Author: Trafficblast

Amy Hennig, the director and writer of Uncharted 1, 2, and 3, as well as Jak 3, Battlefield: Hardline, and Visceral’s cancelled Star Wars game, is launching a new games studio. Hennig has joined Skydance Media, the company that produced such films as Mission Impossible Fallout, Gemini Man, Annihilation, and Terminator: Dark Fate. She will oversee the company’s new game development label, working alongside her former Electronic Arts co-worker Julian Beak. This news comes via a report from VentureBeat, and Skydance has since issued a press release welcoming Hennig and Beak on board.

In a statement to VentureBeat, company CEO David Ellison says that the pair have been hired because “the interactive media landscape is continually changing and Amy and Julian are creative and visionary leaders of this evolution.” Hennig, whose first credit is 1989’s ElectroCop, says that her studio will make games aimed at both traditional gamers and “non-gamers,” and will work on “story-focused experiences” for “both traditional and emerging streaming platforms.” Hennig left EA after the closure of Visceral, the studio behind the Dead Space series, and the cancellation of the Star Wars game she was working on. At Skydance Media, she says, she met “kindred spirits” who believed in her work.

Hennig says that, while they haven’t settled on exactly what they will work on first, she will take on an “interactive showrunner” role, while Beak will serve as an executive producer on their titles. Her aim is to work as “a storyteller” with her games. She believes that the studio will remain “small and focused” under her supervision, working on smaller titles.

Skydance Media has some involvement in games already, and are working on The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, as well as their previous VR title Archangel. The company courted controversy earlier this year after hiring disgraced former Disney/Pixar animation chief John Lasseter, who left the company after allegations of sexual harassment arose. Lasseter’s hiring eventually led to Emma Thompson exiting a movie produced by the company.

Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), the next DC film on the horizon, will focus on Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) post-Suicide Squad. A new trailer released in early October showed Quinn and her new pals working together in the wake of Quinn’s break-up with Jared Leto’s Joker. The titular emancipation seems like an important part of the movie from the trailer, but it’s possible that it won’t take up a lot of screentime–DC has been removing itself from Leto’s performance for some time, despite having plans for a standalone movie about the character at one point. Now, Warner Bros. has released a new synopsis for the film (thanks Uproxx), and the Joker does not rate a mention in it.

Instead, the synopsis makes it clear that this is Harley’s story, and makes it clear that Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor) will be the film’s major villain. Interestingly, the synopsis (below) omits the term “Black Mask”, Sionis’s supervillain alter-ego, in favor of his name.

“You ever hear the one about the cop, the songbird, the psycho and the mafia princess? Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is a twisted tale told by Harley herself, as only Harley can tell it. When Gotham’s most nefariously narcissistic villain, Roman Sionis, and his zealous right-hand, Zsasz, put a target on a young girl named Cass, the city is turned upside down looking for her. Harley, Huntress, Black Canary and Renee Montoya’s paths collide, and the unlikely foursome have no choice but to team up to take Roman down.”

Many of these characters appear in the trailers for the film released so far, but we’re still wondering if Chris Messina’s Zsasz (which sounds like a major role from this description) will carry his iconic body count scars–the character makes a mark into his own body for every person he kills, and his entire torso is usually covered in them.

Birds of Prey will release on February 7, 2020, and is directed by Cathy Yan. It will carry an R rating, much like recent DC film Joker (which recently crossed the $1 billion mark in international revenue.) Margot Robbie will also return to the role for a third film, The Suicide Squad, directed by James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy 1&2). For more, check out our trailer breakdown for Birds of Prey.

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The PlayStation 5 is coming, with the next-generation Sony console currently being planned for a Holiday 2020 release. This means that the system is still at least a year away, but we’re starting to get some idea of what the console will be like. Now a new patent for the PlayStation 5 controller has appeared on the website for the Japanese patent office, and it’s giving us a glimpse of the rough shape of the PlayStation 5 controller. At first glance it looks very much like the Dual Shock 4, but there are some big changes that have been made.

AS VGC notes, the images in the patent point towards a few changes, such as smaller sticks, larger triggers, a USB-C charging port, and no light bar. While this is by no means the definitive final version of the PlayStation 5 controller (the infamous PlayStation 3 “boomerang” controller was abandoned before the system’s launch), odds are that many of these changes will appear on the final design. The touchpad remains in place, and the general shape appears very similar to the Dual Shock 4.

