Month: June 2019

Microsoft’s E3 briefing this year was missing a few things some people might have expected. Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 did not show its new game, while Microsoft’s new studio, The Initiative, also didn’t show up during the event. Some also expected to see the rumored new Fable game from Forza Horizon developer Playground’s second team.

Now, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has explained why Microsoft focused more on the games coming out in the closer future than those that could release further out.

Spencer told Kotaku that he was proud that 12 of the 14 first-party titles that Microsoft showed off at E3 were shipping in the next year. “We were really able to focus on what’s coming now, which I think is awesome,” he said. “And then I think about the studios: where was Initiative? Where was [Forza Motorsport studio] Turn 10? Where was Playground’s second team?”

Spencer said it felt “nice” to not have to show all of its first-party games at the show. He said teams like 343 Industries (Halo) and Turn 10 (Forza Motorsport) have been given “time” to come up with new games that really excite people.

“We gave them time–we did, what, four Halos in four years?–giving them an opportunity to really think and have a creative impact when they launch. Turn 10 is similar. I want to give them time to think through their plans,” he said.

“I love what they do with Motorsport, but you’ve got to be able to listen to your studios when they need time and they want to focus on more things. And as you have more content, you’re able to do that,” Spencer added.

The executive went on to say that quality for first-party games is “very important.” He acknowledged that in the past it “became more difficult” to align the first-party Xbox portfolio of games with release dates chosen years before release. Now that Microsoft owns more studios–it now has 15 owned studios–it’s allowed the company to “create room for [Microsoft] to focus on quality.”

“I feel good about what Rod [Fergusson]’s done [at Gears studio The Coalition], what Bonnie [Ross] has done [at Halo studio 343 Industries], what Alan [Hartman] has done with Turn 10, and what Helen [Chiang]’s been doing with Minecraft.”

For Halo and Forza Motorsport, the wait is already longer than usual for a new release–and as Spencer says, that’s by design. Halo Infinite‘s release in Holiday 2020 will be around 5 years after the release of Halo 5 in 2015, which is longer than the average interval between the previous mainline releases. Meanwhile, the Forza Motorsport series (not counting Horizon) has been released every two years since the first game in 2005. The latest instalment, Motorsport 7, was released in 2017.

Microsoft acquired or set up a number of new studios in the past year, the most recent of which is Brutal Legend studio Double Fine that Microsoft announced in June.

List Of Xbox Game Studios Developers

• 343 Industries
• The Coalition
• Compulsion Games
• Double Fine
• Microsoft Studios Global Publishing
• The Initiative
• inXile
• Mojang
• Ninja Theory
• Obsidian
• Playground Games
• Rare
• Turn 10 Studios
• Undead Labs
• Age of Empires

Last month, Pokemon Go developer Niantic announced it would be bringing three Legendary Pokemon back to the game for a limited time. The second of the three, Kyogre, is now available, but if you’ve yet to catch it, your time to do so is quickly running out; the Legendary is set to leave the game again this Thursday, June 27.

As before, Kyogre can be found in five-star Raids, meaning you’ll first need to team up with other players in-person and battle the Pokemon before you can earn a chance to capture it. Even if you already have Kyogre in your collection, you’ll want to check out Raids while the Legendary is available, as you’ll also have a chance of encountering a Shiny Kyogre.

Immediately following Kyogre’s departure later this week, its counterpart from Pokemon Ruby, Groudon, will make an encore appearance in Raids until July 10. As is the case with Kyogre, you’ll have a chance of coming across a Shiny Groudon when the Legendary returns to the game. You can read more details on the official Pokemon Go website.

Even if you miss your chance to catch Kyogre this week, you’ll soon have another opportunity to add the Legendary to your collection. Both Kyogre and Groudon will be two of the possible Legendary Pokemon you can encounter as part of July’s Field Research tasks. You’ll also be able to catch a Spinda featuring a new spot pattern through the new Field Research quests, and if you’re lucky enough, you’ll be able to find a Shiny version.

