October 2020

Hey there, true believers! We only have a couple weeks to go before swinging into Insomniac’s latest Spider-Man game, and we heard that a few baddies are already making trouble in Miles’ neighborhood. It's up to you to stop them. But in order to defeat your enemy, you first need to know your enemy. My uncle Ben once told me that. So, with that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the Tinkerer and the energy company Roxxon, so we can see what makes those goons tick. Here is everything you need to know about the villains in Miles’ upcoming game.

Meet Roxxon: 

In the comics: First introduced in the ‘70s, Roxxon Energy Corporation is primarily an oil and gas company with offices around the world. One of the largest conglomerates on Earth, the company generates billions of dollars in profits each year. However, over the decades, Roxxon has been involved in all manner of morally-questionable business practices and outright criminal activity – usually centered on the exploitation of various energy-rich resources.

On November 11, Genshin Impact gets its first substantial update. The 1.1 update features new characters, a seasonal event, the final chapter of the Liyue questline in the main story, a new reputation system, and PlayStation 5 compatibility. That's a lot! Some of the big new characters coming on the five-star front are Childe and Zhongli. Childe is a Hydro archer, Zhongli is a Geo polearm user, and they both have a lot of new tactics and skills to bring into combat. New four-star characters are also coming with Xinyan and Diona, and as we all know from running Fischl and Xiangling for the last month, four-stars can be incredible characters as mains or supports.

During the first seasonal event, Unreconciled Stars, players take on various challenges over a two-week period to earn special rewards and participate in co-op challenges. Among the rewards is a copy of Fischl, so if you don't yet have the Electro princess unlocked, this is a great chance to score a free character.

We’ve seen a few of the costumes coming to Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and they’re pretty rad. However, I think I speak for many fans when I say the one we all wanted from the beginning is his suit from 2018’s acclaimed Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Thankfully, Marvel and Insomniac recognized this lay-up as well, revealing players can swing around Harlem rocking Miles' iconic film look.

Much like the comic-shaded outfit from the first game, the Spider-Verse suit is more than a simple re-skin. For one, it changes Miles’ figure to match his scrawnier model from the film. The coolest touch by far, though, is that the suit features the same, limited-frame animation style from the movie and comic-style onomatopoeia attacks. In short, it looks cool as heck. 

The suit is a launch-day bonus, meaning players who pre-ordered will have it available from the beginning. Before anyone panics, Insomniac confirmed the suit can be unlocked in-game, same as the other costumes. That's great, as it ensure everyone can turn the game into their own personal Spider-Verse. 

India is waving goodbye to PUBG Mobile today after a ban on the game came into effect.

PUBG Mobile was one of 118 apps banned by India's Information and Technology Ministry in September, but users were still able to play the game - until today.

The ban on PUBG Mobile and other apps comes amid growing tension between China and India. A border clash between China and India in early June sparked a boycott of Chinese products in the country, and the Indian government promptly banned hundreds of apps linked to China, citing security concerns.

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Genshin Impact gets its first big update in November, developer miHoYo has announced.

The 1.1 update, dubbed A New Star Approaches, comes out 11th November 2020 on PC, Android, iOS and PlayStation 4, and adds new stories, characters, a seasonal event and a reputation system to the breakout free-to-play open world action RPG.

Meanwhile, miHoYo confirmed Genshin Impact will be playable on PlayStation 5 via backwards compatibility, with "improved graphics" and faster load times.

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It's hard to believe it's been four years since Titanfall 2 was released, but that's the milestone Respawn's beloved sci-fi shooter hit on Wednesday this week. Since 2016 things have been pretty quiet on the mainline Titanfall front, with much of Respawn's efforts channeled into spin-off Apex Legends: a game that emerged from tests for a battle royale mode in Titanfall 3, and which has since achieved a huge amount of success in its own right. But it seems the Titanfall sequel is continuing to influence the development of Apex Legends, as it turns out upcoming map Olympus was initially conceived for Titanfall 3.

