Month: October 2019

WWE 2K20 is out today and fans have quickly discovered something is not quite right with 2K’s latest pro wrestling sim. Now fans are sharing their WWE 2K20 bugs online with the hashtag #FixWWE2K20 to draw attention to what appears to be some serious gameplay and performance issues.

A thread on Reddit compiled the extensive list of issues seemingly plaguing WWE 2K20 currently. Everything from a missing day one patch that was promised, along with several issues with multiplayer and matchmaking.

But the most obvious and immediate examples of why fans seem to be upset with WWE 2K20 are from the way the game looks and performs. Here’s a visual comparison of WWE wrestler and character John Cena from WWE 2K19 and WWE 2K20. Notice how last year’s character model looks more defined and detailed than this year’s model.

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Team Rocket made their long-awaited debut in Pokemon Go earlier this summer, but the villainous organization isn’t done making mischief in the game. We recently got our first look at three mysterious new Team Rocket characters, and now, Professor Willow has made a discovery that’s tied to the team.

On the official Pokemon Go website, developer Niantic published a “report” by Professor Willow about strange metallic objects Team Rocket Grunts have been leaving behind. It’s unclear what the purpose of these “mysterious components” is, but the report surmises that the devices are used to take over PokeStops and may even be able to track down their whereabouts:

“I had a hunch that the Team Go Rocket Grunts were using some sort of device to take over PokeStops and collect resources. Based on what I know so far, these Mysterious Components I’ve found seem to be able to serve that purpose. But considering how advanced this technology is, there must be another use for it. I’ve been working on something in my lab with the help of the team leaders, and I think we might be able to use these components to track down where Team Go Rocket is hiding.”

Perhaps most interesting, however, is the title of the report, “Looming in the Shadows,” which is also the name of a new Special Research questline that was discovered in the game’s files by known dataminer Chrales. This suggests the mysterious components may be what ultimately leads to the aforementioned new Team Rocket members–Cliff, Arlo, and Sierra–debuting in the game. Not many details about the characters have been revealed so far, but they appear to be high-ranking members of the evil team, and they’re featured alongside Team Rocket boss Giovanni on Pokemon Go’s newest loading screen.

In the meantime, to coincide with Pokemon Go’s Halloween 2019 event, Team Rocket has expanded their lineup of Shadow Pokemon. You’ll now be able to catch Shadow versions of Electabuzz, Magmar, Beedrill, and more after defeating certain Team Rocket Grunts. Be sure to check out our Team Rocket guide for more details on how to catch and purify Shadow Pokemon.

Niantic has a number of Pokemon Go events lined up for the next few weeks, including the return of the Regi trio and the debut of Regigigas. The developer has also shared the first details for November’s Community Day. This month’s event takes place on November 16 and features the Fire-type starter Chimchar.

In other Pokemon Go news, Niantic recently announced it will add online battles to the game next year. The new Go Battle League feature is slated to roll out in early 2020 and will let players compete against other trainers around the world and rise in the online ranks. Niantic promises to share more details about the feature “soon.”

2K Games and Visual Concepts have spent the past few years working with Yukes to craft and evolve WWE’s wrestling game series. However, with WWE 2K20, Yukes was not involved, leaving Visual Concepts to lead the way, which puts them in a unique and freeing situation.

During a WWE 2K20 event recently, GameSpot spoke to Lynell Jinks, creative director of Visual Concepts, about the future ahead for the 2K series, which includes the work done on WWE 2K20, “I think freeing is the first feeling that you get,” Jinks explained to GameSpot. “When you realize that now that all the ideas that you had and wanted to pursue are now at your fingertips, that’s the first feeling you have. And the second one you have is the reality, where that sets in where you’re like, ‘Oh, now that it’s all ours, that means that we have to write tools and write systems, and actually understand how these things were really put together.’ Every system in the game, every piece of code, and every art asset had to go through our pipeline–had to go through us. And it was our responsibility to make sure that we understood everything that we’re putting in the game from front to back, right? And this is 20 years of just Yukes’ code, Yukes’ art, Yukes’ pipelines that we had to take apart and understand. Not only understand, but make it ours and try to make it better at the same time, or make it as good as it was.”

