FoxNext, a studio that Disney acquired after buying out Fox, has been sold off not long after being acquired by the House of Mouse. Back in September 2019, it was reported that Disney was looking to offload the studio, which is responsible for the mobile game Marvel Strike Force. This has now come to pass.
Variety is reporting that Disney has sold FoxNext to mobile developer Scopely, the team behind The Walking Dead: Road to Survival and WWE Champions. FoxNext is currently working on an Avatar mobile game, named Avatar: Pandora Rising.
Scopely’s Tim O’Brien told Variety that they were “hugely impressed with the incredible game the team at FoxNext Games has built.” Marvel Strike Force brought in over $150 million in revenue during its first year.
The sale includes Cold Iron Studios, which has been owned by FoxNext since 2018. Cold Iron Studios is working on a new shooter in the Alien universe, but Scopely plans to sell them off once the deal is closed, as they do not work on mobile titles. The studio consists of 50 people.
Disney has, in the past, moved away from publishing games, closing down studios like Epic Mickey developer Junction Point, Tron: Evolution team Propaganda Games, and Split/Second creators Black Rock. In 2016, Disney cancelled the Disney Infinity series and closed developer Avalanche Software, marking the end of their biggest gaming franchise.
Disney will continue to release mobile games based on its properties–in 2018, it signed a deal with developer Jam City, which has developed several games based on Disney and Pixar properties.
The Mega Man movie, which was announced in 2018 with Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (Paranormal Activity 3 & 4) attached to direct, now has a writer attached. The Hollywood Reporter has–very casually, at the bottom of an article about an adaptation of the Rick Remender comic Fear Agent–revealed that Mattson Tomlin is writing the Mega Man movie.
Tomlin was also involved with The Batman, and is credited as a screenwriter on Matt Reeves’ upcoming reboot. The Batman has just begun filming, and stars Robert Pattinson in the title role. Before that, Tomlin wrote and directed a feature-length version of the Solomon Grundy story in 2012 on a budget of just $15,000.
While the very casual reveal of Tomlin’s work on the movie might look like an oversight or misunderstanding, Tomlin has, in his own way, confirmed the news on Twitter.
A release date has not yet been set for Mega Man. Another blue game hero is getting a movie next month, though, with Sonic the Hedgehog releasing on February 14. The most recent Mega Man game was 2018’s Mega Man 11.
Netflix has bought the rights to an upcoming Leonard Bernstein biopic that will feature Bradley Cooper in the title role. Not only is Cooper attached, but the film has a long list of top talent behind the camera, as detailed in a new story from Deadline.
Cooper will also direct and produce the movie, and he wrote the script alongside Josh Singer, who won an Oscar for Spotlight. Scorsese and a fellow film giant Steven Spielberg will also produce, as Todd Phillips, who directed Cooper in the Hangover trilogy before going on to direct Joker. Other producers include Emma Tillinger Koskoff (The Irishman), Fred Berner (Pollock), Amy Durning (The Catch), and Kristie Macosko (Bridge of Spies).
The untitled movie will cover 30 years and tell the story of the relationship between Bernstein and his wife, Felicia Montealegre. Bernstein is the famous American composer behind productions such as West Side Story and Peter Pan, among many others.
The film was originally set up at Paramount, and Scorsese is said to have been in line to direct it, before deciding to focus on The Irishman instead. The Spielberg connection is that he directed a remake of West Side Story for the screen in 2020, using Bernstein’s music. It’s also notable because this is the first time Netflix is working with Spielberg, who is Hollywood elite.
Spielberg has been critical of Netflix in the past, saying Netflix movies should not be eligible for the Oscars. Like The Irishman, the Bernstein movie will have a limited run in theatres before coming to Netflix. It’s expected to begin production in early 2021.
As for Cooper, he directed the Oscar-winning movie A Star Is Born, and the Bernstein movie is his first directorial effort since then. The Bernstein estate is working with the stakeholders on the movie. In fact, the report said Cooper has been “working closely” with Bernstein’s children for two years already.
A new Mortal Kombat retro collection has been rated by the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) board, Gematsu has reported. Although the rating does not currently appear on the PEGI website, Gematsu took a screenshot of the listing while it was still up.
The game, Mortal Kombat Kollection Online, is listed as a remake of the first three games in the series.
It earned an 18 rating, making it unsuitable for children, and promised “upgraded art, gameplay, and online features.”
This collection was rumored to have been in development, and then cancelled, in 2018. Back then, Blind Squirrel Entertainment–which previously worked on Bioshock: The Collection and helped with the console version of Prey–was reportedly attached.
The series is now up to Mortal Kombat 11, which earned a 9/10 in our review. Warner Bros. Entertainment has not actually officially announced this collection (or Kollection), so we don’t have confirmation that the game will actually release yet, but a PEGI rating suggests that it is likely coming.
