed her new man to the world – and it turns out he’s no stranger to the small screen either, having starred in Married At First Sight.

The Celebrity Big Brother and Emmerdale star, 36, shared a photo of her kissing American firefighter Jason Carrion on the ‘Rocky Steps’ (aka the Philadelphia Museum Of Art made famous by the boxing film) this week, confirming that the couple are dating.

Roxanne split from her fiancé Lee Walton just seven months ago, but it looks like she’s found a hunk to take her mind off the heartbreak.

Jason starred in Married At First Sight, a dating show in which couples are matched up by relationship experts and have to tie the knot on their very first meeting.

He was paired up with Cortney Hendrix in 2014, but the couple filed for divorce in February 2019 after five years together.

Jason works for the New York Fire Department but is also a professional wrestler and Latin dancer in his spare time.

He and Roxanne met after she spent the last month in New York, wanting to lay low following the ‘punch-gate’ scandal surrounding her appearance on Celebrity Big Brother.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxNfMB3FIYv/

We’ve no idea what she sees in him based on the picture above… ahem.

She faced huge backlash after accusing Ryan Thomas of punching her, when he had just lightly tapped her while joking around with her.

Roxanne later issued an apology to Ryan, saying she ‘got it wrong’, after she had left the Big Brother house.

The scandal was also said to have been the catalyst for her split from Lee, as he initially attempted to stand by her but broke off their relationship shortly afterward.

Roxanne is also said to have moved in with her new man and his flatmate – so it looks like things are getting serious already.

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Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion’s Hot Girl Summer anthem is finally here

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Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion team up for Hot Girl Summer
Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion have teamed up for Hot Girl Summer (Picture: @nickiminaj, Getty)

It’s hard to believe that we’ve only been living our best Hot Girl Summer lives for just one summer since Megan Thee Stallion popularised the term earlier this year.

But if you’re already sick of seeing #HotGirlSummer pasted all over your Instagram feed, it looks like you’ll just have to deal with it a little longer, as there’s now a song from the rapper themed around the phrase.

Nicki Minaj and Megan have teamed up for a song of the same name, alongside Ty Dolla $ign, so you’ve also now got a soundtrack to live out your best Hot Girl Summer life to.

Nicki may have a long-standing rivalry with Cardi B, but Megan admitted she was thrilled to team up with Nick for the track despite her friendship with Cardi.

‘[Fans] really make it seem like you’re “picking sides”,’ she explained in an interview with E! News.

‘I really, really, really like both of them. They’re two different people, two different rappers. It’s not even the same.

Megan Thee Stallion created the term 'Hot Girl Summer' earlier this, erm, summer (Photo by Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic)
Megan Thee Stallion created the term ‘Hot Girl Summer’ earlier this, erm, summer (Photo by Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic)

‘I feel like we need to stop trying to compare them. I love both of them, so I would definitely like to collab with Cardi too.’

What is a Hot Girl Summer?

For the uninitiated, a Hot Girl Summer is basically the summery version of BDE.

It’s not actually about being ‘hot’, but more like a state of mind. Think of it like a gender-neutral term that can be applied to anyone who is just basically living their best life.

‘It’s just basically about women — and men — just being unapologetically them, just having a good-ass time, hyping up your friends, doing you, not giving a damn about what nobody got to say about it,’ Megan explained in an interview with The Root.

‘You definitely have to be a person that can be the life of the party, and, y’know, just a bad b*tch.’

Ever since the trend became popularised on social media, it’s been picked up by celebrities and normal people alike the world over, with Miley Cyrus, Lizzo,  Jada Pinkett Smith and others posting their own #HotGirlSummer pics to Instagram.

And it doesn’t look like it’s going away any time soon. Megan recently revealed she was in the process of trademarking the phrase.

According to Billboard, the 24-year-old rapper reportedly filed the trademark papers on 10 July, the day after telling a fan who asked if she was planning to trademark the phrase: ‘Yes mam it’s been in the process’.

