Month: September 2020

Forza Horizon 3, the series entry that took the race to Australia, will soon be delisted. The digital version of the game will no longer be available for purchase from September 27, meaning that if you want it, you’ll need to act fast.

The Xbox One/PC game is hugely discounted right now, and if you don’t buy it now, your only hope will be a physical copy–and it’ll likely be second-hand. The game will also be playable on Xbox Series X, but only if you buy it before September 27. If you own the game, you’ll still be able to download it after this date, but it won’t be available for purchase anymore.

This applies to the DLC too, so if you want to experience the wild Hot Wheels expansion you’ll need to hurry.

• Forza Horizon 3 Standard Edition: $9.89 (usually $40, 67% off)
• Forza Horizon 3 Ultimate Edition: $21 (usually $70, 70% off)
• Forza Horizon 3 Expansion Pass: $10.49 (usually $35, 70% off)

Forza Horizon 3 released in September 2016, and earned strong reviews, including GameSpot’s own. It has since been followed by Forza Horizon 4, which transported the action to the UK. Unlike 4, Forza Horizon 3 has never been on Game Pass.

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Earlier today reports emerged that claimed some Call of Duty Accounts were compromised, but this is not the case, a spokesperson for Activision tells GameSpot.

“Activision Call of Duty accounts have not been compromised. Reports suggesting otherwise are not accurate,” the spokesperson said.

Activision also stressed that it takes privacy seriously and it investigates security issues. The company also advised players to use these various methods to make sure their accounts stay secure. As always, it’s never a good idea to use the same password for different services, and it’s smart to change your password often anyway.

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Microsoft, like most major companies, uses a lot of water in its production processes. However, as the world becomes more aware of the unmistakable impact of climate change, and in light of the inequality of clean, drinkable water not being easily available around the world, the company is making some changes.

In a blog post, Microsoft president Brad Smith has announced that the Xbox company will work towards becoming “water positive” by 2030–that is to say, they will replenish more water than they use. “The world’s fresh water is not equally distributed or accessible and is found disproportionately in places where people do not live,” the post explains. “And as human civilization has expanded, we have reached the point globally where humanity depletes the available freshwater supply at a rate of 4.3 trillion cubic meters every year–the majority of which goes to agricultural and industrial uses.”

The company will address water consumption issues by reducing the water use intensity of its energy production and replenishing the “water-stressed regions” that it operates within. The post points out that 2 billion people globally do not have easy access to clean drinking water, and this must change–especially since those figures are likely to get worse over time without intervention.

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This review of HBO’s The Third Day Episode 2, titled “Saturday – The Son,” contains full spoilers. To remind yourself where we left off, read our review of The Third Day episode 1.

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Things continue to get weird for our man Sam (Jude Law) in the second hour of HBO’s The Third Day, titled “Saturday – The Son.” After the first episode established the iconoclastic community of Osea, Sam is still cut off from the mainland due to uncooperative cell towers and a causeway that’s swallowed up by the tides for the majority of the day. As the mystery of this strange town deepens in episode 2, we also gain a deeper insight into the horrific trauma that Sam is carrying with him, and how it’s that same trauma that is pulling him deeper and deeper into Osea when every rational instinct should have him barreling in the opposite direction as fast as he can.

“Agony is bespoke. Yours is yours. Theirs is theirs. Mostly grief’s just lonely.” So says Sam to Jess (Katherine Waterston), his fellow outsider on an island of True Believers, as he attempts to explain what it’s like to lose one’s child. As it becomes increasingly clear, the untended sore of trying to navigate that grief is what underscores so many of his decisions since coming to the island — including his concern for the suicidal Epona (Jessie Ross), whose rescue at the start of the previous chapter is what began him on this journey — and also explains his (baffling!) decision to stick around.

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Of course, with all the strange, semi-mystical goings-on in Osea we’ve already seen in the preceding hour, it’s not a great shock to realize that child doesn’t merely exist as a data point in Sam’s past, but rather points the way towards something in his future. It also seems a safe bet that his continual refrain of how familiar the island appears to him — has he been there before? — will tie in with this loss at some point in the future. On top of that, there are the strange mask-clad people trying to kill Sam. Or are they? And there’s Epona’s grief-stricken father, who blames Sam for her death. Or does he?

