Another day, another dollar you don’t need to spend thanks to our bargain hunting. PC users can score an inordinate amount of special / GOTY editions for cheap today. Along with the odd cut-price controller and console deal, we’ve also scoured tons of stores for discounted classics. Basically, there’s something for everybody below!
Grand Theft Auto Online is getting a little faster and furious-er with the new update Los Santos Tuners. Along with a new social space to show off your personalized cars, this expansion adds new races, rewards, and cars. Some car upgrades, however, will be exclusive to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S version of GTA Online coming later this year.
The Los Santos Tuners update is a multi-pronged update that begins with a new social space in Cypress Flats called the LS Car Meet. There, players can unlock a new Reputation progression with rewards at each level, access to the Test Track for online races, and Test Rides where you can sample high-end cars.
The Prize Ride Challenges will let players compete for Prize Ride and access to special shops like the Merch Shop, Tattoo Shop, Modding Area, and Private Takeover which lets you decorate the Car Meet space to your style.
Along with new races including a Street Race series where you’ll compete in the streets against other races and the LSPD, you can earn new upgrades and cars. Rockstar is promising 17 new cars in total over the summer, with 10 coming on July 20 when the update goes live.
However, some vehicles will be upgradable with “all-new speed improvements and more,” but these “special upgrades will be available only on PlayStation and Xbox Series X|S versions of Grand Theft Auto 5.”
Marvel’s Black Widow had a great post-pandemic showing when it debuted on July 9, allowing Disney to boast about its dual-platform launch across theaters and Disney+ Premier Access. A week later, though, theater owners saying that Disney+ ultimately pulled the movie down (via Variety).
“Despite assertions that this pandemic-era improvised strategy was a success for Disney and the simultaneous release model, it demonstrates that an exclusive theatrical release means more revenue for all stakeholders in every cycle of the movie’s life,” said the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) in an official statement.
“Piracy no doubt further affected Black Widow’s performance, and will affect its future performance in international markets where it has yet to open,” NATO’s statement continued, though the organization says piracy also affected Warner Bros. releases of Godzilla vs. Kong and Mortal Kombat as well.
“The many questions raised by Disney’s limited release of streaming data opening weekend are being raplid answered by Black Widow‘s disappointing and anomalous performance. The most important answer is that simultaneous release is a pandemic-era artifact that should be left to history with the pandemic itself,” NATO said.
Black Widow pulled in $80 million in its first weekend at the box office, and $60 million from Disney+ according to Disney itself. In terms of theaters alone, that makes it the biggest box-office opening since the pandemic set in. A week in, however, the film’s theatrical pull dropped by 68% to just $26 million, and Disney isn’t talking about the Disney+ profits anymore. That’s the highest drop-off to date for a Marvel Cinematic Universe film’s second week.
To put that in context, though, most movies see a huge drop after the first week. According to box-office tracker TheNumbers.com, most Marvel Studios films see somewhere between 55 and 60%. Black Panther, Thor, and Doctor Strange saw sub-50% drops, but the latter two films didn’t perform spectacularly well at the box office. Spider-Man: Homecoming and Ant-Man and the Wasp are the two closest, with a 62% drop. Black Widow’s drop is the most severe to be sure, but again, this is the first MCU film with a simultaneous release on Disney+. It’s harder to say just how severe the drop really was.
Regarding the other factors that could’ve affected Black Widow’s performance, things like piracy or the fact that users can share their Disney+ passwords with relative ease are equally difficult to blame. While these factors certainly affected Black Widow’s performance to some degree, piracy to lost sales is not a 1:1 exchange, as many people pirating movies had no plans to pay for them in the first place. A 2013 study of piracy by the European Commission showed that in the case of most media, piracy does not heavily impact sales, though with movies at the time, ten downloads resulted in four fewer theatrical visits. With that said, streaming platforms designed for unauthorized viewing of films and television have almost certainly improved since then, but ordering movies through online rental services is more widely practiced now as well.
