Author: Trafficblast

The first post-launch content for Insomniac’s PS4 Spider-Man game is nearly here. The Heist, the first of three planned DLC chapters in The City That Never Sleeps series, is set to arrive next Tuesday, October 23, bringing a slew of new enemies, missions, and challenges to take on. It also adds a trio of new suits, which we’ve now gotten our first look at.

In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Insomniac unveiled the three new Spider-Man suits players will be able to get in The Heist. Like most of the other suits in the game, two of them are drawn directly from the comics: the red and black suit from Scarlet Spider II, as well as the Spider-UK suit from the Spider-Verse. Rounding out the trio is the Resilient Suit, an original design by Marvel illustrator Gabriele Dell’Otto. You can take a look at all three below.

The Scarlet Spider II suit, Resilient Suit, and Spider-UK suit

The Heist centers around Peter Parker’s love interest/villain, Felicia Hardy–better known as Black Cat. It will be followed by two more DLC chapters later this year: Turf Wars, which will arrive in November, and Silver Lining, which is slated to release in December. You can purchase The Heist individually for $10 USD, or get all three chapters together in The City That Never Sleeps bundle for $25.

That isn’t the extent of the new content on the way to Marvel’s Spider-Man soon. Ahead of The Heist, Insomniac is rolling out the game’s 1.07 update tomorrow, October 17, which will add New Game Plus mode, allowing you to play through the story again with all of the suits, gadgets, and skills you’ve unlocked. The update will also introduce two new trophies to earn, as well as an Ultimate Difficulty setting for an even greater challenge.

Marvel’s Spider-Man was met with critical and commercial success when it launched for PS4 last month. GameSpot awarded it a 9/10 in our Spider-Man review and called it “a superior Spider-Man experience that leaves a lasting impression.” The game has also been a big hit with fans, breaking sales records and having one of the highest Platinum trophy completion rates on PS4.

With the final season of Gotham premiering next year, the show’s producers have already lined up the next Batman-related series to take its place. Pennyworth will focus on the early adventures of Batman’s butler, and the show’s star has now been announced.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jack Bannon will play the young Alfred. Bannon previously appeared in the award-winning The Imitation Game, as well as David Ayer’s war drama Fury and the acclaimed TV show Ripper Street. He joins Ben Aldridge, who has been cast as Thomas Wayne in the show.

THR also provided a description for this new portrayal of Alfred, which sounds very different to the character played most recently by Jeremy Irons and Michael Caine on-screen. It states that Pennyworth‘s Alfred is “a boyishly handsome, cheerful, charming, clever young man from London. Honest, open-faced and witty, he’s the kind of person people would never take for a SAS killer. Alfred doesn’t know how to reconcile the kind-hearted boy he used to be with the cold, calculated killer he was forced to become. He’s a man on the make, who doesn’t know what to make of himself yet.”

Although Pennyworth is written and produced by Gotham showrunner Bruno Heller, it is narratively unconnected to that show. It starts production in London next week and will premiere on Epix in 2019.

In related news, it has been confirmed that Gotham Season 5 will feature a number of time jumps. This final season will be based on the “No Man’s Land” story from the DC comic books, and is expected to premiere in early 2019.

While we’ve known for some time that there are three Marvel movies heading our way in 2019–Captain Marvel, Avengers 4, and Spider-Man: Far From Home–it has been less certain what was to follow. This changed last week when Ryan Coogler confirmed that he was returning to write and direct Black Panther 2, and now it looks like Doctor Strange sequel is on the way too.

The news comes via the Canadian pop-culture site Pop Goes The World, reporting from Fan Expo in Vancouver. In attendance was Benedict Wong, who played Wong in both the first Doctor Strange and Avengers: Infinity War. Wong stated that he hoped to start shooting Doctor Strange 2 “at the end of the year.” Check the tweet out below:

While Marvel are yet to confirm Doctor Strange 2, this isn’t the first hint that it might start production soon. In August, director Scott Derrickson, who helmed the first movie, posted a cryptic message on Instagram. It was an image of Stephen Strange from Marvel’s comic books, with the caption: “See you in September.” It wasn’t clear to what that referred–and obviously September has been and gone–but Derrickson later followed with another comment, assuring fans that “I don’t tease.” In addition, Marvel boss Kevin Feige has stated that a Doctor Strange sequel will happen.

