Metal Gear Survive Review in Progress – Fun Builds Over Time

Update (2/21/2018): There’s fun to be had in Metal Gear Survive, but it took a little too long to get there. At about 18 hours in, the grind and the occasional tedium of the endless open-world resource-gathering are still there, but all the time invested in picking medicinal herbs and stuffing my pockets full of screws, scrap metal, and wood is starting to pay off.

By the mid game (I assume, since I don’t know exactly how long it is), customizing your base with a collection of resources and new buildings gradually unlocked via story missions is fun, and contrary to what its opening hours may have you believe, it isn’t all cycling through menus. (Though, there are still a lot of menus.) I’ve settled into a pretty comfortable routine every time I teleport back to base camp through handy wormhole teleporters unlocked by completing mini-tower defense missions around the map: I repair my gear at my workbench, restock on ammo, cook whatever meat I’ve been able to find out in the wilderness, boil some clean water for drinking, and check my farms and rainwater purifiers for output.

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How Will Game Of Thrones End? Maisie Williams Says She Knows

The much-anticipated eighth and final season of HBO’s Game of Thrones airs in 2019, and we’re excited about it. In particular, everyone wants to know how it’ll all wrap up.

Actress Maisie Williams, who plays Arya, apparently knows how it’ll all go down. She appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live this week where she claimed to have read the script for the final episode. Kimmel jumped in to say that he’s heard that to protect the secret, HBO is shooting multiple endings so that even the cast is unaware of how it ends. However, Williams sounded confident that she knows what will happen in the very last episode. And she added that she doesn’t believe HBO has the budge to shoot so many different endings.

“I do–I know the end of Game of Thrones,” Williams said, recalling that she read the script while in bed. “It’s just surreal, to be honest; being with this show for so long and then also it having the following that it does. It’s just–everyone is waiting for this moment, and then you read it, and it’s just incredible.”

Williams went on to suggest, with facial expressions, that the ending might on paper sound underwhelming, but when you see it, you’ll understand why it’s so moving. She added that her mom knows the ending, too, because she sent the scripts to her. She broke a rule in doing so, apparently, as she noted that she was told: “Don’t give [the scripts] to anyone.”

Indeed, HBO’s security for Game of Thrones is reportedly substantial, making use of things like scripts written in code and even keeping watch for drones on outdoor sets. And regarding the multiple endings, HBO president Casey Bloys sounded pretty confident that multiple endings would be shot, though of course plans can change. “I know in Game of Thrones the ending, they’re going to shoot multiple versions so that nobody really know what happens,” Bloys said back in September.

Also in the interview, Williams said she still has a lot of shooting left to do on the final season. “A lot, endless amounts,” she said about what’s left of her shooting schedule. “It’s a mammoth task this year. It’s huge.”

Kimmel smartly jumped in to ask if this means her character, Arya, will survive. Williams deftly danced around the question, saying, “No, not necessarily, because some of the episodes take a really long time to shoot.”

Indeed, every episode in Season 8 is reportedly as long as a movie, so lengthy shoots are to be expected.

There will be six episodes in the final Game of Thrones season. We don’t know their titles yet, but HBO has announced who will be directing them. The Game of Thrones franchise is expected to continue after the main show wraps up through a prequel spinoff.

In other news, Game of Thrones TV show creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff are working on a new series of Star Wars movies for Disney.

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Australian Video Games Spending Passes $3 Billion

Australia’s Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (IGEA) has today announced that Australian consumer spending on video games and related hardware hit $3.23 billion in 2017, breaking through the $3 billion mark that the industry came close to cracking last year.

The figure includes physical retail sales of $1.176 billion (up 11 per cent on 2016) and digital sales of $2.054 billion (up nine per cent on 2016). The majority of digital sales were from mobile game sales (which generated over $1 billion in 2017) but digital full game downloads and “digital extras” have also increased (17 per cent and 12 per cent respectively).

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Monster Hunter World Leads US Sales for January

According to analysts at The NPD Group, Monster Hunter World was the top-selling title in the United States in January.

After a whopping five million copies were shipped in its first three days, Monster Hunter World has gone on to become the Capcom’s fastest-selling game ever. Additionally, Capcom was the leading publisher for January in terms of software sales.

Meanwhile, Dragon Ball: FighterZ was the second best-selling game in the U.S. last month. Worldwide shipments reached two million units a week after launch, making it the fastest Dragon Ball game to reach the milestone.

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How Are The Uncharted And Last Of Us Movies Coming Along?

Movies based on Naughty Dog’s Uncharted and The Last of Us franchises are in the works, but, as is often the case in Hollywood, they aren’t progressing very quickly. Naughty Dog’s creative lead Neil Druckmann sat down with 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg at the D.I.C.E. Summit today in Las Vegas for a conversation about storytelling. Naturally, the question came up about how the Uncharted and Last of Us movies are coming along.

Druckmann said Naughty Dog has had “some conversations” with director Shawn Levy (Stranger Things, Night at the Museum), a person who Druckmann says really “gets it” and “understands where we’re at.” Druckmann went on to say that Naughty Dog’s feelings towards a film adaptation of Uncharted has “evolved” over years.

