The Sesame Street movie is setting out to a star-filled extravaganza. According to Collider, Chance the Rapper is currently in negotiations with Warner Bros. to join the upcoming Sesame Street Movie.
Chance the Rapper will be playing the mayor’s aid in the movie. Just how big of a role this will be is unknown at this point.
The plot follows the various Sesame Street characters finding themselves separated from the famous street. Lost and unable to find their way back, they team up with Sally Hawthorne (Anne Hathaway), who hosts a history show, to prove that Sesame Street exists and find their way back.
The Sesame Street theme song, famously, is about asking for directions on how to get to Sesame Street, which seems like it’ll be a key plot point.
Aside from the main Sesame Street cast, Hathaway is the only confirmed actor attached to the project. Comedian and writer Bo Burnham is contributing original songs to the film, hopefully adding some much needed humor to the movie.
Just like Anne Hathaway, Chance has a history with Sesame Street, having appeared previously on the show back in January 2019.
The Sesame Street movie is set to be released in 2021.
The Xbox ANZ team is at it again with another unique promotion for one of its upcoming games. The company has created 20 limited-edition bonsai trees to mark the launch of Ori and the Will of the Wisps later this month. The trees are meant to capture the essence of the “Spirit” trees from the Ori franchise–and they look pretty stunning.
“These decade old, real Bonsai trees have been designed to resemble the Spirit Tree, from the glowing ethereal lights in the delicate branches, to the moss-covered ground where the handcrafted mini Ori figurine stands,” Xbox ANZ said in a statement. “The Bonsais will emulate the energy of the Spirit Trees, helping guide fans through the game from the comfort of their living rooms.”
Xbox ANZ created 20 of the Spirit trees, and fans in Australia can visit the Xbox ANZ Facebook page to find out how to win one. Microsoft is also donating to the Greening Australia charity as part of its Ori campaign. Greening Australia is a non-profit group that raises money and awareness to restore and protect Australia’s local vegetation, an important issue, especially following the disastrous bushfires that ripped through the country earlier this year.
“It is no secret that Xbox fans are passionate about the enchanting universe of Ori, so we wanted to celebrate the launch of Ori and the Will of the Wisps by bringing the Spirit Tree right into Australian living rooms,” Xbox ANZ boss Dan Johnson said.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps launches on March 11 for Xbox One and PC. It’s also part of the Xbox Game Pass program, so subscribers can get it at no extra cost.
For more on Ori and the Will of the Wisps, check out GameSpot’s recent features below.
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
Two of our crew have played the first couple hours of Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and they have nothing but good news to report. Plus: GDC’s cancellation, Xbox Series X’s Quick Resume feature is even better than we thought, and more!
Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, or grab an MP3 download of this week’s episode. For more awesome content, check out the latest episode of IGN Unfiltered, featuring an interview with DOOM Eternal director Hugo Martin and executive producer Marty Stratton:
It’s already an incredibly fun year of Xbox coverage, and the best is yet to come. Join us!
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan, catch him on Unlocked, and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.
Death Stranding is officially coming to PC in June, and now another detail about the PC release has been confirmed. The game’s Steam page shows that Death Stranding for PC will use the Denuvo digital-rights-management (DRM) to try to thwart tampering.
By nature of being DRM in the first place, Denuvo is often seen as controversial software in the eyes of PC players. One of the main pieces of criticism of Denuvo is that the anti-piracy software has been shown to impact performance in some cases.
Denuvo the company understands that no DRM product can stop tampering. What Denuvo offers for publishers is a software that protects initial sales. “Games will be cracked at certain points; there is no uncrackable product. But what we do is protect the initial sales,” Denuvo’s Elmar Fischer told GI.biz in 2018.
Death Stranding will also release on the Epic Games Store, but the DRM situation on that platform has not been confirmed.
Death Stranding’s PC version is published by 505 Games. There will be a special crossover promotion that brings Death Stranding and Half-Life together for this release. The PC version of Death Stranding will feature a new photo mode, as well as support for ultrawide monitors and high frames rates.
Death Stranding was initially released in November 2019 exclusively for PlayStation 4. Here at GameSpot, we called it one of the best games of 2019, with reviewer Kallie Plagge scoring it a 9/10 and praising the game’s themes. “It’s positive without ignoring pain; in fact, it argues in both its story and its gameplay that adversity itself is what makes things worth doing and life worth living,” Kallie wrote. “It’s a game that requires patience, compassion, and love, and it’s also one we really need right now.”
