Hello to all of you wonderful people to what is the 69th edition of Weird Mind News room (heh nice) where this week I will be delving into all of the small amount of new releases for this week, a few trailers (with a varying degree if I can use it or not for that or the next section) and some of the great news stories of the week, so lets not waste a bit more time and lets get into the new content of all the media from the week.
New Releases M.C
Movies
The Bikeriders
So starting off the new releases of the week is with a new film that is somewhat based on a true story and has also had a bit of a release change mix up from different studios, mass delays and other elements to where we are today as we have now recieved the release of the new film of The Bikeriders. The film will be set in the 1960s and will follow the Outlaws or Vandals MC, a midwestern Biker gang from Chicago, where the story is told through the families and lives of the members of how it went as a surrogate family for local outcasts to a violent organized crime syndicate and soon will threaten the original founders vision and way of life. Reception of this new film has been very well recieved for its story, setting and for the performances of Leads of Austin Butler, Tom Hardy and Jodie Comer and if you want to check this out for yourself then you can catch this film out now in Cinemas.
The Exorcism
So this next film may cause a little bit of confusion as you may think that this film with this lead has already come out but you would be mistaken that this is a separate film to that one from last year as it is another horror that looks very similar and it comes in the form of the new horror known as The Exorcism. This film follows a troubled actor named Anthony Miller who begins to unravel while on the set of his latest horror film and soon his daughter Lee begins to question if his past addictions or something darker is at play for it all. Reception for this film has been hit with a mixed to negative reception with praise towards Russell Crowe's performances giving as much as he can to save the film that is dragged down from the overuse of cliches adding to the list of horrors of this year that have not had the best track record but if you want to see what it has to offer then you can catch the new film out now in cinemas.
Video Games
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
The final new release is asking for one important piece of advice and that is Git Gud, as after a bit of time to cook and waiting, it is finally time to return to the massive game of Elden Ring with the new expansion of Shadow of the Erdtree. The plot for the expansion will see the player be guided by Empyrean Miquella as you head to the lands of shadows, a placed obscured by Erdtree and you travel across the land and come across those that followed in Miquella's footsteps all with ulterior motives. Like the original games release, The expansion has recieved universal praise for expanding on the fantastic original with the level of quality of its own separate video game and if you are up for more challenges then you can play the new game now on PS4/5, Xbox One/ Series X/S and PC.
Trailers not to be quiet about
A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead
So the first trailer is in relation to one of the biggest releases of next week but it is not a trailer for that but rather for the announcement of a new take on the series where silence is the key to survival as we recieved a trailer announcement of a new game based on a Quiet Place with The Road Ahead. Not much is currently known on story elements but this spin off game will follow a young woman who will go on a treacherous journey through a new form of apocalypse to survive an onslaught of blind alien beings with enhanced heightened hearing while in the midst of some interpersonal family conflicts, all while coming to terms with her own inner fears. Now I am surprised it has been a bit of time before we got a game based on this series as it seems to fit the survival horror genre for a game really well and could be something worth to check out when it releases. Now no release date has been unveiled yet but it is projected for a release later this year on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.
Smile 2
The next trailer on the list is the first look at the follow up to a film that initially was a bit indifferent on cause the concept was reminding me of that really bad Truth or Dare film but turned out to be surprisingly unsettling as we have recieved a trailer for the new film of Smile 2. This film will follow global pop sensation of Skye Riley as she is about to embark on a new world tour, when she begins to experience increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Soon overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and pressures of fame, she must face her dark past to regain control of her life before it spirals out of control (I don't know about you but this may affect the tour, not just there but the world tour). So personally at the moment it does look like it is going bigger and potentially scarier and there is some moments that are unsettling, the only concern is that I do hope that this will not be overused into the ground in gimmick and concept and will find a way to work in its favors but I am sure we will see how it turns out when the film releases into cinemas on October 18th.