Frustrated yet? Good. Because the questions keep getting piled atop each other like a moody, morose Jenga tower, and anything resembling a definitive answer feels as out of reach as the ghostly little boy Sam keeps seeing in the distance. Partly because the place is just so freakin’ weird, and partly because Sam & Jess (whose increasingly close relationship remains one of the bigger question marks waiting to be resolved) made the ill-advised decision to partake in some mind-altering vegetation as the town’s festivities get underway, so things begin to feel increasingly disjointed and surreal as the hour goes on.

As Sam’s descent into the madness of this place (or perhaps his own mind?) continues, what director Marc Munden continues to do quite effectively is stylistically blur the line between his nightmare visions and what we think is “real,” putting those of us in the audience on the same uneven footing as we try to navigate the maddening nightmare world we find ourselves stranded in. Once again, all props in the world to Law for imbuing the character with an internal life that keeps us on his side even as he makes some increasingly baffling decisions (Keep driving! No, don’t turn around! No, don’t go into the woods! No, don’t go towards the weird monster guys!)

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It’s a true mixed bag, with as much to frustrate as fascinate. But at this point, the positive still outweighs the negative enough to make it worth coming back next week. In fact, the end of this episode practically dares you not to.

Dragon Ball Z Kakarot‘s next DLC, A New Power Awakens – Part 2, will bring back one of Goku and Vegeta’s worst enemies. Frieza, who players dispatched in the main campaign, is back. Just as the first Kakarot DLC adapted Dragon Ball Super’s God of Destruction arc, this next DLC focuses on the Golden Frieza arc.

This DLC will give Goku and Vegeta the Super Saiyan Blue form (also know by the clunkier name “Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan”) and let them fight Frieza and his forces using new techniques.

In Super’s equivalent arc, Frieza returns from the dead with a new form, and he’s stronger than ever. Frieza’s return was also explored in the movie Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection of F, which the longer Super arc was then adapted from.

It was previously revealed that Vegeta and Goku’s new attacks will make use of their increased power, and have amazing names like “Ultimate Banish” and “Ultimate Big Kamehameha”.

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Want a roundup of everything you need to know about the specs, release windows, performance, exclusives, and everything else that matters about the PS5 and Xbox Series X? You’ve come to the right place.

The pop of an Xbox achievement unlocking can be a sweet sound, one that indicates that you’ve done something worth celebrating, and that your Gamerscore has changed to reflect it. But for Todd Howard, director and executive producer at Bethesda Game Studios, there’s one Xbox achievement that’s particularly special–because he’s the only person in the world who will ever have it.

Following the news that Microsoft has acquired Bethesda for $7.5 billion, Howard spoke about his history with Xbox in a post to Bethesda’s website. In the post, he shares an anecdote about a bespoke achievement created just for him, which exists only on his account.

“When I received the Lifetime Achievement Award at GDC, I joked in my acceptance ‘I wonder how many achievement points this one is worth?’ At the end of the ceremony, some good friends from Microsoft congratulated me and said they’d find out,” Howard recalls.

“A few months later I was given a code to a game they had created, named after me and locked to my account,” he continues. “When ran, it unlocks a single achievement – ‘Lifetime – 1000pts.’ It still sits in my list when I check, and I smile every time.”

Now, Howard has another massive Xbox milestone to celebrate–they paid more for Bethesda than they’ve paid for any other studio acquisition.

Howard also talked about Starfield and Elder Scrolls VI, and how they’ll introduce an enormous engine overhaul.

Xbox Series X and S launch on November 10, and your Gamerscore will carry over to these new systems.

Prolific voice actor Nolan North is nudging Marvel to make another Deadpool video game. The actor, who voiced Deadpool in Activision’s 2013 game, told Comic Book Movie that he wants the game to happen, and for Ryan Reynolds to have a cameo in it.

“I’m trying to get Marvel to do another Deadpool video game, and we could have Ryan come on and do a cameo in the video game,” North said.

Also in the interview, North said one of the producers, Craig Kyle, has remarked that Reynolds was a fan of North’s performance as the merc with a mouth in the video game.

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FIFA 21 isn’t far away, but if you want to try it before you buy, you won’t be able to download a demo like usual. EA Sports has announced that they won’t be releasing a demo for this year’s FIFA, so as to better focus their time and effort on developing the game.

On Twitter, the official FIFA account explained that while there won’t be a demo, EA Play subscribers will be able to trial the game before purchasing. As usual, the EA Play trial gives players access to the game for 10 hours from October 9. The game will also be available to purchase on this date.

While it’s not explicitly mentioned in the tweet, the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the arrival of next-generation consoles, has presented challenges for annual sports games–and Madden 21 seems to have suffered.

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