We're just a few days away from the end of Game of Thrones. Season 8, Episode 6 premieres this Sunday, May 19, marking the end of both this abbreviated season and the show overall. Following the preview trailer that debuted right after Episode 5, HBO has now released photos from the next episode--but they're a bit different than usual. Spoilers ahead.
HBO is usually quite reticent to spoil the upcoming episode with its previews; these aren't exactly modern movie trailers giving away major story beats and moments. The brief Episode 6 teaser kept the specifics to a real minimum, and now the preview photos are doing the same. Not only are there just two, which is less than we're accustomed to seeing, but they don't give away anything that wasn't already in the trailer.
The first of the two photos features Tyrion, who can be seen standing amongst the rubble in King's Landing. He doesn't look particularly pleased, just as you'd expect; he put his support behind Daenerys and believed in her, and he even put his life at risk to free Jaime in the hopes of preventing a massacre of innocents in the city. Dany opted to go Mad Queen instead, and now Tyrion is faced with having to live with this reality that Varys tried to stop.
The second photo matches up with a shot from the preview trailer. Dany, standing victorious on the edges of the burning city, faces away from us with her back to the camera as her army stands in formation all around her. They appear to be in full support of her, and we know from the preview trailer that the Dothraki in particular seem pleased with the outcome of the battle. But we still haven't seen Dany's face in Episode 6, or really, since she made her fateful decision to destroy the city. Seeing if she has any remorse will have to wait for this Sunday.
Ubisoft has released the full patch notes for the latest update to The Division 2, Title Update 3. The major piece of content included in the update is Operation Dark Hours, The Division 2's first raid, but new features, apparel, and quality-of-life changes are included in Title Update 3 as well.
Operation Dark Hours is an eight-player raid available for those who've reached World Tier 5 and defeated Tidal Basin. The raid sends you and your team up again the Black Tusks, who have taken over the Washington National Airport. "Teamwork, collaboration, and adaptation will be necessary to defeat the Black Tusk," The Division 2 community manager Johan LindholmMore wrote in the Title Update 3 patch notes. Operation Dark Hours is scheduled to go live tomorrow, May 16 at 9:00 AM PT / 12:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM BST.
Ubisoft has announced that the first teams to complete Operation Dark Hours first will receive limited-time prizes. The very first team will have their team photo displayed in The Division 2's White House for all other players to see. Any team that completes the raid between May 16-23 will receive a cosmetic arm patch. If you can't pull together an eight-person team in time--which is a likely possibility considering the raid won't have matchmaking--you'll still be rewarded with a clan banner icon and a trophy just for completing the raid at any point in the future.
For Year 1 Pass owners, Title Update 3 adds the first two Classified Assignment missions. Completing them allows you to hear the stories behind the fall of DC prior to the start of The Division 2's campaign and also unlock backpack trophies. Title Update 3 also includes The Division 2's second Apparel event, which adds new outfits, masks, emotes, and weapon skins to the game.
The full patch notes for Title Update 3 can be viewed in the link above. We've gone ahead and listed the highlights below. The Division 2 is available for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
The Division 2 Title Update 3 Patch Notes
Commendations
Added new Commendations for Operation Dark Hours.
Removed the following Commendations.
28 Days Distinction - Record 672 hours (28 days) of time in-game.
Distinguished Service Ribbon – For 30 consecutive days, on each day play for at least 1h and complete 1 mission.
Supreme Response Distinction - For 7 consecutive days, on each day complete 4 main missions and rescue 5 civilians.
Year One Merit - Play on 14 days per month, on a total of 12 months.
Division Service Merit - For a total of 100 days, on each day play for at least 1hour and deliver 20 resources to control points.
Developer comment: We removed these Commendations as we felt that they were not delivering a great experience for players. Often times you could miss out on your daily login or lose your streak with no error of your own. We're adding different Commendations that still let you show off your dedication towards the game, without the login requirements. For those players that have already earned the above-mentioned Commendations they will remain visible as completed.
Added a new vanity patch reward for all players as compensation for any lost time due to the above changes.
Added five new Commendations
Full Deck Distinction – Acquire all Snitch Cards.
Distinguished Service Distinction – Complete 30 hours of service.
Supreme Response Distinction – Complete all main missions and Strongholds on Hard difficulty (or above).
Control Point Takeover Merit – Take over 50 Heroic Control Points.
Invasion Service Merit – Complete 10 Invaded Strongholds.
Changed Peacock Award to specifically use the 'Jumping Jacks' emote.
Changed Mission Discovery Merit Commendations to track when a player collects loot from loot boxes, not opening the loot boxes. This will ensure that all players that are in a group can earn this Commendation when playing the respective missions.
