Ubisoft has shared more details about when Rainbow Six Siege will launch on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and how they’ll work with existing versions of the game. Game director Leroy Athanassoff told WindowsCentral that Rainbow Six Siege will be available for both next-generation consoles at launch, or at least that is the current “target.”
It makes sense that Siege will be available on the new consoles from day one, given Sony and Microsoft have already come forward to say the PS5 and Xbox Series X will support PS4 and Xbox One games, respectively. The Xbox Series X will also play Xbox 360 and original Xbox games, but Sony has yet to clarify its position on backwards compatibility beyond the confirmation that the system will play PS4 games.
The PS5 and Xbox Series X are scheduled to launch in Holiday 2020, so fans can expect Rainbow Six Siege to be playable on these systems around then.
For the first time ever, an operator in Rainbow Six Siege is getting a significant overhaul and ditching their primary weapon. Tachanka is dropping his turret weapon in favor of a grenade launcher as part of a Year 5 update for the character. Tachanka has long struggled for relevancy in the game, but that looks set to change.
IGN is reporting that while the character will still have access to the firepower of a DP28 LMG, which will now be his primary weapon. His new gadget will be the Kulakov Incendiary Grenade Launcher, which can be used to deny opponents access to certain parts of the map. This means that the character will no longer be tied to one location while attacking with their gadget.
According to art director Alex Karpazis, this new weapon pairing will make the character more effective and versatile. “The design team thought it worked super well with the legend of his weapon. And it ties in well with his kit. He can roam, and he can make holes to shoot his incendiary grenades through.”
Warning: this review contains full spoilers for Batwoman: Season 1, Episode 12! If you need a refresher on where we left off, here’s our review for Season 1, Episode 11.
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At this point it seems safe to say no Arrowverse series has benefited more from Crisis on Infinite Earths than Batwoman. Sure, Supergirl has arguably been affected more in terms of the overall status quo, but that series was already on solid footing before the crossover. It’s not so much that life in Gotham City has drastically changed in this new Earth-Prime era, but that Batwoman has used the foundation of Crisis to address its greatest recurring flaw.
If Alice has been the regular weak link in the Season 1 formula, she’s a whole lot better off thanks to these most recent two installments. “An Un-Birthday Present” and now “Take Your Choice” have gone a long way toward humanizing this villain (a process previously reserved for the flashback scenes) and giving her a clearer and more understandable set of motivations. The series has quickly managed to flip the script on the new status quo established in the midseason finale. Where once Alice was the heartless villain who drove a wedge right through the Kane family, now she’s become the loner betrayed by one of the two people she cares for the most.
Rachel Skarsten has never really managed to nail that dreamy, surreal quality that makes Alice such a unique villain in the comics. Her Alice performance is very stiff and forced. By now it’s clear that’s an intentional choice on the show’s part, as recent episodes have really started to emphasize how much this persona was created as a coping mechanism for a young Beth Kane. Even so, it often feels like there’s been something lost in translation with Alice. “Take Your Choice,” more than any other episode before it, succeeds by downplaying Alice’s supervillain shenanigans and trying to find the fragile human beneath the cruel facade.
In the process, Skarsten is able to shine in a way she’s never managed before. She excels here in playing two vastly different versions of the same character – both of whom are confronting the possibility of their imminent death. That these two Beths look and behave so differently only highlights the tragedy of Alice and how much was taken from the Kane family when she vanished. There are repeated signs that Alice isn’t as cruel or heartless as she’d like the city to believe, including the reveal she purposely saved Mary’s life and the very genuine shock and remorse she feels after realizing Kate came not to save her, but to watch her die. That scene may well be the highlight of the series so far. Though Alice’s hallucination of a vengeful Catherine come to gloat is a close second. An inspired use of a character we all assumed had run her course.
In general, this episode makes terrific use of what could have been a very silly and convoluted premise. It proves there’s still room in the Arrowverse for more grounded, metahuman-free stories even in a world of Kryptonians, speedsters and time travelers. The idea that the universe can only permit one Beth Kane to live creates a palpable tension that only grows over the course of the episode. With the Crows hunting for Alice and Kate struggling to find some way to save her new sister without dooming the old, there’s a certainty that nothing is going to work out well for our heroes. The only question is how exactly Kate’s reunion with Beth will end badly.
