Category: Games

From the guy who co-created skits like East/West Bowl and the Substitute Teacher on Comedy Central’s Key & Peele have come two of the weirdest and best horror movies in recent memory: Get Out and Us (not to mention his Twilight Zone revamp). We wouldn’t have expected it either, but now, Jordan Peele’s name is all it takes to get us excited about an upcoming film–even if that’s literally all we know about it.

But now we know not only that Peele is working on his next horror movie, we now know when we can look forward to it. Universal set the release date for his next film this week. In hopes that movie theaters will have re-opened and returned to normal by then, Universal has Peele’s next film set for July 22, 2022. That’s just a week after Warner Bros’ third Fantastic Beasts film premieres (without Johnny Depp).

And that’s everything we know about the movie. Peele keeps details about his films close to the vest. Themes of racism unite both Get Out and Us, along with many of the best Key & Peele skits, but the two movies are otherwise different enough that we’re deeply curious about what Peele has in store. Get Out netted Peele an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and the two films have grossed an estimated $510 million for Universal.

In addition to directing horror films, Peele has take to producing as well. While his next film is still a ways out, we can look forward to Candyman, directed by Nic DeCosta, in 2021, and a Peele-produced remake of The People Under The Stairs sometime after.

Image credit: Getty Images/Frederic J. Brown

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When in doubt, make more movies about people repeatedly trying and failing to kill a character played by Gerard Butler. That seems to be a winning formula, as a fourth Has Fallen movie starring the actor is in development. What started with Olympus Has Fallen in 2013 has become a very successful franchise of films, each one seemingly trying harder to kill secret service agent Mike Banning (Butler).

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the next film in the series will be titled Night Has Fallen. In it, Butler will once more team with director Ric Roman Waugh, who helmed the franchise’s third entry, Angel Has Fallen. That movie’s screenwriter, Robert Mark Kamen, is also returning for Night Has Fallen.

It remains to be seen exactly what kind of situation Banning will find himself in for the next movie. However, the last movie introduced Nick Nolte as the character’s estranged father, teaming the two up. Hopefully, he returns for this film, as well.

While the Has Fallen films might not immediately spring to mind when thinking about the most successful action movie franchises, the first three movies combined have made over $500,000,000 at the box office, proving there’s certainly an audience that wants to see more of Butler defying death time and again. Here’s hoping there are still plenty more movies to come.

A release date for Night Has Fallen has yet to be announced.

Over the last decade, the MCU has done a lot of legwork for some of the more niche Marvel superheroes, elevating them from relative obscurity to household name status with just a couple of big budget blockbusters. But, unsurprisingly, the transformation from comic book character to A-list live action celebrity brings some changes and updates with it. Sometimes they’re relatively minor–solidifying more obscure or esoteric bits of origin stories or shaving off clunky bits of continuity left over from years and years of publication history–but other times, they can practically reinvent the character from the ground up into something almost entirely new.

This is exactly what happened with Vision, Marvel’s charmingly obtuse superheroic robot played by Paul Bettany. Since he’s going on to star in his very own Disney+ TV series, WandaVision, by the end of the year, we figured now was a perfect time to blow the doors off the character’s lengthy and complicated history outside of the MCU. After all, if that first trailer is any indication, WandaVision is going to be jam packed with layers upon layers of some deeply arcane Marvel mythology, so it’s probably best to go in fully prepared to catch everything you possibly can.

For starters, let’s go over the pieces that you probably know already: MCU Vision was first introduced in the second Avengers movie, Age of Ultron, where he was sort of accidentally produced by hybridizing Tony Stark’s AI butler, JARVIS, with the Mind Stone–the infinity stone that once lived in Loki’s staff. The specifics here are a little wonky, but it boiled down to an effort to stop Ultron, another of Tony’s creations (in the MCU at least), who was trying to upload his consciousness into a synthetic body. The theory was that Ultron couldn’t take over a body that already had someone or something in it.

