Death is an old friend to fans of From Software's Bloodborne and Dark Souls games, as the Soulsborne titles all implement mechanics and features that relate to dying. From Software's newest game, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, is no different. However, death works a little bit differently in Sekiro.
In the following guide, we go over all the ways that death impacts your journey in Sekiro. Whether you want to know when the best time to use the revive mechanic is or how to deal with the effects of Dragonrot, read ahead to learn more.
Sekiro is available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC. If you're still on the fence about whether you want to buy the game, read our review-in-progress. In it, Tamoor Hussain gives the game a 9/10, writing, "Sekiro marries From Software's unique brand of gameplay with stealth action to deliver an experience that is as challenging as it is gratifying."
In Comparison To Dark Souls And Bloodborne
First and foremost, you need to treat death in Sekiro differently than what you may have experienced playing Darks Souls or Bloodborne. When it comes to death, the only similarity Sekiro shares with From Software's previous titles is that its world is filled with innumerable ways to kill your character.
Upon death, your character, Wolf, loses some of his experience and half of the in-game currency in his possession. The former is used to upgrade Wolf's abilities and unlock new moves, while the latter allows you to purchase items. You cannot recover what you've lost upon death, so it's in your best interest to flee from fights you think you can't win. To counter this, Wolf has the ability to receive Unseen Aid--providing a chance to keep your experience and coin upon death. You can see your probability of receiving Unseen Aid--which will decrease if Dragonrot has begun to spread--by either pausing the game or resting at an idol.
Dragonrot -- What It Does And How To Cure It
Speaking of Dragonrot, this deadly disease is also closely tied to death in Sekiro. Pretty much anyone Wolf meets and interacts with has the potential of contracting Dragonrot, which causes them to suffer violent coughing fits. The game will inform you whenever someone contracts the disease.
The more you die in Sekiro, the more the Dragonrot disease spreads. Die only a few times in your playthrough and only a couple of individuals will catch it. However, if Wolf falls in battle many times--which is much more likely as Sekiro is a very difficult game--then eventually everyone he knows will begin coughing. As stated before, you do not want this. With every character that contracts Dragonrot, Wolf's possibility of receiving Unseen Aid diminishes. That's not all, though. You won't be able to complete questlines for characters who've caught the disease, as their coughing fits don't allow them to properly answer you when you try to talk to them. Some of these questlines unlock new skills and prosthetic upgrades that help with the minibosses and bosses in the main story, so doing them is in your best interest.
Thankfully, Dragonrot isn't fatal (or at least as far as we can tell), and there's a cure. So you shouldn't lose anyone and their respective side quests to the disease while you're busy collecting the ingredients to make medicine.
In order to first discover the cure, you'll need The Sculptor to fall ill to the Dragonrot. You'll know when it happens because you'll get a cutscene that highlights how sick he's becoming. Go outside and talk to Emma about it and she'll give you a quest for a cure. You just need to bring her the blood of someone else who has Dragonrot. When you get the notification that someone else is sick, go and talk to them. They'll cough up some blood that you can take back to Emma. She'll use the blood to synthesize a cure, called a Dragon Tear. Using the tear at an idol cures everyone plagued by the Dragonrot. However, if you die enough times, the disease will begin to spread once again. You'll need to buy more Dragon Tears from specific merchants in order to cure the rot again. As far as we can tell, there isn't an infinite amount to purchase, so save those tears for when you really need them.
In Sekiro, Shadows Can Actually Die Thrice
Despite Sekiro's title, you can actually die up to three times on one life. In the bottom left corner of the screen, you'll notice two pinkish red orbs. They represent how many times you can revive. The first orb is filled by resting at an idol, and the second is filled by executing enemies with death blows.
When you die, you'll have the choice of accepting death or reviving yourself. Choosing to revive uses your first orb and puts a black smear through the second. You'll need to land a deathblow to remove the smear. Doing so allows you to revive a second time upon dying again.
You'll need to be strategic about reviving a second time though. Remember, your second orb is filled through landing deathblows on enemies. So if you use your second orb during a boss fight and then die a third time, you'll have to go out and farm enemies to recover a second revive for fighting the boss again. If you don't think you have the necessary upgrades to beat the boss you're currently fighting, you might want to just let the Wolf die and save your second revive for another run at the boss.
If you've let your World of Warcraft subscription go inactive, Blizzard really wants you to come back this weekend. To encourage players with inactive accounts to return, the publisher is upgrading those accounts with all expansion packs through Legion and offering a three-hour trial of the latest expansion, Battle for Azeroth. World of Warcraft is free to play now through Sunday, March 24.
To take advantage of the limited-time offer, all you have to do is re-download the Battle.net desktop app, log into your account, click on the World of Warcraft tab, install or update the game, and hit Play.
If you haven't been keeping up with all the expansions, there's a lot of new content to check out, such as new worlds, classes, races, and mechanics, and you likely won't have time to dive into all of it this weekend. As another incentive to bring old players back, Blizzard is offering $20 off on both the Battle for Azeroth expansion and the World of Warcraft: Complete Collection through March 31. Select game services are also marked down by 30%: character transfer, faction change, and race change.
Even if you've never purchased Battle for Azeroth, you'll gain access to a free three-hour trial of the expansion this weekend. You can also repeat the trial with up to twelve different characters. Battle for Azeroth introduced two huge new features: level-scaling, which means the levels of creatures and quests are scaled to your character level, and Allied Races, design twists on the main races unlocked after meeting certain in-game requirements. Check out our World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth review for a full breakdown of what to expect from the expansion.
NetherRealm has detailed the upcoming beta for Mortal Kombat 11, including when it's coming and how much meat will be on its proverbial bones. The beta will begin on Wednesday, March 27 at 8 AM PT, and run through Sunday, March 31 at 11:59 PM PT. It will be open to anyone who pre-ordered a copy of the game on PS4 or Xbox One.
The beta will include five playable characters: Baraka, Jade, Kabal, Scarlet, and Scorpion. That's just a taste of the much more expansive character roster, some of which has yet to be officially announced. Most recently the studio confirmed Kotal Kahn.
The beta will include online multiplayer matches and the single-player Towers of Time mode, along with an exclusive preview of the Custom Character Variation System. That system will let you choose from various cosmetic options for your character, including their skins, gear, special abilities, taunts, brutalities, and intro and victory cinematics. You'll need a Gold or PS Plus membership to play online, but you can play with the Towers of Time or Character Variation offline.
Pre-ordering not only gets you the beta access, but also Shao Kahn as a playable character. That bonus will be across all platforms, including PC and Nintendo Switch, while the beta is limited to PS4 and Xbox One. The game releases on April 23.
It's a great week for Xbox One deals--in addition to discounted Square Enix games and wireless controllers, Xbox Live just launched yet another sale you won't want to miss. The Critically Acclaimed Sale went live today and includes some of the best game titles released in recent years, including Red Dead Redemption 2, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Celeste, Dead Cells, and more. This batch of game deals has markdowns up to 75% off, and you can claim them for the next week.
