Author: Trafficblast

Spelunky 2 is meant to be a huge challenge, but many players have felt that the first area is a little too difficult, even compared to later parts. The development team addressed this point in a recent Steam update, and now a new patch has arrived to soften the first area, Dwelling, a bit.

“We know Dwelling is causing players frustration and I think there’s some fair criticism there, so we’re testing some changes to the spawn rates of enemies and traps, particularly in 1-1 and 1-2,” the update reads. “Some tweaks to 1-4 should make it more interesting, as well! Look for those changes to arrive in a patch some time soon.” That patch has now arrived, along with some changes to spawn rates.

Spelunky 2 Patch 1.12.1e is mostly a list of fixes, but two changes stand out if you’re struggling with this first area. In this patch, the developer has “tuned monsters spawn chances in Dwelling” and “added more room variety in the last Dwelling level.” Hopefully this means fewer moles, although it’s worth remembering that you don’t need to kill everything.

Of course, Spelunky 2 is difficult by design, and you’re still likely to struggle: check out GameSpot’s beginner’s guide if you’re struggling.

Here are the complete patch notes for Spelunky 2’s latest update, which contains many changes.

Spelunky 2 Patch Notes: 1.12.1e

• Updated FMOD to address a memory leak
• Fixed stuttering in some HDD setups
• Prevented journal from opening using TAB when the SHIFT key is pressed
• Display non-remappable buttons to the keyboard controls screen as help
• Fixed issue where non damaging visual FX were bigger than damaging ones
• Attacking but not dealing damage will now use a hopefully clearer VFX
• Language switch is no longer saved unless the player applies it
• Prevented the ankh from removing the leader flag, which was causing a crash on moving to the second layer after reviving
• All players in a local coop will now move to the entrance along with the ankh’s revived player
• Low Scorer achievement will now unlock even if the player skips the ending scene
• Challenges will now cancel if the ankh is used
• Players can no longer skip the ending before getting the bonus score
• Fixed coop camera when first player dead and the second player sacrifices himself in the CoG altar
• Fixed issue where the current seed was showing during character selection and other screens
• Fixed leaderboard filter text that was too long on certain languages
• Fixed temple level generation (crush traps should no longer spawn next to pushblocks)
• Tuned monsters spawn chances in Dwelling
• Added more room variety in the last Dwelling level
• Fixed some blocked levels generation in multiple themes
• Fixed crash when finishing the game with a mount
• Fixed entities’ looking direction on being pick-up while webbed
• Fixed movement when leaving a ladder due to monster collision or weapon recoil
• Fixed oversight that made paste bombs attached to corpses not blow up on contact with lava
• Fixed an issue with saves not saving on Proton (checked on arch tkg-5.1.8)
• Minor performance optimizations
• Fixed crash when cavemen equipped jetpacks or capes
• Olmec floaters can no longer be pushed by shields
• Golden scarabs are no longer collected during leaving doors invulnerability frames (helpful for no money achievements)
• Dice tossed against a laser beam will now bounce back with half the force
• Explosive stuff now have some invulnerability frames on creation (prevents rare hoverpacks spawned from mosquitoes from immediately being blown up, for example)

Halo Infinite doesn’t release until 2021, and its story remains largely a mystery, but we may soon learn a little more about the narrative. The new book Halo: Shadows of Reach, which releases on October 20, will provide some “connective tissues” that link to the new game.

Author Troy Denning said in an interview with 343 Industries that the new book will “whet the appetite” for Halo Infinite, and he was keen to join the project from the very beginning.

“When Ed [Schlesinger, Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books] asked me to write the book, the first thing he mentioned was that it would be a Blue Team novel with connective tissues related to the Master Chief’s role in Halo Infinite–and I was sold,” he said. “I just love the Halo universe and characters, so writing a novel that moves the timeline forward–and helps whet the appetite for Infinite–is definitely something I was interested in.”

