Month: October 2020

Years after it first premiered, Cobra Kai is now available to binge on Netflix. What’s more, Season 3 of the Karate Kid sequel series is finished and will be heading to Netflix in 2021, with Season 4 also on the way.

So, if you’ve ever attempted the crane kick or scrubbed a surface with the words “wax on, wax off” playing in your head, then chances are you noticed a few nods to the original movies while watching the series.

Let’s start from the beginning with the first season. Here are the 10 most notable Karate Kid easter eggs & references from Cobra Kai season 1.

What, exactly, is going on with the next Spider-Man movie? If the Marvel Cinematic Universe wants fans to believe the next film will dive heavily into the multiverse, then Marvel Studios is doing a great job.

We learned this week that Jamie Foxx is believed to be playing the villainous Electro in the movie, a role he originally played in 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. That, combined with the fact that JK Simmons appeared in Spider-Man Far From Home as J. Jonah Jameson–a character he played in the original Spidey trilogy–certainly points to a mashup of Spider-Man franchises.

Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Benedict Cumberbatch is set to reprise his role as Doctor Strange in the film, becoming a mentor for Spider-Man (Tom Holland). What does that mean for a movie that brings together the various Spider-Man universes? Well, the next Doctor Strange film is called Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. What’s more, that movie will be tied to Disney+’s WandaVision, which certainly looks to be set in some form of an alternate reality.

The big question now is if this is a movie about the multiverse, how far will it take the concept? Hopefully, if they are bringing the universes together that means fans will see the former Spider-Men–Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire–suit up one more time. Why stop there, though? Bring Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse to live-action and give us Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen, Nicolas Cage as Spider-Man Noir, and a CG animated Spider-Ham. The sky really is the limit with this.

Whatever the case, the next Spider-Man movie is scheduled to begin filming later this month.

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After playing the opening hour of The Pathless, the next game from developer Giant Squid, what really struck a chord with me was how much it emphasized the importance of its setting. Like the developer’s previous game, Abzu (an underwater narrative-adventure game), The Pathless focuses on communing with nature and freeing it from the grasp of an evil force. However, it incorporates that idea into an open-world framework, pushing the need to connect and explore its luscious setting.

Coming to PC, iOS (and Apple Arcade), PS4, and to PS5 as a launch title on November 12, The Pathless has you guiding a nameless hunter across vast stretches of forest and within lost ruins to free ancient gods who have been corrupted. While I had the chance to play the first hour of the game, I also got to check out a quick presentation from creative director Matt Nava to learn more about the team’s thoughts on making a more subdued, but still enticing adventure set in a large open landscape.

Compared to the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Ghost of Tsushima, or Genshin Impact, The Pathless takes a more minimalist approach to its story and open-world gameplay. Taking cues from other pieces of fiction like Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke or the stories from Arthurian legend, The Pathless’ main narrative is about the dichotomy of humanity and nature coming together. The core gameplay and premise of the lone hunter connecting with nature are the focus, and the mechanics surrounding that aims to highlight and elevate that narrative. Early on, the Hunter will partner up with an eagle who helps her reach high places, solve puzzles, and becomes a generally friendly companion on the journey. And yes, you can pet them at any time.

The main goals in The Pathless are to explore, uncover hidden troves to upgrade the Hunter and her eagle, and free the ancient gods from their corruption. But what makes The Pathless different from other games of its ilk is that it puts far less emphasis on combat, relegated to very specific moments, and more of a focus on exploration, puzzle-solving, and the traversal of the world. This design not only makes for a less stressful game, but it also highlights the need to connect and understand your place in the lush, vibrant world.

At times, this felt like the core of The Pathless was a bit one-note in its execution, but it eventually made me feel invested in the actual journey the character takes. One of my favorite aspects from the opening hour was the traversal mechanics. There’s an impressive sense of momentum and speed, with your Hunter being able to sprint, fire her arrows, and glide across the landscape with ease. Scattered throughout the environment are light gems, which can be destroyed with shots from your bow. Doing so will transfer energy to the Hunter’s sprint meter, allowing you to maintain speed during your mad dash across the map.

What’s refreshing about movement in The Pathless is that most open-world games often treat traversal as just a necessary part of the exploration and getting to those hard-to-reach places, rather than a way for players to connect with the world itself. The Pathless adopts the latter approach, and it can be exhilarating to explore the vast world at such speeds–there’s a grace in the movement and action that’s somewhat rare to see in an open-world adventure game. In an interesting choice, The Pathless doesn’t use a map or fast travel system of any kind. With the use of a special mask, you can highlight points of interest around the map, allowing you to make your way to them at great speeds.

During the developer presentation, creative director Matt Nava explained their intentions with the open-world design in The Pathless and how it emphasizes the player’s need to explore and keep moving.

“We looked at other open world games like Far Cry and Breath of the Wild that are full of interesting ideas, but they’re so big compared to the ability of the character to move, and they’re often so dependent on you having an understanding of the world in a 2D way with the map,” said Nava. “So we thought, what if we subverted the ideas of open-world games, and twisted it on its head. For instance, fast travel in other games is often a solution to the problem of [traversal] because the characters are so slow. The reason why they’re so slow is that the game needs to load; you generally don’t want characters to move too fast to trigger loading. So we decided to make a fast character, and as you go, you get faster. You get upgrades, your eagle flies higher, so it kind of lets you fast travel in a way. As you unlock more areas, you unlock more ways to traverse those areas, which creates this equilibrium in your ability to traverse the space, versus how big the space is.”

