Diablo is going mobile as Blizzard has announced the release of Diablo Immortal. 

Described as a “full-fledged action RPG,"Diablo Immortal will serve as direct follow-up to Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. That means that it will complete the stories of certain characters that appeared in that game as well as continue some of the storylines that weren't necessarily addressed in Diablo III. However, it feels like more of a spin-off than a direct sequel (hence the name). 

So far as that goes, Diablo Immortal does look like a Diablo game in all the ways you'd expect a Diablo title to carry on the legacy of its predecessors. There's hacking, slashing, looting, various character classes to choose from, and a variety of in-game abilities. It's pretty clear that Immortal will utilize the base gameplay that has made Diablo the infamous franchise it is. 

However, it's equally clear that this game will alter the franchise formula in some notable ways. First off, it's described as a massively multiplayer game that allows players to drop in and out of gameplay sessions as well as participate in certain scheduled events. Second, we can see from a few of the sequences in the trailer (including one that shows the player climbing down a pit) that this mobile title will seemingly feature a greater variety of gameplay scenarios. You could almost say that it looks a little more "arcade-like' than previous Diablo games. 

We imagine that possibility will raise concerns regarding Immortal's depth and its use of less-than-popular mobile microtransaction systems. At this time, it's not clear how "mobile" this Diablo mobile game will be. Blizzard made no reference to any microtransactions during the game's reveal, and the gameplay was limited to a heavily edited trailer. That said, we imagine that this game will take full advantage of the mobile market (if you know what we mean). 

The good news is that it seems Diablo IVis still in development (at least in some capacity) and that this mobile title won't impact the future of that game. Unfortunately, Blizzard did not confirm the development of that title at Blizzcon 2018 nor the development of the rumored Diablo animated series. 

Diablo Immortals doesn't have a confirmed release date (it will most likely be released in 2019), but you can pre-register for the iOS and Android versions via this website. 

Overwatch's 29th hero is a gunslinger named Ashe. 

As we saw in the brilliant Overwatch short that debuted at Blizzcon 2018, Ashe is the leader of the Deadlock Gang; a band of outlaws who seem to have a history with current Overwatch hero, McCree. She's described as  "a respected figure in the criminal underworld." It seems that she used to run with McCree, but the two split at some point, and Ashe elected to run her gang like a business (just like her parents used to run a very lucrative business that would have given her a privileged life if she had chosen to live it). 

Gameplay-wise, Ashe is interesting. Her primary weapon (a modified rifle) can either fire quick bursts of shots or can be aimed down sights for a more accurate, sniper-like shot. She can also throw a bundle of dynamite that will either explode after enough time or can be shot for an immediate explosive effect. Either way, anyone close to the blast will receive immediate damage as well as suffer from burning damage over time. 

Ashe also has access to a shotgun (which allows her to either push enemies back or propel herself backward) as well as one of the most interesting ultimates in Overwatch: a robot named Bob. Bob is a companion bot that charges into enemies and then sticks around to lay down some suppressive fire. We've never actually seen a hero ultimate that summons a completely different character (minus things like D.Va's mech bomb), so it will certainly be fascinating to see how this extra presence affects team strategies. 

Blizzard also noted that Ashe's character skins will include modifications to Bob. We have no doubt that will make her very popular among the hardcore Overwatch skin collectors out there who will consider this to be a 2-for-1 value. We also recognize that describing someone as a hardcore skin collector can't be very flattering. 

There's no word on when Ashe will officially join the Overwatch hero pool, but if she's anything like previous Overwatch heroes, she should be added to the game's public test servers relatively soon.

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014. 

The next Hearthstone expansion is a troll-themed battle known as Rastakhan’s Rumble. 

This expansion will dive into the war culture of the trolls by covering a very special event that sees every class in Hearthstone send a troll champion to Stranglethorn Wilds in order to gain the blessing of their associated animal spirits as well as the acclaim of the troll king Rastakhan. As you've probably guessed if you've played a fair bit of Hearthstonein the past, these nine troll warriors will be represented in the game via class legendary cards. 

We got a little taste of what those warriors will look like with the reveal of the new Paladin legendary, Shirvallah, the Tiger. This beast's base cost is an absurd 25 mana, but that cost is reduced by one for each mana you've spent on spells throughout the game. That means that you'll need to spend 15 mana on spells to make this card playable (unless you have the coin). 

We also know that every hero will have access to a special spirit card that seems to come equipped with a unique ability, a 0/3 stat line, a "Rare" designation, and the ability to remain in stealth for one turn. Each of these cards will also supposedly synergize with the class-specific legendary minions introduced by this expansion. That's very interesting to hear in the case of the Rogue spirit card, Spirit of the Shark: a minion that lets all your battlecries and combo effects trigger twice. 

This expansion will also introduce the Overkill keyword to the game. This keyword will trigger some kind of additional effect whenever you kill a minion with more damage than what was required. The example of this that we saw at Blizzcon was a weapon that theoretically lets you attack multiple times in a turn if you manage to trigger the Overkill effect on each kill. 

Finally, there's a new solo mode called Rumble Run that will see players help a young troll become champion. We don't know much about that mode at this time, but further details are coming. 

Rastakhan’s Rumble is set to release on December 4th for every platform that supports Hearthstone. Pre-orders are currently available. 

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014. 

Blizzard says that they expected there to be some backlash following the reveal of new mobile game Diablo: Immortal, but they weren't quite expecting this level of backlash. 

“We know our audience here is passionately PC- and console-focused. We’ve also seen this before,"said Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham to Kotaku. "We saw a similar response when we announced that we were bringing Diablo to console, and we saw a similar response to the announcement of Hearthstone... I understand their feeling and wish we could share more about all the amazing things we’re doing, not just with the Diablo franchise but across the company as a whole.”

The response that Adham is referring to includes some absolutely vicious replies across various Diablo fan forums, people flat-out booing the reveal of Diablo: Immortal (which occurred at Blizzard's own event no less), and one fan going so far as to ask the developers during a Q&A session if Immortal is a late April Fool's joke. Why are so many people upset about Immortal? It's partially based on the general hatred towards mobile games and their tendency to feature shady monetization systems, but it's also based on information that suggests that Immortal is an outsourced project that will heavily resemble an existing Asian mobile game. 

Put it all together, and you've got fans wondering if Blizzard has lost their minds and their ways. Said fans include Mark Kern, a former producer on Diablo II. 

"There is nothing wrong with having a mobile version of Diablo. In fact, I would have wanted one as an option,"said Kern on Twitter. "But the way it was hinted at, and presented, and the failure of Blizzard management to predict the backlash caught me my surprise. Blizzard used to be really gamer-driven". Kern went on to say that when he was at Blizzard, "I would have had a line of devs outside my door telling me [the Immortal reveal] was a bad move."

Kern's statements summarize the Immortal issue in the minds of fans rather well. The problem isn't that Diablo is going mobile, the problem is that this particular mobile title and the way it was revealed do not in any way represent the Blizzard that we've come to know. It feels like a largely lazy product that most certainly isn't Diablo IV. Blizzard could have at least headed some of this trouble off at the pass by teasing Diablo IV at Blizzcon similar to how Bethesda teased Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI at E3 2018. 

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014. 

Release Date: October 26, 2018
Platform: PS4 (reviewed), Xbox One
Developer: Rockstar Games
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Genre: Action/Adventure

Grand Theft Auto IV is one of the most important games of the last 15 years, and I say that as someone who has never really liked the game all that much. It was the one open-world title that had the guts to take a step back and say, “Open-world games shouldn’t be about how much stuff you can cram into them or how they allow people to run around in an arcadey digital playground.” Instead, it dared to suggest that the future of open-world games should be about how they make you feel, the stories they tell, and, most importantly, whether that world feels like a fully-realized, living, breathing entity. 

In that respect, Red Dead Redemption 2 feels like the Rockstar game that finally realizes Grand Theft Auto IV’s biggest promises. Unfortunately, it also sometimes feels like a game that’s being torn apart by the expectations of the past, the ways of the present, and the burdens of the future. 

Much of RDR 2’s brilliance can be found in the world that Rockstar has created. In fact, if you’re looking for a comparable open-world experience, you can’t really look at Rockstar’s other games. You have to look at The Witcher 3. Much like that masterpiece, RDR 2’s world is made great by the little things upon which it is built. Landscapes are varied, living geographical surprises. There’s a flow from one area to the next that just makes sense. Th various towns all have their own identities and quirks. It certainly also helps that RDR 2is one of the best (if not the best) looking game ever made. The rich detail spread across every landscape and the unbelievable lighting that illuminates it all rarely fail to impress. 

But in both cases, we’re really talking about the unexpected when we talk about what makes these worlds special. While some people enjoy a world in which they are able to guess everything that will happen, both of these games separate themselves by featuring dynamic worlds where you’re never quite sure what is going to be around the bend. 

Where RDR 2 separates itself in that respect is in its use of NPCs. Very few characters in RDR 2 are there to make the world look fuller than it is. For instance, you might come across a drunk man on the road asking for your help in getting home. Ignore him and you can follow him as he takes a long, stumbling walk back to his angry wife. Help him and you’ll trigger a different kind of adventure. Choose to heckle a gun swallowing act at a stage show and he'll invite you to come up and take a shot at him. Shoot at his face and he'll catch the bullet with his teeth. Shoot his leg and he'll scream at you for ruining his act. 

