The HTC Vive and Oculus Rift could both use sharper screens and a wider field of view (FOV). Technology company Pimax hopes to overcome these issues with its 8K VR headset, which features two 3840x2160 panels for a combined 16.6 million pixels. This is considerably sharper than the Rift and Vive, which both use 2160x1200-resolution screens. Pimax also ups FOV to 200 degrees, which is roughly twice that of the Rift and Vive. In many ways, the headset achieves its lofty goals, but it does make other technical tradeoffs in its current Kickstarter state.
Because 8K is so graphically demanding, Pimax's VR headset has a built-in scalar that upscales 4K content to 8K. However, this requires a lot of bandwidth, so the head-mounted display (HMD) requires two DisplayPort connections. This is in stark contrast to the Vive and Rift, which both require a single HDMI cable.
Pimax will also use Valve's lighthouse tracking technology. The company suggests that its HMD will work with any SteamVR game as a result. Pimax says it's trying to incorporate games from Oculus' store onto its platform as well, but has yet to receive approval.
I tried underwater demo theBlu and Fruit Ninja VR on the 8K headset with a gaming laptop that had a GTX 1080, which performs more similarly to a desktop-class GTX 1070. The HMD uses curved optics to encompass most of your FOV, and it works well for the most part, covering most of my horizontal and vertical vision. In terms of image clarity, I didn't notice any undesirable screen-door effect, and it was hard for me to discern any pixels from the limited time I had with it.
In its current state, the Pimax headset does have some issues. Where the Rift and Vive use an OLED panel, the Pimax headset uses an LCD one, meaning it lacks contrast. Its black levels don't look as dark as they do on the other HMDs, and its colors also aren't as vibrant. There's also distortion on the outer edges of your peripheral vision. Pimax says that this is a software issue that will be tweaked before launch.
One major issue with rendering at such a high resolution is that it can be very graphically demanding on hardware. While the HMD is capable of running at 90Hz, like the Rift and Vive, Pimax tells me that performance was hovering in the 80 FPS range. This is problematic because lower and more inconsistent frame rates can lead to motion sickness. The company is hoping that more powerful graphics cards will alleviate these performance issues in the coming months and years. Regardless, after taking off the headset, I felt slightly cross-eyed. This could be due to the fact that the current build of the headset does not allow you to physically adjust the interpupillary distance (IPD) between its lenses, but Pimax tells me the final version will include this feature.
In terms of ergonomics, the headset felt lighter than the Vive and Pimax says that it will be on par with the Oculus Rift's weight at one pound. It uses a facial interface foam and head straps that are most similar to the stock HTC Vive ones. It doesn't come with headphones, but Pimax says that there will be an optional audio strap that looks something like HTC's Deluxe Audio Strap, with the ergonomics of Sony's PlayStation VR headset.
In addition to the audio attachment, Pimax asserts that its HMD will support a wide variety of attachments. Among these is one that will eventually allow the headset to become wireless, which the company is aiming to release in July 2018. There will also be attachments that include fans to keep users cool, eye trackers, and hand trackers. I had a chance to try out the prototype hand tracker, which works similarly to the Leap Motion and does a decent job at tracking your fingers, though it only tracks your hands if they're in front of your face. In addition, its accuracy was slightly off as it looked like my virtual hands were slightly higher than my real ones. Pimax says this might be a configuration issue, as I did not undergo the full setup process.
The standalone 8K headset, which will work with Valve's current Lighthouse trackers and controllers, starts at $499 if you back it now on Kickstarter. If you want the complete package with Pimax's own upcoming lighthouses and controllers, it will cost you $799. The headset is on schedule to ship in January for Kickstarter backers.
Those looking to fill the gaping, Dark Souls-shaped hole in their lives have been keeping a close eye on Bandai Namco's Code Vein. Dubbed "anime Dark Souls" by many, it draws heavy influence from From Software's acclaimed Souls series, most notably in its difficulty.
GameSpot recently got some hands-on time with the English build of Code Vein, which is similar to the one shown at Tokyo Game Show but features a little extra time to explore and the opportunity to face a boss. Of course, we captured our experience for your viewing pleasure.
We weren't given an indication of how far into the game the section we were exploring was, but with the suite of powers, gifts, and equipment, I get the feeling that it's not the start of the game. The above gameplay has a few deaths and backtracking edited out, so enjoy 13 minutes of uninterrupted monster killing.
The fearsome Queen's Knight boss, as you've no doubt gathered, can be quite tricky. However, I managed to bring her down--albeit on my eighth attempt. Since the Queen's Knight is very aggressive, I opted to use my buffs and saved as many healing items as I could before stepping into the fray. Check out the fight below.
We'll have more from Code Vein soon, so if you've enjoyed what you've seen so far then make sure you keep your eye on GameSpot for more coverage.
Code Vein is slated to release in early 2018 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. We recently learned that it will not have an easier difficulty setting; instead, players will be able to freely change their character's stats during the course of the game to adapt to new challenges.
Tickets for this year's highly anticipated new Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi, go on sale very soon. Ticket company Fandango has announced that pre-sales for tickets will open tomorrow, October 9, after the new trailer airs during Monday Night Football. " style="word-wrap: break-word;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #6DC6DD;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;">CNET reports that the Showcase Cinemas app is selling them right now.]
Fandango is the "most anticipated movie of the year," the ticket-seller said, citing one of its surveys. A survey of Fandango users showed that an astonishingly high percentage--95 percent--said they plan to see the movie in theatres. The film, which is directed by Loooper's Rian Johnson opens on December 15.
Fandango is of course just one ticket-seller, but the company appears to be the first to say when tickets go on sale. Buying through Fandango gets you a free Last Jedi poster.
"There's nothing quite like a new Star Wars movie, with its nostalgic appeal, new characters and creatures, rousing action and inspiring storyline," Fandango Managing Editor Erik Davis said in a statement. "This is why we go to the movies, and fans are already eager to snag their advance tickets on Fandango to see The Last Jedi two months from now."
The new Last Jedi trailer will premiere tomorrow, October 9, during the Monday Night Football broadcast on ESPN. Johnson recently said that some people may want to "absolutely avoid it" if they are hoping to go into the film with fresh eyes.
Given that he appeared in the previous game and is one of the most iconic fictional characters ever, it should come as no surprise that Darth Vader will be featured in Star Wars Battlefront II. Nevertheless, it wasn't until today that EA officially announced him and provided our first look at this latest iteration.
The video below shows off Vader in action, and he's lot like you would expect--he slices opponents down with his lightsaber (Saber Throw) and lifts others up with the Force to damage them (Force Choke). He also has an ability called Focused Rage that essentially makes him tougher overall, allowing him to deal and receive more damage than usual.
That's unfortunately all we have to go on at this point, but it provides a pretty good sense of the type of unit that Vader will function as in multiplayer. The beta offers a look at a number of other returning and new choices that players have at their disposal, such as Rey, Boba Fett, and and Han Solo.
Battlefront II's beta has been extended; it had been expected to end earlier today, October 9. It will now run for an additional two days, though the full game's release is still planned for November 17 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
Europe's most recent Splatfest may have just wrapped up, but Splatoon 2 players in North America will soon have a chance to take part in their own competition. The region's next Splatfest takes place this weekend, and for the first time since the Nintendo Switch shooter launched, it will have a different theme from Europe.
The Splatfest begins on Friday, October 13, at 9 PM PT/12 AM ET. Like previous events, it will run for a full 24 hours. Fittingly, the theme for the October Splatfest is inspired by Halloween; players must settle the debate over which classic monster is superior, vampires or werewolves.
The Splatfest that recently concluded in Europe wasn't Halloween-themed, but it did ask an important question: do you hang your toilet roll over or under? Fortunately, sanity seems to have prevailed; Team Front Roll took home the contest, winning in a landslide in the popularity category and edging out Team Back Roll in solo victories to clinch the competition. Those who participated in the event will receive Super Sea Snails the next time they turn the game on.
