For a limited time, you can get some pretty sweet discounts on select video games and accessories at Newegg, which is offering a 20% off promo code now through tomorrow, April 11 or until supplies run out. The promo code to use is EMCTYUT27.
This promotion includes some of this year's biggest releases, like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which is discounted to $48 with the promo code; The Division 2, also available for $48; Kingdom Hearts 3, which is marked down to $38; and Devil May Cry 5's Deluxe edition, which is down to $56 for Xbox One. Notably, you can grab two of 2018's best games for remarkably cheap: God of War for $32 and Red Dead Redemption 2 for $30, both on PS4.
There's also a small selection of consoles and accessories on sale, including the PlayStation Classic for just $32 (as a reminder, it launched at $100 in December), a few PSVR bundles, gaming headsets, and wireless controllers.
Fans of A Song of Ice and Fire, the book series on which HBO's insanely popular Game of Thrones TV show is based, have been waiting for the next book in the series--The Winds of Winter--since the last book, A Dance with Dragons, was published back in 2011. With the show's final season looming, fans await any news about the next book more eagerly than ever.
Luckily, there's some good, if vague, news on that front: Author George R.R. Martin stated during a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight that his writing has "been going very well lately."
As the author has stated many times before, he's given up on trying to guess exactly when he'll be done writing, as fans tend to lash out when he provides dates that then come and go without a new release. "It'll be done when it's done," Martin characteristically told ET on the red carpet for the show's Season 8 premiere. Then he added: "It's been going very well lately, so knock wood."
ET, which is one of GameSpot's sister sites, debuted the clip from the interview in the first episode of its weekly Game of Thrones show Theories and Thrones, hosted by myself and ET's Leanne Aguilera. You can watch the full episode, including the interview with Martin, below.
The Winds of Winter wasn't the only topic of discussion. Martin also said of all the storylines dropped from the show, he misses Lady Stoneheart the most--a feeling that's been echoed by many fans ever since the vengeful character was left out of Game of Thrones Season 4. But Martin said he understands why she was cut.
"Even with a novel of ordinary size, when you adapt it for television and film, usually it involves cutting and simplifying, and my books are not books of ordinary length," he said. "If we included everything from the books we'd still be on Season 1. It would have been an eight-year-long Season 1. There are hard choices sometimes, but that's the business."
Finally, he dodged the question of whether the show is hurtling toward the same ending he has planned in the books: "I don't want to spoil my books or the show, so watch both and read the book, and you decide," the author said.
There's still no projected release date for The Winds of Winter, but with the show finally building toward a conclusion, fans can hope that Martin will be able to focus on writing and get it done. After that, he'll just have to write yet another book to draw the series to a close as it was originally intended. Sigh.
Disney has already announced several series in development for its Disney+ premium streaming service, including one starring the popular character Loki. Now another major MCU character is reportedly getting the TV treatment: Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye.
Variety reports that the limited series will detail Clint Barton passing the torch to Kate Bishop. In the comics, Kate Bishop is a member of the Young Avengers and the latest to take the heroic identity as Hawkeye. She and Barton have often been portrayed as friends and rivals.
This could have something to do with Barton's own identity-switching in the upcoming Avengers: Endgame. As we've seen in the trailers, Barton has abandoned his trusty bow for a katana, likely meaning he'll be going by Ronin--the superheroic name he took on in Marvel comics when he underwent a similar change. It's unknown if this series would take place before or after the events of Endgame, but either way the upcoming MCU film could tee up the series.
Other Marvel projects reportedly in development include series' following Falcon and Winter Soldier, Vision, and Scarlet Witch. Each is said to be six to eight episodes, with relatively large budgets for television shows.
Avengers: Endgame is primed to be a massive blockbuster for Marvel. Opening weekend estimates already have it nearly matching the top record-holder of all time, Infinity War, and new presale numbers show it may even beat that figure.
Epic Games has rolled out another new update for its hit battle royale title, Fortnite. Following a round of downtime on Wednesday morning, patch 8.30 is now live across PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, and mobile. As the developer details in the update's patch notes, this week's biggest additions are a new limited-time event called Buccaneer's Bounty and the recently announced Reboot Vans.
Similar to the respawn stations found in EA's rival battle royale game, Apex Legends, Reboot Vans allow you to revive fallen teammates during a match. To use them, you'll need an ally's Reboot Card, which is dropped upon their elimination. Once a card has been collected, any member of the squad can bring it to the Reboot Van and respawn them, regardless of who actually picked it up. The vans can't be found in Solo matches, large-scale LTMs, or any mode that already has respawns enabled.
The other big draw this week is the aforementioned Buccaneer's Bounty event, which runs until April 15. Throughout the event, Epic will feature a different limited-time mode to play every day. Treasure maps will also spawn a bit more frequently during matches, and there will be daily Buccaneer's Bounty challenges to complete and rewards to unlock for all players--no Battle Pass necessary.
Also new following the update is the Fly Explosives LTM, which Epic says "combines the explosive fun of the High Explosives LTM with the Jetpack." In this mode, the only weapons you'll be able to find are explosives, and Jetpacks will occasionally spawn as Floor Loot. Beyond that, Epic has made numerous bug fixes and UI tweaks. You can read a portion of the patch notes for Battle Royale mode below; the full patch notes can be found on Epic's website.
Week 7's challenges are slated to arrive on Thursday, April 11, bringing players another step closer to unlock Season 8's Legendary Ruin skin. If you still have any outstanding challenges you need to complete in the meantime, you can find tips and guides for this season's trickier tasks in our full Season 8 challenges roundup.
This mode combines the explosive fun of the High Explosives LTM with the Jetpack. Take to the skies and blast everyone else back to the lobby!
Mode Details
Only explosive weapons can be found in this mode.
Floor Loot spawners will occasionally spawn Jetpacks.
Jetpacks are only available in this mode in Battle Royale.
Reduced storm wait times.
Rocket Ammunition capped at 120.
Weapons + Items
Reboot Van / Cards
Reboot Vans have now been added to the map at all major POIs.
When squad members are eliminated they now drop their Reboot Card, which can be collected by other squad members.
Reboot Vans / Cards are disabled in Solos, Big Team Limited Time Modes, and any modes with respawns enabled.
Reboot Cards remain in the world for 90s after they've been dropped.
Pickup Interaction time: 0.5 seconds.
Bringing Reboot Cards to Reboot Vans will bring each squad member whose card has been collected back into battle.
Collected Reboot Cards can be turned in by any squad member regardless of which member picked up the Card.
Interaction time: 10 seconds.
A Reboot Van goes on cooldown and cannot be activated again for 120 seconds after it's used.
Rebooted squad members return with:
100 Health
1 Common Pistol
36 Light Ammo
100 Wood
Infantry Rifle
Damage decreased from 40/42 to 38/40.
Fall-off damage at maximum range increased from 26/28 to 32/34.
Poison Dart Trap damage ticks will no longer cause the camera to shake repeatedly.
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue that occasionally prevented weapon fire from queuing for shotguns after switching weapons without re-pressing the fire key.
Fixed an issue where if a Clinger is attached to a player and they entered a Baller that it wouldn't deal damage.
Fixed sniper rifles playing fire animations twice per shot from the point of view of other players.
Fixed grenade projectile trajectories lagging behind slightly when moving and rotating.
Fixed Traps not activating if a player blocks line of sight with a structure but then the structure is destroyed.
