A new key visual has been revealed for the upcoming Digimon film that celebrates the original 1999 anime's 20th anniversary. The art is the first teaser image released for the new movie, which was first announced in May 2018. It can be seen below.
The key visual doesn't showcase much--it's a shot of Taichi (Tai in the English dub) and his partner Digimon, Agumon, holding hands. Taichi has also removed his goggles, an accessory he's worn for most of his partnership with Agumon. The visual was revealed via a tweet by Digimon Adventure Tri character designer Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, who, according to Siliconera, made the image based on a specific scene from the upcoming movie. The tweet is accompanied by the message to "Please remember Taichi and Agumon this way until the movie releases."
— 【公式】劇場版デジモンアドベンチャー（仮題） (@Digi_advntr20th) March 5, 2019
Not much information is known about the upcoming movie. According to Crunchyroll, the entire cast of Digimon Adventure Tri is scheduled to reprise their respective roles in the new film. Producer Yosuke Kinoshita wants the movie to be both meaningful for the fans who have been watching Digimon since the 1999 anime, while also making its story accessible for newcomers to understand. Although Digimon Adventure's 20th anniversary is this year (tomorrow, March 7, actually), the movie is scheduled for Spring 2020. However, a new video game that celebrates the anniversary--titled Digimon Survive--is coming out this year.
The original Digimon Adventure anime follows the journey and battles of Taichi, Yamato (Matt), Sora, Koshiro (Izzy), Mimi, and Joe, as well as Taichi's younger sister Kari and Yamato's little brother Takeru (T.K.). All eight are elementary school-age kids who become trapped in the Digital World, another universe populated by monsters who can utilize energy to digivolve into more powerful forms. As the DigiDestined, all eight carry devices that can supply their partner Digimon with the necessary energy to digivolve on command.
— 【公式】劇場版デジモンアドベンチャー（仮題） (@Digi_advntr20th) March 5, 2019
A second season saw most of the cast pass the DigiDestined mantle onto a new team of kids as Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Koshiro, Mimi, and Joe entered middle school. 2015's Digimon Adventure Tri picks up several years later, with the original eight DigiDestined--now in high school--reuniting with their partners. The new, upcoming movie ages the original cast to around 22-years-old.
After a long time away, Capcom is bringing the cult favorite Devil May Cry series back to its classic roots. Set to release on March 8, 2019 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, Devil May Cry 5 is the next major entry in the series, evolving the over-the-top action and style that popularized the series since its debut in 2001. With new weapons systems, multiple playable characters, and an abundance of callbacks to previous games, DMC5 looks to be the game that longtime fans have been waiting for. In our full review, we detailed why the new game in the series is everything long-time fans have been waiting for.
There's a lot to take in with DMC5, including its enhanced combat mechanics, and the new co-op mode that was revealed during the trailer at The Game Awards. Ever since its debut at E3 2018, we've got plenty to say about the action game, so we've broken things down to a few key points of interest. Here's everything we know about Capcom's upcoming return to stylish-action with Devil May Cry 5.
Devil May Cry 5 is an upcoming action-adventure game. Developed by Capcom, the long-running DMC series has always been about fast, stylish action while using a variety of unique weapons. Over the last 16 years, the series has gone on to inspire a particular brand of action gameplay, where fast-paced action and challenging battles go hand-in-hand. With every game, the stakes and scope of the series has grown, and DMC5 looks to be the most detailed and elaborate entry yet.
DMC5 seeks to continue that tradition of stylish action by telling the next major story in the series. With three playable characters--Dante, Nero, and the newcomer V--you'll go through several missions slashing and shooting demons and other monsters. Running on the RE Engine, the same framework powering Resident Evil 7 and the Resident Evil 2 remake, the game will feature the most detailed and richly realized visuals the series has seen yet. According to the developers, DMC5 will be the biggest game in the franchise has seen yet, incorporating a number of new features and innovations into the core gameplay.
The Full Review
In our full review of Devil May Cry 5, editor Matt Espineli gave it a 9/10, and stated that the series' classic sense of action and thrills are back in full force. Though he gave some criticisms for the game's fan-servicey moments and the unremarkable Cameo System, he praised the game's steadfast focus on offering in-depth and fun gameplay with its trio of playable characters.
"DMC5 thrives on the stylistic and mechanical prowess of its predecessors. It sticks to tradition above all else, pursuing a few ambitious new ideas along the way, but mostly maintaining the series' focus on intricate fighting systems and campy bravado. Rarely does the game stumble, consistently leveraging its spectacle and mechanical depth to push aside any small frustrations. All the while, the story exudes a charismatic charm that keeps you constantly intrigued as you're refining your skills. DMC5 proves the series can still be brilliant and imaginative without compromising its longest-held traditions."
When Does It Release And How Can I Catch Up?
DMC5's release date on PC, PS4, and Xbox One is set for March 8, 2019. If you want to catch up and play the previous games, you can check out the DMC HD Collection compiling the first three games on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Also, DMC4 Special Edition is available on the same platforms and offers a updated take on original the game, while also adding in three additional characters to play as. DmC: Definitive Edition, an update of Ninja Theory's reboot, is also an excellent entry in the series. If you're interested in checking that out, the Definitive Edition is available on PS4 and Xbox One (no PC release, unfortunately).
Pre-Release Build Impressions
"After spending a few hours playing Devil May Cry V, the joints in my fingers were aching and my wrist was cramped. These pains should be familiar to Devil May Cry fans; the series always required a high level of dexterity. But in this sorry state, a simple joy washed over me: 'I'm actually playing a new Devil May Cry game, and that's awesome.' But at the same time, another thought prodded my mind: 'Will everyone else want this?'" Read the full preview.
Can I Start With This Game?
Though this game references storylines and characters from across the 16 year history, it's totally possible to jump straight into DMC5. Just like with previous games, there will be digest material to help you get up to speed. But more importantly, the game will work as a standalone title, and won't require you to know every single character and their relationships. With that said, the game's plot will make more of an impact if you're familiar with the series.
The Reveal Trailer
After years of rumors and speculation, Devil May Cry 5 made its debut during Microsoft's E3 2018 press conference. The trailer began with an enigmatic voice-over talking over widespread carnage and bloodshed, with characters explaining that another demonic invasion has reached Earth. Afterward, we finally saw the return of Nero, riding around in his mobile headquarters with a neon blue Devil May Cry logo on the side. The trailer ended with a tease of Dante riding along on an strange, demonic motorcycle--giving a familiar smirk to the viewer.
What's New In DMC5?
Though many details about DMC5 are still under wraps, the game focuses on offering the same thrilling moments of action--with some added twists. In addition to new weapons and tweaks to existing characters, and even an online co-op mode, DMC5 will also feature a new training level called the Void mode. In this practice area, which can be pulled up in between missions, you'll be sucked into a space that allows you to experiment with the different moves and weapons you have available for the three playable characters. Pulling from Capcom's wealth of experience from fighting games, you can apply a whole set of options to your sparring partner--adjusting AI, attack damage, and other options--allowing you to get a feel for what your character can do.
How Does Nero Play?
Returning from DMC4, Nero is one of the main leads in DMC5. However, some things have changed since his first appearance that was quickly apparent from watching the debut trailer. For starters, his primary moveset is largely the same, using his Blue Rose revolver and Red Queen sword in tandem, which can charged up for extra damage. However, the Devil Bringer from the previous game--allowing him to yank and grapple enemies from afar--is gone, and he'll now have to rely on the new Devil Breaker system.
Crafted by series newcomer Nico, who works as a shopkeeper in their mobile headquarters, you'll be able to purchase upgrades and new items from her--including new Devil Breakers. Essentially, Devil Breakers are disposable arms that offer Nero different skills and modifiers to his moveset. For instance, the Gerbera arm will allow Nero to fire off projectile lasers, the Tomboy will amplify Nero's sword and gun strength (at the cost of disabling lock-on), and the Buster Arm will function similarly to his original Devil Bringer. However, there is a tradeoff to having these weapons. The prosthetic arms are extremely fragile and will break once you've taken enough damage from enemies or if you want to switch over to another weapon--destroying the equipped arm. However, there are plenty of arms scattered around the levels, allowing to find a new one fairly easily.
Where Does DMC5 Fit In The Series Timeline?
Devil May Cry 5 is a direct sequel to the events of DMC4, which saw Nero and Dante face off against Sanctus and the Order of Sparda. While the previous games only seldom referenced past events, opting to keep things more in the moment, DMC5 will have some direct callbacks to the other games--even explaining who crafted Dante's iconic weapons. Interestingly enough, Devil May Cry 2 will also play into the canon despite having been largely dismissed by fans and the developers in past years. Here's the current chronological order for the series.
DMC5 is a continuation of the story prior to Ninja Theory's reboot. Though DmC: Devil May Cry ended at a point that hinted at a another game, the upcoming DMC title is a direct sequel to 2008's Devil May Cry 4. There are no plans to continue on with Ninja Theory's reboot.
The Gamescom 2018 Trailer
In this new trailer, we got to see more of Nero in action--including his time-stopping devil breaker Ragtime--while also getting a peak at Dante's new weapons and moveset. During the debut trailer, we saw Dante riding a motorcycle, which is a constant throughout the series, but this trailer revealed that it also serves a new weapon for him, called the Cavaliere-B. The weaponized motorcycle turns into two large chainsaws, allowing him to combo back and forth into the vehicle and melee forms.
Is There A Demo?
Yes, the demo for DMC5 is out now on PS4 and Xbox One. This demo is a short mission with Nero fighting his way through the streets, culminating in a boss fight against Goliath. You have access to a few Devil Breakers, so be sure to jump in and give the game a shot!
How Does Co-Op Play Work?
Revealed during The Game Awards 2018, DMC5 features a new mechanic called the Cameo System, allowing players to team up online. Interestingly enough, this is the second time that co-op has appeared in the series--the first appearance being in Devil May Cry 3 during a particular boss battle. Throughout the campaign, certain stages will allow for players to choose from multiple character to play as. If you're online, then you'll load into the same stage with another player who's picked a different character, allowing you to complete the level together. After the level's completion, you can even rate the style of their performance. If you're offline, then the game's AI will control the other characters instead.
How Does Dante Play?
The original devil hunter makes a comeback, and he's exactly how you remember him from previous games. With the largest arsenal of weapons, Dante will be able to swap between a variety of swords, gauntlets, and other firearms on the fly--all while taking advantage of different combat styles and his signature devil trigger, which greatly amplifies his core damage and restores any lost health. After defeating major bosses throughout the game, Dante will acquire a new weapon for him to take advantage of, adding another deadly tool to his set.
One of the newer innovations for Dante is the option to customize specific loadouts for his melee and firearms. In the pre-mission menu, you can choose which weapons you want to bring with you in mission. If you want to come in fully armed--with up to four melee and firearms each--then you can do so. But if you're feeling more traditional and want to stick with one melee and firearm, you can do that too. Dante will also be able to use his different combat styles--Swordmaster, Gunslinger, Trickster, and Royal Guard--which can open up new moves to use for his weapons.
Are There Microtransactions?
During TGS 2018, we learned from our demo that DMC5 will feature a form of microtransactions for players to take advantage of. Using a similar method from Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition, these purchases will only allow you access to Red Orbs--DMC's currency--and they won't throw the game's balance out of whack, according to Capcom. Many of the major abilities and upgrades you can find are tied to the story, thus requiring you to earn access to them.
Will There Be Post-Launch Updates?
During the recent news drop during The Game Awards 2018, Capcom revealed plans to release the game's survival mode Bloody Palace the month after launch. Since DMC2, Bloody Palace has been one of the game's toughest challenges, pushing players to fight through 100 floors of enemies. During certain milestones after completing 10 or so floors, you'll face off against a returning boss from the campaign. At launch, the Bloody Palace won't be available, arriving as a free update in April 2019.
The TGS 2018 Trailer
At TGS 2018, Capcom released a new trailer revealing more of Dante and Nero's respective movesets and weapons. The original devil hunter also shows off a brand-new weapon known as the Balrog. This close-range, brawler-focused weapon features two distinct fighting modes channeling punches and kicks. At the end of the trailer, we also got another tease of the elusive third playable character referred to as V.
How Does V Play?
During the reveal of the new trailer at The Game Awards 2018, we finally saw gameplay of DMC5's new playable character V in action. In a stark contrast from Dante and Nero, V's combat skills focus primarily on his demonic familiars--returning DMC1 monsters Shadow, Griffon, and Nightmare. In the gameplay footage, we saw the character summon demons to fight against, with him staying at a distance as the beasts conjure up spikes, strike at close-range, and fire large energy beams against the enemies.
However when it comes down to it, V is still capable of fighting at close-range. With his cane, he can finish off weakened demons and mount some of the larger beasts as well. Also, V is capable of using several fake out teleport attacks to lure enemies in to strike them from behind. This character is certainly a big change from the others, and it'll be interesting to see just how different his moveset becomes when he gains additional moves and abilities.
The Game Awards 2018 Trailer
During The Game Awards, we saw a brand new trailer revealing more of DMC5's plot and trio of characters. Facing off against the big bad--a powerful demon named Urizen--Dante, Nero, Lady, and Trish seemed to have met their match. Dante himself even has his trusty sword, the Rebellion, shattered in the conflict. Throughout the trailer, we got to see plenty of action between the different playable characters--including V, who made his gameplay debut. Throughout the footage, we got to see V's particular combat style in action, focusing more on ranged combat and having his demonic familiars do his bidding. We also saw new footage of Dante's new firearm known as the Faust. Not letting up on the style, this weapon is demonic cowboy hat that uses red orbs as ammo--allowing you to cash in to summon meteors and other dangerous projectiles.
Is There A Special Edition?
Capcom plans to offer deluxe editions of Devil May Cry 5 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The Digital Deluxe Edition (priced at $70) comes with the full game, four unique Devil Breakers for Nero--including Mega Man's mega-buster--DLC song packs, and alternate color-schemes for characters and weapons. The US will also get a special Collector's Edition ($150) that comes with the Deluxe version, an artbook, enamel pins, a bumper sticker, and special model of the Nico's motorhome. You can read more about these in our DMC5 pre-order guide.
However, if you're looking for the ultimate way to experience Devil May Cry 5, then you may to check out the Japan-only Limited Edition. Cost upwards of $8600, this edition comes with the deluxe edition and a replica leather jacket modeled after Dante's threads in-game. If you're a die-hard fan that won't miss spending several thousand dollars for video-game memorabilia, then you want to invest in this edition of the game.
For more on Devil May Cry 5, including guides on how to find all the secret missions and some sweet SSS action gameplay, be sure to check back with us at GameSpot.
Devil May Cry 5, the first numbered sequel in the franchise since 2008, releases this week. The name sends a clear signal to fans: this is the true successor to Devil May Cry 4.
The most significant addition is a completely new playable character, V. While Dante and Nero are known for their acrobatic gunplay, V is a very different fighter. He summons familiars while standing back and floating around the battlefield, letting them do his fighting for him. And of course, Dante and Nero themselves are back, offering the familiar action gameplay fans have come to expect. Capcom has marketed this as a return to form, but is it?
"As you send demons flying across the screen in Devil May Cry 5, a strong sense of familiarity will hit you," critic Matt Espineli wrote in GameSpot's review. "It is a brilliant iteration of the series' best qualities--but it innovates as much as it reiterates, balancing new and old with infectious confidence."
Read below for a selection of reviews from around the industry, and check GameSpot sister site Metacritic for even more reviews.
Game: Devil May Cry 5
Developer / Publisher: Capcom
Release date: March 8
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC
Price: $60 / £55 / AU $100
GameSpot -- 9/10
"DMC5 thrives on the stylistic and mechanical prowess of its predecessors. It sticks to tradition above all else, pursuing a few ambitious new ideas along the way, but mostly maintaining the series' focus on intricate fighting systems and campy bravado. Rarely does the game stumble, consistently leveraging its spectacle and mechanical depth to push aside any small frustrations. All the while, the story exudes a charismatic charm that keeps you constantly intrigued as you're refining your skills. DMC5 proves the series can still be brilliant and imaginative without compromising its longest-held traditions." -- Matt Espineli [Full review]
Guardian -- 5/5
"DMC5 is a lot like Dante himself: older, grizzled, more experienced, yet still unapologetically juvenile in the best possible way. It's bloody, spectacular and irresistible, all cheesy one-liners, guns, swords and explosions while guitars scream in the background, and it plays like a dream. Director Hideaki Itsuno and his team have delivered: Devil May Cry is back." -- Patrick Lum [Full review]
Telegraph -- 5/5
"It's stylish. It's cool. It's supremely fun, fluid and rewarding. Dante's back and he's brought some friends. And with combat flair that makes up the finest pure-action game we have seen in a long time, we hope they stick around." -- Olivia White [Full review]
GamesRadar -- 4.5/5
"Capcom has done it again, re-energising a classic series like never before, and pushing the genre forward in a fresh way. It looks better than ever, plays better than ever. It's Devil May Cry better than ever." -- Oscar Taylor-Kent [Full review]
Push Square -- 9/10
"Devil May Cry 5 is quite easily one of the best action games on PS4. Flawless in the execution of its often jaw-dropping combat, it's a masterfully crafted title that begs to be played over and over again. Stunning presentation helps sell some of the coolest cutscenes going, and the story ties the series together with style. Among a sea of uninspired open world outings, Devil May Cry 5 is an explosion of character and laser-focused excellence. Capcom is well and truly back." -- Robert Ramsey [Full review]
PC Gamer -- 9/10
"I've been hitting demons in this game for 19 hours so far, and I can easily see myself putting in 19 more. The setting lacks the flair and imagination of the genre behemoth Bayonetta, and those boss fights make it a slightly more uneven experience, but there's a greater variety of combat styles and a higher degree of challenge that will will keep me playing until Capcom hopefully releases another one. If you enjoy third-person brawlers DMC5 is a must, and if you've never tried one before, this is a great place to start. What a treat." -- Tom Senior [Full review]
Variety -- No Score
"It's fun, in the ways that the old games are fun, and, taken out of context, it makes some interesting changes to mix up how you approach its beloved Style. Devil May Cry 5 manages to shake off the rust and remind us why we liked these games before, but you have to work to ignore the fact that some of its moves are just a little bit out of date." -- Mike Epstein [Full review]
Nintendo is holding its first event in-game event in Tetris 99 this week. The Maximus Cup kicks off on March 8, and it gives players a chance to earn $10 worth of My Nintendo points.
Throughout the Maximus Cup, players will compete to rack up the most first-place wins in Tetris 99. The top 999 players by the end of the event will be rewarded with 999 My Nintendo Gold points. These points can typically only be earned by buying Switch titles, and they can be used toward purchasing games and DLC from the Switch Eshop.
The Maximus Cup begins at 5 AM PT on March 8 and ends at 11:59 PT on March 10 (2:59 AM ET on March 11). You can read additional details about the event on Nintendo's website.
Tetris 99 is a battle royale-inspired take on the classic puzzle game, pitting 99 players against each other in a competition to be the last one remaining. GameSpot's Peter Brown called it "riveting experience that even at its worst is still a game very much worth playing" in our Tetris 99 review, and other critics have had similar positive things to say about it.
Tetris 99 is free to download for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. Memberships cost $4 USD per month, $8 USD for three months, and $20 USD for 12 months. Nintendo also offers a $35 annual Family Membership that can be shared between eight Nintendo Accounts, even across multiple consoles.
Another perk you get for subscribing to the Nintendo Switch Online service is access to a catalog of classic NES games, which is updated monthly. This month, Nintendo will be adding Kid Icarus and StarTropics to the library beginning March 13.
Rainbow Six Siege's new DLC drop, Operation Burnt Horizon, is now available. The expansion has been rolling out for PS4, Xbox One, and PC over the course of March 6, signaling the start of a new Siege season and year.
Year 4, Season 1 brings two new Operators, Mozzie and Gridlock, as well as a new map named Outback. Gridlock is a 3 armor, 1 speed attacker who comes equipped with three Trax Stingers--throwable, expanding spike clusters that slow and damage enemies who walk on them. Think of them as attacking versions of razor wire that cause damage--and make a similar amount of noise. Gridlock is therefore seen as an anti-roaming Operator. Her weapons include the F90 assault rifle or M249 LMG, as well as the Super Shorty sawed-off shotgun.
Mozzie, meanwhile, is a 2 armor, 2 speed defender who wields three deployable Pest devices, which will automatically hack and take over any enemy drone that enters a small radius. The drone is then fully under the command of the defending team; a small blue light is the only indicator to attackers that their drone is no longer under their control. Mozzie can use an AR9 assault rifle or the R10 Ronie machine pistol, as well as the same Super Shorty as Gridlock.
Outback is the accompanying Australian-themed map to Operation Burnt Horizon. Its restaurant, hotel, and fuel station form a relatively small L-shape arena that offers ample opportunity for close quarters combat. Outback is free for all players, while Gridlock and Mozzie can be unlocked with in-game Renown or by buying the Year 4 pass--though it's worth noting those without the pass will need to wait until March 13 to buy the knew Operators.
Additionally, a bunch of Operators are being tweaked for Year 4. Dokkaebi's phone will auto-hang up after a 12 second ring, for example, while the planned changes to Capitao's crossbow bolts will no longer go ahead. Ubisoft had planned to increase the bolts' area of effect, but the developer now says it needs more time to evaluate data from the test server.
Other changes include a decrease in the amount of health you'll possess when revived--you'll now get back to your feet with 20 HP, rather than 50, while Ubisoft is also tweaking how leaning works to help combat lean spamming. The camera will come from the center of your Operator's head, rather than the side you were leaning to, as was the case before.
For more on Rainbow Six Siege, you can check out the new season's trailer above or read more about Gridlock, Mozzie, and Outback here. You can also read Operation Burnt Horizon's full patch notes on the Ubisoft blog.
The Shinobi known as the Wolf, the protagonist of From Software's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, is at a serious disadvantage. As he ventures through the hostile territory of the grounds of the castle where his master, the young Divine Heir, is being held prisoner, he constantly faces overwhelming odds and foes as deadly as any found in the Dark Souls games. Combat is difficult and punishing--and death comes frequently.
Players' relationship with death has been central to many of From Software's games, from Demon's Souls and Dark Souls to Bloodborne. In those games, death carries a massive penalty, costing you your ability to strengthen your character, and causing every decision in combat to become one of risk versus reward. Should you fight that enemy that could kill you to gain a massive payday in power-increasing souls, or avoid the gamble? Should you press the attack for a risky win, or stay conservative and wait for a better opening but prolonging the fight inviting potential disaster?
Sekiro deals in a lot of the same sorts of situations, with enemies that are exceptionally deadly and combat that's unforgiving; you're going to die--a lot. The difference is that Sekiro handles death differently than other recent From Software games, turning it into a tool in your arsenal, while also making it even more punishing. GameSpot recently had a chance to spend a few hours playing Sekiro, which included its opening area. What was most striking was how the omnipresence of death colors the experience in a new way compared to From Software's other games, creating new strategies and new pressures. In Sekiro, death doesn't just have combat and progression consequences--it alters the game's story.
That story begins with the Wolf, essentially, dying. After an attempt to rescue the Divine Heir in a short tutorial section, the Wolf is defeated by the Heir's captor, losing an arm in the process. The Wolf awakens sometime later, having survived thanks to a strange power. Coming to in a dilapidated shrine on the castle grounds where the Heir is being held, the Wolf finds that a strange sculptor has fitted him with a prosthetic arm called the Shinobi Prosthetic. It's equipped with a grappling hook, and upgrading the arm over time is one way you'll progress your character in Sekiro. The prosthetic can be fitted with various weapons; we tried a flamethrower and an attachment that threw stunning fireworks in the faces of enemies. Other attachments include blades, and switching between your weapon options quickly makes the Shinobi Prosthetic function a bit like the trick weapons of Bloodborne.
After meeting a few other people hanging around the shrine to help out, including a nurse who won't say who her master is and a samurai who lets you practice on him because he can't seem to die, Sekiro starts to advance like any other Souls game, in which you strike out and explore the world around you. Sekiro's grapple means you can reach high areas like rooftops, from which you can scope things out and plan your route and your combat options, and you can even sneak up on enemies or descend on them from above to kill them without a fight. That's good, because fighting enemies is tough, especially when there's more than one of them; your ability to grapple out of danger, even briefly, is going to keep you alive.
Staying alive is important, but death in Sekiro is more nuanced than in Souls games. If you're killed in battle, the Wolf can use his strange power to resurrect himself. In fact, you can use death as a tool-- enemies will often wander away from you after you fall, allowing you to resurrect and sneak up behind them to deal huge blows.
The caveat is, you only get two chances to revive yourself, and after that, the consequences are dire. Like Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne, you lose a huge amount of progress if you die and can't be resurrected. As you fight and kill enemies, you gain points you can use in progression trees to buy new skills and abilities for the Wolf to make him stronger; if you die, you lose half of all the points you've accumulated (but not the skills you've already acquired). The same goes for money, which is what you use to upgrade the Shinobi Prosthetic. Unplanned deaths seriously hamper your progression, and unlike the Souls games, you can't return to your own corpse to reclaim what you've lost.
What's more, death has further-reaching consequences than just slowing your ability to make yourself stronger. The more you die, the more a sickness called Dragon Rot grows in the world around you, and it can begin to afflict the people you've interacted with in the game. When a character you've met in Sekiro gets sick with the Dragon Rot, it'll change the ways they interact with you, possibly even stopping them from talking to you (or helping you, or selling you things, as the case may be). The sickness is represented by an item called Essence of Rot in your inventory, and you'll get one for each infected character. We didn't see what those characters' ultimate fates might be--Activision developers on-hand wouldn't reveal whether they could die in the name of holding back spoilers, but did say you'll be able to search for a cure to the disease to potentially the sick.
Though dying can be a huge setback in Sekiro, there is a chance you won't suffer the full pain of losing half of what you've earned every time. Sometimes when you die, a mechanic called Unseen Aid will kick in. This is basically a chance for divine intervention from the gods and Buddha, allowing you to keep all your experience points despite going to your grave. Unseen Aid has a relatively low chance of kicking in, though, and the more Essence of Rot you're carrying around, the lower the chance of receiving Unseen Aid becomes. The more you die, the tougher on you Sekiro can be.
So even with the revive system, death is a big consequence in Sekiro. Making sure you can avoid death's penalties has a big impact on how you'll play. You get two revive charges, but once you use them, each has a different requirement to restore them. One you get back from resting at one of the many idol statues in Sekiro, which are equivalent to the Souls games' bonfires, complete with the mechanic of restoring enemies you've already defeated to surrounding areas. The second charge comes from actually killing enemies--which means that you'll need to be aggressive when you return to the fight, or retreat to an idol (and respawn any defeated enemies) to protect yourself. Even if you just have the idol charge, you'll need to kill an enemy in order to be able to use it, though; you can't reclaim your own life without swapping one in return.
Despite death being an ever-present consideration, our time in Sekiro demonstrated how important being aggressive can be. Not only is it essential to make kills in order to restore your revives to deal with bad situations, but aggression baked into all of Sekiro's combat much more than in From's previous games, thanks to the Posture system. Posture refers to an enemy's ability to deal with your attacks; as you strike them or parry their blows, their Posture is lowered, and once it's completely emptied, they're staggered. That lets you get in close for a deathblow strike to do massive damage. While you can do damage with attacks when you parry a blow or break an enemy's guard, deathblows from breaking Posture and stealth attacks are the real way you win fights in Sekiro. Getting them generally requires getting right in enemies' faces, though, because Posture is both about deflecting enemy attacks and landing your own--and it's a constant balance between maintaining your own Posture and breaking your opponent's. It makes for tough, up-close fights where pressing the attack is rewarded, and the hit-and-run, conservative tactics of avoiding damage in Bloodborne and Dark Souls are much less effective.
Though Sekiro offers more combat options thanks to the addition of stealth mechanics like sneaking through bushes to ambush enemies, and the grapple that lets you zip away from enemies or onto rooftops to reposition, it definitely carries From Software's signature difficulty. The systems surrounding death and combat in the game make for a fresh take on what Souls fans are used to, but with effects that might be even more crushing than before.
What's interesting is the way Sekiro is using ideas similar to what fans are familiar with to create fresh experiences--whether it's combining the assassination opportunities of stealth that even work on some bosses, with more aggressive combat; or thinking about ways to both use and avoid death. Sekiro's different spin on From Software's formula creates a new, interesting relationship with video game death for players, while continuing to be just as crushing as fans expect.
Mortal Kombat 11 has already featured a ton of recognizable faces from the breadth of the entire series, and more returning characters have appeared. Erron Black, Cassie Cage, and Jacqui Briggs--all characters who made their first appearances in Mortal Kombat X--feature prominently in a new story trailer and have been confirmed as playable fighters.
The trailer focuses on Kronika and her attempts to fix the rift being caused by Raiden by drawing together multiple realities in order to reset the timeline. That brings in some recognizable characters we know from the series like Johnny Cage, along with newer additions that just appeared for the first time in the last game. The trailer shows each of the newly announced characters in story sequences, as well as brief snippets of what would appear to be their fatalities.
Cassie Cage is the daughter of Sonya Blade and Johnny Cage, while Jacqui Briggs is the daughter of Jax. Erron Black is an Outworld gunslinger and mercenary. Cassie will be shown in more detail during the Kombat Kast on March 6 at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET. For now you can watch the story trailer above.
NetherRealm is planning an online stress test for March 15-17. That test will be closed and only available to select players in the US, and only for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions. Another beta test will be coming from March 28-31, which will be open for Xbox One and PS4 pre-orders. Pre-ordering also gets you Shao Kahn as a playable character. Once the full game releases on April 23, it will come to those platforms along with PC and Nintendo Switch.
Microsoft has announced another handful of games coming to Xbox Game Pass throughout the first half of March. You can prepare for spring by hoarding up the latest in an open-world action franchise, racing across the finish line, building a super-team, and exploring the wasteland.
The first two games, Just Cause 4 and Lego Batman 2, are coming on March 6. Just Cause 4 is the most recent release on the list, having just come out in December. It's the latest in the series starring professional dictator-overthrower Rico Rodriguez, letting you cause wanton destruction amid new extreme weather events like snowstorms and tornadoes. Lego Batman 2 brings back the Dark Knight alongside a host of other famous DC crimefighters to save Gotham City from the blocky schemes of Lex Luthor and the Joker.
Then on March 14, the service will add F1 2018 and Fallout 4. F1 is the official game of the globally popular racing series, and features media interviews and other events to help shape your reputation as a racer. It also brings the French and German Grand Prix back to the racing calendar. Fallout 4 is the latest traditional installment in the RPG series, sending you out on a quest among the wastes to locate your missing son.
The listing ends there, midway through the month, so we're likely to see another announcement covering the second half of March sometime later. Microsoft similarly split February.
Xbox Game Pass is an all-you-can-eat subscription service, offering dozens of full games to download for a monthly fee of $9.99 / £8. Microsoft is including first-party games at launch to sweeten the deal, and in February that gave players access to Crackdown 3. You can check out the line-up of Game Pass games here.
When I think about my own history with Mortal Kombat, it was all about beating my brother or friends one-on-one so I could finish them with a savage fatality in MK3. It revolved around a light-hearted sense of competition wrapped in a disgustingly hilarious gore-filled fighting game. By no means has that been lost in Mortal Kombat 11, but it's not necessarily the thing I'm most excited about. Even as I pay closer attention to the FGC and find pro-level play ever-fascinating, it's the single-player content that I'm eager to jump into.
During a preview event in Chicago, Illinois--home to developer NetherRealm Studios--I had the opportunity to spend about two hours with Mortal Kombat 11's latest playable build. This included a roster of familiar faces such as Johnny Cage, Cassie Cage, and Kano in addition to the playable characters available during January's reveal event. But this time, I got a taste of the game's story mode and Towers of Time challenges, and messed around with Variations and customization. Considering the pedigree of NetherRealm and the breadth of content Injustice 2 packed in, it doesn't come as much of surprise that MK11 follows suit.
Get ready for present-day Johnny Cage arguing with '90s Johnny Cage.
Story Time
From the opening cutscene to the end of the first chapter, it's apparent that MK11 touches on some of the best parts from NetherRealm's previous work. After the stellar execution of Injustice 2's story mode, that had a cinematic flair expected to accompany DC universe characters, you'd hope that carries over into MK11, and it does. Mortal Kombat 11 picks up where MKX's story left off, and starts with the scene that was shown during the game's reveal. In the Jinsei Chamber, Raiden decapitates the Elder God Shinnok just before the mysterious Kronika shows up to hint at her time-manipulating abilities, saying, "The arc of the universe bends to my will. It is only a matter of time," and halting the flow of blood from Shinnok's severed head.
Cut to Earthrealm, where Cassie Cage earns a promotion within the ranks of the Special Forces commissioned by... her mom, Sonya Blade. As the unit's leader, Sonya insists it isn't due to nepotism and tells Cassie that she has to pass one more test: to fight... her mom. You're put in Cassie's shoes in this chapter, and there's still that smooth transition from cutscene to fight that gets you into the action without a hitch, blending gameplay and story seamlessly. After a brutal (yet respectful) beatdown that's oddly humorous in context, the whole family comes together as Johnny Cage jumps in to celebrate the promotion with his daughter. But the good times are in short order; Raiden arrives to let everyone know that an evil Liu Kang and the Netherrealm army are on the prowl, and Earthrealm must hurry to take them down.
Cassie and Sonya are leading the Earthrealm Special Forces to put an end to the Netherrealm army.