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
Doom Eternal makes it very clear that it’s challenging players in ways Doom 2016 did not. It’s asking you to juggle multiple weapons and new mechanics that are essential for survival while still delivering that tight, breakneck pace in combat. But it’s not just an extra suite of abilities, wider combat arenas, and aggressive demons who hound you that push Doom Eternal to be more than its predecessor–you’ll also have multi-faceted boss fights to contend with.
At a recent Doom Eternal preview event at id Software’s Dallas, Texas studio, I played the fourth level of the single-player campaign, set in a sinister lab tucked into a snowy mountain top. This level had its share of intense combat scenarios and platforming sequences, but the boss fight that capped off the mission is what I’m still thinking about. You can see exactly what I’m talking about in the gameplay clip below.
Doom Hunter, classified as a super heavy demon, is highly mobile and shoots powerful rockets, and fighting one involves multiple steps. First, Doom Hunters are highly mobile and fire powerful rockets. They’re protected by an energy shield that has to be destroyed, so you’ll want to use the plasma rifle since it’s suited for breaking shields. Once you destroy the barrier, you have a short window of time to hit Doom Hunter with heavy firepower to inflict actual damage before their shields go back up. You must repeat this until their health bar is depleted, after which the second phase kicks in.
Doom Hunter becomes even more agile and aggressive in this phase, meaning close-range combat can spell danger. However, they’re not protected by shields, and I found keeping your distance and using the lock-on attachment for the rocket launcher to be the most effective method. At the last sliver of health, you’ll want to dash straight to the Doom Hunter for a glory kill.
Doom Hunter hovers and zips across the combat arena and deals a ton of damage. And you’ll fight two simultaneously.
It sounds simple enough until you have to fight two more Doom Hunters simultaneously in the subsequent combat arena. Both behave the same, but having two hounding you at the same time makes it difficult to keep tabs on their whereabouts. It’s also smart to focus on eliminating one before touching the other, but since they’re identical, it can be tough to keep track of your primary target.
All the while, other demons like imps, zombies, gargoyles, prowlers and such steadily spawn in to hunt you down. But the way Doom Eternal works, these smaller demons aren’t just nuisances to make things harder; they are also your resource pool. Since specific weapons work well on Doom Hunters, and ammo runs out quickly, demons make for good chainsaw fodder to keep ammo topped off. The same goes for getting health and armor in a pinch using glory kills and the flame belch, respectively.
Lock-on rockets from a distance are your best bet against the Doom Hunter’s second phase.
Combat arenas are quite spacious and allow you to stay mobile with jump pads, high-up platforms, and monkey bars scattered about. It’s a standard strategy for Doom Eternal in general, but it applies especially here with super heavy demons on your ass and resources in short supply.
The Doom Hunter boss fight is a great example of the “combat chess” id Software is trying to create in Doom Eternal. It’s an elevation of the controlled chaos we saw in the previous Doom game, while showcasing the new emphasis on resource management and increased mobility. What I played was about four hours into the campaign, and with the confirmed length of about 20 or more hours, this boss fight is just the beginning of what the game has in store.
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
DuckTales: Remastered has returned to digital storefronts after being pulled in August 2019. The game, which remasters the 1989 NES classic Disney’s DuckTales, has reappeared on Steam, Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii U. You can also grab it for Xbox One, as it’s part of the system’s backwards compatibility catalog.
An announcement post of the game’s reappearance is up on Capcom Unity, but no explanation for why it was delisted and has now reappeared is offered. “If you missed out on this colorful reimagining the first time around, now’s a great time to see what you’ve been missing out on,” the post reads.
There’s also no announcement of whether the game will come to current systems, but it’s fair to say that Switch port begging is now back on the menu for this title, which was released in 2013.
Although the game is regarded as a classic by many, GameSpot’s review of DuckTales: Remastered was less favorable. Critic Tom McShea was not a fan: “DuckTales Remastered will make you doubt happy memories from your childhood, or leave you baffled as to why people were nostalgic for such dull platforming in the first place.”
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
Star Wars director JJ Abrams is moving from outer space to the Wild West. The director’s first new movie since his Bad Robot label signed with Warner Bros. for $250 million is a supernatural thriller in a Western setting called “The Pinkerton,” according to reports.
