Month: March 2020

With social distancing measures in place in many parts of the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pokemon Go developer Niantic has been making numerous tweaks to make the game easier to play. The studio will soon allow players to participate in Raid Battles from home, but before that option rolls out, it is temporarily letting you interact with Gyms from much farther away.

As Niantic explains in a new blog post, the studio is doubling the distance from which you can interact with Gyms, allowing you to spin Photo Discs and take part in Raid Battles while keeping a safe distance from other players. This change, however, only applies to Gyms; Niantic is not increasing the distance from which you can interact with PokeStops.

Niantic has other adjustments in the works as well. The developer says it is “working on an entirely new way to enjoy Pokemon Go Fest” this year, and it will also tweak the Adventure Sync feature so that it tracks your steps while performing indoor tasks “like cleaning your house and running on a treadmill.”

Continue Reading at GameSpot

In a blog post, Lab Zero announced that a new free update is coming to Indivisible, the developer’s metroidvania-inspired action platformer, on April 2. The update will add two new modes to Indivisible: new game plus and couch co-op.

Once you’ve completed Indivisible’s campaign at least once, NG+ allows you to replay the story from the very beginning with all the abilities, weapons, and incarnations you unlocked in your previous playthrough. This will allow you to discover hidden secrets much earlier in the campaign as well as access shortcuts that require late-game abilities. Enemies and bosses will be a lot stronger though.

Couch co-op mode allows you to tackle Indivisible’s campaign with up to three other players. Player 1 will always be protagonist Ajna, but the other three can take control of any of the other members of your party. While exploring, each player will be able to move independently of each other. In battle, you’ll each control your individual character in the game’s hybrid of turn-based and real-time combat.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Developer Team Ninja has dropped a brand-new update for Nioh 2 on PlayStation 4 that makes various adjustments to the game’s difficulty in some areas. We’ve compiled the full patch notes below.

A bunch of Nioh 2 sub-missions have had their difficulty altered in order to assuage the game’s nail-biting challenges. In addition to the sub-missions, some of Nioh 2’s enemies have also been tweaked to make the experience a little more forgiving. Further, the drop rates of Smithing Texts and The Art of Combat tomes, items used to upgrade your created character and equipment, have been increased.

The update also makes a number of quality-of-life adjustments. These include fixing duplication item problems, addressing Yokai Realms and status effects that would not dispel, tweaking skills that would not activate, ironing out other bugs, and much more.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Humble Bundle is known for its awesome packages of games, comics, and other forms of entertainment and software, and now the company has kicked off a bundle to help with COVID-19 relief efforts. For $30, you get 44 games, over 20 books and comics, and more. All of the money goes towards charities and organizations that are working to fight COVID-19 and save lives.

Some of the games featured in the bundle include Into the Breach, Undertale, and Hollow Knight as well as The Witness and Superhot. Many of the games are from indie developers, though the bundle also has AAA-developed games like Darksiders: Warmastered Edition, Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition, and Sniper Elite III among others. On top of all this, you get a one-month subscription to Humble Choice, which gives its subscribers a free allotment of Steam games every month.

The COVID-19 response bundle also features some great comics, including volumes of Saga, The Boys, and Spawn as well as Locke & Key and Robert Kirkman’s Oblivion Song. Volume One of Fairy Tail: Happy’s Heroic Adventure is also included as is a Humble Bundle-exclusive one-shot Army of Darkness comic. The bundle also has some sci-fi and self-help books that help with controlling emotions and stress relief.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

If you’ve got kids, chances are they’re cooped up at home with you during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. If that’s the case, and you’re working from home, it might be hard to concentrate. After all, how can you get your work done when you’ve also got kids to entertain?

Thankfully, some movies like Trolls: World Tour are getting early digital releases. Still, there are only so many new releases to show your kids and way too many hours in the day to distract them. Luckily, there are so many movies your kids have probably never seen–and more than a few classics that are easy to revisit time and again.

So what do you show your kids to divert their attention so you can get some work done? The GameSpot editorial team put its heads together to figure out the answer to that problem and we’ve come up with 15 movies–some of which have excellent sequels–that are perfect fare for your children. Take a look at them below but beware: it’ll be easy for you to get caught up in most of these too.

