The Black Friday 2018 deals are coming in thick and fast, and the event hasn't even started yet! This year, the annual shopping holiday is set to officially begin on November 23 but retailers are giving prospective spenders a heads-up. The first off the starting line was Target, but others have now followed.
If you're anything like us, you'll find it all a bit overwhelming. The ridiculous amount of deals whizzing about the internet right now makes it hard to focus on the best, so we've decided to pick through them and pull out the ones we think are worth consideration.
Online shoppers will get access to Walmart's discounts through Walmart.com on Wednesday, November 21 at 10 PM ET (7 PM PT). Since supplies can be limited, it's worth scoping out what you want ahead of time to give yourself the best chance of scooping it up.
Walmart has a nice selection of hardware and games on offer. For example, if you're in the market for Sony's latest system, the PS4 Slim 1TB with Spider-Man will be available for $199--it's not the more powerful PS4 Pro, but this is still a great price for current hardware.
Similarly, the Xbox One S Minecraft Creators Bundle is going to be knocked down to $199. Alternatively, you can opt for the Xbox One X and save $100 on it, meaning you'll pay $399. Nintendo Switch, meanwhile, will be available for $299 with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
The latest entry in Ubisoft's series, Assassin's Creed Odyssey follows in Assassin's Creed Origins' footsteps by leaning further into role-playing, taking inspiration from CD Projekt Red's The Witcher 3. It offers a massive open world to explore, both on land and at seas, and numerous quests to undertake.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 makes some big changes to Activision's blockbuster first-person shooter series. This year, it launches without a story campaign, but instead doubles down on multiplayer with a variety of modes. In addition to the standard multiplayer suite, there's also the Zombies mode. However, perhaps the biggest surprise is Blackout, Call of Duty's take on the battle royale genre. It manages to provide an exciting new flavour to proceedings by adding perks and Call of Duty's satisfying gunplay into the mix. Well worth checking out, especially for $40.
With Forza Horizon 4, developer Playground Games cements itself as the premier racing game studio of today. Bringing its brand of highly customizable racing to the shores of Great Britain, Horizon is an incredibly fun and satisfying game that can be enjoyed by pretty much anyone. If you're into racing games as a genre, it's a must-play. If you haven't played one in a while, we'd consider picking this up, as it's very approachable and immediately fun. It must be noted that, like all first-party Xbox One games, Forza Horizon 4 is also available through Xbox Game Pass. This means you get access to the game if you sign up to the service.
Destiny 2: Forsaken is a huge helping of new content for fans of Bungie's online shooter. Perhaps the most exciting contribution to the broader Destiny 2 experience is a story that adopts a darker, more personal tone, making for what is arguably one of the most memorable narrative moments in the series' history. But for those looking for exciting new gameplay ideas, Bungie has Gambit, which we described as a "clever combination of seemingly disparate elements." If you fell off Destiny 2, this may be the excuse you need to jump back in.
If you've ever met a Monster Hunter fan you'll know just how dedicated and passionate they are to Capcom's franchise. Until now, however, it's been quite difficult for the average person to jump in and see what all the fuss was about. For Monster Hunter World, the first console entry in the series for quite some time, Capcom has made a number of smart tweaks that make it welcoming for newcomers. However, it has done this without sacrificing what makes Monster Hunter a unique, compelling experience. If you're going to be converted, this is the game that'll do it.
While Fortnite might be the talk of the town right now, PlayerUknown's Battlegrounds still presents a compelling battle royale experience, especially for those who want realistic shooting and tactical strategy above everything else. PUBG is still the tense, skill-based shooter it was when it took the world by storm last year, and if you haven't played it yet this is a fantastic price.
SoulCalibur VI brings Bandai Namco's weapons-based fighting game series to the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. This entry is a surprisingly feature-rich package, with a lengthy single-player story that asks players to create a unique character and take it across the world to fight against enemies and complete quests. There's also a second single-player mode that focuses on the story of the main cast, and this is all held together by satisfying and easy to learn fighting mechanics.
Resident Evil VII may have been released in January 2017, but it remains one of the best survival horror games in recent memory. Switching to the first-person perspective was a risky move for Capcom, but it managed to deliver an exceptional experience that marries the tension of older entries in the series--achieved through both cinematic presentation and constrained gunplay--with the trimmings of a modern, big budget game. It's got a great story, and some very memorable scares--perfect for the Christmas period.
Marvel's Spider-Man, which was developed by Insomniac Games, is easily one of the best games of the year and undoubtedly Spidey's greatest video game adaptation. If you're a fan of the character, you have to play it, and this bundle just so happens to be one of the cheapest ways to do so. Walmart is offering the game, along with a 1TB version of the PS4 Slim in one bundle for just $199, which is a nice price.
