Author: Trafficblast

Amazon is spending a mountain of money on producing a new Lord of the Rings TV show that is rumoured to at least partially focus on telling the story of a young Aragorn. Viggo Mortensen played Aragorn in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, and now the veteran actor has offered some advice to the next person who plays the role of the famous Ranger.

In an interview with Collider, Mortensen started off by confirming he hasn’t seen any scripts for Amazon’s show. That being said, he said the next person to play Aragorn should “very thoroughly” read J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, as well as some of the Nordic sagas that might have inspired it, including Sigurd the Dragon Slayer and Volsunga.

Mortensen said the next Aragorn should also watch movies by influential director Akira Kurosawa.

Also in the piece, Mortensen talked about his own preparation for his starring role in The Lord of the Rings–or lack thereof. Because he replaced Stuart Townsend just before filming was due to begin, Mortensen had to learn a lot on his feet. It was challenging and not ideal, Mortensen said, adding that he hadn’t read the book before signing on to make the movie. As Mortensen says in the bonus features of The Lord of the Rings, his young son pushed him to make the movie.

“My son was really into me doing it, and he was 11 at the time, and that kind of pushed me over the edge to say, ‘Yeah, okay,'” Mortensen said. “And obviously I’m glad I did it. It opened a lot of doors for me, and we had a lot of fun making those three movies. But it’s not ideal. I sometimes have said no because I’m not gonna be able to do justice to it.”

The new Amazon Lord of the Rings show is based on Tolkien’s acclaimed and much-loved novels. Amazon is committed to multiple seasons of the show, which will be produced in partnership with the Tolkien Estate, HarperCollins, and New Line Cinema.

Little is known about the story for Amazon’s Lord of the Rings show, but it’s been confirmed that it’s set in Middle-earth and will “explore new storylines” in the time before The Fellowship of the Ring.

The show is being written by JD Payne and Patrick McKay. They have no previous TV writing credits, but neither did Game of Thrones TV show writers D.B. Weiss and David Benioff. That seemed to work out pretty OK.

According to reports, the contract between Amazon and Lord of the Rings rights-holders states that the show must enter production within two years.. Amazon is reportedly spending $1 billion to produce the Lord of the Rings TV show, so it is no small undertaking.

In an unexpected announcement today, Square Enix announced the cancellation of three of the four planned Final Fantasy XV episode expansion packs and also confirmed that game director Hajime Tabata has left the company. Tabata’s last day at Square Enix was October 31.

The canceled Final Fantasy DLC episodes include Aranea, Lunafreye, and Noctis. The fourth one, Ardyn, remains in development, and is scheduled to launch in March 2019.

The expansion packs were being developed by Luminous, the new Square Enix internal studio. However, that team will now focus on making a new AAA game, though it hasn’t been announced yet. In an earnings report, Square Enix announced a major change to Luminous that resulted in an “extraordinary loss” amounting to $33 million. Until now, it wasn’t know what that loss was related to, but now it looks like it’s connected to the DLC cancellation.

Also during the announcement event, Square Enix announced that Final Fantasy XV’s Comrades multiplayer will now be released as a standalone game, meaning you don’t need the base game to play it. There will be a further 10 new bosses, as well as more costumes and weapons in the standalone game.

FFXV: Multiplayer Comrades, as it’s called, will launch on December 13. Those who already bought the Comrades expansion will get the new, standalone edition for free.

Also during the presentation, Square Enix announced a new cross-promotion with Fina Fantasy XIV Online. An event called “Adventurer From Another World” will be available inside Final Fantasy XV on PS4, Xbox One, and PC starting on December 12.

Another announced as a short-form anime called Final Fantasy XV Episode Prologue is on the way. A teaser will be released on December 15, with a second one coming on January 10.

Nintendo has said it plans to edit an animation in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate that features an offensive depiction of Native Americans. The company has said that the decades-old reference does not reflect its current values.

The animation comes from Mr. Game & Watch, whose attacks are based on the LCD handheld games from Nintendo. Reset Era noticed the move, which comes from the 1982 cowboy game Fire Attack. That game had you defending a wooden fort from Native Americans wielding torches. The move was shown last week during the final Nintendo Direct presentation for Smash Bros. Ultimate.

In a statement, Nintendo indicated it already had plans to remove the animation and that it appearing in the Direct was a simple oversight.

“Nintendo has been planning to distribute an update for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate that removes the feather from the silhouette of Mr. Game & Watch,” a Nintendo spokesperson said. “The original game on which this depiction of the character is based was released more than three decades ago and does not represent our company values today.

“We sincerely apologise that this change was not noticed in our marketing material and are continuing our work to make Super Smash Bros. Ultimate an experience that is both welcoming and fun for everyone.”

This wouldn’t be the first time Nintendo edited Fire Attack to comport with the times. When it released the Game & Watch Gallery 4 for Game Boy, it removed the feather from the Mr. Game & Watch character so he would no longer appear to be a Native American stereotype. That same treatment is likely here.

Smash Bros. Ultimate releases on December 7, and Nintendo is planning a lengthy post-launch period of extra characters, stages, and music as downloadable content. Game director Masahiro Sakurai recently said those DLC plans are already set.

