Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Review – I’m Really Feeling It
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition is just as vast and fantastical as it was in 2010. While not every aspect has aged gracefully, Monolith Soft's lengthy role-playing game has withstood the test of time and further cements itself as one of the most memorable JRPGs in the last decade.
Although Xenoblade Chronicles' opening hours may seem standard fare for JRPGs story-wise, what sets it apart right from the get-go is its setting. Years before the events of the game, two massive titans, Bionis and Mechonis, were locked in a devastating battle of unfathomable proportions. One day, the titans froze, and life started to pop up on the backs of these enormous figures. To put things into perspective, Colony 9--where protagonist Shulk lives--and the sprawling plains and lake surrounding it are located near the Bionis' ankle.
Despite Xenoblade Chronicles's age, its sense of scale is still impressive. Throughout your journey you explore wide-open plains, dense forests, snow-capped mountains, and vast lakes. All the while, Mechonis looms over you as you explore every corner of Bionis.
Continue Reading at GameSpotXenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Review – I’m Really Feeling It
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition is just as vast and fantastical as it was in 2010. While not every aspect has aged gracefully, Monolith Soft's lengthy role-playing game has withstood the test of time and further cements itself as one of the most memorable JRPGs in the last decade.
Although Xenoblade Chronicles' opening hours may seem standard fare for JRPGs story-wise, what sets it apart right from the get-go is its setting. Years before the events of the game, two massive titans, Bionis and Mechonis, were locked in a devastating battle of unfathomable proportions. One day, the titans froze, and life started to pop up on the backs of these enormous figures. To put things into perspective, Colony 9--where protagonist Shulk lives--and the sprawling plains and lake surrounding it are located near the Bionis' ankle.
Despite Xenoblade Chronicles's age, its sense of scale is still impressive. Throughout your journey you explore wide-open plains, dense forests, snow-capped mountains, and vast lakes. All the while, Mechonis looms over you as you explore every corner of Bionis.
Continue Reading at GameSpotGirl With the Dragon Tattoo Reboot TV Series in the Works at Amazon
Amazon is developing an original TV series centred on Lisbeth Salander, the character originally created by Stieg Larsson for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the first book in his best-selling Millennium series of novels.
Variety reports that the spin-off series planned for Amazon's streaming service will not be a direct sequel or continuation of any previous books or movies but rather a standalone story that places Salander in the entirely new setting of "today's world", where she will be surrounded by new characters and challenges.
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The project, which is tentatively titled The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, will be a collaborative effort between Amazon Studios, Left Bank Pictures, and Sony Pictures Television, though no writing team or cast members have been attached to the series as of yet.
Lisbeth Salander is the primary character in Larsson's award-winning Millennium series. Salander first appeared in the 2005 novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. She then appeared in its sequels, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, The Girl in the Spider's Web, The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye, and The Girl Who Lived Twice.
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In 2009, the first three books in the series were adapted into a Swedish-language film trilogy, with Noomi Rapace as Salander. It later expanded into a mini-series ahead of David Fincher's 2011 film adaptation, starring Rooney Mara as the hacker-vigilante. In 2018, The Girl in the Spider's Web rose out of Fincher's ashes, with Claire Foy reimagining the character.
Over the past few years, the TV landscape has shifted significantly to adapt to the digitalisation trend, with many streaming services offering fresh new takes on popular film franchises, to varying degrees of success. For more on these film-to-TV concepts, take a look at our rundown of 23 modern series' that took their inspiration from the big screen.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
Analyst Suggests GTA 6 Could Be Released Between 2023 and 2024
Grand Theft Auto 6 could be released in Fiscal Year 2024 (April 2023 to March 2024), according to a financial analyst's assessment of the company's planned marketing spend – but there are other non Grand Theft Auto-related possibilities for that spend.
Analyst Jeff Cohen (via VentureBeat) points to recently released financial information from Take-Two, parent company of GTA developer Rockstar, which discloses the company's minimum marketing spend for the next five financial years. Cohens noticed that the latest information pointed to the company shifting a spike in marketing spend from FY 2023 to FY 2024, with at least $89.2 million now set aside for that year.
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The surrounding years' marketing commitment settle at around the $35-40 million mark – that massive increase could be seen as due to Take-Two wanting to provide the appropriate level of support for the sequel to the most successful entertainment product in history.