As usual, one of the maps that will be featured during the Splatfest this weekend is Shifty Station, which will have a brand-new layout for this competition. Meanwhile, another new map, Snapper Canal, recently made its debut in Splatoon 2. Alongside the map, Nintendo released the latest free DLC weapon, the Bamboozler 14 Mk, which you can now purchase with in-game currency from the Ammo Knights shop.
If you haven't yet gotten around to trying out the Star Wars Battlefront II beta, or you simply haven't had your fill, you're in luck. Electronic Arts has extended the beta an extra two days, providing players with more time to see what the sequel has to offer.
The beta had been scheduled to end earlier today, but it will now instead run until Wednesday, October 11. EA didn't say why it made the change or if any additional content would be introduced. As it stands, you can sample four modes: Galactic Assault, Starfighter Assault, Strike, and Arcade. The first three are online multiplayer modes that range in maximum player count (going as high as 40 in Galactic Assault). Arcade is a 1-2 player mode with offline split-screen support.
You can check out our previous coverage for more details on exactly what's in the Battlefront II beta. The beta began on October 4 for people who pre-ordered, later opening to everyone on October 6. The campaign is inaccessible, but you can get a decent taste of the multiplayer--and its contentious microtransaction system.
Although last year's Captain America: Civil War was packed with Marvel superheroes, Thor and Hulk were nowhere to be seen. But the pair are finally reunited in Thor: Ragnarok, which hits theaters next month.
A first clip has been released, and it shows the pair meeting for the first time since 2014's Avengers: Age of Ultron. Unfortunately, the Hulk doesn't exactly look pleased to see his old friend--check it out below:
Thor: Ragnarok stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, and Tom Hiddleston as Loki. Cate Blanchett plays the villainous Hela, while Jeff Goldblum will appear as immortal games-playing Grandmaster. It hits theaters on November 3, 2017.
The film is directed by Taika Waititi, who previously helmed small-scale New Zealand comedies such as What We Do in the Shadows and The Hunt for the Wildepeople. In a recent interview with Slashfilm, Waititi spoke about the challenges of trying to balance his own filmmaking sensibilities with the demands of making a massive movie within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
"There's definitely a challenge with wanting be true to what the fans want, and to the universe itself," he said. "But also, I have to keep reminding myself that I was hired for a reason, and I think one of those reasons is because of the kind of stories I tell, and the kind of films that I've made previously. Obviously it has to be me trying to unify my type of storytelling with this kind of content, and hopefully it all comes out really nicely in the end."
"I don't want to make an episode of some other larger thing," he continued. "I know that it will lead [to other things] and all the pieces will fit together. But it's not my job to make sure they fit together. It's not my job to make sure that all this makes sense three movies down the tracks for one of the other franchises. My job is to make a film that can sit alone as a standalone piece, that obviously I'll be proud of.
"But if it's the only Marvel film you see that it's also a great story in and of itself. The lucky thing is that there are a bunch of geniuses who run Marvel who make sure that, even if it's a standalone piece, it is part of a great big jigsaw puzzle that could be appreciated as a whole as well."
The latest Pokemon giveaway from Sun and Moon has now begun. For a limited time, players have a chance to add the Mythical Pokemon Marshadow to their teams, making this the first time the rare Fighting/Ghost-type Pokemon has been available in the games.
To claim your Marshadow, US players will have to pick up a free download code from a GameStop store; those in the UK, meanwhile, will have to visiting "participating retailers" for their free code. Marshadow comes at level 50 and is equipped with Marshadium Z, which allows it to use the exclusive Z-Move Soul-Stealing 7-Star Strike once per battle. It also knows the following attacks:
Spectral Thief
Close Combat
Force Palm
Shadow Ball
As with previous distributions, to redeem your code, you'll need to select the Mystery Gift option from the games' main menu and choose to receive your gift via code/password. Enter the download code you picked up and you'll be able to retrieve Marshadow from the deliveryman waiting inside any Pokemon Center in Alola. Codes for Marshadow will only be available until October 23, so you'll want to visit a store soon if you hope to get one.
In addition to Marshadow, Pokemon Sun and Moon players can also still receive a free Charizard for a limited time. To get the popular Fire-type, visit the electronics section of a participating Target store by October 14 to pick up a free download code. Today is also the last day you can receive the a special Pikachu wearing Ash's cap from the Sinnoh region.
The Super NES Classic Edition boasts an impressive lineup of the original console's games, plus a long-lost, unreleased one in Star Fox 2. But just like its predecessor, the SNES Classic comes with no official means for playing anything other than those games. There's no Virtual Console-style digital library to purchase games from, nor can you pop in an original SNES cartridge if you still have one lying around. Yet just like the NES Classic Edition, hackers have found a way to expand what the system is capable of.
Using an updated version of a tool called HackChi--also used to hack the NES Classic--it's possible to load more games onto the SNES Classic by connecting it to a PC. Due to the fact that the system is loaded with 300 MB of storage, only a fraction of which is actually used by the officially included games, it's possible to load dozens of additional games. The video below, for instance, showcases a system that now has more than 200 of them. As you can see, it's even possible to add box art and tweak various options so that these added games appear no different from those that are officially supported. They don't even necessarily have to be SNES games to work.
You can also use HackChi to address one of the annoying, if ultimately minor oversights of the SNES Classic: the absence of a Home button. In order to bring up the system's menu (either to switch games or access save states for what you're currently playing), you have to physically push a button on the system itself; there's no option to do this on the included controller. HackChi allows you to implement your own controller shortcut.
As you might imagine, however, there are some things to keep in mind. Doing anything like this runs the risk of bricking your console--and although Nintendo suggests they'll be easier to get than the NES Classic, that's still a risk you may not want to take. It also requires obtaining ROMs for the games you want to install, which is both illegal and risky.
The much-delayed X-Men spinoff focusing on card-throwing mutant superhero Gambit might have a new director. It has been reported that Pirates of the Caribbean's Gore Verbinski is Fox's next choice to take over the project, which has already seen two directors exit before production could begin.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Verbinski is in talks with the studio to helm the movie. Verbinski directed the first three entries in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, as well the animated hit Rango, The Lone Ranger, and this year's thriller A Cure for Wellness.
If Verbinski joins Gambit, he will become the third high-profile director to be attached to the movie. It was originally scheduled for release in October 2016, with Rise of the Planet of the Apes' Rupert Wyatt as director. He left the film in September 2015, citing scheduling conflicts. However, a story in Deadline at the time suggested that there had been ongoing disagreements over both the script and budget.
Last month, star Channing Tatum provided an update on the film's status. The actor explained that while the unusual nature of the project meant that it has met various obstacles, the success of R-rated X-Men movies Deadpool and Logan has ultimately helped its progress.
"I think we got lucky," he said. "We got hit with some setbacks, and it was all for a good reason. We were trying to do something completely different. We were trying to do something that this genre of movie hasn't seen before. We kept running into the same problems, and then Deadpool and Logan came through and kicked the doors down. Now we're really getting to do some of the things we've always wanted to do with the script--we've just sort of started over."
The card-throwing Gambit first appeared in a 1990 issue of The Uncanny X-Men. He appeared briefly in 2009's critically panned X-Men Origins: Wolverine, portrayed by Taylor Kitsch.
Final Fantasy XV has grown in some notable and unexpected ways since it first launched last November, but the most bizarre project to spring from the RPG is Monster of the Deep, the upcoming virtual reality spin-off for PlayStation 4. Monster of the Deep is based on the fishing mini-game featured in Final Fantasy XV, but where that was a mostly optional activity you could freely indulge in when the whim strikes, here it is your sole objective. It's an unusual direction for the first VR Final Fantasy game to take, and from what we've seen of it, there may not be enough depth to sustain it as a standalone experience.
