Strange phenomena have been a common occurrence in Fortnite ever since meteors first began appearing in the sky over the island all the way back in Season 3, but that has only ramped up in recent weeks with the arrival of the mysterious purple cube. Since then, the cube has risen from Loot Lake into the sky to create a floating island, and now it's once again doing something unusual.
As Fortnite players on Reddit recently pointed out, the purple cube--which remains embedded in the bottom of the floating island--has begun pulsating. Moreover, the strange runes that had previously adorned it seem to have disappeared. What this portends is anyone's guess at this point, but this certainly won't be the last mystery surrounding it as Season 6 continues.
The cube first appeared in Fortnite back in Season 5, after a lightning storm struck the desert. Soon after that, it began rolling around the island, etching runes into the ground at the various areas it visited. It eventually came upon Loot Lake and plunged in, turning the whole body of water purple and bouncy.
Rather than marking the end of the cube's mystery, that event has only led to even stranger occurrences during Season 6. At the start of the season, the cube lifted a chunk of land into the sky. It remained stationary over Loot Lake for several days before the entire floating island began roaming the map, revisiting the same runes the cube had left behind and leaving strange, glowing craters in its wake. Shortly after that, dataminers had discovered a folder called "CubeGrowth" within the game's files, suggesting that the cube will increase in size.
We're only in the fourth week of Season 6, so there will undoubtedly be more unusual happenings as the season rolls on. There will also be plenty of new updates and weapons in store for the game. The most recent, Patch 6.10, arrived this week and added a new vehicle to the mix: the Quadcrasher, which is capable of seating two players and barreling through structures. Epic has also introduced new in-game tournaments that give players a chance to earn pins.
Miles may not quite be at Peter Parker levels of name recognition just yet, but he's well on his way--which means it's time to sit down and take a look at just who this new Spider-kid actually is, where he comes from, and most importantly, where he's headed.
Introduced in 2011 with Ultimate Fallout #4, Miles originally made his home in what's known as the "Ultimate" Marvel Universe, an alternate reality full of alternate versions of classic Marvel heroes, set outside the traditional Marvel continuity. The idea behind the Ultimate line was to give people who hadn't read decades worth a back issues a line of books they could, in theory, pick up at number one at not worry about, so they typically featured new retellings of origin stories, slightly modified characterizations, totally new takes on villains--you name it.
In the Ultimate universe, Norman Osborn and a team of scientists had been studying Peter Parker's blood in an attempt to reverse-engineer his abilities by genetically altering spiders. Miles' uncle Aaron, a thief and low-grade supervillain named Prowler, broke into the lab and stole the formula, unknowingly giving one of the modified spiders a ride out in his duffle bag in the process. Later, when Miles goes to visit his uncle's apartment, the spider stowaway skitters out of hiding and bites him.
Miles, quickly realizing he's suddenly got a whole bunch of weird superpowers to deal with, actually decides that it would be best to lay low and pretend nothing is wrong. He'll leave superheroics to the actual superheroes, thank you very much. At least, that is, until Peter Parker is killed. After witnessing the tragedy, Miles realizes that he may have been able to do something had he actually embraced his new abilities and stepped in--his own variation on the "great power, great responsibility" awakening--and decides to take up a costume and figure this whole Spider-Man thing out.
Miles's powers are basically the same as Pete's. He's got a "spider-sense" to alert him of danger, enhanced reflexes and strength, and the ability to cling to walls, and he even comes into possession of Pete's old web shooters (a gift from Aunt May) so he can go swinging around New York just like the original. However, in addition to the standard Peter skillset, Miles also has the ability to camouflage himself, rendering his body invisible to the naked eye, and the ability to create "venom blasts" that can knock people he touches unconscious.
Originally clad in a store bought Spider-Man Halloween costume, Miles takes to the streets to clumsily fight off low level crime for about a day before he attracts the attention of Peter's remaining friends, family, and superheroic co-workers--who take the arrival of the new kid about as well as you might expect at first. Spider-Woman, a member of the Ultimates (think the Ultimate universe version of the Avengers), arrests Miles and brings him to S.H.I.E.L.D., where he's questioned by Nick Fury, who eventually gives him a new, non-Halloween quality costume in his own red and black color scheme.
For several years, Miles' stories continued on in the Ultimate universe where he met and came up against new incarnations of some of Peter's classic foes as he became more and more established as a hero in his own right--at least, until 2015.
That's when a massive crossover event called Secret Wars took hold of the Marvel Universe, and multiple realities and timelines came crashing together. In the same vein as the classic DC Comics cosmic crisis style story, Secret Wars took myriad, isolated versions of Earth and functionally condensed them into one thing. This meant that characters from the Ultimate universe were transported into the mainline Marvel universe, or Marvel-616, permanently.
No longer sequestered in his own timeline, Miles took up the role of Spider-Man next to an active Peter Parker, meaning that there have been two Spider-Men simultaneously swinging through the Marvel universe for the past few years, right alongside all the other Spider-people in the mix (there are a whole bunch of them) for a whole family of Spider and Spider-adjacent heroes.
Ironically, the opposite of Miles's dimension hopping in Secret Wars is the core conceit of Into The Spider-Verse, which features an alternate reality Peter Parker being sucked into Miles's reality after a major cosmic catastrophe shuffles the deck. While it's not clear whether Into The Spider-Verse is officially set in an animated version of the Ultimate universe, or if the deadbeat, mid-life-crisis Peter Parker that winds up training him is supposed to be from the Marvel-616 universe, the concept is still pretty much the same. Miles and Peter wind up teaming up, side by side, along with a whole slew of other Spider-characters who also happened to be shuffled around in the reality warping event.
In addition to his role in the Spider-Man video game, and his upcoming starring role in Into The Spider-Verse, Miles has a brand new solo ongoing comic, Miles Morales: Spider-Man, heading for shelves this December. So, it's pretty safe to say you'll want to keep an eye on Miles, especially if you're a Spider-Man fan--he's really going places.
While the Halloween films are most identified with the masked killer Michael Myers, there's another character just as intricately tied to the franchise. Laurie Strode, played throughout the original films by Jamie Lee Curtis, first appeared in 1978's Halloween and went on to define everything a final girl--the last surviving female horror movie victim that becomes the hero--could be.
While Curtis appeared in a number of films throughout the franchise, many wondered if she'd ever return to Halloween when it was announced Blumhouse was resurrecting the series. Interestingly, it sounds as if the movie wouldn't have happened without her.
When asked if it would have been possible to do a new Halloween without Curtis reprising her role, producer Bill Block is blunt. "It's a ten-second business conversation, and the answer is, 'you can't,'" he said.
After all, it's not as if you can simply recast someone else in such an iconic role. "We needed her or what else you're going to do?" director and co-writer David Gordon Green wondered. "I mean, you could make a cast list, but you'd just roll your eyes at it. She's the only Jamie Lee, so she's the only Laurie Strode."
For Jason Blum, another producer, as important a piece as Curtis was of the puzzle, there was one person's involvement he found more necessary. "We weren't going to do the movie without John [Carpenter]," he explained. "I hoped that Jamie was going to do the movie and prayed. But if she didn't, if she had said no, we would have."
However, according to Blum, there was a stipulation on Carpenter's involvement--Curtis signing on. "John said something interesting when we were talking before," Blum added. "He said he might not have, and if he dropped out, we would have dropped out. So maybe it would have been a whole different thing if she had said no."
In the end, fans should be thankful that Curtis loved the script and was willing to return to the role one more time. After all, if Blumhouse hadn't been the ones to bring Halloween back, someone would have eventually. And instead of what reviews are calling a great entry into the larger franchise, we could have ended up with another Halloween: Resurrection.
With Michael Myers stalking back into theaters to go toe-to-toe with Laurie Strode one more time, there's a major change happening. The new Halloween film isn't another in a long line of sequels to the franchise. Instead, it's disregarding Halloween 2-8 and instead following up directly on the first movie alone.
That means Laurie and Michael are no longer siblings, Busta Rhymes never live streamed the killer murdering teenagers online, and Michael's long-standing feud with his niece--which somehow lasted three movies--never took place. Instead, the new film picks up 40 years after the "babysitter murders" in the first film, leaving audiences to discover whatever became of Laurie and Michael after that one night.
For Jamie Lee Curtis, that's an important aspect of the characters, especially Laurie, to explore. "I believe Laurie Strode went to school November first. I think she went to school with a bandage on her arm, maybe some stitches from the emergency room," she said during a group interview at the Halloween press junket. "I think her parents sent her back to school. And of course, two days before, she was an intellectual honors student heading off to be the valedictorian, no doubt, of her class, was going to go to Smith, do you know what I mean? She was going to get out of Haddonfield, she was going to go off, expand her mind. And two days later, she was a freak."
