Category: Games

The Pokemon Company has shared a new trailer for Pokemon Sword and Shield. Not only does the video give us our first look at the games’ villainous team, it also reveals a few more Gen 8 Pokemon, including Galarian forms of a couple of older monsters–one of which is receiving a brand-new evolution.

Just as in Sun and Moon on 3DS, some older Pokemon will have a different appearance and typing in the Galar region. That includes the raccoon-like Pokemon Zigzagoon and its evolution, Linoone, which were originally introduced in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire on Game Boy Advance. In the Galar region, Zigzagoon and Linoone are Dark/Normal-types and have black and white fur rather than brown, giving them a rocker look.

While Linoone is traditionally the end of this evolutionary line, in the Galar region, it is capable of evolving into a brand-new Pokemon called Obstagoon. It may not be the only old Pokemon to receive a new evolution, either; as the official Pokemon website explains, “some regional forms have developed unique Evolutions unseen in any other region,” suggesting other Galarian forms may also get a new evolutionary branch.

Obstagoon

In addition to Zigzagoon and Linoone, we saw a new Galarian form of Weezing, which has smokestacks atop its two heads that resemble top hats, making it look like a dapper English gentleman. The Pokemon Company also revealed a new monster called Morpeko, which has “fully belly” and “hangry” forms, as well as the first details on Poke Jobs.

Pokemon Sword and Shield launch for Nintendo Switch on November 15. Controversially, the games won’t feature every old Pokemon, but you can see all the new Gen 8 Pokemon so far in our gallery. For more on the titles, check out our Pokemon Sword and Shield pre-order guide.

Over the past few years 8BitDo has released numerous Bluetooth controllers that work with retro console adapters, computers, Android OS devices, and Nintendo Switch. Build quality and variety have helped the company stand out from the competition, and as evidenced by last year’s M30 controllers designed for use with your Sega Genesis, 8Bitdo’s craft continues to improve. Its latest product, the SN30 Pro Plus Bluetooth Gamepad, looks comparable to other Super Nintendo-inspired controllers from 8Bitdo (albeit with prominent handles) but it is actually one of the most advanced controller options for Switch owners. Though it doesn’t feature the official Pro controller’s HD Rumble or a motion-detecting gyroscope, the SN30 Pro Plus’ distinguishing capabilities make it easy to overlook these arguably minor deficits.

A quick look at the SN30 Pro Plus reveals a familiar button layout, with four face buttons, four shoulder buttons (two of which are triggers), a directional pad, and start, select, home, and capture buttons. 8Bitdo sent us the model colored to look like the classic “DMG” Game Boy color scheme; it’s generally on point, though a slight red tint isolated to the applique on the face of the controller does stand out against the more desaturated plastic that surrounds it. Otherwise, the overall build quality is solid, with mixed materials and good-feeling buttons lending a high-quality feel throughout. Most buttons relay a satisfying tactile response when pressed, and the triggers offer a notable amount of resistance, which is good to have in general but even more important when you consider the ways in which you can adjust their sensitivity.

With the SN30 Pro Plus connected to your PC (or Mac, once the upcoming software is released) 8bitdo’s Ultimate Software tool lets you dive into the deep end of configurability. The first option you’ll see is button remapping, with individual profiles for the controller’s two operating modes dialed in for Switch or the Windows-centric X-Input API. Like every setting we’ll discuss here, the Ultimate Software’s user interface is clear, organized, and very easy to use, leaving little room for guesswork. Simply look to the panel on the right, find the button you want to change in the left-hand column, then pick which input you want to reassign to that button and hit the big purple ‘Sync to Controller’ button to commit your changes. If you ever need a visual reference, the image of the controller on the left of the Mapping tab will reflect your new settings.

This sort of visual feedback is helpful for button remapping, but it’s essential for the next two options: adjusting the active area of the analog sticks and trigger shoulder buttons. In each case, you are given a real-time look at the components in question. Being able to set the dead zone for these inputs can make a big difference to the right player and game, and the fact that you can both test and visualize these settings in real time, with your controller in hand and the Ultimate Software reflecting your actions, greatly streamlines the trial and error process. Beyond dialing in the sensitivity, you also have settings for inverting the axis of your analog sticks, or swapping their relative functions entirely.

Though less critical, you can also adjust the intensity of the controller’s basic vibration functionality (again, not proper HD rumble), with feedback coming from the controller as you dial in your preference.

