Avatar Frontiers creative director Magnus Jansen: ‘It’s really a nature experience, a joyful discovery’

Avatar Frontiers of Pandora creative director Magnus Jansen tells GLHF how he and his team approached designing a new, unique Avatar world

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Building a game from a movie license comes with risks. Some of the worst video games of the ‘90s and 2000s sprouted from poorly considered tie-ins, where the team or maybe the license holder couldn’t decide whether the final product should be a game or a playable movie that rehashed what everyone already knew. The risk is even bigger if you’re Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment, working with the Avatar license on Frontiers of Pandora and hoping to create something ambitious with a premise that’s much different than the James Cameron Avatar. However, Pandora‘s creative director Magnus Jansen tells GLHF his team had a stroke of luck right from the first meeting with Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment production company.

“A game and a move movie are not the same thing,” Jansen says. “They shouldn’t be. When we met with Lightstorm [Entertainment] all those years ago, it was very clear that Lightstorm – thank God – didn’t want Frontiers of Pandora to be a linear movie game. They didn’t want to recreate the movie. They wanted the game to be everything that a game can be: to be interactive, for the player to have agency, for co-authorship between the player and the pre-authored narrative, and all of the stuff that makes a game a good game.”

Avatar surprised me during the Avatar preview event I attended with how alive and vibrant Pandora felt, and that was Massive’s intent. Jansen says the team starts from the bottom of the evolutionary chain with the fundamental elements of life. First comes the broad strokes of the environment, and then they figure out what grows there, what animals thrive, and how this ecology influences how humans – or Na’vi, in Avatar’s case – live. 

Hansen tells me the Massive team took several research trips while deciding how Pandora should look, sound, and feel, including the United States’ Pacific Northwest region, though much of the material was in Massive’s own backyard. He says the inspiration for some of the regions I didn’t get to see in the preview –cooler coniferous zones with fungal labyrinths and carpets of white moss – come from the temperate Nordic forests of Sweden, some of which are just minutes away from Massive’s headquarters in Malmo.

With the environment in mind, Jansen said the designers start creating lifestyles, economies, and cultures. I didn’t get to see much of that culture firsthand, since the preview avoided putting me in contact with Pandora’s three Na’vi clans. However, the careful approach to creating an entire ecosystem shines through in how you handle item gathering. 

Stockpiling resources is a mindless task you perform without even realizing it in games like The Witcher 3 or even Genshin Impact, but Massive did something different in Avatar. You walk away with better-quality materials if you take the time to interact with and extract them properly.

Jansen says turning the idea of eco-guardianship into a game was one of the most attractive prospects of working on Frontiers of Pandora.

“The inherent ethos of Avatar with sustainability and the relationship and respect you have for nature –  this is a huge thing for me and the team, and it has been since the very beginning,” Jansen says. “ It’s changed the way that we do harvesting. When you pick your resources for food or crafing, and you want the best stuff, it’s about quality over quantity. Instead of going ‘hey, you have to pick 20 of these and make them into one new thing,’ it’s about finding the one you need and, by your knowledge of nature and being in tune with nature, getting the best quality.”

That often means venturing off the main path and taking time to find the right items, but Jansen says the team isn’t adding friction. If you don’t want to engage with crafting or harvesting, you can complete the story without ever touching it. You just won’t get the best upgrades and weapons.

“One of the things I’m super happy about is that we have made a world that’s beautiful and dangerous, but it’s not aggressive. And there’s a difference there because it’s not trying to eat you or anything. If you just want to sort of stop and smell the roses – I don’t think we actually have any roses – but you can. It’s really a nature experience.”

It’s also not what I and most people expected. After the Ubisoft Forward showcase in June 2023, many – myself included – thought Pandora resembled Far Cry with an Avatar makeover. That’s partly unavoidable. Ubisoft kept quiet about the project, sharing hardly any new details since that initial reveal, which Jansen says is ideal. He wants players to enter Pandora like the game’s heroine, completely unaware of what to expect and surrounded by new discoveries and possibilities on all sides. That goal guided every decision Jansen and his team made, even down to telling the story from a first-person perspective to give players a greater sense of “being there” and of Pandora’s scale.

