Month: August 2019

It is officially Madden season, as Madden NFL 20 launches today for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The game was already available on EA Access and through premium versions, but the game’s official release date is August 2, seemingly timed with the first NFL pre-season game between the Falcons and Broncos on August 1.

To help you get an idea for if Madden NFL 20 is worth your time and money, we’re collecting review scores and excerpts from a variety of outlets to give you an at-a-glance idea if you want to pick it up or not.

Here at GameSpot, I scored Madden NFL 20 an 8/10. The new QB1 story mode generally felt like a disappointment to me, while I particularly enjoyed the new X-Factor and Superstar abilities that shake up the franchise’s familiar formula in new and exciting ways.

You can see a roundup of review scores and excerpts from other publications across the internet below. You can also visit GameSpot sister site Metacritic to see a wider look at the critical reaction to Madden NFL 20.

Madden NFL 20

• Game: Madden NFL 20
• Platform: PS4, Xbox One, PC
• Developer: EA Sports
• Release date: August 2
• Price: $60 / £60 / $100 AUD

GameSpot — 8/10

“When it comes to the on-the-field action … the new X-Factor and Superstar abilities shake up the familiar gameplay formula to give seasoned players and newcomers alike a fresh way to scheme plays and orchestrate strategy on both sides of the ball.” — Eddie Makuch [Full review]

Shacknews — 4/10

“Once the crown jewel of the EA Sports catalog, Madden NFL 20 seemingly revels in its reputation as recycled garbage and belongs in a bin.” — Chris Jarrard [Full review]

IGN — 8.1/10

“In addition to the usual incremental graphics upgrade and respectable new story campaign, Madden NFL 20 meaningfully improves on a lot of the issues that plagued the previous iteration(s). The running game is noticeably smoother and X-Factor traits make superstar players actually feel like a force to be reckoned with on the field, and while there are still problems that linger with animations, it’s safe to say that EA Tiburon is making large strides in the right direction.” — Robert Kollars [Full review]

GamesRadar — 4/5

“Collectively, it feels like Madden is in the early stages of re-building a perennial contender. Like drafting a left tackle with the first overall pick, the changes to Madden 20 aren’t flashy, but they feel like the right moves to make in order to compete for years to come.” — Mark Delaney [Full review]

SportingNews — 4/5

“Whether it’s the X-Factors, new Face of the Franchise mode, or even signature player animations, ‘Madden NFL 20’ feels more true to life than ever before. The lack of advancement in core areas such as presentation and Franchise Mode, however, hold this edition back from being the complete package.” — Bryan Wiedey [Full review]

GameRevolution — 3/5

“The new Face of the Franchise mode is totally underwhelming and fails to tell a meaningful story and the X-Factor abilities are helpful for newcomers but don’t really change how a solid player would play the game any. These changes are all a positive for long-term but it lacks any selling point and has launched in a frustrating state that undermines the solid football mechanics that EA has refined over the past several decades.” — Tyler Treese [Full review]

Metro Game Central — 7/10

“The casual fan will find plenty to enjoy but diehards will see Madden 20 as just another facelift to a franchise that knows how to succeed but struggles to innovate.” — Jay Jaffa [Full review]

Be sure to visit IGN Tech for all the latest comprehensive reviews and best-of roundups. Note that if you click on one of these links to buy the product, IGN may get a share of the sale. For more, read our Terms of Use.When it comes to storing all the stuff on your gaming PC, you have two options: cheap, slow, and spacious hard drives (HDD) or more expensive yet much faster (and lower capacity) solid-state drives (SSDs). A good SSD makes everything you do on your PC feel snappy. Programs pop right open. Files copy in seconds. Perhaps most importantly, your games will load faster, allowing them to run smoother with fewer hitches and hiccups.

Shopping for the best SSD can be a bit intimidating with so many drives operating at different speeds, at all sorts of capacities, and a variety of form factors. Don’t fret though, I’ve done the research for you and created this handy list of the best solid-state drives on the market. From budget options to speed up your laptop to the highest performance NVMe drives that will turbocharge your gaming PC, here are the best SSDs you can buy.

