Since the launch of Destiny 2: Forsaken, players have been hard at work getting ready for the next Raid. Though we're still in the dark about what sort of challenges the Last Wish Raid will have, we do know that it finally takes us away from the Leviathan, and will offer the most challenging six-player mission to date. But as many players discovered after finishing the main campaign, the new soft cap of 500 Power brings in a rather steep climb to overcome for Guardians looking forward to the next big activity.
Historically, the Power and Engram systems have undergone major changes and revisions with each big expansion, and Forsaken is no different. Ahead of the expansion's launch, the game has seen some updates to the frequency of loot drops and the systems that players have become accustomed to. With a minimum power level of 550 required for the upcoming Raid, players will have to take advantage of every resource and opportunity they have available to them to prepare for what's to come. With this in mind, we've come up with 5 useful tips to help you get ready for the upcoming Raid, which releases on Friday, September 14.
Finish The Campaign And Embrace The New Grind
Firstly, it's important that you finish the main campaign for the Forsaken DLC. While this may seem obvious, completing the story is the fastest way to reach level 50 and 500 power level for your Guardian. As you're taking on the story missions and Adventures throughout the campaign, you'll be swimming in new gear--mostly blue items--while getting accustomed to the new changes added into the Forsaken expansion. What's abundantly clear is that many of the alterations to Destiny 2's established systems have removed some shortcuts and dialed down certain methods players liked to use to get over the hump.
Once you reach 500 power level, you'll encounter the first soft cap for leveling. Going forward, most blue and purple gear found from ordinary drops, vendors, and standard missions will cap at 500, and you'll need to take advantage of the more challenging missions to steadily increase your power. But bare in mind, just when you start hitting your stride and rise in power, another soft-cap at 520 awaits. Just remember, there is no quick way to increase your strength; it will take time to steadily buff your character's stats from here on out.
Acquire Powerful And Prime Engrams
In order to overcome the steep climb past 500, you'll need to acquire the new type of rewards found from completing the harder bounties and milestones. Similar to the Luminous Engrams from the original Destiny 2, Powerful Engrams are the rare loot you can find from completing key missions and milestones around the various planets and activities you can take part in. These Engrams house Legendary and Exotic gear--the latter of which have also seen reduced drop rates. In addition to Powerful Engrams, Prime Engrams have also been thrown into the mix.
While the Cryptarch Master Rahool has taken a less hands-on role with cracking open Engrams--most of which unlock instantly--you'll need his help to open up Prime Engrams. Unlike Powerful Engrams, however, Prime Engrams require Prime Attunement, a special buff that comes only once a day. With the prime attunement, the special Engram can drop from powerful enemies in public events, Strikes, and Heroic missions, and from taking part in multiplayer matches. Though totally RNG-based, it's generous enough where it will only take a few missions to see a drop. Interestingly enough, Prime Attunement can stack if you don't take advantage of it on the day you receive it--it will carry over to the following day. The gains you can get from these special Engrams can offer up an increase of 5 power on the specific item, which may not seem a lot, but can go a long way in upping your strength. To sum it up, be sure to keep an eye out for powerful enemies in the strikes and heroic missions, and stay focused during PvP to get those drops.
Keep Up With Daily And Weekly Bounties
Though the usefulness of bounties took a backseat throughout the first year of Destiny 2 compared to the original game, Forsaken has brought them back in a big way. Over the course of the main story, you'll interact with many of Destiny 2's key characters, including newcomers Spider and The Drifter, along with other returning characters like Petra and the members of the Vanguard. Several of the key NPCs will offer daily and weekly bounties for you to take on. The bulk of these bounties don't require much effort and can be accomplished while engaging in other activities. While a number of these tasks will only yield glimmer, materials, and other rewards, the resources gained can be turned in for rewards to vendors and NPCs.
However, there are several high-profile bounties that are far more challenging and only come once a week. Found from Petra and Spider, some of these bounties will task you with heading to some of the more obscure areas of Destiny 2's worlds to find hidden targets. The higher-tiered bounties from Spider will have you confront the escapees from the Prison of Elders, while Petra's bounties at the Dreaming City will task you with handling many of the new location's unique events and missions, some of which are a bit more complex than they let on. But when it comes to bounties, always check in Petra and Spider to stay up to date on the newest goals they have to offer.
Head To The Dreaming City
After finishing the main story, you'll eventually gain entrance to the Dreaming City, the new end-game zone in Forsaken. While exploring the Dreaming City, you'll find several events around the map that are a bit different from what's available on the Tangled Shore and other planets. Once you visit Petra in The Strand, you can take on a number of bounties and pursuits, both of which can offer Powerful Engram rewards. From here, you can explore the area and engage with the key points within the Dreaming City.
One of Petra's pursuits tasks you with completing an Ascendant Challenge, a new weekly activity bringing Guardians to the Taken realm. By using a Tincture of Queensfoil, found from public events and chests around the Dreaming City, you'll gain access to a hidden portal on the map. Every week, this portal's location is changed from three different areas, and they can only be found after consuming the aforementioned Tincture of Queensfoil. Inside the Ascendant Realm, you'll engage with several powerful Taken while completing minor goals. It's best to complete these with a group, as you can get easily overwhelmed. Completing the Ascendant Challenge pursuit from Petra will reward you with a Powerful Engram.
However, the clear standout in the Dreaming City is the public event known as The Blind Well. Similar to The Taken King's Court of Oryx, it's a multi-tiered activity within the open world that tasks players with taking out increasingly difficult waves of Scorn and Taken. While most players can take part in the first tier challenge of The Blind Well by using a Tier 1 Charge of Light (found from most activities in the field or by purchasing them from Petra), the upper tiers are much more difficult to carry out. With that said, Tier 1 of The Blind Well is manageable. To gain a guaranteed Powerful Engram, complete the Gateway Between Worlds pursuit from Petra by clearing the activity multiple times, which will earn you an Offering. Take this item to the Oracle Engine in The Dreaming City, located in the Spine of Keres, to collect your reward.
Pace Yourself And Complete Milestone Challenges
Along with collecting Prime Engrams and completing bounties from Petra and Spider, the most important thing you can do to power up is to stay on top of your weekly and daily milestone challenges. From the director menu, you'll be able to see the available activities across the various game modes and planets that will offer up Powerful Engrams. These include vanguard Strikes, Nightfalls, flashpoint, and clearing games in the Crucible and Gambit modes. Also, be sure to keep up with your clan bounties as well, as maxing your rep can also lead to powerful engram. Along with taking on the bounties from various NPC characters, you'll be able to acquire materials and other rewards while clearing out these challenges.
As previously stated, the grind post 500 power will take some time to overcome. With the Raid requiring 550 power, and with yet another hill to climb once you hit 520, you'll need to stay on to top of all these activities and bounties in order to reach Raid status in a reasonable amount of time. With that said, there's still much to be gained from completing the game's shifting challenges, which you get you up to right power level sooner than you think.
For more info on Destiny 2: Forsaken, be sure to check out our review in progress, along with our look at the game's new lineup of Exotics for all three characters classes.
The follow-up to Rockstar Games' classic western game Red Dead Redemption is fast approaching. Set 12 years before the events of the original game, Red Dead Redemption 2 will explore an expansive region of the American wilderness, with Dutch Van der Linde's gang on the run from lawmen during the last years of the wild west. Experiencing Rockstar's take on the open-world western from a new perspective, you'll uncover the history of the Van Der Linde gang, which has a young John Marston in its thralls.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was surprisingly a no show at this year's E3, despite the game releasing in only a few months. Still, the recent trailers, screenshots, and info have given us plenty to talk about. Here's everything we know so far about Rockstar Games' upcoming open-world western.
How Can I Play RDR2?
Red Dead Redemption 2 is set for release on October 26 for PS4 and Xbox One. There are also plans for a collector's edition of the game called the Special Edition. Priced at $80, the package includes a copy of the game along with special missions, weapons and a physical map of the game world for players to own. There are also two additional packs for Red Dead Redemption 2 for premium prices, The Ultimate Edition and The Collector's Box--both priced at $100. While The Ultimate Edition has all items from the special edition--including additional DLC items to acquire--The Collector's Box does not include any digital items. Instead, it offers special playing cards, artwork, a bandit's bandana, a physical map of the game world, and a collector's coin in the set.
Though the original Red Dead Redemption never found its way to the PC, there's been some rumors that its sequel might. A mention of Red Dead Redemption 2's appearance on PC found its way online, but it has since been scrubbed.
Where Is RDR2 Set, And Is It A Prequel?
Set 12 years before the main events of the original game, the prequel focuses on the outlaw life of the Van der Linde gang, led by Red Dead Redemption's main antagonists. After a robbery in Blackwater (one of the original game's major towns) goes bad--the gang finds themselves on the run. Dutch, his right-hand man Arthur Morgan, and several members of the gang have to contend with a life on-the-run while confrontations with rival gangs and the law make their situation grow more desperate.
Rockstar also released a description of the plot:
America, 1899. The end of the wild west era has begun as lawmen hunt down the last remaining outlaw gangs. Those who will not surrender or succumb are killed. After a robbery goes badly wrong in the western town of Blackwater, Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang are forced to flee. With federal agents and the best bounty hunters in the nation massing on their heels, the gang must rob, steal and fight their way across the rugged heartland of America in order to survive. As deepening internal divisions threaten to tear the gang apart, Arthur must make a choice between his own ideals and loyalty to the gang who raised him.
The First Reveal
Debuting on October 20, 2016, the first trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2 was a bit of a mood piece that showcased many locales in the game, while also portraying the somber tone of the main narrative. In this trailer, we saw several towns and locales, many of which are teeming with life and activity--such as ranchers rustling up some cattle, huntsmen bringing back their haul, and a group of citizens hanging out in the general store.
Who Are We Playing As?
Though the central character of Red Dead Redemption, John Marston, plays some role in the story--the main protagonist of the prequel is Arthur Morgan. As Dutch's right-hand man and enforcer for the gang, he'll handle much of the daily duties of keeping the gang in-check--which includes a young and less-experienced John Marston. When it comes to keeping the gang and its community afloat, Morgan is quite handy with picking up various jobs to ensure everyone is well fed and in good spirits. But as the story progresses, he'll begin to question his own resolve for Dutch's way of life, and whether he still has a place in the gang.
The Second Trailer
On September 28, 2017, the second trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2 debuted. In the new footage, we got to see more of Arthur Morgan and how ruthless he can be while on the job. During some of the story cutscenes, Morgan will use coercion and physical threats to collect money and information, all for the "benefit" of the community. For more info on this particular trailer, check out our detailed breakdown.
Who's In Dutch's Gang?
In Red Dead Redemption 2, we'll see Dutch's gang and its key players in their prime. While the original game had John hunt down and kill the remaining members of the gang, we'll see many of the familiar faces in relatively happier times. From the most recent trailer, we see Dutch Van der Linde, Arthur Morgan, Bill Williamson, Javier Esquela, Sadie Adler, Charles Smith, Micah Bell, Hosea Matthews, and of course John Marston in the roster. We'll also interact with other characters who would have a key role in the gang and in the lives of both Arthur Morgan and John Marston.