Season 7 of Apex Legends is bringing a raft of major changes to the game - most notably new astrophysicist legend Horizon, community clubs, the game's first-ever vehicles and floating city-in-the-clouds Olympus. The new map really is the main draw here, designed with verticality and vehicles in mind, and stuffed with the sort of opulent architecture you'd expect to find in one of the richest cities in the Titanfall universe. And although work on creating Olympus for Apex Legends began in Spring 2019, the idea itself is far older.

"At one point, there was a Titanfall 3 in the works after we launched Titanfall 2," game director Chad Grenier told me in an interview. "And Olympus wasn't called Olympus at the time, but that style of map was something that we were exploring for the next Titanfall game.

Capcom has shared six minutes of some fresh Monster Hunter Rise gameplay in a new video showcase focused on one of the game’s weapons, the Great Sword.

The Great Sword has been around for quite some time now in the Monster Hunter franchise and is a weapon based on slow-moving attacks that deal massive amounts of damage. It’s not easy for series newcomers, but it can prove to be a helpful weapon that requires lots of patience to master.

The video shows off a fight with one of the boss monsters in the game, the Aknosom, and how players will be able to use the new Wirebug mechanic to get the jump on foes.

Typically, the Great Sword is very slow, as I mentioned, but using the Wirebug can help you gain extra mobility, truly changing the game for users of the super heavy weapon type.

Monster Hunter Rise is due to launch on the Nintendo Switch on Mar. 26, 2020, as an exclusive title.

If you pre-order the game now, you can receive bonus items such as a Palamute Retriever Costume layered armor and a Palico Forest Cat Costume layered armor.

Today MiHoYo announced the release date and details of update 1.1 of its popular action RPG Genshin Impact.

The update is coming on November 11 and will include plenty of content.

You can read the full description of what you can expect below directly from the press release.

This includes new playable characters, quests, a seasonal event, and more.

“The upcoming update brings a series of brand-new quests to the game, including the grand finale to the Liyue chapter of the main storyline. A total of four new playable characters will also be added to the game, including two 5-star characters, “Childe” and Zhongli. “Childe” is a Hydro archer with the ability to switch between melee and ranged combat modes, while Zhongli is a Geo polearm user who deals immense area of effect damage, possesses strong defensive abilities, and has the power to petrify his enemies. Two new 4-star characters, Xinyan and Diona, offer opportunities for players to further diversify their party of four for more effective elemental combos and combat strategies.

Meanwhile, Version 1.1 will also feature Genshin Impact’s first seasonal event, Unreconciled Stars, which calls on all players to fight back against a sudden and terrible catastrophe facing Teyvat. During the two-week event, players can accomplish a series of new quests, take part in a range of new co-op challenges, and earn rich rewards including the 4-star character Fischl.

Following the announcement of Genshin Impact’s update 1.1 MiHoYo showcased the first footage and screenshots.

First of all, we get to see the trailer of the update, introducing its new chracters.

On top of that, speaking of the new members of the cast, quite a bit of their gameplay was presented with more footage.

We get to see screenshots and footage of the new story chapter, and a look at the new city reputation system and new gadgets.

Lastly, we see the brand new event “Unreconciled Stars.”

On top of that, we learn that you can use the code GenshinZHB30 to receive 160 Primogens, but you need to be Adventurer Level 10.

You can check everything out below. There certainly appears to be a lot of content in the update, which comes on Nov 11.

Watch Dogs: Legion on PC

Watch Dogs: Legion is one of the most interesting games I’ve played this year. Its foundation is built upon a fascinating gameplay mechanic: the ability to recruit virtually any NPC you encounter in the game, and play as them for the entirety of the story. It’s one of the most ambitious moves we’ve seen from Ubisoft, but does it work? Only sometimes.

The story is set in Ubisoft’s version of near-future London. Things begin when a series of bombings occur in the city, and that act of terrorism is pinned on DedSec, the hacking organization that we’ve come to know over the course of the past two games. In actuality, though, the bombings were organized by another mysterious group only known as Zero Day.

