Category: games

Check out these fresh new frames from the latest show-stopping Star Wars trailer.

A suitable, but grim action-thriller from Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan and the director of GoldenEye.

Peter Serafinowicz and the cast and creators of the Amazon series talk the second half of Season 1.

A Gaming Chair is a great way to upgrade your battle station, and these are the best.

It’s not easy finding the ideal actor to play a live-action Batman. You need someone that’s built like a superhero, has the acting chops to play a brooding, tortured hero, and can also pull off that voice. For every new Batman who makes it to the screen, there are countless would-be Dark Knights who didn’t quite make the cut.

We’ve put together a gallery breaking down some of the more notable actors who almost got the chance to be Batman, from Colin Farrell to… Bill Murray? Check them all out below:

Warners may have to start up the casting calls again in the near future. Rumors persist that Ben Affleck may be exiting the DCEU after Justice League this fall, though Affleck downplayed those rumors at the studio’s SDCC panel in July.

Continue reading…

Welcome to IGN’s Daily Deals, your source for the best deals on the stuff you actually want to buy. If you buy something through this post, IGN may get a share of the sale. For more, read our Terms of Use.

Want IGN Deals in your social feeds? Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Want deals in your inbox? Sign up for the IGN Deals Newsletter.

Continue reading…

A new Hearthstone hero is joining the fray this Halloween season, and you can claim her for free starting October 17. Warlock Nemsy Necrofizzle will be available at any Fireside Gathering Tavern–even after the Hallow’s End festivities come to a close.

If you’re wondering where you’ve seen this tiny, red-headed warlock before, you wouldn’t be wrong in recognizing her. Nemzy has been seen on the Bog Creeper card from the Whispers of the Old Gods expansion set.

To get your hands on this pint-sized gal, all you have to do is participate in a Fireside Brawl at any Fireside Gathering Tavern. These taverns, which are a part of the game’s Halloween event, are real-life locations and events. For more details on finding one near you or hosting, head on over to the Fireside Gatherings website.

This month, the exclusive Fireside Brawl is a game of Tag Team. While you’re out at one of the Taverns, you’ll be paired with others around you for a 3v3 team tournament.

For more Hearthstone, check out the forthcoming cookbook with recipes inspired by the game, or what you’ll get with a BlizzCon virtual ticket. And be sure to check out all the other titles we know are having Halloween events and updates right here.

Rocket League is getting a Halloween-themed event that kicks off next week.

As detailed on the official Rocket League blog, the event, dubbed Haunted Hallows, will bring new crates and items to the game. It will also introduce an event-specific currency, Candy Corn, which can be earned by playing and completing online matches. The currency can be used in the special event to purchase new event items.

Haunted Hallows event crate, via Psyonix

Continue reading…

Over the past 20 years, horror fans have seen some exceptionally wonderful horror movies. We’re living in a golden era of modern horror where filmmakers don’t have to rely on witty supernatural villains spouting terrible one-liners while killing off their victims one by one. Now, both indie and major studios are producing memorable films that mix horror with other genres to create something unique and wonderful, like this year’s Get Out, which won big at the box office.

We’re taking a look at the past two decades of horror and picking out the best movie, year by year. Some years were better than others, but all of these movies should be on your watch list, especially with Halloween right around the corner.

1997: Event Horizon

1997 was not a great year for horror movies. It was a summer filled with movies like Scream 2, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Relic, and a slew of other very forgettable films. That year, Event Horizon was released, a sci-fi/horror hybrid about the reappearance of a ship that went into a black hole. The rescue team discovers something horrifying inside. Sure, it’s not an amazing movie, but it’s fun, and there are plenty of memorable moments, like when one character’s eyes get sewn shut.

1998: Ringu

Ringu kicked off what eventually become America’s love affair with Asian horror cinema. A reporter and her ex-husband investigate a mysterious tape that reportedly kills you seven days after you watch it. The vast majority of people are much more familiar with the 2002 American remake, which had a much bigger budget, but the original Ringu is a much better horror film with some great scares, even if a couple effects sequences are dated.