If successful, Megan will be able to use the term on merchandise such as t-shirts, hoodies and sportswear. A #HotGirlSummer indeed.

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DJ Arafat dead: Moto Moto star dies in motorbike crash, aged 33

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Ivory Coast's musician DJ Arafat
DJ Arafat dies, aged 33, following motorbike crash (Picture: AFP)

DJ Arafat has died, aged 33, according to reports.

The Ivory Coast dance star was rushed to hospital after a motorbike crash in Abidjan on Sunday, with RTI stating he died earlier today.

Ivorian Culture Minister Maurice Kouakou Bandaman was among the first to offer a tribute, vowing to pay homage to the Moto Moto star’s life and career.

While fans of the late musician – real name Ange Didier Huon – flocked to social media to pay their own tributes.

‘Wow. This is really a sad loss. Music was life for this guy. RIP DJ Arafat,’ one tweeted.

‘It’s so sad. RIP DJ Arafat,’ another commented.

DJ Arafat
Tributes to the late star poured in on social media (Picture: AFP)
DJ Arafat
DJ Arafat began his career in 2000 (Picture: AFP)

‘Condolences on the passing of Cote d’Ivoire singer and DJ Arafat in a road accident. May his soul rest in peace,’ a follower said.

While a fourth added: ‘When we’re young, we don’t die. We just miss out on life. R.I.P DJ Arafat.’

DJ Arafat had a huge career in music, releasing his debut album, Femmes, way back in 2000.

Following the success, he shared a further 10 albums, with fans enjoying his ‘Coupe-Decale’ (aka cut and run) style.

He was later named Artist Of The Year at the Coupe-Decale Awards in 2016 and 2017, and has been described as the ‘King’ of the genre.

The late star’s latest release, Moto Moto, was arguably one of his biggest, amassing more than one million hits on YouTube in less than a day, and has racked up well over 4million at the time of writing.

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Lucifer fans reckon season 5 could spell Chloe Decker death

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Netflix reveals Lucifer's devil face from season 4
Lucifer will meet a ‘familiar face’ in Hell in season five (Picture: Netflix)

Lucifer bosses recently revealed our titular character will see a ‘familiar face in Hell’ in the upcoming fifth and final season will – and now fans reckon it could be his lover Chloe Decker.

The homicide detective, played by Lauren German, split from Lucifer at the end of the fourth series so that he could fight demons to the death in the underworld.

And now diehard viewers reckon that they could be set to reunite when the Netflix show returns for its last billing.

Sharing their theories on Reddit, the user I11I1II1I11III1 wrote: ‘I think Chloe dies on Earth in a cop shootout and goes to Hell for loving Lucifer, but her body gets possessed by Lilith and she meets Lucifer in Hell.’

They continued: ‘Lucifer notices Lilith is missing and together they go back to Earth to reclaim Chloe’s body and bring Lilith back to Hell, and then either Chloe becomes the queen of Hell alongside Lucifer, or they make something up for why she can go back to Earth. Maybe with God’s help?

‘And everything goes back to normal, with Lucifer occasionally having set vacations to Earth.’

Lucifer's Lauren German
Could Chloe be the one to enter Hell? (Picture: Netflix)

‘Gonna be so weird having Lilith running around in Chloe’s body while Chloe is in another if Lucifer brings her soul back to Earth (like he did with Abel) to help,’ said another.

‘Good luck explaining that one to Trixie and Dan! Love the idea tho, it’d definitely make for an interesting final season.’

Lucifans also think they’ve cracked who’ll be kicking off season five.

Delving back through the dramedy, the Reddit hive mind discovered that Lee aka Mr Said Out Bitch (played by Jeremiah Birkett) has opened the past three consecutive series and expect the finale will be no different.

Mr Said Out Bitch first arrived in the second installment and is a recurring villain who has been foiled by Lucifer (Tom Ellis) on a number of occasions.

‘Just realised that this guy started off season two, three and four,’ wrote original poster Spandex420. ‘He better start off season five too.’

Lucifer season 4 is available on Netflix.

