Gamers Sphere

New Indie Games Coming to Nintendo Switch

The Nintendo Switch is a hotbed for Indie Titles, and several have just been revealed to be joining the ever-expansive library. (more…)

Games for the #Quarantine - Music Games #rhythm #gaming

We have to face the idea of being locked at home for a while. This is one of those moments when we appreciate gaming for sure. However, as the gamers we are, we feel like we don’t have anything to play. This happens even while having 500+ games on Steam. Not to mention other platforms.

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Kick-Off Show

As usual, this is just a preview of every single match of the night. There isn’t too much to add here, but it is quite useful for those who don’t follow the weekly WWE shows.

Natalya vs Liv Morgan

Interestingly entertaining, the first match of the night has the seasoned Natalya fighting against the new Liv Morgan. After going through the Riott Squad phase, Liv has been getting a name for herself. This match started as a training match between both of them and feeling as if Natalya was helping Liv. It escalates and we see a technical Liv fighting toe-to-toe against Natalya until she beats her.

Not even close to being the best match you’ll see, but it was a good start for sure.

Main Show

We start the main show with Stephanie McMahon welcoming fans again. Along with the cinematic intro from yesterday. It was amazing yesterday. It still looks great. I was expecting something different today, though.

NXT Women’s Championship: Charlotte Flair vs Rhea Ripley

We start the match with both measuring each other. They are going slowly, calculating their next move. This is certainly a battle between the best. Sadly, Rhea is failing and every time she is attacked, her response is “Really?”

The entire match is in Charlotte’s favor. She focuses her attacks on Rhea’s injured leg, keeping the champion down most of the time. Rhea is able to counter a couple of times, hitting some nice punches and kicks, but it doesn’t feel like it is going to be enough to get out of this match as champion.

We see submission holds, chained pin counts, a lot of aggression coming from both contestants. This is turning out to be a really good match. They are screaming a lot, possibly increasing their ki.

In the end, Charlotte wins via submission. What a shocker…

Aleister Black vs Bobby Lashley

This may not be the well awaited Lashley vs Lesnar match we’ve all been waiting for. However, Seeing Aleister Black against Lashley might be what steals the show tonight.

The fact that there’s no trash talking during the first minutes of the match makes it feel real. We hear the punches and kicks. Aleister’s breathing is loud as well. They are here to fight. Luckily, that’s what I’m here to watch.

We see something real: Lashley brings strength to the mat. Aleister brings magic. Every time Black hit a kick, Lashley went down. It takes a few punches to keep Aleister down. In the end, with a beautiful Black Mass, Aleister defeats Lashley, and Lana seems to not be happy at all.

Otis vs Dolph Ziggler

This is a soap opera now. But WWE made me worry about Otis. Who doesn’t like Otis? I love to hate Ziggler now. I don’t get excited about these stories, but there’s something unique about this one. No idea what it is, but I hope Otis wins.

Otis was dominating the match, but Ziggler being the heel he is used Sonya Deville as a distraction to hit a low-kick on Otis. Mandy appears, attacks her former best friend and hits a low-blow on Ziggler. Otis wins the match and recovers Mandy!

Last Man Standing: Randy Orton vs Edge

Long stories have proven to be quite good in wrestling. We’ve had Miz vs Daniel Bryan, John Cena vs Randy Orton. Now, Randy is trying to get Edge to retire shortly after he returned.

One of the best things that happened during Royal Rumble was Edge’s return. Tonight, we may see Edge’s last match ever. This is going to be epic for sure.

The match is off to a great start when Randy hits an RKO “outta nowhere!”, followed by a second one. This doesn’t feel like a Last Man Standing match, though. Edge gets out of the rin and Randy hits him with a camera. Now we’re talking!

Randy takes Edge to the gym, and this is awesome since they are at the Performance Center, there are a lot of possible weapons around. The fight is great; however, they don’t get to use too much from the environment. I am completely into this match at this point and it feels like a “kill or die” sort of scenario.

If there is one thing to hate on this match is the camera work. It is certainly tough to handle those big and heavy cameras in this place. But cameras were on the way of the wrestlers to a point where they had to ask them to move. Even, at one point, they hit a cameraman. It felt like an amateur move instead of something good.

I’m now in this match for way longer than needed. It stopped being interesting and I can’t wait for it to end. This is the worst Last Man Standing match I’ve seen. Edge jumps from a weird balcony and hits Orton with his elbow through a conveniently placed table. Now we see blood on Orton’s back, but still, this needs to end.