Of course, there was more behind the decision to retcon those other movies away. The franchise has simply gotten too complicated with a number of fragmented timelines. In some movies, Jamie was Laurie's deceased daughter. In Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, though, Jamie was removed from continuity entirely, and Laurie has a son named John.
With such a muddy canon to wade through, the answer was clear. In the words of executive producer Bill Block, "you simplify it." He continued, "You come back to the core of a family tragedy, the impact and I'll call it the cascade effect of the tragedy, sustain it down through the generations trying to act like it never happened."
Doing that, according to producer Jason Blum, was a call made by director and writer David Gordon Green, along with his co-writer Danny McBride. "There have been a lot of bad ones, a couple of good ones, the first one's the greatest horror movie ever made," executive producer Jason Blum told GameSpot. "And I was excited to attack that challenge. I did not have, no one here had a specific idea of how we would do that and the notion to make this movie simply a continuation of the first movie."
"The two didn't exactly see eye-to-eye at first, though," Green admitted, "I hung on tight to Halloween II for a while and McBride was always trying to get me to let it go." There's one specific scene, though, which screened at San Diego Comic-Con that changed his mind. "Actually, our collaborator, Jeff Fradley, wrote the scene where Michael goes door-to-door and had this thing in his head of this whole one-shot thing," he said. "And we're like, 'Oh yeah.''' And when I read that, I was like, 'Okay. But that only works if he's not just trying to kill his sister.'"
In the end, if the reviews are any indication, it was a smart choice to make. It might have been difficult for Green to let go of Halloween II as part of the film's plot, but even he can't deny how much better the new Halloween is for it. "I'd much rather him get out of the cage and he's just doing what does and then this lady is like, 'Don't forget about me. I'm over here,'" he said. "I like that where the victim can turn the tail on the task."
Square Enix has announced that you'll be able to replay The Quiet Man--a game about a protagonist who's deaf--on a second playthrough with sound. The choice to do so is optional, according to Gematsu, but Square Enix's decision to add the feature is slightly puzzling, as it appears to undermine the whole point of the game.
On The Quiet Man's Steam page, Square Enix writes you "play as a deaf character, Dane, and experience the world as the character does--with very little distinct audio and no subtitles: it's up to you to make up your own interpretation of the story as your search for the masked man unfolds." The developer also adds that one of the game's key features is its soundless world. Experiencing what it's like for someone who's deaf to interact with the world seems to be the selling point of The Quiet Man, so it's a little odd that there's an option to replay the game with sound.
The Quiet Man made waves at E3 2018 with a reveal trailer that blended together live action cutscenes and animated gameplay. Despite the excitement, Square Enix didn't announce any further details about the game until early October, when a gameplay trailer revealed The Quiet Man's release date was a month away.
The gameplay trailer showcases Dane moving through a noiseless Manhattan, using his quick reaction time to respond to threats. Dane appears to have above-average strength, easily flipping around and delivering devastating beat downs on the enemies he encounters. The trailer also reveals the hooded man who serves as the game's primary antagonist. This mysterious villain kidnaps a songstress that Dane seems smitten with and desperately wants to save.
The Quiet Man launches on November 1 for PS4 and PC, and will release as a digital-only title. Square Enix advertised the game as an "immersive story-driven cinematic action experience" that can be completed in one sitting.
With Halloween fast approaching, your interest in scary movies may be rising faster than the gleaming knife of a masked killer. If you're looking for some great deals on horror movies, you'll want to check out Vudu, which is running a big sale on movies and TV shows that will keep you up half the night, peeking at shadows and wincing at every creak you hear.
The Paranormal Activity series has been summoning scares from viewers since the original found-footage film hit theaters in 2007. Vudu currently has the full set of six movies on sale for just $10. Or you can grab a collection of all four Insidious movies for $30. Like all of the videos listed here, they're yours to keep and watch forever.
A Quiet Place stars John Krasinski and Emily Blunt as parents trying not to make a sound as they're stalked by some unknown creatures; it's down to $10. For the same price, you can also grab Split, which will help you get up to speed before M. Night Shyamalan's upcoming movie Glass releases next year.
Maybe you're not into really scary movies, or you have kids and want to watch something with them. You can get the campy classic Hocus Pocus for $10. Is The Nightmare Before Christmas a Halloween movie or a Christmas movie? Why not both? It's on sale for $10. Coraline, another not-too-creepy stop-motion film, is on sale for $7. And let's not leave out Frankenweenie, which is discounted to $13. Fans of TV horror can get seasons of True Blood and Penny Dreadful on sale.
All of these movies and shows can be watched on the Vudu app, which is available on most internet-connected gizmos, including PS4, Xbox One, Apple TV, and mobile devices.
Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House is about one third horror show and two thirds family drama that spans the intersecting timelines of the Crane family--which means that the main characters are played by not only an adult cast, but an adolescent one as well to flesh out both the present and the past. But the nature of the show's themes aren't exactly something you'd want to expose a kid to--especially seven-year-olds Luke Hilliard and Violet McGraw, who played the youngest Crane siblings, Luke and Nell.
But when asked at New York Comic-Con if terrorizing children on set was an issue during filming, Carla Gugino, who played the twins' mother, Oliva, stressed that it had been a concern of her own as she approached the project. "Mike Flanagan is great with kids, so they were always made to feel very comfortable on set," she said. "But we also worked with an amazing all female assistant director team who were just absolutely exceptional. They took such good care of those kids while we worked."
Of course, that doesn't mean there weren't challenges--though less for the kids themselves and more for the adults. "There's that scene from the trailer," Gugino continued, "where I'm talking to the kids in bed and they have to talk about having this horrible dream and wondering if their mother would wake them from it. I was so, so worried about shooting that scene and having them have to say all of that. So while we were in rehearsal, we ran the lines and I saw our director of photography watching with just tears running down his face and I thought, 'oh god, how are we going to do this?' But the second we finished up, both kids jumped up like 'great! Let's get some hot chocolate!' So, I think really they're going to be OK."
The scene Gugino is referencing features both Hilliard and McGraw asking their mother about their gruesome deaths as if they're nightmares from which they could be woken up from--a heart wrenching scene in any context, but one that gets especially poignant coming from the mouths of literal children. It's really no wonder that there was some concern, not to mention the multiple other instances of the kids being terrorized and traumatized as they struggled to cope with living in an extremely haunted house.
But Michiel Huisman (adult Steven Crane) also commented that the kids were, perhaps, the least scared actors on the set at any moment. "Those kids were pros, man," he laughed. "They were auditioning for other roles practically in between shots. They were recording themselves with their iPads the second we were done filming."
The show's cast of monsters and ghosts were no joke, as we called out in our review. "[...] Hill House is full of strongly characterized spooks, ghouls, and specters. There's the Bent Neck Lady, a floating ghost who appears to Nelly in her bed as a child, and elsewhere later in life. There's the Bowler Hat Man, an impossibly tall Slender Man lookalike who rhythmically taps his cane despite floating above the ground. There's a gnarled old lady who seems tied to one bedroom, an ephemeral girl who lives in the woods and visits to play with Luke, and the manipulative 1920s flapper girl. And there may or may not be a zombie in the basement." So there was certainly no shortage of nightmare fuel around the set. But, by the sound of things, the only people losing sleep were the adults.
Hill House may be "slow at the start, but it's worth seeing through to the end."
All ten episodes of The Haunting of Hill House are available to stream on Netflix.
As it turns out, your whole reality might be The Stanley Parable, if you really think about it. This existential crisis has been brought to you by an Achievement for the game that just became available, five years afters its launch.
An Achievement called "Go Outside" has a simple requirement: don't play The Stanley Parable for five years. The game launched on Oct. 17, 2013, making today its fifth anniversary, and the first day the game the Achievement can actually be unlocked (at least, without cheating). The Stanley Parable's creator, Davey Wreden, took to Twitter to mark the occasion.
I have the news you've all been waiting for. Today is the first day that it is possible to legitimately get the Go Outside achievement in The Stanley Parable. pic.twitter.com/3ZxYbJdGhK
Of course, it's possible to unlock the Go Outside Achievement without actually waiting five years. Turning the game off, adjusting your computer's clock, and then booting The Stanley Parable back up again would be enough to convince the program that it was five years into the future. Go Outside also isn't the only weird or time-based Achievement in The Stanley Parable; there's another for playing the game for an entire Tuesday, which can be similarly gamed by the less scrupulous Achievement hunters out there.
The most interesting thing about the Go Outside Achievement is how it interacts with the themes of The Stanley Parable. The game finds the titular player character Stanley following the instructions of a narrator through the story--or not following those instructions, as the player decides. But an Achievement that's earned by not playing the game raises one important question: did you ever really quit playing The Stanley Parable at all? Isn't all of life just following instructions and doing what you're told, making your whole existence a version of The Stanley Parable? It's heavy, man.
