Category: Gamespot

The Spider has painted a new target on an escapee of the Prison of Elders with the latest Destiny 2 weekly reset. With the new round of bounties comes Wanted: Eye In The Dark, a wanted target players haven’t hunted before. It’s a powerful Hive Shrieker hiding in one of the deep places of the Hellas Basin on Mars. You’ll need some strong weapons to bring it down, as well as the resiliency to fight off a whole horde of Hive minions. Here’s where to find it, and how to take it down to earn a piece of Powerful gear.

Like all of the Wanted Spider bounties, this one will run you five Ghost Fragments, which you can earn from completing public events, bounties, and patrols on the Tangled Shore. Purchase it, and you’ll unlock a new Adventure on Mars. Load into the Glacial Drift area, then head up north along the eastern edge of the map to reach the Ma’adim Subterrane Lost Sector to start the Adventure.

Delve into the cave and you’ll find Cabal fighting Hive throughout the area. Clear the path until you get to the back of the Lost Sector, where you’ll find the Eye In The Dark hovering over you, closed up. You’ll soon find that the Shrieker is invulnerable to your attacks–the only way to hurt it when it is opened is to have the “Wormcursed” buff active, which lets you dish out the damage for 15 seconds.

To get the buff, look for special Wormcursed Thralls, which are glowing Cursed Thralls, hanging around the battlefield. These guys carry orange life bars and are therefore a bit tough to kill, so watch out they don’t explode and take you down. Once they pop, they’ll spray green goo all over the area. You can catch some from the explosion or walk through it to get it on you, which will give you the buff. As soon as you’ve got it, turn your attention to blasting away at the Eye.

Doing a certain amount of damage will cause the Eye In The Dark to clam up again, forcing you to fight a whole bunch of Hive enemies that stream into the area. Try to keep moving so you don’t get overwhelmed, and watch your six, as enemies will enter behind you along the path you took to reach the Eye. Clearing out all the enemies will cause the Eye to open again, and you’ll need to repeat the process of killing a Womrcursed Thrall to get the buff.

If you’re at a high level and have strong weapons like Sleeper Simulant, you should be able to take down the Eye on that second buff. Crowd control supers are really helpful here, since the Hive can be overwhelming, as is anything that does powerful direct damage to the Eye, like sniper rifles or linear fusion rifles. Heavy weapons are good for the Eye, while assault rifles and other fast-firing weapons will be good for fighting the Hive that protect it.

Killing the Eye will complete the bounty and net you your Powerful gear drop, which is the gear in Destiny 2 that will push you toward the Power level cap of 600. To continue the climb, focus on Daily and Weekly challenges, as well as the Ascendant Challenge in the Dreaming City.

You might also want to check out the Iron Banner Crucible event, which is back with this week’s reset. Battling in the Crucible will earn you increased Valor and Glory ranks, plus the opportunity to complete Iron Banner bounties, all of which are good for Powerful gear drops. And don’t forget that this week marks the final step in the Murder Mystery quest to unlock a new Exotic weapon, the heavy machine gun Thunderlord from the original Destiny.

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Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft’s Xbox One subscription service that lets you play more than 100 games for a monthly fee, is doing really well, it seems. Xbox boss Phil Spencer told LevelUp that the program already has “millions” of subscribers following its public release in June 2017.

“We are seeing incredible growth with Xbox Game Pass. We have millions of subscribers of Game Pass today,” Spencer said in the interview.

Xbox Game Pass has been referred to as the “Netflix of Games,” but that’s exactly the best description. Netflix is a streaming service, while Xbox Game Pass titles require a download. In that way, Xbox Game Pass is more similar in structure and setup to EA Access, the subscription service from EA that gives people access to a “Vault” of games as part of a monthly or yearly subscription fee. Sony has its PlayStation Now service, which allows players to stream a catalog of games for a monthly fee; the option to download was recently added.

Microsoft is working on a game-streaming service currently called Project xCloud, while EA is also working on a streaming service of its own. Microsoft (and EA for its part) have not yet announced the specifics of its streaming service, so we don’t yet what a subscription price or game availability may be at this stage.

