Many filmmakers have hidden metaphors about the challenges and struggles as a filmmaker in their work. Loop is a clever little horror short film made by Mali Elfman, daughter of composer Danny Elfman, who has been making movies for the past few years – primarily for the site Fun Size Horror. Her latest film is a metaphorical tale about her own experiences trying to become a filmmaker. It will all make sense when you watch it. Nothing groundbreaking, but it is a intriguing short that does say more when you understand the metaphorical angst being expressed. This also features some great music composed by Matt Glass. Enjoy. ›››
“You’re a million miles away, and I can’t bring you back.” Saban Films has released the first teaser trailer for an indie drama titled Come and Find Me, a mysterious thriller about a missing woman. Aaron Paul stars, along with Annabelle Wallis, Garret Dillahunt, Valerie Tian, Zachary Knighton and Terry Chen. When his girlfriend goes missing, David must track down her whereabouts after he realizes she’s not who she was pretending to be. This looks like an intriguing mystery thriller, with some action kicking in at the end of this trailer. It reminds me a bit of The Vanishing, but hopefully there’s some unique twists to this. I’m intrigued by this trailer, though not totally sold on it yet – but I’m certainly curious. Give it a look below. ›››
“This river is mine.” Cheng Cheng Films has debuted the trailer for a Chinese drama titled Crosscurrent, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year. The poetic film is a fantasy romance set on the Yangtze River, and was actually filmed on the river itself. They wanted to “capture the traditional ink-brush painting look of the Yangtze”. As artistic as it looks, there’s also a greyness they’ve captured of the modern world. The stunning cinematography won a Silver Bear award in Berlin for cinematographer Ping Bin Lee’s “outstanding artistic contribution”. Crosscurrent stars Hao Qin, Zhilei Xin, and Kai Tan. Watch below. ›››
Xbox boss Phil Spencer has provided an update regarding how the Project Scorpio console is coming along. Spencer said he attended a day-long meeting for the console this week and is optimistic about the company’s ability to have it out on schedule next holiday.
“I’m in a day-long review of where the team is on Scorpio right now,” Spencer said on Twitter in response to someone who asked if Scorpio might be released early. “Amazing progress and we are feeling good about schedule.”
Microsoft’s Project Scorpio was announced at E3 this year
“There is a lot of time to go, but we feel good about how the things are coming together,” he said. “The teams understand the performance spec that we’re building. We went through some of the high-level specs at E3 in the video. And it gives the teams time to make sure that they’re targeting that performance for their games. Luckily so many of both our internal teams and partners are also building on PC.
“So it’s not hard for us to say, ‘Okay this is the PC spec that you can expect with what we’re building on Scorpio,’ so it allows them to make sure they have the assets and capability to deliver. Since we’re focusing on a box that can support true 4K and a 4K frame buffer and a lot of PC games already support that; it’s not a new language or asset base for them in terms of things that we’re asking them to go do. I’m also pretty confident in the content lineup that we’ll see.”
Project Scorpio is described by Microsoft as the “most powerful console ever made.” Spencer, like others before him, have said the console is “premium” in nature, which suggests it won’t be cheap. Since it’s going to be more powerful than the Xbox One S, it will be priced accordingly, but the exact price point remains a mystery for now.
“We expect both of these products [Xbox One S and Project Scorpio] to be in market at the same time, and that there’s a clear performance difference and obviously there will be a price difference between the two things,” he said. “But I also want people to understand that Scorpio is going to be a premium console. Like, I’m not trying to sell you a high-end gaming PC rig for a couple of thousand dollars or something. We look at consumer price points of consoles and definitely our target is to hit that.
“But it will be a premium version of an Xbox One and we’ll talk more about pricing as we’re cutting it closer to the launch and everything else. But I’m confident that we’ll be able to deliver a product at a price point that gamers will feel like is worth it.”
A new update for the PlayStation 4 has arrived, but you may not want to get too excited.
The patch notes for update 4.05 are a single line long. “This system software update improves the quality of the system performance.” No new features or changes are added with this update.
This is the second time this month that Sony has released a stability-focused update for the PS4. The other one came out on October 3. Today’s update is 312.1 MB, the same file size as the previous one.
