The Pokemon Company capped off its Pokemon 2019 Press Conference last month with the reveal of Pokemon Masters, a brand-new smartphone game developed in collaboration with DeNA (the studio behind Super Mario Run, Mario Kart Tour, and most of Nintendo's other mobile titles). Few details about the game were shared at the time, but we'll soon get another look at it thanks to a special livestream presentation happening this week.
The stream is scheduled to air tomorrow, June 27, and will run for roughly eight minutes, offering the first new details about Pokemon Masters since it was announced. If you're eager to learn more about the anticipated title, here's when and where you can tune into the stream, as well as what you can expect to see.
What Time Does The Pokemon Masters Livestream Start?
The Pokemon Masters stream airs this Thursday, June 27. In the US, the stream will begin at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET. That equates to 2 PM BST for fans in the UK. Those in Australia, meanwhile, will need to stay up late in order to tune in, as the stream won't begin until 11 PM AEST.
6 AM PT
9 AM ET
2 PM BST
11 PM AEST
Where To Watch
The Pokemon Company will broadcast the Pokemon Masters stream on its official YouTube channel. You'll also be able to watch it right here on GameSpot using the video embed below, so you can bookmark this page and tune in when the time comes to watch the stream unfold.
What To Expect
We've only gotten a brief look at Pokemon Masters thus far, so Thursday's stream will presumably offer much more insight into the gameplay loop and what you'll be able to expect from the overall experience. We already know Pokemon Masters will feature a wide assortment of the series' most notable trainers, and that you'll be able to battle alongside them in three-on-three contests. However, it's unclear how the battle system will work or how you'll be able to build your own Pokemon team. Will battles play out similarly to mainline titles, or offer more simplified mechanics? And will you be able to catch new Pokemon? These questions will likely be cleared up.
We'll also likely get a look at more of the trainers you'll be able to encounter in the game. We've already seen a handful of them. In the brief footage the Pokemon Company showed off during last month's press conference, we saw former Pokemon Champion Blue, as well as Brock, Misty, Cynthia, and Steven Stone, while the key art that longtime Pokemon artist Ken Sugimori drew also features Red, Lance, and a few newer characters, including Diantha (the champion from Pokemon X and Y) and the female heroine of Pokemon Black 2 and White 2. That's likely only scratching the surface of the game's roster, and it's a safe bet we'll see more fan-favorite characters during tomorrow's stream.
The second day of Fortnite's 14 Days of Summer event has brought with it another unvaulted weapon and another challenge to complete. Like the first, this will be available for the duration of the three-week Battle Royale event, and it involves another summer-themed objective. Epic Games asks you to bounce a giant beach ball in different matches. Here's where to go and what to do.
How To Complete The Giant Beach Ball Challenge
As with beach parties dancing challenge, this is simple in theory--all you have to do is make contact with a giant beach ball. But also like the preceding challenge, you're given zero indication of where to find these giant beach balls or even how many there are. When you do happen upon one, there won't be any uncertainty--they are quite large, as advertised--and all you have to do to receive credit is run into the ball. That should trigger the pop-up notification letting you know you've progressed the challenge.
Particularly if you're attempting this right away, you're likely to run into a lot of other people doing the same thing. They could be hostile, or you might find other players camping the area in search of some easy kills. Fortunately, you can complete each step of this challenge without actually landing. As you're descending with your glider, you can move into the ball and register progress before your feet touch the ground. That should make it a little easier to complete the challenge before you're killed.
You'll need to bounce a total of five beach balls to finish the challenge. As the challenge text notes, you have to do this across different matches, so you'll need to play at least five rounds to get this done. However, you can keep returning to the same beach ball location over and over from match to match.
Where To Find Giant Beach Balls - All Locations
We've discovered three different giant beach ball locations on the map. You'll be able to see the ball from a far distance, so if you head to the general area you shouldn't have much trouble tracking one down. You can see the locations and a map below, and we'll have a video guide soon.
On the border of D3/E3, south of The Block
Western part of F6, southwest of Dusty Divot
On the border of H7/I7, northwest of Paradise Palms
Giant Beach Ball Challenge Reward
Finishing the giant beach ball challenge will earn you an Uncommon rarity loading screen called Soak It Up that shows various Fortnite characters lounging on the beach. This is also one step toward earning the Smoothie back bling, which you'll get for doing all 14 challenges from the 14 Days of Summer event, which kicked off with the release of Fortnite's 9.30 content update patch.
Annapurna Interactive has announced What Remains of Edith Finch is coming to the Japanese Nintendo Switch eShop on July 4. As the announcement lists that the English version will be supported, it can be assumed the port will be released worldwide. However, that hasn't been officially confirmed. Regardless, the Switch can access multiple regions, so even if the port remains exclusive to Japan, you'll still be able to buy it.
According to Japanese Nintendo, What Remains of Edith Finch will release on Switch in Japan for ¥2,200, which is just over $20 USD / £16. The game requires a 2.2 GB download.