1. The Peanuts Movie

Sure, everyone knows about It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and A Charlie Brown Christmas. If you need a distraction for your child, though, look no further than 2015’s The Peanuts Movie. The first time I saw this, I was struck by how good it was. There are plenty of adventure movies aimed at younger audiences. This isn’t that, though. Instead, it just follows Charlie Brown and his friends as a new kid moves to town and somehow manages to be engaging and entertaining throughout. Plus, there’s a Snoopy side story that pits him against the Red Baron during World War I, because why not? – Chris E. Hayner

2. ET: The Extra-Terrestrial

If you haven’t shown your kid ET yet, shame on you. However, you’re in luck because now is the perfect time to expose them to one of Steven Spielberg’s best works. Honestly, there’s a few Spielberg movies worth showing your children while they’re stuck at home–including The BFG and Hook, which we’ll talk about later–but they all pale in comparison to ET. The first time I saw this as a child, I was mesmerized. This movie is funny, thrilling, and sometimes scary. Ultimately, this tale of a boy and his alien friend is the perfect escape for cooped up kids. – Chris E. Hayner

3. The Goonies

The ’80s classic is just as good today as it was when you were a child. It’s practically every kid’s dream to go on an epic adventure with their best friends and for most of us, that’s because The Goonies made it look so fun. Each of the young characters is played so well and the movie’s villains are downright creepy. If you haven’t shown your kid the movies of your childhood, The Goonies is a wonderful place to start. Maybe you’ll luck out and, after the movie, they’ll take inspiration from Data and build contraptions that keep them busy. – Chris E. Hayner

4. Hook

Hook is a good movie and I will debate anybody who disagrees. It’s Robin Williams playing an adult Peter Pan, so what’s not to love? As a kid, I was mesmerized by this live-action version of Neverland, bright and colorful, stuffed with over-the-top characters. As an adult, nothing has really changed. There’s no denying this is a very silly movie, and some of it hasn’t aged well. Why is Phil Collins in it as a detective? Who cares? Robin Williams is Peter Pan, Dustin Hoffman is Captain Hook, and the Lost Boys have a food fight with neon-colored whipped cream. Bangarang, indeed. – Chris E. Hayner

5. The Muppet Movie

Any of the Muppet movies are worth showing your kids while being socially distanced from the world. Why not start at the beginning and let your kids get to know Kermit the Frog and his merry band of misfits from the beginning? After all, eventually new Muppets content is coming to Disney+. What’s more, every child deserves to know the joy of Gonzo.

Don’t just stop with The Muppet Movie, though. Keep going with The Great Muppet Caper and continue all the way through Muppets Most Wanted–that ought to keep the kids busy for a while. – Chris E. Hayner

6. Paddington

Seeing this here should come as no surprise if you follow GameSpot’s entertainment offerings. Since its 2018 release, I’ve been shouting from the rooftops about the greatness of Paddington 2 and the movie it followed is just as good. Both are terrific options for keeping your kids distracted, plus you don’t have to worry about any objectionable content. After all, Paddington’s life motto is “If you’re kind and polite, the world will be right.” What’s more wholesome than that? And when they’re done, show them Paddington 2 for good measure. – Chris E. Hayner

7. The Iron Giant

Before Vin Diesel was Dominic Toretto, of Xander Cage or–my apologies for this one–Bloodshot, he had arguably his best role: the title characters in The Iron Giant. While audiences are delighted by every new Pixar movie that comes out or endlessly entertained by whatever the Minions are up to, The Iron Giant is, hands down, one of the best animated movies of all time. It follows a young boy named Hogarth who befriends the 50-foot robotic Iron Giant and attempts to guard him from a military that wants to exploit the massive machine.

