NBCUniversal has officially entered the streaming wars with the announcement of its new digital platform, called Peacock, which is slated to drop in April 2020.
In order to better compete with streaming giants Netflix, Amazon, and the upcoming Disney+ and HBO Max, Peacock will develop its own lineup of original programming, like Mr. Robot showrunner Sam Esmail’s reboot of Battlestar Galactica, and a sequel to Saved By the Bell featuring original cast members Elizabeth Berkley and Mario Lopez.
A generation ago, it would have been unthinkable to have multiple consoles play online against each other in some of the biggest multiplayer video games. Now, it’s almost unthinkable for them not to have it. Players are increasingly insistent that they can play their favorite competitive and co-op games with other people regardless of platform, and third-party developers are there to fulfill that desire, such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
With Sony finally jumping into the cross-play initiative on a game-by-game basis late last year, it might be hard to figure out which games support cross-play and which do not. Here you can find a list of the games that you can play on PlayStation 4 with friends on other platforms.
Amazon Studios has revealed where its upcoming Lord of the Rings prequel series will be filming, and it’s a location that should make fans of the movies very happy. New Zealand will once again serve as the backdrop for a journey into Middle-earth.
Amazon revealed that pre-production has begun on the series, with filming expected to commence in Auckland “in the coming months,” according to a press release.
“As we searched for the location in which we could bring to life the primordial beauty of the Second Age of Middle-earth, we knew we needed to find somewhere majestic, with pristine coasts, forests, and mountains, that also is a home to world-class sets, studios, and highly skilled and experienced craftspeople and other staff. And we’re happy that we are now able to officially confirm New Zealand as our home for our series based on stories from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings,” said showrunners and executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay in a statement. “We are grateful to the people and the government of New Zealand and especially Auckland for supporting us during this pre-production phase. The abundant measure of Kiwi hospitality with which they have welcomed us has already made us feel right at home, and we are looking forward to deepening our partnership in the years to come.”
Ryan and Brandin discuss and analyze the week’s Xbox news, including the big changes proposed for E3 2020 and how they should make the event better, Ubisoft’s doubling-down on large-scale blockbuster games, Gears 5’s fast start on Xbox Game Pass, Madden’s big sales and the surprising #2 selling game of August, the return of The Game Awards, and more!
Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, or grab an MP3 download of this week’s episode. For more awesome content, check out the latest episode of IGN Unfiltered, featuring a career-spanning interview with longtime Remedy writer Sam Lake – he of Max Payne, Alan Wake, Quantum Break, and Control fame. Watch it below:
It can be difficult to find powerful gaming laptops which don’t cost an arm and a leg, but right now you can save $400 on the potent Dell G3 15 gaming laptop, which has a great CPU in the Intel Core i5-9300H. It also sports a clear, 15.6-inch 1080 IPS display, a 512GB SSD, and a powerful GPU in the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti.
This gaming PC laptop has it all; a 1080p IPS display, a potent Intel Core i5-9300H CPU, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti GPU, and 512GB SSD. Use the code “SAVE17” to knock $400 off the usual price and snag this potent portable for $813.39.
When tuning into Mayans MC, it’s not rare to see nods to Sons of Anarchy, the motorcycle club series it serves as a sequel to. Whether it’s characters pulled from the original series, updates on what’s happened to SAMCRO since Sons ended, or flashbacks to a time when Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam) was still alive and well, there’s plenty for SOA fans to sink their teeth into. The following contains spoilers to the latest episode of Mayans MC.
In its new installment, Mayans included two Easter eggs that surely pulled at the heartstrings of fans. Both came late in the third episode of Season 2, “Camazotz.” The episode finds members of the Mayans traveling to Stockton, a former SOA stomping ground, to help a local chapter of their club following the death of a member. It also brought EZ (JD Pardo) and Angel (Clayton Cardenas) closer to SOA member Happy (David Labrava), who killed their mother years ago.
The Easter eggs begin when EZ passes a significant place in Sons of Anarchy history; the stretch of highway where Jax’s father John Teller was killed years before the show began. A mountain wall on the side of the road is marked with a simple “JT 11/13/93.”