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Miley Cyrus is back in the studio after Liam Hemsworth split and everyone’s expecting Bangerz part two

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Miley Cyrus in the studio
Miley Cyrus posted this photo of her back in the studio and we can’t wait for new music (Picture: Getty, @MileyCyrus)

It’s certainly not been a quiet week in the life of Miley Cyrus, but she’s taking time away from the drama to put her feelings into her music as she posted a photo of her in the studio today.

Miley posted a photo of herself by the mic with no caption, just a day after she was posing for photos in the Italian Dolomites where she had been holidaying with Kaitlynn Carter.

She had hit the headlines after it emerged that she and Liam Hemsworth had split after just eight months of marriage and she was spotted kissing The Hills star Kaitlynn on a yacht the pair had chartered for their hols.

Now the last time Miley and Liam split up was when ‘Bad Miley’ was born, who then proceeded to twerk, stick her tongue out and touch herself on every stage she could get near to.

We kind of miss the Bangerz era Miley, who cropped her hair and wore wild outfits and generally shocked the world with her antics.

Since getting back together with Liam in 2016, she grew her hair back out and ditched the thong leotards she used to rock on stage in favour of a more laid-back look as she became a wife in December 2018.

However, even a Hemsworth brother wasn’t enough to stifle Miley from letting her wild side loose, as she previously admitted she hated being labelled a ‘wife’.

Miley Cyrus Bangerz tour
Bangerz was released during her last split with Liam… could we be about to see part two? (Picture: Getty Images)
Liam Hemsworth and Miley Cyrus
Miley and Liam had dated on and off for 10 years, and had been married since December 2018 (Picture: Rex Features)

She told Elle: ‘I think it’s very confusing to people that I’m married. But my relationship is unique.

‘I mean, do people really think that I’m at home in a f**king apron cooking dinner? I’m in a hetero relationship, but I still am very sexually attracted to women.

‘People become vegetarian for health reasons, but bacon is still f**king good, and I know that. I made a partner decision. This is the person I feel has my back the most. I definitely don’t fit into a stereotypical wife role. I don’t even like that word.’

It’s unclear whether today’s studio session was planned or whether Miley just found somewhere to record in Italy to get her feelings out, but we can already feel an amazing break-up record brewing and we are so here for it.

Got a showbiz story?

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MORE: Liam Hemsworth looks downcast as he’s pictured for first time since Miley Cyrus split

MORE: What have Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth said since their split?

Slipknot could dethrone Ed Sheeran from number one spot in UK album charts

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Ed Sheeran and Slipknot
Slipknot could dethrone Ed Sheeran from number one spot in UK album charts (Picture: Getty)

Ed Sheeran could be dethroned from his number one spot by none other than the heavy metal band Slipknot.

The Perfect hitmaker has sat at the top of the UK album charts with his No.6 Collaborations Project for four weeks running.

However, he mustn’t get too cosy up there, as the masked band are currently ahead of the 28-year-old with a whopping 13,000 chart sales.

Slipknot dropped their sixth studio album We Are Not Your Kind, on Friday, and it appears to be one heck of a hit with fans.

While the group have sold most physical copies and digital downloads across the weekend, it seems Ed still has the upper hand when it comes to streaming.

This wouldn’t be the boys’ first album to climb high though, as their breakthrough Iowa rose to number one 18 years ago.

Ed Sheeran
Ed has held the top spot for four weeks (Picture: Getty Images)

It would also be their fifth consecutive top five album, and we can’t help but root for them.

Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan, who is the longest serving member of the group, recently spoke about the album where he called it a ‘masterpiece’.

When chatting to NME, the 49-year-old gushed: ‘I’m not going out on a limb when I say this, I’m just going to tell you the facts: this album is a masterpiece.

‘I’m so proud of us for where we allowed ourselves to go, because it’s so personal. This is our life, so why shouldn’t we give it? We’re not going to hide it any more.

Slipknot
The he shouldn’t get cosy as the masked group are flying (Picture: WireImage)
Slipknot's Clown
Clown recently called We Are Not Your Kind a ‘masterpiece’ (Picture: Getty Images)

‘We’re a lot better at speaking as a band about our ailments and maybe even our insecurities.’

