The first teaser for the superhero movie sequel Deadpool 2 has arrived.
Star Ryan Reynolds today posted the clip on YouTube. His character, Wade Wilson, encounters a man getting mugged. Like Superman, he jumps into a phone booth to change into his Deadpool suit--but...well, watch the video to see how it turns out. Stan Lee even shows up.
You may notice that this trailer also references "Nathan Summers," which is a reference to Cable, who has been heavily teased for the sequel. Recently, a report claimed Stranger Things actor David Harbour might play him. However, this trailer shows a poster for Firefly, so could it be Nathan Fillion?
BioWare has shared some new images and details for Mass Effect: Andromeda's multiplayer mode.
Posted by producer Fernando Melo on Twitter, the pictures show off Andromeda's character-selection screen and more. You can see the images embedded in the tweets below.
Meanwhile, we'll get some more MP info out - let's get the ball rolling... see you all soon in Andromeda! 4/4 pic.twitter.com/FuhGpuat9f
On the 3rd day of MP-mas (MP Santa was a bit busy so a little late today), the MP dev team gave to you - some MP customization... pic.twitter.com/jXpDBwSlzB
As for the new details, according to DualShockers, Melo confirmed that female Krogan characters (and female versions for all races) will be available. You can customize armor (including color and patterns), but customization for your character's face is not supported.
Continuing from Mass Effect 3, Andromeda's multiplayer will feature packs containing items that can be unlocked through gameplay or by spending real money.
As for how XP is earned, DualShockers reports that "during matches each player contributes to the total experience granted, and the the whole amount is granted to all."
Andromeda's multiplayer beta has been canceled. However, you can try the mode before launch on Xbox One and PC if you have an EA/Origin Access subscription. The EA/Origin Access free trial for the game, which limits you to 10 hours, arrives on March 16, with the full game coming out on March 21 for Xbox One, PC, and PS4.
For more on Andromeda, GameSpot's written coverage and videos here.
Disney is making a new Tron movie and Jared Leto could star in it.
This is according to The Hollywood Reporter, which claims, based on anonymous sources, that Disney is in the "very early stages" of making the film. Leto won an Oscar for Dallas Buyers Club and recently played the Joker in Suicide Squad.
"No writer has been hired at this exploratory stage, and no filmmaker is involved," THR said.
Tron: Legacy producer Justin Springer is in line to produce the new film, while Leto would be involved "in some producing capacity" if the movie ever gets made, which is not guaranteed.
After 2010's Tron: Legacy made $400 million, plans were reportedly in place for another movie, but it never happened.
THR added: "Sources say this new project is not a direct sequel and is being built out of the source code of the deleted Tron 3 script. Leto would play a character named Ares, who has not appeared onscreen before, but was a key player in that script."
The first Tron was released in 1982, starring Jeff Bridges. The movie takes place inside of a computer program known as the Grid.
Sound design is important for any video game, and horror games are no exception. Resident Evil 7 is being praised by critics for returning to its horror roots. Another standout part of the game is its creepy opening song, "Go Tell Aunt Rhody," which is a cover of the classic Burl Ives tune.
Composer Michael A. Levine came up with the new version, and GameSpot recently had a chance to speak with him about his first-ever video game gig.
In our discussion, Levine talks about how he came to be attached to the game, how many iterations he went through before he got to the final mix, and what it was like working with his daughter on it.
You may not know Levine by name, but you are likely familiar with his work. He wrote the Kit Kat"Gimme A Break" jingle and did the music for Star Wars Detours. He also arranged the choir version of The Simpsons' silly "Spider Pig" song and also produced pop giant Lorde's version of "Everybody Wants to Rule The World" from the Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack.
You can read the full interview below--go to Levine's website to learn more about the composer.
I'm always intrigued to hear how people get synced up with projects--how did you come to work with Capcom on Resident Evil 7?
Capcom was aware of a reconceptualization of the Lorde version of Everybody Wants to Rule The World that Lucas Cantor and I produced. We took a bouncy 80s dance number and turned it into something dark and brooding. That's the kind of thing they like!
"Go Tell Aunt Rhody" is a really creepy song; it does a good job of setting up the dread to come. Can you talk about the conceptualization of this song and the feedback from Capcom?