Further Reading: The Legacy of Manhunt, Rockstar's Horror Masterpiece

What's remarkable about such moments aren't always the moments themselves but rather the fact that they are almost completely unprovoked. The only thing more impressive than the number of side stories you'll witness as you play is the number of moments that you'll miss. Few other developers would bother to create so many amazing interactions and possibilities that won't even be seen by most of the people who play this game. However, it's the knowledge that they exist whether you see them or not that makes RDR 2's world feel like a truly living one. 

While that was certainly one of the GTA IV promises that RDR 2 makes good on, this game manages to avoid the biggest disappointments of that title by ensuring that you’re never left wanting for things to actually do in this game. Now, I can already imagine what you’re thinking. You’re picturing a map riddled with icons full of activities that you’ll never bother with. After all, how many plants can one person be expected to pick? 

However, RDR 2’s activities aren’t like that. There are fetch quests to be found here and there, but from gambling to hunting and even the game’s shocking deep fashion system, many of the things you do in RDR 2 are easy to lose hours of your life to. While some activities feel more fully-realized than others (hunting legendary animals leads to some of the game’s best moments, while collecting cigarette trading cards ends about the way you’d expect), RDR 2 never makes you feel like there’s something else you should be doing. 

Some of the credit in that respect must go to Rockstar’s minimalized map system. Compared to recent games like God of War, Spider-Man, and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, which just vomit information at you, RDR 2allows you to discover things at a more leisurely pace, typically by just encountering them in the world. This may be a little frustrating for completionists, but it’s fantastic for those who often feel overwhelmed by the largest of open-world experiences.

Minimalism is also the driving force behind the game’s soundtrack. Much like the original Red Dead Redemption, many of the game’s phenomenal tracks are instrumental. Unlike the first game, few of them sound like something you’ve heard in another Western. Everything feels appropriate for the genre, but instruments are used in surprising ways. When the game does use lyrical music, it does so at the perfect moments with the perfects songs (even if they don’t quite top “Far Away” from the first game). 

When you do decide to finally advance the story or just participate in some more traditional missions, you’ll find that they’re a little more of a mixed bag. For the most part, missions are fun and exciting. Sadly, too many of them rely on the simple formula of riding to a place (which can often take a very long time), shooting up some bad guys, and returning to collect a reward. That formula is enough to wear you down even before you factor in RDR 2’s iffy shooting mechanics. 

Further Reading: Revisiting Red Dead Redemption's Undead Nightmare

Simply put, shooting in RDR 2 feels sluggish and awkward. It’s not that different from GTA V (minus the addition of the Dead Eye system), but something about it feels off. It’s far too stiff, which means that free aim is often slow and difficult. The result is a lot of repetitive gunfights in which you have to hide behind cover, lock-on to an enemy, and pull the trigger enough times until your enemies die. You just never feel a sense of accomplishment from it (with the possible exception of taking down some of the aforementioned legendary animals). 

Speaking of sluggish, let’s get to the game’s story. If it shocks you that I’ve taken this long to get to RDR 2’s story, that’s only because I wanted to replicate the experience of waiting for the game’s story to really get going. Some have called RDR 2an open-world game for the patient, which I do agree with in terms of how you have to be able to take what the game offers you at a leisurely pace. However, I feel that “patient” doesn’t apply to the game’s story due to its lack of payoff. 

The biggest problem with RDR 2’s story is that it’s structurally stuck in the past. It employs that classic Rockstar method of having you progress through a series of missions as the story slowly unfolds. The problem is that in a game that’s this large and otherwise organic, that feels like the most static way to tell a grand adventure in this world. Unfortunately, much like GTA V, it also tries to use some outdated morality and choice mechanics that never feel like they’re pulling their full weight. 

What you end up with is a basic plot that takes far too long to arrive at a destination that probably would have been predictable even if it wasn’t for the fact that this is a prequel to Red Dead Redemption. That isn’t to say the game is devoid of great moments (it’s filled with them) but things like a mid-game trip to a completely unexpected destination would be much more impressive if it felt like they contributed more to the outcome. Instead, characters spend way too much time between major moments simply treading water. 

Fortunately, most of those characters are excellent. While much of RDR 2’s cast is less comical than the first game’s crew of characters, there is something about them that makes each stand out over time. That’s especially true if you’re the kind of player who takes the time to get to know each gang member. Doing so reveals a rich series of backstories that leads to each member of the gang truly feeling like family. It makes you wonder why it’s taken Rockstar so long to truly utilize this gang mechanic. 

Further Reading: What Capcom's Red Dead Revolver Would Have Looked Like

While player character Arthur Morgan is supposed to be the star of the show (and does a nice job as the vehicle for most of the action without feeling like a complete plot device/tool), it’s gang leader Dutch Van Der Linde who steals the show. From the moment that we hear Van Der Linde convincing his freezing and starving outlaw family that they will get through this, we recognize him as a man that is undeniably charismatic and a leader but also someone who is unmistakably human and tainted by the vulnerabilities that come with that distinction. It doesn’t hurt that his voice acting (and 99% of the rest of the voice acting in this game) is stellar, nuanced, and thoroughly professional. 

It’s Rockstar’s amazing ability to build such characters that makes you wonder why the studio half-ass certain other aspects of the game. This is especially true of the survival systems, which feel as if they were put into the game to satisfy a genre feature checklist. The problem isn’t that they’re necessarily bad, it’s that they often feel tacked-on. Even if you never feed your character, you only suffer minor penalties that don’t affect the gameplay all that much. It’s kind of nice that things like survival and weapon upkeep aren’t forced, but you do begin to feel like Rockstar could have committed to them a bit more for the sake of those who wanted to bother with them. 

Besides, such survival mechanics are an increasingly stale trait of the past, and Red Dead Redemption 2 is at its most exciting when it feels like a harbinger of the future. Not the past which Rockstar occasionally draws from for comfort food mechanics and not the present where the studio occasionally feels the need to keep pace by walking the way that genre competitors do. 

Red Dead Redemption 2 is at its best when it's living in the future that Rockstar envisioned for this genre years ago. While it’s frustrating that so many of the game’s problems are the result of Rockstar not fully committing to a vision of how open-world games can be more than what they are now and what they have been in the past, RDR 2 allows a patient gamer to live in that future for long enough that it’s almost impossible to not consider it an undisputed accomplishment. 

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014. 

A report suggests that Blizzard has already made an announcement video for Diablo IV. 

This information comes from Kotaku who say that Blizzard created a Diablo IV reveal video ahead of Blizzcon 2018. The initial report stated that Blizzard intended to show this video at Blizzcon. However, Blizzard has since stated that is not the case. 

"First off we want to mention that we definitely hear our community. We generally don’t comment on rumors or speculation, but we can say that we didn’t pull any announcements from BlizzCon this year or have plans for other announcements," said Blizzard in a recently released statement. "We do continue to have different teams working on multiple unannounced Diablo projects, and we look forward to announcing when the time is right.”

Based on the information currently available, it sounds like the video would have featured Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham speaking to fans about a new Diablo project (believed to be Diablo IV). It's also been suggested that Diablo IV is very much in development at Blizzard and that the game has undergone some major revisions over the last couple of years. There have been no updates from Blizard or the sources cited in the original report regarding whether or not there are any plans to release the video at a later date. 

At this point, the development of Diablo IV is the industry's worst kept secret. Blizzard has stated several times that they are working on multiple Diablo projects, and they've often released such statements whenever a fresh rumor regarding Diablo IV's development emerges. As for the other Diablo projects they keep referencing, it's believed that one of them is a Diablo animated series set to run on Netflix and that the other might be a Diablo or Diablo IIremaster. 

Of course, we know for sure that one of the projects Blizzard kept hinting at is the mobile game Diablo: Immortal. In case you haven't heard, the reveal of that game wasn't exactly met with a warm reception from fans. 

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014. 

One of the greatest action-RPG titles of the last 10 years, Path of Exile, is finally coming to PS4. 

Grinding Gear Games has recently confirmed that the beloved PC title will be making the leap to Sony's console sometime in December 2018. When it does come to PS4 later this year, it will retain its free-to-play model. As the studio is quick to point out in their press release, that's "free-to-play (and of course, never pay to win; your success in the game is dependent on the depth of your skill, not your wallet)." As anyone who has played Path of Exile can attest to, that is a 100% accurate statement. 

Anyone familiar with Path of Exile will also tell you that Path of Exile is considered by many to be the best Diablo game that doesn't bear the Diablo name. Much like Diablo, it allows you to choose between one of several different character types, engage in some hack and slash combat, loot better gear, and build your character as you face a series of escalating challenges. 

What some say separates Path of Exile from Diablo III (and almost certainly Diablo: Immortal) is its depth and style. Path of Exile features one of the deepest and most-engaging skill trees ever seen in a game of this style. There are an almost endless number of ways to build your character before you even factor in the hundreds of items that you can loot and craft. Path of Exile also utilizes a dark art style that is spiritually much closer to Diablo II than the art style we saw in Diablo III. 

In fact, Path of Exile is pretty shameless when it comes to copying Diablo II's best ideas. That's ok, though, because Path of Exile has been tweaked and expanded for years. The result is a game that has even hardcore Diablo fans "jumping ship." Of course, it's entirely possible to enjoy both franchises for their unique merits. 

In case you can't wait until December, Path of Exile is currently available for both PC and Xbox One. We highly recommend trying it if the recent Diablo: Immortalannouncement has left you disappointed. 

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014. 

If the recent reveal of Warcraft III: Reforged has you dreaming of Warcraft IV, Blizzard wants you to know that you need to dial back your expectations quite a bit. 

"I wouldn't rule anything out, but we don't have any plans around [Warcraft IV] at this point," said Blizzard senior producer Pete Stilwell in an interview with Gamespot. "Getting [Warcraft III: Reforged] right, I think, is our priority first and foremost."

