Category: Games

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Beloved actor Rick Moranis has been out of the spotlight in recent years, but he’s now back in the news after he was assaulted on the streets of New York. Fortunately, Moranis is said to be okay after the attack–although the internet is quite mad on his behalf.

On Thursday morning, at 7:30 AM on Central Park West near 70th Street in New York City, the 67-year-old actor was attacked by an unknown assailant. CrimeStoppers posted footage of the incident and the suspect walking from the assault.

A representative for Moranis has stated that the actor is doing “fine.” THR reports that the comedy icon went to the hospital with pain in his head, back, and hip before going to a station to report the crime. “He is fine but grateful for everyone’s thoughts and well wishes,” the rep said.

Moranis unofficially retired in 1997 after his wife died of cancer to take care of their children, though he recently came out of retirement to star in a commercial for mobile provider Mint with fellow Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds. He also made an appearance in Disney+’s Prop Culture in the Honey, I Shrunk The Kids-centric episode, but for the most part, Moranis has shied away from big public roles.

Twitter users have been posting messages in support of the Spaceballs and Ghostbusters star–with some humorous results.

Following stock issues for both the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 launches, Nvidia has decided to delay the launch of its most affordable new graphics card, the RTX 3070, to the end of October.

In a blog post, the company explained that it was pushing back the launch so that more cards could be available for purchase when listings go live. The RTX 3070 will now only go on sale on October 29, two weeks later than its original release date. The card is the cheapest of the new RTX 30 Series line, with Nvidia saying it will match RTX 2080 Ti performance for just $500.

The new date is a curious one, however, given its proximity to AMD’s reveal of its new GPUs. The company is set to finally unveil its RDNA 2 GPUs, nicknamed Big Navi, the day before, making the RTX 3070’s new launch date a possible limelight-stealing affair. That’s especially true if AMD reveals performance metrics and pricing that Nvidia’s card can rival, although we’ll have to wait for AMD to share more to know for sure.

Both the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 are blisteringly fast GPUs that are nearly impossible to find in stock, especially if you’re looking for Nvidia’s Founder’s Edition models with its innovative cooling solution. The RTX 3080 is a worthwhile upgrade to wait for, as critic Michael Higham explained in our RTX 3080 review, saying, “The RTX 3080 is a powerful video card with big generational jumps, especially when considering its $700 MSRP.”

Ahead of Baldur’s Gate III‘s Early Access launch on October 6, Larian Studios has shared the races and classes players can pick from. In total, there are 16 races/subraces and six classes available in Early Access.They include humans, githyanki, elves, drow, half-elf, dwarves, halflings, and tieflings, as well as their associated subraces. The classes players can choose are Cleric, Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, Warlock, and Wizard–each with at least two subclasses available.

Larian also stated that they used 3D scans of models and actors to produce 150 photorealistic heads. People were selected “because their features roughly resembled the direction for each race in the game, as well as, of course, for diversity and variety in the human-like races.”

Alena Dubrovina, lead character artist at Larian Studios, elaborated on the studio’s process and said, “Some of the scanned heads kept their features, but others became a starting point for creating new faces. We also used scanned data as a learning resource because there is no better sculptor than nature.”

Below are all the races players can select in Early Access:

• Human
• Githyanki
• Elf–High Elf, Wood Elf
• Drow–Seldarine Drow, Lolth-Sworn Drow
• Half-Elf–High Half-Elf, Wood Half-Elf, Drow Half-Elf
• Dwarf–Gold, Shield
• Hafling–Lightfoot Halfling, Strongheart Halfling
• Tiefling–Asmodeus Tiefling, Mephistopheles Tiefling, Zariel Tiefling

Baldur’s Gate III in Early Access provides roughly around 25 hours of replayable content. It will release on October 6 on Steam, GOG, and Stadia for $60. This first release in Early Access has been framed as the first act in what might be a lengthy Early Access period for Baldur’s Gate III. Larian has also previously shared how big Baldur’s Gate III will be and what the game’s PC requirements are, which have also been included below. Ahead of the Early Access release, you can read up on how Baldur’s Gate III is connected to the series’ first two games.