Capcom wanted a spooky remake of a song people already knew the world over but, rather than a pop song, they wanted something that was traditional. I remembered that because American teachers had helped establish the Japanese public school system in the 1870s, Rhody has a Japanese equivalent called Musunde. Most Japanese believe it is a traditional Japanese song.
From a technical perspective, how did you build the track? And how many iterations and variations did you go through before landing on what we hear in the game now?
It started as a more straightforward ballad with a few scary moments and, 20 or so versions later, evolved into something more like voice plus sound design. The original lead singer was Mariana Barreto, who has a beautiful light "innocent" quality. She's still doing all the background vocals. But we later looked for someone with a more "invasive" quality and were lucky enough to find New Zealand-born Jordan Reyne who, I think, did a spectacular job.
"Make it scary! Make it scarier! Make it even scarier!" -- Levine on the feedback he received from Capcom
Capcom made Resident Evil 7 in Japan. Do you speak Japanese? How did you go about coordinating with them across the language and geographic barriers?
I am fortunate that one of my agents, Koyo Sonae, is Japanese-American and served as both a language translator, and, equally important, a cultural interpreter. The geography presented some unique scheduling challenges such as the vocal session with Jordan at 6 pm London time (where she was), 10 am LA time (where I was), and 2 am Tokyo time (where the clients were).
What kind of notes did Capcom give you either before getting to work or in their reviews?
Make it scary! Make it scarier! Make it even scarier!
What kind of preparation did you do for this project? Did you get to see or play the game at all before sitting down to come up with the music?
The game was still in development so what I worked with was a storyboard and a story summary. Very low-tech! Based on the story summary I created the verse which relates, without giving too much away, to events in the game. I also changed the concluding line from the traditional "the old grey goose is dead" to "everybody's dead."
You worked with your daughter on this project--what was that like?
The aforementioned Mariana Barreto. Mari is one of the best musicians I know and a delight to work with. She is actually my step-daughter. When I fell in love with my wife, Mirette, and we got married, I didn't realize I was going to get such a marvelous bonus! Mari and I recently recorded an EP together called Samira and The Wind – a play on her middle name (Samira) and my last name. (Levine = Le Vent = The Wind).
The Resident Evil series is a behemoth. It has millions of fans. Did you feel any extra pressure to deliver, given the enormity of the game and the brand?
To be honest, my ignorance was probably an advantage in this case. Only later did I realize that I had stumbled into the Temple of Coolness.
What kind of feedback have you heard from your work on Resident Evil 7?
Capcom has been very complimentary and the fans kind. No insane stalkers, so far.
You've worked on a number of big-name properties in the past for movies and TV--but was this your first video game? If so, can you talk about the differences between those mediums and games as it relates to music writing?
Yes, this was my first video game. The theme song is the fun part and conceptually similar to other themes and trailers I have written before. The task is to distill the mood of a multi-hour experience into three minutes or less. Easy <wink>. The scoring, which was done by a talented team including Akiyuki Morimoto, Miwako Chinone, Satoshi Hori, and Cris Velasco, has to be flexible enough so that when the player makes a crucial decision the music will still make sense.
What are you working on right now that fans can get excited about?
Besides the Samira and The Wind album with Mari that I mentioned, I am recording an album with world-renowned percussionist Evelyn Glennie in May, tentatively titled Marimbolin. I will be playing electric violin and Evelyn will be playing, well, everything.
When will HBO's Game of Thrones return for Season 7? We still don't know for sure, but now, actor Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth) has teased that the show may come back in July.
"I've been disappointing various people around the world because it was meant to come out in April. It's July now, I think," he told The Independent (via IGN).
Cunningham also confirmed there will be a special event to mark the season premiere and that, as rumored, it will only have seven episodes. He also said production will begin on Season 8 in September this year.
"There's going to be a launch and something special happening this year for the premiere. The bad news is, there will only be seven episodes and the final season starts again as far as I know in September," he said.
A new promo for Game of Thrones Season 7 aired recently on HBO and can be seen above. According to actress Emilia Clarke, Season 7 is going to blow your mind.
Disney has released the first picture of actress Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins in its upcoming reboot of the series, Mary Poppins Returns. It's a classic-looking photo showing Blunt standing in front of the Banks mansion after magically flying there, presumably.
