Author: Trafficblast

Pokemon Go‘s Extraordinary Raid Week is set to end on May 28, which means there are only a few days left to battle new Raid bosses and earn extra bonuses. Before the event officially wraps up, however, Niantic is holding a special Lapras Raid Day tomorrow, May 25 (May 26 in the Asia-Pacific region), which will give you a chance to battle the beloved Ice Pokemon in Gyms–and maybe even catch a Shiny one.

The Lapras Raid Day runs from 11 AM to 2 PM local time. During that window, Lapras will appear as a Raid boss, and you may even encounter its Shiny form. Moreover, you’ll be able to earn up to five Raid Passes–the item you need in order to participate in Raid Battles–from Gyms during the event. You can read more details about the Lapras Raid Day on the official Pokemon Go website.

That isn’t the only event on the horizon for Pokemon Go. Beginning next week, Niantic is bringing three Legendary Pokemon back to the game. Cresselia will appear in five-star Raids from May 27 to June 18; Kyogre will follow from June 18 to June 27; and Groudon will return from June 27 to July 10. Not only does this give you another opportunity to add these rare Legendaries to your collection, you’ll have a chance to encounter each one’s Shiny form during their respective stints as Raid bosses.

Niantic has also announced the first details for Pokemon Go’s next Community Day. The monthly event will return on Saturday, June 8, and this time, the featured Pokemon will be Slakoth, the adorable sloth from Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire. During June’s Community Day, Slakoth will appear in the wild much more often than it normally does, and you’ll have a chance to catch its Shiny variant. On top of that, Pokemon Eggs will hatch at a quarter of the distance they typically require.

In other Pokemon Go news, Niantic recently rolled out a new wave of Gen 4 Pokemon. Gible, Hippopotas, Cherrim, and more Pokemon originally from Diamond and Pearl are now available in the mobile game. Additionally, Niantic introduced new kinds of Lure Modules, which attract certain types of Pokemon and allow you to evolve Eevee into Glaceon and Leafeon.

“It’s all about putting smiles on faces.” Those are the words of WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley as he explains his view of professional wrestling’s ultimate goal. The former WWE Champion, who is often regarded as the king of hardcoe due to his ultraviolent matches, says this after falling victim to the dreaded “dick flip,” a comedic finishing maneuver in which pro wrestler Joey Ryan flips his opponents using nothing more than the power of his penis.

Ryan is the focus of the documentary This Is Wrestling, but truthfully, the hour-long film is about more than just one wrestler on the independent scene. Instead, it’s a deep dive into the world of professional wrestling itself. As the movie traces Ryan’s career from his days as a rookie to his independent scene stardom, This Is Wrestling–and Ryan himself–spends a lot of time examining the state of the wrestling industry and those that helped form the self-proclaimed “King of Dong Style.”

What the documentary says about wrestling is something that might be hard for some fans to digest, particularly those who don’t know much about sports entertainment outside of what WWE offers up every week. Among the world of independent wrestling leagues, there is a multitude of wrestling styles and characters. That means there’s truly something for everyone, regardless of what you consider to be “good wrestling.” It goes back to Foley’s quote above, that what wrestlers do is about putting smiles on faces. While the athleticism of professional wrestling can be downright incredible, the entertainment aspect of sports entertainment always reigns supreme. If you don’t entertain the audience, chances are you won’t make it very far.

And it’s Ryan finding what it is that makes him an entertaining performer that makes This Is Wrestling so compelling. It takes a village to help Joey develop his “Famous Dick Wrestler” character, with everyone from Japanese grappler Danshoku Dieno to indy star Drake Younger to current WWE NXT wrestler Candice LeRae contributing to Ryan finding his confidence and channeling his inner sleaze. And he makes a point of singling out every single person who helped him on the journey to his current character.

The beauty of the character Ryan puts on display is that his sleaziness is rather charming. The goal, every time he walks to a ring, is to make sure the audience has the best time possible, regardless of what he’s doing. This is especially evident when the documentary addresses his former tag team with LeRae–dubbed the World’s Cutest Tag Team.

