Sonic Forces: Your Custom Character Can’t Be as Cool as Sonic

The upcoming Sonic Forces features a new mode that allows players to become a hero of the game with a custom avatar, but the development team’s approach to the character creator is more simplistic.

As previously announced by Sega, players can choose one of seven animal archetypes to customize for their Hero Character. Sonic Forces Producer Shun Nakamura said, with the help of a translator, that the creator isn’t anywhere near as complex as something like Fallout, but said players will instead get to pick from set characteristics, kind of like a doll maker.

“What the team wanted to have people do is create a regular character that exists in the world and have that character go on this great adventure with classic and modern Sonic and become a hero,” Nakamura said.

Continue reading…

Super Mario Odyssey Feels Like It’s Taking Cues from Zelda

Nintendo’s made no secret of the fact that it’s trying to recreate the delights of Mario 64 with Odyssey - but it’s invoking a less obvious influence alongside that Nintendo classic.

The more recent 3D Mario games - Galaxies 1 and 2, and 3D World - have tended to prize challenge, creating short gauntlets themed around occasionally genre-defining design (often throwing those ideas away as soon as they’re done, because there’s something new to concentrate on). Odyssey is not that kind of game. Leisurely, surprising and outwardly comedic (this already feels like the funniest mainline Mario game), Mario’s latest truly is a return to the sandbox style last seen on GameCube.

Continue reading…

See Halo Wars 2’s Expansion Running in 4K on Xbox One X

Halo Wars 2 looked and ran just fine on the standard Xbox One or Xbox One S, but the top-down real-time strategy game is a natural choice to benefit from the added power and resolution of the Xbox One X. We had a chance to sit down with the upcoming expansion pack, Awakening the Nightmare (out next week). Take a look at the video above for our full playthrough of the expansion's entire first mission, played on an Xbox One X running at 4K resolution. And if you're unfamiliar with Halo Wars 2, take a look at our review of the game below.

Continue reading…

Final Fantasy XV Multiplayer DLC Gets Release Date

Final Fantasy XV's upcoming multiplayer expansion, Comrades, will be released on October 31, Square Enix announced at Tokyo Game Show 2017.

In Comrades, players will be able to create their own character and take on quests with up to three friends online. By equipping royal sigils, players will be granted special powers from the Lucian bloodline as they strategize and form a balanced team to take on the challenges that await.

As a survivor from Kingsglaive, it's your mission to discover more about the disappearance of Noctis, following the events of Chapter 13 in Final Fantasy XV's main story. You'll be able to take on various multiplayer quests, as well as single-player mission to improve your characters.

Continue reading…

Thor 3’s Taika Waititi in Talks to Direct Live-Action Akira

Thor: Ragnarok helmer Taika Waititi is reportedly in talks to direct the long-gestating, live-action remake of Akira, based on the manga and 1988 anime.

According to Deadline, Warner Bros. is negotiating with the New Zealand-born filmmaker to helm the project, which has almost come together a few times over the years. The Hughes Brothers (The Book of Eli), Ruairi Robinson (The Last Days on Mars), and Jaume Collet-Serra (Non-Stop) were among the filmmakers who previously tried to translate Akira into live-action.

Before Waititi, Get Out's Jordan Peele was the director most recently approached by Warner Bros. about taking on the project.

Continue reading…

Watchmen: Damon Lindelof Teases Start of Pre-Production

Writer Damon Lindelof took to Instagram to announce the HBO Watchmen adaptation has begun pre-production.

The image shows the base of a Nite Owl statue sitting on a table in what looks like a writer's room. It's not specific, and no further details are given other than the caption "Day One."

Nite Owl statue base posted to Damon Lindelof's Instagram account. Nite Owl statue base posted to Damon Lindelof's Instagram account.

Continue reading…

Discovery Star Says Young Spock Appearance Possible

First Officer Michael Burnham is a unique figure in the world of Star Trek for a few reasons. Not only is she the main character on CBS’ Star Trek: Discovery, but she’s also the first Trek lead to not be the commander of his or her crew. Played by The Walking Dead’s Sonequa Martin-Green, Burnham is also different in that she’s a human who was raised on Vulcan among its emotionless people. And she’s stationed on two different ships in Discovery -- the USS Discovery itself, but also the USS Shenzhou (time will tell how she transitions from one to the other).

All of which is to say, Michael Burnham is a distinctive take on the traditional Starfleet lead character. I sat down with Martin-Green recently to talk about Burnham, her past as Spock’s adopted sister, working for two very different captains, and more. The actress is fun -- she sang The Brady Bunch theme song to me at point -- and her enthusiasm for the new show is contagious. Read on for highlights from our chat below…

Continue reading…

Why Zack Snyder Is Not Checking in on Justice League

Director Zack Snyder recently discussed why he's keeping his distance from Justice League, saying he isn't worried about how the DC film is shaping up.

In an interview with Wired, Snyder revealed he hasn't been checking in on Justice League since parting ways with the project earlier this year following a family tragedy. The Batman v Superman director believes it'd be "unfair in a lot of ways" for him to get involved with Justice League at this point, and doesn't want to interfere with the cast and crew's work on the film.

Continue reading…

Valve Reveals Plan to Fight Steam Review Bombing

In an effort to combat review bombing on Steam, Valve has updated how review data of a game is shown to potential purchasers when browsing the Steam Store.

Since review bombing occurs when players post mass number of negative reviews in a short window of time, effective today, "each game page now contains a histogram of the positive to negative ratio of reviews over the entire lifetime of the game," Valve explained in a post on the official Steam Blog.

Screen Shot 2017-09-19 at 3.26.34 PM Grand Theft Auto V review graph, via Steam

Continue reading…