Acclaimed side-scroller Owlboy is finally coming to PS4 and Xbox One. D-Pad Studio had initially planned to release the PC game on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One at the same time. Instead, only the Switch version released earlier this year. Now the developer has announced more digital versions are coming this month, with physical releases to follow next month.
The digital PS4 and Xbox One versions of Owlboy will release on April 10. Physical PS4 and Nintendo Switch versions will also release May 29. The game has taken a long time to get to this point; development first began back in 2007, and Owlboy was finally released on PC in 2016, with the Nintendo Switch version releasing in February.
Owlboy is pixel-art platformer where you fly, picking up allies and allowing them to act as gunners for you with their unique abilities and stories. It’s a hearty mix of traditional platforming and story-heavy adventure, with big dungeons and boss battles.
In GameSpot’s Owlboy review, Peter Brown gave the game a 9/10, calling it a “heartfelt experience that will touch anyone with an affinity for great art and storytelling.” It sports a beautiful orchestral soundtrack, beautiful pixel art, surprising action sequences, and an unpredictable script that captures genuine feelings of joy, anger, and remorse. It also earned the #18 spot on our Game of the Year 2016 Countdown.
Director Ron Howard has revealed that a second trailer for Solo: A Star Wars Story is coming soon.
Howard replied to a fan on Twitter who asked if there will be another trailer for the Star Wars standalone movie, simply saying, “Yep.” However, the director did not reveal when the second trailer might arrive. But, it should come sometime within the next two months considering Solo hits theaters on May 25. The first trailer arrived during Super Bowl LII.
Howard also shared a brief look at what seems to be a Tie fighter battle scene featuring the Empire pursuing the Millennium Falcon. “#Solo vfx review with #ILM today at #SkywalkerRanch,” the director tweeted. Check out the image below.
Avengers 4 doesn’t have an official title yet, and directors Anthony and Joe Russo believe fans should be scared by the unknown name.
A fan on Twitter expressed concern over the film’s title being withheld, saying it might spoil the events of Infinity War. The Russo brothers responded with the following ominous message: “It should.” Avengers 4 was initially announced as Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 in 2014. However, it was eventually changed to Avengers 4 in 2016.
April Fools’ Day has come and gone. This year’s event happened to fall on the same day as Easter, which made for an unusually early rollout of jokes from various video game and entertainment companies seeking to avoid having their efforts missed on a proper holiday. As a result, it was easy to miss some of what was out there.
Below, we’ve rounded up many of the jokes that were shared this year, including those centered around battle royale (all the craze, thanks to Fortnite and PUBG), nostalgia, and dating games, among other things. We also had a gag of our own with Hyrule’s Funniest Home Videos. Be sure to let us know your favorite gags of 2018 and any we missed in the comments. You can see 2017’s pranks here.
Hyrule’s Funniest Home Videos
Rather than do something like trick people into thinking they can pilot a Guardian in Zelda: Breath of the Wild again, we here at GameSpot went a different route this year. Behold Hyrule’s Funniest Home Videos, a BotW-inspired take on America’s Funniest Home videos. You can watch it at the top of this post.
In a move that some people would likely have been excited to hear on any day of the year, Niantic announced that Pokemon Go would introduce new, 8-bit graphics. Rather than keep this to just a few images online, it did actually release an update adding these to the game.
Epic Games is constantly rolling out new content Fortnite: Battle Royale. Its April Fools’ joke involved increasing the effects of two items: The Boogie Bomb (which forces players to dance) allowed dancers to jump much higher than normal, while the Impulse Grenade (which knocks players back without doing damage) pushed people much further than usual.
In another uncommon instance of an April Fools’ joke manifesting in some real way, Sega announced the Sanic Collection, a selection of four items featuring the Sanic meme. You can buy a t-shirt, mug, or phone case featuring Sanic himself for a limited time.
Aspyr Media, the company responsible for bringing Civilization games to mobile, announced it was bringing the latest game, Civilization VI, to a much different platform: smart watches. “Civilization VI on smart watches features Revolutionary Index Finger Control (RIFC),” a press release touts. “Simply swipe up to declare war, scroll down to build a library, double tap to initiate a religious inquisition, swipe right to fire catapults, or tap and hold to research pottery.”
New World of Warcraft Micro Holidays
Blizzard teased that it would expand World of Warcraft‘s calendar of micro holiday to offer something every day. Highlights include Looking for Queue, a day where you can only join a dungeon queue by having your character physically wait in line outside of the dungeon, and The Yes-Fly Zone, when ground-based transport will be disallowed.
