Month: August 2018

The Simpsons Will Be On TV For A Long Time To Come, Fox Teases

The Simpsons is already one of the longest-running TV shows in history, and it’s not coming to an end soon. Fox boss Dana Walden said recently that, while the show has not been officially renewed beyond Season 30, you can expect Fox to pick it up for even more.

“Down the line, what kind of decision is made, I can’t really speak to, but for the foreseeable future, there’s so much upside and benefit to having a great, Emmy Award-winning, smart, provocative, quality show,” she said during a Television Critics Association event, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “There’s no consideration of not ordering more Simpsons.”

Walden teased that a “couple of years of episodes” of The Simpsons are already in production.

The Fox network and 20th Century Fox are set to separate when Disney’s acquisition of most of Fox is complete. The Simpsons will stay on Fox amid this shuffle, Walden said. When this change happens, The Simpsons will become a licensed TV show for Disney.

“As long as we’ve all been in business, networks have licensed shows they don’t have ownership of,” Fox boss Gary Newman said. “It is challenging, and I anticipate it will be challenging on The Simpsons. The Simpsons is so associated with Fox, and that association benefits both the network and the owner of the IP. … I feel confident Disney and Fox are going to find a way to both have an interest in that show.”

Finally, Walden addressed the Apu controversy. She said there have been conversations with the production team, including James L. Brooks, and it was decided that Brooks and his writing team will decide how to move forward. “I think they’ve treated the show and the characters on the show with such respect that we trust them to handle it in a way that will be best for their show,” she said. “I’m not sure yet what they’re going to do, but ultimately we decided that was their decision.”

The Simpsons recently passed 636 episodes, which beats Gunsmoke (635 episodes) to become the longest-running scripted TV series ever.

In other news related to The Simpsons, creator Matt Groening’s new show, Disenchantment, premieres on Netflix later this month. You can watch a trailer above.

Christopher Robin Review

When artists worry about what big corporations might do after they buy the rights to their creations, Disney’s Christopher Robin is exactly what they’re worried about. This live-action feature, directed by Marc Forster (Finding Neverland), takes the beautiful and distinctive creations of A.A. Milne and shoehorns them into the screenwriting skeleton of The Shaggy Dog, The Santa Clause and Nine Lives, even though that makes no sense for the characters.

Ewan McGregor stars as Christopher Robin, who as a boy had many adventures with the anthropomorphic animals and toys in The Hundred Acre Wood. There was Winnie the Pooh (voiced by Jim Cummings), a good-hearted and silly teddy bear, Tigger (Cummings again), a rambunctious toy tiger, and Eeyore (Brad Garrett), an extremely depressed donkey. There were also a bunch of other characters but the movie barely does anything with them.

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One of the Best Cthulhu Board Games Is Getting an Awesome Overhaul

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” – H.P. Lovecraft

Wednesday’s Gen Con preview night was full of exciting announcements from tabletop behemoth Fantasy Flight Games, and while many people were anticipating news for games like Star Wars: X-Wing or the Game of Thrones board game, I was shaking with horrible anticipation for a different franchise under the Fantasy Flight umbrella.

Arkham Horror 2nd Edition is the game that hooked me into the pulpy world of Lovecraft and was my gateway into designer board games. So when Fantasy Flight revealed that the 3rd Edition would be so drastically different from the 2nd, I was conflicted. But after trying out the latest version at Gen Con, I am happy to say that it seems to have only enhanced the best aspects of what made this series so fantastic in the first place.

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Madden 19: EA Apologizes For Removing Colin Kaepernick’s Name From A Song

It was recently discovered that Madden NFL 19, which is available now for EA and Origin Access subscribers before its public release, removed Colin Kaepernick’s name in the YG song “Big Bank” featured on the game’s soundtrack. The line is supposed to be “You boys all cap, I’m more Colin Kaepernick.” However, his name was scrubbed from the verse sung by Big Sean, leading to a really strange edit that caught the attention of pre-release players.

EA has now explained that it was an “unfortunate mistake.” According to EA, some of its developers did not believe they had the rights to Kaepernick’s name, so that’s why it was censored out of the song. EA indeed does not have the rights to Kaepernick, as he’s not signed to any NFL roster, but this doesn’t apply to the soundtrack.

“We messed up, and the edit should never have happened,” EA Sports said.

Kaepernick’s name will be added back with an update due out on August 6. “We meant no disrespect, and we apologise to Colin, to YG and Big Sean, to the NFL, to all their fans, and our players for this mistake.”

Kaepernick made international headlines in 2016 when, as the QB for the San Francisco 49ers, he sat during the national anthem. He told NFL media at the time that he did this in protest over the treatment of black people and people of color in the US.

EA Sports initially said Kaepernick’s decision to sit would be briefly mentioned by the Madden commentators in Madden NFL 17, but this apparently never happened.

Madden 19 officially launches on August 10, but EA/Origin Access subscribers can play a 10-hour trial right now. The premium edition then unlocks on August 7, while everyone can start playing on August 10. For more, check out GameSpot’s Madden 19 Review in Progress.

Cloak and Dagger’s Explosive Finale Powers Up for Season 2

Warning: Full spoilers for Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger Season 1 finale below.

All throughout its first season, Cloak & Dagger attempted to do something Marvel hadn’t really tried before. And for the most part, that made Freeform’s first Marvel series a success.

