The question of what happens after we die has plagued humanity since the first apes started hitting each other over the head with pointy rocks. It's been tackled endlessly in literature, film, and television, and it's starting to get stale. But Pixar's latest, the Mexican Day of the Dead-inspired Coco, threatens to liven things up.
Coco stars new actor Anthony Gonzalez as Miguel Rivera, a young boy who wants to follow in the footsteps of his musical idol, the great Ernesto De La Cruz (Benjamin Bratt). But Miguel's family, devoted shoemakers, hates music, and he has to play guitar in secret. The movie is set during the Mexican Dia de los Muertos festival--the Day of the Dead--and Pixar went to great lengths to make sure it's respectful of Mexican culture.
But they hit a wall when it came time to send Miguel to the world of the dead partway through the film. There's a problem with the Mexican version of the afterlife: There isn't one, the filmmakers discovered.
"In all of our research and all of the people that we spent time with and families we spent time with down in Mexico, we would often ask them what their vision was of an afterlife, and pretty consistently, people would just say 'I don't know,'" Coco co-director Lee Unkrich, whose previous directing credits include Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, and Toy Story 2 and 3, told press during a visit to Pixar headquarters in Emeryville, Calif. "There wasn't like, some set vision of an afterlife tied to Dia de los Muertos. So we found that we were pretty much left on our our own to figure that out."
We don't want to reveal too much, but Coco's afterlife draws from a number of inspirations, from Pedro Linares's iconic, colorful alebrijes to the traditions of the holiday itself, where a path of marigold petals leads loved ones back to the land of the living for a single night.
"We definitely looked at everything. We looked at every movie we could think of that had some depiction of an afterlife or heaven. And in most cases it kind of showed me what I didn't want to do," Unkrich said. "We tried to forge our own path and do something kind of unique and different than what anyone had ever done. We tried to keep it grounded in a reality, rather than going for just a completely crazy, anything goes kind of environment. We tried to have a logic to our land of the dead."
In Coco's spirit world, you can't get back across the marigold bridge unless your descendants remembered to include your portrait on the ofrenda--each family's Dia de los Muerto altar. Once there, Miguel is greeted by previous generations of his family, who have their own problems to deal with--chief among them reaching the Riveras' ofrenda.
"If you think of the Day of the Dead from the point of view of the dead, this is the one day of the year where they go back and see their family and check in with how they've grown and how the family has expanded," said Coco's other co-director, Adrian Molina. "It really lent itself to creating excitement and an energy that you would feel throughout this land for the whole night."
In Coco's land of the dead, life basically goes on, and whatever job you had in real life is what you keep on doing when you die--although you're now a skeleton and can only enjoy food again on one night of the year: the Day of the Dead.
"That might be great for some people," Unkrich said. "It might suck for some people to keep doing what they do. But we just wanted to have some ground rules so that there was some structure to the society--and especially because we wanted the Riveras to still be making shoes, even in the afterlife, so that Miguel really didn't have anything to look forward to."
That may sound grim, but it's also what pushes Miguel to keep seeking Ernesto De La Cruz--even into the afterlife.
Bungie has found itself under fire in recent days after the discovery of a previously undisclosed XP scaling system in Destiny 2, which constrained XP gain in some situations. The studio has since acknowledged its existence and at least temporarily disabled it, but this has coincided with an increase to the amount of XP needed to level up, further frustrating some players.
It all began last week when a post on the Destiny subreddit revealed that players were not necessarily earning XP as quickly as the game would lead them to believe. Put simply, the game reduces your progress toward leveling up when earning XP rapidly, such as by taking part in Public Events. This is particularly notable because, once you reach level 20, you begin earning Bright Engrams each time you fill your XP bar. Bright Engrams are something that can be purchased with real-world money, naturally sparking speculation that this scaling system is meant to prevent players from earning Bright Engrams for free too quickly. You can read the full findings by Reddit user EnergiserX here.
Bungie addressed the concerns during the Thanksgiving holiday with a post on its website. "We've seen community discussion around XP gain in Destiny. After reviewing our data, we agree that the system is not performing the way we'd like it to," it stated.
"Currently, XP will scale up when playing longer or fixed duration activities like Crucible competitive multiplayer matches and the Leviathan Raid, and XP will scale down when playing activities that can be quickly, repeatedly chained, like grinding Public Events," it explained. "We are not happy with the results, and we've heard the same from the community. Effective immediately, we are deactivating this system.
"As a result, players will see XP earn rates change for all activities across the board, but with all values being displayed consistently in the user interface. Over the course of the next week, we will be watching and reviewing XP game data to ensure that these changes meet our expectations, as well as yours. Any additional updates to this system will be communicated to you via our official channels."
While a positive change, even this move has been met with some controversy. Players are now earning more XP overall, but the amount needed to level up had been quietly doubled, going from 80,000 to 160,000. Bungie subsequently confirmed this was the case and said it's working on an update so that the in-game UI correctly lists this new amount, but that has not yet been released.
We'll be hearing a lot more about changes to Destiny 2 this week, with Bungie set to share details about the Destiny 2 December update's economy and investment changes, which include things like new rewards systems and adjustments to how vendor gear is obtained. Game director Luke Smith and project lead Mark Noseworthy will also "be answering some questions and addressing community feedback we've been reading since launch." Given the recent frustrations with XP, we may be hearing more about the subject soon.
Paul Levesque, better known by his on-screen character name, Triple H, is the Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events, and Creative for WWE. He's overseeing a global expansion of the company, recruiting Superstars from all over the world to fight in a WWE ring. He's repaired relationships with estranged legends such as Bruno Sammartino, the Ultimate Warrior, and Kurt Angle, bringing them "back home" for retrospectives and Hall of Fame ceremonies.
At the same time that he's bolstering WWE's historical legacy, he's also ensuring the company's future. Levesque is the creator and de facto head of NXT, the official WWE developmental brand, which trains future Superstars for main roster spots. His proteges and mentees include Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Bayley, and Sasha Banks--all world champions--among many more. In another five years, there will be more NXT performers on WWE's main roster than non-NXT performers.
