E3 2019 begins in just a few days, but even before that, Pokemon fans can look forward to some announcements. On Wednesday, June 5 at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET, Nintendo will be holding a special Pokemon Sword and Shield Direct that will contain "roughly 15 minutes of new information" about the Nintendo Switch games. The original Sword and Shield announcement showed off the three new starter Pokemon, the new Galar region, and a few other details, but there's still a lot left to learn. Here are our big predictions for the Pokemon Direct.
A Release Date
When Pokemon Sword and Shield were announced, they were given a late-2019 release window. That's fast approaching, so it stands to reason that the June 5 Direct will confirm the exact date. The most recent Pokemon games--Sun and Moon, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, and Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee--all released in November, so I'll go ahead and predict a November 2019 release date.
More Pokemon, Including Legendaries
So far, the only new Pokemon we've seen for Gen 8 are the three starters: Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble. The Pokemon Direct will include a mix of run-of-the-mill Pokemon--think the Pidgey and Rattata of Galar--and Sword and Shield's legendary Pokemon, which would presumably be on the games' boxes. It would also be great to see the starters' evolved forms, but because they've already had their day in the sun, I think we'll have to wait to see those.
A New Battle Mechanic
The basic Pokemon formula has largely stayed the same over the years, but the series has been good about regularly introducing new battle mechanics to keep things interesting. X and Y had Mega Evolution, Sun and Moon had Z-Moves (and Battle Royals), and Sword and Shield will probably have something spicy to try out. There's even a circular red-and-blue symbol seen throughout the announcement trailer, including in the games' Japanese logos, that would seem to indicate a new mechanic--a crystal logo appeared in Sun and Moon's Japanese logos, representing Z-Crystals--but there's otherwise no indication of what it might be. I don't have a guess, either.
Story Details And Version Differences
Finally, I'm willing to bet the Pokemon Direct will include some story info. What's the deal with the Galar region? What sort of Team will you be up against, if any? The Pokemon Direct will have character intros and some basic details to lay out Sword and Shield's vibe. I'll go one step further and say that we'll also learn what some of the version differences are, whether it's a gameplay gimmick like Sun and Moon's day-night shift or simply what Pokemon you might find in each.
What's Left For E3?
It seems a bit premature holding a Sword and Shield Direct right before E3, right? What will be left? While it's unlikely Nintendo will reiterate much from the Pokemon Direct during its June 11 E3 presentation, that presentation will be followed by three days of Treehouse streams. In previous years, those streams have featured in-depth gameplay demos, sometimes with developer commentary; Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee got the spotlight last year. The Treehouse streams would be a great opportunity to expand upon what we learn during the June 5 Direct without having to spend precious time going over specifics.
What do you think we'll see during the Sword and Shield Direct? Let us know in the comments. Stay tuned for all the news, and come back after to see how right or wrong we were!
For being one of the X-Men's most notoriously complicated mutants, Jean's story actually has a relatively simple start. She's one of the original team members, introduced back in the very first issue back in 1963. She was the token girl on the otherwise all-male team back in the day, and the only mutant with telekinetic powers in the mix--the others, Iceman, Psyclops, Beast, and Angel all had largely physical powers. For years, this was as tricky as Jean got. She was known as Marvel Girl, and she could move things with her mind--no fuss, no frills.
Becoming The Phoenix
The simplicity didn't last, however. Over time, more of Jean's origin was revealed to be a somewhat insidious effort by Charles Xavier, who had clocked her as an up-and-coming telepath with potentially dangerous abilities. As she was enrolled in Xavier's Academy For Gifted Youngsters, Xavier placed special telepathic blocks in Jean's brain to limit her mutation to just telekinesis at first.
After a considerable amount of training and practice, her telepathic powers were eventually unlocked, allowing her to grow that particular skill as she participated in missions with the team--but eventually, Xavier's fears began to become realities. It started slowly at first: During a mission set in space, Jean was forced to sacrifice herself to save her teammates, but in doing so, sent a massive telepathic plea out into the universe itself--a plea that was answered by a cosmic power known as the Phoenix Force, the manifestation of the power of creation and life itself in the universe.
The Phoenix Force took up residence inside of Jean, saving her from the near-death experience. She emerged with a new look and codename: Phoenix.
For a few fleeting moments, it actually seemed as though that was all there was to it. Jean seemed mostly fine, despite the trauma, and her revival was mysterious but not completely unheard of in superhero comics. But after some time, the truth came to light--sort of. The Phoenix Force had actually taken over Jean's body and mind, creating a duplicate body to house her consciousness and the Force itself, along with Jean's memories, while Jean's real body was placed in a special stasis pod/cocoon to be healed.
Yeah. Look, X-Men stories are a lot of things, but simple ain't one of them.
