Author: Trafficblast

Black Panther

US release date: January 29

Black Panther is immensely brilliant for a plethora of reasons. It’s Marvel’s first movie–Blade aside–starring a black actor. In fact, the vast majority of the cast are people of color, and there were plenty of stories, tweets, and videos of black people around the world proclaiming their excitement after seeing the film. That was simply great to see.

As for Black Panther as a MCU movie itself, that’s a whole other story. Marvel played with its character’s personalities for this one. Your titular hero wasn’t a wise-cracking jokester, something we’ve become accustomed to with Marvel’s movies. He’s overly serious, comes from a loving family, has bodyguards, and runs his own country. He is the exact opposite of everything we’ve seen in other Marvel films. Chadwick Boseman is transformative and a breath of fresh air for the superheroes in this role, bringing something completely different to the table. Then, there’s the villain for the movie, Erik Killmonger, played by the retainer-breaking Michael B. Jordan. He’s despicable, ruthless, and evil–right up until you learn more about his character and start to understand the method for his madness and feel sympathy for him. A great villain is one who is defined well enough that the viewer could agree with the antagonist’s motives if they were in his or her shoes, and that’s exactly what Black Panther does with Killmonger.

While there’s some mediocre CGI in the boring final battle, elsewhere there is a great scope and scale there that we haven’t seen in a Marvel movie, and the cast of important secondary characters keeps things pretty exciting. More than anything else, it’s a great establishing moment for Wakanda as a force, which helps set the stage for the Wakanda fight in Infinity War.

It’s 2018, and Marvel has perfected its formula for bringing in new characters without delivering an origin story. Black Panther is a phenomenal success not just for being a great movie, but for reaching all corners of the planet, getting the world to shout “Wakanda forever” together in an awesome cultural event. — Mat Elfring

US premiere date: August 6

Breaking Bad is one of the best television shows ever made. Its spin-off, Better Call Saul, from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, might be even better. Sure, Saul doesn’t have the addictive elements of the cancer survivor-turned-meth cook’s story, but it’s a stunning example of expert execution. It’s also more heartbreaking.

Television is littered with remakes, spin-offs, sequels, and prequels, yet Saul has never been concerned with catching up to Breaking Bad’s story, nor the heavy-handedness of empty Easter eggs. Its brilliance is a result of its methodical, glacial pace. It’s not about the destination, it’s about the ride through New Mexico’s underbelly.

If you’ve been sitting shotgun since 2015, this should be no surprise. The story centers on Jimmy McGill’s tragic downfall and life-long battle with his own demons. It’s packed full with the legalities (and illegalities) of the justice system, the most mundane clerical duties, cold-blooded cartel power dynamics, and illegitimate entrepreneurs. Season 4 featured Jimmy’s journey from disbanded lawyer to Saul Goodman (the finale even gave us its title character’s namesake). It wasn’t Anakin Skywalker turning to the dark side, but McGill’s transformation was extremely haunting and affecting. His partner-in-sometimes-crime, Kim Wexler, played by the incredible Rhea Seehorn, was left repulsed beyond belief.

If we had to pick one reason to watch Season 4, it’s Seehorn. She’s become the backbone of a show littered with exceptional actors. She’s evolved into Saul’s co-protagonist, but someone who doesn’t quite have the stomach for all of McGill’s cons. Kim is a lawyer full of confidence, anxiety and dread. Her anxiety quickly shifts to the viewer, who spends each and every episode on pins and needles. All we know of her fate is this: She never showed up on Breaking Bad.

If that’s not enough, Better Call Saul feels written by experienced, tactical surgeons–or better yet, by expert chemists. The way Gilligan and company purposefully back themselves into a corner just to prove they can cleverly write themselves out of it, perfectly mirrors the agility of their main character. Make no mistake, we’ve become junkies for what Gilligan and company have cooked up. — Ryan Peterson

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds started out as an early-access PC game before coming to Xbox One last year for a period of console exclusivity. That period is officially coming to an end, because PUBG is set to release for PlayStation 4 on December 7. It took a while, but better late than never.

The PS4 version will include most of the content the other versions contain, although custom matches and event mode will be arriving later. Publisher PUBG Corp. also notes that “map and mode selection will be turned on after servers fill up to a suitable population that can support these features.” You can find more details on the PUBG PS4 FAQ.

If you’re a PS4 owner who’s been jonesing to see what all the fuss is about with this blockbuster battle royale game, you might be wondering where you can get it and what bonus goodies you can expect. Read on, and all your questions will be answered.

