Category: Games

Hearthstone has a new global champion. The championship event held at BlizzCon 2019 ended in victory for Chinese player Li “VKLiooon” Xiaomeng, making her the first woman to win in a Hearthstone championship event. Simply by playing she became the first woman to compete in such an event, so the win means she achieved the highest victory possible in her first championship.

Flanked by other players and former champions, Xiaomeng took the trophy of the first Hearthstone Grandmasters championship. She has been playing competitively in the Hearthstone community for quite a while, but her consistent placement in the 2019 season qualified her for the global finals. She took the opportunity on-stage to thank her fans, and to send a message to any females in the audience.

“Two years ago, I remember when I was competing in a huge tournament,” she said, via a translator. “I was waiting in line … and there was this guy telling me, ‘If you’re a girl you should not be waiting in line here, it’s not for you.’ And now today I am here, with all the support from the fans. So I want to say to all the girls out there who have a dream for esports, for competition, for glory: if you want to do it, and you believe in yourself, you should just forget your gender and go for it.”

Xiaomeng’s victory was rather definitive. In the finals match against Brian “Bloodyface” Eason, she went 3-0. The final round hinged on a matchup in which Xiaomeng had 23 in Hunter damage ready to finish off Eason, and his Druid timed out his turn looking for a solution. When the timer was up she took the shot for the win.

Also at BlizzCon, Blizzard announced the next expansion for Hearthstone, Descent of Dragons, to launch in December. Before that, though, the game is getting a new mode inspired by the popular auto-chess genre. The new mode, called Hearthstone Battlegrounds, will launch in closed beta on November 5, and then into open beta on November 12.

Michael Douglas has seemingly confirmed that he will be reprising his role as Dr. Hank Pym in Ant-Man 3, as he recently revealed filming is scheduled to commence in January 2021.

Douglas, who played Scott Lang’s friend and mentor in Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp, appeared to acknowledge his return to the franchise in an interview with Collider, in which he admitted that principal photography on the threequel was set to start in just over a year from now.

“The Marvel world has really been a blast!” the actor told the outlet. “I love them, I’m having a great time. We’re starting a third

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Hideo Kojima has stated his intent for his studio, Kojima Productions, to start making movies as well as video games in the future.

Talking to BBC Newsbeat as part of a documentary about Death Stranding, Kojima said “In the future Kojima Productions will start making films. If you can do one thing well, then you can do everything well.”

Kojima went on to explain that he sees that movies, TV shows, and games competing in the same space in the future, thanks to streaming technology, and that this will encourage new formats to emerge.

“I’m very interested in the new format of game that will appear on there and that’s what I want to take on,” he said.

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The idea of a console/PC-quality video game without the console or PC needing to be involved is a strange one for some gamers (I’m counting myself in this) to wrap our heads around. But if anyone can do it, it’ll be Google, arguably the most technologically powerful company on the planet. Enter Google Stadia, which will stream console-quality games to your smartphone, tablet, or Chromecast TV dongle by leveraging the power of Google’s cloud-based server power.

We visited Google’s Mountain View, California-based headquarters to talk to Stadia VP of Engineering Majd Bakar about exactly how the service works. Take a look at the video above to learn all about it, including how Google is taking the fight to its primary foe: latency. And don’t miss the video below for more on what you need to know ahead of Stadia’s November 19 launch.

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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch has sold over 15.7 million copies, officially passing Street Fighter II’s 15.5 million to become the best-selling fighting game of all time.

As reported by Digital Trends, Nintendo revealed that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sold this impressive number in its half-year financial report ending September 30, 2019.

Street Fighter II originally launched in 1991 and proceeded to release seven unique versions following it taking the world by storm.

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Sarah Jessica-Parker has claimed that the original Hocus Pocus cast has conjured up an answer as to whether or not they would appear in the long-awaited sequel, revealing that it would be a resounding “yes.”

In a recent Instagram post, the actress confirmed that the Sanderson sisters are ready to run amok again, as she admitted that the original cast already agreed to reprise their roles for Hocus Pocus 2, which is currently in development for the new Disney+ streaming service.

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Frugal Nintendo fans know pain and suffering all too well. They know deep in their hearts that they’ll almost always be disappointed by the sale prices on first-party games. More than any other game publisher, Nintendo is stubborn with its pricing, keeping $60 price points years after other publishers would be offering their games on sale for $20. That said, right now you can grab games like Super Mario Maker 2, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and more for their lowest prices ever. Here’s what’s on sale.

Nintendo Switch Games for 25% Off or More

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Gaming phones are great for giving power users top end silicon and screens for their “hardcore” mobile gaming, but they can be pretty costly. Which is exactly why I’ve always liked Xiaomi’s Black Shark line of gaming phones. You get a handset that’s just as powerful as the Asus ROG Phone or Razer Phone 2, but at a much lower price.

The Black Shark 2 (See it at Walmart) builds on the value of its predecessor, introducing more powerful specs plus an even longer lasting battery for just $529. Although it doesn’t feature fancy functions like the ROG Phone 2’s Air Triggers or a 120Hz display, this is still a great gaming phone for most people. While the Black Shark 2 has been succeeded by the Black Shark 2 Pro, Xiaomi’s latest gaming phone seems to be very elusive and rarely seen on available anywhere compared to this older model.

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A new datamine has potentially revealed that Infinity Ward may be planning to add up to 38 new maps to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

As reported by GamesRadar, a data miner named Senescallo on Reddit posted a list of these maps alongside images that include some fan favorites from Call of Duty’s past.

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The Witcher showrunner, Lauren Hissrich, has said that she has seven seasons worth of narrative progression planned for the upcoming Netflix fantasy show.

Talking to SFX magazine for issue 320 (via PCGamesN), Hissrich said “I’ve

for seven seasons. Right now it’s just about, ‘how do you set up stories that really capture audiences for years at a time?’”

“The worst thing we could do is put all of our energies just into season one, and not be thinking about where these characters can grow to,” she added.

The Witcher is an adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski’s books, and so the numerous short stories and five novels of the Witcher ‘Pentalogy’ will no doubt serve as the narrative basis of those seven seasons. But just how those are presented as a TV show, per season and per episode, is down to Hissrich. Presumably her plan consists of a chosen a path through those stories that will work well for a TV show.

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