The Latest in GTA Online: The Rune Zhaba, Triple Rewards in Freemode Events, Bonuses, Discounts, and More

The Latest in GTA Online: The Rune Zhaba, Triple Rewards in Freemode Events, Bonuses, Discounts, and More

THE RUNE ZHABA AMPHIBIOUS ATV OUT NOW

PLUS TRIPLE REWARDS ON FREEMODE EVENTS, DOUBLED PAYOUTS FOR BUSINESS BATTLES AND MORE

RHUNE ZHABA

Big, tough and relentlessly aggressive, the amphibious Rune Zhaba is the jacked-up bullfrog of off-road vehicles. Land, mud, swamp, beach, just launch yourself in and see how far those custom tires take you. Available now from Warstock Cache & Carry.

NEW YEAR BONUSES

Look, we get it: new year, new you and all that. Shake the dust of yesteryear off by jumping into a game of Hunt the Beast, King of the Castle, or Criminal Damage - especially since you can earn Triple Rewards on Freemode Events. If your skillset is more entrepreneurial, you might want to get in on the doubled payouts for Business Battles until January 8.And if all else fails, stay away from the sun: the subterranean carnage of the Bunker Series is paying out double this week, after all.

NEW PODIUM VEHICLE: SEASONAL PFISTER COMET

If your other endeavors at The Diamond Casino & Resort aren't going your way, maybe you'll have better luck swaggering over to the lobby and giving the Lucky Wheel a spin for the chance to win RP, clothing, money and more. This week's top prize is a customized Pfister Comet Safari adorned with the exclusive "It's a Wrap" livery for added Yuletide flair. 

And regardless of how you fare, anyone who plays GTA Online before January 8th will receive the "It's a Wrap" Livery for their Comet Safari to bring in the New Year.

DISCOUNTS

If you're starting the year fresh off a big Heist payday, there are plenty of discounts to take advantage of this week, including a range of discounts on real estate, renovations and select high-end vehicles. Check the full list out below.

Properties & Renovations:

• Penthouses – 35% off
• Penthouse Add-Ons & Renovations - 35% off
• Nightclub – 35% off
• Nightclub Garage – 35% off
• Nightclub Renovations – 35% off

Vehicles:

• Progen Emerus (Super) – 25% off
• Benefactor Krieger (Super) – 25% off
• Pegassi Zorrusso (Super) – 25% off
• Vysser Neo (Super) – 25% off
• Ocelot Locust (Super) – 25% off
• Vapid Peyote Gasser (Sports) – 25% off
• Weeny Issi Sport (Sports) – 40% off
• Weeny Issi Classic (Compact) – 40% off
• Western Rampant Rocket (Cycle) – 25% off
• Übermacht Zion Classic (Sports Classics) – 25% off
• Vapid Caracara 4x4 (Off-Road) – 25% off
• Enus Paragon R (Sports) – 25% off

TWITCH PRIME BENEFITS

If you're a Twitch Prime member who has linked your account with the Rockstar Games Social Club and claimed your benefits, you canscore the Pixel Pete's Arcade property in Paleto Bay for free via rebate within 72 hours of purchase. Linked Twitch Prime members also get an extra bonus 10% off all this week's discounts listed above. To ensure access to future benefits, make sure to visitTwitch Prime and sign up.

Look out for more details on in the coming weeks on future updates to GTA Online, and head over to the Social Club Events page for all the latest special events, bonuses and discounts.

Check Rockstar Support for details and limitations.

1917: Film Review

1917: Film Review

Cast: George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Colin Firth, Daniel Mays, Benedict Cumberbatch, Andrew Scott
Director: Sam Mendes

Schofield and Blake, (MacKay and Chapman) two young British soldiers during the First World War, are given a seemingly impossible mission. 

With time against them, they must deliver a message, deep in enemy territory, that will stop their own men, and Blake's own brother, walking straight into a deadly trap.

But with the clock ticking, the duo face deadlier dangers than they could realise as they tread the trenches and the mistrust within the ranks.

In all honesty, director Sam Mendes does nothing new with the bones of the story of 1917.

There have been countless rescue missions/ one last mission war stories told before (Saving Private Ryan being the most famous) and Mendes’ tale of two soldiers tasked with stopping a doomed final push is hardly new - more an intimate tale set against the backdrop of a grander canvas.

And yet, in among some truly naive dialogue and some narrative contrivances that border on unbelievable, 1917 enacts one major coup - namely its one shot ethos, set in real time.

Imagine a more relaxed episode of 24 but with no less of the tension but less of the shouting and the real time(ish) exploits in 1917 start to merit some viewership rather than a familiarity dismissal.