In the war room, Raiden, Sonya, Johnny, and Cassie gather to devise a plan for a two-pronged assault on the Netherrealm, and it turns out successful at first. Raiden mows down the hordes of brutes, raining lightning as a one-man-army while acting as a diversion for the Special Forces to infiltrate the castle. Jade and Kabal catch wind of the invasion, and start to throw hands with Jacqui Briggs and Cassie, and now you enter another playable fight. Although I'm not at liberty to discuss a few important details that close out this opening chapter, it was left on a cliffhanger when the Earthrealm army starts to get overwhelmed and Sonya falls victim to the castle's crumbling walls. All the while, I was drawn into what MK11 is trying to do with its cast and narrative beats thanks to incredibly well-rendered character models and a high-stakes script that will have both series fans and newcomers invested. That's not to mention the wild possibilities in store when merging timelines begin to factor into the story.
After the stellar execution of Injustice 2's story mode that had a cinematic flair expected to accompany DC universe characters, you'd hope that carries over into MK11, and it does.
NetherRealm isn't afraid to play fast-and-loose with its narrative and timeline. The introduction of Kronika and time manipulation may seem like an easy excuse to throw in all its characters and insert fan service at will, but it's Mortal Kombat, and that means things were always bound to get bonkers. MK11 opens the door for some wild possibilities that are already apparent in the new story trailer (see above) by giving us a taste of not one, but two Johnny Cages riffing off of each other. It's also evident in the trailer that this creates room for more complicated conflicts, plot twists, and ever-changing allegiances between the Netherrealm and Earthrealm.
I spoke with series creator Ed Boon about many things, but among them was story inspiration. He pointed to the writing team, stating, "They came up with this whole time bending thing and bringing characters back from the past. So when we got excited about that, a lot of it just sparked [the thought], 'Okay, now we can do this, this and that!'" When asking NetherRealm game designer Derek Kirtzic about the direction MK11 is taking, he said, "You're going to start seeing the resurrection of a lot of old characters. A lot of fan favorites. And it's always just [a question of] how we can continue to expand on this universe."
Kronika's time manipulation is sure to make the story mode a wild ride. Maybe we'll see Liu Kang face himself.
The cinematic presentation is sharp as ever, and the premise is more enticing than its predecessors. It helps big time that MK11 will be a high watermark visually for the series, with a cast that's vividly brought to life (and death). If there's a disappointing aspect from the small snippet I played, it's that the story mode might be a bit light on the gameplay front by having only a few fights throughout. But let me tell you about the Towers of Time.
Towers of Time
If a heavier emphasis on gameplay and challenge is what you're looking for in MK11, you'll want to dig into the Towers of Time mode. Here, you're presented with a multitude of towers, each that embody a series of thematic fights in rapid succession featuring modifiers to keep things fresh. This may sound familiar since it's essentially a parallel to Injustice 2's Multiverse Mode.
Fighting games sometimes struggle to maintain solo players' attention, but it seems to be a concern that's being firmly addressed in Mortal Kombat 11.
In the "Kold Chill" tower, I had to win four matches, one after the other, with the perk of having Sub-Zero available as an assist. I could call him into the fight for a quick attack using the right stick; directions dictate what he'd do whether it was a launching attack to initiate a juggle or a freeze that stunned my opponent for a second. Things got spicier in the "Test Your Might" tower that granted me access to Konsumables, which are modifiers that let me equip special attacks to the right stick or grant me buffs during fights. The catch here is that I had to win two rounds without my health bar replenishing after winning the first round--on top of that, the CPU-controlled opponent only had to win one round to finish the fight. It turned into this weird mix of turtling as I called in meteors and missile strikes from the Konsumable perks I equipped, but also moving in close to land a combo without taking too much damage in the process. It's a different way to enjoy the game, and a means of acquiring new gear to tinker with the roster's Variations.
The Towers of Time aren't static, though. They'll also act as incentivized leaderboards. When I asked Ed Boon about how the mode will keep players interested beyond what's in the launch package, he said, "we're introducing different online game modes that are single-player-focused and give you your own personal challenge, to go up leaderboards and also earn special prizes and whatnot." You can think of these as daily or weekly challenges, similar to ongoing events in other online games. Kirtzic described it as, "almost like an infinite amount of single player content." If my brief time with the game is any indication, NetherRealm seems to be tackling Mortal Kombat 11's longevity from several different directions, though we'll have to wait and see how well these future challenges sustain interest in the game and change up the experience.
A Matter Of Time
Fighting games sometimes struggle to maintain solo players' attention, but it seems to be a concern that's being firmly addressed in Mortal Kombat 11. The game will have Klassic Towers and the Krypt mode in addition to the story and Towers of Time, though we weren't able to check them out. However, none of the content would really land if it wasn't for MK11's heavy, satisfying fighting system that improves upon a good foundation set by NetherRealm's previous games.
There's also a sense of playfulness throughout the game, even as dark and violent as the game can get. Relentless gore might be a deal-breaker for some but for many, the cartoonishly over-the-top brutality is a staple that makes the series what it is. You'll be able to see for yourself when Mortal Kombat 11 hits the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch on April 23.
Editor's note: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and NetherRealm Studios provided accommodations for the Mortal Kombat 11 preview event in Chicago, Illinois for which this feature is based on.
Judgment is coming to the west. Sega announced that the game from the studio behind Yakuza is coming to PS4 on June 25. Those who pre-order digitally will get a head-start on the detective adventure game on June 21.
Originally titled Judge Eyes in Japan, Judgment is a narrative-driven game in which players assume the role of investigator Takayuki Yagami looking into grisly crimes. It's been described as Yakuza meets Phoenix Wright, for the way it blends a heavy story focus with investigative gameplay sequences. It also shares a setting with the Yakuza series: Kamurocho, the fictionalized city modeled after Kabukicho in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
Though it shares some common traits with Yakuza, though, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio head Toshihiro Nagoshi says this game is "completely different" from its other works. Yakuza has become a critically acclaimed series of its own, most recently concluding the gangster melodrama series with Yakuza 6: The Song of Life.
"If I've learned anything from seven Yakuza entries, it's that Ryu ga Gotoku Studios makes good on the details it throws into its games," Michael Higman wrote. "Judgment provides a fresh perspective of a familiar setting. It may not be a Yakuza game by name, but the spirit seems to still be there. You can investigate Kamurocho's latest crimes as Takayuki Yagami in Summer 2019 when Judgment launches exclusively for PlayStation 4."
In its ongoing quest to keep things fun and fresh, Fortnite developer Epic Games has introduced a new gameplay feature for Season 8 with the game's latest update. As part of patch 8.01, players will now be able to use maps to hunt for treasure. However, this isn't like the treasure hunts from seasons past, so we've put together a short overview of how it works.
Naturally, the first part of hunting for treasure is getting your hands on a map. These maps can be found as Floor Loot or in Chests. They are a Legendary item that take up an inventory slot, and you can also only carry one at a time--so no hoarding them! Using your map will make a small dotted red line appear in front of you. However, this line doesn't extend out very far, so it's designed to serve as an indication of the general direction you should be heading instead of a direct path to it.
Once you're close to the location you'll see a golden shaft of light marking exactly where you need to dig with your pickaxe. There's also a very hand "X" to mark the spot. Digging takes a little bit of time, so be careful and make sure there aren't any other players around to pick you off. When you successfully open the chest, you'll be treated to some items of Legendary rarity level.
One thing to keep in mind is that, like other items, treasure maps can be forcefully taken from you. That means that if a player kills you, they can grab the map and hunt down the treasure instead. Naturally, you can do the same, so if you're feeling a bit piratey, you could hunt down players using their maps and then take them out to snatch their loot.
Following the launch of Fortnite Season 8, which flooded the game with new content, developer Epic Games has once again updated the battle royale experience with something new. Update 8.01 is out now, and its primary addition is--as is appropriate for a pirate-themed season--the new Buried Treasure item. Here's everything that's new in today's update.
As detailed in the patch notes for update 8.01, the game now lets you track down treasure. Buried Treasure specifically refers to a Legendary-tier item that takes the form of a map; players use it to uncover loot hidden across the island. Players can only hold one map at a time and anyone who manages to find a chest will be rewarded with Legendary loot. Once you arrive at the target location, you'll dig up the treasure with your pickaxe. These maps can be found from floor loot and chests.
Although Buried Treasure is the big new feature, there are some smaller additions, tweaks, and changes to the game too. Slide Duos has been introduced as the new Limited Time Mode. This makes it so you essentially slide around everywhere--your run speed has been increased, but friction is "greatly lowered," and there is no fall damage. Everyone else gets a Grappler with unlimited ammo to help them traverse this slippery world.
In terms of balance tweaks, the Infantry Rifle has a lower chance of appearing out of chests and being found on the floor, as does the Clinger. Bottle Rockets have been vaulted altogether, meaning you won't encounter them in the game for the time being. Additionally, you can now slide down terrain without taking damage from an increased angle.
Finally, Epic is testing out a new type of tournament with the Gauntlet Solo and Gauntlet Duo Test Events. Check out the full patch notes for the Battle Royale below to see everything that's new with this just-released update on PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and mobile.
The launch of Season 8 means there's a new Battle Pass to get too. This gives players a chance to unlock a number of new skins and other cosmetics. There are already fresh challenges to complete as well. You can find tips for those in our complete Season 8 challenges guide.
Fortnite: Battle Royale Update 8.01 Patch Notes
Gameplay
Increased the angle at which you can slide down terrain without taking damage from 65 degrees to 75 degrees.
Limited Time Mode: Slide Duos
Summary
Ice blocks on everyone's feet, infinite ammo Grapplers in everyone's inventory - a recipe for a slippery good time!
Mode Details
Friction greatly lowered.
Max run speed greatly raised.
Falling damage removed.
Infinite ammo Grapplers added to everyone's inventory.
Weapons + Items
Buried Treasure
It's a map that is used to track down buried chests on the map.
Chests contain a trove of legendary loot.
X marks the spot! The chest must be dug up using a pickaxe.
There is a limit of one map held at a time.
Legendary Rarity.
Can be found from Floor Loot and Chests.
Reduced Infantry Rifle availability
Reduced the chance of receiving an Infantry Rifle from Chests from 14.41% to 13.39%
Reduced the chance of receiving an Infantry Rifle from Floor Loot from 2.41% to 2.24%
Reduced Clinger availability
Reduced the chance of receiving Clinger's from Chests from 9.42% to 5.52%
Reduced the chance of receiving Clinger's from Floor Loot from 1.27% to 1.02%
Vaulted
Bottle Rockets
Events
New Tournament: Gauntlet Solo Test Event & Gauntlet Duo Test Event
We are running a new type of tournament as a test of several format updates.
Extended Hours: This event consists of a single session which lasts until March 9th 00:00 GMT.
Due to the extended hours for this event, Duo players will each have their own score that remains when changing partners.
Note: Due to the playlist featuring matchmaking based on your score, the quality or availability of matches may differ at certain times of day.
Updated Scoring:
Match Limit: None
Bus Fare: -2 Points
Each match played will reduce your score by two points in the form of a 'Bus Fare' at the start of the match.
Tournament scores cannot go into the negatives - at the end of a match, if a player has a negative score for the tournament then their score will be reset to zero points.
Victory Royale: +3 Points (+10 Total)
2nd - 5th: +2 Points (+7 Total)
6th - 10th: +2 Points (+5 Total)
11th - 25th: +3 Points (+3 Total)
Each Elimination: +1 Point
Matchmaking:
Players are still matchmade against opponents with similar point totals.