But as Levesque becomes more of a corporate executive and less of an active wrestler, he also needs to renegotiate a precarious balancing act between himself and his in-ring character, Triple H. How often should he appear in the ring? And when he appears in the ring, what should his role be? Based on the last three years, Levesque struggles to distinguish these roles from one another, and WWE storylines suffer from these growing pains.
The problem starts with consistency; the Triple H character has no narrative continuity from one show to the next. On NXT, he's a gruff father figure--rough around the edges, but a proud mentor and confidante to the rookies. He's making belt presentations and taking photos with Superstars backstage. One might assume this is the closest approximation of Paul Levesque's true self.
But then on Monday Night Raw, Levesque is Triple H: an evil, sledgehammer-wielding, career-sabotaging psychopath. Along with Stephanie McMahon, Triple H is the villainous "Authority" of WWE. He's insecure and narcissistic. He uses his backstage clout to make the wrestlers' lives hell. And this keeps with tradition; for two decades, WWE has scripted its authority figures as heels, who actively sabotage and ruin the careers of its talents.
Traditionally, a wrestling promotion would want to be perceived as good or at least neutral, which focuses the audience's attention on the active wrestlers' interpersonal conflicts. Instead, by presenting itself as a heel promotion, WWE has cultivated a strange, antagonistic relationship with its audience. It's difficult to distinguish "real" decisions from "storyline" decisions. Why didn't Wrestler X get a push? Is it because Paul Levesque hates him or her? Or is it because his character Triple H hates them? And at the end of the day, isn't the end result the same?
Fans must reconcile a cognitive dissonance with Triple H--between the actual man who takes pride in promoting new talent, and the character he plays, who keeps his boot on the necks of the exact same talent. Two weeks ago, for example, Triple H gut-kicked and Pedigreed Jason Jordan--one of his NXT proteges--and put himself in the Survivor Series main event as Jordan's replacement. It elevated Triple H's notoriety. But a man of Triple H's reputation and stature does not need this sort of push. And it lowered a promising, younger, full-time talent in the process.
Triple H--and all of the McMahons for that matter--should stop presenting themselves as on-camera heels, at least for a little while. This was stirring television in the years after the Montreal Screwjob, when "Stone Cold" Steve Austin feuded with Vince McMahon on a weekly basis. It gained a brief resurgence when Daniel Bryan battled The Authority, and ultimately won the WWE Undisputed Championship at WrestleMania XXX.
But now, the "underdog fights the establishment" meta-narrative is getting stale. It distracts fans, who spend more time thinking about the backstage machinations than what's happening in front of them. Cesaro said it best in an awkward shoot promo last year: the full-time wrestlers, not the authority figures, should be front and centre.
And if WWE continues booking Triple H as an Authority heel? The company needs to commit to that decision, wholeheartedly. Triple H cannot come and go for months at a time. WWE made a crucial mistake last year, when Triple H involved himself in the Fatal 4-Way for the Universal title. He Pedigreed Seth Rollins and literally handed the championship belt to Kevin Owens.
The potential storylines that could have followed from this were numerous. Was this interference planned? Was Kevin Owens in on it? Could Triple H stage an NXT takeover of Raw? Was Triple H rebelling against the rest of the McMahon family? Would Owens live up to his "prodigal son" role better than Rollins did?
Instead, after this single interference, Triple H disappeared from Raw for months, and Kevin Owens was forced into a quasi-comedic buddy angle with Chris Jericho. Perhaps Triple H figured that if he was by ringside every week, he would be a glaring distraction. But that would still be better than the alternative. Triple H never explained his actions fully, and since the fans didn't know his motivations, the entire storyline lost traction and importance. Owens' reign as Universal champion should have cemented him as a main event attraction. Instead, it was a fairly low-key affair where he played straight man to Jericho's comedic schtick. Owens needed Triple H's ethos and explicit backing to raise the narrative stakes.
Triple H's recent pattern of showing up but not sticking around persists today. At Survivor Series this month, Braun Strowman delivered multiple power slams to Triple H to close the pay-per-view. The following day on Raw, there was no suspension for Strowman. No storyline punishment or significant reprisal of any sort. There was just a single, awkward staredown in the ring, with Triple H backing off from any actual confrontation. And then he didn't appear in the ring for the remainder of the show.
If Triple H doesn't appear on Raw and sabotage Strowman in some way tonight, it will be yet another missed opportunity to elevate a young Superstar to the next level. The recurring lack of narrative follow-through taxes the audience's suspension of disbelief.
This is not to say that Triple H should overshadow the young talent; his time as a full-time worker has come and gone, and he has more important backstage responsibilities. But he also can't show up, shake things up, and then leave plot threads unresolved for weeks or even months at a time. There is a sweet spot--a middle ground--between the two extremes. And Triple H needs to find it.
With Avengers: Infinity War set for release next summer, and the currently untitled Avengers 4 now in production, Marvel fans have a lot to look forward to over the next couple of years. Although we're yet to see a first trailer for Infinity War, Vanity Fair has given us a look at some character images from the movie.
They come via four different covers, with all the main heroes featured, from Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Captain America (Chris Evans) to Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olson), as well as Starlord (Chris Pratt), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Ant-Man (Paul Rudd). Check the covers out in the gallery below:
In addition, Infinity War directors Joe and Anthony Russo have also hinted that we might see the first trailer very soon.They took to Instagram to post a single image of a happy cartoon number 3. Of course, whether this means a trailer in three days, on December 3, or something else entirely, remains to be seen.
Vanity Fair also includes an interview with Marvel boss Kevin Feige, who spoke about what fans can expect from the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Avengers 4. It is expected that many of the franchise's veteran stars, including Evans, Downey Jr., and Thor star Chris Hemsworth, may not return for further movies. However, Feige is confident about the MCU's future.
"There will be two distinct periods. Everything before Avengers 4 and everything after. I know it will not be in ways people are expecting," he said. "We're 22 movies in, and we've got another 20 movies on the docket that are completely different from anything that's come before--intentionally."
Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters on May 4, 2018, with Avengers 4 following on May 3, 2019.
Black Friday is behind us and Cyber Monday is here. Amazon has continued to offer lightning deals on a variety of games and accessories, but more noteworthy are those that fall outside of that section (possibly as a result of price matching other retailers). For instance, you can get a PS4 Pro for $350 (slightly more than the $340 PS4 Pro available at Target) or a PS4 controller for $34. You can see all of the lightning deals here or check out all the game deals here. The original Black Friday story follows.
