Google Stadia Exclusives Aim To Be ‘Fun to Watch’ As Well As Play

Google’s vice president for Stadia, Phil Harrison, has elaborated on the kind of exclusive games players will see running on the upcoming video games streaming platform.

Talking to IGN and other journalists at a roundtable event at Google’s UK offices, Harrison said “An innovation that we want to bring to bare is games that are as fun to watch as they are to play,”

“That may be even introduce a new way of experiencing games,” he elaborated. “Most of the games we play today are measured in button presses per second. Watching a YouTube video is button presses per minute. And maybe there’s something in between, which is allowing the less engaged gamer to have just as much fun being part of a game. But maybe they have a slightly different viewpoint on the world. Maybe they have a more strategic view.”

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Black Mirror Timeline Explained (Updated With Season 5 & Bandersnatch!)

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Annabelle Comes Home: 17 Conjuring Universe Easter Eggs You Might Have Missed

Battlefield 5’s Next Free Map Is Out Now, And It Might Look Familiar

It’s a big day for Battlefield V, as the World War II shooter’s next free map has arrived. The map Al Sundan came to Battlefield V today through the Chapter 4: Defying the Odds update.

Al Sundan is set in the North Africa desert, and players may note that it looks familiar. That’s because it is pulled from the single-player mission, Behind Enemy Lines, from the Under No Flag chapter of the campaign.

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Al Sundan is described as a “versatile map” that supports numerous different play-styles. The map features a number of different vehicles and planes, while there are six different capture points. The map contains big, open areas, so DICE advise players to never run in straight lines and use smoke screens to stay hidden.

The map supports two modes–Squad Conquest and Team Deathmatch. However, developer DICE said it encountered some “stability issues” with the map, so “not every game mode intended for Al Sundan” will be available. It’s not immediately clear what other modes might be planned for it, but looking at the servers in-game right now, only Squad Contest and Team Deathmatch are available.

Go to the Battlefield website to learn more about Al Sundan.

Battlefield V’s next free map is Marita, which is set in Greece; it arrives in July. After that is Operation Underground, which takes place in an underground subway system and releases in October. Following that, Battlefield V heads to the Pacific theatre with a new Iwo Jima map later in the year. All post-release DLC maps for Battlefield V are free.

Ahead Of Season 2, Apex Legends’ Kings Canyon Map Is Already Changing

Ahead of Season 2’s launch on July 2, Apex Legends is already beginning to undergo changes. Next time you drop in Kings Canyon, head on over to Repulsor Station and you’ll notice the once dormant facility has reawakened.

First noticed by Reddit user RozenFroh, the IMC Repulsor Tower at Repulsor Station has begun to spin. Titanfall and Titanfall 2 fans may remember the huge towers from Respawn’s popular shooter franchise. When the towers spin, they emit a painfully loud sound at a frequency that’s inaudible to humans. However, it’s excruciating to animals, and so the IMC (the antagonists of the Titanfall franchise) use the towers to keep the alien Flyers and Leviathans away from important structures.

Since Apex Legends’ launch, the Repulsor Tower has remained inactive. The tower is most likely being turned on now in response to the growing Flyer population, which have begun invading Kings Canyon. However, as we know from Apex Legends Season 2’s launch trailer (embedded above), a mysterious hacker–most likely the rumored character Crypto–is about to destroy that tower. With its destruction, there’s nothing keeping the Flyers and much larger Leviathans at bay, and their invasion of Kings Canyon will make huge changes to the battle royale game’s map.

The start of Season 2 is right around the corner, and it introduces a bunch of new content and features in Apex Legends. The most notable change is the aforementioned transformation of Kings Canyon, which sees the destruction of several landmarks and the creation of a few new ones. Titanfall 2’s L-Star is also being added as a Legendary Gold energy-based weapon, randomly dropping in Supply Drops like the Kraber and Mastiff. The Season 2 battle pass offers more Legend cosmetics and weapon skins to unlock, as well as brand-new Skydive Emotes. You’ll also gain access to a ranked playlist with the launch of Season 2, giving you the chance to climb the six-tiered ladder between Bronze and Apex Predator. Finally, just like Season 1, Season 2 introduces a brand-new Legend for you to play: Wattson, the daughter of the man who built the Kings Canyon arena.

In GameSpot’s Apex Legends review, Phil Hornshaw wrote, “Apex Legends is a mix of smart shooter ideas that makes for a competitive, team-based game that gets at all the best parts of battle royale while addressing a lot of the weaknesses. Respawn’s intense focus on team play makes Apex more than just a worthy addition to the genre; it’s an indicator of where battle royale should go in the future.”

