Month: June 2019

Next-generation consoles from Sony and Microsoft are on the way, and Bethesda boss Todd Howard has apparently seen them. That’s no surprise given both of Bethesda’s big upcoming games, Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI, are expected to launch on the new consoles. Howard has now offered some high-level thoughts on what to expect.

Speaking to IGN, Howard said, “They’re all … [pause] … How to not break NDAs? They are doing the right things.”

Throughout the entire interview, Howard spoke slowly and carefully as he seemed to run through his head what is public knowledge about the consoles and what hasn’t been revealed yet.

Whatever the case, Howard said he is “absolutely” confident about the direction the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft are headed.

“One of the big benefits of my position is I get to see stuff really early. I was one of the first people ever to see the Switch; that was one of the best hardware demos I have ever seen,” Howard said. “The things [Sony and Microsoft are] doing are, in my mind–no one is screwing up at the starting line which some people have done before.”

Pressed for more details, Howard mentioned the vastly improved loading times on the PlayStation 5 that system architect Mark Cenry previously revealed (see the faster load times here). Overall, Howard said both Sony and Microsoft are “focused on the right things.” Whatever those things are, they are suited to the kinds of games that Bethesda is making.

“Everybody is focused on the right things, and in particular, it helps the kind of games that we make tremendously,” he said. “Everybody has learned their lessons in some good ways and some hard ways. And they are very very thoughtful about their audience and the developers. My view of it is it’s going to be awesome across the board. Not just the systems but the business models.”

In regards to business models, Howard said the video game industry is finally growing and evolving and adapting to provide consumers with a variety of choices.

“Gaming is finally reaching the point that linear entertainment is,” Howard said. “Movies, television, all that, where you’re going to have games that are big tentpoles that people can buy for $60. That’s kind of like going to the theater. You’re going to have games you can play on a subscription service, you’re going to have ones you can download on your phone, you’re going to have ones you can play and they’re maybe ad-supported. I think that’s really, really healthy for the industry; obviously the players who want to consume it, but [also] the developers who say ‘I just want to make an adventure game for this budget.’ There’s an audience for that. My worry before was hey, will all of that go away?”

Howard further backed up his point by mentioning that traditional linear TV was generally overrun with lousy reality TV shows before streaming networks like Netflix and others came along and demonstrated that there could be a much bigger diversity in terms of the breadth and depth of content. Basically, something for everyone exists today in TVs and movies, and the same is now, finally, happening for games, Howard said.

Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI are not coming to E3 2019, but Bethesda still has a press conference scheduled for less than a week from now on June 9 where it will talk about other things.

As mentioned, Sony has already started talking about the PlayStation 5, while Microsoft is expected to formally announce one or two next-generation Xbox consoles during its own E3 2019 briefing.

In other news, Howard recently discussed how Bethesda always thought Fallout 76 would have a tough launch and receive lower review scores.

It appears one of Assassin’s Creed publisher Ubisoft’s big E3 2019 surprises has leaked ahead of the show. Amazon UK posted a product page for Watch Dogs Legion, which is apparently set in London. The listing was originally spotted by and reported on by The Nerd Mag. The game’s supposed product description states that the game will riff on current events.

“Watch Dogs Legion is set in a near-future, dystopian version of London. It’s a post-Brexit world in which society, politics, and technology have changed and altered London’s fortunes,” it says.

The product description then gets a little odd and potentially suspect. It states, “London makes total sense for WD,” which is a kind of phrasing we wouldn’t expect from a major publisher. Additionally, the product description spells the world surveillance as “surveillce.”

Something might be off with the product description, but the London setting had been rumored for many months already, while Kotaku’s Jason Schreier reported today that Watch Dogs Legion is indeed the title of the game and London is its setting.

Perhaps the most interesting part of Watch Dogs Legion is who the main character is: anyone. The product description states, “Play as anyone, Every individual you meet in the open world, has a full set of animations, voice over, character traits and visuals that are generated & guided by gameplay systems.”

Kotaku reports that it’s also heard this about Watch Dogs 3, and that some parts of the game will play out different based on the NPC you choose to play. The system underpinning this is apparently very ambitious, so much so that it’s led to at least one delay.

The first Watch Dogs was set in Chicago, with Watch Dogs 2 moving to San Francisco.

Watch Dogs Legion is not the first Ubisoft game to leak before E3 this year. Recently, a roller derby game called Roller Champions is also reportedly set for a reveal at Ubisoft’s show.

Watch Dogs Legion and Roller Champions could be two of Ubisoft’s three unannounced games scheduled to release between January and March 2020. Ubisoft didn’t confirm any details for what the three games are, other than all three would be full-priced releases and all be different genres (a specific phrase used was “unique experiences”).

There is no word yet as to when specifically Watch Dogs Legion will release or what platforms it’ll be on. A spokesperson for Ubisoft told GameSpot that the company does not comment on rumors.

Since Pokemon Go‘s first Legendary Lunch Hour back in March, Niantic has experimented with hosting hour-long Raid events at different times of the day, and now more are coming this month. The developer has announced it is holding a Legendary Raid Hour each week in June, giving players more chances to participate in Raid Battles and catch Legendary Pokemon.

The Legendary Raid Hour will take place every Wednesday this month from 6-7 PM local time. During that time, five-star Raids featuring the game’s current Legendary Pokemon will occur more often than usual. Niantic recently announced it will bring three Legendaries back over the next few weeks, and you’ll have extra chances to catch two of these thanks to the Legendary Raid Hours.

