Month: July 2020

Courteney Cox is reportedly set to return to the Scream movie universe.

Cox will reprise her role as reporter Gale Weathers, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She was last seen in that role in 2011’s Scream 4. This news comes two months after it was announced that David Arquette is set to reprise his role as Sheriff Dewey Riley in the fifth Scream movie. As for what Cox’s involvement in the story will be, not much more is known. Considering that her role throughout the series has been to investigate the murders of Ghostface, it’s easy to imagine that she’ll probably be picking back up on the killer’s trail.

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The news of a fifth Scream movie came earlier this year when it was reported that Spyglass Media Group would produce the film. The movie will be directed by Ready or Not’s Matthew Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. As for what to expect, it’s still unclear if this is a soft reboot with a continuation of the previous Scream movies or a hard reboot with no connection to what’s come before.

Betinelli-Olpin, Gillette, and Chad Villela are collectively known as horror film group, Radio Silence. This trio is responsible for last year’s Ready or Not, which saw Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett direct and Villela produce. We gave Ready or Not a 7.6 out of 10 in our review.

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Lantern Entertainment acquired the rights to Scream after the company took control of film and TV Scream assets following a Weinstein Co. bankruptcy sale in 2018. Scream 5’s production will shoot in Wilmington, North Carolina and casting is currently underway, according to THR.

The first Scream — directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson — was released in 1996. It starred Drew Barrymore, Neve Campbell, Cox, and Matthew Lillard, among others. The slasher “GhostFace” wore a mask inspired by Edvard Munch painting, The Scream, while preying on Campbell’s character. The film made over $100 million at the domestic box office and spawned a number of sequels as well as an MTV television series.

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Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

Heads up, monster movie fans: right now you can grab a Blu-ray copy of Shin Godzilla for just $5 on Amazon. It includes a DVD and digital copy of the film as well. That’s quite a deal, but it’s unclear how long it will last. That means you should probably grab it before the price goes back up.

The movie, from the Japanese studio Toho, came out in 2016 and acts as a kind of reboot for the franchise, paying homage to the original 1954 Godzilla film along the way.

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If you’re on the fence about dropping a fiver on the film, check out our 8.5/10 Shin Godzilla review.

From the review: “Shin Godzilla provides a new origin for the legendary kaiju, establishing its own unique style while taking inspiration from the classics in all the right ways. Some fans might be disappointed by the monster’s lack of screentime or confused by the complex bureaucracies at the film’s center, but it all comes together by the end.”

Again, it’s unclear how long the deal will last, so pick up a copy before the discount goes away.

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Chris Reed is IGN’s shopping and commerce editor. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

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August is almost here, and one of the first August events that Pokemon Go players have to look forward to is August’s Community Day. This month’s event takes place next Saturday, August 8, and as usual, it’ll give players everywhere a chance to catch a Shiny Pokemon, learn a special event-exclusive move, and more. To help you prepare, we’ve rounded up everything you need to know about August’s Community Day below.

August’s Featured Pokemon: Magikarp

This month’s featured Pokemon is an unexpected choice: Magikarp, the notoriously useless fish Pokemon. All throughout August’s Community Day, Magikarp will appear in the wild much more often than normal, and you’ll have a greater chance to encounter a Shiny Magikarp during the event.

Although Magikarp itself isn’t particularly exciting, August’s Community Day is a good opportunity to stock up on Magikarp Candy. You’ll need to have a lot of those on hand if you want a Gyarados, as it takes a whopping 400 Magikarp Candy to evolve the Pokemon, so take advantage of the increased Magikarp spawns while you can.

August’s Community Day Move: Aqua Tail

If you manage to collect enough Candy to evolve Magikarp into Gyarados, it’ll learn the exclusive Community Day move Aqua Tail. Gyarados cannot normally learn this attack in Pokemon Go, making this your only chance to get it.

In order for your Gyarados to learn Aqua Tail, you’ll need to evolve Magikarp up to two hours after the Community Day ends. Any Magikarp you evolve during this time frame will know Aqua Tail when they become Gyarados, even if you caught them prior to the event.

