The American version of The Office is one of the most popular TV shows ever. It went off the air in 2013, and while there are rumors about a potential reboot, nothing has been confirmed. While fans wait, the actors who played Pam Beesly and Angela Martin on the show are starting an Office-themed podcast.
Podcast company Sticher announced a new show called “Office Ladies,” which features Jenna Fischer (Pam) and Angela Kinsey (Angela) sharing stories about the production of the iconic TV show.
The first episode premieres on October 16 through Sticher’s Earwolf network, and it can be heard on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other places. Earwolf is the same network that produces popular podcasts like Comedy Bang! Bang! and Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend.
From the sound of it, Office Ladies will be a can’t-miss podcast for fans of The Office.
“Each week, Fischer and Kinsey break down an episode of The Office and give exclusive behind-the-scenes stories that only two people who were there would know,” reads a line from the show’s official description. “While watching the show that made them best friends, they will reminisce, share memories and answer questions from fans.”
In a statement, Fischer said it’s the right time to revisit the office now as it approaches its 15th anniversary. In addition to discussing the show, Fischer and Kinsey will talk about their own close personal friendship.
One of Fischer’s biggest TV roles after the office was a starring part on the ABC show Splitting Up Together, which was canceled in May this year after two seasons. She also does theatre work; in 2016, Fischer played a lead role in comedy legend Steve Martin’s musical, Meteor Shower.
As for Kinsey, she starred in the Netflix show Haters Back Off! while she also has a starring role in Hulu’s Hotwives of Orlando. Her next big production is the Netflix movie Tall Girl which premieres September 13.
The Office, which was adapted from the Ricky Gervais BBC show of the same name, ran for nine seasons from 2005 to 2013. The American show was developed by Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons writer Greg Daniels, who recently teamed up with Carell for a new Space Force show for Netflix.
Borderlands 3’s campaign takes a little over 30 hours to complete, putting its runtime just over that of Borderlands 2’s story. However, there’s still stuff to do once the campaign is complete as Borderlands 3 does have an endgame. Below, you’ll find a general overview of all the content you’ll unlock at the end of Borderlands 3.
Long-time fans will recognize Torgue’s Circle of Slaughter arenas as the franchise’s traditional horde mode, which is renamed with a different title in every game. In Circle of Slaughter, you face off against waves of enemies, each of which are divided into phases. Each phase also has optional tasks you can complete to earn even greater rewards once you’ve completed every wave.
If you die, you’ll have to start over from the first phase on the first wave so Circle of Slaughter is much more feasible to complete as a team as opposed to by yourself. As you fight, your exploits will be praised or condemned–depending on your performance–by Mr. Torgue himself. The man loves when people use his guns or kill enemies with grenades, so if you want to make him happy, be sure to bring along all your explosive Torgue weapons.
True Vault Hunter Mode
If you immediately want to jump back into Borderlands 3’s campaign and replay it from the very beginning, you can do it without losing all your progress. Obviously you can just start over with a brand-new Vault Hunter if you prefer, but Borderlands 3 also has a new game plus called True Vault Hunter Mode.
In True Vault Hunter Mode, you retain all of your skill points, weapons, grenades, and cosmetic unlocks. The enemies you fight will drop significantly better loot and grant you larger chunks of experience so you can level up faster. However, all enemies will have additional health and you’ll encounter badass variants in greater frequency. In Borderlands 2, True Vault Hunter Mode actually changed some enemies, giving them brand-new identities, weapons, and combat strategies. Borderlands 3 probably does the same, but we haven’t tested True Vault Hunter Mode yet as we want to try the game’s other endgame content first.
Mayhem Mode
Mayhem Mode allows you to add interesting additional effects to combat while you’re mopping up any remaining side quests. By default, turning on Mayhem Mode increases loot quality by 200%, which decreases the likelihood of finding common and uncommon loot and increases the probability that you’ll get rare, very rare, and legendary. The amount of experience, eridum, and cash that drops from enemies and that’s found in chests increases by 200% as well. However, enemy health increases by 15% and shields and armor both increase by 25%.
