The veteran journalist won three Emmys for her work over the years.
Netanyahu’s Career On The Line As Israel Votes In Second Election This Year
Israeli voters will decide whether to give Benjamin Netanyahu another term in office.
Overwatch “Brick Bastion” Event Makes Your Robot Pal Look Like A Lego
Bastion is going to get bricked. A new Overwatch limited-time event starting today, September 17, will let you earn several new cosmetics, with a new “Brick Bastion” skin at the center of it all. The new Legendary skin makes the robotic character look like he’s built out of Lego bricks.
To win the skin and some other cosmetics, all you have to do is play during the LTE period through September 30. Winning three games will get you two new player icons, winning six games will earn you two sprays, and winning nine games will get you the Brick Bastion skin. You can also earn six more sprays by watching Twitch streamers for a set number of hours. The rewards are listed below.
Though Bastion’s new look definitely sports a Lego-like aesthetic, it’s not quite a match for the actual Lego Bastion set produced by the Danish toy company in partnership with Blizzard. So instead, it’s simply “Brick Bastion.”
Overwatch is preparing to launch on a new platform, with a Nintendo Switch version coming on October 15. PowerA is also making some branded Overwatch Pro controllers, complete with characters like Reaper and D. Va, and an Overwatch-themed Switch case. If it looks familiar, it might be because the case leaked, which helped spur on speculation of a port weeks before it was announced.
Overwatch Bastion’s Brick Challenge Event Rewards
- Win 3 Games – 2 Player Icons
- Win 6 Games – 2 New Sprays
- Win 9 Games – New epic skin: Brick Bastion skin
- Watch 2 Hours – 1 New Spray
- Watch 4 Hours – 2 New Player Icons
- Watch 6 Hours – 2 New Player Icons, 2 New Sprays
The Best Sega Genesis Mini Bundle We’ve Seen Gets You The 6-Button Controller (US)
The Sega Genesis Mini has proven to be a great, little microconsole with a bunch of fantastic classic games. However, only the Japanese version came with the six-button pad–the North American version comes with the original three-button controller. This may be disappointing to some, but there are third-party options if you’d like all six buttons, and now Walmart is bundling the mini console with one of those beloved controllers for $90 USD.
Sega Genesis Mini + six-button controller
The Sega Genesis Mini comes with two controllers, but this bundle from Walmart also includes an six-button pad. You can choose between the classic black or a translucent blue plastic for the controller’s shell. Buying the system and controller separately would cost you $100, but this bundle offers a $10 savings, bringing the price down to $90. This bundle ships on September 19 with free delivery.
In GameSpot’s Sega Genesis Mini review, our Peter Brown praised the microconsole, despite some of its setbacks. “So the Mini has some issues, and for M2 fans it might be a little disappointing to see that it falls short of the team’s most ambitious retro projects from the past, but for the most part the Mini is a very satisfying little console,” he wrote.
“It’s got the looks, it’s got a great selection of games that largely play faithful to the original experience, and it’s priced just right at $80–though you may disagree if the six-button games like Street Fighter II are critical factors. Genesis fans have waited a long time for a system like this, and for once, we’re happy to say that the latest official Genesis console is one worth buying.”
Sega Genesis Mini games list
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Destiny 2: Here’s A Look At Shadowkeep’s New Loot-Crafting System
Bungie just provided another close look at the upcoming third year of Destiny 2 in a new ViDoc, which discusses October’s Shadowkeep expansion, its included new content season, and beyond. The video provides a few close looks at new guns and armor, some exploration of the story we can expect from Year Three, and a brief glimpse of a new loot crafting system related to Eris Morn.
In Bungie’s new ViDoc, we get a look at the Lectern of Enchantment, which appears to be the system by which you’ll craft your Shadowkeep gear. On the surface, it seems similar to the Chalice of Opulence, the device you use to make weapons and armor in Destiny 2’s current content season, the Season of Opulence. With that system, you add various runes you earn by completing in-game activities, which dictates what guns and armor you get when you complete a run of Opulence’s major new activity, the Menagerie.