There’s also the fact that COVID-19 cases and deaths are once again on the rise in the United States, and it seems likely that this is dimming moviegoers’ interest in sitting in a room full of breathing humans.
Finally, NATO’s final line lays its own agenda bare. The organization exists to promote and protect movie theaters, so it makes sense that the organization would want to do whatever it takes to discourage the practice of watching movies at home. The numbers, however, are much foggier than that statement.
At this point, if a movie exists that was even moderately successful, chances are it’s already been rebooted/remade or, at the very least, there have likely been discussions to do so. Sometimes, the outcome is great, even if they’re not typically better than the original. From 2004’s Dawn of the Dead to Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, to even the 2012 movie Dredd (a much better Judge Dredd film than Sylvester Stallone’s), a remake or reboot done just right can be well worth your time.
Of course, there’s also the seemingly unending list of bad remakes you have to contend with. Whether it’s a cast that doesn’t shine, subpar writing and directing, or making a movie so polished–thanks to CGI or a more marketable PG-13 rating–that it loses the impact of the original. We’ve all seen these movies before, and it’s time to take a look at some of the absolute worst.
Take a look at our least favorite remakes and reboots of movies we love. For better or worse, these movies all got made and released. They didn’t measure up to the films they were based on and, for the most part, didn’t turn into the franchise the studios certainly hoped they would (We see you, Dark Universe).
Did we miss out on your favorite bad remake? Sound off in the comments below and let us know about your favorite reboot hate-watch. Also, make sure to check out our look at revived TV shows that should’ve stayed canceled.
Director Kevin Smith is set to start production on Clerks 3 in August, according to a tweet by the man himself, which also shares that entertainment company Lionsgate has acquired worldwide rights to the film. This means he’s also been able to hold true to his plans he announced in January to film the highly-awaited sequel this year.
Also, back in January, Smith took to Facebook to share a fraction of the script’s first page–which only set the scene for the movie’s tone, but not much else. Via a release, Deadline now has a synopsis, which is: “Following a massive heart attack, Randal enlists Dante, Elias, Jay, and Silent Bob to make a movie immortalizing his life at the convenience store that started it all.” Smith has indicated this will be a “personal story… drawing directly on the heart attack that nearly killed me (three years ago).” Filming will begin on August 2–Smith’s birthday.
“To be great is to go on. To go on is to go far. To go far is to return.” On August 2, for my 51st birthday, I return to Quick Stop – the little store that started it all – with my friends Dante, Randal, Jay, Silent Bob, Becky, & Elias! Thank you @Lionsgate for making CLERKS III! https://t.co/7IUNdleg8f
Smith has written the screenplay and will direct, with all major cast members set to reprise their roles: Jeff Anderson as Randal, Brian O’Halloran as Dante, Jay Mewes as Jay, Smith as Silent Bob, and Rosario Dawson as Becky. The film is currently in pre-production in New Jersey.
No release date for the film has yet been set, but Smith has said he wants to “spend some of 2021… in New Jersey where it all began” to begin filming. You can read our review of the Jay and Silent Bob reboot here.
Marvel’s new Blade film has reportedly found its director. Bassam Tariq, best-known for directing 2020’s Mogul Mowgli, is currently in talks with Marvel to helm the vampire superhero film starring Mahershala Ali, Deadline reports.
Deadline adds that a deal has not been finalized yet, but Tariq reportedly won out after Marvel met with “dozens” of candidates.
Mogul Mowgli is Tariq’s only major film project. It stars Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal, Rogue One) as a British-Pakistani rap artist on the verge of his big break, but suddenly contracts a deadly autoimmune disease, and is spurred to visit his family in London.
Tariq previously worked on shorts and documentaries, including Netflix’s Ghosts of Sugar Land, which follows a group of suburban muslims who grapple with a friend who has descended into extremist beliefs.
Marvel was reportedly looking at writer-director options, but ultimately split the roles, landing HBO’s Watchmen writer Stacy Osei-Kuffour to pen Blade’s script.
