Category: Games

When Warcraft, the live-action movie based on the MMORPG video game series and novels, arrived in theaters in 2016, it was neither the box office or critical hit that many had been hoping for. Now, nearly two years later, the movie’s director is explaining why that may be the case.

In an interview with Syfy to promote his new Netflix movie Mute–which is also being hailed as something less than a smash hit–Duncan Jones is very open about the troubling production. From the sound of it, filming of the movie sounds incredibly contentious.

“Warcraft was a political minefield as far as filmmaking goes. And I think a lot of the rewriting in that, over the course of making the movie was really, really difficult and at times disheartening,” he says. “Just being forced to make changes and compromises just due to the politics and the nature of that film. So, that was a real heart-wrencher. But I’ve learned a lot and I’ve become more mature and able to deal with those kinds of situations because I’ve been through it now. But at the time, that felt pretty traumatic.”

At the heart of the issue, Jones believes, was turmoil at Legendary Pictures–the studio producing Warcraft. “It was mainly studio politics. You know, Legendary had an incredibly turbulent period while we were making Warcraft,” he says. “They were associated with Warner Bros. They left Warner Bros. and joined Universal. They were sold to Wanda, this Chinese conglomerate. They lost or replaced a number of their producing staff halfway through our movie.”

Jones also points out the importance of the Warcraft brand to Blizzard, the studio behind the game. “We were also working with Blizzard, who understandably were very careful about what happened with the movie because their bread and butter was the game Warcraft, which was bringing in a billion dollars a year for them,” he explains. While he admits that the movie’s returns would likely be “small potatoes” compared to what Blizzard makes from subscriptions to the game, it was still very protective of its brand. “It was really a very active political landscape,” he says.

Still, the experience of making Warcraft hasn’t necessarily turned Jones off to doing approaching another big-budget property. However, he would certainly approach it in a different way. “I’m a lot wiser now,” he says.

Although there’s no new mainline Fable game announced, you can return to the land of Albion right now. Fable Fortune, the collectible card game based on the fantasy series, has fully launched on Xbox One and PC.

Fable Fortune has been playable through Microsoft’s Game Preview program since last summer, but developers Mediatonic and Flaming Fowl launched the 1.0 version of the game this week. As with other collectible card games, Fable Fortune is free to play, but it offers additional card packs for purchase.

For the launch version of the game, the developers have also added a bunch of new features and implemented changes. These include Achievements, co-op voice chat, new cards, and deck-building tips. Additionally, low-cost cards have been rebalanced to reduce their effectiveness in swinging the course of a match.

Finally, the developers are also holding a bunch of temporary events to provide rewards like double XP and free cards. There will be a new event each week for the next five weeks; you can read more about Fable Fortune’s upcoming events here.

Metal Gear Survive launched earlier this week, and Konami has just revealed some of its upcoming plans for the game. Specifically, a new cooperative mission type, Rescue Mission, is coming to the game next month.

These missions will give players an additional way to team up beyond simply exploring the game’s world and completing Salvage Missions. The Rescues task you and your team with fighting into enemy territory and saving soldiers in need. According to the publisher, they’ll require a “whole new level of cooperation” above Salvage Missions, although Konami has said little about them beyond this.

The mission type will be added to the game in March. In the meantime, Konami will offer a Daily Mission from the current set of co-op missions that offer greater rewards and special modifiers. One of these battle conditions is called HellFire, which appears to light all of the enemies on fire. There’s also a special weekly mission to complete.

Metal Gear Survive is available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It requires a constant internet connection and has microtransactions. Be sure to check out our feature on how Metal Gear Survive’s class system works if you’re just getting started with the game.

Every year, the Academy Awards honor the best movies of the year, as well as the visionaries and actors behind them. Also, every time, we all scramble to try and watch a bunch of the nominated films before they come out. The biggest problem is trying to find every movie, especially when you’re not sure which ones are in theaters and which ones are available to stream.

The 90th Academy Awards–more commonly known as the Oscars–is coming to ABC on Sunday, March 4 at 8PM ET/5PM PT, and before you sit down to watch the show, you’re probably wondering where you can buy, rent, or stream some of nominated films. While there are a lot of different services to choose from, most people use one or two, whether it’s streaming with subscription services like Netflix, Amazon, or HBO or buying and renting movies through iTunes, Google Play, or Vudu. Here is where you can watch and buy every nominated film for the 2018 Academy Awards.

Throughout the history of film, female heroes have proven to be some of the most fierce icons of the action genre. With the upcoming release of Tomb Raider, based on the 2013 reboot of the video game franchise, Alicia Vikander hopes to add one more hero to that list as Lara Croft.

