8bitdo put nostalgia to practical use with the SF30 Pro and SN30 Pro, two controllers that are modeled after those of the Super Famicom and Super Nintendo. By adding modern touches, these controllers make for fully functional gamepads for the Nintendo Switch. Both connect via Bluetooth and are also compatible with Windows PC, MacOS, Android, and Raspberry Pi devices.
One controller retails for $50 USD, but you get a fully featured gamepad; even though it's modeled after the SNES pad, you get two bumpers (L, R), two triggers (L2, R2), dual analog sticks that click downward, and the home and screenshot buttons you see on Switch controllers. The SF30 Pro and SN30 Pro have motion controls as well, which is extremely important for games like Super Mario Odyssey and Splatoon 2.
Pairing either controller is seamless for the Nintendo Switch, but you should note that it only connects wirelessly. Your PC need to be able to pick up Bluetooth in order to function, and it will be recognized as a Nintendo Pro Controller. However, it does sport a USB-C port to charge, and a USB-C-to-USB 2.0 cable comes in the package. Battery life is said to last up to 16 hours after charging for around two hours; with the SF30 Pro fully charged, I never had to plug it back in after my five hours using it on the Switch.
As far as the buttons go, they all feel responsive and great to use. The classic design of these controllers do make them a bit tough to grip, but as long as you clamp the controller tightly enough on the sides, this shouldn't be too much of a problem. These aren't going to stand up to the precision and ergonomics of the official Pro Controller, but the SF30 Pro and SN30 Pro make the throwback design work surprisingly well.
The SN30 Pro (above) and the SF30 Pro (below).
By playing Zelda: Breath of the Wild, I got a feel for how these hold up in a full-fledged game. I didn't have any issues with how they function, and it was novel playing a 2017 game with a throwback gamepad. I also played a bunch of the recently ported Rocket League on Switch to get a feel for a fast-paced competitive game. Again, there were no issues playing or nailing down shots on goal. Admittedly, a Pro Controller is more comfortable for these situations, and high-level players will want the more precise triggers and analog sticks.
There is one annoyance with both controllers, however. When they vibrate, they make a high-pitched squealing sound. If you have headphones on or you're playing games in a loud room, it's not much of an issue. But the noise really picks up in a quiet setting. You can hear an audio clip of the actual sound in the video above.
Overall, the SF30 Pro and SN30 Pro are ergonomically sound and don't skimp out on any features or functions you'd want from a controller. They're not going to hold up to the design of the Nintendo Pro controller and the vibration sound is quite annoying, but this modern take on classic controllers from 8bitdo is wonderful.
Both the SF30 Pro and SN30 Pro are set to launch on December 10 for $50. Pre-orders are now live on Amazon.
In a pivotal Star Wars: The Last Jedi scene, one character urges another to "let it all die." The character is talking about relics of past generations: Jedi, Sith, rebels, empires. At times, this movie feels determined to do just that. If 2015's The Force Awakens bent over backward to be like the original movies, The Last Jedi does the same to buck your expectations. It doesn't "let it all die," but it does clear away enough of the old to set the newest Star Wars trilogy on a surprising path toward its conclusion.
The Last Jedi's determination to move forward comes with good and bad consequences. On one hand, there are genuinely shocking moments in this movie. Characters you thought were good have a dark side. Those who should be wise act foolishly, and a single decent act doesn't suddenly make a bad guy good. If you think you know which way this thing will go purely on a narrative level, you're probably wrong. For a Star Wars movie, that unpredictability is refreshing.
But The Last Jedi treats many of the series' vestiges with equal contempt, no matter how distant or relatively near in the past they are. More than one character or plot established in The Force Awakens gets unceremoniously blown up here. After Episode VII, this trilogy's path felt too familiar; now, it might go anywhere, but that's also made the whole endeavor feel shakier, like the plan might change again before it's all over. The plot being unpredictable is refreshing; axing entire storylines from The Force Awakens before they ever had a chance to pay off seems sloppy.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi picks up more or less right where The Force Awakens left off. Rey has traveled to a distant corner of the galaxy to get Luke Skywalker back in the fight, and General Leia's Resistance alternately flees and fights the much more powerful First Order. Without the need to introduce so many new characters, The Last Jedi does what middle trilogy movies do: It lets us spend more time with those already established.
Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) is still a hot-headed but skilled Resistance pilot. Finn (John Boyega) is struggling to find his place in the Resistance as a First Order deserter. Rey (Daisy Ridley) has quite a job convincing Luke (Mark Hamill) to come out of exile, while Kylo Ren (Adam Driver)--a.k.a. Ben Solo--battles his inner conflict, not to mention Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) and General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson). Leia (Carrie Fisher) leads the Resistance against overwhelming odds. Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie) is still pointless. Chewbacca chewbaccas. BB-8 is still great.
Add to this already unwieldy cast: Kelly Marie Tran's Rose Tico, an intensely likable Resistance maintenance worker who gets in above her head; Benicio del Toro's DJ, a thief who toes the line between good and bad; and Laura Dern's Vice Admiral Holdo, an utterly unnecessary addition who takes screen time away from better characters.
What really doesn't help The Last Jedi is how grossly bloated it is with circuitous subplots, narrative cul-de-sacs, and detours that amount to little more than distractions. The movie's main event is actually a drawn out stalemate between Snoke's armada and Leia's pathetic forces, which probably wasn't a smart structural choice for a middle movie that would have threatened to drag even without a lengthy standoff in the middle.
Various characters on both sides give regular reports on the Resistance ships' dwindling fuel supply, which graciously serves to signal to audiences approximately how much more foot-tapping non-action remains before the movie gets good again. There are entire schemes, mutinies, and double-crosses that serve only to tread water while The Last Jedi's many moving pieces all get into place for a finale that is, admittedly, awfully grand.
That sounds grim, but The Last Jedi gets many important things right too. Like The Force Awakens, it's beautiful to behold. It's also just the right amount of funny. Even the Porgs, which drew such a following before the movie had even released, provide the right amount of cute without feeling overused.
Luke Skywalker's decades-long arc pays off in a way that Han Solo's, sadly, did not in The Force Awakens. Yet Luke's scenes never dissolve into pandering or fan service; in fact, his journey provides more surprises than any other plot in the movie. Carrie Fisher's performance comes with surprises too, although the exact details of her plot will surely cause some to wonder how much of the film was changed after the actress's death in late 2016. Regardless of whether we ever find out, The Last Jedi is a beautiful send-off for the iconic character and the actress who played her.
Most importantly, The Last Jedi provides real momentum and growth for its core characters. Poe, Rey, Finn, and Kylo were all right where we left them when the movie started, which made it easy to jump straight into the conflict. By the end, they're in very different places.
Episode VII and, now, Episode VIII have accomplished something as difficult as it is crucial: They've made us care about a new generation of Star Wars heroes. Looking toward the past in these movies has been fun and emotional, but the new trilogy was always going to live or die by what it added to the series, not what it rehashed. And the journeys of characters like Rey and Ben Solo are starting to feel as nuanced and essential as those of Han, Luke, and Leia in the original trilogy. Regardless of where it ends, that's something to admire, and despite its issues, The Last Jedi overall is as enjoyable a Star Wars film as The Force Awakens was before it.
The Good
The Bad
Characters introduced in Force Awakens continue to evolve
Bloated with unnecessary subplots and distractions
Luke and Leia's journeys and payoff
Some new characters add little
Stylistically beautiful and funny
Treads water for much of the middle
Subverts the series' established tropes and provides genuine surprises
The Nintendo Switch continues to sell at a rapid pace. Rather than waiting for its next quarterly earnings report to disclose an updated sales total, Nintendo has announced that Switch has now sold 10 million units worldwide.
That figure is according to Nintendo's internal sales data through the system's first nine months. That accounts for the first 41 weeks on sale, Nintendo tells GameSpot, a period which runs until the beginning of December. In other words, this includes Black Friday sales, but nothing so far in December.
This is our first update in more than a month; by Nintendo's previous tally, it had sold 7.63 million Switch units at the end of September. That prompted the company to revise its forecast for the current fiscal year, which runs through March 2018. It now expects to sell 14 million units during the current fiscal year, on top of those it sold during Switch's launch month of March. That puts it on pace to top lifetime sales of Wii U in about a year's time.
During its launch month, Switch sold 2.74 million units worldwide. If it does manage to sell 14 million units by the end of March, that will push its total to 16.74 million units. That brings it close to the lifetime sales of GameCube (21.74 million) but still far behind that of the ultra-successful Wii (101.63 million).
Nintendo celebrated today's announcement with a tweet containing the image above. It references many of its big first-party Switch releases this year, though Arms is sadly forgotten. For a look back at the full year, check out our 2017 Nintendo report card.
Yet another sale on Destiny 2 has arrived, this time with the best pricing (for most people) we've seen yet. Amazon has discounted both the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the base game for a limited time.
Right now, you can pick up either console version for just $25 (or, more precisely, $24.88) on Amazon. That beats the previous best price on the game, albeit not by much. It's also been on sale for $30 at Best Buy in the past, which meant Gamers Club Unlocked members could pick it up for $24, but this current $25 price is available to everyone; Amazon Prime is not required. There's no word on how long this deal will be available for, so you may want to act quickly if you're interested.
This deal comes just over a week after the release of the game's first DLC expansion. Unfortunately, as our Curse of Osiris review notes, it doesn't meaningfully improve on the base game's shortcomings. Destiny 2 itself is still very fun--you can read about it in our Destiny 2 review--and has expanded through free post-release updates, but in many ways it remains a work-in-progress for developer Bungie.
One other important thing to note for someone just coming to the game is that Curse of Osiris initially locked non-DLC owners out of some content they previously had access to. Bungie has since reversed course on this to some degree, but the harder, Prestige version of the weekly Nightfall remains Curse of Osiris-only. Additionally, there will be weeks where the Trials of the Nine multiplayer activity features an Osiris map, which means only those with the DLC will have access to it.
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Rodriguez has now commented on the issue, and explained that it had long been the plan to give Alita big eyes in the style of the source material. "It was always [Cameron]'s intention to create a photo-realistic version of the manga eyes that we're so accustomed to seeing," he told Empire. "We really wanted to honor that tradition and see that look standing next to any human character. To have the right person to emote behind it was really essential. Her origins are in the film and you understand why she looks that way.
"If the eyes are the windows to the soul, we have some pretty big windows. You can see a lot going on in there! When it gets to the emotional scenes it's really uncanny and striking. And captivating!"
Cameron intended to direct the movie for many years, but last year handed over the reins to Rodriguez, who is also known for the likes of From Dusk Till Dawn, Desperado, and the Spy Kids movies. It hits theaters on July 20, 2018.
In 2015, Cameron told Variety: "Robert and I have been looking for a film to do together for years, so I was pumped when he said he wanted to do Battle Angel. He's very collaborative and we're already like two kids building a go-kart, just having fun riffing creatively and technically.
"This project is near and dear to me, and there's nobody I trust more than Robert, with his technical virtuosity and rebel style, to take over the directing reins. We're looking forward to learning a lot from each other while we make a kick-ass epic."
Battle Angel Alita is the futuristic story of an amnesiac cyborg who becomes a deadly bounty hunter. It was first published in 1990 and ran for nine volumes until 1995. In 1993, a two-episode anime version was produced, which adapted the first two volumes of the manga.
Following up on 2016 was always going to be difficult for Sony, but it was crucial that the platform holder maintain its momentum, especially with its competitors both launching new hardware. With the launch of the PlayStation 4 Pro and PlayStation VR behind it, its focus fell squarely on new games. But was that enough, and is the PS4 heading in the right direction? Let's look back at the year that was for Sony's console.
