A movie based on Campo Santo’s adventure game Firewatch is in the works. It’s being produced by Snoot Entertainment, the indie publishing label behind Blindspotting, Little Monsters, and others.
Snoot Entertainment co-founders Jess Wu Calder and Keith Calder will serve as producers. Campo Santo co-founders Jake Rodkin and Sean Vanaman will also produce. No other details, such as casting announcements or tentative release window, have been revealed.
Firewatch is the title that put Campo Santo, an indie studio comprised of former Telltale Games developers, on the map. Set in 1989 Wyoming, Firewatch follows the fire lookout Henry as he builds a complicated relationship with his ever-distant supervisor Delilah. Strange things start happening in the forests, and it’s up to Delilah and Henry to uncover the truth behind the unsettling occurrences.
The Calder’s briefly spoke of their Firewatch adoration with The Hollywood Reporter, saying they’re excited to bring it to the big screen.
“Firewatch is a stunning accomplishment, a beautiful and heartbreaking piece of art,” Calder said. “I’m delighted that Sean and Jake are letting us ruin their perfect video game by turning it into a movie and/or TV show.”
“Jess and Keith are hard-working and visionary film producers with impeccable taste in video games,” Vanaman said. “Not unlike when we met Joe Drake and the team at Good Universe [a California-based film production company behind The Disaster Artist] in 2016, we knew in our first conversation with Jess and Keith that they’d make great partners. We have no doubt in their expertise, their taste and their passion and assume that our experience as so-so game developers will make us first-rate producer partners.”
This isn’t the first report of Firewatch getting the movie treatment. Back in 2016, THR reported that Campo Santo and Good Universe reached a deal to adapt the game to the movie screen. This new announcement seems to solidify this years-old partnership.
Fall Guys developer Mediatonic is taking advantage of the hype around its battle royale to raise funds for charity. The London-based developer is holding a contest to see which company will donate the most in order to get a cosmetic in game.
“The thirst from brands has been unreal… so we’re turning it into something positive,” the official Fall Guys account tweeted. The company who donates the most to UK-based non-profit Special Effect, a charity focused on helping players with physical disabilities, will get to have its cosmetic implemented into the battle royale. The winner will be announced in two weeks.
🔥 BATTLE OF THE BRANDS 🔥 The thirst from brands has been unreal… so we’re turning it into something positive! Prize: Your brand inside Fall Guys as a costume! 👉 To enter: Reply to this tweet with the highest amount of money you would be willing to donate to @SpecialEffect
The thirst really has been unreal as brands have already started to donate and propose its own designs. Rivals of Aether developer Dan Fornace offered $10,000 dollars to include two characters from his fighting game. Warframe developer Digital Extremes offered $20,000 to include its design and the Rivals of Aether design.
Other esports, hardware, and gaming companies have started to make offers of its own. Fall Guys had over 2 million players on PC in its first week so companies are eager to get an advertising slot in the game. Just look at this bidet company jumping into the fight.
Fall Guys has become an overnight sensation with new skins, like Team Fortess 2’s Scout, the Bullet Kin from Enter the Gungeon, and the banana from My Friend Pedro skins already making appearances. It’s clear that these skins are going to be a hot commodity for some time.
After a year to get its feet wet and establish its identity within the battle royale genre, Apex Legends went through a flurry of changes in Season 4: Assimilation and Season 5: Fortune’s Favor. In comparison, Season 6: Boosted seems to be a smaller step for Respawn’s battle royale game. There are still plenty of in-game changes and new pieces of content, but Respawn looks to be taking a break from radically altering Apex Legends and is instead taking stock of how to improve the game going forward.
When I spoke to Apex Legends lead game designer Carlos Pineda, he told me that players should expect Season 6 to be “a little bit bigger” than Season 2: Battle Charge and Season 3: Meltdown. However, the changes probably won’t be as drastic as Season 4 and Season 5–Season 6 falls somewhere in-between.
“We have some meta changes, not quite as big as Seasons 4 and 5, but Seasons 4 and 5 were targeted at these pain points that people had been complaining about for a while–a lot of our conversations since December have revolved around that,” Pineda said. “And Seasons 4 and 5 hit a lot of those so with Season 6 we believe we’re in a bit of a better spot so we should just take it easy for a little bit and see how all the changes settle out and begin to see where any new pain points might arise in order to patch them.”
In comparison to earlier seasons, Season 4 and Season 5 saw huge changes to Apex Legends. So far, Year 2 has implemented massive character overhauls, with substantial nerfs to characters like Wattson and Wraith and huge buffs to characters like Bloodhound and Revenant. Some characters saw their abilities get slightly altered, like Lifeline and Octane, with Mirage’s abilities being outright reworked.
