EA is set to finally reveal Battlefield V this week, and until then the publisher is staying quiet. So quiet, in fact, that it issued a new teaser with four seconds of footage just to tell you to keep quiet. And even then, the only visual moment we get is a brief close-up of a face shushing the viewer.
It's certainly not much to go on, but it's more of an official glimpse than we'd had previously. The brevity certainly hasn't stopped fans from speculating based on the sights and sounds.
Battlefield V will have its official reveal on Wednesday, May 23 at 1 PM PT / 4PM ET / 9 PM BST (2 PM AET). The stream will be hosted by comedian Trevor Noah, and it will feature the development team outlining its vision for the game. These will be the first official details we see, other than confirmation that a Battlefield game was coming this fall.
Unofficially, though, we've heard quite a bit about Battlefield V. Leaked reports confirmed the title before EA announced it, and those same leaks indicted this one would take place in World War 2. That would be the first time the series returned to that war since Battlefield 1943, and a notable similarity to last year's Call of Duty: WW2. Whatever it is, it will be featured at the EA Play event in June.
It's that time again, when a new set of video game deals swoops in to replace the old one at Best Buy. You can find the weekly ad here and the full list of games on sale here, but we've picked out some of the highlights below.
This is normally the part where I'd mention the Gamers Club Unlocked program, but Best Buy has unceremoniously shut it down. If you already have a subscription, you'll still get the benefits until it runs out, but no new customers can join. It's a bummer. That said, current GCU members can knock 20% off the prices of games below.
In light of GCU going the way of the dodo, Best Buy has introduced a new program that offers $10 in rewards for anyone who pre-orders select games. Among those games are Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and Super Smash Bros. for Switch. So if you pre-order those, you'll get $10 to spend on something else at Best Buy.
UPDATE: Fox is willing to shell out a ton of money in order to get the TV rights for WWE's Tuesday night programming, Smackdown Live. According to sources at THR, the new deal, which is nearing completion, will be for five years and cost Fox over $1 billion dollars--coming in at $205 million annually--for the right to broadcast Smackdown. Fox is reportedly committed to promoting Smackdown across its other programming, which could have crossover appeal, specifically sporting events like the MLB and NFL.
Additionally, the Tuesday night show could be moving nights. According to The Wrap, Fox's plan is to move Smackdown to Friday nights. At this time, there has been no comment from either WWE or Fox about this news. The original story follows.
WWE's TV rights have been under renegotiation this past year, with the sports entertainment giant Raw in discussions to resign with NBCUniversal, which owns the USA Network. However, WWE's Tuesday night programming, Smackdown Live, has reportedly found a new home at Fox.
According to sources at ESPN, Fox made a large offer to WWE in order to get the rights to air Smackdown. As of this writing, there are no specifics to the deal, aside from the fact that it will begin in October 2019.
While many have speculated that if Fox picked up Smackdown, it would air on its sports network FS1, according to ESPN's Darren Rovell, that is not the case. Smackdown will air on Fox. This move will only strengthen the WWE brand in the long run.
If true, both Raw and Smackdown will feel even more separated from each other, which could contribute to a rivalry between brands. Additionally, Smackdown, which doesn't pull in as many viewers as Raw, could find a whole new audience on Fox, even pulling in brand-new WWE fans, as it is a major broadcast network. WWE will be reaching a larger audience and has a better chance of getting the attention of random channel surfers.
In the past, WWE programming has been on other networks, aside from USA. Smackdown appeared on MyNetwork TV, UPN, CW, and Syfy network, and Raw had a five year run on TNN--which later became Spike TV. So splitting the brands between networks isn't a new thing; however, this is the first time in the company's history that both shows will be airing live while on different networks.
The upcoming action sequel John Wick: Chapter 3 is currently in production, and last week the first teaser was released to celebrate its arrival in a year's time. Keanu Reeves is obviously returning as the reluctant assassin, and now various members of the supporting cast have been revealed by the movie's official Twitter account.
Three of the announcements will be no surprise to fans of the previous two movies. Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, and Laurence Fishburne are set to reprise their roles as Winston, Charon, and the Bowery King respectively. McShane and Reddick have been in the series since 2014's John Wick, while Fishburne joined for John Wick: Chapter 2 in 2017.
There are also five new names in the cast. Halle Berry (Catwoman, X-Men) will play a character called Sofia, with Asia Kate Dillon (Orange is the New Black) as The Adjudicator, Mark Dacascos (Cradle 2 the Grave) as Zero, Jason Mantzoukas (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Good Place) as Tick Tock Man, and Angelica Huston (Isle of Dogs) as The Director. We don't know exactly who these new characters are, but let's face it, they all have seriously cool names.
John Wick: Chapter 3 is directed by Chad Stahelski, who helmed Chapter 2 and co-directed the first movie. Last year, Stahelski spoke about his plans for John Wick: Chapter 3. "We want, not so much to go bigger on the third one, but to show you more of the intricacies of the world," he said. "I feel like there are all these different subtleties that I skipped over in part 2, that I'd like to go back to [with part 3] and show you the inner workings of different parts of New York."
Development of the long-rumored John Wick TV spin-off The Continental was also confirmed by Starz in January. The channel's president Chris Albrecht said that the show will "include the thunderous fight sequences and intensely staged shootouts between professional assassins and their targets that fans have come to expect in the John Wick movie franchise as well as introducing some new, darkly compelling characters who inhabit this underground world." The Continental does not yet have a premiere date.
Are you ready to binge? Netflix has what you're looking for this week, thanks to a flurry of new additions that range from movies and comedy specials, to originals and new seasons of TV.