Every one of these games is worth picking up (depending on your interests), but let's take a quick look at the most notable deals. Mountain-climbing platformer Celeste, which was one of the best games of last year, is marked down 50%; you can grab it for $10 right now. Red Dead Redemption 2 has been going on sale frequently, but if you've been waiting to get it on Xbox One, you can pick up its standard edition for only $40.19. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has been out for nearly four years but is still considered an RPG masterpiece--so if you don't own it, consider picking up the standard edition on sale for $12 (or the Complete edition for just $15). Rogue-inspired metroidvania game Dead Cells is also marked down to $17.49.
Several excellent puzzle platformers are also marked down, including a bundle for Playdead's acclaimed titles Insideand Limbo. Little Nightmares' Complete edition is only $9 and includes the DLC Secrets of the Maw. The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories is a wild, emotional adventure with a surprising ending--and it's on sale for $19.49.
Quite a few of these game deals also overlap with the indie games sale happening in the Nintendo Eshop right now--if you own a Switch, you may want to take a glance at that sale too.
It's been many months since there was any news about the live-action movie based on the hugely popular animated Nickelodeon show Dora the Explorer--but now we have a title and first poster. The movie is titled Dora and the Lost City of Gold, and it's set to hit theaters in August.
The poster shows star Isabela Moner (Transformers: The Last Knight) as Dora, looking out at a great ancient jungle city--with her monkey pal Boots on her back. According to the poster, "Explorer is her middle name," which might come as news to those who thought it was "The." Anyway, check the poster out below:
This poster follows the first image of Moner as Dora, which was released last summer when the movie started production. Dora and the Lost City of Gold is directed by James Bobin, who is best known for movies such as The Muppets and Alice Through The Looking Glass, plus the musical TV comedy Flight of the Conchords.
The movie also stars Michael Peña (Ant-Man and the Wasp) and Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives) as Dora's mom and dad, plus Micke Moreno (Escobar: Paradise Lost) as her cousin Diego and Benicio del Toro as the voice of the villainous fox Swiper. It releases on August 2.
Dora the Explorer ran from 2000 to 2014 for 14 seasons and 172 episodes, and spawned the spin-off shows Dora and Friends: Into the City and Go, Diego, Go And if you can't wait for the movie, you can check out this hilarious spoof trailer for a fake live-action Dora film, which was made in 2012 and starred Modern Family's Ariel Winter.
The first-ever Apex Legends battle pass, this one for Season 1--Wild Frontier--released earlier this week. It clearly takes some inspiration from the battle passes popularized by Fortnite, and much like the ones offered by Epic, EA and Respawn have designed Apex's so that it can pay for itself, provided you play enough.
The Season 1 battle pass costs 950 Apex Coins. You can also buy a bundle for 2,800 Apex Coins that includes the battle pass and gives you a head start by advancing you through 25 levels of battle pass progression (and unlocking the corresponding rewards). The pass itself includes a variety of rewards--such as skins, stat trackers, Legend voice lines, and Apex Coin and XP drops--with rewards unlocked by earning XP.
More importantly, you can actually earn 1,000 Apex Coins in total through the battle pass, which, EA notes in a blog post, can be "put towards unlocking the next Battle Pass." Alternatively, you could put it toward unlocking a character, such as the new Legend, Octane. Whatever the case, if you level up the battle pass enough, you can make back the Apex Coins it costs to buy it in the first place.
The battle pass essentially gives players a second set of rewards to earn alongside those you get by leveling up your player profile. Whether or not you buy Octane or Apex Legends' new battle pass, Season 1 lets you unlock some rewards for free: 18 new stat trackers, five Apex Packs, and a new skin for Octane. Although your battle pass level is separate from your player level, they are both increased by playing matches and earning XP. There are no Fortnite-style challenge to complete, although Respawn has suggested that future seasons may work differently and that it's open to feedback from players.
Octane, the ninth and newest Legend to join Respawn's battle royale game, is also out now. Octane is not a part of the battle pass though, and you'll need to buy him with additional Legend Tokens or Apex Coins. Much like Mirage and Caustic, Octane will cost 12,000 Legend Tokens or 750 Apex Coins.
If you're playing Apex Legends on PC or Xbox One, you might have a cheaper option for picking up Octane or the battle pass. Origin Access and EA Access, respectively, provide subscribers with 1,000 free Apex Coins in addition to a few other rewards. As such, if you aren't already a member, you can subscribe for one month and get that bonus for less money than you'd spend on 1,000 Apex Coins
With the Epic Store growing in influence, we're seeing a number of games--including Hades and the PC releases for Metro Exodus and The Division 2--release as exclusives on the new online marketplace. Another game launching as an Epic Store exclusive is The Cycle, coming from Yager Entertainment--the same developers behind Spec Ops: The Line and 2018's multiplayer combat-sim Dreadnought. With the full rollout planned later this year, The Cycle will be Yager's first self-published game, it blends PvE gameplay with the pace of an online shooter.
The developers explained why they felt the game was such a good fit for the Epic Store, crediting the success of Fortnite and flexibility of the Unreal Engine for online games. As a live game, Yager has plans to work on The Cycle for the long-term, adding in new content and features over its lifetime.
"We wanted to have a different type of relationship with the community than what we'd had before on Dreadnought," said Jonathan Lindsay, Executive Producer at Yager Entertainment. "There's been a lot of lessons learned from that, on a technical level, and also, we've gotten a lot of benefit out of the lessons we've learned from Epic on Fortnite, since they've worked on the Unreal Engine. The engine itself is really great for a live game and it supports that format really well."
The Cycle is a PvPvE game (player-versus-player-versus-environment) that blends together different genres for a somewhat unorthodox approach to an online shooter. Landing on the hostile alien world Fortuna III, your character will have to explore the surface of the planet and collect resources to craft new gear to survive. In addition to fighting off the local wildlife, you'll need to complete a number of contracts from your chosen faction in order to gain enough credits to call in better gear. However, you'll also come across other players who are doing the same.
When reading that particular premise, it sounds like a game trying to take a crack at the battle royale genre. Though it features a very similar setup, complete with a map that has themed areas, The Cycle is not a battle royale game. Along with contending with dangerous alien creatures and tackling new missions thrown in during a match, you'll need to actively collect materials to haul back to the extraction point. You're certainly free to shoot other players on sight and try to take some of their resources, but you might be better off trying to form a squad with other players you can meet in the world.
The end goal is to make it to the extraction with your set of resources by the end of the match, but unlike other online shooters, multiple players can come away with a win. Resources kept with you during extraction can be used to craft new upgrades for your gear. These upgrades are persistent, allowing to you flesh out your character and loadouts, letting you bring a slightly more prepared character into the next game. However, you'll still start fresh in every match, and you'll need to collect credits to call-in the more high-end gear you've acquired.
The developers at Yager Entertainment state that The Cycle will be a community-driven game, with feedback collected from players helping to inform what comes next for the online game. At the end of this month, from March 28-30, a new alpha test will open up for players who sign up for access on the official site, allowing newcomers to check out what the online shooter has in store.
