Battlefield V's second free DLC expansion is now available. Developer DICE has rolled out the first wave of Chapter 2: Lightning Strikes content on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, bringing a new mode, weapons, and gameplay fixes to the World War II shooter, with even more content on the way over the next few weeks.
Headlining this week's additions is Squad Conquest, a new mode described as "a tighter and more intense version of Conquest." Here, 16 players divided up into two teams of eight must battle it out on smaller versions of the Arras, Rotterdam, and Hamada maps, each of which features "more tactical layouts." As DICE explains, "A core belief behind Squad Conquest is a restricted number of variables to allow strategy to be able to exist--you have to be able to predict player behavior and patterns, which is reflected in all three map layouts."
Additionally, the developer has added several new weapons to the game: the Zk-383 SMG (Medic class), Modele 1944 semi-automatic rifle (Assault class), and M1922 MMG (Support class). These can be unlocked by completing the Weekly Challenges in January and February. A new vehicle, the Tank Hunter, is also on the way as part of Chapter 2.
Finally, DICE has implemented a long list of gameplay tweaks and bug fixes, including improvements to Time to Death and Death Experience. You can find the full patch notes for this week's update--courtesy of the Battlefield website--below.
There's a lot more content on the way as Chapter 2 rolls on. Next month, DICE will introduce the cooperative Combined Arms mode, as well as a new Grand Operation, Battle of Hannut. March, meanwhile, will see the return of Rush mode for a limited time. Battlefield V's battle royale mode, Firestorm, is also slated to arrive in March as part of Chapter 3.
Battlefield V Chapter 2: Lightning Strikes Patch Notes
Squad Conquest is a tighter and more intense version of Conquest, where two squads per team battle it out over smaller, more tactical layouts of three existing maps: Arras, Hamada, and Rotterdam. These maps all feature 16 players on two teams, three flags, spawning restricted to HQs, and limited access to vehicles. A core belief behind Squad Conquest is a restricted number of variables to allow strategy to be able to exist--you have to be able to predict player behavior and patterns, which is reflected in all three map layouts. Clear lanes and conservative combat areas allow players to predict where enemies are coming from, where they need to defend, and how to subvert enemy movement.
New Weapons
These are some of the weapons that will be obtainable through the Weekly Challenges in January and February:
ZK-383 (SMG)
Modele 1944 (SA)
M1922 (MMG)
Time to Death and Death Experience Fixes
The name of the enemy that has killed a player is now shown in the game world when the player has died. This highlights the killer and helps players understand who killed them and from where, especially in crowded situations.
Improved the death experience with the addition of a camera that now follows and zooms towards the killer. This will allow players to understand what killed them and the position of the killer.
Improved accuracy of the visual representation of incoming bullets for other players. Tracers should now properly appear to consistently appear from the shooter, and should be clearer when the victim is looking directly at the shooter.
Fixed an issue with the UI directional damage indicator that delayed the indication of damage to the victim.
Made tweaks to the UI directional damage indicator to more accurately point towards the enemy damaging the player.
Soldier Fixes and Tweaks
Vault
Improved vaulting so that it no longer incorrectly triggers against steep hills and slopes.
Improved vaulting detection when trying to vault through a window that's already broken. This will make vaulting in those cases less sensitive to tight attack angles.
Fixed an issue where players could receive fall damage from vaulting over a wall.
Revive
Fixed an issue where players would pick up a weapon while reviving on console.
Fixed an issue where the camera would clip through the soldier while in the man down state when the player had set a very high FOV.
Improved the camera behavior when a player revives a downed player very quickly.
Animation
Improved soldier ragdoll behaviors and made them more granular when killed in different poses (stand, crouch, prone) and based on the impulse of explosions.
Soldiers killed by explosions will now blend nicely into full ragdoll when they land rather than snapping to a specific ragdoll position when landing.
Players will no longer get a strange arm pose when melee hitting an enemy three times in a row and then switching to the Fortification tool.
Fixed an issue where the ammo self-supply animation could get stuck and play indefinitely.
Miscellaneous
The Heavy Weapons trait is no longer as powerful on AA guns which previously would result in them having almost no overheat while firing.
Improved sliding activation consistency from double-tap by reducing the impact of turning while sprinting.
General improvements to the detection of auto-peek over and auto-lean.
Prone
Increased the horizontal free aiming angle when prone by 40°.
Vehicles
Gameplay
Halftracks now take more and more consistent damage, making them easier to destroy.
Fixed an issue where the Stuka quick repair did not resupply when flying through a resupply point.
Increased the damage of the Stuka BK37 cannons against all targets, while also reducing the splash range. Accurate shots versus vehicles and infantry will be greatly rewarded, but inaccurate fire will still suffer significantly reduced damage. These are intended as precision-strafing weapons, and should be powerful on single targets but weak on area targets.
The damage caused by the Mine Clearing Line Charge Specialization will register in the kill log and in the kill cam as well. Also, friendly players are no longer affected by the damage of the Mine Clearing Line Charge.
Fixed so that all tank cannons one-hit kill all types of airplanes, even those equipped with Specializations that reduce damage from Flak.
Increased the ammo capacity of all airplane cannons from 150 rounds to 200 rounds. The previous reduction caused players to return to reload more frequently than intended.
Standardized an unintended imbalance between the coaxial and port firing vehicle machine guns. Overall this is a big buff to German machine guns, and a small buff to British ones. Some British machine guns were doing too much damage over all, and some German machine guns were doing too little. The close range damage of the German guns has been increased to match the British guns, and the long range damage of the British guns has been reduced to match the German guns. As a balancing factor, the range of all of these machine guns has been increased, so players should not see a reduced effectiveness in the British machine guns, and should experience an increased effectiveness of the German machine guns.
Reduced the damage reduction of explosions on players in prone. Players were previously resisting up to 25% of an explosion when prone, which was only intended in a few edge cases. This was fundamentally breaking the intended damage of tank shells, as players could absorb too much damage. The damage of explosions is otherwise is unchanged.
Reduced reload time of rockets to 15 seconds (was previously 30 seconds).
Reduced reload time of bombs to 20 seconds (was previously 30 seconds).
Visual & Audio
Resupply Station locations for vehicles are now pinned to the edge of the screen when ammo resupply is available, in order to help players find these resources. These icons scale in size and transparency the further a player is from the resources to prevent icon clutter.
Fixed a bug which would make vehicle paint jobs look less detailed compared to how they look in the customization menu.
The Stuka siren has been made louder.
Improved audio mix on planes to have more noticable propeller sound and less engine sound.
Improved the graphics on the wheel compartment of the Blenheim MkI.
When spawning into a top gunner seat, players are now holding the machine gun properly.
Fixed the third-person animation when entering the Churchill Mk VII Tank so it aligns better.
Third-person animations should now play properly when using the backseat in the Kettenkrad.
Fixes
Fixed an issue where players using higher sensitivity options could be counted as being out of bounds while in a top gunner seat while actually being within bounds.
Players should no longer fall under the map when spawning into a vehicle that managed to get destroyed right before the spawn.
Weapons, Gadgets, and Specializations
Gameplay
Removed the Extended Magazine Specialization for the M1907 SF and made the extended magazine equipped by default. Recoil Buffer has been added as a replacement. This weapon's Specializations will be reset and the means for unlocking them will be refunded. The M1907 SF was not useful enough without the extended magazine upgrade, making the hipfire upgrades a bad choice.
Decreased the effectiveness of the Ported Barrel Specialization on the M1928A1 to better balance the weapon in the SMG class. The upgrade was a bit too strong, leading to a slightly too controllable weapon.
