Category: Gamespot

While the upcoming Star Wars spinoff Rogue One will predominantly feature new characters, there will be some familiar names in there too. We already known that Darth Vader is to make an appearance, while Forest Whittaker will play a character who previously appeared in the animated series The Clone Wars. Now it has been revealed that Jimmy Smits will reprise his prequel trilogy role as Bail Organa.

According to Variety, Smits confirmed his involvement on The Talk. The possibility of him appearing was brought up after eagle-eyed viewers thought they had spotted him in the Rogue One sizzle reel that was screened at San Diego Comic-Con last month. Smits was a little surprised that fans had worked out that he was in the movie, but then confirmed he would appear, describing his role as a “small part” and a “cameo.”

Smits played Bail Organa in 2002’s Episode II: Attack of the Clones and 2005’s Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. At the end of the latter, he becomes the adoptive father of the infant Princess Leia.

A new trailer for Rogue One is expected this week. Lucasfilm announced this weekend that it will air on Thursday [August 11] as part of the Rio Olympics. It’s not known when specifically the trailer will screen, but sometime during prime-time seems like a safe bet. The Olympics are broadcast on NBC.

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.

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While the next two movies in the extended X-Men movie universe–Wolverine 3 and Deadpool 2–are set for release in the next 18 months, the fate of Gambit remains uncertain. The film has been beset by delays, from major rewrites to directors leaving the project, and is yet to start production. Now producer Simon Kinberg has provided an update on the situation.

Speaking to Slashfilm, Kinberg admitted that getting the right tone for Gambit, which will star Channing Tatum as the card-throwing superhero of the title, was taking some time. “I think the truth is when you have these movies that need a very special and unique tone, it takes a little while to find [it],” he said. “Deadpool feels like it exploded out of nowhere but it was a ten-year development process on that movie. I think it was honed over those ten years.

“I hope that Gambit doesn’t take ten years but it takes a little honing to get that tone and that voice exactly right. The character has such a specific voice in the comic in the same way that Deadpool has a specific voice in the comic, that we want to make sure that we capture that voice on the page. Really it’s just about getting a screenplay that is worthy of that character and I think we’re really close right now.”

Gambit was originally scheduled for release in October this year, with Rise of the Planet of the Apes‘ Rupert Wyatt as director. He left the film in September 2015, citing citing scheduling conflicts. However, a story in Deadline at the time suggested that there had been ongoing disagreements over both the script and budget.

Edge of Tomorrow director Doug Liman was hired late last year, with production rescheduled for this spring. That also failed to happen, with the start date moved to end of the 2016 to allow time for further rewrites. Last month, Kinberg stated that he hoped the film would start production next spring.

Liman is attached to two other projects–the thriller The Wall and Young Adult adaptation Chaos Walking–but he still officially remains on board to helm Gambit.

Like Deadpool, Gambit is a character spun off from the X-Men, first appearing in a 1990 issue of The Uncanny X-Men. He appeared briefly in 2009’s critically panned X-Men Origins: Wolverine, portrayed by Taylor Kitsch.

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Tactical strategy game Duelyst is already available on PC through its own launcher, but the free-to-play game is also headed to PS4, Xbox One, Steam, and mobile devices. GameSpot got the opportunity to speak to developer Counterplay Games, who revealed the news alongside a new trailer.

Duelyst’s gameplay mixes Fire Emblem-like tactical strategy with a card game like Hearthstone. You summon units and cast spells by playing cards you draw from a deck. Additionally, the visuals blend pixel art and hand-drawn illustrations, courtesy of Rogue Legacy and Chasm artist Glauber Kotaki. You can check out some of its art in the gallery below.

There’s no official date for the game’s release on Steam, consoles, or mobile devices, but GameSpot will keep you up to date as more information is revealed. Counterplay has been privately testing the game on Steam, with the latest update coming in July. It said at the time that it was on the verge of sending out more invitations to the test. You can sign up for Duelyst’s Steam Preview here.