The Hunter’s main ally is her eagle, who is useful during puzzle sequences that involve carrying objects to open pathways and comes in clutch during general traversal. In addition to allowing the main character to glide, you can also upgrade the eagle to flap their wings, giving the Hunter extra lift. The eagle is a great complement to exploration and puzzle-solving, and it was nice to be able to bond with another character while on the move. While the focus on restoring the fallen gods is the backbone of the story, there’s still optional areas and hidden secrets to find, which will help you unlock more abilities for your characters. According to the developers, it’s possible to collect certain upgrades earlier than intended to reach places that you weren’t supposed to in the opening hours–which they want players to take advantage of.

During the later levels, The Pathless will add in more of an element of danger as the corrupted gods make their presence known. While you can see the growing malevolent force in the distance, it will spread as time passes. Eventually, the force will begin to overtake the zone you’re in, and once it reaches you, you’ll come face to face with the area’s fallen god who takes the shape of a giant, beastly animal. In a surprising stealth sequence, you’ll need to reunite with your eagle while avoiding the gaze of the roaming god. They’re surprisingly tense moments, and oftentimes they can show up when you least expect it. While you do have the time to explore at your leisure, taking too much time will have the game remind you what your true objectives are in dramatic fashion.

I was an admirer of Giant Squid’s Abzu, and I was pleased that The Pathless is continuing on with that similar style and approach within the design of an open-world game. The opening hour offers an intriguing start to what appears to be a larger adventure, one that manages to keep a low-key vibe while exploring. There’s something of a quiet beauty to exploring the world, which I felt was refreshing. Open-world games taking a minimalist design scheme is a rarity, and it looks like The Pathless will be taking that style further with the advancing story, while also making the actual moment-to-moment exploration fun to engage with.

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Almost a year after the console’s unveiling, the retail box that the next-gen Xbox Series X will be shipped in has been revealed. Best Buy Canada’s Jon Scarr grabbed a photo of the cardboard container and tweeted it online.

As seen above, the box is constructed from cutting-edge heavy-duty paper products and features photorealistic images printed onto its frame. Compared to previous boxes that Xbox consoles shipped in, it’s also a more subdued design.

On the box, the Xbox Series X’s square design and the ventilated cover are shown off, while also reminding consumers that it has a 1TB solid-state drive and games can run at 120 FPS on it at a 4K resolution.

Compared to the original Xbox One retail box from 2014, which was very, very green, the design is far more subtle.

It still has a splash of green on the bottom of the box, which also contains a few paragraphs of fine text. The design is reminiscent of the Xbox One X and the original Xbox console retail boxes, which used cleaner graphic design to stand out on store shelves when they were released.

The Xbox Series X and Series S will launch on November 10. Check out our Xbox Series X preorder guide to see if what’s inside the box is right for you.

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As the coronavirus crisis continues and movie theaters are imperiled as a result, Wonder Woman 1984 director Patty Jenkins has held firm that her new movie will still open in theaters rather than streaming services. Speaking with Reuters, Jenkins talks about her film being delayed three times due to COVID-19 and how important it is to not let moviegoing become extinct.

“I don’t think any of us want to live in a world where the only option is to take your kids to watch a movie in your own living room, and not have a place to go for a date,” Jenkins said. “I really hope that we are able to be one of the very first [films] to come back and bring that into everyone’s life.”

Director Christopher Nolan’s much-anticipated Tenet tried to plant a similar flag after many, many delays–but time-bending marvel has in hindsight not proven to be much of a litmus test for whether theaters are back since releasing September 3. Variety recently clocked Tenet as netting $250 million globally, but characterized its performance in the US as “stalling.”

Jenkins sees these numbers as a natural reaction to the pandemic and theaters struggling to get into lockstep over safety procedures–and still being in denial over how seismic 2020 has been in thinking about the movie business. Instead, Jenkins says she can see a near-future where streaming will be the home for less expensive films and theaters being the home for big-budget action movies.

“If we shut this down, this will not be a reversible process,” Jenkins warned. “We could lose movie theater-going forever.”

Wonder Woman 1984 is slated for a Christmas Day release this year.

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The humble Slinky–the metal spring toy–is getting the Hollywood star treatment. Variety is reporting that director Tamra Davis (Billy Madison, Half Baked) will be helming an upcoming film all about the Slinky, and the movie will be eschewing a Toy Story-like whimsical approach to instead focus on its inception and creation.

The Slinky was co-invented in the 1940s by couple Betty and Dick James. Said Davis in a statement: “I am so thrilled to have the opportunity to tell the story of Betty James; a female inventor, business woman and dedicated mother who with her husband Dick James invented the Slinky… Betty James’ life is a moment in American history where women proved they could not only survive in the face of despair but flourish when the opportunity presented itself.”

The film is co-written by Chris Sivertson (Wash Me in the River), Ann Carli (Trapped in the Closet: Chapters 1-12), and Cristina Curbelo (Fast Food Nation). Joanne Rubino (Hollywood Divas) will produce, and principal photography is expected to begin sometime in 2021.

The Slinky movie, which might seem a tad WTF? at first glance, is actually part of a well-established trend of films based on popular toys–admittedly with mixed results historically. There’s been 2012’s forgettable Battleship, 2014’s smash hit The Lego Movie (and its 2019 sequel), and a number of G.I. Joe movies including the upcoming Snake Eyes. And who could forget the Monopoly movie, which was first announced in 2015, and is supposedly still in the works.