The streaming service's most notable arrival this week is none other than Season 1b of The Toys That Made Us, the documentary series about some of the most beloved toy lines of all time. After putting the spotlight on the histories of Barbie, He-Man, GI Joe, and Star Wars toys in late 2017, there are four more episodes debuting on May 25. The new installments will look at LEGO, Transformers, Hello Kitty, and Star Trek toys.
Additionally, the second season of Shooter premieres on Netflix this week. Among the originals being added are Terrace House: Opening New Doors: Part 2, Trolhunters: Part 3, and comedy specials from Tig Notaro and Steve Martin.
You can take a look at everything Netflix is adding this week below. Then make sure to check out everything coming and going from the service this month, as well as the offerings from Hulu and Amazon Prime Video.
May 20
Some Kind of Beautiful
May 21
Señora Acero: Season 4
May 22
Mob Psycho 100: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Shooter: Season 2
Terrace House: Opening New Doors: Part 2 (Netflix Original)
Tig Notaro: Happy To Be Here (Netflix Original)
May 23
Explained (Netflix Original)
May 24
Fauda: Season 2 (Netflix Original)
Survivors Guide to Prison
May 25
Ibiza (Netflix Original)
Steve Martin and Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life (Netflix Original)
The Toys That Made Us: Season 2 (Netflix Original)
A variety of new Pokemon will soon begin appearing in Pokemon Go. Developer Niantic announced that Alolan forms of classic Gen 1 monsters are on the way to the popular mobile game, and they'll begin popping up around the world just in time for summer.
"Whether your forecast calls for rain or shine, we're celebrating all around the world by introducing some special Pokemon from the tropical Alola region to Pokemon Go," Niantic said on the official Pokemon Go website. "Get ready for some of the Pokemon originally discovered in the Kanto region to appear in their Alolan forms!"
Niantic hasn't announced when players can expect the Alolan forms to debut in Pokemon Go, but the developer says they'll begin appearing in the game "in the coming weeks." Along with the announcement, the developer shared a new promotional image featuring silhouettes of the Alolan Pokemon, which you can take a look at below.
Alolan forms were first introduced in the series' seventh generation installments, Pokemon Sun and Moon. They are region-specific variants of certain Kanto Pokemon, which sport a much different appearance and elemental type when encountered in the tropical Alola region. 18 Gen 1 Pokemon have Alolan forms; you can see the full list of them, along with their new types, below.
Rattata (Dark/Normal)
Raticate (Dark/Normal)
Raichu (Electric/Psychic)
Sandshrew (Ice/Steel)
Sandslash (Ice/Steel)
Vulpix (Ice)
Ninetales (Ice/Fairy)
Diglett (Ground/Steel)
Dugtrio (Ground/Steel)
Meowth (Dark)
Persian (Dark)
Geodude (Rock/Electric)
Graveler (Rock/Electric)
Golem (Rock/Electric)
Grimer (Poison/Dark)
Muk (Poison/Dark)
Exeggutor (Grass/Dragon)
Marowak (Fire/Ghost)
Up until now, Pokemon Go has only featured monsters taken from the first three generations of the series, meaning that some Gen 7 Pokemon will be arriving before Gen 4 monsters have even been introduced in the game. Niantic hasn't said if any of the new Pokemon from Sun and Moon will likewise begin appearing in Go soon.
On top of the upcoming Alolan forms, Pokemon Go players around the world have a number of real-world events to look forward to this summer as part of Niantic's Summer Tour 2018. That begins next month with a Safari Zone event in Germany, with the second annual Pokemon Go Fest in Chicago following in July. Niantic will also host a special Safari Zone event in Yokosuka later this summer.
While Marvel's plans beyond next May's still-untitled fourth Avengers movie are largely unknown, we do know that the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming will arrive a couple of months later. Tom Holland will return as Spidey, and it has now been reported that Jake Gyllenhaal is in talks to play the movie's villain.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gyllenhaal is in negotiations to appear as the classic Marvel supervillain Mysterio. The character was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, and is closely associated with Spider-Man, first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #13 back in 1964. He has also appeared as a major villain in Daredevil comics.
Gyllenhaal is best known for roles in movies such as Donnie Darko, Prisoners, Brokeback Mountain, and Nightcrawler. Although the Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel will be his first superhero movie, there were rumors last year that he was being lined to take over the role of Batman from Ben Affleck in the DC universe. However, he subsequently denied this was the case. Gyllenhaal was also close to being cast in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2 back in 2004, after star Tobey Maguire attempted to negotiate a higher salary for himself.
Spider-Man: Homecoming 2 hits theaters on July 5, 2019, with Jon Watts returning as director. Although no further casting or plot details are known, last year Marvel boss Kevin Feige did talk about how the movie will kickstart the next phase of the MCU after Avengers 4.
"So much happens in [the third and fourth Avengers movies], as you can imagine, and so much is affected by it, that we felt what better person to hold your hand and lead you into the next incarnation of the MCU, in a grounded, realistic manner, than Peter Parker?" Feige said. "So, coming out two months after Untitled Avengers, [that's what] much of what the next Spider-Man film will be about."
After two closed betas and releases in other regions, Dragon Ball Legends is now officially available for Android users in the US and Europe. Developer Bandai Namco says other regions will be getting the game soon, too, and an iOS launch isn't far off either.
Dragon Ball Legends follows a familiar format for DB fans, with a few key alterations to make it mobile friendly. Legends is a 3v3 fighting game, much like the hit console/PC game Dragon Ball FighterZ. You'll get the chance to play as your favorite characters; Goku, Frieza, Piccolo, Nappa, Vegeta, and Pan are all playable. There's also entirely new characters, designed by Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama, and you'll be able to try them out in three game modes: Story Mode, Event Mode, and Multiplayer.