With DedSec now in shambles, you play as one of its random recruits as you try to bring more people to your cause, rebuild the organization, and find out exactly what Zero Day wants.

Right from the start, the game wastes no time in introducing the recruitment mechanics to you. With a few tutorial missions, you’ll have recruited a poet and a construction worker, with the latter giving you the ability to summon a large cargo drone from anywhere in the open-world. This is by far the best addition to the series –it’s slower than a car, but you can hop on it, and pilot it to fly across the entire city. It’s incredible.

By accumulating Tech Points, you can also invest in an upgrade called the Deep Profiler, which allows you to scan NPCs for more details about their lives, the kinds of abilities they can bring to the table, and what it’ll take to recruit them. And yes, even NPCs who actively dislike and denounce DedSec can be recruited; it’ll just take a little bit more work.

WayForward Games has announced that it will be the publisher for Dawn of the Monsters, a brand new kaiju-fightin' title from indie developer 13AM Games. The city-smasher is currently in development for a multitude of platforms, including PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

"From the moment we laid eyes on Dawn of the Monsters, we knew it had the potential to be something special," said WayForward CEO Voldi Way in a press statement. "13AM Games is a phenomenal developer that has been a great collaborative partner in the past, and we are very excited to help them bring this unique vision to life."

13AM Games' Alex Rushdy also spoke of his excitement with the new partnership. " For many of us this partnership is a dream come true!" said Rushdy. "This is our biggest game to date and we’re really happy to have WayForward in our corner. Since they are traditionally a developer, they really understand all the process that goes into making a game, which has made the working relationship smooth and fruitful. We can’t wait to share our work on Dawn of the Monsters, we’re really pushing a bold, new, visceral vision of what a co-op 2D action game can be."

Though 13AM Games is yet to debut any footage of the new game in action, you can check out the art style and overall vibe of Dawn of the Monsters over on the team's official website. For fans of classic city-stompers such as Midway's Rampage and SNK's King of the Monsters, this new project looks set to scratch that destructive itch when it arrives in late-2021.

After just over a year of operation, developer Mediatonic is calling time on one of video gaming's oddest crossover titles, Gears POP!. The cutesy Gears of War spin-off will close its servers for good on April 2021, after a little over 18 months of operation.

Gears POP! is a mobile strategy title which features gameplay similar to that of Supercell's Clash Royale, but featuring iconic heroes and villains from the Gears of War franchise stylised as those ungodly Funko POP! toys that you see stacked high in your local comics store. An admittedly interesting experiment, clearly Gears POP! has not proved quite as successful as some of its mobile gaming competitors, resulting in the title's closure.

"Thank you, Gears!" said Mediatonic in a message to the player base. "Together we have taken on countless waves of Horde and vanquished foes on the Versus battlefield but sadly Gears Pop! is closing on April 26, 2021. Until that time, we’re bringing back some of our most popular events, increasing Bounty rewards, and upping the drop rates for Legendary Pins. Effective immediately, in-app purchasing has also been disabled. Thank you for your understanding and support."

Given that Mediatonic is also responsible for one of 2020's biggest global gaming phenomenons - Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout - the closure of Gears POP! is unlikely to spell much trouble for the British game studio.

After a lengthy testing period, Bethesda is nearly ready to unleash its shelter mechanic out into the live version of Fallout 76.

In case you missed it, the idea is that players will be able to build their own bunkers of sorts below ground: via three different, instanced sized areas. It's basically an extension of the C.A.M.P. system, but hopefully less buggy as it involves a completely separate zone that isn't bound by the laws of the open world;  and it was tested (whereas C.A.M.P.s launched with the buggy 1.0 edition of the game).

If you're stoked for this particular feature, Bethesda just put out a full 13-minute video rundown that just focuses on shelters. The developers in the clip states that there have been plenty of "bug reports and instances of player feedback" from the testing ground, which should hopefully result in a better experience overall.

The video is fairly extensive, showcasing the entire process from the start of a build to the creation of several neat places. Bethesda is quick to point out that there are murder-maze concepts and "Donkey Kong-like" leveled shelters out in the wild. Again, it's well worth a watch if you're even remotely interested in shelters, as the devs provide a few tips and tricks that might help you out on day one.

