Month: November 2019

It’s going to be a while before we get another season of Stranger Things, with season 4 set to start shooting in January 2020, and will premiere in the summer at the earliest. We’ve already gotten our first little tease of what we’re likely to see when the series eventually returns, but after a great season three many fans will be eager for any new Stranger Things content they can get their hands on.

Thankfully, the Stranger Things YouTube account has delivered today, posting blooper reels for all three seasons for us to enjoy . Don’t expect any revelations about process here, or deep insights into the personal lives of the characters, or hints towards future seasons here–it’s a lot of flubbed lines, things falling down, and footage of kids dancing. It’s all very charming, and a great reminder of how important the cast’s natural chemistry is to the series’ success.

The season 1 blooper reel is a flashback to a younger cast, and is by far the shortest.

Here’s the season 2 blooper reel, where you can check out a lot of the cast’s dance moves.

The blooper reel for the show’s third season has a stronger emphasis on flubbed lines (albeit still with some dancing), and is a bit longer overall. It shows how well the cast plays off each other behind the scenes, and hints at the camaraderie and friendship that have built up between them over three seasons of filming. Of particular note is David Harbour’s hilarious inability to deliver the line “it’s your grandma” without cracking up.

Today is Stranger Things Day–November 6, 1983 was the date on which Will Byers disappeared into the Upside Down, and the Blooper Reels have been released to celebrate (or commemorate). If you’re hungry for more behind-the-scenes content, here are 15 on-set photos released shortly after Stranger Things 3 debuted. It’s also worth checking out our list of season 3’s best Easter eggs.

Black Friday weekend and Cyber Monday are usually the best time of the year to purchase PS4 consoles, games, and accessories. All of the major retailers–Amazon, Target, Walmart, Best Buy, and GameStop–will have tempting deals on console bundles, 2019 game releases, DualShock 4 controllers, PlayStation Plus subscriptions, and more.

However, just because something is on sale doesn’t mean you should jump at it. This roundup identifies the absolute best PS4 deals that have been confirmed for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2019. Please note that we’ll be adding more consoles, bundles, games, and accessories to this list as Black Friday approaches and more retailer ads start appearing online.

PS4 Slim (1TB) with God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition, and The Last of Us Remastered | $200

Officially confirmed by Target’s Black Friday ad, the PS4 Slim holiday bundle is arguably the best yet. The 1TB console is $200 and comes bundled with Marvel’s Spider-Man, Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition, and God of War. Expect it to be available at all major retailers.

PlayStation VR bundle with five games | $200

Available at Target, this incredible $200 PSVR bundle comes with five great games:

• Astro Bot: Rescue Mission
• Resident Evil 7
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
• Everybody’s Golf VR
• PlayStation VR Worlds

So far, we know it will be available at Target. The only downside to this bundle is that it doesn’t come with the PlayStation Camera, which is required.

PlayStation VR bundle with Astro Bot and Moss | $200

This PSVR bundle debuted last year around Black Friday, and so far we know that at least Kohl’s will have it for $200 once again. The bundle comes with the headset, PlayStation Camera, and two awesome platformers: Astro Bot: Rescue Mission and Moss.

DualShock 4 Wireless Controller | $40

DualShock 4 controllers typically receive healthy discounts on Black Friday, reducing the cost of the pricey first-party controllers to around $40. Target and Kohl’s each have DualShock 4 controllers for $40 this Black Friday. We’ll have to wait and see if any retailers beat that price.

• See at Target
• See at Kohl’s

Control | $25

Remedy Entertainment’s eerie action game Control has been buzzing since its August launch. It’ll surely be a Game of the Year contender for many and earned an 8/10 in GameSpot’s Control review. Target will have it for $25 on Black Friday (Nov. 28-30), the game’s lowest price yet.

Borderlands 3 | $35

An engaging conclusion to the Borderlands story, the co-op-focused loot shooter earned an 8/10 in GameSpot’s Borderlands 3 review. The new characters shake things up, the colorful cartoon environments encourage teamwork, and the dizzying number of guns makes for a constantly evolving experience. Borderlands 3 will be on sale for $35 at Target this Black Friday (Nov. 28-30).

Kingdom Hearts 3 | $15

Yes, Kingdom Hearts 3 has a wildly convoluted story, just like other games in the series. But the Disney and Pixar worlds are wonderful, the characters ooze charm, and the combat is a fast-paced spectacle. Despite releasing earlier this year, Kingdom Hearts 3 will be only $15 at Target on Black Friday weekend (Nov. 28-30).