Exclusives Aplenty
Last year brought what was, at the time, arguably the best exclusive game of the generation so far. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End dragged the Uncharted series into the PS4 era, matured Nate and co. into fuller characters, and came very close to winning our Best Game of 2016 award. Just a year later, we had another new Uncharted game in The Lost Legacy, which ditched our intrepid adventurer and pushed two of the series' supporting characters into the spotlight. And although this expansion-turned-full-release perhaps didn't move the franchise forward as much as its progenitor, it did show that the Uncharted series can survive away from the Drake estate.
Sony's other big exclusive this year brought the return of Guerrilla, the Killzone developer that has for much of its life been criticized for making games that arguably look better than they play. Horizon Zero Dawn, however, at last harnessed the company's outstanding technical and graphical capabilities, and painted them on a distinguished underlying game. Let's hope this is a turning point for Guerrilla and it continues to defy expectations. With an outstanding, non-Killzone game finally under its belt and an owner in Sony known for encouraging development of unique first-party titles, the Dutch company could become the developer of exceptional games it should always have been, and we--the audience--will hopefully reap the rewards in years to come.
The remainder of PS4's exclusive lineup in 2017 was one of the most diverse third-party selections in recent memory. Nier: Automata, Nioh, Yakuza 0 (and Kiwami), Persona 5, and Hellblade (if we're counting console exclusives) were all niche, but superb examples of a platform broadening its appeal. That's in addition to a healthy collection of console-exclusive indie games, which expanded this year with games such as Matterfall, Pyre, and Nidhogg 2. Not only that, but Sony continues to aggressively tie up exclusive content for some of the biggest games around. Resident Evil 7's VR edition, early Call of Duty DLC, and exclusive Destiny 2 maps and gear often make PlayStation the obvious platform to play your games if you own multiple consoles.
All Sony needed was a big hitter for the end of the year to reinforce that PS4 really is "the best place to play." It's a shame, then, that the holiday period has been so disappointing for the platform: the only notable exclusive to launch in the most important season of the year was GT Sport. While by no means panned--it currently holds a 75 rating on Metacritic and earned an 8/10 in GameSpot's GT Sport review--the first PS4 Gran Turismo game launched with little fanfare, especially for a series which was once one of PlayStation's premiere titles. The smaller car roster, heavy-handed approach to online racing, and less-than-perfect reception might be the confirmation that Gran Turismo has been overtaken by Microsoft's more exuberant Forza series.
PSVR Is Under-Supported
GT Sport's lukewarm launch is doubly disappointing for Sony, as Polyphony's racer was billed to moonlight as PlayStation VR's big game for the end of the year. Unfortunately, the virtual reality platform is still awaiting the fabled "killer app." Between Resident Evil 7 in January and GT Sport in October, few big titles launched for PSVR, two promising PSVR games--The Inpatient and Bravo Team--were recently delayed to 2018, and the picture looks bare in 2018. Doom VFR and Skyrim VR help, but will ports of years-old games satisfy those who shelled out $400 / £350 / AU $550 for a then-seemingly groundbreaking new gizmo? More to the point, will they--in the absence of more big, high-profile titles--convince people who haven't yet invested to get out their wallets? This year has been a disappointing one for PSVR, which--if not supported better with landmark releases next year--is in danger of going the way of Kinect.
Nostalgia Is A Powerful Tool, But It Can Only Go So Far
In the gaps between big 2017's releases, especially during the arid summer months, Sony attempted to satisfy gamers with repackaged, repolished versions of older games. We received PS4 remasters of Patapon, LocoRoco, Parappa the Rapper, Wipeout, and the meme-spawning Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, in addition to the announcement of a Shadow of the Colossus remake, coming next year. Sony has realized that many PlayStation gamers--whether lapsed or loyal--who owned and loved that grey brick in the late '90s suddenly, in 2017, find themselves with disposable income, and they're an audience that is a ready-made nostalgia sponge. It was this susceptibility to childhood games being reborn that made the Crash Bandicoot remaster one of the best-selling games of the year, and it's surely a note Sony will play once again next year, especially with PSX just around the corner.
However, the company can only rely on nostalgia for so long. The original Xbox was only a few years behind the first PlayStation, so Microsoft's nostalgia push surely won't be far away--in fact, it might have already begun. For those already wearing green-tinted spectacles, Xbox is doing a more consumer-friendly job at harnessing the power of our childhood memories than Sony with its backwards compatibility program. PlayStation Now allows you to play PS3 games on your PS4, but you have to pay extra for the privilege, and it's no good at all if you have a dodgy internet connection or don't live in a handful of specific countries. Microsoft, on the other hand, allows hundreds of past games available to play for no extra cost on Xbox One, thereby expanding its game library and winning favor with its audience. It's time Sony started doing the same--properly.
If Sony's reluctance to make PS1, PS2, and PS3 games playable on PS4 is a potential sign of arrogance, then its refusal to allow cross-play with Xbox is a definite one. Microsoft wants cross-play to happen, but Sony says it's a "commercial discussion" as to why it won't allow it at present. It's an unfortunate, but understandable decision: in this generation, Sony is on top, so why would it throw its primary rival a lifeline?
Other Matters, In Brief
PS4's 5.0 update arrived this year, in case you'd forgotten. You'd be forgiven for not remembering, too, since so few meaningful changes came out of what was hoped to be a big update. Parental controls aside, the patch failed to address a concern that lingers more than a decade after PSN's launch: why can we still not change our usernames?
2017 appeared to be the year the PS Vita finally died. The underappreciated handheld saw few new games this year, as Sony eventually threw in the towel with first-party support and publishers moved on to bigger and more powerful machines. Rest in peace, my little Spelunky machine.
E3 2017 was disappointing for Sony. The biggest game show of the year brought few genuinely exciting announcements (including, crucially, any update on The Last of Us: Part II).
Last year, the good ship PlayStation sailed into the distance as Sony launched an affordable virtual reality platform, a new, upgraded console, and some of this generation's finest games. In 2017, the company has by no means undone all that hard work, but it has perhaps allowed the ship to coast slightly too far. A continued lack of backwards compatibility and cross play, a PS Plus price increase in some territories, half-hearted PSVR support, and a mediocre E3 showing signify a platform holder that may be a little too comfortable in the lead, and it's a small, but worrying step towards Sony's arrogance we saw post-PS2.
That said, exclusives like Horizon Zero Dawn, Persona 5, and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy don't come along every week, and they exceed anything Microsoft has been able to muster in the past 12 months. So despite a number of stumbling blocks this year, Sony is--for now, at least--proving it's the games that matter.
The Good
The Bad
A broad range of exclusive games, headlined by the impressive Horizon Zero Dawn and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.
Many third-party games still receive exclusive content on PS4.
Nostalgia-fueled games brought the PS1-era memories flooding back.
Lack of backwards compatibility and cross-play.
PS4 Pro's graphical capabilities have been surpassed by Xbox One X, which has stolen Sony's "most powerful console in the world" claim to fame.
We're giving away one-hundred (100) Xbox One codes for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and one (1) Grand Prize Pack, which includes a loot box, cast-iron frying pan, ski-mask, illustrated map of Erangel, and customized Xbox One controller. (Scroll down below to enter.)
Competition ends Thursday, December 14 at 9:00AM PT. One-hundred (100) winners will be emailed. Entry is open worldwide.
Enter below (the additional entries are OPTIONAL to increase your chances of winning):
From the makers of the best-selling PC phenomenon, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds drops players into a competitive survival battle where you'll engage in a heart-racing fight to be the last player left alive. Loot supplies, find weapons and gear-up to take on the competition in a solo or team squad match. Emerge the lone survivor in a thrilling game experience full of unexpected, adrenaline-pumping moments.
Game Preview: Game is unfinished and work in progress, may change over time, and may not release as a final product. Game preview information at xbox.com/GamePreview. Xbox Live Gold required to play (sold separately).
Given the game's different take on the series and the lack of Hideo Kojima's involvement, many Metal Gear fans have been skeptical of the upcoming "spin-off episode" of Metal Gear Solid V, Metal Gear Survive. Fortunately, players will have an opportunity to try the game for themselves in advance of its release, as Konami has announced a beta for the game launches next month.
Survive's beta will run from January 18-21 on both PS4 and Xbox One; there's no mention of a PC beta test, although the game is also coming to that platform. According to Konami, it will provide an opportunity "to jump into co-op mode to build, defend, and fight alongside friends online." No further specifics on what's included were shared.
Those who participate in the beta will receive bonus items in the full game. These include a FOXHOUND name plate, a Metal Gear REX head accessory, and a bandana. It's unclear if there will be a way to unlock these without having played the beta, or if they'll be available at all in the PC version.
Coinciding with this news, Konami shared the video above. It opens with producer Yuji Korekado providing an overview of the game before diving into a look at the single-player and the function that the Base Camp serves in single-player and co-op. We get a look at hunting animals, crafting, and combat, as well as how your Base Camp will periodically come under attack, forcing you to plan ahead and then defend it when necessary.
The Dragon Ball FighterZ roster continues to grow. Ahead of its release next month, Bandai Namco revealed three more characters from the Dragon Ball fighting game, all of whom notably hail from the newest Dragon Ball series, Dragon Ball Super.
In the latest issue of Japanese magazine V-Jump (via Gematsu), we learned that Beerus, Goku Black, and Hit will all be playable in Dragon Ball FighterZ. Beerus is a welcome addition; Universe 7's God of Destruction plays a major role in Dragon Ball Super, and he was one of the characters we were hoping to see in FighterZ. According to V-Jump, he can create Spheres of Destruction, which explode when they come in contact with an opponent, and his Meteor special attack is God of Destruction's Judgment.
Hit and Goku Black are likewise interesting choices for fighters, particularly Hit. His signature technique in the series is the Time Skip, which allows him to jump ahead in time a fraction of a second to get the jump on an opponent. In Dragon Ball FighterZ, his moveset emphasizes striking, and his Meteor special temporarily stops time and unleashes a combo attack. Goku Black's special is called Work of the Gods, and he can summon Zamasu to "bind" an opponent.
In addition to the three new characters, the latest issue of V-Jump revealed two new features in Dragon Ball FigherZ. The first is called Come Forth, Shenron. In this mode, you'll collect Dragon Balls when you successfully execute a certain number of combos. After all seven are gathered, the Eternal Dragon Shenron will appear, and the player who fulfills a certain condition will have one of four possible wishes granted: recover your HP fully; revive an ally; add another Sparking icon; or gain regenerating health.
The other new feature is called Dramatic Production. When players meet certain conditions, you'll witness iconic scenes from the anime before and after a battle; V-Jump shows images of Yamacha laying in a crater after being killed by a Saibaman and a few other dramatic moments from Dragon Ball Z.
With just days before fans can finally see a new Star Wars movie, the reviews are in. Critics are sharing their thoughts about Star Wars: The Last Jedi and the results are very encouraging. Thus far, the newest installment in the Star Wars saga has a score of 86 on Metacritic. For those keeping track, that's the highest score on the site for any Star Wars movie since 1977's Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, which is rated at a 92.
However, while the reviews for Star Wars: The Last Jediare overwhelmingly positive, that doesn't mean the movie is without its flaws. Still, it charts new territory in this 40-year-old universe. "If 2015's The Force Awakens bent over backward to be like the original movies, The Last Jedi does the same to buck your expectations," GameSpot's Michael Rougeau says in our The Last Jedi review.
Rougeau continues, "There are genuinely shocking moments in this movie. Characters you thought were good have a dark side. Those who should be wise act foolishly, and a single decent act doesn't suddenly make a bad guy good. If you think you know which way this thing will go purely on a narrative level, you're probably wrong. For a Star Wars movie, that unpredictability is refreshing."
And yet, GameSpot's review, along with several others, point out how slow and plodding the middle of the movie can be. "The film simply drags too much in the middle," Entertainment Weekly's Chris Nashawaty says. "Somewhere in the film's 152-minute running time is an amazing 90-minute movie."
