DC’s Justice League hits theaters next month, but there will be a bit of a wait for the next movie from the studio, with Aquaman not due until December 2018. The good news is that production on Aquaman has now wrapped.
Stars Jason Momoa and Amber Heard, along with director James Wan, have all taken to social media to mark the end of shooting. You can check Momoa’s Instagram post (featuring Heard) below, while Wan and Heard’s own posts can be found here and here.
Earlier this year, Momoa spoke about his role in the film and explained that that unlike Batman or Superman, this wasn’t a character who already had an established identity onscreen. “We’ve never really seen anything from this guy before, so it’s fun to have a level playing field,” Momoa said. “There aren’t like four Aquamans before me. I get to set the tone for it.”
Arguably Star Wars: Battlefront 2’s biggest change is the addition of a single-player campaign mode, and a producer on the game now says it will take “around 5-7, maybe 8 hours” to finish.
Speaking to Press Start, Motive studio producer David Robillard explained that the team “wanted to stay very driven towards the Star Wars fantasy that the players are going to experience and not have it be drawn out”.
IGN recently went hands-on with the game’s first three chapters, taking around two hours to do so, which should give some indication of how the mode’s missions are divided up.
As he works on the movie’s script, along with co-writer Chris Terrio (Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice), Abrams doesn’t want the film to live in the past. Instead, he’s looking to the future. Given that Disney, the studio behind Star Wars, will no doubt be continuing the franchise, that makes perfect sense.
During an interview alongside composer Michael Giacchino (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Abrams tells BBC Radio 4, “I feel like we need to approach this with the same excitement that we had when we were kids loving what these movies were and, at the same time, we have to take them places that they haven’t gone, and that’s sort of our responsibility.” That’s a comment that could be taken both literally and figuratively.
Surely, the film will visit new planets and bring about new species of aliens–and possibly different droids–but there’s more to the idea of uncharted territory in the Star Wars universe. The current trilogy continues the saga started by Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) in 1977’s A New Hope. Over 40 years later, it may be time to explore some new story ideas.
In a galaxy as large as the one Star Wars exists in, there are plenty of stories to tell and many of them are getting the chance to shine in projects like Star Wars Rebels. Perhaps the time will come after Episode IX for a new saga to be introduced on the big screen.
It certainly sounds like something on Abrams’ mind as he looks forward. “It’s a strange thing. Michael [Giacchino]’s worked on things like Planet of the Apes, and Star Trek, and Star Wars and these are the things of dreams,” he says. “Yet we can’t just revel in that, we have to go elsewhere.”
While the future of Star Wars is unknown, hearing Abrams talk about it certainly does make it exciting.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is in theaters on December 17. Star Wars: Episode IX releases on December 20, 2019. Between the two, Solo–the Han Solo standalone movie–will debut on May 25, 2018.
With so many new games and movies coming out, it can be hard to keep up. Lucky for you, IGN is here to help with a weekly round-up of the biggest releases each and every week. Check out the latest releases for this week, and be sure to come back next Monday for a new update.
Note:The prices and deals compiled below are accurate at the time we published this story, but all are subject to change.
Brock Lesnar is the current WWE Universal champion, even though he only works part-time–no house shows, barely any television, and only select PPVs. Up until now, WWE has sold fans on a shaky, flawed premise: that because a Lesnar appearance is rare, it makes the title an exclusive treasure, defended on the biggest stages only. According to WWE, this increases the title’s importance rather than decreasing it.
But the opposite is true. The current booking renders the title meaningless. The WWE Universal Championship is, like every other title belt, a storytelling device, and WWE has not given fans a reason to care about who wears it and why. By keeping it on Lesnar, the company squanders any opportunities to correct this problem.
Getting the fans to care was never going to be easy. When the Superstar Shakeup went down last summer and the roster was split between Raw and SmackDown, WWE had to figure out how to divvy up the existing belts. There were two midcard belts–the Intercontinental Championship and the United States Championship–so it was easy to split those between two shows. But there was only one main event world title: The WWE Championship. So, WWE created the WWE Universal title as a second world title and made it a Raw exclusive.
