Month: August 2020

With the Call of Duty League Championship happening this weekend, the organization has announced that alongside the championship ring and trophy, the winning team will also get a throne.

The organization didn’t specify the dimensions of the prize, but it’s a “functional [and] elevated gaming throne” created by Sheron Barber, a visual artist and designer who has worked with Drake, Rihanna, Post Malone, and others. The throne is made from Formica with a titanium veneer finish and will feature details like the Championship date, names, and player statistics from the season.

While it’s still being built, the organization shared conceptual designs of the throne, which are embedded below.

The Call of Duty League Championship will go live from August 29-30. In addition to the aforementioned trophies, the winning team will also take home $1.5 million as the top prize. Recently, the competition broke its previous viewership records, raking in a total of 115,000 people watching at its peak.

In other Call of Duty news, Activision has finally revealed the trailer for this year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. The new Call of Duty game will release on November 13 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. You can check out our Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War pre-order guide to learn about the bonuses and editions available, as well as how to get access to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions.

Now Playing: Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War – Official Reveal Trailer

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Confirming reports from 2019, Netflix has officially announced a Resident Evil TV series based on Capcom’s video game series. It’s just the latest Netflix show based on a Capcom franchise, following Dragon’s Dogma before it.

The live-action Resident Evil TV show is being produced by Constantin Film, which is the same production company behind the Milla Jovovich Resident Evil films that made over $1 billion at the global box office over the years.

The Netflix show is not based on any of the video games, but will instead tell a new story. Not only that, but it will be presented in a unique manner–through two timelines.

One of the timelines follows 14-year-old sisters Jade and Billie Wesker, the daughters of Albert Wesker, who are living in a place called New Raccoon City. The city is not all it seems, of course, and the sisters quickly find themselves in danger. The second timeline is set more than 10 years in the future when Earth’s population has been reduced to just 15 million people. Humans are massively outnumbered by people and animals infected by the T-virus. In this timeline, Jade is now 30 years sold and she faces all kinds of new challenges.

Here is the official description for the Resident Evil TV show and its two timelines:

“In the first timeline, fourteen-year-old sisters Jade and Billie Wesker are moved to New Raccoon City. A manufactured, corporate town, forced on them right as adolescence is in full swing. But the more time they spend there, the more they come to realize that the town is more than it seems and their father may be concealing dark secrets. Secrets that could destroy the world.”

“Cut to the second timeline, well over a decade into the future: there are less than fifteen million people left on Earth. And more than six billion monsters–people and animals infected with the T-virus. Jade, now thirty, struggles to survive in this New World, while the secrets from her past–about her sister, her father and herself–continue to haunt her.”

Andrew Dabb (Supernatural) is the showrunner, executive producer, and writer for the Resident Evil TV show on Netflix.

“Resident Evil is my favorite game of all time. I’m incredibly excited to tell a new chapter in this amazing story and bring the first ever Resident Evil series to Netflix members around the world,” Dabb said in a statement. “For every type of Resident Evil fan, including those joining us for the first time, the series will be complete with a lot of old friends, and some things (bloodthirsty, insane things) people have never seen before.”

There will be eight episodes in the first season, and each is one hour long. Bronwen Hughes, who has directed episodes of Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and The Walking Dead, is directing the Resident Evil TV show’s first two episodes, and she is also an executive producer for those episodes.

It sounds like it’s still early days for the Resident Evil Netflix TV show, so there is no word yet on when filming may begin, who will play the lead roles, or when the program will debut.

In addition to the Resident Evil TV series for Netflix, a reboot of the movie franchise is on the way. On top of that, Capcom is working with Sony on a Monster Hunter film. Yet another Capcom franchise, Mega Man, is also being spun into a film.

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Thousand Threads opens outside a tent in an unknown land, a dirt path presenting one potential way forward. If you stray from it, odds are a wolf will take notice and attack; you might fend it off with a stick, you might outrun it, or you might accidentally lead it to a house and watch in horror as it attacks the two randomly generated occupants that were sitting calmly a moment before, minding their own business. You might seek out more people and start performing little odd jobs for them; you might also return to the path and find the dead body of the region’s mail carrier, still carrying a sack of undelivered letters.

It’s a hell of a setup for Thousand Threads, a first-person exploration game that, over several hours, delivers on few of the promises these opening minutes set up. Nothing I experienced in the game after quite matched the excitement I felt in those opening minutes up to the point where I found the dead mail carrier. That’s not to say the game isn’t charming in places, though–this large open world has stories to tell and sights to see, even if they emerge at an achingly slow pace.

