The Predator is the latest movie in the long-running sci-fi action series, and while it took the top slot on the box office Top 10 this week, its estimated $24 million weekend debut was hardly a spectacular result. Although this is in line with the $24.7 opening weekend for 2010's Predators, The Predator's reported $88 million production budget is more than twice as much as that of the earlier movie.
Last week's biggest movie, the Conjuring spin-off The Nun, moves to second place. As Box Office Mojo points out, despite scoring the best opening weekend in the series to date, it also suffered the biggest second-week drop-off, making $18.2 million. Nevertheless, the movie has now grossed $85 million in the US, from a modest $22 million budget.
The week's second highest new entry was the glossy thriller A Simple Favor, starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively, which debuted at No.3. Just behind that was the drama White Boy Rick, which features Matthew McConaughey and made $8 million. The only other new entry was the faith-themed Unbroken: Path to Redemption, which made just $2.3 million.
The rest of the chart sees the hugely successful romcom Crazy Rich Asians at No.5, the action movie Peppermint fall to No.6 in its second week, and the blockbuster shark thriller The Meg at No.7. The acclaimed thriller Searching is at No.8, while Mission Impossible: Fallout continues to cling on, and is at No.10 in its eighth week of release.
You can see the full Top 10 list for the September 14-16 US box office below, as compiled by Box Office Mojo.
In the new The Predator movie, we are introduced to the idea that the Predators have been splicing their DNA in order to make themselves the strongest race in the universe. And then there's the Predator dogs. Now that the concept is out there, where should the franchise go next? Yes, The Predator ends with a sequel-bait scene that teases what the focus of future movies could be, but the question remains. GameSpot asked the cast exactly what new kinds of Predators they'd like to see during interviews at the Toronto International Film Festival, and Keegan-Michael Key had a surprisingly great answer.
"It would be scary, but I would love to see what a flying Predator looks like," said Key, who plays Coyle. "Like, what is a Predator that has an exoskeleton made with wings, or however it works? I don't know how that would necessarily form itself, but I'd like to see what that looks like."
"I don't know how that would work," responded Augusto Aguilera, who plays Nettles. "Unless they do a hybrid between a Predator and a bird. But it has to be a pretty cool bird. It can't be like, a pigeon or anything like that."
"It has to be like, a pterodactyl," Trevante Rhodes, who plays Nebraska Williams, chimed in.
Sure, the idea of a flying Predator is very out there, until you hear what Thomas Jane, who plays Looneys member Baxley, proposed. "What would a spider and Predator combination look like?" he mused. It's unclear whether a Flying Predator and a Spider Predator would be natural fits to the Predator universe, but we all know how it worked out for Gremlins 2, so who's to say?
If all these sound ridiculous, it's because Shane Black's reboot/sequel is loaded with his signature sense of humor, all mixed with a good dose of killer action.
"I really had to throw myself into the story and trust Shane to find the tone and the balance," Key explained. "Sometimes you know you can do it and sometimes it can't happen until editing."
Key's improv comedy background, and Shane Black's affinity for it, meant a lot of jokes had to be cut. "We had so much funny backstory that was cut," Key continued. "There were times where I knew that the other people in the scene or off-camera [didn't have] a clue of what [Thomas and I] were doing."
If there ends up being extended bloopers from the movie, Trevante Rhodes has an idea of what they could entail. "Every one of us would say a bunch of one-liners from other films in between setups," said Rhodes. "And so we would try to sneak them into the film."
"But none of them made it," Aguilera jumped in. "And we tried so hard. We used obscured movies like Dolemite or The Room and just tried to get them into the movie. Hopefully they show up in some bloopers."
They did it with a Xenomorph, after all
Of course, give it to Jacob Tremblay (Rory McKenna) to put the Predator hybrid argument to bed. "You know what would be cool? Like a crocodile or a T-Rex Predator."
"They still have short arms," Boyd Holbrook (Quinn McKenna) chimed in to tease his The Predator co-star. "You know that if a T-Rex falls over it's not going to be able to get back up?"
Still, Holbrook had something to say that puts a serious question mark on all the suggestions. "How could they sneak up on people? Especially the T-Rex?"
