Microsoft’s next-generation consoles, the Xbox Series X and S, are finally almost here. We’ve got our hands on both systems, and in a new video, we’re showing off some footage of games you might know running on the digital-only Xbox Series S.
The system is relatively less powerful than the Series X, but it is no slouch. As you can see in the video, games like Doom Eternal, Final Fantasy XV, Forza Horizon 4, Gears 5, The Outer Worlds, and Yakuza: Like A Dragon look very solid running on the miniature console. In particular, the horsepower of the new consoles helps keep the frame rate smooth and steady.
Be sure to watch the full video to catch all the gameplay. GameSpot will have lots more on the Xbox Series S and X consoles in the days ahead, so keep checking back for more!
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is up to 26.04 million sales, up from 22.4 million units last quarter. At that time, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was on 26.7 million sales, and you might expect the gap to have narrowed significantly–but the kart racer also sold incredibly this quarter, jumping to 28.99 million units. The 2017 Switch port of a 2014 Wii U title (which was also that system’s highest seller, at 8.45 million units) continues to be a huge success.
While Mario Kart Wii is still technically the best-selling Mario Kart game, having sold 37.38 million units, if you combine the sales of Mario Kart 8 on Wii U and Switch you get a total sales figure of 37.44 million units–making it the best-selling game in the series.
There are no new entries from last quarter, although Super Mario 3D All-Stars got off to such a strong start (5.21 million sales in two weeks) that we could see it overtake New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe in the future.
The system now has three games that have sold over 20 million units–and with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild continuing to sell very well, and Pokemon Sword/Shield being re-released with the DLC season pass bundled in, both games are likely to reach this milestone too. For comparison, the Nintendo DS–still the company’s best-selling console–had just three games that sold 20 million+ in their lifetime. The Wii, meanwhile, had 7 (and 4 titles above 30-million, including the pack-in Wii Sports).
Here’s the full top 10, with previous quarter figures (showing sales figures from just three months earlier), courtesy of Vooks.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (28.99 million, from 26.74)
Animal Crossing: New Horizons (26.04 million, from 22.4)
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (21.10 million, from 19.99)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (19.74, from 18.6)
Pokemon Sword/Shield (19.02 million, from 18.22)
Super Mario Odyssey (18.99 million, from 18.06)
Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu/Eevee (12.49 million, from 12.2)
Super Mario Party (12.10 million, from 10.94)
Splatoon 2 (11.27 million, from 10.71)
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (8.32 million, from 7.44)
These figures mean that several series, including Animal Crossing, Super Smash Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Mario Party, and Splatoon, have their best-selling entry on Switch.
Other Switch first-party games to sell over 1 million units include:
Luigi’s Mansion 3
Ring Fit Adventure
Super Mario Maker 2
Astral Chain
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics
Paper Mario: The Origami King
Super Mario 3D All-Stars
As Nintendo Life notes, the company has stated that five third-party games have also sold over 1 million units on Switch. However, the company has not revealed which games have achieved this figure. As always, it’s first-party Nintendo games that have enjoyed the most success on the system.
With the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X releasing this month, it’ll be interesting to see how the Switch fares over the holiday period and the months following. An NPD analyst believes that, with new consoles scarce, the Switch will be this holiday’s top seller.
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Some next-generation games, including NBA 2K21 and the Demon’s Souls remake, carry a price tag of $10 USD above current-gen pricing. $70 USD could become the norm for next-gen, and now one of gaming’s biggest publishers has weighed in on the possibility of higher prices.
EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said during an earnings call that it’s premature to discuss price increases, but he noted that games are becoming richer experiences that cost more money to make.
“We’ve always said games are getting more expensive. The experience is getting deeper. The time that people are playing games is getting longer. One might argue that that might require a higher price point over time, but we’ll address that as we get closer to more games coming into the next-gen console transition,” Jorgensen said.
“What I default back to is, let’s stay focused on the excitement of what we can do with new games and price will follow that. We’ll figure that out. I don’t want people to read into that—’we’re going to raise prices or not.’ We don’t know that yet. What we do know is we’re going to be able to do a lot more things with the new consoles,” he added.
