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VALORANT is your global competitive stage. It’s a 5v5 tac-shooter matchup to plant or defuse the Spike in a one-life-per-round, first to 13 series. More than guns and bullets, you’ll choose an Agent armed with adaptive, swift, and lethal abilities that create opportunities to let your gunplay shine.
Oculus will be hosting its very first Gaming Showcase on April 21 at 3 PM PT / 6 PM ET. You will be able to watch the showcase via Twitch, Facebook, or YouTube.
According to a blog post, the Gaming Showcase will see the reveal of updates to “fan-favorite titles” on Oculus, as well as never-before-seen footage for new games and other surprises.
Step in to our Oculus Home with the first ever Oculus Gaming Showcase. Tune in to our Facebook page on April 21st at 3PM PT to see what worlds await you in VR.
— Oculus (@oculus) April 13, 2021
Currently, Oculus has confirmed that Cloudhead Games, Ready At Dawn, and ILMxLAB will be participating, and the three studios will be sharing new information about Pistol Whip, Lone Echo II, and Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge respectively.
Oculus was recently in the news for the Oculus Quest 2 outselling all previous Oculus headsets within half a year of its October 2020 release. Facebook Reality Labs vice president Andrew Bosworth believes that this is representative of Oculus managing to achieve a “mainstream moment.”
“The fact that Oculus Quest 2–in just a few months on the market–has outsold not just its predecessor, but all of its predecessors combined, is a tremendous indicator that we’ve now broken through from the early-adopter crowd to an increasingly mainstream crowd,” Bosworth said.
If you haven’t yet made the jump into virtual reality gaming, the Oculus Quest 2 isn’t a terrible starting option. In GameSpot’s Oculus Quest 2 review, Mat Paget writes, “The Oculus Quest 2 is an excellent VR headset that is well worth your time and money, especially if you don’t already own the original headset. For those looking to upgrade, it’s a little more complicated. The Quest 2’s improvements are definitely noticeable and appreciated, but they’d feel a lot more impactful if the Quest 1 wasn’t already such a great VR headset.”
Where in a show can you find the story? In the dialogue and plot, of course, but also in the music, the set design, and–if the creative people on the show are doing their jobs–everywhere else you look. Even a show’s logo can tell you something, and that’s especially the case with the upcoming Disney+ show Loki, according to star Tom Hiddleston in a new interview with Empire.
“I want to preserve the freshness of the show for when it emerges, but something to think about is the [show’s] logo, which seems to refresh and restore,” Hiddleston said. “The font of how Loki is spelled out seems to keep changing shape. Loki is the quintessential shapeshifter.”
“His mercurial nature is that you don’t know whether, across the MCU, he’s a hero or a villain or an anti-hero. You don’t know whether you can trust him,” Hiddleston continued, listing off the various forms Loki has taken throughout the MCU films. “I think that shapeshifting logo might give you an idea that Loki, the show, is about identity, and about integrating the disparate fragments of the many selves that he can be, and perhaps the many selves that we are. I thought it was very exciting because I’ve always found Loki a very complex construct. Who is this character who can wear so many masks, and changes shape, and seems to change his external feeling on a sixpence?”
Loki hits Disney+ on June 11. Until you can travel through time like Loki will in his eponymous show, check out our coverage of Marvel’s Loki. Marvel Studios revealed the show back at Comic-Con 2019, including the fact that it starts with his Avengers: Endgame escape. Our first look at the show came over a year later. With the show fast approaching, you can now check out a brand new trailer for the show, the show’s gorgeous poster, or watch Hiddleston and co-star Owen Wilson poke fun at Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Actress Janina Gavankar, who played Iden Versio in Star Wars: Battlefront II the video game and who recently starred opposite Ben Affleck in The Way Back, has joined the Borderlands movie. Randy Pitchford, the head of developer Gearbox and a producer on the film, confirmed Gavankar’s casting in a tweet today.
Gavankar will play a brand-new character named Commander Knoxx. She is the daughter of General Knoxx and works for Atlas’ private army.
“Janina Gavankar will join the cast of the Borderlands movie as an all-new character I named specifically for this story,” he said. Janina will play Commander Knoxx, who followed in her father’s footsteps when she joined Atlas’ private army, the Crimson Lance. She is, in a word, badass,” Pitchford said.
Janina Gavankar will join the cast of the Borderlands movie as an all-new character I named specifically for this story. Janina will play Commander Knoxx, who followed in her father’s footsteps when she joined Atlas’ private army, the Crimson Lance. She is, in a word, badass. pic.twitter.com/LzWWqlPild
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) April 12, 2021
Gavankar joins a stacked cast for the Borderlands movie that already includes Cate Blanchett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Edgar Ramirez, and more.