Legends features a card-based interface to make it easy to play on mobile devices. Players perform different attacks by tapping on cards on the bottom of the screen, allowing you unleash combos by using multiple cards. Bandai Namco has also released the minimum system requirements for Android users: players will need a device with at least 1.6 GB of RAM, and you'll be able to tweak graphics settings to ensure optimal game performance.
While Android owners are getting their chance to play Legends first, iPhone and iPad owners won't have to wait long, according to Bandai Namco. It has promised an iOS release this summer, with its latest tweet saying it's coming "soon." Check out some Android gameplay of the game in the video above, and follow GameSpot's coverage of Dragon Ball Legends for the latest on future releases.
As promised, Ubisoft pulled back the curtain on Rainbow Six Siege's next big update, Operation Para Bellum, during the Siege Pro League Finals this past weekend. The update rolls out for PS4, Xbox One, and PC this June and will kick off the second season of Year 3 with two new Operators, an additional map, and a variety of other changes in what Ubisoft calls "one of the largest content updates yet" for the tactical shooter.
Headlining Operation Para Bellum are two new Italian Operators, Alibi and Maestro. While both were unveiled in the weeks leading up to the Pro League Finals, Ubisoft provided a much closer look at the new Defenders during the tournament. Alibi is able to distract opponents by deploying holographic decoys of herself. Maestro, meanwhile, can lay down a bulletproof turret that can see through smoke and fire laser-powered rounds.
Arriving alongside the two Operators is a new map called Villa, a luxurious mansion set in the Italian countryside. The Villa is owned by the Vinciguerra, a "dangerous crime family" notorious for smuggling. "Players will arrive at Villa during a key moment: Vinciguerras are burning documents and transporting their holdings before the big raid. But they've got wind of Operation Para Bellum and fled, leaving everything in disarray with vital information ready for the taking," Ubisoft says.
In addition to the new content, Operation Para Bellum will make a number of gameplay and balance tweaks. Among them, existing Operators will receive some speed adjustments, while Echo in particular will get a second Yokai drone along with a buff. The Clubhouse map is likewise being buffed, and Ubisoft is introducing a new Pick & Ban system, which has players trying to counter their opponent's choices by banning certain Operators from play.
Before the Operation Para Bellum update arrives in the live game, PC players will have a chance to try on the Rainbow Six Siege test server beginning May 22. However, Ubisoft notes that "a consistent gameplay experience is not guaranteed on the Test Server." We recently got a chance to go hands-on with the new Operators; you can watch us play several matches of Siege with Alibi and Maestro on Villa. You can also hear our thoughts on Operation Para Bellum and the new content it brings to Rainbow Six Siege.
The Splinter Cell series has been dormant for quite some time now. Ubisoft has done little with its signature stealth-action game franchise for half a decade, but there have been enough shreds of potential information to think a new Splinter Cell game might finally be happening. With Metal Gear Solid in a weird place after Hideo Kojima's departure from Konami, the time is certainly right. Here's what we know about the status of Splinter Cell, as well as what we'd hope to see at E3 2018 if Ubisoft does decide to surprise us.
What We Know So Far
Being unannounced, we can't say we know anything for sure about a new Splinter Cell game. The franchise's most recent entry was 2013's Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and there's been no official word on what might come next. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot did provide fans with some hope last year when he participated in a Reddit AMA. Asked about the series, he said, "Splinter Cell is a brand we talk about a lot. It's also personally one of my favorite series. We don't have anything specific to share at the moment but teams are working on different things, so stay tuned for more."
He then shared a bit more in a subsequent Ubisoft blog post that made it even clearer that a new Splinter Cell is more a question of when than if. "We are receiving lots of sketches and proposals around the brand, and we're going to pick one up," he said. "I think you will be able to see something, but you will have to wait for that."
Most recently, there was Ghost Recon Wildlands. Out of the blue, Ubisoft launched a Splinter Cell-themed update for the open-world action game, even including a mission where you encounter Splinter Cell protagonist Sam Fisher. Notably, he was voiced by Michael Ironside, the longtime Fisher voice actor who was replaced for Blacklist. It seemed a bit odd to bring back Ironside for what was ultimately a minor appearance, unless that was meant to tease what's to come. Indeed, the conclusion of his story in Wildlands sets up the possible plot for a new Splinter Cell, as Fisher is notified that a nuclear weapon has been lost or stolen.
What's Confirmed For E3?
As noted above, a new Splinter Cell hasn't even been announced; as such, there's nothing confirmed for E3. That said, a recent Walmart leak saw numerous unannounced games listed on the retailer's Canadian website, including something simply called "Splinter Cell." Another of these was Rage 2, and Bethesda has seemingly tried to capitalize on the buzz rather than deny it as you'd expect. That's not to say there's any truth to that listing or any other, but it's possible the Splinter Cell listing was something that was only intended to go up after E3.
What We Hope To See At E3
Mere confirmation that a new Splinter Cell game is in development would be a great way to cap off Ubisoft's E3 press conference, but let's think bigger. If Ubisoft properly reveals the game, the first thing we'd love to see is a renewed focus on stealth. Blacklist is a terrific game, and its action was very good. But with Metal Gear at least temporarily moving away from stealth, Ubisoft has an opportunity to fill that void and establish Splinter Cell as the preeminent stealth-action franchise. It could even look to draw on the open-world elements of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, even if it maintains its more distinct mission structure (maybe something along the lines of Dishonored?).
However missions are structured, the game will ideally provide replayability. Hitman did an incredible job of offering numerous different approaches and different challenges to tackle within each of its levels. Splinter Cell could use something similar, as well as different consequences depending on how you decide to approach a given situation.
