The Phantom Armor set has no set bonus but gives an attack boost. Each piece will be in a treasure chest. To find them more easily, use your Sheikah Sensor to track treasure chests and enable Magnesis to spot them. (Note: You don't have to read the rumor book at Outskirt Stable to begin the armor quest.)
Each piece in the set can be found in the Central Hyrule region. Here's where to find them:
Helmet -- Coliseum Ruins, in the ground against the the northwest wall
Armor -- Sacred Ground Ruins, underwater/ground in the southeast portion
Greaves -- Hyrule Garrison Ruins, in the ground next to a dormant Guardian in the southeastern section
The Master Trials DLC is one of two DLC packs included in the Breath of the Wild Expansion Pass, which is available for $20 on the Nintendo Eshop. Be sure to follow all our Zelda guides and videos for more on the DLC.
Vicarious Visions used the original games' level geometry, but the gameplay is rebuilt from scratch. Some new features for the updated versions include a unified checkpoint and save system (including manual and auto-saving), as well as a unified menu system and Coco as a playable character for every level in the game.
We enjoyed what we played of the N. Sane Trilogy at E3 2017, but what do critics think of the final build? In GameSpot's Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy review, critic Peter Brown said Vicarious Visions has "succeeded in revitalizing Crash from an artistic perspective while preserving the charm that made him appealing when he first showed up," but he notes that "Crash's original adventures aren't as inventive or surprising as they were 20 years ago."
For a wider view of critical opinion, check out our review roundup below or take a look at GameSpot sister site Metacritic.
Game: Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
Developer: Vicarious Visions
Platform: PlayStation 4
Release: June 30
Price: US $40 / £30 / AU $70
GameSpot -- 6/10
"The culprit behind Crash's dated feel is the passage of time. Vicarious Visions, for its part, succeeded in revitalizing Crash from an artistic perspective while preserving the charm that made him appealing when he first showed up, but years have passed since the original PlayStation was relevant, and we are well past the formative years of 3D gaming. It's easy to imagine how a dyed-in-the-wool Crash fan will fall in love all over again via the N. Sane Trilogy, but if you're experiencing Crash for the first time--or the first time in a while--it might pain you to realize that Crash's original adventures aren't as inventive or surprising as they were 20 years ago." -- Peter Brown [Full review]
IGN -- 8.5/10
"I didn't want the Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy to break what wasn't broken. Thankfully, Vicarious Visions clearly didn't want to either, and the studio's reverence for the original maddening yet rewarding challenges that have stood the test of time is clearly on display. On one hand, that leads to the frustrating limitations of the original Crash Bandicoot persisting 20 years later. But it also results in the incredible visual and aural overhaul and the gameplay tweaks to earlier entries, like time trials and crate counters, that Naughty Dog added later in the series. Those additions make the overall package so much more cohesive while never forgetting what made, and what still makes, so much of Naughty Dog's original trilogy a blast to play." -- Jonathon Dornbush [Full review]
Game Informer -- 8/10
"Not all games from yesteryear hold up well. The original Crash Bandicoot likely would drive people nuts if it returned in its original form. Vicarious Visions made it fun again, without altering its DNA--a feat that deserves recognition. Although Crash spins and jumps his way through most levels, variety was the key to this series' success. Naughty Dog always included a different wrinkle or evolution of a concept in each stage, and that continues here. For all three games, the feeling of repetition never sinks in, a factor that goes a long way in making this trilogy a blast to play. It's good to have Crash back in the limelight. I hope this isn't the last we see of him." -- Andrew Reiner [Full review]
GamesRadar -- 3.5/5
"There's just no escaping it, there might be brand new death animations to keep you entertained--oh look I've been swallowed by a lion again--but there's no avoiding that the controls just mean that Crash Bandicoot has become Dark Souls. It's a horrible shame. After being so excited for the remaster, there's just no avoiding that the N. Sane Trilogy and you aren't going to get along for a while. When it takes sheer willpower to survive the original's first island when you've played the game for years, you know something has gone wrong somewhere. Those coming in fresh to the franchise aren't going to know what's hit them. Sure, it's big, beautiful, and positively packed with charm, but it's time to prepare to die. I love the N.Sane Trilogy in its new roguelite form but some things will definitely frustrate those new to the franchise looking to find out what all the fuss is about." -- Louise Blain [Full review]
Trusted Reviews -- 3/5
"It's no big surprise to say that the N. Sane trilogy is another pleasant form of fan service from Sony, which does seem keen on this kind of thing when you remember it's doing the same with Final Fantasy XII and Shenmue III. And the intended audience will love it. If you don't fall into this group, though, I don't think you should take the plunge now. Probably best to find something that was developed a bit more recently." -- Simon Miller [Full review]
TheSixthAxis -- 9/10
"As far as remakes go, you can't get any better than this. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is exactly how fans envisioned it--an unadulterated celebration of a PlayStation pioneer. With such a weight on their shoulders, Vicarious Visions have pulled it off with such diligence, infused with a streak of their own creativity. Then there's Naughty Dog original efforts, of course. Even those only acquainted with Uncharted and The Last of Us can appreciate how the studio first made its name, and the journey from Crash Bandicoot to Warped is one of continued innovation. Some two decades later, it's great to see that some things never change." -- Jim Hargreaves [Full review]
Fumito Ueda is famous for his work on Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, but his most recent game, The Last Guardian, is notorious for being released seven and a half years after its announcement. For his next game, Ueda hopes that the development cycle will be much quicker.
