Category: Gamespot

Thumper is an awesome “rhythm-violence” game that originally launched for PS4, PSVR, and PC in October last year. It later came to Oculus Rift, Steam VR, and Nintendo Switch, and it’s now coming to Xbox One. The game will launch for Microsoft’s console on August 18, developer Drool announced today.

Pricing has not been revealed for the platform, but the indie title usually costs US $20 / £16 / AU $30 on the PlayStation Store, and it’s likely Xbox One pricing will be in line with that.

The game sees you take control of a scarab traveling at high speeds along a track, and you have to hit buttons and turn at the correct moments in rhythm. We named it one of the best VR games of 2016, and we awarded it a 9/10 in our review.

“Thumper thrives due to the way it marries speed, simple controls, and mesmerizing atmosphere,” wrote critic Peter Brown. “It’s far more convincing in VR, where you’re enveloped in the game’s space and free of distractions from the outside world, but it shouldn’t be ignored by those without the appropriate hardware. Thumper, no matter how you play it, is too good to miss.”

Read more in our full Thumper review, or check out some boss fight gameplay.

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We teamed up with Hi-Rez Studios to give away 15,000 codes for the Chinese Starter Pack in their newest game in open beta, Hand of the Gods: SMITE Tactics on PC. Each code will unlock 3 cards that will help you build an awesome Chinese deck. Here’s what you get:

• Transfusion x1
• Ne Zha x1
• Projection x1

You can download the game for free here and enter to get your code below:

Hand of the Gods: SMITE Tactics is a turn-based, one-vs-one strategy game set in the same mythological universe as the hit MOBA, SMITE. Players build decks of cards that spawn units onto a fully rendered battlefield using Unreal Engine 4. Each pantheon has its own unique leader ability and pantheon specific cards that can be combined with neutral cards to support a variety of playstyles. Hand of the Gods is currently in open beta on PC. Download and play for free at www.handofthegods.com

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Following a false start at Walmart, Nintendo has announced that SNES Classic Edition pre-orders will be available in the United States in August, ahead of the system’s September 29 launch. The company has also again suggested it will offer an ample number of systems following the supply issues with last year’s NES Classic Edition.

In a post on its Facebook page today, Nintendo said, “We appreciate the incredible anticipation that exists for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition system, and can confirm that it will be made available for pre-order by various retailers late this month.” It did not offer a more specific date than that, nor did it say which stores would be offering pre-orders. Individual retailers may share their plans in the weeks ahead; we’ll continue to monitor and track how to pre-order a SNES Classic Edition as more details are shared.

There have been concerns that, in light of how difficult the NES Classic Edition was to find, the SNES Classic Edition will face a similar situation. Nintendo again tried to alleviate these worries, stating, “A significant amount of additional systems will be shipped to stores for launch day, and throughout the balance of the calendar year.” Nintendo previously said its current plan is to only offer the system during 2017, adding that it will offer far more SNES Classic Edition units than it did with the NES model.

The SNES Classic Edition includes 21 of the Super Nintendo’s best games, as well as one–Star Fox 2–that was never publicly released. Pre-orders have been offered in the UK already, but until now there had been no word on when those would launch in the US. Without warning, the system appeared recently on Walmart’s website, only for those pre-orders to end up canceled.

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With the Call of Duty: WWII multiplayer beta scheduled to begin this month, Activision has now announced a special bonus for everyone who participates. Take part in the beta and you’ll get the MP Private Beta Combat Pack, which includes a helmet, calling card, and emblem that you can use to show off that you played the beta.

The extra items will be available when Call of Duty: WWII launches on November 3, Activision clarified on Twitter.

The Call of Duty: World War II beta starts August 25 on PS4 for people who pre-order the military shooter and runs until August 28. The Call of Duty website shows that a second wave of the beta will be available on PS4 and Xbox One September 1-4.

In addition to beta access, everyone who pre-orders Call of Duty: World War II gets a wicked cool-looking weapon camo for Zombies mode.

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Another PlayStation 4 system update is available to download now, but don’t expect it to do too much. According to the patch notes, update 4.73 simply “improves the quality of the system performance.”

The patch weighs in at around 340 MB, and it’s mandatory to install–just turn your PS4 on and the update should begin downloading automatically. It follows another update, released last month, that also improved system performance.