Crafting
Increased the base cap for Receiver Components and Protective Fabric crafting materials by 200, meaning that their caps now start at 350 and end at 600 with all material capacity perks.
Inaya al-Khaliq in the Base of Operation is now a Crafting Vendor, she can be found next to the Crafting Bench in the White House.
Added Specialized and Superior Skill Mod Blueprints to her stock.
Added an extra weekly Blueprint to her stock.
Moved crafting Blueprints from the Base of Operations vendor to her stock.
Note: While Inaya will have a variety of Blueprints available, there are still other sources in the game like Settlements and Control Points.
All exotic items upgraded through crafting will get the maximum Gear Score of the current crafting bench tier.
Gear
Bonus Armor granted on blue attributes gear significantly increased.
Armor percent can now be found as Defense Attribute rolls.
Health percent can now be found as Defense Attribute rolls.
Gear sets
Hard Wired
Now grants Skill Damage instead of Shock Duration.
Ongoing Directive
Now grants special ammunition into any weapon, including the weapon currently equipped.
Now grants special ammunition on any kill, not just weapon kills.
True Patriot
Decreased debuff cycle from 4 seconds to 2 seconds.
Increased damage dealt to nearby targets when Full Flag is active to 50%.
Icons
The Confidential Gear Set intel item now has a project icon to better reflect its use.
Loot
Loot containers will now reset at a preset time of day.
Control Point reward container will now also reset with this daily timer.
Improved quality and quantity of Drone Helicopter loot.
Slightly reduced the quality of items from Clan Caches.
Cabinet loot containers now have a chance to contain Dark Zone keys.
Increased ammunition drop chance from enemy NPCs to limit situations where players would run out of ammunition during prolonged fights on higher difficulty activities.
Dark Zone contaminated loot does not drop below player's average Gear Score and will guarantee Gear Score 500 when the player has reached 500 Gear Score.
Heroic difficulty Mission bosses, Stronghold bosses, Bounty bosses and Heroic Control Points reward containers will guarantee Gear Score 500 when the player has reached 500 Gear Score.
Loot now skews more towards the top end of its allowed Gear Score, resulting in fewer items below a player's average Gear Score, and items that do drop below it will be closer to that average more often.
Increased the rewards for daily Hard and Challenge mission Projects and they will guarantee Gear Score 500 when the player has reached 500 Gear Score.
Missions
New feature: Post Mission Activity Summary
After completing missions, players may opt to look at an activity summary showcasing their performance in that activity and allowing an expanded look at a variety of detailed statistics.
Bank Headquarters
Reduced difficulty for solo players.
Roosevelt Island
Reduced difficulty for solo players.
Mods
Hive users can now find +healing on the Experimental Blend mods.
Hive users can now find +radius on the Network Firewall mods.
New mods: Auxiliary Skill Battery
Auxiliary Skill Batteries fit in Skill mod slots and grant Skill Power.
NPC
Updated RC Blade to fix various issues. Elite Medic's Pulse Grenade has been changed.
No longer applies disrupt.
Reduced Impact radius.
The grenade impact radius should now be easier to see.
Decreased damage of Veteran, Elite and Named NPCs.
Greatly decreased melee damage of all Tank NPCs.
Moderately decreased melee damage of all non-Tank NPCs.
Decreased Thrower NPC's accuracy with grenades. They are no longer professional baseball pitchers or cricket fielders.
Slightly decreased damage of Elite/Named War Hound.
Civilian Control Point Officers now wear pants.
Civilian Control Point Officers now wear protective body armor. Safety first.
Civilians with fully upgraded Settlements now wear combat harnesses and have slightly more health.
Upgrading a Settlement now slightly increased Civilians' damage.
NPCs will now be slightly less defensive while in cover and being aimed at by a player.
Decreased likelihood of NPCs using ladders in combat.
Decreased likelihood of NPCs using special navigation out of combat.
Civilian NPCs will now stay further away from players in cover, lessening the chance of them taking a player's preferred cover location. We get it, you're very protective of your favorite cover spot.
Civilian Hostages are now more protective of their lives.
Fixed issue with many explosives causing extreme amounts of threat, confusing NPCs.
Fixed various sliding issues with NPCs following recovery from a Status Effect.
Enemy NPCs should no longer be able to stagger players with a melee attack if the player has a Ballistic Shield equipped.
Drone Helicopter
Increased health.
Increased damage.
Improved movement.
Decreased Outcast Suicide vest explosion radius.
Lowered NPC damage and health above normal difficulty.
Increased variety of NPCs at higher difficulty levels.
Open World
Implemented various UI and audio improvements to Living World activities.
