Month: March 2021

Apex Legends Just Hit A Record On Steam For Concurrent Players

The battle royale game Apex Legends released more than two years ago, but it’s still setting records. The free-to-play game from the developers of Titanfall surpassed 198,000 concurrent players on Steam recently, setting a new high watermark for the game.

SteamDB had Apex Legends at a peak concurrent player figure of 198,235 at the end of February. The game is showing strong growth, as Apex Legends’ peak concurrent player number rose by around 70,000 compared to January, according to SteamDB (via PC Gamer).

These are massive numbers, but they don’t even capture the full extent of Apex’s reach. The battle royale game is also available on Origin, where it presumably has a sizeable playerbase.

The success seems to suggest that Apex’s Season 8 helped bring more players into the fold to check out the new hero, Fuse, and duke it out on the new version of the King’s Canyon map.

Apex Legends originally launched in February 2019 but it didn’t come to Steam until November 2020. The game is a chart-topper on Steam, consistently ranking in the top 10 most-played games on the platform.

The ongoing success of Apex Legends is helping publisher Electronic Arts in a big way. The company said in its latest earnings briefing that Apex Legends experienced a 30% growth in new players year-over-year, while its various microtransactions helped EA make billions from in-game purchases.

Apex Legends will expand further when it releases on Nintendo Switch on March 9 with a port studio Panic Button.

Many are wondering if developer Respawn will ever return to Titanfall in the wake of Apex’s success. According to EA Studios boss Laura Miele, the fate of the Titanfall series is in Respawn’s hands, and the studio will decide how to move forward.

Now Playing: Apex Legends Switch Overview Trailer | Nintendo Direct

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Jupiter’s Legacy On Netflix Gets First Images

We’ve gotten out first look at photos from Netflix‘s upcoming superhero series Jupiter’s Legacy. Ahead of its release on May 7, the streaming service has published a series of images from the forthcoming show, along with a teaser video of sorts that shows the various characters coming to life.

The images give us a first look at the main cast of Jupiter’s Legacy. The first image shows Josh Duhamel and Leslie Bibb as veteran superhero spouses Sheldon and Grace Sampson (aka The Utopian and Lady Liberty), and Ben Daniels as Sheldon’s brother Walter, aka Brainwave. Elsewhere, there’s Andrew Horton and Elena Kampouris as Sheldon and Grace’s children Brandon and Chloe, Ian Quinlan as Hutch, and Tyler Mane as the villainous Blackstar. Check them out below:

While we’re yet to see any footage from the show, a teaser showing some of the characters being brought to life has also been released. This follows last week’s first promo, which revealed the logo.

The series focuses on a group of aging superheroes who want to pass down their legacy to their super-powered children. But their kids have different ideas about how to live the superhero life, causing conflict with both their parents and some new villains. The 10-issue comic book series was published in 2013, and it was followed by the prequel series Jupiter’s Circle in 2015.

Jupiter’s Legacy is part of Millar’s connected comic universe Millarworld. In 2017, Netflix bought the entire brand, and Jupiter’s Legacy is the first show to emerge from the deal. The company subsequently announced a range of other upcoming Millarworld adaptations, including American Jesus, Empress, Huck, and Sharkey the Bounty Hunter.

Snoop Dogg Rage-Quit 15 Minutes Into A Madden Stream

Snoop Dogg’s love for Madden is well-documented, but the rapper didn’t exactly have a good time streaming the game recently. Fourteen minutes into his most recent Madden stream, after the opposing team scored three unanswered touchdowns in the first half, Snoop decided that he’d had enough.

However, it appears that the mind behind such infectious hits as “Drop It Like It’s Hot” and “Gin & Juice” forgot to end the steam, as the broadcast continued for the next seven hours and change with no footage whatsoever. Viewers were regaled with a mixture of soul and funk classics for hours and hours. Snoop’s fans continued to bombard the stream chat with memes and emojis for the entirety of that time, with several suggesting that he should “get some mods” to help with the technical mix-up.

Snoop’s stream description of “sit back, relax, and chill, it’s a vibe in here” seems particularly ironic now, given how the stream ended. That said, the fact that Snoop’s fans were willing to sit there for hours amusing themselves to the tunes of James Brown demonstrates the rapper’s endless appeal. Let’s hope he can at least make it through an entire game next time.