Fixed Balloon sound effects occasionally playing when entering a vehicle without Balloons active.
Fixed an issue with single shot weapons not reloading properly while in targeting mode.
Fixed Peppers not granting movement speed while walking.
Fixed Minigun Rev Up/Down sound effects persisting after boosting on a Driftboard.
Fixed an issue with Ziplines after using a Launch Pad that could cause the player to jump higher.
Fixed an issue with players getting knocked backward when firing the Pirate Cannon upwards.
Fixed Pirate Cannons getting stuck in an indefinite horizontal rotation.
Fixed an issue with Boom Bow not showing up with the Visualize Sound Effects option.
Fixed an issue with vehicles shot by Boom Bow not playing hit notification sound effects.
Fixed an issue with the Boom Bow having longer than expected projectile trail effects.
Fixed an issue with Boom Bow projectile effects occasionally flying through enemies.
Fixed a spelling error in the elimination feed with Boom Bow.
Gameplay
Buccaneer's Bounty Event
A different Limited Time Mode rotates in every day from April 10 - April 15.
Drop in and Complete free Challenges to earn in-game rewards.
Increased the spawn rate of Treasure Maps for the duration of this event:
Floor Loot: Increased availability from .25% to .5%
Chests: Increased availability from 1.55% to 3.05%
All aspect ratios will have the same vertical FOV on Mac and PC.
In the near future, ultrawide monitors will be limited to 16:9 in competitive game modes.
Added separate controller sensitivities for building and editing structures.
The Glider Redeploy item is now sorted to the right along with other consumables when "Auto sort consumables to the right" is enabled.
Added ability to cycle hotbar items while gliding.
Hit markers are now server authoritative.
We've heard the feedback that hit markers are sometimes seen for shots but don't apply damage, so we're going to delay showing them until the server has confirmed the hit.
Fixed sniper damage not causing damaged players to play a reaction animation.
Adjusted how Storm damage is applied so that players entering the Storm will have a set amount of time before damage is applied.
The initial instance of damage will start 1 second after entering the Storm.
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where players would incorrectly edit structure behind them when backed up close to a player built wall.
Players dropping in warm-up will not award eliminations if another player caused them to receive fall damage.
Fixed Traps being hidden underneath certain floor pieces that don't completely align with the grid.
Performance
Various level streaming performance optimizations for Switch and Xbox One to reduce cases where players see blurry buildings.
Improved texture streaming performance and memory overhead on Switch.
Improved performance for Traps.
Improved performance of the Challenges UI.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a source of hitches due to spawning weapon drops.
Fixed a source of hitches due to replay recording.
Implemented a fix that should resolve cases of invisible characters after skydiving.
Audio
New separate in-air audio tell for enemies.
More of an "incoming" audio tell that should give more awareness when an enemy drops in on you from above.
Reduced volume of building audio loops while being structures are being built.
This sound is now ducked by enemy footsteps and gunfire.
Prevents unnecessary noise when lots of buildings are placed in quick succession.
Slightly increased the volume of footsteps below the player.
Increased volume of the landing sounds of enemy footsteps.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug where all offscreen enemy footsteps and weapon switches/reloads would be silent when more than 5 players were nearby.
Fixed a bug where the Boom Bow wasn't playing the correct vehicle damage notification sound.
UI
Vehicle controls can now be hidden in the HUD Options.
Added minimum and maximum values to the in-game FPS overlay and added the option to "Show FPS" on all supported platforms.
Push To Talk
Enabling the menu option for consoles
Defaulting the option to Off for consoles.
Wraps can now be applied to most types of weapons, everything that doesn't fit elsewhere is now covered by a catch-all "Misc." slot in the locker.
The health bar for vehicles has been adjusted to now display health values of vehicles.
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue with the friend list was always displaying a notification symbol in the frontend.
Avengers: Endgame tickets recently went on sale, crashing ticket sites in the process. Now ticketing sites have shared some of their sales data, and it shows yet more evidence that the Marvel blockbuster is preparing to set records.
CNBC reports that presale tickets broke both first-hour and first-day records on Fandango and Atom Tickets. After a full week of sales, Endgame has presold almost twice as many tickets as Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Avengers: Infinity War, Aquaman, and Captain Marvel put together.
This comes on the heels of a report that Endgame is primed to bring in $200-250 million during its opening weekend, making it the top one of the year so far and one of only six films to break $200 million at opening. But, those expected earnings sometimes underestimate, as they did for Avengers: Infinity War. That was estimated at $180-225 million, but it ended up blowing those expectations away with an initial take of $257 million. That means Endgame could come in significantly higher and surpass Infinity War for the top opening of all time. These strong presales suggest that could be the case.
The rush for presale tickets has led to high prices on resale sites. One set of two 3D tickets was going for $400, while another set of five tickets was offered for $600. On the high end, some scalpers were asking for upwards of $25,000.
Target is the latest retailer to launch a huge sale on AAA game titles recently, and this time, the deal is simple: buy one, get 50% off any game title, including newly released games like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, The Division 2, and Devil May Cry 5. The deal encompasses hundreds of PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch games, and as with most BOGO deals, the 50% off price slash will apply to the cheapest game, so choose wisely. The discount will then be applied at checkout.
This BOGO deal puts many games at their cheapest price ever, such as Resident Evil 2, which is listed for $55 and would drop to $27.50; Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which is still $60 and would drop to $30; and God of War, which is listed for $30 and would drop to just $15, a killer price for one of 2018's best games.
This offer is valid through April 13, so only a few days are left to take advantage of these deals. Meanwhile, GameStop's massive spring sale is also going on, with huge discounts on not only PS4, Xbox One, and Switch games, but also consoles, accessories, toys, and collectibles. Some special trade-in offers are also available. Note that many of the game deals overlap between Target and GameStop's sales, so consider checking out both sales to find the best deals for you.
In Fortnite, these new respawn items are called Reboot Vans, and they're scattered around the map in certain team-based game modes. Both Reboot Vans and Respawn Beacons offer one game-changing ability: if a member of your squad is eliminated from a match (rather than just taking enough damage to be "knocked down," at which point a teammate can revive them), you have a chance to save them if you're quick and daring. In both games, your dead teammate drops an item--in Apex, it's their banner card; in Fortnite, their reboot card.
You've got 90 seconds to collect that card in both games. Once you have it, take it to either a Respawn Beacon or Reboot Van, and you can give your dead teammate a second chance at life. They come back to the game in pretty rough shape, but having your full squad back is a huge step toward recovering from a lost fight and being the last team standing.
The similarities between the two systems don't end there. In Apex Legends, a person on your squad needs to physically visit the death box of your dead teammate in order to collect their banner, but once it's been collected, either of the remaining two squadmates can activate the Respawn Beacon. That means that one person can go running for the beacon while the other person goes to recover the card, drastically shortening the time it takes to bring your third squadmate back. You don't have to physically carry the card itself back to the Respawn Beacon. Fortnite's Reboot Vans work the same way; once one teammate has the card, it's available to any teammate to use at the Reboot Van.
In both games, you're also pretty vulnerable while saving someone's life. It takes time to activate both a Respawn Beacon and a Reboot Van, although in Fortnite, the danger is a lot less than in Apex. In the latter game, the beacon summons a new drop ship to bring your teammate back to the battlefield, which is highly visible to everybody around and requires your dead squaddie to jump from the ship back to the ground. They're vulnerable that whole time, and the arrival of the ship is effectively a giant "come kill me" sign to other teams. Meanwhile, in Fortnite, the player is reconstituted right on the Reboot Van, and there's seemingly a lot less visual flare to alert other players of what's going on.
