From developer Cold Symmetry, Mortal Shell includes the deliberate combat that has been popularized by From Software’s Souls series, with role-playing elements that let you upgrades weapons and skills as you explore a non-linear open-world. The reveal trailer below sets its tone well, with a more horror-focused atmosphere than that of its influences.
One aspect of Mortal Shell that stands out is the shells themselves. You’ll physically wear the empty bodies of fallen warriors, each of which will play with different fighting styles and abilities. You can get comfortable with a shell and upgrade it further, letting you choose your style of play and adapt accordingly with items and weapons on top of it.
Mortal Shell has been in development for over two years, with Cold Symmetry comprising of only 15 employees. It’s three co-founders–Andrew McLennan-Murray, Anton Gonzalez, and Vitaly Bulgarov–are excited to finally show off the studio’s work. “The last two years have been a time of non-stop growth, full of shocking revelations of sheer complexity that goes into creating a video game that you, yourself, would really enjoy playing,” a press release from the studio reads.
Mortal Shell isn’t too far away either, with a planned launch in Q3 2020. You can apply to play the beta on the game’s official website, although details of the test are not yet known.
April is officially underway, which means Pokemon Go developer Niantic has once again refreshed the game’s Field Research list. Many of April’s Field Research tasks are the same as March’s, although some offer new rewards, and you won’t find many tasks that require you to hatch eggs (which is helpful as many part of the world are under lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Unlike the more story-focused Special Research quests, Field Research tasks are distributed via PokeStops. You’ll receive a random task when you spin the Photo Disc, and each one you complete will net you rewards, which can range from helpful items like Berries to encounters with certain Pokemon.
On top of that, the first Field Research task you complete each day will earn you a stamp. If you collect seven stamps, you’ll achieve what’s called a Research Breakthrough, which will net you additional rewards as well as an encounter with a special Pokemon. April’s Research Breakthrough reward is the rare Alolan Exeggutor; you’ll get a chance to catch the Pokemon each time you achieve a Research Breakthrough this month.
As previously mentioned, the Field Research tasks you receive from PokeStops will be randomly drawn from a larger pool. You can see the full list of April’s Field Research tasks, as compiled by The Silph Road, below.
In addition to these tasks, Niantic is offering a handful of Field Research quests that tie into Pokemon Go’s April Fools’ event, which runs from April 1-7. These can lead to encounters with Sudowoodo, Croagunk, and the debuting Gen 5 Pokemon Stunfisk. Niantic has also outlined some other Pokemon Go events happening in April.
Pokemon Go April 2020 Field Research Tasks
Catching Tasks
Field Research Task
Rewards
Catch 5 Pokemon with Weather boost x
Poliwag or Vulpix encounter; 200 Stardust, 3 Razz Berries, 1 Pinap Berry, or 5 Poke Balls
Catch 10 Pokemon with Weather boost x
500 Stardust, 6 Razz Berries, 2 Pinap Berries, or 5 Great Balls
With coronavirus (COVID-19) concerns continuing to mount and social distancing mandates getting extended, the organization behind the annual gaming convention RTX has rescheduled this year’s event.
Instead of taking place from July 3-5, entertainment production company Rooster Teeth has moved RTX to Labor Day Weekend: September 5-7. It doesn’t seem like any other changes are being made to the convention at the moment, but refunds will be offered to those who change their mind.
We have not finalized all of the details to announce, but the news is out. #RTXAustin is moving to Labor Day weekend (Sept. 5-7, 2020). We will offer refunds, and your current purchased badge will be valid for the rescheduled event. All the details will be coming soon.
“We are training and preparing to implement additional precautionary measures at RTX such as increasing the frequency of cleaning and disinfecting of commonly touched objects like door handles, placing prominent hand sanitizer stations throughout our venues, and placing educational signage reminding attendees to take precautions,” the company wrote in a blog post. “In addition to meeting the standards set forth by the city of Austin, we are also holding ourselves to the strict standards set by our parent company, WarnerMedia, who have already implemented several new policies in the last month to protect our staff at Rooster Teeth.”
Rockstar Games has announced that it will donate 5% of its online revenue to COVID-19 relief efforts.
The news was revealed in a post from the Rockstar Games Twitter account, where the company explained that, from April 1, 5% of in-game purchases in GTA Online and Red Dead Online will go towards COVID-19 relief. The donation period will last until the end of May.
This means that a percentage of the price of Rockstar’s in-game microtransactions like Gold Bars in Red Dead Online and Shark Cards in GTA Online will go towards helping aid those who have been affected by COVID-19.