The script was written by Daniel Casey and acquired by Warner Bros. for JJ Abrams and his team at Bad Robot to work on. It’s unclear what exact role Abrams himself has on The Pinkerton. There is also no word on who will star in the movie or when it will release; it’s very early days.
The official description of the film is being kept a secret, but The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline suggest that it will be a “supernatural revenge-western hybrid.”
The movie will presumably be related to the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, which is a group that played a major role in American law enforcement in the Wild West in the late 1800s. The US government hired Pinkerton agents to track down people like Jesse James, Butch Cassidy, and the Sundance Kid. The Pinkertons also are said to have stopped a plot to kill Abraham Lincoln during his presidential run. The group still exists today, and they sued Rockstar Games over Red Dead Redemption 2’s depiction of them.
Daniel Casey is the writer of the Fast & Furious movie F9, which is due for release later t his year. He also has worked with Abrams before, as he helped out with a re-write for 10 Cloverfield Lane, which Abrams produced.
Bad Robot’s next big production is HBO’s Westworld Season 3, which premieres later this month. Bad Robot’s massive deal with Warner Bros. also includes video games, but none of these projects have been announced.
Abrams was working on a video game with Fortnite creator Epic Games called Spyjinx. However, there have been no recent updates on the game. In fact, the game’s Twitter account hasn’t posted in more than two years. It remains to be seen if Bad Robot’s new deal with WarnerMedia may impact Spyjinx. As of September 2019, however, Spyjinx was still in development.
Playing the game through EA Access or Origin Access will get you the Animal Noseguard for the Acorn and the ability to redeem 30,000 coins each month from Rux’s Emporium. Origin Access Premier members will also get 200 Rainbow Stars every month and the chance to score the Lost Cat Lip for Oak and Acorn.
If you need a refresher on what EA Access is, it’s a gaming subscription service that allows you to play a “Vault” of EA titles on both the PS4 and Xbox One. The subscription costs $5 per month and the annual package runs at $30. Additional perks include a 10% discount on EA digital purchases and access to EA titles before they launch.
Origin Access is EA’s sister subscription that provides a similar service to PC players. It comes in a Basic tier and a Premier tier. Both Basic and Premier give access to the ever-evolving “Vault” of games and a 10% discount in the digital store. The Basic tier is $5 monthly and gives only 10 hours of early access to upcoming releases. Origin Access Premier runs at $15 monthly and includes new games’ extra content (like MTX bonuses and expansion packs) and full early access to upcoming games.
Lucasfilm and Disney have released a clip from Episode 3 of the final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, titled “On the Wings of Keeradaks.” The episode will make its debut on Disney+ on Friday, March 6, 2020.
Here’s how the streamer describes the episode: “Jedi Anakin Skywalker and the clones escape Wat Tambor’s trap and return to a local village to help defend the native people against a droid attack launched by Separatist Admiral Trench.”
Check out the clip in the video below or at the top of the page:
Disney+ also revealed new images from “On the Wings of Keeradaks” showcasing Anakin Skywalker, the Bad Batch, Wat Tambor, and more. You can see the photos in the gallery below:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s Tomogunchi virtual pets are now available and allow players to wear a cute dog, panda, ghost, and more on their wrist that each have moods and can all evolve depending on how you perform in-game.
Revealed by Activision through a fictional Rothwynn Industries paid advertisement, these new Tomogunchi can be purchased in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare store for 1,000 CP or $10 USD, and must be equipped to use.
When you first join a match with the Tomogunchi equipped, it will appear as an egg ready to hatch. Shortly thereafter, a new baby Tomogunchi will emerge as your new best friend. By taking care of its needs, you will be able to grow it into a Child, a Teen, and a full Adult. Rothwynn also teases there may be “multiple pet forms and options to discover.”
Pressing the d-pad up or the up-arrow key will allow players to use the “Watch Interact” gesture and check up on your Tomogunchi. By doing so, you will be able to see its four faces that represent its emotional states – Hungry, Dirty, Unruly, and Sleepy.
These faces will only appear when your one of your pet’s needs must be met. Kills, Objective Scoring, Killstreaks, and Wins all lead to a happy Tomogunchi. However, failing to do so can cause your friend to go “from happy to neutral, to sad, and finally… to the grave!”
Underneath your Tomogunchi is a “bonus charge” meter and represents “a bonus method of evolving your pet more quickly than normal.” Each pet requires either Capture, Killstreaks, Plants, or Top Three Wins to fill the meter.