Reduced the base deploy time of the StG 44 to 0.80 seconds from 0.85 seconds to better align with the animation. This was not in line with other assault rifles. You can shoot a bit sooner after switching to this weapon now.
Enabled semi-automatic fire for the M1928A1 which was previously missing.
Increased Suomi Kp/-31 reload speed when not using extended magazines. Reload times are now 2.3 seconds (previously 2.5 seconds) tactical and 3.45 seconds (previously 3.75 seconds) empty. The base reload was a bit too slow for the small magazine, making the extended magazine upgrade too important.
Fixed an issue where some weapons were inaccurate for too long when going from sprinting to firing when aiming down the sights (ADS). Some weapons did not reach full accuracy when fully zoomed in when transitioning from sprinting to ADS, leading to unexpectedly high recoil when firing. This was most noticeable on SMGs.
Fixed an issue where SMGs and weapons with the Enhanced Grips and Slings and Swivels Specializations remained inaccurate when going from sprinting to firing in hipfire. SMGs and weapons with these upgrades did not recover accuracy quickly enough when going from sprinting to firing in hipfire, reducing the intended mobility advantage they should have.
Made tweaks to SMG weapon positions in hip fire when firing and strafing to prevent the weapon from covering the crosshair.
The Panzerfaust no longer has a long delay before being able to fire after switching to the weapon.
Fixed so that the Panzerfaust one-hit kills all types of airplanes, even when equipped with Specializations that reduce damage from Flak.
Reduced the damage of the Panzerfaust. The Panzerfaust is very easy to use, and widely equipped. As a fast fire-and-forget weapon, its damage payoff was still too good against all types of armor. The damage is still high enough, even against a heavy tank, that a smart player can utilize a dedicated anti-tank loadout to defeat the enemy using skill and tactics.
Increased Throwing Knives max damage range to 10m from 6.5m.
Reduced the delay between two consecutive Throwing Knives throws by 40%.
Adjusted parameters for explosive damage when behind cover so that players behind cover properly receive reduced damage when cover is destroyed.
Adjusted damage multipliers for grenades and Panzerfaust versus various barricades so that multiple grenades are required to tear down a sandbag Fortification.
The RSC now reloads with the correct amount of bullets even if there's already a bullet in the chamber.
If the player revives a friendly while reloading, the reload will now properly get interrupted instead of completing it during the revive animation.
Visual
Fixed the sling swivel so it no longer floats below the MP28.
Fixed clipping weapon when firing the M1928A1 with some iron sights.
Enemies firing no longer have their heads moved backwards while firing, which could cause unpredictable head movements when players tried to land headshots.
Improved the trajectory of supply pouches when thrown towards players.
Aligned the optics for the Lattey sights while in ADS using the M1897.
Fixed an issue where the hand pose would break when switching the primary weapon and the Ruby pistol.
Scope Glint
Adjusted the size and intensity of the glints for medium powered scope and high powered scopes. Medium powered scope glints are now smaller and less intense than high powered ones.
Pushed the visible distance for scope glints a bit further. They will now start being visible from longer distances (both Medium and High).
Scope Glint for medium scope visibility falls off over longer distances.
Fixes
The interaction prompt now properly appears when looking at a Spawn Beacon if it can be picked up.
Fixed a bug where players were unable to switch to their secondary weapon when having the M30 Drilling Equipped while using rifle mode.
Damage
Reduced the minimum damage of the Gewehr 43 and Selbstlader 1916 to 33.5 from 35.
Increased the damage for the Mk VI Revolver. Two-hit kill range is now 12 m (previously 7 m), three-hit kill range is 30 m (previously 12 m), four-hit kill range is 50 m (previously 30 m). Minimum damage is now 22 instead of 15. Damage dropped too steeply for the rate of fire and magazine capacity of this weapon.
Handling
Buffs to SMGs in this update are aimed at improving the mid-range combat ability of the Medic class. Reductions in recoil and increases to accuracy will allow the SMG user to maintain damage on target and increase their effectiveness over all.
Improved SMG sustained fire when hip firing.
Reduced SMG base dispersion to 0.15 from 0.2. This makes SMGs feel a bit more controllable and enables the low rate of fire SMGs to be reasonably effective at medium range without having to get accuracy upgrades.
Reduced Suomi Kp/-31 vertical recoil to 0.76 from 0.8.
Reduced Suomi Kp/-31 horizontal recoil to 0.93 from 0.95. The Suomi was a bit too hard to control compared to the M1928A1.
Reduced EMP recoil pattern strength to make firing single shots less awkward. Single shots were heavily biased to go sideways, making them awkward to use compared to other weapons.
Increased M1A1 vertical recoil to 0.6 from 0.55. This weapon was outperforming other weapons at intended ranges and will now be more difficult to land multiple shots on target at longer range.
Increased M1907 SF vertical recoil to 0.82 from 0.68. This weapon was outperforming other weapons at intended ranges and will now be more difficult to land multiple shots on target at longer range.
Reduced the vertical recoil reduction when crouching to 25% from 30% and when prone to 40% (previously 50%).
The vertical recoil reduction when crouching or prone no longer stacks with the reduction from using a bipod. This was inadvertently making bipods inconsistent, making fire patterns with bipods difficult to learn since they were different in each stance. Stance changes reduced recoil too much, especially when combined with a bipod, which virtually removed all handling difference when prone. This affects MMGs when prone most noticeably.
Maps & Modes
Final Stand: players are no longer able to skip revive in this mode.
Breakthrough on Rotterdam: removed an out of bounds spawn for the defenders near the A flag.
Panzerstorm: fixed an issue where there would be lamps floating in the air after the building they were in was destroyed.
Final Stand: fixed the black deploy screen.
Airplanes no longer take damage when taking off from the landing strip on the Practice Range.
Fixed an issue where the gamepad vibrations would not work on Grand Operations.
On Aerodrome, the Fortification sandbags will no longer block the view of the stationary weapon near the airplane hangar.
Fixed the floating Flak 39 on Panzerstorm.
Fixed a piece of barbed wire that was seemingly invisible on Devastation near Flag A while playing Conquest.
Improved the railing on Rotterdam near the canals so they are easier to vault over.
Fires on levels no longer cause unintentional lens flare effects.
Decreased the intensity of the white environmental smoke on Devastation.
UI/HUD/Options
The Distinguished Defender's Cross ribbon is no longer awarded multiple times upon completion.
Players are now able to scroll through the map list from the server info screen ingame.
Added the missing M24 grenade icon on the statistics screen.
Fixed an issue where the "enter vehicle" prompt could be visible while in parrot camera view.
Fixed a bug where squad orders were delayed for top gunners in tanks.
Added the missing image for Panzerstorm in the Advanced Search menu.
Rarity of vehicle skins is now shown in the Vehicle Customization screen.
Special Assignment icons should now always be visible on all challenges.
Fixed an issue which could result in the bleed out functionality not always working.
Added a Zoom Transition Sensitivity Smoothing option (this is off by default). When enabled, this option allows players to smooth out the sensitivity transition when aiming down sight instead of instantly transitioning to the zoomed sensitivity. This option only affects legacy aiming users as it's already automatically enabled when using Uniform Soldier Aiming.
Fixed an issue where the killcard would not be visible if the player gets revived too quickly after getting killed.
Made various text fixes.
Audio
Voiceovers are now played when notifying players in the man down state that you are coming to revive them.
Footstep audio has been improved making walking and sprinting louder for a better gameplay experience, while crouching and crawling generates less sound to enable sneaking and stealth gameplay.
Fixed an issue where the disabled sound for planes would keep playing after repairing.
Improved footstep sounds based upon what type of physics material the player is stepping on, on both Arras and Twisted Steel.
