Amazon’s Lord Of The Rings TV Show Reportedly Finishes Filming
Amazon’s big-budget Lord of the Rings TV series has apparently finished filming in New Zealand. According to a December 22 Instagram post by director JA Bayona, he has taken his “last photo in New Zealand… and I can’t wait to be back.” The director has consistently taken to the photo-sharing platform to provide updates on how the production has been faring with various milestones.
Despite New Zealand being pretty much the only place on this planet that was largely unaffected by COVID-19, it still caused a few delays for the production. The country had extremely strict rules on who can enter the country, and in July, the country’s government granted “border exemptions” for certain international film and TV productions. As of late 2019, the show had reportedly completed shooting the first two episodes. Given that even before airing, it was announced that the series will be getting two seasons, it is highly likely Bayona will be back in New Zealand sooner rather than later.
As for the show’s content itself, it will be set in the Second Age, which is a 3,441-year period that covered major events like the forging of the Rings of Power, including the One Ring; the War of Sauron, the beginning of the Ringwraiths, and when Numenor the island sank into the ocean. Also, it was during the Second Age that the Elven city of Rivendell was developed and the great battle where men, elves, and dwarves fought together for the first time against Sauron.
Speaking of ancient history, it’s hard to believe it’s been almost 20 years since director Peter Jackson and his team brought Tolkein’s fantasy epic to the big screen–a task previously thought of as being unfilmable. No firm release date has been set for Bayona’s version, but here’s hoping we won’t have to wait another 20 years. In the meantime, here’s everything we know about the fantasy series to help tide you over.
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Nicolas Cage Delivers The Full Cage In Swear Words Trailer For Netflix
In all of civilization’s lexicons, there are words that are considered profane, crude, and utterly offensive, but how did they get that way? Netflix’s History of Swear Words will do a deep dive into the culture of language in a mini-series that explores the evolution of profanity throughout the centuries.
The aptly-titled series will be hosted by Oscar-winning actor Nicolas Cage, who undoubtedly has said a swear or two in his career. You can check out the trailer below, but.
Joining Cage will be comedians Joel Kim Booster, DeRay Davis, Open Mike Eagle, Nikki Glaser, Patti Harrison, London Hughes, Jim Jefferies, Zainab Johnson, Nick Offerman, Sarah Silverman, Baron Vaughn, and Isiah Whitlock Jr.
On the linguistic side of things, there will be language experts and authors including Benjamin Bergen (PhD, Cognitive Scientist, Author of What The F), Mireille Miller-Young (PhD, Professor of Feminist Studies), Elvis Mitchell (Film Critic/Host of The Treatment on KCRW), Melissa Mohr (PhD, Author of Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing), and Kory Stamper (Lexicographer, Author Of Word By Word).
The History of Swear Words will be a six-episode mini-series that premieres on Netflix on January 5.
Super Meat Boy Forever Is Finally Here, And You Can Save 50% Right Now
Following years of teases and a significant delay, Super Meat Boy Forever has arrived just in time for the holidays. The sequel to the wildly popular 2010 indie platformer is available on PC via the Epic Games Store and Nintendo Switch, with PlayStation and Xbox ports planned for early 2021. Super Meat Boy Forever costs $20, but there’s a way to snag it for only 10 bucks right now.
As part of the Epic Games Store’s Holiday Sale, you can get unlimited $10 off coupons to use on games priced $15 or more. To get your first coupon, you simply need to sign into your Epic account (or create one for free). Each time you make an eligible purchase, a new coupon will be deposited into your account. With the coupon applied, you’ll save 50% on the brand-new release. You can take advantage of this deal until Epic’s Holiday Sale ends on January 11.
A mobile follow-up to Super Meat Boy was originally announced in 2014. Throughout development, the sequel morphed into a traditional PC/console release and became quite ambitious in the process. Super Meat Boy Forever’s plot revolves around Meat Boy and Bandage Girl’s quest to save their daughter Nugget from Dr. Fetus.
While it’s still a challenging 2D side-scroller like the original, Super Meat Boy Forever is an auto-runner. The way you progress through the game is a huge departure from its predecessor, too. Team Meat created thousands of levels for Super Meat Boy Forever. Each time you play through the campaign, you’ll encounter new levels and secrets. The studio claims that you can complete the game “several times before ever seeing a duplicate level.”
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Green Arrow Comes To Fortnite In Time For The New Year
Fortnite has had no shortage of superhero guests in 2020, including everyone from Deadpool to Aquaman, and it’s adding one more hero before the year is up. The legendary archer Green Arrow will arrive in the game on December 31 exclusively for Fortnite Crew members.
Green Arrow’s look in the game is based on his appearance from The CW’s Arrow series, so he may appear a little bit different than the one featured in the comics or in games like Injustice 2. Along with the character skin, you can also get a Tactical Quiver back bling and the Style and Boxing Glove pickaxe.
The pack will be available on December 31 at 4 PM PT / 7 PM ET. You have until then to subscribe to Fortnite Crew and get December’s pack, Galaxia. There have been a number of franchises represented in this season, with its “worlds collide” concept giving us everyone from Kratos to Master Chief. Black Panther and Captain Marvel were also added this week.
