Supporters say the “cyber libel” trial was aimed at silencing critics of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Witcher Netflix Showrunner Discusses Season 2’s New Characters And Simpler Timeline
Netflix’s TV adaptation of The Witcher was generally well-received when it premiered on the streaming platform last December, with the main complaint being the series’ confusing split timeline. Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich has confirmed that the Season 2 timeline will stay linear now that the stories of Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri have all linked up, in an interview with The Wrap.
Of course that doesn’t mean the timelines are going to be limited to the single time period. “What we’ll see in Season 2 is that all of our characters are existing on the same timeline. What that allows us to do storywise though is to play with time in slightly different ways,” Hissrich told The Wrap. “We get to do flashbacks, we get to do flash-forwards, we get to actually integrate time in a completely different way that we weren’t able to do in Season 1. Because, if you can imagine, if we were in three different timelines (in Season 1) and then flashed forward or flashed back, we would have been in four or five or six timelines — even I know that’s too much.”
With the second season introducing Geralt’s fellow Witchers, including his mentor and father figure Vesemir, it’s likely that these flashbacks may include a look into Geralt’s childhood and Witcher training.
Star Citizen Has Hit Another Ridiculous Crowdfunding Goal With $300 Million Pledged
Star Citizen has made more from crowdfunding than any other game ever, and that number continues to rise. The game hit $200 million in crowdfunding during November 2018–and now, less than two years later, it has hit $300 million. The game, from Chris Roberts (Wing Commander) and Cloud Imperium Games, was originally pitched as a follow-up to Freelancer, and has grown in scope over time.
At the time of writing, the current live stats on the game’s funding goals page show that the game has raised $300,644,967 from 2,713,206 fans, meaning that the average pledge is about $110. At the rate it’s going up, it’s likely to have increased by the time you read this. The game’s stretch goals, listed on the page, top out at $65 million.
The game has received funding beyond this, with investors also giving the developers quite a bit of money. Jumping into Star Citizen requires a pledge of at least $45 for a Starter Pack.
Back in 2017, Star Citizen brought in $35 million, which seemed enormous at the time. The game, which is still being worked on, recently hosted a free-to-play period throughout May 2020, so everyone could see what several hundred million dollars can buy you. A beta is meant to be
Cloud Imperium Games was recently taken to court by Crytek, over breach of contract and copyright infringement claims relating to single-player spin-off Squadron 42. A settlement was eventually reached.
GameSpot has officially kicked off Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. Join us as we bring you the summer’s hottest news, previews, interviews, features, and videos, as well as raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts and Black Lives Matter with the help of our friends from around the gaming world. Check out the Play For All schedule for more.
US Video Game Industry Just Had Its Best May Since 2008; Top 20 Best-Selling Games Announced
With more and more people staying home during COVID-19 lockdowns, spending on video games is jumping to heights not seen in more than a decade. The NPD Group has released its report for US video game industry sales in May, and they were huge.
Total spending on video games in the US during May 2020–covering hardware, games, and accessories–reached $977 million. That is up 52 percent compared to May 2019. According to the NPD, May 2020’s $977 million was the highest for a May month since May 2008 ($1.2 billion).
Year-to-date, total spending on video games in 2020 reached $5.5 billion, which is up 18 percent. This represented the highest year-to-date spending since 2011 ($5.7 billion).
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare And Warzone June 13 Patch–Here’s What It Contains
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and the standalone Call of Duty: Warzone have received a new patch on all platforms, and it’s bringing a few minor changes and improvements to the game. This isn’t like the enormous Season 4 pass, so expect a much smaller download–and because it’s a server-side patch, it’ll download and install right away when you load the game up.
According to a tweet from developer Infinity Ward, the patch that went live on June 13 fixes a few small issues. Players will no longer spawn outside the map in Scrapyard, and in-match events were not occurring at the right frequency in Warzone, which has also been fixed.
