Month: March 2019

Horizon Zero Dawn launched two years ago today, and it’s done quite well in that time. In a blog post celebrating the milestone, Guerrilla Games managing director Hermen Hulst revealed that the game has now sold “well over” 10 million copies worldwide.

“The idea that we were able to bring Aloy’s journey to so many players is astounding,” he said. “We’e been deeply moved by the enormous amount of fan creations you’ve posted online, as well as the heartfelt letters you’ve sent sharing your favorite moments from Aloy’s journey.”

This figure likely includes copies of the game purchased outright and those included in PS4 hardware bundles.

Horizon Zero Dawn was something new for Guerrilla, which up until that point had been best known for its Killzone shooter series. Given the commercial success of Horizon Zero Dawn, a sequel would seemingly make sense for business reasons. No announcements have been made, but Hulst previously teased that Aloy might have more stories to tell and secrets to uncover beyond the main game and its Frozen Wilds expansion.

“She’s really uncovered some of the main mysteries in the world, but how do you feel when you finish the story? Are there questions that come up that you want to answer for Aloy?” Hulst told GamesRadar. It was not difficult for us to build the Frozen Wilds and tell that story through Aloy. The environments and the world that we’ve put together easily raise more questions, so it feels pretty rich to us, but that’s all I can say about that for now.”

Here at GameSpot, we’re very excited for the possibilities of what a Horizon Zero Dawn 2 could deliver if Guerrilla decides to make it.

Also in the blog post, Hulst shared some “peculiar details” about the developer of Horizon Zero Dawn. Here are some of the highlights:

• They used the model for Killzone 3‘s Jammer as a stand-in for Aloy in the game’s early stages because her character model was still being developed.
• Guerrilla’s Jochen Willemensen got the flu during development. While recovering at home he saw a movie starring Hannah Hoekstra, and used her face as a model for Aloy’s.
• Baby Aloy was voiced by an actual baby. Guerrilla’s music supervisor Lucas van Tol captured his daughter’s voice and sounds by setting up a recording area near her playpen.
• Tol researched 750 bird sounds for the game and only 30 made the cut.

Are you ready to enter the dimension of imagination?

We’ve tried this before.

The original Twilight Zone, hosted by Rod Serling, went off the air in 1964. But thanks to TV marathons and the show’s wide-reaching influence on future creators, the series has never lost its pop culture currency. And it’s why people have tried, for decades, to recapture lightning in a bottle. There was the remake that lasted from 1985-1989 and a second one that lasted one season in 2003.

Now CBS is attempting a third reboot. And this time, the buzz has been more rampant than before. A teaser, two trailers, a poster, and the mind of Jordan Peele behind it all has audiences and critics hopeful that maybe this time, the reboot will deliver on the original. At a time when prestige television is at a high and genre fiction reigns supreme, a new Twilight Zone has never been more likely to succeed..

Here is everything we know about the 2019 reboot of The Twilight Zone. And if you can’t wait for the new series, you can watch all the original episodes on CBS All-Access. Here’s our gallery of the 13 scariest episodes to get you started. Sweet dreams!

Disclosure: CBS is GameSpot’s parent company.

We know Twilight Zone’s premiere date.

Filming on the new Twilight Zone began this past October, and it’s expected to continue into late March. As far as the show’s premiere date, CBS made the announcement in February: After its Monday, April 1 premiere of Episodes 1 and 2, The Twilight Zone will release one new episode every Thursday, beginning on April 11. There will be 10 episodes total for Season 1.

The reboot will stream on CBS All Access.

CBS’s streaming subscription service is going to get a lot more enticing. It currently hosts the exclusive Star Trek Discovery. It streamed the 61st annual Grammy Awards this past February. And now, it will be the new home for The Twilight Zone.

Episode 1 and Episode 2 will premiere on the service on Monday, April 1.

Jordan Peele is the new Rod Serling.