The Xbox One X is currently the most powerful video game console on the market, giving those with a 4K TV the option to output in native 4K resolution and have their games looking their best. If you've heard all the buzz about Red Dead Redemption 2 and have been thinking about picking up a console to play it, we'd recommend the Xbox One X. Microsoft also has a variety of services that can be beneficial for new Xbox One owners, most notably Xbox Game Pass. Subscribe to this and you'll be able to download and play games from a library of digital titles spanning numerous genres.
The weekly reset in Destiny 2 has taken place. For this week, we aren't seeing the introduction of a bunch of new content, but the missions offered by Petra in the Dreaming City have restarted once again. We're back to the start of a three-week cycle as the Awoken continue to battle the curse--something Petra acknowledges in her dialogue when you first speak with her. She also has the typical bounty for the Ascendant Challenge, which is a return to the challenge first seen in Week 5 of this season. Here's what you need to do and where to go to find the portal that can net you some Powerful gear.
Like in past weeks, the Ascendant Challenge involves using a specific item (a Tincture of Queensfoil) to receive the Ascendance buff. This allows you to see a Taken portal that sends you to the Ascendant Plane to do a mission of sorts. But the portal's location and your objective has been different each week, and that's true for Week 5. Before starting, though, be sure to grab the corresponding bounty from Petra, as that's the key to earning a piece of Powerful gear.
This week's portal is found inside a Lost Sector (Bay of Drowned Wishes) located right near Dreaming City's landing zone in Divalian Mists. You'll move to the midway point of the Lost Sector, killing things until a little before you reach a door that's locked. (You can skip the enemies, but killing them will likely be easier.) If you've used your Tincture of Queensfoil, you'll see the portal and can jump through to reach the Ascendant Plane location, Agonarch Abyss.
Unfortunately, there's a good deal of platforming involved here. You'll make your way down to a temple where a large tree is. Blight balls spawn in that slow your movement, and you'll have to deal with a pair of wizards who spawn in additional Thrall enemies. Take out the wizards and you're all done. You can see this all in our video guide.
The chest that you can then open is, as always, nothing special. But finishing the Ascendant Challenge completes the bounty from Petra, which nets you a piece of Powerful gear.
When you speak to Petra, you'll notice she acknowledges that things have returned to the way they were three weeks ago. She's again offering the first of the three story missions where you rescue her associates. Meanwhile, Bungie has announced there are changes coming for Exotics, Masterwork Cores, and Iron Banner.
Fallout 76, the newest installment in Bethesda's post-apocalyptic RPG series, officially launches for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on Wednesday, November 14, but some players won't have to wait until then to start exploring the irradiated ruins of West Virginia. Users on Reddit have pointed out that the Fallout 76 servers are now live ahead of its release date, so you can jump in a little early if you have the game.
Unlike previous entries in the series, Fallout 76 is always-online and requires a persistent internet connection, even if you plan on playing solo. GameSpot booted up Fallout 76 on Xbox One today and can verify that its servers are indeed live. If you managed to get your hands on an early copy of the game or have it pre-loaded on PC, that means you won't have to wait until November 14 to start playing.
That said, given the fact that it still isn't widely available, you may not run into many other players in Fallout 76 just yet. While the game can still work as a solo adventure, it places a heavy emphasis on multiplayer. For instance, Fallout 76 completely eschews NPCs; the only human characters you'll encounter in the game are other players, making for a very different kind of RPG than previous Fallout games.
Taking such a radically different approach with Fallout 76 was "scary," Bethesda admits, but the publisher is committed to supporting the title. Bethesda boss Pete Hines said Fallout 76 servers will be up "forever." He told GameSpot, "We're going to keep going as long as people keep playing it and it shows no sign of slowing down."
In the meantime, PS4 players still have a little more time to claim some Fallout 76 freebies. From now until November 14, you can get three Fallout 76 avatars and a theme for your PS4, whether you've pre-ordered the game or not. There are other bonuses available; you can read more about them in our Fallout 76 pre-order guide.
We've updated this post with the details for the third and final step of Destiny 2's Murder Mystery quest, which unlocked on November 13. Here's what you need to know to complete all three steps and claim Thunderlord.
Destiny 2's Festival of the Lost has ended, but there's still one piece of Destiny's Halloween-themed event to go. It's a murder mystery quest line Bungie teased at the start of the Festival, in which players are tasked with figuring out what happened to Master Ives, the Cryptarch formerly seen in the Reef back in the first Destiny.
