NBA Playgrounds 2 is getting a new publisher with a slight tweak to the title to match. 2K announced today it will publish Saber Interactive’s arcade basketball game, shifting the name to NBA 2K Playgrounds 2. The two-on-two basketball game will hit PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch this fall.
The announcement suggests that the partnership will infuse Playgrounds 2 with “NBA 2K flair,” but was short on details of how resources may be shared. In any event, it’s a more casual approach to complement its annual NBA 2K series, which has enjoyed generally better critical buzz than EA’s NBA Live series.
“The original NBA Playgrounds was a fantastic throwback to the glory days of arcade-action sports,” said Visual Concepts president Greg Thomas, in the announcement. “The new NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 will step up this energy and attitude big time–with a bit of added NBA 2K flair–giving fans of both franchises an exciting new way to game with friends around the world.”
The original NBA Playgrounds was published by Mad Dog Games, and received a middling reception. In GameSpot’s NBA Playgrounds review, Blake Hester enjoyed the cartoon aesthetic and satisfying challenge, but found the audio repetitive and suggested its single game mode offered too little variety.
The stylized military action worlds of the Tom Clancy brand are colliding, as a special event in Ghost Recon Wildlands brings in characters from Rainbow Six Siege. You can use two new Siege-inspired PvP classes or complete a two-part PvE mission starring Siege’s operators.
In the mission from Special Operation 2, titled Operation Archangel, Valkyrie tracks the missing operator Caveira to Bolivia. You’ll partner with Twitch to help Valkyrie find Caveira, while unlocking the mystery of why he’s in Bolivia at all. You can start the mission in the province of Caimanes, and it can be taken on solo or with four-player co-op.
Completing the mission before August 14 will get you Caveira gloves, which unlocks a special CQC move and automatically unlocks enemy positions. You can also customize your Ghost character with a Rainbow Six Gear pack, which includes Caveria’s Luison handgun, a new HK 416 assault rifle, a Valkyrie head-wrap shemagh, and a Twitch skull balaclava.
Two new Ghost War PvP classes are also available. Toxic and Surgeon are inspired by Smoke and Doc from Siege, respectively. Toxic uses a drone to deploy toxic smoke, and Surgeon uses a stim pistol to revive teammates at range. The update also includes two more PvP maps, Factory and Checkpoint, a new Observer mode for spectating, and a higher difficulty PvE game mode with perma-death.
TV personality and Nerdist Industries founder Chris Hardwick will return soon to host his TV show, Talking Dead. This news follows Hardwick’s suspension due to recent allegations that he abused ex-girlfriend Chloe Dykstra.
Dykstra posted an article on Medium a few weeks ago describing years of emotional and physical abuse from an ex-boyfriend. The article didn’t mention the celebrity by name, but many inferred that the boyfriend in question was Hardwick from small details in the article as well as photo evidence of the two together. Hardwick has since denied all allegations regarding sexual assault.
AMC said in a statement that it has conducted an investigation into Hardwick’s conduct and has chosen to allow Hardwick to continue hosting Talking Dead.
The statement says, “Following a comprehensive assessment by AMC, working with Ivy Kagan Bierman of the firm Loeb & Loeb, who has considerable experience in this area, Chris Hardwick will return to AMC as the host of Talking Dead and Talking with Chris Hardwick. We take these matters very seriously and given the information available to us after a very careful review, including interviews with numerous individuals, we believe returning Chris to work is the appropriate step.”
Hardwick will reportedly return to the show in time for Fear The Walking Dead’s midseason premiere on August 12. In the meantime, Yvette Nicole Brown will host the show for The Walking Dead Season 9 Preview Special on August 5.
Niantic recently rolled out another update for Pokemon Go, introducing a new feature to the game called Lucky Pokemon. Despite being listed in the patch notes, Lucky Pokemon weren’t initially available when the update rolled out, but the developer has confirmed on Twitter that the feature is now live on both iOS and Android devices.