While it is a younger-skewing comic book drama, the superhero/superpowers/vigilante aspects of the series were actually pushed to the background while the story focused instead on mature character stories told through the lens of real-world issues. That’s no small task, especially when the show is set in New Orleans, a city filled with fraught racial politics. But despite its younger audience, Cloak & Dagger never pulled any punches in telling authentic stories of a young, white blonde woman using her appearance to easily con people out of money while escaping any kind of consequences, vs. a young, black man who, despite coming from a very wealthy, high class family and always following the rules, constantly finds himself on the wrong side of law enforcement because of his race.

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New Call Of Duty Game For Mobile Coming To China

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is not the only new entry in the series in the works. Activision announced a partnership with Chinese internet giant Tencent today to make a new Call of Duty mobile game for China. The name of the game has not been announced, but Activision said it will be an “original” game, which suggests it’s not a port of an existing title. Though it’s new, it will include characters, maps, modes, and weapons you’re already familiar with.

Tencent’s internal studio, Timi, is developing the game, not Activision. It’s set to launch in China “in the coming months.”

“We’re working closely with one of Tencent’s top mobile studios, Timi, to develop a fun and original Call of Duty experience that delivers superb gameplay and mechanics to mobile players,” Call of Duty executive Rob Kostich said in a statement. “Call of Duty has been the leading first person action experience around the globe for years and seeing that come to life on the mobile platform has been really exciting. We can’t wait for fans to play.”

For its part, Tencent boss Steven Ma said in a statement that the new Call of Duty game is “tailored to meet the interests and play styles of mobile players in China.”

We’ll report back with more details on the new Call of Duty mobile game for China as they’re announced. It’s not the first Call of Duty mobile game, as Activision already released a title called Call of Duty: Heroes that features notable characters from across the franchise.

As for Black Ops 4, the game launches in early October for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. You may not have to wait that long to check it out, however, as a beta starts this week on PS4.

PUBG Mobile Gets Mission: Impossible Fallout Movie Tie-In Content

PlayUnknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile got a content drop full of challenges and rewards that tie into the new Mission: Impossible Fallout film. The update is part of a month-long campaign to advertise the movie.

“Nothing is impossible for PUBG Mobile, the world’s most popular mobile battle royale game–not even a partnership with an iconic movie franchise such as Mission: Impossible,” said PUBG Mobile general manager Vincent Wang. PUBG Mobile now has over 100 million downloads, and Wang hopes this Mission: Impossible Fallout tie-in brings in more players.

The update adds Mission: Impossible background music to the game, as well as new parachute customizations that are themed to the film. Players can also unlock the attire of Ethan Hunt and his fellow agents, and compete in Mission: Impossible inspired challenges for various rewards.

PUBG Mobile is available to download for free on the Apple App Store for iOS and Google Play for Android devices. PUBG is available on PC and Xbox One.

On PC, PUBG has a new limited-time event called Sanhok Forty-Fives where 80 players face off against one another on Sanhok in teams of four. The catch is that only throwables and firearms that take .45 ammo spawn during the match, so players are forced to rely solely on Tommy Guns, Win94s, R45s, P1911s and Vectors.

GTA 5 Is About To Pass A Huge New Sales Milestone

Grand Theft Auto V, which was released four years and 10 months ago, is still doing huge business for Rockstar Games and parent company Take-Two Interactive.

The company announced today that GTA V has now shipped almost 100 million units. This is up fro the 95 million figure that Take-Two announced back in May. The game “outperformed” Take-Two’s expectations during the quarter. Indeed, it continues to be a massive hit so long after launch, as it was the No. 3 best-selling game in the United States during June, outselling the new release The Crew 2 and other titles.

Not only is GTA V the base game doing well, but its GTA Online mode also did better than Take-Two expected. “Grand Theft Auto Online continued to exceed our expectations in the first quarter, as it has in every period since its release,” Take-Two said.

Part of the reason why GTA Online has been and continues to be so successful is that Rockstar releases new content for it very frequently. The latest substantial update was GTA Online: After Hours, which Take-Two said “had a bigger week-one audience than last December’s Doomsday Heist, which went on to be a record-breaking update.”

Looking ahead, Take-Two said Rockstar plans to launch “much more innovative content” for the game in the weeks and months to come.

A big part of GTA Online is its microtransactions, and these have been performing extremely well. During an earnings call, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said “recurrent consumer spending” i.e. microtransactions performed better-than-expected this quarter.

The next big release from Rockstar is Red Dead Redemption 2, which launches in October.

Red Dead Redemption 2 Will “Redefine” Gaming, Take-Two Says

Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar’s next big game, Red Dead Redemption 2, is coming in October and parent publisher Take-Two has high hopes for it.

During an earnings call today, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said the game will be “yet another creative milestone” for Rockstar. Boasting further, Zelnick said Red Dead Redemption 2 aims to “redefine our industry” and “captivate audiences around the world.”

“Red Dead Redemption 2 is Rockstar Games’ first title developed from the ground up for the current console generation,” Take-Two said. “We could not be more excited about the upcoming launch of Red Dead Redemption 2, which is poised to be another massive entertainment event.”

Zelnick didn’t say anything more about how Red Dead Redemption 2 will “redefine” the gaming industry. Intriguingly, Rockstar has said the game will have a new and innovative multiplayer mode, but no further details about this have been announced.

While Red Dead Redemption 2 is expected to be a massive success, it is not projected to sell better than Rockstar’s previous game, Grand Theft Auto V. That title has shipped nearly 100 million units, making it one of the most successful titles in the history of the world.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One (and maybe PC), and there will be a few different versions to choose from.

A prequel to 2010’s Red Dead Redemption, the new game follows the story of outlaw Arthur Morgan. In addition to the campaign, there will be some kind of online mode that is expected to feature PlayStation-exclusive content and microtransactions.