Groudon isn’t the only Legendary set to return this week, either. As a reward for completing enough Global Challenges during the recent Pokemon Go Fest event in Chicago, Niantic is holding a special Raikou Raid Day this Saturday, June 29. The Legendary dog will reappear in Raid Battles from 4-7 PM local time, and you’ll have a chance to encounter a Shiny Raikou during those hours.

In other news, Niantic’s new Harry Potter game, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, is now live in the US and UK. While the premise of both games is very similar, Wizards Unite also differs from Pokemon Go in a few notable ways. Be sure to check out our full Harry Potter: Wizards Unite coverage for more about the game, as well as tips and guides for Wizarding Challenges, Professions, and other elements.

A fix to an exotic weapon in Destiny 2 is likely slated for July, but the timing is uncertain right now because the studio is weighing its culture and work-life balance.

Game director Luke Smith answered a question about a fix to the Lord of Wolves weapon in a livestream for the charity convention GuardianCon. He suggested that while the studio could use a patch that’s already near-finalized to add the weapon fix as well, that might be too difficult on the studio.

“We’re looking at this summer, something like July,” Smith said. “We have a patch that we’re readying right now, the patch is going to come out in a couple weeks. We could take the patch off the patch factory, more or less, and ask people to work super long and add this thing in. And we’re having the conversation that, ‘Is it worth doing that or is it better to preserve the work-life balance and ship it later in July.'”

He went on to say that the cost-benefit analysis of working long hours is complex, and the studio doesn’t like to take patches out of release candidates very often. In fact, he said, the studio just did it for a different feature, and he’s not sure if it’s healthy for the studio to do it back-to-back.

The Lord of Wolves weapon had an adjustment that made it much more powerful than intended, which makes it imbalanced in the PvP Crucible mode.

Working long hours at a game studio to meet a release target is known as crunch. Development crunch has been a hotly discussed topic in the industry recently, with one such subject being an ongoing crunch mode at live games like Fortnite. Studios have been opening up more about their culture and attempts to stave off crunch, and with this Bungie has indicated that it uses the strategy but tries to limit it.

The GuardianCon fundraiser, meanwhile, brought in well over $3 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, with a boost from Bungie’s block of time providing almost half a million.

There was no doubt a sequel would be in the works when Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse won both the Academy Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature back in early 2019. But even despite the $375.5 million it has earned, there’s now definitive confirmation a sequel is “definitely” coming.

Producer Amy Pascal told io9 her team is back in the lab. “We are definitely hard at work on the sequel.” No release date or window was provided, nor did she divulge details about what’s to come in the Spider-Verse sequel. We’re only left with the news that we can “expect another movie.”

“Going forward, if there are more movies, I’m sure there will be more surprises,” co-director Rodney Rothman told GameSpot at the film’s digital and Blu-ray release in March 2019, stating that an Australian Spider-Man was cut from Spider-Verse. In addition to more Spideys, we may see previous Peter Parker’s Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man series) and Tobey Maguire (the original Spider-Man trilogy) in the Spider-Verse sequel. Producer Chris Miller said their appearance was something the team “definitely talked about, more than once, and decided that ultimately, there are many more opportunities in the future.”

Pascal served as a producer on the upcoming Spider-Man: Far From Home–scheduled to debut in theatres on July 2–as well as other recent spider-related projects like Spider-Man: Homecoming, Venom, and The Girl in the Spider’s Web. Pascal also has production credits on Greta Gerwig’s upcoming coming-of-age period drama Little Women, slated to premiere on December 25.

In our Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse review, we said, “It manages to blow right past the dangers of sinking into after school special territory by believing wholeheartedly in its own message and delivering it with appropriately genuine stakes. The end result is an instant animated classic, and, with any luck, the first of many of its kind.”

It’s time to plan a trip to Target: This week, the retailer is offering 30% off select PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch games if you select “Order Pick-up” at checkout, meaning you’ll have to go into your local Target store to pick it up rather than having it shipped to your home. In the era of free, fast online shipping, that’s kind of a drag if you don’t have a store nearby, but if you don’t live too far from a Target, here’s an easy way to save yourself a significant amount on new games.