Rod Serling, the original creepy host of the black-and-white Twilight Zone, is tough to live up to. The first remake didn’t even try; it had a voiceover, but no on-camera narrator. The second remake used Forest Whitaker as a host; to be fair, you can’t really go wrong with Forest Whitaker.

And Jordan Peele, probably feeling the pressure and burden of history, was hesitant to step into the host role; he feared that his background in sketch comedy might cause the show to not be taken seriously. Obviously, he’s relented, which is for the best, especially after witnessing what he can do behind the camera with Get Out.

That Peele takes his responsibility seriously, and understands how crucial the role is to the show’s success, is an excellent sign.

We got an enticing tease during the Super Bowl.

We’ve gotten only a handful of promotional footage since CBS announced this series. The first teaser trailer was released last September: Rod Serling’s classic introduction slowly merged into Jordan Peele’s updated version, as the trademark, creepy music played in the background.

The second trailer “interrupted” the Super Bowl in February. Jordan Peele, now fully immersed in his Rod Serling character, gives a philosophical monologue to an empty football stadium. He then walks through a door on the field and disappears into the ether. Great stuff.

There’s one official trailer so far.

On February 21, we finally got an official trailer and our most complete footage thus far of the reboot.

We see what appears be a mysterious video camera with supernatural powers. We see a man who is living different versions of his ordinary reality. We see clips of a man on an airplane, who apparently later crashlands on an island. We see footage of a young boy who becomes President of the United States. We see long hallways, a man in pinstripes and a fedora, a dark prison, and a smoking man at a bar.

Any of these pitches would sound intriguing in a creative meeting. Soon, we’ll see if they look just as good in practice.

It has an all star cast.

The cast for this series, keeping with Twilight Zone tradition, features many popular, contemporary actors. And why wouldn’t it? From the actor’s perspective, there’s the chance he or she could appear in a classic sketch. Since it’s a rotating cast of guest stars, there isn’t a large time commitment to be a part of something special.

Just based on the official trailer, it seems that Kumail Najiani (The Big Sick, Silicon Valley), Sanaa Lathan (The Best Man, The Affair), Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation), and Steven Yeun (Okja, The Walking Dead) will all star in different episodes.

Greg Kinnear, Tracy Morgan, and John Cho can also be seen in the trailer. There have also been separate press announcements for many of the other actors, including Taissa Farmiga and Ginnifer Goodwin.

We know episode titles, and that one episode might be a remake of a classic.

We know five out of the ten episode titles so far. “Rewind” will the first episode about the mysterious video camera, starring Lathan. “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet” will star Scott. “The Traveler” will star Yeun and Kinnear. “Wunderkind” will star Cho. And “Point of Origin” will star Goodwin.

Of these, there is one direct tribute to an original, classic Twilight Zone episode titled “Nightmare at 20,000 feet.” In that episode, a man originally played by William Shatner is flying in a plane and spots a creature on the wing, trying to make the plane crash, but when he tries to warn everyone, no one believes him.

In fact, we see a doll of the gremlin wash up on the shore in the trailer (see slide 5 above). Are this past episode and this future episode somehow connected? Or is the new one just a remake of the classic?

It takes brass to take on a bonafide television classic. And Jordan Peele knows it; at first, he didn’t want to touch it.

“The realization, for me, was that it was an opportunity to attempt to continue with Serling’s mission,” said Peele in an interview with Variety. “If we approach it without ego and sort of bow to Serling, that will hopefully suffice for our fellow Twilight Zone fans but also bring back a show that I think is needed right now. Because it’s a show that has always helped us look at ourselves, hold a mirror up to society.”

Following reports yesterday about Bond 25’s casting, including word that Rami Malek remains a top choice to play the villain, now comes another report that has some intriguing casting details.

Deadline reports that Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years A Slave, Star Wars) is in talks to join the Cary Fukunaga-directed action movie. Nyong’o also appeared in the Oscar-winning Black Panther and is set to have a role in Jordan Peele’s eerie new film Us.

If Nyong’o does join Bond 25, she’ll be at least the second Oscar-winner on the call sheet. Malek just won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. Nyong’o won her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 2012’s 12 Years A Slave.