Amazon currently has Black Friday deals for Just Dance 2018 at $30 and the PlayStation 4-exclusive Hidden Agenda for $15. There are also a number of gaming headsets on sale, including the Anksono SL-100 for $17, the Beexcellent Gaming Headset for $14, the Onikuma Gaming Headset for $21, the Sades Over-Ear Gaming Headset for $19, the SA810 for $21, the Luxon 7.1 Headphone for $21, and the Supsoo G811 Gaming Headset for $20. Rounding off this current list are a number of gaming accessories including a Tomoko Mechanical Keyboard for $38, a Redragon keyboard and mouse combo for $39, and a 4-in-1 PlayStation 4 Slim charging stand and cooling unit combo by Younik for $13.
There are a ton of deals set to be available this Black Friday at other retailers, a number of which are already alive. You can also see our full coverage of all the other Black Friday 2017 deals going on now via the links below.
As with the Xbox Store, Sony has a Black Friday / Cyber Monday digital game sale going on right now that's about to end. There's only one day left, so if you're interested in taking advantage, now is the time to head to the PlayStation Store. The sale was initially only available to PlayStation Plus members, but it has expanded to everyone and features even more games on discount. If you're a PS4 owner, in particular, there are some notable deals here. We've updated the list below with some of the most notable games added last week; Be sure to also check out the UK's own PlayStation Store Black Friday sale on PS4 games, which also ends soon. The original story follows.
This PSN Black Friday Early Access sale focuses exclusively on a selection of games for PS4--this isn't as extensive as the hundreds of games in the Xbox Store Black Friday sale. As with that one, many of these prices are not as cheap as what you'll find at physical retailers--you can find a full rundown on all the PS4 Black Friday game deals in our roundup. But if you prefer the convenience of digital, you will be able to save up to 40% off these games' usual prices.
Below, you'll find a list of many of the PlayStation Store deals that are currently available, or you can see them on the PlayStation Store website. We've updated this list with more deals after the full sale went live, which features a much more extensive array of titles, including some for PS3 and Vita. If you want to see everything on sale in terms of hardware, physical games, and accessories, check out our PS4 Black Friday 2017 deals roundup. All of our Black Friday coverage can also be seen through the links below.
Black Friday 2017 is now past, but Cyber Monday is here and there's still one day left in Microsoft's Xbox Live sale on the Xbox Store. There are a huge number of games discounted as part of it, and following an Xbox Live Gold-only period prior to Black Friday, everyone now has access to the sale. Provided you're interested in digital games, you'll probably be able to find something you're interested in. The original lineup of Xbox Store deals were joined after the fact by some additional offers through the usual Deals With Gold. Those include a notable omission from the games below--Middle-earth: Shadow of War is $36, but only for Xbox Live Gold members. The original story follows.
As you'd expect, the bulk of the offers are available on Xbox One, where you'll find hundreds of games discounted. There's also a ton of DLC on sale, but for our comprehensive list, we've focused on games, special editions, bundles, and season passes, rather than individual DLC packs. In many cases, these prices aren't the best ones available this Black Friday; physical copies are often cheaper, as you can see in our roundup of all the Xbox One Black Friday 2017 game deals. But if you're looking for the convenience of digital games, the premium may be worth it.
Below, you'll find our comprehensive list of all the Xbox One games, bundles, and season passes on sale. We've also included a limited selection of Xbox 360 games that support backwards compatibility on Xbox One. The full list is available on the Xbox website. For deals on hardware and accessories, as well as physical games, check out our full Xbox One Black Friday 2017 deals roundup. You can also see all of our Black Friday coverage through the links below.
Black Friday is over, but Cyber Monday is here. Similar to Target's Cyber Monday deal, Toys R Us is offering 15% off on your entire online order, even including sale and clearance items. There are some exceptions--notably when it comes to games, hardware and pre-orders are not included--but it does let you otherwise get a discount on anything you want. You can check this out at Toys R Us's website, and also take a look at Best Buy, Walmart, and GameStop's Cyber Monday deals. The original Black Friday story follows.
It took a bit longer than some other retailers, but Toys R Us has finally given us a look at its Black Friday 2017 deals. The retailer's ad has been released, and while its focus is on toys, as you'd expect, there are also quite a few deals to be had across PS4 and Xbox One, as well as some for Nintendo Switch and 3DS.
In terms of hardware, we're seeing similar offers to elsewhere. The Switch console itself is not listed, nor is Xbox One X or PS4 Pro. However, the older models of those two consoles are on sale. You can pick up a 1 TB PS4 for $200, or a 500 GB Xbox One S for $190. In both cases, you won't get any bundled games. The LucidSound LS20 wired headset, which works with both consoles, will be on sale for 50% off, dropping its price to $40. Select controllers for Microsoft and Sony boxes are $20 off, bringing the cheapest options to $40.
A number of games are on sale as well, although frustratingly, the ad only lists the amount you'll save--not the actual price. In our comprehensive list of deals below, we've calculated the sale price using the currently listed MSRP on the Toys R Us website. In some cases, this results in prices that are markedly higher than what the competition is offering, while other prices are roughly in line with what you'll find at places like Best Buy and Walmart. In other words, some of the actual prices may end up being lower than what we've listed, but you can at least get a sense of what the possible costs will be. None are likely to end up higher than what we've laid out.
You can find the full list of games, consoles, and accessories in Toys R Us's flyer below or on its website. The ad doesn't make it clear if it will have more games on sale than those included. Also of note is the special green Zelda 2DS, which is launching on Black Friday at select retailers, is not shown, so you may need to head elsewhere if you're interested. For a complete rundown on Black Friday deals, hit the links below to check out our other sale roundups.
Cyber Monday is now upon us, and that's brought a continuation of this $40 deal for a year of PlayStation Plus. You can grab a code or card for that price at a number of retailers, and it's not too late to redeem it and claim November's free PS Plus games. This deal is available at Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop. There are also other offers available for Cyber Monday at Best Buy, GameStop, and Target. The original story follows.
