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Much of the discussion about Star Wars Battlefront II, particularly since its beta, has centered around the game’s microtransactions. While EA has made a welcome change in giving away all gameplay content–like the upcoming Last Jedi characters and maps–for free, it’s compensated by introducing a loot crate system. But whereas this can be relatively innocuous in other games, such as Overwatch, where you’re only obtaining skins and cosmetics, Battlefront II’s crates have a meaningful impact on gameplay.

While the system wasn’t active during the beta, it did lead to an uproar from fans, causing some concessions from developer DICE. The studio announced that it was making changes to Battlefront II crates, such as preventing players from earning high-tier Star Cards from loot crates or being able to equip them without first reaching a certain level. But that solution left open the door for players to purchase loot crates and craft Epic-level Star Cards that can be used once they’ve put in enough time with the game. Essentially, that means players can pay for an in-game performance boost, just with a temporary roadblock. And it also does nothing to prevent players from buying loot crates to use lesser (but still beneficial) Star Cards right out of the gate. These cards can be obtained by playing, but those who pay will have an edge until you can put in a substantial amount of time.

In the video above, we provide a comprehensive breakdown of the different currencies, what kind of items and Star Cards are available, and what $90 (or $100, if you don’t have the EA/Origin Access discount) puts in your hands. It’s a complex system, but one you’ll likely want to understand before diving into the game–or deciding whether it’s worth a purchase.

Battlefront II officially releases on November 17, but it’s currently playable for EA and Origin Access members on Xbox One and PC, respectively. That trial provides the full multiplayer component and the first three single-player missions, though you’re limited to a total of 10 hours of gameplay. Pre-ordering the Deluxe edition gets you complete access on November 14, including on PS4. You can read more in our Battlefront II multiplayer pre-review.

There’s something very special about Doom’s kinetic run-and-gun style that works really well for quick pick-up-and-play gaming sessions. On Switch, it’s a technical achievement for portable console gaming and an outstanding game in its own right.

Doom’s concept may seem a little simple: you shoot, hack, and stomp interdimensional demons before they rip you apart. But it doesn’t take long to realize just how well thought-out the whole thing really is. With everything from its fast and intensely satisfying free-flowing combat, to its wide variety of interesting weapon loadouts, Doom understands how to make you feel powerful. I’m very pleased to say that same feeling translates very well over to Switch. It works great for quick pick-up-and-play gaming sessions, too. With brisk levels and a story you don’t need to pay attention to, but rewards you if you do, it’s the kind of game that allows you to just jump in and out whenever you’re in the mood for a demonic rampage.

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Take-Two, the parent publisher of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption developer/publisher Rockstar Games, has reiterated its stance on “recurrent consumer spending.” That’s the company’s term for a bucket that includes virtual currency, add-on content, and microtransactions. In an earnings call this week, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick repeated what he has said time and time again: you can expect a “recurrent consumer spending” element to be included in most if not all of the company’s games going forward.

It may not always be virtual currency. It may not always be microtransactions. It may not always be expansions. But Take-Two is aiming to bake into its games some element that keeps players coming back–and spending.

“We’ve said that we aim to have recurrent consumer spending options for every title that we put out at this company,” Zelnick said, repeating comments from previous earnings calls. “It may not always be an online model. It may not, probably won’t always be, a virtual currency model, but there’ll be some ability to engage on an ongoing basis with our titles after release across the board.”

This comes as no surprise, given that Take-Two’s recurrent consumer spending category is a huge revenue-driver for the company. For the quarter ended September 30, revenue from recurrent consumer spending rose by 66 percent and amounted to more than $200 million. That’s a whopping 48 percent of Take-Two’s overall revenue of $443.6 million for the period. The margins on digital content are generally more lucrative than physical content, so that’s another reason why you should expect to see Take-Two and other companies continue to offer more and more microtransaction opportunities.

One of the key drivers for Take-Two’s recurrent consumer category was GTA Online, which–years after release–just had its strongest quarter ever.

Zelnick said a lesson that Take-Two has learned from GTA Online is that people will flock to content–and spend extra money on it–if the experience is compelling enough. Rockstar updates GTA Online basically constantly, with new modes and activities releasing all the time. This commitment is paying off for Take-Two, and Zelnick suggested that Red Dead Redemption 2 will also offer players something extra.

“One of the things that we learned is, if we create a robust opportunity and a robust world in which people can play delightfully in a bigger and bigger way that they will keep coming back and they will engage and if there is an opportunity to monetize that engagement,” he said. And we’ve announced that there will be an online component to [Red Dead Redemption 2].”

Zelnick went on to say that it’s a new world for the economics of video games today, because no longer do developers always put out games and move on to the next ones. They often stick with them, adding new content over time, and reaping the financial benefits if players stick around and keep spending as they have in GTA Online.

“It’s been transformative for us and the only reason it’s transformative for us is because it’s transformative to our consumers,” he said. “The business that once upon a time was a big chunky opportunity to engage for tens of hours or perhaps 100 hours has turned into ongoing engagement, day-after-day, week-after-week. You fall in love with these titles and they become part of your daily life.”

Following today’s announcement that EA purchased Titanfall developer Respawn in a deal that could be worth up to $455 million, the second reaction was, “What’s in it for each party?” (the first reaction was, “Whoa!”). In the video above, IGN’s Daemon Hatfield and I discuss the reasons why EA might have wanted to cut such a big check.

It’s important to remember just who Respawn is: the core of their team is the original Call of Duty team – up and through Modern Warfare 2 – who followed Respawn co-founder Vince Zampella to the new studio after a bitter falling out with and subsequent lawsuit against Activision. As such, EA is getting premier development talent and two potentially huge franchises (Titanfall already has a lot of brand equity built) – thus making the deal a possible bargain for them.

