Crash Bandicoot’s unlikely career renaissance continues unabated. The former mascot’s Twitter account posted an amusing video of Crash and his sister Coco playing Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. This is presumably a reference to the fact that Uncharted developer Naughty Dog first became a household name thanks to the Crash series.
While it’s nice to see PlayStation mascots enjoying each other’s games, this animation is seeded with unfortunate implications regarding the proximity of these game worlds and their canonicity. Is Nathan Drake simply a fictional video game star in the world of Crash Bandicoot? An Easter Egg in Uncharted 4 allows you to play the original Crash Bandicoot in Nate’s house, so it would appear that the reverse is true as well.
Thus, we find ourselves in an infinite recursion situation. DeviantArt artist KempferZero illustrates the matter well.
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time released back in September to positive reviews. “Even more so than playing the N.Sane Trilogy, which literally remade the original Crash games from my youth, playing Crash 4 felt like getting back in touch with the series,” wrote Mike Epstein in GameSpot’s Crash 4 review. It’s an injection of new ideas into now-classic gameplay that surprises and delights, even as it feels like a homecoming. Truly, games like this are why we come running back to long-dormant franchises with open arms.
PixelJunk Eden 2 hasn’t received much attention since it was casually announced during a Nintendo Direct, but now the game appears closer than we realized. According to Nintendo UK, the sequel to Q-Games’ 2008 game is coming on December 10.
The release date was dropped on the Nintendo UK site. The Nintendo of America site still lists Eden 2 with a more general “Fall 2020” release date. (Technically, winter begins on December 21 in the northern hemisphere.)
When it was announced, Q-Games said you’d guide your Grimp through stages that will be generated in real-time based on your actions. This is similar to the first game, which had you swinging through stages, but those were pre-made. In fact, one of the criticisms in GameSpot’s PixelJunk Eden review was that requiring you to gather five spectra from unchanging stages made the experience repetitive.
Q-Games produced several PixelJunk games around a decade ago, including PixelJunk Monsters and PixelJunk Shooter. The series went dormant for a long while after that, until recently when PixelJunk Monsters 2 released in 2018.
It’s been almost two weeks since the PlayStation 5 launched in the UK, and many Ubisoft game owners are still unable to upgrade their PS4 copies of Watch Dogs: Legion and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla to their respective PS5 versions.
The issue is only affecting those who own physical copies of either game, with the PlayStation Store failing to offer the free upgrade option when inserting a disc–despite the free upgrade path featuring prominently on the front cover of both games. Fan uproar has gradually intensified since the PS5’s launch back on November 19, with many taking their complaints to Twitter and Ubisoft’s official forums. The company has finally acknowledged the problem publicly for the first time, saying that it’s working to resolve the issue via the Ubisoft Support Twitter account.
We are aware players in the UK are experiencing issues upgrading physical versions of some Ubisoft games from PS4 to PS5. We’re working to resolve this, and can confirm anyone experiencing this issue will still be eligible for their free upgrade. Stay tuned for more information.
There’s still no word on when a fix might arrive, nor is there any explanation for why this is specifically affecting Ubisoft games in the UK–though there are also reports of the same problem impacting people in Greece, Bulgaria, South Africa, and other countries.
I’ve run into the issue myself since I own a physical version of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla on PS4. I eventually lost patience waiting for a response from Ubisoft and used one of the workarounds that people have been sharing. This involves creating a new Turkish PSN account and downloading the free PS5 upgrade from there.
With Immortals Fenyx Rising launching on December 3, it will be interesting to see if this issue also affects Ubisoft’s latest open-world adventure. The upcoming game earned a score of 7/10 in GameSpot’s Immortals Fenyx Rising review, with critic Suriel Vazquez saying, “Even as it lives in the shadow of better games, its puzzles, combat, and open-world loop come together often enough for me to not only see it through for a few dozen hours, but also want to keep filling out its almighty checklist, even if it lead me by the nose most of the way through.”
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The newest patch for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has arrived, and the big-ticket change is a tweak to how fast you’ll earn weapon XP.
Across multiplayer and Zombies, Treyarch has increased the earn rates for weapon XP. With the update applied, players should now level up their weapons faster than before, allowing them to unlock new gear and attachments at a quicker pace.
