Nintendo Officially Partnering With Illumination on Mario Film
Nintendo has officially announced it's partnering with Illumination Entertainment to develop a movie starring Mario.
The film will be co-produced by Nintendo representative director Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri. Universal Pictures and Nintendo are co-financing the project, and Universal Pictures will handle the film's theatrical distribution worldwide.
News of this announcement follows reports this past November that Nintendo was close signing a deal with the studio behind Despicable Me, Minions and Sing to produce an animated Super Mario Bros. movie.
Burnout Developer May Be Working on an Open-World Game With Melee Based Combat
Criterion the developers of Burnout and some recent Need for Speed titles appear to be working on a new open-world melee-focused action adventure game.
PC Games News reports a job listing on the Criterion website calls for a lead combat designer who is passionate about "All types of combat in games but in particularly melee combat".
The job listing also drops "Action and Action Adventure games" and "Physics and physicality in games" as hints as to the new title. Other jobs listed state "experience in open world game production is a plus" and all listings tell Criterion is "pushing the boundaries with our own brand new IP."
Mario Kart Tour Announced for Mobile
Mario Kart is coming to mobile.
During its latest financial results briefing, Nintendo announced the new mobile app, titled Mario Kart Tour. The game is currently in development and will be released sometime during the next fiscal year, which runs from April 2018 to March 2019. Additional details about Mario Kart Tour will be revealed at a later time.
Mario Kart Tour, via Nintendo of America on Twitter
Nintendo Switch Online Service to Launch in September
Nintendo Switch's online service will be released in September of this year, Nintendo of America has revealed.
In a tweet, Nintendo has simply revealed the service, seemingly titled Nintendo Switch Online, will debut in September, though no specific date or other service details were provided.
#NintendoSwitch Online will launch in September 2018! pic.twitter.com/h3Rpeyymsx
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 1, 2018
EA Exec on PUBG Success, Impact on Battlefield Development
EA CEO Andrew Wilson has spoken out about the remarkable success of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and how it's impacted Battlefield development.
Wilson starts by talking about esports as a whole and how viewership of games can help to reach a wider audience of people who may not already play particular games.
"We always believe, at its very core, esports is going to drive tremendous engagement in our community and allow us to reach broader communities of viewers who maybe have never played our games before. And in doing so, we would see growth in the core digital businesses of the games that we'll feature in esports."
The Black Panther Soundtrack Tracklist Revealed
Kendrick Lamar has shared the tracklist and cover art for the Black Panther album he is producing and performing on.
Lamar shared the striking cover art on Twitter earlier today, revealing Black Panther: The Album will drop on February 9. Lamar is producing and curating the soundtrack with Top Dawg Entertainment founder Anthony Tiffith. Lamar is also featured on the album alongside artists such as SZA, The Weeknd, Travis Scott, Vince Staples, Jorja Smith, Khalid, and more.
Bungie Reveals Destiny 2 Development Roadmap
Bungie has revealed the roadmap which details development for the next few months of content for Destiny 2.
An update on Bungie's website containing the full roadmap we were promised earlier this year explains that everything listed in the Destiny 2 roadmap is currently being worked on but the time frame for delivery may change.
Bungie's Destiny 2 Roadmap
A New Map And Jason Have Been Added to Friday The 13th
Friday The 13th: The Game has had its fair share of tweaks and bugs, but developer IllFonic's latest update should go some way to smoothing things out by giving Jason a much needed - if modest - buff. A new map and a new Jason have also been added.
This week's patch notes cover the new content, that includes Jason Part 5 from the fifth movie, and the Pinehurst map. Jason Part 5 doesn't have any level requirements, and both he and the new map will be available in multiplayer and offline with bots.
Jason Part 5 will also have access to three grab kills: Hedge Trimmer, Last Breath, and You're So Vein. A new grab kill called Rugby Player has been added to the mix too, and you can unlock it at level 108 for 2500 CP.
Gigantic Shutting Down in July, Gets Final Update
Gigantic is shutting down July 31, and the January content update will be the game's last.
Today it was announced the game's servers will go offline at the end of July. Until then, all Heroes will be free, as purchases of Rubies and Hero Packs have been disabled. Players will still be awarded in-game currency, and Shop items will be available at discounted prices until the servers go offline.
According to the announcement, over the past few months the teams at Motiga and Perfect World have examined various options to keep servers online, but were unable to find a solution to help the game "break through in a crowded market." As a result, the decision was made to discontinue the game.
Everything We Know About Westworld Season 2
Westworld hasn't been on our screens since December 2016, which has given us a lot of time to speculate about what the HBO hit might have in store for us during Season 2. Notoriously spoiler-averse showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy have kept plot details for the sophomore season locked up tight, but with the promise that the series will return in Spring 2018, it won't be long before we'll have a whole new set of mysteries and theories to obsess over.
In the meantime, here's everything we know about Westworld Season 2 so far -- and if you bookmark this page, we'll update with the latest intel as it materializes.