Author: Trafficblast

Magic: Legends is a Diablo-like action RPG based on the popular card game, and so all of its classes are based on one of the traditional Mana colors. Developer Cryptic Studios has now revealed the fifth and final Mana color’s associated class: the Black Mana wielding Necromancer.

According to a blog post, the Necromancer is a devotee of death and decay, letting them manipulate minions from the dead and make sacrifices to charge their attacks. The class is largely based around the power set of Liliana Vess from the Magic card game, one of the more popular Planeswalker characters. The power set revolves around reanimating corpses, debuffing enemies with curses, and sacrificing your allied creatures.

Necromancer’s primary ability is called Grim Siphon, a mid-range attack that also poisons the enemy and heals the player. The secondary ability, Grave Upheaval, damages enemies and summons skeletons to their side, while the utility ability Soul Wither poisons and slows enemies immediately around the player in a black cloud and healing the player. As an example, you could summon creatures, then use your health to cast a powerful spell, and then sacrifice one of the creatures to get your health back.

In many ways this is the opposite of the most recent class revealed, the White Mana powered Sanctifier. That one is a long-range support class with powerful healing abilities. Those join the other three known classes: Mind Mage (Blue), Geomancer (Red), and Beastcaller (Green).

Magic Legends is currently in beta. It’s coming to PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

There are still a few August events lined up for Pokemon Go, but developer Niantic is already preparing for the game’s next two Community Days, and it’s giving players a say in the events.

The studio has announced that September and October’s Community Day Pokemon will be decided by voting. Player will be able to cast a ballot for four possible choices–Charmander, Caterpie, Grimer, and Porygon–and the winners will be featured during the game’s next two Community Days.

No further details–such as when the voting will take place or what event move each monster will possibly learn if it’s selected as the featured Pokemon–have been announced just yet, but Niantic promises that more information is coming “soon.”

This is the second time this year that Niantic has given players a chance to vote on a Community Day’s featured Pokemon. The studio held a similar poll back in May that featured Squirtle, Weedle, Gastly, and Sandshrew. Weedle earned the most votes and was featured during June’s Community Day, while runner-up Gastly was July’s featured Pokemon.

In the meantime, the third and final Ultra Unlock event of the summer, Unova Week, kicks off on August 14 and runs until August 21. Throughout that time, Gen 5 Pokemon like Sewaddle, Cottonee, and Emolga will appear in the wild much more often than usual, while the Mythical Genesect will appear in five-star Raids. Niantic is also holding a Pokemon Go Fest makeup event on August 16 that will give Go Fest ticket holders another chance to catch Pokemon from last month’s event.

A new event has begun in Mario Kart Tour. This week marks the start of the Pirate Tour, and it introduces another classic course to the game, as well as a new kart and two new playable racers.

The aforementioned course is Airship Fortress from Mario Kart DS. This track has players racing around the exterior and interior of one of Bowser’s flying airships, with Rocky Wrenches, Bullet Bills, and other hazards littering the path.

The Pirate Tour also introduces two new racers to the game’s ever-expanding roster. First is Pirate Bowser Jr., who is outfitted with a pirate hat, eye patch, and cutlass. Pirate Bowser Jr. is currently spotlighted alongside the new Pirate Sushi Racer kart, but the Pirate Tour will also add King Bob-omb from Super Mario 64 as a playable racer.

The Pirate Tour runs until August 25. Collect enough Grand Stars during the event and you’ll be able to earn rubies, Dry Bones, and other gifts, while Gold Pass holders can unlock a Boo Hanafuda glider and other rewards during the tour.

Last month, Nintendo rolled out a big update for Mario Kart Tour that added a landscape mode and made a few other adjustments to the game. Another Nintendo mobile game, Dr. Mario World, also received a big update recently, which introduced 8-bit Dr. Mario to the game along with a new Skill Summit mode that lets you earn additional rewards.