August Community Day Hours

Just as the past few Community Days, August’s event will run for six hours instead of the traditional three, from 11 AM to 5 PM local time. This means you’ll have until 7 PM local time to evolve Magikarp and obtain a Gyarados that knows Aqua Tail.

Community Day Special Research

Niantic will offer an event-exclusive Special Research story called “Making a Splash” during August’s Community Day. To access it, you’ll need to purchase a ticket from Pokemon Go’s in-game shop for $1 USD. There will also be event-exclusive Field Research tasks. These will be available to all players and will net you additional Magikarp Candy, helping you stock up on enough to get Gyarados.

Other Bonuses

In addition to increased Magikarp spawns, Niantic will offer a couple of other bonuses during August’s Community Day. This time, you’ll earn triple the usual amount of Stardust for catching Pokemon. On top of that, any Incense you use during the event will remain active for three hours rather than the usual 30 minutes. Finally, Niantic will be selling a special Community Day box that contains the following items:

• 30 Ultra Balls
• 1 Elite Charged TM
• 6 Star Pieces
• 1 Incense

EA has revealed more of the 50 new Superstar X-Factor abilities in Madden NFL 21. After detailing Quarterback abilities yesterday, the latest update focuses on the offensive side of the ball with wide receivers and tight ends like George Kittle, Julio Jones, Tyreek Hill, and more.

Superstar X-Factors are powerful abilities designed to mimic the real-life talent and characteristics of some of the NFL’s best players. By completing specific milestones with an X-Factor player, their special ability will trigger as they enter the zone and only end after certain Knockout conditions are met, such as a dropped catch or consecutive non-targets.

Here is the latest X-Factor reveals:

George Kittle: Yac’em Up–Making house calls.

Zone: Increased chance to break the first post-catch tackle.

Trigger: Three 20+ yard receptions.

Knockout: One drop, incompletion, or three consecutive non-targets.

Stefon Diggs and Tyreek Hill: Rac’em Up–Runner after the catch.

Zone: Wins RAC catches versus single coverage.

Trigger: Three receptions of 20+ Yards.

Knockout: One drop, incompletion, or three consecutive non-targets.

Amari Cooper, Keenan Allen, and Michael Thomas: Max Security–Surehanded receivers.

Zone: High success rate on possession catches.

Trigger: Four consecutive completions.

Knockout: One drop, incompletion, or three consecutive non-targets.

Adam Thielen, Davante Adams, DeAndre Hopkins, Julio Jones, Mike Evans, and Travis Kelce: Double Me–A jump-ball pro.

Zone: Wins aggressive catches versus single coverage.

Trigger: Two receptions of 20+ yards in air.

Knockout: One drop, incompletion, or three consecutive non-targets.

Madden NFL 21 launches on August 28 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. EA is also offering Dual Entitlement, allowing players who purchase a next-gen PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X the option to upgrade their copy of Madden NFL 21 from the current generation consoles at no additional cost. For more details, check out our Madden NFL 21 pre-order guide.

BioWare continues to update, support, and evolve Anthem, the 2019 online looter-shooter published by EA. BioWare Austin studio director Christian Dailey posted a new blog post today that covers the changes coming to Anthem’s loot and equipment systems–and they sound quite significant.

For loot, Dailey acknowledged that BioWare “fell short” in creating a loot system for Anthem that was deep and engaging enough. In response, BioWare recognized it needed to basically start over and build a new system “from the ground up.”

The new loot system in Anthem aims to “respect your time,” “embrace choice,” “create a rewarding loot experience,” and “keep it accessible and immediate,” among others.

In the future, Anthem players can expect a higher frequency of loot drops that contain items that are better across the board. Additionally, BioWare is planing to give players the ability to seek out specific loot instead of relying on randomness. There will be specific quests and specialized vendors that players can engage with to find the loot they want.

Additionally, BioWare is shaping the new Anthem loot experience to make the drops feel more exciting and notable, while the developer is adding “rare enemies” that drop a lot of rare loot at once. The new loot system is also aiming to give players the ability to see and equip the loot right away. Additionally, a new “equipment sheet” will be added that shows what you have equipped.

