Month: November 2019

It’s a whole new month, and that means New Releases has a bunch of games to talk about. November brings the long-anticipated PC release of Red Dead Redemption 2 and PS4 exclusive Death Stranding. Those two platforms are also seeing the return of a cult classic with Shenmue III. Meanwhile, we’ve got new games for two massive IPs with Pokemon Sword & Shield and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

Red Dead Redemption 2 — November 5

Available on: PC

Red Dead Redemption 2 was GameSpot’s 2018 Game of the Year, so the PC release is a pretty big deal. This version of the game looks better than ever thanks to better textures and lighting, plus 4K/HDR support on capable PCs. You can also check out new story content, including more Gang Hideouts and Bounty Hunts.

More Coverage:

• Red Dead Redemption 2 PC Launch Trailer Shows Paradise In Stunning 4K

• Red Dead Redemption 2 PC System Requirements Confirmed

Death Stranding — November 8

Available on: PS4

Hideo Kojima’s latest project is still largely wrapped in mystery, but the elevator pitch is this: Sam Bridges (played by The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus) makes delivers across a shattered United States. Also there are shadow monsters, psychic babies, and tons of celebrity cameos. The game was also just announced for PC, in case you want to wait until summer 2020 to play that version.

More Coverage:

• Death Stranding Review – Smash That Like Button

• Norman Reedus Talks Death Stranding, Silent Hills, And Working With Kojima

Pokemon Sword & Shield — November 15

Available on: Switch

By this point, you probably know what you’re getting with a Pokemon game, but Sword & Shield are mixing things up. The new Galar Region has its own variants of classic Pokemon like Weezing and Ponyta, plus region-specific evolutions for Farfetch’d and Linoone. Sword & Shield also introduce new giant, kaiju-like monsters called Dynamax Pokemon, some of which can even change form, known as Gigantamax Pokemon.

More Coverage:

• Pokemon Sword And Shield: Here Are The Different Exclusive Pokemon Confirmed For Each Version

• Pokemon Sword & Shield: Pre-Load On Switch Now

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order — November 15

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC

It might sound cliche, but Fallen Order’s combat really does feel like the Dark Souls games. In fact, if you die, you’ll have to defeat the last enemy you fought to regain your lost XP, a la Bloodborne. It’s pretty fitting that this original Star Wars story is challenging, since protagonist Cal Kestis is one of the few surviving Jedi Padawans after Order 66.

More Coverage:

• Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order Pre-Orders Now Available On Steam

• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Doesn’t Break The Mold, But Could Still Be Satisfying

Shenmue III — November 19

Available on: PS4, PC

Shenmue 3 isn’t the end of Ryo Hazuki’s story, but fans of the Sega Dreamcast classic have been waiting a long time for the next chapter nonetheless. The third game picks up in a small fishing village in China, where Ryo continues to track down his father’s killer. Expect the usual dose of minigames and intriguing characters as you explore the open world.

More Coverage:

• Shenmue 3 Dev Responds To Concerns Over Epic Store Exclusivity

• E3 2019: Shenmue 3 Gameplay Trailer – PC Gaming Show 2019

November has only just begun, and it’s got plenty more video games on the horizon. We didn’t even get a chance to talk about Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games 2020, which comes to Nintendo Switch on November 5 in the US and on November 8 in the UK. Next week, we’ll take a look at two anticipated remasters: Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition and Romancing SaGa 3.

A new update for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is now available. The newest title update includes a number of fixes and tweaks, beginning with additional fixes that help improve stability and minimize the likelihood of game crashes.

Additionally, developer Infinity Ward has removed all battle chatter–that is, the brief lines of dialogue that characters say during matches–from Modern Warfare’s one-life modes. This sounds like a welcome change, as the more tactical, one-life modes require strategy and stealth, and hearing the loud callouts can lead to a negative experience. Connected to this, Infinity Ward has changed the sound of footsteps–the footstep sounds will now “filter out” based on occlusion effects.

Another change in the update includes how stun grenades can now disable claymores for 3 seconds. This is another big change, as players have been reporting that claymores can trend toward the over-powered side.

You can see the full rundown of changes to the gameplay and what’s new in the multiplayer playlists below, as posted by Infinity Ward on Reddit.