Lucky Pokemon are special kinds of Pokemon that players can only obtain through trades. According to Niantic, some Pokemon that you receive from other players have a chance of turning into Lucky Pokemon, which are denoted on the collection screen by a sparkling background.
What makes Lucky Pokemon special is they require less Stardust to power up than typical Pokemon. This is an especially beneficial trait to have, as the lower Stardust requirement means players can raise the Pokemon’s Combat Power much faster than they would normally be able to.
Not every Pokemon you send or receive in a trade will become a Lucky Pokemon, but some will have a greater chance than others. According to Niantic, the longer a Pokemon has been sitting in your storage, the more likely it is to become a Lucky Pokemon when traded. Additionally, players will now receive XP for sending Gifts to friends, while the Gifts themselves now have a chance of containing Stardust.
In other Pokemon Go news, the Legendary Pokemon Registeel recently began appearing in Raid Battles. The powerful Steel-type will be available until August 21, when it will be replaced by the last of the Legendary titan trio, Regirock. Other new Pokemon may be on the way to the game soon as well, based on a new piece of artwork for Pokemon Go’s second anniversary featuring Gen 4 Pokemon.
Next, the newest update for No Man’s Sky, is live and it’s implemented some big changes to the game. However, more than a few bugs have appeared on the PC version of the update, so Hello Games has created a temporary fix. Logging into the Experimental Branch on No Man’s Sky on PC gives players access to a version of Next where Hello Games has already implemented patches to address crashes and bugs.
To opt into the Experimental Branch, right-click on No Man’s Sky from the Steam library page. Select “properties” and then click on the “betas” tab. In the dropdown menu, scroll over “Select the beta you would like to opt into” and then select “Code: 3experimental” when it appears. Opting into the Experimental Branch of Next is completely optional, and you can continue to play in the main version of the game–or switch back and forth–if you want.
In the Experimental Branch, the bug that stopped exosuit technology from converting into obsolete technology is gone. The mapping of old substances to new substances during save upgrades has also been improved. Neither of these changes apply retroactively to previously saved games where the upgrades have already been done. The Experimental Branch simply stops these issues from happening in the future.
The rest of the issues fixed in the Experimental Branch are listed below, and you can find the full patch notes on No Man’s Sky’s Steam page. Hello Games will continue to quickly roll out small patches for the Experimental Branch as they are created, before implementing more permanent changes to the main version of No Man’s Sky. Sean Murray tweeted that patches are on their way for the console versions of No Man’s Sky as well.
Experimental Branch Patch Notes
Fixed a crash in creature routines
Fixed a crash when multiple players put ammunition into a refiner
Fix for occasional crash when receiving mission rewards
Fix for crash when adjusting anisotropic filtering settings in the graphics options menu
Fix for potential crash in geometry streaming
Improvements to texture caching for AMD GPUs
Fixed an issue where some players still had physical nanites in their inventory that could not be spent at vendors
Granted players nanites when they dismantle their Obsolete Technology
Added a tutorial mission to guide players through the restoration of their old base
Fixed an issue where players were unable to build Frigate Terminals in Creative Mode
Fixed an issue where S-Class ships changed appearance
Fixed an issue where players were unable to build the Base Cache on their freighter to retrieve compensation for the loss of their freighter base
No Man’s Sky is available for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
Announced in May, the Xbox Adaptive Controller is designed for people with limited mobility. The controller’s design takes into consideration the needs of gamers who may not be able to hold a controller for a long time or reach all the triggers and buttons. It’s a forward-thinking, important piece of technology, but Microsoft’s efforts don’t stop at the controller alone.
The controller will come inside innovative packaging that aims to be easier for people with mobility considerations to unpack, Microsoft announced today. In development for nearly a year, the packaging was created in partnership and based on the feedback of various people who have limited mobility, just as the controller was. Microsoft packaging designers Kevin Marshall and Mark Weiser said during a presentation attended by GameSpot that you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, and that’s part of the reason why they put so much effort into the controller’s packaging.