Whether you love him or hate him, John Cena has become a staple of Wrestlemania, since his main card debut at Wrestlemania XX. He's put on high-profile matches, year after year, and the WWE wrestler has star power. However, Cena doesn't have a match--yet--at this year's PPV, and with Undertaker seemingly not in the picture anymore, Mania needs Cena. But who will the leader of Cenation fight at the biggest show of the year? Kurt Angle's retirement match is against Baron Corbin--that's a sentence I never thought I'd write. And all of WWE's main players have been spoken for. That's why I propose John Cena faces the most obvious choice of opponent at Mania this year, R-Truth. If you're one of those wrestling fans that hates when WWE does anything remotely comedic, go watch the trailer for Avengers: Endgame again or something. This is not for you.
Wrestlemania is coming to PPV and the WWE Network on Sunday, April 7 at 4 PM PT / 7 PM ET, and it should be a pretty fantastic ending to a week of wrestling events. There, now there's a buffer between the information I dropped on you and everything that follows because you're probably in shock and yelling at your screen (shut up already), even though the headline of the piece completely lays out my agenda. There have been plenty of rumors stating the two will NOT face each other at Mania, even though it seems like the obvious conclusion. But will it be tough for Truth to pull double duty as the Host of Wrestlemania AND a competitor? Yes, I'm aware Alexa Bliss is the host. Roll with me, please.
Let's dive into a little bit of history. Whether WWE likes it or not, they've been setting up this match for months. At the end of January this year, R-Truth won the United States Championship on Smackdown, in one of the weirdest finishes I've seen in years, which was meant to look like a ref botch (Mike Chioda don't botch). I guess it was a way to transition the title without making Shinsuke Nakamura weak? It was a dumb finish, regardless, and made R-Truth start his run as a seemingly paper champion, which I hated.
R-Truth and Carmella's "7-Second Dance Break" bit had run its course, and the new US Champion needed to add some more flavor to his character. A few weeks later, R-Truth transitioned his character into a new gimmick: the young wrestler who idolizes his heroes. It's something we see time and time again. Young upstarts pay homage to the WWE superstars who got them interested in wrestling, like when Sasha Banks does the frog splash to honor Eddie Guerrero. However, as you probably figured out, R-Truth is older than John Cena, so what we're left with is comedy gold. Enjoy one of the many fantastic segments from Truth and Carmella during this time.
What's interesting about this non-feud-feud is that is goes back farther than this 2019 gimmick. Back in 2011, Truth interjected himself into the title picture when Cena was champion. This led to a solid segment of Truth destroying a merchandise booth because John Cena was everywhere. In the grand scheme of things, it was a short run but memorable nevertheless. In 2011, Truth hated Cena because he is everything he wanted to be. In 2019, Truth loves Cena because he is everything he wants to be. Personally, I think the latter makes for better storytelling, but I'm one of those annoying '80s wrestling fans who gets way too hyped over a face vs. face match because they rarely happen. I like seeing the audience split when it comes to who they are cheering for.
Anyway, back to the present.
So R-Truth decided to hold the US open challenge like his childhood hero, John Cena. The promo he cut on March 5, right before losing the title, was hilarious and brilliant, as you can see below.. And, in a sense, he's not doing anything exceptionally new. He's just borrowing something we've seen younger superstars who are new to the company do and adding the Truth-flavor to it, which works exceptionally well.
I want to make a quick note. When Lacey Evans walks out--yes, I hate whatever is happening here too and want it to stop forever--look at Truth. He's ready to fight her and does a crane kick. Bless you, Truth. Anyway, he takes the bit even further, copying Cena's moves like the Five-Knuckle-Shuffle. R-Truth has always been a fun character when he's working as a face. He makes really stupid ideas work exceptionally well, and it's obvious he has fun doing it.
So let's push it to the limit.
Why not have R-Truth face John Cena at Wrestlemania? What's Cena doing that weekend that he can't be in this match? What, is he filming a movie I'll probably enjoy, and after I see it, I'll tell all my friends, "Cena was a lot of fun in that one?" And yes, Cena vs. Truth may sound like a Kickoff Show match to you, and yes, the match card already has a lot of bouts booked, but why can't we have something fun? Look at the match card. Every storyline building up to each of these matches is super-serious, and this new match could interject a lot of fun into the show.
Better yet, have R-Truth do a build towards Mania where he's calling out John Cena, who never shows up to Smackdown--do you know where I am going with this yet? So R-Truth buys a ticket to attend the PPV as a fan. Then, Cena shows up, and R-Truth runs from the crowd to face him in the ring. "Mat, that's what Cena did last year with Undertaker!" Yeah, I know, but this is perfect for R-Truth. It could also help me create more fire content like last year's "Every Time WWE's Cameras Cut To John Cena In The Crowd." Click that. It's the best.
Look, I'm already pretty excited for Wrestlemania, as this has been one of the best builds toward the event in years. But if you want to put this show really over the top and deliver a solid comedic spot that has been building up for months, book John Cena vs. R-Truth (you cowards). It's the natural conclusion. And frankly, it's a lot better than what R-Truth and Carmella seem to be doing which is "fake hosting Wrestlemania" and getting confused randomly throughout the evening. Who am I kidding? I'll still enjoy that too.
Oh yeah, come to GameSpot on Sunday, April 7 for live coverage of Wrestlemania and a review of the show.
We're now in Fortnite Season 8, Week 4, which means there are new challenges to complete. By now, you should know how it goes: knock out these challenges and you'll unlock Battle Stars, which will level up your Battle Pass and grant you access to all manner of cosmetics that you can use to customise your character.
[Update: One thing to be aware of upfront is that one of the challenges, the one tasking you with outlasting 60 opponents, is currently bugged. Epic confirmed in a tweet that it's "aware of an issue preventing players from receiving credit." It added, "We are investigating potential solutions and will provide a status update once we know more." There's no estimate for how quickly this might be fixed.]
This week's Free challenges, which are available to everyone playing Fortnite, task players with using the Baller vehicle in five different matches, getting an elimination with a scoped weapon and a suppressed weapon, and then doing a five-part challenge that begins with landing at Tilted Towers.
If you've spent V-Bucks on a Battle Pass, you have an extra set of challenges waiting for you. These involve launching yourself through structures using the pirate cannon, searching for buried treasure, eliminating enemies at Happy Hamlet or Pleasant Park, and then doing another three-parter that begins by outlasting 60 other players in a match.
Free
Stage 1 of 5: Land at Tilted Towers (1) -- 1 Battle Stars
Use The Baller in different matches (5) -- 5 Battle Stars
Get an elimination with a Scoped weapon and a Suppressed weapon (2) -- 10 Battle Stars
Battle Pass
Launch yourself through structures with a Pirate Cannon (25) -- 5 Battle Stars
Search Buried Treasure (2) -- 5 Battle Star
Eliminate opponents at Happy Hamlet or Pleasant Park (3) -- 10 Battle Stars
Stage 1 of 3: Outlast 60 opponents in a single match -- 3 Battle Stars
This week's challenges arrive hot on the heels of Fortnite's 8.11 update, which introduced yet another new weapon to the battle royale game: the Flint-Knock Pistol. The gun deals heavy damage at close range, but it has "significant damage falloff" at longer distances, and you need to go through a three-second reloading animation after every shot.