Baldur’s Gate 3 minimum PC requirements

• CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 / AMD RX 4350
• RAM: 8GB
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 / AMD Radeon R9 280X
• DirectX: 11
• Storage: 70GB
• OS: Windows 10 (64-bit)

Baldur’s Gate 3 recommended PC requirements

• CPU: Intel Core i7-4700K / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
• RAM: 16GB
• GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB) / AMD Radeon RX 580
• DirectX: 11
• Storage: 70GB
• OS: Windows 10 (64-bit)

Now Playing: Baldur’s Gate 1 + 2 Full Story Recap

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GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Having already been delayed previously due to COVID-19, the next James Bond movie, No Time to Die, has been pushed back again. No Time to Die’s release date has been officially delayed until next year, with a new date set for April 2, 2021. Although COVID was not specifically referenced in the brief statement, it’s the clear motivation for the delay.

“MGM, Universal and Bond producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, today announced the release of No Time to Die, the 25th film in the James Bond series, will be delayed until 2 April 2021 in order to be seen by a worldwide theatrical audience,” it was announced on Twitter. “We understand the delay will be disappointing to our fans but we now look forward to sharing No Time to Die next year.”

No Time to Die had been planned to release in just a matter of weeks–it was due out November 12 in the UK and November 20 in the US and elsewhere around the world. Previously, it was due to premiere back in April, but it was among the first wave of movies to see their releases delayed. Whereas some, such as F9, were delayed until 2021 from the start, the new Bond movie was still targeting a 2020 release. Following this latest shift, it will end up being a full-year delay for Daniel Craig’s final outing as the character–assuming it’s not pushed back once again.

The delay doesn’t come as a major surprise given that other films have seen their releases pushed to 2021. Major films that have made it to theaters, including Tenet and X-Men: New Mutants, have not lit the box office on fire as many theaters remain closed or open with limited capacity, and many would-be theater-goers continue to avoid public gatherings. A limited number of companies, including Disney with Mulan, have opted to release their movies digitally, although most have chosen delays in the hopes of eventually debuting in theaters.

No Time to Die sees Craig return to the role of Bond once again, where he’ll be joined by returning cast members Ralph Fiennes, Léa Seydoux, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Christoph Waltz, and Jeffrey Wright. Among the newcomers to the cast are Ana de Armas, Lashana Lynch, and Rami Malek, who plays the film’s villain, Safin. The movie is directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, who is best known for his work on True Detective Season 1.

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The increasingly popular reboot-sequel is a hard needle to thread. You have to create a game that hews close enough to the original to make nostalgic fans happy, while modernizing and innovating enough to resonate with new players. Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time balances the two effortlessly. It impeccably preserves the vibrant look and feel of the original Crash Bandicoot trilogy, while integrating new ideas and platforming possibilities. And like the original Crash games, the hybrid of Crash’s old and new ideas will test your platforming skills in interesting new ways.

Like its groan-inducing dad-joke of a subtitle says, Crash 4 is about time… travel. When the villains of Crash’s past open an interdimensional portal, Crash and Coco have to collect a set of quantum masks in order to set things right. As with past Crash games, small exchanges in cutscenes between levels do a lot of narrative legwork. It’s not much of a “story” per se, but Crash and his friends’ charm fills in the gaps and makes you care enough to follow along.

Crash 4’s time-traveling story takes you to all sorts of times and places, including dinosaur-infested jungles, futuristic cities full of flying cars, and sunken pirate ships. Every place you go feels lush, full of color and detail, with a painterly quality that’s simply wonderful to run through. My favorite is the Mardi Gras world, where Crash and Spyro balloons float in the background as you hop over neon-colored flames and trumpet valves. Occasionally, you’ll run through an area and the camera will pull back to let you take in the scenery. The environments never failed to impress me with their visual depth.

The best thing I can say about Crash 4 is that it mostly feels like classic Crash. In my mind, Crash’s signature is in the way the camera moves to create different perspectives from area to area, giving each set of jumps a fresh feel. Sometimes you’re moving left to right, while other times you’re running away from the camera or bouncing straight up from box to box. Crash 4’s long levels are chock-full of carefully plotted platforming sequences, which require quick reflexes and the ability to think on your feet. The dynamic design changes things up frequently, making every level feel winding and unpredictable, with every new set of platforms presenting a surprising, exciting new challenge.

