Bungie.net and Destiny will be offline for a few hours tomorrow for maintenance, Bungie has announced on Twitter. The maintenance being carried out will be server-side and gameplay will not be affected.
Destiny and http://t.co/nxcJOVXAv6 are being taken offline for maintenance on Tuesday, February 24th, from 10AM Pacific to Noon.
Bungie also confirmed that update 1.1.1 will still be implemented this month. The patch will introduce compulsory match-making to weekly heroic strikes, removing the ability for players to solo them. This will affect all levels of the Weekly Heroic, though Nightfall will remain unaffected. Matchmaking has yet to be implemented for Raids, which Bungie says are more reliant on “groups of communicative players who are invested in each other.”
Other changes which are part of patch 1.1.1 include a fix to the heavy ammo bug, balance fixes to weapons, and the ability to view a player’s in-game reputation with faction vendors.
Chicago’s 40,000 square foot Pac-Man restaurant Level 257 is now open for business, at least for some. The venue is now letting “beta testers” make a dinner reservation and sample the food and entertainment before it opens to the public later this year.
Chicago Eater went inside Level 257 and snapped a series of lovely photos of the space. It’s not just a restaurant, however. In addition to seating for 180 people, it has a bowling alley, ping pong tables, and of course, Pac-Man video games to play, among other things.
Level 257’s cocktails are named after video games. Some of these include “Game Over,” “1 Up,” and “Midway.” Check out the restaurant’s menu here. And definitely be sure to look through the whole image gallery at Chicago Eater.
As for the name, Level 257 is a reference to Pac-Man’s infamous killscreen, which pops up during the 256th board. Overall, the restaurant aims to offer a “fun dining” experience.
Level 257 is located at the Woodfield Mall in Chicago. For more on the venue, and to make a reservation, head to the restaurant’s Facebook page.
When Microsoft announced Rise of the Tomb Raider as an Xbox-exclusive last summer, some fans scratched their heads and wondered: Why? After all, the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot was released across Xbox and PlayStation consoles, as well as PC. Now, developer Crystal Dynamics boss Darrell Gallagher has expanded on the nature of the deal, what it means for the game, and more.
Speaking with Game Informer, Gallagher says the relationship didn’t happen overnight. In fact, it’s “been a long partnership” that actually began, in a way, back in 2008 when Crystal Dynamics brought Tomb Raider Underworld to the Xbox 360 with some exclusive DLC.
This was followed up with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light in 2013, which was released first on Xbox 360 through Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade promotion. As a result of these previous working relationships, the Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbox exclusivity deal represents a “natural evolution on where we started,” Gallagher said.
Microsoft will publish Rise of the Tomb Raider and handle marketing and distribution. Overall, Microsoft working on the project helps Crystal Dynamics “achieve what we want with Rise of the Tomb Raider; to deliver the best game that we can,” Gallagher said.
The interviewer went on to ask Gallagher if he thought that Crystal Dynamics’ partnership with Microsoft was so deep that Rise of the Tomb Raider could not exist without it. Gallagher said he doesn’t think that’s the case.
“I wouldn’t say that,” he said. “If you look at Tomb Raider, it’s been around for 20 years, so I do think that Tomb Raider would still be around [without Microsoft].”
Gallagher explained that partnering up with Microsoft helps boost the profile of the Tomb Raider franchise to new heights.
“What we look at is how do we bring the best version of Tomb Raider to market? How do we actually make it as prominent as it can be? And there’s no doubt that having a first-party in Xbox, alongside, saying, ‘We want to help you make this great, we want to push this and get behind it, and love it in the same way as you guys do,’ there’s only benefits that can come from that,” he said.
The deal also means Crystal Dynamics can tap into Microsoft’s hardware-specific expertise to help with the development of Rise of the Tomb Raider, Gallagher said. From the start, Microsoft employees have shown initiative to help Crystal Dynamics with the project, asking things like “How can we help?” and “What do you need?,” Gallagher said.
“It’s been a great partnership so far,” he added.
Also in the interview, Gallagher reiterated that Rise of the Tomb Raider could come to PlayStation consoles sometime in the future. This is not too surprising because, after all, we know that Microsoft’s exclusivity deal for the game has a duration, and it’s not forever.
“We’re focusing on Xbox One and Xbox 360 here at Crystal, and that’s what we’re focused on right now,” he said. “And anything beyond? We’ll come back to at a later date.”
Finally, Gallagher confirmed that the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot has now sold 7.5 million copies.
Team Fortress 2 isn’t all guns and people screaming about the extent to which they are or are not on fire. Sometimes there’s food, too. But—no, no, stop trying to put your hand through the monitor—you can’t eat it. Or, you couldn’t. But now you can with these recipes, only one of which is for urine.
