Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Gaming

  • Latest ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ Dev Stream Revealed Red Room Takeover Start Date and Black Widow’s MCU Skin

    Latest ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ Dev Stream Revealed Red Room Takeover Start Date and Black Widow’s MCU Skin

    Marvel’s Avengers has gone through quite the week, as various of their MCU skins have leaked online. We also had our first event with the Tachyon Anomalies, so we’ve been anxiously awaiting some information on the upcoming Red Room Takeover. Luckily, we got an official look and some more details in the latest developer stream by Crystal Dynamics.

    • Of course, we got some details on the development of some bugs. Priority Mission rewards have been fixed and the next patch will fix the missing Black Widow Outrider glasses. The Kate Bishop nameplate has also been replaced.
    • It looks like we are getting the Red Room early, as it will consist of two parts. The first one will kick off next week on May 6th and is titled Sky Protocols. The second part will release later in May but no date has been given. It will include brand new mission chains, animated nameplates, and Black Widow will be a recommended character. The actual HARM room takeover will be n the second part.
    • We will get a new set of Red Room-inspired outfits for all our heroes.  They also revealed Black Widow’s MCU skin officially that’ll be adapted from Avengers: Endgame. It’ll be made available next week alongside the Red Room’s first part.

     

     

    • Crystal Dynamics has hinted that further details on post-Level 50 progressions will follow in the upcoming weeks. They will give us insight even before they finish their development on it, and they might even tease some new skins potentially.
    • Omega-Level Threats continue to be in good shape. They are working on balancing and some minor bugs on the Labs OLT. They’ve teased some curious additions to the bosses that may add some new complexity in the future.
    • Patrol Mode might get a spotlight in the future, where they also want to talk bout future additions. So, we can expect them to grow as time goes on.

    The MCU skin certainly looks like it got plucked directly out of the film. I am surprised that the next event is happening so soon after the last one ended. We’ve seen a lot of new additions, and active communication has been evolving with each stream. They are offering further details and are actively offering some insight into ongoing developments. Patrol Mode especially has been highlighted quite a bit. So, it could be a positive sign for it to release earlier than initially expected.

     

    Source: Twitch

  • Activison’s Continued Focus on ‘Call of Duty’ Squashes Hopes on ‘Crash 4’ Sequel

    Activison’s Continued Focus on ‘Call of Duty’ Squashes Hopes on ‘Crash 4’ Sequel

    After the release of Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, we’ve been wondering what might be next for the franchise’s future. Toys for Bob was also the mastermind behind the Sypro Reignited Trilogy. So, it was safe to assume they might even tackle a new entry in the fantasy franchise. Recent announcements by the developer put a damper on those hopes, as they revealed they will be supporting Call of Duty: Warzone‘s third season. At first, it seemed simply like a brief departure, but a tweet by Crash 4′s character designer, Nicholas Kole, may have hinted at Activision’s continued focus on the Call of Duty franchise.

     

    Kole’s work on both Crash 4 and Spyro added a lot of new energy to the projects. The cartoon-inspired designs were able to translate the once very polygonal characters into the modern-day. The fact he is no longer working at Toys for Bob isn’t a great sign if we were hoping to see that style continue with either franchise. There is the hope that Beenox could be working on a sequel, as they were heavily involved with the remake of Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled, but it seems that VGC’s Andy Robinson has heard that Activision has completely shifted its studios to work on Call of Duty.

    What does this mean for the future? Well, it isn’t a confirmation that Activision won’t explore other franchises in the future, but, for now, they have set their focus on their cash cow franchise. Hopefully, this development is only a temporary focus to support the Warzone spin-off before they can tackle new projects. The game has grown at an exponential rate and it is understandable they’ll need resources, but it wouldn’t be wise to put all their eggs in one basket moving forward.

    Source: Toys for Bob, Nicholas Kole, Twitter, Beenox, Twitter (Activision)

  • ‘Borderlands’ Finds Its Mad Moxxi and Sir Hammerlock

    ‘Borderlands’ Finds Its Mad Moxxi and Sir Hammerlock

    Adaptions of popular video game franchises have always been quite a hot topic. They always end up in one of two categories. However, in recent years these adaptations have become increasingly better with films like Detective Pikachu and Mortal Kombat breaking the mold. These projects managed to give the fans of the franchises a fun time seeing these projects adapted in live-action. Next up on the block is the ever-popular franchise Borderlands. The franchise tells the tales of vault hunters, who take on the full force of Hyperion and are after the riches that lie below the surface of Pandora. The adaption is set to be helmed by Eli Roth alongside an all-star cast that’s just now rounded out its ranks, as production moves on.

