Uncharted Movie Loses Director Once Again As Travis Knight Exits From The Project
It was pretty heartbreaking when fans discovered that avid video game player and Director Dan Trachtenberg would be stepping down from his role as Director for the upcoming motion picture adaptation of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted. Trachtenberg showed his repertoire to have great potential with the film from other projects like Portal: No Escape and later with 12 Cloverfield Lane. Instead, Bumblebee Director Travis Knight would take Trachtenberg’s position bringing on board alongside him with Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, and Rafe Judkins to write the script for the film. However, it looks that the same fate has been met once again according to a recent report from Deadline. According to the entertainment-centered outlet, sources have told Deadline that current standing Director Travis Knight will be exiting from his role. This is due to the scheduling of the upcoming Spider-Man film that Tom Holland is starring in, ultimately “crunching” the timeline for Uncharted which ended up having Knight leave from directing the movie adaptation. Despite the unfortunate dismissal of yet another director, Sony still plans to keep the production afloat while another director is now in search for. Amid the abrupt exit from Knight, writers Marcum, Holloway, and Judkins are still working on the screenplay for the film. Knight will be the sixth director to abandon the film dating all the way back to 2011 with original director David O. Russell. Tom Holland who is casted to play Nathan Drake along with Mark Wahlberg to will portray Victor Sullivan are still set to take on the roles regardless of Knight’s departure from the film. The Uncharted film will be the first motion picture production to come from newly formed PlayStation Pictures; Twisted Metal is also expected to be the first televised series that the production firm will be creating. You can read the full coverage on the show by heading here. Who do you think suits best for the directing position for the Uncharted movie? Source: Deadline
Schedule For Awesome Games Done Quick 2020 Released, Kicks Off This Coming Sunday
This winter’s annual Awesome Games Done Quick livestreamed event is upon us once again as the schedule for the yearly-hosted live show have finally be released. According to the event’s official website, the livestream will commence the first Sunday of the New Year in 2020 on January 6th. Additionally, the event also disclosed a handful of new games that will be presented for record breaking runs this coming weekend, which you can read below: Blasphemous Celeste (Farewell) Control Manifold Garden The Outer Worlds The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (2019) Untitled Goose Game Refreshing from this year’s Awesome Games Done Quick back in January, the event received roughly $1.8 million in donations across seven-day span that the show was scheduled for. Even more, this latest Summer Games Done Quick show later in June accounted for nearly double what January accumulated by overcoming 3 million dollars in donations. This Sunday’s event will commence at 11:30 AM EST with a pre-show for the annual event and will kickoff at the start of 12 with A Hat in Time that afternoon. Leading until the following Sunday where the show will eventually conclude with the show’s finale at 12:32 AM EST on January 12. You can read the full schedule for this coming show by heading here. What speedrun are you most excited for regarding this coming Awesome Games Done Quick?
Development Going To Studio’s Liking For Bayonetta 3, Kamiya Confirms
Japanese Studio PlatinumGames have recently shared to be rereleasing both last gen titles Bayonetta & Vanquish with a remastered version of both projects for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Fancying the return of both games, Platinum emphasizes that the two will support 4K resolution with 60 frames per second performance as well on both platforms. While the duology is scheduled for February to keep fans occupied, there is an update regarding the highly-anticipated Bayonetta 3. Since the game’s announcement back in 2017 at The Game Awards, the development on the project has been virtually shadowed in radio silence with little to no word on the current status for the upcoming third installment. On Twitter, studio Director Hideki Kamiya answered a fan on the stage of the game’s development by sharing that “Development’s going really well. There you go.” Aside from the slightest reaffirmation on the state of Bayonetta 3’s development, there is no other information that has been revealed beyond Kamiya’s statement. However, for those who might have missed, PlatinumGames Studio Head also shared the new steps that will be taken regarding the storytelling of the plot for the new game. Previously, Atsushi Inaba disclosed that the team has used their experience from the first two titles to craft a different process to create portray the plot of the forthcoming title. Elaborating more on the topic, Inaba references that this new tactic for the storytelling of Bayonetta 3 will specifically alter traditional narrative that both the team and fans associate with the series. Even more, he clarifies that this “orthodox” technique for the third installment will not stick to the chronological structure of the first two games. What are you excited for most from Bayonetta 3? Bayonetta 3 is listed for Nintendo Switch with no slated release date as of yet.
Former God Of War Developer Erik Jakobsen Joins The Initiative
It has been over a year since Microsoft announced the forming of Santa Monica-based studio The Initiative. The team would be comprised of industry veterans who will work primarily to bring a strong first-party lineup directly to the Xbox platform. However, news regarding the year-old developer have been pretty quiet as there has yet to be an official reveal or any form of teaser surrounding their first project. Unlike the development at the team, we instead have learned a lot about staffing of the studio as new faces continue to join this potential rockstar developer. Most recently, it is reported that a former Santa Monica Studios developer has joined the ranks of The Initiative. That being Erik Jakobsen, who worked as a Senior Staff Environment Artist for last year’s God of War. Twitter user @klobrille brings this discovery to the light as he stumbled upon Jakobsen’s LinkedIn account which reveals his new position at The Initiative; Jakobsen’s profile reads that he is a Principal Environment Artist. Exciting to see the newest addition to The Initiative team, Jakobsen is actually the second former Santa Monica Studio developer to join the Xbox Game Studios-owned developer. Earlier this year in January, it was revealed that Senior Staff Level Designer Chris O’Neil left the God of War studio for The Initiative for the position of Lead Level Designer. Even more on the topic of Sony Interactive Entertainment developers joining The Initiative, you could consider the addition of formerly Insomniac Games’ Drew Murray joining the team as well. Although Murray did depart from his former employer prior to the acquisition which occurred this summer, Insomniac Games essentially was ranked to be a first-party team for the PlayStation brand aside from Sunset Overdrive. What do you think Jakobsen’s addition to The Initiative could mean for the team’s first project? Source: LinkedIn
The Witcher 3 Reaches Record Breaking Active Players This Past Weekend On Steam
For fans of the popular fantasy RPG from CD Projekt Red, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has been making its rounds recently with the titular Netflix series officially debuting earlier this month. However, this also dispersed a slew of new players for the game which have resulted with record breaking statistics on Steam primarily. According to Steam Charts which were shared by the studios Global Community Lead Marcin Momot, the Witcher 3 has toppled the previous record high active player count on Steam this past weekend with the game exceeding to 93,000 active players. Dissecting Steam Charts even more concerning The Witcher 3, it reveals that this new record active player count actually breaks the initial 92K that was accounted for when the game launched back in May 2015. Upon looking at the count further from yesterday’s discovery, the game actually jumped up an additional thousand to 94,601 within the past 24 hours which is excitingly welcomed for the project. Of course, it is pretty transparent that the release of the television show for the video game series sparked viewers to experience the game again atop of spawning new players to try out the game as well. Although the show does stand at a solid 53 on Metacritic, the user score ranked at 7.8 definitely explains the new rush of players on Steam. This also does account for the respected versions on Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch that might have also swelled in player base this past weekend too. Elsewhere this past week, Polish developer CD Projekt Red announced alongside The Witcher author Andrzej Sapkowski that the two have finally came to an agreement which will continue their deal to expand the series’ universe, though the medium of another installment down the road. You can read the full report by heading here. Did you play The Witcher 3 this past weekend? The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is out now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