Michael Ironside's return is also all but mandatory. It was hard for many fans to come to grips with his absence in Blacklist, but after he came back for an appearance in Wildlands, it would be both frustrating and disappointing if he weren't back as Fisher for an actual game. It's the sort of detail that Ubisoft could have decided to share for a post-E3 reveal, but after Wildlands, we want to know right away if Ironside is truly back.
Another name fans are familiar with that should make a comeback: Amon Tobin. The composer of the excellent Chaos Theory soundtrack brought a distinct techno-thriller flavor to that game that we want back.
And while single-player is generally the focus of Splinter Cell, we want multiplayer to return as well. That means both co-op support and the return of Spies vs. Mercs, the unique, asymmetric PvP multiplayer mode. Ubisoft has increasingly shifted its efforts toward extended post-launch support of games; part of that could come in the form of a Hitman-inspired, replay-friendly campaign. But it could also use its learnings from Rainbow Six Siege--with its varied Operators and gadgets, as well as destructible environments--to make something truly exciting on the multiplayer side.
Pour one out for Best Buy's Gamers Club Unlocked program, one of the best deals in gaming. According to a leaked memo, the retail giant has shuttered the program. Current customers will still receive their GCU benefits until their subscriptions expire, but no new customers will be able to subscribe.
The Gamers Club Unlocked program gave discounts on nearly all video games sold at Best Buy. A two-year GCU membership used to cost $30, but it offered 20% off all new video games and pre-orders. Members also saved 10% off used games and received an extra 10% in trade-in credit.
The memo reads, "For a variety of reasons, we have decided that our Gamers Club programs will not be accepting new members. This includes both the free Gamers Club membership and Gamers Club Unlocked (GCU). Current members will continue to receive their benefits and we encourage everyone else to use our 'My Best Buy' membership to receive perks, including receiving a $10 reward certificate when pre-ordering select, hot games.
"This afternoon, POS will stop prompting enrollment and employees should no longer offer Gamers Club Unlocked to new customers."
While the company has made no public announcement, numerous Best Buy employees have confirmed the memo is real. Best Buy's GCU page is still live, but it's no longer possible to purchase a membership online. Searching for "Gamers Club Unlocked" on the website now brings you to a page for My Best Buy, the retailer's general rewards program.
This is a bummer for video game deal hunters. If you bought just three $60 games at Best Buy over the span of two years, you'd come out ahead. Buying more games saved you even more money.
Perhaps it's not surprising to see Best Buy close the program, as it must have been a money-losing proposition for the company. Amazon used to offer similar savings to Prime members, giving them 20% off new video games for two weeks after launch. But in August of last year, Amazon limited the program to pre-orders.
Whatever the reasons, people looking for deals on video games in the future will have to look elsewhere.
Week 3 of Season 4 is well underway in Fortnite: Battle Royale, which means a new set of challenges are now available for Battle Pass holders. As usual, the challenges present a mixture of objectives to complete that allow you to level up your Battle Pass and unlock new rewards, but there's another bonus waiting for players who manage to clear them all.
As has been the case the past two weeks, players who clear all of the challenges in a given week will complete one of the game's new Blockbuster challenges. The reward for doing so is a special loading screen; while primarily cosmetic, the real value in the loading screen is that it hides a secret that leads to a free Battle Pass tier.
If you manage to complete all of Week 3's challenges, you'll get a loading screen that features a group of heroes huddled around a holographic map. If you look very closely at the map, you'll notice it displays a faint silhouette of a Battle Pass on the island, just left of the center of the screen.
Zooming in to the map reveals that the free tier is just southwest of Fatal Fields. Go to the marked location and you'll find a Battle Pass icon, which will reward you one free rank-up when collected. You can see the icon's exact location on our map below.
As before, you will need to complete all of Week 3's challenges and the corresponding Blockbuster challenge to be able to get the free Battle Pass tier; the item won't appear on the map unless you meet all of the prerequisites, so you won't be able to skip over any of this week's challenges to get the free rank-up, even if you already know its location.
Fortnite's Week 3 challenges consist of the usual mixture of straightforward objectives and some trickier tasks. Among the latter is a one that challenges players to find 10 rubber duckies. There are more than 10 scattered around the island, and you'll hear a distinctive sound when near one. If you need help, we've put together a guide on how to complete the Week 3 challenges.
Ubisoft's open-world racing game The Crew 2 is set to arrive on PS4, Xbox One, and PC in June, but some players will have the opportunity to try the game out ahead of its release. Ubisoft has announced more details about its upcoming Crew 2 closed beta, which kicks off on all platforms later this month.
The closed beta begins May 31 and runs until June 4. As is the case with most other closed betas, space is limited, so only some players who have registered for the test on the game's official website will be selected to participate. Those who are chosen will be able to pre-load the beta beginning May 29.
"During the closed beta, players will experience the first level of the progression system as they compete in races across all first four disciplines [Street Race, Rally Raid, Powerboat, and Aerobatics] against the backdrop of a fully redesigned USA," Ubisoft says. Players will be able to try out the game's Fast-Fav feature, which allows them to instantly transform their vehicle depending on the terrain.
Even if you don't get chosen to participate in The Crew 2 closed beta, you can already begin building up your car collection by taking part in The Crew Rewards Program. By completing monthly challenges in the first The Crew, you can unlock vehicles for the upcoming game. More details about The Crew Rewards Program can be found on Ubisoft's website.
The Crew 2 launches for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on June 29. Along with the standard version, Ubisoft is releasing a special edition of The Crew 2 dubbed the Motor Edition. It includes the game's season pass, a Motorsports Deluxe Pack that contains several outfits and vehicles, a Crew-themed license plate, steelbook case, roadmap, and four stickers. Everyone who purchases the Motor Edition will also receive access to the game three days early, on June 26.