Although there were few deals on PlayStation Plus memberships included in the early Black Friday ads that were released, this has turned out to be a good week to subscribe or extend your membership. Those interested in a year of PS Plus can currently pick it up at a nice discount--and you don't even have to wait for Black Friday to actually begin.
A number of the Black Friday offers for PlayStation 4 games, consoles, and accessories have gone live early. In addition to being able to pick up a PS4 for $200 right now, you can purchase a 12-month PS Plus membership for $40 (or £37.50 in the UK). That's $20 less than the usual price, and as cheap as you can ever expect to see it go at most retailers. This price is available right now at Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop. All three stores treat this as a "download," meaning you won't have to pick anything up or wait for a physical card to be mailed to you; a redemption code will simply be emailed to you.
That's good news, too, because being a PS Plus member right now gets you early access to a PSN Black Friday sale. This discounts a variety of recent, big-name games, including Assassin's Creed Origins ($42), Destiny 2 ($39), and WWE 2K18 ($36). The sale expands to non-Plus members on Tuesday, November 21, at which point the number of games included will also increase. We don't yet know what else will be on sale or if Plus members will receive steeper discounts, as is sometimes the case on the PlayStation Store.
For a full rundown on all the upcoming offers, check out our roundup of all the PS4 Black Friday 2017 deals. We also have extensive coverage of other platforms and retailers, all of which you can see through the links below.
Cyber Monday is here to help you forget about Black Friday, but a number of deals from last week's event (outlined below) have carried over at Best Buy. You can still get an Xbox One S for $190 or PS4 controllers for $40, for instance. There are some new deals to be had as well, but more notable is the return of Gamers Club Unlocked. After being unavailable on Black Friday deals, its 20% discount on new games is again in effect, letting you further drop the prices of certain games. You can see everything on sale here, or check out Target's 15% off discount or GameStop's Cyber Monday offerings. The original story follows.
We're days away from Black Friday 2017, and numerous stores have revealed the deals they'll have on offer this year. That includes Best Buy, which actually has an early, pre-Black Friday sale going on right now (more details below). But it's Thanksgiving evening and the day after where the full selection of deals will be available, and we've rounded up everything you can expect to see discounted across PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC, and 3DS--and even a single, solitary deal for those looking for something new to play on Wii U and Wii.
In a trend we're seeing at a number of retailers, there isn't a wide array of hardware deals. Switch will be in stock but at its regular price of $300. Neither the PS4 Pro nor Xbox One X will be on sale, with the sale prices instead coming on the older hardware. A 1 TB PS4 can be had for $200, but that doesn't include any free games. On the Microsoft side, you can get the Madden 18 Xbox One S 500 GB bundle for $230, and as a bonus, you'll receive a free Xbox One controller. A free controller is also available with another bundle, which swaps in Forza Horizon 3 in place of Madden.
Controllers and accessories will also be discounted. The PlayStation VR Gran Turismo Sport bundle drops to $300. All PS4 DualShock 4 controllers will be $40, including the Red Crystal color version that is only available at Best Buy. Xbox One controllers will also be available for $40, although some will cost more--presumably the special edition colors and designs. Those looking for a headset will have several options, including the Turtle Beach XO Three wired headset (which works with Xbox One, PS4, and PC) and Turtle Beach Recon 150 (which also works with those devices) for $40 each. Astro headsets will be up to 25% off, while a handful of Switch accessories (including a Joy-Con charging station) will be $20 each.
Ahead of Black Friday, you can take advantage of many of these deals (and those on non-gaming items) early. If you're a My Best Buy Elite or Elite Plus member, you have access to Black Friday Doorbuster deals right now by going here. Below, you'll find a comprehensive list of everything we could find on sale at Best Buy this Black Friday. Some specific pricing was not shared and the exact time your local store opens will vary. You can check out the full details on Best Buy's website. For more, check out our roundup of the details at other retailers:
Black Friday is now in the rear-view mirror, but Cyber Monday is here to keep the sales going. Target has introduced a new deal with a storewide 15% off coupon, for instance. GameStop, meanwhile, has carried over many of its Black Friday deals, such as $40 for a year of PS Plus, NBA 2K18 for $27, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus for $25, and $38 PS4 controllers; you can consult our full Black Friday post below for a look at all of those. In terms of new deals, GameStop has brought some new online-only offers, and shipping is free for orders over $35. You can see all the Cyber Monday deals here. The original Black Friday story follows.
With Black Friday 2017 days away, GameStop has finally joined the ranks of retailers releasing their ads early. An early leak gave us a look at the many games, consoles, and accessories that will be on sale. And although GameStop sales often are not especially great, this year's Black Friday offerings are, in many cases, the best that have been announced so far. A number of these deals are already even live (more on that below).
In terms of consoles, GameStop is the lone retailer we've seen with a PS4 Pro 1 TB deal--you'll be able to pick up the 4K-capable console for $350. Similar to other stores, it will have the standard PS4 1 TB on sale for $200, but it's also throwing in a $50 gift card. On the Xbox One side, you can get the 500 GB Xbox One S for $190, just like at many other stores. GameStop will also take $50 off all Xbox One S 1 TB systems; for instance, that brings the Middle-earth: Shadow of War bundle down to $300. Nintendo Switchis shown in the flyer and will presumably be in stock on Black Friday, but it'll available for the standard $300 price. GameStop will be among the retailers to sell the special green Zelda-themed 2DS bundle. Provided you're okay with a mail-in rebate, you'll be able to effectively get a used Xbox 360 for free. Additionally, the Steam Link will be a mere $5.
A variety of accessories are also set to be discounted, including the PlayStation VR Gran Turismo Sport bundle for $300; a standalone PSVR headset will go for $200. PS4 DualShock 4 controllers will sell for $38, and the PS4 Gold wireless headset will be $65. The GameStop-exclusive red Xbox One controller will be among those on sale for that system; it'll cost $55. Three- and six-month Xbox Live Gold memberships will be $10 off. Several Razer PC accessories, including the BlackWidow Chroma V2 keyboard ($130) and DeathAdder Elite mouse ($50) will be discounted alongside various Switch accessories.