Tariq is the sixth person of color hired to direct a Marvel film, following in the footsteps of Taika Waititi, Ryan Coogler, Nia DaCosta (brought on to direct Captain Marvel 2), Chloe Zhao, and Destin Cretton.
The new Blade film will act as a reboot to the original 1998 film starring Wesley Snipes, which debuted a decade prior to Marvel’s launch of the MCU with Iron Man.
Some 53% of US households now own a video game console and 30% percent plan to purchase one sometime in the next 12 months, according to a new report from CES organizer the Consumer Technology Association.
The report examines a variety of consumer technology trends over the course of a year. This year, the CTA’s findings look into stay-at-home tech, health and wellness trends, and the preference of TVs over smartphones. It turns out that households love gaming, with the 53% representing a 10% increase from last year, fueled by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
There are other interesting statics in the CTA’s report. While 53% percent of US households own a gaming console, just 26% have a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X|S while 41% have a last-generation console of some kind.
And in terms of the 30% planning to buy a new gaming console in the next 12 months, it turns out that 21% want next-generation hardware. Meanwhile, of this 30% demographic, some 15% are looking to pick up a last-gen system.
No gaming setup would be (truly) complete without a 4K TV, and interestingly, the CTA’s report finds that 52% of US households now have one. This represents a 16% increase from last year.
Elsewhere, wireless tech continues to rise, with 47% of US respondents owning a pair of wireless earbuds as compared to the 45% who still use wired ones.
All of this is particularly fascinating as the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, and even the Nintendo Switch, continue to be difficult to find due to the semiconductor shortage. Last month, the Senate passed legislation to alleviate the supply issues, as it impacts industries outside gaming as well.
Unnamed sources have reportedly revealed to Deadline that Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli) is far along on talks to direct the long-gestating and still upcoming Blade movie from Marvel. Although Marvel didn’t provide an official comment, Deadline is indicating that the decision comes after months of meetings stretching from March to June–which themselves were a continuation of meetings taking place last fall.
Plans for a new version of the Blade character, originally played by Wesley Snipes in the early 2000s, were first announced in 2019 during Comic-Con. Snipes, for the record, is welcoming this new incarnation–and has plans for his own “Blade-killer” movie, so it looks like we’re all due for lots of awesome vampire-killing movies ahead. Marvel’s Blade is still expected to start production in July 2022.
Aside from the fact that the film will still happen, Marvel has been tight-fisted on details. The movie was announced back in 2019 as part of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 4, with Mahershala Ali (Moonlight, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) starring in the titular role.
The movie’s script was penned by Stacy Osei-Kuffour. Osei-Kuffour worked previously as a writer and story editor on HBO’s critically-acclaimed Watchmen and Amazon Prime’s Nazi-hunting series Hunters. If the hunt for a director sounds like it was lengthy–Osei-Kuffour was hired after a six-month search. So, it sounds like Marvel really wants to take its time and do right by Blade. We just gotta stay patient.
Call of Duty’s Season 4 Reloaded update for Black Ops Cold War‘s Zombies adds the new round-based map Mauer der Toten, and you can complete a main storyline quest to continue following Cold War’s ongoing Dark Aether narrative. Here’s our full guide to completing the Mauer der Toten main Easter egg quest.
Like most main quests in Zombies, Mauer der Toten will require you to power up the map, and open up most of the doors before really getting started with actual storyline quest steps.
Step 1: Turn On Power and PAP
Your first priority when spawning into the map is getting the power on. You’ll need power for accessing new areas of Mauer der Toten and using perk machines. Afterwards you’ll be able to reach the Pack-A-Punch. Here’s our full guide for turning on the power and activating Mauer der Toten’s Pack-A-Punch.
Step 2: Activate Klaus
You’ll also need the help of Mauer der Toten’s robot ally named Klaus. Klaus can defend areas to protect you or access areas you can’t on your own, but first you’ll need to activate him. Here’s how you activate Klaus.