By Anonymous on Sep 17, 2018 11:48 pm Having spent a few days with Black Ops 4 Blackout Beta, we chat about Call Of Duty's answer to the popular Battle Royale game mode, and how Blackout compares to Fortnite and PUBG.
After several delays, Nintendo will finally roll out its online subscription service for Switch this week. The service will arrive alongside the console's 6.0 update on September 18 in North America (September 19 in Europe), which makes this your last chance to ensure the right Nintendo Account is linked to your Switch user profile if you happen to share the console with other users.
According to Nintendo, players will no longer be able to unlink their Nintendo Account from their Switch user profile after the 6.0 update is released. The company sent out the following statement via email providing further details:
"On 9/18, your Nintendo Switch will be receiving a system update, version 6.0.0. Afterwards, it will no longer be possible to unlink your Nintendo Account from your Nintendo Switch user profile. Prior to this change, you should verify that your Nintendo Account or your child's Nintendo Account is linked to the correct user profile.
"For example, please confirm that the parent's or legal guardian's Nintendo Switch user profile is linked to the parent's or guardian's Nintendo Account, and that the child's Nintendo Switch user profile is linked to his or her child account.
"By ensuring that your Nintendo Account is linked to the correct user profile, you will be able to appropriately manage your save data, Nintendo Switch Online membership, and Nintendo eShop content."
The 6.0 update is scheduled to roll out at 5 PM PT / 8 PM ET. Once it has been installed, you'll need to subscribe to the Nintendo Switch Online service in order to play games like Splatoon 2 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate online against others. Memberships can be purchased in one-month (US $4 / £3.49 / AU $6), three-month (US $8 / £7 / AU $12), and 12-month (US $20 / £18 / AU $30) increments, and Nintendo will offer an annual US $35 / £31.49 / AU $55 Family Plan that can be shared between up to eight Nintendo Accounts. You'll be able to try a seven-day free trial of the service beginning September 18.
Sure, you can watch Stranger Things at home. Chances are you've done that countless times and loved it. What if you could visit the Upside Down in real-life, though? Yes, an actual Upside Down--some kind of dark dimension filled with slime and dead trees and monsters--might not be your idea of a good vacation. But what if you could take a stroll through a replica that probably won't kill you?
That's what Universal Studios has built with its Stranger Things attraction at Halloween Horror Nights in the Hollywood and Orlando parks. The haunted maze pulls visitors into the first season of the Netflix series, retracing the steps of Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) as she searches for her missing son.
GameSpot was one of a few outlets to visit Universal Studios Hollywood for a tour of its Stranger Things maze while under construction. During the tour, Universal Studios Hollywood creative director John Murdy spilled many secrets about the new maze and how his team managed to translate a show as spooky and otherworldly as Stranger Things into a live experience. We were also able to snap some photos of the maze--and get our hands on some others for your viewing pleasure.
Halloween Horror Nights opens at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Orlando on Friday, September 14 and runs through November 3. It runs on select nights through Halloween. Make sure to check out our coverage of the other TV and movie-based mazes the event is pulling off this year.
Why they needed a soundstage
Though mazes for the event are typically built in massive tents constructed around the park, Stranger Things required something more. When a soundstage on the lot became available, Murdy knew he had his solution. "Only about two months ago Family Feud was filmed in here," he said. "And now we're in."
As for why this particular maze demanded a different type of space, there were a couple of reasons. First and foremost, lighting was a concern. "There's a lot of the Upside Down where you needed to have complete control, even though we build mazes in tents and everything," Murdy explained. "Having complete control of the lighting was really important." The other chief reason was a soundstage offers a much higher ceiling than the tents, which leads to some of the biggest sets ever seen in a Horror Nights maze--including a massive scene set in the Hawkins National Laboratory.
Working with the Duffer brothers on the maze
When it comes to creating a maze based on a known property, it always starts with a pitch to the creative teams behind the movie or show. Luckily for Murdy, Stranger Things co-creators the Duffer brothers are fans of Halloween Horror Nights.
"I pitched it to Netflix initially," he said. "I didn't personally pitch it to Duffer brothers, [Netflix was] going to present it to them. And so I said, 'Well I'll send you my treatment.' And that's usually about a hundred pages. And they called me as soon as they had the meeting with the Duffer brothers and [were] like, 'You won't believe this, there's no notes.'"