Finally, Edge gets emotional, but hits a “Con-chair-to” on Orton to get the win.

RAW Tag Team Championship: Austin Theory & Angel Garza w/ Zelina Vega vs Street Profits

Street Profits made an entrance showing how every entrance should’ve been: with wrestlers acting for the camera, instead of the empty arena. The match starts and they are fired up! This is what I want to see on every single match now.

In a weird ending, the Street Profits retain the titles.

After the match was done, though, the losing team attacked the champions with the help of Zelina Vega. Only to get Bianca Balair to help the champs and take Zelina out.

SmackDown Women’s Championship: Fatal 5 Way Elimination Match

This match may be interesting. No disqualification match with 5 of the best wrestlers SmackDown has. Not sure who am I rooting for, though. It is still funny for me to listen to Bayley’s entrance music, sounds like one of the standard generic songs from WWE 2K games.

The match starts as it was expected: everyone against Tamina. As soon as she was out of the equation (momentarily) it was time to fight. In a choreographed chain of moves that don’t fool anyone, the champ and her best friend are taken out, only for Tamina to come back and start dominating again.

It took every single contestant to be on top of Tamina at the same time to get her eliminated. Why do they put a super strong person in a match just to have this done? Beats me!

Sasha makes Naomi give up in the fastest submission ever. People have been enduring the “Bank Statement” for so long that having Naomi tap out within seconds makes no sense. But we all knew this was going to happen, didn’t we?

This whole match feels like a waste of time. Why did they make it a Fatal 5 Way only to have Sasha vs Bayley at the end instead of having it as a 1-on-1 from the beginning? Dumbest drama on WWE for a while. Luckily, we get Lacey Evans to knock Sasha Banks out, and we have a different ending now. Let’s hope we get a new champion.

Remember when Lacey was the best thing ever in NXT? It feels like an old memory nowadays.

Bayley tied Lacey’s right arm to the corner. Badly. Lacey isn’t even trying to oppose to being tied, or untie herself. Soon after, she does untie her arm, though.

Sasha comes back, attacks Lacey and gives Bayley the win. Of course.

Firefly Fun House Match: John Cena vs The Fiend

We are expecting nothing less than a direct competitor to last night’s Undertaker vs AJ Styles match here. Let’s see how it goes.

Apparently, the Fun-House is just boring as hell. We go through different phases of John Cena throughout the years, there’s a lot of talking and no fighting at all.

I was right. There was no way to top the Boneyard Match from yesterday. This is boring! You can skip this whole thing, not even Titus O’Neil knew what happened. Seems like The Fiend won, but there was no match to begin with. Way to destroy everything that went well last night. Kudos to whoever puked the idea of this “match”. 15 minutes of my life that I will never get back.

Main Event

WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre vs Brock Lesnar

This is weird. After the fiasco that was the Firefly Fun House, I don’t know what to expect. Brock wasn’t presented by Paul either. The match starts and Drew hits a Claymore but Lesnar survives, now it is time to visit Suplex City. Lesnar hits 2 F-5 and Drew kicks out both times. Lesnar hits a third one. Drew is still alive!

Lesnar was about to hit another F-5 but Drew hits him with 3 consecutive Claymore and wins!

My final thoughts about Wrestlemania are simple: I should’ve stopped watching at the end of Night 1. Let me know if you disagree, and why.

Kick-Off Show

As it is usual with WWE Pay-Per-Views, we get a one-hour pre-show where we get to hear about what’s coming to our screens. As well, it brings at least one match. For Wrestlemania 36, that match was:

Drew Gulak vs Cesaro

The first match of of Wrestlemania is a match between two technicians. In a super quick match without too much to offer, Cesaro ended up coming out as a winner.

Main Show

We start Wrestlemania 36 with the inspiring words of Stephanie McMahon, explaining that this time around, the show won’t have fans. It will be completely different to anything we’ve seen before. Thanking fans for following, and welcoming us to this event with short videos of the many celebrities who have opened the Greatest Stage of them All throughout the years.

Now we jump to a cinematic experience for the show’s intro. Epic. There’s no other way to describe it. I came with low expectations, but this intro literally cheered me up and got me excited about the show. Amazing job, WWE designers.

Women’s Tag Team Championship: Kabuki Warriors vs Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross

We have to admit two different things here: the lack of crowd severely impacts the hype of the match and wrestlers have to work twice as hard to try and make it look dynamic. Listening to the ref and wrestlers and what they say to each other is super interesting.