According to the ViDoc, the Lectern will relate to an upcoming Shadowkeep activity, Nightmare Hunt. The Lectern says that you’ll earn something called Nightmare Essence from completing these hunts, which you’ll then use to craft weapons at the Lectern. It looks like there are other currencies related to the Lectern as well, such as “Phantasmal Fragments,” which you’ll earn from bounties you can collect from Eris.
Director Luke Smith loosely described the Shadowkeep loot system during the ViDoc. “You’re going to build a bunch of cool rewards, and if you don’t get rolls you like, you’re going to go back to the rune table and you’re going to build more,” he said. “That’s part of being a Shadowkeep player–you’re going to build your character your way.”
That description seems to suggest that rolls will be randomized, unlike in Menagerie. But it sounds like players might have some control over what loot they chase based on how they use the Lectern. Allowing players to go after particular guns and armor they need, rather than relying on random drops, is something Smith previously suggested Bungie wanted to do more of based on feedback from Year Two.
Looking at the Shadowkeep and Season of the Undying content calendar also gives a few more clues as to how the Lectern might work. The calendar mentions multiple versions of Nightmare Hunt, which roll out over time: “Hero” and “Legend” versions of the activity launch on October 8, and “Master” Nightmare Hunts launch on October 15. That suggests these will operate somewhat like activities such as Reckoning or the Menagerie, where you’ll eventually work your way up to harder tiers of Nightmare Hunt to chase better and better rewards.
We already know what to expect to earn for Shadowkeep’s various armor drops, but as for its many guns, things are a lot less clear. In the ViDoc, Bungie discusses how the guns warn you when Nightmares are nearby, so it’s no stretch to figure the Lectern is how you’ll earn them. It seems we might have to wait until October 1 and Shadowkeep’s launch to really see how these new systems work, though.
Destiny 2 – Bungie ViDoc – The Moon and Beyond
Bungie breaks down everything you can expect from the upcoming Destiny 2 expansion, Shadowkeep.
Sword & Shield’s Weird New Glitched Out Pokemon Could Be Revealed Tomorrow
Pokemon Sword and Shield are less than two months away now, and The Pokemon Company continues to steadily reveal new details about the games in the lead up to their launch. Last week, we got our first glimpse–sort of–at a mysterious new Gen 8 Pokemon, and it looks like we may learn more about it very soon.
According to Pokemon fansite Serebii, a new Pokemon Sword and Shield reveal will be made tomorrow, September 18, at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET / 1 PM UTC, presumably regarding the aforementioned new Pokemon. The official Pokemon Twitter account has also teased more details about the monster are imminent, tweeting that there was a “technical issue” with the creature’s original announcement and that the problem will be “resolved shortly.”
🚨 Galar Research Update 🚨
Trainers, thanks to your reports, we’ve uncovered a technical issue with the announcement of our latest Pokémon discovery.
We’ve got our hardest working Pokémon Trainers on the case and hope to have the issue resolved shortly. pic.twitter.com/2MaeD3Ox73— Pokémon (@Pokemon) September 17, 2019
The new Pokemon in question first appeared on the Pokemon Sword and Shield website. However, its page was intentionally corrupted; the image of the Pokemon appears glitched and certain details about the monster are obscured. However, we do know it will be a pure Fighting-type with the Steadfast Ability, and it weighs 257.9 lbs. The page also features this bit of flavor text:
“Only [BLANK] that have survived many battles can attain this [BLANK]. When this Pokemon’s [BLANK] [BLANK]ers, it will retire from combat.”
The prevailing fan theory seems to be that the new Pokemon is a regional evolution of Farfetch’d, although we’ll know for sure in just a little bit. In the meantime, you can see all the new Gen 8 Pokemon revealed so far in our gallery. Pokemon Sword and Shield launch for Nintendo Switch on November 15. If you’re interested in picking them up, be sure to check out our Pokemon Sword and Shield pre-order guide.
Rockstar Gives Away A Free Game As It Releases Its Own PC Game Launcher
The world of PC gaming has gotten a bit more crowded. Publisher Rockstar Games announced a new PC launcher, and downloading it nets you a free copy of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
The Rockstar Games Launcher is a one-stop-shop for everything Rockstar Games, from launching titles like L.A. Noire and Max Payne 3 to purchasing Shark Cards, Grand Theft Auto V‘s premium in-game currency. Rockstar’s new PC launcher will feature cloud saves, automatic game updates, support for disc-based and digital games (even if they’re bought from another storefront), and more. San Andreas is offered for free for a limited time when you download the launcher, which is free to do as well. It’s unclear how this launcher will impact Rockstar’s games on Steam.
