Share of the Week: Vertical

Today's Hasbro Pulse Fan Fest began with the announcement of a new Fortnite action figures line, and concluded with a handful of reveals for Star Wars' Vintage Collection and Black Series lines. Disney Plus' The Mandalorian remains a strong focus for Hasbro, but various video games also grabbed the spotlight for a number of figure reveals.Along with new Vintage Collection figure announcements for Luke Skywalker (Hoth), the Emperor's Royal Guard, Han Solo (Endor), and Admiral Akbar, Hasbro debuted a new subgroup of Gaming Greats. This wave consists of a Heavy Battle Droid from Battlefront II, a Shadow Trooper from The Force Unleashed, and a Scout Trooper and Electrostaff Purge Trooper from Jedi: Fallen Order. All of these figures are currently available for pre-order at GameStop. The Gaming Greats line is exclusive to retailer. For the fan-favorite Black Series, Hasbro unveiled a slate of exciting figures. From the film side, we're getting new figures of Aurra Sing and General Lando Calrissian. From The Mandalorian, the trigger-happy assassin droid ZERO (or Q9-0) is getting a great looking figure, as is Koska Reeves, the Mandalorian in Bo-Katan Kryze's group. And from the animation side of the Star Wars universe, Hasbro is releasing a figure of Tech, one of the main characters from the forthcoming Bad Batch show. The most surprising Star Wars announcements were for two fringe characters that are getting pricey collectibles. You'll soon be able to wear a replica of Wedge Antilles' helmet, which consists of forest green coloring and a similar shape to Luke's traditional X-Wing helmet. This Black Series collectible will release for $99.99 this summer, and features electronic lights and sound effects. Hasbro is also commemorating another X-Wing hero in plastic with a vintage collection two-pack that consists of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story's Antoc Merrick and his light blue X-Wing fighter. This product hits in the fall for $99.99. We didn't get the Boba Fett announcement we were hoping for. Everyone wants a figure of him based on his time in The Mandalorian, but it looks like we'll have to wait a little longer for that one. Here's hoping he comes seated on a particular throne shown in the second season's final episode. What did you think of Hasbro's showing today, not just for Star Wars, but Transformers and Fortnite as well? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below! Disclaimer: GameStop is the parent company of Game Informer

Good news, Turian lovers and N7 hopefuls alike! Mass Effect Legendary Edition has officially gone gold. The news was confirmed by project director Mac Walters, ensuring that no delays are on the horizon for the Mass Effect trilogy remaster slated for next month. Walters took to his Twitter account with a fitting GIF of Shepard and company partying it down during the Citadel pizza. Pop that dextro-friendly champagne and order that pizza from the Vorcha, because it's time to board the Normandy once more and show the galaxy how it's done:  While the Legendary Edition is a remaster and not a remake, that doesn't mean the small changes can't impact the game in a thoughtful way. Not just visually either. The upcoming remaster includes all of the previous DLC, making it easy for those that may have missed out on the incredible adventures of the Citadel DLC, Shadow Broker, Leviathan, and so many more.  As part of our cover story last month, we dove deep into what the Mass Effect Legendary Edition as to offer players. From Mako tweaks to character improvements, there is a lot to look forward to for returning players. For newcomers to the series, the ability to play the entire trilogy as it is meant to be played (thanks to the included DLC) is great way to jump right into the fray.  To learn more about Mass Effect Legendary Edition, check out our exclusive game hub here. From no multiplayer to lost code that can never be recovered, we asked it all. 

The upcoming Dungeons & Dragons movie has been delayed, moving to a 2023 launch instead of the projected May 27, 2022 release previously planned. The Dungeons & Dragons movie's new release date following the delay is now set for March 3, 2023, making it the second delay to hit the film since it was first announced. The first delay pushed the movie's release from November 19, 2021, to May 27, 2022, but COVID-related issues and the uncertainty surrounding the film industry's future forced plans to change.  The film was expected to begin filming before Summer this year in Ireland. The confirmation (courtesy of Comicbook's Christian Hoffer) of the movie's delay did not confirm whether or not the production schedule was also pushed back.  Taking point on the upcoming movie is both John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein as the film's directors. We also know that Chris Pine, Regé-Jean Page, and Michelle Rodriguez are all signed on as part of the cast, but further revelations are currently being kept under wraps.  There are also a few other Dungeons & Dragons projects in the works currently with numerous live-action TV takes. No word yet on if this delay will impact those as well, but the possibility is there given that the timing was specifically centered around the movie's release.  With the future still mostly unknown outside of the delay, we are interested in seeing where our readers would like to see the Dungeons & Dragons movie go in terms of its story. We don't really know much of anything about what the story will be, which begs the question: Which characters would you like to see up on the big screen, and who would you like to see take on those roles? Sound off with your thoughts in the comment section below, and tell us what you'd like to see out of the latest D&D adaptation!