Certain deals have gone live early, specifically related to Sony. Sony Black Friday Week runs from now until November 27 and provides early access to select deals. PlayStation Plus is $40 (matching a PS Plus Black Friday deal going on now at several retailers), a PS4 is $200, and the GT Sport PSVR bundle is $300. You'll also find a variety of PS4 games on sale, including Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and Everybody's Golf for $20 each. You can see these offers here.
Below, you'll find our comprehensive list everything GameStop will have on sale; we'll update this post as necessary with any changes when GameStop officially releases its ad, or if anything changes with the delayed PowerPass program. For much more, including console-specific roundups, check out all of our Black Friday coverage through these links:
Black Friday has come and gone, but that doesn't mean the deals are ending. Cyber Monday is here, and one of the biggest retailers--Walmart--has announced its lineup of deals for the big shopping day. Included among them are a handful of video game and TV deals, some of which we're broken out below.
You can get the 1 TB PlayStation 4 Pro console in black for only $350 instead of its usual $400. The console is rarely discounted, so this is a notable offer (albeit one topped by Target, thanks to its 15% off storewide deal). If you want the standard slim PS4, Walmart is offering the 1 TB system for just $200. On the Xbox side, Walmart will have the Xbox One S for $190; that's the same price that it offered on Black Friday.
In terms of TV deals, Walmart is offering the Samsung 58" 4K Smart LED TV for $600, which is $200 off its normal price point. The RCA 55" Roku Smart LED TV is down to $380; that's $420 off its MSRP.
These deals, and everything else Walmart is offering on Cyber Monday, are now available, so you can get shopping now. You can visit Walmart's website here to see a rundown of some of the store's best Cyber Monday deals across all categories.
If you missed out on Black Friday yesterday, don't worry. For Cyber Monday on November 27, every item on Target's website will be 15% off, and even more deals will run throughout the week. Update: This sale is now live, with one of the more notable deals included in the 15% off promotion being the PS4 Pro, which drops to $340. This blanket discount can apply to almost anything you want, but there are some exceptions. As it pertains to games, you won't be able to get the discount on the Xbox One X, Nintendo Switch, or Switch games, but most everything else is fair game. That includes Switch accessories that don't usually see deals, like the Pro Controller for $60 or Joy-Cons for $68. The original story follows.
Target's Cyber Week will begin on Sunday, November 26. Each day will have different online-only deals, such as $100 off the Gran Turismo Sport PSVR bundle and a $20 gift card with the purchase of BeatsX or Beats EP headphones.
Continuing throughout the week, daily deals will begin on Tuesday, November 28. The best day for gaming will be Friday, December 1 as the whole day will be dedicated to electronics. Target has not yet detailed exactly what will be marked down just yet, but specifics will be shown in its weekly ad releasing on November 26.
For the rest of Target's Cyber Week deals, head on over to its website. For more Cyber Monday discounts, check out GameStop's deals.
Pokemon Go's latest event, the Global Catch Challenge, has ended, and because the game's community managed to catch the top target of 3 billion Pokemon during the period, both Farfetch'd and Kangaskhan are now available in new regions.
Farfetch'd was previously exclusive to Japan, but will now be catchable worldwide. Kangaskhan, meanwhile, could only be found in Australia but can now be caught in east Asia. You'll have to hurry though: the pair are only available in their new areas for a limited time--you'll have until around 4 PM PT / 7 PM ET on Monday, November 27 to catch them (that's 12 AM GMT / 10 AM AEST on November 28 in the UK and Australia). Other active rewards for that time period include 6-hour lures and double XP.
Black Friday had a huge effect on the UK physical game charts this week, with retailer- and publisher-led promotions dramatically changing the makeup of the top 10 for the week ending November 25. Sales monitor Chart-Track says more PlayStation 4 consoles were sold than any Black Friday week since 2013 (which was also the platform's launch week in the UK). Chart-Track also reports that PSVR unit sales were "on par with launch week," and the equivalent of the previous 18 weeks' sales put together.
Call of Duty: WWII maintains its position at the top of the chart for a fourth week in a row, while FIFA 18 climbs one place to No.2. Both games sold significantly better on PS4 than Xbox One thanks to a number of promotional PS4 bundles. Gran Turismo Sport was also featured in multiple bundles, and it grabs the last podium spot at No.3.
You can read the full top 10 sales chart below, courtesy of UKIE and Chart-Track. Note this table does not include digital sales data, and so should not be considered representative of all UK game sales.
While you're giving thanks this weekend remember your old pal Xur, who pops up in Destiny 2 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC every week with brand new Exotic weapons and gear for you to pick up. Destiny 2's equivalent of an Amazon Prime Now deliveryman is hanging out on Io and, unlike the other locations he usually pops up in, this one can be tricky to get to.
While navigating to his general area is fairly simple if you open up the map and put a marker on him, once you're there, you'll need to keep an eye open for a very small, very dark cave entrance. It's up in the far left-hand side as you enter Giant's Scar. If you're having trouble finding it, check out our Xur location guide video above, or keep a close watch on other players and you'll see them going in and out.
But is it worth the trip? Take a look below and you'll find a gallery of every ExoticXur has this week, as well as the information you need on each of the items.
Click image to view in full screen
Merciless (Fusion Rifle) - 29 Legendary Shards
Lucy Pants (Hunter Class Leg Armor) - 23 Legendary Shards
Mask of the Quiet One (Helmet) - 23 Legendary Shards
Starfire Protocol (Warlock Class Chest Armor) - 23 Legendary Shards
Destiny 2's Iron Banner event has returned; it is live right now on all platforms and runs until 1 AM PT / 4 AM ET / 9 AM GMT on November 28. The game mode this time is Clash, which is Destiny 2's version of Team Deathmatch. Notably, this is the first Iron Banner event since Destiny 2 launched for PC at the end of October.
Model Chrissy Teigen has a lot to say about the newly released free-to-play Animal Crossing game for mobile devices. Across a series of tweets, Teigen said Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is probably fine for Animal Crossing "newbies" but it lacks the depth she expected for a "Tom Nook loyalist" like herself.
"Pocket animal crossing might be okay for you AC newbies but for us tom nook loyalists it is merely a hit of the crack that is actual, real, animal crossing," Teigen said. "It lacks the heart. The soul. It's a sandwich with no meat. A car without tires."
