How many times can one franchise cover the same genre, and still come up with new ways to express it? While plenty of series have been around longer than Mission: Impossible, few have felt as fresh by the time they hit their fifth iteration.

This is a series that has always given off the same vibe of high-tech spy action, yet manages to deliver a fresh take on it every single time. With Rogue Nation, director Christopher McQuarrie has delivered a subtle thriller that hits a balance between bombastic moments and intimate espionage.

It’d be enough for a blockbuster action film in 2015 to be well shot and have structurally great action. But McQuarrie goes one further in Rogue Nation, setting up some unexpectedly creative set piece moments: a brawl in the rafters of a packed theater plays out with countless moving parts, scored to the opera that plays below, a daring underwater heist is edited together with perfect tension.

The first two acts of Rogue Nation are pure summer spectacle, filled with ambitious practical stunts.

Tom Cruise is a controversial figure in the realm of Hollywood – an individual whose personal beliefs and eccentric public antics largely burned his goodwill with a generation of moviegoers. But it’s hard to deny that Cruise is one of the best leading men in Hollywood. He’s capable of forming chemistry with anyone and brings out the best in an already stellar cast. Few action stars today are as dedicated, and as entertaining, as Cruise. That aforementioned insanity is what drives him to grip onto the side of a plane in takeoff, and the results are stunning to watch.

But alongside the bouncy, fun action is an intense character-driven story of espionage. While past movies in this genre boil down the spy profession to double agents and adventures to save the world – Rogue Nation is slightly more cerebral. The stakes are life-and-death, but are more implied than direct. Characters’ motives are called into question, but have more depth than switching from good to evil. Almost the entire third act of the film is focused on this sort of dialogue-heavy drama, which, while interesting, grinds the pace to an abrupt halt. It’s not a perfect structure, but I have to give credit to the film for trusting the audience to be engaged in something beyond explosions.

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation could’ve easily succeeded as a standard action film, one dense with cliche and the expected beats of a summer blockbuster. But instead, it chooses to take risks and aim a little higher. Mission Impossible has been a cinema mainstay for nearly 20 years, yet it’s just now hitting a real stride.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter, @Mushroomer25

Gamescom brings the industry’s finest to Europe, here’s what to expect.

Next week in Cologne, Germany is Gamescom – the biggest gaming trade show and convention in Europe. The show isn’t quite as massive as E3, but will still promise some major updates and reveals from some of the biggest names in gaming.

Microsoft is set to lead the charge this year, with a showcase of their 2016 lineup. If you felt hollow after failing to see Quantum Break, Crackdown or Scalebound at their big E3 show back in June, this is where you’ll want to tune in for the live stream. Microsoft’s big show is scheduled for 7 a.m. (Pacific Standard Time) on Tuesday, Aug. 4.

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from 2K’s Mafia franchise, which brought the world of organized crime to life in stunning open-world fashion. Mafia 3 was long rumored as a next-generation launch title, but hit a delay snag and is now just set for reveal. The trailer will hit online at 5 a.m. on Thursday.

Citizens of Azeroth will want to keep their calendars marked for 9 a.m. Thursday when Blizzard will be revealing the latest expansion for World of Warcraft.

The creator of Mega Man‘s latest KickStarter is burning down to Red Ash

About a month ago, Kenji Inafune — creator of the Mega Man franchise, who left Capcom in 2010 — introduced a KickStarter for a new project called Red Ash. The game was pitched as a spiritual successor to Mega Man Legends, the fan-beloved platformer series. However, with less than a week to go, Inafune announced that the game would now be made using outsider funding (courtesy of Chinese-based unknown developer Fuze Entertainment). The KickStarter would now “go purely towards extra content” for the game.

The campaign was Inafune’s second, coming off the wildly successful Mighty No. 9 (which raised nearly $4-million back in 2013). However, mismanagement appears to have derailed the project. To start, the $800K asking price only covered the initial six-hour prologue of the full game, with no indication given for how that full game was going to be produced. The campaign only displayed concept art for the game, with the only in-game footage courtesy of a pre-alpha build that failed to impress. Fans also felt disgruntled that the project was launched before Mighty No. 9 even hit stores.

