Category: Gamespot

Clash of Clans developer Supercell Oy has a new owner.

Chinese internet company Tencent, which also owns a controlling interest in League of Legends developer Riot Games and has a stake in Epic Games, will pay $8.6 billion to acquire an 84.3 percent stake in Supercell, The Wall Street Journal reported today. This values the Finnish studio at $10.2 billion. This deal has been rumored for a while now.

Tencent, along with its partners, are buying the stake from Japanese telecom company SoftBank, the report said. The deal is expected to go through in the third quarter of 2016 (pending regulatory approvals) and will be completed in stages, not all at once.

In October 2013, SoftBank paid $1.5 billion to acquire a 51 percent stake in Supercell.

Additionally, Tencent explains that Supercell’s existing management “would maintain operational independence,” according to WSJ. You can read the full report here.

Supercell CEO Ikka Paananen said in a blog post today titled “The next chapter” that he sees Supercell as being only at the “beginning of what will hopefully be a very long journey.”

“For us, today is all about chasing a future for Supercell that we have always dreamed of. We founded this company to make great games that people all over the world would play for decades,” he said. “We have been very lucky as over the past six years we’ve released four top games that are now played by over 100 million people every single day.

“But more than this, we dream of our current and future games becoming a part of the rich history of games, living onto the very long term. And if you take this very long-term view, you quickly realize that we are still at the beginning of what will hopefully be a very long journey.”

Paananen further explained that the deal with Tencent helps Supercell remain a privately held company–but with some of the benefits of being public.

“That is a better match with our small size and unique culture than being a public company where our concern would be the pressure from financial markets to think short term,” he said. “However, while enabling us to stay private, the partnership with Tencent provides us with some of the benefits of being public: as part of this transaction, our employees will be able to sell their shares in Supercell over time (everyone at Supercell is an owner). The total equity value of $10.2 billion dollars also recognizes the value of the phenomenal company that our people have built.”

You can read the full blog post here.

Clash of Clans is wildly popular. In fact, over 100 million people Clash of Clans every day, and in 2015, it was the second highest-grossing digital video game.

Some of Supercell’s other popular games include Hay Day, Boom Beach, and Clash Royale. That last game is one of Fallout 4 director Todd Howard’s favorites.

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One of the surprises of Sony’s E3 2016 briefing last week was the announcement of a new Spider-Man game for PlayStation 4. Sony revealed the project with a slick-looking trailer, spotlighting the web-crawler slinging his way around Manhattan.

Now, developer Insomniac Games has confirmed on Twitter (via DualShockers) that the trailer was shot in-game and in real time. The studio also said the footage was captured on the existing PlayStation 4, not the upcoming, more-powerful Neo.

This is not all that surprising, given Sony previously confirmed that all of its E3 2016 demos were running on the current PS4.

The Spider-Man announcement trailer (watch it again above) shows Spider-Man leaping around a cafe, before smashing through a window and landing on moving cars. He battles against an armed thug, using his webbing to tie him up to a passing lamp post.

He’s later seen leaping from a building that looks to be collapsing and also hanging onto the side of a moving train. All in a day’s work for your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

You can see some images from the trailer below.

No release date for the new Spider-Man PS4 game has been announced. Keep checking back for more on the game.

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Mighty No. 9, the long-awaited platformer from Mega Man designer Keiji Inafune, has been delayed again–but this time only one platform is affected.

In a blog post, developer Comcept revealed that a bug was found in the Xbox 360 version of the game, which has resulted in a delay that will span “several days.”

“There were issues regarding the publishing process for the Xbox 360 version of the game, and a certification bug was found in the final round of testing which is delaying the release of that version for several days,” Comcept said.

“Our team has already re-submitted the build to Deep Silver (and to Microsoft), and we expect it to go gold within a few days if all goes according to plan,” it added.

Mighty No. 9’s Xbox 360 version was supposed to arrive today, June 21. All of the other versions of the game scheduled to launch today–PS4, Xbox One, PS3, PC, and Wii U–have debuted on time. The 3DS and PlayStation Vita editions are coming later.

Xbox 360 players can still play Mighty No. 9 today, however, if they’re willing and able to play on PC.