You start Thousand Threads in the Foothills, a large, verdant area with plenty of residents to meet, a store to visit, flowers and plants to forage for, wolves to avoid, and mail to deliver. There are five other areas that you’ll eventually travel through, but your goal remains the same throughout: Meet everyone and involve yourself in their lives. Each resident is randomly generated at the game’s opening, meaning that each player will encounter different people, although there’s not a lot to distinguish them in terms of personality. Some will give you tasks to do in exchange for money, such as acquiring an item from another character, finding someone and giving them a present, or knocking one of their enemies unconscious. Money is essential to progress, although you don’t need to complete many jobs to unlock the full map and deliver all the mail.

By the time I stepped away from Thousand Threads, most of the requests I was receiving were for me to knock out other characters with my stick or slingshot–possibly because, by then, I’d committed plenty of violent acts and stirred up a certain hostility across the game world. It took me a while to realize that there was no larger mission to the game; you can deliver all the mail, you can fulfill as many requests as you want, and you can explore the full map, but there’s no overarching narrative to uncover.

The fact that there’s no wider sense of purpose beyond whatever enjoyment you can reap from being a part of this world isn’t an issue at first, as it feels like you’re on the verge of stumbling across something interesting. But by the time I unlocked the last area, four hours in, it became clear that this wasn’t the case–and I had been trying to stave off boredom for the last hour already. You walk everywhere in Thousand Threads, and going for a stroll through a new area can be fun in the same way that it’s enjoyable to walk down a street you’ve never walked before. But it means that travelling back between regions to deliver mail, or getting out your map to make sure you’ve uncovered every near-identical quadrant of an area you suspect a resident you’re seeking is living within, becomes tiresome. You can ask people you encounter if they know where you can find someone you’re looking for, but it’s total luck of the draw if they have a lead or not, and there’s never clues to follow–they either know and your map updates, or they don’t and it doesn’t.

It’s possible to play Thousand Threads without much conflict. Avoid the wolves and bears that can kill you, refuse requests to knock people out, stay away from the fights that sometimes break out between residents, and you can live the life of a gentle helper. But you can go the other way, too. Your scant inventory contains both lethal and non-lethal weapons–the pickaxe you need to break rocks (which can yield useful resources) can also be used to beat people to death. In truth, I killed a few villagers in my playthrough not because they deserved it, but because I’d become bored and wanted to see what would happen. Not a lot, as it turns out. They’re gone, but there’s still plenty of other characters to talk to, many of whom will serve up identical dialogue.

There’s not a lot of personality to most of the people you meet in Thousand Threads, unless you open and read their mail (and you should, because there’s absolutely no penalty for doing so). The mail contains interesting story threads and personal dramas, which are, unfortunately, not at all reflected in the tasks the characters ask you to perform. The fact that the characters are randomly generated rather than crafted is to the game’s detriment in the end, as you’ll see the same dialogue come out of many mouths.

This is a shame, because there’s a hint of something great here. One letter I delivered was meant for a dead man; I found out that he was dead well before I found his home (you can ask people you encounter if they happen to know where someone you’ve only heard of lives), and once I found his corpse I was able to retrieve and deliver several letters intended for his son. This didn’t unlock any unique interactions, though–the tragedy unfolding is largely left unsaid outside of the mail. Since I delivered the mail to the son’s mailbox, I can’t say for sure whether he would have said anything powerful about his dad, but no mail I delivered directly sparked any interesting revelations. The letters tell of spurned lovers, estranged families, and burgeoning relationships, but these elements are only reflected within letters, not the game’s dialogue.

There’s a web of connections between the characters, and it can change as you play thanks to the “rumor” system. It’s amusing to see your own actions reflected back at you hours later; as I slowly moved back through the map, looking for things to do, I encountered characters who thanked, chastised, or attacked me over things I’d done hours earlier. It’s fun to see the rippling impact of your actions, but there’s very little sense of them having a tangible effect on these characters, because they’re so thinly sketched out. It’s impossible to keep track of what you did to characters to make them dislike you; there’s one character I encountered who I would describe as “creepy” (he asked me to steal another character’s baby teeth), but I’d otherwise struggle to attribute adjectives to any of the other dozens of villagers I encountered.