We played a brief demo of Monster of the Deep at a Square Enix event just prior to New York Comic-Con, which dropped us by the side of a serene lake with one of Noctis's travel buddies, Prompto (Noctis, Gladio, and Ignis also made a brief appearance toward the end of the demo). Prompto served as our guide of sorts, introducing us to the area and humorously cheering us on from the sidelines while we fished. The mission he gave us to complete was a seemingly simple one--catch any three fish--but it turned out to be more difficult than it sounded due to the PS Move controllers.
Like the string of fishing games released for Wii during the initial motion-control craze, Monster of the Deep requires you to physically cast your line with one hand and reel it in with the other, using a second PS Move controller to simulate the motion. Unfortunately, the controls felt imprecise; it was difficult to gauge how much strength you needed to put behind each cast, and as a result, I often found myself throwing the line way too far. What's worse, the game doesn't have a quick way to retrieve your line; you have to manually reel it in each time you misthrow, which quickly becomes tedious.
Once I managed to hook something, Monster of the Deep became more enjoyable, though the actual process of catching a fish was rudimentary. Before you cast your line, you can press a button on the left Move controller to use a sensor, which indicates where fish are lurking. When one is hooked, you'll need to adjust how you're holding the pole as the fish struggles against you so that it doesn't break free. At least in the demo, this wasn't an issue; the three I managed to catch hardly put up a fight, though they'll presumably be more challenging in later areas of the game. You also have to manually grab the fish off the hook and place it into the net with your off-hand, which didn't add anything substantial to the experience but was a charming touch.
The demo culminated with a light gun-style battle against a Demonfish. For this encounter, you trade your fishing pole for a crossbow and must shoot the monster as it leaps around the environment and attacks you. This was likewise fun but very simplistic; the entire battle amounted to simply shooting the monster in the head often enough to subdue it.
While the Monster of the Deep demo was charming, it doesn't make a very convincing case to purchase a PSVR, and it isn't nearly as ambitious or intriguing as Square Enix's other VR venture, Project Hikari. The game launches for PS4 on November 21. You can watch our playthrough of the demo above.
The Star Wars: Battlefront II beta is almost over. The multiplayer beta wraps up today, October 9, at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET, so now is your last chance to try it. " style="word-wrap: break-word;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;color: #6DC6DD;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;">extend the Battlefront II beta, giving players more time to try it out.]
The beta is free and available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. There are four modes to try: Galactic Assault, Starfighter Assault, Strike, and Arcade. Arcade is a 1-2 player mode with split-screen support, while the others are online multiplayer modes ranging up to a maximum player count of 40.
You can check out our previous coverage for more details on exactly what's in the Battlefront II beta. The beta began on October 4 for people who pre-ordered, later opening to everyone on October 6.
With its new PvP mode Ghost War releasing soon, Ubisoft has announced that Ghost Recon: Wildlands will be playable for free later this week for a limited time. Separate from its five-hour trial, this free weekend event covers all platforms, giving PS4, Xbox One, and PC owners an opportunity to check out the open-world action game.
Starting on Thursday, October 12, Ubisoft will open up Wildlands to players on all platforms. It will be playable through Sunday, October 15, and includes access to the aforementioned Ghost War. Ubisoft did not specify, but you likely won't be able to try out the DLC that has been released for the game; we'll report back as we learn more. However, you can still benefit from the wide array of free updates that have been released since Wildlands' launch earlier this year.
Coinciding with the free weekend event, Ubisoft will offer a 50% discount on all versions of Wildlands. That will drop the standard version to $30/£27.50. Progress will carry over from the free trial if you decide to purchase the full game; those on PC can begin pre-loading now through Uplay.
The 4v4 Ghost War mode comes to the shooter as part of a free update on Tuesday, October 10, following a recent beta test. Matches play out as best-of-three, with 10-minute rounds. There are eight maps and 12 classes at launch, and Ubisoft has said it will have "regular updates and new content" after launch. This will include more classes, maps, and modes. You can check out a new trailer for the mode above.
In what was only the logical conclusion to WWE's ongoing partnership with fast food chain KFC, 2K Sports has announced that Colonel Sanders, KFC founder and patron saint of fried chicken, will be a playable character in WWE 2K18.
The Colonel has become a regular fixture of WWE television and PPVs in recent months. Many superstars have portrayed the iconic restaurateur, including Dolph Ziggler, Shawn Micheals, and most recently Kurt Angle during the announcement trailer that aired at last night's Hell in a Cell PPV, which you can watch below.
2K says Colonel Sanders can be accessed "through the game's Create-a-Superstar Mode." The publisher hasn't shown off any gameplay footage of the Colonel yet, though he'll be making his formal in-ring debut during WWE superstar Xavier Woods' YouTube show UpUpDownDown on October 12. It would be an absolute shame if his finisher isn't the Crossface Chickenwing.
There's no arguing the fact that Cuphead, the punishing action game inspired by 1930's animation, is beautiful to look at. But how did the game's creators, Studio MDHR, achieve its uniquely distinct style? And, why does that style seem to work so well with the game's mechanics?
In the above video, Dan Crowd dives behind the scenes to take a quick look at some of Cuphead's cartoon inspirations. He takes a look at the traditional animation techniques they used in their creation, and how that process influenced some of the game's particular visual flourishes. He also takes a look at the limitations of these methods of creation, and how they inadvertently mesh perfectly with the genre of game Studio MDHR decided to make.
If this is the first time you've heard about Cuphead, be sure to check out our review. Peter Brown sums up its near universal praise by staying that it "flawlessly captures the era its developers so clearly revere" and that It's also "an intense action game that pulls no punches." If you're wondering how anyone could ever get overcome its incredibly difficulty, check out Joey Yee's guide on how to S-Rank all the bosses on Expert difficulty.
[UPDATE] Rick & Morty co-creator Justin Roiland issued a statement on Twitter. He said he's unhappy with how things have played out. He also asked fans to be patient and understand with McDonald's workers.
FYI: We had nothing to do with this McDonald's stuff. Not happy w/how this was handled. Please be cool to the employees it's not their fault
Today in news about this crazy world we live in, McDonald's has pledged to make Szechuan sauce more widely available after Rick & Morty fans complained. If you're just catching up, McDonald's originally announced that it was bringing back the sauce for one day. This happened recently, but people took issue with its scarce availability. So it's good news today that the fast food giant has apologised for the shortage and pledged to make the sauce more widely available in the future.
In a statement posted on Twitter, McDonald's said Szechuan sauce will be back this winter. And it won't be a one-day event, either, so you should have a better chance of just walking into your local restaurant and getting the sauce you so desire. You can read the full statement below, which contains more than a few cheeky Rick & Morty references.
Szechuan sauce was originally made to promote the 1998 movie Mulan, but it gained new popularity recently from its role in the show Rick & Morty. McDonald's had always said that the Szechaun sauce available on October 7 would be a very limited release but in some cases, people seemed to get pretty heated about not getting the sauce. In the video below, a crowd chanted "We want sauce." The police apparently showed up.
Angry crowd chants "We want sauce" as police force them back. 1000+ people camped out to get #szechuansauce but McDonalds had 70 sauces... pic.twitter.com/wEaqC64Hln
We tried the sauce recently. You can watch GameSpot's Michael Rougeau, Mat Elfring, and Tony Wilson, along with Entertainment Tonight's Ash Crossan, put it to the taste test right here.
Football Manager 2018 launches next month, and developer Sports Interactive has begun revealing the game's new features. The biggest change shown off so far is the addition of team dynamics, which expand on how a group of players gels together and can affect both how the team performs on the pitch and how much support they give you as manager.
In the video below, SI explains how better team cohesion can lead to a boost in player attributes, while different squad atmospheres can affect players' respective moods in different ways. Your squad may end up with divisions in social groups if you sign players of differing levels of professionalism, for example.
The developer recently announced that Football Manager 2018 would include an updated match engine and expand on how players are scouted, among other changes. More details on these features will be released over the coming weeks, the company said.
