Category: Games

Midsommar spoilers ahead!

15. The Bugle

Jameson’s news outlet, The Daily Bugle, is just as notorious as he is in the comics and Spider-Man movies on days gone by. JJJ is seen here for the first time in the MCU, publicly outing Peter Parker to the world with help from a doctored video taken by Mysterio. We can’t tell if The Bugle is a paper, a talk show, or some other form of news outlet here in this universe, but whatever it is, it’s going to spell trouble for Peter.

The second Pokemon Go Fest event of the summer kicks off soon in Dortmund, Germany, but even if you can’t attend in-person, you’ll have a chance to catch a special Pokemon. To celebrate the event, Niantic is increasing spawns of male Nidoran around the world beginning tomorrow, July 4, at 1 AM PT / 4 AM ET / 9 AM BST, and if you’re lucky enough, you’ll be able to find its Shiny version for the first time.

That isn’t all that’s happening during the event. As was the case during last month’s Pokemon Go Fest in Chicago, Niantic will offer a variety of Global Challenges throughout Germany’s Go Fest. Players around the world can chip in toward their completion, and if enough challenges are completed, Niantic will make a variety of bonuses available in the game, including another chance to capture the Legendary Pokemon Entei.

This week marks the third anniversary of Pokemon Go’s release, and Niantic is celebrating the occasion with a variety of events and bonuses. Shiny Alolan forms of Rattata, Sandshrew, Vulpix, Diglett, Meowth, Geodude, Grimer, and Exeggutor can be found in the wild, and Pikachu wearing a party hat is available once again. There are also new Special Research quests and new avatar items inspired by the game’s three team leaders in the Style Shop.

Beyond the third anniversary festivities, the Gen 3 Legendary Groudon has returned to Raid Battles for a limited time. The Pokemon will appear at Gyms until July 10, and you’ll have a chance of encountering its Shiny version. Groudon and Kyogre are also two of the possible Legendaries you can encounter through July’s new Field Research tasks. Another Gen 3 Legendary, Speed Forme Deoxys, has also begun appearing in EX Raids.

Pokemon Go’s next Community Day is scheduled for July 21. The featured Pokemon this time will be Mudkip, the Gen 3 Water-type starter. Throughout the event, Mudkip will appear in the wild more frequently than normal, and if you can evolve it into its final form, Swampert, by the end of the event, it’ll learn a special move. You’ll also earn triple the usual amount of XP for capturing Pokemon during this month’s Community Day.

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One of publisher Electronic Arts’ bosses has spoken up to talk about how, after 25 years with the company, he continues to struggle with how EA is often perceived as “a bunch of bad guys.”

A publicly traded company with thousands of employees around the world, EA is among the world’s largest, oldest, and most established gaming publishers. EA’s EVP of strategic growth, Matt Bilbey, explained to GI.biz that when EA makes mistakes, these issues are blown out due in part to the company’s size and scale.

“25 years at EA and I still struggle with the external perception that we’re just a bunch of bad guys,” Bilbey said. “We love making and playing games. Unfortunately, when we make mistakes on games, the world knows about it because it’s of a size and scale.”

Indeed. When EA’s Star Wars: Battlefront II ignited a controversy in 2017 over its implementation loot boxes and microtransactions–which were removed before the game’s public release–the discussion kicked off a global examination of loot boxes in video games that continues today. The title might have been embroiled in controversy, but it shipped a gargantuan 9 million-plus copies in its first months alone, making it one of the most successful Star Wars games in history.

It’s a similar story to EA’s Battlefield 4, which had a rough launch but was also hugely successful from a commercial perspective.

Also in the interview, Bilbey spoke about how EA, as the company grows larger and larger, faces the perception that it becomes “disconnected” from new, original ideas. That’s where the EA Originals program comes in. The label is behind titles like A Way Out, Fe, and Sea of Solitude, along with more games coming up in the future.

“EA Originals is our opportunity to connect with that talent and those smaller ideas. When you are part of a big company, it’s too easy to fall into the trap where when you see a game concept… it has to be big,” he said. “The notion of actually coming up with small, unique game ideas… We know from the work that we’ve been doing on our subscription business that gamers will play a FIFA or a Fortnite–they have one main franchise–but then they want breaks from those games to play something that’s maybe five or ten hours long.”

At E3 this y ear, EA announced the latest partners for the EA Original label, including Hazelight, Glowmade, and Zoink.

Actor Rami Malek plays the villain in the upcoming 25th and untitled James Bond movie. Now, the Oscar winner has revealed that he needed a guarantee about the character before signing on. He told The Daily Mail that he discussed his intentions with director Cary Fukunaga, telling him that he wouldn’t play the part if the character was a religious fundamentalist.

“It’s a great character and I’m very excited,” Malek said. “But that was one thing that I discussed with Cary. I said, ‘We cannot identify him with any act of terrorism reflecting an ideology or a religion. That’s not ­something I would entertain, so if that is why I am your choice then you can count me out.'”

That kind of character was “clearly not” what Fukunaga had in mind, Malek said, so he agreed to do the movie. The character Malek plays is a “very different kind of terrorist,” he said.

Malek went on to say the script is “extremely clever,” and it should be “exactly what people want” from a James Bond movie. Malek also said he feels “substantial pressure” to deliver in his performance given the weight of the history of the James Bond series.

Oscar winner Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) was initially tapped to direct Bond 25, but he dropped out due to “creative differences.” Cary Fukunaga replaced Boyle before the film was delayed first from October 2019 to February 2020 and then again to April 2020.

Bond 25–which is not the final name–stars Daniel Craig as James Bond for the final time. Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, and Lea Seydoux will all reprise their roles for the film Jeffrey Wright and Ben Whishaw also return.

In June, a controlled explosion on-set went wrong, and one person was injured.

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This year’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will address one of the most-discussed elements of the new trilogy: who the heck are Rey’s parents? Actress Daisy Ridley, who plays Rey, told The USA Today that director JJ Abrams is planning to reveal more details about her parentage in the upcoming film.

“(Director J.J. Abrams) did say the question is answered. So at the end of the film, you do know what the dealio is,” she said.

In The Last Jedi, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) told Rey that her parents were no one of significance; they were only “filthy junk traders,” according to Kylo Ren. Ren, who is the movie’s villain, told this to Rey in the middle of a tense, emotional scene where he was directly trying to manipulate her, so many have theorized that he was indeed lying.

Abrams said earlier this year that The Rise of Skywalker aims to offer a satisfying conclusion not only to the new trilogy that began with 2015’s The Force Awakens, but also for the entire “Skywalker Saga” that began in 1977. Part of this is revealing who Rey’s parents are, it seems.

Abrams said he doesn’t want to retcon what director Rian Johnson did in The Last Jedi with Ren telling Rey her parents were nobody, but there is more to the story. “I don’t want to say that what happens in Episode 8 [didn’t happen],” Abrams said. “We have honored that. But I will say that there’s more to the story than you’ve seen.”

Some of the theories about Rey’s parentage include that she is the daughter of Luke Skywalker, a Kenobi, or a descendant of Palpatine, among others.

The Rise of Skywalker releases in theatres in December. In addition to Ridley and Driver, the movie stars John Boyega as Finn, Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico, Lupita Nyong’o as Maz Kanata, Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux, Mark Hamill as Luke, and Billy Dee Williams as Lando. For more, check out the movie’s first trailer and everything we know about Star Wars Episode IX.