8BitDo’s Ultimate Software can also be used to manually assign macros (a series of inputs) to a single button press. This is useful in a number of scenarios like, say, creating an automatic Hadoken button for Street Fighter or a quick build-rearm process for Fortnite. Rather than record your inputs directly from the controller during the macro creation process, you manually assign buttons by picking them from a palatte within the software–up to 18 inputs per macro, which will also correspond to a flashing light around the home button when activated. Macros are definitely questionable in the context of competitive multiplayer games, but that fact doesn’t detract from the benefit of having the option on the SN30 Pro Plus, should it prove useful in other scenarios.

The SN30 Pro+ ”G Classic Edition” closely matches the classic Game Boy color scheme, but the layer of plastic around the buttons has a different tone then the rest of the controller.

8BitDo claims that the rechargeable battery driving the controller in wireless mode can last for 20 hours, but unlike its previous controllers the battery in the SN30 Pro Plus is removable via a simple hatch, and you can even put two AA batteries in its place for the same 20 hours of playtime. This flexibility is greatly appreciated, more so because you won’t be stuck with a dead controller once the lifespan of included battery (like all batteries) eventually dries up.

In nearly every respect, the SN30 Pro Plus is an impressive product that goes above and beyond 8BitDo’s previous offerings, and most competitors’ as well. About the only thing you could wish for was the independence to remap buttons or create macros without the use of 8BitDo’s software. That’s only worth pointing out because it adds a requirement to the process, but in general using the tool is, like playing with the controller, a pleasant experience overall. In the SN30 Pro Plus, 8BitDo has delivered one of the best third-party controller options for Switch owners and a formidable option for PC users who have far more options to choose from. At only $50, it’s also competitively priced in a market that tends to favor high prices for feature-rich peripherals.

The SN30 Pro Plus is available in the US for $50 on Amazon, and interested EU customers can pre-order on Amazon UK for £42.99, where it will start shipping on September 27.

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Some links to supporting retailers are automatically made into affiliate links, and GameSpot may receive a small share of those sales.

Editors note: 8BitDo sent GameSpot a complimentary review sample of the SN30 Pro+ controller for review.

To say Dungeons & Dragons is in something of a golden age right now would probably be an understatement. Tabletop roleplaying has had an incredible resurgence in pop culture, thanks in part to its inherent timelessness and accessibility–you don’t really need much more than a handbook, a sheet of paper, and a few dice to stir up a game–but also thanks to technology Streaming shows devoted entirely to the playing of D&D campaigns have entered the cultural fray just as ’80s nostalgia has reached a fever pitch and the results have been explosive, to say the least.

The dominos of a cross-platform, cross-media tabletop-playing empire have been set up, so of course, it was only a matter of time before someone came along and knocked them all down.

Enter the McElroy family, brothers Justin, Travis, and Griffin alongside their father Clint. Comedians, podcasters, and content creators, the McElroys have amassed a massive following for their work on shows like My Brother, My Brother, And Me, an “advice show for the modern era” and the oft-meme’d Monster Factory, a youtube series in which the character creation mechanics of various video games are pushed to their absolute limits. But mixed in with the gags and the goofs is a McElroy show that stands apart from the rest. The Adventure Zone, which started, ostensibly, as a fun way for the three brothers to play D&D with their dad has since taken on a life all its own–not only as a podcast, but as a burgeoning line of graphic novels.

Alongside artist Carey Pietsch, the McElroys have successfully taken the D&D craze to its logical, genre-bending extreme, transmuting the dice-rolling, roleplaying story found in their hours and hours of podcasting into a “kindhearted epic fantasy” that stands on its own, independent from both its tabletop and broadcast roots.

But does the charm of the actual D&D playing get lost in the translation from podcast to page? Travis McElroy doesn’t think so. In fact, in a conversation with GameSpot at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, he was confident that the graphic novel adaptations were great ways to introduce yourself to the characters and the world the show exists in.

“If it’s somebody who has been kind of weary of getting into the podcast, the graphic novel is the perfect way to do it,” He said. Because one, you can pick it up, read two pages, set it back down, and go about your day and come back to it as opposed to–I think if you listen to three minutes of a podcast and then pause it–well.”

Clint explained that, though TAZ in all its forms is exploring the same story, they still tackle them in very different ways. “We kind of view it as a different project from the podcast. The podcast is an entity, the graphic novels are a different entity and it’s, the thing I tell everybody, is if you’re looking for a great fun read, then it’s a great fun read.”

