Gamers have been getting nostalgic for Assassin’s Creed Unity after it was given away for free.
Set in the French revolution the game features an accurate recreation of Notre Dame cathedral.
Ubisoft offered the game up as a free download after the church was damaged by a huge fire.
The 2014 title got “mixed” reviews in the past but fans seem to be loving it and have been leaving “very positive” reports.
The French developer donated £500,000 to help with restoration efforts.
Hundreds of positive reviews have been left over the past four days – to put that in context normally the game receives around 10 reviews a day.
One user said that it was “one of the most beautiful games ever” and another said it was great that they had an “opportunity to appreciate what Notre Dame used to be”.
Fans have also taken to social media to share their experience of the old game.
The game features Notre Dame as a centre piece to the city and fans have been enjoying seeing the famous site as it was before the fire.
Some people had been speculating that the game may be used to rebuild the building.
But the developers have rejected this idea.
The game’s not suddenly become a classic, and many reviewers will stick by what they wrote when it was released.
However, there has been a generally positive reception to the move.
We suggest you watch the films in chronological order, rather than the order in which the films were released.
Handily, in the book Marvel Studios: The First 10 Years, Marvel released an official MCU timeline to help you do just that.
We’ve added the films released since that book came out and voila, here is a handy diagram to help you organise your Marvel viewing!
Just one geeky note on the diagram. Technically the main events of Ant-Man and the Wasp happen before Infinity War, but we suggest you watch it afterwards to fully appreciate the post-credits scenes, which takes place later.
Why did Marvel start with these characters?
In 2007, Marvel was recovering from bankruptcy and had sold off the film rights to some of the company’s most popular characters like the X-Men and Spider-Man.
Marvel still owned the superheroes who form the core Avengers team – Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor and Captain America – so used the early MCU films to introduce these heroes.
Marvel then brought these characters together for the crossover film Avengers Assemble. You can see a list of all the current members of The Avengers here.
The crossover was planned from the very beginning.
The first MCU film released, Iron Man, included a post-credits scene in which Samuel L Jackson’s super spy Nick Fury gives the first mention of the Avengers.
I don’t have time to watch all the films! What can I skip?
Endgame is the finale of a series of 22 films.
But, don’t worry, you don’t need to watch every single one to be fully prepared.
Here are the 10 films you could skip and still understand the basics of Endgame.
The Incredible Hulk – you’ll learn all you need to know about the key characters here in Avengers Assemble
Thor – ditto
Thor: The Dark World – you don’t need to see this to get the gist of Avengers: Age of Ultron
Iron Man 2 – Scarlett Johansson fans may not want to skip this one, as it marks her entry into the MCU
Iron Man 3 – Robert Downey Jr is always watchable, but skipping this won’t leave you confused
Ant-Man – Scott Lang and his superpowers get introduced all over again in Captain America: Civil War
Doctor Strange – all you really need to know is this film introduces the Time Stone.
Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2 – there’s some nice character development here, but it won’t give you new information on the final battle
Black Panther – we hesitate to suggest you skip this Oscar-winning film, as it’s one of the MCU’s best, but other than introducing Wakanda as a location, you’ll get most of the relevant information about the characters introduced here in Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War
Captain Marvel – again, watch this if you can but if you’re pushed for time, all you really need to know is that Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) got her powers from the Space Stone (aka the Tesseract) and she’s going to be important to the final battle in Endgame. Also, the man who put together the Avengers – Nick Fury – lost his eye to an alien disguised as a cat.
What’s so important about Avengers: Endgame?
Marvel’s plans for its films are structured in phases, which each one ending with an Avengers crossover movie.
Avengers Assemble spelt the end of Phase One, and Age of Ultron brought Phase Two to a close.
The new title for the first three phases of the MCU references their overarching story, which sees the gathering of the Infinity Stones (six powerful gems that grant their owner great power) and the war against the mad Titan Thanos (Josh Brolin). You can read a complete guide to the Infinity Stones here.
Endgame will see the remaining Avengers try and rescue everyone, after villain Thanos (Josh Brolin) got hold of all the Infinity Stones and wiped out half of all living things with a snap of his fingers in last year’s Avengers: Infinity War.
You can see a complete list of everyone who died here.
All bets are off as to who makes it to the finish line in Endgame, as it also coincides with the end of the contracts of some of the biggest Marvel stars.