In an interview with Eurogamer, Ueda gave a few small details about his next project. Ueda explained that he's changing the way that he progresses through development. In the past, Ueda has started work by creating a tone-setting short film. For the new project, however, he'll create a working prototype first.
"I would like to finish a game as soon as quickly possible," he said through a translator. He also explained that "many problems" caused Last Guardian development to take "a very long time."
Finally, when asked whether his new game would resemble his other projects, he stated that he intended the game to be very different--but it might end up similar anyways.
He explained, "The last three games we created I didn't intend to be very similar to each other. When I start to create a game, always I think we will create something different. But the result was that in the three games there are some similarities. There's a moment when one game links with another, but I didn't put it in at the start, it happens in the process. So now, I think I'm creating something very different, but the end result? I can't say."
Ueda also talked about the upcoming Shadow of the Colossus remake on PS4, sharing that he had submitted a list of changes to Sony. The remake launches at some point in 2018, and it's being handled by developer Bluepoint Games, a studio known for working on remasters. You can check out footage of the remake in the embedded video at the top of this article.
While all major blockbusters have impressive visual effects these days, few are as incredible as the Planet of the Apes movies. Explosions and robots are one thing, but the believable, sympathetic primate heroes of the hit sci-fi series are an amazing creation. A new promo video for the upcoming War for the Planet of the Apes reveals the motion capture process that turns star Andy Serkis into ape leader Caesar. Check it out below:
War for the Planet of the Apes arrives in theaters next month. Earlier this week the final trailer was released--watch it here. You can check out earlier trailers here and here.
In a recent interview with Empire, director Matt Reeves spoke about the movies that influenced War for the Planet of the Apes. "I wanted this film to be like a Biblical epic," he said. "Mark [Bomback, co-writer] and I looked at classic war movies: The Bridge on the River Kwai, Patton, Apocalypse Now. But we were also thinking in terms of things such as The Ten Commandments. I wanted it to feel very intimate in the foreground, but with grand vistas always dwarfing [the characters]. In a sense, it's about these two species pitted against each other and nature being greater than both of them. I wanted a David Lean ape movie."
In a departure from previous games in the series, Mass Effect: Andromeda will reportedly not be getting any single-player DLC. No expansions will come to the EA title, according to a Kotaku report citing three anonymous sources "familiar with [developer] BioWare's plans." Previous Mass Effect titles have all received added single-player content following launch, but it seems that will not be the case for Andromeda.
The decision, according to the report, was made at least in part because of the game's mixed critical and fan reception. Andromeda's launch was plagued with issues, leading some players to become unhappy with BioWare and EA.
Kotaku then reported in May that EA had put the Mass Effect series on "hiatus" and scaled down BioWare's workforce. The site's report states a small team remains working on Andromeda to push out fixes and support its multiplayer portion, but that most of the game's primary development studio, BioWare Montreal, has moved on to other projects. The company had originally planned to make a sequel to Andromeda, but that idea has been shelved, sources said.
The Edmonton, Canada-based developer has since unveiled its new IP, Anthem, which is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in 2018.
In our Mass Effect Andromeda review, critic Scott Butterworth said, "In many ways, Andromeda feels like a vision half-fulfilled. It contains a dizzying amount of content, but the quality fluctuates wildly. Its worlds and combat shine, but its writing and missions falter--and the relative strength of the former is not enough to compensate for the inescapable weakness of the latter." He awarded the game a 6/10.