TL;DR – These are the Best SSDs:

1. Samsung 860 EVO

Best SSD

The Samsung 860 EVO is the best SSD you can buy as it offers solid transfer speeds and reliability at an affordable price. It’s the perfect example of how cheap solid-state storage has become over the years as the 1TB version costs just $150. Better yet, the Samsung 860 EVO offers nearly the fastest transfer speeds (up to 550MB/s reads and 520MB/s writes) possible on a SATA III interface.

2. Crucial MX500

Best Budget SSD

Crucial gives you a lot of bang for the buck with the MX500. Don’t be fooled by other inexpensive drives with slightly faster transfer speeds – in real-world testing, the MX500 consistently outperforms them, with performance just a little bit slower than drives that cost considerably more. The Crucial MX500 is also well regarded in the SSD world as being one of the most reliable storage drives you can buy.

4. WD Black SN750

Best Gaming SSD

Introduced at the start of the year, the WD Black SN750 is still one of the best-performing NVMe SSDs and was partially responsible for all the cheap, super-fast storage we have today. See whereas you can get an 1TB WD Black SN750 for just $250, the 1TB Samsung 970 Evo launched eight months earlier for $450. Aside from being one of the first truly affordable NVMe SSDs, the WD Black SN750 delivers some of the fastest data transfer speeds on par with Samsung’s flagship solid-state drives, the 970 Pro.

5. Adata XPG SX6000Pro

Best SSD Boot Drive

Although the Adata XPG SX6000Pro is an NVMe SSD, it’s just as affordable as a bargain SATA drive. Seriously, a 512GB Adata XPG SX6000Pro and 500GB Samsung 860 EVO cost nearly the same at around $60. As if saving all that dough wasn’t great already, you’ll also be able to enjoy up to 2,100MB/s sequential read and 1,500MB/s sequential write speeds – which is about three-to-two times faster than any SATA SSD.

6. Samsung 970 Evo Plus

Best NVMe SSD

While the WD Black SN750 has earned the title of the best gaming SSD, Samsung has retained the crown for the best NVMe SSD with the Samsung 970 Evo Plus. You won’t find another storage drive faster than this and that’s even including the company’s own flagship Samsung 970 Pro. Beyond gaming, this drive is perfect for tasks that demand an uninterrupted stream of data like 4K video editing, working with the highest-resolution RAW images, and real-time 3D rendering.

7. Corsair Force Series MP510

Best M.2 SSD

Remember when I said that the WD Black SN750 was partially responsible for driving down the cost of NVMe SSDs? Well, the Corsair Force Series MP510 another equally affordable NVMe SSD option. Just look at this 2TB drive that costs only $319. Getting the same storage capacity with a Samsung 970 Evo would cost significantly more. This huge Corsair NVMe drive also offers screaming fast speeds – albeit, not the fastest – up to 3,480MB/s sequential reads and 2,700MB/s sequential write speeds.

8. Gigabyte Aorus NVMe Gen4 SSD

Best PCIe 4.0 SSD

Thanks to AMD Ryzen 3rd Generation processors and X570 motherboards, PCIe 4.0 is finally here and it has made even faster NVMe SSDs possible. The Gigabyte Aorus NVMe Gen4 SSD is one of the total three PCIe 4.0 SSDs on the market and it offers the fastest speeds with 5,000MB/s sequential reads and 4,400MB/s sequential writes. This blisteringly fast SSD also comes equipped with its own heatsink and is priced at a surprisingly affordable $260 for a drive with 1TB in capacity.

8. Intel Optane 905P

Best PCIe 3.0 SSD

This is the best performing SSD going right now, and it’s even got the glowing blue LED lights to prove it. Intel’s Optane line uses super low-latency ‘3D XPoint memory’ that’s in an entirely different solar system when compared to NAND flash. Think of it as storage that operates more like DRAM, though – not quite as fast as – and that’s 3D XPoint. If you’re thinking, ‘That sounds expensive,’ it is! The 960GB module you see above costs about $1,300, so this is for those with deep pockets only.