With Mayhem Mode turned on, potential gameplay mods are activated as well. Some enemies may become moderately bullet-proof, for instance, or you’ll become a wizard that deals less damage with normal bullets and far more with elemental attacks. You can unlock two more additional levels of mayhem in Mayhem Mode, with each evolution increasing the possibility of gaining good loot but also making the potential gameplay mods significantly more drastic.
Guardian Ranks
Borderlands 3 does away with the traditional Badass Ranks for Guardian Ranks, and you’ll unlock this second level of progression once you’ve completed the campaign. In previous games, your Badass Rank was increased by spending tokens you unlocked through completing challenges. In Borderlands 3, you also increase your Guardian Rank with tokens but they’re earned through experience that’s tied to a progression bar that’s separate from the one for your level.
Once you’ve unlocked your Guardian Rank, you can evolve it in different ways by investing tokens into three different classes: Enforcer, Survivor, and Hunter. Putting points into Enforcer increases your overall damage and fire rate, while Survivor is geared towards health and shields, and Hunter focuses on your active skills and luck (luck being the stat that determines how often you get rare, very rare, and legendary loot drops). Investing in each class also unlocks certain weapon skins and other cosmetics.
Once you’ve invested a token, you can’t get it back but you can put points towards any class you want and you’re not locked out of the other two if you heavily invest in one. The full list of stat boosts that come with each class are listed below.
Enforcer
Critical Damage
Grenade Damage
Gun Damage
Gun Fire Rate
Melee Damage
Vehicle Damage
Survivor
Fight for Your Life Duration
Fight for Your Life Movement Speed
Max Health
Shield Capacity
Shield Recharge Delay
Shield Recharge Rate
Hunter
Accuracy
Action Skill Cooldown
Luck (Rarity Rate)
Recoil Reduction
Reload Speed
Proving Grounds
The Proving Grounds are designed as cooperative-focused missions, but you can take them on solo if you prefer. You unlock several Proving Grounds upon finishing Borderlands 3’s campaign and though each one is different, they all follow the same time-based challenge format.
In Proving Grounds, you’re tasked with beating three waves of enemies. Completing all the waves sees you go up against a boss, and defeating said boss rewards you with some excellent loot. The loot’s rarity and power is dependent on both how quickly you beat the entire mission and how many times you died throughout. It’s strongly advised you take on the Proving Grounds as a team instead of on your own. Though you’ll be able to take on the Proving Grounds alone and most likely beat them without dying (provided you’re at the recommended level), it can take a while to defeat the bosses by yourself, and that can make it more difficult to win within the optional time restrictions.
Post-Release Content
The Fall/Winter 2019 post-release content roadmap for Borderlands 3 has already been revealed. You can expect two free pieces of content first, Bloody Harvest (which sounds Halloween-themed) and Maliwan Takedown. Bloody Harvest is an event that will add new side quests and thematic awards and Maliwan Takedown adds a brand-new map, enemies, a boss, and rewards. Borderlands 3’s first piece of paid DLC arrives at the end of 2019, adding new campaign story missions. All four pieces of major DLC are included in Borderlands 3’s season pass.
Though exact details haven’t been revealed, Borderlands 3 is scheduled to get raids down the line as well, which may be what makes doing most of the aforementioned endgame content worthwhile. “We’ll have special events as well as raids,” Borderlands 3 lead boss designer Matt Cox said in an interview with VG247. “The details on how that shakes out will be announced later, but there’s plenty of endgame.”
With all the changes the comic book industry has endured in the past seven years, we’ve always been able to count on Jason Aaron writing some of the best Thor comics ever published. Sadly, even that has to come to an end eventually. King Thor serves as the final chapter in a long, sprawling saga that began way back in 2012’s Thor: God of Thunder. And with the full God of Thunder creative team back in action, this is shaping up to be a finale worthy of the thunder god himself.
With War of the Realms finished, Aaron has essentially wrapped up his present-day Thor story already. The Odinson overcame his unworthiness, reforged Mjolnir and succeeded Odin as the Allfather of Asgard. All that’s left at this point is to wrap up the unfinished tale of old King Thor in the far future. This cranky old god and his granddaughters may have restored life on Earth but the universe around them is dead and barren. Worse, Loki has merged with All-Black the Necrosword and is determined to finally kill his brother after countless millennia of trying.