1999: The Blair Witch Project

For better or worse, depending on your outlook, The Blair Witch Project started a revolution when it came to “found footage” movies. This was a new genre for horror to jump into and part of the allure was the audience wondering if what they were watching was actually real. The Blair Witch Project follows three film students that head into the Maryland wilderness to shoot a documentary about local myth the Blair Witch. Obviously, things don’t go well for them.

Runners-up: The Sixth Sense and Audition

2000: American Psycho

In 2000, the world fell in love with potential sociopath Patrick Bateman, a wealthy white-collar worker during the ’80s who fantasizes about murdering everyone around him while discussing Huey Lewis and the News. American Psycho isn’t just a horror film; it mixes and bends genres to tell its tale. However, the amount of blood, brutality, and violence in this film makes it feel like a precursor to the modern gore sub-genre that came a few years later. American Psycho isn’t just a good horror movie, it’s a great movie in general.

Runner-up: Ginger Snaps

2001: The Devil’s Backbone

Spanish director Guillermo del Toro is a name you’re going to see a few times on this list because he is not only a fantastic director when it comes to horror, but he puts his name behind some incredibly memorable films. In The Devil’s Backbone, a young boy, who lost his father in the Spanish Civil War in 1939, is forced to live in an orphanage. He never feels quite comfortable in his new surroundings as there’s a groundskeeper who doesn’t want him looking in a storage locker, and the building is haunted by ghosts. This is one of del Toro’s most underrated films.

Runner-up: Session 9

2002: 28 Days Later

While 1985’s campy Return of the Living Dead was the first time a fast zombie appeared on screen, 28 Days Later popularized the idea of fast-moving infected/undead chasing down their prey. The diseased in 28 Days Later are not traditional zombies nor are they the living dead, but Danny Boyle’s frantic and intense film was terrifying and helped usher in a resurgence in zombie films and media. In 2003, the comic series The Walking Dead started and in 2004, Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake came to theaters. Fans of the genre owe a lot to Boyle’s film.

Runner-up: The Ring

2003: A Tale of Two Sisters

While South Korea’s A Tale of Two Sisters may not be as well-known or regarded for ushering in Asian horror renaissance like Japan’s Ringu, it’s a great example of Korea’s style of horror filmmaking: a genre-mixing, intense process that leaves the viewers on the edge of their seats. A teenage girl returns home from a stint in a mental hospital, and is terrorized by her cruel step-mother and ghosts within the family home. A Tale of Two Sisters balances psychological horror and a mystery exceptionally well and makes that year’s biggest American horror film, Freddy vs. Jason, look like child’s play.

Runner-up: 2LDK

2004: Shaun of the Dead

In Shaun of the Dead, Shaun decides to try and win back his ex-girlfriend; however, the only problem is that there’s a zombie apocalypse happening around them. This movie is one of the best horror/comedies of all time, thanks to the witty writing of Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, and let’s not forget how amazingly this movie is edited as well. While the focus is a bit more on Pegg’s character, Shaun, and his best friend Ed, played by Nick Frost, there are a few jump scares and classic “trapped by zombies” moments that make this a legitimately great film.

Runners-up: Dawn of the Dead and Saw

2005: The Descent

If you’re claustrophobic, then The Descent is a total nightmare. A group of explorers head out on an adventure to search an uncharted cave system, only to find monsters in the darkness that are hunting them all down, one by one. Aside from the scares coming from the man-eating beasts, what sets The Descent apart from other horror movies that year is the feeling of being trapped, thanks to the way it was filmed, which–believe it or not–was all in a studio outside of London, as filming in an actual cave was deemed too dangerous. The Descent is a must-watch for horror fans, and one of the better movies on this list.