9. Samsung 860 QVO

Best SATA SSD

Samsung surprised us a bit when it introduced a third-line of mainstream SSDs, but this one is particularly catered to those on a budget and looking for globs of storage space. With prices starting at around $100 for a 1TB drive and capacities up to 4TB for roughly $550, this a great option for users looking to completely move off of hard drives.

10. Samsung X5 Portable SSD

Best External SSD

The best SSDs aren’t just the ones that go in your PC anymore, there is also a growing segment of portable drives that offer just as much speed and performance. Meet the Samsung X5 Portable SSD, it’s essentially a portable NVMe drive that connects over Thunderbolt 3 to give you 2,800MB/s sequential read and 2,300MB/s sequential write speeds. This is the perfect solution for giving content creation and gaming laptops an extra jolt of external storage that operates almost as quickly their internal SSD.

What to Look in for an SSD?

Below I break down the various form factors and types of connectors most solid-state drives use.

Before you buy, you need to know what kind of SSD you want. Newer motherboards have sockets for M.2 drives, which are long, flat sticks of storage that lie flat against the motherboard. If you don’t have that in your system, you can buy a 2.5-inch drive that uses power and data cables just like an HDD.

Now things get a bit more varied once we start talking about connectors. For starters, M.2 drives might utilize a PCI Express- or Serial ATA (SATA)-based interface. The former delivers incredibly high transfer speeds up to 4,000MB/s, meanwhile, SATA is limited to a maximum 600MB/s speed. 2.5-inch drives are the other form of solid-state storage you’ll find and they mostly utilize a SATA connection.

SSDs have only gotten cheaper and faster in recent years

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The next major thing you should know about is ‘NVMe’ and it stands for the Non-Volatile Memory Express technology. That’s a mouthful, but it’s basically a communications standard, which allows SSDs connected over PCI Express to operate more like fast memory than storage.

M.2 drives aren’t the only type of drives that can tap into this wickedly fast PCIe NVMe connection. For example, there are solid-state drives like the Intel Optane 905P that connect directly into the PCIe slot on motherboards. Alternatively, you may also find some 2.5-inch drives that utilize a U.2 connection and operate just as fast as the best NVMe SSDs, though, these are becoming increasingly rare.

That’s everything you need to know about SSDs for now and there has never been a better time to ever buy one. The SSD market is so vibrant right now with manufacturers topping each other with increasingly faster and cheaper SSDs

Whereas $500 used to buy you a 128GB or 120GB SSD with, at best, 500MB/s transfer speeds, you can now buy a 4TB Samsung 860 QVO for roughly the same amount of money and kiss hard drives goodbye forever. Alternatively, cheap and fast SSDs like the WD Blue SN500 and Adata XPG SX6000Pro allow anyone building a new PC to use an NVMe SSD as their main drive

Kevin Lee is IGN’s Hardware and Roundups Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam

So, you’ve got the perfect PC gaming setup with a huge monitor, tunable gaming mouse, RGB gaming keyboard, and of course a gaming PC with more cores than an apple farm. As you sit at your throne, you look to your side and your mouse is sitting on top of an old magazine. Don’t…don’t be that person. The best mousepads for gaming are a huge step up from whatever substitute you’re using right now. While it’s probably one of the least expensive components in your gaming setup, it’s worth investing in a quality mousepad. Your aim will improve, and so will your K/D ratio.Plus, if you’re into RGB, there are a bunch of mousepads these days that can sync their lighting with your keyboard and mouse (assuming they’re all from the same brand), making for a rather slick desktop light show. There are all kinds of mats for your mouse, ranging from old-school cloth pads to high-end “mousing surfaces,” and even ones that can charge your smartphone. Though opinions may vary on a topic like this, here are my picks for the best mousepads you can buy today.

