Ataribox Gets New Name, Pre-Order Details Coming In April

Atari has shared some more details about its upcoming “Ataribox” system, including a new name and logo for the device. The retro-inspired console has been rechristened the Atari VCS, and it won’t be long until we hear when players will be able to pre-order one.

Atari revealed the system’s new name alongside the start of this year’s Game Developers Conference, where the company will show off the Atari VCS along with prototypes of its classic-style joystick and more modern controller. You can take a look at those, along with some new images of the hardware and its retro-inspired logo, in the gallery below.

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Atari says the VCS hardware was inspired by the “iconic silhouette” of the original Atari 2600. It will be powered by a custom AMD processor and feature “lots” of classic Atari games, along with “current titles from a range of studios.” An Indiegogo campaign for the system was originally scheduled to begin back in December, with a full launch following sometime this spring, but that was delayed because the company felt a “key element” was still missing.

“With the Atari VCS name, we know how important it is to get everything completely right and that’s why we briefly paused an imminent launch late last year,” said Michael Arzt, Atari COO of Connected Devices. “It was a difficult decision with the countdown underway, but we weren’t willing to go forward with even one thing out of alignment. We hope that Atari’s fans appreciate our extreme attention to detail and are as excited about the Atari VCS as we are.”

Atari plans to announce when pre-orders will begin for the VCS sometime in April. The company didn’t share any more details about when the console will launch or how much it will cost, but it was previously estimated to retail for $250-$300.

Incredibles 2 Comic Explores Parr Family’s Domestic Life

The Incredibles 2 is getting two tie-in comics, with one exploring the Parr family’s domestic life.

Entertainment Weekly reports the first comic, Incredibles 2: Heroes at Home, follows Dash and Violet doing housework while their parents Bob and Helen go grocery shopping. However, their superpowered baby brother Jack-Jack turns simple housework into total chaos.

Incredibles 2: Heroes at Home, described as an all-ages graphic novel, is written by Liz Marsham and illustrated by Nicoletta Baldari.

Incredibles 2: Crisis in Mid-Life! & Other Stories main cover, image via EW

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Here’s PUBG Running On Mobile

PUBG Corp. and Tencent have made a surprise announcement by suddenly releasing PUBG Mobile in the United States and other regions around the world. It had previously been available in select markets, but it’s now seeing a much wider release.

Not only is it out on iOS and Android, it’s available for free, unlike the PC and Xbox One versions. It comes not long after the launch of an invite-only test for Fortnite Mobile, which is currently only playable on iOS. The official PUBG Twitter account seemingly took a shot at Fortnite–or at least the many PUBG clones that are out there–in an announcement tweet, stating, “The true Battle Royale experience is now on your phone.”

If you’re eager to get a look at what it’s like, you can check out our livestream with the game above. You’ll see it running on an iPhone X, although a wide range of hardware is supported across iOS and Android. The game has a number of graphics settings that allow it to scale to different hardware.

This is an in-development version–the developers say it will continue to improve–but it feels like a surprisingly complete version of the existing game. As with Fortnite Mobile, the controls are somewhat of a challenge, but again we see some minor changes that have been made to better fit the platform.

Dragon Ball Super Episode 130 Review

Warning: The following review contains spoilers for the episode.

 

The stakes couldn’t be higher as Ultra Instinct Goku takes on the mighty Jiren. The two are pushed to their limits and there is precious little time remaining before the Tournament of Power ends. While Episode 130 had some narrative missteps with it’s ending, opting to drag out the fight with sudden physical ailments and character appearances, its presentation was above and beyond anything seen previously, and the story helped define Goku’s motivation beyond his hunger for battle.

The animation is leaps and bounds better than anything Super has presented before. From the subtle lines that help define the weary warriors to the bombastic fight scenes that burst with color and movement, Episode 130 displays Super at its best. With a franchise as old as Dragon Ball, it can be tough to innovate, but Super wisely didn’t rely just on the fidelity of its designs – it also went out of its way to depict battles in new and interesting ways. Ultra Instinct Goku’s movements combined with new camera angles added some much-needed zest to the fight, further giving this lead up to the finale the drama it deserves.