One portion of the movie that sticks out is a sequence set on the casino planet Canto Bight. "The sequence looks like something out of the Star Wars prequels, which isn't necessarily an insult as the prequels had an exceptional design, it's just a very different aesthetic from the original trilogy palette," SlashFilm's Peter Sciretta explains. "I suspect the design alone will result in a divisive response, but the story on this planet is probably my least favorite aspect of the film."
Collider's Matt Goldberg agrees. "Where the film struggles the most is on Canto Bight. Taken on her own, Rose isn't a bad addition to the Star Wars mythos, and the movie definitely needs someone to play against Finn," he says. "Unfortunately, they lack the electric chemistry we saw between Finn and Rey in The Force Awakens, and their secret mission in a casino feels like it should be far more entertaining than it actually is."
Still, even though at times the middle of the movie can be slow, there's so much about the film to appreciate. From the arrival of new faces to the galaxy, to the evolution of characters introduced in The Force Awakens, to properly reintroducing Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) to the Star Wars universe, The Last Jedi is filled with moments that make the people filling it all the more real. Of course, given the unfortunate death of Carrie Fisher (General Leia Organa) in 2016, these moments give her character even more impact.
"There is a moment in this film that is so pure and so lovely with General Leia that it will break your heart at the same time that it fills it up with joy," Legion of Leia's Jenna Busch says.
ComicBook's Joseph Schmidt adds, "Director Rian Johnson continues the non-stop momentum of the previous film, constantly raising the stakes and opening up possibilities."
In the end, as Justin Chang of the LA Times puts it, The Last Jedi is "the first flat-out terrific Star Wars movie since 1980's The Empire Strikes Back." He continues, "It seizes upon Lucas' original dream of finding a pop vessel for his obsessions--Akira Kurosawa epics, John Ford westerns, science-fiction serials--and fulfills it with a verve and imagination all its own."
While the one review that's going to matter most to fans of the franchise will be their own after sitting down to watch the film, the critical consensus should help put everyone a bit at ease. It sounds as if there's a lot to love in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, even if it's not a perfect film.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is in theaters on December 15. Do your best to avoid spoilers until then.
Disclosure: Metacritic is owned by GameSpot parent company CBS Interactive.
The Xbox received a much needed boost with the release on the Xbox One X this year. The console's successes have varied, but this year in particular was a big step in the right direction. Part of this can be attributed to the arrival of Xbox One X, currently the most powerful console on the market. In theory, it will be the best way to play cross-platform games. It's this forward-thinking that has given Microsoft an edge over its competition--despite its short list of console exclusives. On the other hand, 2017 also yielded an array of fantastic indie games for Xbox One, further rounding out its lineup of first-party and third-party releases.
The Xbox One offers solid experiences that are often made even better by high-end hardware. In no particular order, here are our picks for the best Xbox One games of 2017:
After seven years worth of annual releases, it's understandable that people grew fatigued with the Assassin's Creed franchise. However, Assassin's Creed Origins quells doubts and concerns over the series' future by making good on the promise of revitalizing the franchise. Taking form now as an action-RPG, it benefits from expanded stealth and combat mechanics, offering more depth and nuance than its predecessors. Its protagonist Bayek is one of the series' best, possessing kindness and compassion that make him instantly likable, but he's also a morally conflicted character with a tragic past that's easy to empathize with.
While Origins maintains the series tradition of period-piece settings and conspiracy theory narratives that made past entries so engrossing, it also reinvigorates the formula with new ideas. The game organically shifts progression through a multitude of activities you discover while navigating a stunning depiction of Ptolemaic Egypt. No longer do you climb towers to unlock a checklist of simplistic tasks; instead, each quest you take on offers narrative context that shines light onto the state of the world, displaying the time-period's myriad injustices or simply showing you a heartfelt encounter between Bayek and his loved ones.
Origins is one of the best open-world adventure games on Xbox One this year, offering an experience that'll keep you hooked for hundreds of hours. It's also the best version of the game on consoles, as it performs and looks best on Xbox One X compared to PS4 Pro. If you haven't picked it up, Origins is well worth your time on Xbox One, regardless of whether you're a hardcore fan of Assassin's Creed or not.
If a game was made in the 1930s, what would it look like? The answer is: Cuphead.
Developer Studio MDHR's creation brings together a wealth of ideas and mechanics that feel completely at home with one another. The game's hand-drawn animation and watercolor backgrounds bring to life a visual style that is both completely unique to video games and executed flawlessly. From the moment the opening title rolls, Cuphead envelops you in its world, one whose authenticity never lets up for a second.
But Cuphead is more than just a fancy, well-drawn exterior. The game is an ode to the run-and-gun shooter genre and to classic video games in general, with homages to series like Mega Man, Contra, and Street Fighter. Cuphead's two-dozen-plus bosses not only fill the screen with hazards and obstacles, but also with personality, constantly offering challenges that excite just as much as they frustrate. You're encouraged to get better, though, and eventually overcome its toughest levels.
Cuphead is a game that deserves to be seen and played by everyone. Backed by a fully orchestrated jazz soundtrack that you'll catch yourself humming for weeks to come, Cuphead grabs hold of you with its beautiful and infectiously cartoony world, and hopes you never leave it.
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus never lets you forget who you're fighting, and why. Nazi brutality is on full display, from the blown-out, irradiated remains of Manhattan to each of the characters, who all carry mental scars if not physical ones. The far-future technology of the Nazi regime is exhilarating to partake in--high-powered laser weapons are exciting to use, after all--but it's also a grotesque display of their ruthless subjugation of all corners of the world. Anything is possible in Wolfenstein, and that's a direct result of immense human suffering.
That said, a tongue-in-cheek tone reminiscent of Inglorious Basterds strikes the right balance with the game's incredibly heavy subject matter. The New Colossus has a completely bonkers storyline, and it's elevated by satisfying Nazi-killing action and a self awareness of its own dark humor. It also manages to make combat exciting without becoming a power fantasy--it's straight-up difficult, and its mechanical, heavily armored enemies can seem impossible to take down at times. But regardless of whether you take a stealthy or guns-blazing approach, you'll be rewarded with a thrilling fight once you do emerge victorious.
The most memorable thing about The New Colossus, though, it its direction. Carefully choreographed cutscenes give more gravity to an already great cast of characters, and the timing of specific moments (all spoilers) makes them all the more impactful. Wolfenstein's tense gameplay elevates this further by giving you the power to truly resist--and come out of each battle ready for another fight.
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard marks a return to form for Capcom, which reconnected with its survival horror roots in 2017 to deliver a Resident Evil that is both modern and faithful to the series' legacy.
The game casts aside the third-person perspective for first-person, and in doing so, ratchets up the nerve-wracking tension throughout the campaign. Crucially, however, it leans on the genre pillars that it both established and popularised; bullets and healing items are in short supply, and enemies require strategy and a steady hand to take down.
From the early moments of breathlessly running around the Baker home, hoping and praying not to cross paths with Jack, the psychotic patriarch of the family, to the nail-biting cat and mouse game in Marguerite's bug-infested cabin, and the intense fight for survival at the end, Resident Evil 7 is edge-of-your-seat gaming at its finest.
In What Remains of Edith Finch, you play titular character Edith Finch as she explores her family's old and mysterious mansion. Ever since her ancestors arrived in America from Norway in the 1930s, there's been a rumor that suggests the Finch family tree is cursed, leading to many strange and unfortunate deaths.
As you explore the various rooms within the large estate and read old notes from your fallen relatives, the game flashes back and allows you to play out their last moments. What makes What Remains of Edith Finch so powerful is that it does an excellent job tapping into the commonalities of belonging to a family. Who hasn't lost a loved one in life? Seeing how Edith's aunts, uncles, and siblings pass away can be heartbreaking, but these little story vignettes are also wildly imaginative and whimsical.
Seeing a hungry little girl eat poisoned berries only to experience hallucinations that lead to her untimely death is both sad and fantastical. Reliving your brother's last moments as he overcomes depression while daydreaming on the job at a fish factory is another haunting, yet beautiful experience. Each vignette in the game is distinct and amounts to short-but-sweet modern-day fairytales. It helps that the game is tied together by wonderful voice acting and meticulously detailed environments that further bolster the story's eerie events.
GameSpot will be unveiling its picks for the best games of the year throughout all of December. Check out our Best of 2017 hub for even more.
The latest Legendary Pokemon in Pokemon Go, Ho-Oh, has been appearing in Raid Battles across the globe for the past two weeks, but it won't be around for much longer. The rainbow-colored Pokemon will only be available until December 14, making this your last day to catch one if you haven't yet.
Ho-Oh was unlocked in Pokemon Go late last month, following the successful completion of the game's Global Catch Challenge. The event tasked players with capturing 3 billion Pokemon worldwide. Players managed to surpass that goal just prior to the deadline, unlocking the rare Pokemon Farfetch'd for a brief time (Kangaskhan was also briefly unlocked in east Asia).
Ho-Oh was initially scheduled to be available until December 12; however, developer Niantic extended its duration by an additional 48 hours. The Legendary bird will now appear until 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET on December 14. Like previous Legendaries, you can encounter Ho-Oh in Raid Battles at Gyms. You'll need to team with other players to take it down, and only after you've defeated it will you have the opportunity to capture it.
Ho-Oh isn't the only new Pokemon to arrive in Pokemon Go recently. Last week, Niantic rolled out a huge update that added dozens of Gen 3 Pokemon to the game, such as Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip, and Salamence. The update also introduced a dynamic weather system, as well as the ability to create and save Battle Parties.
A handful of new rewards are now available in the My Nintendo rewards catalog. Ahead of the holidays, Nintendo is offering discounts on some classic and recent installments in its marquee franchise, Super Mario.
As usual, there are no discounts yet on any of Mario's Nintendo Switch titles, though there are some good savings on a few of the plumber's great 3DS and Wii U games. The most notable of the bunch is Wii U's Super Mario Maker; you can get a 40% discount on the level creator for 180 Gold points. Also available for Wii U owners is a 30% discount on Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash (110 Gold points), as well as a 50% discount on the SNES classic Super Mario RPG (310 Platinum points).
On 3DS, My Nintendo members can get 40% off of Mario Kart 7 (930 Platinum points) and 30% off of the handheld's first Mario RPG, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (50 Gold points). Both 3DS and Wii U owners can also get 50% off another Mario classic, Super Mario Bros. 3, for 200 Platinum points. Additionally, Wii U owners can redeem their points for full downloads of Mario Kart 8's two DLC packs; each one costs 60 Gold points.
Splatoon 2, Nintendo's Switch-exclusive shooter, has changed quite a bit since launch, and it's now evolved once again. Update 2.1.0 is out now, and it adds a new game mode called Clam Blitz, among other things.
Clam Blitz is a new way to play in which both teams need to throw as many Clams as possible into the other side's basket. You'll first need to break their basket open by forming a Power Clam, made by securing 10 standard Clams at once. You then hurl the Power Clam at the other team's basket to force it open, allowing you to throw in both Power Clams (which are worth 20 points) and normal clams (three points). Outside of Clam Blitz, a bunch of weapons have been tweaked and more bugs have been fixed. See the full patch notes at the bottom of this article, via Nintendo.
This latest patch follows update 2.0, which launched in November. That update added new gear, increased the level cap, and introduced a much-requested feature: the ability to change weapons between battles without needing to leave the lobby. It also added a new map for use in Salmon Run and tweaked a lot of the game's balancing. Read more about that update here.
Splatoon 2 was included in our five best Switch games of the year. For lots more of our end-of-year coverage, check out our Best of 2017 hub.
Clam Blitz will now appear in Ranked and League Battles. After you've played it once, it will also be selectable in Private Battles.
Fixed an issue in which a player submerged in a wall or a thin ground surface would take damage from the opposite side of the terrain.