The other major difference between the systems is how often you can use them. There are a limited number of Respawn Beacons on the Apex Legends map, and they're single-use--so once any player uses a beacon to respawn a teammate, that beacon no longer works for anyone else. Reboot Vans are a lot more forgiving; use one, and it becomes unavailable for 120 seconds before recharging. You can't revive your whole squad immediately at a Reboot Van, but you could potentially hang out near one to get multiple players back in the middle of match, if you can stay alive that long.
The last big difference between Respawn Beacons and Reboot Vans is what happens to the player revived. In Apex Legends, you get a second chance at life, but it's a pretty big bummer: Any loot you found along the way before you were killed is gone, unless your teammates grabbed it and brought it back for you. When you respawn, you return to the game with nothing, which means that you're highly vulnerable until you're able to loot new weapons and armor to protect yourself with. Using a Respawn Beacon helps you get your team up to full strength, but you still have to work very hard to deal with the disadvantage of having lost a member of your team.
Fortnite's respawns are a bit more forgiving. Return from a Reboot Van and you won't be completely empty-handed. You'll reenter the match with 100 health, a Common Pistol with 36 rounds, and 100 wood to let you build. You won't be too formidable right after a respawn, but you'll at least be able to fight if you have to.
There are some slight differences, but both mechanics are close to identical. That means the strategies for using them are pretty much the same: Coordinate with your teammates on revives, avoid leaving yourself too vulnerable while respawning, and help your newly revived teammate get some weapons together so they can survive fighting the next group of enemies who show up.
When Sea of Thieves launched in March 2018, many people believed it was an enjoyable, beautiful experience that was just lacking some direction and was perhaps a little thin in the content department. I was one of those people: I found Sea of Thieves an exhilarating experience with friends and a peaceful one alone, but I often found myself with too little meaningful content to engage with.
Developer Rare has repeatedly updated the pirate game since launch, and it is now on the cusp of introducing a significant update that injects much-needed variety into the game. On April 30 the game will be patched with the Anniversary update, which includes a new narrative-driven questline called Tall Tales: Shores of Gold and an entirely new PvP mode named The Arena, all for free.
The Arena is a competitive mode for five teams of four set in smaller, distinct areas. At the beginning of each 24-minute match, every team receives the same set of treasure maps. You must proceed to one of the X marks in order to retrieve chests, which can then be cashed in for Silver at a number of special ships.
Of course, other teams are competing for the same chests and cashing-in points, so you might find you run into some resistance on your travels. Killing other players or sinking their ships nets you a small amount of Silver, and respawns are active. Particular to The Arena is a new damage model for ships, which can now have their wheel, masts, and anchor destroyed--though these can be repaired with wood in the same way you would fix a hull.
Arena matches are frantic but fun, and Rare says they're designed to satisfy players who don't necessarily have time to dive into a whole run of classic Sea of Thieves--which is now being dubbed Adventure Mode. But more importantly, they unite players around a single, clear objective, providing more direction for those solo queuing or those lacking a microphone. This solves the issue Sea of Thieves always had where players would be pulling in different directions, shooting for different targets--even if they were part of the same team. You'd have one player wanting to complete a Merchants' Alliance quest, another wanting to ambush other teams' ship, and another simply jumping up and down and spinning on the spot. The Arena's obvious objectives and condensed map do a lot to rid the game of these issues, since any individual not paying attention and working with their team will quickly find themselves sleeping with the fishes.
The Arena also has the potential to rid Adventure Mode of griefers and people who are of a more combative persuasion. I prefer my Sea of Thieves journeys to be relaxing, which made it irritating when another player--friend or foe--decided to engage in combat. If people who prefer to fight are busy in The Arena, hopefully the rest of the game world will become a more peaceful proposition. Or maybe I'm placing too much faith in the troublemaking scallywags.
Tall Tales, meanwhile, is a new questline for people who wanted more direction in Sea of Thieves' classic Adventure Mode. It's set in the game's usual shared world--which will also gain a new island that Rare says is its biggest yet--and will see you complete a number of puzzles and riddles in the search for treasure. The mode includes new enemy types, items enchanted with new abilities, and a new faction named the Hunters' Call who'll buy fish and meat off you after you utilize new fishing and cooking mechanics. While those new mechanics are a little basic, they add a nice bit of flavor to otherwise plain sailing--unless you burn your fish, that is.
While Tall Tales: Shores of Gold is only a subtle change from the vanilla Sea of Thieves experience, the greater purpose it gives, the greater narrative strands it provides, and the more tangible targets it teases help motivate you to continue venturing out into the seas. You're not simply completing quests in order to unlock more quests of a similar nature; there are more interesting activities to complete, such as escaping a locked room filling with water, and a more defined goal on the horizon in the questline's next riddle. More important than the objectives and new mechanics, however, is the distinct feeling these new missions provide: it feels like you're actually on a guided adventure, rather than just going from point A to point B. New voice lines--spoken for the first time by actual voice actors, rather than studio staff as was the case previously--are a large reason for this new flavor.
Nine tales make up the Shores of Gold expansion, but Rare says it will continue to support Sea of Thieves with more content in a similar vein going forward, and if things carry on improving along these lines, I'll be diving back into Rare's oceans for many months to come.
Following 2015's sleeper hit Her Story, creator Sam Barlow initially wasn't keen on making a similar game right after. However, as the framework for his follow-up took shape, the writer/director found his past's game approach to storytelling as a compelling hook for his new tale. In Telling Lies, you'll investigate the lives of four strangers over a period of two years; each of them has their own secrets and personal trauma. By witnessing brief glimpses of their lives from private videos, you'll uncover the larger story that connects them all together.
With an air of voyeurism similar to films like Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies, and Videotape and Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation, the overarching story unfolds on a modern desktop with access to an NSA database. Playing heavily to the modern paranoia surrounding increased surveillance, this conceit allows you to search through hours of recorded footage taken from phones, computers, and dashboard cameras, revealing plenty of personal and raw moments. According to Barlow, when the larger story begins to form, you'll come to understand why you're examining these characters in the first place.
Similar to Her Story, Telling Lies will have you comb through footage looking for the key information that fills in the blanks of a fractured timeline. Moving away from Her Story's '90s-era tech, the player interface in Telling Lies--another desktop--is more modern, allowing for greater flexibility in how you can interpret and piece together the story. By searching keywords, you'll be able to find clips that include the use of that word. Engaging the clip will start you at the point where the keyword is spoken by the person of interest. From here, you'll be able to play the video for its duration, even if you landed on the last word spoken in the clip, or scrub it back to see what came before--possibly unearthing a new clue.
Barlow explained that Telling Lies not only examines intimacy in the modern age but also plays with the concept of context and what you bring with your perspective. In Her Story, it became apparent over the course of the game that figuring out the crime that Hannah was suspected of wasn't necessarily the true goal. Rather, it was more of a character study and an exercise in fostering empathy for her, faults and all. According to Barlow, Telling Lies is about "exploring the larger story through the negative space," an idea that stuck with him during the making and ensuing reception of Her Story.
