2019 may have only just begun, but this year has already given us some great new games, with many more on the way. Capcom and Square Enix capped off January with two veritable blockbusters, the Resident Evil 2 remake and Kingdom Hearts 3, and February has a handful of its own marquee titles in store for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
February 15 in particular is shaping up to be one of the busiest days of the year in terms of releases. Three big-name games are set to launch on that day, including Microsoft's oft-delayed Crackdown 3, Ubisoft's latest Far Cry game, New Dawn, and Metro Exodus. Bandai Namco's star-studded crossover brawler, Jump Force, also arrives that day, while BioWare's anticipated shooter/RPG follows closely behind on February 22.
That's on top of all the titles that have already been released, including Ace Combat 7, the Advance Wars-like strategy game Wargroove, and Respawn's surprise free battle royale game, Apex Legends. There are plenty of others on the way this month as well. You can see all of the biggest game releases for February 2019 below. For a wider look at what's ahead this year, be sure to check out our complete list of game release dates in 2019.
Crackdown 3 (Xbox One, PC) -- February 15
After suffering numerous developmental setbacks, Crackdown 3 is finally ready to launch for Xbox One and PC this month. Set 10 years after the events of its predecessor, the game sees the Agency returning to New Providence to deal with a mysterious terrorist organization known as Terra Nova. Like previous entries, Crackdown 3 features the series' trademark over-the-top action along with new features like Wrecking Zone, a hectic, cloud-based multiplayer mode set in a completely destructible arena.
Far Cry: New Dawn (PS4, Xbox One, PC) -- February 15
Ubisoft is following 2018's Far Cry 5 with the post-apocalyptic spin-off Far Cry: New Dawn. Like last year's installment, the game is set in the fictional Montana town of Hope County, but it takes place 17 years in the future, after the US was ravaged by nukes in one of Far Cry 5's endings. The region has now fallen under the control of the Highwaymen, a group of bandits led by the murderous twins Mickey and Lou, and it's up to players to band together with other Hope County survivors and bring them down.
The next installment in 4A's first-person survival shooter franchise, Metro Exodus, arrives a week earlier than originally planned, and it takes the series to new places--both figuratively and literally. Set several years after the events of Metro: Last Light, Exodus follows protagonist Artyom and his companions as they trek across a post-nuclear war Russia. On the journey, players will explore larger, more sandbox-like environments that are littered with all manner of supplies to scavenge and mutants to fight.
BioWare's cooperative shooter, Anthem, officially arrives on February 22 (although EA is offering a complicated array of options for jumping in early). While the game still features role-playing elements, Anthem represents a marked departure for the renowned RPG studio. Players are cast in the role of Freelancers, fighters-for-hire who don high-powered exosuits called Javelins and take on quests, defeat monsters, and chase loot. BioWare also promises world-changing events and more to keep players coming back.
Jordan Peele's directorial debut Get Out was most of the most successful and critically acclaimed horror movies of recent years, and expectations are high for his follow-up, Us. It's another horror film and arrives next month. Following the movie's recent freaky Super Bowl trailer, a stunning new poster has been released.
The poster was tweeted by Peele himself, and it shows star Lupita Nyong'o (Black Panther) pulling aside a mask of her smiling face to reveal a much scarier version underneath. We already know that the film focuses on a family who are terrorised by a group of identical doppelgangers, and this poster is every bit as unnerving as the footage released so far. Check it out below:
Us also stars Nyong'o's Black Panther co-star Winston Duke as Gabe Wilson. Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid's Tale) and Tim Heidecker join them as members of the Tyler family, with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II from Aquaman and Anna Diop from the DC Universe streaming series Titans, also appearing. It hits theaters on March 8, 2019.
2019 is set to be a big year for Peele. In addition to Us, his take on a new Twilight Zone series will debut on CBS All Access on April 1 (disclosure: CBS is GameSpot's parent company). Peele will serve as host and narrator of the show, and his production company, Monkeypaw, is set to produce the series.
In addition, Peele is producing a new Amazon series titled The Hunt. The show is set in 1977 New York City and centers on a group of people known as Hunters who track down Nazis hoping to establish a Fourth Reich in America. Last month it was reported that Al Pacino will take the lead role in the series.
