Last year, Hidetaka 'Swery' Suehiro--the creator of Deadly Premonition and D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die--launched a crowdfunding campaign on Fig for a new project called The Good Life. Focusing on the exploits of a New York photojournalist in serious debt, the lead character Naomi travels to the secluded small town of Rainy Woods where she finds herself investigating the murder of one of the town's residents. Things aren't what they seem in the idyllic small town, with any one of the town's citizens being a suspect. Also, many of Rainy Woods' residents--including Naomi--just so happen to transform into animals on certain evenings.
As a quasi-open world RPG, you would be able to interact with many of the locals, learn their behaviors, and take pictures of the strange happenings around town. While the concept showed promise, the Fig crowdfunding campaign was unsuccessful. Undeterred by this, the developers at White Owls went back to work on the game, improving many of the in-game systems and mechanics, while also giving the game more detailed visuals that still retain the stylized look.
During GDC 2018, Hidetaka 'Swery' Suehiro gave GameSpot an advance look at the game before its relaunch on Kickstarter--which is now live. During our talk, he described just what changed after his last attempt, and how he determined he is to make The Good Life into a full game..
"The Good Life is a product of someone like me who likes to think about strange and weird ideas, but is still able to make them into real products that people can experience," said Suehiro. "One of the things I've been really surprised by in the current creative process is that I come up with some strange abstract idea, and the team can make it happen within a matter of days for our future planning on the game. There's a lot of aspects about this game that speak to me, but one thing that I like is that you can play as a cat. It's something I've always wanted to do in a game. Another thing I like is that you're playing as a female character, and that's something I haven't done for my previous games before. With Naomi, you can do all the mundane and strange things you want to do, which is what interests me. I've always had male leads in the past, so I'm glad to change things up for this game."
One thing that the developers felt they didn't succeed at with the previous campaign was offering a clear vision of what The Good Life is about. While the broader ideas were there, the creatives felt that the previous crowdfunding effort was too vague and didn't show enough of a materialized product. In the months after the previous attempt, White Owls spent time on developing the game into a playable state. This not only allowed them to create a more fully realized game, but also garnered the attention of outside partners to help fund the game. With a Kickstarter goal of $650,000--as opposed to the original Fig goal of $1,500,000--the developers feel that expectations are far more modest and realistic.
In addition to refining the base concept and vision, the developers also worked on improving the game's graphics and AI systems. Running on the Unity engine, the team behind The Good Life focused on creating a greater sense of visual fidelity for the game. With the expanded AI systems, Swery felt that this would give greater belieability to the town's dynamic. Moreover, the developers claim that the added interactions and NPCs with their own individual schedules will create more unique moments for players--potentially altering the true suspect of the game's murder-mystery plot. Also, the game's creator took the opportunity to add in the ability for the lead character Naomi to turn into a dog, instead of only just the cat--which he claimed was due to an outpouring of requests from his dog fans.
With the Kickstarter campaign now live, Suehiro and the developers at White Owls feel they have a better shot at making The Good Life happen. The game manages to bring in similar themes and motifs from past Swery titles--a small town, weird people, and an even weirder premise--while placing them in a setting that feels oddly charming. While the game is planned for a late 2019 release, this is all dependent on the Kickstarter's success. With that said, the developers still vow to continue on with the game even if the game doesn't succeed on Kickstarter. For Swery, he felt that the opportunity to make a game like this was too good to pass up.
"As a creator, I have this innate desire to make something," said Swery. "When I look back on the original crowdfunding campaign for The Good Life, we recognized we made a lot of mistakes. It would be a missed opportunity to just walk away from that as once time experience, and because we have that passion we're willing to come back to the table and state that this is the thing we're doing better, and these are the things we've learned. And another thing is that online community has been really inspiring for us, and they've really pushed us to move forward with this project. Even though the last campaign didn't succeed, it still excited a lot of people to the point where we're people are sending us pictures of their cats and dogs on twitter. I just feel very compelled to take this to the finish line."
We're giving away a God of War Limited Edition 1TB PS4 Pro, grey DualShock 4 Controller, and copy of the game!
This special bundle features a fully customized Leviathan Grey 1TB PS4 Pro console inspired by Kratos' Axe, a matching DualShock 4 wireless controller with insignia, and a copy of God of War Day One Edition.
Entry is open to United States residents only, since the prize is shipping from the US. Competition ends Monday, May 7 at 11:00 AM PDT. One (1) winner will be chosen.
Enter below (the additional entries are OPTIONAL to increase your chances of winning):
In the months following its September launch, Destiny 2 developer Bungie has been in a tight spot trying to keep its community happy. Despite a solid start that showed stronger storytelling, quest variety, and sense of progression compared to the original, the sequel eventually fell into the same pitfall that its predecessor did: there's just not much to do in Destiny 2 if you're in it for the long-haul.
During the developer's recent livestream showcasing many of the points of interest in the upcoming Warmind expansion, they were frank about their attempts to address the problems regarding challenges, content diversity, and the steep grind the Destiny 2 community has been unhappy with--me included. While I really enjoyed Destiny 2 in its early months--even clearing the game's story and reaching Raid status with three characters--my enthusiasm for the game quickly dropped after Curse of Osiris.
As the May 8 release date for Warmind draws closer, it's worth considering whether Bungie's recent seasonal updates and the upcoming expansion can fix the game's issues relating to its grind and the resulting fatigue.
To start, let's take a look at the current state of Destiny 2. Since the release of December's Curse of Osiris DLC, which included forge weapons, new story missions, and a new Raid Lair (an additional area to explore in the Leviathan Raid), Bungie has introduced seasonal updates, offering scheduled tweaks to improve the core game. During the ongoing Season 2, quality-of-life updates such as new Crucible and Nightfall rewards, weapon and class rebalancing, Masterwork weapons, tweaks to Exotic drop rates, and changes to the sandbox exploration were introduced. Destiny 2 is all the better for these additions. However, the game still needs to make larger attempts to figure out how to combat the slump that makes it hard for players who may have fallen out with the game to want to come back.
One of the biggest problems with the original Destiny was that it was easy to exhaust much of the game's content given its relatively brisk campaign and focus on repeating missions and events. This was a symptom of the original game's growing identity, which it slowly developed over the course of its first year--resulting in the fantastic, game-changing expansion The Taken King. Destiny 2 has a greater sense of itself and is smart about how it manages to make things interesting during the early months, but it quickly falls victim to the recurring issue of player engagement, along with a series of poor matchmaking, quest design, and shallow endgame content.
One issue that's arguably worse in the sequel is that it's difficult to measure progress gained after reaching a certain point after the campaign's completion. While reaching Raid status was the benchmark, the pursuit of that often forces players to go through a series of hurdles to make it. Players will eventually find themselves having to repeat the same content with continually diminishing returns--made worse by some odd drop-rates and occurrences of repeat loot that Bungie have attempted to address with recent patches. While this is inevitable for many online games focusing on the grind, other titles have made that pursuit of fresh loot engaging in the long-term, but Destiny 2's approach to the endgame cycle makes for a largely futile and exhausting experience. When your efforts to progress seems to conflict with the game's grind--which is supposed to fun and challenging, but comes off as taxing--then it creates a sense of angst among the community, making them feel like their time isn't being well-spent.
The Warmind expansion shows more of an earnest attempt on the developers' part to address these concerns. Focusing on a return trip to Mars, players will explore a new region called Hellas Basin and take on new missions and world events. In addition to new story characters to interact with, new bosses to fight, and new Exotics to find, the expansion also features a different approach to world quests. With Escalation Protocol, you'll be able to tackle a horde-mode style mission in the sandbox, taking on waves of Hive in order to reach the boss of the world event. Unlike other world events tied to specific schedules, Escalation Protocol is activated at any time after finishing the main story. Moreover, you can join other players who are engaged in their own events--even if you haven't reached the DLC campaign's conclusion.
While this side mission is a smaller remedy to Destiny 2's issues--and it's similar in design to The Taken King's Court of Oryx event--it still represents one of the more reassuring aspects of Warmind. As one of the key ways to acquire higher-end gear outside of the new Raid Lair, Escalation Protocol can be done at your leisure--which cuts back on general fatigue and frustration, making it feel like you have more control over what kind of rewards the game can offer you. This is a stark contrast to how gaining higher-end gear worked in Curse of Osiris, which placed its Lost Prophecies behind arbitrary gating. By leaning into systems that focused on grinding and sticking players in situations where they had to wait for stuff to happen, it personally made me less inclined to want to finish playing through more of the campaign's endgame content.
This also goes into the heart of the issue with Destiny 2, in that it has trouble respecting the average player's time. With Raids being commitments of several hours, PvP rewards being mostly middling and too dependant on whether you have a good team, and Nightfall and Heroic quests requiring players to repeat the same tired quests over and over, the game struggles with allowing meaningful gains to be made in short bursts. When the systems designed to keep players playing are too tiring to enjoy in the long-term, then it calls into question the structure that houses all the content you want to explore.
Warmind doesn't sound like a major revision, unfortunately. Having said that, what I find interesting about the expansion is that it feels awfully nostalgic of Destiny 1. With the return to Mars, the Rasputin AI finally being given some more attention, and Exotics like the Suros Regime making a comeback, the expansion seems to know how to perk up some returning players. But in truth, making Destiny 2 more enjoyable and less of a slog isn't just about adding in more weapons and armor, new areas to explore, and new story quests. It's about offering those great heroic moments and making them feel like they matter long after your quest's completion--as opposed to being just another moment in a long series of moments during a grind for better gear.
Destiny 2's new expansion seems like a step in the right direction. Not big steps, but movement towards progress all the same. With Season 3 starting on the same day as the DLC's launch, Bungie will be adding in more quality-of-life changes including additional vault space, private matches, an emote wheel, and Exotic Masterwork weapons. Destiny 2 is still a solid first-person shooter with some of the best-controlling action and gameplay in the genre, and while it feels like we're about due for this game to have its own Taken King-style expansion that fleshes out its core in the right ways, Warmind does show a greater awareness of what Destiny 2's issues are--and how it best tries to improve itself.