Season 6: Boosted, meanwhile, adds a new character (Rampart), weapon (the Volt), and makes some map changes to World’s Edge–they’re noticeable but not as substantial as a giant tower in the middle of the map further splitting the battleground into two distinctive halves. The changes seem akin to Kings Canyon’s transformation at the start of Season 2, which improved squad movement between landmarks with new means of getting around.
“I spoke to map designer Alex Graner and the thing he really wanted to push through with this map change was more rotation options for people,” Pineda said. “Because there were certain chokes that never got used–it basically felt like the chokes were too chokey and did too good a job of funneling people. In opening these new cut throughs and adding additional geysers here and there and taking the train out to put cover around the tracks, all of that space suddenly becomes usable for moving around the map. So hopefully, people don’t feel as trapped when they’re moving around.”
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Apex Legends – Official Season 6 “Boosted” Cinematic Launch Trailer
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The new changes to World’s Edge seem to be the most substantial adjustments being made in Season 6–I’m intrigued to see how the addition of crafting materials may decrease the amount of time a squad needs to spend between looting and getting into the fight as well as how the new blast walls may change how squads view rotation lanes. Season 6’s new character and weapon don’t seem as substantial. Both look really cool but Rampart and the Volt don’t appear to be game changers. Rampart is a defender who fortifies her squad’s position by diverting other squads away from it. The Volt’s standout property is being the first energy SMG, so its bullets behave differently from the heavy ammo Prowler and light ammo Alternator and R-99.
“Specifically, I think [The Volt] is a little bit faster fire rate and it’s a little bit more manageable than the R-99,” Pineda said. “I would say it’s more comparable to the Alternator. It’s a little easier to control and because it’s an energy weapon, the bullets tend to go faster and farther so you can actually hit people at a higher distance. You get a little bit more versatility out of it in comparison to the other SMGs.”
All of Season 6’s new content is detailed in full in the patch notes for the update if you’re looking to see everything that’s changed. Apex Legends Season 6: Boosted is scheduled to begin later today at 10 PM PT, which is August 18 at 1 AM ET.
Gary Whitta, the founder of the Animal Crossing: New Horizons talk show Animal Talking, is starting a new talk show within Mediatonic’s Fall Guys. He’s taking a break from Animal Talking in order to produce new celebrity-focused interviews.
“Animal Talking may be taking a break but the chat never stops!” Whitta tweeted. “Stand by for an all-new celebrity talk show debuting soon, co-hosted by me and Kate Stark! No one from yellow team allowed — sorry I don’t make the rules, Fall Guys does.”
It’s not clear how Whitta and co-host Kate Stark will host a new talk show within Fall Guys. Unlike Animal Crossing, it has no lobby or waiting area for avatars to sit and chat. The show might take advantage of Fall Guys’ game show features or be a simple Twitch stream where the two hosts talk over gameplay. I’m all for the two streamers acting as game show hosts while celebrities like T-Pain fail on Slime Climb.
Whitta started Animal Talking “accidentally” before the show took off. It included big names like Sting, Elijah Wood, and even Danny Trejo as a correspondent for its first two seasons.
Fall Guys developer Mediatonic has plans to develop the wacky battle royale into more of a game show experience with deeper Twitch integration. Streamers will undoubtably rush to be the most popular Fall Guys streamer as new mini games come out.
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The Division 2‘s servers are scheduled to shut down on August 18 at 12:30 AM PT / 3:30 AM ET for three hours on all platforms as a maintenance update gets applied, the studio has confirmed.
While no file size has been announced, the update seems to be relatively small at the current moment and only fixes two issues. These are clan XP not properly updating and ironing out DELTA-03 errors when equipping Exotics. Should more updates be necessary, developer Massive Entertainment confirmed additional patch notes will be published on its forums as the maintenance progresses.
The Division 2 Patch Notes (August 18)
Fixed an issue causing clan XP to not update properly.
Fixed an issue that could cause DELTA-03 errors when equipping an Exotic weapon.
The Division 2 recently received an update that fixed issues with the progression of Global Events, Morozova’s Phase 6 not initiating, and more. And last month, The Division 2’s 10.1 Update–which addressed various bug fixes and balance adjustments–introduced tons of changes to loot, including tweaking the attributes and stats of item drops, increasing the minimum item power on higher difficulties, and giving players the ability to swap their abilities while they’re on cooldown, among other things.