A patch is rolling out now to fix a few bugs in #ModernWarfare and #Warzone:
· Fix to help prevent spawning out of the map on Scrapyard
· Fix for some players who were unable to use content unlocked via Battle Pass
· Fix for the frequency of In-Match events occurring in Warzone— Infinity Ward (@InfinityWard) June 13, 2020
Some players who had purchased the Battle Pass were finding themselves unable to use the content they were unlocking. This has also now been addressed, so players will find themselves able to unlock things as expected. That’s it for this update, so if you’re holding out for Shoot House to return, you’ll have to keep hoping.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Lets You Delete Bits To Save Storage Space
It’s no secret that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is a pretty storage-intensive title. However, Activision has recently confirmed that you can delete portions of the game that you’re not using in order to save space.
A few days ago, the official Activision support Twitter account posted about players being able to remove unused Modern Warfare content if they choose to. It looks like downloading the game includes a number of separate installs that can be safely removed without affecting your gameplay experience so long as you only remove content that you’re not wanting to use.
Need to free up hard drive space on your console? You can delete Modern Warfare content you may no longer wish to use. Check out this article for more info: https://t.co/xAGs9oGuPd
— Activision Support (@ATVIAssist) June 12, 2020
Serial Cleaner 90s-Set Sequel Announced, Could Receive A PS5/Xbox Series X Release
A sequel to Serial Cleaner has been announced during the PC Gaming Show, and it’s called Serial Cleaners. Despite what the name might suggest, it’ll be a single-player only adventure–but this time you’ll be playing as four different cleaners.
This is a stealth-action game that, like its predecessor, will see you cleaning up crime scenes. It’s set in the 90s, and will feature four distinct playable characters that you can switch between as you go. As in the first game, you’re a mob cleaner, sent to crime scenes to dispose of evidence without getting caught.
The trailer below only has a tiny bit of gameplay in it, but it shows off the game’s sense of style and a quick look at its isometric perspective and updated graphics.
Call Of Duty: Warzone Adding 200-Player Modes, Leaked Image Shows
It appears the rumors are true: Call of Duty: Warzone is introducing a 200-player mode. Some free-to-play Warzone players recently discovered an image that shows references to three modes that have not been officially announced for the battle royale game.
The three modes include BR 200, Plunder 200, and BR Juggernaut. The Juggernaut mode was teased in the Season 4 roadmap, but the 200-player modes have never been confirmed. However, Infinity Ward said in an interview that a 200-player mode was coming, eventually.
Currently, Warzone is capped at a maximum of 150 players per match. The titling of the rumored 200-player modes suggests they will include a 200-player variant of the regular Warzone mode and a 200-player version of the Plunder mode where you try to collect the most cash.
PGA Tour 2K21’s Full Player Roster Finally Confirmed
PGA Tour 2K21 has had its full roster announced over Twitter, with a confirmed list of 12 pros taking to the green for the game’s release on August 21.
PGA Tour 2K21 is the first official PGA Tour title for 2K Sports, who were the team behind The Golf Club 2019. The publisher had already released some information about a few of the game’s featured pros last week. Notably, it featured a much less-jacked looking Bryson DeChambeau when confirming the American’s participation in the title.
The full list of PGA Tour professionals who will be making an appearance in 2K21 is as follows:
HBO Is Simplifying Its App Line-Up, Scrapping HBO Go
The recent release of HBO Max meant that HBO was split between HBO, HBO Now, HBO Go, and HBO Max. Now, to reduce confusion, parent company WarnerMedia is discontinuing one of their apps and rebranding another to make it clearer what you’re getting. HBO Go will be discontinued from July 31, and HBO Now will be re-branded as just HBO.
The Hollywood Reporter has detailed these upcoming changes, which should ultimately encourage more subscribers to make the switch to HBO Max, which offers more content for the same price. While previously the app you used to access HBO content depended on whether you were signed up through a cable provider or third-party platform. While some platforms will automatically upgrade users to HBO Max, it’s more complicated if you’ve signed up through Amazon, Roku, or other companies that have not made specific deals with WarnerMedia–which is why the HBO app still needs to exist.
When HBO Go is discontinued, subscribers who access HBO through a cable provider will mostly be able to move over to HBO Max, or by either watching their programs on TV when they’re scheduled or accessing them via hbogo.com, which will remain accessible until August 31.