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | $45

The new Call of Duty game just launched in late October, but Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will be available for $45 at Target on Black Friday (Nov. 28-30). The multiplayer, for the most part, is top-notch, with the best gunplay in series history, and the campaign at least makes an effort to explore the real horrors of war.

Need for Speed: Heat | $35

Need for Speed: Heat being on sale for $35 at Target is somewhat surprising, as the deal was announced before the game even had a chance to release. Racing fans can pick up the latest entry in the long-running series for $25 off just a few weeks after launch.

Resident Evil 2 | $15

The haunting and stunning Resident Evil 2 remake has been on sale countless times since its release earlier this year, but it’s never been this cheap before. Target will have Resident Evil 2 for the scary low price of $15 on Black Friday.

Red Dead Redemption 2 | $30

One of 2018’s biggest games is on sale for 50% off at Target on Black Friday. Red Dead Redemption 2, the epic western with phenomenal writing, stunning graphics, and an ever-evolving online mode, will be just $30.

The Division 2 | $15

The Division 2 improves on the formula of its predecessor in almost every way. The gear-focused third-person shooter has a lengthy and engaging campaign set in Washington D.C. and a steady stream of new content to play solo or alongside friends. It earned a stellar 9/10 in GameSpot’s The Division 2 review earlier this year, and it’ll be on sale for only $15 on Black Friday at Target.

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Master Edition | $35

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Master Edition compiles the remarkable base game with the massive (and incredible) Iceborne expansion. Together they add up to hundreds of hours of monster-hunting fun for $35 at Target on Black Friday.

With the Shadowkeep expansion to Destiny 2, developer Bungie made it possible to reach all-new heights in terms of players’ overall Power level–the measure of a Guardian’s strength based on their equipment. The addition of the Seasonal Artifact in the current season allows you to keep climbing beyond the gear Power cap of 960. Now, one player has reached another Power milestone, one that has some serious implications for Destiny 2’s ongoing story.

This week, streamer Bagel4k pushed his Power level up to 999 thanks to the Seasonal Artifact, which allows you to keep gaining in Power endlessly by accruing experience points from completing activities and turning in bounties. That’s impressive from a sheer gameplay standpoint–it takes 1.5 million experience points to gain one point of Power from the artifact, and the push to get your gear up from 950 to 960 is so tough, Bungie is patching the game later this week to make that final climb a little easier. (For context, it takes 100,000 points to unlock each new level of Bungie’s new Season system.) But 999 Power is also very significant to the story of the Forsaken expansion’s endgame area, the Dreaming City.

For context, the Dreaming City is currently cursed to continually repeat a three-week timeloop, thanks to the machinations of a powerful Hive leader called Savathun. Despite completing the Last Wish raid in the Dreaming City and its high-level dungeon, Shattered Throne, Guardians so far have been unable to break the curse. But there was some suggestion that hitting 999 Power would be the secret to ending the Dreaming City’s torment. According to one of Destiny 2’s lore books, Truth To Power, reaching 999 Power and completing Shattered Throne would allow players to finally kill Savathun’s daughter, Dul Incaru, and end the curse once and for all.

As Bagel4k discovered, however, that’s apparently not the case–at least, not yet. Despite Bagel4k’s efforts, the curse endures. Bungie acknowledged the situation in a blog post titled “On the Power Climb,” which not only pays some tribute to Bagel4k, it functions as a story point as well.

The blog post mixes Bungie’s voice in acknowledging Bagel4k with some secret messages from Savathun herself. Though there isn’t much in the way of details, the post suggests that perhaps Guardians’ efforts to break the curse are actually part of Savathun’s whole overall plan. That’s sort of Savathun’s whole deal–she embodies an ideal of cunning. And the lore suggests that everything players have done in the Dreaming City up to now hasn’t actually helped to stop Savathun, but were actually actions manipulated to help her achieve her goals of gaining ultimate power. All the enemies we’ve been killing over and over in the Dreaming City have been feeding Savathun, and that’s what the timeloop curse is all about.

Bungie has said that the four seasons that make up the third year of Destiny 2’s content will tell an ongoing story that started with Shadowkeep, but most of the threads from Year Two–concerning the Dreaming City, the entities known as the Nine, the enigmatic new character called the Drifter, and more–are still hanging. Shadowkeep advanced things a bit in a different direction concerning the Hive, but it all goes back to Savathun. We can guess from Bagel4k’s exploits that Bungie isn’t quite ready for the story of the Dreaming City to end, nor to tell us what it all means, just yet.

The third episode of Vader Immortal, the Oculus Quest VR experience, is going to recreate the experience of facing off against Darth Vader in lightsaber combat. Previous episodes have brought you face to face with the Sith Lord, but now for the first time in the series you’ll be able to battle against him with your own weapon.