The update also fixes an XP-related problem with the Zombies mode that caused the game to not pay out enough XP in solo matches and later in rounds.
As a thank you to players for their patience for these XP issues, Treyarch will offer “even more” double XP events throughout December, the studio said.
Finally, the new update fixes an out-of-bounds exploit for the newly released Nuketown ’84 multiplayer map. You can see the full November 30 patch notes below, as posted by Treyarch on its website.
Black Ops Cold War November 30 Patch Notes:
GLOBAL
Progression
Increased Weapon XP earn rates for both Multiplayer and Zombies.
ZOMBIES
Progression
Addressed an issue that was causing lower-than-targeted Weapon XP in solo matches and in later rounds.
Addressed an issue where the Napalm Burst Ammo Mod wasn’t consistently awarding Weapon XP when equipped.
MULTIPLAYER
Maps
Nuketown ‘84
Closed an out-of-bounds gap that allowed players to stay alive outside of the playable space.
The Queen’s Gambit, a recent Netflix miniseries about the rise of fictional chess prodigy Beth Harmon (played by Anna Taylor-Joy), has been a huge success for the streaming giant, scoring the biggest debut ever for a scripted limited series. The ripples of this success spread much further, though–chess itself has greatly benefited.
A recent report from NPD states that chess-related sales have spiked since the show debuted in October. In the 21 days following the show’s release, chess set sales increased by 87% in the US, and sales of chess books leapt up an incredible 603%.
NPD Group also reports that across its first nine days on Netflix, US homes spent a total of 40.8 million hours watching the series. To put this into perspective, finishing the whole series takes under seven hours.
“The sales of chess books and chess sets, which had previously been flat or declining for years, turned sharply upward as the popular new series gained viewers,” said toy industry advisor Juli Lennett. Chess spending was flat in the 13 weeks leading up to the series’ debut, ahead of a huge spike.
Former chess world champion Garry Kasparov served as a consultant on the Netflix show, and he told CNN that he believed the show would do wonders for chess. “I think this series will do a great job promoting it further and I expect now a boom, because it helps to refute the image of the game of chess as something that could turn you into a nerd — or just to make you crazy,” he said.
HBO recently greenlit the Last of Us TV show, meaning it might enter production relatively soon. An official release date for the program has not been announced yet, but people are guessing that it may debut around the time that another show with zombies–The Walking Dead–airs its 11th and final season in 2022.
Scott Gimple, the head of content for The Walking Dead at AMC, said in a new interview with Insider that he’s not worried about potentially competing with The Last of Us.
“I think there’s room for all of us, with zombies and the different ways of telling zombie tales,” Gimple said of the two shows. “I’m going to be watching both. I hope a lot of people will be watching.”
Gimple went on to point out that The Last of Us and The Walking Dead are very different properties, so both should be able to find their own audiences.
“It’s an amazing game,” Gimple said in reference to The Last of Us. “There are some amazing creators that have gotten involved in it and I think it’s incredibly different than ‘The Walking Dead.’ It’s a very, very different take.”
HBO’s The Last of Us TV show is produced by Craig Mazin (The Hangover series, Chernobyl), with the game’s writer and director, Neil Druckmann, also on staff. There have been no casting announcements yet, but those are expected in due time now that the show has been officially picked up for season one.
Not much about the show is known. The series is expected to follow the events of the first game, with the possibility of also overlapping on content present in the game’s recent sequel. The adaptation is said to not invalidate or retcon the events in either games, but instead to “expand” on them.
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Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror is one of Netflix‘s big sci-fi shows, but season six is probably a while away yet. Back in May, Brooker said that he was working on other things, but wouldn’t give more details–and now, one of the actors involved in a project he’s working on has spilled the beans.
In an interview with Vulture, Hugh Grant has revealed that he’s filming something for Brooker’s next project, a mockumentary about 2020. Grant says that he’ll be playing “a historian who’s being interviewed about the year,” which makes it sound like the film will be set in the future, looking back on the year.
“I’m pretty repellent, actually,” Grant continued. “And you’ll like my wig.”
