Dan Gilroy made a huge splash when his directorial debut, Nightcrawler, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival to rave reviews. After a sophomore slump in Roman J. Israel, Esq., Gilroy is back with a vengeance by going full horror with Velvet Buzzsaw, a bonkers supernatural slasher disguised as an art film where instead of horny teens, it's pretentious and greedy art snobs getting murdered.
Gilroy returns to the morally compromised Los Angeles, only instead of dark and gloomy city streets, Velvet Buzzsaw is a gleaming and colorful satire of the art world. We begin at an art show where we are introduced to a parade of zany and ridiculous characters that are completely unaware of their ridiculousness. Jake Gyllenhaal reunites with Gilroy to play Morf Vandewalt, a powerful art critic that never turns off his criticisms. Josephina (Zawe Ashton) is a receptionist with ambitions working under the commanding punk artist turned gallery owner, Rodora (Rene Russo). Jon Dondon (Tom Sturridge) left Rhodora's teaching to become her biggest rival. There's also the art advisor with wealthy clients, Gretchen (Toni Collette). Rounding up the main cast is John Malkovich as a once great artist whose newfound sobriety ruined his artistic vision, and the one good-hearted and normal member of the ensemble, Coco (Natalia Dyer), a receptionist who keeps getting hired by people right before they die.
It's a stellar cast (even Daveed Diggs and Billy Magnussen show up) filled with terrible people waiting to be slaughtered. After an old man dies in Josephina's building, she snoops into his apartment and finds hundreds of paintings made by the dead man. As with every other character in the film, the deceased man had a ridiculous name, Ventryl Dease, and apparently, he really wanted his paintings to be destroyed once he died. Why? Well, for one they are creepy as hell. Fiery pits of hell surrounding screaming children with blacked out eyes, twisted limbs and other hellish images surround the sinister apartment. Gilroy and cinematographer Robert Elswit find beauty in the macabre, with striking city vistas and sinister interior shots, and of course, every murder looks like a work of art--there's even a crime scene that gets mistaken for an exhibit.
There is a sense of levity and a real satirical tone to Velvet Buzzsaw, especially in the first act, which takes pleasure in showing how insane and preposterous the art world is. Each character is crazier and more terrible than the last, and as if their lives weren't crazy enough, the various art installations seen in the movie range from creepy to outright hysterical--there's a particularly funny installation in the form of a robot called Hoboman, who says nonsensical sentences like "I once built a railroad." If Dan Gilroy had wanted to stop the film right there and just make it a comedy about awful people being funny, it would have worked. But then the murders happen…
After finding the creepy paintings, the ambitious would-be art agent Josephina does the logical thing and steals a few of them. When Morf declares the paintings to be masterpieces and Rhoroda expresses her desire to help sell them for a profit, more and more characters join in one way or another, getting intense acclaim and vast profits in the process by being close to the disturbing paintings. Of course, the disturbing paintings aren't only that, as Rhodora and the greediness gang discover a sinister and possibly supernatural history tied to Dease's art, which then start *checks notes* literally killing people.
Gilroy, who also wrote the script, takes full advantage of the over-the-top world of obnoxious art snobs and mixes it with the camp of a slasher film that results in a film with some relevant and articulate comments on the art world, told with the subtlety of a knife to the throat, all played with morbid humor that somehow works like gangbusters. The death scenes are numerous, each more absurd and gorier than the last. Killed by monkeys from a painting? Check. An exhibit where you stick your hand in a hole and suddenly your arm is cut in the bloodiest way? Check. A soundproofed room that suddenly starts torturing you with negative criticism? Sure, why not! Nothing is too preposterous or weird for Dan Gilroy, and the film is better for it.
Speaking of weird and preposterous, Jake Gyllenhaal is game for all of the film's craziness and is fantastic at playing the snobby Morf, who can't seem to be able to speak without criticisms. Even before having sex or at a funeral, he is commenting and critiquing his environment while constantly posing his hand under his chin, looking for new snarky lines. Meanwhile his Nightcrawler co-star Rene Russo perfectly captures the greed of doing anything for the almighty dollar, and Zawe Ashton is outstanding as Josephina, who has the widest turn from sympathetic to ruthless and greedy.
Velvet Buzzsaw may seem like a critique on greediness and our relationship to art on the surface, but what Dan Gilroy has created in nothing short of a surreal, campy and bonkers and entertaining ride through hell.
Velvet Buzzsaw is available on Netflix on February 1.
The Good
The wacky performances.
Jake Gyllenhaal is unchained.
The balls on this film for going as crazy as it does!
Most bonkers deaths since the roller coaster in Final Destination.
If you turn your Xbox One on right now and face nothing but a black screen, it's not just you. Microsoft has confirmed that some kind of problem is impacting the system right now, although there's no word yet on when it will be resolved.
"We are aware of reports of Xbox One console startup, title update and sign-in errors," Microsoft said in a tweet. "We will keep everyone informed once we have more information to share. Thank you all for your patience." A subsequent tweet adds, "Our engineers are actively investigating and working on the issues outlined in our initial post."
The usual source for additional details, the Xbox Live status page, is currently inaccessible, though the second tweet points users there. Whether that's related to these issues, due to heavy demand, or something else is unclear.
While Microsoft's tweet makes this sound like a somewhat run-of-the-mill, if inconvenient, error, it appears to actually be much worse in some cases. When I booted up my Xbox One, the notification telling me my user account had automatically logged in came up, but the screen was otherwise completely black. While I was able to eventually bring up the guide, the system didn't respond to any further inputs, though I could see that it was downloading an update for one game.
In addition to this, other users are seemingly unable to sign in to Xbox Live, preventing access to some games and online multiplayer. We'll report back as more information becomes available.
The end of Vikings Season 5 has come and it promised to be a truly bloody affair. After preparing for the ultimate war for Kattegat, the sons of Ragnar are ready to face each other once again in an episode fittingly titled "Ragnarok," an event in Norse mythology that included the death of many massive figures, from Odin and Thor to Freyr and Loki. It's also the title of a Marvel movie, but that's another kind of Viking altogether.
It's only fitting that after deciding he's actually a god that Ragnarok would come for Ivar (Alex Høgh Andersen) and his brothers. And as the clip above, which GameSpot is sharing exclusively, the reigning king of Kattegat is ready for anything his brothers are prepared to unleash on him.
"My fellow gods, at last, allowed me to see my fate," he said after learning the other sons of Ragnar were coming for him. "Now all of my brothers are against me. Now I know I'm the chosen one."
With only one season left before Vikings ends, it's hard to believe that all of Ragnar's sons will make it out of this episode alive. Of course, there's also Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick). Ivar is still driven to kill the woman who murdered his mother, and after the death of Bishop Heahmund (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), there's no way she's going to remain on the sidelines of whatever is to come.
The Season 5 finale of Vikings airs Wednesday, June 30, at 9 PM ET/PT on History.
Apparently, nearly a week before it became public knowledge, the FaceTime bug was reported to Apple by a young Fortnite player from Arizona. Apple support seemingly just didn't take the issue very seriously until the problem became more well-known.
According to the Wall Street Journal, 14-year-old Grant Thompson was trying to set up a FaceTime group conversation with some of his friends for a few rounds of Fortnite when he noticed the bug. Thompson told his mom and the two tried to contact Apple support about the issue, first through Twitter and Facebook and then via phone call and fax. Upon discovering that they needed a developer account to report the bug, the two managed to contact Apple's security team via email. However, Apple did not reward Thompson for his discovery--as the company usually does for those who report major issues with its software--and seemingly did not seriously address the FaceTime bug until it became public knowledge.
My teen found a major security flaw in Apple's new iOS. He can listen in to your iPhone/iPad without your approval. I have video. Submitted bug report to @AppleSupport...waiting to hear back to provide details. Scary stuff! #apple#bugreport@foxnews
For those unaware, the bug in question allowed someone to call another user through FaceTime and secretly hear the receiver's audio without the recipient knowing. The bug impacted all iOS devices, including iPhones. Apple has reported that a fix is coming within the next week, but, for now, group FaceTime calls--identified as the vulnerability that allows someone to take advantage of the bug--have been disabled. According to a few reports, however, you can still take advantage of the exploit. The only sure way to protect yourself is to disable FaceTime on all of your iOS devices.
Thankfully, disabling FaceTime is a fairly easy endeavor. Just make sure you do so on all of your iOS and Mac products. All you need to do is go into your FaceTime settings and turn the application off. If you're having trouble, GameSpot's sister site CNET has put together a step-by-step guide for how to turn FaceTime off on iOS and Mac devices.
The Division 2's release date of March 15 is fast approaching, but you'll soon be able to play even before then. The game's private beta starts soon on PS4, Xbox One, and PC--here are all the details.
The beta starts on February 7 at 1 AM PT / 4 AM ET / 9 AM GMT / 8 PM AET, and lasts for precisely four days. Luckily, you can preload the trial 24 hours before its scheduled start time.
As you'd expect, publisher Ubisoft says the beta will include a taste of what to expect in the final game. Two main missions are playable, along with five side missions and "additional activities in the open world." Three new Dark Zones will show off The Division 2's brand of PvPvE action, while you can sample the more organized PvP gameplay in a Conflict game mode named Skirmish.
Additionally, one slice of endgame content is included in the beta: an Invaded mission will unlock on February 8 at 1 AM PT / 4 AM ET / 9 AM GMT / 8 PM AET. The test period will otherwise cap players' progress at level 30.
The Division 2 continues the story of a society-disrupting pandemic but moves from the first game's setting in New York City to the US capital, Washington DC. The sequel brings back the realistic loot-driven RPG elements from the first game, with more focus on player choice to impact the world. The PvP aspect of the game, Dark Zones, have also changed.
The DC universe is changing so quickly, that it's easy to forget about the projects that were announced several years ago. Back when Ben Affleck was still definitely playing Batman and before the commercial and critical failure of Justice League, War for the Planet the Apes director Matt Reeves was hired to make a standalone Batman movie. It's been some time since we heard anything new about the project, but now Reeves has confirmed that the film is very much happening.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Reeves stated that he was "deeply embedded in getting Batman on its feet," and hinted at what fans can approach from his Batman movie when it arrives. "It's very much a point of view-driven, noir Batman tale," he said. "It's told very squarely on his shoulders, and I hope it's going to be a story that will be thrilling but also emotional. It's more Batman in his detective mode than we've seen in the films. The comics have a history of that. He's supposed to be the world's greatest detective, and that's not necessarily been a part of what the movies have been.
"I'd love this to be one where when we go on that journey of tracking down the criminals and trying to solve a crime, it's going to allow his character to have an arc so that he can go through a transformation."
Reeves also confirmed that the title is still The Batman, although he did concede that this might change. He also stated that while the movie did not currently have an official release date, he thought it would probably arrive in the "late spring or summer" of 2021.