Playful Studios, the developer of Super Lucky’s Tale that was founded by the co-creator of Words With Friends, has announced major layoffs. In a statement, the company said it is enacting a round of significant layoffs as a result of “continued changes in the global video game marketplace.”
In a statement, Paul Bettner and Katy Drake Bettner said they are proud of what Playful has created since its founding in 2012. The pair also acknowledged that they took “significant risks” to grow their studio as they “dared to dream big,” but not all of its efforts worked out.
“Continued changes in the global video game marketplace require Playful to evolve its approach to the development and production of our current and future projects,” they said. “The studio will be pivoting to a more streamlined production model based on distributed game development and dynamic, project-based teams.”
As a result of this change, Playful is making the decision to “significantly reduce” the company’s full-time staff as part of an “incredibly difficult decision.”
“We are truly heartbroken to be parting ways with many of our friends and colleagues. These are people who have poured their hearts into every game Playful has created, who have supported us and each other every step of the way, and have truly made this studio what it is today,” Paul and Katy Bettner said. We will be working closely with each person affected by this transition to help them move forward.”
Paul Bettner started his career in games working on the Age of Empires series at Ensemble Studios for Microsoft. He started a new company, NewToy, in 2008. The studio would go on to create the extremely popular Words With Friends, which was acquired by Zynga in 2010. Bettner became vice president and general manager of Zynga until 2012, at which point he left to start Playful.
In news that should surprise no one, Marvel is reportedly moving forward with a sequel to Captain Marvel. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel has hired WandaVision writer Megan McDonnell to script the sequel that will star Brie Larson again in the title role.
The writers/directors of the 2019 Captain Marvel, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, are not coming back for Captain Marvel 2, according to the report. They are reportedly in discussions to direct an upcoming Marvel Disney+ series, but there is no word on what that will be.
THR also claims that Marvel is looking to hire a woman to direct Captain Marvel 2, which could hit theatres in the 2022. The report also claims the movie will be set in the present day, which is decades later than the first movie, which took place in the ’90s.
Captain Marvel, which also starred a digitally de-aged Samuel L. Jackson, as well as Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn, Annette Bening, Djimon Hounsou, Gemma Chan, and Lashana Lynch, made more than $1.1 billion at the global box office.
Captain Marvel 2 will apparently be part of the MCU Phase 4, which kicks off in May with the new Black Widow movie starring Scarlett Johansson.
Season 1 of Netflix’s Locke and Key, the highly anticipated adaptation of Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s beloved horror comic, hasn’t even hit Netflix yet–it arrives February 7. But although a second season hasn’t yet been officially greenlit by the streaming service, executive producer Carlton Cuse is in the process of writing Locke and Key Season 2.
“We’re writing Season 2, even though it hasn’t been greenlit. We’re working in a room,” Cuse told GameSpot during an interview with him and Locke and Key showrunner Meredith Averill.
Locke and Key follows the Locke family after a tragedy sends them across the country to take up residence in their ancestral home, Keyhouse–a mysterious mansion filled with magical keys. The comics ran from 2008 to 2013, and fans generally hold the series’ ending in high regard. Giving the way some adaptations have wound up lately, some fans might worry that the Netflix version will eventually diverge so much from the books that the story will become unrecognizable from the version we know and love. Cuse and Averill said that’s a distinct possibility, though they’re determined to tell a story that’s right for the medium of television.
“We can’t really answer that question yet,” Cuse said. “I think by the time we get to the end of the season, we’ll have a better sense of how much longer the show can go. We’ve spent a lot of time talking with Joe [Hill], and I think, in concert with Joe, we’ll figure out the answer to that question. I mean, it is a cool ending, but again, the show’s diverging from the comics and it becomes something [else]. We want to be sure that the ending works for the TV series and we’re not just forcing ourselves into an ending for endings’ sake. We want the ending to be something that really feels like it’s the right conclusion for our story.”
Averill expanded on that thought, acknowledging the various versions of this adaptation that have been attempted in the past, including the Fox-made pilot that screened at San Diego Comic-Con in 2011, as well as the Hulu pilot from a few years ago.
“We always joke that one day there needs to be a college course where they dissect the three different versions of the Locke and Key pilot, because I think it’s a nice lesson that in an adaptation, there’s not one way to kind of skin a cat, to forgive the grotesque saying,” the showrunner said. “But it really shows that there are different ways to tell the story, and this is just the version that we were most excited to tell, that we loved.”
Connor Jessup and Emilia Jones as Tyler and Kinsey Locke
However, there’s another potential hurdle in the show’s future: Successive seasons of the show will naturally need to take place over a longer period of time than the books do, and in the world of the comics, adults have a much harder time perceiving Keyhouse’s magic. When the show begins, Tyler Locke is 17 and his sister Kinsey is 16. What will happen when they’re 18 or in their 20s? How can the story stay the same if the Locke kids become the Locke adults?