BioWare has released a new video for Anthem which finally delves into the previously secretive details about how the end-game works. As you may expect your freelancer will be able to delve into extra-hard challenges to continue scoring better and better loot.
To start, three extra difficulty modes will be unlocked once you reach pilot level 30, the game's level cap. Those are called Grandmaster 1, Grandmaster 2, and Grandmaster 3. The higher you set your difficulty, the better chances you'll have to score rare gear and cosmetic items.
As for what you'll be doing with those extra difficulty modes, the end-game is composed of a few new objective types: challenges, contracts, and strongholds. Contracts are specialized missions you take on by talking to NPCs, and they improve your faction rep and unlock new blueprints. Legendary contracts are larger, multi-part missions with bigger rewards. Challenges will award you with coins and crafting materials, while strongholds are team-required missions with some of the biggest rewards.
The video also teases that you can do freeplay in the end-game. You'll also find cataclysms, which are time-limited world events. Finally, the overview promises other features coming like guilds and social hubs, along with "massive world-changing events."
Microsoft held an Xbox Insider livestream on Tuesday, and it was unusually chock full of news about the coming months and beyond. Packed into the presentation were announcements regarding the Halo series, Game Pass, Sea of Thieves, new console bundles, and more. Read on for a full recap of the news.
Halo Outpost Discovery
We're still not sure just when to expect Halo Infinite, but fans can live out their Halo fantasies this year regardless. 343 and Microsoft will be hosting a traveling event with in-universe activities, panels, and more. It will visit five cities this year, open for one weekend in each. You can explore a Halo Ring, visit a Warthog, play VR simulations and laser tag, attend panels with creators, and get cosplay tips. Plus, of course, you can just play yourself some Halo. Check whether it's coming to your neck of the woods.
Game Pass in February
The smallest month is bringing some big games to Xbox One Game Pass, the all-you-can-eat subscription service. The February line-up includes Shadow of the Tomb Raider, The Walking Dead Season 1, and Batman: Return to Arkham, to name a few. The real headliner is Crackdown 3, which is finally really coming out after years of delays. As a Microsoft first-party game, it's included as part of Game Pass, so if you're a subscriber you already as good as own it. Check out the full calendar for when each game will drop on the service.
The Division 2 and Anthem Bundles
Two more big games are dropping soon, and Microsoft is partnering with each one's publisher to offer hardware bundles. Both Anthem and The Division 2 are getting paired with Xbox Ones. The Anthem bundle includes the game's Legion of Dawn edition with bonuses, an Xbox One S 1 TB, and one-month trials of EA Access, Game Pass, and Xbox Live Gold. The Division 2 is getting two separate sets of bundles, one with a black Xbox One X and one with a white Xbox One S. Check out price and release date details to plan your purchases.
Sea of Thieves Brings Your Mateys Aboard
If your adventures on the high seas are feeling a little lonely, Rare and Microsoft are making it a little easier to fill your crew. Owners of Sea of Thieves or Game Pass subscribers can gift a copy of the game to up to three people, which will let them play for free until February 13. After that, they can purchase it for a 35% discount. Keep in mind that they'll need to a Gold membership to play the online game.
New Red Controller is Sporty
If you need a brand-new controller to play all these games on, the livestream covered that too. It debuted the new Sport Red Special Edition, which aside from the nifty paint job features rubber grips along the back. Because sports. It will cost $70 and release on March 5. A matching Pro Charging Stand will also be available in North America. Read more details on the nifty piece of kit.
Microsoft Game Studios Becomes Xbox Game Studios
In a bit of branding news that you may notice when you start up a first-party game in the future, Microsoft Game Studios is no more. It's been renamed Xbox Game Studios, which corporate VP Matt Booty says is a reflection of how the Xbox brand itself has expanded. This comes just after a series of acquisitions, so the newly rebranded Xbox Game Studios is now composed of 13 teams. Booty said the teams are working on "incredible exclusives, original IP, and all-new chapters from your favorite franchises."
Disney continues to remake its classic fairy tale movies, and 2019 will see three live-action updates of animated favorites. Aladdin and The Lion King are due for release later this year, but ahead of that we have a new version of Dumbo. A new trailer has now been released.