Enter Dark Phoenix
So anyway, Phoenix Jean--who, for all intents and purposes, was Jean, or at least, completely believed herself to be Jean--eventually started to experience strange visions of a past life where she was known as Lady Grey, the nefarious Black Queen of a group of evildoers called the Hellfire Club. The story of Lady Grey was, in fact, a complete fabrication by a villain known as Mastermind, who was specifically working to undermine Jean's sanity. And that's exactly what he was able to do. As the visions increased in frequency and intensity, Jean eventually accepted them as reality and succumbed entirely to a new evil alter-ego: Dark Phoenix, the full, unbridled potential of the Phoenix Force unchecked and given horrifying, hedonistic purpose care of the false Hellfire Club memories.
Dark Phoenix promptly became the single most powerful and deadly psychic in the universe--and we mean that in the most literal and comic book-y way possible. After turning on her friends and team, Dark Phoenix opted to leave Earth, getting herself pinged on the radar of a handful of alien races and committing a handful of casual planetary genocides on the way--you know, like you do--which specifically got her noticed by the Shi'Ar Empire, who deemed her a greater threat to the galaxy than Galactus himself.
The conflict eventually escalated so dramatically that the Shi'Ar nearly enacted "Plan Omega," which would evolve destroying the entire solar system in an effort to destroy Dark Phoenix, but thankfully the X-Men were able to head things off before they went that far. After briefly regaining her sense of self and her human memories, Jean heroically sacrificed herself, forcing the Phoenix Force out of her body and saving the universe.
The cycle of death and rebirth
But things don't end there. Remember the original Jean Grey body that was left in a healing stasis? The disembodied Phoenix Force tried to possess that version of Jean--it doesn't work, but it does bring that Jean back into play, prompting her to wake up and begin a new life with no memory of any of the Phoenix/Dark Phoenix events at all. Meanwhile, another, totally different duplicate Jean, a clone made by the villain Mr. Sinister, isn't so lucky. A portion of the Phoenix Force found a home in that body and creates another version of Jean altogether, known as Madelyne Pryor.
So to recap, there are three Jeans in the mix here: the original Jean who was stuck in a healing coma for the events of the Phoenix saga, the duplicate Jean who was the embodiment of the Phoenix Force who became Dark Phoenix and died, and the clone of Jean who became the second Phoenix Force host, Madelyne Pryor.
Remember what we said about X-Men comics not being simple? Yeah. We really meant it.
After the Dark Phoenix Saga, Jean's life never really went back to normal. She and her on-again-off-again flame Scott Summers were married for a while (though Scott also had a thing with Madelyne Pryor, too, which is a whole other can of worms) but their relationship eventually began to fail with a little help from the villain Apocalypse, who temporarily killed Scott and Emma Frost, with whom Scott engaged in a "psychic affair."
Sometime later, Jean was killed yet again--this time by a former teammate named Xorn (who was actually Magneto, don't worry about it)--only to be revived by the Phoenix Force all over again--sort of, at least. There are some alternate timeline shenanigans at play here that both do and do not negate her death. Ultimately, it was revealed that Jean bonded to the Phoenix Force to become a god-like entity known as the White Phoenix Of The Crown, and completely ascended to a higher plane of existence known as the White Hot Room, an extra-dimensional nexus that served as a sort of hub for the Phoenix Force and its hosts, rendering her somewhere between life and death. Though, as far as anyone was concerned on Earth, she was just the normal sort of dead.
She actually stayed dead for a while this time--kind of, at least. While Jean was technically dead for all intents and purposes, her consciousness still resided in the White Hot Room and would occasionally come into play in the form of psychic messages and manifestations (also through her various clones and time traveling pseudo-descendants like Hope Summers).
What about now?
That's how things stayed for some time until she was finally resurrected again, by way of uh--an egg. Get it? Because the Phoenix is a bird? She even briefly had her very own team of X-Men after her resurrection, who acted as a sort of top secret mutant black ops unit trying to "heal" the world of its anti-mutant sentiments.
Oh, and there were a couple of time-displaced versions of her running around too, including the child version of herself brought to the present alongside all her original X-Men teammates. Kid Jean even got her own solo series for a while, which is something the adult version of herself never managed to nail down.
So what does this say about Jean's turn as the Phoenix in the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix live action movie? We can guess based on trailers that we're going to see a pretty villainous turn for Jean on the big screen as is par for the course in the source material, but it's difficult to guess just how this particular incarnation of the Phoenix Force is actually going to work. It seems like a safe bet to expect a major self-sacrifice moment from Jean by the end of the movie, but with news that the ending has been reshot, where things will end up is really anyone's guess. It's pretty unlikely that we'll see big screen versions of any of Jean's clones, though, if only for the fact that this particular arm of the X-Men cinematic universe is likely coming to a close thanks to the Disney/Fox buy out. But hey, anything's possible.
Monster Hunter World's massive Iceborne expansion arrives on PS4 and Xbox One this September (with a PC release to follow). The DLC will make its playable debut at E3 2019, but ahead of the expo, Capcom has shared a new story trailer that sets the stage for the adventure and offers another look at some of the new monsters players will encounter.