While Murdy and his team have been doing this long enough that it's not often that he would get a long list of notes back, "it's rare that you get none."
"They agreed 100% with our approach," he said. "They couldn't have agreed more." That approach is to solely focus on Season 1 of the series, rather than a mix of both installments.
Integrating the kids without having them throughout the maze
While Horror Nights mazes are typically filled with actors in costume, Stranger Things presented an odd dilemma. "What to do with the kids was a big decision we had to make because obviously on the show they're all 12," Murdy explained. "We just quickly realized that's not going to work, we got to figure out how to deliver the kids in a different way."
The answer was to use audio from the first season--the voices of the kids. "There's 5.1 surround sound system throughout this sequence and multi-channel audio everywhere," he said. "So all throughout the maze, you're hearing the kids on the walkie-talkies calling to each other looking for their friend who's missing."
Keep your eyes open, though. You still might see a couple kids along the way.
Recreating the Byers home
When it came to the actual design of the maze, that's where the obsessive work of Murdy and his team began. They poured over the show countless times, studied photos, and tried to recreate everything as closely as possible to what was seen on the show. When it came to the Byers' home, that wasn't necessarily easy.
"It's set in the 1980s but really for the Byers that means the '70s because they're not a wealthy family," Murdy admitted. "Most everything they have in this house came from the '70s." That meant sourcing out furniture, recreating wallpaper patterns, and looking for appropriate touches to fill the house with, including rotary phones that the Horror Nights team had to have altered by a special effects company, in order for them to react to what's happening within the maze.
Building Castle Byers--twice
It also meant things outside of the house needed to be built, like Castle Byers--Will's fort that he uses to escape from the real world. To make sure it was accurate to what fans remember, the maze-building team received on-set photography to use as a reference. Murdy said he pulled around 30,000 pictures from the show for reference.
And when it comes to Castle Byers, that department has to do it all twice--once for our world and once for the Upside Down, which has its own fort.
How they created the Demogorgon suit
What's a Stranger Things maze without a Demogorgon scaring visitors? Or in the case of Horror Nights, several Demogorgons. If you're going to be stepping into the maze, don't freak out when the beast is suddenly standing in front of you. "This is a full-blown creature suit that our performers are going to be wearing," Murdy teased.
How does one create a Demogorgon in real life, though? While originally Murdy planned to use the same molds the show did, there was a problem. "Quickly, you realize how much is CGI," he admitted. "So like when they did the Demogorgon on set, they had a guy in a creature costume but his head inside the head petals was all a big green hood. So all of the teeth and the mouth and the movement was CGI."
Instead, the Universal team used an animated "hero" head--one used for certain shots in the series--and sculpted their own version of it for the costume. From the teeth to the head petals, the massive Demogorgon will be haunting the maze, thanks to the event's artists.
Bringing the Upside Down to life
Building the Upside Down created another challenge for the team, due to it being mostly CGI on the series. To recreate that, the Horror Nights team created a forest of trees that look rotten in a pitch-black room. From there, dozens of small fiber optic lights have been hung throughout the area, creating the creepy light orbs seen in the Upside Down. "And then we're projecting on top of all of it," Murdy said.
The process of creating this particular piece of the maze took multiple layers and steps, but should ultimately be one of the most impressive pieces of the maze.
And that includes a very dead Barb
Yes, we have all come to terms with the fact that Barb is dead. Still, you wouldn't expect a Stranger Things Season 1 maze to not shout out the untimely death of Nancy's best friend, right? Murdy and his team simply couldn't help themselves when they created this particular dead body to help decorate the Upside Down. Happy trails, Barb.
An Easter egg hunt
What's a fun haunted maze without Easter eggs to search for? Like most of the brand-based mazes that came before it, Stranger Things is filled with fun nods to the rest of the franchise. The only one we could get Murdy to point out takes place in the classroom scene of the maze, which comes near the end. In it, there's a Rube Goldberg device believed to be built by the boys in Season 1. It's the sort of thing where you won't see it if you're not looking too carefully, but noticing it helps to make the experience all the more exciting.