“For the backers who chose that platform [Xbox 360], we are supplying Steam keys so that those users are not left behind on release day,” the post said. “Once the Xbox 360 version is ready for release we will send out those codes to the relevant backers ASAP.”

Comcept also explained that the Mac/Linux Steam versions of Mighty No. 9 won’t be available today. “These two versions of the game should be ready within a few days,” it said.

Reviews for Mighty No. 9 started to show up online yesterday. The game is not being praised in the way Comcept might have wanted. GameSpot’s review scored the game a 5/10, while other reviews were also critical.

It’s been a long road to release for Mighty No. 9. After successfully raising funds on Kickstarter in 2013, the game was delayed multiple times before its release today. The project has also been surrounded by some amount of controversy.

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You remember the first alien invasion, back in ‘96? The White House got the explodo. Will Smith was chairman of Earth’s welcoming committee. We killed the alien mothership with a computer virus. It was a simpler time.

Cue 2016 (and Independence Day: Resurgence). Set 20 years after the first Independence Day, humanity has come together, co-opted the alien tech salvaged from the first invading force, and done everything possible to prepare in case the aliens ever came back. It’s easy to see those two decades between the movies actually happening.

It might not be something you’d expect from the sequel to Independence Day, but there’s a sophistication to the world building, and it’s a tragedy how little time the movie has to explore it. The post-war golden age feels fresh and clever, but we only get the barest taste before things start exploding. And the explosions come early and often.

Director Roland Emmerich–who was hemmed in by ‘90s special effects when he made the first Independence Day–is back at his annihilative best. It feels like the director behind the wanton destruction in Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012 finally has the means to kick things up to an interplanetary scale. If you go see Resurgence on a big screen, this is what you’re paying for.

There’s hardly a reprieve for the remainder of the two-hour running time. It all looks great, but it’s hard not to get a little fatigued before the big finish. There’s also little room for escalation after the initial, impressive reveals, so the ending felt much flatter than it should have.

The majority of the 1996 cast returns for Resurgence, but 20 years and a Law & Order spinoff later, Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum aren’t exactly the blockbuster box office draws they once were.

That said, Jeff Goldblum gets to step out from Will Smith’s shadow in this one, even if his whole role seems to be tricking you into enjoying confusing exposition. He steps back into character somehow entirely po-faced and in on the joke.

The problem is that after a throwaway explanation for Will Smith’s notable absence, Resurgence largely hands over the reins to new cast members fronted by Jessie T. Usher (playing the son of Smith’s character) and Liam Hemsworth (not Thor, the other one).

Usher and Hemsworth’s characters spend the early parts of the movie competing over who has the bigger chip on his shoulder and the later parts shooting their way from one plot point to the next. And then still more characters get thrown at the screen. Between cameos and a horde of new faces, Resurgence spends so long jumping between its unwieldy cast you never really get the chance to connect with anyone.

Everyone gets a character moment or two, but the front-and-center newcomers don’t seem comfortable enough to indulge in the cheesy blockbusterness of it all, and the movie suffers for it. Goldblum, Brett Spiner, and Judd Hirsch manage to make hay with their screen time and inject enough enthusiasm to keep everything from flatlining, but their all-too-rare comedic beats are at odds with the overly dour younger cast.

Emmerich is known for making a certain kind of movie. Resurgence is exactly what you expect from him, down to the predictable story beats, laughably earnest dialogue, fundamental misunderstanding of science and plot holes deep enough to reach the Earth’s gooey delicious center.

The first Independence Day was all those things too. Except back in 1996, it was at the forefront of the modern wave of sci-fi revival. It made it easy to not only ignore, but revel in the B-movie blockbuster spectacle of it all.

Go watch aliens get blown up, go laugh at the parts that are intentionally funny, go laugh at the parts that are unintentionally funny.

Like Jurassic World before it, Resurgence is a throwback that feels like a slightly off-key greatest hits. Credit where it’s due, it works overtime to outstrip the effects-driven extravaganza of the first, but it feels like it loses the point along the way.

It’s paying dutiful homage without embracing what made the original fun, and the result is that 20 years from now Resurgence won’t have its own Will Smith forming Earth’s one-man welcoming party, or the day being saved with rousing patriotism, or that one precision beam destroying the White House.