Unlike the 2001 film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider starring Angelina Jolie, which was based on the first video game, this new movie is looking back at Lara Croft’s origin and the role they played in the adventurer she becomes. As Vikander explains, while speaking at Tomb Raider‘s press junket, it’s the best way to introduce the world to her Lara.

“If you have the origin story, then that’s a way for us to get to know our character, to feel for them, to relate to them on a more human level,” she says. “I thought it was wonderful that I could play a young woman who’s still trying to find her footing in the world…”

Just as important to Vikander, though, was showing audiences that anyone could be a hero–not just those with superpowers. “What I loved was that when I met [director] Roar [Uthaug] and Graham [King] and the producers, the fact that we wanted the actions sequences that were going to be a big part of this film kind of be set in a reality,” she says. “Would you buy that this young girl could beat this bigger, stronger man? We then, storywise, integrated that she’s a physical being–[she] trains in MMA and is a bicycle courier. I wanted her to be a strong girl.”

Of course, to portray it, Vikander had to become that physical being herself. According to King, Vikander trained hard in the gym every single day throughout production to keep herself in peak physical condition. It’s a transformation he likens to another iconic big-screen heroine. “I would actually put her performance along Sigourney [Weaver] when she did Aliens,” he says.

Speaking to GameSpot, he elaborates. “She committed in a huge way. She was excited from an early stage. She has a lot of ideas, which I love. Actors should have a lot of ideas,” King says. “She was so committed in the transformation of her physically and mentally. She’s in every scene in the movie, I think, apart from maybe one or two. She worked her butt off every single day in the most extreme heat in Africa.”

Whether the work Vikander and the movie’s creative team put into bringing Lara Croft to life was worth it is something audiences will have to decide. Luckily they won’t have to wait long. Tomb Raider hits theaters on March 16.

For all the advancements that have been made in gaming, one element that remains in place is the character-select screen. Talk to someone who played games years ago–whether it was Super Mario Bros. 2, Street Fighter II, or any number of games–and you’ll likely see them reminisce about the time spent on those screens agonizing over their character choice.

While they’re most commonly associated with fighting games, that genre is hardly the only to be home to them, as evidenced by games like Mario 2 to Team Fortress 2 to countless MMOs. And although perhaps not as prominent as they once were, character-select screens are still present in many games today.

In the video above, we’ve put together a nostalgia-inducing run through a number of the most memorable such screens. You should get a sense for how they’ve changed over the years, from the basics of the aforementioned Mario to more modern examples, like Overwatch and Injustice 2.

What character-select screens do you remember most fondly? Let us know in the comments below!

Another week has gone by, and that means there is new Monster Hunter World content now available on both PS4 and Xbox One. While the most exciting thing going on right now is limited to PS4, there’s something to occupy your time right now regardless of your platform.

PS4 players with a Street Fighter V save file on their hard drive still have early access to a special challenge quest called Down the Dark, Muddy Path. The actual particulars of what you’re doing aren’t exciting–it’s an Arena where you hunt a Barroth–but the rewards include the materials to craft the armor based on Street Fighter’s Ryu. Eventually, everyone on PS4 and Xbox One will have access to this quest and the Ryu gear, plus the Sakura-inspired gear still to come. For more on what to expect if you’re eligible now, check out our guide on how to unlock Monster Hunter World’s Ryu armor. You can see how it looks below–it literally transforms you into Ryu.

In terms of Limited Bounties, there’s the usual assortment of additions. You’ll need to hunt three bird wyvern-class monsters for one, hunt four Anjanath for another, and slay five tempered monsters for the third. These each offer their own set of rewards comprised of varying amounts of research points, armor spheres, and trade-in items (which are sold for zenny). A fourth limited bounty gives you even more of these rewards if you’re able to complete the other three before these bounties reset on March 1/2 (depending on your platform).

There are also a handful of new event quests to take part in. Two of these (Ya-Ku With That? and The Poison Posse) are fairly mundane low-rank quests, asking you to hunt two and three monsters, respectively. Wildspire Bolero is a high-rank, seven-star quest that tasks you with hunting five monsters–including a Diablos, who proves difficult for many players–in under 50 minutes. There’s also Snow & Cherry Blossoms, a nine-star quest to hunt a tempered Legiana and Pink Rathian. This also has a time limit of 50 minutes but has the highest Hunter Rank requirement (30) of any event quest so far.

Finally, you still have some time left to complete the current challenge quest, excitingly titled Challenge Quest 1: Intermediate. As before, this places restrictions on the particular weapon types you’re able to use, limiting you to those that fall under the umbrella of Sword & Shield, Hunting Horn, Charge Blade, Insect Glaive, or Light Bowgun.