Jorgensen is not the first gaming executive to point out that the cost of game development has increased, and thus a price increase for the consumer might be in order. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick defended NBA 2K21’s $70 price point by saying, “The bottom line is that we haven’t seen a front-line price increase for nearly 15 years, and production costs have gone up 200 to 300%.”
Before that, former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden remarked that the cost of developing games has increased by 10 times, and all the while, the price of new games has stayed steady at $60 USD. “If you don’t have elasticity on the price-point, but you have huge volatility on the cost line, the model becomes more difficult. I think this generation is going to see those two imperatives collide,” Layden said of the new generation of consoles.
EA is presumably working on multiple next-gen games, one of which we know is a new Battlefield game for 2021. These games don’t have prices yet, but it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out.
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The Nintendo Switch continues to gain momentum, according to Nintendo’s Q2 financial report for the fiscal year 2020/2021. The company’s new investor relations information for the quarter has launched, and it has revealed some huge sales figures.
The Switch has now sold 68.30 million units, making it the second highest-selling Nintendo home console ever. This quarter, which stretches from July 1-September 30, saw 6.86 million Switch units sold around the world, judging by their previous report (thanks, Vooks).
The Switch Lite makes up 10.36 million of those sales, meaning that the hybrid system remains the most popular.
The system has now overtaken the NES’ lifetime sales of 61.91 million, a figure that it was just barely under last quarter. If this momentum holds–and that seems likely–it will overtake the 3DS (75.94 million units) within this financial year. The Wii remains Nintendo’s top-selling system, with 101.63 million units sold, but with the Switch expected to have a long life cycle, it stands a good chance of surpassing the motion-controlled system.
Nintendo has adjusted their earnings forecast for this financial year, and is projecting a 50% increase in net profit compared to their previous forecast.
The Switch has also now sold 456.49 million units of software. The big performer of this quarter was Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which has now sold a phenomenal 26.04 million units. It remains the system’s second-highest seller, after Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (28.99 million units).
Nintendo released two first-party titles this quarter, both of which have sold well–one incredibly so. Paper Mario: The Origami King has sold 2.82 million units, while Super Mario 3D All-Stars, released less than two weeks before the end of the quarter, sold a phenomenal 5.21 million units.
High sales of 3D All-Stars might have been driven by the fact that the game will only be available for a limited time.
With the holiday season on the horizon, expect Switch sales to remain high towards the end of the year.
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In another timeline, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run would’ve hit U.S. theaters on May 22. But then, 2020 happened. SpongeBob saw its theatrical premiere pushed back to August and limited to Canada. Now, SpongeBob’s first all-CGI adventure is finally heading to streaming–everywhere but here in the United States, where it will finally arrive in early 2021. Oh, and it won’t show up on Netflix even then.
After ViacomCBS rescheduled and re-rescheduled the theatrical debut of SpongeBob’s third movie, the studio finally was forced to cancel it entirely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the studio announced that the movie would head for streaming services. Netflix picked up international distribution rights for the movie. If you have friends in the UK, Japan, or any other country where Netflix operates, they can already watch Sponge on the Run.
Here in the U.S., though, ViacomCBS is in charge of distributing the Paramount Animation-produced flick. The company plans to put SpongeBob on premium video-on-demand services in early 2021. Once the movie’s PVOD period ends, it’ll move to CBS All Access, recently rebranded as Paramount+.
Talking to Looper last month, SpongeBob director Tim Hill expressed disappointment in the movie’s strange release timeline.
“It’s terrible. I was hoping for a big fanfare and a great premiere and seeing all the people I worked with, and doing a cast and crew screening, being able to at least thank people, which never happened,” said Hill, who also directed the similarly COVID-affected Robert DeNiro family comedy, The War with Grandpa. “It was just what we’re doing now, like, ‘Bye. Movie’s over.’ It didn’t feel natural, for sure.”
