The Dead Air crew looks back at The Last of Us, the survival horror game that sticks with you long after you finished playing. We talk about the scariest and most gut wrenching moments from the game.
The Dead Air crew has seen every episode of Stranger Things and, after finishing the show, offer up their thoughts on the last four episodes, the show's Stephen King vibes, child actors, potential new plot threads, and where the series can go from here.
As GameSpot's weekly horror podcast, we discuss the best, worst, creepiest, and most iconic horror titles across entertainment in all of its forms. If you're a gorehound, thrill seeker, or someone fresh to the creepy world of the weird, this podcast is for you. Join Mike Mahardy and Mary Kish, along with a rotating cast of guests, as they dive headfirst into the spooky side of things. Horror can be weird--but so can we. Come join us.
For questions, thoughts, or recommendations, you can email Mike and Mary atdeadair at gamespot.com. Dead Air is available on iTunes. You can also listen below.
Update: Two key details have now been shared through a press release: Darksiders Warmastered Edition releases on October 25 for $20. It also mentions the PC version includes 4K support and "additional video options."
Original Story: After a leak earlier this week, publisher Nordic Games' website reveals that Darksiders is getting remastered. Called Darksiders Warmastered Edition, the game is coming to PS4, Xbox One, Wii U, and PC.
As detailed on the website, the Warmastered Edition improves upon the original 2010 action/adventure game in a number of ways. For instance, it'll run at native 1080p on consoles. It also hits 60 frames per second on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, although the Wii U version is limited to 30 frames per second.
The changes also include:
Doubled texture resolutions
Rendering improvements and rework
Better shadow rendering quality
Post processing effects
This week a couple European sites (NextN and PCGames) leaked the remaster early. We don't have word on when it'll launch or what price it'll be--the website only says "coming soon."
We're already set for a new annual Star Wars movie for the next few years, but it sounds like we could get another TV series as well. ABC entertainment president Channing Dungey announced on a press tour today that there are ongoing talks to bring Star Wars to television (via EW).
"We have had conversations with [Lucasfilm] and will continue to have conversations with them," Dungey said. "I think it would be wonderful if we could find a way to extend that brand into our programming.
"It's all a little bit hush-hush. That company exists under a big shroud of secrecy. If you feel Marvel's secretive, [Lucasfilm] takes it to a whole other level … [Talks] are ongoing. We don’t have an official timeline yet."
Dungey wouldn't say if it would push for a live-action series, though with Disney XD already hosting an animated show in Star Wars: Rebels, it seems live-action would make the most sense.
This wouldn't be the first time a live-action Star Wars TV series was in the works. Entertainment Weekly says that a project commissioned by Lucasfilm producer Rick McCallum had more than 50 scripts written for it from writers likeBattlestar Galactica's Ron Moore. It was eventually canned because of how much it would cost to produce, and Game of Thrones network HBO passed on it because the ownership stake was too small.
Update: Steam has now gone live with its own sale, which features many of the exact same deals as what Humble has been offering since earlier this week. You can see what it has on sale here or read on for a look at the Humble sale.
Original Story: Humble is hosting a sale on a bunch of Bethesda PC games, including Fallout 4, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Doom. This is part of a celebration of QuakeCon, an event that takes place from August 4 to 7. The sale, on the other hand, runs from now until Monday, Aug 8.
Players can get 50 percent discounts on games like Fallout 4 ($30), Doom ($30), and The Elder Scrolls Online ($20), in addition to Wolfenstein: The New Order ($10), The Evil Within ($10), and Skyrim ($10). You can also get Skyrim's Legendary edition, which comes with all of its DLC packs, for $24.
Additionally, Fallout 4's currently available DLC is discounted. Wasteland Workshop costs $3.75, Automatron will run you $7.50, and Far Harbor has a price tag of $18.75. Despite this, the Fallout 4 season pass is not discounted. You can check out the rest of the QuakeCon sales here.
If you missed out on Kirby's Epic Yarn on the Wii, you have another chance to play it. In celebration of Kirby's 24th birthday celebration, the fabric-filled game is now on the Wii U, alongsde 2011's DS adventure Kirby: Mass Attack.
