Category: Gameinformer

As the COVID-19 pandemic pushes into spring, some of the biggest movies and games that were slated to release in the next couple of months are being pushed back. Yesterday brought the indefinite delays of The Last of Us Part II and Iron Man VR, and Disney today announced a shift for roughly a dozen films, many of which are the next entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Black Widow, which was originally going to release next month on May 1, has been delayed until November 6. This was the release date Disney had set for The Eternals, which is now slated for February 12, 2021. Following that, Disney has announced Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is coming on May 7, 2021, followed by Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on November 5, 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder on February 18, 2022, Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022, and Captain Marvel 2 on July 8, 2022.

Disney is also delaying Indiana Jones 5 over a full year from July 9, 2021 to July 29, 2022.

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While traveling through the Darkest Dungeon and its last several DLC packs is keeping us plenty busy until we hear more about Darkest Dungeon 2, Red Hook is giving players PVP for the first time in the dark gothic roguelike RPG.

In the Butcher’s Circus, you can pit a team of 4 adventurers against other teams and see who rises to the top. All the action takes place in a special area, and you won’t be putting your campaign groups at risk – you’ll have different tools to build your player-vs-player pro team.

We weren’t joking – The Butcher’s Circus is coming in May!

Play intense PVP arena battles against your friends and enemies alike. Pick your party & loadout, and let the games begin!

Wishlist here: https://t.co/SHKqZiqbML pic.twitter.com/8pXVhOBUiO

— Darkest Dungeon (@DarkestDungeon) April 2, 2020

There are ranks to climb and narration by the incredible Wayne June, so this is probably yet another chunk of essential Darkest Dungeon DLC, even if you’re not really into PVP competition. There’s no word on exactly when the mode is hitting in May, but soon is good enough!

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Nintendo released a surprise Nintendo Direct presentation offering a shotgun blast of details for various Switch games.

Apart from 2K’s Switch collections for Borderlands, XCOM 2, and BioShock, and a release date for the Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition (May 29), the presentation also dropped a variety of news on a bevy of titles.

• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate revealed that the first character in the newly announced Fighters Pass Vol. 2 is from ARMS, and will be released and announced in June. Unfortunately, there was no other information on this other than to stay tuned.
   
• Speaking of Arms, a game demo is running from March 26 to April 6 for paid Switch online members.
   
• A free Animal Crossing: New Horizons Bunny Day event runs from April 1-12, with other events like Earth Day coming later.
   
• Pokémon Sword & Shield expansion pass details. Isle of Armor comes out at the end of June, with more info about The Crown Tundra to follow.

If you don’t want to wait for those titles, Nintendo has announced Switch games and content available now: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order expansion pass content featuring the Fantastic Four, Shinsekai: Into the Depths, Good Job!, A Ring Fit Adventure update featuring a rhythm mode with music from Splatoon 2, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Super Mario Odyssey, Star Wars: Jedi Knight Academy, Panzer Dragoon: Remake, and the Bravely Default II demo.

And further out in the future Switch owners can look forward to games including:

• Saints Row: IV – Re:Elected (March 27)
• Star Wars Episode I: Racer (coming soon)
• The Elder Scrolls: Blades (spring)
• Minecraft Dungeons (spring)
• Vigor (closed beta)(April 9)
• Trials of Mana (April 24)
• Ninjala (May 27)
• Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition (May 29)
• Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus (May)
• Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics (June 5)
• Mr. Driller: DrillLand (June 25)
• The Legend of Heroes: Trials of Cold Steel III (June 30)
• Catherine: Full Body (July 7)
• Fuser (fall)
• King’s Bounty II (later this year)
• Bravely Default II (later this year)
• Burnout Paradise Remastered (later this year)

Finally, despite the bevy of great news today, Nintendo sensitively reminds us that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some of these release dates may change.

[Source: Nintendo]

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Back in January, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai announced a second Fighters Pass, which will bring six more downloadable fighters to the biggest crossover battlefield in gaming. While we still don’t know the details of who the first character of Fighters Pass Vol. 2 will be, we do know that the character will hail from Arms, the 2017 fighting game from Nintendo.