Set after the events of Monster Hunter World's main story, Iceborne takes players to an entirely new arctic region called Hoarfrost Reach, which is home to a diverse array of new and returning monsters. After arriving at the region, the Research Commission establishes a new camp called Seliana, which will serve as your base of operations during your Iceborne adventures.
Along with the new elder dragon Velkana, Iceborne introduces an "extreme" variant of the Legiana known as the Shrieking Legian. It also brings a couple of older monsters back; we got a glimpse at the Nargacuga during Sony's latest State of Play broadcast, and the new trailer reveals the fearsome Tigrex is coming back as well. It appears some more fan-favorites will also return; the trailer ends with a fiery slash followed by Glavenus's distinctive roar, teasing it may likewise be coming back in Iceborne. You can watch the story trailer above.
Capcom says the upcoming Iceborne expansion "rivals the volume of the original release of Monster Hunter World." On top of all the new monsters, it adds a variety of new quests, gear and weapons to craft, and a new rank called Master Rank, which is similar to the G-Rank from previous games. Some of the game's existing gadgets are also getting new upgrades; the Slinger, for instance, is getting a new Clutch Claw function that allows players to freely grapple and mantle enemies.
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne launches for PS4 and Xbox One on September 6. The expansion is also coming to PC later this winter, although no date has been specified yet. You'll need to own a copy of the base game in order to play Iceborne, but Capcom is releasing a new Master Edition that bundles both together for $60.
Star Trek continues to thrive on television, but the future of the long-running sci-fi series on the big screen is less clear. Although 2015's Star Trek Beyond was not as successful as previous films, Paramount was still moving forward with a fourth film in the current reboot series. However, it was cancelled earlier this year, and now Chris Hemsworth, who had been initially cast in the film, has spoken about his decision not to appear it.
Hemsworth made a small appearance in JJ Abram's first Star Trek reboot movie as George Kirk, and was set to reprise this role. His involvement was first announced back in 2016, but the Thor star has now told Variety that he ultimately turned the role down because he felt the script wasn't good enough. "I didn't feel like we landed on a reason to revisit that yet," he said. "I didn't want to be underwhelmed by what I was going to bring to the table."
Interestingly, it was previously reported that Hemsworth stepped down from Star Trek 4 due to contract issues. According to a story in The Hollywood Reporter, both Hemsworth and Chris Pine, who plays James Kirk, believed that Paramount was forcing them to take pay cuts for the fourth film. Either way, in January it was reported that director SJ Clarkson has stepped down and the movie was "shelved."
In related news, the rumours that Quentin Tarantino might make a Star Trek movie persist. In January 2018 it was reported that Tarantino had spoken to Abrams about a new story for a Trek movie, and last month the filmmaker stated that it was still "a very big possibility" that the movie could happen.
In terms of Star Trek on the small screen, the first teaser for the upcoming show Picard was released last week. As the title suggests, the series will focus on the iconic former Enterprise captain Jean-Luc Picard, with Patrick Stewart reprising his role from Star Trek: The Next Generation. It will premiere later this year.
Disclosure: CBS Interactive is the parent company of GameSpot.
The final content expansion of Destiny 2's current annual pass, Penumbra, drops today along with the Season of Opulence, which means the future of Bungie's live service shooter is currently unknown to players. Or at least, that was the case before dataminers started digging through the game's new patch, Update 2.5.0.1, and discovered what they say are details about Destiny 2's next expansion.
According to a post on Reddit, the next new content to come to Destiny 2 is called Shadowkeep, and it's due to drop this fall. The expansion will take players back to the moon, a Destiny 1 location that hasn't been included in Destiny 2 so far, where they'll fight new variations of the Hive. Here's the full description on the image Redditors say they pulled from the new update's files:
"The next chapter in the Destiny experience arrives this fall as terrifying shadows descend upon a forgotten moon. Return to the lunar surface. Journey deep into a mysterious enemy citadel. Become a slayer of nightmares."
Returning to the moon tracks with Destiny 2's story ever since Forsaken. In that expansion, the Hive attacked the Dreaming City and are responsible for a time loop that keeps the location locked in a three-week cycle--something players have ostensibly been trying to break since the expansion was released. The Hive have a major presence on the moon in Destiny 1, so returning to that location would make sense as part of wrapping up the Dreaming City story.
The question is, what exactly is Bungie's plan for Destiny 2 going forward? One assumes the developer still means to release a Destiny 3, as was the plan before its split with Activision. Holding that game until the release of a new console generation would also make sense. But does that mean Bungie means to launch a new annual pass that would carry the game into 2020? Or is there another, larger expansion on the way, more akin to Forsaken? And just how big will Shadowkeep end up being, anyway?
The leak might tell us what to expect, but it seems we'll still be waiting for Thursday's announcement from Bungie for the full details of Destiny 2's next chapter.