No further details about the film are revealed. Hugh Grant’s latest series, The Undoing on HBO, has just finished airing.
The most recent season of Black Mirror had an episode focused on an online VR fighting game, called Striking Vipers. Before that, the interactive Black Mirror film Bandersnatch was released, which ultimately resulted in a recently-settled lawsuit.
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The PlayStation 2 is the best-selling console of all time, but many of its best games are now much harder to access, partly because of a lack of backwards-compatibility with modern systems, and partly because the system is notoriously difficult to emulate. But as it turns out, Microsoft’s new, cheaper system does a pretty good job of it.
As VG247 reports, the Xbox Series S has a feature called “Developer Mode,” and when it’s active it’s possible to run RetroArch emulation on Microsoft’s $299 console. From there, it’s possible to get PS2 games running on Sony’s system. This would be possible on the more powerful Xbox Series X, too.
RetroArch on Xbox isn’t perfect–and games are capped at a 2GB limit, meaning that not every PS2 game is playable–but as you can see in the video below from Modern Vintage Gamer, it’s possible to play PS2 titles like Metal Gear Solid 2 and Jak & Daxter on the console. The controls even work on an Xbox controller.
RetroArch can also emulate other consoles, such as the Nintendo GameCube, but the PS2 is particularly noteworthy because good PS2 emulation is rare. It’s also interesting because while the Xbox Series X/S are backwards compatible with numerous Xbox/Xbox 360 titles, the PlayStation 5 can only run PS4/PS5 titles.
Of course, the Xbox Series X/S are never going to support official PlayStation emulation–but it’ll be interesting to see whether the PS5 eventually introduces better backwards compatibility options.
Peter Dinklage has played both an evil scientist and a Norse blacksmith in Marvel movies, but he’s never been the hero in a superhero movie. Now, the actor best known for playing Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones has found his superhero picture: The Toxic Avenger.
Dinklage will star in Legendary‘s Toxic Avenger film, according to a report from Deadline. The original 1984 film, produced by Troma Entertainment and co-directed by founders Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, sports Troma’s trademark low-budget visual effects and grotesque imagery. It tells the story of a man named Melvin who, after being pushed into a vat of toxic waste, transforms into a mutant. He has to save his family and town from organized crime and corrupt officials.
The original Toxic Avenger is the very definition of a cult classic. It didn’t get much traction during its initial release, but New York’s midnight cinema scene gave it new life. From there, it spawned multiple sequels, a children’s cartoon, a line of toys, and some video games. Legendary acquired the license in 2018.
Along with Dinklage in the starring role, Macon Blair is set to direct. Blair, who has mostly worked as an actor, made his directorial debut with 2017’s I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore. Original directors Kaufman and Herz of Troma Entertainment are producing the film. In addition to his roles in Game of Thrones and Marvel movies, Dinklage has plenty of dramas under his belt, including The Station Agent, Living in Oblivion, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
Legendary has not yet revealed a release window or production timeline for Toxic Avenger.
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In 2018, Tetris Effect’s mesmerizing sounds and sights heightened the classic game’s aesthetically pleasing properties and its ability to consume our attention to almost therapeutic levels, reinvigorating our appreciation for one of gaming’s oldest obsessions. But even as former GameSpot editor Peter Brown proclaimed Tetris “better than ever” in Tetris Effect, he noted it “sadly” did not apply its wondrous approach to multiplayer. Two years later, Tetris Effect: Connected–an updated re-release for Xbox consoles and PC–fills that gap. Just as the original did for the classic version of the game, Connected reimagines Tetris multiplayer with flair and vision. It also loses a major component, VR support, which delivers the most intense version of the experience. While I’m of two minds on that tradeoff, the soothing intensity of Tetris Effect hasn’t lost any potency. On the contrary, it feels more vital than ever in 2020.
Though it adds and removes modes whole cloth, the core of Tetris Effect remains unchanged. Despite the fact that Journey mode hasn’t been touched, its shifting, syncopated themes enraptured me level by level, even on my second time through. Tetris Effect is a significant challenge to average Tetris players like myself. Each level revs the speed up to push you just up to the edge of what you can handle. Even as you improve–and you are getting better, whether you see it or not–the levels scale to demand your full focus. It sounds unapproachable, but there’s something about the combination of the way your brain looks for patterns, combined with the rhythmic sensory elements and this challenge, that lets you give yourself over to the game, almost trance-like, without even trying.
