Monthly Archives: August 2017
South Park: The Fractured But Whole Rated in Australia Without Incident
If South Park: The Stick of Truth’s classification hassles in Australia back in 2013 had you concerned for the fate of the sequel within these shores, relax; Ubisoft has today confirmed South Park: The Fractured But Whole has been rated R18+ and will be released in Australia “completely uncut and uncensored.”
The game, and its associated rating advice, is yet to appear in the Australian Classification Board’s database.
South Park: The Stick of Truth encountered problems in Australia in 2013 when it was refused classification twice. A third submission from Ubisoft, which famously removed the problem sequence and replaced it with a still image of a crying koala, was eventually rated R18+ on November 21 with the consumer advice “High impact crude humour, sex scenes and references to sexual violence.”
South Park ESRB Description Is Appropriately Gross
South Park: The Fractured but Whole has an 'M' rating by the US Entertainment Software Rating Board, which probably isn't too surprising. What is somewhat unexpected, however, is the absurd level of detail the game takes in its ESRB rating description.
It begins fairly innocuously, reading like a standard ratings board description.
"This is a role-playing game, based on the animated South Park TV show, in which players assume the role of a new kid in town embarking on an adventure to uncover an evil criminal element..."
After the opening, it details some of the combat, touches on weapons and spell systems, and warns of some dismemberment and decapitations. It's extremely dry, extremely expected copy. Then things start to go off the rails.
Brock and Misty to Appear in Pokemon Sun and Moon Anime
The Pokemon Sun and Moon anime is bringing back Ash's original travelling companions, Brock and Misty.
The latest issue of Televi-kun (via Kotaku) reveals that the pair will return for two episodes on September 14 and September 21 in Japan, where Ash returns to the Kanto region.
Unfortunately, those waiting for the English version of the anime will have to be patient while it catches up before seeing the duo again.
Nintendo Reveals Release Date for Fire Emblem Warriors on Switch
Nintendo has been showing off its upcoming action title Fire Emblem Warriors for about a year, and now it finally revealed the game hits Switch October 20.
In addition to the release date, Nintendo also revealed a new Special Edition version of the game which includes 3 CDs, a poster, and 25 character art cards. No price or pre-order information for the Special Edition has been given at this time.
Fire Emblem Warriors is the latest game in Omega Force's Musou series and the second made in collaboration with Nintendo.
it is unclear if the release date is the same for the New Nintendo 3DS version of the game, or if that version will be getting a Special Edition of its own.
Coco: Inside Pixar’s New Musical Journey
Animated musicals have been the domain of Disney for decades, but this fall, Pixar is bringing out a musical of its own with Coco. And unlike its parent studio, Pixar isn’t adding music to a retelling of a classic fairy tale. Instead, Coco is a modern film in which music is the driving force of the story and a true part of the world inhabited by its characters.
“More so than any other film we've made here at Pixar,
music
so much a crucial part of the storytelling,” related Adrian Molina, the screenwriter and co-director of Coco. “We're all storytellers here. And to be able to weave music into the story, just from the very beginning, has been really fun for us. I think it has created a really great chemistry among the artists and among the musicians.”
Clowns Are Losing Work Because of Stephen King’s IT
The clowning business has taken a legitimate hit thanks to Stephen King's evil clown creation, Pennywise, from his novel - and the upcoming film - IT.
THR reports that a number of professional clowns are losing gigs because of coulrophobia (fear of clowns) inspired by the shapeshifting entity, who most commonly takes the form of "a cross between Bozo and Clarabell".
President of the World Clown Association Pam Moody said the recent spate of coulrophobia - and last year's series of 'evil clown' pranks - began with King's creation. "It all started with the original IT," she notes. "That introduced the concept of this character. It's a science-fiction character. It's not a clown and has nothing to do with pro clowning."
350,000 Visitors Make Gamescom 2017 the Biggest Ever
Gamescom just wrapped up another successful event in Cologne, Germany, and event organizers announced that it was the biggest year yet for "the world's largest event for computer and video games."
According to their press release, Gamescom 2017 beat its record for visitors, with over 350,000 guests across the full event. That makes it slightly bigger than Gamescom 2016, which had approximately 345,000 visitors, and about 5 times larger than E3, which brought in 68,000 visitors in 2017.
Gamescom's visitors hailed from 106 different countries all coming to visit the convention, which was host to 919 companies showing everything from console and PC gaming, mobile and online, as well as VR and esports.
How That Jon Snow Twist Clashes With the Books
With the big reveal of Jon Snow’s true parentage and birthright during the Season 7 finale of Game of Thrones, “The Dragon and the Wolf,” watchers finally got some long-awaited answers. However, the particulars of that reveal have book readers scratching their heads. Here’s why.
Warning: this article contains full spoilers for both the Game of Thrones show and books!
When Bran Stark uses his Three-Eyed Raven flashback powers to tell Samwell Tarly about Jon’s secret origin, we witness Ned Stark receiving a newborn baby Jon from a dying Lyanna Stark. She uses her last breath to tell Ned to protect the baby because he will be killed for his real name, Aegon Targaryen. We also see a flashback of Lyanna’s secret wedding to Rhaegar Targaryen (brother to Daenerys Targaryen), meaning Jon is not only the nephew of his new bedmate Daenerys but the true heir to the Iron Throne.
Splatoon 2 Built-In Voice Chat Available in LAN Play
You can play Splatoon 2 multiplayer with voice chat without having to use Nintendo's Switch mobile app. But once you try, it's easy to see why Nintendo is using an outside tool to properly channel voice chat.
Splatoon 2 LAN play, which is accomplished by going into the game's Shoal lobby, holding down L+R and the left thumbstick, and waiting for the screen to fade into initiating LAN play. After doing so, just plug in a set of headphones with a microphone, and any other players connected to the same wi-fi network can hear you speak without the need to log into the Switch mobile app. The function works in both docked and undocked mode.
Unfortunately the quality is riddled with static interference and initially comes in at a very high volume. Check out the video below for IGN's test of the feature, originally spotted by NeoGAF users.
Deadpool’s Ed Skrein Drops Out of Hellboy Reboot
Ed Skrein has left the upcoming David Harbour-starring Hellboy reboot due to controversy surrounding his casting as Major Ben Daimio.
Skrein, who is best known for playing the villain Ajax in Deadpool, posted a letter on Twitter, expressing his discomfort with his casting due to the fact that the character is of mixed Asian heritage in the comics.
Skrein explained that he was unaware of this fact when he agreed to take the role, and said, "I must do what I feel is right." He elaborated on his thoughts further, saying: