Indie studio Heart Machine, founded in 2013, received a great deal of acclaim after Hyper Light Drifter releases in 2016. The 2D action-RPG found its way to the Nintendo Switch two years later with a host of new content, and now studio founder Alx Preston has revealed a TV adaptation.
According to a report by Polygon, Hyper Light Drifter will receive a TV series from Castlevania producer, Adi Shankar. Preston told Polygon that he and Shankar are actively developing the TV adaptation. No writer has been confirmed, but Preston and Shankar are actively seeking writers to lead the project. There's also the matter of translating a semi-open world game to a TV show where there's no interactivity with the viewer.
"The difference between a series and a game is vast in a lot of ways. Hyper Light [Drifter] as a game was pretty atmospheric and kind of overbearing at times," Preston said. "For a series, the question is: how do you sustain and keep your attention on a non-interactive run? Does it get really, really dark and serious? Does it have some levity?"
Hyper Light Drifter the game lacks verbal, distinguishable dialogue, relying solely on world-building and environmental storytelling to tell its narrative. Preston wonders how he and Shankar will translate this to Hyper Light Drifter the TV show. "There's still a question of how much dialogue we really have, if any. Could it be a more silent series or would we have voice acting?" he said.
Shankar expressed his love for video games as a medium and stated that he enjoys translating works by passionate creators like Preston. "It's important for me not to just all of a sudden become the AAA junkie," Shankar said. "To just go like, 'OK, what are the biggest franchise, I'm going to jump on all of them.' That's not why I'm trying to do[with] this."
Earlier in March 2019, Heart Machine unveiled its next project, Solar Ash Kingdom. The game features a familiar, vibrant aesthetic, but in a 3D setting. The announcement trailer didn't divulge much information in the way of a release date or platforms, but it did conclude with the Epic Games Store tag, seemingly confirming the title will make its way to the Epic Games storefront when it launches.
Hyper Light Drifter is available now for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, Xbox One, Linux, and macOS.
Gearbox has finally confirmed the existence of Borderlands 3, and even revealed a new trailer for the long-awaited sequel to one of the studio's most beloved franchises. In the video above, GameSpot video producer Jean-Luc Seipke and associate editor Jordan Ramée voice their impressions of the new trailer after watching it.
Fans of the original Borderlands, Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and Tales from the Borderlands: A Telltale Series, both Jean-Luc and Jordan are happy to see several beloved characters return in the trailer for the new game. Most notable is an adult Tiny Tina, who was still 13-years-old in Borderlands 2: Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, but the return of characters from Tales from the Borderlands is a welcome surprise. There are plenty of other familiar faces as well, such as Sirens Lilith and Maya (the latter of whom is now sporting longer hair), Ellie, Marcus, and Sir Hammerlock.
Although the sight of so many beloved Borderlands characters is nice, both Jean-Luc and Jordan are wary of just how little the Borderlands 3 trailer touches on the franchise's strongest points. The characters' hilariously ludicrous dialogue is absent, and there's little individuality in regards to the new heroes and villains. Jean-Luc and Jordan are also a little worried that the environments in the trailer all look a little too much like Pandora. If Borderlands 3 takes place on multiple worlds--as Borderlands 2 implied and the new trailer claims--then the people and places in this new game should be fairly different from what's been seen before.
Obviously, with this being the very first look at Borderlands 3, neither Jean-Luc or Jordan are ready to condemn or praise the game--especially not before they can get their hands on it. As is, after watching this trailer, they are optimistic Borderlands 3 can carve out its own identity in the now loot shooter heavy market.
Borderlands 3's announcement was accompanied by the reveal of an enhanced Borderlands GOTY Edition coming to Xbox One, PS4, and PC. A free update is also being released that adds 4K graphics to Borderlands: The Handsome Collection--a bundle of Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel--which is also available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
Since its pre-video game years as a Japanese playing-card company, Nintendo has designed games that combine strategy, competition, and luck. This mixture takes competition-centric pressure off players, making the game less about winning and more about having fun.
Franchises like Mario Party, Mario Kart, and Super Smash Bros. are designed to put advanced players and novices on a more equal footing. These games are easy to pick up and understand, can be played alone or with others, and have high replay value.
However, some players rebel against luck in video games, arguing that skill and technical prowess should be the ultimate arbitrators of who wins or loses. They see games as a meritocracy and view luck as punishing some players for being good, while unjustly rewarding other players who didn't put in the time and effort to improve. But for many Nintendo games, the focus on competition isn't the point.
Dr. Nicholas Bowman is an associate professor at the Interaction Lab at West Virginia University. He researches interactivity and media psychology, analyzing how people react to media on screens. Bowman says Nintendo games such as Mario Kart, Mario Party, and Super Smash Bros. use elements of luck to downplay cognitive aspects of gaming (strategy, reflexes, choosing what button to push at the right time, etc.) to enhance the social experience of playing.
"In some ways, they take after board games, which always have that element of luck, whether you are playing Monopoly or even something like Dungeon and Dragons," Bowman explained. "No matter how good you are, you still have to roll the dice."
What Nintendo knows is that an important part of having fun is those around you also having fun. Adding dice rolls to Mario Party, or items based on your place in a Mario Kart race, or stage obstacles to Super Smash Bros. creates an element of surprise that makes each playthrough unique and offers novice players a chance to win. Bowman argues that these Nintendo games are meant to allow players of varying experience levels to have fun playing against each other.
"You know that if you had five friends come over, and they never touched a video game in their life, you could have them play one of those games and they'd be fine," Bowman continued. "But the most important thing is they think they have a chance of winning."
Bowman also studies video games and nostalgia, and said the ease and casual nature of these Mario multiplayer games facilitates greater levels of social connection.
"What you find out is people aren't nostalgic for the game itself, but the game reminds them of the people they were around when playing it," Bowman said. "Putting Smash Bros. on 100 lives is ridiculous--unless you want to spend hours with your buddies--then it's awesome. The things that are most nostalgic are things that have these social connections with them."
But many casual gamers, for whom competition isn't a big motivator, often feel the broader gaming community looks down on those in it for the "play." In his book, "The Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games," Dr. Christopher Paul is critical of the ways in which gaming culture has come to over-emphasize meritocracy at the expense of enjoyment. He writes that, as games became more popular and the community sought to carve out space as a legitimate sport, gaming culture uncritically accepted the idea that "success in video games is something that is properly earned by players through effort and labor."
Paul, an assistant professor at Seattle University, argues that this thinking and other cultural assumptions underlie toxic in-group versus out-group dichotomies of who gets to be called a "real" gamer. Those who accept this framework are likely to think luck has no place in a game, because randomness erases complete control and makes the game "unfair."
The logic goes that if a game is easy to learn, it takes less skill and less time to learn that skill; therefore it isn't a good or fun game, and those who play games like Mario Kart or Party are not serious about gaming or are "not real gamers." If luck makes it so that "anyone" can win, why play the game?
Super Smash Bros. is the traditionally considered the most skill-based of the Nintendo games previously mentioned; there are tournaments such as EVO, where items and certain stages are banned in order make the battles solely about skill. Mario Kart, meanwhile, has gotten some of the worst flack, mainly for what critics feel is the unfairness of the "blue shell." Many advanced gamers are critical of Mario Party, seeing it as too random, as opposed to being a genuine test of skill.
These critiques are indicative of what many more advanced gamers feel about Mario spin-offs, but also highlight that they are likely conflating skill, competition, and technical mastery on one hand, and "fun" on the other. Not being able to see the value of games like Mario Party is overlooking and diminishing the social intent behind them.
The rationale behind critiques of these multiplayer Mario games can be a bit contradictory. The stigma placed on luck or randomness is often at odds with how unexpected moments in games are often the most enjoyable. If you flip through Fortnite highlights on Youtube or Twitch, a constant thread is moments where players, even professional ones, get lucky. It doesn't mean these players didn't have skill, but shooting an opponent from a distance so far that you can barely see them is as lucky as hitting the first place driver with a red shell right before they cross the finish line.
Also, some gamers defend gaming as a sacred space of competition in ways they would find unacceptable in more traditional sports. If you and your friends went to shoot some hoops, and someone came over to say what you all were doing wasn't "real basketball," what would your reaction be? So why do we do this--either implicitly or explicitly--in the gaming community? Bowman thinks sometimes our competitive drive can bring out the best and the worst in us.
"Most people don't realize, it's not the in-group that's dangerous, it's once you start calling other people out-group," he said. "It's okay to be proud of who you are or the time you put in, but when that means other people who aren't you can't be proud, that's a problem."
What may be overlooked is the fact that the chance and probability elements of these games are meant to alter and augment player strategy, not diminish it.
There are scenarios in Mario Kart games where the best position to be in is second place, but if you are in first, you may want to hold on to a Super Horn to neutralize attacks from possible red and blue shells. After a few times playing Smash Bros. games, you understand how going after items is both an opportunity and a distraction. The randomness of their appearances forces players to constantly adjust their strategy and to see offense and defense as simultaneous choices, not separate ones. In Super Mario Party, players can take a risk and roll their special dice to move around the board faster, but also have to account for the probability that buying a star can help an opponent as well, since it moves the Star Space to another place.
Good players learn how to not only navigate the balancing elements of these games, but use them to their advantage. But while these games use chance as a way to even the odds a bit, they don't overcorrect to the point where skill and strategy are no longer vital.
For example, being good at mini-games gives you a big advantage in Mario Party. Anyone who has played Smash knows that the random item appearances or the obstacles on different stages aren't going to help a novice opponent who doesn't know how to block and dodge, or who hasn't learned how to overcome edge guarding. Mario Kart's director and producer Hideki Konno previously noted that Nintendo wanted an experience where "everyone was in it until the end," but the "best" player is still going to win most of the time--like they would in pretty much any other game.
On its website, Nintendo's marketing for the Switch includes phrases like "keep the focus on fun," "connect and make memories," and "something for everyone." These Nintendo favorites don't eliminate the incentives for mastery or autonomy, but they do place a premium on social interaction. Nintendo designs its games for families and those who want to have fun social experiences.
Skill and technical prowess will always be a key aspect of gaming. Wanting to win isn't an inherently bad thing. But adding a little bit of luck can make each playthrough unique and give players of different skill levels a chance to compete--all of which place more emphasis on the "fun" and not the "win."
With the arrival of the weekend comes the return of Xur, Agent of the Nine, in Destiny 2. This means there's another crop of Exotic weapons and armor to help you fill out your collections. Xur can now sell Exotics from the Forsaken expansion thanks to a recent update, but his inventory is random--and this week, there are no Forsaken Exotics in Xur's haul. You can still grab a new Invitation of the Nine, though, which offers new story info and Powerful gear.
You can find Xur hanging out in the Tower, near the back of the Hangar on a catwalk. From the entrance to the area, hang a left and walk toward the drop-off, then up the nearby stairs. Xur's weapon offering is Sunshot, a powerful Solar hand cannon that fires rounds that explode. Anybody damaged by the gun or the resulting explosions gets marked, making it a pretty handy weapon for both the Crucible and fighting around the solar system.
As for armor, you won't find any Year Two Exotics among Xur's inventory, but there are solid options if you need to fill out your collection. Hunters can snag Foetracer, an Exotic helmet that marks any enemies you target, allowing you to see their movements on the battlefield even behind cover. You'll also deal additional damage to enemies who you've marked if they're already low health--making it great for finishing people off in the Crucible. Warlocks can pick up Sunbracers, a set of gauntlets that increase your Solar grenade duration and give you Solar grenade energy when you make Solar melee kills. For Titans, there's the Helm of Saint-14, a helmet that blinds enemies who pass through your Ward of Dawn Super and nearby enemies when you guard with your Sentinel shield. Meanwhile, any allies who pass through your Ward of Dawn get an overshield.
Here are all the Exotics Xur offers this week and what they'll cost you:
Sunshot (Exotic hand cannon) -- 29 Legendary Shards
Helm of Saint-14 (Exotic Titan helmet) -- 23 Legendary Shards
You can also buy a Fated Engram, if you can afford it. Dropping 97 Legendary Shards on the item will grant you one Year One Exotic you don't already have for that character. Xur also offers the Five of Swords challenge card for free, which allows you to add difficulty modifiers that increase your score in Nightfall runs.
As has been the case for a couple weeks now, Xur also offers an Invitation of the Nine, a special weekly bounty that gives you a Powerful gear reward and new lore about the enigmatic entities known as the Nine. You'll need to go to the EDZ on Earth to complete it--shoot Cabal, Fallen, and Taken enemies there to gain Samples drops from each one, and complete the Lake of Shadows Strike. It's easiest to get the Fallen and Cabal Samples from Public Events, while the Taken ones you're likely to acquire from the Strike itself. Once you've finished the Invitation's steps, head up to the Drifter's Haul location in the Gambit menu for a new scene and your reward.