TL; DR – These are the Best Gaming Mousepads:

Best Gaming Mousepad – Corsair MM600

Not only is the Corsair MM600 a stylish mousepad, it’s extremely functional regardless of your play style. There’s an aluminum core inside to make the surface extra sturdy while the four rubberized corners keep it from sliding all over your desk too. Most importantly, the MM600 offers dual textured finishes, with a low-friction finish on one side for fast mouse gliding, and a textured finish side for improved accuracy. There aren’t any lights or anything fancy; it’s just a solid, well-made mousepad that will work with any type of game. It’s a little bit on the pricey side, but you’re investing in a mousepad that will last for years.

Best Budget Mousepad – SteelSeries QCK Medium

SteelSeries QCK mousepad is made of cloth, so it’s pretty traditional as far as mousepads go while also being very cheap. For just $10, this is a very effective mousepad, making it a stellar deal for anyone just getting into PC gaming. The surface is smooth for mice to easily glide over, which is perfect for twitchy games, and the underside of the mat is rubberized, so it’ll never move around on your desk. The rather small SteelSeries logo in the corner is also a nice touch, given some companies’ propensity for splashing huge logos all over everything.

Best Dual-Sided Mousepad — Razer Vespula V2

Most mousepads either offer a hard or cloth finish, but Razer Vespula V2 gives you both for a fairly reasonable price. If you find yourself playing a variety of games, this dual-sided mouse pad might make sense. The hard surface offers a slick surface for the quickest mouse movements, meanwhile, the side lined with cloth is better suited for games that demand precision. No matter which side you pick, you’ll be able to game in comfort thanks to the Razer Vespula V2’s included memory foam wrist pad.

Best Cloth Mousepad — Cooler Master MP510

The SteelSeries QCK is a great, cheap mousepad and all, but if you want the best cloth mousepad, you should be looking at the Cooler Master MP510. Instead of being just a square piece of fabric, the Cooler Master MP510 is a genuine ‘pad’ that feels plush, but isn’t thick enough to obstruct the rest of your PC gaming desk setup. It’s also woven from cordura fabric – the same material you’ll find in water-resistant bags and jackets – so spilled drinks won’t seep into the mousepad and permanently leave a stain.

Best Hard Mousepad – Logitech G440

Gamers who prefer a lower-profile, smoother mousepad should invest in a hard mousepad and there’s nothing better than the Logitech G440. This plastic mat offers users a seamless, minimally tactile surface that’s all about speed, which makes it perfect for real-time strategy and arena battle games that demand you move your cursor from one side of the screen to the other at a moment’s notice.

Best Metal Mousepad – Roccat Alumic

I’ve just talked about hard mouse pads, but the Roccat Alumic is an extra hard mousepad made of aluminum. Metal mousepads might not make much sense at first, but they give you a truly flat play surface, whereas cloth and even some hard mouse pads might conform to defects in your desk. The Roccat Alumic also features two different textured sides with a super smooth surface for fast, sweeping movement and a more granular side for slower, precise adjustments.

Best Flat Mousepad — Razer Sphex V2

If you’re looking for something truly unobtrusive (and unique), look no further than the Razer Sphex V2. Instead of just being a mousepad that rests on your desk, it’s basically a thin plastic sheet that sticks to your desk. You actually adhere it to your play space, so it becomes a part of your desk’s surface. The adhesive is reusable too, so you can move the Sphex V2 around whenever you want. Meanwhile, the ultra-thin polycarbonate surface offers a smooth finish for speedy mouse movements. It’s a bit expensive, but it’s also pretty unique.

Best “Desk Pad” Mousepad – Asus ROG Scabbard

Sometimes a simple pad for your mouse just isn’t enough. You want a mousepad that can sit under your mouse, your keyboard, and the space in-between too. The Asus ROG Scabbard is essentially a yoga mat for PC gaming that’s designed to cover your whole desk and it lets you move your mouse wherever the heck you want. At the same time, having a soft pad cover most of your desk makes it look pretty swanky and comfortable. The surface has a smooth finish to promote fast mouse gliding and there’s a non-slip surface underneath, so it’ll never move around on your desk. It also features Cordura Lite fabric – similar to the Cooler Master MP510 – so you can worry less about spills and stains.