Along with the Flint-Knock Pistol, this week's Fortnite update reintroduced the Impulse Grenade to the game after it had previously been vaulted. It also marked the start of a new limited-time mode called One Shot, which features low gravity and restricts player health to just 50. You can read the full patch notes for update 8.11 here. For tips on all of this season's trickier challenges, be sure to check out our full Season 8 challenges guide.
Battle royale games are all the rage right now, with stalwarts like PUBG and Fortnite being joined by up-and-coming whipper-snappers like Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's Blackout and Respawn's free-to-play Apex Legends. Now, DICE is getting involved with Firestorm, a free update to Battlefield V, and the first gameplay from the mode has finally been revealed.
In the video above you can see an entire match in Squads mode, culminating in a win for team GameSpot. Matches begin much like other games in the genre, with each player dropping from the sky. They then progress like you'd expect, with squads scavenging for weapons and supplies while battling to be the last team standing. Action takes place on Halvøy, which DICE says is the biggest map ever in a Battlefield game. It's estimated to be 10 times larger than Battlefield V's largest map, Hamada.
DICE has certainly put their stamp on the genre, with vehicular combat a much bigger part of Firestorm than similar games' versions of battle royale. The company also highlights destruction, which it says will mitigate camping due to the possibility of the structure you're hiding in being blown up. You'll be able to play as any of your soldiers from the standard multiplayer modes; although their class-specific abilities won't be available, their customized look will be.
Watch the video above to see how matches develop, or watch the one below for the thoughts of our battle royale experts, Dave Jewitt and Will Potter. You can play the mode for yourself when it launches for free on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on March 25.
We enjoyed Battlefield V at launch; critic Michael Higham awarded the game an 8/10 in our Battlefield V review. "The Battlefield series has a winning formula that Battlefield V doesn't deviate far from, at least for now," he wrote. "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."
Mortal Kombat 11's roster continues to grow. This week, NetherRealm confirmed that Kotal Kahn, the Emperor of Outworld, is a playable character. Unfortunately for Kotal fans, though, his reveal trailer inflicts some serious pain on the character.
The trailer focuses on a fight between Kotal and Jacqui Briggs, another returning character from MKX. And while we get to see some brutal Kotal transformations, it's Jacqui's moves that are really given the spotlight. We see her fatal blow and Fatality, leaving poor Kotal a bit beside himself. This is not how the reveal trailers usually go, so we expect to see Kotal's own moves detailed sometime later.
Mortal Kombat 11 just ran a very limited online stress test, in preparation for its open beta later this month. That one will run from March 28 through 31, and feature Scorpion, Skarlet, Jade, Kabal, and Baraka. It's open to anyone who pre-ordered on Xbox One or PS4. Putting your money down early on any platform will net you Shao Kahn as a playable character.
The game will release three editions: the standard game, a Premium Edition that comes with the Kombat Pack for extra characters and skins as they're released, and the Kollector's Edition that comes with all sorts of extra goodies. That one is exclusive to GameStop. For more detaills, check out our pre-order guide.
The new trailer for the upcoming John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum is here. The third movie in the hit action series opens in May and stars Keanu Reeves as the reluctant hitman Wick, with Ian McShane and Lawrence Fishburne also returning from the previous movies.
In the new movie, John Wick is on the run after killing a fellow hitman on the neutral ground of the Continental hotel. Seemingly every assassin in the world is after him and the movie looks set to deliver a series of insane action sequences as they try to kill him. We see several new characters, including Halle Berry's uneasy ally Sofia, who appears to have a past history with Wick, and Anjelica Huston's sinister Director. Check it out above.
This trailer follows the series of characters posters that were also released this week. The cast also includes Lance Reddick, Jason Mantzoukas, and Mark Dacascos, and is directed by by Chad Stahelski, who helmed 2017's John Wick: Chapter 2 and co-directed the first movie. It releases on May 17.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Stahelski revealed that he and Reeves already have plans for a fourth movie if this new one is a success. "If people go see the movie, and it makes money, and they came back to us, Keanu and I have ideas for days. I could live here for the rest of my career. If people like it and want to watch more, I could think of way worse ways to spend your career. But, you know, we're in the entertainment business. We'll let the audience figure that out."
A John Wick TV spin-off named The Continental was also announced by Starz last year, but there has been no further news about the status of this project.
From Software's latest game, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is nearly here. Its March 22 release date is just around the corner, and reviews are starting to go live across the web. So what do the critics think of the highly anticipated follow-up to Bloodborne and the Souls series?
GameSpot's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice review-in-progress awarded the game a 9/10, with critic Tamoor Hussain calling the stealth-action title "an experience that is as challenging as it is gratifying"--it is a From Software game, after all.
For more on the critical consensus of Sekiro, check out the selection of reviews below. Alternatively, take a look at GameSpot sister site Metacritic.
Game: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Developer / Publisher: From Software / Activision
Release date: March 22
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC
Price: US $60 / £60 / AU $100
GameSpot -- 9/10 (Review-In-Progress)
"Sekiro marries From Software's unique brand of gameplay with stealth action to deliver an experience that is as challenging as it is gratifying. At the time of publish I haven't completed Sekiro. While I have invested upwards of 30 hours into it, there are still a few more locations I need to explore and bosses I need to beat before the credits roll, and I'm excited to do it." -- Tamoor Hussain [Full review-in-progress]
IGN -- 9.5/10
"Sekiro evolves From Software's formula into a stylish stealth-action adventure that, naturally, emphasizes precision and skill in its combat. It walks the line between deliberate and patient stealth and breakneck melee combat against threats both earthly and otherworldly. Its imaginative and flexible tools support a more focused experience that shaves down some of From Software's overly cryptic sensibilities without losing its air of mystery. Sekiro is an amazing new twist on a familiar set of ideas that can stand on its own alongside its predecessors." -- Brandin Tyrrel [Full review]
Polygon -- Recommended
"I have to put in a lot of work and effort to meet Sekiro on its own terms, but what might feel ponderous in a lesser game becomes rewarding in one created with this much care. Sekiro meets me with just as much effort and enthusiasm as I've put into it. It lets me know I'm capable and skilled, and that I can figure it out. And then it hands me my ass again." -- Dave Tach and Jeffrey Parkin [Full review]
Game Informer -- 9.0/10
"Sekiro's story moves in strange and compelling ways that defy the initial adherence to the trappings of feudal Japan, and allows the player to discover multiple endings and confrontations depending on choices and secrets. It's a challenging journey through a weird and wondrous world that forces you to learn and master its punishing combat to succeed. However, the sweet thrill of victory keeps you pushing forward despite myriad disheartening deaths. Sekiro is one of the most difficult games I have ever played, but for those seeking adventure, exploration, and a truly realized ninja fantasy, the trek is worth the high demands." -- Daniel Tack [Full review]
Sony's PS4 exclusive action game God of War has won yet another Game of the Year award. Tonight at the Game Developers Choice Awards, Sony's PS4 game went home with the top prize. This is just the latest win for God of War, as it also won Game of the Year at December's The Game Awards and in February at the DICE Awards.