Fortnite Crew memberships cost $12 per month and give you access to a monthly pack, 1000 V-Bucks, and access to the latest Battle Pass. The V-Bucks become available the day you subscribe, then exactly one month later every month for the duration of your membership.
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Original Silent Hill Creator Is Working On New Horror-Action Game
Last month, Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama announced he had founded a new company called Bokeh Game Studio with veteran developers from games like Gravity Rush and The Last Guardian. Now, we have learned more about Toyama’s first project, and it should appeal to Silent Hill fans.
In an interview with IGN Japan, Toyama said his new game would be an action-adventure game rather than a standard survival-horror experience. However, he said it would “appeal to fans of [his] previous work,” quite clearly referencing Silent Hill. That series has been on ice for several years now, with Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro’s collaborative Silent Hills project being canceled in 2015. The demo, PT, was deleted from the PlayStation Store, and PS4 consoles that have it installed have become valuable.
“If anything, this will be more of a horror-oriented game,” Toyama added. “But we will focus on making this a broader entertainment experience rather than a hardcore horror game.”
The game isn’t expected until around 2023, with it just recently entering the prototyping development stage. It will be a multi-platform game, so expect to play it at least on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
We’ve heard rumors about a Silent Hill revival at Konami, as well, but thus far there has been nothing concrete. The company shot down claims that a revival was in the works earlier this year, and we’ve heard little else since. With Kojima no longer at Konami, it’s very unlikely it would be any sort of Silent Hills or PT reboot, but we’re certainly ready to enter that terrifying town again.
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Yes, KFC’s Game Console Is Real, And It Has A Chicken Warmer
KFC has become something of a meme factory over the last few years, with different celebrities playing Colonel Sanders in commercials and Mario Lopez even starring as the long-dead founder in a short romance film for Lifetime. We saw teases on the KFC Gaming Twitter account of a KFC-branded game console for months, and we assumed it was all a joke. Well, it wasn’t. The KFConsole is real, and it keeps your chicken warm.
Intel’s Mark Walton clarified that the console is legitimate on Twitter, saying it’s powered by Intel.
The Cooler Master page provides more information on the system, saying it’s capable of 4K resolution and 240fps gameplay. We can’t imagine that’s for graphically demanding games, but it’s impressive nonetheless. Cooler Master primarily focuses on custom PC builds, but this is pretty different from anything else the company has done.
The KFConsole makes use of a Cooler Master NC100 chassis and a Core i9 Intel Nuc 9 Extreme Computer Element. It also includes a swappable GPU slot so you can upgrade it as you see fit, and even a PCIe NVMe SSD and two Seagate Barracuda 1TB SSDs.
The kicker with the system is its chicken-warming compartment, which makes use of the console’s own heat to keep KFC warm while you game. We truly live in the future.
You can even use VR headsets with the KFConsole so you can be even more immersed in a world of crispy fried chicken. We don’t have a price yet on the system, but it doesn’t sound like it will be cheap.
Among Us Reportedly Has Biggest Month Ever For Active Users In A Game
Among Us has been 2020’s biggest surprise hit, taking Twitch by storm and even getting some play time from US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Now, according to a report released by Nielsen’s SuperData, it could be considered one of the most popular games ever in terms of active players.
The report shows that Among Us clocked over half a billion active users just in the month of November, which SuperData says makes it the most popular game ever by this metric. Despite these huge numbers, however, Among Us doesn’t even crack the top ten games of the month by earnings, due to its low level of monetization. “The PC version (which has a $5 upfront price) accounted for the majority of revenue from August to November (64%),” the report adds. “Despite having an extremely small share of the total player base (3% in November).”
Among Us’ popularity in November was likely helped by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s record-breaking Twitch stream of the game in late October, which was then followed by a second stream at the end of November. The social deception game has found widespread popularity among game streamers at all levels of fame in 2020, even leading to the cancellation of a planned sequel so the team could focus on the first game.
Among Us was solely available on PC and mobile for most of 2020, and only recently released on the Nintendo Switch. The game will be coming to Xbox consoles next year, but there’s no news yet on a potential PlayStation release.
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Nintendo Switch Year In Review Is Back For 2020
Last year, Nintendo launched a year in review tool for Switch players to look back on how much time they’d spent playing games on the hybrid console. Now it’s back for 2020–a year that’s seen the Switch take off in popularity as the pandemic has forced us all to stay inside and seek solace in the quaint world of Animal Crossing.
Switch owners in the US and Canada (but sadly not other regions) can log in here and have a look back on their 2020 with the Switch. Nintendo’s tool will show you a bunch of stats, including how much time you spent on the Switch in total, and how many games you played over 2020.
It’ll break down how much of that time was spent in different games, too, so you can find out which game dominated your time in 2020. The stats breakdown will also show how many hours you spent gaming per month–which is likely to align closely with the time you spent in lockdowns or social distancing.
The review will also compare your numbers to your 2019 stats, if you have them, to show how your Switch habits have changed in the last year.
Despite being over three years old, the Switch has been more popular than ever in 2020, with stock becoming hard to get for a good part of the year. Nintendo’s hybrid console even outsold both the next-generation Xbox Series X|S and the PlayStation 5 during their launch month in November.