What Remains of Edith Finch is one of the best games of 2017, receiving universal critical praise. You play as the titular Edith Finch, who returns to her family home after her mother's death. Over the course of the game, you visit the rooms of each member of Edith's family--all of whom are deceased--to learn about the lives and ultimate demise of each person. You also begin to unravel the truth behind the curse supposedly haunting the Finch family, which dictates that only one member of each generation will live a normal life. All the others are doomed to die in a strange or unusual way.
In GameSpot's What Remains of Edith Finch review, Justin Clark gave the game a 9/10, writing, "Developer Giant Sparrow managed to strike the delicate balance between joy and sorrow in 2012's The Unfinished Swan, but What Remains of Edith Finch transcends even the latent sadness of that game, finding the beauty--even sometimes the fun--in what's always fundamentally a tragedy. It's not often that a game's plot slips past the bitterness of grief to finally get to the acceptance, but that's the triumph in What Remains of Edith Finch. Ultimately, if the game has any resemblance of a moral, it's that the bravest, most beautiful thing every one of us does is choose to keep going, despite knowing what's coming."
If you just cannot wait until next week and want to buy What Remains of Edith Finch right now, the game is 55% off during the Steam 2019 Summer Sale--which continues through July 9. You can see the game's discounted price in the US, UK, and AU below.
What Remains Of Edith Finch Steam 2019 Summer Sale Prices
It might seem like the fighting game market of the current day is crowded with games looking to stand out, but it's nothing compared to the early '90s. While Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat ruled the roost, everyone was trying to find a way to set their game apart. Among the competition was SNK's Samurai Shodown, a weapons-based fighting game that emphasized careful movement, high damage, and rewarding patient, careful reading and reacting to your foe's attacks--along with some fountains of blood from downed opponents for good measure. Over 25 years later, history is repeating itself as a new Samurai Shodown draws its blade, offering many of the same things that made it great all those years ago--only now it feels even fresher.
The Samurai Shodown series is one of SNK's most beloved properties, but also among its most inconsistent; the series has had some very high highs (Samurai Shodown II, Samurai Shodown V Special) and extremely low lows (Samurai Shodown III, Samurai Shodown Sen). Thankfully, the developers at SNK have understood the franchise's mixed legacy, and worked to really focus on what makes Samurai Shodown special in the world of fighting games: the thrill of being in a high-stakes, life-or-death struggle where one wrong step could take you from a comfortable lead to lying on the ground with a sword in your gut.
If you haven't played Samurai Shodown before, the first thing you'll notice is the relative simplicity of the game's controls. You have four attack buttons (three strengths of weapon attacks and a kick), each of which has a very distinct feel when pressed; you'll really feel the weight of a heavy slash's slow, powerful arc as opposed to the quick hilt-smash of a light slash. Combinations of the buttons allow you to perform dodges, overhead slashes, and throws and even a special desperation-style mode. Special moves vary for each character, but are almost all easy-to-perform semi-circle, half-circle, and Dragon Punch-style inputs.
Playing around with the various characters and seeing their unique moves and abilities really establishes just how good everything feels to control. The various attack weights feel substantial, and even basic standing, crouching, and dashing moves are a lot of fun to see executed onscreen as blades whoosh around in beautiful arcs--to say nothing of the flashy special moves. Simply doing things with your chosen fighter feels inherently enjoyable, even if you're just getting the grasp of their moveset.
Pressing buttons mindlessly might feel good, but you'll soon discover that restraint is of the essence. Samurai Shodown was known in its heyday for extremely high damage, and if you're coming off other fighting games, you'll have a bit of a shock once you see how much life a well-placed heavy sword strike can chop off. Strong moves hit hard, and if you leave an opening for your opponent to take advantage of, you can very quickly find your life bar melting like butter in a frying pan under the pressure of their blade. If you try to go in furiously swinging, you'll likely find yourself left open to a very, very painful counterattack as you're stuck recovering from that heavy sword slash you just whiffed.
To offset the high damage, there are a lot of defensive options that you can utilize. There's good old-fashioned high and low blocking, but there's also a special "Just Defend" block you can execute right as the opponent's attack is about to hit that will very briefly stun them. There's also a dodge attack, a universal parry, and multiple means to disarm your foes, leaving them weaponless and at a severe disadvantage. (Be careful, though--some characters are more capable when disarmed than others!) You also have forward/backward recovery when knocked down, allowing you to avoid a lot of pressure when getting up if used well.
The big, flashy attacks and myriad defensive options combine to make a game with a much different focus than most other fighting games currently out there. Rather than mixups and combo strings (you'll only rarely see double-digit combo hit counts), Samurai Shodown heavily emphasizes pacing, carefully reading and reacting to your opponent, and patiently waiting for the ideal opportunity to capitalize on your foe's vulnerability. There's not a lot of complex layered-on systems here, but that doesn't matter; this isn't about lengthy combos or executing multiple super attacks, this is about finding out how to make your opponent dead in the most effective way possible.