The bad news is, if you've never gotten around to playing The Stanley Parable and now you're intrigued, you're going to have to wait another five years to fully complete it.
October is here, which means The Pokemon Company is giving away a new pair of Legendary Pokemon for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. We're in the penultimate month of the Year of Legendary Pokemon promotion, and this time around, you'll be able to get your hands on the cover mascots from Pokemon Black and White: Reshiram and Zekrom.
Once again, if you live in the US, you'll need to travel to a specific retailer to pick up a download code for the Legendaries. This time, the code is being distributed in the electronics section of Target stores from October 19-28. Those who live in Europe and Australia, meanwhile, will be able to get the Pokemon without leaving the comfort of their home; the Legendaries are being given out over the Nintendo Network in those regions from October 5-21.
As usual, the Legendaries can be redeemed in any seventh generation Pokemon game on 3DS, but which one you receive depends on the version you're playing. Those with Sun or Ultra Sun will get Zekrom, while players who have Moon or Ultra Moon will get Reshiram. The Pokemon will also come with different levels and movesets depending on your game. You can see all of the details below.
Pokemon Ultra Sun
Zekrom -- Level 100 (w/Gold Bottle Cap)
Fusion Bolt
Bolt Strike
Outrage
Stone Edge
Pokemon Sun
Zekrom -- Level 60
Slash
Zen Headbutt
Fusion Bolt
Dragon Claw
Pokemon Ultra Moon
Reshiram -- Level 100 (w/Gold Bottle Cap)
Fusion Flare
Blue Flare
Draco Meteor
Earth Power
Pokemon Moon
Reshiram -- Level 60
Slash
Extrasensory
Fusion Flare
Dragon Pulse
You can redeem your download code for the Legendaries using the Mystery Gift feature from the games' main menu. After selecting it, choose the option to receive your gift with a code/password, then input your download code when prompted. If you live in Europe or Australia, you'll need to select the option to receive your gift via the internet. Once that's done, the Pokemon will be downloaded into your game. You'll then need to pick it up from the deliveryman waiting inside any Pokemon Center.
As every Marvel fan knows, it's not just in the big screen world of the Avengers and the MCU that characters from separate stories cross paths. The Netflix Marvel shows, including Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Punisher, were built on the promise that they'd eventually cross over. That started happening slowly and in smaller ways, like Luke Cage debuting originally in Jessica Jones Season 1. It all built up to The Defenders, and since then, it's been open season as far as crossovers go.
But in Daredevil Season 3, Matt Murdock will work alone. This season of Daredevil won't feature characters or other crossovers from other Netflix shows, and showrunner Erik Oleson has explained why.
"I did not do any crossovers in Season 3," Oleson told GameSpot during group interviews at New York Comic Con. "And that was a deliberate decision. I just wanted the real estate for the characters that we had already on the show."
"This season I very much wanted to get back to the core Daredevil characters and more fully flesh them out," he explained. "I did not want to distract the audience with fun, but ultimately distracting, drop-bys by some of the other characters in the universe."
According to Oleson, that's it: Those crossovers, while they can be fun, are ultimately distracting, and would have taken away from the story he wanted to tell. Based on the first six episodes, which we saw early, that story will get into deep development for the main Daredevil characters--Matt, Foggy, Karen, and Fisk--while introducing a handful of new ones, like the classic Daredevil villain Bullseye. And according to Oleson, it draws heavily on the comics.
"I really wanted to come back to the Daredevil comic," Oleson said. "I wanted to treat Season 3 as if it were my own run of the comics, in the way that Miller or Bendis or Smith or any of those guys were able to come in and do their run that honored what came before, and yet put their own stamp on each of the comics. I wanted to put my own stamp on the show."
He emphasized that he also wanted to flesh out the characters more. "I'm a firm believer that nobody is really a sidekick--that everybody is the hero of their own story," he said. "And I wanted to be able to go deeper into Foggy, go deeper into Karen, and really flesh out every member of the ensemble."
Where Iron Fist Season 2 (which has since been canceled) was compacted into 10 episodes, Daredevil Season 3 goes back to the 13 episodes that's typical for the Marvel Netflix shows. But Oleson swears that "none of them drag--none of them!" The showrunner said he wanted this season to feel like The Sopranos.
"One of the early things that I told Marvel was that I wanted to aim tonally between Season 1 of [Daredevil], and The Sopranos," he said. "I wanted to bring that kind of storytelling model where you are telling the story from the inside--meaning from the experience of the characters, so that you are experiencing the story like Matt Murdock would, or like Karen Page would--you're not watching them from outside...My style is more character driven, everything is emotionally honest, and then you have these lightning bolt moments of Marvel where you're like, 'Oh that's right, we're watching this awesome show that has these amazing iconic moments and action sequences and that heightened reality!' But everybody is able to be real in the scenes, and as a result I'm bonding the audience and the characters, hopefully in an honest way."
All that said, Oleson made it clear that more crossovers will likely happen in the future, and in other Marvel Netflix shows coming up. "That's not to say that in the future that won't happen," he said. It's unclear whether connecting all these stories and characters is still a priority for Netflix and Marvel, as reception to Defenders was generally lukewarm at best. For now, it seems like we're just going to get one really kickass season of Daredevil.
It's a big day for Destiny 2, as Bungie is releasing a significant update alongside the launch of two events: Iron Banner and Festival of the Lost. In terms of the update, it introduces a variety of welcome changes and fixes, and it's good news for scout rifle users, Iron Banner fans, and players who are sick of Edge Transit. Here's what's new.
As detailed in the full patch notes on Bungie's website, update 2.0.4 is a substantial one, even if it doesn't introduce much in the way of new features. Scout rifles, which have been suffering from low damage since around the time of Forsaken's launch, have been given a damage boost against non-player enemies. That should hopefully make them more viable than they have been in recent weeks.
With Iron Banner kicking off, you'll notice some important changes. Each Iron Banner bounty that's offered will reward you with Powerful gear, rather than just two, as was the case in September. And completing those bounties should be easier--the specific requirements for each have been lowered, in some cases significantly. For instance, Shine On only tasks you with creating 50 Orbs of Light, rather than 100.
Speaking of Powerful gear, a bug where Powerful rewards didn't drop at a sufficiently high Power level should be fixed. Bungie has also increased the Power of lower level Powerful rewards, which it says "slightly increases the average Power upgrade per powerful drop."
The Collection has been expanded and now allows you to track and retrieve more item types. The most notable are transmat effects. Any that you've gotten your hands on, used, or dismantled since Forsaken launched on September 4 will already be available in the Collection for you. Just be aware of how these are added to your Collection: simply obtaining a ship with a new transmat effect won't do the trick. You'll need to actually get the transmat effect in your inventory for it to unlock. Additionally, the Collection is now home to Ghosts tied to events, Forsaken emblem variants, and a variety of other emblems that were previously missing.
There are few guns more notorious than Edge Transit in Forsaken. It's an extremely common Heavy weapon drop, much to the annoyance of players who have gotten dozens of them. It should now drop less often, as the so-called "world Legendary pool" has added several new items: Through Fire and Flood, Zenobia D, and Crooked Fang-4fr.
One weapon that does draw more ire than Edge Transit is Sleeper Simulant. The previously announced nerf to the gun in Gambit will be coming in the patch launching on October 30. In the meantime, linear fusion rifles have been given an aim assist buff--with the exception of Sleeper. That might result in a more varied assortment of linear fusion rifles being used.
The patch is now available in Destiny 2 and will be followed by the weekly reset and the kick-off of Iron Banner and Festival of the Lost. Iron Banner runs until October 23, while the Halloween-themed event goes until November 6.
Pokemon fans will soon have a chance to get their hands on October's free Legendary Pokemon for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, but those aren't the only rare monsters up for grabs this month. To commemorate the release of the upcoming Lost Thunder expansion for Pokemon TCG, The Pokemon Company is also giving away a rare Mythical Pokemon for the 3DS games this month: the Thunderclap Pokemon Zeraora.
First revealed this past April, Zeraora is a fast, cat-like Electric-type monster debuting in the latest Pokemon movie, The Power of Us. This marks the first opportunity players will have to get their hands on one; like other Mythical Pokemon, Zeraora isn't obtainable within the actual games, so you'll want to add one to your collection while you can.
As usual, the way you'll be able to get Zeraora depends on where you live. In the US, players can pick up a download code for the Mythical Pokemon at GameStop stores from October 19 to November 9; in the UK, The Pokemon Company is distributing codes for Zeraora at Game stores from October 1 to November 15.
Unlike most of the other free Pokemon given out this year, you can only redeem the Zeraora code in either Ultra Sun or Ultra Moon. Regardless of which version you claim it in, the Pokemon comes at level 50 and is equipped with an Air Balloon, an item that negates Ground-type attacks until it is popped. It also knows the moves Plasma Fist, Thunder Punch, Close Combat, and Thunder.