Control Points
Control Point difficulty is now more clearly communicated, using regular difficulty names in addition to Alert Level.
Approaching enemy patrols and convoys are now signaled more clearly during Control Point Takeover.
The Civilian Officer will now revive downed players during Control Point takeover and judge you silently.
Players can now select the civilian takeover icon on the map as a respawn option during Control Point takeover. The option is disabled after the enemy leader joins the fight.
Players can now fast travel to civilian convoys and takeover squads from the map.
Black Tusk now send War Hound Convoys carrying gear and weapons to Tidal Basin when the mission is available.
The Xbox Store had a great offering of Xbox One game deals last week, and the digital store is keeping the ball rolling this week with another solid batch of deals. Here are the best discounted games to grab on Xbox One right now:
First up is a collection of "Super Saver" deals up to 85% off some Xbox One games, including Tomb Raider's Definitive edition for $6 and Sleeping Dogs' Definitive edition for only $4.49. The complete first season of Life Is Strange is available for only $4, and you can grab Deus Ex: Mankind Divided for $4.50.
Golden Week may have ended, but you can still find deals on Japanese-developed games for Xbox One. SoulCalibur VI, which released last October, is 67% off right now; you can pick it up for $19.80. Final Fantasy XV's Royal edition is marked down to $25 from $50; Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 is now $15 instead of $60; and Valkyria Chronicles 4 is discounted to $30 from $60.
May 17 marks 10 years since block-building phenomenon Minecraft was released, and as one of Microsoft's biggest games, the store is celebrating with a sale. The base game was recently added to Xbox Game Pass, where members can play it for free. As a bonus, you can get three months of Xbox Game Pass for only $1 right now. For non-members, Minecraft's standard edition is on sale for $10. The Minecraft Starter Collection, which includes the Greek Mythology Mash-up, Texture Pack, two skin packs, and 700 Minecoins, is discounted to $20 from $30. Meanwhile, the Master Collection, which includes the base game, 1,000 Minecoins, the Starter Pack DLC, and Creators Pack DLC, is available for $40 instead of $50.
As usual, these deals are available through next Monday, May 20 (with the exception of the Minecraft deals, which run through the following Thursday, May 23).
Ubisoft is making big plans for the coming year. The company revealed during its latest financial earnings that it still has three more unannounced triple-A games coming within the next fiscal year, teeing up a likely set of E3 2019 reveals. Each of them is slated for release by March 31, 2020.
Though the company was relatively quiet in its financial report on plans for these three games, it did drop a few intriguing clues. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said during the investor Q&A that each of the games are full-priced releases. The studio also seemed to suggest that the games will be different genres, calling them each "unique experiences" that occupy different spaces in the market. The Q&A also narrowed the release window to Q4, which suggests they'll release between January and March of 2020.
The three unannounced games were part of a slate of four games total coming in the fiscal year, one of which was announced last week: Ghost Recon Breakpoint. That game is a followup to Ghost Recon Wildlands, but offers a host of new mechanics and options.
Another possible game on Ubisoft's slate could be the next Assassin's Creed, which is rumored to take place in the Viking era. However, that game is said to be coming in 2020, and Assassin's Creed games usually target a fall release, which would put it outside these fiscal year plans. We also learned today that Skull and Bones, the pirate combat game, has been delayed.
That leaves at least two games unaccounted for in the next year. Those could include franchises like Watch Dogs or Splinter Cell, experimental one-offs like Steep, or even another partnership with Nintendo like Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. Ubisoft says we'll hear more about these games soon, which likely means during Ubisoft's E3 press conference.
Nintendo Switch's NES library continues to grow little by little. May's free NES games are now available for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. This month brings three more classics to the hybrid console, as well as a special save state for one of last month's games.
Joining the lineup this month are Clu Clu Land, Donkey Kong Jr., and Vs. Excitebike, a two-player version of the classic racing game. Rounding out the new games is an SP version of Star Soldier, which was added to Switch's NES library in April. This version starts players off on stage 8 with a powered-up starship.
#NES games have been added to Nintendo Entertainment System - #NintendoSwitchOnline! Play as Donkey Kong's son and rescue your dad in Donkey Kong Jr., race with two-player split screen in VS. Excitebike, and recover your stolen gold bars in Clu Clu Land!https://t.co/6Essu4Gof0pic.twitter.com/ZusjUWs5jZ
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) May 15, 2019
The NES library is one of the perks Switch owners get for subscribing to the Nintendo Switch Online service. It launched back in September 2018 with 20 games and has been updated every month since with new titles. In addition to the aforementioned Star Soldier, April brought Punch-Out and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels to the service, while March's additions consisted of Kid Icarus and StarTropics.
