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Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order's Stormtroopers Have Their Own Personalities

When designing the enemy Stormtroopers you’ll fight in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Respawn crafted individual personalities for each one. So even if you’re fighting a whole squad, individual troopers will behave and act differently.”Under the helmet they have personalities, and so we’ve kind of given them nicknames and call signs,” Fallen Order narrative lead Aaron Contreras said, according to PC Gamer. “So it looks like a horde of faceless grunts. And they are because they’re Stormtroopers, but they each have a specific personality and they’ll interact with each other in ways that are specific to their personality. [So] when one’s left alone, it could be the guy who’s terrified or it could [be] a guy who’s super gung-ho and he’s like, ‘Now it’s my time to shine and take out a Jedi!'”Individual Stormtroopers will also act differently depending on the make-up of a fight as well. The more observant among the group may inform their peers of their lack of ranged support if they notice you’ve cut down all of the snipers first. For the most part, Stormtroopers will also stay out of the way of the Purge Troopers if one is in their midst, allowing you to duel with the alpha killer. Of course, defeating said leader will cause the Stormtroopers to react, and those reactions will depend on their prewritten personalities.Though each Stormtrooper has a call sign and personality, their individuality stops there. Fallen Order lead level designer Jeff Magers said that each trooper does not have their own individual name. Though Contreras did add, “Not yet,” so there may still be a possibility that some troopers get even more individuality between now and Fallen Order’s launch. As seen in The Last of Us Part II, giving enemies individual names and designing them to care about one another can make for some deeply unsettling combat encounters.Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is scheduled to launch for Xbox One, PS4, and PC on November 15. We recently got three hours of hands-on time with Fallen Order at a preview event, coming away excited about the upcoming Star Wars game.
Source: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order's Stormtroopers Have Their Own Personalities

Melissa McCarthy's New Movie No Longer Getting Theatrical Release

Melissa McCarthy’s new movie Superintelligence will no longer be getting a December theatrical release date, as it moves to stream exclusively on HBO Max next year. HBO made the announcement on Thursday in a press release about two months before the film’s planned theatrical release. It will now debut with the launch of HBO Max in spring 2020. The movie features McCarthy as an average person who has a “superintelligence” take over her life through her electronic devices with greater plans to take over the world. Bobby Cannavale, Brian Tyree Henry, Jean Smart and James Corden also star in the film. “We used the A.I. from Superintelligence to look at every single platform in the world, and then used its super knowledge and big artificial brain-like thing to determine that HBO Max was the right home for our film,” said McCarthy and the film’s director and producer Ben Falcone in a press release. Continue reading…
Source: Melissa McCarthy's New Movie No Longer Getting Theatrical Release

Batman's Feud Bane Loses Steam

Batman #81 seems designed as a companion piece to Batman #72, the issue that methodically laid out how everything in this series ties together as part of Bane’s overarching plot to break Batman. This time, writer Tom King methodically lays out Batman’s side of the story, revealing just what the Dark Knight actually knew and what’s been fueling him since that night his back was broken a second time. Unfortunately, it’s an approach that doesn’t connect nearly as well the second time around. For all that this series has done to establish itself as one of DC’s best monthly comics over the past three years, it’s having a surprisingly difficult time sticking the landing in “City of Bane.” This arc lacks the dramatic tension one would expect from the climax of such a long-running story. The simple fact that we haven’t even seen Bane for more than a couple panels in this entire story definitely contributes to that underwhelming feeling. After spending so much time elevating Bane and Thomas Wayne as the ultimate threat to Bruce Wayne’s personal happiness, the series only seems interested in focusing on one of those two antagonists. Needless to say, this issue’s cover is just the latest example of the cover not matching the actual story being told within. Continue reading…
Source: Batman's Feud Bane Loses Steam

Here's When You Can Read Our The Outer Worlds Review

Curious about whether The Outer Worlds will live up to the high expectations we all have from the developers of all-time RPG classics like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords and Fallout: New Vegas (among others)? Good news: we’re currently playing through, and our review will go up on the site at 6:00am on Tuesday, October 22 – three days before The Outer Worlds’ release date of Friday, October 25. That’s all we can say for right now, but fortunately we’ve already said a whole bunch about The Outer Worlds (not to be confused with Outer Wilds) that you can brush up on while you wait for the review to finish cooking. Continue reading…
Source: Here's When You Can Read Our The Outer Worlds Review