The Season of Opulence is here. As is usually the case with new content drops in Destiny 2, this one comes with an increase in the total Power level you can reach with your weapons and armor. The best way to climb to the new Power cap of 750 is with Powerful gear drops, and one route you can take to get them is the weekly Ascendant Challenge in the Dreaming City. As always, we've continued to rotate through the available Ascendant Challenges; the specifics of what you have to do are the same, but it's not immediately obvious where you need to go or what's going to happen inside. Below, you'll find a guide to help you out.
Before you try to tackle the Ascendant Challenge, the same requirements as always hold true; most notably, you need a Tincture of Queensfoil. This is a consumable item that you'll happen upon while playing in the Dreaming City, although you can also buy them. Using a Tincture gives you the Ascendance buff, which allows you to see a Taken portal. It's this portal you must go through to complete the Ascendant Challenge. Along with a Tincture, you have to grab the Ascendant Challenge bounty from Petra in the Dreaming City; it's through this that you actually get your Powerful gear.
For the current challenge, the portal is located in Rheasilvia. In the northeast corner, head inside a building and go straight as far as you can. Turn right, and then go left in the next area to reach Harbinger's Seclude. Go up a set of stairs and out the doorway on the right. Head straight through this area, through another doorway, and continue straight in the next zone. At the end of a bridge you'll see a statue covered in Taken Blight balls; look for hidden Ascendant platforms to appear in the big open area in front of the statue starting on the right side of the room that will take you to the top, or jump up the blights themselves to reach the portal on top of the statue's head. Check out the video above for a walkthrough. If you struggle to get up, take out your ghost and you'll see some invisible platforms just off the slide of the area that can help you get up.
Going through the portal transports you to the Keep of Honed Edges in the Ascendant Plane. Platform your way across a series of rocks and you'll find an area with three knights who are immune to damage. Kill all of the other enemies and the barrier protecting a sword will go away, allowing you to pick up the relic.
At this point, more enemies spawn in and one knight will begin attacking you. Kill the knight, and the other two will join the fray along with additional enemies. Take them all out, and you'll again have to platform across a series of rocks, now with enemies to make things more challenging. There is debris moving through the area, and at least certain things you step on will disappear after a short period of time, so make sure not to linger. Make your way toward a platform with a large blue object on it to complete the challenge.
As in previous weeks, the chest you receive at the end of the Ascendant Challenge isn't anything special. But the bounty you get from Petra offers Powerful gear for completing it; this can help to boost your Power level, so ensuring you have the bounty is essential.
Meanwhile, the quest for Thorn should keep players busy for a bit. It also represents another step forward in one of the biggest, most interesting running stories in all of Destiny lore--check out our lore catch-up guide for everything you need to know about the famous gun, its famous wielder, and what's going on with the Drifter as the Season of the Drifter continues.
A new Jumanji video game is coming from Bandai Namco, based on the movie franchise with a new sequel coming this fall. Jumanji: The Video Game will hit PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on November 15.
The game follows the four heroes introduced in 2017's Jumanji movie: Dr. Smolder Bravestone, Ruby Roundhouse, Franklin "Mouse" Finbar, and Professor Shelly Oberon. Each one has their own special set of skills to contribute to the team. You'll be seeking the Jewels of Jumanji and fighting through creatures, traps, and marauders to find your way back home.
In Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, four teenagers entered the world of a retro video game--as opposed to the board game concept of the original film. And each in-game avatar had their own special abilities, like martial arts expertise or zoology. A sequel is coming in December. A teaser released alongside the announcement doesn't show much, but does reveal characters in the likenesses of the actors who played them in the movie: Jack Black, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Karen Gillan, and Kevin Hart.
"Jumanji is a property we have been eager to work with for a long time," said Outright CEO Terry Malham, in the announcement. "Our specialty as a video game publisher is in producing high-quality interactive-entertainment for the whole family to enjoy and there is no brand more exciting for families right now than Jumanji."
The first clip from the Child's Play reboot is here. The upcoming movie features Mark Hamill as the voice of iconic killer doll Chucky, and it's set to hit theaters on June 21.
While the clip doesn't reveal Chucky himself, we do hear Hamill in full swing as the evil plaything. In this new version of Child's Play, Chucky is able to control household objects and here he torments his young owner Andy, who by this stage is clearly trying to stop the doll. Check it out above.
Child's Play stars Gabriel Bateman (Light's Out) as Andy and Aubrey Plaza (Legion) as his Mom, plus Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse's Brian Tyree Henry. It's directed by Lars Klevberg, who has also helmed the upcoming horror movie Polaroid. The second trailer for Child's Play was released in April, and you can also check out our ranking of every movie in the Child's Play series.
In an interview with Nightmarish Conjurings, Klevberg talked about Chucky's new abilities. "I think that every good horror movie connects to its generation," he said. "Right now, we all trust devices like Alexa to control all the electronics in our homes and to help organize our life. But what if that device took on a human form and could walk around? Then it would be something completely different and our film is just taking that concept to another level."
Confusingly for fans, there's also an unconnected Child's Play TV show being developed for SyFy, simply titled Chucky. It's produced by series creator Don Mancini, and follows on from the 2017 movie The Cult of Chucky.