He added: ‘We’re older, we’re able to let it out more and speak to one another about what needs to be. And right now it’s just a pleasure touring and playing shows, being around the fans.

‘It’s the best time in Slipknot ever.’

We Are Not Your Kind would join the likes of Feeder, who are heading for their ninth top 10 album with Tallulah, as well as Bon Iver who are also aiming for the top 5 with their new album I,I.

When chatting on Annie Mac’s Radio 1 show, Justin Vernon spoke about working alongside James Blake, Moses Sumney, Francis and the Lights on the new record.

He said: ‘They know how to make good music. Every once in a while, you’ve gotta go out and orbit around some other people, but I’m looking forward to going back in with them at some point.’

Got a showbiz story?

If you've got a story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk Entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page - we'd love to hear from you.

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Games Inbox: Best Resident Evil multiplayer, Need For Speed reboot, and Halo Infinite doubts

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Resident Evil Revelations 2 - the best multiplayer Resi?
Resident Evil Revelations 2 – the best multiplayer Resi?

The Evening Inbox wonders if the concept of killer apps is already dead, as one reader wants to see a Navi spin-off game.

To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk

 

Try, try again

Very excited to hear about a new Resident Evil game already and I agree that what little information we have so far points towards some kind of multiplayer game. This is a tricky prospect though as Capcom has tried it multiple times before and it’s always turned out badly, from Operation Racoon City to Umbrella Corps to Outbreak.

They’ve used Japanese and Western developer and neither have got it right but as we’ve seen from other games mowing down zombies in co-op can be fun in the right circumstances. My suggestion of what to do would lean more on Mercenaries mode, which everybody already loves, and try and turn that into a multiplayer game.

The problem is trying to make it both scary and a good shooter but Left 4 Dead got that right so I don’t think it’s impossible. Multiplayer Resident Evil should work fine but it never has been so far. Since it’s been a running theme lately I’d say the most successful attempt so far is Revelations, which has a mode that’s kind of a cross between Mercenaries and a shooter and that could, and perhaps should be, the basis of this new game. Although I’d settle for a (very) revamped Outbreak.
Suggs

 

Semi-portable

That xCloud controller thing looks like a pretty good idea (I know it’s basically a fan concept art but it looks similar to the patent picture) but I still don’t see many people ever using them. At least not when out and about. I have never seen anyone use a physical joypad with a smartphone game and I don’t expect that to change with this.

Don’t get me wrong, it is a great idea, assuming it works, but I forsee the majority of use being the same as the Switch: something you use at home when the TV’s in use or take with you when travelling (when taking a joypad isn’t a problem). As usual Nintendo are ahead of the game and just when you thought the Joy-Cons couldn’t be copied by anything here you go.

To be honest though I think I just prefer using a normal joypad with the stand attachment thing. If portability is less of an issue it just seems more straightforward and less of a compromise.
Trepsils

 

Killer app killed

One thing I don’t quite get about the hype for Halo Infinite is why we should be expected to believe it’s going to be this amazing soft reboot when the last two games from 343 Industries have been borderline terrible. As far as I know Bungie aren’t helping out with Infinite and there haven’t been any major staff changes so why are 343i suddenly expecting to churn out a modern classic when their last two games were so disappointing?

Maybe there’ll be some announcement that will explain this but at the moment I don’t see any particular reason to expect a suddenly leap in quality.

But that also got me thinking about whether a killer app even really exists anymore. For any game that’s heavy on multiplayer, as Halo Infinite will be, we’re now used to these not working properly at launch and/or being very short on content. Can a game really be a killer app if it’s in that situation? Won’t many people immediately to default to, ‘I’ll pick it up when it’s fixed’ thereby making it the opposite of a killer app, i.e. the reason you’d buy a new piece of hardware.
Krabby

 

E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk

 

The Legend of Navi

On the back of that reader claiming Navi was irritating (the monster!) it seems long time since we’ve had that size fairy in a Zelda game. Her disappearance at the beginning of Majora’s Mask has never been explained, to my knowledge, and I’d welcome a game that picked up on where she’s gone. It was set up as a mystery and then never mentioned again.