Step 3: Obtain A Wonder Weapon
Next you’ll need to get your hands on Mauer der Toten’s CRBR-S Wonder Weapon. This new Wonder Weapon starts off as an energy-based pistol with an orbiting repeater, but it also has three additional variant upgrades. Here’s how you obtain and upgrade the CRBR-S Wonder Weapon.
Step 4: Upgrade Klaus
To upgrade Klaus, you need to collect three parts: the Microwave Dish and two Cosmetic Disks.
For the Microwave Dish you’ll need to search the debris piles that can be found in the kill zones on both sides of the Pack-A-Punch machine. There are several debris piles, so just keep searching them until one spawns the Microwave Dish.
Debris piles in the “Death Strip” kill zones beside Pack-A-Punch.
The two Cosmetic Disks you need are located in special boxes around the map. Use your blacklight on each to see a small Klaus Icon. Order Klaus near the box to make him smash it open. There are six box locations, but only two boxes in your match will have the Klaus icon that appears under the blacklight.
Klaus box in the Hotel Lounge. This one had a disc inside because it’s marked with Klaus Icon.
Here are the possible locations:
Hotel Lounge: On the inner corner of the room
5th Floor Apartments: Between the door and bookshelf
Blasted Suite: Near the workbench
West Berlin Street: Under the Cafe sign
Maintenance Tunnel: Outside the tunnel that leads to the Safe House
Ghost Station: On the smaller train loading platform opposite Mule Kick
Take the collected items to the Garment Factory and interact with the Upgrade Station. Klaus will then need to get some zombie kills here. Once Klaus scores enough kills, the Upgrade Station’s display will turn from red to green. Now you can use the remote to direct Klaus into the Upgrade Station. You’ll need to defend it for about a minute. To fully upgrade Klaus, you need to use each item, then complete the defend step each time. So, you’ll do this three times to finish the complete upgrade. Once successful, Klaus will hop out of the machine with a new punk rock look.
Step 5: Build The Headgear
This is an additional upgrade required for Klaus. You need to collect three items: Antenna, Transistor, and Electronic Boards.
Antenna: Located on the Apartment Rooftop spawn area. Shoot the antenna tower on the rooftop with the Wonder Weapon to knock it down. This will drop an antenna part you’ll need to pick up.
Rooftop antenna.
Transistor: In the Electronics Store you’ll find boombox radios. Shoot them with any Wonder Weapon and eventually the part will drop.
Electronic Store Boom Box.
Electronic Boards: At the Ghost Station platform you’ll find a ticket booth window. There’s a small box top left of the window. Shoot this box with any Wonder Weapon to retrieve the part.
The Ghost Station box will have a green light.
Once you have the parts, return to the Safe House and interact with Klaus in his chair to install them. You’ve now upgraded Klaus with the Hacking Helm.
You can do the two Klaus upgrade steps in either order or have teammates working on both at the same time. However, I recommend doing the Upgrade Station step as soon as possible, as it gets dicey to defend the Garment Factory in later rounds.
Step 6: Access The Secret Lab and Charge The Canisters
To unlock Mauer der Toten’s Secret Lab, you need Klaus and an upgraded Wonder Weapon.
First, you’ll need to kill zombies until you get one to drop the Blazer mod for the CRBR-S Wonder Weapon. Once your CRBR-S has the Blazer mod equipped, lead Klaus to Sewer Access and direct him up the small set of stairs that lead to a section of blank brick wall. Direct Klaus to the wall and he’ll punch right through the brick to reveal a secret metal door.
Direct Klaus to this wall in Sewer Access.
Shoot the secret door with the Blazer modded Wonder Weapon until the door melts away.
Once inside the Secret Lab, you’ll see two devices locked under red energy shields. Clear any zombies or Tormentors that spawn. You basically need to survive in this room until the red energy shields disappear. Once down, you’ll be able to interact with a canister pedestal. Take all three canisters that rise from the canister device pedestal.
Secret Lab canister pedestal.
These canisters fit in the three bulky, green harvester boxes found randomly around the map. Find and place all your canisters in the harvester boxes. These are pretty easy to see, so you shouldn’t have much trouble locating them in your match.