As part of Tokyo Game Show Day 1, Atlus and Sony announced some lovely-looking Persona-themed PlayStation 4 consoles. These consoles are coming to Japan to mark the release of Persona 5 Royal in October. The game is also coming to the West, but not until 2020; there is no word yet if these consoles will be available in parts of the world outside of Japan.
You can see the special edition consoles, and matching DualShock 4 controllers, in the image below. Click through the images below to see them closer up.
Persona 5 Royal is billed as the definitive version of the acclaimed RPG. It includes new content and significant overhauls to the story, much of which has been shown off in trailers and the “Morgana Report.” The latest teaser revealed new events around Ann Takamaki, and showcases how this new version is putting more emphasis on its cast.
Tokyo Game Show runs throughout the week and into the weekend, with news and updates expected for Death Stranding, Project Resistance, and more, so keep checking back with GameSpot for more.
Project Resistance is Capcom’s latest attempt to leverage the popularity of its Resident Evil franchise for a multiplayer experience. For the most part, previous attempts have been incredibly niche games or outright failures, but Capcom is on a hot streak right now. With Resident Evil 7 it took the series in a bold new direction and delivered one of the best survival horror experiences of the last few years. It followed that up with Resident Evil 2 Remake, a smart, thoughtfully redesigned version of one of the most beloved games in the franchise and the genre.
That is all to say that, right now, Capcom knows what it’s doing with the Resident Evil franchise. Project Resistance is undoubtedly taking the franchise back into dangerous territory, but it’s being led by a company that has earned the benefit of the doubt. At least, that’s what Tamoor and Matt think, having had hands-on time with the game recently.
Admittedly, they also note that Project Resistance is still very much a work in progress. Tamoor and Matt got to grips with the core of the asymmetrical multiplayer experience, battling through one area as both the survivors trying to escape with their lives and the Mastermind using traps and unleashing the walking dead to prevent the lab rats from escaping.
While the core of the game felt like it had potential, there were some aspects that they were unsure about. Check out the in-depth discussion to hear their overall impressions of Capcom’s new Resident Evil game.
While at the Tokyo Game Show, DBZ: Kakarot producer Ryosuka Hara told GameSpot about additional details about the game, as well as what players can expect for pre-ordering it. Previous descriptions for DBZ: Kakarot have made it sound like Goku, Kid Gohan, and Future Trunks would be the only playable characters in the game, but you’ll also be able to take control of adult Gohan and explore the world as the Great Saiyaman during the Majin Buu Saga.
For pre-ordering DBZ: Kakarot, you’ll get access to the side quest “A Competitive Party With Friends,” an ultra-special meat that can be used while cooking, and early access to Bonyu’s training. Bonyu is a new character designed by Dragon Ball Super writer Akira Toriyama, and you normally fight against her in a virtual training match during the Cell arc. Pre-ordering DBZ: Kakarot allows you to face her as early as the Android Arc.
There are a few different editions of DBZ: Kakarot that you can pre-order. The standard edition just includes the game. The Deluxe edition also gets you a special deluxe cooking item. The Ultimate edition includes the base game, a special ultimate cooking item, the season pass, a music pack, and an in-game vehicle for Goku. The Collector’s Edition is composed of the game, an 8x8x8 diorama figure, and a collectible steelbook.
DBZ: Kakarot is a video game retelling of Goku’s adventures in Dragon Ball Z–the latter half of the popular manga/anime series, Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball follows the life of Goku, one of the last survivors of his destroyed planet. As an alien, Goku possesses enhanced reflexes, strength, and speed in comparison to humans, but his human-like appearance allows him to blend in with society. Also there’s lots of cool fighting.
Death Stranding is one of the biggest games at Tokyo Game Show 2019, which is taking place between September 12 through September 15. The Kojima Productions-developed game is set to be showcased three times during the show and, ahead of these panels, a new poster has been released.
As with most Death Stranding drops, the poster was revealed online by way of director Hideo Kojima’s Twitter account. The poster itself features the large cast of characters depicted in an awesome movie poster-like format. It’s the kind of art style that you’d ordinarily see for Star Wars or Marvel movies like Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, and it looks awesome.