I also have to say this: I hate the way Asuka’s character has shifted from being the badest of them all, to whatever it is they are trying to do with her now. That dancing is just not fun at all, and I don’t want to see a “fun” Asuka, I want to see the Quee of Strong Style back which was undefeated for so long back in her NXT time.

We see some great teamwork for the Kabuki Warriors, acting their heel roles to perfection. Sadly, there was a second where the ref hesitated and didn’t hit the 3-count in favor of Nikki Cross, as he gave 1 additional second for Kairi to “break” the pin from the top of the corner. It was a 3-count, but he stopped. Disappointing.

In the end, Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss won when Alexa hit a Twisted Bliss to the legs of Kairi to “knock” her out and get the 3-count. What a miss!

Baron Corbin vs Elias

We’re used to listen to Elias whenever he is performing for a match before the bell rings. This time we have to listen to King Corbin trash talk about how he destroyed Elias during the previous SmackDown show. I personally prefer to listen to Elias.

Before the ref could start counting, Elias appeared and King Corbin tried to attack him outside the ring, but Elias busted his guitar on Corbin’s back before the match officially started.

Mid-match, what I was mentioning before: Kind Corbin yells at Michael Cole and JBL at the announce table ordering them to say how great of a wrestler he is. This is the kind of dynamic that they are forced to go to due to the crowd’s absence. So far, it has been somewhat working.

When Corbin was about to win using the ropes to his advantage, the ref caught him and Elias put him in a pin count to win the match.

RAW Women’s Championship: Becky Lynch vs Shayna Baszler

This is a long-time coming match. One of the most anticipated matches of Wrestlemania 36 for sure. We see the preview and how Shayna got here by defeating literally everyone she faced at the Elimination Chamber match. That is scary.

As soon as the match started, we knew we were in for something great. It became really physical, really quick. Good thing about the crowdless-arena is that we can hear every punch, every kick and every single move. It sounds brutal.

During the entire match, Baszler dominated Becky, but when Baszler’s finisher appeared, Becky rolled and got the 3-count to retain the title, in a match that had another one of those super fake endings. Sadly.

Intercontinental Championship: Daniel Bryan vs Sami Zayn

Really slow start for the match with Sami doing a classic Sami. He is the champion, but plays the underdog, even accompanied by Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura. Seeing Sami doing a Mayweather on Daniel Bryan isn’t entertaining, it is boring. Even after the running ended, Sami didn’t even try to fight and became a boxing bag for Daniel Bryan.

Not only is Bryan dominating in the fight, he is also verbally abusing Sami on a way that makes this actually fun to watch now. But it didn’t last long as Nakamura and Cesaro played a diversion and Sami hit a single, badly hit, “Helluva Kick” on Bryan to retain the belt. Awful ending, as it has been consistent during the whole PPV this far.

SmackDown Tag Team Championship: Kofi Kingston vs Jimmy Uso vs John Morrison

This might as well be the best match of the event. A triple threat ladder match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship belts with 3 of the most athletic and innovative wrestlers. I have huge hopes for this match to steal the show.

Morrison is certainly showing why is it that he comes as the champion. His parkour-like moves are badass, I’m just missing the crowd’s reaction to them right now. Kofi, applying a “leaping-flying hurracarana” to Morrison shows why I was excited about this match.

Lots and lots of highlights in this match. Amazing synergy from the three of them. But when Morrison had the clear chance to get the belts, he took all the time in the world, stupidly, before going for them. That gave Kofi and Jimmy time to recover when they were out of the match. Of course, we “wanted” to see a highlight with all 3 close to getting them belts.

In an unexpected ending, though, Morrison retained, by accident. This was AWWEEEEEEESOME!

Kevin Owens vs Seth Rollins

Whoever came up with the “Monday Night Messiah” did a great job. They wanted a heel, and I hate this gimmick. There’s no possible way I’m able to root any more for Kevin Owens to defeat Rollins.

Owens certainly comes with all the aggression he needs; however, Rollins is just 3 steps ahead every single time. Trash talk in this match is great.

Match isn’t that entertaining, though. Seth Rollins goes out of the ring, takes the bell and hits Owens with it to lose the match by disqualification.

Kevin Owens asks him to come back in a No DQ match now and Rollins is on fire, again. Kevin Owens is just not able to defend himself and Seth Rollins is ready to destroy Owens now. Rollins hits Owens with the steel steps, with a chair. Owens counters with the bell and ends up jumping from the Wrestlemania board to break the announce table with Rollins’ body. This is the highlight of the night so far.

