Category: Gamespot

With March drawing near, Microsoft has announced the lineup of games that Xbox Live Gold members will be able to download for free next month. There’s the usual total of four new games being introduced across Xbox One and Xbox 360, with an especially good one up for grabs on the newer console.

On Xbox One, the month starts out with Trials of the Blood Dragon, a more action-oriented take on the Trials series that’s somewhat in the vein of Far Cry 3‘s Blood Dragon spin-off. It will be available for free for the entire month. From March 16 through April 15, Superhot will be free. The excellent shooter sports a distinct visual style and an even more novel concept, as time (mostly) freezes when you stop moving, allowing you to set up some Matrix-style bullet-dodging sequences.

Xbox 360 owners also get two games to download in March. During the first half of the month, it’s Brave: The Video Game, which is based on Disney’s film of the same name and was just added to the Xbox One’s backwards compatibility list. It’s then followed in the second half by Quantum Conundrum, the puzzle-based first-person game from Airtight Games and Kim Swift, one of the key developers behind Portal and Left 4 Dead. As always, both Xbox 360 games are playable on Xbox One through backwards compatibility.

In the meantime, it’s not too late to grab some of February’s free Games With Gold titles. One of the Xbox One games, Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India, will also remain free for the first half of March. Claiming any of these games allows you to continue playing them for as long as you’re an Xbox Live Gold subscriber.

March 2018 Games With Gold

Xbox One

• Trials of the Blood Dragon (March 1-31)
• Superhot (March 16 – April 15)

Xbox 360 (playable on Xbox One)

• Brave: The Video Game (March 1-15)
• Quantum Conundrum (March 16-31)

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Bungie has explained its approach to changing Destiny 2‘s Exotics, offering insight into its goals and what it hopes to achieve in a game update planned for March. In the latest Bungie Weekly Update senior designer Jon Weisnewski said the gameplay tuning pass on Exotic gear is focused on “adding and/or increasing player Power spikes,” and although all items are being considered, special attention is being paid to low-usage items. The goal, he says, is to “lean into an item’s established gameplay and push it harder” while avoiding “catch-all improvements that dilute item identity.”

To show what this means Weisnewski used the Graviton Lance as an example, explaining that the feedback has been that it looks cool, but isn’t viable for getting kills in player-versus-player scenarios. Bungie is remedying this by reducing the recoil of the first of the weapon’s burst shots. On top of that, it’s introducing some aim assist to control recoil and changing it from three shot burst to two shot.

“This still plays into the fantasy of a low-damage gravity-neutralizing round forming a projectile tunnel for the last bullet,” he said. “It also allows us to ensure the damage per burst is at a competitive level for PVP engagements. In fact, it gives Graviton a slight mathematical edge against other pulse rifles.”

Weisnewski also said that, as a result of feedback, the way an enemy’s body now behaves after being hit with a Graviton Lance has changed. “We made it so that rather than violently flying backwards and likely out of range of a potential splash damage opportunity, the defeated opponent floats back and up,” he explained. “Then we made the explosion bigger, increased the damage, and added some void field projectiles that seek out any remaining targets.”

According to Weisnewski, “this is one of the more exaggerated examples to help describe how we’re looking at our goals and applying them to the gear.” He went on to name weapons that aren’t getting an update: Merciless, Telesto, Wardcliff Coil, MIDA Multi Tool, Colony, Legend of Acrius, and Vigilance Wing. The team decided not to change these as some don’t require it, while the others will benefit from other tuning changes included in update 1.1.4.

“We’ll be touching a lot of powerful gear with this update and to truly understand the impact for players requires a lot of design iteration and test time,” Weisnewski said. “It isn’t enough to crank up the damage and run one strike or Crucible match with a gun and helmet and move on. Dialing in the right amount of power, testing in all activities with all types of load outs, finding the bugs, fixing the bugs, updating the perk description text to reflect new behaviour, and then handing that off to localization for translation–it’s a ton of work, but we’re up to it. We sincerely appreciate your patience. I believe it will be worth the wait.”