The next expansion of Destiny 2, the Season of Opulence and its annual pass content drop, Penumbra, are finally here. Bungie hasn't just dropped new activities, new loot, and a new raid on players with the kickoff of the new season, though--it also has dropped a big patch to the game that reworks a bunch of weapons.
Update 2.5.0.1 brings all the new Season of Opulence content to the game, along with a host of changes, bug fixes, and most specifically, weapon "nerfs." Bungie first discussed weapon changes on its blog in May, kicking off an intense but brief backlash from players. That's mostly because the update weakens a lot of guns that have become essential to how lots of people play the game.
Probably the biggest standout is the change to Whisper of the Worm, a tough-to-get secret sniper rifle that's great for melting big-time enemies, such as raid bosses. The thing that made Whisper so great was a perk called White Nail, which gave the gun infinite ammo so long as you were landing precision hits. The new patch changes that, causing White Nail to draw ammo from your reserves rather than generating fresh ammo. Bungie increased the amount of Whisper ammo players can carry, but the result is that, eventually, Whisper runs out of bullets, which pretty much removes the element that made the gun so useful.
Other weapon nerfs affect Destiny 2's competitive multiplayer mode, the Crucible. Two major favorite weapons for competition, Luna's Howl and Not Forgotten (both of which are extremely tough for players to earn), have also been weakened. The guns' fire rates have been reduced, making them shoot more slowly, and their signature perk, Magnificent Howl, has been weakened as well. It used to be that landing two precision shots with the guns would increase their damage for a short time until your next kill or missed shot; going forward, Magnificent Howl will only increase the damage of one shot after landing two precision shots.
This is also the update that changes Exotic armor that generates Super energy. Several pieces of armor, when used correctly, can give players most or all of their Super energy back every time they use one of these powerful abilities. Bungie has said it didn't like that these effects made those pieces of armor basically must-use items for much of the game, so it's weakened pretty much all of them.
It's not all bad news, though. Bungie is strengthening Fusion Rifles pretty much across the board, with a few extra buffs going to Exotic fusions such as Merciless and Jotunn. Other Exotics, such as the Aeon Cult armor pieces, have been buffed as well, which should make them much more viable in different situations. In general, it looks like Bungie's goal is to decrease players' reliance on a particular set of weapons and armor, while making things a lot of people ignore more useful. We'll have to see if these changes actually accomplish those goals.
That's not all that's about to come to Destiny 2, though. On Thursday, June 6, Bungie is set to announce the "next chapter" for the game. Speculation has it that Thursday will see the announcement of new expansion content now that the current annual pass has come to an end.
Check out the full patch notes below.
Update 2.5.0.1 Notes
Season of Opulence Begins
Imperial Summons
All players who have completed Forsaken may acquire an Imperial Summons from Benedict 99-40 in the Tower. This quest grants Power Surge gear. Crown of Sorrow raid begins at 4 PM PDT.
No longer two-taps when paired with One-Eyed Mask's Vengeance perk if the victim has at least 4 resilience.
Memento Mori restored to 6 bullets, but bullets are now lost on stow.
Lord of Wolves
Release the Wolves perk can now be activated on special reload instead of on kill.
Normal burst damage decreased by 20%.
Release the Wolves non-precision damage decreased by 23%; precision damage decreased by 34%.
Sleeper Simulant
Reduced bounce damage against bosses, minibosses, and vehicles by 95%.
Reduced precision multiplier, but increased base damage by 66%.
This change results in precision shots dealing approximately the same damage as before, but you are punished less for landing non-precision shots.
Sturm and Drang
Storm and Stress max overcharge rounds increased to 99.
"Sturm Overcharge" buff text now displays the number of overcharge rounds.
Overcharge damage increased by 100% in PvE.
Fixed an issue where a 10% precision damage bonus remained on Sturm when it had used all its overcharge rounds.
Whisper of the Worm
White Nail perk now loads the magazine from reserves.
Increased ammo reserves to max 18 without armor perks.
Fixed an issue where White Nail would fail to activate under certain network conditions.
Luna's Howl/Not Forgotten
RPM changed to 150; damage was adjusted to match other 150 RPM (lightweight) Hand Cannons.
These weapons still retain the Precision sub-archetype benefits and firing animation.
Magnificent Howl has been reworked.
Rapidly landing two precision hits now increases damage and range on your next shot.
The damage increase affects only non-precision damage, but the bonus range is applied regardless.
Fixed an issue where Magnificent Howl would be slow to activate under certain network conditions.
Fusion Rifles (Non-Exotic)
Damage increased against PvE combatants:
High-impact increased by 30%.
Precision increased by 44%.
Adaptive increased by 44%.
Rapid-fire increased by 47%.
Exotic Fusion Rifles
Note: Changes to Exotic Fusion Rifles are due to archetype tweaks and not direct changes; most of these are minor.
Jötunn
Changes affect PvE damage only.
Impact damage increased by 10%.
Detonation damage reduced by 15%.