It’s been widely reported that Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Robert Downey Jr (Tony Stark/Iron Man) have come to the end of their contracts.
There’s also been speculation that their Marvel co-stars Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romonova/Black Widow), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton/Hawkeye) and Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/Hulk) have also reached the end of their tenure at the studio.
Though a solo Black Widow film is reported to be in the works, it could be a prequel, so is no guarantee Johansson’s character survives.
One thing is for sure though – whatever happens, it will take time for Endgame’s story to unfold.
It’s the longest entry in the MCU so far, clocking in at three hours and two minutes. That’s the same length as the first instalment in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, An Unexpected Journey (2012).
What’s the future of the MCU?
We can expect a major shake-up of the MCU, in the wake of Endgame.
Phase Four begins with the release of Spider-Man: Far from Home on July 5 2019.
Tom Holland’s Spidey was one of many heroes wiped out in Thanos’s Snap in Infinity War, but given his starring role in this film, we can expect he’ll be alive and well before the Endgame credits roll.
New films involving other supposedly dead characters have also been confirmed for Phase Four.
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has confirmed Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange will return for a sequel at “some point in the future”.
Chadwick Boseman is also likely to recover from his disintegration in time for Black Panther 2.
We also know a third Guardians of the Galaxy film has been confirmed, after Disney re-hired director James Gunn, but we don’t know which Guardians will return for it. At the end of Infinity War, Bradley Cooper’s Rocket and Karen Gillan’s Nebula were the only survivors from that franchise.
You might be confused about why some Marvel characters appear in films that don’t connect to the MCU.
The reason for this is actually simple.
Long before Marvel Studios existed, Marvel Entertainment had sold the rights to some of its characters to other filmmakers.
Spider-Man was sold to Sony. The studio made a Spider-Man trilogy starring Tobey Maguire, and soon afterwards rebooted the franchise less successfully with Andrew Garfield as the webslinger.
However, Sony and Marvel have now agreed a partnership that allows Tom Holland’s Spider-Man to appear in MCU films, while Sony retains the rights to the character.
Sony also owned the rights to Ghost Rider, and made two films about him starring Nicolas Cage, until the rights reverted back to Marvel in 2013.
Fox also made the Deadpool movies, starring Ryan Reynolds, which sit firmly outside the MCU.
It’s not clear what the future holds for this franchise, as the foul-mouthed, pansexual superhero is certainly not the most family friendly character.
However, the Deadpool films were a commercial success and star Ryan Reynolds has hinted on social media that he’d like there to be a future for the character with Disney.
Fox also owned the rights to Daredevil, in 2003 producing a film starring Ben Affleck, and the 2005 spin-off film Elektra, before the rights reverted back to Marvel.
Universal’s Hulk films and New Line Cinema’s Blade Films were also the result of deals struck before the rights to those characters reverted back to Marvel, and don’t belong within the MCU.
I’ve seen all the MCU films. What else can I watch?
Don’t worry. There are plenty of TV shows set in the MCU to keep you going.
Agent Carter – follow the adventures of Hayley Atwell’s Agent Peggy Carter as she reprises her role from the MCU films in this series, which ran from 2015-16.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – the show that proves Avengers Assemble wasn’t the end for Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg).
Inhumans – this show ran on the US network ABC for one series. It centred around the Inhumans – an alien race with superpowers that gets in contact with Earth.
Runaways – this show, based on the comics of the same name, is on streaming service Hulu. It follows six teenagers who discover their parents are villains.
Cloak and Dagger – this series about a romance between two super-powered teenagers is on the ABC-owned Freeform network. It’s based on characters who first appeared in the Spectacular Spider-Man Comics.
The Netflix Marvel TV shows – Marvel’s deal with Netflix has now come to an end but you can still enjoy the edgy adventures of Daredevil, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and The Punisher on the streaming service. Ensemble show The Defenders is a real highlight. Though ostensibly set in the MCU, these shows have a darker tone and don’t actually connect with any of the films.
All is set for the maiden edition of gospel musician, Adenuga Oluwakemi’s music concert titled ‘Kara Africa’, scheduled to hold tomorrow, Easter Monday, at Kudos Event Centre, Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja.
According to Adenuga, the worship concert, where she would also be releasing two new singles, would be a relaxing and unforgettable experience
“Kara is a Hebrew word; it means bowing down in worship. The concert would take place on April, 22 2019, Easter Monday. Organizing a concert is not easy, that is if you really need to do one. It is about me bringing people to create an atmosphere where they can worship God the way they want.