Fallout 76 has just one beta test left, and Bethesda has issued a statement regarding some fixes it is already planning based on feedback from the testing. Some of the tweaks are more technical in nature, while others address unintended bugs that could severely hamper the game experience. For other points, Bethesda explains why it isn’t intending to implement certain requests, at least not right away.

On the technical end, the company is planning to support ultra-wide 21:9 displays sometime post-launch. It won’t be implementing a field-of-view slider, however, citing concerns of it breaking animations and causing clipping. PC players are said to have requested a push-to-talk option for voice chat, and the studio said it will look into adding this feature. It also said that some common social menus and friends features have already been addressed, and it promised to fix various exploits with a future update.

For gameplay, Bethesda says it plans to increase the stash size. “While the Stash size at 400 weight limit can get easier to deal with over time, we do plan on increasing it in the future,” it said. Some beta players reported that the hunger bar would never replenish, and Bethesda says this has been fixed. Finally, the occurrence of random gunshot or other loud noises near Appalachia will be addressed shortly after launch.

These are the most prominent issues Bethesda chose to focus on, but the company has been clear that it sees Fallout 76 as an ongoing project. In an open letter to the fans just before the beta launched, it suggested that this was just the beginning and it would need everyone’s help to find the bugs and help them build the game.

Fallout 76 is certainly ambitious as the franchise’s first connected persistent world, but we have some concerns about the sense of emptiness it creates. Once the full game launches, we may see a different picture emerge. One factor that’s already changed during the beta is the addition of the in-game store, which has a full inventory but doesn’t allow for purchases yet.

Games retailer GameStop is bringing back its “Pro Days” sale, offering special deals exclusively to members of its PowerUp Pro rewards program. The deals include some significant deals on recent games, as well as some much bigger discounts on older games you may have missed.

The headliner is a $50 gift card with the purchase of a new Xbox One console, essentially paying for most of any new game you might want to buy with it. You can also snag $10 in rewards cash toward a future purchase with the purchase of Spider-Man or Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

On top of that, the store has marked down the retail price of several 2018 games: Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Destiny 2: Forsaken, NBA 2K19, Madden NFL 19, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, FIFA 19, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, and God of War. Those all from $30-$40, except Odyssey which is still going for $50.

If you’re still catching up with the older games, it’s offering 50% off Detroit: Become Human, Black Ops 3, Call of Duty: WW2, and Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Remastered Edition. Other assorted discounts apply to Lego DC Supervillains, WWE 2K19, and Dragon Quest 11, among others.

For collectibles, you can get 25% off statues and a B2G1 deal on all Pop vinyls. The sale is going on November 9-11, and a Pro membership will cost you $15 per year. Check out the full Pro Days flyer for all the deals. And if you’re in the market for more discounts, keep an eye on our round-up of all things Black Friday.

Nintendo is working with Despicable Me studio Illumination on an all-new Super Mario Bros. movie. The announcement in January was met with a degree of skepticism, given that the 1993 Mario movie was a trainwreck and that video game movies in general are rarely any good.

Illumination boss Chris Meledandri spoke to Variety about why he thinks the new Mario movie, which will be animated and not live-action like the earlier movie, stands to be more of a success. The key difference with the new Mario movie is that Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto is involved; he’s a producer alongside Meledandri.

“We are keeping [Miyamoto] front and center in the creation of this film,” he said. “I’ve rarely seen that happen with any adaptation where the original creative voice is being embraced like we’re embracing Miyamoto. There’s a history in Hollywood of people believing that they know better than the people responsible for a property. I’ve made that mistake before.”

There are a number of challenges in making a Mario movie, Meledandri said.

“It’s an ambitious task,” he said. “The challenge is taking things that are so thin in their original form and finding depth that doesn’t compromise what generations of fans love about Mario, but also feels organic to the iconography and can support a three-act structure.”

According to the report, the new Super Mario Bros. movie is a “priority” at Illumination, with the expectation for it to be in theaters potentially by 2022.

Back in February, Miyamoto said the script for the new Super Mario was “progressing,” but there is no word yet on the story or who will voice any of the characters. Miyamoto said Nintendo may abandon the movie if he and Meledandri can’t come up with a good enough idea.

1993’s live-action Super Mario Bros. movie was a critical and commercial failure, with star Bob Hoskins–who played Mario–said it was the worst movie he’s ever been a part of. Hoskins and co-star John Leguizamo reportedly drank whiskey between takes to get through filming.

Nintendo has been very hesitant to bring its franchises to movies and TV, so this new Super Mario Bros. movie is a big step forward. In addition to this film, Nintendo is reportedly working on a Legend of Zelda TV show, while the company also partnered with Universal to create a Nintendo theme park that could feature real-life Mario Kart.

There may be an explanation for why Nintendo is working on so many licensing efforts. In 2016, then-CEO Tatsumi Kimishima said fewer and fewer young people are finding out about Nintendo games through…games. Instead, they’re discovering Nintendo and its characters through things like officially licensed Mario toothbrushes. So you can expect these kinds of licensing deals to continue and possibly increase, the executive said at the time.