Fixed an issue in which a player behind a Splash Wall or a launched Brella would take damage from the opposite side if the distance between the player and the Splash Wall or Brella was close.
Fixed an issue on Sturgeon Shipyard in which if a certain wall was hit with a bomb, ink would splash onto a nearby wall that players were occasionally unable to submerge into.
Fixed an issue in Splat Zones on Moray Towers in which the border indicating the Zone area was incorrect for part of the Zone.
Fixed an issue on Manta Maria in which, if a player did a Splashdown on a specific place, they would be treated as out of bounds after landing and be killed.
Fixed an issue in Turf War on Manta Maria in which the area beneath the thick pillars was inkable, and was counted as part of the turf.
Fixed an issue in Tower Control on Manta Maria in which players were able to jump from a high spot near the center of the stage to a part of the opponents' base.
Fixed an issue on Snapper Canal in which bombs would disappear without exploding when coming into contact with certain walls.
Fixed an issue on Snapper Canal in which, depending on the mode, the area beneath obstacles placed near the center was inkable, was counted as part of the turf, and couldn't be reclaimed in Splat Zones.
Fixed an issue on Blackbelly Skatepark in which players could jump higher than normal near the start point and go over certain obstacles.
Fixed an issue on Blackbelly Skatepark in which if a certain wall was hit with a bomb, ink would splash onto a nearby wall that players were occasionally unable to submerge into.
Fixed an issue in Tower Control on Blackbelly Skatepark in which players could climb over a wall not intended to be climbed over by jumping from the top of a tower at the right moment.
Fixed an issue on MakoMart in which if a certain wall was hit with a bomb, ink would splash onto a nearby wall that players were occasionally unable to submerge into.
Fixed an issue on MakoMart in which a certain railing could be seen through by pulling the camera close to it.
Slightly adjusted the tower path in Tower Control on MakoMart in order to fix a rare issue in which the player could be sandwiched between the tower and terrain, causing them to be pushed inside the terrain.
Fixed a rare issue in which, when the player does a Splashdown near a tower, they could pass through the terrain and fall out of the stage.
Fixed an issue in which, if the player closed their umbrella the moment that a bomb exploded, neither the umbrella nor the player would take damage.
Fixed a rare issue in which two Ink Storm clouds would be generated when a player directly hit a Splash Wall or Brella with an Ink Storm, depending on how it was hit.
Fixed an issue in which, when a player using the Inkjet touches water and is forcibly returned to their original place, they would be treated as if drowning and be killed, depending on the place.
Fixed an issue in which the camera would abruptly move if the player did a Splashdown near some fences in places like Kelp Dome.
Fixed an issue during Splatfests on some stages in which it was difficult to distinguish the color of ink due to in-stage lighting.
Specifications for some of the main weapons and specials have been changed. Click here for details
Specifications for the terrain or placement of objects in some stages have been changed. Click here for details
Salmon Run
Fixed an issue on Salmonid Smokeyard in which players could get sandwiched between the terrain and fences if they become a squid on top of certain fences that appear at low tide.
Fixed an issue in which, if one player disconnected immediately after putting a Golden Egg in the container, the total number of Golden Eggs would be tallied incorrectly on the remaining players' screens.
Fixed an issue in which, when damage was done to a Scrapper with the explosion from defeating a Steelhead or bombs bounced back from a Drizzler, whether or not the Scrapper was defeated would be displayed inconsistently on the other players' screens.
Fixed an issue in which, despite a Chinook holding a box was defeated, the box would still be displayed on other players' screens, and Chums would appear from an invisible box.
Story Mode
Fixed an issue in which, if the player shot the Hero Splatling while jumping on a Ride Rail, the weapon would behave abnormally and prevent the player from attacking until becoming a squid.
Spectator Mode
Adjusted the order of display for the guide button for changing perspective and the mark indicating the player holding the Rainmaker.
Fixed an issue in which the color of Bravo team's Ink Mines would show up as Alpha team's color.
Fixed an issue in which the icon for Ink Mines wouldn't show up properly when having switched between players.
When focused on a given player, their opponents' signals ("C'mon!", "Booyah!", etc.) are no longer displayed.
Unified the direction of the top-down camera and turf map on Kelp Dome.
Adjusted the direction of the turf map on MakoMart to display the Alpha team's start point on the left-hand side of the screen as like other maps.
Other Changes
Fixed an issue in which after repeatedly winning in League Battle or Splatfest Battle (team), players would occasionally be disconnected after the battle results are recorded and before proceeding to the next battle.
Fixed an issue in which, during Splatfests, Off the Hook would not move in the background after taking pictures with amiibo in places other than Inkopolis Square, and then returning to the Square.
Fixed an issue in which, if the player did a Splashdown in the test firing area, targets on the other side of terrain would also take damage.
Weapons
Weapon
Adjustment
Blaster Custom Blaster Hero Blaster Replica
Reduced movement penalty after firing by 7/60 of a second.
Increased damage of a single shot from 28.0 to 30.0
Splat Brella Hero Brella Replica
Narrowed area painted with a single shot. Increased ink consumed for each shot by roughly 10%. Increased damage to the canopy from opponents' Blaster-type weapons by roughly 38%. Increased damage to the canopy from opponents' Charger-type weapons by roughly 50%.
Range Blaster
190 >200
Maps
Stage
Adjustment
Musselforge Fitness
Changed terrain in all Battle types.
Adjusted placement of objects near the center of the map, and reduced obstacles.
Adjusted placement of other miscellaneous objects.
Starfish Mainstage
Changed terrain in all Battle types.
Adjusted placement of objects near the center of the map, and reduced obstacles.
Added a slope going up to the stage.
Adjusted placement of other miscellaneous objects.
Humpback Pump Track
Adjusted placement of objects in Tower Control.
Greatly adjusted the path of the tower.
Added Inkrail from each team's base toward the center.
Additionally, adjusted placement of things such as obstacles.
Inkblot Art Academy
Adjusted placement of objects in Rainmaker.
Added platforms and a slope leading up to the center from the open spaces on the left and right of the map.
Increased size of the boxes used to climb into the enemy base from the center of the stage, and adjusted the look to match the stage.
Added inkable box for climbing to a high point in the opponents' base, to the left when viewed from your own base.
Adjusted the direction and position of the white objects in each base.
Adjusted placement of objects in Tower Control.
Added platforms and a slope leading up to the center from the open spaces on the left and right of the map.
Moray Towers
Changed terrain in all Battle types.
Adjusted trajectory of the Inkrails that leads to the enemy base from both sides.
Increased width of the platform beneath the Inkrails mentioned above.
Adjusted placement of other miscellaneous objects.
Outside of Splatfests, reduced brightness of the sun, and reduced the disparity in visibility between teams.
Port Mackerel
Adjusted placement of objects in Rainmaker.
Adjusted shape of the sponges near the starting point.
Set the area above certain containers near the center as Rainmaker-Free Zones.
Snapper Canal
Outside of Splatfests, reduced brightness of the sun, and reduced the disparity in visibility between teams.
Lynn Shaye returns as paranormal investigator Dr. Elise Rainier, with a supporting cast that includes Leigh Whannell (Insidious), Angus Sampson (Fargo), Caitlin Gerard (The Social Network), and Bruce Davison (X-Men). Whannell, who created the series with Wan, has also written the screenplay. It's directed by Adam Robitel (The Taking of Deborah Logan).
A synopsis for Insidious: The Last Key has also been released. It reads: "the creative minds behind the hit Insidious trilogy return for Insidious: The Last Key. In the supernatural thriller, which welcomes back franchise standout Lin Shaye as Dr. Elise Rainier, the brilliant parapsychologist faces her most fearsome and personal haunting yet: in her own family home."
The first Insidious was directed by Wan and it released in 2011, making $97 million worldwide from a modest $1.5 million budget. The 2013 sequel was an even bigger hit, earning $161 million, while Insidious: Chapter 3, which made $112.9 million, arrived in 2015.
As promised, a new Destiny 2 update has been released following the latest batch of server maintenance. Bungie has also shared the full patch notes for update 1.1.1.1, detailing everything that's been changed or added to the game on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Most notably, the previously announced Masterworks weapons are now available for players to acquire.
Masterworks are essentially a variant of Legendary weapons with some new attributes. These generate Orbs after a multi-kill, track your kills, and have new stats that can be re-rolled, thereby providing players with reasons to not necessarily be content with the first one they get their hands on. Previously, duplicate weapons were largely useless, as there was nothing to distinguish one from another. You can check out a bunch of Masterworks weapons in our gallery.
Other significant additions in terms of content include changes to Xur's inventory. Besides having one piece of Exotic armor for each class and an Exotic weapon, he'll now sell an updated version of the Three of Coins consumable item. This works much more simply than the Destiny 1 version and provides a limited-time boost to the chance of Exotics dropping for you. He'll also sell Fated Engrams, which provide players with an Exotic that they don't already own.
In terms of Engram drops, you'll now find Legendary and Exotics are handed out less frequently from Public Events. However, you'll get your hands on them more often in Strikes and Crucible. Meanwhile, Legendary Engrams will provide multiple Legendary items less than before. And you now have the option to directly purchase Legendary gear from Faction vendors using Legendary shards and Faction Tokens.
Zavala, Shaxx, and Tess Everis all now sell a new type of Fireteam gift consumable item. This provides rewards to other players after completing an activity, depending on which version you buy. Zavala's gives your Fireteam rewards after completing a Strike, while Shaxx's gives everyone in the game a reward at the end of a Crucible match; both cost Legendary Shards. Tess offers two: one for Strikes and one for Crucible, each costing Bright Dust.
The bugged Exotic, Prometheus Lens, has now been fixed; it had been wreaking havoc in Crucible since Curse of Osiris's release last week. Bungie didn't specify what changes it made, only saying it had been "outputting too much damage too quickly." It's unclear if the patch will also impact the gun in PvE.
Other fixes of note include a bug that prevented HDR support from working on PS4 and PS4 Pro, and the Faction Rally Token exploit has been resolved. Players should also now always receive rewards when opening a chest, but they will be reduced when doing so quickly (rather than receiving nothing at all). Perhaps more significantly, it addresses recent criticism of locking content to non-DLC owners. As Bungie described earlier this week, the Prestige Leviathan Raid's Power level requirement has returned to 300, allowing everyone to access it. (Rewards have changed accordingly; they're no longer guaranteed 330 Power level items.) Additionally, Trials of the Nine will be open to all players, so long as the map during that particular instance is not from the DLC.
Update 1.1.1.1 is now available on all platforms, but it won't be joined by a new event as expected. The first Faction Rally event of Season 2 has been delayed, with no new date set as of yet. You can see the full patch notes below.
