Month: February 2020

Sony chose not to divulge any new information regarding the PlayStation 5 in its earnings call last night, but some statements made during its subsequent Q&A session have indicated that a price for the next-generation console hasn’t yet been settled on.

Sony Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki was asked about his previous statements (during a Q&A transcribed on Seeking Alpha)regarding a “smooth transition” to next-generation hardware, and what factors could contribute to both initial shipping volumes and price.

“What is not very clear or visible, it’s because we are competing in the space, so it’s very difficult to discuss anything about the price at this point of time,” said Totoki. “And depending upon the price level, we may have to determine the promotion that we are going to deploy and how much costs we are prepared to pay.”

This indicates that Sony might be waiting for a move from its competitors before settling on a price for the PS5, with Totoki stating that the margins the company is willing to take on its hardware sales will be determined by how aggressive their pricing will need to be. While not directly mentioning them, the only other competitor this year for Sony is Microsoft and its Xbox Series X, which is also without a price as of yet.

The launch price of new consoles is incredibly important, as indicative with the PS4 originally undercutting the Xbox One by $100 in 2013. While not solely responsible for its success, it initially made Sony’s offering more attractive, and it’s likely the company wants to replicate that later this year.

The PS5 is scheduled to launch sometime in 2020, with the Xbox Series X expected in Holiday 2020. Although Sony hasn’t detailed the console much further, it has launched an official website for it.

Bethesda has revealed a new trailer for Wastelanders, the next major content expansion for Fallout 76. Wastelanders is scheduled to launch on April 7 for all platforms, finally bringing fully-voiced NPCs to the multiplayer-focused RPG.

Wastelanders takes place in the Appalachian mountains and includes a brand-new main mission campaign quest to take on, either on your own or with other players. Like several previous Fallout games, Wastelanders also sees you meet and interact with competing factions, and your choices will determine who ultimately ends up on top.

This new expansion won’t cost you anything to play–Wastelanders comes included with Fallout 76 without the need for an additional purchase. Wastelanders will make adjustments to the original Fallout 76 campaign as well, revamping the story with the inclusion of NPCs.

Fallout 76 launched to a pretty rocky start, and Bethesda has been implementing several large content updates since the game’s release in order to address player concerns. Prior to Wastelanders, Fallout 76 saw new quests added in Wild Appalachia, a battle royale mode in Nuclear Winter, and challenging team-based raids.

In GameSpot’s Fallout 76 review, Edmond Tran wrote, “Bethesda has stated it intends to continue supporting the game for a long time, but at launch, Fallout 76 is a poor experience. There are echoes of the series’ admirable qualities, but look past that facade, past the cute Vault Boy animations, past the familiar radio tracks, and you’ll find no heart–just an inconsequential wasteland doomed to be nuked over and over again.”

Sony has announced the PlayStation 5 is launching this year, and now the company has opened its official site. The dedicated landing page doesn’t feature many details yet, but it does offer a sign-up for a newsletter and a brief promise of announcements to come.

“We’ve begun to share some of the incredible features you can expect from PlayStation 5, but we’re not quite ready to fully unveil the next generation of PlayStation,” the page reads. “Sign up below to be among the first to receive updates as we announce them, including news on the PS5 release date, PS5 price and the upcoming roster of PS5 launch games.”

Most recently, Sony showed off the logo at the Consumer Electronics Show, after revealing its official name will follow the conventional PlayStation naming scheme. We’ve also received a number of technical details, including the inclusion of a solid-state drive. The hardware is said to support 4K and ray-tracing, and the new controller will use haptic feedback and “adaptive triggers” that will allow developers to adjust the tension for different in-game actions.

We’re not sure exactly when we might hear more about the PS5, but if it’s anything like the PlayStation 4 rollout Sony will host a dedicated PlayStation Meeting event to unveil it. We already know that Sony is skipping E3 again, so it won’t be debuted there. Sony also recently explained that it hasn’t decided on a price point quite yet–and it’s watching the competition.

George Lucas might have officially left the world of Star Wars when he sold Lucasfilm to Disney back in 2012, but his presence continues to be felt across the franchise. In the past few months we’ve had McClunkey and a meeting with Baby Yoda, and now it’s been reported that Lucas’s voice can be heard in several of the recent movies.

According to a Good Morning America interview with Rise of Skywalker sound designers David Acord and Matt Wood, Lucas can be heard screaming in at least three Star Wars movies, including Rise of Skywalker, The Last Jedi, and Rogue One. GMA’s sources state that the clip of Lucas screaming was recorded back in 1973 for his movie American Graffiti, and has become known among the franchise’s sound designers as “the George.” While Acord and Wood would not confirm that it was Lucas–or even where it appears–they did admit to using “a very special scream” in the movies.

The most famous movie scream is the “The Wilhelm.” This stock scream has been used in hundreds movies since its first appearance in the 1951 western Distant Drums, including in the original Star Wars films. It can also be heard in the recently unearthed test footage for Lucas’s abandoned TV show Star Wars: Underworld.

In related news, the upcoming Disney+ Star Wars show focusing on Obi-Wan Kenobi is facing a production delay. Last month, it was reported that the show’s crew had been sent home from London’s Pinewood studios, where it was due to start shooting later this year. It has been rumored that Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy is unhappy with the scripts, although star Ewan McGregor subsequently stated that the scripts were “really good,” and that the writers just “wanted to do more work on it.”

For more check out, GameSpot’s guide to everything we know about every Star Wars movie and show announced so far.

Netflix has reportedly cancelled another of its shows after one season, the competitive figure skating drama Spinning Out. The decision came quickly after its January 1 premiere, as Netflix considers one month of viewership data before making renewals.

Deadline reports that Spinning Out premiered on January 1, having gone straight to series at Netflix after originating on the Canadian network Pop. Netflix traditionally gives one month to shows on the bubble, and this comes just after it similarly decided not to renew another drama, Soundtrack.

Spinning Out was created by real-life former competitive figure skater Samantha Stratton. It follows figure skater Kat Baker (Kaya Scodelario) after a bad fall derails her career. She link s up with a male partner for pairs skating and pursues a spot in the Olympics.

Netflix produces lots of new shows quickly and often cancels ones that aren’t making the cut after only a season or two. In 2019, the streaming giant cancelled a number of shows including its Marvel slate, the cult favorite comedy One Day At A Time, and the long-running animated series Voltron: Legendary Defender.

Meanwhile, the company’s viewing metrics have come under scrutiny lately. It recently changed its tally of a “view” from 70% of a given piece, to viewing just two minutes.