If Doctor Strange 2 does start production soon, then we can expect it be released in 2020. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was originally set to start shooting early next year, ahead of a 2020 release, but that movie is now reportedly on hold indefinitely, following the controversial firing of James Gunn back in July. If Vol.3 doesn’t happen, then Marvel will need to start production on other 2020 movies soon, Black Panther 2 presumably being one.

In related news, Avengers 4 directors Joe and Anthony Russo have confirmed that they have now finished production on the movie. They marked the end of shooting with a myserious image on Instagram, showing some kind of weird blue light. The still-untitled film hits theaters on May 3, 2019.

A new retro game console is on the way from Analogue, the company behind the Nt Mini and the Super Nt. The upcoming Mega Sg ($189) will play classic Sega Master System, Genesis, and Mega Drive games over HDMI, and there are plans to sell cartridge adapters for other systems down the road. The Mega Sg is also fully compatible with the original Sega CD add-on out of the box. Analogue claims 100% compatibility across all supported platforms. The console is available to pre-order now, and is scheduled to ship worldwide in April 2019.

Like Analogue’s two most recent consoles, the Mega Sg is the brainchild of Kevin Horton, who is widely regarded as an expert when it comes to recreating classic gaming hardware on FPGA chips. Compared to software-based emulation, a properly configured FPGA results in a technically more accurate gameplay experience than a traditional emulator. The differences aren’t massive, but for enthusiasts, the devil is in the details, and that’s where Analogue and Horton have historically come out on top.

The Japanese Mega Drive-themed Mega Sg ($189), and the Black M30 Controller ($25) from 8BitDo

It’s worth noting that the FPGA development scene has picked up steam with hobbyists, and the ongoing MiSTer project exists to help coordinate development around the Terasic DE10-Nano FPGA platform, which uses the same FPGA (Altera Cyclone V) as the Super Nt and the Mega Sg. There are many cores (systems) that currently function at varying degrees on MiSTer, including the Genesis, but with its support for cartridges and original accessories, including the Sega CD, the Mega Sg is poised to be the most practical FPGA-based Genesis around.

Analogue is pitching the Mega Sg as a reference-quality system, meaning that it offers clean audio and video signals without distortion or lag. Considering that the quality of Sega’s original 16-bit hardware fluctuated wildly from one model or motherboard revision to the next, and that other third-party systems consistently fall short, the promise of clean audio from the simulated Yamaha YM2612 sound chip is high on the list of Mega Sg’s feature set.

Thanks to the headphone port on the front, you will also have the option to connect directly to the system. Video options for the Mega Sg include the usual set of features for an Analogue system: scanline options, scaling and position adjustments, and HDMI resolutions of 480p, 720p, or 1080p.

The Mega Sg is being offered in four different color schemes, including white, in addition to versions that match the original Mega Drive and Genesis consoles released in Europe, Japan, and North America. Controllers aren’t included, but you can use vintage controllers, or the newly announced wireless M30 controllers ($25) from 8BitDo, which will start shipping in February 2019.

The Mega Sg CD expansion port. Like the Famicom Disk adapter for the Nt Mini

Every Mega Sg will come packaged with a Master System cartridge adapter, and Analogue has plans to release additional adapters in 2019 for Mark III, Game Gear, Sega MyCard, SG-1000, and SC-3000 cartridges.

In discussing the upcoming console with Analogue founder Christopher Taber, we learned that the only apparent unchecked box is support for 32X games, via the original add-on hardware or otherwise. With the original 32X in mind, the necessary passthrough ports don’t exist on the Mega Sg, and while Taber believes the device could be replicated on the FPGA inside the Mega Sg, he acknowledges that it isn’t feasible in time for launch.

Taber also mentioned that the company’s previously announced A/V digital-to-analog converter–used to connect the Super Nt and the Mega Sg to analog displays–remains in development. For a growing portion of the vintage gaming community, the ability to play old games on CRT displays is an important step towards authenticity. Nevertheless, if the Mega Sg lives up to the high-bar set by the Super Nt, it could be the first choice when it comes to playing authentic Sega cartridges on modern displays when it ships next year.

