Movie studios are continuing to shuffle their release schedules as COVID-19 cases surge once again. Amazon and Sony Pictures Animation are finalizing a $100 million deal that will see Hotel Transylvania: Transformania debut globally on Amazon Prime Video, as reported by Variety. Though the fourth entry in the $1.36 billion grossing animated series was slated to hit the big screen on October 1, the film will now skip its theatrical run entirely.
The deal marks a concession for Sony as movie theaters have struggled to draw family audiences throughout the summer. Since there is no vaccine available for children under the age of 12, films targeted towards younger viewers have proved less viable box office. Following news that New York City and other cities would begin enforcing a vaccine mandate for movie theaters and other indoor venues, Sony began exploring options for a non-theatrical release for Hotel Transylvania: Transformania in early August.
Sony has sold off several films to streaming services throughout the pandemic. Earlier this year, the studio worked with Netflix to release two other animated movies, The Mitchells vs. the Machines and Vivo, on the streamer. Other movies such as Greyhound, An American Pickle, and the upcoming Cinderella also found new homes on streaming platforms.
In our review of Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, IGN gave the animated movie a 7.6, calling it “the most fast-paced and comedically inspired entry in the series.”
J. Kim Murphy is a freelance entertainment writer.
A dataminer has uncovered leftover multiplayer assets within The Last of Us Part II‘s files that potentially point to a battle royale mode comprised of locations from the action-adventure game’s single-player campaign.
In a nearly five-minute-long video, “modding and exploring games” YouTuber Speclizer shared what are allegedly The Last Of Us Part II multiplayer assets. According to Speclizer, these contain a map prop to be used in multiplayer, as well as objects like a collar and “listen-mode-device” (likely a piece of equipment in multiplayer to use the listen mode feature).
What’s particularly striking about this leak, though, is that multiplayer map. It looks like it combines several locations from The Last of Us Part II’s single-player campaign, like Adler Plaza and Camallito, to make “one big map.” As Speclizer zooms into one referenced area after another, the battle royale map starts to make sense. Adler Plaza, with its four-story motel and spacious music center, looks like a great drop zone for loot and skirmishes. While Port 66, the spot near where Ellie tracked down Abby in the game, could be a solid hiding place to wait it out until you’re the last one standing.
Near the end of the video, Speclizer mentioned that buried within the files were models for armors and backpacks they weren’t able to fully restore yet. You can check out their video below.
Speclizer also wrote in a YouTube comment that development footage had “a compass and a player count,” seemingly solidifying the idea that the multiplayer may include a battle royale experience.
It’s worth noting, though, that none of this is confirmed. And even if this work was done, there’s no guarantee that any of it will make it to developer Naughty Dog’s standalone multiplayer title. Furthermore, neither the studio nor publisher Sony have commented on what Speclizer has found.
While Naughty Dog has been pretty quiet about its confirmed standalone The Last of Us multiplayer experience, more details have slowly emerged, like job postings from June pointing to the studio’s ambitions with the title.
Dragon Age: Origins was originally a game without any dragons, but then a random name generator changed the game’s setting.
This news comes by way of TheGamer, which included the tidbit as part of a larger interview with Mark Darrah about Dragon Age’s past, present, and future. As it turns out, the Dragon Age series was conceived without a name — there were some ideas, but nothing stuck, so the team decided to have a coder create a random name generator.
“They knocked something together and added a whole bunch of fantasy words to the list,” lead environmental artist Ian Stubbington said. “It was fired up and produced some names and the one that got the final vote by the team at the time was of course ‘Dragon Age.'”
It turns out the Dragon Age series and Childish Gambino have more in common than we previously knew. After all, both of their origin stories involve a random name generator.
It wasn’t until the BioWare team’s random name generator came up with “Dragon Age” that lead writer David Gaider decided that they should add some actual dragons to the story. That’s because the game originally had no dragons, as it would instead be set in a period “past its high fantasy stage.” In that stage of the game’s setting, magic would have been on the decline and dragons would have already been hunted to extinction.
“The big story in Dragon Age: Origins was not only that the darkspawn were returning, but that this was the unexpected return of a fantastical past the setting had thought it’d left behind,” Gaider said.
With “Dragon” now in the game’s title, some changes had to be made.
“So suddenly, we had dragons returning to the world, the Archdemon changed into a dragon, and — best of all — I created a calendar system with named ‘ages’ so that the current age could be, you guessed it, the Dragon Age,” Gaider said. “All to make the name of the game look very deliberate and tied into the rest, though in this case it was very much the tail wagging the dog.”