If the previous times that we've heard that "I wouldn't rule anything out" statement are any indication, then we can pretty safely say that Blizzard doesn't have any real plans in place in terms of the active development of Warcraft IV. After all, Bethesda uses a similar reply when people ask about another Fallout game made by Obsidian, and we know that the odds of that happening are basically zero. 

Still, the subject of another Warcraftgame has long been one of those topics that have divided gamers. Most everyone would accept and welcome a new Warcraft strategy title, but the fact remains that it's been 16 years since the release of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. In that time, the Warcraft universe has become the basis of World of Warcraft (one of the most popular and successful video games ever made) and even inspired much of Hearthstone's art design. However, the original RTS series that birthed the Warcraft name remains dormant. 

Quite frankly, it's hard to imagine Blizzard will make a new Warcraftstrategy game (at least a fully-fledged PC title) ever again. The RTS genre just isn't what it was in terms of popularity when Warcraft III became such a tremendous hit. It hasn't faded entirely, but the cost of producing a new Warcraft title combined with how valuable the Warcraft name is elsewhere puts Blizzard in a similar position to the one that Valve faces when confronted with making Half-Life 3. That is to say that Blizzard may have more to lose by making a new Warcraftstrategy game than you might think. 

Regardless, we're thrilled that we'll soon have an excuse to play through Warcraft III again. 

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014. 

Nintendo is hiring more staff for an unannounced Zelda project. 

A user on Resetera spotted a job listing on the Nintendo website that reveals the company is looking for a level designer and 3DCG designer to work on a project that is somehow related to the Zelda franchise. While the listings don't reveal what that project is, the fact that they are looking for a 3DCG designer does suggest that it won't be for a 2D title. 

This isn't the first time that Nintendo has expanded their Zelda staff in recent memory. A previous job posting indicated that Nintendo is looking for a level designer for the Legend of Zelda franchise. This update comes from Twitter user @bk2128, who spotted the job listing on Nintendo's Japanese website.

According to the translation, this job listing asks for a designer to "create events/dungeons/fields/enemies from design to actual implementation." What's especially interesting, though, is that the listing references the need for someone with experience "on console games" and who can communicate in Japanese. 

While it would be difficult to find anyone who thought that Nintendo wouldn't make a new Zelda game, the timing of these hirings are interesting. The fact that Nintendo is asking for a designer with console experience could indicate that the Big N is working on a new Zelda game for the Switch rather than the 3DS. At this time, it feels like the plan is for Nintendo to release another Zelda title for the Switch rather than to wait for a next-gen device. While such a move isn't unheard of, it's not always a guarantee that a Nintendo console gets two major Zelda games during its lifespan. 

While you can't completely discount the possibility that this listing references a Zelda game on a platform other than the Switch - assuming that Nintendo refers to the 3DS as a console for some reason - it feels likely that the company is jumping at the opportunity to capitalize on the success of Breath of the Wild. So far as that goes, it's also entirely possible that Nintendo is just working on some additional Breath of the Wild DLC. After all, they did indicate that they are interested in releasing more DLC for some of their biggest games. 

Unfortunately, the listings don't really give any indication that Nintendo is necessarily sticking with Breath of the Wild's open-world design for this upcoming game. "Events/dungeons/fields/enemies" is a pretty generic ask in terms of the types of things found in just about every Zelda title. As for why the company seeking a new level designer at all, it's likely just a simple matter of the company wanting to expand the Zelda team ahead of this upcoming release. 

Would Nintendo ever return to the classic style of Zelda game now that Breath of the Wild has re-written the formula? It's possible, but for the moment, we're going to assume you can expect another open-world Zelda game from the studio at some point. 

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014. 

Chris Meledandri, the founder of Illumination Entertainment, recently revealed some of his plans for the Super Mario Bros. animated movie adaptation during an interview with Variety. According to Meledandri, the fact that the previous big screen Mario film failed in nearly every way imaginable has actually been a great comfort to him and his team. 

“I like that this was not done well the first time,” says Meledandri. “I think that’s more exciting or more worthy than simply making another version of a film that was done incredibly well to begin with.”

Meledandri stops short of listing everything that went wrong with the 1993 live-action adaptation of Super Mario Bros., but he did mention that part of the problem with that movie was that its creators didn't really rely on the input of Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto. Meledandri says he doesn't plan on making that same mistake (at least not this time). 

“We are keeping [Miyamoto]I’ve rarely seen that happen with any adaptation where the original creative voice is being embraced like we’re embracing Miyamoto. There’s a history in Hollywood of people believing that they know better than the people responsible for a property. I’ve made that mistake before.” 

Surprisingly, Meledandri also mentions how it's hard to adapt things like Super Mario Bros. that are "so thin in their original form." While he doesn't go into specifics regarding how he plans on pulling off that feat, he does mention that the goal is to find "depth that doesn’t compromise what generations of fans love about Mario, but also feels organic to the iconography and can support a three-act structure.”

There's still no solid release date available for the Super Mario Bros. animated movie, but the plan is to have it in theaters sometime in 2022. 

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014. 

PC shooter Squad has quietly been one of the best realistic military shooters on the market, but it has always been lacking a bit in the personality department. Thankfully, there's a new mod out there that turns Squad into the best Starship Troopers game ever (and yes, there has been an official Starship Troopers game). 

The Troopers mod (available for free on the Steam workshop) is as unofficial of a Starship Troopersexperience as you're likely to find, but there's no denying that it was heavily inspired by Paul Verhoeven's legendary 1997 propaganda parody film. In it, you and a group of fellow troopers try to defend a fortification against waves of bug creatures who are fairly intent on seeing you dead. Just like in the film, the battles that ensue are fast, brutal, and chaotic. 

While it might seem strange to turn a realistic military shooter into a Starship Troopers game, the concept works remarkably well. Unlike many other horde-style shooters, Troopers places a heavy emphasis on base building and defense. Squad's thorough fortification system means that it's often just as important to lay down a defensive perimeter as it is to actively shoot down incoming bugs. 

The result is something similar to one of our other favorite Early Access games, They Are Billions. Troopers quickly informs you that you are not likely going to survive the game's mid-to-late waves, but the fun comes from perfecting your strategy just enough to see if you can make it just one more round. The presence of other teammates just adds another dimension of strategy - and a bit of Comradery - to the proceedings.

As you can see in the video below, Squad's excellent sound design, solid shooting mechanics, and emphasis on teamwork result in an incredibly entertaining modern horde mode that so happens to be based on a great film. 

In fact, we wouldn't be surprised to see the game's developers pursue an official PvP option given how well the game's mechanics seem to lend themselves to such a mode. 

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014. 

Warner Bros and IO Interactive have officially revealed Hitman 2. As suspected, Hitman 2 is essentially a follow-up to the previous season of Hitman. However, IO Interactive indicated during the game's live stream reveal that the next Hitman will not follow the episodic format of the previous Hitman game. 

The game itself continues roughly where the last Hitman left off, as Agent 47 continues his pursuit of the mysterious Shadow Client. However, it seems that 47's mission will force him to confront some potentially unwelcome details about his own mysterious past. 

Mission-wise, the reveal and trailer teased a Miami mission that sees Agent 47 eliminate a race car driver by potentially manipulating his vehicle before the big race. Elsewhere, Warner Bros. and IO referenced "sun-drenched streets to dark and dangerous rainforests" as possible locations. As always, each of these missions will afford Agent 47 - and players - the chance to utilize multiple paths to victory and the opportunity to complete multiple objectives. 

Both Warner Bros. and IO Interactive expressed how excited they are to revive the Hitman series after it faced an uncertain future following Square Enix's decision to drop developer IO Interactive.

Here's everything else we know:

Hitman 2 News

Sean Bean stars as Hitman 2's first Elusive Target in this new trailer featuring an exploding rubber ducky:

Hitman 2 Release Date

Hitman 2 arrives on Nov. 13, 2018. The game is coming to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. If you're interested in pre-ordering the game, you can find out more about Hitman 2's various editions by visiting this website. 

Hitman 2 Trailer

Hitman 2 takes the action to the jungles of Colombia in a new trailer:

And here's a new gameplay trailer, too:

Hitman 2 will feature upgraded versions of the Hitman missions:

As explained in the trailer above, developer IO Interactive will essentially be remaking Hitman within Hitman 2. All of the game's levels will be available in Hitman 2 and will benefit from the new features and technology included in the sequel. Through this, IO hopes to create a World of Assassination that binds the revived Hitman games. 

Best of all, anyone who owns the first season of Hitman will be able to access the remade original levels for free. Everyone else will need to download them as part of a DLC pack. 

The PC Gaming show at E3 2018 included a surprising look at Hitman 2's gameplay. While not a long preview, this trailer does confirm that Hitman 2 will continue the good work that the last game started. 

Check out the announcement trailer below:

Further Reading: Hitman 2's Sniper Assassin Hands-on Preview

New to the series is a co-op option called Sniper Assassin. This two-player mode sees players compete to take down a series of targets via the use of sniper rifles. It's not entirely clear what the extent of the competitive/cooperative nature of this game mode is, but we do know that players will also have the option of completing these sniper missions by themselves if they choose to do so. 

Here's the Sniper Assassin mode trailer:

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014.

Square Enix has announced their decision to cancel all but one piece of Final Fantasy XV DLC following the departure of the game's director, Hajime Tabata. 

Oddly, Square Enix decided to announce the cancellation of this content by promoting a special live stream event. It's not often that you hear about a studio hyping up the announcement that they are canceling content, but there you go. While Square Enix did confirm that they will still release episode Ardyn (the final part of a series of planned story DLC releases), but three other pieces of previously announced DLC have been canceled and the studio does not plan on releasing any more DLC for the game. 