Each Monday on the Microsoft Store, the lights go out on the previous week’s sale on Xbox One and 360 games and a new set of downloadable titles gets the discount treatment. This week’s sale is now live, so if you’re looking to save some money and want a new game to play, you’ll want to check out what’s available for cheap. Some of the deals require you to have an Xbox Live Gold subscription, but most are available to everyone between now and October 22.

A few big games from previous years are available for under $20 this week. If you never got around to picking up Gears of War 4, you can get it for just $16 / £13.40. Another cheap blockbuster is Fallout 4, on sale for $15 / £10. And if fighting games are your thing, you can pick up Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite for just $16 / £13.

The World Series kicks off next week, meaning we’ll soon be in the offseason. How will baseball fans last through the cold winter without their favorite pastime to keep them entertained? They can pick up RBI Baseball 18, which is on sale for $21 / £17.

One of the steepest discounts this week is on The Technomancer, which is 80% off, bringing it down to $8 / £7. It’s a sci-fi RPG that takes place on Mars, where you use the title character’s electrical superpowers to singe and destroy hordes of mutants. We’ve picked out some more enticing discounts below, or you can find the full list of games on sale here.

Discord announced today the worldwide launch of its Discord Store, a PC game-buying portal that’ll include its own exclusive titles. The store will pack games from indie developers and at least one bigger publisher, along with titles exclusive to the store.

Previously available only to Canadian players, the new global Discord Store is all about curation. The company, best known for its gaming-centric voice and text chat app of the same name, is hoping to put games in front of players that they’re more likely to want to buy and play. That curation will be carried out by the Discord team, as well as through recommendations made by players’ friends on the Discord service.

The store will also include its own “First on Discord” exclusive titles. There are currently five games on that list: King of the Hat, Minion Masters, Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption, At Sundown and Bad North.

According to a press release from the company, the idea is to create something more akin to a local bookstore experience for the Discord Store. That’s in contrast to Valve’s massively popular Steam store, which might be better compared to a big box store, or even a whole mall.

Alongside the launch of the Discord Store is a new version of Discord’s Nitro monthly subscription service. The current, $5 subscription is focused on things like controlling your Discord username and offering higher resolutions for Discord’s screen sharing service. The new Nitro bumps the price to $9.99 and adds a gaming component: all-you-can-play access to a catalogue of about 60 titles from partner developers like Deep Silver and Double Fine Productions. The games players get access to through Nitro include This War of Mine, Metro: Last Light Redux, Soma, Wastelanders 2: Director’s Cut, INSIDE, Galactic Civilizations III, and Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition.

The catalogues of the Discord Store and Nitro seem pretty confined at the moment, which means it’s not likely to threaten Steam anytime soon. But Discord might be onto something with its focus on curation. Discovery of new games is a big problem on Steam both for players and developers, especially small ones whose games are lost in the flood of titles being released. One report had it that 21 games were released on Steam every day in 2017.

Discord claims some 150 million registers users across the globe for its app, so while its store sports fewer games, it’s possible the smaller, more personal approach might be an answer for developers who have trouble cutting through the noise on larger portals. Both the Discord Store and Nitro service are available to users today.

Welsh director Gareth Evans is best known to cult movie fans as the man behind the 2011 Indonesian action movie The Raid: Redemption and its 2014 sequel The Raid 2. These thrilling, violent, and incredibly-choreographed martial arts epics made much of what passes for Hollywood action seem anaemic in comparison and marked Evans out as one of modern cinema’s most exciting new talents. Evan’s latest movie is Apostle, a Netflix Original which seems him move from martial arts madness into dark horror territory.

While this might seem like a left-turn for Evans, anyone who saw Safe Haven, his co-directed entry into the 2013 anthology film V/H/S 2 will know that he has serious horror chops too. Apostle is set in 1905, and stars Legion‘s Dan Stevens as Thomas Richardson, a man with a mysterious past who is dispatched by his wealthy family to the fictional island of Erisden, several miles off the British coast. His sister Jennifer has been seemingly kidnapped by a religious cult who have set up home on the island and is being held there for ransom. Richardson enters the community undercover, and attempts to discover what has happened to Jennifer.