This latest promo sets up the classic story, in which a struggling circus welcomes a new baby elephant to its ranks. Of course, Dumbo's giant ears make him unpopular with the circus bosses, until a discovery that he can fly changes everything. It's directed by Tim Burton, so looks as magical and inventive as you'd expect from the director of Alice in Wonderland and Edward Scissorhands. Check it out above.
Dumbo stars Colin Farrell as the former circus star who is now unable to perform because of a wartime injury, plus Michael Keaton as villainous entrepreneur Vandemere, Danny DeVito as circus owner Max Medici, and Eva Green as trapeze artist Colette Marchant. It releases on March 29, 2019.
In terms of other Disney adaptations, Aladdin arrives in May, while The Lion King is released in July. Further down the line, a new version of Mulan is set for a 2020 release. There are also movies based on Cruella De Ville (101 Dalmations) and Tinker Bell (Peter Pan) reportedly in development.
Apex Legends from Respawn surprise-launched this week, and already one of the top-requested features is cross-play between its various platforms. During the Q&A portion of a recent earnings call, CEO Andrew Wilson suggested that while their data has found the feature isn't widely used by players, it still plans to utilize it--especially for franchises with big player bases like FIFA.
"We think cross-play and cross-progress is going to be a very important part of our future, and you should anticipate that we'll be doing more in that space," Wilson said. "What our information would suggest to us is that there isn't a tremendous amount of play across devices, but that overall liquidity in any gaming community is a good and positive thing, even if it's only a few people or a small portion of the community that utilizes that.
"We absolutely are looking into that in the context of Apex, and we'll be looking at that across our portfolio over time. We think about franchises with tremendously large communities like FIFA, and we think that they would absolutely benefit from cross-play and cross-progress, as more and more people come into these big communities."
That doesn't sound as if the feature is high on the company's priority list, but it's not ruling it out either. Respawn has hinted that cross-platform play could come to Apex Legends in the future, but it has already ruled out cross-platform progression due to how the basic framework was built.
The EA earnings call also confirmed that in addition to Apex Legends, Respawn has another Titanfall project in the works. We know that it's a "premium game [coming] this year that is a new twist on the Titanfall universe," according to Wilson, and Respawn head Vince Zampella has since confirmed that it isn't a VR game. The earnings call also confirmed a new Need for Speed and Plants vs Zombies are both on the horizon.
Take-Two Interactive has reported strong financial results for the third quarter of 2019, led by the huge success of Rockstar Games' Red Dead Redemption 2. In a statement, the company confirmed that, to date, Red Dead Redemption 2 has "sold-in more than 23 million units worldwide." It's worth noting that "sold-in" means shipped to retailers and not necessarily to consumers. However, typically, sold-in stock is a good indication of how much is sold through to people.
Take-Two's revenue grew to $1.2 billion, which is up from $480 million during the same period in the previous financial year. "The largest contributors to net revenue in fiscal third quarter 2019 were Red Dead Redemption 2, NBA 2K19 and NBA 2K18, Grand Theft Auto Online and Grand Theft Auto V, WWE 2K19 and WWE SuperCard, Dragon City and Monster Legends, and Sid Meier's Civilization VI," Take-Two said.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was also noted as being one of the largest contributors to digitally-delivered revenue in the quarter, alongside Grand Theft Auto Online, Grand Theft Auto V, and NBA 2K18, among others.
"Our outperformance was driven primarily by the record-breaking launch of Red Dead Redemption 2 along with strong results from NBA 2K19," addedTake-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick. "In addition, consumers engaged significantly with our offerings, and recurrent consumer spending grew 31% to a new record. We generated strong cash flow and ended the period with $1.6 billion in cash and short-term investments, after deploying $109 million to repurchase 1 million shares of our stock."
Red Dead Redemption 2 has now outsold its predecessor, Red Dead Redemption, by a comfortable margin. As of February 2017 the first Red Dead Redemption has sold 15 million units in total. Its sequel has managed to shoot past this number in a fraction of the time. In an investor call, Zelnick highlighted that Red Dead Redemption 2 has "sold more in its first eight days than its predecessor sold in eight years."
