Month: January 2019

During AMD’s keynote address at CES 2019, Microsoft’s head of gaming Phil Spencer came on stage and briefly discussed a partnership with AMD that would involve “future platforms.”

Speaking of AMD, Spencer said, “As we look forward to future platforms that we’re building and work that we’re doing, the partnerships and the innovations that we’ve seen in the past have led to what we’ve been able to do today, I think they’re going to be critically important to our future endeavors. I’m really looking forward to showing those to people more in the future.”

While Spencer didn’t outright say that the next Xbox would use AMD technology, it seems highly likely AMD will supply the APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) for Microsoft’s next gaming box. After all, AMD provided semi-custom AMD APUs based on its Jaguar microarchitecture for Xbox One and Xbox One S while an upgraded version of this APU was used for  Xbox One X. AMD similarly supplies Sony with APUs for the PlayStation 4 family of consoles.

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It looks like the fourth entry in the new Star Trek series has hit an intergalactic roadbump. Deadline reports that SJ Clarkson, who was announced as the franchise’s first female director, is no longer involved with the project, and the film isf “shelved.”

Clarkson is keeping busy without Star Trek, however, as she’s directing the new Game of Thrones spin-off for HBO. Clarkson also directed episodes of Orange is the New Black and Jessica Jones.

This is just the latest setback for Star Trek 4, as it was previously reported that Chris Pine–who played the iconic Captain Kirk–had dropped out after contract negotiations broke down. Chris Hemsworth, who played Kirk’s father, also reportedly couldn’t come to terms on a contract.

The 2009 Star Trek reboot made $385 million worldwide, while 2013’s Star Trek: Into Darkness pulled in $467 million globally. 2016’s Beyond was the worst performer of the bunch, bringing in $343 million worldwide.

Back in August, it was reported that the new Star Trek movie was a “priority” at Paramount, with deals expected to close for the other cast members, including Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, and John Cho. Actor Anton Yelchin, who played Chekov in the new films, died in June 2016 in a car accident.

The fourth Star Trek was being written by JD Payne and Patrick McKay, and while the film now may never happen, the pair are writing Amazon’s ambitious Lord of the Rings TV show. Star Trek 4’s story, which has never been revealed, was producer JJ Abrams’ favourite in the history of the franchise.

What happens next with the new Star Trek film remains to be seen, but whatever the case, it seems like it won’t be coming anytime soon.

The new, untitled fourth Star Trek movie was expected to be followed by another Star Trek film from Quentin Tarantino. However, it remains to be seen if that’s ever going to happen.

Pokemon Go‘s latest Legendary, Heatran, made its debut in Raid Battles last month immediately following Cresselia’s departure, but it won’t be around for much longer. The Lava Dome Pokemon is scheduled to leave the mobile game on January 15, making this your last opportunity to catch one if you haven’t yet.

As is the case with most other Legendaries in Go, to catch Heatran, you’ll first need to travel to a Gym that’s hosting a Heatran Raid, then team up with other players in-person to battle it. If you manage to successfully defeat the Legendary, you’ll earn a handful of Premier Balls along with an opportunity to catch it.

Heatran is unique among all Legendaries thanks to its typing. The Lava Dome Pokemon is a Fire- and Steel-type, giving it a resistance to Dragon and Psychic attacks. However, this combination also makes it susceptible to Fighting- and especially Ground-type moves, so you’ll want to bring along Pokemon such as Rhyperior and Groudon to battle it. Water Pokemon such as Swampert and Kyogre will also be very effective.

Heatran is the third Gen 4 Legendary to appear in Pokemon Go thus far, following Giratina (which arrived as part of Pokemon Go’s most recent Halloween event) and the aforementioned Cresselia. Niantic hasn’t announced what the game’s next Legendary will be, although a new one typically arrives as the previous leaves, so we presumably won’t have to wait long to find out.

In addition to Heatran, several older Legendaries are available in Pokemon Go once again through January’s Field Research. You’ll be able to encounter one of eight Legendaries–Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Raikou, Entei, Suicune, Ho-Oh, or Lugia–each time you achieve a Research Breakthrough through the end of February.

Pokemon Go’s ongoing Adventure Sync Hatchathon is also scheduled to wrap up on January 15. Through the end of the event, you’ll be able to receive twice the normal amount of Stardust and Candy for each Pokemon Egg you hatch, and you’ll have a higher likelihood of receiving 5 and 10 km Eggs by spinning the Photo Disc at PokeStops and Gyms.

What happened to Silent Hill, or more specifically, the Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro collaboration, Silent Hills? What’s going on with P.T., the playable teaser that announced Silent Hills, and is often hailed as one of the best horror games ever made? Is it gone forever? Is there any hope for it making an official return?

Some of these questions don’t have answers – the future of Silent Hill is very uncertain. But we can paint a clear timeline of the Silent Hills saga to better understand the events that lead up to this point. We’re coming up on P.T.’s fifth anniversary, and even after all this time, the mark that demo left on the horror gaming landscape is still there, spawning fan remake after fan remake and inspiring countless other games to follow in its footsteps.

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