The second episode of Mayans MC introduced even more mystery, violence, and unsettling scenes than the premiere offered. Likewise, it left us with a lot of questions. From the outset, FX's Sons of Anarchy sequel series has quickly thrust itself into the dark and disastrous world of outlaw motorcycle clubs--even more quickly than co-creator Kurt Sutter's original show did.
At this rate, there's no telling who will be left alive at the end of Season 1, as every single character introduced is in some kind of massive danger--even the children that find themselves in the middle of this horrific world. Well, there's one person we're sure is safe thanks to the show's latest Sons of Anarchy cameo, which we'll discuss.
Who can be trusted and who is going to become a true force to be reckoned with on this series? We took these questions to Mayans MC showrunner Elgin James and the cast of Mayans MC to get the answers because, quite frankly, we don't want to wait until the next episode to find out.
EZ (JD Pardo) has gotten himself into a pretty terrible situation. He's working as an informant for the DEA, trying to bring down the Galindo cartel. However, thus far Agent Jimenez (Maurice Compte) doesn't seem all that trustworthy.
As Compte told GameSpot, though, he might be EZ's only hope at a life free of crime. "If everyone wore a black hat, you'd be in a vacuum," he said. "You wouldn't have any way to measure any kind of light in there, you know what I mean? It doesn't matter what different degrees of darkness exist if there's no light to bounce that darkness off of."
As he explained, his being there "takes away some of EZ's character's blackness, and brightens it up a little bit. So now he can carry that into the group, and now you start to see who is who, character-wise."
When is Emily finally going to snap?
With the kidnapping of her son and the lies from her husband, it's been a bad week for Emily (Sarah Bolger). However, she's managed to not lose her temper just yet. That will likely be changing.
"She's allowed [decisions] to be made around her," the actress told us. "There will be a point, I do believe in her nature, where she has to be the one who makes decisions. She just has to be. For her own sanity, for who she is at her core, and maybe that will come to fruition."
When that happens, we wouldn't be surprised if Emily became one of the scariest characters on Mayans MC. You don't come between a mother and her child (as Gemma taught us many times on Sons of Anarchy).
Will Chucky stick around?
The big surprise of the episode was seeing Michael Ornstein reprise his Sons of Anarchy role as Chucky. Thankfully, James said viewers should get used to him.
"He does a lot on our show," the showrunner teased. "Chucky plays a role in the season and in the series." What more could Sons of Anarchy fans ask for?
How dangerous will Miguel become with his son still missing?
In the first episode of Mayans MC, audiences got an idea of how depraved Miguel (Danny Pino) could be over business when he cut the arms off someone who stole from him. In the second episode, he deep fried a father and child just to potentially get information about his missing son. Clearly, there is no line too far for the head of the cartel. Before, though, it was all about business. Now, once he finally tracks down those who took his child, all bets are off.
"I think Miguel prides himself on his level of preparation, on his level of forethought and insight before making a decision, certainly business-wise," Pino said. "Where he could remove any emotions from business decisions, now it's all emotion and it clouds his judgment. He's more likely and more capable of using these massive weapons that he has, including the MC to make things right."
Does Nestor actually trust the club to help find Miguel's son?
This was the episode that showed off what Miguel's goons could do--particularly Nestor (Gino Vento). As the head of Galindo's security, he will play a major role in the search for his missing son. However, he has to work with the club to do it. What's interesting though is it doesn't seem like he actually trusts the club as an ally.
As Vento claimed, though, his opinion is very rarely different from Miguel's. "I think he falls in line with Miguel's thinking," he explained. However, he doesn't view their relationship as one between a boss and an employee. "It really is like a brotherhood," he said. "Just like the club has their own brotherhood, this is the brotherhood of the Galindo's. So, if he tells him something, Nestor is a very loyal man so, in that sense, I wouldn't doubt, I would never doubt that."
As for who in the club he's keeping an eye on most, Vento wants fans to keep an eye on his interactions with Bishop (Michael Irby). "You can kind of see it but, there's just like this almost unfinished business with those two guys," he said.
Does Angel regret bringing his brother into the club?
