Another entry in Klei Entertainment’s isometric survival horror franchise Don’t Starve is headed to mobile devices. The studio announced Don’t Starve: Newhome, a free-to-play mobile game published by Tencent Games, along with a closed beta scheduled for next month.
Newhome will bring all the familiar Don’t Starve elements–the Tim Burton-inspired art style, challenging survival and exploration gameplay, and the like–to Android and iOS devices. According to a press release, Don’t Starve: Newhome will have “all-new features” specifically designed for mobile devices, such as cooperative multiplayer modes, faster play sessions, and more.
In addition to the announcement, Klei also confirmed that Don’t Starve: Newhome will have a closed beta that will take place in mid-July, though it will only be available to players in Canada and the US. Whatever progress you make won’t carry over to the full game when it launches, but participating players will receive an in-game item for reaching an undisclosed level. You can sign up for the Don’t Starve: Newhome closed beta here.
You can check out the official cinematic trailer and screenshots below.
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From 2001: A Space Odyssey to Ex-Machina, there have been many movies about artificial intelligence over the years. It was perhaps inevitable that we’d eventually get an AI movie star, and it seems that day is here. It’s been reported that a new sci-fi movie is in development, and it’s set to star an AI robot named Erica.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the movie is simply titled “b.” The film has a reported budget of $70 million, but does not yet have a director attached. The story will “follow a scientist who discovers dangers associated with a program he created to perfect human DNA and helps the artificially intelligent woman he designed escape.”
Erica was originally built as part of a joint robotics project between Osaka and Kyoto universities, led by scientist by Hiroshi Ishiguro. She now has own IMDB page, and you can watch a 2018 video of her below, in which she introduces herself and interacts with the public:
Erica has been taught how to “act” using the principles of method acting. Co-writer and producer Sam Khoze told THR how Erica has been adapted to work on the movie. “In other methods of acting, actors involve their own life experiences in the role,” he said. “But Erica has no life experiences. We had to simulate her motions and emotions through one-on-one sessions, such as controlling the speed of her movements, talking through her feelings and coaching character development and body language.”
Dressing entirely in black, moving silently in the shadows, infiltrating castles and assassinating feudal lords? Please, says Ninjala, it’s all so 15th Century. The modern ninja has stepped out of the shadows, content to wear bunny ears and hip-hop-ninja fusion fashion while loudly smashing rivals with a hammer made of drums. Oh, and they also chew a special kind of gum that unlocks the latent ninja abilities buried in their DNA, but that’s beside the point.
Actually, no, that’s entirely the point.
The Nintendo Switch-exclusive Ninjala is, quote, a “morphing ninja gum action game”, and if that’s not a sub-genre you’re familiar with it’s because nobody is familiar with a morphing ninja gum action game. So what is it, exactly?
Ninjala is an ultra-stylish, eight-player, online, free-to-play combat extravaganza where the goal is simple: beat the rest to be the best. And by beat, we really mean beat, using a variety of katanas, hammers, yo-yos and yes, gum. But this gum isn’t your garden variety Hubba Bubba or Dubble Bubble–no, it’s Ninja-Gum, a revolutionary creation that would make Willy Wonka envious.
Like most Willy Wonka creations, however, it comes with a catch: if adults chew it, they become kids, but it’s a minor con compared to the myriad of pros. Ninja-Gum not only unlocks latent ninja talents, but it’s also a flexible combat tool: blow a bubble and you can fire it off as a projectile, use it as a shield, or even turn it into a melee weapon. Yep, those katanas, hammers and yo-yos I mentioned before? All gum. Don’t question it, just enjoy the ride.
With the whole assassinating rival clans thing very much frowned upon these days, modern ninja founded the World Ninja Association to showcase their skills in tournament play instead. Their preferred method of competition? A Battle Royale, which in Ninjala parlance means an eight-player free-for-all showdown where successful strikes, KOs and special ‘IPPON’ KOs all count towards your score. End a bout with the highest score, and you win. Easy? Not quite.
Ninjala battles are fast, relentless and extremely vertical. Arenas are multi-tiered and a breeze to navigate thanks to double jumps, gum dashes and every ninja’s go-to technique, the wall run. There’s even a hint of MOBA to the action, as players race to destroy drones around the arena to amass the Shinobi Energy required to blow bigger bubbles and create massive weapons.
The ninja-on-ninja combat is about striking fast, striking hard and knowing when to make a quick getaway. There are no complex combos to master, but reflexes and situational awareness are key, because you are one and they are seven. The big points are reserved for IPPON KOs, which are achieved by landing big hits or by taking your opponents out with special ninjutsu techniques leaving them a humiliated, gum-covered mess with a finishing combo.