Bandai Namco has kicked off a special limited-time event in Dragon Ball FighterZ. The game's first Party Battle is now underway on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, giving players the opportunity to team up against powerful enemies and earn some in-game cash.
Party Battle is one of the two new modes that were introduced in Dragon Ball FighterZ's latest patch. These special online events are only available for a limited-time and allow three players to team together and fight a "fearsome boss."
The first Party Battle is called "The Emperor Strikes Back," and it pits players against one of the series' most iconic foes, Frieza. Each win counts toward a shared total, so players around the globe will be cooperating to topple Frieza as many times as possible.
As game producer Tomoko Hiroki explained, "The number of enemies defeated during this event is linked across the world, so the number of players participating and the cooperation between those players will become an important point for this event."
The Party Battle is going on now on all platforms and runs until 11 PM PT on May 21 (2 AM ET on May 22). Those who participate in it will receive Zeni and Premium Z Coins.
In addition to Party Battles, Bandai Namco recently introduced a new type of competition to Dragon Ball FighterZ called the FighterZ Cup. These contests will be held monthly and have players battling to earn points for their respective Z-Union.
Dreams can be dizzying. It's a game, a set of tools, a palette, a musical instrument, an arcade, and much more. It's at once simple and potentially befuddling, depending on just how willing you are to engage with everything the game has to offer. At its most straightforward, Dreams can simply be a charming, multifaceted game. At its most complex, it can be as creatively intimidating as any blank canvas.
If you played Dreams developer Media Molecule's Little Big Planet series, then what Dreams is planning to offer will seem familiar. Both Dreams and the LBP series are games with creation tools built-in, but the scope of what Dreams will allow players to create is magnitudes more than those earlier LBP games. Little Big Planet helped you make games, Dreams looks like it wants you make nothing short of, well, art.
"One of the things we realized with Little Big Planet was it was a really level designer's tool," Media Molecule's studio director Siobhan Reddy told GameSpot at a recent hands-on session with Dreams. "It wasn't one that allowed artists to really imprint their vision on the screen, or sound designers, or movie makers. With Dreams what we wanted to do was create something where you could really see people's personality on the screen, and it wasn't funneled around just level creation."
"You can make a painting, or make a piece of music, or you could make a little play, if you wanted. Or you could make a game, or music video, or whatever."
It's a lofty ambition. If you were anything like me, the creation tools in the Little Big Planet series proved intimidating, and while the possibilities and scope they offered was astounding, that hurdle of knowing what to create with the tools was simply too large. I was impressed, rather than engaged, with what LBP had to offer. With Dreams featuring even more options--from creating characters, to building whole levels, to creating your own soundtrack to accompany said levels--the potential for creative brain freeze seems high, but it's something Reddy says the game is already built to tackle.
"We want to help people get over that blank canvas," Reddy said. "For example, I get very frightened by the blank canvas. Other people do not, but I'm like, 'Please just help me.' And so, one of the other big differences between LBP and Dreams is we're approaching tutorials very differently. Instead of them being a glossary of how everything works, they're very much more geared around you using a bunch of things to make something.
"[The tutorials] feel a little bit more like making a game or making a movie or making a piece of music. Another thing is we have these community weekly challenges that have a theme or a scene. And I just found that infinitely useful just to not have to think about what to do."
Just how well Dreams will funnel people through its myriad creation tools remains to be seen, but at the very least those tools seem fairly intuitive to use. During my hands-on time with Dreams, I built a basic platforming level (guided by a Media Molecule developer) where I created an environment, placed a large obstacle (in this case, a huge pool of lava), and positioned a series of platforms so my character could traverse safely across the fiery lava pit. We then added layers of complexity; first, we made the platform move, which was done by simply dragging the platform along the route I wanted it to take, letting the game record that manual movement, and then asking to replicate it. Next, we added an environmental trigger that made the platform move only when our in-game character came close to that area in the level.
Creating a moving platform over lava is only a fraction of what Dreams will allow you to do, however. Next up, we made a custom soundtrack from scratch by selecting instrument sounds and creating a beat and melody in Dream's GarageBand-lite like music tool. After that, we played with mood, setting the lighting conditions within the level, and even downgrading the whole scene down visually to 16-bit graphics (complete with artifacts to simulate the imperfections of an old-school CRT screen).
All of this--creating the environment, setting the platform, adding in-game logic, making the music, fiddling with visual parameters--was easy to pull off using Dreams' creation tools. And while all of this was in service of making a very simple game challenge, nothing in Dreams seems to be specifically pushing you to make game experiences. After my brief foray into game development during this demo, my partner Media Molecule rep showed me examples of things other people have created using Dreams' tools. While the majority of them were games--a space shooter, a cute competitive two-player action game featuring two adorable hammers, and even a text adventure--some of the most compelling ones were not even interactive, such as a series of 3D paintings, or long pieces of music.
Variety is in the DNA of Dreams' creation tools, and it's permeated the game's built-in campaign as well. It seems playing Dreams won't be a singular experience; we were shown different snippets of the main "game" within Dreams, and it flitted from being an action-adventure, to a puzzle platformer, to a straight-up adventure in the vein of classic LucasArts titles. Dreams can indeed be dizzying in the amount of "stuff" you can do and create, but it can also be more focused, especially in its campaign which eschews all of the game's creative tools. This, according to Reddy, is a deliberate choice.
"It overloads the gaming experience a little bit when you're trying to put everything into [the campaign]," Reddy said. "We don't want people to feel like they have to be the most amazing sculptor, or the most amazing musician. You don't have to be anything. You can be whatever you like."
