Maniac is one of the most complex, challenging shows of 2018. It’s a sci-fi comedy drama, loosely based on a Norwegian show of the same name, with The Leftovers’ Patrick Somerville showrunning and True Detective Season 1’s Cary Fukunaga directing every episode. It’s is set in alternative retro-futuristic New York, and stars Jonah Hill and Emma Stone as Owen and Annie, two damaged people who submit themselves to a mysterious pharmaceutical trial for different reasons. The trials involve the subjects entering hallucinatory states, and almost immediately Annie and Owen’s start to overlap, suggesting some unique bond between these two strangers.
As the series continues we see them in a variety of imagined situations, from a 1940s heist caper to a Tolkien-esque land of elves and fairies. But the boundaries between reality and fantasy frequently break down, with dialogues, faces, music, and events occurring in different contexts as Annie and Owen attempt to traverse the inner worlds of their psyches. And if that sounds like heavy going, it often is. But Maniac is also funny, sad, joyous, moving, exciting, and completely unlike anything on screens in 2018. Hill and Stone are equally matched by Justin Theroux and Sonoya Mizuno as the unhinged doctors leading the experiments, and Sally Field as Theroux’s mother, a bestselling motivational therapist who maintains a strange emotional hold over her son. Maniac is one of those shows where it’s almost impossible to predict where each episodes is going to go next, but the 10 episodes are so brilliant and unique you’ll want to start it again the moment it finishes. — Dan Auty
It’s been a long time coming, but we can finally rest assured that Crackdown 3 is heading our way soon. This open-world shooter for Xbox One and PC is set to launch on February 15, 2019. It puts you in the shoes of a super-cop in a city overrun by gangs. As you level up, you’ll be able to leap up the sides of skyscrapers and throw vehicles at enemies in your pursuit of justice.
If you’re ready to lock down your copy of this Microsoft exclusive, you might want to know where to buy it, how much it costs, and what comes with it. We have you covered on all accounts below.
No Pre-Order Bonus
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Crackdown 3 Terry Crews Gameplay Trailer | Xbox E3 2018
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As yet, no pre-order bonuses have been announced for Crackdown 3 announced. We’ll update this section if that changes.
Included in Xbox Game Pass
Before you crack open your wallet to shell out cash for Crackdown 3, consider subscribing to Xbox Game Pass instead. It’s a service that lets you download and play an assortment of games on Xbox One, including all titles published by Microsoft Studios (like Crackdown 3) the day they launch. You get a 14-day free trial, and it’s $10 per month after that.
Crackdown 3 (Physical)
Collectors may be disappointed, but only one edition is planned for Crackdown 3. At the time of this writing, the cheapest place to buy it is Newegg, where you can save $10.
Crackdown 3 (Digital)
The digital version of Crackdown 3 is playable on both Xbox One and on Windows 10, complete with cloud saves that let you pick up where you left off, regardless of what hardware you’re using. So if you have a gaming PC, this could be the smartest option. Once again, Newegg has it $10 cheaper than the competition.
Sony refreshes its weekly PSN sale each Tuesday, giving a new batch of games to get the discount treatment for seven days. This week’s discounts are in full swing, so if you have a PS4, PS3, or PS Vita, you’ll probably want to take a look. It doesn’t feature a particularly long list of discounted games, but you might find one you want in there. Here are some of the sale’s highlights.
If you’ve been curious about The Elder Scrolls Online, now’s a good time to hop in and see what the MMO has to offer. The base game is half off at $10 and the Summerset expansion is down to $20, or you can go all in and pick up everything released so far in The Elder Scrolls Online: Collection for $40.
With Metro Exodus coming early next year, now is a great time to get caught up on the apocalyptic shooter series. You can do that for cheap this week, because Metro 2033 Redux and its sequel Metro: Last Light Redux are on sale for $5 each. Or you can save even more money and get both together for $6 with the Metro Redux bundle.
The Game Awards have become known for big announcements and trailers, but some studios have felt the need to set expectations by coming forward and pointing out that they won’t be among them. Naughty Dog has joined in and stated that The Last of Us 2 won’t be among the games shown on stage at the awards.
In a tweet, the studio said it’s looking forward to celebrating games at the show but won’t be there to show its own game. It also said it looks forward to revealing more “when the time is right.”
The Game Awards appeared to be the next likeliest place for the anticipated sequel to make an appearance, after Sony opted out of a PlayStation Experience this year. At the time, the company acknowledged that the timing just wasn’t right for such an event. So far we have not heard a release date for The Last of Us 2, so it could be a year or more away.
We already know that the Game Awards will host ten new game announcements, including one from Obsidian Entertainment. That’s said to be on top of updates on existing games, like the announcement being teased for Fortnite. Plus, of course, the award show will host the actual awards, giving out accolades for Game of the Year, along with categories like Best Narrative, Best Ongoing Game, and Games for Impact. Check out the full list of award nominees.
The Game Awards will kick off on Thursday at 8:30 PM ET / 5:30 PM PT / 1:30 AM GMT (Friday) / 12:30 PM AET (Friday).
There are some huge movies just around the corner–the next few weeks will see the release of Aquaman, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, Mary Poppins Returns, and Bumblebee. But, like last week’s, it’s another quiet one. That’s not say the movies lined up in the US are bad–both Vox Lux and Mary Queen of Scots arrive with big stars (including Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Margot Robbie) and good reviews, but they are unlikely to last long on screens before these huge studio monsters roll in.
The UK sees the release of several movies that already hit US screens back in the Fall, including the brilliant satire Sorry to Bother You and Robert Redford’s final movie, The Old Man & The Gun. There’s also the release of the first My Hero Academia movie, Two Heroes, which is a must-see for anime fans.
Over on Netflix, the big budget Jungle Book adaptation Mowgli makes its streaming debut. This lavish, star-studded movie is directed by Lord of the Rings/Planet of the Apes star Andy Serkis, and is a darker take on the classic novel. There’s also the Young Adult adaptation Dumplin’, starring Jennifer Aniston and featuring the songs of country legend Dolly Parton. So here’s the week’s new releases in the both the US and UK.
Anchorman’s Ron Burgundy has netted himself two 12-episode seasons of a new show, The Ron Burgundy Podcast. Don’t act like you’re not impressed.
Launching in early 2019, the podcast will be co-produced by Funny Or Die and iHeartRadio. It’s unclear what the podcast will be about, other than Ron Burgundy himself. Ron Burgundy doesn’t seem to know either:
“Listen, I don’t know what a podcast is, but I currently have a lot of time on my hands and a lot to talk about,” said Burgundy. “I am also broke. Therefore, I am very excited to do this podcast. It is literally saving my life.”
PlayStation Classic owners can easily tweak the settings of their console if they have the right keyboard.
The PlayStation Classic launched yesterday, and as expected, people are poking around the hardware looking for ways to hack the console. It turns out it’s as easy as plugging in a keyboard and hitting the Escape key while inside a game.
Discovered by YouTuber Retro Gaming Arts, and his buddy Matt, the pair initially took the console apart before putting it back together and plugging in a keyboard – in this case a Corsair K75 RGB Mechanical keyboard.
“So basically all I did was I took a USB keyboard and plugged it in, and then I went into one of the games and hit Escape, and then that gave me all of the access to the emulator itself,” Matt explains in the video.
A new Batman game featuring the villainous Court of Owls may just have been teased.
Warner Bros. Montreal assistant producer Valerie Vezina has tweeted a picture of a T-shirt featuring a logo that’s extremely similar to that of the Court of Owls, and pointedly redacted the name of the game she’s working on. It’s led some to believe that a Batman game centred around the shadowy group is on the way.
