Crossy Road creator Andy Sum and game designer Marcus Grambau have revealed TombStar, a new top-down shooter with space Western elements, and a visual design that was influenced by late ’80s morning cartoons.
At the edge of the Frontier Galaxy, players will have to fight back against the Grimheart Gang, using one of three unique renegade heroes to survive procedurally generated stages laced with bullet hell obstacles.
Descenders and Hypnospace Outlaw publisher No More Robots will handle publishing duties for the roguelike game, which also features loot-collecting gameplay with plenty of weapons to pick up along the way.
You’ll need plenty of firepower, as each of the four deadly planets that you visit will have their own lethal dangers to contend with in the TombStar system.
TombStar is currently scheduled to launch at beginning of 2021 on PC and unspecified consoles, with a closed beta on Steam coming later this year that players can now sign up for.
Sum’s Crossy Road game earned a positive reception upon release in 2014, making over $10 million over 50 million downloads within the first three months of its release.
Madden NFL 21 is coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC on August 28. This year’s installment offers a new Face the Franchise playable documentary career mode, a new season of Madden Ultimate Team, and team playbooks that are updated based on new plays from the NFL season (assuming there is one). It also adds a new way to control your player using the Skill Stick, which lets you link together skill-move combos.
Buying the game for PS4 or Xbox One will get you a free upgrade to the PS5 or Xbox Series X version once the next-gen consoles arrive this fall. The game will be available in standard, deluxe, and MVP editions, and it’s up for preorder now. Here’s where it’s available, along with what comes in each edition.
QuakeCon kicks off this weekend, and to celebrate, game stores are launching sales on Bethesda’s biggest franchises, including Doom, The Elder Scrolls, and Dishonored. PC games store GOG is the latest to launch its QuakeCon deals, offering steep discounts on some fantastic DRM-free games.
August is officially here, and that means there’s a new batch of Field Research tasks and rewards in Pokemon Go. Many of this month’s tasks revolve around Fighting-type Pokemon, so you’ll have a chance to catch monsters like Meditite, Makuhita, Machop, and others when you complete Field Research this month.
To go along with the new Field Research tasks, Niantic is offering a new Research Breakthrough reward this month as well: Scraggy, the Dark/Fighting Pokemon from Pokemon Black and White versions. Each time you collect enough Research stamps to achieve a Research Breakthrough this month, you’ll get a chance to catch Scraggy in the game.
Unlike Special Research, Field Research tasks are typically obtained via PokeStops. You’ll receive a task when you spin the Photo Disc, and you can have up to three active tasks at a time. You can also complete as many as you’d like daily, but only the first one you clear each day will net you a stamp. If you collect seven stamps, you’ll achieve a Research Breakthrough.
The Field Research tasks you can receive from PokeStops are randomly drawn from a larger pool, which Niantic refreshes at the start of each month. You can see August’s Field Research tasks along with their potential rewards, as compiled by The Silph Road, below.
There’s a lot more than just Field Research to do in Pokemon Go this month. Niantic has outlined some of the game’s August events, and they include three week-long Ultra Unlock bonuses and new Pokemon Spotlight Hours. There’s also August’s Community Day to look forward to on August 8. The featured Pokemon this month is Magikarp, which makes this a good chance to stock up on enough Magikarp Candy to get Gyarados.
Pokemon Go August 2020 Field Research Tasks
Catching Tasks
Field Research Task
Rewards
Catch 3 Pokemon with Weather boost
Meditite encounter
Catch 5 Pokemon with Weather boost
Poliwag or Vulpix encounter; 200 Stardust, 3 Razz Berries, 1 Pinap Berry, or 5 Poke Balls
Catch 10 Pokemon with Weather boost
500 Stardust, 6 Razz Berries, 2 Pinap Berries, or 5 Great Balls
Some good news for The Walking Dead fans who are killing time rapidly burning through everything else on their watchlists: AMC Networks has announced its plans to restart production on the second half of Season Six of Fear the Walking Dead in late August in Texas and also on Season 11 of The Walking Dead in October in Georgia.