    Deadline is reporting that actress Gina Gershon has joined the project as the fan-favorite character Mad Moxxi, owner of the red light bar. We previously reported that she was in the film months back. Alongside Gershon is actor Charles Bobabola who’ll play the role of Hammerlock. He might be better known as Sir Hammerlock, the rugged victorian adventurer equipped with cybernetic limbs.

    They’ll also be joined by Cheyenne Jackson as Jakobs, Benjamin Byron Davis as Marcus, Steven Boyer as Scooter, and Ryann Redmond as Ellie. Borderlands currently has no release date but is set to be directed by Eli Roth. The rest of the cast will be round out by some heavy hitters like Cate Blanchett, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, Edgar Ramirez, Ariana Greenblat, and Florian Munteanu.

    Source: Deadline

  • Another ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ Leak Reveals Black Widow’s MCU Skin

    Another ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ Leak Reveals Black Widow’s MCU Skin

    It looks like we weren’t quite done yet, as another Marvel Cinematic Universe has been leaked online. This time around, we are getting our first look at a brand new Black Widow skin. It isn’t one that seems inspired by the upcoming film but once again a design taken directly from Avengers: Endgame. It seems to hint that they might roll out the various costumes from different entries in the franchise but focused on the film that featured the most of them. We just got our first look at Captain America and Hawkeye (who is in this image once again) that continue showcasing the amount of detail that went into these film-based skins. @mmmmmmmmiller shared a closer look at the skins.

    We also got another closer look at the Captain America skin in all its glory:

    There certainly seems to be a lot of detail in these new skins. You’ll notice that Cap’s headpiece doesn’t match the rest of the suit and it seems that when it replaces the skin, it keeps the originals hair and face model. So, it is uncertain how much they might change when they are officially released. In the case of Black Widow, we might even get the hairstyle she had in the film. They put a lot of work in translating these designs and it is exciting to see how they’ll look once they are available with the release of May’s Red Room Takeover event.

    Source: Twitter (BW), Twitter (CA)

  • Latest ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ Dev Stream Confirmed no PvP Plans

    Latest ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ Dev Stream Confirmed no PvP Plans

    The weekly tradition continues as we cover the latest developer stream of Crystal Dynamics. They offered some great insight into where their current projects are, as development has streamlined quite a bit after facing the tribulations of the pandemic. A few of the bugs have also been discussed and given some slight updates. Without further ado, here are the biggest takeaways from the events:

    • They discussed various bugs, such as Mega Hive’s resetting, sound cutting off, and enemies not spawning in certain areas. Crystal Dynamics is also actively looking into the Gamma bug. So, we might have to expect some nerfs shortly.
    • Most of the Omega-Level Threat bugs have gotten squashed. Now, they are going to forward it for QA testing to ensure everything works. The team even teased a video that will announce its release date. The most complex OLT is currently getting looked at.
    • The MCU skin wasn’t showed off this week, but they promised we’ll get one next week as they will also offer more details on the Red Room Takeover. There was the recent skin leak for a Professor Hulk costume from Avengers: Endgame.
    • Patrol Mode was a highlight in the stream, as it will include quest chains for credits. They are testing it out with four characters. It is a big area to explore, and they are looking into adding fast travel points in the future. If it turns out to be popular, they will work on more levels of this design. They also accidentally revealed that random boss events could happen.

     

    Buy Marvel's Avengers - Microsoft Store en-IN

     

    • We can expect more information on post-Level 50 progressions shortly.
    • Gear 2.0 was teased once again with the updates heading our way in the near future. They seem to have some plans for next week.
    • The team would love to create a MODOK villain sector but teased one for Super Adaptoid.
    • PVP got shot down during the live stream. So, we shouldn’t expect it as they remain focused on offering PVE content.
    • There are some interesting UI changes in development for the game. In general, they will communicate these in their newly updated Weekly Blog. They also confirmed that the roadmap is going to continue growing and change as the weeks go by.