And there you have it — random name generators have created a popular RPG video games series and a popular musical artist, and only time will tell what they create next.
Sony and Amazon are close to signing a deal for the animated movie Hotel Transylvania: Transformania to stream globally on Prime Video. As reported by Variety, the deal is worth over $100 million.
The news follows reports last week that Sony was looking to move the release date of two of its big fall movies, Venom: Let there be Carnage and Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, following a rise of COVID-19 infections in the US. But while the Venom sequel is moving back a few weeks to October 15, it is still maintaining an exclusive theatrical release. However, Sony has opted to release Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, which will attract a much younger demographic, via Amazon. Variety states that Sony has retained the rights for home entertainment, linear TV, and a theatrical release in China.
Unlike many of its rivals such as Disney, Paramount, and Warner, Sony doesn’t have its own streaming platform. Earlier this year, it signed a deal with Netflix to release its movies after they leave theaters, and throughout the pandemic, it has sold its films to a variety of other services, including The Greyhound to Apple TV+, An American Pickle to HBO Max, and The Mitchells vs. the Machines to Netflix.
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania was originally set for December 2020 release. It was subsequently moved to July this year, and then to October. The movie stars Andy Sandberg, Selena Gomez, Kathryn Hahn, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, and David Spade.
The first Hotel Transylvania film was released in 2012, and the series has grossed over $1.3 billion at the worldwide box office so far. There has also been a Hotel Transylvania animated Disney Channel show, two short films, and several video games.
Most players have been running the same set of perks since Call of Duty: Warzone‘s inception, but you’ll likely want to adjust the perks in your loadouts due to Season 5’s major changes. This new season adds two Warzone-exclusive perks, while also buffing an existing perk that probably wasn’t in your loadout before.
Season 5’s new Warzone-exclusive perks will make you reconsider your loadout options, as these new additions give players the most viable perk options that Warzone has ever seen. Tempered is a new Tier 2 perk that lets you get armored up faster and with less armor plates. And the new Tier 3 Combat Scout perk will briefly highlight enemies you damage with an orange glow, allowing you to see them even through walls, while also pinging them for your squadmates. Cold-Blooded also received a major buff to counter more nuisances in Warzone. So, depending on your playstyle, you might end up swapping out your preferred perks for each tier.
Here are some recommended perks for Season 5 of Warzone:
PERK 1
Cold-Blooded
Cold-Blooded
In recent seasons, Cold-Blooded wasn’t a popular perk choice, because it mostly just kept you from being detected by thermal optics, and thermal optic scopes haven’t really been a part of Warzone’s meta for quite some time. However, Season 5 buffs Warzone’s Cold-Blooded perk to be way more valuable.
With Season 5’s changes, Cold-Blooded no longer triggers the High Alert notification. Normally, the High Alert perk warns the user by creating a pulse effect around the HUD when an enemy outside of their view sees them. However, High Alert will no longer detect players using Cold-Blooded.
Cold-Blooded also works as a counter to the new Combat Scout perk. When a player using Combat Scout damages a player, the damaged opponent will be highlighted orange for a moment and will be pinged, but players using Cold-Blooded won’t be targeted.
E.O.D.
E.O.D.
E.O.D. is still a top choice for the first perk slot, as it reduces explosive damage taken from non-killstreak explosives and fire. If you’re pinned down in a building and don’t have a trophy system to intercept enemy equipment, you’ll want E.O.D. to help you avoid dying to enemy grenades or Molotovs.
Double Time
Double Time
Double Time is another solid choice for the first perk slot. Mobility is important in Warzone, whether you’re pushing towards an enemy squad or just trying to escape the circle of gas with your life. Double Time allows you to Tactical Sprint for longer, as well as boosts your crouch movement speed by 30%.
PERK 2
Ghost
Ghost
Ghost is still the most commonly used perk in Warzone. This perk makes you undetectable by UAVs, radar drones, and heartbeat sensors. Your life matters so much in battle royale, especially in non-respawn modes, so it’s important to keep yourself off the radar. With the threat of enemy UAVs and the fact that heartbeat sensors are so commonly used, Ghost is a no-brainer for the second perk slot.
Overkill
Overkill
Most players have at least one or two loadouts equipped with Overkill. The Overkill perk allows you to equip two primary weapons, making an Overkill loadout a great pick for your first loadout drop. This gives you the best chance at winning the early gunfights, as you’ll have two primary weapons that provide you with effectiveness at the various ranges. So, this is where you’d pair your preferred long-range weapon with your best close- to mid-range gun.