Jinks went on to say that there are a lot of smaller, newer additions to this year’s game, pushing limitations from previous incarnations. It does seem that, in many ways, Yukes was holding Visual Concepts back, not allowing certain areas in this gaming series to be explored, until now.

“I think where it speaks the loudest is what we did with originals,” Jinks continued, while discussing the new DLC package WWE Originals. “You look at it, what we do as developers, what we do as the creators of this game, and letting our creativity shine, and letting our passion, what we all sought after coming into the game industry, the games that we wanted to make. Just because we have this WWE license doesn’t mean that we have to be a sim all the time. It’s like, ‘No, there’s a place for both.’ You’re seeing it with NBA, see with The Neighborhood. You’re seeing it with a lot of other games it’s like, ‘You can have a sim but still be fun. You can still be creative, take this license, and provide people with a different experience and different characters.’ A spin on an existing character. That’s what we were doing.”

While there were some issues with the build GameSpot played at a recent 2K event, like horrifying glitches which have been popping up on various feeds today, the WWE Originals pack Bump in the Night was the best part of the new game, adding supernatural and arcade elements to your favorite WWE superstars. The “Bump in the Night” DLC arrives on October 28.

WWE 2K20 is available now on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.

Walmart is looking to sway Call of Duty: Modern Warfare buyers ahead of the game’s October 25 launch on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One by offering three hours of double experience points.

In addition to receiving three hours of double experience for purchasing the game at its stores, Walmart is handing out MegaXP on select products in association with Modern Warfare, including Doritos, Mountain Dew, Game Fuel, and more. Each product comes with a double experience code and a chance to win double Modern Warfare experience for an entire year.

See Call of Duty: Modern Warfare at Walmart

To get you geared up for the Modern Warfare reboot, Activision and PlayStation have released a free “Going Dark” PS4 theme. And PC players can score a discount on any edition of Modern Warfare.

Activision has outlined how both multiplayer and weapon progression work. While multiplayer progression sounds pretty straightforward, developer Infinity Ward added a new element to gaining levels. Weapon progression includes an assortment of attachments, camos, and perks to unlock.

Modern Warfare will not feature loot boxes. Infinity Ward’s Joel Emslie said the studio is “definitely not working on any kind of supply drop or loot box system.” Instead, Activision confirmed Modern Warfare will use a Battle Pass system for its post-launch content.

You can play The Outer Wilds in just a few days, but before then you can watch Twitch play it. Obsidian Entertainment has announced that a Twitch Plays stream will be taking place through the developer’s official Twitch channel starting at 3 PM PT / 6 PM ET today, October 22.

The Outer Worlds is a massive RPG, so the collective Internet hive-brain will have plenty of decisions to make, for better or worse. Obsidian itself predicts the results will get “very messy,” but that’s at least half the fun.

Reviews for The Outer Worlds have been largely positive. It will be included with Xbox Game Pass for PC and Xbox One subscribers. If you plan to pick it up, be sure to check out when it will unlock in your area.

“I finished The Outer Worlds wanting more, eager to jump back into the world to see extra things,” wrote Edmond Tran in GameSpot’s review. “It’s not a short game, but it’s one packed with such a steady stream of wonderful characters to meet, interesting places to explore, and meaningful, multi-layered quests to solve, that it didn’t feel like there was any room to get tired of it. I wanted to rewind the clock and do everything in a completely different way. The Outer Worlds is consistently compelling throughout, and it’s a superb example of how to promote traditional RPG sensibilities in a sharp, modern experience.”

Xbox One owners who subscribe to either Game Pass for Console or Game Pass Ultimate will have a handful of titles to play as November approaches. Led by The Outer Worlds, this new crop of Xbox Game Pass titles include a bevy of experiences, from the indie to the expansive. Here’s what you can look forward to playing over the next two weeks or so.

Headlining this assortment of Xbox Game Pass titles is Obsidian Entertainment’s Fallout: New Vegas spiritual successor The Outer Worlds, which launches on October 25. Reviews have started to flood in and the expansive first-person RPG is receiving near-universal praise amongst critics. It’ll be available right at launch through Game Pass on both Xbox One and PC.

Arriving before The Outer Worlds is Lonely Mountains: Downhill and Secret Neighbor, both of which release on October 23. Bite-sized roguelite Minit hits the Xbox Game Pass vault on October 24, followed by Afterparty on October 29, Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars on October 31, and Subnautica on November 7.