Finally, Reeves was asked about what villains we'll see in the next movie--and it sounds like Batman will face multiple adversaries. "There will be a Rogues Gallery," he said. "The casting process will begin shortly. We're starting to put together our battle plan. I'm doing another pass on the script and we'll begin some long-lead stuff to start developing conceptual things."
The movie was originally set to be directed and written by Ben Affleck, and was first announced back in 2016. Affleck ultimately stepped down as director when Reeves joined, and while he has never officially quit his role as the Caped Crusader, it is thought to be unlikely that he will play the character again. In June it was reported that Reeves' movie will focus on a younger Batman.
In related news, the first teaser for the upcoming DC movie Birds of Prey was released this week. The film is now in production ahead of a 2020 release and stars Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, plus Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rosie Perez, and Ewan McGregor.
We've known for some time that the February 2019 lineup of PlayStation Plus games would mark the final month in which subscribers received freebies for PS3 and Vita. Going forward, each month will consist solely of free PS4 games. Seemingly to compensate users for this change, Sony is making some changes to another perk offered through PS Plus.
Starting in early February (an exact date was not specified), PS Plus members will have access to 100 GB of cloud storage of save games, a tenfold increase over the existing 10 GB limit. Unfortunately, there was no word on further changes to cloud saves, such as enabling auto-uploads and downloads on more than just your main console.
Sony did not say if this is the extent of its plans to make up for dropping PS3 and Vita games. Even for PS4 users without either of those systems, this change is a loss. It's not uncommon for the monthly freebies to offer cross-buy support with PS4 versions of them, giving the current-gen system even more than the two free games that are explicitly intended for it. That's the case in February; claiming both Vita games will get you access to their PS4 versions.
For the final month, the PS3/Vita lineup is going out strong, thanks largely to the inclusion of Metal Gear Solid 4. On the PS4 side, users can look forward to For Honor and the first season of Hitman. Those games will be available from February 5 until March 5, while the PS3/Vita games will stick around until March 8.
While free games are the highlight of PS Plus and receive much of the attention, cloud saves, access to online multiplayer on PS4, and exclusive game sales are among the other perks for subscribing. Still, the lost of two-thirds of the free game lineup is notable, though Sony has provided no indication it intends to lower the service's price.
January is dead, long live February. The shortest and sweetest month is set to bring an all new line-up of free PS4, PS3, and PS Vita games for PlayStation Plus members. Sony has announced the offerings, so check out what will be coming as of February 5.
The February offerings include the competitive melee action game For Honor and the full first season of Hitman. That latter game has an extra layer of value since the recently released Hitman 2 lets you play the older game's maps inside the newer game, as long as you own it. February PS Plus also includes Divekick and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for PS3, along with Gunhouse and Rogue Aces for Vita. Divekick has cross-buy with Vita, and both Vita games have cross-buy with PS4. Sony also announced it is expanding the PS Plus Cloud storage from 10 GB to 100 GB starting in February.
Remember, you still have some time left to grab the PS Plus games for January. Those include the the extreme sports game Steep and Portal Knights on PS4, Zone of the Enders HD and Amplitude on PS3, Super Mutant Alien Assault on Vita, and Fallen Legion: Flames of the Rebellion on PS4/Vita.
And with that, the PlayStation 3 and Vita games are bowing out of the monthly rotation. Sony previously announced that it will no longer include PS3 and Vita as of March 8, which means February's games on those platforms are the last we'll see. Fare thee well, older platforms. This will probably mean the total games included in the monthly rotation will be reduced, though Sony could still surprise us with some change of plans. The PS4 games will be available through March 5.
Far Cry: New Dawn takes the open-world FPS series into a near-future nuclear post-apocalypse that finds you roaming around a new kind of Hope County. Many of Far Cry 5's locations and characters are back, but they're ravaged by a society gone awry. As we discovered in the game's reveal, New Dawn introduces new enemies dubbed the Highwaymen, a Mad Max-like faction led by twin sisters who survive by stealing resources from self-sustaining societies.
You can find out more about how the game plays in our preview, which looks at New Dawn's RPG elements and base-building system. But we also had a chance had a chance to speak to narrative director James Nadiger about the game's inception, the ideas behind its concepts, and the design of its new villains.
GameSpot: The first question that came to my mind when New Dawn was revealed was: How long has this been in the works? It follows on from Far Cry 5's ending, so you must have this iteration planned for quite a while?
James Nadiger: It's officially been in development for only about a year and a half (Editor's note: Far Cry 5 was released 10 months ago at the time of writing). When we were coming up with the ending of Far Cry 5, which was centered around Joseph and his doomsday cult, we made the decision to end that game on an actual doomsday. We all got super excited about it because it also gave us an opportunity to bring Far Cry into the post-apocalypse space, which is something that we've wanted to do for a long time. I think it's a very Far Cry environment.
The reveal of Far Cry 5 gave us the impression that it was going to be dealing with a lot of political overtones because of the setting, the nature of the cult, and the timing with the US political climate--though that wasn't really fully explored in the actual game. Each Far Cry game is different, of course, but was there an active decision to really distance New Dawn from anything like that?
No, absolutely not, because we were in development before 5 was released. We really were just focused on making the game that we wanted to make, take it to an apocalypse space.
One of the things I enjoyed about Far Cry 5 was that it encouraged this new mode of exploring the world at your own pace and gradually uncovering narrative beats piece by piece. Do you have any insight into that decision to move away from Ubisoft's traditional method of creating open worlds?
I think Far Cry, at its best, is always about player choice, and so early on the decision was made to just put the player in control of that choice from the get-go and give them the map all at once. If you just wanna find stuff on your own, you go and it's there, we have signs on the road to point you to animals, we have people you can talk to for little hints. We just felt that was the best, most organic way to create our Far Cry worlds.
You're using an altered Hope County as the primary map again, but I was surprised by the new Expedition missions that take you to all these different spaces across the US. It seems like both a narrative tool to sort of explore the wider effects of the apocalypse, as well as creating some interesting spaces that wouldn't otherwise work in the main game. But what was the primary design motivation?
To be honest, they probably happened simultaneously, because we're really excited that for the first time in Far Cry the story and the fantasy wasn't confined to just one country or just one time and place. The collapse happened everywhere, and at the same time, we wanted these sort of big gameplay-focussed maps, almost like the fortresses from Far Cry 4, or about the size of a Far Cry Arcade map. So we realized we could take little trips around the country with some solid gameplay, which have repeatable things, like Outposts. Every time you play it, it gets harder, and the challenges remix. And if you explore the notes, or if you're stealthing and you're hearing the Highwaymen in those parts of the world talk, you get little glimpses of what happened in these spaces.
Tell me about the villains in Far Cry New Dawn, about their inception. How did you come to create the twins?
Sure. It came from, well, at Ubisoft we tend to go world first, so as we were building sort of what our apocalypse would look like, we found overwhelmingly there were two ways to get by in this world. If you were on a piece of land that you could turn into farms again and hunt again, then you would be able to rebuild. But if you came from a place where that wasn't possible, you became sort of a bandit. If you couldn't grow things or build things, you have to take things, and so the twins come from that background. They were just kids when the bombs dropped, they were in the ruins of a city, and so their dad created the Highwaymen, and they became sort of modern day pirates. They were taught from a young age that the ends justify the means, and that's how they grew up, that anything is justified as long as you just stay alive for one more day. Then they've just gone across the country just hoovering up things.
So it's kind of a city versus country thing? Being a product of the environment you grew up in, basically?
No, it's just the idea of makeshift, as well, cities don't exist, stores don't exist, and so after a certain amount of time in the years between the collapse and now, there's just nothing there. You have to keep on the road, and some people fled these desolate areas, and then put down roots, because they had the knowledge, they were able to rebuild a life, and some people, again, just take things and move on. We're in the most lawless frontier we've ever done, because sort of the rules of society that we take for granted, they no longer apply.
Okay, so tell me more about the actual characterization of the sisters. Why twins? Why women? Why African-American? What were the decisions behind that?
We've wanted to have a woman as a Far Cry villain for some time, that was one thing. Then our creative director, J.S. [Jean-Sebastien Decant], was really keen on the idea of having a duo, so that became the twins, because it allowed us to sort of shake up the usual Far Cry dynamic of a one-on-one conversation. So not only are they dealing with you, you get to get brought into their world a little bit, and you see how they have each other's backs, but you also see the different ways that they'll react to you as you start to become more and more of a thorn in their side.
In terms of their casting, once we sort of came up with the idea of the Highwaymen, and that these fearsome twin sisters that would lead them, we sent out an open casting just to see what kind of performances we could get back. We really needed two people who could share those scenes, and there were a lot of talented people, but it was Leslie Miller, who plays Lou. She auditioned with a lot of other women, but she was always sort of the anchor that kept everything together. Then separately we had Cara Ricketts, who plays Mickey. We'd worked with her before on Primal. It was another performer that you can just throw anything at her and she just nails it, and when we put them together, their chemistry was instant. We had Lou that was violent and unpredictable, and we had Mickey who had this extreme confidence in just owning a situation. We're just very happy.
I'm disappointed to hear they're not actually cool twins who exist.
No, sadly. We looked, but it just wasn't right. It's hard to describe, but you just know when you've got something.
The reception to Mickey and Lou after the reveal was pretty positive, and a lot of people were a little upset when they actually found out that you weren't playing as them. Is that something that surprised you?
A little bit. Far Cry, I think, is always interesting in the way that the players and the fans have relationships with the villains. Even though they're violent, or they do super questionable things, there's a lot of people that are very fond of them, and even though it's ultimately your destiny to go up against them, there's this affection for them. But no, I'm very happy with the reception that the twins got.
So playing as them or teaming up with them was never a consideration.
No. They were always meant to be the villains.
Why do you think Far Cry needs the "crazy" villain?
I think it's just part of our DNA. The goal is to never create "crazy" for crazy's sake. I think we want every villain to stand alone, and to be like a real person, or real persons in the case of the twins. But I think what unites all the villains, whether a little more out there or sort of grounded like Joseph, is that they are convinced that what they do is the only sane response to the world around them, and they'll have a chance to convince you the player that what they're doing is right. But yeah.
Can you ever see a Far Cry without the larger-than-life villain? Can a Far Cry game work without that aspect?
I can't talk about the future of Far Cry beyond New Dawn, but every time we start a new game everything's on the table, and we sort of see what we have to work with.
Far Cry: New Dawn releases February 15 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
A follow-up to 2010's Rage is one of the last titles I expected to be announced at E3 2018. Rage isn't a bad game per se--it was just an experience that didn't quite hit the same highs of Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein. Regardless, Rage 2 arrives later this year as a joint development between id Software and Just Cause 3's Avalanche Studios. It's still too soon to come to any definitive conclusions about Rage 2 as a whole, as the game was in pre-beta when I played it. That said, of the two hours I spent in the game, the combat was a highlight while the title's open world left me with a few misgivings.