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Legendary’s video game movie Warcraft has unseated 2010’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time to become the top-grossing video game movie ever.

The film has now pulled in $377.6 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, besting the Jake Gyllenhaal-starring film. That action movie made $336 million globally during its run. Sitting in the No. 3 position is Sony’s Angry Birds movie, which to date has made more than $327 million worldwide.

Warcraft is having a strong showing outside of the US. 90 percent of ticket sales ($339 million) have come from international markets; the film is doing particularly well in China, where it’s made more than $200 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

According to a report, Warcraft had a budget of $160 million, though it’s unclear if this also included marketing costs. Whatever the case, director Duncan Jones has in the past talked about ideas for two more Warcraft films, noting that whether or not he gets to make them depends on the success of the first movie.

Warcraft hasn’t received the best reviews. Responding to the reaction, Jones said, “If you loved Warcraft, spread the word, or better yet, bring someone new to see it! If not. No worries, but please chill out. It’s just a movie.”

For more on Warcraft, check out GameSpot’s review.

Warcraft was the third major video game movie released this year, following April’s Ratchet & Clank and May’s Angry Birds Movie. Coming up next is Assassin’s Creed, which is scheduled to hit theaters in December.

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After years of development and multiple delays, Mega Man and Dead Rising designer Keiji Inafune’s Mighty No. 9 arrives this week across console and PC.

You play as Beck, the only one of nine Mighty Number robots that is not infected by a virus. Players must fight the other eight to ultimately uncover the mystery of what went wrong.

Mighty No. 9 was announced at PAX Prime in 2013, at which time the Kickstarter campaign went live. Crowdfunding was a quick success, eclipsing its $900,000 target in under 48 hours.

As alluded to, however, it wasn’t entirely smooth sailing for the project after that. The game was delayed multiple times, and most recently, the head of developer Inti Creates publicly criticized a trailer that publisher Deep Silver made for it.

Ahead of its launch tomorrow, June 21, reviews for the Mega Man-inspired platformer have now come online. We’ve collected them here to help you decide if the Kickstarter-funded and at times controversial game is worth your time and money.

You can also visit GameSpot sister site Metacritic for a further breakdown of Mighty No. 9’s critical performance.

As for the future of the Mighty No. 9 brand, Inafune has said he has ideas for a sequel, while a live-action movie based on the series is also in the works.

• Game: Mighty No. 9
• Developer: Comcept, Inti Creates
• Platform: PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii U
• Release Date: June 21 (TBA for 3DS and PS Vita versions)
• Price: $20 (digital), $30 (physical)

GameSpot — 5/10

“For a game that’s meant to bear the legacy of a classic series, Mighty No. 9 barely succeeds. It may rouse excitement from time to time, but by and large, it lacks a pervading sense of artistry, both in its level design and presentation. Platformers–and even Mega Man-like games in particular–are readily available. For one to stand out and leave a mark, it has to do something novel that speaks to the player and the conventions of the genre; something to spark wonder and excitement. Mighty No. 9 is an inoffensively average game sprung from the memories of the past, with little to show for its position in the present.” — Peter Brown [Full review]

IGN — 5.6/10

“Despite its pedigree, Mighty No. 9 doesn’t seem to have a good sense of what was fun about Mega Man, or 2D action-platformers in general. There are brief moments where its pieces come together, but even then it’s hamstrung by its visually joyless art and animation. The soul of the Blue Bomber just isn’t here, and worse yet there’s no endearing personality of its own, and as a result, Mighty No. 9 feels much more like a second-rate imposter than a spiritual successor.” — Vince Ingenito [Full review]

Destructoid — 6.5/10

“Following Mighty No. 9 has been one hell of a ride. Having backed it in 2013 at a low pledge level, I can’t say that I’m exactly disappointed with the end result. It still has a lot of baggage to unload (the 3DS and Vita ports aren’t even dated yet), but most Mega Man fans will find solace in the fact that it didn’t end up being a disaster. Other than the art style, of course.” — Chris Carter [Full review]