Upcoming Xbox Game Pass Titles

• Lonely Mountains: Downhill — October 23
• Secret Neighbor — October 23
• Minit — October 24
• The Outer Worlds — October 25
• Afterparty — October 29
• Lego Star Wars III — October 31
• Subnautica — November 7

Earlier this month, Xbox Game Pass received an impressive delivery of games to its vault. These include Dishonored 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Yooka-Laylee, and more.

In our Outer Worlds review, editor Edmond Tran awarded the game a 9/10, saying, “[The Outer Worlds is] not a short game, but it’s one packed with such a steady stream of wonderful characters to meet, interesting places to explore, and meaningful, multi-layered quests to solve, that it didn’t feel like there was any room to get tired of it. The Outer Worlds is consistently compelling throughout, and it’s a superb example of how to promote traditional RPG sensibilities in a sharp, modern experience.”

The newest event in Borderlands 3‘s anniversary celebration has kicked off, offering two paths to claim some extra rewards. This fourth week of the celebration is called “Mayhem on Twitch,” and as you might expect, that means you can snag goodies through Mayhem Mode, or by using the game’s Twitch extension.

The update has gone live through a micropatch, so you’ll need to head back to the main menu for a moment to verify before moving on. Once you’ve secured it, you’ll get an increased chance for Anointed gear in Mayhem Mode, along with extra XP gains and reduced values for penalty modifiers. Mayhem Mode is the post-game content that unlocks once you’ve finished the story campaign, which gives you access to better loot and harder difficulty mods.

You can also rack up some rewards through watching other people play Borderlands. The EchoCast Twitch extension has been tweaked to accelerate voting periods during Badass Viewer Events, marking a permanent change. On top of that, Rare Chest Events will have a 100% win rate for the event period rather than the usual 25% chance. To enable the EchoCast extension, you’ll have to link your Shift and Twitch accounts using the Shift profile page.

This event will last through October 29, and marks the penultimate part of the anniversary celebration. The final part will be a “Spooky Surprise” starting on October 29, and whatever that surprise is, it’s apparently separate from the Bloody Harvest event that starts later this week.

Destiny 2‘s Season of the Undying rolls on with more fresh content dropping this week. Headlining what’s now available in the post-Shadowkeep expansion world of Destiny is Leviathan’s Breath, a new Exotic bow that’s available to people who own the current season pass. Unlike Eriana’s Vow, though, you’ll have to earn the bow by completing a lengthy quest. And the first step–which involves getting into Banshee’s workshop–might be the trickiest, at least in terms of figuring out where to go and what to do.

To start the “Make Bows, Not War” quest to earn the bow, you’ll need to speak to Banshee-44 in the Tower. He’ll direct you to his hidden workshop, but he doesn’t really provide you with enough information to walk right into it. Instead, you’ll have to piece together its location from a clue–Banshee mentions a back way in known to Cayde-6. Destiny 2 players know Cayde used to hang out in the Tower’s Hangar area before he was killed in the Forsaken expansion, so you’ll need to start there.

Actually finding the start of the path to the workshop is a test in and of itself, and it’s a little confusing from there on, as well. Here’s the path’s location and everything you need to know to avoid getting lost as you try to find Banshee’s hideaway.

How To Find Banshee-44’s Workshop

• Head to the Hangar and turn left. Look for the staircase in the back corner that leads up to the second-floor catwalks. This is where you go to meet Xur when he comes to the Tower.
• Up on the second floor, follow the catwalks back toward the entrance to the Hangar. If you look over the door, you’ll see another catwalk you can’t reach unless you jump. Hop over to it and you’ll find a vent entrance.

• Follow the vent through and you’ll enter a series of rooms. When you hit the one full of shelves, look up. In the back of the room is a shelf you can climb to reach another vent. Jump into it.

• Keep following these vents until you drop into a cylindrical shaft. Use the platforms to climb to the top and find the exit.

• Work your way through the path forward until you finally hit Banshee’s workshop. Approach the weapons locker at the far end and interact with it to get another quest step–it seems you need the keys to unlock this thing, so head back to Banshee.

From there, you’ve still got your work cut out for you in achieving the bow. Check out the full list of Make Bows, Not War quest steps, as well as our guide for how to complete the quest as efficiently as possible.