Our Xbox show dissects the radical shift at EA that’s resulted in the closure of Visceral Games, a change in direction for their Star Wars game, and an uncertain future at EA for Amy Hennig. Plus: Master Chief Collection is back, and more!
Oh, and Unlocked now has its own snazzy new homepage! Bookmark this: go.ign.com/unlocked
There seems to be some sort of unwritten rule that Marvel always needs to have a Deadpool vs.
miniseries on the stands at all times. Now that Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe Again has ended, it falls on Old Man Logan to keep the Merc With a Mouth occupied. There’s a real sense of diminishing returns with these crossover adventures, and Deadpool vs. Old Man Logan #1 does little to revive a stale formula.
Not that there isn’t plenty of potential in pairing these two characters right now. Both Wade and Logan are in profoundly different places relative to where they were when they served together in Uncanny X-Force. Wade in particular is suffering from the fallout of his action in Secret Empire and has given up his years-long quest to establish himself as a legitimate hero. There’s a good dynamic to be mined between these weary, jaded versions of Wolverine and Deadpool. But if writer Declan Shalvey intends on exploring that dynamic, readers will have to wait until later chapters. This first issue follows a pretty simple, unremarkable formula – Logan is on a mission, Wade gets in his way, the two fight, etc.
Let’s be clear: you do not need to wait until October to watch horror movies. But it’s hard to think of a better time. Halloween is right around the corner, night falls earlier and earlier, and you’ve got all this candy in the house so you might as well eat it while watching something spooky.
Fortunately, Netflix – which doesn’t always have the best horror selection – has boosted their Halloween cred this season by adding a “Halloween Favorites” section, adding some new titles and highlighting several others that don’t get nearly enough attention the rest of the year. Some of these movies are slumber party classics, some of them rank among the scariest movies ever made, and some are relatively new, totally awesome horror films that haven’t officially become cult hits yet… but they will.
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The Logitech flagship mechanical gaming keyboard, the G910 Orion Spectrum (See it on Amazon), takes some of the best features of its lower-priced cousin, the G810, and adds on a few noteworthy items of its own like dedicated macro buttons, a removable wrist rest, and integrated second-screen features via ARX Control. The latter isn’t particularly great, but a well-designed keyboard backed up with smoothly actuating Romer-G switches and intelligent software keeps the G910 Spectrum near the top of the heap in the crowded mechanical gaming keyboard market.
As much as this season of South Park has felt like a return to form for the series, there are still episodes that miss the mark. We saw it with the premiere, and we saw it again this week with “Hummels & Heroin.” This episode took a promising concept and failed to exploit it to its fullest.
It’s frustrating, because there’s a lot South Park could do with the subject of the US opioid epidemic. Here you have one of the greatest public health crises in the country’s history, one perpetrated by greedy pharmaceutical corporations, opportunistic drug cartels and money-hungry quack doctors. Surely a show like South Park would have a lot to say about the situation and the trail of ruined lives these corporations are leaving in their wake. But this episode never felt like it had much interesting to say about the subject. At best, “Hummels & Heroin” feels like a halfhearted retread of Season 16’s “Cash for Gold,” which offered a brilliant, scathing look at the never-ending cycle of exploitation that is home shopping networks and “cash for gold” pawn shops. That episode’s “Jewelry Polka” sequence still haunts me years later. It’s a shame this episode couldn’t reach similar heights.
Call of Duty: World War II has been modified in Australia over a scene that implies sexual assault. According to Australia’s Classification Board, the original version of the game featured “a reference to sexual violence that is justified by context,” though it was not shown and the game did not encourage it, Kotaku reported. The scene has been modified, though right now it’s unclear if this change is for Australia only.
Spoilers about the scene follow below.
“In one section of the game, the player controls Rosseau, a female spy, as she infiltrates a German building. While inside, she witnesses a woman as she is dragged by a Nazi soldier into a closet, against her will, screaming, “You’re all pigs!” Rosseau opens the closet door, as the soldier says, “Leave. This is none of your business.” The player is then given the option to kill the soldier or leave.
If the player chooses to leave, the player closes the door, as the soldier is heard unziping his fly and viewed advancing towards the woman. She screams, “Ah! Get away from me!” as Rosseau leaves. It is implied that the soldier is going to sexually assault the woman, but at no time is the assault depicted.”
The Classification Board rated the game R18+ with this scene included. Activision re-submitted the game with a modified scene, and the Board kept the R18+ rating. The changes included the female prisoner wearing pants and a top instead of a skirt and a top. Additionally, the audio that implied the soldier was unzipping his pants is removed.
It’s not clear right now if this modification is only for the Australian version of Call of Duty: WWII or if it will apply to versions of the game sold elsewhere in the world. We’ve contacted Activision in an attempt to get more details and will update this post with anything we may hear back.
Xbox Studios general manager Shannon Loftis is “a little bit confused” over the claims that the Xbox One‘s holiday 2017 lineup of exclusive is on the weak side. Speaking to Game Informer, Loftis said Microsoft has “really good lineup” of exclusives this year. She mentioned titles like PUBG, which will launch on Xbox One before any other console, as well as titles like Forza Motorsport 7, Super Lucky’s Tale, and Cuphead. You need to have an Xbox One (or a PC) to play any of those games this year.
“In terms of exclusives, I’ve heard that rumor and I’m a little bit confused because we have a really good lineup this holiday,” Loftis said. “We’ve got the most popular game on the planet in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds–the Xbox console is going to be the only place where you can play that. We also have Forza Motorsport 7, which every single year reinvents the racing genre and basically owns racing in the video games industry.”
Looking to 2018, some of Microsoft’s big-name Xbox One exclusives include Sea of Thieves, Crackdown 3, and State of Decay 2. “I think it’s pretty good–there’s a huge amount of experiences for people to have,” Loftis said. Crackdown 3 was originally scheduled to launch this year before being delayed to 2018.
Asked if the lineup of Xbox One X-enhanced titles is strong enough to launch a new system with, Loftis again pointed out that the lineup is “incredibly strong,” when you consider that more than 100 titles are getting updated for the new console.
“I think it’s an incredibly strong lineup, especially when you take into account the fact that all of the 100 plus enhancements that we’ve already seen are free to gamers that already own the games, and the backward compatibility program, the continuing exclusives, and the fact that all the blockbusters, like Destiny [2] and Star Wars Battlefront II, are just going to run way better on Xbox One.”
The full interview is fascinating and in-depth. You can read it here. The Xbox One X launches on November 7, priced at $500 in the US. Keep checking back with GameSpot to learn more about the mega-powerful system in the weeks ahead.
Season 2 of Stranger Things is just around the corner and there are a ton of theories on what is going to happen. Buddy explores our absolute favorites including Monster Will vs Eleven and much more!