Big-name director Christopher Nolan recently faced some heat when Anne Hathaway complimented his decision to reportedly forbid chairs from his movie sets. If people can sit, they will stop working, and Nolan apparently is no fan of that. Hathaway said Nolan was “onto something” with this idea.
Now, a spokesperson for Nolan has clarified the director’s earlier comments, saying chairs are not, in fact, banned from Nolan’s sets.
“For the record, the only things banned from [Christopher Nolan’s] sets are cell phones (not always successfully) and smoking (very successfully),” spokesperson Kelly Bush Novak told IndieWire.
“The chairs Anne was referring to are the directors chairs clustered around the video monitor, allocated on the basis of hierarchy not physical need. Chris chooses not to use his but has never banned chairs from the set. Cast and crew can sit wherever and whenever they need and frequently do.”
The commentary around chairs on Nolan’s sets swiftly drew a backlash, though the idea that chairs were banned was immediately put into question. Extras on Nolan’s The Dark Knight, including Aaron Stewart-Ahn (who went on to write Mandy), said there were “plenty of chairs” available during the filming of that movie.
The journalist Jeff Jensen also commented that there were chairs available when he was visiting the sets for The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar. Writer Gregory Ellwood said the same thing.
I don’t mean to cause trouble, but… I was on the sets of both “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Interstellar,” and people, I’m telling you, there were chairs. I even sat in a couple.
Recently, many people within the games industry have come forward and spoken, openly and bravely, about their experience with abusers. The sharing of these experiences, which have often involved high-level game producers and developers, as well as streamers and journalists, has brought to light how the industry has sheltered many abusers, and has led to some action.
Two Ubisoft executives have been suspended over abuse allegations, and the developer is reworking how it deals with employee complaints as it becomes clear that employees were not being adequately protected. Companies that were previously working with Chris Avellone have distanced themselves after multiple women have come forward with accusations of sexual assault and harassment. Twitch has suspended multiple streamers accused of abuse.
But this is all part of a wider, systemic cultural issue, and the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) has released a statement calling for the industry to “recognize the failures that led to these situations.” It includes links to resources for victims of harassment, and outlines some of the ways in which the games industry has failed to keep people safe from harassment and abuse.
The full statement from executive director Renee Gittins, is below.
IGDA Statement, June 30, 2020
“Over the past week, brave individuals have shared their experiences with discrimination, assault, and sexual harassment within the game industry and at our events. It is heartbreaking to witness how many people have suffered at the hands of abusers within our industry and to recognize how many more continue to bear their pain in silence. It is imperative that we recognize the failures that led to these situations and come together to create solutions that ensure the game industry is inclusive, supportive, and safe for all developers.
Each and every one of us can help our industry be a safer and more inclusive environment. We encourage you to stand up for your fellow developers against any injustices you witness and know that the IGDA and the game industry at large will support you. If you are in need of support, please use our harassment resources or contact us.
In order to support diversity within our industry, we cannot allow harassers and sexual misconduct to go unchecked. All of the efforts to recruit women are in vain if they are assaulted or made to feel unwelcome within our industry and its events. We must use this as a turning point so that we can ensure that game development and game developers are able to thrive.
We also recognize that change is needed from the top to be truly effective. This does not mean simply writing policies, but truly implementing, upholding, and living them. Our latest Developer Satisfaction Survey showed that while 71% of companies had non-discrimination policies and 64% had sexual harassment policies, only 59% felt those policies were adequately enforced and 65% believe there is not equal opportunity for all within the game industry.
The IGDA is working to create a compilation of resources for game studio leadership to ensure the cultivation of safe, positive company culture. We need to fix this system from the top down to uproot toxic cultures and harassment. For too long people in power have turned a blind eye to harassment allegations. We must stop this cycle and remove the poison that stops the growth of diversity within our industry.
Together we can condemn the failures in our industry’s past and take the steps forward to enact change in our industry that will ensure this wonderful, creative, diverse industry will support every person who contributes to it.”
GameSpot has officially kicked off Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. Join us as we bring you the summer’s hottest news, previews, interviews, features, and videos, as well as raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts and Black Lives Matter with the help of our friends from around the gaming world. Check out the Play For All schedule for more.
