Author: Trafficblast

What does Xbox smell like? You may soon be able to find out. Microsoft has partnered with Lynx to create a new fragrance called Lynx Xbox. The range includes body spray, deodorant, and shower gel, so really all of your bases are covered.

The official description is simply delightful:

“Lynx Xbox is a fresh scent of pulsing green citrus, featuring top notes of kaffir lime and winter lemon, aromatic herbal middle notes of mint and sage, and woody bottom notes of patchouli and clearwood. Containing a range of natural essential oils, the Xbox Lynx range comes with a sleek new look and features a body spray, deodorant, and shower gel.”

Xbox ANZ boss Tania Chee said in a statement that users can spray or wash themselves with Xbox Lynx to “power up” before heading out the door in the morning.

Xbox Lynx will be available from July at grocery stores and pharmacies across Australia and New Zealand. There is no word yet on if it’ll be released in other parts of the world.

Next up for Xbox is its E3 2019 briefing where Microsoft is expected to “go big.” Among other things, Microsoft is expected to announce a next-generation Xbox and show more of Halo Infinite.

Microsoft showed the first gameplay for Minecraft Earth at Apple’s annual WWDC conference, and in the process announced a couple of new iOS-exclusive features for the upcoming AR game.

The people occlusion feature lets you walk through or around your own life-size 3D creations. You can also use a motion capture feature to map your actual gestures to triggers for pre-set animations from characters in the game.

A closed beta for Minecraft Earth is scheduled for this summer on iOS and Android. The full game will let you tap on treasure chests, blocks, and mobs, take part in Adventures with resources to collect, and progress in your career with experience points. You can also build structures on Build Plates, and connect them with physical locations so that other people can see your work.

Apple’s WWDC conference had another big video game reveal, with the announcement of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One controller support for iOS and Apple TV. WWDC was just the first of several planned events for this week, in which various publishers and developers are getting ahead of the E3 2019 rush with their own dedicated events. Those include a Google Stadia announcement, a Pokemon Nintendo Direct, and more.

After drip-feeding information over the past few months, Sega has finally announced the final games coming to its Mega Drive / Genesis Mini console. Among the last 12 titles to be revealed are a couple of surprises, including Tetris and Darius.

Darius never actually came to the original console–it’s a brand-new port, specifically for the Mega Drive / Genesis Mini. The original console’s version of Tetris, meanwhile, is exceedingly rare, with only three physical copies available in the wild. Both games will be pre-installed on the new Mini console.

The other games revealed today are Road Rash II, Strider, Virtua Fighter 2, Alisia Dragoon, Columns, Dynamite Headdy, Kid Chameleon, Monster World IV, Light Crusader, and Eternal Champions. They bring the final count up to 42 games, with other big titles like Earthworm Jim and Sonic the Hedgehog also included.

The Mega Drive Mini / Genesis Mini launches worldwide on September 19, costing $80 / £70 / AU $140. It’s based on the Model 1 version of the original console, except approximately 55% smaller. The box contains the console, a power adapter, two replica three-button USB controllers, one USB to micro-USB power cable, and one HDMI lead.

The game ports that are on the Genesis Mini were handled by M2, a team that is well known for its work on emulation and re-releases. M2 previously worked on Sega Ages and Sega 3D Classics Collection.

Releasing Mini versions of classic consoles has become something of a trend recently. Nintendo led the way with the NES Classic and the SNES Classic, both of which were received well by critics and went on to be hot commercial items. Sony followed suit with the PlayStation Classic, which wasn’t received as warmly.

Full Sega Mega Drive / Genesis Mini Games Lineup

1. Sonic the Hedgehog
2. Ecco the Dolphin
3. Castlevania: The New Generation
4. Space Harrier 2
5. Shining Force
6. Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
7. ToeJam & Earl
8. Comix Zone
9. Altered Beast
10. Gunstar Heroes
11. Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
12. World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck
13. Thunder Force III
14. Super Fantasy Zone
15. Shinobi III
16. Streets of Rage 2
17. Earthworm Jim
18. Sonic The Hedgehog 2
19. Probotector
20. Landstalker
21. Mega Man®: The Wily Wars
22. Street Fighter II®: Special Champion Edition
23. Ghouls ‘n Ghosts®
24. Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
25. Story of Thor
26. Golden Axe
27. Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium
28. Sonic The Hedgehog Spinball
29. Vectorman
30. Wonder Boy in Monster World
31. Tetris®
32. Darius
33. Road Rash II
34. Strider
35. Virtua Fighter 2
36. Alisia Dragoon
37. Kid Chameleon
38. Monster World IV
39. Eternal Champions
40. Columns
41. Dynamite Headdy
42. Light Crusader

Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a much-loved spooky kids anthology book series, and the movie adaptation arrives in August. It’s produced by Guillermo Del Toro, and a new trailer has been released.