Of course, JARVIS-with-a-body gets the name Vision and winds up being a genuinely good guy who, unlike Ultron, wants to fight on the “side of life,” which gives the Avengers the advantage they need to finally take Ultron out once and for all. From there on out, Vision became a regular member of the team, struck up a charming little romance with fellow teammate Wanda, and provided some pretty solid situational comedy to lighten the mood when he could by being a bit befuddled by human culture. You know, standard robot stuff.

Things were a bit less cut-and-dry over in the comics.

Vision’s MCU origin story borrows pretty heavily from his publication history, but the actual story of Vision as he’s seen in the comics is much longer and more bizarre. He first debuted in 1968 after Stan Lee and Roy Thomas decided to add a new member to the Avengers, who at that point had only been in print for about five years.

At this time in comics history, there was a lot of change going on and most of it was extremely fast and loose–character rights and licenses were being bought and sold as publishers cropped up and disappeared and the concept of shared universe continuity was just beginning to really solidify across bigger brands. This meant a lot of the older, Golden Age characters in Marvel’s stable were being rapidly repurposed and reinvented for new stories where they could actually fit into the bigger picture as it developed. This is exactly what Thomas wanted to do with a character from the 1940s called The Vision that had been created at Marvel’s precursor, Timely Comics, by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. This original Vision was an alien also known as Aarkus who was basically a space cop from another dimension.

That dimension was called “Smokeworld.” No, really.

Aarkus didn’t really do much in the ’40s aside from briefly team up and assist the Invaders, the team that Captain America originally fought with in World War II, making him an ideal candidate for a modern reinvention. But Lee and Thomas didn’t quite see eye to eye on the revival. Lee wanted a robot character, not an alien, because it was the late ’60s and that sort of thing was very in style. The two eventually reached an old fashioned compromise and settled on making a “new” Vision who would borrow heavily from the old Vision’s design and overall aesthetic, but would be an android rather than an extra dimensional alien law man.

Of course this didn’t, technically, delete the old Vision/Aarkus from Marvel continuity entirely–but you can worry about that some other time. Seriously, he lived in the sewers under New York at one point, it was a whole thing. Don’t let that distract you.

Anyway, because Vision was now an android–or, excuse me, a “synthezoid,” as he was called–it meant he needed a new android origin story. This is where things will start to sound very familiar. Vision was created by Ultron as a weapon against his own creator, Hank Pym. Pym’s wife Jan is the one who coined the name “Vision,” after encountering him and describing him as–you guessed it–“a vision.”

To actually give Vision sentience, Ultron copied the brain wave patterns of a (temporarily) dead former Avenger named Wonder Man, or Simon Williams. This inadvertently gave Vision a sort of proxy-history with the team and its members and meant that Vision was fairly easily convinced to betray his creator and team up with the Avengers instead.

Oh, and his body initially came from the android Human Torch after it was split in two by Immortus, a time traveling future version of the villain Kang the Conqueror, creating one version just called “Torch” and another that became raw parts for Ultron to use like super advanced, android-making legos.

At one point Simon Williams came back to life and basically claimed that Vision’s photocopied version of his brain had actually removed his soul and that he wouldn’t stand for it, turning Vision into a sort of lifeless black-and-white automaton for a while. At another point, he got a new brain pattern copy that merged with the parts of Simon he had left over, functionally rendering him a new and independently sentient artificial human.

Even before that, Vision became romantically involved with fellow Avenger Scarlet Witch, who used her reality-shaping mutation to allow for them to have two twin children named Tommy and William–both of whom eventually grew up to become Young Avengers themselves.

Also their kids died a few times, and at one point were revealed to be soul fragments of Mephisto, one of Marvel’s most common incarnations of the literal devil–it’s a whole situation. To say that Wanda and Vision’s love and family life has never been particularly stable or healthy would be a very dramatic understatement.

All the while, Vision and Ultron continued their game of endless cat-and-mouse rivalry, which resulted in plenty of kidnappings, brainwashings, and attempted re-creations or cloning. Vision’s “operating system” was even used to grant sentience to a suit of armor owned by Iron Lad (a member of the Young Avengers but also a time displaced version of Kang the Conqueror–the same guy who played a vague part in his early origin stories with the Human Torch’s robot body) that caused some chaos for a while.

