Month: January 2019

The first trailer for Netflix’s Carmen Sandiego is out, and it introduces us to very different version of the master thief. Acting as an origin story for Carmen, the series reimagines the mysterious villain as a misunderstood anti-hero.

Gina Rodriguez stars in the new series as the voice of Carmen, and she’s joined by Finn Wolfhard who portrays Player, Carmen’s chief accomplice and friend. Carmen Sandiego begins airing on January 18.

Carmen Sandiego was first introduced in an educational video game series as the antagonist that you had to chase around the world while learning about geography. Although she’s the villain, the games have rarely portrayed her as a bad person. Instead, she’s usually just playfully stealing valuables for the sport of it. However, her reasoning behind it has always changed, as Carmen has retold her backstory rather differently throughout the two decades of her games, books, comics, and cartoon. This Netflix series aims to change that, by shifting into the past when Carmen was much younger and telling her origin story.

Interestingly enough, the new trailer reveals that Carmen has never been the villain the games lead players to believe. In actuality, Carmen attended a secret academy as a teen to learn how to become a master criminal, but when she discovered that committing crimes can lead to people being hurt or killed, she gave up on that dream. Instead, she resolved to become a thief of thieves who steals back from the criminals who once trained her so that she can stop the harm they cause innocent people.

Netflix found great success in 2018 with another animated series that was based off of a beloved classic female character, She-Ra, in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Princesses of Power went on to be one of the most popular series on Netflix in 2018, so the streaming service probably hopes to recapture the same audience with Carmen Sandiego this year.

The holiday-themed 14 Days of Fortnite event ended earlier than many players anticipated, as developer Epic Games admitted it shared the wrong end date on its social channels. As an apology, the studio said it would offer a free item for all players who participated in the event, but now it has decided to go one step further and bring the entire event back for a limited time.

“We communicated an incorrect end date for the 14 Days of Fortnite event and did not feel the Equalizer Glider compensation was the right approach,” Epic wrote on its website. “After further discussion, we’ve decided to bring back this event early next week through January 15 at 3 AM ET (0800 UTC). We’ll also be enabling some of the most popular Limited Time Modes that were available during the event.”

As part of 14 Days of Fortnite, Epic offered a new challenge to complete and reward to unlock every day. The developer says all of these will be available for the duration of the event when it returns next week, giving players another chance to unlock the rewards. However, Epic notes that any progress made on partially completed challenges will be reset.

Earlier this week, Epic said it would give all players who completed at least one of the 14 Days of Fortnite challenges the Equalizer glider, which was the 14th reward you could unlock as part of the event. Many players, however, expressed that they would rather the event be extended so they could unlock any rewards they may have missed out on, making this decision welcome news. You can see all of the challenges and rewards from the event in our 14 Days of Fortnite roundup.

In other Fortnite news, Epic recently rolled out the fifth weekly set of challenges of Season 7, which task players with dancing on towers and searching between a giant rock man, a crowned tomato, and an encircled tree, among other things. The developer also introduced a new item to the game: the Boom Box, which can destroy structures.

A new set of Humble Monthly games is on the horizon, but you can get two of the titles–Yakuza 0 and Tom Clancy’s The Division–right now for $12. That’s already a great deal, seeing as buying the games separately on Steam right now would cost you $70. Then, once this month’s cycle ends on February 1, you’ll also get an additional batch of six to eight mystery games. The only catch is that you won’t know what those games are until it’s too late to buy in for the month. So the real question is, are this month’s early-reveal games worth spending $12 on in hopes that the mystery titles are good?

According to our reviews, the answer is almost certainly yes. Yakuza 0 is a prequel to the long-running series set in Japan’s criminal underworld. In GameSpot’s 8/10 Yakuza 0 review, Peter Brown wrote, “You should play Zero because it’s a fascinating game that combines equal parts drama and comedy, and is unlike anything else out there at the moment.”

As for The Division, it’s getting a sequel on March 15, which should give you plenty of time to play this post-apocalyptic, loot-based shooter to see if you’re interested in the series. In GameSpot’s 8/10 The Division review, Scott Butterworth wrote, ” I stopped caring about the game’s flaws after the first few hours and proceeded to lose myself in obsessive stat optimization and cooperative gun battles. The problems (and frustration) never disappeared, but I was more than happy to play through the pain.”

As for the mystery games, you can get a sense of their probable quality by looking at the full contents of previous months’ bundles here. All told, this bundle will likely include eight to 10 titles, spanning an array of genres. The games come in the form of Steam codes, and they’re yours to keep and play forever even if you cancel your subscription.

Other perks include access to all the games in The Trove, 10% off everything in the Humble Store, and access to exclusive deals. Plus, 5% goes to charity. You can join Humble Monthly here for $12 and cancel at any time.

Japan has made game save editors and console modding services illegal. The punishment for breaking this law is pretty severe too, as perpetrators are liable up to a 5 million yen fine (approximately $46,000 USD or £36,000 GBP), five years of prison time, or both.

These laws are a part of Japan’s Unfair Competition Prevention Act, which was revealed in December 2018. As the name of the act implies, these laws are designed to prevent someone from unfairly turning a profit off of a company’s software or electronic product. However, the wording of the law allows it to extend over what were previously assumed to be harmless actions as well, such as adding new games to the NES, SNES, and PS Classic consoles via mods or using an Action Replay.