Individual NSO subscriptions run for US $4 / £3.49 / AU $6 for one month, US $8 / £7 / AU $12 for three months, and US $20 / £18 / AU $30 for one year. If you're interested in trying the service, you can grab a free year of NSO from Twitch Prime. Nintendo also offers a Family Membership, which covers up to eight Nintendo Accounts across multiple systems, for US $35 / £31.49 / AU $55. Other benefits for subscribing include the ability to play Switch games online, cloud save data backup for most games, and exclusive offers such as Tetris 99, which is free to download for NSO members.
Speaking of Tetris 99, the puzzle game recently received its first paid DLC. It costs $10 and introduces two offline modes, CPU and Marathon. Even those who don't have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription can download the DLC, but you'll need a membership in order to play Tetris 99 online against other players. The game's third Maximus Cup competition also takes place this week, from May 17-19. Players who rack up at least 100 points during that time will unlock a new theme based on the original Game Boy Tetris game.
Crunchyroll has announced a team up with Twitch Prime to offer more anime-focused rewards for Twitch Prime subscribers. Starting today, 30 days of free Crunchyroll Premium will be offered to all Twitch Prime subscribers. This offer ends on June 16, so act while you can.
"While we constantly focus on delighting Crunchyroll fans, we also feel it's our responsibility to continue to proliferate the popularity of anime to new audiences," Crunchyroll head of partnerships Eric Berman said in a press release. "We pride ourselves on working with like-minded, fan-focused partners and are excited to offer all Twitch Prime members a free pass to Crunchyroll right in time for the huge spring anime season."
You can watch anime on Crunchyroll for free, but having a Premium subscription unlocks certain perks. The best one is getting all new episodes of every simulcast anime about an hour after they air in Japan, which is usually a whole week before non subscribers get it. A subscription removes all ads from every anime on the site as well, and unlocks specific discounts on items in the Crunchyroll Store. You get a 50% discount on home video titles within the first week of their launch, for example, and a 10% discount on apparel.
Saga of Tanya the Evil is also on Crunchyroll, so this Twitch Prime deal offers a chance to catch up on the series ahead of the release of the sequel movie. In our Saga of Tanya the Evil - The Movie review, I wrote, "Provided you've watched Season 1 of the anime, [Saga of Tanya the Evil - The Movie] is a satisfying continuation to one person's desperate struggle to one-up a god by ending a worldwide war, only for her to learn the price for her hubris. It introduces far too many characters to keep track of, though, opens on a scene that definitely didn't need to be included, and squanders most of its battles with incessant chit-chat from all those involved. But watching Tanya outsmart her opponents with sadistic glee is enjoyable fun, and her final fight with Mary is the best the anime has ever looked."
Anime isn't all you can get with a Twitch Prime subscription. For May 2019, all Twitch Prime subscribers will get five specific PC games for free. You have until May 31 to download them, but once you do, they're yours to keep forever. In order to own a Twitch Prime subscription, you need to be an Amazon Prime member and then link your Amazon account to your Twitch account.
Ubisoft's pirate game, Skull & Bones, has been delayed for a second time. The PS4, Xbox One, and PC game was initially scheduled for a 2018 release, before being delayed to financial year 2019/20. It has now been delayed again to "after 2019/20." Additionally, the game won't be shown at E3 2019, which takes place next month.
Ubisoft revealed the news today in an earnings report. The vague "after 2019/20" refers to financial periods, as opposed to calendar years, meaning the earliest Skull & Bones might now launch is April 2020. Explaining the delay, Ubisoft told GameSpot: "For new IPs, it is common to have evolutions of creative vision and this requires more development time."
The game's official Twitter account also published a short video talking about the delay and decision to skip E3. Producer Karl Luhe talks about making the game as good as possible and that Ubisoft remains committed to it. The video also features some behind-the-scenes looks at the development of the game. Luhe notes they'll be back "as soon as [they] can" with further updates on the game.
We're going to batten down the hatches and push back on the game's arrival—this is a challenging news for us all, but it's what's needed to make Skull & Bones as awesome as it can be!
Our focus remains on quality first and we're grateful for your undying support ☠️⚔️ pic.twitter.com/ZCt85tY3TG
The naval combat game was first revealed at E3 2017, and we came away from both that and the following E3's demo feeling excited. The game is being developed by Ubisoft Singapore, the studio that made Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag's ship combat sequences.
There is also a Skull & Bones TV show on the way. On whether the game's new delay will affect the TV show, Ubisoft told GameSpot "the Skull & Bones TV series has no impact on the development of the game--and vice versa."
