Sony announced this week that PlayStation 4 shipments have climbed to a staggering 100 million units life-to-date, but it wasn’t all good news. The 3.2 million PS4 systems that Sony shipped in the April-June quarter was “slightly below” the company’s internal expectations. The reason for the downturn?
Sony said it was “primarily” due to the company’s announcement of its next-generation console, the PlayStation 5.
It’s a historical trend in the games business that console sales of an older system drop off to a degree when a new console is revealed. The thinking is that people hold off on buying a console when they know a newer one is coming. That seems to be what’s happening with here with PS4 sales.
As a result of the lower-than-expected PS4 sales, Sony said it has “revised downward” its forecast of PS4 sales during the current fiscal year ending March 2020. The company is cutting its projections by 1 million units, from 16 million to 15 million.
15 million is still a massive shipment number for a console so late into its lifecycle. Sony said this ongoing success “demonstrates that the PS4 platform is still garnering support from many users.”
Sony is also projecting a downturn for game sales during the current fiscal year. The company is lowering its expectations to be flat year-over-year instead of increasing due to lower third-party game sales. Lower-than-expected revenue from free-to-play games was also called out. This may be in reference to Fortnite and other battle royale games that are slowing down when it comes to revenue.
On the plus side, Sony said it expects its “network services” to generate more revenue in the current fiscal year. Overall, Sony said one of its major areas of focus during the fiscal year is on “preparing for the launch of the next-generation platform,” in addition to growing the userbase the company already has.
The PlayStation 5 is rumored to launch in holiday 2020, which is also when Microsoft’s Project Scarlett next-generation system is confirmed to release.
PlayStation consoles might get more expensive for shoppers in the United States. During an earnings call today, Sony’s chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki said it will need to increase the price of PlayStation consoles sold in America if President Trump’s proposed tariffs on electronics made in China–including game consoles–do indeed go through.
According to The Wall Street Journal, “most” of the components of PlayStation consoles are made in China. “We believe, and therefore have told the U.S. government, that higher tariffs would ultimately damage the U.S. economy,” Totoki said.
Earlier this year Trump announced a plan to increase tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent on electronics made in China and shipped to the United States. These export tariffs are not finalized as of yet, and the US and China are coming back to the negotiation table this week.
This new comment from Totoki comes after Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo jointly released a statement opposing Trump’s tariffs. A 25 percent price increase in consoles to match the tariff cost would “likely put a new video game console out of reach for many American families who we expect to be in the market for a console this holiday season,” the companies said in their letter.
Nintendo is already reportedly preparing itself for the tariffs by moving manufacturing out of China for the new Switch consoles, including the Switch Lite.
The final major event of Year 2 of Destiny 2 is now live, as is a new update. Patch 2.5.2 is out now and coincides with the start of Solstice of Heroes 2019, which features a limited-time mode and a variety of cosmetics (including sparrows, emotes, and ghosts, among other things). Here’s what’s new in the update itself and a look at the full patch notes.
While the update’s release marks the start of a big event, the patch itself doesn’t feature much in the way of significant new features. Instead, it largely deals with fixing or improving a variety of areas of the game, starting with Lord of Wolves. The Exotic has been dominant of late in Crucible, so much so that Bungie will be rewarding players with an emblem if they took part in Iron Banner while it was left unchecked. But this patch should mark the end of that, as the shotgun’s effective range has been reduced, and shotgun scavenger perks will now provide the weapon with less ammo when it’s in Release the Wolves mode.
The Triumph Hall sees some adjustments, including making the Emperor’s Gladiator and Scoundrel in Uniform triumphs less difficult to complete. Rather than requiring a full set of Leviathan gear, you’ll now earn progress based on how many pieces you have equipped, bringing it in line with other, similar triumphs. Additionally, Bungie has addressed a glitch that allowed players to farm tributes by using alternate characters; those who did this to obtain the Bad Juju catalyst or emote will no longer have access to those things until they fulfill the requirements the proper way.
Iron Banner may have just wrapped up, but Bungie has made some changes to it, too, making it easier to complete the quest steps involving grenade and sword kills. Likewise, the Menagerie has been updated so that its Heroic version is now guaranteed to drop a sword for players after their first completion. Subsequent completions have a 25% chance to drop a sword.
Various other nagging issues have also been resolved, and you can see everything that’s changed in the patch notes below. Note that the new content–including the European Aerial Zone mode and various cosmetics and Solstice armor–aren’t mentioned here, but all of those are now available for you to check out and obtain for a limited time.