The Third Trailer
In the new footage released on May 2, we saw a deeper look into the game's narrative and how the gang functions. Along with the familiar activities like hunting, heists, and side-quests with the region's citizens, rob trains and banks, and take in shows at theaters. For the most part, the trailer focuses on the many connections you'll have with the members of the gang, as well as how your choices will affect them. For more info on the third trailer, check out our detailed breakdown.
What's New In Red Dead Redemption 2?
While the sequel is largely in the same vein as its predecessor, focusing on exploration, hunting, shoot-outs, heists, and other side-activities where you'll interact with a number of unique characters--Red Dead Redemption 2 features a far more expansive world to dive into. We got our first good look at this world and how we'll be playing through in Read Dead Redemption 2's first gameplay trailer.
The honor system from the original game makes a return, but now with far more detailed tracking. Along with the average citizen, members of your community will react to how well or how poorly you treat them. As the lead enforcer, Morgan will have to handle a ton of responsibilities, such as resource gathering, procuring funds, and making sure everyone in the community is happy.
First Gameplay Trailer
On August 9, Rockstar unveiled Red Dead Redemption 2's first gameplay trailer. The new footage revealed that the core mechanics from the original game were still intact, but almost everything had received a facelift. Wildlife is smarter and lives within its own ecosystem. Arthur Morgan can interact with the people around him in ways John Marston never could. For more info on the first gameplay trailer, check out our detailed gameplay mechanics breakdown.
How Will Online Multiplayer Work?
Currently, Rockstar hasn't shared any info on how the online play will function. The original Red Dead Redemption featured online free-for-all and team deathmatch style gameplay in the open world, along with several co-op themed missions. While it's safe to assume that these sorts of missions will return, another long-lingering rumor is the appearance of a battle royale mode. In the coming months before its release, we should expect to hear more about what Red Dead Redemption II will have when it comes to online.
Other Info
The History Of Red Dead - A look back on the history of the Red Dead series. From the early days a Gunsmoke spiritual sequel, to Rockstar Games' next successful open word game.
We may be only in the middle of 2018, but there's already an exciting roster of games releasing in 2019. Highly-anticipated games like Anthem, Days Gone, and Kingdom Hearts III make up only a small number of what's ahead. And that's not to mention the all the big games recently revealed at E3, like Resident Evil 2 Remake, Gears 5, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which we can't wait to get our hands on. To help you keep track of all the games coming out next year, we've compiled a list of all the noteworthy release dates for the biggest ones confirmed to come out in 2019 so far.
More dates are sure to be confirmed as the year goes on, so be sure to check back often as we update this article with new additions or potential changes. But if you're looking for this year's release dates, you can also reference our feature on the game release dates of 2018.
Below you can find a list of the biggest games that don't have explicit release dates but are confirmed to release sometime in 2019. We'll be moving each of these games into the release date sections above as soon as official dates are announced.
After the amazing gaming year that was 2017, many wondered how well 2018 would turn out. Fortunately for everyone, it has been great. The first half of the year has yielded a wealth of fantastic games, and there's more on the horizon. Upcoming games for the rest of this 2018 include slew of hotly anticipated new games, like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Red Dead Redemption 2, Spider-Man, and a whole lot more. To help you keep track of all the games coming out and what has already released, we've compiled a list of all the noteworthy release dates for the biggest ones confirmed to come out in 2018 so far.
Game release dates change all the time and new ones arrive every month. Be sure to bookmark this page, as we'll be updating 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 next year, you can also reference our feature on the game release dates of 2019.
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.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of controlling Spider-Man in the new PS4 game is the steady flow of new skills, upgrades, and gadgets to incorporate into your superhero repertoire. Peter Parker is a capable combatant from the start but he can move faster, hit harder, and protect himself from harm more easily if you take the time to dress him for success. Understanding when and how to use your gadgets is a great first step in the right direction.
Let's breakdown each of Spider-Man's gadgets, and look at some examples of when you should put them into action.
The Web Shooter is the most important tool in your kit, and one that you will use most-often throughout the game--unlike other gadgets, an empty Web Shooter only needs a few seconds to recharge. At its most basic, a single web shot is an effective means of momentarily staggering an enemy. A few consecutive shots can also be used to ensnare a target and make them available as a weight to swing around and knock over other enemies, or, if an enemy is close to a wall, a few shots will attach them to it. You'll have fun if you tinker with Spider-Man's more advanced gadgets, but if you're alert enough, you could simply get by with the Web Shooters alone--they're that effective.
Impact Web
The next step up f is the Impact Web gadget. Think of this as a weapon that fires a condensed blast from your standard shooters, one powerful enough to instantly knock back and web up a bad guy. You can only hold a couple of shots until you upgrade the gadget, but even with those added rounds it's not something you can spam on a regular basis.
When fully upgraded, the Impact Web can deploy a blast that causes the initial target to spread Spidey's web to any other enemy they come into contact with. Consider facing a crowd of enemies and treating them like bowling pins just waiting to be knocked down. Do this, and follow-up with a ground-pound attack (unlocked in the skill tree) to add insult to injury. You can also grab hold of the impacted enemies and use them as a projectile to harm or momentarily disable any other nearby enemies.
Spider Drone
The Spider Drone is a handy little sidekick that can float nearby Spider-Man and stun enemies with a beam of electricity. It is a great tool to activate if you find yourself surrounded by enemies, either to open a window of time for an escape, or, to give you a fighting chance of taking on the entire group.
Electric Web
From a tactical standpoint, the Electric Web gadget is one of the most useful and simple-to-understand of the bunch, perhaps only second to the standard Web Shooters. Like the Spider Drone, the Electric Web can stun enemies, but you get to manually pick your target.
The best part? Any enemies standing nearby your initial target will become stunned as well. It's not the only gadget for the job, but if you see a crowd of enemies running at you or simply standing by while you move about unnoticed, the Electric Web is a handy way of gaining the upper hand before entering the fray. After a few upgrades, you'll be able to stock extra electric ammo and enjoy a shocking arc that jumps farther away from your initial target.
Web Bomb
Just like the Electric Web, your Web Bomb gadget is great for crown control (it explodes webs that trap enemies within a small area) though it has a couple of distinct advantages to keep in mind. Unlike the Electric Web, you don't need to fire a direct hit. Simply aim at the environment and the Web Bomb will detonate after a few seconds and entrap anyone that comes close.
More importantly, there are many skills that allow you to manipulate webbed enemies to your advantage, compared to enemies that are simply stunned. A well-placed Web Bomb gives you plenty of vulnerable bad guys to grab with your webbing and swing around to give yourself some breathing room.
Upgrades for the Web Bomb will grant you more ammo, and increase the size of the web explosion.
Trip Mine
If you know an enemy is patrolling a specific route and want to catch them at just the right location, Spider-Man's Trip Mine is the perfect solution. Essentially, when an enemy comes close enough, the mine will explode and ensnare them.
The logical place to put a mine is on the ground or a wall, but consider that they will also stick to enemies and your opportunities get a bit more interesting. An activated mine on an enemy will essentially grab the nearest person and slam them into the original target. It's how you unlock the 'Hug It Out' trophy, and it's worth a laugh the first few times you do it.
Concussive Blast
The Concussive Blast is a useful gadget that emits a powerful sonic wave, causing nearby enemies to tumble backwards. It's useful in a lot of scenarios, but none more so than when fighting on a rooftop. A flick of your wrist is all it takes to send enemies flying over the edge, instantly knocking them out of combat.
Suspension Matrix
One of the best parts of playing as Spider-Man is controlling his antics in mid-air, and that's precisely why the Suspension Matrix is not just a useful gadget, but a fun one to boot. An enemy off the ground is also a vulnerable enemy, and with the quick press of a button you can not only zip up to your next target, but also set yourself up for a new set of combos, such as a series of melee attacks and a final web-grab-and-toss motion that sends them careening into their buddies.
I grew up in the cold northeast of America and spent my winters playing ice hockey on ponds and lakes throughout New England, so I was terribly excited when EA announced that NHL 19 will have a dedicated pond hockey mode.
Pond hockey in NHL 19 takes the form of NHL Ones, which invites players to join up with two others for a 1v1v1 shootout on outdoor rinks.
Fans watch from the sidelines, shivering in winter jackets, while animals can be seen in the background. Pond hockey is considered the purest form of the sport, and in NHL 19's pond hockey mode=, there are basically no rules and absolutely no whistles. It's all about keeping the puck, deking your opponents with skill moves, and scoring goals. There are four different outdoor rinks, and you advance to the next one each time you win. The leaderboards reset every day, so you're encouraged to come back all the time.
I recently had the opportunity to speak with senior producer Sean Ramjagsingh about pond hockey in NHL 19. We had a long chat about the origins of the mode, what forms of prototyping it went through, and how it might help the NHL franchise reach even more players. The interview is below, edited and condensed for clarity and brevity.
GameSpot: How long have you been planning this, and where did the idea come from?
Ramjagsingh: I think it's an evolution to be honest with you. So if you go back even before we launched NHL 18 ... we're always about sort of authenticity. You know with an EA Sports game you're going to get to play with the real players, the real uniforms, the real arenas, and try to have as many of the details absolutely served on point. We're going to deliver that every single year. So, last year as it started with NHL 18, we started to look for opportunities to branch out and reach a wider audience and appeal to a wider audience. And lower the barrier of entry into the experience as well.
You know, as games have become sort of more complex as consoles have come through with more power and controllers now have more buttons, it's become like a barrier entry for a lot of people. So we want to try to lower that barrier of entry and that's where pond hockey came from. And then after we saw the way the Threes really resonating with people, we continued down the path of we're absolutely going to be as authentic as possible to the sport which is what we focus on in the skating and hitting to really improve our gameplay.
But then how do we move beyond these licenses that we have and the NHL and be more inclusive of hockey as it's played in all different forms around the world? What's that actually look like? You know, the NHL has the authentic version of outdoor hockey with the Winter Classic.
My earliest memories was it never really got cold enough for the pond to freeze over here very much, but a lot of my buddies are on the east coast. Their earliest memories are playing on backyard rinks and grabbing their stick and their skates and hoodie and walking out to their local pond that was frozen over for months of the winter to play. And so many stories of all the NHL players that have grown up in throughout Canada and the eastern parts of the US and really, really cold climates in the winter time. I mean, winter time was meant, you know, stories of playing in the the backyard rink 'til all hours of the rink. Or finding your nearest pond and skating on the pond with your buddies 'til all hours of the night. So part of the fabric, it's part of the culture of hockey. And so that's really where the idea came from, how do we continue to, you know, push the boundaries and have a more inclusive experience that better represents hockey as it's played in all sports around the world.
GameSpot: Did you have this in mind for any previous games?
Ramjagsingh: If you go back to the previous generation, sort of pre NHL 14, we had some of the Winter Classics in the game. Because the NHL was going down that, you know, the outdoor event path for a little bit and still are. So we put those in the game and what we saw was, it's a lot of work to create those outdoor environments. You need to have outdoor-specific lighting and models of the arenas and all those things that come with it. It's fairly substantial amount of work to create one of those outdoor arenas. And then we put them in the game and it's almost as like a novelty item. I think that's the best way to describe it. So people would be like "Awesome, I get to play the Winter Classics outdoors." Go in there, play it and play now. There was no reason to continue to come back and play it. It wasn't integrated into our online space, it wasn't integrated really into any real core modes, it wasn't in franchise mode. So it was kind of like a novelty piece; a really expensive novelty piece you can go in and check it out and then probably never go back there.