Canister Harvester in the East Berlin Streets.
There are multiple spawn locations for these:
Sewer Access: Against the wall near where the fuse Tempest spawns
West Berlin Street: Against a shed, near the junk ramp you cross over to access PAP
Ghost Station: Near the train loading platform
Alley: Next to a dumpster
Korber Rooftop: Next to the water tower
Destroyed Penthouse: In a room sitting between the windows
East Berlin Streets: In the archway between the Bar and the Electronics Store.
Now head back to the Secret Lab. The other device in the Secret Lab that was previously covered by a red shield is a piece of equipment that provides you with Tempest lures. You need to shoot the device with your Wonder Weapon, and it will activate and spawn a lure. You can only carry one of these lures at a time, and you’ll need multiple lures to complete this step, so make sure everyone in your party picks up a lure as well.
Throw a lure down by one of your harvester boxes, and it will cause Tempests to spawn. Kill the Tempests near the harvester box to fill the canister.
This is what the Harvester will look like once the canister is filled.
The canister will turn bright purple once full, and then you can grab the filled canister and navigate back to the Secret Lab, where you’ll place it back on its original pedestal. You’ll want to repeat this process for all three canisters. If everyone in your party has used their lure and you need more, you might need to proceed to the next round to get more lures to spawn at the machine.
Step 7: Stop The Train, Get A Nuke
Once all the canisters are charged, you’ll be prompted to get a nuke.
Go to the Switch Control Room. You’ll find the controls in the room will now give you the option to interact with them. This new prompt allows you to pull a lever to switch the train tracks. Pull the lever and switch the tracks.
Next, summon Klaus and go to the Ghost Station. Direct Klaus on the train tracks furthest away from the Mule Kick perk machine. A train will arrive and Klaus will stop it on the tracks. You can now hop aboard the train to collect two items:
Keycard: Retrieve this from a dead body in one of the seats
Warhead: In a crate at the middle of the train car
If you fail this step or Klaus deactivates before you’ve stopped the train, you’ll have to go to the next round to try again. You’ll also need to hit the button to switch the tracks again.
Step 8: Activate The Disruptor Satellite
It’s important to note here that this step will eventually prompt a 5 minute timer, and your match will end if you fail to complete this within that time frame. So, I’d recommend reading this all the way through to have a good understanding before attempting this step.
First, take the warhead back to the Secret Lab. You’ll interact with the canister pedestal that has your three glowing purple canisters, and it will let you add the nuke item to the pedestal.
Then take the keycard to the Safe Room. Here you can use the computer on the table in the center of the room. Select “Browse Files” and continue to do this until you get a prompt that says: “Activate The Disruptor Satellite.”
Go to the military tent found at West Berlin Streets. Use the computer inside the tent. This will spawn elite enemies including an HVT Megaton. Kill them, preferably saving your Megaton for last. As always, the Megaton will split into two halves. Kill both halves and they will each drop a piece of Uranium Rock. Killing them also starts your 5 minute countdown. Collect one of the Uranium Rock items that the Megaton drops, and rush it to the crafting bench that’s located inside the tent where you first activated the computer. Use the crafting bench to craft the Uranium Device.
This is the crafted Uranium Device.
If you’re playing in co-op, have a teammate grab the other piece of Uranium Rock, and rush it to the same crafting bench to make the second Uranium Device. If you’re playing solo, you’ll have to rush each piece separately, so familiarize yourself with the map layout before attempting this step.
It’s important to note that you’ll take a small amount of damage while holding the Uranium Device. Drop it if you need to recover your health, but don’t take much of a break because you’re still being timed. I used Healing Aura as my Field Upgrade, so I never had to drop the Uranium. I simply activated Healing Aura when my health got low.
Rush one of the Uranium Devices up to the spawn roof (Apartment Rooftop) and interact with the zipline that attaches to the Korber building. Then rush the other Uranium Device to the Korber rooftop and interact with the zipline headed to the Apartment Rooftop.