TGS now started. I’ll see you guys at the stage! Here’s new image of DEATH STRANDING by Pablo Uchida, the genius painter whom I even feel jealous of his talent. Title design by Kyle Cooper. We have a strong strand by respecting each other. 👍🌈🦀 pic.twitter.com/gGyBhWSv5S
The artist behind the poster is Pablo Uchida, who also created a piece of key art for Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain that was used as promotional material in Japan and featured on the cover of the Definitive Experience re-release of Metal Gear Solid 5. Kyle Cooper, meanwhile, worked on the title design. Cooper is known for his work on numerous movies.
The briefing trailer released alongside the poster was shown behind-closed-doors at Gamescom. While Death Stranding was one of the big reveals during the Opening Night show, this particular video features a deeper dive into the game, specifically the narrative and a few of the characters involved in the story. Check it out above.
There will reportedly be 80-minutes of Death Stranding shown at TGS 2019. People are no doubt hoping to get a better understanding of what the game is, but we wouldn’t count on that. Kojima has said, “Even now, I don’t understand the game.” He added: “Its world view, gameplay, they are all new. My mission is to create a genre that does not currently exist, and which takes everyone by surprise. There is, naturally, a risk in that.” Death Stranding’s release date has been confirmed as November 8, 2019.
One of the most critical choices you will make in a Borderlands game is picking your Vault Hunter. Fortunately, every Vault Hunter in Borderlands 3 is a ton of fun, and you can’t go wrong playing as any of them. That said, they are designed differently around specific playstyles, so it helps to know a little about how they play before starting the game. In the article below, you can find an overview to help you see which Vault Hunter is right for you.
We hope you find what we’ve detailed helpful for you in deciding which character you want to play first. For more Borderlands 3 features, be on the lookout for our beginner’s guide and gallery highlighting all the craziest guns. We’ll also be updating this feature in the coming days with links to standalone guides about each Vault Hunter, so be sure to check often. And if you haven’t already, be sure to read our Borderlands 3 review.
If you liked playing as Brick in Borderlands and Kreig in Borderlands 2, you’d most likely enjoy Amara as she’s the Siren equivalent of those two put together. Though she does come with some support and defensive abilities, Amara is almost entirely offense-focused and at her best when she’s in the middle of a fight, punching bandits with her fists and crushing soldiers with her elemental arms. If you want to be aggressive, like all the time, then you want to pick Amara.
Each of Amara’s three active skills is designed to get her into an opponent’s face as quickly as possible. Many of them can be evolved with secondary perks to aid Amara in close-quarters combat–like keeping her elemental arms out to deflect bullets or extend the reach and power of her melee attack. She never wants to leave the fight.
As Amara, you’re always charging forward because her attack power grows when closer to an enemy. So if you pick Amara, you’ll always want to be surrounded. Playing her requires good spatial awareness–there’s a lot to account for when multiple enemies are hitting you from more than one direction. Shotguns and close-range pistols are your best friends. If you enjoy tossing grenades and sniping enemies from a distance, then Amara is not for you.
Amara is a bit more challenging to use in comparison to her fellow Vault Hunters as a result of her emphasis on overwhelming her opponent with close-quarters elemental damage. Some late-game enemies and bosses can fly or have sturdy elemental resistances, both of which put Amara at a disadvantage. You may want to hold off on picking her for your first playthrough if this is your first Borderlands game. But if you think guns are silly and that you’d rather punch every enemy to death, then look no further than Amara.
Zane (The Hit-And-Run Grenade Throwing Maniac…with a Drone)
Zane is a hit-and-run character and a grenade stacking maniac. Unlike other Vault Hunters, he can use two active skills at once–though there is no reason to do so in your early playthrough due to the second skill taking the place of grenades. Part of what makes Zane such a capable hit-and-run tactician is his potential to blow up everything in the immediate area and then instantly teleport out. This power comes from his Digi-Clone ability.
The Digi-Clone is one of Zane’s active skills in his Double Agent skill tree that allows him to summon a stationary copy of himself. Zane can swap places with the clone at any time and even use the clone to revive from the “Fight for Your Life” state. The clone can be used creatively to bound up a battlefield, fall back to reload, or only as a distraction to draw fire.