Destiny 2 Update 2.5.2 Patch Notes
Sandbox
Weapons
Lord of Wolves
Reduced the amount of ammo that Shotgun Scavenger perks can give to Lord of Wolves when it is in the Release the Wolves state
Decreased the effective range on Lord of Wolves
This decrease is more aggressive when the weapon is in the Release the Wolves state
Perks
Fixed an issue that allowed the Feeding Frenzy perk to be applied to any weapon
Armor
Fixed an issue where the cloth component of the Iron Symmachy Cloak wasn’t rendering correctly
Fixed an issue where the cloth component of the Terra Concord Mark wasn’t rendering correctly
Fixed a bug where the Titan Exotic leg armor Peregrine Greaves glowed 130x too bright when wearers were at maximum velocity
While our intention was for this Exotic to help Titans destroy opponents with 130x efficiency, we did not intend for its glow to burn out the corneas of the user
Investment
Tribute Hall
Triumphs
The Tribute Hall Triumphs “The Emperor’s Gladiator” and “The Scoundrel in Uniform” no longer require you to equip a full set of Leviathan gear to progress
Players will now earn more points based on the number of gear pieces worn, similar to other Triumphs
Tributes
Players will no longer be able to place the Tribute Hall introductory tribute on an alternate character to gain credit for a large number of tributes placed
Players who accessed the catalyst or emote rewards through this method will have those items relocked until they place enough unique tributes to meet the actual unlock requirements
Iron Banner
Iron Banner pursuit objective values have been adjusted
Reduced the grenade kills required by 50%
Ally grenade kills are now worth as much as your own
Reduced the Sword kills required by 25%
Ally Sword kills are now worth as much as your own
Fixed an issue where players were unable to equip Season 3 Iron Banner ornaments on their Season 7 armor
The Wolf’s Favor will no longer drop from daily and weekly Iron Banner challenges
Fixed an issue where the Triumph “Efrideet’s Gift” was not unlocking for players who earned enough Iron Banner rank-up packages during Season 7
This fix is retroactive; it will get players up to speed who have met the requirements
Menagerie / Chalice
Heroic Menagerie now drops a Sword for first-time completion (100%)
Subsequent completions have a moderate chance to drop a Sword (25%)
Fixed an issue where the Triumph “Drink Deep” would not unlock for some players who claimed the Masterwork slot on the Chalice of Opulence
Fixed an issue where players could become stuck in the Season of Opulence intro quest by unlocking the first rune slot on the Chalice before completing the Lost Sector The Conflux and being on the correct quest step
Imperials and runes can no longer be earned by idling through matches of Crucible and Gambit
Truth Quest
Replaced the step of the Truth quest chain requiring the bounty “Corsair Down” with a step requiring completion of three patrols in the Dreaming City
Fixed a bug where players could become blocked from earning Truth if they opened the Ascendant chest in the strike “Warden of Nothing” before being on the appropriate quest step
General
Fixed an issue where completion notifications would not appear after players completed bounties
This will also fix an issue where players would sometimes not spawn during a Crucible match
Season 10 of Fortnite: Battle Royale is fast approaching. The new season kicks off this Thursday, August 1, and in the lead up to it, developer Epic Games has been sharing cryptic images that seem to tease that some older content will be returning to the game. The studio has now released the third Season 10 teaser so far, and it looks like another skin from the past will be making a comeback–albeit with a twist.
The teaser, which you can see below, showcases what appear to be two skins. The one on the right bears a clear resemblance to the Drift skin from Season 5, although it’s colored differently, while the other is presumably a new skin being introduced in Season 10. “Twist time,” the accompanying caption reads, which further hints at some kind of time warp theme for the season.
The first teaser image came with the caption “Think Back,” and depicted Dusty Depot, which was famously destroyed by a giant meteor and became Dusty Divot at the start Season 4. The second, meanwhile, featured a mech with the caption “Look Forward.” Interestingly, one of the symbols on the side of the mech matched that on The Visitor, a skin from back in Season 4, suggesting it may also return in some form in Season 10.
Ahead of each seasonal changeover, Epic typically hosts some kind of world-changing event in Fortnite that sets the stage for the upcoming season. Earlier this month, a giant robot did battle with the monster that was lurking beneath Polar Peak. The robot managed to defeat the monster, whose skeleton can still be found on the island, but in the confrontation, the Vault in Loot Lake was damaged and appears to be growing increasingly unstable, which may be sets into motion whatever time-related event leads to Season 10.
