Author: Trafficblast

Some seriously high-profile games are on sale right now for iPhone, iPad, and Android. Even if you’re not typically a mobile game player, you might want to pick up some of these titles to have access to games like Civilization VI and Final Fantasy VII any time in your pocket. Let’s take a look at what’s available and for how much.

First up is Sid Meier’s Civilization VI for iOS. This is the complete computer game, but it’s been revamped for touch controls and is compatible with iPhone and iPad. The game is free to download, but that only gets you 60 turns of play. Once you run out, you’ll have to pay to unlock the full game. The unlock normally costs $60, but it’s currently on sale for $15, which amounts to a hefty 75% discount.

But to sweeten the deal further, over the coming days Aspyr Media is giving away all of the expansions for free to anyone who owns the core game. So if you buy Civ VI now, you can get free civilizations and scenarios for Poland, Australia, Persia, and more between December 20 and January 1. Paying $15 for all of that is a great deal, considering the usual price for the core game is $60 and each DLC runs between $5 and $9. You’ll just have to remember to pick up your free expansions every two days.

• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI — Free ($15 to unlock full game; Reg: $60)
• 12/20 – 12/22: Free — Poland Civilization & Scenario Pack (Reg: $5)
• 12/22 – 12/24: Free — Vikings Scenario (Reg: $5)
• 12/24 – 12/26: Free — Australia Civilization & Scenario Pack (Reg: $5)
• 12/26 – 12/28: Free — Persia and Macedon Civilization & Scenario Pack (Reg: $9)
• 12/28 – 12/30: Free — Nubia Civilization & Scenario Pack (Reg: $5)
• 12/30 – 1/1: Free — Khmer and Indonesia Civilization & Scenario Pack (Reg: $9)

In a separate deal, Square Enix is running a huge sale on its classic RPGs for iOS and Android. You can pick up Chrono Trigger for just $5 and get big discounts on every Final Fantasy mobile port that’s available. For instance, Final Fantasy VII is on sale for $10, and Final Fantasy IX is $13. If you’re in the mood for a more strategic take on the series, you can grab Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions for $7 ($8 for the separate iPad version).

Android

iOS

You need a javascript enabled browser to watch videos.

Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.

This video has an invalid file format.

Sorry, but you can’t access this content!

The first trailer for the Men in Black reboot is here. The film is titled Men in Black International and sees Thor Ragnarok stars Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson take over from Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as the covert alien investigators.

The trailer follows the formula laid down by the previous movies, with Thompson playing a new recruit to the MiB agency, and Hemsworth assigned as her partner. Emma Thompson reprises her role as Agent O from Men in Black 3, and Liam Neeson appears as the head of the British branch of MiB. There’s loads of alien-chasing action and wisecracking humor–in short, everything you’d expect from a Men in Black movie. Check the trailer out above.

Men in Black International is set to be released on June 14. It’s directed by F. Gary Gray, who helmed last year’s blockbuster The Fate of the Furious, as well as the hip-hop biopic Straight Outta Compton. The cast also includes Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley), Rebecca Ferguson (Mission Impossible: Fallout), and Rafe Spall (Prometheus).

All three original Men in Black movies were big box-office hits. Although the third movie was not as well received critically as the first two, it still made $624 million at the worldwide box office. In total, the whole series has made more than $1.6 billion.

The third week of Fortnite Season 7 has been relatively kind in terms of challenges; there’s nothing too tricky or taxing, and for the most part you should be able to complete them quite naturally by playing. However, one among them stands out as requiring some good knowledge of the Fortnite island to complete.

In the paid Battle Pass tier of challenges, the game asks you to search between three ski lodges for five Battle Stars. Unless you’ve been paying extra close attention and have a good lay of the land, you may not know where to find said ski lodges, and the exact location to search. To save you the time and effort, we’ve done the challenge and can point you in the right direction. The ski lodges are between Frosty Flights and Happy Hamlet in the southwest corner of the island.

Take a look below and you’ll find a map with the pinpoint information on where to go. Simply head to that part of the map and you’ll very easily spot the Battle Pass icon. Grab that and boom, you’re done. Easy as pie.

If you need a breakdown of what else is involved in this week’s Battle Star grind, check out our Fortnite Season 7, Week 3 challenge list. Of course, the challenges from previous weeks are also available to complete, if you haven’t already. That’ll get you a few extra Battle Stars, which may be enough to tip you over the requirement to get a particular cosmetic you’re after. We’ve got a comprehensive Fortnite Season 7 challenge guide to help you out with those too.

As part of the festive season, Epic Games has kicked off the 14 Days of Fortnite event. Up until January 2, Fortnite players will be able to take part in new and returning limited-time modes, buy seasonal outfits from the in-game shop, and earn daily rewards.

It’s that time of the week again, Fortnite fans. The latest batch of challenges is now live, which means there are more Battle Stars to be earned. If you’ve been on the grind for a while, you’ll know how this goes, but if you’re new to this, we’ll get you caught up quickly. Challenges are split into two categories, with one set available to everyone and a second set exclusive to those that have paid for a Battle Pass.

