It’s been nearly four years since Quentin Tarantino had a movie in theaters. That’s about to change, though, thanks to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. A trailer for the director’s latest film–his ninth overall– has released, showing what Hollywood in 1969 looks like through the eyes of the man also responsible for titles like Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and Django Unchained. Spoilers: It’s weird.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood stars Leonardo DiCaprio as an aging movie star, with Brad Pitt playing his closest confidante and stuntman. The film intertwines multiple stories, including some that pull from actual Hollywood history, to set the stage for what an official synopsis calls “a tribute to the final moments of Hollywood’s golden age.”
One of those stories, which Pitt’s Cliff Booth seemingly finds himself a part of in the trailer, is the Manson family murders. In the first look at the film, Booth ends up at George Spahn’s (Bruce Dern) movie rank, where Manson (Damon Herriman) lives with his followers–Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme (Dakota Fanning) is shown in the trailer, however “Tex” Watson (Austin Butler) and Catherine Share (Lena Dunham) are among those appearing in the film.
The movie also features Luke Perry, Kurt Russell, Timothy Olyphant, Rumer Willis, Maya Hawke, Al Pacino, Damian Lewis, and Emile Hirsch, to name a few.
The release of the trailer coincides with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s premiere screening at the Cannes film festival. It will be in theaters on July 26.
Finally, you can explore the universe with No Man’s Sky, which is on sale for $37.49. With last year’s large-scale update, “Next,” and the upcoming “Beyond” free expansion releasing this summer, No Man’s Sky has come a long way since its initial launch and is worth picking up if it’s not already part of your collection.
The action-RPG Dauntless has officially launched, ending a year-long open beta. The free-to-play game is now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC through the Epic Games Store. Phoenix Labs notes that this official launch fulfills its promise of cross-platform functionality, letting you play with friends regardless of platform or take your account with you.
The launch also comes alongside several updates. A new Mastery system lets you refine your skills and achieve rewards, and each Behemoth and weapon have their own unique Mastery cards to customize. The campaign has also been revised, and the update includes the new Season 5 Hunt Pass, named Hidden Blades. Hidden Blades opens a Moon Blossom festival and unlocks a bunch of new cosmetic rewards as you work your way through the levels.
As previously announced, this update launches alongside the new Arcslayer pack. It comes with a set of mech-inspired armor, consumables, and some premium currency. Switch and mobile versions are in development but a release date for either has not been announced.
“No one has ever launched on console with full cross-play support from the start, but we believed in our vision and, thankfully, our friends at Epic Games, Sony, and Microsoft did too,” said Phoenix CEO Jesse Houston. “Keeping the community connected is one of our top priorities, and with all the new players coming in at launch, there’s never been a better time to be a Slayer in Dauntless.”
After blasting onto the battle royale shooter scene back in February, Apex Legends became a relative powerhouse among major players like Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. The free-to-play game brought a level of polish and shooter design skill to the genre that was lacking in some of its biggest competitors, and that made it a refreshing new entry into the popular subgenre.
That popularity has waned some for Apex Legends since its launch, partially because the early honeymoon period in which the game attracted tons of attention (and streamers) is over. Another culprit: The game’s first three-month season was lackluster in terms of content. Apex introduced a new character and a new weapon with Season 1, but little else that makes the game dynamic as a live-service title. Earning its first season’s rewards also came through as a lot of grind for little payoff among some players.
The first content season of Apex is set to wrap up in June, though–right around E3. We’re expecting to learn a lot more during the event.
What We Know So Far
A big push for Apex Legends so far has been in cleaning up issues in the game. The latest Apex patch focuses on reducing the number of crashes suffered by PC players and addresses audio problems. We’ve also seen developer Respawn Entertainment put a lot of focus on stopping cheaters in the game, while also attempting to make effective balance changes by doing things like reworking character hitboxes to make them more viable on the battlefield. As the developer has worked in dealing with those issues, it hasn’t released much in the way of new content for Apex in Season 1–but given player complaints, that’s likely to change in Season 2.