Before Season 10 officially arrives, there’s still a little time left to complete any remaining challenges from Season 9, including those from the ongoing birthday event. If you need help completing any outstanding missions, we’ve collected all of our tips and guides for the trickier ones in our complete Season 9 challenges roundup. Epic has also released a handful of Overtime challenges to help you earn XP and unlock any remaining Season 9 Battle Pass rewards before the season comes to an end.
If you happen to own Nintendo’s new VR Kit, Captain Toad has an adventure for you. Nintendo Europe has announced that Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker has a free software update which uses the virtual reality goggles–and it’s available now.
Captain Toad’s new mini VR adventure lets you view courses in 360 degrees and explore four courses in virtual reality. One lets you pan around the stage to better gauge what’s around pillars and obstacles, while another puts you in a minecart to hunt for treasure. Check out the announcement trailer below.
The VR Kit is part of Nintendo Labo, a sort of toys-to-life concept using cardboard to introduce new ways of interacting with the Nintendo Switch. Released throughout 2018, there are currently four Labo Kits available: Robot, Variety, Vehicle, and VR.
Treasure Tracker landed on Nintendo 3DS and Switch in July 2018, almost four years after its initial December 2014 launch. In our Treasure Tracker Switch review, we said, “Despite a smattering of minor complaints, Captain Toad stands as a pint-sized version of Nintendo’s stellar first party pedigree. It’s among the best Mario spin-offs around and a delightful iteration on old ideas.”
From Battle Royale to The Hunger Games, the concept of people being hunted for sport by the rich or powerful is a familiar one. The latest movie to use this idea is The Hunt, which comes from Us and Purge producers Blumhouse Productions and Lost writer Damon Lindleoff, and stars GLOW’s Betty Gilpin. The first trailer has been released.
The trailer opens with Gilpin’s character seemingly lost and confused about where she is. But as a violent payoff quickly reveals, she knows exactly what’s going on–she is being hunted by some very dangerous people in a foreign country. The trailer also shows us the evil global elites behind this bloodthirsty sport, and how the hunted start fighting back. It looks very violent, exciting, and hugely entertaining–check the trailer out below.
The Hunt also stars Emma Roberts (American Horror Story), Hilary Swank (Trust), Glen Howerton (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), and Ethan Suplee (The Santa Clarita Diet). It’s directed by Craig Zobel, with a script by Lindleoff and his regular partner Nick Cuse. The pair previously worked on Lindleoff’s acclaimed series The Leftovers, and have also collaborated on HBO’s highly anticipated Watchmen show. The Hunt releases on September 27, 2019.
The first trailer for Watchmen was revealed at San Diego Comic-Con earlier this month. The trailer revealed that the show will be a continuation of the story from the classic comic book rather than an adaptation. It is set to premiere on HBO in October.
Avengers: Endgame is finally available to watch from the comfort of your living room and, naturally, in addition to the three-and-a-half-hours of confusing time travel and “hey remember that?” MCU wink-nods, it also comes packed to the gills with special bonus features and commentary. Bizarrely, however, one of said bonus features is actually only available on the digital release of the film as opposed to the more expensive Blu-Ray. (Perhaps some sort of deadline was missed here? Who can say.) Welcome to “Steve And Peggy: One Last Dance,” a 5-minute montage featuring some clips from The First Avenger (and one from heavily truncated from The Winter Soldier) a handful of pointedly fluffy interviews (almost entirely recycled from the other featurettes) in which cast and crew recap Steve’s journey in the MCU for the first 3-minutes, and then Anthony and Joe Russo do their level best to convince us that the Captain America trilogy, two movies of which they directed, actually wasn’t about what they made it about for the last two.
“I always found it very endearing about Cap,” Anthony Russo says in the featurette, “that for all that character has sacrificed–and he’s sacrificed a lot–the one thing he could never let go of was Peggy Carter.”
Sure, the first movie in the Cap trilogy, Captain America: The First Avenger, is all about the sacrifice. But that’s not where the story ends for either character–in fact, it’s not even the part of the story the Russo Brothers themselves directed. The First Avenger is act one of a three-act play, and like every movie in the MCU, is not designed or intended to be viewed in a vacuum, no matter how badly the Russo Brothers seem to wish, now, after the fact, that we would all do just that.
The irony here is that the movies they seem to hope we forget the most are the two they themselves directed, all in favor of one major last-minute change to Cap’s thematic arc in their final MCU movie. But to really get a sense of just how completely bizarre these assertations are, let’s take a closer look at just how the Russo Brothers shaped Steve Rogers’ narrative and thematic arcs with regard to Peggy Carter.