The demo did start on a fairly high note. Almost as if taking a queue from Borderlands' transition to Borderlands 2, Rage 2 seems to have a bigger focus on developing its characters in comparison to its predecessor. You get to pick the gender of your character, Walker, for one, and they actually do speak to the people you encounter. "You as Walker is a very classic story, but the bulk of the story really does come from [other characters]," id Software Studio Director Tim Willits said. The town I started in did feel somewhat alive, as the bustle of crowds provided a backdrop to the snippets of conversations I'd overhear as Walker strolled by. I was able to glean bits and pieces of world building as I found my way to the mayor's office; most of which was trivial, but much more preferable to getting a long-winded info dump via cutscene.
Then I actually got out into Rage 2's open world, and the demo started to lose me. Much like its predecessor, Rage 2 is nice to look at. But I didn't want to explore it. The driving mechanics weren't all that easy to use--think the unwieldy vehicles in Borderlands 2--which made traversal over the demo's steep peaks, wide chasms, and blocked bridges into an ordeal. Sure, I never once encountered a loading screen, but when you're not enjoying your time going from one mission to the next, it still feels like you're waiting for something boring to pass so you can get back to the action. Getting the chance to fly the gyrocopter certainly helped alleviate my frustrations, but I left the demo with no confirmation as to when you'll unlock it in the main game. I did see some cliffs and canyons that might have been cool to navigate with a grapple hook or wingsuit--which are staples of the Just Cause series--but Willits said neither piece of equipment would be crossing over into Rage 2.
With how much Rage 2's world feels like Borderlands 2, I can't help but think the game would play better as a co-op experience as well. There's only so much you can do in the open world, both driving and combat-wise, by yourself and having at least one other player to talk to would help fill the long stretches of silence I experienced in Rage 2 outside of the cities and hubs. However, Willits confirmed Rage 2 is an entirely single-player campaign. He did tease Rage 2 would include "a few community things" but did not say what those might be. "We wanted to focus on core combat, we wanted to focus on creating a really great world, and that's where we ended up," he said.
However, despite these negatives, my time with Rage 2 wasn't all bad. I love what I got to experience of the game's combat. In spite of Avalanche's influences, Rage 2 plays very much like an id Software game. The shooting mechanics are fast and fluid. It takes a few minutes to master Walker's double jump, omnidirectional dash, and slide, but the movements are easy enough to pick up. Once you do, you're able to pull off pretty spectacularly brutal kills with your vast collection of weapons, all of which destroy in the same enjoyably gruesome manner as the firearms in 2016's Doom.
When Rage 2's movement and weapons are combined with its other special abilities--Shatter, Vortex, Barrier, Slam, and Overdrive--you become an unstoppable superhero. At first, the close-quarter combat scenarios give you ample opportunities to try out different combinations. You might deal with a group of enemies by using Shatter to crush them against your own Barrier, or throwing out Vortex to drag them all into one spot before leaping up and careening down into them with a crushing Slam. It's gloriously fun, especially when you manage to chain three or more abilities at once, and maybe throw in a few slides, well-timed dashes, or perfect shots as well.
However, as my time with the demo went on, these spectacular moments were occasionally interrupted with fights that took place in larger, more open spaces where the special abilities' short range meant they couldn't be effective. In these instances, I'd typically start a fight in a cool, explosive way before having to fall into a more traditional FPS pattern of dashing from cover to cover while firing the assault rifle at enemies as they came into range. After smashing into an encampment like a superpowered juggernaut, it was disappointing to resort to something slower and more methodical while in open spaces. Carefully measuring a shot doesn't feel very Rage-like. I wanted more fights like what I found at the demo's start, where enemies were trapped in a room or maze-like structure with Walker as she murderously roared at the top of her lungs and dished out constant servings of explosive destruction. Those battles were fantastic, and I really hope the full game is built around more moments like them.
Rage 2 is scheduled to launch on May 14 for Xbox One, PS4, and PC. You'll net a few freebies for pre-ordering the game.
The huge success of the Fast & Furious series has meant that not only are there at least two more movies in the main franchise to come, we're also getting the first spin-off this year. Hobbs and Shaw sees Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham reprise their roles, and it arrives in August. However, Johnson has now confirmed that he won't appear in the next main Fast & Furious film.
In an interview with MTV News, Johnson explained that Fast 9 is about to start shooting ahead of its 2020 release date, and that neither he or Statham will feature in it. "The plan has always been for the Fast and Furious universe to grow and expand," he said, via Collider. "As of now, we're not in Fast 9 because they're getting ready to start shooting. But who knows with Fast 10 and down the road, you never know. Because look, at the end of the day, the truth is, there's unfinished business between Hobbs and Dom. It's unfinished."
Dom is the character played by star and series producer Vin Diesel. While Johnson is clearly referring to the movie's plot, it also links to the reported feud between the two actors during the shooting of 2017's The Fate of the Furious. Johnson accused an unnnamed male co-star of not being a "true professional," and later revealed he had "an important face-to-face" confrontation with Diesel during production. In April, he cast doubt on whether he would act with anytime soon.
Fast 9 is set to hit theaters on April 10 2020, and will be directed by Justin Lin, who has made four of the previous movies. Last week, Diesel confirmed that production will start in London next month. Fast 10 is currently scheduled for a 2021 release.
Hobbs and Shaw releases on August 2 this year and is directed by Deadpool 2's David Leitch. Earlier this month, a first image of Idris Elba's villainous character Brixton was released.
Batman v Superman director Zack Snyder has revealed his next film project--and it's not another superhero movie. Snyder, who stepped away from making movies after a family tragedy, has confirmed his next movie is a zombie horror thriller called Army of the Dead.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Snyder will direct and produce the film, which is set to air on Netflix. He's making the movie with his wife Deborah Snyder through their production company, Stone Quarry. The script was written by Joby Harold, though Snyder is said to have come up with the core idea.
"The adventure is set amid a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, during which a man assembles a group of mercenaries to take the ultimate gamble, venturing into the quarantined zone to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted," The Hollywood Reporter summarised.
Warner Bros. initially picked up the rights to the movie back in 2007, but now it's actually happening at its new home at Netflix. Shooting is pegged to begin this summer, and the production budget is said to be around $90 million.
When he worked on Batman v. Superman, Snyder had to work within an existing superhero framework. Now he doesn't. "There are no handcuffs on me at all with this one," Snyder told THR.
There is no word on the cast or release date for Army of the Dead, but keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.
Snyder also directed 300, Watchmen, Sucker Punch, and Man of Steel. He was directing Justice League until his daughter committed suicide, at which point Joss Whedon came in to finish the film.
E3 2019 is going to be a big year for Xbox at E3, it seems. Head of Xbox Phil Spencer said on a recent podcast that Microsoft's showing at E3 this year will be "as big" as it's ever been for Xbox, and one reason why might be because Sony is dropping out of E3.
Speaking to Major Nelson, Spencer started off by saying, "This is going to be a fun E3 for us." He recalled an internal Microsoft conversation about E3 after the "news" that dropped last year about E3, which is presumably a reference to Sony skipping the show.
"There was some news about E3 back in the fall. We had a discussion internally about, 'Should we go big?' 'Should we save some money?' 'What does that mean?' We decided, no [we're not going to save money], we're going to do our thing," Spencer said. "We're going to go and be as big at E3 as we've ever been. I love that opportunity."
Right now, with about five months to go before E3 2019, Microsoft is in the midst of thinking about how and who the company can get to come on stage, Spencer said. The company is also talking about if the company wants to talk about titles and products coming in the short-term versus the long-term. Spencer said he personally likes to be transparent, but he's also mindful of being careful not to announce something too early.
Spencer didn't get into specifics, but he said the content lineup from Xbox for E3 2019 is already "great." The company also plans to talk about the future of Xbox and more about what the Xbox brand means--beyond console. The Xbox is a console, but there are "millions" of people who spend time and money on Xbox outside of the console family through PC and mobile, Spencer pointed out. At E3, he wants to let people know that they don't need to own an Xbox to be part of the Xbox community.
Also in the interview, Spencer talked about Xbox's position in 2019, saying the groundwork that Microsoft put down in recent years will really begin to pay off this year. Quoting George W. Bush, Spencer said, "This is a year where it's not strategery--we're going to roll up our sleeves and we're going to show. I love that. Now it's go time."
One of the new platforms Microsoft has in the works for gaming is Project xCloud, which is the working title for the company's game-streaming service. It's already up and running, and Spencer said he was using it during his travels at the end of 2018. It'll probably be "years" before streaming becomes the primary way people play games, but the technology is coming together, Spencer said.
Additionally, Spencer discussed Microsoft's recent spree of studio purchases. One of the reasons Microsoft bought and set up a total of seven studios in six months was to create a catalog of titles that "surprise and delight" fans, and release on a "regular cadence." Microsoft has been criticised in recent years for not having enough compelling first-party content, and Spencer acknowledged that Microsoft's first-party lineup is "so different" than what it's been over the past five years. He also shared an anecdote from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who apparently said he's eager and happy about Microsoft investing so heavily in teams that will make exclusive content for Xbox going forward.
One of Microsoft's announcements at E3 2019 could be a new console. Spencer has already confirmed that Microsoft is working on multiple new consoles. According to Brad Sams, one is a disc-free streaming box and another is a console more powerful than the Xbox One X.
E3 2019 takes place June 11-13, 2019 in Los Angeles. While Sony is backing away, the show is expected to be a very big one full of surprises and reveals of all kinds.
Developer NetherRealm has postponed this week's "Kombat Kast" broadcast for Mortal Kombat 11 due to storm descending on Chicago, which is where the studio is located.
Chicago has been overrun with snow over the past week, and in the coming days, the temperature is expected to remain below freezing as a brutal Portal Vortex rolls through. With the wind chills accounted for, the temperature could drop to as low as -60 F. The National Weather Service warns that this could cause frostbite on uncovered skin in as little as five minutes.
Presumably the Mortal Kombat 11 stream was postponed so participants would not need to journey into the frozen world, and instead stay safe and warm at home instead. The National Weather Service describes the cold in Chicago right now as being "life-threatening." It is so cold that people are being advised to avoid taking deep breaths and minimize talking.
NetherRealm community manager Tyler Landsdown said postponing the Mortal Kombat 11 stream is a precautionary measure. "I want the stream to be the best it can be, and if someone can't get there, well, that's not as fun!" he said.
Thanks Grr. Everything will be fine. Just best to take precautions. I want the stream to be the best it can be, and if someone can't get there well, that's not as fun!
The new Kombat Kast is now scheduled to take place on Tuesday, February 5. It'll kick off at 3 PM CST that day, and more news about the fighting game is expected.
The safety of our team is very important to us. Due to the dangerous incoming storm, we've decided to move the Kombat Kast to Tuesday, February 5th, at 3 pm CST. We thank you for your understanding!
The latest patch for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has arrived, and it's a big one. Version 2.0.0 is available to download now, and the biggest piece of news is that it adds a new character: Piranha Plant. Everyone who registers their game by January 31 gets Piranha Plant for free, while the character will be available for everyone to buy at a later date. Here are instructions for how to register your copy of Smash Bros. Ultimate to get Piranha Plant for free.