One important, though much less violent, story this season is the bond between the Reyes brothers. Angel (Clayton Cardenas) is responsible for bringing his brother into the club and, while it might have made sense at first, the entire situation has become incredibly complicated. Angel is working a scheme that could fracture the club, while EZ is an informant for the law. Still, the elder Reyes brother still thinks he made the right choice in bringing EZ into the fold.
"[Angel] knows he's out of prison, he knows his brother doesn't have a lot of options," Cardenas explained. "Coming out of prison you don't have many options, he can't go back to his golden boy lifestyle."
That much is true. While EZ was destined for collegiate greatness once upon a time, those days are behind him. As Cardenas puts it, at least now his character can keep an eye on his little brother. "I know I can protect him," the actor said.
The fifth and final season of Fox's Batman prequel series Gotham won't debut until 2019, but the show is currently in production in New York City and has just enlisted a very interesting new cast member. Nikita alum Shane West will appear as a villain in the final episodes of the show, in a role that opens the door to quite a bit of speculation.
According to Deadline, West will play Eduardo Dorrance. The character is a friend of Jim Gordon's (Ben McKenzie) from his days in the military. Now, with Gotham City having become No Man's Land, he has arrived with a group of elite soldiers to restore order. However, it becomes apparent that he has his own evil ends in mind with the task.
For those that know the Batman universe, the name Eduardo Dorrance might sound familiar. In the comics, Sir Edmund Dorrance is the villain known as King Snake. Edmund also happens to be the father of none other than Bane. While Bane's true first name has never been revealed in the comics, this new character could be a potential suspect.
After all, with Gotham ending, it seems logical to introducer another major Batman villain--and Bane might be the biggest one the show has yet to tackle. As it stands, Penguin, The Riddler, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy all play major roles in the show. What's more, the series has also woven in the likes of Ra's al Ghul, Mad Hatter, Solomon Grundy, Azrael, and Harvey Dent into its stories over four seasons. And, of course, the show has its own take on Joker with the dueling characters of Jerome and Jeremiah--both played by Cameron Monaghan. With a rogue's gallery of baddies like that, Bane could be a perfect fit.
Of course, Gotham could also try something completely new. With this being the final stretch of episodes, though, our money is on West becoming Bane. That should prove to be very interesting for the shows young Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz), as he continues his journey to become Batman. Hopefully, Bane doesn't break his spine too quickly.
Titans won't premiere of a month, but the live-action Teen Titans adaptation is already doing something fans of DC Comics have never seen before. A pair of new images have been released, showing Robin squaring off against... Robin?
In the images, which were debuted on IGN, Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites) goes face-to-face with Jason Todd (Curran Walters), both vigilantes in their Robin costumes. It's a battle of the Batman sidekicks and we couldn't be more excited to see how it plays out.
If the trailer for Titans is any indication, Dick and Bruce Wayne's relationship isn't great. After all, a friend wouldn't say, "F*** Batman," right? With that in mind, we can only assume the meeting between the original Robin and his replacement will be chilly and filled with tension.
While Dick will be a regular character on Titans, it's unknown how often fans will see Jason. That said, it is this character's first live-action appearance. Hopefully, it's not a one-time thing.
Speaking to IGN, Titans showrunner Greg Walker teased the idea that Jason will be a very different kind of Robin, which is something that's also true in the comics. "What I really love about [Jason] as a character is the unbridled sense of self that he has--there's a lack of... maybe self-awareness, but for sure self-consciousness in terms of how he comports himself and how he moves through the world," he said. "He's completely seemingly unaffected by darkness--he kind of embraces it or walks right through it. He's a breath of fresh air and that's what I love about him, he's got a punk rock, no-holds-barred attitude that's massively unburdened. There's a lot of energy that comes with that"
You can see the other image of Dick and Jason facing off over at IGN. Titans premieres on DC Universe on October 12. The streaming service itself launches on September 15. Make sure you check out our DC Universe review to see if it's the right service for you.
When will fans see the third season of Westworld? Chances are it won't be for a long time, but pieces of the Season 3 puzzle are slowly starting to come together. A new face will be joining the fold when Westworld returns and it's one Breaking Bad fans should be very excited to see.
According to Variety, Aaron Paul has been cast in an undisclosed role for the third season. While who he'll be playing is being kept secret--this is Westworld, after all--it's believed that he'll be a series regular when the HBO show returns.