Other than Football Manager 2018's release date, not much else is currently known about this year's title. The management sim is coming out for PC, Mac, and Linux on November 10, launching simultaneously with its mobile and tablet counterparts, Football Manager Mobile 2018 and Football Manager Touch 2018.
Following a teaser last week, a new trailer for Justice League is here, released on the final day of New York Comic-Con. It's an action-packed, all-star affair featuring DC's most iconic heroes; check it out above.
The latest trailer revolves around living in a world without Superman, and the reason Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, and Cyborg have to join forces: they're up against an enemy too powerful for any of them to take on alone. You can check out our breakdown of this new Justice League trailer.
This marks the first time we've seen Henry Cavill as Superman in the movie's marketing. It's not quite the appearance of Superman in the way you expect, however. Lois Lane (Amy Adams) has a dream about her engagement to Clark before [Click to reveal spoiler] he died in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Bungie has rolled out the latest weekly reset for Destiny 2, which soon see some server downtime and the release of a new 1.0.3.1 update. Among other things, the weekly reset means a new Nightfall is now available, complete with another set of modifiers, Challenges, and rewards. [Update: Availability for this week's Nightfall ends with the weekly reset on Tuesday, October 10, at 2 AM PT, making this your last chance to give it a try.]
This week's Nightfall Strike is Savathun's Song. As always in Destiny 2, you'll have to rush to finish, as a time limit is in place. But whereas last week's Nightfall featured a modifier that didn't permit you to extend the time limit, one of the modifiers this time around is Timewarp - Anomalies. Throughout the Strike, you'll encounter floating objects that can be destroyed, with each one providing an additional 30 seconds for you to make it to the final boss and defeat it.
The other active modifier is Momentum (which was to be used in an earlier Nightfall but had to be replaced because it was broken). When you stand still, neither your health nor shields will regenerate, which means taking cover like you normally might isn't a viable strategy. Instead, you'll want to consider sprinting, which actually increases the rate of your recovery.
There are again three Challenges, the first of which is the returning Speed Of Dark; this tasks you with finishing the Nightfall with at least five minutes on the clock, which may require taking out most or all of the anomalies you encounter. Unbroken requires completion of the Nightfall with fewer than three deaths. And The Best Defense asks you to shoot down 15 projectiles before defeating Savathun's Song.
Players have reported a possible Nightfall cheese, which once again takes advantage of the Timewarp - Anomalies modifier. As documented in this YouTube video, you can reach a point in the Strike where you can turn around and return to an earlier area, where the Anomalies will have respawned. Doing so provides you with more anomalies to destroy than you would otherwise have access to--and thus, additional time to finish.
Completion of the Nightfall rewards players with Powerful Gear rewards. This is one of the few activities to offer those, and they're among the best items you can get your hands on. It's also a reliable way to increase your Power level past 265, should you be struggling to pass that point. If you haven't made it to that point, you may want to consider waiting until after you've raised your Power level before grabbing the Nightfall reward. This Nightfall will be available until the next weekly reset, which occurs at 2 AM PT / 5 AM ET / 10 AM BST / 4 PM AEST on Tuesday, October 10.
If you haven't yet unlocked the Nightfall, you'll need to complete two Strikes and approach the suggested Power level of 240 before Zavala will allow you to take part in them. Traditional matchmaking is not available, but in its place we have Guided Games, providing players with the opportunity to be matched up with members of a clan for the mission (which requires a Nightfall Ticket). Alternatively, clan members can sign up to serve as guides through the Nightfall, and doing so does not require a Ticket.
FIFA 18 has proved popular among consumers and critics alike. In our FIFA 18 review, we said the game "captures the world of football and confidently translates it into a video game," but that "EA's soccer series is still lagging far behind PES 2018's more fluid, satisfying football" on the pitch. This year's edition was also released on Switch, but in our FIFA 18 Nintendo Switch review we said the port is "inferior" in nearly every way when compared to the PS4 and Xbox One versions.
Forza Motorsport 7 has also been received well. We awarded it an 8/10 in our Forza 7 review, with critic Miguel Concepcion saying, "Forza Motorsport 7 is still a feature-rich and competition-diverse bundle of racing events that keep you coming back for more."
You can read the full top 10 sales chart below, courtesy of sales monitor Chart-Track. Note this table does not include digital sales data, and so should not be considered representative of all UK game sales.
Another week of deals and discounts have arrived on the PlayStation Store in the US. There is no game- or publisher-specific sale this week--and thus, far fewer things are on sale--but there are still some worthwhile deals to be had across PlayStation platforms. [Update: Time is running out for these offers. They expire on Tuesday, October 10, making this your last chance to pick up anything that's caught your eye.]
Two of the year's best PS4 games are both on sale right now. Most notably, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, which was only released in August, has dropped from $40 to $30 for everyone. Meanwhile, PlayStation Plus members can get Nier: Automata for $39 ($42 without Plus).
PS3 and Vita owners have almost no options at all. Space Hulk's Vita version is $16, AeternoBlade is $3.74, and Blue-Collar Astronaut is $4 (with Plus, or $7 without it). Beyond that, there is some discounted Pinball Arcade DLC and little else.
Sony's Day 1 Digital offer is still ongoing. Purchasing two select games (from a list of some very good ones) on PSN nets you a coupon for 20% off a future purchase. Additionally, if you're a subscriber, October's free PS Plus games are now available.
Microsoft has revealed the latest batch of deals for Xbox Live Gold members. This week's selection includes discounts on a number of great games and DLC bundles for both Xbox One and Xbox 360, which will only be on sale until next week. [Update: These offers have almost expired; today, October 9, is your last chance to take advantage if you're interested.]
Xbox One Gold members in particular can find savings on some acclaimed titles. BioShock: The Collection is available for $30/£22.50, while Borderlands: The Handsome Collection has been discounted to $19.80/£14.85. Another BioWare RPG is on sale this week; this time, players can pick up Dragon Age: Inquisition Game of the Year edition for $13.20/£8.25 and its DLC bundle for $9.90/£8.25. Some other notable discounts for Gold members include:
Even if you don't have an Xbox Live Gold membership, you can still find discounts on some great titles this week, including Batman: Arkham Knight Premium Edition ($16/£16), Injustice 2 Deluxe ($48/£42) and Ultimate editions ($60/£54), Lego City Undercover ($25/£25), and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year edition ($8/£9.60).
This week's Deals with Gold discounts are available until 3 AM PT/6 AM ET on October 10. You can find the full list of discounts on Major Nelson's blog.
While you can check our our Shadow of War review for thoughts on how it's turned out, we recently discussed the challenges of making a Lord of the Rings video game with Tony Elias, Monolith's lead narrative designer. In our chat, he touches on why it wouldn't be fun to do a straight adaptation of the books, the rationale behind Lady Shelob, and whether he would be interested in taking on the material in The Silmarillion.
GameSpot: What's your background with Tolkien lore and The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, and maybe something like Silmarillion?
Tony Elias: I was not one of those kids who read it when I was really young, like many of the people here. I kind of came to it later in life, so in my 20s I read the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and got into it in that way. It's interesting; now I have kids, and so I have an eight-year-old boy, and we finished The Hobbit last year. We just worked our way through Fellowship [of the Ring], and so it's kind of fascinating to see him experience that for the first time. He's just become such a big fan.
He obviously can't play the game, but he's just really fascinated, like, "Wow, you're making a game in the Lord of the Rings universe!" It's really kind of funny to see him geek out over playing Lego Hobbit, and just learning about Mordor and Middle-earth in general.
Yeah, I think I first came to it when I was 12, and I obviously wasn't old enough to appreciate it. I think Tolkien was too descriptive for that age for me. I think maybe I had seen the Fellowship, and then assumed that the books would be more descriptive in the battles, which is what I was looking for at that age. Then I came back to it like six years ago, and I was like, "Oh, okay, I get it." It's super good, because--
It's interesting to see someone coming to it. It's kind of a little above his reading grade, and so there are long sections. You look at Fellowship for example, and after Gandalf gets there, it's a long time before they leave the Shire. It's like 100 pages, and you watch the movies for example, and it happens immediately.
