The CW is getting a new superhero in January. Black Lightning is the latest DC Comics adaptation for the network and a new trailer gives potential fans unfamiliar with the character a look at his backstory. "Black Lightning is back," the trailer declares, as retired superhero Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) once again suits up and puts his powers of electricity to use to save his city.
It's a definite departure for The CW, which usually features much younger actors portraying their star superheroes. Whereas The Flash's Grant Gustin is 27, Williams is 47. Then again, it's also a departure in that the origin of this superhero starts in the middle of his story. The series picks up long after Pierce's first stint as a superhero--a job he gave up for his family.
As the trailer shows, though, he hasn't lost a step. Between his fighting skills and the ability to shoot electrical blasts from his hands with little effort, Pierce is ready to take on the gang attempting to corrupt his community.
Black Lightning was originally created by Tony Isabella in 1977 and was the first black superhero to be given his own comic book. It's only fitting that the character is also the first black superhero to lead his own TV show.
Williams is joined in the series by China Anne McClain and Nafessa Williams, who play his daughters, along with Christine Adams, and James Remar. Black Lightning premieres on Tuesday, January 16, at 9 PM ET/PT, following The Flash. It's important to note that at this point the series does not exist in the same universe as The CW's other superhero shows.
Microsoft has revealed the latest selection of discounts for Xbox One and Xbox 360. This week's Deals with Gold are available now for Xbox Live Gold members and include some notable titles on both platforms, as well as a few Spotlight deals that even those without a Gold subscription can take advantage of.
A few notable Xbox 360 games are on sale this week, as well. Gold members can get discounts on the original Metro 2033 ($2.24/£1.79) and Metro: Last Light ($3/£2.24), Dead Space 3 ($5/£3.74), DuckTales Remastered ($3.74/£2.49), NBA Jam ($5/£4), and Street Fighter IV ($14/£10.49), among other titles.
Most of these offers will be available until 6 AM ET/3 AM PT on December 12, giving you a few days to take advantage of this week's sales. You can find the full list of Deals with Gold discounts on Major Nelson's blog.
Destiny 2's latest scheduled maintenance period proved to be briefer than expected, and the game is back online. Along with it, Bungie has released both update 1.1.0 and the Curse of Osiris DLC, marking the launch of the first DLC expansion for Destiny 2 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Update 1.1.0 is a substantial patch. It finally introduces PS4 Pro and Xbox One X enhancements to the shooter; both receive HDR support, while the Pro version gets a dynamic 4K resolution and Xbox One X gets native 4K. There's no indication if HDR support will be added for Xbox One S or PS4 owners.
Elsewhere in the patch, there are numerous changes to balance, bug fixes, and other adjustments. Super abilities now deal more damage to bosses, players begin recovering health sooner even with a low Recovery stat, numerous grenade types deal more damage (while Pulse grenades have been nerfed), and different weapon types have been tweaked. For instance, precision auto rifles see a damage increase but precision modifier reduction.
To compensate for Curse of Osiris's higher level cap, the recommended Power levels for certain activities are now different. The Nightfall calls for a 270 Power level, or 300 for the Prestige version. The Leviathan Raid recommends 300, or 330 for the Prestige version. For Guided Games, the Nightfall still suggests 270, but the Leviathan's Power level suggestion is 310.
Rewards have changed in some cases, with Crucible matches in the Quickplay and Competitive playlists now handing out Rare and Legendary items more frequently. You'll also gain more XP for finishing a match. Other 1.1.0 changes affect specific class abilities and gear, while some are just downright funny. One issue that's been addressed is described as such: "Cabal Gladiators would sometimes have horrific arm elasticity when being defeated during Cabal Drill Public Events."
This is all in addition to what Curse of Osiris brings to the game. Players who purchase the DLC can now visit Mercury and take part in new missions, earn new gear, and more. Additionally, Bungie plans to release another Destiny 2 update next week that revamps and introduces more new systems, such as adding Masterworks weapons. For now, you can check out everything that's changed in the 1.1.0 update here. Also take note that 1.1.0's release marks the beginning of Season 2, which means Bright Engrams' contents have changed, clan levels have reset, and more.
Players will no longer be able to log in from 7 AM PT / 10 AM ET / 3 PM GMT on Tuesday, December 5 (that's 1 AM AEST on December 6 in Australia). An hour later, anyone still playing the game will be booted to the title screen, and Curse of Osiris will become available to download and install. Bungie says the maintenance will end two hours after that--at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 6 PM GMT / 4 AM AEST, at which point Curse of Osiris will finally become playable.
In addition, the end of the maintenance period will bring a new Destiny 2 update, though we don't yet know everything the patch will contain. As noted above, you'll be able to pre-load the Curse of Osiris DLC from 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET / 4PM GMT / midnight AEST. However, make sure you have enough storage space. The requirements range pretty dramatically from platform to platform; here's the minimum that you'll need on each system (which we can safely assume accounts for the size of the base game):
PS4: 88 GB
Xbox One: 44 GB
PC: 68 GB
Curse of Osiris costs $20 / £17 / AU $30, and is included in the $35 / £30 / AU $50 Expansion Pass. It introduces a new planet, Mercury, for players to visit, along with new story missions, Strikes, Crucible maps, weapons, armor, and more--you can see some of the new gear in the video above. The expansion's release will coincide with the first of two big December updates. December 5 will also mark a change to Guided Games and the weekly reset schedule, and it will also see the release of PS4 Pro and Xbox One X enhancements for Destiny 2.
Much has been said about EA's planned use of microtransactions in Star Wars Battlefront II, but its approach to post-release downloadable content is far more attractive. All DLC will be released for free, and that starts this month with the first "season" of updates, which will in this case be themed around the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi.
This starts modestly today, December 5, when you'll be able to choose to ally yourself with the First Order or New Republic. Doing so presents you with special, weekly faction quests over the next few weeks with rewards that correspond to your side.
"Completing these will not only reward you with Credits and Crafting Parts, but help edge your faction closer to victory, giving all members of that side a additional rewards," developer DICE explained. "The other faction will get a crate of their own with lesser prizes, but it will hopefully come with a drive to fight back even harder."
For this first challenge, players have to rack up 50 kills with each trooper class. This doesn't need to be completed before the next challenges arrive; you have until the end of the season to finish and can complete them in any order.
The bulk of this month's additions come on December 13. Battlefront II will add two new heroes (Captain Phasma and Finn), a Galactic Assault map (Crait), a Starfighter Assault map (D'Qar), and a new vehicle (Tallie's A-Wing), along with new weekly and daily challenges. All of that comes on the multiplayer side, but there's also something new for single-player, as we'll get an additional mission called Resurrection. This sees you again step into the shoes of Iden Versio, this time "during the days of the First Order's rise to power."
Throughout the month, other new challenges and special events will also arrive, including a holiday playlist on December 27. Everything will be available on all platforms--PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC--and is scheduled to coincide with the release of The Last Jedi on December 15.
It's officially December, and the first Tuesday of the month has brought with it a new batch of free games for PlayStation Plus members. A total of six more games are now available for download to Plus subscribers, including a total of as many as four on PlayStation 4 (or five if you're in Europe).
PS4's lineup is headlined by Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition, a remastered version of the 2012 Zelda-esque action game. This version includes all of the original release's DLC along with a variety of technical improvements. It's free this month alongside Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends. A PSVR freebie from November, Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, remains free throughout this month, and those in Europe can also pick up That's You for free. Additionally, thanks to Cross-Buy, Forma 8 is available on PS4 in addition to Vita.