Ives' death is both a story point and a quest to get a new Exotic weapon. That gun is Thunderlord, a lightning-slinging machine gun from the original Destiny that, until now, hadn't shown up in the sequel. Unlocking it is a multi-step but relatively low-level quest, whose first step unlocked on October 30, the second on November 6, and the final on November 13. With that last step, you'll return to some familiar territory if you've played Destiny 1: Earth's Cosmodrome in Old Russia.
To start it, head to Amanda Holliday in the Tower, where you'll receive Master Ives' journal. The pursuit item is colored gold, like other Exotic weapons quests, and requires players to search out the missing pages from Ives' diary out in the world. Here's how to solve the mystery and get Thunderlord.
Step 1: The Crytarch's Journal
Clearing that first step is actually pretty easy to accomplish. There are 10 pages to acquire, and players can get them either by finding Legendary engrams in various activities--including Gambit, the Crucible, Strikes, and everything else you already do in Destiny 2--or from killing tougher Fallen enemies in the EDZ on Earth.
Actually snagging all the pages is an easy feat to knock out if you head to the EDZ. You're looking for Fallen with orange-colored health bars, which are otherwise known as Elite bad guys. You need the orange enemies in particular; you won't get pages from Majors, who have yellow health bars, like the ones designated as high-value targets, for instance.
The quickest way to find Elite Fallen to kill in the EDZ is to find a public event and join it. The Glimmer Mining event that takes place in various places in the EDZ is a solid bet, especially if you knock it up to its Heroic level. You won't get a page for every Elite you kill, but the drop rate is pretty high--one or two public events should do it.
If you don't feel like messing around on Earth, you can also spend some shards at the Cryptarch in the Tower to quickly gather up the Legendary engrams you need to complete the step. That method will cost you 250 Legendary shards if you buy 10 engrams to get all 10 pages. Given how easy it is to get the pages in the EDZ or by earning Legendaries organically, though, you probably don't need to waste the shards.
Step 2: Hunting The Fallen
The second step is almost as quick and easy as the first. It returns you to the EDZ, this time to complete four Lost Sectors. You'll start with a batch of three that need cleaning out: Atrium, Widow's Walk, and Terminus East. If you're not familiar with the names, those are the three Lost Sectors located in the Trostland area of the EDZ.
You'll find Atrium in the church where Devrim Kay hangs out, Widow's Walk in the northwest corner of the area, and Terminus East in the northeast corner. Once you've wrecked the Major enemies in all three, you'll get a new step that directs you to yet another Lost Sector, called Whispered Falls.
Jump on your Sparrow and drive west to the Outskirts area, and look for the Lost Sector up in the hills in the west end of the area. It's north of the narrower portion of the map you drive through to access Winding Cove.
Kill the Major in Whispered Falls and you'll need to wait for Amanda Holliday to summon you back to the Tower. She'll eventually give you new coordinates, which will send you to the third and final stage of the quest.
Step 3: Return To The Cosmodrome
Your final step for the mission unlocks when you're prompted to return to Amanda Holliday. She'll identify a strange teleporter in Earth's European Dead Zone you should go check out--it's actually a Mission that starts you on the final step of the quest. To get there, warp into the Winding Cove location in the EDZ, then ride east toward the Outskirts. You'll find the mission start in the northern part of the canyon in the Whispered Falls Lost Sector. Fight your way inside to reach the teleporter.
Starting the mission warps you back to the Cosmodrome, the place where Destiny players first started way back in the beginning of the original game. You're basically following the path of the very first Destiny mission, fighting through Fallen into the Wall around the Cosmodrome. Keep following the mission markers until you get inside, where you'll face a big battle with a Fallen Captain called Kikliss, Murderer, and a huge batch of minion enemies.
This is the toughest fight of the mission by far, so bring your best guns and try to keep moving. Smaller Fallen enemies will continually spawn into the battle, so Supers that take out lots of enemies at once or are good for crowd control will help. Once you damage Kikliss enough, a giant Servitor will join the fight, which makes it even more annoying. Try to keep space between you and Kikliss while you focus your fire on the Servitor, since it can make other enemies invincible--including the boss.
Killing the Servitor should make it a little easier to take down Kikliss, which is your main objective for the mission. Once you do, you'll be prompted to fight your way back out the Cosmodrome. Back outside, you'll get a message from Amanda Holliday suggesting that this could be your last time back in the Cosmodrome, and you'll see an objective prompt reading, "Leave The Cosmodrome?" It seems Destiny 2 is suggesting there might be more secrets to find hidden in Russia, so take your time in leaving to look around. We haven't found whatever secret the game is hinting at just yet, but we'll update this guide when we do.
