Restrictions in European countries on travel and the shipment of goods are in place to stop the spread of the virus, and could potentially affect the game’s release in Europe.
Whilst reaffirming the global release date of April 3, 2020, Capcom noted that European markets “may experience delayed deliveries or availability of physical goods, including disc copies of games.”
This means that some stores, and thus customers, may not receive Resident Evil 3 until an undetermined point after launch due to potential supply chain problems caused by the pandemic. The digital release of the game will naturally go on unaffected.
“We are closely following official regulations to ensure we are prioritizing the safety of our fans, employees and partners,” Capcom’s statement reads.
The company is in communication with its distribution partners to ensure the game’s availability in accordance with current importing guidelines, and we’ll be sure to let you know if Capcom issues any more updates. For more information about Resident Evil 3, check out our preview of the game.
For a list of recommendations on how best to help, and stay safe, during the Coronavirus pandemic, please read our resource guide.
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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
Picard Season 1 ends as it began, with an emotional if disorganized story that leaves many questions unanswered even while it hits us right where it counts. But whereas in the early episodes of the season, it was the elderly Picard who we were worried for, here it’s the killing off of a beloved character that brings everything together.
It’s a surprising turn in a way, because much of this season has seemingly been leading to the resurrection of Brent Spiner’s beloved character (who, after all, had already died back in the movie Star Trek: Nemesis). But here showrunner Michael Chabon and team upend expectations by really, truly killing off Data’s remaining consciousness, which has been hanging around in a VR simulation for some time. And here some people figured the beloved android would be back in action and joining the Picard Squad for Season 2!
His final moments are amazing. After a great scene where Picard and Data get to finally meet one more time (again, in a VR reproduction of Picard’s home where they’re both technically dead), Jean-Luc returns to the real world and honors his friend’s last wishes: to die once and for all. “Peace, love, friendship, these are precious,” he tells Picard, “because we know they cannot endure. The butterfly that lives forever is really not a butterfly at all.”
And so Picard pulls the plug, as it were — while quoting Shakespeare of course — and the VR version of Data ages just like the human he always wanted to be, while suddenly realizing that his best friend (sorry, Geordi) is sitting next to him and taking his hand. And goddammit, they’ve got “Blue Skies” playing during the scene!
Of course, Data’s death also makes perfect sense in terms of how it relates to Picard’s arc this season. Jean-Luc has been struggling with his guilt over Data’s death, which he is finally freed of here by Data himself, while also facing down his own mortality. And while, yes, Picard gets a new freaking body in this episode after dying himself, it’s really his confrontation and acceptance of the loss of his friend that allows him to come to terms with the inevitable. (It’s been a theme of the season, certainly, as Seven, Riker, Troi, Agnes, and Rios have all had to deal with similar personal losses as well, often in very different fashions.)
Kudos to Spiner, Stewart, Chabon and the rest for acknowledging that nothing lasts forever — not even our favorite Star Trek castmembers (well, except Shatner maybe). Sure, you could drag things out for longer, but maybe sometimes it’s enough to just let go and say goodbye. And certainly the way Data’s departure is handled in “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2″ feels like a major fix to the abrupt and odd death scene he was given back in Nemesis. We’ll see you again on the other side, Commander…
But then there are the hijinks on Planet Android, which unfortunately are a bit of a mess and not very satisfying. Setting up Sutra as a bad guy last week boils down to nothing here as Dr. Soong just takes her out with a flip of the switch, leaving her storyline unresolved. But she’s not the only one on that front. Narek, who actually became much more interesting this week as he was forced to team up with the Picard Squad to save the galaxy (I guess?), basically disappears from the action at a certain point, never to be seen again.
By the time Commodore Oh — or is it General Oh? — arrives with her fleet, with Captain Riker soon after, things feel pretty perfunctory. Soji’s coming to her senses and putting an end to Sutra’s plan works better on paper than in any emotional way on screen, as Picard gets through to her by demonstrating the notion of personal sacrifice, again tying back to the bigger themes of the season and, indeed, of the Starfleet way of life.
