Yearly Archives: 2018
The Meg Devours Its Box Office Competition
With the dog days of summer upon us, The Meg has overperformed at the box office with what is likely the last big summer hit of the season. The Meg more than doubled most analysts’ predictions, easily taking the top spot with an impressive $44.5 million.
This shark tale also opened big overseas, with a cool $97 million from foreign markets, bringing its worldwide debut to $141.5 million, already eclipsing the $130 million budget. With the rest of the summer slate looking rather soft, The Meg could easily coast through August and it might even win the next two weekends in a row.
While critics were split on The Meg (49% on Rotten Tomatoes), the fans came out in full force, with a solid $10,806 per-screen average from 4,118 theaters. The Meg knocked Mission: Impossible - Fallout from its two-week stint atop the box office, with Fallout dropping to second place with $20 million (dropping just 43.7% from last weekend), while Disney’s Christopher Robin was bumped down to third place with $12.4 million (a 49.4% drop from last weekend).
Doom Eternal’s Most Exciting New Weapon Is a Game Changer
Doom Eternal’s QuakeCon gameplay reveal proved it’s doing far more than just more of the same. Destructible demons and a deeper story quickly set it apart from 2016’s Doom reboot, but the most exciting thing for me was its new tools for even faster movement.
The Doom Slayer now has a rechargeable dash, can climb some walls, and even bust through other ones. The crown jewel, however, is the new Super Shotgun, which comes equipped with a grappling hook called the Meat Hook that lets you pull yourself toward demons. It’s an incredibly fun looking addition to your arsenal, and one developer id Software tells me is a game changer.
How the Star Wars: Clone Wars Revival Will Honor the Past and Explore New Stories
When it comes to the animated corner of the ever-expanding Star Wars Universe, Dave Filoni has emerged as the Jedi Master, first as a principal writer, director and creative force on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and then as the creator and executive producer of Star Wars Rebels, which just completed an epic four season run on Disney XD.
During Filoni’s Rebels reign, many changes were afoot within the Star Wars Universe, steered by the Lucasfilm Story Group - including the development and release of several new film installments and the canonization of new tie-in media like comic books, novels and games. Rebels increasingly demonstrated its willingness to connect with each: the droid Chopper was just one of a few Easter eggs to be found in Rogue One; Kanan Jarras’ Jedi backstory was revealed in a Marvel Comics limited series; and Ahsoka Tano headlined her own novel that led into her Rebels appearance.
Why Doom Eternal Isn’t Called Doom 2
Speaking to IGN at QuakeCon 2018, Doom Eternal developer id Software revealed why the upcoming sequel to 2016’s Doom reboot isn’t named Doom 2.
Executive producer Marty Stratton said they thought about calling it Doom 2, but one reason they avoided it is because of the same problem that stemmed from the last Doom’s name. “You hear us say it all the time, we call it Doom 2016, and the internet has called it Doom 2016,” Stratton explained.
“We go back and forth on whether it was a mistake to call it Doom,” Stratton said. “I still don’t think it was a mistake, because we really were kind of drawing a new line in the sand.” And while he stands by that reasoning for Doom, he recognizes that “coming out and saying ‘we’re going to do Doom 2,’ we would have ‘Doom 2: Year of Release Date.’”
Find out Where to Preorder World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Here
Fortnite: Week 6 Challenges Leaked (Time Trials, Stone Head Location and Map)
Fallout 76 Avoiding Steam Doesn’t Mean All Future Games Will Too, Bethesda Says
Speaking with IGN at QuakeCon 2018, Bethesda’s Pete Hines said that Fallout 76 not coming to Steam at launch doesn’t mean the publisher will never release a game there again.
“We did not announce ‘all future Bethesda games will not be on Steam,’” Hines explained. “That is not what we said. We said ‘this game will be available exclusively on Bethesda.net.’”
When asked whether Doom Eternal would be skipping Steam as well, Hines said they don’t know yet. “We haven’t decided on anything else, this is specific to Fallout 76 given the kind of game it is -- it’s an online, ongoing game,” he continued. “
WWE’s Elias Playing Special NYC Concert Before SummerSlam PPV
This just in from WWE: Like his impromptu concert on New Orleans' Bourbon Street, ahead of WrestleMania 34, WWE Superstar Elias is playing an exclusive gig ahead of WWE's giant summertime PPV, SummerSlam.
There's one big difference this time though: Fans have ample time to grab tickets to the event, which will take place on Saturday, August 18th at 5:30 pm.
Fortnite: Five Secret Road Trip Battle Star Locations and Map
Fallout 76 PvP Detailed, Aims for ‘Danger Without Griefing’
One of the biggest concerns about Fallout 76 so far has been around how PvP will work, and if you can ignore it if you want to. Speaking at QuakeCon 2018, Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard broke down exactly how it would work.
Howard said Fallout 76 would be driven by both PvE and PvP, explaining that “we want this element of danger, and it sounds weird to say, without griefing.” How that works is that you have to actively respond to an attacking player in order to engage in PvP.
If you randomly start attacking another player you will do significantly less damage, which Howard described as “slapping someone in a bar” to challenge them to a fight. The damage only scales to normal levels if they then attack you back as a response. If not, you continue doing tiny damage.