For more on Piranha Plant, check out the announcement trailer above and a second video below. "Ready your flowerpots for battle with this poisonous powerhouse starting today!" Nintendo said.
Piranha Plant pipes up in #SmashBrosUltimate as a new playable fighter! Ready your flowerpots for battle with this poisonous powerhouse starting today! Piranha Plant is a free bonus for players who have registered Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and redeemed their code before 1/31. pic.twitter.com/qDDjHOJXbk
The new 2.0.0 patch makes a number of changes and improvements as well. Starting off, you can now play Spirit Board with up to four players; notably, you'll the battle if anyone is knocked out. The patch also adds more spirits to the in-game shop, including Partner Pikachu and Partner Eevee.
Elsewhere, the patch makes balance changes to many fighters; almost all of the characters got buffed in some capacity in ways like power increases and vulnerability decreases. You can see a full breakdown of the character-specific changes here on Nintendo's website.
Beyond Piranha Plant, Nintendo will release five other DLC characters for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the first of whom will be the aforementioned Joker. Each fighter will be released individually alongside a new stage and multiple music tracks for $6, but players can get all five at a discounted price through the $25 Fighters Pass.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Update 2.0.0 Patch Notes
Offline
You can now play Spirit Board with up to four players.
Select the spirit you want to challenge on the Spirit Board, and then go to Party → Fighter to select the number of people who will play. When playing with multiple people, you will lose the battle if any player is KO'd.
The following spirits will now appear in the Shop.
Partner Pikachu
Partner Eevee
Dice Block
River Survival
Golden Dash Mushroom
Online
We adjusted the calculation for Global Smash Power.
General
Added the DLC fighter Piranha Plant.
Piranha Plant will become available for purchase as DLC at a later date.
Pressing both jump buttons at the same time will now cause you to short hop.
Fixed the issue where the KO score included your teammates' KOs when Team Attack was On.
The first official images from the upcoming J.R.R. Tolkien biopic have been released, showing off Nicholas Hoult as the acclaimed fantasy author. USA Today posted a series of images from the film, which focuses on a young Tolkien in the time leading up to his writing of the epic fantasy.
Director Dome Karukoski told the site that the movie, which is called Tolkien, will cover the author's life as he considers and confronts his own imagination. "There's often fear with that, also, in how your imagination starts to play with you, especially the mind of a genius like Tolkien," he said.
Actor Harry Gilby will play Tolkien as a teenager in the film before Hoult assumes the role of Tolkien in his late 20s at the onset of his writing of the fantasy series. One major part of the film will be Tolkien's relationship with the woman he would eventually marry: Edith Bratt (Lily Collins).
"She kept him very honest and took care of him throughout all the difficult strives in his life," Hoult told USA Today about Bratt. She also "also pushed him to create what he did create and gave him the foundation to be able to do that," Hoult said.
Tolkien the movie will also touch on the orphan author's friendship with schoolmates and his time serving in World War I. A trailer hasn't been released yet, so these first images are all we have to go on for now in terms of visuals. Go to USA Today to see them all. You can also see them in Hoult's Instagram gallery above.
We also learn in the story that Hoult is a big fan of Tolkien, having read The Hobbit on the set of his first big movie, About A Boy.
Tolkien hits theatres on May 10. In addition to this film, another one is in the works that focuses on the relationship between Tolkien and Narnia writer C.S. Lewis, and how Tolkien helped convert Lewis to Christianity.
BioWare has announced that it's adding running to Fort Tarsis in Anthem. It's a change that's certainly going to be positively met by many of those who played Anthem's VIP demo, and the update is scheduled to be live at the game's launch.
In an interview with GamesRadar, Anthem executive producer Mark Darrah said that the decision to have you walk through the fort was so that you would "feel a little bit underpowered," and understand "that strong difference" for a Freelancer outside their Javelin as opposed to in one. "We want it to feel like walking," he continued. "If you look at most video games, you're sprinting everywhere and we gave you a jet pack machine for when you're out in the world, and we really want it to feel like you're just a person walking around and now you are that person in Iron Man armor."
BioWare general manager Casey Hudson added that "there was a run speed that was in [the game]. And then for some reason it was out of the game for when that particular build [the VIP demo build] was made." Hudson confirmed that sprint function is back in "the main game" so you should be able to sprint in Fort Tarsis when Anthem launches. However, it doesn't sound like the function will be available in the free February 1-3 demo.
Anthem had a doozy of a VIP demo last weekend. Initially, it seemed as if the demo's servers were overloaded, but both EA and BioWare clarified that wasn't the case. Regardless, players still faced dropped games and never-ending loading screens. Eventually, even Origin shut down, and then the problem extended to other EA titles on additional platforms, including consoles. Whatever the issue, it was resolved by the end of the weekend, and all VIP invitees were given the chance to try all four Javelins--as opposed to just two--on the last day of the demo. BioWare also promised a second Javelin vinyl for everyone invited to the VIP demo. It will unlock in the main game come launch.
Anthem is scheduled to launch on February 22 for Xbox One, PS4, and PC. If you're an EA or Origin Access subscriber, then you can play the game a week early on Xbox One or PC.
Quantic Dream boss Guillaume de Foundaumiere told GamesBeat that while the studio will continue to release games for PlayStation consoles, the exclusivity arrangement is seemingly over.
"We will continue to work on PlayStation, which is a platform we love and that we know very well, but we will also consider other platforms as we want to make our creations accessible to as many gamers as possible worldwide, regardless of the platform," he said. "This is definitely a shift for us after 12 years developing exclusively for PlayStation. We are confident we can make a smooth transition [to multi-platform development] while keeping the high level of quality that we target for our games."
As for what Quantic Dream's next game will be, studio founder David Cage said it's "too early" to reveal anything. However, he did tease that the studio is working on a new game engine that will support multiple platforms. The engine is "even more impressive than anything we have done before," Cage said.
He added: "We will keep working on projects that are ambitious and original, building on the genre we pioneered and that we will continue to develop, but we also want to explore new grounds."
Also in the interview, Cage said Quantic Dream wants to become a "global, multi-franchise company" that retains its independence, and raising the money from NetEase will help it achieve that. "We want to keep developing original games in the genre we pioneered, but also expand our audience by being present on all platforms," he said.
Quantic Dream raised an unspecified amount of money from NetEase. The company previously invested $100 million into Bungie to develop non-Destiny games. NetEase also invested $30 million in Second Dinner, a small team founded by Hearthstone developers who are making a Marvel game.
Detroit: Become Human was released in May 2018 as a PlayStation 4-exclusive. It was generally well-received and it set sales records.
February is almost upon us, which means a new set of free Games with Gold will soon be available for Xbox Live Gold subscribers. That also means that time is running out to grab January's free titles, which are scheduled to go back to their regular prices on February 1.
If you haven't grabbed this month's offerings yet, this is your last chance to download the critically acclaimed platformer Celeste and Ubisoft's beloved shooter Far Cry 2, both of which will remain free for Xbox Live Gold members through January 31. Thanks to backwards compatibility, the latter is also playable on Xbox One.
In addition to those titles, another free game is available right now for Xbox Live Gold subscribers: the off-road racer WRC 6 FIA World Rally Championship. This one will remain free until February 15, so you still have a little more time left to download it if you haven't already. You can see the full list of January's free games below.
In other Xbox news, Microsoft has rolled out a new batch of Deals with Gold. From now until February 5, Xbox Live Gold members can get discounts on Destiny 2's Forsaken expansion, Forza Horizon 3, and more games in the Microsoft Store. The entire Assassin's Creed series is also discounted across Xbox One and Xbox 360 as part of this week's Spotlight sale.
We're only a month into the new year, and already we've gotten one of its most anticipated new games: Kingdom Hearts 3. It has been a long, long wait for this entry, but the release date for Square Enix's action RPG has arrived, and the game is out now on PS4 and Xbox One.
We awarded the game an 8/10 in our Kingdom Hearts 3 review, and we've since published a post-review discussion of just how we tackled it. Critics across the board seem pretty positive about this concluding chapter. Read on below for a selection of other reviews or check out GameSpot sister site Metacritic for more, or head over to CNET for thoughts from a series newcomer.
GameSpot -- 8/10
"What sticks with me is the exciting battle against elemental titans with Hercules, taking Rapunzel out into the unfamiliar wide world for the first time, snapping selfies with Winnie the Pooh, and going toe to toe with Davy Jones. In 2002, as Sora, I left Destiny Islands to travel across the universe and make new friends. In 2019 I brought old ones home, and I had so much fun doing it." -- Tamoor Hussain [Full review]
CNET
"Kingdom Hearts 3 sticks doggedly to what made Kingdom Hearts successful in the first place, for better or worse. It's both the poison and the antidote. It's more than happy to let you swim in its best bits of unpredictable, epic combat set pieces and then sit you down for an extended fireside chat about a Keyblade War with four antagonists that all share the same hair colour and only slightly varied haircuts." -- Jackson Ryan [Full review] CNET is GameSpot's sister site.
IGN -- 8.7/10
"I thoroughly enjoyed Square Enix's evolution of Kingdom Hearts' gameplay and fidelity to Disney's beloved animated movies. While the storytelling could use some punching up, Square has done a fantastic job of capturing the spirit of these worlds while giving us a massive toolbox for battles and exploration. Even as I watched the dust settle on the story I wanted to jump right back in to collect everything. But to see all of the events of the Kingdom Hearts games so far culminate is, frankly, weird. Having been given so much time to ruminate, its specific resolutions aren't all that surprising, but only a marginal impact is lost as a result. I still loved seeing so many characters from throughout this series interact in new ways and rekindle old bonds. It's nice to see that, even so long after the very first game, Kingdom Hearts 3 is so full of heart." -- Jonathon Dornbush [Full review]
Game Informer -- 9.5/10
"While not perfect, Kingdom Hearts III is the game I've been waiting for. After finishing it, I was delighted by how satisfied I was with the journey. I traversed worlds with some of my favorite Disney characters, persevered through challenging boss battles, and saw a triumphant finale that only makes me more excited for the future. The series still has a lot of heart, and that's what makes it so endearing." -- Kimberley Wallace [Full review]
Polygon -- No score
"Kingdom Hearts isn't simple anymore; it isn't just joy and bright colors and Disney heroes. Instead, the conclusion of this story is tangled up in so many conflicting threads, each one a heavy burden on its hero, whose smile now feels unnerving. Kingdom Hearts 3 is an example of what can go wrong when a series that once stood in contrast to its peers as a lighthearted alternative loses its way." -- Allegra Frank [Full review]
GamesRadar -- 4/5
"Whatever the flaws, there is nothing quite like Kingdom Hearts 3, and it's a wild, wonderful ride as a result. Name one other game where you can watch Elsa belt out Let It Go before hammering some monsters to death with a giant key. I'll wait." -- Rachel Weber [Full review]
Welcome to our first ever Review Q&A, where GameSpot reviewers and friends take a deep dive into our review process (and hopefully answer some of your biggest questions). First up: Kingdom Hearts 3! Reviewer Tamoor Hussain and superfan Lucy James talk about the 14-year wait for Kingdom Hearts 3, the hardest parts of the review, and how nostalgia factors in to it all. Make sure to let us know if you'd like to see more behind-the-scenes reviews features like this one and how we can make them even better--but first, enjoy!
