Month: February 2021

Outriders Demo – PS4 Vs PS5 Graphics and Loading Times Comparison

The demo for Outriders is now out, allowing you to play through the opening hours of developer People Can Fly’s upcoming multiplayer-focused action RPG. You can play the demo on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and PC–the only system that doesn’t support the demo but will play the game at launch is Stadia.

In the video above, we do a side-by-side comparison of the Outriders demo, playing it both on PS4 and PS5. We take a look at how well the game performs on the two systems, both in terms of graphical quality and loading times.

In Outriders, you play as an Outrider, a specialized combat scout charged with leading humanity’s exploration across a new world after the destruction of Earth. Mutated by a freakish storm upon your arrival, you become an Altered–someone who can bend the elements to their will. You have the choice of commanding earth, fire, time, or technology.

The demo for Outriders covers the opening chapter, which includes several campaign missions and optional side quests. Your progress in the demo will transfer over to the full game once it launches on April 1. Like that version, the Outriders’ demo supports co-op, allowing you to team up with other players in three-person squads.

Shiny Gigantamax Pikachu Is Appearing In Pokemon Sword And Shield For A Limited Time

A new Max Raid event is now live in Pokemon Sword and Shield. As part of the Pokemon series’ 25th anniversary festivities, Gigantamax Pikachu is appearing in Max Raid battles again until February 28, and you’ll have a chance to encounter a Shiny Gigantamax Pikachu in five-star Raids.

As was the case with the recent Cramorant Max Raid event, the overarching goal of this particular event is to defeat more than 1 million Pikachu. If players can hit that goal, The Pokemon Company will give away 100 Armorite Ore and 100 Dynite Ore, which are used as currency for certain items and services in the Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra areas.

The Gigantamax Pikachu Max Raid event runs until 3:59 PM PT / 6:59 PM ET on February 28. Before you can participate, you’ll first need to refresh your Max Raid dens. You can do so either by connecting your game online or by going into the Mystery Gift menu and selecting Get the Wild Area News.

In addition to the Max Raid event, The Pokemon Company is giving away a special Pokemon. In celebration of the series’ 25th anniversary, all Sword and Shield players can claim a free Pikachu for a limited time. What makes this Pikachu special is that it knows Sing, a move that it normally cannot learn in the games.

A few other freebies are also available right now. Players in the US and Canada can get a download code for a free Shiny Toxtricity at participating GameStop and EB Games stores. The Pokemon Company is also giving away a free item bundle containing a Toxic Orb, Gold Bottle Cap, and other valuable items until February 28.

The Pokemon Company aired a Pokemon Presents stream ahead of Pokemon Day, during which it revealed two new Pokemon projects for Switch: Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl and Pokemon Legends: Arceus. The former are faithful remakes of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl that are releasing in late 2021, while the latter is a brand-new, expansive adventure that calls to mind Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

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Terminator Anime Heading For Netflix

A Terminator anime series has been greenlit at Netflix, according to Variety. Details are still pretty sparse at this early stage for the project, but given the franchise’s humble cyberpunk roots with the 1984 original film, an anime adaptation of the series and its world makes sense.

Variety reports that Netflix has partnered with Skydance, the company that holds the rights to the long-running sci-fi franchise, for the series. Mattson Tomlin, who worked on the screenplay for Matt Reeves’ upcoming The Batman, will serve as showrunner and executive producer for this upcoming series.

“Terminator is one of the most iconic sci-fi stories ever created–and has only grown more relevant to our world over time,” said John Derderian, Netflix’s vice president of Japan and anime. “The new animated series will explore this universe in a way that has never been done before. We can’t wait for fans to experience this amazing new chapter in the epic battle between machines and humans.”

How, what, or when (as is important in the Terminator series, which regularly involves time travel in its storytelling) this universe is being explored is unnanounced–but if Derderian’s promise of this being a truly new approach, the anime should be interesting. Tomlin also hinted in a statement, “Anyone who knows my writing knows I believe in taking big swings and going for the heart. I’m honored… [to have] the opportunity to approach Terminator in a way that breaks conventions, subverts expectations, and has real guts.”

Now Playing: History Of The Terminator Movies

Godzilla Vs. Kong Will Have An Actual Winner

When two fan-favorite characters do battle on the big screen, the one thing fans want is a definitive winner, even though one isn’t always determined. After all, the debate of who won Freddy vs. Jason rages on. However, with the upcoming Godzilla vs. Kong, which hits theaters on the HBO Max streaming service on March 31, there will be one kaiju left standing.

