Overwatch was released two years ago this week. To celebrate the popular game’s second birthday, Blizzard is holding an anniversary event that will include a new Deathmatch map, Petra, and more than 50 new cosmetic items to collect.
Among those are eight brand-new Legendary skins and three Epic-rarity skins. Additionally, Doomfist, Moira, and Brigitte are getting new dance emotes. What’s more, all previously released seasonal cosmetic items, and “most” of the prior brawls for Arcade (on a daily, rotating basis), will be back for the new anniversary event.
You’ll have a brawl!
Past brawls and cosmetics are back for Overwatch Anniversary 2018.
As for the new map, Petra is being added to the Deathmatch hopper. Additionally, a new Competitive Mode is being added to Deathmatch. This sounds like a full-featured mode, as it includes placement matches, skill rating division, and leaderboards to track progress. This appears to be separate from Overwatch’s existing Competitive Mode.
The anniversary event also adds new loot boxes. Everyone who logs in during the event gets one free loot box that guarantees a Legendary-level item. If you want to spend money, picking up the 50 loot box bundle comes with a bonus of one legendary loot box. Additionally, all previously released loot boxes for seasonal events are included for the anniversary event.
Blizzard also announced a “Legendary” edition of Overwatch that is due to launch on May 22, which is when the game’s second anniversary event begins. This version of the game–which will only be sold digitally–includes the base game and 15 skins total, comprised of Legendary, Epic, and Origin skins.
Finally, Blizzard will offer yet another free weekend for Overwatch that runs May 25-28. Blizzard confirmed that PS4 players do not need a PlayStation Plus membership to take part, though it’s unclear if Xbox Live Gold is required on Xbox One.
Star Fox and friends may be off to the races, according to a new rumor.
Eurogamer has heard Retro Studios, makers of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and the Metroid Prime Trilogy, are developing a Star Fox spin-off racing game. IGN is aware of similar rumblings but we were unable to corroborate them. The following logo was sent to us, but we can’t confirm its authenticity.
IGN was sent this Star Fox: Grand Prix logo, but we can’t confirm its authenticity.
Update:Â Rage 2 is coming to PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
The official Rage 2 website also reveals that Just Cause 3 and Mad Max developer Avalanche Studios is working on the game. Not only that, but Bethesda has provided an official description of the sequel:
“Dive headfirst into a dystopian world devoid of society, law, and order. RAGE 2 brings together a true open world FPS experience where you can go anywhere, shoot anything, and explode everything.”
The X-Files is unlikely to return for another new season anytime soon.
Per Entertainment Weekly, Fox released its 2018-19 schedule without mentioning the long-running sci-fi series. Fox Television CEO and chairman Gary Newman confirmed the network has no current plans to bring The X-Files back for a potential Season 12.
“There are no plans to do another season at the moment,” Newman said.
Ryan Reynolds has pulled one of his most ridiculous stunts yet to promote Deadpool 2, surprise appearing on the South Korean game show King of Mask Singer.
The show’s official Twitter account revealed the actor went on stage dressed as a colorful unicorn while singing “Tomorrow” from the film Annie. On King of Mask Singer, celebrities don masks to conceal their identities while battling one another in a sing-off. Check out his performance below.
What do you get when you combine The Tonight Show’s Jimmy Fallon and The Roots, music superstar Ariana Grande, and the all-new highly innovative construction toy, Nintendo Labo? Simply put, you get the most talented cardboard superband the world has ever seen.
In a twist on the wildly popular Tonight Show segment Classroom Instruments, the “No Tears Left To Cry” songstress, together with Fallon and The Roots performed the hit single using nothing but cardboard instruments. Taking full advantage of Nintendo’s Labo Toy-Con garage mode, the group was able to recreate and perform the song in its entirety.
Speaking to PCGamesN, studio head David Anfossi said, “Deus Ex is not dead; I confirm that.”
As for why Eidos isn’t moving forward with production on a new Deus Ex game at this point, Anfossi said the team is already stretched with its work on Shadow of the Tomb Raider (which it is co-developing with Crystal Dynamics) and an all-new Avengers game with Marvel. Additionally, the studio is working on an unannounced third game, Anfossi teased.
