PS4’s Newest First-Party Exclusive Shouldn’t Be Overlooked

Sony has its major PlayStation 4 exclusive, Death Stranding, coming out in just a few weeks, The Last of Us Part 2 finally got its big re-reveal with hours of hands-on and a release date, and the Ghost of Tsushima and the PS5 is still on the way. But, if you’re a PS4 owner, you shouldn’t be turning a blind eye to a smaller scale but big-hearted Sony first-party game debuting this week, Concrete Genie.

Concrete Genie is the second game from Pixelopus, a first-party Sony studio that previously developed Entwined. And while it may not be working at the scale of a Naughty Dog or Guerilla Games, Concrete Genie is still a wonderful, heartwarming adventure that can stand proud alongside the God of Wars and The Last of Us. It’s important that Sony is still focusing on smaller stories, and Concrete Genie is well worth your time if you’re looking for a short, sweet, unique tale.

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The Batman’s Grave Finds Disturbing New Angle on Bruce Wayne

The Batman’s Grave is a real double-edged sword for comic book readers. On one hand, who actually wants or needs another Batman comic in their life right now? Between the traditional DCU and the Black Label imprint, DC’s current publishing lineup is as Batman-driven as its ever been. On the other, it’s not every day DC launches a new series from the creators of The Authority, a comic that did as much as any other to reshape the superhero genre at the dawn of the 21st Century? The Batman’s Grave probably won’t make quite as significant an impact, but it does manage to bring something new to such a familiar character.

That said, this first issue does take its time before getting to the good stuff. Initially, writer Warren Ellis and artist Bryan Hitch dabble in familiar Batman tropes – wide shots of the Dark Knight navigating his city, scenes of would-be muggers getting punched in the face, gruesome murder scenes, etc. Initially, it doesn’t seem as though The Batman’s Grave has much to offer than can’t be found in any number of other Bat-books.

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All the Breaking Bad Reunions at Netflix’s El Camino’s Premiere

On a cool Los Angeles evening at the El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie premiere, franchise cast members like Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, and Giancarlo Esposito were reunited – and luckily, cameras were on hand to capture the moment. The film is set to debut on Netflix and embark on a limited run in theaters on Friday, October 11, 2019.

Here’s how the streaming provider describes the television movie event: “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie reunites fans with Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). In the wake of his dramatic escape from captivity, Jesse must come to terms with his past in order to forge some kind of future. This gripping thriller is written and directed by Vince Gilligan, the creator of Breaking Bad. The movie is produced by Mark Johnson, Melissa Bernstein, Charles Newirth, Diane Mercer and Aaron Paul, in association with Sony Pictures Television.”

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See Superboy in Action in Exclusive Titans Sneak Peek

Titans is adding another iconic DC hero to the team; Joshua Orpin is making his debut as Superboy/Conner Kent in Season 2, episode 6, and we have an exclusive clip of the Boy of Steel in action.

Check out the video below for an exclusive look at the episode “Conner.”

 

Orpin’s Conner Kent is one of several new characters introduced in Titans Season 2, alongside Esai Morales as Deathstroke, Iain Glen as Bruce Wayne, Drew Van Acker as Aqualad, Chelsea Zhang as Rose Wilson and Chella Man as Jericho. Superboy’s debut was originally teased in the Season 1 finale, which showed him escaping a Cadmus Laboratories facility alongside Krypto.

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Joker Director Reveals How the Score Changed That One Key Scene

Spoilers for Joker below:

It turns out that one key scene from Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker movie was basically filmed in the spur of the moment, with the help of some new music from the film’s composer.

In Joker, following a pivotal scene that alters the course of Arthur Fleck’s life, Fleck flees to a grungy park restroom where he attempts to collect his thoughts. In an interview with Screenplayed, director Todd Phillips says that the original script for this scene showed Fleck hiding his gun, washing off his makeup, and staring at himself in the mirror while reflecting on what he’s just done.

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Fortnite Season 10 | The Visitor Recording Locations So Far (Out Of Time Challenges)

We’re now in the final stretch of Fortnite Season 10, but before Season 11 arrives, Epic has one last set of challenges for players to complete. Several of these Overtime missions involve tracking down recordings left by the Visitor–the mysterious time-traveler who caused the rift to appear in the sky at the end of Season 4.

The Visitor is back once again, and he’s building another rocket, which will presumably figure into this weekend’s big world-changing event. Thus far, the Visitor has left four audio logs scattered across the island. The first two are on the floating island and in Retail Row, while the others can be found in Moisty Palms and Greasy Grove. You can see exactly where to find the recordings in the video above.

Fortnite Season 10 ends this Sunday, October 13, so you have until then to complete any remaining challenges. If you need help, we’ve rounded up all of our guides and maps for this season’s trickier missions in our complete Fortnite Season 10 challenges hub.

Toys R Us Is Getting New Life, Kind Of

Toys R Us closed down all 800 of its US retail stores in 2018, signaling the end of an era for the iconic toy shop. But it’s not quite dead yet, and its parent company is planning to piggyback on another retailer as it starts rolling out further expansion.

CNN reports that the company Tru Kids has partnered with Target stores. Under the agreement, users can do their toy shopping through the relaunched Toys R Us website, and then have their purchases delivered or picked up in Target stores.

Tru Kids won the rights to the Toys R Us brand following its bankruptcy, and it has a plan to revitalize the brand. The partnership with Target is just one part. Tru Kids also partnered with Kroger to set up “Geoffey’s Toy Box” sections in 600 grocery stores over the holidays. It is also planning to open two new stores in Texas and New Jersey and expand to 10 locations by the end of 2020.