However, Square Enix did announce that a standalone version of Final Fantasy XV's Comrades multiplayer mode will be released for PS4 and Xbox One on December 12. This version of the game will include new content and will be available for free to anyone who owns a previous version of the mode. Everyone else will need to pay $9.99 for a standalone version of the game. 

As for Hajime Tabata, there's some debate at the moment regarding whether or not he departed because of the decision to cancel the game's DLC or if it's the other way around (the latter seems a little more likely). The situation is complicated by the fact that Hajime Tabata took over for the game's original director, Tetsuya Nomura, and that Tabata had seemingly moved on to work on another project within the company rather than devote his full time to FF XV's DLC. 

That's why some are speculating that this decision is representative of bigger issues within Square Enix. The studio seemed to head that theory off at the pass a bit by stating that they decided to cancel the DLC in order to devote some of the resources (including manpower) that they were spending on it to other projects. 

In any case, this effectively marks the end of the road for FF XV; an ambitious reimagining of the franchise that didn't quite achieve its loftiest goals but managed to be a fairly interesting experience in its own right. 

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014. 

Even though mobile game Diablo: Immortal didn't exactly receive a warm reception from fans, Blizzard doesn't seem too deterred from pursuing the development of other mobile games. In fact, they're planning on planning on developing mobile games based on most of their IPs. 

"Many of us over the last few years have shifted from playing primarily desktop to playing many hours on mobile, and we have many of our best developers now working on new mobile titles across all of our IPs," said Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham during a recent press conference. "Some of them are with external partners like Diablo Immortal. Many of them are being developed internally only, and we'll have information to share on those in the future." 

A quick look at Blizzard's IPs reveals that Diablo has an upcoming mobile game and that Hearthstone has had a mobile version available for years now. That leaves Overwatch, Starcraft, and Warcraft as the biggest names without a real mobile version available (as well as some smaller properties). We don't imagine Overwatchwould get the full mobile overhaul, but a mobile interpretation of the game isn't out of the question. Similarly, a mobile version of Starcraft isn't unrealistic (if not necessarily something fans might be looking forward to). 

As for Warcraft, a mobile take on World of Warcraft is a little unrealistic, but it's possible that Blizzard could develop a mobile Warcraft strategy game (even if that game isn't Warcraft IV). 

Regardless, we can't imagine that many Blizzard fans are happy to hear this news. So far as that goes, we'll say that the problem isn't necessarily that Blizzard wants to develop mobile games, but rather that Diablo: Immortal's announcement was botched in just about every way possible. There's also some reason to be concerned regarding whether or not this new initiative is going to slow the release of more traditional Blizzard PC titles. 

Regardless, Adham suggested that Blizzard's mobile interests have led to them having "more new products in development today at Blizzard than we've ever had in our history." He also stated that the studio hasn't forgotten about their "diehard PC fans."

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014. 

Microsoft has shared a few details about their upcoming X018 event. 

This weekend, Microsoft will stream their XO18 event live from Mexico City. XO18 is described as "a global celebration of all things Xbox." From November 10 to 11, Microsoft will celebrate both the Xbox and Xbox fans by sharing some information on upcoming titles and other Xbox-related announcements. 

What can you expect from this live stream? Well, Microsoft shared a few hints on Twitter regarding that very subject and indicated that Crackdown 3, Minecraft, Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2, and Forza Horizon4 will all be present at the event in some way. It seems that we're getting new content announcements for each of these games, but it's not clear how significant that content will be. 

Beyond that, Microsoft has teased announcements related to Shadow of the Tomb Raider's The Forge expansion, some big PUBGnews, and the reveal of over a dozen games that are coming to Xbox Game Pass. Beyond that, they've hinted that there might be a "surprise or two." So far at that goes, we wouldn't expect anything too shocking. After all, E3 is right around the corner, and we imagine the studio will wait until then to reveal the next Xbox. 

One interesting thing to note about Microsoft's confirmed announcements for this event is that it seems the studio isn't going to reveal too much new information about some of the biggest Xbox exclusives at this show. We're excited to see what is coming to Xbox Game Pass, but beyond new information for Crackdown 3 (which has suffered quite a few delays that don't leave us feeling optimistic regarding its future), we're guessing that you won't actually see much from Microsoft's biggest upcoming titles at this show. For instance, we don't think they'll be rolling out any more Halo: Infinite info until next year's E3 presentation. 

You can watch XO18 via Twitch, Mixer, Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter, but those who watch via a Mixer channel connected to their Xbox accounts will receive exclusive in-game items. 

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014. 

In the years since Den of Geek first sprung into existence, we’ve consistently kept an eye on the video games that have been touted for the big screen treatment. We’ve tried to list them all in a big article a few times before, and it feels like the time has come to pull a new version together.

Out of the hundreds of thousands of films in the world currently in development, a large number of them serve as adaptations for (mostly) successful video games and video game franchises. Some have been seen on our screens before either via a previous adaptation or television series, while some are just getting their first shot on the big screen.

Whichever category they fall into, they still have to navigate their way through the difficult world of filmmaking, with many of them inevitably forever damned to development hell. The following are just a few of these adaptations hoping to someday become a success.

Further Reading: 50 Underrated PlayStation 2 Games

Altered Beast - TBA

Back in 2016, Stories International (Sega’s production arm) and studio Circle of Confusion announced that they would collaboratively adapt the fantasy arcade action game Altered Beast.

Angry Birds 2 - September 20, 2019

Despite the fact that it's an Angry Birdsmovie, the first movie made back its $73 million production budget and then some, with a $346.9 million take globally. Which means that Roxio Entertainment has greenlit a sequel. God help us.

Borderlands - TBA

A movie based on Gearbox and Take-Two’s immensely popular sci-fi game went into development back in 2015. Lionsgate will be the studio taking us to the abandoned-by-the-big-wigs frontier planet of Pandora.

They’ve recruited producers Avi Arad and his son Ari Arad, both of whom were involved in initially bringing Iron Man, Spider-Man, and the X-Men to the big screen. We’ve got high hopes.

Further Reading: 50 Underrated Multiplayer Games

Call of Duty Movie - TBA

Yes, the Call of Duty movie is happening! Stefano Sollima, director of Sicario 2: Solado, is in talks to direct the planned film adaptation of the Call of Duty franchise. 

Activision Blizzard Studios - the film and television division of Activision Blizzard - is currently negotiating with Sollima in the hopes that he will sign-on to the project. However, no representative from Activision Blizzard Studios will confirm that the studio is in negotiations with the director at this time. 

Details regarding the film itself are unfortunately few and far between at the moment. Vague reports indicate that Activision Blizzard has an interest in potentially developing a film universe designed around the Call of Duty franchise. Much like how the Call of Duty franchise explores various eras of combat and occasionally uses familiar faces, it seems that some within the company hope that films based on the franchise can lead to a similar expanded universe.

Carmen Sandiego - TBA

Carmen Sandiego will soon become easy to find on Netflix. In addition to the forthcoming animated TV series picked up by Netflix, the streamer is doubling down by greenlighting a live-action film. Gina Rodriguez is set to star in the live-action adaptation, taking on the role of the titular ‘90s multimedia character.

Don’t worry, gumshoes, Netflix plans to keep the Carmen continuity intact as Rodriguez will also voice the character in the animated series.

Mark Perez has been tasked to pen an adaptation script for the circuitously mysterious franchise. Perez is a screenwriter with comedy leanings, whose work was recently seen in this past February’s Game Night, which was his first theatrical effort after a long layoff from a string of films that included 2006’s Accepted, 2005’s Herbie: Fully Loaded, and 2002’s The Country Bears. The search for a director, however, is still ongoing.

Further Reading: Why Arcades Are Making a Comeback

Centipede - TBA

That’s right, Centipede and Missile Command, the Atari ‘80s arcade shooter games, are getting adapted into feature films. Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films has made a deal with Atari to produce and finance the adaptations.

In a statement about the projects, Atari CEO Fred Chesnais said he was “thrilled to partner with Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films to develop feature films based on two of our most beloved titles. Centipede and Missile Command are part of Atari’s unparalleled and rich library of popular games and we cannot wait to see the movies come to life.”

The movies will be produced by Randall Emmett and George Furla (Lone Survivor). Emmett described the properties as “immensely popular titles have been enjoyed by generations of gamers worldwide. We look forward to a very successful partnership Command and to bringing Centipede and Missile Command to the big screen.”

Atari, Stephen Belafonte, Wayne Marc Godfrey and Robert Jones will executive produce the films, but there is currently no word on directors or writers for the projects.

Contra - TBA

Thirty years after its initial release, Konami's classic is set to stage a comeback from an unexpected angle: a Chinese production company has announced that it's making a movie adaptation. Aside from a slight change in location, the plot sounds broadly the same as the original game's back-story. Here's the official synopsis:

"In 1988, a huge meteorite lands on an uninhabited island in the South China Sea. Chen Qiang and Li Zhiyong investigate but come up empty handed. 29 years later, Chen sends commandos Bill and Lance into a combat mission there to neutralize the villainous Red Falcon Organization, but end up facing a different enemy altogether."

We love that the movie retains the names of the characters from the Contra arcade machine. Like the rest of the game, Contra's steeped in 80s history and pop culture. Bill and Lance's full names are Bill Rizer and Lance Bean - a mash-up of actors' names from James Cameron's Aliens (Paul Reiser, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, and Michael Biehn) - while their likenesses are evidently based on Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.