This ordeal has shown off some of the dangers of crowd-funding as a source of game development. Fans who pitched in money to make Red Ash happen (some paying as much as $7,000), are now no longer funding the game. Rather, they’re funding a series of stretch goals, which haven’t been revealed yet. Fortunately, it seems unlikely that any of that money will be paid out (having raised only 60 percent of its $800,000 goal with only three days remaining). This cautionary tale should remind us all of the risks taken when contributing to a crowd-funding campaign.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter, @Mushroomer25

Games are exclusive in the world of art. They’re the only medium of expression that is meaningfully interactive with the audience. Millions of people have played Super Mario World, yet no two people have ever played it in exactly the same way.

Some people miss a jump here, get hit by a shell there, or take ever-so-slightly different paths through the same levels. Every game is an infinite series of choices, raising the natural question: what does it look like when a game is played to perfection?

This is the question answered by Summer Games Done Quick, the annual speed-running marathon streaming all this week on video live-stream site Twitch.

Raising money for Doctors Without Borders, this charity event brings together gamers from across the spectrum, beating every manner of game in the shortest possible time.

Remember the weeks you spent on your first trip through Fallout 3? These pros can hit the credits in fewer than 30 minutes.

Pokémon Blue? They’ll catch them all in less than three hours.

Punch-Out? They’ve got players who can crush Tyson without taking a hit, and do it while blindfolded.

The quest to set the fastest time in any one given game pushes communities to break every level, mechanic, and moment of the game down.

Players search for any new glitch, trick, or exploit that can save even a few seconds off a run. The result isn’t just exciting to watch, but also a fascinating peek into how games are designed.

Running Super Monkey Ball showcases the furthest extent of the game’s hyper-sensitive controls, making impossible leaps and juggles across the map.

A perfect run of Resident Evil 4 requires not just perfect aim, but some clever manipulation of enemy attack patterns. Every game has a secret, and they come out into the open when the speed-running community begins its search.

It’s only made better by the live nature of Summer Games Done Quick. Every run has the opportunity to be a new world record, or feature a new unbelievable moment.

It’s one thing to hear about the incredible moments these streams produce weeks after the fact. Watching the event live is more visceral, making you a part of the crowd as magic unfolds.

But it’s not all about playing games fast. Games Done Quick has also become a showcase for all manner of incredible gaming feats. Earlier this year at the Awesome Games Done Quick event, various Tetris players who have achieved “Grand Master” status demonstrated their awe-inspiring expertise.

A modified SNES capable of entering thousands of button presses per second reprogrammed Super Mario World in real time, to mindblowing effect. You never quite know what will pop up in this year’s Games Done Quick stream, so do yourself a favor and don’t miss a minute.

This has been a phenomenal summer for TV fans. I can’t think of a past summer with as many memorable, original choices, most of which are just getting started with their first seasons.

Mr. Robot has mastered the narrative of counterculture, telling a story about hackers that bursts with dark authenticity. UNReal has made the behind-the-scenes stories of reality TV into a shocking, must-see drama. The Jim Gaffigan Show has given one of this generation’s defining stand ups a platform for his iconic voice of alternative, yet clean comedy.

An influx of great scripted TV is nothing new, of course. We are, after all, in TV’s “Golden Age.”

But what makes these shows stand out are their sources. Mr. Robot airs on USA, a network that specialized in simple episodic dramedies anchored by charismatic leads (Burn Notice, White Collar, Suits). UNReal is a product of Lifetime, a channel centered around the very reality TV that UNReal shamelessly slams. The Jim Gaffigan Show appears on TV Land, the channel strictly founded to appeal to the elderly with reruns of classic sitcoms. All three were perpetrators of some of the worst that cable TV had to offer, but now they’re taking scripted programming seriously.

And they’re not alone.