Apostle is very much a movie of two halves. The first plays out more like a spooky mystery than a straight horror movie, as Richardson becomes part of this deeply religious society. The movie takes its time in introducing the main characters–there’s Malcolm (Michael Sheen), the wild-eyed leader of the cult, his daughter Andrea (Lucy Boynton), Quinn (Mark Lewis Jones, Malcolm’s thuggish right-hand man, and a pair of young lovers, whose secret affair will ultimately have terrible consequences for the whole community. For the most part, we see events unfold through Richardson’s eyes as he starts to plan his sister’s rescue.

But while the the true horror of Apostle doesn’t unfold for some time, Evans makes it clear early on that something is very wrong on Erisden. Why must the new arrivals all leave a jar of their own blood outside their doors at night? Who is that long-haired figure we glimpse wandering around the village? And who exactly is this unnamed “god” that the cult members are worshipping? Evans, who also wrote the script, keeps on cranking the tension, as Richardson realises the Malcolm knows there is an intruder on the island and that time is running out.

The movies also deals with questions of faith and divinity, as Richardson’s own troubled history is revealed, and the actions of this outsider community begin to mirror traumatic events in his own past. Evans is careful to give the key characters well developed back-stories and manages to raise our sympathies for characters initially perceived as “villains.” The acting is strong, in particular Stevens and Sheen, both of whom deliver powerful, charismatic performances. The acting style is deliberately theatrical rather than the more naturalistic approach usually expected from contemporary stories, which suits the movie’s setting and period dialogue perfectly.

Richardson’s attempts to free Jennifer kickstart the frankly insane second half. If the main influence of the first half is creepy British folk-horror films like The Wicker Man, then the rest simply tosses everything else into the mix. The movie leaves the realm of the “real” and embraces the supernatural, throwing in some horrific torture, surreal, nightmarish imagery, and even a couple of bone-crunching fights along the way. The movie’s willingness to embrace an increasingly crazy storyline might not be for everyone; while the movie certainly doesn’t turn into a comedy, it does becomes exaggerated and seriously over-the-top with the gore.

Nevertheless, Evans deserves credit for not playing it safe and refusing to take his movie in a more formulaic direction. It’s a great looking film too, with Matt Flannery’s cinematography bringing out the stark beauty of the island landscapes, and the droning, unsettling music helping create a sense of other-wordly terror. It’s inevitable that this throw-it-at-wall approach will create elements that don’t always work; the climactic scenes feel a little rushed and choppily edited, and even at 130 minutes, there are plot points that seem a little under-explained. But in an era of generic, formulaic horror, you’ll won’t see another movie quite like Apostle this Halloween. A cult movie in every sense of the word.

Jeremy Saulnier has been quietly establishing himself as one of the most talented independent filmmakers for several years now. His witty horror comedy debut Murder Party was followed by 2013’s intense revenge thriller Blue Ruin, which demonstrated his skill at combining a dark and compelling character drama with often upsetting violence. The stakes were raised even higher by 2015’s brilliant, savage punk rock siege movie Green Room, and while some fans were disappointed that he ultimately dropped out of helming all of True Detective Season 3, the bleak, ambitious Netflix movie Hold the Dark will further his reputation.

The film is based on William Giraldi’s 2014 novel, with a screenplay by Saulnier’s regular collaborator Macon Blair. It’s set in the small town of Keelut, deep in the Alaskan wilderness, where young mother Medora Slone (Riley Keough) is coming to terms with the the abduction of her child by a pack of wolves. This is the latest in a series of wolf attacks on the town’s children, so she contacts renowned wolf expert and writer Russell Core (Westworld‘s Jeffrey Wright) to track and kill the animal that took her child. Meanwhile, her husband Vernon (a terrifying Alexander Skarsgård) is serving in Iraq, but an injury sends him home, where a dark, bloody reckoning over the death of his son is inevitable.

Saulnier is a master at establishing mood. From the the moment Core arrives in Keelut, we know something is very wrong–something unspoken–and that things are not what they seem. The sparse script and Keough and Wright’s underplayed performances add to the unease. These are people who are clearly not used to talking much, and the long silences that accompany their initial encounters deftly create the sense that something very bad is about to happen. Core sets out into the wilderness to track the wolves, but it’s what he discovers when he returns after that first day that really kickstarts the plot.