Take a look:
Here's your first look at Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins in "Mary Poppins Returns," coming to theatres December 25, 2018. pic.twitter.com/NSEFZcsbaK
— Walt Disney Studios (@DisneyStudios) March 3, 2017
The new Mary Poppins film also stars Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton), Ben Whishaw (Spectre), Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada), Colin Firth (Pride and Prejudice), and Julie Walters (Harry Potter series). Dick Van Dyke, who played one of the leads in the 1964 original, is returning for the reboot. Julie Andrews played Mary Poppins in the original.
Like the original, the reboot will feature three Banks children, who are played by Pixie Davies (Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children), Nathanael Saleh (Game of Thrones) and Joel Dawson.
Also similar to the original, the sequel is set in 1930s depression-era London and tells a story based on the works of author PL Travers. Here is the official synopsis:
"In the story, Michael (Whishaw) and Jane (Emily Mortimer) are now grown up, with Michael, his three children and their housekeeper, Ellen (Walters), living on Cherry Tree Lane. After Michael suffers a personal loss, the enigmatic nanny Mary Poppins (Blunt) re-enters the lives of the Banks family, and, along with the optimistic street lamplighter Jack (Miranda), uses her unique magical skills to help the family rediscover the joy and wonder missing in their lives. Mary Poppins also introduces the children to a new assortment of colorful and whimsical characters, including her eccentric cousin, Topsy (Streep)."
Mary Poppins Returns is directed by Rob Marshall, who made the Disney movie Into the Woods. Mary Poppins Returns comes out on Christmas Day 2018.
Michael K. Williams, who starred in HBO's acclaimed drama The Wire and was recently seen in the Assassin's Creed movie, might be joining Lucasfilm's upcoming Star Wars Han Solo movie.
Variety is reporting that Williams is in "final talks" to join the film. We don't know anything about his character, or the movie's overall plot, really, except for the fact that it's a prequel to the Star Wars series.
Williams has been re-tweeting stories about this report, so it seems pretty solid, though Lucasfilm has yet to make a formal announcement about his involvement.
The untitled Han Solo movie will focus on Han Solo's "early encounters" with Lando Calrissian and is currently in production.
Han Solo is played by Alden Ehrenreich, while Donald Glover portrays Lando Calrissian. Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke is also in the movie, alongside Hunger Games actor Woody Harrelson, both in unspecified roles. Westworld actress Thandie Newton and Fleabag's Phoebe Waller-Bridge will appear in the movie as well, though their parts have not been announced.
"Watching such inspired people from all over the world, with such unique voices, come together for the sole purpose of making art, is nothing short of miraculous," directors Chris Lord and Phil Miller said in a statement. "We can't think of anything funny to say, because we just feel really moved, and really lucky."
The Han Solo movie opens on May 25, 2018. The next entry in the series is this year's Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which picks up immediately after 2015's The Force Awakens.
It's the weekend again! Here is a roundup of the week's big stories and some you might have missed.
The Big Stuff:
After a lot of teases, Blizzard officially announced the next Overwatch hero, Orisa, this week. Read GameSpot's previous coverage here to learn all about her. [Full story]
Microsoft made a huge announcement this week when it revealed Xbox Game Pass, a Netflix-like service for Xbox One that gives you access to a library of 100 games. It arrives this Spring. [Full story]
Xbox boss Phil Spencer made some new comments about Project Scorpio this week, discussing (at a high level) its price point and suggesting that there might be a pre-E3 reveal event. [Full story]
The Other Stuff:
An unreleased Die Hard game that was in the works for Nintendo 64 has been found. Really. Get the full story here at Kotaku.
JK Rowling had some magical news to share with her Twitter followers this week, teasing a picture of what looks like the script for Fantastic Beasts 2.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates did a Reddit AMA this week, his fifth. He talked a lot about humanitarian efforts with his Gates Foundation--but that wasn't all. You can read the full AMA here.
Funcom's MMO The Secret World is being "relaunched" this year, the publisher announced its its earnings report. NeoGAF has a breakdown of the news.
Here's a song from the Prey soundtrack, as composed by Doom's Mick Gordon. Sounds good!
