Final Fantasy 15 DLC Canceled, Director Hajime Tabata Leaves; Square Enix Posts $33 Million Loss

In an unexpected announcement today, Square Enix announced the cancellation of three of the four planned Final Fantasy XV episode expansion packs and also confirmed that game director Hajime Tabata has left the company. Tabata’s last day at Square Enix was October 31.

The canceled Final Fantasy DLC episodes include Aranea, Lunafreye, and Noctis. The fourth one, Ardyn, remains in development, and is scheduled to launch in March 2019.

The expansion packs were being developed by Luminous, the new Square Enix internal studio. However, that team will now focus on making a new AAA game, though it hasn’t been announced yet. In an earnings report, Square Enix announced a major change to Luminous that resulted in an “extraordinary loss” amounting to $33 million. Until now, it wasn’t know what that loss was related to, but now it looks like it’s connected to the DLC cancellation.

Also during the announcement event, Square Enix announced that Final Fantasy XV’s Comrades multiplayer will now be released as a standalone game, meaning you don’t need the base game to play it. There will be a further 10 new bosses, as well as more costumes and weapons in the standalone game.

FFXV: Multiplayer Comrades, as it’s called, will launch on December 13. Those who already bought the Comrades expansion will get the new, standalone edition for free.

Also during the presentation, Square Enix announced a new cross-promotion with Fina Fantasy XIV Online. An event called “Adventurer From Another World” will be available inside Final Fantasy XV on PS4, Xbox One, and PC starting on December 12.

Another announced as a short-form anime called Final Fantasy XV Episode Prologue is on the way. A teaser will be released on December 15, with a second one coming on January 10.

Netflix Announces Anime Series Based on Pacific Rim and Altered Carbon

Netflix has announced five new anime titles are in development, including series based on Pacific Rim and Altered Carbon.

Pacific Rim will expand upon Pacific Rim and Pacific Rim: Uprising, and focus on two siblings who pilot an abandoned Jaeger in an attempt to find their missing parents across a hostile, Kaiju-peppered landscape. Craig Kyle (Thor: Ragnarok) and Greg Johnson (X-Men: Evolution) will act as co-showrunners.

Altered Carbon is set in the same universe as Netflix’s live-action series, which is receiving a second season. It will “explore new elements of the story mythology,” is all Netflix has said about the anime series so far. It will be written by Dai Sato (Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo) and Tsukasa Kondo.

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Nintendo Removing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s Native American Reference

Nintendo has said it plans to edit an animation in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate that features an offensive depiction of Native Americans. The company has said that the decades-old reference does not reflect its current values.

The animation comes from Mr. Game & Watch, whose attacks are based on the LCD handheld games from Nintendo. Reset Era noticed the move, which comes from the 1982 cowboy game Fire Attack. That game had you defending a wooden fort from Native Americans wielding torches. The move was shown last week during the final Nintendo Direct presentation for Smash Bros. Ultimate.

In a statement, Nintendo indicated it already had plans to remove the animation and that it appearing in the Direct was a simple oversight.

“Nintendo has been planning to distribute an update for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate that removes the feather from the silhouette of Mr. Game & Watch,” a Nintendo spokesperson said. “The original game on which this depiction of the character is based was released more than three decades ago and does not represent our company values today.

“We sincerely apologise that this change was not noticed in our marketing material and are continuing our work to make Super Smash Bros. Ultimate an experience that is both welcoming and fun for everyone.”

This wouldn’t be the first time Nintendo edited Fire Attack to comport with the times. When it released the Game & Watch Gallery 4 for Game Boy, it removed the feather from the Mr. Game & Watch character so he would no longer appear to be a Native American stereotype. That same treatment is likely here.

Smash Bros. Ultimate releases on December 7, and Nintendo is planning a lengthy post-launch period of extra characters, stages, and music as downloadable content. Game director Masahiro Sakurai recently said those DLC plans are already set.