This is by no means a certainty, however. Cohens notes that a similar Fiscal Year marketing spike was used to "accurately [predict] the launch of Red Dead Redemption 2 prior to that game's announcement." As noted by GamesIndustry.biz, Take-Two reports did note a spending spike for FY 2019, when Red Dead Redemption 2 eventually arrived, but those reports were released a year before the game's first delay was announced. Red Dead Redemption 2 was originally scheduled to arrive in FY 2018, with a far smaller marketing spend attached to that year.
Take-Two has previously made clear that much of its marketing spend goes into securing licensing agreements with sports teams and players, and it may be the company expects a major deal to take place during that window of time. Essentially, while this is definitely an interesting bit of information, it's by no means cast-iron proof of a GTA 6 release in that window.
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Multiple sources, including IGN's own, have indicated that Rockstar is working on GTA 6, but that it is years away at this point in time. Take-Two recently called its line-up of games its "strongest pipeline in [the company's] history", with 93 games set to be released in the next five years.
GTA 6 has, of course, not been officially announced - and likely won't be for some time yet. When it does arrive, it will be the first 3D GTA game not to have been written by Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser after he left the company last year. There's a great deal of speculation about where the next game will take place, and we've got our own best guesses about that.
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Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter.
Kingdom Hearts TV Show Reportedly Coming to Disney+
A Kingdom Hearts TV show is reportedly in development for Disney+.
According to a few entertainment industry journalists posting on Twitter, a TV show adaptation of Square Enix’s video game series is in production.
Emre Kaya, writer for The Cinema Spot, tweeted that Disney originally had plans to make the show, but duties apparently shifted to Square Enix. The company has reportedly created a pilot episode using the Unreal Engine, the software used to build the video games. “This series is most likely not live-action, but CG animated. They're currently casting,” said Kaya. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/01/24/kingdom-hearts-3-review"] Kaya claims that the information was originally due to be published as an exclusive report, but that changed due to other insiders knowing about the project. This seemingly encouraged others to add to the conversation, with MCUCosmic founder Jeremy Conrad also claiming that “it’s true”. The DisInsider editor-in-chief Skyler Shuler added more to the story, claiming that “Disney VO actors are expected to reprise their roles (Jim Cummings, Bill Farmer, Tony Anselmo)”.There is a #KingdomHearts series in the works at Disney+.
Disney originally wanted to make it but that didn't work out, so Square Enix was asked to create a pilot using Unreal Engine. This series is most likely not live-action, but CG animated. They're currently casting. pic.twitter.com/jroZXImeOm — Emre Kaya (@Vullein) May 26, 2020
Disney originally planned to create a Kingdom Hearts animated series after the success of the original game in 2002, but it was cancelled due to being a “vastly different interpretation” of the game’s story. Disney nor Square Enix has made any announcement about the animated show, so the official status of such a project - if it is indeed real - remains unknown. For more Kingdom Hearts you can see right now, check out our review of Kingdom Hearts 3 and its Re Mind DLC. More Kingdom Hearts is due in a mobile game soon, and Square Enix is staffing up for further development in the series. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter.Been tagged in Jeremys post (which is true), so here’s what I know:
-Kingdom Hearts will be a Disney+ series, not a movie. -It’s animated (CG) -Disney VO actors are expected to reprise their roles (Jim Cummings, Bill Farmer, Tony Anselmo) All I know. https://t.co/UTFGqXtSP6 — Skyler Shuler (@SkylerShuler) May 26, 2020
Avatar 2 to Resume Production, New Plot Details Revealed
Avatar 2 producer Jon Landau has teased a few early plot details about the long-awaited sequel, as the crew prepares to recommence filming in the wake of its production shutdown due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
In a recent Instagram post, Landau, who is co-producing Avatar 2 with director James Cameron, shared a set photo of two high-tech underwater ships, as he announced the crew's plans to resume production in New Zealand soon.
"Our Avatar sets are ready — and we couldn't be more excited to be headed back to New Zealand next week," Landau revealed in the caption a few days ago before making a direct reference to the accompanying photo. "Check out the Matador, a high speed forward command vessel (bottom) and the Picador jetboat (top) — can't wait to share more."