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Coco is more than just another Pixar movie. The upcoming November film introduces many audience members to particulars within Mexican culture, like the meaning behind the holiday Dia de los Muertos, also known as the Day of the Dead, and its importance to every family.

The film has gone to many lengths to portray and respect Mexican culture, although it did have to create its own vision of the afterlife. During a conference in Beverly Hills for the upcoming film, actor Edward James Olmos, who plays Chicharrón in Coco and is best known for his roles in Stand and Deliver, Battlestar Galactica and Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, spoke to the press about the movie and what he believes it will mean to the audience.

“People who… are gonna see this movie are going to come out really moved, especially when you haven’t thought about your parents or you haven’t thought about your loved ones,” Olmos explained. “You haven’t really gotten into your own family, and you been too busy living your life that you haven’t gone back to even say, ‘Thank you.’ You haven’t been even to the cemetery where they’re buried now for 30 years or 20 years or however long they’ve been away from you.

“When was the last time you visited your great-great grandmother’s burial site? ‘That’s a touchy situation there, Ed.’ Right. Most of us don’t even know who they are because the stories weren’t passed on. And then, so they’re gonna walk out and gonna feel that emptiness, and they’re gonna to try to fill that emptiness with the knowledge from what they just got so they’re going to investigate and move forward.

“That’s why I’m so grateful–six years ago, you didn’t know we’d be, politically, the shape that we’re in, nobody did. Nobody knew that Mexicans were gonna be treated like they’ve been treated over the last year… Nobody. The last two years have been very difficult for us, and it’s hard not to come about and have an attitude. So, but you try to stay strong, knowing that the pendulum swang one way… It’s gonna swing back. And when it does, it will have a different reaction. It will have another sense of who we are and the changes. This placed us in a very strong position for the future.”

Olmos’s role in the film as Chicharrón is brief, as he’s only one scene, but it’s crucial to the story and touching. “People are going to say, ‘Thank you’ to the Mexican culture for introducing them to a value that they did not know anything about,” said Olmos. “We celebrate, you know, Halloween. Hello? That’s how we celebrate the Day of the Dead. We dress up, and you know, we go out and ‘trick or treat!’ You know? And think about that versus what the Day of the Dead really represents for many of us which is a time to celebrate in the memory of and pass the stories on. Celebrate life at its fullest. I’m, as Chicharrón, doing the one scene, it’s one of my proudest moments in the art form.

Coco opens everywhere on November 22.

The whole idea of remaking a murder mystery, especially one of the most popular murder mysteries ever made, is inherently fraught with peril. After all, a lot of people in the audience already know “whodunnit”, either because they’ve read it, seen it, or heard about it through good old-fashioned cultural osmosis.

So it was exceptionally smart to get Kenneth Branagh to remake Murder on the Orient Express. The director of Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing and Hamlet has built his whole reputation on re-staging classic tales that had already been re-staged thousands of times. He knows that the trick to making another Murder on the Orient Express isn’t to keep us guessing. Agatha Christie’s impeccable story does all of that heavy lifting for him. The trick is to film the hell out of an ensemble cast of incredible actors, each of them putting their own spin on a timeless classic, and to have a grand old time doing it.

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The latest Steam Free Weekend game has been announced–and it’s a high-profile title. Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski’s shooter LawBreakers is free on Steam Thursday through Sunday. Specifically, the game will be free starting at 10 AM PT on Thursday, November 10, with the free weekend wrapping up at 1 PM PT on Sunday, Nov. 12.

This free weekend comes just after the release of the game’s All-Star Update, which added ranked competitive play and more new content.

Additionally, LawBreakers is half off through Tuesday, November 14, at 10 AM PT, so you can get it for $15 instead of $30. This applies to both PC and PS4. People who buy the game when it’s on sale will have a chance to get another free copy.

The first 100 people on each platform–PC and PS4–to send through confirmation to developer Boss Key that they purchased the game will score a free code to share with a friend. Additionally, the first 20 people will get a copy of the LawBreakers Collector’s Edition, which is now sold out.

In other news about free stuff on Steam, the arena brawler Battlerite is now free-to-play, while the Idle Champions Starter Pack for Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms is free until the morning of November 10.

LawBreakers is currently available only on PS4 and PC, but an Xbox One edition is possible. Additionally, Boss Key said the game could come to Nintendo Switch sometime further down the line.

LawBreakers launched in July and, despite generally positive reviews, failed to find a big player base. Bleszinski has spoken openly about the game’s struggles, and you can read this interview to find out more about what Boss Key is doing to keep the game alive.

In light of recent allegations against comedian Louis C.K., HBO is pulling all of his past projects from its on-demand services.

A bombshell New York Times piece today reported multiple instances of sexual impropriety by the comedian against five different women.

The content removed by HBO includes stand-up specials and its series Lucky Louie, starring C.K. in the title role. Additionally, C.K. has been dropped from the Night of Too Many Stars: America Unites for Autism Programs special on November 18.

Louis C.K. is the latest in a line of Hollywood celebrities accused of using their positions of power to get away with sexual abuse. Multiple allegations against Harvey Weinstein stripped him of his professional power, and Kevin Spacey, accused of unwanted advances against a then-14 year old co-star, has been dropped from Netflix’s House of Cards, among other projects.

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Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson has responded to today’s announcement from Disney that he will create a brand-new trilogy of Star Wars films.

“Obviously I hope you like The Last Jedi. But man now I REALLY hope you like The Last Jedi,” Johnson said in a post on Twitter.

As reported earlier today, Johnson will write and direct the first film in this new trilogy, which will be separate from the Skywalker saga and “introduce new characters from a corner of the galaxy that Star Wars lore has never before explored.”

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