Month: November 2019

Have you ever had that moment where you’re walking down the street and you pass someone who looks vaguely familiar, but it’s not until hours later that you realize you saw someone who’s actually somewhat famous? It sucks, doesn’t it? You feel downright foolish afterward. In order to avoid suffering such a terrible fate in Death Stranding, we’ve compiled all the celebrity cameos you’ll encounter in the game.

In the video above, we list all of the big names whose likeness was used for a character in Death Stranding and also showcase where and when in the game you’ll encounter them. Though we don’t go into story spoilers, be warned that the video does go into minor location and side-quest spoilers. If you’d rather discover all Death Stranding has to offer on your own, you may want to come back to this video after you see the credits roll. Don’t worry, we’ll still be here. We’re always here.

In GameSpot’s Death Stranding review, Kallie Plagge writes, “Death Stranding is a hard game to absorb. There are many intertwining threads to its plot, and silly names, corny moments, and heavy exposition belie an otherwise very simple message. That comes through much more clearly in the game’s more mundane moments, when you find a desperately-needed ladder left behind by another player or receive a letter from an NPC thanking you for your efforts. It’s positive without ignoring pain; in fact, it argues in both its story and its gameplay that adversity itself is what makes things worth doing and life worth living. It’s a game that requires patience, compassion, and love, and it’s also one we really need right now.”

Killing people in Death Stranding isn’t ideal, given that’s how you end up with BTs or far worse. But maybe you don’t care. Maybe you’re tired of being nice. Maybe, in a game all about forming connections, you want to let off a little steam and severe other people’s connection…to life. Well, there are lethal firearms in Death Stranding that can help you with that.

In the video above, Jake Dekker and Ben Janca talk through the process of acquiring lethal firearms, why you may or may not want to use them, and what upgrades you’re able to acquire for the weapons you unlock. Don’t worry, they avoid story spoilers, simply mentioning the name of chapters and locations you should be on the lookout for.

In Death Stranding, you can unlock a shotgun, pistol, and assault rifle (as well as grenades) for taking down enemies. You won’t get any of these lethal firearms until the end of Chapter 3/beginning of Chapter 4, so don’t bother looking in every nook and cranny throughout the first few hours of the campaign in search of a gun. You won’t find what you’re looking for. In fact, you should try to beeline it through Chapter 2 to get to Chapter 3 anyway.

In GameSpot’s Death Stranding review, Kallie Plagge writes, “Death Stranding is a hard game to absorb. There are many intertwining threads to its plot, and silly names, corny moments, and heavy exposition belie an otherwise very simple message. That comes through much more clearly in the game’s more mundane moments, when you find a desperately-needed ladder left behind by another player or receive a letter from an NPC thanking you for your efforts. It’s positive without ignoring pain; in fact, it argues in both its story and its gameplay that adversity itself is what makes things worth doing and life worth living. It’s a game that requires patience, compassion, and love, and it’s also one we really need right now.”

This episode of New Releases is all about exploring new worlds, whether its the Galar Region in Pokemon Sword & Shield, a whole galaxy in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, or the entire space-time continuum in Doctor Who: The Edge of Time. There’s also a pair of remastered games for those who missed out the first time around: turn-based RPG Romancing SaGa 3 and grand strategy title Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. There’s a ton of stuff for sci-fi and fantasy fans!

Romancing SaGa 3 — November 11

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch, Vita

Romancing SaGa 3 is releasing outside of Japan for the first time since its 1995 debut. This RPG has been gussied up with better graphics, an extra dungeon, more story content, and a New Game Plus mode. You can choose from one of eight protagonists and start saving the world on the original game’s 24th birthday.

More Coverage:

Doctor Who: The Edge of Time — November 12

Available on: PS4, PC

While it is based on the super-popular BBC series, this VR game doesn’t actually have you play as the Doctor herself. She’s been kidnapped, so it’s up to you, her companion, to rescue her. To do that, you’ll have to pilot the TARDIS and confront classic Doctor Who bad guys like Daleks and Weeping Angels.

More Coverage:

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition — November 14

Available on: PC

The PC strategy staple is back, sporting a lovely coat of 4K paint. This remaster also includes new content called “The Last Khans,” which adds four new civilizations, bringing the total to a whopping 35. Couple that with three new campaigns, and you’ve got tons of possible war strategies to devise.

More Coverage:

Pokemon Sword & Shield — November 15

Available on: Switch

By this point, you probably know what you’re getting with a Pokemon game, but Sword & Shield are mixing things up. The new Galar Region has its own variants of classic Pokemon like Weezing and Ponyta, plus region-specific evolutions for Farfetch’d and Linoone. Sword & Shield also introduce new giant, kaiju-like monsters called Dynamax Pokemon, some of which can even change form, known as Gigantamax Pokemon.