Tamoor Hussain is UK Editor and Global Head Of News for GameSpot. He reviewed Kingdom Hearts III, giving it an 8/10. On top of working at GameSpot, he's got a side hustle as a full-time weeb. More importantly, he has been a lifelong fan of Kingdom Hearts since the series began.
Lucy James is Senior Video Producer at GameSpot. She's a part-time weeb who cried in the audience of the Sony 2013 E3 press conference when Kingdom Hearts III was announced. She can and will explain the plot of the series to you if you ask nicely.
Tam: When you walk away, you don't hear me say, "Pleaaaaaaaaaase, oh baby, don't go." Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight. It's hard to let it go….
Lucy: Hi Tamoor. Thanks for that Simple And Clean intro. We both have a very storied history with Kingdom Hearts. We're probably the biggest fans on staff, and we've both been very excited to play III for… jeez, well over a decade now. I think my first question to you has to be: Just how the hell did you prepare to do this review?
Tam: Like this:
Lucy: Oh good grief.
Tam: Okay so, let's break that picture down. Left hand: Full-size Keyblade that lets the world know that I'm a Kingdom Hearts fan. Right hand, flipping the bird to the world to say, "Yeah, I love Kingdom Hearts and I don't care what you think." Up top: Sunglasses because I'm quite sensitive to light and the brightness was giving me a headache.
Lucy: Fair. San Francisco was pretty sunny that day. I wore a leather jacket and remember deeply regretting it.
Back to my question: what kind of mindset were you in when you tackled the review? When we played the game at a preview event back in June 2018, we both came out of it saying, "That's a game Kingdom Hearts fans will love, but I wonder how people unfamiliar with the series will react to it." We didn't say that in unison, though. That'd be weird.
Tam: Honestly, I was very nervous. I remember when our all-powerful reviews editor Kallie asked me if I'd be up for it and I knew I wanted to do it. I wanted to take on that challenge, but a part of me did think about how stressful it'd be. Now, let's be clear, I was reviewing a game--hardly a thing to get upset about, but I was thinking about what that game represents and how much it means to fans. I feel okay saying this because I am a Kingdom Hearts fan, but Kingdom Hearts fans are INTENSE. Like, in my review I open by saying how hearing Dearly Beloved emotionally cripples me every time, and there's loads of people saying I'm not a fan and I don't have any experience with the series.
But anyway, I started second-guessing myself, thinking, "Do you really know everything you need to know about Kingdom Hearts? Because if you get one thing wrong, you will hear about it." In the lead-up I thought it would be a good idea to refresh myself on everything, but that turned out to be a bad idea because then I started treating it like studying for an exam. I am not good in exams. I threw up in my GCSE maths exam and got sent out. Also I am not good at maths.
Lucy: I was going to make a maths joke about 358/2 Days here, but thought better of it.
Tam: Eventually I just stepped back and reminded myself that I love this series, I've played the games, I know the characters, I've followed the story, and all I needed to do was approach it in a genuine way. I focused on taking my experience as a reviewer that's critiqued and analysed many games and properly balancing that with my passion for the series.
I hope that comes through in the review, which echoes what you said and what we discussed after the preview event. I think fans of the series will love it for sure, but one of the strengths of Kingdom Hearts as a series is there's always something to enjoy regardless of whether you're a long-time fan or not. Since publishing the review I've talked a lot of people who, for one reason or another, are considering playing the game. Many of them say they don't know Kingdom Hearts, but I tell them that the Disney worlds are still fantastic on their own, the combat is a lot of fun, and it's overall just a joyous game. Sure, it does get a bit tied up in its own mythos and has some rough patches, but as a whole it's still a fun and charming game.
Tl;dr: It was daunting. You've got it now, how are you finding it?
Lucy: I think daunting is the right word for it. I'll say that it wasn't an easy start. It honestly took me a couple of hours to get into the swing of it. The game starts with a pretty scrappy prologue, Kingdom Hearts 2.9 (I'm not joking), where it's dropping in story beats, and getting the player up to speed with the combat changes, etc. Honestly, I was pretty worried for a second, because the whole thing didn't feel very cohesive. I think while I was mid-music video (the second or third), I texted you "REALLY??????", because I genuinely thought it was going to be indicative of the rest of the game.
I hit the Kingdom Hearts 3 title screen, and it just felt like everything… eased, and I'm really enjoying it now. Pretty familiar to the start of Kingdom Hearts II in that regard, really. I feel like because I did the History Of Kingdom Hearts recently, I'm as familiar as I can be with the intricacies of its story, and I'm starting to get these payoffs, and they're really hitting. I know in your review you called out the game for getting bogged down in its own lore--how intense is that stuff going to get?
Tam: So one of the things I tried to do is to think about how the game would feel to people with various levels of familiarity. I think that was important to do because, like you, I know the story, so how "intense" it felt was different from someone who doesn't know it. And also there's sure to be plenty of people who are attracted to Disney that decide to play the game, with little to no prior experience, so I think that was an important consideration.
The funny thing was, even with my familiarity it felt very intense at times. Like I said in my review, I think the problem is that it tries to do too much and resolve--or at least reference--every narrative thread or lingering question about a character, and that's to its detriment. Thankfully, for the most part these moments are bookends to the Disney world and stories. You'll arrive on a planet, have the Kingdom Hearts story, then play through a nice little Disney adventure, then have another Kingdom Hearts story. That made it way more manageable. However, the final third of the game is pure Kingdom Hearts bants and it is very overwhelming.
I'm going to put my cards on the table here and say, in hindsight, I think Organization XIII is the worst part of the game. In previous games they've been likable characters--I know Axel is your guy--but, for me, in KH3 they dilute the story and there's just far too many of them. They also enable the laziest kind of storytelling, where a character waffles on about nothing in particular while acting shady and mysterious. To me, that just says the character didn't really serve any purpose in the story and is just there for the sake of being there. That's particularly evident in this game, which tries to give fans of all of these lads and ladettes some time in the spotlight. Honestly, I didn't need it--it just made the overall story worse.
Lucy: I know that diehard fans will appreciate that though. To me, Kingdom Hearts 3 seems to be all about the story payoffs so far.
Tam: I'm suddenly very aware of how negative that sounded and the fact that you're very early, so I'm going to temper that by also saying there's wonderful stuff throughout, even at the end. The story has some really nice moments too, so don't feel discouraged by me being a grump.
I'll be honest, there are some games that I just needed to enjoy.
So one of things I think about a lot, especially for a series as storied as this, is at a certain point people are so invested in something that they're able to ignore a lot of the issues with the thing they love and have loved for years. When you're reviewing a game, you don't have that luxury. You've reviewed games before, so it can be difficult to switch that part of your brain off, but for something like Kingdom Hearts I imagine you might be able to--I certainly can with stuff like Metal Gear. I'll be honest, there are some games that I just needed to enjoy, like MGS4, which is a flawed game in many respects, but I needed to love it, if you get what I mean.
Lucy: Metal Gear is such a fantastic example of what you're talking about, because the highest of the highs totally outweigh the lowest of the lows, and that's what you end up remembering about those games. When I think of Kingdom Hearts 2, for example, I immediately think of a dozen incredible things I loved in that game: the music, the varied Disney worlds, fighting Sephiroth, battling Organization XIII, etc., before things like the slow opening or Atlantica's daft music mini-games even come into my mind. It's like a rising tide raises all (Gummi) ships.
I know that you got through Kingdom Hearts 3 pretty quickly so that everything would be ready for the review embargo. Do you think you lost anything from the experience? And for someone who's been waiting just as long as I have, were you sad that you had to play it that way?
Tam: I did have to get through it quite quickly, but I don't think I lost anything from the experience because of that. In fact, I think it helped me push through rougher spots where, without a deadline, I probably would have walked away from it for a day or two.
Whether I was sad about having to do that goes back to what I said earlier. This is one of those games that I also needed to enjoy, but since our wise and benevolent reviews editor Kallie asked if I wanted to review it, I had to pick between that and taking on the challenge of writing a review for it. In the end, I felt that it would be better and more beneficial for me to do the review. I didn't mention it above but, at the same time as being nervous about the whole thing, the challenge of reviewing the game was also very appealing. I knew that it had to be on point, and since there would be a lot of people reading it, both internally as part of QA and externally by the general public, it was also an opportunity to kind of get a measure of how I'm doing as a reviewer--it doubled up as a reviewer exam, in a way.
Lucy: So you're saying this review was your Mark of Mastery exam?
Tam: Hahah, very good. Yeah--but did I pass like Riku or am I still an apprentice like Sora? That is the question! [Wise and benevolent editor's note: He passed.]
So, yeah. I would have loved to have played at my own pace, but like I said, I don't think I lost much by not doing so. Also, playing it for review meant I could play it early and make myself impervious to spoilers, which was big factor too. I do think that playing it in smaller chunks like you are is a good way to go about it. Like I said previously, each of the worlds are neatly contained--as with past entries--so it makes it easy to split up sessions. A Disney world a day keeps the Heartless at bay.
One of the things I was thinking about for the review, but didn't end up using as an angle in this exact way, is nostalgia. A lot of people came to Kingdom Hearts because of their love for Disney or Final Fantasy and their nostalgia for it. But over time that element of the series has shifted in different ways. For Final Fantasy, it's completely dropped off, and for Disney, the emphasis is more on the modern era, for which the nostalgia isn't as potent. How do you feel about that? Is that important to you? Or do you think Kingdom Hearts as a whole has distinguished itself enough to no longer rely on those elements?
Lucy: That's an interesting point about nostalgia, and to be honest, I think it does still rely on it to an extent. Square has been really clever about the choice of Disney worlds, and I feel they've struck a good balance between older versus newer movies. I certainly feel less of an emotional connection to Frozen and Big Hero 6, y'know, but at the same time, flying around with Baymax is cool as heck, so I'm glad they're experimenting with new worlds. I'm also incredibly glad they've put new twists on returning worlds. Not just that they look better, or have a better layout, but in the case of a world like Olympus, it's a completely new side to that place that we haven't seen before.
I think that's nice that it's come full circle--a game that could only exist because it's built on nostalgia now inspires its own.
Kingdom Hearts has been around for so long now that my feelings of nostalgia are less about the Disney and Final Fantasy parts and more toward the little threads between the games. The menu sounds, movement, combat, in particular the music. Like said in your review, when you hear the opening bars of Dearly Beloved, it's like this gut punch that opens the nostalgia floodgates. I think that's nice that it's come full circle--a game that could only exist because it's built on nostalgia now inspires its own.
