First Look at Deadpool 2’s Zazie Beetz in Joker
Sneak peeks at the cast for the upcoming Joker movie just keep coming; next up is Deadpool 2’s Zazie Beetz.
Director Todd Phillips made the reveal on his Instagram account, where he also recently posted a video of Joaquin Phoenix with Joker makeup.
Beetz, who plays the lucky vigilante Domino in Deadpool 2 was in talks earlier this year for a role in the clown prince of crime’s origin story. She’ll apparently play a single mother who catches the Joker’s eye.
The Latest On The Telltale Games Closure
On Friday, Telltale Games made the shocking and sad announcement that it was enacting a “majority studio closure,” resulting in the loss of more than 200 jobs. According to developers who were there, as part of the shutdown, Telltale Games employees were told to leave the building within 30 minutes after the news was announced.
One of developers who lost their job, narrative designer Emily Grace Buck, shared a new update on the situation today. On Monday, September 24, all the former employees will get to come back to the studio for a period of three hours to collect any belongings they were not able to on Friday. “Despite my tweets, it hasn’t really hit me yet. But I know tomorrow will,” Grace Buck wrote about coming back to the studio on Monday.
Tomorrow, all the former Telltale employees get a 3hour block of time in which we’ll be allowed back into the building to get our things, since we had to vacate half an hour after the termination meeting.
Despite my tweets, it hasn’t really hit me yet. But I know tomorrow will.— Emily Grace Buck plz hire TTG devs! (@emilybuckshot) September 23, 2018
As part of the studio shutdown, Telltale parted ways with 225 employees, with its remaining 25 staying on as a “skeleton crew.” According to CEO Pete Hawley, it was an “incredibly difficult year” for Telltale. While the company was proud of its releases, the games did not sell well enough, Hawley said.
In the wake of the shutdown, many are wondering what’s going to happen with future instalments in the numerous Telltale franchises, including The Walking Dead. The final season’s next episode is due out on Tuesday, but it remains to be seen if the franchise will continue after that. It is also believed that Telltale’s new game based on Stranger Things has been canceled. Officially, Telltale said it will announce specific details on its upcoming roadmap in the “coming weeks.”
According to reports, Telltale’s first The Walking Dead and its Minecraft game were financially successful, but every other release reportedly lost money. The Batman game, Enemy Within, was reportedly one of Telltale’s worst performing games ever. Telltale co-founder and former CEO Kevin Bruner said in a blog post that the reason he left Telltale was because he clashed with the Board of Directors about Telltale’s future. He did not share any more details.
Telltale had been facing tough times before the closure. In November 2017, Telltale laid off 25% of its workforce, which then amounted to 90 people.
The company also operates a publishing label that is behind October’s Stranded Deep from two-person Australian studio Beam Team Games. After Telltale’s closure was announced, Beam Team said it planned to do everything it could to launch Stranded Deep on PS4 and Xbox One on schedule in October.
Keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.
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Diablo Animated Series Reportedly in Development at Netflix
According to a new report, a Diablo animated series could be heading to Netflix.
This comes from a since-deleted tweet from comic book publishing company Boom! Studios founder Andrew “Andy” Cosby (reported by Variety), who said that he was in “final talks” to helm the show for Activision Blizzard and Netflix. “It’s very exciting and I hope to the High Heavens it all works out,” he reportedly said.
If the rumor is true, Cosby would be juggling the series alongside his work on the Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen script, that he is co-writing with Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola.
Devil May Cry 5 PC System Specs Revealed
Devil May Cry 5 isn’t due until next year, but you can already start to make sure that your PC is up to snuff to handle the fierce action game. Product listings for the game have gone up across various digital storefronts, and the Steam listing shows off the minimum and recommended system specs. These aren’t officially from Capcom, but the specificity suggests they’re the real deal.
The same batch of product listings also appeared to have revealed a multiplayer co-op play for 2-3 players. All three digital storefronts–including Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation–all showed variations on that same information. Capcom, for its part, told GameSpot that it is focused on delivering single-player and that it has not announced any multiplayer features.
Meanwhile, our hands-on time at TGS left us with some concerns about this latest Devil May Cry. Chief among them was discovering microtransactions, including the ability to upgrade your characters with real money. That will raise questions about elements like character progression, so it will have to proceed with caution. We won’t know if the microtransactions impact the game itself until it releases March 8, 2019.
Devil May Cry 5 is Capcom’s chance to get the series back on-track after 2013’s DmC: Devil May Cry was divisive among fans. This one is pointedly a direct sequel to 2008’s Devil May Cry 4, a clear signal that we should just ignore that other one.
System Requirements
Minimum:
- OS: WINDOWS 7 (64-BIT Required)
- Processor: Intel Core i7-4770 3.4GHz or better
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX760 or better
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 35 GB available space
- Additional Notes: *Controllers recommended *Internet connection required for game activation.
Recommended:
- OS: WINDOWS 7 (64-BIT Required)
- Processor: Intel Core i7-4770 3.4GHz or better
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce® GTX960 or better
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 35 GB available space
- Additional Notes: *Controllers recommended *Internet connection required for game activation.
Halo Infinite Dev Responds To Microtransaction Concerns
A months-old job advertisement at Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries basically confirms something that is already very obvious: Halo Infinite will have microtransactions in some form.
343 has shared no official information about how Halo Infinite will make use of microtransactions, so it’s understandable that fans are envisioning a worst-case scenario. 343 still isn’t saying anything about how Halo Infinite will use microtransactions, but the studio is now again telling fans not to worry.
“I know there’s very little real info to go on thus far, but I wouldn’t worry over a job description,” 343 community manager Brian Jarrad said on Twitter. He addded that the specific wording in the job ad for an Online Experience Design Director is “all pretty standard stuff” in the gaming business. “[It] doesn’t mean it’ll result in something bad,” Jarrard explained.
Indeed, microtransactions are commonplace in video games at Microsoft and basically every other big publisher. It is more notable when a game does not use microtransactions.
Halo 5: Guardians had a “Req” system for its microtransactions, and they proved to be very lucrative. So it was no surprise at all when the job ad from June mentioned that Halo Infinite will have a microtransaction system in some form. The job post from June 14 remains open on the Microsoft Careers page, so it seems it has not yet been filled.
The language in the job post is leading some Halo fans to worry about Halo Infinite’s use of microtransactions. The job ad states that the successful candidate will oversee numerous aspects of the connected, online experience including microtransactions and other systems that “encourage players to return again and again with their friends.”
This person will “design and deliver a AAA player investment experience that focuses on our fans and their desire to express their passion for our franchise (including but not limited to microtransactions),” reads a line from the job ad. It also states that a successful candidate should have a “comprehensive understanding of player psychology and what drives them to return to an experience.”
Until 343 shares more details on how Halo Infinite will use microtransactions, fans will continue to assume the worst. Even if those systems are still being decided, as Halo FPS boss Chris Lee has said, a statement from 343 would go a long way helping fans feel better.
It is likely that 343 does not yet know how it will implement microtransactions in Halo Infinite. The game will be playable ahead of launch through a “flighting” testing program, so that’s good news as players will be able to give feedback directly to 343. Whether or not microtransactions are part of the flighting program remains to be seen, however.
And keep in mind that Halo Infinite will include flights and chances for players to actively hands-on participate and give real input to the team
— Brian Jarrard (@ske7ch) September 20, 2018
What we do know about Halo Infinite’s microtransactions is that they will not feature paid-for loot boxes.
Halo Infinite is currently in development for Xbox One and PC. No release date has been set.