A new post on the official Star Wars website digs into the final chapter of Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series. The post discusses how the game–which was written by David S. Goyer (Terminator: Dark Fate, The Dark Knight, Blade II) and is considered part of the Star Wars canon–will wrap up.

The final chapter, which will release on November 21, follows on from the first two episodes, which saw the playable character (a Force-sensitive smuggler) get captured by Vader and learn how to wield their Force powers. This time players will be trying to prevent Vader from activating a powerful artifact that will destroy life on Mustafar; to do so, you’ll have to break into Vader’s castle and fight him.

Because of your new Force powers, you’ll be able to pull objects towards yourself, including Stormtrooper blasters. You’ll also be able to incite battles between Vader’s drone army and an Imperial battalion. And then, at the game’s conclusion, you’ll face off against Vader; but because the events here are canon, don’t expect him to die. You’ve previously been able to fight Darth Vader in both the first and second Star Wars: The Force Unleashed games, but those are now non-canon–this one counts.

It’s a big end-of-year for Star Wars, with The Rise of Skywalker finishing the new trilogy on December 20 and Star Wars Battlefront II releasing a major update and new content next month.

South Park’s 23rd season may not be over, but the era of Tegridy Farms may well be finished in “Season Finale.” This episode ties together several story threads as the town gets fed up with Tegridy and throws Randy in jail.

We’ll have our review of “Season Finale” up a bit later tonight. Until then, let us know what you thought of the new episode in the comments below.

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Deep Down was first announced in 2013 as a PlayStation 4 exclusive, but we haven’t seen or heard much from it since. The last news we heard was all the way back in 2015, when producer Yoshinori Ono said that the game would look “completely different” from the initial trailer the next time we saw it, and that the game was aiming for a very realistic experience.

But the game has not been seen since, beyond a trademark renewal in 2017 that got fans’ hopes up. Now, Ono has spoken about the game for the first time in years, and it sounds like the game is not being worked on, but could theoretically still happen.

In an interview with Eurogamer that primarily focuses on Street Fighter V (which he is also executive producer on), Ono briefly discussed the long-dormant dragon hunting game, admitting that he still has some hope that the game will be completed one day.

“The original team is clearly no longer together at this point, but people might have noticed that we’ve kept the trademark registered, and it’s not been completely given up on,” he told Eurogamer. “Every year we examine titles we’re doing in future, and we bring up projects to approve and move forward. There’s not much I can say about it, but if you’ve noticed we’ve kept the trademark it means we haven’t given up on the title completely.”

When asked about the TGS trailer from 2014, Ono said that the team had “the concept developed a bit further than that.”

This isn’t confirmation that Deep Down will still happen, but it suggests that the game’s eventual release remains a possibility. It certainly wouldn’t be the first major PlayStation title to take its time releasing: The Last Guardian was first revealed seven years before its eventual release, while Until Dawn was announced as a PlayStation 3 title five years before its eventual PS4 release. Then there’s Shenmue III, which will release on November 19, a full 18 years after Shenmue II.

“City of Bane” is a maddening storyline in more ways than one, but the fact the titular villain has been all but completely MIA is definitely up there. For an arc that serves as the dramatic culmination of the entire series to date, “City of Bane” has been far too inconsistent in its pacing, its focus and its general quality. Finally, with Batman #82, readers are treated to the Bane/Batman showdown they’ve been waiting months to see. But with such a haphazard journey leading into this issue, it’s no surprise the payoff isn’t quite there.

This isn’t the first time Bane and Batman have battled one another in this series, but only in hindsight do we realize that none of those previous fights were to be taken at face value. In those previous battles, one or the other was playing an angle, essentially sacrificing a battle for the sake of the larger war. Only now do the masks come off (literally and figuratively) and the two men set about proving once and for all who is truly worthy of ruling Gotham. And because artist Mikel Janin is drawing this issue, that calls for a shirtless slug-fest.

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While we still don’t have a date for the fourth season of Stranger Things, we now know the first episode will be titled “Chapter One: The Hellfire Club.”

Stranger Things on Instagram revealed the title via an image of the script for the first episode.

Alongside the title “Chapter One: The Hellfire Club,” the post also said “We’re starting a club. Wanna join? #StrangerThings4 #StrangerThingsDay”

According to Wikipedia, Hellfire Club was “a name for several exclusive clubs for high society rakes established in Britain and Ireland in the 18th century… Such clubs were rumored to be the meeting places of ‘persons of quality’ who wished to take part in socially perceived immoral acts, and the members were often involved in politics.”

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