Kirby's Epic Yarn costs $20 on the Wii U today. It was originally released in 2010 on Wii, where it received a score of 8.5 in GameSpot's review. Critic Tom McShea said, "Kirby's Epic Yarn makes it clear from the get-go that it is an adorable game that will put a smile on your face through its outstanding visual design, but the delights go much deeper than the delectable aesthetics."
Kirby: Mass Attack on the other hand costs $10 on Wii U's Virtual Console. It also received a score of 8.5 in its review, which said, "Mass Attack doesn't stray from the colorful, kid-friendly presentation and syrupy sweet platforming that the Kirby franchise is known for, but substantial innovation in the way you play it sets the game apart from its predecessors."
Nintendo Power has been out of print since December 2012, and a lot of the older issues aren't easy to come by. However, it's now easy to access the first 13 years of the publication, as many of the earliest issues are available now onArchive.org.
The archives include the first 145 issues of Nintendo Power. It starts with the first issue from July/August 1988, which featured a weirdly coloured clay Mario cover, all the way to June 2001's issue that showcased Super Mario Advance. They're easy to read too, as all you need to do is click on this link, select an issue, and click on it to flip through the pages. You can check out some of the classic covers below.
Nintendo Power was a magazine started by the video game publisher in 1988. It was focused on "playing with power" and provided strategies, tips and tricks, reviews, and previews. It was run by Nintendo until 2007 when the video game company handed over publishing rights to Future US, a publishing company behind other gaming magazines such as Official Xbox Magazine and PC Gamer. In 2012, Nintendo did not renew its licensing agreement with Future. The magazine's last issue featured an homage to the original issue's cover.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3's most recent expansion--Descent--just released last month, but Treyarch senior executive producer Jason Blundell has already started teasing the contents of the fourth and final DLC pack, which will launch later this year.
Most significantly, "DLC 4" will provide the last installment of the long-running Zombies storyline that originated back in 2008's Call of Duty: World at War. As the final expansion for the final Black Ops game, Blundell hopes to "put brackets around" the experience by wrapping up the ongoing story
Naturally, this means resolving old cliffhangers. During a recent interview with GameSpot, Blundell explained, "At the end of Black Ops 2, I think I enraged the community some when I put in this video that showed Samantha in a house with a boy called Edward. They were playing with zombie toys. Then an alarm goes off and you hear Max's voice calling them down to the basement. The characters say, 'I wish our heroes in our stories were real.' Then we dropped to black. That was the end of Black Ops 2. People lost their s***."
Blundell continued: "I've still technically to this day not answered that question of what that was and why that was there. That will be answered by the end of DLC 4. I believe that the ending of DLC 4 will spark emotion in the players, which is my goal. It's not out of the desire for trolling, as people say. No, what I want to do is have you have complex and differing thoughts on what you've experienced and what your view is. I hope that's what we generate when we come to the end of DLC 4."
If you're wondering what in the world Blundell could be talking about, chances are you're not alone. According to him, the Zombies development process is incredibly secretive--even internally.
"It's a very tight group. Essentially I'll have my gameplay director in the room, I have my lead writer, and it's me. That's it," he said. "We have a level of paranoia which is probably unhealthy actually. There's just so limited information that we share, either out on the floor or through Activision. We keep it quite tight-lipped. First of all, it's crazy and we don't want them to put us in insane asylums. But second of all, just to control the information about the kind of craziness that we do."
Regardless of the specific nature of the craziness contained within it, we expect Black Ops 3's DLC 4 to release before the end of the year--most likely prior to the launch of Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare in November.
We recently attended a press conference with the cast of Suicide Squad in New York. You can read our review of the film here. The cast and crew faced off against the press seated next to a replica of the Harley Quinn's prison cell in the movie. As Will Smith (Deadshot) put it, "I've never been to a press conference like this."
Joining Smith was Jared Leto (Joker), Margot Robbie (Harley), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag), Viola Davis (Amanda Waller), Jai Courtney (Boomerang), Jay Hernandez (Diablo), Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje (Killer Croc), Cara Delevingne (Enchantress), Adam Beach (Slipknot), Karen Fukuhara (Katana), and David Ayer (writer/director).
What were the most challenging moments?
Margot Robbie: There were some mild injuries.