Jojo Rabbit: Taika Waititi And Stephen Merchant Talk Nazi Comedy And Rugrats

With Jojo Rabbit, Taika Waititi–following in the footsteps of Mel Brooks and Charlie Chaplin–has made a funny and poignant satire about Nazis in 2019. It’s a coming-of-age comedy starring a young boy in Nazi Germany that is hilarious, emotional, and topical, thanks to Waititi’s unique sensibilities.Jojo Rabbit stars Roman Griffin Davis as the titular Jojo, who is obsessed with everything Nazi-related–and also has an imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler himself, played by Waititi. Jojo is an enthusiastic Nazi youth, but he gets his worldview turned upside down once he discovers a Jewish girl named Elsa who his mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding in their attic.GameSpot was able to talk to writer-director Taika Waititi (director of Thor: Ragnarok) and co-star Stephen Merchant (who plays Gestapo agent Captain Deertz) with a select group of journalists after the film’s US premiere at Fantastic Fest in September, to discuss the making of the movie, tackling the thorny subject matter, and turning Hitler into a subversive comedy icon.The opening credits of Jojo Rabbit play over a montage of vast German crowds going absolutely insane for Hitler, all while a German-language cover of the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” plays over their fanatical cheers. Treating Hitler like the Beatles seems like an odd choice, but for Waititi, it made sense.”For me it was that Hitler was like a pop star for Jojo,” the filmmaker explained. “Where I had posters of bands in my bedroom when I was growing up, I feel like in those days Hitler was that for some people. It is very easy to see how people can become enamored and brainwashed by these personalities.”This is an important aspect of what makes Jojo Rabbit such a special and important movie today. Jojo isn’t portrayed as a monster, but as a dumb little boy who wanted to be accepted by a group and chose the worst club to join. When he meets Elsa, she quickly dismisses him not as a violent monster, but as a kid who got involved with the wrong crowd. “I don’t think that Jojo is an idiot,” Waititi explained. “When children were indoctrinated into the Hitler Youth and were taught all these ideas, a lot of them were very bright kids, but that doesn’t mean that they were not easily influenced.” For Merchant, this feels relevant to today’s politics. “I think what’s interesting is the film’s humanizing of people…
Source: Jojo Rabbit: Taika Waititi And Stephen Merchant Talk Nazi Comedy And Rugrats

Fortnite is Back…But It Never Really Went Anywhere

Fortnite is back for another round with Chapter 2, which launched (again) worldwide yesterday. After a massive world-ending black hole event — dubbed “The End” — consumed everything (which included the previous island, lobby, and game itself), Fortnite has finally returned after being offline for almost 40 hours. The internet went into a frenzy this past Sunday, with players and parents panicking after not knowing what happened to it. Many were worried about the cosmetic items they had purchased, as well as the status of their in-game currency known as V-Bucks. Continue reading…
Source: Fortnite is Back…But It Never Really Went Anywhere

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare To Use Battle Passes For Post-Launch Content

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare releases next week, and the team at Activision laid out how it will handle post-release content. The company had already announced it would be removing season pass and DLC maps to ensure a more unified player base, but it wasn’t clear how the game would handle monetization. It has answered that lingering question now with the announcement of a Battle Pass system.According to the announcement, the Battle Passes will be timed to live seasons, with both a Free Stream and Premium Stream of content to earn. The Free Stream will let you unlock anything with an impact on gameplay, like base weapons and attachments. The Premium Stream will earn you cosmetics items. You’ll also be able to earn COD Points with the Battle Pass.However, the Battle Pass won’t be ready to go on day one. It will launch sometime later in 2019. Activision says this is because right now the company is focused on the game launch, and also because players will have plenty to play through and earn from the base game to start anyway.”Understandably there are still questions around how the economy will evolve throughout the post-launch, live seasons,” the announcement says. “We recognize this will take time to fully demonstrate. Please know we are committed to delivering a fair system guided by the principles we’ve outlined here, and will continue to monitor feedback and player engagement to help us achieve that goal.”Recently, Infinity Ward’s Joel Emslie ruled out loot boxes for Modern Warfare, and this sheds more light on the approach the studio is using instead. The company also recently clarified that its PC download size, listed in specs at 175 GB, is the number including a series of post-launch content.Modern Warfare releases on October 25. For more details, check out our pre-order guide.
Source: Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare To Use Battle Passes For Post-Launch Content