When this update hits, it'll be part of the "Steel Dawn" patch, which brings even more free story content into the fray. It'll be a good month for Fallout 76 so long as they can keep the bugs at bay.

Inside the Vault [Bethesda.net]

Publisher Playdigious has revealed that the Lovecraft-inspired card game Cultist Simulator is in the process of being ported to Nintendo Switch, following on from its 2018 release on PC and its transition to iOS and Android platforms last year.

Developed by British studio Weather Factory, Cultist Simulator is an extremely strange and mysterious card game set within a nameless dystopian society. Described by its makers as "a game of apocalypse and yearning" - yep - Players must uncover hidden agendas and realities within this sinister landscape, but may find that their decisions and actions lead to establishing a gathering of ardent followers over the game's extended play time.

Old Maid it ain't.

We already know that Activision are planning to inject their free-to-play battle royale ’em up Call Of Duty: Warzone with content from the next not-free game Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Activision have now given a rough timeline, saying that Verdansk will begin adding Cold War content when Black Ops season one launches in December.

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Black Friday

Much like its predecessor, Spider-Man: Miles Morales will feature a variety of spider suits for its titular superhero when it arrives on November 12. That said, it’s going to be hard to top the one modeled after Miles Morales’ appearance in Into the Spider-Verse.

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Years after revelations regarding Russian interference in 2016 started to come to light, the tiresome odes to “Soviet Russian tradecraft” ought to leave us wondering what’s changed.

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Fuser offers a lot of tools. It shows you lots of ways you can have fun with them. Eventually it leaves it up to you to decide what you enjoy most.

The post Fuser Is All About the Downbeat, but Won’t Beat You Down appeared first on Siliconera.

Think you know how all the World of Horror stories go? A Halloween update adds new endings and other features.

The post Halloween World of Horror Update Adds New Mystery Endings appeared first on Siliconera.

Momo the cat is back in the Halloween Google Doodle Magic Cat Academy 2. People can help the cat cast spells to save the ocean from ghosts.

The post Halloween Google Doodle Brings Back Magic Cat Academy appeared first on Siliconera.

Do you love using the Great Sword in Monster Hunter? Capcom's latest Monster Hunter Rise video shows how it'll work in the Switch game.

The post Watch a Hunter Wield Monster Hunter Rise’s Great Sword appeared first on Siliconera.

Update: Since the publication of this article, Ubisoft reached out to IGN to confirm that it has removed the Ubisoft Connect article specifically due to possible errors regarding PS5 backward-compatible games.

A Ubisoft spokesperson provided the following statement to IGN:

“We have pulled the Ubisoft Connect article and forum post re backwards compatibility for the time being as there may be inaccuracies involving the Ubisoft titles that will be playable on PS5.”

It is unclear at this time what the inaccuracies were, nor whether this means all or some of the titles previously listed as not working on PS5 will in fact be playable. IGN will update this story with any further announcements.

Original story follows:

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Ubisoft has announced a slew of details regarding which of its games will receive cross-progression, next-gen upgrades, and backwards compatibility on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S.

Like most of these types of announcements, it’s easy to get lost in the weeds on what game gets what feature (especially since messaging regarding cross-gen compatibility has been a confusing mess thus far), but we lay it all out for you below.

CD Projekt Red recently delayed Cyberpunk 2077 for a third time, pushing the highly anticipated RPG from mid-November to December 10. Multiple delays for a game on this scale aren’t entirely unusual, especially in the case of Cyberpunk, which is being developed simultaneously for nine different platforms. What is unusual about this latest delay, however, is the fact that Cyberpunk had already gone gold.

“Going gold” is the industry term for when a release build of a game passes certification and can be printed onto physical discs. It’s often taken as a sign of confidence that a game will no longer be delayed, as it initiates the process of printing, packaging, and shipping copies to retailers. But going gold does not often mean development is complete; developers spend the next month or so making last-minute tweaks and improvements that are added as day one patches. Though historically rare, developers can run into trouble during that window and are forced to make one last delay, or in some cases, pull the plug altogether.