Nidhogg is one of the most fun local multiplayer games to come out in the last few years, and its sequel is shaping up to be just as great. In the first game, you could only play as a small, nondescript, pixellated character. However, developer Messhof revealed today that Nidhogg 2 will feature full character customization.
This is possible because of Nidhogg 2's weird, cartoony art style that's significantly different than the first game's minimalistic pixel-art. In Nidhogg 2, you'll be able to change your character's clothes, hairdo, and accessories. You can check it out in action in the GIF below.
Nidhogg 2 also features several other additions and changes, such as an integrated eight-player tournament mode, several more stages, and online multiplayer. Arguably the biggest change to the core gameplay, though, is the addition of three more weapons. No longer are you bound to just your fists and rapier; in Nidhogg 2, you can use a broadsword, dagger, and bow, as well.
The game launches this summer on PC and PS4; you can watch gameplay of it here. You can also see some screenshots of the game's new art style in the gallery above.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's first DLC pack, The Master Trials, is now available. Nintendo often tries to pack a lot into its DLC, and there's a lot to take in with this debut effort for Breath of the Wild. Most notably, there's the Trial of the Sword where you play through a 45-room challenge to power up the Master Sword. That's all well and good, but it might be the smaller touches that really make The Master Trials worth digging into.
Case in point: Tingle's costume, which you can now acquire and wear. As depicted in the GIF below from Dorkly's Tristan Cooper, dressing up as Tingle and walking up to NPCs in the world elicits… shall we say, a reaction. Characters recoil in terror, fear, or confusion--your pick, really--when you approach in full Tingle garb. It also has the added benefit of providing you with a speed boost at night.
Acquiring the three pieces of the Tingle outfit, which consists of a hood, shirt, and tights, involves finding a guide book written by a thief who stole these (and the other new DLC items). If you'd prefer to go directly to the components, you'll find them inside of chests located in the Mabe Village Ruins, Castle Town Prison, and Exchange Ruins.
Tingle is something of a curious character. He first appeared in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and has gone on to become something of a cult favorite, popping up in other games and even receiving his own on DS (albeit only in Japan and Europe, sadly). In a blog post leading up to the DLC's release, Breath of the Wild designer Mari Shirakawa acknowledged the strangeness regarding Tingle's popularity, writing, "He became popular (?) enough to star as the main character in some games."
The Master Trials is out now on Switch and Wii U. It's available only as part of a season pass that bundles it with Breath of the Wild's second DLC, The Champions' Ballad, which launches later this year. We'll be digging deep into the new DLC, so stay tuned to GameSpot for more coverage.
Update: The Spider-Man Homecoming VR Experience launches today, a week prior to the movie's opening in the US. You can grab it on the PlayStation Store here, and it's also coming for Vive and Oculus Rift.
Original Story: Spider-Man Homecoming hits theaters in early July, and to mark the upcoming release, Sony is launching a tie-in experience for virtual reality headsets. It's coming a week ahead of the film's release date, and it's free.
Sony announced the experience with a short trailer which shows a bit of what you can expect. It looks like a series of mini-games that'll have you shooting webs, eliminating enemies, and, most importantly, swinging through the city. You can check out the video above.
Spider-Man Homecoming VR arrives on June 30, a week before the film's July 7 release. Although the game was produced by Sony Pictures Virtual Reality, it's not limited to PlayStation VR. It'll be available for all major VR systems, including the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. If you don't own a VR headset, you can still try it out at certain Cinemark theaters in the United States.
The Nintendo Switch has been in short supply since it launched this past March, selling out almost immediately at GameStop and other retailers as soon as stocks are replenished. If you're still in the market for one, however, ThinkGeek has a new supply of consoles available to order right now.
The retailer is selling an array of Switch bundles on its website. The bundles range from $420 - $610, and each comes with a console, a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and additional pieces of Zelda merchandise such as the Legend of Zelda: Arts & Artifacts art book and other collectibles. You can find the full list of bundles here.
With Spider-Man: Homecoming hitting theaters on July 7, you may be wondering who a few of the characters are in the movie. Everyone knows Peter Parker, especially after two separate franchises and five solo films. However, some of his villains are not as well known. In Homecoming, Spider-Man faces The Vulture, played by Michael Keaton. This Silver Age villain is over 50 years old, but where did he come from and who is he?
The Vulture first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #2 back in 1963. He was created by the legendary Steve Ditko and Stan Lee. The villain's real name is Adrian Toomes, an electronics engineer who was stabbed in the back by his business partner. This betrayal led Toomes to a life of crime, using a device he invented which gave him the ability to fly, as well as super-strength. The Vulture is primarily known for being an old man--Spider-Man's senior citizen foe.