And then your buddy comes over and you probably show him once and you never really go back because there wasn't a reason to play. The fans have been asking for Winter Classics and outdoor arenas and things like that and the answer up until this year has been: we want to get back, we absolutely want to get back to that but want to find out when's the right time. When we do go back to sort of outdoor arenas, or ponds, or whatever it ends up being, we've gotta do it in a way that's integrated deeper into the product itself. It's gotta ... create motivation so people want to come back and play over and over and over.
So, when we started talking about building up the World of Chel, and creating the experiences where people, and they don't have all their friends online right now so they can't go play EA Sports Hockey League 3 v 3 or 6 v 6aAnd don't want to play in an arcade-inspired mode like NHL Threes, they can just drop in and play this outdoor Ones mode. Dial into the fact that if we know that people don't always have a half hour, you know, 20 minutes to a half hour to play a game all the time. So can we fit a shorter experience that kind of rolls over to the next experience and the next experience. Combine all those elements and create this super compelling mode outdoors that gives people a way to play more casually when their friends aren't online and tie that entire experience into the greater ecosystem of the World of Chel.
GameSpot: Are the locations based on real world places and how many of them will there be for Pond Hockey?
Ramjagsingh: Yeah, so there's four different locations that we built out and they're not authentic to anywhere specifically but they are sort of, I would say that they're absolutely inspired by places from around the world. We wanted to have that kind of progression where you start off in sort of a little parking lot playing, to the docks, and up the cove and to the main sort of arena. The main arena with Windsor being two hours away from us here in Vancouver. You know, a lot of sort of big events, Red Bull type of events happening in Windsor. Loosely inspired by sort of center stage at Windsor for one of the Red Bull events.
I think Lake Louise, another sort of beautiful place, was part of the inspiration too. You'll see featured elements of Lake Louise in there. And we just took reference from you know, some of the coolest kind of ponds around and we created our own fictitious outdoor rinks. But inspired definitely by some real world places.
GameSpot: Did you think about the wackier side of pond hockey like cracked ice and falling into the water?
Ramjagsingh: When we're in the early creative process, for all of our features, not just for outdoor Ones, and especially coming off the heels of what we did with the arcade-inspired Threes, there's lots of discussion about where does this, what is the purpose of this mode, where's this mode stand, what's the experience you want to deliver.
You know, how super core do you want this experience to be versus how casual take up of play would you want to see. What are the time considerations for the length of the experience you want to deliver. Do we want to continue down the path of arcade-inspired over-the-top? Do we want to go more over the top then we did with Threes and have like power-ups and cracking ice and people falling through the ice. In the initial brainstorm phase we went everywhere with this. And then sort of brought it back to key in on our idea of what mattered most to liven up the experience.
We explored every single option with it. The main points of contention around sort of how our arcadey- versus how core and how where should that mode have been? The original version of that mode was actually 1 v 1 v 1 v 1.
And having four players on the edge was actually a little bit too chaotic, too hard to score; the experience wasn't quite fun enough. We started experimenting with just three skaters on the ice and it ended up being super fun so that's where we landed. I guess the short answer to your question is we explored every thing from super arcade to really really hard core. We made this decision based on a lot of discussion and collaborating we did.
GameSpot: Playing with friends on the pond ... you don't normally hit people as hard as is seen in Ones. Why keep the hits in?
Ramjagsingh: I think if you could assure yourself that you're on the pond with your friends and you can throw those big hits and no one would get hurt, you might want to actually throw hits in. It's also a critical piece to maintaining the balance that we have with all different player classes. So choosing to explore or enforce the defense of using the hitting as a skill versus going more with a sniper play maker where you can't actually throw those hits and sort of taken whatever player class fits your style of play. The hits are one of my favorite things to do is the mode is when the puck ends up in the corner there. It turns into a mini game of who's gonna go in first, and risk taking the hit and is the second guy gonna go in there too and then if you're the third guy and you're gonna force your player to knock over both guys and come out there with the puck.
So it adds some really really interesting sort of gameplay elements as well. And so, a lot of times when you watch, prior to NHL 19, a lot of times when you watch the best players of the game, play our game, they rarely ever go for hits because it takes them out of position. The risk/reward isn't there for them. But you see now when you hear some of our core guys talking about outdoor Ones and talking about hitting as a feasible strategy for trying to win in Threes, it's speaks to our focus on the balance of the game with all our player classes and the way they play the game.
GameSpot: Can you talk about some of the feedback you got about pond hockey from the NHL 19 beta earlier this year?
Ramjagsingh: We played a lot with the slider of where we landed in terms of how it plays relative to core player expectations versus more casual expectations. That was where I would say the bulk of our iteration took place is just trying to get the right experience there. So we landed with something that is faster than regular gameplay, harder hitting then sort of our more authentic kind of online setting kind of gameplay as well. Then we ended up focusing a lot on our goalies. Tune the goalies and making sure the goalies were making the right reach based on having three players on the ice and things like that.
GameSpot: This mode seems like it could've been something perfect for a college dorm room or university with people just playing on the couch. Could you talk about why you wanted to make it online only?
Ramjagsingh: We started with the online space and still have the online experience and trying to create competition within that mode itself. After the beta, a lot of people have been asking for a couch version of Ones to sit in their dorm room and play with your buddies so that is absolutely something that we hear from our fans. And something we're thinking about moving forward. Where it lands, I'm not sure, but absolutely we hear the feedback that the next sort of logical step for Ones is to have a couch play version of it.
GameSpot: I'm curious what your expectations are for pond hockey considering it's really only known and fully appreciated by people who live in cold-weather places?
Ramjagsingh: Yeah, you're right and I don't think everyone's going to truly understand sort of the cultural relevance of pond hockey which is why the gameplay experience. That's why nailing the experience is and was more important than the outdoor part of it. The outdoor part is sort of the cool, kind of flashier piece, but if the experience, the gameplaying experience doesn't hold up that doesn't matter where you're playing. Whether you're playing on the moon or outdoor pond hockey.
So the experience is always sort of king in these things but understand that not everyone's going to understand the relevance and cultural relevance of pond hockey. But for those that do, they absolutely get it.
GameSpot: Do you have weather elements like snow coming down?
Ramjagsingh: Nope, no. We don't have snow coming down. We've got some animals, some wildlife in there cruising around. But you'll see. And then for each one of the different rinks, there's fours different tiers of our outdoor arenas that we have; they're all different times of day and have slightly different lighting on them as well. The final tier, the main stage takes place at night, under kind of the bright lights. So we play with lighting, not a whole lot with specifically with weather but there's some dynamic weather elements like the snow falling off the trees and then we have some wildlife too.
GameSpot: How does pond hockey progression work in NHL 19?
Ramjagsingh: You start off in sort of our tier four arena, or outdoor rink which is the parking lot. When you win you tier up, ultimately to our diamond rink, our main rink which is under the bright lights. The goal is to accumulate as many wins as you can on the main stage. At the end of every day, we'll crown a winner, a daily champion where you get huge rewards for being that guy.
GameSpot: What are some of the customisation options you can unlock?
Ramjagsingh: We have everything from cargo pants to skinny jeans to hoodies. You can wear an NHL jersey over top of a hoodie. We've got some knittable caps that are intuitive here in Canada. We've got some Canadian tuxedos in there as well. Jean jackets and things like that.
So all different types of parka jackets, pullover jackets, hoodies, all types of different pants, cargo pants, outdoor pants, things like that. We have some cool kind of skates designs as well that you can unlock. Some cool sticks, one of my favorite things that we have an NHL 94 stick that you can unlock. A lot of gear that is new to the NHL franchise and a little bit out there. The real focus for us was allowing our players to unlock different customization elements that allows them to really sort of personalize the way that they look and allowed to express themselves on the ice.
GameSpot: Can you talk about some of the other pieces of feedback you got from the beta and how that's impacting the final game?
Ramjagsingh: The most polarizing piece of feedback that we got through the beta was just around poke checking versus penalties, the balance there. I think initially day one, day two, people felt like, "how does outdoor pond hockey work when you can't get penalties," but this was probably the most polarizing event you got where the poke checking versus penalization. It took people a day or two. At first people were like, "There's way too many penalties." After day two, people are like, "It's perfect just the way it is."
GameSpot: What kind of future do you see for pond hockey in the NHL games going forward? Do you think of it as more of an experiment or more of something that really going to be in there for a long time to come?
Ramjagsingh: Pond hockey specifically I'm not sure. But I will say that sort of Pond Hockey represents to me the first step in really trying to be more inclusive of all the different forms of hockey played around the world. I think that's the macro goal for us; is just to kind of capture the different ways that the sport is played and a different sort of cultural aspects of hockey around the world. And then continue to evolve. So whether that's more ponds or authentic ponds like the ones you grew up playing on, that's one direction that we could go but we're trying, really trying to figure that out right.
What are the other leagues that are out there, the summer leagues that are out there as well. What is the role of the summer leagues, the beer leagues going on right now in Minnesota. What roles do those leagues play moving forward. So it's really about how do we continue to be, how do we continue to be as authentic as possible with our license experiences with the NHL but also be sort of more inclusive of sort of hockey that's played all around the world.
GameSpot: How much attention is it getting overall inside the studio. Has it been completely a massive undertaking that's really taken up a lot of people's time or just can you talk about the work flow dynamic and how it's changed from you know, when you didn't have it to when you have it now?
Ramjagsingh: Pond hockey, the outdoor hockey is just a one element within the World of Chel. So, the World of Chel itself, we essentially rebuilt the online cache from the ground up. One is the sort of common progression across all these multiple different modes. It was really important if you look at some of the best games out there right now that have really short, you know outside sports genre, have really short experiences that you roll right over into the next experience. It's almost harder to leave the experience as it is to stay in and play the next version of the game.
We had to rewrite our cache. So that's where the bulk of the effort went, let's rewrite the text that enables us to deliver the experiences that we delivered. Also it was foundational work for us to continue that and continue to build on, build new experiences on top and add new features toi. Whether they're another version of pond hockey, another sort of mode in itself or whether it's just optimizing the experience and the flows and the ability of people to connect with one another.
GameSpot: Is there anything else really that you think people really absolute need to know about pond hockey.
Ramjagsingh: Oh man, I mean, for me it's pond hockey is a huge pond mode to play where if you only have five minutes to maybe hop in and play five minutes of pond hockey and get through a game. If you win you roll right, next game if you lose you roll right into the next game. I think all of us had a little bit of competition built into us so it's hard to walk away from it. But the other part is, I would say is just part of a larger ecosystem of the World of Chel. It's great place to play when you're there by yourself but when your friends are online, there's other experiences that are in there too that are just as compelling.
PS4's Spider-Man makes dozens of references to the stories, allies, and enemies from the wall crawlers' comics. There are quite a few littered throughout the game's final moments, which all seem to be pointing towards a specific comic series.