GameStop “Pro Days” Sale Offers Discounts Before Black Friday

Games retailer GameStop is bringing back its “Pro Days” sale, offering special deals exclusively to members of its PowerUp Pro rewards program. The deals include some significant deals on recent games, as well as some much bigger discounts on older games you may have missed.

The headliner is a $50 gift card with the purchase of a new Xbox One console, essentially paying for most of any new game you might want to buy with it. You can also snag $10 in rewards cash toward a future purchase with the purchase of Spider-Man or Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

On top of that, the store has marked down the retail price of several 2018 games: Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Destiny 2: Forsaken, NBA 2K19, Madden NFL 19, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, FIFA 19, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, and God of War. Those all from $30-$40, except Odyssey which is still going for $50.

If you’re still catching up with the older games, it’s offering 50% off Detroit: Become Human, Black Ops 3, Call of Duty: WW2, and Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Remastered Edition. Other assorted discounts apply to Lego DC Supervillains, WWE 2K19, and Dragon Quest 11, among others.

For collectibles, you can get 25% off statues and a B2G1 deal on all Pop vinyls. The sale is going on November 9-11, and a Pro membership will cost you $15 per year. Check out the full Pro Days flyer for all the deals. And if you’re in the market for more discounts, keep an eye on our round-up of all things Black Friday.

How Fallout 76 Is Changing Based On The Beta Feedback

Fallout 76 has just one beta test left, and Bethesda has issued a statement regarding some fixes it is already planning based on feedback from the testing. Some of the tweaks are more technical in nature, while others address unintended bugs that could severely hamper the game experience. For other points, Bethesda explains why it isn’t intending to implement certain requests, at least not right away.

On the technical end, the company is planning to support ultra-wide 21:9 displays sometime post-launch. It won’t be implementing a field-of-view slider, however, citing concerns of it breaking animations and causing clipping. PC players are said to have requested a push-to-talk option for voice chat, and the studio said it will look into adding this feature. It also said that some common social menus and friends features have already been addressed, and it promised to fix various exploits with a future update.

For gameplay, Bethesda says it plans to increase the stash size. “While the Stash size at 400 weight limit can get easier to deal with over time, we do plan on increasing it in the future,” it said. Some beta players reported that the hunger bar would never replenish, and Bethesda says this has been fixed. Finally, the occurrence of random gunshot or other loud noises near Appalachia will be addressed shortly after launch.

These are the most prominent issues Bethesda chose to focus on, but the company has been clear that it sees Fallout 76 as an ongoing project. In an open letter to the fans just before the beta launched, it suggested that this was just the beginning and it would need everyone’s help to find the bugs and help them build the game.

Fallout 76 is certainly ambitious as the franchise’s first connected persistent world, but we have some concerns about the sense of emptiness it creates. Once the full game launches, we may see a different picture emerge. One factor that’s already changed during the beta is the addition of the in-game store, which has a full inventory but doesn’t allow for purchases yet.

The New Super Mario Bros. Movie Has Miyamoto Producing, And That’s A Good Thing

Nintendo is working with Despicable Me studio Illumination on an all-new Super Mario Bros. movie. The announcement in January was met with a degree of skepticism, given that the 1993 Mario movie was a trainwreck and that video game movies in general are rarely any good.

Illumination boss Chris Meledandri spoke to Variety about why he thinks the new Mario movie, which will be animated and not live-action like the earlier movie, stands to be more of a success. The key difference with the new Mario movie is that Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto is involved; he’s a producer alongside Meledandri.

“We are keeping [Miyamoto] front and center in the creation of this film,” he said. “I’ve rarely seen that happen with any adaptation where the original creative voice is being embraced like we’re embracing Miyamoto. There’s a history in Hollywood of people believing that they know better than the people responsible for a property. I’ve made that mistake before.”

There are a number of challenges in making a Mario movie, Meledandri said.

“It’s an ambitious task,” he said. “The challenge is taking things that are so thin in their original form and finding depth that doesn’t compromise what generations of fans love about Mario, but also feels organic to the iconography and can support a three-act structure.”