The actor shared the news of his new job on Twitter, writing, "I feel like I'm in a dream Dolores. Can you wake me up from this dream?"
Adding Paul to the mix should be very interesting, and the possibilities are endless. As it stands, the second season ended with both Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) outside of Westworld and on the mainland. Dolores wants to eliminate humanity, while Bernard wants to save it. That leaves plenty of room to introduce new characters in Season 3.
Of course, the question fans are going to have now is whether Paul will be playing a human or a host. With so much of the Delos collection of robot theme parks left unexplored, he wouldn't even have to come from Westworld, were he a host.
As for when to expect the next season of Westworld, HBO has not announced that yet. However, star Ed Harris told the Huffington Post over the summer that filming wouldn't begin until June 2019. So our best guess is the beginning of 2020 at the earliest.
As the world of Mayans MC is being built, it continues to find itself populated with familiar faces from Sons of Anarchy. In the first episode of the series alone, both Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal) and Marcus Alvarez (Emilio Rivera) appeared. While Gemma's cameo will play a bigger role in Season 1, chances are she won't be seen much. Alvarez, on the other hand, will be a pretty constant presence. The following contains spoilers for the second episode of Mayans MC.
Now, a third fan-favorite character has been introduced. Chucky Marstein (Michael Ornstein) started off as a compulsively masturbating thorn in the SAMCRO's side. Eventually, though, he became one of its most trusted allies and managed to escape the series alive. Now, Chucky has made his way to the Mayans MC, where he seems to essentially playing the same role for this new club.
Now, Chucky works at the same scrapyard the club operates out of, using his prosthetic hands to do office work. He only appears for a moment in the second episode, but you'd better get used to seeing him around the Mayans.
Speaking to GameSpot, showrunner and executive producer Elgin James confirmed that Chucky will recur throughout the season. "[Ornstein] is like such a gift as a human being, nevermind the Chucky character," he said. "He does a lot on our show. I mean, he's another one, it's not just a little like, 'Hey, check this out, isn't this funny?' Like Chucky plays a role in the season and in the series."
While James won't say exactly how Chucky will factor in the story, other than his role at the scrapyard, he couldn't be more excited about weaving the character into his series. "He's just been a gift to every single person [to] now have him in their life," the executive producer explains. "It's been great, it's one of the greatest [gifts] Kurt [Sutter, creator of Sons of Anarchy] has given us, besides careers."
Hopefully, Mayans MC makes as much use of Chucky as Sons did. What's more, if this is how Mayans plans on continuing to integrate Sons of Anarchy characters into its story, James and his team should definitely sprinkle in a few more. Perhaps we can find out whatever happened to Nero (Jimmy Smits) and Wendy (Drea de Matteo) after they left Charming in the Sons of Anarchy series finale.
We won't pretend that you have no idea who Venom is, because let's face it, that giant tongue and those massive fangs are pretty ubiquitous when it comes to comic book iconography these days. But there's a lot more to that hulking, black suited Spider-Monster than meets the eye, and with Tom Hardy about bring Eddie Brock to theaters for the first time since Topher Grace in Spider-Man 3, now is the perfect time to brush up on those symbiote-related facts.
First things first: Eddie Brock is not actually Venom the way that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. This isn't a secret identity situation, they're actually two separate entities. Eddie Brock is a human, and Venom is what's known as a symbiote--or, if you want to get technical, a member of the Klyntar race, an ooze-like alien organism that takes over a host. It's important to remember that, because while Eddie is arguably the most famous Venom host, he's definitely not the only one. Unlike most superhero identities, though, it's not a mantle that is passed around or handed down. It's literally a matter of the Venom symbiote moving from host to host.
Symbiotes actually have maybe the most bizarre and humble origins in superhero comics. They started as a fan submitted idea for a new costume for Spider-Man back in the mid '80s. That's right--a costume. A fan named Randy Schueller thought Pete would look cool in an upgraded costume with some new powers, Marvel agreed, and they bought the idea from him for a mere $220. From there, things quickly started to snowball. Pete's new costume was given a pretty wacky origin story as an unspecified alien "entity" that conveniently replaced his tattered classic costume at the end of the major Marvel event Secret Wars.