DOT damage increased by 10%.
This results in an overall 5% increase in total damage.
Merciless
Damage of first bullet at slowest charge time increased by 30%, which decreases as the weapon reaches its fastest charge time. Damage at the fastest charge time is unchanged.
Telesto
Impact damage increased by 49%.
Detonation increased by 3%.
This is an overall damage increase of 4%.
Submachine Guns
Minor adjustment to idle pose for SMG archetype to help set it apart from the rifle archetypes.
Updated firing animations to better reflect the shooting experience of an SMG.
Dev Commentary: These changes apply to hipfire only, and do not impact accuracy. The goal of this change was to enhance the feeling of shooting an SMG. We've added a random fire pose that will add variation and make the gun feel a little more unstable and lively in your hands. We've also added a progressive fire animation that will give your Guardian a feeling of gripping and controlling the more active weapon during sustained fire.
Swords
General
Ammo capacity increased to a max of 70.
Starting ammo increased by 10.
Black Talon
Ground and aerial projectile ammo cost increased from 3 to 4.
Adaptive Frame
Ground uppercut ammo cost increased from 3 to 4.
Aggressive Frame
Now lunge at target with their aerial light attack.
Light attack consolidated into a single damage event.
Slam attack consolidated into a single damage event.
Slam attack ammo cost increased from 3 to 4.
Lightweight Frame
Tuned damage output.
Ground light attack increased by 17%.
Aerial light attack decreased by 21%.
Ground dash attack increased by 87%.
Aerial dash attack increased by 78%.
No ammo aerial light attack decreased by 49%.
All other no-ammo attacks decreased by 15%.
Ground dash attack ammo cost increased from 2 to 3.
General
Fixed an issue where magazine-size indicators didn't display the proper arrows when changing magazine perks on the Breath of the Dragon and Trackless Waste SMGs.
Truesight's "weakened" enemy highlight or glowing will no longer appear to flicker erratically.
Armor
Super-Generating Exotic Armor
Skull of Dire Ahamkara, Orpheus Rigs, and Phoenix Protocol now grant Super energy back on diminishing returns, making it rarer to get a full Super back.
Shards of Galanor and Ursa Furiosa had their Super gain caps reduced to be in parity with other Super Exotic changes.
Adjusted amount of Spectral Blade Super restoration when defeating enemies with Gwisin Vest.
1 PvP kill = 11.1% → 8.3%
2 PvP kills = 19.1% → 12.5%
3 PvP kills = 20.8% → 14.2%
4 PvP kills = 21% → 15.8%
5 PvP kills = 21% → 16.7%
1 Dreg kill = 7% → 11.1%
2 Dreg kills = 17.7% → 14.3%
3 Dreg kills = 20% → 16.5%
4 Dreg kills = 20.9% → 16.9%
5 Dreg kills = 21% → 17.1%
Minor adjustments to the Heavy Ammo Finder perk.
Gemini Jester
Increased duration of disorient and no-radar effects by 0.5 seconds.
Aeon Gauntlets
Potency of energy given by Aeon Arms increased for all classes.
Titans now trigger Aeon Arms off of melee kills instead of barricade, and they receive melee energy.
Visual effects on Aeon Gauntlets altered for all classes to distinguish between a player whose energy is full or not.
Abilities
Fixed an issue where "Six-Shooter" refunds a bullet when destroying Titan barricades.
Fixed an issue where "Entropic Pull" melee and "Devour" melee were applying a physics impulse that pushed enemies away.
Fixed an issue where using Chaos Reach with Geomag Stabilizers could sometimes lead to weapons disappearing.
Fixed an issue where players could gain full grenade energy when canceling out of a Nova Warp Super.
Fixed an issue where Combination Blow's melee damage buff was buffing the Arc Staff Super in PvP environments.
Note: This was addressed for PvE in a previous update.
Moving between overlapping Wells of Radiance no longer lead to removing the buff earlier than expected.
Investment
Clans
Clan XP has been reset for Season 7 start.
A new weekly bonus bounty has been added for Season 7. This bounty is available at the max clan rank.
Emotes
The Luxurious Toast emote now allows players to sit for as long as they desire.
Cayde's Exotic Stash items have been added to Eververse's Bright Dust inventory for weeks 1–4.
Rewards UI/UX
The Pursuits inventory has been moved to the Director menu.
Players may now hold up to 63 pursuits at a given time.
Catalysts are now tracked on the Triumphs page.
Updated Taken and Fallen armor mods to follow the same naming convention.
All shader items have had their icons updated.
Fixed an issue where the action for applying shaders, ornaments, holograms, or using consumables was getting cancelled and not applying on the first attempt.
Note: There are still actions that will cancel the apply function, such as hitting the "Preview" button, exiting Inventory early, letting up on the "Apply" button too early, or completely moving the cursor off of the item being applied.Vendors
Benedict 99-40
Relocated to the Annex in the Tower.
The Gunsmith
Now offers three daily and two weekly weapon-focused bounties, rewarding Enhancement Cores, mod components, and mods.