In light of the Cyberpunk news, we’ve compiled a list of five other games that got delayed (or canceled) after going gold. Click through the gallery below or continue scrolling for the full list.

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A giant metallic asteroid worth approximately $10,000,000,000,000,000,000 -- more than the entire Earth’s economy -- is orbiting around Mars and Jupiter, according to a new report from the Planetary Science Journal, as reported by CBS News.

Asteroid 16 Psyche, as it’s known, is thought to possibly be the remnant of a planet core that never properly formed into an actual planet. While most asteroids are made of rock or ice, the incredibly dense Psyche is made mostly of metal, and measures about 140 miles in diameter, making it the size of Massachusetts.

The Planetary Science Journal’s new study has found that Psyche may be composed of iron and nickel, which are typically found in the cores of planets.

“We’ve seen meteorites that are mostly metal, but Psyche could be unique in that it might be an asteroid that is totally made of iron and nickel,” lead study author Dr. Tracy Becker said in a statement. “Earth has a metal core, a mantle and crust. It’s possible that as a Psyche protoplanet was forming, it was struck by another object in our solar system and lost its mantle and crust.”

It’s a mobile gacha game, but it’s good enough that I can, without guilt, recommend it

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“Up until now, we’ve been forced to play a game we can’t win.” Let’s rewrite the rules.

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Knights of the Old Republic fans, assemble

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Pick up two armor pieces and two weapons for going Flawless this week

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Expanded rules and gorgeous minis go on sale Black Friday

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Head to Titan for some Exotics

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Swarovski puts their lavish crystals onto everything beyond jewelry these days: headphones, shoes, toilets, and even weapons — at least the ones straight from your favorite games.

Xbox and Nerf showed off the Halo Infinite Nerf MA40 Blaster bejeweled with 16,000 Swarovski crystals on Twitter this month, which will be given to some lucky winners that follow Xbox’s account and retweets the official contest tweet.

I’m not a part of Master Chief’s squad, nor have I ever touched a Nerf gun in my life (that I can remember), but I believe diamonds are a gamer girl’s best friend and that every video game weapon in our digital arsenal deserves to be speckled with Swarovski crystals.

Here are seven weapons Swarovski should put their precious crystals on so they could shine in battle.

You know them, and you love to be scared by them. They’re the icons of the horror film genre, having hacked and slashed their way into your heart over the years. They’ve captured your imagination for years, whether it’s watching them hunt down hapless victims or wondering how well you’d be able to survive them yourself.

With so many out there though, you might be unsure of which one is most suited to your particular taste in horror. That’s why we’re here to help you figure out which horror icon you would be based on your personality.

Now, without further ado, let’s get to the questions.

Oh, and if you end up liking this quiz, we have an entire section on the site dedicated to them, which you can check out here.

Featured images via Indiewire and Cinemablend.

There is no better feeling than the end of the workweek and the start of the weekend. To celebrate this glorious Friday eve, we’ve compiled the best anime memes we could find from throughout the internet just for you.

We’ve got everything you need, including High School DxD, KonoSuba, and so much more. So let’s get the weekend started off right with a quality dose of memes.

Cyberpunk 2077 has been delayed once more and with its new December launch, other studios with planned releases during that time are scrambling to make changes as to not compete with competition of that size. Because of that new release date, Everspace 2 is no longer releasing in December, instead opting for a January 2021 launch instead. 

Rockfish Games took to its Kickstarter to "get the cyber elephant out of the room right away" with the delay news. "The Cyberpunk 2077 release has just been pushed back to December 10, which is a major blow to our planned EVERSPACE 2 Early Access release in mid-December. Not only will every media outlet and content creator cover the arguably most-anticipated AAA game in history throughout the entire holiday season (and not much else), we also know that there’s quite a bit of audience overlap within our community (and our team), so..."