Universal Championship: Braun Strowman vs Goldberg

We start with 3 spears from Goldberg, Strowman breaks the pin count at 2 and a half, gets a fourth spear. Strowman hits 3 powerslams. Hits his finisher and we have a new Universal Champion. Lackluster. Not what I expected to happen for Strowman to be champ. I’m happy, but disappointed.

This one has a meme vibe to it for some reason…

Boneyard Match: Undertaker vs AJ Styles

We see a car coming into a graveyard. It is AJ Styles arriving. Now, Undertaker appears, but not as the King of Darkness, he comes in as the American Badass! This is amazing. There’s a lot of trash talk here and a lot of people might be surprised to hear Undertaker’s voice.

This isn’t a wrestling match. This is pure entertainment and the production behind it is perfect. I don’t care about anything other than the story that they are showing.

Undertaker destroyed AJ only for friends Gallows and Anderson to start helping. There’s fake monks coming out to attack Taker too! This is amazing, I feel like this is a movie, and I am loving it!

Not giving away the details about this production. I’m showing you.

From this point forward, I need more of this. This is entertaining, this is amazing.

Overall an interesting first night for Wrestlemania 36, awful matches’ endings mostly. High points are the Triple Threat Ladder Match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships and the Boneyard Match. It didn’t feel tiring since it is a lot shorter than previous years, and this format should be kept from now on.

Stay with us for tomorrow’s matches.

ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!…

Ahem… *summons cultist pastor voice*

Dear friends, we gather here today to celebrate the birth of our Gospel. Indeed, our gospel of madness and death has come. For no man is beyond the insanity that follows the old gods. The elder things. The black night has come, my friends, and it will relieve you of the burden you all carry. The burden of…

The Addams Family: The Art of the Animated Movie [Review]

The Addams Family has been a classic tale of the creepiest family on the block. They have their own ways of going about things, that might just be different than the norm. Titan Books has published The Addams Family: The Art of the Animated Movie to celebrate the release of the re-imagined Addams Family.

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About the Book and Movie

Klaus is a classic holiday film that shows the happiness of giving and friendship. It’s a re-created take on Santa Claus that we’ve seen through the past decades. Plenty of talented individuals created this Netflix exclusive film, and brought the happiness and joy to life.

The forward written by James Baxter, a renowned animator, paints the picture to why he wanted to be involved in this creative movie, and show the world what they have done.

“What ever great animated film has at its core is a great story, and Klaus takes us on a wonderful and unexpected ride through some familiar territory. It’s a Christmas story, but one like you’ve never seen before, told through the eyes of some fantastic characters – some of them quirky, some stoic, some crazy, some cute, but all contributing to a tale of real emotion and heart. Once you have a great story, the task becomes dsigning the world and the look of the characters, and the designers for Klaus have created a world where the shapes and colors contribute to the emotion of the story.” – James Baxter

Sketches and Design of Characters

Creating an animated film such as this takes a lot of time, effort, and planning. Below are some sketches of major characters and designs that show the creative process. Among the talented artists and animators includes Sergio Pablos, Yoshimichi Tamura, and Sergio Martins.

Early concept of Jesper by Sergio Pablos

Animation tips by Yoshimichi Tamura and Sergio Martins

Animation key frames by Sergio Marins, for Alva

The drawings in the movie are also very entertaining, on theme, and drive the point of the movie. Below are Jesper’s drawings for his pitch done by Torsten Schrank

Drawings for Jesper’s pitch by Torsten Schrank

Drawings for Jesper’s pitch by Torsten Schrank

“Many of the artists and animators working on Klaus point out that what really sets the movie apart is how all the key elements are integrated together to work in service of the story. As lead animator Alfredo Cassano mentions, “We have 2D and 3D elements, and the background paintings all perfectly blend in a way that, if you pause the frame, you won’t be able to tell them apart. It really helps the storytelling, so the viewer won’t get distracted by the technique”

Conclusion

Klaus is a really adorable movie on Netflix, and learning about the creation of the movie and the design choices is extremely insightful. Klaus has a lot of elements that make the movie appealing to both children and adults, and while the holidays are over Christmas magic is never gone.

You can get your copy of Klaus: The Art of the Movie directly from Titan Books!