The core gameplay, great as it is, is only part of a bigger package--one that might be a bit disappointing to those looking for a strong single-player experience. The roster is small in comparison to some other fighters, but it offers a lot of variety. Fans will appreciate seeing old favorite characters like wild-haired samurai Haohmaru, determined Ainu warrior girl Nakoruru, and even somewhat more obscure picks like the multi-sword-wielding Yoshitora and ethereal trickster Shiki. The game also introduces new characters to the franchise: hard-drinking, razor-sharp shipwright Darli Dagger, clumsy but deceptively cunning Wu-Ruixiang, and the bird-themed, aerial-attack-heavy Yashamaru.
The big, flashy attacks and myriad defensive options combine to make a game with a much different focus than most other fighting games currently out there.
But even though there's plenty of characters, the story mode is pretty weak, giving each character only an intro, ending, and few simplistic cutscenes, along with a final boss who doesn't seem to have anything to do with a lot of the cast. (Said final boss can also be incredibly challenging if you don't find an AI exploit with your chosen character--the term "SNK Final Boss Syndrome" exists for a reason.) There are training modes, along with gauntlet (fight every character) and survival (fight a bunch of characters on a limited lifebar), but beyond that, you're going to need to either invite a friend over or hop online to truly enjoy what Samurai Shodown has to offer.
[Editor's note: As of this writing, the online is just going live, so we're currently trying out network combat and the online-enabled Dojo mode. We'll be finalizing this review once we've had more time with the online offerings.]
Samurai Shodown is a great reboot. It captures what made the original fun and unique, but also at a time when high-damage, high-stakes fighters like this are a rarity, making its combat feel both fresh and familiar. Its accessibility and easy-to-grasp gameplay belie a lot of strategic depth that makes for very intense, bloody struggles. While the single-player experience is a bit lacking, it doesn't drag down the whole significantly. We'll update soon with more about the online experience, but for now, Samurai Shodown is a fighting experience well worth taking up the sword for.
DC has announced a brand new "pop-up imprint" under its adult-reader Black Label line called Hill House Comics, spearheaded by horror author and comics veteran Joe Hill (Locke & Key, NOS4A2).
The pop-up imprint will kick off with the first of five announced stories: Basket Full Of Heads, created by Hill and artist Leomacs. It tells the story of a woman named June Branch on a mission to save her kidnapped boyfriend, wielding an "impossible 8th-century Viking ax" that can "pass through a neck in a single swipe, leaving the severed head conscious and capable of speech."
Basket Full Of Heads will be joined by four other monthly limited series and one ongoing back-up story featured in each Hill House Comics issue.
The Low, Low Woods is created by Carmen Maria Machado and artist Dani. The synopsis reads, "a mysterious plague is afflicting the small mining town of Shudder to Think, Pennsylvania. It strikes seemingly at random, eating away at the memories of those suffering from it. From tales of rabbits with human eyes to deer women who come to the windows of hungry girls at night, this town is one of those places where strange things are always happening. But no one ever seems to question why." The Low Low Woods is "a gruesome coming-of-age body-horror mystery series about two teenage women trying to uncover the truth about the mysterious memory-devouring illness affecting them and the people of the small mining town they call home—and the more they discover, the more disturbing the truth becomes."
The Dollhouse Family by Mike Carey and Peter Gross tells the story of a young girl named Alice who is given a mysterious dollhouse by a late aunt that Alice can actually enter "to visit a new group of friends, straight out of a heartwarming children's novel: the Dollhouse family. As the years pass, Alice finds herself visiting their world more frequently, slowly losing track of where reality ends and make-believe begins. What starts as play concludes in an eruption of madness and violence."
Daphne Bryne by Laura Marks and Kelley Jones will focus on a 14-year-old girl named Daphne in 19th-century New York City who must rescue her grief-stricken mother from a predatory group of occultists promising to contact her late father. But, "while fighting to disentangle her mother from these charlatans, Daphne begins to sense a strange, insidious presence in her own body…an entity with unspeakable appetites. And as she learns to wield this brutal, terrifying power, she wages a revenge-fueled crusade against the secret underworld that destroyed her life."
Finally, Pulge by Hill and an unannounced artist will uncover a nautical mystery focused on a ship from 1983 which "disappeared, wiped out in a storm on the edge of the Arctic circle—the world's most advanced research vessel in the hunt for oil, lost in the aftermath of a tsunami."
But, "almost 40 years later, the Derleth begins to transmit its distress signal once again, calling into Alaska's remote Attu Station from the most forlorn place on earth, a desolate ring island in the icy faraway. A US salvage team made up of experts, scientists, and mercenaries helicopter in just ahead of a storm—and the Russian competition—to find the abandoned wreck hung up on the island shores of the atoll. As a wintry blizzard clamps down, anomalies begin to surface: first the samples of an oil with unlikely properties, and then the sonar readings of a sunken prehistoric civilization just offshore. Still, nothing could prepare the salvage team for the reappearance of the Derleth's crew from the island cave, no older than they were four decades ago, every one of them struck blind by an inexplicable infection…and yet capable of seeing in new ways, possessed of extraordinary powers and stripped of all but their last vestiges of humanity…"
Every issue will be accompanied by a chapter of Sea Dogs, by Hill and an unannounced artist which will tell the story of nautical werewolves set during the American revolution.
