The Star Wars TV show The Mandalorian has been one of the biggest hits on Disney Plus so far, and the second season is due to premiere on the streaming service on October 30. A third season is coming, and executive producer and showrunner Jon Favreau has now confirmed when it should start shooting.
Whereas other major TV shows and movies have been delayed or shut down entirely due to COVID-19, The Mandalorian is in a unique position due to how many of the characters already wear masks as part of their costumes, while the production uses Fortnite developer Epic’s incredible technology to create virtual sets.
“We’re in very small situations and oftentimes we have a lot of characters in masks,” Favreau said. “And we also have a lot of digital work that augments things. So we’re a show that’s probably well-equipped to be flexible based on the protocols that are emerging surrounding work restarting.”
The Mandalorian Season 2 introduces a number of big names. Michael Biehn (Terminator) will be playing a bounty hunter, and there’s a rumor floating around that Rosario Dawson may appear as Ahsoka Tano from The Clone Wars and Rebels animated series. Additionally, there’s another rumor that Clone Wars actor Katee Sackhoff will also be involved in the upcoming season.
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Baldur’s Gate 3 is available now in Early Access, and one of the game’s selling points has been its huge map. The game also features over 45,000 lines of dialog, and it’ll reward players who take their time to see everything. However, it’s also possible to do the exact opposite and blast through the game as fast as you can–and one player has already racked up a 7 minute completion.
Speedrunner Professor Palmer speeds across the map, skipping every encounter and clicking through cutscenes, and manages to reach the final area thanks to a lucky investigation dice roll on a well leading to the final area.
In an email to Kotaku, Professor Palmer notes that he reached the end “having fought nothing, gained no EXP, still level one.” Getting their time down to 7 minutes took over 200 attempts.
You can watch the complete run below and see how they did it.
Of course, this is atypical, and works only for a very specific build. For most players, seven minutes won’t be enough time to even read the EULA–which you’ll want to do, because it contains a hidden quest.
Developer Larian Studios is watching this Early Access period, and how its being played, closely. The studio recently released a heatmap showing how and where players are dying in-game.
For most of the lifetime of the cinema medium, movie studios were not allowed to own movie theaters. A New York judge struck that ruling down in August, but, thus far, studios don’t seem to be taking the bait. The CEOs of Warner Bros. and Universal Studios said this past week that they have “no plans” to do so, Deadline reports.
“We have no plans to do that currently,” said Universal chairman Donna Langley when asked if her company was interested in buying up movie theaters in the struggling industry. “We have no plans either,” added Warner Bros. chair and CEO Ann Sarnoff. The two were speaking at a Milken Institute Global Conference virtual panel. Sarnoff laughed as she answered, Deadline reports.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic brought the theater industry to a screeching halt earlier this year, and companies like AMC have only been able to take the smallest of steps to start moving again since. Cineworld’s Regal Cinemas are shut down completely for the time being, and AMC says it could run out of cash to keep going by early 2021.
Further, this comes hot on the heels of a major legal change. Shortly after movie theaters became a viable business in the early 1910s, movie studios started snapping up theaters. In 1948, the United States Supreme Court made the landmark decision, known as the Paramount Decree, that movie studios could not own movie theaters, as the vertical integration violated United States antitrust law. This decision stood until August 7, 2020, when the courts granted the Department of Justice’s motion to lift the decree over a period of two years. In other words, studios like Universal and Warner Bros. are allowed to own movie theaters in the United States for the first time in almost 70 years. Instead, studios say they’re rooting for exhibitors to survive on their own.
“I’m kind of an armchair sociologist and I believe people want to have communal experiences and especially with certain genres,” Sarnoff said. “We’re big fans of the exhibitors; they’ve been good partners of ours for many decades. We’re rooting for them. I know it’s tough sledding right now. I’m hoping they come out on the other side, probably even stronger.”
Even as Sarnoff says that, citing genres like horror and superhero films as theater-perfect experiences, studios are shifting toward streaming. Universal and AMC got into it earlier this year when the former released its movie Trolls: World Tour onto VOD in the early months of the pandemic. Warner Bros. announced this summer that Zack Snyder’s cut of Justice League will premiere as an HBO Max miniseries. More recently, Disney has begun to experiment with sending movies directly to its Disney+ streaming service, starting with Mulan and Pixar’s Soul, and now Disney is starting a major re-org with Disney+ in the spotlight.
The longer the closures go on, it makes sense to wonder whether or not studios still need the theater system as a means of distributing their products. Sarnoff’s seemingly dismissive response to the question suggests otherwise.