It's kind of a good reminder of just what happens with adaptation, and that things exist differently. Every time you're recreating this story in a different medium, pacing changes, character emphasis changes, all of those things. Seeing it through, like going back to the books is always really useful, because it's just such a great touchstone for the themes that Tolkien was obsessed by, the subjects, that we really take to heart and try to retell again.
Speaking of adaptations, what was it like coming over to work on Shadow of War knowing that you would be able to work on a Tolkien video game?
You don't get that many opportunities in a lifetime to work in such a beloved world as Middle-earth, and the opportunity here is, not only is it Middle-earth, but the focus is Mordor. Not that much has been written about Mordor. You read Lord of the Rings, and there are a few conversations between orcs here and there, you go to Mordor, but the orcs are this kind of unknown population. That's where we really dive in, and we get to create this culture and civilization around the orcs. We put this undead man fighting this war, having to form alliances with orcs, and battle against them. It's their rightful gains, but it gives us the opportunity also to create new stories in this world that we really all love.
I think Tolkien died in '73? Ever since then, it's been Christopher Tolkien and the estate publishing his stuff posthumously. It must be exciting to contribute to that, but flip side of that coin, it must be pretty daunting. Maybe intimidating.
Oh, absolutely. I think whenever you have an IP or a book series that is so beloved by a fanbase, you have to take that on board and realize that there's this kind of a handle with care there. Thankfully, the people who have worked on this game, the developers, we love Tolkien's work. We want to realize it in a different medium, and with I guess a more contemporary sensibility. I think the danger of adaptation is being too conservative, and being overly reverent, because I think that, it's safe in some respects, but I think you walk a path in which you create something that is dull, and doesn't work in the medium that you're creating it for.
Our number one priority is to make the most fun, enjoyable game that really feels like it comes from Tolkien's world, that it is Middle-earth, that these characters and themes are really recognizable, but realizing this [is a] different medium. That's been the objective. We have a lot of conversations here, sometimes sort of arguments over like, "Well, is this appropriate? Would we do this?" Sometimes you make a decision where, we realize, okay, we've been debating this for 15 minutes. Maybe that's a good thing, because I think the films that I've most enjoyed, the games that I've most enjoyed are ones in which you walk out, and there's so much to talk about.
When you look at someone's intention or someone's motivation, and two people can have very different viewpoints about what they were trying to accomplish, it lives on beyond the experience rather than something that like, "Okay, I've experienced that, completely digested it, and never have to think about it again." I think that's probably a mark of failure in a lot of ways, and it's what we've tried to avoid. We really want to put in as much content as possible that will really excite and motivate conversation and debate.
I used to imagine what was going through Peter Jackson's mind when he sat down. You know, there have been animated films of The Hobbit and Fellowship, and then I think there was the Return of the King one as well, but I was always wondering what went through his mind. Like, "How do I adapt this to a movie?" I can only imagine what would go through Monolith's minds when you're saying, "Not only how do I adapt that into something entertaining but also fun." Because the movies can be entertaining, but I wouldn't necessarily call them fun. They're not like lighthearted or anything, not that Shadow of Mordor is, but … if you were to make a game that's super, super faithful to the books, it would be a boring game.
Yeah, I'm not sure how fun it would be. I think you have to ... I think there were some decisions made at the outset that really put us in a strong position for making something that is well-suited to [a] third-person open-world action game. It's set in Mordor, so you are a human in Mordor, so you're kind of a sort of stranger in a strange land, and you're fighting this war, and everyone hates you. Everyone is trying to kill you. It's just sort of a setup that is perfect for gameplay.
Also we have this death mechanic that allowed us to really work with the themes of deathlessness in Tolkien's work, but adapt it to a medium where death is usually a fail point. Oh, I died, I got to do that again. No, time moves forward here, and you get to chase down your enemy, and create a continuous story that would usually have ended.
Unlike Boromir or Faramir, when I think Talion, I actually think of like an anti-hero, because I think he's more on a revenge quest than a heroic kind of odyssey, right? I was telling Michael, before I played Shadow of Mordor, I was always wondering, I was like, "I wish they would have a character in a Lord of the Rings game that would actually be an antihero and use evil power against the evil people." Because that's the fun part, and then in Shadow of War of course, you're forging your own ring, and you're getting really powerful, and you're building an army, and there's that strategy aspect to it. I know you weren't on the writing process for Shadow of Mordor, but for Shadow of War, was that kind of a conscious thought: How do we make this even more fun and expansive, but also how do we fit into these themes with Talion, with the setting, with what you're doing throughout your time in this game?
Yeah, absolutely. I think Shadow of Mordor was very much a revenge story. Talion's family is killed at the beginning, it's a very immediate event, and he's seeking vengeance for that. Our dual protagonist is formed at the beginning of that game, with Celebrimbor and Talion. A lot of Celebrimbor's time is trying to rediscover who he was. We pick up in Shadow of War with the forging of a new ring. They have a very solid objective: they're going to forge a new ring of power, and build an army of orcs, and take this war to Sauron. The stakes have been really widened to all of Middle-arth at this point.
Although in some ways, I think Talion's story is one of four in a lot of ways. He finds himself in Mordor; Celebrimbor as well. He's already fought a war against Sauron, he knows what it takes, and you find Talion in this position of asking himself, and he's fighting these monsters, these orcs, he's having to deal with the Nazgul, dealing with Shelob, and asking himself, "How much of a monster do I have to become in order to defeat these enemies?" Which is kind of a struggle in their relationship as well. There's a lot of drama that comes out of that in the course of Shadow of War.
I think people's sense of who Shelob is is one of the great spiders, and we could have done just that, sure. ... We really wanted to explore this character.
It was great in Shadow of Mordor, when they were first announcing, you're kind of showing off the characters, and then when we heard that Celebrimbor was in it, we were like, "Oh, that's a huge deal." Because obviously, I think was it like 1,000 years before Elrond, the alliance, marched against Sauron? It was the 1,000 years before that when Celebrimbor fought Sauron?
In the first war, yeah, after he forged the rings. Yeah, he stole the rings.
Then I'm like, "Okay, that's cool, he's in this game." I don't know who Talion is, obviously, but Celebrimbor, that's a name people know. Now I'm curious, I don't know how much experience you would have, when you're kind of figuring out what to put into this story, what's going to be faithful to the books or the movies, what's going to be faithful to the Tolkien license--did you have any interactions with Middle-earth Enterprises or do you mainly go through Warner Bros. or on the writing team?
I think everything is reviewed by Warner Bros., but also Middle-earth Enterprises. Every line of dialogue goes through them, every story arc; the story outlines are reviewed, and we get feedback and respond to that. They've been a great partner to work with on this. I think there's always a bigger question when we want to use a famous character from the original IP, or sometimes we'll create … We don't actually have that many characters from Lord of the Rings, for example, but you may have Gollum, for example. You really want to honor people's sense of who that character is, but sometimes you'll create a character like Eltarial, this elven assassin. We have references for how she might be, but we have how an elf might be, and how she might speak, and what her bearing might be. We'll later talk about the art that goes into that, for example, but all of that is reviewed ultimately by Middle Earth Enterprises.
There was some feedback when people saw this Shelob, who is traditionally a giant spider, and now she's this woman. What went into the process for playing with artistic liberties in that sense? Stuff like that, that some people might not think is faithful.
Oh yeah. I think people's sense of who Shelob is is one of the great spiders, and we could have done just that, sure. We could have had Shelob appear in great spider form, but she would have had a much smaller role in the game, ultimately. We really wanted to explore this character. If you look back at Two Towers for example, I think one of the first descriptions of Shelob is an evil thing in spider form. It's an interesting way to describe this creature, a spider form. Not just a spider, or a great spider, and so it feels like it's chosen [that form] in a way.