“All of the creature designs, all of the things that we did, the variety, and the push to have so much – not just have the rainforests, but two more regions that are vastly different from each other, not just one clan, but three clans. “All of that is driven by this feeling that it is it’s a roller coaster, a journey of pure joy and joyful discovery.” 

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora launches on Dec. 7, 2023, for PCXbox Series X|S, and PS5.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a surprisingly thoughtful take on open-world games

We spent a few hours with Ubisoft and Massive’s Avatar game and came away impressed with the thoughtful approach to open world game design

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Ahead of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s launch in December 2023, I had the chance to spend a few hours with it and get a glimpse of Massive’s vision. I picked stalks, found beehives, contributed to a community fund, and learned how to find my way in the gorgeous, otherworldly forests of Pandora before becoming an airborne terror and raiding an RDA base on a flying lizard. Despite a few stale design elements, Frontiers of Pandora is shaping up to be a more thoughtful take on the usual open-world – and Ubisoft – formula.

My Avatar preview dropped me in the middle of a quest to find honey for a Na’vi ritual, so off I went into the forest, completely devoid of context and quest markers. That last bit s one of the more interesting and promising ideas in Frontiers. You can treat Avatar like any other modern game and have waypoints and quest markers cluttering the screen, or you can shut them off and pay attention to the world around you. Your hunting guide explains where plants thrive and animals roam, and the world – mercifully – only has a handful of places in each main area that match the habitat description.

The bugs that produced the honey I needed build their hives on mangroves, so off I went to the swampy area nearby to hunt them down. Eventually, my kind and patient demoist pointed out that I walked right past where the mangroves grew at a specific point on the riverbank. I can see this freedom potentially being a minor frustration in the full game. Frontiers of Pandora is big, so much so that I actually let out an audible “whoa” when I panned out in the map view. It’s easy to literally miss the tree for the forest in some cases, though you can use your Na’vi senses to get a small pointer in the right direction.

Na’vi sense is essentially the same kind of superhuman power you activate as Geralt in The Witcher 3 or Agent 47 in Hitman, a gamey ability that lets you see things you normally can’t. It should feel trite at this point, like just another standard open-world feature, but Massive roots it and other overly familiar features in a layer of thoughtful design that links your actions more closely with the world. 

When you activate your Na’vi sense, for example, you’re tuning into the world around you, while gaining new skill points comes from helping Pandora’s different tribes and learning their customs. When you harvest items, you get higher quality if you know how to treat the resource and harvest it in the correct way. Sure, these are just some extra contextual detail, but it made me feel more connected to Pandora and the story Massive wants to tell.

The demo’s second half included a few side quests, a big combat sequence, and some brilliant platforming segments where you bond with your big flying lizard that’s the Avatar version of Epona. I started climbing the roost and made it pretty high up before my demoist had to point out that I missed the story quest location and the actual intended path.

Avatar’s side quests seem like a varied lot. One was pretty standard and had me tracking down items, one sent me into the forest to investigate the source of a noise causing nearby wildlife distress, while another tasked me with using logic and a few human hacking tools to solve a mystery, and 

Where things get a bit less impressive is off the beaten track. Pandora is a beautiful world that I could happily spend a long time just exploring, but underneath the visual splendor, there’s not a whole lot of incentive to explore outside of quests. A handful of randomly generated encounters spawn in certain areas. You might find injured animals you can help or RDA soldiers to fight or even random Na’vi out hunting and gathering. The simple actions like helping the hurt were fine, but when they started repeating surprisingly often, the sameness of them – Na’vi repeating the exact same lines, for example – broke the spell a little.

I wrapped things up with a crash course in Frontiers of Pandora’s combat and an assault on an RDA base. These guns-blazing sequences require more strategy than you might think at first glance. My demoist recommended a stealthy approach to avoid alerting the entire base, so naturally I did the exact opposite, just to see what would happen. 