Other winners tonight included Celeste for Best Audio, Into the Breach for Best Design, and Red Dead Redemption 2 for Best Technology. Australian developer Mountains won Best Debut for Florence; that game also Best Mobile Game. Amy Hennig, an industry veteran who directed Uncharted, took home the Lifetime Achievement Award.
You can see a full rundown of the categories and winners at the bottom of this post.
"The Game Developers Choice Awards represent the most refined games of the year, and the sheer variety of games honored tonight showed that games can still represent wholly new and unique creative visions," GDC general manager Katie Stern said in a statement.
"A number of independently developed titles like Celeste, Gris, and Florence helped prove how internal or deeply personal turmoil can make for massively appealing games for millions of fans. While games like God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2 capture our imagination with poignant moments juxtaposed against epic tales of staggering scale and technical prowess. We embrace and accept all these amazingly creative works, and we're proud to recognize these nominees and winners alike for the imagination and hard work that brought them here."
Also at GDC this week, Google announced its new game-streaming technology, Stadia, which is set to launch later this year. Former Microsoft and Sony executive Phil Harrison is heading up the Stadia team, and he believes latency won't be an issue.
GDC 2019 continues all week, leading directly into PAX East in Boston at the weekend, so keep checking back with GameSpot for lots more.
Marvel Studios has released what looks like the official plot synopsis for Avengers: Endgame. It doesn't contain any spoilers or surprises if you've seen Infinity War. Instead, it focuses on hyping up a dramatic conclusion to a story that's been 22 films in the making.
The synopsis comes from Marvel's official website, which people recently discovered was updated to include the following description for Endgame:
"The grave course of events set in motion by Thanos that wiped out half the universe and fractured the Avengers ranks compels the remaining Avengers to take one final stand in Marvel Studios' grand conclusion to twenty-two films, Avengers: Endgame."
The 22 films reference to the all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films released since 2008, beginning with Iron Man. Endgame is the 22nd film in the series.
Avengers: Infinity War ended in dramatic fashion, with the evil Thanos snapping away half of the galaxy's population. Lots of people died, including superheroes that fans have come to know and love. In Endgame, the remaining members of the Avengers have apparently devised a plan to make things right--though it remains to be seen if the beloved fallen heroes will be resurrected by some means.
Many fans believe "the snap" may be undone in Endgame, given that many of the characters who perished have future movies in the pipeline. According to writer Christopher Markus, the deaths from Infinity War are "real," at least in some fashion.
"It is a different movie than you think it is," Markus said about Endgame. "We broke your heart. Now we're going to blow your mind."
Endgame hits theatres on April 26. It'll be the second Marvel movie in as many months, following the box office smash Captain Marvel in March. Captain Marvel actress Brie Larson returns to play the character again in Endgame, and she can be seen in the newest Endgame trailer that's embedded above.
The Xbox Game Pass catalog continues to grow in March and April. Microsoft today announced six more games headed to the library today, including some very big names.
On April 1, the fighting game Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite hits Xbox Game Pass. After that, Microsoft's sandbox game Minecraft comes to the platform on April 4.
Disney CEO Robert Iger sent a memo to staff regarding the Fox deal, and in it he acknowledged that tough times lie ahead. CNBC obtained the memo.
"I wish I could tell you that the hardest part is behind us; that closing the deal was the finish line, rather than just the next milestone," he said. "What lies ahead is the challenging work of uniting our businesses to create a dynamic, global entertainment company with the content, the platforms, and the reach to deliver industry-defining experiences that will engage consumers around the world for generations to come."
Iger went on to say that the "integration process" will affect some business units more than others. "We've made many critical decisions already, but some areas still require further evaluation. We may not have answers to all of your questions at this moment, but we understand how vital information is, and we're committed to moving as quickly as possible to provide clarity regarding how your role may be impacted," Iger said his note to employees.
Iger said he has a "deep appreciation" for how an acquisition like Disney's impacts people involved both personally and professionally. "I ask for your continued patience in the days to come as we combine this collection of great assets to create the world's premier entertainment company," he said.
As part of Disney's acquisition of Fox, the House of Mouse gets franchises like Deadpool, X-Men, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and numerous others, as well as a series of TV networks and film studios. Indeed, it is one of the biggest mergers in the history of the entertainment business.
As of September 30, The Walt Disney Company reportedly had more than 201,000 employees, and this was before the Fox deal closed.
Fox will live on in a limited capacity, with a new company--Fox Corporation--operating units such as the Fox News Channel, Fox Sports, and other TV networks.
The massively popular battle royale game Fortnite continues to grow. Epic Games announced at GDC 2019 this week that the title has now reached 250 million registered players, which is up from 200 million in December.
In terms of people actually playing the game, Epic also revealed that Fortnite reached a new concurrent player record of 10.8 million. That's up slightly from February when 10.7 million people logged on at the same time during the Marshmello in-game concert.
While Fortnite is one of the most popular games in recent history, it may still be behind Minecraft on one metric. Microsoft's sandbox game reportedly has 91 million monthly players, which is ahead of Fortnite's 78.3 million. However, these figures haven't been updated in some time, so it remains to seen if anything has changed.
Remarking on Fortnite's massive success, Epic boss Tim Sweeney told Engadget, "It's a real game. It's a shooter. It's worldwide. It's the first shooter with a huge female population. Somebody estimated it at roughly 35 percent, which is unprecedented--why isn't it 50?--but it's unprecedented for anything like this. It's because it brings together players in a social experience."
Google's Stadia is a service that allows players to stream video games via the cloud across a variety of different devices. With most of the finer details about Stadia still under wraps, we sat down with Google VP Phil Harrison at GDC 2019 to further dive into the service.
During the interview, we asked about game exclusives on Stadia. "It was a conversation that I had with Google leadership before I joined the company." Harrison said. "[My] point of view was in order to really deliver on the promise of this platform, we had to build our own games. We had to build our own experiences, and that was a very fundamental, strategic direction that we needed to move in."
He continued, "I understand that [for a gamer] the word 'exclusive' can sometimes be a challenging terminology. [I would] rather we moved the narrative towards [games] that are built specifically for a data center. And if those games also show up on other streaming platforms, that's okay, because what that means is that the developers are starting to innovate and think about the future and [build] a 21st century game, rather than a 20th century game."
Harrison further clarified that any game that Google makes will "obviously only" be on Stadia. At GDC 2019, Google revealed it has a new first-party studio that's being led by Jade Raymond, a former head at both Ubisoft and EA. The new studio hasn't announced any specific games or projects it's working on yet.
We also asked Harrison about Sadia's pricing model. Apparently, one already exists, but Harrison said Google just isn't ready to talk about it yet. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot predicts Stadia will launch with a "multitude" of pricing models. "Either you buy full price and you play; or you will be able to also register, possibly, to play either one hour or two hours a day. There will be plenty of ways," he said.