Traditionally men and women don’t team together or fight each other. Bucking tradition, though, Ryan and LeRae became a beloved and respected team on the indies beginning in 2013, at a time when women weren’t getting as much of a spotlight as the men. In some ways, the team was a precursor to WWE’s own women’s evolution that continues today.

In their matches, LaRae was treated as an equal to any man in the ring and had the skill to back it up. But at the end of the day, like Ryan himself, LeRae’s goal is to entertain. “We’re like Disneyland,” she tells him as they figure out how to work a fan’s marriage proposal into their match. “I feel like we’re like Disneyland, and we’re making dreams come true.”

And that sums up the era of wrestling Ryan is thriving in to a tee. In many ways, it’s the purest form of fan service. Thankfully, the cameras that followed Ryan for the documentary–which is directed by James Agiesta and executive produced by Katy Dierks–were able to capture this extraordinary time in the industry and Ryan’s career.

My only real gripe is the length of the piece, which is just over an hour in running time. I would have loved to watch something twice as long. The sit-down interviews Ryan does throughout the film plainly show that the man behind the character, Joseph Meehan, doesn’t have much in common with his wannabe ’70s porn star alter ego. A bit more of a look into who Ryan is when he’s not wearing his wrestling boots could have given even more insight.

Additionally, while the film deals with some of the realities of the wrestling business–including planning out matches, making yourself bleed, and the drug issues that plagued the industry in years past–there’s so much more to explore. Then again, perhaps that material would be better left to a piece that isn’t focused on a single person.

This Is Wrestling is made for fans of sports entertainment. Still, the way it handles its subject and the world it examines should be easy enough for those who know little-to-nothing about sports entertainment to get a little insight into how this weird world works.

This Is Wrestling: The Joey Ryan Story does not yet have an official release date.

The Sonic the Hedgehog movie has been delayed to February 14, 2020. The film originally set to be released in November, but following a negative reaction to the design to the titular character in the first trailer, the movie has now been put back three months while he is reworked.

The news came via a tweet from director Jeff Fowler. The tweet reveals the new date, and states that the filmmakers are “taking a little more time to make Sonic just right.” Check it out below:

The trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog was released in April. There was much criticism online about Sonic’s appearance, and within a day Fowler had stated that the character would be redesigned ahead of the films’s release. There was some concern that a complete Sonic redesign in short time would lead to rushed VFX work, but at least now the filmmakers have more time to get the design right.

Criticism for Sonic’s design in the movie was aimed at pretty much every part of the speedy blue hedgehog. Much of the dislike seems to stem from the movie version’s legs, torso, teeth, and eyes. Most of the changes to Sonic’s design in the coming movie currently make him appear uncannily human, which some fans have found unnerving.

Sonic is voiced by Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation), with Jim Carry as Dr. Robotnik. Westworld’s James Marsden will feature as a state trooper who catches onto Sonic’s super speed.

This story is developing…

Join GameSpot as we celebrate gaming history and give recognition to the most influential games of the 21st century. These aren’t the best games, and they aren’t necessarily games that you need to rush out and play today, but there’s no question that they left an indelible impact on game developers, players, and in some cases, society at large.

Nowadays, when a new shooter is announced or comes out there’s one question that consistently pops up: is it going to have battle royale? It’s one that’s asked both seriously and in jest ever since the sub-genre’s popularity exploded just a few years back. The fascination with large-scale multiplayer, where only one player or team per match is left standing, took off like never before when PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds hit Steam early access in March 2017. And while there were battle royale games that came before it and, of course, many that came afterward, PUBG is undoubtedly the force that thrust battle royale into the mainstream.

PUBG’s creator, Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene, had a history of making mods for existing games, namely the military sim series ARMA. His creation of an ARMA 2 mod DayZ: Battle Royale (a mod for a mod, if you will) seeded the first step for the sub-genre. He was then brought on as a consultant with Sony Online Entertainment (now Daybreak Games) for the creation of H1Z1’s battle royale mode. In 2016, this battle royale mode split from the survival-based version of the game and became a standalone product known as H1Z1: King of the Kill.