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As one of the first major studio productions to start up shooting again, Landau confirmed to New Zealand news site RNZ that only a small team will return to the country, where they will enter quarantine for two weeks, as the cast and crew plan to follow a "detailed and diligent safety plan that will keep everybody as safe as possible in these unprecedented times."
In the same interview, Landau shared a few minor details about the story of the 2021 sequel, as he revealed that Sam Worthington's Jake and Zoe Saldana's Neytiri will be forced to abandon their home and explore never-before-seen parts of Pandora in the forthcoming film.
"This is the story of the Sully family and what one does to keep their family together," Landau explained to the outlet. "Jake and Neytiri have a family in this movie, they are forced to leave their home, they go out and explore the different regions of Pandora, including spending quite a bit of time on the water, around the water, in the water."
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Landau's tidbit of information about the plot aligns with the previously released concept art for the Avatar sequels, showcasing various scenic locations, including islands surrounded by azure blue seas, bioluminescent bays, and floating rock formations.
We suspect that there will be more sneak peeks over the coming months, as Avatar 2 currently remains on track to swoop into theatres on December 17, 2021 - with the other sequels set to release on December 22, 2023, December 19, 2025, and December 17, 2027.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
Teaser Leak Suggests Star Wars Battlefront 2 Is June’s Second PS Plus Game
A leaked teaser suggests that Star Wars Battlefront 2 will be June's second PS Plus game.
The short video, which was spotted on Instagram and posted to twitter by Nibellion, shows a short clip of Star Wars Battlefront 2 and notes that the game will be "available with PS Plus this month."
It was previously announced on Monday that PS Plus subscribers would receive Call of Duty: WWII as the first of June's free games, with more details to come later in the week.
This leak looks credible and suggests that PlayStation may officially reveal June's full lineup soon. Star Wars Battlefront 2 has had something of a redemption arc following its controversial launch. We re-reviewed the game in 2019 after its initial 2017 launch, and found it delivered an "unrivaled Force-fueled multiplayer fantasy." Back in late April, Star Wars Battlefront 2 received its final "regular content" update in the form of the Battle of Scarif update, which brought the iconic set piece from Rogue One into the game alongside updated The Rise of Skywalker skins for the game's many hero characters. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.Rumor: 2nd PS+ game for June is Star Wars: Battlefront 2 according to a teaser trailer that popped up on Instagramhttps://t.co/by3oWfkyBN pic.twitter.com/06Suz12yVt
— Nibel (@Nibellion) May 27, 2020
Mister Sinister Was Supposed to Be in This X-Men Movie
Iconic Marvel Comics villain Mister Sinister narrowly missed his chance to appear in Fox's X-Men movie franchise. According to Dark Phoenix writer/director Simon Kinberg, the plan was for Sinister to appear in the now canceled Gambit movie starring Channing Tatum.
Kinberg confirmed those story plans while taking part in IGN's Watch From Home Theater for X-Men: Days of Future Past. 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse was indeed meant to set the stage for a Mister Sinister-driven X-Men movie. Just maybe not the one fans would have guessed.
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"We had a tease of it at the end of Apocalypse. The Essex Corp is something that you see in a tag at the end of Apocalypse," said Kinberg. "We had talked about doing something with him, and I won't get into the specifics of it since it's no longer a 20th Century Fox property and now it's part of the MCU. I have no idea what the plan is. But Mister Sinister was going to be part of the Gambit movie starring Channing Tatum."
This seems to discredit another popular online rumor suggesting Sinister would have a cameo in New Mutants (with actors like Jon Hamm and Daniel Craig rumored for the role), setting him up as a major villain in that particular spinoff series. Indeed, Kinberg told IGN that plans for Mr. Sinister never got close enough to the casting stage so you can forget about those rumors of Hamm and Craig.
A Gambit movie has been in various stages of development ever since the character's live-action debut in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Channing Tatum came aboard to star in and produce the Gambit movie in 2014. Sadly, despite appearing at Comic-Con in 2015 alongside Stan Lee and the rest of the X-Men movie-verse cast, Tatum's dream of playing the Ragin' Cajun never materialized. The film cycled through several directors, including Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity), and Gore Verbinski (the original Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy). But ultimately, Gambit was one of many planned X-Men movies canceled after Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox.