Destiny 2 Update 1.1.1.1 Patch Notes
Activities
Leviathan Raid
Brought the Prestige "Leviathan" raid back down to 300 Power, making it accessible to all players, regardless of Curse of Osiris ownership
Adjusted Prestige difficulty rewards no longer grant guaranteed 330 Power items
Adjusted the difficulty for the normal Calus encounter
Trials of the Nine
Players who do not own Curse of Osiris may now access Trials of the Nine when a Destiny 2 launch map is featured
Trophies and Achievements
Modified the achievement "The Prestige" and the associated trophy to remove the Nightfall component
This may now be completed, regardless of Curse of Osiris ownership, by completing the "Leviathan" raid on Prestige difficulty
General
Miscellaneous
Fixed an issue impacting Power level progression from level 289 to 300 for players who do not own Curse of Osiris
Fixed an issue that would prompt a Curse of Osiris purchase menu when players were attempting to acquire the Scout Report: Mercury item with insufficient Glimmer
Fixed an issue where the word "Nightfall" was not prepended to new Curse of Osiris strikes in the Nightfall Director node
Adjusted the functionality of Chest Reward Throttles
Players now receive reduced amounts of loot when opening large numbers of chests in quick succession, rather than nothing at all
Cayde's Stash chests now grant rewards via the loot stream to prevent items from disappearing into the ground
Fixed an issue where cannons on Mercury were not functioning properly for PC players when they were playing at over 60 fps
Fixed an issue that prevented the functionality of HDR settings for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro
Collections
Fixed an issue where players with over 84 emblems were unable to see all emblems they owned within the collection screen
User Interface
On player inspection, currency display is no longer visible
Vendor waypoints are only highlighted when players have enough tokens to earn a reward
Fixed an issue where some players could not interact with items when they had full inventory
Faction Rallies
Players can no longer loot the same chest multiple times in quick succession for Faction Rally tokens
Fixed an issue where Faction Rally tokens were not being removed at the conclusion of the event for some players
Faction Rally emblems now display the correct pledge tracker stat
Fixed an issue where Faction Rally tokens were being removed from players' inventories when the players were creating a new character
Fixed an issue where some players would not receive a Faction Rally winner discount
Masterworks
Legendary weapons can now drop as Masterworks for characters above Power level 250
Masterworks provide bonus weapon stats and generate Orbs on multikills
Engrams
Legendary and Exotic Engram drop rates have been adjusted down for Public Events, and up for Strike and Crucible playlist activities
Reduced the chance of a Legendary engram rewarding multiple Legendary items
Xûr
Xûr now sells a three of coins consumable item that increases the drop chance of Exotics
Xûr now sells the Fated Engram
Exotics
Fixed an issue where Vesper of Radius, the Helm of Saint-14, Graviton Forfeit, and Gemini Jester were dropping with incorrect class mods
Fixed an issue where the Prometheus Lens Exotic Trace Rifle was outputting too much damage too quickly
Fixed an issue where Exotic weapons from Curse of Osiris were mislabeled within Exotic engrams
Gift Consumables
Zavala now sells a Fireteam Gift consumable that provides rewards to the user's fireteam on strike completion
Shaxx now sells a Fireteam Gift consumable that provides rewards to all players at the end of a Crucible activity
Tess Everis sells a Fireteam Gift consumable that provides rewards to all players on Strike or Crucible activity completion
Faction Vendors
Faction vendors now offer legendary gear for direct purchase with Legendary shards and faction tokens
Crucible
Added invisible physics to keep players from hiding in the Red Bay Box on the Pacifica map
Blizzard has kicked off Overwatch's celebration of the holidays, bringing back the Winter Wonderland event from last year. This isn't a complete retread, however; while you're again able to access what was available last year, there are also new skins and a limited-time mode to check out, among other things.
As with any new Overwatch event, the skins are the big highlight. When Blizzard announced the event's return recently, it teased that Junkrat and Roadhog would be among those to get Legendary skins, while a "long-awaited Hanzo skin" from the comics would also be included. Others with newly added looks include Sombra and Ana. You can see all the new Overwatch Winter Wonderland skins in our gallery.
This update includes a new, winterized version of Black Forest, along with the returning, holiday-themed versions of King's Row and Hanamura. The Mei's Snowball Offensive Brawl also makes a comeback (and is now playable on the themed Black Forest map), while Blizzard has introduced another new brawl that the studio has compared to a boss fight. Mei's Yeti Hunt sees a team of five Meis compete against one player, who assumes the role of Winston with his Yeti skin. Things play out a lot like Evolve, where the Meis hunt down Winston, who roams the map to find power-ups. Once he collects enough, he enters Primal Rage mode, and the Meis have to flee to avoid being killed. Once enough Meis--or Winston--are killed, the game is over.
In a video, Jeff Kaplan explained that Blizzard wanted to try something "fun and different" with this mode. He said the point is "just to be fun and light and refreshing for a short period of time." As such, Yeti Hunt is not intended to be a perfectly balanced, highly competitive mode. You can queue up for this through standard matchmaking or join a match with five other friends, with the game cycling through who plays as the Yeti. When queuing normally, you can set your preference for Mei or Winston, though given the mode's nature, you won't always get to play on the side you selected.
Winter Wonderlands is available from now until January 1 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. It includes all of last year's skins and content, and Blizzard has lowered their costs to make them easier to acquire. Legendary skins from 2016 drop to 1000 credits, Epic to 250, Rare to 75, and Common to 25.
We're now well into December, and this month has brought with it a new batch of free games for PlayStation Plus members. A total of six more games are now available for download to Plus subscribers, including a total of as many as four on PlayStation 4 (or five if you're in Europe).
PS4's lineup is headlined by Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition, a remastered version of the 2012 Zelda-esque action game. This version includes all of the original release's DLC along with a variety of technical improvements. It's free this month alongside Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends. A PSVR freebie from November, Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, remains free throughout this month, and those in Europe can also pick up That's You for free. Additionally, thanks to Cross-Buy, Forma 8 is available on PS4 in addition to Vita.
The PS3 side features Xblaze: Lost Memories and Syberia Collection, the latter of which is a compilation of the two Syberia adventure games. In addition to the aforementioned Forma 8, Vita owners can download Wanted Corp for free.
All of these games are available now for PS Plus members on the PlayStation Store. They'll be free to download until Tuesday, January 2, when Sony will replace them with the next batch of freebies. Claiming these games allows you to play them as much as you want for as long as you have an active Plus membership.
In addition to the free game downloads, PS Plus subscribers receive some other bonuses this month. Plus members get exclusive access to the Monster Hunter World beta, which runs from December 9-12 on PS4. Later in the month, they'll also receive the PlayStation Plus Pack for free-to-play game Smite, which consists of various characters, skins, and voice packs.
It's officially December around the world, which means Xbox Live Gold subscribers can now pick up the first of December's free Games With Gold titles. Two more games are now available to download for free if you're an Xbox Live Gold member, with another two set to arrive later in the month.
Also note that one of November's Games With Gold titles, Tales From the Borderlands, will continue to be free on Xbox One through through December 15. You can see the full Games With Gold schedule for December below.
In other news, Microsoft has rolled out the latest weekly Xbox One and Xbox 360 deals. A variety of games are on sale for Xbox Live Gold members in particular, including Unravel, The Jackbox Party Pack, and the Metro games. These will be available through December 11, while the Games With Gold title schedule varies, as outlined below.
December 2017 Free Xbox Games With Gold
Xbox One
Warhammer: End Times - Verminitide (December 1 - December 31)
Tales From the Borderlands (through December 15)
Back to the Future: The Game - 30th Anniversary Edition (December 16 - January 15)
Xbox 360
Child of Eden (December 1 - December 15)
Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death (December 16 - December 31)
November has wrapped up, and streaming platform Hulu has announced all of the TV shows and movies coming to and leaving the platform through December. As you might expect, there are a handful of holiday-themed movies landing on Hulu this month.
One of these is A Christmas Wedding Tail, which tells the story of two dogs who fall in love. Other holiday movies landing in December include A Princess For Christmas, Chilly Christmas, and I'll Be Home For Christmas. As for non-holiday additions to the Hulu library in December, some great movies like Silence of the Lambs, Space Jam, Searching for Sugar Man, and Apocalypse Now, among others.
As for what's leaving Hulu thismonth, James Bond movies Thunderball, The Spy Who Loved Me, The Man With the Golden Gun, Die Another Day, and A View to a Kill are all on the way out. Congo, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Total Recall are also headed out.
You can see a full rundown of what's coming to and leaving Hulu for December below, as compiled by the company and shared with GameSpot. In other streaming news, here's everything coming to Netflix in December.
Hulu December 2017:
Available December 1
East Los High: Finale Event (Hulu Original)
The History of Comedy: Complete Season 1 (CNN)
Inside Number 9: Complete Season 2 (BBCWW)
Tree Fu Tom: Complete Seasons 3 & 4 (Sprout)
Trust Me: Complete Season 1 (StudioCanal)
The Wine Show: Complete Season 2 (Sky)
3 Ninjas (1992)
A Christmas Wedding Tail (2011)
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)
A Princess for Christmas (2011)
Aliens of the Deep (2005)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Apocalypse Now Redux (2001)
At Close Range (1986)
Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction (2006)
The Black Cauldron (1985)
Bloodsport (1988)
Breakheart Pass (1975)
The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Buffalo 66 (1998)
Cheri (2009)
Chicago (2002)
Child's Play (1988)
Chilly Christmas (2012)
Coopers Camera (AKA Coopers' Christmas) (2010)
The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)
Crazy/Beautiful (2001)
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
Downhill Racer (1969)
Driftwood (2006)
Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex… (1972)
Evita (1996)
Extortion (2017)
The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)
The Final Cut (2004)
First Kid (1996)
The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)
George of the Jungle (1997)
Hammett (1982)
Hannibal (2001)
Heaven's Gate (1981)
Hitch (2005)
I'll Be Home for Christmas (1998)
The Improv: 50 Years Behind the Brick Wall (2013)
In & Out (1997)
In Enemy Hands (2003)
In the Line of Fire (1993)
Jack (1996)
Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)
Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004)
L7 Pretend We're Dead (2016)
The Last Warrior (2000)
Light Sleeper (1992)
Meet Wally Sparks (1997)
A Midsummer Night Sex Comedy (1982)
The Missing (2003)
Mississippi Burning (1988)
Moonstruck (1987)
Mr. Wrong (1996)
One from the Heart (1982)
One Magic Christmas (1985)
P2 (2007)
Penelope (2008)
The Perfect Score (2004)
Political Animals (2012)
The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984)
Presumed Innocent (1990)
Primal Fear (1996)
Puppetmaster: Axis Termination (2017)
Red Corner (1997)
Robocop (1987)
Robocop 2 (1990)
Robocop 3 (1993)
Rocky (1976)
Rocky II (1979)
Rocky III (1982)
Rocky IV (1985)
Rocky V (1990)
S.F.W. (1995)
Sarafina! (1992)
Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)
Searching for Sugar Man (2012)
Serpico (1973)
Shelby: A Magical Holiday Tail (2014)
Silence (2016)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Space Jam (1996)
Stealing Harvard (2002)
Stigmata (1999)
The Three Musketeers (1993)
The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
Three Men and a Baby (1987)
Titanic (1997)
Total Recall (1990)
Valkyrie (2008)
The Water Horse (2007)
The Weight of Water (2002)
Winnie the Pooh, A Valentine for You (1999)
Without (2011)
Wristcutters: A Love Story (2007)
The Yummy Gummy Search for Santa (2012)
Available December 2
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season 5 Premiere (ABC)
Available December 3
Cop Land (1997)
Sweet Home Alabama (2002)
The Rules of Attraction (2002)
Available December 4
Frontera (2014)
Superbad (2007)
Available December 5
The Great Christmas Light Fight: Season 5 Premiere (ABC)
Iron Protector (2016)
Available December 6
Shut Eye: Season 2 Premiere (Hulu Original)
Killers (2015)
Available December 8
Defining Moments: Season 1 Premiere (ESL)
The Great American Baking Show: Season 3 Premiere (ABC)
Legion: Complete Season 1 (FX)
Crank: High Voltage (2009)
Legion of Brothers (2017)
Available December 9
Dave Made a Maze (2017)
Available December 11
Steven Universe: Complete Season 4 (Cartoon Network)
Available December 12
Younger: Complete Season 4 (TV Land)
Holiday Fairy Tale Wedding: Special (Freeform)
Foreman (2017)
Available December 13
Vengeance of an Assassin (2014)
Available December 14
Bunheads: Complete Season 1 (Freeform)
Available December 15
40 Days and 40 Nights (2002)
The Crow (1994)
Everest (1998)
Kate and Leopold (2001)
The Limehouse Golem (2017)
Score (2016)
Tears of the Sun (2003)
Available December 16
The Next Step: Complete Season 5B (BBC)
Available December 18
Graves: Complete Season 1 (Epix)
Made In Chelsea: Complete Seasons 1-13 (E4)
Mighty Magiswords: Complete Season S1A (Cartoon Network)
A new month means a slew of new programming to watch on Amazon Prime. The streaming video component of the service is ending the year on a high note by adding some notable franchises and classic movies like Point Break to its offerings in December.