While Netflix is promising no COVID-related delays, studios have pushed back countless movies and television shows. Delayed movies include Fast & Furious 9, Marvel’s Black Widow, and the latest 007 movie, No Time To Die. Television has seen just as many shifts, with CW shows like Supergirl, The Flash, and Riverdale ending early. Premieres of shows like Marvel’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+, Lord of the Rings on Amazon Prime, and the Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu have all been pushed into 2021.
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EA has shared a few new tidbits about its next Battlefield game. During the company’s latest investors call, it confirmed that the next Battlefield game is coming to next-generation consoles in holiday 2021, with more details to be revealed in the spring.
“DICE is creating our next Battlefield game with never-before-seen scale,” EA said during the call. “The technical advancements of the new consoles are allowing the team to deliver a truly next-gen vision for the franchise. We have hands-on playtesting underway internally.”
Moreover, EA confirmed that the next Battlefield game “is set to launch in holiday 2021.” Ahead of its release, the studio says it will share “a lot more about the game in the spring.”
EA had previously confirmed that its next Battlefield game would release for PS5 and Xbox Series X and Series S in 2021, but this is the first time the company has narrowed the release window down to the holiday season. It’s one of “at least” six new games the publisher plans to release for next-gen systems in fiscal year 2022 (April 2021 – March 2022), alongside a new Need for Speed that EA says “is bringing some astounding visual leaps.”
Although details about the next Battlefield are scant, EA’s Laura Miele teased the game will turn DICE’s “crazy ambitious ideas” into reality. “Our studios are taking their crazy ambitious ideas and making them real,” Miele said during EA Play 2020. “Every console generation DICE sets the bar for excellence in audio and visual presentation. We are creating epic battles at a scale and fidelity unlike anything you’ve experienced before.”
The most recent Battlefield game was Battlefield V, which originally launched for PS4, Xbox One, and PC back in 2018. Since then, developer DICE has been steadily supporting the shooter with new content and updates. Last month, EA launched a definitive edition of Battlefield V that includes the base game and a ton of other extras, including every weapon, vehicle, gadget, and all of the Elite characters.
The Nuketown map is one of Black Ops’ most iconic, and it returns in a new way with Black Ops Cold War through a version called Nuketown ’84. This map comes out on November 24, and you can see a teaser image for it in the tweet below.
Then beginning on December 10 with the start of Season One, there will be more multiplayer maps and modes, including 2v2 Gunfight. More weapons, new Zombies modes, and “much more” is also coming, alongside a “Classified Warzone experience.”
The statement says Activision is delivering “epic free content,” but it’s not immediately clear if all of this content will be available at no extra charge. For Modern Warfare, Activision released all post-release DLC for free, in an effort to keep the player base connected.
In addition to this content, there will be another Battle Pass that comes with extra cosmetic content that you can earn through gameplay or purchase with real money.
With the communities for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone still going very strong, Activision is changing things up for how these games will continue to be supported when Black Ops Cold War launches on November 13, and the changes sound exciting.
This includes XP and leveling shared across the three games, a new Prestige system, expanded cross-play, and more. Below is a rundown of the key points, but be sure to read Activision’s incredibly detailed blog post to get all the details.
SynchronizedLevelling
Starting with player progression, for the first time in Call of Duty’s history across mainline titles, there will be “synchronized” progression across Modern Warfare, Warzone, and Black Ops Cold War. This begins on November 13 with a new system that leads up to the launch of Season One on December 10, which is when Black Ops content will come to Warzone. Here is how Activision describes the process:
“Players will begin by completing Military Ranks, a traditional leveling journey to unlock functional gameplay items. Once completed, Black Ops Cold War players will enter an updated and improved Season Leveling that begins at game launch with the Pre-Season, and which becomes synchronized with all three games at the beginning of Season One on December 10th.”
When Season One begins in December, all XP and levelling will be shared across Modern Warfare, Warzone, and Black Ops Cold War.