The first trailer was released in March didn’t really make it clear how the movie would be presenting the various stories from Schwartz’s book. However, this latest promo reveals that it’s all a single narrative. A bunch of kids visit an old house and find a spooky book, which is filled with terrifying stories that start coming true. It all looks like massive scary fun–check the trailer out above.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is directed by André Øvredal, who previously proved his genre credentials with The Autopsy of Jane Doe and Trollhunter. It stars Zoe Margaret Colletti (Annie), Michael Garza (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay), Gabriel Rush (Moonrise Kingdom), Dean Norris (Breaking Bad), and Lorraine Toussaint (Orange is the New Black). It hits theaters on August 9.

In a recent interview with Vulture, Del Toro explained why the movie had a single narrative rather than making it a collection of stories. “[Anthology] is something I love, but they’re always as bad as the worst story,” he said. “[This is] a Young Adult movie about childhood around a time when things were changing forever, around 1968 and 1969. It’s the end of childhood in many ways, a crucial time for America. We didn’t retrofit the characters to the stories. We adapted the characters to the story.”

The first volume of Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark was published in 1981 and contained 29 stories. It was followed by a second volume in 1984, and a third in 1991.

A Halo TV show is on the way with Orange is the New Black actor Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief, and Microsoft has bold ambitions for it. 343 Industries transmedia boss Kiki Wolfkill said recently that the Halo show is aiming to be similar to Game of Thrones in some ways.

“It’s hard to find an analog. We talk about Game of Thrones a lot in terms of scope and scale and complexity of relationships,” she said in the latest episode of The AIAS Game Maker’s Notebook podcast with Insomniac Games CEO Ted Price.

Wolfkill pointed out that, like Game of Thrones, the Halo series is steeped in politics.

“A lot of the background of Halo is this sort of political drama. It’s something that [is touched on] really lightly in the games and you see more of in some of the other mediums,” she said. “Some of that [Game of Thrones-style] complexity is interesting.”

Unlike Game of Thrones, however, the Halo TV show will not feature incest. “No incest planned at all for this show, I’ll say that. If you’re looking for that, you won’t find it here,” Wolfkill said.

Wolfkill went on to say that she was personally impressed with the first seasons of Game of Thrones that followed the narrative of the books closely. When there was a shift from the writing in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, this change felt deserved and you can understand why changes were made, Wolfkill said.

This is something 343 aspires to with the Halo show.

Wolfkill also spoke about how she gets bothered when people say it’s impossible to make a video game translate to a good TV show or movie. Just because it hasn’t been done before, or rarely, that doesn’t mean it cannot be done, she said.

“It’s not because you can’t, it’s because it’s a really hard challenge, and everyone is still trying to figure it out,” she said. “There isn’t something inherent in the format of video games that makes it impossible to adapt; it’s just a hard challenge. Literally day to day we are making decisions on what can change, what shouldn’t change, what we can we bend.”

Another hugely important part of making the Halo TV show shine is 343 humbling itself and recognizing that the team at Showtime knows more about TV than 343 does.

“We are putting a lot of our trust in our TV partners. You have to be humble and recognize the expertise you’re bringing is different from the expertise that they have,” she said. “And you have to be able to take that leap of faith and trust that the things they want and are lobbying for and need are the right things. That’s probably the hardest part; that leap of faith.”

343 has been working with Showtime for 5 years already. It hasn’t been all fun. The experience has “really been a struggle at times,” Wolfkill said, referring to 343 and Showtime coming to terms on contracts, as well as key talent dropping out.

When the Halo TV show is finally released, no matter how it’s received, Wolfkill said she and her team will be proud about going about it in the right way. She also believes no matter what the Halo TV show will have moved the medium forward in some way.

For his part, Price chimed in to say part of the reason many video game movies and TV shows have been mediocre or worse is because people from gaming assume they know how to make a good TV show or movie.

The entire podcast is incredibly fascinating, and you should listen to it here.

The Halo TV show is now being directed by Otto Bathurst, who directed the shocking Black Mirror series premiere.

The show is scheduled to begin production later in 2019, and Showtime has ordered 10 hour-long episodes of Halo for its first season.

As for the Halo series, Halo Infinite is reportedly set for a big showing at E3 2019 this month. Additionally, Halo: Reach and the entire Master Chief Collection is coming to PC.

Showtime and GameSpot are subsidiaries of CBS Corp.

The Netflix drama Dead to Me starring Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini is coming back for a second season. The dark comedy/drama’s second season is on the way but the network did not announce a premiere date or any other details about Season 2 apart from that it will continue the storylines of Jen (Applegate) and Judy (Cardellini).

The show was created by Liz Feldman, and she’s returning as well to continue to be its showrunner and executive producer.

Dead to Me Season 1 premiered on May 3, so the renewal order came after just one month.

Dead to Me is produced by GameSpot parent company CBS Corp.’s CBS Television division. Gary Sanchez Productions and Gloria Sanchez Productions are executive producing with Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, and Christie Smith.