While Vulture isn't the biggest or most formidable of Spider-Man's villains, he did meddle in Parker's life on more than one occasion. Toomes was partially responsible for Nathan Lubensky's death. Lubensky was the love interest for Aunt May, and after a battle between Vulture and Spider-Man, Lubensky suffered a fatal heart attack when he jumped on Vulture's back in hopes of stopping a fight between the villain and the web-slinger.
During a really bizarre storyline, Chameleon and Green Goblin created lifelike androids of Peter Parker's parents, hoping it would drive Spider-Man insane. Vulture, who recently developed life-force-sucking gloves, stole all the energy from Peter's "mother," and transferred it into himself, making the Vulture young once again. Like everything in comics, this didn't last forever, and he returned to his elderly state.
Aside from being adept at inventing, Vulture proved himself to be a master strategist during the mid-'00s miniseries Identity Disc. In that story, Vulture--along with the help of Sandman--manipulated a group of supervillains to work together in order to get a disc with the identities of SHIELD agents on it. This list included Toomes's daughter. This is one of the few times we get to see Vulture as an empathetic villain, as he wanted to protect his child from other evildoers.
We last saw Vulture during the volume Superior Spider-Man, when Doctor Octopus put his mind into Spider-Man's body. Spider-Man blinded Vulture and sent him to The Raft, a prison for supervillains. To this day, he is still blind and imprisoned.
Looking to read more about The Vulture? Check these stories out:
Return of the Sinister Six: Vulture joins the Sinister Six, and they have a plan to defeat Spider-Man. the story takes place in Amazing Spider-Man #335-339.
Lifetheft: Vulture becomes young again after draining the life of Peter's mother, who is an android. Read it for yourself in Amazing Spider-Man #386-388.
Civil War: After Peter Parker reveals himself as Spider-Man on television, there are a few revelations involving Vulture. While Spider-Man's story goes branches out through a lot of the Marvel event, this story can be found in Astonishing Spider-Man #55-56.
Funeral Arrangements: Vulture gets too involved in Peter's home life. This '90s classic story takes place in Spectacular Spider-Man #186-188.
Identity Disc: Vulture puts together a team of villains for a mission. All five issues of the Identity Disc story are available on Comixology.
With the Independence Day holiday just around the corner in the United States, Rockstar is celebrating with the expected bonuses for Grand Theft Auto V. But these bonuses also come as part of a wider update that also adds a lot more.
Most significantly, GTA Online adds a new Adversary mode called Dawn Raid. This is a 6v6 mode with limited light where teams parachute into an area and seek out a transmitter that's been hidden. Once a team finds it, they then have to bring it to another area to evacuate. Players use night- and thermal-vision goggles to find their way around and deal with enemy players, while the Trackify app is used to locate the correct package hiding the transmitter. Rockstar notes you'll also be "armed to the teeth," so there should be the opportunity for some serious firefights throughout all of this, too. From now through July 10, Dawn Raid offers double GTA$ and RP rewards.
That money can then be put to use to pick up a newly added vehicle. Dewbauchee now offers the Vagner through Legendary Motorsport; this is pictured in the gallery above and is described as "the supercar of tomorrow."
Also through July 10, an Independence Day-themed event is on. You'll be able to get your hands on firework launchers, the Liberator monster truck, Western Sovereign (a motorcycle with a USA flag paint job), and unspecified "classic outfits." All of these can be purchased at 25% off their regular prices. New additions this year for the event include patriotic liveries for the Mobile Operation Center and Mk 11 weaponry.
Additionally, logging in before July 10 will net you two free in-game shirts. These are the Rockstar Noise t-shirts that were recently introduced through the Rockstar Warehouse.
In terms of discounts, they're primarily centered around yachts. Here's the full list of deals:
The Pisces: 25% off
The Orion: 30% off
The Aquarius: 35% off
Yacht Modifications: 50% off
All Watercraft on Docktease: 25% off
Cunning Stunts Clothing & Tattoos: 25% off
Finally, the upcoming Premium Race and time trial events have been outlined. As always, the time trials offer big rewards for beating the target time, with Premium Races offering triple RP, as well as big GTA$ payouts for the top three finishers.
June 30 - July 3:
Premium Race: "Spinner" (locked to Super)
Time Trial: "Fort Zancudo"
July 4 - 10:
Premium Special Vehicle Race: "Atmosphere" (locked to Rocket Voltic)
Wonder Woman's record-breaking box office run continues. Earlier this week it was confirmed that the movie is now the most successful film ever made by a female director, and now the movie has become the biggest film so far in DC's Extended Universe at the North American box office.
