Tag Archive for: spiderman

Spiderman: Miles Morales

Spiderman: Miles Morales: What To Expect

Miles Morales has taken the world by storm. In less than a decade, the character has become one of the comic book industry’s biggest recent success stories. The Afro-Latino web-slinger was referenced in MCU’s ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ and got his own Oscar award-winning movie in ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’.

Now, he is getting into the swing on the gaming front as Insomniac revealed ‘Spider-Man: Miles Morales’: a PlayStation 5 followup to the 2018 smash hit ‘Marvel’s Spider-Man’.

Here’s what to expect.

A Trained Miles Morales…

His standalone game wouldn’t be the first time that the players get to control Morales — Insomniac’s ‘Spider-Man’ featured him as a playable character in investigative stealth portions. The game then ended on a poignant note with the two Spider-Men revealing their identities and superpowers to each other. The story expansion, ‘The City That Never Sleeps’, delved deeper into the relationship between the two as Peter Parker agrees to take Morales under his wing and designs a new pair of web-shooters for him.

‘Spider-Man: Miles Morales’ is set about a year after the first game and needless to say, the new Spidey knows his way around the block.

…But Not An Experienced Miles Morales

One year is not nearly enough time for a teenager to learn the hardened ways of a crime-fighting vigilante.

Morales is a work in progress, and the developers have taken special care to replicate his inexperience in the gameplay. The character will sport unique traversal animations which make him his “own Spider-Man,” according to senior animator James Ham. In a trailer recap video for PlayStation, Ham says that Miles “isn’t as confident, but he’s learning from Peter; he’s trained with Peter. He doesn’t move the same way, so when he’s swinging, he’s a little bit more flail-y.”

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. “Flail-y” traversal should remind players of the adrenaline-inducing climactic sequence from ‘Into the Spider-Verse’. And unique animations also mean…

A Unique Moveset

The radioactive spider bite brought with it the usual goodies — increased strength and speed, stickiness and spider-sense — but Morales also received exclusive powers.

He can camouflage into his surroundings, a sneaky upgrade which is sure to add variety to the stealth portions of the game. The Predator-esque ability to blend into the setting opens up tons of options for players, who could perform cinematic stealth takedowns and get out of a tight spot.

Then there’s the bioelectricity. Sure, Peter Parker zapped his fair share of adversaries with the electric web in the last game, but Morales’ current is more direct. The ‘venom blast’ can administer bioelectricity shocks to his enemies, and potentially could be used both as a quick-stun or a finishing blow. And like the web, he can also emit strands of bioelectricity from his fingers. The venom blasts can also help Morales cover large chunks of the map quickly.

Both invisibility and bioelectricity, referred to as “incredible explosive powers” by creative director Brian Horton, were featured in the reveal trailer. The hero would also be adding some more tricks to his toolset as he makes his way through the adventure.

A Holiday Adventure

Morales’ story, set in a wintry New York just before Christmas, puts the youngster in the middle of a war between “an energy corporation and a high-tech criminal army”. Morales’ friendly neighbourhood of Harlem is at the heart of the battle, and you couldn’t ask for a tougher first assignment.

Not much is known in terms of enemies, though Morales has already had run-ins with Rhino and Sable agents in the first game. In the comics, he has faced an amazing rogues gallery – including the ones he shares with Parker like Mysterio and Green Goblin. Expect such notable names to make an appearance.

A Perfect Launch

‘Spider-Man: Miles Morales’ will take to the skies on the next-generation gaming console PlayStation 5. Sony is yet to confirm the release date for the PS5 but the console, and the video game, are both planned for this holiday season. In preparation for its release, top up on your PSN Gift Cards!

As a pseudo-launch game, it is squarely on Miles Morales to showcase the array of features on the anticipated PS5. According to Horton, the exclusive title will “demonstrate the power of PlayStation 5,” with features such as near-instant loading, ray-tracing and 3D audio. The characters have been upgraded with 4D scans and improved skin shading, as well as spline-based hair, which means photorealistic models. The city of New York will also be enhanced as several assets have been updated to take advantage of the console.