To redeem your download code, first select Mystery Gift from the games' main menu, then choose the option to receive your gift via a code/password. Input your code and Zeraora will be downloaded into your game. You'll then need to pick it up from the deliveryman waiting inside any Pokemon Center.
In addition to Zeraora, The Pokemon Company will give away two Legendary Pokemon originally from the Black and White versions this month: Reshiram and Zekrom. More details on that distribution will be announced soon. In the meantime, you can see all the free Pokemon for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon available right now.
IO Interactive has announced its first Elusive Target mission for Hitman 2, and it stars none other than the man of many lives (and deaths), actor Sean Bean. Bean plays Mark Faba, an MI5 agent gone rogue as a freelance assassin. Faba has gained a reputation for faking his death, even earning the nickname "The Undying." Agent 47 might have a thing or two to say about that.
The Undying will release as the first Elusive Target on November 20, one week after the release of Hitman 2. The mission takes place in Miami, where Faba is trying to complete his own contract at the Global Innovation Race event in Miami. You'll have ten days to complete it. As with the first Hitman, Elusive Targets are free, temporary missions that you'll only have one chance to complete.
A live-action trailer accompanying the announcement stars Bean as Faba, talking with a therapist about his life as an assassin and describing the various ways he's eluded death. The role as an expert in faking his own death serves another purpose as a meta-joke, as Sean Bean has become known for playing characters who ultimately die. This is similar to the last Hitman game, which set actor Gary Busey as an Elusive Target.
Hitman 2 adds a new Sniper Assassin mode, which lets you take down targets from a distance solo or paired with a partner. You can gain access to that instantly by pre-ordering, or pre-order a Silver or Gold Edition for more bonuses like extra gear. The Gold Edition also includes four days of early access to the game. You can read more details in our pre-order guide.
EA has announced that four of the voice actors from Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series will be reprising their roles in Battlefront 2. Each of the four Hero characters will be rolling out separately over the next several months, starting this October.
In a blog post on Battlefront 2's website, EA DICE editorial writer Daniel Steinholtz revealed Matthew Wood, James Arnold Taylor, Corey Burton, and Matt Lanter will return to voice General Grievous, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Count Dooku, and Anakin Skywalker respectfully. Grievous comes to Battlefront 2 on October 30, while the remaining three Hero characters don't have exact release dates. As of right now, Obi-Wan is scheduled for November 2018, Dooku for January 2019, and Anakin for February 2019.
EA recently revealed its process for how new Star Wars Hero characters are chosen for Battlefront 2. For the developer, every "hero must counter a villain, and vice versa" so after deciding to add Obi-Wan and Anakin to the game, Grievous and Dooku--villains that share a "natural rivalry" with the two Jedi--were also chosen.
Grievous, Obi-Wan, Dooku, and Anakin are part of a Clone Wars DLC road map scheduled for Battlefront 2. The updates started in August, first focusing on adding a wider variety of cosmetic appearances for the Republic Army, such as Yoda's 41st Elite Corps and Windu's 91st Mobile Reconnaissance Corps. A Prequel Era playlist was also added to the game, which limits multiplayer matches to Galactic Assault on Clone Wars era maps. More multiplayer locations, like Geonosis, are scheduled for future updates.
Star Wars: Battlefront 2 is available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC. The Clone Wars animated series, once believed to be cancelled for good, is returning with a seventh season that sees Anakin and Obi-Wan once again teaming up with Ahsoka Tano to aid in the Siege of Mandalore.
In traditional Pokemon games, you set off on a journey to become a Pokemon Master alongside a rival, with whom you'll frequently battle as you make your way to the Pokemon League. That's certainly still the case in Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee, but unlike your smug foe in the original Yellow version, your rival in the Switch games is much friendlier, offering you advice and even occasionally gifting you items when you run into each other.
This isn't new for the series; while your rivals in Pokemon Red and Blue and their follow-ups, Gold and Silver, were straight-up jerks, all of them since have been much friendlier toward you--particularly Hau and Lillie from Pokemon Sun and Moon, both of whom would also frequently give you items to help you along. During our recent interview with Pokemon director Junichi Masuda, we asked why it seems like the series has been shying away from the meaner rivals of earlier games.
"I think the biggest reason that rivals were more of a jerk in the early days is that we were just limited in what we could express with the pixel graphics," Masuda told GameSpot through an interpreter. "There's not much that you can do with that kind of little sprite on the screen, so we worked harder to characterize them through dialogue and give them certain personalities.
"Also, because it's just dialogue and there's not a whole lot going on on the screen, it doesn't give as harsh of an impression even if they're jerks, I think. Now we have HD graphics and the visuals are much more impressive. If you also made him a jerk, the impression would be a lot stronger on players. Another thing, just my own personal take, is that it feels that people with those kinds of personalities these days are just not as accepted by players as they were back then."
The latest movie from Gareth Evans, director of The Raid: Redemption, sees the filmmaker move away from spectacular action into the realms of horror. Apostle is a dark, gory tale set in the early 20th Century in which a man called Thomas Richardson (played by Legion star Dan Stevens) attempts to rescue his kidnapped sister Jennifer from a sinister religious cult on a British island. What begins as a tense mystery slowly transforms into full-blown nightmarish horror, as terrifying secrets about the community are revealed.
There's a lot to unpack in the final 30 minutes of Apostle. Evans keeps things deliberately vague for much of the 130 minute running time, which helps to build the sense of mystery and unease. It does, however, mean that when the true secrets of the island are revealed that it's easy to miss some details, especially as Evans has several subplots to tie up at once. So here's the ending of Apostle explained--and obviously, there are spoilers ahead!
The entire climax of Apostle ultimately centers around the "god" that the community worships, known as Her. In a flashback, we see Malcolm (Michael Sheen) and his friend Quinn (Mark Lewis Jones) arrive on the island of Erisden, where they discover a woman, seemingly in possession of supernatural powers. When she consumes blood, the natural world grows around her--grass, flowers, plants, and crops burst into life. Seeing a chance to create their own self-sufficient community, Malcolm and Quinn imprison Her and start to feed her animal blood, with the help of a scary masked gimp-like man known as The Grinder. Soon the crops are thriving and a close-knit community, beyond the reach of the King and his laws on the English mainland, has flourished.
Unfortunately, the animals cannot last forever, and with the land starting to perish, Malcolm is forced to look for other sources of blood. The members of the cult are told to leave offerings of their own blood outside their doors every night. But it is not enough. Animals are born diseased and dying, and a real threat of starvation emerges. In desperation, Malcolm kidnaps the daughter of a wealthy family from the mainland--Thomas's sister Jennifer--and holds her for ransom.
While Her is dependent on Malcolm for her blood, she is free to roam the village, and we see glimpses of her in the early parts of Apostle. But the first full reveal occurs while Thomas is crawling underground in attempt to find Jennifer; Her rises scarily from the water and lurches toward him. Soon after, Malcolm confronts Her in her lair, demanding to know why she revealed herself to Thomas and telling her "He won't worship you as I!" He then tells her that he will starve her of blood until she starts making the land grow once more.
But as we discover, Her doesn't want Thomas to worship her at all--she wants him to end it all. By the end of the movie, Quinn has assumed control of the cult, killing his own daughter and her lover and attempting to murder Malcolm. He holds Jennifer and Malcolm's daughter Andrea prisoner, and tells them they will both bear him a sacrificial child every year to feed to Her.
Thomas is kidnapped and almost killed himself, but manages to overcome The Grinder and staggers into Her lair. She tells him "I have waited for you my son."At which point she places her hands upon him and transmits her memories into his mind, through which we learn of her backstory. As she releases him, she says "Free me, my child."
Thomas steps away and throws a torch into the lair, engulfing Her in flames. The fire spreads rapidly through the community and the villagers flee to the boat waiting on the coast. While rescuing Jennifer and Andrea, Thomas is stabbed several times by Quinn, who the three of them then kill. Thomas falls, fatally wounded, while taking Jennifer and Andrea to the boat, and tells them to leave him on the island. As he lies dying on the hill overlooking the coastline, Thomas is joined by Malcolm, who is wounded but has survived. The pair silently watch the boat leave.
As Thomas lies there, dying, we see his blood drip onto the ground. Suddenly, a stalk emerges from the mud. Thomas looks down as sees the grass start to grow as his blood hits the earth. He smiles and lies back as the grass continues to grow all around him. His eyes change colour, resembling those of Her, as vines reach across his face and pierce his skin, while Malcolm looks on. Thomas now seems to possess the same powers as Her, the implication being that she passed them to him when she touched him earlier, and now his blood is replenishing Erisden.
With the sheer number of new Pokemon Game Freak regularly introduces to the series, there are inevitably some that get left on the cutting room floor. We recently got a glimpse at a handful of unused designs from the original Red and Blue versions, but the most shocking cut Pokemon we learned about was one dubbed "Gorochu," which was originally intended to be another evolution for Pikachu after Raichu.