God of War is a phenomenal game that everyone should play, no question. And if you're in this article, it's probably safe to say that you're interested in playing it, if you haven't already started. But if you want to really get the most out of its stunning world and its fantastic and definitely not boring combat, then you should really consider playing in Immersive mode.
You'll find an option in the game's setting menu that lets you toggle the game's HUD between Normal and Immersive mode, which removes most of the game's pop-ups, meters, compass, and icons. God of War's HUD is already quite minimal, which is great, but after finishing and playing the latter half of the game in Immersive mode, let me tell you: this is the way to experience God of War.
The idea of no HUD is always a little daunting, for sure. But don't be scared! I wrote this article to assure you that it's totally viable, explain how you can parse information you need, and tell you why the things you're missing out on aren't a big deal.
First of all, why do it, and what are the benefits of not getting every single little detail of information? On a superficial level, God of War is a very, very good looking game. Immersive mode makes sure the entirety of your screen can be used to appreciate the beauty of the environments, character models, and get the full impact of the game's truly impressive camera work with that one, long, 40-hour steadycam shot.
On a more substantial level, being able to pay full attention to the environment without any distractions will help you with your exploration. You'll pay more attention to the details in the environment and you'll almost be guaranteed to never miss a collectible. You'll more easily notice the shine of purposely obscured items, and distinctly hear the tinkling of Odin's ravens. No alternate paths will go unnoticed, and no stray pot or wooden item will go un-smashed, because you're looking so keenly at the world, instead of the icon on a compass.
But most importantly, the Immersive mode will make you better at combat. In action games, it's a common, and completely logical, tendency to always keep one eye on either your health meter, your enemy's health meter, enemy location indicators, your skill cooldowns, whatever. But that's one eye that's not actually watching the fight.
Immersive mode lets you focus completely on using all of your skill to be the best fighter you can be. Hit every parry, dodge every attack, take advantage of every opening. If you're like me, and you know you have a full bar of health, you'll sometimes get a little sloppier because you know Kratos can take a few hits. But why not perform at your absolute best all the damn time? You need to set a good example for Atreus, after all. Is that enemy you're taking on a purple enemy who's supposed to be overpowered for you? Who knows, who cares? If you can beat it, then what does it matter? Free yourself from self-doubt!
Now, I do recommend that on your first playthrough you should definitely spend the early hours with the default HUD just so you can get a basic feel of how combat operates, especially how the stun mechanic works. But by the time you get to the Lake of Nine and the game opens up, you should be good to go Immersive.
However, if you're STILL a little scared to go on a grand adventure without all of this info, there's one thing I've been keeping from you: God of War also has a Custom HUD option which lets you toggle certain elements of the HUD on or off. But best of all, it allows you to assign some HUD options to the PS4's touchpad, meaning you can turn everything off, but take a brief look anything you want to with a gentle tap of the touchpad. So if you're finding Immersive mode hard to get used to at the beginning, give the touchpad stuff a try. Bet you forgot that function was even there!
Okay, so how do you actually manage all the information you need for combat without seeing bars or indicators? Well, God of War has a bunch of in-world cues that make Immersive mode accessible and tell you literally everything you need to know. They're all pretty obvious, but let's run through them for peace of mind.
Watch for enemy attack rings! If an enemy is attacking you, and there's an expanding golden ring coming from them, it means you can and should parry this attack by blocking at the last minute. If there's an expanding red ring, it means it's an unblockable attack, and you should dodge the hell out of there or get Atreus to interrupt it. The game teaches you both of these things.
If you've been wailing on an enemy with light attacks or your bare fists, and see the pulsing red circle around them, it means you can execute your takedown move. Not being able to see how much stun you're dealing to an enemy might seem like a disadvantage, especially against Revenants, who have a rapid stun recovery. But just keep in mind that if you're looking to stun someone, you need to maintain focus on them and keep the pressure up regardless, otherwise you'll never get there.
If the screen has a glowing red vignette, it means you're low on health. That's a pretty standard thing. But Atreus will also tell you as much just in case it wasn't obvious enough. If Kratos is blue and icy, it means you've been affected by frost, and your attack speed will be slowed. Poison and shock effects are also pretty obvious--you'll see the distinct colors on Kratos. You don't need to see a little icon to know you're poisoned!
You also don't need the enemy indicator ring to know when you're being blindsided, just listen carefully to Atreus, because he'll tell you when you're being attacked, and from where. When he says "Watch out behind you!", or "Fire from your right!" it's a good idea to act on that advice immediately.
You see what I mean? All of that knowledge is pretty straightforward and pre-existing. They're all things you'll be accustomed to by the time you internalize the combat system. I'm sure you have a bunch of questions and concerns, such as: How do you know when you need to heal? Well naturally, it's a good idea to save green gems for until you really need them, and you know that when Atreus is yelling at you and your screen is turning red, you need to find some health gems to stomp on, pronto.
Now, remember when I talked about Immersive mode giving you way more awareness in combat? You'll likely be avoiding more hits overall, which means you'll likely have more spare health gems lying around, and as you play more you should organically get an idea of roughly how many blows you can take before hitting the red zone. Health then becomes more of a gut feeling thing. For example, if I enter a fight and am aware I've taken three or four hits from some Draugr, I can be pretty sure that grabbing one of those green gems will bring me back up to max health. Once the fight is over, you'll naturally want to clean up all the pickups on the battlefield, which should put you in perfect shape for the next battle. You can check your health with the touchpad just to be sure.
Things a little clearer for cooldowns on your runic weapon and talisman skills, as well as Atreus' abilities. When an ability comes off cooldown and is ready to use, there'll be a handy chime from either the left or right of the screen, where the meters would normally be. Atreus will say "I'm set! Or "Tell me when!" when his arrows are ready after using them all up. That said, it's good to keep in mind roughly how long the cooldown on your chosen abilities are (anywhere from 30-90 seconds) and keep rough track when you use it. Personally, I found myself having a lot more fun with them in Immersive because I would see myself identifying the perfect situation to use a skill before activating it (rather than noticing that it was available to use, thinking "I should use that", and then kinda wasting it and missing out on a better opportunity moments later).
The tricky one, depending on your play style, is knowing when Spartan Rage is ready to go. I typically only used Spartan Rage during boss fights or particularly large mobs, so I rarely found myself in a bad situation with it. But if you like to use it as soon as you can, as much as you can, you might want to use the custom Touchpad HUD to periodically check on the meters.
Finally your compass. God of War's open areas are not so convoluted that you're going to need to constantly follow an objective marker to get where you need to go. Glancing at your world map in the main menu, making a note of your orientation and where your next main or side objective might be, and set off in that general direction, allowing the natural pathways and your perception of major landmarks to guide you usually enough to get you where you need to be.
Okay, so how about all that sweet loot you're going to find along your journey? In Immersive mode, most of the white highlights you pick up off the ground, and the stuff you find in chests, coffins, and on the water won't activate a popup. But seriously, don't sweat. It's probably either just some hacksilver, a small XP boost, or crafting materials. None of these are things you need to worry about immediately!
And let's face it--every time you come upon a weapon stall, you're going to check in and see if you can craft or upgrade any new gear anyway. If you have the prerequisite hacksilver and crafting materials, great! And if you don't, well, see you next time! With Immersive mode, you'll likely be a lot more aware of hidden paths and pickups along the way, so it's not like you're going to miss a whole mess of stuff that's going to stop you from upgrading something, because you wouldn't have been able to anyway.
Now, if you find significant items like new Runic Attacks, uncommon, legendary, or epic gear, legendary materials, Iounn Apples, or Mead Horns, a big pop-up will come up regardless, because that's stuff that you might find useful immediately. Lore popups and new bestiary entries are pretty straightforward--You can safely assume that once you stumble upon a lore stone for Atreus to decipher, or encounter an enemy you haven't seen before, there'll be a fresh passage of text waiting for you to read in the main menu.
Unfortunately for those of you who are super into lore, Both the loot and lore popups are things that can't be toggled individually in the custom HUD screen, and can't be assigned to the touchpad menu. You're either all in or all out. So this might have to be a personal decision based on how badly you want to read the lore immediately, and seeing a popup saying you picked up 5 hacksilver every time you smash a pot.
So that's a lot of words and time spent to assure you that, yes, playing God of War in Immersive mode can be a completely practical and good option. Again, it's something that I implore you to do because it'll give you a greater appreciation of just how well designed its environments are for exploring, how deep and exciting combat can be, and just how stunning every facet of this game is. I wish I had done it earlier. Turn on Immersive mode in God of War. It's the best way to play.
The opening track to God of War begins with dark, pounding percussion and a deep, male choir chanting a series of ominous notes. It's a repeating motif that perfectly speaks to the Kratos we've known for decades, a brutal god-slaying monster. But there's another motif that accompanies it, a more uplifting series of horns and strings that seem almost hopeful. It hints at a calmer Kratos, though still prudent and stoic--it's the side of him that we see executed so superbly in this new game in his interactions with his son, Atreus. But the hook of the deep ominous chants remains, like the Ghost of Sparta that still haunts Kratos, and it's a sound that will continue to haunt you throughout God of War.
The idea of somehow instantly hooking an audience with a note or sound that stays with them long afterward has always stuck with Bear McCreary, and was a key factor in creating the soaring and emotional score for God Of War. It was a concept passed down by his mentor of almost ten years, Elmer Bernstein, the legendary composer of The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, and Ghostbusters, among others. "I always strive to find a sound or instrument that can hook the audience instantly and in this, God of War is arguably an embarrassment of riches. Between the Nordic instruments, choirs, vocal soloists, percussion and the huge orchestra, there are many different sounds fighting for your attention. However, I must say that I think the 3-note low male choir phrase that begins the main theme are probably 'the thing' that will hook people the fastest. When I first played the theme for Santa Monica Studio and Cory (Barlog, creative director), they remarked instantly on that sound. Something about it evokes Kratos instantly. I felt very fortunate to have stumbled on to such an effective idea, so early in the creative process."
