Microsoft’s Success Went Beyond Just Exclusives – 2018 Year In Review

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Netflix’s Christmas Movie With Kurt Russell Hits 20 Million Streams In A Week

In your daily scroll through the Netflix carousel, you’ve probably noticed a new Netflix-exclusive Christmas movie starring veteran actor Kurt Russell called The Christmas Chronicles. As it turns out, while the movie flew somewhat under the radar, the film has been extraordinary successful.

Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said this week that the film generated 20 million views in its first week. According to Sarandos, that would work out to a $200 million opening if The Christmas Chronicles was released traditionally in theaters.

“If every one of those [20 million streams] was a movie ticket purchase, that’s a $US 200 million opening week,” he said, as reported by Business Insider. “Even movies that go on to $US1 billion don’t typically do that in the first week.”

According to Sarandos, The Christmas Chronicles is Russell’s biggest opening ever for one of his movies. “Even in his successful career, he’s never had that many people see one of his movies in the first week ever,” he said. “That’s a testimony to what we can bring to the market for storytellers today that we couldn’t have ten years ago.”

Importantly, it’s unclear how many of the 20 million first-week streams for The Christmas Chronicles are repeats. But whatever the case, it is clear the movie has been popular, and while Sarandos is spinning the numbers in a way that makes Netflix look better, he’s of course absolutely right that Netflix is shaking up the film world.

Russell, who has been acting for decades, recently appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which made $146.5 million over its first three days and $183 million in its first week, according to the report.

The Christmas Chronicles stars Russell as Santa, along with Judah Lewis and Darby Camp as the brother and sister who caused Santa’s sleigh to crash. Together, they must all save Christmas.

The movie, which was released at the end of November, was directed by Clay Kaytis (The Angry Birds Movie) and produced by Harry Potter and Home Alone director Chris Columbus.

The Walking Dead: Everything We Know About “The Fair”

Warning: Spoilers for The Walking Dead up through Season 9’s midseason finale, “Evolution.”

The first half of The Walking Dead’s Season 9 was overflowing with “stuff and things.” There were two time jumps, a couple of kids grew up, Gabriel kept making out with people, a handful of new characters entered the mix, gruesome new foes The Whisperers claimed their first victim, and some major characters exited stage left. And buried inside all of this were occasional mentions of… a fair?

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Marvel First Announced a Shang-Chi Movie 13 Years Ago

A Shang-Chi movie is reportedly in development, but Marvel actually first announced it was working on a film based on the Asian super hero back in 2005.

Prior to Iron Man (the first official Marvel Cinematic Universe movie) being released in 2008, Marvel Studios announced it had raised $525 million to make its own movies based off Marvel properties. At the time, a slew of possible Marvel movies were announced: Avengers, Captain America, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Dr. Strange, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, Cloak & Dagger, Power Pack and, of course, Shang-Chi.

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The Biggest Comics To Read In 2019

Update: PlayStation Network Now Working

Update: The PSN is now back in working order according to the PSN status page, and all systems are now operational.

Original story follows:

The PlayStation Network across all platforms is experiencing issues across all types of services, according to the official PSN status page.

PSN for PS4, PS4, Web, and Vita is down for account management, online gaming, social aspects, PS Now, and the PlayStation Store, among other services.

Screen Shot 2018-12-03 at 12.49.52 PM

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Battlefield 5’s First Free DLC Delayed As DICE Discovers Issue At The Last Minute

The first instalment in Battlefield V‘s free DLC campaign will not make it out on schedule. Developer DICE said on Twitter that it found an unspecified “issue” with the first Tides of War content, Chapter 1: Overture, and as such, the release is being held back beyond its announced December 4 launch.

“Rather than create issues in the game, we’re holding the update for the time being,” DICE said. The studio added that it will report back with an update as soon as possible, but for now the developer said it does not anticipate “a long delay.”

The new Panzerstorm mapThe new Panzerstorm map

Whereas previous Battlefield games charged money for extra content, Battlefield V is giving it away for free through the live service element known as Tides of War. Chapter 1: Overture adds a new map, Panzerstorm, which is set in 1940 Belgium. As its name suggests, it is a tank-focused map–and DICE says up to 17 tanks can duke it out at once on the map.

The Overture update also adds the fifth War Story single-player chapter, The Last Tiger. This missions sees you playing as a Nazi soldier who is fighting not only Allied forces but also “their own doubts about doubts about the ideology that led them to their now-inevitable defeat.” You can see a brief tease for the campaign in the video below.

What’s more, Overture introduces a new training mode called Practice Range, a tutorial mode of sorts that teaches you the basics of weapons and vehicles. Additionally, the update introduces new challenges that reward players with things like soldier outfits and weapon skins, while the game also adds cosmetic customisation options for tanks and other vehicles.

On a further-out timeline, Battlefield V will introduce a battle royale mode called Firestorm in March.

Red Dead Online: Rockstar Will Re-Balance In-Game Gold Bar Economy

Rockstar has responded to player feedback for Red Dead Online’s beta, specifically commenting on fixing the in-game economy.

“Our current areas of focus include the in-game economy, which will require some additional balancing in order to ensure all activities are appropriately rewarding and fun, as well as some persistent bugs that are causing some players to be kicked from sessions.”

Rockstar’s decision to focus on this fix first, is most likely a response from players complaining about the time it can take to earn just one gold bar in the game, which is approximately 8 hours.

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Red Dead Online’s Economy Isn’t Right, Rockstar Admits; Updates Coming Soon

Red Dead Redemption 2‘s multiplayer mode, Red Dead Online, launched in late November as a beta–and Rockstar had said from the start that players should expect bugs and other oddities. Players have indeed discovered the experience to be less-than-optimal in some areas, one of which is the in-game economy. Players quickly found out that baked beans are more valuable than gold rings, based on Red Dead Online’s economy–and that’s probably not right.

Rockstar has now acknowledged the problems with Red Dead Online’s economy, stating on Twitter that it is working on getting the economy in a better place “to ensure all activities are appropriately rewarding and fun.” The studio needs more time to work on balancing to get this right, it said.

Outside of the in-game economy, Rockstar is also planning to address some of the “persistent bugs” related to players getting kicked out of sessions.

“The game has been developed so that we will be able to quickly make any adjustments like these,” Rockstar said. The first updates for Red Dead Online are expected to launch at the end of the week at the soonest, with more updates coming next week.

You can send feedback about Red Dead Online directly to Rockstar here. There is no word on how long the game will remain in beta form, but keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.

Red Dead Online features new story missions set before the events of the single-player campaign that can be played solo or with others. It also features a variety of co-op and PvP modes, including Red Dead’s own battle royale mode.

Rockstar says to expect “lots more updates to the Red Dead Online beta in the coming weeks and months.” It hasn’t shared much about what to expect in terms of future updates to the game, though Grand Theft Auto V‘s extensive array of free GTA Online expansions suggests there’s plenty in store.

A future update for Red Dead Online will add the ability to purchase the in-game currency gold with real money. Gold can also be earned by playing, and it’s used to buy certain weapons and other items, as well as a shortcut to lower your Honor level.

If you pre-ordered the game or bought a special edition, here’s how to access your bonus content.

For more on Red Dead Online, check out GameSpot’s recent opinion piece, “Red Dead Online’s Beta Misses What Makes RDR 2 Great.”