Ubisoft has quite a lot on the way. Beyond the recently announced Ghost Recon Breakpoint, it's now confirmed it has three unannounced, triple-A games coming early in 2020. It didn't share any details on what those games will be, although it seems likely that we'll learn about at least some of them during Ubisoft's E3 press conference next month.
The gonzo animated comedy series Rick and Morty has finally announced a release window for its fourth season. In a brief Twitter announcement, the duo themselves announced Season 4 will premiere in November 2019. Though they sound a little unsure about which year it actually is, currently. A specific day was not confirmed, but you can check out the announcement video above.
We had previously heard about the Season 4 renewal, alongside word that the show will be getting a whopping 70 more episodes. Each season so far has been 10 episodes, so the order for 70 more could mean a full seven additional seasons, although that structure has not been confirmed. Regardless, we're essentially assured we have years and years of Rick and Morty ahead of us.
It's been a notoriously long wait for each new Rick and Morty season; Season 1 aired from 2013-14, while the most recent episode--the last of Season 3--came in October 2017. Getting through all 70 confirmed episodes won't take decades to complete, though, because the creators have committed to reducing the wait time between seasons. So far each season has been roughly two years apart, and now the wait between fresh episodes should be significantly reduced.
"I think we'll be able to move a little quicker," co-creator Justin Roiland told GameSpot last year. "We're not going to have these big, long gaps between seasons. We're going to just keep the machine going and schedule staggering vacations for people so we don't burn out. It's going to just be a perpetual production, which is exciting."
If you're still catching up on the show, or are already a die-hard fan, be sure to check out our collection of in-depth Rick and Morty breakdowns.
This news regarding Rick and Morty was just one of numerous announcements coming from the WarnerMedia 2019 Upfronts. Another big piece of news was that TNT is getting back into the wrestling business, as it will be the home for the upstart AEW. Like Season 4, AEW's weekly show will debut later this year.
By Anonymous on May 15, 2019 08:30 pm Here's 10 minutes of a gameplay preview for World Of Warcraft Battle For Azeroth in it's Rise of Azshara content update involving a lot of exploration and a few neat battles with various minions.
By Anonymous on May 15, 2019 08:30 pm There is no denying the significant impact Grand Theft Auto 3 has had on not only open world games, but games as a whole.
World of Warcraft's latest expansion has been raging on, with regular story events and content updates that tell the ongoing story of the Battle of Azeroth. Blizzard has now detailed the second major update, Rise of Azshara, which will take players to the hidden city of Nazjatar to face Azshara herself, along with the new city of Mechagon where gnomes have begun replacing themselves with cold machinery.
This expansion continues the story of Battle for Azeroth and focuses heavily on a wide array of character customization options. From the new Heart of Azeroth and Essences menu to a punchcard with sockets to greater flexibility for your mounts, Rise of Azshara is squarely focused on giving high-level players a greater degree of control. GameSpot spoke with technical director Frank Kowalkowski and senior game designer Jeremy Feasel about the ongoing story, the mechanical flexibility, and more.
Rise of Azshara continues the ongoing story of a massive war, but a new story trailer makes the focus much more personal. It features Thrall, attempting to live a peaceful life and discovering this is no longer possible. Feasel says that in the midst of this large conflict, the studio wanted to take a moment to pause and reconnect with these larger-than-life characters.
"One of the things we wanted to do was bring the storyline back home, back to family, back to the individual characters and races that make up Azeroth," Feasel said. "What are our faction leaders doing and what do they think about the state of the world? We check in with them periodically, but how do they feel about the actual war? It gives a chance to ground ourselves again, and remind ourselves what we are fighting for and who we're fighting for."
While the story's conclusion isn't in sight yet for players, Blizzard already knows where all of this is eventually leading and even how it will lead to the next major story event. Part of that simply comes down to the long lead time for developing new areas, mechanics, and equipment.
"It takes some time to develop content so we need to know where the story is going," Kowalkowski said. "We definitely know where this arc is going. We definitely know how that is going to dovetail."
Blizzard hopes that the story hooks and new mechanics, as well as checking in with beloved characters, it will sustain the game's success. The studio stopped reporting active subscribers in 2015, and the rise of other online games and genres like the loot shooter and battle royale mean it is no longer the uncontested king of the social-focused online game.
"[Players will] drop off for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it's hey, I moved or traveled overseas," Kowalkowski said. "I think what we do is try and create the most compelling game that we can. Rise of Azshara is in response to a lot of feedback that we received both internally and externally, in terms of wanting to provide players more agency, more choice."
Part of sustaining the game also means welcoming in players who have either lapsed for a long time, or even ones who have never played World of Warcraft before. With so much to do after 15 years, Rise of Azshara attempts to make the on-ramp smoother than ever and to allow players to catch up with their friends who may have already invested hundreds of hours into the game.
