The first season of Disney+‘s The Mandalorian is coming to a close, with one episode left, airing on December 27. Because the latest entry in the Star Wars movie saga hits theaters on December 20, Chapter 7 of The Mandalorian his the streaming service on Wednesday, December 18 instead of its normal release date on Fridays. Most likely, this was done to avoid releasing the same day at Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
This week’s episode was all about getting the band back together for one final mission. We saw the return of IG-11, Cara Dune, Kuiil, and Greef Karga as they face The Client and his dirty Stormtroopers one last time. However, this isn’t the finale of Season 1. There is still one more to go before we see how it all wraps up.
While the episode focused much more on story and development rather than gifting hardcore Star Wars fans Easter eggs here and there, “The Reckoning” did have some interesting moments worth discussing, from character’s backstories to new character appearances.
Now, let’s get onto breaking down some of the key things we noticed from “The Reckoning.” Then, if you’ve missed them, make sure to check out our Easter egg guides to Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, and Chapter 6.
Now’s the best time in the history of Xbox One to buy a new console. Yes, the Xbox Series X is coming next year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t grab a great deal on an Xbox One X right now. In fact, with All-Access, you can bring home an Xbox One X and secure an Xbox Series X next year when it releases. It’s the closest thing we have to a preorder for Xbox Series X right now, and it’s a solid deal even without the upgrade option.
The Best Xbox One X Bundle Deals
One of the best Xbox One X deals right now is the Gears 5 bundle. Not only do you get the Xbox One X console for $349, you also get Gears 5 and all 4 of the original Gears games, too. These discounts are coming to a close, so if you’ve been waiting to buy, I’d act now rather than later. It’s also going to be tough if you decided to get someone an Xbox One X as a last-minute Christmas gift, but you might be able to squeak in ahead of the holiday if you choose an expedited shipping method.
If your gaming PC could use a new accessory or two, you’re in luck. Amazon’s deal of the day is all about PC gaming accessories. You’ll find big discounts on items like keyboards, mice, speakers, headsets, and microphones. We’ve picked some of the highlights below, but you can find the full list of deals here. Don’t wait too long if you see something you want — these deals disappear at midnight.
2019 is coming to a close and it’s time to reflect on the year that was. Nintendo has come up with a customizable way to go down memory lane, with a personalized Year in Review that compiles a ton of your play stats in a nice little package.
The Switch Year in Review starts by going over when you began playing Switch, which isn’t necessarily 2019. Then it transitions into statistics like your most played games this year, total hours and number of games played, your most heavily played days and months, and even the number of Gold Points you earned throughout the year. At the bottom it lets you download PDFs of different sets of stats, and then recommends a few games based on your play history.
Steve Watts’ most played games
It’s a nifty tool for remembering the games that stood out to you over the year. Of course, it’s also littered with advertisements for other games or hardware, like the Switch Lite and Ring Fit Adventure. Those ads don’t seem based on your play history, as it displays ads for games that are already owned.
The review embargo for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has lifted, and the critical response to the final movie in the Skywalker Saga is decidedly mixed. Now that enough critic reviews have been released, the two main review aggregator sites — Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic — have released their Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker review aggregate scores.
Microsoft’s newly announced next-generation console, Xbox Series X, had its formal unveiling during The Game Awards. As it turns out, the console’s name is actually only “Xbox.”
A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed this to Business Insider. The “Series X” is meant to mark the fact that Microsoft may release additional next-generation Xbox SKUs in the future.
“The name we’re carrying forward to the next generation is simply Xbox,” a spokesperson said. “And at The Game Awards you saw that name come to life through the Xbox Series X. Similar to what fans have seen with previous generations, the name ‘Xbox Series X’ allows room for additional consoles in the future.”
One of the rumours floating around is that Microsoft is also working on a less-power, disc-free version of the new Xbox under the codename “Lockhart.” However, Microsoft refused to be drawn into commenting on additional versions of the console coming down the line later.
“We’re excited to offer fans a glimpse at the next generation of gaming with Xbox Series X,” the spokesperson said. “But beyond that, we have nothing further to share.”
In our recent interview with Xbox boss Phil Spencer, he acknowledged that the new naming convention opens the door for additional versions of the system. “Obviously,” Spencer said, “in the name ‘Series X’, it gives us freedom to do other things with that name so that we can create descriptors when we need to.”