“Our ability to resume in the safest possible way is something we are closely focused on,” CEO Josh Sapan said during a conference call on Tuesday (via Deadline). “We will continue to monitor and adjust accordingly depending on local circumstances.”
Fear the Walking Dead has been off the air for nearly a year, and it was announced during the show’s Comic-Con@Home panel that the first half of the show’s sixth season will premiere on October 11. A trailer for that upcoming season was also revealed, which you can watch below.
The main show in this universe has more of a hiccup to its broadcast continuity, since COVID-19 made finishing production on the Season 10 finale impossible. Earlier this year, AMC indicated that the finale will appear as a special episode later in 2020. That episode is currently slated to broadcast on AMC on Sunday, October 4–one week before the premiere of Fear the Walking Dead–but it is now no longer the final episode of Season 10, as AMC has ordered six additional episodes. Those further episodes will premiere in sometime in early 2021.
First, there’s Hitman 2, the latest entry in the long-running series, which puts you in the expensive leather loafers of Agent 47 as he assassinates target after target across the globe. Second is Dead Cells, the indie powerhouse that combines Castlevania and Rogue Legacy to create a uniquely punishing (but compelling) roguelike experience. Rounding out this month is Greedfall, an action-RPG that allows you to reshape an entire island according to your own whims.
Sony’s PS Now service is the company’s answer to Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass. It’s a subscription service that allows you to stream or download games, which also makes the games playable on PC. It comes in at $10 a month. PS Now should not be confused with PS Plus, a monthly subscription that allows players to utilize online multiplayer, which also comes with several free games per month. The free PS Plus games for August are the goofy multiplayer game Fall Guys and the campaign for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
New PS Now Games For August
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.
Call of Duty: Warzone will continue to add in content from future annual Call of Duty entries, developer Infinity Ward has confirmed. The free-to-play battle royale will be updated over time and become tied to new entries in the Call of Duty series.
In an interview with GamesRadar, Infinity Ward design director Geoff Smith explained that Warzone was always designed as a self-contained product and one that could be altered around the progression of the series’ latest entries.
“Although Warzone is very closely tied to Modern Warfare, it was designed from the beginning as its own game,” explained Smith. “As the game continues to be updated over time, it will evolve and become tied to other games in the Call of Duty universe.”
The next Call of Duty has yet to be official revealed, although numerous rumors indicate that it will be another entry in the on-going Black Ops sub-series that will take place during the Cold War. Call of Duty games are usually revealed much earlier in the year they release in, suggesting Activision is attempting a new method of marketing its next title, perhaps using Warzone as a platform.
PC Building Simulator is adding new DLC today, with a competitive focus on an esports campaign that will have you building gaming PCs for various esports personalities and teams.
Developer Irregular Corporation says that players will “create, fix and upgrade rigs for professional esports players, and make sure your team rises to the top.”
Real-world brands including AMD, Nvidia, NZXT, Razer, and Republic of Gamers will be featured, while eight esports teams and five games will also be featured in the new campaign mode that will take you approximately 12 hours to complete.
Players will start from the bottom and work their way up to esports glory, switching between the demands of their team, sponsors, and their manager while also keeping an eye on their budget as match day draws ever closer.
Should the gaming PCs you put together manage to help propel your team to victory, the offers will come pouring in and you’ll soon be tinkering on bleeding edge PCs in an upgraded workshop.
You can even jump ship to a rival team, if you feel like accepting their offer. PC Building Simulator will be on sale at 50% off until August 8 on PC as part of the Steam Midweek Madness sale.
PC Building Simulator: Esports Expansion will cost you $11.69 on Steam or GOG until August 11, after which it will revert to its $13 price.