Following in the footsteps of Pokemon Go, Square Enix announced an expansion for MMO Final Fantasy XIV. This would take the form of FFXIV Online Go, a mobile app that lets you gather resources while exploring the real world, Pokemon Go style.
With dating games like Hatoful Boyfriend proving to be quite successful, Capcom announced its own spin on the genre starring Mega Man. Mega Man: Date My Robot Master sends you to school and allows you to forge relationships with a variety of classmates.
Card games are another genre that’s proven popular, and Capcom offered a take on it as well. The company revealed a Street Fighter card game called Hado Stone.
Capcom wasn’t the only one with dating games on the brain, as Grasshopper and GungHo announced Let It Date, which is described as a “full-fledged dating simulator spin-off” of free-to-play action game Let It Die. “Let It Date players can enjoy the underworld of Let It Die in a new sensual and casual way where they get to know their favorite characters on a deeper, romantic level–like Uncle Death. Let It Date invites a new audience to experience the witty and charming dialogue in the Tower of Barbs, who may not be a fan of the hardcore action genre.”
Ascenders, Follow-Up To Descenders
Downhill freeriding game Descenders went in the opposite direction for April Fools’. The developer released a special mode that allows you to tackle the game in a much different way.
Battle royale is enjoying a massive wave of popularity, and Path of Exile got in on the fun with a special mode called Path of Exile: Royale. The announcement reveals that the developers have “abandoned” the action RPG genre it’s known for in favor of something that was created with “one day of development.”
Jurassic World 3 has found its director, as the rebooted series returns to the man who started it. Collider reports that Colin Trevorrow will come back to write and direct the third film, having done the same for 2015’s Jurassic World.
The upcoming Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom changed hands to J.A. Bayona, due to scheduling conflicts that kept Trevorrow from helming it. He had signed on to Star Wars: Episode IX, but was taken off that project last fall after reports of creative disagreements and a box office bust in his latest film, The Book of Henry. Trevorrow has still been shepherding the series from afar, both co-writing Fallen Kingdom and already planning to co-write the script for JW3.
This means he’ll be taking a more hands-on approach as director, which will allow him to see through the vision he’s had for these characters arcs since the inception of the series. “I remember telling Steven [Spielberg] even while we were still making the first movie, ‘This is the beginning. Here is the middle. And here’s the end of the end. This is where we want to go,'” he said. “I feel like that kind of design is crucial to a franchise like this if you really want to bring people along with you and make sure they stay interested. It needs to be thought through on that level. It can’t be arbitrary, especially if we want to turn this into a character-based franchise with people who you lean in to follow what they’re going to do.”
Universal has already put a stake down for June 11, 2021 as the release for Jurassic World 3. At that point we’ll see where this long arc goes. In the meantime, the second piece of the trilogy, Fallen Kingdom, is coming on June 22. It brings back the main cast from the first movie, as well as Jeff Goldblum to reprise his role from the original series.
Production on Creed 2 has officially begun, Warner Bros. and MGM announced today.
The sequel is being filmed in Philadelphia, Penn., with Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone reprising their roles of Adonis Creed and Rocky Balboa, respectively. Steven Caple Jr. (The Land) is directing from an original screenplay by Stallone. Ryan Coogler, director of the first Creed and Black Panther, will serve as an executive producer.
Creed 2’s story follows Adonis struggling to balance his personal obligations and training for his next big fight. Adonis, with Rocky by his side, will be going up against an opponent who has ties to his family’s past. The duo will confront their shared legacy and learn that nothing’s more important than family.
On Sunday, April 8, WWE’s biggest event of the year, Wrestlemania, will come to a screen near you. Like every year, there are plenty of ways to watch the PPV, from on your TV to your phone, and we have a breakdown for the easiest ways for you.
The best way to watch Wrestlemania 34, which will save you a ton of money, is through the WWE Network. Currently, you can get a month free to the network if you are a new subscriber, and you can cancel after Mania. If you enjoy the programming, you can continue with the WWE Network which offers events, original programming, and classic stuff from WWE, WCW, ECW, and more for $10 a month.
Cable or satellite subscribers can also purchase Wrestlemania through their respective services, as not everyone around the world has access to internet fast enough to live stream the event. However, the cost for Mania can be up to six times more expensive than the streaming service.
In addition to the ways you can watch the event at home, sports bars and restaurants like Buffalo Wild Wings play the events as well, but you’ll have to check with your local spot as not all participate in the WWE event. Obviously, if you’re going to a restaurant to watch a seven hour event, you’ll be expected to buy food or drinks, so don’t expect this to be a free trip.
