Category: Games

Pokemon Go‘s Valentine’s Day event may soon be coming to an end, but a new one has now begun in the popular mobile game. Niantic has kicked off a Lunar New Year event in Pokemon Go, which will fittingly reward players with bonuses when they catch certain dog-like Pokemon.

To celebrate the start of the Year of the Dog, Pokemon Go players will earn triple the normal amount of Stardust when they capture Poochyena, Growlithe, Snubble, Eevee, or Electrike. All of the aforementioned Pokemon will also spawn more frequently for the duration of the event. However, like the Valentine’s Day celebration, the Lunar New Year event will only be around for a very brief period of time, running from February 15-17.

Pokemon Go players in Taiwan can participate in a separate Lunar New Year event. From February 26 to March 3, Niantic is hosting a Safari Zone event at the Chiayi Lantern Festival. Players will have a chance to encounter Dratini, Mr. Mime, Growlithe, and other Pokemon during the day, while Chinchou and Lanturn will spawn at night when the lanterns begin to glow. You can read more about the Safari Zone even on the Pokemon Go website.

Pokemon Go’s Valentine’s Day event was scheduled to conclude today, February 15; however, due to a server issue that prevented many players from logging in to the game, Niantic has extended the event by an additional 24 hours. That gives players another chance to encounter increased spawns of Luvdisc and Chansey and earn triple Stardust for each one they catch.

Niantic recently introduced another batch of Gen 3 Pokemon to Pokemon Go, which consisted primarily of Dragon- and Flying-types like Salamence and Altaria. A new Gen 3 Legendary, Rayquaza, is also now available in the game. The Sky High Pokemon will appear in Raid Battles at Gyms until March 16.

The second Pokemon Go Community Day is still slated to take place later this month, on February 24. Like January’s Community Day, which featured a Pikachu that could use Surf, players will have a chance to encounter a Pokemon that knows a special move during the event. Niantic hasn’t revealed what that move will be, but the Pokemon this time is the rare Dragon-type Dratini.

Hangar 13, the studio responsible for 2016’s Mafia III, has been hit with a wave of layoffs. Publisher 2K confirmed the news with GameSpot, though the exact scope of the “staff reductions” is unclear at this point.

“2K can confirm that there have been staff reductions at Hangar 13 in order to ensure that the studio’s resources are properly aligned with its long-term development plans,” a 2K spokesperson said in a statement. “These reductions will not influence 2K’s ability to create and deliver its products that are currently in development. We never take these matters lightly, and are working with the affected employees to support them and explore potential opportunities throughout our organization.”

The news was originally reported by Kotaku; sources speaking with the site indicated that a “large portion” of the studio’s staff have been laid off. At least prior to Mafia III’s release, Hangar 13’s staff count was in the neighborhood of 150 people.

Mafia III was the debut game from Hangar 13, which was formed in 2014. (The first two titles were developed by Silver Wish Games, now known as 2K Czech.) Its next project had not been officially announced, though Mafia III itself was seemingly a success for the company. It shipped 4.5 million copies to retailers during its launch week, which was a new record for 2K at the time. By the end of March 2017, it had shipped 5 million units.

Although shipment numbers were strong, critics were not as kind–our Mafia III review scored it a 6/10, and the Metacritic average landed in the 60s. Following launch, the CEO of 2K parent company Take-Two, Strauss Zelnick, admitted, “The scores were lower than we would have liked.” He highlighted the positive reviews and chalked up others as “some anomalies in the review system.”

Bayonetta 2 arrives on Nintendo Switch very soon, and alongside it, Nintendo and Platinum Games are bringing the original Bayonetta to the console as well. Those who pick up a physical copy of Bayonetta 2 will receive a download code for the first title, but the two games will only be sold individually on the Switch Eshop. While it appears it would cost more to buy the games digitally than at retail, getting both together will still work out to the same price, thanks to an offer from Nintendo.

On the Eshop, each game is available for a different price: Bayonetta 2 costs $50, while the original Bayonetta runs for $30. However, purchasing either one of them will entitle you to an automatic discount on the other, bringing the total cost for both games to $59.98 (before tax)–about the same price as the physical release. If you buy Bayonetta 2 first, you can nab the original for about $10; conversely, buying the first Bayonetta will drop the price of Bayonetta 2 to about $30. You also don’t need to purchase both games immediately in order to receive the discount.

Nintendo held a similar promotion when Bayonetta 2 first released for Wii U back in 2014. The initial physical run of the game was likewise bundled with the original Bayonetta, but the two titles were only available separately on the Wii U Eshop, and purchasing one from the digital store would give you an automatic discount on the other. Nintendo later released Bayonetta 2 as a standalone physical release, though the company hasn’t announced if it will do the same for the new Switch version somewhere down the line.

Bayonetta and Bayonetta 2 launch for Switch on February 16, headlining a packed week of new releases for the console. The latter in particular was very well received by critics when it first released, earning a rare 10 out of 10 from GameSpot. Critic Mark Walton called it “a masterclass in pure, unadulterated action-game design” in our Bayonetta 2 review. You can see what other critics are saying about the Switch port in our Bayonetta 2 review roundup.

The two Bayonetta games arrive on Switch ahead of Bayonetta 3, which was one of the many surprises revealed during The Game Awards back in December. Nintendo didn’t share any concrete details about the game, except that it will be released exclusively for Switch. You can watch the first Bayonetta 3 trailer here.

As promised, Ubisoft has launched a free weekend event for Rainbow Six Siege on all platforms. Those on PS4, Xbox One, and PC can try out the full version of the excellent game, albeit with a caveat in the case of the PS4 version.

Siege’s free weekend is active now and available to everyone on PC (through both Uplay and Steam) and Xbox One. The latter is true even if you don’t have an Xbox Live Gold membership, which is often a requirement to take part in these events. However, if you want to try Siege out on PS4, you’ll need to be a PlayStation Plus member to do so.

No matter the platform, you’ll have access until February 18. Any progress you make can carry over to the full game, should you decide to purchase it. Siege also happens to be on sale right now, with several editions discounted on the Xbox Store, PlayStation Store, and Steam, which just kicked off its Lunar New Year sale.

After starting out somewhat humbly in 2015, Siege has evolved into one of the best multiplayer shooters on the market right now. Perhaps its biggest update yet, Chimera, is set to launch soon with new Operators and maps, as well as a brand-new, limited-time co-op mode called Outbreak. You won’t be able to try out any of that as part of this free play event, though owners of the PC version will be able to test it out ahead of its launch in March as part of a Technical Test Server update debuting next week.

Each time a new look at the upcoming Ready Player One movie arrives, it comes loaded with new bits of nostalgia to thrive on. Whether it’s the Iron Giant, the DeLorean from Back to the Future, or King Kong and a Tyrannosaurus Rex rampaging through the streets, the Steven Spielberg film looks to be packed with eye candy.

The newest clip takes that idea to an entirely new level, thanks to the song it features. The new teaser is set to a cover of “Pure Imagination,” originally performed by Gene Wilder in the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

A journey into a world of pure imagination is a perfect way of describing a movie like Ready Player One, which is largely set in a virtual world filled with famous characters and moments from the pop culture landscape, including films, TV, and video games. This latest extended trailer even includes a nod to the Halo franchise, with a group of UNSC Spartans running into battle, which you can see below.

Elsewhere in the new teaser, there is a mention of Super Mario Kart, an appearance by Hello Kitty, and one of the most massive chase sequences you can imagine. Ready Player One stars Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, and Simon Pegg. It races into theaters on March 29.