As you complete challenges you earn Battle Stars, which in turn level up your Battle Pass and give you access to more cosmetics, including those oh so precious skins, among others. We’re now in Season 7, Week 3, and the free set of challenges include riding a zipline in five different matches and getting two eliminations with a Legendary weapon. On top of those two, there’s a multi-stage challenge you can begin by landing at Lonely Lodge. Once that’s done, you’ll see further stages.

Meanwhile, paid Battle Pass owners will need to search seven chests at Polar Peak or Tomato Temple, ring a doorbell in two different named locations in a single match, and begin another multi-stage challenge by dealing 200 points of damage with a Shotgun. Finally in this tier, one of the challenges will require you to search between three ski lodges.

Free

• Ride a zipline in different matches (5) — 5 Battle Stars
• Stage 1: Land at Lonely Lodge (1) — 1 Battle Star
• Legendary weapon Eliminations (2) — 10 Battle Stars

Battle Pass

• Search chests at Polar Peak or Tomato Temple (7) — 5 Battle Stars
• Ring a doorbell in different named locations in a single match (2) — 5 Battle Star
• Search between three ski lodges (1) — 5 Battle Stars
• Stage 1: Deal damage with Shotguns to opponents (200) — 3 Battle Stars

There’s going to be plenty for Fortnite fans to do over the Christmas period as developer Epic Games has launched the 14 Days of Fortnite event. Up until January 2, Fortnite players will be able to take part in new and returning limited-time modes, buy seasonal outfits from the in-game shop, and earn daily rewards.

The Uncharted movie project has hit another stumbling block, as its director has reportedly now stepped down from his role. Shawn Levy was due to helm the Uncharted movie, but he is apparently busy with other projects.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Levy will direct Free Guy, another video game-themed film which was recently greenlit by 20th Century Fox. His involvement in that project means he has stepped down from directing Uncharted, for which Sony is now searching for another director.

THR states Tom Holland is still set to portray Nathan Drake, but Levy’s resignation is a blow to the project, which has been in the works for years and has previously had three other directors fail to get it off the ground. The movie is reportedly a prequel to the games, with a script having been written by Blacklist director Joe Carnahan.

Levy’s new project, Free Guy, tells the story of a man who realizes he lives inside a video game and his attempts to prevent its developers from shutting down his world. The project stars Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, and Lil Rel, and begins shooting in April.

Dr. Emma Fisher finds herself aboard the space station Observation. Something catastrophic has occurred, but she’s not sure what or how. All she has to guide her is the station’s artificial intelligence, SAM, but it’s unclear whether it has her best interests in mind.

2001: A Space Odyssey is a clear influence for Observation, and developer No Code–which previously made 2017’s Stories Untold–doesn’t shy away from that. Observation oozes a retro aesthetic, tapping into the dusty nostalgia in those of us who grew up with cathode-ray tube monitors and fuzzy VHS tapes. It comes as no surprise then that the game’s Creative Director previously worked on Alien Isolation. The same attention to detail that brought the Sevastopol to life is present aboard the Observation.

Click image to view in full screen

In an interesting twist, however, you play through the lens of SAM–rather than the surviving Dr. Fisher–and you must reboot your systems and get the station back online to figure out exactly what has happened. The UI is cleverly designed to not feel human, yet navigating the system menus in the environment with a PS4 controller feels satisfyingly deliberate and heavy, as if you are physically connected to the circuit boards within SAM. This makes solving puzzles all the more rewarding, as your powers of deduction are put to the test against a foreign yet intuitive computer interface. Running memory diagnostics or calibrating the station’s systems feel less like computer processes and more like manual labor–in a good way.

SAM is reminiscent of HAL 9000, 2001’s ominous sentient computer that–spoiler alert for a film from 1968–turns against its own crew. Knowing this kept me in a skeptical mood the entire time I was playing Observation, and it made me increasingly cautious as I slowly unraveled the cosmic conundrum at hand. It’s an unsettling feeling, heightened by the loneliness of space, and fans of 2001: A Space Odyssey will find themselves with a prejudice against SAM that’s impossible to ignore.

As Dr. Fisher digs, the mysteries deepen and, through it all, the need to know what role SAM may or may not have played compelled me to continue. As I began to decipher events and figure out how it all unfolded, however, things got… weird. But I won’t go into detail on that. Observation will be a relatively short game, perhaps a handful of hours long, so it’s best you go in blind and uncover this for yourselves.

You’d be forgiven for thinking this game might be the perfect fit for VR, but it makes a lot of sense that it doesn’t, as this could make it feel too ‘human’–the charm of this game is in being immersed in the role of SAM and having the disconnect of being separated from the world you’re supposed to exist in. While the PC version does support keyboard and mouse, this game was designed with controllers in mind and there’s something satisfying about using an analogue stick to slowly drag a cursor across a user interface that looks like it was designed in the 70s.

Will Dr. Fisher make it back to Earth, or does SAM have other ideas? I’m certainly excited to see how things unfold, and the retro aesthetic is a treat both to look at and interact with. Sci-fi fans can look forward to playing Observation on PS4 and PC in Spring 2019.