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Mortal Kombat 11 wins back-to-back rounds as the best-selling game of May 2019
Analyst Mat Piscatella came out of hibernation last night to share a look (via Twitter) at The NPD Group’s report on the best-selling games from May 2019. Once again, NetherRealm’s Mortal Kombat 11 landed on the top of the list, and it’s now the best-selling game for all of 2019.
Days Gone managed to hold its position as the runner-up for the month of May, fighting off PC-exclusive Total War: Three Kingdoms (which proved popular enough to slide into the #3 spot) and fellow new release Rage 2 (#4). Perennial favorite Grand Theft Auto V rounded out the Top 5 in the #5 slot.
This year’s most popular titles played musical chairs throughout the remainder of last month’s Top 20. Some went up (Minecraft went from #14 to #9) while some were trending down (Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 dropped from #4 to #12).
The Switch was the best-selling console platform in May and as the PS4 and Xbox One continue to ride off into the sunset, it’s also remained the best-selling for the 2019 calendar year.
Overall, total industry sales were done 11% versus May 2018, but that can probably be chalked up to a paltry selection of new releases last month. You can find a full list of best-selling games from May 2019 after the break. (more…)
Uncharted film adaptation will open in theaters on December 18, 2020
The pieces are finally coming together for Uncharted’s big screen debut. Tom Holland has officially signed on to play a younger version of Nathan Drake in the film adaptation and, according to The Hollywood Reporter, it even has a release date… December 18, 2020.
It’s been a long, long road for the Uncharted movie to even make it to this point. A fan campaign tried to secure the role of Drake for Nathan Fillion all the way back in 2010, but it was Mark Wahlberg that eventually got the part (with Robert De Niro aboard as Victor “Sully” Sullivan). Both would later drop out, and Holland was put in place in 2017 (though Fillion would get to portray the character in a fan film released last year).
There’s still a lot we don’t know about Uncharted‘s cinematic aspirations, but we do know that Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane) will direct the film for Sony Pictures, and the current draft of the script was written by Jonathan Rosenberg and Mark Walker.
Posted in Etcetera, News, PS3, PS4
Tagged Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Sega will include brand new editions of Tetris and Darius in Sega Genesis Mini
Sega revealed the final ten titles set to be included in the Sega Genesis Mini microconsole this morning, as well as two bonus games that absolutely no one was expecting… because they aren’t technically Genesis games.
Back in late 80s, Sega produced one of the earliest arcade cabinets for Alexey Pajitnov’s puzzle phenomenon, Tetris. Around the same time, Taito introduced arcade gamers to Darius and kicked off a long-running series of side-scrolling shooters. Both games were also in development for the Genesis, but neither managed to make its way onto retail shelves. So to right this historical wrong, Sega will work with M2 to create brand new Genesis-style ports of Tetris and Darius, and they’ll be included as bonus additions to the Genesis Mini’s game lineup.
Tetris and Darius will be joined by 40 other Genesis games, and the final ten titles to be announced include classics such as Columns, Strider, Eternal Champions, and Kid Chameleon. Prospective Genesis Mini owners might also be interested to know that Virtua Fighter 2, Alisia Dragoon, Monster World IV, Road Rash II, Dynamite Headdy, and Light Crusader made the cut as well.
The Sega Genesis Mini will launch on September 19, and it’ll be priced at $79.99. But first, the company will have their upcoming microconsole available to try out at next week’s E3 Expo.
Everyone else can view its full lineup of games (all 42 of them) after the break. (more…)
New Retail Releases: Persona Q2, Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II, MotoGP 19, More
The 3DS (sort of) rides off into the sunset this week with the launch of Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, a brand new crossover RPG from Atlus. That’s because, barring an E3 surprise from Nintendo, Persona Q2 is currently the last major release planned for the venerable handheld. Players who decide to take the plunge will get to interact with characters from Persona 3, Persona 4, and Persona 5 as they explore a series of labyrinths parodying popular film genres.
RPG fans will also be able to revisit Falcom’s Legend of Heroes franchise this week, as XSEED will re-release the second game in the series for the PS4 as The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II – Relentless Edition. The Relentless Edition will include a visual upgrade, a Turbo Mode to explore the map at high speed, a Japanese dual-audio option, expanded English voiceovers, and all previously-released downloadable content.
Elsewhere on store shelves this week, a trio of new games will fill out the lower tier of titles that typically launch ahead of the E3 Expo (which, remember, is happening next week).
Milestone will rev their motorcycle simulation engine one more time with the launch of MotoGP 19 for the PS4 and Xbox One (and on the PC as a digital download). Bigben’s Warhammer: Chaosbane, the first hack and slash based on Game Workshop’s fantasy universe, will also appear on all three platforms this week. And PQube returns with a new visual novel, Kotodama: The 7 Mysteries of Fujisawa, for the PS4 and Switch (and on the PC as a digital download).
Finally, after a slight delay, Bethesda will release The Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr expansion for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
That’s it for this week’s retail releases, but you’ll find plenty of other new games on the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop later this week.
Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie pushed back to 2020 so filmmakers can “make Sonic just right”
The first trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie gave fans all the 1990s nostalgia they could stomach. There was “Gangsta’s Paradise” on the soundtrack and Jim Carrey doing his Jim Carrey thing as Dr. Robotnik, but the CGI rendering of Sega’s Blue Blur was just as bad (and downright nightmare-inducing) as we all expected it to be.
Somehow not anticipating this reaction, the producers vowed to change Sonic’s look before the film opened in November.
Unfortunately, we’re just a few days away from Memorial Day right now and there is definitely not enough time left for the film’s animators to transform the character into something that’s acceptable to fans. So director Jeff Fowler took to Twitter today to confirm that Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie will now be released on February 14, 2020:
Taking a little more time to make Sonic just right.#novfxartistswereharmedinthemakingofthismovie pic.twitter.com/gxhu9lhU76
— Jeff Fowler (@fowltown) May 24, 2019
Presumably, we’ll get a look at the new Sonic sometime in the next few months.
Posted in Etcetera, News, Retro
Tagged Sonic the Hedgehog
Rumor: Disney is FINALLY making a movie based on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
If you’re looking for one story that best captures what made the old “Star Wars Expanded Universe” special, it’s hard to go wrong with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
The Xbox game (which was later also released for the PC) was developed by BioWare and it took the Star Wars in sometimes startling new directions… and one those jumps was directly into the past. Knights of the Old Republic took place nearly 4,000 years before the original Star Wars, though players could still expect to find massive starships, snarky droids, Jedi Knights, and Sith Lords. Just after the release of Attack of the Clones, many fans latched onto Knights of the Old Republic as a Star Wars prequel done right.
Now, it looks like beloved characters as Revan, HK-47, Ordo, and others will finally be making their way to the big screen.
Buzzfeed is reporting that “three sources close to the project” at Lucasfilm have confirmed that a movie based on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is currently in the works. The film is currently being written by Laeta Kalogridis (who also has credits on (Avatar, Shutter Island, and Alita: Battle Angel), and if it’s successful, it could spawn an entire KOTOR trilogy.
Disney, the current owner of the Star Wars franchise, refused to comment, but they’ve definitely got a desire to create more Star Wars stories. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, a new game from Respawn, will launch this Fall. Around the same time, Jon Favreau’s The Mandolorian television series will debut on the Disney+ streaming service. And after that, Rey, Poe, Finn, and Kylo Ren will put an end to the Skywalker saga in this December’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Further down the line, the first movie in a new trilogy from Games of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will premiere in 2022. Rian Johnson, the director of The Last Jedi, is also working on his own trilogy, but it doesn’t yet have a release date.
Where a Knights of the Old Republic film would even fit into this schedule remains to be seen.
Mortal Kombat 11 was the best-selling game on all platforms in April 2019
The NPD Group’s Mat Piscatella has given us a look (via Twitter) at the best-selling games from April 2019.
Unsurprisingly, Mortal Kombat 11 KOed the competition as the top game during the period. And according to Piscatella, NetherRealm’s fighter also became the first game to sit atop the charts as the best-selling individual game on the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One in the same the month.
Not far behind was Sony’s Days Gone. The post-apocalyptic action game was developed by Sony Bend, and while it might have been overshadowed by some of the other titles in the consolemaker’s catalog, it landed in the #2 spot for April.
The remainder of April’s best-selling games chart is made up of a lot of titles we’ve seen before, including recent releases MLB 19: The Show (#3), Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (#4), Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (#7), and perennial mainstays Grand Theft Auto V (#6) and Minecraft (#14).
You can find a full list of best-selling games from April 2019 after the break. (more…)
Space Invaders: The Board Game is looking for funding on Kickstarter
Taito’s Space Invaders celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2018, and now the classic arcade cabinet is being adapted into a board game by 612 Entertainment.
The developers behind Space Invaders: The Board Game are seeking $45,000 from backers on Kickstarter to produce several special editions of the game. A Limited Edition with basic components can be pre-ordered for $30 (or $20 through the “Early Bird” tier), while a Deluxe Edition with premium components can be supported for $55. As of this writing, more than $14,000 has already been pledged towards the game’s funding goal.
Just like the revolutionary video game, Space Invaders: The Board Game asks players to move their cannons across the board while blasting away at the Space Invaders at the top of the playing field. Players will also be able to collect Energy Cards and Action Cards to augment their alien-killing arsenal, and research new technologies in search of the elusive High Score:
Space Invaders: The Board Game combines today’s popular deck-building genre with a more traditional strategy board game by allowing 2-4 players to collect Space Invaders cards and add them to their hands, while moving across the board and shooting enemies with their laser cannons. The game’s visual presentation and atmosphere are as close to the original arcade game as possible, creating a brilliant retro gaming experience.
The Kickstarter campaign for Space Invaders: The Board Game will come to an end on June 15, and 612 Entertainment hopes to make it available to backers by the end of the year, before launching a Retail Edition in 2020.
Posted in News, Retro
Tagged Space Invaders, Tabletop Games