Matchmaking will wait for up to 8 minutes before creating a match with the closest players available.
Matchmaking will search in a considerably wider points range after 4 minutes of searching.
At the conclusion of the Gauntlet Test Event, the Top 5% of players based on their final score will unlock the 'Gauntlet Finals' tournament.
New Tournament: Gauntlet Solo Finals & Gauntlet Duo Finals
Scheduled 3-hour event, check tournament in-game for your local time.
Note: NA East and NA West are now separate for scheduled tournaments, and no longer share a leaderboard.
Scoring:
Match Limit: 10 Games
Victory Royale: +3 Points (+10 Total)
2nd - 5th: +2 Points (+7 Total)
6th - 10th: +2 Points (+5 Total)
11th - 25th: +3 Points (+3 Total)
Each Elimination: +1 Point
Top 3000 players in each server region will advance to Round 2 on Sunday during same time block.
Audio
Improvement to the standard AR sound so that it's not overbearing on the shooter.
The sound made when a player destroys a structure is now louder when instigated by enemies.
Footstep audio blends in the above/below layers, rather than binarily switching between them.
Footstep occlusion traces from the head of enemies when they're above or below.
Reduced the volume of the Season 8 Victory Umbrella.
The Season 8 Victory Umbrella now uses the correct sound on Mobile/Switch.
Mobile
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue when pressing the fire button with 2 fingers causes fire action to continuously loop.
Bend Studio, the developers behind the upcoming PS4 exclusive Days Gone, have seen the PlayStation platform grow through the ages. Starting out with Bubsy 3D, one of the earliest 3D platformers, they pivoted to great success with the Syphon Filter series--one of the original PlayStation's more defining first-party games. In the time since, Bend Studio worked closely with other developers on franchises like Uncharted and Resistance, but on the year of Syphon Filter's 20th anniversary, the studio is launching its first new IP in two decades.
After spending some hands-on time with the game, we spoke with creative director John Garvin and game director Jeff Ross about the studio's formative years and how the new open-world game set in the Pacific Northwest aims to shake up the familiar trappings of the setting. The following interview has been edited for clarity and readability.
Bend Studio is actually one of the oldest PlayStation developers still around today. This is the first new IP coming from the studio in a long time, so with that, there seems to be a lot of perspective on what makes a good Sony game.
John Garvin: Well for 20 years, I worked on the Syphon Filter series, Resistance: Retribution, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and among others. We've always been working on third-person shooters that are narrative-driven, that's really what we do. But you're right, it's our first new IP in a long time. However, we're always thinking of ways to push the gameplay and ourselves further. The thing about working on Days Gone, is that the PS4 obviously has got a lot more power than anything we've worked on before. We couldn't have done something like the hoard gameplay on any other platform like the PS3 or Vita, and it was really exciting for us to do work on the PS4.
Jeff Ross: To me, Bend Studio just always goes for it. We're in Central Oregon, we're kinda outsiders, but we're about making this big game. This one is certainly the biggest, but as a developer, we're small, scrappy and we're willing to kinda go for it and let it all hang out on this title.
Garvin: And we're really lucky because Sony, I think, is unique to publishers and to platform holders because there is so much longevity in the production team. Some of the people on staff have worked on Bubsy 3D, and they've gone on to work on bigger games. But to your point about seeing the evolution of PlayStation, it's been pretty incredible because I love the fact that Shuhei Yoshida is willing to take chances and say, "Hey, how about a next-gen handheld platform? Or how would you guys like to build an Uncharted game on that?" That was quite an opportunity for us and that was something that we really appreciated happening.
So Bend Studio has been making Days Gone over the course of six years, and we saw the game for the first time during the midpoint of that at E3 2016. Over this period, both Sony and the popularity of the zombie sub-genre has changed. Can you talk about how the game has changed over the years, and what's stayed constant?
Garvin: Here's the funny thing about Days Gone, the core idea has been the same from day one. We had a concept painting that our art director had done, just spitballing ideas, and it's this character--we weren't calling him Deacon St. John back then--but he was sitting on the roof of an old sawmill and 1,000 zombies are snaking their way up to him. Our first tech demo was a re-creation of that and you have this one guy who's going to be fighting them. So we really asked ourselves "how do we turn that into a game?" You see movies that kinda do that, but the question is, how do you turn that into a game and make it fun? That was literally what drove the development early on for Days Gone.
Ross: That key image, as a matter of fact, was the basis for our first E3 2016 demo. We knew it was a risk to come out with our biggest asset. That sawmill from the original concept piece was our first public demonstration of the game and we executed on that vision. Six years is a lot of time, but we also see it as a plus. It gives us the time to get things right. It's a great luxury. It is a long time to work on a game, but it's also a huge open world, dynamic game in next-gen fidelity.
All the highways are destroyed and you're doing a lot of off-roading because they were trying to stop the hoard. These pieces all kind of tied together and basically what it's taken over the last six years is turning that into a game that had elements that were familiar because we feel really strongly that that's what genre is. It's the players that bring expectations to a game and they want to experience something that they're going to have fun with, but at the same time, we actually want to go against those expectations as well.
I actually kind of appreciate that this game is set in the Pacific Northwest. It's a bit of an unusual area to have an open-world game.
Garvin: Yeah from the beginning we wanted it in the Pacific Northwest. Most people actually don't know that the region is actually the mostly desert. Seattle is on the west side of the Cascade Range, as is about a third of Oregon, and that's where all the rain is. That's where all the green forest is. Where we live, it's mostly all desert which means that it's all scarred by volcanism. Which means you have ravines, you have buttes, you have all these steep sort of crevices everywhere. So all the vegetation is built up around that because it's high desert, it's very harsh, very extreme.
We haven't seen this in a video game, and we thought it would be interesting, fun to explore and it would look beautiful. What better backdrop to fight a horde than this amazing environment that you're in.
It actually went against a lot of my own expectations for what the setting was all about.
Garvin: Yep, and it's all absolutely real. All this stuff is heavily researched so like the Belknap Crater is a place you can go in central Oregon. Something that we really haven't talked about, that we're really proud of, is the fact that all the different regions in the game have unique weather systems. It rains a lot less in the Belknap area, whereas the Cascade region it rains a lot more. As you move further south and into other biomes, you're gonna run into other types of weather patterns that are totally unique to those regions.
Ross: Right, it's a beautiful and sinister environment. And honestly, it's like a character in the game in its own way. It can be snowing in the morning, it can be hot at lunch, then it can be snowing again or raining at night. It can snow as late as June or July too. It's really a dynamic environment, so we're not really stretching much for the game. We're just delivering on what's there.
A common element for a lot of first-party PS4 games is that there's a strong focus on character, and Deacon seems to find himself in a lot of different events with other characters. I noticed there was a section in the main menu called Storylines, which kept track of your current relationships and objectives for these key characters.
Ross: I'm glad you noticed the Storylines. We wanted to make sure there was very little dissonance in the open world and the story. We haven't really shown a lot of the main story yet, but everything you do in this world matters for an important reason. The Storylines mechanics was a way to kinda emphasize advancing the smaller threads in the larger storyline. It's a way for us to connect the open world activities that the player is doing and kinda frame it in a way that shows why it matters. There is a really tight integration between the two--the story and the open world systems.
Garvin: I can tell you that when it comes to making a Sony first-party PS4 AAA exclusive, there's a heavy emphasis on character-driven storylines and narratives. You see a little bit of that in the demo, where you might see the storyline where you meet this girl you have to rescue. Last time I beat the game, it took me 30 plus hours to beat the golden path. That's one of the things we've been doing at Bend Studio for all these years; Character-driven experiences, and Days Gone is absolutely no exception.
The release of this game is slowly coming up. So after spending so long on this game, is there anything about it that sticks out most for you?
Garvin: Yeah I mean, to me, when I'm still playing I always have to pinch myself. It's something that we set out six years ago. We kinda told Sony that "Alright, we are going to make this huge open world game, with all these systems". And nobody really believed us, they trusted us, but they didn't believe it. To see that stuff come together, ultimately, when you get to the final credits of the game, the feels are there. Everything you've said it came together and the game stung, and it's everything we set out to make and more.
Ross: It's really transformed us. When people tell us no, that redoubles our effort. It's like when they say something is impossible, we'll prove that we can do it. And man, I think we did it. So I'm really super proud of that. From my point of view, like you said, it's all about the feels. People are not expecting it and they're going to be surprised. By the time you get done with it you're going to have experienced a lot.
Garvin: I think [Days Gone] is everything Bend Studio represents. We are sort of punching above our weight. We are really ambitious and we really want to create something that is awesome, even when we're just a small studio in the middle of the high desert.
The upcoming PS4 exclusive Days Gone is fast approaching its release on April 26. Coming from Bend Studio, the developers behind the Syphon Filter series and Uncharted: Golden Abyss, the third-person open-world game takes a lot of cues from previous Sony AAA titles, all while set within the popular setting of a zombie apocalypse. After a recent hands-on session with the game, GameSpot editors Edmond Tran and Alessandro Fillari came together to share their thoughts on what it was like exploring Days Gone's take on the Pacific Northwest during harsher times.
For more on Days Gone, check out our interview with the developers from Bend Studio about the making of the game, and stay tuned for our video impressions detailing how the new open world game stacks up.
Alessandro: So to start things off, what do you think of Days Gone in the broader sense? The basic premise is essentially Sons of Anarchy by way of The Walking Dead, and I certainly got the impression it was sticking fairly close to those sources of inspiration. Like the main character, Deacon St. John, seems like he'd fit right in within either of those shows.
Edmond: I've never seen SOA and I actively dislike the TV adaptation of TWD, so Days Gone didn't spark excitement in that sense. My reaction to the trailers and demos was that it looked okay, if a bit generic. But after reading preview coverage from yourself and Oscar last year, where you both sounded pretty unimpressed, this just flew way off my radar and I had very low expectations going into my first experience of the game.
Alessandro: Yeah, I was fairly underwhelmed by last year's demo. To reiterate a bit, in addition to it feeling a bit run of the mill as an open world game, a big factor that left me unimpressed was the poor technical performance. In the 2018 demo, this was particularly noticeable during moments when you encounter massive swarms of Freakers--zombies, basically--which made these encounters a major drag. However, this recent build of the game was far more improved. I still felt a bit underwhelmed by some parts of what Days Gone is about, but I ended up finding more to like in this newer slice.
The Freakers
Edmond: Oh wow, I actually didn't see any of the huge hordes of zombies--I'm sorry, "Freakers"--in my three hours of the game at all so I can't really speak to how I found those, but I did run into one noticeable technical hiccup: I raided an enemy encampment where all the environmental dressing failed to load, so enemies were taking cover behind nothing and pickup items were floating in thin air. But I'm taking a "whatever" stance on bugs since this isn't the final product.
Alessandro: Yeah, I saw some weird bugs as well, like some moments characters had their guns stuck to their hands during cutscenes. But anyway, the times I saw herds of Freakers during this demo were some of my favorite moments during my playthrough. The first time was in a cave, which they like to hide out in, and the other time was when I was trying to rescue a survivor. When I went back to my bike after helping this NPC out, I found it surrounded by a hoard of freakers. I tried running for my bike, but they quickly got to me and I died. It was a brutal way for Deacon to go out, but with that said, I actually really dig how much of a presence the undead have because of their sheers numbers and how easily they can catch you off guard. They're a lot more unnerving to encounter than in most other zombies games.
