Author: Trafficblast

Whenever I find out that a game I like has been picked up for a film adaptation, I cringe a bit. We’re more likely to get something like Street Fighter: The Movie than we are Detective Pikachu. The people who make these movies so often seem to completely misunderstand what makes these games special. While we won’t know if Monster Hunter is another dud until it actually comes out later this month, we at least know that if it fails, it’s not because director Paul W.S. Anderson doesn’t understand the source material. Talking on a recent Twitch stream with Capcom USA, Anderson revealed that he took some inspiration from the most obscure of obscure places: a side quest in a Metal Gear Solid handheld game.

Anderson is in deep. He’s already said that he first played Monster Hunter 12 years ago, well before it hit American shores in any significant way, and has been trying to adapt it for nearly as long. One of the things that worried fans of the games in initial trailers is that our main character, portrayed by Milla Jovovich, isn’t a native inhabitant of the Monster Hunter world. Rather, she’s from our world; she and her team get pulled into Monster Hunter through a storm, and she has to adapt, working with Tony Jaa’s character, “The Hunter,” to survive and thrive.

There are two reasons why Anderson made Jovovich’s character, Lieutenant Artemis, military.

“I was very influenced by a crossover Monster Hunter had done with Metal Gear Solid,” Anderson explained. “This is great imagery to juxtapose a man with a machine gun against the creatures.”

A promotional image from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Anderson is referring to the Hunting Quests in the originally PSP-exclusive game Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, which had Solid Snake fighting a Rathalos and Tigrex from Monster Hunter Portable 3rd.

Further, Anderson explained that he wanted to highlight our overreliance on our technology, shown when it utterly fails Lt. Artemis and her soldiers.

Anderson also reiterated his reasoning for making the protagonist a new character rather than an existing Monster Hunter character for the film. “Milla is the avatar for the audience,” Anderson explained in October. “She’s the newbie going into this world.” He wants to both give non-players a way to experience the world of Monster Hunter without knowing a thing about it, and to recreate for himself and other players the feeling of entering the world as a new character for the first time.

The 50-minute interview covers a ton of topics. Anderson described the slavish detail that his team went into, starting with the actual monster models from the games, tweaking things as subtle as the Diablos’ claws at the request of the game’s creators. He also talked about the commitment of the actors, from star (and Anderson’s wife of 11 years) Milla Jovovich’s personal preference for the game’s dual blades based on her playstyle and physicality to martial artist Tony Jaa’s ability to help bring the weapons to life. Jaa, Anderson explained, made the oversized weapons of the game possible.

Monster Hunter is set to release to theaters on December 25, 2020. There’s no news yet about where the movie might be able to stream following release. We’re hoping the film is a bit more Castlevania and a bit less Super Mario Bros., and that it doesn’t end up on our list of awful video game adapations.

It’s a big news day over at the house of Warner; the studio announced that all of its movies, including tentpole features like The Suicide Squad, The Matrix 4, and Dune, will appear on HBO Max day-and-date with their movie theater debuts. WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar took to Medium to talk about the news, and let a little detail slip that should get Game of Thrones fans excited.

After talking about the decision to shift those big movies to HBO Max, Kilar talked about other Max-exclusive content like Zack Snyder’s Justice League and the upcoming Friends reunion. Kilar signed off, and then dropped a post-script at the end.

“Principal photography starts on the next Game of Thrones series, House of the Dragon, in a few months. Look out for dragons overhead!” Kilar wrote.

It’s not a release date, but it fits the previous 2022 timeline stated by HBO programming boss Casey Bloys. Along with that information, Kilar added in a couple pieces of concept art and a logo for the show, which you can see in Kilar’s original post.

Here’s what we already know about House of the Dragon. Greenlit last fall, the 10-episode season is set 300 years before the events of the Game of Thrones series, meaning that most fan-favorite characters won’t be appearing simply because they don’t exist yet. The series is inspired by author George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, a sort of historical account of the world of Westeros, focusing on the rise of House Targaryen. House of the Dragon began casting earlier this year, and cast actor Paddy Considine as King Viserys Targaryen. HBO has not yet greenlit future seasons, so this may be a limited-run event.

The latest big update for Rainbow Six Siege includes the long-awaited upgrades for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, but just how much better does the game look?

In a new video, we put the game to the test. You can see in this video how Rainbow Six Siege on PS5 looks compared to a high-end PC. Be sure to watch the full video and then decide for yourself.

Along with cross-generation multiplayer and progression, Rainbow Six Siege on next-gen hardware sees improved graphics and performance. The game is playable on the new machines in two modes: Performance and Resolution.

Additionally, the PS5 edition of Rainbow Six Siege uses the DualSense controller for “deeper immersion” with its adaptive triggers and haptic feedback. The Xbox Series X|S edition, meanwhile, supports the Quick Resume feature.

Keep checking back with GameSpot for lots more on Rainbow Six Siege, as well as the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, in the days and weeks ahead.

PC Specs:

RTX 2070 Super

Intel i9-9900K CPU @ 3.60GHz

16GB RAM

Much like her on-again-off-again romantic interest, Vision, Wanda Maximoff AKA Scarlet Witch has been rocketed into the pop culture mainstream by her prominent role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe–and that spotlight is only going to get brighter now that she’s making her way to her very own show. WandaVision is headed for Disney+ in January 2021 and, with any luck, it will both help clear up some of the loose ends in Wanda’s MCU story and establish her moving forward as she goes on to feature in more films, like Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Let’s dive into Scarlet Witch’s comic book origins.

On the big screen, Wanda’s story has been relatively streamlined. She, like Vision, was introduced in Avengers: Age of Ultron as a Sarkovian refugee along with her brother, Pietro AKA Quicksilver, who had been subjected to human experimentation by HYDRA with the Mind Stone. It’s not entirely clear how the experiments actually worked or why they gave the twins the powers they wound up with, but Wanda came out of the HYDRA facility with the ability to telekinetically move objects and manipulate people’s minds.

Over in the comics, Wanda’s history is considerably more complicated and strange, but full of themes and motifs you’ll likely find very familiar as an MCU fan. Introduced in X-Men #4 back in 1964, Wanda and Pietro were first cast as members of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, though neither of them were completely bought-into Magneto’s ideologies. But they didn’t stay exclusive to X-Men titles, or villains, for very long.

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With everyone spending more time at home lately, it’s not a bad idea to invest in a quality desk chair. And if you also happen to game rather extensively, a dedicated gaming chair is the ideal choice. Secretlab is arguably the most well-known gaming chair manufacturer, but its chairs can also be quite pricey. Right now, you can save a decent chunk of change on Secretlab’s 2020 lineup of chairs during its Christmas sale.

The vast majority of Secretlab’s Prime 2.0 PU leather and SoftWeave fabric models are on sale for $40 off. If you opt for the more expensive NAPA leather, you’ll save $100 on your order. You’ll want to double-check the shipping date if you are in fact buying the chair as a Christmas gift. Most of the chairs, including standard Omega and Titan models, won’t ship until after the holidays–Secretlab is experiencing understandable delays due to the pandemic.

We’ve rounded up some of our favorite Secretlab gaming chairs featured in the sale. It’s worth noting that Secretlab has two different sizes when it comes to chairs: Omega and Titan. Omega chairs are designed for people 5’11” tall and under 240 pounds, while Titan chairs are designed for taller people thanks to a larger backrest. Secretlab’s Christmas sale runs all the way up to December 25, so you have some time to take advantage of these discounts.

For more budget-friendly gaming chair options, make sure to check out our list of the best cheap gaming chairs.