"It's kind of doubling down on the sense of narrative I had with Her Story," Barlow said. "People would play that game and one of the big positives they came away with was they felt like they had an intimate experience when spending that time with that character, listening to her talk, and it felt like they had a connection and empathized with her in a way. Despite it being essentially a computer interface, it all felt quite organic and human in a way. You get to explore [the story] through these more character-driven and intimate moments, which is a very different texture to most video games."
Some clips will show various characters during some mundane moments, without anything of consequence happening. However, another video might show a pivotal, and likely serious, event, which can give previous clips new meaning. Discovering the context of many of these clips can add new layers to the key characters, which can affect your perception of their relationships with others. Though it all seems to be in a similar vein as Her Story, and Barlow said that Telling Lies hits something more social than its predecessor could.
"I think it's an interesting question when you make something that is as different and weird as Her Story," said Barlow. "I deliberately did not immediately want to make a sequel with Her Story, and I gave myself some distance from it. Once I came back to it and I was like, 'What was interesting to me about that game that I think I could do more with? What direction can I take it in?'"
One of the more remarkable things about Her Story was the way it used its detective conceit as a means to examine its key character. Thanks to its non-linear approach, you could unearth details about the lead at your own pace. Barlow seems to be aware of what made the original work, reinforcing the flow of the narrative and the sense of distance from a story that's long since past. However, the new focus on a larger cast can make for a more intriguing plot, which may play out in its most raw and intimate forms.
Telling Lies is set for release sometime in 2019 and will be published by Annapurna Interactive.
The closure of Telltale Games was one of the most shocking stories of the games industry in 2018. But in the time after the studio's shuttering, publisher Skybound Games worked with key members of Telltale Games to finish The Final Season for The Walking Dead. Following the completion of the series, which will be the final game for all existing developers at Telltale Games, the studio's creative director Kent Mudle and Skybound Games CEO Ian Howe spoke with GameSpot about finishing the long-running and popular series under such unusual circumstances. During our interview, they spoke candidly about the closure of the studio, revealing what the immediate plans were at the time of the closure, what the developers had planned after The Walking Dead, and what they believe the lasting impact Telltale will have on gaming.
Editor's Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and readability.
Telltale's final chapter is a unique one in game development. Can you take us back to the moment when this news broke, and how you were able to find a solution to finish The Final Season?
Kent Mudle: WelI, I guess the start of this experience would be the middle of production of what would have been the final season of The Walking Dead. At that point, Telltale Games shut down. For a moment it seemed like all hope was lost and we would never really get to finish this thing. At the time Ian and I had really believed in it and worked on it very hard, and a lot of us really thought it was gonna be one of the best things we've ever made. It was heartbreaking, both to not finish that and also for a lot of people who came to work and found out that it was all over.
But luckily, we learned pretty quickly that Skybound was interested in trying to resurrect the thing, so we were given some hope. That sustained us for a certain period. But then when we finally got back up, it was almost like no time had passed, and we were actually able to just get right back to making the piece of art that we all wanted to make, and I think the experience has been miraculous.
Ian Howe: The guys couldn't work for two months as we were clearing all the legal side of things, but we were able to stick with almost the exact schedule less those two months, which was pretty incredible. That's a testament to the team and the effort they put in to get it over the line because that's hard to do. Just picking up something that's had this eight-week gap in the middle.
The day the news broke, we were really shocked. It was like "sorry, what?" We sat around a phone talking to Telltale co-founder Dan Conners and CEO Pete Hawley, and there was me and David Alpert, and a few of the other senior people at Skybound. Robert Kirkman [the creator of The Walking Dead] was laying on the couch behind us, just kind of listening, and at the end of the call, we were just diving into the weeds and Robert said, "let's just go get the story finished." That was very refreshing to just have a guide from Robert, as to say just go and make this happen. And then we, I think we flew up the next day.
Mudle: It was crazy how quickly it happened. The day we were fired, they were supposed to come back and they said pack up our stuff and Brody and Paul called me into a room and they were working on the spreadsheet and I guess they may have already been in touch with [Skybound] at that point. Yeah, like almost right away, you guys came up and we had that big meeting in the boardroom with everybody trying to figure out how viable this would all be.
Howe: The desire was to finish it, and there was definitely that dedication to try and save some jobs. These guys had been let go without any severance and have been through a tough situation--can we figure something out? Thankfully we were able to put together something pretty quickly, and I will give huge credit to the management of Telltale who went out of their way and did everything they could to make this deal happen as quickly as it could. For exactly that reason to help those people out, so that I don't think that should get lost in this.
There was a massive outpouring from fans regarding the fate of Telltale. It must have been very overwhelming to see such a response from fans, especially after the January reveal of the final two episodes.
Mudle: I think the outpouring of love and excitement that happened as soon as it was confirmed that Skybound was definitely going to continue was tremendous. Like it's almost like- people had been into the season, it was just a roller coaster of emotions. It just hit people like super hard. I just remember it being everywhere, every social media feed I had ever looked at, it was just like blasted with support.
Howe: Yeah, it was overwhelming in a good way, but also that there was a definite realization of expectation that, and at the time it happened, Skybound Games was in its infancy and it still is, honestly. It's still in its infancy and I don't know what [Kent's] expectations were, but you didn't probably realize there was so few of us.
Mudle: I didn't, when we first started talking to you guys, it sounded like you guys were like five people or something when you started being like, 'we'll save it.' Yeah, I assumed that Skybound was a bigger company.
Howe: Yeah, the games division of Skybound was five people. We were less than a year old and we were still definitely in training wheels. I mean I've been doing this for a long time so I realized that a lot of the work related to the publishing side had been done. Telltale was literally the lowest maintenance team I've ever worked with, they literally just came back in and got on with the job. That to me speaks volumes about the character of the people there, but also the desire to get it finished. Our part compared to what these guys were doing was very small, but it was really all about the focus of getting these guys back in a room somewhere with the ability to finish the story.
Around the time of the closure, reports came out that the last two episodes of the season were already written and ready for production. Did the experience of the last few months have any influence on the final episodes?
Mudle: Well at the time of Telltale's closing down, Episode 3 had just hit sort of the middle point of development, which was funnily referred to as the ratings milestone--meaning all the voicework had been recorded and all the visuals were in sort of a rough state. So Episode 3 really just kind of had to get finished and just get a normal series of edits along with some nips and tucks anyway. Episode 4 had already had its first round of voicework recorded. So the first draft of the episode was written and recorded and like very base level like visual stuff had been done.
Thankfully before Telltale shut down, we already had talked, you know we work with Skybound editorial to get feedback from them and we already were aligned on what the plan was going to be to finish the thing. Though we did some revisions and some minor adjustments, it was exactly as it would have been had Telltale not exploded, really. And it was a testament to Skybound for letting us do our own vision without trying to like meddle with it in any way except for giving us feedback. But it was exactly what we envisioned and we'd all agree with Skybound to do even before Telltale shut down.
It seems fitting in a way that Telltale's history closed out on The Walking Dead. This series, in particular, helped propel the studio to new heights, and in a lot of ways, it seems like it's a bit of an epitaph summing up Telltale was all about.
Mudle: Weirdly, I think it would have done that anyway regardless of the studio closing. It was always going to be the last Walking Dead game, and we all knew at that point. After that, we were actually planning to move Telltale as a studio into new kinds of games, with new graphics engines, and just kind of go bolder. So this was always intended to be the last hurrah for the classic style of a Telltale game. Like the choices, the waiting, and all that stuff. So it was always trying to be like the very best one of those. We know that it's such a long-running series that we wanted to do a bunch homages to the past and that kind of stuff.