At the conclusion of the episode, viewers get their second nod to the series that started it all. As Happy arrives home to a barking dog, he tells the canine, “Relax, Ope.” Fans of Sons of Anarchy will surely recognize that name as a nod to Opie Winston (Ryan Hurst), the fan-favorite character that was killed during the fifth season of SOA. In many ways, Opie was the heart of the show, and his death was the final straw in Jax slipping to the dark side of outlaw biker gang life once and for all.
Knowing Opie’s memory is being kept alive by Happy is good to see. Given how this episode ends, though–with EZ and Angel holding Happy at gunpoint–it casts some serious doubts on whether the SAMCRO Sergeant at Arms will be around much longer to care for his dog. Hopefully, someone else is willing to step in and continue giving Opie the care he deserves.
Mayans MC airs Tuesdays on FX.
There has been a lot of talk about a reboot of The Office, and now it appears to be one step closer to becoming a reality. NBCU boss Bonnie Hammer told Deadline plainly, “It is my hope and goal that we do an Office reboot.”
NBCU recently paid $500 million to take The Office away from Netflix and release it on its own streaming service, called Peacock, starting in 2021. Hammer said conversations are ongoing about bringing back The Office as a reboot, but it seems nothing is decided yet.
“The Office comes back to us in January 2021. It is my hope that we can figure what that great reboot would be,” Hammer said. “We are having conversations.”
There have been rumors and reports about a new version of The Office for years already. Actor Steve Carell, who starred on the show as the boss Michael Scott, flamed the rumor fires in an appearance on Saturday Night Live last year.
The Office, which was adapted from the Ricky Gervais BBC show of the same name, ran for nine seasons from 2005 to 2013. The American show was developed by Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons writer Greg Daniels, who recently teamed up with Carell for a new Space Force show for Netflix.
While no reboot of The Office has happened yet, two of the show’s stars are teaming up for what sounds like a can’t-miss podcast about the history of the show.
According to one report, the character Michael Scott won’t be in the reboot. Carell said in an interview that he thinks it’s a bad idea to bring back The Office. Not only should the show not come back, but it also might not work if it has a similar tone, he said.
“The climate’s different. I mean, the whole idea of that character, Michael Scott, so much of it was predicated on inappropriate behavior,” he said.
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Those who play the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare beta and reach a certain level in it will get a free weapon for use in the game when it launches, Infinity Ward has announced.
Players who reach level 10 before the beta ends on September 23 will receive the Hammer shotgun in Modern Warfare at release. The weapon comes “fully customized” with a special pistol grip and a double-silenced short barrel. The foregrip is angled while the gun also is equipped with a holographic sight. Here’s what it looks like:
Infinity Ward also shared some new details on Modern Warfare’s Gunsmith system, which allows players to create customized weapons. Through in-game progress, players will be able to tweak their weapons in Gunsmith across nine categories, each of which has multiple configuration options.
Players can further customize their weapons with unique mods like semi-auto and burst, among others. Check out the full blog post to learn more.
Modern Warfare’s first beta was held earlier this month on PlayStation 4, but everyone–across PS4, Xbox One, and PC–will get to try the game in an open beta starting September 19. The upcoming beta period introduces the massive-scale Ground War multiplayer mode, as well as the ability to compete against players on different platforms through cross-play for the first time.
For more on the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare beta, you can check out GameSpot’s rundown of everything you need to know about pre-loading, start times, and more.
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American rock band The Offspring will become the newest group to hold a concert inside of a video game. Wargaming has announced that the “Self Esteem” and “Pretty Fly For A White Guy” band will appear in World of Tanks from September 18 through October 7. Avatars based on the likenesses of the band members will perform on a virtual stage in the Garage, and you can bet they’ll perform some of their most famous songs.
“Animation of the band members’ avatars will be based on motion capture, which will be implemented in World of Tanks for the first time. Also, the tankers will be able to keep the rockers from The Offspring in the game’s client for good,” reads a line from Wargaming’s announcement.
The Offspring recently performed at the World of Tanks fan event Wargaming Fest: Tanker Day 2019, and you can see a dramatic image above that shows how many people turned up for the outdoor gig. The event itself, which was held in Minsk and also included gaming tournaments and more, attracted some 250,000 people from around the world, according to Wargaming.
The Offspring won’t be the first band to perform inside of a video game. Earlier this year, Korn played a gig inside the MMO Adventure Quest 3D and Marshmello performed inside Fortnite.