Pre-Order Bonus

Pre-order PUBG for PlayStation 4, and you’ll get some Naughty Dog digital goodies: a Nathan Drake outfit from Uncharted and Ellie’s backpack from The Last of Us.

Pre-Order PUBG PS4 Disc Edition

This version comes with the pre-order bonuses listed above, and it comes on a disc.

Pre-Order PUBG PS4 Digital Editions

Looter’s Edition

Sony is offering three digital editions of the game on PSN. The Looter’s Edition is the standard edition. Although the game description states it comes with “unknown avatar,” it seems safe to assume that means it will come with the Uncharted and Last of Us cosmetic items detailed above. It also comes with a PS4 theme based on the game’s Miramar map.

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Survivor’s Edition

The Survivor’s Edition costs an additional $20, and includes everything from the Looter’s Edition, as well as the Vikendi Event Pass, 2,300 G-Coins, and 20,000 BP.

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Champion’s Edition

The Champion’s Edition costs $10 more than the Survivor’s Edition and comes with all the same items, except it includes 6,000 G-Coins rather than 2,300.

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Epic Games has announced Fortnite Creative, a new mode that will give players the opportunity to design games and build unique Fortnite experiences with friends. Fortnite Creative will be available to play on December 13, but those that pick up the Season 7 Battle Pass can check it out from December 6.

“It’s a brand new way to experience the world of Fortnite,” Epic says on its website. “Design games, race around the island, battle your friends in new ways and build your dream Fortnite. It’s all happening on your own private island where everything you make is saved.”

Epic has said it plans to add new features and make improvements to Fortnite Creative in coming updates. “Like Battle Royale and Save the World, we’re committed to making this bigger and better over time,” it explained.

As noted in the video above, Epic is expecting initial rollout of Fortnite Creative to be “rough” and is encouraging those interested to get in early via the Battle Pass. Fortnite Season 7 is set to launch on December 6 and, alongside it, the new Battle Pass will be available. In addition to early access to Fortnite Creative, the Battle Pass entitles owners to a special set of challenges every week for as long as the season lasts. In turn, this means they can accrue Battle Stars faster and unlock cosmetics quicker.

Fortnite Creative mode is one of the many ways Epic Games is encouraging players to keep returning to the game. The company has made a point of trying to both vary and broaden the kind of experiences it offers, and the successes resulting from this has had a knock on effect on Epic as a business. On December 4 it revealed its own marketplace, which competes directly with Valve’s Steam.

The Epic Games marketplace seems to be very developer friendly, giving creators 88% of their revenue. There is no profit-sharing and, instead, it’s an 88/12 split between developers and Epic for listing on its marketplace. Developers that use Unreal Engine to create their game will have the 5% engine royalty covered by Epic out of its own 12% cut. Although this incentive encourages developers to use Unreal Engine, Epic says games created using other engines are also welcome.

2018 was yet another big year for PC games, but which were our favourites? With just a few weeks left in the year, this week’s episode of GameSpot’s PC-focused show Steam Punks is turning its focus to the best PC games of the year.

Jess begins by praising Lucas Pope’s Return of the Obra Dinn, which she says is one of the most unique, compelling, and challenging games of the year. Ed sings the praises of the mech strategy game Into the Breach, while Jess explains why Unavowed from Dave Gilbert’s Wadjet Eye Games is the best point-and-click adventure game of the year. The difficult survival strategy game Frostpunk was also one of Edmond’s favourite PC games of the year, while Jess talks about all the reasons she enjoyed Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire this year.

Edmond and Jess also respond to your questions and comments about last week’s Steam Punks, where we talked about why Fallout 76’s controls on PC are a mess. Be sure to watch the full video in the embed above to see it all! And come back next week where Jess and Edmond are breaking down the most disappointing PC games from this year.

Nintendo has plugged the upcoming Game Awards, with the implication that we could see something related to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at the event. The tweet doesn’t explicitly promise any reveals, though, so it could just be tying the two together for promotional purposes.

The Game Awards will air on Thursday evening, just hours before the launch of Smash Ultimate. This wasn’t lost on Nintendo, which told its fans to tune in live before the game launch. It’s possible, though far from definite, that the company has a reveal planned for the event. It could be presenting info regarding the upcoming Smash DLC, for example, or another project altogether. The Game Awards itself has teased ten new announcements along with updates on released games.

Of course, tying the two together could be completely innocuous, as Nintendo is up for some awards itself. The company may just be promoting a big industry event, with plans to attend.

The Game Awards will kick off on Thursday at 8:30 PM ET / 5:30 PM PT / 1:30 AM GMT (Friday) / 12:30 PM AET (Friday). You can watch it right here at GameSpot. In the meantime check out the full list of nominees.