PS4 4.00, the console’s latest major update, came out in September. It introduced folders for managing games and apps, while some menus were also redesigned. PS4 4.00 also added HDR support for all PS4s. You can see everything new and changed for PS4 4.00 in GameSpot’s previous report.
The PS4 Slim launched September, priced at $300. Sony will launch its new, more powerful PS4 4 Pro in November. This console, which features 1 TB hard drive and extra processing power, will sell for $400. For lots more on the console, check out GameSpot’s roundup of everything you need to know.
Capcom has released a new gameplay snippet from Resident Evil 7. Titled “Survival,” the video shows off how you can combine green herbs with a first aid mod to heal yourself.
“Green herbs become even more potent with a new ingredient,” Capcom said in the video’s description. According to the video, the first air mod “closes up wounds and promotes cell regeneration.” It also partially restores your health. Check out the video below to see this in action.
Resident Evil 7 is set to release for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on January 24, 2017. A deluxe version of the game will be available for $89.99 and includes the game and a season pass with three extra story chapters.
GameSpot recently got the opportunity to play the upcoming survival-horror game and found that it continues to break tradition.
You can try out Resident Evil 7 right now through its new “Twilight” demo. It allows players to explore “more of the mysterious, derelict mansion” featured in it.
In part due to the work that had to be done on 1.4, Ubisoft delayed The Division’s Survival and Last Stand expansions. Survival is now expected sometime later this year, while Last Stand will come out in early 2017.
Like other games, Titanfall 2 will have a day one patch, Respawn Entertainment CEO Vince Zampella has confirmed. But you probably don’t need to worry about having to delete any games to make room.
He confirmed on Twitter (via Eurogamer) that Titanfall 2’s day one patch is quite small. Zampella jokingly wrote, “Clear some space on your [hard drive], the Titanfall 2 day one patch is… 88 MB.” He added, “The Titanfall 2 patch is super tiny, I was being goofy…” Zampella didn’t say what’s included in the update.
By comparison, last year’s Halo 5: Guardians had a 9 GB day one update, while this month’s Gears of War 4 had an 11 GB day one update, though that was only for people who bought a physical copy. When a game “goes gold,” it heads to the manufacturing plant for mass production on discs. This can sometimes happen weeks before launch, so a development team may continue to work on the game in that time and put out a day one update containing some of what it’s been working on.
Not every game handles this the same way. For Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XV, one of the most substantial reasons for its latest delay was so the developer could avoid a major day-one patch. Not everyone’s console is connected to the internet, game director Hajime Tabata said.
“Titanfall 2 demonstrates a vitality that its predecessor couldn’t. Whereas the first Titanfall kept up its breakneck pace throughout the entirety of every match, Titanfall 2 understands that sometimes, dialing things back for a few moments can make the long run much more enjoyable,” reviewer Mike Mahardy said. “In many ways, Titanfall 2 feels like the game Respawn should have made in 2013. It’s a fantastic sequel. It’s a fluid shooter. It’s a spectacular game.”
As announced previously, Destiny’s Festival of the Lost event runs October 25 through November 8. During that time, players can unlock new masks, gear, emotes, and consumables themed around Halloween and things that are spooky/creepy/weird. Additionally, there is a new quest in the Iron Temple, which was introduced to Destiny in September’s Rise of Iron expansion.
It’s a big day for Dark Souls III, as the role-playing game’s first expansion, Ashes of Ariandel, launches today, October 25, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Bandai Namco has put out a slick video for the expansion, featuring an eerie voiceover and lots of action, including bossfights and more. It uses a cover of Nirvana’s “Lake of Fire.” Check it out:
Ashes of Ariandel costs $15, but you can buy it in a bundle with a second unannounced expansion for $25. It tasks players with venturing into the “frozen land of Ariandel” to “defeat the evil within” and discover what destroyed the region.
The DLC also includes “new weapons, armor sets, and magic for players to discover and experiment with.” You can check out some screenshots and art of Ashes of Ariandel in the gallery below.
Little is known about Dark Souls III’s second expansion, except for the fact that it’s expected in early 2017. We’ll keep you up to date as more information is revealed.
Dark Souls III received a score of 8/10 in GameSpot’s review. Critic Mike Mahardy praised its expert level design, thrilling combat, and beautiful setting, though he was disappointed by the inconsistent camera and redundant late-game bosses.