The WWE Championship, which is currently exclusive to SmackDown, has a long, distinguished history. Buddy Rogers held it for the first time in 1963. Bruno Sammartino held it, collectively, for over a decade. Hulk Hogan held it. Bret Hart held it. Steve Austin held it.
It’s part of WWE’s institutional memory. When fans see the WWE Championship, they’re seeing something weighted with history, blood, and sacrifice. Even when there’s a weak champion–like Jinder Mahal, who is the current title holder–it doesn’t diminish the title’s importance. It would take a lot to undo over 50 years of storytelling.
The Universal title, on the other hand, has none of that historical context to fall back on, which made it important to build the title’s reputation and emotional attachment. But that’s never happened—sometimes due to factors outside WWE’s control, and sometimes due to the company’s own self-sabotage.
The belt debuted with a particularly rough start. When Mick Foley and Stephanie McMahon unveiled the belt at SummerSlam 2016, the hostile Brooklyn crowd booed its design viciously–so viciously that Seth Rollins took to Twitter to scold fans for their behavior.
But design can change. The real test of the belt’s long-term future was whether its champions could make it matter. And here, WWE ran into some bad luck. The inaugural champion, Finn Balor, would have been a perfect candidate to represent Raw. But unfortunately, he dislocated his shoulder during his SummerSlam 2016 match with Seth Rollins. He relinquished the belt to commissioner Mick Foley less than 24 hours after he won it.
Miraculously, WWE devised a Plan B that, at first glance, seemed almost as good as their first plan. Triple H interfered in a Fatal 4-Way match to determine the next Universal Champion and literally handed his NXT protege, Kevin Owens, the title.
It created enough potential plotlines to last WWE for two years. It was an ultimate corrupt heel move. It set up a meta-narrative, where both in real life and in the storyline, Triple H was orchestrating a takeover of WWE through NXT. And new champion Kevin Owens had skills in the ring and on the mic. He wasn’t chiseled like Finn Balor, but perhaps, in this new era of WWE, he didn’t have to be.
But instead of backing his handpicked champion in person, Triple H disappeared from WWE television for weeks at a time and never explained his actions. And Owens, rather than being the lonely, emotionally damaged character that he excels at, was placed in a comedic BFF storyline with Chris Jericho. Unfortunately for Owens, no one on the roster, no matter how he or she can talk, can compete with Chris Jericho on a microphone.
Even worse, Kevin Owens relied on Jericho’s outside interference. That’s no way to build the new title’s prestige–to have its first long-reigned champion struggle to hold onto it.
And then, to make matters worse, a 50-year-old part-time Goldberg took the Universal title from Owens, in a fluke match that lasted under 30 seconds. It nostalgia-popped the crowd, but it did no favors toward building the title’s reputation. Less than a month later, Goldberg lost the title to Lesnar at WrestleMania.
Lesnar hasn’t dropped it since then, and his rare matches have been inconsistent. His best defense was a Fatal 4-Way at SummerSlam between him, Braun Strowman, Roman Reigns, and Samoa Joe. Lesnar wasn’t involved in the entire match, as he was injured. But he returned towards the end and performed well.
Unfortunately, this big victory was bookended by two lackluster PPV performances. Lesnar earned a clean win against Samoa Joe at Great Balls of Fire, and he earned another clean win against Braun Strowman at No Mercy. In both matches, he defeated his opponents with a single, insulting F-5.
So to recap: The Universal title went from being dropped by an injured champion, to being held by a weak champion, to being won with sheer luck by a gimmick champion, to being won and held by a part-time champion. Two of the four men held it for less than a month. What does the Universal title even signify with that sort of lineage?