I have played 128 games of Pac-Man 99, but I'm only half certain I know what I'm doing. Lacking any kind of tutorial, Pac-Man 99 leaves players to learn and understand its systems for themselves – making for a frustrating introduction to a visually busy game. However, once I cleared that initial hurdle, I found myself reaching for Pac-Man 99 time and time again – if only because of how unobtrusive it is. Taking cues from Super Mario Bros. 35 and Tetris 99, Pac-Man 99 is a modern twist on the Pac-Man action you've known for four decades: go around a maze picking up small pellets and larger power pellets while avoiding the five ghosts on-screen that can end your run. The twist here, however, is now you're pitted against 98 other online players. Pac-Man 99 is, essentially, a battle royale experience where you compete against the group to be the last player standing. The bulk of the gameplay features Pac-Man’s classic maze-running action, but pick-ups on the left and right side of the maze allow you to gobble ghosts and send attacks at other players, such as ghost Pac-Men that can either slowdown or end a player’s run. By and large, I found this twist on the familiar formula to be a fun challenge – it's satisfying to figure out when to save your attacks before unleashing them on the opposition. However, getting to the point where you actually understand how to play Pac-Man 99 is a whole other story. The game lacks any kind of tutorial, which leaves it up to players to figure out how to actually play the game. If you're willing to bang your head against the first dozen matches or so (a frustrating experience, to say the least), you eventually get the hang of it. But in the early hours, there's so much happening on-screen that Pac-Man 99 seems inscrutable. Early in my playtime, the complete lack of tutorials turned me off. While I've since learned how to enjoy Pac-Man 99, many of its systems remain bewildering. Using the Nintendo Switch's face buttons and right analog stick, you can choose ways to attack other players, with options labeled Stronger, Random, Speed, Knockout, and so on. However, I never fully understood the clear difference between some of those attacks. Pressing and moving the buttons doesn't offer detailed visual feedback, and it’s unclear how my attacks impacted other players. Despite this, I still enjoyed my time with Pac-Man 99. While many of the systems are opaque, through enough trial-and-error, I got good enough to frequently place in the top 25. Unlike many other battle royales, matches of Pac-Man 99 are relatively quick and reloading into a new match is painless, which I also appreciated. On top of the battle royale mode, Pac-Man 99 also has a Score Attack, CPU Battle, and Time Attack single player modes, though by and large I found these unremarkable and not nearly as fun as the base mode. It's also worth pointing out all single player game modes are locked behind a $15 paywall, as is a lot of the cosmetic content, but the battle royale mode is free. If you're itching for more Pac-Man, it's certainly there, but as far as I'm concerned the best this game has to offer is the free mode.  Pac-Man 99 is not a particularly difficult game, but it is engaging, and I found myself wanting to play more and more. However, the electronic music that plays over the menu and during matches is repetitive and annoying (there are maybe two or three songs in the whole thing), so Pac-Man 99 has become my go-to podcast game. Which, if you ask me, is an underrated genre. The other night I sat down and listened to the new episode of Today, Explained by Vox while playing – I recommend it, it's a good one.  To enjoy Pac-Man 99, I had to accept the frustrations that came with learning its systems. While it does an embarrassingly poor job of explaining the hows-and-whys of its mechanics, once you figure them out on your own, it's a good way to fill lulls in your day. Pac-Man 99 has become my go-to when I want to do something else, and I can't think of much higher praise for a game of this caliber. It fills a niche in my life where I can stay occupied with something fun without the need to devote all of my increasingly limited attention to it.