Month: October 2018

Filmmaker George Romero’s passing left a gap in the horror landscape, but he’s left plenty of material to be used posthumously. The director most known for his work on the Living Dead series has reportedly left almost 50 unused scripts that could still be developed into films.

ComicBook.com reports that Romero had been working on Road of the Dead, a project still in development, along with the novel The Living Dead. Dan Klaus is currently working on finishing a rewrite of the novel. But several other scripts are still being looked through according to his wife, Suzanne Desrocher-Romero.

“George was a prolific writer,” she said. “He loved to write, and we have 40, 50 scripts that he’s written, and a lot of it is very good. He had a lot to say, and he still does, because I’m gonna make sure that he does. It’s my mission.”

In addition to unused scripts and his novel, Desrocher-Romero suggested we could see a full unused film from Romero’s early career as well.

“We have a film that he shot in 1973 that most people haven’t seen,” she said. “A handful of people have seen this film. We’re gonna restore it, and we’re gonna show it to Romero cinephiles. It’s a scary movie, but it’s not a horror movie, and it’s about ageism. Anyway, he has a cameo in it, and it’ll be fun. And we’ll show the movie, or get it distributed. It’ll be a project that the foundation’s gonna do. I think it’s the first project we’re gonna do actually.”

She noted that the lost film isn’t a zombie movie like some of his most famous work, but she wants it released so that his followers can see some of his early footprint. “You see how he shoots and the story. It’s a unique find. I’m so happy I have it.”

Your Pokedex is about get a whole lot bigger as The Pokemon Company and Niantic have announced that monsters from the Sinnoh region are coming to Pokemon Go. A new trailer, which has a nice Planet Earth vibe, shows brief glimpses at a Turtwig hanging out in a grassy area, a Chimchar rousing from sleep in a cave, and a Piplup swimming beneath a layer of ice.

“A vast new world is waking up around us,” the voice over says. “With more to explore than we could have ever imagined.” The trailer ends with a pair of red eyes emerging and, although the Pokemon they belong to remains cloaked in darkness, it looks very much like Giratina, a Legendary from the Sinnoh region.

Pokemon Go has received fresh injections of content on a fairly regular basis, and there’s usually always some sort of event or Raid for players to enjoy. As we approach Halloween–the holiday of spooky ghosts–Niantic and the Pokemon Company has kicked off the Psychic Spectacular event, encouraging everyone to stock up on Pokemon that absolutely tear through ghosts, which seems a bit unfair if you ask me.

The Psychic Spectacular event runs until 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET on October 14 and you’ll be able to catch Pokemon such as Abra, Ralts, Baltoy, and Slowpoke more frequently. Additional Field Research tasks are also available, and if you complete these you’ll get a little closer to running into Suicune.

October’s Community Day, meanwhile, is set for October 21. On this day the Steel/Psychic Pokemon Beldum will become available. As of yet Niantic hasn’t confirmed what special attack it will be able to learn during the event, but dataminers previously discovered the move Meteor Mash–Metagross’s signature attack–within the game’s code.

There are many reasons why Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is regarded as a classic. The allure of secret passages and new equipment draws you into a haunted castle filled with odd creatures and dangerous traps. All of it beautifully designed, not to mention backed by an eclectic soundtrack to suit the castle’s many moods. You delve into this adventure as the silver-haired Alucard, the sympathetic son of a notorious supernatural villain, with graceful moves and a cool demeanor befitting of a vampiric heartthrob. Each of these pieces neatly click together, forming what many consider to be one of the best video games ever made. Symphony of the Night is the rare game that seems to get everything right, because even when it stumbles in gloriously cheesy ways, our accumulated goodwill turns would-be mockery into celebration.

Konami, apparently, doesn’t see things the same way. Its upcoming release of Symphony of the Night on PS4 (as part of the Castlevania Requiem collection) is based on the retooled PSP release that was buried within Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles. This version, while still excellent in most respects, tries to improve upon the original PlayStation release (which is also mostly intact on Xbox 360), but in the process eliminates one of the most memorable moments of the entire game.

I’m referring, of course, to the meme-ified exchange between Richter Belmont and Dracula during the prologue.

It’s campy, over the top, and incredibly memorable. Who among us hasn’t been tempted to rhetorically question the essence of humanity, fling a glass of wine across the room, and declare the answer we all know in our hearts to be true? Dracula may have sounded ridiculous, but let’s be honest: he’s not wrong.

The PSP version, and the upcoming PS4 port, use new voice actors and a new script, with Richter and Dracula’s iconic lines rewritten to the following.

In the age of Twitter, where the original discussion has been glorified and given a life of its own, the decision to base the re-release on the altered version of Symphony of the Night feels like an odd one. Granted, this is a small piece of a much bigger puzzle; the game is far from ruined. Its reputation, however, is definitely challenged.

When polled, 1,780 respondents on Twitter weighed in on the matter: 33% don’t care about the fact that the PSP version is being used, 26% feel that their excitement for the re-release is slightly diminished, and 41% of voters consider it to be a deal breaker.

For as much as I dislike the decision to use the PSP version of Symphony of the Night, I’m not going to pass up the chance to have a fresh copy on a modern console–assuming its emulation is technically sound. I may not, however, be able to shake the little voice in my head reminding me that it’s not the definitive version of the game.

Where do you fall on the matter? Am I a crazed fan whose picked a frivolous hill to die on? Let us know in the comments below!

Fallout 76, like previous games in Bethesda’s franchise, will feature mods, but how will they work with the game’s new always-online, multiplayer focus? We chatted with Bethesda marketing boss Pete Hines recently, and he told us that mods in Fallout 76 will only run on private servers.

“Mod support is going to be tied to work that we’re also doing on private servers, and letting people do private servers. Mods will be a thing that run on private servers,” he said.

Hines said it’s unlikely Bethesda will ever allow mods to run on Fallout 76’s 24-player public servers. Mods are user-created modifications that are capable of doing pretty much anything people can think up, so it makes sense that Bethesda wants to restrict them to private servers to help ensure a semblance of fairness.

“I don’t foresee a universe in which we allow players to come in [to Fallout 76’s public servers] with their own unique and different mods. If you want to run mods, they’ll have to be done on a private server,” Hines explained. “You’ll be deciding what sort of mods you’re including and running, and everyone playing on that server is playing with those mods.”

Mods aren’t coming to Fallout 76 at launch, however. Hines cautioned that mods may not be supported in Fallout 76 until November 2019 at the soonest. “It’s going to be a lot of work. But mods and private servers are definitely coming,” Hines said.

Mods in Bethesda games like Fallout 4 and Skyrim have been and continue to exceptionally popular and helping contribute to the longevity of those games and others across the industry. Those games, however, are exclusively single-player experiences, whereas Fallout 76 is always-online.

Fallout 4 and Skyrim initially only supported mods on PC, but they later came to PS4 and Xbox One, albeit with some limitations. It remains to be seen if Fallout 76 mods will launch first on PC.

GameSpot recently had the opportunity to play three hours of Fallout 76. For lots more, check out our deep-dive written preview and video coverage in the embed above. You can also check out some recent news stories and videos through the links below.