Rockstar isn’t the only video game publisher to dive into the PC launcher scene. Fortnite publisher Epic Games introduced the Epic Game Store in December 2018 and has quickly garnered both praise from developers regarding Epic’s generous revenue split and complains from some gamers over Epic acquiring exclusives like Metro Exodus and Untitled Goose Game.
The company was accused of tax evasion earlier this summer. According to a report by investigative thinktank Tax Watch UK, the whole of Rockstar paid zero corporation tax in the UK from 2009 to 2018, despite Grand Theft Auto V reaching an estimated total $6 billion USD in its lifetime.
Jon Favreau Is Interested In Directing A New Star Wars Holiday Special
The Mandalorian showrunner and MCU architect Jon Favreau planted a slightly controversial flag in the ground this weekend at The Saturn Awards when he told Entertainment Tonight that he was interested in directing a brand-new Star Wars Holiday Special for Disney’s upcoming streaming service, Disney+.
For the uninitiated, the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special of 1978 featured–and this is not a joke–Bea Arthur working as a bartender in an alien cantina, a truly shocking amount of musical numbers, and Wookiees wearing pants. It’s easily one of the more bizarre relics of those early Star Wars day and, while some fans understandably consider its cringe factor just too high to ever really get on board with, there are others, like Favreau, who would hope to preserve its memory.
“I love the Holiday Special–certain sequences more than others,” Favreau explained to ET, “That’s my generation. I loved the introduction of Boba Fett and that rifle that he had. That animated piece still hold up; it’s pretty cool. I draw inspiration from that.”
He then, playfully, suggested that he needed to go pitch this idea to the execs at Disney+ so, while it’s best not to expect anything concrete just yet, at least the possibility is there, right?
In the meantime, Favreau’s finished project, The Mandalorian, is just around the corner, hitting Disney+ at launch on November 12. It’ll be joined with other day one content like classic Disney movies and TV shows. If you’re not in the US, don’t worry–rollout plans for international Disney+ platforms have been announced as well.
Destiny 2 Patch Notes: New Update May Have Just Given You More Of The Game For Free
With just two weeks to go before the release of Destiny 2‘s new Shadowkeep expansion, Bungie has released a new update for the game. Hotfix 2.5.2.3 is out now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and while the full list of patch notes is quite short, there’s some potentially very good news to be had in them.
First up is the release of previously paid DLC for more players. If you own the Forsaken expansion, you can now access all Annual Pass content. This move comes ahead of the launch of Destiny 2: New Light, a new free-to-play version of the game that will provide access to much of the Destiny 2 experience without paying a dime. But in the meantime, Forsaken owners suddenly have access to a wealth of new content, including the Black Armory Forges, Gambit Prime/Reckoning, and the Menagerie, the latter of which is paying out bonus rewards right now thanks to the recent Mars community event.
The other change in this update concerns the aforementioned Reckoning. This PvE mode is tied to Gambit Prime, serving as the place to earn the special armor that enables role-specific perks in Gambit Prime. Bungie has previously conceded that Reckoning suffered from a variety of issues that resulted in a less-than-fun experience, and it’s recently made some changes to make it a less frustrating experience.
Destiny 2 Recent News
That continues in this patch, as all negative modifiers are now gone from Reckoning. You’ll no longer find yourself facing a lack of radar, increased enemy melee damage, and so on. This stacks with the recent change to make enemies easier to deal with and to ensure rewards are doled out more fairly.
This patch comes alongside a new Bungie ViDoc that explores the studio’s five-year plan for Destiny 2 and what we can expect from the upcoming year of Destiny 2 content.
DESTINY 2 HOTFIX 2.5.2.3 Patch Notes
GENERAL
- Annual Pass content is now available to all Forsaken players of Destiny 2
- All negative modifiers have been removed from the Reckoning