As reported by Mashable, Wonder Woman has now overtaken Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice to become the studio's top earner in the US. With Thursday's estimated take, it will have crossed the $331 million line, beating Dawn of Justice's $330 million.
As the site notes, what's most impressive about Wonder Woman's success is how quickly it has become DC's biggest domestic earner. Dawn of Justice took 12 weeks to make $330 million, whereas Wonder Woman' has done it in just four. The big difference is the critical and audience reaction to the two films. While Dawn of Justice opened well, the savage reviews it received may have hurt its performance overall, while Wonder Woman has been highly praised by critics.
As previously reported, while Wonder Woman's opening weekend was not as impressive as any of DC's previous three movies--which also include Man of Steel and Suicide Squad--Wonder Woman has experienced relatively little audience drop-off over subsequent weekends. In terms of worldwide box office however, Dawn of Justice remains way ahead, with a massive $873.3 million gross, compared to Wonder Woman's $663.6 million.
Following last year's alpha and a closed beta earlier this year, LawBreakers is now getting a free open beta on PC, and it starts today, June 30, at 9 AM PT / midday ET / 5 PM BST. It marks the first time the multiplayer shooter has been available for anyone to play ahead of the full game's launch on August 8.
The trial--which ends on July 5--includes a new map called Vertigo, which is set on a "high-altitude reconnaissance outpost" in the Sierra Nevada mountains. It also contains a new mode, dubbed Uplink, in which you have to capture the uplink in the center of the map and deliver it to your team's base. You'll continue to earn your side points for as long as you protect it.
Finally, players can test "a new customization feature" and earn an exclusive Beta Participant weapon sticker--which will transfer to the full game--by taking part in five matches.
"As the game continued to take shape, we realized free-to-play wasn't the right fit for what we're building," said creator Cliff Bleszinski. "LawBreakers is a competitive game at heart and that means balance is a big priority to me, my team, and our community.
"Using a digital premium model helps ensure an even playing field by giving fans access to every available role without any barriers."
Update: Jenkins has spoken out to clarify that nothing is yet set in stone regarding her return. She wrote on Twitter, "Hey all. Thanks for the excitement but that wasn't a confirmation. Just talking about ideas and hopes. But still excited and hopeful."
Speaking at an event this week reported by Advocate (via Collider), Jenkins said it was not a foregone conclusion that she would direct the sequel. But then she says she had an epiphany.
"I was like, "Wait a minute. You have the greatest character of all time that you love dearly, with a cast that you love sitting at the palm of your hand at this day and age--you can do whatever you want with them--are you crazy?' And then I suddenly realized, it's not more, it's another movie. It's its own movie. And it's got to be great."
Jenkins teased that the Wonder Woman sequel will tell an "entirely different story," suggesting for a moment that it could be set in modern-day. This isn't the first time Jenkins has talked about Wonder Woman 2; she said earlier that the story will take place in America.
Wonder Woman, which stars Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, opened earlier this month. By the latest count, it's made more than $663 million worldwide.
Sony has revealed this week's European deal of the week on the PlayStation Store. For one week only, you can grab Ubisoft's open-world RPG The Division on PS4 for £15 / €18. Its Gold Edition--which includes the base game, the £35 / €40 season pass, and an exclusive National Guard Gear Set--is also on sale for £30 / €35. That represents a saving of around 60%.
A bunch of other downloadable games are on offer on the EU PlayStation Store as part of a separate promotion dubbed Digital Discounts. Exploration game Firewatch is half price at £8 / €10, indie stealth title Volume is £4 / €5, and the steampunk strategy game SteamWorld Heist is available for £5 / €6. Take a look at the full sale here.
Developer Ys Net has revealed a fresh logo for Shenmue 3, at the same time as teasing some "new announcements" coming soon. In an update on the game's official website, the developer said it took fans' comments into consideration when designing the new logo, which you can see for yourself below.
Elsewhere in the blog post, Ys Net says it will attend Gamescom 2017 in Germany, where it will "show [its] newest movie clips, share the latest updates, and even make some new announcements."
In a recent development update, series creator Yu Suzuki announced that Shenmue 3 had been delayed until 2018. The game previously had a tentative December 2017 release window, but in an update to Kickstarter backers, Suzuki said more time is needed to fully realise his vision.