Modern Warfare multiplayer design director Joe Cecot added that Infinity Ward is working on additional changes and updates to come later. In the future, Infinity Ward will release updates that further restrict the player call out logic and prevent enemies from hearing these call outs across all modes. There will also be further changes to weapon tuning and spawn locations.

Title Update/Playlist Update

Title Update:

• More fixes to prevent crashes and improve stability across all platforms
• Battlechatter has been removed from tactical, one-life modes
• APCs and Tanks in Ground War no longer award points towards a nuke
• Fix for charms affecting weapon performance when firing from the hip
• Claymores: Stun grenades can now force claymores into a disabled state for 3 seconds
• Footsteps: Adjustments to tame the 3rd person footsteps. They will now filter out based on occlusion more.
• Fix to an issue where Tac Inserts could cause players to spawn out of bounds
• Fix for the gold camo not unlocking on the .357

Playlist Update:

• NVG (TDM only)
• Ground War
• Gunfight
• Kill Confirmed
• FFA

Sean Bean has been cast as a series regular in Snowpiercer, TNT’s upcoming television adaptation of Bong Joon-ho’s much-loved 2013 film (which was itself an adaptation of the French comic La Transperceneige). Bean will be playing an unconfirmed role in the series, according to a report by Collider.

This is actually the first confirmation we’ve had of Snowpiercer receiving a second season–the first is yet to premiere, and is expected to begin airing in spring 2020. The first season will star Jennifer Connelly and Daveed Diggs, and will run for 12 episodes.

Snowpiercer is set on a multi-carriage train that travels in a loop through a world in which another ice age has set in. In the film, the folks in the back carriages–including Captain America’s Chris Evans–enact a coup against the bourgeoisie citizens of the front carriages. The train in the series is expected to be much longer than the one in the movie, with more carriages to explore.

We don’t know anything about Bean’s character yet, but we suspect that he’ll be in grave danger–the body count in the original Snowpiercer was sky high, and Bean, who has died on-screen over 20 times (and has died in a few games, including GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64 and Hitman 2), is unlikely to be in for a safe, gentle train ride.

The show has already had its share of behind-the-scenes controversies: Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson stepped away from the show’s production after his original pilot was abandoned, which he believed might be his “best work”.

The new Terminator movie, Dark Fate, opened in theatres this weekend–and it came up short. The action movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, and Mackenzie Davis, made $29 million at the US box office. That makes it a flop, given the film reportedly cost close to $200 million to produce, according to Deadline. Variety reports that the movie cost $185 million to make, with up to $100 million more in marketing costs.

The site said a $29 million opening for the movie–which was directed by Deadpool’s Tim Miller–is a “terrible result” and just the latest struggle for the Terminator franchise. 2015’s Terminator: Genisys made only $27 million for its opening weekend in the US.

The Terminator movies are made by film companies Paramount and Skydance, and Dark Fate is just their latest poorly performing movie. Their previous release, the Will Smith-starring Gemini Man, also bombed at the box office and is predicted to lose money.

Dark Fate was No. 1 at the US box office this weekend, but its $29 million opening was the lowest No. 1 first-weekend result for any movie since 2013’s Ender’s Game ($27 million).

Dark Fate was financed mainly by three companies–Paramount, Skydance, and Disney (via Fox). Each company put in 30 percent, with China’s Tencent adding the rest. Variety reported that Dark Fate could end up losing $100 million at the box office, though those losses could be mitigated through deals for TV and streaming, along with rentals and other sources.

Dark Fate picked up decent review scores from critics, while the movie received a very solid B+ rating on CinemaScore (which measures audience reaction). If Paramount was trying to reinvigorate the series with a younger audience, that didn’t really work. The movie’s domestic box office was made up of only 25 percent of people in the 18-24 age bracket.

Behind the scenes, Dark Fate ran into problems as well. James Cameron, who wrote and directed the first Terminator movie and remains attached to the series as a producer, told CinemaBlend that there were “many” disagreements during the editing process.

“The blood is still being scrubbed off the walls from those creative battles. This is a film that was forged in fire,” he recalled.

According to Cameron, Miller–the director–wanted more control over the direction of the film. “Tim wanted to make it his movie. And I’m like, ‘Yeah, but I kind of know a little about this world.’ So I had the matter and the anti-matter version of that producorial experience,” he said.

