If you’ve managed to secure an order for a PlayStation 5 you still have a few more weeks to wait for the next generation of gaming from Sony. But if you happened to be a famous soccer player, you could have your hands on it right now.
That’s the case for Polish international and Bayern Munich player Robert Lewandowski, who has shared a photo on Instagram showing himself kicking back with a DualSense controller. The PS5 isn’t shown in either shot in the post, but a close-up of the controller makes it look like the real deal. And with just a handful of weeks until launch, it’s easy to assume he’s just been lucky enough to get some early access.
Even though Sony has not sent consoles to journalists yet, Microsoft sent numerous Xbox Series X consoles to media outlets nearly a full month ago. It’s given us a comprehensive look at the console ahead of its launch next month–our final Xbox Series X preview provides a look at load times, backwards compatibility, and more.
This week on Wrestle Buddies, GameSpot’s professional wrestling podcast, Chris E. Hayner and Mat Elfring are joined by Mario Rivera from DualShockers for a deep dive into a highly-anticipated topic, along with the return of one of our favorite segments. That’s not all, though, as an unexpected guest manages to hack his way into the show.
First up, it’s time to look back at the WCW Nitro Grill. While we’ve talked about WWF New York, WWE Niagara Falls, Hulk Hogan’s Pastamania, and so many other themed establishments, they all pale in comparison to the WCW Nitro Grill. It was, easily, the coolest wrestling restaurant that’s ever existed, and it just so happened to be housed inside of a giant castle in Las Vegas. What’s more, Mario went there and tells us about his experience as a 10-year-old eating a hamburger named after Goldberg.
Next, an unexpected and uninvited guest makes himself known on the podcast. While Mustafa Ali revealed on Raw recently that he was the Smackdown hacker, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Instead, the actual Smackdown hacker hijacks the show to explain why he was the real person behind those weird segments on Smackdown. It’s honestly kind of pathetic, but he seems like a nice enough guy that is definitely not Mat wearing a mask.
Publisher Ragnarok Game has amended a lawsuit against Human Head Studios, suing Bethesda for $100 million over its alleged part in an “intentional sabotage” of Ragnarok’s Rune 2 in an attempt to protect The Elder Scrolls franchise.
As reported by PC Gamer, the lawsuit was originally filed in December of 2019 and focused on Human Head Studios, the original developers of Rune 2. Ragnarok claims that the developers intentionally abandoned the game upon launch and refused to turn over the source code, so the publisher is seeking damages and restitution. The reason Bethesda Softworks and ZeniMax Media are now involved in the suit is that Human Head Studios went out of business a day after the game’s launch, only to be absorbed by Bethesda and re-opened as Roundhouse Studios on the same day.
You can read the amended complaint here, which notes that Ragnarok “seeks redress for fraud and the intentional sabotage of two video games, Rune II and Oblivion Song.” Oblivion Song wasn’t announced, but it appears to be an adaptation of the popular Robert Kirkman comic book series that was left unfinished when Human Head Studios announced their departure. “Rune II was maliciously torpedoed in a conspiracy between the game’s developer, desperate for cash, and a large video game conglomerate intent on destroying threats to its own video-game franchises,” the complaint reads.
The suit alleges that Human Head contacted Bethesda and ZeniMax about a potential acquisition without notifying Ragnarok, and later provided the publisher with keys to a pre-release version of Rune 2, which allowed Bethesda to “see for themselves the threat that Rune II posed to their hit franchise, Skyrim/Elder Scrolls.” Then, two weeks prior to Rune II’s launch, Zenimax allegedly formed Roundhouse Studios and used the company “to purchase all of Human Head’s equipment and take over its leases,” which Ragnarok alleges contained trade secrets, source and materials relating to the two games.
The complaint also mentions the PR troubles caused by the alleged sabotage, noting that in spite of the game’s positive reviews, the next day Ragnarok was faced with headlines about the studio’s departure and the wavering future of Rune 2 post-launch. For more on Rune 2, you can check out our preview of the game from 2019.
Nintendo has pushed a patch to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate that removes the unintentionally NSFW victory pose used by Minecraft Steve.
The Mojang mascot arrived in-game on October 13, and shortly after fans made the internet aware of his provocative victory animation. If Steve triumphs over his Nintendo colleagues, he will start eating a piece of steak in the endgame screen and then hold the steak slab at waist height, creating an image rife with potential innuendo for those of us with a dirty mind.