Best RGB Mousepad — Corsair MM800 RGB Polaris

Praise Gaben, RGB lighting has finally come to mousepads, and the Corsair MM800 is my top pick for a light up mousepad. It offers a hard surface with great accuracy for quick swipes and precise smaller movements. Under the hood, this mousepad packs an astonishing 15 LED zones, all of which are customizable to your liking through Corsair’s CUE software. And while you’ll add another cable to your desk in order to plug the MM800 into the PC, it also features a USB pass-through, so you can plug a wired mouse or wireless headset dongle directly into the pad.

Best Wireless Charging Mousepad — Corsair MM1000

There’s a very real possibility you have a phone on your desk, or at least nearby, while you work. Wouldn’t it be great if you could just plop it down and let it charge without messing with a charging cable? The MM1000 mousepad from Corsair has your back. It features a Qi wireless charging pad built right in, and it’s located at the top corner of this somewhat large mousepad, so you don’t have to worry about bumping into it. It also comes with a bunch of USB and Lighting adapters, so you can charge anything wirelessly, as if by magic.

What to Look for in a Gaming Mousepad

Below I’ve broken down the various surface types most gaming mousepads feature as well as some of the materials they’re usually made of.

Shopping for the best gaming mouse pad might seem as simple as finding one that looks good to you and will fit in with your gaming setup, but there’s more to these mousepads than you would think. For starters, you’ll usually find that mousepads will have either a smooth or rough surface, and these different types of textures cater to certain styles of play.

You’ll find that most mousepads made of cloth are a bit resistant and make it harder to quickly whip your mouse around. The main reason you’d want to slow down and limit your mouse movements is for better control in shooter-style games or other tasks that requires precision. Outside of mousepads made of fabric, you can also get same experience from a hard mousepad with a grainy or coarse texture.

On the flipside, most hard mousepads are designed to have a slick surface that makes it feel like your mouse is gliding on ice. The idea behind these low-tack surfaces is to make it easier for gamers to move their cursor from one side of the screen to the other as quickly and easily as possible, which comes in handy for real-time strategy games. All hard mousepads aren’t necessarily restricted to just having a slick surface either. Some manufacturers will also glue on a sheet of fabric or speckle the surface so it’s grainy like sand to give users play space better suited for control.

As for what materials mousepads are made of, it’s pretty straight forward. Cloth mousepads are made of…well, cloth. Hard mousepads, for the most part, are made of plastic, and usually of the polyethylene variety. Some manufacturers also make mousepads out of metal, which helps make them extra sturdy and unquestionably flat. Alternatively, you might find other wilder options like tempered glass and acrylic.

And that’s everything you need to know about finding the best mousepad. Ultimately, getting any of these mousepads is better than not having one at all, but think hard about the types of games you want to play before you make your final decision.

Kevin Lee is IGN’s Hardware and Roundups Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam

While Eteon — the shadowy agency out to “improve” humanity by upgrading people with machinery — still remains a threat at the end of Hobbs & Shaw, at least their super-powered agent Brixton Lore (Idris Elba) is dead.After defeating Brixton by finally setting aside their differences and working together — OK, and with help from Hattie Shaw (Vanessa Kirby) and the Hobbs brothers — Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) save the world and part as friends. End of story, right?

Nope! Turns out there are three post-credits scenes in Hobbs & Shaw.

The first is a mid-credits scene that involves CIA operative Locke (Ryan Reynolds), an old acquaintance of Hobbs’ who pops up at a few points earlier in the film. Locke calls Hobbs to reveal that while they have the Snowflake Virus secured, there’s now another, even deadlier virus out there that he needs them to locate.

Where the Snowflake Virus would destroy your insides, this one will melt away your outsides like “a silk kimono in a hurricane.”

Hobbs & Shaw Gallery

Unfortunately, it turns out Locke has mistaken the voice on the other end of the line for Luke when it’s actually Hobbs’ daughter, Sam (Eliana Sua). We then see Hobbs, who appears to be waiting outside his daughter’s school, get on the phone with Locke.