The PS3 side features Xblaze: Lost Memories and Syberia Collection, the latter of which is a compilation of the two Syberia adventure games. In addition to the aforementioned Forma 8, Vita owners can download Wanted Corp for free.
All of these games are available now for PS Plus members on the PlayStation Store. They'll be free to download until Tuesday, January 2, when Sony will replace them with the next batch of freebies. Claiming these games allows you to play them as much as you want for as long as you have an active Plus membership.
In addition to the free game downloads, PS Plus subscribers receive some other bonuses this month. Plus members get exclusive access to the Monster Hunter World beta, which runs from December 9-12 on PS4. Later in the month, they'll also receive the PlayStation Plus Pack for free-to-play game Smite, which consists of various characters, skins, and voice packs.
Deadpool is not your average superhero, and the marketing campaigns for his movies are equally unconventional. So far for the upcoming Deadpool 2, we've had heartwarming magazine covers, bizarre painting classes, and now a promo slot encouraging fans to get a Brazilian tattoo.
Yes, you heard that right. In this latest clip, the Merc with a Mouth speaks his best, er, Portuguese to ask fans to choose a tattoo design for next year's Brazilian Comic-Con. Check it out below:
Deadpool 2 stars Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, Josh Brolin as Cable and Zazie Beetz as Domino, with Morena Baccarin, TJ Miller, and Brianna Hildebrand reprising their roles from the first movie. David Leitch (John Wick, Atomic Blonde) is directing, replacing Tim Miller, who reportedly clashed with Reynolds over the direction of the movie. It hits theaters on June 1, 2018.
There's also an adult animated Deadpool show on the way. The currently untitled series will be overseen by Atlanta star and creator Donald Glover with his brother Stephen, who will both act as showrunners, producers, and writers. It is being developed for FXX, the sister channel to FX, and the 10-part first season will premiere next year.
Destiny 2's first big expansion, Curse of Osiris, is drawing near. With its release date scheduled for Tuesday, December 5, Bungie has shared some details regarding launch day and pre-loading, and it's also delivered a new trailer highlighting some of the DLC's new content. [Update: Destiny 2servers are now offline for maintenance and are expected to be back up at 10 AM PT, at which time a new update and Curse of Osiris will be available. Update 1.1.0 and Curse of Osiris itself can now be downloaded.]
Pre-loading will be available, but not especially far in advance. Players who pre-order the DLC won't be able to start downloading it until 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET / 4 PM GMT on December 5 (3 AM AET on December 6). Launch day will also see another maintenance period, although an exact schedule or timetable for this hasn't been announced. Curse of Osiris will be officially released once maintenance concludes.
In order to pre-load, you'll need to ensure you have enough storage space. The requirements range pretty dramatically from platform to platform; here's the minimum that you'll need on each system (which we can safely assume accounts for the size of the base game):
Curse of Osiris costs $20 or is included in the $35 Expansion Pass. It introduces a new planet, Mercury, for players to visit, along with new story missions, Strikes, Crucible maps, weapons, armor, and more--you can see some of the new gear in the video above. The expansion's release will coincide with the first of two big December updates. December 5 will also mark a change to Guided Games and the weekly reset schedule, and it will also see the release of PS4 Pro and Xbox One X enhancements for Destiny 2.
Acclaimed director Quentin Tarantino has hatched an idea for a Star Trek movie that he could direct as one of his final films. This is according to Deadline, which cites sources saying he shared his idea with Star Trek reboot director JJ Abrams, and that the idea is to get writers together to listen to Tarantino's pitch and then start the process of making a film. Deadline reports that Tarantino may direct, with Abrams onboard to produce.
Deadline points out that Tarantino has never directed an entry in an established film series, so this would be new territory for the Oscar winner. But he has done that on TV, as he directed episodes of CSI and ER. As the site explains, Tarantino is known for his creative control on his projects, so working on Star Trek--which has an established framework and millions of fans--would be an interesting move.
Star Trek is produced by film company Paramount, which is owned by Sony. Tarantino is already working with the company on a film that will focus in part on the Manson murders.
The last movie that Tarantino directed was 2015's The Hateful Eight. In November 2016, Tarantino said he only plans to make two more movies before retiring, so if the Star Trek movie could be his last one.
Taraninto's eight directorial projects have included Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, and The Hateful Eight. Tarantino won Best Writing Oscars for Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained.
2K Sports has announced a release date for the Nintendo Switch version of WWE 2K18. While the wrestling game has been available on other platforms since October, it will finally arrive on Nintendo's hybrid console this week, on December 6.
The Switch edition of WWE 2K18 includes all of the major features and content found in other versions of the title, including the revamped MyCareer mode, expanded character creator, and DLC lineup. Unlike other versions, however, the Switch game will only support six characters on screen at once, rather than eight.
Those who pre-ordered the physical version of WWE 2K18 will get a Kurt Angle DLC pack featuring two versions of the WWE Hall of Famer as a free bonus. Switch owners who opt to purchase the game digitally from the Eshop will be able to download the character pack for free through December 13. However, you'll need a microSD card with 32 GB of space--as well as 1 GB of space on your console--in order to download the title.
WWE 2K18 is the first WWE game to release for a Nintendo console in five years. The title is already available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. In GameSpot's WWE 2K18 review, critic Richard Wakeling said "there are moments of pure pro wrestling enjoyment to be found" in the game, but criticized it for being "compounded by too many frustrating issues, disruptive glitches, and a dearth of engaging single-player modes."
Following up on 2016 was always going to be difficult for Sony, but it was crucial that the platform holder maintain its momentum, especially with its competitors both launching new hardware. With the launch of the PlayStation 4 Pro and PlayStation VR behind it, its focus fell squarely on new games. But was that enough, and is the PS4 heading in the right direction? Let's look back at the year that was for Sony's console.
Exclusives Aplenty
Last year brought what was, at the time, arguably the best exclusive game of the generation so far. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End dragged the Uncharted series into the PS4 era, matured Nate and co. into fuller characters, and came very close to winning our Best Game of 2016 award. Just a year later, we had another new Uncharted game in The Lost Legacy, which ditched our intrepid adventurer and pushed two of the series' supporting characters into the spotlight. And although this expansion-turned-full-release perhaps didn't move the franchise forward as much as its progenitor, it did show that the Uncharted series can survive away from the Drake estate.
Sony's other big exclusive this year brought the return of Guerrilla, the Killzone developer that has for much of its life been criticized for making games that arguably look better than they play. Horizon Zero Dawn, however, at last harnessed the company's outstanding technical and graphical capabilities, and painted them on a distinguished underlying game. Let's hope this is a turning point for Guerrilla and it continues to defy expectations. With an outstanding, non-Killzone game finally under its belt and an owner in Sony known for encouraging development of unique first-party titles, the Dutch company could become the developer of exceptional games it should always have been, and we--the audience--will hopefully reap the rewards in years to come.