MTV’s taken to courting a new generation of teens with genre programming like Scream: The TV Series, and the upcoming The Shannara Chronicles. While E! is still heavily investing in the Kardashian family, they’re also now producing the high-society drama The Royals.

In increasing numbers, cable TV is the home for the last thing people expected – scripted television.

For most of the past decade, cable TV was a creative wasteland. Reality TV promised a simple, yet extremely lucrative formula. No writers, virtually no production budget, and no actors bound to contracts. Just eccentric personalities set up against (often staged) scenarios, and plenty of editing to form a story.

Another form of cheap programming could be found on channels like TV Land and USA, which filled bulk programming blocks with classic reruns of network sitcoms & procedural cop shows. This turned the landscape of basic cable into a sea of cookie-cutter reality shows and endless CSI repeats.

Yet, just as the realm of cable looked forever overtaken by price-maxing strategies, new technology has forced these channels to refocus.

Streaming video services like Netflix & Amazon Prime are the next frontier for television fans and studios alike. Netflix alone will spend $5 billion in 2016 for programming, a great deal of it from television studios to license out shows for the service.

Cable shows just don’t draw the numbers that streaming services are looking for. As for channels that focused on rerunning classic hits, their entire business model has been undercut.

In a Bloomberg piece that ran last May, a source close to Amazon Prime stated that they’d be dropping the majority of their licensed reality TV outings, citing “viewer fatigue.” While a reality TV program scores killer numbers as passive cable fare, the same format isn’t resonating with stream-happy millennials.

As a result, the entire business of television production is starting to tip back toward the favor of scripted series. It’s made the decisions made while green-lighting series a whole new equation, where long-term quality is a seriously considered variable.

Of course, change isn’t immediate. There’s still money to be made in reality TV. But if these trends prove to be consistent, there’s a firm future in scripted programming to be had.

In the world of Pixels, Kevin James is the President of the United States.

That says everything you need to know about the latest from Adam Sandler’s production company Happy Madison. It takes place in a reality where Adam Sandler’s mentality has won over America. It’s a world where very serious military types enact the sort of cartoon logic that children would write. One where it’s easier for professional gamers to learn how to operate covert military technology, rather than teach soldiers how to play arcade games. Where the guy will always get the girl regardless of how selfish, rude or immature he is. It’s a childish fantasy.

Pixels places Adam Sandler, Josh Gad and Peter Dinklage as ’80s heroes locked out of their time. Former arcade champions, they’re called into action when aliens challenge Earth to a tournament of war – inspired by retro video games. The plot of Pixels is not a narrative, more of a loose excuse for a string of comedy bits, CGI-heavy action sequences, and callouts to ’80s nostalgia that would make Ernest Cline blush.

By 2015, it’s hard to not have an opinion on Adam Sandler – either you loathe the guy’s comedic sensibility, or you bought one of the tickets that pushed Grown Ups 2 to a $133-million box office haul. His brand of comedy is the soul of Pixels – a mix of loose improv bits, G-rated slapstick, and PG-13-rated innuendo. Gad, James and the other actors roped into this script are just rolling with Sandler’s formula. Sandler himself sleepwalks through every scene, visibly bored by the material. Pixels is unfunny, yet never hits the infuriating lows of a Jack and Jill. It makes for a film that disappoints both those looking for a genuine laugh, or a masochistic challenge.

If any good words are to be said about Pixels, they should be reserved for the visual effects that brings these arcade icons to life. A Pac-Man the size of a small apartment rolls through New York streets, with a neon that shines with the retro glow of an arcade cabinet.

Q-Bert follows the cast like a poor man’s Jar Jar Binks, yet the character has genuine weight and presence in every scene. The final invasion is an endless sea of 8-bit monsters, each creative 3D recreations of their retro selves. Plenty of people were slouching in the creation of Pixels, but none of them were in the art department.

Yet it’s hard to recommend Pixels on its sporadic moments of visual spectacle. It’s a lazy, forgettable summer comedy disguised as a blockbuster.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter, @Mushroomer25

2K fills the NCAA-sized gap in gaming’s heart for NBA 2K16

Hardcore fans of sports games may have noticed a lack of NCAA video games on store shelves recently. EA’s NCAA Football franchise was once a yearly staple alongside Madden, allowing fans to play as their alma mater.

