“Be bold. Be brave. Be epic.” That’s one of the taglines for this movie, but it could also easily be the motto of Laika, the animation studio that created this excellent animated adventure. Kubo and the Two Strings is now playing in theaters and it’s a must see. Please, go see this movie in theaters while you can, and enjoy the heck out of it. Please go see it because stop-motion animation needs all the love and support it can get nowadays, especially in the form of tickets purchased to see this beautiful work of art in theaters. It’s all hand-made, animated and painted and created by hand (in Portland, Oregon), and it’s wonderful. I really can’t recommend it enough and I’m very happy to go out of my way to write an entire post about seeing this. ›››
“How many times have you done this? And how many times have you been caught?” The short film we’re featuring this week is actually connected with a feature film arriving in theaters over the next few months. Titled Transpecos, the film is about three Border Patrol agents working a remote desert checkpoint – see the trailer here. Before making the feature, director Greg Kwedar and producer Clint Bentley made a short film titled Dakota, also about Border Patrol agents who aren’t the stereotypical agents we’ve all heard about on the news. The story is about a discovery in a truck that causes one agent “to question the very nature of his job”. It’s an impressive little short film and it’s cool to see that this was the inspiration directly leading to the feature-length film. This is also a good look at what it takes to make a career as a filmmaker. ›››
“When you come into the ring, you come to fight. No to dance, or to clown…” The Weinstein Company has debuted a last minute red band trailer for Jonathan Jakubowicz’s Hands of Stone, which opens in theaters next weekend. The film stars Edgar Ramirez as famous Panamanian boxer Roberto Duran, preparing to fight against the legendary Sugar Ray Leonard, played by Usher Raymond. This trailer spends as much time on Sugar Ray as it does on Duran, and the only reason it’s red band is because they’ve tossed in a few sex scenes in hopes of making a few more people interested in this. Since, unfortunately, this seems like this year’s boxing movie that is going to be quickly forgotten (unlike, perhaps, Bleed For This but who knows). The performances look solid, but the rest of it seems so by-the-numbers. Even with Robert De Niro in it. ›››
Curious about Fallout 4‘s Nuka-World expansion? As it’s done with previous releases, Bethesda will show off the content during a livestream event ahead of launch.
As announced on Twitter, Bethesda will reveal new Nuka-World gameplay during a Twitch livestream scheduled for August 23, starting at 4 PM ET. You can watch live on Bethesda’s Twitch channel.
Nuka-World is Fallout 4’s final expansion. It launches on August 30 for all platforms. Some new gameplay was released earlier this week and can be seen here.
The expansion adds new quests, weapons, and enemies, though Bethesda has not fully detailed what players can expect in terms of story and content.
Nuka-World is Fallout 4’s sixth expansion, following Automatron (March 2016), Wasteland Workshop (April 2016), Far Harbor (May 2016), Contraptions Workshop (June 2016), and Vault-Tec Workshop (July 2016). All of that, as well as Nuka-World, is included with the $50 Fallout 4 DLC Pass.
Alternatively, you can buy Nuka-World on its own for $20.
Each week we search and gather up the coolest comic book art you won’t see in actual comics. The reason you won’t is because professional artists often draw sketches for fun or commissions and post them on their websites, blogs, and Tumblrs. Some artists even arrange commissions through their sites so be sure to check them out. This is a way to see the artists working on one book draw characters from other comics or publishers.
Todd Nauck posted some commissions and Post-It art on his Tumblr.
Rod Reis posted more pre-New York Comic Con commissions on his Instagram.
Marcio Takara posted some sketches and commissions from Boston Comic Con on his Tumblr. You can find info. there on his commission list for New York.
Andrew Robinson posted a Superman sketch on his Instagram.
Nico Leon posted a Stranger Things sketch on his Twitter.
Microsoft’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb has announced the first game to be a part of next month’s Games With Gold. Earthlock: Festival of Magic is set to release for Xbox One on September 1 and will be free for Xbox Live Gold subscribers.
Earthlock is a turn-based fantasy RPG set in the world of Umbra, which is described as “a mysterious, beautiful but harsh planet that stopped spinning thousands of cycles ago.” It focuses on a desert scavenger called Amon, who meets a peculiar creature that looks like some kind of pig/bunny/bat hybrid. In addition to Xbox One, it releases for PC via Steam on September 1. You can check it out in the video below.
More games have yet to be announced for next month’s Games With Gold. The current free games on offer include Warriors Orochi 3 (August 1-31) and WWE 2K16 (August 16-September 15) for Xbox One and Beyond Good & Evil HD (August 16-31) on Xbox 360. It’s worth noting that every Xbox 360 Games With Gold is playable on Xbox One through the system’s backwards compatibility program.