"Something that we are looking at especially with Rise of Azshara is making sure that characters don't lapse at any point upon their leveling scale; they can quickly get up to the point where they're playing with their friends in Nazjatar and Mechagon," Feasel said. "So if you're one of those players who stopped playing around the time the Tides of Vengeance came out, it's going to be easy for you to get your next level up to unlock your first Essence. So you're not lagging severely behind, you can jump in and start playing with them, start gathering essences right away."
Essences are one of the deeper customization systems being added in Rise of Azshara. The game also adds punchcards with colored sockets reminiscent of gems. It all has a feeling of familiarity for long-term players, and that comes from wanting to introduce more flexibility.
"I think all of these things are evolutions of things that we've done before, in a way that makes it feel like you have a lot of different ways to customize your character that is just purely item-level based," Feasel said. "So there's always some way for you to log in and figure out, okay, this is how I want to advance my character today. There's ten different ways for you to do that."
Other new additions are quality-of-life adjustments. Mount abilities, for example, let you equip your mount with other special attributes that they don't have by default. The specific example Blizzard cited was the Water Strider, which has the water-walking ability. With the new mount system, you can equip that ability on any mount. The studio was very frank about this as a response to a piece of player frustration, but it took a broader approach than the feedback necessarily required.
"We are looking at a situation where we heard two things from the community," Kowalkowski said. "One was, I'm sick of using the Water Strider everywhere and at the beginning of every expansion for the first six months. And the other thing, because water walking, felt like it was a very powerful ability at that point. And the response can be, well, we'll just take water walking over with their mount and that was actually one of the things we discussed.
"When we look at a system like that: how can we give that utility, but also give people what they asked for? I don't want to see the water walking mount all the time. Typically it's a lot of trying to hearing what the players are saying but identify what the problem is and then come up with a solution that's going to address the problem, rather than just hearing the feedback."
In terms of both mechanics and lore, the team doesn't show any sign of slowing. World of Warcraft is a hodgepodge of fantasy tropes and heroic conquest, and that flexibility gives the team lots of room to explore. The Battle for Azeroth is deadly serious, but even the Rise of Azshara expansion shows the duality of the world. Azshara's lair is dark and foreboding, while the lost city of Mechagon is often goofy and light-hearted. Blizzard feels this is the strength of its world.
"I think one of the interesting things about the Warcraft universe--we go to another planet and fight a titan god one day, and then other days you're rescuing pigs in Goldshire," Feasel said. "We can tell very different storylines. We can create very different characters. Probably one of the most fun parts of the making of World of Warcraft is lifting up a character from a nothing side-quest to be something fans really care about and follow and has a Hearthstone card made about her. It's something that we strive toward all the time because there are so many different characters and personalities in the world to draw from. I feel like we're just scratching the surface."
Rise of Azshara is scheduled to release this summer. For those who prefer the retro experience, Blizzard also announced World of Warcraft Classic will launch on August 27, with a beta scheduled this week and stress tests throughout the summer. Read our interview with the project leads on bringing WoW Classic back to life, and check out the neat 15th Anniversary Collector's Edition releasing in October.
Blizzard recently revealed its release plans for World of Warcraft Classic and a nifty new 15th Anniversary Edition chock full of collectibles for fans of the long-running MMORPG. But the standard game is still going strong as well, and Blizzard has also detailed the next phase of World of Warcraft's Battle for Azeroth expansion, titled Rise of Azshara.
This second content update to Battle for Azeroth focuses primarily on the titular Azshara, a naga queen who swore allegiance to the Old Gods to save her people. As the new story begins, the ocean opens to reveal the naga capital Nazjatar where Azshara still rules her people. Inside, you'll meet up with two factions who are resisting her reign, the Unshackled and the Ankoan, and take part in a new 8-boss raid called Azshara's Eternal Palace--ultimately culminating with facing Azshara herself, naturally.
A second major area, the city of Mechagon, focuses on a different ruler entirely. King Mechagon went a bit mad with the power of machines and began replacing himself in pieces and insisting that his subjects do the same, making a new kind of augmented mecha-gnome. The Rustbolt Resistance resisted him, so when you find Mechagon you're thrust into the center of the conflict. You can take on the new Operation: Mechagon mega-dungeon to face the mad king himself. Finally, a new Heroic Warfront, Stormgarde, will be available for your warband.
A detailed new Heart of Azeroth menu lets you customize your character with Essences, which offer a wide array of buffs and active abilities to unlock. Plus the wonders of mechanical wizardry in Mechagon open up new stat-boosting options, like a trinket with colored punchcard slots--similar to the classic gem sockets. Gnomes and Taurens can also go on special quests to get Heritage armor.