Additionally, PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller will add another dimension to the gameplay. The controller’s adaptive L2 and R2 triggers will offer levels of resistance and the haptic feedback will add a sensory touch to the proceedings.

Just when you thought Spider-Man’s web-swinging couldn’t get any better!

A Smaller, Standalone Caper

There was confusion when ‘Spider-Man: Miles Morales’ was first announced, as gamers weren’t sure whether it would be an expansion to the base game or a spin-off. Insomniac Games have since confirmed that the game would be a standalone release — “You’ll experience a full story arc with Miles, one that’s more akin to a game like ‘Uncharted: The Lost Legacy’ in terms of overall scope,” Horton said.

‘Uncharted: The Lost Legacy’ was a spin-off from the main Uncharted series and was decidedly shorter with a seven-hour main story. ‘Spider-Man’ on the other hand, took about 20 hours to beat.

The developers have also clarified that Peter Parker remains an integral player in the universe, essentially confirming that the original Spider-Man will get his own proper sequel. Which means Morales’ adventure is set to be a stopgap between the two main entries of the franchise.

Conclusion

In a short time, Miles Morales has made a name for himself because he is out of the trappings of a legacy character like Peter Parker. But a more important reason behind the character’s meteoric rise is the fact that he isn’t simply a replacement. Morales, with his own racial identity and traits, is his own Spider-Man.

If Insomniac is staying true to the mythos and is giving the character his own identity, ‘Spider-Man Miles Morales’ would be worth picking up.

Keep up to date with everything How To Kill An Hour by signing up to our newsletter by clicking here!

Let us know what you think of the show by clicking here!

Click here to subscribe to our YouTube Channel to see more amazing ways to kill time!

Follow us on Twitch by clicking here!

Superhero Debt

How Much to be Batman, Superman, Spiderman or Walter White?

Have you ever wondered how much it costs to be a Superhero? Well, there’s some data been collated and apparently it costs a lot! There’s a lot of money being spent and there’s some Superhero Debt! One interesting stat is that James Bond spends 18x his salary on booze, cars and gadgets each year. The infographic looks at the salaries and expenditures of a lot of popular heroes. One of the minimal spenders is Peter Parker. He spends only $1,125 of his superhero lifestyle each year. While Bruce Wayne on the other hand spends $333,886,814 yeeesh! Some of our heroes are in lots of debt however. Ghostbuster Peter Venkma is in $140,000,000 worth of deby because of his proton pack!

Superhero Debt

The guys over at The True Cost of Heroism collated lots of data from each superhero franchise and compared each hero across 6 areas of expertise to figure out their expenditure. Which was:

  • Education Fees
  • Rent
  • Vehicle Cost
  • Specialist Equipment
  • Gadgets
  • Clothing
  • Lifestyle Expenditure.

As stated above Bruce Wayne spends a lot of money on his lavish lifestyle and Peter Parker is sensible and spends well within his means even saving a total of $22,169 each year.

Other’s such as Sherlock Holmes actually outspent his income twice over. Spending twice over $47,725 on his Central London home, specialist equipment and cigars. Walter White’s income cost him 4x his Chemistry Teachers annual salary. Furthermore Buffy Summers spends $69,886 on slaying vampires each year.

All 7 overdrawn fictional characters were able to create a total of $137,485,640 annual debt between them. While suprisingly Batman and not so surprisingly Spider-Man walk away with $8,886,135,355 in profit each year.

Superhero Debit – Fictional characters who overspend the most:

Peter Venkman (Ghostbusters)

$136,146,915 in debt

James Bond

$911,467 in debt

Walter White

$205,264 in debt

The full list of films and TV shows featured include:

  • Spider-Man

  • Batman

  • Breaking Bad

  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer

  • Stranger Things

  • Ghostbusters

  • James Bond

  • Indiana Jones

  • Sherlock Holmes

To view The True Cost of Heroism, and a beautiful infographic and a lot more information please click here!

Christmas Gift Guide

12 Days of Christmas Gadgets Gift Guide

It’s that time of year again! Here are some of the best pieces of tech that we think will be perfect as Christmas Gadget stocking fillers! Furthermore, once you’ve finished, let us know any that you think we missed!