The remainder of PS4's exclusive lineup in 2017 was one of the most diverse third-party selections in recent memory. Nier: Automata, Nioh, Yakuza 0 (and Kiwami), Persona 5, and Hellblade (if we're counting console exclusives) were all niche, but superb examples of a platform broadening its appeal. That's in addition to a healthy collection of console-exclusive indie games, which expanded this year with games such as Matterfall, Pyre, and Nidhogg 2. Not only that, but Sony continues to aggressively tie up exclusive content for some of the biggest games around. Resident Evil 7's VR edition, early Call of Duty DLC, and exclusive Destiny 2 maps and gear often make PlayStation the obvious platform to play your games if you own multiple consoles.
All Sony needed was a big hitter for the end of the year to reinforce that PS4 really is "the best place to play." It's a shame, then, that the holiday period has been so disappointing for the platform: the only notable exclusive to launch in the most important season of the year was GT Sport. While by no means panned--it currently holds a 75 rating on Metacritic and earned an 8/10 in GameSpot's GT Sport review--the first PS4 Gran Turismo game launched with little fanfare, especially for a series which was once one of PlayStation's premiere titles. The smaller car roster, heavy-handed approach to online racing, and less-than-perfect reception might be the confirmation that Gran Turismo has been overtaken by Microsoft's more exuberant Forza series.
PSVR Is Under-Supported
GT Sport's lukewarm launch is doubly disappointing for Sony, as Polyphony's racer was billed to moonlight as PlayStation VR's big game for the end of the year. Unfortunately, the virtual reality platform is still awaiting the fabled "killer app." Between Resident Evil 7 in January and GT Sport in October, few big titles launched for PSVR, two promising PSVR games--The Inpatient and Bravo Team--were recently delayed to 2018, and the picture looks bare in 2018. Doom VFR and Skyrim VR help, but will ports of years-old games satisfy those who shelled out $400 / £350 / AU $550 for a then-seemingly groundbreaking new gizmo? More to the point, will they--in the absence of more big, high-profile titles--convince people who haven't yet invested to get out their wallets? This year has been a disappointing one for PSVR, which--if not supported better with landmark releases next year--is in danger of going the way of Kinect.
Nostalgia Is A Powerful Tool, But It Can Only Go So Far
In the gaps between big 2017's releases, especially during the arid summer months, Sony attempted to satisfy gamers with repackaged, repolished versions of older games. We received PS4 remasters of Patapon, LocoRoco, Parappa the Rapper, Wipeout, and the meme-spawning Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, in addition to the announcement of a Shadow of the Colossus remake, coming next year. Sony has realized that many PlayStation gamers--whether lapsed or loyal--who owned and loved that grey brick in the late '90s suddenly, in 2017, find themselves with disposable income, and they're an audience that is a ready-made nostalgia sponge. It was this susceptibility to childhood games being reborn that made the Crash Bandicoot remaster one of the best-selling games of the year, and it's surely a note Sony will play once again next year, especially with PSX just around the corner.
However, the company can only rely on nostalgia for so long. The original Xbox was only a few years behind the first PlayStation, so Microsoft's nostalgia push surely won't be far away--in fact, it might have already begun. For those already wearing green-tinted spectacles, Xbox is doing a more consumer-friendly job at harnessing the power of our childhood memories than Sony with its backwards compatibility program. PlayStation Now allows you to play PS3 games on your PS4, but you have to pay extra for the privilege, and it's no good at all if you have a dodgy internet connection or don't live in a handful of specific countries. Microsoft, on the other hand, allows hundreds of past games available to play for no extra cost on Xbox One, thereby expanding its game library and winning favor with its audience. It's time Sony started doing the same--properly.
If Sony's reluctance to make PS1, PS2, and PS3 games playable on PS4 is a potential sign of arrogance, then its refusal to allow cross-play with Xbox is a definite one. Microsoft wants cross-play to happen, but Sony says it's a "commercial discussion" as to why it won't allow it at present. It's an unfortunate, but understandable decision: in this generation, Sony is on top, so why would it throw its primary rival a lifeline?
Other Matters, In Brief
PS4's 5.0 update arrived this year, in case you'd forgotten. You'd be forgiven for not remembering, too, since so few meaningful changes came out of what was hoped to be a big update. Parental controls aside, the patch failed to address a concern that lingers more than a decade after PSN's launch: why can we still not change our usernames?
2017 appeared to be the year the PS Vita finally died. The underappreciated handheld saw few new games this year, as Sony eventually threw in the towel with first-party support and publishers moved on to bigger and more powerful machines. Rest in peace, my little Spelunky machine.
E3 2017 was disappointing for Sony. The biggest game show of the year brought few genuinely exciting announcements (including, crucially, any update on The Last of Us: Part II).
Last year, the good ship PlayStation sailed into the distance as Sony launched an affordable virtual reality platform, a new, upgraded console, and some of this generation's finest games. In 2017, the company has by no means undone all that hard work, but it has perhaps allowed the ship to coast slightly too far. A continued lack of backwards compatibility and cross play, a PS Plus price increase in some territories, half-hearted PSVR support, and a mediocre E3 showing signify a platform holder that may be a little too comfortable in the lead, and it's a small, but worrying step towards Sony's arrogance we saw post-PS2.
That said, exclusives like Horizon Zero Dawn, Persona 5, and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy don't come along every week, and they exceed anything Microsoft has been able to muster in the past 12 months. So despite a number of stumbling blocks this year, Sony is--for now, at least--proving it's the games that matter.
The Good
The Bad
A broad range of exclusive games, headlined by the impressive Horizon Zero Dawn and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.
Many third-party games still receive exclusive content on PS4.
Nostalgia-fueled games brought the PS1-era memories flooding back.
Lack of backwards compatibility and cross-play.
PS4 Pro's graphical capabilities have been surpassed by Xbox One X, which has stolen Sony's "most powerful console in the world" claim to fame.
Xbox One is now four years old, and its fourth year on the market felt both unsurprising and encouraging. It's difficult to know exactly how the system performed commercially because Microsoft has stopped sharing sales numbers, but Xbox boss Phil Spencer has made it clear that, for him and Microsoft, success is no longer gauged by Xbox One hardware sales. Microsoft has broadened its gaming aspirations, but in many ways, it's doubled down on its recent, user-friendly strategies with Xbox One, which has been promising.
With 2017 coming to a close, let's take a look back at the year that was for Xbox One.
Another Dose Of New Hardware, This Time With Meaningful Changes
Last year's Xbox One S was a solid hardware revision, providing a dramatic reduction in size, HDR support, and 4K Blu-ray playback capabilities. A small performance boost aside, however, it was effectively the same system that had launched back in 2013. The same can't be said of Xbox One X, which released worldwide in November.
Microsoft likes to tout that Xbox One X is the "world's most powerful console." As much as that sounds like a marketing line with little foundation in reality, it is true. Xbox One X is a powerhouse of a console, and one that's also incredibly well designed. That it manages to be so powerful but so quiet--and no bigger than an Xbox One S--is a feat of engineering.
But within those improvements, there has also been some degree of confusion. To its credit, Xbox One X does address one specific complaint about PS4 Pro: It allows you to filter your games to show only those with enhancement updates. However, it's unclear exactly what you're getting from any given game. Microsoft's website hosts a list of X-enhanced games along with indicators for those with HDR and 4K support, but is it native 4K, or a dynamic resolution? Do players have a choice between a mode favoring higher resolutions and one that offers steadier framerates and better effects? Finding out typically involves turning to third-party publications like Digital Foundry. It requires too much research on the part of Xbox One X owners to know what type of experience to expect from a game.
