Google Stadia is a week away from launch, and today Google held an impromptu Reddit AMA to answer some last-minute questions. Unfortunately, Google also took this time to reveal which features won’t be available on Stadia at launch.
Google Stadia director of product Andrey Doronichev and publisher experience lead Beri Lee hosted the Reddit AMA on the official r/Stadia subreddit where they answered questions from awaiting Stadia users.
Servant, a new TV series executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Glass), will premiere on November 28, exclusive to Apple TV+. Apple’s new streaming service hasn’t gotten off to the most exciting start, but Servant looks interesting, to say the least. The first trailer introduced us to the overarching plot of the series–an in-denial mother hires a nanny to look after the hyper-realistic doll that has replaced her deceased infant son, and it soon becomes clear that something is off about said nanny.
This new trailer, titled “Jericho” (the name of the doll), focuses in on the doll’s creation, as the baby is sculpted, with the artist threading in hairs and choosing eyeballs for the infantile facsimile. It’s a riff on Pinocchio, albeit a horrifying one. You can watch it below, and then start debating with yourself whether or not the doll is meant to seem alive or not in the shot of its mother picking it up.
The series will run for ten episodes, and features Lauren Ambrose, Nell Tiger Free, Rupert Grint, and Toby Kebbell. The pilot is directed by M. Night Shyamalan, and the show is created by Tony Basgallop. It’s quite different from anything you’re likely to see on the more family-friendly Disney +, which also just recently launched.
Rockstar has apologised for issues that have impacted some players in the wake of Red Dead Redemption 2’s launch, and has also released a new update featuring several fixes.
“Over the past week, we have been working as quickly as possible to address issues that have impacted the launch of the PC version of Red Dead Redemption 2,” the publisher said in a statement published via the Rockstar Newswire. “As a result, we have already identified and resolved a number of these issues by deploying fixes to the Rockstar Games Launcher and some to the game itself.”
“However, we are aware that a small number of Red Dead Redemption 2 PC players are still experiencing some ongoing problems with the game stuttering. We believe this is due to unforeseen issues related to specific combinations of Nvidia graphics drivers, Nvidia GPU cards, and certain CPUs.
South Park kicked off the second half of Season 23 tonight by finally shifting focus back to Stan, Kyle, Cartman and the gang. As PC Principal faced the threat of an even stronger woman, the boys found their board gamers club invaded by girls.
We’ll have our review of “Board Girls” up a bit later tonight. Until then, let us know what you thought of the new episode in the comments below.
The new Disney+ streaming service has removed the infamous The Simpsons’ episode featuring Michael Jackson as a character.
Spotted by The Hollywood Reporter, the episode titled ‘Stark Raving Dad’ isn’t available on Disney Plus’ compilation of Simpsons’ episodes.
Shenmue III has been a long time coming, but soon fans will finally be able to continue Ryo Hazuki’s adventure. It’s been over 18 years since Shenmue II’s September 6, 2001 launch on the Dreamcast, and after the console’s death and the commercial failure of the first two games, a third seemed unlikely. But now, Shenmue is finally coming back.
Shenmue III will release on PlayStation 4 and PC on November 19, which, as this new launch trailer (entitled “The Story Goes On”) reminds us, is a bit of a miracle. “18 years ago the clock stopped,” an opening text reads. “Time vanished into an unfathomable future. But passions never waver. A moment in motion, a story renewed.”
The trailer features Ryo and Ling Shenhua, as well as series antagonist Lan Di, who was responsible for the death of Ryo’s father in the original game. It shows many of the elements fans are nostalgic for–including some fairly wooden voice acting–and hints at elements of the Shenmue plot that are being carried over into this third entry in the series.
The initial Kickstarter for the project opened on June 15, 2015; now, over four years later, the game (which broke Kickstarter records) is finally complete. Director Keiji Okayasu returned for the project, and while there has been some controversy over the game’s Epic Games Store exclusivity, fans have been eagerly anticipating this release. Last year, a Shenmue I & II HD Collection was released, marking the first time the original game had ever been made available on a system other than the Dreamcast; unfortunately, a planned full Shenmue remake never happened. From the beginning, Shenmue was envisioned as a multi-part epic, and Shenmue III is not planned as a conclusion to the series–if it does well, we could see a Shenmue IV.
If you’re excited for Shenmue III, be sure to check out our hands-on report and interview with series director Yu Suzuki.
GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.
Shovel Knight, the 2014 indie darling that started life on the Wii U and 3DS before eventually making its way to the current generation of systems, is due for one last major update. Two expansions will release soon for owners of the Treasure Trove edition of the game, and now we have a release date for them.