Edmond: Please, Alessandro. The "Freakers" don't like to be associated with common zombie folk, since Freakers are not actually undead, they're just really messed up living beings, hence the hibernation in caves and their need to eat and drink. Also a factor which really makes things very uncomfortable when the game put me in a situation where I had to kill freaker CHILDREN. It's messed up.
I saw a few other freakers types, which were basically Witches and Boomers from Left 4 Dead, or Screamers and Bloaters from State of Decay, but the kids, the "Newts", mostly avoid you unless you're low on health. I got into a situation where I had to beat one with a baseball bat and I don't think I'm going to heaven anymore.
Alessandro: Yeah, Newts only appear in specific areas where they set up dens, so thankfully they don't come up too often. It was very off-putting seeing them watch you from afar, just sort of looming in the distance. They'll only attack if you get in their space.
The Open World
Edmond: Which is something you don't necessarily have to do. I hate being reductive, but I really think the best way to describe this game is a narrative- and character-focused State Of Decay with a Far Cry level of freedom in approaching scenarios.
My biggest takeaway from this game was how much I enjoyed the different ways you could use your variety of abilities and the environment to complete objectives, whether that be to get into a place, or destroy people or things. I respect any game that attempts to emphasise a flexibility to move back and forth between stealthy and loud approaches, or the fluidity to switch between ranged, melee, and guerilla combat techniques on the fly. I like mixing things up.
Alessandro: That's actually a pretty fair way to describe the game. You do go around collecting herbs and helping survivors in the bases around the map. It channels a lot of the survivalist-experience you'd find from State of Decay, all within a large open world like Far Cry.
And you know, I actually have to say that I ended up enjoying the setting of the Pacific Northwest a lot more than I thought I would. It went against a lot of my expectations for the region and it was pretty educational to be honest. The second area we got to explore in the demo seemed fairly close to a desert environment. It was inspired by the Belknap Crater, a real location that has a volcano. On one occasion I kinda got distracted by the beauty of the world that I totally didn't catch an obvious ambush spot in the road that was set up by one of the enemy factions.
Edmond: Oh man, I was really caught off-guard by the random ambushes, and they led to some great watercooler moments, kinda like getting mugged in Red Dead Redemption 2. There was a moment during my session where I was wandering around, deeply focused on using the game's tracking mechanic to search the ground for some footprints, when I got jumped and overwhelmed.
There were too many to fight close-quarters so I booked it into a nearby forest when I got an opening, dodging gunfire by weaving between the trees. I eventually ran down a hill, over a big rock, and hunkered under it. They lost sight of me but eventually, one passed right by the rock, I ambushed him as he wandered past, and thought: "thank you, varied environment for giving me that movie-like chase." They're definitely pitching the "high desert" and variable weather and terrain thing pretty hard. I've never been to Oregon, but the developers lead me to believe that there can be a blizzard in one region, real hot in another, there's no sales tax and everyone has their own craft beer, all of which affects how enemies behave, and how your motorbike reacts.
Deacon's Bike
Alessandro: Yeah, your bike is like your best friend in this game. It's your lifeline and it'll get you out of trouble fast. In addition to some general upkeep and keeping it gassed up, you can also upgrade the different parts to make it more durable. This all ties back into the survivor camps as well, since you can only upgrade it with their mechanics once you've built up enough trust with these camps.
Edmond: ...which you do by completing missions, side stories, and bringing back freaker ears, animal pelts, that sort of thing. The bike really felt like my own, I had to protect it and keep an eye on it at all times, especially since I couldn't just whistle for it like a horse. I'm sure you can steal other bikes and maybe even buy a new one later in the game, but man I did not want this bike to get ruined, especially since Deacon loses his souped-up bike as part of the story in the first hour.
Alessandro: Usually when you get a bike in a game, you want to go as fast as possible and do sick jumps, but it's like the total opposite here. I really went out of my way to avoid danger as much as possible on the bike. I seldom used the nitro boost.
Edmond: My first inclination was to use the bike to ram enemies, but that kills its durability which I certainly did not want, since it'll then require more scrap to repair. I also really got into fuel conservation--I found myself being very light on the throttle and making the most of hills and momentum when riding it, which leads into the whole scavenging, crafting, and conservation aspect.
Alessandro: During one encounter with some freakers on the road, they literally threw themselves at my bike to take me out. It did a lot of damage to myself and the bike. Even though it gives you a lot of mobility and freedom to explore, you're still very vulnerable on the bike, which I kinda like. It's very much an extension of you.
Combat Encounters
Edmond: You know what else was an extension of me? The spiked baseball bat I used across my entire session. I loved that thing so much that when it got close to breaking (most weapons have durability), I switched back to the weak-but-indestructible knife until I could get enough materials to repair the bat.
Alessandro: There are a surprising amount of melee weapons to find. It sort of reminded me of a classic beat-em-up game. You can get lead pipes and spiked bats, and even machetes. Unless you're squaring off against heavily-armed bandits, close-range combat is generally really reliable.
Edmond: It is! Well, unless you're fighting more than two people. But I really enjoyed relying on melee not only because it saved ammo, but because it was satisfying to perform and watch. I'm one of those Uncharted players that hip-fires like a maniac while closing the distance and then finishes with melee, and Days Gone caters to that same kind of flow. There's even a perk that enhances the damage when do when you switch it up like this, among other perks to boost weapon damage and durability. The shooting on its own felt serviceable enough, but at this early stage I found it was only really useful when you used it in tandem with the focus/slowdown perk. What did you think about the combat?
Alessandro: For me, that was actually one of the areas where the game fell a bit flat. I mean the combat mechanics and amount of tools you have at your disposal are all well and good, but it just felt a bit unremarkable in actual practice. The mechanics on display, the slowdown shooting mechanic, and along with the variety of skills found within the fairly robust skill-tree, all of these are ideas that I've seen executed in plenty of other games. That's not totally a bad thing, but the way Days Gone goes about just felt more like going down a checklist of features to have in an open-world adventure game.
Edmond: I definitely can't argue against that, though I feel like there's only so much you can do with a grounded, realistic setting like this without diving off the deep end. Although there is a gameplay element where you upgrade your stats with bio-injectors from the game's CDC (Centers for Disease Control) equivalent, so who knows? Maybe we'll get a double jump like New Dawn.
Alessandro: I enjoyed the stealth gameplay however--which even comes with a tracking vision mode. That to me felt a bit more developed and also more in keeping with the tone. I especially liked seeing how the systems in the world would interact with one another, like when freakers attack other hostile humans.
Edmond: Yes! I really appreciated the quality-of-life stealth features. You really need go out of your way to mark enemies with binoculars to get their pips on the map (it's not as generous as Far Cry), but you also get their vision cones. There's a sound indicator, they do the hiding in bushes thing, there are a few different tools to misdirect enemies, and the line-of-sight logic actually felt natural and believable.
Alessandro: Yeah, the game does a nice job of helping you keep track of all these systems. I do hope we'll see a lot more variety towards the later sections. However, I felt that each of the systems--stealth, combat, and exploration--were better when they were blending different mechanics together, rather than in isolation. It's all about being super resourceful.
Edmond: For sure, it's the ease of flowing between different states which keeps the encounters interesting, which I think they did for the three hours I played. I found certain situations where one kind of approach is just not effective--melee is impossible if there are more than two people like I mentioned before, for example, but I also found myself running low on ammo in prolonged firefights, meaning I would have to break line-of-sight, crouch-run between buildings to get across town, and find advantageous vantage points (like a hole in a boarded-up window) to get the jump and make sure my shots counted. I love doing that shit.
Characters
Alessandro: What's your take on Deacon, the protagonist? The game really goes out of its way to try and sell you on the really harsh struggle he goes through.
Edmond: Going in, I thought he was going to be a one-note, gruff biker dude. But I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see that he goes through a lot of real emotional twists and turns that really do work to make you empathise with him--this is a First-Party, "Wasn't The Last Of Us Great?"-Styled Sony Game, after all. I saw enough in the preview to suggest that he's got range and maybe even some shit going on deep down.
I thought the performance was pretty good. He's believably uncomfortable in some situations--there was a point where he had to coerce a teenage girl to come with him, he fumbles over his words and seemed like he had no idea what to do, so he lies to her. He visibly regrets it later on, but it's communicated purely through his facial expressions, which I found notable.
Out in the world he's certainly tough, but it also seems like he has some repressed anger and deep sorrow when he's put into situations where he has to face Bad People--you can hear him breathing heavily and angrily, he mumbles things to himself like "oh so you wanna rob and murder helpless people? Well how do you like this, you scum", that kind of thing. It certainly adds a lot of character to the game and reminds you that this is a game about Deacon, not necessarily your own survival fantasy.
To that point though, one thing I noticed about this demo was the absence of branching story choices. I saw some earlier gameplay demos where the same cutscenes we saw had moments where you had to choose what actions Deacon takes (like mercifully kill a man or leave him to the freakers, give your partner back his gun or keep it). These choices were previously pitched with the idea that you can change Deacon's relationship to the characters and perhaps the overall narrative, Telltale Games style. Maybe they're doubling down on the "Deacon's story, not yours" thing. Did you see any of that stuff in your previous demos?
Alessandro: I didn't, actually. The recent stuff we played covered a lot of the same ground from last year's demo. It does seem like there's a greater focus on specific storylines for characters--which you can view in the game's menu. That young woman that you mentioned actually opens up her own storyline called "You're Safe Now", which deals with her circumstances in the camp you bring her to. This particular camp has its own troubles, most of which are related to the leader who imposes some harsh rules on everyone inside the safety of the base. Deacon clashes with her numerous times, which leads to some tense moments.
But to your point, it does seem like there are moments that are prime for choices and player-agency. I do wonder if that's even a thing in the game at this point during the section we played. There was a particular moment early where you have to make a choice in executing a particular character. They sort of linger on the scene for a bit before Deacon ends up going through with it.
I was initially a bit lukewarm on Deacon, in some cases I found him unlikable even, but I do agree that advancing the story helped humanize him a bit. I am curious to see how he'll change towards the end-game, and what sort of storylines will come about.
Edmond: I also need to draw attention to the fact that the actor who plays Deacon, Sam Witwer, was the voice and face of the moody protagonist in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. So I think we all know how this story is going to end: Darth Vader saves him from a ravaged Earth and becomes his senpai.
Closing Thoughts
Alessandro: I do have to say that I feel a little more positive about the game compared to last year's demo. The world itself was a lot more expansive and varied than I expected, and it was interesting seeing how those systems sort of mingle together. However, I still have some reservations. This game has been in development for over six years, and I feel that's very noticeable in the style and type of gameplay it employs--which is something that's been seen in numerous other games. The zombie apocalypse feels a bit passé for me, and I'm hoping that Days Gone has a lot more going on than what I saw.
Edmond: I played a lot of DayZ, which well and truly burnt me out on the zombie thing. But I still enjoy scavenging and survival gameplay if the loop is done really well and there's a good hook. I wanted to like State of Decay 2, but it was a little too monotonous and soulless for me. I went into Days Gone with similarly low expectations, which is probably why I ended up feeling so positive on it. The fact that Days Gone is going to be so focused on narrative, characters, and flexible combat options has me eager to put time aside for it. But like you, I also hope it has some surprises up its sleeve.
And an unlockable horn button. Let me beep the damn horn on the bike.