    It is interesting that they are far along with their work on the OLTs and Patrol mode. They have teased that we’ll get a lot more insight next month on things, which will be quite exciting as the Tachyon Anomaly will be continuing for the next two weeks. I’ve been having fun playing alongside multiple Hulks and just annihilate AIM. So, hopefully, we’ll get these as a permanent addition, which they seem interested in adding. Here’s looking forward to next week.

    Source: Twitch

  • HBO’s ‘THE LAST OF US’ Adds Directors Jasmila Žbanić and Ali Abbasi

    HBO’s ‘THE LAST OF US’ Adds Directors Jasmila Žbanić and Ali Abbasi

    The upcoming HBO series The Last of Us has found its directors in Jasmila Žbanić and Ali Abbasi. Žbanić’s latest feature was nominated for Oscar for best international film feature while Abbasi won the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard Award for directing in 2018 with his movie Border. Bringing in international talent to lead such a big relevant series is indeed interesting, as the show continues to take a very different route from the gaming franchise. By choosing Bosnian and Iranian directors, one might be driven to think that the atrocities both those countries had to endure sometimes throughout their history might give us some incredible and relevant insight into the world The Last of Us is trying to bring to the small screen.

     

     

    It is based on a game where humanity was decimated due to a mutated strain of a highly contagious fungus, the main characters Joel and Ellie (played by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey) try to make their way across the United States of America trying to find a cure that might bring society back from the ashes. Through it all, they will come face to face with the worst that humanity has to offer, as their initially tense relationship grows into a bond that will forever unite them. The series was announced as being in development at HBO last March, getting a series order about six months ago. It is still undisclosed when it will premiere.

    Source: Variety

  • UPDATE: First Look at ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ MCU Skin for Professor Hulk Leaked

    UPDATE: First Look at ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ MCU Skin for Professor Hulk Leaked

    UPDATE: Well, it looks like that MCU skin might be real after all, as user @VWarrior31 shared the new skin animated within the game. If this is a fake, someone really invested a lot of time to trace those movements so there is a good chance this MCU skin is real.

     

    We’ve known for some time that the first set of Marvel Cinematic Universe-inspired skins will be released in May alongside Marvel’s Avengers Red Room Takeover event. The team has been sharing their excitement for the new skins in their developer streams and we were going to potentially get the first look this week. Well, it looks like we truly did get the first look but not in the dev stream as originally planned. A Reddit user shared the first look at a costume ripped straight from Avengers: Endgame‘s Professor Hulk costume. @AssembleCast and @DammitEthan noticed the similarities to the Hot Toys figure, which gave a closer look to the full-body suit on Twitter and brought it to my attention.

     

    Professor hulk MCU skin glitch (not mine originally but from a user on another forum)
    byu/nhillier inPlayAvengers

     

    Now, it seems that a strange visual glitch created the suit. There is a possibility that the original skin and the developed MCU skin might be connected through code, which led to this activating. Yet, it could be that someone invested a lot of time to replicate the costume. So, we have to take it with a grain of salt for now. Crystal Dynamics might still give us a first look this Friday. So, we will see if they confirm this costume. It still looks believable as its lighting matches the other characters. There is no similar skin to readjust to turn it into this MCU’s version. If this design turns out to be real, it hopefully will relieve many people’s fear of the “inspired” word used in the roadmap. It seems pretty accurate to the films, and it wouldn’t be surprising if Marvel Studios signs off on the usage of these designs. Here’s hoping we get a better look at others soon.

    Source: Reddit, Twitter

  • ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s Set Photos Tease a ‘Sonic Adventures 2’-Inspired Storyline

    ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s Set Photos Tease a ‘Sonic Adventures 2’-Inspired Storyline

    When fans first got their look at Sonic the Hedgehog’s live-action film, the reactions were less than thrilled, with many fans begging for it to be redone. They wanted them to embrace the cartoonish aspects of the original design from the hit games. The studio quickly gave in and delayed the film to completely revamp Sonics’ design. This move was accepted with open arms by fans.

