Actor Tom Cruise has returned to Rome to continue filming Mission: Impossible 7, and now some new footage from the set has emerged. The Associated Press captured a video of Cruise and co-star Hayley Atwell filming a scene on the streets of Rome. There isn’t much to go on here, but we see Cruise climbing over a wrecked police vehicle and pulling Atwell out of it.
At the end of the video, a plume of smoke can be seen emerging from the location, while another crashed vehicle can be seen alongside actors lying on the ground. Check it out below. The video also showcases a lighter side of the filming process, as Cruise waves to onlookers trying to get a peek at the set.
Earlier this year, filming on Mission: Impossible 7 shut down in Rome due to COVID-19, and the team apparently moved to Norway to film other scenes, like this incredible stunt where Cruise rides a motorcycle off the face of a mountain and parachutes to the ground. It appears the production team has been given the go-ahead to return to Rome to continue filming on location in the city.
Mission Impossible 7 and 8 are being filmed back-to-back, and Christopher McQuarrie is writing and directing both–he also wrote and directed Rogue Nation and Fallout. New additions to the cast include Atwell, Pom Klementieff, and Shea Whigham. MI7 is scheduled to come to theatres in November 2021, with its sequel slated for November 2022. Both movies were delayed due to COVID-19.
Warframe‘s Nights of Naberus event has launched, introducing a chilling new story and, of course, a bunch of limited-time spooky items for players to get their hands on in time for Halloween.
The Whispering Naberus Mobile is the main new item added, which is available in exchange for Mother Tokens. The mobile unlocks a chilling story narrated by Grandmother about the ancient origins of the Orokin’s Naberus festival. You can also unlock Glyphs, Emblems, Skins, and Blueprints from Daughter’s store until the event ends on November 9.
The Halloween update has also added a few quality-of-life changes, including remastered lighting and textures and tweaks to various Railjack Resource costs, as well as new skins, cosmetics and weapons.
Warframe is free to play on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. It’s also coming to next-gen systems PS5 and Xbox Series S/X.
The 2004 romantic drama The Notebook featured Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams in the lead roles, but now we’ve learned what other actors were potentially going to star in it–and they are big names.
The Notebook focuses on two lovers, Noah and Allie, and the story takes place across two timelines–one when they are young and the other when they are elderly. George Clooney told Entertainment Weekly that he was originally attached to play the young Noah, the role that Gosling eventually got, with Paul Newman set to portray the older Noah.
“I was going to do a movie years ago called The Notebook, that Ryan Gosling actually did, and I was going to do it with Paul Newman. “I was playing the flashback and Paul Newman was the old guy.”
We don’t know who was going to play the young and old Allie in this version of the film. It was previously reported that Britney Spears auditioned for Allie, and she even had a screen test with Gosling. Jessica Biel and Reese Witherspoon were also in the running for the young Allie.
In the movie that was released, James Garner plays the older Noah, with Gena Rowlands portraying the elderly Allie. The Notebook was directed by Nick Cassavetes, who is Rowlands’ son.
NBA 2K21 has added a new feature–video ads that cannot be skipped. Stevivor is reporting that the game now features ads that will play between matches, and which you cannot skip through. These ads are for the Oculus Quest 2, and they’ve been spotted in the PS4, Xbox One, and PC versions of the game.
This is a tactic we’re used to seeing in free-to-play titles, but NBA 2K21 is a full-priced title: and depending on which version you bought, it can cost up to $100.
Here’s a video recorded by Stevivor of one of the ads playing in the game’s MyTEAM mode, which has now entered Season 2.
2K has tellingly added these ads well after reviews of the game has hit, which were already scored lower than previous entries in the series–GameSpot gave NBA 2K21 a 6/10.
The NBA 2K series has already received criticism for its focus on monetization and microtransactions beyond the initial cost of the game–these ads will likely make things worse for the series’ reputation. EA’s UFC 4 similarly added–and then soon removed–unskippable ads between rounds.
It remains to be seen whether 2K will keep these ads in the game long-term, or whether it will cycle between different products over time.
NBA 2K21 is coming to both next-gen systems at launch with numerous improvements. That version will cost $70.
Halloween is getting closer, which means it’s time for New Releases to get a little spooky. This week, you can run from monsters in Amnesia: Rebirth or face them head-on in the first part of Doom Eternal‘s The Ancient Gods DLC. You can also take a few runs at rogue-lite The Red Lantern or try the game that started it all with the re-release of Rogue. Finally, Transformers: Battlegrounds rolls out this week, too.
Amnesia: Rebirth — October 20
Available on: PS4, PC
This new spin on the Amnesia games is set in the Algerian desert, where you’ll have to run from the series’ trademark monsters, solve puzzles, and figure out why the desert residents have disappeared. Rebirth is also more about the theme of survival, according to developer Frictional Games. Expect a mix of wide-open and claustrophobic spaces as you try to survive.
More Amnesia: Rebirth Coverage:
Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods – Part One — October 20
Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Stadia
Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods
Apparently slaying all those demons has upset the balance of heaven and hell, so this new story DLC sees you correcting that imbalance. Of course, you’ll be facing new demons, too. The Ancient Gods is actually a standalone expansion, so you can buy it for $20/£16 a la carte. It’s also included in Eternal’s season pass, which will run you $30/£25.