This past week at the Game Developers Conference, Square Enix showed Final Fantasy XV running on PC tech--but this doesn't mean it's confirmed for PC. More details here at PCGamesN.
Whoa. Here's something cool. Also at GDC this week, Gearbox showed off its tech demo for Borderlands 3. Bear in mind that this is just a tech demo, but it looks rad. See the art here at NeoGAF.
Each week we search and gather up the coolest comic book art you won't see in actual comics. The reason you won't is because professional artists often draw sketches for fun or commissions and post them on their websites, blogs, and Tumblrs. Some artists even arrange commissions through their sites so be sure to check them out. This is a way to see the artists working on one book draw characters from other comics or publishers.
Update: It looks as if the issue has now been resolved. We'll report back if that should change.
Original Story: If you're having issues with Xbox Live at the moment, you're not alone.
Live is suffering from problems that are affecting Xbox One, Xbox 360, and other devices this afternoon. According to the Xbox Live Status page, this impacts users' ability to buy downloadable items and--more seriously--sign in to Live.
"Our engineers and developers are actively continuing to work to resolve the issue causing some members to have problems signing in to Xbox Live," reads an update posted at 2:35 PM PT. "Stay tuned, and thanks for your patience."
The Xbox Support Twitter shared a similar announcement but provided no further information. There's not yet an ETA for when service will be restored.
We'll update this story with any further developments or when Live comes back online.
If there's one thing every single fighting game must achieve if it hopes to be successful, it's balance. That, in part, is why Injustice 2's gear system is so unusual and, potentially, so risky.
Not only does Injustice 2 allow players to increase characters' base stats by leveling up over time, it also includes a loot-drop system that rewards players with equippable items that enhance characters' stats even further. Developer NetherRealm Studios hasn't offered many details since announcing the system last summer, but during a recent preview event held at its Chicago headquarters, the team unveiled new details about the gear system.
Basically, every fighter in the game has four base stats: strength, defense, health, and ability. (That last one impacts special attacks like fireballs; the rest are self-explanatory.) In addition, characters all start with five pieces of stock gear covering their head, torso, legs, arms, and a character-specific item. These default costume pieces don't provide any stat boosts, but as you play, you'll gradually earn dozens, hundreds, potentially thousands of new items.
All of these earned items possess unique attributes: some will buff just one of those four base stats by a small amount, others might increase all of them significantly, and still others might boost some stats while actually reducing others. On top of these numerical changes, rarer gear can include one or more bonus "augments," which range from new visual effects for special moves to higher yields of in-game currency from each fight. And if you manage to collect all five pieces from a single gear set (rather than simple mixing and matching), you'll receive additional bonuses on top of all that--like, say, extended range for Batman's batarangs.
According to the devs, this whole system should encourage players to develop unique personal playstyles (or even several styles that can be saved as distinct gear profiles) while consistently rewarding them for investing time in the game. The danger, of course, is that new players will be utterly dominated by leveled-up veterans decked out in all the rarest gear, or that all the different gear will make high-level play impossible to balance.
According to Injustice 2 designer John Edwards, however, the team at NetherRealms has created a variety of solutions to this potential problem. Most simply, Edwards confirmed you can disable stat boosts when playing both online and off, an option that reduces all stats to their default levels and turns any equipped gear into purely cosmetic items. "We imagine that will be primarily for high-level tournament players and things like that where you play ranked online," said Edwards during a recent preview event. "Even for the competitive modes where we allow stats to be active, both players have the option to disable that stuff."
If you do choose to play with gear stats enabled, Edwards explained there's still a system in place that adjusts characters' base stats--which, again, grow as characters level-up over time. "What we do is, we automatically boost up the lower-level character's base stats to the same level as the higher-level character," explained Edwards. "But the gear does not get boosted, so the player who has invested a lot of time in building up the gear for their level 20 character will still have better stats, better abilities than the level one character does. But it won't be to such an extreme that the lower-level character has no chance."