Hill House Comics kicks off with Basket Full Of Heads, hitting shelves on October 30.
Game of Thrones might have completed its run on HBO, but many fans will still want to own the final season on Blu-ray and DVD. Details have now been revealed of Season 8's upcoming physical release, as well as an amazing set which collects the entire series.
All of these sets are due to arrive in December. The biggest release is Game of Thrones: The Complete Collection. As well as including all eight seasons of the show, this collection includes the exclusive Game of Thrones: Reunion Special, a two-part reunion show with cast members from the final season. Hosted by Conan O'Brien, this special was filmed in front of a live audience and features stars such as Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke, and Sophie Turner, plus former cast members like Sean Bean, Jason Momoa, and Mark Addy.
The Complete Collection also features a wealth of bonus content. These include all-new deleted and extended scenes, animated histories, behind-the-scene featurettes, audio commentaries, and the documentary Game of Thrones: The Last Watch, which chronicles the making of Season 8. The whole set comes in an amazing wooden case, with illustrated panel designs by artist Robert Ball that tell the story of the whole show. Check out a preview of the box set in the video below:
The entire series will also be collected in a standard DVD/Blu-ray set. As for Season 8, this will available separately in a Steelbook Blu-ray & 4K Ultra HD edition, and a standard DVD/Blu-ray set. These releases feature the same bonus content as The Complete Collection, and all editions will be available on December 3.
Full details of the exclusive content are listed below:
Game of Thrones: The Complete Collection and Game of Thrones: The Complete Series on Blu-ray Bonus Features Include:
Game of Thrones: Reunion Special: A reunion show shot live in Belfast with the cast, both past and present, hosted by Conan O'Brien and available exclusively on these complete series collections. The reunion special is assembled in segments focused on Houses Lannister, Stark, & Targaryen and concludes with the key players all onstage for their final reflections on the years they shared in Westeros and Essos.
Bonus content and retail exclusive videos from previously released individual season box sets, totaling more than 15 hours of extra materials for fans to explore when they've finished watching the series.
Complete Series and Season 8 formats exclusively feature:
Game of Thrones: The Last Watch: A documentary featured on DVD in two parts by filmmaker Jeanie Finlay chronicling the making of the final season.
When Winter Falls: Exclusive 30-minute featurette with showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, along with major stars and behind-the-scenes players, breaking down all that went into the colossal filming of the Battle of Winterfell in Season 8, Episode 3.
Duty is the Death of Love: A compelling look at how the team behind Game of Thrones and its major stars, including Kit Harington, Peter Dinklage and Emilia Clarke, brought the show to its conclusion in the series finale, "The Iron Throne."
Audio Commentaries: 10 Audio Commentaries with cast and crew, including the show's creators, Benioff and Weiss, on the final season.
Deleted and Extended Scenes: 5 never-before-seen deleted or extended scenes from season 8.
Histories and Lore: New animated pieces giving the history and background of notable season 8 locations and storylines.
Sort of like the movie itself, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse has hopped from screen to screen, delighting fans worldwide. After a strong showing during awards season and grossing $375.5 million, the Oscar-winning animated film has hopped to another screen--the home screen. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has finally landed on Netflix.
Miles Morales, a socially-awkward teenager, is the lead in Into The Spider-Verse. What starts as a narrative about love and acceptance slowly opens into grander scope as Miles is bit by a radioactive spider, granting him spider-like abilities and impressive physical prowess. The movie then transitions into an endearing story about hope and faith and confidence as an older Peter Parker involuntarily mentors the hapless teen.
Into The Spider-Verse walked away with a few trophies in hand earlier this year, winning both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature, and many others. It was no surprise that producer Amy Pascal confirmed a sequel with the film's smashing success, saying her team is "definitely hard at work on the sequel." No further details were provided, including a release window, but we do know the sequel will likely contain more dimension-hopping Spideys.
In our Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse review, we said, "It manages to blow right past the dangers of sinking into after school special territory by believing wholeheartedly in its own message and delivering it with appropriately genuine stakes. The end result is an instant animated classic, and, with any luck, the first of many of its kind."
Netflix has a stacked month ahead. The releases for July look to fulfill a wide range of binging desires, with Cloverfield (July 1), Stranger Things 3 Season 3 (July 4), The Princess and the Frog (July 16), Inglourious Basterds (July 22), and more, all showing up for America's birthday month.
The three major console manufacturers behind Switch, Xbox One, and PS4--Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony--have penned a joint letter voicing their opposition for tariffs that would impact Chinese goods including game consoles. The three say the proposed tariffs on video game consoles would cause harm to consumers, developers, retailers, and manufacturers, risk job losses in the industry, and stifle innovation.
