Yearly Archives: 2018
Fruit Ninja Developer Reportedly Lays Off Over Half Its Staff
Fruit Ninja developer Halfbrick Studios reportedly laid off over 30 people on Monday.
A report from CNET citing multiple sources claims Halfbrick cut its workforce by over half. Known best for free-to-play games like Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride, the Australian studio was touted as one of mobile gaming’s earliest success stories but things have not been going so well over the last few years.
After large artist lay-offs in 2015 and the closing of its Sydney office in 2016, recent reports indicate that the company’s plan to create new IP is being scaled back. Instead the remaining staff will apparently focus on “maximising opportunities” for the company's two most famous games.
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck to Add Inclusion Rider in All Future Producing Projects
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have revealed that they will support Inclusion Riders in all future projects.
The news comes from Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni, Head of Strategic Outreach at their joint production company Pearl Street Films.
Cox DiGiovanni put out a statement on Twitter on behalf of the company, noting that Damon and Affleck would be supporting the movement.
.@michaelb4jordan Thank you for always supporting broader representation in the industry. On behalf of Pearl Street Films, Matt Damon, @BenAffleck, Jennifer Todd, Drew Vinton & I will be adopting the #InclusionRider for all of our projects moving forward. https://t.co/ODit24D2Rb
Black Panther Editor Reveals Two Cut Scenes
Black Panther editor Michael Shawver has revealed two scenes cut from the film that added depth to character relationships - but has announced they’ll make it into DVD extras.
In an interview with The Wrap, Shawver discussed a scene that was, “hands down the most painful
to cut,” featuring a discussion between Wakanda’s General Okoye and Ambassador W’kabi, played by Danai Gurira and Daniel Kaluuya respectively. In the scene, Killmonger has already taken over Wakanda and the two characters are talking about what happens next.
“Those are two powerhouse actors and it was an incredible scene with so many layers to it,” said Shawver, “boyfriend and girlfriend, it was general and her advisor, all those things.” The scene was cut for pacing reasons with Shawver noting that his priority is to, “have your finger on the pulse of what the audience is feeling,” and that this scene was slowing down the movie’s penultimate act.
The Hidden Cost of Marvel’s Unbelievably Cheap Digital Comics Sales
Marvel Comics kicked off a new digital comics sale yesterday, one that sees roughly 300 graphic novels marked down to a measly 99 cents each on both Comixology and the Amazon Kindle store. That's about as good a deal as fans are likely to find these days. But while the prospect of being able to buy critically acclaimed books like Vision: The Complete Series and Thor by Walt Simonson for less than a buck is great for readers, this sale raises some significant concerns about an industry still grappling with the newfound challenges of the digital market.
Listing for ‘Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell 2018′ Spotted
A listing for Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 2018 has popped up over on Amazon's Canadian website, although the product is listed as "currently available" and has no information on the release date or platforms.
A Redditor spotted the product page - which hasn't been taken down at time of writing. There's no box art, and it's likely that the 2018 title is just a placeholder name.
As with all placeholder listings, it's entirely possible that this is a speculative entry by Amazon itself, which may have no knowledge of the game.
A Way Out Wants to Feel Like a Different Game in Every Scene
Most games make a point of selling you on one core mechanical concept, the interactions you’ll hopefully be enjoying for 10, 50, 100 hours. Halo’s ‘gunfeel’, Bayonetta’s Witch Time, Mount Your Friends’, er, physics. Each one should feel good enough to keep you playing, no matter how repetitious it might actually be. A Way Out is almost stubbornly trying to do the exact opposite.
Every time Josef Fares, the game’s director, and I finish playing a section of his co-op narrative adventure game, he turns round, smiles and tells me that the game will never do that again. In half an hour of skipping between various scenes I’ve crept through a stealth section, gone spear fishing, taken part in a police chase, balanced on wheelchairs, button-mashed through 2D brawler combat, and played Connect Four. A single run-through’s aimed for 6-8 hours. There’s going to be a lot to do.
DC’s Plastic Man Stretches Into New Miniseries By Birds of Prey Creative Team
DC has announced a Plastic Man six-issue miniseries from Birds of Prey duo, Gail Simone and Adriana Melo, that will go on sale in June.
“When I think about Plastic Man, he was genuinely the first funny super hero,” said writer, Gail Simone, in an interview with SyFy Wire. "I’m obviously attracted to that. There’s also this great mixture of tragedy in there, too, that I love.
Jeff Goldblum Will Appear in Jurassic World Evolution
Jeff Goldblum will reprise his role as Dr. Ian Malcolm in the upcoming Jurassic World Evolution.
Reported by EW, it's not clear how much Malcolm will appear in the park building sim, although Goldblum himself said:
"I'm going to be with you the whole game, as Dr. Ian Malcolm - that's the character that I play in those Jurassic Park movies. I highly recommend it. It gets 10 Goldblums out of a possible 10 Goldblums - that's my highest rating."
EW's report seems to indicate that Malcolm will act as a tutorial or adviser of some sort, saying that he "will be around to guide players through their decision-making process."
Battlefield 1 Incursions Servers Going Offline For Now
Battlefield 1's Incursions mode's multiplayer servers are going offline today as EA works on "new developments".
The 5v5 competitive mode is very much geared around re-framing the gameplay in terms of eSports - something we found out at Gamescom 2017, when IGN's UK news editor Joe took a sound thrashing. It recently moved from the closed alpha to the Community Environment on PC, and now that EA and DICE have gathered feedback and suggestions from players, the multiplayer servers will be temporarily unavailable as they develop and implement changes.
Xbox One, Halo 5 and Two Controllers for £373, Sea of Thieves Xbox Controller for £50
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