It's hardly a week old, but EA's latest shooter, Battlefield V, is already on sale for $30 at Target right now. This surprisingly low sale price applies to the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game. The deal is only good until Thursday, November 29, so if you've been considering picking up this WWII shooter, you'll want to jump on this deal fast.
That's not the only Battlefield V deal going on right now, either. Walmart has the console versions of the game on sale for $40 each, while Best Buy has them on sale for $42 apiece on console, as well as on PC. And if you buy the game on any platform from Best Buy, it comes with a free steelbook case.
Best Buy also has the deluxe edition on sale for $72 (normally $80) on PS4 and Xbox One. That isn't as big of a discount as the standard edition, but the deluxe edition comes with 20 weekly airlift items, special assignment missions, and five sets of paratrooper outfits.
Battlefield V is an online shooter that will be changing and expanding in the months to come. It already has a single-player campaign called War Stories and a number of multiplayer modes. Between now and March 2019, Electronic Arts will be releasing a slew of free content, including new modes, maps, a new Grand Operations mission, and a battle royale mode called Firestorm.
In our Battlefield V review, Michael Higham scored the game 8/10, writing, "The Battlefield series has a winning formula that Battlefield V doesn't deviate far from, at least for now. Conquest and the map roster don't mesh well together, however, Grand Operations--and the other modes within it--steal the show and foster some of the greatest moments the franchise has offered. You might be surprised by the impact of the slight changes made for this entry, especially when you're deep into pushing or defending objectives in Frontlines alongside teammates fulfilling their roles. That's when Battlefield V is at its best."
The launch of Destiny 2's next piece of paid DLC, The Black Armory, is still a week away, but in the meantime we've gotten a major update--patch 2.1.0--to kick off Season 5, known as the Season of the Forge. It introduces a wide variety of new items as well as numerous changes and tweaks that are detailed in the full patch notes.
When you first log in with the update installed, you'll likely want to head to Tess at Eververse first. There you'll be able to see the season's new Bright Engram, the Etched Engram, and its contents. This includes some awesome-looking cosmetics and other items; there's a firey sparrow, new Exotic weapon ornaments, and much more to collect. You can see a handful of these below.
As for the patch notes, a variety of weapons have been tweaked. Prometheus Lens gets a damage buff, while Ace of Spades' Memento Mori perk has been "reduced to five bullets, but can now be refreshed on reload without having to get rid of all the bonus damage bullets." Machine guns get a slight accuracy boost, while submachine guns get slightly increased range.
Crucible sees the return of Mayhem as a 6v6 playlist, and both Lockdown and Showdown are back in a rotating playlist. Shaxx has new voicelines you'll encounter across an assortment of modes. Shaxx also has new items for direct purchase, as well as new seasonal items and a pinnacle weapon quest. Progression-wise, Valor and Glory now work like Gambit ranks, as they are each divided into three sub-ranks. Legend, however, is not divided into subranks, and you don't have to win at Legend rank to increase your Valor.
Gambit sees progression changes of its own, as rewards should "better match Valor and Glory;" ranking up a subdivision will net you a guaranteed piece of Legendary Gambit gear. Gambit bounties reward twice as many Infamy points as before, and they should be easier to complete. The catch-up mechanic has also been adjusted so that the team in the lead has a better chance of holding onto that lead.
Decreased camera shake and screen flash on hit in an attempt to alleviate feelings of motion sickness when using the Burning Maul Super
Thundercrash
Adjusted camera during flight sequence in an attempt to alleviate feelings of motion sickness when using Thundercrash Super
Exotic Armor
Fixed an issue in which Ophidian Aspect was not increasing the melee range on various Warlock charged melees (Igniting Touch, Ball Lightning, Entropic Pull, Devour, and Atomic Breach)
Fixed an issue in which buffs granted by Lunafaction Boots would last for only 15 seconds inside Well of Radiance rather than the entire duration
Fixed an issue on Ursa Furiosa so that Super gain from guarding is more consistent between PvE and PvP
Weapons
Warden's Law
Replaced perks on Warden's Law that did not function properly with the weapon's archetype
Triple Tap replaced with Feeding Frenzy
Fourth Time's the Charm replaced with Zen Moment
Warden's Law now has bullet contrails
Updated the intrinsic perk text on Warden's Law to distinguish it from Aggressive Burst Sidearms
High-Impact Scout Rifles
High-Impact Scout Rifle damage increased by 1.87%
Dev commentary: Previously it was possible to, at VERY high resilience levels, survive three headshots from a high impact scout rifle. This change will ensure that players at any resilience level will be defeated by three headshots.
Note: A fix that will return High-Impact Scout Rifles to 150 RPM is planned for Destiny 2 Update 2.1.1, scheduled for 12/4/2018
Shotguns
Rapid-Fire Frame on Shotguns now increases the reload of all Shotgun shells when empty instead of just the first shell
Trench Barrel
Trench Barrel perk now deactivates after three shots
Trench Barrel description updated to reflect new behavior and also fix an error where it called out increased accuracy instead of increase reload speed
Submachine Guns
Slightly increased range on Submachine Guns
Machine Guns
Slightly increased accuracy on Machine Guns
Exotic Weapons
Prometheus Lens
Prometheus Lens damage increased by 10%
Hard Light
Fixed an issue where Hard Light could overpenetrate an enemy Banner Shield"
Ace of Spades
Memento Mori reduced to five bullets, but can now be refreshed on reload without having to get rid of all the bonus damage bullets
General
Fixed mantle animation for the Queenbreaker
Fixed an issue where some particle effects were appearing in first-person view when using One Thousand Voices
Fixed an issue where Bows would sometimes become invisible when equipped
Polished the Blade Barrage animation for when the player is holding a Bow
Buffed out a missed spot on the Refer-a-Friend Borealis ornament
Fixed an issue that would delay the nocking of an arrow when the player picked up ammo while the Bow was both stowed and out of ammo
Fixed an issue where the Headseeker perk would no longer function after being activated numerous times without dying
Fixed an issue where the Ikelos Hand Cannon and Shotgun where displaying icons for Malfeasance and Chaperone in the obituary
Polished Grenade Launcher strafing animations to remove up and down reticle veering
Polished Grenade Launcher animations while jumping to prevent stocks from blocking the first-person camera
Polished Sniper Rifle and Machine Gun animations while jumping to prevent stocks from blocking the first-person camera
Fixed an animation issue that would occur when firing and walking with a Machine Gun
Polished Tractor Cannon's sprint animation to feel more natural
Fixed an issue where Swords dropped with mods intended for Rocket Launchers, and Rocket Launchers dropped with mods intended for Swords
Rapid Hit now displays a status effect buff on activation
Known issue: Sniper Rifle precision kills will stack the perk twice; this will be fixed in a later patch
Updated Oathkeeper's Exotic perk to remove text for Bow charge speed
Tireless Blade perk description updated to match actual behavior where ammo is returned on every other powered Sword kill
Fixed an issue where the Momentum Transfer perk was not functioning properly
Crucible
Modes
Mayhem will return as a 6v6 rotating playlist with scoring support for new Forsaken Supers
Lockdown and Showdown will return as rotating playlists and have been added to Private Matches
Scorched and Team Scorched have been added to Private Matches
New Shaxx lines, spread between Rumble, Lockdown, Showdown, and a few special medals
Single round modes (Clash, Control, etc.) now end with a "Match Complete" countdown similar to those displayed at round complete in round-based modes
Added new Crucible medals and associated Triumphs for Forsaken Supers, the Machine Gun weapon archetype, and the Lockdown game mode
Added two new gold-tier medals—happy hunting!
Fixed an issue where "The Cycle" medal was not being tracked properly
Iron Banner now awards unique Iron Banner-themed medals with unique audio cues
Iron Banner uses new unique Match Complete banners
Ranks
Valor and Glory are now subdivided into three sub-ranks similar to Gambit
Valor and Glory have NOT subdivided the Legend rank
Valor does NOT require players to win at Legend
Shaxx
Shaxx has a new rotation of items available for direct purchase.
Players must earn Valor to collect these items
A new set of Seasonal Items has been added to Shaxx's inventory
Previous seasons' exclusive items have been removed
A new pinnacle weapon quest has been added to Shaxx's inventory
To allow players to make progress on any character, each step features account-wide objectives
This quest requires two types of objectives to be completed: Reach a specific Rank and complete a specific Triumph; players can complete these objectives in any order
Previous pinnacle weapon quests continue to be available on Shaxx
Gambit
Ranks
Adjusted Infamy rank rewards to better match Valor and Glory. Subdivision rank ups will now always award Gambit Legendary gear
Bounties and Quests
Infamy Rank Point rewards from all Gambit bounties have been doubled
Many bounties have had their objectives retuned to take less time and be easier to complete
Added a new daily bounty for killing Primeval envoys, and slotted it into the daily rotation
Fixed an issue where the Malfeasance quest could be progressed in Crucible modes
NOTE: Once S5 begins and Infamy is reset, you must play one Gambit match before redeeming any bounties. Players who turn in these bounties after Season of the Forge begins, but before playing a Gambit match, will not correctly receive points to their Infamy rank from these bounties.Primeval Mechanics
Catch-up mechanics have been adjusted to ensure that the leading team retains more of an advantage
The trailing team will now receive a maximum of only one bonus stack of the Primeval Slayer buff (previously, they received up to three stacks depending on how far behind the trailing team was)
The time before the bonus stack kicks in has been increased to 32 seconds, up from 22 seconds
Primevals will hard ping less often, to reduce stunlock against highly coordinated teams
Matchmaking
Further addressing error codes that could occur during matchmaking, leading to potential quitter penalties
Clans
General
Last Wish raid bounties are now available to anyone who has access to the Last Wish raid.