In this video, Persia talks about Sony’s reveal of the PS5 user interface. The new features showcased included the Creator button and its capabilities to had spoiler warnings to content you record, “Activities” cards that help you track your progress and access specific points in each level, and Official Game Help for PS+ subscribers. Official Game Help are spoiler-free videos that can help steer you in the right direction if you’re stuck on a level. Social and sharing options are also upgraded in terms of joining parties and games but also by being able to watch and share your screen with friends while you play.
Persia also talks about Destiny 2: Beyond Light getting an official next-gen release date for its upgraded version. On December 8th, you can play on Xbox Series X and PS5 at 4K but the Series S will still run at 1080p. All versions run at 60FPS, have a new FOV slider, better loading times, and support cross-gen multiplayer/ The Beyond Light expansion will be available on Game Pass and also backwards compatible for the current-gen versions.
Lastly, Persia talks about Borderlands 3 getting a new season pass. Season Pass 2 will include two more pieces of DLC called the Designer’s Cut and the Director’s Cut, plus new looks for the Vault Hunters. The Designer’s Cut will include a new skill tree for each Vault Hunter and a new standalone mode called Arms Race.
This is your Save State for Thursday, October 15th.
The recent 8.0.0 update for the PS4 introduced new functionality for voice chats in parties that will go live when the PS5 launches, and pop-ups alerted players can these chats “may be recorded.” People naturally became concerned about this, and specifically regarding conspiracy theories about how Sony might be listening in.
That isn’t the case, however. The Ask PlayStation UK account said on Twitter, “We do not record party chats.”
Hello! The notification advises you that other users may be recording your voice conversation. We do no record party chats. ^PS
The purpose of the recording functionality is to give people the ability to record chats and submit them for a moderation review. The feature is only available on PS5, but the pop-up notification that is appearing now is alerting PS4 users that when they are in a chat with a PS5 player, those recordings can be sent to Sony for moderation review.
“Following this update, users are seeing a notification about Party Safety and that voice chats in parties may be recorded. Voice chat recording for moderation is a feature that will be available on PS5 when it launches, and will enable users to record their voice chats on PS5 and submit them for moderation review. The pop up you’re seeing on PS4 right now is to let you know that when you participate in a chat with a PS5 user (post-launch), they may submit those recordings from their PS5 console to SIE.”
Here’s something unexpected: the rock band Korn is teaming up with Wargaming for a Halloween event inside World of Tanks Blitz to premiere the music video for Korn’s new song “Finally Free.”
This is all happening as part of the new event called “Convergence,” which runs from October 16 through October 24. As part of the event, players can unlock pieces of Korn artwork by completing objectives, and the music video itself will premiere in the free-to-play game.
Korn signer Jonathan Davis said in a statement, “I really like World of Tanks Blitz. It’s true to the era, there are a lot of great tanks in there, and you don’t just jump in and start shooting. I think there is a connection between rock and video games because video games are intense and rock ’n’ roll music is intense. It seems like they have always gone hand in hand.”
The Convergence event also features a new mode called Burning Games. The Halloween hook is that every tank on the map will bleed health like a vampire, and you need to deal damage to your enemies to re-gain health. This mode ties into the Korn music video, which follows a person named Captain who is trying to attend the Burning Games event but is thwarted by wasteland raiders.
Korn is not the first rock band that has partnered with Wargaming for a World of Tanks event. The company previously worked with Iron Maiden and Sabaton for events, while The Offspring played a concert inside World of Tanks and performed a set at the Wargaming Fest in 2019.
World of Tanks Blitz’s Halloween event also features a 60-stage event called The Way of the Raider, while new vehicles featured in the Korn video, the Tier V Spike and the Tier VII Annihilator, will be available during the event. You can visit the World of Tanks Blitz website to learn more about the Halloween promo.
Nintendo is slowly expanding its My Nintendo loyalty program with new rewards. While the program has traditionally only featured digital rewards like wallpapers and select game discounts, Nintendo has been recently adding a handful of physical items to the rewards catalog, including a couple of new ones inspired by Super Mario 3D All-Stars and Paper Mario: The Origami King.
Five new physical rewards are now available on My Nintendo. First is a set of Mario posters, each one featuring the cover art from the three games included in 3D All-Stars: Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy. There’s also a small Super Mario zipper case to store Switch game cards, Paper Mario origami and postcard sets, and a racer ID to go along with Mario Kart Live.
You can see all the newly added Mario rewards, along with how many points each one costs, below. Physical rewards are typically in limited quantities, however, so if any of these items catch your eye, it’s best to jump on them sooner rather than later.
