Monthly Archives: June 2017
The 10 Most Important Stories of E3 2017
E3 2017 was filled with literally hundreds of games being revealed, receiving release dates, showing off stellar trailers, and displaying extended gameplay sequences. But as you can imagine, it's easy to miss something amidst the tornado of announcements.
With E3 2017 finally behind us, we wanted to take a second and go through the 10 most important stories to come out of the show.
Probably the biggest question on all of our minds going into E3 2017 revolved around Microsoft’s Project Scorpio. And to the surprise of none, all was revealed during Microsoft’s Xbox press conference. Project Scorpio is officially the Xbox One X, and will arrive on November 7, 2017. Advertised as the most powerful console ever, the Xbox One X will cost $499, £449, €499, AUD $649, and CAD $599. For everything you need to know about the Xbox One X, from initial rumors to the big E3 2017 coming out party, check out our guide.
Hunt: Showdown is a Cool Mix of Several Genres
I’ll be honest and say that I was not expecting the coolest thing I saw at E3 to be a multiplayer shooter. But it was - even though calling Crytek’s Hunt: Showdown just a “multiplayer shooter” is a massive understatement. Hunt is an intricate blend of an survival shooter, team exploration, and dynamic open-world horror, with just a pinch of a rogue-lite RPG thrown in to boot - and this spooky hodge-podge looks fun as hell.
Set in the late 1800’s, you’ll play each match - which allegedly lasts anywhere from 15 minutes to a half hour, though they could probably go longer - as a professional monster hunter, contracted to banish some foul evil that’s crept into our plane of existence. While the lore may seem a little fast-and-loose at this stage, it’s a great setup for us to be dropped into the murky Louisiana swamp that serves as the game’s play area. “It’s not a very pristine environment we’re going into,” explains Dennis Schwarz, one of the lead designers on the project, referring to the more romanticized versions of London or American cities we so often see in games set in that time period. “We’re not going where everybody else is going in that era, we’re going into swamps.”
Can Alicia Find Normalcy Again on Fear the Walking Dead?
Warning: Spoilers follow for the most recent episodes of Fear the Walking Dead.
Alicia Clark (Alycia Debnam-Carey) has gone through a lot on Fear the Walking Dead. A normal, LA high school kid when the series began, Alicia ended up on the run with her family, following the zombie outbreak that began the series - and recent events got even more intense for her, as she killed a living person for the first time to save Travis (Cliff Curtis)... only for Travis to die in front of her shortly after.
However, Alicia, her mom, Madison (Kim Dickens), and bother, Nick (Frank Dillane), now find themselves at the Broke Jaw Ranch, amongst a large group of survivors, in what feels like a relatively safe environment... even as there is cause to be very wary of locals like Troy Otto (Daniel Sharman). Alicia has been embraced by a group of local teens, giving her the first moment of normalcy in quite awhile. But can it last?
Unaired Powerless Episode Featuring Adam West Released
Following the recent passing of Adam West, DC has released an unaired Powerless episode featuring the late actor.
In a tribute to West, who died last week at the age of 88, DC All Access is allowing fans to watch the episode (which you can view here) in its entirety on YouTube for a limited time.
This was one of West's final roles, where he played the chairman of Wayne Industries, Dean West. After an attack on Gotham City, Mr. West travels to Charm City to inform Emily (Vanessa Hudgens) and Van (Alan Tudyk) that Wayne Industries needs to make some cuts.
How Big Might Spider-Man: Homecoming Open?
With its July 7th release closing in, box office tracking is beginning to come in to predict how Spider-Man: Homecoming will perform in its opening weekend.
According to Deadline, the Marvel Studios-Sony Pictures collaboration is tracking to open in North America between $90 million-$108 million. (Deadline is citing industry tracking and not Sony's own internal numbers.) The film is reportedly tracking most strongly among young males as well as families.
