Category: Games

After months of silence, Niantic and Warner Bros. have revealed some new details on their upcoming Harry Potter mobile game, Wizards Unite. The title is scheduled to launch for Android and iOS devices later this year, but some prospective wizards are able to sign up for it right now.

Pre-registration for Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is now open for Android users on Google Play, giving those who are interested in the title a chance to sign-up and potentially receive early access. Pre-registration is not yet available on the App Store, but the developers tell iOS players to “stay tuned for more updates” on that front.

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is a Pokemon Go-like take on J.K. Rowling’s beloved series. As a member of Statute of Secrecy Task Force, players must explore the real world and locate Foundables–important people and items in the wizarding world–and dispel the Confoundable magic that’s trapping them.

While the basic premise of Wizards Unite is similar to Pokemon Go, there are numerous elements that set it apart from Niantic’s hit Pokemon game. As we learned during our recent hands-on session with the title, Wizards Unite bears many similarities to a traditional RPG. The game places a bigger emphasis on story, with voice-acted characters, and features RPG elements like skill trees and potion brewing.

Niantic and Warner Bros. still haven’t announced a release date for Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. The game was originally scheduled to launch in 2018 but was delayed into this year. You can read more about the title on the official Harry Potter: Wizards Unite website.

Doom has already had a big-screen adaptation, starring none other than Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. That 2005 movie was panned and essentially disavowed by Johnson, but now another movie is on the way: Doom Annihilation.

This film is not destined for the multiplex, though. It’s a direct-to-video movie, not connected to the other film, written and directed by Tony Giglio (who was also behind the direct-to-video movie S.W.A.T.: Under Siege). It follows the lore of Doom relatively closely, as a group of Marines respond to a distress call from a Martian moon base, only to discover it crawling with demons. Chaos ensues.

It’s a concept that lends itself to camp. Check out the brief teaser-trailer below for a look at the marines, a demon or two, and some hellish dialogue.

It’s worth noting that Bethesda and its parent company ZeniMax, which is currently at work on the upcoming Doom Eternal, don’t hold any film rights to the franchise. That makes Doom Annihilation separate from the story of the 2015 Doom reboot and the upcoming Doom Eternal. For more, check out 25 years of Doom.

Apex Legends developer Respawn has no time for cheaters. The developer confirmed in a Reddit post that as of March 8, it had banned more than 355,000 players on PC alone.

Respawn uses the Easy-Anti-Cheat tools for the PC version of the battle royale game. It’s working, but Respawn acknowledged that fighting against cheaters is an “ongoing war.”

“We’ll need to continue to adapt to and be very vigilant about fighting [cheaters],” Respawn said. “We take cheating very seriously and care deeply about the health of Apex Legends for all players.”

Respawn added that it is working on new anti-cheat measures, but the developer doesn’t plan to openly communicate its plans–and that’s intentional.

“We’re going to have to be pretty secretive about our plans,” Respawn said. “Cheaters are crafty and we don’t want them to see us coming.”

On a high level, Respawn said it has already begun communicating with anti-cheat experts within EA and outside of it. Not only that, but Respawn has begun to scale up its own internal anti-cheat team, while the studio also plans to introduce new reporting functionality for bad behaviour.

Also in the Reddit post, Respawn said it’s aware of players spamming during character-select and then disconnecting. “We’re keeping a lot of our strategy close to the chest so offenders don’t have time to build workarounds before we implement changes,” Respawn said about addressing this. “Solutions won’t happen right away but we’re on it.”

Additionally, Respawn said it’s working on improving general stability and performance on PC, and to that end, it’s releasing patch soon that will address some of the known crashes. AMD is visiting Respawn’s offices soon to discuss best practices; Nvidia already came by to the studio.

Respawn also said it’s aware that people are asking for Apex Legends to allow players to re-connect to a match if they drop out. However, there are no plans for this because it “opens up a lot of risk” for abuse, while Respawn said the efforts that would be required to release such a feature would take away from other, more pressing matters. Finally, Respawn said in the post that it’s aware of issues related to slow performance at the start of matches. The studio is looking into the matter, but it might not be a simple, quick fix.

“If this could be fixed by spending money on faster/more servers we would do it, but unfortunately there is no silver bullet on this one,” Respawn said. “We’re just rolling up our sleeves and digging in. We’ll keep you updated on any progress we make.”