The Penguin
the final trailer for this week is giving us a new look at the man, the criminal mastermind that will find a way to take control of the underbelly of the city that has found itself in a bit of ruin and see them rise to become the true villain they were destined to become as we have recieved a 2nd trailer for the new series spin-off of 2022s The Batman with The Penguin. Set a week after the end of the film, the plot will follow crime boss Oswald Coppelpot as he follow his rise to power in the seedy underbelly of Gotham's criminal underworld as he proves he is not one to be messed with while taking down what remains of the power vacuum of the Falcone family. Now I love the original film as it really felt like the Batman was portrayed so well of being accurate and I gotta admit, Collin Farrell really gave an excellent performance as the Penguin and I think from what it is worth that this looks great and I look forward to checking out the series when it premieres sometime this September.
An all star cast of News stories
An adventure on the open waves and a horror in the snowy mountains comes with a cast
So we start off the news stories of this week with delving into some of the new casting announcements made for 2 films projects that I initially planned to talk about last week but due to that one going on way too long I had to trim it down and move it to this week but it fit with giving focus of some stories in a somewhat slow news week and lets get to talking on those announcements.
We start off the first of 2 casting announcements with the personally really unnecessary film and that is the live action film adaptation of Moana. The reason being is that many are tired of the Live action films and cause this film is less then 10 years old and maybe was being made cause the last few films that Dwayne Johnson was in had been underperforming at the box office as we knew that he was one that was returning to this film as his character of Maui. Now it had been speculated that the original voice actress for Moana of Auli'i Cravalho would reprise her role in this but it was confirmed that she will not be doing so in the live action film but instead be in a executive producer credit for the film instead (and will be voicing the character in this years upcoming sequel) so the question remained of who will play the lead. Well it was finally confirmed last week that newcomer of Catherine Laga'aia would be taken over the role of Moana for the live action film and act alongside The Rock as Maui. Besides that they also announced some of the other cast for this film including John Tui will play Chief Tui or Moana's father, Frankie Adams as Moana's mom Sina and Rene Owen as Gramma Tala of the confirmed cast at the moment with more probably getting a confirmed cast by the time the film starts filming this summer. Again I question why they are making a Live action remake of this but I guess we will see how people respond to the film come summer 2026.
As for the 2nd casting discussion, we are talking about some of the first group of confirmed cast members joining the new film adaptation of the 2015 horror game of Until Dawn. Now that game had many big named stars in the cast from Hayden Panettiere, Rami Malek, Peter Stormare, Jordan Fisher, Brett Dalton and many more of these trapped teens returning to a weekend getaway a year after a prank caused 2 of their friend group to go missing and were not seen since. It was the most obvious choice that they could've gotten the original cast back to reprise their roles for the games but it looks like that is not going to be the case as we have gotten the announcement of the first wave of casting for the upcoming adaptation. The first group come in the form of actress Ella Rubin (The Idea of You), Actor Michael Cimino (Annabelle comes home), Actress Ji-Young Yoo (Expats) and Actress Odessa A'zion (Hellraiser 2022). While I have not seen much of their performances myself, I do like the idea of new upcoming talent in the film and while they haven't been confirmed who they will be playing (either the names of the original group of characters or a new group) I have good trust that David F. Samberg will do with it as he can make a pretty good horror (as someone that loves to continue making short form horror on his Youtube and making the big horrors for the big screen too) and I feel he will give good form of adaptation to this game.
But what are your own thoughts on all of this casting and who else do you see get casted for these projects? Let me knwo your thoughts and choices on them down below.
All the strength and wonder from the Nintendo Direct
Next up on the stories of the week is the 2nd edition of talking about all the content announced in some game conferences (maybe the 3rd week, I have lost count) but this week seems to be the last one for the moment and we are delving into the surprise announce of all from this weeks Nintendo direct and in some form if you have seen my small short on Youtube you know that I thought that this weeks Direct was actually top tier as a fair amount of the directs of recent memory have been good recently and in this week like I do I am delving into giving a rundown of everything announced with maybe some small opinions on them in the process.