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As Kinberg alludes, there's no telling what Marvel Studios' plans for the X-Men franchise are right now. It's always possible the Gambit movie will survive the transition to Disney (as Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool 3 seems to have done) and we may still see Tatum given the chance to play Gambit at long last. But for now, fans may need to wait a very long time to see Gambit finally battle Mister Sinister on the big screen.
Check back soon for even more juicy tidbits revealed during the Days of Future Past WFH Theater stream.
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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
Mister Sinister Was Supposed to Be in This X-Men Movie
Iconic Marvel Comics villain Mister Sinister narrowly missed his chance to appear in Fox's X-Men movie franchise. According to Dark Phoenix writer/director Simon Kinberg, the plan was for Sinister to appear in the now canceled Gambit movie starring Channing Tatum.
Kinberg confirmed those story plans while taking part in IGN's Watch From Home Theater for X-Men: Days of Future Past. 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse was indeed meant to set the stage for a Mister Sinister-driven X-Men movie. Just maybe not the one fans would have guessed.
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"We had a tease of it at the end of Apocalypse. The Essex Corp is something that you see in a tag at the end of Apocalypse," said Kinberg. "We had talked about doing something with him, and I won't get into the specifics of it since it's no longer a 20th Century Fox property and now it's part of the MCU. I have no idea what the plan is. But Mister Sinister was going to be part of the Gambit movie starring Channing Tatum."
This seems to discredit another popular online rumor suggesting Sinister would have a cameo in New Mutants (with actors like Jon Hamm and Daniel Craig rumored for the role), setting him up as a major villain in that particular spinoff series. Indeed, Kinberg told IGN that plans for Mr. Sinister never got close enough to the casting stage so you can forget about those rumors of Hamm and Craig.
A Gambit movie has been in various stages of development ever since the character's live-action debut in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Channing Tatum came aboard to star in and produce the Gambit movie in 2014. Sadly, despite appearing at Comic-Con in 2015 alongside Stan Lee and the rest of the X-Men movie-verse cast, Tatum's dream of playing the Ragin' Cajun never materialized. The film cycled through several directors, including Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity), and Gore Verbinski (the original Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy). But ultimately, Gambit was one of many planned X-Men movies canceled after Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox.
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As Kinberg alludes, there's no telling what Marvel Studios' plans for the X-Men franchise are right now. It's always possible the Gambit movie will survive the transition to Disney (as Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool 3 seems to have done) and we may still see Tatum given the chance to play Gambit at long last. But for now, fans may need to wait a very long time to see Gambit finally battle Mister Sinister on the big screen.
Check back soon for even more juicy tidbits revealed during the Days of Future Past WFH Theater stream.
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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
Tenet: Nolan Blew Up a Real Jumbo Jet Because It Was Easier Than VFX
Director Christopher Nolan is renowned for his preference for practical effects over CGI. In that case, it may come as no surprise that – during the production of the highly-anticipated Tenet – Nolan opted to simply blow up a real 747 rather than rely on visual effects.
“I planned to do it using miniatures and set-piece builds and a combination of visual effects and all the rest,” Nolan told UK magazine Total Film, via GameRadar. “We started to run the numbers... It became apparent that it would actually be more efficient to buy a real plane of the real size, and perform this sequence for real in camera, rather than build miniatures or go the CG route.”
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According to Nolan the team discovered a stockpile of old planes while location scouting in California, and called the purchase “kind of impulse buying.”
Star Robert Pattinson dubbed the move “so bold to the point of ridiculousness.”
“You wouldn’t have thought there was any reality where you would be doing a scene where they just have an actual 747 to blow up!” said the actor.
This isn’t the first time Nolan has insisted on using genuine aircraft for a production; Dunkirk used real Spitfires and a Spanish-manufactured HA-1112 Buchón (a license-built version of the infamous Messerschmitt Bf 109) for its remarkable dogfighting sequences. However, despite rumours Nolan had planned to crash an antique plane during Dunkirk’s production, all destruction scenes in the movie were shot with replicas.
Nolan recently unveiled the second trailer for Tenet, after which leading man John David Washington revealed that he and the other actors were often just as confused about the movie’s plot as fans watching the teaser.
Despite uncertainly around the operation of cinemas worldwide related to the current pandemic, Tenet’s release date still stands at July 17, 2020.
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Luke is Games Editor at IGN's Sydney office. You can find him on Twitter sporadically @MrLukeReilly.