Destiny: Rising Is a Free-to-Play Mobile Spin-Off From the Developer of Diablo Immortal, Bungie 'Providing Oversight and Approvals'
NetEase Games has announced its long-rumored Destiny mobile game, Destiny: Rising. Bungie is “providing oversight and approvals of the game's development.”
NetEase Games has announced its long-rumored Destiny mobile game, Destiny: Rising. Bungie is “providing oversight and approvals of the game's development.”
IGN
Destiny: Rising Is a Free-to-Play Mobile Spin-Off From the Developer of Diablo Immortal, Bungie 'Providing Oversight and Approvals' - IGN
NetEase Games has announced its long-rumored Destiny mobile game, Destiny: Rising. Bungie is “providing oversight and approvals of the game's dev...
The director of the Will Smith-starring 2004 film I, Robot has accused Elon Musk of stealing his film's ideas for Tesla designs.
DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has assured fans that the wealth of announced projects in the DCU's Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters are still in development despite a lack of updates on most.
The following review contains spoilers for the fourth episode of The Penguin, “Cent’anni.”
As gritty and grounded as 2022’s The Batman was, “grounded” is a relative term. Yes, there aren’t any super-powered people (and there won’t be, according to writer/director Matt Reeves) and Robert Patinson’s Batmobile is just a souped-up muscle car without rocket engines or James Bond-like gadgets, but that world is still full of wacky, heightened characters that don’t quite feel like real people.In The Penguin, though, the most fantastical element – Bruce Wayne himself – has been removed from the equation, allowing for a story that’s even more realistic… up until this week’s episode, “Cent’anni.” A flashback trip to Arkham finally lets loose the comic-book craziness in an episode that brings the series to an abrupt halt for a focussed, chilling look at Sofia Falcone’s last 10 years, but it’s one that takes both feet off the ground and leans into the inherent weirdness of a world where Batman exists.
Her stay in Arkham State Hospital (Asylum would be too outlandish) is a tragic tale of betrayal by the ones she trusted most. The episode drives home just how cruel the Falcone family was to her, which sets up a satisfying final sequence really well. But it also drives home just how cartoonishly exaggerated some of the characters in this show can be. Not only in Sofia, who we obviously see a lot more of in “Cent’anni,” but characters like Doctor Ventress (in name alone, even), Dr. Rush, and Magpie, as well as the unnamed prisoner who takes her own life. It’s truly a nightmare, what happens in Arkham, and it’ll definitely give you cause to rethink whether Batman’s doing the right thing by sending addled criminal minds there. Some might say that this is where the series jumps the shark, moving away from the pure mob movie vibe it’s had so far, but I don’t think that’s what The Penguin was ever really going for. It may be more grounded than other recent adaptations, but just like the movie it’s spun off from, it’s found its own balance of the two.
My complaint is more that “Cent’anni” doesn’t always feel like it’s placed properly in the overall story the series is telling. It has to be super tough to pace out a show, especially in today’s age of eight to 10-episode seasons and limited series (both of which The Penguin is an example of). Any amount of introductions to new characters you have to do, and any flashbacks that feel necessary, have to be positioned strategically so as to not mess with the balance of the series.
Some might say that this is where the series jumps the shark.
Last week, Victor got his time to shine in an episode that deftly wove in and out of flashbacks to show us his past while relating his life before The Riddler’s attack to what’s happening in his present. “Cent’anni,” by contrast, goes for a more Inception-like structure, where an unconscious Sofia goes on a magical mystery tour through her past – but then, within that flashback, we get another time jump to the day her mother died. On the surface it sounds like a lot to manage, and it kind of is, but every step backwards in time feels necessary to tell Sofia’s full story and is smoothly executed, as is getting back to the present.
What We Said About The Penguin Episode 3 - "Bliss"
Laser-focussed on digging into the minds of Victor, Sofia, and Oz, “Bliss” saves the excitement for next time, and is better for it. A well-scripted and well-paced episode, it delivers a long-awaited backstory for Vic that was always going to be devastating, but uses the details to hit even harder. That, alongside the disappointing-yet-inevitable decision he makes towards the end, makes this a great origin story for the show’s most interesting character. – Tyler Robertson, October 6, 2024
Score: 8
Read the full The Penguin Episode 3 review
As clean as it’s able to make those transitions, it’s still jarring to have two flashback episodes in a row at a time when the third episode left so much going on in the present-day, where Victor and Oz sped off and left Sophia to die. Where that was able to move Oz’s power grab forward while laying down groundwork for Victor’s character arc, this time the sole focus on Sofia makes it work as a standalone piece but it fails to do the same service to what’s happening in the now, save for the climactic sequence at the end.