Sky Soundbox

The Sky Soundbox is the piece of audio hardware to revolutionise your tv viewing experience! It’s the perfect piece of tech to compliment your Sky Q package.

Sky partnered with Devialet, who are one of the most innovative names in audio to bring you the Sky Soundbox. Combining the power of Sky Tv intelligence with Devialet’s incredible, groundbreaking acoustic technology. Together with Sky Q the Soundbox delivers crisp, crystal clear bespoke sound across all of the content you love. Sports, Music, Cinema, it can handle it and produce the very best audio experience to compliment the very best visual experience with Sky Q. (Read More) (Purchase)

Red Dead Redemption 2

Rockstar games always knock it out of the park when it comes to games, Grand Theft Auto is what they are most known for, however when Red Dead Redemption came out in 2010, it changed the game! Everyone has always wanted to be a cow-boy and Rockstar made everyone’s dream come true! Now, 8 years later, Rockstar are revisiting the Red Dead universe in Red Dead Redemption 2. With over $725 million in worldwide retail sell-through during its first three days, Red Dead Redemption 2 is the second-highest grossing entertainment launch of all time next to Rockstar Games’ previously released title, Grand Theft Auto V, which achieved over $1 billion in retail sell-through in three daysNo one would be disappointed with this in their stocking! (Read More) (Purchase)

Marvel’s Spiderman

Marvel’s Spiderman, is an incredible game and one for the stocking this year. We loved it at E3 and we fell in love with it when we played it ourselves upon release. Definitely will not disappoint a PS4 owning loved one! Spiderman is an action and adventure open world game exclusive to PS4. The gameplay trailer that was shown off this year did not disappoint. It looks just like a movie and the devs over at Insomniac have done a wonderful job of seamlessly transitioning between gameplay and cutscenes. (Read More) (Purchase)

Strange Brigade

Another incredible game that would be perfect for stockings this year is Strange Brigade. This game is fun, fun, fuuuuun!! It’s very enjoyable by yourself defeating hordes of the undead. However, get a crew together and this levels of excitement and enjoyment go through the roof!

From the very start Strange Brigade is very charming with it’s friendly narrator (with his over the top British upper class dialect) and it’s 1930’s setting. The graphics draw you in to a world that is full of might magic and mystery. Yet at the same time having an underlying notion of danger when the undead appear. You know you’re in danger! Yet the locations are so pretty!

What makes Strange Brigade different to many other co-op games available today is that the levels and the game will change slightly depending on the numbers in your team. More enemies, lots of twists and turns with the levels and even the puzzles take it up a notch if you have a friend with you. (Read More) (Purchase)

Nintendo Labo

The Nintendo Labo is great for all the creatives in your life that love video games! The Labo is a cardboard video game! Sound crazy?! Well, it is designed to help you get creative with the Switch. Create all different kinds of gaming add ons with the variety kits that are available. Such as fishing kits, play piano or even the most impressive one that we have seen an AR Robot kit!

Nintendo are calling the cardboard kits, ‘Toy-Cons’ and are designed to be solely used with the Nintendo Switch. Just by following the onscreen instructions that are displayed on the Switches touchscreen.

The Toy-Cons are so versatile that you can either use the Toy-Cons independently of the screen itself and you watch what’s occuring on screen. I.e: Fishing. Where all the computing is done inside the joy-con controller, or by using the whole console itself to find new ways to play! An example of this would be the use of a motorbike, whereby the switch is placed in the center of the ‘Toy-Cons’ and ‘Joy-Cons’ are placed either side and the accelerometer acts as a steering mechanism.