Although Insomniac has not confirmed a connection, most of the characters in Spider-Man are similar to their counterparts from the Ultimate Spider-Man comics. As opposed to earlier stories that used radiation and pseudoscience as the basis for how Spider-Man and his rogue's gallery of super-villains came to be, Ultimate Spider-Man takes a more modern approach and uses genetic splicing, tinkering, and degradation as the origin story for its heroes and villains. The comic debuted in October 2000 and ran for nearly 11 years, making it the second longest continuous Marvel series that's created by only two people.
Like Ultimate Spider-Man, PS4's Spider-Man gives Peter Parker a larger background in science and mathematics, making him an engineering prodigy. Mary Jane is also the first to find out that Peter and Spider-Man are the same person. Plenty of other characters have similar personalities and appearances to their Ultimate counterparts too, including Aunt May, Rhino, Kingpin, and more.
Admittedly, some of the game's characters do not match up with their Ultimate Spider-Man counterparts. Spider-Man's Vulture is Amazing Spider-Man's Adrian Toomes, and not Ultimate's Blackie Drago. The Vulture costume is similar in both the game and comics though, as is Toomes' poor health (he's initially not in Ultimate because he dies from an illness). There are enough similarities, though, to use Ultimate Spider-Man to help dissect the final scenes of the game.
Spoiler Alert: The rest of this article delves into the ending, mid-credits, and post-credits scenes of Spider-Man, as well as major plot points from the Ultimate Spider-Man comics.
The Ending: A New Ally
A lot happens in the final moments of Spider-Man, but one of the more puzzling developments is the departure of Silver Sable. After being prominently featured in promotional material for the game, Silver Sable has a pretty minor role in the overall story. She leads the private military force hired by Norman Osborn to keep order in the city, but after warming up to Spider-Man she just leaves. Moments before the final battle, she calls Peter to say she's gone home and we never see her again. It's odd she was included in the game at all with how minor a role she plays.
That changes if this Silver Sable is inspired from her Ultimate counterpart. In Ultimate, Silver Sable is initially one of Spider-Man's villains, but only because she was hired to hunt him down. She has a begrudging respect for the wall-crawler and tolerates him when a job needs to get done. More importantly, Silver Sable and Spider-Man eventually team up in Ultimate, and it's to take down Venom in the "War of the Symbiotes" arc.
Spider-Man's post-credits scene reveals that Venom's origin might be on the horizon, and that lends more credence to the prediction that Silver Sable will return to New York. Silver Sable might have been introduced in this game so that she and Spidey can work together to hunt down Venom in a future expansion or sequel.
The Mid-Credits Scene: Peter's Successor
In Spider-Man's mid-credits scene, Miles reveals to Peter that his body is undergoing some changes, before showcasing that he can stick to the ceiling. Peter immediately jumps up to join him to reveal that he's Spider-Man. It's a touching, almost brotherly moment.
Miles Morales was first introduced in 2011's Ultimate Fallout, which ties into Ultimate Spider-Man's final arc. Like Peter, he's bitten by a genetically enhanced spider from Oscorp's lab. This gives Miles similar powers to Peter, including the ability to stick to walls, super strength and reflexes, and an enhanced sixth sense. However, Miles is bitten by a different species of spider, so he ends up with a few more powers. Miles isn't as strong as Peter, but he can emit a paralyzing venom from his fingertips and camouflage himself against nearly any surface, rendering him invisible.
We'll have to wait and see whether or not Miles has inherited all of the powers he has in Ultimate, but the fact that he has powers at all might foreshadow a dark future. In Ultimate, Miles becomes a superhero to honor Spider-Man after New York watches Peter Parker give up his life to stop the Green Goblin in the "Death of Spider-Man" arc. There's no guarantee that Insomniac is moving towards that storyline, but the post-credits scene does hint at the rise of Green Goblin. In the game's final battle, Peter also lets himself get stabbed so he can stop Doctor Octopus and save the ones he loves, so it's not that big of a stretch to imagine him sacrificing himself in a future game.
The Post-Credits Scene: Two New Foes
As stated before, Spider-Man's post-credits scene hints at two possible supervillains appearing in Peter's future: Venom and Green Goblin. There's a lot to unpack in that final scene, including the fate of Harry Osborn. Earlier in the game, Peter and Mary Jane learn that Harry didn't go abroad for vacation but instead left the country to receive intensive treatment for a genetic disorder. In the post-credits scene, we find out that Harry didn't even leave. His father is keeping him in a tank that's filled with green liquid.
This green liquid is most likely OZ. In Ultimate Spider-Man, Norman Osborn develops the green goo as an experimental drug that boosts strength, reflexes, and intelligence. He's not completely successful in keeping the substance stable, and so he tests the drug on other animals, one being spiders. When the spiders bite Peter and Miles, they transfer the drug in a less volatile state into their systems, which is why Peter and Miles are enhanced without becoming deformed in the process. Perhaps in the game's continuity, Norman developed OZ as a way to strengthen his son and stabilize his genetic condition. However, it's clearly not enough as Norman also has a black substance webbed around Harry that's seemingly keeping him alive in suspended animation. The black web reacts to Norman when it senses the man's presence. It might be what's keeping the OZ from mutating Harry.
In Ultimate Spider-Man, the symbiote isn't an alien, but a man-made suit that's seemingly alive. Its primary purpose is to cure cancer by strengthening the host body's immune system and giving them superhuman levels of strength and endurance. Perhaps--much like the OZ--Norman builds the suit for his son, and the suit--much like its Ultimate counterpart--desires more humans to feed on in order to strengthen its host. If the suit's hunger for more humans is strong enough, or if it feeds on the OZ, it could break Harry out of his tank and transform him into the toothy black monster that pushes Silver Sable and Spidey to work together.
If that's the case, stopping the suit would kill Harry, as it looks like it might be the only thing keeping him alive. The loss of his wife and son would probably drive Norman to madness and cause him to try and take revenge on Spider-Man and Silver Sable, who he'd see as murderers. If Norman ingested unfiltered OZ, then like his Ultimate counterpart, he'd transform into the monstrous-looking Green Goblin. His war against Spider-Man might lead to Peter giving up his life to save the city, and pave the way for Miles to become New York's next friendly neighborhood wall crawler. Insomniac has already proven they're willing to kill off major characters--like Aunt May--in order to tell an emotional story, so killing off Peter at the end of Spider-Man 2 so that Miles can be the protagonist of Spider-Man 3 is not so far-fetched.
But of course, that's all just speculation based on the information we can glean from Spider-Man's final scenes. We'd love to hear what you all think. Again, not all characters in Spider-Man follow the same beats as Ultimate Spider-Man so Insomniac could draw inspiration from a different comic--like Amazing, Spectacular, or All-New, All-Different--or create a completely unique storyline. What type of future do you think the final scenes of Spider-Man are hinting towards? Leave your responses in the comments below.
Spider-Man is currently only available for the PS4. We loved it, and gave the game a 9/10 in our review. Insomniac has revealed that the game is getting a New Game Plus mode in the future, as well as a three-part DLC expansion called The City That Never Sleeps.
Since the beginning, the central conflict in the Assassin's Creed series has been freedom vs. control. For the most part, we've been placed on the side of freedom and fought to give others the right to choose how they want to live. Ironically, we haven't had much choice in how we go about it, and have repeatedly followed a controlled narrative in each entry that forced us to kill certain characters, spare others, and react to the world in a specific way.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey changes that and delivers an unprecedented level of freedom in its combat and dialogue. The game even allows you to choose your romantic partner, personal allegiance, and which people deserve to die--including normal civilians and several of the assassination targets.
In the opening eight to ten hours of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, our travels through ancient Greece introduced us to a large supporting cast of characters, gave us our first taste of Odyssey's naval combat, and allowed us to experience the effects of choosing certain dialogue responses over others. We got a pretty comprehensive idea of the differences in combat and how the introductory skills in Odyssey work too, as we played through the game's opening hours with Alexios as a powerful melee fighter and bow wielder, and then again with Kassandra as a speedy and stealthy assassin who relied on small daggers.
As we played through Odyssey's opening chapters, we noticed the game repeatedly go out of its way to give the player the ability to choose. Kassandra and Alexios may be its protagonists, but the next Assassin's Creed is all about you living your own odyssey. For the most part, it works, but some of the new innovations suffer from solely focusing on the player's needs and not those of the game's characters.
New Skills Are Unlocked Quickly And Make Fights More Fluid
You level up and unlock new skills fairly quickly at the start of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, giving you plenty of opportunities to experiment with new abilities. At the start, the only abilities available to you will be different types of archery shots, melee attacks, and stealth skills. The higher end abilities that sheath your blade in fire or perform other seemingly magical attacks are locked until you progress a certain ways through the story.
Like Assassin's Creed Origins, the use of these skills runs on an adrenaline meter. However, adrenaline fills a lot faster in Odyssey, so it's easier to chain together many skills in a row to pull off devastating combos in combat or stealthily slice your way through an enemy compound in mere moments.
Kassandra and Alexios do not use shields, so the shield bashing skills from Origins are gone. However, plenty of Bayek's other abilities make a return, including using a special vision to sense and tag enemies through walls or controlling the trajectory of an arrow after you've fired it into the air.
The new skills are way more fun, though. Spartan kick deals tons of damage and is a good way of putting some space between you and a powerful enemy. Ubisoft has even nicely stationed several foes alongside the edges of cliffs or towers in the early areas whose sole purpose seems to only be to stand there until they're sadisticly kicked into oblivion. Compared to Bayek, Kassandra and Alexios have a lot more creative stealth skills as well, including a particularly effective one that allows you to throw out a knife into a person's back and immediately appear behind them to finish them off before then throwing the knife into another target. It's like Kassandra/Alexios are teleporting from one enemy to the next, but the game describes it as them being so fast and sneaky that enemies can't keep track of them.
Instead of putting all your points into new skills, you can also spend them on upgrading your existing ones too. For example, the teleporting knife throwing skill only chains up to two targets at first, but you can use additional points to raise that number. And if you don't like the skills you've unlocked or upgraded, Odyssey lets you respec your protagonist at any time.
Romancing Someone Can Be A Little Creepy
In our time with the demo, we only found one person we could flirt and start a relationship with. Her name is Odessa and she's a direct descendent of the legendary Greek hero Odysseus, the protagonist of Homer's Odyssey. Odessa is attracted to both Kassandra and Alexios so you'll be able to romance her regardless of which character you choose.
Romance in Odyssey plays out a lot like the romantic storylines in Mass Effect: Andromeda. One of the dialogue choices for when you meet someone you can romance will have a little heart next to it. Clicking that choice causes Kassandra/Alexios to flirt with that person. Do it enough times and the game transitions into a scene where both characters are intimate. It's very straightforward and easy to do if you want to romance someone, and just as simple to avoid it if you don't want to.
The problem with romancing Odessa, is that you have to be a huge creep to "woo" her. If you choose to romance Odessa, you have to continue flirting with her and pushing for her to have sex with you while she's asking you to help her gather medicine for her dying father or pleading with you to save her life from some men who want her dead. And when you do help her and she finally agrees to have sex with you, you can ask if she wants to go again. She resists--saying she's tired from the sex you both had literally seconds prior--but she appreciate your advances and you can then offer for her to serve on your crew so she can find the meaning in her life she's been desperately seeking. She's then available to help you in boarding parties during naval combat.