No release date, cast, or director announced as of yet.

Further Reading: 25 Most Brutal Bosses in Video Games

Dante's Inferno - TBA

Way back in 2013, it was announced that Fede Alvarez (director of the Evil Dead remake) would be helping to bring EA's 2010 action adventure game Dante's Inferno to the big screen. Since then, news about the project has stopped almost completely leaving many to speculate that it may have been quietly canceled. 

According to Alvarez, however, that is not the case. 

Alvarez confirmed in 2016 that the Dante's Inferno film adaptation is still in development. He also noted that rather than having the film be based solely off of the game, he intends to draw more inspiration for the original epic poem.

Detective Pikachu - May 10, 2019

The Division - TBA

Jake Gyllenhaal has signed up to star in the adaptation and will also produce, which makes it the actor's second game-to-film project to date -- he previously starred in Disney's tepid Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time in 2010. Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) has also been cast to star alongside Gyllenhaal.  

The game's premise is a solid basis for an action thriller: set in a wintry Manhattan beset by a deadly pandemic, it's about a small group of agents whose job is to restore order and seek out the cause of the outbreak. The dark and violent concept could be really effective in the hands of the right filmmakers.

Duke Nukem - TBA

It’s taken a long time, but there may be solid progress on bringing the video game character Duke Nukem to the big screen. Former wrestler John Cena - who was recently seen in Daddy's Home 2 and lent his voice to the recent animated movie Ferdinand - is in talks to take on the role. 

It’s early stages for the project, with neither a writer nor a director in place yet. But the plan is to make this is a starring vehicle for Cena, presumably with a view toward a franchise. There’s no way that this won’t get an R rating, either.

Further Reading: 25 Best Japanese Games Not Available in the U.S.

Firewatch - TBA

Firewatch, 2016's biggest entry into the "Walking Simulator" genre, is now set to be adapted into a major motion picture. 

This project is part of a deal between film production company Good Universe and Firewatch's developer Campo Santo who are joining forces in order to create a subsidiary intended to connect filmmakers and game developers. The full extent of this collaboration is unknown, but Campo Santo founder Sean Vanaman did have this to say regarding the agreement. 

The first thing the two parties plan to make is an adaptation of 2016's Firewatch which has, thus far, been one of the most surprising video game hits of 2016. Firewatch follows a man named Henry who has decided to work as a fire lookout in Wyoming. When a mysterious occurrence attracts Henry's attention and compels him to wander into the wilderness, he is soon drawn into an intriguing web of moral conflicts that must be navigated with the help of a supervisor he retains contact with through the use of a handheld radio. 

Five Nights at Freddy's - TBA

Five Nights at Freddy's movie plans are moving forward with revitalized momentum. The popular point-and-click horror-adventure video game series, which has become a staple on iOS and Android devices, had film adaptation plans gestating for about three years; plans that are now strapped to a proverbial rocket pack, with the selection of a proven visionary in Chris Columbus, and a genre-appropriate studio in Blumhouse.

Chris Columbus will write and direct a Five Nights at Freddy’s film for Blumhouse Productions. The latest movement on the project came about after it was put into turnaround by Warner Bros./New Line back in March 2017, which landed it at Blumhouse, the upstart horror-film-friendly studio of Jason Blum, built by the likes of film franchises such as Paranormal Activity, Insidious, Sinister, and The Purge.

Five Nights at Freddy’s has yet to signal any production or release dates, but we will keep you apprised of the project’s major developments as they occur.

Further Reading: 20 Video Games to Play in 2019

Fruit Ninja - TBA

Fruit Ninja is coming to the big screen. Now you can watch as someone wildly makes a fruit salad out of miles of digital celluloid. In anticipation of the all popcorn crumbs Angry Birds will be leaving in the aisles, Tripp Vinson announced it will produce a feature film treatment of the mobile app Fruit Ninja.

The addictive game already spawned a live action version from a YouTuber named ScottDW but this one will drop from Vinson Films. The screenplay is being typed right now by JP Lavin and Chad Damiani, who adapted the book How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack.

Fruit Ninja is the second top-selling iOS game ever. It has had over one billion downloads since it was introduced in 2010 and is now ready to be made as a live-action comedy the whole family can enjoy. Oh, they’re keeping details on the plot very secret. There are so many things you can do with apples and oranges, swords and bombs.

The movie will be executive produced by Sam White and Tara Farney.

Gears of War - TBA

A feature film adaptation of the video game Gears of War, long in development but recently on the back burner, is being actively developed by producers Dylan Clark (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and Scott Stuber (Central Intelligence), the latter of whom has been working on the project for three years.

The news was announced by Microsoft during a live stream for the upcoming release of Gears of War 4, with the company revealing that the project has found a home at Universal Pictures (who apparently did not feel sufficiently burned by the box office flameout of its Warcraft adaptation).

Screenwriter Shane Salerno has been hired to pen the movie. Salerno has busied himself recently by working on the four upcoming Avatar sequels with James Cameron, as well as an adaptation of Don Winslow’s book The Cartel that Ridley Scott intends to direct. And speaking of directors, Gears Of War needs one too.

Gears of War is a third person shooter game that follows the members of Delta Squad, a team of soldiers tasked with saving the human inhabitants of a planet called Sera from an alien force known as the Locust Horde (among other creatures). 

The idea is to not base the movie directly on any particular Gears of War game but to create a new story set in the Gears of War universe.

Further Reading: 25 Underrated Video Game Soundtracks

Half-Life - TBA

While promoting, 10 Cloverfield Lane back in 2016, J.J. Abrams gave an update about Bad Robot's upcoming Half-Life movie. It's not much to go on and even Abrams says so.

"We've got writers, and we're working on both those stories. But nothing that would be an exciting update," says Abrams, who's set to produce both films. He didn't reveal who the writers were, though.  

Meanwhile, the Half-Life movie, which was first announced by Valve head Gabe Newell at DICE 2013, has proved to be as elusive as the games themselves. Since the film's announcement, there hadn't been any additional information until now. We assumed it was burning in development hell. Glad to see that's not the case. 

Just Cause - TBA

In 2017, it was reported that Jason Momoa - he of Game of Thrones and Aquaman fame - has signed on to star in the Just Cause film project. Momoa is set to play series protagonist Rico Rodriguez; a highly-skilled operative who completes various assignments for the mysterious organization known simply as the Agency. Presumably, said assignments will be completed within the confines of some exotic tropical locale, but that particular detail - along with many other aspects of the plot - is unconfirmed at this time. 

Meanwhile, Brad Peyton (San Andreas) has been confirmed as the film's director. Interestingly, Peyton is also working on a film version of the popular arcade game Rampage which stars none other than San Andreas lead, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. We'll let you decide whether the producers that apparently looked at San Andreas and thought, "Now that's what a video game movie should look like," are in the right or not. 

Speaking of producers, Peyton and Jeff Fierson will be handling the production of the Just Cause film via their ASAP Entertainment production company. Additional producers include Roy Lee (Vertigo Entertainment), Adrian Askarieh (Prime Universe Films), Eva Cao (Supernova Entertainment), as well as Mason Xu and Fan Dong of DNA Co. Ltd. It's worth noting that the China-based studio DNA is handling the film's financing. It seems that China's fascination with funding blockbuster action films continues to grow stronger and stronger.  

There's no word yet on when Just Cause will start shooting or if it will include scenes featuring Rodriguez tying cows to the blades of helicopters and then tying civilians to the cows. If it's attempting to replicate the best parts of the Just Cause games, however, it most certainly should. 

Further Reading: 25 Best Game Boy Advance Games

The Last of Us - TBA

Although some would argue that the game is cinematic enough in of itself, Sony subsidiary Screen Gems (the company behind the Resident Evil film franchise) are currently working hard on bringing Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us to the big screen.

Sam Raimi is on board as a producer, while the game’s writer, Neil Druckmann, is working on the screenplay. (Druckmann also penned the Uncharted series). Druckmann gave an update in January 2015, insisting that his screenplay would be "pretty faithful" to his original game script, despite a few "big changes."

In March 2016, Druckmann admitted that the film is in development hell until further notice. Raimi also confirmed as much recently, citing creative differences between Druckmann and Sony in terms of the direction of the film. 

Maisie Williams has apparently had meetings about playing the lead character, Ellie, but for now the movie doesn't seem to be moving anywhere fast. 

Mega Man - TBA

Mega Man is getting a live-action movie from 20th Century Fox, Capcom announced in Oct. 2018. The movie, which is tentatively titled MEGA MAN, will be written and directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, the team that previously brought you sci-fi horror film Viral and Paranormal Activity 3 and 4. They also directed the hit online dating documentary, Catfish. No release date has been set for their first foray into video game adaptations.

Further Reading: 25 Best Mega Man Games

Metal Gear Solid - TBA

Jordan Vogt-Roberts is continuing to develop his planned movie take on the video game Metal Gear Solid, that Sony Pictures is backing. The film has been in gestation for some time, but it’s now getting a further helping hand from Derek Connolly.

Connolly has been hired to work on the latest draft of the screenplay, having worked with Vogt-Roberts on the recent Kong: Skull Island. He’s also co-written Jurassic World and the upcoming Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

There’s still no known timeframe for Metal Gear Solid on the big screen just yet, but we suspect over the next year or so, we’ll see Sony trying to push the proverbial accelerator down on the project a little. As we hear more, we’ll let you know…

Metro 2033 - TBA

The first-person shooter Metro 2033—itself based on a novel of the same name by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky—is heading to the movies. The filmmakers will apparently use Mad Max and The Hunger Games as inspirations while adapting the Metro 2033 story (all about a Russian post-apocalyptic underground wasteland, and the chap who dares to wander through it). Michael De Luca, Eugene Efuni, and Stephen L’Heureux are producing.