Recapping The First Avenger
For the sake of argument, we’ll be taking a few things in good faith. One, The First Avenger really does put in the work to emphasize a connection between Steve and Peggy, and that connection is extremely meaningful. Two, the connection between them is served up over roughly 40 minutes (I did the math, don’t worry) and 13 major scenes–these numbers are pretty significant. That’s a little less than half of the entire movie’s runtime.
Of those major scenes, nine of them are clearly intended, for better or for worse, to have some sort of romantic under- or overtones. From the cringe-y misunderstanding about the meaning of fondue to the first actual kiss, The First Avenger put a lot of weight on the shoulders of the chemistry between Steve and Peggy and for the most part, it paid off. The end result is a sweet, heartbreaking story of a missed connection that serves to build the foundation for Steve Rogers as a character within the wider MCU. Their last bit of dialogue with one another sets a date, “8 o’clock, The Stork Club, don’t you dare be late,” for a dance they both know they’ll never have. Cue the waterworks.
No matter where you happen to fall on the spectrum of buying into Steve and Peggy’s soulmate-level connection, it’s clear that director Joe Johnston and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely wanted it to do a lot of narrative legwork. It’s a nice shorthand and a quick way to make audiences emotionally respond and empathize (who doesn’t love a good doomed love) with new characters. It’s also an easy, no-muss-no-frills way to build drama and tension in not a lot of time. According to the text of the film, Steve and Peggy were in love, and that love never really got to come to any meaningful fruition because Steve is just too damn heroic and too damn selfless. What a jerk.
But in addition to all of that, we also need to establish something else: That in the scope of the shared universe and series of interconnected films that make up the MCU, those qualities run out of gas pretty fast. There has to be more to Steve Rogers than being the guy who sacrifices things if he’s going to be a tentpole character in a multibillion-dollar franchise, the same way Tony Stark can’t just be the snarky drunk and Thor can’t just be the old English jock. He has to actually move from where he started. The First Avenger doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
Enter The Winter Soldier
The Russo Brothers’ MCU debut was, inarguably, a smashing success as they cranked out one of the most beloved and universally acclaimed entries into the line up to date with Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
While not technically our first look at present-day Steve Rogers–that dubious honor belonged to The Avengers–TWS was the first time we got to really experience him outside of a large ensemble cast. The Avengers relied heavily on the most basic principles any audience member would know about Captain America to establish who he was on the team: He’s a soldier, he has a shield, he’s from the 1940s. TWS took the ball and ran with it.
Stripped of those basic tropes and cliches, what would a strategist from World War 2 actually be like in modern society? How would someone with such a staunch moral code cope with working in the sometimes less-than-moral modern military sector? How was Steve Rogers, the man, rather than Captain America, the symbol, responding to his life being flipped completely upside down?
The answers to those questions weren’t simple or direct. TWS found forward momentum for Steve’s character everywhere it could. It introduced Sam Wilson, Steve’s first real modern friend who allowed him to showcase a sense of humor and self-aware wit about the things he’d missed in pop culture; it partnered him up with Black Widow, who delightfully kept him on his toes and tested his limits; it gave him a brand new fighting style, a new attitude, and a new costume. But, perhaps most importantly, it completely pivoted his dynamic with his own history through a recontextualization of Peggy Carter.
Unlike The First Avenger, Peggy only gets a scant four minutes of screen time in The Winter Soldier. She’s still alive, but well into her 80s here in 2014, struggling with dementia quietly in a civilian home. Obviously, this Peggy is no longer a romantic aspiration, she’s become a sort of role model. She’s “lived a life,” and hopes Steve can go on to live his own. Her small scene is juxtaposed against video footage showing her back in the 50s, well after Steve’s death, where she talks about all the ways in which she moved on after Steve’s sacrifice and all the ways he positively affected her life. These clips are mirrored against her back in the modern-day telling Steve that “the world has changed, and none of us can go back. All we can do is our best and sometimes the best we can do is to try and start over.”
The weight of this scene could be nostalgic if it weren’t for the time taken within the first two minutes of the movie for a conversation with Sam that allows Steve to directly confront the fallacy of living in the past. “You must miss the good ol’ days, huh?” Sam asks. “Well, things aren’t so bad. Food’s a lot better, we used to boil everything. No polio’s good. Internet, so helpful,” Steve responds. This is not a Steve who longs to go back, even if he still feels the loss of his old life in a very real way. He’s growing and changing in a way that is anything but easy, but in a way that matters.