However, lawsuits over the unpaid status of student-athletes made the games a liability for EA. The NCAA Football series was put on hiatus in 2013, and the topic of college sports in games has been taboo ever since.

2K will be dipping their toes into the controversial waters later this fall when they release NBA 2K16, which will feature ten college teams — Arizona, Arizona State, Georgetown, Kansas, Louisville, Michigan, Texas, UCLA, UConn, Villanova, and Wisconsin.

However, it seems 2K has only licensed the rights to the individual team names and logos from the schools themselves, not the NCAA. That means no NCAA branding, no accurate stats, and absolutely no player likenesses. But for fans of college basketball, it’ll be the first chance to play as these teams since EA cut the cord on its NCAA Basketball series in 2008. NBA 2K16 releases on September 29 for XBox ONE, PlayStation 4, PC, XBox 360, and Playstation 3.

Street Fighter V drops yearly revisions, picks up microtransactions

This weekend, Capcom took the stage at EVO 2015 to discuss Street Fighter V. In addition to debuting a new character — the dreadlocked demon “Necalli” — they announced a curious new solution to a long-standing problem for fighting game fans.

Street Fighter was one of the first franchises to “patch” their game after release. Capcom, the developer, would tinker with each release after the retail launch – adding new characters, balancing existing ones, and making overall improvements. The following year, the new product would hit store shelves.

It’s how Street Fighter II eventually became Super Street Fighter II Turbo: The Ultimate Championship over years of perfection. Recent release Street Fighter IV let players download this content rather than pick up a new disc, but it still required players to pay an extra fee every few years to stay current with the game.

It’s this legacy that makes Street Fighter V‘s new system for downloadable content (DLC) so interesting. All of the post-release content will be delivered digitally, and won’t even require an additional purchase to use. Instead, the game will introduce a dual-currency system, which will be similar to most free-to-play mobile games.

Playing the game will earn you “Fight Money,” which can be saved up to redeem for digital content. Alternatively, the content can be bought with “Zenny,” which costs real cash. It’s still unclear what the conversion rate for “Fight Money” to “Zenny” will be, but for now Street Fighter loyalists can rest easy knowing Hyper Street Fighter V Ultimax: The Penultimate Tournament won’t ever be a reality.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter @Mushroomer25

“Dead Island 2″ is down, might get back up again

Techland’s first-person zombie brawler “Dead Island” was an unexpected hit for Deep Silver back in 2012. With a nation infected with a zombie love, the gory co-op adventure went on to spawn two sub-par spinoffs (Half-sequel “Dead Island: Riptide” and “Escape from Dead Island”) and a flashy sequel at last year’s E3.

However, original developer Techland wasn’t attached. It has since moved on to its own first-person zombie title “Dying Light.” “Dead Island 2″ was under the watchful eye of Yager Studios (best known for the psychological military shooter “Spec Ops: The Line”), but nothing had been made public since that initial E3 reveal.

That lack of progress makes a little more sense this week, as Deep Silver has announced that Yager has split ways with the project over “conflicting visions.” No word has been given on who will take its place, but expect word soon on who will be taking over the reigns.

Tamriel, Gotham, among June’s most popular tourist destinations

Sales data from June (as gathered by the consumer-tracking firm NPD Group) hit this week and offered a peek at what titles were most popular for last month. As expected, “Batman: Arkham Knight” dominated store shelves and was only contested by “Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unleashed,” the console version of the popular PC MMORPG.

It’s important to note that NPD fails to account for digital sales though, meaning “Arkham Knight’s” widely reported PC problems didn’t figure into the games’ position on this chart. The PS4 also outsold the XBox ONE in the previous month, boosted by a shiny Batman bundle.

As for PC owners of “Arkham Knight,” they may be left waiting awhile for that version of the game to return to digital marketplaces.