If you are able to score an early first loadout with Overkill, you can eventually pick up a second loadout and switch to a Ghost class, assuming you’re still trying to fly under the radar. The matches tend to slow down and get a bit more campy near the end, so you’ll want to make sure you get off enemy radars.
Tempered
Tempered
Season 5 adds Tempered as a new Warzone-exclusive perk, which provides more reinforced armor plates. Only two of these heavier plates are needed for you to be “fully armored” compared to the standard three. Tempered allows each plate to absorb 75 points of damage instead of the standard 50, but you will only be able to wear two plates instead of three. So, basically, you will get the same amount of armor, but you’ll have one less plate to worry about. This also means with Tempered you’ll technically have more plates saved in your satchel for later use, as it requires fewer to be fully armored.
Some players are switching to Tempered to get that slightly faster plate time, but you’ll have to decide if the tradeoff will be worth the sacrifice of losing a perk like Ghost. This is probably most beneficial to players with aggressive playstyles, whereas slower, more tactical players might want to keep using Ghost.
PERK 3
Amped
Amped
Amped is still a highly-used perk for the third slot. It provides faster weapon swap and rocket launcher reload speed. There’s nothing worse than losing gunfights because you needed to reload and you died while trying to switch weapons. Amped lets you swap weapons with barely any delay, and it’s a very noticeable difference in time if you’re not running this perk.
Combat Scout
Combat Scout
Season 5’s new Warzone-exclusive Combat Scout perk is already making waves in Verdansk. In a game that’s blatantly struggled with hackers, this new Tier 3 perk gives players temporary “wall hacks,” as damaging an enemy will briefly highlight the player with a bright orange glow that actually appears through walls. And it automatically pings these damaged enemies for any squadmates as well.
If you’re finding yourself a constant victim of Combat Scout, it might be worth running Cold-Blooded as your Tier 1 perk to avoid getting pinged.
If you’re looking for the best Warzone loadouts to use, we have some recommendations for Season 5.
It turns out the “it” in “If you build it” is Peacock, and the “he” in “he will come” is a Field of Dreams TV series. Peacock announced the straight-to-series-order for Field of Dreams today, alongside news that this series will “reimagine the mixture of family, baseball, Iowa, and magic that makes the movie so enduring and beloved.”
First released back in 1989, the Kevin Costner vehicle has been in the zeitgeist of late thanks to a recent MLB tribute game that saw the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox play in an Iowa corn field. The original movie is a sports movie staple, a tale of an Iowa farmer hearing voices and building a wooden stadium in an attempt to reconcile with the ghosts of his father and Shoeless Joe Jackson. It includes a roadtrip to Fenway and one of film history’s finest monologues, delivered by the great James Earl Jones.
“Through the years, Field of Dreams has remained a fan favorite, maintaining its rightful position in the zeitgeist,” NBCUniversal Television and Streaming president, Lisa Katz, said. “It’s whimsical and grounded, a space where [the series’ executive producer and writer] Mike Schur excels, and we’re looking forward to bringing a new version of this classic to Peacock.”
Lawrence Gordon of The Gordon Company will executive produce the series alongside Schur, David Miner, and Morgan Sackett. Field of Dreams marks the second Peacock series for Schur, who also created the Rutherford Falls series, which was just picked up for a second season. For those not familiar with the original movie, it’s actually currently available to stream on Peacock.
This new Field of Dreams series is what Universal calls the latest collaboration between NBCUniversal’s television and film studios. Before that, the most recent was the upcoming TED television series from Seth McFarlane, also set to debut on Peacock.
Dead By Daylight‘s Stranger Things content will become unavailable for purchase later this year. Announced on the game’s official Twitter account, the two survivors and killer in the Stranger Things pack will be delisted on November 17.
Nancy Wheeler, Steve Harrington, and the Demogorgon–along with all related cosmetics–will all become unavailable later this year, but players who already own the characters will be able to continue using them in Dead By Daylight. To help out players who don’t have these characters yet, they will all be 50% off starting August 18, with the sale running until the characters are delisted.
The Stranger Things Chapter, which includes the characters and some exclusive cosmetics, will be 60% off on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Steam, and Stadia from August 18 through September 1. All Stranger Things cosmetics will be 50% off from August 18 through September 8.
In addition to the Stranger Things characters and cosmetics, November 17 will also see the Underground Complex map removed. Dead by Daylight recently teased that another horror crossover is coming, this time with Hellraiser. Dead by Daylight also features content from other horror video games, like Left 4 Dead and Silent Hill.