Mendes along with cinematography from Roger Deakins sets the film apart - from an opening shot that takes two soldiers from a glen, weaves them through trenches and ends in a final mirrored shot that echoes the opening.

In between these bookenders, our pair of young heroes go through hellscapes, rendered with panache by the visuals team and undergo much more than any soul should take. But yet, your engagement with their mission feels forced and distant, therefore some elements don't land as perhaps they could - or should.

The emotional level doesn’t quite pull together as it should, with aforementioned contrivances and ropey dialogue jarring occasionally. And some sequences are clearly in existence to add to the necessary joining of the story.

But where 1917 works is in its immersive take on what war means and how it affects people.

It's here that the visual chutzpah comes together, and here that you get sucked into the action, such as it is. Complete with landscapes that are hellish and visually eye-popping, 1917 works better in parts than compared to the sum of said parts.

Ultimately, 1917 may well be a journey, but it's one that while successfully instigated at a technical level, falters at the more human edges that produce the most effective of war stories.

Star Wars range of KeepCups launches in NZ

Star Wars range of KeepCups launches in NZ

A long time ago in a cafe far far away... a simple barista just trying to make her way in the world felt a deep concern for cafe culture’s waste problem. In 2010 she decided to come back from the dark side of single-use cups and join the reusable rebel cause.

Abigail Forsyth founded KeepCup – the original reusable coffee cup that kickstarted the movement to reduce waste, bringing A New Hope to the global move towards a more conscious way of life. 

To celebrate The Rise of Skywalker in cinemas now, KeepCup has a limited edition Star Wars collection that’ll have you feeling like the mysterious baby Yoda every time you drink your morning coffee.


Disclaimer - This blog was sent a cup for consideration of onsite inclusion.  

A Quiet Place Part 2 First trailer

A Quiet Place Part 2 First trailer

The first trailer for the sequel to A Quiet Place is here.

A QUIET PLACE PART II IS IN THEATRES, DOLBY CINEMA AND IMAX ON MARCH 19

Paramount Pictures Presents

In Association with Michael Bay

A Platinum Dunes / Sunday Night Production

A John Krasinski Film

“A Quiet Place Part II”

Executive Producers Allyson Seeger, Joann Perritano, Aaron Janus

Produced by Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Brad Fuller, John Krasinski

Based on Characters Created by Bryan Woods & Scott Beck

Written and Directed by John Krasinski

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS

Following the deadly events at home, the Abbott family (Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe) must now face the terrors of the outside world as they continue their fight for survival in silence. Forced to venture into the unknown, they quickly realize that the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats that lurk beyond the sand path.

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY

John Krasinski

Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Sizzle

Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Sizzle

To celebrate the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and the long-awaited conclusion to the saga, we want to share with you the LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Sizzle. 

The upcoming game from TT Games arrives in 2020 and will feature all nine Skywalker saga films reimagined with iconic and irreverent LEGO gameplay and humour. 

Happy New Year

Happy New Year

All the best for 2020

Space Pioneer: Nintendo Switch review

Space Pioneer: Nintendo Switch review

Developed by Vivid Games
Platform: Nintendo Switch

The run and gun is a simple concept.

Fire your weapon, defeat the bad guys, avoid being killed - it's a basic formula, easy to master, and yet also easy to mess up.

Space Pioneer on the Switch, in truth, falls somewhere in the middle.

It's a basic concept - you're a kind of ranger, mercenary type, who's tasked with simply going to different worlds during various chapters, firing your weapon, killing the creatures and performing simple tasks like taking artifacts, destroying hives and defeating marauding waves before warping out.

Objectives are filtered in to secondary and primary, but all essential to get the relevant stars to open up other planets for you to explore and to try and stop the intergalactic threat that awaits in the background.

Space Pioneer is kind of disposable fun, but yet it also sometimes too shallow to play long term - it's definitely here for the bitesize audience to enjoy, and offers some chances of easy progression because of the short nature of the levels.

Yet once you begin to upgrade, the game takes on newer forms and better weapons aid you in your quests - it's all fairly by the numbers kind of stuff, but it takes on a sort of compulsion that you'd least expect once the need to level up comes in, and the required amount of stars fall short.

Graphically the game is nothing inspirational, but it is fairly passable fare, it's a port that's clearly been smoothed over and one which offers the fun it needs. Upgrades to the weapons and robots are nicely done, and the game itself gives enough of itself as it gets going.

Ultimately, Space Pioneer is a handheld pleasure. It may not reinvent the wheel, or challenge the format, but it delivers what it needs to on the tin.