This new black and white costume had all kinds of cool properties, like self healing from damage and shifting seamlessly into street clothes when Pete needed a quick change--a pretty convenient thing for comic book writers and artists who suddenly no longer had to worry about pesky continuity troubles like wounds and costume changes. The new costume also produced its own webbing, which was stronger and had better range than the old stuff. The catch was, of course, that the new suit wasn't actually a suit, but a parasitic alien creature who could mimic the properties of clothing. This revelation came just a handful of months after the black costume's big debut, in an issue titled appropriately, "The Sinister Secret of Spider-Man's New Costume."
Venom itself didn't get a name or a real identity beyond Pete's renegade alien suit until over a year later, when Eddie Brock entered the scene. Basically, Eddie was developed as a scorned reporter with a grudge against Spider-Man and placed in the scene near Pete's initial "defeat" of his costume. The symbiote, feeling like a jilted lover for Pete's rejection, sensed Eddie's burning hatred and, naturally, went straight for him. This gave writers and artists an easy way to start playing with all the potential left on the table by the symbiotic black suit without having to kick off an entirely new origin story or do any more exposition--all the framework had been laid and left behind during Secret Wars.
Once they were officially bonded, Eddie and Venom maintained a pretty tumultuous relationship that tended to fluctuate between an equal partnership and a parasite/host dynamic. Eddie struggled (and often failed) to keep Venom's homicidal urges in check. Frequently, Venom would threaten wanting eat people (a trait we know for sure is making a live action debut, thanks to the Venom trailers) but Eddie usually managed to reign it in and keep things mostly non-cannibalistic. Mostly.
Later, it was explained that Venom's willingness to actually work with its hosts rather than just use them up and burn them out was actually extremely atypical for symbiote society and had led to Venom being branded "insane" on its homeworld. Over the years, Eddie and Venom's bond would be tested, broken, reformed, and tested again, leading to a string for new hosts like Mac Gargan, a supervillain formerly known as Scorpion who was given the symbiote by Norman Osborn, and Flash Thompson, Peter Parker's reformed high school bully who was given the symbiote by the government for an experimental procedure designed to weaponize its abilities as a black ops soldier while neutralizing its ability to think and act for itself.
As far as powers and abilities are concerned, Venom can do basically everything that Spider-Man can do, including honing in on its very own knock off spider-sense. It can also shapeshift around its host body, taking basically any form including weapons, extra limbs--you name it. Venom's symbiotic relationship with its host also gives the host enhanced endurance and a considerable healing ability. However, Venom, like most symbiotes, is extremely weak to certain sonic frequencies and fire. Also, depending on the host, Venom's homicidal impulses may not be under control, making it a pretty considerable chaos factor, especially if the host and the symbiote are trying to work towards to different goals--you know, like killing and eating people versus not killing and eating people.
As far as what to expect from the movie version, most if not all of Venom's recognizable characteristics are probably going to make the big screen leap with one notable exception. Because this version exists in a cinematic universe isolated from Spider-Man, the classic origin is obviously going to be missing. This likely won't make too much of a difference, but it will mean that Venom won't have his iconic white Spider-logo (something he adapted when trying to mimic Peter's costume) and won't be bonding with Eddie because of their mutual need to get back at Spider-Man. By the look of things, however, its powers and abilities will all be exactly what you can expect, as well as its complicated--but sort of mutually beneficial--relationship with Eddie Brock.
Although the much-requested cloud saves system is coming to Switch, there's apparently a pretty big catch. If you ever stop paying for an online subscription for your Switch, Nintendo won't hold on to your save data and it will be deleted.
According to an FAQ page on Nintendo's website, "Save data stored with Save Data Cloud cannot be kept outside of the duration of your Nintendo Switch Online membership." Nintendo then adds that if you keep your save data stored "locally on your Nintendo Switch console, then you can use it again if you purchase another membership."
So if you do buy a subscription, it might be in your best interest to also keep your most important game data saved on your console because if there's ever a problem with your subscription payment, you'll probably lose your saves. It's also worth noting that not all games will support cloud saves--like Pokemon, Let's Go Pikachu!/Eevee and Splatoon 2--so depending on what you play, you might not be able to completely rely on Nintendo's online storage to begin with.