To lean in even harder to that idea, TWS includes a subplot in which Natasha keeps trying to set Steve up on dates. This sparks the beginnings of a precarious romantic tension with the newly introduced Sharon Carter, who is eventually revealed to be a SHIELD agent and Peggy’s niece.
Sure, it’s really awkward when you think too hard about it, but one or both of the Russo Brothers made the call to keep that particular bit in not just this movie, but their next one too–it didn’t just sneak by accidentally. And, when viewed in the context of the rest of the story, it’s impossible to ignore the (admittedly extremely half-hearted) positioning of Sharon as Steve’s new flame. Again, we’re back to a place where we’re meant to see Steve moving on. Weirdly, begrudgingly sometimes, and in the most awkward way possible, sure–but moving on nonetheless.
There’s not much time for bizarre inter-generational love connections, however. Things get sticky when the climax of the movie pits Steve against some literal ghosts of his past, revealing that his dead best friend is alive and brainwashed by the organization he gave his life to destroy in The War. The figurative, internalized fight Steve is having with himself is now both very literal and very external. Steve may be trying to be done with nostalgia, but nostalgia certainly isn’t done with him.
At this point, the symbolic weight of the past is shifted entirely off of Peggy and placed squarely onto the shoulders of Bucky Barnes, removing Peggy from the narrative equation entirely for the rest of the movie. Unlike Peggy, Bucky doesn’t represent a success story–he didn’t survive Steve’s death to lead a happy and fulfilled life and he doesn’t have a valuable lesson to impart about the necessity of never slowing down. Peggy’s singular scene emphasized the fact that she no longer needs Captain America to save her. Bucky, however, has never needed him more.
An interlude, and a Civil War
It’s important to note that there was one movie featuring Captain America that the Russos themselves did not make in between The Winter Soldier and Civil War. Avengers: Age of Ultron is a bit of an odd duck in the sequence–but one that, nonetheless, did pick up some of the threads TWS had laid. Peggy was featured in this one as a Scarlet Witch-induced hallucination that not-so-subtly highlighted just how troubling the idea of Steve “going home” to the 1940s actually would be–troubling enough that the thought actually clued him in to the fact that it was all an illusion.
Later, in a conversation with Tony, Steve really brings it home. “I don’t know. Family, stability. The guy who wanted all that went in the ice 75 years ago. I think someone else came out.” Melodramatic, sure, but the point holds true. Steve’s priorities have changed. We knew that from TWS, but here we see it spoken into existence on screen even more clearly.
Those new priorities don’t just go away. Against all odds, the Russos’ next Captain America movie managed to make Peggy’s symbolic position in the Steve Rogers story even less subtle than her literally speaking the words “start over” to his face. Like TWS, Peggy is only given one scene in Civil War–but this time, she’s not actually in it. It’s dedicated to her funeral.
After tearfully acting as a pallbearer, Steve listens to Sharon give a speech about her aunt, which inspires him to really commit to the tension brewing between him and Tony. They’re actually fighting over superheroic accountability (among other things), but the argument manifests in the text as an emotionally fraught, diplomatic tug-of-war over the fate Bucky Barnes.
Remember how Peggy acted as a thematic springboard for Bucky’s new position in Steve’s life back in TWS? We’re doing that all over again, this time with the stakes cranked up to 11.
Peggy’s off-screen role in Civil War is, in that way, to drive Steve even closer into the proverbial (or literal, depending on who you ask) arms of his best pal Bucky. Or, alternatively, to wingman her niece from beyond the grave into one of the weirdest on-screen kisses in the MCU, when Steve and Sharon “finally” admit they have feelings (?) for one another after their minute or so of pointed anti-chemistry back in The Winter Soldier.
Either way, the narrative throughline of the Russo’s take on Peggy Carter has reached its inevitable conclusion. She is gone. The past is literally buried. And her memory is the fuel in the engine that keeps Steve pressing forward as a constant reminder that there is life after great tragedy–even if he has to really, really fight for it.
Also, yeah, making sure to include a scene of Steve kissing her niece is maybe the least subtle way the movie could make the point that he’s moved on–next to, you know, actually burying her, I guess.
So where does that leave Endgame?
Here’s where things start to get strange. If the bonus features and the final cut of Endgame are any indication, we’re meant to believe that the arcs occurring in both The Winter Soldier and Civil War, as well as the little grace notes found in Age of Ultron, were, somehow, unintentional. That the repeated motifs that painted Peggy as the center of Steve’s forward trajectory, and the constant refrains involving “starting over” were actually just very sneaky ways to say that Steve had, in fact, never gotten over her.