Gaming news outlet Kotaku Australia obtained an email from a source at EB Games that stated: “We have stopped sales of “Batman: Arkham Knight PC” while Warner and Rocksteady work on addressing performance issues with the game. The latest information from Warner is that the updates won’t be available until spring [which would be in the fall for the US].”

This paints a bleak picture for PC players who dealt with the poorly optimized initial release.

Could the cancelled “TRON 3″ return as “TRON: Escape?”

Fans of neon lights and intense techno music all shed a tear several moons back when Disney announced that they would not be pursuing a sequel to 2011’s “TRON: Legacy.” While the project was initially greenlit with director Joseph Kosinski on board, poor reception to Disney’s other not-Star Wars–nor-Marvel film “Tomorrowland” killed investor confidence.

But if a rating from the Brazilian Advisory Rating System (which previously broke embargo for “Gears of War: Ultimate Edition”) is to be believed, a game titled “TRON: Escape” will be released for the PC, PS4, and XBox ONE. No further details can be gleaned from the rating, but fingers crossed for a return to the grid in the very near future.

Marvel’s Cinematic Universe is one of the most fascinating accomplishments in recent blockbuster history.

A perfectly intertwined series of films that began as standard superhero fare before eventually transforming into a set of series in which every film carries weight on into the next, no matter how seemingly disparate they are.

The format has produced some incredible narratives, but it lost something along the way. Every story must bring the fate of the world into play, shaking up the stakes for every Marvel franchise. But what about the smaller stories? The odd corners of the MCU that live in a more intimate scale, is there still room for those films to be made? Hopefully so, if it means more movies like Ant-Man.

The story follows Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), an ex-con looking for a way out of his past life as a cat burglar. He’s recruited by Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) for a bit of corporate thievery, taking the role of Pym’s most dangerous creation, Ant-Man. It’s a refreshingly simple narrative — a basic heist flick that revolves around the Marvel brand of sci-fi. It’s light hearted, clever and skips along at a brisk pace.

Marvel’s heroes are often defined by their actors, and Ant-Man is no different. Rudd was an inspired casting choice for Lang, a comedic actor whose charm carries him through heavier emotional beats. Douglas and Evangeline Lily both hold up with Rudd’s penchant for quips, but the most unexpected comedic victory goes to Michael Peña. His character isn’t given a ton of depth, yet steals the show whenever given the opportunity.

It’s this fun, independent spirit that makes other elements of Ant-Man disappointing in comparison. Visually, it’s a very bland movie that fails to make the spectacle of micro-sized combat feel real. Director Peyton Reed seems obsessed with reminding the audience that this hero is minuscule by cutting out to full-scale shots between those from Lang’s perspective. The action is very well choreographed, with some of the most fun set pieces in recent Marvel memory. But we’re rarely given the time to properly lose ourselves in the moment.

Unlike Marvel’s past few releases, Ant-Man undeniably works as a solo venture. If you’ve never touched the Marvel realm of metal suits and gods in capes, this works as a great standalone blockbuster. For the Marvel diehard, it’s littered with connective tissue to keep you invested, and one hell of a post-credits scene.

There’s always been something irresistible about watching a good fight.

While society has invented countless different forms of competition, from racing to sports to intellectual, we still find ourselves coming back to the innate human conflict of watching two people beat each other to a pulp.

Going in the hard opposite direction is the world of eSports, or competitive video game play — a form of competition with almost no physical exertion at all. While watching other people play video games may sound odd, it’s become a proven entertainment product. Last year’s world finals for League of Legends drew more than 32 million viewers across the globe, engaged by the complex mechanics and strategy. But for everyone else, it’s an extremely complicated game to watch as a spectator. The rules are counterintuitive and the screen dense with action.

Fortunately, a middle ground exists between these two extremes. A spectator sport with all the nuance and fun of an eSport, with the simple rule set and flow of play seen in a boxing match. Welcome to the world of fighting games, which comes together this weekend (July 17-19) for the annual Evolution Championship Series in Bally’s Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas.