That said, as was the case with PS4 Pro, it's hard to complain about the general approach of a mid-generation hardware refresh, because it's purely optional. There are always going to be those who want better graphics and performance without building a costly PC, while others will prefer to keep playing games on their existing console. The Xbox One X feels like an ideal compromise for this point in time: It provides those who care about playing improved versions of games an option for doing so, but without splitting up the multiplayer userbase or taking anything away from those who are happy with what they have. There is a degree of compromise to this, as games still have to work on Xbox One. At least so far, no developer has shown a willingness to provide meaningfully different gameplay features on X. We don't know of any games that will operate like, for instance, Shadow of Mordor, which offered the Nemesis system on current-gen consoles but an extremely pared-back version on Xbox 360 and PS3. But it's a compromise that is necessary to avoid leaving anyone behind, and it isn't preventing the X from offering some truly gorgeous games.
Among the most welcome aspects of how Xbox One X operates are the improvements it presents across the board. Even without a patch, Xbox One games benefit from anisotropic filtering, as well as--in many cases--shorter load times, framerates that more consistently reach their targets, and improvements to dynamic resolution scaling, which allow games to run at higher resolutions more often. The results vary from game to game, but they are often impressive--and this even extends to Xbox 360 and original Xbox games. And whatever the case, you're getting all of these benefits at no additional cost beyond that of the system itself.
Continued Welcome Improvements To The Xbox Ecosystem
Those improvements to your existing game library play into a broader strategy that Microsoft has been pushing over the past two years. Since the introduction of backwards compatibility, it's felt as if Microsoft decided to listen to what fans want and give it to them. While you might be missing out on some of the exclusives that PS4 owners have access to (more on that later), the company has made owning an Xbox One a more attractive proposition than ever.
That starts with the continuation of backwards compatibility. We've seen more than 145 more games added this year, bringing the total to over 450 games. This allows you to play games you already own on Xbox One, oftentimes with various technical improvements, even on non-Xbox One X systems. It's maybe the single best feature to distinguish the system from the PS4 (whose closest equivalent is the subscription-based PlayStation Now), and it continues to be available for free.
Microsoft has presented Xbox One owners with what feels like a respectful ecosystem that is committed to keeping your game library playable--and better than ever, if you have an Xbox One X.
Backwards compatibility has only improved this year with the added support of original Xbox games. While the selection is limited and will not expand at the same semi-regular pace as the Xbox 360 backwards compatible library, it is nevertheless nice to be able to play Ninja Gaiden Black and company on Xbox One.
2017 also saw Microsoft enter a new space with Xbox Game Pass. For a flat fee, subscribers can play full versions of games from a library with more than 100 games. But unlike Netflix or PlayStation Now, these game are downloaded, rather than streamed. That avoids any potential latency issues, though large download sizes for some games mean slow connection speeds remain a problem.
Game Pass certainly provides value for some--$10/£8/AU$11 per month isn't terribly unreasonable for someone on a tight budget who doesn't care about owning games long-term. However, it still feels somewhat incomplete. Microsoft has spoken about the potential it has to support original game development, much in the same way that Netflix has its own original programming, but six months in, that's something we have yet to see bear fruit. ReCore's Definitive Edition was available right at launch on Game Pass, but that was an update to a year-old game. Whether the service ends up leading to the creation of new games remains to be seen.
Elsewhere, Microsoft has provided more Xbox Play Anywhere games, providing a great incentive to pick up digital copies of select games, which provide access on both Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs at no additional cost. And the company continues to pursue cross-play support. While Sony has refused to open the gates of PSN, Nintendo has acquiesced, allowing Xbox One and Switch owners to play games like Rocket League and Minecraft together. That's good news for everyone involved.
Frequent System Updates--And Finally Making Some Progress
The layout of the Xbox One's menus and dashboard have been a source of complaints since launch. Providing intuitive access to so many features is no easy task, and this has remained a work-in-progress for the past four years. As with Xbox 360, Microsoft has not been shy about overhauling the Xbox One dashboard. 2017 was the best example of that yet, as we saw not one but two major updates to the layout of the dashboard and Guide.
The first of these came in March. It dedicated far less space to the active game or app and provided shortcuts for options related to it, such as its game hub. It also finally made the Guide accessible with a single button press--something that had previously required two. The Guide itself was refined to provide quick access to Game DVR and other functionality. Other additions included an on-screen Achievement tracker, Mixer integration (known at the time as Beam), and the co-pilot accessibility feature.
Incredibly, just over four months later, Microsoft revealed another redesign. Speed and customization were touted as two of the key goals. Aesthetically, it looked nearly identical to the March update, but the main Home screen was changed completely. It now consisted of "content blocks," each of which is dedicated to an item of your choosing, such as a specific game. The Guide (still brought up with one press of the Xbox button) was reoriented to have a horizontal layout. The Fall update officially launched in October.
Xbox One's menus remain complex and intimidating, particularly for newcomers. Introducing such frequent shake-ups leads to confusion; just as you become accustomed to one setup, things are suddenly much different. As you'd expect, opinions vary about any such change, though the Fall update's Guide has at least surfaced frequently used features in an intelligent way. Microsoft has said that "small adjustments" are more likely than "big changes" in the future, which may be wise, though there is still work to be done.
Some Quality Games, But The Exclusives Gap Feels Bigger Than Ever
Xbox One is, ultimately, a machine meant to play games. And indeed, there were tons of great games to play throughout 2017. Microsoft certainly argues as much, but a problem arises when looking at exclusives on Xbox One versus PS4. Sony had a banner year, with Horizon: Zero Dawn, Yakuza 0, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, Hellblade, Nioh, and Nier: Automata as its console exclusives. Furthermore, in many cases, third-party games were undeniably better on PS4, whether that was due to hardware (Xbox One lacks VR support to make Resident Evil 7's VR mode playable) or value considerations (Sony paying for timed-exclusive content in games like Destiny 2).
Xbox One owners do have a lot to play, however. Between the exclusives that were released and the numerous third-party games on the market, picking up an Xbox One in 2017 would not leave you without worthwhile games. (The frequent addition of new backwards-compatible games doesn't hurt, either.) And if you pick up an Xbox One X, you're now even getting the best version of these third-party games, with the exception of those with PS4-exclusive content.
Xbox One was not completely devoid of exclusives this year. Forza Motorsport 7 and Cuphead are both terrific, and PUBG's upcoming early access release is likely to be enormous, if the game's performance on PC (and that of Fortnite's Battle Royale update) are any indication. But the gulf in exclusives this year has felt particularly huge, no doubt due to the cancellation of Scalebound and delays of Crackdown 3 and Sea of Thieves (both of which were delayed in 2016, too). Whether it made the right calls or not, the end result was a year that was much stronger for the competition in terms of exclusive games.
Other Matters, In Brief
It was another good, if unspectacular, year for Games With Gold. There were few newly released games (Slime Rancher being a notable exception), but we still got a total of 48 games that are playable on Xbox One, all of which stand to receive at least some benefits when played on Xbox One X.
Xbox One remained the only console with access to EA Access. This remains a nice service for $30 per year, even offering recent games like Battlefield 1, Titanfall 2, and Mass Effect: Andromeda.