2006: Pan’s Labyrinth

Once again, director Guillermo del Toro makes the list. Pan’s Labyrinth takes place in Spain in the mid-1940s and follows a young girl obsessed with fairy tales. One day, she finds a faun who tells her she’s a princess but must complete three tasks in order to prove she’s royalty. Pan’s Labyrinth has a narrative setup that could easily be used for a children’s film, but del Toro takes it down a dark path, setting it against a war, and creating some haunting creatures, like the one above. It’s a movie that appears to be a fantasy, but upon closer inspection, is filled with unimaginable horrors.

Runner-up: The Host

2007: The Orphanage

2007 may have been one the best years for horror. It was a year that produced The Mist, 28 Weeks Later, 30 Days of Night, and 1408 to name a few, but none of those films hold a candle to The Orphanage, which was executive produced by Guillermo del Toro. In the movie, a young woman (Laura) and her husband raise their son in an old house that used to be an orphanage that Laura was raised in. Soon, her son begins talking to invisible friends and quickly disappears, so Laura enlists outside help to figure out what’s going on. Obviously, the little boy in the mask is creepy, but this movie shines in its use of location, sound, and overall tone. There’s a reason del Toro put his name on this movie: It’s haunting.

Runners-up: Paranormal Activity and REC

2008: Let The Right One In

Sweden’s romantic horror film is bizarre and haunting, and the American adaptation–Let Me In–just isn’t the same. Let The Right One In follows a young bullied boy who is befriended by a strange girl, who turns out to be a vampire, of sorts. It’s one of the early adopters of the the new age of horror that puts the focus on a slow-building tension that immerses the audience into the world where the real horror is rooted in realistic fears, even if said fears are coming from something supernatural. It’s a film that’s best enjoyed on your own, and we won’t say much else about the film because there are so many twists and turns to it.

Runner-up: Quarantine

2009: Drag Me To Hell

Sam Raimi–known for the Evil Dead franchise–made a return to horror in 2009 with Drag Me To Hell. A loan officer has to evict an old woman from her home, and after doing so, finds herself cursed and on a mission to save her own soul. This movie is pure Sam Raimi, who has a knack for blurring the lines between comedy and horror at times. Are we supposed to laugh when the main character has blood/bugs/vomit/black tar dumped on her face or are we supposed to be disgusted? Sadly, Raimi doesn’t direct as much anymore, but he did produce one of the best horror films in the past decade, Don’t Breathe.

Runner-up: Pandorum

2010: I Saw The Devil

2010 was another great year for horror films: Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, Black Swan, Rare Exports, and The Dead were all released. However, South Korea’s I Saw The Devil was easily the best horror film of the year. It brilliantly mixes the genre with a Korean favorite: the revenge film, as a serial killer murders a secret agent’s fiance, and he takes vengeance into his own hands, even if it means becoming a monster himself. Where this movie truly succeeds is with the character arc of the lead, Kim Soo-hyeon, as he morphs into what he is hunting down, in a sense.

Runners-up: Let Me In and Insidious

2011: You’re Next

You’re Next was one of two good horror films to come out of 2011, which was a pretty bogus year. Luckily, both of those films are pretty fantastic. You’re Next has a new spin on the home-invasion story. A family on an anniversary vacation find themselves being hunted down by masked killers; however, one of the hunted has a secret: they know how to fight back. This genre of horror has been overdone, but the twist gives this story some new life.

Runner-up: Grave Encounters

2012: Cabin in the Woods

Cabin in the Woods is a really weird movie, in all the right ways. It starts as a typical horror film featuring a group of attractive young adults, heading to a remote cabin, where they’re hunted down by zombies. However, what sets this movie apart is the turn, which happens during the first act–and we won’t spoil it in case you’ve never seen it. Cabin in the Woods is ingenious and actually pretty funny at times. In addition, it’s the only horror movie that will have you rooting for a gross merman to kill someone.