Will Smith: When you're 47, no injuries are mild injuries. I tore my calf a couple of weeks in. What was terrible is, you do it doing nothing. I wasn't doing anything. We were sparring and I stepped back to throw a shot and my calf popped. You could hear it. People could hear it. Everyone was like, "Ooh. That's not good. Whatever that sound was is not a good sound." The doctor told me I was down for six weeks. For a movie like this, six weeks can click off at a significant amount of money. I wasn't going to pay for it. It was really scary to be in a position where I had this chance to be in Suicide Squad and maybe not be able to deliver the way I wanted to.
Smith [referring to Robbie]: What was the hardest part for you other than everything we had to do except you did it in heels?
Robbie: Yeah, that was tricky. I had less layers to hide padding and stuff for stunts.
The hardest part wasn't the physical side. That was challenging, rewarding, and fun. The emotional stuff was definitely more difficult--exposing your more vulnerable side in front of a room full of strangers, at that point. That was incredibly hard. Trying to figure out the dynamic between Harley and Joker and why she was so devoted to this guy that tries to kill her occasionally.
How was it bringing in humanity and humor into the mayhem?
Jared Leto: David [Ayer] was really great because from the beginning, it was clear he wanted to do something different. He wanted to do something special. He wanted to make something we'd all be proud of. I could get the sense from him that he was willing to go to all lengths to get that. That was both a little scary but also really exciting. He's not only the director, he's the writer of the film. I was surprised by how much freedom he gave everybody to go completely f***in' crazy.
Joel Kinnaman: No, that was just your experience. [laughter]
Leto: What I found that was really genius of David is he was always looking for the accident. He was always looking for the mistake. He would embrace that. With Margot and I, there was a lot of humor. There was a lot I found funny in a sick and twisted way. He was really wonderful.
How did the women prepare and connect with their characters?
Robbie: What was really helpful in filling in the gaps is we had an amazing resource with the comic books. There are still gaps in the backstory. I watched a couple of TED Talks on schizophrenia (and a bunch of other things). That really helped because the women that were doing the talks were so intelligent. They were wickedly intelligent but also psychotic.
Will Smith [to Viola Davis]: I really want to know how you connected with your character.
Viola Davis: Well, Joel gave me a book called Confessions of a Sociopath. I read that book extensively. It's the confessions of a woman who's a sociopath. One of the things I found out is a lot of CEOs of companies are sociopaths—people who have no guilt, if they cry it's only because they feel they're losing control. Also I tapped into Viola at age 8. I can't tap into Violoa at 50. At 8, I could beat somebody's ass. I could beat somebody's ass because I was just always angry. People were always teasing me. I was always bullied. That was the first story I told David [Ayer] when I met him. There was a part of me that had to tap into that because, with women, with me, I'm always apologizing. I'm shy, I'm always retreating, I never tap into my power, and Amanda Waller is not that. She is unapologetically brutal.
Karen Fukuhara: When I first read the Katana comic, I immediately fell in love. I immediately felt like there was a part of her inside of me even though our personalities were so completely different. For me, the switch really happened when I put on the mask and wardrobe. That really helped me tap into the character.
Cara Delevingne: I had to find the opposite of [June Moone] and also the demon inside myself. I had to try to make that as real as possible and understand why someone would do something like [what she does].
David Ayer was asked about the diverse cast. Was it something he consciously set out to do?
Ayer: It's the world I know. It's the world we all live in. On screen, kids need to see people that look like them. It just comes naturally to me.
Sega Genesis's Aladdin, The Lion King, and Jungle Book are now available on PC via GOG.
Fans of the old Disney platformers of the '90s will be glad to hear they're coming back. Disney has brought The Lion King, The Jungle Book, and the Sega Genesis version of Aladdin to PC via GOG.com.
All three games have been updated to work with modern computers and controllers, though don't expect a visual upgrade. Each game features its original graphics, sound, and gameplay. The regular price for each game is $10, but if you buy them at launch, you get a $1 discount. However, if you want to buy all three, they also come in a $20 bundle.
The Lion King was developed by Westwood Studios and The Jungle Book was made by Virgin Games. Sega's Aladdin, on the other hand, was developed by Virgin and Disney Software, while Sega handled publishing. Aladdin is the only game of these three that differs from its Super Nintendo counterpart, as Capcom developed and published that version.