"By utilizing new technologies we have been able to discover new possibilities and expressions," he explained. "In many ways the game has become bigger and more beautiful than I initially expected. We do, however, need more time to deliver the game to you.
"In order to achieve the game concept you supported, and my sixteen-year-long personal dream, we have revised the development schedule. We are moving ahead with a plan to release the game in the second half of 2018."
Right on schedule, the massive Xbox Live Ultimate Game Sale has started today, June 30. The sale pretty much lives up to its name, featuring deals on more than 350 games, hardware, and accessories spanning the Xbox Store, the Windows Store, and the Microsoft Store. For the game deals, Xbox Live Gold members can enjoy discounts of up to 70%, while everyone else can take advantage of offers up to 60% off.
Note that what's mentioned here is just a very, very small sampling of all available deals. Go to Major Nelson's blog to see a complete rundown of all the game deals. You can get details on the hardware deals included in the Ultimate Game Sale here.
In a press release announcing the buyout, Paradox said Triumph's current team, including founders Lennart Sas and Arno van Wingerden, will stay with the company. Additionally, "all ongoing projects will remain in development." They will be published by Paradox.
Overlord II
"Triumph Studios is a developer of our own heart," Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester said in a statement. "They are world-leading within their niche and have built a large and dedicated community over the years, counting quite a few Paradox employees among their hardcore fans. We have great faith in Lennart, Arno, and the Triumph team, and our main focus now is to ensure that they can continue to create their magic under new ownership."
Sas said in hus own statement that Triumph has been approached by others, but the company declined all offers until now because, with Paradox, it's "not merely a business transaction." Instead, it's something grander.
"This is a liaison with a partner that can help us grow sustainably by ensuring the stability and continuity needed for us to do more of what we do best--develop some of the best turn-based strategy games on the market today," Sas said. "Paradox is a good match for us both culturally and games-wise. They get it. It's as simple as that, and we are extremely excited about the acquisition."
Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Cartoon Network's popular animated show Rick & Morty will come back for its third season in July. The new season will premiere on July 30, and a trailer shows off some the wacky and wonderful situations that Rick and Morty will find themselves in.
Rick & Morty, which Cartoon Network calls its "most scientifically accurate animated comedy," follows the the genius/idiot Rick and his grandson, Morty. A lot of weird stuff happens, and it looks like this will continue to be true in Season 3.
Rick & Morty was created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon. New episodes will premiere July 30 at 11:30 PM ET on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.
It's the end of the month, which means Xbox Live Gold members don't have much longer to pick up the remaining June Games With Gold titles for Xbox One and Xbox 360.
On Xbox One, it's your last chance to pick up Speedrunners and the Phantom Dust multiplayer DLC before it returns to its normal price. Switching to Xbox 360, now is your last opportunity to pick up Dragon Age: Origins at the low, low price of $0.00.
Another thing to bear in mind is that Watch Dogs will continue to be free on Xbox One through July 15.
Note that all Xbox 360 Games With Gold titles play on Xbox One through backwards compatibility. Looking ahead, the first of July 2017's free Games With Gold titles will be available starting on July 1--you can see a breakdown of the month's freebies here.
The first full-length trailer for the next Chucky movie has come online--and it's pretty creepy. Cult of Chucky, a straight-to-DVD movie, picks up with Fiona Dourif's character, Nica, in an asylum for the criminally insane. She's convinced that she killed her family, not the evil doll who actually did. The rest of the plot description matches with the crazy, over-the-top tone.
"When Nica's psychiatrist introduces a new therapeutic 'tool' to facilitate his patients' group sessions--an all-too-familiar 'Good Guy' doll with an innocently smiling face--a string of grisly deaths begins to plague the asylum," the plot description goes on. "And Nica starts to wonder if maybe she isn't crazy after all."
Don Mancini, who wrote the original Chucky, returns to write and direct Cult of Chucky. The Lord of the Rings actor Brad Dourif returns to voice Chucky. The movie is coming out on October 3, in time for Halloween, on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital stores.
Blizzard has announced several high-end Overwatch statues in recent months, and today it revealed the latest one in its line of high-end collectibles. It's of D.Va and it looks awesome, but this one will cost you quite a bit of money. The D.Va statue will run you $450.
The entirely hand-painted statue depicts D.Va sitting on the blaster of her mech. It's very intricately designed, with all of the decals and details you'd expect. It's also massive: it's 19 inches tall with its base, 18 inches wide, and the base is 13.5 inches in diameter. You can check it out in the video below, or see images of it at the bottom of the article.
