Month: November 2020

Apex Legends Season 7 is just hours away from starting, with the new season projected to land at 8 PM PT / 11 PM ET, November 4. With the start of a new season, one of Apex Legends’ best–and definitely its most iconic–maps will be sent to the vault for a while, meaning you have just a few hours to play on it.

Kings Canyon will not be a part of Apex Legends Season 7, meaning that in a few hours it’ll be locked away until a future season. The map, which has changed over time as new seasons and events have shifted the landscape, is a beloved classic–and it’s worth dropping in for a last round or two before it goes away.

This season launches later than most, but there’s an upside if you want to run around this map again.

Season 7 of Apex Legends will bring a new hero, Horizon, to the game. You’ll be able to use her on the new map, Olympus, that is rolling out later today.

Apex Legends is available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and will be playable on PS5 and Xbox Series X at launch through backwards compatibility. The game is also coming to Switch in 2021, and has been previously announced for mobile devices, although it’s been a while since we heard news on this version.

While Halo Infinite has been delayed to 2021, developer 343 Industries is filling the time with a special behind-the-scenes look at how sound of the game’s sounds were recorded.

In this newest video, we get a closer look at how the audio team captured the “small arms” weapon sounds for Halo Infinite, and it’s very impressive. The team recorded in all manner of locations and situations, using weaponry that runs the gamut from hand-held slingshots to long rifles. There is an exciting sequence in the middle where a developer hunkers down behind a wall as bullets whizz overhead.

The Halo series is known for its strong audio design, and this video seems to demonstrate how that should continue with Halo Infinite. Check out the video above, but note that some of the scenes in the video were published on Instagram earlier in 2020 and back in 2019.

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After working on the soundtracks for mega-franchises like Grand Theft Auto, Killzone, Total War, and Splinter Cell, composer Walter Mair was brought on to write new music for Activision’s Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time. The music in Crash 4 does a good job at staying true to the origins of the franchise–you’ll hear lots of marimbas and percussion instruments–while updating the music for a more modern feel. We recently spoke with Mair about this an a number of other topics about Crash 4’s music.

In our interview, Mair speaks about how he became attached to Crash 4 in the first place, how much access he had to the development team and what the collaboration process was like with Toys For Bob, and the varied instrumentation he used to score the game.

Mair composed unique music for each setting and character, and he went to some interesting places to nail down the right sounds for each. For Dingodile, Mair used a clumsily played tuba and double bass to describe the character, while Mair used electric guitars and bass guitars through massive stacks of guitar amps and a drum set to create the music for the N.Gin boss fight.

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A new game called Werewolf Among Us has become the most downloaded free game on the App Store in China this week, the South China Morning Post reported. It overtook gaming behemoth Tencent’s Honour of Kings and Peacekeeper Elite to claim the top spot.

The clone boasts similar, if more cutesy graphics to Innersloth’s surprise hit Among Us, and is set in a medieval castle instead of in space. Developed by a relatively unknown company called Shenzhen Youliang Technology, the game dropped on October 28 and has since racked up over 478,000 downloads, becoming the most popular of a number of Among Us clones being rushed for the Chinese market.

As a relatively small indie game, Among Us so far has not been translated or localized for the Chinese market. Its place in English-speaking gaming world was cemented when Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez streamed herself playing to a huge Twitch audience. The game has an odd reputation in the Chinese-speaking world, however, where party game Werewolf was incredibly popular well before Among Us shot to popularity in the west. For many gamers in China, Among Us is simply “Space Werewolf.”

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Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass subscription service has drawn comparisons to Netflix, with some calling it the “Netflix of Games.” Xbox’s Jason Ronald said in a new interview that he is flattered by that comparison–as Netflix is one of the biggest and most successful entertainment brands on Earth–but he also pointed out that it’s not exactly a great comparison.

“To be compared to somebody like Netflix is flattering, but we think about it differently,” Ronald told Inverse. “It really comes down to how can we find new ways to get more people to enjoy the art form that we all love. Plenty of people prefer physical media, and we support that with Xbox Series X. Then you look at something like Game Pass, which gets people trying and playing more games. Maybe you’re new to a franchise, or have limited funds to devote to entertainment. With Game Pass, we eliminate that barrier. That’s what we’re really focused on–how do we reduce barriers so more people can find and play games they love?”

Before this, Xbox boss Phil Spencer also spoke out about how calling Game Pass the “Netflix of Games” is not quite accurate or even what Microsoft is trying to achieve.

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WWE 2K Battlegrounds is growing its roster this month with 10 new wrestlers. The roster will expand across three dates in November, and of the new characters, 5 will be unlocked automatically. The others will have to be purchased with in-game currency.

On November 6, 11, and 18, new characters will join the game, 2K has announced. These include some major figures like Goldberg, Batista, Ultimate Warrior, and Trish Stratus–all of whom will be available to everyone.

Here’s the complete list of new wrestlers joining the game’s roster this month. This is part of the game’s promised free DLC.

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