Monthly Archives: August 2017
New to Netflix for September
September is coming and Netflix has a big month awaiting us all. And not one just filled with endless Netflix Originals like usual. No, September actually also has a bunch of top-line movies to choose from — which hasn't always been the case ever since the site decided to end its exclusive deal with Epix back in 2015.
But as Autumn kicks off, you'll be able to watch films like Jaws, Gangs of New York, Gone Baby Gone, Pulp Fiction, Dead Poets Society, Requiem for a Dream, The Secret Garden, and The Squid and the Whale. You know, actual quality movies that you've heard of!
And over on the TV front there's the most current seasons of The Walking Dead, The Blacklist, Gotham, Portlandia - and even more episodes of Fuller House.
Here’s What’s Leaving Netflix in September
School's back in and the days of summertime laze are behind us, but that doesn't mean streaming and binging are now things of the past so here's your big "Last Call" list for September. Here are all the movies and TV shows that will be expiring from Netflix throughout the month — including horror flicks like Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Omen, Sweeney Todd, and (the underrated) Frailty.
Kids will have to do without Lilo & Stitch, The Emperor's New Groove and a couple of LEGO Ninjago movies while TV shows like CSI: Miami, Wilfred, Army Wives, and Last Man Standing will all bite the dust as well.
Dissidia NT Is More than Just Final Fantasy Smash Bros
As a longtime Final Fantasy fan, there’s something surreal and undeniably cool about seeing worlds collide in Dissidia NT. Even at my most cynical, I have to admit I get a bit of a chill when I see beautiful, HD versions of Final Fantasy IV’s Cecil and VI’s Terra squaring off against Cloud from Final Fantasy VII or Lightning from XIII.
But while Dissidia NT features plenty of those moments, it’s more than just a mashup of characters. Square Enix and Team Ninja have instead built an incredibly robust fighting game that incorporates a lot of smart pieces of previous Final Fantasy games.
Combat includes two types of attacks: HP and Bravery. As you’d imagine, HP attacks take away a chunk of an enemy’s HP. But aside from HP, players also have a Bravery meter that fills up as you fight. The higher your Bravery, the more damage you’ll inflict when you use an HP attack. If you use a Bravery attack, you’ll only be filling up your meter rather than doing any harm to your opponent. In other words, you probably can’t win if you’re only using one or the other, so you need to fight with a careful balance of both.
Overwatch Season 6 Changes Detailed
Blizzard released a new Overwatch ‘Developer Update’ with Game Director Jeff Kaplan detailing all the changes for its upcoming sixth competitive season.
You can watch the full update here:
The biggest change is that this season will only be two months long instead of the usual three. Kaplan said that “engagement is a lot higher at the beginning of the season,” and they wanted to make that early season excitement more frequent.
End of season rewards will be reduced to balance for the fact that players will be getting them more often, but Kaplan said the overall amount should be roughly the same over the course of a year. You’ll also start earning more points for each win in season 6.
Fallout 4, Doom, and Skyrim VR Release Dates Announced
Fallout 4 VR, Doom VFR, and Skyrim VR will all be released in the final two months of 2017, Bethesda announced today as part of QuakeCon 2017.
Skyrim VR will be released for PSVR on November 17, while Doom VFR will be released on both PSVR and HTC Vive December 1, according to a post on Bethesda's website. Fallout 4 VR will follow on December 12 and, at launch, will only be available on HTC Vive — though as Bethesda noted on Twitter, the publisher is looking to "support as many platforms as possible" following its initial release.
Wrestling Wrap Up: SmackDown Just Got Glorious
We're coming off a super-stuffed week/weekend of wrasslin', what with the four big shows at Barclays Center, the injuries, the surprises, the call-ups, and the unifying unsubtle obliteration of Baron Corbin.
Last week, after getting booked to seem like the biggest fartclown in WWE history, having not only flubbed his cash-in attempt on Jinder Mahal but apparently having made the mistake because he momentarily forgot that he had the opportunity to cash-in at all, it felt like Corbin may have hit a stumbling block for the sole reason of him rising up to take Cena to the limit at SummerSlam.
Life Is Strange Dev Partners With Bandai for New Game
Life is Strange and Vampyr developer Dontnod Entertainment is partnering with Bandai Namco for a new, narrative-based adventure game.
The new game, which has been in development since 2016, will feature "a fair dose of investigation" and take place in a fictional U.S. city, according to MCV. An official title, available platforms, and a release date will all be revealed when the game is officially announced sometime in 2018.
Artwork from Dontnod and Bandai Namco's new project. Image via MCV
Skyrim Is Pretty Rough on PSVR
Skyrim is available on every platform I own, and, maybe up until now, I kept finding reasons to play through it again. The PSVR demo of Skyrim that I played at Gamescom isn't outright bad; it's just, in my opinion, the worst way to play.
In order to walk around with Move controllers, you use left and right buttons to turn in jarring fractions, and another button to point and teleport. This isn't something that's easily picked up, and in a game with fast-moving enemies like rats, I spent a lot of time spinning in place, unable to move fast enough to see the enemies darting around me. Every time I turned to find them, they were already out of my view. I should note that the game is playable with a DualShock 4, but I didn't have a chance to use that traditional control method.
Jason David Frank Delivers a Bloody Teaser for the Upcoming Ninjak vs. The Valiant Universe
You may have grown up watching Jason David Frank morphing into the Green Ranger, but now he’s suiting up as Bloodshot, one of the premiere characters in the Valiant Comics universe. As Bloodshot's origin goes, Angelo Mortalli was infused with nanotechnology, making him an elite soldier who can heal from lethal wounds, and there’s also the matter of being reprogrammed to be a soulless killing machine by the shadowy organization that did this to him. So basically he’s Wolverine with guns instead of claws.
Bloodshot will be joining his fellow Valiant heroes -- including Livewire, X-O Manowar, and Eternal Warrior -- in a digital web series where they’ll all be pitted against Ninjak, a British ninja spy with some serious skills of his own. Titled Ninjak vs. The Valiant Universe, it will introduce these characters in live-action for the first time. There are also Valiant superhero movies in the works (although they are unconnected to this upcoming web series), so this project aims to whet people's appetites until then.
EA’s Adorable Fox Game Has Zelda-Like Discovery
Early on in Fe, you meet a deer. Up until now, you’ve been wandering the forest alone as a fox named Fe with no weapons, no direction, and no skills other than the ability to sing a single song, but the deer is something new.
After a short chase, it cautiously lets you approach and something special happens: you pause to sing, and it sings back to you. Deer sing in a different language than you do, but by taking a moment to interact, the deer teaches you a new song, and subsequently the ability to activate draft flowers, which normally only deer can trigger. Now, when you return to a previous area, you can float up on a draft flower to access a new part of the environment that was inaccessible before.