Recently, Madden 21 wrongly predicted that the Kansas City Chiefs would beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in this year’s Super Bowl. That said, not everyone has been happy with last year’s entry in the series. In GameSpot’s Madden 21 review, our critic Steven Petite opined that Madden 21 feels more like an update than a full new game.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Halo 3 Is Adding Its Version Of Fortnite’s Back Bling In New Update

A new way to customize your Spartan in Halo 3 is coming to the game more than 13 years after it was originally released. 343 Industries has announced that it’s taking a page out of Fortnite’s book with its own version of back bling for another way to customize your solider.

“Back attachment” gear is coming to Halo 3 in The Master Chief Collection with the Season 6 update. The attachments are purely cosmetic, and they’re meant to give you yet another way to customize your character to stand out on the battlefield.

The Ammo pack back attachment
The Ammo pack back attachment

The new back attachments, which can be unlocked by simply playing the game, include the Tactical pack, the Demolitions pack, the Communications pack, and the Ammo pack, among others. The Ammo pack looks the best to me thanks to its huge knife at the bottom.

Another one, which wasn’t announced in 343’s blog post but is available in the Season 6 beta test, is the Sword and Board (see below), along with one called Pulaski. This one is a big firefighter’s axe–you can see it in the game in UberNick’s YouTube video.

Halo Insiders who were selected for the latest “flight,” or beta test, can check out the MCC Season 6 content right now on console and PC. This also includes animated visors and two new multiplayer maps that came from the canceled free-to-play Halo Online game for Russia.

There has been a lot of Halo news lately; check out the stories linked below to catch up with the latest developments across the franchise.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Horizon Forbidden West Still Seemingly On Track For 2021 According To Sony Advertising

Horizon Forbidden West is still on track for release on PS5 and PS4 later this year, according to the most recent games trailer from Sony. The trailer suggests the sequel will launch in the second half of 2021, while also featuring the most up-to-date release information for Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart and Gran Turismo 7.

The trailer in question (captured by IGN) features the recently revealed June release date for Insomniac’s latest Ratchet and Clank adventure and the omission of a 2021 release window for Gran Turismo 7, suggesting that the “anticipated second half 2021” caption for Horizon Forbidden West is equally accurate. You can see the trailer below, which shows off some clips from the anticipated sequel that Sony debuted with the game’s announcement.

A second ad on Instagram (via VGC) corroborates this, stating that Forbidden West might come in the latter months of 2021. This echoes statements made by PlayStation’s Jim Ryan, who said he felt confident about the releases of Returnal, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, and Horizon Forbidden West in an interview with GQ last week.

No Caption Provided

Ryan also mentioned that if the need arises, Sony is giving developers the space to delay their games. This was the case with Gran Turismo 7, which is no longer being advertised with a 2021 release window after it was delayed until 2022.

“But I think in this world, where creative people are working remotely, you’ve just got to respect the fact that that development needs to take what it needs to take and to get the games right,” said Ryan.

Horizon Forbidden West takes protagonist Aloy to the western coast of post-apocalyptic America, where she will face new threats and make new allies. The Guerrilla-developed sequel is one of the last Sony exclusives announced that will be on both PS5 and PS4.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Taylor Swift Slams Netflix For “Lazy, Deeply Sexist” Joke About Her On Ginny & Georgia

The Netflix show Ginny & Georgia made a joke about Taylor Swift, and she’s not having it. The pop star lashed out at the show, and Netflix, for what she called a “lazy, deeply sexist joke” about her.

“Hey Ginny & Georgia, 2010 called and it wants it lazy, deeply sexist joke back. How about we stop degrading hard working women by defining this horse sh** as FuNnY,” she wrote. “Also, Netflix, after Miss Americana this outfit doesn’t look cute on you. Happy Women’s History Month I guess.”

The joke in question came from a line on the show where Ginny says to Georgia, “What do you care? You go through men faster than Taylor Swift.”

Swift’s own documentary, Miss Americana, came out on Netflix in 2020.

Ginny & Georgia is one of Netflix’s newest original shows. The show, which debuted in February, follows the story of a 15-year-old girl and her 30-year-old mother.

Netflix has yet to respond to Swift’s criticisms of Ginny & Georgia. Netflix is no stranger to criticism and controversy. In 2018, Netflix came to a settlement with Satanists over a goat-headed Baphomet statue’s depiction on the show Sabrina.

Chadwick Boseman’s Wife Gave Passionate Acceptance Speech For Golden Globes Win

Chadwick Boseman won Best Actor in a Drama at Sunday’s Golden Globes for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, becoming the first Black actor in history to do so. His widow, Taylor Ledward Boseman, gave a powerful speech on her late husband’s behalf.