Further Reading: 25 Underrated Game Boy Games

Minecraft - TBA

A movie adaptation of Mojang’s massive building game Minecraft has been touted for some time. Night at the Museum director Shawn Levy was linked for a while, with unconfirmed talk suggesting that the movie might be a live-action adventure, rather than an animation.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s co-creator Rob McElhenney took Levy’s place in 2015, but now he's dropped out too. McElhenney informed TheWrap that the film "is not happening" with him as director. Neither McElhenney or Warner Bros. have elaborated on the matter further, but all evidence suggests that the movie will miss its May 24, 2019 release date. At the moment, it sounds like the studio is in the midst of what some have described as a major overhaul of the planned project. 

There's no word on who will helm the film now that McElhenney is out, but it seems that Warner Bros. has approached Aaron and Adam Nee (The Last Romantic, Band of Robbers) to pen a new script for Minecraft. The previous version of the script was written by Wonder Womanscreenwriter Jason Fuchs. 

Missile Command - TBA

That’s right, Centipede and Missile Command, the Atari ‘80s arcade shooter games, are getting adapted into feature films. Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films has made a deal with Atari to produce and finance the adaptations.

In a statement about the projects, Atari CEO Fred Chesnais said he was “thrilled to partner with Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films to develop feature films based on two of our most beloved titles. Centipede and Missile Command are part of Atari’s unparalleled and rich library of popular games and we cannot wait to see the movies come to life.”

The movies will be produced by Randall Emmett and George Furla (Lone Survivor). Emmett described the properties as “immensely popular titles have been enjoyed by generations of gamers worldwide. We look forward to a very successful partnership Command and to bringing Centipede and Missile Command to the big screen.”

Atari, Stephen Belafonte, Wayne Marc Godfrey, and Robert Jones will executive produce the films, but there is currently no word on directors or writers for the projects.

Further Reading: 50 Underrated Xbox Games

Monster Hunter - TBA

British director Paul WS Anderson turned the hit video game franchise Resident Evil into a long-running film series in the early 2000s, and he's set to do the same thing again with another property owned by Japanese publisher Capcom.

The Monster Hunter movie "tells the story of two heroes who come from different worlds to defeat a shared danger, the powerful, deadly and magnificent monsters that inhabit the land. Along the way, viewers will make new discoveries and encounter familiar faces and beloved characters from the games like the Admiral," according to the official synopsis from the publisher.

Diego Boneta (Before I Fall) and Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil) star in the movie. No release date has been set. 

Monument Valley - TBA

Monument Valley, the critically acclaimed mobile puzzle game from Ustwo, is being adapted by Paramount Pictures. Patrick Osborne (Ralph Breaks the Internet) has been tapped to direct the film. No release date has been set. 

Further Reading: 25 Best Free-to-Play Mobile Games

Mortal Kombat - TBA

The Mortal Kombat reboot is one step closer to reality, with Simon McQuoid signing on as director. Greg Russo recently completed a draft of the screenplay, and it's not clear if anything remains of the work done by Oren Uziel (who wrote the well-received Mortal Kombat: Legacyweb series) and Dave Callahan (The Expendables). 

Christopher Lambert (Raiden) is set to be back for this one. He’s not giving too much away at this stage, but he revealed to Loaded that “They have a great idea for the third one,” adding that “it will be very different.”

In fact, it looks as if the new movie will have a time travel element. “We are going to be traveling through time, but in a very special way. So imagine characters having a battle in the middle of London and then whoosh, you smash through a window and find yourself on the hood of a New York cab,” Lambert teased.

Portal - TBA

At the Westworld red carpet back in September 2016, director/producer J.J. Abrams gave an update on the upcoming Portal and Half-Life movies. While Abrams didn't go into too much detail, he did reveal that he had a meeting coming up the following week with Valve, the studio that created both games in question. And it seems like both Bad Robot and Valve are focusing on the Portal movie first. 

"We have a meeting coming up next week with Valve, we’re very active, I’m hoping that there will be a Portal announcement fairly soon," said Abrams.

The announcement could involve a reveal of who is writing the script for the film, as Abrams teased that he's had talked with writers about both games:

"We are having some really interesting discussions with writers, many of whom...once you said you’re doing a movie or show about a specific thing that is a known quantity you start to find people who are rabid about these things. As someone who loves playing Half-Life and Portal, what’s the movie of this, it’s incredible when you talk to someone who just ‘gets’ it, it’s like, oh my god, it’s really the seed for this incredible tree you’re growing."

Abrams was careful not to talk about Portal's story and didn't say if the film would follow the game's storyline, which involves a facility full of platforming puzzles, inter-spatial portals, and a mad AI who loves cake. Not too much to chew on exactly, but perhaps we should prepare ourselves for a Portal announcement.

Further Reading: What Half-Life 3 Would Have Been About

Rainbow Six - TBA

Rainbow Six may have become a series of best-selling and popular video games, thanks to UbiSoft, but its core still lies in a novel by the late Tom Clancy. The sizeable book focuses on the character of John Clark, who was introduced in Clancy’s Jack Ryan novels (and we saw played on screen by Willem Dafoe in Clear And Present Danger and Liev Schreiber in The Sum Of All Fears).

A movie adaptation of Rainbow Six is now in the works, and it’s being overseen by Akiva Goldsman. Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec have been hired to try and fit the book into a two hours-or-so movie, and Paramount – which is backing the project – would subsequently look for more John Clark movies.

Ryan Reynolds was approached to star as Clark in Rainbow Six, although there’s nothing formal that we know of yet. Nor is there word of a director.

We will, of course, keep you posted…

Raving Rabbids - TBA

Rayman spin-off Raving Rabbids has carved out quite a name for itself. So much so, in fact, that Ubisoft has teamed up with Sony to bring the troublemaking rabbits to the big screen.

This one will be a for a live-action/stop-motion animation hybrid. Robot Chicken writers Matthew Senreich, Tom Sheppard, and Zeb Wells are working on the script as we speak.

Further Reading: 50 Underrated DOS Games

Rent a Hero - TBA

Gamers and otaku rejoice: Japanese action RPG video game Rent A Hero is making a heroic leap from your computer screen to the big screen. 

Tokyo video game powerhouse Sega has already rented the superpowers of Tomoya Suzuki, president and CEO of its production arm Stories International. Stories International’s Even J. Cholfin will be executive producing with Suzuki and Hakuhodo DY Group co-producing, and will level up with filmmakers Steve Pink (Hot Tub Time Machine, High Fidelity, Grosse Pointe Blank) and Jeff Morris (The True Memoirs of an International Assassin) to upgrade the futuristic game to larger-than-life proportions.

While cast and release details didn't arrive with the superpowered suit, we now really, really wish the hero-for-rent service was a thing. 

Resident Evil Reboot - TBA

If you actually thought the last Resident Evil film was going to be the last Resident Evil film, then you may want to brace yourself. Yes, the Resident Evil film franchise is going to be rebooted. 

James Wan (Saw, The Conjuring 2) has signed on to produce the reboot and Greg Russo (Mortal Kombat) will be handling screenplay duties. According to this same report, this reboot will feature an entirely new cast. At present, Russo and Wan are only expected to helm the first of six planned new Resident Evil films. 

Further Reading: The George Romero Resident Evil Movie You Never Saw

Shinobi - TBA

Sega’s once-popular, currently dormant series Shinobi is another classic cartridge-centric video game franchise that will be getting the movie treatment. Marc Platt Productions, a company involved with hits like Wanted (and its planned sequel), Bridge of Spies, Drive, and the Legally Blonde films will reportedly develop a Shinobifilm adaptation in a co-production with Sega’s company Stories International Inc. According to Platt in a statement:

“We love the Shinobi games and believe that the world of ninjas has never been properly explored onscreen. We now have the opportunity to do just that. With Shinobi, we hope to make a film that honors the essence of the games and brings this fascinating world to life for moviegoing audiences."

It’s still too early know when Shinobi plans to sneak its way to theaters, but we will certainly keep you apprised of updates.

Sleeping Dogs - TBA

The chances of getting a sequel to the 2012 cult classic open-world crime game Sleeping Dogs just get slimmer with each passing year. While that realization is usually enough to send us running to the bottle...umm...of Yoo-hoo or something, the pain got a little more manageable today with the announcement that Donnie Yen is going to be starring in a film adaptation of Sleeping Dogs.

Producer Neal Moritz (of the Fast and the Furious franchise and 21 Jump Street fame) is putting together a film adaptation of Square Enix's beloved game. Donnie Yen, of course, is the movie martial arts master you will most recently remember from his work in Rogue One. 

Yen's cinematic martial arts skills are sure to come into play at some point in the Sleeping Dogs film. While there are no concrete details concerning the movie's plot, including whether or not it will be a strict adaptation or a spiritual follow-up, you can rest assured that the game will borrow certain elements from the games. That means plenty of Yakuza, lots of car chases, a few gunfights, and some martial arts sequences that further the - admittedly awesome - stereotype that Japan is really just a collection of martial arts fights that see lots of fruit stands get demolished. 

Original Film will be handling the distribution of Sleeping Dogs alongside DJ2 Entertainment. Joining Moritz on the production side of things is Dmitri Johnson, and Dan Jevons, while Toby Ascher and Stephan Bugaj will be handling executive production duties.

Unfortunately, Sleeping Dogs' developer, United Front Games, shut down in 2016, so it's not likely they'll have much creative input in the process. As to whether or not this adaptation will spur Square Enix to publish another Sleeping Dogs title, we can only hope that it will while we also hold on to some hope this movie does justice to the incredible game that inspired it.