Whatever the case, Spencer said Xbox Game Pass is merely an option for players who want it. Buying games individually is a perfectly fine way to play, and he mentioned that individual game sales are doing well for Xbox right now. Xbox Game Pass costs $10/month (though there is a $1 introductory offer going on now), and as long as your subscription is active you can download and play any of the more than 100 titles available in the catalog. The library includes Xbox One games like Sea of Thieves, Halo 5, and Forza Horizon 4, as well as numerous third-party games like Rocket League and backwards-compatible Xbox 360 games. In fact, all upcoming Microsoft games will launch in the Xbox Game Pass library, which means next year’s Gears 5 and the upcoming Halo Infinite will be free for subscribers.

Earlier this year, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella teased that Xbox Game Pass could come to PC sometime down the road, and that’s an exciting prospect to think about. For Spencer, he said Xbox Game Pass is great because it helps introduces players to games and different genres they might not have otherwise engaged with.

“People in Game Pass are playing more games than they did before they were a Game Pass subscriber,” Spencer said. “Maybe you say, ‘Duh, they have all these games, [so] they’re going to play more games.’ But they are playing genres of games that they didn’t play before because it’s easy to try them out. When one genre, or one type of game, becomes what everybody is doing, that’s not the most healthy thing for creativity.”

Also in the interview, Spencer said some of the games in the Xbox Game Pass library are seeing a “huge uplift” in player figures.

Do you enjoy subscription services like Xbox Game Pass, EA Access, or PlayStation Now? Let us know in the comments below!

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We’re giving away PS4 and Xbox One codes for Spyro Reignited Trilogy to ten (10) lucky fans! Scroll down to enter.

This is not an instant win. No purchase necessary. Competition ends at 12:00 PM PT on November 26, 2018, in which 10 winners will be chosen at random and emailed a code for the full game (MSRP: $40).

Enter below:

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Epic Games recently partnered up with the NFL to bring officially licensed jersey skins for all 32 teams to Fortnite, but they rotated out of the store earlier this week. If you missed out, the good news today is that Epic has confirmed it’s bringing the jersey skins back in the future.

A representative for Epic Games told The Wall Street Journal’s Sarah Needleman that the jersey skins will return to Fortnite’s in-game store sometime before the Super Bowl in February. No further specifics are available at this time, however.

The NFL jersey skins were available to buy in Fortnite’s in-game store for a few days before cycling out, as pretty much all Fortnite cosmetics do. Epic’s partnership with the NFL for jersey skins marked the first time Epic teamed up with an outside company or organisation to sell skins. You can only imagine what other partnership Epic could be lining up for the future.

The NFL jersey skins in Fortnite led to some amount of controversy for reasons you can definitely gather for yourself. Both Epic Games and the NFL declined to comment about this drama when approached by WSJ.

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Telltale Games made the announcement on Friday, September 21, that it was enacting a “majority studio closure.” This resulted in hundreds of jobs being lost at the San Rafael, California-based studio behind adventure games in the Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and Batman universes.

It was a sad and shocking announcement that sent waves through the industry. How could this have happened and what happens next? We’ve put together a roundup and timeline to help you get up to speed on all the important developments so far, dating back to last year up through recent events like the ex-employee’s lawsuit and halting of sales for Walking Dead’s Final Season. The timeline of events also covers things like the hiring of new executives and more. We’ll keep updating this post in the days and weeks ahead as new details and information comes to light.

March 2017:

Telltale CEO and founder Kevin Bruner announces he is leaving the company. It is later reported that Bruner was forced out as he clashed with the company’s board of directors. Telltale’s other co-founder, Dan Connors, takes over as CEO.

September 2017:

Telltale hires former Zynga executive Pete Hawley to become the company’s next CEO. Before Zynga, Hawley was a production lead at Fable studio Lionhead, working alongside Peter Molyneux on that series from 1993 to 2003. He then spent time with Sony (2003-2005), then EA (2005 to 2010).

November 2017:

One of Hawley’s first major moves as CEO of Telltale is enacting a huge round of layoffs in which the company cut 25 percent of its workforce, which amounted to around 90 people at the time. The layoffs impacted “all divisions” at Telltale, and were part of Telltale’s ambition to become “more competitive as a developer and publisher”

December 2017:

Telltale’s CEO Pete Hawley talks to GamesBeat about the layoffs and the future of Telltale. He rejects the idea that Telltale is in trouble, stating he feels the company is in “really good shape.” The layoffs were necessarily to help Telltale succeed in the future, Hawley said at the time.