Starting off the entire direct in a strong way was after a 9 year silence, we have seen the return of a brand new entry in the Mario & Luigi RPG series and the first for a Home console (as all the other entries are on a handheld) and this comes in the form of the new game of Brothership. Not much is told to us about the plot but will see the brothers be sent to a strange new magical world where they will set sail of a magical boat across to strange and colourful lands with some familiar faces popping up in the process and personally I am excited and I think it started off strong with this and I will be picking this up when it releases in Early November on the 7th.
Next was a bit of an update of some of the previously announced Nintendo World championship NES edition game that will see you fight to be the best on so many different challenges to top the leaderboard on your own or with friends and the challenge begins with a unique physical edition dropping on July 18th.
follow up from this was the unveiling of a new anime based adventure RPG with the sequel to Fairy tail that does not look too bad and will be dropping onto the Switch sometime later this Winter.
A new game from the creator of Final Fantasy was unveiled with a new RPG of Fantasian Neo Dimension was shown off which has an interesting look of a little Neir mixed with the Final Fantasy or Xenoblade series and this entry will also be dropping sometime this winter.
What was thought to be done with the updates after a 2 year silence, Nintendo has unveiled their is another new sport heading to the Switch Sports game with Basketball which will be launching in a free update later this summer.
Following that came a new very stylized 2.5D Metroidvania with Mio Memories in Orbit as you play as the titular character and explore the vessel, a massive technological ark that has the power that has caused machines to grow rogue and you will uncover the secrets and save the ship and its inhabitant from total destruction. It looks nice and cool and I will give a look into it when the game launches sometime next year.
A new update was unveiled for last years Illusion Island game with Mickey and friends helping to solve a mystery for a detective with Mystery in Monoth that launched earlier this week on the day.
A game that you may have heard in the past in an obscure reference in South Park is back in an all new form as Hello Kitty island Adventure was unveiled as a new mission with your own character helping Hello Kitty and all her friends in saving Hello Kitty island and seems like a simple little adventure that will be launching on the console next year.
It's tome to get Looney as we got the unveilment of another sports game but this time with the Looney Tunes Wacky World of Sports with so much of choice from Football, Basketball, Golf, Tennis and many more all with your favourite characters from the series (though I want to know where is Michael Jordan, Where's Lebron, Where is DON CHEADLE!!!) but we can get Looney when the game releases later this fall.
It will be time once again to ask who is SUS as Among Us has garnered a new update that released on the same day that includes the option of new roles for Crewmates and Imposters such as the Tracker, Noisemaker and the Phantom roles and will change up the ways that this game will turn out in the outcome and may be worth a play (does anyone want to play some games of Among Us?)
The next game unveiled was a game from Fairy Tail creator that has a Pokémon, Monster Hunter, anime mix with the game of Farmagia of a tale of rebellion, action and colourful creatures that will be making its way to the console on November 1st
Its time to go Bananas as following the HD updated port of Tropical Freeze a few years ago, the original title in the new Donkey Kong Country series has announced a new HD port for the Switch following its release on the Wii and 3DS and will be swinging onto the console on January 16th next year. Sure a new title would've been appreciated by now but I am sure they are probably working on that for the new upcoming console.
Following this was the unveiling of a new updated form of remake for the 3rd entry in the long running Dragon Quest with the announced HD-2D Remake that will be making its way to the console on November 14th.
It was not however the only one as while people wondered about the original 2, it was also announced at the end of the trailer that a HD-2D remake of Dragon Quest 1 and 2 will also be in the works and will be making its way to the Switch next year.
What feels like trying to follow either the LEGO or the toys to life style game is with a game of Funko Fusion of using hundreds of Funko pop characters for a game of a varying appeal and will be launching on consoles on September 13th.