Duelyst is currently available via the game’s official website. If you want to see the tactical strategy in action, you can watch Counterplay Games’ Keith Lee play Duelyst on The Lobby.

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Square Enix this week reported earnings for the three-month period ended June 30–and things were looking up. The Japanese publisher saw its revenue rise 21.1 percent to ¥51.2 billion, while operating income jumped by ¥13.1 percent to ¥8.95 billion for the quarter.

The company’s gaming division, Digital Entertainment, had a number of success stories. First, games for smart devices and PC continued to “show strong performance.” As for console games, Dragon Quest Heroes II “made a favorable start,” while download sales were “strong.” Additionally, back catalog game sales were also described as strong, though Square Enix didn’t share any specifics.

Overall, Digital Entertainment revenue came in at ¥37.5 billion, rising 23.9 percent from last year. Operating income was ¥9.5 billion, which is a 15.6 percent increase year-over-year.

Square Enix also operates non-gaming divisions such as Amusement, Publication, and Merchandising. You can read Square Enix’s full earnings report here [PDF].

One of Square Enix’s next major releases is Final Fantasy XV, which comes out on September 30. After that, Rise of the Tomb Raider finally makes its way to PlayStation 4 in October.

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Major developments in the world of dinosaur game Ark: Survival Evolved have been announced in the areas of sales and ongoing support.

First, Studio Wildcard co-founder Jeremy Stieglitz tells MCV that the game, which is still in early access, has sold 5.5 million copies; it sold 1.5 million on Xbox One and 4 million on PC.

“[Our first year] has gone very well,” Stieglitz said. “The launch [in June 2015] was an unexpected success, but that’s also a double edged sword because when it succeeds at that level, it kind of raises expectations about how ambitious the game is going to be, and how large of a scope it is going to have when it is finished.

“We have especially blown the doors open on what we had originally planned in terms of number of creatures, features, and technical complexity,” he added. “When we launched we didn’t even plan on having modding support, which has become a huge aspect of the game’s appeal and life cycle on PC.”

A free version of Ark called Survival of the Fittest was released on PC earlier this year, but just this week, Studio Wildcard announced it was being removed as a standalone game and re-bundled with Survival Evolved.

“As we look to the future of SotF, we came to a decision: Survival of the Fittest will be brought back internally as part of the Ark: Survival Evolved package,” Studio Wildcard said in a Steam forum post. “For technical functionality it will still exist as its own application, and everyone who has thus-far played the game will continue to be able to play it without having to own Ark: Survival Evolved, but going forward it will be considered part of the Ark: Survival Evolved product group.”

You can read the full form post to find out why, in great detail, Studio Wildcard is making this change.

Survival of the Fittest was planned for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as well, though it sounds like that’s no longer the case. Survival Evolved is coming to PS4, but a release date has not been announced.

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Battleborn, the new game from the creators of Borderlands, underperformed for parent publisher Take-Two Interactive. Speaking on an earnings call this week, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick frankly admitted the game didn’t live up to expectations in terms of sales, though reviews were mostly positive.

“While the game launched to solid reviews, its performance in the market has been below our expectations,” he said, as reported by Eurogamer.

Don’t expect developer Gearbox to walk away from Battleborn, however.

“We think there remains an opportunity to grow the audience for this unique experience over time,” Zelnick added. “And 2K (a division of Take-Two) will continue to drive engagement and recurrent consumer spending on the title through add-on content and virtual currency.”

Battleborn launched in May for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Take-Two has not announced any specific sales figures and we don’t know what the underperformance may mean for the franchise in the long run.

For its part, Gearbox had said Battleborn represented its biggest investment ever. CEO Randy Pitchford said in an interview that the game was a “big bet” and that “we don’t even know if people will be interested or not.”

For more on Take-Two’s business performance, check out GameSpot’s full wrap-up.

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