Microsoft has announced that Minecraft: Education Edition is now available on Chromebooks, allowing a variety of devices–including iPad, Mac, and Windows PCs–to work together through cross-play.

Along with this announcement, Minecraft: Education Edition will receive an update that provides support for remote and hybrid learning. This update will automatically be applied to those on Chromebooks, iPads, and Windows PCs. Mac users will have to install it manually. It’s unclear which Chromebooks are compatible, but The Verge reports that users will be using the Android app of Minecraft: Education Edition that now has Chrome OS support, meaning teachers will need to be sure they have the latest Chromebooks.

Minecraft: Education Edition is designed specifically for educators, allowing them to teach and interact with students all over the world. It includes chalkboards and laboratories, as well as a Classroom mode that lets teachers communicate with and view where students are on the map. Subjects, like history and math, are taught through the game’s world. These lessons can be downloaded from the Minecraft: Education Edition Subject Kit.

In order for schools to use Minecraft: Education Edition, they must either have a Microsoft 365 account or purchase a license to the game through the Microsoft Store. Microsoft said it’s working on letting users log in with their Google account, but there’s no confirmation on when this feature will go live.

In other Minecraft news, Destiny 2‘s The Tower social space has been recreated in-game. And it only took 168 hours across three months.

Final Fantasy XIV‘s annual summer celebration, the Moonfire Faire, is now underway. The event runs until 7:59 AM PT on August 26 and features a new questline to complete, as well as new summer-themed clothing, furnishings, and other rewards to earn.

To begin this year’s Moonfire Faire quest, “A Fish Too Far,” you’ll need to speak to Mayaru Moyaru in the Upper Decks of Limsa Lominsa. You’ll also need to be at least level 30 to participate.

Complete the questline and you’ll earn the Summer’s Flame clothing set, which consists of a hat, top, wrist torque, pareo, and sandals. You’ll also get the new Flame Dance emote, as well as the Water Bomb Stand outdoor furnishing. You can see the new Moonfire Faire rewards below.

If you missed out on seasonal items from previous Moonfire Faires, you’ll have a chance to purchase some of them from vendors during this year’s event. Square Enix has also added a variety of new optional items to the FFXIV store, including a Painted Moogle Mask, a Moonfire Hachimaki, and more.

The Moonfire Faire arrives on the heels of Final Fantasy XIV’s big 5.3 patch, which introduced new story quests, some significant Job adjustments and gameplay tweaks, and even a beloved character from Nier Automata in the new crossover raid. If you’ve yet to play the popular MMO and are interesting in sampling it, Square Enix is holding another free FFXIV trial right now–but you may need a new account to participate.

During a 40-minute interview with the MinnMax Show, Mediatonic’s senior designer Joe Walsh said there may come a point where some Fall Guys levels could get repurposed or retired altogether.

“I would be very happy to be at the point where we have so many [levels] that it’s time to start retiring some,” Walsh said. “I think we’re a way off, probably. I mean, we’re going to keep an eye on it and if there are ones that don’t stand the test of time, we can either repurpose them or change them and stuff like that. I think that’s totally on the table, but for now, we kind of see the best version of Fall Guys as you press go and there are a hundred variations of that first level or something like that.”

While it remains unclear how many levels Mediatonic has in development for Fall Guys at the moment, the studio already confirmed that the game will receive a new one in an upcoming update.

That’s not all Walsh discussed in his interview with MinnMax. He also talked about how the team is examining new ways to play Fall Guys (which may include crossplay, squads, and a ranked mode), the game’s success, the possibility of a level editor, and much more.

One of the more interesting conversations during the interview was centered around the inspiration behind Fall Guys’ Hex-A-Gone minigame. Walsh said he was watching TNT Run, a Minecraft minigame in which walkable platforms explode and disappear after being touched, when the mode dawned on him.