Does not require Clan Rank 4
A new season of progression is available, with new perks to pursue
Items and Economy
General
Fixed an issue where the "Rainmaker" consumable didn't provide showers of Glimmer from defeated enemies
Fixed an issue where Public Defender Ghost perk wasn't properly applying to public events on Mars, the Tangled Shore, or the Dreaming City
Fixed an issue where Nightfall unique rewards were not dropping at the rate intended for non-Forsaken owners
Fixed an issue where not picking up Prime Engrams could allow players to earn more than the Prime Attunement buff allows for, putting them in a deficit of further Prime Engrams for a time corresponding to the number of extra Prime Engrams received
Triumphs
Fixed an issue where the title of Triumph "Steadfast" was "Meet Sloane on the moon Titan" (you must still meet Sloane on the moon Titan)
Collections
Added missing Year 2 gunsmith weapons to Collections (not purchasable due to random rolls)
Fixed an issue where the BrayTech RWP Mk. II Scout Rifle was not counting towards Collections for some players
Unearned Season 4 gear is now hidden
PC
Controls
Added new "Take Screenshot" keybind (defaults to the "Print Screen" key)
Text Chat
Added new friend management commands
/addfriend
/removefriend
Added new fireteam management commands
/invite
/join
Note: The fireteam commands can target any player by providing the player's full BattleTag, allowing players to assemble fireteams without sending friend requests.
UI
General
Adjusted item tooltips to fix an issue where perks or other information was cut off on the Character Screen
Fixed an issue where the rank-up banner for Crucible and Gambit was not being appropriately displayed on 21:9 resolutions
Fixed an issue where players were unable to return to orbit while the Results Screen was up at the end of an activity
Localization
Traditional Chinese
Fixed an issue where some parts of the Traditional Chinese UI was not loading properly in-game
Misc
Performance
Improved activity and destination load times on consoles
Note: We are actively investigating load times for loading the player inventory screen, switching between UI tabs starting up the game, signing on, and selecting characters. See This Week at Bungie - 11/08/2018 for more details.
HDR
Fixed an issue where brightness was not adjusting properly for players
General
Fixed an issue with missing Transmat FX on Amanda's exchange
Fixed an issue with erroneous source strings on multiple Dawning and Crimson Days items
Fixed an issue that caused several shaders to be unavailable for bulk exchange at Rahool
Fixed an issue where some UI elements would not load properly if interacting with a vendor and launching into character inventory
Fixed an issue where the Fortunate Projection was causing visual effects issues in third person
Fixed an issue in which the IGR version of the "High and Mighty" bounty did not count wanted escapee kills
Fixed an issue in which the IGR version of the "I'm Not Sorry, I'm Lost" bounty required too many points for completion
Fixed an issue in which the IGR version of the "Through the Crucible" bounty required too few points for completion
Fixed an issue that caused high amounts of Baboon errors in the Tower
Bungie unveiled a bunch of information about its next Destiny 2 expansion, The Black Armory, and Season 5 this week. Along with the details about new activities and a new Raid comes a look at four new Exotic weapons to chase.
Those four Exotics are Anarchy, Le Monarch, Izanagi's Burden, and Jotun, detailed in Bungie's Black Armory vidoc (watch it above). Three of the Exotics are modeled after the three different Golden Age families--French, Japanese, and Norse--at the heart of the story of the Black Armory, who each worked to become the greatest weaponsmiths of all time. The last Exotic, Anarchy, takes its design from the Fallen. We also know about a fifth Exotic, which Bungie says will be a returning weapon from Destiny 1.
Anarchy, the first Exotic, is a Fallen-styled grenade launcher. Its big cool perk is Arc Traps, which turn its grenades into proximity mines that stick to surfaces. It sounds like the gun will live up to its name by creating ridiculous chaos, especially in Crucible Control matches.
Le Monarch is an Exotic bow in the style of the French family. It takes a page from the Destiny 1 gun Thorn: its perk, Pestilence Arrows, create a cloud that damages enemies around whoever you're shooting at.
From the Japanese family comes Izanagi's Burden, a sniper rifle that also looks kind of like a sword. Its perk is Honed Edge, which allows you to hold down the reload button to slam the entire four-round magazine into one shot. According to Bungie, the resulting blast is so powerful it can take down an enemy in a single body shot--which will make this a powerful option for the Crucible, and a weapon that can stand up to favorites Sleeper Simulant and Whisper of the Worm.
The last Exotic, Jotun, is shown in Bungie's vidoc. It's a fusion rifle players wear on their hands (the developers call it the "arm blaster"), and fires a large flaming slug that explodes on impact. It also tracks enemies, which will make it deadly in the Crucible.
As far as the last Exotic, we don't know which Destiny 1 gun it'll be, but Bungie might have dropped a few clues in the vidoc and with its long-term schedule for Destiny 2's Year 2 content. In the vidoc, when the final Exotic gets mentioned, footage from the strike The Corrupted is shown. It's the version of the strike that players run through when they're working on the quest for the Exotic Malfeasance, during which they're sent by the Drifter to find the grave of a Guardian named Callum Sol.
Speculation is that the Drifter is closely related to Dredgen Yor, a figure from Destiny lore who supposedly created Thorn, an Exotic hand cannon from Destiny 1. Yor famously became corrupted, and was eventually hunted down and defeated in a duel by Shin Malphur with another Exotic hand cannon, Last Word. We know from Bungie's content roadmap in Season 5 that an Exotic quest is coming on January 29. That quest's name: The Draw. Given those clues, it seems we could be seeing either Thorn or Last Word popping up in Destiny 2 come January. From a story perspective, that'd make sense, since Season 6 is all about the Drifter.
Unfortunately we'll have to wait and see what Exotic finally does pop up in The Black Armory, and how player will go about getting the four Bungie has detailed. Destiny 2's next expansion drops on December 4.
A new Red Dead Redemption 2 update is out now that introduces Red Dead Online to the game. The mode is officially live, but currently only for those who have purchased the Ultimate edition (and even those with that version on Xbox One are having trouble getting in). More players will be added over the course of the week; you can check out the exact schedule below.
Rockstar has finally revealed when Red Dead Redemption 2's online multiplayer mode will launch: it will initially debut tomorrow, November 27. But in order to prevent Red Dead Online's servers from collapsing due to high demand, Rockstar will have a gradual rollout that starts exclusively with owners of the game's Ultimate edition (which, as luck would have it, is still on sale for Cyber Monday).
When you're able to play the beta depends on the version of the game you have or when you actually started playing the game. The first group of people that will be able to play the game are those that purchased the Ultimate Edition. Anyone who has that version will be able to jump into the beta from November 27 at 8:30 AM ET / 5:30 AM PST / 1:30 PM GMT / 12:30 AM AEDT (November 28).
The next group of people to be given access is anyone who played the game on October 26 (that's Red Dead Redemption 2's launch day). If you're one of those people, you can head online on Wednesday, November 28. If you played the game between October 26 and October 29--according to Rockstar's data--you'll be able to join the fun from November 29.
Finally, public access to Red Dead Online will be available to anyone that owns Red Dead Redemption 2 from November 30. This rollout method will help Rockstar "ease into the beta and to mitigate major issues." The studio is being very candid about potential performance issues, saying that the beta is "the first step in what will be a continually expanding and dynamic world."
As such, Rockstar is expecting the "inevitable turbulence of launching any online experience of this size and scale" and it is asking the Red Dead Redemption 2 community to report any issues and share their feedback so that Rockstar can shape the experience with them in mind. You can find out more about Red Dead Online here.
Red Dead Online Start Dates And Times
Tuesday, November 27: All Red Dead Redemption 2: Ultimate Edition owners from November 27 at 8:30 AM ET / 5:30 AM PST / 1:30 PM GMT / 12:30 AM AEDT (November 28)
Wednesday, November 28: All players who played Red Dead Redemption 2 on October 26th according to Rockstar's data
Thursday, November 29: All players who played Red Dead Redemption 2 between October 26th to October 29th according to our data
Friday, November 30: All players who own Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2 earned a 9/10 in GameSpot's review, with Kallie Plagge saying it "is an excellent prequel, but it's also an emotional, thought-provoking story in its own right, and it's a world that is hard to leave when it's done."
"While Red Dead Redemption was mostly focused on John Marston's story, Red Dead 2 is about the entire Van der Linde gang--as a community, as an idea, and as the death rattle of the Wild West. It is about Arthur, too, but as the lens through which you view the gang, his very personal, very messy story supports a larger tale." Read our full Red Dead Redemption 2 review for a more in-depth analysis of the game.
Red Dead Online is now available following the release of an update, although only Ultimate edition owners can access it for the time being. You can read all about what to expect below.
Red Dead Redemption 2's online beta will be available on PS4 and Xbox One from November 27, developer Rockstar Games has announced. As detailed on its website, Rockstar plans to roll out access to the Read Dead Online gradually over the coming week, starting with owners of Red Dead Redemption 2's Ultimate Edition on November 27 and building up to full public access by November 30.
On November 27, anyone that owns Red Dead Redemption 2's Ultimate Edition will be able to access the beta from 8:30 AM ET / 5:30 AM PST / 1:30 PM GMT / 12:30 AM AEDT (November 28). Those that played Red Dead Redemption 2 on its launch day--based on Rockstar's own data--will be given access to the beta from November 28. If you played the game at any point between launch and October 29, you'll be able to jump into the beta from November 29. Finally, everyone else that owns the game can check out the beta from November 30. This gradual rollout, Rockstar says, will help it "ease into the beta and to mitigate major issues."
According to Rockstar, Red Dead Online "blends the classic multiplayer of the original Red Dead Redemption with the best of everything we have learned since then about creating deep multiplayer experiences." The result, it adds, is "something completely new and fun, and an experience that will continue to expand and evolve over time."
Rockstar continues: "With the gameplay of Red Dead Redemption 2 as its foundation, Red Dead Online transforms the vast and deeply detailed landscapes, cities, towns and habitats of Red Dead Redemption 2 into a new, living online world ready to be shared by multiple players."
Red Dead Online will allow players to create their own characters and select abilities that are in line with their playstyle. From there, players can choose to venture out into the online world alone or with a Posse of up to seven other players.