Runners-up: Sinister and VHS

2013: The Conjuring

Ed and Lorraine Warren’s alleged supernatural encounters have been made into countless movies, with the most memorable being The Amityville Horror. However, in 2013, The Conjuring came out, which recounts one of the Warren’s early investigations of a Rhode Island farmhouse that is under attack by a supernatural force. It is, by far, one of the best horror films of the decade and launched a fantastic franchise as well.

Runners-up: Oculus and VHS 2

2014: The Babadook

Jennifer Kent’s 2014 film, The Babadook, follows a widow trying to take care of her problematic child who thinks there is a monster in the house. The mother quickly discovers a creature called the Babadook is terrorizing the family. Much like a few other films on the list, The Babadook slowly builds tension, and while the film has a few jump scares, it doesn’t rely on them to horrify the audience.

Runners-up: REC 4 and Housebound

2015: It Follows

It Follows is a great way to promote abstinence. Joking aside, the 2015 film does revolve around a curse that can only be passed on by intercourse, and that curse comes in the form of a slow-moving, supernatural being that kills you if it reaches you. The movie centers around a young woman who becomes cursed after a sexual encounter with a young man who mysteriously disappears. She and a group of friends do what they can to keep her from being reached by the creature. The story is unique and keeps the viewers on the edge of their seats for the entire film. At no point does the tension let up.

Runners-up: They Look Like People and The Visit

2016: The Witch

On this list, 2016 was the best year for horror, as you can see from the long list of runners-up below. The film that beat out everything else that year was the slow-paced movie The Witch. This movie is an extremely slow burn that follows a family in the 1600s who believe their daughter may have been influenced by witches. What makes this such a great film is the attention to detail, from the clothing to the insanely specific dialect. In addition, it has some of the best cinematography in modern horror. It is a beautiful movie with some chilling undertones.

Runners-up: Don’t Breathe, Green Room, Hush, The Conjuring 2, Train to Busan, Under The Shadow, The Shallows, and The Wailing

2017: Get Out

2017 may not be over, but as of October, the best horror film of the year is Get Out. The Jordan Peele-directed film follows Chris, a young black man who is on his way to meet his white girlfriend’s parents for the first time. He quickly learns that something is off about the family and everyone in the circle of friends. Get Out has such a good story that weaves mystery and thriller genres into it as the movie progresses–along with a little comedy. What makes this such a great film is that while some of the elements in the film are “out of this world,” it has its rooting in reality. Not only is it a great horror film, it’s one of the best films of the year.

Runners-up: Split and It

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor was a marquee game for benchmarking PCs back in 2014 with its expansive environments and chaotic action sequences. The recently released sequel, Shadow of War, follows suit, and we figured this new adventure into Mordor is ripe for a quick graphics settings guide with some performance tips. It’s an open-world action game, so twitch reactions and precision aiming aren’t really part of the equation. It’s not exactly necessary to maintain 60+ frames-per-second (FPS), but of course you want a smooth experience with as much eye candy as possible.

Shadow of War’s System Requirements

The game uses Monolith’s own Firebird graphics engine (formerly known as LithTech), and despite having large, detailed environments, the system requirements aren’t too demanding. However, for a more optimal experience on PC, the recommended specs provide more than enough juice as you’ll see in our results.

Minimum requirements:

• CPU: Intel Core i5-2300 / AMD FX-4350
• GPU: Nvidia GTX 660 / AMD HD 7870
• Memory: 6 GB RAM
• Disk Space: 70 GB

Recommended:

• CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 / AMD FX-8350
• GPU: Nvidia GTX 970 or 1060 / AMD RX 480 or 580
• Memory: 12 GB RAM

For the purposes of our tests, we’re using a mid-range system that closely represents the recommended specs for the game. Our PC includes an Intel Core i5-3570K CPU, MSI GTX 970 GPU, and 8GB of RAM.

A Look At Our Graphics Options

Let’s take a quick look at our options. We’re sticking with 1080p for our resolution, but there are more than enough choices here, even allowing you to try 8K (7680×4320). V-Sync helps prevent screen tearing, although we prefer to keep it off. Dynamic resolution helps maintain consistent performance by adapting resolution in real time to how demanding the game gets; you can set the floor for how low the resolution goes.