“These funds will be used to help local communities and businesses struggling with the impacts of COVID-19, both directly and by supporting some of the amazing organizations who are on the ground,” the statement reads.
The decision was made after the team had noticed that communities around Rockstar offices in “North America, the UK, India and beyond” were facing hardship due to the pandemic, with small businesses closing doors and those who need government support unable to access it. “The road ahead will be challenging, and we want to help where we can,” the statement reads.
The basic concept for Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s boss battles originated in Yonkama Manga, a classic comic style based around telling a story in four panels.
The insight was revealed as part of the Inside Final Fantasy VII Remake docu-series, a set of videos from Square Enix that offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the development of the Remake project.
Near the end of the video, Lead Battle Designers Tomotaka Shiroichi and Kosuke Sakane talk about how the boss battles in Final Fantasy 7 Remake were inspired by Yonkama, a four-panel manga style from Japan.
Yonkoma is usually seen as a comic style made up of four panels in a vertical column, which follows a famous structure known as Kishotenketsu. As Shiroichi explains, the core parts of this structure include an introduction, a middle part, a development and a conclusion.
The developers go on to explain how this works in the context of Final Fantasy, their words supplemented by footage of the Abzu boss fight from Final Fantasy 7 Remake. In the footage, the player encounters the beast and is on the back foot, but then studies its special moveset and counters with targeted attacks, leading to its defeat.
“Encounter the enemy and start the battle in Phase 1, show each other’s hand and the boss takes lead in Phase 2, In Phase 3, the boss shows you the signature attacks and the players start fighting back,” Shiroichi explains. “That’s when bosses start revealing their weaknesses – Phase 4 is the climax and introduces the next part of the storyline!”
The battle designers note that the boss battles in Final Fantasy 7 Remake follow this pattern and as such, connect key events within the story by following those four steps from Yonkama manga.
According to Shiroichi, each phase should also display Jo-Ha-Kyu, a Japanese concept of movement that he describes as a “slow start, swift break, and rapid end.” The video contains a number of other details about how the team behind Final Fantasy 7 Remake approached the game’s combat, including a section interviewing the game’s director Tetsuya Nomura about balancing the old-school hallmarks of Final Fantasy 7’s ATB system with the demands of a modern audience.
You know the name, but how much do you really know about Blade? Marvel’s sunglasses-clad vampire hunter has been slaying bloodsuckers in comic book pages since 1973. He hit the mainstream with the release of his Wesley Snipes-starring horror-action film in 1998, although the character went through quite a few changes from his comic counterpart in that adaptation. Two more blockbuster movies would cement his status as the monster who scares the monsters.
At 2019’s San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel set Hall H ablaze with the news that Mahershala Ali would be taking over the iconic character in the MCU. So let’s learn more about Blade and his comic book roots to get an idea of where a new direction might take him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. These are the topics we’ll be covering here:
Blade, whose real name is Eric Brooks, was practically born a vampire slayer. His mother was turned into a vampire mere moments before his birth, which granted him supernatural abilities including long life and immunity to vampire bites. He became a hunter of the undead with the driving desire to claim vengeance on Deacon Frost, the monster that bit his mother.
“For me, it’s only ever been about makin’ them pay,” he said in Blade: Crescent City Blues. “I’m a vampire hunter. I never claimed to be a hero.”
His quest for revenge would not only lead him to Frost, but ultimately into fights against the undead and other supernatural horrors alongside allies like Doctor Strange, Wolverine, Gwenpool, the X-Men, and the Avengers.
In 1929, Eric was born in England to a woman named Tara Brooks. (His father was Lucas Cross, a Latverian dissident who was arrested for treason; he had sent his wife away for her safety.) Eric’s mother died in childbirth when the “doctor” called in to assist with labor drained her of blood instead—with the help of two very sharp fangs. The fiend’s name? Deacon Frost.
Eric was born with an immunity to a vampire’s bite thanks to his dual nature of both human and vampire, but he was already an orphan. His mother’s friends raised the young boy until he was old enough to learn how to fight under the tutelage of Jamal Afari. The elder vampire hunter taught him everything he knew about the undead, investigation, and close combat. Eventually his prowess with weapons earned young Eric the nickname Blade.
True to his name, Blade brandished blades of all types, from teak wood daggers for staking to a lethal double-edged sword. He used them without mercy against any vampire who got in his way, whether the undead was an ancient horror or a recently turned innocent child.
Blade’s Powers and Abilities
Due to his dual nature as a dhampir — also called a Daywalker — Blade has a heightened awareness of the supernatural and he cannot be turned into a vampire. While not immortal, Blade ages much more slowly than a human.