A few days after that, Sony announced that the PS4’s big 5.0 update is on the way, and beta sign-ups are open now. According to Sony, beta will start in “early August,” though there’s currently no clue as to when the update will be released for all. We also don’t yet know what the patch will include.

The last big PS4 update, 4.50, added Boost Mode for PS4 Pro owners and external hard drive support, among other things. The Boost Mode feature aims to improve the quality and performance of games that have not been patched to support PS4 Pro. “This can provide a noticeable frame rate boost to some games with variable frame rates, and can provide frame rate stability for games that are programmed to run at 30 Hz or 60 Hz,” Sony explained at the time.

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The next Overwatch seasonal event is coming up soon. Blizzard today announced that the Summer Games event will return for a 2017 edition, starting next week.

Summer Games 2017 will run August 8-29, and players will be able to get new skins (of course), while a new Lucioball map is on the way. Additionally, the skins from Summer Games 2016 are returning for this year’s event, and they will cost less.

Below you can see a rundown of the prices for Overwatch’s Loot Box items, covering this year’s event and last year’s.

2017 Summer Games Cosmetic Items

• Legendary Skins will cost 3,000 credits
• Epic Skins will cost 750 credits
• Rare tier will cost 225 credits
• Common tier will cost 75 credits

2016 Summer Games Cosmetic Items

• Legendary Skins will cost 1,000 credits
• Epic Skins will cost 250 credits
• Rare tier will cost 75 credits
• Common tier will cost 25 credits

As for the new Lucioball map, it’s set in Sydney, while 2016’s map, Rio Stadiums, is also included. Matches will rotate between them. Blizzard has made a number of changes to Lucio’s abilities for the mode this year, including the following:

• The ability to “boop” enemies has been removed
• Lucio’s ultimate ability no longer pulls the ball toward the player, but now increases Lucio’s speed and the speed of his “boop”
• Summer Games 2017 will also introduce a second competitive mode for Lucioball, allowing players to place and rank

Keep checking back with GameSpot for more on Overwatch’s new Summer Games event.

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Ant-Man And The Wasp, the sequel to 2015’s Ant-Man starring Paul Rudd as the tiny superhero, is now officially in production. Principal photography has begun, director Peyton Reed said on Twitter, while he also released a new logo for the sequel.

Additionally, Marvel put out a silly promo video heralding the news; take a look:

Ant-Man And The Wasp is due in theaters on July 16, 2018, which is less than a year from now, so right around now would be the time for production to begin.

Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly return from the first Ant-Man, while Michael Douglas and Michael Pena are also coming back. As Collider explains, newcomers for the sequel include Laurence Fishburne, Walton Goggins, and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Ant-Man and the Wasp will be directed by Reed, who previously helmed the first film. Reed took over from Edgar Wright, who had worked on the movie for many years but left shortly before production began. Wright recently revealed that he has never seen the final film.

In an interview with Modern Myth Media last year, Reed spoke about his plans for the sequel. “For me, as a comic nerd, I have always thought of Ant-Man and Wasp as a team,” he said. “That’s a lot of what the second movie is really about–how they work together, and what their personal and professional relationships are like.

“To show her finally fully formed in this movie is really exciting. We really get to introduce this character into that universe. To me she’s not a supporting character in this movie. It’s every bit as much her movie as it is Scott Lang’s.”

The first Ant-Man made more than $500 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, so it’s no surprise that the franchise is continuing.

The next big Marvel movie is Thor: Ragnarok, which opens in November.

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A new writer has come aboard for Star Wars: Episode IX. According to The Hollywood Reporter, British writer Jack Thorne has been brought on to contribute to the script.

The first script was written by director Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly (Safety Not Guaranteed, Jurassic World). Sources told THR that a “fresh set of eyes was needed” for the script. However, the extent of the rewrites or changes is not clear.

Thorne created a number of British TV shows, including The Cast-Offs, The Last Panthers, and National Treasure. He also wrote the popular stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

As Collider explains, the hiring of a new writer for a Star Wars film is nothing new. Michael Arndt spent a year working on The Force Awakens before he was replaced by JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan. Rogue One also had new writers. One major exception is this year’s The Last Jedi, which Rian Johnson wrote and directed himself.

Star Wars: Episode IX is set for release in May 2019. While you have to wait a while longer for that movie, The Last Jedi is out this December, with the untitled Han Solo film set to follow a year later.

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