At the time, H1Z1 had built a dedicated player-base because of the unique thrill of having one life per match, the unpredictable variables like randomized loot and safe zones, and the intrinsic reward of besting 100+ other players. However, there was always a sense of refinement that was missing from renditions of battle royale at the time, even H1Z1. Their nature as mods really showed, whether it was because of some janky mechanics, relatively low production values, or bare overall structure.

That’s not to say PUBG didn’t carry some of that baggage when it came on the scene. But when Greene collaborated with Korean developer Bluehole to bring PUBG to early access on PC in 2017, it was readily apparent that it was breaking the barriers to entry that held battle royale back from a larger audience. The game made a slew of mechanics relatively accessible, allowing newcomers to quickly understand the premise and what needed to be done to survive in a match. Drop from a plane with 99 other players, gear up at key locations on the map, adapt to the map’s ever-changing safe zones, and win those nerve-racking firefights with what you can scavenge.

While there were battle royale games that came before it and, of course, many that came afterward, PUBG is undoubtedly the force that thrust battle royale into the mainstream.

PUBG’s roster of weapons also had a lot to do with its lasting appeal, thanks to their distinct characteristics of damage, range, and recoil, but the attachments system added an extra layer of tactical depth. Firefights carried an unmatched level of intensity because you truly had to understand how your weapons worked and earn your kills with proper positioning and precise aim. Combine that with tools like smoke grenades and the on-the-fly tactics of using your surroundings for cover, and it’s almost as if you had to play mind games with your enemies. Thus, coming out on top would feel like its own reward. Chicken dinners were never this tasty.

PUBG even sustained popularity with only one map through most of its early access period, which is a testament to how varied the map was and the unpredictable nature of safe zones. Previous battle royales were made up of fairly barren battlefields, so with PUBG’s map featuring dense city centers, varied terrain, and expansive hotspots for action, it set the bar higher for such an important aspect of the game. Thus, no two matches would play out the same and emergent situations kept PUBG feeling fresh match after match.

It was the right game at the right time, and the first fully-realized version of battle royale in video game form. PUBG leaned heavily into its military sim roots in a way that made its action play more like a tactical shooter, but struck a balance between hardcore and approachable mechanics. And although it wasn’t without its share of technical issues, it didn’t bear the weight of a mod’s jankiness. When critics were able to have a definitive word on the game when it fully launched with a 1.0 release, it was showered with praise.

To echo the sentiments from my own review of PUBG for GameSpot, I wrote, “It’s not the first of its kind, and despite glaring flaws, PUBG emerges as the most accessible, mechanically refined battle royale game to date.” I capped it off by saying, “Every player has unique stories of their most memorable matches, and even after hundreds of hours, PUBG continues to inspire rousing tales of victory and defeat.”

Polygon’s Chris Plante awarded PUBG a 10/10 score (Polygon no longer does scored reviews), and stated, “Battlegrounds is the refinement of a new language of play, but what may earn it a spot in the video game canon is that conceptual efficiency,” and briefly described PUBG as “imperfectly perfect.” And after hours of on-air deliberation, our colleagues at Giant Bomb named PUBG their game of the year for 2017. Even in a year of amazing, genre-defining games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, Persona 5, Nier Automata, Super Mario Odyssey, and Divinity: Original Sin II, PUBG most certainly stood out in its own right and set in motion something larger than itself.

According to Steamcharts.com, PUBG exceeded 1.5 million peak concurrent players in September 2017, breaking the previous record set by Dota 2 in March 2016 with 1.3 million players. PUBG continued its meteoric rise and hit a peak of 3.2 million concurrent players in January 2018, nearly three-times that of Dota 2’s highest player count. Needless to say, others took note of PUBG’s increasingly wild popularity.

Sure, it hasn’t been very long since PUBG busted onto the scene, but battle royale essentially went viral because of it.

A little game called Fortnite is a household name and a cultural phenomenon today due to its adoption of the battle royale game mode. Fortnite was initially a wave-based shooter with construction mechanics akin to a survival game (now called “Save The World”), but the team at Epic Games clearly kept a close eye on PUBG. Game director Donald Mustard stated that Epic loved battle royale games, including PUBG, and a separate team at Epic quite literally spun the battle royale mode for Fortnite in a span of two months. In September 2017, Fortnite: Battle Royale hit early access as free-to-play for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, and soon became its own beast.