Denning also teased that Shadows of Reach will provide a “glimpse into certain plot points that also come to fuller fruition within Halo Infinite.” He added, “Often times this can mean that certain elements I’m writing in my manuscript are brought to life in parallel with ones being developed for Halo Infinite’s story and gameplay.”

Halo franchise lead editor Jeremy Patenaude is also quoted in the interview, saying Shadows of Reach will touch on the main villains in Halo Infinite, The Banished.

“They should also expect further introduction to the Banished, the enemy which takes center stage as the main threat to humanity in both this story as well as Halo Infinite,” Patenaude said. “This isn’t entirely new for those who’ve played Halo Wars 2 or read Halo: Rise of Atriox, but it does offer new details on who they are and what they’re like.”

While Shadows of Reach may connect to Halo Infinite in some ways, it is not “required reading” to enjoy Halo Infinite, according to Microsoft.

For more on Shadows of Reach, you can listen to Master Chief voice actor Steve Downes read a special excerpt.

While we have to wait a while longer for Halo Infinite, Microsoft is releasing a new Halo novel very soon, and the company is promoting it with a special excerpt read by none other than the voice of Master Chief, Steve Downes. You can listen to Downes’ famous voice read about seven minutes of Halo: Shadows of Reach in the video below.

The book was written by Troy Denning, who has written numerous Halo novels before this, in addition to books in the Star Wars, Planescape, and Forgotten Realms franchises. The story focuses on Master Chief as he takes part in a “covert insertion” on the planet of Reach alongside his Spartan II soldiers.

The full audiobook version of Shadows of Reach is narrated by Sean Patrick Hopkins. The book is scheduled to release on October 20, and you can get it through Audible, Google Play, and other digital bookstores.

According to Microsoft, Shadows of Reach is not “required reading” to make sense of the upcoming Halo Infinite. Microsoft says it is similar in nature to Erik Nylund’s 2010 novel Halo: The Fall of Reach, a book that detailed some of the early storylines of the Halo series, going back before the first Halo game.

Halo Infinite’s story takes place years after the events of Halo 5: Guardians, continuing the story of Master Chief. For lots more on Shadows of Reach–and I mean lots–you can check out this detailed interview with Denning and editor Jeremy Patenaude covering many key aspects of the book.

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Fallout Miami is one of the most ambitious game mod projects ever, taking players away from the New England setting of Fallout 4 itself and placing them in a “post-nuclear vacation wasteland.” It has been in the works for several years, and in a new update post, the developers shared what they’ve been working on since the pandemic began.

Pre-production for the mod’s main quest has been finished, with the team now moving on to writing as well as quest implementation. Fallout Miami will be around the size and scope of an official Fallout expansion when it releases, with side quests and new characters to meet as well as factions to encounter.

Those factions include a group that makes use of coconut shells for their masks, giving them a more menacing look than what you might expect from a coconut shell. 3D models for this unannounced faction are nearly complete, and they should be fully revealed soon. You can see a glimpse of some of the new characters and artwork in the video above.

The team has also created brands and franchises to be scattered across the map in order to give Miami a more realistic look. One of these is the Poseidon Energy subsidiary Gasolina Caribica, a fossil fuel supplier. The locations look paused in time, much like a lot of the architecture from Fallout 4 itself–well, except for the looting and nuclear blast damage. There’s also a “Center School” to try to continue education, and it’s built from scrap metal, but there are pre-war books and tapes available.

Fallout Miami does not yet have a release date. It’s currently only planned for PC, and you can learn more about the game’s development, potentially voicing a character, or helping with development via the official FAQ.

One of the biggest multiplayer shooters of the generation could be coming to Xbox Game Pass, if the service’s official Twitter account is hinting at what we think it is. Rainbow Six Siege has millions of players, and it looks like some more Xbox players are going to get access for free.

A post on the Xbox Game Pass Twitter features no text, but instead an image of a massive six-band rainbow and a siege weapon placed outside a castle. That could be a big coincidence, but it almost certainly means the game is coming to Xbox Game Pass. Because Ubisoft is supporting free next-gen upgrades for Rainbow Six Siege and several other recent games, you’ll likely be able to play the Xbox Series X and Series S version on the new systems, too.

