Monthly Archives: December 2019

The Outsider Trailer: First Look at HBO’s Stephen King Horror Drama Series

HBO has debuted the official trailer for the network's upcoming The Outsider drama series based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, starring Ben Mendelsohn and Jason Bateman, and it looks pretty darn intriguing.

The 10-episode series is a horror drama that, according to HBO, "explores the investigation into the gruesome murder of a local boy and the mysterious force surrounding the case." Watch the trailer by clicking the video above or below:

Of course, this is a Stephen King story, so things quickly go off the rails -- and, according to the trailer, become pretty terrifying. Mendelsohn (Star Wars: Rogue One, Bloodline) plays police detective Ralph Anderson, who is investigating the mutilated body of an 11 year old found in the woods in Georgia. Bateman plays Terry Maitland, who quickly becomes suspect number one in the investigation about the young child's death.

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Wargroove Developers Apologize for Whitewashing Controversy

Wargroove developer Chucklefish has issued an apology after receiving criticism for whitewashing its cast of characters from the strategy military sim. The developer says that it will aim to do better in the future.

In November, Wargroove revealed the voice cast for its upcoming DLC pack ‘Double Trouble.’ There will be four new commanding officers in the DLC, three of whom are people of color. However, the three characters in question are all voiced by white voice actors.

Although the announcement was made nearly a month ago, the issue only really came to a head in the last 24 hours. Now, Chucklefish issued a statement on Twitter that explained how the situation around the casting came about, and a promise to do better in the future.

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Marvel’s Avengers Prequel Novel Release Date Moved After Game Delay

Update: Following the news that Marvel's Avengers has been delayed, Titan Books has confirmed to IGN that the prequel novel, Avengers: The Extinction Key, has also been moved up to better line up with the new video game release date. According to a statement by Titan Books, the new publication date for Avengers: The Extinction Key is August 4, 2020. That is exactly one month before Crystal Dynamics' Avengers game is set to be released. Original story follows: [poilib element="accentDivider"] Before Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal’s Avengers game comes out next year Titan Books will publish an official prequel novel that will tie directly into the events of the game. Titled Marvel’s Avengers: The Extinction Key, the novel will follow the Avengers and their allies as they battle an ancient organization called the Zodiac. The Avengers team consisting of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, and Hulk join forces with other heroes like Doctor Strange, Doctor Voodoo, and SHIELD agents to stop the Zodiac from obtaining a weapon called the Zodiac Key. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=marvels-avengers-a-day-gameplay-trailer-screenshots&captions=true"] The Extinction Key is written by New York Times bestselling author Greg Keyes and will be released on March 31, 2020, before the game launches. But it will only be the first of two Marvel’s Avengers books Titan will publish that year. The other is the official art book for Marvel’s Avengers by Paul Davies. Titled Marvel’s Avengers: The Art of the Game, it will be released on September 1, 2020, and will feature, according to Titan, "intimate studies of the Avengers, their designs, outfits, gear, and abilities, plus a detailed look at the different environments and missions in the game. Unmasking the artistry behind the hotly anticipated videogame, this showpiece hardback book contains exclusive concept sketches, character art, storyboards, and fully-rendered scenes alongside fascinating insights into the creative process from the talented creators of the game." The books are the first entries in a new collaboration between Titan Books, Marvel, publisher Square Enix and developers Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal to publish a range of official fiction and non-fiction titles for Marvel’s Avengers. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/08/20/marvels-avengers-prologue-ps4-gameplay-trailer-in-4k"] Square Enix officially revealed Marvel’s Avengers at E3 2019 after the game was announced in 2017. Marvel’s Avengers will feature co-op, team-based gameplay that features live-service elements along with a full-fledged single-player mode. Alongside the standard Avengers lineup, other Marvel characters will be playable including Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, who is also the protagonist of the single-player story. Check out IGN’s Marvel’s Avengers preview from Gamescom earlier this year for more details. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN. You can reach him on Twitter.

PlayStation State of Play Announced for December 10

Sony has revealed that the final State of Play for 2019 will air next Tuesday, December 10.

The show will start at 6am Pacific / 9am Eastern / 2pm UK (that's 1am December 11 in AEDT) and will be available to watch on PlayStation’s official accounts across Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

“We’ve got around 20 minutes of new game reveals, release date announcements, new gameplay footage, PlayStation Worldwide Studios updates, and more,” reads the announcement on the PlayStation blog.

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Venom Producer May Consider an R-Rated Sequel After Joker’s Success

Venom producer Matt Tolmach has indicated that the upcoming sequel may potentially be given an R-rated classification, "now that that works" for superhero movies.

In a recent interview with CinemaBlend, Tolmach admitted they might review their options for Venom 2, as he discussed the progression of comic book character portrayals on the big screen, referring to the success of Deadpool, Logan and Joker, the first R-rated movie to top $1 billion globally.

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Dreams: Last Chance to Buy the PS4 Exclusive in Early Access

Media Molecule has announced that the early access period for its PS4 exclusive creative game Dreams is ending this weekend.

Writing on the PlayStation blog, Media Molecule says that you’ll be able to purchase Dreams in early access on the PlayStation store until  3:59pm PST on December 7, 2019.

Those who do purchase it before then will be able to continue to play the game after that time and date. They’ll also be upgraded to the full version of Dreams once it becomes available at no extra cost.

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Baby Yoda’s Backstory Will Be Explored in the Mandalorian Season 1

The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau has confirmed Baby Yoda's backstory will be explored in the first season of the Star Wars spinoff series.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Favreau assured fans of the live-action show that nobody is going to put Baby in a corner, as he promised audiences that they will learn more about the smol, green frog-eating tot before this season is over.

"We'll learn more about him over the course of the season," he told the outlet. "I think what's great about what George created is that Yoda proper, the character that we grew up watching, was always shrouded in mystery, and that was what made him so archetypal and so mythic. We know who he is based on his behavior and what he stands for, but we don't know a lot of details about where he comes from or his species. I think that's why people are so curious about this little one of the same species."

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Xbox Boss Says Control Is Coming to Game Pass, Developer Disagrees

Is Control coming to Xbox Game Pass? Depends on who you ask.

A few days ago, head of Xbox Phil Spencer appeared on an Extra Life livestream where he said Control was coming to Game Pass. At about the 44-minute mark, Spencer talks about the games of 2019 he enjoyed, and says the following:

“I thought Control was really good. It didn’t reach enough people so I’m glad to see that it’s coming into Game Pass so that more people will play it.”

Enough people heard Spencer's comment and asked Control developer Remedy if what was said during the livestream was true. On December 5, Remedy responded on Twitter to say that Control isn’t coming to Game Pass.

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