Most notable, the Rocky movies are coming to Prime. Rocky through Rocky V will all help Amazon kick off the month. They join Creed, which is already available to subscribers. Now Amazon just needs to snag the rights to Rocky Balboa and the collection will be complete.
The streamer is also adding the eight-film Marvel Animated Features collection. The cartoon movies, originally released direct-to-DVD, include Ultimate Avengers, Planet Hulk, Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme, and Thor: Tales of Asgard, among others. Originally released between 2006 and 2011, the films exist in their own universe apart from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
December also brings several more Thursday Night Football games, as the NFL presents the Saints vs. the Falcons, the Broncos vs. the Colts, and the Steelers vs. the Texans. Those games will air live through Amazon Prime.
Ark: Survival Evolved's latest expansion, Aberration, is out now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, after being delayed from its intended October release date. Developer Studio Wildcard says the DLC pack adds another map, a new storyline, "dozens" of additional creatures, and "more than 50 new items to craft."
The add-on takes place on "a damaged Ark whose internal atmosphere has leaked away." The result of this is a harsh landscape with "a plethora of lush underground biomes containing all-new exotic creatures and items to be acquired." You can see a glimpse of this strange world in the trailer below.
Players who've purchased the game's Explorer's Edition or season pass will receive Aberration at no additional cost; for everyone else, it will set you back $20 (approximately £16 / AU $27). Owners of the Explorer's Edition will also receive a few additional perks in the form of Aberration-themed cosmetic items, such as the Aberration Helmet and Aberration Sword.
Aberration is the second expansion for Ark: Survival Evolved, following the desert-themed Scorched Earth pack that released last year. The base game, meanwhile, launched in August after being playable in early access for two years. Our critic, Brett Todd, said the final game possesses an "outstanding sense of place," but he also thought it "requires a strong level of commitment that is not for everyone." Read more in our full Ark: Survival Evolved review.
Warner Bros. and developer Jam City say the new game will allow players to "create their own character and experience life as a Hogwarts student" by "progressing through their years" at the school. Along the way, you can participate in magical classes such as Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, and Duelling Club.
Warner Bros. hasn't revealed anything more about Hogwarts Mystery as yet, except that it's coming to iOS and Android. It will join Wizards Unite, which is also launching on mobile next year. That game will see you roaming the real world collecting power-ups, defending locations, and exploring your environment, much like Pokemon Go. Warner Bros. has also teased that a new Harry Potter game is in the works for consoles, but nothing else is known about that project for now.
With the arrival of the holidays comes a slew of new shows and movies on Netflix. It's a particularly busy month for the streamer, with many holiday specials joining the service, alongside several Netflix originals and a number of new library titles. With popular titles like V for Vendetta, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Black Mirror, and Disney's The Santa Clause trilogy arriving, December is going to be a busy month for streaming.
However, it's a Netflix original movie that you should be paying closest attention to. December 22 will see the premiere of Bright, starring Will Smith and Joel Edgerton. The fantasy crime movie is directed by David Ayer (Suicide Squad) with a script by Max Landis (American Ultra). The film marks Smith's first time starring in a Netflix project and he's certainly picked an interesting one.
Bright is set in a world where humans and fantasy creatures coexist. Smith plays an LAPD officer who is partnered with an Orc (Edgerton) when they find a very powerful magic wand that has the potential to change the world. Other new entries include Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, a new season of The Ranch, and Dave Chappelle's latest stand-up comedy special. It's not all good news, though.
There are also many titles departing the service in December. Black Snake Moan, Practical Magic, and 11 seasons of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia are just a few of the movies and shows that will no longer be available after the end of 2017. So make sure you watch them while you still can.
You can take a look at the full list of what's coming and going on Netflix throughout December below. You can also see everything that's arrived in November.
Arriving on Netflix, December 2017
December 1
8 Mile
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
All Hail King Julien: Season 5 (Netflix Original)
A StoryBots Christmas (Netflix Original)
August Rush
Chef & My Fridge: 2017
Dark: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Diana: In Her Own Words
Dreamcatcher
DreamWorks Home: For the Holidays (Netflix Original)
Easy: Season 2 (Netflix Original)
Exporting Raymond
Forbidden Games: The Justin Fashanu Story
Full Metal Jacket
Hitch
My Happy Family (Netflix Original)
Nacho Libre
Sahara
The Farthest - Voyager in Space
The Little Rascals
The Wackness
The Young Victoria
Tyson
V for Vendetta
TURN: Washington's Spies: Season 4
Voyeur (Netflix Original)
While You Were Sleeping
December 4
When Calls the Heart: Season 4
December 5
Craig Ferguson: Tickle Fight (Netflix Original)
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
December 6
Trolls Holiday Special
December 8
El Camino Christmas (Netflix Original)
The Crown: Season 2 (Netflix Original)
December 11
Catwoman
The Magicians: Season 2
December 12
Disney's The Santa Clause
Disney's The Santa Clause 2
Disney's The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
Judd Apatow: The Return (Netflix Original)
December 14
41 Dogs in My Home
A&E: When Patients Attack
Ainsley Eats the Streets: Season 1
Halt and Catch Fire: Season 4
December 15
A Five Star Life
Christmas Inheritance (Netflix Original)
Discovering Bigfoot
El Señor de los Cielos: Season 5
Erased: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Freeway: Crack In The System
Neverlake
Pottersville
Reggie Yates Outside Man: Volume 2
The Haunting of Helena
The Mafia Kills Only in Summer
The Ranch: Part 4 (Netflix Original)
Trollhunters: Part 2 (Netflix Original)
Ultimate Beastmaster (Netflix Original)
Wormwood (Netflix Original)
December 18
Hello, My Twenties!: Season 2 (Netflix Original)
December 19
Miss Me This Christmas
Russell Howard: Recalibrate (Netflix Original)
The Indian Detective: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
You Can't Fight Christmas
December 20
La Casa de Papel: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
December 21
Peaky Blinders: Season 4 (Netflix Original)
December 22
72 Dangerous Animals: Latin America: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Bright (Netflix Original)
Dope: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Fuller House: Season 3, New Episodes (Netflix Original)
Rosario Tijeras: Season 1
The Toys That Made Us: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
December 23
Creep 2
Myths & Monsters: Season 1
December 25
Cable Girls: Season 2 (Netflix Original)
Planet Earth II
December 26
Todd Barry: Spicy Honey (Netflix Original)
Travelers: Season 2 (Netflix Original)
All Hail King Julien: New Year's Eve Countdown 2018
Beat Bugs: New Year's Eve Countdown 2018
Larva: New Year's Eve Countdown 2018
Pororo: New Year's Eve Countdown 2018
Puffin Rock: New Year's Eve Countdown 2018
Skylanders Academy: New Year's Eve Countdown 2018
Trollhunters: New Year's Eve Countdown 2018
True and The Rainbow Kingdom: New Year's Eve Countdown 2018
Word Party: New Year's Eve Countdown 2018
December 27
Pusher
December 29
Bill Nye Saves the World: Season 2: Part 1 (Netflix Original)
Killer Legends
La Mante: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Shelter
The Climb (Netflix Original)
December 31
Dave Chappelle: Equanimity (Netflix Original)
Fun Mom Dinner
Leaving Netflix, December 2017
December 1
All I Want for Christmas
Bedazzled
Black Snake Moan
Compulsion
Cousin Bette
Hoffa
La Viuda Negra: Season 1
Picture Perfect
Practical Magic
Rebelde
Scary Movie 2
Scary Movie 3
Super Size Me
Terriers: Season 1
The Crucible
The Gospel Road: A Story of Jesus
The Man from Snowy River
Touch: Season 2
Toys
Two Girls and a Guy
Waking Life
Young Frankenstein
Yu-Gi-Oh! Bonds Beyond Time
Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal: Seasons 1-2
December 5
Holes
December 9
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Seasons 1-11
December 10
Lucky Number Slevin
Nightcrawler
The Rite
December 11
Dollhouse: Season 2
December 13
The Queen of Versailles
December 15
America's Funniest Home Video Kids: Holidazed
America's Funniest Home Videos Kids: Animals with Attitude: Season 1
America's Funniest Home Videos Kids: It's Tough Being a Kid: Season 1
America's Funniest Home Videos Kids: Playtime Ain't for Wimps: Season 1
America's Funniest Home Videos: New Collection D: Nincompoop Nation
Jeff Dunham: Arguing with Myself
December 19
Dance Academy: Series 1-3
December 20
Che: Parts 1 & 2
December 24
Amores Perros
December 25
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
To call 2017 a "good year" for gaming would be a grave understatement. With Zelda Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and Divinity: Original Sin 2 all receiving Essential 10 review scores, and a multitude of amazing games that have captured similar critical accolades, trying to pick just one title to be Game of the Year seems like an almost impossible task. But that's just what we're going to try and do!
Over the course of December, we'll be rolling a out a series of features and videos that look back at 2017, look ahead to 2018, and that list out what we collectively feel are the best games of the year. Check out the list below for our full content schedule for both games and entertainment as we celebrate the Best of 2017!
Nintendo Report Card: Switch and 3DS -- Wednesday, December 6
VR Report Card -- Thursday, December 7
Console "Best Of" Award Winners
Our unranked list of the five best games for each console. This year we are (obviously) dropping the Wii U category and adding Nintendo Switch.
Best 3DS Games -- Friday, December 8
Best Mobile Games -- Friday, December 8
Best Switch Games -- Monday, December 11
Best VR Games -- Tueday, December 12
Best Xbox One Games -- Wednesday, December 13
Best PS4 Games -- Thursday, December 14
Best PC Games -- Friday, December 15
Best Expansion -- Monday, December 18
Best Reissued/Remastered Games -- Tuesday, December 19
Game of the Year Countdown
Game of the Year #10 -- Monday, December 11
Game of the Year #9 -- Tuesday, December 12
Game of the Year #8 -- Wednesday, December 13
Game of the Year #7 -- Thursday, December 14
Game of the Year #6 -- Friday, December 15
Game of the Year #5 -- Monday, December 18
Game of the Year #4 -- Tuesday, December 19
Game of the Year #3 -- Wednesday, December 20
Game of the Year #2 -- Wednesday, December 20
Game of the Year #1 -- Wednesday, December 20
Editors' Spotlight Awards -- Thursday, December 21
These awards highlight games that we think deserve special recognition, but which didn't earn a spot in our "Best of" or GOTY lists. Looking ahead to 2018, on Thursday December 21 we'll have a host of features looking at the most-anticipated games of next year:
The 20 Biggest Games to Play in 2018
The Biggest PS4 Games to Play in 2018
The Biggest Xbox One Games to Play in 2018
The Biggest Nintendo Games to Play in 2018
The Biggest PC Games to Play in 2018
Players' Choice Awards
Voting Begins Friday, December 22
Voting Ends Tuesday, January 2 at midnight PST
Players' Choice Winner Reveal Wednesday, January 3
In the latter half of the month, we'll focus on our favorite movies and TV Shows:
2017 Entertainment Year-in-Review
The Craziest Entertainment News Of 2017 -- Thursday, Dec. 21
Biggest Comic News of 2017 -- Thursday, Dec. 21
Report Card: Marvel -- Thursday, Dec 21
Report Card: DC -- Thursday, Dec 21
Report Card: Star Wars -- Thursday, Dec 21
The Biggest Disappointments In Movies And TV This Year -- Friday, Dec. 22
The Entertainment That Should Have Been More Popular In 2017 -- Friday, Dec. 22
Characters We Loved (And Loved To Hate) In 2017 Movies And TV -- Friday, Dec. 22
Worst Reviewed Movies of 2017 -- Friday, Dec. 22
Game Of Thrones Season 7 Episodes Ranked From Worst To Best -- Tuesday, Dec. 26
Best And Worst Adaptations, Reboots, And Remake -- Tuesday, Dec. 26
The Best And Worst Entertainment Trailers Of The Year -- Tuesday, Dec. 26
The Biggest Moments In WWE This Year -- Tuesday, Dec. 26
Best of Entertainment
The Top 10 Movies of 2017 -- Wed, Dec 27
The Top 10 TV Shows of 2017 -- Wed, Dec 27
The 10 Best Netflix Originals Of 2017 -- Wed, Dec 27
The 10 Best Comics of 2017 -- Wed, Dec 27
The Best Horror Movies And Shows -- Thu, Dec 28
The Best Sci-Fi Movies And Shows -- Thu, Dec 28
The Best Superhero Movies And Shows -- Thu, Dec 28
The Best Anime Of 2017 -- Thu, Dec 28
The Best TV Show Episodes Of 2017 -- Thu, Dec 28
The 10 Best Scenes In 2017 Movies And TV -- Thu, Dec 28
And looking ahead to 2018:
The Biggest Movies to Watch in 2018 -- Friday, Dec. 29
The Biggest TV Shows to Watch in 2018 -- Friday, Dec. 29
The Biggest Comics to Read in 2018 -- Friday, Dec. 29
The Biggest Anime To Look Forward To In 2018 -- Friday, Dec. 29
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is nearly upon us, and EA is celebrating the occasion by introducing content based on the film into Star Wars Battlefront II. Rey was playable from the start, but now the game has added both Finn and the First Order's Captain Phasma.
