With people around the globe stuck in their homes in recent weeks, they’ve evidently been watching a lot of Twitch streamers. The service had its best quarter ever, breaking a record with more than 3 billion hours watched.
According to streaming tools service StreamLabs, Twitch hit new highs for both hours viewed and hours streamed, with about three times what YouTube Gaming Live managed during the same period.
Twitch saw its watch hours increase by 23 percent between February and March, with concurrent viewership rising by nearly 20 percent. While this was a period when people began self-quarantining because of coronavirus (COVID-19), it also saw the release of major games like Doom Eternal, Nioh 2, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Twitch streaming hours had actually been on the decline last year.
Unique Twitch channels also increased by more than 33 percent during the first quarter. It will be curious to see if Twitch can maintain its pace going into April and May, as major game releases are going to slow down. Final Fantasy VII Remake will launch April 10, but The Last of Us Part 2 was delayed from its May 29 date indefinitely.
Other games may follow suit, as physical disc manufacturing could be affected and game developers are adapting to a new work-from-home environment in place of traditional offices. Viewers may have to get accustomed to watching the same games or smaller indie titles until the pandemic has ceased.
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Guardians of the Galaxy star and professional WWE wrestler Dave Bastista was supposed to have been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this week, but due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Hall of Fame ceremony has been delayed indefinitely. In honor of the award Batista should have received, The Coalition is adding the wrestler’s famous Batista Bomb finisher to Gears 5 in a free DLC update.
I walk for miles inside this pit of danger I’ve swallowed down a thousand years of anger The weight of the world is falling on my shoulders A place where no one follows me, I walk alone Get the Batista Bomb execution free in #Gears5 now until Apr 20!https://t.co/T048eWbhZF
Gears 5 already has a variety of execution animations in the multiplayer mode, but nothing comes close to the savageness of the Batista Bomb. While in real life Batista used this move to knock down his opponents, the game takes it to a whole other level with the enemies exploding on impact.
The Batista Bomb execution is free to download until April 20 on PC and Xbox One. Combined with the free “Batista” character skin for Marcus Felix, you can get the ultimate Gears 5 Dave Batista experience.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare‘s Season 2 is ending very soon. To help players rise through the Battle Pass ranks, Activision is giving away 10 free tiers, but there is a catch.
You must already own the Battle Pass to redeem the 10 free tiers. The Battle Pass is shared across Modern Warfare and Warzone, and the 10 free tiers applies to both.
Everyone who buys the Battle Pass before April 5 at 11 PM PT will find the 10 free tiers available to redeem from the “Just For You” section of the menu. Those who are above tier 90 will still get the 10 tiers, with whatever remaining number of tiers carrying forward to Season 3’s Battle Pass. For example, you’re at tier 94, you’ll get 6 tiers to bring to you 100 in the Season Pass pass, and then 4 more to start you off when the next pass arrives.
Players who own a copy of the Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan can now access a free Friend’s Pass. This pass will allow another player to experience one full play-through of Man of Medan without purchasing the game.
Man of Medan is an anthology story where the player must make hard decisions and try to uncover the mysteries behind a horrifying and deadly situation, all while finding the best path to survival.
Supermassive Games has included a video tutorial on how to access the Friend Pass above.
Players can access this free pass via the Multiplayer Shared Story mode. In order for this pass to work, the other player will need to have downloaded the Trial version of Man of Medan on the same platform. This offer is valid until May 1 on PS4, PC, and Xbox One.
Supermassive Games has also hinted that news of the next title in the Anthology series, Little Hope, is coming soon, so stay tuned.
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Demiurge Studios, the Boston-based developer that worked on the BioShock, Mass Effect, and Rock Band franchises, has regained its independence. Albert Reed, one of the company’s founders, has bought the studio back from Sega, which owned it since 2015.
“We can’t be more excited to embark on this new yet familiar adventure as we return to Demiurge’s foundation. We will continue our unrivaled tradition of partnering with world-class game developers and publishers to release fantastic games that players love,” the company said in a post on its website.
The statement goes on to say that Demiurge had an “amazing ride” with Sega over the past five years where it worked on Sega Heroes and Crazy Taxi Tycoon.
Over its history, Demiurge worked with a number of big-name partners, including Harmonix, Gearbox, Irrational, and BioWare. The studio contributed to multiple Rock Band track packs, built the PC edition of Mass Effect, assisted with art design on the original BioShock, and worked on the ultimately canceledWii U version of Aliens: Colonial Marines. Demiurge also worked with Marvel on the puzzle game Marvel Puzzle Quest.
Reed and his business partner Geoffrey Hyatt purchased Demiurge back from Sega, though terms of the buyout were not disclosed. “When Sega was looking to make a strategic change and were interested in doing something different, they gave us a call,” Reed told GI.biz. “One thing led to another and now here we are.”