We even wanted to do some stuff in the last quarter of the episode that was supposed to be like, this is what a new Telltale game could be like with like those mechanical twists and that kind of thing. So it was always kind of intended to be a tribute to Telltale's legacy. And it's weird that it's ended up being that in, you know, in its finality because it was the last one ever.
Telltale had some strong parallels with Lucasarts of the '90s, with games like Full Throttle and Grim Fandango. A lot of fans saw the studio very much in that school of thought, offering these in-depth adventures with some compelling characters.
Mudle: That does mean a lot that fans saw that in us. I'm a storyteller at heart and if I can get the audience to care about something you care about, these fictional people that we made up so, so passionately that they feel real feelings, I think that's a huge accomplishment. I think the legacy of Telltale has had left has on the games industry has been kind of broad and wide as a whole. I think it's still a really rich space to explore, and I'd like to think Telltale helped kickstart all that again. So I think that legacy will stick around forever, and it'll always be an honor to have been a small part of that.
I can only imagine how bittersweet experience this must be for you all. Though it's sad to see Telltale come to an end, you do leave a sizable legacy of games behind.
Howe: Well, I've been doing publishing for 28 years and this is the project I'm probably most proud to be associated with. The motivation to bring it back and to rescue it gives me a great deal of personal satisfaction that we were able to do that. The fact that this community has really actually come together. I'm very grateful to have been a part of this.
Mudle: Yeah, absolutely. Episode 4 makes me extremely emotional, honestly. Like a lot of it is tough near the end, in that it's kind of a loving tribute to the people that worked on the game. I still can't even look at it without getting a little misty-eyed. I'm just so proud of the work everybody did. We all came together to make this beautiful thing and to leave that stretching back into all the years that I worked with all of those people. It's the end of an era, and it's sad, but I'm glad we got to at least finish it in style.
In the world of the DC cinematic universe, Shazam is actually fairly sparse as far as connections to other DC heroes. There's no major climactic cameo like Wonder Woman showing up in Batman v. Superman, and no heroic team-up like the Justice League (unless you count the big twist in the climactic fight with Dr. Sivana).
There is one DC character cameo, and it's played entirely for laughs: at the end of the movie, when Superman shows up during Freddy's lunch hour at school. It's payoff for the bit earlier where Freddy bragged that he's friends with Shazam, and seeing Clark Kent from the torso down only somehow makes it even funnier, as it lets us focus on the other characters' reactions.
But the scene almost turned out very differently, Shazam director David Sandberg told GameSpot: They initially tried to get Superman actor Henry Cavill to appear in full at the end of the movie.
"It was originally written as a scene where he sits down and he talks to the kids a little bit and kind of ends with Freddy going, 'I have so many questions,'" Sandberg said. There was even dialogue written--"They sort of joked around...something about aliens or something," Sandberg struggled to recall.
"It wasn't actually that fun, which is why this is so much better," the director continued.
Sandberg said Cavill's cameo didn't work out for scheduling reasons. "We could only be in that school in Toronto for a certain date, and we just couldn't work it out," he said. But he still wanted to have the payoff that Superman's appearance creates, so he brainstormed other ways to do the scene. "We tried shooting it the way we did, and I thought it worked great," the director said. "It seemed actually funnier than the scene we had written, because you see him come in, you see Freddy's great reaction, and you just hard cut to the end credits. It just makes me laugh, you know? So, in some ways, it kind of worked out for the best."
"But it would have been great to actually work with Henry Cavill," Sandberg added.
Cavill's part in the larger DC universe has been up in the air lately, as rumors have mounted since last year that the actor won't return to the role of Superman. We've yet to get a concrete answer on that, and we'll likely never know for sure whether those tensions had an effect on Cavill's would-be Shazam cameo. In the end, we find it easy to agree with Sandberg's assessment: The scene, and the movie as a whole, turned out just fine.
Xbox Game Pass subscribers have six more games to look forward to on Xbox One this month. Microsoft has announced the lineup for the remainder of April, and it includes some heavy hitters from recent years.
Those join the previously announced offerings for late March and early April, which included The Walking Dead mini episode Michonne, Marvel vs Capcom Infinite, and Minecraft. Microsoft recently teased six more games would be announced this week.
Xbox Game Pass is a subscription service that provides full downloads from a catalog of more than 100 games. It costs $10 per month, and all first-party titles from Microsoft are available on release day. The company has also hinted at plans to expand the service to PC.
Xbox Game Pass Upcoming Titles:
April 11 - Prey, The Golf Club 2
April 18 - Monster Hunter World, The Walking Dead: A New Frontier
A classical RPG isn't necessarily the next step one would expect from the creators of the fighting game Skullgirls, which makes Indivisible something of an oddity. While it still has room for growth and polish, a recent hands-on showed how Lab Zero is merging its unique fighting sensibilities with classic genre tropes.
The fighting influence was most immediately apparent in the battle system, which operates with a rhythm and intensity not often seen in RPGs. Each of the characters is assigned to a face button that can be used twice with a cooldown timer. On top of those basic commands, each one has an up and down attack, and breaking an enemy's defense with these powerful blows leaves them more vulnerable to subsequent attacks.
It's the nature of fighting games to offer a great deal of depth from the timing and combinations of relatively simple commands, and the same is true for Indivisible. Breaking an enemy's guard and then following up with well-timed attacks, attuned to your enemy's weaknesses, feels very much like a fighter--to the point that at first I would often trip myself up trying to hit the next command with the rhythm of the fight, not realizing my cooldown timer hadn't refreshed yet. It's a system that definitely took some recalibration to grasp, but once I did it felt very satisfying.
The Skullgirls influence can also be seen in several other elements. The art is a unique blend of western and anime-inspired styles with clean, colorful compositions and expressive faces. The writing is irreverent and often feels playfully anachronistic for its fantasy setting.
The traditional RPG elements can create issues familiar to that trope as well. In some areas of the demo, I was clearly under-leveled and out of my depth. Though I was assured that this was an issue of balance in the demo, it went to show how the realities of RPGs still apply. Though the combat system is an exercise in timing and skill, there's simply no substitute for being leveled appropriately to an area. It also had its share of placeholder images and text, suggesting the studio has some elements to finish before launch.
Indivisible is slated for this year but it has no firm release date, so the studio has time to put on these finishing touches and get the balance just right. What we've seen already is a promising start, blending genres in a new way that makes the marriage of fighting and RPG elements feel natural.
Disney has released the first trailer for its remake of The Lion King. The movie, which is set to hit cinemas in July, features an all-star voice cast that includes James Earl Jones as Mufasa and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar. The trailer gives us an early look at how both of these characters look and sound, and it's quite impressive.
The trailer also features a number of other characters who will be familiar to fans of the animated classic, including Simba (Donald Glover), Nala (Beyonce), Rafiki (John Kani), and, very briefly, Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed the hyenas. Evoking nostalgia seems to be very much a goal of The Lion King, and we see a few iconic scenes from the animated film given new life. Most notable among these is the stampede and Simba standing on the cliff. There's also a nice musical finish at the end of the trailer. Check it out above.
The new Lion King is written by Jeff Nathanson, who previously worked on Catch Me If You Can and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. It's directed by Jon Favreau, known for his work on Iron Man and the 2016 Jungle Book remake.