The reveal is certainly satisfying. Faced with an impossible choice, Kate chooses the sensible option – save the sister who isn’t a homicidal maniac. Instead, she winds up enduring all the heartache of watching Alice die without managing to save Beth in the end. Just as Alice gave Kate reason to loathe her in the midseason finale, now Alice has reason to despise the only family she has left. Somehow, this episode has managed to make that rivalry even more personal.
My only disappointment with the way things play out is that there would have been a lot of potential in the idea of the two Beths merging to form a new Beth who remembers both lives. What does that do to her mind and her plans for Gotham? But to be fair, that’s me complaining about the story I want to see rather than the story being told. And anyway, it’s not impossible the series won’t still go down that road.
Another big plus is that “Take Your Choice” gives a better sense of how the various pieces of Season 1 fit together, with Sebastian Roche’s Dr. Campbell taking on a more prominent role and revealing himself to be Dr. Cartwright in disguise. Cartwright is quickly shaping up to be the real endgame villain of Season 1. His quietly sadistic personality and ability to hide in plain sight make him well-suited to the task. His is a brand of evil that could only exist in Gotham, and I look forward to seeing him step into the spotlight in the weeks to come.
Full spoilers ahead for the ending of Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie and what it means for a potential Sonic sequel!
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Sonic the Hedgehog may have had a bumpy start with that whole redesign issue, but now that we’ve left V1 of his nightmare-inducing mug in the dust, it turns out the hedgehog was able to lead an admirably solid film debut.
Paramount is clearly hoping to make this the first film in a Sonic franchise (depending on how many gold rings it brings in at the box office) and the film’s closing moments give us an idea of some storylines the studio may be toying around with for the sequel.
Let’s break down the film’s end credits scene and explore what it suggests about a potential Sonic sequel.
Robotnik’s Exile on the Mushroom Planet
The end credits kick off with a glimpse of Jim Carrey’s villainous Doctor Robotnik in exile on a gross, mushroomy planet that’s definitely not a dig at Mario’s Mushroom Kingdom. With his red nose and goggles, Robotnik looks far more like his video game counterpart in this scene than he did at other points in the film.
Like Tom Hanks confiding in his volleyball friend Wilson in the film Cast Away, Robotnik is talking to a rock, boasting that he’ll be home by Christmas. As amusing and revealing as this moment is, the film’s true end credits scene — and potential sequel set-up — happens next.
After the credits roll, we find ourselves overlooking Green Hills, Montana, where Sonic now lives with his adoptive parents, Tom and Maddie. One of Sonic’s ring portals appears, but it isn’t the Blue Blur that races out, it’s his trusty sidekick, Tails.
Though the two-tailed fox is absent for the entirety of the runtime up to this point, he’s clearly got some pressing business to discuss. Tails rejoices that he’s finally found Sonic and that he hopes it isn’t too late to enlist his help as he takes off towards town.
Who Is Tails?
Miles “Tails” Prower has been Sonic’s ride-or-die buddy since the early days of the franchise. Debuting in 1992’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Tails was much more than a neurotic palette swap of his partner for player two to use. The flying fox tagged along from zone to zone, using his incredibly dope helicopter tails to drag Sonic to new heights… or more specifically, in my case, heights that I’m too lazy to figure out how to reach with Sonic alone. Through almost every game and animated episode in the franchise, Tails used his aerial prowess, mechanical skills, and chipper attitude to help Sonic battle Eggman’s forces.
The film punts on a pretty important aspect of Sonic and Tails’ relationship: Have they met each other before now? It’s unclear at this point, but seeing as a lot of Sonic’s journey has to do with him finding a family and people to connect with, it seems likely they haven’t yet. After all, now that Sonic has a family, why not give him a best buddy in the sequel?
“Too Late…” for What?