In Double Fine's "Devs Play" YouTube series, Westwood co-founder Louis Castille talked about the early '90s Disney games. Westwood developed The Lion King, and Castille discussed how content from the movie still ended up in the game. You can watch the full thing here.
The Harry Potter spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them might still be several months from release, but a sequel has already been announced.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner has scheduled the follow-up for release on November 16, 2018. Harry Potter creator JK Rowling is writing the screenplay once more, with David Yates to return as director. Yates also helmed the last four Potter movies.
The first Fantastic Beasts arrives in theaters on November 18, and is adapted by Rowling from her own 2001 novella. The movie is set some 70 years before the events of the Potter stories. It stars Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, a "magizoologist" who embarks upon an adventures to find magical creatures in 1920s New York.
While Rowling's magical universe continues to expand, the author has confirmed that Harry Potter himself will no longer play a part in it. The two-part play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, opened in London last weekend, but Rowling has stated that this is the end of Harry's story.
"He goes on a very big journey during these two plays and then, yeah, I think we're done" she told Reuters. "This is the next generation, you know. So, I'm thrilled to see it realized so beautifully but, no, Harry is done now."
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has revealed a Suicide Squad-themed update for its mobile brawler, Injustice: Gods Among Us. To tie in with the release of the film Suicide Squad, a new character, skins, and special in-game events will be introduced starting today.
It will be the largest update to hit the game in over a year. New character Deadshot (played by Will Smith in the film) is being added to the roster, and new skins for The Joker and Harley Quinn are now available. These new skins match how the characters look in the movie. The game's Challenge, Multiplayer, and Survivor mode are also getting exclusive Suicide Squad-themed rewards, including the addition of new companion cards.
The Injustice: Gods Among Us mobile game is available for download on the App Store and Google Play. The game features a collectible card mechanic and user a three-versus-three tag team combat system.
This is not the first time the game has received additional content that ties-in to DC's movie releases. Previously, a Batman v Superman themed update was released, although the content was only available until April 13.
X-Wing and Y-Wing fighters are an established part of the Star Wars universe, and in the upcoming spinoff Rogue One they will be joined by another rebel fighter--the U-Wing. The first image of the ship was revealed on Disney's The Star Wars Show --check it out below, via Slashfilm:
Matt Martin, creative executive at the LucasFilm Story Group, appeared on the show to provide more details about the ship. "It's a troop transport and gun ship," he said. "So it's there to bring in Rebel troops to heavy fire zones and get out as quickly as possible.
"The wings move depending on the situation. It's there to both drop off troops and provide air support."
Rogue One hits theaters on December 16, 2016. It is directed by Godzilla's Gareth Edwards, and stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Riz Ahmed, Forest Whitaker, and Mads Mikkelsen.
Vanquish released on consoles almost six years ago, but it sounds like we could still get a PC version. In an interview with Kotaku, Platinum Games co-founder Atsushi Inaba teased the possibility of the game coming to PC.
During the interview, Inaba's translator asked if the fast-paced, third-person shooter could ever make it to PC, to which Inaba replied with a laugh, "If you stop recording, I can talk about that." The question came about in the middle of a conversation about Platinum Games' bringing its games to PC, which Inaba says depends on the publisher.
"[W]e're good friends with Valve and often go to their studio," Inaba added. "We go there, hang out, talk about many different things, and we are very interested in Steam and would definitely like to release games on Windows. Right now, we're at a place in which publishers ask us to make titles. So, if the publisher doesn't want to release a PC version, then there won't be a PC version. It really comes down to that."
Inaba also touched on why most Japanese developers tend to stay away from the PC.
"I think the reason for that is that in Japan, the PC versions don't sell much," he explained. "Outside Japan, they do, but within the country, they do not. But, if you look aboard, everyone is playing on the PC. It's something you cannot ignore."
Vanquish, on the other hand, received a score of 9 in GameSpot's review. Critic Kevin VanOrd concluded, "Whether you're gunning through the seven-hour campaign (sadly, on the short side) or tackling the entertaining challenge rooms (there is no multiplayer), it's hard not to get taken in by the constant exuberance. Vanquish feels exactly right. It's fast and furious. It's totally entertaining. It's got style oozing from every pore. Vanquish is all game and no filler, and that's exactly what makes it one of the most gleeful and memorable experiences of the year."
