Back in 2013, LEGO created a totally amazing game called "LEGO Marvel's Superheroes," where you could play as almost every single iconic hero and villain in the Marvel universe from Ant-Man to Baron Zemo. In January, they'll be following that up with "LEGO Marvel's Avengers," which follows the movie versions of each character through the events of "Avengers" and "Avengers: Age Of Ultron" -- and trust us, it's going to be awesome. Check out the newly released trailer if you don't believe us: Today (October 9), the team responsible for turning our favorite super-team into adorable minifigures assembled at the LEGO Marvel New York Comic Con panel to tell us more about what to expect when this new game comes out in January. However, yesterday, MTV News got the chance to check out our very own private demo of the game (it's okay to be jealous), and we saw some totally incredible stuff. Here are the highlights: Watching cutscenes in "LEGO Marvel Avengers" is often like watching a shot for shot LEGO remake of the "Avengers" movies you already love, complete with the original lines of dialogue as spoken by the real stars -- with some ridiculous sight gags and dorky jokes added in, of course.
It wouldn't be a LEGO game otherwise, right? But that's not all-- in addition to getting to play our your favorite battles in "Avengers" and "Age of Ultron," you'll also be reenacting scenes from a huge chunk of the Phase 2 Marvel movies like "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and "Thor: The Dark World" as well, and playing with versions of the characters that appear all across the MCU. Remember how Maria Hill was always there to give you a hand in the last LEGO Marvel game? In this one, she's back and played by none other than her live-action counterpart, Colbie Smulders. Both Hayley Atwell ("Agent Carter") and Clark Gregg ("Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.") also recorded brand new lines of dialogue for some of their side-quests, too -- and yes, they're playable, too. Peggy Carter even has her trademark red hat. Because this game is filtered through the lens of the "Avengers" movies, it's focused primarily on the characters that Marvel still retains movie rights to -- so sorry, Wolverine, but you're probably going to have to wait for the next one.
But that's fine by us, because... The Internet is already super pumped for comic book characters like Ms. Marvel, America Chavez, the new Thor and Squirrel Girl, as LEGO announced their presence in the game a few months ago. But there will also be super obscure favorites like Fin Fang Foom or Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy. Heck, Butterball makes an appearance. Do you know who Butterball is? Of course you don't, but he's great. Eventually the game will contain over 200 different characters (not to mention all the different outfits and skins that some characters will have), and the creators of the game tell us that they will keep adding new ones to the line-up -- often times based on what the fans on Twitter request -- right up until the week before the game is ready to release. That's dedication, right there. The creators of "LEGO Marvel's Avengers" are all about getting you and your friends to switch back and forth between all the characters as often as possible, but now the game developers have added a wrinkle -- every pair of characters has a team-up move with one another, and some of them are wonderfully specific to their actual abilities and relationships in the comics.
For example, Quicksilver can throw Captain America around to strike several enemies at once, and Moon Boy can actually ride Devil Dinosaur around. When you weren't saving the day in story quests in the first LEGO Marvel game, you'd spend most of your time Manhattan, AKA the location of nearly every single base of operations for all the Marvel heroes. But in "Marvel's Avengers," you'll have so many more interesting places to explore, like Asgard, South Africa, Washington D.C., and even Clint Barton's cozy little farm upstate. Your characters can also do way cooler stuff in the open world, too; in story mode, Quicksilver can only run up walls in certain situations, but if you're hanging out in a hub area then he can do it all the dang time. Tony Stark has Veronica to keep The Hulk in check when he gets out of line, but he's not the only one with a giant suit of armor to wear. So does Stan Lee, as the team behind "LEGO Marvel's Avengers" revealed at San Diego Comic-Con earlier this year.
And yeah, that is a giant pencil gun and a desk lamp on the back of it, because Stan Lee is all about making deadlines while fighting crime. But even he's not the only one, either -- Squirrel Girl's got an iron suit, too. It's basically the cutest, most bad-ass thing ever, and we can't wait to get into it and seriously wreck some stuff. "LEGO Marvel’s Avengers" will be released on January 26, 2016, available for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation4, PlayStation3, PlayStation Vita, WiiU, Nintendo 3DS and Windows PC.Play Gap Jumper, a morbidly realistic game that’s impossible to win Gap Jumper is a dark satire about the wage gap. The side-scrolling game, created by Girls Who Code Pixar, has you play as a Caucasian female character tasked with racing across a city collecting coins, trying to acquire the bare minimum needed to survive. The twist is, it’s nearly impossible to get enough coins to rise above the poverty line, and worse, at the end of the game, an extra 22% is knocked off of what you earned, simply because of your gender.
If this sounds unfair, well, yep! Then remember that it’s 2015, and get really depressed that equal pay is still even a god damn issue. Play the genius game here.Who Is Using QR Codes? Posted by Nicholas M. Roberts A lot of people seem to think QR codes are made for a niche audience. So too was the automobile until Henry Ford made them accessible to the middle class. Three years ago they were admittedly being used far more often by independent musicians and artists trying to get you to visit their site, listen to their band or come to their exhibition. While they indeed still serve that purpose, large corporations have also taken advantage of them. I have compiled a list with a few examples. Audi used one on a Japanese commercial. Best Buy keeps a record of what their customers are scanning in the store. You can see the real time results. Calvin Kline actually used them for billboards in 2010. Dell has used them for an online contest where entrants can win a new laptop.
Dick’s Sporting Goods has displayed a QR code on a Jumbo-tron at a football game (I’m not sure which) that led to a site where people could make discounted purchases.This applies to Facebook itself as well as companies linking their QR codes to their Facebook fan pages. Lego (The two are very compatible) McDonalds is using it to store nutritional information, but so far only in Japan. Pepsi, both on bottles and in advertisements. Ralph Lauren has used them in print ads offering style guides and exclusive videos. Starbucks is actually using QR codes as a method of payment. Warbasse Design (likely in conjunction with Paramount and certain movie theaters). In 2008 for promotion of the film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, poster designer Warbasse added a QR code to some movie posters that would go to certain theaters. By scanning the code, theater goers could watch movie trailers and also get a free concession with their next ticket purchase.