Fixed an issue which could result in the "kill confirmed" audio confirmation to not play at the correct moment.
Stability
Made multiple crash fixes and general stability improvements.
PC Specific Improvements
Increased the density of the fields on Arras when playing on lower settings, to not give a visual advantage to those playing on low-spec PCs.
While John Carpenter's 1978 Halloween didn't invent the slasher genre (1971's Bay of Blood and 1974's Black Christmas came before it), it help make it a commercial force. Along with Friday the 13th, Carpenter's movie set the rules and conventions for what would soon become briefly-lived but extremely profitable sub-genre in the 1980s, with dozens of cheaply made imitations appearing almost weekly. And while Carpenter had very little further involvement in the series, the movie's producers knew that in Michael Myers--aka the Shape---they had a classic horror villain, so the sequels, reboots, and remakes have kept on coming.
For all the twists and plot inventions that filmmakers have been throwing at us over the years--from sibling surprises and unwanted backstories to psychic connections and strange cults--the Halloween movies remain popular for one simple reason. We like to see Michael kill people. Few of the directors that followed in Carpenter's wake have his cinematic craft, and the tension and scares of that first film were quickly replaced by violence and gore. But with his expressionless mask, incredible strength, and wide variety of killing tools, Michael remained a perfect bad guy throughout, and even the weaker movies are enlivened by some juicy kills.
Forty years later, Michael has returned to the screen for an tenth time, in David Gordon Green's Halloween, which is now available on Blu-ray. The has some of the nastiest deaths to date, and the movie very much honors the great legacy of Carpenter's original; it's notable that this is the first film for decades that he's had any creative involvement in. So here's The Shape's most brutal kills in the series so far.
18. Halloween Resurrection - Laurie's Last Stand
The worst movie in the entire series, the woeful Halloween: Resurrection offers very little in the way of satisfying kills. In fact, the only death of any note is that of Laurie Strode. Jamie Lee Curtis returned for a short appearance at the start of the film, and engages Michael in a fight to the death on a hospital rooftop. Both Laurie and her brother end up hanging from the roof; Michael stabs her in the back several times and she plummets to the ground.
17. Halloween (1978) - Bye Bye Bob
Poor Bob. All Lynda's likeable boyfriend wants is a post-sex beer on Halloween, but unfortunately Michael is waiting for him in the kitchen. Myers strangles Bob, lifting him clear off the ground, before plunging a knife into him, pinning him to a door. Michael's quizzical turn of the head, as he looks at his victim, is a great touch too.
16. Halloween: H20 - No More Marion
1998's superb reboot, Halloween: H20, is actually much more restrained than any of the later movies, relying more on old-fashioned tension than gore. There's a great death in the scary opening sequence however, when Marion Chambers--Michael's nurse from the original--is attacked while cops investigate the house next door. "In here, goddamn it!" she screams out of the window, just before Michael cuts her throat.
15. Halloween II - Nasty Needle
While the first Halloween is a model of subtlety and restraint, 1981's first sequel was definitely not. With the slasher movie craze in full swing, director Rick Rosenthal and producer Carpenter seriously upped the brutality. Much of the movie takes place in a hospital, where Michael has tracked Laurie. In one scene he grabs a nurse called Janet and in excruciating close-up, inserts a hypodermic needle into her temple.
14. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers - Gardening Time
Halloween 5 sees Michael continue to hunt his niece Jamie, with whom he seems to have developed a weird telepathic connection. One of the earliest kills is a juicy moment when he targets a flashy, mullet-sporting guy named Mike and plunges a gardening claw deep into his forehead.
13. Halloween (1978) - Annie Strangled
It takes a full 55 minutes before the adult Michael starts killing the teenagers of Haddonfield in the original Halloween, as Carpenter wrings every drop of tension out of the movie (and the audience). When Michael does finally strike, it's sudden and shocking. Annie, sitting in her car, is grabbed from the backseat and brutally strangled. Michael seals the deal with his knife and she slumps against the car's horn.
12. Halloween II - Scalpel Lift
Another of Halloween II's hospital-based nurse kills. This one happens towards the end of the movie and is particularly eerie because it happens almost silently and is witnessed by a catatonic Laurie, who just stands here, looking on blankly. Nurse Franco approaches Laurie, but Michael steps out from beyond and stabs her with a scalpel, lifting her clean off the ground and letting her hang there before she falls to the ground.
11. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers - Thumb Head
After the non-Myers movie Halloween III: Season of the Witch failed at the box office, the idea of an ongoing horror anthology series was abandoned, and normal service resumed. The Return of Michael Myers is a surprisingly decent sequel, which gets to the point early on. The seemingly-dead Michael wakes up in an ambulance and kills one of the unlucky paramedics by jamming his thumb right through his forehead. Ow!
10. Halloween (1978) - Prank Call
Lynda's demise is given a blackly funny twist, by having Michael wear a sheet and Bob's glasses to trick her into thinking he's her now-dead boyfriend. With Bob--I mean Michael--just standing there in the doorway, Lynda gets on the phone with Laurie. Unfortunately, the phone cord provides a handy murder weapon, and Myers strangles her mid-conversation.
9. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers - Shotgun Impalement
Michael loves pretending to be other people to trick his victims--he does it in the original movie (when he dresses as Bob) and in Halloween II (when he nearly gets frisky with nurse Janet), and again the fourth movie. This time he kills the cop who is guarding Kelly, and sits down in his chair. When Kelly comes offering him some coffee he rises, wielding the dead cop's shotgun. But his being Michael Myers, he doesn't do anything as old-fashioned as actually shoot her, but instead impales her on the barrel.
8. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers - Forking Spitz
It's a slasher tradition that masked killers love to target horny teenagers, and Halloween 5 ticks that box in gruesome style. The unlucky couple in this case are Sam and Spitz who head to a barn in their Halloween gear for a literal roll in the hay. Unfortunately, Michael is already there and impales Spitz with a pitchfork while he's getting down to business.
7. Halloween (2007) - Judith Dies
Rob Zombie had already made a name for himself for such gritty, violent shockers as The Devil's Rejects and House of 1000 Corpses when he took on the Halloween remake, so it was no surprise that the brutality level is high. While the murder of Judith Myers in Carpenter's original is fleeting, in Zombie's version it's excruciating, as a bloody Judith staggers then crawls down the hallway, young Michael walking purposely behind her.
6. Halloween 6: The Curse Of Michael Myers - Jamie Gets Threshed
Jamie Lloyd was a recurring character across parts 4, 5, and 6; she's daughter of Laurie Strode who becomes a target of her psychotic uncle Michael. Sadly, she doesn't make it past the twenty-minute mark in her third movie. Michael has discovered that Jamie has had her own child, and corners her in a barn, where he picks his niece up and impales her gorily on a corn thresher. "You can't have the baby Michael," she tells him, before he before he turns the machine and lets the spinning knives tear her apart.
5. Halloween 6: The Curse Of Michael Myers - Face Vs Bars
Halloween 6 is not a good film--it was reshot and reedited, and what was released in 1995 is considered by many fans to be one of the worst movies in the series (a subsequent director's cut improved things somewhat). Nevertheless, it does contain some ludicrous moments of over-the-top gore. Towards the end of the movie, Michael catches up with one of the doctors working for the movie's Halloween cult, and slams his face repeatedly through some metal bars. While the original scene is fairly tame, the director's cut delivers the full gory goods, and you see doc's entire head fall to the floor in three bloody chunks.