How can WWE fix the Universal title’s stagnancy? First, get it off Lesnar. The sooner that happens, the better. Put it on a tough, full-time wrestler–one who fights cleanly rather than cheating–and have him score a series of high profile wins. Lesnar’s limited schedule does not allow him or WWE to give the title the on-screen attention it deserves.
Rumor has it that Roman Reigns will win the Universal title at next year’s WrestleMania, cementing him as the top guy in the company. But WWE should give him a crown worthy of his long-awaited coronation. And as it currently stands, the WWE Universal title is no crown. It’s an ugly tiara, in need of some real jewels.
Prior to the system’s release, Atlus confirmed that it was working on a new Shin Megami Tensei game for Nintendo Switch. Now, we’ve gotten a new trailer for it and confirmation that this is the next full-fledged entry in the series: Shin Megami Tensei V.
Atlus shared the news during a recent livestream, though we’re still in the dark regarding many of the specifics. The video shows that the game will at least partially take place in modern-day Tokyo. We see two characters walk through what looks like a normal train station before the video transitions to a tunnel filled with slain demons. Finally, there’s a scene in a post-apocalyptic city as flying creatures swoop in and attack those same two characters.
When it was first revealed, a trailer for SMT V–known at the time as Shin Megami Tensei: Brand New Title–showed off a destroyed office building and some familiar-looking demons. Like that one, this trailer is entirely in Japanese. Atlus has not yet confirmed an international release for the game. Given that recent Shin Megami Tensei games have been localized for western markets, a localization seems likely. There might be a wait for such a version, but given that Switch is region-free, you can always opt to play the Japanese version as soon as it’s available.
The previously teased Shin Megami Tensei game for Nintendo Switch has officially been revealed as Shin Megami Tensei V.
As promised by Atlus last month at Tokyo Game Show, new information about the upcoming Switch title was revealed on October 23. Check out the new teaser below for a look at the game’s demon infested urban setting.
Atlus has yet to share details regarding when the new RPG will be released.
Shin Megami Tensei V was first teased by Atlus back in January during the Nintendo Switch reveal event. Atlus had just started development on the project at that time and has yet to announce whether or not it will be localized for the west.
If you’re an ’80s lover, Stranger Things is pretty much the perfect TV series. The first season paid tribute to countless ’80s movies and other pop culture relics in its first season, and we have no doubt Season 2 will continue that trend.
While we wait for the debut of Season 2, here are our favorite ’80s references from the first eight episodes:
A total of 13 games will be supported initially on Xbox One. Microsoft shared a list of these games with IGN, and in addition to the two we’d repeatedly heard about–Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge and Fuzion Frenzy–we’ll also be able to play Ninja Gaiden Black, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Black. Support for 1080p, higher or more stable framerates, and faster load times are all said to be in place–just be aware that most of these run in 4:3 aspect ratios. Here’s the full list:
As with Xbox 360 games, you can pop the physical disc in your system, or you can play using a digital version from the Xbox Store. System link is supported, even between different generations of Xbox hardware, though online multiplayer is not due to support ending for original Xbox games in 2010.
The video below showcases what Knights of the Old Republic looks like running on an original Xbox versus an Xbox One S. While you’re unlikely to mistake it for a newly released game, it does look noticeably better, with sharper textures and less aliasing.
When we spoke with Xbox boss Phil Spencer recently, he teased that Xbox One X owners may receive some kind of special backwards compatibility support. “There’s some stuff we’re going to talk about in that space in terms of how compatibility’s going to work on [Xbox One] X specifically that I think people will find pretty interesting,” he said.
We already reported on the Super Nt, Analogue’s new high-definition Super NES that doesn’t use software emulation, and now Analogue revealed each unit inludes an unreleased version of Super Turrican cooked right in.
Each Super Nt includes a director’s cut of the game, as well as the sequel Super Turrican 2, and a Super NES-style package for Super Turrican: Director’s Cut. Analogue released a trailer for the newly-complete game as well.