Players will be able to engage in a variety of activities in Red Dead Online. They can hang out with their friends around the campfire, do some hunting or fishing, kill a few hours in towns brimming with life, trade steel with rival gangs or plot ambushes of their hideouts. Treasure scattered around the world is available to be found, and there's also familiar characters waiting with missions for you to undertake. For those that don't want to be directed to do things, you can start spontaneous skirmishes with either other players, or entire Posses in open world challenges." And Rockstar says there's still more to be discovered beyond that.
The beta launch of Red Dead Online is described as "the first step in what will be a continually expanding and dynamic world." Rockstar notes that the beta period will be used to address the "inevitable turbulence of launching any online experience of this size and scale" and it intends to lean on its community to help it report problems, share ideas, and "assist in shaping the future of the full Online experience."
Red Dead Redemption 2 has been getting a lot of play among the GameSpot team. If we aren't putting together guides or getting up to no good as Dirty Arty--the meanest, most uncleanist outlaw in the wild west--we're thinking about what we'd like to see in the game. With that in mind, we've put together a Red Dead Online wishlist with some of our most wanted features.
Red Dead Redemption 2 has been a big success for Rockstar and parent publisher Take-Two. Just over a week after its launched it was announced that Red Dead Redemption 2 had passed 17 million copies shipped worldwide. That means it needed had already passed the lifetime shipment figure of the 2010 original, Red Dead Redemption. Take-Two said that Red Dead Redemption 2 shipped more units over its first eight days than the 2010 title shipped in its first eight years. Given the ongoing popularity of Grand Theft Auto V's Online mode--which contributes to continuing strong sales of the game--we expect Red Dead Redemption 2 also has a healthy future ahead of itself.
Red Dead Redemption 2's online beta, named Red Dead Online, has begun today for select users with the release of a new update. For the time being it's only available to Ultimate Edition owners, and it will expand to a wide release beta in two phases to take place later this week. The progressive roll-out is meant to help mitigate any issues from a wide public launch. It has already hit some reports of Xbox access and general errors, however.
As of Tuesday, November 27, only users of the Ultimate Edition have access to the beta. Some Xbox One Ultimate Edition owners have reported issues with their access, and Rockstar Support has stated that it is aware of the problem and investigating. The support account has not mentioned any similar problems on PlayStation 4.
Those who are getting into the game are also getting their own share of errors. In our own time with the beta, we've seen several errors that have booted us out of the game in progress.
The next phase of the beta will be any early adopters, as defined by those who played the game on launch day, gaining access on November 28. After that anyone who played by October 29 will gain access on November 29. Finally, the beta will go to a full public launch on November 30. The initial Ultimate Edition launch began at 8:30 AM ET / 5:30 AM PST / 1:30 PM GMT / 12:30 AM AEDT, so it's likely the other days' expansions will too.
Red Dead Online aims to blend the multiplayer from the original Red Dead Redemption with lessons Rockstar says it has learned since then, likely referring to its years of experience with Grand Theft Auto Online. It touts the "deeply detailed landscapes, cities, towns and habitats of Red Dead Redemption 2 into a new, living online world ready to be shared by multiple players."
Using Red Dead 2's vast open world as a the core of the online experience makes sense, given that it was one of the most widely praised aspects of the campaign.
"Red Dead Redemption 2's version of America is vast and wide open, stretching from snowy mountains and the Great Plains down to the original game's New Austin in the southwest," said critic Kallie Plagge in GameSpot's Red Dead Redemption 2 review. "Further to the east is the Louisiana-inspired Deep South, which is still feeling the effects of the Civil War after nearly 40 years. There's a distinct shift when traveling from region to region; as grassy hillsides become alligator-filled swamps, Union veterans give way to angry Confederate holdouts, and good intentions and casual racism turn into desperation and outright bigotry."
Since the release of Destiny 2's Forsaken DLC in September, Bungie has done a better job than in the past of addressing complaints about content droughts. The weekly reset has routinely brought new content over the past few months, and it appears that the start of the new season and launch of the Black Armory DLC will see that continue in the coming weeks and beyond.
Alongside the newly released vidoc (watch it above) and a new update, Bungie has detailed much of the new content that's on the way. The Black Armory is the first piece of the Annual Pass, a set of paid expansions and content that will launch between now and August 2019. Season 5--Season of the Forge--officially begins today, November 27, with the Black Armory launching on December 4, but that will be followed by a gradual rollout of more events and other happenings.
As part of Bungie's attempt to be more transparent about what to expect, it's released both a short-term and long-term calendar of new content. For Annual Pass owners, new Forges (part of the Black Armory DLC) will unlock throughout December, while the new Raid--Scourge of the Past--launches on December 7. A new Exotic quest called The Draw will be available starting on January 29; it's one of several new Exotics you can collect.
In terms of what all Destiny 2 players can access, The Dawning, the annual Christmas/holiday-themed event, begins on December 11. That's followed by another event, the Valentine's Day-themed Crimson Days, on February 5.
The long-term calendar highlights some other notable additions to come through August--and there's a ton to take in. This includes a "new Gambit experience," additional max Power level increases, Xur bounties, a new six-player matchmade activity, another new Raid, and more. While the schedule could still change, it seems clear that Destiny 2 players will have a lot to keep them busy in the year to come.
Destiny 2's Forsaken expansion refreshed the game in myriad ways, fixing up a lot of little annoyances, but most importantly, providing lots of rotating things to do. Those new things kept Destiny 2 fresh throughout the entire fourth season, as players grappled with a new Raid, the ever-changing Dreaming City, and special events such as the Iron Banner and the Festival of the Lost.
The fifth season of Destiny 2, the Season of the Forge, is marked by the first of three expansions that are part of the new Destiny 2 Annual Pass: The Black Armory. It's Bungie's attempt at continuing to provide more constantly changing and rotating content to the game, along with new challenges to keep players interested.
As Bungie has said before, The Black Armory isn't a new story campaign. Instead, it's access to new locations--four special forges, in particular--where the game can put Guardians through their paces and give them new special weapons and armor to chase. Like most expansions, it comes with a bunch of new loot, as well as three new Exotic weapons, you can add to your collection. But rather than try to provide a new dose of story, which usually turns out short and unsatisfying in these smaller Destiny expansions, it seems Bungie is instead focusing on the challenges and live content that made the late-game stages of Forsaken successful.
First, The Black Armory will let players take their character Power levels up to 650 from the current cap of 600, so there should be plenty of loot to grind through in weekly activities. The main new activity of the expansion is to be finding the four lost forges, where players can fight waves of enemies of different types--from the looks of photos Bungie provided of The Black Armory, it seems each forge belongs to a different enemy faction. The activity, which includes matchmaking, sounds like the Blind Well in the Dreaming City, where players fight through a bunch of baddies and claim rewards when they're done. Those rewards and the quests you complete to earn them will come from Ada-1, a new story vendor who joins the game.
While The Black Armory doesn't add a new story campaign, it does include a full new Raid called "Scourge of the Past," which takes place on Earth in "the ruins of the Last City." Players hang out in the City all the time, but have never really had a chance to actually explore it before, so it's likely the Raid will be illuminating from a Destiny lore standpoint.
The start of Season 5 means that The Black Armory will also come with new Triumphs and Collections to complete, to encourage players to push themselves and find all the secrets hidden within the new expansion. There will also be quests and adventures to complete, so while there won't be a ton of new story in the expansion, it sounds like there will be at least some narrative to hold players over.
And in keeping with the idea that The Black Armory is more about challenges and loot than about story, Season 5 will also introduce three new Pinnacle Weapons that'll require some serious investment to obtain. Where Forsaken previously had two Pinnacle Weapons for Crucible players, Luna's Howl and Redrix's Claymore, that required them to show serious skill, Season 5 introduces three more to other activities: one for Gambit, one for Vanguard strikes, and a third one for Crucible.
Destiny's problem for years has been finding ways to keep the game engaging long-term, but Bungie seemed to crack that issue with Forsaken, its end game activities, and its rotating content that kept things fresh week after week. The Black Armory seems to be focusing on those same ideas and initiatives, but it'll be the test of whether Bungie has finally found a way to its game engaging through its second year between big expansions.
As November winds down, so does your chance to pick up November's Games with Gold, provided you're an Xbox Live Gold subscriber. Once you do, you might wonder what's next. Microsoft has answered that question by announcing December's free Xbox One and Xbox 360 games. Here are the titles you'll be able to download for free during specific windows during the month of December.
Throughout all of December, Xbox One owners can grab QUBE 2, a first-person game that traps you in a series of puzzle rooms. To find the exit in any given area, you must interact with blocks of various colors, each of which grants you a different ability. In our QUBE 2 review, Alessandro Barbosa wrote that it's "ultimately a wonderful puzzle game that will often have you exclaiming in joy after solving one of its many riddles."
Free December 16-January 15 is Never Alone, a side-scrolling puzzle platformer that's steeped in the real-life traditions and folktales of the Iñupiat people of Alaska. Xbox One owners can also grab Race the Sun, an arcade-style endless flying game that's free between now and December 15.
Over on Xbox 360, between December 1-15, you can get Dragon Age II, an action-RPG that Kevin VanOrd wrote in our review, "makes a strong impression, pulling you through with the promise of another fun quest, another character to meet, and another beast to slay." December's final game is a 2005 shooter from the original Xbox called Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction; it will be available December 16-31. Both games are backwards compatible on Xbox One.
Epic Games has launched Fortnite update 6.31 and has detailed the tweaks, changes, and new additions in the full patch notes. The headliners in the Battle Royale mode are the Team Rumble Limited Time Mode and two new rarities of the Pump Shotgun. For the Save the World mode, meanwhile, there's a new Constructor called Airheart, who arrives with a Rotating Omni-directional Sentry Integrated Exoskeleton (R.O.S.I.E). Here's what's new.
Team Rumble, as you may have guessed, involves two teams of 20 players battling each other, with the first to reach 100 eliminations crowned the victor. To spice things up players will respawn five seconds after they are killed and will keep their inventory when they re-join the battle. Furthermore, eliminated players spawn a random type of ammo and a random stack of either 120 Wood, 90 Stone, or 60 Metal materials when they're taken out.
