Month: January 2019

Crunchyroll has announced more dubs for several of the series on its streaming service. Most notable is Konosuba: God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World Season 1, which is getting a new English dub, as well as dubs in Spanish and Portuguese.

In the English dub cast, Konosuba’s main protagonist Kazuma is voiced by Arnie Pantoja, who’s appeared in One-Punch Man and Re:Zero. The ladies Kazuma is accompanied by–Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness–are portrayed by Faye Mata, Erica Mendez, and Cristina Vee respectfully. Mata is also in Re:Zero, as baby Rem, and portrays Rider of Black in Fate/Apocrypha. Mendez has a huge resume, portraying Kill la Kill’s Ryuko, Sailor Moon’s Haruka, Aggretsuko’s Retsuko, My Hero Academia: Two Heroes’ Melissa Shield, and many more. Vee has an equally large history in anime, voicing The Familiar of Zero’s Louise, Devilman Crybaby’s Miki, Fate/Zero’s Sakura, and dozens of other noteworthy characters.

Along with Konosuba, new dubs are also coming for In Another World with My Smartphone, Interviews with Monster Girls, Joker Game, Orange, Recovery of an MMO Junkie, and The Ancient Magus Bride. Most of these shows are being dubbed in Spanish, French, German, or Portuguese. Konosuba is the only one getting an English dub. All of the new dubs will be available on Crunchyroll starting January 15.

New Dubs Coming To Crunchyroll

• Konosuba Season 1 — English, Spanish, and Portuguese
• In Another World with My Smartphone — German, Spanish, French, and Portuguese
• Interviews with Monster Girls — Spanish and Portuguese
• Joker Game — Spanish, French, and Portuguese
• Orange — Spanish, French, and Portuguese
• Recovery of an MMO Junkie — Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German
• The Ancient Magus Bride — German, Spanish, and Portuguese

Crunchyroll has also announced the next slate of new anime to join its Winter 2019 season. Both Rinshi!! Ekodachan and Rainy Cocoa SideG begin airing on January 8. The former is about a temp worker who lives in the countryside and “doesn’t care much about guys” but does all she can to support the women in her community. The latter is a slice of life story about a woman who manages a cafe after being recruited to pay back a vase she broke. Another anime debuts on January 9, titled My Roommate is a Cat, which follows the adorable every day lives of a man and his cat.

Konosuba is one of the most popular comedies on Crunchyroll, first airing in the Winter 2016 season. The series follows the hilarious exploits of Kazuma Satō, a high school student who’s killed and offered the chance to be reborn in a fantasy world. The goddess, Aqua, who’s responsible for his resurrection is extremely arrogant and teases Kazuma for dying embarrassingly, so when she tells him he’s allowed to bring something of his choice with him to his new life, he takes revenge by forcing her to join him. Life in the new world is not kind to either of them, and things become even worse when they’re joined by Megumin, an explosion-obsessed wizard who can only fire off one spell before she collapses from exhaustion, and Darkness, a masochistic crusader who can’t even strike a still target. The story plays out in a series of fast-paced skits that also poke fun at MMO and RPG mechanics and quests.

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The Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody and acclaimed drama Green Book were the big winners at the 76th Golden Globes awards on January 6. Bohemian Rhapsody took home the award for Best Drama, while star Remi Malek won Best Actor in a Drama for his portrayal of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury.

Green Book won three awards, including Best Musical or Comedy Picture and Best Supporting Actor, Musical or Comedy, for Mahershala Ali. Other winners in the movie categories include the highly acclaimed Netflix film Roma (Best Director for Alfonso Cuarón and Best Foreign Language Film), period comedy The Favourite (Best Actress, Musical or Comedy, for Olivia Coleman), and the political satire Vice, which won Christian Bale the Best Actor in a Drama for his portrayal of Dick Cheney.

In terms of TV shows, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story won Best Limited Series, and the Netflix comedy The Kominsky Method took home Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy, and Best Actor in same category for Michael Douglas. The long-running thriller The Americans won Best Drama for its final season, while Golden Globes host Sandra Oh won Best Drama Actress for Killing Eve.

The Golden Globe winners are voted by members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. They are seen as an indicator of what might triumph at the Academy Awards next month. You can see a full rundown of the Golden Globe winners and nominees below.