Other actors in the film include comedian John Oliver, who plays Zazu, while Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner voice Timon and Pumbaa, respectively. Keegan-Michael Key and Eric Andre are also voicing characters. You can see the full cast in the image here. The Lion King and hits theatres on July 18, 2019.
Sony has confirmed the much-requested PSN ID change feature will arrive very soon for PS4 users. Players in North America can change their IDs from today, April 10, while those in Europe can do so from tomorrow, April 11.
"We're excited to announce that the online ID change feature on PSN is officially launching to all PlayStation 4 owners later today," Sony's social media director, Sid Shuman, stated on the PlayStation Blog. "You'll also be able to change your online ID via a web browser, and that feature will also be available starting today."
Shuman goes on to state that ID changes can only be done through a web browser or your PS4--so PS3 and PS Vita users are out of luck. As was previously confirmed, the first change is free, but any subsequent changes to your PSN ID will cost $10 / £8, or $5 / £4 for PS Plus subscribers.
There are no limits on how many times you can change your ID, and you can always revert back to any previous version of your ID for free by contacting PlayStation support. Nobody else can take your old IDs, even after you change, and if you choose to you can display your old ID next to your new one on your profile for up to 30 days, in order to help your friends notice the change. Child accounts cannot change their online ID, Sony says.
Sony warns not all PS4 games will support ID changes: any title published on or after April 1, 2018 should display your new ID in-game, but the platform holder has discovered one instance "where a [recent] game did not fully support the feature." A full list of games that support PSN ID changes can be found on the PlayStation website, showing that many hundreds of titles fully support name changes, while a handful of games have "critical issues" and a few more have "known issues which we did not consider critical to the gameplay experience."
PS4 users might also be interested in April 2019's PS Plus games, The Surge and Conan Exiles. Both titles are available at no extra cost for PS Plus subscribers right now, but they'll go back to their original price at the end of the month.
Sea of Thieves has been out for just over a year, and while many enjoyed the pirate game, others felt it just didn't have enough content. Developer Rare is further attempting to address that feedback with the game's Anniversary Update, comprising a new narrative-driven questline called Tall Tales: Shores of Gold and an entire new PvP mode named The Arena.
The Arena is a competitive mode for five teams of four set in smaller, distinct areas. At the beginning of each 24-minute match, every team receives the same set of treasure maps. You must proceed to one of the X marks in order to retrieve chests, which can then be cashed in for Silver at a number of special ships.
Of course, other teams are competing for the same chests to cash in, so you might find you run in to some resistance on your travels. Killing other players or sinking their ships nets you a small amount of Silver, and respawns are active. Particular to The Arena is a new damage model for ships, which can now have their wheel, masts, and anchor destroyed--though these can be repaired with wood in the same way you would fix a hull.
Tall Tales, meanwhile, is a new questline for people who wanted more direction in Sea of Thieves' classic adventure mode. It's set in the game's usual shared world--which will also gain a new island that Rare says is its biggest island yet--and will see you complete a number of puzzles and riddles in the search for treasure. The mode includes new enemy types, items enchanted with new abilities, and a new faction that will buy fish and meat off you after you utilise new fishing and cooking mechanics.
Rare's pirate game launched in March 2018 and was awarded a 6/10 in our Sea of Thieves review. "There may come a time when Sea of Thieves is able to entice me back, and I imagine that will be with a mix of new mission types and hopefully the promise of rewards that allow for new types of interactions, if not improve my character's capabilities," wrote Peter Brown. "For now, it's a somewhat hollow game that can be fun for a handful of hours when played with friends, and something worth trying out if you happen to be an Xbox Game Pass subscriber. Even though it's hard to wholeheartedly recommend, I like enough of what I see to hold out hope that things will eventually improve as the game continues to be patched and updated with new content."
We joined forces with Perfect World Entertainment so two of our readers can get a chance to take home a custom painted Hob Nintendo Switch console and the digital code to download a free copy of Hob: The Definitive Edition, a single-player adventure game that's coming to the Switch on April 4.
Here are the prizes:
For our two grand prize winners, they will take home the exclusive custom painted Hob Nintendo Switch console plus a copy of the game for Nintendo Switch.
There will also be 10 runner ups who will get a digital code to download Hob: The Definitive Edition on the Nintendo Switch.
To enter for a chance to win, you have to fill out the form below after reading the official rules and accepting the terms and conditions. You also have the option to get extra entries to increase your chances of winning by following us across social media.
If you are having trouble viewing the form please use this link. Good luck!
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's battle royale mode Blackout added a new map, Alcatraz, on PS4 earlier this month, and now it's also available for Xbox One and PC. This comes alongside a new update that's now available on all platforms.
Black Ops 4's version of the island prison off San Francisco is a close-quarters map that sees players fighting among buildings and watchtowers and inside through cells and tight corridors. In addition to being smaller than the standard map, it's changes how you drop into the map, and it features zombies throughout. Additionally, like Apex Legends, you're able to respawn on Alcatraz. You can see it in action in the video embedded above.
In other news, an update for Black Ops 4 added a new Infected game mode on PS4, while there have been some updates to weapon balance: the KN-57 now has increased four-shot range but increased recoil. Additionally, in a curious decision, Duos was removed from Blackout, but it'll be coming back on April 10 for PS4 and Xbox One players.
Go to Reddit to see a full rundown of the changes made to the game with its April 9 patch.
One of the more absurd theories about Avengers: Endgame is that Ant-Man will shrink to the size of an insect, fly into the rear end of Thanos, and then return to his normal size. This would kill Thanos in the process, according to the very gross theory. It's an idea that's grown in popularity, with actor Paull Rudd being asked about the directors acknowledging it with their Instagram profile avatar. Now, co-director Joe Russo and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson have offered their takes on the idea.
Joe Russo told GameSpot sister site ComicBook.com: "Thanos is incredibly strong. His skin is almost impervious. The question would be what would happen to Ant-Man if he did that. Would it work? Would it not work? If it didn't work, it would be really bad."
Tyson said on his StarTalk podcast that it doesn't make sense that Ant-Man himself would have to fly in Thanos's butt to get the job done if the Avengers wanted to do it this way. Any object big enough could work. Thanos probably has "powerful, evil poop," Tyson said, so staying clear of his rear end is probably for the best for any human, superhero or not.
"First, that's nasty. Because if Thanos is as powerful and as evil as he is, he's going to have powerful, evil poop," Tyson said. "So I would not want to find myself in that environment. Second, why not put something else in there that expands? Why does it have to be your own self? If you just want to go in and expand and kill him, you don't have to be the person to do that. Send some other quantum thing in there to do it."
The Avengers have a plan to defeat Thanos, and they're willing to do "whatever it takes" to get the job done--but flying into Thanos's derriere sounds like a very bad idea.
Ant-Man actor Paul Rudd himself responded to the theory in an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, but all he had to say was, "these lips are sealed" in regards to his ability to discuss the theory.
Avengers: Endgame hits theatres on April 26. The Avengers will probably defeat Thanos by some other means than sending Ant-Man into the villain's butt, though we will have to wait a bit longer to find out how they'll go about restoring peace to the galaxy.
Capcom's Resident Evil 2 has added a new microtransaction that lets you unlock everything. The price? $5 USD / £4 / $7.50 AUD.