As previously detailed in the Destiny 2 roadmap, the changes are expected to go into effect on March 27 when the Sandbox & Crucible update will be launched as part of patch 1.1.4.

Destiny 2’s Crimson Days event is now live, introducing a special 2v2 Crucible playlist. By taking part in the event you’ll be working toward unlocking the real highlight of the new content: new gear. There’s lots of new goodies for Destiny 2 players on PC, PS4, and Xbox One to acquire, but only for a limited time. You can take a look at the new items, rewards, and gear in Destiny 2 Crimson Days update here.

Crimson Days is now live on all platforms, and it runs until the weekly reset on February 20. Even if you don’t plan on playing much, you can get a free Crimson Engram just by logging in and speaking with Tess at The Tower.

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Prolific video game performance actor Troy Baker has joined the cast of Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding, along with Emily O’Brien, another well known actor that has been featured in a number of big games.

O’Brien made the announcement on Instagram by posting a picture of herself with Baker and Norman Reedus, who has already been confirmed as one of the main characters in Death Stranding. “Honored to be working alongside these two fine lads on Hideo Kojima’s new project Death Stranding,” reads the caption. “I’m a lucky gal ;)”

O’Brien’s recent credits include Days Gone, which is in development at Sony’s Bend Studios, Arkane Studios’ Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, Telltale’s Batman: The Enemy Within and Guardians of the Galaxy series’, and World of Final Fantasy.

Baker, meanwhile, is reprising the role of Joel for Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II, and most recently voiced Talion in Middle-earth: Shadow of War, Sam Drake in Uncharted 4 and The Lost Legacy, and is Batman/Bruce Wayne in Telltale’s series based on DC’s Dark Knight.

As of yet there hasn’t been a confirmed Death Stranding release date, but Kojima hinted that it might launch in 2018. It also stars Mads Mikkelson (Hannibal), director Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water) and Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead).

The last Death Stranding trailer was 8-minutes long and, although it’s very exciting, creates a whole bunch of new questions, which is pretty standard for Kojima’s titles. In April, Kojima spoke a little about the game, explaining why he wanted Norman Reedus to be naked in the game’s first trailer. We’ve also since learned why its fog looks so nice.

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Bandai Namco has revealed Ivy and Zasalamel will be playable characters in SoulCalibur VI and released short gameplay trailers for them both. The two characters have been in previous entries, so their returns to the new PS4, Xbox One, and PC game will certainly be welcome news to long-time fans of the weapon-based fighting series.

Ivy Valentine makes her comeback wielding the tricksy Ivy Blade, which has the ability to switch between a solid sword or a barbed whip. She’s still on a quest for revenge and hopes to destroy the evil sword at the centre of the game’s story.

“Ivy’s father was driven mad and finally died while researching the history of Soul Edge with her mother following not long after,” Bandai Namco explains in a press release. “Since then, she thirsts for revenge and wants to destroy the cursed sword that took the lives of her parents, using her alchemy skills to craft a weapon tailored to her needs. She combines Western European sword with Eastern European whip techniques, making her attacks graceful and absolutely deadly at the same time.”

The gameplay trailer for her (above) shows she’s still got plenty of big combo opportunities and is handy at controlling space thanks to the two forms her weapon can take. She’s also got a pretty cool ethereal bow and arrow.

Zasalamel, meanwhile, made his debut in SoulCalibur III and, based on the gameplay trailer, his Kafziel scythe looks like it’s still just as devastating at mid-to-close range. As with Ivy, Bandai Namco has opted to provide a brief overview of his story as a whole, instead of his motivations in the new game.

“[Zasalamel] was born into a clan called Guardians of the Spirit Sword charged with protecting the legendary swords Soul Calibur and Soul Edge. While he was exiled from the clan for breaking their sacred laws, Zasalamel nonetheless managed to discover the secret of reincarnation, making him a mighty magician and dangerous foe.”

The last SoulCalibur VI characters to be revealed were Kilik, Xianghua, and Nightmare–all series veterans–and Groh, a newcomer. You can read our hands-on with SoulCalibur 6’s new characters to find out what we thought of them.

