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PlayStation 4 sell through in the US has now surpassed 30 million, with the market accounting for approximately 30% of total PS4 sales.
Other top markets include:
Japan: 8.3m
Germany: 7.2m
UK: 6.8m pic.twitter.com/FfqxW9W96k

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) September 15, 2019

Two things are truer than ever right now: Keanu Reeves is on fire and we’re all breathtaking. It’s also a well-known fact that Hideo Kojima is continually revealing new partnerships with Hollywood talent as Death Stranding nears its release date. A recent photo of him and John Wick’s Keanu Reeves standing in the luminous entryway to Kojima Productions’ Tokyo office sparked a flurry of what-ifs across social media–would he get scanned in Kojima’s unusually well-known body scanning rig and wind up in the game? He is appearing in CD Project Red’s upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 next year, so Reeves being in a video game isn’t out of the question. Back in July, Kojima said Keanu wasn’t in the game, but with that recent studio visit in mind, has that changed? We asked Kojima himself during TGS.

Rather than cut to the chase, Kojima explained that even though he wasn’t able to work with Reeves on this project, there was a time when he seriously considered approaching the actor to take up the role that was originally designed for Mads Mikkelsen, a story he mentioned in the past, but went into more detail about during our chat.

“Keanu is a great guy,” said Kojima. “I have a close friend, Nicolas Refn, he introduced me to Mads and I made an offer to Mads to be in the game. I went to Denmark and talked to Nicolas again before I gave the offer to Mads, and I said I met Mads a couple of times but I really wanted to reconfirm with Nicolas that I really should work with him. Nicolas said, ‘He’s great, but the best guy is Keanu,’ and he was doing Neon Demon at that time. So he was trying to persuade me to use Keanu, and I thought maybe I will change from Mads to Keanu.”

Kojima also recounted a time when he asked for an outside opinion on the matter. “We were having this dinner, and there was this chef,” Kojima recalled,” and I told him that I’m thinking of using Mads, and asked what he thought. Even the chef said maybe Keanu is better, even though he liked Mads a lot. But I did write the character for Mads, imagining him, so I am very happy that I offered it to Mads in the end.”

Judging from the bits and pieces that Kojima has shown of Mads in Death Stranding, his menacing stare and calm demeanor seem like the perfect fit for the game’s atmosphere. It’s anyone’s guess as to how Keanu would have fared, but one things for sure: Kojima won’t give up on partnering with Keanu anytime soon. “So as I said, Keanu is a great guy, and in the future it would be great if we could work together. It could be a game, or maybe a movie or TV show I might work on, so maybe next time. But I want to say Mads is really great. When I met Keanu, I was shocked that he was so polite; a real good guy. Were are only one year apart in age, so the appreciation towards a lot of things are similar, I think. So in the future, I would like to offer something to Keanu.”

GameSpot was able to talk to Kojima about a number of topics during TGS, including whether or not he foresees a sequel to Death Stranding down the road. This interview came in the middle of Kojima’s run of appearances on the TGS show floor, which gave him a chance to deliver presentations of the game to help clear the air and prepare for the upcoming launch. This includes a massive Death Stranding gameplay demo, and a second, more intimate look into the private life of Norman Reedus’ character, Sam Porter Bridges. And before all of this, he revealed a new trailer, which primarily serves as a Death Stranding story briefing.

The Borderlands series has always enjoyed making references or poking fun at other game franchises. Borderlands 3 is no exception, ranging from insulting Destiny’s engrams to praising Doom’s weapons. There’s even a reference to one of the more notable missions from its predecessor, Borderlands 2. Some of these references are even tied to guns, like the Mario-themed Compressing Superball.

A legendary Maliwan pistol, the Compressing Superball cannot switch elements like most of the guns made by the company–it solely fires incendiary bullets. Instead of the laserbeam, tri-shot, or rapid-fire bullets seen on other Maliwan guns, the Compressing Superball shoots a giant fireball that explodes on impact and deals splash damage.

The description for the gun reads “Flower power,” which is most likely in reference to the Super Mario Bros. series, where main protagonist Mario can gain the superpower to shoot fireballs out of his hands after consuming a fire flower. This isn’t the first Super Mario Bros. reference seen in the Borderlands franchise. The very first game included an Achievement/Trophy called “My Brother is an Italian Plumber” that you earn by killing an enemy by inflicting damage on them by jumping on their head.

Though the effect the Compressing Superball creates is cool-looking, the gun isn’t actually all that good. After the initial area of Pandora, you begin encountering a lot more enemies that wear shields or armor–increasing the value of shock and corrosive weapons while decreasing the utility of incendiary. Also, as a Maliwan gun, the Compressing Superball’s shot isn’t all that strong, which doesn’t pair very well with its slow fire rate.

Borderlands 3 contains plenty of Easter eggs, some of which even extend to references to the game’s predecessors. One such example is a callback to a fairly notable side mission in Borderlands 2, where the main antagonist Handsome Jack offers you money to leap off a cliff. It’s a relatively simple quest to do–especially since you’ll just be immediately revived afterward–but you’ll have to live with the shame that you’ll do anything for money. In Borderlands 3, main antagonist Tyreen offers you a similar deal and for an even more tempting reward.

You can find the quest on Eden-6, and you’ll most likely run into it while hunting down Clay’s former team members during a story mission. You’ll hear about the quest way before you see it, as Tyreen will call you when you’re in the vicinity and offer to give you a reward if you let her kill you on stream. From there, she’ll direct you toward a very loud, violent-looking machine and present you with a choice: throw away your pride and step into a massive crusher or shoot out the cameras and walk away with your self-respect intact.

I agreed to Tyreen’s terms so you don’t have to give her the satisfaction. That said, you may still want to do it as you get a pretty good gun for doing what Tyreen tells you, and the weapon has a fairly funny effect too. For submitting to Tyreen’s demands, you get nearly a full minute of her teasing you for your insatiable hunger for more loot as well as a legendary Maliwan pistol called the Hazardous Sellout. You can see the gun in action in the video embedded above.

As a Maliwan gun, the Hazardous Sellout switches between two elemental ammo types–in this case incendiary and corrosive. Ironically, Tyreen gifts you with one of the best guns in the game for burning through the defenses used by the most powerful bandits within her group of followers, as all Children of Vault are weak to fire and some carry turrets that erode with poison. But that’s not all the Hazardous Sellout does.

The gun talks. Tyreen, the self-proclaimed God-Queen, will continue to speak with you through the gun for as long as you’re holding it. Most of what she says is an insult, like calling you a sellout (or much worse) and teasingly referring to you as one of her followers who will do anything she asks. However, she’ll also aid your opposition, calling out to enemies you might be trying to sneak past or informing her followers when they should push forward because you’re reloading.

If you’re still on the fence about picking up Borderlands 3, check out GameSpot’s Borderlands 3 review. Once you’ve picked the game up, we have a few guides that might be helpful for starting out.

Borderlands 3 Guides

All September long, IGN is highlighting the best TV coming your way in the 2019-2020 season. Today we’re spotlighting For All Mankind, one of several high-profile Apple TV+ shows that will be available when the new streaming platform launches on November 1. Executive produced by Battlestar Galactica’s Ronald D. Moore, For All Mankind “imagines what would have happened if the global space race never ended and the space program remained the cultural centerpiece of America’s hopes and dreams.” Starring an ensemble cast led by Joel Kinnaman, Michael Dorman, Sarah Jones, and Shantel VanSanten, the series offers an alternate history in which Russia beats the US to the moon, exploring all the historical, technological, and political implications that follow. 

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