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In the late ’90s and early aughts, a little fellow named Mr. Driller burrowed his way into the hearts of puzzle game fans worldwide. The years that followed saw several Mr. Driller releases across multiple platforms, but after a while, Namco seemed content to entomb the series and focus on other things. Now, a little over a decade later, Bandai-Namco has decided to unearth one of the most beloved Mr. Driller games, the formerly Japan-and-Europe-exclusive Mr. Driller Drill Land, to release on Switch and PC for a new generation of fans to enjoy.
Mr. Driller Drill Land focuses on the titular Mr. Driller, aka Susumu Hori, and his extended gang of excavator friends and family (including his dad Taizo, who you might remember from Dig Dug). They’re off to visit a new underground amusement park called Drill Land, filled with attractions that very coincidentally are based around the colored-block-drilling gameplay that defines the Mr. Driller series–with some notable twists. Challenges, cards, and plenty of collectibles abound in Drill Land, and you’ll have to see if you have the chops to conquer each of the park’s different attractions for high scores and goodies. (And you might just save the world, too.)
The core Mr. Driller gameplay is a neat twist on the “falling colored blocks” idea. You control Susumu (or one of his companions), using your drill to break up colored blocks and dig deeper and deeper into the earth. As you destroy blocks and work your way into the earth, you’ll free up other blocks, which will fall and join up with (and also break) others of the same color. Your goal is to reach a certain depth, but that’s easier said than done–you have a limited air supply that acts as a timer, and some poor drilling choices could lead to your driller getting smooshed under a landslide. This makes the game a tense, careful balancing act–while air pickups are frequently available, being too hasty with your drilling decisions when oxygen is limited could lead to disaster. It might sound intimidating, but it’s much easier to understand once you play a few sessions and see for yourself how loose blocks fall, combine, and break. After you grasp the basics, you’ll grow into a groove and skillfully obtain pickups, create chains to eliminate lots of blocks at once, and find safe spots among a cascade of falling earth.
The delicate balance between needing to progress, managing your air supply, and figuring out how to stay safe as more and more rocks teeter above is what makes Mr. Driller such a delightful little puzzle game on its own. What makes Mr. Driller Drill Land so good is how it creates several unique variants on this formula through the different attractions, each with a fun and unique theme. World Drill Tour is the standard Mr. Driller gameplay fans know and love combined with visuals and music that poke fun at a certain famous Disneyland staple. Star Driller adds random power-ups with a variety of effects into the mix in a space adventure–though sometimes the pickups can hurt more than they help.
The three attractions that cleverly augment the core formula are the most enjoyable. Horror Night House does away with the air-timer mechanic, replacing it with a health meter, and has you surrounded by ghosts that possess colored blocks. Drilling into a possessed block (or standing next to a ghost for too long) will result in losing health. The only way to progress is by collecting holy water, injecting it into blocks, and then drilling into the stunned ghosts to destroy them, transforming the game into a tense strategic battle. Drindy Adventure is a hazard-filled archeological dig to nab golden artifacts, complete with spike traps, rolling boulders, and fire-breathing idols to augment the ever-present threat of being crushed–which is more likely, since falling blocks behave differently. Finally, The Hole of Druaga pays homage to one of Namco’s most influential titles through a unique rogue-lite spin. In this mode, you must explore a block-filled maze, collect items, eliminate foes, and eventually enter a chamber where you fight the evil Druaga–but be careful, because HP is limited and it drains with every drill you make.
Each attraction has three difficulty levels, all of which are a significant step-up in challenge over the previous level. While you only need to finish Level 1 of each attraction to open the final stage and finish the game, there are plenty of reasons to go back and try each on higher difficulties: extra audiovisual flourishes, new traps, new items, more enemies, and increasingly complex areas to dig into. If you ever feel stuck on a particular attraction, you can always scoot over to the store and use your in-game currency to buy helpful items like extra lives and protective gear. You can use these items freely to push through a challenging attraction and get credit for clearing it, but you won’t be able to register your score on the online rankings, which is a fair trade-off. If you don’t want to buy these items, you can instead get cards and collectibles that let you learn more about the surprisingly in-depth universe of Mr. Driller… which the overly-long cutscenes don’t really succeed at. These Flash-style animations look cute, but the jokes fall completely flat. Even worse, you can’t manually advance dialogue — only skip them entirely. (Then again, you aren’t missing much if you do.)