As for exactly what content is coming in Season 2, the specifics are anybody’s guess. At least one new character, known as Wattson, is expected to join the game based on past leaks. Trailers have also suggested a new weapon coming to the game to go with Wattson, as well. But nobody knows for sure at this point what Season 2 will entail, or how broad its changes to Apex Legends will be.
What’s Confirmed For E3?
During its latest quarterly earnings call, Apex Legends publisher Electronic Arts said it would announce new details about Apex Season 2 during E3–specifically, during EA Play, the public event EA throws in Los Angeles every year during E3. There are few specifics as to what that announcement will entail, but we know a few of the broad strokes. A new character is coming, as are changes to the game’s single map, Kings Canyon.
“For Season 2 you can expect a Battle Pass with more meaningful content, the introduction of a new Legend, the debut of a new weapon… and you didn’t expect Kings Canyon to stay the same forever, did you?” Respawn wrote in a post on the EA blog.
What We Hope To See At E3
It’s a little bit tough to speculate about what Apex Legends needs when players complain about a lack of “content.” For sure, we want more characters in the game–each one’s abilities and characteristics are a big part of what sets Apex apart from other battle royale games. Each one’s strengths and weaknesses add to the overarching strategy needed to win the game. But Respawn has previously said it means to take a lot of care in introducing new elements to Apex Legends, which is why balance changes and updates are somewhat infrequent. We want Respawn to continue to thoroughly test everything it does to Apex to avoid adding new issues to the game and having to roll back changes. So while it’d be nice to have more characters in Apex sooner, one per season is probably a good pace; the same is true with the introduction of new weapons.
Respawn has also suggested that Apex would see its game map evolving and changing over time, and if we can’t get lots of new weapons and characters in Season 2, we’d love to see the terrain become altered and more dynamic. The alien worlds of the Titanfall universe allow for a lot of possibilities, and speculation based on leaks has already suggested that the huge, deadly creatures who inhabit the world of Kings Canyon could get in on the action in Apex. New dangers and obstacles, as well as new places to fight and develop strategies, would be welcome additions to the base Apex Legends formula.
Apex could also stand to improve in adding more for players to do while they’re playing. Taking a page from Fortnite in this respect is probably a good idea. With each new season, developer Epic Games adds a mess of challenges to the game that help players earn experience and rewards faster. Some are simple, requiring little more than getting into fights with specific weapons, but others require exploring the map and finding strange Easter eggs that give players hints at the overall shifting nature of the game. There’s always something weird to discover in Fortnite, it seems.
Challenges would grow the replayability factor for Apex, especially if they helped give players more to strive for in earning cosmetic and customization rewards. But apart from just new skins for guns and characters, Apex could use challenges and Easter eggs to expand on the lore and story that surrounds the game, giving players cool secrets to discover that enhance their understanding of Apex’s characters and world. Respawn has hinted at the more in-depth story surrounding Apex–we know it’s part of the Titanfall universe, after all, which has quite a bit of lore of its own. At E3, we’d love to see Respawn start to push the boundaries of Apex Legends in a way that’s similar to what Blizzard does with Overwatch, telling more stories about its characters and giving players a broader look at its world.
And of course, it’d be great to see Respawn enhance the battle pass of Apex Legends to give players more cool stuff to hunt. Fun as the game is itself, solid battle passes (as well as things like challenges and other content) help hold interest in games like Apex, which keeps players returning. In fact, it’d be nice to see Respawn experiment with the battle pass formula the way it has the battle royale formula, to further set the game apart from contenders like Fornite. We’re not sure what form those experiments might take, but we’re willing to give them a shot based on how much we’ve enjoyed what Respawn has created so far.
Oh, and while it’s known that Respawn is actively trying to stamp out cheating in the game, a longer-term solution to the problem of hacks that ruin the game would make an excellent E3 bonus. Dealing with all cheaters might be wishful thinking, but if one thing would enhance the fun of Apex immediately, it’s that.
Yesterday, Wall Street Journal reporter Takashi Mochizuki shared a video of Sony’s demonstration of the next-gen PlayStation vs. PlayStation 4’s performance, and while the difference in loading times is significant, some fans have raised questions around what this hardware boost means for AI improvements, display resolutions, frame rates, and its ultimate price point.