Tails needs Sonic’s help with something, and from the sound of it, it’s a serious threat. The movie does a pretty light job of world-building, passingly introducing things like Sonic’s homeworld and how his ring portals work before swiftly moving on, so considering what Tails’ dilemma could be based on what the movie itself introduces is a fairly quick exercise. One possibility: Perhaps Dr. Robotnik has escaped his exile and is wreaking havoc on Tails’ people. It’s unclear just how much time passes between Robotnik’s initial exile and Tails’ arrival in Green Hills, but assuming there’s no time jump and this scene isn’t supposed to take place right before the events of any hypothetical sequel, it seems like Robotnik still has some time to serve on that gross, mushroomy planet.
Of course, Tails could also be having an echidna problem. Early in the film, we see that a group of masked warrior echidnas are responsible for driving Sonic off his homeworld after they attempt to steal his super speed. This could be the Knuckles clan, who are long extinct by the time the games take place. If Tails and Sonic come from the same world, it could be that Tails had to flee in hopes of getting Sonic’s help in fighting back against the echidnas. In that case, who better to serve as the echidnas’ champion than Knuckles himself, another franchise stalwart? The last of the Knuckles clan, Sonic’s red rival debuted in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, wherein he was tricked into helping Dr. Robotnik fight Sonic and Tails. It’s clear the echidnas already have it out for Sonic, so maybe we’ll see a role reversal, with Knuckles finding Robotnik and trading his freedom for help defeating Sonic. Getting to watch Jim Carrey be subservient to a CG echidna seems like an easy sell for next time around.
If Tails’ problem doesn’t involve Robotnik and/or Knuckles, the next possibility would significantly up the stakes. A close look at the bottom corner of Sonic’s map of the worlds reveals a drawing of a gem. What kind of gem would be important enough to be included on a map of this scale? Well, if you’re talking about gems and Sonic, you’re talking about the Chaos Emeralds.
Long story short, these six gems are the Sonic world’s Infinity Stones, all controlled by a seventh One Ring-esque Master Emerald. Just like any reality-breaking MacGuffins, Sonic has often had to protect and recover these powerful artifacts from his nemeses. Considering Knuckles has historically been a protector of the Master Emerald, there’s a lot of potential for Chaos in the sequel. Bringing these emeralds into the mix would certainly open the door to a much wider universe of worlds and characters from the games. Here’s hoping it won’t take Tails tossing himself off a cliff to save the day. Although, I guess he’d be fine. Helicopter tails, and all that.
What did you think of Tails’ appearance? And what do you want to see in a Sonic movie sequel? Let us know in the comments!
Diablo and Overwatch are both getting animated series based on them, and the Diablo series will be an anime-style show for Netflix, much like Castlevania. This is according to the LinkedIn profile of Nick van Dyk, co-president of Activision Blizzard Studios, who previously served as a producer on the Netflix original animated series Skylanders Academy.
According to van Dyk’s description of his position within Activision, Diablo is getting an animated adaptation “rendered in anime style,” which is currently in pre-production and will release worldwide through Netflix. This series has been rumored for some time, but this seems like confirmation that it is happening–although it could be a while away yet if it’s still in pre-production.
Further down, van Dyk mentions that he “developed and sold an animated series based on Blizzard’s Overwatch franchise,” alongside his creative partner. Nothing formal has been announced about this series, and it’s not clear who the series has been sold to. Overwatch has frequently fleshed out its backstory with CGI animated shorts, including the Overwatch 2 announcement cinematic.
Life is Strange 2 is about two brothers escaping a strange situation. It is also about family, brotherhood, survival, racism, individualism and social conformity in Trump’s America. It is an experience in which the gameplay interactions and narrative are purposefully dissonant. The plot moves forward in the form of in-engine scenes, whereas the verbs the player performs are tightly restricted and functionally mundane.
What makes Life is Strange 2 compelling is that the rewards on offer aren’t the usual upgrade trees or random loot drops, but instead deepening character histories and interactions. When the player does take control, gameplay options are deliberately narrow and often non-essential. You truly do need to behave like a big brother. What you do is equally important as what you say.