It turns out two dozen heavily armed soldiers have a pretty big advantage over a single fighter with no armor. So I tried a different approach. I used my trusty flying steed in a series of hit-and-run style assaults, dropping on targets before soaring away to safety again, and just about completed the mission before I accidentally ran into a group of soldiers.

I’m not sure if that method was supposed to work. My demoist said no one had actually tried it before. Either way, the freedom to experiment was refreshing, especially for a series of gunfights that could so easily get boring quickly.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora launches on Dec. 7, 2023, for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

Chiefs DT Chris Jones expresses displeasure over ‘Madden NFL 24’ avatar

#Chiefs DT Chris Jones is not a fan of his avatar in the upcoming “Madden NFL 24” game, and took to social media to express his discontent. | from @TheJohnDillon

Fans of the ubiquitous “Madden NFL” video game franchise have been irked by many of the title’s quirks and outright flaws over the years.

Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones’ frustration reached another level this week after seeing his avatar for the upcoming iteration of the storied franchise. Despite his generous 96 overall rating, it seems the game’s publisher, EA Sports, fell short of the mark in digitally recreating the lineman. One might expect Jones’ avatar to at least somewhat resemble him, but the lack of detail in this model is striking, to say the least.

 

Jones wasn’t content to complain about the facial recognition with the lone tweet sent on Monday. He followed it up a with more direct complaint on Tuesday, claiming that he’d continue tweeting about it until his avatar situation was settled.

As of the time of writing, the issue does not seem to have been resolved.

Perhaps the game developer can be spurred to action by Chiefs fans who won’t be content with another carbon-copy release of the beloved game, but if history tells us anything, Jones’ complaint may fall on deaf ears.

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5 things we learned from the new Disney, Marvel and Star Wars film release dates

We’ve got a lot to talk about with Tuesday’s Disney, Marvel and Star Wars news.

On Tuesday, Disney reshuffled its release calendar in a substantial way.

The studio provided brand-new release dates for films in the Star Wars, Marvel and Avatar universes, as well as a live-action remake for Moana and other new projects.

Even one of the biggest media companies on the planet isn’t immune to the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike, as a number of film and television projects have been shut down in wake of the holdouts.

However, Disney fans will still get plenty of new projects in their favorite series in the years to come.

Let’s break down five of the biggest takeaways from Tuesday’s news.

Best of 2022: Why we loved these 12 movies, from Top Gun: Maverick to Tár

These are the movies that we couldn’t get enough of this year.

As 2022 comes to a close, we here at For The Win are taking a look back at some of our absolute favorite content from the course of the year. Our staff has chosen the movies, television and video games that they loved the most this year.

Each of the movies discussed here released in 2022. Please note that these are not in any particular order, nor is it an exhaustive list of what movies came out this year. This is just a smattering of some of our most loved.

Everything from aviation to Avatar to the multiverse made the list, so let’s get to it.

Avatar: The Way of Water is a deep, delightful dive back into Pandora

One ticket to Pandora, please.

Out of any of his contemporaries, filmmaker James Cameron has always found ways to break the invisible glass between his audience and his movies. Immersion is one thing, but Cameron’s films collapse your reality. One moment, you’re a doomed passenger aboard the Titanic. Another, you’re fending for your life from hungry Xenomorphs. The screen is always more a suggestion than a barrier.

Avatar: The Way of Water is his visual zenith. Thirteen years after transporting moviegoers to Pandora, Cameron now dunks them into the planet’s teeming oceans. The most beautiful dreams can’t really capture what it’s like to swim off Cameron’s imagined Metkayina reef. The best movies make imaginary worlds feel real. Avatar: The Way of Water makes the auditorium feel like the dream, and Pandora’s aquatic wonderland feel like home. There really hasn’t ever been something quite like this.