But that early acknowledgment is no surprise considering the experience behind the composer who wrote it. McCreary's career has already reached legendary status with his immediately recognizable work on The Walking Dead (including THAT theme music) and Battlestar Galactica. He won an Emmy Award for his work on Da Vinci's Demons and the Cloverfield movie franchise is now safely in his hands. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Black Sails, Outlander and Black Mirror all combine to make McCreary not only one of the most prolific composers working today, but one that has creeped into your subconscious without your knowledge. For a composer, that's a success.
Carving out an identity in music is not an easy task, so McCreary puts the tools into each job by looking at storytelling and character. "I always strive to find a musical approach that inherently draws inspiration from the story it is supporting. In the case of God of War, I strove to use Nordic folk instrumentation, languages, voices and musical modes to help transport the audience. I was inspired to write for instruments such as the Nyckelharpa and Hardanger Fiddle, because the process of exploring their strengths and weaknesses inevitably led me to discover new forms of musical expression."
Making your own way in the world but knowing the importance of a parental bond is one of the key themes of this new rebirth of God Of War. After being first contacted by Santa Monica Studio in 2014, McCreary's work on the game evolved over a period of years and throughout that time, he had a very personal influence to draw from which paralleled the journey of Kratos. "I had just become a father when I first was hired and my parental experience in the intervening four years has changed my life forever. This life experience was a huge influence on my work for God of War, perhaps in ways buried too deep in my subconscious for me to even be aware of. Practically every musical decision I made for the score was influenced by the relationship between Kratos and Atreus. Parental themes are rarely explored in video games, which helps set this story apart."
From the blind, one-dimensional rage that inhabited the young ghost of Sparta back in the PlayStation 2 days, 2018 has turned him on his head to develop layers of personality, empathy and depth in a character that had arguably reached his natural conclusion on the PlayStation 3. For McCreary, this revolutionary new direction played into the title track he wrote (and performed at E3 2016) and helped give him a clear vision of what he wanted to achieve with the overall score. "When I wrote that theme I was trying to communicate vital and often conflicting, information about Kratos. He is still the same character from the classic games. He retains that rage and power, simmering beneath his stern exterior. That's where the bombastic brass, pounding percussion and deep, male vocals helped. But more importantly, I wanted to communicate that he is older, wiser and calmer now. There are more layers to his storyline. Put simply, he is just a more mature character now. So to communicate that, I included his theme harmonic and melodic components that are quite beautiful, occasionally even soaring. The combination of visceral, powerful instrumentation with lyrical, soaring melodies and chord progressions is something I hope resonates with audiences."
In addition to the pounding bombast and deep choir voices that are typically associated with God Of War, McCreary also wrote numerous somber pieces that look to the past of the franchise while also giving Kratos and his son moments of wistful and perhaps mournful connection. Tracks like 'Echoes Of An Old Life', 'The Healing' and 'Memories Of Mother' have a quiet introspection to them that would have seemed ludicrous for this character when he was spending his time cutting off heads and enjoying quicktime-event sex scenes back in 2007.
There's a distinct sense of growth and self-reflection here, both with McCreary's work and the God Of War franchise itself. A lot of that has come about simply because of the four year lifespan of the music. "The score has evolved immeasurably," says McCreary, "and in some ways that evolution represents a move back towards a sound that is more consistent with the older games of the franchise. My first stab at a theme for God of War was a lonely, melancholy tune for female voices and Nyckelharpa. I was inspired by the new story arc for Kratos, and his relationship with his son. It was heartbreaking!"
"Ultimately, we realized it was simply too sad and subdued to function as the primary theme for Kratos, and for the game, so I put it away. That original theme I composed still ended up in the game, however, becoming the primary theme for Kratos and his Atreus, representing their family storyline specifically. The theme is featured prominently on the soundtrack album in the cue 'Memories of Mother' and ultimately heard in the game almost as much as the main theme."
Travelling to Iceland to record choir voices, McCreary felt an incredible sense of belonging to the Nordic influence of the game. He spent time walking around local glaciers and waterfalls to feel the mythological history of the area. Using Swedish and Norwegian instruments that date back to the 14th century helped push the score to a place that McCreary felt it couldn't have reached otherwise.
If that wasn't enough, the collaboration with Faroese throat singer and musician Eivør Pálsdóttir lent a further level of authenticity on many of the tracks and opened new avenues of collaboration for the composer. "Eivør was a fantastic creative partner, and she brought a whole new level of personality to the music. I was thrilled with the vast dynamic and emotional range her singing voice provided. High, ethereal angelic tones to deep, guttural, percussive bursts. I learned a lot about collaboration on this project. A game score this immense is vastly more complex from a logistical standpoint than a typical film score. Teams of music editors, producers and engineers worked on this score for nearly a year after primary recording was completed in order to integrate it into the game in an impactful way."
McCreary still enjoys this process in his own work to some extent. "I enjoy listening to my previous work, though I don't do it very often. I like to take a moment to recognize how much I've grown as a composer. I'm always looking forward but it's fun to sometimes listen back to older scores and recognize a job well done. The score to Capcom's Dark Void is still one of my greatest melodic achievements, and I am flooded with emotion when I hear it again."
The transformation of Kratos from angry, one-trick god to stern yet responsible father coupled with a parental bond being the key story theme for an entire game is remarkable. In tandem, Bear McCreary's personal connection to this journey over almost half a decade of his career has delivered a collection of emotionally thunderous music which soars through the rebirth of this franchise with confidence and grandeur without forgetting to hook the audience from the beginning. With three simple notes.
We're giving away a God of War Limited Edition 1TB PS4 Pro, grey DualShock 4 Controller, and copy of the game!
This special bundle features a fully customized Leviathan Grey 1TB PS4 Pro console inspired by Kratos' Axe, a matching DualShock 4 wireless controller with insignia, and a copy of God of War Day One Edition.
Entry is open to United Kingdom residents only, since the prize is shipping from the UK. Competition ends Monday, April 30 at 7:00 PM BST. One (1) winner will be chosen.
Enter below (the additional entries are OPTIONAL to increase your chances of winning):
Is there room in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a superhero who smashes enemies in the face with buckets of paint or knows how to grocery shop on a budget in the aftermath of Avengers: Infinity War? If so, Macaulay Culkin--who first rose to fame in 1989's Home Alone--would like to throw his name in the hat.
Culkin has officially put Disney and Marvel Studios on notice that he's ready to be of service to the MCU in a tweet. "Hey [Marvel] and [Disney] there's still time to cast me in part 2 of Infinity War," he writes. "I'm around." He also includes what he's calling a reel to show the producers and directors of the film exactly what he's capable of. In case you were wondering, he excels at wearing bunny ears and beating WWE superstars at thumb wrestling.
Unfortunately, there's some bad news for Culkin. It actually is too late for him to snag a role in Avengers 4, as it's already been filmed. In fact, it was shot back-to-back with Avengers: Infinity War. Voth movies wrapped production back in January.
The MCU isn't slowing down anytime soon, though. There will be plenty of chances to integrate the actor if the powers-that-be decide it should be done. First, he'll have to take off those bunny ears, though.
If you've already had the chance to check out Avengers: Infinity War, GameSpot has plenty for you to check out. Once you know all of the MCU secrets, take a look at our deep dive into that post-credits scene, as well as a primer on that shocking cameo appearance.
Saudi Arabia held its first live, televised WWE event, the Greatest Royal Rumble. The main event for the evening was a 50-Man Royal Rumble match, the largest in the history of WWE. Additionally, the show featured some big name talent from Undertaker to John Cena to Triple H for the people of Saudi. WWE put a lot into this show, but ultimately--for WWE fans--it was one of the biggest letdowns in years.
Understandably, this was the first time the people of Saudi Arabia got to see these WWE superstars live, so of course, the sports entertainment company trotted out many of its biggest names. However, what WWE failed to realize in this scenario is that overpacking a show with big names, and a lack of storyline, makes these matches dull.
Take for example Triple H and John Cena, which opened up the entire event. Their battle was slow-paced, strategic, and not a great way to start a show. Tests of strength between two powerhouse wrestlers are fine, but shows need to kick off with excitement and have something at stake. And it didn't work here because there were no stakes. If John Cena won, nothing happens. If Triple H won, nothing happens. The only thing the crowd could get invested in was the individual mythos of these characters, as there was no story driving the fight.
Additionally, there was Undertaker vs. Rusev in a Casket Match. Honestly, no one should have expected much from this match, and the only story building up to the event was Rusev being removed from the match then later added back on. While the almost 10-minute match lasted longer than Taker's appearance at Wrestlemania 34, it left many fans, like myself, wondering what the point of it was. Rusev won't continue to feud with Taker, and the match in no way made the Bulgarian Brute look tough. The match itself was fine and enjoyable, but again, what were the stakes?
Greatest Royal Rumble was a poorly put-together highlight reel of what the sports entertainment company is, mixed with a bit of WWE nostalgia. Five of the matches on the 10-match card came in at under 10 minutes, and two of those matches were five and six minutes long. What makes that crazier is that those were both title matches. These were both matches with a lot of potential that were cut too early.
And that's a huge bummer for fans as the full-time talent involved in the majority of these matches deserves better. Even the matches with stories behind them were extremely problematic, like Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar, which had a bizarre finish where Reigns should have won, but Lesnar came out victorious for some reason that was never clear. However, if you like finishing moves that don't finish the match, Lesnar vs. Reigns is for you.
One of the true highlights of the evening came from the cruiserweight match between Cedric Alexander and Kalisto. While their match barely broke the 10-minute mark, these two men made sure that every moment of it was exciting and kept the audience on the edge of their seats. As most cruiserweight matches go, it was filled with acrobatic moments and high-risk maneuvers. The story behind the two facing each other was thinner than many fans would have liked, but overall, it was one of the standouts for the event.
Additionally, there was the four-way ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship, which featured some of the top talent in the company: Samoa Joe, Seth Rollins, The Miz, and Finn Balor. It was fun and fast-paced and had a finish that came out of nowhere, in a good way. Also, while the finish to Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles was disappointing, the rest of the match was one of the best of the evening, and Nakamura plays a heel incredibly well. Both of these matches are a must-watch.
