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Earlier this year, Star Wars director JJ Abrams confirmed that the Portal and Half-Life movies are still on the way, despite the fact that not much has been said about them. Now, he’s reiterated that’s the case and also teased that the Portal movie may be announced soon.

“We have a meeting coming up next week with Valve; we’re very active,” Abrams told IGN. “I’m hoping that there will be a Portal announcement fairly soon.”

“Soon” is open to interpretation, and an announcement would likely be well in advance of release.

IGN also asked Abrams if the Portal and Half-Life films would be continuations of the stories told in the games, he declined to give anything away. However, he said he’s happy with the way discussions are going with writers on the project, though these people have not been named.

“We are having some really interesting discussions with writers, many of whom…once you said you’re doing a movie or show about a specific thing that is a known quantity you start to find people who are rabid about these things,” he said. “As someone who loves playing Half Life and Portal, what’s the movie of this, it’s incredible when you talk to someone who just ‘gets’ it, it’s like, ‘Oh my god, it’s really the seed for this incredible tree you’re growing.’”

The Portal and Half-Life movies were announced in 2013, during the DICE Summit that year.

Abrams and Valve boss Gabe Newell have also discussed working together on a video game, though nothing has been announced. For his part, Abrams and his Bad Robot studio are working on Spyjinx, an action-strategy game launching in 2016 for PC and mobile devices. His team is collaborating with Infinity Blade and Shadow Complex developer Chair Entertainment on the brand-new game.

The next major video game movie is Assassin’s Creed, starring Michael Fassbender and based on the Ubisoft franchise. It opens in theaters on December 21.

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Xbox One sales rose 989 percent week-over-week in the United Kingdom, a dramatic uptick in sales that is thought to be related to the recent launch of the slimmed-down Xbox One S models.

According to MCV, the Xbox One owned a 71 percent share of the console hardware market for the week ended September 24. This represents an increase of 76 percent compared to the same time last year.

PlayStation 4 sales jumped 22 percent week-on-week, following the release of the PS4 Slim earlier this month. However, PS4 had only a 19 percent market share for the week and unit sales declined 66 percent year-over-year. When comparing the launch weeks of the PS4 Slim and the Xbox One S, Microsoft’s console enjoyed sales that were 361 percent stronger than Sony’s.

Something that might have fueled the Xbox One’s success last week was the fact that Microsoft launchd a FIFA 17 bundle last week. The game didn’t launch in the UK until today, September 29, but the game was playable through the bundle since it came with an EA Access membership.

“It’s great to see how popular both the Xbox One S and the FIFA 17 Xbox One S consoles are with fans, not just over the last week but since the Xbox One S was released in August,” Xbox UK marketing manager Harvey Eagle told MCV. “4K video streaming and 4K UHD Blu-ray have been extremely well received and we believe there is no better value right now for those looking to upgrade their console.”

Microsoft is on a roll lately, not just in the UK. The Xbox One outsold the PS4 in the United States during July and August. We’ll know if Microsoft can extend its winning streak to three months in a row when NPD data for September comes out in October.

Earlier this week, Microsoft released a new Xbox One S TV ad that touts the console’s 4K Blu-ray player.

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Oscar-winning actor and director Mel Gibson’s next film role may have been revealed. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gibson is in talks to star in an action/spy movie called Every Other Weekend.

The story focuses on a father who has convinced his son he is a CIA spy. In reality, however, he only works at the government agency’s IT department. When they go on a bonding trip to Paris, the father and son duo find themselves in a “life-threatening adventure in which secrets are spilled.”

Gibson plays the grandfather, who is a real spy, though how that factors into the story was not divulged. The movie will be directed by French filmmaker Benjamin Rocher (The Horde) and is scheduled to begin production in France later this year. The Conjuring‘s Peter Safran is producing the movie.

Gibson was last seen in this summer’s Blood Father; he is currently shooting a drama called The Professor and the Madman with Sean Penn. He also directed the November war movie Hacksaw Ridge starring Andrew Garfield, which marks his first time back in the director’s chair since 2006’s Apocalypto.

One of Hollywood’s biggest names, Gibson won Academy Awards for 1995’s Bravehart, which he directed and starred in.

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Xbox boss Phil Spencer has revealed that Microsoft’s original goal, at the time when Don Mattrick was running the Xbox division, was for the Xbox One brand to sell 200 million consoles.

Speaking to Stevivor, Spencer did not say if this figure was for the Xbox One alone or if it could include future updates like Project Scorpio and whatever comes next. Whatever the case, 200 million is a big number, and would be well ahead of the PlayStation 2’s individual record of 150 million units shipped.