Her mother was Ungoliant, who it's suggested is a Maiar, but this kind of primordial being, all powerful. Shelob is the daughter of Ungoliant. We kind of ran with that idea of a creature that could transform itself, depending on the context--we have done that in the first game with Sauron in fear form. Sauron has his war form and he has his fear form, and Shelob, you could think of the spider as Shelob's war form, and her fear form she uses when she counsels Talion. She can read the web of fate. We see her as this kind of dark oracle, a sort of dark Galadriel who can see the future and guide his path.
We thought there was a lot to explore there, and we could do that with a humanoid representation. We're not saying she is a woman; maybe she goes back between the two. It's very clear from the outset that this is a form that she takes when she communicates with Talion. It allowed us to do a lot more with the story, it allowed us to use her in a more meaningful way in the story.
It kind of reminds me of--when you say in spider form, I always think of It.
That's a really, yeah, I mean--spoilers--but it is an actually great contemporary reference. Because these are sort of archaic icons in a way, these creatures that inspire terror in humanity, these ancient, monstrous forms. Shelob is just that, it's just sort of if she had appeared in spider form and remained in spider form, and then she's going to guide Talion on his path in the future, what actions he might want to take with the siege of Minas Ithil. I think this is not something that could probably be dramatically supported over the long haul. People generally don't trust monsters when they appear in monstrous form. I think you have to give it more breadth, and explore what this character, the other dimensions of what this character could be, and that's what we were trying to do in Shadow of War.
Talking about It, I feel like one of the big themes of Shadow of Mordor and a lot of Tolkien stuff is fear, and how that plays into it. You mentioned the themes. What are the big touchstones in terms of themes that you felt between the books, the movies, and bringing them into video games? What are some of those major ones that you really wanted to hit with Shadow of War?
Speaking of the themes, I think the major theme that we explore in Shadow of War is probably the idea of deathlessness, because our character is kind of this undead human who can die and return over and over. Where's our ring of power? The promise of the rings is one of, it's not necessarily immortality; it's deathlessness. It's this kind of weird intermediate state between the two. There's the temptation of power in the rings that kind of speaks to the fall of so many characters before--Talion and Boromir and Gollum, characters like that.
I think we really wanted to explore the cost of deathlessness. Sure, it will allow you to accomplish certain goals, but at what cost? That was I think an important one, especially through Talion, through Gollum, but also through the Nazgul; we get to explore their back stories in Shadow of War ... little is said in the books about the identities of who these kings of men were. We get to explore that a little further. These were men corrupted by the power of the rings, and [who] became these kind of undead creatures, these monstrous lieutenants of Sauron.
I think another theme that, it's probably not spoken of a lot, but it was one of Tolkien's main subjects, was friendship or fellowship. This idea of camaraderie and bonds that are forged in war, or through adversity. You think of Lord of the Rings, but you think when we start our game with the siege of Minas Ithil, and Talion has been undead. For a while now, he's in a way losing his humanity, and I think he senses that. When he forms these friendships with characters like these Gondorian lieutenants, like Idril and Boromir, it's a way to reconnect with that lost humanity, but also he's forming these alliances in a way that he did when he was alive t the Black Gate with his fellow soldiers. Even in the first game, I think that was explored with characters like Ratbag, and we get to do that a little more in Shadow of War.
What's it like to know you can look back and say that you added to this universe that you kind of fell in love with through literature, and then it's the most iconic fantasy franchise? Game of Thrones is up there, but it's not Lord of the Rings, it's not Middle-earth, right? What is it like to know that you can look back and know that you added to that world?
Well, the experience of working on this game, and there are projects where you get to work on an IP like this, and it might not be the best version of it. I think we are so lucky at Monolith; we have put together a team of people who are incredibly talented and collaborative, who created this great game in Shadow of Mordor, and really wanted to expand the scale and depth of the game in Shadow of War. My experience coming in as a writer on this team was, it's something I'm always going to sort of cherish in a way. You know? Who knows how the game will do when it comes out, but the experience of having worked on it, and it's an honor, and it's humbling, and it's the sort of thing that you do this job for.
Do you wish that at some point in your life you could do something with the Silmarillion?
That would be fun. I think there's ... [I] don't want to go into the various license agreements and what we can work on, and what we can't work on, but yeah. To be able to work on everything that Tolkien wrote really expands the canvas. We have a pretty good chunk in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. There are so many characters and themes that are touched on in the appendices, and just those stories that there's no shortage of material for us to work in.
While there were good Lord of the Rings video games before it, none were as impactful as Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. The Monolith Productions-developed game proved to be extremely innovative, introducing a new story set in Mordor and the Nemesis system that allowed you to forge stories with individual, procedurally generated enemies.
GameSpot: What's your background with Lord of the Rings, even before you were working on Lord of the Rings games and at Monolith?
Michael de Plater: So I guess my history with Middle-earth goes back to when I was four. My grandma was a teacher, so she was giving me books all the time from when I was tiny. And The Hobbit was like the second book she ever gave me. And so I just loved it. Devoured that and then immediately after read Lord of the Rings and then read it again and again and again, right through up to my teenage years and devoured every other epic fantasy book ever that was available from the late '70s through to pretty much the present. But it's absolutely the foundation of all of them, of the entire genre. So I've just always loved it. And then, of course, like a lot of gamers, I was massively into Dungeons and Dragons and role-playing and kind of running around and exploring all these worlds. And so ultimately getting the opportunity to make this big open-world action RPG in Middle-earth is just totally my 12-year-old self's dream come true.
At what point did you know you would be able to make a game in Middle-earth? Can you walk me through that point in your career and what you were feeling knowing that, like you said, your 12-year-old self would finally realize your dream and be able to make what ended up being Shadow of Mordor, Shadow of War, Guardians of Middle-earth?
Yes, so when that first flickered in my mind that [it] might be a possibility, I used to work on strategy games. I worked on the Total War series and then I was at Ubisoft and we did a console RTS called [Tom Clancy's] EndWar. And [Electronic Arts RTS] Battle for Middle-earth was great. I think I'd always imagined that maybe I'd get to work on a strategy game in this universe, in big, epic battles and so on. But then, I think it was around the time The Hobbit movie started coming out and I heard that Warner Bros. had acquired the rights.
So it was this combination of here was Warner Bros., here's these Hobbit movies coming out, here's Arkham Asylum getting published by Warner, which is the greatest licensed game that had ever been made and totally redefined what you could do with a game [by] moving away from that idea of it being a movie game.
I approached Warner Bros. and got in touch and started talking, and then I was hired to come and work here. And from that moment was the inception of getting to make this open-world Middle-earth game.
Yeah, it's interesting you mention Arkham Asylum because when I first played Shadow of Mordor, the combat, the attack counter ... was Arkham Asylum a big influence on Shadow of Mordor?
Absolutely. It just set the bar for how to make an amazing game within this rich world that's not a movie game. In particular, that it was coming out simultaneously with the Chris Nolan movies, but it was completely its own thing. So it was a very direct inspiration for us, and also did set the bar and elevate third-person combat and action-adventure games. So both are kind of our what we call our predator gameplay; our stealth [was] really influenced by it.
But, of course, we also wanted to have things that made us stand apart and that were really unique. Firstly, the fact that we can have all these weapon systems and be really visceral on the violence of the game, that was pretty fun for us. And secondly, we wanted to have a way to think about what we do with the enemies and how to make them interesting and engaging in varied and that was part of the genesis of the Nemesis system as well.
It's funny that you mention Arkham Asylum and then obviously seeing Shadow of Mordor, in my opinion ... I'm not just trying to be a suck up ... Shadow of Mordor, it's my favorite licensed game.
Oh, wow. Thank you.
It's like that, it's Arkham Asylum, it's GoldenEye. But there's always that difficulty, right? How do you remain faithful to the source material, but also it's super important that you make a fun game, right?
Yep.
I imagine it's a difficult balancing act to straddle the line between those two poles.