As a newly independent studio, Reed said he wants Demiurge to return to its roots by focusing more on helping other studios finish games than creating their own new projects. This is an especially important time for that, as the PS5 and Xbox Series X are coming soon, and some developers will be looking for outside help to get their games out the door, Reed said.
“We see those businesses rise at the start of new console generations because there’s a bunch of new hard problems and everyone is sort of pressed and pouring more money into research and development,” he said. “We see it when business models evolve, which I think is happening right now in console and PC with games-as-a-service.”
For the next 12-18 months, Demiurge will be looking to support the work of other games instead of developing its own original games. This is something Reed is proud of, even if others might scoff at it.
“Some other indies might look down their noses, but we’ve found it to be incredibly rewarding work. You get to work with fantastic IPs and learn from the best developers. It’s a great business,” he said.
Reed also pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic is causing disruption in the gaming landscape, which creates an opportunity for Demiurge to offer its help to studios that need it.
“That means that every game in development on the planet is now a month behind,” Reed said. “So we’re excited to find partners that need a little extra muscle to get their games over the finish line.”
It’s also worth noting that Demiurge’s existing games, Sega Heroes and Marvel Puzzle Quest, will continue operation during this new era for the company.
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Recently, GameSpot had a big reveal for the upcoming Magic: The Gathering set Ikoria: Lair of Behemoth. We saw Snapdex, Apex of the Hunt, whose Godzilla Series Monster version is none other than King Caesar. Now, we have another reveal for the upcoming set.
Auspicious Starrix is a 6/6 creature from the upcoming set, which will launch in April and May. It utilizes the new Mutate mechanic, which allows you to combine creatures into one, unstoppable beast. Additionally, while using the Mutate mechanic, you exile permanent cards from your library, then put those permanents onto the battlefield. Check out the card below.
From the Ikoria: Lair of Behemoth set
“We wanted to go all out showing how awesome Godzilla in Magic would be, so we made sure to bring the new Mutate ability onto these cards,” lead product designer of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths Mike Turian explained to GameSpot. “Then when you combine Magic and Godzilla, there are so many evergreen abilities that fit perfectly so we mixed in those also. Who doesn’t want to have an amazing Godzilla that tramples over all of your opponent’s puny creatures?”
Additionally, there is a showcase version of the card–which you can see below. What makes Ikoria: Lair of Behemoth special is that it brings characters from Toho into the world of Magic. So you’ll see Godzilla trampling through the battlefield, along with other famous kaiju. There will be 16 of these Godzilla Series Monsters (GSM), and three additional ones in Japanese.
Showcase version
The new set will consist of 274 cards, and it will launch soon. Because of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, Wizards of the Coast is staggering the launch of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoth. Here is what the release schedule looks like.
April 16: Ikoria released on Magic: The Gathering Arena and Magic Online
April 17: Prerelease/release in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong
May 15: Prerelease/release in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Australia/New Zealand
May 15 will also be the launch for Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam.
These GSM cards will also have Magic variants, versions of the card that don’t feature a famous monster. However, functionally, they work the same.
“These are fully functional Magic cards: you can put them in your deck, play them in tournaments, everything,” explained Mark Heggen, Product Architect for Magic The Gathering. “They’re all creatures, and as you’d expect from Godzilla and his friends most of them are pretty huge. Creatively, they showcase various eras of the Godzilla universe and history, so you’ll see things like skyscrapers and airplanes in the background, which you’d never find on traditional Ikoria Magic cards. Then we created for each of them an equivalent ‘twin’ creature that has the same rules and abilities, but creatively exists within the world of Ikoria. So, the Ikoria versions function as the ‘standard’ versions of card, and then the Godzilla versions are special alternate versions that players can choose to play.”
Warning: this review contains full spoilers for Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Season 7, Episode 7. If you need a refresher on where we left off, here’s our review for Season 7, Episode 6.
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Watching the final season of The Clone Wars, there’s a constant tug of war between gratitude we’re even getting a proper finale after all these years and frustration over how the show is choosing to spend its time. The opening Bad Batch storyline suffered from issues with pacing and repetition, and the current arc is faring even worse in that department. As wonderful as it is to see Ahsoka Tano back in action, the series seems to be doing little more than stalling for tie until the Siege of Mandalore kicks in.
After mostly redeeming itself in last week’s episode, the current arc again falls flat on its face as it attempts to further explore the dynamic between Ahsoka and the Martez sisters. Episode 5’s main flaw was a generally feeling of emptiness. It brought Ahsoka into Trace and Rafa’s orbit but accomplished little else. Episode 6 is where that relationship began to gain depth and meaning. Episode 7 isn’t entirely unsuccessful in building on that foundation, but it botches its key emotional scene and fails to actually advance the plot in a tangible way.