Super Mario 3D All-Stars poster set
If you’re short on Platinum points for the rewards, there are a few ways to earn more. You can receive some for completing certain tasks in some of Nintendo’s mobile games like Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. You can also earn points for visiting official Nintendo websites and completing tasks, like finding hidden Pikmin around the official Pikmin 3 website.
In addition to Platinum points, you can earn Gold points through the My Nintendo program. These are earned when you purchase select Switch games, and you can use them toward digital purchases, making them effectively eShop credit. You can read more about how My Nintendo Gold points work here.
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After an extremely long wait, the final “Rebuild of Evangelion” film has finally landed a release date in Japanese cinemas. Crunchyroll is reporting that Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon a Time will release on January 23, 2021, bringing an end to the long-running anime series.
The original series, Neon Genesis Evangelion, ran from 1995 until 1996 in Japan, and was followed by the (extremely grim) feature-length End of Evangelion in 1997. It was later followed up by the Rebuild series, which 3.0+1.0 is the final entry in. The movie is written and chiefly directed by series creator Hideki Anno.
A new trailer has also surfaced, which you can watch below (and, if you’re anything like me, get a bit emotional about). The trailer debuted ahead of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba THE MOVIE Mugen Train in Japanese cinemas.
The Rebuild series of movies–which seemed like a remake series at first, and soon transformed into something else entirely–began with 2007’s Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone. It was followed by 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance in 2009 and the tellingly-named 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo in 2012.
When the rest of the world will get to see it is anyone’s guess–there was a three year gap between the Japanese release of 3.0 and its US DVD debut, so it could be a while still. Netflix now has the rights to stream the original series and End of Evangelion, but the Rebuild movies are not on the service.
It’s unclear whether an English dub of this fourth movie will happen, and if it does, who will voice the characters–the original actors, or the cast of Netflix’s new dub.
3.0 ended on a cliffhanger, and fans have plenty of questions–such as why the film has such an odd name. 3.0+1.0 was originally due to release in 2020, but it was delayed due to the coronavirus.
For a while, it seemed pretty wild that Sony hadn’t revealed the UI of its upcoming PlayStation 5, given that the console’s launch is only in a few short weeks. But that has finally changed thanks to a recent State of Play presentation offering a more detailed look at how the console works. Unlike Xbox Series X’s UI–which is similar to current-gen Microsoft consoles–the PS5’s UI is entirely different from its predecessor.
To help give you an idea of what to expect from the UI of Sony’s upcoming next-generation console, we’re going over the most significant changes. This includes numerous alterations to how you interact with the console’s base functions like screenshot tools and your friends list, what the Create button pops up in the UI, the new navigational system known as Cards, and much more. While what we detail below is based on the recent presentation, we’ll, of course, know a lot more once we get a hands-on with the PS5 come November 12.
Regardless, be sure to check back as we detail the latest changes. You can also check out the video version of this feature in the player above for a more visual look at the details we’ve presented. Otherwise, if all this sells you on Sony’s next-generation console, be sure to hop into our PS5 preorder guide.
The Game Is Always Front And Center
The PS5 UI has received a complete overhaul, and the most noticeable change is the literal emphasis on your gaming being front and center. Once you boot up the PS5 from rest mode, your game will be up and running from wherever you last left off, accompanied by the all-new Control Center.
Whether you’re scrolling through recent activity, joining chat rooms, sharing screenshots, or checking the news, it all occurs overlaid on the game you’re actively playing. Meaning, your gaming experience isn’t entirely interrupted by the console forcing you into another menu like the PS4 currently does.
Control Center
Pressing the PlayStation Button now brings you to the PS5’s Control Center. Previously with the PS4, tapping PS Button would bring you out of the game and to the PS4’s home screen. If you held it, it’d bring up the Quick Menu, where you could check notifications, friends list, etc. This time around, pressing the PS5’s PS Button no longer interrupts the game but brings us to its new Card-based UI.
Instead of navigating either the Home screen or Quick Menu, everything you want to accomplish, from checking on your friends list to going over game activity or looking at notifications, happens in the Control Center using Cards. It’s time to say goodbye to the Home and Quick Menu from the PS4 altogether.
Cards
Cards are a new and significant integration into how we’ll be navigating the console’s UI. They give you a glimpse into everything going on like news, game activity, and what your friends are up to, and it will have unique integration into certain PS5 games. The big card-based feature is Activities, which are a way to track what you have and haven’t done within the game you’re playing.