With the change, your ranks (1-55) will be known as Military Ranks, and they will be “synchronized” across all three games. You can play normally in any game, and you’ll rank up in each. The Black Ops Cold War Zombies mode also shares this new progression system.
When Season One starts, player levels will be reset to 0 for Modern Warfare and Warzone, so that everyone starts with the same rank when Black Ops Cold War launches with Season One. Only XP is reset, however, so you aren’t losing any items you’ve purchased or unlocked.
New Prestige System
The Office Progression levels are going to be known as Season Levels, and they are synced with all three games. “Seasonal Progression has been updated with aspects of the traditional Prestige system, allowing players to unlock and use rewards, including some incredibly cool legacy player identity items from the world of Black Ops,” Activision said.
All of your XP and leveling from Black Ops Cold War, Warzone, and Modern Warfare will contribute to your Season Leveling and Prestige level.
Activision said the “preferred” way to reach Prestige is to play Black Ops Cold War because there will be specific XP events and “other advantages” in that game and presumably not the others.
Weapon Progression
For weapons, every gun from Modern Warfare and new ones from Black Ops Cold War will be available in Warzone. “The current plan is for Warzone to also include all Primary and Secondary weapons available throughout the lifespan of Black Ops Cold War, including launch and Season weapons, as well as every single Weapon Blueprint,” Activision said. “Naturally, this includes the assortment of free weapons you received during every Season of Modern Warfare, just for playing the game.”
Activision said it has no plans to remove any guns from Warzone. However, weapons from Modern Warfare cannot be used in Black Ops Cold War and Black Ops Cold War weapons can’t be used in Modern Warfare. In the Warzone menu, you will see the Black Ops and Modern Warfare logos on each gun to show which game it originally debuted in.
In terms of progression for weapons, this applies across Black Ops Cold War and Modern Warfare. “Choose an available weapon from Black Ops Cold War or Modern Warfare and use it in Warzone. All XP and leveling counts both in Warzone and the game from which the weapon originated. Work to unlock weapons and attachments for any weapon you like in either game by playing that game or Warzone,” Activision said.
As for other items, Modern Warfare’s perks, lethal equipment, tactical equipment, field upgrades, and some killstreaks will stay in Warzone. Also of note is that all weapon progression and unlocks will remain intact when Season One kicks off.
Operators
All Operators from Modern Warfare and Black Ops Cold War will come into Warzone, and this also includes any skins you might have purchased or unlocked through gameplay. There is one exception, however, as the indomitable Marine Corps Master Sergeant version of Frank Woods is only available in Modern Warfare and Warzone. You can get this skin by preordering Black Ops Cold War digitally.
Battle Pass
As with previous seasons, there will be a new Battle Pass available when Black Ops Cold War launches. This Battle Pass will include content for Black Ops Cold War and Warzone, and progress is shared between Modern Warfare, Warzone, and Black Ops Cold War. Activision said it expects to deliver “a multitude of fresh and exciting Battle Pass” items, though they were not disclosed.
Activision said it has no current plans to remove any Warzone content, but this could happen in some situations. “To ensure the best possible player experience, there may be occasions where content is delayed, or becomes temporarily or permanently inaccessible,” Activision said.
The Store
The Call of Duty in-game store is also coming to Black Ops Cold War, and content purchased in the new game can also be used in Warzone, for the most part. Players can spend COD Points to purchase various cosmetics, and while most can be used in Warzone, those that can’t will be marked as such.
Cross-Play
Modern Warfare and Warzone already enabled cross-play, and this continues with Black Ops Cold War. There will also be a new feature called Cross-Title Invites, and this lets you invite friends who are playing one of the three titles to join yours; the leader will choose which game you’ll play. There is also cross-gen cross-play, so people on Xbox One can play against those on PS5 or any other variant.
When Shout Factory announced it would be releasing the entire Friday the 13th movie franchise as a Blu-ray set, the news was accompanied by a revelation that long-lost footage from Friday the 13th Part 2–the first movie to feature Jason Voorhees as the killer–had been unearthed.