Forging the relationship feels very formulaic and unnatural. There are cute moments--especially at the start--but the overall experience leaves a bad taste in your mouth. It's a moment where Odyssey's message of this being a journey for the player gets in the way of the gameplay. The Odessa romance is purposely built for you to have the girl if you want her, and dispose of her if you don't--you can literally leave her locked in a cage on an island. By the end, we didn't feel like we'd formed a loving connection with a special person; rather we'd chosen to recruit someone who felt indebted to us. Hopefully there are other romantic storylines in Odyssey that feel a bit more like actually falling in love.
Shaping The Protagonist's Words Can Create Amusing Consequences
Despite having the choice of choosing what Kassandra or Alexios can say to someone, the dialogue in the game has been structured to fit a specific archetype. Kassandra and Alexios are hot-headed, stubborn, and very opinionated so all of their dialogue choices reflect that. When an annoying woman is badgering the protagonists about finding her stolen wood, they can either ask her to be patient with a hint of annoyance in their voice or angrily yell at her and tell her to shut up while they go get her wood. Both answers are technically the same--in both instances Kassandra and Alexios are getting tired of being badgered about getting this woman's wood they already agreed to find--but the player decides whether or not the protagonist should keep their emotions under control.
There are a few moments where you'll be able to use dialogue to solve problems. For instance, you can help a praying woman by having the protagonists speak out and pretend to be the god Hermes. It's hilarious how easily the woman believes in the ruse, but it convinces her to return home to her family. You can continue the charade by following her home and leaving the gold she was praying for on her doorstep.
During the demo, we also got to see how our dialogue choices can affect the game's story. Not all of the choices in Odyssey lead to the result you think, and you'll have to be careful. A positive action does not always yield a positive response. Early on in the game, we learned about some plague victims. After investigating the situation, it seemed like the civilians in quarantine were clean, so we allowed them to return to their lives. It wasn't until much later--after we'd sailed away from the island--that we learned the plague had spread from those civilians and killed more people. Ubisoft informed us that had we allowed the guards to continue detaining the quarantined citizens against their will, the plague would have ended.
Another surprise was the lack of complete censorship in Odyssey's dialogue. Although a few words--like "mercenary" and "hello"--are spoken in the native tongue, the protagonist and the other characters they meet all freely swear without being censored by the Animus. We've never heard an Assassin's Creed protagonist drop so many f-bombs before. It's a little jarring at first but we quickly got used to it, and it occasionally makes Kassandra/Alexios' angry outbursts a little funnier.
Naval Travel Is Tedious
Naval travel is so slow in Assassin's Creed Odyssey. From a historical sense, it's understandable that Odyssey's protagonists wouldn't have access to the same technology seen in Assassin's Creed 3, 4: Black Flag, and Rogue, so their vessel would be slower than Ratohnhake:ton's Aquila, Edward's Jackdaw, and Shay's Morrigan. That doesn't change how annoying it is when it comes time to sail on a longer voyage, and it certainly doesn't help that the ocean lacks the same vibrant life and activity that made exploring so enjoyable in Black Flag. After playing the mandatory naval missions, we steered clear of the optional ones.
Naval combat is still pretty fun, although you'll often be ramming into and sinking ships in the beginning of the game instead of boarding them. If you do choose to only wound a vessel and leap aboard, an army will no longer follow after you. A few sailors might join you, but you'll mostly be on your own. If you want a boarding party, you'll have to recruit people for the job--in a similar style to Metal Gear Solid 5: Phantom Pain. You find someone you want to recruit, knock them out with a Spartan kick or melee takedown, and then abduct them. When they wake up, they can be assigned as an officer within your crew.
Officer recruitment is another unfortunate example where Odyssey's mission to cater to the player has a negative effect on the gameplay. It would have been nice to have specific missions devoted to acquiring officers--similar to Assassin's Creed 3's assassin recruit missions--so each member of your crew had a bit more personality. But again, your crew's story and their choices don't matter, it's yours that does. It's also a little weird that everyone you kidnap is just okay with serving under you, even if just prior to being knocked out you killed every one of their fellow soldiers. Apparently, no one you abduct has a family who misses them either.
Like the weapons and gear you find, each potential officer has a rarity level and extra attributes. For example, a common enemy archer we recruited increased the number of arrows our ship could fire by a tiny percent and he brought a small contingent of soldiers with him when he joined us while boarding an enemy ship. Meanwhile, Odessa--who's very skilled with both a bow and sword and considered a rare character--increases our ship's arrow barrage damage by a significant amount, remains by our side while on enemy ships, attracts a sizable boarding party, and can kill most sailors in just one to two hits. At the start, you can only assign one officer, but if you choose to upgrade the size of your ship then you'll be able to pick up to four.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey releases on October 5 for Xbox One, PS4, and PC. The game comes with certain in-game bonuses depending on where you pre-order it from and what edition you buy, of which there are quite a few.
Funimation has released a new trailer for My Hero Academia: Two Heroes, the upcoming movie that takes place between the events of the anime's second and third season. The trailer contains flashbacks to when All Might still had complete use over his superpowered Quirk, One For All.
In Two Heroes, All Might takes his protege Midoriya to I-Expo, an exhibition for Quirk abilities and equipment that can enhance them. There, Midoriya meets one of All Might's greatest friends, David Shield, whose daughter Melissa was also born Quirkless. Already beginning to weaken from his injuries, All Might is powerless to stop Wolfram--a villain with a Quirk that allows him to control metal--by himself, so Midoriya, his classmates, and Melissa come to his aid to save the day.
Two Heroes also contains flashbacks to when All Might was still a young man. These scenes showcase how All Might and David first met, where All Might's first costume came from, and how All Might acted prior to receiving his life-threatening injuries. The new trailer has a few of these scenes, including one where All Might effortlessly punches a villain hard enough to create a small sonic boom, something we saw the hero struggle to do in the first season of the anime.
My Hero Academia is an anime about a future society where most people are born with superpowers called Quirks, transforming the idea of superheroes into a professional job. The timid Midoriya idolizes heroes, especially the world's greatest All Might, but he was unluckily born Quirkless. However, when a chance encounter with his idol allows Midoriya to show All Might his potential, the old hero lets the young boy in on his secret: All Might's Quirk, One For All, can be passed from person to person. Still badly injured from a previous fight with his archenemy and not getting any better, All Might decides to give One For All to Midoriya. All Might then helps Midoriya enroll in Japan's top hero prep high school, and promises to use his remaining days to train the young boy into becoming the world's next symbol of peace.
My Hero Academia: Two Heroes will premier in English on September 25, 27, and 29. The movie will play in theaters in the original Japanese on September 26 and October 2. You can find the nearest theater to you playing the movie, and at what times, on Funimation.
Marvel has released a new trailer for the company's upcoming movie Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors. The film is a follow-up to the animated web series Marvel Rising: Initiation, which saw Ms. Marvel and Squirrel Girl team up, gave us new versions of Patriot and Quake, and introduced Spider-Gwen under her official Ghost-Spider alias.
Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors is a retelling of the second Secret Warriors comic series, replacing several of the team's members with new teenage heroes who have seen a recent surge in popularity. The new team is composed of Ms. Marvel, Squirrel Girl, Patriot, Quake, Inferno, and Miss America. Captain Marvel brings the group of young heroes together and acts as their inspiration. Ghost-Spider has been prominent in the Marvel Rising series, but Secret Wars' recent trailer suggests she won't have a major role in the movie.
Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel is a Captain Marvel fangirl who one day gains the power to stretch her body in any way, which she calls "embiggening." Doreen Green aka Squirrel Girl is a computer expert who possesses the senses of a squirrel, and can also communicate with squirrels and climb as they do. Rayshaun Lucas aka Patriot is a SHIELD agent trained by Captain America, who possess a shield that can extend into a hovercraft. Another SHIELD agent, Daisy Johnson aka Quake can produce vibrational waves of various strength to rattle objects apart, from simple locks to whole mountains. Dante Pertuz aka Inferno can set his heat-resistant skin on fire and then wield the flames as a weapon. America Chavez aka Miss America has superhuman strength, speed, and durability, and can also fly and break holes in the multiverse to visit other realities. Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel, possibly the most powerful member of the Avengers, possesses close to a dozen abilities, the most notable of which are flight at near light speed, super strength, a precognitive sixth sense, and energy absorption.
Despite several connections to other TV series--such as Chloe Bennet voicing Quake, the character she plays on Agents of SHIELD, and Milana Vayntrub voicing Squirrel Girl, the character she plays on New Warriors--Secret Warriors is not a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors premiers on Disney Channel and Disney XD on September 30 at 10:00 PM PT/ET.
Ubisoft has announced a remaster for Assassin's Creed III. The 2012 entry into Ubisoft's franchise concluded the storyline of modern day protagonist Desmond Miles, and started what would become known as the Kenway Saga.
Assassin's Creed III: Remastered can be bought as a standalone title but it also comes included in the season pass for Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Regardless of how you buy it, the game launches for Xbox One, PS4, and PC in March 2019.
In our Assassin's Creed III review, Kevin VanOrd gave the game an 8.5/10, writing, "Assassin's Creed 3 is a big game that gives you a lot to do, some of which is fleshed out relatively well, and some of which isn't. It is not, however, content to rest on the series' laurels. It takes chances with its opening, with its story, and with its characters. It expands the series' gameplay in enjoyable and sensible ways. As with many ambitious games, not every arrow fired hits the bull's-eye, yet this big, narratively rich sequel is easy to get invested in. Other games stimulate emotion with manipulative music and teary monologues; Assassin's Creed III rouses your mind and your heart by giving you a glimpse into its characters' souls and letting you judge them on their own merits."
The remaster of Assassin's Creed III isn't the only piece of content that comes included in Odyssey's season pass. You'll get the 2014 HD remaster of Assassin's Creed III: Liberation--which we gave a 6/10 in our review--as well. You'll also get two story add-ons that are each divided into three episodes: Legacy of the First Blade and The Fate of Atlantis. Legacy of the First Blade sees Kassandra or Alexios meeting the first individual to use the hidden blade--which Assassin's Creed II tells us is the Persian assassin Darius--and The Fate of Atlantis delves into the history behind the famed underwater city.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey launches for Xbox One, PS4, and PC on October 5.
A new update for Overwatch introduces several changes to four of the game's heroes, as well as bug fixes and a new map. The update rebalances Ana, Brigitte, Reinhardt, and Widowmaker in response to previous Overwatch updates and hero additions.
For Ana, the update increases the level of precision when determining the sensitivity of her rifle's movements while zoomed. To make her match her counterparts, Brigitte now gets knocked down when shield bashing Doomfist's Rocket Punch or Reinhardt's Charge. Previously, only Doomfist and Reinhard would be stunned which would allow Brigitte to get in extra hits before either hero could recover.
