Sacha Baron Cohen’s new Borat film is a huge hit for Amazon. “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” drew in tens of millions of viewers on Amazon’s Prime Video service throughout its opening weekend, the company announced.
That’s a global number, Amazon says. Here in the States, Variety reports that TV analytics provider Samba TV estimates viewership for Borat 2 at around 1.6 million homes, though Amazon apparently disputes that number, preferring less-specific statistics. Samba TV notes that based on their estimates, Borat beat out Disney’s Mulan, though it’s important to note that Disney asked its paying Disney+ subscribers to shell out an extra $30 to watch its latest live-action adaptation.
“During its opening weekend, [Borat 2] was streamed by tens of millions of customers,” Amazon wrote in a press release. “Within the first few hours of the watch party on Thursday night, a million plus fans tuned in to interact live with Borat himself and participate in a dance party with fans around the world.”
“Sacha has masterfully created one of the most well received films of these unprecedented times,” said Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios, “showcasing some of the best and the worst of us, wrapped in one outrageous moment after another. But at its core, Borat 2 is a heartwarming story of a father daughter relationship and of female empowerment seen through a hysterical, satirical lens. With the tremendous launch of this global, tentpole movie, it’s clear our customers around the world want content that is both relevant and entertaining.”
Our own review calls Borat 2 an “absurdly timely movie” that’s actually “pretty damn funny” while avoiding the pitfalls that have caused the original film to age poorly.
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Netflix has acquired a new movie starring Tenet’s John David Washington and Oscar-winning Lara Croft actress Alicia Vikander. The streaming network has purchased the movie Born to be Murdered, which follows a couple–played by Washington and Vikander–who go on a lovely vacation in Greece only to get swept into a “violent conspiracy with tragic consequences,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The movie was filmed on location in Greece in 2019, but it only just sold to Netflix, according to the report.
In addition to Washington and Vikander, Born to be Murdered will feature Boyd Holbrook (Logan, Narcos) and Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread). The film is produced by Luca Guadagnino, who directed the Oscar-winning 2017 drama Call Me By Your Name, and it’s expected to debut in 2021.
Born to be Murdered was directed by Ferdinando Cito Filomarino, who makes his English-language directorial debut with the project. Filomarino was a second unit director on Call Me By Your Name.
This is the second time Netflix has acquired a movie starring John David Washington this year. The company also shelled out a reported $30 million to buy a black-and-white film called Malcolm & Marie, which also stars Zendaya.
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No Man’s Sky has released a new update for Halloween, and it adds numerous new cosmetic items to the game to celebrate the season. It’ll also enhance the wrecks from the Desolation update with new materials, and bring a few other changes to the space-faring game on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
The new update notes explain that you can now find Tainted Metal and Quicksilver on abandoned freighters, so it’s worth visiting them and dealing with the alien menaces within to get your hands on some. Watch out, though–the aliens have been mutating, and are stronger than ever.
Tainted Metal can be traded to a scrap dealer for new base decorations and customization options, the wildest of which is the “Horrific Flesh-Helmet”. That’s the in-game name for the item you see below. It’s…well, it’s a horrific flesh-helmet. The mouth moves. It’s a lot.
No Man’s Sky’s “Horrific Flesh-Helmet”
You can also get the Orange Pustule, Detoxified Slime, and Wriggling Companion (a sort-of space squid) for your base, too. New decals and banners based on these horror items are also available.
This is part of Patch 3.05, available to download now, and Hello Games has also released some fixes and tweaks. Here’s the complete list.
3.05 Patch Notes
Derelict freighters have been rebalanced for increased challenge.
Low temperatures are more extreme, security systems are tougher and more efficient at locating intruders, aliens are more aggressive, and all hostile lifeforms are more difficult to defeat.
Added the possibility of looting Quicksilver to derelict freighters. This will be available for the next few weeks.
The scrap dealer on Space Stations now stocks a range of base parts, decals, banners and a Horrific Flesh-Helmet.
The scrap dealer now trades in a new black market currency, Tainted Metal, which can be salvaged from derelict freighters.
The scrap dealer also now stocks Repair Kits.
Added two new player titles, which may be earned via in-game achievements and selected at the Appearance Modifier.
Improved the notification icons shown when entering freighters and derelict freighters.
Fixed an issue that caused hostile creatures to fall through the floor of derelict freighters.
Fixed an issue that caused derelict freighter doors to take too long to open.
Fixed an issue which could cause derelict freighter messages to linger after leaving the freighter without fully exploring it.
Fixed an issue which caused the Lost in Space mission to linger after leaving a derelict freighter.
Fixed an issue that could occasionally cause the guild envoy and scrap dealer rewards for completing a derelict freighter to be the wrong way around in Korvax systems.
Fixed an issue that could cause derelict freighters to despawn if the player attempted to fix or install technology on their ship while at a distance.
Fixed an issue that could cause aquatic fauna to be listed as “extinct” when discovered.
Fixed an issue that could occasionally prevent creatures from spawning where or as often they should.
Fixed an issue that could cause teleporters to display the wrong galaxy name for some early galaxies.