BioWare is also planning for the new Anthem loot system to “scale for the future.” The revised loot system will scale when the power cap rises, BioWare said.

All of these changes are a work in progress and they are subject to change as development continues. BioWare said it’s still “early days,” and the studio plans to continue to test these changes and experiment with them “over the coming months.”

BioWare is also making changes to Anthem’s gunplay. The changes will make the game feel “more responsive,” BioWare said, adding that enemies will react to hits “near instantly” thanks to advancements made to the client side.

“We are looking into the role of melee items and builds, and of course, being able to spend skill points to unlock new types of equipment and synergies,” Dailey said. “One of the things I am most excited about is seeing all the awesome new weaponry concepts based on our factions.”

Finally, Dailey reminded players that these are substantial changes that won’t be rolled out immediately. “I want to set expectations that there is a lot of work behind each of these and in some cases a rather large tech undertaking–this is not an ‘easy fix’ and will take time,” Dailey said.

This new update from Dailey follows and earlier blog post from May where the developer set expectations about how Anthem’s overhaul will take a long time to unfold.

Here’s a more detailed breakdown of what’s to come, as written by BioWare:

Anthem Loot Changes

• Respect Your Time
  • Increase the frequency of Loot Drops
  • Loot is viable more often; All items are better and more competitive, but there’s still a chance of getting something exceptional
  • All loot rarities have strategic value throughout progression

• Embrace Choice
  • You can pursue specific loot without relying on randomness alone; Quests; Specialized Vendors; Unique Loot Tables
  • Modify your loot, including rerolling inscriptions and leveling up items

• Create a Rewarding Loot Experience
  • Loot feels exciting and more noticeable when it drops, and is celebrated when collected
  • Rare enemies (aka “walking treasure chests”) create exciting moments to get a burst of loot all at once

• Keep it Accessible and Immediate
  • Reveal and equip loot right away
  • Complete revamp of the equipment sheet – including a detailed stat sheet (not shown)
  • The equipment sheet can be accessed from anywhere, allows you to easily see what you have equipped in each slot

• Reliability of Equipment and Rewards
  • Each item has an inscription “budget”, based on its Power and Rarity
  • No more useless items because they were missing must-have inscriptions (see “Increased weapon dmg by +225%”)
  • Exceptional items are about getting the exact types of bonuses you want, instead of maxing values on every bonus

• Scale for the Future
  • Your power cap can be easily increased, and the loot system scales accordingly
  • Advanced telemetry data allows us to identify trends and make meaningful balance changes

If you’re a fan of Hideo Kojima’s work–from the famed Metal Gear Solid series to the divisive Death Stranding–you likely know that he’s had an interesting career path over the years, particularly when he parted ways with his longtime employer Konami in 2015. However, what you probably don’t know is that he held several interesting jobs as a student prior to joining Konami in 1986.

According to a recent tweet from Kojima Productions, Kojima worked as a wedding photographer while in university, as well as a live-in gardener during holidays. Kojima says this gig in particular was quite hazardous, as he once got stung by “at least” 10 bees at once, and he came down with a case of lacquer poisoning due to his work there.

When he worked as a gardener, Kojima’s boss instructed him never to decline any offer of food or drink from a client, because it would be rude. In one case, Kojima fell from a tree after drinking beer that he was offered, and another time he had to throw away his packed lunch when the client insisted on serving him lunch. Kojima concludes the interview by saying that these student jobs helped him learn the Japanese spirit of hospitality, known as “omotenashi”–which involves prioritizing a guest’s needs above your own in every possible situation–which in turn prepared him for his career in games.

Recently, Kojima appeared to tease a sequel for Death Stranding in another tweet, though he could just be teasing his fans. In another interview, Kojima also said that the thematic connections between Death Stranding and the coronavirus pandemic are entirely coincidental, joking that if he were a prophet, his games would sell better.

This article contains some spoilers for The Witcher novels and Netflix show.

