Yearly Archives: 2018

Starlink: Battle for Atlas Brings Toys Back to Life

I didn't know much about Starlink: Battle for Atlas going into E3 this year, other than it existed, it had space combat, and Ubisoft is making it. But when I saw the Arwing and Starfox models, complete with guest appearance by Shigeru Miyamoto at the Ubisoft conference, my level of interest grew substantially. After finally getting a chance to demo the game on the show floor, I have to say not only to I have a deeper knowledge of Starlink: Battle for Atlas, but I think I might be in love.

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Valkyria Chronicles 4’s New Class Came From a Bug In the First Game

Speaking with Valkyria Chronicles producer Kei Mikami at E3, he revealed that Valkyria Chronicles 4’s new class, the Grenadier, was actually inspired by a bug they found during the development of the first game.

Apparently toward the end of development, a bug would pop up that caused your squad’s tanks to shoot grenades instead of shells. While they were able to fix the bug, the team actually enjoyed this long range grenade style of play.

They even wanted to add it as a new class in the first Valkyria Chronicles, but unfortunately it was too late in development to make that large of a change and the idea had to be scrapped. They tried to bring it back for the second Valkyria Chronicles, but couldn’t make it work there either.

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Aquaman: First Looks at Black Manta and Queen Atlanna

UPDATE: New photos of Aquaman characters Ocean Master (Patrick Wilson) and Vulko (Willem Dafoe) have now been released as well.

The original report follows.

The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly features a cover story on Aquaman, including our first look at Nicole Kidman as Arthur Curry's mother, Queen Atlanna.

The EW cover below also features new images of Jason Momoa as the title character and Amber Heard as Mera:

Aquaman-EW-cover1

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Cyberpunk 2077 Has a ‘Cool’ Stat, Here’s What It Does

Cyberpunk 2077 is based on a tabletop RPG called Cyberpunk 2020, and while there are plenty of differences, the somewhat ambiguous ‘Cool’ stat was taken straight from the source material.

But what does the Cool stat actually do? Cyberpunk 2020 creator Mike Pondsmith tells me it’s not just about how cool your character is, but also how well they can keep cool under pressure.

“Most gonna fights end because someone loses it and can't keep it together,” Pondsmith said, which he learned from speaking with a friend in the Rangers. “I wanted to get that sense of you project that you're together, you can keep it together.”

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Where to Watch the 2018 World Cup Online

The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicks off on June 14, with the first of 64 matches featuring Russia facing off with Saudi Arabia at 11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT on Thursday.

For the traditional types, the World Cup airs on TV through July 15, and will be broadcast in the US in English on Fox and Fox Sports 1, and in Spanish on Telemundo and NBC Universo. Fox Sports and Telemundo will also stream the matches online if you have a cable subscription, plus you'll be able to watch the games via mobile for iOS and Android through the Fox Sports app and Telemundo Deportes en Vivo if you sign in with your cable provider.

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What Did You Think of This Week’s Comics?

E3 may be dominating the entertainment headlines this week, but it was still a significant week for the comic book industry. In particular, Marl's Fresh Start relaunch continues to show promise thanks to a new issue of Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman's Venom and the debut of Jason Aaron and Mike De Mundo's Thor.

Scroll down to check out our new reviews and thinkpieces, and be sure to let us know your favorite books of the week in the comments below.

Thor #1 Review

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Batman Arkham Developer Rocksteady Makes Statement About Skipping E3

The developer of the Batman Arkham series of games Rocksteady has made a statement addressing its absence from E3 this year.

Game director and co-founder of Rocksteady Studios Sefton Hill posted a message on Twitter acknowledging disappointment from fans.

rocksteadytweet

In his tweet, Hill says the message, which thanks fans for their enthusiasm towards the next project and promises to reveal it when it's ready, is from the entire Rocksteady team.

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Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is the Castlevania Game You’ve Been Waiting For

Is it theft if you steal from yourself? The most recent demo of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night certainly begs the question. If there was ever any doubt in your mind, dispel it now: Bloodstained IS a classic 2D Castlevania in anything but name, brought to life through the vision of longtime series torchbearer Koji Igarashi.

Yes, the graphics are 2.5D and yes, nobody's a Belmont. But from level design to weapon structure to character customization to monster behavior, Bloodstained bleeds pure Castlevania. And that's a very good thing.

The E3 demo picks up where previous slices leave off, starting at the end of a sailing ship battle and progressing through a village and into a castle setting. Conversations pop up occasionally as several new NPCs appear, fleshing out some parts of Miriam's story, but I spent the bulk of my time exploring as monstrous flying beasts, skeletal dogs, demonic archers, and various other cannon-fodder-of-the-damned tried their best to kill me.

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