“I’ve been watching a Minecraft minigame tournament online and I saw them playing something called TNT Run–which is very similar to [Hex-A-Gone] essentially–and I was just like, ‘Oh my god, that’s a Fall Guys round. That would work so perfectly. It’s so physical, it’s so stupid,'” Walsh said.

Elsewhere, Walsh confirmed Mediatonic has “no plans” to set Fall Guys free-to-play. He also said a level editor might come but requires lots of consideration before its implemented and clarified that the reason Fall Guys doesn’t have an announcer is that the team finds the self-commentary on Twitch better for the game’s personality. Walsh said never say never, though.

In other Fall Guys news, the game has hit a huge player-count record in its first 24 hours, amassing 1.5 million players across PlayStation and Steam. Mediatonic is already cracking down on cheaters. And despite only being on PC and PlayStation right now, the team is eyeing other platforms if there’s enough of a demand for it.

We scored the game a 7/10 in GameSpot’s Fall Guys review, saying, “With its short games and easy-to-grasp mechanics, Fall Guys is easily the most approachable and welcoming battle royale yet.”

Mayonnaise manufacturer Hellmann’s is looking to “bring out the best” of spoiled turnips in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The company’s Canadian branch will be running a virtual food drive next week that will see up to 25,000 meals donated to Canadian charity Second Harvest, one for every rotten turnip that is gifted by Nintendo Switch owners. Players won’t be giving up anything valuable in-game as expired turnips are thrown out by players if they’re not being used to attract ants. Generally, they’re used to make money in the game’s lucrative stalk market.

The Animal Crossing food drive will kick off on Monday, August 17 at 3 PM ET and will last until 12:15 AM ET on Saturday, August 22. To access Hellmann’s New Horizons island, players will have to send a message to the company’s Twitter account. It will then send them a Dodo Code that will allow them to visit and donate any spoiled turnips they have. After players help feed those in need, they will have 15 minutes to check out Hellmann’s island, which has been decked out with custom clothing at the Able Sisters’ shop, has a farm to check out and an outdoor kitchen.

“Whether virtual or real, at Hellmann’s we believe food is too precious to waste and we’re thrilled to partner once again with Second Harvest to provide meals to Canadians in need,” Director of Food Gina Kiroff says. “When we noticed spoiled turnips is a real tension point for many Animal Crossing players, we wanted to take advantage of the insight to create a fun consumer experience that would have real world impact. We’re hopeful Hellmann’s Island will not only be an incredible virtual experience, but also will inspire players to think differently about real world food waste.”

Second Harvest is Canada’s largest food rescue organization and recovers fresh, unsold food from donors and distributes it to over 1,000 non-profits across the country. The Toronto-based charity has given out 155 million pounds of food and looks to minimize the amount of greenhouse gases that enter the atmosphere.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 is bringing back the classic stages and gameplay, but Tony Hawk himself is also seeing to it that the game corrects a past mistake. In an Instagram story, Hawk explained how one particular trick has had its name changed to honor its creator.

As Hawk explains, the “Mute Grab” was first performed around 1981 by deaf skater Chris Weddle. When it came time to name the trick, fellow skaters suggested naming it after the “quiet, mute guy”–despite the fact that Weddle was not mute–and so the name stuck. That name was passed along uncritically by the skating community for years, but recently the skate community has been more aware of issues like these. Hawk says he asked Weddle about it, who said he would have preferred it to be called the “Deaf” or “Weddle” grab.

“So as we embark on the upcoming @tonyhawkthegame demo release, some of you might notice a trick name change: The Weddle Grab,” Hawk wrote. “It’s going to be challenging to break the habit of saying the old name but I think Chris deserves the recognition.”

Hawk went on to say that when he told Weddle the news, he was so excited he shot the attached photo:

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 is coming in September, but a demo of the Warehouse stage will be available this Friday for pre-orders and some of those who bought a special Chipotle promotion. For more details, check out our Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 pre-order guide.