It still feels classic, even as it introduces new mechanics. Once you find each of the quantum masks in the campaign, they will start to appear in levels, giving you access to reality-bending powers such as slowing down time and reversing gravity on the fly. Though none of the four powers the masks bestow are wildly original, they are all used to great effect. Slowing down time at the exact right moment to create a clear path of platforms requires just as much thought and reflexes as jumping and spinning, and sequences with each power come with their own lessons to learn and quirks to master.

In addition, each world includes optional levels that allow you to play as some of Crash’s friends, including Tawna, Dingodile, and Dr. Neo Cortex. Each of the alternate characters have their own skill sets–Cortex, for example, cannot spin or double jump, but instead has a gun that turns enemies into platforms and an air dash. Levels built around these skill sets create even more room for variety; you’ll see new situations and need to approach challenging platforming puzzles differently. The downside is that switching from any of these characters to Crash or Coco, or vice versa, can lead to some muscle memory mix-ups and accidental deaths. It’s a momentary annoyance, but one that creates a slightly bitter aftertaste whenever you play one of these levels, especially during the campaign.

And mastery is crucial. From early on, Crash 4 insists on precision. Many platforming sequences demand you land multiple jumps in rapid succession with perfect accuracy and timing. Sometimes, the difficulty is invigorating–an action-packed puzzle for your mind and fingers. Occasionally, though, it feels as if the game expects more of you than it should. There are times when you’ll land on the edge of a platform and fall to your death, only to wonder whether or not you should have been safe. Those frustrations are fleeting, though. More often, the next success is close enough at hand that you’ll want to keep trying.

And merely finishing the campaign barely scratches the surface of the experience. Crash 4 is truly a perfectionist’s delight. Each level offers up gemstones and a character skin depending on how many wumpa fruit you find, how many boxes you break, and how few times you die. Each level also boasts a time trial mode and an “N.Verted” mirror level, which not only makes you replay it mirrored, but also with a creative visual filter that may make it easier or harder. The N.Verted levels are especially interesting as they let you see Crash 4’s vibrant levels in a completely different light.

Even more so than playing the N.Sane Trilogy, which literally remade the original Crash games from my youth, playing Crash 4 felt like getting back in touch with the series. It’s an injection of new ideas into now-classic gameplay that surprises and delights, even as it feels like a homecoming. Truly, games like this are why we come running back to long-dormant franchises with open arms.

Update: Bloodborne appears to no longer be available via PlayStation Plus, and it’s price is once again listed at $20.

PlayStation Plus’s free games for October 2020 are racing game Need for Speed Payback and action-RPG Vampyr. However, seemingly out of nowhere, Bloodborne has also been made free for PS Plus subscribers. It’s unclear if this is a mistake, as Sony did not announce the From Software action game as one of this month’s free offerings. You’ll want to claim this as soon as possible, as it could be an error and fixed shortly.

Bloodborne was PlayStation Plus’s offering all the way back in March 2018 and is included in the PS5’s upcoming Plus Collection, which grants subscribers a library of backwards-compatible PS4 games on the next-gen console.

Bloodborne is remembered as one of the best PS4 games. It received a 9/10 in GameSpot’s Bloodborne review for its agile and brutal combat, phenomenal creature and world design, and interconnected world that “makes every discovery a wonder.”

“The finest treasures are found within the city of Yharnam and the forests, lakes, and purgatories beyond it,” critic Kevin VanOrd wrote. “I finished Bloodborne in less time than I did Dark Souls II, yet I treasure it more in spite of its few missteps. In death there is life, and in blood, there is redemption. More hyperbole, yes, but for a game this theatrical, only hyperbole will do.”

Next month, we see the remake of From Software’s first PlayStation exclusive launch alongside the PS5. Demon’s Souls is being helmed by Bluepoint Games, which is known for its quality remasters and remakes like Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection and Shadow of the Colossus. We recently got our first look at Demon’s Souls gameplay, which showcased zero loading times when warping between zones and the revamped first area.

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