You can see the full Top 10 box office chart below, as compiled by EW.

October 25-27 US Box Office:

1. Terminator: Dark Fate —$29 million
2. Joker — $14 million
3. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil — $12.2 million
4. Harriet — $12 million
5. The Addams Family — $8.5 million
6. Zombieland 2: Double Tap — $7.4 million
7. Countdown — $5.9 million
8. Black and Blue — $4.1 million
9. Motherless Brooklyn — $3.7 million
10. Arctic Dogs — $3.1 million

More on Terminator: Dark Fate:

• Terminator: Dark Fate Review – A Fresh Start
• Terminator: Dark Fate Review Roundup
• Terminator: Dark Fate Was Planned As First Movie In A Trilogy
• Does Terminator: Dark Fate Have A Post-Credits Scene? We Explain The Ending

We break down all the Easter eggs and comic book references in the first three episodes of HBO’s Watchmen.

Look on my works, ye mighty.

HBO’s Watchmen is back this week with “She Was Killed By Space Junk,” an episode focused on a newly reintroduced character: Laurie Blake, aka the second Silk Spectre. This week was full of “jokes” (emphasis on those quotation marks), solved riddles, and even more mysteries. Laurie, now working as an agent for the FBI’s anti-vigilante task force, is sent to Tulsa by Senator Joe Keene to investigate Jud’s death. Keene, meanwhile, only seems shadier by the day. But the police in Tulsa aren’t exactly thrilled to have an outsider meddling in their affairs–much less one that is so clearly distrusting of their masked methods.

Because, as Laurie explains to Angela, the differences between a masked cop and a vigilante aren’t obvious–they may not even exist at all.

Spoilers for this week’s episode abound, so please proceed with caution!

1. Manhattan Phones

This is far from the first reference to Doctor Manhattan in HBO’s Watchmen, but it is maybe the strangest so far. Apparently, at some point in the last 30 years, someone (seemingly Lady Trieu, as you can briefly see on the screen as Laurie’s call connects) installed payphones for paying customers to “call” Dr. Manhattan on Mars and leave him a message. Who knows whether he’s actually receiving them?

2. Laurie Blake

Laurie Blake (AKA Laurie Juspeczyk) is an original Watchmen character who was the second person to use the Silk Spectre mantle. She had relationships with both Dr. Manhattan and the second Nite Owl, Dan Drieberg, and ultimately survived Veidt’s giant squid conspiracy to go into hiding. Or at least, that’s what we thought. She apparently didn’t stay in hiding and now works for the anti-vigilante task force of the FBI. A lot has changed in the last 30 years.

3. Joke Telling

In case you need a Watchmen refresher, Laurie is actually the daughter of The Comedian and Silk Spectre. According to documents in the Peteypedia, after the events of the comics, she even began going by The Comedienne for a while, so her telling jokes is pretty in line with her story.

4. Mr. Shadow

One of the active (illegal) vigilantes in DC is a pretty clear Batman knock off.

5. Devo

Laurie listens to Devo’s “Space Junk”–on a CD–in her apartment, which also happens to give us the episode title: She Was Killed by Space Junk.

6. “DOPA”

Keene, like his father before him, is really making waves in the vigilante and vigilante-adjacent community with major laws. Joe’s father passed the Keene Act which made vigilantism illegal, and Joe himself has passed “DOPA,” or the “Defense of Police Act,” which we learned this week is the act that has given the cops of Tulsa permission to hide their identities. The act is currently exclusive to Tulsa, but other cities are looking to adopt it–something that Joe is putting a ton of weight behind in his presidential campaign.

7. Pet Owl

Laurie keeps a pet owl named “Who” (get it?) which is not only a clear reference to Nite Owl, but a pretty on-the-nose allegory for his current situation. We learned from the Peteypedia that Dan is still in federal custody after being arrested for violating the Keene Act, which is why Joe Keene’s line about “getting her owl out of that cage” is so poignant.

8. Petey

This week we finally get to meet the man himself: Petey, of Peteypedia fame, is the agent Laurie picks to go to Tulsa with her.