New Mount Equipment lets you customize any mount with abilities. Specifically, Blizzard noted that this means all mounts will be able to water-walk, but you can equip any mounted ability that you already have unlocked, like slowfall or daze protection. You can also complete the new Pathfinder achievements to allow your mount to fly through Kul Tiras, Zandalar, Mechagon, and Nazjatar.
Join GameSpot as we celebrate gaming history and give recognition to the most influential games of the 21st century. These aren't the best games, and they aren't necessarily games that you need to rush out and play today, but there's no question that they left an indelible impact on game developers, players, and in some cases, society at large.
Open-world games are not a modern phenomenon. Rudimentary though they appear in retrospect, there were numerous PC and console games released in the '80s and '90s that fit the description, offering an open structure and the freedom to explore at your will--and potentially at your peril. Still, the limits of game technology meant that these early examples, though enticing, were the exception rather than the rule. How the times have changed.
In 2019, it feels like an increasing percentage of AAA blockbusters are open-world behemoths, games so vast and chock-full of content that the sting of a $60 price tag is ever-so-slightly dulled. Some of these games benefit from having more for you to do, for having more enticing excuses to embody a powerful hero and extend your stay in their fascinating world. But there are other open-world games that are spread so thin that we're starting to see the folly of chasing content for content's sake. Modern open-world games can be both a gift and a blight, and we have Rockstar Games to thank for their prominence, all because of the revolutionary game, Grand Theft Auto III.
At the turn of the century, Rockstar was a recognizable if unremarkable label. The crime-sim GTA was there from the publisher's start, but in an era where 3D gaming was taking off, its modest top-down presentation did little to make it, nor the sequel that released two years later, stand out. With the release of GTA 3 in 2001, things took a dramatic turn for the series, for Rockstar, and for gaming at large.
GTA 3 was one big guilty pleasure wrapped up in a shiny next-gen bow. PlayStation 2 had been out for less than a year by the time GTA 3 released, and that timing meant it was in an excellent position to command the attention of an audience waiting for the next big thing. Critics immediately latched on. Jeff Gerstmann, former GameSpot reviewer and now Giant Bomb frontman, said, "Grand Theft Auto III is, quite simply, an incredible experience that shouldn't be missed by anyone mature enough to handle it." IGN's Doug Perry didn't mince words either. "The game is absolutely, insanely good," wrote Perry, "and is truly one of the best titles of the year, on PlayStation 2, or on any system."
As its name implies, GTA was always about being a criminal, but the distant camera and the score-based nature of the first two games abstracted the realities of your actions. GTA 3's in-your-face look at Liberty City elevated every act and heightened the thrill of every getaway. Enemies weren't small icons; they were people with discernable faces and lives, presumably, worth living. Sex, drugs, murder, mayhem--these aspects underpin GTA 3's identity, but none of that raw excitement would have come to the forefront in such a pronounced manner if not for the impressive tech driving the game's slice-of-life portrayal of a city in motion.
Liberty City wasn't just a large locale for a turn-of-the-century 3D game, it was also dense with little details between the lines that added up to the city's bigger cultural picture. It was a virtual, mini New York City; a vibrant caricature composed of lowbrow temptations, valuable secrets hidden in back alleys, and dashes of personality coming through the radio or from opinionated passersby. Though maybe not quite the "living, breathing world" that Leslie Benzies promised IGN back in 2001, Liberty City felt connected, and most importantly, kinetic.
Playing GTA 3 can be an infectious experience, especially when you embrace it as a sandbox for destruction. If you're ever in the need of a cathartic power trip, a set of cheat codes will give you control over your loadout, the weather, and even the behavior of NPCs. Unlock a Rocket Launcher, blow up every car in the vicinity, turn people against themselves, and why not, summon a tank out of thin air! Rockstar's reputation for delivering a compelling crime drama through great voice acting and animation was established in GTA 3, and it no doubt raised the bar for other developers working on cinematic stories. But in terms of unique influence, the secret sauce was the freedom to explore and your ability whip Liberty City into a frenzy that got under most players' skin.
GTA 3 arrived at the right moment, offered the right kind of technical and design innovation to captivate a massive audience, and ultimately set Rockstar on a path that would lead it to become one of the most powerful entities in the entire industry.
Unsurprisingly, mainstream media and lawmakers didn't care about the technical and artistic achievements that made Rockstar's interactive crime simulator possible--they only cared about the risque themes and hypothesizing how being immersed in them would influence impressionable youth. And really, it's not hard to understand why. The taboo topics in GTA 3 had long been "accepted" in other forms of media, but the interactive nature of games puts the responsibility of choice and consequence in your control, however virtual though the cause and effect may be. In GTA 3, you get to decide whether innocents live and die, and the worst that can happen as a result of running amok is that you get arrested by virtual officers before respawning back into the world with less cash in your pocket. You can even get around that meager penalty, if you wish, by reloading a save file, to even further silo away your responsibility.