Gavankar herself commented on the news, saying she’s prepared to do her best to honor the fans and developers of the Borderlands series.
If you know me, you know that this movie will be a lot more than just another gig for me. I’ll be carrying every writer, dev, voice actor, and gamer that has worked on and played Borderlands, in my heart, as I head to Pandora. ❤️ https://t.co/uUK1WNFBmJ
— janina gavankar (@Janina) April 12, 2021
Eli Roth (Hostel, Inglourious Basterds) is directing the Borderlands movie off a script by Craig Mazin, who is also writing HBO’s The Last of Us TV show. Filming is set to take place, at least in part, in Budapest, but there is no word yet on a release date.
Recently, Pitchford clarified that there is a distinction between what he called the Borderlands Cinematic Universe and the Borderlands Video Game Universe.
“We are authentic to characters, tone and style, but allow for independent storylines. The mediums are not the same, so the content should not be bound to the same rules,” he said.
Pitchford also touched on the subject of whether or not the Borderlands movie is canon. It is canon, but only to the cinematic universe of Borderlands, he clarified.
“The movie is canon to the cinematic universe. The games are canon to the video game universe. There are parallels between them, but also differences. It’s okay. Consider how Marvel has handled movies versus comic books for reference if this is hard for you to understand,” he said on Twitter.
As for the Borderlands game series, the Borderlands 3 Director’s Cut released on April 8 following a delay related to the terrible storms in the studio’s home state of Texas.
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Best Buy’s latest major sale is bringing steep discounts on a variety of refurbished tech, from the Nintendo Switch Lite and AirPods Pro to Philips Hue lights and super-fast SSDs. It’s important to keep in mind that while all of these products are secondhand, they are certified by Best Buy’s Geek Squad–and you have a minimum 15-day window to return them if you’re not satisfied.
The outlet event ends April 18, so you have through the weekend to snag any of the deals. We’ve selected some of the most worthwhile offers and compiled them below, but don’t forget to check out the full sale over at Best Buy. It includes a wide number of items, such as open-box 4K TVs, appliances, and laptops.
The Nintendo Switch Lite is a portable-only version of Nintendo’s popular hybrid console. While that means you can’t plug it into a dock for TV play, you’re still able to experience the vast majority of the console’s library, including all of the best Nintendo Switch games out there. This isn’t much of a discount, but it’s extremely rare to see the Switch or Switch Lite on sale at all.
Apple’s AirPods Pro improved over the original in a number of ways, including ear cups that help keep the true wireless earbuds in your ear for your entire listening time. On top of that, AirPods Pro boast active noise cancellation and water resistance as well as a wireless charging case. Best Buy has cleaned and tested all of its refurbished earbuds to ensure they work.
While the AirPods Pro are the superior pair of earbuds, Apple’s AirPods are well worth the money. AirPods have great sound, and while they don’t have things like noise cancellation, water resistance, and active EQ, they do benefit from a slightly longer battery life compared to the Pro with those features turned on. Like the Pro, they also come with a wireless charging case.
If you’re looking for a cheaper, non-Apple (but still technically Apple) option, Best Buy discounts a number of its Beats by Dr. Dre wireless earbuds. The deals are based entirely on color as you can get the green earbuds for $120 and the same ones in black for $160. Depending on your preferred color, you could save a lot more money going with Beats.
Philips Hue Play lights make for an entrancing experience whether you’re gaming or watching a movie. Paired with a Hue Play Sync Box (temporarily out of stock), the lights react with what’s happening on screen. To learn more, check out our Hue Play Sync Box review.
Samsung makes excellent storage devices, and its 970 EVO SSDs are rated for 3,500MB/s read speeds and 3,200MB/s write speeds. That’s not fast enough for whenever the PS5 is updated to support expandable storage, but it will make a huge difference if you’re upgrading your PC from a SATA drive–fast load times, stutter-free gameplay, and more.
It’s a new week and that means Activision is updating Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone once again with new playlists, store bundles, and more. The company ran down all the important notes in a blog post–including a small tease for Season 3–and we’re rounding up all the key points here so you can catch up at a glance.
A new version of the fan-favorite Gun Game mode is out this week in Black Ops Cold War, starting Thursday, April 15. Called Blueprint Gun Game, this twist on the mode has weapon progression changing from match to match. As usual, the first to pass through all 20 weapons win the game.
With Season 2 wrapping up somewhat soon (more on that later), Activision is offering what it calls a triple-double XP weekend, beginning this Friday, April 16. It’s called a triple-double XP weekend because the double XP applies to standard progression, weapon XP, and battle pass XP. This applies to both Black Ops Cold War and Warzone.
