Yearly Archives: 2018
Starcraft’s Legacy Is More Than Just Multiplayer
“I play Starcraft for the plot” is a phrase you don’t hear often when Blizzard’s iconic RTS is brought up. A franchise built on the back of competitive multiplayer, Starcraft became an international phenomenon shortly after its 1998 release. Garnering overwhelmingly positive reviews, players were drawn to the complex, fast-moving matches that not only rewarded their reaction time, but sheer creativity. Despite sporting a unique single-player component, Starcraft’s multiplayer quickly consumed the discussion as it continued to rise in popularity. This is a shame because the offline portion of the franchise is not only entertaining, but one of the best in the entire RTS genre.
For the unfamiliar, the Starcraft series is set in the distant future where humans – now called Terrans – have colonized multiple planets. This leads to the discovery of the insectoid-like Zerg who quickly begin to spread, infest, and exterminate the human race. Their activities cause a highly advanced alien race known as the Protoss to systematically track and destroy every Zerg-infested planet. With this vicious cycle as a backdrop, Starcraft’s main campaign is freed up to explore the different people and creatures that inhabit this universe. Players assume the role of a nameless commander in the first game and as soldier-turned-outlaw James Raynor in Starcraft II. Almost every main character is fleshed out with believable motives and personalities that add needed depth and intricacies to the various missions.
Is Hearthstone’s New Pinata Card a Fortnite Reference?
Blizzard just hosted a livestream with a bunch of new card reveals from Hearthstone’s upcoming Boomsday Project expansion, and one of them bears a striking resemblance to a familiar item from Fornite.
The ‘Weaponized Pinata’ is a new Mech minion that shares more than a few similarities with the smash battle royale hit. Most obviously its art, which isn’t exactly the same as Fornite’s Loot Llamas, but definitely mirrors their shape -- as well as using close shades of pink and blue.
What Marvel’s Uncanny X-Men Relaunch Needs to Succeed
Marvel made plenty of X-Men fans happy over the weekend with the announcement that Uncanny X-Men is returning this fall. The Uncanny X-Men brand is one of Marvel's most important, yet it's one that's stayed dormant ever since the start of the ResurrXion relaunch last year. Unfortunately, Marvel neglected to reveal anything else about the new series, including creative team, character lineup or story direction. Given the hardships this franchise has endured in recent years, simply bringing back a familiar name isn't going to be enough.
Uncanny X-Men #600 cover by Ed McGuinness. (Marvel Comics)
Marvel’s Infinity Wars Crossover Begins
With dozens of comic books to choose from, let us show you which are the best coming out this week. Take a look at this list spotlighting our favorite comics that we know are money-well-spent and new books that look cool and are backed by some top-tier talent.
Once you check out our picks, head to the comments to let us know what you’ll be buying this week!
Infinity Wars Prime #1 - $4.99
Writer Gerry Duggan | Artist Mike Deodato Jr. (Marvel Comics)
Breaking Down the Debuts of Equalizer 2 and Mamma Mia 2
It was an incredibly tight race at the box office this weekend, with Sony’s The Equalizer 2 ($35.8 million) barely squeaking out a victory over Universal’s Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again ($34.4 million). Since the movies are just $1.4 million apart, it’s possible they could swap places when the box office actuals roll in on Monday. Until then, we’re breaking down the debuts for both these sequels and see how they stack up to the originals, 2014’s The Equalizer and 2008’s Mamma Mia.
It’s actually quite uncanny how close The Equalizer and The Equalizer 2 were in their box office debuts. The Equalizer pulled in $34.1 million in its opening weekend in late September 2014, down a bit from the estimated total of $35 million, which is just $800,000 off of The Equalizer 2’s $35.8 million estimate. This action-packed adaptation of the 1980s TV series of the same name opened in 3,236 theaters, earning a solid $10,549 per-screen average, en route to a domestic total of $101.5 million domestic and $192.3 million worldwide, from a $55 million budget. While these certainly aren’t blockbuster numbers, it was profitable enough to warrant a sequel, which seems to be following a very similar path as its predecessor.
Robert De Niro in Talks for New Joker Movie
Robert De Niro is moving closer to a deal to co-star in Warner Bros' upcoming movie about the Joker.
The Oscar-winning actor is in talks to play a formative character for the Joker, according to Deadline. De Niro will not be playing a villain in the film, and Deadline also reports that the financial aspects of De Niro's deal have been worked out.
The film, officially called Joker, will debut on October 4, 2019, with Joaquin Phoenix slated to take on the titular role. Todd Phillips (The Hangover) is set to direct the film, which will carry a lower budget than the studio's other superhero franchise movies. Joker will take place during the '80s and will be more like a gritty crime drama than a blockbuster superhero film.
Rocket League Loot Drop Rates Revealed
Ahead of Rocket League's big summer changes, like the coming introduction of Rocket Pass, developer Psyonix today pulled back the curtain on how crate and key drops work. In an official post, Psyonix revealed the drop rates for all five rarity levels for items and also for painted and certified attributes.
- Rare item: 55 percent
Nintendo Files Lawsuits Against Emulator Sites
Nintendo has recently filed a lawsuit with two ROM sites, according to PC Gamer, with a PDF of the lawsuit hosted on TorrentFreak.
LoveRETRO and LoveROMS are the target of the lawsuit, being told to remove all Nintendo titles from its servers and pay statutory damages of around $150,000 per Nintendo title, $2,000,000 for each trademark infringement, along with handing over of domain names and sources of their ROMs.
In response to the lawsuit, LoveROMS has removed all Nintendo games from their website, while games for other consoles still remain available, whereas LoveRETRO "has effectively been shut down until further notice."
Fallout 76 Beta Begins in October
The Fallout 76 B.E.T.A. (Break-it Early Test Application) will begin in October and Bethesda will be "selecting people who have pre-ordered the game from a participating retailer."
Announced by community administrator Jurassica on Bethesda's Fallout 76 general discussion forum, she continued to say "we'll start small and grow over time as we prepare for launch."
Jurassica also confirmed that "During the Fallout 76 panel at QuakeCon, we'll be answering some of your questions."
The panel will take place on August 10 at 9am PT/12pm ET and will see Todd Howard and other Bethesda Game Studios developers dive deeper into the newest entry of the Fallout franchise.
19 Shows We Want to See on Disney’s Streaming Service with The Clone Wars
In the fall of 2019, Disney will reportedly launch their new streaming service with a variety of new shows and movies designed to capitalize on some of the studio's most iconic and enduring properties. At Comic-Con, it was announced that Disney is reviving the beloved animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars for the streaming service, which got us thinking about other classic (and modern) properties under Disney's umbrella that are ripe for a reboot or resurrection.