But it all plays as very rushed and sloppy, with the Squad’s whole infiltration plan not really adding up to much either. Meanwhile, Seven of Nine and the Borg cube were essentially wasted these last couple of episodes. Yeah, Seven gets to go one on one against Narissa, and again, on paper it’s personal because Narissa killed Hugh, but it doesn’t have much of an impact because you’re dealing with a bunch of characters who’ve never met onscreen. We never saw Hugh with Seven, so it’s hard to get invested there, and Seven and Narissa haven’t met before either. Good fight scene though.
Elnor was also largely short-changed again, although his scene with Raffi after Picard’s death is effective. The character works best as the babe in the woods who’s in too deep, so hopefully the show will dig into that more next season. And speaking of Raffi, I like her better when she’s sober, and in fact, the show seems to have mostly dropped the addict portion of her story. (Her and Rios also have great chemistry as the old friends that they clearly are.)
Indeed, by the end of “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2,” the Picard Squad is fully assembled and actually feels like a family for perhaps the first time. And the making it so has only just begun…
Questions and Notes from the Q Continuum:
For those who are keeping count, this is the second time a Patrick Stewart character has been revived via mind transfer to a host body.
We never did find out what happened to Lore.
No Laris and Zhaban! But take heart, fans of Team Picard Housekeeping and Security: Michael Chabon strongly hinted to me in an interview this week that the pair will be back next season.
So Picard’s 94 years old?!
That uber-AI from beyond sure had a Control feel to it, didn’t it, Disco fans?
What’s going on with Seven and Raffi in the final moments here?
Several folks literally got away with murder in this group.
Was Riker’s ship a redress of Pike’s Enterprise bridge set from Discovery?
TNG cast members we didn’t see or (really) hear about this season: Beverly, Wesley, Worf, Geordi, O’Brien, Ro Laren, Pulaski, Guinan. Am I missing anyone major?
Marvel originally hired Patty Jenkins to direct Thor: The Dark World, following her Oscar-winning movie Monster starring Charlize Theron. However, Jenkins dropped out just three months after joining the project, citing “creative differences.” But now, years later, Jenkins is speaking more about why she quit the movie, and it’s now plain to see why did not want to be a part of it.
She told Vanity Fair that she was wary to direct the movie because the script wasn’t good enough. She feared that, if the movie was a dud, people would blame her.
“I did not believe that I could make a good movie out of the script that they were planning on doing. I think it would have been a huge deal–it would have looked like it was my fault,” Jenkins said. “It would’ve looked like, ‘Oh my God, this woman directed it and she missed all these things.’ That was the one time in my career where I really felt like, ‘Do this with [another director] and it’s not going to be a big deal. And maybe they’ll understand it and love it more than I do.”
Jenkins added: “You can’t do movies you don’t believe in.”
After parting ways with Jenkins, Marvel hired Game of Thrones and The Sopranos veteran Alan Taylor to direct Thor: The Dark World. The movie was written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who also wrote the final Avengers films, alongside Christopher Yost, who would go on to write Thor: Ragnarok.
Jenkins did get another shot in the superhero movie space with 2017’s Wonder Woman, of course, and this movie was an enormous critical and commercial success. She said in the interview that she has “nothing but positive things to say about Marvel,” in part because they gave her the chance in the first place. Jenkins also mentioned that Thor has finally found its “rightful director” in Taika Waititi, who directed Thor: Ragnarok and is also attached to direct Thor: Love and Thunder.
Amazon Prime is adding all of the classic Bond films to its library this April. Now is the perfect time for a movie marathon, what with everything cancelled and being forced to remain indoors at all times. If you’ve never seen the old Bond films, it’s definitely worth seeing at least some of these titles just to say that you have, like watching The Godfather or Citizen Kane.
In case you are new to the franchise, there is an enormous amount of material to start making your way through, although the Daniel Craig films are not include–it’s every Bond from from 1962 to 2002.