“We used to just be excited–oh my god, movies are looking at us! There could be an Uncharted movie on the screen, and then as more time passes on, we’re not excited by a direct adaptation of the story we told, because we feel we’ve already told that story very well cinematically, so I don’t know what else you could bring to it.”

Spider-Man actor Tom Holland is confirmed to play a young Nathan Drake in the Uncharted movie. Levy’s Uncharted movie will not be a direct adaptation of any of the four main Uncharted games, but instead it is expected to fill in the gaps with the younger Drake. Beyond that, however, we don’t know any more plot details. One of the scripts was written by The Grey‘s Joe Carnahan–and Druckmann had some things to say about it.

Whatever the case, Druckmann said an Uncharted movie will feel strange to him and some fans because with different actors, it might not feel right. “For me–and I know for Naughty Dog and for a lot of our fans–Nolan North is Nathan Drake. Ashley Johnson is Ellie. Troy Baker is Joel. It would be very disorienting to see someone else in that role.”

As an example, Druckmann said if they were to make a Breaking Bad movie and someone other than Bryan Cranston played Walter White, well, it just “doesn’t make sense” and would “feel so wrong on so many levels.”

Trachtenberg then mentioned the well-received TV show adaptation of the beloved movie Fargo as an example of how do it right. The two agreed that this is different because it has new characters instead of existing ones. “It captured the tone, it captured the world, it expanded up; I love that show. I think that’s the way to do it.”

Also during the talk, Druckmann spoke briefly of the Last of Us film. The script that he worked on at one point was a direct adaptation of the game–and it wasn’t great. “Now, having some separation from it, I look back like–I don’t want that movie to be made,” he said.

The much-anticipated Last of Us sequel, The Last of Us: Part II, is currently in development for PlayStation 4. As for the Uncharted franchise, 2016’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End was the last mainline title in the series to be developed by Naughty Dog and the final one starring Nathan Drake. That being said, Uncharted 5 could be developed by another studio.

The next big video game movie is March’s Tomb Raider, which stars Oscar winner Alicia Vikander in the role of Lara Croft. You can watch the newest trailer here.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email [email protected]

Hit-Girl #1 Review

The Kick-Ass franchise has never really clicked for me in the way I wish it would. A lot of that has to do with how much at odds with themselves these books tend to be. They’re ostensibly telling the story of what happens when real, ordinary people attempt to become costumed vigilantes, yet the grotesque violence and ludicrous plot twists destroy any sense of realism in this universe. That problem is only exacerbated when Hit-Girl becomes the star of the show. There’s nothing remotely grounded about a preteen girl who slaughters criminals like a superhuman ninja. On the other hand, the benefit of making Hit-Girl the protagonist of these stories is that at least then Mark Millar can abandon any pretense of realism and simply lean into the crazy, over-the-top nature of this universe. Hit-Girl #1 is not a great comic, but at least it know what kind of comic it wants to be.

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Neil Druckmann on Inspiration for The Last of Us 2

During a panel today at DICE Summit 2018, Naughty Dog creative director Neil Druckmann discussed one of the inspirations for The Last of Us, Part II and shared some interesting information about the development of Uncharted 4.

“There’s a show on Netflix called The End of the F***ing World, which is so well written and acted and quirky, and has been totally inspiring for some of the stuff we’re doing in

—more on the dialog stuff.” He also noted how the studio drew a lot of inspiration from Children of Men when making the first game, as they sought to tell an intimate story in-genre that isn’t about some massive alien invasion.

Druckmann also touched on how his idea for The Last of Us originated when creating a zombie game pitch for George Romero while he was in grad school, something he’s discussed in the past. The idea “took ICO and combined it with characters from Sin City,” and put players in the shoes of a cop with a heart condition who is protecting a girl. When he has heart trouble, the player’s control would shift to the girl, who would then need to protect the cop. While Romeo passed on the pitch, the idea stuck with Druckmann and inspired the creation of The Last of Us.

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Top 20 Best-Selling Games In The US For January 2018

The NPD Group today released its report for January 2018 video game sales in the United States, covering games and hardware. In terms of game sales, Monster Hunter: World was the top-selling title of the month on the all-platforms chart. Rounding out the top five were Dragon Ball: Fighter Z, Call of Duty: WWII, PUBG, and Grand Theft Auto V.

You can see the full chart below, along with platform-specific charts for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch, along with another one for the best-selling games on a trailing 12-month period. Note that while these NPD reports now factor in some digital sales, not every publisher shares this information, as you’ll see in the charts below.

Monster Hunter: World also topped the Xbox One and PS4 charts, while the game overall enjoyed the best launch month ever for the Monster Hunter series in the US. The No. 2 game, Dragon Ball: Fighter Z, had the franchise’s best launch-month sales since 2002’s Dragon Ball Z: Budokai.

Total video game sales in the US during January amounted to $517 million, which is up significantly (51 percent) compared to last year. In fact, January game sales were the highest since January 2011 ($549 million).

On the hardware side, spending on consoles reached $278 million for January 2018, which is an increase of an incredible 119 percent. The NPD Group said the uptick in sales was driven by the gains that Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PS4 posted during the month. The $278 million spend on hardware in the US during the month was the highest since January 2011 ($323 million).

All three systems “performed well,” the NPD Group said. It was a tight race, as the gap between the top-selling platform (which was not disclosed) and third place was just 3 percent based on dollar sales.

Overall, covering games and hardware, total video game spending in the US for January 2018 came to $1.1 billion. That represents an impressive 59 percent surge compared to January 2017.

January 2018 Top 20 All Platforms

*Titles marked with an asterisk do not include digital sales*

  1. Monster Hunter World
  2. Dragon Ball: Fighter Z
  3. Call of Duty: WWII
  4. PUBG*
  5. GTA V
  6. NBA 2K18
  7. Super Mario Odyssey*
  8. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
  9. Mario Kart 8*
  10. Madden NFL 18
  11. Star Wars: Battlefront II*
  12. Assassin’s Creed: Origins
  13. EA Sports UFC 3
  14. Rainbow Six Siege
  15. FIFA 18*
  16. Dragon Ball: Xenoverse
  17. The Sims 4*
  18. Splatoon 2*
  19. Dissidia: Final Fantasy NT
  20. Need for Speed: Payback*

January 2018 Top 10 Xbox One Games

  1. Monster Hunter: World
  2. PUBG
  3. Call of Duty: WWII
  4. Dragon Ball: Fighter Z
  5. GTA V
  6. Star Wars: Battlefront II
  7. NBA 2K18
  8. Madden NFL 18
  9. Assassin’s Creed Origins
  10. EA Sports UFC 3

January 2018 Top 10 PS4 Games

  1. Monster Hunter: World
  2. Dragon Ball: Fighter Z
  3. Call of Duty: WWII
  4. GTA V
  5. NBA 2K18
  6. Madden NFL 18
  7. Dissidia: Final Fantasy NT
  8. Star Wars: Battlefront II
  9. EA Sports UFC 3
  10. FIFA 18

January 2018 Top 10 Nintendo Switch

  1. Super Mario Odyssey*
  2. Mario Kart 8*
  3. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
  4. Splatoon 2*
  5. Pokken Tournament DX*
  6. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim*
  7. Xenoblade Chronicles 2*
  8. Arms*
  9. Mario & Rabbids: Kingdom Battle*
  10. Doom*

January 2018 Top 10 3DS Games

  1. Pokemon Ultra Sun
  2. Pokemon Ultra Moon
  3. Mario Kart 7
  4. Mario Party: The Top 100
  5. Minecraft
  6. Super Mario Maker
  7. Super Smash Bros.
  8. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions
  9. New Super Mario Bros. 2
  10. Kirby: Battle Royale

Top 10 Selling Games for the trailing 12-Month Period

  1. Call of Duty: WWII
  2. NBA 2K18
  3. Destiny 2*
  4. Madden NFL 18
  5. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
  6. GTA V
  7. Star Wars: Battlefront II*
  8. Ghost Recon: Wildlands
  9. Super Mario Odyssey*
  10. Mario Kart 8*

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Destiny 2 Dev Tweaks Development Roadmap; Delays Some Upcoming Features

A big Destiny 2 update is scheduled for release next week which will add several new features and change some systems in the game. However, Bungie announced today that it has had to delay a few of these features until future updates.

Specifically, Bungie has pushed back the release date for reducing duplicate Exotic drop rates, unique rewards for Nightfall Strikes, and viewing vendors in the companion app. In a blog post, Bungie specifically addressed the delay for unique Nightfall rewards, explaining that new weapons and gear will require more time for the artists to design than originally anticipated. All of these features are now scheduled for release on March 27 in the 1.1.4 patch.

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Tweaks to Exotic gear were originally planned to roll out with the 1.1.4 patch. However, due to the other delays, Bungie now plans on implementing the Exotic changes in the big 1.2.0 patch coming with the launch of Season 3. This update will also bring a Prestige Mode for Eater of Worlds, an increase to Vault space, and private matches, among other new features.

Update 1.1.3, meanwhile, is slated for release on Tuesday, February 27, and it will come with a bunch of new emblem variants. It will also add Nightfall scoring, the ability to see Fireteam Members on the destination map, and public text chat on PC.

Destiny 2’s latest Faction Rally is happening now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. There are a few new weapons available, one for each faction. A faction’s gun will be made available if that faction emerges victorious from the event. You can see the new Faction Rally weapons here.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email [email protected]

Spider-Verse Explained

Sometimes it seems like Spider-Man is the loneliest and unluckiest hero in the entire Marvel Universe. But as it turns out, he’s far from the only wall-crawling hero out there. The Marvel multiverse is full of like-minded do-gooders who use their spider-powers to defend innocent lives. And when those heroes come together, the Spider-Verse is born.

The Spider-Verse concept has become an increasingly important part of Spider-Man’s mythology. And thanks to animated series like Ultimate Spider-Man and the upcoming animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, it’s also gone mainstream in a big way. But if you don’t know your Spider-Ham from your Spider-Gwen, here’s a quick refresher on the background and significance of the Spider-Verse.

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