Teigen continued by calling out the game's characters, which she called "animal people things" who are not very friendly. "They aren't our friends. They're jerks," she raged. "Who makes certain couch demands before visiting someone's house? Then shows a video montage of them sleeping on it. I hate these people."
What Teigen is referring to here is how Pocket Camp requires you to complete certain tasks before the creatures agree to come over. Teigen said she doesn't like what effect this could have on humankind. "I'm actually getting angrier about this as I type it. What kind of crap is this teaching us? I need a hammock to have friends? Fruit will grow faster if I throw money at it? I'm deleting this," Teigen said of Pocket Camp.
All of this being said, Teigen also noted that she spent $120 on Pocket Camp's microtransactions, which are called Leaf Tickets.
Pocket Camp launched on November 22 for iOS and Android, following its limited release in Australia back in October. Nintendo says Pocket Camp will have have regular content updates, including "seasonal events" along with furniture and outfit items that you can get for a limited time, so keep checking back with GameSpot for more.
Playground Games, the independent UK studio behind the Forza Horizon racing series, is starting a new project that sounds pretty much completely different. Playground has now confirmed that it is working on a AAA open-world action role-playing game.
Some of the other new hires at Playground include Will Kennedy (former designer for GTA V studio Rockstar North) and Juan Fernandez di Simon (senior designer on Ninja Theory's Hellblade). The developer's jobs site lists a number of other open positions for the open-world RPG, including creative director and narrative director.
According to GI.biz, Playground's new office will house more than 200 people who will work exclusively on the new RPG. This will bring the company's total headcount to more than 400, making it one of the bigger development studios in the UK and world.
Playground created the Forza Horizon series, which debuted in 2012 for Xbox 360. The studio also made 2014's Forza Horizon 2 and 2016's Forza Horizon 3. No release date has been set for Playground's new RPG, nor do we know anything about it.
The latest box office numbers for the US and Canada have arrived, showing that Pixar's newest animated film, Coco, won the weekend with $49 million in the Friday-Sunday window. According to Entertainment Weekly, which supplied all the figures, that is the fourth-highest Thanksgiving weekend domestic opening ever. It's only behind Frozen ($93.6 million), Moana ($82.1 million), and Toy Story 2 ($80.1 million).
Coco opened not long after Pixar boss John Lasseter announced that he's taking a six-month leave in the wake of "missteps" that he made at the esteemed animation studio that made employees feel "disrespected or uncomfortable."
DC's big-budget superhero action movie Justice League made $40.7 million to stand in the No. 2 position this weekend. That's down 57 percent from the film's opening-weekend haul. A downturn is always expected; and with international figures accounted for, the movie has made more than $480 million globally after just two weeks.
Rounding out the top five at the US/Canada box office this weekend were Wonder ($22.3 million), Thor: Ragnarok ($16.8 million), and Daddy's Home 2 ($13.3 million). Another notable storyline this weekend was the movie Call Me by Your Name, which made $405,000 from just four theatres in New York and Los Angeles. That works out to a per-theatre average of $101,000 for the Luca Guadagnino-directed film, which is the highest per-theatre average of the year.
James Cameron's Titanic turns 20 years old this year, and it's coming back to theatres to mark the occasion. One part of the film that is continually discussed is why Rose (Kate Winslet) and Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) could not have both fit on the floating door after the ship went down. Instead, Jack says his goodbyes to Rose while freezing to death in the icy water. The TV show Mythbusters showed that Jack could have fit on the door. So why didn't he join Rose? Cameron gave what sounds like the final word on the subject in an interview with Vanity Fair, saying of course Jack could have fit on the floating door. But that was not the point.
"The answer is very simple because it says on page 147 [of the script] that Jack dies," Cameron explained. "Very simple. . . . Obviously it was an artistic choice, the thing was just big enough to hold her, and not big enough to hold him . . . I think it's all kind of silly, really, that we're having this discussion 20 years later. But it does show that the film was effective in making Jack so endearing to the audience that it hurts them to see him die."
The entire film would have been "meaningless" of Jack survived, Cameron said. "The film is about death and separation; he had to die," the director explained. "So whether it was that, or whether a smoke stack fell on him, he was going down. It's called art; things happen for artistic reasons, not for physics reasons."
While Jack in theory could have fit on the makeshift raft, he could have died that way, too, as Cameron explained that the door was only made to support one person. "I was in the water with the piece of wood putting people on it for about two days getting it exactly buoyant enough so that it would support one person with full free-board, meaning that she wasn't immersed at all in the 28-degree water so that she could survive the three hours it took until the rescue ship got there," Cameron said.
"[Jack] didn't know that she was gonna get picked up by a lifeboat an hour later; he was dead anyway. And we very, very finely tuned it to be exactly what you see in the movie because I believed at the time, and still do, that that's what it would have taken for one person to survive."
The full interview at Vanity Fair is a great read, with Cameron also touching on things like the upcoming Avatar sequels and the next Terminator movies, among other things. Go read it here.
At $2.2 billion, Titanic is the second highest-grossing movie in history, only behind Avatar ($2.8 billion), which is another movie that Cameron directed.
Sega is leaning into a Sonic meme for a new piece of Sonic Forces DLC. Now available in the game as a free download is a "Sanic" t-shirt. For those just catching up, "Sanic" is the name of the meme popularised by a purposefully poorly drawn render of Sonic in MS Paint. In its tweet announcing the Sanic DLC, Sega confirmed that yes, indeed, this is a real piece of DLC that you can actually get right now.
"Get ready to go fst," Sega wrote, continuing the joke. You can customise your Sonic Forces character with the shirt, if that sounds like a good idea to you.
Get ready to go fst. The "Sanic T-shirt" is now available for free download in Sonic Forces! (Yes, it's real.) pic.twitter.com/OzIXyVwgCf
In Sonic Forces, you are part of a freedom fighters consisting of Sonic, a younger version of himself, most of the familiar supporting case, and an all-new character that you create and customise. It's this character that you can equip with the Sanic t-shirt.
GameSpot's Sonic Forces review scored the game a 5/10. Reviewer Matt Espineli said the game "fails to advance the mechanics of previously successful 3D Sonic games, or present them in their best light." He added that Sonic Forces is a "mediocre platformer at best." You can read GameSpot's full Sonic Forces review here or check out this review roundup to see what other critics are saying.