The new Pump Shotguns are Epic and Legendary varities. They do 105 / 110 maximum damage, respectively, and their introduction coincides with some differences to maximum damage and damage fall-off (compared to before, they'll do more damage up close but less from further away). These two types of Pump Shotgun can be found from floor loot, chests, Supply Drops, and Vending Machines. With this change, Epic has removed the Double Barrel Shotgun from floor loot, so expect the shotguns you find on the ground to be of the Pump variety more often.
Another weapon-related change of note involves Dynamite, which was recently added. It's now possible to pick up a Dynamite that's been thrown and chuck it elsewhere; this is done by using the interact button/key while nearly it.
Finally, Epic announced it has introduced a gifting feature for a limited time (except on iOS). This feature will at least initially only be available for a week, but it allows you to buy items from the store and send them to friends. Doing so has several requirements, as outlined by Epic:
Make sure you have Multi-factor authentication enabled on your account. If you're not sure how to get this setup then check out the instructions here.
You must have been friends with somebody for at least 48 hours before you can send a gift to them.
You will only be able to gift three times within a 24 hour period.
Any gifts that are purchased are NOT refundable.
You can only gift an item that is currently available in the Item Shop.
Take a look at the full patch notes for Battle Royale below, and click here for more on the Save The World mode.
Limited Time Mode: Team Rumble
Summary
Two large teams fight for the Victory Royale in an action-packed mode where the first team to get 100 eliminations wins!
Mode Details
Two teams of 20 players.
Players will respawn after 5 seconds when eliminated, keeping their inventory.
Eliminated players spawn a random type of ammo upon elimination, as well as a random stack of either 120 Wood, 90 Stone, or 60 Metal materials.
Only Uncommon weapons (or better) are available.
The first team to 100 eliminations wins.
Weapons + Items
New Epic and Legendary Pump Shotgun
105 / 110 maximum damage
Available from floor loot, chests, Supply Drops, and Vending Machines.
Shotguns will now always apply at least 3 pellets worth of damage if only 1-2 pellets hit the target.
NOTE: Bonus pellets can never be critical hits.
Pump Shotgun maximum damage and fall-off changes.
Pump Shotgun maximum damage increased from 80 / 85 to 95 / 100
Pump shotguns will do higher damage in shorter range buckets but damage falls off quicker. This means you'll do more damage to closer targets but less damage to farther targets.
Added Stink Bombs to Supply Drops
Removed Double Barrel Shotguns from floor loot
Mounted Turret
Adjusted Mounted Turret collision to make it easier to land shots against anyone occupying it.
Removed the ability to repair the Mounted Turret
Fixed players being able to clip into turret barrels and get stuck.
Supply drops will automatically open if landing on a Mounted Turret
Drop rate reduced from 1.719% to 0.915%
Bug Fixes
The Mounted Turret can no longer fire through its own floor.
Fixed an issue with players not having an audio cue while gliding after respawning.
Fixed an issue with Chiller effects not applying properly to players' feet.
Gameplay
Reduced the in-air speed when using the Glider Redeploy feature in supported game modes.
Added functionality that allows the placement of map markers in the world without needing to go into the fullscreen map.
You'll be able to look at a position in the world and use the "Place Marker" keybind to place a map marker. This command will only be available by default while in Combat Mode.
This command is defaulted to Left on the D-pad for controllers and the Middle Mouse button for PC and Mac.
For Mobile players, this command will be bound to an optional button in the HUD Layout Tool.
Added the ability to pick up and throw back Dynamite with a lit fuse.
To throw the Dynamite with a lit fuse, get near it and use the interact key.
Bug Fixes
Increased the Dynamite explosion height against players from 192 units to 300 units.
This was done to prevent players from being able to jump over the explosion area on flat ground without taking damage.
Events
New Tournament: Alchemist Pop-Up Cup
Pop-Up Cups are tournaments testing temporary, Limited Time Modes. Alchemist will continue our testing of several gameplay adjustments and may differ day to day.
Initial Mode Settings:
A material cap of 500 Wood, 500 Stone, 500 Metal
Harvesting Rate Increased by 40%
+50 Health on Eliminations
Storm Surge
If a certain amount of players are remaining by the time the Storm finishes closing, a Storm Surge will activate. This periodically deals damage to players who have the least amount of damage dealt during the match.
Circle 1: 60 Players Remaining
Circle 2: 44 Players Remaining
Circle 3: 30 Players Remaining
Circle 4: 20 Players Remaining
Circle 5: 16 Players Remaining
Circle 6: 14 Players Remaining
Circle 7: 12 Players Remaining
Circle 8: 6 Players Remaining
Circle 9: 2 Players Remaining
Your highest score or pin during any event session will now be displayed on the tournament poster in the Events tab.
Pins will now reflect tournament colors on the Event Details screen.
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where players would receive points during warmup island which would be later removed.
Performance
Improvements to level streaming performance on Xbox One and Switch (improving building load times during skydiving)
Audio
Player in-air falling audio cue volume has been increased.
The Mounted Turret overheat audio loop volume has been reduced.
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where the Glider in-air audio cue wouldn't play for players who glide in after respawning.
Social
Bug Fixes
Fixed a crash on Nintendo Switch that occasionally occurred when logging in for the first time.
Art + Animation
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where player nameplates disappear after scrubbing a replay.
Mobile
Map Marker button added to the HUD Layout Tool
Fortnite is also having another crossover with Disney. While the last one resulted in Thanos appearing on the island, this time it's Ralph from Disney's Wreck-It Ralph movie series. He popped up recently in Fortnite as part of an unpublicised Easter egg, likely to help promote the new film Ralph Breaks The Internet.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday may have left a crater in your bank account, but look out, because the regular weekly deals on video games are coming back around again. Among these sales is this one on Xbox Live, where you can find discounts on digital Xbox One and Xbox 360 games across a number of genres. To get some of the deals, you'll need an Xbox Live Gold subscription, while others are available to everyone. In either case, all of these discounts end on December 3. Let's dive in.
If you got used to last week's long lists of game deals, this week's meager offerings might come with a harsh dose of reality. Not many games are on sale this week, but even so, you might find something worth buying. For instance, if you missed (or have nostalgia for) the BioShock series, you can grab BioShock: The Collection for just $15 / £11.25 this week. If you're in a similar boat with Rockstar's LA Noire, you can scoop up the Xbox One version for $20 / £17.50.
The first reactions to Aquaman are in! This is the first DC movie since the much-maligned Justice League a year ago, so hopes are high that DC can deliver an aquatic crowd-pleaser. The movie hits theaters in December, and although full reviews won't appear until early next month, critics have had plenty of say about the film on Twitter.
Given the criticism levelled at many recent DC movies, which also include Suicide Squad and Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, some critics seemed to have gone into Aquaman with lower expectations than they might for a Marvel movie. And for the most part, they were pleased with the end result, citing the scale, vfx, the cast, and its humorous tone among the positive aspects. Gizmodo's Germaine Lussier described it as a "big, fun, wild ride," while Den of Geek's Mike Cecchini said it "leans hard into its '80s fantasy/adventure movie vibe."
Aquaman is a big, fun, wild ride. It's unabashedly melodramatic and over the top with the largest, most ambitious sense of scale imaginable. Parts of it are kind of bad but they are not the majority and, oddly, still fit in with the cartoony tone. 2nd best DCU movie. YEEEAAHH! pic.twitter.com/3GLlK3uQJ3
#Aquaman is pretty wild. It leans hard into its '80s fantasy/adventure movie vibe far more than superhero elements, and it works. It's another step in the right direction for the DCEU and shows how different/distinct the tones of these movies can be while still existing together.
Aquaman's cast came in for praise, in particular star Jason Momoa. Joblo editor-in-chief Paul Shirey stated that Momoa "makes the character his own," while We Live Entertainment's Ashley Menzel said he "brings Aquaman out of the shadows to stand alongside the greats like Wonder Woman."
Short & sweet reaction to #Aquaman is that I loved it. It's a comic book movie through & through with great action, iconic moments & visual spectacle to spare. Momoa makes the character his own & Wan honors the traditional aspects, but elevates it to the modern era. It's a blast.
#Aquaman is over the top fun! A perfect balance of cheesy humor & action. James Wan shows his skill as a director & puts his mark on DC in a big way. Momoa is perfectly charming & brings Aquaman out of the shadows to stand alongside the greats like #WonderWoman@aquamanmoviepic.twitter.com/ySM7Tn8nkl
Director James Wan was also singled out. Wan is best known for Furious 7 and horror movies such as The Conjuring and the original Saw. However, Aquaman is by far his biggest movie to date and most critics agreed that he handled the challenge well. Fandango's Erik Davis described Wan as the movie's "true star," with IGN's Tom Jorgenson's stating that Warner should hand "the DCEU reins" to the director.
#Aquaman is the most ambitious DC movie to date -- a big, sprawling visual spectacle that is gorgeous, crazy, stuffed with terrific action, and a lot of fun to watch. James Wan, in my opinion, is the true star - he elevates the material, makes it entertaining and conquers it. pic.twitter.com/gDFjiAWICA
#Aquaman is the best DC movie since The Dark Knight.@creepypuppet delivers a swashbuckling epic full of big emotion, gorgeous undersea visuals, exciting action, and lots of laughs. WB should be handing the DCEU reins to James Wan, he's proven he can, ahem, right the ship. pic.twitter.com/4hjxdmNLDf
But while Aquaman hasn't received any outright negative reports so far, some critics were more measured in their response. Slashfilm's editor Peter Sciretta said it was "better than expected," and that it "feels like a Marvel phase one movie, in a good way." The comparison to early Marvel was mirrored by writer Nicholas Whitcomb, who described it as an "MCU phase one film through and through, on the level of Thor." GameSpot's Michael Rougeau said the movie was "flawed, but fun," but admired how "big, creative, and crazy it gets."