4. Halloween 2 - Misty Meets Mirror
Rob Zombie's Halloween 2 showed just how far the brutality of a Michael Myers killing spree could be pushed. One of the most shocking scenes--because it combines nudity and extreme violence, always a controversial combination--comes when a dancer called Misty runs into Michael. He's already killed her boss, hanging his mutilated body from a string of fairy lights. He then grabs Misty, and repeatedly smashes her into one of the stripclub's mirrored walls, before dropping her lifeless body to the floor.
3. Halloween 6: The Curse Of Michael Myers - Heading Off
This has to be the silliest death in the entire series, and it was added after reshoots. Nevertheless, it's hugely satisfying. Laurie's uncle John is introduced as an alcoholic, abusive scumbag, making him one of Michael's few victims that is utterly deserving of his demise. And he gets a good one--attacked in his flooded basement, Michael lifts John off the ground and impales him on a fuse box. As the volts surge through his body, John's face starts to blister before his entire head erupts. Sure, it's dumb, but you gotta have an exploding head in there somewhere, right?
2. Halloween 2 - Stab Frenzy
For all their flaws, Rob Zombie's Halloween movies are masterclasses in how to deliver shocking brutality. One of the most agonisingly prolonged kills in the franchise comes near the beginning of Halloween 2, as Michael searches for Laurie in Haddonfield hospital. A poor nurse called Daniels (an early role for Oscar-nominated Hidden Figures star Octavia Spencer) gets in his way. aving been stabbed once, she attempts to crawl away, but Michael quickly catches up to her. It's the savagery of this scene that shocks, combined with the close-ups on Spencer's face as she is knifed over and over and over by Michael.
1. Halloween II - Karen Gets Boiled
As infamous for the creepy build-up as for the brutal payoff, this is another of the notorious Halloween II kills that went far beyond the levels of the original. Nurse Karen is taking a break from her hospital duties and running a hot bath when Michael enters the room behind her. Her lays a hand on her bare shoulder, but believing it to be her Paramedic lover Bud, she starts to stroke and then--ugh--nibble on his hand. As she turns, she sees it's in fact Michael, who proceeds to submerge her in the boiling water repeatedly until her face blisters in gruesome style.
With January halfway over, the Winter anime season is well underway. 2019 introduces a bunch of series to watch on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Hidive, as well as several movie premieres to see in theaters. Below, you'll find our top five recommendations for the season, as well as a list of every other anime we know about that's coming out in the United States between January and March. Keep in mind, these recommendations have been made based on these series' first few episodes and--if available--corresponding source material.
On its first episode alone, The Promised Neverland is set to be one of the best series of the season. The anime brings to life one of the greatest Shonen Jump manga from the past few years and implements minor changes that up the tension of an already fairly pulse-pounding thriller. I really don't want to spoil anything about this show, as its suspenseful twists are best experienced without any prior knowledge. However, it's worth noting that the anime reworks the beginning of the manga's story for the better by implementing details from later narrative arcs to improve the portrayal and growth of its characters. Hopefully this decision to tweak important people continues throughout the season--the manga has a problematic portrayal of black women that definitely should be improved in some way--without too much being done to Emma, the best female protagonist that Shonen Jump has ever seen. As is, the show's animation already perfectly captures the abrupt shifts in the characters' state of mind, and the use of sound really hammers home those transitions.
Also this Winter, there's Mob Psycho 100 II, which is the second season to one of 2016's most popular anime. Made by the same folks behind One Punch Man, this series continues to deliver more hilarious misadventures of the young boy who's one of the world's most powerful espers as he tries to live a normal life. Seeing incredible, colorfully animated sequences in this second season isn't surprising. However, we didn't anticipate just how beautifully wholesome this season's plot is already shaping up to be. Catch up on Mob Psycho 100 if you haven't already, because this second season might turn out even better than the first.
Mob Psycho 100 is available on Crunchyroll and Funimation. However, the second season is only on Crunchyroll for now. The English dub is scheduled to arrive on Funimation at a later date.
Anyone who knows a story that's focused on a beloved pet can probably guess almost every plot point My Roommate is a Cat is going to explore. However, despite the cliche nature of the anime's story--a socially awkward man finds the push to open up to others after adopting and befriending a stray cat--the show is still compelling to watch. Through the anime, we see the same set of events through both the perspectives of a man and his feline friend, and it allows for moments of both hilarious misunderstanding and heartfelt connection between the two. They're both lost souls that learn to love again by being together. Yes, My Roommate is a Cat is super cheesy, but it's absolutely worth watching too.
My Roommate is a Cat is on Crunchyroll and an English dub is scheduled to premiere on Funimation on January 30.
In terms of action-focused series, consider checking out Dororo, a remake of the 50-year-old anime of the same name, which takes place in feudal Japan and is about a ronin outfitted with prosthetics after his eyes, nose, ears, tongue, skin, and limbs are all ripped out of his body by demons. This anime's first episode pulls you in with the unsettling origin of its antagonist, and it respects the viewer enough to lay the groundwork for its two protagonists without the use of clunky exposition. Despite being a rehash of a half-century-old story, this series breathes fresh life into its narrative with well-animated action sequences and adjustments to the backgrounds of certain characters. It's good that the anime is willing to change too. Progressive for its time, the Dororo manga handles its main characters--a man with severe physical disabilities and a boy who is assigned female at birth but aggressively identifies as male--rather poorly, so this new series should only use the original story's ending as a loose template. Based on what's been shown in this new anime so far, I'm optimistic Dororo will pull a Devilman Crybaby and modernize a classic series for the better.
Our final recommendation goes to Boogiepop and Others, which has nothing to do with the first Boogiepop anime and follows the original light novel instead. It's an excellent jumping in point for anyone who's missed out on the past 20 years of this critically acclaimed supernatural series. Don't let the first episode of this anime turn you off. Boogiepop leaps between multiple points of view to slowly deliver bits and pieces of its spooky narrative, so you'll need to watch at least the first two episodes to realize there's way more to this story than a high school girl with an androgynous-looking split personality, her boring boyfriend, and a cannibalistic serial killer.
Boogiepop and Others is on Crunchyroll and an English dub is scheduled to premiere on Funimation on January 18.
Even though neither made this list, I'd be remiss to not at least acknowledge both The Price of Smiles and The Magnificent Kotobuki. Unlike the other anime listed above, these two are original stories that aren't based on pre-existing literature or media. Neither has done anything yet to truly stand out, but they've both done enough to earn a "keep your eye on this" recommendation. In both series, I see the potential for something special--similar to 2018's A Place Further Than the Universe or 2017's Princess Principal.
The Price of Smiles is a Crunchyroll exclusive, while The Magnificent Kotobuki is exclusive to Hidive.
There's over three dozen anime releasing in the United States this season, and we've listed them below. We'll update this article if additional titles are announced.
Where To Watch Winter 2019 Anime (US)
Movies And Short Film Anthologies
Dragon Ball Super: Broly -- Select Theaters (premieres January 16)
When Halloween hit theaters in 2018, it reintroduced the world to one of the most beloved final girls of all time in Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). After surviving Michael Myers in the original Halloween film, the new sequel revisited the character 40 years later, after a lifetime of preparation for the eventual return of the masked killer.
The new Halloween film portrayed Laurie as a fierce warrior that was simply biding her time until Michael struck again, even if it drove a wedge between herself and her daughter. Survival was the thing that mattered to her above all else. However, in a deleted scene from the newly-released Halloween Blu-ray, fans are given an interesting and dark insight into Laurie's mind that is missing from the theatrical cut of the film.
The scene begins as an extended version of the shooting montage, which shows Laurie putting her skills with a gun to use during target practice. As she's cleaning and checking her guns after practice, though, there's a startling moment in which Laurie puts a single bullet into a revolver and holds it up to her head.
