The first trailer for Andy Serkis’ long-awaited live-action adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, Mowgli, is here. The trailer, seen above, paints a darker version of The Jungle Book than audiences familiar with the Disney movie will remember. That’s part of the plan: Andy Serkis told journalists at CinemaCon last month that Mowgli will be a “darker retelling” of The Jungle Book — an almost complete reinvention of the story Jon Favreau recently explored in Disney’s 2016 version of The

Among free-to-play multiplayer shooters, Fortnite’s Battle Pass is the best form of monetization ever. Completing Battle Pass challenges also trains you to play better by encouraging you to use different weapons and explore every nook and cranny of the map. I do want to specify that I think Fortnite’s Battle Pass is an excellent monetization scheme for shooters, which have, for the most part, moved toward a random loot box scheme. Dota 2 even had the Battle Pass idea first, giving players extra

Over the past few years, however, it has moved into the gaming space, with their Omen brand of gaming PCs and accessories. Old-school PC users may recognize Omen’s tribal mask logo from the VoodooPC company, which HP acquired back in 2006. Since 2014, HP has been steadily adding new computers and accessories to the Omen lineup. In addition to gaming hardware, HP makes several Omen-branded accessories, including a line in partnership with the accessories brand SteelSeries. Polygon readers can now

Escalation Protocol was one of Bungie’s big selling points for Destiny 2: Warmind. Like those exercises, Escalation Protocol is Destiny magic — when it works. This process can take up to an hour if you’re unluckyThis is where Escalation Protocol encourages team play. Every time I jump into an Escalation Protocol session, it begins with this nonsensical hunt for friends by randomly dropping into areas. But with nonsensical matchmaking and hourlong group-building sessions, Escalation Protocol may

Cash rules everything around Westworld, so it’s only fitting that the Wu-Tang Clan’s iconic track of the same name received the Westworld treatment. Westworld composer Ramin Djawadi reimagined Wu-Tang’s “C.R.E.A.M.” for the HBO series’ most recent episode. There are a number of cover songs that have caught Westworld fans by surprise, like the Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black” and Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun.” Not every cover is equally loved by fans, however. You obviously have to cover the mel

May 22 marks the first Iron Banner event of season three in Destiny 2: Warmind. In anticipation of this weeklong PvP event, Bungie tweeted out a teaser of a beloved Crucible map from Destiny: Bannerfall. This new map is coming with the return of Iron Banner, a monthly PvP brawl put on by Lord Saladin, one of the oldest Guardians in the Destiny-verse. This change should help Iron Banner fall more in line with the event that players loved in the original Destiny. You can see the armor in the GIF b

Jetpacks are finally headed to Fortnite Battle Royale, Epic Games confirmed in a tweet today. The jetpacks are set to arrive in Fortnite Battle Royale as a part of the v4.2 content update, which will go live on Tuesday, May 22 at 8 a.m. “Strap in and blast off with Jetpacks in the v4.2 Content Update,” the company tweeted. This tweet confirms part of a datamine by the Twitter account Fortnite: Battle Royale Leaks. Players were first promised Jetpacks by Epic Games back in February, when they sho

Upon opening up Steam’s best-sellers list this morning, I was surprised to see an unlikely newcomer. It’s called House Flipper, and it claims to be a sort of home repair simulation. In House Flipper, you buy a distressed property, fix it up and then try to sell it. This is a straightforward, semi-realistic job simulation game along the lines of the Farming Simulator or Truck Simulator series. House Flipper, from Polish indie developer Empyrean, sells for $19.99 and is compatible with Windows and

Violent, edgy, Western-focused games like Grand Theft Auto were taking off, and Namco Bandai wanted a piece of that success. Since it was a brutal, M-rated franchise and Namco Bandai owned the IP, the publisher’s American branch was enthusiastic. For the new game, Namco Bandai stuck to that idea. Right after Bandai Namco staff left their premises, they started doing a different thing, which was ordered by Jay.”“Every single time they’d deliver a milestone, [Namco Bandai] had complaints and issue

Deadpool 2 is already tearing up the box office records, proving that audiences still aren’t tired of superhero movies. Deadpool 2 brought in an estimated $125 million domestically and another $176 million overseas, giving it a $301 million weekend total. The R-rated action film was able to knock Avengers: Infinity War out of the number one slot at the box office over the weekend, although it wasn’t able to beat the record-breaking $132.4 million opening of the first Deadpool film. Deadpool 2 wa