In the demonstration, Marvel’s Spider-Man for PS4 was running on prototype next-gen hardware, which was compared to how it runs on a PS4 Pro. The video showed the new hardware loading Spider-Man’s version of NYC much more quickly and seamlessly than current-gen hardware.
For anyone who hasn’t yet got on the HBO comedy’s hype train (or hasn’t seen ads for the Bill Hader-starring series while watching Game of Thrones), Barry is a comedy series about a hitman trying to become an actor. But, in all honesty, it’s much more than that. It’s a show about trying to break out of a job you hate for something you are definitely not qualified for. It’s a show about whether or not our history defines our future actions. It’s a show about how people frame themselves as the hero in their minds even when they have no reason to believe that.
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Building a gaming PC will almost always get you the most bang for your buck—not to mention teach you a lot about PCs in the process. But as someone who has built and bought countless PCs (for myself, family friends), I know the build it yourself route isn’t for everyone.
Sometimes you’d rather have something that works right out of the box, with a number you can call if your system doesn’t boot properly. Not to mention when you go with a prebuilt system, you usually get components guaranteed to work, an interesting and/or unique chassis, and warranty support too. If this is what you’re looking for, then here is my list of the best gaming PCs you can buy right now.
The ending of Game of Thrones got us (and probably you) thinking: What’s the worst ending to a TV show ever? Weigh in on the survey below and we’ll solve this once and for all… WITH MATH.
Here’s how this is going to work. The link below will take you to a survey where you can rank your favorite endings (good stuff on top) and leave stuff you didn’t see near the bottom.
You’ll also be able to rank shows a second time, this time from worst to best. Again, leave stuff you didn’t see near the bottom. Don’t worry: Math.
Blizzard has announced a big update coming to Hearthstone in June, which suggests a noticeable change to its approach to game balance going forward. In addition to introducing a new card in the middle of an expansion, it’s also the first time in the game’s history that existing cards will be see a buff.
Though Hearthstone has often made card changes, the vast majority of these have been nerfs–usually lowering stats, raising the Mana cost, or changing a condition slightly. Some others have been lateral changes, with phrasing to clarify or add consistency. The closest the game has ever gotten to buffing cards is when it has added tribal synergy, such as making Molten Giant an Elemental card.
With the announcement on the Hearthstone Blog, the game appears to be changing that approach. According to the blog, the update will take two cards from each class introduced in last year’s Boomsday Project expansion and boost their existing power. These are cards that have often gone underused, so it seems aimed at increasing the power level of some decks that the community has rejected. According to Blizzard, these changes aim to inspire “metagame outliers” for new decks.
These changes are part of the “Rise of the Mech” update, which also marks a significant change for Hearthstone. The game traditionally releases three expansions per year, and the time in-between those expansions lasts 3-4 months without significant changes. This time, in addition to these card buffs, the game is introducing an entirely new card. The Legendary SN1P-SN4P is a magnetic Mech card with Echo, letting you attach it multiple times in a given turn. Anyone who logs in during the Rise of the Mech event between June 3 and July 1 will get a Golden copy for free.
(Blizzard notes that SN1P-SN4P will be officially counted as a Boomsday Project card, and will rotate out when the rest of those cards do. However, it won’t be available randomly in Boomsday packs. You must either claim it during the event period, or craft it using Arcane Dust.)
Finally, the Rise of the Mech event will rotate the current Arena sets. With the game growing so large, Blizzard has begun implementing Arena rotations that limit the sets for more cohesion. Starting on June 3, Arena will be limited to Classic, Basic, Goblins vs Gnomes, Grand Tournament, Karazhan, Boomsday Project, and Rise of Shadows cards.
If this suggests a change in philosophy, we may see more frequent updates coming from Blizzard, and more cards added midway through an expansion period to mix up the meta-game. That would be a welcome change for a community that often complains of the meta growing stale by the time a new expansion comes around.
Before these buffs, though, there’s one more set of nerfs coming. Blizzard recently announced changes to several cards, hitting the Rogue class particularly hard.