More Doom Eternal Coverage:
Rogue — October 20
Available on: PC
Rogue
When we say a game is a rogue-lite or rogue-like, it’s because of this seminal game from 1980. Rogue started the random-dungeon crawling phenomenon, and now it’s getting a re-release on Steam. Purists don’t need to worry, though–it’s the same ASCII art-based game with all the classic enemies, potions, and more.
The Red Lantern — October 22
Available on: PC, Switch
The Red Lantern
Speaking of Rogue, The Red Lantern is a rouge-lite that sees you and a team of sled dogs trying to survive in the Alaskan wilderness. As you ride around, you’ll decide when to make camp, hunt animals, or explore abandoned cabins in the middle of nowhere. You’ll also have to manage your and your dogs’ hunger and energy the whole time.
More The Red Lantern Coverage:
Transformers: Battlegrounds — October 23
Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch
Transformers: Battlegrounds
This is a tactics game based on the ever-popular Transformers toys, letting you command Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and more on the battlefield. You’ll wage war against the Decepticons across a variety of terrain, from cities to forests to deserts. You can team up with a friend to command the Autobots in co-op, too.
More Transformers: Battlegrounds Coverage:
There’s still one more episode of New Releases for October to come, which means one last round of new games for the Halloween season. We’ll get into those next week, with titles like Ghostrunner and The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope.
Starcraft II is over a decade old now, having launched its first installment, Wings of Liberty, in July 2010. Now, Blizzard has given an update on the game’s on-going development, and has announced that big content drops for the game have come to an end–from now on, patches will focus on balance and fixes.
In a Blizzard news post, executive producer Rob Bridenbecker writes that the big update from earlier this year, which celebrated the game’s anniversary, will be the last of its kind. “We’re going to continue supporting StarCraft II in the same manner as we have with our previous longstanding games, such as Brood War, focusing primarily on what our core and competitive communities care about most,” Bridenbecker says.
“What this means is that we’re not going to be producing additional for-purchase content, such as Commanders and War Chests, but we will continue doing season rolls and necessary balance fixes moving forward,” he continues. “On that last note, we’re not planning a Q4 balance update given that we did one a few months ago, but as always, we do plan to continue doing them as needed in the future.”
This means that updates going forward will aim to keep the esports scene fresh, with a focus on high-level play. This also allows them to start looking forward to the next Starcraft project. Bridenbecker says that this “will free us up to think about what’s next, not just with regard to StarCraft II, but for the StarCraft universe as a whole.”
Whether this means that Starcraft III is coming, or that we’ll see Starcraft: Ghost or another spin-off at some point, remains to be seen.
Bruce Willis has reprised his iconic action hero character John McClane from the Die Hard series, but it’s not for a new film. Willis came back to play the character once more for a … battery commercial.
Advance Auto Parts, which owns the DieHard car battery brand, recruited Willis to play McClane again in the new spot, and it’s a delight. The 2-minute video contains a number of nods to the Die Hard series, with a store clerk whistling a Christmas tune and Willis being asked to escape through a vent. The famous “yippee ki yay” line is also in this video, of course. Other characters from the Die Hard series make cameos, but we won’t spoil the surprise for you–check it out below.
The Die Hard movie series debuted in 1988, and the first movie spawned the sequels Die Hard 2 (1990) and Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995). The series came back after 12 years with Live Free or Die Hard in 2007, which was followed by 2013’s A Good Day to Die Hard.
A sixth movie, simply titled McClane, is currently in the works with an interesting hook. The movie will be set in two different time periods, with one timeline showing a younger McClane in his 20s, but it remains to be seen who will portray the younger version of the character. Willis will also be involved in the new film.
The first public beta test for Halo 4 on PC through The Master Chief Collection was scheduled to take place last week, but Microsoft chose to delay it due to a “blocker” issue. Thankfully, this problem is expected to be sorted out in short order, and beta invitations should begin going out soon.
“Unfortunately, we’re not quite ready yet,” Halo’s community director, Brian Jarrard, wrote on the Halo forums. “As of this writing, the team has one remaining blocker to address before we can progress the build to Ring 3 and send out Halo Insider invites. We’re close and, assuming this blocker can get resolved quickly without any further issues, we’re hoping to kick things off next week.”
A “blocker” is a bug that is “severe” enough to stop the beta test from working as intended, developer 343 says. When this bug for Halo 4 is fixed, the team will get the client ready for testers. That being said, the beta version of Halo 4 may still contain bugs, since it is a work-in-progress version of the game, just not bugs that are as critical in nature.
As for Ring 3, this pertains to the nomenclature for Halo Insider public testing program. Rings 1 and 2, meanwhile, are for internal Microsoft developers and some outside partners.
Halo 4’s PC beta test will be bigger than usual, it seems, as Jarrard said every single Halo Insider member who is eligible for the test will be selected, provided they signed up by Thursday, October 15 at 3:20 PM PT. People who signed up after that are not guaranteed a spot, but Jarrard said these users can “rest assured you’re in the system and on deck for future activations.”
Halo 4 is the sixth and final Halo game coming to PC through The Master Chief Collection, following Halo: Reach, Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 3: ODST.