The 12 weapons available at launch fall into three categories–the aforementioned katana, hammer and yo-yo classes–but the differences between same-class arms are far more than aesthetic. The gum ability, that is the effect of firing off a ball of gum, changes from weapon to weapon, ranging from standard projectiles to chip-damage inflicting traps. The same is true of special abilities and the aforementioned Ninjutsu, spectacular ultimate attacks that trigger guaranteed IPPONs when they land.
Ninjala is, as mentioned, free-to-play, which means you can play as long as you want, with all weapons unlocked and you don’t even need a Nintendo Online subscription to do so. Of course, if you did want to spend some money there are plenty of reasons to do so, including a wide array of stylish headwear, face accessories and costumes, as well as single-use aesthetic weapon mods and emotes. You can buy them with Jala, the in-game currency, which you can purchase with real-life money.
There’s also the Ninjala Pass, a seasonal pass that rewards you with costumes, emotes, stickers, Ninja Medals and even more Jala for completing tiers. If you manage to reach Tier 100, you’ll have earned enough free Jala to purchase the next season’s pass.
Ninjala’s unique brand of morphing ninja gum action is sticking exclusively with Nintendo Switch, and you can download it from the Nintendo eShop right now.
Ninjala, the free-to-play melee action game from Let It Die developer GungHo Online, is out now exclusively on Nintendo Switch. You can find it on the Eshop, but servers will only go live later today.
Ninjala is a primarily multiplayer-focused action game, with a style that should make Splatoon players feel welcome. It features two modes: 4v4 PvP matches and a free-for-all eight player battle royale. You’ll unlock new gear and weapons as in-game seasons progress, as well as Shinobi cards that reward you with passive buffs. You also won’t require Nintendo Online to play with other players.
Along with multiplayer, Ninjala will feature an evolving single-player campaign. The story is told through comic book panels, and accompanied by an anime series online that will flesh out some of its characters more over time. The campaign will also feature various types of campaign missions, included stealth-focused ones and large boss fights. Additional story missions will also be part of seasonal content, and added to over time.
Ninjala’s servers are set to go live at 7 PM PT/ 10 PM ET, but you can be ready for them by downloading the game now for free. Here’s to hoping it goes more smoothly than the game’s most recent open beta.
GameSpot has officially kicked off Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. Join us as we bring you the summer’s hottest news, previews, interviews, features, and videos, as well as raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts and Black Lives Matter with the help of our friends from around the gaming world. Check out the Play For All schedule for more.
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California’s Disneyland is currently on track to open its doors once more in July, though some of its employees are not ready to return. After sending a letter to California governor Gavin Newsom on June 17, the Coalition of Resort Labor Unions is now planning a protest on Disneyland property over concerns about employees and guests visiting the resort during the ongoing COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.
The news comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which explains that unions representing Disneyland Resort employees are planning a protest on Saturday, June 27. From 10 AM to 12 PM PT, employees will circle the property in a caravan. According to the unions, this is being done “as an action to show our concerns regarding safety,” According to THR. Invitations to the protest have been posted to Facebook.
Currently, Disney plans to open the Downtown Disney shopping district on July 9. Then, on July 17, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure will open, pending approval from state and local officials. Disney’s Grand California Hotel and Spa, along with the Paradise Pier Hotel, will welcome guests on July 23.
The reopenings also come with new guidelines for visiting the parks, including a reduced capacity, mask requirements, and temperature checks. The new guidelines are in line with the ones in place at Universal Studios Orlando, which recently reopened. GameSpot’s Chris E. Hayner recently visited Universal Studios to experience the new procedures, which led to a dramatically different theme park visit.
Disney’s parks in Florida are also scheduled to open in July.
Image credit: Disneyland Resort
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Every year at San Diego Comic-Con, toy companies put out exclusive figures you can get at the convention, and if there are leftovers, you can pick them up for yourself after the show. Comic-Con 2020 is going to be very different, as it’s a virtual event. However, that’s not stopping companies from releasing top-of-the-line hilarity this year, including a Mr. T WWE toy and a Jurassic Park character in a shaving cream can.
In 1993’s Jurassic Park, Wayne Knight played the villainous Dennis Nedry, a computer programmer who hacked into the park’s security system in order to cause chaos in order to steal dinosaur embryos. He hid these embryos in a Barbasol shaving cream can, and to pay homage to that character, Mattel is producing a Nedry action figure that is hidden in a Barbasol can. Check it out below.
Dennis Nedry in a Barbasol can with a tiny Barbasol can
It only gets better from there. When you press the top of the can, you can hear classic Nedry lines like “Uh, uh, uh! You didn’t say the magic word!” The figure is 3.75 inches tall and comes with accesories like a plate with pie on it, his handbag, and a tiny Barbasol can. The figure will cost $20 and be available later today for pre-order from Entertainment Earth for its July release. Mattel Creations will have further updates on availability, as quantities are limited.