Then, there was the 50-Man Royal Rumble match, which felt exceptionally fast-paced despite being one hour and 17 minutes long. It ended with Braun Strowman as the last man standing. For his prize, he was awarded a gigantic trophy and a championship belt, two things WWE, as well as fans, will forget about two months from now. Like most Royal Rumble matches, it was fun, and there were plenty of memorable spots. But that's not saying much when the rest of the show was mediocre and forgettable.
The real standout part of the event was Daniel Bryan in the Rumble match. It told the audience a story. It was a man who entered the match and was determined to win, against all odds, even though he was the first wrestler to enter the ring for the 50-Man event. There were numerous moments where we saw him triumph and just as many where we saw him falter. All-in-all, the odds were stacked against him, and he ended up being eliminated. And while he didn't win the match, he spent one hour and 15 minutes inside the ring, which is a new record for most time spent in a Rumble match. Why couldn't the rest of the event have done more things like this?
The first Greatest Royal Rumble did not live up to the enormous amount of hype WWE put behind the event. The fireworks, big names, gigantic stadium, and numerous title matches can't cover up the fact that WWE put way too much on its plate and delivered a highly polished house show at best. Sure, there were a few moments that were great, but that was only a tiny light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.
If you're looking to see the best the show had to offer, watch these matches and skip everything else:
Cedric Alexander vs. Kalisto
The Miz vs. Seth Rollins (c) vs. Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe
The WrestleMania 34 match between Brock Lesnar and The Big Dog, Roman Reigns, was bad. The rematch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, at the Greatest Royal Rumble, was worse. It was poor in its own right, but it also rendered the prior title match pointless.
The entire appeal of professional wrestling is that--unlike in boxing or MMA--a professional wrestling match has a predetermined pace, variety, and outcome. In boxing, you never know what you're going to get as a paying customer; you could get a shifting battle of styles between a counter puncher and a brawler, or you could get a miserable slog, with two guys clinching and smothering each other for 12 rounds. In professional wrestling--at least in theory--the fans are guaranteed a good fight for their money; the bookers can plot out the perfect offense, defense, counterattacks, and comebacks to maximize the entertainment value.
And that's why there's no excuse for the awful match we saw. The Lesnar vs. Reigns match at the Greatest Royal Rumble was the one thing worse than being actively bad; it was boring. For the entire match, which took place inside a steel cage, the two men traded signature moves, special moves, and finishers. Typically, these are the trademark turning points of a match when momentum shifts and one wrestler takes the upper hand. But these were the only moves that both competitors did, over and over again. There was no grappling, no psychology, and barely any use of the steel cage that surrounded them. Why create a stipulation and then apply it so infrequently?
There were four German suplexes, two F5s, five Spears, and an endless number of Superman punches. I know this because the broadcast team kept track of these statistics and updated them as the match progressed--proof of how pervasive and played-out they were. They are no longer "signature" moves or "finishing" moves now. They are simply "moves" with no sense of danger, specialness, or purpose.
And the match's ending was terrible too. Roman speared Lesnar through the cage, and both men hit the floor outside. And since Lesnar hit the floor first, he was declared the winner. The only problem, however, is that those aren't the rules of the match. The winner of a steel cage match needs "both feet" to touch the floor. And Reigns, very clearly, did this before Lesnar did. There should have been a clean, non-flukey finish to pass the torch from one generation to the next. As is, this "controversy" will stretch the Lesnar vs. Reigns feud into extra, tedious innings--this time, by stirring up drama where it didn't need to exist. WWE is getting too clever for its own good. Give fans a good, solid match, with clear stakes, a narrative arc, and clear winners. Fans will be much happier.
BROCK LESNAR WINS.... thanks to Roman Reigns spearing him through cage!!! Lesnar hit the ground first! #WWEGRRpic.twitter.com/ItpLfOVHSg
Wrestlemania 34 was the event where Reigns should have won the Universal Championship. Despite its predictability, it would have served a practical purpose--of putting the world title on a full-time worker who could show up to Raw every week. And it made logical, narrative sense, which is one of the reasons why it was so predictable.
Then, shockingly, Reigns lost at Wrestlemania 34. And some defenders said, "Well, maybe WWE wants the title to change hands in Saudi Arabia, where the audience response would be more pro-Reigns." And lo and behold, it was! Saudi Arabian fans cheered for Reigns the whole match. But still, WWE stuck Reigns with another loss and rendered the Wrestlemania 34 loss even more pointless. This was no underdog narrative. This was a man getting beaten once, and then getting beaten harder.
What's the end game to all this? In the past, Reigns had suffered from the common perception that he is the "top guy" who beats everyone else. But the current reality is worse; he's the top guy who can't even beat the part-time guy. And not only does that make him look weak-- it makes everyone beneath him look even weaker by comparison.
For three months, Reigns has delivered multiple, passionate promos, telling the WWE fans that Lesnar's run as Raw champion has created a worse, less consequential show. That is absolutely true. And now, rather than correcting that status quo, WWE has decided, against all reason, to maintain it.
After the amazing gaming year that was 2017, you have to wonder how 2018 will compare. But if 2018's current roster of releases is anything to go by, we might be in for another fantastic year. It seems primed to impress with a slew of hotly anticipated new games, including big-budget games like Super Smash Bros., Red Dead Redemption 2, God of War, Crackdown 3, and a whole lot more. To help you keep track of all the games coming out, we've compiled a list of all the noteworthy release dates for the biggest ones confirmed to come out in 2018 so far.
Be sure to check back often as we update this article with more release dates or any potential changes to any of the dates below. And if you're eager to figure out the release dates from games last year, you can also reference our feature on the game release dates of 2017.
Below you can find a list of the biggest games that don't have explicit release dates but are confirmed to release sometime this year. There are also games listed that we expect to launch in 2018. We'll be moving each of these games into the release date sections above as soon as official dates are announced.
Throughout God of War's many realms lie hidden chambers sequestering powerful Valkyries. These cursed warriors offer some of the toughest fights in the entire game and grant you access to impressive-looking armor. You won't be able to fight them until you acquire the tip of a certain giant's chisel, but once you have that key item it's time to start thinking seriously about hunting Valkyries down.
Below, we will show you the exact location of each Valkyrie fight, and provide general tips on how to take them down and protect yourself from their attacks. For more on God of War, check out GameSpot's God of War review. For more guides, check out our progression system explainer and our feature detailing 11 tips you should know before starting.
Every Valkyrie Location
With four fights to discover, Midgard contains more Valkyries than any other realm in the game, but you can also find them in Alfheim, Helheim, Muspelheim, and Niflheim. The eight images below display their exact locations in each realm.
While you shouldn't have too much of an issue coming across these locations throughout the course of following the story, Muspelheim in particular is a bit deceiving at first. To get to the Valkyrie, you actually need to complete every trial and work your way to the top of the mountain, which wraps around--hence why it looks like it's near the entrance, even though it isn't.
General Tips
God of War doesn't present a clear order in which to fight the Valkyries, and not all Valkyries are created equal. That said there are a few key strategies you can take into battle that should help you regardless of the Valkyrie in question.
Whether or not you ultimately need it, be sure to take a resurrection stone into battle. Valkyries are punishing and in some cases are able to wipe you out with little warning. Having a stone in hand ensures that you get a second chance, and you'll be glad you thought ahead if you ever get knocked just before finishing off their last bit of health.
You should also prepare yourself for a bit of trial and error. Valkyries are highly mobile and capable of attacking in many different ways from near or far. It can take a few fights before you begin to recognize their attack patterns and learn how to avoid taking damage. Always go in knowing that you're better off being patient and waiting for an obvious moment of opportunity, versus risking progress on a moment of over-confidence.
The best tip you should always keep in mind: Whenever you see a Valkyrie leap into the air and telegraph an unblockable attack with a red ring of light, have Atreus fire an arrow to knock them to the ground. In most cases the attack they would otherwise activate is an arena-wide flash of energy that's impossible to dodge.
It's also smart to closely manage your runic attack cooldowns, and consider using the Talisman of Unbound Potential, which you can use to refill your meters in an instant. Simple combos will do damage to Valkyries but there's nothing quite like a powerful, magic-infused axe blow when you get the chance. Avoid spamming attacks and make the most of the opportunities that arise.
What's My Prize?
Some say victory is a reward unto itself, but this is a video game we're talking about. For every Valkyrie you defeat, you are guaranteed to get Epic-grade items in return, including plenty of enchantments and armor. Armor in particular is very desirable as each piece usually comes with powerful perks that may prove especially useful while trekking through Niflheim or Muspelheim.
What's Next?
After you defeat all eight Valkyries, well, you get to fight one more. Each Valkyrie you kill leaves a head behind that you can return to the council of Valkyries. The location of the council is pinpointed on your map--just to the left of the oarsmen--after you kill your first Valkyrie.
Returning the eight heads creates a tear that can be used to initiate a fight with the Queen of the Valkyries. She has far more health than any of the others, and even has a few new attacks to catch you off guard. The best advice for beating her is to just be patient. Don't rush, and do your best to survive. It's a long fight. Good luck.
God of War on PS4 introduces a surprising number of changes to the series. The latest game does away with the linear structure and progression from past games. Now you can explore an open-ended environment, earn XP to unlock abilities from a skill tree, and even acquire armor sets that improve your stats. In addition, you can collect accessories known as Talismans and Enchantments that further improve your equipment's stats and give you special perks.
There are a lot of systems in place this time around, and it can get overwhelming trying to manage it all at first, especially if you assumed this game was going to be just like its predecessors. To help you get a better understanding of God of War's upgrade progression, we've compiled details on its major systems and mechanics. For more guides, check out our feature detailing 11 tips you should know before starting. And be sure to read our God of War review.
God of War slowly introduces you to its mechanics, encouraging you to explore and pick up resources scattered about the world--but for reasons not quite stated. As you progress, it's revealed that the resources you pick up can be used at shops to purchase and upgrade Kratos' equipment. There are a variety of different avenues to upgrade and strengthen Kratos and Atreus. In the sections below you can find detailed explanations of each.