Yeah, it's really hard to balance because at the core, the number one thing is you have to make a great game. But you have to make a great game that is incredibly respectful of the source material. So I think from our point of view, it was going through the source material and looking for the themes and the ideas that best worked with what could make really great game. And that's where the Orcs were fantastic. We looked at Saruman's Uruk-hai slaughtering and getting into this fight with the Orcs of Mordor as they're carrying Merry and Pippin. All the Orcs turning on each other and slaughtering each other in Cirith Ungol when Sam's going to rescue Frodo. Being able to get these guys to turn on each other, kind of being the spark that sets off that chaos, that seemed like a really interesting angle.
And the other thing that we looked at was the number of times, in both the books and the movies, it teases this idea of what would have happened if Boromir had gotten the ring of power? What would have happened if Galadriel had taken the ring off Frodo and we had dark Galadriel? So that teasing of someone with heroic goals, but tempted down the road of using power and fighting the dark lord head to head was a really interesting idea.
So we found the kind of ideas and the themes that were in the books and the movies that were appealing that we could focus on in order to try and make the best game we could. One of the things we hear most often as feedback is why don't you go to the Shire, or why don't you go throughout Middle-earth? And obviously that would be exciting as well. But Mordor was this place where we could really bring together what would make this great action-adventure game in such a way that really draws on the themes and core ideas of Middle-earth.
I always thought it made sense for a video game if someone actually used the ring's power, and then you have Talion come along he's like this anti-hero. It seems like it fits. How do Talion and Mordor fit into the themes you mentioned, like of power and fear in this fantasy world?
Talion's two biggest influences from the books is [first] of course Boromir. So he's this heroic warrior of Gondor who is trying to use the weapons of the enemy against them. Like he's trained as a soldier and he's brought up as a soldier. But his difference from Boromir that I think makes him a bit more like Sam is that he's an everyman as well. Like he also would really just prefer that he got to live out his quiet life with his family and that this war hadn't come to him at all. And there's a great scene with Sam in the books where, when he does put on the ring, his mind is just totally overtaken with these fantasies of power, of raising armies and marching through Mordor and conquering everything. And Sam's got enough common sense to realize, "No, I'm just getting deluded by the ring. That's never gonna happen."
Whereas Talion I think is enough of a hero and a warrior to really believe and buy into that particular power fantasy and that promise. And of course games are so often about that same kind of power promise as well. So it very much puts Talion in the same shoes as players are [in] when they're playing the game. And then Celebrimbor, who is united with him, is much more like a figure of power. More like Galadriel. But whereas Galadriel was, "Okay, I resisted temptation. I'm not gonna take the ring," Celebrimbor is much more of the opinion, "No, if I do take the ring, I can do a better job than Sauron. I can fix this." You'll have a bright lord instead of a dark lord and that'll be great.
You mentioned the Nemesis system. Obviously that was Shadow of Mordor's crowning achievement? It created these villains and let people find their own emergent stories and we've gone on a few of these trips this year ... Prey [creative director] Raphael Colantonio said he knew you back at EA.
Yeah, we started at like the same time. We used to sleep on the floor of EA UK.
Then he saw your name on Shadow of Mordor after playing through it. I think he thought, "Oh my God. I worked with that guy for a while." And a bunch of [developers] mentioned Shadow of Mordor as where they think games can go next, in terms of emergent narrative. Where were the kernels for the Nemesis system? How did that start? Was that something you wanted to do for a while, or was it like a collective effort?
That's funny hearing about Raph and thinking all the way back to EA UK and those days because I think the seed of it, a lot of it really was in sports games. I started off working on EA Sports games. Sports games--and sports in general, not just sports video games--are actually really good at creating dynamic narratives around the interaction of these different characters. And the thing I always really liked in sports seasons as well ... You know you've got this beginning, you know you've this escalation of drama that comes up through the finals, you know you've got this epic climax in the Super Bowl or whatever. So there's a narrative structure to it, but there's a lot of different ways that it can go along the way. And there's a lot of individual rivalries and personalities.
In a lot of ways, the dynamic commentary in sport games and so on, of keeping track of what you've done, and then when two teams meet again later--calling back to that is really powerful. And something we also had on Total War was embracing that same idea. We really wanted to have this non-linear campaign. So you never want this thing of okay, I've got to mission four and I failed, so I'm gonna do mission four again. It's like no, I lost, but that set me back. So that's dramatically interesting, because now I want to go forward in another way. So that kind of open-ended story. But taking those ideas of a dynamic narrative and these procedural characters and putting them into an action-adventure [game], that was really exciting.
And then the other sort of seed of it is going back to pen-and-paper role-playing games, where they are always dynamic and the most memorable characters are the guy[s] who started as a random NPC that you met on the fly, but he managed to get the last hit in. They're always more memorable and more meaningful than whatever the crafted narrative that the dungeon master wants to tell you is.
After Shadow of Mordor released, everybody thought the Nemesis system is the next thing that a bunch of studios are gonna try to copy, right? And looking at it, I read ... I think it was Mike Bithell from over in the UK. He had written something like why it was so good and how other devs can emulate it. It's great to see immersive sims with emergent gameplay becoming much bigger in recent years. And I see Shadow of Mordor as one of those sparks for that.
Yeah, and it's a real process of learning about all this emergent gameplay and not just ... Emergent I think is very different from random. We really are trying to create stories and emotional connections to these characters. So when there is a betrayal, or when you lose someone you're attached to, or when you finally get revenge, it's a big emotional moment. So we've learned so much and we've been doing this for six years now and are still just at the beginning of what the possibilities are of where we can take it in the future.
For Shadow of War specifically, when you sat down to think about what you want to do in the sequel, … obviously, you want to say where can we go narratively, where can we go in terms of the setting, the artwork. But also when you're thinking about the Nemesis system, what were some of the tenets you wanted to hit and kind of expand upon from Shadow of Mordor?
I think just in terms of making the core experience of having these personal enemies that you love to hate, just making that stronger. Like going and looking and reading a lot of people's stories of who was your most memorable nemesis, or who did you hate the most. And just looking at those user stories or videos and just saying, "Okay, how do we make sure that more players who play the game absolutely will have those really memorable experiences?" It was a little bit more random in Shadow of Mordor. Some people had these great, memorable, personal enemies. Some people, because they either didn't die or they died too much, didn't get to have the best possible experience, or the most memorable enemies. So trying to make sure everybody got that, [and] being smarter about how we spawn enemies, how they cheat death, how they come out and ambush you, and making sure those stories are stronger.
And then expanding it from just being about enemies to actually having this notion of followers as well. So they all start off as enemies, but as you kill them, you really have that choice between am I gonna kill this guy and get the loot, or am I gonna make him part of my army? And then you've got this whole different relationship. That opens up new stories because you've got the guy who potentially kills him, or you've got him when he betrays you, or you've got him saving you and promoting him. So [we worked on] expanding the whole emotional pallet of the type of stories we could tell.
I genuinely can't imagine anything we could come up with--even if you set it as your goal--[that would] make everybody happy; I think it would be impossible.
To go back to talking about working with the book and movie license. When you are trying to figure out what story to tell ... Did you ever interact with the Tolkien estate throughout the years, or did you usually go through Warner Bros.? How does it work, clearing it with the Tolkien estate, Warner Bros., and how does that influence your design?
Yeah, it's Middle-earth Enterprises that we work with. And then Warner Bros. also has a number of experts and scholars. So it both gets submitted to these kind of official Tolkien scholars. So Janet Croft is great. And then Middle-earth Enterprises. And they're super constructive. I can't think of a time where--if they have had some detail that they're like this is wrong, there should only ever be seven Palantir--they haven't also come back with, "Here's a way you could solve that." Or, "Here's another detail." Or, "Could we help you figure out to do it like this?" Even more so after the success of Shadow of Mordor, I think that gave them a level of trust in how much we love the lore and how we're really genuine in trying to do the best job we can. Because we do, to some extent … it's not canon. We've changed things on the timeline. It is another story that exists alongside the books and the movies. And the movies also have events that are different from the books. So it's really striking that balance, like any good adaptation has to do, of telling your own story but really trying to capture what's strongest about the source material as well.
