Month: April 2019

April 1 has arrived, and in the spirit of April Fools’ Day, Ubisoft has kicked off a ridiculous new event in Rainbow Six Siege. The Rainbow Is Magic event is now live across PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and it introduces a special playlist along with an assortment of colorful new cosmetic items in the popular tactical shooter.

For a limited time, players can take on a special rescue mission set in a redesigned, candy-colored version of the Plane map. The object: safely retrieve a VIP teddy bear from the vehicle. For this mission, players will be able to choose between four Operators–Blackbeard, Montagne, Smoke, and Tachanka–and nine “toy soldiers.”

In addition to the special mission, Ubisoft has rolled out a new line of exclusive Rainbow Is Magic cosmetics. The collection consists of 17 colorful items ranging from BDUs to headgear. Players will receive one free Rainbow Is Magic Pack when they log in during the event and can earn additional ones by completing Ubisoft Club Challenges or purchasing them for 300 R6 Credits. As with other Rainbow Six Siege loot packs, there will be no duplicate items.

The Rainbow Is Magic event runs until April 8, while the Rainbow Is Magic cosmetic packs will be available for an additional week until April 15. You can read more details about the event on the official Rainbow Six Siege website and on Xbox Wire.

In addition to Rainbow Six Siege, Ubisoft is holding a ridiculous, 24-hour April Fools’ event in its swordfighting game, For Honor. Until 9 PM PT on April 1 (12 AM ET on April 2), players can take on swarms of Rabbids, and everyone who participates will get a melee pack. You can watch footage of the Rabbids crossover on YouTube and see all the other April Fools’ pranks and events going on in games in our big roundup.

Releasing mini versions of classic consoles is an ongoing trend that took off with Nintendo’s SNES and NES Classics and continued with Sony’s PlayStation Classic. Now Sega is throwing its hat into the ring–the company announced March 30 that its own nostalgia console, the Genesis Mini (or Mega Drive Mini, for those in Europe), will launch worldwide on September 19.

The Genesis Mini will cost $80 / £70/ €80 / AUD $140 and comes with 40 games. Only 10 games have been confirmed so far: Sonic the Hedgehog, Ecco the Dolphin, Castlevania: Bloodlines, Space Harrier 2, Shining Force, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, ToeJam & Earl, Comix Zone, Altered Beast, and Gunstar Heroes. According to Sega, the rest of the games will be announced intermittently leading up to the console’s release date.

Based on the Model 1 Genesis, the mini console is about 55 percent smaller than the original and comes with two classic three-button controllers, a USB-to-Micro-B power cable, and an HDMI cable. If you live in America, a power adapter will also come with it.

If you’re itching to play all those old-school games from your childhood ASAP, there’s another option: the Analogue Mega Sg, which is more expensive at nearly $200 but comes with more adaptability. You can read more on that in our Mega Sg review. In the meantime, the Sega Genesis Mini is already available for pre-order–more info on that below.

Pre-order the Sega Genesis Mini

A few retailers already have listings for the Sega Genesis Mini, and we’ll update this story as more become available. The Sega Genesis Mini is offering twice the number of games that the PlayStation Classic had for $20 less, so we expect it’ll sell out quickly, just as the SNES Classic and NES Classic both did. So if you want the Sega Genesis Mini, consider pre-ordering now before scalpers get their hands on the console.

• Amazon — $80
• Walmart — $80
• GameStop — $80

If you’re curious about Jordan Peele’s new The Twilight Zone TV series remake, you can watch the first episode for free. The show will be normally available exclusively through CBS All Access, but the first episode is currently live on the streaming service’s YouTube channel for all to see.

The first episode of The Twilight Zone is titled “The Comedian,” and it follows the tragic tale of Samir, a comedian struggling to connect with his audience with his humor. One day he’s offered a solution: add a little bit of himself to his routine and he’ll get the laughs he wants. However, once that part of his life has been turned into a joke, it will leave his life for good. Samir believes this warning is merely figurative, but as this is an episode of The Twilight Zone, of course it’s anything but.

“The Comedian” premiered alongside “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet,” which is itself a remake of one of the original The Twilight Zone’s most memorable episodes, titled “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.” This new version of the classic episode replaces the story of a gremlin trying to take down an airplane–which only the protagonist and the audience can see–with one of a man frantically trying to prevent a plane crash he’s learned about through a podcast that’s seemingly from the future. “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet” is only available through CBS All Access right now.

The Twilight Zone comes from the mind of Jordan Peele, who also serves as the new series’ host and narrator. His production company, Monkeypaw, is producing the show. Other cast members for the The Twilight Zone include Ike Barinholtz, John Cho, Lucinda Dryzek, Taissa Farmiga, Greg Kinnear, Luke Kirby, Sanaa Lathan, Kumail Nanjiani, Adam Scott, Rhea Seehorn, Alison Tolman, Jacob Tremblay, Jefferson White, Jonathan Whitesell, Jessica Williams, DeWanda Wise and Steven Yeun.

Although “The Comedian” represents The Twilight Zone’s willingness to approach new subjects, the show will continue to remake episodes from the original series as well–just like “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet.” A reimagined version of “The Wunderkind” is already confirmed, but the details have not yet been released for other episodes. Similar to the original series, each episode of The Twilight Zone is a contained narrative, which covers a supernatural or science fiction event that befalls an ordinary person after they’ve accidentally stumbled into a mysterious dimension that the show’s narrator refers to as “not only of sight and sound, but of mind.” Although many are designed to provide a moral lesson, others were just plain spooky.

Disclosure: CBS is GameSpot’s parent company.

When 2K released its latest installment of its wrestling series, WWE 2K19, there was an interesting challenge included in the game. If the player could beat an ultra-hard mode, they would have a chance to face WWE superstar AJ Styles in a one-on-one match, and if successful, they’d win $1 million. And the finals for the event will take place during Wrestlemania weekend.

On Friday, April 5, 2K and WWE will host the semifinals for the Million Dollar Challenge at Wrestlemania Axxess at Pier 12 in Brooklyn, New York. The finals will take place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and those who aren’t in attendance will be able to at least watch the finale, which is taking place during the NXT Takeover: Brooklyn preshow. At 6:30 ET, it will be streamed on multiple platforms: Fox Sports digital platforms, WWE Network, WWE on YouTube, WWE 2K on Facebook and Twitter, on-demand after air on the USA Network.

During the event, WWE superstar Kofi Kingson, Big E, Paige, Ember Moon, and the Miz will be in attendance to coach the final four participants. The winner of the challengers will then take on AJ Styles one-on-one. If they win, they’ll be awarded with $1 million. Gregory Davis from Jacksonville, Florida; Stephan T. Benson from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; David Hoey from Sydney, Australia; and Roman Droßard from Pfalzfeld, Germany are the final four that will compete in this tournament.

Head back to GameSpot during Wrestlemania week for coverage of the Million Dollar Challenge from the event, including interviews with competitors and WWE superstars as well as live results and a review of Wrestlemania.

Take no prisoners on Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s new Blackout map, Alcatraz, available tomorrow on PS4, other platforms to follow.