Last Year: AfterDark Review

Have you ever wished to feel what it was like to be in a horror movie? Have you ever wondered, what exactly does it feel like to be the survivor? What it was like to be the killer? These questions were the catalyst that began the survival horror multi-player genre. A craze that burned itself into the history of horror games as we know them. The concept was simple, create a horror game and put…

BATWOMAN “Mine Is a Long And a Sad Tale” — (8:00-9:00 p.m. ET) (TV-14, V) (HDTV)

BECOMING ALICE – Alice (Rachel Skarsten) takes Kate (Ruby Rose) down the sad, winding road of her life in the days after the accident as Jacob (Dougray Scott) and Sophie (Meagan Tandy) attempt to track them. Mary (Nicole Kang) has an argument with Catherine (Elizabeth Anweis) which sends her looking for Kate at Wayne Tower, but instead she becomes unwelcome company for Luke (Camrus Johnson.) Carl Seaton directed the episode written by Jerry Shandy and Ebony Gilbert (#105). Original airdate 11/3/2019. Every episode of BATWOMAN will be available to stream on CWTV.com and The CW App the day after broadcast for free and without a subscription, log-in or authentication required.

Batwoman airs on Sundays, on The CW.

#Supergirl 5x05 "Dangerous Liaisons" Synopsis #TheCW

The CW Television Network has released the official synopsis for the “Dangerous Liaisons” episode of Supergirl and you can check out all the details about what happens during this episode below.

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#YoungSheldon 3x05 "A Pineapple and the Bosom of Male Friendship" Synopsis #CBS

CBS has released the official synopsis and trailer for the “A Pineapple and the Bosom of Male Friendship” of Young Sheldon and you can check out all the details about what happens during this episode below.

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#Supernatural 15x04 "Atomic Monsters" Synopsis #TheCW

The CW Television Network has released the official synopsis for the “Atomic Monsters” episode of Supernatural and you can check out all the details about what happens during this episode below.

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#TheFlash 6x05 "Kiss Kiss Breach Breach" Synopsis #TheCW

The CW Television Network has released the official synopsis for the “Kiss Kiss Breach Breach” episode of The Flash and you can check out all the details about what happens during this episode below.

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#Arrow 8x04 "Present Tense" Synopsis #TheCW

The CW Television Network has released the official synopsis for the “Present Tense” episode of Arrow and you can check out all the details about what happens during this episode below.

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THE FLASH “Dead Man Running” — (8:00-9:00 p.m. ET) (TV-PG, L) (HDTV)

GET READY FOR A KILLER PARTY – Knowing that Crisis is only weeks away, Barry (Grant Gustin) prepares a member of Team Flash for life without him while hunting a terrifying meta-human with an unquenchable thirst. Meanwhile, Ralph (Hartley Sawyer) uncovers a family secret. Sarah Boyd directed the episode written by Lauren Barnett & Thomas Pound (#603). Original airdate 10/22/2019.

The Flash airs on Tuesdays, on The CW.

SUPERNATURAL “The Rupture” – (8:00-9:00 p.m. ET) (TV-14, V) (HDTV)

AS IT IS WRITTEN – Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) together with Rowena (guest star Ruth Connell) work tirelessly to keep all of hell from breaking loose. Castiel (Misha Collins) cannot forgive an arrogant betrayal. Charles Beeson directed the episode written by Robert Berens. (#1504). Original Airdate 10/24/2019.

Supernatural airs on Thursdays, on The CW.

BATWOMAN “Who Are You?” — (8:00-9:00 p.m. ET) (TV-14, DLV) (HDTV)

ALL THAT GLITTERS – A new villain with an eye for all things that sparkle drops in on the city. Kate (Ruby Rose) attempts to find a balance between her personal life and her new role as Gotham’s guardian. Catherine (Elizabeth Anweis) has an uncomfortable encounter with Alice (Rachel Skarsten) who always seems to be one step ahead of the Kane family. Batwoman pays fangirl Mary (Nicole Kang) a visit to ask for a favor. Meanwhile, Jacob (Dougray Scott) and Sophie (Meagan Tandy) try to piece together who was after their prisoner. Luke (Camrus Johnson) continues to finetune Batwoman’s arsenal of weapons as the pair track their unwelcome visitor and discover she has more sinister plans than snatching shiny objects. Holly Dale directed the episode written by Nancy Kiu and Denise Harkavy (#104). Original airdate 10/27/2019. Every episode of BATWOMAN will be available to stream on CWTV.com and The CW App the day after broadcast for free and without a subscription, log-in or authentication required.

Batwoman airs on Sundays, on The CW.