(Spoiler warning: this article discusses story beats and mechanics from Episodes 1-5 of Life is Strange 2)
So what do you do in Life is Strange 2? Well, you move Sean, the elder of two brothers, through narrowly-defined spaces, like the interior of a house or the linear path of an empty road. You look at things – objects, paraphernalia, pictures and the like. Sean will have a dry comment for each thing, his perfunctory elaboration attaching new details and backstory to objects. For example, you might find some of Sean’s mother Karen’s poetry, but given the fact she left the family shortly after Daniel’s birth, the object is soured from his perspective. For the player, this makes you curious about Karen’s motivations and the events of the past. These eventually get explored in the form of flashbacks and a meetup with Karen.
Occasionally, you have the option to pick up objects. These are added to your inventory for purposes that may or may not ever present themselves, depending on both where the story goes and if you choose the right actions to bring about related closure. In fact, beyond Episode 1, your inventory becomes vestigial in nature, to the point where the only motivation the player has to delve into Sean’s backpack is to snoop through collected artefacts. This is not a problem. The way Life is Strange 2 dwells on the mundane draws you into the everyday lives of its characters and highlights the value of living in the moment. There is no need for any other reward or keepsake.
Whether you choose to pack beer or soft drink from the fridge for a party Sean is planning to attend, for instance, doesn’t ultimately matter, but you might want Sean to be a good boy and so choose to refrain from alcohol and cigarettes. One decision that does have an impact early on is being either honest or dishonest with Sean’s father when asking for money for the party. Replying honestly will net you more cash, which becomes important when you are on the run with Daniel and needing to buy (or steal) supplies and equipment to survive.
Brothers on the run. Don’t worry, the blood is fake.
The game quickly makes you aware that your actions will be of a mundane nature. Interactive options are often limited to “Look” or “Take”. Gameplay mirrors those developer commentary runs that are offered as extra features in some titles, moving from point to point, activating them and listening to a spiel. Using this structure, Life is Strange 2 lulls you nicely along its branching pathways, where the journey taken will feel different for each player. You may opt to ignore most of the side stuff and forge through the main path, in which case you might miss some of the game’s serene, beautiful moments.
Sean taking time to sit and sketch different scenes presents wonderful snapshots of the boys’ journey. If you decide to sketch, you must look at the scene through Sean’s eyes, holding a button to focus on the broad details, before looking down at the sketchbook and wriggling the left thumb-stick to sketch shapes across the page. You can leave it there or you can look up and focus again, bringing in extra detail and sketching a more coherent version of the scene. These sketches can be looked at again by entering the inventory screen. You might also completely miss the prompts for Sean to sit or rest and consider his surroundings while he delivers a monologue about how things are going with Daniel. They provide perfect ruminations of a harrowing journey peppered with beauty.
A sketch-worthy view.
Educating Daniel
Crunch-time decisions come during action scenes, with most of these offering binary choices. The most common decision-making crux asks the player, as Sean, to decide whether or not to encourage Daniel to use his nascent powers. These pathways add to Daniel’s AI learning, a background process that nurtures the kind of Daniel you prefer through morality and brotherhood. For instance, you might admonish him for cussing, or you might allow him to swear, in which case he’ll swear a lot more. Daniel’s learning even extends to observing the player’s actions, so that it might be worth following your own advice to him to avoid contradictions.
There’s also a brotherly bond component to Daniel’s developing persona, which can bring him back from the brink of selfish decisions if he trusts Sean enough. The way that Daniel reacts at certain key moments is tied directly to this web of decision making moments. This makes it important to deeply consider both your actions and dialogue choices with Daniel, especially If you are the type of player that feels connected to game characters, carrying their legacies with you long past completion.
Making friends can be dangerous.
In today’s world of massive, sprawling RPGs and dialogue trees with more branches than Yggdrasil, the suppression of player choices may feel restrictive. In the context of this intimate game, though, it feels perfectly natural that Sean would see the world in such a way, and that he would feel that his choices are constrained given the Diaz brothers’ circumstances. Then there’s the fact that while your decisions may feel two-sided, the systems in place behind the scenes are complex and result in unpredictable consequences. You often have to sacrifice some of your bond with Daniel in order to be a morally sound big brother, or lose moral ground in order to deepen brotherly trust.
