Comic Book Reviews for January 3, 2018
The new year started off strong when it comes to comics. This week brought about the end of Guardians of the Galaxy, the start of a pivotal new Walking Dead storyline and the debuts of Batman and the Signal, Rise of the Black Panther, Rogue & Gambit and Transformers vs. The Visionaries.
Scroll down to check out our reviews for these and various other new releases, and be sure to let us know your favorite books of the week in the comments below.
DC COMICS
Paladins Announces Battle Royale Game Mode
Free-to-play hero shooter Paladins is getting a battle royale mode called - wait for it - Battlegrounds.
Developer Hi-Rez announced that Paladins: Battlegrounds will be free-to play, and drops 100 players into 20-minute matches set on a large map. There, teams of players fight over the loot of "more than four dozen outposts" and chase "zeppelins that drop legendary gear" as encroaching fog corrals them into ever-tighter skirmishes. The last team standing wins.
Paladins: Battlegrounds was "designed from the ground up to be played in teams," Hi-Rez said, and will retain the main game's class-based team composition. Mounts will also be usable.
Ahead of its battle royale mode, Paladins will also receive a content update this month (January 10 on PC and January 17 on consoles). This will be the first of a string of updates headlined by another new game mode: Team Deathmatch.
2005’s Star Wars: Battlefront 2 Patched Again
Disney (or someone associated with Disney) has once again patched the PC version of 2005's Star Wars: Battlefront II, following the restoration of its multiplayer services last year.
As detailed on Steam, the patch improves lobby functionality, fixes an issue where Steam usernames weren't correctly displayed, and makes ping calculations more accurate. It also includes "minor bug fixes and optimized performance."
Steam lists the update as having come from Disney, but it's not clear exactly who is updating the game - Disney no longer has internal game development studios, and original developer Pandemic has since been bought by EA and shut down.
Nintendo Switch Now Fastest-Selling Home Console in the US
Nintendo has announced that the Switch is now the fastest-selling home console in the US, shifting 4.8 million units in 10 months.
In a press release, the company said that the figure beat its own record with the Wii, which sold 4 million units in the same period.
Nintendo added that 60% of US Switch owners own Super Mario Odyssey and 55% own The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
With some wondering where Nintendo's console goes in its second year, Nintendo says that owners "can look forward to Nintendo-published games like Kirby Star Allies, Bayonetta, Bayonetta 2 and a new game starring Yoshi. Fans can also expect continued support from major publishers such as EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Capcom, SEGA, Take 2 and Bethesda".
Star Citizen Raises More than All of 2017’s Games Kickstarters
In-development, multi-game project Star Citizen raised $34.91 million dollars in 2017 - more than twice that of all games on Kickstarter combined, which took $17.25 million.
Per Polygon - which obtained figures from Star Citizen's developers and Kickstarter itself - Star Citizen doubled the takings of over 350 games on the crowdfunding platform.
More amazingly, this is the second year in a row that Star Citizen's managed the feat, after it earned $36.11 million in 2016.
Star Citizen currently comprises a single-player game, Squadron 42 (which stars Mark Hamill, Gary Oldman and Gillian Anderson among others) and a persistent universe multiplayer game, which has been in Alpha testing for several years. Neither game has a release date.
Assassin’s Creed The Ezio Collection for Under £15
Destiny 2: Iron Banner, Faction Rally Open to All Players
Following yesterday's maintenance update, Destiny 2's latest hotfix (1.1.1.2) has gone live across all platforms, bringing with it good news for players who don't own the Curse of Osiris expansion; the Iron Banner and Faction Rally events are now open to all players, regardless of whether they've bought the expansion or not.
It follows fan outcry after the Curse of Osiris expansion locked out non-expansion players from some endgame activities. At the time, Bungie apologised and promised fixes were incoming. Most of the major issues were fixed back in December but this one has taken a little longer.
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy Creative Director Leaves Naughty Dog
Shaun Escayg, the creative director on Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, is leaving Naughty Dog after seven years with the studio.
"Seven years ago I joined the talented team at @Naughty_Dog on a project still in its infancy, The Last Of Us," wrote Escayg on Twitter. "Well, the rest is history. Left Behind, Uncharted 4 were fleeting and Uncharted The Lost Legacy pushed my creative growth even further — I will miss all my dogs."
Escayg is potentially moving on to join the team at Crystal Dynamics to work on its upcoming Avengers game, as he recently posted the Avengers logo on Instagram, writing "to new adventures" in the caption. However, Escayg hasn't confirmed if this is the case.
PS Plus Vs. Xbox Games With Gold: January 2018
Another month of free games are available for both PlayStation and Xbox owners, but just how much are you saving by downloading these free games — and how good are they?
PS Plus's free games for subscribers in January includes Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Batman: The Telltale Series, while Xbox's Games With Gold for the month includes Zombi and Tomb Raider Underworld. Read on for a breakdown of how much each lineup will save subscribers and how critically well regarded each set of games is.
Thanos’ Original Birth Name Revealed by Marvel Comics
In the pages of Thanos #14 by writer Donny Cates and artist Geoff Shaw, it was revealed that Thanos almost had a different name.
Warning: full spoilers ahead!
Art by Geoff Shaw. (Marvel Comics)
In the story, Thanos is whisked away to the future where he meets an aged, bearded version of himself who sits alone as the ruler of a dead universe. This future-Thanos needs the help of his past self. Naturally, present-Thanos thinks this guy is some kind of pretender, so he does what Thanos does best and beats the hell out of him. In order to convince present-Thanos that this is all real, future-Thanos speaks aloud something only the real Thanos would know: their original birth name, Dione.