March 2018:

A deeply sourced report from The Verge alleges that Telltale operates under a culture of heavy, expected crunch pushed by toxic management. Among the many shocking claims in the report is that employees worked as many as 18 hours per day for weeks on end.

September 20, 2018:

According to Variety, Telltale management informs employees that its negotiations with media giant AMC for more funding were “going well,” with the company expected to complete the funding process in the coming weeks. There was also reportedly a deal being negotiated with South Korean mobile game giant Smilegate for more funding.

Smilegate and AMC both apparently leave negotiations with Telltale on Thursday, just hours before an eventful Friday. The reports offered no explanation for why AMC and Smilegate left negotiations on the same day. Variety previously reported that movie studio Lionsgate also decided to pull out of a financial deal with Telltale.

September 21, 2018:

According to reports, Telltale Games holds a meeting where it informs more than 200 developers that they were losing their jobs right then and there. According to Variety, employees were given paper paychecks for pay through the end of the day. They reportedly were instructed to leave the building within 30 minutes (employees were allowed back in for a period of three hours on the following Monday to collect personal belongings). The affected staffers received no severance pay, and their health care cover reportedly only extended to the end of the month. Management told employees they should consider applying for unemployment benefits.

Former Telltale CEO Kevin Bruner writes a blog post on his personal website talking about how he clashed with Telltale’s board of directors about the future of the company. He shares no more information about what he and the board disagreed over. Telltale’s board of directors includes Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer, former Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello, and others.

Telltale’s official statement explains that the company is undergoing a “majority studio closure,” with only around 25 people remaining on board to “fulfill the company’s obligations to its board and partners.” CEO Pete Hawley, who joined Telltale in September 2017, says it was an “incredibly difficult year” filled with “insurmountable challenges” for Telltale. He says he is proud of Telltale’s efforts, but at the end of the day, its efforts “did not translate to sales.”

Dan Connors, Telltale’s co-founder, tells Variety that Telltale had “no choice but to stop production” after it failed to close another round of financing to keep the company afloat. “Sadly, everyone was so focused on doing what was required to keep the company going that when the last potential partner backed out, there were no other options,” he said.

September 24, 2018:

One former Telltale employee, Vernie Roberts Jr., files a class-action lawsuit against Telltale for unpaid wages and benefits that he claims Telltale owes him and other affected staffers. Roberts Jr. claims Telltale violated California’s WARN Act, which states that an employer must provide 60 days written notice about a mass layoff. There are some exceptions to the federal WARN Act. Attorney Richard Hoeg, who is not working on the case, tells GameDaily that Telltale may be able to deem the situation an “unforeseeable business circumstance” to remain in compliance with the WARN Act. However, California a version of the WARN Act unique to the state that does not include the “unforeseeable business circumstance” clause.

Later that day….

Telltale Games announces that “multiple potential partners” expressed some level of interest in helping Telltale to complete and release The Walking Dead: The Final Season. The company shared no information about who these potential partners might be. Additionally, Telltale says it can make no promises about ever releasing Episodes Three and Four. Even if they are released, Telltale warns fans that they might only come out “in some form.”

Also on September 24, Netflix announced that it is evaluating its options to continue production on Telltale’s Stranger Things game with a different partner. The streaming giant also confirmed that it plans to go ahead with releasing Minecraft: Story Mode on Netflix as planned.

September 25, 2018:

The Walking Dead: The Final Season’s second episode launches as planned, but it’s not the only major development this day. The game’s $20 season pass, which provides access to episodes 1-4, was removed from sale on all major digital storefronts including PS4, Xbox One, and PC. A statement from Telltale says the company is pausing sales until further notice.

October 3, 2018:

Kotaku is reporting that Telltale is is negotiating a deal “that would provide for the third and fourth episodes to be finished by another company using former Telltale employees.” According to the report, Episode 3 is “nearly finished.” The story goes on to quote sources as saying Telltale would work with this other studio and hire former Telltale employees on a contract basis.