And speaking of Jurassic Park, the 1993 blockbuster is number one at the box office this week, believe it or not, as movie theaters across the country slowly reopen and begin playing classic movies in place of new releases. The next film in the dino franchise is Jurassic World: Dominion, which will hit theaters on June 11, 2021, and Jeff Goldblum will be returning.
27 years later, Jurassic Park remains one of the all-time great summer blockbusters. Now Mattel is giving fans a new way to celebrate their love for the movie with a downright amazing action figure of Wayne Knight’s lovable villain Dennis Nedry.
IGN can exclusively reveal Mattel’s newest Jurassic Park figure, inspired by one of the more iconic scenes in the original movie. Check out “Barbasol Dennis Nedry” in the slideshow gallery below:
This particular figure is inspired by the early scene where Nedry meets with Cameron Thor’s character Lewis Dodgson and receives the customized Barbasol shaving cream can that Nedry uses in his ill-fated attempt to smuggle dinosaur embryos out of the park. The figure itself (which is 1:18 scale and measures about 3.75-inches-tall) comes with scene-appropriate accessories like a bag full of money, a tiny Barbasol can and a slice of pie topped with shaving cream.
However, the packaging is clearly the star of the show here. The figure comes packaged inside a full-size replica version of the Barbasol can. The can acts as a display case, but it’s also an interactive toy in its own right. The base can be twisted to activate a light-up effect, and the top button can be pressed to hear one of several iconic Nedry lines from the movie (including “Uh, uh, uh! You didn’t say the magic word!”).
Ex-PlayStation executive Shawn Layden has put forward a case to reconsider the scale and scope of AAA video games, stating that the current large-scale offerings are unsustainable for the industry.
As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, Layden discussed the issue at Gamelab Live following a conversation about The Last of Us Part 2, a game that was partially developed during his 25 year tenure at Sony. At approximately 10 hours longer than its predecessor and more technologically advanced, it likely cost a substantial amount more to develop. Yet it still retails for the same price – $59.99.
“The problem with that model is it’s just not sustainable,” said Layden. He explained that current generation development costs reach between $80 million and $150 million (excluding marketing costs) for AAA games, with the work taking up to five years to complete. Furthermore, AAA budgets have historically doubled each generation, meaning that PS5 development budgets could hit $300 million.
“I don’t think that, in the next generation, you can take those numbers and multiply them by two and think that you can grow,” he added. “I think the industry as a whole needs to sit back and go, ‘Alright, what are we building? What’s the audience expectation? What is the best way to get our story across, and say what we need to say?’
He pointed out how these budgets are unsustainable if retail prices cannot be elastic. “It’s been $59.99 since I started in this business, but the cost of games have gone up ten times. If you don’t have elasticity on the price-point, but you have huge volatility on the cost line, the model becomes more difficult. I think this generation is going to see those two imperatives collide.”
AAA is not going to get any less expensive with the advent of 4K art and the expectation of large game worlds. Layden points out that this could also shut different types of creators out of the AAA business.
“It’s hard for every adventure game to shoot for the 50 to 60 hour gameplay milestone, because that’s gonna be so much more expensive to achieve,” he said. “And in the end you may close some interesting creators and their stories out of the market if that’s the kind of threshold they have to meet… We have to reevaluate that.”
Layden believes that developers need to consider spending three years on a 15 hour experience, rather than five years on an 80 hour game, which could not only help keep costs in control and maintain the standard retail price point, but also help craft “tighter, more compelling content”.
Terry Crews has revealed that the Brooklyn Nine-Nine writers have thrown the Season 8 scripts “in the trash” after having lots of “deep conversations” about the Black Lives Matter movement.
In an interview with Access Daily, Crews, who plays Lieutenant Terry Jeffords on the show, spoke about the impact of the Black Lives Matters movement and how it has affected future storylines on the police procedural sitcom. He admitted four episodes that were “ready to go” have now been scrapped, and that the writing team is starting over in an effort to amplify themes coming out of the movement.
“We’ve had a lot of somber talks about it and deep conversations and we hope through this we’re going to make something that will be truly groundbreaking this year. We have an opportunity and we plan to use it in the best way possible,” Crews stated. “Our showrunner Dan Goor, they had four episodes all ready to go and they just threw them in the trash. We have to start over. Right now we don’t know which direction it’s going to go in.”
“This is an opportunity right now for us all to unite and get together and understand what this is and that we have to battle this together,” he added, reflecting on the broader conversation about racial equality, and calling for permanent change.
Crews didn’t elaborate on the storylines of the four episodes that won’t make it to air, but we are expecting the full regular cast to return for Season 8, including Andy Samberg, Andre Braugher, Stephanie Beatriz, Terry Crews, Melissa Fumero, Joe Lo Truglio, Joel McKinnon Miller and Dirk Blocker.