Here’s problem #1. The scene where Rafa finally lets down her guard and recounts her tragic past to Ahsoka should be the highlight of the episode. It’s certainly a revelatory look at her origins and why she’s so willing to screw over others to get ahead in the galaxy. The fact that her origin story ties back to the beginning of the series and Ahsoka’s own struggles with Ziro the Hutt is a nice touch. Unfortunately, the actual writing leaves a lot to be desired. Rafa’s dialogue is incredibly stilted and unnatural, more like she’s reciting a monologue from a novel than actually reflecting on her past. Actress Elizabeth Rodriguez brings as much energy as she can to this material, but there’s only so much anyone can do to make dialogue like that feel organic.
As for problem #2, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that our three heroes end this episode in literally the exact same place they start. All that struggle to break out of the Pyke prison and track down Trace’s ship wind sup being for naught. It would be one thing if there was enough character development to make that ill-fated journey seem worthwhile, but there isn’t. Beyond Rafa’s ill-conceived monologue and a scene reiterating that Ahsoka isn’t one to leave her friends behind, there’s really not a whole lot to chew on in “Dangerous Debt.” At most, we get a brief glimpse of Bo-Katan and her Mandalorian commandos, a brief tease to what will surely be a far more exciting conflict for Ahsoka.
That’s not to say there’s no excitement to be had during the short-lived jailbreak sequence. There’s certainly plenty of action along the way. And where the Bad Batch episodes were all about incredibly competent soldiers mowing down wave after wave of mechanical cannon fodder, there’s a novelty to the fact that these battle scenes are so chaotic and haphazard. The Martez sisters aren’t action heroes, and even Ahsoka is hamstrung by a lack of lightsaber and the need to disguise her Force powers. The result is that this episode is able to generate a certain element of danger and combine that with bits of comedy as Ahsoka does her best bumbling Clark Kent impression. None of this is enough to offset the episode’s glaring flaws or make it feel like anything other than a pointless detour, but it’s better than nothing.
Despite having a title that sounds like a fake Tracy Jordan 30 Rock movie, Coffee & Kareem — which pairs Ed Helms’ straight-laced cop with a foul-mouth 12-year-old — is a solid, raunchy action-comedy that serves as perfect tight 90-minute escapism.
Director Michael Dowse brings a lot of the faced-paced wit and gunfire that he delivered in Stuber, with actual better results than Stuber. In fact, Stuber and Coffee & Kareem have a ton in common. It just so happens that the formula works a bit better when someone’s screaming at Ed Helms and not Kumail Nanjiani.
Is Helms playing anything outside of his comfort zone here? Nope. He’s right at home, playing the type of character you’d expect him to. Have we seen abrasive, cussing tweens accuse adults of wanting to molest them before? Sure have. 2008’s Role Models springs to mind, first and foremost. But just because Coffee & Kareem has a few “stitched together” elements, doesn’t mean it doesn’t work overall. It’s smartly short, packing in a very simple story that’s filled with some pretty good jokes.
Helms plays Detroit cop/Hall & Oates fan James Coffee. Coffee’s dating a single working mom (Taraji P. Henson) whose son, Kareem (Terrence Little Gardenhigh), hates his possible future stepdad so much that he makes a play to pay a local gangster to beat him up. Gardenhigh is a great find. This flick has super raunchy dialogue so it was imperative to find a child actor who can perfectly play Kareem and find that balance between annoying and funny. Without a good kid in the part, you run a serious risk of pushing the audience away from the (albeit, small) heart of the story.
Helms, while playing to the familiar, is still able to shine in key moments. One particular interrogation scene, midway through the film, springs to mind, as Coffee attempts to take advice from Kareem about how to intimidate others. Again, the movie doesn’t offer up anything particularly new, but it does have some gems buried within.
The small supporting cast — Betty Gilpin, RonReaco Lee, Andrew Bachelor, and David Alan Grier — also help liven up the tropes. As Coffee’s workplace “alpha” nemesis, Gilpin gets to stretch her comedic prowess like crazy, delivering a whirlwind of cackles. And the film’s villains have a very fun rapport that almost reminds one of Elmore Leonard’s knack for writing super-smart dumbasses.
After Coffee’s framed for murder and kidnapping, everyone involved gets targeted for death. Henson, for her part, was made for this type of part. As Kareem’s mom, Vanessa, she not only has to react with confounded fury when the man she’s seeing returns home with her son and there’s an Amber Alert out naming both of them, but also be able to elevate the “damsel in distress” cliche as a character who’s more than capable of carrying herself in a fight.
Coffee & Kareem may seem like a film where the title came first and then a story was spun out around the wordplay, but it actually works well and offers up some chaotic and crass comedy. Fortunately for all, Helms and Gardenhigh work really well together and their chemistry helps elevate the film above the semi-laughable logline.