A Quiet Place was one of the surprise hits of 2018–directed by actor John Krasinski and made on a modest budget of $20 million, it picked up rave reviews and grossed more than $340 million worldwide. Inevitably, a sequel is on the way–A Quiet Place Part II hits theaters in March, and the trailer is expected very soon. Ahead of that we have a first teaser.
Not surprisingly the teaser is short, but it definitely sets the mood for the movie. We see main character Evelyn Abbott (Emily Blunt) and her two kids (Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe) creeping slowly down a woodland path. As in the first film, they need to keep completely silent so as not to get picked off by a monster–and they’ve got a map, so they’ve got a destination in mind. Check it out below:
The full trailer will be released on January 1. A Quiet Place Part II also stars Cillian Murphy, who reportedly plays “a man with mysterious intentions who joins the family unit,” plus Djimon Hounsou. While Krasinski isn’t acting in the movie, he has directed it once more.
For now, we don’t know too many details about the plot of A Quiet Place: Part II. However, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Krasinski did suggest that the movie might have a more expansive scope than the claustrophobic original. “I had this very small idea, and what it was is that this is a world you can play in,” he said. “[It] isn’t just a character to remake or a group of characters or a story. It’s actually a world, which is a whole different, very unique experience.”
We Happy Few was an experiment for developer Compulsion Games, and not an entirely successful one. The studio is open-eyed about its weaknesses, though, and talking openly about how it could apply the lessons learned to future projects.
“Things feel like they’re gonna get a lot easier for us to succeed,” Compulsion founder Guillame Provost told US Gamer. “If we don’t make something much better than the last game, then something is uber-wrong with my direction for the studio.”
He said part of that also involves learning from colleagues at other studios and exploring best practices across developers.
“Our animation director, our technical director, our game designers are all kind of starting to plug into all the game directors and their peers at all the other studios,” he said. “We’re not going to all start making games that look like each other as a result, but we’re going to be able to leverage each other’s knowledge and experiences better.”
Finally, he suggested the studio is at work on a new franchise, saying “there’s a hunger in the studio to apply all the knowledge that we’ve acquired to a new universe.”
We Happy Few released its final piece of episodic story last month, prompting the studio to look back with a making-of documentary on the way. The initial reviews were poor, including GameSpot’s own 4/10 review.
“There’s a clear lack of direction that We Happy Few is never able to shake, which wastes its intriguing setting,” Alessandro Barbosa wrote. “It does manage to weave each of its three stories cohesively into a larger tale, but it’s also one that’s never critical enough to earn the right to repeat “happiness is a choice” any chance it can. There are just too many hurdles to overcome to enjoy We Happy Few, and not enough Joy in the world to cast them aside.”
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Amazon’s big-budget Lord of the Rings TV show has cast another one of its lead roles. According to Variety, His Dark Materials star Morfydd Clark has signed on to play a young Galadriel.
Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett played an older Galadriel in the Peter Jackson-directed Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies.
Clark is also known for her roles on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Crawl. In 2020, she will star in the BBC’s Dracula minisieres and The Personal History of David Copperfield with Dev Patel.
Clark is just the latest to join Amazon’s Lord of the Rings show. Other actors that will reportedly feature in the program include Maxim Baldry, Joseph Mawle, Markella Kavenagh, and Ema Horvath. Will Poulter, who starred in the Maze Runner series and Netflix’s Bandersnatch, was lined up for a role before exiting the project. Amazon has yet to officially confirm any casting details for the show, however.
Production on the untitled Lord of the Rings show is currently underway in New Zealand. According to reports, Amazon is pausing production of the Lord of the Rings TV show in New Zealand for about 4-5 months to give the writing team time to map out the recently announced Season 2.
The new Lord of the Rings show is being written by JD Payne and Patrick McKay, with former Game of Thrones series producer Bryan Cogman also joining the team. Jurassic World: Forbidden Kingdom director JA Bayona is set to direct the first two episodes of Season 1.
The Amazon show is set in the Second Age, but plot details are being kept under wraps for now. The Second Age was when the Elven city of Rivendell was developed, and when the first battle where men, elves, and dwarves fought together for the first time against Sauron.