The Iron Giant is beautifully animated and, ultimately, a simple story of friendship between a boy and a robot. If you somehow haven’t shown this to your children yet, now is the time. – Chris E. Hayner

8. Toy Story

As one of the few resident parents here at GameSpot, I can tell you–without a doubt–that kids want to watch Toy Story movies. “Oh, you want to see Frozen 2 for the millionth time or watch Blippi go to the same children’s museum? How about some Buzz Lightyear instead?” That’s right. All I have to say is “Buzz Lightyear,” and we are off to the races. Not only are these movies great and hold a child’s attention, but there are four of them, so you won’t be stuck in a vicious cycle of watching the same one over and over and over again. – Mat Elfring

9. Sing

I never, ever, ever thought I would watch the movie Sing, which seemed like a mash-up of animation and every singing reality show I hated in 2016. Then, I had a kid, and one day, he wanted to watch it. Sing is great at holding the attention of a young one, and the movie isn’t bad. It’s fun, bright, and the musical numbers are pretty catchy. The movie is actually about someone who owns a theater and puts together a singing competition. There’s a bit more to it than that, but the easy-to-follow plot, anthropological animals, and catchy songs make this the ultimate distraction for any child. – Mat Elfring

10. The Monster Squad

This one’s for the older kids in your house. The Monster Squad is rated PG-13 and it’s one of the most imaginative stories you can dream of. The Universal Monsters are back and working together to bring the scares and rule the world. The only force that can stop them is, of course, a group of kids that go toe-to-toe with the likes of Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, and the Wolfman. This movie is fun, funny, scary, and something your kids need in their lives. – Chris E. Hayner

11. Bolt

My daughter Rose is 5 and like many 5-year-olds, loves movies and shows about amazing animals. Sure, she likes Anna, Elsa, Moana, Minions, and Boss Baby. But give her a funny movie about a heroic dog, then I can guarantee myself at least 90 minutes where I can get some work done while we’re all stuck inside. Bolt was released back in 2008, and can now be found on Disney+. It tells the story of the titular White Shepherd, who is the star of a hit TV show about a super-powered dog. Like Jim Carrey in The Truman Show, Bolt believes the show is real, and must learn to be brave when he discovers he doesn’t really have special powers. It’s a fast-moving, funny film, and while it was only a modest hit at the time, it ushered in the new era of animated Disney movies that led to the likes of Tangled and Frozen. – Dan Auty

12. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Into the Spider-Verse is the best superhero origin movie at this time. We did it. Thanks, Sony, for making a unique and extremely fun Spider-Man movie. What makes this a great movie for kids is the animation style–which is unlike anything else. It grabs your attention, and it never lets it go. Plus, it’s just a really fun Spider-Man story featuring a whole bunch of different Spider-people. Who doesn’t want a Spider-Man movie with all the Spider-Men and Women? The only issue with this movie is that it will distract you as well as your children. I’m speaking from experience. – Mat Elfring

13. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

The epic horsie saga Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is one of my daughter’s favorites. She came to it via the more recent spin-off Netflix show Spirit: Riding Free, but even at her young age, she can tell the movie is the real deal. It’s got an A-list voice cast (Matt Damon, James Cromwell), an inspiring storyline, and the beautiful hand-drawn animation is a striking reminder of how effective more traditional styles are in this age of CG cartoons. There’s a new Spirit movie on the way next year too, so expect interest in the 1999 original to increase. And if your horse-loving kids enjoy it, here are some must-see horsie movies you can watch right now on Disney+. – Dan Auty

14. The Princess Bride

Looking for something to keep the kids entertained as you work? As you wish. The Princess Bride has it all: Swashbuckling sword fights, pirates, Rodents Of Unusual Size, giants, witches, and of course, true love. It’s a timeless and hilarious movie that’s as entertaining and quotable for adults as it is for kids. Plus, it’ll also teach them the word ‘inconceivable’ at an early age, so they can get a head start on the other kids when they eventually go back to school. – Lucy James

15. The Neverending Story

Look, I’m about to be one of those awful people. The book The Neverending Story is better than the movie. Remember how The Neverending Story 2’s plot seemed almost identical to the first film? That’s because it is the same plot, with some extra editions cut out of the first film. Blah blah blah. I read a book once. Seriously though, it’s a good book.