Ultimately, Gorochu was cut from the titles before their release, and Game Freak would go on to introduce a pre-evolution for Pikachu instead in its follow-up games, Gold and Silver. Now that Pikachu back in the limelight thanks to the upcoming Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee for Nintendo Switch, could we see its long-lost evolution Gorochu come back in some form? Not likely, according to Pokemon director Junichi Masuda.
"None of the Pokemon that we worked on, got to a point, and then discarded them have actually ever re-appeared yet, so I would say the chances are low," Masuda explained to GameSpot through an interpreter. According to Masuda, one of the reason Pokemon such as Gorochu end up being cut is that they don't fit into the game world.
"[W]e always have this base criteria at Game Freak of being able to explain why a certain Pokemon is in the world or why it exists in that world, trying to make it feel believable within the fantasy," Masuda said. "And usually the ones that get rejected are Pokemon that we weren't able to justify, I think. Usually there's a reason for why they weren't implemented, and as long as that reason still exists, they probably won't be put in the game.
"We always say Pokemon isn't a 'character game.' It's not a game where it's just the characters, but it's a game that shows this world where these living creatures are existing in a space. That's kind of a slight nuance, but that's what we always try to go for at Game Freak. It's not good enough that they're just cute. They have to have something more to it."
With October wrapping up, users of the streaming service Hulu are probably wondering what's coming out in November. Starting on the first of next month, there is a ton of new content coming to the service; however, there are plenty of movies leaving as well.
The first of the month is when Hulu dumps plenty of new movies, including 28 Days Later. In the 2002 film, director Danny Boyle puts a new spin on the zombie franchise by having the infected run, which created a terrifying atmosphere for the movie's characters and the audience watching. Sure, it's not technically a zombie movie--as those afflicted with the disease become filled with rage and are reduced to a primal state--but it's still one of the best mass-infection movies of the 21st century.
Additionally, all three movies in the original Ocean's franchise hit the streaming service, along with the James Bond film Dr. No, the ridiculous alien invasion movie The Faculty, and the super-extreme XXX. All of these movies will be available to watch on November 1.
On November 15, Hulu is rolling out some Christmas movies to prepare you for the upcoming holiday season, including A Christmas Kiss II and A Puppy For Christmas. No, we've never heard of these movies either, but who wouldn't want a puppy for Christmas?
November 30 is the date when lots of movies are leaving Hulu, so you may want to take note and check out movies like Escape from New York, American Psycho, and The Terminator. The full list of everything coming and going from Hulu is listed below.
Here's What's Coming To Hulu In November
Available November 1
K: Complete Season 2 (Dubbed) (Viz)
Sailor Moon: Complete Season 3 (Dubbed) (Viz)
Six: Complete Season 2 (History)
10 to Midnight (1983)
28 Days Later (2002)
2001 Maniacs (2005)
The Accused (1988)
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)
A Fairly Odd Christmas (2012)
A Fistful of Dynamite (1972)
A View to Kill (1985)
Albert (2016)
Alice (1990)
Amelie (2001)
Bachelor Party (1984)
Barbie Mariposa and Her Butterfly Fairy Friends (2008)
Barbie The Pearl Princess (2014)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
The Birdcage (1997)
Benny & Joon (1993)
Blue Chips (1994
Boo 2! A Medea Halloween (2017
Candyman 3: Day of the Dead (1999
Carnage Park (2016
De-Lovely (2004
Death Wish (1974
Death Wish 3 (1985
Death Wish IV: The Crackdown (1987
Desperate Hours (1990
Diamonds are Forever (1971
Die Another Day (2002
Dr. No (1962)
Dysfunktional Family (2003)
Existenz (1999)
The Faculty (1998)
For Your Eyes Only (1981)
Four Rooms (1995)
From Russia with Love (1964)
Gloria (2014)
Goldeneye (1995)
Goldfinger (1964)
Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969)
Happy Christmas (2014)
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992)
Hellraiser IV: Bloodline (1996)
Hoosiers (1986)
Hostel (2006)
Hostel 2 (2007)
The Interpreter (2005)
Invasion U.S.A. (1985)
Italian for Beginners (2000)
Jane Eyre (2011)
Joey (1988)
Johnny Reno (1966)
K2 (1991)
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
License to Kill (1989)
Like Water (2012)
Little Black Book (2004)
Little Man Tate (1991)
Little Odessa (1994)
Live and Let Die (1973)
The Living Daylights (1987)
Lord of War (2005)
Made (2001)
The Magnificent Seven Ride (1972)
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
Map of the Human Heart (1992)
The Mighty (1998)
Missing in Action II: The Beginning (1985)
The Mod Squad (1999)
Moonraker (1979)
Mullholland Falls (1996)
Never Back Down (2008)
Never Say Never Again (1983)
Ninja III: The Domination (1984)
Ocean's Eleven (2001)
Ocean's Twelve (2004)
Ocean's Thirteen (2007)
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
Phantoms (1998)
Pleasantville (1998)
Radio Days (1987)
The Red Violin (1999)
Rescue Dawn (2006)
Revenge of the Ninja (1983)
Rob Roy (1995)
Santa Hunters (2014)
Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)
Soapdish (1991)
Soufra (2017)
Species: the Awakening (2007)
Supercop (1996)
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Thunderball (1965)
Tiny Christmas (2017)
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
Wicker Park (2004)
The World is Not Enough (1999)
XXX (2002)
XXX: State of the Union (2005)
You Only Live Twice (1967)
Available November 2
Into The Dark: Flesh & Blood: Episode 2 Premiere (Hulu Original)
Dietland: Complete Season 1 (AMC)
Wonder (2017)
Available November 3
Vanderpump Rules: Complete Season 6 (Bravo)
Kick-Ass (2010)
Larger Than Life (2018)
An Ordinary Man (2017)
Available November 6
Top Chef: Complete Season 15 (Bravo)
Available November 7
Europa Report (2013)
Available November 8
Under the Tree (2018)
Available November 9
Married With Children: Complete Seasons 1-11 (Sony)
Available November 10
Big Hero 6 (2014)
Available November 11
Monster's Ball (2001)
Available November 12
The Little Death (2014)
The Wolfpack (2015)
Available November 13
Bigfoot (2018)
Keepers of the Magic (2018)
Killer Bees (2018)
Available November 15
Hip-hop Houdini: Complete Season 1 (Fuse)
12 Dog Days Till Christmas (2014)
A Christmas Kiss II (2011)
A Cinderella Christmas (2016)
A Dogwalker's Christmas Tale (2015)
A Puppy for Christmas (2016)
Angels in the Snow (2015)
Back to Christmas (2014)
Cartel Land (2015)
Christmas Belle (2013)
Christmas with the Andersons (2016)
Dust 2 Glory (2018)
Girlfriends of Christmas Past (2016)
Holly's Holiday (2012)
Luis & The Aliens (2018)
Married by Christmas (2016)
My Dad is Scrooge (2014)
My Santa (2013)
Naughty & Nice (2014)
Rodeo & Juliet (2015)
The Bank Job (2008)
The Christmas Calendar (2017)
The March Sisters at Christmas (2012)
The Secret of the Nutcracker (2007)
Available November 16
The Bisexual: Complete Season 1 Premiere(Hulu Original)
Holly Hobbie: Complete Season 1 (Hulu Original)
Dept. Q: A Conspiracy of Faith (2016)
Dept Q: The Absent One (2016)
Dept. Q: The Keeper of Lost Causes (2016)
Available November 18
Nina's World: Complete Season 2 (Universal Kids)
Hero ("Ying Xiong") (2002)
The Condemned (2007)
Available November 20
Aliens and Agenda 21 (2018)
Available November 21
Box of Moonlight (1997)
Damascus Cover (2018)
Available November 22
Hollywood Game Night: Season 6 Premiere (NBC)
Available November 23
Baskets: Complete Season 3 (FX)
Available November 24
Downsizing (2017)
Available November 28
Best of Enemies (2015)
Available November 29
Mighty Magiswords: Complete Season 1B (Cartoon Network)
One of the inherent appeals of the Pokemon series is collecting the eponymous pocket monsters, but moving your Pokemon between games has always been complicated by the fact that the franchise spans multiple generations of hardware. Developer Game Freak has made strides in simplifying this process with the Pokemon Bank service and Poke Transporter tool, allowing players to store all of their monsters in one place and access them across every mainline 3DS Pokemon title.
With the upcoming Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee games for Nintendo Switch, the Pokemon series is once again jumping to new hardware. While the titles support connectivity with Pokemon Go, giving you the ability to transfer certain monsters from the mobile game for the first time, it remains to be seen if you'll be able to carry the Pokemon you capture in Let's Go over to the next Switch Pokemon RPG slated to arrive in 2019. Asked whether Game Freak was looking at allowing Pokemon to move between Let's Go and the next core entry, Pokemon director Junichi Masuda assures that the development team is working to make that possible.