The death of Toys R Us, while not final, signaled an increasing struggle for brick-and-mortar retailers to compete with online giants like Amazon. The video game retailer GameStop is going through a tumultuous time as well, but it similarly has announced plans for a refreshed approach.

Senior Xbox Executive Leaving The Company

Xbox’s vice president, Mike Ybarra, is leaving the company after 20 years.

Ybarra tweeted the news, saying it is time for him to move on. “It’s been a great ride at Xbox and the future is bright,” Ybarra said. He has yet to clarify what his next venture is, but Ybarra confirmed that details will be revealed in the near future.

Xbox boss Phill Spencer replied to Ybarra’s tweet, thanking him for his work and wishing him the best in his next stage. “[You] have consistently driven to keep games at the center of everything we do,” Spencer said of Ybarra.

Ybarra had a short stint as a software development engineer at HP prior to joining Microsoft as a systems engineer in June 2000. He worked his way through the ranks before becoming Xbox’s partner studio manager between June 2011 and July 2014. Ybarra entered the corporate side soon after, taking on the role of vice president of program management of Xbox for a couple of years before landing in the vice president role in January 2017.

Similar to Microsoft, both Nintendo and Sony have experienced shakeups at the executive level. Earlier this month, Shawn Layden confirmed he is leaving Sony. SIE Japan Asia’s president, Atsushi Morita, announced his departure immediately following Layden’s. Both positions have yet to be filled, but Kazuhiko Takeda will reportedly serve as the new corporate director of Sony’s Japanese branch. Nintendo’s president and COO, Reggie Fils-Aime, announced he was retiring before E3 2019, though he was swiftly replaced by Doug Bowser. It remains unclear who will take over Ybarra’s role at Xbox.

Pokemon Go October 2019 Community Day: Start Times, Shiny Trapinch, And More

Pokemon Go‘s next Community Day is just around the corner. This month’s event takes place around the world this Saturday, October 12, and as usual, it’ll give players a brief window of time to catch a rare Pokemon and take advantage of other in-game bonuses.

Each Pokemon Go Community Day typically only runs for three hours, but the event details tend to vary month by month. To help you prepare for this month’s event, we’ve rounded up everything you need to know about October’s Community Day below, from its start times and featured Pokemon to the special event-exclusive move you’ll have a chance to learn.

What Is October’s Featured Pokemon?

Each Community Day stars one specific “featured Pokemon,” which will spawn in the wild much more often than normal for the duration of the event. This month, the featured Pokemon is Trapinch, the termite-like Ground-type from Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire. Not only will Trapinch be much easier to find throughout October’s Community Day, you’ll also have your first chance to encounter a Shiny Trapinch in the game. These, however, will be rare, so if you’re hoping to catch a Shiny Trapinch, you’ll need to be persistent.

What Is October’s Special Community Day Move?

In addition to increased Pokemon spawns, each Community Day gives you a chance to earn a special event-exclusive move. Typically, if you can evolve the featured Pokemon into its final form by the end of the event, it’ll automatically know an attack that it couldn’t otherwise learn in Pokemon Go.

This month, the special move is the Ground-type attack Earth Power. If you can evolve a Trapinch all the way into a Flygon up to an hour after the Community Day ends, the Pokemon will know Earth Power. This applies to any Trapinch you evolve, even if you’ve caught it prior to the event. However, Flygon will only learn Earth Power if it evolves during the designated window of time–so if you catch a Trapinch during the event but don’t evolve it until the following day, it will not learn the attack.

What Time Does October’s Community Day Start?

Much like last month’s event, October’s Community Day will take place early in the day, from 11 AM to 2 PM local time. That means you’ll have until 3 PM local time to evolve Trapinch and learn the aforementioned Community Day move.

What Other Bonuses Are Available?

On top of increased Pokemon spawns and the special event-exclusive move, you’ll be able to take advantage of a few other bonuses during October’s Community Day. First, you’ll earn triple the normal amount of XP when you capture Pokemon during the event. This applies to any monster you catch, not just the featured Pokemon. As usual, Lure Modules will also last for an extended period of time. Any that you use during the event will remain active for three hours rather than the usual 30 minutes.

Call Of Duty Mobile Has Biggest Mobile Game Launch In History

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Call of Duty Mobile was downloaded over 100 million times in its first week after launch, a record-breaking number according to mobile app analytics experts Sensor Tower. It generated 56.9 million installs on iOS alone, which far exceeds the entire launch week numbers for other popular mobile competitors across both mobile platforms. To compare, PUBG Mobile and Fortnite saw 28 million and 22.5 million installs in their launch weeks, respectively.

According to Sensor Tower’s data, Call of Duty Mobile saw the most installs in the United States, with about 17.3 million or 16.9 percent of the downloads, followed by India with 13.4 percent, and finally Brazil with 7 percent. Call of Duty Mobile, developed by Tencent subsidiary Timi Studios and published by Activision, is not out in China yet, but if Activision earns approval for launch in that market, where mobile games remain extremely popular, installs could potentially skyrocket.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Activision is indeed in the midst of seeking approval to launch Call of Duty Mobile in China, which makes up about 25% of the mobile gaming market in the entire world, according to Business Wire.

Activision Blizzard, or more specifically Blizzard (partially owned by Tencent via Activision Blizzard), is currently under fire from fans for its decision to punish professional Hearthstone player Ng Wai Chung (aka “Blitzchung”) after the player expressed support for the Hong Kong protests in an interview. Many in the Hearthstone community are now boycotting the game.

Last week saw another huge mobile game launch in Mario Kart Tour, which earned a record-breaking 10.1 million downloads on launch day. In its first week, it racked up 90 million downloads, making Mario Kart Tour one of Nintendo’s most successful mobile game launches ever.