Morbius and Blade clashed on more than one occasion; Morbius bit the hunter on the arm in one confrontation (Peter Parker: Spider-Man #8). Blade was not immune to the living vampire’s unique physiology. As a result, Blade gained even more vampiric abilities like super strength and agility and regenerative healing, but also fangs and a thirst for blood.
He is highly trained in martial arts and is an expert marksman—especially with silver bullets locked and loaded.
Blade vs. Dracula
Blade’s Signature Villains
No matter the vampire he faced, Blade was undaunted. As he hunted Frost, Blade crossed paths with vampires from the smallest lackey all the way to Dracula himself. He took out the Lord of Vampires more than once. The two have a long history of facing off (and even occasionally teaming up) ever since Blade’s original appearance in 1973, including as part of the X-Men event Curse of the Mutants and in the 2019 Avengers storyline War of the Vampires.
But he remained single-minded in his pursuit of Deacon Frost. The vampire had the unique ability to create doppelgängers of anyone he had turned and was capable of making a decoy of himself as well. Any doppelgänger he created was under his complete control. Blade would battle against copies of himself, his friends, and Frost before their final confrontation in 2005’s Tomb of Dracula #4.
Later, in the aftermath of the Infinity storyline, Eric Brooks joined the Mighty Avengers to fight against an old foe, the immortal Deathwalkers. He wished to remain anonymous so his undead enemies wouldn’t find him; he donned a store-bought Spider-Man costume and posed as “Spider Hero.” Later he would find Ronin’s costume in a box that belonged to Clint Barton and assume that masked identity for a time. He revealed his face to both his foes and readers in Mighty Avengers #9.
Most moviegoers picture Blade in the form of Wesley Snipes thanks to his incredibly successful trilogy of explosive movies that began in 1998. In the film version of the character, Blade was born with all of the vampire powers such as super strength and reflexes but with none of their weaknesses. He was born in Detroit, and, true to his comics history, his mother was bitten by Frost while pregnant.
In another nod to his comics past, Blade works with an older mentor in the trilogy. Eventually he teams up with other bad-ass vampire hunting allies, including Hannibal King (played by Ryan Reynolds), a classic Marvel character that originally made his debut in the Tomb of Dracula comics alongside Blade.
The Blade films are often credited with electrifying audiences and kicking off the superhero movie surge that has dominated the box office in recent years.
Wesley Snipes played Blade in three films, beginning in 1998.
Marvel’s Blade in TV and Games
TV: A short-lived Blade TV series made its debut on Spike TV in 2006 following the third movie. In the series, Blade’s roots are again in Detroit, where he hunts a vampire named Marcus Van Sciver with the help of a new vampire named Krista. Only twelve episodes of the action-packed series were produced. Blade has appeared in animation as well, from the 1990s Spider-Man cartoon to Ultimate Spider-Man and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. ( where he was voiced by Terry Crews). He even starred in his own anime.
Games: He’s also shown up in several Marvel video games, including movie tie-in games, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Marvel Puzzle Quest, Marvel Heroes, Marvel Contest of Champions, Lego Marvel Super Heroes 1 and 2, and most recently Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order.
As Marvel wrapped up another earth-shattering panel in Hall H at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, they had one last surprise for the ecstatic audience. Mahershala Ali joined Kevin Feige on the stage to announce that a new Blade film is in the works for the near future. While the vampire hunter probably won’t be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe until after Phase 4 is complete, excitement is already growing for his introduction.
Given Blade’s early stories with Doctor Strange, the two could make for a magical movie team-up that adds supernatural horror to the MCU. Blade also has a long comics history with both Spider-Man and Morbius, easily opening the way for his entry into the Sony side of the Marvel movies. No matter who he takes along on his blood-filled quest for vengeance, we can’t wait to see how his introduction will change the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Kelly Knox is a freelance writer who also contributes to StarWars.com, DCComics.com, Nerdist, and more. Follow her on Twitter at @kelly_knox to talk Star Wars, Dungeons & Dragons, and comics.
April has arrived, and Niantic is kicking off the month with a new event in Pokemon Go. The Tricky Pokemon event is underway for a limited time, and it introduces a new Gen 5 Pokemon to the game, as well as a couple of new Shiny forms.
Until 10 PM local time on April 7, Pokemon that specialize in mimicry–such as Voltorb, Ditto, Sudowoodo, and Foongus–will appear in the wild more often than normal. You’ll also have a chance of finding Shiny versions of Sudowoodo and Croagunk during the event.