I’m pretty sure she won’t be in Breath Of The Wild 2 but I’d welcome a spin-off where you got to play as her, as that might offer a different perspective, literally, of Hyrule. Maybe make it a first person game where you can fly? That would be pretty cool.

I’m not surprised Hyrule got a lot of mentions in the recent Hot Topic about favourite game locations. It’s pretty much the idealised fantasy setting and I’d welcome more games set in it that weren’t just regular Zelda games.
Bestos

 

Second reboot

Just spotted that the Need For Speed website has a countdown timer that runs out Wednesday at 3pm. So that is likely when they will reveal the new game. Interesting that they’re doing it this week getting ahead of Gamescom.

Also, interesting that they removed all their old social media posts and videos of all the previous Need For Speeds from their official Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube channels so they’re wiping the slate clean for this new game, so hopefully it’s going to be the big reboot the series desperately needs. Or another failed attempt and maybe then we get a new Burnout. We shall see.
Big Angry Dad82 (gamertag)

GC: We had that story earlier today. Need For Speed was always going to be at Gamescom, it’s Plants Vs. Zombies which is the question mark.

 

Learned behaviour

So, video games are responsible for violence. No, but if video games were responsible for causing behaviour isn’t FIFA one of the best-selling games each year? Why don’t we a country full of world class players?

When a new Mario game comes out, do we see people running around the streets jumping on people’s heads?

It’s all headline grabbing stuff, lead by a guy with daft hair, with no merit.
si

 

Two days past retirement

I had a major problem with drift on my left Joy-Con. I sent it to Nintendo for fixing as it was within the year warranty period and they indeed fixed and returned it, covering all the cost. A year after the initial fix on the same Joy-Con the drifting got really bad and again I send to Nintendo for fixing. Nintendo were looking for £40 to fix it, which I contested as this was the original Joy-Con which they had already had to repair so this would be the second time I had an issue with the same Joy-Con.

Nintendo offered a year warranty after a repair and my warranty exceeded it by two days, which I pointed out, but they still insisted on the charge. I was very disappointed with them and requested they return me the Joy-Con unfixed as I would rather put the money towards a new set. I know my warranty was just out of date but Joy-Con drifting is a common complaint and Nintendo could have shown a bit of discretion. Just for reference my Switch was bought over a year after launch models came out.
Parkrat

 

Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here

 

Colour ribbon

I can offer assistance to Wallace over his/her Joy-Con rail button (SL/SR) problems.

I had never knowingly come across it in general forum browsing, etc. but just last week I encountered it on one of my right Joy-Cons, a launch day (March 2017) neon acquisition. I don’t usually play with a single Joy-Con but was preparing for a get together and, like Wallace, found that the SL and SR buttons, plus the Sync button, were not producing any response when pressed.

Unlike Wallace though, I didn’t find it difficult to research. I web-searched ‘Switch not detecting SL SR buttons’ and the first video result was a good ‘un.

In short, the ribbon cable responsible for powering the rail buttons inside the affected Joy-Cons has been poorly installed/designed, causing a severe kink to form in the ribbon, preventing a signal travelling through it. When I opened my Joy-Con up I found exactly such a kink in the ribbon cable. I carefully tried to see if it could be relieved enough to restore function, but the ribbon had seemingly become so brittle that it immediately snapped in two at the point of the kink.

Replacement ribbon cables can be found online – I ordered one from overseas so it’s not arrived yet for me to test out. A tri-wing screwdriver is required to open the Joy-Con.

In July 2017 I bought the ARMS yellow Joy-Cons, which I’ve used almost exclusively ever since and the neons have just sat on a shelf, so I’m in no doubt that it’s a design/manufacturing issue rather than user maltreatment. Not that I’m taking a dig at Nintendo though – I love the Joy-Cons and accept that such things can happen.