The second mid-credits scene finds Shaw at a pub in London. He gets a call from Hobbs, who’s working out. The police are outside the pub and are there to bring in Shaw thanks to Hobbs.

Hobbs’ prank is payback for what Shaw pulled on him at the airport earlier in the film. They might be pals now but that doesn’t mean they have to stop placing each other in jeopardy of receiving a full body cavity search.

The final scene is a post-credits one that cuts back to Locke after his initial call to Hobbs. We first see a hallway full of fallen Eteon goons and then, framed in a doorway, Locke killing one of them in an office.

A blooded and exhausted Locke calls Hobbs to ask for help extracting him as he’s been badly stabbed — oh wait, no, that’s not his blood. It’s the blood of an Eteon agent he killed — stabbed with a brick to be precise, which he says is easier than he thought, paying off a joke he made earlier in the film.

While it could be a big misdirect, it certainly seems like Locke is probably the mystery villain of the film, the Director of big bad secret organization Eteon who is only ever heard as a distorted voice. The Director previously said they have a past with Hobbs and the vocal disguise drops out enough a few times to hint at a voice closer to Ryan Reynolds’ timbre.

Also, the framing of both of Locke’s end credits scenes suggest all is not what it seems as we never see any of the slain agents actually fighting Locke. Maybe he’s another enhanced human like Idris Elba’s Brixton Lore was?

We shall find out for certain if and when Hobbs & Shaw get fast & furious again in their next adventure.

For more on Hobbs & Shaw, check out our review, what the gang had to tell us about the film’s surprise celeb cameos, find out what the cast had to tell us, and catch up on the title characters’ story so far!

Hobbs & Shaw, the first spin-off in the Fast and the Furious franchise, features two notable cameos by a pair of movie stars: Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart!Both actors have previously worked with some of the creatives behind Hobbs & Shaw. Helmer David Leitch directed Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool 2, while Kevin Hart has appeared in several films opposite Hobbs star-producer Dwayne Johnson (two Jumanji movies and Central Intelligence).

Reynolds plays CIA agent Locke, who knows Hobbs from way back when. Locke is part-comic relief and part-Basil Exposition. Reynolds pops up at a few points throughout the film, including in two of the three end credits scenes that may hint at him being more foe than friend. Reynolds’ scenes are definitely funny but those end credits scenes also suggest he’s not quite the fool he has so far seemed. He did stab a guy with a brick, after all!

Hart plays Dickley, an Air Marshal who encounters Hobbs and Shaw during their “incognito” escape flight overseas. Dickley claims to be a military vet whose connections and resources as an Air Marshal will come in handy for our titular duo (not that they seem to respect him that much). Unlike Reynolds’ Locke, there’s no suggestions that Dickley is or will be anything other than comic relief.

Hobbs & Shaw Gallery

IGN recently chatted with stars Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, as well as director David Leitch and producer Hiram Garcia, about these two celebrity cameos.

Johnson actually coyly outed their cameos when we asked him a question designed to be non-spoilerish who he’d love to see be in the inevitable sequel.

“I’d love to see Ryan Reynolds come in to the next Hobbs and Shaw. I think he would be a great team member. I’d love to see Kevin Hart come into the next Hobbs and Shaw,” Johnson chuckled.

He added, “The goal in this one was to set up what the future teams would look like. And who I felt people would find it really appealing to see Hobbs with and create this new unique team. I think, with the names that I mentioned and there’s another one who we’re working on, which is why we left it open at the end with who the voice was, the mysterious voice [of the Director of Eteon]. It was also important for Hobbs and Shaw to have its own identity from Fast and Furious with this unique stylistic action, comedy and in doing that, that will inform the actors who we bring in. So it all depends it the people love it and they love the movie, then we can start having these broader conversations about that actor and that actress, but we’ll see.”

Producer Hiram Garcia said “that when you make a movie like this, people are raising their hands, they want to be a part of it. I’ll never forget, I got a call, randomly. Kevin [Hart] kind of called me one day and he goes, ‘Hey brother, I’m just letting you know, whatever it is, I’m just ready to go.’ I said, ‘Say no more, say no more and we’ll make it happen.’ And Kevin was filming a stand-up special, he wrapped that night jumped straight on a plane, flew to London, got off the plane, shot his scenes, right back on the plane and back to work.”

