Category: games

A panel of games industry personalities breaks down how they go about getting fun out of games while still playing them critically.

Last week’s episode was a big one, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that this follow-up was a bit underwhelming in comparison. On the plus side, there’s a new energy now that Reed and Polaris are back among friends and they’re all working together to figure out how Sentinel Services were able to turn Pulse against them. However, the weakest element of the show — Dreamer meddling with people’s memories — not only continued but became an even bigger part of the main story.

Emma Dumont and Sean Teale are bursting with so much chemistry as Polaris and Eclipse that it’s enough to make you blush. Whether they’re taking out a drone together and debating about interrogating Agent Turner or wistfully talking about their future together as parents and holding hands to make their lovey-aura appear, they’re just so darn watchable. There’s a tenderness to their relationship that balances out the whole tough-as-nails, mutant freedom-fighter part of their lives. And while they are enjoying being reunited in this episode, it surely won’t be long until Eclipse has to explain what it cost him to pull off that rescue mission.

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.

Supergirl doesn’t handle its villains very well. That’s been the show’s most glaring flaw from the very beginning. As compelling as the Team Supergirl dynamic is, the two-dimensional antagonists have rarely ever measured up by comparison. That’s why “The Faithful” gives me such hope for the future of Season 3. At long last, the series seems to be building up a threat worthy of the Girl of Steel.

Between this episode and last week’s “Far From the Tree,” there’s a pretty clear theme emerging for this season. Season 3 is developing into an examination of faith and the way it can both lift people up in their darkest moments and blind them to the reality of the world around them. In “Far From the Tree,” faith was a weapon that kept M’yrnn strong and defiant for centuries, yet it also blinded him to the fact that his son stood before him, alive and whole. In “The Faithful,” we meet a group of National City residents whose prayers were answered at their most desperate hour, but have now channeled that into a misguided obsession with the city’s greatest heroine.

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Super Mario Odyssey was hotly anticipated, and it released last Friday to widespread critical acclaim. But it’s still surprising just how well the game has sold in its first three days on the market: according to Nintendo, it’s already sold around 2 million copies.

The news comes by way of Nintendo’s financial earnings report. The numbers on the game are pretty crazy when you take into account the fact that the company has moved 7 million Nintendo Switch units. That means that, in only three days, just under 30% of all Switch users have purchased Super Mario Odyssey.

It’s safe to say that Super Mario Odyssey will likely continue to sell well, and Nintendo certainly wants to help move more units. In the earnings report, the company stated, “We will endeavor to further increase the number of consumers who want to purchase Super Mario Odyssey, and eventually we would like the game to be seen as an evergreen title that has longevity in the market beyond this holiday season.”

Super Mario Odyssey is chasing the top spot on the Switch sales charts. As revealed earlier today, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild currently stands as the top-selling Switch game, having moved 4.7 million units as of the end of September. Next on the list is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, with 4.42 million copies sold.

If you haven’t heard already, the new Mario game is pretty awesome. In our 10/10 Super Mario Odyssey review, GameSpot critic Peter Brown wrote, “Odyssey is sustained beyond its major milestones not only through colorful worlds and hidden challenges, but through the sheer joy of controlling Mario, who’s never felt more responsive or dynamic in action. Even with everything new that’s been introduced, Nintendo’s forward-thinking platformer retains the series’ classic handcrafted appeal, which is even more impressive when you realize how densely packed each kingdom is.”

The second episode of the Eighth season of walking dead is “The Damned”. Carol and Ezekiel team up to find hope, Rick and Daryl try to find guns, Tara and Jesus try to find some middle ground and Morgan tries to find the best place to shoot everyone. Buddy Hutton breaks down the episode and gets a little sassy.

  Greetings true, believers! Sony revealed a brand new trailer of Insomniac’s Spider-Man game at PSX today and it’s full of awesome story details.

The trailer opens with Mary Jane Watson and Peter Parker talking about how Wilson Fisk, AKA The Kingpin, is behind bars, and how maybe the city’s safe enough for Peter to take a break from being Spidey.

Meanwhile, Aunt May volunteers for FEAST, a homeless outreach program run by Martin Li, pictured on the cover of The Daily Bugle. Li is otherwise known as Mister Negative, who seems to be the game’s central villain. Also mentioned on the Bugle’s cover are Fisk, the Kingpin, the mayor (who we know is Norman Osborn AKA The Green Goblin), and The Shocker.

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Respawn Entertainment’s Titanfall 2 is among the more than 130 Xbox One games getting enhanced for Xbox One X. Now, we’ve learned a lot more about the specific improvements that players on Microsoft’s new console can expect.

In an Xbox Wire post, Respawn lead producer Drew McCoy started off by saying the rendering details and dynamic resolution ceiling have been increased. “This means the game will always output a 4K signal, but dynamically alter the resolution based on GPU load to ensure smooth framerates,” he explained.

What’s more, Respawn is now using a feature from the PC version–dynamic superscaling–on Xbox One X that ensures the game uses 100% of the GPU.

“Titanfall 2 on Xbox One X is a substantially clearer/sharper image presentation,” McCoy said. “Players will notice lots of little details in the world and it maintains the fluid 60 fps framerate needed for smooth gameplay more often so you won’ see any frame rate drops even with a bunch of 20 foot Titans battling it out at once.”

Go to the Xbox Wire to hear everything McCoy had to say about the Xbox One X enhancements for Titanfall 2. And for more on Xbox One X-enhanced games, check out our roundup of all them here.

The Xbox One X launches on November 7, priced at $500 in the US. We’ll have lots more on the console in the days and weeks ahead, so keep checking back soon for more.

A House of Cards spinoff is reportedly in early development stages at Netflix.

Variety reports that several concept ideas set in the same universe as Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) are being discussed between the streaming service and  producer Media Rights Capital.  One focuses on political aide-de-camp  Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly), with House of Cards S 1-4 executive producer Eric Roth set to write. The publication reports that at least two other concepts are being explored, but no writers are attached yet.

The report comes in the wake of Netflix’s official announcement that House of Cards will end after season 6, which TVLine says was a decision made months ago, rather than made in the light of the recent disturbing allegations made against Spacey. Netflix and series producer Media Rights Capital released a joint statement yesterday saying they are “deeply troubled” by these allegations, but as of writing, season 6 is still going ahead.

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While the opening cinematic had a lot of us thinking about Tenchu or Onimusha (or, in my case, Shogun Total War), the happiest part of the Ghost of Tsushima debut during Paris Games Week was the announcement that Sucker Punch would be developing the game. The studio’s been silent for three years since the last Infamous DLC, so we’re happy to see what the team behind Infamous and Sly Cooper has been up to.

And though there aren’t many details yet on what the game is actually like, the historic setting does give us a couple of clues.

The game is set during the First Mongol Invasion of Japan, which took place in 1274. The Kublai Khan had already established a dynasty in China and claimed Korea. Upon reaching the sea, his next target was the island of Japan. He made multiple demands to the Emperor of Japan, encouraging him to submit to Mongol rule. Anticipating the Emperor would reject these offers, the Great Khan was, at the same time, constructing an invasion fleet. When the rejections did come, the Khan set sail with thousands of soldiers and hundreds of boats.

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Use this guide to hunt down the many Power Moons hidden throughout the Metro Kingdom.