Here is a full list of all the Bond films being added:
Dr. No (1962)
From Russia with Love (1963)
Goldfinger (1964)
Thunderball (1965)
You Only Live Twice (1967)
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Live and Let Die (1973)
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
Moonraker (1979)
For Your Eyes Only (1981)
Octopussy (1983)
Never Say Never Again (1983)
A View to a Kill (1985)
The Living Daylights (1987)
Licence to Kill (1989)
GoldenEye (1995)
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
The World Is Not Enough (1999)
Die Another Day (2002)
These titles are all available to stream in 4K Ultra HD. Whether you chose to watch them in sequential order, or just pick out the best ones is up to you.
While some of the films play as quite misogynistic these days, the writing and acting still stands up. Check out these classics come April 1 on Amazon Prime.
Amazon Prime members can also claim five free games this month.
Star Trek: Picard’s best aspect is also its biggest issue: It has one foot firmly in the past of the long-running sci-fi franchise, and another in a more modern, darker present. The show is a big, fan-servicey return to the story of legendary Starfleet captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), complete with visits from a few beloved characters along the way, and no end of Easter eggs and references that often feel like high-fives to the dedicated viewers who’ve been enjoying the sci-fi franchise for decades, especially in the mid-1990s. Throughout its first season, it often works to update those series, reimagining some of their best ideas through the frame of the modern world. Though it can get bogged down in its attention to Treks of the past, Picard is a darker look at a future that challenges the franchise, not by just telling the stories of great people doing great things–but by amplifying their flaws and forcing them to choose to be better.
Picard picks up the story of Jean-Luc 15 years after he’s suffered a major failure: He attempted to lead Starfleet in an enormous rescue to save the endangered Romulans, the Federation’s oldest enemies. An immense tragedy, the destruction of the Starfleet’s rescue fleet, led to the Federation abandoning the plans to save the Romulans and Picard’s resignation in protest. More than a decade later, the series finds him languishing in his French vineyard, while Earth’s branch of the Federation has become isolationist and bigoted. Hardship and injustice have festered, especially against synthetic lifeforms, the apparent perpetrators of the tragedy–and Jean-Luc has done little in the intervening years to stop it. That’s a stark contrast to the unwaveringly principled captain seen in The Next Generation, which makes it a perfect starting point for Star Trek: Picard.
Picard is shaken out of his complacency with the arrival of Dahj (Isa Briones), a young woman being hunted by Romulan assassins, on Picard’s doorstep. Dahj turns out to be a synthetic created in violation of the ban from the remnants of Data (Brent Spiner), Picard’s former android crewmember and old friend, who died to save Picard’s life. Stirred by his loyalty and friendship for Data, Picard takes it upon himself to protect Dahj and her sister, Soji, gathering a ragtag crew and taking to the captain’s chair one last time.
The season is slow to start, especially as it gets bogged down in setting up a world that’s something like 30 years ahead of where The Next Generation left off. After the first three episodes, though, Picard hits its stride as it fuses two Star Trek identities: the more action-packed, adventure-focused takes of more recent Trek movies, and the moralistic, cerebral approach of The Next Generation. It’s a hybrid that mostly works, too, with Picard occasionally interspersing fun, well-produced action and fight scenes with the moral quandaries and diplomatic conundrums of the Enterprise’s voyages. In a lot of ways, slick CGI space battles and choreographed hand-to-hand fights between Romulan agents and super-fast androids make Picard a more modern take on the franchise. With the budget and the effects technology, some of The Next Generation might have looked a little more like Picard.
The darker, more modern take on Star Trek also makes Picard feel more relevant to the world in which we’re watching it. The show focuses on the plights of refugees, including the Romulan survivors who were scattered across the galaxy after the failed rescue, and the XBs, victims assimilated by the deadly cybernetic Borg who have been freed from enslavement to its Collective, but who are still mistrusted and exploited. The Starfleet of the future is more insular, abandoning much of its focus on exploration of the galaxy and understanding other life and cultures. It’s a Star Trek that uses the lens of science fiction to explore the plights and issues of a more reactionary world than the one in which The Next Generation was made.