The Target 30% off sale encompasses over 400 games, from first-party Nintendo games to PS4 exclusives and Xbox One hits. Some of the most notable deals include Devil May Cry 5 for $35, Kingdom Hearts 3 for $24.50, Mortal Kombat 11 for $35, and Resident Evil 2 for $28. You can also grab Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice for only $33.60, Rage 2 for $35, and Days Gone for $42.

See the full list of eligible games at Target and some of our picks below (discount price reflected). The following deals will expire after June 29.

• Anthem — $21
• Civilization VI — $35
• Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled — $28
• Days Gone — $42
• Devil May Cry 5 — $35 (PS4) / $42 (Xbox One)
• The Division 2 — $42
• Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze — $35
• Forza Horizon 4 — $29.74
• God of War — $28
• Just Dance 2019 — $21
• Kingdom Hearts 3 — $24.50
• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe — $35
• Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle — $21
• Mario Tennis Aces — $35
• Marvel’s Spider-Man — $28
• Metro Exodus — $42 (PS4) / $35 (Xbox One)
• MLB The Show 19 — $42
• Monster Hunter World — $16
• Mortal Kombat 11 — $35
• NBA 2K19 — $20 (Switch) / $42 (PS4, Xbox One)
• Rage 2 — $35
• Red Dead Redemption 2 — $42 (PS4) / $37.80 (Xbox One)
• Resident Evil 2 — $28
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice — $33.60
• Sonic Mania Plus — $21
• Spyro Reignited Trilogy — $28 (PS4) / $21 (Xbox One)
• Super Mario Party — $35
• Team Sonic Racing — $28
• XCOM 2 Collection — $28

The Pokemon series may have begun with only 151 monsters, but there are now more than 800 species of Pokemon to date, and that number will only continue to grow with the impending release of Pokemon Sword and Shield for Switch later this year. The sheer variety of monsters in the series has birthed the adage “every Pokemon is someone’s favorite,” and that is what one Reddit user set out to test.

Reddit user Mamamia1001 recently created a survey asking people to vote for their favorite Pokemon, with the intent of discovering whether the saying was actually true. More than 52,000 people participated in the survey, and out of all those responses, four Pokemon received zero votes: Silcoon, Gothita, Eelektrik, and Yungoos. Considering the sample size, that only four monsters didn’t receive any votes certainly seems to lend some weight to the saying.

The survey also gave us a look at who the most popular Pokemon are, at least among those who responded to the survey. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Gen 1 Pokemon dominated the top 10. Topping the list was Charizard, which received 1,107 votes. Following behind it was Gengar with 1,056 votes, while Arcanine rounded out the top three with 923 votes. You can take a look at the top 10 below, while the full results can be found here:

1. Charizard — 1,107 votes
2. Gengar — 1,056 votes
3. Arcanine — 923 votes
4. Bulbasaur — 710 votes
5. Blaziken — 613 votes
6. Umbreon — 607 votes
7. Lucario — 604 votes
8. Gardevoir — 585 votes
9. Eevee — 581 votes
10. Dragonite — 551 votes

The aforementioned adage has been in use a lot recently following the news that Sword and Shield won’t feature every Pokemon. At E3 2019, series producer Junichi Masuda confirmed that players won’t be able to transfer all of their old monsters from Pokemon Home to the Switch games–only those that are available in the Galar Pokedex, a decision that has lead to a public outcry from fans.

Pokemon Sword and Shield launch for Nintendo Switch on November 15, while the Pokemon Home service will go live for Switch and smartphones in early 2020. We learned a lot more about the games back at E3, including how their new Dynamax battle mechanic works. You can read more about the titles in our Pokemon Sword and Shield pre-order guide.

The Conjuring universe is undoubtedly one of the most consistent franchises in horror movie history, and the latest entry, Annabelle Comes Home, doesn’t break that trend. The third Annabelle spin-off is reliably scary, brimming with tense atmosphere and jarring jump scares, with excellent performances from its small cast and several intriguing additions to Conjuring lore. For those who enjoy Conjuring movies, Annabelle Comes Home is yet another predictably fun, popcorn-throwing scare fest.