They then showed a brief look at the release of the HD port of Luigi's Mansion 2 that will be out next week ( and part of the new releases)
Now a game that is part Mii, part Miitopia and part Tomodatchi Life with the game known as the game of the New Denpa Men game of a new adventure finding new characters and go on a quest to save the land and will be launching exclusively for the console on July 26th.
A new return to the world of Metal Slug was unveiled in a tactic based side scroller with MS Attack Reloaded unveiled with the game dropping that same day.
a new look or announcement of a sequel to the Darkest Dungeon series was announced at the event and shows this dungeon is even darker then the last one and will be launching onto the console on July 15th.
following that they unveiled some more new titles dropping for the Online portion for the Gameboy with Four Swords adventure and Metroid Zero Mission and for the N64 section with Turok and Perfect Dark all releasing on the Online system later that same day.
A new naval based anime inspired game was unveiled with Phantom Brave the lost hero, showing some concept of finding a lost friend on some mysterious islands and battle strange creatures will be setting sail onto the console sometime next year.
We're gonna take you on a ride of action and an all out brawl in a massive 7 game package of Marvel vs Capcom Fighting collection arcade classics that include the classic wave of MvC as well as X-men vs Capcom and the rare arcade game of The Punisher and a few more to play and enjoy from the past and loads of extras and you can duke it out when it launches sometime this year.
Its time for another new round of a game that will make or break friendships as we have another all new edition to the ever growing Mario Party series with Super Mario Party Jamboree, with many new boards (and some returning from the first 2 games), over 110 new minigames, a vast amounts of characters to choose from and many new modes that have not been shown including one that will see you and up to 20 people play a game online and it will be a fun time when the game drops on October 17th (anyone wanna play some Mario party down the line?).
Following this was the surprise unveiling of a new game in the long running series of the Legend of Zelda as we have an all new game that is a bit different to games of recent memory with the title of Echoes of Wisdom where this time around you are playing as Zelda after you were rescued by Link before he was taking by some corrupt power and you will go on a quest along side a creature named Tri and armed with the Tri rod to create echoes of objects and enemies to save the kingdom and rescue Link in the process. Now I think this looks like a really fun game and it has seen some complaints about the style of the game, going in the style of Links Awakening HD and a bit with Link Between Worlds but honestly I think that this looks like a fair bit of fun and will be trying this out when it launches on September 26th.
It also announced a new Hyrule edition of the Switch Lite with the title and will be dropping on the same day.
A game that I was surprised that actually didn't show in the usual conference was with the next entry in the long running Just Dance series with 2025 edition that has new songs, new dances and new levels of difficulty that will be making its way to the console in October.
They then showed another brief look at the Lego Horizon Adventures game of what to expect in the game with the confirmation of a release still for Holiday 2024.
A surprise reveal game that I actually gasped at when they unveiled was the announcement of the game Stray would be making its way to the Switch where you are a cat that has to traverse through a mysterious world of robots and survive against hostiles as you make your journey back home to the cat colony and this game I have heard is great. some say it is a bit choppy of downgraded visually on the Switch but I think it still looks fine to me and I will be giving this a go when it releases sometime this Winter.
Have you ever wanted to live in a little hole in a simple hut with similar looking people, well you are in luck as they have unveiled a new cozy life sim with Tales of the Shire: A lord of the Rings game where you will become a Hobbit and live and decorate your hut in the shire and do tasks and interact with the locals and have a meal or 3 and honestly I am all for a Hobbit game and you can live out the shire life when it releases sometime this winter.
Another game I was very pleasently surprised to see unveiled was another collection of games in the Ace Attorney series with the spin off title of Ace Attorney Investigations collection which will include the original and for the first time the sequel that was exclusive to Japan and this announcement has just saved me spending over 100 quid on just the first title and I will be playing this and the other trilogies down the line when this collection comes out on September 6th. Now all we need is the Phoenix Wright and Professor Layton crossover game for the console (and the new series that has a sherlock holmes era setting and character) and we have the complete collection.