Armor Sets
Take time to think about what statistics you value the most.
Armor plays a big part in God of War, not only for increasing your stats to improve your chances of survival, but for specializing in traits that you value in combat. For example, if you like using Runic Attacks, you should equip armor that increases Runic Attack damage. Take time to think about what statistics you value the most, and stick with them, as the sooner you can funnel your resources into crafting and upgrading the armor that best supports that, the better.
The same philosophy applies to Atreus. At the blacksmith shop, you can buy him armor sets that enhance his characteristics in different ways. For instance, one set increases his arrow damage, while another improves the damage he does when strangling enemies. Atreus can be incredibly effective in battle, so it's important to think about which armor best suits how you want to use him.
Enchantments
Enchantments are special items you can slot into your armor that further enhance their stats. Each piece of armor can hold at least one Enchantment, as long as it has an available socket. If an armor piece doesn't have any, you can unlock sockets by upgrading them at the blacksmith shop. Throughout your journey, you'll get your hands on a ton of Enchantments, so always make sure to check your inventory to see if there are any that you should replace from your current loadout.
Make sure to check your inventory to see if there are any that you should replace from your current loadout.
Oftentimes an Enchantment has a special perk that gives you attack buffs and resistances that are either inherent or activate randomly during battle. While it's useful to be aware of Enchantment perks, you'll generally want to focus on equipping ones that best increase your stats, as they give you the most significant boosts compared to other items in the game.
It's important to note that whenever you purchase a new armor set, make sure to re-equip all of the Enchantments from your old armor onto your new one. Unless you're a fan of playing at a disadvantage, don't make this mistake.
Axe Pommels
Prioritize Axe Pommels that offer the best perks.
Axe Pommels further increase the Leviathan Axe's power. Similar to Enchantments, they offer perks that activate either randomly or after you perform a specific action in battle. For example, the Deadly Grip of Fury has a perk that grants you a Rage Burst after a successful axe kill. Since you can only equip a single Axe Pommel, you want to lean towards the ones with the best perks, as they often don't offer the most substantial stat boosts. But the choice is up to you; you're not punished for focusing on stats over perks.
Talismans
Talismans are special accessories you can equip that allow you to perform a special ability in battle. They come in two varieties: active and passive. Active Talismans can be triggered manually by pressing a special button combination. Passive Talismans are activated by performing a specific action in battle, like dodging an attack at the last second.
You generally want to focus on equipping a Talisman that best suits your needs in battle.
While Talismans also offer boosts to your stats, you'll generally want to focus on equipping one that best suits your needs in battle. For example, if you'd like to have a little insurance when nearing death, the Talisman of Concentrated Vitality allows you to manually give yourself a health boost mid-battle by pressing L1 and the circle button. It's best to be practical when it comes to choosing a Talisman. Their stats boosts may provide an initiative to equip one over the other, but it's their perks that are most important, as they can directly impact and change the tide of battle.
Combat Upgrades
God of War's combat is fairly limited at first, but once you start acquiring more Skills and Runic Attacks, battles start becoming more complex. Enemies only get tougher as the game goes on, so it helps that there are ways to defend yourself. Below we run through the two avenues you have to increase the power of your fighting prowess.
Skills
Choose your skills wisely.
The first way to increase your strength in combat is by unlocking combat abilities in the Skill tree with the XP you earn in battle. Skills are special moves you can perform, like combos, charging attacks, and active attack buffs. Both Kratos and Atreus have their own skills you can upgrade, which are all available for you to unlock right at the start. You eventually unlock more skills from the tree after acquiring or purchasing key items that boost the level of your weapons.
You don't earn a lot of XP early on, so it's important to start thinking about which skills best suit your playstyle. But don't fret, you're not forced to unlock certain skills over others the whole way through; you'll eventually nab enough XP to unlock every ability on the skill tree. Until then, choose your skills wisely.
Runic Attacks
While you might be inclined to utilize the default attacks and combos available to you to dispatch foes, don't forget to use your Runic Attacks. These powerful special moves can be equipped to your weapons and are triggered by holding L1 and pressing R1 or R2. There are two types of Runic Attacks: Light and Heavy. The game features a variety of different Runic Attacks to equip, each sporting their own unique effects, attributes, and cooldowns.
Don't underestimate the power of Runic Attacks.
It's possible to upgrade Runic Attacks with XP to enhance their power. You might feel inclined to upgrade combat skills over them, but don't underestimate how they can aid you in battle. A well-placed Runic Attack can give you the upper hand when your chances of survival seem low. Upgrading them improves their damage, stun, and overall capability. Do not forget to use and upgrade your Runic attacks. They're well worth it.
The Greatest Royal Rumble just wrapped up, and it happened on a Friday morning. It was weird but refreshing at the same time, and the main event was a 50-man battle royal, the largest Royal Rumble match in WWE history, and it had a few surprise entrants. In addition, there were seven title matches at the event as well as the return of the Undertaker and Daniel Bryan breaking a major Rumble record.
Greatest Royal Rumble hits the WWE Network today at 5 PM BST / 12 PM ET / 9 AM PT and takes place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. There are 10 matches on the card, featuring wrestlers from Raw, Smackdown, and 205 Live. If you don't have the WWE Network, you can sign up for one month free, as this is the only way to watch the event.
There have been a few head-scratching moments when it comes to this event, like the exclusion of women detailed in the video above. Also notable was how Rusev was taken out of the match with Undertaker, replaced with Chris Jericho, and then put back in the match. You can learn more about the event by checking out our predictions, everyone confirmed for the main event, and some of the rumors surrounding the show.
Here is the card for the event.
Undertaker vs. Rusev (Casket Match)
The Bar vs. Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt (For the Raw Tag Team Championship)
Cedric Alexander (c) vs. Kalisto (For the Cruiserweight Championship)
John Cena vs. Triple H
The Bludgeon Brothers (c) vs. The Usos (For the Smackdown Tag Team Championship)
The Miz vs. Seth Rollins (c) vs. Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe (Ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship)
Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Jinder Mahal (For the United States Championship)
Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Roman Reigns (Steel cage match for the Universal Championship)
AJ Styles (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (For the WWE Championship)
50-Man Royal Rumble
In case you're not caught up, don't worry; we put the final results in spoiler blocks.
Kickoff Show
No matches happened during the Kickoff.
Main Card
John Cena vs. Triple H
Cena pins Triple H at 15:44.
Cedric Alexander (c) vs. Kalisto
(For the Cruiserweight Championship)
Alexander pins Kalisto at 10:13.
The Bar vs. Bray Wyatt & Matt Hardy
(For the Raw Tag Team Championship)
Hardy pins Sheamus at 8:49.
Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Jinder Mahal
(For the United States Championship)
Hardy pins Mahal at 6:09.
The Usos vs. Bludgeon Brothers (c)
(For the Smackdown Tag Team Championship)
Bludegon Brothers win by pin at 5:07.
The Miz vs. Seth Rollins (c) vs. Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe
(Ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship)
Rollins grabbed the belt at 14:33.
AJ Styles (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
(For the WWE Championship)
Double countout at 14:24.
Undertaker vs. Rusev (Casket Match)
Taker put Rusev and Aiden English in the casket at 9:38.
What would you do to bring balance to the universe? It's a question that, in one form or another, countless characters have faced throughout the history of fiction. Heroes and villains--Jedi and Sith, hobbits and Dark Lords alike--have endlessly tried to tip the scales of good and evil one way or the other. Few have had so succinct a solution as Thanos.
This is it--the movie, and the villain, that a decade of laboriously mapped out and meticulously crafted Marvel Cinematic Universe fiction has led to. Marvel made fans a promise when Samuel L. Jackson donned Nick Fury's eyepatch and told Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark about the Avengers Initiative at the end of Iron Man: It would all culminate here. They doubled down on that promise over and over across the subsequent decade of MCU movies, raising the stakes every time a new Infinity Stone entered the fray or Thanos made another of his rare on-screen appearances.
Now the gloves are off, and the Infinity Gauntlet is on Thanos's hand. And Avengers: Infinity War is a payoff of galactic proportions.
Thanos has been lurking in the MCU's wings for years now, pulling strings and orchestrating plots like Loki's invasion of Earth in the first Avengers movie and Ronan's assault on Xandar in Guardians of the Galaxy. Having lost his patience for subterfuge and with five of the six Infinity Stones located, the Mad Titan decides to finally get his hands dirty in Infinity War. He sends his minions, the Children of Thanos, to Earth to retrieve two of the Stones, while he goes after the others himself.
Infinity War doesn't introduce a lot of new characters, understandable considering the ridiculously enormous cast it already has to work with. The Children of Thanos make up four of those new faces, and they toe the line between campy fun and cannon fodder--they're cool, but they won't make much of an impression in the grand scheme of the movie.
And how grand a scheme it is. To mention only what we know, and not spoil any of the surprising cameos--of which there are a few--Infinity War is juggling protagonists and sidekicks from the worlds of Iron Man, Captain America, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor, Spider-Man, and the Avengers universe at large.
Incredibly, Infinity War actually manages to do every single one of these characters justice. Some of them only get a few lines in the movie, or just a couple of awesome shots during a huge battle, but that's understandable. The fact that Infinity War actually feels like a well-balanced movie, with time for small, emotional moments between characters in addition to the multiple budget-breaking battles, is undeniably impressive.
There are two factors that help it there. For one thing, with a few exceptions, these are all characters we're already intimately familiar with. (That said, if you haven't been keeping up with the MCU for the last decade, good luck.) For another, this is really only half a movie, despite being long as heck. That shouldn't come as a surprise, and it certainly doesn't detract from the film. If anything, it probably would have turned out a lot messier if they'd tried to cram the whole story into one film. And Infinity War does end on a note of finality--there's no massive cliffhanger, but instead a coda that may come to feel like a bridge only when Avengers 4 arrives in 2019.