Further Reading: 50 Underrated Sega Genesis Games

Sonic the Hedgehog - Nov. 15, 2019

What took them so long? Sonic the Hedgehog, veteran of countless video games, an animated series, and a long-running comic book series from Archie Comics is coming to the big screen.

Tim Miller, who has a little time on his hands after leaving the director's chair on Deadpool 2, is going to serve as executive producer on the film along with Jeff Fowler, who will also direct. Neal H. Moritz of the Fast & Furious movies is producing with Takeshi Ito and Mie Onishi. Patrick Casey and Josh Miller (Golan the Insatiable) are writing the script.

James Marsden (Westworld) is set to star. Jim Carrey will play the villainous Dr. Robotnik while Ben Schwartz (Parks & Recreation) will voice Sonic. 

Splinter Cell - TBA

Ubisoft’s film studio is working with New Regency Productions on a film version of the black ops stealth game Splinter Cell, with Tom Hardy attached to portray the games series’ protagonist Sam Fisher. For a while, Doug Liman of Edge of Tomorrow and The Bourne Identity was attached to direct.

He departed the project in April 2015, though. Ubisoft is searching for a new director, while Frank John Hughes – of Dark Tourist and Leave – works on the script. Previous writers include X-Men: First Class’ Sheldon Turner.

Joseph Kahn – director of countless music videos, as well as that Power/Rangers fan film – has been linked to the director’s chair.

Further Reading: 25 Underrated NES Games

Spy Hunter - TBA

The classic '80s arcade game Spy Hunter has been in development as a movie since Universal bought the rights in 2003. At one stage, Dwayne Johnson was involved, but it’s unclear if he still is. Last we heard, Zombieland’s Ruben Flesicher was onboard to direct.

In November 2015, a pair of writers were hired to resurrect the project– Nelson Greaves and Sam Chalsen, both of whom are known for their work on the Sleepy Hollow TV series. It’s unclear if Fleischer remains involved.

Streets of Rage - TBA

Back in 2016, Stories International (Sega’s production arm) and studio Circle of Confusion announced that they will collaboratively adapt urban-set side-scrolling beat ‘em up series Streets of Rage.

Further Reading: 25 Underrated SNES Games

Super Mario Bros. - TBA

It's official! Nintendo and Universal Studios are working to create a Super Mario Bros. animated movie. Illumination Entertainment - the studio behind Minions and Shrek - will handle the actual production of the Super Mario Bros. animated movie. Shigeru Miyamoto and Chris Meledandri will produce.

We're willing to bet that this animated project will likely be much closer in spirit to the Super Mario Bros. games than the live-action movie was. Super Mario Odyssey has certainly proved that Mario can survive the transition into some pretty bizarre universes. While we can't quite fathom what the film's plot will be about, we're going to bet that this movie will at least be visually pleasing. 

There's still no solid release date available for the Super Mario Bros. animated movie, but the plan is to have it in theaters sometime in 2022. 

Tetris - TBA

The long-discussed prospects of a Tetris movie adaptation are close to becoming reality with a new international coalition of media moguls looking to co-produce the project. China-based producer Bruno Wu will join U.S.-based producer Lawrence Kasanoff (Mortal Kombat, True Lies), which will see Wu’s Seven Star Works and Kasanoff’s Threshold Entertainment Group operate under the joint name Threshold Global Studios. 

Tetris will be the kickoff project for this new venture with an $80 million production budget reportedly committed to line up four proverbial rows of blocks at the box-office.

Certainly, the idea of a U.S./China coalition throwing $80 million at a thus-far shapeless Tetris movie is something that we’ll look forward to updating in the coming months.

Further Reading: The Incredibly Weird Story Behind Tetris

Thief - TBA

Unsurprisingly, there's a Thiefmovie on the way. The pacing of the Thief games lends itself perfectly to a big screen adventure, after all. The series mixes stealth, combat, and treasure hunting in a world of magic and even horror. Zombies and other monsters are part of the fun of the first game. The 2014 Thief video game reboot was poorly received, though, so it might be a good idea to focus on one of the earlier games for the movie instead.

Adam Mason and Simon Boyes are penning a screenplay for the Thief movie that’s being put together by Straight Up Films. Roy Lee, Marisa Polvino, Kate Cohen and Adrian Askarieh, who produced the Hitman films, will produce this one. 

It’s very early stages, of course, so we don’t know yet of a director or a release date. Our ear will be to the ground.

Uncharted - TBA

It's been a while since anything of substance surfaced about the Uncharted movie. All we know for sure at the moment is that Tom Holland (Spider-Man: Homecoming) is set to star as Nathan Drake.

However, prolific producer Charles Roven (Justice League, Wonder Woman, The Dark Knight Trilogy), who is attached to the project, dropped some new details at a Producers Guild of America gathering at which he received a lifetime achievement award.

Roven explains the film's chronologically ambiguous connection to the video game mythology, stating:

“We’ve come up with a wonderful origin story but it’s still based on the Uncharted video game. It doesn’t take place during any of the time period of any of the Uncharted video games. It actually takes place when Nathan Drake (who’s the lead of that game) and Sully, I guess you’d call him his surrogate father, were much younger. It’s an origin story that evolves out of the game but is not from the game.”

In a more substantive addendum, Roven also reveals that the Uncharted movie script – last drafted by Joe Carnahan after tenures by David Guggenheim and Eric Warren Singer – has passed into the hands of yet another screenwriter in Rafe Judkins, who is primarily known for television work in episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Hemlock Grove, Chuck, and My Own Worst Enemy.

Further Reading: 60 Underrated PlayStation Games

Werewolves Within - TBA

Ubisoft has announced a live-action adaptation of Werewolves Within, the 2016 VR game from Red Storm Entertainment. Mishna Wolff is set to pen the script. No release date has been set for the film. 

John Saavedra is Games Editor at Den of Geek. Read more of his work here. Follow him on Twitter @johnsjr9.

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014. 

Release Date: November 6, 2018
Platform: PC
Developer: Overkill
Publisher: Starbreeze & 505 Games
Genre: Cooperative First-person Shooter

Overkill’s The Walking Dead has the worst opening mission I’ve played in years. With no direction about where to go or how anything works, you’re dropped into your group’s camp with three other survivors to seal the gates and keep a horde of walkers at bay. Between the confusing process of having to go around the camp for additional planks to fortify the gates, and less than optimal combat, you’ll probably fail this mission more than once unless you start off with an experienced group.

The good news is that the missions get much better after this unusually poor opening, but fundamental design issues stick around for the entire game, holding this back from being a great co-op shooter. Certainly, it doesn't reach the heights of the genre's standard, Valve's Left 4 Dead. 

Further Reading: The Walking Dead's Most Shocking Deaths

Overkill’s The Walking Dead is based on the comics with the input of creator Robert Kirkman, but isn’t connected to any previous Walking Dead games or the TV show. Instead, you play through 10 missions as one of four (and later six) brand new characters, each with their own attributes and skill trees. While walkers are the primary concern in these missions, you’ll also regularly face off against the Family, a rival group of hostile survivors.

The story is told through cinematics between missions, but it doesn't reach the heights of the comics or the show's better seasons. Honestly, if you removed The Walking Dead license, it would be hard to tell this game is even part of the same universe. You’re a survivor. You have to build up your camp. That’s about it. There's not much to Overkill's The Walking Dead apart from any other zombie story -- of which there are already too many. 

The Walking Dead franchise has always been known for its great human characters, but that just doesn’t translate to this game, and things only improve slightly during the actual missions. The Walking Deadhas a serious identity crisis. It's obvious that the game is heavily inspired by the (sadly dormant) Left 4 Dead series and mission structure is liberally borrowed from Overkill’s own Payday 2, but there are also elements of Dying Light and Call of Duty’s many zombie modes.

Unfortunately, these different design philosophies never gel into something better than a bland, often-frustrating mess. The first problem is the combat. Gunplay just feels too light and unsatisfying, no matter what weapon you’re firing. Melee combat is even worse. Whether you’re using a baseball bat or an ice ax, you just keep swinging until the walkers go down. Over and over again. It all feels the same. And since you want to stay quiet to avoid alerting too many walkers (measured by your “horde meter") and ammo is a little scarce, there’s a lot of melee combat.

Further Reading: What's Next for The Walking Dead's Rick Grimes?

The game also emphasizes stealth gameplay, but you can’t really run past zombies as you can in other zombie games like Dying Light and Dead Rising. Try to avoid a sizable horde and you’ll quickly find yourself overwhelmed. If your three teammates meet the same fate before anyone can respawn, it’s mission failed and you have to start all over, even if you’re 30 minutes into the mission. A frustrating penalty, to say the least.

Further compounding these issues is the fact that there’s no built-in voice chat, which is a very odd choice for a cooperative shooter. You'll want to use Steam VOIP, Discord, or another chat app to communicate with your teammates or you're more than likely doomed to fail. The lack of built-in voice chat in a game that leans so heavily on teamwork is just one way Overkill's The Walking Dead is fundamentally flawed right out of the gate. 

Overall, the game is at its most frustrating when it starts to get fun (and it does have its moments) but stumbles on itself with a strange design choice or an uninspired combat section. There just aren’t many reasons to stick around beyond the first season's worth of missions (a second season is out later this month if you do want more).