Both Widowmaker and Reinhardt have larger changes. Like Ana, there's now more control over Widowmaker's sensitivity while zoomed. She also now retains her full momentum when using her grappling hook if she connects to a structure that doesn't have a ledge. Reinhardt's Earthshatter ability has been completely overhauled. It will now always travel up inclines and around the payload, and consistently hit enemies near a wall. Also, it will no longer damage enemies behind barriers or hit enemies that enter the ability's damage cone after the wave has passed.
The update also patches a few bugs as well, the most notable of which caused weapons that fired multiple shots at once--like D.Va's Fusion Cannons and Reaper's Hellfire Shotguns--to inconsistently deal critical damage to enemy heroes. The full patch notes can be found on Overwatch's website, but we've outlined the more significant bug fixes below.
Overwatch Update Bug Fixes
General
Fixed a bug that caused players to sometimes slip off railings
Fixed a bug that prevented Torbjörn Armor Packs Created statistic from updating if the ability landed directly on a friendly target
Communication Wheel
Fixed a bug that caused a delay in selecting options on the Communication Wheel when cycling left using a mouse
Heroes
Brigitte
Fixed a bug that caused Brigitte's Shield Bash movement to be interrupted when she impacted Symmetra's turrets
Doomfist
Fixed a bug that caused Doomfist's Seismic Slam to cancel when using Symmetra's Teleporter
D.Va
Fixed a bug that allowed D.Va to escape the map if she used Call Mech while standing on Mei's Ice Wall
Hanzo
Fixed a bug that caused the Dragonstrike arrow's size to be larger than his other arrows
Mei
Fixed a bug that caused Mei's Cryo-freeze to block the line of sight for Mei's Blizzard
Mercy
Fixed a bug that allowed Mercy to gain ultimate charge from using her damage beam on attacks that cannot be damage boosted
Reaper
Fixed a bug that prevented Reaper's Shadow Step from going on cooldown if he was interrupted
Reinhardt
Fixed a bug that allowed Reinhardt to pin targets that were behind him when using Charge
Fixed a bug that prevented Reinhardt from pinning some targets when he turned during Charge
Fixed a bug that allowed Reinhardt to use Earthshatter while standing on an enemy's head
Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented Reinhardt's Earthshatter from hitting enemies standing on a payload
Fixed a bug that prevented Reinhardt's Earthshatter from traveling up certain inclines
Roadhog
Fixed a bug that sometimes caused Roadhog's Chain Hook to break after hitting an enemy while maintaining line of sight
Fixed a bug that prevented Roadhog's alternate fire from calculating falloff damage correctly
Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented Reinhardt's Earthshatter from landing if he was launched into the air while activating it
Sombra
Fixed a bug that prevented Sombra from translocating to a moving platform
Fixed a bug that prevented Sombra from destroying her Translocator if she was stunned or hacked
Fixed a bug that prevented Sombra's Translocator from accurately indicating where Sombra would arrive when the ability was used
Symmetra
Fixed a bug that prevented Sombra's Hack from canceling Symmetra's Photon Barrier placement
Fixed a bug that caused Symmetra's teleport UI to persist after being eliminated
Widowmaker
Fixed a bug that prevented Widowmaker's Grappling Hook from connecting to some ledges
Fixed a bug that caused Widowmaker's scoped shots on hero placed objects to count against her Scoped Weapon Accuracy statistic, like Symmetra's Teleporter and Torbjörn's autocannon
Wrecking Ball
Fixed a bug that prevented Wrecking Ball's Piledriver from dealing falloff damage
Fixed a bug that allowed Wrecking Ball's Piledriver to deal damage twice if he slid off the environment during its duration
Fixed a bug that allowed Wrecking Ball's primary fire to continue working even if it was disabled in custom game
Xbox has announced that Forza Horizon 4 has gone gold. The announcement also contained information about the game's demo, as well as the reveal that Horizon 4's Day One Car Pack contains vehicles from both old and recent James Bond films.
The Forza Horizon 4 demo is currently available on both Xbox One and Windows 10 PC. You'll have access to all four of the seasons in the demo, allowing you to drive through the open-world Britain hub and complete challenges in a diverse assortment of environments. Of the game's 450-plus cars, you have access to about 10.
If you have Mixer, you can start earning Influence in the Forza Horizon 4 demo that you can use in the main game. Influence is Horizon 4's version of measuring progression, and can be accrued in the main game by exploring, racing, performing stunts, and taking photos. If you watch someone playing the Horizon 4 demo through a Mixer stream, you'll gain Influence. You can also earn Influence by streaming Horizon 4, and you'll get larger rewards for attracting more viewers.
When Horizon 4 launches, a Day One Car Pack will release alongside it. Called the Best of Bond Car Pack, the DLC includes 10 of Bond's famous vehicles from his past films, two Bond-inspired outfits for your driver, and six exclusive quick chat phrases you'll be able to use in multiplayer. The pack can be bought separately, or comes included in Forza Horizon 4's Ultimate Edition.
Here's the full list of what comes in the pack:
1964 Aston Martin DB5 inspired by Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), GoldenEye (1995), Skyfall (2012), and Spectre (2015)
1969 Aston Martin DBS from On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
1974 AMC Hornet X Hatchback from The Man With the Golden Gun (1974)
1977 Lotus Esprit S1 from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
1981 Citroën 2CV6 from For Your Eyes Only (1981)
1986 Aston Martin V8 from The Living Daylights (1987)
1999 BMW Z8 from The World is Not Enough (1999)
2008 Aston Martin DBS from Quantum of Solace (2008)
2010 Jaguar C-X75 from Spectre (2015)
2015 Aston Martin DB10 from Spectre (2015)
According to Microsoft, several of the cars can use the gadgets seen in the films while in Forzavista mode. "For example, the 1964 Aston Martin DB5 will feature numerous gadgets such as revolving number plate and extendable bumper rams," Xbox wrote. "In addition, the Lotus Esprit S1 will feature a special body kit option inspired by the 'Wet Nellie' submarine vehicle from The Spy Who Loved Me."
Forza Horizon 4 releases on October 2 for Xbox One and PC. If you pre-order the Ultimate Edition, you'll get to play Forza Horizon 4 four days earlier on September 28.
Rumors that Halo 5: Guardians is coming to PC surfaced when Amazon posted box art of the game that changed the "Xbox One Exclusive" tag to "Xbox One Console Exclusive." However, Microsoft has since reaffirmed that Halo 5 is not coming to PC.
A Microsoft spokesperson told CNET, "As we've shared previously, we do not have plans to launch Halo 5: Guardians on Windows 10 PC." Halo: Infinite is still scheduled for PC at least, but Microsoft hasn't confirmed whether Halo's sixth mainline game will be a part of the company's Xbox Play Anywhere program so it's unclear whether players will have to buy the game twice to play it on both console and PC. Halo: Infinite will be the first game from the main Halo series to release on PC since 2007's Halo 2.
Last April, Xbox head Phil Spencer told players they should look forward to "an official classic Halo experience making its way to PC," but there has been no follow-up from Spencer or Microsoft as to what that might be. With no plans to release Halo 5 on PC, the next logical assumption is Halo: The Master Chief Collection--which was recently added to Xbox Game Pass.
Halo: Infinite is coming to Xbox One and PC. Microsoft hasn't revealed a release date yet, but the game is a part of Xbox Game Pass so subscribers will get it for free. Microsoft has also confirmed that the game probably won't have a battle royale mode.
Three more Xbox 360 games are available via Xbox backwards compatibility. You can now play Rumble Roses XX and Zone of the Enders HD Collection--which is composed of two games--on Xbox One.
Rumble Roses XX, the sequel to Rumble Roses, is a wrestling game that features an entirely female cast. Matches consist of one-on-one bouts, two-on-two tussles, and one wrestler against an entire team. You win when you successfully grapple your opponent into a position where they have to tap out.
We gave the game a 6.6/10. In our Rumble Roses XX review, Alex Navarro wrote, "Rumble Roses XX is a better game than its PS2 predecessor, but there are still too many annoying things about it to make it a success. Again, there isn't a single thing wrong with wanting to put attractive, well-built women in a wrestling game, but Rumble Roses XX insists on taking it to such levels of objectification that it just becomes hard to put up with after awhile. Not to mention that very little else of what the game offers, both from gameplay and feature standpoints, is strong enough to carry the load apart from the whole titillation aspect."
Zone of the Enders HD Collection packages the original Zone of the Enders and its sequel Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner. Both games are third-person shooters that incorporate hack-and-slash elements. You control an advanced combat mecha named Jehuty in both games, with a child piloting the suit in the first game and a miner in the second.
Although we gave the two titles decent scores upon their release--a 7.4 for the first game and an 8.5 for the second--we were not as big a fan of the HD collection. In our Zone of the Enders HD Collection review, Peter Brown gave the bundle a 5.5/10, writing, "The HD treatment, especially the widescreen aspect ratio, makes the pair of Zone of the Enders games more palatable by contemporary standards, but the chugging frame rate leaves the bitter taste of disappointment behind, inspiring thoughts of what could have been."
During Nintendo's September Direct, the company announced a new Joy-Con controller for Switch. These new Joy-Cons are shaped like NES controllers, and you'll only be able to buy them if you're an online subscriber.
The new controllers have the same Joy-Con bluetooth connection, so you'll be able to play wirelessly and charge your controller by connecting them to your Switch or a Nintendo charge station. That being said, you can't use the controllers while they're plugged into your Switch, so you can't use them in handheld mode. Two controllers, a right and a left Joy-Con, are sold in each box for $60. Shipments of the controller begin in mid-December 2018.
The biggest surprises were reserved for the end of the Direct. Nintendo announced that Animal Crossing's Isabella is joining Villager in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. A new, currently unnamed Animal Crossing game is coming to Switch in 2019 as well. Nintendo hasn't announced any other details concerning the new game yet, so, like Metroid Prime 4, we'll have to wait for another Direct down the line.
Insomniac Games has announced that PS4's Spider-Man is getting a New Game Plus mode. The developer revealed that a team is currently working on the mode via a tweet.
New Game Plus will allow you to replay through Spider-Man with all of the wall crawlers' abilities and skills that have been unlocked in a previous save. Although it hasn't been confirmed for this game, most New Game Plus modes also increase enemies' health and damage output. A few, like the one in Batman: Arkham Knight, even make minor changes to certain cutscenes and add late-game enemies to the earlier fights. Insomniac doesn't have an estimate for the New Game Plus mode's release date yet.
New Game Plus isn't the only post-launch addition coming to Spider-Man. Insomniac has also revealed a three-part DLC expansion for the game titled The City That Never Sleeps. The first part, called The Heist, releases on October 23. The Heist focuses on the return of one of Peter Parker's former flames, Felicia Hardy. Also known as the Black Cat, Felicia is an ex-jewel thief who abandons a life of crime in an attempt to be worthy of Spider-Man's affection. Felicia is referenced throughout the main game in one of the side-quests, promising "her Spider" that she'll see him again soon.
The second part of The City That Never Sleeps is called Turf Wars and will be releasing in November. The final chapter, titled Silver Lining, launches in December. All three parts add new story missions, challenges, enemies, and suits to the game. You can purchase each one individually for $10, or buy The City That Never Sleeps collection for $25.