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Nintendo has released a free update for Super Mario Odyssey, bringing a new mini-game called “Balloon World” to the critically acclaimed Nintendo Switch title. Along with the new mode, there’s also two new filters to use when taking screenshots in the Snapshot Mode.

Balloon World becomes available once the main game is completed and, to get started, players need to find Luigi in each Kingdom and talk to him. Balloon World’s “Hide It” mode lets you hide balloons within stages that other players race to find. Conversely, “Find It” mode let’s you track down other balloons hidden by players from across the globe.

“Whether players are hiding balloons or finding them, their Rank will go up based on their score,” Nintendo explains in a press release. “While playing Balloon World, the atmosphere will change for each kingdom: for example, players will see it rain in New Donk City during the day and watch the sunset in Tostarena.”

Also in the update are “a range of new outfits”, including The Sunshine, Musician, and Knight Armor outfits, all of which become available in the shop after the main story is finished. The two new Snapshot filters, meanwhile, are Coin and Neon.

In GameSpot’s Super Mario Odyssey review the game was awarded a 10, and GameSpot voted it the third best game of 2017. It was a great year for Nintendo overall, with Switch becoming the fastest selling console in the US, and Super Mario Odyssey taking the top slot of Amazon’s best-selling games of the year.

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As if one weren’t good enough, Blizzard’s given us another Overwatch tease this week, but it’s not for a new character or map this time. Instead, it’s turning its eyes to a lore database, beginning with a loving letter Torbjörn penned to his wife.

Earlier this week, the Overwatch Twitter revealed the after-action report of an operation called “White Dome.” Things didn’t go exactly as planned, and the team was ambushed, leading Reinhart to take the charge and rescue an injured Torbjörn.

The most recent update to this story details a letter Torbjörn wrote to his wife, Ingrid, from the hospital, promising her that all is well. From the letter, it appears this is the battle in which he lost his arm.

“I know that by now you have gotten news of my injuries in our latest mission. While the descriptions may sound terrible, the doctors are quite sure I’ll make a full recovery. Even Angela came to visit me! On the matter of my arm, I promise to make it my first priority to construct a suitable prosthesis that will make everyone forget that it was ever gone. If only Angela’s dreams of tissue regeneration were a reality! I told her she should be working harder!”

The letter also details a few other sweet details about Torbjörn and his family, so it’s worth checking out. We recommend grabbing some tissues first; find the letter in its totality here.

The “Story Update” appears to be part of an ongoing Overwatch lore archive. This will give fans “secret clearance” to art, videos, stories and more about the title’s characters and world, good or evil. As of right now, there is not an exclusive section on the Overwatch website to find the rest of this lore database’s entries.

In other Overwatch news, this story might not make you quite as emotional as Torbjörn’s letter. Blizzard made Zenyatta walk, and it’s as weird as you’d expect.

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The Total War series continues to go strong after nearly 20 years, but it didn’t start out as a no-brainer success story. The debut title, Shogun: Total War, was released in 2000 by Creative Assembly, a developer that was not exactly known for its experience with the strategy genre.

Prior to Shogun’s release, many of the studio’s previous titles had been based on rugby and cricket. And while the past two decades have seen it try its hands at some different types of games–it developed 2014 horror game Alien: Isolation, for instance–it has almost exclusively focused on strategy games with Total War in the title.

In the video above, we dive into the history of the Total War series, which now consists of more than a dozen games. We look primarily at the core entries in the series, which have often been based on historical settings–although recent years have also brought Warhammer-inspired entries, which we also explore. Although the games share a familiar underpinning, Creative Assembly has managed to introduce wrinkles to keep the series fresh across so many titles, thanks in part to shifting between radically different settings.

Things aren’t slowing down for Total War in the near future by any means. Following Warhammer II‘s release last year, Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia is due out in April. Beyond that, there’s the next big historical entry, Total War: Three Kingdoms, and the free-to-play spin-off Total War: Arena. And while it has not yet been announced, Creative Assembly has not been shy about making it clear that its Warhammer games are viewed as a trilogy.

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