Days Gone will release for PlayStation 4 on April 26, 2019.
The next big Marvel superhero movie, Captain Marvel, opens in theatres this week--and it's expected to be a massive commercial success. According to the latest box office predictions posted by Deadline, the Brie Larson-starring film is on track to make $150 million in the US and Canada for its opening weekend, with a further $200 million coming from international markets for a total global opening-weekend box office result of $350 million.
For comparison, that would be higher than the worldwide opening-weekend hauls for other recent superhero movies like Wonder Woman ($228 million), Justice League ($279 million), and Deadpool ($300 million). Captain Marvel isn't expected to top Black Panther's first-weekend global box office take of $371 million, however.
Captain Marvel was always expected to have a huge opening weekend stateside and around the world firstly because it's a Marvel movie. There is also a considerable amount of interest in it because of how it may connect to April's Avengers: Endgame. As fans will recall, Avengers: Infinity War ended with a teasing reference to calling on Captain Marvel to help save the day.
Reviews for Captain Marvel have already started to show up, and they are mostly positive, which is probably good news for the film's box office results. Go to Deadline to see a full rundown of Captain Marvel's opening-weekend box office projections.
For more on Captain Marvel, check out the stories below.
Just Cause 4, the open-world sandbox game from Avalanche Studios, is now available in the Xbox Game Pass free game library. WindowsCentral discovered that the game is now available in the Xbox Game Pass library, following a teaser that the Xbox Game Pass account tweeted.
In a silly, fake email purporting to be from "Melissa McGamepass," it's revealed that a game starting with a "J" would come to Xbox Game Pass on March 7. As it turns out, that game is (likely) Just Cause 4, and it's arrived a day early. The email image also says another game with a longer title is also coming to Xbox Game Pass on March 7, but it hasn't been revealed yet.
Further out, Microsoft will announce another title coming to Xbox Game Pass in April later this month on March 12. Keep checking back with GameSpot for more on that.
Given that Just Cause 4 was only released commercially in December, it appears to be one of the newest titles in the Xbox Game Pass library apart from the first-party Microsoft games that release into Game Pass like Crackdown 3 most recently.
Xbox Game Pass offers all-you-can-play model where you can play more than 100 Xbox One and backwards-compatible Xbox 360 games as much as you for as long as your $10/month subscription remains active. Outside of this, Microsoft also offers Games with Gold for Xbox Live Gold subscribers, which grant a few games every month.
Nintendo has announced the free NES games being added to the library of freebies on Nintendo Switch for people who subscribe to the system's Nintendo Switch Online membership.
Available starting March 13 will be two titles: Kid Icarus and StarTropics. Members in Japan are getting a different lineup of games. According to Gematsu, players in Japan will get Kid Icarus, but instead of StarTropics, they'll receive Yie Ar Kung-Fu and Fire Emblem. It's not uncommon for the NES Switch Online freebies to vary by region like this.
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) March 6, 2019
The NES library for Switch Online subscribers launched in 2018 with 20 big-name games, including Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Dr. Mario, Ice Climber, Metroid, and Donkey Kong. More have been added since, like Zelda II: The Adventures of Link in January and Super Mario 2 in February.
A subscription to Nintendo Switch Online costs $4 USD/month or $8 USD for three months. A 12-month membership is available for $20 USD, while a Family Membership for up to eight Nintendo Account members costs $35 USD for a year. New subscribers can sign up with a seven-day free trial. In addition to free NES games, subscribers get access to cloud saves and online play for many titles such as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Mario Kart 8 Ultimate.
With Microsoft set to finally, maybe, talk about Halo Infinite at E3 this year, fans are understandably eager and excited to learn more about the long-in-development next Halo. One rumour about the game making the rounds is that Halo Infinite will be a "next-gen" game that skips Xbox One.
That's not going to happen, Halo franchise development director Frank O'Connor says. Responding to someone on Twitter who mentioned this rumour, O'Connor said, "I have no idea what leak you're talking about, but Halo Infinite will be released for Xbox One and appropriately spec'd PCs."
I have no idea what leak you're talking about, but Halo Infinite will be released for Xbox One and appropriately spec'd PCs.
The rumour in question may be based on comments from noted Microsoft insider Brad Sams. He recently said on his YouTube show that Microsoft focused on showing Infinite's engine, SlipSpace, at E3 last year and not the game because the game itself looked ... too good.
"They didn't want to show off any part of the game because it actually looked pretty damn good and they didn't want to make current-gen stuff look bad," Sams said.
In the video, Sams never says Halo Infinite won't be released on Xbox One, but you can imagine people making that connection regardless.
Microsoft is rumoured to announce new Xbox hardware at E3 this year, so that is also likely contributing to the worry about Halo Infinite not coming to the Xbox One hardware on the market today. However, none of the credible reports out there today are suggesting that will happen.
The Xbox One is now considered a "family" of devices. For example, games that play on the mega-powerful Xbox One X also work on the lower-power Xbox One S. Presumably this kind of compatibility between hardware options will continue with the new Xbox hardware set to be revealed at E3 in June. A disc-free Xbox One will be released in May, according to a new report. This kind of compatibility between generations of hardware has been commonplace and generally accepted in the mobile phone market for years, so it seems games are finally catching up.
Halo Infinite will be the first new mainline Halo game since 2015's Halo 5: Guardians. It's rumoured to be a launch title for the new Xbox hardware, and that would be notable given 2001's Halo: Combat Evolved was the only time a Halo game was released as a launch title for new Xbox hardware; in that case it was for the original Xbox. The new Xbox consoles are reportedly scheduled to launch in Fall 2020.
The first trailer for Midsommar, the next film Hereditary writer-director Ari Aster, has arrived--and it's scary, shocking, and filled with Pagan mythology.
There isn't a whole lot to go on, but in the trailer we learn there is a nine-day festival that happens once every 90 years that may not be what it seems. Attendees are given some kind of ayahuasca-like psychedelic drug that "opens you up to the influence," but what that is remains unclear.
It's a chilling trailer that seems to contain many teases and references to some of the horror that awaits those who attend the festival. In one scene, we see people opening up a bear and removing its guts. We can only imagine why.
Midsommar stars Florence Pugh (Fighting With My Family), Jack Reynor (Glassland), William Jackson Harper (The Good Place), and Will Poulter (Black Mirror). The movie hits theatres this summer.
Aster also wrote and directed 2018's Hereditary starring Toni Collette. The movie was praised by critics, including here at GameSpot where reviewer Michael Rougeau called it an excellent horror film.
Niantic has kicked off a new Battle Showdown event in Pokemon Go. The event is now live until March 12, and as its name suggests, it's themed around Fighting Pokemon. Best of all, it also gives players their first chance to catch two new Shiny Pokemon.
Throughout the Battle Showdown event, Fighting-type Pokemon such as Mankey, Machop, Makuhita, and Meditite will spawn more frequently in the wild than they normally do. Additionally, players will be able to find Shiny versions of Mankey and Machop for the first time.
On top of increased Fighting Pokemon spawns, Niantic is offering a handful of different bonuses during the event. First, players will receive twice the normal amount of Stardust for catching Pokemon, as well as for battling, and participating in Raids. You'll also get twice the normal amount of XP for Gym Badges.
Finally, you'll be able to take home up to five rewards each day for battling other players, and up to three for challenging team leaders, including Rare Candy. You can read more details about the Battle Showdown event on the official Pokemon Go website.
In addition to the Battle Showdown event, Niantic has permanently added Power-Up Punch to the game. Poliwrath, Hitmonchan, Kangaskhan, Medicham, Lucario, and certain other Pokemon will now be able to learn the Fighting-type move.
In other Pokemon Go news, a new Legendary Pokemon, Dialga, is now available in Raid Battles until March 28. Meanwhile, the game's next Community Day event is schedule for March 23 and will feature the Gen 3 starter Treecko.
The PlayStation Classic released December 3, 2018, and was met with disappointment from many fans who felt the console didn't run as smoothly as it should--especially given the $100 launch price. Compared to Nintendo's NES and SNES Classics, which cost $60 and $80 respectively and practically flew off the shelves, the PlayStation Classic struggled with sales and has steadily been dropping in price ever since. Just a few months after its release, the mini console has dropped $60 and is now selling for only $40 at Walmart and Best Buy.
The PlayStation Classic is a miniature recreation of the original PlayStation console and comes pre-loaded with 20 classic PS1 games. The system also comes with an HDMI cable to connect to your TV, two wired controllers, and a virtual memory card.
As always, people on Twitter had the best reaction to the retro console dropping in price again.
We'll let you decide for yourself how you feel about it. If you have a soft spot for the original PlayStation and its games and have been waiting for this console to become cheaper, this may be a great time to pick it up, as there's no knowing how long this price will last and whether it will drop again. However, you may want to check out our full review of the PlayStation Classic before purchasing, as GameSpot's Peter Brown was less than impressed with the console. "The PS Classic doesn't feel like a celebration of PlayStation's formative years the way Nintendo's systems do," he wrote. "Nor is it a smart adaptation of a capable emulator working behind the scenes."
With about three months to go before E3 2019, Xbox rumours are already heating up. Microsoft has previously confirmed it is working on multiple new Xbox consoles, and now its plans appear to be coming into focus.
There is a lot of information out there about the new Xbox consoles, so we're rounding up all the rumours and speculation into this post to help make sense of the matter. Bear in mind that while the sources for each rumour have proven reliable in the past, everything mentioned here is unconfirmed, and as with all rumours, plans are subject to change. Microsoft's official stance is that it does not comment on rumour and speculation. With that caveat out of the way...
A Disc-Free Xbox One
Rumoured for many months already, and discussed at a conceptual level for years, the disc-free Xbox One is said to be codenamed Xbox Maverick. Windows Central reported that this system will actually be called "Xbox One S All-Digital Edition." Pre-orders for the console are said to open in April, with the console then scheduled to go on sale in May around the world.
This would be a first for Microsoft, as all previous Xbox hardware featured a disc drive. Pricing hasn't been mentioned in any reports yet, but dropping the disc drive would presumably lower the cost. In fact, it's believed that the disc-free Xbox One would be the cheapest Xbox One offering to date.
Also unclear at this stage is if the disc-free Xbox One would contain any further changes to the Xbox One hardware or design. WindowsCentral posted a Photoshopped mock-up of what an Xbox One without a disc drive might look like--check it out here.
The video game industry, like film, TV, and music before it, is increasingly trending toward the digital space and away from physical media. Microsoft itself is pushing further into the digital space with its new streaming service Project xCloud, which according to Brad Sams, will enter a trial phase later this year. Another Microsoft digital subscription service, Xbox Game Pass, is proving popular already with millions of people signing up. It's clear digital is important to Microsoft going forward.
All-digital hardware has been attempted before, as Sony launched the PSP Go back in 2009--but it failed. It's been a decade since that trial, and general internet availability and speed has improved since then. Still, there are parts of the world where access to internet is limited, and other places where speeds are less-than-great (hello, Australia!). For those who prefer physical media, Microsoft will continue to make Xbox One consoles with disc-drives, so there is no need to worry about an all-digital future taking over, at least not yet.
The Disc-To-Digital Program
A key component of Microsoft's disc-free Xbox One plans is what's being referred to as the "disc-to-digital" program. As part of this, users can trade in their console discs for a digital license for games they already own. The disc-to-digital program is expected to launch around the same time as the disc-free Xbox One console's release in May, or a little earlier, Brad Sams reported. People will be able to visit the Microsoft Store and Best Buy (and potentially others) to swap their discs for digital licenses. The specifics about how this will work remain unclear.