Bethesda's annual convention, QuakeCon, takes place this weekend and the first events begin today. Although a lot of the events are attendee-only, the company will stream some of the panels and presentations throughout the convention. You can follow along with those events that won't be livestreamed--such as presentations on upcoming games Prey and Dishonored 2--with our liveblog at the bottom of this article.
Bethesda will stream presentations on the development of this year's Doom and a panel on game design, among other events. The first stream begins today at 1 PM PT, when Bethesda opens the show with a welcome presentation that'll include a look at Quake Champions. At QuakeCons in the past, Bethesda has often made announcements at these welcome events. We'll embed the stream in this article before the event begins.
One hour until the QuakeCon welcome presentation kicks off! Excited for Quake Champions? Dishonored 2? Prey? Stick around and we'll fill you in!
by Justin Haywald
For some time zone help, that's:
1pm Pacific (San Francisco)
9pm BST (London)
6am AEST (Sydney)
by Justin Haywald
Quakecon's opening ceremony starts today at 3PM Central. Check back soon for all the announcements from the show!
Check back here and on GameSpot all of this weekend for more news from the convention. Which games are you looking forward to hearing about? Let us know in the comments below.
Another PS2 game is on its way to PS4 soon, and this time it's Quantic Dream'sIndigo Prophecy.
The news was shared today on the PlayStation Blog, revealing it will arrive as a PS2-on-PS4 game on August 9. (It was previously slated for July.) To be clear, this is not the remastered version released on PC last year, though it does feature support for Trophies and 1080p graphics--but don't expect it to look like a modern game.
Indigo Prophecy, which is known as Fahrenheit outside of North America, was first released in 2005. It's an adventure game of sorts not unlike Quantic Dreams' later titles. In the blog post, co-CEO Guillaume de Fondaumiere recalled the challenges the developer faced when pitching the game.
"This skepticism was so radical that we had to switch publishing partners during the last third of the game's production," he said. "While we were showing off the beta version, a certain group of high-profile professionals even claimed that we would never be able to finish the game!
"The reason for this skepticism was that we were creating something radically new, as we were attempting to resolve an equation that many thought was unsolvable: putting the story at the very core of an interactive experience and inventing gameplay that allowed players, through their actions and decisions, to change the way the story unfolds."
Indigo Prophecy went on to receive a good deal of acclaim, although depending upon who you ask, Quantic's subsequent games, Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls, didn't live up to its legacy. Its next game, Detroit: Become Human, is headed to PS4 as an exclusive.
Hello Games' No Man Sky is just a few days away from release, but if the wait is proving difficult you may be interested in listening to the soundtrack, which has been made available in its entirety online.
The game's soundtrack was created by experimental rock band 65daysofstatic which signed on to make the music after they were approached to license one of their tracks for a trailer.
"Way back in 2013 we received a request to license the track 'Debutante' from our album We Were Exploding Anyway for a promotional trailer for No Man's Sky," explained band member Joe Shrewsbury, in an interview with The Independent. "We were intrigued by the game, and asked to learn more, and the more we learnt the more we wanted to be involved.
"We made it abundantly clear that if they didn’t have someone lined up to do the soundtrack, we’d be interested. Fortunately for us, they were fans of our music already, and we met up with Sean not long after that, and were subsequently offered the project."
The soundtrack features 10 songs, each titled with an appropriately sci-fi bent, such as Asimov, Heliosphere, Hypersleep, and of course, End of the World Sun. You can listen to it in full through the video above. The soundtrack will be available to purchase from August 5.
The Dead Air crew has seen every episode of Stranger Things and, after finishing the show, offer up their thoughts on the last four episodes, the show's Stephen King vibes, child actors, potential new plot threads, and where the series can go from here.
As GameSpot's weekly horror podcast, we discuss the best, worst, creepiest, and most iconic horror titles across entertainment in all of its forms. If you're a gorehound, thrill seeker, or someone fresh to the creepy world of the weird, this podcast is for you. Join Mike Mahardy and Mary Kish, along with a rotating cast of guests, as they dive headfirst into the spooky side of things. Horror can be weird--but so can we. Come join us.
For questions, thoughts, or recommendations, you can email Mike and Mary atdeadair at gamespot.com. Dead Air is available on iTunes. You can also listen below.
