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Xbox Will Keep Making Hardware After Series X/S

Microsoft will continue to make new gaming hardware after the release of the Xbox Series X/S this year, Phil Spencer has said. Speaking to Yahoo, Spencer said that just because the gaming industry is embracing digital and streaming now more than ever, that doesn’t mean Microsoft will abandon gaming hardware anytime soon.

“In terms of future hardware, absolutely I think we’re going to see more console hardware down the road,” he said. “Just like in video, just like in music, it’s not that streaming has cut off device innovation. I think we’ll continue to see that, and that’s absolutely what we’re planning for.”

While Microsoft is committed to continuing to make new hardware, the company won’t force you to buy an Xbox if you want to play Xbox games. Microsoft’s new strategy is to release its titles across platforms whether that be a game console, a PC, or a smartphone/tablet.

“We’re about putting the player at the center,” he said. “It’s not about the device in the middle any more. You see that in every other form of media. My TV [content] is with me wherever I go. My music is with me wherever I go. I’m in control of the experience, and I think gaming is going through that same transformation.”

Under Microsoft’s new strategy, you can buy a game on an Xbox console, for example, and then play it on a PC or a smartphone. This all ties back into Xbox Game Pass, which is Microsoft’s Netflix-style subscription offering that works on a variety of devices.

“One subscription gives you access to your catalog and community wherever you go,” Spencer said.

The idea that Microsoft will continue to make new Xbox hardware is not new or surprising, as Spencer said in 2019 that Microsoft would continue to release new consoles. There are some that believe gaming is headed toward a streaming-only future, but if that is the case, the commonly held idea is that it won’t happen soon, and you’ll still need some kind of hardware to access games.

The Xbox Series X/S consoles launch in November. GameSpot currently has the Xbox Series X, and we’re going to bring you a series of previews of the hardware in the time ahead.

Xbox Series X And Xbox One News

The Witcher Season 2 Recasts Eskel

The second season of Netflix’s The Witcher has undergone a shakeup of sorts, as actor Thue Rasmussen had to drop out of the sophomore season due to a scheduling conflict, and now we know who his replacement is.

Deadline reports that Victoria actor Basil Eidenbenz has come aboard to play Eskel in Season 2. Eidenbenz has been filming scenes for Season 2 since the production resumed again in August. Eskel, a new character for Season 2, is a Witcher from the school of the wolf.

The Witcher was one of the first major productions to be suspended in the UK due to COVID-19, after actor Kristofer Hivju tested positive for coronavirus.

While The Witcher Season 2 doesn’t have a confirmed release date, showrunner Lauren Hissrich previously stated that it would appear sometime in 2021. Hissrich has also suggested that the story of The Witcher Season 2 will be easier to follow than that of Season 1, which was spread over different timelines. “The story will be much more linear, now that the three characters’ stories have started to intersect,” she explained.

The Witcher stars Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, Freya Allan as Ciri, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer, Eamon Farren as Cahir, and Joey Batey as Jaskier. It’s based on the book series by Andrzej Sapkowski, which in turn inspired the popular video game series.

Now Playing: 8 Witcher “Netflix” Mods To Make Your Game More Like The Show

Spelunky 2 Online Multiplayer Won’t Be On PC At Launch

Spelunky 2 has arrived on PS4 already, and a PC release is fast approaching–but one component will be missing at launch. In an update ahead of the game’s September 29 launch, it’s been revealed that online multiplayer has been delayed by a few weeks.

In an update on Steam, the team has announced that, because “online multiplayer had a bit of a rocky start on PS4,” they’re delaying this mode on PC. “Sorry, we know that’s disappointing for players who were excited to jump right into online co-op on day one,” the post reads. “Until very recently we were still hoping that we would be able to launch with it as planned.”

However, when online multiplayer does arrive, hopefully within “a few weeks,” the game will support cross-platform play with the PS4 version. There’s also a plan to introduce online PvP modes, too, which are currently in the works.

At launch, the full single-player Adventure Mode will be available, and you’ll be able to play Arena Mode as a local multiplayer title, too. The game will be discounted by 10% at launch on Steam, down from $20 to $18.

GameSpot reviewed the PS4 version of Spelunky 2, and gave it an 8/10. If you’ve been struggling, check out our beginner’s tips for successful spelunking.

Now Playing: Spelunky 2 Video Review

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The Resident Evil 4 Deal That Betrayed Nintendo | Remember When

In this episode of Remember When, Kurt Indovina looks back on the infamous Capcom Five deal, and the broken promise that left one of the gaming giants, and its fans, betrayed and heartbroken. To help Kurt on his journey, Nintendo historian Chris Scullion lends his professional insight on what the deal entailed, the impact it had on Nintendo, and its legacy.