The most impressive of the lot was the use of a HUGE contraption, with the Robot ‘Toy-Con’. This cardboard accessory is HUGE and is placed on a users back and utilises cables to detect a users movement. (Read More) (Purchase)

Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 + SuperAmp

Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2

Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2

After all that gaming, you’re going to need a great piece of tech to talk to all those people online! The Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 + SuperAmp, is THE gaming headphones for you this Christmas. Are you ready to get an advantage over your gaming competitors? Turtle Beach have announced something that may just help you do that. The Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 + Super Amp gives users powerful amplified professional grade sound, unmatched comfort and app based controls to their audio.  The Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 headset has top level audio and is driven by their own E-Sports tuned 50mm Nanoclear speakers. The microphone on the Turtle Beach Elite Pro 2 is highly sensitive and is noise cancelling for crystal clear communication. The SuperAmp adds a brand new way for players to control audio. The one dialled design brings powerful amplified Windows Sonic for Headphones surround sound. It even adds DTS Headphone:X 7.1 surround sound capabilities! (Read More) (Purchase)

Seagate Game Drive

Over Christmas you’re going to probably get a couple more games in your stockings! You’re going to need more storage space, as no one likes to delete stuff! We have the solution for you!

Well there’s a plethora of choices available for external hard drives and we’ve found an incredible one! The Seagate Game Drive for PS4, it comes with a whopping 4TB of storage which allows for 100games! Installation is pain free and super quick. Simply plug in the Seagate Game Drive directly into any USB port on the PS4 and boom, you’re good to go. The PS4 will recognise the drive and walk you through a simple set up. The Seagate Game Drive will be ready to have games installed on it within 3 minutes! (Read More) (Purchase)

DJI Mavic 2

The Mavic Pro 2 is an incredible piece of tech and is a perfect gift for the filmmakers in your life.  It even comes in two configurations! Firstly the Mavic 2 Pro: Made in Sweden, Hasselblad cameras are renowned for their iconic ergonomic design, uncompromising image quality, and Swedish craftsmanship. Since 1941, Hasselblad cameras have captured some of the world’s most iconic images – including the first moon landing.

Co-engineered in partnership with Hasselblad after two years of tireless research, the Mavic 2 Pro comes equipped with the all-new Hasselblad L1D-20c camera. The L1D-20c possesses Hasselblad’s unique Hasselblad Natural Colour Solution (HNCS) technology,  helping users to capture gorgeous 20-megapixel aerial shots in stunning color detail.

Also the DJI Mavic 2 comes in a different configuration: The Mavic 2 Zoom. Powered by a 1/2.3-inch 12-megapixel sensor with up to 4x zoom, including a 2x optical zoom (24–48 mm), the Mavic 2 Zoom is all about dynamic perspectives. Capture everything from wide angle to mid-range shots for even more creative options. (Read More) (Purchase)

Mikme

The Mikme Microphone, is a perfect stocking filler for all the content creators and audio geeks out there! A supremely powerful microphone that  boasts studio quality sound. From experience, we can tell you first hand that this microphone, really does produce some amazing sound quality! Consequently, in a tiny package too, we were seriously impressed when we reviewed this awesome little device! It’s touted as the world’s first wireless mircrophone and audio recorder in one. Simply press the button and voila, you’re recording. While you’ll need a smartphone to connect it to, to monitor what you’re recording, but other than that, you’re set! However, that’s no stress either! Simply connect your headphones to the Mikme to the reverse of the device to listen to the crispy clear audio! (Read More) (Purchase)

Philips One Blade Body Edition

Philips OneBlade

Philips OneBlade

This piece of tech is perfect for all those wanting to look crisp and clean this holiday season. The Philips OneBlade does everything that the original OneBlade did previously. You can trim your beard with one of the three stubble comes, which come in a variety of lengths. There’s 1mm, 3mm and 5mm. However, the OneBlade now comes with a body comb, which is 3mm, which you can use in any direction.

As the OneBlade does not shave like a regular shaver, i.e. getting really close. You’re able to use this to your advantage and go against the grain and easily shave off any length of any hair from any part of your body! Remember to change the blade though! There’s one for the body and one for the face! (Read More) (Purchase)

Astro Bot: Rescue Mission

We recently played this on How To Kill An Hour’s Twitch Stream and it was incredibly fun! It’s a pick up and play game that is perfect for the family and definitely makes use of the VR in a wonderful way. It’s perfect for all the family on Christmas Day and will keep everyone entertained for hours!

Astro Bot: Rescue Mission VR is an incredible virtual reality platformer that’s exclusively created for the Playstation VR. In the game you take control of a character called Astro, the captain of a spaceship traveling search for his lost crew.