The "All In-Game Rewards Unlock," as it's called, provides immediate access to the 4th Survivor and Tofu Survivor modes, along with costumes, weapons, and concept art. Among the weapons included are the Samurai Edge handgun, LE-5 submachine gun, ATM-4 rocket launcher, and minigun, all of which come with infinite ammo, according to Eurogamer.
That's notable because ammo scarcity is a factor in Resident Evil 2, so these weapons ensure you are always prepared.
All of these items are normally available through gameplay, so this option is available for those who want to speed up progress. The microtransaction is available on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.
Resident Evil 2 launched in January, and it has been a big hit. By Capcom's latest count, the title has shipped more than 4 million copies worldwide.
"Resident Evil 2 is not only a stellar remake of the original, but it's also simply a strong horror game that delivers anxiety-inducing and grotesque situations, topping some of the series' finest entries," wrote critic Alessandro Fillari. "But above all, the remake is an impressive game for the fact that it goes all-in on the pure survival horror experience, confidently embracing its horrifying tone and rarely letting up until the story's conclusion."
It's been quite a while since we've heard about Ubisoft's long-awaited Beyond Good & Evil 2. Ubisoft isn't sharing any further details about it yet, but now Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has at least provided an update on how the project is coming along.
He told IGN that he just recently spoke with creative director Michel Ancel, and in their discussion they might have discussed "another direction" for the game.
"I spoke with Michel last week about it to see where it was going; how we should move in one or another direction," Guillemot said in a video that was apparently recorded in March. "We see the potential of this universe is fantastic, and Michel is really passionate [about it]. It's going to be fantastic, I think."
Ubisoft showed off a new look at Beyond Good & Evil 2 last year at E3, and the title could be among those that Ubisoft reveals more about at E3 this year.
In an intriguing bit of news, Joseph Gordon Levitt's creative company, HitRecord, is partnering with Ubisoft for the tools so anyone can create content for Beyond Good and Evil 2.
Beyond Good & Evil 2 is a prequel to the 2003 original. It's been in the works for a long time, but there is still no release date or announced platforms.
What are you hoping to see from Beyond Good & Evil 2? Let us know in the comments below!
This past weekend's episode of The Simpsons ended in a very strange and amazing way. The world's first Ned Flanders-themed metal band, Okilly Dokilly, aired a portion of the music video for their song "White Wine Spritzer" over the show's end-credits.
This really happened. And it was incredible. Here's the video:
Okilly Dokilly is a "Nedal" band from Phoenix whose members dress up like Ned Flanders. The lyrics are pulled from things Ned said on the show. White Wine Spritzer itself comes from the Season 10 episode where Ned throws caution to the wind and orders himself a white wine spritzer while in Vegas with Homer.
Simpsons showrunner Al Jean told Rolling Stone that the team noticed the White Wine Spritzer video and "knew they had to be on the show."
"We do not endorse their message of indiscriminate drinking of white wine spritzers," he said.
Frontman Head Ned, which is his stage name, told Rolling Stone that he's "very much in disbelief" about his band appearing on The Simpsons in this way.
Okilly Dokilly is currently in the midst of a huge US tour with stops all around the country. You can see a list of tour stops and get more information about the band here on their website.
It appears Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is adding a new stage-builder mode. A new commercial for the game released by Nintendo shows what appears to be the new Stage Builder mode from the main menu. You can see this for yourself at 0:02 in the video below.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Wii and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U also featured stage-builder modes, so it's not a big surprise that it could be added to Ultimate. What's more, the stage-builder mode was already leaked thanks to a data-mine. Another new mode, Home Run Contest, is also reportedly coming to Ultimate, according to Source Gaming.
A Nintendo Direct briefing is reportedly coming on Thursday, April 11, so it might be there that Nintendo officially announces new modes for Ultimate. Nothing is confirmed at this stage, however, so for now consider this a rumour.
Inspired by the success of games like PUBG, Fortnite, and Apex Legends, a very rich person is looking to buy an island and bring 100 people to it for a real-life game of battle royale.
Contestants will compete with Airsoft guns, and shots will be detected by touch-sensitive armour. Under the current plan, competition will take place 12 hours per day over three days until only one person remains. Competitors can camp for the night, while food, camping gear, and all equipment will be provided to contestants.
The untitled contest is still in the early stages of planning, so there is no word on yet on how to sign up or other key particulars like what island will be used or details on the safety measures and rules to be implemented. Whatever the case, the person who gets hired as gamemaker will get £1,500/day for six weeks to create the event. And the last person standing will take home £100,000.
"Battle royale games have become incredibly popular over the last few years ago and our customer is a huge fan who wants to make the game a reality in the safest way possible," Hush Hush founder Aaron Harpin said. "If the championship is a success this year, it's something he wants to make an annual event moving forward, which is very exciting!"
IGN reports that the sponsor of the event is an anonymous millionaire; his identity is unknown.
HBO's fantasy show Game of Thrones is ending. The six-episode eighth and final season premieres this Sunday, and fans are excited to see who lives and dies and how the story wraps up. Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss spoke with Entertainment Weekly about ending the show and the pressure of delivering a good ending.
Weiss said he and Benioff want people to enjoy the ending, but he's sure it won't please everyone. "There is no version where everybody says, 'I have to admit, I agree with every other person on the planet that this is the perfect way to do this'-- that's an impossible reality that doesn't exist," he said. "You hope you're doing the best job you can, the version that works better than any other version, but you know somebody is not going to like it. I've been that person with other things, where people are loving something and I'm going, 'Yeah, that's okay. I was hoping for more.'"
As for Benioff, he said he and Weiss have discussed from the very beginning how they wanted Game of Thrones to end. It's been more than a decade in the making, and Benioff said he and Weiss worry about how it'll be received.
"A good story isn't a good story if you have a bad ending. Of course we worry," he said.
At the same time, "part of the fun" with any show, and this would presumably include Game of Thrones, is seeing people debate and discuss the ending, Benioff said.
He said he personally enjoyed the ending to HBO's The Sopranos--which surprised everyone and cut to black. That doesn't mean Game of Thrones will end in a similarly dramatic way, but Benioff said he enjoyed the fervour that the ending created among fans.
"I was one of those people who thought my TV had gone out. I got up and was checking the wires, unable to believe my cable had gone out in the most important moment of my favorite TV series," he said. "I think that was the best of all possible endings for that show. But a lot of people hated it."
Benioff and Weiss are directing the Game of Thrones series finale. Weiss said he and Benioff trust the season's other directors, but they wanted to direct the finale because they didn't want to create a scenario where they micro-managed the director to make sure it was fitting their vision.
"When something has been sitting with you for so long, you have such a specific sense of the way each moment should play and feel," he said. "Not just in terms of 'this shot or that shot,' though sometimes it's that as well. So it's not really fair to ask somebody else to get that right. We'd be lurking over their shoulder every take driving them crazy, making it hard for them to do their job. If we're going to drive anybody crazy, it might as well be ourselves. At least if something goes wrong, he can yell at me and I can yell at him."
Star Wars: Episode 9 was originally set to be directed by Jurassic World's Colin Trevorrow. However, Disney fired him over creative differences, and not long after, the company hired The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams to come in and finish the trilogy that he started years prior.
In a new interview, Abrams recalled being pitched on coming back to direct Episode 9--and his initial response was no. He told Fast Company that he had some trepidation over returning because "it was almost, on a personal level, a dangerous thing to get too close to something that you care that much about."