It’s not hard to see what’s made Mr. Driller Drill Land so beloved over the years. The various spins on the core Mr. Driller gameplay are all unique, challenging, and engaging — easy to jump into, quick to play, and encouraging you to give it one more go. The sharply cute, early-aughts anime visual style gives it a bright, cheerful look that stands out from the pack, and the bouncy, dynamic soundtrack adds a lot of atmosphere to your deep dives. With so much to choose from and collect, you’ll want to master everything–or just play your favorite attraction for hours on end–and earn plenty of money to spend at the gift shop.
Mr. Driller Drill Land is the kind of game you can play for 10 minutes on a lunch break or for an entire afternoon. It’s the sort of game where you’ll be in a groove… only to screw up a section catastrophically and ruin a run. But you’ll only be bitter about it for a minute before eagerly diving back in to try again. If you’ve never played Mr. Driller–or if it’s been a while since you and Susumu went excavating together–Mr. Driller Drill Land is one relic that deserves a spot in your gaming museum.
Devolver Digital, the publisher that first tweeted about E3 being cancelled before the announcement was official, is gearing up for its annual Devolver Direct showcase. The event, which was promised in May and then was more recently suggested to be arriving in mid-July, will seemingly be dated–and possibly detailed–very soon.
In a tweet on the official Devolver Digital account, the publisher has promised “Devolver Direct news tomorrow,” and that it will be good news. This means that we’re likely to see a date for the event made official on July 1.
Devolver Direct news tomorrow. Good news, not bad news.
— Devolver Digital (@devolverdigital) July 1, 2020
Devolver Directs (also known as the Big Fancy Press Conference) are generally a mix of new game announcements, new details on previously announced or released titles, and the ongoing saga of chief synergy officer Nina Struthers, who always finds herself in some degree of violent, horrifying mischief. In 2019, Devolver Bootleg surprise-launched during the presentation.
Current Devolver games we’re aware of in development include Disc Room, Carrion, Fall Guys, and Serious Sam 4. It’s likely they we will learn more about one or all of these titles soon.
Keep an eye on GameSpot for new details on Devolver Direct 2020 when they become available to us.
GameSpot has officially kicked off Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. Join us as we bring you the summer’s hottest news, previews, interviews, features, and videos, as well as raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts and Black Lives Matter with the help of our friends from around the gaming world. Check out the Play For All schedule for more.
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A new Collector’s Edition of Ari Aster’s director’s cut for Midsommar is on the way, and it includes some nice extras and very special packaging.
A listing on A24’s website shows that the $45 USD Collector’s Edition comes with the 171-minute director’s cut of the film in a Blu-ray case that’s covered in a Hårga-yellow slipcase. It also includes a 62-page booklet featuring original art from artist Ragnar Persson. The book features a foreword from none other than acclaimed Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese.
The 171-minute director’s cut of Midsommar is 33 minutes longer than the theatrical edition. The Collector’s Edition is expected to begin shipping on July 20.
Scorsese’s connection to Midsommar is not totally out of the blue, as The Irishman director is a big fan of Aster’s work. He said Aster’s earlier movie, Hereditary, was “remarkable.”
After the big success of Midsommar, which stars Florence Pugh, Aster is expected to make a lengthy “nightmare comedy.” Given the critical acclaim of Hereditary and Midsommar, we have high hopes for whatever Aster does next.
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Greg Thomas and Ryan Schubert are back to break down all the ins and outs of Jordan Peele’s much anticipated second season of The Twilight Zone. In Season 2, Episode 3, a struggling actor (Ethan Embry) risks everything for his big break and his girlfriend’s approval. He is suddenly given an uncanny ability, which sets him on an impulsive scheme that takes a few turns no one saw coming.
Greg and Ryan break down the plot, list the Twilight Zone references and Easter eggs, and give their overall thoughts and reactions to “The Who of You”.
Dreams, the PlayStation 4 exclusive game-and-art creation tool from Media Molecule, will receive a huge update soon that will make the game compatible with PlayStation VR. The update, which will arrive for free on July 22, will add new tools allowing users to create VR experiences.