Harrison did confirm that Stadia will never support offline downloads. It's just "not technically possible," he told GameSpot. "It would be a compromise of our vision if we were to do that."
Google's announcement of Stadia is a big step towards the future of cloud gaming. The service allows players to stream video games via the cloud across a variety of different devices. Google is still keeping a lot of details about Stadia close to the chest, but during GDC 2019, the company's VP Phil Harrison sat down with GameSpot to further delve into the service.
During the interview, we asked Harrison about Stadia's pricing model. We didn't get too many details, but Harrison did reveal that a pricing model for Sadia already exists. It's just being revealed at a later date. In an interview with Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, Guillemot predicted Stadia would launch with a "multitude" of pricing models. "Either you buy full price and you play; or you will be able to also register, possibly, to play either one hour or two hours a day. There will be plenty of ways," he said.
Harrison was able to talk about the process behind deciding the specific model for Stadia, though. "[It was a lot] of very deep conversations with our developer and publisher partners over many many months, and years in some cases. A lot of deep consumer research. We have had a fantastic user research team as a core part of the Stadia team for two years now. And so, we have our point of view, we then test various hypotheses with consumers and publishing partners, and then get to the right result."
During the interview, Harrison did confirm that Stadia would not support offline downloads. When asked if Google would consider adding the option down the line, Harrison said it was "not technically possible." He further clarified that adding offline downloads to Stadia "would be a compromise of our vision."
During the Google GDC keynote, the company announced that Stadia is scheduled to launch in 2019 in the US, Canada, UK, and "most of" Europe. More details, such as which games are coming to the service, will be revealed at a later time. For now, we know both Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Doom Eternal are confirmed for the service. If you happened to miss the keynote, we've compiled every bit of Google gaming news.
If you're still confused about how cloud gaming works, be sure to read our in-depth explanation. We've also outlined the top companies investing in cloud gaming tech.
Google's new video game platform, Stadia, is completely digital and requires a constant, reliable internet connection to function. One of the issues people immediately bring up with streaming technology is latency--or lag. Everyone who has experienced lag in some capacity knows how frustrating it can be. Will lag be an issue with Stadia?
Stadia boss Phil Harrison says he is "absolutely, unequivocally" sure that latency won't be an issue. "We believe that it's not just for when the service starts; actually we've demonstrated it today," Harrison told us from San Francisco at the Game Developers Conference where Stadia was announced.
Harrison--who formerly held executive-level positions at Sony and Microsoft--added that it was no accident that Google used Doom Eternal to highlight Stadia.
"Having a studio with the very, very high threshold of quality and functionality from id; having id on our stage was very purposeful because the way [producer Marty Stratton] tells the story is spot on," he said. "They were skeptical when we first started talking to them. they were skeptical that a streaming platform could support the level of quality and responsiveness that they needed to deliver on their game experience. What they have delivered with Doom Eternal absolutely demonstrates that."
Harrison went on to say that Google has been able to achieve a low-latency platform because of the investments its made into the infrastructure supporting Stadia.
"It's because of the investments that we are making in the hardware and the fundamental networking fabric in the compression and encoder and the way we transport the bits from our data center to your home," he said. "There's probably 100 innovations there that each mean that we can deliver that quality of experience."
Also in the interview, Harrison pointed out that Stadia streams faster than the human body can process the information.
"We get the data, the video, from our data center to your eyeball quicker than your eyeball to brain to nervous system to finger," he said. "The human operating system is the slowest part of the [Stadia] operating system. Some humans are slower than others."
As with any internet-connected service, your experience will depend on the quality of your connection so mileage may vary between users. Harrison added Stadia will offer a bandwidth test service that informs them of the performance characteristics of their network, while he said Google will help players optimise the internet quality of their homes in a number of ways, including simply moving a router closer to the device.
Given that streaming a video game will be highly data-intensive, some people are also concerned about data caps and limits imposed by Internet service providers. Harrison said ISPs have a history of adapting their models to support new services. As an example, he said when music streaming became popular, ISPs increased bandwidth limits, and the same thing happened with the rise of YouTube and Netflix. Bandwidth limits are expected to continue to rise over time, Harrison said. That may be true, but it remains to be seen if ISPs will continue to charge extra for such increases.
Stadia launches later this year, but there are still many unanswered questions about it. One of the biggest ones is price. Harrison also told us that Google has the pricing sorted out, but it's saving that reveal for a future point in time. Google will talk more about Stadia this summer, and one possible forum for further announcements is E3.
Google is taking its first significant step into gaming with Stadia, its ambitious new cloud platform. Like Microsoft's xCloud, Stadia will offer players the ability to stream video games across a variety of devices, along with a host of other innovations such as state sharing. And while there are still many questions lingering around the platform, one thing we now know is that it won't offer offline downloads.
GameSpot got a chance to speak with Google VP Phil Harrison at the Game Developers Conference. We asked Harrison if Google will ever consider giving players the option to download content from Stadia and enjoy it offline, as services such as Spotify and Netflix do. "No, not technically possible," Harrison replied. "It would be a compromise of our vision if we were to do that."
This ties into Google's previous confirmation that it won't release its own set-top box to run Stadia; rather, all of the games available on the platform will be streamed from the company's data centers, and they'll be playable across across desktops, smartphones, laptops, tablets, and TVs--the latter through a Chromecast Ultra HDMI streamer. Google will, however, release a dedicated Stadia controller that features unique buttons to capture/share gameplay and access Google Assistant.
Only a handful of games have been confirmed for Stadia thus far, among them Doom Eternal and Assassin's Creed Odyssey, which was the game Google used to test the platform last year under the Project Stream moniker. Google also announced it is forming its own first-party studio led by Jade Raymond to develop games exclusively for the platform.
Google Stadia is slated to launch later this year. It will initially be available in the US, Canada, the UK, and "most of" Europe. Google says it will share additional details about the platform and its launch lineup this summer. You can read more about how cloud gaming works and check out all of the Google gaming news from GDC.
The main focus of the upcoming live-action remake of the Disney animated classic Dumbo is a CGI elephant and the kids who teach it to fly in the circus. However, the element of the film that's almost as compelling is the cast that director Tim Burton put together for it.
In addition to casting Colin Farrell and Eva Green in major roles, Burton also staged a Batman Returns reunion for the ages. Both Michael Keaton and Danny DeVito appear in major roles for the movie, marking the first time in 27 years that the pair have shared the screen since 1992's Batman Returns, another of Burton's films.
For DeVito, finding out he'd be sharing scenes with Keaton once again was a big part of what excited him about the project. "When Tim called a year ago or whenever it was and said he was making the movie, I was really thrilled to be able to be part of it," the actor said at a press conference for Dumbo. "And then the joy factor went up through the roof when I heard that Michael was in it with me."
Perhaps even more excitingly, though, was that the roles were reversed this time around. "The first thing he reminded me was, he got to be the hero, and I got to be the bad guy," Keaton remembered. "He was just thrilled with that."