Blizzard has now released four high-end Overwatch statues; D.Va joins Tracer, Reaper, and Widowmaker as the characters who have gotten statues. D.Va's, however, is by far the most expensive. The other three each cost $150. The $450 price tag exceeds even Blizzard's World of Warcraft statues, which until now had been among the most expensive items offered by the company.
The statue is available for preorder now at Blizzard's website, although it's not scheduled to ship until Q4 2017. Since it's hand-painted, Blizzard warns that the final statue might slightly differ from images of them.
In other Overwatch news, the game recently received a big PTR update that overhauls the way that loot boxes and the Highlights system work. You can read more about the patch here.
In an interview with Eurogamer, Ueda shared that he has submitted a list of proposed changes to Sony. Although he doesn't know if Sony will take them into account, there are several things he hopes will be modified from the original game.
Speaking through a translator, Ueda said, "I transmitted my petition about the content and tuning but I don't know the implementation will be what I told." The translator explained later, "It's [Ueda] who wants to change something, but he doesn't know if it is possible to change all of the things he [wants] to change."
The remake is scheduled to launch in 2018, although few other details are known right now. Although the original game was made by Team Ico, the remake is being handled by Bluepoint Games, an American developer that is known for remastering other games. You can see some of Shadow of the Colossus' new visuals in the announcement trailer embedded at the top of this article.
Along with a harder difficulty mode (which uses its own separate save slots), The Master Trials introduces an assortment of new costumes such as the Tingle Outfit and Phantom Armor, a Travel Medallion that allows players to create a temporary quick-travel point, and a system that tracks the path you traveled around Hyrule.
The most significant addition, however, is the Trial of the Sword. Like the Cave of Ordeals from previous Zelda titles, this 45-room challenge tasks players will battling through a series of increasingly difficult encounters. You begin the Trial without any armor or equipment and can only fight using the weapons you acquire during the challenge. Completing the Trial of the Sword lets players wield the Master Sword in its fully powered-up state.
The Master Trials is the first of two planned expansions for Breath of the Wild; the second, the Champions' Ballad, will be released this holiday season and introduces a new story chapter that revolves around the four champions from Link's era--Daruk, Mipha, Revali, and Urbosa. Nintendo offered a brief glimpse at the Champions' Ballad DLC during its E3 2017 presentation and revealed a line of new Amiibo figures based on the four characters.
A new update for the popular mobile game Pokemon Go is rolling out today. Version 0.67.2 for Android and 1.37.2 for iOS will make unspecified bug fixes.
That's all the detail that developer Niantic Labs provided in a tweet today announcing the update. We'll update this post with more specifics if they are made available.
Trainers, Pokémon GO is being updated to version 0.67.2 for Android and 1.37.2 for iOS to implement bug fixes.
In other Pokemon Go news, Niantic recently announced a new measure that it's taking in an effort to limit cheating. Pokemon caught using unofficial means will be denoted with a mark and "may not behave as expected," Niantic explained. This is just "one small part of [Niantic's] continued commitment to maintaining the integrity of our community."
A Nintendo Switch version of Braid creator Jonathan Blow's latest game, The Witness, is not in the works right now. Asked about the possibility of the celebrated game coming to Nintendo's hybrid console, Blow said on Twitter (via NeoGAF), "We are not working on such a port at this time."
This statement doesn't rule out the possibility of a Switch version coming someday, but it seems like it's not happening as of yet.
In GameSpot's The Witness review, Mike Mahardy awarded it a 9/10, saying that it "molds its world, puzzles, and themes into such a layered, cohesive whole that, if we look hard enough, we'll keep finding new ways to perceive it."
Blizzard's iconic real-time strategy game StarCraft was revealed to receive a standalone remastered version back in March. But today, Blizzard announced that StarCraft Remastered will be hitting the PC on August 14 worldwide for $15 USD, which also includes the Brood War expansion. Preorders are now open, and the game will live in the Blizzard app's ecosystem.
In addition to the native widescreen aspect ratio and 4K support, all the artwork and visual assets have been redone to match the high-resolution transformation. Players can swap between old-school and HD visuals on the fly by pressing F5 for a real nostalgia trip. All the audio, from music to voice lines, has been refined as well, upgraded to 44kHz frequency for higher quality, and single-player cutscenes also received the HD treatment.
One of the most important parts of releasing the remaster was leaving the gameplay alone. Nothing has been changed gameplay-wise in order to keep the balance of the original, which also paved the way for cross-play between versions. StarCraft Remastered is compatible with the original game, and players across the different versions can match with one another. However, the new matchmaking feature will be exclusive to Remastered in which players are matched with one another based on skill level.