If you approach the teleporter near where you started, you'll be sent back to orbit and prompted to return to Holliday in the Tower. When you do, she'll wonder about what the Fallen who killed Master Ives were really after, but she'll also thank you for avenging his death. Your final reward is a "trinket" she found in his stuff, which is none other than the sparking machine gun Thunderlord. The Exotic goes in your Heavy weapon slot, and carries the "Reign Havoc" perk, which causes lightning strikes from the sky as you rack up kills with bullets.
The nominees have been announced for 2018's The Game Awards. This year Sony Santa Monica's God of War and Rockstar Games' Red Dead Redemption 2 are the two front-runners, locked neck-and-neck at eight nominations each including Game of the Year. Other GOTY contenders include Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Celeste, Spider-Man, and Monster Hunter: World.
Fortnite snagged four nominations of its own including Best Ongoing Game, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Destiny 2: Forsaken, and Detroit: Become Human each got three nominations. Fans can vote for their favorites through the official site. The awards will air live on Thursday, December 6 at 9 PM ET / 6 PM PT.
As always the award show will feature exclusive world premieres and musical performances. You can purchase tickets here, starting at $70. The show is once again being organized and hosted by gaming industry veteran Geoff Keighley. Keighley will also produce a limited podcast series in partnership with Spotify to take a closer look at the best game music of the year.
A total of 68 media partners, including GameSpot, are voting to decide the winners of the main categories. You can check out the full list of nominees below.
Best Buy has released its new weekly ad, which lists all the video games, consoles, and accessories that are on sale this week. It's worth noting before we dive into it that if you find something you want to buy, you'll want to check out our extensive Black Friday coverage to see if you'll be able to get a better deal next week. Tons of phenomenal deals will be available on Black Friday/Cyber Monday, so don't spend more than you need to.
With that out of the way, let's look at what discounts are available this week. If you pre-order Super Smash Bros Ultimate, which comes out December 7, you'll get a $10 reward certificate, as well as a collectible coin. Pre-ordering Just Cause 4 also gets you a $10 reward (but no coin). And if you buy NBA 2K19, you'll get a free NBA Funko Pop.
Anyone looking to buy Battlefield V can trade in any of these first-person shooters to get an additional $10 toward your purchase of Battlefield V on top of the trade-in value. Buy an Xbox One, and you can save $20 on three months' worth of Xbox Live Gold or an additional wireless controller. (Note that much better console deals will be available next week.) Nintendo Switch owners can also pick up any two Nintendo Labo kits for $99 total.
Hot on the heels of yesterday's first Toy Story 4 teaser, a new promo has arrived for the upcoming Pixar sequel. Like the first trailer, this one doesn't feature any footage from the movie, but it is a hilarious couple of minutes with a couple of special guests.
The video takes the form of a trailer reaction video, where a pair of toys at a fairground attraction--Ducky and Bunny--discuss the teaser. They are very excited about the prospect of a new Toy Story movie, but have some trouble remembering Buzz Lightyear's famous catchphrase. Luckily Woody and Buzz are on hand to help out. Ducky and Bunny are voiced by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, with Tom Hanks and Tim Allen as Woody and Buzz. Check it out above.
Toy Story 4 hits theaters on June 21, 2019. All the main cast return--as well as Hanks and Allen, there's Annie Potts (Bo Peep), Joan Cusack (Jessie), Blake Clark (Slinky Dog), Wallace Shawn (Rex), and John Ratzenberger (Hamm). There's also a new role for Arrested Development's Tony Hale, playing the character Forky, who was introduced in the first teaser.
The movie is directed by Josh Cooley, who previously co-wrote Inside Out for Pixar, and Jonas Rivera. It was originally announced back in 2014 with a 2017 release date, but delays caused the film to switch release slots with The Incredibles 2. In addition, former Disney Animation head John Lasseter was set to direct, but sexual harassment allegations against him resulted in him stepping away and ultimately leaving the company.
In a recent interview, Hanks spoke about what fans can expect from the movie. "Toy Story 4 is going to have an impactful ending," he revealed. "The way you record Toy Story; you're in a room with the team that has created it. When I went in for my last day of recording, I wanted to have my back to them, because usually you're facing them so you can look right up and you can talk about it. But I didn't want to see them and I wanted to pretend they couldn't see me. When I realized what they were going for, I realized, 'Oh, this is a moment in history.'"
Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu & Let's Go Eevee might not be the core RPG some fans were hoping for, but it does mark the first major Pokemon game released on Nintendo Switch. The pair are designed to act as a form of bridge between the mainline series and Pokemon Go, with a simpler throwing mechanic for catching new creatures and a stripped-down combat system.