Infamous studio Sucker Punch's exciting-looking new game, Ghost of Tsushima, was finally announced during the PlayStation briefing at Paris Games Week last month. This came after basically years of silence from the studio following the release of its last game, Infamous: First Light, all the way back in 2014. Some took Sony's silence on Sucker Punch's activities as a sign that something might be wrong at the studio. But that wasn't the case, PlayStation Worldwide Studios SVP Michael Denny told GameSpot in a recent interview. The executive suggested that Sony intentionally held back from announcing the studio's new game because it didn't want to talk about it too early.
"Yeah, that's a strange one to me," Denny replied when I asked about how some people might have feared the worst about Sucker Punch before Ghost of Tsushima was announced. "I think the right thing to do...and I think we're learning and a lot of publishers are learning ... there is a right time to announce games."
As Xbox executive Shannon Loftis did before, Denny admitted that Sony has in the past announced games too early in their development cycle. Game development is a highly iterative and fluid process, with systems and features changing over time. So the fear, it seems, is that if a game is announced as one thing and becomes another, there could be blowback. But now, for Sucker Punch's new game, the time is finally right to tell the world about it.
"In the past, I think it's fair to say sometimes we announced games too early," Denny said. "And this is such a great project for Sucker Punch. It's a game they've always really wanted to make themselves," he added. "And I think it's the right time to announce that, and they've been working on that game for a long time now. There is great [playable version of the game] already. So we're just excited to let everybody know about it."
Based on the announcement trailer for Ghost of Tsushima (which you can see above), we know it's an open-world game that appears to take place during the Mongol invasions of Japan. It looks like it will detail the exploits of a lone Samurai turned vengeful assassin.
Ghost of Tsushima is coming to PlayStation 4, though other details and a release date have not been announced as of yet. It's Sucker Punch's first new IP in eight years.
"Games are a highly experimental medium," Loftis explained. "And it's a line that we have to walk between talking to gamers about the games we would like to make and knowing that we are going to be able to deliver them. For every game announcement that we do, we have to decide when is the right time to talk to people about this, how much code do we have to have in place, how much risks do we have to have mitigated. It gets very mundane around technical risks; and do we have a core mechanic that we like."
Are you looking forward to Ghost of Tsushima? Let us know in the comments below!
November is wrapping up, and now streaming platform Hulu has announced all of the TV shows and movies coming to a leaving the platform for December. As you might expect, there are a handful of holiday-themed movies landing on Hulu next month.
One of these is A Christmas Wedding Tail, which tells the story of two dogs who fall in love. Other holiday movies landing in December include A Princess For Christmas, Chilly Christmas, and I'll Be Home For Christmas. As for non-holiday additions to the Hulu library in December, some great movies like Silence of the Lambs, Space Jam, Searching for Sugar Man, and Apocalypse Now, among others.
As for what's leaving Hulu next month, James Bond movies Thunderball, The Spy Who Loved Me, The Man With the Golden Gun, Die Another Day, and A View to a Kill are all on the way out. Congo, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Total Recall are also headed out.
You can see a full rundown of what's coming to and leaving Hulu for December below, as compiled by the company and shared with GameSpot. In other streaming news, here's everything coming to Netflix in December.
Hulu December 2017:
Available December 1
East Los High: Finale Event (Hulu Original)
The History of Comedy: Complete Season 1 (CNN)
Inside Number 9: Complete Season 2 (BBCWW)
Tree Fu Tom: Complete Seasons 3 & 4 (Sprout)
Trust Me: Complete Season 1 (StudioCanal)
The Wine Show: Complete Season 2 (Sky)
3 Ninjas (1992)
A Christmas Wedding Tail (2011)
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)
A Princess for Christmas (2011)
Aliens of the Deep (2005)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Apocalypse Now Redux (2001)
At Close Range (1986)
Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction (2006)
The Black Cauldron (1985)
Bloodsport (1988)
Breakheart Pass (1975)
The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Buffalo 66 (1998)
Cheri (2009)
Chicago (2002)
Child's Play (1988)
Chilly Christmas (2012)
Coopers Camera (AKA Coopers' Christmas) (2010)
The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)
Crazy/Beautiful (2001)
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
Downhill Racer (1969)
Driftwood (2006)
Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex… (1972)
Evita (1996)
Extortion (2017)
The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)
The Final Cut (2004)
First Kid (1996)
The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)
George of the Jungle (1997)
Hammett (1982)
Hannibal (2001)
Heaven's Gate (1981)
Hitch (2005)
I'll Be Home for Christmas (1998)
The Improv: 50 Years Behind the Brick Wall (2013)
In & Out (1997)
In Enemy Hands (2003)
In the Line of Fire (1993)
Jack (1996)
Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)
Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004)
L7 Pretend We're Dead (2016)
The Last Warrior (2000)
Light Sleeper (1992)
Meet Wally Sparks (1997)
A Midsummer Night Sex Comedy (1982)
The Missing (2003)
Mississippi Burning (1988)
Moonstruck (1987)
Mr. Wrong (1996)
One from the Heart (1982)
One Magic Christmas (1985)
P2 (2007)
Penelope (2008)
The Perfect Score (2004)
Political Animals (2012)
The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984)
Presumed Innocent (1990)
Primal Fear (1996)
Puppetmaster: Axis Termination (2017)
Red Corner (1997)
Robocop (1987)
Robocop 2 (1990)
Robocop 3 (1993)
Rocky (1976)
Rocky II (1979)
Rocky III (1982)
Rocky IV (1985)
Rocky V (1990)
S.F.W. (1995)
Sarafina! (1992)
Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)
Searching for Sugar Man (2012)
Serpico (1973)
Shelby: A Magical Holiday Tail (2014)
Silence (2016)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Space Jam (1996)
Stealing Harvard (2002)
Stigmata (1999)
The Three Musketeers (1993)
The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
Three Men and a Baby (1987)
Titanic (1997)
Total Recall (1990)
Valkyrie (2008)
The Water Horse (2007)
The Weight of Water (2002)
Winnie the Pooh, A Valentine for You (1999)
Without (2011)
Wristcutters: A Love Story (2007)
The Yummy Gummy Search for Santa (2012)
Available December 2
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season 5 Premiere (ABC)