It appears this latest update from Respawn is related only to PC; given the closed nature of consoles, cheating by way of third-party software is generally less common on console than PC, though cheating does still happen on PS4 and Xbox One.

In other Apex Legends news, the latest weapon balance patch is out out, while a future update will address hitbox concerns.

PAX Australia organisers have announced the dates for this year’s show. The annual event will take place October 11-13 at the Melbourne Convention Centre, organisers announced in a tweet that includes an image of a block-shaped Ibis.

There is no word yet on when tickets will go on sale or what the programming lineup– including panels, speakers, music acts and more–will look like yet. But those details and more–like who the keynote speaker will be–should become available in due course, so keep checking back with GameSpot for more.

2018’s PAX Australia was the first to feature combined efforts between PAX and EB Expo. Specifics about 2019’s show are unavailable at this point, so it remains to be seen if this partnership will continue in 2019 or what other changes and updates there might be in general.

Last year, Tomb Raider writer Rhianna Pratchett gave the keynote address, while other big names like Bethesda executives Pete Hines and Tim Willits attended the show. For more on PAX Aus 2018, check out GameSpot’s hub with all of our written and video coverage.

PAX Aus is just one of the show’s global events. The next PAX is PAX East which comes to Boston, Mass. starting on March 28.

New Releases continues to march through March, and this week’s episode has a healthy portion of Japanese games, including new versions of some previous releases like Dissidia Final Fantasy NT Free Edition and The Caligula Effect: Overdose. Shonen Jump fans can also explore a new island with One Piece World Seeker. Meanwhile in the US, The Division 2 takes its shooter-looter action to Washington, DC. You can also shoot your way through RICO this week.

Dissidia Final Fantasy NT Free Edition — March 12

Available on: PS4, PC

As the name says, this is a free version of the Final Fantasy fighting game. It doesn’t include the story mode, but you can throw down with a rotating group of available characters and play against others online, even if they own the full game. You can also purchase starter packs if you want to hold on to a certain fighter when the roster rotates.

Further Reading:

The Caligula Effect: Overdose — March 12

Available on: PS4, PC, Switch

The Caligula Effect is an RPG about high school students who live in a virtual world. Your goal is to recruit them and fight your way back to the real world, Matrix style. This remake of the 2016 game includes a new female protagonist, new endings, and something the developers call the “Forbidden Musician Route.”

Further Reading:

RICO — March 12 (PS4), March 13 (Xbox One) March 14 (PC/Switch)

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch

The premise of RICO seems simple: kick down doors, shoot bad guys, and clear out each level. Thing is, each level–or case, as the cops call them–is randomly generated. Whether you play solo, online co-op, or couch co-op, you’ll never clear out the same building twice.

Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 — March 15

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC

Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 is moving from New York City to Washington, DC. Survivors in the capitol must fight off bands of raiders, and you can do that in four-player co-op. You can also take on others in competitive multiplayer and suit up in your best gear to brave new raids and Dark Zones.

One Piece World Seeker — March 15

Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC

World Seeker is far from the first One Piece video game, but it is the first one to feature an open world. Set on Jail Island, this adventure features Luffy, his pirate crew, and characters all the way up to the Whole Cake Island Arc. You’ll carry out quests and earn karma as you encounter fan-favorite heroes and villains.

Further Reading:

We’re not even halfway through March, and the month still has plenty of video games to deliver. Next week, New Releases will take a look at From Software’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and a surprise Nintendo Switch port of Turok.

Superhero films are all the rage today, and Captain Marvel is just the latest example of massive commercial success in the genre. But not every superhero film does well.

Seemingly responding to Captain Marvel’s massive box office result, Torque director Joseph Kahn said on Twitter, “No superhero movie fails.” Then Josh Trank, the director of 2015’s Fantastic Four film, chimed in with a fitting response.

“Hold my beer,” he said.

It appears Trank is talking about his own film, Fantastic Four, as an example of how not every superhero movie is a guaranteed hit. After enjoying breakout success with 2012’s Chronicle, Trank was hired by Fox to make the Fantastic Four movie–and it could have gone better. The movie was panned by critics and it made just $56 million in the US and Canada. The film pulled in around $168 million globally against a reported budget of $120 million.

The movie stars Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell, and Kata Mara, with a script from X-Men series writer Simon Kinberg.

In a tweet that Trank sent and quickly deleted just before Fantastic Four’s release, the director said he had a “fantastic vision” for the movie that he claimed would have received “great reviews.” However, the suggestion from the deleted tweet is that the studio wanted to go a different way.