"We're definitely always thinking of that kind of forward-moving functionality, especially since we've introduced Pokemon Bank," Masuda told GameSpot through an interpreter. "Now, up to Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, you're able to store your Pokemon, and we know they're very important to everyone. I mean, obviously, people would be very sad if they couldn't use their Pokemon in a future game. So, it does get complicated when you talk about the details and we're still figuring it out, but we do have plans to find ways to let players use their Pokemon in the next game."
We still know very little about the 2019 Pokemon game, but The Pokemon Company announced it will release in the latter half of that year. Unlike Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee, both of which streamline some of the series' mechanics to make it more accessible to newer and younger players, the 2019 game will be a "core" title more akin to those that released on 3DS, which presumably means that some of the elements that were removed from Let's Go--such as abilities and held items--will return.
PES 2019 is out and it went down a storm with critics, who have praised the game's animation, physics, and improvements to goalkeepers. It feels better than ever, they say. Job done then, well done everybody, let's go home and win the Champions League on Master League.
Ah. About that.
PES has lost UEFA's flagship license to its primary rival, FIFA 19. For lots of people, this is a huge deal, and it's the exact reason FIFA is so popular. Year after year, the majority of critics agree that PES outclasses FIFA on the pitch, yet EA's behemoth continues to outsell Konami's challenger, largely because of its range of licenses. There's definitely something to be said for being able to accurately replicate the experience you see on TV or in the stadium every week--we all pretended we were David Beckham as kids for a reason, after all.
In response to this latest loss--of the highest-level club competition in the world--Konami says it has acquired more licensed domestic leagues than ever before, with the Russian Premier League and Turkish Super Lig added to Pro Evo this season. But what about top divisions such as the Premier League, La Liga, and the Bundesliga? Why are Arsenal, Liverpool, Barcelona, and Schalke officially included in PES 2019--complete with full scans of every player and the clubs' stadiums--but Manchester United, Real Madrid, and every other German club excluded (except for the prestigious names of Man Red and MD White, of course)?
To find out more about what goes on in negotiations between video game publishers and football's biggest governing bodies, we spoke to Pro Evolution Soccer's European brand manager, Lennart Bobzien, who explained why Konami must make do with approximations of the world's biggest clubs.
GameSpot: Why can Konami have official versions of Arsenal and Liverpool but no more teams from the "English League?"
Bobzien: The Premier League have signed a deal exclusively with EA, which means that we are not able to feature the Premier League in the game. So for example, the Scottish league is not exclusive, so we have it, [and] EA have it as well.
But the Premier League actually made an exception on the agreement, where they said we are still able to feature the league [in a non-licensed fashion], which means that we have all the clubs, like Manchester United for example is called Manchester Red--we are not allowed to have the club's name and the club's kits, but we have all the players. So, for example, with Pogba--his name is Pogba, not like back in the days of PES 2 where you had fantasy names. The players they have their real names and also the real player likenesses. Because that's then actually part of [players' union] FIFPro.
We are making use of this license to have all the players fully licensed in the game. So the Premier League have allowed us to have the league in the game, but non-licensed. When it comes down to licensed clubs, we are limited to two clubs. It's not up to us. It's up to the Premier League to change this rule. We would love to have more clubs, but we can't simply. That's the reason.
With the Bundesliga for example it's even a step further where the Bundesliga is 100% exclusive with EA. We can't even have the fake League in the game and we're only allowed to have--I think it's three teams from the Bundesliga. So we can pick and choose. We can reach out to all the clubs, but it's limited to three for the Bundesliga and two for the Premier League.
What can Konami do then? Does The Premier League's agreement with EA stop Konami from acquiring more licenses?
Right now, the Premier League won't do exclusive. To be honest, I mean personally speaking, I don't really understand why, because the Premier League is the biggest league in the world. If I was a club like--I don't want to offend any fans--Crystal Palace [for example], ideally me as a club, I would like to see my club being featured in both football video games.
Is it a similar situation with La Liga?
Correct. You can treat La Liga similar to the Premier League, where we are not allowed to have it fully licensed, or the league licensed--but we can have fantasy names.
So presumably La Liga has an exclusive deal with EA, and you're allowed a certain number of teams within that to feature officially?
Yes, correct.
And France is fully licensed?
France is fully licensed, Holland fully licensed as well. Then Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Scotland,Turkey, [and] Russia, exclusively. With Russia, we are the ones who have the exclusive rights, so our competitor FIFA, they can't even have them in the game at all, which is great for us. [As another] example, we have the Italian League [and it's called the] Italian League. We don't have the rights to the Serie A [name], but all the teams are fully licensed apart from Juventus, since they have a partner deal with EA.
So Juventus are exclusive to EA?
We have them featured in the game, but with a fantasy name.
That was the same last year with Real Madrid, right?
Yes, correct … This year we have Ronaldo in the game, but obviously he will play for a fantasy team.
So is the name of the Italian league itself a separate license to that of the teams within it?
Yeah, so it depends from league to league whether a league is centralized or not. So, for example with the Scottish league, that's one that's centralized, which means [if] we talk to the league, then we are signing a deal with [all the clubs within that league]. We're getting all the licenses.
With the Serie A, the tricky part here is that the main sponsor is actually part of the Serie A naming, so it's [actually called Serie A] TIM. And obviously you need to get their rights to feature the Serie A branding, so therefore that's a tricky one. Obviously in the end … there's money involved and [Serie A's] partner are asking for a certain amount of money and you need to evaluate whether it's worth it or not.
How about lower leagues? I would love to see EFL League One and League Two in PES.
We're always looking into signing new leagues, whether it's lower leagues like the English Football League. We're always considering options. We're exploring what we can do. Whether we will sign this one for next year, I can't really say.
How do you feel when you see EA signing exclusive contracts with teams like Juventus and Real Madrid?
Obviously it's frustrating. For example the Premier League or the Bundesliga, we would love to have those leagues in the game. If we had the Bundesliga or the Premier League in the game, I think this would change the market massively because in the end--obviously I'm saying this because I work for Konami--from the visuals to the gameplay, our game is just by far the best football game out in the market.
And obviously that's frustrating, but … it's not like we sign the league [just so we can] put another league on our list or on our website. Actually we are putting more attention towards those leagues by actually recreating the faces. In our competitor, if you look at some of their teams, even their Bundesliga teams, the players, their faces, they just look below average. And that's actually where we stand out. Our team in Japan do incredible, amazing work to actually recreate player faces to the finest detail, and that's what makes us stand out.
What happened with the Champions League license? Did the contract simply expire, or did Konami or UEFA decide to end the partnership?
Obviously we had the Champions League featured in the game for years--I think a decade now--but year over year you need to evaluate whether certain licenses are worth it or not. And no disrespect to the Champions League--it's the biggest club competition, it's an amazing competition--but in the end actually you also need to analyze actually what we are actually getting out of the license. [And what I would say is,] by losing the UEFA Champions League, it doesn't mean that we are losing clubs. That's what loads of people thought actually when we announced it together with UEFA that we are going different ways.
For the Champions League, we are still in touch with UEFA to explore opportunities, how we can work together in the future. But after this announcement, friends of mine thought, "Oh, now they're losing Barcelona," because Barcelona plays in the Champions League. That's not the case. We are not [losing] any team rights from the UEFA Champions League, and therefore just for now, we've decided not to renew the contract. But then at the same time obviously also we've shifted our focus towards signing loads of new local leagues and also signing some of them exclusively, like the Russian League.
And even though we've lost this competition, you can still play a similar competition in the game. It might look a bit different, but yeah, you can still play with European teams against each other.
Finally, are there any restrictions on how close you can get to real life kits, badges, etc. with your fantasy versions in PES? Because they're often wildly different.
You can't replicate it one to one, but you can get quite close. But obviously there are restrictions. For example with Manchester United, you can't just remove the tick and the badge, and the kit looks exactly the same. So you still have to be a bit distanced from them, but you can still replicate them more or less. Same colors.
It's been a long time coming, but Rockstar's highly anticipated open-world western, Red Dead Redemption 2, is only a few days away. Before the game arrives on PS4 and Xbox One next Friday, October 26, the studio is going to ramp up hype by releasing the game's launch trailer, which we now know is coming very soon.
Rockstar announced on Twitter that it is sharing Red Dead Redemption 2's launch trailer tomorrow, October 18. The video is scheduled to drop at 7 AM PT / 10 AM ET / 3 PM BST. Rockstar hasn't shared any further details about what we can expect from the trailer, so be sure to check back at GameSpot then to get one more look at the game before it arrives next week.