As has been the trend in the MCU lately, Infinity War is also extremely funny, though it occasionally feels like it shoehorns gags into otherwise serious scenes just to break the tension. The action, on the other hand, is as imaginative as you'd hope with all these different heroes with wildly varied powers coming together--and every bit as excellent as we've come to expect from directors Joe and Anthony Russo, the brothers behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Civil War before this.
As promised, Infinity War is Thanos's movie. This is by far the most we've seen of the iconic villain since his proper debut in the first Guardians of the Galaxy, and the movie does a decent job fleshing out his backstory and motivations. There are some aspects from the source material that you might find yourself missing if you're well versed on the books, but from the movie's shocking opening moments, Thanos is established as an absurdly powerful and nearly unstoppable force. And Josh Brolin plays the Titan with the exact right amounts of menace, humor, and emotion that the surprisingly complex character demands. In a word, Thanos is phenomenal.
But this is still an Avengers movie, and the payoff really comes from the unions and reunions we've come to expect from that name. When the first Avengers movie brought Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye together in 2012, the goosebumps that came from seeing heroes from disparate franchises fighting on-screen together proved that the Marvel blueprint works on a large scale. And that was after just a few movies and four years; Avengers: Infinity War extrapolates that same sensation over a decade and 18 films, and the results are exponentially more fun, exciting, and awe-inducing.
Avengers: Infinity War does justice both to the promise Marvel has been riding on for the last decade, and the source material that inspired it. Somehow, for all its fire and fury--the raw spectacle of it all--Infinity War is a surprisingly human story, both for the heroes who have to put all their doubts aside and unite, and for Thanos, a genocidal alien who succeeds as a character because he's infused with real emotion. Infinity War reminds us why these characters, one and all, matter, and why they mean so much to fans.
Marvel has accomplished something truly incredible here, although at this point it's no more than the absurdly high quality bar Marvel fans have come to expect. It's been a long road getting here, but it was worth it.
Assassin's Creed Syndicate follows the story of twins Jacob and Evie Frye as they take back London from the Templars in the Victorian era. The game not only allows you to freely explore London, but also switch between the twins for most missions. Jacob is brutish, while Evie is a rouge-like character. Syndicate will be free for Gold member through May 15.
Dead Space 2 on the other hand is a bit more visceral. This is backwards compatible title is set three years after the events of Dead Space, following Issac's battle against the Necromorphs on Sprawl. Unlike the first game, this sequel also has a multiplayer mode, pitting humans against Necromorphs. It's available for download through April 30.
Fortnite: Battle Royale players have a wide variety of Season 3 objectives to complete. Epic Games has released the Week 5 challenges for Battle Pass owners, offering another way to obtain some experience and Battle Stars on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Many of the objectives this week are fairly straightforward; they include searching chests in Moisty Mire and using the bush item. Two of the Hard-difficulty challenges are equally straightforward: get three eliminations with a pistol and defeat three enemies in Tilted Towers. Players are also tasked with dealing 200 damage to opponents with a pickaxe. While you can certainly swing away at any enemy, this counts damage dealt to those who have been downed. In other words, completely finish off two people who are in a DBNO state using the pickaxe, and this is easily completed.
There are two other objectives that may require some guidance. The first asks you to visit three gas stations--but the catch is this has to be done in a single match (meaning you should avoid attempting it in Blitz mode). Reddit user __Kaneda__ has published a map highlighting the various gas stations you'll find around the island. Most of these are found in named locations, but some are in smaller areas. Pick any three, run by them during one match, and you'll earn five Battle Stars.
The other more complex challenge is labeled as Hard, meaning you'll receive 10 Battle Stars. It tells you to "follow the treasure map found in Anarchy Acres." The map points you to a location just southwest of Junk Junction, near the western edge of the map. As with past versions of this challenge, you don't actually need to hunt down the treasure map first; if you know where to go, you can simply head right to that point. You can have a look at this map from Reddit user ThePuffyPenguin.
As always, despite being weekly challenges, you have until the end of Season 3 to complete these objectives (see them all below). That's also true for the previous four weeks, as well as the set of freebie challenges that are available even to non-Battle Pass owners.
Aside from simply giving you some focused objectives, completing these challenges allows you to more quickly rank up your Battle Pass. This, in turn, unlocks a variety of cosmetics, XP boosts, and other things that don't directly impact gameplay. You can see everything there is to be earned in our Season 3 Battle Pass gallery.
Fortnite Week 5 Challenges
Use the Bush -- 5 Battle Stars
Search chests in Moisty Mire (7) -- 5 Battle Stars
Deal damage with a pickaxe to opponents (200) -- 5 Battle Stars
Visit different gas stations in a single match (3) -- 5 Battle Stars
Hard: Follow the treasure map in Anarchy Acres -- 10 Battle Stars
The Southern San Andreas Super Sports Series rolls on in Grand Theft Auto V. This week's update doesn't introduce any new modes or vehicles, but it does feature an assortment of bonuses and discounts, which are available now in GTA Online on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
Players have a variety of options for racking up GTA$ and XP this week. First, Smuggler's Run Sell Missions are offering double the normal amount of each through April 30. Additionally, Stockpile and the two newest modes in GTA Online--The Vespucci Job and Hotring Circuit--are likewise offering double payouts for a limited time.
While there may not be a new vehicle to purchase this week, all GTA Online players can earn a free gift. Log in to the game before April 30 and you'll receive a Skulls Livery at no charge. You can also find a ton of discounts on aircrafts, vehicle upgrades, and more. Check out the full list of this week's GTA Online deals below.
The Premium Race in GTA Online this week is Surf and Turf, which is locked to the Blazer Aqua. Everyone who participates will earn triple RP, regardless of where they place in the race, while those who finish in the top three will take home a GTA$ prize. This week's Time Trial is End to End. As usual, players who manage to beat the target time will be rewarded with GTA$ and RP.
You can read more about this week's GTA V update on Rockstar's official website. The developer also teased what's in store for GTA Online next week. Along with a new assortment of discounts, Rockstar will introduce new Special Vehicle Races on May 1, which will feature vehicles from the Doomsday Heist. New Transform Races, Creator updates, and more are also in the pipeline for GTA Online as part of the ongoing Southern San Andreas Super Sports Series.
GTA Online Discounts Through April 30
Aircraft (Buy It Now & Trade Prices)
Nagasaki Ultralight -- 40% off
Nagasaki Havok -- 40% off
LF-22 Starling -- 40% off
Mammoth Mogul -- 40% off
Mammoth Tula -- 40% off
RM-10 Bombushka -- 40% off
P-45 Nokota -- 40% off
Buckingham Pyro -- 40% off
Buckingham Howard NX-25 -- 40% off
Super & Sports Classic Cars
Grotti Visione -- 30% off
Coil Cyclone -- 30% off
Vapid Retinue -- 30% off
Vehicle Upgrades & Customization
Countermeasures -- 25% off
Aircraft Weapons -- 25% off
Aircraft Handling -- 25% off
Vehicle Brakes -- 25% off
Vehicle Engine -- 25% off Aircraft, Bikes & Cars)
Vehicle Armor -- 25% off (Aircraft, Bikes & Cars)
Liveries -- 40% off (Aircraft, Bikes & Cars)
Clothing & Accessories
All Smuggler's Run Clothing -- 25% off
Flight and Air Racing Suits -- 25% off
Parachutes - Bags, Canopies and Smoke Trails -- 25% off
All good things must come to an end, which for Netflix means a long list of movies and TV shows disappearing from its library each month. May is no different with some very good movies--and a bunch of Disney Channel fare--no longer being able to stream.
That means the remaining days of April are your last chance to stream films like Chappie, Casper, The Hurt Locker, and The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Also departing in May are Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Disney's The Jungle Book, and all five seasons of The Secret Life of the American Teenager.
If someone in your house is a Disney Channel fan, they'll also be losing access to the Camp Rock and High School Musical franchises, as well as Phineas and Ferb. Finally, the movie adaptation of the video game Silent Hill, Goodfellas, and Ocean's Eleven will all disappear.
You can take a look at everything leaving Netflix below. Additionally, check out the list of movies and shows premiering on the streamer in May, as well as what it added in April.
Netflix is closing out the month of April strong. While everyone is off busy seeing Avengers: Infinity War, the streaming service is adding a number of new original TV shows and movies this week, adding to an already massive streaming library.
Among the new arrivals is the second season of 3%, the dystopian series set in a future that sees the majority of the world's population living in devastation and poverty--with 3% of those eligible given a chance at a better life. The show, which is filmed entirely in Portuguese, returns on April 27.
Other additions include Bill Nye: Science Guy, a documentary about TV host and science enthusiast Bill Nye, as well as the first season of The New Legends of Monkey. The latter is inspired by the 1970s Japanese TV show Monkey. In this new series, a young monk travels through a land controlled by demons, with a group of gods at his side.
You can take a look at everything Netflix is adding below. Additionally, take a look at everything coming and going from the service in the month of April, along with the titles Amazon Prime Video and Hulu are offering up.
April 24
Call The Midwife: Series 6: Christmas Special 2017
Kevin James: Never Don't Give Up
April 25
Bill Nye: Science Guy
Psychokinesis (Netflix Film)
April 27
The Week Of (Netflix Original)
3%: Season 2 (Netflix Original)
Bobby Kennedy for President (Netflix Original)
Candy Jar (Netflix Original)
Holy Goalie
The Man Who Knew Infinity
The New Legends of Monkey: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
A new Fortnite challenges update has arrived, unlocking Week 10 objectives for Battle Pass owners on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and mobile. This is the final week of Season 3, and it introduces a new element--floating rings to skydive through--along with a search for an object between a stone circle, wooden bridge, and red RV that may prove difficult for some.
As always, there is a total of seven challenges in all. Some of these are things you'd do anyway; one of the hard objectives is to eliminate 10 opponents. You may be best off doing that in the Solo playlist, where you don't have to worry about revives or teammates taking your kills. You may want to head to Pleasant Park to do that, as another hard objective asks for three eliminations in Pleasant Park; complete each of those for 10 Battle Stars.