🔱 #Aquaman is better than expected. Feels like a Marvel phase one movie, in a good way. It's at its best when it's having fun and not taking itself too seriously. Black Manta is great villain that comic book fans will love. Some truly spectacular one shots and good action. pic.twitter.com/aTnc1QWk66
#Aquaman is.... fine. Don't get your expectations too high it's an MCU phase one film through and through, on the level of Thor 1. Mera, Black Manta, and Queen Atlanna are standouts. James Wan has delivered a fun adventure in the worlds of DC. The Trench is 👌 pic.twitter.com/GbVp9U7isT
Saw #Aquaman before thanksgiving and had a week to think about it. It's flawed, but fun. Momoa and Patrick Wilson are absolute gems. Most of all, the movie is just flat out insane. I can't believe how big, creative, and crazy it gets. Gotta see it again! pic.twitter.com/m2oRbHVtu9
Nostalgia is a powerful tool, and we've seen games publishers harness this with products such as the NES Classic, SNES Classic, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, and countless more remakes, remasters, and revisits.
Now, Sony is getting in on the action with the PlayStation Classic: a miniature version of the original PlayStation that comes with 20 games pre-installed. But is Sony's attempt at a mini-console a worthy one?
In our PlayStation Classic review, critic Peter Brown said the device "may never be more than a puny PlayStation with good looks." Read on below for a wider selection of reviews, check out the full game list, or watch our comparison between the PlayStation Classic and the SNES Classic.
Console: PlayStation Classic
Publisher: Sony
Release date: December 3
Price: US $100 / £90 / AU $150
GameSpot -- No score
"I'd like nothing more than to tell you that the PS Classic is a pleasant surprise, that it will match your excitement and then some. This sadly isn't the case, and short of Sony refreshing it, or the hacking community breaking it open and reconfiguring it, the PS Classic may never be more than a puny PlayStation with good looks." -- Peter Brown [Full review]
IGN -- 5.5/10
"The PlayStation Classic feels more like a halfhearted acknowledgement than a top-shelf tribute to Sony's era-defining console. The list of 20 games seems to miss more of the system's greatest hits than it manages to include. Furthermore, the progress of time and television technology has not been kind to the look of many of these early 3D titles, and the inclusion of digital-only controllers makes many of them feel unwieldy by modern standards. The PlayStation Classic is a neat collector's item that will look great on a shelf in your games room, but it's a much more attractive ornament than it is a viable gaming system." -- Tristan Ogilvie [Full review]
Kotaku -- No score
"Just last year, a PlayStation executive went on the record to ask why anyone would still want to play these 'ancient' games. Clearly, Sony at large believes people would. But instead of a PlayStation Classic that really celebrates the shared love for this bygone era of games, it's a product that feels like it was delivered in the spirit of 'Oh, you guys still like these old games? Well, here this is, we guess.' The PlayStation's games are still beautiful, but the wrapping around them is something like putting a Picasso into an $8.99 plastic frame." -- Chris Kohler [Full review]
GamesRadar -- 3.5/5
"The PlayStation Classic becomes a difficult sell. It retails for the fairly pricey figure of $99.99 / £89.99 (in comparison the NES Classic Mini is $59.99 / £49.99 and the SNES Classic Mini is $79.99 / £69.99), and the presentation of the games, along with the actual line-up of games, is never going to appeal to everyone. It's wonderful for that initial wave of nostalgia--from the console itself, to that loading screen and then starting up one of your childhood games--but be prepared that the glorious nostalgia bath can leave you covered in suds of disappointment." -- Sam Loveridge [Full review]
Polygon -- No score
"Though value is subjective, for $99.99, this is a comparatively expensive way to relive the original PlayStation, only conveniently smaller. Many of the PlayStation games included with the system--with the noteworthy exception of Intelligent Qube--can be downloaded and played on other PlayStation platforms cheaply. Even then, many of these old PlayStation games are hard, sometimes to a heartbreaking degree, to revisit now. But the biggest disappointment with the PlayStation Classic is being left wanting what's missing, rather than what it offers." -- Michael McWhertor [Full review]
The Verge -- No score
"When you really sit back and experience the device, though, it's actually a fitting representation of the mid- to late-'90s. No, the PlayStation Classic doesn't have all of your favorite classic PlayStation games, and there's a very good chance that you're never going to actually play Destruction Derby. But what you are getting for your $99.99, aside from a blast of nostalgia, is a refreshingly honest glimpse at what the early days of the PlayStation were like, right down to getting up from your comfy seat to switch to a different game. It wasn't always pretty, and it was frequently confusing and awkward, but it was also incredibly exciting. And now, that feeling is captured in a tiny gray box." -- Andrew Webster [Full review]
Football Manager 2019 Touch is available now on Nintendo Switch, publisher Sega has announced. Football fans around the world--except in the US--can get their hands on the Switch version of this year's management sim now, but American players will need to wait until December 6. No reason was given for the region-specific delay.
The rest of the world can enjoy the game immediately, which comes as something of a surprise since a release date for the Switch version was never formally announced by Sega. The port includes many of the improvements made in this year's full-fat PC edition, but slimmed down and simplified for Nintendo's portable console in a similar fashion to the iPad version.
Training has been overhauled for this year's game, lending you more control over how your team spends its week. Tactical styles have also been added, meaning you can now live out your dream of getting Macclesfield Town playing like Barcelona--or, more realistically, Barcelona playing like Macclesfield Town. Finally, the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 are included for the first time in the series.
In our Football Manager 2019 review, critic Richard Wakeling awarded this year's PC version an 8/10. "It's still not the most welcoming game for newcomers, stacking systems upon systems upon systems, but for veterans and those willing to put in the effort to learn, there's never been a better time to hop in and entrench yourself in the virtual dugout," he wrote. "Football Manager 2019's tweaks will have you happily settling in for another mammoth play session of juggling egos, pipping your rivals to the signing of a wonderkid, and smashing in a 90th-minute winner to capture a league title in triumphant fashion."
The first impression you get when holding Sony's $100 PlayStation Classic is that it's a well-made little device with some great details on the surface. Memories of gaming in the '90s will likely come flooding in, and if the cute console wasn't enough, the classic and quaint PlayStation controller will almost certainly get you in the mood for some Tekken 3, Metal Gear Solid, or maybe even the original Resident Evil.
Upon booting up the system and diving into the main menu, you're greeted by the bright color scheme of the original PlayStation's memory card and CD player menus, albeit with a carousel of the 20 available games ready for perusal. So far so good. Pick a game and you're seconds away from revisiting some of the iconic games from Sony's debut console.
That reintroduction, however, may not go as smoothly as you'd expect. As someone who regularly plays PlayStation games today on both HD and SD displays, take it from me: The PS Classic will give you a false, negative impression of what PlayStation games should look like. Even if you don't want to go to the trouble of playing with the real thing, you can always emulate games on a slew of devices--including a PS3--and have a far better experience than the PS Classic offers.
It's well known that mid-'90s 3D games can look rough around the edges, so it's not surprising to see jagged 3D models and crummy textures on the PS Classic. You may also recognize the familiar screen door-like dithering effect over large parts of the screen, though because you are playing on an HD flat screen and not a CRT monitor, the effect is very pronounced. All of these caveats are part and parcel of the PlayStation experience and could in theory be forgiven, but not in practice. The PS Classic is configured in such a way that the overall image is rendered blurry at 720p due to poor image stretching, which consequently muddies up graphics that were already borderline ugly to begin with.
Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the PS Classic's implementation is that some games exhibit frame rate issues, Tekken 3 being the most obvious example. This is because Tekken 3 and other games noted below are based on the PAL release from Europe, where analog video standards limited refresh rates to 50hz. NTSC regions, including North American and Japan, ran at 60hz. Regardless of the cause, if you're used to Tekken 3 running at 60 frames per second, prepare for additional disappointment.
Going back to the notion of playing on a CRT, the difference between analog and digital display technologies is one that can almost be overcome with the help of a scanline filter that blanks every other line of resolution. Lots of emulation devices, such as the NES Classic and SNES Classic for example, offer this setting. It's a divisive trick that doesn't suit every player let alone every game, but it's a nice option to have when faced with games that are made unsightly due to the increased scrutiny when playing 240p or 480i content at 720p.
Sadly, the PS Classic doesn't offer simulated scanlines--likely due to the fact that the image is seemingly rendered before being stretched to 720p, hence the overall blurriness. If Sony has indeed opted to display games via that assumed tech pipeline, I'd love to know why.
PlayStation Classic Games (*Indicates PAL games)
Battle Arena Toshinden*
Cool Boarders 2*
Destruction Derby*
Final Fantasy VII
Grand Theft Auto*
Intelligent Qube
Jumping Flash*
Metal Gear Solid
Mr Driller
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee*
Rayman
Resident Evil Director's Cut*
Revelations: Persona
Ridge Racer Type 4
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
Syphon Filter
Tekken 3*
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six*
Twisted Metal
Wild Arms
The frustrating thing about the PS Classic's basic configuration is that it's based on a well-documented emulator--ePSXe--which supports a wide range of options to help you tailor the handling of games to your liking. Want to add anti-aliasing or change the native resolution? You can do that most anywhere you use the emulator, but not on the PS Classic. Sony has effectively left options on the table that could have made a big difference when it comes to actually playing the games you're feeling nostalgic for.
Rough images on screen shouldn't totally overpower a great game though, right? In some cases you can still find enjoyment after you get over the initial hump of disappointment. Ridge Racer Type 4 is a snappy racing game with Pilotwings-like vibes and a great soundtrack, all of which comes across on the PS Classic. Mr. Driller, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, and Intelligent Cube make for a strong trio of puzzle games that are even better when played competitively--great reasons to put the included second PS Classic controller to use. But if grand single-player adventures are what you're after, Final Fantasy VII or Wild Arms are two games ready and willing to give you dozens of hours of classic RPG gameplay. Tekken 3 might not survive unscathed, but thankfully not every game feels as sluggish as it does.
During gameplay, you do have the option of using save states--an emulation convenience that did make its way on board--to suspend games wherever you are and pick them back up later. There are virtual memory cards assigned to each game that function like software-based versions of actual memory cards. Both of these solutions work as expected, thankfully.