I do like that as the pieces come together in The Penguin, previous conversations start to make more sense. In the moment of the second episode where Oz tells Sofia that he owes her, we’re completely unaware of what he might be referencing. Now, knowing how everything went down 10 years ago, those conversations are recontextualized in a really satisfying way. It’s an attention to detail in the writing that fleshes out the characters and makes the passage of time feel real, which is often a sticking point for me in movies and shows that span decades. If there’s a big time skip but the characters are seemingly unchanged and it feels like nothing happened in the years between, then why even have a jump? But The Penguin has rooted itself in this one specific time jump, and that helps keep things stable, especially as we get to see some of what happened during those years (or at least the start of it) in “Cent’anni.”
Let's start this week right--with a bunch of free games in the (rough) spirit of Halloween.
Toei Animation has announced that the One Piece anime will be taking a six-month hiatus starting today, October 13, and that it will return with new episodes from the Egghead arc in April 2025. In its place, fans will be able to look forward to a remastered version of One Piece's Fish-Man Island Saga and a special 25th anniversary episode.
This is the latest guest column from Push Square, the voice of the PlayStation community, offering passionate, in-depth coverage and insight into the world of Sony. Its goal is simple: to keep you informed, engaged, and part of the conversation surrounding all things PlayStation.
Sony sparked discontent among the PlayStation fandom in February this year when it said during an earnings call there’ll be no sequels or updates to “major existing franchise titles” on the PS5 before March 2025. With the platform holder keeping its content roadmaps close to its chest, the comments were largely taken out of context and many assumed this would be a lean year for the company’s new-gen console.
While it’s true this has been a fairly quiet year for PS Studios, it’s been anything but light on the games front. At the time of writing, my three Game of the Year frontrunners are Astro Bot, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and Metaphor: ReFantazio and the PS5 is the only platform where you can play all three. Other possible contenders for awards include Silent Hill 2, Helldivers 2, and Black Myth: Wukong – all console exclusives.
There seems to be a sentiment on social media that a game doesn’t count unless it comes from a wholly owned first-party studio, but PlayStation has done a particularly good job of working with partners to keep its portfolio packed this year.
Stellar Blade is a great example. It collaborated with Korean developer Shift Up to help bring the NIKKE: Goddess of Victory creator’s console debut to market and in my opinion is another game in contention for an end of year gong. Rise of the Ronin, a similar partnership with legendary studio Team Ninja, may have received a cooler critical reception but it’s currently ranked 17th in IGN’s ongoing Game of the Year user poll, proving it was a hit with fans.
The nauseating number of remakes and remasters may not be to everyone’s taste, but it’s easy to forget The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered launched this year and tagged a 90 critical average on aggregators Metacritic and Open Critic. And while many rolled their eyes at the rumours around Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, a $10 upgrade fee and re-recorded dialogue and motion capture mean it’ll almost certainly attract positive reviews as well.
Not everything PlayStation has touched has turned to gold. Its complete misreading of the market with first-person shooter Concord will go down in history
Of course, not everything PlayStation has touched this year has turned to gold. Its complete misreading of the market with first-person shooter Concord – a competent albeit uninspiring affair – will go down in history after getting axed after two weeks. And yet for all the talk of its live service initiative stumbling, it launched the fastest-selling game in PS Studios history with Helldivers 2, an online co-op smash that, despite benefitting from a simultaneous PC launch, has outpaced juggernauts like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and God of War Ragnarok.
It’s been a quietly colossal year for PS5 then, and you get the sense the best is yet to come. The company’s largely kept its blockbusters close to its chest but 2025 should see the release of Ghost of Yotei and Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, with Marvel’s Wolverine waiting in the wings. These are the “major existing franchise titles” the Japanese giant was referring to in that aforementioned investor call.
Many may still argue this has been a light year for PS5 but the catalogue of content Sony has amassed paints a very different picture. The most exciting thing is that it’s successfully filled the time while its first-party teams continue to cook. A huge second-half to the generation now awaits.
Sammy Barker is the Editor of Push Square. He’s been living and breathing the wonderful world of PlayStation for decades now – and has the tattoos to prove it. You can find him on @_get2sammyb.
