Universal Pictures has won distribution rights for the international release of James Bond 25, and Danny Boyle has been brought on board to direct.
After partnering with EON Productions and MGM Studios, Universal Pictures will be handling the international distribution for the next James Bond film, beating out Sony and Warner Bros. who were reportedly in the running for the film’s international distribution rights.
The film has also found a director. After reports that Yann Demange might be taking up the reins, it was announced that Academy-Award winner Danny Boyle will be directing, with an original screenplay by Trainspotting’s John Hodge. As confirmed last year. Daniel Craig will be reprising his role as 007.
Note: this is a mostly spoiler-free review of the sixth season of Arrow, which is now available to stream on Netflix. I’ll discuss basic character and plot details but save direct spoiler chatter for the end of the review.
It’s not always easy being a fan of Arrow, as the show’s sixth season frequently proved. The show was at its most uneven and frustrating this year. For a while it seemed as though Season 6 was doomed to go down in history as the show’s worst to date. And while it did finally turn things around in the last couple months, it may have been too little, too late for many viewers.
The show’s sudden drop in quality is all the more surprising given the strong foundation Season 5 had put in place. Season 5 ended with the series best episode yet, wrapping up the conflict between Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) and Adrian Chase (Josh Segarra) and leaving viewers with a cliffhanger wherein the fate of nearly every member of Team Arrow was in doubt. That’s how you end a season. The Season 6 premiere, “Fallout,” is not how you begin one. That episode squandered most of the potential from “Lian Yu.” Rather than delivering a dramatic overhaul of the status quo and showcasing a Team Arrow left reeling from Chase’s final attack, it showed that annoyingly little had changed in Star City during those missing three months. The impact of that attack was minimal, with almost zero casualties and a handful of easily reversible changes to the norm.
You know what they say: never work with kids, animals, and especially dinosaurs.
In this final developer diary, the team at Frontier outline not only how you set about making a dinosaur in Jurassic World Evolution, but also how you keep them happy and, more importantly, in their enclosures.
E3 2018 is approaching, and expectations for the big event are growing higher by the day. While it’s looking like Microsoft, Nintendo, and several other publishers will have some compelling content for E3, a lot of eyes are on Sony. Recently, the company revealed that it’ll have four major games to show at E3: Death Stranding, Ghost of Tsushima, Spider-Man, and The Last of Us: Part II. In addition to these titles, it’ll also highlight several third-party games coming to the platform, but no new hardware will be shown.
Sony in particular has had a stellar showing at E3 in the last few years, revealing games like the Final Fantasy VII: Remake, God of War, Resident Evil 7, and Days Gone–some of which are still awaiting their release. On top of this, the publisher has also managed to secure impressive third-party exclusives, which includes content for Destiny 2 and Call of Duty. Because of this, there’s been a lot of anticipation and speculation regarding what Sony could have in store for its press conference this year.
Here are our big predictions for what could be coming to the PS4, and what types of games have a chance of making a showing.
Kojima Will Debut Death Stranding’s Gameplay, Confusing Everyone Even Further
Three trailers in and we’re pretty desperate to hear more about what Death Stranding is actually about. So far we’ve only gotten vague details about the story and how it’ll play. While the surreal imagery of previous trailers have piqued people’s’ curiosity, we can’t imagine that another teaser will do Death Stranding any favors. Intrigue can only take a game so far; we need something more substantial.
We’re thinking Kojima will take the stage once again at this year’s Sony press conference to go into explicit detail about Death Stranding, as well as show off actual gameplay footage. We’d love to see an in-depth demonstration of the life/death and timefall mechanics that Kojima discussed late last year. At the very least, we’re can see Kojima will giving the audience more of a sense of how it’ll feel to actually play the game, as well as what its combat and UI looks like.