The longer a competitive game’s around, the less its high-level matches resemble matches between typical players. Pros begin whipping out plays that blur the line between technique and exploit. So what happens if you press the reset button on all of that?
Final Fantasy XIV‘s servers go down tonight at midnight Eastern time. When they come back one of the MMO’s most anticipated features comes with them. Are you ready for the Chocobo races, Triple Triad and mini-games of the Manderville Gold Saucer?
How did Benedict Cumberbatch respond when asked about the nationality of Doctor Strange? Which TV startlet is the latest to join Supergirl? Want to see our best look yet at the black Daredevil costume? What inspired Hugh Jackman to play Wolverine for longer? Was James Gunn okay with some recent superhero movie bashing? What famous franchise did Joss Whedon compare the opening of Avengers: Age of Ultron with? Read about all this and more in today’s Superhero Bits.
Magazine Film Ink gives us our best look yet at the Daredevil costume on the cover of their magazine.
Hugh Jackman saw Birdman and it made him realize he wants to play Wolverine until he dies.
ABC released this clip from the finale of Agent Carter.
Toofab (via Superhero Hype) spoke to Michael Wilkinson, the costume designer behind Batman v Superman, who said the following about Aquaman:
It has been a thrill and an honor to bring this iconic character to life for a modern audience. Zack Snyder has a brilliant vision for making this character powerful and relevant. I enjoyed designing a costume that reflects this vision and honors the character’s rich legacy.
Comic Book Movie found this 15 second international TV spot for Fantastic Four.
James Gunnposted some thoughts on a lot of superhero bashing that took place at awards shows this weekend.
A new behind the scenes video on the stunts of Arrow.
Badass Digest reacts to James Gunn‘s aforementioned discussion of superhero movie hate.
Due to the amount of graphics and images included in Superhero Bits, we have to split this post over THREE pages. Click the link above to continue to the second page of Superhero Bits.
When we last saw Mason Jr., he was contemplating a future full of possibility on the first day of college. Now Boyhood director Richard Linklater says we may yet get a chance to see what comes of that future.
The filmmaker reveals he’s considering a sequel to Boyhood which would follow Mason Jr. through his 20s. Unlike Boyhood, though, it probably won’t take 12 years to shoot. Read Linklater’s comments on a possible Boyhood sequel after the jump.
Linklater was asked about the possibility of a Boyhood sequel during an appearance on the Q&A podcast (via The Playlist). Here’s what he had to say:
To be honest… this film first met its audience exactly a year ago and for the first six months of the year, my answer to that was absolutely not. This was twelve years, it was first grade through 12th grade; it was about getting out of high school. I had no idea about another story, there’s nothing to say. It hadn’t crossed my mind.
But I don’t know if it’s been a combination of finally feeling that this is over or being asked a similar question a bunch over the last year, that I thought, well, I wake up in the morning thinking, ‘the 20s are pretty formative, you know?’” he admitted. “That’s where you really become who you’re going to be. It’s one thing to grow up and go to college, but it’s another thing to… So, I will admit my mind has drifted towards [this sequel idea].
Linklater doesn’t necessarily feel obligated to stick to the Boyhood format, though.
The twelve years [structure] came out of [school structure]. It wouldn’t have to be twelve years. It wouldn’t have to be… I mean, who knows. I mean, if I learned anything on the ‘Before’ trilogy it took five years to realize that Jesse and Celine were still alive and had anything to say. This one would probably be more accelerated, but who knows.
Whether Boyhood really needs a sequel is certainly up for debate. The movie ended on a pitch-perfect note, and besides, Linklater is already exploring the college experience with his next movie That’s What I’m Talking About. Indeed, Linklater himself has described the film as “a continuation of Boyhood.”
Then again, I wouldn’t have said Before Sunrise needed a sequel either, and yet Before Sunset and then Before Midnight turned out to be better and more essential than I could have possibly predicted. As I see it, Linklater’s earned the benefit of the doubt. Especially as he’s taking care not to dive in without a good idea:
I would love to keep working with this cast and I think we all would. But that can’t be the primary reason to do it. You always need something to say. You can’t do it just cause you want to work with your friends, you gotta have something really inside you you’re trying to communicate about those years. I might happen, but I dunno, it’s in the ether in the moment.
That’s refreshing to hear at a time when major studios regularly date sequels and spinoffs before the first film even opens. In the meantime, That’s What I’m Talking About, which is also a “spiritual sequel” to Dazed and Confused, should hit theaters later this year.