Action itself is further limited by the fact that you are a surrogate to Daniel, who is the catalyst for change throughout the story. While most games would position you as the one with power, the focus is instead shifted to managing that power. This creates a degree of separation between the player and the action taking place, including the violence. Life is Strange 2 does have quite a lot of violence in it, but it is almost always directed at Sean rather than coming from him. This passiveness is a deliberate play against videogame stereotypes and thus offers a refreshing change to the impact of violence. You feel much more like a bystander or third-party, as opposed to, say, the Doom marine literally tearing things to pieces.
Watch What You Say
Another way Life is Strange 2 encourages a casual, controller-down approach to play is the way in which dialogue choices are handled. You are offered a few reactions during conversations and sometimes one of these is to say nothing. Just as importantly, saying nothing during the game’s rare timed conversation choices, by not reacting in time or withholding input, results in a valid choice. The scene will keep playing out even if you don’t touch the controller and it never feels like you are missing out on much for keeping your clap shut. If anything, it’s in character for Sean to be cautious, because his physical degradation due to injury over the course of the narrative is inversely proportional to Daniel’s growing powers.
It’s up to you to direct how Daniel will use his powers.
In Episode 3, you are camping with other people who are self-proclaimed rejects of society. One of the gameplay gates here is that Sean needs to pull his weight in the camp by completing chores. It takes a few real-time minutes to haul water from a collection tank to the makeshift kitchen and shower. What is interesting about this section is that you can also offer to help Daniel with his kitchen duty, or not. There’s no motivation to extend this slow, tedious moment other than your own ethics and the possibility of incidental dialogue. You’ll also gain brotherhood and morality points with Daniel if you do help him, but this system is hidden in the game and difficult to predict. For example, if you’ve been a crappy brother, Daniel will actually refuse your help in this moment, leading to deeper damage to the brotherhood.
Whatever your moral compass, prolonging gameplay becomes about engaging with seemingly inconsequential moments in the created world. One could argue that these vignettes are in fact the whole point of the game. They ground you in the reality of the situation. By offering such ordinary gameplay tasks, the extraordinary is heightened when it happens.
Full of Character
Between episodes, weeks or months can pass and the brothers will be in a completely different situation than when you left them at the end of the previous episode. Rather than laborious backstory catch-up, new characters enter the player’s field fully-formed, with back stories and motivations that must be absorbed via their appearance, dialogue and any objects relating to them that the camera chooses to dwell on. For instance, when you meet a friendly trucker in Episode 4, the camera immediately focuses on his living compartment, its netted shelves filled with toilet paper, books and personal mementos. Then he shares with Sean a sandwich that his wife made him. The player soon sees him as a family man out on the lonely road willing to take a chance on a young man in need of a lift.
The power of objects is such that they paint the picture of a character more effectively than dialogue. This reliance on visual storytelling reflects the film-like influences on Life is Strange 2’s overall aesthetic. Another example is the fish tank in the home of the boys’ grandparents, Claire and Stephen Reynolds. As you explore the house for the first time in Episode 2, Sean remarks on the empty fish tank, later asking Daniel if he has ever seen fish in it. The implication is that the house is sterile and lifeless. One of the possible endings shows the Reynolds household years later, with Daniel having grown up there, enjoying a new life with his grandparents. Now the tank has fish in it, the house if full of light and life. The camera’s cut to this object is far from an accident. It’s a deliberate artistic choice.
At every opportunity, Life is Strange 2 applies the brakes. It slows the gameplay down and offers calm, considered spaces in which the player can feel safe and satisfied. It allows you to sift through the game at your own pace. This adds up to some beautiful and subtle moments outside of violence and tragedy, even if by most definitions the gameplay itself is limited or boring. The player comes away with a set of memories tied to these contemplative moments, such as a sunset over a canyon, the way the light shines through Sean’s still bedroom, the sketch-filled interior of the boys’ tent or the mischievous yet unhurried exploration of the Reynolds’ home by the brothers while their grandparents are at church.