However, Nintendo has now made it so that the steak vanishes after he eats it, removing its promiscuous potential. You can see Steve’s new victory pose in the video above, uploaded by Twitter user Plun_Yu. This is one of the many tweaks introduced in the Ver. 9.0.1 update, issued on October 21. As well as getting rid of Steve’s slab, the patch has fixed a few issues with the Minecart and Anvil moves used by the new suite of Minecraft characters.
Microsoft’s head of gaming Phil Spencer was shown the image in an interview with Kotaku’s Stephen Totilo last week. After a long pause, Spencer responded “Yeah. Who did that?” before being told it was a real screenshot for the game, and saying, “I assume that will be fixed.”
Director Dexter Fletcher has confirmed that Sherlock Holmes 3 is currently “on the back burner” after facing new “issues” due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic this year.
Appearing as a guest on the Celebrity Catch Up Podcast, Fletcher, who is taking over the franchise from Guy Ritchie, shared an update on the third Sherlock Holmes installment, as he admitted that the project had been put on hold indefinitely whilst they try to figure out a plan of action that will enable them to move forward with production.
“Sherlock’s hit its own issues on and off,” Fletcher said. “That’s sort of sitting on the back burner at the moment until it becomes clear where the world is at and what’s going to happen. The same is with The Saint. I’m pushing ahead with both of them, and that’s always part of the challenge.”
Fletcher explained that The Saint, his reboot of the 1997 action thriller that starred Val Kilmer, had faced the same challenges as Sherlock Holmes 3, as he cited COVID-19 travel bans and social gathering restrictions as the main “dilemma” for film productions.
“They’re both up against the same dilemma,” he confirmed. “[It’s] the same issue that we all [have]: How do you get large groups of people together to create something and then shift them all around the world? And what do you do with actors that are in a love scene? It’s complicated.”
The project might currently be stalled, but Robert Downey Jr. has already revealed that he has some very big plans for the sleuthing series. He recently outlined his intentions to spin a new cinematic universe out of Sherlock Holmes 3, which is currently scheduled for release on December 22, 2021, after being pushed back from its original 2020 release date.
A raft of updates were announced for Hearthstone today, including a brand new mode, a brand new expansion, and a complete overhaul of the game’s progression system. Let’s go through them.
Hearthstone Duels
First up, the new mode is called Hearthstone Duels and it takes the build-as-you-go deckbuilding gameplay that has been so popular across many of Hearthstone’s Solo Adventures of recent years and lets you take on other players. If you’ve played Dungeon Run, Monster Hunt, Rumble Run, The Dalaran Heist or Tombs of Terror, you’d have some idea of the format, but a key difference here is that Duels is structured like Arena, so players are striving for 12 wins, while three losses ends the run.
At the start of a run, players choose a hero, each of which has a bespoke hero power, and then builds their own starter deck of 15 cards to take into the run. These cards can be anything from the current legal pool for the mode, but instead of the usual limit of one copy of each legendary and two copies of each card of other rarities, Duels only allows one copy of each card, regardless of rarity. With each win, players can choose between different options to add cards to their decks, and – as anyone who has played the Solo Adventures would expect – powerful treasures will also be a fixture of the mode, allowing players to make truly over-the-top plays.
With each season, the heroes, hero powers, treasures and card pool will change. The debut season’s theme is Wizard Duels, so the ten heroes are pulled from the Scholomance Academy expansion. And in terms of the cards players can use, Season 1 will include the Basic and Classic sets, as well as Scholomance Academy, Curse of Naxxramas and One Night in Karazhan.
Duels will be a free game mode, although there will also be a Heroic Duels option for 150 gold or a Tavern ticket, with rewards based on how well you perform. The Duels beta officially launches on November 17, but there will be ample opportunities to play it before then. Players who pre-purchase a Madness at the Darkmoon Faire bundle (yes, that’s the next expansion – we’ll get to it in a sec) will get early access to Duels. How early? It’s running right now. And once November 12 rolls around, early access will open up for everyone.
The Hearthstone team also announced the game’s next expansion, and it’s a doozy. Welcome to Madness at the Darkmoon Faire, so named because The Old Gods have chosen WoW’s iconic Darkmoon Faire as the site of their return. Yes, all four Old Gods are back as new legendary cards, and are packing game-swinging power. Not only that, but the set will also include four Old God Artifacts – powerful spells inspired by the original Old God card designs from Whispers of the Old Gods.
Across its 135 new cards, Madness at the Darkmoon Faire will also play host to a new keyword – Corrupt. Cards with Corrupt can be upgraded in hand by first playing a card of a greater cost than the corruptible card. In a neat touch, the corrupted card then gets a new, twisted version of its original artwork. This feels like a thoughtful new mechanic that should make for interesting deckbuilding, not to mention plenty of decisions within matches.
Madness at the Darkmoon Faire (MDF) will launch on November 17 (or Nov 18 in ANZ), but there are two pre-purchase options available now. The first bundle is $39.99 USD ($53.95 AUD) and contains 45 Madness at the Darkmoon Faire card packs, one random MDF legendary card, the N’Zoth card back and early access to Hearthstone Duels.
The Mega Bundle, meanwhile, costs $79.99 USD ($109.95 AUD) and includes 80 Madness at the Darkmoon Faire card packs, five golden MDF card packs, one random golden MDF legendary card, the playable N’Zoth Warlock Hero, the N’Zoth card back, Battleground perks and early access to Hearthstone Duels.
The new game board.
Making Progress
Last but by no means least, the team has also announced the biggest overhaul to Hearthstone’s progression system ever, and it’s coming on November 12. The change includes an achievements system, a central Reward Track, a quest revamp and an updated profile page. Let’s run through these.
Achievements have been requested since the very beginning of Hearthstone and they’re finally coming! The system will include a broad set of stats across every game mode, will let you chase in-game accomplishments by class, and will even let you easily keep track of your card collection and ranked milestones.
Another huge change is the shift to an experience-based reward system. Yes, with each new expansion, players will be able to earn experience by completing quests, unlocking specific achievements and simply playing the game, and in doing so make their way through a 50-level Reward Track. Along the way you’ll be given gold, card packs, cards and cosmetics. And hitting level 50 will earn players one of ten all-new hero skins. Purchasing a Tavern Pass can also add bonus earnable items to the Reward Track, including XP boosts and extra cosmetics.
As mentioned, completing quests now rewards players with XP to push them along their Reward Track. There will, however, be even more quests to complete, with daily quests being joined by all-new weekly quests. You’ll get three at the start of each week, and like daily quests, one weekly quest can be re-rolled each day.
Lastly, as of November 12 each player will now have an in-game profile page with lifetime stats for their accounts. Nice.
Ghostrunner is running onto next-gen consoles in 2021.
The official Ghostrunner Twitter account announced today that owners of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game will receive a free upgrade to next-gen versions of the game. Those upgrades will come in 2021 when the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions of the game are released.
Owners of the @PlayStation 4 & @Xbox One versions of Ghostrunner will receive a free upgrade to the next generation versions when they release in 2021!
As you can see in the tweet above, there isn’t any elaboration as to when players can expect to receive this next-gen upgrade or when people can purchase the PS5 and Series X versions of the game.
You might notice the asterisk note at the bottom of the picture in the tweet above. It reads, “buy the digital version of Ghostrunner for PS4 or Xbox One and download the PS5 or Xbox Series X version at no extra cost when it launches in 2021.” If you’re wondering why there’s no mention of physical version upgrades, it’s because Ghostrunner is digital-only.
Developed by One More Level and Slipgate Ironworks, Ghostrunner is a cyberpunk parkour game set in a neon-drenched metropolis where you basically play as a ninja wielding katanas. If that sounds cool, you can pre-order the game on PS4 as a PlayStation Plus subscriber or on PC to get a 20% discount. There’s a 10% pre-order discount on Xbox One. Ghostrunner will be released on October 27, 2020.
Update: The first image of Tom Holland as Nathan Drake has been released, and he looks exactly how you’d expect. Posted by Holland himself to Instagram, the photograph shows him in a tan-coloured shirt and cargo pants, a get-up that’s practically identical to his in-game counterpart.
“It’s nice to meet you, I’m Nate,” Holland wrote in the post’s caption.
Original story: The first images from the Uncharted movie have been released, giving us a first look at not just some props, but also TWO Nathan Drakes.
The images, published by Naughty Dog on the studio’s Twitter account, show Nathan Drake’s original voice actor, Nolan North, talking to live-action Nathan Drake, Tom Holland. The photograph was taken when North was visiting the set of the video game adaptation.
Additionally, Naughty Dog also posted another two images: an artifact slotted into a dusty wood-and-metal surface almost like a key, and a book featuring an image of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. The tweet is accompanied by a quote from Magellan: “Meet the shadowy future without fear and conquer the unknown.”
We know that the film will be a prequel to the Uncharted series of video games, with a young Nate Drake accompanied by a young Victor Sullivan (played by Mark Wahlberg). Perhaps we’ll see them investigating the travels and discoveries of Magellan, the first circumnavigation of the Earth during his Spanish expedition to the East Indies between 1519 and 1522.