Wrestlemania, WWE's biggest PPV of the year, is right around the corner, airing on Sunday, April 7. If you're familiar with WWE, then you know there are multiple ways you can watch this event from your phone to TV to PC. Here's a breakdown of the easiest ways for you to watch Wrestlemania.
The cheapest and easiest way to watch the PPV is through the WWE Network. While the network normally costs $10 a month and offers replays of past PPVs, weekly television events, and original content, new subscribers can sign up for one month free. So you can watch Wrestlemania without paying a dime, from the comfort of your own home. Just make sure to decide after the event whether or not you want to keep your subscription to the service.
Additionally, Wrestlemania is available through your cable or satellite provider. However, if you plan on doing that, be prepared to pay between $60-70 for the event. Why would you pay that much for the event? Well, internet service isn't fast enough in some parts of the country to handle streaming the show.
If you are staying home and streaming the event, there are multiple ways to watch Wrestlemania through the WWE Network. The show can be accessed through phones, tablets, or through your PC, among other devices. Both iOS and Windows 10 have apps available and it is accessible through your web browser.
The WWE Network app is available on certain smart TVs as well as devices like Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Chromecast. You can watch the network using your Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, and PS4 by downloading the app through its stores. Sorry Nintendo Switch users, but the WWE Network is not available on the console yet.
Wrestlemania 35 comes to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Sunday, April 7. The show's start time is set at 4 PM PT / 7 PM ET / 12 AM BST (April 8) with a Kickoff Show starting two hours prior. Check out our predictions, the full match card for the show, and the rumors leading to the event. Also, come back to GameSpot that day for live coverage of the event.
Ubisoft has confirmed the time and date of its E3 2019 press conference. The company said on Twitter its briefing would begin on Monday, June 10 at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM BST (6 AM AEST on June 11).
We could also hear more of the heavily rumored Watch Dogs 3, which is ostensibly set in London. However, the publisher's staple Assassin's Creed reveal is unlikely, since it has already stated no "full-fledged Assassin's" game will launch in 2019.
Sony has released the latest firmware patch for PS4, update 6.51. The update doesn't do all that much, despite being 463 MB in size. In the full patch notes for update 6.51, Sony states that the update "improves system performance." That's it. Overall, update 6.50 did a lot more, implementing several new features in the PS4. Update 6.50 added the choice of 720p video when broadcasting with Niconico Live, and also added button assignment support for "enter" operations--allowing you to change the selection button from circle to X.
Notably lacking from update 6.51 is the option to change your PSN online ID, a patch that, last year, Sony promised is coming early 2019. You can already change your PSN online ID if you're a part of PlayStation's Preview Program, but the update hasn't left beta and gone public. Sony has announced that when the patch does go live, the first name change will be for free. However, subsequent changes will cost $5 USD / €5 / £4 for PlayStation Plus members, and twice as much for everyone else.
Sony has admitted that implementing PSN online ID changes isn't a smooth process, so there could still be plenty of bugs the company is trying to iron out. Apparently, the feature won't be compatible with every game released prior to April 1, 2018. Not all PS4, PS3, and PS Vita games are guaranteed to support the feature either, so users may see several issues or errors in relation to their PSN online ID for certain games. Additionally, one of the Preview Program testers reported a bug that changing your PSN online ID might cause a loss in DLC purchases and game save data.
However, if you run into issues after changing your ID, PlayStation has said it will provide an option for players to revert back to their old one for free.
EA and BioWare have released the newest update for Anthem, and it's a big one. The update is now live and it adds several new features to the multiplayer-focused action game, including something called Legendary Missions, as well as changes to loot, Masterworks, Javelins, and quite a bit more.
As detailed in the patch notes, Update 1.0.4 adds a new Legendary difficulty to critical path missions. From now on, one critical path mission per day will be available for repeated playthroughs. You can replay these missions on Legendary for an added challenge that requires "team coordination to achieve victory." The patch notes don't reveal whether the higher risk will necessarily always result in higher rewards.
Elysian Keys can now be earned as a reward for completing daily challenges in Anthem. In turn, these keys can open the Elysian Caches that appear at the end of every Stronghold mission. Caches hold vanity items--there is a unique assortment of 67 vinyls, victory poses, emotes, and arrivals--and crafting materials. In the patch notes, EA promises that you will "never get a duplicate vanity item" from an Elysian Cache.
The new update makes several loot changes as well. Chests in Strongholds, Freeplay, and Missions have all been buffed, increasing the number of items they have a chance to drop upon being opened. The same is true for the Apex creatures--Ursix, Titans, Furies, and Escari/Luminaries--in the game. The AFK timer has been reduced to five minutes from 10, and on any of the Grandmaster difficulties, all Stronghold bosses have a higher chance of dropping Masterwork or Legendary items.
Another welcome tweak allow you to access the Forge from the main menu in Fort Tarsis or the Launch Bay, while the loading screen when entering the Forge has been removed. The patch notes for Update 1.0.4 are very extensive, but if you're curious, you can view them at the link above. EA and BioWare have outlined 90 days of content prepared for Anthem, with plans to further patch and add on to the game in the coming months. Anthem is available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
Bethesda has announced that The Elder Scrolls: Blades is now available for players who registered for early access prior to March 25. Players are being given access in waves, though, so you might have to wait a little bit longer to play the whole game, even if you pre-ordered the game and signed up early. Also, you have to pre-register on Bethesda's website, which is a separate process from pre-ordering the game.
"The first wave of The Elder Scrolls: Blades early access went smoothly, so we invited the next wave," Bethesda wrote in a tweet. "If you registered after [March 25] don't worry, we're sending invites daily." In a follow-up tweet, Bethesda revealed there is a "delay in account authentication," but the company is working to fix the problem "as soon as possible."
Blades is a mobile installment in The Elder Scrolls series, which Bethesda describes as a "pure Elder Scrolls game" with "console-quality graphics." The major difference between Blades and previous The Elder Scrolls games is that Blades doesn't have an open world. Instead, it's a series of interconnected environments--some of which are still "very large," according to Bethesda.
"We could do it," Bethesda director and executive producer Todd Howard said, when asked about possibly implementing an open-world into Blades. "We'll see how people interact with it. Because it's mobile, we know people may play... We need you to get something meaningful done in 10 or 15 minutes. Do you know what I mean? Even though you could sit down and play it for as many hours as you want."
The Elder Scrolls: Blades was originally scheduled to release on Android and iOS devices in Fall 2018, but it was delayed. The game is free to download. Bethesda has said there are plans to bring the game to PC and consoles in the future, but there is no planned release window for those versions.
Guillermo Del Toro is one of the busiest filmmakers in horror and fantasy. He's got both the Netflix horror anthology series 10 After Midnight and a new animated version of Pinocchio on the way but has also found time to produce an adaptation of Alvin Schwartz's classic spooky kids book series Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. The movie releases in August, and a new trailer has been released.
The trailer reveals that the movie is using a wraparound concept about a girl who discovers a spooky book filled with terrifying tales. It's not entirely clear how the different stories will integrate with this main story, but the trailer is packed with seriously freaky imagery and suggests that although the source material was aimed at a younger audience, the film won't hold back on the scares. Check it out above.
Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark is directed by André Øvredal, who previously proved his genre credentials with The Autopsy of Jane Doe and Trollhunter. It stars Zoe Margaret Colletti (Annie), Michael Garza (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay), Gabriel Rush (Moonrise Kingdom), Dean Norris (Breaking Bad), and Lorraine Toussaint (Orange is the New Black). It hits theaters on August 9.
The first volume of Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark was published in 1981 and contained 29 stories. It was followed by a second volume in 1984, and a third in 1991.
According to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tony Stark's Iron Man suit has gone through 50 iterations. The most recent model is the Mark 50; it's based on the comic books' "Bleeding Edge Armor," which Stark stores inside his bones.
The MCU's Mark 50 isn't quite as fantastical. Instead, the suit is stored in the arc reactor affixed to Stark's chest. Once activated, it dissipates to cover his body.
In Avengers: Infinity War, the Mark 50 possessed "nanotechnology," which means it served whatever purpose the plot needed it to serve. All Stark needed to do was think of his desired weapon, and the suit replicated it: shields, lasers, battering rams, cannons, and more. A multi-sourced unibeam delivered by floating projectors? No problem.
There's a name for this narrative trope: It's called "New Powers As The Plot Demands." When a hero deals with escalating, increasingly apocalyptic threats, he or she must acquire new superpowers and capabilities to match them. Added excessively, they risk turning the hero into an invulnerable, unrelatable god. It compromises the narrative stakes; the author must introduce increasingly monstrous threats to make the hero's defeat seem believable, which in turn forces the hero to acquire even bigger powers and advantages. It's an arms race with no end.
We're not yet there with MCU's Iron Man. But the Mark 50 looked excessively sleek when compared to the prior models, and it made me nostalgic for them.The MCU's Iron Man used to celebrate DIY scrappiness. Obadiah Stane said it best in the first Iron Man, when his entire team of scientists couldn't build a functional, miniature arc reactor: "Tony Stark was able to build this in a CAVE!" With a box of SCRAPS!"
And the scientist's retort was equally telling: "Well, I'm sorry. But I'm not Tony Stark."
Iron Man was the celebration of an exceptional, unique individual, able to create and innovate under the worst possible conditions. And the proof of his ambition and brilliance was ironic: That he often built things that didn't work. Working on the cutting edge necessitated trial-and-error.
A few, early examples: The Mark I was unwieldy and bulky. When Stark tried to fly it, the suit shorted out and sent him tumbling out of the sky. Later, the Mark II's jet boots launched Stark into the ceiling on their first test run. He took the Mark II out for a flight before Jarvis ran full diagnostics, and it iced up when he flew too high--a problem he accounted for when building the Mark III. The entire Iron Man 2 plot concerned Stark's use of palladium in his arc reactor, which was slowly poisoning his blood and killing him. The suit, even when it appeared to be working flawlessly, had a more insidious, catastrophic flaw that needed ironing out.
Putting on the suit used to be a lengthy ordeal. The Mark I required two people and a boot-up system. The Mark II required Stark to partially dress himself and partially rely on machines. The Mark III and two of the subsequent models were entirely automated, and required massive mechanical arms to screw everything together.
In Iron Man 3, the Mark 42 suit flew onto Stark in segments, often in the wrong order and not all at the same time. All of these early suit-up sequences were visually appealing and engrossing. You could see how the pieces all fit together and interacted with each other to create the appearance of seamlessness. The ingenuity was baked into the construction.
The protracted suit-ups, requiring special equipment, meant that Stark was in danger whenever he appeared in public without his armor. There was urgency in Iron Man 2 when Whiplash attacked him on the race track; Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts drove against traffic to toss him his suitcase armor. Stark panicked in The Avengers when the Helicarrier started exploding, and he ran from Bruce Banner's lab to quickly suit up.
This duality between the freedom of the Iron Man technology and Stark's desperate reliance on it is central to his character. He wanted to build weapons to keep America safe, until shrapnel from his own weapons burrowed into his chest. He once thought he had attained dominance over technology; now, he had to rely on it to keep him alive.
For several years, the suit was a physical representation of Stark's complexity. It was a paradoxical sign of weakness and strength; it kept him from dying, but it also could kill. He used the suit it to fly and gain freedom, but he was also literally encased within it. He made himself into a weapon in the service of peace.
But in recent years, the Iron Man suit has lost this figurative poignancy in the MCU. It has become a narrative get-out-of-jail free card, rather than an obstacle that creates as many problems as it solves. It started in Iron Man 3, when Stark could simply step into his suit from a standing position. Iron Man 3 also ended with Stark getting the shrapnel taken out of his chest, erasing the most literal reminder of his sins.
By the time we reached Captain America: Civil War, the armor had lost most of its symbolic importance. But at least it still looked mechanical, with turning gears, shifting parts, and screws. The latest armor in Avengers: Infinity War looked more like magic than technology. And it worked brilliantly the first time we saw it--no experimentation or struggle necessary--despite being on the cutting edge of what's possible.
But perhaps even the filmmakers are aware that the Iron Man armor has gone too far in its capabilities. One of the teaser trailers for Avengers: Endgame depicts Tony Stark, trapped on a powerless spaceship with a busted up Mark 50 helmet, recording what he believes to be his last words. Stark is the emotional bedrock of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; his standalone film kicked everything off, and if the trailers for Avengers: Endgame are to be believed, he'll also be the one to close it out.
We don't want to see Iron Man's latest, coolest, unknown super ability in Avengers: Endgame. Ideally, the character will come full circle. In Infinity War, he boasted the power to create whatever his mind commanded. Now he's broken and adrift. It's as though he's alone in his cave again. And as before, he has just his ingenuity, and an even smaller box of scraps, with which to achieve survival.