500 GB remains effectively the standard hard drive size for Xbox One. That felt small at launch in 2013, and the situation is only worse now. With games like Gears of War 4 and Halo 5: Guardians ballooning in size (the two combine to take up about 200 GB) and less than 400 GB being usable, it's possible to fill the drive with only a few games installed. Xbox One's external hard drive support is great, but the system could use more storage space right out of the box. This problem extends to Xbox One X, despite the 1 TB hard drive, due to the size of 4K assets.
Kinect feels well and truly dead at the end of 2017; like the Xbox One S, Xbox One X lacks a port for the sensor, necessitating the use of a dongle. With little support and its voice commands looking more outclassed than ever by devices like the Amazon Echo, that's for the best.
Verdict
Even in lieu of a headlining game like a Halo FPS, this still has in many ways been a positive year for Xbox. It's unlikely to ever catch PS4 in terms of sales, and it remains to be seen if Microsoft can begin to match PS4's exclusive output. But after it started out this generation by turning off a huge number of people with the Xbox One's initial unveiling, Microsoft has continued to make amends by focusing on fan-friendly initiatives like backwards compatibility, Play Anywhere, and cross-play.
Microsoft says it has unannounced games coming, but there's no telling when; exclusives may remain an issue for the foreseeable future. There's no getting around that, but Microsoft has presented Xbox One owners with what feels like a respectful ecosystem that is committed to keeping your game library playable--and better than ever, if you have an Xbox One X. That may not be as flashy as a long list of exclusives, but it's a compelling argument to consider investing in Xbox.
The Good
The Bad
Xbox One X provides great upgrades, especially on 4K HDR TVs
Original Xbox backwards compatibility
Continued support of cross-play and Play Anywhere
Exclusive game lineup thoroughly outclassed by PS4 and Switch
This year's Alien: Covenent was not the huge box office success that many were expecting to be, putting the future of the long-running sci-fi horror franchise in some doubt. Only last month, director Ridley Scott suggested that the series may have run its course. However, Scott has now stated that he does hope to continue making more Alien movies.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Scott explained that he would take a different approach to the next film. "We are [going to make another], we are", he said. "I think what we have to do is gradually drift away from the Alien stuff. People say 'you need more Alien, you need more face pulling, need more chest bursting,' so I put a lot of that in Covenant and it fitted nicely.
"But I think if you go again, you need to start finding another solution that's more interesting. I think AI is becoming much more dangerous and therefore more interesting."
While these comments do seem slightly at odds with those that Scott made in November, they do suggest that his issue is with the Alien itself. In that earlier interview, he explained that he made Covenant to cash in on the success of 2012's Prometheus. "I figured it was a good piece of business to follow through Prometheus, which, from ground zero, had good lift-off, " he said. "So we went to Covenant to perpetuate the idea and [revive] the franchise of the Alien. [However] I think the beast has almost run out, personally."
Covenant made $240 million worldwide, much less than Prometheus's $403 million take. Prior to this, Scott had been talking enthusiastically about the future of the series. In March, he suggested that the next movie would be called Alien: Awakening, and that the series would continue for several more films beyond that. "There will be more after this. If this is successful, and then the next one, and then there will definitely be three more," he said. "If you really want a franchise, I can keep cranking it for another six. I'm not going to close it down again. No way."
In an interview with Collider, Johnson explained how plans for the new trilogy came about. "We were getting to the end of [The Last Jedi] and kind of getting sad that we had to stop working," he said. "But Kathy [Kennedy, Lucasfilm boss] and all the folks at Disney were just like, 'We've had a really good time. How do we keep this party going a little longer?'
"We were just generally talking about what could we do. I was like, 'What would be most interesting to me is...'--and it wasn't even a specific pitch, the pitch was--'a new trilogy. Three movies, one story. New characters, new places. Let's start fresh.' That was the most exciting thing I could possibly think of, and Kathy really responded to that, and we're gonna give it a shot."
Johnson went to explain that while he was developing the overall story for the new trilogy, he wouldn't necessarily direct all three films. "Honestly I don't know yet," he said. "I know I'm gonna come up with the whole thing. The idea is to come up with one big story, but I know I'm gonna write and direct at least the first one. Even the first one at this point we're still figuring out, so I don't know yet. But I know I want to come up with the whole thing and then we'll see."
Ridley has also revealed that she plans to leave the series after Episode IX in 2019. "I am really, really excited to do the third thing and round it out, because ultimately, what I was signing on to was three films," she said. "So in my head, it's three films. I think it will feel like the right time to round it out."
Star Wars: The Last Jedi finally arrives in theaters next week, and a new international trailer has landed. Although it uses many of the shots we've seen in previous trailers over the past few weeks, it does include some exciting new footage, including a first look at the movie's casino city, Canto Bight.
The footage in question occurs around the two minute mark and reveals what appears to be a stampede of creatures through the casino. In addition, there are new shots of the battle on the planet Crait immediately after this, as Resistance fighters are bombarded in their trenches by First Order TIE Fighters. Check it out below:
The Last Jedi hits theaters on December 15 and stars Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Carrie Fisher, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, and Andy Serkis. There has been plenty of promotional activity for the movie over past couple of weeks, including a TV spot in which Chewie smacks a Porg, and another that focuses on Luke's relationship with Rey.
Last week saw the release of a new video of Ridley, who plays Rey in the movie, training to use a lightsaber. Ridley has also revealed that she plans to leave the series after Episode IX in 2019. "I am really, really excited to do the third thing and round it out, because ultimately, what I was signing on to was three films," she said. "So in my head, it's three films. I think it will feel like the right time to round it out."
Disney is pulling the new animated short Olaf's Frozen Adventure from the start of its current Pixar hit Coco in theaters across the US. The 21-minute film is a spinoff from the 2013 hit Frozen, focusing on the titular snowman. But the short has been met with multiple complaints about both its length and quality, and now it has been reported that Disney has asked theaters to no longer play it ahead of Coco.
According to Mashable, Olaf's Frozen Adventure will finish screening from this Friday, December 8. The site states that the studio has asked theaters to use the extra time to give Coco an extra showing each day. Disney has commented on this decision, telling EW, "It was always promoted as a limited run. The end of our Olaf theatrical play is coming next week. All our ads and messaging called it as such."
Olaf's Frozen Adventure has been criticised for its length, which, when taking into account the standard 20 minutes of commercials and trailers that play before movies in most theaters, meant that some audiences were waiting up to 40 minutes for Coco to begin. In addition, while Pixar movies are often preceded by short films, Olaf's Frozen Adventure is not a Pixar film. It was originally intended to be an ABC TV special, before the decision was made to release it alongside Coco.
Last week, Coco director Adrian Molina commented on the reaction to Olaf's Frozen Adventure. "It is longer than, I think, any other short that has ever been attached to one of these films," he told the Huffington Post. "I've heard that that has taken people by surprise. We've always, even at the conception, liked this idea that these are two stories about family traditions, and understanding what your family traditions are."
It's officially December around the world, which means Xbox Live Gold subscribers can now pick up the first of December's free Games With Gold titles. Two more games are now available to download for free if you're an Xbox Live Gold member, with another two set to arrive later in the month.
Also note that one of November's Games With Gold titles, Tales From the Borderlands, will continue to be free on Xbox One through through December 15. You can see the full Games With Gold schedule for December below.
In other news, Microsoft has rolled out the latest weekly Xbox One and Xbox 360 deals. A variety of games are on sale for Xbox Live Gold members in particular, including Unravel, The Jackbox Party Pack, and the Metro games. These will be available through December 11, while the Games With Gold title schedule varies, as outlined below.