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
Cyberpunk 2077‘s next big patch is on the way. While we have yet to receive a release date, CD Projekt Red has shared details on what players can expect in the upcoming update.
Patch 1.3 will included several updates to the gameplay, the most notable of them being adjustments to the minimap, which now be a bit more zoomed out and will display more road ahead. This makes it a lot more convenient when driving and navigating Night City, especially if you prefer to drive fast in-game.
Cyberpunk 2077’s next major update also lowers how much it costs to reset your character’s perks, making it a lot easier to experiment with perk points without too many repercussions for experimentation. In the game, if you regret investing in a perk for your character, you can revert the perk points you used by purchasing a Tabula e-Rasa, which refunds you all your perk points. Once patch 1.3 arrives, the price of the item will decrease from 100,000 eurobucks to 13,200 eurobucks.
Other changes arriving in patch 1.3 include some small tweaks to an early in-game quest where players visit Clouds. In this particular mission, you get a private room and have the option to get intimate with either a male or female sex worker.
The patch will display images of both sex workers with a dialogue option throughout the entire conversation. In contrast, before patch 1.3, the images for both sex workers briefly appeared on screen before disappearing, which caused some players to choose the wrong gender by accident. CD Projekt Red even showed the subtle change to the mission in a new YouTube video with a side-by-side scene comparison.
Although the latest blog post and video did not disclose every change arriving in patch 1.3, including how much will be added to improve overall performance for those playing on base PS4 and Xbox One consoles, CD Projekt Red plans to share more details tomorrow on a Twitch stream, which begins at 9am PT / 12pm ET. The live stream is also expected to reveal the first of many planned free DLCs coming to Cyberpunk 2077.
Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
Intel, a grandfather of the PC hardware industry, is joining the GPU wars. The company announced a new brand today, devoted entirely to graphics. Called Intel Arc, the brand includes hardware, software, and services, and yes, that includes GPUs for gamers.
Intel already has multiple generations of Arc planned, with the first being titled Alchemist (it was formerly titled DG2). The upcoming generations of Arc will be named Battlemage, Celestial, and Druid, names ripped straight from the pages of the D&D 5E player’s handbook.
We don’t have any details, like technical specifications, about any future Intel Arc products. However, according to a page on Intel’s site announcing the brand, first-generation Arc products will feature “hardware-based ray tracing and artificial intelligence-driven super sampling, and offer full support for DirectX 12 Ultimate.”
For the time being, Intel plans to get Alchemist-based products onto store shelves in the first fiscal quarter of 2022. More details on these products will be shared later this year.
Currently, the graphics market is largely dominated by two companies: AMD and Nvidia. The former has its GPUs in both the Xbox Series X and PS5, as well as a decent stake in the PC gaming market with its CPUs. Nvidia, meanwhile, is a darling for its DLSS tech, which gives PC gamers easy access to ray tracing at high resolutions. However, getting these graphics cards is a problem, one that may extend to Intel’s own hardware. According to Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, the ongoing semiconductor shortage could extend well into 2023.
Osa will be Rainbow Six Siege’s first transgender operator when she joins the roster tomorrow.
First announced last week, she’s a two-health, two-speed, two-difficulty character that uses a Talon-8 Clear Shield to block incoming bullets. Her gender identity was not revealed during the announcement, nor was it discussed during previews for the upcoming Year 6 Season 3 content. However, GameSpot noticed a line in Osa’s biography that mentions a “transition” and the publication reached out to Ubisoft for confirmation. Here’s what Ubisoft had to say:
“The decision to create a transgender character was made early on, as part of our initiative to have an inclusive roster of Operators,” Ubisoft’s statement reads. “The consultants, all of whom are trans people, wanted to make sure that Osa was presented as authentically and organically as possible.”
That included hiring a queer person to write the character and a trans woman to voice her. According to the statement, Osa’s identity in the game is “certainly influenced by her gender,” but “who she is in the Siege universe is centered on her talents, her influence on Nighthaven, and her close friendship to Kali.”
GameSpot reports that the game makes no mention of Osa’s gender identity other than a line that mentions her transition in her biography.
“She followed her passion for creation and technology and studied electromechanics at a vocational school, and then military engineering at the University of Zagreb where she excelled at robotics engineering,” Osa’s biography in the game reads. “She found herself isolated due to her unorthodox approach and others’ attitudes toward her transition, so she focused on her work.”
Osa will join the large roster of Rainbow Six Siege’s operators tomorrow when the Year 6 Season 3 content goes live on the game’s test server.