As for Ryan Reynolds’ casting, Garcia cited Reynolds’ relationship working with David Leitch on Deadpool 2 as the impetus for his involvement in Hobbs & Shaw.

“Dave’s like, ‘Ryan, he wants to play, man.’ We were like, ‘Please let him come play.’ So Ryan, who’s incredible, he kind of crafted this scene and he does his dialogue so well,” Garcia explained. With both Reynolds and Hart, Garcia said “the scenes they did were so good that we went and reshot to add more scenes with them to round it out because the fans [at test screenings] loved it, we loved it and it really added just a special aspect to the film. So for us, we’re thrilled for fans to go into the theater, having no idea and you see Ryan and Kevin pop up, it’s pretty cool.”

Garcia added, “Our goal in spinning this off was in the shared universe where you want them all to be able to cross over. I think that’s the ultimate goal. It’s all part of the family so we like to joke and say you know, if you look at the Marvel world where they started with their spin-offs and then got to the Avengers, we just did it reverse. Our Avengers is Fast and Furious and now we’re starting to spin it off but the idea is that you’d love to see them all cross over. You’d love to see everyone step foot here and there and just make this big shared universe because ultimately, it’s all under the Fast and Furious umbrella and that’s a pretty special universe out there.”

For his part, Jason Statham told IGN his airplane scene with Kevin Hart was “an incredibly funny moment. And one of the hardest things is just to retain your composure. And I was just…I was struggling intensely for literally the whole day because this is a guy who comes with his own bag of tricks and you don’t know what he’s gonna say. And it’s not scripted. It’s scripted in his head. And it makes it the most difficult thing to try and retain your composure because you’re supposed to have this look of disdain for this guy and it’s quite the opposite, which is literally holding our sides.”

Statham added that “the favorite moments for me in this movie are the cameos. … The Fast universe is a big universe and I think this movie allows that to be the vision of what could come down the line.”

That doesn’t mean losing the elements that made the Fast & Furious franchise such a blockbuster success to begin with, something Statham — who, like Johnson, is also a producer on Hobbs & Shaw, seems well aware of as they attempt to broaden the franchise via this spin-off:

“I think we have to tread carefully and we have to give credence to the world that they come from, and respect to that world because they’re a passionate group of fans out there and they get very particular about their property. So we are respectful and we want to keep the DNA of Fast and Furious but we want to expand it and build it out.”

Unlike Johnson, Statham and Garcia, Leitch was far more tight-lipped about bringing Reynolds and Hart into the franchise’s ranks.

“It is a pretty amazing canon of actors and I think we’ve added to that list and there’s some other ones that you’ve mentioned that we don’t want to give names to yet,” Leitch said. Looking to existing members of the franchise who could cameo in a future Hobbs & Shaw sequel, Leitch said, “I think from the bigger family of Fast, it would be great to bring in Ludacris and Tyrese and have fun with those characters in this world. I hope that one day, the worlds can merge and that would be the goal.”

What did you think of Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart’s cameos in Hobbs & Shaw? Sound off in the comments below!

For more on Hobbs & Shaw, check out our review, our breakdown of the film’s ending and credits scenes, find out what the cast had to tell us, and catch up on the title characters’ story so far!

Halo: Reach is coming to Xbox One, but the wait for it just got longer. Developer 343 Industries has now confirmed that the first “flight,” or beta test, has been delayed.

In a blog post (via onmsft), 343 explained to fans that making games is hard. For Halo: Reach, which is part of the Master Chief Collection, the studio pointed out that the package comprises 7 games and 11 game engines that live “under the roof of one title [MCC]” while sharing the same hardware resources.

As for why Reach’s beta for Xbox One has been delayed, 343 said it comes down to how the studio is trying to use Unreal Engine 4 to run the new character customization options in the new progression system coming to MCC on Xbox One. In particular, the studio is running into issues related to memory constraints.

