Month: September 2018

The next PAX event is PAX Australia, and it’s coming up soon. PAX Aus 2018 takes place October 26-28 in Melbourne, and now the event’s panel schedule has been released. There are more than 125 panels and events in all, while GameSpot again has its own theatre.

GameSpot’s theatre, the GameSpot Dropbear Theatre, will have programming running Friday through Sunday. We’ll be hosting panels on Fortnite’s coverage in the mainstream media, voice acting featuring actors from Telltale’s The Walking Dead and Fallout 4, and hacking a video game, among other topics. You can see the full programming lineup for the GameSpot Dropbear Theatre here, while a full list of every PAX Aus panel can be seen here.

Outside of panels, PAX Aus will include a show floor featuring juggernauts like Xbox, PlayStation, Ubisoft, Nintendo, and Bandai Namco. A list of playable games hasn’t been announced yet, however. Also new for this year is that PAX Aus and another big-time Australian gaming show, the EB Expo, are joining forces.

PAX Aus kicks off on October 26 with a keynote address by Rhianna Pratchett, who worked on the Tomb Raider reboot and its sequel, Rise of the Tomb Raider. She also wrote Mirror’s Edge, Heavenly Sword, and the Overlord series. During her PAX Aus keynote, she’ll be engaging directly with fans, answering questions about any number of topics.

PAX Aus three-day tickets are sold out, but you can still buy single-day tickets for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday here on the event’s website.

Here at GameSpot, we adored the peaceful farming simulator Stardew Valley. Among its standout features is its music, which is serene and calming. A new album puts the music that developer and programmer Eric Barone wrote in an even more relaxing tone.

The Stardew Valley Piano Collections album launches on October 5, and GameSpot can premiere a new video track for the album today. “Spring: It’s A Big World Outside” is among the album’s more striking tracks, and it’s a delight to listen to in its new piano fashion.

The song was performed on piano by Augustine Mayuga Gonzales, working off Barone’s composition and Matthew Bridgham’s arrangement. The track was mastered by Jeff Gallindo from The Bakery. The lovely-looking art, which you can see above, was done by mnstrcndy, and designed by Rozen.

Bridgham says in the liner notes that his wife told him about Stardew Valley last November, and after spending time with the game, he found it changed his life in a positive way.

“The rest of that year was spent improving my farm and, in the process, improving my life,” he says. “Honestly. With every seed I planted sowed a greater sense of clarity in my mind. Never had a game had such a deep and immediate grip on my attention.”

“As to be expected, the three contrasting pieces from each of the four seasons made it on this album, as did the overture and the music that plays in town,” Bridgham adds. “I feel that these tracks really capture the everyday grind of loading up the game, waking up in the current season, and walking into town to buy seeds – unless it is Wednesday. (Pierre!)”

Stardew Valley Piano Collections will be available on discs in Q4 2018, which is also when the album’s sheet music will arrive. You can pre-order the digital album today for $12 to instantly get five tracks to either stream or download in MP3 and FLAC formats. Digital sheet music is available in PDF for $15, while the physical sheet music and CD version are coming later this year as mentioned.

You can find out more about the Stardew Valley Piano Collections album here on Bandcamp.

My Hero Academia: Two Heroes is the first feature film based on the hit anime and manga My Hero Academia! Does the movie succeed and hit Plus Ultra levels of excitement or not? Find out in Dave Klein’s review.

Telltale Games has removed The Walking Dead: The Final Season from sale amid questions about the game’s future in light of the massive layoffs at the studio.

The game’s store page on GOG.com states, “Telltale has requested a temporary pause of sales of The Walking Dead – Final Season. For all up to date Telltale news, please refer to their official Twitter page.”

Over on Steam, there is a somewhat longer notice which reads, “We have removed season passes for The Walking Dead: The Final Season from stores for the time being. We’re currently still working to find a way to hand off production of episodes 3 and 4 so that the season can be completed. The outcome of those efforts will determine when and how The Final Season returns to stores. We hope to have a firm announcement before the end of the week. For now, we apologize for any inconvenience.”

On Xbox One, The Final Season is listed as “currently not unavailable.” The PlayStation Store database only shows The Final Season’s free demo as being available. The Final Season’s store page on Steam does not allow you to purchase the game.

Episode Two of The Final Season launched on Tuesday, September 25, but whether or not episodes Three and Four ever release is in question.

It makes sense that Telltale would remove the $20 Final Season Pass. Given that the company has said it is unsure if it will be able to release Episodes Three and Four, letting people buy the pass containing those episodes when it can’t guarantee it will deliver them is not a great look and might put Telltale in a legally challenging situation.

Telltale announced a “majority studio closure” last Friday, resulting in the loss of more than 200 jobs. One of the affected developers has filed a class-action lawsuit against Telltale asking the company to pay missed wages, health benefits, 401(k) contributions, and more.

Venom may be one of Spider-Man’s stronger foes, but he’s not the only symbiote character on the block. This villain’s breakout popularity in the late ’80s and early ’90s inspired a new wave of symbiote characters, from villains like Carnage to heroes like Scorn and Toxin. And some of these characters have proven to be stronger and more capable than Venom himself.

If you want to know how the major symbiote characters in the Marvel Universe measure up, we’ve put together a helpful guide. Read on — or watch the video above — to see where characters like Peter Parker and Eddie Brock fall on the list of the most powerful symbiotes.

Spider-Man

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