Red Dead Redemption 2 has received critical acclaim, earning a 9/10 from GameSpot. Kallie Plagge described it as "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." You can read our full Red Dead Redemption 2 review for more of Kallie's thoughts on it.
Following the launch of Apex Legends, developer Respawn Entertainment confirmed it is working on a new Titanfall experience. Little is known about what this project is, but the studio has said it isn't a third entry in the mainline series. While many have speculated that it could relate to the VR game Respawn is known to be developing, studio CEO Vince Zampella has said this isn't the case.
On Twitter, Zampella replied to a user that suggested that the other Titanfall project Respawn is working on is for VR, and outright shot down the idea.
Apex Legends is a free-to-play battle royale game set in the Titanfall universe. However, it is missing many of the hallmarks of a Titanfall game, most notably the mechs and the parkour-inspired movement mechanics. Naturally, fans of the first two Titanfall games were left somewhat disappointed when Respawn said Titanfall 3 isn't happening. However, Zampella gave them some hope.
"We are also working on more Titanfall for later in the year (yes, I said the T word)," he said. "We love being able to experiment in this crazy universe!" EA later released its earnings report and, as part of the statements it made alongside it, committed to "[growing] Apex Legends and related Titanfall experiences."
Respawn is also working on Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, which is expected to release this fall. The game was briefly mentioned in EA's financial reports, alongside other upcoming titles from the publisher. Surprisingly, EA also confirmed it was working on new Plants vs. Zombies and Need for Speed titles.
Apex Legends has had a successful launch, and reached 1 million unique players in under eight hours. A day after its initial launch, EA confirmed the game had gathered 2.5 million unique players and seen 600,000 concurrent players.
One of the franchises that Disney will get when its deal to buy the bulk of 20th Century Fox's assets is complete is the Deadpool series. Unlike a lot of Disney's programming, Deadpool is not family friendly--that's part of the appeal and what makes the series so refreshing and unique. But will the House of Mouse's acquisition of Deadpool change that? It sounds like no.
Disney chief Bob Iger said on an earnings call that he understands there is significant interest in the R-rated Deadpool movies, and he pledged that Disney will "continue in that business," and potentially even expand to do more.
"We do believe there is room for the Fox properties to exist without significant Disney influence over the nature of the content, meaning that we see that there is certainly popularity amongst Marvel fans for the R-rated Deadpool films, as a for instance," he said. "We're going to continue in that business, and there might be room for more of that."
Iger added that it is not concerned about "standards and practices" considerations when it looks at the assets it's acquiring from Fox. In addition to Deadpool, Disney is getting The Simpsons and Family Guy, which are known to be edgier and less family friendly. The important matter will be ensuring that more adult-focused programming is branded that way, Iger explained.
"There's nothing that we've really seen in the Fox either library or in the activities that Fox is engaging in today from a standards perspective that would be of concern to us as long as we're very carefully branding them and making sure that we're not in any way confusing the consumer with product that would be sort of either Disney product or the more traditional Marvel product," Iger said.
While Deadpool 2 hit theatres as an R-rated film, a toned down PG-13 cut featuring Fred Savage was released around the holidays in an attempt to reach a wider audience.
No new Deadpool films have been announced, but given the enormous success of the franchise so far, you can expect more to come at some point down the road. Deadpool 2 made a massive $785 million at the box office against a budget of $110 million.
In other Disney news, Iger also commented on how Disney struggled to publish video games internally, so that's why Disney has partnered with companies like EA for licensing deals.
Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo have reaffirmed that the current cut of the much-anticipated film is three hours long; the editing process isn't over yet, but it appears Endgame will end up being the longest Marvel movie ever.
Asked by Collider if Marvel and Disney are OK with Endgame running for as long as Titanic, the Russo brothers said Marvel/Disney are "down with what the best story is," even at three hours.
Endgame is so long because it's said to wrap up a story that started 22 movies ago. Not only that, but extra time is required for scenes to allow the film to deliver emotional resonance, they said.
"Right now, we think the movie is playing well and we've had great responses from our test audiences and we're feeling very good about where it is," they said. "We're still doing work to it. We're not done with it. Again, this is a culmination film of 22 movies, it's a lot of storytelling to work into it. Emotion is an intrinsic part of that to us. When you have to tell a really complicated story and you want strong emotional moments with the characters, it just requires a certain amount of real estate. This one, in particular, feels like three hours worth of real estate."