In Batman Returns, Keaton obviously played the titular Batman, while DeVito played Penguin, which he described as "the gross Penguin, grunting and groaning and stuff." Now the tables have turned and Keaton is no longer the masked vigilante hero. Instead, he's a nefarious businessman who wants to exploit the elephant. DeVito's character, meanwhile, is the owner of a small circus that gets swept up by Keaton's V. A. Vandevere.
It's not just acting together that brought joy to Keaton and DeVito, though. They also relished the opportunity to work with Burton again--DeVito's last collaboration with the director was 2003's Big Fish, while Keaton's was Batman Returns.
"It's a rare thing to work with an original," Keaton said of Dumbo's director. "And to be in the thick of it. To be right in the middle of a piece of art." And for DeVito, Burton's commitment to his work is what makes everything turn out so special. "Tim just works 24/7 when he's making a movie, keeping everything going, keeping the plates spinning, keeping all the balls in the air, keeping everything moving," he said. "All the moving parts congealing. Everything going together. So I feel like he's an inspiration when we're on the set and it pushes you to new heights."
What's more, DeVito explained, Burton's dedication to his vision creates a familiar feeling on set. "We're all the weirdos. But there is one really weird daddy down in the end. He's like pulling all the strings. And so we were really thrilled to be together."
"Welcome to the island of misfit toys," Burton added.
Pokemon Go's spring equinox celebration isn't the only event happening in the popular mobile game this week; the next Community Day is just around the corner as well. The monthly event returns this coming Saturday, March 23, giving players around the world another opportunity to catch rare Pokemon and take advantage of some generous rewards.
As usual, March's Community Day will run for three hours, during which you'll be able to find increased spawns of a certain Pokemon. This time around, however, Niantic is doing things a little differently for the event schedule. To help you prepare, we've rounded up everything you need to know about March's Community Day below, from what time it starts in each region to what this month's featured Pokemon and bonuses.
What Is The Featured Pokemon?
Each Community Day, Niantic designates a "featured" Pokemon that will appear much more frequently in the wild than it typically does. Not only that, but players will have a chance of encountering the featured Pokemon's Shiny form during the Community Day, and the featured Pokemon will be able to learn a special move if it evolves into its final form by the end of the event.
For this month's Community Day, the featured Pokemon is Treecko, the Grass-type starter from Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire. Throughout the event, Treecko will be much easier to find in the wild, and if you can evolve it into Sceptile up to an hour after the Community Day ends, the Pokemon will automatically know the powerful Grass-type attack Frenzy Plant.
What Time Does It Start?
Up until now, each Community Day has taken place during a specific window of time, which would vary depending upon your region; in North America, for instance, the event would always run from 11 AM - 2 PM PT, while Europe's Community Day would traditionally run from 10 AM - 1 PM UTC.
This month, Niantic is doing things a little differently and hosting the event from 3-6 PM local time. This should make it much easier to remember when the event is happening, as you won't need to convert the event hours to your time zone as you previously had to.
What Other Bonuses Are There?
On top of increased Pokemon spawns, Niantic offers a couple of other bonuses for players to take advantage of during each Community Day. This month, Pokemon Egg Incubators will be four times as effect as normal, allowing you to hatch Eggs at a quarter of the distance they typically require. Additionally, any Lure Modules you activate during the event will remain in use for three hours, rather than 30 minutes as they typically do.
In addition to this month's Community Day, a spring equinox event is underway in Pokemon Go until March 26. Until then, Grass-type Pokemon like Oddish, Exeggcute, and Sunkern will appear more frequently in the wild, and Niantic has added a special batch of limited-time Field Research tasks revolving around Grass Pokemon. Moreover, the region-exclusive Pokemon Lunatone and Solrock have swapped regions, and you have a chance of coming across their Shiny forms for the first time.
Winning in Apex Legends usually comes down to balancing caution and aggression. You want to avoid getting into disadvantaged situations where other teams could get the upper hand--but you also need to be sure to push the attack and take out vulnerable enemies when you have the chance, or risk letting them return to full strength and to take you down later.
Apex's newest character, Octane, leans hard toward the aggressive side of the equation. He's great for running down enemy players and taking them down, but his speed demon nature can also leave you vulnerable. To use him effectively, you'll need quick reflexes, a willingness to take the fight to the enemy, and the ability to keep yourself alive. Oh, and you'll want plenty of healing items.
We've got everything you need to know about Octane's abilities, how they can be used effectively or paired with other characters, and what pitfalls you'll want to avoid along the way. You should also check out the best Octane skins Apex Legends has to offer, as well as all the skins in its new battle pass.
Describing Octane as The Adrenaline Junky is Respawn giving you a sense of how you should think about the new character. He's all about big risks and big rewards. His abilities boost his speed, which can make him a devastating skirmisher and front-line fighter, but he generally can take less damage than other heroes, since his tactical ability trades health for speed. That means you should be using him as a fast fighter up close with enemies to try to drop them fast, while the rest of your team supports you and mops up the people you damage.
A hit-and-run approach is best with Octane because he can be very hard to hit when moving quickly. Get in close with weapons like the R-99, Peacekeeper, EVA-8, and other hard-hitting guns, and try to knock people out or at least get them close to dead as often as you can. That doesn't mean you should be throwing yourself at well-placed three-player squads, of course, but streaking in as Octane to bust up a team's line or scatter them can be highly effective, as can isolating one player and messing them up. Octane is a great one-on-one fighter because he's so quick, so use that to your advantage in weakening squads.
Most of all, though, you want to use Octane's speed to your advantage without becoming a liability. That means you should get in, do some damage, and get out. Octane's Stim tactical ability and Launch Pad ultimate are as good for escaping as they are for attacking, so use them to get out of bad situations, reposition, and attack again.
Abilities
Passive: Swift Mend
Because Octane's tactical ability costs him health (and because if you're playing as him, you're probably constantly getting blasted), his passive ability regenerates health over time. You won't get a huge amount of health back--one point every two seconds, in fact--but it can be enough to help get you healthy again after using your tactical, after getting stuck outside the ring, or after a tussle with another squad. You don't want to rely on Swift Mend since the regen rate is relatively low, but you should factor it into your healing plans. The passive ability even heals you while you're knocked down. If you can hide somewhere, it can help, but don't rely on Swift Mend to keep you alive if you don't have to.
Tactical: Stim
Swift Mend works in tandem with Octane's Stim ability, which allows him to inject adrenaline to get a massive increase in movement speed. You'll boost Octane's speed by 30% for six seconds when you use Stim, and the ability cools down quickly--about another six seconds to use it again. It's great for pressing the attack and crossing open ground, and can also get you out of dangerous situations, since you can boost through stuns from things like arc stars and Caustic gas. The trouble is, it damages Octane's health, so going overboard on Stim can put you at a disadvantage. That big speed boost can make you very effective in battle, though, allowing you to close gaps on enemies, flank them, and execute hit-and-run maneuvers. Just be careful not to overcommit or put yourself in a losing battle right when your speed boost wears off.