“I think that’s something that hopefully will be explored [in future seasons],” Darby Stanchfield, who plays Nina Locke, told GameSpot.
“These are kids who are about to become adults, and we know in the story that when you become an adult your relationship to this world changes,” Connor Jessup, who plays Tyler, agreed. “I’m really curious to explore that.”
There’s one potential solution: In the comics, adults like Nina have an easier time perceiving the keys’ magic when intoxicated. Will the whole family need to be constantly drunk the longer the story goes?
Darby Stanchfield as Nina Locke
“Gin for everybody!” Stanchfield laughed.
“Yes, I think’s that’s the message we’re trying to say,” Jessup joked.
Locke and Key hits Netflix February 7.
Disclosure: ViacomCBS is GameSpot’s parent company.
Garou: Mark of the Wolves, the 1999 SNK classic fighter, launched on PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and PC in 2016 with terrible netcode that made playing the game against opponents online difficult. Now, in 2020, Garou has received a significant update, featuring new netcode.
The news was announced on Twitter by SNK’s community manager, who explained that the game will now feature netcode from Code Mystics, which specializes in netcode and emulation.
We are proud to announce @CodeMystics have graciously replaced all PC versions of Garou MOTW with their masterclass netcode and emulation tech containing ports. Owners with the previous version receive a free upgrade. (Steam, GOG, PS4, and Vita)#MOTW#GAROU#NEOGEO#ROLLBACKpic.twitter.com/eABBcFF6XT
Code Mystics uses “rollback” netcode, instead of input delay, to account for the slight lag in online play. Rollback is a method that means your actions occur on screen the instant you input the controls, rather than having any lag; it can mean that your opponents look a little jerkier, but it gives you a greater sense of direct control. Here’s a primer video on the distinction between these methods.
Steam and GOG users can still use the older method of online play by entering the beta code “dotemuversion” if they so desire. On PS4 and PS Vita, an update has changed the netcode permanently.
This news unfortunately does not extend to the Nintendo Switch version of the game, which is not playable online.
SNK’s most recent new fighting game was 2019’s Samurai Shodown.
Wasteland Remastered is coming to PC and Xbox One next month. The 1987 original is getting a visual overhaul while retaining much of the original game’s aesthetic, and you’ll be able to check it out on February 25, 2020.
The game is coming to PC via Steam, the Windows Store, and GOG, and it’s also coming to Xbox One. Better yet, it’ll be included with Xbox Game Pass, so if you’re a subscriber you’ll be able to check it out at no additional cost.
You’ve been asking, and now we can share… Wasteland Remastered drops in just one more month—February 25 for Windows (Windows Store, Steam, GOG) and Xbox One (with Xbox Game Pass)! pic.twitter.com/qSCqITMRcq
A 2019 tweet from inXile Entertainment head Brian Fargo–who was the director of the original Wasteland–shows how the new version compares to the older one.
The Wasteland 1 remaster is still coming later this year for Windows but a little surprise is that we are also going to bring it to Xbox! In progress screen below: pic.twitter.com/lulkzpOzqW
Wasteland Remastered is not the only Wasteland game coming in 2020. Wasteland 3 releases on May 19, 2020, and is looking like a huge upgrade from the already-very-good Wasteland 2. Brian Fargo is looking to retire after the game’s release.
As suspected, actor Daniel Craig is finished playing James Bond. The actor confirmed in an interview published this week that he’s moving on from the British super-spy after No Time To Die.
“This is going to be my last James Bond adventure,” Craig told Entertainment Weekly.
This is re-confirmation from Craig that he’s finished playing 007, as he told Stephen Colbert in November 2019 that he’s moving on from the role after No Time To Die.
No Time To Die will be Craig’s fifth outing as James Bond. His first appearance as the character was in 2006’s Casino Royale, and he reprised the role in Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, and Spectre.
In 2015, Craig said he wasn’t very keen on coming back to play James Bond again, but he was eventually lured back to the role. He told Variety that 007 movie producer Barbara Broccoli wouldn’t take no for an answer. “It’s not in her wheelhouse,” Craig said. “I had a nice long break [after Spectre], which I really needed. And then she was just persistent and came to me with some ideas, which we started formulating, and I got excited again.”
As for Craig’s forthcoming departure from the James Bond series, Broccoli said she’s in “total denial.”
The James Bond series will undoubtedly live on after No Time To Die, but who will play 007 in the future? That remains unknown, but Broccoli said the character will always be played by a man, at least while she’s controlling the series.
For No Time To Die, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, and Léa Seydoux (who also appears in Death Stranding) all return to the roles of M, Q, Miss Moneypenny, and Madeleine Swann respectively. The new cast members include Rami Malek as the villain, as well as Billy Magnussen and Ana de Armas.