December 2017 Free Xbox Games With Gold
Xbox One
Warhammer: End Times - Verminitide (December 1 - December 31)
Tales From the Borderlands (through December 15)
Back to the Future: The Game - 30th Anniversary Edition (December 16 - January 15)
Xbox 360
Child of Eden (December 1 - December 15)
Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death (December 16 - December 31)
Capcom celebrated the 30-year anniversary of Mega Man during a livestream this week. After teasing that it would be an event fans wouldn't want to miss, the publisher shared several announcements--the most significant of which is the reveal of a brand-new game, Mega Man 11.
There aren't many details at this point, but we do know Mega Man 11 will be released for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. It's due out in 2018 and is being directed by Koji Oda, with Kazuhiro Tsuchiya on board as a producer. We got a brief look at some gameplay in a video--check it out above.
Like its predecessors, Mega Man 11 is still a 2D side-scrolling action-platformer. During the stream, the developers said that the overriding goal in development is to "resurrect" Mega Man. Fundamentally, it looks very similar to past Mega Man games, although it does feature a noticeably different art style. One key visual difference is that Mega Man's appearance will change when acquiring a new weapon--not just his color.
As Capcom teased, its Mega Man anniversary livestream contained some exciting news for fans of the Blue Bomber. In addition to announcing a brand-new installment in the franchise, Mega Man 11, the publisher revealed that a slate of classic Mega Man titles will be re-released for all major platforms next year.
Before Mega Man 11 arrives, all eight Mega Man X games will be released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in Summer 2018. However, Capcom didn't share any more details than that; we still don't know exactly when the titles will be released, or whether they'll be available individually or as a compilation, as was the case with the two Mega Man Legacy Collections. Capcom says it will reveal more information about the X titles "in the coming months."
Additionally, Capcom announced it will bring both Mega Man Legacy Collection and Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 to Switch next spring. The compilations were previously available for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, but this marks the first time all 10 titles in the classic Mega Man series will be available on Nintendo's hybrid console. The first Legacy Collection will also feature a new Rewind function; that will be added to the PS4, Xbox One, and PC versions as an update. Both collections will also be compatible with Amiibo figures, though Capcom hasn't revealed what they'll unlock.
Mega Man 11 will likewise be released for Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The game is slated to launch in late 2018 and is the first new installment in the series to be announced in seven years. Capcom says it will reveal more information about the game next summer; in the meantime, you can watch the first Mega Man 11 trailer above.
DICE continues to make adjustments to Star Wars Battlefront II. While microtransactions remain disabled, the studio has released a new update in an attempt to address complaints regarding the rate at which players earn rewards and unlock new items.
With new content themed around The Last Jedi on the way this month, the new Battlefront II update focuses exclusively on progression. A common complaint among fans has been that the game is too slow to dole out Credits, and that your performance factors in very little--leading to some players finding ways to idle in-game by running in circles to rack up rewards. All players will now receive more Credits at the end of a match, and DICE has "specifically bump[ed] the top players on each team by even more."
Additionally, DICE has increased--but not removed--the cap on how many Credits can be earned in Arcade mode every day. DICE said in a blog post that players "were hitting the Arcade mode Credit cap faster than [it] expected." As a result, you can now earn up to 1,500 daily, three times as many as before. DICE explained, "While we're still looking into ways to add more content into the mode in the long-term, we think that this should help in the near-term for those who want rewards for completing the different scenarios."
The final change comes from rewards handed out through the free loot crate you receive for logging in each day. These now provide more crafting parts, which are used to obtain specific Star Cards. DICE stated, "This should help you get where you want to go faster when it comes to crafting and upgrading."
Following this update, Battlefront II will be receiving a variety of new content for free this month. The Last Jedi season of content begins on December 5; updates later in the month will bring new maps, vehicles, Hero units, and a campaign chapter, among other things.
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)
Some fans have already gotten a taste of Star Wars Battlefront II thanks to its early trial on EA/Origin Access, but today marks the game's official release. While much of the conversation around it has centered on its controversial handling of microtransactions and fan backlash (which ultimately forced EA to temporarily drop them just prior to release), developer DICE has built on the previous Star Wars Battlefront in some notable ways with Battlefront II, one of which is its new campaign.
Unlike its predecessor, Battlefront II features a full-fledged single-player storyline that's set between the events of Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. The campaign puts players in the role of Iden Versio, the commander of an Imperial special forces unit known as the Inferno Squad and the primary character you play as throughout the campaign's 5-8-hour runtime.
Battlefront II's campaign is a canonical part of the franchise, filling in important details that lead up to the rise of the First Order in The Force Awakens and dropping clues as to what could be in store the next Star Wars film, The Last Jedi. If you're eager to see what happens in Battlefront II's story without the need to play through the campaign, we've compiled all of its cutscenes and some gameplay clips together in the video above so you can watch the entire tale unfold as if it were its own Star Wars movie.
Star Wars Battlefront II is available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. In our Battlefront II review-in-progress, critic Alessandro Fillari said the game's campaign "does a decent job of showing the internal strife within the Empire's ranks," though it ultimately "falls a bit short of making it a remarkable journey for its characters."
A new month means a slew of new programming to watch on Amazon Prime. The streaming video component of the service is ending the year on a high note by adding some notable franchises, the new Doctor Who Christmas special, and classic movies like Point Break to its offerings in December.
Most notable, the Rocky movies are coming to Prime. Rocky through Rocky V will all help Amazon kick off the month. They join Creed, which is already available to subscribers. Now Amazon just needs to snag the rights to Rocky Balboa and the collection will be complete.
The streamer is also adding the eight-film Marvel Animated Features collection. The cartoon movies, originally released direct-to-DVD, include Ultimate Avengers, Planet Hulk, Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme, and Thor: Tales of Asgard, among others. Originally released between 2006 and 2011, the films exist in their own universe apart from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
December also brings several more Thursday Night Football games, as the NFL presents the Saints vs. the Falcons, the Broncos vs. the Colts, and the Steelers vs. the Texans. Those games will air live through Amazon Prime.
With the arrival of the holidays comes a slew of new shows and movies on Netflix. It's a particularly busy month for the streamer, with many holiday specials joining the service, alongside several Netflix originals and a number of new library titles. With popular titles like V for Vendetta, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Disney's The Santa Clause trilogy arriving, December is going to be a busy month for streaming.
However, it's a Netflix original movie that you should be paying closest attention to. December 22 will see the premiere of Bright, starring Will Smith and Joel Edgerton. The fantasy crime movie is directed by David Ayer (Suicide Squad) with a script by Max Landis (American Ultra). The film marks Smith's first time starring in a Netflix project and he's certainly picked an interesting one.
Bright is set in a world where humans and fantasy creatures coexist. Smith plays an LAPD officer who is partnered with an Orc (Edgerton) when they find a very powerful magic wand that has the potential to change the world. Other new entries include Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, a new season of The Ranch, and Dave Chappelle's latest stand-up comedy special. It's not all good news, though.
There are also many titles departing the service in December. Black Snake Moan, Practical Magic, and 11 seasons of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia are just a few of the movies and shows that will no longer be available after the end of 2017. So make sure you watch them while you still can.
You can take a look at the full list of what's coming and going on Netflix throughout December below. You can also see everything that's arrived in November.
