Monthly Archives: June 2019
Thor’s Other Brother Was Almost in Thor: The Dark World
Thor’s brother Balder the Brave almost made the cut for Thor: The Dark World, but was apparently removed from the film before its script was finalized.
Reported by CBR, concept artist Charlie Wen posted newly revealed art on Instagram with the caption "What Thor's other brother almost looked like. Revisiting my #balder design post from earlier before I leave #thorthedarkworldbehind.” One half of the art depicts Balder wearing armor, a fur cape and wielding two swords while the other half shows Thor taking down enemies in a snowy field.
Telltale’s Minecraft: Story Mode Will Be Discontinued in a Few Weeks
Episodes from Minecraft: Story Mode - A Telltale Games Series will no longer be available to download later this month.
Revealed via the official Minecraft website, both Season 1 and 2 of Story Mode will no longer be supported. The post urges customers who have purchased those seasons to download all of the episodes prior to their being discontinued on June 25.
Story Mode was created for PC, PS3, PS4, PSVita, Wii U, Nintendo Switch, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Android and iOS devices. A modified version of Story Mode is currently available on Netflix, though that version appears to be in no danger of being delisted. Season 1 consists of eight episodes, while Season 2 is made up of five.
How Apple’s For All Mankind Connects to Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica
Apple is throwing its hat into the increasingly crowded streaming arena with Apple TV+. And where many current and upcoming services are driven by exclusive franchises (Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel on Disney+, The Lord of the Rings on Amazon's Prime Video, etc.), Apple is banking instead on big-name creators. One of those creators is Ronald D. Moore, a driving force behind wildly popular shows like Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the rebooted Battlestar Galactica and Outlander.
Apple has just released the first trailer for Moore's new series, For All Mankind. While this new series is a departure for Moore in the sense that it isn't an adaptation of a preexisting work, it's already clear For All Mankind will be dealing with some familiar themes and conflicts. Read on for a breakdown of what For All Mankind is about and how it builds on the foundation of projects like Battlestar and Outlander.
Half of Fans Want PS5 Over Other Next-Gen Consoles
Over the weekend, IGN ran a poll to see which next generation console readers would like to see the most, out of four options – Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, and Google.
The poll ran for three full days: Friday at noon through Monday at noon, and received over 40,000 votes.
The winner was Sony, taking over half of the votes at 52.8%, Microsoft coming in second place at 28.5%, Nintendo in third at 14.2%, and Google with only a sliver of the votes at 4.4%.
Outer Wilds Is the Coolest Game I Can’t Talk About
It’s barely June and there are still a whole lot more games to come, but Outer Wilds is currently sitting at the front of the pack for my personal Game of the Year. It’s charming, unique, clever, and full of incredible moments that I don’t want to tell you a damn thing about.
So much of this space-camping-themed exploration game is about getting in your rocket, picking a planet in its expansive but intimate hand-crafted solar system to fly to, and then seeing what mysteries you can piece together for yourself when you get there. It’s full of serene views, exciting thrills, challenging platforming (sometimes in zero-gravity), creative puzzles, and a captivating story told through the ruins of an ancient civilization – and you owe it to yourself to experience all of the above firsthand.
A New Fortnite Xbox One S Bundle Is Coming This Week
Fortnite remains enormously popular, and the free-to-play Battle Royale from Epic Games is the basis for a brand new Xbox One S 1TB bundle.
The Xbox One S Fortnite Battle Royale Special Edition Bundle includes a controller and 1TB Xbox One S in a deep, "gradient purple" color scheme.
Also included as part of the limited edition Xbox One S is Dark Vertex Fortnite skin set, 2,000 V-bucks, as well as one free month of Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass.
Minecraft Earth Gets Its First Live Demo at Apple’s WWDC
It isn’t unusual for Apple to debut a new game at its keynotes, but we didn’t expect Minecraft—a Microsoft owned property—to make an appearance and as an augmented reality game no less.
Towards the tail end of Apple’s WWDC keynote, we saw the first-ever gameplay of Minecraft Earth. From what we can tell, it’s an augmented reality mobile game similar to Pokemon Go that can run on both the iPhone XS and iPad Pro 11.
The X-Men Paved the Way for the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Long before Dark Phoenix, in the summer of 2000, X-Men set the box office ablaze and had the sixth highest-grossing opening weekend ever at that time. That paired with strong reviews from critics and fans alike, changed superhero cinema forever.
When the original was released, it entered the game just after Batman & Robin killed the then-most lucrative big screen spandex saga and as Blade was pointing at comic book adaptations geared more toward niche audiences. But then, X-Men featured well cast characters (Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen as Professor Xavier and Magneto, respectively, remain iconic), dynamic super-powered action, and a serious approach to the themes that have long made these Marvel mutants resonate. It paved the way for Spider-Man to swing and Batman to begin (again) on the big screen. And then, eight years later, Tony Stark met Nick Fury and everything changed once more.
Beyond Good and Evil 2 – Road to E3 2019
As far as big, exciting games to look out for at E3 go, Beyond Good and Evil 2 is a strange one. After multiple announcements and false starts dating as far back as 2008, with long periods of silence between them, this hotly anticipated sequel finally seems to be a real game that is actually happening.
What’s so funny about it, however, is that the world went from knowing basically nothing about Beyond Good and Evil 2 ahead of its surprise reveal at E3 2017 to knowing way more than we ever could have expected. Those stretches of mystery, leaks, and rumors have now been replaced with loads of pre-alpha gameplay footage, regular developer live streams, and frequent updates on new features and how development is progressing.
Microsoft E3 2019: Xbox Conference Date, Time, and Predictions
Update: The Microsoft Xbox conference at E3 2019 starts today at 1pm PT/4pm ET/9pm UK (Monday, June 10 at 6am AET). With the next-gen Xbox codenamed Scarlett being teased, we expect this Xbox conference to be a big one. Bonus: Tune in to IGN an hour before our pre-show to watch a recap of last year -- followed by our predictions for 2019. All times and places to watch the Microsoft Xbox press conference at E3 2019 can be found below.
All eyes will be on Microsoft at E3 2019, as the company finds itself in the unique position as the only platform holder with a stage show. With Nintendo sticking to its regular practice of airing a pre-recorded Direct and Sony skipping E3 entirely, the big question headed into this year’s show is, How will Microsoft choose to spend its time in the spotlight?