After a quick meeting with the studio's PR team, it was decided that a small delay would be better than competing against arguably the biggest launch of 2020. Because of that, the Early Access period for Everspace 2 will be taking place in January instead. 

Twas the Replay before Halloween, and all through the house, the Necromorphs were waiting, just ready to pounce. As we found out last week, the Dead Space series still holds up for its chilling jump scares and its ridiculously precise gunplay. But do those same sentiments still hold true for the third entry in Visceral Games' horror series?

Join Andrew Reiner, Ben Reeves, Blake Hester, and me as we answer those questions and save the universe from the grotesque nightmares that are the Necromorphs in Dead Space 3! 

We went live earlier, but you can still catch the full archive of the stream above! If you can't get enough of our live shows, remember to subscribe on YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, and Facebook to get notified when we go live each week!

Sony's interest in Crunchyroll is nothing new, but it looks like the mega-company may be ready to make that final movie for the popular anime streaming service for a cool $1 billion. Earlier this month, Microsoft announced a special partnership with Funimation as an incentive to buy into the Game Pass Ultimate membership. The Sony deal with Funimation's now-competitor, due to a split between the two streaming services back in 2018, is an interesting counterpoint leading into the world of anime and gaming. 

Nikkei Asia reports that Sony has been negotiating exclusive rights with Crunchyroll for a while now but is in a position where that interest may solidify into a done deal soon. For $1 billion, Sony would amass the community of over three million active subscribers to the streaming service. With the negotiations now in the "final" stages, it looks like a partnership is likely just in time for the next generation of gaming to kick off with the PlayStation 5. 

With both Netflix and Hulu both investing more into anime going into the future, Microsoft and Sony's interest is a lucrative goal in the grand scheme of both ecosystems. Even further than that, the amount of anime-inspired video games continues to rise, more so on the PlayStation platforms due to Sony's outreach beyond western studios. 

As October prepares to conclude in a flurry of socially distanced shrieks and spooks, Sony returns with another batch of additions to its PlayStation Now subscription service, this time including the likes of Rage 2, Injustice 2, and F1 2020.

Rage 2, of course, is Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios' open-world take on id Software's 2010 post-apocalyptic FPS. Avalanche's neon-flecked sequel comes packed with "plenty of balls-to-the-wall action and beautifully distressed setpieces", as Eurogamer contributor Vikki Blake put it in her review, even if its blandly implemented open-world lets the side down a little.

"Superficially, it clutters the map and makes it feel like you've plenty to do," said Vikki, "but you'll soon learn that they're chiefly repetitive tasks and as satisfying as Rage 2's combat is, it's surprising how quickly it'll grow stale - particularly as the vehicular combat isn't quite as satisfying as the devastation of your shotgun."

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We've spent months meticulously breaking down every facet of the PlayStation vs. Xbox argument. It's time to tackle truly the least important of the arguments.

Did Microsoft or Sony put out a better launch trailer? Take three minutes to compare the evidence.

First, the PS5 launch trailer: 

In a behind-the-scenes feature for Demon's Souls, Sony shared a glimpse of the work that has gone into the remake's soundtrack. If you didn't know – and to be honest, it hadn't fully sunk in for me until just now – the PS5 game is brandishing a "reimagined" score with an orchestra, choir, and pipe organ.

Orchestrator Jim Fowler said that Bloodborne informed the "scale of the sound and the combination of choir and orchestra, although it is important to say this score has its own identity and its own sound."

Like seemingly everything to do with the Demon's Souls remake, some people are going to be ecstatic about these changes, some are going to prefer the way things were for one reason or another, and many players won't be bothered by or even really consider the PS3/PS5 side-by-side comparisons.

Arranger Bill Hemstapat said it's "pretty scary" knowing there are fans who "didn't know this music was being reworked," but he believes the "soul of the music that's in the original game is still there."

Sony also released a preview of the "Flamelurker" track (I can't wait for this horrible fiend to mess me up) and announced that the Demon's Souls soundtrack will have vinyl pre-orders in "early December."

A digital soundtrack release will be available much sooner: November 26.