I’m not talking specifically about this movie because you know it’s awesome. It’s one of the greatest fantasy films of all time. There’s giant rock men, a Child-like Empress, a kid travelling into the world of a book, and the villain is literally nothing. This movie rules. If you disagree with me, you’re just wrong, and you probably cheered when Artax sank in the Swamp of Sadness, you monster. Also, the theme song to the movie is the jam. -Mat Elfring

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is great, but there is a lot that’s gone missing. In this video Jake goes over some of the characters, buildings, and features we haven’t found yet.

It seems like a very long time and a whole lot of Pandemic Legacy jokes since last month’s update. But for us gamers during this difficult time, we’ve at least got a great outlet for all that indoor free time. Games are still shipping and being delivered if you want some fresh cardboard for your collection. Just please remember to wash your hands after opening the box.

As it happens, there are actually several games in the frame this month that are great for solo and family play. So it’s time to sit down, stay indoors and get your game on.

Board Game New Releases

Kung-Fu Panda: The Board Game

Kung-Fu Panda delivers exactly the kind of crazy co-operative action you’d expect from a big-name family license. Players roll dice as fast as they can, trying to collect the right symbols to defeat foes and bypass obstacles over a range of scenarios. The catch is that often, you’ll do better if you slow down and pool dice. But take it too easy and the timer will catch you before the evil Tai Lung and his goons do. A fun balance of quick thinking and tactics with tons of variety, this is a sure-fire hit for younger players.

• See it on Modiphius

Oriflamme

The lavish card art, short play time, and simple rules here belie a fun game of tactics, bluffing and being mean. Players start with identical decks of ten cards. They take turns laying them face down into a queue and deciding whether to flip them face up. Most either score points, which also accumulate on face down cards, or eliminate other cards. So unfolds a taut dance of trying to get your enemy cards into vulnerable positions while keeping yours safe. Naturally, you can lay traps and ambushes of various sorts leading to super-satisfying nasty surprises.

• See it on Gamenerdz

Shadows of Kilforth

Many games seek to re-create the feel of a role-playing adventure in a board game, and this sequel to Gloom Of Kilforth is the latest. It’s a veritable Swiss army knife of a game, playable solo, co-operatively and competitively so is a great candidate for play at home. Well balanced between complexity and detail, rich art supports the huge narrative potential that’s key to the game’s appeal. From heroic sagas to the rumors you’ll follow up to find fantastic treasures, every game is a fresh fantasy epic to enjoy.

• See it on The Game Steward

Hero Master: An Epic Game of Epic Fails

At the other end of the scale, Hero Master is the opposite of epic fantasy. The adventurers in this game are neophytes, has-beens or no-hopers trying to scrape enough gold from a dungeon to earn a crust. Barge into a room and the first player gets first pick of whether to take on the monster within. If you do, be careful: you’ll need to play the right combos of attack and equipment cards to defeat it. Then be extra careful since your party members might sabotage your efforts with fumble cards. Don’t let the fun premise and art fool you: there’s lots of solid combo-and-bluff-based gameplay to enjoy.

• See it on The Noble Artist

The Isle of Cats

What’s better than being a cat rescuer? Being a cat rescuer who has to fit their funny-shaped feline charges into a strategic grid to score points, that’s what. That’s the core of this cunning game, which combines shape-fitting and card-drafting into a pleasing package. First draft your hand of cards from the options passing around. Then play them to set up scoring opportunities and rescue the right cats from the island to fit on the rooms and over the rats on your player board. Polyomino games are enjoying a boom, and this is one of the best yet.

• See it at Cardhaus

Stellar

Despite the, erm, stellar star art and the fact you lay cards out in the shape of a telescope, this two-player card game is really an abstract. But like the best of that genre, it’s easy to learn but hard to play well. The challenge is to play your hand of cards split between that telescope and the notebook area underneath. To score you’ll need a wide variety of stellar objects in your telescope, but also sequences of cards in the notebook to gain multipliers. Placement rules mean you can’t dump cards wherever you want, resulting in a tough new puzzle every game.

• See it at Renegade Game Studios

New Board Game Expansions

Architects of the West Kingdom: Age of Artisans

Architects upended the rather stale worker placement genre last year with clever new twists. Extra interaction from being able to capture other player’s workers was especially fun. This new expansion spices up the formula with a new extra-useful worker, the Artisan. That, of course, means it’s also a key target for capture, so it must be used with care. Also new are options to customize your apprentices and buildings. It’s the best kind of expansion, opening up tons of new strategies without derailing what made the original great.