Astro Bot: Rescue Mission VR takes gamers across 26 levels that take the platforming genre to brand new heights? Well, the game is across a 360 degree landscape. There are huge towering bosses but be careful as there are precise controls whilst you are Astro. Some of the levels are very challenging so make sure that you use all 360 degree’s of vision otherwise you’ll miss things! Therefore it is vital that you use your entire body to “look” around corners as there may be things that you miss. Consequently there may be paths that you are able to create for Astro to climb. (Read More) (Purchase) (Purchase Playstation VR)

 

Anvio VR

VR has been HUGE this year, so why not fill up the stockings of loved ones with tickets to Anvio VR in London!? Unlike a lot of VR games or events this is an experience in which you’re allowed to play! Hence why they’re describing it as a playground! What we mean by play is that you’re free to move around. As you’re not confined to a small play area. So you get to run around a HUGE room and experience, quite literally, a whole new world!

In the worlds that Anvio VR have created you can run, jump and even wave to your partners whilst in the game, all that and much much more! Their play area is also fully wirless so there’s no worry about running into a wall or falling over wires. Thus creating a much more realistic and immersive experience. Also, there’s guides in the room, who are there to help prevent you from crashing into any walls, if you do manage to find your way to a wall that is! (Read More) (Purchase)

So, keep up to date with everything How To Kill An Hour by signing up to our newsletter by clicking here!

Let us know what you think of the show by clicking here!

Also, click here to subscribe to our YouTube Channel to see more amazing ways to kill time!

Spiderman

Marvels Spider-Man on PS4

Insomniac’s Marvels Spider-Man was shown off at E3 this year and it impressed the E3 crowd and those watching at home a like. Spiderman is an action and adventure open world game exclusive to PS4. The gameplay trailer that was shown off this year did not disappoint. It looks just like a movie and the devs over at Insomniac have done a wonderful job of seamlessly transitioning between gameplay and cutscenes.

Also revealed was a whole host of villains that Spidey will be taking on too! Villains include Electro, Rhino, Scorpion and Vulture. Consequently, all of whom escape from the maximum security prison that we see in the trailer above. Hype has been huge for this game and for all the right reasons too! Consequently it’s shaping up to be a heavy hitter when it releases on 7th September 2018 as an exclusive title for PS4. (The Verge)

In the video above we see Ryan Penagos, Vice President & Creative Executive, Marvel New Media and rapper Styles P on a super quick look at Marvels Spider-Man for the PS4. Boy does it look good! Everyone loves Spiderman and we’ve not seen an open world superhero game before, if it’s anything like Spidey. Consequently, cover us interested! So show us more! Styles P beat up a few baddies and went on a car chase, he was definitely enjoying the game! If it can make a rapper this hyped about a video game, it is definitely worth checking out!

Game Information

Marvel’s: Spider-Man is an upcoming open world action-adventure video game based on the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man. It is being developed by Insomniac Games and is to be published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4 console. It will be the first licensed game developed by Insomniac. The game will tell a new story about Spider-Man and is not tied to a film or comic book. The game will cover both the Peter Parker and Spider-Man aspects of the character and will feature a more experienced Spider-Man.

So, keep up to date with everything How To Kill An Hour why not sign up to our newsletter! Simply click here to get a dose of How To Kill An Hour in your inbox each and every week!

Also, listen to the latest episode here!

Best Bits of E3 2018 Part 2

Episode 282 – The Best Bits Of E3 2018 Part 2!

Episode 247 – Boosted Boards

Spiderman PS4 Exclusive!

Sony showed off their super cool Marvels Spider-Man exclusive PS4 game at E3 and we cannot wait to try it out, check out more information below:

Marvel’s: Spider-Man is an upcoming open world action-adventure video game based on the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man. It is being developed by Insomniac Games and is to be published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4 console. It will be the first licensed game developed by Insomniac. The game will tell a new story about Spider-Man and is not tied to a film or comic book. The game will cover both the Peter Parker and Spider-Man aspects of the character and will feature a more experienced Spider-Man.

 

To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!

To pre-order this please click here!