Month: September 2020

Microsoft is bringing its Xbox Remote Play functionality to iOS devices. Though the functionality was recently opened up for Android users, it’s reportedly in testing on Apple devices as well, and the company expects it to come to the App Store soon.

The Verge reports that a hands-on with the app showed it was already working well in beta. Like the Android Xbox app or Sony’s Remote Play app, it connects with your console and runs anything you have loaded onto your console–just using your iPhone or iPad as the screen. The function will also work with the upcoming Xbox Series X or Series S.

This is distinct from the Xbox streaming xCloud platform, which requires no console at all because it streams games directly to your mobile device from a data center. That functionality is on Android devices already, but not iOS ones due to Apple’s restrictive policies. A recent rule change made it theoretically possible for xCloud and Google’s similar streaming service Stadia on Apple devices, but it’s not clear how it would work and Microsoft called it a “bad experience for customers.” Xbox streaming is available with a subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and its library is very similar to the Game Pass library.

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This October marks the spookiest season of 2020, as the holiday Halloween closes out the month. And like most streaming services, Amazon Prime Video will have a few selections of horror movies for you to watch from the comfort of your own couch.

On October 1, the bulk of Amazon’s October content drops, and you should already be familiar with most of it. On the horror side of things, you can watch 30 Days of Night, a film about an Alaskan town that gets invaded by vampires during the time of the year where the town doesn’t see the sun for 30 straight days. Speaking of vampires, John Carpenter’s Vampires also arrives that day as well.

As you’ve probably heard, Amazon and Blumhouse are working together on a bunch of movies, and the first four arrive in October. On October 6, Black Box and The Lie both arrive. Then on October 13, Evil Eye and Nocturne premiere. You can check out all the trailers for the Blumhouse films at the links above. Both Evil Eye and Nocturne look exceptionally good, but all four of these movies each have their own flavor and hit different aspects of horror that will appeal to a variety of fans.

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Revealed Friday afternoon on the HasbroPulse YouTube stream, the Razor Crest from Disney+’s The Mandalorian will be the next HasLab crowdfunding campaign. Following the success of last year’s Jabba’s Barge, if this campaign is backed with a minimum of 6,000 backers by November 9, the Razor Crest will go into production.

Pre-orders are open now and collectors can back the project for the Razor Crest at $350 USD. The now famous Mandalorian ship will be one of the largest Vintage Collection vehicles ever produced coming in at 30 inches long by 20 inches wide, and 10.5 inches tall.

Those that back the campaign will also receive a Star Wars: The Vintage Collection 3.75 inch scale The Mandalorian Figure in Beskar armor with a fabric cape–exclusive to this project. In addition, there are plenty of highly-detailed features including a cockpit that opens to reveal a fully detailed interior with three seats that fit 3.75 inch scale figures, detachable engines and removable hull, a weapons locker with show-accurate weapons, a carbon freezing chamber and cargo hold with cargo netting, an opening rear and side doors and lowering ramps, removable landing gear, and lastly a bunk area with space for a figure to “hide.”

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The PS5 Demon’s Souls Remake shows a lengthy gameplay walkthrough of the Nexus tutorial, so we decided to see how the game looks compared to its 2009 original.

Video game streaming services aren’t as rare as they used to be, but there are still only a handful of companies with the resources and infrastructure to support such an initiative. The latest is Amazon, the online retail giant that has made tech inroads with its Amazon Web Services (AWS).

The company introduced Luna, a cloud gaming platform that will run on a variety of devices. While Luna invites aren’t coming until October, the rollout was suitably impressive and promises some distinctive features like dedicated publisher channels. Early access signups are available now, but Amazon has already shown an impressive lineup of games included with its Luna Plus game channel. It also works with any Bluetooth controller, but Amazon has made its own Luna controller that connects directly to the cloud service, similar to Google Stadia.

GameSpot spoke with product lead Oliver Messenger about the service, its approach with channels, and how long the early access period may last.