On the more technical side, the graphics are just fine. They get the job done, but certainly don’t stand out in 2018, even playing on ultra settings. There’s also very little interactivity with objects in the environment. If you shoot or hit a crate, it just sits there as if nothing happened. Music is a little better. During quieter moments, the score even nods to the classic 28 Days Later soundtrack, but the harder rock music that kicks in during combat is forgettable.

Further Reading: A Spoiler-filled Guide to the Whisperers

A co-op zombie shooter set in The Walking Dead universe from the makers of the excellent Payday series sounds like such a good idea on paper, which is why it’s so shocking that the final game is so deeply flawed. It’s like if George A. Romero had been tasked with making a Resident Evil movie and the final result was Plan 9 from Outer Space.

Overkill’s The Walking Dead is about as enjoyable as the last couple seasons of The Walking DeadTV show. There’s something here for the hardcore franchise fans, but little reason for everyone else check it out.

Chris Freiberg is a freelance contributor. Read more of his work here.

Publisher Activision isn't happy with how Destiny 2 is performing. 

"We have not yet seen the full core re-engage in Destiny, which has kind of led to the underperformance against our expectations to date," said Activision COO Coddy Johnson during a recent earnings call. "Some players we think are still in wait-and-see mode. So when you're in, you're deeply engaged. If you're not, we're hoping now's the time to bring players back in and win them back."

Johnson actually touches on a few interesting points there. First off, it really does feel like the problem with Destiny 2 in terms of its sales is the fact that many of those who initially got into Destiny didn't really bother to make the leap to Destiny 2. Ever since Destiny 2 was announced, many wondered if fans everywhere were going to be willing to abandon all of the progress they had made in Destiny in favor of starting over fresh and purchasing a new game (plus expansions) again. It appears that quite a few players may not have made that leap. 

The other phrase Johnson used that is important to pay attention to is "wait-and-see mode." He's essentially saying that the belief is that players are still waiting to hear if Destiny 2 becomes a must-play game. So far as that goes, we do have to wonder whether or not there will be anyone release or event that catapults Destiny 2 to that level following its somewhat rocky launch. Many people say that the game's Forsaken expansion is the best in franchise history, but it seems even that hasn't been enough to elevate the game's player count to the levels Activision was expecting. 

This all certainly helps to explain why Activision/Bungie has been giving away Destiny 2 for free on PC and elsewhere, but it doesn't really answer questions regarding where Destiny goes from here. We're going to assume that there's going to be one more major Destiny 2 expansion before Bungie starts preparing for Destiny 3. Even if it's as good of an expansion as Forsaken was, will that be enough to draw players back in? Don't forget that Destiny's formerly niche market is getting more crowded with the impending release of Anthemand the continued success of free-to-play alternative, Warframe. 

As for Bungie, insiders have hinted that the studio wants to make Destiny 3 more "hardcore" in order to appease the series' biggest fans, but declining sales numbers may force them to appeal to a wider range of players. 

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014. 

Crackdown 3 is one of the Xbox One's big upcoming flagship titles. It's a game many fans of the original didn't think would happen after the tepid response and sales of Crackdown 2. But Microsoft Studios surprised everyone at E3 2014 by announcing that a third game was in development. 

It's been a long time since that announcement. Several delays later, we're still waiting to hear about a solid release date for this action-adventure game that boasts fully destructible environments and tons of explosions. 

Further Reading: Crackdown Creator No Longer Working on Crackdown 3

Here's everything else we know:

Crackdown 3 Release Date

Crackdown 3 has been delayed to February 2019. The game is coming to XBO and PC, and will be part of the Play Anywhere program, which allows players to buy one copy of the game for both Xbox One and Windows 10 play. 

Further Reading: 50 Underrated Xbox Games

Crackdown 3 Trailer

Check out the new E3 2018 trailer below:

Here's the E3 2017 trailer for Crackdown 3:

At Gamescom 2015, Microsoft unveiled the first gameplay footage of the game, showing us that the franchise hasn't changed too much. The same arcade-y feel of the original is still very much a part of this installment. 

Of note is the destructible environments. Crackdown 3 is boasting more chaos and destruction than we've ever seen in a game. Perhaps only Battlefield can't top the explosions we just saw on the Gamescom stage. 

Check out the trailer:

IGN also posted 17 minutes of gameplay onto their YouTube channel. The footage has some commentary from Crackdown creator Dave Jones. Here it is:

Crackdown 3 was first unveiled at E3 2014. It was just known as Crackdown then. Here's the reveal trailer:

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014. 

John Saavedra is Games Editor at Den of Geek. Read more of his work here. Follow him on Twitter @johnsjr9. 

Revealed by Microsoft during its E3 2018 media briefing, Halo 6 is actually called Halo Infinite. The game was announced with a cryptic two-minute trailer that doesn't really tell us what the game is. In fact, all we really know based on the first trailer is that the story could feature a Halo ring. Master Chief turns up at the end of the video with what looks like a new helmet. 

We're hoping for more details soon. Of course, it's only been three years since Halo 5 was released and the game still supports a respectably large community of players on the multiplayer side. That being the case, 343 may very well choose to wait until E3 2019 to fully unveil the game.

Further Reading: 14 Halo Storylines That Could Inspire the TV Series

Here's everything else we know about Halo Infinite:

Halo Infinite Release Date

Halo Infinite doesn't have a release date as of yet. It will arrive for Xbox One and PC.

Halo Infinite Trailer

Here's the first trailer for Halo Infinite:

Further Reading: 50 Underrated Xbox Games

Halo Infinite Story

Kiki Wolfkill, head of 343 Industries, and longtime Halo director Frank O'Connor recently gave an interview to GameTM magazine in which the two acknowledged the disappointment some fans felt when they realized that Master Chief wasn't the focus of Halo 5.

"We very much realized that people wanted Master Chief's story of Halo 5," said O'Connor. "We definitely marketed in a way that we hoped was going to bring surprise, but for some fans and certainly fans of Master Chief, it was a huge disappointment because they wanted more Chief."

O'Conner goes on to say that he wasn't so much surprised by the reaction of fans who wanted to see more of Master Chief, but that he perhaps didn't quite fully appreciate just how much stock fans put into wanting to play as Master Chief at the outset of a new Halo adventure. He acknowledges that Chief is "slightly more important now than he has ever been, certainly to our franchise."

Further Reading: 25 Underrated Xbox 360 Games

Understandably, O'Connor and Wolfkill are remaining coy as it pertains to any plans they may have in place to address this issue in Halo Infinite, but they did note that they plan on dialing back on introducing more characters to this universe in favor of "making the world a little bit more realistic and compelling."

There are few ways to interpret this information. It sounds highly unlikely that Halo Infinite will echo Halo 5's format by primarily focusing on a new character who must live in the shadow of Master Chief. However, it may be a bit of a stretch to say that the next Halo game will focus solely on Master Chief. That's certainly a path that 343 can go down, but there's also the likely possibility that the developer will choose to focus on existing characters - including Chief - instead of expanding the universe's mythology even more. 

Halo Infinite Multiplayer

During a recent live stream, developer 343 revealed that Halo Infinite will not feature a battle royale mode. 

“I’ll tell you right now, the only BR we’re interested in is Battle Rifle," said Jeff Easterling, a writer for 343. "The original BR. So, calm yourself.”

That kills one popular theory about what Halo Infinite might be about. The fact that the developers definitively declared that Infinite will not feature a battle royale mode removes any possibility that it will. 

Further Reading: 6 Questions Halo Infinite Should Answer About Master Chief and the Halo Universe

Additional details regarding Halo Infinite suggests that the game will not be a next-gen title. This information comes courtesy of a seemingly minor update to the Halo Infinite website that confirms the game will support full 4K resolution on Xbox One X and compatible Windows machines. While that is nice to hear in and of itself, the real takeaway from that announcement is that Halo Infinite is intended to be a current-gen experience. That should ease some of the concerns of gamers who thought that the next Halo game might make its first appearance on a next-gen Xbox system. 

Halo Infinite Game Details

During her speech at D.I.C.E., 343 Industries' general manager Bonnie Ross stated that the studio realizes it was a mistake to not develop split-screen functionality for Halo 5.

"When we didn't put split screen in Halo 5, it was incredibly painful for the community and for us," said Ross. "I think it erodes trust with the community, as the community is a part of our world building."

Head of Xbox Phil Spencer had previously stated that the reason 343 dropped split-screen is that studies showed most gamers preferred to play cooperatively over Xbox Live. Given the size of the discrepancy, it was decided that it was no longer worth the development resources to continue to create similar modes. However, following the release of Halo 5, it soon became clear that those who still utilized the mode felt a sense of attachment to it that simple usage metrics could not quite account for. 

Further Reading: The Halo Movie That Almost Was

Recognizing how passionate fans are about split-screen Halo gaming, Ross stated that "For any FPS, we will always have split screen support going forward." In other words, it sounds like 343 won't be releasing another Halo game that doesn't include some kind of split-screen multiplayer option. 

Halo Infinite Microtransactions

New information suggests that Halo Infinite will feature microtransactions. A recent job listing for the game calls for an Online Experience Design Director that will be able to focus on "social and engagement features that encourage players to return again and again with their friends." Doing so will require them to help develop "progression in- and out-of-game; microtransactions and integration of our business plan throughout the game."

This seems to confirm previous suspicions that the "Infinite" part of Halo Infinite's title is at least somewhat a reference to the idea that this game is designed to be played for a long time. This won't be the first time that a Halo game featured microtransactions, but the current belief is that Halo Infinite might be more of a "game as a service" than previous entries. Indeed, a different job ad refers to Infinite as a "live service" game.

John Saavedra is Games Editor at Den of Geek. Read more of his work here. Follow him on Twitter @johnsjr9. 

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors.