Category: Quick News

• It is not news that the Nintendo Switch is selling like crazy. Nintendo has given many financial updates on how those sales are impacting the company. Now the company has made another statement recently. Currently, the company has sold over 15 million Switches which has generated 178 billion yen ($1.6 billion US). Regarding games, those are selling an insane amount too. Super Mario Odyssey has sold 10 million copies, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is at 9 million, and Splatoon 2 is at 6 million. After the Wii U underperforming, people speculated how Nintendo would reignite the fire, but with the Switch, we now see they will always be on top.

 

• Speaking of gaming companies selling well, Playstation has some news too. The PlayStation 4 has sold about 75 million consoles which crushes their competitors at Xbox and Nintendo. The consoles are slowing down a bit, but the primary driver that is making the company so much money is its software sales and PlayStation Plus Subscriptions. Their game software has sold 247 million units which are worth $8.4 billion. Out of the gamers who have signed up for PlayStation Plus has reached to 34.2 million users. Expect numbers to look better by the end of the year because God of War (be sure to check out my review here), Spider-Man in September, Detroit: Become Human comes out in May, and plenty of other major games for the platform will be announced in E3. The money train is not going to stop for Sony anytime soon.

 

• Rooster Teeth, the Internet production studio, has announced a new office internationally. The company has made these thoughts clear in recent months on their podcast, but in a recent announcement they will be opening up an office in London to establish a closer connection to the UK and throughout Europe. The London office will be run by Eric Cherry, who joined the company back in 2008. CEO and co-founder Matt Hullum made some commentary while in an interview with Variety. One thing he said about opening this office is,” Building communities is a goal, and we’ve done a good job in the U.K., but know we could do more,” Hullum said. “The talent and community piece in the U.K. has been underserved, and we wanted to correct that.” The location choice is not a surprise because the company has been open that the UK is one of their biggest markets and their convention RTX had its first time in London with RTX London. For a first time convention, the attendance was up to 15,000. After that success, it makes sense to now open up this new office.

 

• CinemaCon just happened a few days ago in which J.J. Abrams has announced the next film in the Cloverfield series. This time this film will be a direct sequel to the original movie. Having a direct sequel will be a first since 10 Cloverfield Lane and The Cloverfield Paradox are not directly linked to the first movie. Paradox gets closer, but not entirely related. For a while, a WWII horror/sci-fi film that J.J. has been working on was rumored to be the next film in the series. However, he has announced that this WWII movie Overlord is not the sequel that he is talking about. That will be its own standalone that is not in the series. Overlord will be Bad Robot’s first R rated film. During his presentation at CinemaCon this past Wednesday, Abrams does comment on Overlord by saying it is, “It’s batshit crazy.” Exciting projects that are in our future from Abrams. Expect to keep notified as we get more updates on these films.

 

• Rejoice rock and metal fans, we are getting a documentary that is filled with some of the best musicians in the music scene. From Corey Taylor, Rob Zombie, Lars Ulrich, and many more. The crowd-funded rock documentary is called Long Live Rock… Celebrate the Chaos is meant to give a look at both musicians and fans alike. A film that will celebrate everyone in the rock and metal community. Director Jonathan McHugh says, ” I really hope you – the true fan – will help support our mission to bring the hard rock culture back into the mainstream.” You can donate to the project here.

 

Be sure to comment below on these stories or any others that I have missed out on. Are you excited about the Cloverfield sequel? What do you think about the successful sales that Nintendo and PlayStation are seeing? Check back every week for more news roundups like these.

Image via Flickr/Sinchen.Lin

• The TV revival of the Evil Dead films, Ash vs. Evil Dead has been announced that it will not return for a fourth season. Sam Raimi’s horror comedy that shows Bruce Campbell reprising his role as Ash to face off more undead will be ending on April 29th. A statement about the show being canceled was made, “Ash v Evil Dead has taken audiences on a wild ride for three seasons thanks to the fantastic performances and creative efforts of Sam, Bruce, Rob and the entire cast and crew. We are proud to send the show out with a bang…and a splat,” said Carmi Zlotnik, President of Programming for Starz.

 

• Stone Sour fans might remember that back in January, guitarist Josh Rand had to drop out briefly to go to a treatment facility for unknown reasons. Now he is opening up about what really went on earlier this year. He has opened up about anxiety issues that drove him to alcohol and Xanax. On the band’s Facebook page, this statement from Josh was made, “As many of you may already know, in January of this year I made the difficult decision to step away from the Canadian leg of the Stone Sour tour. I hit a personal breaking point, and it was imperative that I address it. My high anxiety and desire to feel comfortable in my own skin over the years led to an alcohol and Xanax dependency. That along with aggression issues made me feel miserable, and I just could not continue to live that way. Thankfully, with the support of my band, family, and friends I was able to come home and seek help.
  Now (three months later) I’m doing well, but still a work in progress. I want to sincerely thank all of you for your thoughts, prayers, and positive words. It means a lot to me.” He is still working on his issues, as it does take a lot of time to take care of these things, and he is on the road to recovery. Best of luck to Josh on his journey.

 

• Vocalist of the deathcore band Carnifex, Scott Ian Lewis has finally announced his graphic novel Death Dreamer. Scott has talked about making scripts for potential movies and writing graphic novels for a long time. We finally have a title plus a look at the cover of the upcoming graphic novel. Not much information is available besides Scott wrote the book, the length is 54 pages, and Christian DiBari illustrated it. More details will be available in the coming months.

 

• It: Chapter 2 has secured some new cast members after so much time that was full of rumors. People have been guessing who will play as the adult versions of the kids from the first film, but not Jessica Chastain is confirmed to play as Beverly. Currently, a rumor for Bill’s adult actor is going to be James McAvoy and Bill Hader as Richie. Neither of these is confirmed, but the longtime discussion about Jessica came true, so you never know. The sequel is going to start filming this June, so the casting needs to get figured out in the next few weeks. It: Chapter 2 is scheduled to release on September 6, 2019.

 

• Great news for Game of Thrones fans like myself, we have some exciting news.  Jonathan Quinlan, an assistant director who has worked on 20 episodes, has made a post to thank cast and crew for filming that took 55 days to film. The post he made on Instagram is now deleted, no surprise there. This scene is the largest battle in the show’s entire history and probably the history of TV. The biggest battle that we have seen so far is the Battle of the Bastards which took 25 days to shoot.  We can expect this significant battle to be the battle between the white walkers and pretty much everyone else that is alive, except Cersei Lannister who is sitting at her kingdom. All of these armies coming together to fight the undead will be massive, and we can expect a lot of characters to die.

That is it for this week’s news. Be sure to comment on what you found interesting and to discuss anything that was not included in this week’s rundown of the news.

Image via Starz

Image via Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

 

• One of the biggest games of the year, God of War, is coming next week. Today reviews are out, so we get a chance to see what critics think. So far, the game is doing excellent. As of writing, Metacritic has the game at a 94, IGN and Polygon both scored the game a 10/10, and Gamespot rated the game a 9/10. The general consensus is that the game is beautiful, fun gameplay, and tells an emotional and compelling story. “It’s a game in which Kratos, a previously one-note character, becomes a complex father, warrior, and monster, embattled both on the field and within his own heart about how to treat his son; one in which the world opens up and shifts, offering rewards in both gameplay and knowledge of its lore that I treasured with each accomplishment,” writes IGN. Their only complaint was the framerate is locked at 30fps. Gamespot had little to no complaints to with their biggest critique being the last boss battle not being that great but noted there are plenty of epic boss battles throughout the game. God of War is shaping up to be one of the best games of the year. It releases next Friday on PS4, and you can expect a review from me as soon as possible.

 

• Taylor Lumley from the metal band Beartooth has announced his departure from the band. He writes on Twitter, “I quit Beartooth today to focus more on my life and my art. I love all the dudes in our band and crew like family, and there was no ill will at all.” Taylor was backup vocals and the band’s lead guitarist since 2013. There has not been any news about what his future plans are in music, but it sounds like there will be a continuation of his musical career.

 

• Joss Whedon left the Batgirl project a few months ago. Now we are getting news that the project is still on. Currently Christina Hodson, who is working on the script for the Transformers spinoff movie based on the character Bumblebee. Not much is known about the film, but expectations are high from the success of Wonder Woman and the struggles that DC has had, it would be great to see another good movie from their catalog.

 

• Take-Two Interactive has had its fair share of lawsuits because of Rockstar’s GTA V. Now one of those has been dismissed. Ex-Rockstar North president Leslie Benzines sued the company for $150 million in royalties. After taking a year and a half sabbatical, Leslie claims that the company forced him to leave after the hiatus. This stems from a contract signed in 2010 which would grant him equal pay as co-founders Dan and Sam Houser. The court recently has dismissed the case because the agreement does not explicitly say that the payments must be equal.

 

• More news on GTA V. If you followed the game at all, then you know it is making a ridiculous amount of money for Rockstar and parent company Take-Two Interactive. According to analysists, GTA V is the biggest entertainment product of all time. The game not only made a billion dollars on its third day of release back in 2013 but with the microtransactions that have reportedly earned $700 million a year has rocketed the profits sky-high. After 90 million units sold, making it the third best selling game of all time makes the game this profitable. It has been estimated that GTA V has made $6 billion in its lifetime. Since Rockstar has not stated when they will stop supporting the game, we can expect that this amount will increase until it is time for Rockstar to move on.

• Earlier in the week was the 15 year anniversary of the internet production company Rooster Teeth. To celebrate the milestone, the company is releasing a documentary going over the past 15 years. Rooster Teeth started with their show Red vs. Blue in 2003 and has grown to be a powerhouse with a large variety of content. You can watch Why We’re Here if you are a first member on their website. The documentary releases April 20th, and you can view the trailer below:

 

• With Oscar wins for The Shape of Water, Guillermo Del Toro has earned himself a massive deal with Fox Searchlight. Los Angelos Times reportedly have the news that Guillermo and Fox Searchlight have a five-movie agreement that ranges from the type of horror, sci-fi, and fantasy films that Guillermo is known for. His role in these films will vary from produce, writer, and be directing with each film being one or a mixture of those positions. The first film is called Antlers -based on the short story The Quiet Boy by Nick Antosca. So far what we know about the project that it is a supernatural film that is centered around an elementary school teacher and a troubled student. The film will be directed by Scott Cooper, who is best known for his work on Crazy Heart, Hostiles, and Black Mass. More information will be announced later about the label’s name and the other films that Guillermo will be attached to.

 

• The gaming industry is swarmed with games that include microtransactions. The hate for this business method is to the point that game developers will happily advertise to fans that their games do not have microtransactions. Recently, Middle Earth: Shadow of War has announced that they are ditching microtransactions. When the game announced back in October 2017, fans were furious with the microtransactions. People felt that the game was hindered towards its final act and that the store to buy microtransactions was shoehorned in front of the player.  “While purchasing Orcs in the Market is more immediate and provides additional player options, we have come to realize that providing this choice risked undermining the heart of our game, the Nemesis System. It allows you to miss out on the awesome player stories you would have otherwise created, and it compromises those same stories even if you don’t buy anything,” writes developer Monolith from a recent blog post. It will be interesting to follow to see if other developers start to follow in this direction. Microtransactions have reached a breaking point with gamers, and the industry realizes it. Any opinions I have you can read here.

 

• This October we get to see Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock in the upcoming Venom movie. A lot of fans have been discussing whether Carnage will make an appearance as the film’s antagonist. Recent rumors not only point to a potential yes but even who might play as the serial killer infected with the symbiote. According to Bleeding Cool who claim to have a source who gave them a tip that Woody Harrelson will play as Carnage. These rumors have been circulating for a while since Woody has joined the cast rather late in the film’s production. Sony has not said anything about who Woody is playing, and that secrecy is only stirring up people’ curiosity. Only time will tell since the film is out in six months and we should be getting more information sometime this summer. The film is scheduled to release on October 5th. You can view the trailer below and see what I thought about the teaser trailer here.

 

• Game Informer has been lucky enough to get their hands on the upcoming Spider-Man game with a load of new information. They gave their impression of gameplay along with further details such as gameplay, how the open world works, collectibles, and a release date. The game will have a variety of features such as a very dynamic system when swinging around New York, crafting items, side quests, and more. For the next month, there will be constant more updates on the game via their magazine and website. You can preorder the game right now and is currently scheduled to release on September 7, 2018.

 

• Steven Spielberg has given an update on the upcoming Indiana Jones 5 and the future of the franchise. The next installment will be Harrison Ford’s last film as the iconic character. If you have kept your eyes open for this film then you know there is still a future. Spielberg has mentioned before about a sixth movie, and it looks like someone will carry the torch, even a possible female lead. Spielberg’s exact words on the subject are, “This will be Harrison Ford’s last Indiana Jones movie, I am pretty sure, but it will certainly continue after that.” This leads a lot open for the future of this beloved series and makes a lot of sense because Harrison Ford is 75 years old. The fifth movie could focus on him retiring or dying with his last moments to carry the torch for future adventures.

 

• Experts have revealed their estimates for Avengers: Infinity War‘s opening weekend, and it is gigantic. These industry predictions are considering that the film might open with $200million or more. Since the film is the most anticipated of the year, Marvel building up ten years worth of movies that have added up to eighteen, and with its massive cast, it is not a surprise that the prediction is so high. As the trend has been with films like Black Panther, the forecast could easily be shattered. With the amount of awareness and hype behind the film, it is possible that this could be the largest opening weekend ever. The current record holder is The Force Awakens with an opening weekend of $247.9million. Since the film is only being predicted with an opening weekend that is 47.9million lower, it could be possible that the third Avengers can smash the most significant opening weekend record.

 

That is it for the news this week. Be sure to follow the page for more updates like this and bigger stories. Comment below on your thoughts on these stories or any other news stories in entertainment that I may have missed.

Image via Insomniac Games

Image via Marvel

 

• During an interview with Heavy, Amon Amarth gave some new details about their upcoming album. The Swedish Viking band are currently halfway through the writing process and should be released in late 2018. Similar to their last album Jomsviking, the band will continue that progression of their sound. The record will shape up to be their own sound, but able to do somethings differently. You can check out the whole interview by clicking the link above.

 

• Some images have been released of Brie Larson preparing for her role as Captain Marvel. She will be helping kick off the next phase of the MCU next year, and we get some hints on what to expect. Brie is going through some military training in preparation for her character. It appears that this aspect of her character will be explored as she goes up the military ladder.  Not much is known yet, but there is speculation that we will get our first look at her in an after credit scene in Avengers: Infinity War. Captain Marvel is set to be released in 2019.

 

• Some details have been given about the next season of the hit Netflix sci-fi show Stranger Things.  Executive producer Shawn Levy has said that the next season takes place one year after season two, taking place in the summer of 1985. This means the school will not be an aspect of the story for the kids which can say a lot for their next adventure. The kids, Eleven (Millie Bobbie Brown) and Mike (Finn Wolfhard), and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and Max (Sadie Sink), will have continued relationships by this time. This is especially interesting since the first two seasons danced around Mike and Eleven’s relationship a lot. Levy discusses the dynamic of their relationships by saying,  “Mike and Eleven and are going strong, so that’s a relationship that continues, and same with Mad Max and Lucas. But again, they’re like 13- or 14-year-old kids, so what does romance mean at that stage of life? It can never be simple and stable relationships, and there’s fun to that instability.” Also, Steve (Joe Keery) will have an even bigger role to play in the third season. Levy goes into some detail about what Steve’s role will look like by saying,  “We’ll definitely get to see some more of Steve Harrington in season three, and I’ll just say we won’t be abandoning the Dad Steve magic. I don’t want to say much more, but I literally feel that we were walking along and we stumbled onto a gold mine with Dad Steve.” A lot of character development in between seasons has taken place, and more will be explored during season three. Stranger Things season three starts filming next month, and if they continue the trend, it should be released this fall.

 

• Far Cry 5 has broken a record for the series on Steam. The game just released on Xbox One, PS4, and PC last Tuesday and looks like it is doing well on PC. No hard numbers on the consoles, but the numbers on Steam beats any other previous entry in the series. The game has peaked so far with 83, 046 concurrent with 279,799 owners. The only other Ubisoft game with a higher number is The Division that peaked at 113,877. To compare to previous entries of the series, Far Cry 3 was the last record holder with 23,042 concurrent players. No other mentions on how well the game is doing otherwise, but it appears that Far Cry 5 is another hit for Ubisoft.

 

That is all for the round up of news this week. Be sure to comment on the stories here or anything that I missed.

Image via Marvel

• After the last film in the Indiana Jones being overall loathed by fans and critics, and Harrison Ford growing older, we are still getting the fifth film in the series. Whether that is exciting or not is up to you, but the film is being made. On April 2019, Steven Spielberg will begin his work on the film. The original trilogy came out back in the 80s and was beloved by so many. The iconic series was brought down a bit since the mid-2000s sequel Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. That film has made fans less ecstatic about a new entry, but they could redeem themselves, who knows? No word on a story, but the film will be filmed in the UK. The last bit of information is that they are debating about making another film. In 2019-2020 will be the release date, so let’s wait to see how things go.

Image via Lucasfilm

• If you love a show, then you want the cast and crew to be paid well. We are getting some good news for the cast of Stranger Things. According to Deadline, the cast will be getting a meaty sum of cash for season three. After some negotiating, the cast has reportedly finalized their new salary for the next season of the hit sci-fi show. Winona Ryder and David Harbour as the leading adult cast will have an increase close to $350,000 per episode. While some of the child actors will have an increase to about $150,000 per episode. Millie Bobby Brown is reportedly going to make a bit more than the other boys, but that is not confirmed. Nonetheless, this is excellent news for the cast. Season three is expected to come out towards the end of the year.

Image via Netflix

• The hit sci-fi cartoon Rick and Morty has taken the world over by its popularity. Everyone, myself included, can not wait for the next season. So when is it? Well, nobody is sure because there could be a slight issue. This issue is taken place because Adult Swim has not ordered for a new season yet. This news got stirred up earlier in the week, but now we have a more transparent look at what is happening. Show co-creator Dan Harmon made a guest appearance on Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier’s podcast. Dan had this to say, “The reason we’re not working on Rick and Morty right now ain’t because I figured out that I don’t need to impress you. It’s because of a little something called contract negotiations, and it’s gotten complicated this time around.”. Fans will have to be patient because negotiations can take some time. However, the show is so popular that we can expect a return at some point in the future.

Image via Adult Swim

 

• Many companies do not dispose of information about their metrics publically. That is why Pornhub is such an interesting company for doing so. Fortnite has become such a sensation that it is even impacting one of the most prominent porn sites on the internet. Popular Twitch streamer Tyler Blevins aka “Ninja” streamed a few games with famous rapper Drake. This broke the record for most concurrent views on Twitch. Now Pornhub has weighed in to give everyone a look at their site since this significant event happened on Twitch. The top related search is just Fortnite, before or after Fortnite the top searches were Overwatch and Team Fortress 2, and the countries looking these terms up the most are Finland, Ireland, and France. You can take a look at all of the charts below.

• In 2016 Captian America: Civil War broke a record for presale tickets for Fandango. Then in January, Black Panther crushed that record for first-day presale tickets. Now in six hours, Avengers: Infinity War smashes that record. We never get precise numbers, but this already colossal movie is set to dominate the year. I already got my tickets and could not be more excited. Speculation occurred that Black Panther could dominate Infinity War. Some felt that way because of the tremendous amount of success and hype backing Black Panther that it was a thought. Now we all know the true king for movies in 2018 looks like it will be Avengers: Infinity War. This film has been built up for a decade with small teases of Thanos here and there. Now we get to see him in action and change the future of the MCU. The film releases April 27 worldwide. You can expect a weekly article from me in April to celebrate and to build up to my review of the film.

 

A lot of news happened this week. What did you find most interesting? What did I miss that caught your eye?

• If you are keeping your eye out on Deadpool 2, then you may have heard some scary news. A report came out earlier this week about the test screenings for the film went poorly. However, the audience loved it. Collider editor-in-chief Steven Weintraub reports this. Weintraub explained that the audience enjoyed the movie and the reshoots are to give my screentime to characters like Domino (Zazie Beetz) and Cable (Josh Brolin). Now nobody has to be scared anymore that the movie would have to go into reshoots because of a weak audience reaction. Reshoots are common but can give some bad press because of the stigma or if other drama surrounds the project. From what we can tell, Deadpool 2 looks as safe and sound.

 

• Just this past Sunday at SXSW, audience members got a first look at the upcoming Steven Spielberg film Ready Player One which is an adaption of the novel of the same name by Ernest Cline. The fans of the book, fans of the references, and fans of the genre as a whole love the film. The film is receiving praise for its visuals, story, music, and fun adventure. As any film adapting from the book, there are some massive changes. One review from Eric Kohn of IndieWire says, “Never, ever underestimate Steven Spielberg. That’s the biggest takeaway from Ready Player One, an immersive sci-fi spectacle about a future overrun by virtual reality gaming that the world’s most famous commercial director has transformed into a mesmerizing blockbuster steeped in callbacks to the best of them. It runs too long and drags a bunch in its final third, but make no mistake: This is Spielberg’s biggest crowdpleaser in years, a CGI ride that wields the technology with an eye for payoff.” Most reviews are positive, some critiques about the film’s depth. Owen Gleiberman from Variety says in his review, “Yet the virtual world that Spielberg creates, though it just about pops off the screen, isn’t an emotionally textured place. Mostly we’re just staring at it, or maybe “riding” it. The contradiction of a video-game/VR movie is that games are, of course, awesomely immersive, whereas a movie about games is more akin to watching somebody else play one. The hoops that Wade and his team have to jump through to win each key feel arbitrary, like rules made up as the plot goes along, and you wish there were a greater sense of intrigue to it. The movie has more activity than it does layers.” You see some mixed opinions, but overall people are happy. It seems that the geek community should be satisfied with its references as long as the first of the film can hold up. The film is holding an 80% on RottenTomoatoes. Ready Player One is out everywhere on March 29.

 

• A leak about a new entry for the latest Tomb Raider series would be given an announcement soon. Now Square Enix has confirmed that the third entry will be called Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The game will release this year on September 14th. Unlike the last title, there will not be any time exclusivity for any consoles. The game will release on Xbox One, PS4, and PC. Given the information so far, not much is known. However, we can assume Lara is facing the Trinity Organization again. Presumably, there will be some supernatural force to go along with the story and plenty of brutal obstacles for Lara to get past to survive. A full trailer will be released April 27th along with more information coming at E3 in June. The first two titles were developed by Crystal Dynamic who are currently making an Avengers game with the help of Marvel. The studio working on this latest entry is Eidos Montreal. Eidos Montreal is best known for Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. That series has been on hold because of weak sales, but Crystal Dynamic is also busy with their new title. You can watch the teaser trailer right here:

 

• Daniel Craig said he quit being the 007, but here he is for his final film even though the actor said he would have left a few years ago, but stayed anyway. Now the last James Bond film for Daniel Craig has some development that is rather exciting. Danny Boyle (28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours) has announced that he will be directing during an interview with Gregory Wakeman from Metro UK during a screening of his new FX show Trust. The film is in the writing process and should start filming within the next few months. The release date has currently set to be November 8, 2019.

 

• The rock band Skillet has announced that their drummed Jen Ledger will be launching her solo project. The EP is titled Ledger and is expected to release on April 13, through Hear It Loud, a label started by Skillet frontman John Kooper and their other band member who is John’s wife, Korey Cooper. Ledger will focus on both Skillet and her project. She will launch the band by opening for Skillet on an upcoming headlining tour while still drumming for Skillet The tour starts April 12 in Amarillo, Texas.

 

• Take this next news lightly, but Far Cry 5 will have microtransactions. No specific details precisely except for a few details. Microtransactions will be available in every mode of the game, but will not fully impact your gaming experience. This process of microtransactions will be used to progress faster in the game similarly to Assassin’s Creed: Origins. Microtransactions will not affect actual gameplay, just a way to speed up progress and buy cosmetic items. Some details are unclear, but gamers looking forward to the game should not worry, I know I am excited and trying not to get too worried. Plus the game was announced that no internet connection would be needed as long as you are not playing with other players. Far Cry 5 comes out March 27, and if you need more information on the upcoming title, you can read my article on the game here.

 

That is the news for this week. Be sure to give a share to your friends who might find anything here interesting. Comment below how you feel about some of this recent news or something I did not touch on in this article.

Image via 20th Century Fox