The “gore cut” of the film, as it’s been called by fans, was the first version of the movie and features more intense and longer death scenes, with far more blood and gruesome imagery. As the story goes, the scenes were trimmed from the film due to the MPAA, though the footage was eventually believed to be lost. Then, earlier this year while prepping this set, it was discovered on an old VHS tape that visual effects artist Carl Fullerton found.
From there, things somehow get more interesting. Samuelson Studios, the production company that put together the bonus material for the new set, got possession of the tape and baked it–literally–to make it viewable. In a Facebook posting by the company, it was explained, “the lab indicated that the tape was stuck together. If pulled apart, the magnetic information could be stripped, which would mean that we would lose everything. The only solution: baking the tape in an oven overnight to separate the reels. The VHS would have to be taken apart, the reels would have [to be] placed into an oven and baked overnight in order to make it playable.”
Shockingly, that worked and the footage now appears in Shout Factory’s set. It might not be what you were expecting, though.
Is there a gore cut of Friday the 13th Part 2?
Technically, the gore cut is not included in the set because it doesn’t exist. Instead, what those who picked up the set get is a new 4K scan of the film from the original camera negative. Then, in the bonus features section, is an option called “Slashed scenes.” That is where you can access nearly four-and-a-half minutes of scenes that were cut from the film. Some of them are pretty gruesome, so it’s not hard to see why.
Among the deleted scenes are a longer and more disturbing shot of the death of Alice from the beginning of the film, along with a truly horrifying alternate version of Mark’s death by machete. There are a number of other scenes features–including the double impalement of Jeff and Sandra– featured in this section, as well.
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The Complete Friday The 13th Timeline Explained
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What’s missing, though, is the audio. While the footage looks great, especially for a VHS tape baked in an oven, the audio is missing from all of the scenes. That said, even without the sound of a machete hacking its way through flesh and bone, these new scenes should send a chill down your spine.
These new sequences should be required watching for all Friday the 13th fans. Given that this film was the first outing of Jason Voorhees, the final scene of the original movie notwithstanding, these longer and gorier death sequences go a long way in showing just how disturbing the Jason character initially was.
While plenty of blood was spilled and bodies were stacked up in the movies that followed, there’s something special about seeing just how far those making this movie were willing to go to show Jason’s viciousness. While the scenes aren’t long, if you’re a completionist they’re absolutely worth seeking out.
Thankfully, it’s not too late if you’re one of those people. The 13-disc Friday the 13th set is still available on Shout Factory’s website, and it’s not just the second movie that includes new special features. In fact, there’s hours of extra content on this set, between deleted scenes, audio commentaries, unearthed trailers, and so much more.
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Not that it’s a surprise, but Electronic Arts has confirmed it will keep making more NHL games. The publisher has signed a new multi-year deal with the NHL and its player’s association to create more games in the future.
EA did not confirm the specific duration of the deal or how much it paid the hockey league for the rights. EA has been in business with the NHL for 30 years already, and EA Sports boss Cam Weber said in a statement, “This extension will ensure it remains at the forefront of connecting millions of fans around the world to the sport through interactive entertainment.”
NHL chief brand officer Brian Jennings said in a statement that EA’s NHL series helps bring new fans to ice hockey. Jennings added that, during COVID-19 lockdowns, people turned to EA’s series to get their hockey fix while the real sport’s latest season was delayed and impacted by the virus.
“The past eight months illustrates how EA is a critical extension to real-world sports, as fans turned to EA Sports NHL to play and watch hockey while we temporarily paused during the pandemic,” Jennings said.
NHL 21 launched on October 16, following a delay related to COVID-19. Another release, NHL 94 Rewind, came out on October 30 and is currently only available to those who preordered NHL 21.
NHL 21 will be playable on PS5 and Xbox Series X with some improvements, but EA did not create a dedicated next-gen version of the game. As such, NHL 22 will presumably be the first NHL game with a dedicated version for PS5 and Xbox Series X.
In addition to the NHL, EA has licensing deals in place with other gigantic sports leagues and organizations, including FIFA, NFL, and UFC.