Spider-Man: Homecoming’s sequel has found its villain in Jake Gyllenhaal, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Gyllenhaal is in talks to play Mysterio, a special effects designer and stuntman who turns to supervillainy in pursuit of the fame he feels he deserves. Gyllenhaal will take the antagonist’s part against Tom Holland, who will return to the role of Peter Parker. Mysterio is a Spider-Man villain with a considerable pedigree, having been invented by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in The Amazing

[Warning: This post contains major spoilers for Deadpool and Deadpool 2.] Deadpool is a series for the familyHere is a series of topics that will come up while watching Deadpool 1 and 2: treating sex workers with respect, what an IUD is, pegging and masturbation. Deadpool has one of the few sex scenes you should want to discuss with your teenagers! Almost everything else in the Deadpool films can be good for teenagers to see normalized, save for all the guns and electrocutions. Take your teenage

One of Deadpool 2’s best jokes, however, works on multiple levels, including what appears to be a totally accidental spoof of another beloved joke. So, for the time being, Wade “Deadpool” Wilson has to rock a pair of baby legs. The “baby legs” goof, made a little more raunchy by Deadpool 2’s R-rating, is reminiscent of Rick and Morty’s baby legs joke from the show’s second season. It’s far more likely Deadpool 2’s writers and Rick and Morty’s co-creators have the same sense of humor. We should j

Pokémon Go will soon receive special new forms of several Kanto-region Pokémon. Drawn from Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon, Alolan variants of Pokémon like Raichu, Diglett and Meowth are going to start popping up in the mobile game. Whether your forecast calls for rain or shine, we’re celebrating all around the world by introducing some special Pokémon from the tropical Alola region to Pokémon GO,” reads a blog post from the game’s website. Nonetheless, it’s surprising to see Pokémon from the most

Electronics retailer Best Buy is no longer selling Gamers Club Unlocked, a membership program that granted 20 percent discounts on new video games and pre-orders. While an informational page describing GCU still exists, the option to purchase a new membership has been removed from the Best Buy website. GCU has been a long-running promotion at Best Buy. Store associates were unclear if the GCU program was being canceled outright, or if the program was being retooled or rebooted in some fashion. P

Sonic the Hedgehog’s entire look is iconic, from the bizarrely blue fur down to his red sneakers and droopy socks. The latest to try is Puma, the vaunted footwear brand, which will begin selling shoes inspired by Sonic starting June 5. The Sega and Puma collaboration features two pairs of shoes: the RS-0 Sonic and the RS- Dr. Eggman, each drawing from the characters’ respective color palettes. I’ll hand it to Puma for doing a good job with its Sega and Sonic the Hedgehog line, though; these snea

Epic Games is going to kick start the first year of competitive Fortnite tournaments with $100 million worth of prize pools, the company announced today. This massive sum of money will help fund prize pools for a number of different Fortnite competitions throughout the 2018-2019 season, said Epic. Epic didn’t get into specific tournaments or possible formats, but the company did include a hint that it’s looking outside of the box of traditional esports for inspiration. “We’re getting behind comp

What happens when a Nintendo DS comes apart in two pieces? So Joe Bleeps prettied up one with a light-bar mod and made sure it could support classic titles playable on one of the Nintendo DS’ old screens. There were speakers on it, so Joe Bleeps compensated by putting a mono speaker into the stylus housing on the back. This mod is not applicable to the Nintendo DSi or later, which does not have the Game Boy Advance slot compatible for that device’s cartridges. The unit still runs the standard Ni

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is coming to Nintendo Switch at the end of the week — with some conditions attached. It’s in Japan only for now, and it’s apparently just a digital release. The trailer above, for the survival horror franchise’s official YouTube account in Japan, bills it as the “cloud version” of the game, and that it’s launching May 24. But the game only has a listing on the Nintendo eShop in Japan and only Japanese language is supported. Resident Evil 7 originally launched in Januar

Saturday Night Live is funny, but it’s not cool. Saturday Night Live is still important, and I’m glad it’s around, but it’s not the cultural focal point we celebrated it as more than four decades ago. The way we watch television changes all the time, and Twitch chat is one of the few engaging ways left to watch something. Twitch chat has the unique ability to make something far worse or better depending on the situation and those involved. With Twitch chat, suddenly Saturday Night Live and telev