More Coverage:

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order — November 15

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC

It might sound cliche, but Fallen Order’s combat really does feel like the Dark Souls games. In fact, if you die, you’ll have to defeat the last enemy you fought to regain your lost XP, a la Bloodborne. It’s pretty fitting that this original Star Wars story is challenging, since protagonist Cal Kestis is one of the few surviving Jedi Padawans after Order 66.

More Coverage:

November has more video games to come. Next week, New Releases will take a look at the return of a cult classic with Shenmue 3 and the latest in tactical shooters with Sniper: Ghost Warrior Contracts.

This weekend saw four new movies open wide in the US, including Doctor Sleep, Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of Stephen King’s best-selling novel. The film, which also serves as a sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s cinematic adaptation of The Shining, was expected to make about $25 million this weekend, according to Entertainment Weekly. Instead, it made just $14.1 million on 3,855 screens.

That’s not the best result, but it’s not necessarily a disaster just yet: with a budget of around $45 million and a B+ Cinemascore (which is decent for a horror movie), and reports from the international market still coming in, the film likely won’t end up being an enormous loss, at the very least. We gave Flanagan’s film an 8/10 in our review.

The surprise winner at the box office this weekend was Roland Emmerich’s Midway, which opened to $17.5 million on 3,242 screens. The film, which focuses on the Battle of Midway (fought during World War II), has some way to go to make up its $100 million budget–especially since it might not play so well in the international market–but this sort of film, aimed at older male audiences, often does well over a long period of time.

The other two major wide releases this weekend, Playing With Fire and Last Christmas, both performed solidly. Playing with Fire, which stars John Cena as a firefighter who gets stuck babysitting three children, brought in $12.8 million. Last Christmas, Paul Feig’s Christmas dramedy, will likely continue to pull in viewers into late December; in its opening weekend it has made $11.6 million.

Elsewhere in the charts, Terminator: Dark Fate continues to underperform in the US, bringing in just $10.8 million in its second weekend. The film–which our critic enjoyed a great deal–is tracking below Terminator Genisys over the same time frame. On the plus side, the movie has pulled in $150,900,000 internationally, including $45 million from China. Whether or not its international performance will be strong enough for another sequel to be greenlit remains to be seen.

Also of note is the further $9.2 million that Joker made in its fifth weekend. This marks the first weekend since the film’s release that it has not been in the top 5, but it’s also now the most profitable comic book movie of all time, thanks to its modest $55 million budget. The film’s domestic total sits at $313,491,507; it is expected to top $1 billion internationally by the end of its run. Further down, falling just outside the top 10, Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit expanded onto 802 screens this weekend, pulling in $3.942 million for a domestic total of $9,117,882.

Here’s the full top 10 for the box office this past weekend, based on the estimated figures listed by Box Office Mojo:

1. Midway: $17.5 million

2. Doctor Sleep: $14.1 million

3. Playing with Fire: $12.8 million

4. Last Christmas: $11.6 million

5. Terminator: Dark Fate: $10.8 million

6. Joker: $9.2 million

7. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil: $8.002 million

8. Harriet: $7.23 million

9. Zombieland: Double Tap: $4.315 million

10. The Addams Family: $4.2 million

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HBO has released a new teaser video for Westworld Season 3–and it’s a strange one. The video introduces viewers to a company called Incite, a firm that harnesses unprecedented computing power to solve the world’s unsolvable problems.

Jefferson Mays plays Incite’s founder, Liam Dempsey Sr., who quips, “We’re not Silicon Valley vaporware. We have unprecedented computing capabilities analyzing data from life’s most unsolvable problems.”

This company claims to be able to control the climate and get people the best jobs. We’re sure they’re a 100 percent above board, feel-good company. Surrrre. After all, the word “incite” is defined as: “to encourage someone to do or feel something unpleasant or violent.”

What could go wrong?

This new Westworld Season 3 trailer raises a lot of questions. Some that immediately come to mind: is Incite a competing company to Delos Destinations, the group that operates Westworld? Are Incite and Delos somehow connected?

A teaser website for Incite shares a few further details, though they are similarly mysterious. “The world can feel chaotic: big problems, no solutions, no one to lead the way. Global issues may seem so complex that untangling the answers feels impossible. Here at Incite, we want to make ‘impossible’ a thing of the past,” reads a line from the fake company’s description. “Chaos is merely a pattern waiting to be uncovered. You can help us chart a better future.”

Westworld Season 3 premieres in the first half of 2020. Season 3 introduces a number of new characters, including one played by Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul.

For lots more on Westworld Season 3, check out GameSpot’s roundup of everything we know. Westworld is based on the Michael Crichton 1973 movie of the same name.