Speaking during the IGN’s Fan Fest panel for Godzilla vs. Kong, director Adam Wingard made sure to note fans of the monsters won’t leave wondering who the victor was. “I just wanted this to feel like the real matchup. I wanted you to walk away from this–wanted there to be no more arguments on the playground,” he said. “This is the decider, you know, you don’t have to debate it anymore you watch this. That’s Godzilla, that’s King Kong, they’re beating the s*** out of each other, and one wins. And, you know, that’s it.”

Wingard’s reason for wanting a true winner of the war goes back to his own experiences watching the Godzilla franchise growing up. “When I think back to the original movie King Kong Vs Godzilla, I remember having conversations with my friends talking about that when I was a kid, and we were still debating who would win in a fight–Godzilla or King Kong–and that film for one doesn’t really pick a winner,” he explained. “It’s very much a draw. It’s very unclear and muddy who wins.”

While Wingard is promising a winner and a loser, the trailers for Godzilla vs. Kong promise, above all else, absolute mayhem and destruction on such a ridiculous level, that perhaps the movie should borrow a tagline from Alien vs. Predator: No matter who wins, we lose.

Godzilla vs. Kong crashed into theaters–and your house via HBO Max–on March 31.

Invincible’s Steven Yeun On Working With Robert Kirkman Again After The Walking Dead

Steven Yeun became a household name as Glenn on AMC’s The Walking Dead, which was based on a comic book by Robert Kirkman. Now, Yeun is starring as Mark Grayson in Amazon Prime’s Invincible, another series based on a comic by Kirkman.

During IGN Fan Fest, Yeun spoke about how he got the role on the upcoming animated show, which arrives on March 26. “Robert just hit me up kind of randomly and said, ‘I’m doing Invincible. Would you come in and kind of like help me realize part of this script?'” said Yeun. “He wanted me to come in and just play around in a booth, and we did this really cool scene that I really enjoyed about two security guards that—I think he’s going to be in it—but it’s a beautiful scene, and it really made me understand like what he was trying to make.

“Not too long after, he asked me if I would play Mark [Grayson] and for me, you know, I love Robert and also like having had that experience reading the some of the script that he wrote, and where the show was going, I was super stoked to be part of it, so I mean who doesn’t want to be Invincible?”

Yeun isn’t the only TWD alumni joining the new mature animated series. Invincible will also feature Khary Payton (Ezekiel) as Black Samson, Sonequa Martin-Green (Sasha) as Green Ghost, Lauren Cohan (Maggie) as War Woman, Chad Coleman (Tyreese) as Martian Man, Michael Cudlitz (Abraham) as Red Rush, Lennie James (Morgan) as Darkwing, and Ross Marquand (Aaron) as The Immortal & Aquarius. So there will be a lot of familiar voices to fans of the long-running AMC series.

Invincible also features J.K. Simmons, Zazie Beetz, Jason Mantzoukas, and Gillian Jacobs, all of whom were on the panel along with Yeun and Kirkman.

Invincible debuts on Amazon Prime on March 26.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Warzone Update Fixes Map Issues, Full Patch Notes Revealed

Developer Treyarch has dropped a new update for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone that kicks off the double XP weekend event. Alongside the event, the update also addresses some issues with two of the game’s maps. The full patch notes are outlined below.

The headliner of the latest patch is the kick-off of a double XP weekend event. From now until March 1, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone players can earn double XP and double weapon XP. This event coincides with Season Two’s launch, which has officially begun.

Elsewhere in the update are adjustments to two maps. On Raid, players can no longer stand outside of the intended play zones around the basketball court. Checkmate, meanwhile, has been fixed so that players can’t capture the P3 Hardpoint zone outside of its boundary.

Prop Hunt has been added to both the Apocalypse pool and February 25’s featured playlist.

The last point to mention is Black Ops Cold War’s Zombies mode, which gets several quality-of-life updates in this patch. This includes fixes for stability issues related to things like hellhounds and objectives, ironing out problems with progression, implementing gameplay updates like better enemy pathing, and addressing issues with the user interface.

This update comes just in time for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s multiplayer and Zombies free trial period. Those interested in playing the latest Call of Duty title can jump into a handful of modes until March 4 on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

CoD: Black Ops Cold War, Warzone Patch Notes (February 26)

Global

  • Events:
    • 2XP + XWXP Weekend
      • Double XP and Double Weapon XP now live in Black Ops Cold War and Warzone through 10 AM PT Monday, March 1st.
  • Performance:
    • Addressed framerate performance issues on all platforms since Season Two launch.

Multiplayer

  • Maps:
    • Raid
      • Addressed an issue that allowed players to stand outside of the intended play space outside of the basketball court.
    • Checkmate
      • Addressed an issue that allowed players to capture the P3 Hartpoint zone outside of the boundary.
  • Modes:
    • Prop Hunt
      • Added Prop Hunt to Featured Playlist (Feb. 25).
      • Added Apocalypse on Prop Hunt map pool.
  • After Action Report:
    • Addressed an issue where both teams would display the same score in the After Action Report.