GTA 3 did not, of course, transform a generation of players into hardened criminals. What it did, however, was permanently alter the gaming landscape. GTA 3's runaway success meant that publishers had a new market to chase, and the perfect excuse to tackle taboo themes. Some developers and publishers tried to copy GTA 3's success by sticking closely to the formula, but Rockstar remained the king of the open-world urban chaos--everyone else was just a runner up. That said, second place to GTA ain't that bad.
Saints Row is a series that thrived for years in GTA's wake, and with each new sequel, its developers veered progressively further into the absurd. It was successful enough, after four games in seven years, to make Wikipedia's list of best-selling video game franchises. Two other series on that list, Mafia and Watch Dogs, could also be attributed to the waves caused by GTA 3's ripple effect on the industry. You can also point to Lego City Undercover, Sleeping Dogs, The Simpsons: Hit and Run, Scarface: The World is Yours, The Godfather, and Crackdown as notable games that sprung from an industry desperate to bottle GTA's free-flowing, chaotic magic.
A new appreciation for virtual crime and violence aside, GTA 3's lasting legacy is having fueled our desire for open-world games in general. It was always inevitable that as technology progressed we would start to see bigger and more believable game worlds; GTA 3 simply hit fast-forward on the timeline. It's fair to bemoan the glut of open-world games that crop up from AAA studios today, especially when one seems open for no reason other than adding "value," but we are able to enjoy games like Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and Horizon Zero Dawn because of years of accumulated knowledge that sprang from both early successes and failures alike.
The other side of GTA's success is Rockstar's success, and how much power it now wields over the entire industry. Case in point: Red Dead Redemption 2. Gaming's best-selling franchise, Call of Duty, traditionally gets a new entry in November every year. In 2018, with the impending release of RDR 2 (our 2018 Game of the Year), Activision moved its release date for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 back to the start of October. There's no hard evidence that the unusual (for Call of Duty) release date was set because of RDR 2, but when multiple publishers started to shift or announce new release dates shortly after Rockstar put the date on the calendar, the correlation speaks pretty loudly.
These days, it's hard to imagine gaming without GTA being a part of the equation. GTA 3 arrived at the right moment, offered the right kind of technical and design innovation to captivate a massive audience, and ultimately set Rockstar on a path that would lead it to become one of the most powerful entities in the entire industry. GTA 3's influence is all around us, and even though it might take years for Rockstar to make a new GTA entry, it's worth remembering, while playing any open-world game, that its existence is owed in some small part to the craving for open worlds GTA 3 instilled in us all those years ago.
Ever since the announcement of All Elite Wrestling putting together a television deal, fans of the upcoming promotion have wondered where it would be headed. With the AEW PPV Double or Nothing just 10 days away and a weekly show looming on the horizon, we now know that the promotion will be headed to TNT thanks to the WarnerMedia's upfronts.
The channel that was one of the two focal points for the "Monday Night Wars," when WWE and WCW were in a ratings war, will once again host a weekly wrestling program. As for the Double or Nothing PPV, the exclusive streaming rights went to B/R Live for the May 25 Las Vegas show. The pre-show, titled The Buy-In, will stream on WarnerMedia's and AEW's social channels. The deal will be a multi-platform experience, allowing viewers to watch the AEW weekly show on prime time television on TNT, streaming on B/R Live, and on PPV as well.
"Wrestling fans have wanted--and needed--something different, authentic and better for far too long," explained AEW CEO and president Tony Kahn. "AEW is answering the call. AEW is about more than wrestling. It's about a movement fueled by wrestling fans who have been underserved and perhaps even disappointed by what the industry has produced in recent years. AEW is rising to the occasion with Double or Nothing and today taking it a step further by partnering with WarnerMedia, which is as committed as we are to making wrestling fans the one and only priority. With WarnerMedia, AEW is poised globally to redefine wrestling as we know it today."
There is no news as of this writing when AEW's weekly TV series will begin, aside from "later this year." There have been reports that it will be a Tuesday night series, which won't directly compete with WWE, as Smackdown will be moving to Fridays on Fox this fall. Many have been looking forward to the new wrestling promotion, especially after all indie wrestler signings they've been making for months.
Make sure to come back to GameSpot on Saturday, May 25 for live coverage and a review of AEW's Double or Nothing. For now, check out what's inside the AEW Pro Wrestling Crate.
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