StarCraft Remastered is the first of Blizzard's franchises to receive a full standalone HD overhaul, and there currently aren't any plans to bring others—such as Diablo and WarCraft—to the modern era. The original non-remastered version of StarCraft (Brood War included) is free to download now.
New entries in Microsoft's Forza racing series have been released on an annual basis since 2011, and it seems like that's going to continue in the future. Turn 10 Studios Software Architect Chris Tector said as much an interview at E3 this year.
Discussing his role as Software Architect for the Forza series on the E3 Coliseum stage, Tector said it's been a new challenge now that the Forza series comes out every year.
"We have to look far enough ahead in the future to know what changes are going to come and then try to steer everybody so we're headed in the right direction," he said. "It's a big job to line up with what hardware changes are coming, what platform changes are going to come in the OS and other bits of software that we use. And how we're going to maximize that to exploit it for each game that we do."
He added: "Now that Forza is between both Motorsport and Horizon, it's an annual title, it's really this interesting path that we weave between the two titles and try to keep up with the changes."
The Forza Motorsport series began in 2005, with sequels released every other year leading up to 2011's Forza Motorsport 4. Forza Horizon followed in 2012, and that's when the franchise bounced back and forth between Motorsport and Horizon on a yearly basis. It's Motorsport's turn this year, with Forza Motorsport 7 coming in October for Xbox One and PC.
Whether or not this is a firm schedule that Microsoft is committing to or if it just happens to be working out that way for now is unclear. We've contacted Microsoft in an attempt to get more details.
The pre-order bonus character for WWE 2K18 has been revealed. Hall of Famer and Raw General Manager Kurt Angle will appear in a WWE game for the first time in over a decade.
During a press conference, Angle revealed there will be two different versions of his character: the "American Hero," which will chronicle his earlier career, and one modeled after his "Wrestling Machine" days during the revamp of ECW.
Angle opened by saying that cover star of 2K18--Seth Rollins--is "an incredible young talent. He embodies everything it means to be like no one." Angle jokingly said that he has revenge in mind after what Rollins did in the trailer for the new game--smashing historical wrestling relics at WWE headquarters.
While the Raw GM admitted he's not much of a gamer, he said that if he could change up his finisher in the game it would be to Stone Cold's Stunner: "I'm a big Stone Cold Fan," explained Angle. "Hearing the electricity of the fans when he hit that, gave me the chills. I'd love to be able to hit it on someone else and get that reaction." In addition, he explained that he loved Randy Orton's RKO, mainly because it can come out of nowhere, a phrase heard quite a bit on television.
Angle discussed the many wrestlers he'd like to have a match with when he eventually comes back to the ring, but he seemed the most impressed with the women's revolution and NXT superstar Asuka: "I really like Asuka. I know she's going to make a huge impact when she comes up. [Women are] just as highly demanded as the guys are now. They're becoming stars before they even get on TV, Raw, and Smackdown."
If WWE's 2K series continues to follow suit, it will have an expansive roster, with the last game having over 175 playable characters, when you include DLC. At this point in time, the only confirmed characters in the game are Seth Rollins and the two versions of Kurt Angle--which are available by pre-order.
Sony intentionally held back announcements from its E3 2017 briefing, and Microsoft did too. Xbox boss Phil Spencer told Waypoint that Microsoft could have shown teaser trailers for games that are still a long time off, but he didn't think this was the best approach. Instead, he wanted to focus more on games coming this year and next, it seems.
"We are investing in new things," Spencer said. "We've signed things just recently. I thought about, 'Hey, from a PR standpoint it'd be really easier for me to put a trailer on screen even though I know the game's not coming for 2.5 or 3 years.' I didn't want to do that."
Spencer said he understands that announcing some of these games could have helped fans to know that more titles are coming so they can buy into the Xbox brand with confidence. But Spencer assures that investing in new games and content is critical.
"Trust that this is important to us," Spencer said. "From the CEO of the company on down; if you talk to [Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella] about it, he would say I understand we need to invest in content in the gaming space--and that is important. We are going to invest."
"We had to stop doing some other things in order to create room for [doing new things]. And that's just kind of the nature of running a business," he said. "One of the things that I wanted to do when I came into this job ... one of the things was our first-party and how I thought about needing to--this is an unfair word, but I'll say 'rework' our first-party. Regretfully, that meant certain things that we were doing, I thought we needed to do something different. It meant getting back to what I think is a core and building from that."
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