If you are planning on staying home for the big event, the WWE Network is available multiple ways. It can be accessed through phones, tablets, or through your PC (both iOS and Windows 10 have apps available). Also, the network app is available on certain smart TVs as well as devices like Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Chromecast. You can watch the network using your Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, and PS4 by downloading the app through its stores. Sorry Nintendo Switch users, but the WWE Network is not available on the console yet.
Wrestlemania 34 starts on Sunday, April 8 at 7 PM ET/4 PM PT. There is a two-hour Kickoff Show starting at 5 PM ET/2 PM PT with you can watch on the WWE Network and on YouTube. In addition, the second hour of the Kickoff will air live on the USA Network. It’s going to be a packed show, as there will be 14 matches on the card, so strap in for a really long day.
How was Rampage influenced by my love of monster cinema? Before I jump into that, I have to explain a rule of mine. When I get involved in a project, I deliberately avoid watching other movies. So on Rampage, I steered clear of all other “monster movies” in an attempt to find my own muses therefore define my own tone and style.
That said, I’m also a giant nerd who loves walking out of a movie theater and analyzing everything I just saw with my friends… SO LET’S CHAT MONSTER MOVIES!!!
I can’t say any single movie influenced my approach to directing Rampage, but the spirit of creativity and ingenuity in my list of monster movies shows how important simply enjoying watching a movie can be, and that was my priority in making Rampage – to allow the audience to let go and drop into a story that is just going to be an enjoyable experience.
Nintendo has introduced a handful of new rewards to the My Nintendo program. As usual, the rewards come in the form of discounts, which are only applicable for select 3DS and Wii U games.
The new discounts encompass a handful of recent and classic Mario titles for both consoles. On 3DS, My Nintendo members can get 40% off of Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (120 Gold points), 30% off of Mario Sports Superstars (90 Gold points), and 30% off of Yoshi’s New Island (50 Gold points).
On the Wii U side, the delightful puzzle game Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is 40% off (90 Gold points). Members can also get 45% off of the classic Super Mario Bros. 3 (20 Gold points) and 40% off of the SNES puzzle game Wario’s Woods (200 Platinum points) on either Wii U or 3DS.
Other new rewards include 40% off of the 3DS launch title Pilotwings Resort (120 Gold points), 50% off of the excellent GBC Legend of Zelda game, Oracle of Ages (30 Gold points), 40% off of Art Academy (90 Gold points), 50% off of the classic Balloon Fight (250 Platinum points), and 40% off of City Connection (160 Platinum points). You can find the full list of rewards on the My Nintendo website.
All of the above rewards are available until the beginning of July, giving you quite a bit of time to take advantage of any that may catch your eye. My Nintendo members can also still grab the latest batch of free games from the rewards program. Players have until May 23 to redeem their Gold points for full-game downloads of Star Wars Pinball, Mighty Switch Force 2, Woah Dave, and Fast Racing Neo.
A celestial body above the world of Fortnite: Battle Royale has the community buzzing about what it could all mean. The skybox now houses a comet, which moves separately from the storm, and it appears to be getting progressively bigger.
Kotaku reports that upon reaching out to Epic, it received only an image of Giorgio A. Tsoukalos, the television personality turned meme who appeared on Ancient Aliens. That could indicate something extraterrestrial, or more likely, is just poking fun at the wild conspiracy theories surrounding the comet.
Still, speculation is running rampant. Given the appearance of the comet and a distinct space theme to the most recent Battle Pass, fans seem convinced this is a harbinger of some major change. The comet may strike the map and change it in some way, or destroy it entirely. The eggs and explosion stickers could reference the extinction of the dinosaurs. The Save the World PvE portion could be going free-to-play too. There are as many theories as stars in the sky, but it does seem likely this is building to something. For a time it seemed to be building to an April Fool’s gag, but that day has come and gone without an impact.
Pictured to the upper right of the bus, just left of the map
Helping spur on the speculation are seemingly random controller vibrations. Fans were convinced for a time that this was a subtle clue to the comet’s meaning, but Epic has clarified that this is just a glitch. “There’s currently a bug that causing controllers to randomly vibrate,” read a tweet. “We’re working towards a fix on that but in the meantime, you can turn off vibrations in the options.”
Fortnite is a huge success for Epic, now setting YouTube records and beating out its competition. The wild success means that any minor change or clue is likely to inspire lots of conversation, and letting the community rally around a mystery is as good a way as any to keep people talking. Just today the game became available on iOS without an invite, so it’s only going to get larger and crazier before the comet does whatever it is that it will do.