In addition, the update brings two new maps: Crait, a mineral-rich planet where Resistance fighters and First Order agents battle in Galactic Assault; and D'Qar, a Starfighter Assault arena based on the Resistance's base from The Force Awakens. The final big additions in the new update are a new vehicle--Tallie's A-Wing--and free campaign DLC titled Resurrection, which adds three more chapters to the story.
Outside of new content, Battlefront II is changing much of its balancing. Heroes such as Lando and Emperor Palpatine have received significant buffs, while Boba Fett's powerful anti-Hero rockets have been nerfed. Finally, the game's online stability has been improved in the patch, says EA, with plenty more bug fixes also included. The update weighs in at approximately 10 GB, depending on platform, and it's out now on PS4 and PC with an Xbox One release coming within a few hours. For more, check out all the patch notes at the bottom of this article, via EA.
Star Wars Battlefront II's Last Jedi celebrations started earlier this week with a new in-game event, which allows you to ally yourself with the First Order or New Republic. Doing so presents you with special, weekly faction quests over the next few weeks with rewards that correspond to your side.
"Completing these will not only reward you with Credits and Crafting Parts, but help edge your faction closer to victory, giving all members of that side additional rewards," developer DICE explained. "The other faction will get a crate of their own with lesser prizes, but it will hopefully come with a drive to fight back even harder."
For this first challenge, players have to rack up 50 kills with each trooper class. This doesn't need to be completed before the next challenges arrive; you have until the end of the season to finish and can complete them in any order.
Throughout the month, other new challenges and special events will also arrive, including a holiday playlist on December 27. Everything will be available on all platforms and is scheduled to coincide with the release of The Last Jedi on December 15. For more on that, read our The Last Jedi review.
Closing attacks for lightsaber wielders are cancelled while in the smoke
The Hot and Cold Star Card now works as intended
Rey
Mind Control no longer blocks the target's abilities
Survivor Star Card now has the correct description
Yoda
Extra health gained by Presence is no longer removed when going on cooldown, instead health starts depleting after 10 seconds
Increased Presence recharge time from 16 to 20 seconds
Increased Dash damage from 100 to 130
Presence no longer cancels Darth Vader's Choke ability
Jedi Mentor Star Card now has the correct description
Master of the Force Star Card now works as intended
Agility Star Card now correctly grants 1 extra dash instead of 2
Emperor Palpatine
Increased health from 650 to 700
Increased maximum regeneration from 150 to 300
Increased regeneration rate from 50 to 75
Decreased 1-hand Force lightning cost from 15 stamina/sec to 10 stamina/sec
Decreased 2-handed Force lightning cost from 20 stamina/sec to 15 stamina/sec
Chewbacca
Increased Bowcaster's fire rate from 80 to 90
Increased Bowcaster's Power increase per second from 0.9 to 2.5
Increased Bowcaster's number of blaster shot from 1 to 3 on the base power modifier
The middle grenade of Shock Grenade is fired away from Chewbacca and not towards him
Increased Charge Slam's radius from 3 to 6
Multi-Shock Star Card now the correct description
Multi-Shock Star Card now works as intended
Bonus Health Star Card now properly reward health bonus
Enemies defeated by Chewbacca's Charge Slam are now sent flying
Bossk
Increased Predator Instinct's heat per bullet by 0.005
Decreasing Predator Instinct's maximum possible active time while firing by 1 second
Adjusted Bossk's Battle Points cost on certain maps
Boba Fett
Decreased each rank of bonus damage gained from Anti-hero rockets by 4
Decreased each rank of extra rockets gained from Intense Barrage by 1
For the Hunt doesn't give back fuel to the jetpack anymore, instead fuel won't deplete while it is active
The jetpack icon will now turn yellow when Boba Fett uses the For the Hunt ability, indicating that jetpack fuel is unlimited while the ability is active
The Blaster Disabler ability no longer disables Boba Fett's, or his allies', blaster when triggered
Han Solo
Sharpshooting Frenzy Star Card now has the correct description
Leia Organa
Relentless Firing Star Cards now works as intended
High Spirit Star Card now works as intended
Darth Maul
Furious Throw can now damage objectives and vehicles
Arcade
Fixed an issue where players would be invisible to each other in Versus Custom Arcade
Fixed an issue where Darth Vader's Choke ability would instantly kill an enemy who stayed near a wall
Fixed an issue where Bossk's Star Card Trap Arming Speed would not work as intended
Fixed some LOD issues
Fixed some VO issues
Fixed some UI scaling issues
Fixed some clipping issues
Fixed some lighting issues
Fixed some textures issues
Removed an invisible platform on Kamino
General bugfixes and polish
General
Made improvements in reducing game server lag on large game modes
Made improvements in reducing micro-stuttering/freezes during gameplay
Made improvements to the idle-kick logic that detects players who aren't participating in the match
Reduced Flame Trooper damage over time effect and increase direct damage done to enemies in the center of the cone
Adjusted spawn positions on Hoth while playing Strike
Fixed an issue where players could use Jetpack Boost twice in a row, avoiding its cooldown
Fixed an issue where players could not deploy in the LAAT at certain times
Fixed an issue where players could spawn on top of each other at certain times
Fixed an issue where Credits are not rewarded properly to all players at End of Round
Fixed several localization and audio issues
Fixed several collision and traversal issues on Kashyyyk
Fixed several collision and traversal issues on Endor
Fixed several collision and traversal issues on Tatooine
Fixed several collision and traversal issues on Yavin 4
Fixed an issue where the player is unable to zoom in after throwing a Detonite Charge
Fixed an issue where Heroes could be instantly defeated if being run over by a Speeder
Fixed several scoring event issues
Unlocked the 2nd and 3rd Star Card slots for all four Trooper Classes
With these slots unlocked, all new players, and existing players, will receive three Common Star Cards per Trooper Class to fill out their hand
Nintendo wants to do more in the mobile game space, apparently. Nintendo already owns a 10 percent stake in DeNA and is working with them on five mobile games, the most recent of which was Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. But The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Nintendo wants to work with more mobile game developers to release more games after the company failed to get involved in the mobile game space early on.
According to the report, Nintendo believes it can release more games, faster, by aligning with more partners. However, the report added that Nintendo doesn't plan to actually invest in any of these companies, as it did with DeNA.
The report claims that Nintendo spoke with Puzzle & Dragons developer GungHo about a potential partnership, though a spokesperson claimed no discussions ever happened with Nintendo. The two companies already worked together, as some Mario characters showed up in the Puzzle & Dragons game for 3DS. There is no word on what other companies Nintendo might have spoken with or will speak with about making mobile games.
For a long time, Nintendo refused to bring its franchises to mobile devices in part because the company maintained that it would rather focus on its own dedicated gaming devices. However, this stance changed, and Nintendo has already released a few mobile games and apps, including Miitopia, Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes, and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. We don't know what other titles might be in the works but it's hard to imagine a Mario Kart game won't be among them.
If Nintendo is to make more mobile games, what would you like to see? Let us know in the comments below! In other Nintendo news, the Switch continues to sell well, recently crossing 10 million units sold worldwide.
Star Wars creator George Lucas has seen The Last Jedi ahead of its release this week. His verdict? A representative for the acclaimed director told The Hollywood Reporter that Lucas thought the movie was "beautifully made."
The rep added that Lucas spoke with The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson after seeing the movie and was "complimentary" in his comments. Lucas created the Star Wars series; he directed 1977's A New Hope and then returned to direct the three critically maligned but massively successful prequels.
Lucas saying The Last Jedi is "beautifully made" doesn't exactly tell us much about what he really thinks of the story or other parts of the much-anticipated film. Still, this comment is more positive-sounding than what he said about The Force Awakens. He said that film strayed from his original vision for what he wanted Star Wars to be.
The Last Jedi opens in theatres on December 15. Ahead of that, reviews have started to show up. You can read GameSpot's The Last Jedi review here and check out this review roundup to see what other critics are saying. The Last Jedi of course is expected to make so much money when it opens this weekend.
Kobolds and Catacombs is the newest expansion for Blizzard's Hearthstone. Along with new cards, it introduces Dungeon Run, a single-player, roguelike mode that doesn't require you to bring your own deck--you build it from cards given to you throughout the adventure.
We spoke to longtime Hearthstone designer Dean Ayala about the origins of the new mode, got some in-depth balancing insights, learned about Hearthstone's approach to microtransaction rewards and find out how he views Blizzard's passionately critical fanbase.
GameSpot: Dungeon Run is the big new thing for Hearthstone, so how did the creation of this mode come about? Was it something you had gestating for a while?
Dean Ayala: Oh man, one of the designers, Peter Whalen, and I had been wanting to make a single-player roguelike Dungeon Crawl experience for... ever since he got hired. That was around The League of Explorers expansion, so we'd been talking about wanting to do it forever, and we had a bunch of different versions on paper. But I think the biggest problem that we had early on was that we had a mode that we liked, but it wasn't really Hearthstone. The mechanics didn't work the same, and it wasn't like you just drew your card every turn and then you ran out of cards. It was a sort-of deck-building experience where your cards shuffled back in at the end of the turn, but one of the problems was you would play it, and it didn't feel like a game of Hearthstone; it was a different game basically.
Dean Ayala
Once we got over that hurdle, we actually ended up hiring an adventure team. There were three guys on that team, and the biggest reason we were able to do Dungeon Run was that those three people are three of the most talented people I've ever worked with. One of those people is named Dave Kosak. He was the lead narrative director on World of Warcraft. So basically all the World of Warcraft stories that you know, like the Dragon Flights, or I don't know specifically what he came up with, but that was all stuff that he wrote and created from his head, which is really impressive to me. So the story of Kobolds and Catacombs, all the lines, all the really polished work that goes into making it a fun and quirky Hearthstone experience, that was all him.
Then another guy named Paul, who is an extremely talented designer, and is also extremely talented technically, which is really important for this project because there was no precedent. You couldn't plug in and play an adventure game, like "Hey, let's toy around with a different version of this thing," it was totally new technology in the background. Being able to prototype really fast with different things, and being able to actually do that in implementation is really important. We have another guy named Giovanni who shares a lot of the same talents with Paul. They were just able to iterate on this so much.