It’s not going to be so churchy, people would feel more relaxed just like when they go for comedy shows but they will worship God at the same time. I would also be releasing two singles that day, ‘Rejoice’ and ‘Ku Ise’ (Well done),” she said.
Speaking about the challenges she has had to grapple with in the Nigerian music industry, she shared her displeasure with industry stakeholders who address musicians who are yet to make a name in the music industry as ‘Up and coming’.
“The number one challenge I face in the industry and I will like to correct is that most people call us up and coming artistes because we don’t have the name yet, and that notion is wrong because you have no idea where the person in question is coming from, or the lives he/she has impacted. Some of these people they refer to as up and coming can do far better than the ones that already have the names,” she said.
She added that even churches are partial in their dealings with fast rising gospel artistes because they are yet to make the name.
Rising female singer, Ugochi Onuoha popularly known as Guchi has expressed her concern that most Nigerian artistes are yet to find their sounds, despite the fact that their songs are gaining traction on radio and social media.
The new kid on the block dropped this bombshell at the weekend, while in a chat with the press. She has just dropped her mother-inspired debut single, “No Be Jazzy”, which hopefully will launch her into the mainstream Nigerian music scene. While admitting that she’s yet to find her sound, Guchi said most emerging artistes churn out songs without content. She noted that her originality and stagecraft will give her an edge over other emerging music stars.
“Many artistes churn out songs without content, as long as we can dance to their sounds. When your song has content, it tends to last longer than necessary. I am not ashamed to say I have not found my sound. So many artistes in Nigeria have not found their sounds,” said the 22 year-old singer.
According to Guchi, singers like Ninola only found her sound about two years ago.
Speaking further, she said that many artistes are still struggling to find their sounds. “It’s not usually very easy for you to find your sound, but I am working towards finding my own sound,” she added.
Guchi said she started singing at the age of seven, in her church choir. “I have passion for music right from childhood. I started out in my church choir. So, from the very beginning, I have always had passion for music. While growing up, my dad was always playing Michael Jackson. He loved music, and he inspired my interest in music,” the singer muttered. Her debut single, “ No Be Jazzy” which dropped during the week, preaches the virtues of love and patience.
Congratulations are in order for bold, big and beautiful actress cum model, Monalisa Stephen, who recently bagged a mouthwatering endorsement deal with Naija Face Model.
Expressing her excitement, the script interpreter said “I feel so happy and proud because Naija Face Model is a brand that caters for everyone in all sizes and shapes. For them to reach out to me to become one of their brand ambassadors, I see this as a big blessing.
Unlike the other modelling brands who only endorse slim models, I’m happy that there is a rebirth finally in the modelling industry for bold, plus-sized like me.’’
The endorsement which came with a plot of land , official car and lots of juicy benefits, leaves Monalisa overwhelmed on what might have attracted the brand owners to her.
“Well, I don’t know what the brand saw in me, but i think its about who I am and what I preach and represent, as well as being myself and being a body positivity advocate.
A golden fish they say has no hiding place.For former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio, this is indeed true in every sense.
Akpabio
Undoubtedly, he is perhaps the most garlanded Governor in the nation’s recent history for the uncommon transformation he brought to Akwa Ibon State. Years after leaving as helmsman of the ‘’Land of Promise” Akpabio’s light continues to glow as his footprints remain invisible and rightly so
Unlike some former governors whose road projects are today craters, it is on record that not a single road project constructed by Akpabio has a single pothole, ten years after. The story is the same across education, health, power, agriculture, infrastructure, environment and more.
It was therefore another reward for excellence as the Senator was honored with the ‘’Reaching for the Stars” award by 25 Rights Groups in Abuja recently.
The groups which included the Campaign for Democracy (CD), Centre for Rule of Law, Crime Victims Foundation among others were full of praises for the exploits of the former governor.
Mrs. Grace Ogbuji and Comrade Olasupo Ojo of the Crime Victims Foundation and Centre for Rule of Law, respectively, said they were touched by Akpabio’s successes as he has his hands on everything that makes Akwa ibon what it is today
According to them, even representing UNILAG, Don and Professor of Constitutional Law, Prof. Akin Oyebode who was in the state with them for a three-day training for police officers in the state, was full of praises for the ex-governor.