PlayStation Universe — 5.5/10

“Mighty No. 9 fails to recapture the spark of its Mega Man heritage in any meaningful way. There’s not much inherently wrong with how it plays, but it is haphazardly presented and not quite as enjoyable as it could be.” Neil Bolt [Full review]

Game Informer — 6/10

“Mighty No. 9 was supposed to be the game that sated our long-starved appetite for a new Mega Man entry, but it instead just made me want to play the old games again. I still think there’s room in the gaming world for a new, classically designed Mega Man experience, but it can’t just be a faceless and creatively sapped clone. Games like Shovel Knight feel more like a spiritual successor than this half-baked misstep.” — Andrew Reiner [Full review]

Xbox Achievements — 55/100

“If you’ve got a hankering for old-school platformers (albeit ones bastardized by a few modern conventions) Mighty No. 9 is a game for you. If you were going to pick it up on a whim because you fancied a taste of Capcom’s golden age, you’re better off looking elsewhere. Hardcore gamers eat your heart out, but don’t expect to sleepwalk through this one.” — Dom Peppiatt [Full review]

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Fallout 4‘s mods launched on Xbox One in May and are coming to PlayStation 4 later this month. In advance of the release, Bethesda has pushed out a new update for Fallout 4’s PC Creation Kit that prepares the game for an upcoming mods closed beta test on PS4.

PC players can download the latest update to get the ability to upload PS4 mods to Bethesda.net. However, as outlined on the Bethesda website, there are some known issues with PS4 mods to be aware of.

These significant-sounding problems include sound files not working on PS4 and a mod storage limit of 900 MB. By comparison, Fallout 4 mods on Xbox One have a limit of 2 GB.

Another issue is Fallout 4 mods on PS4 may lead to memory and performance issues. For all the known issues, Bethesda said it is working with Sony to find solutions before Fallout 4’s mods program is released in full on PS4.

Additionally, the Fallout 4 Creation Kit update now mandates that PC modders link their Steam account, while it also includes “general optimizations and bug fixes.” You can see the full patch notes below.

NEW FEATURES AND FIXES

• Uploading mods to Bethesda.net requires Fallout 4 ownership via a Steam-linked Bethesda.net account
• General optimizations and bug fixes

KNOWN ISSUES WITH PS4 MODS

• PC textures are used. Memory and performance issues may occur. We are working with Sony on optimal texture exporting support in a future update.
• Sound files are currently not supported. PS4 sound format is a proprietary format. We are working with Sony on sound file processing support in a future update.
• PS4 Mod Storage limit is approximately 900 MB at present. Please do not upload mods larger than 900 MB. We are working with Sony to increase this limit.

The closed beta for Fallout 4’s PS4 mods is “close to ready,” Bethesda said. If you create a mod on PC and upload it to Bethesda.net, you will be invited to the PS4 mods closed beta forums “to help with testing,” the developer explained.

For more on Bethesda and modding, check out GameSpot’s E3 2016 interview on the subject with Todd Howard in the video above.

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While DC’s last movie, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, went for a moody promotional campaign, the upcoming Suicide Squad has gone in the opposite direction. The supervillain team-up hits theaters in August, and the latest poster is seriously eye-popping. Check it out below:

Suicide Squad tells the story of a group of death row supervillains, who are employed covertly by the US government to perform dangerous missions in return for reduced prison sentences. It is directed by Fury‘s David Ayer, and stars Jared Leto as the Joker, alongside Will Smith as Deadshot, and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. Ben Affleck will also make a cameo as Batman.

The film will have a heavy presence at next month’s San Diego Comic-Con. Last week, Warner revealed a wide range of themed events and promotional activity, in addition to appearances from the film’s ensemble cast.

While Leto’s unusual acting methods have already had quite a bit of attention, last week Ayer revealed that his own rehearsal techniques were no less extreme.

“The rehearsal was very intense,” he told Yahoo! Movies. “It wasn’t a normal rehearsal, we’d talk about their lives, their history, and really got them to open up as people to each other. I also had them fight. I had them fight each other. You learn a lot about who a person really is when you punch them in the face. It gets rid of a lot of the actor stuff.”

Suicide Squad is released on August 5, 2016.

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