Apex Legends’ second birthday has arrived, and we thought it would be a good idea to take a trip down memory lane and recount the highs, lows, and major changes for Respawn’s battle royale over the past year.
Skill-based matchmaking has become a huge problem in Call Of Duty so let’s explore if SBMM is as unfair as people think it is.Acclaimed and Oscar-winning director Quentin Tarantino has shared his thoughts on 2019’s blockbuster smash Joker, and in particular the grisly and uncomfortable talk show scene involving Robert DeNiro’s character.
In an Empire podcast conversation with director Edgar Wright, Tarantino discussed the scene, in which Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker meets DeNiro’s Murray Franklin, confesses his murderous ways, and then shoots Franklin in the head.
Tarantino said the scene succeeds in subverting expectations and convinces the audience that Joker should kill Franklin.
Kadokawa Corporation has given Sony a 1.93% ownership stake in the company, a financial deal that the Japanese media conglomerate says will allow it to utilize Sony’s “global expansion power of animation and consumer games.”
“We believe that it is necessary to procure such funds in order not to miss potential investment opportunities and to solidify our ability to create IP based on our track record of creating rich and unique IP consisting of a diverse portfolio of books, movies, animations, games, and UGC platforms, both financially and financially,” it said in a statement as reported by VGC.
The deal will also see CyberAgent–owner of popular smartphone game developer CyGames–receive the same percentage of shares in the company, which in turn will allow Kadowkawa Corporation to create and develop new intellectual properties in addition to maximizing the IP that it already owns.
Rockstar Games has announced a new Red Dead Redemption 2 music album. “The Housebuilding EP” is described as a special release and it will launch on February 12.
The album’s top-billed song is “The Housebuilding Song,” which is heard during the epilogue of the acclaimed western. Four previously unreleased songs are also included on the EP, written by David Ferguson and Matt Sweeney.
Ferguson is country music legend who produced songs for Jack Clement, Johnny Cash, John Prine, and most recently Sturgill Simpson. Sweeney is a guitarist whose performances are featured on songs by Cash, Adele, Run The Jewels, and Iggy Pop.
Taking to Twitter, Gunn replied to a fan who asked whether the studio was heavily involved with The Suicide Squad. In response, the director explained how he was given total creative freedom on the project, making “every single choice” himself, as Warners gave “very few notes” and it was his choice whether to take them on board or not. He also confirmed that the movie has now reached completion.
#TheSuicideSquad is fully finished and cut and I made every single choice and they never once even slightly interfered. They gave very few notes – they were usually good and minor and I took them if I wanted to and didn’t if I didn’t want to. Warners was creatively amazing.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) February 5, 2021
The Suicide Squad, for the DCEU, is one of several major Warner Bros. movies that will be released in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously this year — and with “carte blanche” to kill off any Suicide Squad members he wanted to (even Harley Quinn), Gunn has loaded up the movie with cannon fodder obscurities like Blackguard, Javelin, Polka-Dot Man, Savant, and more.
[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/08/22/the-suicide-squad-official-cast-reveal”]
In the DC comics, the Suicide Squad gained a reputation for having an increasingly high body count — a trend that continued in the antihero team’s various other incarnations and adaptations.
With every member of the squad being expendable once again, no one can be sure who will survive Gunn’s soft reboot, though there are plenty of contenders. The movie stars Idris Elba as Bloodsport, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, John Cena as Peacemaker, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man, Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher II, Steve Agee as King Shark and John Economos, Sean Gunn as Weasel, Flula Borg as Javelin, Nathan Fillion as TDK, Peter Capaldi as The Thinker, Pete Davidson as Blackguard, Alice Braga as Sol Soria, Mayling Ng as Mongal, Juan Diego Botto as Luna, and Michael Rooker as Savant.
[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=dc-extended-universe-every-upcoming-movie&captions=true”]
The Suicide Squad will debut in theaters and on HBO Max on August 6, 2021. There’s no trailer yet for the movie, but Warners did include some footage in a sizzle reel of upcoming releases. Gunn is also writing and directing a Suicide Squad TV series spinoff starring John Cena’s character Peacemaker. No release window has been given for that yet, though it is expected to premiere after The Suicide Squad.
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
Super Bowl LV takes place this weekend, with the defending champions Kansas Chief Chiefs taking on Tom Brady and the New England Patriots Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the title.
EA Sports historically simulates the Big Game and releases the results of the match-up, with this year’s simulation picking the Chiefs to win their second straight Super Bowl by taking down the Bucs for the crown by a score of 37-27.
According to the simulation, Patrick Mahomes will lead his team to victory and take home the Super Bowl MVP award for a second straight year, while Brady will put up a good effort in the loss. Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, but EA’s predictions in the past have been eerily accurate, like in 2015 when the simulation predicted the Patriots’ comeback victory against the Seattle Seahawks–and the final score–along with the exact type of pass play that made it happen. It was spooky. But EA isn’t always that accurate with its predictions.
Sony has unveiled the top downloaded games during January across the PlayStation Store. Hitman 3 is the only new release to sneak its way into the charts, despite launching later in the month.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War made a strong showing in both North America and Europe, settling into the top three in both regions on PlayStation 5–plus number one in the PlayStation 4 charts. Season One of Activision’s latest shooter kicked off earlier in the month, adding new maps, weapons, game modes, and a season pass. Call of Duty: Warzone occupies second place for free-to-play games.
FIFA 21 takes the top spot in Europe ahead of Hitman 3, but Agent 47’s latest outing comes in second place in both regions. The rest of the PS5 chart is mostly made up of newer games, while there are plenty of mainstays in the PS4 charts with the likes of Grand Theft Auto V and Minecraft.
One of the biggest game studios in the world, Riot Games, has hired a former Netflix and Hulu executive to head up marketing and consumer products for the League of Legends studio’s brand-new entertainment division.
In the role, Ryan Crosby will work on developing “entertainment extensions” of Riot’s franchises, including League of Legends, according to a report from Deadline. His boss is Shauna Spenley, another former Netflix executive, who is heading up the new entertainment division at Riot.
This is not Crosby’s first gaming gig, as he previously worked on marketing and advertising at Activision, as well as Microsoft. Most recently, he was the director of global creative marketing at Netflix before making the jump to Riot.