On top of that, a new Gen 5 Pokemon, Stunfisk, has made its debut in the game; you can encounter one in the wild, as a Field Research task reward, or hatch one through 5 km eggs. Once the Tricky Pokemon event ends, Stunfisk will no longer hatch from 5 km eggs, although you’ll still have a chance of finding one in the wild or through Field Research tasks.
Finally, Niantic is offering a special set of Field Research tasks during the event, which can lead to encounters with the aforementioned Stunfisk, Sudowoodo, or Croagunk. The developer also teases that a special Pokemon may appear when you take Go Snapshots. You can read more about the event on the official Pokemon Go website.
In addition to the Tricky Pokemon event, April’s new Field Research tasks are now live in Pokemon Go. Each time you achieve a Research Breakthrough this month, you’ll earn an encounter with Alolan Exeggutor. Niantic is also extending last month’s Team Rocket Special Research quest, so you now have until the end of April to rescue Shadow Entei.
The first seasonal event in Switch’s just-released Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Bunny Day, is now live. The game’s take on Easter involves acquiring eggs hidden all around your island, acquiring new recipes, and crafting new furniture and decorations. Bunny Day is available as part of a free update released just prior to launch; simply make sure your game is up-to-date and you’ll be able to dive in when you open the game.
Zipper T. Bunny has appeared on the island and will be sticking around through April 12, which marks Bunny Day itself. Speaking with him will reward you with a DIY recipe and get you the basic details of what’s going on during the event. You can acquire eggs in a variety of ways, including:
Leaf egg — trees
Stone eggs — rocks
Water eggs — fishing
Sky eggs — popping Bunny Day-colored balloons
Earth eggs — digging up fossil-style cracks
Wood eggs — hitting trees with an axe
Recipes you obtain–which include the Bunny Day fence, stool, bed, and glowy garland–are crafted using eggs you catch. Zipper teases that if you’re able to acquire every recipe and craft its corresponding item, he’ll have a special gift for you. More recipes will be hidden during the event, so it sounds as if you won’t be able to necessarily complete your collection on the first day.
With the Bunny Day event kicking off on April 1, all of this coincides with a changing of the in-game seasons, meaning you have new fish and bugs to catch (the specifics vary for the northern and southern hemispheres). Your non-fruit trees will have taken on a new look, and players in the northern hemisphere will be able to catch cherry-blossom petals floating through the air using a net. Those are, in turn, used to craft the outdoor picnic set recipe that Isabelle hands out for free to players when booting up the game.
We’ll report back with more details as we uncover them, but in the meantime, check out our hybrid flowers and turnips guides to better understand some of the many elements at work in New Horizons.
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Bethesda’s vast library of games total thousands, if not tens of thousands, of hours of gameplay. Just think about how much time you’ve dropped into Skyrim over the years, and multiply that by the total number of open-world RPGs in Bethesda’s library to get a rough idea of how you can spend the next 3 months of your life.
Green Man Gaming currently has a sale on Bethesda games, including Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein, Doom and way more. If you want to immerse yourself in the sometimes-janky, but content-full worlds of Bethesda games, now is an awesome time to add a few more to your library.
The Green Man Gaming Bethesda Easter Sale runs from now until April 14, so you have a good amount of time to decide if you really want to drop $5 on Oblivion. For me personally? I’m definitely considering it, although I’ve heard it doesn’t hold up all these years later. Still, I really loved Oblivion and the price is right, so maybe I’ll roll the dice?
Now’s the perfect time to bring a little Bethesda into your life, since it just announced it won’t be holding a digital E3 conference.
In the last update for Season 2 of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, developer Infinity Ward is bringing back an intense spin on Gunfight, introducing a new variant to Cyber Attack, and having a little fun with April Fools’ Day.
Gunfight will see the return of a Snipers-Only 3v3 playlist, which is pretty self-explanatory. The regular 2v2 mode will add another play to each team and cycle through snipers only, making the cramped and quick matches a real test of precision.
Cyber Attack is also getting a new spin with a Pro variant, which removes the need to revive teammates and automatically respawns them back into the game. This should give the mode a much more chaotic feel, as players can return to the action a lot faster than before.
It wouldn’t be an update on April 1 without some mischievous fun, and Infinity Ward is delivering it with two new playlists. The first, named I Have Trust Issues, seems to suggest you’ll be playing on Shipment, but instead puts players in a 24/7 playlist of matches set on Piccadilly instead. The second, COD Players Only Want One Thing, does put you on Shipment, with a cycling mosh pit of modes and 10v10 player teams. If you thought Shipment was cramped before, guess again.