"While we appreciate the Administration's efforts to protect U.S. intellectual property and preserve U.S. high-tech leadership, the disproportionate harm caused by these tariffs to U.S. consumers and businesses will undermine—not advance—these goals," the letter states.
The letter goes on to note that in 2018, more than 96% of video game consoles imported in the US were manufactured in China, and that moving 100% of manufacturing to the US or another country would cause "significant supply chain disruption" and increase costs "even beyond the cost of the proposed tariffs."
"Each video game console comprises dozens of complex components sourced from multiple countries," it says. "A change in even a single supplier must be vetted carefully to mitigate risks of product quality, unreliability and consumer safety issues. Tariffs would significantly disrupt our companies' businesses and add significant costs that would depress sales of video game consoles and the games and services that drive the profitability of this market segment."
The industry leaders also note that consoles are sold under very tight margins, sometimes at a loss. Increasing the cost of production would either need to add to the sales price ("console purchasers are extremely price sensitive") or cut into the companies themselves. A 25% price increase in consoles to match the tariff cost would "likely put a new video game console out of reach for many American families who we expect to be in the market for a console this holiday season."
It goes on to note the potential harm to third-party accessory makers, developers, and especially retailers. In particular it voices concern over these tariffs going into effect before the 2019 holiday season.
"Given that retail margins on video game consoles are generally very tight, we see no possible reasonable scenario for retailers other than passing tariff costs down to consumers," it states. "Any imposition of tariffs leading into the winter holidays—the strongest sales season for consoles—would have a significant negative impact on U.S.-based retailers and their employees, in particular because promotional offers on consoles are important to driving sales volume. Tariffs would make it especially difficult for both console makers and retailers to support the types of promotional offers typical of the holiday season."
The proposed tariffs would add a 25% tax on all imports from China. That tax is paid for by the importers--in this case, the console manufacturers themselves. But as pointed out in the letter, these increased costs would likely be offset with price increases on retailers and consumers. Nintendo has reportedly been preparing itself for the tariffs by moving manufacturing out of China ahead of the launch of rumored new Switch models. The United States Trade Representative held hearings on June 17, and now could put them into effect at any time.
PC gaming giant Steam just launched its annual summer sale, offering huge discounts across the board on thousands of PC games, and now you can save even more with this great deal on Steam gift cards. For a limited time at MassGenie, $100 and $50 Steam gift cards cost $85 and $43, respectively. An additional 15% off when you're already seeing discounts of 50-75% is the cherry on top of a savings sundae. Enter the code STEAMGIFTCARD100 or STEAMGIFTCARD50 at checkout to apply the discount. Per usual with MassGenie deals, ignore the ominous, 24-hour clock counting down on the side of the page--the offer is valid until June 30, or while supplies last.
This year the Steam sale includes a new mini-game in its Grand Prix theme. Users select a team for a race (among Hare, Corgi, Cockatiel, Pig, and Tortoise) and then complete quests in their various games to earn points toward a boost, which then helps their team do better in the race. Supporters of the winning teams will earn free games from their Steam wishlists, so be sure to get yours up to date.
We'll be posting more highlights from the sale as it goes on, but for starters check out our favorite overall deals. Also be sure to take a look at the best games under $10, since that category explodes during this time of year with some absolute steals. Not to be outdone, Fanatical also has its own Red Hot summer sale going on right now with a lot of great deals on Steam codes as well. Fanatical is worth keeping tabs on in general, since they often have better deals than Steam does directly, so be sure to compare prices to make sure you're getting the best deal possible.
Avengers: Endgame is the biggest movie of the 21st century to date. Globally, the movie made $2.7 billion at the box office, making it the second highest grossing movie of all time. So of course, when this movie releases digitally 7/30 and on Blu-ray on 8/13, chances are you're going to buy it. Luckily, we know what special features will be included on this home release.
Recently revealed, both the digital and physical release of the movie will have plenty of features giving us more insight into 2019's biggest movie. Most importantly, there will be audio commentary from directors Anthony and Joe Russo and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Last year with Infinity War's home release, the commentary gave us a ton of insight into the movie, along with some Easter eggs.
Additionally, there are six deleted scenes included, and the titles of these scenes are listed below. They may give us some idea of what they're about. There is also a gag reel, so there is a pretty good chance we'll see some of these actors dancing between takes. Sadly, there's no mention of Chris Hemsworth as fat Thor playing "Hurt."
The digital version of the movie only has one exclusive feature, and that's a featurette diving into Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter, dissecting Steve's controversial decision at the end of the movie. There is plenty more on this home release, so check out the full list of special features below.
Avengers: Endgame Special Features:
Digital Exclusive:
Steve and Peggy: One Last Dance--A special feature exploring these two characters relationship and history.
Blu-ray & Digital:
Remembering Stan Lee--The cast and filmmakers discuss Lee's cameos in MCU movies.
Setting The Tone: Casting Robert Downey Jr.--Recounting casting RDJ for Iron Man
A Man Out of Time: Creating Captain America--The evolution of Cap.