With that all said, with everything riding on Kingdom Hearts 3, do you think it lived up to expectations? Was it worth the wait?
Tam: It did live up to expectations for me. It gave me the same feelings that I had when I played the original on the PS2 and fell in love with it--and that's quite an achievement if you ask me. Ultimately, the issues the game has are overshadowed by everything else. Though they can't be discounted, they don't get in the way to the point where they ruin the experience. I had a blast playing it, so, yeah, it was worth the wait for sure.
I just hope that, now that the Dark Seeker Saga is complete, the wait until the next chapter of the Kingdom Hearts story isn't as long.
The Lunatic Fringe is headed for the exit. Former WWE Champion Dean Ambrose will leave WWE once his current contract expires in April. The news was first reported by PWTorch, before the company commented on the manner.
"Dean Ambrose (Jonathan Good) will not be renewing his contract with WWE when it expires in April," WWE said in a statement. "We are grateful and appreciative of all that Dean has given to WWE and our fans. We wish him well and hope that one day Dean will return to WWE."
The news comes as a surprise, given the last few months of Ambrose's career. After returning from injury, he briefly reunited with fellow The Shield members Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns. After Reigns took a leave of absence from the company to battle leukemia, Ambrose turned heel and became Intercontinental Champion, entering into a lengthy feud with Rollins.
In recent weeks, Ambrose lost the title to Bobby Lashley, before being eliminated from the Royal Rumble match by NXT's Aleister Black. On this week's episode of Raw, he was attacked by Nia Jax.
"I'm going to assume that Nia simply tripped and fell into me, and was not trying to start some physical altercation with me, a man," he said in an interview after the exchange. "Because that's insane, right? So, I'm going to accept her, what I assume is an apology is what she was yelling at me from the ring as I was being escorted away by referees, like I would do something. Can you imagine? I'm going to accept her apology. And we're all good."
Ambrose, who first made his name on the independent wrestling scene as Jon Moxley, first signed with the company in 2011 and began training in the Florida Championship Wrestling developmental territory. He debuted on the main roster in 2012 as part of The Shield.
As for what Ambrose does next, that's anyone's guess. With Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and All Elite Wrestling looking to bolster their rosters, though, it should be an interesting few months if he's looking to stay in professional wrestling.
Gaming giant EA is removing FIFA Points, a form of virtual currency for the franchise's lucrative Ultimate Team mode, across all titles from the franchise in Belgium following the country's crackdown on loot boxes. In a blog post, EA said it came to the decision to remove FIFA Points following "discussions with the Belgian authorities."
The FIFA Points will be removed from all FIFA games on console and PC by the end of January, EA said. While FIFA Points will no longer be purchasable for Ultimate Team, people can still of course play Ultimate Team; going forward, all extra content can only be unlocked through gameplay. This was always the case, as the FIFA Points were available as an option for players who wanted to unlock new content faster. The game's other in-game currency, coins, along with the transfer market, will remain up and running in the wake of this news.
Gamers in Belgium will get to keep any unspent FIFA points, but, as mentioned, they will no longer be available to buy more. "We apologize to our players in Belgium for any inconvenience caused by this change," EA said.
With all of its games, EA said its goal is to provide players with "choice, fairness, value, and fun."
EA also pointed out that franchises like FIFA and others with loot box mechanics contain systems that display probability figures. EA removing loot boxes from FIFA might seem like the company is taking a stance against loot boxes, but that doesn't seem to be the case. EA said previously that loot boxes are not gambling, and the company doubled down on this in its new statement.
"While we are taking this action, we do not agree with Belgian authorities' interpretation of the law, and we will continue to seek more clarity on the matter as we go forward," EA said.
On the investor side, EA said it doesn't expect the removal of loot boxes to having a "material" impact on the company's financial performance. That may be true because Belgium is a small country relative to other places; the potential worry for investors is that this announcement might lead to more widespread changes in other countries that EA operates in.
Loot boxes and Ultimate Team are very big business for EA. Across all of its sports games, EA's Ultimate Team revenue came in at close to $1 billion in 2017, according to GI.biz.
In 2018, Belgium's Gambling Commission announced that loot boxes constitute a game of chance, and were therefore subject to the country's gambling laws. Blizzard swiftly removed loot boxes from Overwatch in Belgium, but EA had taken longer to make the change.
The conversation about loot boxes in video games is not ending anytime soon, so be sure to keep checking back with GameSpot for more.
Bethesda has released another update for Fallout 76 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. As the developer previously detailed, this patch focuses primarily on implementing various balance adjustments and resolving a "large wave" of bugs and other issues still lingering in the online RPG.
This time around, the patch weighs in at approximately 3.5 GB for PS4 and Xbox One, and 500 MB for PC. Among other changes, Bethesda has capped the carry weight limit to "1,500 pounds over the character's current maximum carry weight"--meaning if your carry weight limit is 210 pounds, your maximum will be 1,710.
"These limits exist primarily to keep servers from performing poorly, which can happen when we have too many items in the game world," Bethesda explained in its patch notes. "They also play [a] role in helping to regulate the in-game economy. We do recognize the desire to be able to own more of the cool items that we have in the game, and we are looking into a variety of solutions, including increasing the stash size."
Additionally, "(Known)" and "(Owned)" tags have been added next to recipes, plans, and turrets your character has already learned or built. Vendors' recipe and plan inventories are also now no longer randomized, and some Vendors now stock additional plans for wall sets, power connectors, doors, generators, and water purifiers.
Rounding out the update is a handful of balance changes for certain Perks and weapons, as well as a long list of bug fixes. You can read more about these changes in detail in the full patch notes below.
Bethesda still has a lot more updates and new features planned for Fallout 76 this year, one of which is a Survival PvP mode. The mode is expected to launch in beta sometime in March and will remove the restrictions that currently govern PvP encounters in the game, making it a much tenser and more competitive experience.
Performance: Several additional improvements have been made to in-game performance.
Stability: The Fallout 76 game client and servers have received additional stability improvements.
Balance Changes
Perks: The damage bonuses provided by each rank of the Demolition Expert perk have been reduced from +20%/40%/60%/80%/100% to +20%/30%/40%/50%/60% to match other weapon perk damage bonuses.
Perks: The condition loss bonuses provided by each rank of the White Knight and Licensed Plumber perks have been reduced from 30%/60%/90% to 20%/40%/60%, and their repair bonuses have also been reduced, to match the Power Patcher perk.
Dev Note: In looking at the Demolition Expert, White Knight, and Licensed Plumber perks, we felt they have so far been overperforming in their current roles, and we wanted to bring them more in line with similar perks to help prevent them from feeling like mandatory picks.
Weapons: The Explosive legendary mod's damage bonus has been reduced from +100% to +20% of base weapon damage, with explosive radius damage.
Weapons: The Two Shot legendary effect's damage bonus has been reduced from +100% to +25% of base weapon damage.
Dev Note: As mentioned in a previous Inside the Vault article, both the explosive mod and two shot weapons could result in dealing very high amounts of damage, and this was compounded if two shot and explosive were combined. We've decided to tone both of these damage bonuses back.
Weapons: Flamers, Cryolators, plasma weapons, and laser weapons can no longer spawn with the Explosive legendary mod.
Dev Note: The explosive mod causes weapons to fire bullets that are . . . explosive. The weapons listed above don't fire bullets, so we've temporarily removed the ability for them to spawn with that mod applied so we can make adjustments.
C.A.M.P., Crafting, And Workshops
Scrapping: Loose weapon and armor mods are now protected from autoscrapping when crafting. However, they can still be scrapped manually if a player wants to break them down into scrap components.
Turrets: An "(Owned)" tag will now appear next to the names of Turrets a player has built in their C.A.M.P. or a workshop.
Design And Gameplay
Carry Weight: Is now capped to an absolute limit of 1,500 pounds over the character's current maximum carry weight.
For example: If your carry weight limit is 210 pounds, then your maximum limit is 1,710 pounds.
Characters will be unable to exceed this new weight limit moving forward.
Characters who already exceed this limit will be unable to add any additional items or caps to their inventories until they have reduced their carry weight below the cap.
Dev Note: These limits exist primarily to keep servers from performing poorly, which can happen when we have too many items in the game world. They also play role in helping to regulate the in-game economy. We do recognize the desire to be able to own more of the cool items that we have in the game, and we are looking into a variety of solutions, including increasing the stash size. We will be sure to talk more about this when they are ready.
Cap Stashes: To help address cap exploits, caps stashes have been turned into containers, which allows them to properly reset and provide players with instanced loot.
Plans and Recipes: When viewing a plan or recipe in a menu, a "(Known)" tag will now appear next to the names of recipes and plans the player has already learned.
Vendors: Recipes and Plans in Vendor inventories are no longer randomized and can now be reliably sourced from those Vendors, with the exception of some minor Workshop and C.A.M.P. Plans.
The appearance of many Plans and Recipes in Vendor inventories is based on player level and they will show up once the proper level has been reached.
Additional structural Plans for wall sets, power connectors, doors, generators, and water purifiers have also been added to some Vendors.
PVP
Hunter/Hunted: A server-wide message will now appear when a player joins the Hunter/Hunted queue.
This message will only be displayed once per player to avoid spam.
An additional server-wide message will be displayed when Hunter/Hunted is ready to begin in order to give other players a final chance to join.
Quests And Events
Belly of the Beast: A new "Ultracite Power Armor" entry has been added to Taggerdy's Terminal on the top floor of Fort Defiance, offering Ultracite Power Armor plans to those who read it.
First Contact: A new miscellaneous objective will now appear upon reaching the Overseer's C.A.M.P. for the first time, prompting the player to place a C.A.M.P. of their own.
Gauley Mine: A new miscellaneous objective will now appear at Gauley Mine to introduce players to Ore Deposits.
Monster Mash: The amount of XP awarded per round during this event has been reduced from 350 to 100.
Bug Fixes
ART AND GRAPHICS
Lighting: Lighting no longer flickers throughout Arktos Pharma.
Apparel: Fixed an issue that could cause a character's legs to show through the Rose Dress while it is equipped.
C.A.M.P., CRAFTING, AND WORKSHOPS
Artillery: Fixed an issue that could prevent Artillery from being placed in valid locations.
Blueprints: Addressed an issue preventing players from placing a stored blueprint containing posts that were placed partially underground when the blueprint was originally saved.
Budget: Scrapping a stored blueprint that contained wires will now correctly remove those wires from the C.A.M.P. budget.
Exploit: Addressed an exploit that could allow players to duplicate their stored blueprints.
Exploit: Addressed an exploit that could allow players to reduce their carry weight to a negative value.
Foundations: Fixed an issue that could cause a "Cannot place item: Needs support" message to display when editing a partially floating foundation.
Power Armor Station: Players can no longer view power armor they do not own when attempting to access a power armor station that's occupied by another player.
Scrapping: Ignition Cores crafted for the Earth Mover event are no longer automatically scrapped when using the Scrap All Junk option at a Workbench.
