Month: August 2018

Xbox Live Gold members can now treat themselves to a few more free games, now that August’s offerings have been made available. This rotation includes four new games to come available at some point this month, two of which are out already: Forza Horizon 2, and Dead Space 3 via backwards compatibility. For Honor will join Forza Horizon 2 mid-month, and Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two for Xbox 360 will replace Dead Space 3.

Forza Horizon 2 is a part of Microsoft’s lavish open-world racing series, and a nice way to catch the need for speed before Forza Horizon 4 launches this October. For Honor is Ubisoft’s melee combat game that pits historical factions against one another. Ubisoft has embraced a live model for a lot of its games lately, so For Honor has enjoyed a long lifespan in the competitive community. It has a free update planned for the fall to add a new faction. Death Squared, from July’s GWG, will be available until For Honor replaces it.

Dead Space 3 closes out the space-horror trilogy with the addition of co-op play. Epic Mickey 2 is co-op too, but otherwise about as far from Dead Space as you can get. It sees the classic Disney mascot saving the Wasteland with a magic paintbrush, and his new best buddy Oswald the rabbit. As with all of the growing list of Xbox 360 backwards compatible games, these will be playable on your Xbox One too. And if you own the game disc, just pop it in and it will still work.

August 2018 Games With Gold

Xbox One

• Forza Horizon 2 (August 1-31)
• For Honor (August 16-September 15)

Xbox 360

• Dead Space 3 (August 1-15)
• Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two (August 16-31)

Topher Grace, known for his roles as Eric in That ’70s Show and Eddie Brock in Spider-Man 3, made a personal 2 hour cut of the Hobbit Trilogy.

According to IndieWire, Grace created this edit after filming his role as the infamous white supremacist David Duke in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman. The role had taken such a mental toll on him, he used the editing process to undo the psychological stress it gave him, bringing him out of a depression.

“I don’t know what other guys do. Go fishing?” said Grace. “For me, this is just a great way to relax. There’s something really zen about it.”

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Sea of Thieves has officially crossed 5 million players, just in time for its new Cursed Sails update.

Rare revealed the player milestone through the official Xbox website, stating the number was achieved through combined Xbox One and PC users. This number was likely reached with a mix of units sold and players who used Xbox Game Pass.

This was announced alongside the launch of the Cursed Sails update, which introduces enemy Skeleton Ships, the Brigantine three-player ship, and a new Alliance system.

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The jacket from Harrison Ford’s Han Solo costume in The Empire Strikes Back is going to auction with other coveted movie props, and is expected to fetch up to £1 million.

The Telegraph reports that the jacket is being auctioned off by Prop Store in September, at London’s BFI Imax, and makes up one of 600 lots that includes a number of other iconic movie props and memorabilia.

“Our auction on September 20 2018 will once again raise the bar, presenting some of the most iconic cinematic artefacts of our time,” said Stephen Lane, chief executive of Prop Store.

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Now that Avengers: Infinity War is getting its home release, there are some very interesting tidbits about the film seeing the light of day for the first time. For instance, did you know there was a fan-favorite character that was originally featured in the movie before his scene was cut out?

In the deleted scenes that come with the digital release of Infinity War, it’s revealed that Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) once had a very funny role in the film. As it plays out in the theatrical version of the movie, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) discuss potentially having a child while on a walk in New York City. The scene ends when Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) summons Stark.

A deleted version of that scene plays quite a bit longer, though, as Happy appears on a golf cart and complains about having to hold off the paparazzi while the two have their personal chat. “You two should just elope because this media circus that’s going on is driving me crazy,” he tells the couple. “This is me on edge because I’m trying to keep all the pictures out of the paper and off the internet so your wedding’s not ruined. Remember that kid from TMZ that you had me trade paint with on the FDR Drive? Well, I got a case against me now!”

It’s not hard to see why the moment was cut from the final version of the film–it doesn’t exactly advance the plot at all and it mostly played for jokes. In a movie like Infinity War, practically everything means something. Still, one more moment of levity before everything falls apart would have been nice.

The digital release of Avengers: Infinity War comes with a slew of other special features, including a roundtable discussion with the various MCU directors and even more deleted scenes. It’s available now. The film will arrive on Blu-ray on August 14.