While HBO is trying to recapture the magic of Game of Thrones by developing a prequel spinoff series, Netflix is looking to capitalize on the popularity of its own blockbuster fantasy show The Witcher in the exact same way. The streaming service announced Monday that series showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich and Declan de Barra, who wrote The Witcher episode ”Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials,” are developing a six-part live-action prequel show called The Witcher: Blood Origin.

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What Is The Witcher: Blood Origin About?

The series will depict the origins of the first Witcher and explore what the Elven world was like before humans arrived and largely wiped out their civilizations. Blood Origin is set 1,200 years before the events of The Witcher, a period of time that hasn’t been explored in any real depth in the novels and short stories by Andrzej Sapkowski that inspired both the Netflix show and The Witcher video games. But there are plenty of hints in those written works that might give viewers an idea of what to expect from Blood Origin.

The unnamed world of The Witcher is part of a multiverse similar to the Nine Worlds of Norse mythology or the planes of Dungeons & Dragons. Both elves and dwarves are said to have arrived in the world of The Witcher from somewhere else, and a different world of elves inspired in part by the fairies of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is referenced in both The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and the novel The Lady in the Lake. Since the Netflix series is not holding anything in the games as canon, only lore from The Witcher books is likely to be relevant in the prequel series.

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When Does The Witcher: Blood Origin Take Place?

When it comes to The Witcher timeline, Blood Origin will be set around the time of the Conjunction of Spheres, a cataclysmic event when many of the different realms collided. This destroyed some worlds, created new ones, and caused others to merge. In the world of The Witcher, it led to the arrival of many of the monsters that Witchers fight as well as that most persistent monster of all, humans.

Expect the tone of this series to land somewhere between Syfy’s Krypton and the most recent Planet of the Apes film series, as it tells the story of a civilization doomed to fall. By the time Geralt of Rivia is born, all nonhuman races have been relegated to second-class citizens viewed with hatred and suspicion by the humans who rule the world. Humans have built their greatest cities, like Cintra, on the ruins of the wonders the elves constructed. Some elves destroyed their own works rather than see them fall into the hands of the conquerors.

The elves underestimated the threat that humans posed since the new arrivals seemed primitive by comparison, but humans had two big advantages. The first is that while elves are very long-lived, they are only fertile while they are relatively young. Young elves don’t have the best impulse control and they are the most likely to start fights with humans, meaning their casualties also reduced the species’ future fertility while humans continued to outbreed them.

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The second big edge is magic. The Conjunction of the Spheres brought with it an influx in Chaos, the kind of magic harnessed to great effect by mages like Yennefer and Triss Merigold. Humans proved better able to harness its dangerous power than elves. The elves focused their magical efforts on a breeding program meant to produce children who would be particularly capable mages. Unfortunately, that didn’t go quite as they planned.

The Witcher: Blood Origin Story and the Conjunction of the Spheres

Blood Origin’s name is likely a reference to the origin of the elder blood, the magical bloodline that produced the exceptional abilities demonstrated by Ciri and her mother Pavetta, who are called Sources. The last elven carrier of the bloodline was the sorceress Lara Dorren, but she fell in love with the human mage Cregennan of Lod and they had a half-elf child. Lara died shortly after giving birth, ending the full elven version of the line.

While that romance takes place well after the Conjunction of the Spheres, the fact that both human mages and elves live for a very long time makes it a topic rife with potential for the series to focus on. Neither civilization approved of the relationship between Lara and Cregennan, so it also makes for a perfect way to tell the tragic story through the lens of two people who wished to see their species come together rather than fight. Thankfully, Netflix has promised that all of the action will be taking place in a single timeline for this series, so their story should be easier to follow than Season 1 of The Witcher was, even if it does span the centuries.

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Genetics also played a role in the creation of the first witchers, with human mages inventing a mutagenic mixture dubbed the Trial of the Grasses to instil warriors with the power to better fight monsters. The secret to making the formula is closely guarded by the mages in order to control the witchers, who are sterile and hence can’t pass the traits down normally.

This is a whole lot of mythology to cram into six episodes, so hopefully the show’s writers will find a way to do it more elegantly than they did in the often confusing main series. There’s no release date set yet for The Witcher: Blood Origin, so it will likely be some time before we find out.