The third Annabelle movie takes place after the first two (2014’s Annabelle, a spin-off/prequel to the first Conjuring movie, and 2017’s Annabelle: Creation, which was a prequel to that). Where exactly this movie falls within the larger Conjuring timeline–before or after the main Conjuring movies, for example–isn’t made totally clear in the film itself, but it doesn’t exactly matter, either.

In its opening scenes, Annabelle Comes Home revisits the moments from the first Conjuring movie that spawned the whole spin-off series, when Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga reprising their roles as horror’s most wholesome couple) take possession of the Annabelle doll from the young women it had been terrorizing. The movie takes several moments here to clarify exactly what the doll is capable of: Annabelle isn’t evil herself, or even possessed by a spirit or demon; the doll is simply a “conduit” or “beacon” to which evil is drawn.

The scares begin in the opening scenes, although ACH is also self-aware enough to play with audiences’ expectations, sometimes sidestepping obvious jump scare opportunities, often to inflict them with double the impact a few moments later. But after a brief introduction to the Warrens and the twisted lore of Annabelle herself, the familiar characters and elements take a backseat as the film enters its main act.

If you’re expecting a movie all about the Warrens, you might be disappointed to learn that Annabelle Comes Home actually primarily follows their daughter Judy (Mckenna Grace), her babysitter Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman), and Mary Ellen’s mischievous friend Daniella (Katie Sarife). The Warrens leave Judy in Mary Ellen’s care, but when Daniella arrives to snoop around their infamous artifact room–well, you can probably figure out what happens, if not from the trailer then simply from knowing how these things play out.

Annabelle Comes Home is hopelessly predictable, but that’s not a bad thing here. Like the rest of the Conjuring series, it’s simply incredibly well made horror movie comfort food. It doesn’t challenge your expectations or throw in any shocking twists; it simply sets up various monsters, ghosts, ghouls, and other threats, throws them at the characters, and relishes in their terror. The centrifuge of its setting is a literal room full of evil objects–what else could it be besides Night at the Conjuring Museum?

The endlessly repeated setup goes something like this: 1. Object moves on its own, 2. Character tip-toes around as slowly as humanly possible until a suitable amount of tension has been built, and 3. The threat is finally revealed, and it’s all-out horror for a few moments. And it’s so predictable that, should you watch ACH in a theater with a lively audience, the crowd’s shrieks will usually be half laughter as well. There’s undeniable fun in the knowledge of what’s coming when floorboards start creaking and glasses of milk hurl themselves to the ground, not to mention catharsis in the payoff.

It’s almost a prerequisite for Conjuring movies to introduce various spooky threats that might someday be spun off into their own franchises, from Annabelle herself to The Conjuring 2’s Nun and Crooked Man. Annabelle Comes Home adds to this tradition with The Ferryman, whose funereal coins seem to pile up all over the Warrens’ house, the haunted Samurai armor seen in the Warrens’ artifact room in prior movies, and more–I won’t spoil them all.

Annabelle Comes Home works largely due to its smart writing and skilled direction from Gary Dauberman (writer of the previous Annabelle movies, The Nun, It and It Chapter 2, the unfortunately just-canceled Swamp Thing show, and more). But the movie’s three lead actresses really carry the whole thing on their shoulders. The young Grace plays her often sad role with subtlety and skill–she’s bullied at school due to her parents’ profession, and the actress perfectly conveys the pain of being a kid at that age who doesn’t fit in. Iseman is the iconic innocent horror movie teenage girl, all bubblegum and shrieks. Sarife’s Daniella could have easily become a frustrating force in the plot, as her role is mostly to make bad decisions like infiltrating the artifact room and opening Annabelle’s case. But thanks to smart writing and Sarife’s complex performance, Daniella is a sympathetic character whose actions make sense, even if they’re not well-thought-out.

Annabelle Comes Home has just the right mix of horror and humor, predictable structure and shocking jump scares, terrifying ghouls and relatable characters that a scary summer blockbuster should. It doesn’t break the mold–Midsommar, this is not–but it’s not trying to. And if you’re a fan of the Conjuring series, you’ll walk out of the theater satisfied.