While Shadow Of War has six graphical quality presets, we’re going custom here. Lighting, Shadows, Mesh qualities are all set to High. Texture quality is also set to High since Ultra is specifically for the 4K texture pack and requires a video card with at least 8GB of video memory. Tessellation adds more three-dimensional detail to surfaces based on mapping data; we kept this on for more visual flair. Depth of Field is an effect that blurs areas that aren’t at the focus of the player, and you should set this to your preference.

The game doesn’t specify what type of ambient occlusion techniques it uses outright, but we found Medium to be a good balance between performance and visual quality with our specs. For anti-aliasing, we used TAA (temporal anti-aliasing). It’s an increasingly popular technique to get rid of jaggies, since it hits a nice balance of quality and performance. You’ll definitely want this on over FXAA (fast approximate anti-aliasing), which tends to look too blurry. Texture filtering should be set to Ultra; this basically means anisotropic filtering is set to 16x.

Shadow of War does a great job of showing you what’s going behind these graphics settings. Not only does the game explain what each setting does, but it gives you a breakdown of how the settings affect system memory and VRAM consumption. It even provides you with a neat little benchmark tool to get specific frame-time readings and FPS results through a 60-second fly by of an in-engine sequence, which is how we tested our systems.

Running On Recommended Specs

With our modest system close to the recommended specs and aforementioned choices in graphics settings, the benchmark results showed an average of 71 FPS. It hit a minimum of 41 FPS but just for a brief moment it got as high as 96 FPS. For the most part, the live FPS readings were consistently between the mid-60s to mid-70s. This gives you a little wiggle room if you want to bump a few other options up a notch.

Bumping shadows up to Ultra alone brought the average down to 62 FPS, which is still an admirable result. If we max out all the quality settings (except for textures), the average went down to 51 FPS; it’s still playable, but not as smooth as we’d like. Regardless, if you meet the recommended specs, you should have no issues running Shadow of War at 1080p with plenty of visual bells and whistles.

Balling Out On 4K

What if you’re on a high-end system and want to do 4K? We also ran the benchmark with a few of the beefiest graphics cards: AMD’s RX Vega 64, and Nvidia’s GTX 1080 and GTX 1080 Ti. The system we used for this also had an Intel Core i7-6700K CPU and 16GB of RAM. Not only can we can benchmark performance at 4K (3840×2160), but we’re now able to factor in that 4K HD texture pack since these high end cards have 8GB of VRAM or more.

With every graphics option set to max, the GTX 1080 produced an average of 39 FPS while the RX Vega 64 pulled ahead with an average of 44 FPS. If we turn anti-aliasing off and set shadows down to High, we got a slight FPS boost to a 43 FPS average on the GTX 1080 and a 49 FPS average on the RX Vega 64.

When we slapped in the GTX 1080 Ti and cranked every graphics setting up along with 4K, our average was 55 FPS. To get us over the coveted 60 FPS bar in the benchmark, we turned anti-aliasing off and knocked shadows down to high and got a 61 FPS average.

Verdict

There were slight hitches during normal gameplay, but they were few and far between and inconsequential to the game’s action in our experience. Visually, the game looks a little flat overall, but the PC version of Middle-earth: Shadow of War runs exceptionally well, even on modest hardware. But we were also reminded that 60 FPS at 4K resolution with the highest visual quality in modern games is still tough to attain unless you’re willing the shell out the big bucks for the best video card available.

If you want more coverage on this latest game in the Lord of the Rings universe, check out Justin Haywald’s Middle-earth: Shadow of War review here on GameSpot. He gave the game a 7/10 and stated, “At its core, it’s a fun experience with brilliant moments that provide fascinating insight into some of the untold stories of Middle-earth.” For gameplay tips, check out all of our Shadow of War guides and walkthroughs.