Month: November 2019

HBO’s new Watchmen series is showing us what became of the world of the original graphic novel 30 years after a giant squid monster changed the course of human history. It’s a world that is uncomfortably close to our own in many respects, but in other ways the Watchmen universe circa 2019 is a wholly alien place. There’s no Internet or smartphones. Robert Redford has been president since 1992. Mini squids raining from the sky is an ordinary occurrence.

Little by little, the series is pulling back the curtain and revealing just how much this world has changed since the classic comic and why. But for the full scoop, you really need to be reading Peteypedia. This tie-in website (named for the FBI agent character Dale Petey) basically serves as the equivalent of the supplemental backup pages in the original Watchmen comic. It features memos and documents pulled from the Watchmen universe, offering insight into plot points like the absence of the Internet and the controversy over President Redford’s “Redford-ations.”

Continue reading…

Pokemon Sword and Shield arrive on Nintendo Switch in a little over a week, and The Pokemon Company continues to share new tidbits about the titles. The company has released a new trailer that shows off some of the changes developer Game Freak has implemented to make it easier than ever to get into competitive battling.

The trailer begins with a look at new items called Mints, which allow you to change the effects of a Pokemon’s nature. For instance, if you feed a Modest Mint to a Pokemon, it’ll alter that monster’s base stats to what they would be if it had a Modest nature–in this case, increasing its Special Attack at the expense of its Attack.

Game Freak has also made a significant change to Egg Moves–moves that certain Pokemon can only learn through breeding. In the past, Egg Moves could only be passed down by the father Pokemon; in Sword and Shield, however, two Pokemon of the same species can pass Egg Moves to each other if both are left at the Pokemon Nursery.

Another quality-of-life improvement the trailer showcases is the ability to access your Pokemon Box remotely. In previous games, you could only store and take out Pokemon by accessing the PC inside a Pokemon Center, and while that’s still an option in Sword and Shield, you can now also perform those same actions from almost anywhere in the Galar region, so you’ll no longer need to constantly head to a Pokemon Center if you want to change up your Pokemon party.

The trailer closes out with a look at Exp. Candies. These are similar to Rare Candies in that they make it easier to level up a Pokemon; however, unlike Rare Candies, which automatically increase a Pokemon’s level by one, Exp. Candies bestow a bunch of experience points on a Pokemon. The candies come in small, medium, large, and XL, and the size of the candy determines how much experience it grants.

Pokemon Sword and Shield launch on November 15. If you pick a copy up by January 15, 2020, you’ll receive a free Meowth that’s capable of Gigantamaxing. If you’re not sure which version to choose, we’ve rounded up all the version differences and exclusive Pokemon confirmed so far. For more, check out our Pokemon Sword and Shield pre-order guide.

Sony has revealed the top selling games on the US PlayStation Store for the month of October 2019. Some big new games dominate the top of the charts, while Fortnite continues its stranglehold over the free-to-play rankings.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare takes the top spot, which isn’t all that surprising considering Activision just announced that its latest big-budget shooter has sold more at launch than any other Call of Duty game this generation. Modern Warfare is a reboot of the popular sub-series, with GameSpot’s review in progress saying “it lays a strong foundation for where the Modern Warfare series could go from here.”

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint, another new October release, comes in second. Sony doesn’t release sales figures with its monthly charts, but Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot recently said that critical reception and poor sales during Breakpoint’s first weeks were disappointing, leading to the delay of Gods & Monsters, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Quarantine, and Watch Dogs: Legion. In our own review, we gave Ghost Recon Breakpoint a 4/10, saying, “Breakpoint is a messy, confused game and a ghost of the series’ former self.”

Third on the list is yet another October release in the shape of Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds. The planet-hopping, pulpy sci-fi RPG shares a lot in common with Bethesda’s Fallout games. Obsidian developed the cult-favorite Fallout: New Vegas after all, and The Outer Worlds sees the studio branch out to create its own distinct world within a similar RPG structure. We gave it a 9/10 in GameSpot’s review, saying, “The Outer Worlds is consistently compelling throughout, and it’s a superb example of how to promote traditional RPG sensibilities in a sharp, modern experience.”

FIFA 20 and Minecraft round out the rest of the top five. The only other October release to crack into the top 20 is WWE 2K20, the latest pro wrestling game developed by Visual Concepts. 2K20 has become infamous since its release for the plethora of bugs and glitches players have captured and shared on social media. We gave it 2/10 in our review, saying, “This is the moment the WWE 2K series hit Rock Bottom.”

In terms of DLC and expansions, Destiny 2: Shadowkeep reached number two in the charts for October. The latest annual expansion from Bungie added a new moon-based campaign, a new raid, a new dungeon, new multiplayer maps, new weapons, and so on, as well as reworking Destiny’s armor system.

PS4 Games Top 20

Anyone in the market for a speedy new modem should take a look at this: ARRIS Surfboard modems and modem/router combos are on sale today only at Amazon. That includes a gigabit cable modem for 40% off. But don’t wait, because the deals end at midnight tonight.

Why buy your own modem? If you’re renting a modem from your internet provider, you’ll save on monthly rental fees, and the modem will pay for itself after just a few months. But even if you own your modem and it’s a few years old, there’s a good chance it’s not actually providing you the speeds you’re paying for. Let’s take a look at the deals.

Continue reading…

According to a recent job posting, Square Enix is working on an unannounced action game for next-generation consoles. The company’s Japanese recruitment website notes that it has openings in its First Development Division, including the opportunity to work on an upcoming next-gen title.

Square Enix says that the unannounced game is “aiming to realize a ‘next-generation action game experience’ that goes beyond the framework of existing action games, with an international team of creators from all over the world,” as per Gematsu.

The First Development Division is working on the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Remake, and has previously developed the likes of Kingdom Hearts 3, SaGa: Scarlet Grace, and Romancing SaGa Re:Universe.

Next-gen consoles Project Scarlett and PlayStation 5 are both slated for release during fall 2020. Final Fantasy VII Remake, on the other hand, is due out much sooner on March 3, 2020 for PlayStation 4.

**SPOILER WARNING FOR THE CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE SINGLE-PLAYER CAMPAIGN**

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare narrative director Taylor Kurosaki knows a thing or two about making good single-player games, having spent much of his career working on Uncharted games at Naughty Dog. Now at Infinity Ward, his latest effort is the Modern Warfare reboot.

We sat down with Kurosaki to get his insights on several of Modern Warfare’s biggest and most intense scenes. Warning: Don’t watch this unless you’ve finished the campaign or don’t mind being spoiled!

For more on Modern Warfare, check out our review of the campaign in the video below, or read our final review that includes extensive multiplayer evaluation.

Continue reading…

This is a mostly spoiler-free review of Netflix’s The End of the F***ing World Season 2, which is now streaming.

There was something majorly satisfying about the way Season 1 of The End of the F***ing World ended. By sacrificing his freedom, and perhaps unsuspectingly his life, James showed Alyssa the true face of love, as well as the real-world cost of the duo’s actions. We, of course, didn’t get to see the extent of the emotional impact James’ sacrifice had on Alyssa in that moment, but thankfully, where the first season was primarily James’ arc, Season 2, by narrative and thematic necessity, is all about bringing Alyssa to a place where she can better deal with the world around her that she hates with such vigor.

Continue reading…