What is confirmed about Bond 25 is that Daniel Craig will be back to play Bond again, and for the last time. We also know that Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, and Lea Seydoux are coming back to reprise their roles. The movie will reportedly add Billy Magnussen (The Many Saints of Newark, The Big Short, in a role said to be similar to the American CIA agent likened to Jeffrey Wright’s character in previous movies.

Bond 25 is scheduled to start shooting sometime this Spring and hit theatres in April 2020.

2015’s Spectre is the latest James Bond film. It was a gigantic commercial success, making around $880 million worldwide at the box office.

For more on the James Bond franchise, check out GameSpot’s recent feature, “Exploring James Bond’s Uneven Video Game History.”

Every month, Xbox Live Gold members can look forward to a few free game downloads, and the first offering of Games With Gold for March are now live: Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion for Xbox One and Star Wars Republic Commando for both Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Halfway through the month, you’ll gain access to the second two free games this month: Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 for Xbox One and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, which is also playable on both Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Pirates of the Enchiridion is the most recent game based on beloved cartoon Adventure Time, and it gives players control of characters like Finn, Jake, and Marceline to investigate why the Land of Ooo has been flooded. Thanks to backward compatibility, 2005’s Star Wars Republic Commando can be played on Xbox One and offers an exciting single-player campaign with squad-based, military-style combat.

Plants vs. Zombies fans will appreciate the free download of Garden Warfare 2. The light-hearted shooter expands the series with new characters, modes, and solo content while retaining the humor and ridiculous costumes that make it so entertaining. Finally, there’s Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, which takes place four years after Metal Gear Solid 4 and puts players in control of a cybernetically enhanced Raiden. In our review, we praised the game for its adrenaline-pumping combat and Raiden’s compelling story.

See the full list of games and dates for March’s Games With Gold below.

Xbox Live Games With Gold for March

• Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion — March 1 to 31 (Xbox One)
• Star Wars Republic Commando — March 1 to 15 (Xbox One, Xbox 360)
• Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance — March 16 to 31 (Xbox One, Xbox 360)
• Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 — March 16 to April 15 (Xbox One)

Pokémon: The First Movie – Mewtwo Strikes Back, which was originally released in Japan in 1998, is getting a CG remake and we now have our first look at Ash, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu.

A short and long version of a new Japanese trailer for the upcoming film give us our best look yet at the world of Pokémon and our heroes in a film that that is, for the first time in franchise history, in full CG.

The trailers give Pokémon fans a glimpse of some of their favorites, including Mew, Mewtwo, Meowth, Blastoise, Venusaur, and Charizard.

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The veil has finally been lifted on the eighth generation of Pokémon games, dubbed Pokémon Sword and Shield. The reveal was a big moment for the series, as it marks the first time a mainline Pokémon title has appeared on the Switch. The promise of a new region to explore, new Pokémon to find, and new mysteries to unravel is more than enough to get us excited, even this early on. Fans are already pouring over the new starter characters and deciding what allegiances they’ll be making, designing fan art, and coming up with memes and jokes as they indulge in all the new details the trailer revealed to us.

As the Nintendo Direct showed us the games in action, they were clearly every bit the Pokémon we know and love. But are they too familiar? While it’s too early to tell just how unique a mainline Pokémon experience Sword and Shield will be on a current generation Nintendo console, especially after just one short trailer, some of the more critical sentiments online bring up a few good points.

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MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for X-Men: Dark Phoenix.

A new trailer for X-Men: Dark Phoenix was recently released and hinted at the death of a major character and the director of the film, Simon Kinberg, confirmed the shocking move.

In an interview with EW, Kinberg discussed the reveal that Mystique, played by Jennifer Lawrence, dies at the hand of Sophie Turner’s Jean Grey while Grey is “struggling with the emerging Phoenix inside her.”

When asked about why Kinberg and the team decided to reveal Lawrence’s fate in this trailer, he responded that it was “to primarily show that this is a movie that is unlike other X-Men movies.”

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