Rockstar also revealed when players will be able to begin pre-loading Red Dead Redemption 2. Those who pre-order the game digitally from the PlayStation or Microsoft Store can download it starting on Thursday, October 18, at 9 PM PT (12 AM ET on October 19), so you'll be all ready to play on launch day. You're going to need a lot of storage space to download it, however; the Microsoft Store lists the game's size at a whopping 90 GB.
There are a number of bonuses you get by pre-ordering Red Dead Redemption 2. Along with the Ardennes War Horse and Outlaw Survival Kit, those who pre-order the game digitally will receive extra cash in Red Dead Redemption 2's story mode and bonus GTA$ for Grand Theft Auto V's GTA Online mode. You can read more about the various bonuses in our Red Dead Redemption 2 pre-order guide.
Red Dead Redemption 2 casts players in the role of Arthur Morgan, one of the members of the Van der Linde gang. The game features a sprawling world and stunning level of detail, including the range of weapon customization options it affords. It also features an improved Dead Eye system that evolves as you play. For more, be sure to check out our latest Red Dead Redemption 2 impressions.
Given this level of detail, it's clear Rockstar put a lot of time into developing Red Dead Redemption 2, but recent comments by studio co-founder Dan Houser raised concerns once again about its excessive crunch periods. In an interview with Vulture, Houser revealed that some of the development team was working 100-hour weeks. He has since clarified that the comment only referred to four senior staff members, but this isn't the first time the studio has been accused of overworking its employees.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 has issued a new patch aimed at stability and crash fixes, but it still has some new gameplay tweaks to try out that will make a substantial difference. The biggest change is to Blackout, which is testing different player counts in a few of its modes.
100-Player Duos and 88-Player Quads are now in the playlist under Blackout, in an effort to prod at different formulations of the player count. Some other multiplayer maps have gotten updates as well. The TDM playlist now supports parties of 6 up from 5, and the Featured multiplayer playlist has changed to Heist. Activision says these will regularly rotate and more details on how the Featured playlists will work are coming soon.
Custom games have been fixed to conclude after one team wins six rounds, and the studio has fixed a crash caused by earning multiple Medals in a single match. Plus in Zombies mode, a fix has been issued to a UI error caused by a loss of Internet connection in split-screen play. The PC version has gotten a few bug fixes of its own as well.
In the immediate future, the studio says it's keeping an eye and working on the Easter Egg quests in Zombies mode, reports of multiplayer audio volume bugs, and teammate names disappearing. On PC it's investigating a crash associated with the Hellion Salvo launcher, and on Xbox it's looking into some user reports that their Shadowman and Classified content isn't showing up.
October has arrived, and this month is packed with some major releases for PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, and even 3DS. With the holiday season quickly approaching, some of this year's biggest titles are set to debut soon, including this year's new Call of Duty game, Black Ops 4, and Rockstar's highly anticipated western, Red Dead Redemption 2.
But while those titles may draw the most attention, they are hardly the only noteworthy games coming to each platform this month. Capcom's Blue Bomber Mega Man returns after a long hiatus with Mega Man 11, while the GameCube classic Luigi's Mansion arrives on 3DS in time for Halloween with a few new features in tow, including cooperative multiplayer. Square Enix's cult classic DS RPG, The World Ends With You, is also making a comeback this month when Final Remix launches on Switch.
There are plenty of other games worth checking out this month, as well. You can see all of the biggest releases for each platform in October 2018 below. For a look at all of the other games coming this year, be sure to check out our complete list of game release dates in 2018.
Forza Horizon 4 (Xbox One, PC) -- October 2
The latest installment in Microsoft's open-world driving series, Forza Horizon 4, kicks off this month's releases, arriving on Xbox One and PC on October 2. This time, players will be able to cruise around Great Britain at their leisure in a variety of different vehicles. The biggest new feature, however, is the introduction of seasons, which will cycle every week from the game's launch. Like other first-party Microsoft games, it is also available in the Xbox Game Pass catalog.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey (PS4, Xbox One, PC) -- October 5
Following a brief hiatus, Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed franchise returned last year with Assassin's Creed Origins, a new interpretation of the series that featured an open-world setting and RPG elements. This year's follow-up, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, takes the franchise to Ancient Greece and builds upon these features with an even larger world to explore, romance options, and a much greater emphasis on player choice.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (PS4, Xbox One, PC) -- October 12
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 arrives on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on October 12. Unlike previous installments in the series, this year's entry forgoes a traditional single-player campaign in favor of solo missions centered around each Specialist, and it introduces a number of new modes to the fore, most notably the battle royale-style Blackout. It also launches with an expanded Zombies mode, with three different Zombies episodes available right off the bat.
Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4, Xbox One) -- October 26
Rockstar's highly anticipated Red Dead Redemption 2 closes out a month on October 26. This installment is set 12 years before the events of the first Red Dead Redemption and follows new protagonist Arthur Morgan as he and the Van der Linde gang flee from the law across the American frontier. The game features a sprawling, detailed world that reacts to your actions, along with a wealth of activities to take part in, from hunting and fishing to good, old-fashioned holdups.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is fast approaching, and you can be prepared to venture into the Old West by having it loaded and ready to go for launch. Rockstar has announced that pre-loading will begin on Friday, October 19 at 12 AM ET, or 9 PM PT on Thursday.
In the tweet announcing the pre-load timing, the studio also gave word that the launch trailer will debut on Thursday at 10 AM ET / 7 AM PT. That should be our last long look at the game before its launch next Friday, October 26. Rockstar is giving plenty of time for the pre-load, which makes sense given that it weighs in at a whopping 90 GB.
Pre-loading also means you pre-ordered, which will net you a cash bonus for the story mode, and some bonus GTA$ for Grand Theft Auto Online. Those who pre-ordered by July 31 will also get a treasure map for a head-start on making their fortune on the frontier. The physical editions come with a wide variety of bonuses, including physical items in the Special and Ultimate editions. A separate Collector's Box, which doesn't include the game, comes with a bunch of tchotchkes like a pin set, bandana, playing cards, and tithing box with lock and key. You can read more details in our pre-order guide.
The Red Dead Redemption 2 Launch Trailer Debuting tomorrow, Thursday October 18 at 10AM ET
It appears Rockstar has crafted a massive open world to explore, with no shortage of activities and detail. You can fish and hunt, your clothes will degrade, and dialogue will shift based on your personal hygiene. Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser estimates it has 500,000 lines of dialogue.
All that ambition appears to have come at a cost, though, as Houser also stated that the studio has had 100-hour work weeks to deliver on the promise. He later clarified that he was referring only to a few senior members of the team having intensive writing sessions, and that the studio doesn't expect such long hours from its team as a whole.
Hal Jordan--one of the Green Lanterns of Sector 2814, which includes Earth in its jurisdiction--has made plenty of enemies during his time as a space cop like Sinestro, Relic, and Nekron to name a few. However, one particular thorn in Jordan's side isn't even a Green Lantern villain, he's one of Superman's: Cyborg Superman.
That's right, the half-robotic Superman impostor from the Return of Superman story in the '90s is back, closing out the Evil's Might storyline, but this time, Jordan isn't holding back, and Cyborg Superman doesn't have the help of the Ravagers. And who better to bring back this character than the person that created him, Dan Jurgens?
In Green Lanterns #57, Cyborg Superman--once known as Hank Henshaw--returns to Coast City, the home of Hal Jordan. When Henshaw shows up, things tend to go awry for the inhabitants of the city. However, Jordan is around this time to stop Henshaw's destruction, as you can see in the exclusive preview of the issue above.
This story continues the Evil's Might story, where Henshaw battled the Green Lantern Corps across the universe. The villain found a way to hack into the Green Lantern Corps rings and he teamed up with the Ravagers for the fight. Now, it's just Jordan and Henshaw in this final battle for Coast City.
Green Lanterns #57 is written by Dan Jurgens, drawn by Mike Perkins, colored by Hi-Fi, and features lettering by Dave Sharpe. You can get a copy of the issue for yourself digitally or at a local comic shop on Wednesday, October 17.
November is almost here, and that means Amazon Prime Video will have a ton of new movies and TV series for you to watch in your free time. On top of the traditional fair--movies and TV series--Amazon is also offering NFL games, streaming live on Thursday nights.
Easily the best movie coming to Amazon on November 1 is the 1985 classic Weird Science. In the John Hughes film, a couple of high school nerds use computer technology to create what they think is the perfect woman. Somehow, their creation comes to life, but she ends up making them better and more confident people. While the technology in the movie may not speak well to a younger, contemporary audience, the themes of fitting in and being cool still hold true today.
Speaking of coming-of-age movies, the 1991 feature My Girl is also headed to Amazon on November 1. Anna Chlumsky plays Vada, a young girl who is about to become a teenager and living with her widowed mortician father. She learns a bit about life and relationships with her friend Thomas, played by Macaulay Culkin. Sure, it's more of a family drama, but there are still some fun, comedic moments that make this a classic flick.