Arms features 15 characters, each of which has a distinct style and arsenal of moves. While it would make sense for Spring Man or Ribbon Girl to appear in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate thanks to their mascot statuses for the game, Twintelle garnered quite the fan base when the title launched. Also working against the idea of Spring Man as a playable character is the fact that he’s currently an Assist Trophy. 

Whichever character the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate development team chose from the Arms roster will be both announced and released in June. For more on Arms, check out our review.

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Update: In a recent clarification on the original PlayStation Blog post, Sony noted that the number of PS4 games expected to be supported through backward compatibility is much higher than PS5 lead system architect Mark Cerny’s initial comments made it appear.

“We believe that the overwhelming majority of the 4,000+ PS4 titles will be playable on PS5,” the post says. “We’re expecting backward compatible titles will run at a boosted frequency on PS5 so that they can benefit from higher or more stable frame rates and potentially higher resolutions. We’re currently evaluating games on a title-by-title basis to spot any issues that need adjustment from the original software developers.” 

Sony also notes that further updates on backward compatibility will be coming in the months ahead, along with more details about the PS5. 

Original Story (posted 3/18/20, 12:05pm): During today’s “Road to PS5” presentation, PS5 lead system architect Mark Cerny ran through a lot of technical details regarding Sony’s upcoming hardware. Though the event seemed geared more towards developers than consumers, it did clarify some information about one of the topics gamers are passionate about: backwards compatibility.

Cerny revealed that PS4 (and PS4 Pro) backwards compatibility is a native part of the PS5 chipset, and that it isn’t a scenario like the PlayStation 3’s backwards compatibility, which essentially just included a copy of the PS2 in every console until the feature was removed in later iterations. 

“Once backwards compatibility is in the console, it’s in,” Cerny says. “It’s not as if a cost-down will remove backwards compatibility like it did on PlayStation 3.”

However, that doesn’t mean that every PS4 game will automatically work perfectly out of the gate. Cerny says that running PS4 titles at boosted frequencies can cause complications in certain games. “The boost is truly massive this time around, and some game code just can’t handle it,” he says. “Testing has to be done on a title-by-title basis.”

So what PS4 games can you play on your PS5? Cerny says that “almost all” of the top 100 PS4 games (as ranked by play time) will be available at launch. Presumably, tests on individual games will continue beyond that to continue broadening the library.

By contrast, the Xbox Series X has an even more inclusive approach. Last month, head of Xbox Phil Spencer explained that all existing Xbox One games – including Xbox 360 games that are already backwards compatible on Xbox One – will work on the Xbox Series X.

All of these recent PS5 backwards compatibility details pertain specifically to PS4 Pro and PS4 titles; Cerny did not mention anything about whether PlayStation games from earlier generations will also work on PlayStation 5. 

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The Clone Wars is back and so is Jedi Ahsoka Tano. As fans celebrate her return in this beloved animated series, they may have an even bigger moment to look forward to this year. According to Slashfilm, Tano will also appear in The Mandalorian‘s second season, which is slated to air on Disney+ this October.

Since this is a live-action show, Tano will be brought to life by actress Rosario Dawson from Rent, Daredevil, and Eagle Eye fame. Dawson has long played along with fans requesting she be cast as Tano in a show. Now it appears to be happening. Tano was first brought to life in the animated series by actress Ashley Eckstein.

Tell ‘em! #AhsokaLives https://t.co/n4ddfqiTl2

— Rosario Dawson (@rosariodawson) January 12, 2020

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Pokémon Go is one of the most popular social gaming experiences out there, but it now needs to scale back the social interactions as the world deals with the COVID-19 pandemic. Last night, developer Niantic issued a statement that addresses the outbreak, and what players can expect from Pokémon Go. The message states that “the safety of our global player community is our top priority. COVID-19 is challenging us and the world to adjust. We’re putting our focus on expanding features and experiences in our games that can be enjoyed in an individual setting and that also encourage exploration!”