E3 2018 is coming up very soon. A big part of the annual event are the press briefings from the industry's biggest companies where games are announced and shown off. Depending on where you live and what you're up to, the schedule and the length of each show may be important to you. We've already rounded up the date and times for each briefing, and now we're getting some kind of an idea for how long at least one of the shows may be. Bethesda marketing boss Pete Hines said on Twitter that while he is not going to divulge a length for Bethesda's briefing, he said he's sure it won't be a marathon.
"I assure you it won't be three hours long," Hines said.
Bethesda's briefings in the past have been refreshing in their brevity compared to the others. For example, the company's 2017 show ran for just 39 minutes. That compares to around 1 hour for Sony, about 1 hour and 15 minutes for EA, more than 1 hour 40 minutes for Microsoft, and 1 hour and 10 minutes for Ubisoft.
Bethesda's briefing last year was also notable because all of the games it showed off--including Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and The Evil Within 2--launched that year. Other companies tend to tease and show first glimpses of projects that are much further down the track. While it is nice to know what's coming--even if it's a long ways off--Bethesda choosing to focus on titles launching within six months was great because you could get excited about something you could actually get your hands on relatively soon.
E3 2018 runs June 12-14, but the briefings start earlier. EA kicks things off on Saturday, June 9, with other events to follow from Microsoft, Bethesda, Devolver, Square Enix, Ubisoft, Sony, and Nintendo. You can see the full schedule here. GameSpot will have a team on the ground at E3 2018 to bring you all the big news as it is announced, so keep checking back for more.
Is there anything more difficult to make sense of in movies than the X-Men film franchise? Whether it's the initial trilogy, the three prequels that followed and completely changed the established timeline, or the three Wolverine spin-offs that are set all over the place, the X-Men movies are... a lot to deal with.
And that's before you throw Deadpool into the mix. While the Merc with a Mouth makes a mockery of just about everything--and plenty of meta jokes at the expense of his own movie universe--Deadpool and Deadpool 2 do exist in the X-Men franchise. More specifically, they are set in the altered timeline that follows the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Where in that timeline, though? Based on simply watching the films, chances are you'd expect they were set in modern day--2016 for the first movie, 2018 for the second. However, Deadpool 2 throws a massive wrench in that assumption. If you have yet to see Deadpool 2, consider this your spoiler warning as we're going to dig into the movie's events.
First and foremost, Deadpool 2 begins with Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) playing with a music box designed to look like Logan's final moments from the 2017 film Logan, with the Hugh Jackman character dying. That particular movie is set in the year 2029, so either Deadpool can see the future or it's actually set in a post-post-apocalyptic world. However, neither of these are the case. Like most things Deadpool-related, this moment can simply be chalked up to another in a long line of jokes, even if that can be frustrating to those trying to keep the timeline straight.
However, the movie's tinkering with the timeline doesn't end there. During a scene at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Deadpool jokes--because that's what he does--that none of the A-grade X-Men ever show up in his movies. Instead, he's saddled with Colossus, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, and, in this sequel, new addition Yukio. As he registers his complaint with the universe, the camera finds Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Professor X (James McAvoy), Quicksilver (Evan Peters), and Cyclops (Tye Sheridan) in a room, as Beast quickly closes the door to avoid the Merc.
It's a great joke and an excellent set of cameos. However, it simply makes no sense. These versions of the characters are from 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse, which was set in 1983. Are we to believe the X-Men haven't aged in 35 years? Xavier should certainly look a bit more like Patrick Stewart at this point.
Yes, this is taking Deadpool 2 and its jokes way too seriously. In many ways, though, that's half of the fun. Taking a moment to examine the timeline this franchise has built, destroyed, and built again is interesting--especially when you take into consideration the gripes people have about the comparatively tiny discrepancies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Honestly, do you really care how long after Marvel's Avengers that Spider-Man: Homecoming is set? Not really, but it can be fun to talk about with fellow fans.
Besides, in many ways, making viewers obsess about timeline inaccuracies is exactly what Deadpool and Deadpool 2 are striving for. These movies are a complete romp that are about making jokes that appeal to the kinds of fans who spend a lot of time thinking about things like the X-Men movie timeline and whether the DC Universe is too dark and gritty for its own good. The titular character is simultaneously making jokes with fans and trolling them. And those very same fans eat it up.
In the end, it doesn't really matter what changes he makes to the timeline, because thanks to Cable's watch, he spends the movie's post-credits scene traveling back in time to change a number of things--including the events of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. At long last, that first, horrible version of Deadpool is gone once and for all.
Through the antics of that sequence, the character is making tons of massive changes to an already wildly confusing timeline. By the time he's done, who knows what state it's in? Perhaps it's even more unrecognizable before, or maybe nothing has changed. After all, once Deadpool 3 eventually hits theaters, chances are everything will be status quo because that's exactly what it should be. Deadpool's actions aren't going to have major implications on X-Men: Dark Phoenix or New Mutants, and they probably won't help Gambit get made any sooner.
Still, it's fun to think about. At least, until trying to make sense of it gives you a headache, then just go watch the movie again and laugh at the dick jokes. Really, though, would him going back in time to kill baby Hitler really have been so bad?
Dark Horse has announced a hardcover companion book for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The collector's volume is pretty massive, boasting 424 pages in all. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild--Creating a Champion will cost $40 when it releases on November 20, 2018.
The announcement details just how much space in the book is devoted to its various artifacts. It boasts 296 pages of design artwork and commentary alone, along with another 55 of Hyrule history leading up to the events in Breath of the Wild, and nearly 50 of sketches and illustrations from Takumi Wada. It also includes interviews with the team including Hidemaro Fujibayashi, Satoru Takizawa, Takumi Wada, and Eiji Aonuma. All the material will be from Breath of the Wild and its two DLC packs.