As you explore, you can also find artefacts and ruins that hint at something below the surface, waiting to be uncovered. But there just isn’t that much there. Handing the artefacts to a specific NPC turns up a bunch of interesting lore drops, but if there’s a deeper meaning behind everything, or a huge secret to uncover, it’s extremely well hidden. Over time, it became clear that the menace and mystery that the game promises with these structures, with its dead bodies and reports of random attacks, have little payoff behind them.

Amid all of this, though, there are moments of grace and beauty. Walking into a new area and watching as the color palette of your environment slowly shifts is lovely, as the game’s simple but striking visuals serve up some great views. The chaotic systems at play within the game can occasionally lead to wonderful moments, like watching two bears run through a trading post before turning on one another, or approaching a new character only to have them attack you because they’re related to someone you knocked out earlier. The rudimentary crafting system (which lets you upgrade your health and items with the plants and objects you collect) gives you some sense of reward when you’re eventually armed with a slingshot and pickaxe that can fend off attacks fast. By the time I walked away from the game there was a sense of, at least, personal progression in how much metal ore I’d gotten my hands on (which could have crafted bullets for a rifle I’d chosen not to buy, since my slingshot was already so powerful).

Thousand Threads cannot deliver on its initial promises of small-town intrigue and simmering maleficence–as you uncover the map and meet more of the people living on it, the less the game’s world feels like a real place. While I enjoyed the game’s atmosphere and sense of discovery when I started, by the end I had lost all interest in the interpersonal disputes of the game’s inhabitants, none of whom felt like real people anymore. The strange colonies of Thousand Threads are enjoyable if you’re just passing through, but stay more than an hour or two and you’ll find that there’s not much to do there.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Inception and The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan’s newest movie, Tenet, is now in theatres in Australia ahead of its premiere in the US on September 3. We recently had the chance to speak with the three main stars, John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, and Elizabeth Debicki about their experience working on the film and more. We couldn’t resist asking about their favorite video games, and they supplied some excellent responses.

Speaking about the movie first, though, John David Washington–who plays the lead character, known only as The Protagonist–said he was eager to take on a role that was physically demanding. In the movie, Washington constantly finds himself in the middle of a brawl, and he gets creative at times with the weaponry he uses. In one particularly memorable fight scene in a kitchen, Washington grabs the nearest object–a cheese grater–and uses it against a foe with great effect. Washington joked (we think!) that Nolan specifically asked for more cheese grater scenes–here’s to hoping that makes it into the director’s cut.

“It was great to be able to learn how to fight and train with [stunt coordinator] George Cottle and the stunt team and the fight coordinators. It’s funny you talk about the cheese grater, because that’s one of the notes that Christopher Nolan had, ‘I need more cheese grater, John David. Really get it in there! [laughs].'”

The Protagonist is not just a robotic killing machine, however. He is a man who uses both his brawn and his brains to save the day. He cares about people, and he also becomes wrapped up in those close to him. Sometimes it leads to suffering and tribulations, but he pushes through and it informs his character.

“Really just the way he was physically, the arc of the character, really informs the audience of the kind of man he was. He is a weapon. He’s a force to be reckoned with. That combination of vulnerability and sensitivity, I think was what actually gives him his powers,” Washington said. “Because he cares so much about humankind, I think he gets really invested in the people he’s working with. It informs how violent he has to get to protect them. To protect the mission. And so what you saw in the kitchen [with the cheese grater] was him just at work; what he does best.”

“He is a weapon. He’s a force to be reckoned with.” — John David Washington on his Tenet character, The Protagonist

Debicki, meanwhile, said she was excited for the opportunity to play a character, Kat, who is a “flesh and blood” human with deep complexities.

“When I first opened the script and I read her, I was so delighted to see what [Christopher Nolan] had poured into that character and the complexity of her and the contradictions that exist in her and the depth of her,” she said. “It’s rare, and in this genre as well, to be given a woman who has that kind of psychological trajectory to get to play that. So I was just really excited and in a way you feel relief. In a way it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, there is a real flesh and blood human on that page.'”

The character Kat is the estranged wife of the villain, who is played by Kenneth Branagh. Without giving too much away, Kat is a central character in Tenet, and her storyline connects the entire film in unique and haunting ways.

Pattinson plays a character named Neil, who is perhaps not all he seems. The actor tells GameSpot that it was a challenge to play Neil, in part because he is a mysterious man holding many secrets.