“This however has proved to be quite challenging as MCC was already close to memory limits running on the original Xbox One consoles,” 343 said. “Bringing the entire progression and customization system into MCC also requires memory to be used to run the additional UE4 engine. Currently, a lot of progress has been made in getting it up and running, but the title still is not within memory constraints to properly run on the Xbox One. In order to flight on Xbox One, we need to be within these limits, otherwise instability will be an issue.”

Reach’s release on Xbox One will remain delayed “until the team has an adequate solve for this unique issue.” 343 added that the studio is “pushing hard” to find a solution.

Reach’s first beta is currently available on PC, so players can go there to check out a first look at Reach within the Master Chief Collection.

Posting on Twitter, Halo community director Brian Jarrard said 343 shares in the frustration of fans as it relates to the launch of Halo: Reach in The Master Chief Collection. “We all want to get this into players’ hands as soon as possible. When it’s ready, it’s ready.”

In other Halo news, the next mainline instalment is Halo: Infinite. The game releases in holiday 2020 as a launch title for Project Scarlett.

The first trailer for Skyfall and American Beauty director Sam Mendes’ World War I movie 1917 has arrived. The movie follows the story of two British soldiers who are given a dangerous and important task of going behind enemy lines to deliver a message that could save numerous lives.

The young soldiers, Schofield and Blake, are played by George MacKay (Captain Fantastic) and Dean-Charles Chapman (Game of Thrones). Also appearing in the movie are Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Madden, Mark Strong, Colin Firth, and Andrew Scott.

Mendes wrote the script for 1917 alongside Krysty Wilson-Cairns (Penny Dreadful).

1917 opens Christmas Day this year in the United States. It’s just the latest World War I movie in recent years, as Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk was released in 2017.

An adaptation of Blake Harris’ 2014 book Console Wars–which tells the story of the battle between Nintendo and Sega in the ’90s–is headed to CBS All-Access where it’ll get a feature documentary and a TV series.

According to Deadline, the documentary is being directed by Harris and Jonah Tulis. Oscar-winner Doug Blush is producing. As announced previously, comedians Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are executively producing the documentary.

As for the TV show, which will be a limited series, Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts–who is also directing the upcoming Metal Gear Solid movie–is attached to direct. Mike Rosolio (American Vandal) is writing it.

The Console Wars book, “Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle That Defined a Generation,” centers on the story of former Sega executive Tom Kalinske, who led the company’s American division in the ’90s during its heyday, and helped launched the Sega Genesis that further accelerated Sega’s place in the gaming world. As its full title suggests, the book, which is based on numerous interviews, also goes into Sega’s battle against Nintendo for dominance in the gaming industry.

The companies were indeed rivals, with Sega putting out a commercial that proclaimed, “Genesis does what Nintendon’t.” Given all the behind-the-scenes business drama between Sega, Nintendo, and other companies, the Console Wars TV show seems like it has potential be a very intriguing show.

CBS is GameSpot’s parent company.

Video game retailer GameStop has suffered another setback, it seems, as the company has reportedly announced a “GameStop Reboot initiative” that is resulting in dozens of layoffs.

A memo announcing the move leaked on Twitter. It states that more than 50 “field leaders” are losing their jobs. Those affected include regional managers, district managers, loss prevention managers, and HR staff, according to the letter (via Gamasutra).

The memo states that GameStop is looking to “reduce our cost structure and build efficiencies into our field leadership organization so that we can reinvest in the business.”

It goes on to state: “These decisions are not easy, but necessary to help us reduce costs to enable revenue-driving initiatives that will help grow the business once again.”

GameStop did not respond to GameSpot’s request for comment, which was made outside of business hours.

Earlier this year, GameStop closed the ThinkGeek website, and folded that business into the wider GameStop umbrella. The company’s share price of $3.84 today is close to the lowest its been in the company’s history.

Recently, GameSpot spoke with GameStop’s chief customer officer, Frank Hamlin, who spoke about why the rise in popularity of digital games won’t kill the retailer.