GameSpot will keep you up to date as more of September’s Games With Gold are announced.
Final Fantasy XV has been in development for 11 years and undergone a number of reworks–from a new name to more drastic changes to its combat mechanics. Development began with the series’ longtime producer and character designer Tetsuya Nomura at the helm. However, directing duties were later transferred to Hajime Tabata, whose previous work includes spin-offs such as Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy Type-0.
Of course, this tumultuous development cycle has resulted in multiple delays. On August 15, Square Enix confirmed Final Fantasy XV required an extra two months of development time. At Gamescom 2016, we spoke to Tabata about what this extra time affords the development team, as well as whether Square Enix intends to follow up with further games set in the same universe–as it did with Final Fantasy XIII–and more.
You recently delayed the game and previously indicated you were working on a day one patch. Could you tell us specifically what the contents of the patch are and why you felt it was necessary to take that extra time?
It’s not that I’m saying patches are bad or that I’m against patches, and originally we were intending on dealing with adjustments and fixes via a day one patch, but I actually changed my opinion on that. I felt that what we were going to put into the patch would be much better to put into the disc for [release].
What we’re actually going to do in this two months is fix a number of issues that affect the usability and playability of the game. Things like bugs that affect the visuals and some areas where the optimization process wasn’t as good as it could have been. The second major thing we’re going to do is reassess and fine-tune the balance of the gameplay.
The game has had a lengthy and rocky development; do you feel like the multiple delays may have coloured the opinion of it, even before it’s release?
Obviously we were prepared for people to say various things when we made this decision. We understand that people will [say things] and it is very bad to keep people waiting. Ultimately we made this game to give people the best experience that we possibly could. We feel that if we didn’t do that and do everything we absolutely could, it’d be a shame and it would leave people feeling wronged. That’s why we made the decision and we are confident in what we’re doing.
When Final Fantasy XIII came out, its battle system was very different from what fans had come to expect. It was more active, action game-like. There was a lot of pushback towards that. Have you seen the opinion towards that style of combat change and what has been the response to Final Fantasy XV’s continuation of it?
I understand that there are people who are concerned and have negative opinions about the changes in the Final Fantasy series’ systems, and certainly about Final Fantasy XV’s. It’s also undeniable that it’s part of the DNA of the series to challenge ourselves and try new things, to make explorations within the genre itself. Certainly with Final Fantasy XV, we’ve been trying to update and change the technology base that powers Final Fantasy games. Then to provide new gameplay experiences made possible because of that new technological benchmark. [Final Fantasy XV’s] gameplay is very much part of that. We’re aiming to make it a game that can be played and enjoyed by both classic Final Fantasy fans and new people who have just come into it. I really want to reassure people that we’ve got that classic Final Fantasy feel. We very much strive to keep that in there. I recommend just playing it and finding out what’s still very much Final Fantasy about it.
It struck me that a lot of the video material we’ve seen about it doesn’t emphasise the intricacies of battle, such as magic and team-up attacks, immediately. You have to really dig into that yourself because it’s layered in and revealed at a slow pace. Are you worried people may think it’s just not there?
We have taken a lot of different opportunities up until now, and also up until release, then after release, to showcase the different features and those classic Final Fantasy elements we think people will want to see in the game. Hopefully that will help get across that we have got those in the game.
The other thing I want people to bear in mind is a lot of the development staff that worked on Final Fantasy XV are people that worked on classic Final Fantasy [titles]. People each have their favourites, some like Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, and it’s the same people who made these trying to challenge themselves to do new and exciting things within what they think of as Final Fantasy. Hopefully that should reassure people that it really is a classic Final Fantasy, it’s made by the same people with the same love and attention.
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In previous interviews you’ve said this game is a make-or-break moment for Final Fantasy franchise. Now that you’re essentially finished, is it a make or a break? Where do you see Final Fantasy in five or 10 years time?
I don’t think whether Final Fantasy XV does well or not will kill the franchise or keep it living. I don’t think it’s really going to mean that. But certainly there are a number of things already clear that Final Fantasy XV will bring to the future of the franchise. To give you a few examples of that, first of all the fact that we’re bring it out as a global simultaneous launch. I think in the future that will really be what Final Fantasy does. Secondly is the number of languages and regions that the game is localised for, we should carry on doing that. Then of course the technology used to power Final Fantasy XV means that we can depict and create game experiences that the series just couldn’t have done before. I think that’s going to shape the future of the Final Fantasy series.