It’s not that that is the wrong or an invalid story to tell–The First Avenger tee’d up a timeless love story with Steve and Peggy at the center just fine–but that’s not the story that the Russos elected to tell. Instead, they used Peggy for a grand total of two scenes, each built to emphasize something wholly other than romance, and then pivoted Steve into the arms of another woman–or, perhaps more honestly, onto a collision course with Bucky Barnes.
Each moment the Russos’ included in their films was deliberate. It’s not an accident that the compass Steve carried with him in The First Avenger with Peggy’s photo made only one split second appearance in one of their films (and never again in any of the other MCU films until Endgame for that matter). Nor is it an accident that Sharon Carter was painted, however briefly, as a romantic lead. It wasn’t incidental that Bucky Barnes was the crux of the drama for years, and it certainly wasn’t for nothing that Peggy’s scenes were built to emphasize looking toward the future. Steve’s stories could have, very easily, been constructed around his inability to let go of his lost love–but they never were.
At least not until Endgame. Not until the Russos–or someone at Marvel Studios–had a very abrupt change of heart. It turns out all of Steve’s heroism has really, secretly, revolved around his inability to get over his sort-of-girlfriend from The War. It was all just waiting game; putting in the hours until he could be given his prize (a literal trophy wife in this case) one way or another, even if that meant returning to the halcyon days of the 1950s. Stranger still, it wasn’t even the actual dance date that was promised–The Stork Club, 8 p.m., 1945. It was something else entirely, which is apparently supposed to be just as satisfying, because who cares about the details when you’re cherry-picking which parts of your stories you want people to remember?
The scene is meant to be understood in a vacuum, devoid of any and all context of Steve’s cinematic journey and relying specifically on the information contained within Endgame and only Endgame. We’re meant to feel happy, that he’s finally gotten the thing he’s secretly wanted all this time, despite what the other stories have told us over and over again. We’re supposed to feel like he deserves the “win,” or that he’s “earned” this moment of selfishness.
But like every MCU movie, viewing things in a vacuum isn’t the name of the game. So much for liking the internet, modern food, and polio vaccines. So much for starting over being the best we can do. So much for the guy who went into the ice being different from the guy who came out. So much for never being able to go back. So much for a narrative arc that doesn’t suddenly wrap around on itself to become a complete circle. Part of the journey is the end, right? And sometimes the end is right back where you started, I guess.
So, please, if you could just casually forget all of this, and pretend a little over two-thirds of the Cap trilogy doesn’t exist at all, the Russos would, apparently, really appreciate it.
A new month means new free games for Xbox Live Gold members, who can claim two Xbox One and two Xbox 360 games (which are backward-compatible with Xbox One) as part of Games With Gold. August’s free games have finally been revealed, and it’s a solid batch of games for Xbox owners this month.
The first freebie that’ll be available starting August 1 is Gears of War 4, which isn’t a huge surprise considering this game was also included in Twitch Prime’s recent “spend $15, get $15 credit” offer. Gears of War 4 is a third-person shooter with a story campaign that includes both local and online co-op. If you’re interested in its upcoming sequel, Gears 5, which releases September 10, this is a great time to hop into Gears of War 4, where Gears 5 protagonist Kait Diaz is first introduced. Plus, you’ll be able to play on both Xbox One and PC.
During the first half of August, you’ll also be able to claim the hack-and-slash dungeon crawler Torchlight for free. Developed by the creators of Diablo and Fate, the game is set in the town of Torchlight, where you’ll control a lone hero to explore randomly generated dungeons, take down monsters, gather loot, complete quests, and more.
Then, starting August 16, Forza Motorsport 6 and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow will become available. Racing game Forza Motorsport 6 will be available for a full month (until Sept. 15) on Xbox One and features 24-player races, 27 total tracks, a new story mode, night racing, weather elements like rain, and more. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, which will be available only during the second half of the month, first released in 2010 on consoles as a pseudo-reboot of the Castlevania series. The 3D action-adventure follows Gabriel Belmont on his mission to resurrect his wife and take down the evil Lords of Shadow.
Games with Gold August 2019
Gears of War 4 — August 1-31 (Xbox One, PC)
Torchlight — August 1-15 (Xbox 360)*
Forza Motorsport 6 — August 16-September 15 (Xbox One)
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow –August 16-31 (Xbox 360)*
*Also available to play on Xbox One due to backward-compatibility