October 5, 2018:

It was initially reported that Telltale had retained a “skeleton crew” of around 25 employees. That small team appears to now be even smaller.

October 7, 2018:

Skybound Entertainment, the media company run by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, announces it has reached a deal with Telltale to finish The Walking Dead: The Final Season. The studio has brought on members of the original development team, but many questions remain unanswered.

October 9, 2018:

Skybound Interactive boss Dan Murray tells Variety that it was aware of some of the “challenges” that Telltale was facing, but was taken by surprise when the company announced its significant restructuring and layoffs. While Skybound plans to bring on some of the developers who were working on The Walking Dead: The Final Season, Murray said he can’t say for sure how many former Telltale Games employees will contribute to Episodes 3 and 4. “This is a business that is made by people, and when things like this happen there is a human cost. We are trying to do what we can to work with the original staff and provide a soft landing,” he said.

November 14, 2018:

According to GameDaily, Telltale Games has begun the bankruptcy process, enlisting the help of an outside studio to liquidate the game company’s assets. Not only that, but it appears a number of Telltale’s games have been removed from Steam and potentially other stores, which makes sense if Telltale is indeed going under.

Some other notes and notable facts

• Telltale was founded in 2004 by former LucasArts developers Kevin Bruner, Dan Connors, and Troy Molander.
• Telltale’s publicly disclosed funding partners included the venture capital firms IDG Ventures and Granite Ventures, along with the film company Lionsgate.
• Of the seven named executives on Telltale’s management website, four, including Hawley, are former Zynga higher-ups.
• There is no word yet as to what will happen with the previously announced second season of Telltale’s Wolf Among Us.
• Telltale also operates a publishing division that is behind the upcoming adventure game Stranded Deep from a two-person studio in Australia. The developer, Beam Team Games, does not know if it will be able to release the game on console in October as planned.
• Telltale plans to provide a deeper update on its portfolio in the coming weeks.

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Telltale Games appears to be shutting down. According to GameDaily, the troubled Northern California game studio behind the acclaimed Walking Dead series has entered bankruptcy proceedings, and has enlisted the help of an outside company, Sherwood Partners, to assist in the closure of the company.

Co-founder Martin Pitchinson told GameDaily that Sherwood will be overseeing the liquidation of Telltale’s assets. Not only this, but an ex-employee told the site that the remaining health benefits mandated by law for affected eligible employees will come to an end on November 30.

Telltale entering bankruptcy proceedings is no surprise. In September, the studio laid off the majority of its staff, reportedly paying no severance to affected developers. Only a small “skeleton crew” remained on staff, and now it appears the true end is in sight for Telltale.

All of this happened amid Telltale’s The Walking Dead: Final Season. For a period of time it was unclear if the series would be finished, and eventually The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman’s studio, Skybound, announced that it would step in to release Episodes 3 and 4.

Additionally, GameDaily reports that a number of Telltale’s games have been removed from Steam, which now makes more sense given that the company may be going under.

For more on the Telltale Games situation, check out GameSpot’s timeline of the key events.

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Electronic Arts has shared more details on its upcoming Command & Conquer remasters. In a blog post, EA started off by confirming that it is remastering 1995’s Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn and 1996’s Command & Conquer: Red Alert. That game’s expansion packs, including Covert Ops, Counterstrike, and Aftermath, will also get remastered.

In its blog post, EA also stressed that the new remasters are coming “without microtransactions,” which sounds like good news.

EA is working with Petroglyph Games to develop the Command & Conquer Remastered Collection, which comprises Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert. The Las Vegas-based studio has a history with Command & Conquer, as some of its founding members worked on the original game at Westwood Studios before joining Petroglyph.

In its statement, EA said it hopes its partnership with Petroglyph will go a long way toward helping people feel comfortable about how the remaster collection will be handled.

“In addition to the excitement and support of this remaster initiative over the past month, there has also been a healthy skepticism that we can pull this off,” EA said. “How are we possibly going to remaster these titles while maintaining the authenticity of the original experiences? Bottom line, there is no better way to achieve this than to partner with some of the talented developers who brought these original games to life.”

What’s more, EA also confirmed that the original Command & Conquer audio director and composer, Frank Klepacki, has returned to Petroglyph to work on the new remaster collection.