If horror is your thing, there are a few solid choices for November. On November 1, Candyman: Day of the Dead, Hostel, and Child's Play all arrive to Amazon. Yes, it's a weak month for horror, but you may want to mark your calendars for November 15 when Season 3 of Syfy's The Expanse hits Amazon, as it is a spectacular series.
Everything Coming To Amazon Prime In November 2018
November 1
Live Sports
Thursday Night Football: Oakland Raiders vs. San Francisco 49ers
Movies
21 (2008)
2001 Maniacs (2005)
Alice (2016)
Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
Candyman: Day of the Dead (1999)
Child's Play (1988)
Christmas with the Kranks (2004)
Cruel Intentions (1999)
De-Lovely (2004)
Desperate Hours (1990)
Die Another Day (2002)
Duck, You Sucker (A Fistful of Dynamite) (1971)
Excalibur (1981)
Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969)
Hostel (2005)
Hostel: Part II (2007)
Jacob's Ladder (1990)
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Like Water (2011)
Little Man Tate (1991)
Little Odessa (1994)
Lord of War (2005)
Made (2001)
Making Contact (Joey) (1985)
Michael Clayton (2007)
Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007)
Mulholland Falls (1996)
My Girl (1991)
Terms of Endearment (1983)
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)
The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
The Birdcage (1996)
The Living Daylights (1987)
The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972)
The Mexican (2001)
The Motorcycle Diaries (Diarios de motocicleta) (2004)
The Red Violin (Le violon rouge) (1998)
The World Is Not Enough (1999)
Tyler Perry's Boo 2! A Madea Halloween (2017)
Weird Science (1985)
November 2
Series
Homecoming (Prime Original series), Season 1
Movies
Wonder (2017)
November 3
Movies
Kick-Ass (2010)
November 6
Series
The Durrells in Corfu, Season 3
November 8
Live Sports
Thursday Night Football: Carolina Panthers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
November 9
Series
Beat (Prime Original series), Season 1
Little Big Awesome (Prime Original series), Season 1b
Patriot (Prime Original series), Season 2
November 10
Movies
The Children Act (2017)
November 15
Live Sports
Thursday Night Football: Green Bay Packers vs. Seattle Seahawks
Series
The Expanse, Season 3
Movies
Gotti (2018)
November 16
Series
Gymkhana Files (Prime Original series), Season 1
Kung Fu Panda Village (Prime Original series), Season 1a
Movies
Coldplay: A Head Full of Dreams (Prime Exclusive; available on Prime Video shortly following the theatrical release) (2018)
November 17
Movies
McQueen (2018)
Siberia (2018)
November 18
Movies
Condemned (2015)
November 20
Series
Creative Galaxy Holiday Special (Prime Original series), Special
Pete the Cat Holiday Special (Prime Original series), Special
Little Women, Season 1
November 21
Movies
Box of Moon Light (1996)
Loving Pablo (2017)
November 22
Movies
Wild Kratts: Creatures of the Deep Sea (2016)
November 24
Movies
Downsizing (2017)
November 29
Live Sports
Thursday Night Football: New Orleans Saints vs. Dallas Cowboys
GameStop refreshes its weekly deals each Wednesday. This week's sale is now available, so you'll find some good deals on all kinds of things, ranging from games and accessories to collectibles and apparel. And if you're looking to unload some items, you just might get some bonus credit for trading them in this week. Let's take a look at what's in this week's GameStop ad.
On the trading front, you'll get $20 off of any new game or pre-order when you trade in select games; you can view the list here. You'll get $5 extra credit for trading in any Switch game this week. Trade in a current-gen console, and you'll receive $25 extra credit. And if you trade a current-gen system toward an Xbox One X, you'll get up to $300 in credit.
PS4 owners who buy a PS4 Cloud Remote for media playback will also get a free 30-day trial of PlayStation Vue, Sony's cable service for cord-cutters. For Xbox One owners, you can get select wireless controllers for $10 off this week.
With Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 now available, you might be inspired to pick up some Call of Duty collectibles or apparel. It's 20% off this week, as are most Overwatch collectibles. You'll find t-shirts, hoodies, hats, socks, lanyards, backpacks, toys, statues, and all sorts of things you can wear or display on a shelf for either game.
In terms of game deals, it's fairly slim pickings this week, but to celebrate the start of the new NBA season, NBA 2K19 is on sale for $40--not bad, seeing as it's only a month old. NHL 19 is also discounted to $40, and Burnout Paradise Remastered is on sale for $20. You can find more deals listed below.
That about does it for this week's GameStop deals. For more of the week's deals, check out what's on sale at Best Buy and Amazon, as well as the digital stores for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Avengers 4 has finally finishing filming, directors Joe and Anthony Russo announced on Twitter. That's an exciting and important milestone in the film's production, but perhaps the more intriguing element here is the image that that brothers shared.
The mysterious image depicts a bright blue light that apparently has some kind of connection to something that happens in the untitled fourth Avengers film.
The follow-up to Infinity War is set to hit theatres in April 2019, following the release of the Brie Larson-starring Captain Marvel in March 2019. The new Avengers movie will seemingly wrap up a years-long story arc following the dramatic events of Infinity War.
Chris Evans, who plays Steve Rogers/Captain America, recently talked about his emotional final day on set. Some Marvel fans believe Cap might be among the characters who could be killed off in the new Avengers film.
According to ComicBook.com, Evans recently recalled at the ACE Comic Con in Chicago how the final line he recorded for Avengers 4 was "something really stupid" that he cannot talk about. Importantly, this was a scene he came back to set to film as a pick-up, so it's not the final line his character says in the film. "It might have been a line to Paul Rudd. He wasn't there, but it was a stupid line. The line wasn't memorable to me [laughs]. The day was more memorable than the line," Evans said.
Research company Nielsen has released the results of its annual survey of the "most anticipated" games of the holiday season, and as you might have guessed, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 tops overall most-anticipated chart for multiplatform games in the United States.
Nielsen gets its data from an internal metric called Game Rank, which is described as the "overall anticipation level among gamers on each platform" based on measurements like awareness, purchase intent, and user rating, among other things.
"The values reflect how strong the overall anticipation level is for the title, relative to the pre-release anticipation levels of all previous titles that released on the platform(s). In other words, an upcoming release with a Game Rank of 90 indicates that after considering a combination of various consumer measures, and taking into account how far the game is from releasing, the current overall anticipation for the game is higher than 90% of previous games on the same platform(s), when at that same point in the pre-release cycle," Nielsen said.
Nielsen looked at 82 games releasing in the September 1-December 31 window. For multiplatform games, the values are averages of each title's rating on a single platform. To make the list, the game had to rank 70 or higher. Nielsen polled 6,000 "active" gamers aged 7-54 for this survey.
With all of that methodology explanation out of the way, Nielsen's "Most Anticipated Holiday Games 2018" lists can be seen below. What are your most anticipated games of the holiday season? Let us know in the comments below!
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is off to a fast start. Activision announced in a press release that the newest Call of Duty instalment broke Activision's record for the "biggest day one digital release" in the company's history. Digital sales of the Treyarch-developed shooter surpassed the previous digital day one sales record-holder, 2017's Call of Duty: WWII.
In addition to setting internal records at Activision, Black Ops 4 had the strongest day one digital full game sales on the PlayStation Store in its history. Black Ops 4 also broke the Xbox One record for best-selling digital game of all time for Activision. Both of these statistics cover the global market.
Black Ops 4 is also available on PC via Battle.net--and it was a success there as well. According to Activision, Black Ops 4 PC sales on Battle.net more than doubled the launch-day sales of Call of Duty: WWII, which was available on Steam. Black Ops 4, meanwhile, is available exclusively through Battle.net.
Across all platforms, the number of players who connected Black Ops 4 online on the first day increased from Call of Duty: WWII, though Activision did not provide any details on how dramatic the increase was.
Activision did not share any unit sales numbers--physical or digital--for Black Ops 4, and that's no surprise given that Activision and many other big publishers no longer share those details.
According to GI.biz, Black Ops 4's first-weekend physical sales in the United Kingdom were down almost 50 percent compared to Call of Duty: WWII and down 59 percent compared to predecessor Black Ops III. The site reported that Black Ops 4's first-weekend physical sales in the UK were the lowest in the series since 2007's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. A downturn in physical game sales is expected, given the industry is increasingly trending toward digital.
And as mentioned, Black Ops 4 had more players connecting online during its first day than Call of Duty: WWII last year, so more people are playing the game.
Black Ops 4 launched on October 12 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Unlike almost every previous instalment in the mainline franchise, Black Ops 4 does not feature a traditional campaign. It does, however, have an ambitious new mode in the form of the battle royale mode Blackout, which is Call of Duty's response to PUBG and Fortnite. The game also includes new storylines in the fan-favourite Zombies mode, which developer Treyarch created.
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