The 3rd last announcement came in the form of the new game from the creators of Danganrompa in the form of The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy as it see your character and a group of other colourful cast survive in a highly security protected school against a sudden alien apocalypse and must fight to survive or die in the process and it does look interesting. I may have to give the original game inspriation a try down the line but this looks interest and you will be able to play it when it releases next year.
The 2nd last title was the unveiling of the remake to the 2nd entry in the Romancing Saga series that will see you on a journey to protect Avalon from the evil Kzinssie and will be dropping onto the consoles and PC on October 24th.
Now the final title could've been another remake or anything but then after 7 years since it was first teased, It finally happened
After a long silence and a restart on the game, they finally unveiled the first look at the 4th Metroid Prime with Beyond that from first glance looks fantastic, smooth, visually appealing and looks like the long wait has been worth it as some gameplay was finally shown and now has a release for 2025.. Now people thought this was also the first game footage shown on the Switch successor but it has been debunked by tech insiders but who is to say they are covering it up to avoid some issues, we'll have to see as the game continues on.
And after all of that that was everything unveiled at the newest direct and as I mentioned a really strong one at that with a fair balance of 1st person, 3rd party and remasters and ports abound and some surprising releases too and I think they hit it out of the park. Sure the only surprise missing games was the release date for Epic Mickey Rebrushed, some news regarding the next Professor Layton Game which I know is now out next year, or even with the new Pokemon title, but I get that it will take its time to get there and they are exceptions to be left out of a very strong direct.
But what are your own thoughts on this direct and what games are you looking forward to the most (mine has to be Mario and Luigi (both Mario titles really), Zelda, Metroid, Stray and Ace Attorney, but let me know what yours are down below in the comments.
Space Spoofs and Superheroes heading back in a new way
Now to wrap up the stories for the week is with a brief announcement of 2 titles that will be somewhat of a continuation of some series that one I expected to gain a follow up and one that has a concern for getting one.
We start off with the concerning one for a bit and that is the announcement of a legacy sequel for a comedy classic from the 70s/80s. Now for the last few weeks, actor Josh Gad has been teasing about a script that he has either been involved in creating or has read and was hinting at something big to come and that announcement came earlier this week that this film was a sequel to the 1987 comedy classic Spaceballs. This of course was a spoof comedy parody of classic Sci-fi, specifically a Star Wars parody and it is a great film with some good gags and jokes. Its not just just Gad involved with the project as the original creator of the film alongside Blazing Saddles creator of Mel Brooks has also announced to be involved in the production as an executive producer and I feel he may help it feel like the original. The concern about it is that legacy sequels are often hit or miss and especially when it comes to comedy films where they have a varying degree in being good, but I guess we will have to see how it will come about when the film releases sometime in the future.
The 2nd piece announcement comes in the form of heading over to the world of the ever growing DC universe. We known that Gunn and Safran have been hard at work making a clear concept of the new reboot to the franchise with a variety of films, games and animated and live action series which we know with Superman coming out next year, Supergirl the year after, season 2 of Peacemaker currently in development and the confirmation of the release of Creature Commandos getting a release for November / December of this year, but it looks like another project has just been announced with a varying outcome of what it is projected to be. It was announced that we will be getting a new animated series based on the character of Blue Beetle. Here is the thing that makes it confusing however as it has been discussed that this could potentially be a sequel to the film that released last year and it is unclear if they are planning to make it as the proper follow up or that this is some side adventure stories while they work and make a full length sequel to release in the future. At the moment it is unclear but we will have to see what the outcome of the series is, I enjoyed the first film and I think a new adventure with the character is something I would not mind seeing very soon.
But what are your own thoughts on these new projects and do you see either of them working or turning out better then expected? Let me known what you think of them both down below in the comments.
Conclusion
And with all of that this brings us all to the end of the 69th edition of Weird Mind News Room and I do hope you enjoyed hearing all that I had to talk about for this week. Let me know your thoughts on everything down below and as always I hope you all stay being wonderful people and have a great day everyday and I will see you all in the next piece :)
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