League Play

  • Menus/Lobby:
    • Added the Outbreak Event tab to League Play.
    • Added the Challenges tab to League Play.
    • Re-enabled the Calling Cards tab in the Player Identity list in League Play.
    • Addressed an issue where Tokens could not be redeemed from the League Play lobby.
  • User Interface:
    • Addressed an issue with the Rank 1 emblem being present in multiple locations before a player had completed Placement Matches.

Zombies

  • Outbreak:
    • Stability
      • Addressed stability issues related to Objectives, Hellhounds, Plaguehounds, Trials Machine, and Dragon Relic.
      • Added various crash fixes.
    • Progression
      • Addressed an issue that was resulting in lower-than-intended Outbreak Match bonus XP totals.
    • Gameplay
      • Addressed various enemy pathing issues.
      • Addressed an issue that caused a loss of functionality for the parachute after going down from a fall.
    • Field Upgrades
      • Addressed an issue where the Aether Shroud Field Upgrade could lose its initial full charge during the Retrieve Objective.
    • Support
      • Closed an exploit that allowed the Death Machine to be used indefinitely.
    • User Interface
      • Addressed a UI error that would appear when pinging the Trials Computer.
  • Weapons:
    • Ray Gun
      • Added a cap to the amount of splash damage the Ray Gun and other weapons can inflict on the player.

Now Playing: Black Ops Cold War & Warzone – Official Season Two Gameplay Trailer

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Get A Great TV For PS5 And Series X On Sale, Plus A $200 Gift Card

If you’re in the market for a new TV, Newegg has a fantastic deal on the best 4K TV for gaming on PS5 and Xbox Series X. The 65-inch LG CX OLED 4K TV is $2,000 at Newegg right now, and while that’s a pretty typical sale price for the display, it also comes with a $200 Newegg gift card. That means you can snag yourself a gorgeous OLED TV and use the $200 towards new games and gadgets or even toward a PS5 or Xbox Series X when they come back in stock–unfortunately, we don’t know when the consoles will become available again, but you do get 365 days to redeem the gift card.

Amazon currently has a deal on the 65-inch LG CX OLED for $2,000 with a $50 coupon, so Newegg currently has the best deal for this TV.

$2,000

The LG CX OLED features four HDMI 2.1 ports, which allow for 4K and 120Hz gaming on PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC. It also boasts support for VRR (variable refresh rate) and ALLM (auto low-latency mode) as well as Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. This makes it not only an incredible TV for gaming but also 4K movies and shows.

In addition to the LG CX OLED, there is a whole sale going down at Newegg that’s full of great deals on things like PC gaming components, gaming laptops and PCs, and monitors. A 500GB Samsung 970 Evo NVMe SSD is down to $70 (was $90), a Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite AMD motherboard is $200 (was $220), and the Corsair H115i RGB cooling system is only $105 (was $140). These three pieces of PC gaming hardware are well worth the money–we used an Aorus motherboard and Corsair cooling system in our PC gaming build guide.

If you’re not a PC gamer, there are a few console-focused deals, too. Right now, you can snag a $50 Nintendo Switch card or $50 Xbox Store card for $45 each. To get the Xbox Store deal, you need to use promo code EMCESTE24–the Switch card deal doesn’t require a promo code. There are also quite a few digital Xbox game deals that are worth checking out–alternatively, you can still sign up for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $1 for your first month.

Best Xbox game deals at Newegg

With promo code EMCESTE56

With promo code EMCESTE57

Fortnite And Batman Crossover Comic Will Feature In-Game Codes

Batman and Fortnite are teaming up again, but they’re moving out of the video game and onto the pages of DC Comics. On April 20, the first issue of the six-part miniseries Batman/Fortnite: Zeropoint arrives from the comic book publisher.

Fortnite players will have a big reason to pick up this comic: in-game bonuses, starting with the Rebirth Harley Quinn Outfit–which you can see below. If you buy all six issues of the comic and input the codes, you’ll unlock the Armored Batman Zero Outfit for your Fortnite character.

Images from DC Comics
Images from DC Comics

Gallery

DC Universe Infinite subscribers will receive all the issues for the mini-series for free–and that also includes the Fortnite codes. Each issue of the comic will sell for $5, with a card stock variant going for $6.

The upcoming tale finds Batman being sucked through a rift in Gotham City, which lands him in the world of Fortnite. Fighting in an endless loop and trying to recall his past, the Dark Knight will see some familiar faces: Renegade Raider, Fishstick, Bandolier, and more. Batman will uncover truths about the island within the new limited series.