9. Lady Trieu

We don’t really know or understand what the “Millenium Clock” is yet, but it’s clear from the way the pilot talks about it that it’s something pretty big. But what’s more important is who’s making it: Petey calls her “Lady Trieu” and says that she bought out Adrian Veidt’s company, presumably after he disappeared. She apparently said “look on my works, ye mighty, and despair” at the groundbreaking ceremony, a line from the poem “Ozymandias” by Percy Shelley, so that’s a little ominous.

10. Smarty Pants

Laurie’s second joke is totally unsubtle in the way it nods to the original Watchmen characters. “Smarty Pants” is Ozymandias.

11. Blue God

Blue God is, of course, Doctor Manhattan.

12. Owl Guy

And Owl Guy is obviously Nite Owl.

13. Black Freighter Inn & Suites

Laurie and Petey stay at Tulsa’s Black Freighter Inn & Suites, a reference to the story-within-a-story of the original Watchmen comic, the pirate epic called The Black Freighter. We also get another very pointedly placed pirate flag somewhere on Ozymandias’s, uh, island? Castle grounds?

14. A live body and a dead body

Laurie directly quotes Doctor Manhattan during her second joke when she says “a live body and a dead body have the same number of cells,” which is something Jon explained once when he was at his most distant from humanity.

15. Tartarus Acres

Jud’s burial takes place in a cemetery named Tartarus Acres, a reference to a version of Hell in Greek Mythology. Tartarus was a place where the evil would be sent for eternal punishment, located physically beneath Hades and reserved for the wicked and those condemned to divine punishment. Safe to say, it’s certainly not a normal–or pleasant–name for a run-of-the-mill cemetery. And it may say something about how Jud will be judged by the series’ end.

16. Ozymandias lives

Not only do we finally (finally) receive absolute confirmation here that the mysterious old man is, in fact, Adrian Veidt, we also get to see him in full Ozymandias regalia, right from the pages of the original comic.

17. “My dad”

Laurie’s references to her father are nods to Eddie Blake, AKA The Comedian, who Laurie used to openly despise and revile. Whatever changed her mind about him must have been pretty dramatic, considering she now uses his last name rather than her mother’s, and, almost fondly, refers to him as “dad.” Neither of these things would have happened 30 years ago.

Terminator: Resistance is the latest game set within the Terminator universe, and it’s going to pit you against the Terminators once again. The game casts players as Jacob Rivers, a character who is taking part in John Connor’s resistance against Skynet in the Terminator timeline established by the first two films. It’s set shortly after Judgement Day, and technically serves as a prequel to the original film, following events before Kyle Reese is sent back in time.

The new gameplay trailer gives us a look at the game’s combat, but also hints towards its stealthier elements. Your robot enemies will be impervious against regular weapons; if you’re not equipped with lasers, you’ll have to hide from the Terminators. The footage below shows Rivers shooting at classic T-1000 exoskeletons, as well as turrets and flying drones, but it also shows moments where you might have to avoid combat, or use an electro-knife to take down enemies.

The soundtrack should be familiar to any fans of the action movie franchise. It does not appear that the events of Terminator: Dark Fate, the latest film in the series, will factor in at all.

The last console game set in the Terminator universe, Terminator Salvation, released in 2010 to tepid reviews. Meanwhile the T-1000, as played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the films, recently joined the cast of Mortal Kombat 11–he does not appear to feature in this game, though. Terminator: Resistance is releasing for PC, PS4 and Xbox One on November 15 in Europe and Australia, and then later on December 10 in North America.

The first game from Dragon Age writer David Gaider’s new studio is closer to becoming a reality. The crowdfunding campaign for Chorus: An Adventure Musical has now reached 90 percent of its goal.

At press time, the campaign on Fig has raised $541,374 of its $600,000 goal. The campaign ends on November 10, so there is just under a week to go before it wraps up.

Chorus is a musical adventure game where the key moments play out in song. It’s a new concept for a game, and the team at Summerfall Studios bypassed the traditional publisher relationship to bring it to life.

Despite not having the funding of a big publisher, the company has secured top talent to work on it. Prolific voice actress Laura Bailey (Gears of War, Halo, Uncharted) is voicing the main character, Grace, while another veteran voice actor, Troy Baker (Uncharted, Far Cry, Batman) is the voice director. Grammy-nominated composer Austin Wintory (Journey) is also working on the music.