• See it at Renegade Game Studios

Star Wars Destiny: Covert Missions

Destiny is one of the best collectable card games around, with its custom dice element providing fast, taut gameplay. The Star Wars license is just a bonus. Sadly, then, Covert Missions is the last set of booster packs to come out before the publisher winds the series down. As befits the final expansion, it’s chock-full of iconic characters and moments from the series. Imperial and Rebel players can now build and destroy the Death Star respectively. And everyone’s favorite bounty hunter Boba Fett can now play and collect bounties on targeted characters.

• See it on Fantasy Flight Games

New Board Games on Kickstarter

Moonshine Empire

Generating massive pre-release buzz from convention demos, this is a fun concept for a classic economic engine game. There’s some decent depth beneath the goofy theme, using a variety of mechanics to distill, deliver, and deal illicit liquor for a fat profit. There’s even some gambling and bluffing in the vicious auction phase, plus bribery for extra player interaction. And of course, it’s also a great excuse to responsibly enjoy a few drinks as you play.

• See it on Kickstarter

Lawyer Up

Two-player asymmetric games are always interesting for the variety and replay value they provide. But Lawyer Up has the added bonus of an unusual but eminently game-able theme of courtroom drama. One player is the prosecution, the other the defense. The game proceeds through rounds of collecting — and maybe burying — evidence then using symbol matching to form chains of argument. With mechanics based loosely on card-driven historical hits like Twilight Struggle and Watergate, it’s sure to have a measure of forensic strategy.

• See it on Kickstarter

There’s a shortage of good news to go around these days, thanks to the global COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, but thankfully, there’s still stuff to look forward to–namely Elliot Stabler himself, Christopher Meloni, making a triumphant return to the world of Law & Order for a limited series. THR reports that Meloni will bring Stabler back to the L&O fold with a 13-episode straight-to-series order.

Stabler was a main character for 12 seasons of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, rapidly becoming a fan favorite and cornerstone for procedural television. Unfortunately, thanks to failed contract negotiations, his reign came to an abrupt and unceremonious end when he was “retired” from the police force off-screen during the Season 13 premiere back in 2011. The sudden departure left Stabler’s many fans adrift and suffering a distinct lack of closure.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

NASA announced a new mission dedicated to studying massive space weather storms with tiny satellites under the SunRISE mission.

The SunRISE mission stands for, Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment, where NASA will use six CubeSat nanosatellites to create a large radio telescope. Each satellite is around the size of a toaster oven and will be solar powered, according to a press release from NASA announcing the mission.

The goal is to launch the SunRISE mission “by no earlier than July 1, 2023” with $62.6 million toward funding the design, build, and launch. NASA originally took interest in the project as a concept study when they approved it in August 2017. This later led to an extension and interest in studying the solar storms further under principal investigator, Justin Kasper.

“We are so pleased to add a new mission to our fleet of spacecraft that help us better understand the Sun, as well as how our star influences the space environment between planets,” Nicky Fox, director of NASA’s Heliophysics Division said. “The more we know about how the Sun erupts with space weather events, the more we can mitigate their effects on spacecraft and astronauts.”

Kasper and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory will work together in managing SunRISE to study solar radiation bursts. All six CubeSat satellites will fly within six miles of each other above the Earth’s atmosphere to create 3D maps of each particle burst.

The SunRISE team proposed entering space by working with space technology company, Maxar Technologies. Each CubeSat would hitch a ride on a commercial satellite and break off once in orbit.

This entire mission and concept are possible due to NASA’s Explorers Program which focuses on providing low-cost access to space. A list of Explorer spacecraft launches as far back as 1958 are available here.

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Scientists are consistently discovering more about space, including 139 planets near our solar system and even a way to deflect asteroids if we one day need too. Astronomers also discovered a mini-moon that has been orbiting Earth for over three years.

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Jeffrey Lerman is a Freelance News Writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @Snakester95.