Best Motion Picture – Drama

• Black Panther
• BlacKkKlansman
• Winner: Bohemian Rhapsody
• If Beale Street Could Talk
• A Star Is Born

Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama

• Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born)
• Willem Dafoe (At Eternity’s Gate)
• Lucas Hedges (Boy Erased)
• Winner: Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody)
• John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman)

Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama

• Winner: Glenn Close (The Wife)
• Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born)
• Nicole Kidman (Destroyer)
• Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
• Rosamund Pike (A Private War)

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

• Crazy Rich Asians
• The Favourite
• Winner: Green Book
• Mary Poppins Returns
• Vice

Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

• Emily Blunt (Mary Poppins Returns)
• Winner: Olivia Colman (The Favourite)
• Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade)
• Charlize Theron (Tully)
• Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians)

Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

• The Alienist (TNT)
• Winner: The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (FX)
• Escape at Dannemora (Showtime)
• Sharp Objects (HBO)
• A Very English Scandal (Amazon)

Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy

• Barry (HBO)
• The Good Place (NBC)
• Kidding (Showtime)
• Winner: The Kominsky Method (Netflix)
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy

• Kristen Bell (The Good Place)
• Candice Bergen (Murphy Brown)
• Alison Brie (Glow)
• Winner: Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)
• Debra Messing (Will & Grace)

Best Director – Motion Picture

• Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born)
• Winner: Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)
• Peter Farrelly (Green Book)
• Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman)
• Adam McKay (Vice)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Antonio Banderas (Genius: Picasso)
• Daniel Bruhl (The Alienist)
• Winner: Darren Criss (The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story)
• Benedict Cumberbatch (Patrick Melrose)
• Hugh Grant (A Very English Scandal)

Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language

• Capernaum
• Girl
• Never Look Away
• Winner: Roma
• Shoplifters

Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

• Winner: Christian Bale (Vice)
• Lin-Manuel Miranda (Mary Poppins Returns)
• Viggo Mortensen (Green Book)
• Robert Redford (The Old Man & the Gun)
• John C. Reilly (Stan & Ollie)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Alex Borstein (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)
• Winner: Patricia Clarkson (Sharp Objects)
• Penelope Cruz (The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story)
• Thandie Newton (Westworld)
• Yvonne Strahovski (The Handmaid’s Tale)

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture

• Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)
• Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara (The Favourite)
• Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk)
• Adam McKay (Vice)
• Winner: Peter Farrelly, Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie (Green Book)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture

• Winner: Mahershala Ali (Green Book)
• Timothee Chalamet (Beautiful Boy)
• Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman)
• Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
• Sam Rockwell (Vice)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama

• Caitriona Balfe (Outlander)
• Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale)
• Winner: Sandra Oh (Killing Eve)
• Julia Roberts (Homecoming)
• Keri Russell (The Americans)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture

• Amy Adams (Vice)
• Claire Foy (First Man)
• Winner: Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)
• Emma Stone (The Favourite)
• Rachel Weisz (The Favourite)

Best Original Song – Motion Picture

• All the Stars (Black Panther)
• Girl in the Movies (Dumplin’)
• Requiem For a Private War (A Private War)
• Revelation’ (Boy Erased)
• Winner: Shallow (A Star Is Born)

Best Original Score – Motion Picture

• Marco Beltrami (A Quiet Place)
• Alexandre Desplat (Isle of Dogs)
• Ludwig Göransson (Black Panther)
• Winner: Justin Hurwitz (First Man)
• Marc Shaiman (Mary Poppins Returns)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Amy Adams (Sharp Objects)
• Winner: Patricia Arquette (Escape at Dannemora)
• Connie Britton (Dirty John)
• Laura Dern (The Tale)
• Regina King (Seven Seconds)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Alan Arkin (The Kominsky Method)
• Kieran Culkin (Succession)
• Edgar Ramirez (The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story)
• Winner: Ben Whishaw (A Very English Scandal)
• Henry Winkler (Barry)

Best Television Series – Drama

• Winner: The Americans
• Bodyguard
• Homecoming
• Killing Eve
• Pose

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama

• Jason Bateman (Ozark)
• Stephan James (Homecoming)
• Winner: Richard Madden (Bodyguard)
• Billy Porter (Pose)
• Matthew Rhys (The Americans)

Best Motion Picture – Animated

• Incredibles 2
• Isle of Dogs
• Mirai
• Ralph Breaks the Internet
• Winner: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy

• Sacha Baron Cohen (Who Is America?)
• Jim Carrey (Kidding)
• Winner: Michael Douglas (The Kominsky Method)
• Donald Glover (Atlanta)
• Bill Hader (Barry)

14 Days of Fortnite is live again on PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices. As a make good for previously announcing the wrong end date, developer Epic Games has brought the holiday-themed event back for another week, giving players on all platforms another chance to unlock any rewards they may have missed out on the first time around.

The encore event will be live through 12 AM PT / 3 AM ET / 8 AM GMT on January 15. During this time, all of the 14 Days of Fortnite challenges will be available, allowing players to complete any remaining tasks and unlock their corresponding rewards; however, any previous progress on partially completed challenges has been reset. You can see the full list of challenges and rewards in our 14 Days of Fortnite roundup.