Ultimate: Launch Pad
Octane's ultimate allows him to drop a Launch Pad on the ground. Step on it, and you'll get launched into the air--as will any other characters. The Launch Pad is great for rocketing yourself into battle, dropping in from somewhere enemies might not expect, and you can use it to quickly relocate your team, flank an enemy position, or gain high ground. The Launch Pad can also work like a Pathfinder zip line or Wraith portal to get you and your squad out of a bad situation quickly. Note that the angle of launch always seems to be the same, though, so make sure not to spring yourself straight into walls.
Tips For Playing As Octane
Octane's speed can make him incredibly deadly. With a Stim active, you can cut distance on enemies very quickly and strafe them effectively, becoming really hard to hit--so you definitely want to use Octane to get in close and wreck enemies with your favorite and most effective shotguns and SMGs. Generally, skip carrying long-range guns as Octane, because even when fighting snipers, your speed can let you get in close and make their long-range guns ineffective. Instead, carry complementary guns like an SMG and shotgun or Wingman, which will let you blast away with one, then quickly switch to the other to finish people off. For Octane, the best way to be effective is to walk away from an engagement with a knock down.
Your weakened health from using your Stim ability means you should focus on hit-and-run tactics and on using the environment to your advantage. Get in close, blast away at an enemy, and get out of harm's way by dancing around a wall or object. Use your speed to avoid getting shot, but remember that Stim boosts only last for six seconds, and the return to normal speed can be jarring. Try to time your attacks so that you get in close, do your damage, and get out before you're stuck in a fight and going slow. And avoid tight interior areas like Bunker that will cancel out your speed advantage.
Octane's passive ability, Swift Mend, means he's always healing, but that regeneration is very slow--so make sure you keep ample healing items, especially syringes, to counteract your Stim usage. In combat scenarios, getting in to blast enemies and then getting out to heal will let you keep coming at a team over and over again without the debilitating effects of multiple Stim uses. Be sure, however, not to leave your team at a disadvantage while you're hiding somewhere, healing up.
One of the best things you can do with Octane's speed is reposition yourself in fights. Where other characters might commit to fighting in one location, and therefore become predictable, Octane can quickly move to new cover or flank around an enemy to hit them from an exposed side. Lots of players get tunnel vision when they start fighting a team from a specific direction, so if you can come at them from a side they don't expect, you can usually finish them off. Octane's speed makes that a highly viable strategy, but be careful you don't expose yourself and get picked off in transit.
Launch Pads have a lot of uses. Drop one to give your team the ability to fling themselves over an enemy position to hit them from behind or just cause chaos, or bounce up on top of buildings to put yourself in a better tactical position as you engage another team. They're also great for getaways, because people flying through the air are generally tougher to hit than those running on the ground. Even if you just use your Launch Pad to separate from your squad to force enemies to shoot in multiple directions to hit you all, you're using it effectively. Drop them to help downed teammates get out of the fray, as well--they work when the person who steps on them is crawling.
You can also use Launch Pads in goofy ways to mess with enemies. Toss one in battle and you might wind up flinging an opponent away a bit in the chaos, forcing them to get their bearings. Leave one at the end of a Wraith portal and you could potentially shoot someone off a cliff. And keep in mind that you don't need to launch people with your Launch Pads--you can also launch throwables like grenades. Get creative.
Don't forget to use Octane's speed to support teammates. You can potentially quickly reach a downed teammate to pick them up in a bad situation, and speed boosting through Bangalore's smoke can help you completely surprise an enemy. Stims also help you deal with stuns, so try pairing up with a Caustic to use his gas as cover. Sprinting around drawing fire can be effective in helping a teammate flank out a distracted squad, and combining speedy relocation with grenades can help you annihilate an enemy position before they know what hit them. You can also more easily avoid air strikes or the Ring with your Stim ability, which means you might want to try fighting around those things more often, since you have a dodging disadvantage that other players don't.
Wrestlemania week is a more than just the main WWE PPV. It's a whole week of WWE programming, including NXT: Takeover, Axxess, and of course, the Hall of Fame. Each year, the sports entertainment company honors its premiere athletes from the past by immortalizing their contribution to the world of wrestling in its hall of fame.
This year, the WWE Hall of Fame--which you can watch on the WWE Network--will take place at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday, April 6. The show will start at 3:45 PM PT / 6:45 PM ET. As of this writing, WWE is honoring two groups and three people, for a total off 11 inductees. Here is the Class of 2019.
WWE Hall of Fame 2018 Inductees:
D-Generation X: Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Chyna, X-Pac, Road Dogg, and Billy Gunn
Harlem Heat: Booker T and Stevie Ray
Honky Tonk Man
Torrie Wilson
Warrior Award: Sue Aitchison
D-Generation X is WWE's biggest and most popular stable from the Attitude Era. It launched the careers of everyone involved, through comedic antics and memorable segments. All of the members of the group--aside from early member/manager Rick Rude--are included for the Hall of Fame. In addition, 10 time WCW Tag Team Champions Harlem Heat are entering as well. Both Booker T and Steve Ray were a dominant force in WCW and the most prolific tag team in the company during this time.
The longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion of all time, Honky Tonk Man, gets this year's honor as well. The wrestler was an iconic heel during the '80s and early '90s. Torrie Wilson, who competed in both WCW and WWE during the early '00s, gets the honor of joining the hall as well. Lastly, this year's Warrior Award goes to none other than WWE employee Sue Aitchison. Throughout her 30 year career with the company, she's a part of community outreach programs and built the relationship with the Make-A-Wish foundation.
Make sure to head back to GameSpot on Sunday, April 7 for live coverage of Wrestlemania as well as a review of the show. And check out our streaming guide to find out where to watch every wrestling event during Mania week.
Google took its first steps into being a major competitor in video games with the announcement of Stadia, its cloud-based game streaming platform. The presentation showed off lots of ways the company is leveraging the game tech against its other products like YouTube and Google Assistant, but one particular point showed how games on Stadia could be a major boon for split-screen gaming.
The moment came when lead research and development designer Erin Hoffman-John walked through various features, including multiplayer features. One tech demo showed Stream Connect, a purportedly easy way for developers to feed different views to each player. Since every player is being fed their own video stream of a play session, Stream Connect can combine these and feed one video inside of another player's stream.
"Each of these screens is powered by a separate Stadia instance," Hoffman-John explained. "But what would happen to squad-based games if developers could allow players to call up the views of their teammates on demand? Or utilize any polygonal surface as a receiver for another player's video stream? Stream Connect makes this possible with extremely little effort on the part of the developer, bringing dynamic squad-based gaming into easy reach even for very small teams. We've shown you three views but we can keep going. We can keep adding streams and shape how they're shown to the player."
In the demo, this was used for each player in an asymmetrical game to see each other's viewpoint alongside their own. The stream was also shown adding more and more views, and adding a hypothetical third player with their own "command center" view to direct other players.
Split-screen multiplayer has become less prevalent in recent years, in part because of the advent of online multiplayer, but also because it's a strain on computing power. When a single PC or console has to render two separate player perspectives, developers usually have to drop the fidelity on both views to make it work. With a streaming solution and all the computing power being handled remotely, this would no longer be a problem.
No comments:
Post a Comment