The designers created more than dozen prototypes before landing on the final version. They thought about challenges related to people not being able to grasp, while the materials were important, too, because some people will need to open the packaging with their teeth.
As you can see in the images above, the packaging uses ribbons and loops that people with limited mobility may be able to grasp more easily. The packaging does require a sharp edge to get through the initial tape. But after that, it should not require much strength to open.
Additionally, it can be opened with hands or feet, while people can also use gravity to help the controller slide out of the box. The controller itself is positioned lower in the box so that if someone needs to pull it out of the box, it won’t fall too far and is unlikely to get damaged. What’s more, there are open ends on the cord packaging so they can slide out easily. Further still, the cords do not have any twist ties on them, as those can be difficult to unravel.
Marshall and Weiser said they hope the Xbox Adaptive Controller packaging helps set a precedent for other adaptive controllers that other companies might create in the future. The developers talked about how they designed the packaging with the intention for it to not feel “othered,” but rather that it would help the disabled gamers to feel empowered.
With a standard gaming box, the packaging team’s main design goal is to get the consumer to the product as quickly and elegantly as possible, Marshall said. But with the packaging for the Adaptive Controller, the thinking was to have more steps, but make them easier to complete. They found through testing that people were happy and eager to take longer to get into the packaging if it meant they could do it. With standard packaging, some elements like clamshells might be easy for someone with full control of their hands who can operate scissors, but that might not be the case for everyone.
Marshall acknowledged that the Xbox Adaptive Controller packaging may be more expensive to produce than a normal box. While that may be true, Marshall and Weiser said they are proud of the work Microsoft is doing.
This new packaging is a big first step from Microsoft towards creating products that appeal to a wider group of people. But will Microsoft go on to introduce accessible packaging for its Xbox consoles, too? That could happen later down the track, Marshall said, though for now it doesn’t appear to be in the cards. And while Microsoft itself is committed to packaging that takes into consideration the needs of people with mobility considerations, Marshall pointed out that the company can’t control what third-party companies do with their own products.
“We worked closely with them and directly with gamers who have limited mobility to assist in our development. Our goal was to make the device as adaptable as possible, so gamers can create a setup that works for them in a way that is plug-and-play, extensible, and affordable,” Xbox boss Phil Spencer said.
The controller has two big buttons built in that can be reprogrammed to work as any of the inputs on a standard controller using the Xbox Accessories app. Additionally, the Xbox Adaptive Controller supports external inputs from a range of third-party manufacturers, including PDP, Logitech, and Quadstick (you can see a full list here).
Funko has succeeded as a company because it delves into every single fandom, creating cute little figures at a low price point. At times, the company can get into some pretty deep dives within comic books, television shows, and movies. And then sometimes, Funko makes a flashing gremlin into a Pop figure.
As seen in Gremlins 2, Kate (Phoebe Cates) is trapped in a skyscraper, which is filled with gremlins. While inside a bar crowded with the monsters, she turns around and a gremlin flashes her. That three-second moment from a movie made in 1990 is now a Funko Pop figure. And guess what? It’s available now at your local Pop retailer. Additionally, there will also be a Greta Pop figure, the female gremlin who’s featured predominantly during the Broadway-style finale. Have we mentioned that Gremlins 2 is a really weird movie?
On a more serious side, Funko is also releasing a two-pack from its Vynl line featuring Gizmo and Stripe from the first Gremlins movie. This set will be available in August. Prices for both sets are not listed but Vynl two-packs on average cost $15 while Pops run between $10-15.
If you’re looking for more Funko Pops, check out the ridiculous amount of ones exclusive to Comic-Con this year, the Spider-Man PS4 game set, and the ones from Toy Fair earlier this year, which are all available now. And we’ll let you know when Hulk Hogan tearing his shirt off in a movie theater Pop figure from Gremlins 2 comes out. Hopefully, sooner rather than later.
