Category: Games

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Star Citizen‘s crowdfunding effort has been immensely successful. By the latest count, it’s brought in more than $195 million. Some of that money has gone toward paying big-name actors to appear in the game’s Squadron 42 single-player mode. And now, developer Cloud Imperium Games has released an impressive new trailer showing many of the big names who are lending their likenesses and voices to the game.

The trailer, which was released at the Star Citizen fan event CitizenCon, shows celebrities like Gillian Anderson, Mark Hamill, Gary Oldman, Mark Strong, Henry Cavill, John Rhys Davies, Liam Cunningham, and Ben Mendelsohn. We don’t know for sure, but this appears to be one of the most celebrity-filled video games ever. Check out the trailer below.

The trailer comes not long after Cloud Imperium Games shared more details on Star Citizen’s new Alpha 3.3 update. It adds a new face-scanning Face over IP feature, as well as more ships, weapons, enemy characters, and lots more. Check out GameSpot’s interview with the developer here to learn more.

Squadron 42, which bills itself as a “cinematic single-player adventure,” sees you playing as a rookie combat pilot. Along the way, you’ll come into contact with the characters played by all the celebrities in the trailer above.

Pledging $45 gets you instant access to the Arena Commander dogfighting/racing mode and the first-person shooter mode Star Marine. These modes, and Squadron 42, like Star Citizen, remain in active development with no official release date announced as of yet.

The Fallout 76 beta is set to kick off on October 23 on Xbox One, but you may be able to put the game through its paces even sooner. Bethesda has announced that before the beta launches, some Xbox Insiders will be able to take part in a limited stress test to help the studio prepare for the beta launch.

Participants for the stress test will be chosen from a pool of players who have both pre-ordered Fallout 76 for Xbox One, and who are also members of the Xbox Insider program. Fulfilling those two criteria doesn’t guarantee you a spot, but it does put you in the running. Starting on October 13, you can check if you’ve been given access to the stress test by looking at the Insider Content tab of the Xbox Insider program.

This all comes with a few caveats. This is for North American players only, and you’ll need to be an Xbox Live Gold member as well since it’s an online game. Participants will be under an NDA, and your progress in the stress test won’t be saved. The beta version set to launch later this month is an entirely separate application. You also can’t earn any Achievements.

If those sound like deal-breakers, and you’ve pre-ordered the game anyway, you may be better off waiting for the full beta. It will start on October 23 on Xbox One and follow on PC and PS4 a week later on October 30. Even if you’ve pre-ordered the game, though, you may not necessarily get into the test the moment it starts. Bethesda is planning to send invites out in waves, with a relatively small number invited to begin. You can read more details about how and when it will roll out in our beta guide.

The Xbox Insider program is a free option for Xbox One owners that gets you into some early software tests for upcoming firmware, to offer feedback. You can find more instructions through the official site.

The annual Overwatch Halloween Terror event returns for 2018, and it’s live right now. As always, its release means Blizzard has added a variety of new cosmetic rewards to obtain. The highlight, of course, are the nine new skins–including six Legendary ones–for the game’s vast array of heroes and villains. While some of these simply dress someone up in a Halloween costume, a few transform their corresponding character into a frightful monster.

Undead McCree and Spider Widowmaker–both Epic skins–are among the new options introduced for Overwatch‘s 2018 event. There are also Legendary skins, such as Jack-O’Lantern Wrecking Ball and Swamp Monster Doomfist. Like previous years, skins can be found in limited-time loot boxes or be bought for 3000 credits. The Halloween-themed skins from previous years, meanwhile, are offered at a discount. Halloween Terror 2018 is now live and continues until October 31. Once it’s over, you’ll have to wait for next year to unlock any skins you missed.

Click through the images above to see all the new skins that have been released for this year’s event. You can also check our video showcasing all the new skins. If you’re eager to get your hands on some, buying a bundle of 50 loot boxes will net you 10 bonus ones for free.

Halloween Terror’s PvE mode, Junkenstein’s Revenge, has also r eturned. Taking place in an alternate reality, Junkenstein’s Revenge tells the story of Dr. Junkenstein (Junkrat) and the Witch of the Wilds (Mercy) attempting to take over the fictional kingdom of Adlersbrunn. Their schemes are thwarted by a team of heroes composed of the Alchemist (Ana), the Gunslinger (McCree), the Archer (Hanzo), the Soldier (Solder 76), the Countess (Widowmaker), the Swordsman (Genji), the Monk (Zenyatta), and the Viking (Torbjorn).

Alongside this, there’s an alternate version called Junkenstein’s Revenge: Endless Night that mixes up the formula. For 2018, there are now 10 options for who you can play as. The new additions to the rotation are Tracer and Brigitte. The update introducing the event also makes a variety of changes to characters, as detailed in the patch notes–most notably, it reworks Torbjorn.