Available December 3
Cop Land (1997)
Sweet Home Alabama (2002)
The Rules of Attraction (2002)
Available December 4
Frontera (2014)
Superbad (2007)
Available December 5
The Great Christmas Light Fight: Season 5 Premiere (ABC)
Iron Protector (2016)
Available December 6
Shut Eye: Season 2 Premiere (Hulu Original)
Killers (2015)
Available December 8
Defining Moments: Season 1 Premiere (ESL)
The Great American Baking Show: Season 3 Premiere (ABC)
Legion: Complete Season 1 (FX)
Crank: High Voltage (2009)
Legion of Brothers (2017)
Available December 9
Dave Made a Maze (2017)
Available December 11
Steven Universe: Complete Season 4 (Cartoon Network)
Available December 12
Younger: Complete Season 4 (TV Land)
Holiday Fairy Tale Wedding: Special (Freeform)
Foreman (2017)
Available December 13
Vengeance of an Assassin (2014)
Available December 14
Bunheads: Complete Season 1 (Freeform)
Available December 15
40 Days and 40 Nights (2002)
The Crow (1994)
Everest (1998)
Kate and Leopold (2001)
The Limehouse Golem (2017)
Score (2016)
Tears of the Sun (2003)
Available December 16
The Next Step: Complete Season 5B (BBC)
Available December 18
Graves: Complete Season 1 (Epix)
Made In Chelsea: Complete Seasons 1-13 (E4)
Mighty Magiswords: Complete Season S1A (Cartoon Network)
New Releases has almost finished its 2017 run, but this week still has a batch of shooters and RPGs for you to dig into. Both Resident Evil: Revelations titles are headed to Nintendo Switch, but you can shoot up some demons in Doom VFR too. For a more vehicular approach, you can also shoot down planes with Sky Force Reloaded. As for RPGs, Switch is also getting a much-anticipated sequel with Xenoblade Chronicles 2, while the PC crowd can explore the prison island of Seven: The Days Long Gone.
Resident Evil: Revelations Collection -- November 28
Available on: Nintendo Switch
The Revelations games have already carved through the 3DS and other platforms, but now both 1 and 2 are coming to Nintendo Switch. You can grab them individually through the eShop, or together in one physical package in North America. Zombies ahoy!
If you prefer shoot-em-ups, Sky Force Reloaded may be just your speed. The 10-year-old game is coming to modern platforms with all the big bosses and co-op action you could ask for, and every plane comes loaded with an arsenal of sweet weapons.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 -- December 1
Available on: Nintendo Switch
The elevator pitch for the Xenoblade Chronicles is fascinating: worlds on the backs of massive titans. This sequel has even more giant lands to explore, tons of party members to recruit, and lots of special abilities to use in battle. Not bad for an RPG you can play anywhere.
This week is home to another RPG, but this one is very different from Xenoblade, and not just because of its isometric point of view. Seven: The Days Long Gone puts you into the shoes of thief Teriel, whose climbing and sneaking skills are your only way to escape an island prison.
This one barely needs an explanation: it's Doom, but in virtual reality. As the last human survivor of a demon attack on the UAC, it's up to you to restore order to the place. "Restore order" of course means "shoot lots of things with lots of guns," in this case.
Developer Ninja Theory's Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, a PlayStation 4 and PC game that tackles mental health issues, has passed 500,000 sales in its first three months. The studio announced this on Twitter, also confirming that this makes the game profitable. Sales at this level, this fast, are ahead of Ninja Theory's expectations.
To mark the occasion, Ninja Theory released an in-depth video in which key people from the UK studio discuss the game's unique development process. For one, the studio said it was worried that Hellblade's subject matter would be very controversial and overshadow what the team hoped to achieve. The studio did considerable research into mental health issues, and the game was praised for how it handled the incredibly sensitive subject.
What wasn't so great for Hellblade were the bugs that players encountered, some of which prevented them from progressing. Ninja Theory released patches that fixed these bugs, and management says in the video above that basically all press is good press, because these issues got people talking and that led to more sales.
Overall, the studio says it was trying to make a game that exists between indie and AAA, and it worked. The game moved 250,000 copies in its first week. Also helping the game reach an audience was its $30 price point, which is about half of what you could expect to pay for a AAA game.
Here are some other key takeaways from the video:
Hellblade has already brought in $13 million in revenue, and sales continue to be steady.
They weren't expecting to break even for nine months but instead did it in three.
The game was funded in part by loans, grants, and Ninja Theory's own coffers; they also received tax breaks.
Ninja Theory owns the Hellblade IP, which meant that they controlled the key creative and commercial decisions.
75,000 people pre-ordered Hellblade; and some of that money went into a digitally focused marketing campaign.
No new Hellblade games have been announced, but Ninja Theory says it wants the franchise's legacy to live on.
GameSpot's Hellblade review scored it an 8/10. Reviewer Alessandro Fillari said, "Hellblade's most notable achievement is the handling of an incredibly sensitive subject matter within an engaging and well-crafted action/adventure game. At its heart, the story is about Senua's struggle to come to terms with her illness. In the process, she learns to find the strength within herself to endure, and to make peace with her past. And in a profound and physical way, we go through those same struggles with her, and come away with a better understanding of a piece of something that many people in the world struggle with."
Destiny 2's next major update is coming alongside the Curse of Osiris expansion early next month, and now developer Bungie has shared some new details about it. Game director Luke Smith said on Twitter that on the systems side of the December update, you can expect the following changes:
Economy updates (vendors & acquiring their gear, tokens, legendary shards).
Investment updates (new reward systems for weapons & armor).
Of course, we'll be following these announcements and commentary closely, and we'll report back with more details when they're made available.
Destiny 2's Curse of Osiris expansion launches on December 5 across PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The expansion is set on Mercury, and there are new story elements and quests, while the level cap is getting raised, more weapons are being added, and new maps are coming to Crucible, among others things. Keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest on Curse of Osiris. In addition to the expansion, Destiny 2 will receive Xbox One X and PS4 Pro enhancements on December 5.
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