Best New Horror Movies To Stream Exclusively On Netflix And Shudder

Comic-Con: Game Of Thrones And Other HBO Series Head To Hall H

San Diego Comic-Con is just weeks away, coming July 18-21 to the city’s convention center. This is a big time of the year for movie and television news, as networks and studios release info and footage for their upcoming projects. HBO recently announced in a press release that it is headed to Hall H–the biggest panel room in the convention–for numerous upcoming events.

Kicking things off on Thursday is the upcoming series His Dark Materials, based on the novel series of the same name by author Philip Pullman–which the 2007 film The Golden Compass was also based on. The series will be set in a fantasy world where humans have what’s called “daemons,” which are animals that are the manifestation of souls. The show follows Lyra (Dafne Keen), an orphan who is living with teachers in an Oxford college. Many of the cast members from the upcoming series will be in attendance for the panel.

On Friday, select members of the cast from Game of Thrones will head to Hall H for a panel. While the TV series has completely wrapped up, the cast and showrunners will be there, and they will more than likely discuss the final season of the hit series. They’ll also probably answer questions from the audience, which should be interesting considering the negative response from some vocal fans of the series. It was recently revealed HBO would be releasing a very cool-looking collector’s edition of the entire Game of Thrones series.

Finally, on Saturday, Hall H will host a Westworld panel consisting of the cast and directors of the series. The first trailer for Season 3 was revealed recently, and it seems the latest installment of the western/sci-fi HBO series is a bit of a departure for the show. Additionally, fans got their first look at Aaron Paul’s role.

What’s missing from HBO’s Hall H invasion is their upcoming series Watchmen, based on the limited comic series of the same name. However,HBO has stated there will be a “surprise in-world opportunity” taking place in the Gaslamp District, but nothing else has been revealed as of this writing. Check out all you need to know about these panels and who is on them below.

Hall H Panel Times/Dates:

  • Thursday, July 18, 4:45 PM: His Dark Materials – Cast members James McAvoy, Dafne Keen, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ruth Wilson, and executive producer Jane Tranter on panel.
  • Friday, July 19, 5:30 PM: Game of Thrones – Cast members Jacob Anderson, John Bradley, Nikolaj Coster-Walda, Liam Cunningham, Nathalie Emmanuel, Iain Glen, Conleth Hill, Maisie Williams, Isaac Hempstead Wright, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, and executive producer Miguel Sapochnik on panel.
  • Saturday, July 20, 1:15 PM: Westworld – Cast members Ed Harris, Thandie Newton, Aaron Paul, Tessa Thompson, Evan Rachel Wood and Jeffrey Wright, and executive producers and directors Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy on panel.

Come back to GameSpot during San Diego Comic-Con for coverage from the show floor as well as some of the biggest panels.

Does Spider-Man: Far From Home Have a Post-Credits Scene?

Spider-Man: Far From Home hits theaters next week, which means you may be wondering: Is there anything after the credits?

While nearly all current MCU movies have some kind of post-credits goodie, Avengers: Endgame (initially, anyway) only had an audio callback after the end credits and not an actual scene.

All of which is to answer the question, should you stick around until the very end of the closing credits of Far From Home for any surprises or hints about what the future might hold for Spidey and the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

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Daisy Ridley Confirms She’s Not In New Star Wars Trilogy

Actress Daisy Ridley hit a home run with her first major movie role, starring in the new Star Wars trilogy as Rey. She plays the character again in December’s Rise of Skywalker, but after that, she is apparently stepping away from the sci-fi series. Speaking to BuzzFeed, Ridley re-confirmed that she is not involved in the next trilogy of films.

“I’m not in the next trilogy,” she said

There were rumors that Ridley might appear in either the new trilogies from The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson or Game of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff. But that’s not happening.

“They always said it was going to be a separate story,” Ridley remarked about both sets of new trilogies.

The next big Star Wars movie after Rise of Skywalker is the untitled first movie in the new trilogy from Weiss and Benioff. The film is scheduled to premiere in 2022.

But would Ridley ever return to the Star Wars universe, further down the road? She didn’t say one way or the other, but instead said, “It’s a great universe; I’ve had a great time.”

Also in the interview, Ridley confirmed she has no plans to ever return to social media, referencing Selena Gomez’s quotes about how social media is dangerous. Asked if she has a plan for how to deal with haters online, Ridley said people think their opinions matter more than they actually do.

“It’s great to have freedom of expression, but I do feel like people think opinions have so much weight,” she said. “I don’t think bad vibes should have the sun shone on them. I don’t want to read your thing.”