Sony has previously discussed their new controller, revealing that haptics will replace the standard rumble, allowing for a “broader range of feedback” that will allow for a more nuanced approach to how the controller vibrates (much like the Switch’s “HD Rumble”). The L2/R2 triggers on the PS4 controller will be replaced with adaptive triggers, so developers can program for added resistance–the R2 button might be harder to press if a character is pushing something heavy, for instance, or you might feel resistance when pulling back the string on a bow. The controller is reportedly being developed to give players a stronger sense of place within their environments, and to give developers new options in the experiences they can replicate.

We also know that the PlayStation 5 will still require games to be installed from discs, and that Sony is hoping that the system will be adopted by players quickly. We’re also starting to see games announced for it, including numerous Ubisoft titles and Path of Exile 2.

Pretty much every Star Wars game with RPG elements has allowed you to customize the color of your lightsaber’s blade–from Knights of the Old Republic to The Force Unleashed. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is no different, though you’ll have to play through a majority of the game’s campaign in order to unlock additional kyber crystals to customize your blade.

In Fallen Order, there are eight different lightsaber blade colors: blue, green, orange, purple, yellow, cyan, magenta, and indigo. That’s pretty much every color used by a Jedi. If you were hoping to make Cal’s lightsaber the same crimson red as the Imperial Inquisitors and Sith or the neutral colors of white or black, you’re out of luck. Those colors aren’t available in Fallen Order.

Spoiler warning: most of these colors are unlocked simply by completing Fallen Order’s story. If you want to know exactly how to unlock each color and you don’t mind being spoiled, however, then keep reading.

The two easiest colors to unlock are the ones you start out with: blue and green. You don’t have to do anything but boot up the game to unlock these colors. The default color of Cal’s lightsaber is blue–if you prefer green, just walk up to a workbench and adjust the color. These workbenches are scattered throughout the planets that you’ll discover and explore in Fallen Order. Many have BD-1 and lightsaber upgrades on them–three of them allow you to upgrade your single-bladed lightsaber into a double-bladed one. For easy access, there’s a workbench in The Mantis, which you’ll unlock as a hub area as soon as you complete Fallen Order’s tutorial level on Bracca.

The orange kyber crystal is also a color you can start out with, but only if you pre-ordered Fallen Order. If you pre-ordered a physical copy of the game, then you should have a code to unlock the orange blade. Digital versions of Fallen Order should just include the orange kyber crystal from the start. If you didn’t pre-order Fallen Order, then, unfortunately, you’re out of luck. Maybe Respawn or EA will add the orange saber as post-launch DLC but, if not, then this saber color is no longer available for you to unlock.

You unlock all the remaining colors at the same time. Here’s where the article goes into story spoilers. This is your last chance to turn back if you don’t want to be spoiled.

After unlocking the Jedi Flip ability on your second trip to Kashyyyk–the one where you’ll face off against Ninth Sister–you’ll be able to make it past the far jump on Dathomir; it’s the one just past the robed figure who warns you that you shouldn’t keep exploring the planet. Making it past the jump pushes Dathomir’s story forward, allowing you to learn more about the last surviving Nightsister, Mirren, the mysterious robed figure, Taron Malicos, and the bat-like guardian of the planet, Gorgara. Kill Gorgara and reach the temple on Dathomir–Cal will experience a vision that ultimately causes him, in a PTSD panic, to destroy his lightsaber. Upon your return to The Mantis, Cere will impart some wisdom and then send you to Ilos to find a new kyber crystal and rebuild your lightsaber–one that utilizes the parts of Cal’s existing saber and Cere’s old lightsaber.

At the end of the mission on Ilos, Cal will discover a kyber crystal that can be molded to be blue, green, purple, yellow, cyan, magenta, or indigo. Don’t worry, once you’ve made your pick, you’ll still unlock all the remaining colors in the customization menu whenever you go to a workbench. This pick is purely for the cinematic spectacle of the next cutscene. Upon selecting your desired color, Cal will create a new and improved lightsaber–a double-bladed variant with a hilt that can be split, giving him the option of wielding two lightsabers at once. You’ll need it for the fight ahead.

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