Zombieland Side by Side Cast Comparison: Then and Now

Zombieland hit a decade ago in 2009, and now we’re finally getting a sequel with the original cast — and some new faces as well (check out our Zombieland: Double Tap review). But after 10 years, you’d think the stars of the original might’ve changed a little bit at least, right? Well, maybe not so much with this crew. What can you say? They drink virgin blood in Hollywood or something… Check out the slideshow below which looks at how the original cast of Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin have evolved since the 2009 film. And then also take a look at the many new faces that are joining the sequel. Turns out there are still some humans left in Zombieland! Continue reading…
Source: Zombieland Side by Side Cast Comparison: Then and Now

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Won't Have Fast-Travel, But There Is A Reason

Much like the Metroid Prime games it takes inspiration from, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order doesn’t have a fast-travel system. If you’re looking to leave the planet you’re currently on, you’ll need to retrace your steps back to your ship.”A lot of the game is traversal, re-traversal, and exploration,” Fallen Order producer Blair Brown said, according to USG. “Not having fast travel encourages the player to go off the beaten path; find quick routes, and master the level. Also as you play through you’ll see some stuff that you wouldn’t if you fast traveled through the critical path every time.”To assist in navigating each world, there are certain landmarks on every planet in Fallen Order that you can use to help orient yourself. A careful eye will most likely notice the dragon-like Bynog making its roost on a faraway bridge when first visiting Bogano, for example. And as you continue to explore the new Star Wars planet, your efforts will bring you closer and closer to him. “He’s a really good landmark,” Fallen Order combat designer Jason De Heras said. “He’s there to spark interest.”Though Fallen Order won’t have a traditional fast-travel system, it remains to be seen whether the game adopts a quick-travel system similar to what’s seen in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. In Metroid Prime 3, you could not fast-travel back to Samus’ ship. You had to make your way back to it every time you wanted to go off-world. However, on each planet, you could venture off the beaten path and occasionally discover landing platforms for Samus’ ship to dock at. This way, you could change where you would have to backtrack to once you were done exploring. There’s no confirmation that Fallen Order will do the same, but given that Respawn has repeatedly said the Metroid Prime trilogy is an influence in the Star Wars game’s development, it’s at least a possibility.During a recent preview event, we got three hours of hands-on time with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order–giving us a better idea as to what to expect for protagonist Cal Kestis’ journey as a Jedi Padawan, Fallen Order’s “thoughtful combat” and challenging but fair encounters, and metroidvania influences. Overall, the game isn’t groundbreaking, but it still manages to be exciting. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order launches for Xbox One, PS4, and PC on November 15.
Source: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Won't Have Fast-Travel, But There Is A Reason

Robert Pattinson Thinks Batman Is "Dope," And We Agree

News about Matt Reeves’ new Batman film has been pouring in from all sides as pre-production continues on. First, we had a slew of casting rumors, including Jeffery Wright’s potential position as Commissioner Gordon. Then we received confirmation that Zoe Kravitz would be joining the cast as Selina Kyle. Yesterday, tragedy struck when it was announced Jonah Hill would not be taking part in the project–but don’t worry, he was quickly replaced by Paul Dano who we learned will actually be signing on as Eddie Nygma mere moments ago. Today, we finally heard from Batman himself–and he’s got some choice words to share with fans.And those words are that he believes Batman is, and we quote, “dope.” “It’s a dope character,” he explained succinctly in an interview with the New York Times. Pattinson also shared what originally drew him to the project, in addition to loving Matt Reeves as a director. “His morality is a little bit off,” he said. “He’s not the golden boy, unlike almost every other comic-book character. There is a simplicity to his worldview, but where it sits is strange, which allows you to have more scope with the character.”And as for the fan reaction? Pattinson couldn’t be less bothered. As a veteran of the mega-popular tween-and-teen franchise Twilight, he’s been around the block a few times when it comes to very passionate fanbases. “Maybe I’m just used to abuse by now. At least I didn’t get death threats this time–that’s a plus! It’s funny that people are so very angry about Twilight. I never particularly understood it.”But that doesn’t mean promoting and talking about the project is any easier, despite his experience in the world of fandom-heavy properties. “I just fear that when I say anything about Batman people online are like, ‘What does this mean?’ And I don’t know!” Pattinson laughed, “I used to be very good at censoring myself, but I’ve said so many ridiculous things over the years, so I’m always curious when I’m promoting these movies how many times I can mess up. It feels like with every movie that comes out, there’s always one quote from me where it’s like, ‘How? What kind of out-of-body experience produced that screaming nonsense?'”The Batman hits theaters on June 25, 2021.
Source: Robert Pattinson Thinks Batman Is "Dope," And We Agree