For many of us, months of lockdown and quarantine has provided the time to finish projects, learn new skills, or perhaps just sit around watching lots of Netflix. For author George R.R. Martin, it’s meant one thing–working on much anticipated six novel in the fantasy series that Game of Thrones was adapted from. In his latest blog update, Martin has revealed just how tedious his life has got while he tries to finish the book, titled The Winds of Winter.
Martin revealed that his life has entered a routine that revolves around food, drink, and writing–the first two being provided by assistants which he refers to as “minions.” “My life up here is very boring, it must be said,” he said. “Truth be told, I hardly can be said to have a life. Everyone morning I wake up and go straight to the computer, where my minion brings me coffee (I am utterly useless and incoherent without my morning coffee) and juice, and sometimes a light breakfast. Then I start to write. Sometimes I stay at it until dark.
“Other days I break off in late afternoon to answer emails or return urgent phone calls. My assistant brings me food and drink from time to time. When I finally break off for the day, usually around sunset, there’s dinner. Then we watch television or screen a movie.”
Martin doesn’t reveal how close he is to finishing The Winds of Winter, but in any case, fans have learnt not to trust promised delivery dates. The most recent update on that occurred back in June, when he stated he hoped the novel would be finished by the next summer. However, he did also state, “It’s going to be a huge book, and I still have a long way to go.”
Although Game of Thrones finished last year on TV, there is a spin-off show in the works. House of the Dragon will be set 300 years before the events of the main series, and will focus on the rise of House Targaryen. The series will consist of 10 episodes, and HBO programming chief Casey Bloys previously stated that he was hopeful we would see it in 2022. For more check out Game Spot’s guide to everything we know about House of the Dragon.
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While the Nintendo Switch only has two official controllers–the Joy-Con and Pro Controller–a practically endless supply of third-party options are available at this point. Many of the less expensive third-party controllers are themed with popular franchises, and what’s more popular than Super Mario? If you’re looking for a new, budget-friendly gamepad and happen to be fond of the Italian plumber, Hori and PowerA both have new controllers releasing next month for $25.
The Hori Mini Pad is specifically designed for kids, as it has a much more compact shape by eliminating the lengthy handles seen on most modern controllers. Still, it retains all of the buttons of the Pro Controller, and this iteration has a charming Super Mario graphic featuring Mario and Bowser in front of Peach’s Castle. This wired controller releases September 1 and is available to pre-order now for $25 at Amazon.
PowerA’s Enhanced controller line features mappable buttons, so you can change inputs on the fly to fit your preferences. The accessory manufacturer is easily the most prolific when it comes to third-party Switch controllers, and the latest “Golden M” model stands out. Mushrooms and various blocks combine to make the letter M in gold, which looks great against the red background. This wired controller releases September 4 and is available to pre-order at Amazon for $25.
If you’re looking for a new wireless controller option for Nintendo Switch, make sure to check out our roundup of the best Nintendo Switch controllers. Our list includes a wide variety of gamepads, including numerous models from Hori and PowerA.
Cold Symmetry’s Mortal Shell is a tribute to From Software’s Souls series that incorporates a cast of heroes to build throughout your adventure. Playing as the protagonist known as The Foundling, you’ll take on several nervewracking and death-defying challenges while exploring a hostile and desolate world. To do that, you’ll inhabit the bodies of different warriors who have their unique connections to the world of Fallgrim. Mortal Shell has many echoes of the popular and challenging Souls-like games, while also injecting its twists on the formula. But there’s also a hidden way to turn the difficulty up even further.
While controlling the shells in Mortal Shell is one of the game’s biggest highlights, it’s possible to make things even more challenging by permanently disabling them entirely. In doing so, you’ll stay in The Foundling’s base form, who has nearly unlimited stamina but will die in one hit. Given that the game’s flow is about that careful balance of offense and defense, this added challenge isn’t recommended for newcomers to the game, and it’s best to at least finish the game once before attempting it.
Surprisingly, you can activate this alternate version of the game shortly after the opening minutes. Once you venture into the core area of Fallgrim, shortly after the quick cutscene pointing you in the direction of the Fallgrim tower, make a right down the path leading down further into the swamps. You’ll encounter some spear-wielding enemies and poisonous frogs, but it’s best to run past them once you reach the shallow river, head right, and then make an immediate left to head back north. Right next to you will be a tree, make another right to walk up a walkway to find a hole leading further into the tree.
Once inside, you’ll find a shrine that will give you a choice to renounce your shells and proceed with the rest of the game as just The Foundling. There will be a warning accompanied by this choice, giving you one last chance to reconsider. If you proceed, The Foundling will take on slightly different form, and all shells will be unusable for the rest of the game. This also means that you won’t be able to gain upgrades for your character. Sester Genessa, who upgrades your shells, will also be there to offer insight into the world and serve as a glorified checkpoint from here on out.