If you're wondering, we'll go ahead and say it: The Predator does not have a post-credits scene. So once the credits roll, feel free to leave the theater. Of course, you should also stay to see the hundreds of people who helped bring the movie to life. Still, there's plenty to talk about with regards to the end of the film and we're going to dig into it. If you've seen The Predator or simply don't care about being spoiled, carry on. Otherwise, turn away now.
The Predator spoilers below!
If you weren't expecting all kinds of death in The Predator, you've clearly never seen a movie in this franchise. In the end, practically everyone was viciously murdered by the massive Super Predator, including Will Traeger (Sterling K. Brown), along with Nebraska (Trevante Rhodes) and the rest of the self-proclaimed "loonies." In fact, the only three left standing were our hero Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook), his son Rory (Jacob Tremblay), and the exposition-dispensing biologist Casey Bracket (Olivia Munn).
As it turns out, that Super Predator was on Earth to kill the regular Predator who had come here to give us a weapon to stave off a Predator invasion. That shouldn't matter, since Traeger was convinced we'll all be dead from global warming in two generations anyway, but here we are. Meanwhile, the Super Predator just wanted to harvest the best human DNA it could find in an effort to integrate it into its own species. Naturally, that DNA could only be found in Rory, seemingly because he figured out how to make Predator technology work.
In the end, McKenna kills the Super Predator by shooting him in the head repeatedly--even though he's mostly bulletproof throughout the movie--and what's left of the heroes go home victorious. Of course, it doesn't end there.
Cut to some period of time later and Quinn finds himself back at the top secret lab where the regular Predator was being studied before the chaos began. Now, for some reason, his incredibly young child is working as a government scientist at the lab. His mother, Yvonne Strahovsky's underused character Emily, is nowhere in sight. It really gives the impression that this poor kid has terrible parents.
It's also revealed that said lab is in possession of a pod left behind by the regular Predator--the weapon it was bringing to help save the Earth. What could it be? A Xenomorph? A solution for global warming? Cake? No, it's none of those things. Instead, it's essentially an Iron Man suit that looks like a Predator. It's dubbed the Predator Killer and is clearly a means of telling the audience that director Shane Black really wants a sequel to this film.
Almost immediately, Quinn calls dibs on the tech and makes a joke about whether it comes in his size. That's the end of the movie, closing on something of a cliffhanger, but not really. Viewers aren't shown any kind of further invasion by the Predator species or any immediate danger they could pose. Instead, we get a shot of the suit that Quinn covets. Honestly, we hope his kid ends up wearing it should get a follow-up.
Dying Light's battle royale-style mode, Bad Blood, is now available on PC. The standalone "brutal royale" game, as developer Techland bills it, has launched on Steam Early Access, and you can jump in now by purchasing the $20 Founder's Pack.
Along with access to the game, the Founder's Pack includes a handful of exclusive content, such as three Legendary weapon skins, one Legendary mask, and 1,000 Blood Bucks--Bad Blood's in-game currency. The pack also comes with the Founder's Pass, which will grant players three exclusive Legendary skins over the next three months.
Unlike a typical battle royale game, Dying Light: Bad Blood incorporates PvP and PvE elements into the series' brand of survival horror. The game drops 12 players into a city swarming with zombies. You'll need to go about the map scavenging for weapons, eliminating other players, destroying zombie hives, and using Dying Light's signature fast-paced parkour tricks to survive.
On top of gathering weapons and other resources, you'll also need to collect blood samples from the infected. These are the most vital items to acquire, as they're tied to Bad Blood's victory condition. You'll need to gather enough samples to secure a seat on the evac chopper and safely evacuate the map. However, only one player will be able to board the helicopter, so you'll need to race against all the other players to be the first to collect samples and escape.
Techland hasn't announced a full release date for Dying Light: Bad Blood, but the game is coming to PC and consoles. The developer says the game will transition to free-to-play when it leaves Early Access. For more footage of the game, check out our hands-on session with it at Gamescom last month.
Blizzard has announced a release date for the recently announced Nintendo Switch version of Diablo III: Eternal Collection. The acclaimed dungeon crawler arrives on Nintendo's hybrid console in North America and Europe on November 2, and it retails for $60 / £50. The game is available now for pre-order from various retailers and the Switch Eshop; if you pre-purchase it from the latter, you'll receive up to 300 Gold Points.
As its name implies, the Eternal Collection packs in all of the updates and post-release content Blizzard has released for Diablo III to date. Along with the base game, the package includes the Reaper of Souls expansion as well as Challenge Rifts, Kanai's Cube, and the Rise of the Necromancer pack, which introduced the Necromancer class to the game. Adventure Mode is also unlocked from the start.
On top of that, the Switch edition of Diablo III: Eternal Collection comes with a handful of exclusive Legend of Zelda-themed crossover items, including a Cucco pet, a Triforce portrait, and a set of Majora's Mask-inspired wings. Players will also be able to customize their gear to look like the King of Evil using a Ganondorf transmog.
Unlike most Switch ports, the Switch version of Diablo III was developed in-house at Blizzard. It supports multiple controller configurations, including the Switch Pro Controller and a single Joy-Con, and utilizes the upcoming paid Nintendo Switch Online service for online multiplayer and cloud saves. The game also runs at 60 frames per second in both handheld and docked modes; it displays at 720p in the former and 960p in the latter.
We recently got to go hands-on with the Switch version of Diablo III and thought it was an exciting way to play the action RPG. "Diablo III has continually gotten better with age, and experiencing it in this new format was a fresh way to dive back into the dungeon-crawler," wrote Alessandro Fillari. You can see how the game looks running on Nintendo's console in the video above.
The Ultra Bonus Event is now underway in Pokemon Go, bringing an influx of Gen I Pokemon with it. For a limited time, Pokemon originally found in the Kanto region will appear much more frequently in the wild. That isn't all, however; the three Legendary birds Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres have all also returned to the game, but for only a few days.
From now until September 20, you'll have another chance to fight the three Legendary birds in Raid Battles. While the three are available, the duration of Raid Battles has been extended to 90 minutes, giving you some extra time to battle and catch them. Niantic also says you'll have a chance of running into Shiny versions of each Legendary.
On top of that, you'll now be able to get your hands on some previously region-exclusive Pokemon. Until September 30, you'll have a chance of hatching Farfetch'd, Kangaskhan, Mr. Mime, and Tauros from 7 km Eggs. Each of the aforementioned Pokemon is typically only available in a certain part of the world, making this many players' first opportunity to add them to their collections.
On the same day Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres leave Raid Battles, another Gen I Legendary, Mewtwo, will take their place beginning at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET. This isn't the Psychic-type's first appearance in Pokemon Go, but it has up until now only been available through the invite-only EX Raids. This marks the first time Mewtwo will be available in regular Raid Battles, making it much easier to finally capture one. It will appear in Raid Battles until October 23.
While not part of the Ultra Bonus Event, players still have only a few more days to capture a different Legendary Pokemon, Regirock, which is also scheduled to leave the game on September 20. Pokemon Go's next Community Day event will take place not long afterward, on Saturday, September 22. This time, the featured Pokemon will be Chikorita, one of the three starters from Pokemon Gold and Silver.
The next installment in Ubisoft's stealth-action series, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, launches for PS4, Xbox One, and PC in only a few weeks. Ahead of its release, the publisher has announced its DLC plans for the game, and they include an extensive amount of free and paid content set to arrive later this year and into the next.
With no new Assassin's Creed game coming in 2019, Ubisoft will support Odyssey with a regular stream of post-launch content. First, the publisher will roll out additional story missions called The Lost Tales of Greece to all players for free. These missions will be released "regularly" between the game's paid DLC episodes and "will feature familiar faces and new characters from the world of Assassin's Creed Odyssey," according to Ubisoft.
In addition to that, all players will be able to take part in daily and weekly contracts, and a new epic ship or mercenary will appear each week. Ubisoft will also release a free Discovery Tour mode like the one added to last year's title, Assassin's Creed Origins, which will allow players to explore the game world and learn more about Ancient Greece without taking on any enemies or quests. A New Game Plus mode and other content drops, like new mythical creatures to battle, are also in the works.
Those who purchase the Assassin's Creed Odyssey Season Pass, meanwhile, will receive even more content. First, Season Pass owners will have access to two "major" storylines broken up into three episodes apiece. The first arc, called Legacy of the First Blade, will begin this December and "will introduce players to the first hero to wield the iconic hidden blade." The second story arc, The Fate of Atlantis, kicks off Spring 2019 and is centered around the fabled sunken city.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey releases for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on October 5. Ubisoft recently shared the game's minimum and recommended specs for PC. Unlike previous installments in the series, Assassin's Creed Odyssey places a much greater emphasis on player choice--for both better and worse as we learned in our recent hands-on time with the game.
We're now in the final week of Fortnite Season 5, which means a whole new season and other big changes are just around the corner for the popular battle royale game. That also means this is your last opportunity to complete Season 5 challenges and unlock any remaining Battle Pass rewards if you still haven't on PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, and mobile.
As it has done in previous seasons, Epic released 10 weekly batches of challenges for players to complete throughout Season 5. For this season, the tasks were divided up into two categories--Free and Battle Pass--so even those who haven't purchased a Battle Pass, which was typically the only way to gain access to the challenges, could be able to complete some and earn rewards.
Season 5 is slated to run until September 25, meaning you have until then to finish up any remaining challenges. If you need help getting them done--or would just like some pointers on how to clear them as quickly as possible--we've assembled guides for each weekly set of missions in our complete Fortnite Season 5 challenge roundup. You can also see all of the items and cosmetics you can earn by completing the challenges in our Season 5 rewards gallery.
Week 10's challenges arrived on September 13, and as usual, they featured a mix of straightforward tasks (like dealing damage to opponents and consuming enough apples or mushrooms) as well as some slightly more involved ones. One of the trickier challenges has you searching for Jigsaw Puzzle Pieces in basements; we've put together a guide of their locations here. You can see the full list of Week 10 challenges below.
Epic recently rolled out Fortnite's 5.40 content update, which introduced another new weapon to the game's ever expanding arsenal: the Suppressed Assault Rifle, a new gun that lets you take out other players stealthily. The update also moved the Drum Gun into the vault.
As video games continue to mature as a narrative form, the medium has allowed a growing number of developers to explore issues that wouldn't typically be confronted in a game, whether it be the plight of refugees trying to cross a border as in Papers, Please, or the pain of losing a loved one to an incurable illness as in That Dragon, Cancer. Jupiter & Mars, a new PSVR-compatible game coming to PS4 later this year, tackles the growing issues of climate change and mankind's impact on the environment, and it wraps its message up in a beautiful and surreal undersea adventure that calls to mind Sega's classic Ecco the Dolphin series.
Jupiter & Mars is the debut effort of Tigertron, an independent studio founded by former game journalists James Mielke and Sam Kennedy. According to Mielke, the idea for the game first began to germinate after the release of The Cove, a 2009 documentary about dolphin hunting. Mielke was working at Q Entertainment (Lumines, Child of Eden) at the time and was deeply affected by the film. "I started to think, could I be doing something better with my time rather than just making another game for another console cycle?" he said. Rather than embark on a new career path, he decided to use his years of experience developing games as a way to raise awareness of ecological issues, enlisting his longtime colleague to help bring his idea to life.