Evolution 2015 (EVO for short) is the penultimate tournament to prove the best of the best in Street Fighter, Super Smash Bros (both Melee and WiiU) and five other fighters. It’s where scores are settled and battles play out for a cheering crowd of thousands. Every moment is streamed live for a global audience, cheering from the comments section.

Unlike most eSports, anybody can understand the mechanics of a fighting game. Two players select a character, and engage in a head-to-head fight in order to establish supremacy. In fact, you’ve probably played one of these games in the past. But for the players at EVO, these games are a way of life. They’ve spent countless hours mastering techniques, perfecting execution and facing foes new and old. New strategies are being constantly uncovered and introduced to competitive play.

This year’s series has a tournament for just about anyone.

Interested in bloody kung fu with a nice heap of visual polish? Killer Instinct or Mortal Kombat X will fill your need. Want to see some iconic characters beat on each other with stunning precision and speed? Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Super Smash Bros are full of can’t-miss moments. Prefer the distinct art style of anime? Persona 4 Arena and Guilty Gear Xrd are loaded with personality. Or if you’d rather focus on the pure art of execution, Ultra Street Fighter IV and Tekken 7 are bringing decades of arcade authenticity to the stage.

The world of eSports might seem crazy to the average Joe, but the language of EVO is universally understood. It provides the sort of live experience that few sports can ever create.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter: @Mushroomer25

This weekend, all of San Diego was taken over by the pop culture masses. It’s San Diego Comic-Con, the biggest nerd collection of the year. The dense packing of geeks makes it prime time for companies to drop their latest announcements for all things sci-fi, fantasy and superhero. Check out the biggest news from the first two days of the event:

Ben Affleck directing Ben Affleck’s Batman starring Ben Affleck

When Ben Affleck was announced as the next star to don the cowl of the caped crusader, both film fans and comic fans alike were baffled.

Considering Affleck had been gaining monumental traction as a director, the choice to take on an iconic acting role was completely unexpected. However, his casting as Bruce Wayne made quite a bit more sense this week when Deadline Hollywood reported that Affleck wouldn’t just be starring in the next solo Batman film, he’s also writing and directing it. DC veteran Geoff Johns (who wrote several Batman and Justice League comics) will also be assisting on the story. It’ll be a while before Affleck’s Batman film hits screens, though. DC’s currently announced schedule includes ten films over the next five years, meaning this project either bumps a lower-priority character (such as Shazam) out of the way, or won’t be hitting screens until 2021.

If you’re looking for a more immediate Batman fix, a new super-sized trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice hit this weekend, giving us our first look at Wonder Woman, Lex Luther and Bruce Wayne’s perspective on the destruction of Metropolis. Fans also caught a first look at Suicide Squad, the villain-focused team-up film that will introduce new adaptations of The Joker, Harley Quinn and more to the DC cinematic universe. That trailer hasn’t been officially put online just yet, but some sneaky fans managed to record a copy off the presentation screen.

Deadpool hits home for the Comic-Con loyal

Few characters are more beloved by the Comic-Con crowd than Deadpool, Marvel’s foul-mouthed masked vigilante who loves to break bones, as well as the fourth wall. During 20th Century Fox’s panel, Ryan Reynolds was the star of the night as he thanked the audience for helping bring Deadpool to the big screen. After all, the project only got greenlit after footage leaked of a test short that initially failed to impress financiers. So it’s only fitting that fans set out to leak the official trailer for Deadpool in a similar manner. It’s a low-quality copy, but you’ll watch it anyways.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens stuns with practical sets

Although a new trailer for The Force Awakens isn’t ready quite yet, that didn’t meant that fans were left hanging. Abrams and company had a fantastic stage presentation, bringing out animatronic aliens and a large swath of the cast. Coolest of all is this four-minute behind the scenes reel, which shows off the majestic practical effects powering the latest installment. It’s also the first place we’ve seen the new look for Princess Leia, as well as the unexpected appearance of Simon Pegg — who appears to be playing some sort of alien.

Follow Chris Berg on Twitter, @Mushroomer25