Microsoft is no stranger to silly teases for new Xbox Game Pass additions. It did something similar with Doom Eternal just as Microsoft purchased Bethesda. In that case, it was with a hidden “The Slayer is Coming” message hidden in the copy of an email.

Ubisoft is shaping up to have a very busy holiday season. Watch Dogs: Legion releases on October 29 before coming to the next-gen systems at launch, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is out on November 10. Immortals: Fenyx Rising then arrives on December 3, and the cooperative-focused Rainbow Six Quarantine is also in the works.

Netflix’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 revisits one of the most notorious American trials of the 20th Century, as retold by The Social Network and The West Wing’s Aaron Sorkin. Featuring a stellar ensemble cast, we said “Aaron Sorkin has produced a thoughtful meditation on a truly nightmarish event, a Kafka-esque distortion of due process” in our Trial of the Chicago 7 review.

But while the drama chronicles the lives of the defendants during their legal battle, Sorkin’s film doesn’t engage in the traditional “where are they now/what happened to them after” sort of coda we’ve come to expect from such “based on a true story” films. There are only passing mentions of the fates of some of the people portrayed in the film.

So with that in mind, and to satiate the curiosity of those who have just finished watching the film, let’s dive into what happened to the leading characters depicted in The Trial of the Chicago 7.

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Abbie Hoffman (played by Sacha Baron Cohen)

Hoffman remained an activist for the rest of his life, authoring Steal This Book, which he dubbed “a handbook for living free, stealing and making violent revolution.” Heeding the book’s title, enough people stole the book that many stores stopped carrying it. Hoffman was arrested in 1973 for intent to sell and distribute cocaine. He claimed he was entrapped by an undercover officer and went on the run for several years, during which time he abandoned his family and even had plastic surgery to alter his appearance. Hoffman eventually served four months of a one-year prison sentence. He later returned to activism and made a cameo as a protestor in Oliver Stone’s 1989 film Born on the Fourth of July. Hoffman, who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, died at age 52 in April 1989 from what was officially ruled a suicide by phenobarbital overdose. Hoffman’s suicide has many doubters, including fellow Chicago 7 member David Dellinger, as Hoffman would regularly lecture on how the CIA disguised their assassinations as suicides.

Jerry Rubin (played by Jeremy Strong)

After leaving political activism, Rubin became a multimillionaire businessman and even invested in Apple Computer in its early days. Rubin and Hoffman debated each other on a tour touted as “Yippie versus Yuppie,” with Rubin advocating for wealth creation and social consciousness in business. He was also critical of the excesses of the counterculture movement. Rubin died in November 1994 after being struck by a car while jaywalking in Westwood, California.

Bobby Seale (played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II)

A co-founder of the Black Panther Party, Seale is now 83 years old. Following the Chicago 7 trial, law enforcement was interested in Seale for the murders of two fellow Panthers, but only ever brought charges in one case; they were later dropped. Seale ran for mayor of Oakland, California in 1973 but lost in a run-off. He left the Black Panther party in 1974. Seale has remained a social justice advocate, authored several books, including an autobiography and a cookbook, has worked with youth initiatives, and also appeared in an ad for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

Rennie Davis (played by Alex Sharp)

Davis, now 79, became a venture capitalist and runs Foundation for a New Humanity. In the 1970s he joined Divine Light Mission as a disciple of Guru Maharaj Ji. and has lectured on meditation and self-awareness.

David Dellinger (played by John Carroll Lynch)

Dellinger continued to be a political activist and dedicated pacifist, joining protests including a sit-in at the 1996 Democratic Convention in Chicago where he was arrested along with Abbie Hoffman’s son Andrew. He died at age 88 in May 2004 after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

Tom Hayden (played by Eddie Redmayne)

Hayden founded the Indochina Peace Campaign, which aimed, in part, to gain amnesty for those who evaded the Vietnam War draft. A Democrat politician and prolific author, Hayden served in the California State Assembly from 1982 to 1992 and the State Senate from 1992 to 2000. He was married to fellow activist actress Jane Fonda for 17 years, during which time he fathered actor Troy Garity (best known for his roles in the Barbershop sequels and Ballers). Hayden died in October 2016 at age 76.