The story follows Grace in a sweeping narrative involving gods, music, and other-worldly creatures. “In Chorus, we follow Grace’s story as she finds herself thrust into a high-stakes world of weary gods and fantastical creatures after her new bandmate dies bleeding in her apartment–but not before granting Grace the divine power of song,” reads a line from the game’s description. “When the gods accuse her of murdering Calliope, the ‘fair-voiced’ muse, Grace must discover the truth… before the gods take her life in exchange.”

Chorus takes its inspiration from a number of different sources, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s musical episode, “Once More With Feeling,” the dialogue and companions of Dragon Age, and the quirkiness of Dream Daddy.

In a post to the Chorus Fig page, Summerfall teased that it is preparing “something cool” to wrap up the campaign later this month. While that remains a mystery, the company did release a new song (embedded below) and announced more details on the game’s romance options.

Gaider explained that romance in Chorus will work similarly to Dragon Age, Baldur’s Gate 2, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. In Chorus, the romance choices give players the opportunity to experience a “independent story arc” based on the particular romance. This story arc will culminate in a distinct song.

“You don’t have to romance anyone if you don’t want to, but if you do, know that the romance arcs are tied directly into the main story,” Gaider wrote. “They’re not a side feature, but rather have a direct impact on how the main story unfolds and particularly how it ends. Grace needs allies to win the day, and nothing would improve her chances more than being able to make her stand at the very end with someone she loves at her side!”

Gaider also confirmed the extent of Chorus’s romance options–there will be at least two different romance arcs in the game, including the characters Apollo and Persephone. If funding reaches $650,000, Summerfall will add two more romance options: Pan and Freddie.

You can read excerpts from the Apollo and Persephone romance options by following these links: Apollo, Persephone.

Summerfall also announced new stretch goals for Chorus. At $700,000, the studio will add more songs and voiceover, including one song for each romance. If funding reaches $725,000, the studio will create a “Making Of” documentary that chronicles the development of the game, including interviews with the developers. Should funding reach $750,000, Summerfall will add additional voiceover, while Gaider will play a game of D&D and stream it live. Finally, at $900,000, the studio will add “full voiceover” for the entire game.

Finally, Summerfall told hopeful fans to stay patient. The studio has not yet begun the writing process–instead, the team is “still in the preparing, planning, and brainstorming stage.” The studio said it takes writing very seriously, and as such, it is taking time to make sure it lays the right foundation.

“When the time comes, we’ll be seeking out professional consultation as needed and hiring on at least one additional writer to help with the workload,” Summerfall said.

You can kick in around $25 to secure a copy of Chorus on Fig. Unlike Kickstarter, Fig allows people to invest in Chorus and share in the success if Chorus takes off. More information about investment back and other details are available on the Chorus Fig page.

As for the Dragon Age series, BioWare recently teased that it might announce more details on the long-awaited Dragon Age 4 during an event in December.

Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow…

Man.

“What It Always Is” was on its way to being a halfway decent chapter and then…that “nut-slapping” speech by Negan. Woof. Aimed at a young boy Negan had just met, no less. So much cringe. It basically took the most interesting and endearing quality possessed by Negan, which is his affinity and warmth for teens and tots, and turned it into full-tilt awkwardness.

I s*** you not, “keep those meaty fingers holstered up when my nuts are around” was a line spoken aloud by Negan. Wow. And things were going so well for this little side arc too, which featured Negan going head to head with a psychotic Negan fan named Brandon (who somehow managed to live and grow inside Alexandria without anyone noticing he was a mental trainwreck).

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Spoilers follow for the first three episodes of HBO’s Watchmen.

In Episode 3 of HBO’s Watchmen, “She Was Killed by Space Junk,” Jean Smart (Fargo, Legion) makes her debut as Laurie Blake, formerly Laurie Juspeczyk, a.k.a. Silk Spectre, one of the main characters from the original graphic novel. Her arrival in this third week of the nine-episode season isn’t just a terrific way to connect the new show to the Watchmen world of 35 years ago, but Smart is also flat-out amazing as this older, more world-weary version of Blake, who has changed quite a bit in the years since the squid attack. Or has she?

I spoke to Smart about the return of Agent Blake, how she feels about Doctor Manhattan and Nite Owl these days, what her dynamic is with Regina King’s Sister Night, and more.

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