Buying a monitor might seem like a frivolous purchase if you only have a laptop and primarily play your games on a 4K TV, but these desk-bound screens are more helpful than you would think. For one thing, looking at a monitor at a desk is much more ergonomic than hunching over your laptop on the couch. Not only that, you also get a ton more screen real estate to work with, which means you can have more windows open at the same time and you don’t have to squint to see everything on your screen.
The good news is there’s a wide variety of budget monitors you can buy on the cheap and they’ll often fulfill your every need. Whether you’re looking for a basic task monitor or something higher-resolution, HDR-ready or even an ultrawide screen, there’s an affordable display out there for you. Like budget gaming monitors, the chance of running into a complete lemon is high, which is exactly why we’ve done the homework for you and found budget monitors that are guaranteed to be great and all cost under $500.
The Dell UltraSharp U2415 is a staple monitor in offices and homes all around the world. It’s not surprising considering that it’s one of the best all-around monitors with good brightness, contrast, and color. Best of all, every one of these screens are color calibrated at Dell’s factories so you’ll get the same picture if you decide to go for a multi-monitor setup.
The monitor’s Full HD (1,920 x 1,200) resolution looks sharp enough given its 24-inch screen size. That said, the 16:10 aspect ratio gives you just a little more vertical real estate so you can see your webpages, emails, documents or what have you at a glance.
If you’re looking for something truly cheap and still good, look no further than the Asus EyeCare VZ249HE. This $180 monitor features a decently sized 24-inch screen and a Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) resolution in a slim, slim-bezel design. Better yet it utilizes an IPS panel so you get wide viewing angles and great color reproduction too.
The EyeCare in this monitor’s name refers to the four levels of blue light reduction it features. Essentially you can set the monitor to produce increasing levels of warm light depending. Level 1 and 2 are good for viewing web pages and media in a well ambient lighting situation. Meanwhile, you’ll want to bump up to level 3 and 4 if you’re looking at documents all day or working in a dimly lit situation.
The Samsung 27-inch Space Monitor (SR75) is an incredible display that not only gives you a larger screen for a budget price but also an integrated monitor arm. The coolest thing about it is by far its space-saving design. Rather than utilizing a base with large feet, this display comes on a stand that clips to the back of your desk. Meanwhile, the monitor arm that lets you change how close it sits from you as well as its height.
The monitor itself is no slouch either. For starters, you’re getting a large 27-inch screen and a sharp QHD (2,560 x 1,440) resolution. The IPS panel on this monitor also comes with a surprisingly fast 144Hz refresh rate and 4ms response time, which makes it a little more gaming-capable than the other displays on this list.
The Philips 272P7VUBNB is one of the few monitors that let you max out your screen resolution without breaking the bank. This 27-inch monitor features an IPS panel with a 4K resolution and the ability to produce 1.07 billion colors. It’s peak brightness only sits at 350-nits so it’s not a true HDR monitor – but we have an option below if that’s what you’re looking for.
One other thing that’s great about the Philips 272P7VUBNB is it comes with a built-in USB-C docking station. So if you have a laptop equipped with a USB-C port, you can plug in a single cable to carry the video signal, connect any USB peripherals you have connected to the monitor and power your laptop all at the same time. Note that the USB-C port can only supply up to 65W of power, so it can only recharge devices like Ultrabooks and Chromebooks.
If you’re looking for an extra splash of color and brightness, then check out the Monoprice Vivid Monitor. This monitor features a 27-inch IPS panel from LG that colors a wide range of colors including 100% of the sRGB and Adobe RGB spectrum as well as coverage for 97% of DCI-P3. With a peak brightness of 400-nits, this display is full HDR-ready.
The monitor’s 4K resolution is just the cherry on top of this affordable display. Just be ready to do a little color calibration as Monoprice usually skips this step to give users an incredible panel for an affordable price.
The LG UltraWide 34WL750-B sits right on the cusp of our self-imposed $500 budget but it’s all so worth it. This 34-inch ultrawide monitor sports a 21:9 monitor for the largest amount of screen real-estate on this list. Of course it doesn’t hurt that the monitor sports a sharp 3440 x 1440 resolution that gives you plenty of room to work and play.
It also happens to meet the HDR10 spec with a color depth of 1.07 billion and a peak brightness of 430-nits. You can also use this monitor as a USB-C hub for any laptops or smartphones you plug into it.
The Viotek LinQ Touch is the perfect portable monitor if you’re looking for a second screen you can tow along with your laptop. It might only weigh 1.7 pounds and measure less than a half-inch thick, but it’s a sizable 15.6-inch touchscreen you can take on the go.
The 15-inch IPS panel sports a 1,920 x 1,080 resolution and you’ll be able to use all 10 of your fingers on its capacitive touchscreen. The monitor also comes with a pair of integrated speakers, FreeSync support, and a magnetic folding leather cover that doubles as a stand.