The trickiest of Week 10's challenges is the aforementioned "search between" one. Like those in the past, this simply requires you to reach a location between three vaguely described objects and pick up an item. Unless you're especially familiar with the map, you may not know the location based on he name--the game tells you to search between a Stone Circle, Wooden Bridge, and a Red RV. This is just southeast of Tomato Town, near the southwestern edge of Wailing Woods (in the H4 section, as seen in the map below). You'll find a circle of stones with a log in the middle, and the Battle Star to collect will be hovering over that.
As for the objective telling you to skydive through floating rings, you'll see these as soon as the Battle Bus begins making its way across the island. There are purple ones at higher elevations and blue ones closer to the ground. You'll need to go through a total of 10, and both the purple and blue rings count for one. This will take multiple matches to complete, as you'll want to try to hit at least two as you jump from the Battle Bus. Despite what the challenge says, you don't specifically have to be skydiving--you can gently make your way through with the glider equipped to ensure you don't miss a ring.
The remainder of the challenges mostly involve spending time in the right places. You'll need to search chests in Fatal Fields, as well as search chests in different named locations. For the latter, just bring up the map and keep track of each place you open a chest. The Fatal Fields chest will count for one, and from there you can make your way to any other area with a name to find a chest. Finally, you'll need to deal a total of 250 headshot damage to enemies. If you're a good sniper, that's going to be your best bet for handling this quickly, but any gun will do.
You can see the full list of Week 10 challenges below, or consult our full list of Season 3 challenges. Week 10 is the final leg of Season 3, and it looks as if things may be coming to a head with Fortnite's meteor and alien theories. But you still have some time to complete these objectives and any you haven't already done--that'll help you to level up your Battle Pass more quickly and earn the skins and rewards currently up for grabs.
Fortnite Week 10 Challenges
Search Chests in Fatal Fields (7) -- 5 Battle Stars
Deal Headshot Damage to opponents (250) -- 5 Battle Stars
Search a Chest in different Named Locations (12) -- 5 Battle Stars
Skydive through floating Rings (10) -- 5 Battle Stars
Hard: Search between a Stone Circle, Wooden Bridge, and a Red RV -- 10 Battle Stars
Hard: Eliminate Opponents (10) -- 10 Battle Stars
Hard: Eliminate Opponents in Pleasant Park (3) -- 10 Battle Stars
With the release of Avengers: Infinity War finally upon us, the reviews are in. The lengthy movie is the culmination of 10 years of storytelling, with 18 movies released since the Marvel Cinematic Universe launched with Iron Man in 2008. So what do the critics think of this truly epic superhero team-up?
The reviews are extremely positive, if not quite as unanimous in their praise as the recent Black Panther. Infinity War currently has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 86%, compared to Black Panther's hugely impressive 96%. It also currently sits behind the like of Thor: Ragnarok (92%) and Spider-Man: Homecoming (92%).
Nevertheless, many critics loved the movie. The Avengers: Infinity War review from GameSpot's own Mike Rougeau says the film "does justice both to the promise Marvel has been riding on for the last decade, and the source material that inspired it. Somehow, for all its fire and fury--the raw spectacle of it all--Infinity War is a surprisingly human story. Marvel has accomplished something truly incredible here, although at this point it's no more than the absurdly high quality bar Marvel fans have come to expect."
Most critics were unified on the impressive scale and spectacle of the movie. "The scale and grandeur of Infinity War surpasses anything else to date in the genre," said Mark Hughes of Forbes. "It makes a loud, bold declaration of what is truly possible in superhero cinema, challenging filmmakers to reach higher and challenging audiences to keep demanding more."
Den of Geek's James Hunt agrees, writing, "Avengers: Infinity War is epic and operatic, with scope and ambition. It'll leave you simultaneously breathless and emotionally devastated--and when you've pulled yourself together, you'll want to do it all over again."
The challenge that directors Joe and Anthony Russo faced by juggling so many characters was something that a number of writers focused on . Sara Stewart of the New York Post stated that prior knowledge of the MCU is essential. "You'll need some context to properly appreciate the reunions, the awkward first-time meetings, the snark and the sheer incongruity of seeing wildly different characters interact," she wrote. "[But] with a cast as talented and genial as this one, nearly every matchup is a winner."
The Seattle Times' Moira MacDonald also thought that it was sometimes hard to keep track of every character. "Watching the enjoyable but overstuffed superhero epic Avengers: Infinity War is kind of like attending a crowded cocktail party where you more-or-less know everyone, but sometime struggle to put names and backstories to the faces," she said.
However, not everyone loved Infinity War. Matt Zoller Seitz of RobertEbert.com liked the movie, but thought something was missing. "This movie shouldn't just engage and amuse and occasionally move us; it should shock and scar us," he said. "Deep down, we all know that modern superhero movies are operating with even lower dramatic stakes than Star Wars or James Bond movies. This is, as many have pointed out, one half of a story broken in two, but it feels like less than half somehow."
Avengers: Infinity War is in theaters on April 26.
Following the first official image for Fortnite's Season 4, developer Epic Games has now released an updated version. Like the first, this also features the likeness of what appears to be a superhero, further reinforcing theories about what's likely to be the theme of Season 4 in Battle Royale.
The newly updated image still features the first superhero, but now the streak across it shows a female character who looks a bit like Wonder Woman. Epic Games hasn't explicitly said anything about Season 4, though it stands to reason that these are previews of what skins we can expect to be available for Battle Royale players.
Like the first version, the image on Fortnite's website still has the words "brace for impact" on it. That would suggest that these superheroes and Season 4's theme might be related to the meteor that players have believed would crash into Tilted Towers (or somewhere on the island). Just recently, meteors have begun hitting land, although nothing of any real significance has come of that yet.
With Season 3 wrapping up on May 3, Season 4 is expected to follow immediately after. Based on what we've seen from past seasons, we can expect this to introduce a new Battle Pass (presumably purchased with V-Bucks for about $10/£8) that offers a new batch of skins and other rewards. Season 3's theme has primarily revolved around space, which makes sense given the ongoing events with the meteor, though it's also fueled speculation that aliens may show up in some fashion. As of yet, that hasn't happened.
The end of Season 3 means this is the final chance for players to complete the current batch of weekly challenges. A small number of these are available to all players, while the majority require you to own the Battle Pass. We've got a complete guide on how to complete them all, including the new Week 10 challenges.
Microsoft has rolled out the latest system update for Xbox One. This isn't a major one that transforms the basic look and functionality of the system's dashboard, but it does introduce some new features that will be welcomed by those who can take advantage of them.
Many of the additions were either announced previously or were available for those in the Xbox Insiders program, which allows users to test upcoming system features. For instance, AMD FreeSync support is officially implemented for those with compatible displays. This is available on all Xbox One systems, although only Xbox One S and Xbox One X can output HDR with FreeSync 2.
There's also a new Auto Low-Latency mode that can be enabled in the system settings. This lets your console send a message to your display (assuming it supports ALLM) to let it know to enable its Game mode, which will help to reduce input latency.
Xbox One S and Xbox One X gain video output support for 1440p, which should come in handy for those who play on PC monitors. That makes this especially useful for those with FreeSync displays that don't offer 4K.
Mixer streaming integration gets better with this update, as a new Share Controller option has been added. This allows people watching a Mixer stream to be able to take control of the action, either with a virtual controller or by plugging one into their computer. Other Mixer refinements include being able to start a broadcast from anywhere on the system, and better support (both for viewer and streamer) when switching games or viewing the dashboard.
The new update also lets you share screenshots and video clips directly to Twitter from the Guide and switch between light and dark dashboard themes based on the current time. The Narrator feature has been enhanced, and there are new audio balance settings when streaming music while playing games.
A full list of changes can be seen on the official Xbox website. If the update doesn't automatically install for you, you can manually trigger it from the System area of the Settings menu. The update weighs in at about 792 MB.
The next season of Fortnite: Battle Royale is right around the corner. With the last set of Season 3 challenges now live and the next component of the meteor mystery seemingly live, Epic Games has released a new teaser image for what Season 4 will have in store--and it might be superhero-themed. [Update: A new version of the Season 4 image has been released.]
Epic shared the image below on Twitter, accompanied by the text, "Battle. Adapt. Win. Season 4 coming soon." The same image on Fortnite's website is accompanied by the words, "Brace for impact!" The image itself shows what looks like a superhero, which may provide some hint at what kind of new skins and cosmetics to expect from the Season 4 Battle Pass. Season 3's skins are largely space-themed, which ties in with the ongoing meteor and alien speculation. With Avengers: Infinity War just hitting theaters, Epic might be looking to capitalize on the superhero buzz in-game.
A start date for Season 4 has not yet been announced, but Season 3 is set to wrap up on May 3. It's unclear if Season 4 will start right away, but you can expect there to be another Battle Pass for sale. Epic had planned to sell Season 3's for real-world money but ultimately decided to offer it only for V-Bucks, an in-game currency.
We still don't know what to make of Battle Royale's meteor. Players have repeatedly expected it to crash into Tilted Towers, only for nothing to happen--something that Epic even acknowledged with a recent Tilted Towers update.
Shooting stars now populate the sky, and the game has seen the addition of a bars and tones image that can be seen on TVs in-game, further signaling that something is about to happen. Players think they've found what resemble UFOs in the sky alongside the meteor, and the game's files apparently include sound effects for the meteor finally crashing.
Maybe aliens are coming and superheroes will have to face off against them. Maybe the meteor is somehow the superhero pictured above. Earlier speculation suggested this could all be tied to Fortnite's original PvE component, Save the World, finally exiting Early Access. Whatever the case, Season 4 will be underway soon--and in the meantime, meteors are starting to hit.
It should come as no surprise that Avengers: Infinity War is cleaning up at the box office. However, you might not have expected it to do this well. Thanks to its Thursday night preview screenings, the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe movie has already raked in $39 million domestically--giving it the fourth best opening night ever.
The news comes from Variety, which reports that Infinity War's Thursday night haul trails only Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part 2. That makes it the highest opening night for a movie in the MCU, destroying Avengers: Age of Ultron's $27.6 million from 2015. It also outpaces the $25.2 million Black Panther made during preview screenings two months ago.