Arriving on Netflix, December 2017
December 1
8 Mile
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
All Hail King Julien: Season 5 (Netflix Original)
A StoryBots Christmas (Netflix Original)
August Rush
Chef & My Fridge: 2017
Dark: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Diana: In Her Own Words
Dreamcatcher
DreamWorks Home: For the Holidays (Netflix Original)
Easy: Season 2 (Netflix Original)
Exporting Raymond
Forbidden Games: The Justin Fashanu Story
Full Metal Jacket
Hitch
My Happy Family (Netflix Original)
Nacho Libre
Sahara
The Farthest - Voyager in Space
The Little Rascals
The Wackness
The Young Victoria
Tyson
V for Vendetta
TURN: Washington's Spies: Season 4
Voyeur (Netflix Original)
While You Were Sleeping
December 4
When Calls the Heart: Season 4
December 5
Craig Ferguson: Tickle Fight (Netflix Original)
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
December 6
Trolls Holiday Special
December 8
El Camino Christmas (Netflix Original)
The Crown: Season 2 (Netflix Original)
December 11
Catwoman
The Magicians: Season 2
December 12
Disney's The Santa Clause
Disney's The Santa Clause 2
Disney's The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
Judd Apatow: The Return (Netflix Original)
December 14
41 Dogs in My Home
A&E: When Patients Attack
Ainsley Eats the Streets: Season 1
Halt and Catch Fire: Season 4
December 15
A Five Star Life
Christmas Inheritance (Netflix Original)
Discovering Bigfoot
El Señor de los Cielos: Season 5
Erased: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Freeway: Crack In The System
Neverlake
Pottersville
Reggie Yates Outside Man: Volume 2
The Haunting of Helena
The Mafia Kills Only in Summer
The Ranch: Part 4 (Netflix Original)
Trollhunters: Part 2 (Netflix Original)
Ultimate Beastmaster (Netflix Original)
Wormwood (Netflix Original)
December 18
Hello, My Twenties!: Season 2 (Netflix Original)
December 19
Miss Me This Christmas
Russell Howard: Recalibrate (Netflix Original)
The Indian Detective: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
You Can't Fight Christmas
December 20
La Casa de Papel: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
December 21
Peaky Blinders: Season 4 (Netflix Original)
December 22
72 Dangerous Animals: Latin America: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Bright (Netflix Original)
Dope: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Fuller House: Season 3, New Episodes (Netflix Original)
Rosario Tijeras: Season 1
The Toys That Made Us: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
December 23
Creep 2
Myths & Monsters: Season 1
December 25
Cable Girls: Season 2 (Netflix Original)
Planet Earth II
December 26
Todd Barry: Spicy Honey (Netflix Original)
Travelers: Season 2 (Netflix Original)
All Hail King Julien: New Year's Eve Countdown 2018
Beat Bugs: New Year's Eve Countdown 2018
Larva: New Year's Eve Countdown 2018
Pororo: New Year's Eve Countdown 2018
Puffin Rock: New Year's Eve Countdown 2018
Skylanders Academy: New Year's Eve Countdown 2018
Trollhunters: New Year's Eve Countdown 2018
True and The Rainbow Kingdom: New Year's Eve Countdown 2018
Word Party: New Year's Eve Countdown 2018
December 27
Pusher
December 29
Bill Nye Saves the World: Season 2: Part 1 (Netflix Original)
Killer Legends
La Mante: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Shelter
The Climb (Netflix Original)
December 31
Dave Chappelle: Equanimity (Netflix Original)
Fun Mom Dinner
Leaving Netflix, December 2017
December 1
All I Want for Christmas
Bedazzled
Black Snake Moan
Compulsion
Cousin Bette
Hoffa
La Viuda Negra: Season 1
Picture Perfect
Practical Magic
Rebelde
Scary Movie 2
Scary Movie 3
Super Size Me
Terriers: Season 1
The Crucible
The Gospel Road: A Story of Jesus
The Man from Snowy River
Touch: Season 2
Toys
Two Girls and a Guy
Waking Life
Young Frankenstein
Yu-Gi-Oh! Bonds Beyond Time
Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal: Seasons 1-2
December 5
Holes
December 9
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Seasons 1-11
December 10
Lucky Number Slevin
Nightcrawler
The Rite
December 11
Dollhouse: Season 2
December 13
The Queen of Versailles
December 15
America's Funniest Home Video Kids: Holidazed
America's Funniest Home Videos Kids: Animals with Attitude: Season 1
America's Funniest Home Videos Kids: It's Tough Being a Kid: Season 1
America's Funniest Home Videos Kids: Playtime Ain't for Wimps: Season 1
America's Funniest Home Videos: New Collection D: Nincompoop Nation
Jeff Dunham: Arguing with Myself
December 19
Dance Academy: Series 1-3
December 20
Che: Parts 1 & 2
December 24
Amores Perros
December 25
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
In one of the more unexpected partnerships of recent years, Nintendo has announced that it's working with hardware manufacturer Nvidia to bring a bunch of Wii and GameCube games to the Nvidia Shield--but only in China.
The companies revealed that Nvidia's Android-based home console will feature ported versions of games like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. You can check Twilight Princess out in action in the video below, courtesy of Daniel Ahmed:
Here is some gameplay of Twilight Princess running on Nvidia Shield. It is said to be running in HD (Not sure what that means exactly in terms of the port). Wii games on Shield will cost RMB 68. pic.twitter.com/M84WfV9eWE
It's unclear how the games have been updated to run on the Shield, but we do know that, at the very least, the Shield's version of New Super Mario Bros. Wii will run at 1080p. We'll have to wait and see if any other graphical improvements have been done on the games.
If you happen to live in China and want to get your hands on one of these, it'll cost you RMB 1499 ($227). Games will be available for RMB 68 ($10). Unfortunately, it seems that this will likely remain China-exclusive permanently, as all communications from Nvidia and Nintendo indicate that it's specifically targeted at Chinese audiences. However, it's still cool to see Nintendo branching out and gradually letting its games be ported to other platforms.
"We have previously researched the possibility of selling our products in China, and that effort continues as we consider bringing Nintendo Switch to the Chinese market," he said.
The Game Awards are coming up this week, and now we've learned more about the celebrity and musical guests that will appear at the end-of-year awards show. Starting off, the French alt-rock band "Phoenix" will perform; last year's events featured performances by Run the Jewels and Mick Gordon crushing the Doom soundtrack.
New for the 2017 event is what's being called The Game Awards Orchestra, which brings together famous musicians who will perform video game music in a new style. Avenged Sevenfold guitarist Synyster Gates and cellist Tina Guo are among the performers in this supergroup.
Other famous people appearing at The Game Awards this year include Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima and film director Guillermo del Toro, along with actor Norman Reedus. That's a compelling group right there, as they were all slated to work together on Silent Hills before it was canceled. It'll be interesting to see if they have anything to say on the subject. Given del Toro's outspoken nature on the Konami situation. Not only that, but Reedus and del Toro will appear in Kojima's next game, Death Stranding, so this could get interesting.
Additionally, actress Aisha Tyler will appear at The Game Awards, as will actress Felicia Day and actor Zachary Levi. Legendary performance capture actor Andy Serkis will also be at the show, along with Rick and Morty creator Justin Roiland. There will be other "surprise guests to be announced" later, organizers said.