Death Stranding has garnered massive interest due to the sense of mystery that veils its story and gameplay. We’re hoping that Kojima and Sony will provide some answers to the questions that its initial trailers gave us. | Matt Espineli
A New Remaster Of A Classic Playstation Game Will Be Announced
We know that Sony is going to put a big focus on four games at its E3 2018 press conference, but if the last few years are anything to go by, remakes and remastered versions of classic PlayStation games are almost a sure bet as well. Like, a sure, sure bet. At E3 2014, we got The Last of Us Remastered. The next year at E3 2015, the Final Fantasy VII Remake was finally announced, and at PSX we got Rez: Infinite. E3 2016: Crash Bandicoot remaster. PSX 2016: Parappa the Rapper, Loco Roco, Patapon, and Wipeout all had remasters announced. At PSX 2017, we also saw the reveal of MediEvil Remastered, another revival of a classic PS1 series.
Finally, the recent remake for Shadow of the Colossus, announced at E3 2017 was released this year and earned critical acclaim. The studio behind the title, Bluepoint Games, is already at work on another remake. So chances are very good that we’ll hear about that project, or at least another remastered re-release. Is it going to be Ico? Ape Escape? Syphon Filter? The Getaway? The Bouncer? TOKYO JUNGLE? Ah look, they’ll probably get to them all eventually anyway. | Edmond Tran
The Last Of Us: Part II Will Get A Release Date
The Last of Us was one of Sony’s most critically acclaimed titles from the previous generation, and many fans have been anxiously awaiting more info about the sequel. Though we’ve seen two trailers showcasing The Last of Us: Part II‘s new visuals and darker tone, Naughty Dog has avoided sharing too much about the continuation of Ellie and Joel’s story. However, Sony has confirmed that Part II will be one of the four major titles that the publisher will focus on during this year’s E3.
Sony has been on a roll as of late with their slate of exclusives like God of War and Horizon: Zero Dawn, both selling beyond expectations and earning wide praise. And while The Last of Us: Part II is expected to attract that same attention, Sony would do well to go beyond just presenting the gameplay demo and leaving fans hanging. To make Naughty Dog’s return to its bleak and emotionally draining world all the more exciting, we predict that Sony will also reveal the game’s release date. The timing seems just right for Naughty Dog’s next game to show the beginning signs of its release, and E3 2018 would be the perfect place to do it. | Alessandro Fillari
From Software Will Debut A New IP
At The Game Awards in 2017, From Software debuted a 30-second teaser trailer, giving us an incredibly brief hint at its next project. While a lot of people were naturally excited to assume it’s new Dark Souls or Bloodborne game, a closer look suggests something completely different, at least thematically. The visuals we got showed a bony-looking contraption in front of a scroll of Japanese calligraphy. The device is cast in iron and wrapped in bloody string that’s slowly pulled taut. This is accompanied by audio of rain, the sound of a shakuhachi (Japanese flute), and a taiko drum.
From Software has a few feudal Japan-themed franchises in its roster–most prominently, the stealth-action series Tenchu, hack-and-slash game Otogi, and the survival horror game Kuon–but it’s also entirely possible that it’ll launch a new title altogether. After all, Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne were all new properties spawned in the last decade which caused huge waves, and we wouldn’t put it past From Software to do it all again. | Edmond Tran
Sony Will Reveal Red Dead Redemption 2 Exclusive Content For PS4
All the way back in 2016, PlayStation and Rockstar Games announced that some Red Dead Redemption 2 online content would be made available first on PS4. In the almost two years since then, we have not heard a peep about what form this content may take or how long it’ll be exclusive to PS4 players. We think that we’ll finally learn more about this during Sony’s E3 2018 briefing. Rockstar does not usually do much of anything at E3 on its own. However, the company announced GTA V’s PS4 edition on Sony’s stage back in 2014, so there is precedent of Rockstar making announcements through Sony at E3.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is going to be one of the biggest games of 2018, and an announcement about exclusive content would be a big win for Sony to potentially help drive people to pick up the PS4 edition. This content will be for Red Dead Redemption 2’s online mode (which we also don’t know anything about), so it would be exciting to see a new trailer for the game at E3 that shows off how Rockstar is building upon the gargantuan success of GTA Online for the new Western. | Eddie Makuch
Another Surprise Exclusive For PS4 Will Be Announced
Sony’s PlayStation press conferences have been really fun to watch in the past few years, and part of the reason is because it always throws curveballs at us. Announcements and surprises of brand-new things it managed to keep secret–things we had no idea were coming and no idea we wanted. The announcement of Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima, Insomniac’s Spider-Man, Bend Studio’s Days Gone, Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding, Resident Evil 7, and Shenmue 3 were all things that caught us unaware. We know that Sony’s E3 2018 press conference is going to put a big focus on four games, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have something else up its sleeve too. | Edmond Tran
EA’s inevitable annual follow-up to its football series, Madden NFL 19, has been officially announced. EA announced the game and shared the first details on what to expect from it and when it’s set to release on PS4 and Xbox One.