Scrapping: Junk items that need to be manually scrapped are no longer automatically scrapped for components when attempting to craft.
Stored Objects: Repeatedly attempting to place an Atomic Shop variant of an object the player had stored but does not own no longer prevents them from placing other variants.
Structures: Fixed an issue that could prevent a C.A.M.P. or workshop structure from being edited when building levels had been merged or split several times. This fix is not retroactive and will not apply to structures built prior to today's patch.
Terminals: Powered terminals contained within a stored blueprint now work correctly when the blueprint is placed in a new location
CHALLENGES
Collect Holotape Games: Nuka Tapper sub-challenge can now be completed by playing the Nuka-Tapper holotape game.
Formal Wear Challenges: Pantsuits and Shortsuits now correctly count as formal wear when completing challenges.
Gather Building Supplies: The "Scrap items to produce fertilizer" condition has been updated to "Collect Fertilizer" and can be completed by salvaging or crafting it using spoiled fruits, vegetables, and meat.
Learn Cooking Recipes: This challenge will now recognize many additional cooking recipes when they are learned for the first time. Retroactive credit will not be awarded for recipes learned prior to today's patch, but that is planned for a future update.
ENEMIES
A.I.: Fixed an issue in which some enemies could chase the player farther than intended and become frozen in place.
Exploit: Addressed several XP exploits by adding a limit to the maximum amount of XP granted by a single kill.
Looting: Fixed an issue that could prevent players from looting goo and ash piles after killing an enemy with a laser or plasma weapon.
GENERAL
Loading: Fixed several issues that could cause characters' body parts, equipped apparel, or armor to become temporarily invisible to other nearby players or teammates after loading into a world.
Monorail Elevator: Fixed an issue that prevented the Monorail Elevator near the edge of Cranberry Bog from taking players to the top floor.
Performance: The Scorched Earth event has received optimization improvements.
Performance: On laptops with more than one graphics card, Fallout 76 will now default to using the dedicated graphics card rather than an integrated card.
Performance: Launching the Traditional or Simplified Chinese game clients on Xbox One no longer causes a 6 second hitch when the launch video begins to play.
ITEMS
Bobbleheads: Using multiple Explosive Bobbleheads no longer causes their effects to stack.
Exploit: Addressed an exploit that could allow players to duplicate items using MODUS Vendors.
Exploit: Addressed an exploit in which the Vampire legendary effect could restore health through unintended means.
Magazines: Removed magazines from several locations where they were unintentionally guaranteed to spawn.
Tomahawks: No longer become stuck in mid-air after striking a hostile creature or player.
Magazines: Guns and Bullets #5 now correctly provides bonus components when scrapping weapons, but no longer specifies a 50% increase.
Magazines: Tesla Science #6 now correctly grants bonus Rad Resistance.
Rad-X: Consuming multiple Rad-X or Diluted Rad-X no longer causes their effects to stack.
Health Bonuses: A player with very low health who unequips an item that provides bonus health will no longer be instantly killed if removing that item that would cause their health to drop to or below 0.
Paper Bags: Fixed multiple issues in which transferring items into an empty paper bag as the bag was despawning caused those items to become lost.
Pip-Boy: Fixed a rare issue that could cause a character's Pip-Boy to go missing.
Power Armor: Entering a suit of power armor no longer occasionally causes it to become invisible to nearby players.
PERKS
Butcher's Bounty: Searching a dead Tick with the Butcher's Bounty perk equipped can now correctly produce additional Tick Blood.
Cap Collector: Now requires players to search caps stashes, much like other perks that grant a search option for containers.
Exploit: Addressed an exploit affecting the Curator perk.
Fireproof: Flame attack damage reduction provided by the Fireproof perk now correctly applies to Molotov fire damage.
Serendipity: A notification will now appear on-screen and sound effects will play whenever the Serendipity perk's effects are triggered.
Super Duper: Can no longer trigger when crafting quest items.
Traveling Pharmacy: Now correctly applies its weight reduction effect to Radaway, Diluted Radaway, Stimpaks, Diluted Stimpaks, Bloodpacks, Glowing Bloodpacks, Disease Cures, and Antibiotics.
PVP
Respawn: Fixed an issue that could prevent a player who was killed in water from correctly ending PVP upon respawning.
Stealth: Addressed an issue in which stealth damage bonuses could still be applied by a sneaking player's attacks during PVP even that player was within their target's direct line of sight.
Wanted: Fixed an issue that could cause the bounty amount for a Wanted player to appear halved on the map when approaching that player in the game world.
QUESTS AND EVENTS
Breach and Clear: The Meteoric Sword now correctly has a slim chance to spawn in containers during the Breach and Clear event.
Early Warnings: Quest progress will no longer become stuck when crafting Upgraded Motors and logging out after crafting Upgraded Motors will no longer reset the quest tracker to 0/5.
Events: Fixed an issue that could allow a player to simultaneously join two different events.
Events: Fast traveling after joining an event will now correctly remove the player from that event and will no longer prevent them from joining proximity event at their fast travel destination.
Flavors of Mayhem: Rose will no longer occasionally play unrelated voiceover lines when attempting to turn in Flavors of Mayhem, and the player is no longer prevented from correctly completing the quest.
Signal Strength: Fixed an issue that could prevent Rose's introductory voiceover lines from playing when the player approaches Top of the World.
Second Helpings: An area marker will now appear for the "Find Delbert Winters in Flatwoods" objective to better inform players about their options for proceeding through the quest.
SURVIVAL
Diseases: The Rad Worms disease now correctly increases rad damage taken by 50%.
SOUND
Weapons: Breath sound effects will now play correctly when activating the Hold Breath option while zoomed.
USER INTERFACE
Display: Fallout 76 will now better autodetect AMD 7900/8900 series and AMD Radeon R9 200 Series graphics cards.
Field of View: Addressed an issue causing camera clipping near walls when using a very high Field of View setting.
Hotkeys: Fallout 76 now better supports French AZERTY keyboard layouts and the game's controls will adjust accordingly.
Hotkeys: While using a French AZERTY keyboard, the "/" key can now be properly rebound in the controls menu.
Loading Screens: Fixed an issue that could cause loading screens to appear cut off or black at different resolutions when entering a building's interior.
Map: Character levels no longer appear truncated on the map for players over level 100.
Nameplates: Fixed an issue that prevented player nameplates from appearing while inside the nuke zone during the Scorched Earth event.
Nameplates: Fixed an issue that prevented the crown icon from displaying next to legendary enemy nameplates.
Social: On Xbox, after sending a friend request to another player a notification will now display to confirm that a friend request has been sent.
Social: The "Invite to Team" option no longer appears for players who have already joined the team.
Social: If an attempt to fast travel to a friend or teammate using the Social Menu fails due to nearby enemies the player will now be notified by an error message that states "You cannot fast travel when enemies are nearby".
Trading: Decreased the wait time required between trades when making multiple trades with another player. If players attempt to make multiple trades too quickly, a new "Trade failed due to frequency, wait a moment and try again." error message will now display rather than the previous "Trade Failed on Server" message.
Trading: Fixed an issue on PC that could cause the player's cursor to appear on both sides of a trade menu at the same time.
Tutorials: New players will now receive a tutorial message informing them of the Change Appearance option in the Main Menu.
VATS: Now selects targets more consistently across different field of view (FOV) values. For example, VATS will no longer target enemies that are visible in peripheral vision at high FOV values, but would be off-screen at default FOV values. This fix will help prevent VATS from providing an advantage to players who use high FOV settings.
VATS: Fixed an issue that could cause the VATS interface to rapidly flicker on and off.
Voice Chat: Fixed an issue preventing the speaker icon from appearing to others while a player is speaking over voice chat.
Workshop Previews: The player's current Atom balance no longer appears truncated when viewing an Atomic Shop item in the workshop preview at 16:10 and 21:9 resolutions.
Treyarch has revealed the full patch notes for the final January console update--titled 1.12--for Black Ops 4, which is now live. The update implements many changes in the console versions of the Call of Duty game, with Multiplayer, Blackout, and Zombies mode all being affected. Treyarch also wrote that additional content is "planned for later this week."
Update 1.12 adds Blackjack's Gun Game, Hardcore Moshpit, Endurance Chaos Moshpit, Mercenary Capture Moshpit, and Safeguard to the featured playlist in Multiplayer. In Zombies, classic and loot weapons have been added--which include the MP 40, Grav, Daemon 3XB, SWAT RFT, and KAP 45--and several bugs have been addressed.
For Blackout, all three levels of armor are being nerfed, with level three armor no longer fully protecting you from explosives or melee attacks. The radius and effectiveness of concussion grenades has also been reduced, while the fuse time and damage of the cluster grenade has increased. The new Blackout gametype Ambush has also debuted on PS4 with the new update, and is scheduled to come to Xbox One and PC next week.
Update 1.12 also adds the Barbarians special event--which was already live on PS4--to Xbox One and PC, allowing you to earn an additional 25 tiers of loot. Below, we've outlined the rest of the more minor changes coming in update 1.12. Again, these changes are only live on Xbox One and PS4, but come to PC next week.
Black Ops 4 Update 1.12 Patch Notes
Multiplayer
Featured Playlists
Blackjack's Gun Game added as Featured Playlist.
Limited-time free-for-all with new rotating weapon selection, including the KAP 45 full-auto pistol.
Hardcore Moshpit added to Featured category (first-time addition).
Endurance Chaos Moshpit, Mercenary Capture Moshpit, and Safeguard added to Featured category.
Game Modes
Heist
Ghost Perk now properly works against the mode's auto-UAV sweep.
Players can no longer spend cash on purchasing max ammo when they currently have max ammo.
Resolved an issue that could lead to multiple purchases of an item if the player had the Specialist selection menu open during round transition.
Specialists
Prophet
Resolved an issue where the Tempest could gain an extra charge if an enemy was killed by a player-owned Seeker or Scorestreak.
Ajax
Resolved an issue where grenade fuses could expire faster while the Ballistic Shield was in use.
Ruin
Resolved an issue where the Gravity Slam would not properly trigger if the player landed directly on another player.
Perks
Tracker
Tracker's detection icon will no longer display after the player switches to a class without Tracker equipped.
Gear
Acoustic Sensor
Resolved an issue where Acoustic Sensor could stop working if the player switched their class after spawning.
Challenges
Crash Landing
Players should now properly gain progress toward this Challenge each time after earning a Gravity Slam Shutdown medal.
Weapon Customization
Mastercrafts applied to secondary weapons will now update in real time.
Resolved an issue where a Gold Camo weapon could display a higher visual state when switched to after a new visual state was reached on a weapon with a Mastercraft applied.
Resolved an issue where a dropped Diamond Camo weapon could display a higher visual state when picked up by another player.
Resolved an issue where a teammate's Gold Camo weapon would have a purple visual state in third-person when killed by an enemy with a Gold Camo weapon.
Custom Games
Sweeping and Constant Mini Map custom rules settings now function as intended.