“Even just the nature of time being inverted, I think most people would just want to step off the world if that happened.” — Robert Pattinson

“It was kind of surprisingly tough because you’re having to hide things from other characters, but at the same time you’re trying to present things to the audience at the same time,” he said. “It’s very much this weird push and pull. I think it added to what I thought the character was. He likes chaotic things. He likes things that most people would really, really struggle to deal with. He enjoys them. Even just the nature of time being inverted, I think most people would just want to step off the world if that happened. And I think Neil is one of those people who just likes the abstract nature of what happens.”

We also asked Pattinson about how he might use his experience on Tenet to play another moody and broody character, Batman. Without giving too much away, Pattinson said part of the challenge of being an actor, at least in his experience, is that it is only at the very end of production that you begin to truly understand how to play a character.

“Bringing it to other characters, I think every character … at the end of every movie, you just feel like you just figured out how to play the character the day you finished playing it,” he said. “And you think, ‘Ah, I’ll just play that last character in the new movie.’ [laughs].”

Also in our conversation, we asked about video games because Tenet is sort of a video game movie in some capacities. John David Washington’s character is known only as The Protagonist, after all, and the story is a high-stakes thrill ride not unlike a blockbuster action game.

Debicki said she doesn’t play video games currently, but she was enamored with a Harry Potter game for PC when she was a child.

“I don’t play video games, but when I was a kid, the closest thing I’ve ever come to becoming truly consumed and obsessed with a game was Harry Potter on my computer,” she said. “Obsessed. Summer holidays just vanished, but that was a long time ago.”

Pattinson, meanwhile, was quick to provide an example of a video game that impacted him deeply. “Mine, I think it’s a lot people’s favorite game–Final Fantasy VII. Probably one of the only times I’ve cried in my life was when Aerith dies. My first love,” he said.

“Mine, I think it’s a lot people’s favorite game–Final Fantasy VII. Probably one of the only times I’ve cried in my life was when Aerith dies. My first love.” — Robert Pattinson on his favourite video game

John David Washington said Tenet is like a first-person shooter because the audience is getting pulled through the action and experiencing everything The Protagonist is. He doesn’t necessarily have a single favorite video game, but he is clearly a fan of the medium.

“This gets me really excited because that’s how I felt … even the name, The Protagonist, to me, it’s like the protagonist is you, the audience members,” he said. “It’s almost like a first-person shooter. What he’s going through, so is the audience. So you can put yourself into this character and experience everything that he is. So if you’re confused, it’s probably because he is. If he’s feeling something, hopefully you’re feeling something as well. Even with the violence, you don’t know why he’s kicking ass, but you just know that he needs to at this moment.”

He added: “Video game wise, Red Dead Redemption was a big one. I’m a big fan of NBA 2K, all day long. And ESPN NFL 2K; they stopped making it back in 05. I think that was the best sports video game ever made. And I would actually love to campaign the NFL licensing to make another video game.”

For more on Tenet, check out GameSpot’s full interview with Pattinson and Debicki above, while you can watch our chat with Washington here.

GameSpot’s Tenet review scored the film a 9/10. “Christopher Nolan’s latest movie is a mind-melting stunner, with lots of action and memorable performances told through a non-linear time-travel story,” we said in our review.

In this video, Persia talks about the official reveal of Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. The in-game event in Warzone showed the full trailer after players completed the special mission and made it to the stadium. We know now that Cold War will be a direct sequel to Black Ops 1 and will take place mostly in the 80s. You will play as your own customizable character, play open-ended missions, side objectives, and more in the campaign. For multiplayer, the game will be cross-platform and cross-gen, Zombies are back to some extent, and Warzone will continue once the release of Cold War.

Persia also talks about the surprise Nintendo Direct Mini that released this morning that showcased various third-party games coming to the Switch. Among the games announced, a few were Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory and Puyo Puyo Tetris 2. Melody of Memory is a rhythm game where you battle to the beat of songs from the entire series, revisit iconic scenes, and more. Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 is returning with the same cross-over style as the first title but is adding a new card-based skill battle mode and a new story.

Lastly, Persia talks about the recent announcement that Fall Guys has become the most downloaded game on PlayStation Plus ever. Devolver Digital announced that the game also crossed the 7 million unit mark on Steam alone. More content updates are already planned for the future of Fall Guys and it Season 2 outline will be revealed on the opening night of Gamescom.

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This is your Save State for Wednesday, August 26th.