It acts kind of like PlayStation’s very own quest log, which is a nifty feature for completionists, and trophy hunters, as it’s a quick way to get a birds-eye view of what you haven’t done yet in a game. Such as showing objectives you haven’t completed yet, or even teleporting you in the game to a specific objective.
The big card-based feature is Activities, which are a way to track what you have and haven’t done within the game you’re playing.
It even gives you an idea of how long it’ll take to achieve the objective. So, say you have to call your mom in half an hour; this feature gives you a quick look into how much time you’ll need to complete your objective, rather than having to stop halfway feeling unfulfilled and anxious throughout the entire conversation with your mom. It gives a new and literal meaning to saying “just two more minutes!” to the nagging sibling/parent/dog or whatever.
Picture-In-Picture
Cards can also be placed on the screen while you’re playing, snapping to either side or working as picture-in-picture. You can also view objectives from your activity lists directly on screen without interrupting your game and maneuvering other menu screens.
The Game Help feature is only available to PlayStation Plus members.
There’s also a new Game Help feature for active PlayStation Plus members, which offers in-game guidance to achieve specific goals with hints alongside screenshots and videos demonstrating how to accomplish the objective. This, too, can be snapped on screen alongside your game, so you don’t have to leave and go searching online for a walkthrough. While handy, it’s admittedly an opt-in feature for developers, so it’s not necessarily guaranteed that all games will have this functionality.
Seamlessly Interact With Friends
Continuing the emphasis on keeping the game front and center, when friends invite you to chat rooms, you can do it all with your game running in the background. Previously with the PS4, getting an invitation would interrupt your game, requiring you to go to another menu screen where you’d enter the chat. But no more!
Additionally, interacting with your friends, like hopping into their games, inviting them to chatrooms, or sharing a screenshot with them, can all be down through Cards in the Control Center, including the Share Screen option. The card feature lets you snap a live feed of their gameplay on your screen, so you can watch your friends get destroyed at Demon’s Souls while you swing gallantly through NYC in Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
Create Button
Zero interruption is the name of the game here in the PS5’s UI, and pressing the Create button brings up a minimalist option bar at the bottom of the screen with the option to capture something that had just happened, a screenshot, or begin recording gameplay. You can share clips and screenshots like always, but it’s worth noting that with the new interface, a shared piece of media can be flagged by developers to include an automatic spoiler warning. This appears to be implemented to ensure that those accessing any content you’ve shared won’t have their days unexpectedly ruined by something you didn’t know they didn’t want to see. But like the official Game Help feature, the spoiler tag flagging appears to be opt-in for developers.
Home Screen
While there’s a lot of talk of its Control Center and Card UI, the Home Screen, of course, makes a return…with a facelift, no less. If you’re starting your console up on a fresh start, the Home Screen is where you’ll land. It’s where you’ll go if you want to start another game or download a new one.
If you’re starting your console up on a fresh start, the Home Screen is where you’ll land.
This time around, Media has its own separate menu from Games, rather than being all bunched together like on the PS4. Each game and application has an integrated hub to explore information, which is a much-needed upgrade to the PS4’s feature of pressing down from a game icon and getting a bunched up convoluted look at news, trophies, and friend activity. This new design seems much more breathable.
Explore
Explore is a new option to the PS5 that brings together all of your games, shows news stories, and trending media. However, the feature is still being tested out, so be aware that it won’t be available to every user on day-one.
PlayStation Store
PlayStation Store is integrated into the menu experience instead of being a separate app, which makes exploring, shopping, and finding new games a quicker, more intuitive experience, without ever having to leave the PS5’s home screen.
Following suit in providing seamless navigation, the PlayStation Store is now fully integrated into the menu experience of PS5 instead of being a separate app.
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Sony has finally unveiled one of the last remaining pieces of the PlayStation 5 puzzle and with it given us a clearer picture of what gaming will be like on its upcoming new console. The platform holder dropped a video showcasing the PS5’s user interface and it’s a drastic change from what we had on the PlayStation 4.
The change is immediately noticeable, as the PS5 features a cleaner, more elegant UI that is designed for 4K displays. It’s also rather minimalist, at least when compared to the many, many menus the PS4 throws up in an average gaming session.
But beyond the slick look and snappy movement, there are numerous exciting and, dare we say it, revolutionary features that will drive our gameplay experiences. In this video Kurt Indovina talks through nine of the biggest changes and the next-gen gaming features that have defined those changes.
You’ll get to see the new home screen, the impressive Control Center, the game-changing Activity Cards, how screenshots are captured, the new ways you can interact with friends, and more.