They added that in the four screenings for test audiences so far, not one person has left their chair to use the bathroom.
For comparison, Avengers: Infinity War was already a long movie, running for two hours and 40 minutes.
Endgame hits theatres in the US on April 26. A new trailer for it was shown during the Super Bowl this weekend; for more, check out GameSpot's breakdown in the video embed above.
With this new era of reboot television, some might be wondering if one of the most famous modern TV shows, Lost, might be eyed for a revival someday. It may never return to screens, but ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke hopes it might someday.
Speaking at the Television Critics Association event recently, Burke said she dreams about Lost coming back to TV, but she stressed that no official conversations have taken place about it.
"It's literally at this point just what I dream about when I go to bed at night," she told The Hollywood Reporter. "I have not spoken to [executive producers] Carlton [Cuse] or J.J. [Abrams] or ABC Studios about it. But I do often get asked the question what show would I reboot and often my answer is Lost--sometimes Alias. Nothing to report yet. Maybe ever. But it would be a fun thing to have a conversation about."
If a Lost revival does happen, Cuse may not be a part of it. Cuse told THR last year that he and Lindelof have said for a long time that they wouldn't work on Lost again because "we told the story that we wanted to tell." Cuse added that he would personally be OK if ABC brought someone else on to reboot Lost with characters who go to the island at a different period of time.
"I would be less excited if they wanted to use the characters that we had in our show," he said.
Lost ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2010. One of its other co-creators was JJ Abrams, who would go on to direct Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the new Star Trek.
Would you be interested in a reboot of Lost? Let us know in the comments below!
Microsoft has announced two more Xbox One bundles that join the already-massive array of hardware bundles that the company offers. As part of the Inside Xbox broadcast today, Microsoft announced that Anthem and The Division 2 are getting Xbox One bundles.
The Anthem Xbox One S bundle comes 1 TB white system, matching white controller, and a copy of Anthem's Legion of Dawn Edition. This includes armor packs, a weapon, and other bonuses. Also included in the package are one-month trials for EA Access, Xbox Game Pass, and Xbox Live Gold. The bundle arrives at retailers alongside Anthem on February 22; it's priced at $300 USD.
As for The Division 2, it's getting bundles for Xbox One X and Xbox One. The $500 USD Xbox One X edition comes with a 1 TB black console and a matching controller, as well as a copy of the game's standard edition. It also comes with a one-month trial for Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold. The $300 USD Xbox One edition comes with a 1 TB white system and a matching white controller, as well as a copy of the game's standard edition. It also includes one-month trials for Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold. Both go on sale March 16 alongside the game.
It's a new month, and that means Nintendo Switch Online subscribers are getting even more free classic NES games to play. Available from February 13 will be Super Mario Bros. 2 and Kirby's Adventure, Nintendo has announced.
The NES library for Switch Online subscribers launched with 20 big-name games, including Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Dr. Mario, Ice Climber, Metroid, and Donkey Kong. As you can tell from January and the titles coming in February, the catalog is adding some great games.
Nintendo Switch Online costs $4 USD/month or $8 USD for three months. A 12-month subscription goes for $20 USD, while a Family Membership for up to eight Nintendo Account members costs $35 USD for a year. New subscribers can sign up with a seven-day free trial. In addition to free NES games, subscribers get access to cloud saves, and online play for many titles such as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Mario Kart 8 Ultimate.
Nintendo recently confirmed that Nintendo Switch Online had reached 8 million members, and teased that it will "expand" the service. "Nintendo Switch Online has had a good start," president Shuntaro Furukawa said. "In keeping with the goal of providing Nintendo Switch owners with 'More Games. More Features. More Fun,' we are working on continuing to expand the service offerings."
By Anonymous on Feb 06, 2019 06:28 am We got the best look of Marshmello's absolutely insane live concert that over 10 million users tuned in to watch and put together our favorite moments from start to finish. Marshmello had several in game tricks that we saw in Pleasant Park and if you missed the event, we have gameplay footage captured here.
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