While this may seem harsh, you’re still given access to a suite of weapon and gear upgrades to boost your weapons’ power. Plus, all the tar and glimpse you would have spent on your shells can now be used on the merchant to buy items and other trinkets. The Foundling is still capable of holding its own in a battle–arguably more so in some cases. As mentioned previously, they have an immense about of stamina, allowing them to last longer in fights. However, one blow from an enemy take them out instantly, and without a shell to retreat back into, you’ll instantly be booted back to your last checkpoint if you fail in a fight.
It’s certainly a bold challenge to take on, and it does have some echoes of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which also had a similar mechanic that you could enable. After my first playthough, I can how much of a challenge it would be to finish the game without getting hit once in a fight, but it certainly seems possible, and I don’t doubt that some of the more skillful players will be able to pull it off.
In our full review of Mortal Shell, editor Phil Hornshaw praised the game’s unique approach to paying tribute to From Software’s games.
“Mortal Shell succeeds more often than not at capturing the specific feelings intrinsic to Souls-like games. The twists it adds to From-inspired mechanics do well to help this sort of game become more approachable than most, while maintaining the same air of mystery and foreboding that makes the genre itself so intriguing. Mortal Shell makes for a strong introduction to Souls-likes, a demonstration for new players of what so many have found so interesting about From Software’s games and those like them. But Mortal Shell is also a lovingly crafted, weird, and deceptively deep game in its own right that rewards you for wandering its twisted paths and challenging its deadliest foes.”
For more on Mortal Shell, go check out our extensive guide on some helpful tips for those venturing into the hostile world of Fallgrim for the first time.
In the latest development of the very public spat between Apple and Epic Games, Epic has issued a new filing in which it claims that Apple has “retaliated ferociously” to its lawsuit. While we already knew that Apple had removed Fortnite from the App Store, it’s now taken things further. According to Epic, Apple will cut off Epic’s access to development tools later this month–including those it uses to work on the Unreal Engine utilized by Epic and numerous other developers in the industry.
Epic’s filing quickly notes that Apple has not indicated that the Unreal Engine itself has violated any App Store policies. “Not content simply to remove Fortnite from the App Store, Apple is attacking Epic’s entire business in unrelated areas,” the filing states.
In response to this threat, Epic is seeking an injunction against Apple. Epic argues that it would eventually succeed in its recently filed legal case, but that Apple is attempting to “crush” Epic before the case can get to that point with what it says would be a “catastrophic” action against its Unreal Engine business.
Specifically, the injunction looks to block Apple from doing three key things: de-listing Fortnite from the App Store (or otherwise making it unavailable); taking adverse action against Epic, such as terminating its access to the Apple Developer Program; or removing Fortnite from existing users’ devices. As it stands, existing Fortnite players can continue to play the game on iOS or re-download the game, although Epic has said that forthcoming updates (including the new season) will not be available to download on the platform. This filing suggests the possibility that Apple could take things further and outright disable the game from being played, even in its current form, on iOS devices. So far, Apple has not publicly indicated that it intends to do so.
Essentially, Epic is asking the courts to force Apple to put its actions–both those it’s taken and might take in the future–against Epic and Fortnite on hold while its court case is adjudicated.
Epic also argues that it would suffer “irreparable harm” if Apple were to cut off its Developer Program access. From the filing:
Apple’s retaliation represents an existential threat to Epic’s Unreal Engine. OS providers like Apple routinely make certain software and developer tools available to software developers, for free or a small fee, to enable the development of software that will run on the OS. Apple intends to deny Epic access to that widely available material. Without that access, Epic cannot develop future versions of the Unreal Engine for use on iOS or macOS. Developers that intend to sell their apps for use on iOS or macOS devices will have to forgo the Unreal Engine in favor of other engines. The effects will reverberate well beyond video games; it will affect developers who use the Unreal Engine on Apple products in many fields. The ensuing impact on the Unreal Engine’s viability, and the trust and confidence developers have in that engine, cannot be repaired with a monetary award. This is quintessential irreparable harm.
This new filing is lengthy, although portions of it simply re-state what was argued in the lawsuit last week. Essentially it boils down to this: Epic accuses Apple (and Google, in its separate lawsuit) of operating a monopoly with the way the App Store operates. The entire situation began when Epic introduced an alternative payment method inside of Fortnite, giving players an option to purchase V-Bucks directly from Epic and cutting Apple out entirely. Apple responded by kicking Fortnite off the App Store, prompting Epic’s lawsuit.
We’ll report back as we learn more.
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