Black Widow: Whatever It Takes--The evolution of Black Widow
The Russo Brothers: Journey to Endgame
The Women of the MCU
Bro Thor--An exploration of this character for Endgame
Six Deleted Scenes--"Goji Berries," "Bombs on Board," "Suckiest Army in the Galaxy," "You Used to Frickin' Live Here," "Tony and Howard" and "Avengers Take a Knee."
Gag Reel
Audio Commentary-- By directors Anthony and Joe Russo, and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.
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Sony has revealed the games PlayStation Plus subscribers will be able to download for free in July. The first is something for the sports fans out there: Pro Evolution Soccer 2019, while the second is Horizon Chase Turbo, which is described on the PlayStation Blog as "a love-letter to the iconic, just-one-more-go racers of the arcade's golden age."
While Horizon Chase Turbo may not be familiar to you, it's available at no additional cost if you're already paying for PlayStation Plus, so worth taking a shot on anyway. Pro Evolution Soccer 2019, on the other hand, will no doubt be familiar to you. The latest entry in Konami's beloved soccer sim series is also one of its best and earned a 9/10 in our review.
"For as long as EA continues to develop FIFA and hold a monopoly over official licences, PES will be the scrappy underdog just hoping for a surprise upset, even when it's fielding the likes of London Blue and PV White Red," said Richard Wakeling. "The lack of licences for top-tier leagues remains a disheartening sticking point, but PES continues to make brilliant strides on the pitch, building on what was already an incredibly satisfying game of football to produce one of the greatest playing football games of all time.
"It might be lacking off the pitch, but put it on the field against the competition and a famous giant killing wouldn't be all that surprising." Read our full PES 2019 review for a detailed analysis of the game.
The announcement of July's titles means time is running out to claim June's free PlayStation Plus titles, which are Borderlands: The Handsome Collection and Sonic Mania. After July 1, these two games will no longer be available to download. PES 2019 and Horizon Chase Turbo will be available for free from July 2 until August 5.
July 2019 PlayStation Plus Games For PS4
Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 (July 2 - August 5)
Sonic Mania (July 2 - August 5)
Konami has announced the next game in the series, which has the odd title of "eFootball PES 2020." The game is expected to launch on September 10 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
While Luigi will no doubt remain in the shadow of his spotlight-hogging brother, Mario, the little-plumber-that-occasionally-could has had something of an increase in popularity of late. Given that there was an entire year of Nintendo games and marketing dedicated to him in 2013, this shouldn't come as a surprise, but he's also become a bit bolder as a character recently--who can forget the gifs of him giving dagger eyes to fellow racers as he passed them by in Mario Kart 8?
Luigi's Mansion 3 allows the lanky green boy to continue his side-hustle as an exorcist and ghost hunter but puts him up against his greatest challenge yet: an entire hotel full of ghouls to be vacuumed and vanquished. This time Mario and the gang have been captured, and it's up to him to free them and save the day. This will require bravery the likes of which Luigi has never shown before, so could it also be a turning point in his life? Will we get a self-assured, composed Luigi on the other side?
That's one of the questions we posed to Kensuke Tanabe, producer of Luigi's Mansion 3, and the game's supervisor, Yoshihito Ikebata. We also discussed the surprising popularity of the character and what distinguishes him from Mario, as well as how moving to a hotel changes the ghost hunting experience, and Nintendo's thinking on DLC for the game.
GameSpot: During the presentation, you mentioned the Luigi's Mansion games have done really well. Was that a surprise to you?
Tanabe: I was genuinely surprised to see so many people so excited about this game. There was a very long gap in the time between the first and second game coming out, but the fact that the third one came out pretty much right away must have something to do with the fact that it was so popular. So, right now we're talking to [Luigi's Mansion 3 developer] Next Level Games, trying to get more out of the game; creating a more fun game featuring Luigi.
Do you think that Luigi as a character is now more relatable to the common person? Everyone loves Mario but he's a hero beyond reach. He rescued the princess many times, he's been to outer space, and done all sorts of wild stuff. Luigi is still just the scared younger brother. Would you say that Luigi's more popular and relatable than Mario?
Tanabe: Yeah, we agree with you exactly. Mario is just basically the hero, someone to look up to, an inspiration. Whereas Luigi is someone who [people can feel] closer to and I think that's a part of his charm.
How does that translate to designing a game? In a lot of games, you want to fulfill the fantasy of being a hero, but Luigi is scared a lot of time. And he achieves things, but he rarely has the same kind of triumph moment.
Tanabe: Were you able to play the game?
Yeah, I played it.
Tanabe: So you saw things like [the] slam?
[Editor's note: The slam is an ability Luigi has that allows him to grab enemy ghosts, wrangle them, and then slam them into the ground to do damage.]
Yeah. But when he does it, he seems like he's kind of terrified the entire time and scared of doing it. He never quite looks confident--even three games in.