The world we live in today is very different to the one we occupied 10 months ago when FIFA 20 launched. Football stadiums are empty aside from essential personnel, most European leagues have only just wrapped up their seasons after being forced into a three month break, and August signals the return of the Champions League–albeit in an international tournament-style format. Even Manchester City have only just begun spending monstrous fees on defenders in what is a belated transfer window.
Despite all of these delays and disruptions to not just the football calendar, but everyday life, too, FIFA 21 will roll around in the latter months of the year just like every other FIFA has before it. There’s an odd semblance of comfort in this fact, especially when nothing else quite makes sense right now. It also helps that this year’s game is shaping up quite nicely.
That’s not to say the FIFA 21 preview build we got our hands on suggests that this is a substantial leap forward for the series, however. Significant advancements will hopefully come to fruition over the next fews years with the powerful hardware of both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X in the developer’s hands. There’s still some life stirring in the current gen, though, as FIFA 21 hones in on refining the moment to moment gameplay with some welcome tweaks and additions.
In our preview session, Sam Rivera, lead gameplay producer on FIFA 21, spoke about the development team’s focus on the game’s three core gameplay pillars: Creativity, fluidity, and responsiveness. Each of these building blocks applies to the myriad elements that make up FIFA 21’s gameplay, from dribbling, passing, creating chances, tackling, marking, and so on. Each of these features was inspired by both real-life football and community feedback.
Agile dribbling, for instance, is a new dribbling technique inspired by diminutive playmakers like Bernardo Silva. The Portuguese attacker is adept at maintaining possession in tight spaces by utilizing his tight control and quick feet to explode past committed defenders. By holding R1 and moving with the left stick, you’re able to recreate this style in FIFA 21, giving you more options on the ball when it comes to escaping the clutches of opposition players.
The faster footwork enabled by agile dribbling grants you more control and responsiveness in one-on-one situations, along with a couple of new skill moves like the bridge dribble and ball roll fake turn. Your success in using this new technique will vary, and there is a learning curve to using agile dribbling effectively. It can be a powerful tool at the feet of the sport’s best dribblers, though, and there’s no doubting the palpable sense of satisfaction that occurs when you nail it and leave a defender for dead.
Outside of giving you new ways to dribble past opponents, the attacking side of FIFA 21 has been reworked to promote more exciting and creative play. Again, this is primarily geared towards giving you more options when in possession of the ball. Teammate AI is smarter when it comes to making off-the-ball runs, but you can also have a direct impact on how they move up the pitch. Double tapping L1 will instruct a player to run beyond the ball, while flicking the right stick immediately following this will influence the direction they run in. This is incredibly useful for moving your teammates into dangerous positions to receive the ball, or to drag defenders away and create space for yourself.
Player lock achieves a similar function, allowing you to temporarily maintain control of a specific player after passing the ball to a teammate. From here, you’re free to move into space and signal the AI to pass the ball back to you when you’re ready. This does mean you’re leaving possession at the feet of the AI, so it can be a risky strategy, but player lock is simply another way in which FIFA 21 gives you an extra degree of control over how your team attacks and creates chances.
A significant part of your build-up play also boils down to the players at your disposal. EA has made a concerted effort to make players feel more unique and accurately reflect their real-life counterparts in this year’s game. This is immediately obvious when you’re running at a defense with Lionel Messi or using Virgil van Dijk’s strength and defensive prowess to pick an opponent’s pocket, but it’s also reflected in how each player moves and positions themselves off the ball. EA is dubbing this Position Personality, but all you really need to know is that it essentially heightens the importance of the positional awareness attribute on both sides of the ball. For instance, world-class forwards are better at holding their runs to stay level with the last defender compared to their counterparts a rung below, while playmakers will seek out space between the lines to give you an option to progress the ball into dangerous areas.