Niantic isn’t turning off raids or other aspects of the game, but is giving trainers the ability to do more on their own. First up, trainers should go into the Pokémon Go store where they’ll find a new incense gift that only costs one gold. This 99 percent discount gives players 30 incense items. When one is put into use, the time it lasts is doubled from 30 minutes to an hour. Incense ups the number of Pokémon players will be able to catch in an area, even if they are out in the middle of nowhere where nothing ever spawns.

All normal Pokémon habitats will generate more spawns, another move that limits the trainer’s need to move around.

Next up, you’ll still need to walk around with incubators to hatch eggs, but the distance you need to travel to accomplish this feat has been cut in half. A 10k egg only needs to be walked 5.

While you’ll need to be near PokéStops to spin them, Niantic is upping the number of gifts that are handed out, meaning you’ll be able to send friends much-needed items long distance, and they’ll hopefully return the favor.

Lastly, the planned community day for March 15 that would give players a chance to catch a shiny Abra has been postponed indefinitely. Again, Niantic isn’t removing any elements from the game. The company announced that Cobalion and Lugia are returning to raids starting March 17, and also will add Genesect to a special Research task starting on March 20. As trainers take on these challenges, be mindful of the safety of others and yourself.

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Like clockwork, Overwatch is back with another Archives event, but this one is a little different. Although players will be entering the same Archives Brawls from previous years, extreme modifiers to both the enemies and players should make them play out differently.

In the first week of the event, which kicks off now, two Uprising missions are unlocked. In one, the enemies you square off against will drop lava on death. In the other mission, you have 50 percent of your normal health, yet you deal more damage.

In the second week, players can take on two Retribution missions. The enemies in the first can only be damaged if you land a critical hit. In the second mission, enemies only sustain damage if you are near them.

The final week of Archives brings two Storm Rising missions. The first must be played without support heroes. Don’t worry, you can heal yourself by dealing damage. In the second mission, some enemies are enraged. If you kill them, you spread the rage.

All of your wins during this period will help you unlock three legendary skins. For week one, nine wins gets you an epic Holi Symmetra skin. Week two is an epic Rustclad Torbjorn. And week three delivers an epic Bear Mei.

If you have the gold or are lucky in loot crates, you can purchase or unearth five new legendary skins, along with additional icons, emotes, and sprays. You’ll have until April 2 to snatch them up. You can see some of skins and sprays below:

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The Seattle area has been a particular area of concern for the growing threat of the COVID-19 coronavirus in the United States, and a number of tech and gaming companies have made the challenging decision to adjust their work policies as a result. In just the last couple of days, many of these companies have begun to encourage its employees in the Seattle area (and surrounding cities) to work from home, or have closed up their offices entirely while continuing work remotely.

Yesterday, Bungie announced that it has enacted a plan for a “fully remote work infrastructure” for all its workers worldwide, including its Bellevue studio, which normally acts as the employment home base for several hundred workers. Bungie acknowledges in its statement that the new remote work plan could “affect patching cadence in the short term“ for Destiny 2, and the team’s goal is to keep players informed about shifting schedules. However, the impending launch of the next season of the game on March 10, and the Trials of Osiris relaunch on March 13, should be unaffected.

Other companies are also adjusting plans. Microsoft has encouraged workers to work from home through March 25. Nintendo told Kotaku in a recent statement that it has taken the precaution to allow workers in California and Washington state to work from home.

Many of North America’s largest gaming companies are based on the west coast, in areas like Seattle and the San Francisco Bay Area, which are already troubled by the coronavirus threat. Depending on the progress of the disease and its spread, it’s not unrealistic to expect additional game and tech companies to be forced to adjust their working policies.

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Bethesda Softworks and id Software released a new trailer that shows the assembly and recording of a heavy metal choir for Doom Eternal’s soundtrack. This choir features a variety of different singers and musicians from bands like Ministry and The World I Knew, and is the brain child of Doom Eternal’s composer Mick Gordon and lead audio designer Chad Mossholder.

To get the singers in the mood, Gordon and company tinted the lights red and placed a number of candles in the recording space. The end product sounds cool as hell, which you can hear for yourself at the end of  trailer.

Doom Eternal launches on March 20 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia. A Switch version is also in the works, but it arrives at a later date in 2020.

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