Hello! Yes, don’t worry the Pretty Much Weekly is still pretty much weekly, despite being a day later than usual. That’s my bad. If you’re new here, the Pretty Much Weekly is a weekly series where we share this week’s news in entertainment. And THIS WEEK a sneak peek at a couple of movie ‘villains’, great actors join a great TV series, and capitalism frustrates me … again.
“Unskippable” ads in a full priced game
Shortly after EA said they preferred to call loot boxes “surprise mechanics” in front of the UK parliament, NBA 2K19 has come under fire for the apparent use of unskippable ads.
Reddit user xPray4Deathx uploaded this video to show that despite the game having finished loading, they couldn’t skip the rest of the ad. The in-game Pre-Show, which originally covered the game load, still played afterwards.
In the end, it took about one minute and seven seconds from hitting play to getting to play.
Now, I understand ads in games that are free-to-play. Even paying a little extra for cosmetics and “kinder surprises.” But to put real ads in a game people have already paid $60 for sounds dodgy to me.
Steam Sale!
Steam is having their annual Summer Sale, from now on until the 9th of July. We will be making a list of our best picks, but make sure you head over to the site and check it out for yourself! And tell us your recommendations too!
The Dark Crystal is coming to Netflix
You probably already knew this, but a whole new TV series based on The Dark Crystal is being made by Netflix and it looks absolutely gorgeous!
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, produced by The Jim Henson Company, will be set several years before the original film. Going by the trailer alone, it looks to be in good hands, but let me just name drop a few of the people involved.
Sigourney Weaver (Alien), Hannah John-Kamen (Ant-Man and the Wasp) and Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians), among others, were recently announced to be a part of the already star-studded cast. A cast that includes Taron Egerton, Eddie Izzard, Andy Samberg, Helena Bonham-Carter, Alicia Vikander, Mark Strong, Simon Pegg and Mark Hamill. And these are just the names that I, a celebrity-noob, recognise.
I’m basically 100% confident that this series is going to be amazing. Put August 30th in your calendars. You’re going to be busy.
Villains revealed…?
A few photos have hit Twitter that may interest the film geek in you. A couple of them have sprung speculation that Taskmaster might be the villain of the Black Widow movie! Though others, whom I’m more inclined to agree with, say this looks a little more like a Sable soldier.
Taskmaster?! #BlackWidow pic.twitter.com/SeGmustCMm
— Daniel Richtman (@DanielRPK) June 26, 2019
— Daniel Richtman (@DanielRPK) June 26, 2019
And the question everyone has been asking: What will Swiper from the live-action Dora the Explorer movie look like? Well, ask no more. Here is your answer:
Here is a first look at CGI Swiper (voice of Benicio Del Toro) in Dora and the Lost City Of Gold, in theaters August 9th. #DoraMovie pic.twitter.com/XBQdFm4cPi
— Alessio pasquali (@Warmustbeend123) June 21, 2019
In my opinion, he looks pretty good! But I guess it’s much easier to make a CGI fox than it is to make a CGI mutant hedgehog from outer space.