Meanwhile, the world’s top defenders can close down passing lanes more effectively than an average defender, and a defensive midfielder like N’Golo Kante excels at tracking runs and being in a position to intercept forward passes. All of this contributes to the uniqueness of each team and player. Playing as Borussia Dortmund offers a different experience than playing as Burnley. Not because there’s a notable difference in stats between the two teams, but because the players move and react in contrasting ways. That hasn’t always been the case in FIFA. Disparate teams have often felt samey, while the only distinguishing trait between players has regularly been their overall rating and pace. That doesn’t appear to be the case in FIFA 21.
There are other improvements that enhance the general flow of games, too. The new natural collision system eliminates those frustrating moments where you’d concede a goalmouth scramble because the goalkeeper and three of your defenders ended up in a massive heap on the floor. Players are more aware of their surroundings and can avoid situations like the one mentioned above by, say, hopping over the onrushing ‘keeper. FIFA 21 has also upped its consistency when it comes to rewarding you for making successful tackles. The ball is less likely to ricochet and end up right back at the attacker’s feet, aided in part by defender’s knowing how best to position themselves to win the ball back.
The early signs are promising … EA still likes to use a lot of flashy buzz words to promote their annual football title, but there’s some depth behind those words this year that’s immediately apparent in this early preview build
When you boil it down to the familiar act of passing a spherical ball across a carpet-esque pitch, FIFA 21 is shaping up to be an exciting and fulfilling game of football. Animations seem to have been tightened up with fewer moving parts, resulting in more responsive movement and passing. Target selection considers space in a more intelligent way, too, meaning your passes are less likely to go awry because the game selected the wrong teammate. Blocking has even risen in prominence, with a stat dictating how good a defender is at getting something in the way of shots, passes, and crosses. You’re no longer forced to commit and charge forward to attempt a tackle on the edge of your own box because simply getting a body in the way is more than enough. It’s not a foolproof plan, but the increased reliability behind when and how a player will block the ball gives you another option when holding on to a valuable clean sheet.
Of course, the real test for all of these new systems and tweaks will occur when FIFA 21 is out in the wild and the online community is looking to exploit any of its flaws. The early signs are promising, though. Sure, EA still likes to use a lot of flashy buzz words to promote their annual football title, but there’s some depth behind those words this year that’s immediately apparent in this early preview build. EA is set to reveal additional details about Volta, Ultimate Team, and a revitalized Career Mode as it gears up for FIFA 21’s launch, but as far as the on-pitch action is concerned, it doesn’t look like we’re in for a disappointment.
FIFA 21 launches on October 9 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions of the game will follow at some point later in the year.
The Boys was one of 2019’s best news show–a subversive, funny take on the superhero genre that delivered drama, dark satirical humor, and bone-crunching violence in equal measure. The second season is almost here, and the final trailer has been released.
The latest trailer puts the focus on main character Billy Butcher, as well as introducing us to Stormfront, one of the show’s new superheroes. Butcher and his team of superhero-hating mercenaries are in hiding, but he is making plans to fight back and rescue his wife. Stormfront is a powerful new supe, who knows how to use the media and is making big plans for the world’s superheroes, putting her at odds with Homelander. Oh, and there’s a giant exploding fish in there too. Check it out below:
The Boys stars Karl Urban as Butcher, Aya Cash as Stormfront, and Antony Starr as Homelander, and the cast also includes Jack Quaid, Laz Alonso, Tomer Capon, Karen Fukuhara. It’s based on the comic book by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, and the first three episodes hit Amazon Video on September 4. The remaining five will then be released weekly.
In a recent interview with GQ, Urban spoke about playing Butcher and hinted at what to expect from him in Season 2. “Butcher is a fun character to play, because of the degree of internal conflict that wages within him,” he said. “There is a war inside of Butcher, and to get to the dawn, you must first travel through the night. Butcher has both the tendency to be the villain and the hero, which makes him a hell of a lot of fun to play. Looking at season two, some of the shit that Butcher gets up to is truly diabolical. And I pray that I personally don’t get the karma payback for what he does. I didn’t think of it, I didn’t write it, but I’m definitely guilty of doing it.”