Laurie stands there for a moment, seemingly contemplating whether or not to pull the trigger when her doorbell rings. On the other end of the doorbell are the podcasters from the beginning of the movie, who have unknowingly saved her life.
Seeing this small window into the mind of Laurie Strode is as haunting as it is sad. This is a woman whose entire life unraveled after the events of one night when she was a teenager, leading her to a life of survivalist preparation as she waited for the other shoe to drop. As determined as she was to be the one to stop Michael once and for all, it looks as though sometimes the weight of the world on her shoulders nearly became too much.
This is just one of the deleted scenes on the Halloween Blu-ray, which range from scary to silly. The release also features a few short featurettes with behind-the-scenes footage from the film, along with, of course, the movie itself. Halloween is available on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital now.
After numerous days of waking up early, staying up late, and getting mad at the internet about over-speculation of its release, the Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer is finally here! The friendly neighborhood web-slinger is heading to Europe, but wherever he goes, he tends to find trouble.
However, Spider-Man also seems to have a ton of help in the second Sony/Marvel movie. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is here to help guide Parker along and Spidey finds a new ally in Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) as he battles giant, elemental monsters.
There hasn't been a lot of news released about the movie. We know it takes place after Infinity War/Endgame, Colbie Smolders returns as Maria Hill, and Peter Parker has been un-Thanos snapped. So this new teaser truly is our first real look at the new movie, which is one of three Marvel films set for 2019.
While this new trailer was a tad vague, it did give us a decent amount of insight into the film. Below, you'll find a breakdown of the Far From Home trailer, followed by some cool Easter eggs hidden throughout it.
Spider-Man: Far From Home will hit theaters on July 5, but before we can get some more web-slinging, Captain Marvel is coming on March 8. Recently, the third trailer for the Brie Larson-led movie was released, and it gives a bit of explanation to who and what the Skrulls are. Finally, sandwiched between these two movies is Avengers: Endgame. The fourth Avengers movie's first trailer was released in December, and it got everyone exceptionally pumped, especially Ant-Man fans. Endgame hits theaters on April 26.
Spider-Man Helping The Homeless
The trailer opens with Spidey at a Salvation Army event, helping the homeless, which Aunt May is hosting. Aside from kicking supervillain's butts, Spider-Man has seemed to step into the role of helping all those in need through community service as well as crime fighting, which is something that sets him apart from the rest of the heroes in the MCU.
Aunt May Knows Peter Is Spider-Man
If you think back to Spider-Man: Homecoming, you'll remember that Aunt May saw Peter in the Spider-Man costume during the mid-credit sequence. Now, she seems strangely ok with Peter as the webhead, as the two embrace each other.
Happy Hogan And Aunt May's Meet Cute
While it was established that Happy and May have met each other before in Homecoming, there is a little bit of awkward romantic chemistry going on between the two, and Peter watches it all unfold--much to his dismay
Peter Is Headed To Europe
As we already knew, Peter is going to Europe on vacation. The only new information here is that it's with his friends from school and not so much of an actual school trip. Even Flash will be there, and he calls Peter a "dickwad" later in the trailer, while praising Spider-Man in the same breath.
Spidey Is Staying At Home
Peter decides he needs a vacation from being Spider-Man as well. With that, he leaves his Spider-Man costume in his closet and closes the door. But how does he get it later on in the movie? Well, in the international trailer, you find out that Aunt May packed the superhero suit without Peter knowing, and an Italian customs agent spots it when going through his luggage.
Peter Meets Nick Fury
Surprise! Nick Fury and Spider-Man finally meet, after Fury invades his and Ned's room. Also, Ned gets shot with a tranquilizer dart. The rest of the trailer is pretty vague as to what Fury's role will be in the movie, but it seems like he'll be filling in for Tony Stark.
Maria Hill & Nick Fury Take On Magnum
Some people have been calling the monster in this scene "Sandman." Actor Tom Holland has stated the group of superpowered monsters he fights is "The Elementals," so Magnum--who will be played by Numan Acar--was the "Master of Earth" for that group, and so it stands to reason that's who the former members of SHIELD are fighting.
Here's Molten Man
While Far From Home will stick close to the comic roots for the Elementals, there have been some rumors that the character Hellfire--from the comics--will be replaced by Spider-Man villain Molten Man. There was an alleged leak of an upcoming Lego set which included Molten Man, and these leaks are usually a good indicator of what's happening in movies. Anyway, there's a quick shot of him--whoever he is--in all his fiery glory.
More Spidey-Suits
It's our first look at the Stealth Suit. Why does Peter have this suit? We don't know, but it looks exceptionally simple and almost like it was quickly pieced together. It looks as though he puts it on in the aftermath of a giant battle, as there is a bunch of destruction behind him.
Here's Hydro Man
Again, in the comics, the water Elemental member was Hydron, but because Hydro Man is such a predominant Spider-Man villain, he'll be switched in for this role. And again, there was an alleged leak for the movie via a Lego set which has Hydro Man in it. Anyway, he looks like a giant wave of water with a vague human form. It's perfect.
Here's Mysterio
We finally get our first look at the Mysterio costume, and it looks fantastic. It's almost entirely based on the 616 version of the character, with nothing coming from the Ultimate version. The gold chestplate is an excellent addition, and he almost looks heroic.
Easter Eggs: Behind The Counter
The deli owner has a few images behind the counter, two of which are newspapers. Both of those stories are about how his deli was destroyed--in Homecoming--and how Spider-Man saved him. He also has two pictures, one with Spider-Man and one with former U.S. President Barack Obama.
Easter Eggs: Spider-Man's Birthdate
The Marvel cinematic universe doesn't have years, apparently. Or they don't print them on passports. On Peter's passport, you can clearly see Peter Parker's birthday is August 10.
Easter Eggs: The BFP
The suitcase Peter takes to Europe with him has "BFP" inscribed on it. This case originally belonged to Peter's late uncle and May's husband, Ben Parker.. What's the "F" stand for? Well, that we're not sure of, so let's just say "Francis."
Easter Eggs: How Mysterio Got His Name
We're going to make a couple assumptions here, but let's roll with it. Mysterio--more than likely--gets his name because of an Italian news report showing him battling a large water monster.
"Una creatura fatta d'acqua emerge dal canal grande e minaccia l'intera citta."
This translates to, "a creature made of water emerges from the big canal and threatens the whole city."
Under that is where we get his superhero/villain name: "L'uomo di misterio ha combattuto con la…"
This translates to "the mystery man fought with the…"
So, Mysterio's name is just "the mystery man" in Italian.
Epic Games has revealed the patch notes for Fortnite's latest update, v7.20. The patch is now live across PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, and mobile, bringing back the recently teased glider redeploy mechanic, along with a new weapon and limited-time mode.
Glider redeploy was first tested in Season 6, allowing players to open their gliders again during a match and hang glide if they were at a high enough altitude. This time around, Epic has itemized the ability. Players will now be able to find new items confusingly called Gliders as loot, which add "charges" that allow them to redeploy their glider during a match a set number of times.
"The goal with the item is to provide mobility and utility, but in a form that can be balanced and iterated upon," Epic explained. "By implementing glider redeploy as an item we can iterate on multiple different levels (i.e. redeploy height, movement speed, drop chance, charge count), including inventory slot tension."
In addition to glider redeploy, Epic has introduced another new weapon to the game: the Scoped Revolver, a handgun that allows players to fire precision shots. The gun can be found as floor loot or in chests, supply drops, or vending machines. It comes in Epic and Legendary variants and uses medium ammo.