Dark Horse published the Hyrule Historia in the US in 2013, which was notable particularly for outlining the Zelda timeline. That followed by the Art and Artifacts art book last year, and the upcoming Zelda Encyclopedia. Creating a Champion is similarly a localization of the Breath of the Wild Master Works volume, which was published in Japan by Nintendo.
Resident Evil 7 is on the way to Nintendo Switch. Capcom confirmed today that a "Cloud Version" of the horror game is headed to Nintendo's hybrid system in Japan on May 24.
According to Nintendo Everything, it's called the Cloud Version because the game plays via the cloud, with a required download of only 45 MB. As such, you will need an internet connection to play this version of the game. Nintendo Everything added that you can play the game for up to 15 minutes for free, but after that, you have to pay ¥2,000 (~$18 USD) for a "ticket" that lets you play for 180 days.
The Cloud Version includes the base game, along with the Banned Footage Volume 1-2, End of Zoe, and Not a Hero expansions. You can check out the first trailer embedded above.
Resident Evil 7 launched in January 2017 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC to critical acclaim, with reviewers praising its atmosphere, appearance, and narrative. Over the past year, it's also done well commercially: Capcom revealed recently that the game has passed 5.1 million copies sold.
These are very good numbers for the game, but it's worth noting that Resident Evil 7 has currently sold fewer copies than any other mainline Resident Evil game besides Resident Evil 3, according to data compiled by the Resident Evil fan wiki. The previous instalment in the series, Resident Evil 6, has sold close to 10 million units since its launch in 2012.
As of yet, Capcom has not said if Resident Evil 7 is headed to Switch in other parts of the world, and if so, if it will have the same cloud-based structure. Keep checking back for more.
This announcement comes just a few weeks before E3 2018, where more game announcements for Nintendo Switch and many other platforms are expected.
Months ago, we heard that Activision might be interested in getting in on the battle royale trend. We don't know a specific timeline for what Treyarch came up with the idea for Blackout, but Kostich said is simply "emerged" as something the studio wanted to pursue to give fans yet another way to experience Call of Duty in a new way.
"Blackout just emerged as something that was passionately what the development team wanted to do and bring a new kind of experience to Call of Duty fans," he said. "And I think it's one that Black Ops is uniquely positioned to do with the rich history of Black Ops."
Kostich added that Treyarch didn't want to make a battle royale mode just for the sake of it. The team only decided to pursue the idea after they came up with a way that made it feel "unique" to Call of Duty and the Black Ops sub-franchise, Kostich said.
So, what sets Blackout apart from games like Fortnite and PUBG? We don't know just yet, as we haven't seen any gameplay or gotten to try it ourselves. But Kostich says Blackout will leverage things like Call of Duty's well-established controls and fast-paced action. Indeed, Call of Duty as a franchise has remained the cream of the crop for shooter fans due in part to how well it nails its controls and feel. But Call of Duty is also known for its smaller maps and lower player counts relative to competitive titles like Battlefield and others. Blackout, however, is set on a massive map--1,500 times bigger than Nuketown--and it will use characters, weapons, and parts of maps that were included in Black Ops 1, 2, and 3 over the past 10 years.
"Certainly the Call of Duty mechanics, the fluidity of our controls, the pace of our action; that for us is like the highest end that we can provide," Kostich said. "From there we also have a map that is 1500 times bigger than Nuketown."
Kostich added that he also believes Blackout will stand out based on how you will interact with the environment. Specifically, you'll be able to use land, sea, and air vehicles to traverse the map, or at least parts of it.
"We're more focused on ourselves than we are responding to anything else" -- Kostich
"The emergent gameplay moments are going to be very different from what you're seeing in other battle royale games right now," he said.
The Blackout announcement video (watch it again in the embed above), teases that the mode will offer the "best, most refined mechanics in the world" for a battle royale game. It will even include Zombies in some capacity as part of its effort to offer an experience that is "uniquely Black Ops."
Kostich also spoke about whether or not games like Fortnite and PUBG are competitors to Blackout. In some ways they are by virtue of competing in the same space, but competition is nothing new for Call of Duty, and in fact, the innovation that battle royale brings to gaming overall is a positive overall, Kostich said.
"There is competition every year," he said. "There are great games every year. It's awesome for the industry to have more of this stuff and pushing new boundaries in different ways. We're more focused on ourselves than we are responding to anything else."
When asked if Blackout was developed specifically in response to games like Fortnite and PUBG, Kostich did not answer directly, but said "development is always a journey."
"The story always evolves over the course of development," he said. "This has been a really cool journey. From the start, Treyarch's ambition has always been to find ways to bring people together in new and fun ways."
Finally, we asked if Blackout could become a spinoff that gets a standalone release down the line. Kostich wasn't ready to confirm anything. "[As a] standalone thing, I don't know. We tend to focus all of our content within the games themselves," he said.
Dreaming of the deep blue sea? Quench all your marine needs with the first phase of Minecraft's latest Aquatic expansion, now available on Xbox One, PC, and more.
Now when you dive under the watery blocks of your Minecraft world, it won't just be a blue abyss with scattered temples here and there. Now you'll see dolphins, new types of fish, corals, kelp and sea grasses, buried treasure, and more. The seas even coordinate with the nine different biomes now too. For the full list of features in this first release, head on over to the announcement post.
Every player on Xbox One, PC, mobile, Gear VR, Oculus Rift, and mixed reality platforms has access to this new expansion right now, totally free of charge. If you're playing the Java version on PC, you'll get the update soon. Xbox One players will need to download the latest version from the Xbox Store.
The legendary rainbow Pokemon Ho-Oh is back for more in Pokemon Go. From now until June 7, you can catch this magnificent bird as it visits gyms for raid battles.