Trank’s next movie is Fonzo, which stars Tom Hardy as the gangster Al Capone.

Winners: The Shield

Ok, Mat. Do your best to try not to talk about how boring you find Bobby Lashley and how it made a lot more sense for Elias to be in this match instead of him. I know I just told myself not to hate on Lashley, but his spear sucks. It looks like he accidentally tripped and bumped into a guy. Why am I so mean to this guy? Maybe it’s because I see potential that’s wasted? I don’t know.

So this match was a nostalgiafest. Look, I was never really into the Shield when they were around, but I very much appreciate the entirety of this match. It was one half greatest hits and one half a new chapter in the Shield saga. It felt good to see them all together again and pull off some of their signature moments.

Sure, the folks they were taking on were one dimensional in a sense, but it really worked for the story. Even though Seth Rollins, on his own, feels like he’s a main event guy, especially once Brock Lesnar is out of the picture. Every member got their spots, and it all led to a really nice ending that will get people talking for at least a few days. Who doesn’t like a PPV closing out with everyone smiling?

8.5/10

-Mat Elfring

The problem with Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, and Baron Corbin is Bobby Lashley. But we’ll get to that. I’m so glad this match kicked off with a traditional Shield entrance, especially if this is truly the last time we’ll get to see it. That’s a cool moment were fans, as Dean Ambrose possibly winds down his time in WWE.

Anyway, back to Bobby Lashley. He’s so boring and bland. And that’s crazy because there were times in TNA or Impact or GFW or whatever it was called at the time where he was truly entertaining. I’m not sure what’s keeping from from achieving that sort of character again, but it’s just not there and his entire team suffers because of it.

Thankfully, this match serves one purpose and that’s showcasing the Shield. And, for the most part, they’re all awesome. This was simply a wild brawl, which helped it stand out a main event-worthy. Because as great as it is that Roman’s back and the Shield is together, there’s no actual stakes at play here. So making it a wild and crazy crowd-pleaser of a bout was key.

And, for what it’s worth, this was essentially a Shield greatest hits album, which is all it needed to be. Everything you loved about Shield matches was thrown in, from the rabid pack of dogs tearing apart opponents with punches and kicks, to triple powerbombs. They even surrounded the ring before taking out Baron Corbin once and for all.

If this is the last ride for the Shield, they went out as awesome as ever, even if the match didn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things.

9/10

-Chris E. Hayner

Image credit: WWE

The HBO comedy Crashing from comedian Pete Holmes will not return for a fourth season. Holmes himself announced on Twitter that HBO has canceled the program, which is produced by Judd Apatow, after three seasons.

In the semi-autobiographical comedy, which premiered in February 2017, Holmes plays a fictional version of himself. The show chronicles Holmes’ early career as he’s trying to make it big as a comedian in New York City. It doesn’t go so well at first, both professionally and in his personal life as Holmes, a one-time aspiring pastor, finds his wife with another man. Holmes ends up homeless, and finds himself “crashing” on the couches of his comedian friends. The show features a number of famous comedians besides Holmes such as Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Ray Romano, and Sarah Silverman.

The Crashing finale aired on March 10, featuring yet another famous comedian, John Mulaney. Some shows that get canceled leave matters unresolved, but Holmes said Crashing “wraps up VERY nicely.”

While Crashing is coming to an end, Holmes and Apatow have talked about the potential to make a Crashing movie someday. However, no further details are available.

Here’s Apatow on Conan O’Brien’s show talking about the end of Crashing:

After years of development, Sony Bend has completed production of the new PS4 exclusive zombie game Days Gone. In a post on Twitter, Sony Bend confirmed that the game had reached “gold” status, meaning the team has finished development of the project.

With the game completed, it can now be sent to manufacturers for mass production. In the middle of the shot you can see a developer holding what could be the “gold” master disc.

Days Gone puts you into the boots of a biker named Deacon St. John, a bounty hunter who travels around the apocalypse on his bike. He fights against zombie-like creatures known as Freakers, among other enemies.

GameSpot’s Edmond Tran and Alessandro Fillari recently played the game, and came away with the impression that the game feels familiar–but that might not be a bad thing. For more, you can check out GameSpot’s interview with Days Gone’s creative director John Garvin and game director Jeff Ross.

Days Gone launches on April 26 exclusively for PS4.