Nintendo's online membership can be continuously maintained through automatic renewal. All subscriptions will renew automatically unless you select the "Terminate Automatic Renewal" choice in the Account Information settings. Renewal rates are determined by your latest online membership purchase. If you buy a three month membership and then buy one for 12 months, your account will automatically renew every 12 months.
The FAQ page details a few other clarifications from the other services that relate to a Nintendo Switch Online membership. If you're playing in an online party with a group who's using voice chat, you won't be automatically added to the voice chat group. You'll be asked beforehand whether or not you want to participate in the group's voice chat when you first join the party. Also, you'll only need one online membership for your family of Switch consoles provided all of your consoles are linked to the same account.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's private Blackout beta has been underway on PS4 for the past several days, and now it's expanded to Xbox One and PC as well. Developer Treyarch continues to implement gameplay tweaks and other changes as the beta rolls on, and a new batch of adjustments have now gone live. [Update: The Blackout beta's end time has been extended until 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET / 8 PM BST. Additionally, Treyarch has updated it to now support 100 players in a single match.]
As the studio detailed on Reddit, both the Xbox One and PC Blackout betas will start off supporting 80 players, just as the PS4 version originally did. The PS4 beta, meanwhile, will maintain its recently increased 88-player cap. Treyarch says it will continue to test different player counts for the betas in order to optimize the mode before Black Ops 4's release next month.
In terms of gameplay tweaks, Treyarch has increased the amount of damage players sustain inside of the collapsed area. Additionally, the cargo plane that flies in supply drops now has more health and won't take damage from bullets. While using the wingsuit, players can now no longer gain altitude at high speed, and Treyarch has slightly increased how long it takes to pull up from a steep dive.
The developer has also implemented a number of bug fixes. One that would cause multiple players to spawn in the same spot in the Staging Area has now been resolved, as have others that would cause players to get stuck on the map. Additionally, the developer has fixed various issues with collision and the recently added killcam.
On September 15, the Blackout beta will expand to all PC players with a Battle.net account. Players on all platforms will be able to participate in the beta until 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET on September 17. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is scheduled to launch on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on October 12.
When Bethesda announced the spinoff Wolfenstein: Youngblood at E3 this year, you might have wondered if Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus was the end of the story for series protagonist BJ Blazkowicz. If you did, your worries are misplaced. Wolfenstein III is coming, Bethesda vice president of global marketing and communications Pete Hines told Metro in a recent interview.
"Absolutely we're making a Wolfenstein III," he said. "They said on stage that they're taking a break from the larger story to do [Wolfenstein: Youngblood]. But we all have to see how that ends."
That's good news to fans of the story of Blazkowicz fighting the Nazis, but that's all we have to go on at this point regarding Wolfenstein. In the interview, Hines also touched on another Bethesda series with an uncertain future: Dishonored. When asked about the recent comment from a developer from Arkane Studios that Dishonored is "resting," Hines said, "Ah, I wouldn't read too much into that."
He continued, "Look, Arkane has two studios, they're working on a number of things. That's no different than Todd Howard saying, 'I'm gonna make a Fallout game and then I'm gonna make Starfield before I go back to TES6.' He didn't say I'm never making another… there's like, 'We have an idea for another thing here, we have an idea for another there.'"
Bethesda has a lot of big games planned for the coming years. Fallout 76 launches November 14. Doom Eternal, Rage 2, and Wolfenstein: Youngblood are scheduled for 2019. Beyond that, there's Starfield, The Elder Scrolls VI, and now Wolfenstein III.
As for the next Wolfenstein game, Youngblood will be set in the 1980s and stars Jessica and Sophia, the twin daughters of BJ Blazkowicz, as they continue the war on the Nazi scourge. You can play it solo or in co-op. Also coming next year is the VR game Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot.
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Having spent a few days with Black Ops 4 Blackout Beta, we chat about Call Of Duty's answer to the popular Battle Royale game mode, and how Blackout compares to Fortnite and PUBG.
We hop into Call of Duty Black Ops 4 Blackout beta now that it has been extended for an extra two hours!
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