The big question, however, is: are they any good? With the games' release date fast approaching, reviews have begun to go live. GameSpot's Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu / Eevee review-in-progress awarded the games an 8/10, with critic Jake Dekker stating they "take the Pokemon formula in some exciting new directions." Read on for a wider selection of reviews, or check out GameSpot sister site Metacritic for more.
Game: Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu / Let's Go Eevee
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Developer / publisher: Game Freak / The Pokemon Company, Nintendo
Release date: November 16
Price: US $60 / £50 / AU $80
GameSpot -- 8/10 (Review-in-progress)
"Despite concessions, Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee are delightful reimaginings of the series' origins and a deep RPG in their own right. It makes a lot of smart improvements on the original Red, Blue and Yellow while holding on to what made them so special in the first place. Fans of the series might be let down by the lack of features they've come to expect, but Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee take the Pokemon formula in some exciting new directions." -- Jake Dekker [Full review]
IGN -- 8.3/10
"Returning to Kanto in Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu or Eevee is almost as much fun and as heartwarming as I'd hoped it would be with its fresh, colorful design and new mechanics. Pikachu and Eevee are adorable, overpowered leads with the capability to learn some incredible moves, and they feel special both in and out of battle. The Pokemon Go catching system is a more relaxing way to fill out the Pokedex and grind for experience, and I never felt like I was missing out on battles because of it. Kanto is littered with charismatic trainers ready to fight. Some irritating UI design and issues with its motion controls add up to be a minor annoyance, but the addicting capture cycle and great challenges in the post-game keep me coming back to play." -- Miranda Sanchez [Full review]
Eurogamer -- Recommended
"Important as looks may be to the world of Pokemon, as much as it has its quirks, as much as it can be uneven--how I wish, at times, that it would stop trying to be cute and just let the world do the talking, instead of flying straight past cute and into excessively twee, as it often does - Let's Go has succeeded almost everywhere else. Miraculously, I think it works, for both the little one curled up in that back seat and this big one, who really wishes he didn't have to drive." -- Chris Tapsell [Full review]
Polygon -- No score
"I will always find something comforting about the Kanto region, a place that feels as familiar to me now as any place I've lived in. And the undeniable cuteness of becoming best friends with Eevee is a touch that almost by itself justifies playing through the game. Shedding expectations about what Pokemon is supposed to be is the toughest challenge here, more than trying to become a Pokemon master. But we're now in a new era of Pokemon, with a new generation of young trainers. Maybe the only way forward is to let go of the past." -- Allegra Frank [Full review]
The Independent -- No score
"Remarkably, Let's Go Eevee and Pikachu manages to remix the worn formula without breaking it, serving up a nostalgic game that feels like classic Pokemon. Here's hoping the next core Switch game builds on this for a completely fresh adventure." -- Jack Shepherd [Full review]
Red Dead Redemption 2's strong sales appear to have continued, at least in the UK, with Rockstar's open-world game finishing at No.1 for the third consecutive week, according to sales monitor Chart-Track. In fact, the entire top five is unchanged: Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 beats FIFA 19 to No.2 by just a few hundred units, while Forza Horizon 4 and Spider-Man PS4 continue to chart well.
This week's solitary new entry is 2K's Carnival Games, which debuts at No.20. Red Dead's strong showing this week is no surprise, given its launch week sales. Rockstar stated earlier this month that the game boasted the "single biggest opening weekend in the history of entertainment," with sales surpassing $725 million that weekend.
If you're one of those millions who picked up Red Dead Redemption 2 already, check out our tips for beginners and read all about what to do with your legendary bear pelt. If you're still on the fence or deciding on a platform, read up on which console performs better, and check out GameSpot's Red Dead Redemption 2 review. "Red Dead Redemption 2 is an excellent prequel, but it's also an emotional, thought-provoking story in its own right, and it's a world that is hard to leave when it's done," wrote critic Kallie Plagge.
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.
The first trailer for the Pokemon: Detective Pikachu film is here. The live-action movie based on the hugely popular game series is released next May and stars Ryan Reynolds as the world-famous yellow Pokemon.
The trailer reveals that the movie is set in Ryme City, where Pokemon exist alongside humans. A famous private detective has gone missing, leading his son Tim to start investigating what has happened to him. But Tim used to be an aspiring Pokemon trainer, and with his ability to hear what Pikachu can say to him, the pair team up to solve the mystery. And of course, the trailer is also packed with other Pokemon, including Psyduck, Bulbasaur, Charizard, and Greninja. Check it out above.