That sounds like the path that Final Fantasy XIII took. The Lightning Trilogy was a way of using all the work put into the game and leveraging it to get the most out of that effort. It was a good business decision. Does that mean we can expect more stories in the Final Fantasy XV universe and do you want to tell more Noctis stories?
To answer the question of whether we have any intention of making further games with Noctis in them after or continuing the story after Final Fantasy XV is out, I can tell you we don’t currently have any plans for that. There may be a call for it business-wise, but personally from our point of view, the way we see it is there are people that have been waiting for this game for a very long time now, and we want them to keep enjoying it for as long as possible. In terms of what we want to do with the technology, we want to use that technological foundation that we’ve built up with Final Fantasy XV and move on to do something completely new using that knowhow and that base. We’re going to look into new directions with it.
I felt that what we were going to put into the patch would be much better to put into the disc for [release]
I’m interested in the challenges you faced as someone who came into the project part of the way through. It started with Nomura-san at the helm, then you came in and you have your own style. What were the difficulties you faced picking up someone else’s work and did you feel like you may not have been able to express what you wanted fully?
When I took over the project I felt that because we’d already made a promise to the fanbase out there with Versus XIII, it was really Square Enix’s responsibility to deliver on that project. There was no doubt in my mind when I took over the project that we needed to do this. We don’t [think someone should trace around another creative vision]. That’s not a good way of doing it because, obviously, two [different] people can’t share the same vision.
When I started approaching what to keep in and what to take out, I started thinking [about] everything that we’d already presented to the world with Versus XIII that would work within my new vision of Final Fantasy XV[, all that] was kept with no problem. Anything that would have been difficult to keep in there or couldn’t, I cut out. I really tried to make the best use of all the original elements from Verus within Final Fantasy XV. It was a really challenging way to approach it but I think in the end it was the best way and worthwhile.
Fairly early on in the game you find a book with the name of some Summons in there. Are those all the Summons that will be in the game or are there some beyond those? My favorite ones weren’t there, which bummed me out, so I was wondering if they would appear later on down the line.
I understand that every time someone approaches a new Final Fantasy game it’s a very difficult decision to choose which Summons to include and which to cut out. All the fans out there have favorites and ones they want to see, so it was a difficult decision. I’m sure all the previous creators have faced this as well, but when I approached which ones to put in Final Fantasy XV, I really felt I wanted to include Summons that could be a solid part of a story that are meaningful within the world’s story, played a meaningful part, and are representative of Final Fantasy. In that sense I’m very happy with my choices and think I’ve made them well.
As for whether all the Summons listed in the book are the entirety of the set in the game, I’m going to keep that secret. You’ll have to play the game.
I think you could figure out a pretty good way of getting Doomtrain in there.
Because Final Fantasy XV has been in development for a long time, we really do want to make it so those people who do buy it can enjoy it and keep playing for as long as possible. As part of that, once the development on the main game is finished, we looking into keep doing further developments to make new extras to add onto the game. Within that there may very well be a chance to add new Summons into the world and into the gameplay. If people really want to see some that aren’t in there they should keep telling us they want to see them. There’s a very good chance we may include them if we see people really want them.
The PC version of Eternal Crusade, the new online Warhammer shooter from developer Behavior Interactive, will exit Early Access and release in full on September 23. The console versions, however, will now launch “at a later date” that was not specified.
“We are committed to delivering the best experience for the release on September 23, with a PC version that matches our ambitions in terms of content and quality and sets the runway for our free lifetime expansions,” said Behavior’s Stephen Mulrooney in a press release. “To pause the development of the console versions was a tough decision but will result in an optimized and extended experience when released.”
Disappointing as this might be for some, it is commendable that the console versions won’t be rushed out the door.
Eternal Crusade has been available in Steam Early Access for some time now, though it doesn’t offer the MMO elements that make up the complete experience. The current version sells for $40, with in-game credits also sold for real-world currency.
The full game promises to let you take part in PvP and PvE battles between four factions (Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, Orks, and Eldar), with players able to choose to align with 20 different sub-factions. There will also be “hundreds of weapons” along with customization options and accessories “drawn from 29 years of Warhammer 40,000 lore.”
In case you’ve missed some of our coverage of the conference, we’ve rounded up the biggest news, interviews, and impressions below. We’ll update this with more, too, as the conference continues. And be sure to check out our wrap-up of all the biggest Gamescom 2016 trailers.
This weekend at UFC 202, Conor McGregor takes on Nate Diaz in a rematch of their first slobberknocker, which McGregor lost in dramatic fashion even though Diaz took the fight on extremely short notice. Last time, the lead-up was all McGregor. This time around, it couldn’t be any more different.