Team Deathmatch Round Score Limits greater than 500 are now available.
Miscellaneous
Grenade Equipment charge will no longer be lost if the player dies during the throwing animation.
Players can no longer gain XP for killing teammates in Hardcore Search & Destroy and Hardcore Control.
Closed an exploit that could briefly speed up a player's movement when rapidly ADSing in and out.
Removed custom reticles on ABR 223 and Paladin HB50 Mastercraft default optics, due to feedback on the reticles adversely affecting aiming during gameplay.
Blackout
Gameplay Tuning
Armor
Level 1 Armor damage protection reduced from 30% to 15%.
Level 2 Armor damage protection reduced from 40% to 25%.
Level 3 Armor damage protection reduced from 50% to 35%.
Removed explosive damage resistance from Level 3 Armor.
Removed melee weapon damage reduction from Level 3 Armor.
Increased Armor Plates required to repair a single durability pip of Level 3 Armor from 1 to 2.
Concussion Grenade
Reduced status effect duration.
Reduced area of effect radius.
Reduced throw distance.
Reduced opacity of the white flash when initially concussed.
When concussed, players can now use Equipment, continue holding Equipment, perform melee attacks, and switch weapons.
Reduced hip-fire spread while concussed.
Cluster Grenade
Increased time to detonate after impact.
Reduced damage of mini-Cluster Grenade explosions.
General
Players can now aim down sights immediately after interacting with a door.
Miscellaneous
"Longest Shot" on the Scoreboard now properly matches the After Action Report.
Zombies Ultimis character voiceovers now play as intended.
Zombies
Classic and Loot Weapons
MP 40, Grav, Daemon 3XB, SWAT RFT, and KAP 45 weapons added to the Mystery Box on all maps.
MP 40 and Grav camo progression now available in the Armory for all players.
Daemon 3XB, SWAT RFT, and KAP 45 camo progression and customization now available in the Armory once unlocked in the Black Market.
Stability
Global
Resolved a rare crash that could occur when players idled too long in a lobby.
Resolved a crash that could occur during a 4-player splitscreen session as players were bleeding out.
Dead of the Night
Fixed a crash that could occur when the player disconnected while loading into the boss fight.
Fixed a crash that could occur during the opening cinematic if the user quickly restarted a custom match just after leaving one.
Miscellaneous
Global
Resolved an issue where Pack-a-Punch would be unusable for the rest of the match for all other players if a player disconnected while their weapon was still in the Pack-a-Punch machine.
Resolved multiple pathing issues caused when throwing a Homunculus.
Resolved inconsistencies in the armor gained between the Hellfire and the Hammer of Valhalla.
Resolved an issue where, if the player struck an electric Catalyst zombie while disoriented by its electric wave, UI may disappear when being damaged by other zombies.
Resolved an issue where the player could still have armor after being revived if the player triggered the Special Weapon, then immediately went down.
Resolved an issue where players received an error when loading into an online Zombies match, which was followed by the match continuing without UI.
Resolved a rare issue in high rounds where the Hammer of Valhalla's Lightning Bolt would stop damaging zombies.
Resolved a rare issue where players were unable to use Perk Up after bleeding out.
Resolved a rare issue where the Chakram's Whirlwind attack FX could persist after it was used.
Blood of the Dead
Resolved an issue where the Spectral Shield Key attack could persist while using an Elixir.
Closed an exploit where players could access exploitable areas using the Ragnarok DG-5.
Dead of the Night
Limited the maximum damage that can be dealt to the boss by any attack to prevent several exploits.
Resolved an issue where enemies could fall out of the map on spawn during the Wonder Weapon Crimson Nosferatu event.
Resolved an issue where the Crimson Nosferatu bite could deal lower than intended damage or no damage to the player.
Resolved an issue where Nosferatu affected by the Wonder Weapon's charged shot could still target the player without attacking them.
Resolved an issue where Alistair's Folly was not present in the Library and could not be obtained in the Mystery Box before the power was turned on.
Resolved an issue where, if the player quit a Custom Mutations game that had the setting for all doors to be open, the player could hitch for an extended period of time and encounter an error message.
Resolved an issue in Custom Mutations where the player could encounter a kill trigger in the Master Bedroom or Trophy Room if they had doors set to open and used Anywhere But Here!
Resolved an issue where the player could encounter an error message in Custom Mutations with doors set to open and barricades set to off.
Resolved an issue where Alistair's Annihilator was slightly misaligned to the left.
Classified
Resolved a visual corruption that could occur when players were damaged by electric traps (Xbox One only).
Resolved an issue where the camera was not aligned to the player during the teleporter transition if the player was coming from Groom Lake.
Gauntlets
Resolved an issue where Gauntlet mode was not available in Local play, even if connected to the Internet.
Resolved an issue where the After Action Report in Local play would not show completed rounds.
Rush
Resolved an issue where collectible icons could spawn without glow FX.
Tutorial
Fixed a progression break that could occur if the player attempted to interact with the Fast Travel before interacting with the Pack-a-Punch pedestal.
The Humble Bundle has partnered with PlayStation for a sale on a bundle of indie titles along with bonuses. The Humble Indie PlayStation Bundle offers up to nine PS4 games, with some proceeds going to charity, for a limited time.
Those nine games are joined by the soundtracks for Grim Fandango and InnerSpace at the dollar level, and the Layers of Fear and Broken Age soundtracks at the more-than-average level. As always you can pay what you want and select how the money is distributed to Humble, charity, and developers.
These discounts will be available through February 12 at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET. Most of the games are individually priced at or more than the cost for all of them combined, so it's a good deal to get a lot of games you may have missed for cheap.
The much-anticipated new movie adaptation of the classic sci-fi novel series Dune continues to add some big names. Following the news earlier this month that MCU stars Dave Bautista and Stellan Skarsgård will play key roles, it has now been reported that Star Wars actor Oscar Isaac is in talks to join the cast.
According to Variety, Isaac is in negotiations to play the role of Duke Leto, the father of lead character Paul Atreides, who will be played by Timothy Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name). As well as playing Poe Dameron in the recent Star Wars movie, Isaac is known for roles in Ex Machina, X-Men: Apocalypse, and Annihilation.
Skarsgård is set to play the evil Baron Harkonen, while Bautista will appear as "Beast" Rabban, Harkonen's nephew. The cast also includes Mission Impossible star Rebecca Ferguson, and the movie will be directed by Denis Villeneuve, who previously helmed Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival. Dune does not yet have a release date.
The multi-book series was written by Frank Herbert, and the first volume was published in 1965. The movie was first announced in February 2017, when Herbert's son Brian suggested that it could be the first part in a series of films. It was previously adapted for the big screen in 1984 by David Lynch and starred Kyle McLachlan, Patrick Stewart, and Sting. While this version was a commercial failure, it has since gained a cult reputation.
The Sci-fi Channel (since re-branded Syfy) also produced a Dune mini-series in the early 2000s. There have been several unsuccessful attempts to get a new movie version off the ground, most recently with Patriots Day director Peter Berg at the helm.
On top of the ongoing PS Essentials sale, a new selection of PS4 game deals has gone live on the US PlayStation Store. From now until February 5, Sony is holding the PS Plus Specials sale, which offers discounts on an array of PSVR-compatible games--but only for PlayStation Plus subscribers.
Capcom's critically acclaimed horror game, Resident Evil 7, is one of the many titles on sale this week. The standard edition is available for $15, while the Gold edition--which includes all of the game's DLC--is $25. You can also pick the DLC up individually at a discount; Banned Footage Vol. 1 is $5, Banned Footage Vol. 2 is $7.49, and End of Zoe is $9.
Both the PS Plus Specials and PS Essentials sales are scheduled to end on February 5, so you have until then to take advantage of these offers. While the PS Essentials sale is open to everyone, PS Plus members will take an additional percentage off of every item, so you can grab some of 2018's biggest games like God of War and Battlefield V at a great price.
GameStop has announced that it is no longer trying to sell itself to another company. The video game retail company did not provide further details as to what that means for its future, but its stock price has plunged dramatically as a result.
"GameStop's Board has now terminated efforts to pursue a sale of the company due to the lack of available financing on terms that would be commercially acceptable to a prospective acquirer," GameStop said in a blog post. The announcement caused investment stock in GameStop to plummet, with the trading value decreasing by more than 25 percent to $11.24 USD at the time of this writing.
The company first began looking for a potential buyer in June 2018. GameStop went into talks with private equity firms and also hired a financial advisor, according to sources familiar with the situation. However, GameStop never confirmed a sellout was a definitive final outcome, and said in a statement that it was exploring other solutions to its financial difficulties as well.
In a report by Variety, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said that GameStop's decision to shift gears might mean that company was simply unable to find an investor. "A new console without a disc drive--unlikely, but possible--could kill [GameStop's] business," Pachter explained. "And all this talk of Amazon, Apple, and Google [streaming games] causes some to question whether there will be consoles at all."
GameStop has struggled to remain a relevant part of the game consumer model with the rise of digital distribution. As a result, the company has tried to account for lost sales by increasing its pivot towards used game sales and pop culture collectibles. However, the former has most likely been a shrinking margin for the company as well, with subscription services such as Xbox Game Pass, Games With Gold, and PlayStation Now offering a steady stream of older titles for less than their combined retail price.
Grand Theft Auto Online is debuting a new RC toy car with all sorts of custom options and dangerous weaponry to pack a tiny wallop. But if you're not sure you want to buy yet, you can sample it in a series of new races and earn double rewards in the process. Plus just logging in can net you some free cash.
First off, logging into GTA Online each weekend in February will get you $250K in GTA cash, so coming back over and over will net you a total of $1 million. Each week's reward will populate into your Maze Bank account the following weekend.
You can also get both double cash and RP in any of the eight new races centered around the new RC Bandito: All Downhill From Here, Trailer Park Dash, Air Traffic Control, Beach Please, Docking Around, Paleto Bae, Go For 'Broke, and Tee'd Off. In addition, you can get double cash and RP from any Stunt Race, or from the Running Back (Remix) mode. Rockstar teases that a variety of modes will spit out double cash and RP the whole month of February as well.
To make the RC Bandito your own, you'll need to first own an Arena to store it. Several Arena items are on sale now for 30% off, including Workshop Mechanics, Boost Upgrades, and more. Then you can head to Southern San Andreas Super Autos, which comes with its own workstation to modify it. You can add special liveries and lids, or mod it to make vertical jumps or drop mines.
Finally, a variety of vehicles are 30-35% off, including several high performance machines and aircraft. Those include:
Ocelot Swinger – 30% off
Hotring Sabre – 35% off
Overflod Tyrant – 30% off
Pegassi Tezeract – 30% off
Vapid Hustler – 30% off
Ocelot Pariah – 30% off
Hydra – 35% off
Buzzard – 35% off
Hunter – 35% off
Engines (Vehicles & Aircraft) – 30% off
Brakes & Handling (Vehicles & Aircraft) – 30% off
Suspension – 30% off
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