The cast also includes Justice Smith (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), Kathryn Newton (Blockers), Ken Watanabe (Godzilla, Inception), and Bill Nighy (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). Detective Pikachu is directed by Rob Letterman, who previously helmed Goosebumps, Captain Underpants, and Shark Tale. The movie hits theaters on May 10, 2019.
Detective Pikachu is based on the video game of the same name. A shorter, downloadable version of the game was released in Japan in 2016, with the full version released worldwide in March 2018. In her review for GameSpot, Kallie Plagge said that it is a "simple game," with "not much variety to the way you solve cases." Nevertheless, "it's full of heart, and its silly characters and intentionally campy tone are what make it fun."
Tributes have been coming in for Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee, who has died at the age of 95. Lee passed away today, November 12, and notable figures from the worlds of movies, TV, and comic books have taken to social media to pay tribute to him and his effect on their lives.
Many of the current stars of Marvel superhero movies offered their respects to Lee, who hepled create some of the most famous superheroes of all time. Captain America actor Chris Evans said, "There will never be another Stan Lee. For decades he provided both young and old with adventure, escape, comfort, confidence, inspiration, strength, friendship and joy." He was joined by Wolverine star Hugh Jackman who described Lee as "a pioneering force in the superhero universe. I'm proud to have been a small part of his legacy and... to have helped bring one of his characters to life."
Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios, said that "no one has had more of an impact on my career and everything we do at Marvel Studios than Stan Lee. Stan leaves an extraordinary legacy that will outlive us all." Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr. posted an image of himself and Lee on-set together, while Spider-Man star Tom Holland called him "the father of Marvel" who "made so many people so incredibly happy."
Guardians of the Galaxy star Zoe Saldana also posted an on-set image of Lee, director James Gunn, and herself on-set, and called him an "inspiration and superhero to us all."
Today we lost one of the greats. @TheRealStanLee, you were a inspiration and superhero to us all. Thank you for contributing so much- and giving us all something to aspire to! 💚 #ripstanleepic.twitter.com/GzFhwgU0WA
Josh Brolin, who played Thanos in this year's Avengers: Infinity War, explained the extent to which Lee's work had influenced him. "To those of us who have been so deeply affected by the humanity of his imagination, the understanding of reaching beyond our potential and the necessity of tapping into our immeasurable imaginations, we thank you and are forever indebted," he said.
Disney boss Bob Iger released a statement as part of a tribute on the official Marvel website. "Stan Lee was as extraordinary as the characters he created," Iger said. "A superhero in his own right to Marvel fans around the world, Stan had the power to inspire, to entertain, and to connect. The scale of his imagination was only exceeded by the size of his heart."
Lee's official Twitter feed also offered its own simple tribute, which you can see below:
There were also tributes from the wider community of actors, musicians, politicians, and comic book creators. Artist Rob Liefield, who co-created Deadpool, spoke about the last time he saw Lee, back in August. "He was peaceful and comfortable and in great spirits," he wrote. "He sat in his favorite chair overlooking his pool and the beautiful canyons. I thanked him for being a visionary, not just creatively, but being a visionary in bringing Marvel to Hollywood, knowing how well they would be served by TV and film."
Filmmaker and host of AMC's Comic-Book Men Kevin Smith, who directed Lee in his movie Mall Rats, wrote about how Lee's creations has been an inspiration to him and to so many fans. "You dreamed up some of my favorite modern myths and created characters that instilled in me a moral barometer, teaching me right from wrong and showing me it's always better to be a hero instead of a villain," he wrote. "Your characters represented us: yes, they had extraordinary, unbelievable abilities, but they were also reflections of a world we knew, where a Spider-Man is really just a boy who wants to help."
Marvel's comic book rivals DC also posted a moving tribute to Lee. And of course, Lee's legacy will also live on the many cameos he filmed for Marvel movies--check out our look at these scenes here.
Thanks for everything Stan Lee! What a life, so well lived. I consider myself extraordinarily lucky to have gotten to meet you and to have played in the world you created. 🙏♥️ pic.twitter.com/ryUjG7PL8D
It has been confirmed that the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones will premiere in April 2019. This brings the series back in line with the premieres of season 4, 5, and 6, following Season 7's July 2017 debut.
The news was revealed in a new teaser tweeted by HBO. The video doesn't contain any footage from the new season, and we don't yet have the exact date that it will premiere. But it's an exciting reminder of all the main characters and promises that the new season will be a spectacular one. Check it out above.