Place a Uranium Device on each end of the zipline.
Basically, this will cause the two Uranium Devices to collide with each other on the zipline, and the collision will drop a new Cleansed Rock item onto the street below. This ends your timed objective.
Step 9: Cleansed Uranium
Go down to the East Berlin Streets and collect the Cleansed Rock item. Return to the Secret Lab and interact with the canister pedestal to add the uranium.
You now need to repeat the steps from Step 8 to get a second Cleansed Rock.
First, end the round to start a new round. Then repeat the same steps from Step 8, but this time you’ll be using the tent found at East Berlin Streets. Interact with the computer, kill the Megaton that spawns, and craft the uranium items into Uranium Devices at the tent’s craft bench, and take each piece to the opposite ends of the rooftop zipline to collide them.
Then grab the second Cleansed Rock item from the street below. However, this is where you want to stop. I recommend taking the Cleansed Rock back to the Secret Lab, but drop it near the pedestal to avoid taking any more damage, and then take some time to gear up for the boss fight. If you put the second Cleansed Rock into the pedestal straightaway, the boss fight will start without any hesitation.
Get all your perks, and fully upgrade your guns. Wonder Weapons and Death Machine killstreaks are recommended for this boss fight.
Step 10: Boss Fight
Muer der Toten’s big boss fight is Valentina. She will spawn in the Secret Lab once you add that second Cleansed Rock to the pedestal, and she’ll bring a horde of zombies with her. She has a blue shield bar and a red health bar. Take out her shield to start dealing damage to her. You need fully upgraded weapons and Wonder Wonder weapons, otherwise she’ll just keep replenishing her shield if you don’t damage her fast enough.
Valentina boss fight.
After dealing a bit of damage to her, she’ll teleport out of the Secret Lab. You can use this brief intermission to restock your ammo, buy more armor, perks, whatever. You don’t have long though. If you don’t show up to the next part of the fight on your own, she’ll just teleport you and any teammates to her new location. This fight will teleport from Apartment Rooftop, to West Berlin Streets, then East Berlin Streets, and finally Valentina will return to the Secret Lab for the final round.
This isn’t a timed boss fight like the ones in Outbreak, so take your time and make use of the ammo crates nearby. This is a tedious fight.
It’s also important to understand her different attacks. She can shoot fire at you, which obviously can do a fair bit of damage. When she spawns flying zombies around her, take them out quickly, otherwise she’ll start siphoning health from them. And finally, she can attack with a move that creates a hazy and shaky effect on your screen. You want to take cover fast to avoid an insta-death.
Once you take her down in the Secret Lab, you’ll need to interact with her body. There’s a brief cutscene, and then you’ll be back in the game for another part of the story with Klaus, and then a final main cutscene will play. Storyline quest complete.
If you’re looking for more to do on Mauer der Toten, there’s also a really fun Disco Bunny Easter egg to try.
We don’t know a ton about IO Interactive’s James Bond game Project 007, but a new job listing says that it might be a third-person action game. The job listing calls for an AI programmer to join the project, and one of the bullet points states that “experience working with 3rd person action games” is desirable.
The listing also says a few things that we already know about the game: that it will be a wholly original Bond story rather than based on any preexisting material, and that it will be some sort of origin story that will explore how Bond earned his 00 status in the first place.
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We first heard about Project 007 in late 2020 after IO posted a short teaser on social media. Since then, we’ve mostly heard about the game through behind-the-scenes talk, such as when IO announced that it was opening a new studio in Barcelona to assist with the project back in April. Generally speaking, Bond games have tended towards a first-person perspective–especially in the classic N64 FPS GoldenEye 007–but several Bond games feature a third-person perspective, such as 2004’s Everything or Nothing.
The last major Bond game was 2012’s 007 Legends, which received negative reviews from critics. Earlier this year, we learned that a fully remastered version of GoldenEye 007 was developed for the Xbox 360 before being canned at the last minute, and that version of the game leaked back in February.