John Froines (played by Daniel Flaherty)

After his acquittal, Froines, now 81, worked in public health. He was the director of UCLA’s Occupational Health Center, served as a director in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and was the chair of the California Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants for decades. Froines retired from the UCLA School of Public Health in 2011.

Lee Weiner (played by Noah Robbins)

Following his acquittal, Weiner earned his Ph.D. in sociology and worked in fundraising for non-profits and members of Congress. His autobiography, Conspiracy to Riot: The Life and Times of One of the Chicago 7, was published in August 2020. Weiner, 81, lives in Florida.

Judge Julius Hoffman (played by Frank Langella)

Judge Hoffman continued presiding over cases until his death at age 87 in 1983, despite a poor reputation among a majority of Chicago attorneys according to the book The Benchwarmers.

Richard Schultz (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt)

Schultz later went into private practice with Chicago 7 prosecutor Thomas Foran, partnering with him in the Chicago firm of Foran & Schultz.

William Kunstler (played by Mark Rylance)

The radical lawyer and activist died in 1995 at age 76. Following his defense of the Chicago 7, Kunstler defended members of the American Indian Movement who took part in the Wounded Knee Occupation, an inmate who was charged with killing a guard during the Attica prison riot, the Black Liberation Army’s Assata Shakur, “the Blind Sheikh” Omar Abdel-Rahman, and even organized crime figures like mob boss John Gotti. Kunstler also portrayed singer Jim Morrison’s defense attorney in Oliver Stone’s 1991 film The Doors.

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Update – 10/18/20:

Well, it turns out the Die Hard ad was in fact just that, an ad for Die Hard batteries. Although, it did have some action-packed moments.

In the full 2-minute commercial, there are a few nods to the Die Hard movies including Willis crawling through a vent and reuniting with his limousine driver Argyle (good to see you again, De’voreaux White). Willis even beats someone over the head with a Die Hard-branded car battery, which is a sentence I never thought I’d be writing.

You can check out the full video in this tweet from Advance Auto Parts.

Original story below…

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Something is amiss in Die Hard land as Bruce Willis has popped up in a short teaser implying a possible return of John McClane.

A 15-second teaser was posted on Twitter by his daughter Rumer Willis that shows Bruce Willis walking down a foggy Christmas light-lit street to the sound of someone whistling. The text reads, “as one story ends…a new one begins” followed by an October 18, 2020 date and the hashtag #DieHardIsBack.

#DieHardisBack #ad pic.twitter.com/UHn8RSBGP0

— Rumer Willis (@TheRue) October 17, 2020

It’s unclear if this is teasing a movie or possible spinoff TV series starring Willis, but something is definitely happening.

Her tweet also indicated this is an ad for something, so maybe it’s just a Die Hard-themed product of some sort? The holidays are right around the corner, after all, even though Willis himself says Die Hard is definitively not a Christmas movie.

It’s also worth noting that Andy Samberg’s music group The Lonely Island also quote Tweeted the teaser with the text “Tell your dad we still want him to be on B99!” Could this actually be teasing a crossover event on Brooklyn Nine-Nine that involves Willis’ iconic Detective?

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Rumors of a sixth Die Hard installment have been circulating around the internet ever since the disappointing reception of 2013’s A Good Day to Die Hard, including a possible reunion with Samuel L. Jackson’s character Zeus. While that clearly didn’t pan out, Willis is no stranger to reprising roles years after the last film.

What do you think this teaser is for? A movie? A spinoff or TV series? A cameo? Let us know what you’d like to see in the comments below.

For more Die Hard find out where it ranks on our list of best Christmas movies of all-time and all the best (and worst) Die Hard ripoffs.

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Matthew Adler is a Features, News, Previews, and Reviews writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @MatthewAdler and watch him stream on Twitch.