This bird is no joke--make sure you're heading in with your strongest team to take on this legendary. You might just get lucky enough to capture a shiny Ho-Oh once you've defeated it in battle too.
Ho-Oh will be available worldwide beside Latios and Latias; however, the latter will be staying in their designated regions. As of our most recent update, players in Europe and Asia can get their hands on Latios, and players in Africa and North and South America can catch Latias. They will remain in these regions until June 5.
In place of a single-player campaign, the game will offer an assortment of solo missions that focus on Specialist characters. These missions will have a similar style of bombastic set-pieces that Call of Duty games are known for, and there will be story elements divulged in these missions. So in that sense, there will be something in Black Ops 4 for players looking for a campaign-style experience. But it's not the kind of campaign fans are accustomed to.
We spoke to Call of Duty executive VP and GM Robert Kostich about this recently, and he told us that Black Ops 4 lacking a traditional campaign won't be much of a problem. Activision has more work to do in the messaging department to let fans know that Black Ops 4 lacking a campaign doesn't necessarily mean the game won't offer a solo experience and story beats.
"As we go forward [through the year], fans are going to learn a lot about the story that is embedded in this game," Kostich said. "Look, it's not a dedicated campaign like it was in the past. We're telling stories differently this year. We think our community is going to love this game from end to end, because it has so much to offer. The core focus of it, I don't think that's going to be a problem really. I think what our community is going to love at the end of the day comes down to the gameplay and the fun you have with it. And I think that's what this game is going to have in spades. This is a little different from what we've done in the past."
Black Ops 4's solo missions are set between the events of Black Ops 2 and Black Ops 3. A handful of previous Specialists return in this instalment, including Ruin, Firebreak, and Seraph, and Treyarch says they've been reimagined this time around. There are also a number of new Specialists in the game; so far, we've seen ones named Recon, Crash, and Torque.
Believe it or not, E3 2018 is almost here. The annual gaming extravaganza returns to Los Angeles in June for what is poised to be one of the biggest week's all year for gaming news. Much of the news is expected to come from the various press conferences taking place during the week. Microsoft, Bethesda, and EA have already announced the date and time of their briefings, while Sony has finally confirmed its plans.
EA kicks things off on Saturday, June 9, with its EA Play briefing, while Microsoft and Bethesda will follow on Sunday afternoon and evening, respectively. Ubisoft will follow Monday afternoon, with Sony's presentation expected later that evening. Nintendo then keeps things moving with its briefing on the morning of June 12. We'll be streaming all of these press conferences here on GameSpot as well as on Twitter.
There will be a PC Gaming Show this year as well, along with a briefing from Devolver Digital.
Below you can see a rundown of the press conference times and dates that we know about. We will continue to update this post in the days and weeks ahead leading up to E3. The show itself runs June 12-14, and like last year, it's open to the public--here's how to get tickets.
In other news, Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red has confirmed it is attending E3 this year, though this doesn't necessarily mean we'll learn more about the upcoming sci-fi game. Still, its presence could be one of the most exciting parts of this year's show.
Devolver Digital, the beloved indie game publisher behind whimsical, wacky, and wonderful games like Genital Jousting and Hotline Miami, is returning to E3. The company has announced that it will again hold an E3 briefing this year--and it sounds completely over-the-top.
Devolver's "Big Fancy Press Conference," as it's called, will be broadcast live on Twitch on Sunday, June 10 at 8 PM PT / 11 PM ET. It's taking place in the Dave Lang Memorial Convention Center, which is not a real place. The event's description is very weird and great.
"This year's Big Fancy Press Conference will feature real, actual game reveals and technological innovations from Developer Labs, the research and development arm of Devolver Digital responsible for last year's Earliest Access program and making 'throwing money at the screen' a valid form of payment. There will almost certainly be blood, possibly loss of life."
Devolver said it expects this year's briefing to be a "dumpster fire." The company added that you may want to re-watch last year's completely absurd briefing so you're up to speed on what Devolver is calling the "Devolver Digital Press Conference Universe (DDPCCU) through the blatant reuse of jokes and vague callbacks to the original. Pray for us."
E3 2018 runs June 12-14 in Los Angeles, through the briefings actually start on Saturday, June 9, with a show from Electronic Arts. They continue through Tuesday with briefings from Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Ubisoft, and others--here is the full press conference schedule.
Deadpool 2 opened this past weekend, and it made lots and lots of money, but not as much as the first one did when it was released in February 2016. According to EW, the sequel pulled in $125 million in the US and Canada, finally pushing Avengers: Infinity War off the top spot for the first time.
The movie's first-weekend performance came in below projections of $130 million to $150 million. Deadpool 1, by comparison, made $132.4 million for its opening two years ago. That movie set the opening-weekend record for an R-rated movie; Deadpool 2 is now No. 2 on that list.
Deadpool 2 made $176.3 million from overseas markets this weekend, pushing its worldwide haul to $301.1 million for its international debut.
Deadpool 2 reportedly cost around $110 million to produce. Critics seemed to enjoy the film, and it has a A rating on CinemaScore, which indicates positive word-of-mouth that should help box office performance continue strongly into the second and third weekends.
"Overall, Deadpool 2 mostly works for all the same reasons that the original did," GameSpot reviewer Michael Rougeau said. "Reynolds carries the movie on his back--although this time around he should have shared the load a little more evenly with some of his talented co-stars, particularly Beetz and Brolin. But Reynolds' Wade Wilson is just as charming as ever, in his own twisted way, and Deadpool 2 delivers the laughs, action, and gruesome maimings that fans want."
In other movie news from the weekend, Infinity War pulled in $28.7 million this weekend in the US and Canada, pushing its domestic haul to $595 million. With a further $84.4 million from international markets, the Marvel superhero film has now made an astonishing $1.8 billion.
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