While both Blue Ruin and Green Room were small scale, claustrophobic thrillers that used limited casts and locations to tell simple stories, Hold the Dark is a far bigger, more ambitious project. The arrival of Vernon around the 30 minute mark quickly expands what initially seemed like a simple movie. The cast widens to include the superstitious locals and the neighboring police force, and Saulnier takes us beyond the boundaries of Keelut to explore this entire region. The stunning cinematography and droning music help create an environment that is unforgiving and almost otherworldly. And while nothing actually supernatural happens, at times Hold the Dark feels like a horror movie, as Medora tells Core about the terrifying darkness that lurks in the wilderness and the local people talk of possession by wolves.

Saulnier refrains from explaining too much and the movie is steeped in ambiguity; because of the sparse dialogue we are often left to try work out the character motivations through their actions rather than words. In the case of Vernon, a terrifying, vengeful father who can only express himself through violence, this is not always easy. There are hidden, unspoken secrets that are hinted at but never fully expanded on, and the ending is far from the tidy resolution expected from a more conventional thriller.

That’s not to say Hold the Dark is always a slow-paced, open-ended mystery. Saulnier might like his narrative ambiguity, but he also loves to deliver visceral action. Fans of his previous movies won’t be surprised to learn that this new one contains some of the most shocking scenes of violence you’ll see this year; Saulnier never revels in the gore and much of it is quickly cut, but the sudden, random way that the most brutal violence erupts keeps things tense throughout. Most notably, there is a harrowing, brilliantly-directed shoot-out sequence in the middle of the movie, in which a team of inexperienced cops are pinned down by an adversary with a machine gun.

Hold the Dark is a mysterious, uncompromising movie that won’t be for everyone. It’s very dark–there is little humor, and with the exception of Jame Badge Dale’s police chief Donald, the bleak tone keeps us from feeling much sympathy for even the “good guys,” let alone Skarsgård’s psychotic Vernon and his accomplices. The violence is strong and the movie leaves as many questions as it starts with. But for those who like their thrillers to provoke and challenge as well as thrill, it’s an impressive achievement that won’t be quickly forgotten.

Epic Games has released the patch notes for Fornite’s 6.10 update, which is rolling out on PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android now. The major new addition to the Battle Royale mode is the Quadcrasher, a two-seater vehicle that has a boost function. This vehicle is perfect for smashing through structures, so will no doubt become key to securing those Victory Royales. The update also adds a new “Events” tab, where players will find in-game tournaments.

The patch also makes a variety of tweaks to the way the game performs and plays. For those on a PlayStation 4 Pro, Fortnite will now display at 1440p instead of 1080p when plugged into a 4K TV. In the weapons and items department, Port-a-Fortress has been disabled while Epic figures out an issue with it. Guided Missile, meanwhile, no longer fires the wrong direction, which is nice, and players will no longer permanently attach to a Supply Drop when grappling to it.

For those that want to see what’s new with Save The World, check out the patch notes. The full Battle Royale changes can be found below, along with a video showing off the Quadcrasher.

Limited Time Mode: Disco Domination

What’s New?

• Reduced all bandage spawns by 50%.
• Removed all Common weapons.
• increased the variability of where you can spawn by 30% along your sides storm circle.
• Brought in the side dance floors closer to the Storm edge.
• Reduced max respawn distance by 20%.

Weapons + Items

• The Port-a-Fortress has been disabled as we work to resolve some issues related to this item.
  • Drop rate for Port-a-Fort increased from 3.05% to 4.89% while Port-a-Fortress is disabled.
    • The goal is to keep the drop rate of Port-a-Fort the same as if both items were enabled to help with the completion of Challenges.

Bug Fixes

• Guided Missile no longer fires the wrong direction
• Players will no longer permanently attach to a Supply Drop when grappling to it.
• Attempting to fire while reloading the Double Barrel Shotgun will no longer interrupt the animation.
• Weapon equip animations no longer skip when simultaneously attempting to sprint and target.