Then Peter and I, and my boss Mike and a bunch of other people gave a bunch of feedback on design, and it was so fun right away that the whole team was invested in it, which is an important thing I think in any project that you're working on. There are 80 people working on this one thing, and from a bunch of different angles--art, effects, design, and UI--everyone bought in because it was one of the most fun things we've ever done in Hearthstone.
Just having solo replayable content in Hearthstone, like a really low key, "I don't know anything about Hearthstone, but I can have a really fun solo experience that's low stress and doesn't require me to have a bunch of new stuff." You can go in and learn Hearthstone. It's one of the coolest things I think we've ever done.
Totally. As a lapsed player myself who never really got my head completely around deck building, Dungeon Run breaks a lot of those boundaries stopping me from going back.
And because it does feel still like Hearthstone, there's a bunch of crazy stuff that would never happen in a constructed game. You're building a deck along the way, but you don't have to worry about getting crushed by some guy who knows Hearthstone better or who knows all the decks that you don't know.
And as you're doing that, you're learning the game again. Because the whole format of the cards you get is from Wild--every card in Hearthstone--you'll learn about all the cards that you missed, and then learn what it is to play Hearthstone with the base mechanics. I hope that once you've had your fill of Dungeon Run, you'll feel like, "I'm ready to play Hearthstone again. I understand the game more now and I feel like I can get out there."
Going back to what you said about Dungeon Run as a gateway back to regular Hearthstone: One concern that I had was that past the launch quests for a few packs, there aren't any rewards for continuing to play Dungeon Run that might help someone transition back into the main game.
People hate this because it feels like an excuse, but really, there are going to be people that don't like Dungeon Run, and if there's a reward tied to it, it feels like, "I have to do this thing to get my 30 or 40 gold or whatever, and it's just not a mode that appeals to me at all."
I think it's fine when we initially start out. We might have a quest to do arena, and you might not enjoy arena, but it's nice, I think, to be pointed back in a direction in case it's something that you might enjoy now. With Dungeon Run, there are at least six to nine packs that you get for quests almost immediately, and that's a pretty good start. So being able to get all of that stuff for free, like heading in and then relearning the game of Hearthstone through adventure mode if that's the way you want to do it, I think that's enough.
It's important to us to feel like your investment, whether it be time or money, is worth it in Hearthstone. So having a bunch of free stuff when you come back initially, and then also the cadence of getting quests and acquiring gold. It's something that we've been addressing more and more since Knights of the Frozen Throne, so it's not like this is it, this is all there's ever going to be. I think we're continuing to evaluate that every time.
There's been a lot of discussion about randomized reward packs in games lately, which is something that's inherent in CCGs. Hearthstone mitigates some of that by giving you some good basic decks pretty effortlessly, but what are your thoughts on the pack-buying aspect of the game right now?
I think our general philosophy on that is we want to make it so you feel like your investment is worthwhile. So stuff like, you no longer get duplicate legendaries, and you're able to disenchant cards so you can actually get what you want. If you want a Golden Dr. Boom, you don't have to open 1,000 packs in order to get it.
As long as there are enough avenues to get where you want to go without feeling the randomness, I think that's the general space we want to be in. But outside of that, I don't really have a ton of insight into the business end it.
You obviously have an eye on game and card balance all the time. With Hearthstone, players don't necessarily have access to all available cards, and matchups can be infinitely varied. Does that make your job challenging?
The difficulty is making sure all the cards have some use cases. We're not making a bunch of legendary cards much more powerful than everything else. I think that just by having a ton of stuff in the basic set--there are basic cards that are extremely powerful cards you can put in almost any deck like Fireball, and everyone gets those for free. Every time we release a set, there's a bunch of common cards that are very powerful, so even if you open just a very small number of packs or no packs at all, you still are in an environment where you can compete, because we're trying to keep all the cards on some reasonable plane.
The biggest difference between legendary and common cards isn't power level at all, it's mostly complexity. So if you're coming back to the game and you're opening up a pack, and seeing mostly commons, it's not like you don't know what they do. There are some gold cards that are interesting for some given situations, but for common cards in particular, they're understandable. You can come back to the game and understand what they're all about, but it's not really to do with power level at all.
Can you talk about some of the toughest balancing challenges you've had in recent memory?
There are a lot of challenges when it comes to balancing a set. One of the biggest ones is people tend to think of game balance in terms of even win rates and decks. There's not one deck that's way more powerful than all the rest of the decks, and there's not one class that's way less powerful than the rest. While that's part of it, I'd say that's not the biggest part of it. The biggest part of game balance is that there's a balance of fun strategies for different player types. So if you enjoy playing really aggressive decks, there's something out there for you. If you enjoy playing control decks, there's something out there for you. If you're a new player that enjoys playing a pretty easy deck to pilot, there's something out there for you, and if you're a player that's been playing for years, then there's a deck that a new player would do really awful with but you would do really well with, and you can demonstrate your mastery over Hearthstone. So having all of these different archetypes, and making sure there's a balance of them so all different player types can have fun playing Hearthstone, that is, I would say, the biggest challenge.
In terms of particular cards, we actually had a card called Seeping Oozeling. I think now it's a six-mana - 5/4 and it says "Gain the deathrattle of a minion in your deck". I won't go into all the crazy details, but it used to be five mana, and if you did something in the earlier parts of the game, you could play a three-mana card that might end in a draw, and in the right circumstance, it basically ends the game. It's like, you can't do anything against it.
I think people say this a lot about Barnes. Barnes is a four mana - 3/4 that essentially summons a 1/1, and sometimes that 1/1 can have some crazy effect on it because it's from your deck, and you play that on turn four and then sometimes the game basically ends because that 1/1 that you summoned from your deck just has some ability where it summons all the dragons from your hand or something like that.
So it's balancing against that type of thing, where something crazy is happening in the earlier game that you have no control over. It's not to do with power level, it's more to do with, "Can I go into my collection and do something against this? Or does it feel like no matter what I do when that happens I just lose the game?" That's a really bad feeling to have.
There are really cool designs sometimes that encourage you to build an entirely new deck. If it's not too powerful, a lot of players are going to enjoy playing it, and even when you have all of those things, there are still some situations you get into where it's like, "Oh well, you can't really do anything against it when it works." That's when we have to go back to the drawing board and be like, "We have to either increase this guy's mana cost or totally redesign the card and do something more fun." That happens constantly. We go through probably three or four hundred designs in a set, and we end up shipping 135 cards. We're constantly just cutting stuff or redesigning stuff over the course of three or four months.
Fan bases can be pretty ruthless these days, especially Blizzard fan bases.
Everyone's fan bases. In fact, the most ruthless fan bases are the ones that are most passionate about the game, so the last thing you want is to go to your Reddit and be like, "I don't really care about what they're doing. I'm not really passionate about this," that's way worse.
So what's it like trawling through your Reddit and reading everything, if you do that?
One of the reasons I wanted to be a game designer in the first place is because I looked up to two people in particular. One of the guys is Greg Street and the other one is Jeff Kaplan. They both were interacting with the community a ton, like going on forums, explaining design decisions, and they were getting yelled at like crazy or praised because they came out and said something, but I thought it was really cool. That was when I learned game design is kind of challenging, they have all these different factors that they're trying to design against and all these different player archetypes. So when I went into game design, I really thought that that was important.
I used to talk on Reddit, but like I just said, there's a bunch of people that have pretty strong opinions about how things are, how they should be, and that's great, you know? Most of the time when I read something where people say something rude, I just read that and my mind translates that into, "I didn't like this thing. I think that you should do this thing instead," and when you read enough of those things, I think you can at least gain some insight: "Here's this particular community of people and this is generally what they're looking for."
If you're a game developer, or when you work in PR, community, and you're going to Reddit, you're being like, "This is what our players want." But you have to go to Reddit, you have to go to your official forums, you have to read all the iOS reviews, you have to talk to the community teams across the globe and be like, "Hey, what's going on in China? What's going on in Australia? What's going on in Japan? What is everyone really talking about?"
Then also talk to your colleagues and then play the game yourself and take all of these opinions into account and then try to make the best decision. So going on all of these places, it's really necessary. You're making a game, and you have a bunch of people that you're making the game for that are really passionate about telling you what they think about it. Everyone will give you different opinions on this, but I feel really lucky to be able to do that. I can go on Reddit and there are100 new threads from probably when I woke up this morning about people having opinions about particular things, and that's really awesome; it's helpful. I just feel really lucky to be able to do that and work on a game where people will do that.
Does it ever get you down? Does it affect your work sometimes?
I wouldn't say it gets me down. Sometimes I don't know what to say in some circumstances. One of the biggest challenges is if there's a topic about game balance or some other thing, and I know that someone has an opinion, it's a really strong opinion about something, and then I know that our philosophy on whatever this particular topic might be is different than how this person thinks it is. When you go in and you try to explain something and give context to why a decision is made, and you know it's not going to really make that person happy, or this group of people happy, trying to find the right words or the right context to do that is somewhat difficult, and sometimes it backfires. But if you're engaging with the community a lot, there's always going to be circumstances where you're going to say something and it's going to generate some negative response, and a lot of times that's the fault of the person writing it, like me, in whatever circumstances, where there are words I could have used or there are decisions that were made that were not the right ones, but the answer to that has to keep coming back. Sometimes it's frustrating, but more on a personal level. It's like, "I wish that I could have done something to improve that situation," more so than, "Oh, people were mean to me."
You have a background in QA, and now you've been a designer for a long while, so you know how to give good constructive criticism. Do you have any advice for people who think they might see something wrong with a game and want to give you that feedback? Is there a good way to go about it?
I think the best way to give feedback is from your own perspective. A lot of times people will be like, "I think this thing is wrong, not for me, I think it's fine, but based on this other group of people that I think exist." Whenever I hear feedback from really experienced people about how the new player experience is really awful for a bunch of reasons that they know about that new players probably don't, it's hard to take that feedback into account and make any reasonable decisions off of it. Whereas it's really hard to be wrong about, " This is how I feel about this thing, and that's how I feel about it. So this is my opinion that I'm giving you."
I think to give your opinion from your own personal state of mind is super useful. It doesn't matter if it's correct from a game design perspective, if you're a really experienced player and something makes you upset from a decision that we made, but you know maybe in the back of your head we did it for a new player, it's still fine, give the feedback, that's really important because that's the true and honest feedback. Like I said before, if we're reading all this stuff on Reddit, and iOS reviews, and official forums, and we're kind of like taking it all into account, then that really helps when we're getting all of this actual, real feedback, as opposed to, "I think that this group of people might think this way," because maybe that's not true. It's hard to understand if that's a true statement or not.
Kobolds and Catacombs is available as part of Hearthstone now.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens in theatres this weekend and it is expected to make a lot of money. Deadline reports that the sci-fi blockbuster is in line to make $424 million-$440 million worldwide after its first weekend. In the US and Canada alone, it's projected to make $200 million, with the rest coming from international markets.
By comparison, Star Wars: The Force Awakens made $247.9 million in the US and Canada for its opening weekend back in 2015, making up the rest of its $537.9 million first-weekend haul from international markets. That movie had the benefit of having a ton of built-up interest, as it was the first new entry in the mainline series in more than a decade.
Even if The Last Jedi comes in lower than The Force Awakens as it is expected to, $440 million worldwide is absolutely massive and would make it one of the strongest openings in the history of film.
The Force Awakens ended its theatrical run with $2.07 billion worldwide, making it the third highest-grossing movie in history. In the US and Canada, it banked $936.7 million and now stands as the highest-grossing movie ever domestically.
For more on The Last Jedi, check out GameSpot's The Last Jedi review here. Most big films have smartly gotten out of The Last Jedi's way this weekend, though one notable release is Fox's animated film Ferdinand.
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