Monthly Archives: August 2018
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Finally Backward Compatible on Xbox One
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is finally a part of the Xbox One Backward Compatibility library and it is available to play on your Xbox One or Xbox One X starting today.
Announced via Twitter by Major Nelson, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 joins an ever-expanding library that includes every other mainline Call of Duty game, except the 2003 original, and is playable in some form on Xbox One.
In addition, if you don't already own Modern Warfare 2, it is on sale this week for $14.99 USD digitally on the Xbox store.
Kin Review
Don’t be fooled by the plot description, or by the posters with a futuristic ray gun. Kin, directed by Jonathan and Josh Baker, is a serious, somber story about a 14-year-old kid torn between his father’s moral lessons and his brother’s criminal lifestyle… which just happens to have a futuristic ray gun in it.
It’s an interesting idea, taking some of the tropes of sci-fi superhero storytelling and using them to amplify an otherwise familiar, gritty coming of age and crime drama. But to get away with it, filmmakers need to have an uncanny sense of balance. The drama can’t be so dour that the ray guns feel out of place, and the science-fiction can’t be so out of this world that the characters can’t stay grounded.
Onimusha’s Insane 20-Level Dungeon
When Onimusha: Warlords came out for PS2 back in 2001, it was most often described as a feudal-Japan version of Resident Evil. The survival horror genre of the late '90s and early 2000s was dominated by games with fixed cameras, tank controls, and lots of pixelated blood-spatter, and Onimusha was right in line with its contemporaries. As a huge fan of the survival-horror genre, I was instantly sold by Onimusha: Warlords' setting, a blend of Japanese history and mythology.
It's one of those games I knew I would enjoy long before I even played it, and when I finally did buy myself a copy, I was smitten. It was the Dark Realm sidequest that really cemented my love of Onimusha, and looking back 17 years later, it's the part of the game I remember most of all.
The Forgotten Capcom Horror Series That Needs a Reboot
With Resident Evil 7’s successful reinvigoration of the horror franchise last year and the upcoming remake of Resident Evil 2 looking equally terrifying, it’s safe to say that Capcom’s premiere franchise is riding high. Now that’s all well and good, but in their efforts to repair their favored series, Capcom are missing a golden opportunity to revive a few of their extinct titles, starting with Dino Crisis.
For those too young to remember the time when dinosaurs roamed the PlayStation, Dino Crisis was a survival horror game from legendary director Shinji Mikami – one of the lead creating forces behind the Resident Evil series and, more recently, The Evil Within. Set on a remote island, Dino Crisis follows a special forces team’s attempts to capture Dr. Kirk, an archetypal mad scientist who had faked his own death and gone into hiding. Not long after landing, the team discovers that the facility has been infested by Cretaceous carnivores and has to battle their way off the island.
Rick and Morty Co-Creator Teams Up With Hulu For New Animated Series
Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland is creating a new animated series called Solar Opposites.
Deadline reports Hulu has given a two-season, 16-episode order to Solar Opposites, a comedy which follows a family of aliens living in middle America.
According to Variety, Roiland and co-creator Mike McMahan will executive produce and write the series, with Roiland also leading the voice cast as the characters Terry and Korvo. Sean Giambrone and Mary Mack also join the cast as characters Yumyulack and Jesse, respectively.
Side By Side Comparison of Batman: TAS Opening Credits – Original vs. Remastered
Fans of the seminal Batman: The Animated Series have been eagerly awaiting its Blu-ray debut for years, but it looks like we'll have to wait just a little longer, as the release date for the Deluxe Limited Edition Blu-ray box set has been pushed back from October 16 to October 30.
That slight delay comes with a big silver lining, though; Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has announced that the deluxe set will now also come with a digital copy of the series, which includes all 109 episodes and the remastered animated movies Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero. The collection also features The Heart of Batman, a 90-minute documentary that follows the making of Batman: The Animated Series and includes interviews with nearly three dozen members of the cast and crew, according to WB.
HBO Quietly Says Goodbye to Adult Entertainment
Premium cable network HBO has removed all of its erotic adult movies and television series from its vast entertainment library.
According to a report from the LA Times, HBO decided to remove its late-night programming after it became part of the AT&T family back in June. This means that long-running series like Real Sex and Taxicab Confessions will no longer air on any of HBO's channels or streaming services.
An HBO representative informed the LA Times that the decision was made due to the declining viewership of the premium network's late-night offerings:
Cyberpunk 2077 Devs Experimenting With Fully Destructible Environments
The development team at CD Projekt Red is pulling in a heavy amount of in-game destruction to Cyberpunk 2077 in order to create the rawness of a dystopian world.
CDPR Level Designer Miles Tost shared insights during an interview with IGN into the physical environments that make up Cyberpunk 2077.
"So we're trying to push the interactivity of the world by adding in details from a physical side," Tost said. "The game will be highly physical, will have a lot of destruction. You can see that in the demo when you're in the scavengers area and you shoot at the pillars and they start crumbling.
Tost said there will be a high level of gore in the game as well, and that it all adds to the feel of the dystopian world they are trying to create for players.
22 Games Announced for Switch in the Nintendo Switch Nindies Showcase Summer 2018
Nintendo streamed its Nintendo Switch Nindies Summer Showcase Summer 2018 and announced and discussed 22 games that will be released on the Switch this year and through early 2019, and we've made a rundown of each one.
This showcase is what Nintendo is calling a "part 2" to Nintendo UK's Indie Highlight video that released last week and focused on 16 other indie games that are headed to the Switch.
Release: September 6, 2018
Originally released in 2016, Hyper Light Drifter has you playing as The Drifter, who is plagued by a mysterious illness and must use forgotten technology only available to you to find a cure. The Nintendo Switch version will come with exclusive content, including a new outfit that will help you find secrets, and new weapons that include the Crystal Shot and Blade Caster. In our review of Hyper Light Drifter, we said it's "a gorgeous, fast, fluid trek in a neon apocalypse that's hindered by its wordless storytelling."
Hallelujah! Matt Smith Is Joining Star Wars: Episode IX
Doctor Who alum Matt Smith has reportedly joined Star Wars: Episode IX.
Variety reports Smith has been cast in the in the upcoming J.J. Abrams-directed Star Wars film, though it's unknown who he'll portray in the movie.
Smith is best known for his role as the Eleventh Doctor on Doctor Who. He also recently played Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on Netflix's The Crown, for which he received an Emmy nomination.
Smith will star alongside the returning Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Mark Hamill, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo and Billie Lourd. Dominic Monaghan has also recently joined Episode IX in a mystery role, while Keri Russell -- who famously worked with Abrams on Felicity -- also is reportedly in the movie.