Zero Point will be written by Christos Gage with Epic CCO Donald Mustard working alongside him as story and concept consultant. Reilly Brown, Christian Duce, Nelson DeCastro, and John Kalisz will provide the art on the series.

“When DC first approached me about doing a Batman/Fortnite series, I thought it would be a lot of fun,” said Gage. “After speaking with Donald [Mustard] and discovering just how deeply we’d be diving into the secrets behind the world of Fortnite, I was amazed! This series will reveal things about Fortnite that have never been seen or heard before yet are very much part of the canon of the game.”

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Google Stadia Spent “Tens Of Millions Of Dollars” For Games Like Red Dead Redemption 2, Report Says

Thus far, it’s hard to view Google Stadia as a success. The streaming service has failed to attract a large audience, and Google recently stopped first-party game development a little over a year after the service officially launched, leaving multiplatform games to fill out its library and putting its lifespan in question. This is despite spending a substantial amount of cash out of the gate to scoop up big-name games.

According to a new report from Bloomberg, Stadia boss Phil Harrison–who previously held executive positions at both Sony and Microsoft–wanted to make a big splash by paying “tens of millions of dollars” for games such as Red Dead Redemption 2 on the platform. It was a very bullish decision that, paired with exclusive games from its internal studios, would have given Google a path toward success with Stadia.

Harrison was part of the PlayStation at Xbox teams at arguably their lowest moments. While working as an executive for SCE Worldwide Studios, the PS3 launched and struggled with a high price point and lackluster exclusives early on. As Corporate VP at Microsoft, he was a leader for the Xbox brand in Europe when the Xbox One launched with a similar thud.

Wired was also told that Harrison wasn’t being transparent with the developers at Stadia Games and Entertainment. Just days before announcing the division was shuttering, Harrison had praised the developers for the work they had been doing.

Stadia’s business model is also different from some of its competitors, including Microsoft’s xCloud, which may affect its ability to attract those already familiar with consoles. With an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, you can play many games on a console via download or on the go via streaming. Those interested in the former already have access to the latter, meaning they don’t have to be pitched on the viability or even the performance of the latter. It also gives users access to all new first-party Xbox games without needing to purchase them, and that’s something Stadia can’t match without its own development teams.

Now Playing: The Rise And Fall Of Stadia Games And Entertainment

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl Are Very Different Kinds Of Pokemon Remakes

Rumors were swirling that The Pokemon Company would unveil remakes of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl as part of its Pokemon 25th anniversary celebration–and sure enough, we got our first look at Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl during the February 2021 Pokemon Presents stream. That the remakes are indeed coming is not in itself surprising; The Pokemon Company has been steadily remaking older entries in the series, and Diamond and Pearl were the next in line to be modernized. What was surprising, however, is the approach being taken with the Diamond and Pearl remakes.

The Pokemon Company stressed that Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are “faithful” remakes, and they certainly look as much. The games deliberately invoke the aesthetic of the original DS titles. Not only do they retain the classic top-down perspective, but characters and other overworld elements also have the same squat proportions as they do in the originals, which makes Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl look more like touched-up versions of the DS games rather than full-fledged updates.

This is in stark contrast to the approach Pokemon developer Game Freak has taken to previous remakes. Each time the studio has remade an older pair of Pokemon games, it has updated them to modern standards. Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen modernized the original Gen 1 games in the style of Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire; HeartGold and SoulSilver updated the Gen 2 games in the vein of Diamond and Pearl; and Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire made over the Gen 3 games to match Pokemon X and Y.

Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl buck this trend. Rather than reimagining the games in the style of Sword and Shield, as many fans undoubtedly expected, developer Ilca (with longtime Pokemon director Junichi Masuda) is leaning in on nostalgia and sticking closely to the look and feel of the original Diamond and Pearl. While this is new for the Pokemon series, it’s reminiscent of the approach Nintendo and Grezzo took with Switch’s Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening remake. That game was likewise a faithful recreation of the original Game Boy title. The visuals and controls were updated, but the feel and aesthetic were retained, resulting in a modernized take on the classic.

Interestingly, this wasn’t the only clear Zelda parallel on display. Pokemon Legends: Arceus, the other new project announced during the February Pokemon Presents broadcast, evokes another Zelda game, Breath of the Wild, with its sweeping shots of sprawling, wide-open environments. The link–to continue the Zelda metaphor–that ties the new Pokemon games together is the Sinnoh region, which serves as the setting in both Legends and Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl. Juxtaposed, they present an interesting set of companion games–one lovingly revisiting the past, the other charting an entirely new path for the series.

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl launch for Switch in late 2021, while Pokemon Legends: Arceus is slated to release in early 2022. You can read more about the titles in our roundup of all the biggest news from the Pokemon Presents stream.

Now Playing: Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl – Official Reveal Trailer

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