How do you even begin to describe Fortnite’s position in games? For starters, the highest concurrent player count Epic has recorded during a non-event day was 7.6 million in February 2019. The game has partnered with Marvel for a limited time Avengers-themed event where players could embody Thanos. It has official NFL-themed jerseys as skins, and just recently incorporated the Jordan brand. And 10.7 million people hopped onto Fortnite for Marshmello’s live in-game concert. Fortnite’s massive success also provided the leverage for Epic Games to open its own digital storefront for PC games. There’s a whole lot more to unpack, like its impact on streamers and esports, but this is all to say that battle royale has been an extremely powerful thing for games, and PUBG led the way.

Fortnite was just the beginning for the battle royale games that followed in PUBG’s footsteps. The biggest first-person shooter franchise in the history of games, Call of Duty, did its own take on the concept with Blackout mode in Black Ops 4, which launched back in October 2018. Electronic Arts and DICE took notice as well, and brought battle royale to their long-running large-scale FPS series with Battlefield V–although it didn’t launch with Firestorm, the mode came as a free update in March 2019. Publisher EA would sort of double-dip when the team at Respawn Entertainment, known for its critically acclaimed Titanfall series, came out with Apex Legends in February 2019.

Apex Legends set itself apart by merging elements of hero shooters, like Overwatch, with the core traditions of a battle royale game. However, smart tweaks to the formula such as the intuitive ping system and the incorporation of respawning teammates kept the genre’s premise fresh. Apex Legends simplified the necessary mechanics for a seamless experience as well, like the automation of looting better items and equipping better attachments. In a way, it makes PUBG look ancient, but Apex’s great success is nonetheless rooted in the foundation PUBG set.

Sure, it hasn’t been very long since PUBG busted onto the scene, but battle royale essentially went viral because of it. While others have bested it from a gameplay perspective and in current relevance, it’s still going strong. Even at the time of publication of this article, PUBG is the third-most played game on Steam with a peak of 680,000 concurrent players, just behind Valve’s own CSGO and Dota 2. PUBG may not have the same popularity it did only a year and a half ago, but it didn’t have to maintain that peak for it to have influenced such a large part of the gaming industry–an influence that we’re still witnessing evolve.

So, what’s the next big game to do battle royale? Tetris?! Oh, wait…

For a look at the rest of our features in this series, head over to our Most Influential Games Of The 21st Century hub.

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Gearbox Software, the studio behind the upcoming Borderlands 3, appears to be softening its position in an ongoing legal battle with a former employee. The company had previously threatened to file an official grievance against Wade Callender, its former general counsel, but has since dropped that threat and filed a new petition that removes some of its original claims.

Polygon reports that in its most recent court filing, Gearbox dropped a section that accused Callender of breaching his fiduciary duty by revealing confidential information. That claim was in relation to disclosures made in Callender’s own suit against Gearbox.

Gearbox has also reportedly not filed a grievance with the State Bar of Texas, as it threatened when the legal matter came to light. Callender himself confirmed that the grievance has not yet been filed, saying he contacted the state bar directly to inquire about his record.

The ongoing legal dispute has been a volley of suits and counter-suits. Gearbox first filed suit against Callender, claiming he had failed to repay a loan and had improperly used company credit cards. A month later, Callender filed suit against Gearbox, alleging that CEO Randy Pitchford had taken $12 million from the company coffers, and more luridly, that he had left a USB drive with pornography and trade secrets at an event. Gearbox then updated its original petition with an amendment accusing Callender’s suit of breaching his fiduciary duty–that claim has now been dropped.

Pitchford has been a focal point of other controversies as well. Another former employee, David Eddings, recently explained why he won’t be resuming his role as Claptrap for Borderlands 3. That led to a testy exchange with Pitchford until Eddings ultimately alleged that Pitchford had physically assaulted him at GDC 2017, and subsequently stalked him on social media.