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Filmmaking duo and brothers Anthony and Joe Russo’s next project will be working on the harrowing drama Cherry for Apple TV+, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The film, which will be the first directed by the Russos since Avengers: Endgame became the highest global grossing film of all time, features a shift in tone and focus away from superheroes. Cherry will shine a light on the nation’s opiate crisis through the true story of a US Army veteran. The movie is an adaptation of the 2018 bestselling semi-autobiographical novel by Nico Walker, who is currently serving time in prison for bank robbery.

As Walker’s current status suggests, Cherry is the story of a former military medic in Iraq who starts robbing banks. Along the way, after returning home from service, he is prescribed Oxycontin for an undiagnosed case of PTSD, and then progresses from pills to heroin abuse, before resorting to crime to pay for the habit.

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The PlayStation 5 is less than two months away, and while Microsoft has been straightforward about which accessories and gaming headsets will be compatible with its next-gen console, Sony’s situation has been a little less clear. The company announced in August that “third-party headsets that connect via USB port or audio jack” will work with the PS5, though only a few companies have actually confirmed their headsets work with the upcoming next-gen console. We can’t be sure a gaming headset is PS5-compatible until it’s confirmed or tested, so the number of reliable PS5 headset options out there right now are slim.

To further complicate the situation, Sony’s official Pulse 3D headset for PS5 was the first accessory to sell out at all major retailers. Though it’ll most likely be restocked, you may want to consider other PS5 headset options as well this holiday season. To make your search a little easier, we’ve compiled a list of the best headsets we’ve tested so far that are confirmed to work with the PS5.

Leading up to the PS5’s release and beyond, we’ll update this guide with more PS5 gaming headset options as we confirm compatibility and test more products. In the meantime, check out our guide to the best PS4 controllers, which covers all of the controllers you can use with the PS5 when playing backward-compatible PS4 games. If you’re shopping for a new TV, we’ve rounded up the best 4K TVs for PS5 as well.

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Legends are slippery things. One tells of Arthur, the once and future King of Britain who united the realm against the Saxon invaders. Where historical fact is elusive, literary fancy has imagined Arthur’s idyllic court of Camelot, its chambers populated with knights, wizards, and witches, its halls reverberating with chivalry, romance, and betrayal. In exploring the legend of Arthur, Pendragon mixes interactive fiction and tactical combat within a short-form roguelike structure to tell myriad tales. As a study of how myths are formed from countless half-truths, it’s effective. But as a narrative journey, it feels slight, its more admirable efforts undermined by repetition and an uneasy relationship with combat.

In this particular rendition of Arthurian legend, the story always begins in 673 A.D., about a week before Arthur reaches the castle of Camlann to face his son, Mordred, whose challenge for the throne has ignited a civil war. Each time you roll a new game, you’ll play as one of Arthur’s court–his estranged wife Guinevere, her possible lover Sir Lancelot, the enigmatic Merlin, to name three of the more familiar characters–dashing across Britain to aid the king in the climactic showdown. En route, you will run into characters that you can convince to ride with your banner, others you’ll need to put to the sword, and an alarming number of wolves, snakes, giant spiders, and rats to fight or flee from. Though rest and rations will help the wounded recover, all members of your party–even your starting character–can die permanently, and the journey is over if everyone falls in battle. A complete run will typically take only 20-30 minutes, depending on how quickly you find Camlann.

The rapid turnaround of a run serves to highlight the dynamic nature of Pendragon’s storytelling. By embarking on a new journey, you’ll quickly find yourself exploring a reconfigured map, discovering new locations and story events, and accumulating alternate perspectives on the core myths of the land. And the game does a remarkable job tying together the many disparate narrative threads you can follow throughout one run. In one run, I began as Morgana Le Fay before meeting and recruiting Guinevere. Morgana was later wounded in battle while Guinevere fled, leaving me to play on as the latter. By the time I reached Camlann, Guinevere too had perished and so I ended up facing Mordred’s knights with just Arthur’s brother, Sir Kay, and a strong-armed peasant blacksmith in tow. What’s impressive is that the dialogue doesn’t miss a beat; conversations feel coherent and reactive to whatever choice and chaos has occurred along the way.

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