Next-generation consoles from Sony and Microsoft are on the way, and Bethesda boss Todd Howard has apparently seen them. That’s no surprise given both of Bethesda’s big upcoming games, Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI, are expected to launch on the new consoles. Howard has now offered some high-level thoughts on what to expect.

Speaking to IGN, Howard said, “They’re all … [pause] … How to not break NDAs? They are doing the right things.”

Throughout the entire interview, Howard spoke slowly and carefully as he seemed to run through his head what is public knowledge about the consoles and what hasn’t been revealed yet.

Whatever the case, Howard said he is “absolutely” confident about the direction the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft are headed.

“One of the big benefits of my position is I get to see stuff really early. I was one of the first people ever to see the Switch; that was one of the best hardware demos I have ever seen,” Howard said. “The things [Sony and Microsoft are] doing are, in my mind–no one is screwing up at the starting line which some people have done before.”

Pressed for more details, Howard mentioned the vastly improved loading times on the PlayStation 5 that system architect Mark Cenry previously revealed (see the faster load times here). Overall, Howard said both Sony and Microsoft are “focused on the right things.” Whatever those things are, they are suited to the kinds of games that Bethesda is making.

“Everybody is focused on the right things, and in particular, it helps the kind of games that we make tremendously,” he said. “Everybody has learned their lessons in some good ways and some hard ways. And they are very very thoughtful about their audience and the developers. My view of it is it’s going to be awesome across the board. Not just the systems but the business models.”

In regards to business models, Howard said the video game industry is finally growing and evolving and adapting to provide consumers with a variety of choices.

“Gaming is finally reaching the point that linear entertainment is,” Howard said. “Movies, television, all that, where you’re going to have games that are big tentpoles that people can buy for $60. That’s kind of like going to the theater. You’re going to have games you can play on a subscription service, you’re going to have ones you can download on your phone, you’re going to have ones you can play and they’re maybe ad-supported. I think that’s really, really healthy for the industry; obviously the players who want to consume it, but [also] the developers who say ‘I just want to make an adventure game for this budget.’ There’s an audience for that. My worry before was hey, will all of that go away?”

Howard further backed up his point by mentioning that traditional linear TV was generally overrun with lousy reality TV shows before streaming networks like Netflix and others came along and demonstrated that there could be a much bigger diversity in terms of the breadth and depth of content. Basically, something for everyone exists today in TVs and movies, and the same is now, finally, happening for games, Howard said.

Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI are not coming to E3 2019, but Bethesda still has a press conference scheduled for less than a week from now on June 9 where it will talk about other things.

As mentioned, Sony has already started talking about the PlayStation 5, while Microsoft is expected to formally announce one or two next-generation Xbox consoles during its own E3 2019 briefing.

In other news, Howard recently discussed how Bethesda always thought Fallout 76 would have a tough launch and receive lower review scores.

It appears one of Assassin’s Creed publisher Ubisoft’s big E3 2019 surprises has leaked ahead of the show. Amazon UK posted a product page for Watch Dogs Legion, which is apparently set in London. The listing was originally spotted by and reported on by The Nerd Mag. The game’s supposed product description states that the game will riff on current events.

“Watch Dogs Legion is set in a near-future, dystopian version of London. It’s a post-Brexit world in which society, politics, and technology have changed and altered London’s fortunes,” it says.

The product description then gets a little odd and potentially suspect. It states, “London makes total sense for WD,” which is a kind of phrasing we wouldn’t expect from a major publisher. Additionally, the product description spells the world surveillance as “surveillce.”

Something might be off with the product description, but the London setting had been rumored for many months already, while Kotaku’s Jason Schreier reported today that Watch Dogs Legion is indeed the title of the game and London is its setting.

Perhaps the most interesting part of Watch Dogs Legion is who the main character is: anyone. The product description states, “Play as anyone, Every individual you meet in the open world, has a full set of animations, voice over, character traits and visuals that are generated & guided by gameplay systems.”

Kotaku reports that it’s also heard this about Watch Dogs 3, and that some parts of the game will play out different based on the NPC you choose to play. The system underpinning this is apparently very ambitious, so much so that it’s led to at least one delay.

The first Watch Dogs was set in Chicago, with Watch Dogs 2 moving to San Francisco.

Watch Dogs Legion is not the first Ubisoft game to leak before E3 this year. Recently, a roller derby game called Roller Champions is also reportedly set for a reveal at Ubisoft’s show.

Watch Dogs Legion and Roller Champions could be two of Ubisoft’s three unannounced games scheduled to release between January and March 2020. Ubisoft didn’t confirm any details for what the three games are, other than all three would be full-priced releases and all be different genres (a specific phrase used was “unique experiences”).

There is no word yet as to when specifically Watch Dogs Legion will release or what platforms it’ll be on. A spokesperson for Ubisoft told GameSpot that the company does not comment on rumors.