These estimated figures can, as Deadline reminds us, change closer to a film's release. But if that figure holds then Homecoming would have the third-highest domestic opening for a Spider-Man film, behind both 2007's Spider-Man 3 ($151.1 million) and 2002's Spider-Man ($114.8 million).
What It’s Like to Make a Pixar Animated Short Film
From "For the Birds" to "Lava," just about everyone has seen and been moved by a Pixar short film paired with one of the studio's blockbuster movies.
But what goes into making one of those shorts within Pixar's studio process? With a new short film, Lou, about to be released with Cars 3, I sat down with director Dave Mullins and producer Dana Murray for an inside look at the process of making a Pixar short film.
Employees within Pixar are encouraged to go to development and say they'd love to pitch ideas for a film. Mullins, whose day job is an Animation Supervisor at Pixar, first started pitching concepts for shorts in 2005.
"Along with the career of animating, the Animation Supervisor, I've been writing and pitching ideas forever. They let you pitch three idea," explained Mullins. "I did multiple pitches. I pitched, like I said, since 2005, and in 2012 I pitched an idea that really caught on and then we started developing that."
Discussing The Leftovers’ Ending and BSG’s Reunion
Hey guys, while we (ridiculously) missed doing a new Channel Surfing last weekend – while we were actually in the same place at the wonderful ATX Television Festival in Austin – we did record an episode shortly after!
We have a lot to say about ATX itself and the recent ending of The Leftoves, along with other topics.
In this episode you’ll find:
-Discussion about the recent passing of two greats: Adam West and Glenne Headly
-Snowpiercer TV series casting
-24: Legacy cancelled, while FOX still wants the franchise to live on
-New seasons ordered for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Luther
-A big conversation about what we experienced at this year’s ATX TV Festival, including a reunion for the terrific Battlestar Galactica
A Plague Tale: Innocence Gameplay Impressions
Set in France during the Middle-ages, A Plague Tale: Innocence is an action-adventure game where a young sister and brother must fight to survive both the Inquisition and swarms of hungry plague rats. While the hands-off demo we saw was a proof of concept and won't be featured as-is in the final game, it left a strong impression with its dark atmosphere, intuitive puzzle design, and warm relationship between the two leads. It's also sure to haunt your dreams with scurrying, disease-infested rodents.
You control Amicia, 14, whereas little brother Hugo, 5, accompanies you and acts as an assist character. The objective of the demo was for Amicia to rescue Hugo from some Inquisition soldiers and then locate their mother. The obstacles in your way are lantern-holding soldiers and swarms of rats that hate the light, so right from the start it's clear you'll need to play one against the other.
Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord’s Battlefields Have Never Been Better
Riding across the dunes of a vast desert with a detachment of mounted archers at my back, I had a singular goal passed down from my commander: Lead your units to the enemy to keep them off our infantry. Calling for my troops to follow my lead, I crested a large dune and saw the ranks and formations of our enemy, and began picking off their infantry while strafing the group of soldiers. A large dust cloud kicked up around our horses, and it was only as my troops quickly spun around that I realized the hazy cloud was hiding the enemy’s cavalry - who crashed into our own mounted team while killing dozens of my archers. Ordering a quick retreat, my battered followers raced ahead while the cavalry followed in hot pursuit - right into my team's bowmen group that had stopped at the top of a dune to rain death on the forces we lured into them.
IO Interactive Officially Goes Indie, Gains Rights to Hitman
IO Interactive has officially become an independent studio and acquired the rights to its stealth-action franchise Hitman.
Studio CEO Hakan Abrak shared the news in a post on IO's official website. "I am proud to announce today that IOI is now officially an independent studio," he said. "We have successfully concluded our negotiations with Square Enix and have agreed to a management buyout. Crucially, we will keep all of the rights to the Hitman IP."
Shortly after Square Enix announced its decision to part with IO Interactive, the publisher said it was "negotiating with prospective external investors" to continue to the Hitman series. IO is also the developer behind Kane & Lynch, but there's currently no word on where that franchise will end up following the split.