Scrapper bounties will no longer drop when dismantling gear.
Existing scrapper bounties will remain in your inventory until expiration or completion.
Xûr
Now properly offers random rolls on Exotic armor after refusing to do so in Destiny 2 Update 2.2.1.
We've had a chat with him; if something like this happens again, he'll be in trouble.
Drifter/Vanguard
Weekly reward packages from the Allegiance quest have been retired with the conclusion of Season of the Drifter.
Fixed an issue where some players wouldn't see updated vendors and bounty lists after the weekly reset occurred.
General
The Sony-exclusive Hunter armor set "Red Moon Phantom Suit" should no longer appear in Collections for Xbox and PC players.
Fixed an issue where weapon engrams were incorrectly appearing as Masterworked in the loot stream if a player's inventory was full when walking over them.
Fixed an issue where Arbalest could not be acquired by players who do not own the Annual Pass.
Activities
Raids
Further addressed GUITAR errors that could occur in the Last Wish raid.
Crucible
Players can no longer win Crucible matches by getting kills after the timer has expired.
Fixes an issue where a player could hear the audio for a 20-kill streak but not receive the medal if the 20th kill happened after the match ended.
The Triumph "We Ran Out of Medals" (20-kill streak) will be rewarded if the final kills happen before the match timer ends.
Patrol
After activating the totem, killing the weekly wanted targets will now correctly complete the activity and bounty.
Heroic Adventures
Fixed an issue where players would sometimes load into a different Heroic Adventure on Mars than what was being displayed on the Totem.
Tower
Fixed issues with two Ghost scannables in the Tower
"The one about the Speaker's quarters..." was moved to outside his door along the walkway.
"The one about Banshee-44 and his old location..." was moved and placed on the ground in the corner.
Niobe Labs/Bergusia Forge
Fixed an issue where players on PC were experiencing crashes traversing Niobe Labs and Bergusia Forge spaces.
Commando/Zero Hour
Fixed bug where players could freeze the activity timer in Zero Hour mission.
Fixed bug where the Heroic version of Zero Hour would be available only on the first character to complete the activity on each account.
Misc.
Fallen mines are no longer impervious to being destroyed while on the ground.
Ubisoft is giving away another free game, but this time, it won't be quite as easy as just adding it to your Uplay account. The game in question is Rayman Origins, an excellent 2D platformer released in 2011, and to claim it for free, you'll need to tune into a 30-minute, Twitch-streamed live speedrun of Rayman 2, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
The Twitch stream is kicking off June 10 at 10:30 AM PT / 1:30 PM ET, just hours before Ubisoft's E3 2019 press conference. The previous speedrun record-holder for Rayman 2, Glackum, was just beaten by another speedrunner, so he'll attempt to set a new record time and reclaim his title live on Monday.
If you watch at least 30 minutes of the Rayman 2 speedrun, you'll receive a free copy of Rayman Origins on Uplay via Twitch Drops. Just make sure to link your Twitch account to Uplay, which allows you to earn various loot drops from Ubisoft on Twitch.
New to Rayman Origins? The game received an 8.5 in GameSpot's Rayman Origins Review for its charming 2D environments and challenging level design. "Whether you choose to approach this adventure by your lonesome or with three friends, the fact remains that this is a charming, gorgeous, and thoroughly entertaining 2D platforming experience," wrote critic Shaun McInnis. "Rayman Origins draws a lot from the past, but it does so while managing to feel fresh and full of life. This is one worthwhile journey no matter which era it's from."
Ubisoft's press conference will be livestreamed after the speedrun event, officially starting at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET. You can watch it on Twitch or YouTube, and we'll also be streaming it on GameSpot's various social media channels.
If you don't get a chance to go to the movies very often, then Tuesdays are probably pretty important for you, as that's when new movies are released at retailers and digital markets. This week, there is one huge digital release and quite a few 4K rereleases you'll want to get your hands on.
Today, you can pick up Jordan Peele's Us, which is available on most digital movie services. His follow-up to Get Out revolves around a family on a trip, where they come across horrific doppelgangers of themselves, terrifying them at every moment. In GameSpot's review of Us, Rafael Motamayor said, "There's no denying that Jordan Peele avoided the "sophomore slump" and has now cemented himself as one of the great contemporary horror minds. Us is not only a brilliant exploration of current-day America, but one hell of a prologue to Peele's The Twilight Zone reboot."
On the physical side of things, the Netflix sci-fi series Lost In Space gets a Blu-ray release for its first season; Season 7 of Cartoon Network's Venture Brothers see a physical release; and Season 1 of Jack Ryan gets the physical treatment as well.
However, you'll want to keep your eye on some rereleases hitting stores this week. All three Toy Story movies and the four Batman movies from the '80s/'90s are all getting the 4K treatment. You can watch all of your favorite moments of Woody and Buzz trying to find Andy or Joker dancing to a Prince soundtrack in glorious 4K. Prices for these 4K editions range from $25-$30.