After you've spent considerable time with the PlayStation Classic, the simple included controllers start to feel inadequate compared to full-featured DualShock controllers. The PlayStation had them way back in 1997, dual analog sticks, vibration, and all. These weren't defining qualities of the PlayStation experience at large, but some games do suffer by their omission--I'm looking at you, Metal Gear Solid.
That point lies at the heart of why the PS Classic goes from being an enticing curio to a disappointing missed opportunity in short order. The debate over the selected games aside, using the PS Classic feels like partaking in a rough recreation of the original PlayStation experience. And if you've spent any time with Nintendo's Classic consoles, you'll see the user experience here for what it is: just good enough. The PS Classic doesn't feel like a celebration of PlayStation's formative years the way Nintendo's systems do. Nor is it a smart adaptation of a capable emulator working behind the scenes.
I'd like nothing more than to tell you that the PS Classic is a pleasant surprise, that it will match your excitement and then some. This sadly isn't the case, and short of Sony refreshing it, or the hacking community breaking it open and reconfiguring it, the PS Classic may never be more than a puny PlayStation with good looks.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald might be one of November's biggest movies, but it could only manage one week at the top of the US box office chart. The Harry Potter spin-off made way for two sequels that took advantage of the long Thanksgiving weekend--Ralph Breaks the Internet and Creed II.
It's been five years since the release of Wreck-It Ralph, but Ralph Breaks the Internet's massive weekend gross proved that there was no dip in interest for the follow-up. The film scored the second highest Thanksgiving debut of all time--behind Frozen in 2013-- and made $84.5 million over five days. As Box Office Mojo points out, Disney now holds the record for the three biggest Thanksgiving grosses ever.
The boxing sequel Creed II entered the US chart at No.2 and also set its own record. Its $55.8 million five-day debut is the largest opening for a live-action film over Thanksgiving, and it far outgrossed the first Creed, which opened with $29.6 million in 2015. This was another huge success for the Rocky series, which started more than 40 years ago.
The animated hit The Grinch dropped to one place to No.3, and has made an impressive $180 million in the three weeks. Although The Crimes of Grindelwald has fallen to No.4 after only a week in the US, the film has to date made an impressive $438 million worldwide, a number which will continue to rise as we head into December.
Less impressive was the weekend's other new entry, the latest version of Robin Hood. This action-packed take on the classic legend starred Kingsman's Taron Egerton and Jamie Foxx and entered the chart at No.7. Robin Hood only made $9.1 million over five days, with $23 million taken worldwide in total. Considering the budget was reportedly $100 million, it ranks as one of the year's biggest flops.
Elsewhere, the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, comedy Instant Family, and thriller Widows were at Nos. 5, 6 and 8 respectively. The acclaimed drama Green Book rose from No.22 to No.9, having expanded its release to over 1,000 screens.
You can see the full Top 10 list for the November 21-25 US box office below, as compiled by Box Office Mojo.
US/Canada Box Office November 21-25
Ralph Breaks the Internet — $56.2 million
Dr. Seuss' The Grinch — $38.5 million
Creed II — $35.5 million
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald — $29.3 million
Production on the upcoming Hellboy reboot movie finished nearly a year ago, and we still won't see the movie until April 2019. But following the poster that was revealed last month, the first still from the film has now been released.
The image comes via Empire. It shows Stranger Things star David Harbour as Hellboy, running down a dark corridor. As the first promotional image of Harbour in costume showed, this Hellboy is a bulkier, more imposing demon than the one played by Ron Perlman in Guillermo Del Toro's movies. Check it out below.
Hellboy hits theaters on April 12 next year, having moved back from its original release of January 11. It also stars Milla Jovovich as the Blood Queen, Ian McShane as Professor Broom, and Daniel Dae Kim as Ben Daimo. It's directed by Neil Marshall, who is best known for his work on Game of Thrones and the recent Netflix show Lost in Space, plus movies like Doomsday and The Descent.
Empire also interviewed Marshall, who explained that the film would be a darker take on Mike Mignola's comic books than Del Toro's movies. "It was always a case of, 'When in doubt, go back to the source material.' Some of the stuff is pretty sick," he said. "More violent and more bloody. We weren't making it with handcuffs on."
The first teaser for the movie is yet to be officially released, but it was screened for fans at New York Comic-Con last month. GameSpot was at the trailer's premiere, so check out what we thought here.
[Update] Epic has taken Fortnite servers offline as it pushes out the newest patch. You can see everything included in patch 6.31 here. [Original story] The next Fortnite update is coming very soon. Epic Games has announced that the v6.31 update will arrive on Tuesday, November 27, with server downtime expected to begin that day at 2 AM PT / 5 AM ET / 10 AM GMT / 8 PM AEST.
Epic didn't provide a full list of changes coming with this update, but the wording and capitalisation of the developer's statement contains some clues. The "pump up" mention is likely a reference to the Pump Shotgun, which is a Legendary weapon in the game. According to FortniteIntel, the update will improve the effectiveness of the shotgun by boosting its close-quarter damage, while reducing its damage at range.
The Fortnite in-game news feed shots that Epic and Legendary variants of the Pump Shotgun are coming soon, along with new outfits.
Pump up your squad for the Legendary v6.31 update. Downtime begins Tuesday, November 27 at 5 AM ET (1000 UTC).
Writing on Reddit, Epic said it's also looking into fixing a bug where players are able to continue walk around the battlefield even if they're eliminated. "We'll get a fix out as soon as we're able to," Epic said.
Tuesday's Fortnite update is the biggest one since last week's Update 6.30 that added a new weapon, the Dynamite stick, along with a limited-time mode called Wild West. Another new weapon, the Ghost Pistol, was added to the Save the World mode.
In other news, Ralph from Disney's Wreck-It Ralph movie series, recently appeared in Fortnite as part of an unpublicised Easter egg potentially to help promote the new film Ralph Breaks The Internet.
Not that it's much of a surprise, but the signs are pointing to a successful launch for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate when it launches in early December.
Nintendo has announced that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the best "pre-selling" Super Smash Bros. game of all time, and it's also the best "pre-selling" Nintendo Switch game ever. Pre-order figures may not be as important or reliable as they once were, but it remains a notable achievement, and one that likely signals a strong performance for the upcoming title.
The best-selling Nintendo Switch game is Super Mario Odyssey, which sold 12.17 million copies, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (11.71 million) and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (10.28 million) following closely behind, according to Nintendo's publicly disclosed sales data. With Nintendo announcing that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has set a new pre-selling record, it will be interesting to see how the game fares commercially relative to the best-selling Switch games.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has leaked ahead of launch, so be careful out there on the internet if you're wary of encountering spoilers.
The original Mary Poppins will be voicing a character in the upcoming Aquaman film. Julie Andrews will voice the undersea creature Karathen, an instrumental figure in the title character's quest to unite the undersea and surface worlds.
"We wanted the Karathen to have the voice of a classic British actress, albeit somewhat digitally altered," producer Peter Safran told EW. "And when we found out Julie was interested and available and excited to do it, casting her was a no-brainer."
Coincidentally, Aquaman is already prepared for a head-to-head box office competition with Mary Poppins Returns, a sequel to the role that Andrews made famous. Emily Blunt is starring in this new interpretation, and Andrews declined to appear in cameo. She has reportedly stated that she didn't want to distract from Blunt's interpretation of the character.
Andrews hasn't appeared on the big screen for years, but has starred in the Netflix series Julie's Greenroom and has voiced characters in movies like Shrek Forever After and Despicable Me 3.
Mary Poppins Returns opens on December 18. Aquaman will follow on December 21, though Amazon Prime members will have access to advanced screenings on December 15. For more on Aquaman, check out the dozens of things we learned from its director.
Wreck-It Ralph has now starred in two title roles all about hopping between different video game and internet properties, and some of that has made the transition into the real world. Fortnite streamers have spotted the character making a brief cameo in concert with the release of his second movie.
Fortnite streamer MozzzyyTwitch spotted Ralph on a movie screen in Risky Reels. The cameo is short--just Ralph walking on screen, waving, and walking away--but it has sparked speculation that something bigger may be in the cards. It could just be an Easter egg to promote the release of the new movie, of course, especially given that the appearance is on a movie screen.
Ralph is a natural fit for a video game cameo, based on the premise for the character. In the first movie Ralph is a dissatisfied classic arcade game villain who wants to be a hero and hops into different games looking for an opportunity to prove himself. In the new sequel, Ralph Breaks the Internet, he and his newfound buddy Vanellope go on a trip to the world wide web. As an online-only video game, Fortnite checks both boxes. Plus Risky Reels has been regularly used for quirky displays.
This wouldn't be the first time Fortnite has included a popular character from a big-budget movie. Upon the release of Avengers: Infinity War the game temporarily added the film's villain, Thanos, as a playable character. Predictably he was a little too powerful, and got nerfed almost immediately.
Hearthstone's next expansion, Rastakhan's Rumble, is storming into the arena on December 4. Blizzard is slowly showing off the full set of cards, and once again GameSpot has its own to reveal. This time, thanks to the synergy between them, we have not one but two new Priest cards to show.
The first is Sand Drudge, a nasty troll who summons zombies with Taunt each and every time you cast a spell. The Priest class already has a number of cheap spells, as well as methods of generating more. Cards like Lyra the Sunshard and Radiant Elemental are already used to make long chains of spells, and Sand Drudge will add a defensive element to the combo. While a row of 1/1 Zombies are weak to area-of-effect removal, the card creates one more obstacle before your opponent can take down your other minions.
But that's not all. Blizzard is also adding Regenerate, a new 0-Mana spell card that restores 3 Health. It's a simple effect with a lot of versatility, from activating your Northshire Cleric, to pairing with Prophet Velen, to serving as a cheap offensive option with Auchenai Soulpriest. Naturally it also pairs well with Sand Drudge, letting you one-two combo a healing effect while also protecting yourself behind a Taunt.
GameSpot spoke with Dean Ayala and Liv Breeden of the final and initial design teams for more insights on the ideas that sparked the two new Priest cards. In this case, Sand Drudge came from augmenting an existing Priest arch-type, which stacks the deck with lots of spells.