Xbox Series X And Xbox Series S Storage Explained

The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are both capable of loading game worlds almost instantly, delivering seamless gameplay that won’t leave you waiting for minutes on a loading screen as an area is generated. That advantage compared to Xbox One is largely because of the new Xbox storage device, which is a custom NVMe SSD rather than the hard drives used previously. It’s one of the biggest game-changers going into the next generation, and if you’re wondering how it all works, we’ll break it down for you.

How does Xbox storage work on the new systems?

Regardless of whether you get the Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S, your console comes with a custom Non-Volatile Memory Host Express solid-state drive: NVMe SSD for short. It’s small, loads incredibly quickly, and because it’s an SDD rather than a hard drive, there aren’t moving parts.

Games install to this drive much like they do on current-generation consoles, and because even the fastest disc drives aren’t up to the challenge, you must fully install games onto the drives to play them on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. For the X model, you get 1TB of internal storage, while the S has 512GB.

But the storage you start with isn’t necessarily all you have to use. Both consoles feature an expansion slot. Starting with a proprietary 1TB expansion card from Seagate, Microsoft is offering players the chance to upgrade their storage space. All you have to do is plug it into the back of your system to add on another 1TB of space, and it supports both Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. New sizes and manufacturers could come in the future, and the first card costs $220.

Do Xbox Series X and S support external hard drives?

Xbox One S with external hard drive attached
Xbox One S with external hard drive attached

Both consoles do support hard drives for some content, provided they use USB 3.1, and you can actually plug your current compatible drive into the new console and instantly begin playing any games you had installed. The drive can store and play any Xbox One, Xbox 360, and original Xbox game that supports backward compatibility, and it can also store your Xbox Series X and S games. It’s a cheaper alternative to the new proprietary cards.

However, hard drives aren’t fast enough to actually run the Xbox Series X and S games, so you will need to migrate them to your internal storage or the official expansion card before they can be played. If you have the expansion card installed, Xbox Series X/S games on the card can be played without needing to move them to the system’s internal storage. The expansion card is designed to run these games with no performance differences compared to the internal drive.

Why is the expansion card so expensive?

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Yes, this is a bit of a hard pill to swallow. The expansion card costs nearly as much as the Xbox Series S.

While you’d have to ask Microsoft or Seagate for an exact breakdown of the costs, NVMe SSD technology is still fairly new and allows for much better performance compared to older flash and hard drive technology. There aren’t any other options on the market for an external expansion card for Xbox Series X and S yet, and that could cause prices to fall a bit. However, current drives for PC that are in the same general performance range, or even slightly worse, are not much cheaper.

You will likely find similar issues with pricing on the PS5, as well, as it’s making use of very similar technology as Xbox. In that case, the PS5’s internal storage is 825GB, meaning it’s actually less than the current PS4 Pro and a little less than Xbox Series X. Game file sizes are getting larger, especially as they add post-launch content, and with some of a console’s storage space allocated for system-level files, you will have even less space to work with.

Spielberg’s Indiana Jones 5 Fell Apart Because No One Could Agree on the Script

Since its initial announcement back in 2016, Indiana Jones 5 has been hit with many delays and release schedule changes. Back in February, director Steven Spielberg officially stepped down to a producer role with James Mangold named as his replacement in May. Now, screenwriter David Koepp, who departed the film along with Spielberg, said that version fell apart due to disagreements over the script.

In an interview with Den of Geek, screenwriter David Koepp explained “it was just very hard to have everybody come together and have all the elements — Steven, Harrison (Ford), the script and Disney — come together at once. And it didn’t.”

“When James Mangold came in and Steven stepped out, that was a pretty logical breaking point,” Koepp said. “It’s a gracious time to step out the door because I think the last thing a new director wants is the old director’s writer.”

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Mangold, who was Oscar-nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for Logan, recently revealed that he’s “trying to find an emotional center to operate from” for the story, informing ComicBook.com:

“I think the most important thing is, in an age when franchises have become a commodity, that serving the same thing again. At least for me, in the dances I’ve had with any franchises, serving the same thing again, the same way, usually just produces a longing for the first time you ate it. Meaning, it makes an audience wish that they just had the first one over again. So you have to push something to someplace new, while also remembering the core reasons why everyone was gathered. And to use Logan as an example of that, when you’re dealing in a world of a very pressured franchise.”

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The film is likely Harrison Ford’s last time playing the iconic treasure hunter as he turns 80 in 2022.

Indiana Jones 5 is currently set for a July 29, 2022 debut after Disney adjusted its release schedule earlier this year.

For more, check out everything we know about Indiana Jones 5.

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Matthew Adler is a Features, News, Previews, and Reviews writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @MatthewAdler and watch him stream on Twitch.