Tanabe: Well, that's exactly it. In terms of the gameplay and how it feels like to the user, that's something we really focus on [to] let the player feel good when they play the game. So, in animating Luigi himself, we want to keep it very Luigi-like. Even if Luigi's terrified, if the player can [be] satisfied by doing these actions, I think they will feel satisfied.
What was it about a hotel setting that intrigued you?
Tanabe: Simply put, I just really wanted a different atmosphere. In addition to that, structurally speaking, in Luigi's Mansion, I really wanted a bunch of the rooms to be interconnected with each other and then have the users visualize that in their minds and make that into a game plan in itself. But, when that's kind of stacked up vertically, it becomes kind of difficult to make that very clear.
But, when it's a hotel, it's very obvious, very easy to visualize. The other thing we wanted to do was to give it a different theme and atmosphere for each of the floors and that's what was facilitated by choosing this.
Do you find it harder to create a consistent atmosphere? Because, as you go from levels that are drastically different in theme, you're almost resetting everything. How do you approach making sure that it's still spooky throughout while also having to start over each time you move up a floor?
Ikebata: Actually, because it's a hotel, it was very easy to come up with completely different atmospheres for each floor. We always had a thing from the perspective of the user, for the players who are going to play it, it's like, "How can we surprise them, how can we keep them kind of anticipating something new each time?" It's really all about the art style. So, by unifying the artistic look and feel of the entire thing, you're able to kind of maintain that same feel.
Did you do any actual research to go to spooky, haunted hotels? There's a few in LA. Did you try any of them? Because the Ghostbusters hotel is down the road, The Millennium Biltmore.
Tanabe: Oh man! Had we known about that haunted house, we totally would have gone. Unfortunately, we didn't think to do that.
Randomizing levels in multiplayer is interesting. What was the thinking behind that?
Tanabe: Because you can play with a lot of people, say four, they can all be in the same room at once if they want to, but it does kind of slow down the pace. Whereas everyone can be dispersed but then they also need to be able to come back together. They're about to battle a bunch of ghosts.
With that in mind, even though the rooms are randomly generated, we want to make sure people are able to come back together if they have to. Just making the layout so that it facilitates that was something I had in mind so we were sure to let Next Level Games know that was something that needs to happen.
Could this game be a moment of decisive change for Luigi as a character? Because Mario is trapped and all of their friends are trapped. We've got a game where Luigi rescues Mario, and if that is the case, is there a chance that he perhaps becomes more self-assured as a character? I think a lot of Luigi fans want to see that, if only for their own confidence.
Tanabe: That's a great observation because that is exactly the reason why we wanted to have the whole gang in there. He's going to rescue Mario. It's good.
I think it's time Luigi was no longer a coward and I think he's proved himself enough times that he should get a little bit of a confidence level up.
Tanabe: Sure. But, he's scared still.
A couple of years ago we had gifs of Luigi in Mario Kart looking at everyone very angrily and it seems like everything's building for him to finally push Mario out of the way.
Tanabe: [Laughs] I think Mario is a traditional hero type whereas Luigi is Luigi. We think that, regardless, he'll go in his own direction.
It was also mentioned during the presentation that Luigi as a character, and also his games as a whole, appeal to a much broader audience than you'd expect. Specifically, women were mentioned as liking Luigi more than Mario. Why do you think that is?
Tanabe: Well, I don't know for sure, but I think it's what we said earlier about the fact that he's not a traditional hero and is [therefore] a little bit closer to us, and I think the fact that you can kind of empathize with him might be what it is.
Structurally, how many levels can we expect the hotel to have and is there room to expand that later on? Are you looking at this hotel format as something you can build upon?
Tanabe: Are you speaking of the single-player?
Single-player and multiplayer, if that's something that you can add to later on. Is that something you want to do?
Ikebata: Right now there are 17 floors [in single-player].
Tanabe: Because like you said, it's a hotel structure with multiple floors, I think it would have been possible to add even more floors. But, I think the hardest part of that is not necessarily the act of adding floors, but it's like ... the story is done, so by adding [more floors], how are we going to expand that aspect? Because I want to experience completing the whole hotel and just feel satisfied that it's done. Adding on new stuff is not really something that gives us that.
What about introducing new elements in multiplayer? Now, when people design games, they don't want others to play it, be done, and move on. Instead, they want people to keep coming back. Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate do well with additional multiplayer options. Is that something you're thinking about with Luigi's Mansion?
Tanabe: This is a pretty important point, but trying to continue to add onto things that are already completed keeps the development team working on that project. What we really want to do is focus on the next thing, it keeps us moving onto new things. I personally don't have that kind of endurance.
That's interesting to hear since much of the industry's going the opposite direction. People spend a lot of time and money creating one thing and then they want to get as much out of it as possible to the point where it can be kind of exhausting for them and the player. What are your thoughts on that trend of people spending years and years and years making the same game? How do you feel about that from a creative standpoint?
Tanabe: Of course, we have titles like that in Nintendo too. Personally, I think there's got to be a couple of content updates over time because it's really fun. But I don't feel like we need to necessarily do that with all of our titles. So, this is entirely based on my personality, but I'm someone who likes to finish something and then move on.