The developer has also kicked off a new LTM: One Shot. In this mode, players only have 50 health, and the only weapons and items available are snipers and bandages. Gravity has also been reduced, as has the Storm wait time for all phases of the match.
Rounding out the update is a number of bug fixes and gameplay adjustments. Most notably, Epic has made a couple of improvements to ziplines, making it easier to change directions while riding one. You can find the full patch notes for the Battle Royale changes below; the full patch notes for other modes are available on Epic's website.
Fortnite v7.20 Patch Notes
Limited-Time Mode: One Shot
Summary
There's low gravity and every player has 50 health. Snipers are the only weapon and Bandages the only healing item. Jump high and aim well!
Mode Details
Gravity is set lower than normal.
The Storm wait time has been greatly reduced in all phases of the game.
The only weapons in this mode are Hunting Rifles and Sniper Rifles.
Semi-auto Snipers and Bounce Pads have been removed from the Vault in this mode.
Players will spawn with 50 health and can only heal if they find Bandages.
Weapons + Items
Scoped Revolver
Available in Epic and Legendary variants.
Fires Medium Ammo.
42 / 44 damage per shot.
Available from floor loot, chests, Supply Drops, and Vending Machines.
Added Gliders, an item that grants Glider redeploy.
This item takes up an inventory slot and can be found from normal loot sources.
Gliders do not need to be selected to deploy. Activate them by pressing your jump button while in mid-air.
Rarity is Rare.
Gliders come with 10 charges.
Each deploy uses a charge. When all charges are used the item disappears.
Glider redeploy does not consume a charge when using a Launch Pad, Rifts-to-Go, or respawning in a Limited Time Mode.
Found from floor loot, chests, Vending Machines, and Supply Llamas.
Minigun adjustments
Added an overheating mechanic. Overheat occurs after approximately 6 seconds of continuous fire.
Reduced the wind-up time by 37%.
Updated the audio for the Minigun.
Rarity color adjustments
Balloons changed from Epic to Rare.
Stink Bomb changed from Epic to Rare.
Scoped AR decreased from Rare/Epic to Uncommon/Rare.
The following projectile-based weapons now have the same projectile trajectory as the Heavy Sniper Rifle:
Bolt Action Sniper Rifle
Suppressed Sniper Rifle
Semi-Auto Sniper Rifle
Hunting Rifle
Weapon first-shot accuracy now works with icy feet and while on ziplines.
The reticle center dot on Scoped Rifles has been reduced in size. This will mitigate situations where it appears you're on your target but still miss the shot.
Trap drop chance adjustments
Total drop chance of Traps from floor loot increased from 3.98% to 4.73%.
Cozy Campfire
Drop chance from floor loot increased from 0.26% to 0.73%.
Drop chance from Loot Llamas increased from 6.63% to 15.47%.
Launch Pad
Drop chance from floor loot increased from 0.53% to 0.98%.
Drop chance from Loot Llamas increased from 13.25% to 20.77%.
Mounted Turret
Drop chance from floor loot decreased from 0.8% to 0.73%.
Drop chance from Loot Llamas decreased from 20.42% to 15.47%.
Small shields max stack size has been decreased from 10 to 6.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug that could cause you to lose the ability to switch weapons if firing a Grappler while crashing a vehicle or interacting with an object during travel.
Fixed a bug where your ability to fire would be delayed after discarding a Grappler.
Removed the ability to ride or be pushed by a Grappler due to the ability for players to move fast enough to cause network issues.
Fixed Balloons not being popped by explosions.
Fixed issue causing odd dynamite size/scaling when picking it up and re-throwing.
When a player is eliminated by Down-But-Not-Out bleed-out damage, the elimination distance is calculated from the original down location rather than the distance when they are fully eliminated.
Fixed an issue that could cause Scoped Rifles to have full accuracy earlier than intended.
Fixed an issue where the center dot of the reticle while scoped did not line up with the center dot while unscoped.
Fixed dynamite re-throw ability from being canceled by changing weapons or being a vehicle passenger.
Players will no longer receive credit for a "No Scope" in the elimination feed if they use a scope to eliminate a player.
Gameplay
Zipline improvements
Added the ability to change direction via player movement input button. Just move in the direction you'd like to go while riding a zipline, no jumping required.
Rather than moving at max speed as soon as entering the zipline, players will now accelerate over time to reach that max speed.
Destruction effects have been turned back on while riding a zipline.
Players will destroy the nearby player buildings before attaching to the zipline so their path becomes clear
Added a third decimal place for mouse/controller sensitivity to allow for more granular values.
To help with situations where walls are built mostly underground, we've added functionality where an extra piece will be built for free on top of that piece.
This occurs when the wall piece is showing less than 30% above ground.
Gamepad Sensitivity
Building sensitivity change also applies to edit mode.
Editing will no longer interrupt gun fire and pickaxe swings.
Corn stalks will no longer block gunfire.
Editing a structure will now begin without waiting for a response from the server. This should cut down on ghost shots before editing and make it a smoother experience.
Confirming the edit will still require sending data to the server and be impacted by high ping or poor server performance.
Vehicle impact damage to a player will now respect shields instead of directly applying to player health.
When a plane explodes due to any reason, it will now deal damage to both passengers and pilots. This damage no longer ignores shields.
Infinite dab is even more infinite...Dab for 11 hours instead of 10 hours in the lobby.
Adjusted map art to more accurately represent player & marker positions.
Textures of props used in emotes are now pre-streamed so scorecard and other emotes that use props will have less chance of using a low-resolution texture.
X-4 Stormwing passengers now have the same Hold to Exit functionality as pilots.
Bug Fixes
Fixed instances of glider redeploy not deploying when exiting a Stormwing.
Fixed grenade throw animations not playing the follow-through when watching other players throw a grenade.
Fixed the preview length on many emotes in the lobby to hear the full music track.
Completing the "Play a match with a friend" Daily Challenge now correctly counts towards other quests that require completing daily challenges.
Fixed players not being able to destroy the Boombox from certain distances.
Fixed some issues with ziplines
Players will no longer be flung across the map or get in broken animation states.
A cooldown has been added to ensure jump spamming will not allow players with mild network issues to fall through the zipline collision.
The zipline magnet will no longer remain over players heads.
Players no longer fall when colliding with enemy structures.
Players no longer dismount ziplines at steep angles when under bad network conditions.
Fixed an issue where players would sometimes take 2 instances of impact damage from getting hit by the X-4 Stormwing.
Damage numbers when shooting Mounted Turrets now properly displays as vehicle damage instead of player damage.
Players who are emoting on the starter island will no longer continue emoting after jumping from the Battle Bus.
Gliders and Umbrellas will no longer appear sideways or misaligned when dropping from the Battle Bus.
Events
Tournament systems have been significantly updated to support upcoming features. We'll be operating a series of small scale test events as we test these updates with more players.
We will be testing in waves until we are confident in the new functionality. At that point, we will again begin running tournaments regularly for all players.
Older tournaments will be removed from the Events tab on Switch & mobile devices for the time being.
Data for those tournaments has been saved and will return to those platforms in a future release.
Players will be automatically removed the from match after 60 seconds of spectating after being eliminated.
Audio
Fixed shield damage sound playing when shooting or getting hit by teammates.
Gliders that have music can now play their music in the lobby for previewing.
Reduced the volume of the X-4 Stormwing.
Reduce the volume of the Boombox.
Added unique bouncing sound to Dynamite.
Bug Fixes
Fixed music cutting out on mobile/Switch platforms.
Fixed incorrect boost audio loop for Quad Crasher on mobile/Switch.
Fixed missing medium-distant Scoped AR gunshot sounds.
Fixed loud winter biome ambient audio on mobile/Switch.