Life is Strange 2 succeeds in being unique because of its adherence to the slower aspects of living and surviving. It brings out beauty through calmness and contemplation. Despite its serious subject matter and lack of subtlety when it comes to its racist, xenophobic and religiously fanatic antagonists, Life is Strange 2 is an uplifting experience about family, loyalty, love and belonging. So if you prefer to put the controller down during story scenes, or you find yourself sifting through Sean’s completed sketches multiple times, that’s okay. You are meant to enjoy the quiet moments, the butter between the bread. And when you get to the end, well, let’s just say we hope you have been a good brother to Daniel. He will remember everything.
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Dylan Burns is an Australian freelancer who has no superpowers, although he did get a laugh out of Cliffy B once, so… follow him on Twitter.
The Uncharted movie has been a long time coming, as it’s been in one form of production or another for more than a decade. It now seems like the stars have finally aligned, as Spider-Man actor Tom Holland is on board to play a young Nathan Drake with Mark Wahlberg attached to play Sully. Holland has now given an interview about the film, and he seems enthusiastic about the script. In particular, he said the movie may succeed where other video game adaptations have struggled because its story is a new one, not a re-telling of any of the games.
“I read the newest draft of the script … and it’s one of the best scripts I’ve ever read,” he told IGN. “It really, really jumps off the page. I think what Uncharted offers that most video game films don’t is that it’s an origin story to the games, so if you’ve played the games, you haven’t see what’s going to happen in the film. If you haven’t played the games, you’re going to enjoy the film because it’s information that everyone else is getting at the same time.”
Holland went on to himself acknowledge that the Uncharted movie has endured a protracted development timeline. There has been lots of turnover as well, as the movie has shuffled through seven different directors and numerous scriptwriters before getting to where it’s at today.
StarCraft: Ghost was originally planned as an Xbox/PS2/GameCube spin-off, a new third-person shooter entry in the StarCraft series. The game was never finished, though, and was only ever seen or played behind closed doors during E3. Now, for the first time, footage of the game has appeared online.
First spotted by Kotaku, a playable test build of StarCraft: Ghost, stored on an Xbox dev kit, has leaked online. Footage from the game is emerging, showing what the full game would have looked and played like, had it ever released. The first video, below, is off-screen gameplay that includes footage of the dev kit menu that the build is being accessed from.
This next footage shows the game upscaled to 720P, and is direct capture footage. The only build available is very much a work-in-progress–it looks like aiming is quite wonky, but it’s also the clearest look many of us have ever had at how the game played. It’s likely that more footage will surface now that this build has surfaced.
The popular live trivia game app company, which pitted contestants against countless others for a chance at real-world money, has shut down after a last-minute acquisition attempt fell through, leaving the company to lay off its 25 employees and shut its doors. What’s a broke company to do for their last ever broadcast? Host Matt Richards took $5 out of his own pocket for the show’s last prize pool.
And then he flipped off the audience and said he would crap on the homes of every troll in the game’s chatroom.
“Not going to lie, this [expletive] sucks,” Richards said. “This is the last HQ ever.”
With a bottle of champagne sitting front and center before the camera, Richards and co-host Anna Roisman proceeded to give not one single crap for their final broadcast, cracking jokes, swearing loudly, all while seemingly a bit drunk. The pair also jokingly begged the viewers to hire them and verged on tears every now and then.
Some choice quotes.
“I was never allowed to plug [expletive] on HQ. Please follow my podcast. Unemployed With Anna Roisman.” – Roisman.
“I used to never wear pants here when I started at HQ Trivia.” – Richards
“Should HQ shut down? No, yes, or [expletive] no!” – Richards, posing a trivia question to the audience.
“I met a couple that told me HQ was part of their foreplay.” – Richards.
HQ Trivia launched back in 2017, quickly skyrocketing to popularity with trivia lovers everywhere hoping to make a buck. Original host Scott Rogowsky proved popular as well. So popular that he announced last April that he was leaving HQ Trivia to focus on a baseball show on the sports streaming service DAZN. The loss of Rogowsky, internal struggles at the company, and the introduction of an unpopular points-based scoring system helped bring the app’s popularity crashing down. HQ’s former CEO and co-founder Colin Kroll also died of a drug overdose in December 2018.
The crew closed out the broadcast with an emotional rendition of “Memory” from the musical Cats, before Richards sprays the studio and himself with the champagne.
At least the hosts can say they went out with a bang, and then some.