"It lets you cast a bunch of spells and have your engine for that hide behind a wall of Taunts," Breeden said. "They're not particularly aggressive or powerful but they do get in the way."
Since it fits so comfortably into Priest, the card was nearly ready-made from the start. Ayala noted that it may have once been a 3/2, but otherwise its design was essentially finished from the early design phase. He said the team likes to make cards that have a tension inherent in their decision-making.
"Sometimes you don't really want to play Sorcerer's Apprentice on [turn] two because you maybe you have a bunch of spells and you want to wait until you can get a huge effect from it," he said. "Whereas Sand Drudge, maybe you use it on turn three because you have a read on your opponent and they're not going to be able to get rid of it. Or maybe you have a bunch of spells in hand and you want to wait until turn six or seven. It plays a lot like Lyra does in that you don't just want to play it blank but if you do it's a risk you might take."
Meanwhile, Breeden noted, it gives your opponent more to do. "It's cool to have a bunch of minions on the board because if you're playing a heavy spell Priest, your opponent doesn't have a lot to interact with," she said. "This gives your opponent something to do besides hit you in the face. It creates interesting choices. Do you go for the Sand Drudge, do you go after zombies, do you ignore that and go face?"
And while the dream of any card like Sand Drudge is to become nigh-invincible, the likelihood is more that it will force your opponent to make sub-optimal plays. The zombies are vulnerable enough that they can be removed with most area-of-effect spells, but as Ayala noted, that means your opponent had to spend AOE on essentially dealing with a single card.
Meanwhile Regenerate adds a totally different kind of threat. Mana is one of the sharpest tools Hearthstone's designers have to balance a card, and 0-Mana cards remove that factor entirely. The only price is the opportunity cost of including it in your deck over another card. While Ayala says he likes the simplicity, it can make for tricky balancing.
"Anytime you're doing something for 0 Mana you're asking for trouble, because Mana is the restriction that you have," he said. "It's complicated because you have to think of all the different ways you can use a 0-Mana card and make sure that it's so absurdly broken that it's the only deck anyone plays.
"We knew we wanted to have a card that said restore X health, we knew we didn't want that number to be large, and I think when you have something that restores three or four [health] having it at 1 Mana cost just doesn't align with what the power level should be. It was just a matter of figuring out if there was any way to use this card that was so aggressive that it would restrict what else we could do."
And both cards fit into the flavor of Rastakhan's Rumble, albeit in different and sometimes counter-intuitive ways. Regenerate makes sense as a card in the troll-themed expansion, Breeden says, because trolls in World of Warcraft are known for growing back limbs. The creepy zombie mechanic may seem odd for an expansion loosely themed around professional wrestling, but Breeden made the case for it as well.
"We wanted the teams to feel unique and special," she said. "The Warriors are very much about smashing and trashing, going to the brawl. But the zombies are a little bit spooky. Not every wrestler is straightforward, some of them are the undead sort of vibe. They have weird stories, right? We wanted to play into different stories for different teams."
These are just two of the 135 new cards being added in Rastakhan's Rumble, so check out our gallery of all the cards revealed so far. Pre-purchases are now on sale in two tiers: $20 for 17 packs and a special card back, or $50 for 50 packs, the card back, and the Rastakhan Shaman skin.
Take-Two teased a stealth spy game called Agent as far back as 2007, but after multiple delays and only the faintest hint of updates over the last decade it appeared the project was dead. Now a trademark update seems to confirm that Agent has been permanently taken out of the field.
A status update to the trademark with the US Patent and Trademark Office marks the trademark as abandoned as of November 19, 2018. The status field states plainly, "Abandoned because no Statement of Use or Extension Request timely filed after Notice of Allowance was issued."
So after being alerted to the expiration, Take-Two chose to quietly let it go. That's as strong an indication as we've seen that the game is truly gone. However, it could also be that Take-Two is planning to rebrand with a different name, or implement some of its stealth-spy mechanics elsewhere. Based on the long period of silence we've had, it's likely the project is simply no longer in active production.
Fallout 76 takes the classic post-apocalyptic series in a wildly new direction. While the series has long been known for its lengthy and detailed single-player campaigns, this one trades all that for an online connected experience. As one of the first to emerge from a Control Vault, your job is to help rebuild society. But can this single-player RPG series make a clean transition to a connected survival game?
Reviews are starting to populate the earth, and so far they're fairly negative. While plenty of them mention a wide variety of technical issues and bugs, the consensus appears to agree that there are more fundamental problems at play. Its gameplay systems are often called half-baked or deserving of an early access title. While Bethesda has stated its intention to treat this as a live game and continue to build on it forever, right now the first explorers are dealing with a rough wasteland. This cold reception appears to have led to quicker-than-usual discount prices.
Read on for more reviews from around the industry, or check GameSpot sister site Metacritic for more reviews. And if you do venture out into the wastes, check out how to get some Power Armor.
Game: Fallout 76
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One
Developer / publisher: Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks
Release date: Out now
Price: US $60 / £50 / AU $93
GameSpot -- 4/10
"Bethesda has stated it intends to continue supporting the game for a long time, but at launch, Fallout 76 is a poor experience. There are echoes of the series' admirable qualities, but look past that facade, past the cute Vault Boy animations, past the familiar radio tracks, and you'll find no heart--just an inconsequential wasteland doomed to be nuked over and over again." -- Edmond Tran [Full review]
Hooked Gamers -- 7.6/10
"Fallout 76 is Fallout, and it isn't Fallout at the same time. And for all the hype around the multiplayer, both friend and foe, it seems inconsequential most of the time. Just passer-bys on the street more often than not, it's there but it doesn't matter. It's a fun game, but I don't think it's going to be a timeless classic I return to time and time again years from now once I feel I've had enough." -- Johnathan Irwin [Full review]
PC Gamer -- 6/10
"Despite the considerable issues with the PC version, I've still had long stretches of fun with Fallout 76. I really wish PvP had more at stake than lost junk (or at least more willing participants) but the world retains a lot of what I love about Bethesda's previous RPGs with finely crafted environments, enjoyable weapons and crafting, and surprising little scraps of story to uncover and investigate. Like Valley Galleria, though, it doesn't take long to for the shine to fade, the once-fascinating areas to lose their wonder among the mobs of identical enemies I've killed there time and time again." -- Christopher Livingston [Full review]
Games Radar -- 2.5/5
"Remember: as it's an MMO, there's the real possibility that just like Elder Scrolls Online the Fallout 76 of today is going to be very different to the Fallout 76 of next year, so while it's not worth jumping into Appalachia right now, spend some time in your own personal Vault and emerge again when the radioactive dust has settled." -- Zoe Delahunty-Light [Full review]
VideoGamer -- 4/10
"The measures Bethesda has taken to get it online come with their own weight. Out with the NPCs but in comes a server full of people. Out with V.A.T.S. but in with survival elements. Out with the bugs – no, wait, they can stay. The rest has been jumbled around or replaced with something heavier. How funny that in a game built on cuts and compromise, you wind up wishing for even more to be scrapped. Life was lighter down in the vault." -- Josh Wise [Full review]
The Guardian -- 2/5
"Previous Fallout games always had something to say about the post-apocalypse and the human factors that led to it; here, it's reduced to shooting mutants and picking up rubbish. Even if, in the future, it mutates into something more stable, it will still feel eerily soulless." -- Holly Nielsen [Full review]
USGamer -- 2/5
"Fallout 76 isn't particularly indicative of the best of the modern Fallout games, nor is it an amazing survival game given its competition. It's not the worst game in the world or anything, but it very much just exists. It merely says, "I'm here too," instead of standing out. Fallout 76 in its current state is the game version of the Amphicar Model 770: it sometimes works, but it's still the worst of both worlds." -- Mike Williams [Full review]
The Monster Hunter series is known for its loot, as players defeat enormous beasts for parts so they can craft some stylish duds and weapons from their bones and skins. Our first look at the upcoming Monster Hunter film starring Milla Jovovich and Ron Perlman shows that aspect is definitely making the transition to the big screen.
In the movie still shared by Sony, we see Jovovich and costar Tony Jaa dressed in some post-apocalyptic leathers and metals. But it's Jaa's weaponry that really catches the eye. In one hand he's brandishing a massive sword that appears to be the Giant Jawblade, while the other hand holds a more obscured bone-bow.
That signals that the movie will be true to the series in at least one aspect: the concept of hunters crafting their gear out of the fallen remains of monsters is alive and well. Presumably after completing a hunt they won't have to farm it a dozen more times to get the full set.
Jovovich plays Artemis, a UN military commander who gets transported to a different universe crawling with beasts. She teams up with Hunter (Jaa) to close the portal and keep the monsters from coming to earth. Along the way they'll meet up with familiar characters from the universe like the Admiral. It's being directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, who also directed his wife Jovovich in adaptations of Capcom's Resident Evil franchise. A release date has not been announced.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate features a very full roster of every Smash character ever, along with some new additions. One conspicuously absent member of the roster is Waluigi, the Luigi doppelganger who has featured in several Mario sports games. The fan outcry has been ongoing, and rest assured, Nintendo has heard you.
Speaking to Nintendo of Canada's Andrew Collins, Okay Cool noted the fan campaign to put Waluigi in the game, including an appearance in the Washington Post. Collins made it clear the company has seen your pleas and passion.
"I think it's great when something builds naturally because, you know, as a marketer, when you have something that goes viral like that it's brilliant," he said. "You can't buy that. You can't create it. And when the fans do something like that, it's amazing. But it's so good to see from a passionate side of things. And let's face it, it's funny. I've seen some of the photos. I've seen some of the artwork that people have created, and it's fantastic to see their passion."
Obviously, this isn't a promise that Waluigi will actually come to the game, but an acknowledgement from Nintendo that it has seen the response is more than nothing. That may be enough to prompt the company to add him as downloadable content.