My yellow Joy-Cons, which have seen by far the majority of my 600 hours+ Switch use (playing mostly thumbstick intense games like FIFA, Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros., and Splatoon 2), still work absolutely fine, and I’ve never encountered any drifting problems save for the example recently given of the thumbstick not being centred when I turned it on once – disconnected then reconnected the Joy-Con and all was instantly back to normal.

I’ll try to update when I’ve had a chance to replace the ribbon cable.
gcunit

GC: It if helps we’ve never had the problem and all our Joy-Cons are the yellow ARMS ones. That’s probably just coincidence though.

 

Inbox also-rans

Why are there suddenly two Plants Vs. Zombies game coming out when we haven’t had any for like a decade? Did anyone ever mention that publishers are weird?
Keith

I didn’t know that about IllFonic losing the licence to Friday the 13th. A shame as they put a lot of love into that game and I’m sure there won’t be a second chance.
Blampton

 

This week’s Hot Topic

The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Tolly, who asks what’s your favourite strategy video game?

Although they’re usually quite rare there’s been an unusual number of strategy and strategy role-playing games released this summer but what is your favourite of all time? What is it you like about it and how does it compare to both other strategy games and action titles with a similar setting?

If you don’t play strategy games why not, and is there anything that might convince you to give them a go? Do you think they’ll always be a niche genre or could you see them becoming more popular in the future?

E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk

 

The small print
New Inbox updates appear twice daily, every weekday morning and afternoon. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word 4Player viewer features at any time, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

Walking Dead star Dango Nguyen dies aged 48 after ‘long-fought cancer battle’

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Walking Dead star Dango Nguyen has died, aged 48
Walking Dead star Dango Nguyen has died, aged 48 (Picture: Facebook)

Dango Nguyen has died, following a ‘long-fought’ battle with cancer.

The Walking Dead star – who played a guard of Woodbury in the zombie series – passed away aged 48.

The news was confirmed on Facebook, by the official page of his former employer, Athens-Clarke County Fire and Emergency Services, in Georgia – where he worked as a firefighter.

‘It is with tremendous sadness that we mourn the loss of one of our former firefighters,’ the message read.

‘Dango Nguyen passed away early this morning after a hard-fought battle with cancer. Dango was a member of our department for almost 20 years.

‘Dango was a sergeant with our department when he left to pursue a career in the entertainment industry and other interests. But, once you’re a firefighter, you’re always part of our family. And Dango was a very well-known member of our family.’

AMC
Dango starred on the zombie series back in 2013 (Picture: AMC)

‘He will always be remembered for his physical and mental strength. He was an aggressive and tenacious firefighter and first responder,’ the statement continued.

‘He was also an excellent fire officer. He carried out his service to our community with a high level of pride in his craft, as well as a competitive spirit that made everyone else that he worked with better too.

Dango Nu Yen Former Georgia firefighter, 'Walking Dead' actor dies at 48 after cancer battle https://www.instagram.com/dangonuyen
He played a guard protecting the Governor from Rick Grimes and co. (Picture: Instagram)

‘Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Michelle, his family, and all of his friends. He touched many lives. We will all remember his quick wit, high energy, and unwavering determination. We all aspire to be “Dango Strong”.’

Fans underneath shared tributes to the late star, with one posting: ‘Rest in peace with our Lord and thank you for your unselfish service…’

‘Thank you for your service. R.I.P prayers to the family and friends and the department,’ another said.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Btzmv6ygxmV/

 

While son Colt commented: ‘I love you dad, and all of the firemen he introduced me to. Thank you guys so much for everything’.

Dango worked with the fire service for nearly 20 years, before leaving to pursue a career in Hollywood.

His biggest role to date came on The Walking Dead in 2013, where he played a guard tasked with protecting The Governor of Woodbury (David Morrisey) from Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and co.

As well as the zombie drama, he also starred in The Game, The Originals and MacGyver and Lodge 49 among others.

He is survived by wife Michelle and their family.

Got a showbiz story?

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