Yeah and that's always the tough part. I'm sure when Shadow of Mordor released, tons and tons of people loved it, but I'm sure there were some really diehard Tolkien fans who were like, "Oh, a Tolkien character wouldn't use these kind of powers against the enemy." But again, that's kind of where you have to really find that balance to really make a fun game, but also not really shrug off the Tolkien property.
Yeah, it's really hard because I genuinely can't imagine anything we could come up with--even if you set it as your goal--[that would] make everybody happy; I think it would be impossible. Because there are just differences of interpretation, and people are emotionally attached to different things. And people really care, including us, about these universes and IPs that they're attached to. We just have to commit to making the best game we can within the context of our interpretation of the lore. It's more important that a lot of people really love it, [rather] than [ensuring] that everybody thinks it's okay. So it's just kinda, make something that the people who do play it and enjoy it can really love it and really find something to get engaged with.
Was it tough to sell the idea for Shadow of Mordor, whether it was Warner Bros. or Middle-earth Enterprises?
Yeah, every game is tough. I think, again, the thing that they really supported right from the beginning is that we were ambitious. Basically, we want to have this innovation of everyone having their own unique enemies, and we really love the lore and we're really inspired by the success and attention to detail and quality of Arkham. We don't want to make a movie game. We're trying to make the best game we can. And everyone got behind those goals. And then I think when we were fortunate enough that the game did come out and was successful, again the thing that goes up is trust and then people want to support us to then become even more ambitious. And it's like, "Okay, we've done that. Now we want to do the truly epic version of all of those ideas."
Obviously you're super happy with how Shadow of Mordor did. I'm sure you're happy with Shadow of War before release. You probably can't even talk about specifics, but are there some things that you regret not being able to put into these games?
Oh, always. It's a three-year process. So if you're thinking about something 24/7, and [are] inspired by it and playing it, you're just constantly going through a process of having new ideas or things you wish you could have done. But at the same time, you have to make the game and get it out. But, and hopefully if Shadow of War does well, there's a place and an opportunity to take all those ideas and all that learning and all that inspiration and use it in the future. Because that's one of the most exciting things about working in games. Because it is relatively new as a medium, and because the technology is always moving and because we're always learning, there's always that excitement about what's going to happen next.
The original Mortal Kombat launched on October 8, 1992, meaning the fighting game series is now 25 years old. One of the franchise's trademark elements is the Fatality feature. It's an over-the-top finishing move that, with today's graphics, can make things like heads popping off and spines getting ripped out, look so extreme and brutal that it's sometimes hard to watch.
We've put together a new video that shows off how some of the franchise's original Fatalities have evolved over the years. As you'll see, they've come a long way. You can check out the video embedded above.
NetherRealm is also of course celebrating 25 years of Mortal Kombat. The studio put out a celebratory video featuring series creator Ed Boon and others--watch it here. In other news, toy company Funko announced a line of Mortal Kombat Pop Vinyl figures for characters like Sub-Zero and Scorpio, along with Raiden, Kitana, Liu Kang, and Goro.
What's your favourite Fatality? Let us know in the comments below!
This past Tuesday was the first of October, and that means Sony has launched the month's lineup of PlayStation Plus freebies. PS Plus members can now download six more free games across PS4, PS3, and Vita.
PS4 owners actually get a total of four games in October, as both Vita games--Hue and Sky Force Anniversary--support Cross-Buy. PS3 owners, meanwhile, get a total of three; Cross-Buy brings them Sky Force in addition to Hustle Kings and Monster Jam Battlegrounds.
If you haven't already claimed the bonus free game That's You, it leaves PS Plus on October 24; PSVR game RIGS is free until November 7. An additional bonus will be introduced in October for Plus members, as they'll get closed beta access to Hand of the Gods, the spin-off of Smite. Until November 14, you can also get a free Plus Pack that consists of a special Galactic Invader Leader skin for Ah Puch, a card back, a player icon, and five Core Packs.
October's free PS Plus games are available now. You can grab them through the respective systems or on the PlayStation Store website.
Nintendo Switch-exclusive fighting game Arms is getting a new update soon, and it will seemingly include a new character. Check out the trailer above and you'll catch a glimpse of what appears to be a mecha version of Spring Man from the base game.
In addition, the new update will add Badges that unlock when you complete certain challenges, such as winning your first Grand Prix or playing a number of matches with one character. Nintendo only says the free update is coming "later this month;" we'll let you know when a precise release date is announced.
Just days after The New York Times published a huge feature about American film executive Harvey Weinstein reportedly paying off sexual harassment accusers, his company, The Weinstein Company, announced today that he has been terminated.
The Weinstein Company's board of directors announced the firing today in a statement, saying it made the move "in light of new information about misconduct."
Weinstein Co. has terminated Harvey Weinstein "In light of new information about misconduct that has emerged," board just announced
Weinstein, who founded The Weinstein Company with his brother Bob, announced that he was taking a leave of absence last week after the NYT story came out. In a statement, Weinstein said, "I so respect all women and regret what happened." He added: "I cannot be more remorseful about the people I hurt and I plan to do right by all of them."
One of the biggest names in Hollywood, Weinstein won the Best Picture Oscar for 1999's Shakespeare In Love and also picked up a nomination for 2003's Gangs of New York. Among his other producing credits included films like Pulp Fiction, The Aviator, and Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The NYT story cites anonymous Weinstein Company officials who said that Weinstein reached no fewer than eight settlements with women over the past decades. Actress Ashley Judd is among the celebrities referenced in the story. You can read it here.
Actor Mark Ruffalo spoke out against Weinstein today on Twitter. He said, "To be clear what Harvey Weinstein did was a disgusting abuse of power and horrible. I hope now we are seeing the beginning of the end of these abuses."
To be clear what Harvey Weinstein did was a disgusting abuse of power and horrible. I hope we are now seeing the beginning of the end of these abuses.
A trailer for Castle Rock, the new Stephen King TV show worked on by Star Wars: The Force Awakens director JJ Abrams' production company Bad Robot, has arrived. The short-but-sweet trailer sets up the psychological thriller series. The show is set in the "Stephen King multiverse," and you'll spot references to some of King's best-known works in this trailer such as It, Cujo, and Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.
Castle Rock is described as a "first-of-its-kind reimagining that explores the themes and worlds uniting the entire King canon, while brushing up against some of his most iconic and beloved stories."
The show stars Bill Skarsgard, who recently won praise for his portray of Pennywise the clown in the King movie It. Sissy Spacek, who played Carrie in the 1976 Stephen King movie of the same name, also appears in Castle Rock. The show premieres in 2018, exclusively on Hulu.
This isn't the first time Abrams and King have teamed up for a Hulu series, as they worked together for 2016's JFK time-travelling drama 11.22.63.
Castle Rock is the name of the fictional Maine town that many of King's works have referenced over the years. How many Stephen King references can you spot in the new Castle Rock trailer? Let us know in the comments below!
A new trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi is coming on Monday, October 9. A teaser trailer released today shows Rey wielding a lightsaber, which is interesting. Now, director Rian Johnson has spoken up to say that, while he enjoys the trailer, you may want to avoid it if you're hoping see The Last Jedi with fresh eyes come December.
That already basically goes without saying, as a trailer for anything--even a video game about a big, mean goose--will spoil something for you. But movie trailers these days can sometimes give too much away. And Johnson's specific language--"absolutely avoid it"--seems to suggest that this new trailer could have some kind of big reveal. We don't know for sure, but we'll find out soon, as the trailer it set to drop during Monday Night Football tomorrow evening on Disney's sports channel ESPN.
I a legitimately torn. If you want to come in clean, absolutely avoid it.
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