14 Days of Fortnite first kicked off in December. As its name describes, the event ran for two weeks, with a new challenge to complete and reward to unlock each day. However, there was some confusion surrounding when the event would end, and as a result, many players felt they didn’t have as much time as they expected to complete the challenges.

Epic acknowledged it had shared the wrong end date for the event on its social channels and offered to give everyone who completed at least one 14 Days of Fortnite challenge the Equalizer glider–the 14th unlockable reward–for free. The developer later announced it would instead bring the entire event back for a week.

“We communicated an incorrect end date for the 14 Days of Fortnite event and did not feel the Equalizer Glider compensation was the right approach,” Epic wrote on its website. “After further discussion, we’ve decided to bring back this event early next week through January 15 at 3 AM ET (0800 UTC). We’ll also be enabling some of the most popular Limited Time Modes that were available during the event.”

Capcom released a Devil May Cry 5 demo for Xbox One in December, but if you didn’t already grab it you have officially missed your chance. The demo has been pulled from the Xbox store, though it’s still playable if you downloaded it previously. Its listing now says it is not currently available.

Take heart, though, demon hunters. If you missed out on that demo–or if you’re just a PS4 owner and never had access to it in the first place–you’ll get a fresh bit of DMC5 next month. The tweet that announced the demo had been pulled also gave word that a new one will be coming on February 7, this time for both Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Since the demo’s release, Capcom has continued a steady stream of announcements, like its seamless co-op play. Most recently the studio showed off the new playable character V, who controls very differently from swift melee-focused characters like Dante. V moves slowly around the battlefield, instead summoning a variety of beasts to do his fighting for him. The game is among our most anticipated games of 2019.

“It all seems fitting for Capcom’s next stylish-action game to look back on its lineage as a whole, as it plans to finish the main story of the Sparda saga,” wrote editor Alessandro Fillari. “Whether it’ll close things proper, or if it’ll lead into the next phase of the series remains to be seen, but Devil May Cry 5 will no doubt revel in the time it has–and it’ll definitely look good while doing it.”

Devil May Cry 5 is coming to PC, Xbox One, and PS4 on March 8. For more details, including the various bonus goodies you can get for pre-ordering or with special editions, check out our pre-order guide.

During Nvidia’s CES 2019 live press conference, the company announced a wave of gaming laptops that will feature its latest GPUs, the GeForce RTX 20-series. These laptops will have mobile versions of the RTX 2060, RTX 2070, and RTX 2080 depending on the model, and will come from major manufacturers like Samsung, Acer, Asus, Razer, and more. Over 40 different models will be available on January 29.

This is the first batch of laptops that feature RTX GPUs, a new generation of video cards that debuted with high-end desktop versions back in September last year with the RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti. According to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, some of these laptops will be “twice as powerful as the PS4 Pro” and, specifically, an RTX 2060-powered laptop will be 1.6 times as powerful as a PS4 Pro. Compared to desktop GPUs, that same RTX 2060 laptop is said to outperform a desktop GTX 1070.

Of the 40 laptops coming soon, 17 of them will feature the low-profile power-efficient Max-Q design. Max-Q was introduced last generation as a way to pack high-end GPUs into ultra-thin laptops with little compromise in terms of overall performance.

Screenshot from Nvidia’s CES 2019 presentation.

Not only do the RTX video cards offer better overall performance from the previous GTX 10-series generation, they’re also capable of real-time ray tracing and DLSS. The RTX GPU architecture features RT Cores that specifically take care of ray tracing as to not impact overall performance. As a result, there are a few more active parts in these GPUs so temperatures and power consumption remain a key question.

In the same presentation, Nvidia introduced a new mid-range video to the line up with the RTX 2060; it’s said to perform on par with or better than the GTX 1070 Ti, and between 1.4 and 1.9 times better than the GTX 1060. It’ll launch on January 15 with prices starting at $350.

Desktop GPUs buyers will also get a free game (or two). Those who purchase the RTX 2060 or RTX 2070 can choose between Battlefield V and the upcoming game Anthem for free. If you buy the RTX 2080 or RTX 2080 Ti, you’ll get both games bundled.

For more coverage around the event, you can also check out CNET’s CES 2019 hub.

Do you feel lucky? If so, the PC game storefront Green Man Gaming has an intriguing proposition for you. It’s a promotion called Lucky Dip, in which you pay $1 / £1 to see just how lucky you are. Wagering that small sum gets you a random PC game from a pool of several dozen titles. Some of the games you’ve heard of, while others you likely haven’t. The game you receive is left up to chance. Even so, it’s a pretty good deal, seeing as most of the games sell for more than $10 on their own.