Retailers might not be very happy about this news, especially GameStop, whose "buy-sell-trade" business model hinges on physical media remaining popular. But no one is asking players to care about the health of retailers; if this is the way the business is going, retailers will need to adapt. For its part, GameStop has diversified its offerings substantially of late to focus more on digital options and physical content like Funko Pop! toys and other physical merchandise.
A New Fortnite Xbox One
Microsoft already offers an Xbox One hardware bundle that comes with Fortnite and various extras, but the company is reportedly planning to push even further on the battle royale game. A new Xbox One featuring a design inspired by Fortnite is coming, according to Windows Central, though the site didn't have any further information about the system and if it will be an Xbox One S, X, or the new disc-free edition.
Next-Gen Consoles
Microsoft is reportedly working on multiple new Xbox One consoles in development under the "Scarlett" umbrella. The first is codenamed Anaconda, according to Brad Sams, and is the new high-power Xbox One to follow the Xbox One X that was released in November 2017. The other, codenamed Lockhart, is said to be the budget-oriented offering.
At E3 2019 in June, Microsoft is expected to discuss both of these consoles, though it's unclear at this stage how deep into specifics the company plans to get. Sams reported that Microsoft's idea with the new consoles is to "make next-gen gaming available to wider audiences with a lower price of entry." The consoles aren't expected to be released until Fall 2020.
Specs are unknown for Anaconda and Lockhart, but Sams reported that both consoles will have solid-state storage, which would be a big improvement over the Xbox One X's hard disk drive.
Sams speculates that specs for the new wave of consoles is expected to not be as important as it was with the Xbox One X, a console that can already deliver 4K/60FPS gaming. He suggests that the most significant change will be on the software side. A new technology called GameCore OS will enable Microsoft to bring Xbox One and PC development more closely together, apparently.
According to Sams, Microsoft may attempt to launch GameCore OS for all of the Xbox One family of devices. However, it's unknown at this stage if this will unlock what Sams called "true forward and backwards compatibility."
With Microsoft said to be pushing more into the PC development space (Halo Infinite is coming to Xbox One and PC), some may question if this will hurt Microsoft's ability to sell consoles. As Sams reminds us, games--not hardware--is where the money is made. The margin profile of game sales are known to be better than hardware, where margins are low or even non-existent in some cases in history.
"That is not where you make money," Phil Spencer told GeekWire about consoles. "The business inside of games is really selling games, and selling access to games and content in means like that is the fundamental business. So if you open it up, the more often people can play, the more they're enjoying the art form. It increases the size of the business."
xCloud And Game Pass
One of Microsoft's most exciting and ambitious new technologies is the game-streaming service Project xCloud. Microsoft's long-term vision is to bring Xbox to every internet-connected screen, whether that be a TV, console, or the mobile phone in your pocket. According to Sams, xCloud--or whatever name Microsoft decides to give it--will enter the trial phase later this year. Xbox boss Phil Spencer has said that, during his holiday travels at the end of 2018, he was already playing streaming games on his phone as he jetted around, so it's definitely coming together.
Nothing is certain yet, but it's not hard to envision a future where Xbox Game Pass becomes an xCloud offering where people can stream games wherever they are, on whatever device they have. That's exciting to think about. But there are numerous unanswered questions like whether the service will be available worldwide (PlayStation Now is notably unavailable in Australia), and if it will require Xbox Live Gold or not. Whatever the case, it may finally be time that streaming takes off, as Microsoft is joined by the likes of Google, Amazon, Verizon, and other tech juggernauts in having announced or rumoured to have game-streaming services in the pipeline.
Next Steps
Brad Sams reports that Microsoft will begin to discuss its next-generation plans with partners at the Game Developers Conference later this month in San Francisco. The show is aimed at developers and business executives, so whether or not these discussions take place behind-closed-doors or publicly remains to be seen. At the consumer-facing E3 show in June, the company will reportedly formally unveil the new consoles and discuss its plans at a high level.
What are you hoping to see from Microsoft for the next generation of consoles? Let us know in the comments below!
While the world built in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is unlike just about anything comic book movie fans have seen unfold on the big screen, there was a time when the movie was almost even weirder. In fact, it almost included yet another Spider-Person.
Speaking to GameSpot for the digital and Blu-ray release of the film, co-director Rodney Rothman teased the potential of Australian Spider-Man, who would have put a ticking clock on the glitching danger that Peter B. Parker and his fellow Spideys faced. "Australian Spider-Man was there and made a point of saying he had arrived a whole twenty-four hours earlier because he's a whole day ahead," Rothman explained. "And then he glitched to death and turned to a pile of dust in front of everyone and then they were like, 'Oh we have twenty-four hours to live,' because this guy was dead."
Turning into a pile of dust sounds like it was definitely inspired by Avengers: Infinity War, which would have been a truly funny nod to work into Spider-Verse. Then again, it's hard to know how the death of Australian Spider-Man would have fit into the movie, given that Gwen Stacy arrived a week earlier than the rest of the Spider-People. If they could only stay there for 24 hours, she definitely would have been dusted by that point.
Still, while Spider-Verse was loaded with superheroes, Rothman thinks there's definitely room to work more Spideys into the story. "Going forward, if there are more movies, I'm sure there will be more surprises," he said.
And thankfully, when it comes to potential future films, the sky is the limit for the creative team. When asked about whether they ever considered featuring former Spider-Man movie stars Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield in Spider-Verse, producer Chris Miller admitted that possibility was discussed and could still happen. "It was something that we definitely talked about, more than once, and decided that ultimately, there are many more opportunities in the future," he said.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is on digital now and Blu-ray follows on March 19.
Last week, Xbox owners were treated to a huge sale on Ubisoft games, and this week, PlayStation owners will have their chance to snag many of the publisher's best titles at a discount. Square Enix also has a major sale going on, with titles from some of their biggest series, like Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, and Just Cause, marked down. And as always, you'll save even more money on many of these titles if you're a PS Plus member. (Note: These deals are limited to US customers.)
Over 100 Square Enix titles have had their price slashed this week. Considered one of the best games in the series, Dragon Quest XI's Edition of Light is selling for just $30 (50% off) and comes with a few sweet bonuses. Life is Strange's complete first season is just $4 (80% off) and absolutely worth playing if you love choice-heavy, story-driven games. Several Final Fantasy titles are marked down too--most notably, Final Fantasy XV: Royal Edition is available for just $25 (50% off) with exciting new updates, all DLC, and bonus items. I Am Setsuna is an emotional, nostalgic JRPG inspired by genre classic Chrono Trigger, and you can pick it up for just $20 (50% off) as well.
This week's PSN deals are available to claim until March 12 at 8 AM PST / 11 AM EST. See more of our picks from PSN's current sale below, and browse the full selection of discounted games in the PlayStation Store.
The huge success of Sony's Spider-Man spin-off Venom ensured that we will be getting more movies featuring heroes and villains from the Spidey universe. Venom 2 is on the way, but next up will be Morbius. Production on the movie has now started and a first image has been released from the set.
The picture was posted on Twitter by star Jared Leto. It doesn't exactly reveal much, as Leto is largely obscured by a clapperboard. But we can see that he has the long hair and pale skin of Morbius the Living Vampire from Marvel's comic books--check it out below.
Morbius is directed by Daniel Espinosa, who previously helmed the sci-fi horror movie Life and the Denzel Washington thriller Safe House. The cast also includes former Doctor Who star Matt Smith, Stephen Dorff (True Detective), and Jared Harris (The Terror). It releases on July 31, 2020.
The character of Morbius first appeared in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man #101 back in 1971. The character was created by the legendary Roy Thomas and Gil Kane. The antihero character was originally a biochemist named Michael Morbius who was dying of an unknown blood disease. He created what he thought was a cure using the biochemisty of vampire bats; however, the side effects caused him to crave blood and become a vampire.
While Morbius is the only other Spider-Man spin-off with a set release date, here are several more in development. Tom Hardy is expected to return for Venom 2, although it was recently reported that director Rubin Fleischer might not be back. In addition, there are movies based on the characters of Silk, Kraven, Black Cat, and Silver Sable in the works.
EA has announced it is aware that Anthem is causing certain issues for PS4 consoles. In an effort to fix the problem, the publisher is asking players to submit data reports.
"We are currently in process of gathering information about the PS4 issues so we can determine the root cause," EA wrote in a blog post. If you're playing Anthem on PS4 and the game has seemingly caused your console to crash, EA asks you submit information about which of the PS4 consoles you're using (original, Slim, or Pro), your PSN ID, details about your problem, and whether you reported the crash when your console prompted you to. If you'd rather not, some players--according to Variety--have discovered Sony is offering refunds (pretty much no questions asked) for people who bought Anthem on PS4.
Anthem has had one of the roughest launches of any game in 2019. A VIP demo held mere weeks before the game's release was bug-ridden and caused problems for other EA games. Anthem then released to mediocre reviews, and even though BioWare pushed out several updates--including one that addressed the unpopular tethering system--the retail price of the game soon started dropping on Amazon. One of the updates--a hotfix patch designed to fix problems with Anthem's loot system--even broke the game for a while.
Despite these setbacks, BioWare appears to remain committed to ensuring Anthem becomes a successful game. BioWare has maintained an active presence on Twitter and Reddit and responds to issues as they appear--although the developer has remained oddly silent in regards to the recent string of PS4 crashes. In order to address Anthem's lack of compelling endgame content, the developer has revealed a 90-day post-launch roadmap for the game, which includes new missions, guilds, and a large-scale event called The Catalyst.
In our Anthem review, Kallie Plagge gave the game a 6/10, writing, "Anthem has good ideas, but it struggles significantly with the execution. It's a co-op game that works best with no one talking; it buries genuinely interesting character moments and puts its most incomprehensible story bits at the forefront; its combat is exciting until you get to the boss fights and find your wings have been clipped. Even the simple, exhilarating act of flying is frequently interrupted by the limitations of your javelin, and you never quite shake that feeling of disappointment--of knowing, throughout the good parts of Anthem, that you'll inevitably come crashing back down."
Anthem has had a rocky launch, from middling reviews to bugs. The most severe of these problems has been crashing bugs on PS4, causing the entire system to shut down improperly. PlayStation 4 users have been vocal about the problem, and EA is aware of the issue. In the meantime, though, Sony is offering refunds to at least some affected users.
Variety reports that several users on Reddit claimed they had been given refunds from Sony's support chat. The support center is said to only ask a series of account verification questions, since Sony is already aware of the pervasive crashing issue. Other users claim they were refused a refund, and Sony hasn't issued an official statement offering refunds.
EA, meanwhile, is in the midst of gathering data about the crashing bug so that it can work on a fix. It has requested that impacted users submit information including your make of console, PSN ID, whether you submitted a crash report through the console itself, and any other details.
"We are currently in process of gathering information about the PS4 issues so we can determine the root cause," the company wrote in a blog post.
This is the latest in a series of mishaps and missteps for Anthem. The VIP demo was buggy itself, reviews were less than stellar, and one update even broke the game. BioWare has laid out a lengthy post-launch roadmap for the coming months, including new missions, guilds, and a large-scale event called a "Catalyst." This is all being positioned as the first act in an ongoing story, so the studio appears to be in it for the long haul.
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