As detailed on the PlayStation Blog, the update will include new tutorials and kits for VR creation, helping to familiarize you with the controls involved in VR crafting. You’ll be able to both create and play in VR, and the developer has tested these options extensively with users.
The trailer below shows off some of the types of experiences you’ll be able to craft and play.
Sculpting in VR will be “a very one-to-one experience” if you are using PlayStation Move controllers, the developer promises. You’ll also be able to create games that can be played in VR even if you don’t own the headset yourself, as new gadgets will be added to Create Mode. Creators will be able to tag if their game is playable in VR or not.
Media Molecule is also adding numerous new accessibility features to help craft enjoyable experiences that can be played widely, as well as the ability to “comfort rate” games, to show whether or not they actually work well in VR.
Media Molecule is also developing new Dreams experiences for VR to show off what is possible, including a shooter called Box Blaster.
The Dreams roadmap shows off what the team is working on right now, and is worth following if you’re interested in the future of Dreams. This July 22 update is looking to be the most substantial change to the game since launch.
Game development is an iterative process. Features are often added and removed regularly during the development process as the team discovers what works best. For Cyberpunk 2077, developer CD Projekt Red worked on a wall-running feature, but it won’t make it into the final game.
Level designer Max Pears told GameReactor that while wall-running has been cut for design reasons, the game will offer players “a lot of flexibility” with how they move through the world.
“Ah, the wall-running” Pears said. “That is something that we removed due to design reasons, but there’s still going to be a lot of flexibility in how you move, that’s for sure.”
GameSpot recently played four hours of Cyberpunk 2077, and you can head directly from GameSpot’s Edmond Tran, Jake Dekker, and Tamoor Hussain about it in the video above. You can also check out GameSpot’s own interview with Max Pears here.
Retro Studios, the team behind Metroid Prime and the two Donkey Kong Country Returns games, has made a big hire as it works on Metroid Prime 4. VGC has announced that the studio has brought on Bharathwaj Nandakumar, a long-time Activision veteran who has worked on the Call of Duty: Black Ops series.
According to VGC, Nandakumar was most recently credited as lead engineer on Black Ops 4. Across the past decade, he has worked on the whole series. He was reportedly brought into the Nintendo-owned studio back in April, but it’s only being reported on now.
Retro Studios is working on Metroid Prime 4, but this was not always the case. In fact, the game was being worked on by another team until early 2019, when development was restarted with the original trilogy developer at the helm.
It is not actually clear whether Nandakumar is working on Metroid Prime 4, as we’re not sure if Retro Studios is working on another game. The new Metroid Prime was announced at E3 2017, but no gameplay footage has been shown from any iteration of the game as of yet.
Hopefully we’ll see something of the game soon–the last Metroid Prime game was the underwhelming Metroid Prime: Federation Force for the 3DS in 2016.
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Red Dead Redemption 2 Online players can earn triple payouts for Showdown Modes, including the Gun Rush featured series, this week. Players can also refill on all Trader supplies and Moonshine Mash for free, and the Butcher Table is five Gold Bars off.
Players also can complete the Veteran’s Collection by delivering the 1792 Quarter, Old Tom Gin, and Aubrey Onyx Ring to Madam Nazar for a reward of reputation and money. A variety of combat related items are discounted as well, all of which are listed below.
40% Off all Guns
50% Off Melee Weapons
50% Off Thrown Weapons
60% Off Ammunition
40% Off Pamphlets
Free Gun Oil
Twitch Prime Members (available for free for all Amazon Prime members) can receive five Gold Bars off the Butcher Table and 40% off a horse, stable slot, and shotgun. Members can also receive $1,000 in-game currency, 50 incendiary buckshot slugs, and 6,000 Trader XP.
In other Red Dead news, Arthur Morgan’s voice actor recently told GameSpot details about a cut Red Dead Redemption 2 mission starring Arthur and Dutch.
GameSpot has officially kicked off Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. Join us as we bring you the summer’s hottest news, previews, interviews, features, and videos, as well as raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts and Black Lives Matter with the help of our friends from around the gaming world. Check out the Play For All schedule for more.