EA also recruited established CG company Lemon Sky Studios to work on the Command & Conquer remaster package. Lemon Sky has worked on loads of games in the past, including Diablo III: Eternal Collection, Spider-Man PS4, StarCraft Remastered, Dead Rising 4, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Bloodborne, Gears of War 4, and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, among many others.

There is no word as of yet regarding when the Command & Conquer remaster collection will launch or other key particulars about it, but keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest. EA previously said it it might release the remasters to celebrate the franchise’s 25th anniversary, which could mean they’ll launch in 2020.

At E3 this year, EA announced Command & Conquer: Rivals, a 1v1 free-to-play game that is currently available through an alpha. A public release will come later.

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The first wave of Gen 4 Pokemon arrived in Pokemon Go early last month, and since then, developer Niantic has been gradually introducing more monsters originally from the Sinnoh region. During Pokemon Go’s third annual Halloween event, Niantic added a handful of new Ghost- and Dark-type Pokemon, and now a few more are available.

Gen 4 was notable for introducing a variety of new evolutions for older Pokemon such as Electabuzz, Magmar, and Rhydon, and now a number of these have been added to Pokemon Go. You’re able to obtain Electivire, Magmortar, Rhyperior, Togekiss, Weavile, Porygon-Z, and several other new Pokemon if you have their previous forms and the requisite number of Candies.

You’ll also need one more item in order to obtain these evolutions: the Sinnoh Stone. However, getting your hands on one may require a bit of work. At present, it seems the only way to acquire a Sinnoh Stone is through a Research Breakthrough, which is achieved when you complete enough Field Research tasks.

Coinciding with the arrival of the new Gen 4 Pokemon is another in-game event. From now until November 27, Niantic is holding the Hatchathon event, which gives you a chance to hatch Rhyhorn, Magby, Porygon, and other Pokemon that have evolved forms first introduced in the Gen 4 games from 2 km Eggs. On top of that, you’ll be able to hatch a Shiny Elekid if you’re lucky.

The Pokemon series’ next console titles, Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee, release for Nintendo Switch on November 16. The pair feature connectivity with Pokemon Go; you’re able to transfer any Gen 1 Pokemon from the mobile game over to the Switch titles. Doing so will reward you with the Mystery Box, which is the key to catching the new Mythical Pokemon Meltan.

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The upcoming Five Nights at Freddy’s movie from game creator Scott Cawthon that’s being directed by Harry Potter director Chris Columbus has been delayed. Cawthon said in a Steam post that he vetoed the script, so the writers are working on a new one instead.

Columbus liked the script, as did Jason Blumhouse, who is head of the production company Blumhouse (The Purge, Halloween, Get Out), Cawthon said in his post (via Variety). However, Cawthon had a better idea, so they scrapped the earlier draft in favour of something new.

“I take responsibility for this delay; it’s my fault,” Cawthon said.

Writing a good FNAF movie script has been a “real challenge for everyone,” Cawthon said. While it’s been difficult, Cawthon said he won’t compromise on the story.

“I’m determined to find the right story,” he said. “I’m sticking to what I’ve always said: either the right movie gets made or no movie gets made. I hate delaying a project that’s already seen so many delays, but I have to go with my instincts on what I think will be exciting and interesting, and what I think the fanbase will really want to see.

“If that means that I have to start over ten more times, then that’s what I’m going to do. The good thing is that each attempt gets better and better, in my opinion. So, despite the delays, it’s going in the right direction.”

The upcoming FNAF movie, and whatever sequels may come after it, exist in the universe of FNAF 1-3 only, not FNAF 4 or any of the spinoffs. “The games after Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 will not exist in the movie universe. Like it or hate it, I felt that this was the best portion of the storyline to really focus in on,” Cawthon said.

There is no word as of yet regarding a release date, cast, or plot details for the FNAF film. In the game, players must survive in a scary version of Chuck E. Cheese’s that’s full of animatronic monsters. It is quite terrifying.

The FNAF series debuted in August 2014 on PC and has since been ported to iOS. Sequels Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, 3, and 4 followed, along with spinoffs Pizzeria Simulator and Sister Location.

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