“Ubisoft Entertainment SA has turned an Assassin’s Creed expansion into a stand-alone game to help fill out its thin release schedule, according to people familiar with the project. The game, code-named Rift, was originally planned as an expansion for 2020’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla but morphed into a full game late last year, said the people, speaking anonymously because they weren’t authorized to talk to the media.” Read more at Bloomberg Will Jurassic World: Dominion give fans of the franchise the conclusion they’ve always wanted? Read more at Inverse Aligator Loki or Eagly from Peacemaker? Who wins in an epic animal face-off? “So it’s no wonder why the Disney-owned juggernaut Marvel Studios might want to conjure up an appealing creature of its own—Loki’s Alligator Loki springs to mind—and you could bet the farm that competitor Warner Bros. was eventually going to stumble across something equitable in terms of cuteness and marketability. Like, say, Peacemaker‘s Eagly. It’s weird that the DC of the big and small screen has only begun to tap into the comics’ long line of mascots and other lovable super-friends (there is an animated movie that’s about to blow this wide open). But Eagly, an original character created by James Gunn for his frightfully good HBO Max series, is already a strong contender for the all-time greatest. Eat your heart out, Krypto.” Read more at The A.V. Club Ahead of a trailer release during the Super Bowl, here’s all we know about the upcoming The Lord of the Rings series headed to Prime Video. Read more at Gizmodo Does the DLC for Mario Kart 8 somehow make the graphics look worse? “The many lives of Mario Kart 8 continue with Nintendo’s DLC announcement during its first Direct of 2022, which will see courses from the series’ past added through 2023. But it’s not all sunny circuits and rainbow roads for longtime fans. Many are currently comparing screenshots between what Nintendo aired during the Direct and Mario Kart Tour, the free mobile spin-off of the popular racer, and finding more similarities than they like, especially for a paid, premium experience.” Read more at Kotaku Super Bowl LVI is this weekend, but let’s go back to the beginning and learn some fun facts about Super Bowl I. Read more at Mental Floss