Author: Trafficblast

Microsoft’s next Xbox Series X event is poised to be the biggest and most exciting one yet. During the company’s July Xbox 20/20 event, Microsoft will showcase a series of first-party Xbox Series X games, including Halo Infinite. The company may also use the show to reveal the long-rumored all-digital next-generation Xbox. We don’t know what to expect for sure yet, but Microsoft has now provided a small update on how planning for the event is coming along.

Xbox marketing director Aaron Greenberg–who heads up planning for these events–said on Twitter that Microsoft conducted an internal review of the event just this week with Phil Spencer. The team at Microsoft is “working hard on it,” but Greenberg said the company isn’t ready just yet to announce more details, like a date or a rundown of what will be shown off during the program.

“Team working hard on it,” Greenberg said to a fan on Twitter who asked for an update. “Good content review today in fact with the big boss. We will share more details when all is locked. Kindly ask for patience in the meantime.”

Microsoft’s first Xbox 20/20 show in May focused on third-party games, like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. The show failed to live up to the hype, and Greenberg acknowledged that Microsoft set the wrong expectations for the event. Fans will be understandably looking for a stronger event in July, and with Halo Infinite leading the way, it seems like Microsoft is poised to deliver the goods.

Halo Infinite is the first mainline entry in the series since 2015’s Xbox One game Halo 5: Guardians. Microsoft created an entirely new engine, the Slipspace Engine, for Halo Infinite, and the company is promising to deliver an exciting new experience with the game.

Microsoft now operates 15 game studios, and all of them are working on titles for Xbox Series X. In addition to Halo Infinite from 343 Industries, we know Ninja Theory is making Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 for Xbox Series X using Unreal Engine 5, while Sea of Thieves developer Rare is making a new game called Everwild. Additionally, Microsoft’s new studio The Initiative has teased a new project coming from the writer of Red Dead Redemption. Some of the rumored games for Xbox Series X include Fable 4 and a new Forza title.

We’ll report back with more details on the Xbox 20/20 event for July when they’re announced.

Pokemon Sword & Shield introduced a new Max Raid event within the recently released Isle of Armor DLC, and it came with a potential reward for all players. It was announced that if one million players beat the Zeraora Max Raid, every player would be able to claim a free shiny Zeraora through Pokemon Home.

As it turns out, players were able to achieve this goal very fast. The Pokemon Japan Twitter account has announced that players have not only hit that number, but eclipsed it–the Max Raid has seen 1,435,283 victories. This counts each individual player within a team that has successfully completed it.

Because of this, every player who transfers a Pokemon between Pokemon Home and Sword/Shield between June 18 and July 7 will be able to earn a shiny Zeraora in the mobile version of Home, regardless of whether you’ve completed this Raid, or even own the DLC.

You’ll only have a week to do so, though. This limited edition Pokemon will be available from June 30 until July 7, so make sure to add it to your calendar.

The shiny version of Zeraora will be white instead of yellow. Outside of this event, it will likely be very difficult to get.

If you’re playing Isle of Armor, here’s how to find every Diglett. Another Pokemon presentation is happening soon, at 6 AM PT on June 24. You can watch it on GameSpot.

Radio the Universe has debuted a first trailer ahead of its intended Winter 2020 release, and it looks fantastic. The trailer shows off the game’s style, rendered in the Pixel 2.0 engine, as well as the action-packed shooter gameplay we can expect later this year.

According to the game’s Steam page, it will offer a “slow-paced challenge” and the ability to adopt either a simple of complex playstyle. It will also feature ambient and musical soundtrack compositions, and a minimalist artstyle.

The game will mix exploration and combat, as seen in the video below.

So far the game has only been confirmed for a PC release. You can sign up for further updates on the developer’s website.

It’s also worth reading the description on YouTube of the video above. “This trailer was shown at E3 which I attended in 2020,” it reads. “The building where the expo took place was so beautiful. It had no electricity.” E3 2020, of course, never happened.

The game has been in development since at least 2012, when the developer posted a “boring FPS test” to YouTube, tracking the game’s framerate when the action gets busy.

I’m an actor who plays a detective on tv.
If you currently play a cop?
If you make tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in residuals from playing a cop?
I’ll let you do the math. (Thanks @GriffLightning for leading the way). pic.twitter.com/Xxf3dU0urF

— Stephanie Beatriz (@iamstephbeatz) June 2, 2020

WARNING: this article will SPOIL PLOT DETAILS for The Last of Us Part II. If you don’t want the plot spoiled, turn away now.

The Last of Us Part II is out now on PS4, and players are finally able to discover what happened to Joel and Ellie following the ending of the first game. Players who have finished the game will know that it’s much longer than the first, running about 25 hours, but it turns out that a lot of content was cut during production.

In an interview with IndieWire, the game’s director Neil Druckmann and narrative lead Halley Gross, who wrote The Last of Us Part II together, cover many details about the game’s plot and characters–including some details about what was cut.

While the main action of the game happens across three consecutive days, experienced from the perspective of both Ellie and Abby, the original plan was for this section to cover five days.

“There was a whole side story where Ellie went to the Seraphite island, and we had so much more to say about the Seraphites and Ellie’s journey there and she’s going through like the different layers of Hell and she still keeps going forward,” Druckmann says.

Joel’s death scene was originally different, too–the original plan was for him to cry out for Sarah, his long-since-deceased daughter, but actor Troy Baker suggested that it would be a more effective scene if he did not say anything.

Gross adds that at one point Joel was going to have a girlfriend, and a different ending, although she does not elaborate. Druckmann also says that they built a playable section where Ellie hunts down the boar you encounter in the museum, but it slowed down the game’s pacing too much.

Druckmann has previously said that he is not sure what Naughty Dog’s next project will be yet, but it might be The Last of Us Part III. If you’ve finished the game, be sure to watch GameSpot’s spoiler chat for our editors’ thoughts.

A small update is now available for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and the battle royale game Warzone, but don’t expect much from it.

This new playlist update contains two changes. First, uncommon and rare burst-fire versions of the M4 assault rifle have been removed from loot caches in Warzone. Developer Infinity Ward did not provide any commentary around why the weapons have been removed.

Second, Modern Warfare’s new All or Nothing playlist now supports parties whereas previously it did not. These playlist changes are available now across PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Like other playlist updates, this one should download in a flash from the game’s title screen.

This is the second playlist update for Modern Warfare and Warzone in the past 24 hours. An earlier update introduced a series of new playlists for Modern Warfare and Warzone, including Boots on the Ground War, Realism Mosh Pit, All or Nothing, and Stir-Crazy, among others.

In other news, Modern Warfare and Warzone recently welcomed the newest Operator, Gaz, who comes from the campaign.