Fixed an issue that prevented the Exocraft mining laser from harvesting resources from terrain deposits.
Fixed an issue that could cause freighter base parts to be unpowered when constructed in specific locations within the freighter.
Fixed an issue that could cause weather effects to occur beyond the planetary atmosphere.
Fixed an issue that could cause frigate expeditions to reward deprecated products.
Introduced a memory-management optimisation and fixed a number of memory-related crashes on console.
Fixed some rare crash issues.
No Man’s Sky recently hit version 3.0 with the expansive Origins update.
Stories Untold, an anthology of four horror-tinged narrative games, has surprise-launched on PS4 and Xbox One. The title, which released on PC back in 2017 before coming to Switch earlier this year, is now available for new audiences to check out.
The four smaller games included are:
The House Abandon
The Lab Conduct
The Station Process
The Last Session
As a remake of an earlier title, The House Abandon is the most well-known game in the collection–a metatextual text adventure with a cool, dark twist.
Stories Untold is from developer No Code Studio, which followed the title up with the brilliant Observation. The studio has focused on scary story experiences across its first two games, both of which were published by Devolver Digital.
Gallery
The game received a 7/10 in GameSpot’s review, with The Lab Conduit and The Station Process standing out as the best parts of the anthology. It’s a good creepy game to play over Halloween. If you want more horror for the spooky season, check out GameSpot’s recommendations.
Like Call of Duty: Warzone, Activision’s Call of Duty Mobile is getting in the spooky spirit with its own Halloween events. The game’s Halloween events are available right now, and they seem pretty great.
First off, a new game mode called “Pumpkin Confirmed” is available. This is the standard Kill Confirmed mode, but the twist is that players must collect jack-o-lanterns instead of dog tags. An eerie new map variant, Halloween Standoff, has also been added to the mix for the event.
Finally, zombies are coming to the battle royale mode on October 30 to mix up the gameplay in a scary way. You can check out a teaser for the Halloween events below.
Call of Duty Mobile has reached more than 300 million downloads since launch in October 2019. On Android alone, the game reached 850 million hours of playtime during a “peak month” globally.
The most popular gun in the game is the AK-47, and it’s been used 11.4 billion times across all modes. Another notable number for the first year is 23, which is the number of multiplayer maps in the game currently, which is up from 11 at launch. There are also now 182 playable characters in Call of Duty Mobile, including Russell Adler from Black Ops Cold War.
Here are some other first-year stats from Call of Duty: Mobile.
Top 3 Primary Weapons Used In All Modes:
AK-47 assault rifle – used 11.4 billion times
RUS-79U SMG – used 11.1 billion times
DL Q33 sniper rifle – used 9 billion times
Top 3 Scorestreaks Used (non-default):
Predator Missile – used 2 billion times
Sentry Gun – used 1.5 billion times
Shock RC – used 1.3 billion times
Top 3 Battle Royale Classes Used:
Mechanic – used 1.4 billion times
Scout – used 1 billion times
Media – used 936 million times
Top 3 Primary Weapons Used In Ranked MP Mode:
PDW 57 SMG – used 958 million times
RUS-79U SMG – used 834 million times
DL Q33 sniper rifle – used 793 million times
Top 3 Operator Skills Used (non-default):
Sparrow – used 4.7 billion times
Gravity Spikes – used 4.3 billion times
H.I.V.E. – used 3.4 billion times
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One More Level and Slipgate Ironworks’ fast-paced, cyberpunk first-person parkour slasher Ghostrunner is out now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. With the game’s one-hit-kill mechanic, those interested in Ghostrunner may be curious about what some reviewers are saying about the dystopian adventure. Read on to find out what critics think of Ghostrunner.
Most reviews land on the same consensus: Ghostrunner is a thrill to play. The game’s fast-paced mechanics, mixed with the breakneck pace of combat and platforming, make Ghostrunner an edge-of-your-seat experience with a relatively brisk six-hour campaign. It’s also a game critics say speedrunners will enjoy–and not just because “runner” is in its name.
In our own Ghostrunner review, we scored it a 7/10. Critic Mike Epstein called the game “exhilarating,” saying Ghostrunner is a “high-risk, high-reward” experience. We’ve compiled reviews down below to give you a glimpse of what critics think. And head over to GameSpot sister site Metacritic for more reviews of Ghostrunner on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Game: Ghostrunner
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Developer: One More Level, Slipgate Ironworks
Release date: October 27
Price: $30 / £23 / $42 AUD
Ghostrunner is also available on the Epic Games, PlayStation, and Steam stores. On Steam, Ghostrunner is 20% off (down to $24) until November 3. The same discount is offered on the Epic Games Store until November 5.