Gameplay

• Quadcrasher
  • Seats two players.
  • You build boost just by driving. Unleash that speed with the hotkey once you’ve filled your boost meter.
  • Smash through buildings while boosting.
  • Boost off ramps or cliffs to catch sick air.
  • Launch players into the air by smashing into them.
• You can now view and change Edit Controls separately from Combat and Build Controls in the controller menu.
• PS4 controller lighting will match player marker color.
• You can now set building mode sensitivity for controllers in the options menu. It is a multiplier on the default controller sensitivity and allows up to a 2x increase.
• Controller sensitivity slider in the options menu now allows for more than 10 values.
• Added an option to Builder Pro that allows for building as soon as you switch to the piece, instead of selecting first and then placing. This allows for faster building without a preview.
• Added an option that allows for edit hold timing to be adjusted.
• Opening the Emote Picker with a controller will happen when the button is released, while holding the button will replay the emote that was last played.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed inconsistencies with the damage trap not triggering properly.
• Allow slight movement when using a consumable with Sprint by Default enabled. This will help match how it works without Sprint by Default enabled
• Fixed problem with character orientation getting stuck after falling off the island in a vehicle.

Events

• Tournaments can be found inside of the new ‘Events’ tab available in game. This tab will host a variety of online competitions which are open to everyone. Jump in and explore!
  • Each tournament has a series of scheduled dates and times that the competition will be run. A carousel of all upcoming competitions and times will be available for browsing, so you can plan and practice.
  • Every scheduled session is a completely clean slate with all players starting on an equal footing at the beginning of play.
  • Compete over the course of several hours to earn points by eliminating multiple opponents or surviving against the competition.
  • Players are matched against opponents with similar scores during the session.
  • Score enough points during any scheduled event session and you’ll earn a golden pin for that tournament!

Performance

• Weapon replication optimization for dedicated server to reduce load during rapid weapon switching.
• We’ve made CPU performance optimizations on Switch across all threads. This results in a smoother gameplay experience and fewer hitches.
• Improve multi-threading during heavy physics simulation.

Audio

• Celebrate with style. The music selected in your Locker will now play after getting a Victory Royale!
• Remove the Doppler effect from the audio when players are gliding.
• Added an in-air loop to Grenade Launcher projectiles so you can spatialize where they’re coming from.
• Improved Grenade Launcher bouncing audio.
• Reduced volume of medium-range Grenade explosion sound.

Bug Fixes

• Cube ambient sounds no longer randomly play in the middle of matches.
• Sequential explosion sounds no longer interrupt each other.
• Added missing audio to the Compact SMG and SMG medium/distant fire sounds.
• Audio ‘pops’ no longer occur when emote music loops.
• Re-added the audio cue that plays before a new wave of Supply Drops start appearing.

UI

Bug Fixes

• Fixed some touch issues for the controller mapping screen on Switch.
• Fixed a bug where the player’s banner in the top bar would not update when changing the banner in the locker.
• Made the reticle hidden when skydiving.
• Fixed issues with the display of the on-screen map and inventory inputs.
• Fixed issues with touch functionality on the map for the Nintendo Switch
• Resource buttons no longer cancel auto-run.

Art + Animation

Bug Fixes

• Cosmetic items that change in some way over the course of a match are now marked as “Reactive” in-game (e.g., a harvesting tool that changes as you get eliminations).
• Fixed visual display issues with cosmetic music items..
• Animation pops no longer occur while in the air after using the Chiller trap.

Replay System

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue causing the first replay not be selected in the replay browser.
• Fixed the nameplate distance slider not working.
• Fixed an issue where firing guided missiles would start with the camera facing the wrong way in replays.

MOBILE

• Major performance improvement for devices running Android 7 or earlier.
• Memory improvements on iOS devices.
• The first weapon you pick up will now auto-equip itself on mobile.
• Touch control input now has smoothing enabled.
• Tapping selected buttons on the build quickbar will once again build the selected build piece.
• All elements in the Mobile HUD should now be placeable/movable in the HUD Layout Tool.
• Updated visuals for independent Quickbar slots in the HUD Layout Tool.

Bug Fixes

• Drag and dropping on the Quickbar will no longer select the thing you drag. Players can now adjust their inventory without interrupting other actions.
• Fixing a bug causing some touch input to fall through the settings screen to gameplay.
• Fixing edit button visibility issues when crouching on Mobile.