As a player, I like to finish a game and then move on. It's good to hear that Luigi's Mansion has a finishing point.
Tanabe: Of course, there are games like that for those types of people who want to keep playing that type of game, and fans like you who wants to finish a game and move on, so I think it's great that there's a variety of different types of games.
For sure. And moving on helps creators channel that creativity and also get their ideas flowing. Is that something that you actively encourage while making games like Luigi's Mansion--or people to start thinking of the next thing?
Tanabe: I, myself, am like that. Even when I'm creating something I'm constantly thinking of the next thing. Even as we're wrapping up the development of Luigi Mansion 3, Next Level Games is like, what about [Luigi's Mansion 4]? What's going to come after a hotel?
How do you feel about that? Where you have wrapped up [development] and you're in the mindset of wanting to finish the game, and then someone comes along and says, "What about the fourth one?" Are you like, "Let me do something else first," or are you like, "I'm ready, I've got another idea, I want to go now, let's do the next one now?"
Tanabe: So, I personally work on multiple titles at the same time, not just one. When someone approaches me with a new idea, I have no issues. But on the other hand, if you try to make three of the same type of title, sometimes the staff will become exhausted. So, if the same team has worked on the same game three times, I try to make sure they get to work on something else.
Nintendo was a company that made games internally and was very careful about who creates its games. More recently, we've seen Nintendo partnering with other developers, whether it's Japanese companies like Bandai Namco or others like Next Level Games or Retro. What's it been like to have that shift?
Tanabe: I personally have been working since the '90s with external companies. The one thing I always think about is not just letting anyone make our games. We always work with someone who understands the way Nintendo games are. Another reason is that now that a lot of things are in HD and the quality is very high, it's really hard for us to just make everything on our own, so we do have to rely on other companies that understand the way things are made at Nintendo to make this together.
Do you find that these outside studios will bring in ideas that Nintendo wouldn't think of? When that happens, how do you weigh up taking on new ideas that are unexpected with what your fans expect from a Nintendo game?
Tanabe: Nintendo traditionally doesn't do a lot of things that are really grotesque or violent, for example. Our priority is doing something that is [uniquely] Nintendo. So, when people come up with ideas that we don't agree with and they're like, "In our culture, we make it like this." We, in turn, ask them, "Have you made a Nintendo game?" I turn it around and say, "I probably know more about making a Nintendo game than you do. So, how about I tell you how to work together on this?"
If you just can't wait until Cyberpunk 2077 arrives next year, you can now keep the hype alive with a free skin for your PS4 user interface, available now in the PlayStation Store. "Mercenary of the Dark Future" takes inspiration from CD Projekt Red's upcoming open-world RPG to upgrade your PlayStation's backgrounds, icons, sounds, and music. The icons have that classic, blue, wireframe look of sci-fi UIs, evoking a netrunner's rig in the game. Check it out below.
Cyberpunk 2077 is CD Projekt Red's hugely-anticipated follow-up to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which is based on Mike Pondsmith's seminal tabletop RPG, Cyberpunk 2020. Keanu Reeves was revealed to be a major character during Microsoft's recent E3 presentation. The open-world RPG launches on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on April 16, 2020.
The fantasy series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is one of Netflix's biggest upcoming shows, and the cast just keeps getting better. The series arrives in August, and it has been announced that Game of Thrones star Lena Headey and Doctor Strange's Benedict Wong are among the new members of the voice cast.
Netflix has confirmed that Headey and Wong will play Maudra Fara and The General respectively. Other new cast members include Sigourney Weaver (Ghostbusters) as The Myth-Speaker, Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians) as The Collector, Hannah John-Kamen (Ant-Man and The Wasp) as Naia, and Dave Goelz, who appeared in the original Dark Crystal movie, as Baffi.
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is a prequel to the classic 1982 film, and it hits Netflix on August 30. The cast also includes Taron Egerton, Anya Taylor-Joy, Mark Hamill, Jason Isaacs, Keegan-Michael Key, Simon Pegg, Andy Samberg, Helena Bonham Carter, Eddie Izzard, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mark Strong, and Alicia Vikander. There also two other stars from Game of Thrones in here--Natalie Dormer and Nathalie Emmanuel.
Like the movie, which was co-directed by the late Muppets creator Jim Henson, the new show uses puppetry to create the world of the Dark Crystal. You can check out the stunning first trailer here. Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance will run for 10 episodes.
The official synopsis reads: "The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance tells a new epic story, set many years before the events of the movie, and realized using classic puppetry with cutting edge visual effects. The world of Thra is dying. The Crystal of Truth is at the heart of Thra, a source of untold power. But it is damaged, corrupted by the evil Skeksis, and a sickness spreads across the land. When three Gelfling uncover the horrific truth behind the power of the Skeksis, an adventure unfolds as the fires of rebellion are lit and an epic battle for the planet begins."
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