As Zane progresses down his Double Agent tree, several abilities begin to increase his explosive power. For example, Fractal Frags where the clone throws a copy of your grenade, Duct Tape Mod where Zane will randomly fire a grenade, and Dobblebanger where the clone explodes at the end of the skill timer. Combining these abilities with any grenade that has the MIRV trait, which splits into multiple munitions, can be satisfyingly destructive. However, the biggest threat to Zane is himself. It’s essential to retreat from an area blanketed with grenades by leaving the Digi-Clone behind.
If you want a completely different Zane–one that posts up behind a barrier and sends out a drone to flush enemies from cover–then his other two active skills Barrier and SNTNL make him into less of a solo build and more of a support team player. You can even pick up and move with his shield.
The final thing to know about Zane is he’s a pretty funny guy and acknowledges his age. He wheezes if you run for any length of time and often makes it clear he’d instead be drinking in a bar somewhere else. If you’re looking for a character who got smarter and deadlier with age, then Zane is your Vault Hunter.
Moze (The Scrappy Mech-Driving Soldier)
Moze is perfect for series newcomers and highly recommended to those with an itchy trigger finger. On her own, she doesn’t have much combat abilities, but when you jump into her Iron Bear mech, a world of possibility is available to you.
The Iron Bear is only available for a limited time, but in that short duration, it’s well-capable of wiping out entire rooms of enemies. It starts with three weapons: the V35 Grenade Launcher, the Minigun, and the Railgun, but that arsenal expands by investing in each of Moze’s three skill trees–opening up options to equip other types of firepower, like a flamethrower and a rocket volley. And each can also be customized with skills that modify their capabilities.
The Iron Bear can be used in a variety of strategic ways: you can summon it frequently to rain down everlasting hell upon your enemies, or you might keep it as your ace in the hole during boss fights or when a firefight goes south. Heck, you can take both approaches; it’s up to you! Moze can also be useful as a tank (conceptually and literally) for other players. After all, the Iron Bear is a near-invincible wall that can quickly pull enemy aggro off teammates.
None of this is to say that Moze isn’t as capable outside the mech. In fact, she’s just as deadly on-foot. Her skill tree has plenty of bonuses that amplify her capabilities, such as improved reload speed, bonus incendiary damage, and enhanced shield strength. Many of Moze’s skills optimize her ability to inflict damage as aggressively as possible while occasionally buffing teammates and even letting them hop aboard the Iron Bear’s manned turret.
As Moze, you are regularly switching between wiping out enemies on-foot and devastating them with the Iron Bear. She’s a scrappy, agile, and adaptable character whose most significant strength is stacking up a plethora of damage in a short time and taking the heat off friends.
In many ways, Moze is essentially a Titanfall pilot without the wall-running. So if that doesn’t make you want to play as her, then we don’t know what does.
FL4K (The Long-Range Beast Tamer)
Every Vault Hunter is perfectly viable to play with solo, but FL4K is designed around working by themselves. Instead of real friends, you can make up the difference with one of FL4K’s three pets. Not only do their kills count for getting a second chance if you’re downed, but you can eventually invest in a passive skill that lets them revive you. Each pet behaves differently and can be swapped around at any time, allowing for a lot of experimentation.
The Master tree is all about boasting the pets, but even if you don’t spec in this tree, it’s essential to understand that FL4K’s pets are a crucial part of their playstyle and if you aren’t using them all the time then you aren’t taking full advantage of what FL4K can do.
There are a lot of aspects from previous Vault Hunters Mordecai and Zero present in FL4K’s other skill trees. “Fade Away” lets you turn invisible for a short period and “Rakk Attack!” throws out a group of Rakk’s to assault enemies. So yeah, if you liked those characters, FL4K will be familiar to you. And also like those characters, FL4K is best suited for long-range sniping. Their Hunter Skill tree is all about increasing crit damage. So if you like playing from a distance, using sniper rifles, and getting headshots, then FL4K is for you! Jakobs guns, which are all about bolt action precision damage, are going to be your best friends.
FL4K is going to work best for players that manage their pets, along with their skills, to team up on enemies and take them out together. They may not be as visually flashy as the other Vault Hunters but make no mistake, in the hands of a skilled player FL4K, can dish out some severe damage.
Our one warning for picking FL4K is that their pets tend to walk in front of you during important emotional moments with characters, which can be annoying.