Disney/20th Century Studios

The debate of Avatar’s legacy always forgot that first sight of Pandora’s forests. That film pushed the boundary of computer-generated worldbuilding, but its plot became as hacked up as an axe-throwing board. However, Cameron always knew his foundation was sturdy. No Smurf or Fern Gully jokes could give you back the breath you lost the first time you stepped foot in the most-realized movie world of the century this side of Middle Earth. Cameron always knew that the easiest ways to change the visual game was to root the story in most basic tropes. He was going to have all his fun playing God while familiarity filled in the gaps.

Avatar: The Way of Water finds Cameron challenging himself as a storyteller all while setting the new bar of visual storytelling. Once you dive into Pandora’s oceans, you can’t go back. Filmmakers across the world are going to be pulling their hair out as to how they’re going to make their big-budget studio films feel this natural. While some may nitpick the hyperrealism of high frame rate projection, Pandora’s beaches feel like destinations instead of computer-generated wizardry. You’re going to wonder when these shores will pop up on a leg of The Amazing Race. Kevin Feige is going to have to go into hiding with how good Avatar: The Way of Water looks. It makes the latest Avengers film look like it was released around the time of Young Sherlock Holmes.

Disney/20th Century Studios

On visual splendor alone, there really might not be a more believable impossibility than swimming among the sea creatures of the new Avatar film. If you find the right IMAX 3D screen, you might as well pack a bathing suit and scuba gear. Your theater is about to take water, and your skin is about to turn blue. Cameron and co-writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver level the film’s worldbuilding with a refreshingly complicated story of families and trust. Right away, the Jake Sully clan (now complete with kids) is sent on the run when the humans head back to Pandora, this time for permanent residence. Sully’s old nemesis, the thought-dead, Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang, stellar in his first mo-cap performance) wants blood for blood, now rebooted in the body of the blue-skinned aliens he once reviled.

The Sully family’s running finds them taking refuge with the Metkayina clan, Na’vi creatures more adept to their waterfaring home. The film’s middle portion almost amounts to a hangout movie, replete with plenty of time to swim around Pandora’s ocean floor and meet all the alien fish, whale-like tulkuns and sentient coral reefs. The Sullys struggle to fully integrate with their costal cousins, which pulls their family unit tighter as their world gets irrevocably smaller.

Disney/20th Century Studios

The film veers into an effort to both protect the Sullys from Quaritch’s revenge tour and the tulkuns from human hunters who want to mine their brain goo for the folks back on a deteriorating Earth. You’d probably guess it all ends in a water battle for the ages, and you’d assume correct. It’s everything Cameron does well as a filmmaker combined with some narrative complexities that make moral grey as tantalizing as all of Pandora’s other colors.

In a year already chocked full of fantastic blockbusters, Avatar: The Way of Water dives in at the last moment and takes the sponge cake. Cameron’s breathtaking sequel will make even the most aquaphobic want to slap on some water wings and jump into Cameron’s big blue world. Years from now, you’re going to be telling your grandkids about the first time you went swimming in Pandora. It’ll probably be lame for them with wherever movies are in their time. For us, it’s a new wave.

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Critics absolutely adore Avatar: The Way of Water in glowing early reactions

Never count out James Cameron.

When in doubt, always bet on James Cameron.

Cameron, the Oscar-winning maestro behind Titanic, is gearing up for the release of his latest film Avatar: The Way of Water, which held its world premiere in London on Tuesday.

Thirteen years after the release of the gargantuan first film, the latest trip to Pandora stands as one of 2022’s most anticipated films and should dominate the global box office upon its release.

Film critics have started sharing their reactions to the sequel, and early word is incredibly promising.

Cameron is the king of the sci-fi sequel (and the world, depending on who you ask). Aliens and Terminator 2: Judgment Day are both landmark works.

It seems like Avatar: The Way of Water will join that elite company based on early reactions.

However, you won’t have to wait too long to see what the Na’vi are up to now. The film hits theaters for early showings on Thursday, Dec. 15.