Nintendo has already announced the addition of five more fighters are coming as DLC, along with the free Piranha Plant DLC for early purchasers. Each pack will cost $6 and come with one new fighter, one new stage, and a variety of music tracks. They will be available as a bundle for $25, which will also net you an outfit based on Rex from Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The roster for these DLC fighters is already set, so if Waluigi is ultimately destined to Smash with the rest of his compatriots, the plans are already in-motion.
The last round of announced characters included Incineroar from Pokemon and Ken from Street Fighter, and you can see them in action here. Smash Bros. Ultimate will hit on December 7. For more details check out our pre-order guide.
The perpetually doomed Sean Bean has shown up in Hitman 2, and it's your job to wipe him out again. Bean appears as the game's first Elusive Target, a man named Mark Faba who has earned the reputation as impossible to kill. He's even earned the nickname "The Undying" for the number of times he's escaped assassination by faking his own death.
The mission takes you to Miami, where Faba is trying to complete his own assassination contract at the Global Innovation Race. You'll have 14 days to complete the free mission, but you only get one shot and you can't save your game. If you complete the challenge you'll get the Explosive Pen weapon added to your inventory. But if Faba escapes or if you die or fail the mission in any way, you'll have lost your only chance.
A new trailer released alongside the Elusive Target mission highlights some of the ways you can pick off the target. You could use a sniper rifle from across the racetrack, or you could get a little more up close and personal: rig the room to explode, or even pierce his eye with a pen a la the Joker in The Dark Knight. As the trailer notes, many more opportunities will present themselves in the mission as well.
Choosing Sean Bean for the game's first Elusive Target is a bit of a meta-gag on the part of the developers. The character actor has become known for playing characters who die, so making him a slippery target who constantly fakes his own death matches. In the first game, actor Gary Busey had a guest role as an Elusive Target.
"Hitman is about experiencing the anticipation of seeing whether a plan will work when you try it for the first time," critic Edmond Tran said in GameSpot's Hitman 2 review. "It's about feeling the tension of briskly walking away from a bad situation, hoping you can lose the suspicious guards. It's the satisfaction of knowing the machinations of a level so well that when a target moves into a particular place at a particular time, you have the perfect way to intervene. Hitman 2 is a familiar experience, but in the Hitman world, familiarity is an incredible strength."
Firaxis has announced its second major expansion to Civilization 6, called Gathering Storm. The name is apropos, as it will introduce a number of new environmental effects along with other new features like a world congress, power and renewable energy, and more. It will release on February 14, 2019 for $40 on PC. The announcement did not detail Switch or mobile release plans.
The weather and power resources go hand-in-hand, as you'll be making choices that can impact the ecosystem and the fate of the planet. Natural disasters can wipe out your lands, but they could also enrich the land after they clear out. You'll be able to develop new advanced technologies and engineering projects, and negotiate plans with the world congress. Gathering Storm will also add eight more civs and nine more leaders, along with seven new wonders, and lots of buildings, districts, and so on.
Environmental effects include volcanoes, storms like blizzards and hurricanes, climate change, floods, and droughts. Your strategic resources will be consumed in power plants to produce electricity, but as time passes you can turn from a coal- and oil-based energy to renewable energy sources. Your choices regarding renewable energy can also have an effect on world temperature, melting ice caps, and rising sea levels.
You'll have new tools to deal with these global threats, with developments like canals, dams, tunnels, and railroads to overcome obstacles in your land. As your civilization evolves you can start to develop cities that are more protected thanks to flood barriers, expanding your build areas. You can also form alliances, influence city states, and compete in world games with the world congress. You'll be able to call a special session to address emergencies, vote on resolutions, and use diplomatic favor to negotiate promises from world leaders. A new era will also be added to the Technology and Civics trees to deal directly with the environmental effects.
The nine new leaders will each bring their own bonuses and nine new units, four new buildings, three improvements, two districts, and one unique governor. Those join the seven new world wonders and seven natural wonders, 18 new units, 15 improvements, 9 new buildings, 5 new districts, 2 new city sets, 9 new techs, and 10 new civics.
Finally, Gathering Storm will add two more scenarios. The Black Death will put you in the middle of the pandemic that ravaged Europe and western Asia and task you with keeping your people alive. The other, War Machine, is a multiplayer scenario putting you in the role of Germany or France at the outset of World War 1, in the midst of the invasion of Belgium. These will come alongside several new changes to the Espionage system, updates to Culture and Science victories, and new Historic Moments.
These all appear primed to add several new layers of strategy to an already complex and enrapturing game. "Civ 6 has a few rough edges, but they're pushed far into the periphery by spectacular strategic depth and intricate interlocking nuances," said critic Scott Butterworth in GameSpot's Civilization 6 review. "Any frustrations I experienced were immediately eclipsed by my desire to continue playing. Just one more turn, every turn, forever."
It's been an odd season for Arrow. Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) has spent the entire time cut off from those he cares about. Instead, he's stuck behind bars in a maximum security prison filled with convicts that would like to kill him. Warning: The following contains spoilers for the episode "The Slabside Redemption."
Now that Oliver is out of jail, though--after some of the show's most impressive fighting and action scenes to date--he can't simply go back to the man he was before. Speaking to a small group of outlets during a visit to Arrow's set in Vancouver, Amell admitted that would be the cheap way to wrap up this particular storyline.
"I spent a lot of time talking with [showrunner] Beth [Schwartz] about Oliver when he gets out because I felt like in the first episode this year, we were really trying to charge ahead with a lot of cool new ideas, but it didn't necessarily lend the proper weight to what happened at the end of Season 6 in an episode that's titled 'Life Sentence,'" he said. "You know, one of the first drafts in the first episode of Season 7 focused a lot on Oliver focusing on good behaviors so that he could get released, and I was like, well, I mean, one way or the other, he's been in there for five, seven months, whatever the case may be. He's got at least fourteen, fifteen to go if he has good behavior. So we changed the focus a little bit."
According to Amell, the same thing happened when it came to episode 8, the first to feature Oliver adjusting to life after prison. "It felt like we were treating my experience at Slabside like I spent a night in county jail," he revealed. "In actuality, even for Oliver, it was a pretty horrific experience. So I did want a change in him. I wanted a change in him in the way that he interacts with people, with the public, and even so far as his wardrobe."
It makes sense to evolve who Oliver is after this experience. After all, he's been beaten up, stabbed, and mentally tortured, among other heinous acts, while in prison. Surviving something like that is a life-changer, no matter how you look at it.
As Amell explained, though, the things Oliver faced in jail aren't necessarily all bad. The mental torture at the hands of a Slabside Penitentiary doctor, for instance, made Oliver take a hard look at the man he had become.
"It teaches him a net lesson," Amell said of the brainwashing attempt. "I think that the person who was trying to teach him that didn't use the most nice tactics to get him there. So I think that the answer's a little less black and white. But it definitely teaches him something, and it's addressed, I think, in the first episode after he leaves prison and sort of what his new mantra is going to be if and when he puts the suit back on."
Before he puts the suit back on, though, there's that pesky detail of another Green Arrow dispatching vigilante justice on the streets of Star City. Thankfully, fans won't have to wait long to get Oliver's take on the new hooded protector. "He runs into the new Green Arrow, or runs into the new Green Arrow's exploits, pretty quickly," Amell teased.
As for what Oliver is going to do about the new figure, it's actually someone else in his inner-circle that might have the solution. "We come up with that idea pretty quickly, but I think one of the fun things is it's not Oliver who comes up with it," the actor said.
What will be interesting to see now is what happens when the new Green Arrow comes face-to-face with the original--and how the original's new perspective on vigilante justice will come into play. Arrow airs Mondays at 8 on The CW.
Sony's response to Nintendo's NES and SNES Classic devices, the PlayStation Classic, launches very soon. It's out on December 3, priced at £90 / $100 USD / $130 CAD / $150 AUD, and now Sony has announced even more details about the mini retro console.
A detailed FAQ on the PlayStation Blog covers a number of new details, starting with the size, which is 5.8" x 1.3" x 4.1". For those doing the math, that's 45 percent smaller than the original system; it's even smaller than a PS4 game case. The mini system weights 6 ounces, while the controllers are 4.9 ounces. The included HDMI cable is 2.0m or 78.7", while the controller cables are 1.5m/59.1" long. The FAQ page also confirms that only PlayStation Classic controllers work with the system, so you won't be able to plug in a DualShock 4 controller or anything else.
Here are some other takeaways from the FAQ:
Each title supports up to 15 virtual memory card slots.
Pressing the Reset button returns you to the main UI, and this creates a restore point.
Games that originally shipped on two discs, including Final Fantasy VII, will prompt you to press "Open" at the end of the first virtual disc to move to the virtual second disc.
System Link functional is not supported, but some games have split-screen.
You can power the PlayStation Classic with any USB power sources that supports 5V, 1.01A at a minimum. The console comes with a USB cable but not a USB adaptor.
You cannot connect PlayStation Classic to PSN, and Sony has no plans to launch new content for the device over time.
The PlayStation Classic plays the iconic PlayStation start-up sound when you boot it up.
The console supports 480p and 720p, and your TV may further upscale this.
Additionally, Sony confirmed that some of the games included in the PlayStation Classic are the PAL editions. You can see the full rundown of the 20 included games below, along with another list of titles with multiplayer support. Go to the PlayStation Blog FAQ page to learn even more,
PlayStation Classic Games
Battle Arena Toshinden*
Cool Boarders 2*
Destruction Derby*
Final Fantasy VII
Grand Theft Auto*
Intelligent Qube
Jumping Flash!*
Metal Gear Solid
Mr. Driller
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee*
Rayman
Resident Evil Director's Cut*
Revelations: Persona
R4 Ridge Racer Type 4
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
Syphon Filter
Tekken 3*
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six*
Twisted Metal
Wild Arms
*title based on the PAL version
PlayStation Classic Two-Play Multiplayer Games
Battle Arena Toshinden
Cool Boarders 2
Destruction Derby
Intelligent Qube
Mr. Driller
Ridge Racer Type 4
Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo
Tekken 3
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six
Twisted Metal
GameSpot recently got to try out the PlayStation Classic, and we found that it does the bare minimum. You can watch GameSpot's preview video in the embed above to learn more.
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