You’ll need that focus in multiplayer. Whether you’re playing cooperatively with other players or competing against them, the multiplayer modes in Connected ratchet up the intensity found in the original. Connected features four multiplayer modes–three competitive, one co-op. As in most games, other players will push you in ways a single-player campaign will not.
Score Attack in Tetris Effect: Connected
Most players will rush right to Zone Battle, an updated version of what I imagine when I think of competitive Tetris, a survival mode where completing lines on your field creates extra garbage lines for your opponents. The Connected version adds the zone mechanic from Tetris Effect, which stops the parade of pieces and allows you to complete a large number of lines in a short time. Using zone effectively adds an extra layer of strategy: Activating it at the right time can guarantee a victory, but it’s surprisingly tricky to find the correct moment to use it. Though it seems like the ability to save up and cash in lines would only intensify the dominance of elite players, I found it allowed you to turn a good flow into a meaningful attack, regardless of whether you’re winning or losing. It won’t keep a superior player from stomping you, mind you, but zone rewards players who can be mindful of the situations on both fields and retain the focus to clear lines.
In addition to Zone Battle, Connected also has two versions of Score Attack, a more traditional competitive mode without garbage-line or zone mechanics. In standard Score Attack, you play for the high score and survival. In Classic Score Attack, you do the same, but with the original 1984 rules, so you can’t bank pieces, use T-Spins, and so on.
Zone Battle is an interesting riff, but it’s a known quantity. The most interesting mode–this game’s crown jewel–is the eponymous Connected co-op mode, where three players collectively try to outlast a series of AI opponents, one at a time. At first, the four players simply play Tetris. The AI enemies, named after the signs of the Zodiac, have special abilities called “blitzes” to make things difficult for you, which range from annoying parlor tricks like moving your field up and down to genuinely infuriating maneuvers like temporarily increasing the speed of your drops to force errors. Once a week, there’s also an asynchronous Connected Versus mode, where players can spar 3-on-1.
When the three human players clear enough lines on their fields, you automatically trigger a special form of the zone ability, which combines all three of your fields into one. You and your partners take turns placing pieces on the extra-wide field and must clear extra-long lines. Like every level and mode in Tetris Effect, you need to find a natural rhythm in the game, but in this case you do so by getting in sync with your partners. Only one person plays a piece at a time, so being able to quickly find the right spot and anticipate where the others will go becomes crucial. Like zone battle, you need to be focused to fill gaps quickly, but also mindful of the whole field and what’s happening.
Connected mode in Tetris Effect: Connected
Gallery
In most games, that kind of coordination would require voice chat, but this particular mode benefits from relying on non-verbal communication. It requires more awareness and consideration of your fellow players than the competitive modes because you’re sharing a single field. The goal of Tetris Effect, across its modes, is to feel the flow of the game without interruption or getting into your own head; silently syncing with your partners, showing them what you plan to do with your next piece and trusting that they’ll understand and plan around that offers an interesting variation on that theme, and it can create incredible results if you can… connect.
Since it’s a re-release, we should also talk about what’s missing from Connected. Unlike the original release, Tetris Effect isn’t playable in virtual reality. Since Connected is primarily an Xbox release, removing VR seems like a practical decision: The Xbox consoles don’t support VR headsets, so only PC players would be able to enjoy it. In the original Tetris Effect, VR felt like the coup de gras, tuning you into the game intensely by letting you see and hear the levels all around you. It’s a unique experience, and part of the magic of the original version. While I think multiplayer is the more approachable feature, and what I would want if forced to choose, I do wish there were a way to have both in a single package.
But there’s no time for regrets in Tetris. The next piece is falling and you only have a few seconds to put it in place. Then the next piece, and the one after that. Some people meditate to clear their minds. Other people cook, or build models. Tetris Effect has a similar capacity to clear your mind. In 2018, that made Tetris Effect feel special. In 2020, it feels essential.