Of course, you can turn this system off as well, according to Edwards, just in case you want to try your luck as a low-level character facing down high-level opponents. "Essentially we have lots of ways in the game to make sure that [gear] does not become an issue," said Edwards. "We also have lots of different ways you can get gear," added art director Steve Baron. "You can get gear randomly at the end of some fights. You can get gear in certain single-player game modes. You can get gear out of our Mother Boxes, which are chests. There are definitely ways that you can see particular pieces of goods you want and actively go towards those things."
Edwards clarified that the Mother Box loot crates can be purchased using earned in-game currency, and emphasized that Injustice 2 will never allow you to spend real money to improve your stats (though he did not rule out microtranstions completely). According to Baron, the team is far more interested in using gear as an incentive: "One of the things we want to have people do is, when you are playing online and you see someone you are fighting against with really cool gear, you say, 'I want that helmet, how do I get that?' And talk with that person. And that would rope people into playing some other game modes and experiencing some other content that maybe they wouldn't have normally gone to."
Baron also explained that visual customization is fundamental to Injustice 2's progression system. Not only can you unlock shaders--which let you adjust your character's entire color scheme--you can also earn a huge variety of visually distinct items inspired by decades of source material. "DC gave us a lot of freedom to design what we wanted," said Baron. "So you'll see a lot of classic elements that we pull in there. Like we got the red sonic Superman in there. You can kind of pick and choose the gear you want."
"You don't want to get so crazy where it's goofy or doesn't look like Batman should be wearing that," added Edwards. "For super serious Batman stuff, he's not going to have top hats and weird things like that. But for some of the characters, there is definitely some boundary-pushing. I'd say there are definitely some characters that it kind of fits on, like Harley. Some of that stuff is actually hilarious."
If you didn't already preorder the system, you might not have any luck in finding a Nintendo Switch in stores today. Luckily, at least one retailer will have a limited supply of systems again quite soon.
Toys R Us will have the Switch on sale again this coming Sunday, March 5, the retailer tells GameSpot. It didn't reveal how many consoles you can expect to find at each store, but it did say you may want to get there before the doors open.
"We expect that when stores open at 10 AM, they will sell very quickly, so we suggest customers get in line early," a representative said.
When other stores will be restocking the system remains to be seen. A number of retailers, including Best Buy and GameStop, had a limited supply today for those who hadn't secured preorders ahead of time. Amazon also sold systems at its physical locations and online for Prime members earlier in the day. However, a number of people who preordered in advance from Amazon are finding that orders supposed to arrive today may not in fact be delivered on time.
We'll keep you up to date as more retailers share details about Switch restocks.
Despite indications that they would arrive today, Amazon appears to be failing to deliver the Nintendo Switch to numerous people who preordered the system well in advance of launch.
Social media has been inundated with posts from people concerned that their Switch orders from Amazon won't arrive today as promised. Many of these are orders that were placed when it first went on sale in January and had indicated they would be delivered on launch day. Until this week, when orders didn't ship as early as some people expected, there was no reason to believe anything was wrong.
For many customers over the past few days, Amazon has listed the system as arriving today, March 3, by 8 PM. But as of this writing, with half the day gone on the East Coast in the US, Amazon still lists it as "preparing for shipment," as seen in the image above of my personal Switch order.
Not everyone has been affected by this--at least one person in our offices at GameSpot has already received their Amazon order of the system and a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Others have reported successful shipments (or at least "out for delivery" notifications) on Twitter.
But many are finding themselves with no real recourse at this point. Until the day ends, we can't say for sure that orders won't arrive, but the confusion and lack of communication on Amazon's part is not a great look. We've reached out to the company for comment and have not yet heard back.
Making matters worse, Amazon briefly sold more Switch units on its website today for Prime members, with additional stock offered at select Prime Now locations. That's only adding to the frustrations of those who believed they had secured a launch-day system months in advance.
Responding to player feedback, Gears of War 4 developer The Coalition today detailed one of the big changes coming to the Xbox One and PC game through its upcoming March update.
After getting "numerous reports" about "inconsistencies" with the Gnasher weapon, The Coalition is changing its properties to "more accurately match player's expectations."
"After some further investigation, we discovered that a mechanic that has been present in past Gears games to prevent shooting through walls was creating a perceived inconsistency with the Gnasher," The Coalition said in a blog post. "The Gnasher would typically have its pellets start from the stock of the gun and move through the barrel. This was to prevent users from shooting through walls. This pull back means that the spread is wider than is intuitive at the end of the barrel, and so players were missing some of the pellets when they thought they should have hit with the whole cluster."