More than once, he’s been forced to, willingly or otherwise, completely wipe his memory. More recently, he had to delete the “emotional data” he’s stored, resulting in a functional system reset for himself.

This sort of completely bonkers sci-fi nonsense is sort of a running theme in Vision’s publication history, so it’s really no surprise that the MCU went out of their way to simplify things. Basically any time he was thrust into the spotlight or featured as the central figure in a given plotline or story arc in the comics, you knew things were about to get really complicated and weird–from being killed and rebuilt time and time again, to being hacked and controlled by various villains, to being tangled up in all sorts of existential and cosmic insanity.

In more recent years, Vision received a bit of an overhaul with his very own solo series–one of the few in his nearly 50 years of being a supporting player on countless teams–called simply “Vision.” In this miniseries, he was “reimagined” (more in the sense that he was trying to reimagine himself rather than being reintroduced or changed in an by any editorial edicts) as a suburban “husband” and “father” to his newly created synthezoid family: wife Virginia Vision, son Vin Vision, and daughter Viv Vision. Together they lived in Virginia, the state, and did their level best to blend into their white picket fence neighborhood–though their human neighbors were less-than-thrilled and deeply suspicious.

Of course, this mundane existence couldn’t last long and, eventually, Vision’s past came back to haunt him in some very literal ways–almost all of them deeply tragic. But it did serve to emphasize some of the major themes in Vision’s long, strange journey through Marvel history, namely that while characters like Tony Stark may exist to emphasize things like responsibility and recovery, or characters like Captain America may interrogate things like patriotism and duty, Vision is a character meant to change and transform in stories about the nature of humanity. This makes for some messy, confusing, and altogether mind-bending stories, most, if not all of which are wrapped up in a healthy layer of comic book absurdity. But the point and the purpose is always clear, once you manage to uncover it.

So if you’re gearing up for WandaVision, a show that certainly seems like it’s going to be following that pattern with very deliberate intention, that’s probably the best thing to expect and prepare for. Sure, some of the more bizarre and confusing parts will likely be simplified care of Vision’s more streamlined MCU story, but there’s still plenty of potential for waxing poetic on his own humanity or lack thereof. Don’t forget, as far as we know, he ought to still be “dead” after Infinity War, so you know it’s going to come up.

WandaVision is set to premiere on Disney+ in 2020. get some more links down here to stories about upcoming mcu stuff

The Xbox Series X and S consoles are launching this week, but if you ordered from Amazon, your shipment might not make it to you right away. The retailer has dispatched notices to some people to let them know their new Xbox may not arrive until the end of December.

Here at GameSpot, we received an email from Amazon noting that, “We expect to ship your console in the coming weeks as we receive more inventory in November and December.” The email states that, “We anticipate that you will receive your Xbox Series X by 12/31 or before.”

The notice goes on to state that Amazon is making “every effort” to ship the new console as soon as possible. Amazon also apologized for the delay and reminded shoppers that they will receive a notification by email when the order finally ships.

Other people have reported receiving this message, but as always, your mileage my vary. For example, another GameSpot editor has received a tracking number for their Series X ordered from Amazon, so the delays do not apply to all orders. Check your email and Amazon account for the latest information pertaining to your order.

The Xbox Series X and S consoles are officially available now in Australia, New Zealand, and other parts of the world where it is already November 10. For more, check out GameSpot’s Xbox Series X review and our review of launch title Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

If you’re still on the hunt for a new Xbox Series X, GameStop will have some in stock very soon.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

The PlayStation 5 is a very large console, but it was originally envisioned as an even bigger machine. The person who designed the look of the console, Yujin Morisawa, told The Washington Post that his initial drawings of the console were even larger than the final product.

“When I started drawing, it was much larger even though I didn’t know what engineering was going to do,” Morisawa said. “It’s kind of funny that engineering actually told me it’s too big. So, I actually had to shrink it down a little bit from the first drawing.”

At the onset of designing the machine, Morisawa said he knew the PS5 had to be physically larger than the PS4 because of its internals and the need to create space for air flow and the heat sink.