DayZ developer Bohemia has confirmed that the survival-action game is still headed to PlayStation 4, though players on that platform will have to wait a bit longer. A spokesperson for the developer told GameSpot that Xbox One owners will get the game first because the platform has an Early Access-style program, Game Preview, while Sony's PS4 does not offer anything like this.
"In short, yes, we're still going to release DayZ for PS4," the representative said. "It's mostly that we have the ability to do the Game Preview program with Xbox that has us choosing this platform for the first console release, and the partnership with Microsoft has been very productive so far. We're still excited to have DayZ in the hands of PS4 players, it'll just happen a bit later than the Xbox release."
The 1.0 version of DayZ will launch in 2018 alongside the Game Preview version on Xbox One. As for the PS4 edition, players may want to get comfortable. Bohemia said on Twitter that it cannot guarantee DayZ will launch on PS4 next year.
The Xbox One's Game Preview program lets you play upcoming games before they are released. One big new addition to the catalog this month will be PUBG, which enters Game Preview on December 12.
DayZ launched in December 2013 as an Early Access game for PC on Steam. Despite being unfinished, the $35 game has sold more than 3 million copies. Creator Dean Hall left Bohemia in 2014, going on to start his own studio in New Zealand.
This is not confirmed as of yet, so take this with a grain of salt for now. We'll report back with more details on God of War's release date as they become available. The discovery of the game's supposed release date comes just days before The Game Awards and Sony's own PlayStation Experience event later this week. It's possible Sony will officially announce the release date during one of the shows, but this is not confirmed as of yet.
The new God of War game was announced at E3 2016, but it was a no-show at last year's PlayStation Experience; we haven't seen much of it at al since the initial reveal. Game director Cory Barlog teased that the wait for new footage will be worth it. "I promise we will be showing something really awesome when it is ready," he said.
The massively popular PUBG is adding a new desert map, but that's not all. A retro-looking pickup truck is also being added to PUBG, and it'll be exclusive to the new map.
An image of this new vehicle was shared on Twitter by the game's official account. The image also shows off more of the map, which looks pretty desolate; take a look:
PUBG currently has one map, and it's a sprawling, lush environment. The new desert map is going to be significantly different--and that's pretty exciting to think about.
There is no word as of yet regarding when the desert map will become available, but it'll likely be after PUBG officially launches on PC in late December. PUBG is also slated to be released on Xbox One in Early Access on December 12.
Runaways probably shouldn't work as a TV show, much less as one of Marvel's streaming endeavors. We've had seven chances to see what Marvel's vision of a superhero show without the constraints of mainstream networks would be thanks to the extensive MCU-offshoot they've created over at Netflix, and what they've built so far is anything but conducive to teenage coming of age action-dramas. Marvel's streaming universe has plotted a course straight for the prestige drama: a world where heroes tote guns, snap bones, and largely scoff at the idea of wearing anything but purely utilitarian costumes.
That's not to say it hasn't worked--shows like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and The Punisher have, for the most part, despite--or maybe thanks to--the fact that these shows have gone great lengths to sidestep their comic book roots. They've garnered a wide range of fans and brought characters like Matt Murdock and Luke Cage to new levels of prominence, and the point's been proven: Sometimes you need to downplay the superhero angle to make superheroes work.
But where does that leave the show that can't divorce itself from comic book camp--one with a telepathic dinosaur, a bubbly tween in a cat ear hat with super strength, and a girl who can turn herself into sparkly rainbow light? When you put it that way, Runaways should be a catastrophe for Marvel's streaming formula, but somewhere along the line, a miraculous thing happened. Maybe it's the new platform (Hulu, rather than Netflix), or the showrunners with some teen drama chops (Gossip Girl and The O.C.), but either way, Runaways embraces its comic book roots, and does it in spectacular fashion.
That's not to say Runaways is a slavish adaptation of the source material. It's actually pretty far from it, and if you're looking for a shot-for-shot recreation of your favorite issues of Brian K. Vaughn and Adrian Alopha's original run, you're out of luck (at least, based on the episodes available so far). Runaways as a show is taking some pretty obvious liberties with its cast and plot. Molly, the bubbly kid sister with super strength has been aged up, made more independent, and positioned as the adopted sister of Gert Yorkes, while the entire roster of adults has been expanded in terms of character depth and involvement in the story. Maybe most importantly, their cult-like organization, The Pride, has been given a new and (currently) mysterious purpose.
It's a pretty far cry from what a diehard Runaways comics purist might expect. In fact, bearing in mind that we only have four episodes to work from, it looks like the team might not actually "run away" anywhere. Instead, an increased focus on the parents and the intrigue of just what The Pride actually wants makes it easy to infer that there will likely be very little escaping from their families, at least for this first season. It's feeling less like a ragtag group of caravaning, emancipated teens and more like a secret club operating under their parents' noses. As of episode four, the "Runaways" moniker is getting used as the catch-all for The Pride's sacrifices, rather than the team itself.
But regardless of those narrative liberties, Runaways exalts in the fact that it's drawing from a well of pure, unfiltered super hero bombast. It's making absolutely no apologies for itself. The aforementioned telepathic dinosaur? Comics fans might remember her as Old Lace, the genetically engineered guard dog of the otherwise super-powerless Gert Yorkes. Old Lace is one of Runaways' most absurd features and pretty high up on the list of things a live action adaptation should be bending over backwards to handwave away, gloss over, or cut entirely. Instead, we get a close encounter with Old Lace almost immediately, in the first episode.
Rather than trying to paint the inherent camp of an actual living, breathing dinosaur running around Los Angeles away into the background, Runaways turned her into a conversation piece to open the show. That displays a level of trust in audiences previously unheard of in the Marvel streaming world--the confidence that viewers are going to see a dinosaur in a basement and think "I want to know more" instead of "this is completely ridiculous, what else is on?"
But Old Lace isn't even the most comic book-flavored accent the show's folded in without a hint of self-conscious cringing. The kids themselves are embroiled in their parent's (potentially extraterrestrial? Demonic? Mutant?) conspiracy almost instantaneously by way of stumbling across a trap door in a parent's office, leading to a full on gothic-flavored ritual altar complete with ominous red robes and a magical sound barrier.
And not once does the show pause to wring its hands by way of explanation. Sure, the kids are understandably baffled, but the story itself is full speed ahead. The confusion and concern exist in the universe of the story itself as part of the narrative, but never punch through the fourth wall to wink or nudge at viewers hoping that they'll write a hall pass on this one. No one ever turns to the camera to voice their incredulity. Everyone is completely bought into the stakes of their situation.
They find an excuse to put all-american jock Chase Stein in his trademark green tinted x-ray goggles by Episode 2. Molly, the cat ear-wearing pre-teen, is lifting up cars in Ep 1. Karolina, reinvented for live action to be the daughter of a cult-like mega-church founder, is finding out she can transform into prismatic light by the third or fourth time we see her alone. By Ep. 4, Chase, straight faced and earnest, informs his father than his engineering passion project is a pair of ambiguously purpose gauntlets he calls "Fistigons," a name plucked right off the page.
Runaways is a show that not only expects its viewers to be completely on board with over the top comic book flavor; it also trusts them to enthusiastically play along--so much that it's hurtling towards as many superhero tropes as it can shake out of its source material, as quickly as it possibly can. And if the enthusiasm and confidence of first four episodes are any indication, the rest of the season is going to be an absolute blast.
Runaways is streaming now on Hulu.
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