Developer Yacht Club Games has announced on Twitter that Shovel Knight: King of Cards and Shovel Knight: Showdown will both release on December 10. The games will be available as part of the Treasure Trove collection, or can be purchased separately from digital storefronts. In King of Cards, players will take on the role of the titular king, and Yacht Club Games is promising that it will feature “more levels, mechanics, secrets, and content than any Shovel Knight game to come before it.” Showdown is a multiplayer spin-off, which offers a competitive take on the Shovel Knight formula, complete will a full story mode and AI bots.
Shovel Knight Showdown will not be available on 3DS or PS Vita, whereas King of Cards will be made available on all systems. The game also still has a trio of amiibo on the way, based on Plague Knight, Specter Knight, and King Knight, and the game is getting a new physical release that will bundle together all of this content on December 10 as well (although the PS4 physical release has been delayed into 2020).
While this will wrap up the Treasure Trove collection, there’s already another Shovel Knight game in the works–Shovel Knight Dig, which will see Shovel Knight using his shovel for its intended purpose through underground dungeons. Yacht Club Games also has another game in the works, Cyber Shadow, which is a retro-styled ninja action game. It’s not yet clear when either game will launch.
GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.
The Crew 2 has received a major new free update on PC, PS4, and Xbox One as part of patch 1.5.0, expanding Ubisoft’s ambitious open-world racer with more events, cars, and vanity items to unlock. A new weekly schedule for the game will provide players with several opportunities to unlock rewards based on their performance.
The new Blazing Shots update brings with it new weekly LIVE Summit events, which will be PvE competitions that play out over nine activities pulled from The Crew 2’s numerous different styles and racing disciplines. Your performance, and where you place on the leaderboards, will dictate the rewards they unlock at the end of the week. There will also be a once-a-month Premium LIVE Summit, where players can potentially win a special edition vehicle.
The update launches with a heap of new content, and events and unlockables for the first four weeks have been announced. The Mix Master Live Summit is available right now, with four new vehicles and 8 new vanity items up for grabs. From November 20, the H2O Live Summit goes up, plus a new PvE event and 3 new vanity items. On November 27 the Ghost Recon themed Ghost Road Live Summit will bring a Summit Special Edition vehicle, three new vanity items, and another new event, and from December 4 you’ll be able to take on the Street Fight Live Summit, along with two other events, to gain one new vehicle and three new vanity items. Within a month, a total of 78 vanity items will have been added, and there will be more beyond that too.
The update also introduces the Elite Bundle 3, which is available for a month at a 20 percent saving. It features the Ferrari 599XX EVO touring car, the Porsche Carrera GT hypercar, and the Citroën GT hypercar. All in all, it’s a hefty free update for the game, which first released in July 2018.
Previous updates for the game have brought a demolition derby and hovercraft racing with them, among other additions and changes. In our original 8/10 review of The Crew 2, Edmond Tran said that the game “displays admirable strengths, which lie in its player-friendly features, freedom of movement, and its willingness to bend the rules in order to make things exciting and varied for an accessible, American-themed thrillride.”
Imagine being able to fling yourself over any obstacle or ledge with your own two hands instead of a pair of thumbsticks. Stormland, developed by Insomniac Games for the Oculus Rift, gave me a first glimpse into how the open-world shooter format can be morphed and reshaped for the better when brought into virtual reality. It’s brief, only presenting a grand total of four different regions across a roughly five hour campaign, and the combat isn’t nearly as strong as its exploration, but it was exciting when Stormland finally took the reins off and let me loose to propel myself through its eerie alien landscape.
Stormland’s plot isn’t its main draw, placing me into the generic robot shoes of Vesper, a lost android searching for his missing friends amid a violent robot uprising. While the story is decently told for a virtual reality game, what’s really exciting here is some of the most fluid movement mechanics and the coolest vertical world design in a made-for-VR game to date. You can climb trees, rocks, cliffs, and even up the sides of buildings. When you leap off of a surface, your rocket shoes kick in and you can control your flight path by sticking your arms out. And it’s great that you can do all of this with an online buddy at any time, which is definitely the better way to experience Stormland – though it’s a drag you have to complete the first hour before two-player co-op becomes available.
New shortform streaming platform Quibi has announced plans to release a Marvel vs DC docuseries, which will be produced by Avengers: Endgame directors the Russo brothers. The upcoming show will be called Slugfest, and is inspired by the book Slugfest: Inside the Epic, 50-year Battle between Marvel and DC.
Anthony and Joseph Russo will be executive producing Slugfest. Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce will serve as the directors of the docuseries, while Todd Makurath (AGBO CEO), Peter Rieveschl (The Amazing Race, Undercover Boss), Nick Gilhool (Top Chef), and Jen Casey (Extreme Weather) have signed on as producers for the project.