The process of converting the show wasn’t always an easy one. “The podcast was kind of like the pitch meeting, the writers room round table,” Travis explained, “and once we start working on it, we go through and we say, ‘This moment, this line, this scene, doesn’t really play without tone of voice, without inflection. Can we make it work with facial expressions? Can we make it work with pauses and timing? No? Well, is there a different form of the moment we can tell using [the art.]'”

“The process is less about cutting things and more about translation,” Pietsch agreed. “All four of the McElroys are involved throughout, not just the scripting process, but also the artwork. So, at every stage, everybody sits down to review the pages. We want to make sure the characters are looking and acting like themselves. Like, what further tweaks do we need to make or what small changes to make sure that [a character like] Magnus really sounds like Magnus who is played by Travis, you know?”

This was particularly true for Murder On The Rockport Limited, which Clint described as “a very linear story. You get on a train and you go. So that freed us up to expand the two ends of it. It’s like a really good cannoli, okay? You got the big globs of icing on the two ends so we expanded those to expand the universe and flesh out some of the other characters.”

And while the relative ease of being able to read a graphic novel versus spending hour after hour listening to a podcast is still very much there, Pietsch and the McElroys don’t recommend skipping around in the story. You certainly can start your TAZ adventure by jumping right into Volume 2–but that doesn’t mean you should. “Hypothetically, it could stand on its own. I think story-wise, it is self-encapsulating; you could read it, especially if you looked up a one-paragraph synopsis of book one,” Travis explained, “but I would say you would miss out on a lot of character investment.”

Both volumes of The Adventure Zone graphic novel, Here Be Gerblins, and Murder On The Rockport Limited are available now, everywhere books are sold.

Before the days of the stoic Dark Souls and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, From Software was a niche developer nestled between regular releases of the mecha-action series Armored Core and the occasional oddball side project. Fifteen years ago, the developer released a game that blended its talents for mech combat and off-the-wall humor: Metal Wolf Chaos. Developed for the original Xbox, this action satire puts you in the role of the 47th President of the United States, Michael Wilson, who embarks on a high-octane trip across America fighting mechs, soldiers, and other machines of war following a coup led by vice president Richard Hawk.

Essentially a pastiche of action films, Saturday morning cartoons, and Japanese mecha anime, Metal Wolf Chaos pokes a lot of fun at American culture, embodied by the lead character who also happens to the leader of the free world. It’s a setup that seemed like it would have made for a decent third-person shooter for the North American audience–however, it would never arrive in the West. The original Metal Wolf Chaos for the Xbox was a Japan-only release, positioned as a hardcore action game intended to attract new players to the system. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t make much of a dent in the market, and its release came and went. Now in 2019, From Software and Devolver Digital have released Metal Wolf Chaos XD, a revival of the forgotten game for modern platforms. Out now for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, it’s not often to see a game that has lived a second life as an internet meme return for a third with a remaster.

What makes the circumstances surrounding Metal Wolf Chaos’ original release so strange was that the intended audience for its ridiculous satire of American culture was, ironically, unable to play the game. From Software never provided an official reason as to why Metal Wolf Chaos never made it to the West. However, publishers at the time were already in the transitional phase for the upcoming Xbox 360, and the game’s satire of terrorism and American culture on soon-to-be outdated hardware likely made it a tough sell. Developed on a budget and in under a year by 30 developers, Metal Wolf Chaos keeps things simple, leaning heavily on the over-the-top mech action with its revolving set of weaponry. President Wilson’s trek across the country to restore the so-called American way of life is emphasized with his mantra of “believing in your own justice,” which puts a certain gravitas behind the game.

In an interview with Destructoid, From Software producer Masanori Takeuchi described their approach to interpreting American culture, and how it was intended to attract both Western and Japanese audiences.

“It is America as perceived by the Japanese. It’s completely fictional, but at the time, it was our idea of this ideology of American culture and comic book heroes, and we pieced that together and it became the president piloting the mech,” Takeuchi said. “We think that when Japanese look at it that way, from the American point of view, it’s almost like how they imagine a Japanese ninja, and sort of the same ideologies, the same kind of fantasy, so it goes two ways.”