The before-and-after image below shows that the Gnasher now fires from the end of the barrel instead of further back. This is important in close-quarters situations, as the previous setup meant that you could inexplicably not get a kill that you seemingly should have
Looking ahead, The Coalition said it will monitor how this change is received and whether or not it allows shots to be fired through walls.
Before (left); After (right)
"The impact of these changes will hopefully mean a more intuitive experience," the developer said. "There will be a slight change in feel of the gun, but we hope that people will see more clearly when they hit or miss a target."
For more on the Gnasher changes, check out the video above, in which multiplayer design director Ryan Cleven explains the tweaks and more.
In addition to the Gnasher changes, The Coalition is looking into Gears of War 4's social, core, and competitive playlists and will release tuning updates as needed. More information on specific changes will be announced after the March update arrives.
Now through 11:59 PM PT on Sunday, March 5, Xbox Live Gold members can play the game in its entirety completely free. All progress, including save files and Achievements, will be saved to your account, so you can pick up where you left off if you decide to buy the game.
The standard edition is currently marked down to $36, with the deluxe edition available for $67.50 instead of $90. These deals are good until Tuesday, March 7.
The free trial version of Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 is available in the Gold Member area of the dashboard or through the game's Xbox Store page. You can read more about the promotion here at the Xbox Wire.
Accessory maker dbrand intended to sell skins for the Nintendo Switch, allowing you to customize the look of the system. Today, it announced that it's canceling orders and advising Switch owners to avoid sticking anything to their systems.
As explained in a series of messages on Twitter, the company recently got its hands on the system and began working on prototypes. "Having completed the Joy-Con skins, everything looked phenomenal. Then, an issue arose," it said in a tweet accompanied by the image below.
"After removing the skin, it was obvious that the coating on the Joy-Cons do not play well with any kind of adhesive," it continued, adding that the system itself also suffers from this issue. You can see what happens in the gallery above.
As a result of this, dbrand says it will cancel and refund all preorders on Switch skins. It's also recommending that you avoid buying skins from anyone from your Switch.
We haven't experienced this issue ourselves yet, but based on these images you would be wise to avoid sticking anything to your Switch. That is, unless you're okay with leaving it on there permanently or can live with any potential damage.
On a similar note, you may want to invest in a screen protector or be especially careful placing the Switch in its dock, as the screen can potentially be scratched. Again, we haven't experienced this with the ones we've used, but Glixel has some unsightly scratches on one of their systems.
On Xbox One, users can play multiplayer and single-player with no caps or restrictions, though an Xbox Live Gold membership is required. On PC, players get only two multiplayer maps and one single-player campaign chapter. Additionally, play time is limited to 10 hours.
For both Xbox One and PC, all progress from the trial stays tied to your account after the free trial weekend comes to a close. A trial version of Battlefield 1 was not announced for PlayStation 4.
The free play weekend ends on March 5 at 11:59 PM ET on Xbox One and March 6 at 7 AM ET on PC. On Xbox One, you can find the Battlefield 1 trial in the Xbox Live Gold Member area on the dashboard. PC players can grab the game's trial here on Origin.
Battlefield 1 is currently discounted nicely, as digital copies for all platforms are marked down to $30 as part of a week-long EA sale.
Logan made $9.5 million from its Thursday night screenings in the US, outperforming the latest X-Men movie, Apocalypse, which took in $8.2 million on its first Thursday in 2016.
These numbers come from The Hollywood Reporter, which added that Apocalypse ended up making $79.8 million for its entire first weekend. That might not end up being the best comparison when Logan's first-weekend numbers come in, as Apocalypse may have benefited from being released over the Memorial Day weekend.
Logan is crushing the last standalone Wolverine movie, 2013's The Wolverine, which made $4 million from its Thursday night screenings and $53 million for its opening weekend. Projections for Logan are that it will make $65 million over its first weekend.
We will report back on Sunday evening when final estimates for the weekend come in.
In other news, it's been confirmed that Logan begins with a teaser that features another Marvel superhero--get the details here in this spoiler-filled post.
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