WWE Clash Of Champions 2020: How To Watch, Live Results, And Match Card Updates

There are a few rumors swirling about the WWE PPV Clash of Champions. PW Insider reports Nikki Cross is not in attendance and her match against Bayley will not be on the card. Also, Asuka vs. Zelina Vega has now allegedly been bumped from the Kickoff Show to the Main Card. There’s been no news from WWE about this yet, but you can watch the Kickoff Show below when it airs.

It’s time for another WWE PPV event. This time around, it’s Clash of Champions, the annual event where every WWE title is on the line–except for the NXT ones. As the evening moves on, GameSpot will be updating you live with what’s happening during the show.

Clash of Champions will be taking place at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, surrounded by the Thunderdome–WWE’s Zoom-call-style audience. The Kickoff Show for the event will take place one hour prior to the main card, which begins at 4 PM PT / 7 PM ET.

How to watch:

In case you’re wanting to jump into the even right now, Clash of Champions is best watched through the WWE Network. Yes, you can order the PPV through your cable or satellite provider, but it’s a bit pricier. The WWE Network costs $10 a month and outside of being able to streaming live events, there is a large back catalog of wrestling shows and original series to check out.

As for the card, Clash of Champions will see every championship title from Raw and Smackdown be defended. Below, you’ll find the full card.

Match card:

  • Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Randy Orton (Ambulance match for WWE Championship)
  • Roman Reigns (c) vs. Jey Uso (Universal Championship)
  • Bayley (c) vs. Nikki Cross (Smackdown Women’s Championship)
  • Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler (c) vs. The Riott Squad (Women’s Tag Team Championships)
  • Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Lucha House Party (SmackdownTag Team Championships)
  • Jeff Hardy (c) vs. AJ Styles vs. Sami Zayn (Triple threat for Intercontinental Championship)
  • The Street Profits (c) vs. Andrade and Angel Garza (Raw Tag Team Championships)
  • Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Apollo Crews (United States Championship)
  • Asuka (c) vs. Zelina Vega (Raw Women’s Championship) [KICKOFF SHOW]

Below, you’ll find live updates for the event as it happens. Keep checking back to GameSpot throughout the night for live results.

Kickoff Show

The Clash of Champions Kickoff Show has begun. If you saw the rumor above about Nikki Cross not being on tonight’s show, we’ll confirm it here if it is announced on the preshow. Additionally, all other important announcements will also be included below.

Updating…

Skyblivion Mod Puts Entirety Of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Into Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is one of the most acclaimed games in Bethesda’s library, but it is definitely showing its age more than 14 years since it released. A group of developers is looking to fix that with the Skyblivion project, which reimagines Oblivion as if it were made in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’s engine. As you can see in the video below, the results are very impressive so far.

In development in one form or another since 2012, Skyblivion is the complete Oblivion experience remade in the Skyrim engine. That includes all DLC packs, all weapons, all quests, and all locations. The mod is free, but you must own Oblivion and Skyrim already, along with their DLC expansions, in order to run it. Though Bethesda does support mods on consoles, it’s only available on PC.

It isn’t just transferring game data into a new engine, though. The team also used existing lore and some creative license to improve on areas it found underwhelming in the original Oblivion. Interior areas are getting a particularly large overhaul to more accurately portray the world, with shops showing what items are on sale, and caves will house mines and goblins. With the first pass of the overworld nearly done, the team is moving forward on places like inns and shops.

Monsters and creatures have gone through a similar level of care, recreating them and adding some extra flair to make them fit in Skyblivion. You should still recognize them, but they’ll look more like you remember them than what they actually looked like.

Skyblivion isn’t close to a final release yet, but with the amount of time we’ll likely be waiting for The Elder Scrolls VI, it will still serve as an impressive project to tide us over. You can learn more on the mod’s official website.

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Resident Evil CG Series Comes To Netflix In 2021

Resident Evil fans have been getting absolutely spoiled as of late, with the Resident Evil 3 remake releasing earlier this year and Resident Evil Village following in 2021. However, they’re also going to get an all-new CG Netflix series next year called Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, and it stars two of the most iconic characters in the franchise.

Announced during the Tokyo Game Show, Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness stars Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield, who were both previously in Resident Evil 2. The series seems to live up to its title based on the visuals we’ve seen thus far, and it looks like it could be taking a more horror-focused and less action-heavy route than some of the previous Resident Evil CG projects. This would seem fitting, as Chris and Claire starred in a game that relied much more heavily on tension and suspense than all-out chaos.

Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness isn’t the only project Netflix has in the works for the franchise. It’s also going to air a live-action show that stars Albert Wesker’s twin daughters. Set in two different time periods, it seems like it will add more context to the Wesker family, and it’s being produced by Cosntantin Film — the same production company that handled the live-action films. Those were far removed from the games’ canon, so we’ll have to wait and see if the same thing happens with the series.

Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness will hit Netflix in 2021. Resident Evil Village is currently planned to release on PS5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, and PC.

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