To put things into proper perspective, Metal Wolf Chaos is a political game–even when it focuses on fun. Its original release came during the height of Bush-era jingoism following the events of September 11, 2001 and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The style and tone of Metal Wolf Chaos are all about America, and the main plot often comes across like a Hollywood fantasy. The lead character, the strongwilled and capable US president, takes matters into his own hands to fight back against the invasion of the country, taking advantage of America’s ease of access to guns to do so. The game opens with the president of the United States piloting his mech, shouting “Let’s Party!” as he faces off against Hawk’s homegrown militia. From this intro alone, you know you’re in for something of a farce. To play Metal Wolf Chaos is to contend with a barrage of one-liners, melodrama, and cheesy platitudes of what it means to be an American–and it does everything with the utmost sincerity. It’s essentially a Japanese anime honed through an American fetishized lense crafted by Michael Bay.

Though North America missed out on the full game, some western players had the chance to try a short demo of the game thanks to the Official Xbox Magazine. With every issue, readers also received a complimentary demo disc. This particular disc featured a hidden demo for Metal Wolf Chaos, allowing players to jump into the game’s early levels set in San Francisco. Unless you owned an imported Japanese Xbox or modified your system to play games region-free, this would be the only way for Western players to experience the game.

In the years since its release, Metal Wolf Chaos garnered a cult following in the West. This was due to the game receiving something of a revival in YouTube Let’s Play videos and internet memes highlighting select moments. But in 2016, indie publisher Devovler Digital–who’s past works included Hotline Miami and the Shadow Warrior reboot–reached out to From Software on Twitter, offering to get the game released in the West. Devolver even used the hashtag #FreeMetalWolf in their offer to the developer. After the tweet went viral, Devolver Digital and From Software began their collaboration on a remaster for modern consoles.

When compared to the original, Metal Wolf Chaos XD keeps things faithful to the original–low polycount and all. Some notable changes, however, include the upgraded resolution to play at 4K, along with a new save system, removing the original’s notoriously taxing process. Metal Wolf Chaos is a pure action game, leaving most of its main story beats for mission bookends. It’s a very low-budget game, and it shows. In a way, though, the low budget ends up creating an aesthetic that offers some added charm to Metal Wolf Chaos’s ridiculous plot and mostly straightforward, objective-driven gameplay. In that regard, it fills that similar “so bizarre, it’s good” space that Swery65’s Deadly Premonition inhabited.

Playing through the game now, however, it’s hard not to draw parallels with the events and storytelling tropes of the game and today’s political climate. With homegrown terrorism, fascism, and propaganda on the rise, it can make some of the events of the game feel eerie–even when its story is totally absurd. Between levels, you’re treated to breaking news segments from major news channels where your battles against the Hawk’s militia are intentionally misconstrued and repackaged as propaganda. Essentially, fake news.

That’s not to say Metal Wolf Chaos is prophetic. But rather, From Software had an awareness of the inherent ridiculousness of American jingoism in 2004 and the absurd results that it could foster. Though we don’t have mechs in 2019, the level of overt patriotism on display in Metal Wolf Chaos isn’t that foreign. Playing through this satire of American culture can be a fun trip down memory lane circa 2004. Yet, there’s an interesting topic of discussion to be found in this game. In many ways, the tone and plot of this cult hit lands harder now then it did before–likely more than the creators ever imagined.

We generally don’t talk much about kitchen accessories here on GameSpot Deals, but it’s not every day we spot a common household item as attractive as this coffee mug right here. This gorgeous 16 oz. cup is repping the original PlayStation logo and has an oil slick design with an iridescent rainbow finish. We thought you might want to know it’s on sale for $7.49 rather than $10, which is a really good price for a piece of retro PlayStation merch that also has a practical, everyday use. (That’s also just a solid price for a coffee mug, period.)

See it at GameStop

The main thing to know about this flashy guy is that it’s hand wash only. Don’t stick it in the dishwasher, and definitely don’t heat it up in the microwave, as you’ll ruin those pretty colors. So while it requires a bit more care than the average mug, you’re definitely getting your money’s worth, and it would also make a great gift for any PlayStation fan with the holidays coming up.

Since ThinkGeek’s online presence merged with GameStop’s in July (RIP), there’s a wider range of apparel, collectibles, and other merchandise up for purchase on the retailer’s website these days, from action figures and Funko Pops to board games and trading cards. And with its Back to School sale going on, GameStop actually has some solid deals on collectibles right now, including other neat mugs like this One Punch Man heat-changing one and this over-the-top Sailor Moon design. There are also over 1,000 T-shirts on sale for just $10, and if you’re needing to buy a backpack, you’ll get a free lanyard with your purchase, which is nice if you’re heading to any conventions soon.