This teaser follows the lengthy cover feature which Entertainment Week published earlier this month, that contained plenty of tidbits about the final season. While HBO has been extremely protective of spoilers and secrets, showrunners DB Weiss and David Benioff did give a few hints about what we can expect. They revealed that the opening of Season 8 will mirror that of Season 1, with Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) riding to Winterfell with her armies in preparation for the arrival of the Army of the Dead. This is a deliberate call all the way back to the first episode in 2011.
In addition, Jon Snow actor Kit Harington spoke about the full table read of Season 8's scripts. He stated that Benioff and Weiss started the session by asking the cast members to avoid doing anything that might give away any of the new season's secrets, no matter how small. Harington then revealed that the scripts made him cry twice.
EW have also revealed that at one stage Benioff and Weiss were considering finishing the show with three theatrical movies rather than six episodes. Season 8 will contain the biggest battle of the show's history, and the pair were concerned that HBO's budget might not allow them to do what they wanted.
In related news, production is set to begin the prequel spin-off show next year. Game of Thrones creator George RR Martin stated on his blog that the series, which is co-written with Jane Goldman (Kick-Ass, Kingsmen) will be titled The Long Night. However, he subsequently denied that this was the title, writing that "HBO has informed me that the Jane Goldman pilot is not (yet) titled THE LONG NIGHT. That is certainly the title I prefer, but for the moment the pilot is still officially UNTITLED. So… mea culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa."
The "massive monster brawl movie" that director Adam Wingard (Blair Witch, Death Note) teased back in 2017 has finally begun production. According to Screen Rant, Warner Bros. has announced that Godzilla vs. Kong's production is officially underway.
In addition to announcing that the film has entered production, Warner Bros. has released Godzilla vs. Kong's official plot synopsis. As stated, the film will see the legendary monsters face each other with Earth as the battleground. Monarch, a top-secret organization first introduced in Legendary Pictures' 2014 Godzilla and that later appeared in 2017's Kong: Skull Island, will embark on an expedition to uncover the truth behind the behemoths' origins. You can read the full synopsis below:
In a time when monsters walk the Earth, humanity's fight for its future sets Godzilla and Kong on a collision course that will see the two most powerful forces of nature on the planet collide in a spectacular battle for the ages. As Monarch embarks on a perilous mission into uncharted terrain and unearths clues to the Titans' origins, a human conspiracy threatens to wipe the creatures, both good and bad, from the face of the earth forever.
Warner Bros. has also made some casting announcements in recent months. In addition to the titular monsters, Godzilla vs. Kong will include Alexander Skarsgård (Zoolander and Zoolander 2, Battleship), Eiza González (Horton Hears a Who!, Baby Driver), Rebecca Hall (Iron Man 3, Transcendence), Brian Tyree Henry (White Boy Rick, Widows), Kyle Chandler (Zero Dark Thirty, The Wolf of Wall Street), and more. Millie Bobby Brown of Stranger Things fame is reported to reprise her role from Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which is scheduled to debut in theatres in May 2019.
This upcoming film won't be the first time the two have battled each other. Fans of the MonsterVerse will remember 1962's King Kong vs. Godzilla. Unlike that film, which didn't have a clear winner, Godzilla vs. Kong will see a definitive victor emerge--at least according to Wingard. "I do want there to be a winner," Wingard told Entertainment Weekly during the release of 2017's Death Note. "The original film was very fun, but you feel a little let down that the movie doesn't take a definitive stance. People are still debating now who won in that original movie, you know. So, I do want people to walk away from this film feeling like, Okay, there is a winner."
We'll have to see who Wingard crowns the definitive winner when Godzilla vs. Kong hits theatres in May 2020.
Microsoft announced even more backwards compatible games coming to the Xbox One at its X018 conference. On November 13, the service will add three more games: the full trilogy of Final Fantasy XIII titles with Xbox One X enhancements. Plus Civilization Revolution, which is already available via backwards compatibility, will be getting some Xbox One X upgrades as well. [Update: The latest batch of backwards compatible games is now live on Xbox One.]
The original Final Fantasy XIII was Square Enix's big tentpole title in its marquee franchise. For its two sequels--Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII--the studio focused more singularly on the central character of Lightning and blended in some action game mechanics. While FFXIII's narrative was built to stand alone, XIII-2 and Lightning Returns are part of a matched set, with a cliffhanger that neatly leads from one into the other.
Civilization Revolution took the sim aspects of the popular strategy series and simplified them for a more quick and casual experience. That helps the interface work a little better on consoles, but the game has hit tons of other platforms including mobile devices.
As always, once these go live on the service, if you already own these games you can insert the disc to start the download, or find the digital version in your Games section on the dashboard. The number of games on Xbox One is big and constantly growing, so check out our full list of backwards compatible games to see if any of your nostalgic favorites are already available.