Now all eyes are on the opening weekend gross. Infinity War is estimated to earn between $225 and $245 million domestically in its first weekend, though Variety notes there's a possibility it would cross $250 million. Should that happen, it would become the biggest opening weekend of all time, besting the $248 million that Star Wars: The Force Awakens bowed to in 2015.
Whatever the case, Infinity War is going to make a ton of money and Marvel is going to get to do it all over again next year when Avengers 4 hits theaters, concluding the story introduced in this movie. Have you seen Avengers: Infinity War? If so, take a look at GameSpot's spoiler coverage, from an explanation of Peter Dinklage's character to what that post-credits scene means.
With Star Wars Rebels having wrapped up its four-season run recently, the Disney Channel has announced a new animated show for the franchise, titled Star Wars: Resistance. The show has been created by Dave Filoni, who oversaw both Rebels and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and it's set to premiere in the fall.
Star Wars: Resistance will be set before the events of the 2015 movie The Force Awakens and according to Disney will focus on a young pilot named Kazuda Xiono, who is "recruited by the Resistance and tasked with a top-secret mission to spy on the growing threat of the First Order."
The voice cast for the new show includes Bobby Moynihan (Saturday Night Live), Christopher Sean (Hawaii Five-0), Scott Lawrence (Avatar), Myrna Velasco (Elena of Avalor), Josh Brener (Silicon Valley), and Donald Faison (Scrubs). In addition, fans can expect appearances from some of the recent Star Wars movie cast members, such as Oscar Isaac (as Poe Dameron) and Gwendoline Christie (as Captain Phasma). Droid fan favorite BB-8 will be in there too.
In a statement, Filoni revealed the inspirations behind Star Wars: Resistance. "The idea for [the show] came out of my interest in World War II aircraft and fighter pilots" he said. "My grandfather was a pilot and my uncle flew and restored planes, so that's been a big influence on me. There's a long history of high-speed racing in Star Wars, and I think we've captured that sense of excitement in an anime-inspired style, which is something the entire team has been wanting to do for a long time."
The announcement of Star Wars: Resistance follows February's news that Iron Man director Jon Favreau is developing a live-action Star Wars show. The series is set to premiere on Disney's streaming platform, which launches next year.
If you're searching for a PC game to play this weekend and you don't want to break the bank, it's time to boot up Steam. This weekend, you can download and play five games at no cost: Payday 2, Arma 3, Day of Infamy, Front Defense: Heroes, and OrbusVR. They're all free to play through April 29. And if you decide to purchase any of them, you'll get a discount as they're all currently on sale.
Payday 2 is a multiplayer game that lets you and a team of scoundrels plan and attempt to pull of crimes of all sorts. You can rob banks, stores, and nightclubs. You can cook meth and steal from senators. In our Payday 2 review, we wrote, "The systems and mechanics all have small flaws and limitations, but they come together to set the stage for exciting heists that you'll want to pull again and again. As long as you can find some felons to fight alongside, Payday 2 is an addictive and challenging criminal pursuit."
Arma 3 is a multiplayer-focused war game that also has a single-player campaign, while Day of Infamy is a WWII shooter. Front Defense: Heroes also takes place during WWII but is designed as a VR game for HTC Vive. Orbus VR, which works on both Vive and Oculus Rift, is a room-scale MMO that's currently in early access.
If you play these games for free and want to buy any of them when the weekend is over, here are the links you'll need, along with their sale prices:
Maybe the God of War review scores sold you on the console. Maybe you just got a 4K television and you want to see just how crisp those visuals can get. There are many reasons you may be in the market for a PS4 Pro. If you've decided to take the plunge, here's the best deal available by far: Between now and April 28, Target is selling the 1TB PS4 Pro console for $320. That's a savings of $80.
Here's what you have to do to get it. First, download the Target Cartwheel app and add the 20% off PlayStation 4 Pro Hardware coupon. Then go to a brick-and-mortar Target store that has the console in stock, and present the coupon when you check out. That's it.
The deal is not available online, nor is it valid with any PS4 Pro bundles. If you have a Target Redcard, you get an additional 5% off the discounted price. But even without that, it's a killer deal for a powerful piece of hardware that normally costs $400.
In GameSpot's PS4 Pro review, Jimmy Thang wrote, "Should you buy a PlayStation 4 Pro? If you have a 4K HDR TV and are looking to buy a console, I'd definitely recommend the PS4 Pro. Even if you have a 1080p TV and are looking to buy a PlayStation, I'd still lean more toward the Pro. Yes, it does cost $100 more than the Slim model, but you get more ports, twice the storage space, more future-proof hardware in the event that you ever decide to get a 4K TV, and some games can look slightly better at 1080p.
"If you already have a PS4, however, I wouldn't make the upgrade unless you have a 4K HDR TV and the extra cash lying around. Graphics enthusiasts may appreciate the improved anti-aliasing and more vibrant colors, but the differences likely won't blow most people away."
If you want a PS4 Pro in your gaming arsenal, start by downloading the Target Cartwheel app on iPhone or Android.
Some links to supporting retailers are automatically made into affiliate links, and GameSpot may receive a small share of those sales.
If you enjoyed the PS4-exclusive game Nioh, you may be interested in pre-ordering a new statue from Prime 1 Studio. That is, you may want to buy it if you really, really enjoyed the game, and you happen to have $1,000 to spare--because that's how much this statue will set you back. Just what kind of Nioh statue do you get for $1,000? Let's take a look.
The statue features Nioh protagonist William Adams and his guardian spirit Saorise, who was, as the description reads, "born from human prayers." The statue is 24 inches tall and made from polystone. Only 750 statues will be made, so depending on how much money Nioh fans have in the bank, it may become unavailable at some point. To lock in your pre-order, you have to put down $100. The statue's estimated arrival time is between June and August, 2019 (yes, that's next year).
Maybe $1,000 is a bit rich for your blood. In that case, you can try this $600 Nioh statue. It's basically the same thing, but without the guardian spirit. Pre-ordering this one requires a $60 down payment, and it's also expected to release between June and August 2019.
Not that there's anything wrong with liking the game the statue's based on. In our Nioh review, we wrote, "Nioh is an immensely layered experience. Through its Dark Souls-inspired combat, you're taught the virtues of patience and the value of defense. With each death, you learn a bit more about yourself and your enemy. This Team Ninja production, set during a time of great social upheaval in Japan, demonstrates the studio's penchant for demanding action-driven gameplay that rewards tactics and high dexterity. And despite all the inevitable dying, Nioh is surprisingly rich with solutions to overcome its many hurdles."
The Nioh statue is reminiscent of the Overwatch statues Blizzard has been putting out recently. Those statues, which are smaller, run in the $150 - $175 range, though the D.Va statue costs $450.
Avengers: Infinity War has hit theaters, but fans may be wondering where these characters came from and the source material Marvel drew on for the new movie. Luckily, Comixology currently has an Avengers sale that includes a lot of fantastic stories at less than half the cost.
Comixology, a supplier of digital comics, has a sale running through May 10 which will allow you to save up to 75% off collections and single issues of Avengers stories, many of which have a connection to Infinity War. We've sifted through the sale and found some of the best stories for you to pick up and read.
For all of these trades, single issues are available as well for $1, but you're going to want the collected editions. Many of these stories can be read for free for members of the Comixology Unlimited subscription service.
Civil War--$5 (Originally $13)
The collection contains Civil War #1-7
While the 2016 Captain America movie did its best at adapting this 2006 Marvel event--written by Mark Millar and drawn by Steve McNiven--the movie only scratched the surface of the story, which gets a whole lot more in-depth into superheroes registering their identities with the government. Spider-Man, Daredevil, and the Fantastic Four play a large role in this story, which the movie just couldn't put on the big screen. Check it out here.
Secret Invasion--$5 ($15)
The collection contains Secret Invasion #1-8
At some point, Secret Invasion will find its way to the big screen, even if it's years from now in Avengers 8. The 2008 story was written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Leinil Francis Yu, and it follows the Avengers as they find out that members of the team have been replaced by shape-shifting Skrulls. It's a tale of espionage, and one of the most memorable alien invasion stories in comics. Check it out here.
We'd also recommend 2004's New Avengers, issues #1-47, as the build up to the event is just as important as the event itself. Sadly, these issues are not on sale.
Infinity--$10 ($35)
The collection contains Infinity #1-6, New Avengers (2013), #7-12, Avengers (2012) #14-23 and Infinity: Against the Tide Infinite Comic #1-2
The 2013 storyline highlights the return of Thanos to the Marvel Universe. It involves both the cosmic characters and Earthly characters of the Marvel Universe, as secrets are revealed about Thanos. The main storyline is written by Jonathan Hickman with art by Jim Cheung. Additionally, the tie-in issues feature writers Jason Latour and Nick Spencer and artists Mike Deodato Jr, Leinil Francis Yu, Stefano Caselli, and more. Check it out here.
Infinity Gauntlet--$4 ($11)
The collection contains Infinity Gauntlet #1-6
This classic early-'90s story is more than likely a large part of the source material for Infinity War. In this comic, Thanos has control of the Infinity Gauntlet along with the Infinity Gems. He's nearly invincible, and it will take the entire Marvel universe to stop him. The story was written by Jim Starlin and drawn by Ron Lim and George Perez. Check it out here.
Thanos Rising--$3 ($9)
The collection contains Thanos Rising #1-5
After the release of Marvel's The Avengers, the comic book publisher released this comic, which explores the younger years of Thanos. Essentially, this is his origin story. It's filled with sorrow, death, tragedy, and a whole lot of other things that made the Mad Titan what he is today. It is beautifully illustrated by Simone Bianchi and written by Jason Aaron.
A lot of what is discounted for Comixology's sale was written by Jonathan Hickman, who had a tremendously brilliant run on both Avengers and Fantastic Four. The main Infinity story mentioned above is his as well. His work is dense, complex, and incredibly intelligent. It's well worth your time and money to check out his stories, many of which are lead-ins to Infinity. Here's some recommended reading from him.
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