GameSpot – 7/10
“When Ghostrunner rips, it really rips. Wall-running, jumping, sliding, and cutting through enemies as you go is empowering and impressive. For a good portion of the game, you’ll only experience how impressive it feels to dart around a room in short bursts, but even that’s enough motivation to keep you pushing forward to master the art of robot ninja parkour. There’s bound to be a lot of frustration along the way, so it isn’t all smiles, exactly, but the rush you feel in the moment as you perfectly run a room is worth the grit.” — Mike Epstein [Full Review]
Eurogamer – Recommended
“It’s optimisation like this that speaks to how impressive Ghostrunner is as a production overall. I wondered how it would sustain itself over several hours but it does–over a dozen, if you’re asking. It trickles in new enemies, sprinkles in a few boss encounters (bear with them–they’re mostly agility puzzles), and gives you a few new toys to play with along the way (some of the temporary power-ups are wonderful). And all the while it tells you a story of revenge and revolution in your ears, which I haven’t mentioned before because it’s only ever a backdrop to the game. But it’s nice enough to listen to and it never slows you down, and it helps ground the game in a time and place. You get a sense of a wider cyberpunk world out there, beyond the massive tower you’re climbing.
All that’s left for me now is to go back and replay the individual levels, collecting the things I missed, and beating my time to completion and amount of deaths along the way. And I’ll do it, not because I’m fussy about that kind of thing, but because, simply, Ghostrunner is a joy to play.” — Robert Purchese [Full Review]
IGN – 8/10
“With its breakneck pace and skill-heavy gameplay, Ghostrunner is a speedrunner’s dream. But even beyond that demographic, this is a great first-person action game that feels punishing but fair. You may die hundreds of times, but instantaneous respawns and generous checkpointing ensure that Ghostrunner’s challenging combat and platforming never become a chore. More than all of that though, Ghostrunner is jam-packed with a great variety of enemies, mechanics, and special powers that constantly changed up how I approached its many unique encounters. That meant it always felt fresh, and by the end of its six to eight-hour campaign, I was all too eager to jump back in for seconds.” — Michael Saltzman [Full Review]
PCGamesN – 8/10
“Ghostrunner never lets you settle. Its main story is a breathless, adrenaline-fuelled race to the top of the tower. There are collectibles to hunt down and endless appeal for speedrunners who want to master every level like a racing circuit, but Ghostrunner left me spent and totally satisfied–six hours of slicing through nondescript cyberpunk goons to nosebleed techno will do that to you. Ghostrunner’s smart level design and rich array of enemies are a joy to blitz through, but it’s all underpinned by some of the slickest parkour mechanics of any game. Ever.” — Jordan Forward [Full Reviw]
Polygon – Recommends
“There’s something extra special about hurtling through space from one wall or platform to the next in first person. Compared to a 2D platformer, the motion seems faster, the timing is tighter, and the penalty of missing a jump–that feeling of the ground rushing toward you as you fall–is way more intense. Ghostrunner is a perfect example of what happens when a developer works within the limitations of an underappreciated genre and pulls the absolute best from it.” — Austen Goslin [Full Review]
Rock Paper Shotgun – Unscored
“As a simple one-and-done campaign run Ghostrunner isn’t at its best: the handiest tricks coming too late in the day and the towering death spikes overshadowing the good times around them. I couldn’t, for example, tell you anything of the story, as it’s delivered over comms during moments of intense concentration. I think it involves someone called Mara, but only because that’s the name on one of the boss fight health bars.
But take that initial pass as a warm-up lap, inuring yourself to some frustrations to come, and what follows finally delivers on the fun of the cyber ninja fantasy. Death number 1424 beckons.” — Matthew Castle [Full Review]
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
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Setting the tone for how 2020 was destined to go, CDPR announced its first (real) Cyberpunk delay in January. This is still the biggest of its delays, pushing the game from a spring release to the fall. The new date was set for September 17, where surely it would remain.
In a statement explaining the move, the studio chalked up the delay to the massive scale of the game and its vision:
“We are currently at a state where the game is complete and playable, but there’s still work to be done. Night City is massive–full of stories, content, and places to visit, but due to the sheer scale and complexity of it all, we need more time to finish playtesting, fixing, and polishing. We want Cyberpunk 2077 to be our crowning achievement for this generation and postponing launch will give the precious months we need to make the game perfect.”
This is not looking cool, Joker. The beloved Persona series has received many spinoffs over the years, from fighting games to dance-offs, and many fans expressed excitement for the musou-style follow-up Persona 5 Scramble. However, there’s a new wrinkle: Publisher Koei Tecmo released its new financial results recently, and a Western localization of Scramble isn’t mentioned at all.
A previous financial report from Koei Tecmo mentioned a Persona 5 Scramble back in July. However, as spotted by Siliconera, that report has now been replaced with a revised version that removes any mention of such a release. This latest financial information indicates that the company is focusing on its other major musou spin-off, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, which will receive a simultaneous worldwide release on November 20.
It’s unclear if this means that Persona 5 Scramble’s Western release will be delayed or outright cancelled. Considering the outsized popularity of Persona 5, it would seem hard to believe that the game won’t make its way to North America and Europe, but stranger things have happened. (I guess you could say we never saw it coming.) Scramble may come out under the title Persona 5 Strikers in English-speaking territories, based on a Sega trademark filing. The game is expected to come to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4.
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