According to the report, the new Super Mario Bros. movie is a “priority” at Illumination, with the expectation for it to be in theaters potentially by 2022.

Back in February, Miyamoto said the script for the new Super Mario was “progressing,” but there is no word yet on the story or who will voice any of the characters. Miyamoto said Nintendo may abandon the movie if he and Meledandri can’t come up with a good enough idea.

1993’s live-action Super Mario Bros. movie was a critical and commercial failure, with star Bob Hoskins–who played Mario–said it was the worst movie he’s ever been a part of. Hoskins and co-star John Leguizamo reportedly drank whiskey between takes to get through filming.

Nintendo has been very hesitant to bring its franchises to movies and TV, so this new Super Mario Bros. movie is a big step forward. In addition to this film, Nintendo is reportedly working on a Legend of Zelda TV show, while the company also partnered with Universal to create a Nintendo theme park that could feature real-life Mario Kart.

There may be an explanation for why Nintendo is working on so many licensing efforts. In 2016, then-CEO Tatsumi Kimishima said fewer and fewer young people are finding out about Nintendo games through…games. Instead, they’re discovering Nintendo and its characters through things like officially licensed Mario toothbrushes. So you can expect these kinds of licensing deals to continue and possibly increase, the executive said at the time.

Will The Walking Dead Comic Ever Pick Up the Pace?

There was a Greek philosopher named Zeno of Elea who became famous for concocting nine paradoxes. One of those is known as the Dichotomy paradox, which envisions movement as an infinite series of actions that halve the distance between two points. If you’re perpetually halving the distance, you can never actually reach your destination. That seems like as apt a metaphor for The Walking Dead as anything else. There’s clearly an interesting destination at the end of the current road, but the series never seems willing to go all the way and take that next big step.

The framework of this issue is compelling enough. Rick and friends have seen plenty of life in the Commonwealth. The highs are high, with the settlement offering luxuries undreamed of anywhere else in the post-post-apocalyptic world. But the lows, such as the staggering social and economic inequality, stand in direct opposition to everything Rick and his friends have spent years working to build. Is open war between the two inevitable, or is peace possible? Is Alexandria’s egalitarian society a viable model for all, or merely a naive dream waiting to be brought down?

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Dragon Ball Z Composer Is Now a State Senator in the U.S.

One of the Dragon Ball Z composers has just become a state senator in Texas.

Kotaku explains that Nathan Johnson, who was elected as a state Senator in Texas yesterday, is also responsible for the musical scores to several of the English dubbed episodes and movies of Dragon Ball Z.

Johnson graduated with a law degree from the University of Texas but continued to alternate between his day job as a lawyer and composing music.

For a while, he focused entirely on his musical career and coincidentally met the co-founder of FUNimation, Robert Cocanougher. This led to him eventually to writing some of the scores for Dragon Ball Z.

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Payday 2’s Secret Ending Unlocked, Five Years After Release

After five years of players traveling down a convoluted series of rabbit holes that includes several dead ends, Payday 2’s secret ending has finally been uncovered.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun reports that YouTuber GeneralMcBadass has posted a video showing players how to unlock the finale. To get the ending, players need to get a number of collectibles, all acquired through separate missions, and then decipher some runes.

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Is Red Dead 2’s Story Lost in Its Open World?

BEYOND (and howdy)!

On this week’s episode of our weekly PlayStation show, Beyond!, host Jonathon Dornbush is joined by Max Scoville, Brian Altano, and Jon Ryan discuss more of their impressions of Red Dead Redemption 2, specifically some of the weirdest glitches in the game, the main story and how it works within the open world, and much more.

Then, the gang discusses the PlayStation Plus free games for the month — you won’t be surprised to find out that Max wants you to play Yakuza Kiwami — plus offer impressions of Deracine and Jonathon’s review of it, its possible Bloodborne Easter egg, and the Tetris Effect demo.

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