    Now, the sequel is already underway with more iconic Sega characters joining. We recently got our first look at Knuckles alongside Sonic and Tails stand-ins through set photos. They offered our best look yet at the upcoming sequel. Luckily, more set photos have made their way online, giving us yet another look at the film and characters previously seen in Sonic Adventures 2.

    https://twitter.com/Kitsuoi1/status/1384369289986068480?s=20

    Lined across the streets of the set are some pretty insane military vehicles that just happened to have the “G” logo on them. For those who aren’t familiar with it, this logo definitely represents the Guardian Units of Nations Aka G.U.N. They first appeared in Sonic Adventures 2. They are a worldwide military and law enforcement organization that’s run by a figure only known as the Commander. He is tasked with defending Earth from malicious threats like Dr. Robotnik. It can be assumed that G.U.N was formed following the events of the first film, where Sonic and Robotnik’s battled throughout every corner of the planet at super speed.

    Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is currently set to release on April 8th, 2022 with director Jeff Fowler returning. James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, and of course, Ben Schwartz, whose voice work on the previous film was widely praised by fans and critics alike, are returning in their respective roles. It’s currently unknown who will serve as the voice actor for Knuckles and if Colleen O’Shaughnessey will return to voice Tails following his brief appearance at the tail end of the first film. There is the rumor that Jason Momoa was offered the role of Knuckles. It’ll be interesting to see if the film will include elements from Sonic Adventure 2.

    Source: Twitter (Kitsuoi), Twitter (Tail’s Channel)

  • ‘Mortal Kombat’: Joe Taslim’s 4-Film Contract Hints at Sub-Zero’s Dark Future

    ‘Mortal Kombat’: Joe Taslim’s 4-Film Contract Hints at Sub-Zero’s Dark Future

    We are only a day away from Mortal Kombat finally releasing in theaters and HBO Max. In anticipation, Sub-Zero actor, Joe Taslim, shared his excitement for the project with Variety. In it, he revealed that he has signed up for four more installments if the film turns out successful. Now, it isn’t uncommon nowadays that actors have multiple sequels in their contracts. What makes this particular contract interesting is the history that Bi-Han has in the games. Of course, there is a chance that the film takes a unique direction for his character, but the signs are hinting at his future echoing the games.

     

    Mortal Kombat's Joe Taslim Reveals He's Signed on for Four Sequels

     

    HBO Max released the first seven minutes of the film, which gave us our main conflict between Hanzo Hasashi and Bi-Han. Now, if you haven’t played the games only continue reading at your own risk. For those that have played the original trilogy from 1992 to 1995, their battle would eventually lead to one of them winning. Scorpion took the life of the one that murdered his family. His brother, Kuai Liang, would take on the mantle, but his brother’s soul wasn’t truly able to rest.

    In Mortal Kombat II, a secret character named Noob Saibot made his debut. We would later find out that this is actually a resurrected Bil-Han, who would continue his conflict with Scorpion and even his younger brother. The sorcerer Quan Chi took his humanity and turned him into a pure evil soul seeking vengeance. Now, the film series might take a very different approach to not just repeat the games. There is a chance he might end up living on, as Kuai Liang is notably absent. We’ve theorized that the original character, Cole Young, could be revealed as the younger Sub-Zero. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out what the future of Sub-Zero could look like.

    Source: Variety

  • RUMOR: New Details on a Possible ‘Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic’ Remake Surface

    RUMOR: New Details on a Possible ‘Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic’ Remake Surface

    More information is hitting the web hinting at the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic being in development. The original game released in 2003 and was followed by a sequel subtitled The Sith Lords. Sadly, the third entry was scrapped before The Old Republic MMORPG was released in 2011 and is still going strong. The story took place, as the name implies, 4,000 years before the Galactic Empire was formed. It has been a popular franchise that many wanted to see make a grand return even if it was via a Disney+ show. It’s looking more and more realistic.

    We got the first report on it by Cinelinx’s Jordan Maison in January, where he revealed that EA isn’t involved. He also hinted at the game integrating elements from both entries to update it for the current Star Wars canon. Now, another report by Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier hinted that the game is further in development than expected. He hinted that it has been kind development since 2019 and that Aspyr Media might be working on the game. There have also been rumors that BioWare is heavily involved, as they created the original.

    Aspyr Media is no stranger to Star Wars, as they’ve been involved with various recent ports of Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Star Wars Racer. The reports seem to imply this will be a remake from the ground up, or if they are simply reworking the original to update it. There is also no word if this might also include a remake of the sequel or if they will rework the story. We could see a similar adaptation to Final Fantasy VII Remake, which split up its story in multiple sequels. We’ll see if we get an official remake in the near future.

    Source: Cinelinx, MinnMax, Aspyr