Activision teased that Season 3 is “right on the verge of dropping.” The publisher said players should be “on the lookout” for a tease related to the new season. The note specifically said, “a tease of what’s to come in Black Ops Cold War from Treyarch…”
That’s curious given that there is no mention of Warzone. It’s rumored that Warzone’s map, Verdansk, will get blown up to fix the zombie problem, resetting the game with a new ’80s-themed Black Ops Cold War map. That’s still possible, but the wording of this message only mentions Black Ops Cold War and developer Treyarch; Raven Software is the principal developer of Warzone.
Players looking to pick up new DLC this week can grab the Corpse Collector bundle, which comes with new items for one of the game’s Operators, Beck. This comes with a new skin, “Carnage,” as well as the “Ultimate Hunter” weapon blueprint and the “Plague Hound” finishing move. There is also a new “Doom Hammer” melee weapon, the “Skull Vertebrae” weapon charm, and the “Inspired by Death” sticker. Also included is the “Gentle Push” calling card and the “Doom Slayer” emblem.
Another new bundle is the Stitch Sentinel bundle, which comes with nine items in all. This includes the “Overrun” SMG blueprint and the “Cottontail” sniper rifle blueprint. It also comes with a Stitch operator skin, an animated calling card, an animated emblem, the “Rearranged Thoughts” finishing move, the “Carbon Oni” charm, and the “Oni” reticle.
These bundles are available for Black Ops Cold War and Warzone.
It’s not just Black Ops Cold War and Warzone that are getting a big Season 3 update soon. Call of Duty: Mobile is adding Season 3 content soon as well, including a new pistol and map.
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Final Fantasy VII Remake’s original period of PlayStation exclusivity lapsed recently on April 10, which prompted some fans to speculate whether or not the game will come to other platforms like Xbox Series X, Xbox One, or PC. However, just because the original date of exclusivity passed doesn’t mean that the game is coming to any other platforms, and Square Enix hasn’t publicly stated anything about the exclusivity period either.
Twitter users like @Benji-Sales pointed out last week that April 10 marked the end of FFVII’s stated exclusivity period with PlayStation, posting a photo of the game’s box to confirm that was the case. As stated above, Square Enix has not announced any plans to bring FFVII to any other consoles or platforms, so it’s unclear if this date passing means anything.
Just as a heads up, the contract for Final Fantasy VII Remake exclusivity to PlayStation ends in 3 days on April 10th, 2021
So if Square Enix has any plans on bringing this game to other platforms such as PC or Xbox they can start talking about it as soon as this month. pic.twitter.com/3hZ7x8qMdL
— Benji-Sales (@BenjiSales) April 7, 2021
The impending release of Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade–the PS5 upgrade of the game–later this summer further complicates matters. We don’t know whether this exclusivity period applies to Intergrade as well as the original game, or if Intergrade will have a completely separate exclusivity window attached to it. Even if Square Enix announced tomorrow that the original Remake is coming to other platforms, we wouldn’t be able to conclude whether or not Intergrade will come to other platforms as well.
We’ve reached out to Square Enix for clarification on this. FFVII Remake Intergrade is the next-gen upgrade of the original for PS5, and it comes out on June 10. Intergrade will feature enhanced graphics, a photo mode, and a new episode that focused on Yuffie.
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Developer Easy Day Studios has rolled out a multiplayer mode for its skateboarding simulator Skater XL. The mode, which is in beta, is only available on Steam, though Easy Day confirmed the feature will come to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One soon.
The free multiplayer mode lets up to 10 players hop into a server to skate together. Players can create group lines to save and watch later as replays, with the same editing functionality as the base game. In order to check multiplayer, players must opt in by right-clicking on Skater XL and open “Properties.” From there, select “beta – Open Beta,” which will start downloading the multiplayer mode. It can be turned of at any time.
Easy Day said it is “stress test[ing]” the beta on PC first to gather data on how the servers perform before “rolling the basic Free Skate mode out cross-platform.”
In an announcement video, the mode is said to be “coming to Xbox and PlayStation in the near future.” Check out Skater XL’s multiplayer gameplay below.
In other Skater XL news, the game added the legendary skating spot San Francisco’s Embarcadero last month, further bolstering its community-created content.
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In Hood: Outlaws & Legends, you and your friends won’t automatically be the straight-laced heroes of the Robin Hood mythos. Once you’ve completed your mission and successfully stolen from the rich, you’ll have to decide how much of the gold you actually want to give to the poor.
“After the match, we present you with this thing called the scales of justice,” Hood: Outlaws & Legends game director Andrew Willans told me when I asked him about the game’s narrative. “So your gold that you’ve earned is in two pots, and one is for the people and one is for your pocket, and you can move the gold between those pots to decide where you want to apportion it.”