UI
Updated the ammo icons in the inventory to look more realistic.
Building resources of spectated players are now visible.
Bug Fixes
Prevent pickup HUD interaction prompts from appearing while in a vehicle, since picking up is disabled while in a vehicle.
Fixed error displays when a friend request fails.
Prevented special preview actions (Play Again, Switch Model, Full Screen, etc…, shown when viewing a cosmetic item) from disappearing after opening and closing the chat window.
Fixed a red background showing up when the chat window is opened while doing a 'Full Screen' preview of a Loading Screen cosmetic.
Prevented unrelated loading screens from sometimes showing up instead of the selected Loading Screen while doing a 'Full Screen' preview.
Social
Battle Royale players can now accept party invites from players in Save The World and join games in progress.
Art + Animation
Both Lynx and Zenith now have custom idle poses in the lobby.
Bug Fixes
The size of the Red Knight shield and Raven Back Bling from the Frozen Bundle now matches their original versions.
Fixed a bug that was preventing the Deadfire Outfit from being reactive in game.
Improved quality of the Golf Clap emote on mobile and Switch.
Replay
Bug Fixes
Fixed a few replay loading issues that could cause a loading screen to appear when it was not necessary for one to be displayed.
Mobile
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug causing users to aim-down-sights when exiting vehicles.
Fixed turbo building while holding extra build buttons.
Fixed an issue where the Add Friend button for other party members in the Main Menu was not able to be clicked on mobile devices.
Added HUD button
This HUD button shows when you enter the in-game settings as a separate section to turn on/off certain HUD aspects.
We've had plenty of images from the upcoming third John Wick movie over the past year, but no footage as yet. The movie comes out in May so a trailer won't be far off, but ahead of that a stylish new poster has been released. The movie's official Twitter feed also confirms that the title is John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.
The poster shows star Keanu Reeves standing in front of what seems to be the glass door to the Continental, the franchise's chain of hitman-friendly hotels. The word "excommunicado" is on the door--fans will recall that Wick is on the run after killing a rival on the supposedly neutral ground of the Continental in John Wick: Chapter 2. Check it out below.
— John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (@JohnWickMovie) January 15, 2019
The release date for John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum is May 17, 2019. Ian McShane and Lawrence Fishburne will reprise their roles from previous movies, and the new cast includes Asia Kate Dillon (Orange is the New Black), Mark Dacascos (Cradle 2 the Grave), Jason Mantzoukas (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Good Place), and Angelica Huston (Isle of Dogs).
The film is directed by Chad Stahelski, who helmed Chapter 2 and co-directed the first movie. When the movie was first announced, Stahelski spoke about his plans for Parabellum. "We want, not so much to go bigger on the third one, but to show you more of the intricacies of the world," he said. "I feel like there are all these different subtleties that I skipped over in Part 2, that I'd like to go back to [with Part 3] and show you the inner workings of different parts of New York."
A John Wick TV spin-off named The Continental was also announced by Starz last year, but there has been no further news about the status of this project.
Lots of games are on sale this week on the Xbox Store, but one franchise in particular has taken center-stage across all of it. The store is hosting a Far Cry sale, with deep discounts on essentially the entire series--at least, as it has existed since Far Cry 3 set the new template in 2012.
That means the sale includes Far Cry 3, Far Cry 4, Far Cry 5, and the prehistoric spin-off Far Cry Primal, along with several bundles and add-ons. Primal is actually one of the newest of the set, but it's the lowest priced at just $10. Far Cry 5, which sets the stage for the upcoming Far Cry New Dawn, is between $20 and $30 depending on whether you want the Standard or Gold edition. The Gold version includes all three DLC packs.
You can see select sale prices below, or you can check out Major Nelson's blog for the full listing. All of these are valid through January 21. Plus be sure to grab this month's Games With Gold, which includes the indie platformer Celeste.
Netflix has announced another price hike across its range of plans, marking the largest increase since the company's streaming service launched. Each plan is going up by one or two dollars, depending on the features.
The AP reports that the basic $8-per-month streaming plan will be raised to $9. The next tier, which offers streaming in higher quality and across more devices--which is the company's most popular tier--will increase from $11 to $13. The highest-tier plan, which offers 4K Ultra-HD will go from $14 to $16. These prices will roll out to existing subscribers over the next three months, and new subscribers will find them active immediately.
Netflix currently has 58 million US subscribers, and this is the first time a price hike will impact all of them at once. It has another 79 million subscribers outside of the US. The company is reportedly planning to funnel this new cash flow into even more investment in original shows and films, as well as to pay off the debts it has accrued while fighting off competing services.
"We change pricing from time to time as we continue investing in great entertainment and improving the overall Netflix experience," the company said in a statement.
At $13 for the most popular tier, Netflix is now matching the price for Amazon Prime, which also includes free shipping and other special deals from the retailer. This also makes it the slightly pricier option compared to the ad-free version of Hulu, at $12 per month. (The lowest Hulu tier includes ads at $8 per month.) Netflix still comes in under HBO's streaming price, which is $15 per month.
The added investment in more original programming may be necessary, as more and more companies prepare to launch their own streaming services. NBC just announced its plans for its own streaming service to launch in 2020, and Disney+ is expected to launch this year. That service has already outlined plans for shows featuring Marvel and Star Wars characters like Loki, The Mandalorian, and Cassian Andor.
Vane opens in a storm, as the small child you're controlling is buffeted by strong winds and must figure out the path forward. Invisible walls stop you from going the wrong way, a lot of the debris flying around is clearly floating up through the floor, and the ambiguities of the scene--you're not told anything about your character or their situation--make it hard to get invested. Vane doesn't make a strong first impression.
After this brief opening, you're thrown into a new sequence where you're playing as a bird. You take flight and soar through a huge environment, looking for the distant sparkles of windsocks that you need to find and land on so as to meet and unite other birds. This is all communicated wordlessly, and despite the enormity of the environment those sparkles signpost where you need to go and what you need to do. The controls take some getting used to, but it feels great to be let loose on a huge expanse after that earlier, restrained experience. This opening represents the duality of Vane, a game that occasionally feels epic and exciting but which is also burdened by moments of sluggishness, all manner of glitches, and a camera that refuses to behave.
The child you control can, for reasons unexplained, turn into a bird, morphing if you jump off a high ledge. If the bird comes close to the gold dust that appears in several places throughout the game world, it turns back into the kid. This mechanic is used to good effect early on as you fly around various environments switching between the two forms to progress. This is Vane at its best, as you come to grips with the strengths and weaknesses of both forms and figure out the way forward.
But in the game's back half, the bird form is largely put aside. You spend most of your time in human form, moving slower and exploring your environments on foot. Your ability to interact with the world is limited--you can jump, there's a seldom-used interact button, and you can use a "call" button to call to other birds or children as you encounter them.
There aren't really puzzles in Vane, per se--being observant and exploring the environment thoroughly is more important than critical thinking. You're not given much guidance on where to go next, or what your exact objective is, in most parts of the game--it's almost entirely devoid of instruction, beyond the very occasional button prompt. This means that figuring out the way forward usually means just reading your environment, but that's not always easy. The camera in Vane is uncooperative, frequently getting stuck in parts of the environment or not turning as you'd like it to. In bird form, flying close to the ground can make the camera clip through it, which can be very frustrating.
The kid you're playing as is rendered with little detail, as is much of the world. This is clearly an intentional style choice, and for the most part it works well, with the angular visuals and moody synth soundtrack doing a good job of conveying the inherent weirdness of the world. The simple style works in service of a later game mechanic that allows you to morph the world around you--in one section, for instance, you're pushing a giant orb through an environment, and the orb will change parts of the environment it gets close to. If there's a gap between two platforms, the orb might generate a bridge between them.