When Jovan Adepo first read the script for Overlord during the auditioning process, he was excited. "I was just thinking to myself, 'This is an incredibly ambitious film,'" the actor told GameSpot during a recent interview.
Overlord follows a small squad of World War II paratroopers on a mission to destroy a radio tower on the eve of the famous Normandy landing in 1944. In a small French village, they discover horrifying experiments being perpetrated by evil Nazi scientists. Adepo plays Boyce, a member of the squad and the movie's main protagonist.
Naturally, in addition to the film's ambition, Adepo also liked one of the names attached to the movie: producer J.J. Abrams. "When my agent first told me about it and he told me who was involved, you know, I was obviously intrigued," Adepo said. But it was more than just working with Abrams. Adepo spent much of production wondering the same thing as many fans: whether Overlord was going to be a Cloverfield movie.
"I'm a digger, man. I came from a journalist background, so I'm naturally very nosy," Adepo said. "I was watching Cloverfield Paradox right after the Super Bowl, and I was really curious as to how we were going to be connected to them, or if we were at all."
The question was treated as mystery internally, just like it was to those outside the movie. At one point, Adepo flat out asked: "It might not have been the smartest thing, but whatever--I just went up to one of the producers and I was like, 'Hey are we a part of the Cloverfield universe? And he was like, 'Uh, Jovan, I don't know,' and I know he knew, but he just wasn't going to tell me. But I mean, that's what you expect. Bad Robot is very good at keeping everything in this 'mystery box' until it's the perfect time."
Adepo said if there were Cloverfield connections in the early version of the script that he saw during auditioning, he never noticed them. And the script apparently underwent only minor changes after that, such as altering Boyce's background after Adepo was cast. Adepo said the producers allowed the question to float around set well into production. But eventually, they came clean to the cast.
"There was a moment, from what I can remember, when we were doing a couple of pickups, where they just knew that we were very curious about the whole thing, and they were like, 'No guys, we're kind of just teasing you,'" Adepo recalled. "'We were just pulling your leg. We very much wanted this to be its on thing.' Because when it was conceived, it was its own thing."
Naturally, not every production from Abrams' Bad Robot studio is going to wind up being a secret Cloverfield movie, like 10 Cloverfield Lane and Cloverfield Paradox were. Overlord's potential place in that canon felt both likely and unlikely; on one hand, a movie set during World War II would take place long before the events that set any of the other Cloverfield films in motion, but on the other, Overlord's mix of grounded action and sci-fi horror is the exact right kind of weird to fit.
Adepo said he was intimidated to work with Abrams either way--until he met him. "It was a really cool experience, and it was really cool to meet him, because, you know, just seeing him only in videos and in interviews and stuff, he's so intimidating to me," Adepo said. "But to get to meet him in person, he's one of the kindest people I've met, and he just genuinely wants you to do well."
Abrams visited the set in England multiple times to check on production and offer his own creative input. "It's so cool to see him walk around and just like, smile to himself and nod his head, and he's like, 'Show me the next thing, because I think you're doing a good job,'" Adepo said. "When J.J. flies from Los Angeles to England to see the work on the film and he's just smiling the whole time, you're doing your job."
He said Julius Avery, Overlord's director, deserves a lot of credit for having a clear vision and executing it while also balancing the studios' demands. "[Julius] walked in the first day of pre-production with this idea of the type of movie that he wanted to make," Adepo said. "This is a guy who is in love with action movies, the classical heist film--that's like, his jam. His favorite movie is Heat, for Christ's sake. So when came into this movie, he knew exactly what he wanted to do. And of course, when you're working with the studio, you have to learn to collaborate and be efficient in your collaboration, because everybody's bringing great ideas to the forefront. You want to just try to mix it as much as you can and still come out with your movie."
Cloverfield tie-in or not, Adepo thinks the people who will enjoy the movie most are the ones who understand what it's supposed to be. "I've heard people talk about it's like one of those classic B horror films," he said. "Don't get me wrong--you know, my first film was [1950s period drama] Fences. I get like, the importance of heightened drama and, you know, proper filmmaking. But like, you want to be able to go to a movie and enjoy a movie without it speaking to the social climate of what's going on right now, or whatever the case may be. You know what I mean?"
"We get enough of that every day in the news," he continued. "You want to have a moment where you can go to the movies, get some popcorn with your buddies or go on a date, and just see a really fun movie that's high energy that's going to keep you involved, and that's exactly what Bad Robot wanted to do with this film. And I think we accomplished that."
Overlord is in theaters now.
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