Much like Ecco the Dolphin, Jupiter & Mars is an underwater adventure game set in the distant future, after humanity has disappeared. The planet is slowly recuperating after being ravaged by the effects of climate change; major coastal cities have been submerged by the rising sea levels, and neon-colored fish and coral reefs have begun to gradually repopulate the sunken steel and cement ruins left in man's wake. Despite the Earth's steady recovery, mankind's impact can still be felt in the traces of technology that linger on the ocean floor, particularly the "space stations"--mysterious bases that continue to disrupt the environment even in their semi-powered state.
While Tigertron's message is clear even from this brief synopsis, Jupiter & Mars doesn't lecture players; rather, the game conveys these issues subtly through its world and gameplay. "We're not trying to preach, we're not trying to be heavy-handed and tell you, 'You're such a bad person for using plastic and wearing leather Nikes,'" Mielke said. "What we want to do is, we want to present a really compelling world. Our goal is to get people to think, like, 'Well, could this really happen?' And if they become curious enough to investigate for themselves what the reality is, then for us that's mission accomplished."
The game casts players in the role of the eponymous Jupiter and Mars, two highly evolved dolphins with special abilities. The pair are entreated by an ancient race of whales known as the Elders to find and shut the remaining space stations down, and their ensuing journey takes them through five diverse and visually stunning biomes, from crystalline tropics to murky ocean depths and even the submerged remains of London. To shut the space stations down, however, the dolphins will first need to figure out how to slip past the AHDs--acoustic harassment devices--that surround each base and emit audio pulses that deter marine life.
Both Jupiter and Mars have their own innate abilities that players will need to utilize to navigate the ocean. Jupiter, who players control directly from a first-person perspective, is able to emit pulses of echolocation to illuminate her surroundings and interact with other marine life; Mars, your constant AI companion on the journey, can ram into objects on command to break through crumbling gates and open new passageways. In the same vein of a Metroid game, the dolphins will also need to acquire power-ups to gain access to new areas of the world; the Aqualung ability, for instance, allows Jupiter and Mars to dive much deeper below the surface than they typically could, while the Tail Kick power lets them swim against strong currents that would normally be impassable.
While the overarching goal of the adventure is to neutralize the space station located in each biome, Jupiter & Mars also features lots of light environmental puzzle solving and other kinds of moment-to-moment gameplay. Throughout the journey, you'll encounter various sea life in need of assistance; early on in the game, a mother turtle asks you to rescue her babies, who are scattered about the area and tangled in plastic. You'll need to use echolocation to track down the turtles and free them, thereby opening up a pathway to a new location. During the course of your adventure, you'll also come across collectibles in the form of trinkets and other remnants of human society. These are hidden around the environment and tucked away in clam shells that Mars can crack open, encouraging you to poke around and explore each locale.
Jupiter & Mars doesn't yet have a release date, but the game is slated to release for PS4 in late 2018. While the title is compatible with PSVR, the headset isn't required to play it. For an even closer look at the game, you can watch us play 13 minutes of it in the video above. The footage is taken from an early build and may not necessarily be reflective of the final version.
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About the game:
In Magic: The Gathering Arena you are counted among the elite spellcasters of the Multiverse—the Planeswalkers. Your deck of cards represents your weapons, containing the spells and the creatures you can summon to fight for you. Magic: The Gathering Arena is a free-to-play online Magic game, reborn digitally for gamers, fans, and streamers. This is real Magic for the modern era. Play, collect, and build online just like you would at your kitchen table or local game store.
*NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Offer valid only while supplies last. In order to redeem offer you must be 13 years of age or older and reside in one of the fifty United States, the District of Columbia or in one of the Territories of the United States, including the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Offer not redeemable for cash. This Offer may be modified of terminated at any time without notice. Certain terms and restrictions apply. Limit one per household. Offer ends 12/31/2018 or when all codes have been redeemed, whichever comes first.
During the company's 2018 keynote, Apple announced three new iPhones. Both the iPhone XS and XS Max are releasing this September, while the XR will launch in October. Here's how they differ, including a look at their key specs.
The XS and XS Max are packed with new features, the most notable of which all have to do with both phones' cameras. Both mobile devices come equipped with a dot projector, IR camera, and RCB camera, as well as Smart HDR to ensure you capture the best possible pictures when your subject is moving or bathed in shadow. You'll also be able to adjust the depth of field of your pictures after you've taken them.
Both the XS and XS Max have surgical grade stainless steel chassis, putting them both at higher price points than the XR. The XS has a starting price of $1000 while the XS Max--with its larger screen--starts at $1100. Pre-orders for both start on September 14, and release on September 21.
With the XR, you'll be losing a few features. Even though you'll also be able to adjust depth of field with the XR, the phone only has one rear camera. The XR uses 7000 series aerospace-grade aluminum instead of stainless steel, and has a less vibrant LCD screen--as opposed to the XS and XS Max OLED screens.
These sacrifices make for cheaper prices, though. The iPhone XR starts at $750. Pre-orders won't be available until October 19, and the phone will officially release on October 26.
Although the camera and chassis are the most noticeable differences between the XS series and the XR, there are a few other changes as well. The full list of features that come with the XS and XS Max, as well as the XR, are available on Apple's website. We've outlined the major differences below.
iPhone XS vs. XS Max vs. XR
iPhone XS
Screen: 5.8-inch Super Retina, edge-to-edge display with 2436x1125 resolution
Chassis: Surgical grade stainless steel
Camera: 12-megapixel dual camera with Smart HDR that can capture 30 FPS video
Operating System: iOS 12
Extra Features: Liquid resistant, Wireless charging, Face ID
Storage Size: 64, 256, and 512 GB options
Colors: Gold, Silver, and Space Grey
Battery: 30 minutes longer than IPhone X
Pricing: Starts at $1000
Release: September 21
iPhone XS Max
Screen: 6.5-inch Super Retina, edge-to-edge display with 2688x1242 resolution
Chassis: Surgical grade stainless steel
Camera: 12-megapixel dual camera with Smart HDR that can capture 30 FPS video
Operating System: iOS 12
Extra Features: Liquid resistant, Wireless charging, Face ID
Apple has shown off the next iteration of its Apple Watch, which has been "redesigned and re-engineered." Revealed during its keynote, the company showed off the Series 4's bigger screen, which utilises a new user interface to make use of the additional real estate. We also got a release date and prices for the various models, along with the new iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR.
To make the most of the extra space, there are now new customization options for faces and Complications. The modular face can now surface more detailed information from stocks and healths apps. The Breathe app will now be available as a watch face and will guide you through a deep breath exercise when you raise your wrist. Other dynamic watch faces that interact with the larger screen and its curved edges.
The Digital Crown now has haptic feedback and the speaker has been redesigned to be 50 percent louder, which is handy for phone calls and talking to Siri. The microphone has been shifted away from the speaker to reduce echo, while the back of the Series 4 Apple Watch is made of black ceramic and sapphire crystal. Radio waves can pass through the front and the back, which means better reception.
Inside the device is the S4 chip with a dual-core 64-bit processor, which deliverers 2x faster performance. The accelerometer gyroscope has been improved significantly too, to the point where it can tell when a wearer has fallen over. If it senses you're immobile for more than a minute it starts informing emergency services.
Three new heart features were also announced. The first is a notification when your heart rate is too low. Apple Watch can also screen your heart rhythm in the background and send you information if it detects atrial fibrillation. The final new feature is the ability to take electrocardiograms (ECG); this is the first time an ECG product has been offered over the counter to consumers, according to Apple. Built in electrodes in the back of the watch and the Digital Crown detect electrical signals from the heart and the S4 chip processes this information, before surfacing it to the wearer in the Health app. This information can be exported as a .pdf file and given to doctors. All this data, Apple says, will be protected, as the information is encrypted on the devices and in the cloud.
The Apple Watch Series 4's battery life has the same 18-hour battery life as its predecessors, even with the enhancements.
Series 4 will be available in silver, gold, and space grey. A stainless collection will also be available, alongside a gold stainless finish. Band colours and styles that are already available will still fit the new watch. Apple Watch Series 4 starts at $399 with GPS, $499 with cellular and will be available to order from September 14 and picked up from September 21. The Series 3 Apple Watch will drop in price to $279. The latest version of WatchOS, meanwhile, will launch on September 17.
When Bethesda announced the spinoff Wolfenstein: Youngblood at E3 this year, you might have wondered if Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus was the end of the story for series protagonist BJ Blazkowicz. If you did, your worries are misplaced. Wolfenstein III is coming, Bethesda vice president of global marketing and communications Pete Hines told Metro in a recent interview.
"Absolutely we're making a Wolfenstein III," he said. "They said on stage that they're taking a break from the larger story to do [Wolfenstein: Youngblood]. But we all have to see how that ends."
That's good news to fans of the story of Blazkowicz fighting the Nazis, but that's all we have to go on at this point regarding Wolfenstein. In the interview, Hines also touched on another Bethesda series with an uncertain future: Dishonored. When asked about the recent comment from a developer from Arkane Studios that Dishonored is "resting," Hines said, "Ah, I wouldn't read too much into that."
He continued, "Look, Arkane has two studios, they're working on a number of things. That's no different than Todd Howard saying, 'I'm gonna make a Fallout game and then I'm gonna make Starfield before I go back to TES6.' He didn't say I'm never making another… there's like, 'We have an idea for another thing here, we have an idea for another there.'"
Bethesda has a lot of big games planned for the coming years. Fallout 76 launches November 14. Doom Eternal, Rage 2, and Wolfenstein: Youngblood are scheduled for 2019. Beyond that, there's Starfield, The Elder Scrolls VI, and now Wolfenstein III.
As for the next Wolfenstein game, Youngblood will be set in the 1980s and stars Jessica and Sophia, the twin daughters of BJ Blazkowicz, as they continue the war on the Nazi scourge. You can play it solo or in co-op. Also coming next year is the VR game Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's private Blackout beta has been underway on PS4 for the past several days, and now it's expanded to Xbox One and PC as well. Developer Treyarch continues to implement gameplay tweaks and other changes as the beta rolls on, and a new batch of adjustments have now gone live.
As the studio detailed on Reddit, both the Xbox One and PC Blackout betas will start off supporting 80 players, just as the PS4 version originally did. The PS4 beta, meanwhile, will maintain its recently increased 88-player cap. Treyarch says it will continue to test different player counts for the betas in order to optimize the mode before Black Ops 4's release next month.
In terms of gameplay tweaks, Treyarch has increased the amount of damage players sustain inside of the collapsed area. Additionally, the cargo plane that flies in supply drops now has more health and won't take damage from bullets. While using the wingsuit, players can now no longer gain altitude at high speed, and Treyarch has slightly increased how long it takes to pull up from a steep dive.
The developer has also implemented a number of bug fixes. One that would cause multiple players to spawn in the same spot in the Staging Area has now been resolved, as have others that would cause players to get stuck on the map. Additionally, the developer has fixed various issues with collision and the recently added killcam.
On September 15, the Blackout beta will expand to all PC players with a Battle.net account. Players on all platforms will be able to participate in the beta until 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET on September 17. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is scheduled to launch on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on October 12.
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