The Psychic-type Cresselia is the current Legendary Pokemon; it’ll be available until June 18. From June 18-27, the Water-type Kyogre will return to Raids, and from June 27 to July 10, its counterpart Groudon will make an encore appearance. This time around, players will also have a chance to encounter Shiny versions of each Legendary Pokemon when they return to Raids. You can read more details on the Pokemon Go website.

Shortly after this month’s first Legendary Raid Hour, Niantic will be holding Pokemon Go’s next Community Day on Saturday, June 8. The featured Pokemon this month will be Slakoth, the adorable sloth from Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire. If you can evolve it into its final form, Slaking, up to an hour after the Community Day ends, it’ll learn an event-exclusive move. On top of that, Eggs will hatch at a quarter of their usual distance during this month’s Community Day.

The Pokemon Go Adventure Week event is also returning soon. From June 4-11, more Rock Pokemon such as Geodude, Rhyhorn, Omanyte, and Aron will spawn in the wild, and Rock-types like Onix will appear as Raid bosses. Players will also have a chance of finding Shiny versions of Onix, Lileep, and Anorith, as well as earning extra Candy and XP during the event.

Daniel Craig is playing James Bond for a fifth and presumably final time with 2020’s James Bond 25, but who will take over once Craig says goodbye?

A number of names have been mentioned, one of which is Thor actor Chris Hemsworth. Speaking to Variety, Hemsworth said he’s open to the idea of playing the super-spy in a future movie. He also likes another actor for the role: Idris Elba.

“My vote would be Idris [Elba],” he said. “I think he’d give it a different sort of swagger, too, and each time someone new comes into the role, I think you’ve got to offer up something different.”

In 2016, Elba said he thought he was “too old” to play James Bond, also stating that no one from the production team had approached him. But in 2018, Training Day director Antoine Fuqua said he spoke with Bond series producer Barbara Broccoli about the possibility of a non-white actor playing 007. Broccoli told him that “it is time” for a more progressive casting decision, and that it “will happen eventually.” Fuqua also said Elba was a frontrunner for the role. “Idris could do it if he was in shape,” Fuqua said. “You need a guy with physically strong presence. Idris has that.”

Other actors besides Hemsworth and Elba whose names have come up in the discussion about playing Bond after Craig include Tom Hiddleston and Richard Madden.

James Bond 25, or whatever it ends up being called, hits theatres in April 2020. Craig recently suffered an ankle injury and needed surgery to repair it. Despite that, the movie is not delayed.

In addition to Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, and Lea Seydoux will all reprise their roles for the 25th James Bond movie. Jeffrey Wright and Ben Whishaw also return.

Actors new to the series for Bond 25 include Rami Malek, Billy Magnussen, Ana De Armas, David Dencik, Lashana Lynch, and Dali Benssalah. Malek will seemingly play the film’s villain, as he said he’s looking forward to make sure “Bond does not have an easy ride.”

Bond 25’s story begins with Bond no longer on active service but instead enjoying himself in Jamaica. “His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help,” reads a lin efrom the description. “The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.”

The movie was initially going to be directed by Danny Boyle, but he left due to “creative differences.” True Detective’s Cary Fukunaga replaced Boyle before the film was delayed first from October 2019 to February 2020 and then again to April 3, 2020.

Sarah Schachner will return to the Call of Duty series to do the music for this year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare reboot. Schachner said on Twitter that she “couldn’t be more thankful” to work on the game, and contribute again to the Call of Duty series.

Schachner also did the music for Infinity Ward’s 2016 game Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Outside of the Call of Duty series, she also scored Assassin’s Creed Origins and Anthem. She’s also contributed to huge movies like Iron Man 3 and The Expendables 2.

It’s not a continuation of the Modern Warfare trilogy but rather a reboot of sorts of the 2007 game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Captain Price is back as a main character, with some of the storylines involving Russia and the Middle East.

“The world we live in right now is more complex than the world was in 2007, or 2009, or even 2011,” narrative director Taylor Kurosaki said. “Even now the world that we live in, the battlefield is less defined than it’s ever been, and because it’s less defined and because enemies no longer really wear uniforms a lot of the time, that means that civilian collateral damage is a greater part of the equation more so now than it’s ever been.”

“So what does that mean? It means we’re creating circumstances where, as storytellers, we are taking these characters, and we are putting them into complex situations with a lot of pressure on them, and how they respond to that pressure reveals their true nature.”

In other news, it’s been confirmed that the new Modern Warfare supports cross-play and that it will not have a season pass. For lots more, check out the story linked below.

Disney has released a new TV spot for The Lion King, and this one for the first trailer showcases Beyonce’s character, Nala. The spot is called “Come Home,” and it covers the sequence in the movie where Nala convinces Simba (Donald Glover) to return home to save Pride Rock.

“Simba, you have to take your place as king. We need you. Come home.”

In addition to teasing out some of the drama when Simba returns home, the new trailer briefly teases the playful and silly comedic duo of Timon and Pumbaa, who are voiced by Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen respectively.

This new spot for The Lion King follows the release of lots of character posters that Disney put out last week. You can see the posters in the gallery below; click through to see them all.

The Lion King opens in theatres on July 19. It is directed by Jon Favreau with a script from Jeff Nathanson, who previously wrote the Steven Spielberg movie Catch Me If You Can starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

James Earl Jones returns in The Lion King as Mufasa, while Chiwetel Ejiofor voices Scar.