Avengers: Endgame debuts on April 26, 2019 and will mark the conclusion of The Infinity Saga. Check out our theory roundup for the movie as well as our review of the new tie-in merchandise. Because if you're in the market for a Wakanda-themed doormat, we have some great news for you.
There isn't much to say about STALKER 2 at this point, to be honest. But the fact that the game's official website has been updated with new key art and music is enough for fans, like myself, to get hyped up. In addition, the project launched its own Twitter account (@stalker_thegame) which it says will be used to share news and "interesting content" for the franchise. As for the music that plays on the site, it's a three minute(ish) creepy, foreboding ambient track that fits the series' often terrifying post-apocalyptic atmosphere.
STALKER 2 was revealed to be in the works when the site went live back in May of last year--at the time, it simply featured the game's title painted onto a concrete background with the number "2021" clearly implying that the game won't be around until then. The team behind the original entries, GSC Game World, is heading up STALKER 2 as the company's own site says it is currently in development.
Hi, Stalkers! You got on the official Twitter account for the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game franchise. Here we will share news and interesting content with you. Join our ranks :)#stalker2#gscgameworld#stalkerpic.twitter.com/ygvDhia58A
— S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Official (@stalker_thegame) March 28, 2019
GSC Game World has been through a lot since releasing the original STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl and the two follow-ups Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat. Plans for a full sequel began in 2010 with the hopes of hitting a 2012 release, but was eventually cancelled. The studio remained relatively quiet, but released the strategy game Cossacks 3 in 2016.
For those unfamiliar with STALKER, it's a first-person shooter and survival horror series loosely based on the Russian novel Roadside Picnic and movie Stalker (1979). It's set in an alternate reality where another nuclear disaster hit the Russian nuclear zone of Chernobyl. The story takes supernatural turns as you uncover the mysteries of the Nuclear Exclusion Zone alongside other stalkers, who are rogue hunters and scavengers in "The Zone." STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl was one of the best games of its time despite having a lot of technical bugs; you can read more about it in our list of great games from 2007.
Amazon has announced that, starting right now, Twitch Prime members can claim a free three months of Nintendo Switch Online. You just need to sign-in to claim your three months, and if you come back after 60 days, you can get another nine months added to your account. That's a year of Switch Online for free.
If you already have Switch Online, you can still take advantage of this deal. Just sign-in and be sure to renew the deal after 60 days so you can get all 12 months added to your account. Whether you're signing up for Switch Online for the first time or adding free time to your account, you have until September 24 to grab your first three months and until January 22, 2020 to claim the additional nine.
A Switch Online subscription offers more than being able to play the online multiplayer component in games like Splatoon 2 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. With a subscription, you get access to a library of classic NES games that you can play as much as you want. New games are added every few months, with 1998's Blaster Master and Zelda II: The Adventures of Link added this past January. Subscribers also get access to cloud saves, allowing them to recover their data should their Switch console break or be stolen.
Normally, individual Switch Online subscriptions cost $4 USD a month, $8 USD for three months, and $20 USD for 12 months. For $35 USD a year, you can subscribe to a Switch Online Family Membership, which includes the service for eight different consoles.
Amazon has already been creating video game-related benefits for Twitch Prime members, offering free PC titles every month. You still have time to download the four March 2019 games, which will no longer be offered once April begins. Until March 31, with Twitch Prime, you can download the puzzle RPG Star Vikings Forever, artsy platformer The King's Bird, multiplayer pinball game Kabounce, and puzzle platformer Snake Pass. To claim these games, you must make sure you Amazon account is linked to Twitch.
The next game from Rick And Morty creator Justin Roiland and studio Squanch Games, called Trover Saves The Universe, had a trailer revealed during Gearbox's PAX East 2019 panel. It's coming to PlayStation 4 and PSVR on May 31 and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store on June 4. The game appears to have a similar sense of humor found in Roiland's previous work, such as Rick And Morty: Virtual Rick-ality from Owlchemy Labs and Adult Swim Games, and Accounting from Squanch Games. But Trover plays more like a traditional 3D action-platformer.
As expected, it has a wacky premise where your dogs have been taken hostage and you have to stop the big bad Glorkon who puts the universe at stake and shoves your dogs into its eye sockets. There are plenty of deranged character designs and a whole lot of cursing; think Astro Bot but for adults! However, the game will be playable both in and outside of VR. You can watch the trailer above.
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