“We wanted to get it much smaller, so it’s the perfect size right now,” Morisawa said. “If I made it thinner, there would be less air flow to it. It would disturb the player while they are playing. Form-factor wise, I drew a perfect line around it and tried [to] hit the perfect size.”

The full interview is well worth a read, as it offers informative and entertaining insight on the thinking behind the design of the PS5–go read it here.

For more on the size of the PS5, check out GameSpot’s video above where we compare it to the size of every other PlayStation console that came before it. You can also see side-by-side comparison images here.

GameSpot’s PS5 review said the console represents a promising start to the next generation.

A little over a year after the release of Devil May Cry 5, Capcom has delivered Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition, an updated version that positions itself as a great next-gen launch title showcasing the power of the PS5. Along with the increased technical performance, the Special Edition sees the return of a few gameplay modes, a host of performance options, and the return of fan-favorite edgelord Vergil.

Like with previous Vergil campaigns, don’t expect much in the way of new story content outside of new cutscenes at the beginning and end. You’ll be running through the same scenarios as the other characters, minus any story and dialogue. The result is a lean campaign where the star of the show is Vergil’s moveset, which is fantastic. Those who played him in Devil May Cry 4’s Special Edition will feel right at home, as pretty much all of Vergil’s moves have been carried over. His biggest new tricks include a doppelganger he can summon to help with crowd control, as well as the ability to temporarily transform himself into V, which allows you to regain health while dealing some damage.

Vergil may be familiar, but as someone who just enjoys how DMC5 feels to play, I still had a blast blazing through his campaign. Vergil is incredibly fun to control, and that carries over here as you pit him against the demon horde. It also helps that his battle theme, Bury the Light, whips and I will never tire of hearing it.

Aside from Vergil, there’s the inclusion of the staple Turbo mode, which runs the game 20% faster, and Legendary Dark Knight, which ups the chaos by throwing a ridiculous number of enemies on the screen. Both are welcome additions, particularly Legendary Dark Knight, which, like how it was in DMC4 Special Edition, makes for a great way to re-experience the original campaign. Even as the game throws countless demons at you, gameplay remains smooth on PS5.

Perhaps the most exciting thing about DMC 5 Special Edition is the new graphics and performance options made available thanks to the power of next-gen consoles. You can run the game with ray tracing at 4K 30fps or at 1080p at 60fps. You can also turn ray tracing off if you want to play at 4k 60fps. It’s a nice set of options, and I appreciate the ability to prioritize gameplay performance over visuals to suit my needs. That said, DMC 5 doesn’t feel like it benefits all that much from the inclusion of ray tracing. The wet pavement and window reflections do look nice, but I didn’t really notice their visual flourishes until I stopped to admire them–and even then, it quickly faded into the back of my mind as I focused more on slicing up demons. In a game all about combat, the trade-off of a lower frame rate didn’t feel worth it, and I preferred using the modes that offered a higher one.

Speaking of which, if you have a TV that can support it, you can turn on high frame rate mode, which pushes the game past 60fps. It doesn’t quite hit the ceiling of 120fps, but the increased frame rate delivers the smoothest DMC experience you can get on console, and it became my preferred way to play. It is worth noting that you can’t use high frame rate or ray tracing when playing on Turbo or Legendary Dark Knight due to the high performance demand those modes put on the game.

Another benefit of the PS5’s improved performance is fast loading thanks to its SSD. Loading times in the original DMC5 were by no means the worst, but having to wait did slow things down at times and feel at odds with the pacing, which encourages you to spend as much time kicking demon ass. Reducing the multiple loading screens it takes to go from launch into a mission to only a few seconds each feels great, and it’s no longer a pain waiting to load into the void to try out a move before you buy it. Fast loading might eventually stop feeling incredible as it becomes more common, but seeing the experience of DMC dramatically improve because of it still makes it feel magical.

Overall, these are great additions to Devil May Cry 5. Vergil feels fantastic to play, and it’s great getting to go through the original campaign with Legendary Dark Knight difficulty. The real winner, though, is the improvements enabled by next-gen consoles. The result is an experience that brings enough new to the table for returning fans while being the definitive Devil May Cry 5 experience for those looking to pick it up for the first time.