One of the key features of this year’s game is something called Real Player Motion Technology. EA says with this “new animation system that unlocks next level responsiveness and player personality, players will experience more precision as they run, cut, catch and celebrate on the gridiron this season.” The company also touts that Madden 19 offers “more authentic ways to build an NFL roster [and] the ability to train and develop players.”
Franchise mode, which was largely unchanged in last year’s game, will see some new additions. With both single-player and multiplayer support, you can select from offensive and defensive schemes based on the way you want to play, though the company didn’t detail exactly what that entails. This will somehow tie into an “intuitive progression system” that’s “based on authentic positional archetypes” and allows you to choose between building a winner now or focusing on the future. Franchise mode also gets a Custom Draft Class Creator so that you can create draft classes manually.
Ultimate Team is another area seeing improvements. New training tools will allow you to develop players, while solo challenges will get a more competitive twist with MUT Solo Battles. These feature a leaderboard (with accompanying rewards) that let you compete with other players by taking part in single-player games.
Madden 19’s release date is set for August 10 on both PS4 and Xbox One; pre-ordering the standard edition gets you five Gold Team Fantasy packs and an Elite player from the team of your choice. There will also be a Hall of Fame edition with Terrell Owens on the cover, which also nets you some additional bonuses for Ultimate Team. Additionally, pre-ordering the HOF edition allows you begin playing on August 7. EA Access members on Xbox One, meanwhile, will get access to the game for a limited number of hours beginning on August 2.
EA Sports has officially announced Madden NFL 19, with the game releasing August 10 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Wide receiver Terrell Owens is the cover star for Madden NFL 19: Hall of Fame Edition. Costing $80, this premium version offers three-day early access (August 7) to the football game, 12 gold team fantasy packs, an elite legends player — like Owens or Dan Marino — for ultimate team, and more.
Terrell Owens is the cover star for the Hall of Fame Edition of the football game.
We live in a time where intellectual properties have apparently become like comic book heroes, and it is not Uncle Ben, but apparently, only Firefly that stays dead. The latest loved cultural icon to get a revival in 2018 is The Karate Kid, this time in the form of a TV show on YouTube Red – and to the surprise of absolutely everyone, it got both positive reviews and was successful enough to get a second season.
It was like the universe aligned in order to make this show exist. Our new-found obsession with 80’s nostalgia through streaming shows, Ralph Macchio’s acceptance of his iconic role and recent tour of comic conventions, William Zabka appearing as himself on How I Met Your Mother sparking hot takes on why Daniel LaRusso is actually the bully and Johnny a misunderstood hero. Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Josh Heald created a show that feels just like watching the original 1984 movie, yet unlike anything you’ve seen before.
Now that we can all breathe a sigh of relief in the knowledge that Solo: A Star Wars Story is an exciting addition to the galaxy far, far away, we get to move on to the best part of a new Star Wars movie’s aftermath: hunting for minutia from the lore that makes a surprise appearance. Solo definitely doesn’t skimp on those references and easter eggs, but I wanted to highlight the one that made me just about jump out of my seat when I heard it.
Joey and Jean-Luc embark on the most horrific-looking road trip in Final Fantasy XV, while also dragging the game’s once-gorgeous graphics through the mud.
Joey and Jean-Luc embark on the most horrific-looking road trip in Final Fantasy XV, while also dragging the game’s once-gorgeous graphics through the mud.