James Cameron’s Avatar is getting a mobile MMO shooter

Pandora awaits – as in the planet.

Remember when Avatar  came out of nowhere, became the biggest movie of all time for a bit, then disappeared for a decade. Well, that’s still the case, but a new video game should remind everybody that the franchise still exists!

Avatar: Reckoning  is an MMO FPS based on James Cameron’s film coming to mobile devices later this year. According to a press release, it’s a role-playing shooter like Destiny  where players will run around Pandora (the planet) to battle RDA troops and spectacular creatures. Avatar: Reckoning will be playable in both single-player and co-op modes.

Archosaur Games is the developer on this one. The studio is best known for World Of Kings  and Naval Creed: Warships. Apparently, Avatar: Reckoning  will be using Unreal Engine 4, the same tech that powers Fortnite  and loads of other games. 

There’s no gameplay or trailer for Avatar: Reckoning  yet, but the concept art below is neat.

While some fans are probably upset Avatar: Reckoning isn’t a  PS5  or  Xbox Series X|S  title, it might still be worth checking out. After all, even some  console classics work perfectly on mobile devices these days. 

Anyone eager to give Avatar: Reckoning  a try can register for its beta test here.

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Lions ‘dream draft’ scenario from Jeff Risdon

Lions Wire’s Jeff Risdon has some fun with a dream 2020 NFL draft for the Detroit Lions

It’s NFL Draft day, finally! The moment we’ve all been waiting for, when Roger Goodell says the words “with the third pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions select…” is almost here.

How will Goodell finish that sentence? The best guess is Jeff Okudah, but this one isn’t about trying to predict what will happen. This one is my personal dream draft weekend for the Detroit Lions.

In my dreams, the Dolphins trade up to No. 2 and take a quarterback. I don’t care which one, it doesn’t matter to me or to Detroit. That leaves Chase Young for the Lions at No. 3. It’s a dream scenario that I really thought was going to come true until about 2-3 weeks ago, too. Sigh.

Thursday wraps up with NFL teams making a run on offensive tackles, a couple of running backs and an unexpected off-ball LB or two. That sets up Friday and rounds two and three for a fantasy that is almost NC-17 rated.

At No. 35 and after landing Young, I want an offensive weapon. I miss Golden Tate a lot, so the dream pick here is wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk from Arizona State. Golden Tate 2.0. I like to picture Matthew Stafford giving me a fist bump for helping him out here. That’s what dreams are made of…

Now I still need a cornerback. Suddenly Wayne Brady strolls into the dream, I’m dressed like Johannes from the band Avatar and I’m a contestant on Let’s Make a Deal.

Johannes Eckerstrom of Avatar performs at the Sonic Temple Art and Music Festival at Mapfre Stadium on Friday, May 17, 2019, in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP)

Virginia CB Bryce Hall is still on the board at No. 49. He was the best CB prospect in the country entering 2019. Hall’s 2018 game film was better than Okudah’s, or C.J. Henderson, Kristian Fulton or the other CBs who will be long gone by this point. When Brady asks me if I want to trade No. 85 overall and a 2nd-round pick in 2021 to the Steelers, I scream out with a toe-curling “YES!”

Now I’m transported to a swim-up bar in a tropical resort. A ridiculously attractive bartender asks me “what do you want for your third-round pick, big boy?”

I look deep into her doe eyes and say, “Terrell Burgess, safety, Utah, please.”

She quickly scans the tablet menu and has me sign off on taking a smart, tough, physical and versatile safety who instantly upgrades the tackling and middle-of-field defense.

My Day 3 dream comes in a blur, as somehow I’ve been blessed with the open-field speed and long stride of Calvin Johnson in his prime. I’m in a 4×100 relay and my team looks like this:

Ohio State DT Davon Hamilton

Appalachian State RB Darrynton Evans

St. John OT Ben Bartch

Florida Internation QB James Morgan

We might not be the fastest on the football field, but in dreamland, we can all fly.

That is the dream draft. Here’s hoping at least some of the dream comes true…