“He would thank God. He would thank his parents,” she said. “He would thank his ancestors for their guidance and their sacrifices. He would thank his team…he would thank his team on set for this film.”

She continued with how he “would say something beautiful. Something inspiring, something that would amplify that little voice inside of us that tells us you can, that tells you to keep going, that calls you back to what you were meant to be doing in this moment.”

“I don’t have his words but we have to take all the moments to celebrate those we love,” Boseman said to end her speech.

Boseman died from colon cancer back in August of last year, having already finished his last two roles in Da Five Bloods and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, both Netflix originals.

Boseman is the second actor to win a posthumous Globe behind Peter Finch in Network, and only the fourth Black actor to win Best Actor in a Drama behind Sidney Portier, Denzel Washington, and Forest Whitaker. Both Portier and Whitaker would later go on and win the Academy Award for their respective roles later that year.

That being said, there’s an incredible chance this far from the only acceptance speech Boseman makes this year.

GTA Online Modder Reduces Famously Long Load Times

A modder has figured out how to significantly reduce the notoriously long load times in Grand Theft Auto V‘s online mode, GTA Online, for PC. Though he warns that it’s mostly a proof of concept, it does seem to lead to a sizable improvement.

PC Gamer reports that modder tostercx uploaded their fix to GitHub and explained why it works. Essentially, they say, the normal load sequence for GTA runs a new check every time it finds an entry in the 10 MB JSON file, leading to almost 2 billion checks. This mod optimizes those processes, which reduced the load times on their own computer by roughly 70%.

Tostercx doesn’t recommend this mod for casual use, but says it should be possible for Rockstar to implement similar fixes in the actual game. Like many mods, using it could result in a ban or other action from Rockstar. Load times in GTA Online have been a consistent community complaint for years.

GTA V and especially its online component, GTA Online, has ballooned in scope over the last several years, as Rockstar has built on the foundation with a steady stream of new vehicles, mission types, heists, and more. The original game was built for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, so when it hits Xbox Series X and PS5 later this year it will have crossed two entire generations. It’s also planned to get a standalone release, like Red Dead Online’s. And its momentum hasn’t slowed, still frequently appearing in the NPD monthly sales figures and recently having crossed 140 million copies in lifetime sales.

Now Playing: The Most Influential Games Of The 21st Century Video: Grand Theft Auto III

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Watch Logan Paul Pull The Rarest Pokemon Cards From A Million-Dollar Box

As Pokemon marks its 25th anniversary this year, controversial YouTuber and occasional boxer Logan Paul decided to get in on the action as well. Paul spent big money acquiring several sealed booster boxes of First Edition Base Set cards, but he saved a $1 million dollar Pokemon first edition box for a livestream on February 28.

Within an hour, Paul had already begun pulling several incredibly rare and valuable cards that over 200,000 people tuned in to see. Two holographic Charizards and at least three holographic Chansey cards were pulled, and with Ken Goldin from Goldin Auctions present to do on the spot estimations of each card’s worth, the box paid for itself in a short amount of time. “My heart is beating so fast, this is crazy,” Paul said around 24 minutes into the stream when he pulled his first Charizard.

Goldin mentioned that he already has a first edition Charizard on auction which is ready to sell for nearly $400,000, although he expects it to reach a closing bid of $500,000 when the bidding ends this week. A Charizard holographic card with a Gen 10 rating would be worth as much as $750,000 at auction. Paul had previously livestreamed himself opening 36 packs of base set Pokemon cards in October last year, and he auctioned each pack off before opening them and donating the proceeds to charity.

For the latest event, Paul did the same as his staff randomly picked people’s names out of mini Pokeballs and the packs were shuffled. When the event came to an end, Paul asked Goldin if he could auction off his own private collection of Pokemon cards. There’s no telling how much a Logan Paul collection could be worth, but with a celebrity name attached to it, interest in obtaining rare cards that are proving to be a valuable investment for collectors is definitely there.

If you don’t feel like spending a casual million dollars on Pokemon cards, McDonald’s has them available in Happy Meals for a far more reasonable price provided that they haven’t all been purchased by the adults in your area. Last week also saw several big announcements for the pocket monster franchise, as Pokemon Snap debuted a new trailer, Pokemon Pearl and Diamond remakes were announced, and next year’s big open-world Pokemon game, Pokemon Legends Arceus, was also revealed.