With The Force Awakens, Abrams was happy with creating new characters and building a new story as the foundation for the new trilogy. It felt like playing with fire to come back to direct another Star Wars film, Abrams recalled.
"Though of course I'm aware that there are critics of that movie, it felt to me like we dodged a bullet. Like we got in there, we got to do something," Abrams said. "And I left loving Star Wars as much as I did when I got there. Like, somehow, it was on a personal, selfish level something I was really happy to have done. Not just excited about doing but happy to have done. And to ask to have that happen again, I felt a little bit like I was playing with fire. Like, why go back? We managed to make it work. What the hell am I thinking?"
Abrams literally said, "No," to Kennedy at one point, but his wife, Katie, convinced him.
"I think that she felt like it was an opportunity to bring to a close this story that we had begun and had continued, of course," he said. "And I could see that even though the last thing on my mind was going away and jumping back into that, especially with the time constraints that we were faced with."
According to Abrams, there was no script for Episode 9 when he came aboard, which suggests the version Trevorrow was working on was thrown out. He had the challenging job of creating a script and getting the movie made in a two-year window to hit the December 2019 release window that Disney wanted.
"You've got two years from the decision to do it to release, and you have literally nothing ... You don't have the story, you don't have the cast, you don't have the designers, the sets," Abrams said. "There was a crew, and there were things that will be worked on for the version that preceded ours, but this was starting over."
Because it was such a "mega job," Abrams said he knew he wanted to bring on a co-writer. He ended up hiring Chris Terrio, who won a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for Ben Affleck's Best Picture winner Argo.
One possible benefit of having less time to work on a project is that there is little time to overthink, Abrams said. He said he learned that working on Lost, which he and the team had just 12 weeks to write, cast, shoot, and cut for the pilot episode.
"Truly, finally--now that I'm back, the difference is I feel like we might've done it," Abrams said about Episode 9. "Like, I actually feel like this crazy challenge that could have been a wildly uncomfortable contortion of ideas, and a kind of shoving-in of answers and Band-Aids and bridges and things that would have felt messy. Strangely, we were sort of relentless and almost unbearably disciplined about the story and forcing ourselves to question and answer some fundamental things that at the beginning, I absolutely had no clue how we would begin to address."
Now that it's done, Abrams said he thinks Episode 9 will be "something incredibly special."
"I feel like we've gotten to a place--without jinxing anything or sounding more confident than I deserve to be--I feel like we're in a place where we might have something incredibly special. So I feel relief being home, and I feel gratitude that I got to do it. And more than anything, I'm excited about what I think we might have."
The full Fast Company interview is incredibly in-depth and fascinating; read it here.
Easter is just around the corner, and Niantic is celebrating by bringing back its annual Eggstravaganza event in Pokemon Go. The week-long event returns next week beginning Tuesday, April 16, and this year it'll give players their first chance to capture Shiny Buneary.
Throughout the Eggstravangaza, you'll be able to hatch baby Pokemon like Pichu, Smoochum, and Magby from 2 km Eggs, and you'll receive twice the typical amount of Candy for every Egg you hatch. On top of that, Incubators will be twice as effective for the duration of the event, while Lucky Eggs will last twice as long as normal.
Beyond that, Niantic will also be distributing special Field Research tasks revolving around Eggs at Poke Stops. Buneary will also appear in the wild much more frequently than normal, and if you're lucky, you may come across its Shiny version. You can find more details about the event on the Pokemon Go website.
In the meantime, Pokemon Go's second Legendary Lunch Hour event is set for April 10. Shortly after that, Niantic will host this month's Community Day. The monthly event returns this Saturday, April 13, and will feature the rare Dragon Pokemon Bagon. Then, starting April 15, the Legendary Latios will make an encore appearance as part of a special week-long Raid event.
In addition to all of the upcoming events, Niantic has a couple of new features on the way for Pokemon Go, namely the Lucky Friends mechanic. Each day, you'll have a chance to become Lucky Friends with a player you've become Best Friends with, which will guarantee you both receive a Lucky Pokemon in one trade. The developer is also adding avatar poses to Pokemon Go's in-game store. These run for 500 coins apiece and let you customize your Trainer's pose in the game.
Pokemon Go has been receiving a regular stream of new events and Pokemon over the past few months, but that's not the only new content Niantic has in the works for it. In a blog post on the Pokemon Go website, the developer shared the first details on Lucky Friends and avatar poses, two new features coming to the hit mobile game.
Lucky Friends is a new level of friendship you can achieve once per day with players you've become Best Friends with. Much like Lucky Pokemon, there's a chance you'll become Lucky Friends when you interact with a Best Friend, be it by trading Pokemon, opening gifts from each other, challenging them to Trainer battles, or fighting alongside them in Raids.
If you do become Lucky Friends, you'll both see a notification indicating it, and your next trade is guaranteed to give you both Lucky Pokemon. Once the trade has been completed, however, your friendship status will revert to Best Friends, although Niantic says you will have a chance to become Lucky Friends again the following day through the same methods.
In addition to the Lucky Friends mechanic, Niantic is introducing avatar poses to Pokemon Go. These can be purchased through the in-game Style Shop for 500 Coins apiece and allow you to customize your Trainer's pose in your profile, the Friend list, and other areas where your avatar appears.
Pokemon Go's next in-game event is the Legendary Lunch Hour, which runs from 12-1 PM local time on April 10. Shortly after that, Niantic will hold this month's Community Day on Saturday, April 13. The Legendary Pokemon Latios is returning for a special week-long Raid event from April 15-22, and the annual Eggstravaganza event is coming back for another year starting April 16.
It's the season of deals at many games stores, with both the PlayStation and Microsoft stores wrapping up huge sales on critically acclaimed games recently. GameStop's massive spring sale is still ongoing, and in the midst of all these deals, Nintendo has been gearing up for a sale of its own. The Nintendo Eshop Blockbuster Sale launches this Thursday, April 11 at 1 PM GMT / 3 PM CEST and will be available for two weeks, ending Thursday, April 25 at 10 PM GMT / 12 PM CEST. As of right now, the sale is only confirmed in Europe--it's not clear if these deals will be available in North America.
A selection of Nintendo 3DS games will also be marked down, including Super Smash Bros. (33% off), The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D (33% off), and New Super Mario Bros. 2 (33% off). In total, more than 20 games for Switch and 3DS will be part of the sale and available to download directly from the Eshop, according to the press release. We'll update this story when all of the deals become available; in the meantime, check out the list of currently confirmed deals below.
Nintendo Switch deals
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy -- 34% off
Dark Souls Remastered -- 30% off
Diablo III: Eternal Collection -- 30% off
Doom -- 50% off
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -- 50% off
L.A. Noire -- 66% off
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild -- 30% off
While the deal hasn't been promoted by Microsoft yet, you can find the details buried toward the bottom of the Xbox Game Pass sign-up page under Description. The offer will go live this Thursday, April 11, at 9 PM PT / Friday, April 12 at 12 AM ET and be available until May 13 at 12 AM PT / 3 AM ET. You can't combine this offer with other promotions, and you can claim it only one time per account. After the three months are over, you'll be charged the full monthly price unless you cancel.
Details of the promotion
Xbox Game Pass generally costs $10 per month, so this is a great opportunity to get three months for over 96% off. New subscribers can already sign up and get their first month for $1, so this deal is basically an extension of that one.
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