“The goal that the team had was to figure out how could we sell 200 million game consoles,” Spencer explained. “We’ve never seen a console sell that many units. The biggest individual console, the PS2, did 120 million or something like that. [Ed. Note: Sony announced in 2011 that the PS2 had shipped 150 million units worldwide]. The approach the team took was people are moving to OTT Video Services [over-the-top, like Netflix and Stan] and television’s getting disrupted–and if we could build a console that could be at the center of this transition and really embrace not only people playing video games, but also people with the changing habits in television, you really take the console market and the gaming market and you expand it potentially.”

The original focus of the Xbox One was to “start up building TV content as a first-party capability,” he added. Microsoft even formed Xbox Entertainment Studios, a division dedicated to bringing TV and film content to the console. However, after Mattrick left Microsoft for Zynga and Spencer was put in charge, one of his first directives was to reposition the Xbox brand with gaming being front and center. Xbox Entertainment Studios was closed, though Steven Spielberg’s Halo TV show is still on the way.

“When we came in after two-and-a-half years ago and started running the Xbox program, I centered us back on not trying to become something other than a game console,” he explained. “You don’t earn the right to be relevant in other categories of usage for the console until you’ve earned the gaming right, so let’s go make sure that’s what we deliver.”

Spencer said his directive when being named Head of Xbox was to ensure that gamers, and game developers, saw the Xbox One as a console that is “for them first.” At the same time, Spencer mentioned that video usage through things like Netflix and YouTube on Xbox One today is as high as game usage.

“But I still think that we have to succeed with gamers first before we get any permission to go do anything else,” he said.

Go to Stevivor to read the full interview.

Microsoft no longer reports Xbox sales figures, so we don’t know exactly how well the console is doing. Earlier this week, Microsoft confirmed there are 400 million “active” Windows 10 devices, which include Xbox One consoles.

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UK retailers have significantly discounted the original PlayStation 4 console, offering bundles for £150, while stocks last.

On the Argos website, a 500 GB console with Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Blu-ray, and FIFA 17 is listed for £150. Alternatively, the PS4 with a 1 TB hard drive with FIFA 17, Ratchet & Clank, and an additional Dual Shock 3 controller is available for £180.

High-street retailer GAME, meanwhile, also has the 500 GB console for £150 and the 1 TB console for £180.

“From 9am tomorrow, when they’re gone they’re gone. £149.99 for 500GB, 1TB for £179.99, add a pad for £40. Do not miss it,” it said in a tweet.

The deep discounts are no doubt an effort to clear stock of the original PS4 model, in light of the release of the PS4 Slim and the upcoming launch of the PlayStation 4 Pro. The PS4 Slim launched on September 15 and is 30 percent smaller the original model. It is being sold for €300 Euros and £260 in Europe and the UK.

The PS4 Pro comes out in November. This system is more powerful than the existing models and has a somewhat different design. You can see all the specs and details on the PS4 Pro here.

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There will be one final trailer for the upcoming Star Wars spinoff Rogue One ahead of its December release. The news was confirmed by the marketing director of Disney’s Russian subdivision, who announced that it would debut with the company’s Marvel adventure Doctor Strange.

As reported by Star Wars News Net, Elena Brodskaya revealed the plans for the next Rogue One trailer during a presentation for Disney’s upcoming movies, which also include Beauty and the Beast, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, and Moana.

Brodskaya stated that although many of the film’s details would remain secret until the film is released, the final trailer would accompany Doctor Strange. The Marvel film is due to hit Russian theaters on October 28, with the US release following a week later.

Last week, Disney CEO Bob Iger attempted to lower expectations in the box office potential of Rogue One. “We never felt it would do the level that Force Awakens did,” Iger said during an investor conference. “[But] the level of interest is as high as it was for Force Awakens.”

The Disney boss added that he and Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy had mapped out the plans for the franchise until 2020. This includes Episode VIII and IX, a Han Solo spinoff film, and a third spinoff for which a writer has been hired.

“We have movies in development for Star Wars ’til then, and we started talking about what we’re going to do in 2021 and beyond,” he said. “So, she’s not just making a Star Wars movie, she’s making a Star Wars universe.”

Two trailers for Rogue One have appeared in the past couple of months.The first debuted during the Rio Olympics, while the second was an international teaser that contained footage not seen in the earlier trailer.

Rogue One stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Donnie Yen, Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whitaker, and Mads Mikkelsen. It arrives in theaters on December 16, 2016.

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