Unfortunately, this is also the section of the game where I was hit by the most frequent game-breaking glitches--I got stuck in the environment more than once, and at one point the orb disappeared, forcing me to restart at a checkpoint very far back. I was hit by another issue right near the game's end, encountering a glitch during the game's trippy finale that sent me on a maddening goose chase; without getting into specifics of how the game ends, a structure that was meant to grow in front of me simply did not, causing me to go in the wrong direction for several minutes until the game unceremoniously reset me to the beginning of the sequence.
These are issues that could be fixed with patches, of course (the first pre-launch patch made substantial improvements to the camera), but there are also fundamental design issues here. Vane is more committed to mood than storytelling, and by the end of the experience it's difficult to say what, exactly, just happened. There's room for analysis, of course, and the game conjures up what it's like to be a scared and lonely child in a few scenes, but it's all too vague to really feel meaningful. There's value in being mysterious, but Vane could use more payoff.
It's all over very soon, too. This is a short game that constantly feels like it's still gearing up towards something better, a way to tie together all its mechanics. The last sections of the game are quite lackadaisical, simplifying the game's systems right down while relying on an investment in the game's thin lore. It's not just that the game doesn't give you easy answers--it also gives you little incentive to come up with your own. There are moments where you can see what the game could have been--like when you soar through a valley in bird form, or morph the world around you--but Vane lacks a voice and a strong sense of purpose.
Even with the impending suspense of Avengers: Endgame, which will presumably iron out the ramifications of Infinity War, we've gotten a trailer for the first-post Endgame MCU film. Marvel today released the first trailer for Spider-Man: Far From Home, which is scheduled for a July release. The follow-up to Spider-Man: Homecoming stars Tom Holland as Peter Parker, plus Jake Gyllenhall as Mysterio, Zendaya as MJ, and Marisa Tomei as May Parker, all of which we get to see in this surprisingly lengthy "teaser trailer."
As the film's title suggests, the movie sees Peter and his friends heading to Europe for a vacation. But despite Peter's assertion that Europe doesn't need Spider-Man, that proves not to be case. Along the way, the teaser trailer shows he encounters Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), elemental monsters that could be Hydro Man and Molten Man, and Mysterio, who seems to have a more ambiguous role than usual. Check out the trailer above.
In addition to the version released in the US, a slightly different teaser trailer was released internationally. While the substance doesn't change--it's only the opening 30 seconds that's different--it does feature another funny gag. We've got a trailer breakdown that also includes Easter eggs if you're interested in dissecting everything the two trailers have to offer.
The movie is directed by Jon Watts, who also helmed Homecoming. Far From Home's release date is set for July 5, 2019. It's the third of three Marvel movies set for release in 2019, following March's Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame in the July. Some new footage from Captain Marvel was revealed in a "special look" trailer released last week, and this followed the December's second full trailer.
With BioWare's next big game, Anthem, almost here, the developer has shared even more details on what to expect from the game. Anthem is a multiplayer-focused title, and the good news for those who don't have anyone to play with is that there will be matchmaking support for "every activity" in the entire game.
Lead producer Ben Irving said on Twitter that "there is matchmaking for every activity in the game." Matchmaking is on by default, but players can opt out, Irving clarified. "We think it's more fun in a full group," Irving added.
A "VIP" demo for Anthem runs January 25-27, and you need to pre-order Anthem or be a subscriber of either EA Access or Origin Access to get in. Everyone can try Anthem through a demo that launches the following week, running February 1-3.
In big video game movie news today, Sony announced that Dan Trachtenberg had signed on to direct the upcoming Uncharted movie featuring Tom Holland as a young Nathan Drake. It wasn't the only big news about the movie today, as Variety also reported that the script was re-written. The website reported that newcomers Jonathan Rosenberg and Mark Walker wrote the most recent script.
Like the director's chair, the script has changed hands a few times already. Joe Carnahan (Smokin' Aces, The A-Team) wrote a draft, before Agents of Shield writer Rafe Judkins put in a draft. Rosenberg and Walker are just the latest to pen a draft of a script for the film. There is no word on the specific plot points for their script, but Variety reports that the film will follow a young Drake who meets Victor Sullivan, or Sully as he's known in the games, for the first time. As such, it's not a story already told by any of the games.
Carnahan said his draft of the Uncharted movie script was praised by management at Sony, while Uncharted director Amy Hennig and Nathan Drake actor Nolan North apparently praised it as well. However, Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann said no one at Naughty Dog had seen the script, and he wished Carnahan would stop implying that he had the studio's support.
As for the news about Trachtenberg joining the Uncharted movie as its director, Druckmann said he's stoked to see what Trachtenberg does with Uncharted.
I'm a big fan of Dan. Excited to see what he does with Nathan Drake. https://t.co/oqGgxgjLtQ
Trachtenberg is just the latest director that Sony has hired for the long-in-development Uncharted movie. At different periods of time, David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook, The Fighter), Neil Burger (Limitless), Seth Gordon (The King of Kong), and Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum, Stranger Things) were all attached to direct.
Production on the Uncharted movie could start in 2019, which would be good news considering it's been many, many years since the project was first announced. As of yet, there is no word on who else may star in the film, but if shooting does indeed start this year, all of those details and more should become available soon.
Trachtenberg directed 10 Cloverfield Lane, as well as a video game-themed episode of Black Mirror. He also directed a short film based on Valve's puzzle game Portal. In the embedded tweet above, you can see Trachtenberg praise Uncharted back in 2007, also saying at the time that he'd love to have the opportunity to make the movie. And back in February 2018, Trachtenberg and Druckmann appeared on stage together to talk about crafting narratives for video games, film, and television.
Mario Tennis Aces launched for Nintendo Switch last year, and it's steadily added new DLC characters over time. Now, data-miners have discovered references to a pair of new characters that could come to the whimsical tennis game some point in the future.
Link, the hero of the Legend of Zelda franchise, might become a playable character in the future, the data-mine suggests. Also discovered were Dark Link and Champion's Tunic outfits that would presumably be able to be unlocked. It's also been reported that Baby Mario might be coming to Mario Tennis Aces, based on data apparently found in the game.
Datamine evidence suggests Link may become a playable character in #MarioTennisAces , with Dark Link and Champion's Tunic alts being provided through the Online Tournament (requiring 500 and 2000 points respectively to unlock them). pic.twitter.com/qx54WAWrQB
DO NOT think that Link is 100% coming to Mario Tennis Aces. In addition to not every Aces datamine being legitimate, Camelot does have a habit of putting things in and out of the files, as we've seen with extra stages. https://t.co/c6bAWpgFBs
However, as the MarioTennisClub Twitter fan account reminds everyone, data mined from the game's files might not necessarily be representative of what's actually coming to the game in the future. Sometimes content found in game files, especially for developer Camelot, is never released publicly.
If Nintendo is set to announce new content for Mario Tennis Aces, January might be a fitting time. After all, one of the biggest tennis tournaments of the year, the Australian Open, is taking place right now in Melbourne, so Nintendo may see that as an opportunity to piggyback on the elevated interest in tennis worldwide.
A number of DLC characters have already been released for Mario Tennis Aces, including Birdo, Shy Guy, Koopa Paratroopa, and Petey Piranha.
Mario Tennis Aces released in June 2018 exclusively for the Nintendo Switch. In our review, author Justin Clark stated, "Off-beat stages and creative use of characters from the Marioverse ensure that you'll never lose sight of simply having fun, but don't let the adorable exterior trick you; Aces takes its unorthodox tennis very seriously."
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