As Willans explains it, the money you keep for yourself can be spent on new cosmetic items as well as in-game perks, such as transforming the Mystic’s poison gas bombs into healing bombs so that he can better keep his teammates alive.
On the other hand, giving money back to the poor will elicit support from the people, who will lend a hand by gifting cool improvements to your hideout–these improvements unlock additional cosmetics and perks that you can then buy with the gold that you keep for yourself from later missions.
It may all help you in the end, but you’ll only be able to quickly get to the later perks and cosmetic items if you selflessly give up buying personal improvements immediately and invest in the people. It’s all a question of whether you want to work towards short- or long-term goals, and whether or not you feel like you deserve a little extra something for your trouble following a tough match.
“A lot of the influences for Hood were things like Anonymous and the idea of what makes a modern day vigilante,” Willans said. “Are you fighting for justice or is it really just to hurt the people that are hurting you?”
These themes of vigilante justice will permeate into Hood’s story as well. As a PvPvE multiplayer game, Hood lacks a traditional single-player campaign. However, you’ll still piece together a narrative by playing the game.
“There’s a lot of narrative storytelling within the environments, so just walking around these maps you’ll learn a lot about how brutal the state is and the stuff that the people have endured,” Willans said. “And you also will collect things, so throughout the heists you’ll unlock what we call tapestries. You pickpocket small pieces of this tapestry which will stitch together to become a longer narrative for each of the main characters–and for the sheriff as well, because the sheriff has got a really interesting backstory–and those stories can be viewed from the hideout.”
Willans compares the process of collecting the pieces of the tapestry to that of finding all the issues for a comic. Hood’s tapestry is inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry, featuring hand-drawn pen and ink sketches, fully voiced narration, and themed music.
“We actually got a guy called Steven McKay, who published a lot of really successful Robin Hood fanfiction,” Willans said. “So yeah, we do have some pretty serious narrative chops behind it, but it’s just there as a layer. It’s a layer basically to fill in the backstory, and we do have stuff like little trinkets that you can pick up from the maps themselves, so whereas the tapestries tell you about the characters, the trinkets tell you about the maps. It might be something like a wedding ring from a farmer’s daughter, who was hung by the state for not paying her taxes.”
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Willans added that players can expect to see quite a few interesting narrative twists and turns if they spend the time looking for Hood’s story. “I’ve really enjoyed a lot of that stuff because, without going into spoiler territory, it did allow us to add a little bit of context,” he said. “Like why does Marian have this triple-firing crossbow that looks like it was invented by Leonardo da Vinci?”
I asked if the backstories would explain how it’s possible for Marian to turn invisible to which Willans just chuckled and answered, “We didn’t talk about her invisibility though. I’ll leave that one out.”
In Hood: Outlaws & Legends, two teams of four outlaws race against the clock to steal a key from the sheriff and his army of patrolling guards, break into the treasury, steal the gold, and escape. The game will release with four playable characters, each inspired by the likes of Robin Hood, Maid Marian, Little John, and Friar Tuck. Hood: Outlaws & Legends will launch for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and PC on May 7.
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Hood: Outlaws & Legends is an upcoming PvPvE heist game loosely based on the Robin Hood mythos. Though the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 versions of the game will only have minor differences performance-wise, the PS5 version will host several DualSense controller improvements.
“We’ve done something quite interesting with the calibration on [the DualSense controller],” Hood: Outlaws & Legends game director Andrew Willans told me. “So you’ve got the resistance triggers, these adaptive triggers, and they work really well for a bow and arrow, as you can imagine.”
He continued: “[The controller] recreates that tension of the bow, and–as you loose the arrow–the sensation of the arrow flying, which is really cool. We pushed that further for the melee characters as well, so that as you’re swinging John’s hammer–the more you’re swinging, and your stamina is depleting–it becomes tougher to actually swing; you feel finger fatigue from swinging the hammer.”
Willans said that he strives to include as few HUD elements as possible in the games he’s a part of, inspiring Hood: Outlaws & Legends’ minimalist display. Thanks to the DualSense controller, though, you likely won’t even need to pay attention to the few gauges and on-screen prompts that are there when playing on PS5. “It’s a really tactile experience,” Willans said. “I rarely look at my own screen gauges when I’m playing on PS5. My trigger finger tells me all I need to know.”
In Hood: Outlaws & Legends, two teams of four face off in a race to claim treasure, utilizing stealth, subterfuge, and combat prowess to overcome each other and the NPC guards that are protecting the gold. The game will launch with four playable characters: the Ranger, the Hunter, the Brawler, and the Mystic–which are respectively inspired by Robin Hood, Maid Marian, Little John, and Friar Tuck. Hood: Outlaws & Legends will launch for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and PC on May 7.
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