But much of Picard’s power comes from its dedication to the past. Few opportunities slip past for references to The Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space Nine, or the Star Trek movies. It’s not all just about appeasing Trekkers, though–Picard has a deep, encyclopedic knowledge of everything that’s happened to its characters over the years, and does a brilliant job of rejoining their stories, exploring their traumas, and advancing their characters in ways that feel true to them.
The new additions to Picard, however, function less well. Where returning characters like Jean-Luc and Voyager’s Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) get the benefit of the show building on their lengthy histories, the new ragtag crew often don’t really have enough to do, even as the show spends a little time rounding out their backstories. Jean-Luc’s often-drunk former first officer, Raffi (Michelle Hurd), exists to tap away on holographic computers; what interesting conflict she has with Jean-Luc, based on him abandoning her after the Romulan rescue along with everything else, evaporates not long into the season. The same is true for cyberneticist Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill), who struggles with her role in the creation of Dahj, Soji, and the other synthetics, but who gets back to normal for plot reasons.
Rios (Santiago Cabrera), the hardnosed captain of the ship Picard hires, is mostly just angry and stoic, and the childishly idealistic, sword-wielding warrior Elnor (Evan Evagora) seems to primarily exist for fight scenes and innocently misunderstanding situations for laughs. There’s also Narek (Harry Treadaway), a Romulan spy tasked with getting close to Soji, who struggles a bit with his task but never really evolves as a character because of it.
All of the characters are interesting, with well-built backstories and strong performances, but none can really take the room needed to grow with the show so often putting a hard focus on Picard and Soji, who spends most of the season unaware of her nature as an android and slowly catching up to a point the audience reached much earlier.
It all makes Picard’s 10-episode run feel just a touch too short to really expand on any of the new characters, especially with the show making lots of detours down the memory lane of The Next Generation. As mentioned, those looks to the past are strong if you’re an established Trek fan, but they often hobble the show’s present. Much of what goes on Season 1 of Picard feels like it’s setup for a more fleshed-out Season 2.
Still, there’s a lot Picard does right. Its update on the Star Trek formula is a sorely needed catch-up to the modern world that makes it feel like Trek has something important to say, and its signature optimism is a perfect fit for the times. It’s also keenly aware of everything that made Jean-Luc Picard such a resonant character, and it revisits those aspects without retreading old ground. On the whole, Star Trek: Picard does well to bring Treks of the past forward, and for fans of Jean-Luc and The Next Generation, it’s a powerful and emotional revisit to beloved characters.
Disclosure: ViacomCBS is GameSpot’s parent company.
Below, Capy’s unrelentingly difficult 2018 roguelike exploration title, is coming to PlayStation 4 on April 7 for $25. As previously announced, it’ll come with a new mode that will make the game more palatable for players who did not enjoy the level of challenge offered up in the original release, and Xbox One and PC players will get that mode as well in a free update.
Explore mode will lower the game’s difficulty without eliminating it, so players should still find it challenging–just not quite as difficult as the default mode (now called Survive mode).
Here’s the full list of changes in Explore mode, as outlined on Capy’s website:
Changes to Survival
No Hunger or Thirst
Can’t drink puddles or bottles
Bottles still need to be filled with water for cooking soup
Soups restore health
Death’s door teleport to island
Avoids the issue of jumping down without enough lamp juice to open the door
World Entity changes
Fire Pillars
Chance to drop embers
Fires don’t burn out until you die
Invincible, can’t be broken with bombs
No one-hit deaths
No iron maiden
EXPLORE Damage Changes
All damage is bleed damage, giving the player time to stop the bleeding
EXPLORE Checkpoints/Campfires
Don’t clear after use
Still only one active at a time
Mode-specific Saves
New Save slot for EXPLORE
New SURVIVE mode on main menu (original mode)
Existing progress saved as SURVIVE mode slot
Below received a 6/10 in GameSpot’s review, and it was criticized for the way it will “eventually turn into a slog for all but the most committed of players.” Explore mode has the potential to mitigate some of these complaints. It was initially available on Xbox Game Pass, but has since left the service.