Below, you'll find a highlighted list of this week's biggest digital and physical releases.
The huge success of the 2015 blockbuster Jurassic World and last year's sequel proved there was plenty of life left in the long-running dinosaur movie series. They will soon be joined by the new animated show Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous.
The show is latest collaboration between Netflix and DreamWorks Animation, and it will hit the streaming service in 2020. The show will be set at the same time as the events of Jurassic World.
The official synopsis reads: "Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous follows a group of six teenagers chosen for a once-in-a-lifetime experience at a new adventure camp on the opposite side of Isla Nublar. But when dinosaurs wreak havoc across the island, the campers are stranded. Unable to reach the outside world, they'll need to go from strangers to friends to family if they're going to survive."
Neither casting news nor a more specific release date have been announced yet. However, Netflix has released a short teaser for the new show--check out below:
Hold onto your butts - Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous is coming in 2020! The animated series, set at the same time as the 2015 film, follows a group of teens at a new adventure camp where absolutely nothing goes wrong. Just kidding: dinosaurs. pic.twitter.com/YXNGx6fKCJ
Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous follows a variety of other successful Netflix/DreamWorks shows, such as Guillermo Del Toro's Trollhunters, Voltron: Legendary Defender, and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.
Netflix is increasingly moving into producing animated content. Earlier this week, an anime series based on the popular fantasy card game Magic: The Gathering was announced, which will be produced by Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo. In addition, it was previously reported that Netflix plans to launch its own animation studio, which will enable it to make projects in-house without having to outsource much of the technical work to existing animation companies.
What does Xbox smell like? You may soon be able to find out. Just ahead of E3 2019, Microsoft has partnered with Lynx to create a new fragrance called Lynx Xbox. The range includes body spray, deodorant, and shower gel, so really all of your bases are covered.
The official description is simply delightful:
"Lynx Xbox is a fresh scent of pulsing green citrus, featuring top notes of kaffir lime and winter lemon, aromatic herbal middle notes of mint and sage, and woody bottom notes of patchouli and clearwood. Containing a range of natural essential oils, the Xbox Lynx range comes with a sleek new look and features a body spray, deodorant, and shower gel."
Xbox ANZ boss Tania Chee said in a statement that users can spray or wash themselves with Xbox Lynx to "power up" before heading out the door in the morning.
Xbox Lynx will be available from July at grocery stores and pharmacies across Australia and New Zealand. There is no word yet on if it'll be released in other parts of the world.
Microsoft showed the first gameplay for Minecraft Earth at Apple's annual WWDC conference, and in the process announced a couple of new iOS-exclusive features for the upcoming AR game.
The people occlusion feature lets you walk through or around your own life-size 3D creations. You can also use a motion capture feature to map your actual gestures to triggers for pre-set animations from characters in the game.
A closed beta for Minecraft Earth is scheduled for this summer on iOS and Android. The full game will let you tap on treasure chests, blocks, and mobs, take part in Adventures with resources to collect, and progress in your career with experience points. You can also build structures on Build Plates, and connect them with physical locations so that other people can see your work.
Darius never actually came to the original console--it's a brand-new port, specifically for the Mega Drive / Genesis Mini. The original console's version of Tetris, meanwhile, is exceedingly rare, with only three physical copies available in the wild. Both games will be pre-installed on the new Mini console.
The Mega Drive Mini / Genesis Mini launches worldwide on September 19, costing $80 / £70 / AU $140. It's based on the Model 1 version of the original console, except approximately 55% smaller. The box contains the console, a power adapter, two replica three-button USB controllers, one USB to micro-USB power cable, and one HDMI lead.
The game ports that are on the Genesis Mini were handled by M2, a team that is well known for its work on emulation and re-releases. M2 previously worked on Sega Ages and Sega 3D Classics Collection.
Releasing Mini versions of classic consoles has become something of a trend recently. Nintendo led the way with the NES Classic and the SNES Classic, both of which were received well by critics and went on to be hot commercial items. Sony followed suit with the PlayStation Classic, which wasn't received as warmly.
Full Sega Mega Drive / Genesis Mini Games Lineup
Sonic the Hedgehog
Ecco the Dolphin
Castlevania: The New Generation
Space Harrier 2
Shining Force
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
ToeJam & Earl
Comix Zone
Altered Beast
Gunstar Heroes
Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck
Thunder Force III
Super Fantasy Zone
Shinobi III
Streets of Rage 2
Earthworm Jim
Sonic The Hedgehog 2
Probotector
Landstalker
Mega Man®: The Wily Wars
Street Fighter II®: Special Champion Edition
Ghouls 'n Ghosts®
Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
Story of Thor
Golden Axe
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium
Sonic The Hedgehog Spinball
Vectorman
Wonder Boy in Monster World
Tetris®
Darius
Road Rash II
Strider
Virtua Fighter 2
Alisia Dragoon
Kid Chameleon
Monster World IV
Eternal Champions
Columns
Dynamite Headdy
Light Crusader
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