“So it’s enough at the moment for us,” Anfossi said.
Regarding the unannounced third game, Anfossi strongly suggested it is not a new Thief title. However, it could be the rumoured Guardians of the Galaxy game, though this is not confirmed. When Square Enix announced its partnership with Marvel, the companies said it was for multiple games, so Guardians of the Galaxy could be one of the other ones.
“The issue is we do not have limitless resources,” Matsuda said. “We have several big titles that we work with and that’s partly a factor in what our lineup looks like. Of course, it would be ideal if we could work on all of them all of the time, but the fact of the matter is some titles have to wait their turn. The reason there isn’t a Deus Ex right now is just a product of our development lineup because there are other titles we are working on.”
In an interview with GI.biz, Anfossi said he has observed that the “story-driven experience” in gaming today is going through what he called a “generational change.” As such, he said Eidos will be looking to “adapt and try new models” going forward.
“Looking at God of War, that’s a pretty good example of a great single-player experience. I like it a lot, but I might not get the time to complete it,” he said. “For me, that’s a frustration. Because when you start a story-driven experience you want to see the conclusion. So we have to adapt and try new models.”
Eidos is still committed to single-player games, Anfossi added. “Single-player for me is as strong as before, and it should continue,” he said.
Eidos’ website states that future products from the studio may have more of an “added emphasis” on “online experiences.” This doesn’t necessarily mean future games from the studio will be multiplayer-centric titles, however.
“We need to try new things, experience stuff and learn,” Anfossi said. “We want to build strong online technology. We are doing tests, we are learning, and we are working out how to apply that to our games, but we have to be careful about the fans. Online does not have to mean multiplayer. It could, but it could also be something different. It can be a single-player experience but online.”
One reasons some studios are incorporating deeper online elements in their games is because it offers another way for players to spend money. For example, GTA V’s online mode, GTA Online, adds new content all the time–and it’s proven to be incredibly lucrative. This is especially front of mind for some developers because AAA single-player games are hugely expensive to make and promote, Anfossi said.
“Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and other different AAA single-player games, cost $75 million to $100 million,” Anfossi said. “And that’s production only; it’s close to $35 million on the promotion. So there’s definitely a pressure. We cannot avoid it. But, at the same time, for us to have these incubation projects and to try small things… that gives us the opportunity to test, prepare and secure some stuff, and remove some risk.”
Mankind Divided launched in August 2016 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. GameSpot’s Mankind Divided review scored it an 8/10, with reviewer Edmond Tran writing, “Mankind Divided is still a uniquely fulfilling experience, one which feels rare in games today.” For more, you can read GameSpot’s full review here.
Thanos, the bad guy from Avengers: Infinity War, recently came to Fortnite as part of a limited-time game mode called Infinity Gauntlet. Now, the actor who plays Thanos–Josh Brolin–has responded to his character being in the game.
It sounds like Brolin had no involvement in the crossover, as he tells IGN, “I’ve been seeing this Fortnite thing everywhere; Fortnite, Thanos–and I had no idea what anybody was talking about.”
Thanos has some voice lines in Fortnite, but these were apparently pulled from other sources– potentially the movie–if they even come from Brolin at all. It is interesting that Brolin apparently had no idea about Thanos being in Fortnite, but he’s a busy, busy man.
Like other Fortnite characters, Thanos can dance–and he has some nice moves. But Brolin doesn’t quite understand why Thanos would dance after vanquishing his enemies.
“Why is he dancing? I don’t understand. I don’t know if I like that,” Brolin said.
Also in the interview, Brolin confirms that he did not do the motion-capture work for Thanos’ dance movies, but he said he wished he was asked because he is a capable cutter of the rug. “I wish I had done the mocap for that,” the Oscar nominated actor said.
You can catch the full IGN interview with Brolin here.
In other Fortnite news, the 50v50 limited-time mode is now available alongside the Infinity Gauntlet mode. Both are only expected to be around for a short while longer, so you should play now if you’re interested.