The three exact actions that people will be punished for, according to a Siliconera translation, via the act are as follows:

• Distribution of game save data editors and programs
• Distribution, selling, auctioning serial codes and product keys without the software maker’s permission
• Services that offer the editing/hacking of save data, and/or modifying/hacking game consoles

As a result, products like Action Replay and Cyber Save Editor for PS4–both popular in Japan–have been forcibly discontinued. The law also creates a firmer stance in Japan around the act of reselling digital download product keys, which has typically been a rather grey area in the games industry as a whole.

While the Switch has been a huge success for Nintendo thus far, its predecessor, the Wii U, will be remembered as one of the company’s biggest sales flops. But while a number of the console’s best titles, such as Mario Kart 8 and Bayonetta 2, have since been ported to Switch, the system is still home to some great exclusives, making it something of a collector’s item. If you’re looking to pick up a new one, however, be prepared to shell out a lot of money.

As pointed out by Twitter user RSGabe (via Nintendo Soup), prices for brand-new Wii U consoles have skyrocketed on Amazon. The Deluxe 32 GB model with the pack-in launch title, Nintendo Land, is listed for $789 as of this writing, while the New Super Mario Bros. U + New Super Luigi U bundle is currently going for $879. Even the basic set, which features a white 8 GB console and no pack-ins, is listed for an exorbitant $729.

If you don’t mind picking up a second-hand system, however, you’ll be able to get a Wii U for much cheaper than that. Refurbished consoles can be found for roughly $100 on Ebay, while used systems start at around $140 on Amazon.

The Wii U first launched in November 2012 and would go on to be Nintendo’s poorest-performing home console to date, selling 13.56 million units worldwide over its lifetime. Nintendo officially ended production of the console in January 2017, two months before the launch of the Switch. The hybrid system has fared much better, surpassing Wii U’s lifetime sales in just 10 months.

Despite its poor sales, Wii U amassed a solid library of exclusive titles, such as Super Mario 3D World, Pikmin 3, and Xenoblade Chronicles X. As previously mentioned, a number of the system’s best games have already been re-released on Switch, the latest of which is New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, which combines the base game along with the New Super Luigi U expansion. It hits the console on January 11.

The entire playable teaser for Konami’s Silent Hills has been remade in Unreal Engine for PC. Called Unreal PT, the remake comes with VR support, allowing you to further immerse yourself in the teaser’s terrors.

Created by a fan of the original P.T., who goes by RadiusGordello on itch.io, Unreal PT has been in development since April 2018. The game supports mouse and keyboard, as well as PS4, Xbox One, and VR motion controllers. Unreal PT is nearly identical to the original teaser, with the biggest change made to the ending. Beating the game and reaching the ending is less random, allowing you to complete the experience without relying on chance.

Silent Hills first appeared as a sequel to the Silent Hill franchise, created as a joint effort between Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro. It also starred The Walking Dead actor Norman Reedus. Its teaser opted out of the series’ traditional third-person, survival horror mechanics for a first-person, puzzle game experience. Although the teaser was met with excitement from the gaming community, Silent Hills was cancelled, and P.T. was removed from the PlayStation Store.

In the wake of Silent Hills’ cancellation, numerous teams and solo developers have tried to remake the game or create something similar. However, most have followed in the legacy of the teaser that came before them and no longer exist. Some, like Allison Road, were cancelled by their own creators. Others, like a fan remake that was finished last year, were shut down by Konami. A few, such as Visage, have managed to make it to Early Access though. Kojima, del Toro, and Reedus would also all reconvene for the creation of Death Stranding, an upcoming PS4 exclusive with a story that becomes more convoluted with every new trailer.

If you want to play Unreal PT, you’ll need to download the game to your PC. The minimum system requirements are outlined below.

Unreal PT Minimum PC Spec Requirements

• CPU: i3-7100U 7th Generation with Intel HD 620
• GPU: Integrated
• RAM: 8GB DDR4

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While everyone’s talking about the new year, the important thing for Amazon and Twitch Prime members is that it’s a new month. That’s because January’s batch of free PC games is now available to download for Twitch Prime members. To take advantage, all you have to do is link your accounts, claim the games, and you’re good to go.

January’s Prime games are Hyper Light Drifter, Bomber Crew, Republique, and Orwell. You can also still get the Devolver Digital Holiday Pack, which became available just before Christmas. It contains The Messenger, Broforce, Hotline Miami, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, Strafe, Crossing Souls, and The Swords of Ditto. You can claim all of these games between now and January 31. Once you do, they’re yours to keep and play forever, even if you cancel your Prime membership.

Hyper Light Drifter is a gorgeous action RPG GameSpot awarded 9/10 in our review. Bomber Crew is a survival sim about maintaining a plane and crew as you run military missions. Orwell has you use an invasive computer program to figure out who’s responsible for an act of terrorism, and Republique is a futuristic stealth game.

Standouts in the Devolver Digital Holiday Pack include the Ninja Gaiden-style game The Messenger and the two ultra-violent top-down Hotline Miami titles. Also currently available for Prime members are a pair of in-game loot bundles for Warframe on PC.

If you’re wondering whether being a Twitch Prime member is worthwhile, the streaming company announced it gave away over $3,000 worth of games and digital items over the course of 2018. Here’s to 2019.

Twitch Prime Games for January 2019

• Hyper Light Drifter
• Bomber Crew
• Orwell
• Republique

Devlover Digital Holiday Pack (Available Through January 31)

• Broforce
• Crossing Souls
• Hotline Miami
• Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number
• The Messenger
• Strafe
• The Swords of Ditto

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