Some of the better-known titles on offer include Batman: Arkham Asylum GotY Edition, Injustice: Gods Among Us, Frozen Synapse Prime, Mount & Blade, Magicka, and Rage (which would be a good one to play before the arrival of its sequel). And while most of the games on the list are several years old–*ahem* F1 2015–you’re not exactly putting a lot at risk here.

One caveat is that you’re more likely to win some games than others. Stable Orbit, for instance, has the highest chance of appearing, at 5.24%. Black & White Bushido is the rarest game, with only a 0.07% chance. You can view the odds for all of the games below. The percentages aren’t based on popularity, though, so you have a good chance of getting some of the most well-known titles.

Since the games are given out randomly, there’s a chance you’ll get a game you already own or a duplicate if you play more than once. In either case, GMG is offering no refunds. If you get a game you already own or don’t want, you can visit this thread on the GMG forums to see if anyone wants to trade.

Nintendo has become known for developing games on its own dedicated hardware over the last 30 years, but that could eventually change. The company’s new president Shuntaro Furukawa stated in a recent interview that the company is open to changing its approach based on shifting technologies, even if that means no longer developing its own consoles.

“We aren’t really fixated on our consoles,” Furukawa told Nikkei (translated by Nintendo Everything). “At the moment we’re offering the uniquely developed Nintendo Switch and its software–and that’s what we’re basing how we deliver the ‘Nintendo experience’ on. That being said, technology changes. We’ll continue to think flexibly about how to deliver that experience as time goes on.

“It has been over 30 years since we started developing consoles. Nintendo’s history goes back even farther than that, and through all the struggles that they faced the only thing that they thought about was what to make next. In the long-term, perhaps our focus as a business could shift away from home consoles–flexibility is just as important as ingenuity.”

As for how he plans to address the changing landscape, Furukawa said that he’d like to increase their mobile output, as well as continue to pursue some licensing agreements with its characters.

“I’m thinking about little ways we can reduce that kind of instability,” he said. “I’d like to increase the (amount of) games on smartphones that have a continuous stream of revenue. We’re also dabbling in theme parks and movies–different ways to have our characters be a part of everyday life. I’m anticipating a strong synergy like that.”

None of this suggests the Nintendo Switch will necessarily be the company’s last (or even second- or third-to-last) home console. The speculation seems to have been hypothetical and mostly about how he intends for the company to stay flexible. As long as home consoles are doing well for Nintendo’s bottom line, it will probably continue making them. But it does mean there could be a day when one of the longest-running console manufacturers gets out of the game.

Last year, Furukawa made headlines just after being named Nintendo’s new president when he suggested the company was considering “various possibilities” regarding a 3DS successor. At the time, he also commented that he planned to make smartphones “a pillar of [our] income.”

FoxNext Games, D3 Go, and Rival Games have announced Alien: Blackout, a game set in the much-loved science fiction world of Alien. Blackout is a mobile game that casts players as Amanda Ripley, daughter of Ellen Ripley.

While her mother was the protagonist of the four main entries in the Alien movie franchise, Amanda’s character has been explored primarily through video games, most notably 2014’s Alien: Isolation. In Blackout, Amanda once again finds herself on a Weyland-Yutani space station infested with aliens and must fight to survive.

“The terror of Alien is brought to life in Alien: Blackout,” reads D3 Go’s website. “Try to stay alive while trapped aboard a crippled Weyland-Yutani space station carrying a deadly Xenomorph as it tirelessly hunts you and the crew.

“Outsmart the perfect hunter by making perilous choices. Players must rely on the damaged controls of the space station or risk sacrificing crew members to avoid deadly contact, permanently altering the outcome of the game.”

Players will be tasked with surviving seven levels by guiding Ripley’s crew through “increasingly challenging tasks using only the station’s emergency system.” Contending with limited power supply, survival will require players to effectively operate a holographic map, surveillance cameras, and motion trackers to stay hidden and out of the Xenomorph’s clutches.

D3 Go describes Blackout as “an immersive and captivating Alien experience, perfectly designed for mobile gaming. It continues: “Every decision can lead to a different conclusion. Players can test different strategies and theories to outlast the Xenomorph in pursuit of victory.”

As of yet, a release date and prices for Alien: Blackout have not been announced. It is set to launch for iOS and Android devices.

D3 Go is known for the Puzzle Quest series of mobile games, having developed games based on the Marvel and Magic: The Gathering licenses. Rival Games, meanwhile, developed narrative-driven game Thief of Thieves, which is based on the comic by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman.

A new Alien game was first confirmed in January, 2018, with 20th Century Fox filing a trademark application for Alien: Blackout in November that year. However, a second Alien game–reportedly a shooter–is also in development at San Francisco-based Cold Iron Studios. Little is known about that project beyond the genre.