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Ataribox Console Is Officially Named the Atari VCS

Atari’s upcoming console, its first in 20 years, is officially named Atari VCS.

Atari unveiled the console’s name today alongside two controller prototypes and an official logo. The first controller is a joystick reminiscent of the Atari 2600’s, while the second resembles a modern Xbox controller, complete with asymmetrical analog sticks and ABXY buttons. A preorder date for Atari VCS will be revealed in April.

Atari’s “retro-inspired gaming and entertainment platform,” previously known as Ataribox, was first teased at last year’s E3. Atari later revealed more details, saying it will be a “full PC experience for the TV, bringing you streaming, applications, social, browsing, music, and more.” Atari VCS will support pre-loaded retro Atari games, as well as “current titles from a range of studios.”

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Sea Of Thieves Release: Here’s When Servers Go Live

Sea of Thieves is a big release for a variety of reasons. It’s the first big original game from Rare in quite some time, the first big Xbox One exclusive of the year, and the first of Microsoft’s games to launch day and date on Game Pass. Whatever your reason for playing, you’ll be doing so at a different time depending on where in the world you reside. Although it has a release date of March 20, this is an online-only game, and servers go online at various times in different regions.

The first players are actually already online–regions like New Zealand, Australia, and Japan are already in, but you’ll still be waiting if you’re located in the West. Those in the UK won’t get online until late tonight–12 AM GMT on Tuesday, to be precise. In the US and Canada, meanwhile, servers go online at 9 PM PT/12 AM ET, so you’ll actually be able to play on Monday if you’re not in the Eastern Time Zone.

A full schedule for when servers come online can be seen on the Sea of Thieves website. This gradual rollout will hopefully prevent any online connection issues from popping up, but you can keep an eye on the situation with Rare’s server status page.

As noted above, Xbox Game Pass member will get access to Sea of Thieves for free at the same time the game goes on sale for Xbox One and PC. That allows you to play for as long as you remain a Game Pass subscriber. Alternatively, you can get a free copy of the game right now by purchasing an Xbox One X.

Unfortunately, reviewers weren’t granted access to Sea of Thieves in advance of its release, so we don’t yet have a review. You can check back in the coming days for our impressions of the game. In the meantime, check out the 10 things we learned from the recent beta.

New Fortnite: Battle Royale Blitz Mode Is Now Live

Fortnite developer Epic has kicked off a new limited-time mode in Battle Royale on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. For the next few days, players will be able to jump into the short-lived Blitz mode, which promises “swift storms and lots of loot.”

Blitz was one of the new limited-time modes Epic teased last month for Battle Royale. As the studio previously described, the mode features much shorter matches than usual, which Epic says makes them “faster [and] more intense.” In Blitz, the maximum duration of a match is only 15 minutes, and each match begins with the storm circle already closing in.

On top of the shortened match times, loot availability has been adjusted in Blitz mode. The likelihood that treasure chests and ammo boxes will spawn during a match has been significantly increased, and Floor Loot spawns “nearly 100% of the time.” The spawn interval of Supply Drops and their descent time have also been decreased, while harvest resources have been doubled.

Epic hasn’t announced an exact end date for Blitz mode, but limited-time events in Battle Royale typically run for about a week, giving you only a few days to participate before it is removed from the rotation. You can find more details about Blitz mode on the official Fortnite website.

Blitz mode rolls out shortly after the release of Fortnite’s 3.3 patch. Along with an assortment of bug fixes, that update moved Smoke Grenades into the Vault. In their place, Epic introduced Supply Llamas and a new weapon in Battle Royale: remote explosives, which can be placed on the map and detonated from a distance. Another weapon, the Boogie Bomb, has also been “temporarily disabled” due to a bug, although it will return to the game once Epic has resolved the issue.

Dragon Ball Super Fans Gather In Latin America For Massive Public Screenings

Is there any better way to watch your favorite TV show than with 10,000 other fans in a stadium? Based on the reaction to a massive livestream of Dragon Ball Super in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, there likely is not. The city streamed the penultimate episode of Dragon Ball Super publicly on Saturday, March 17, and it wasn’t the only one.

There were several screenings throughout Latin America, including events in Ecuador and El Salvador, all of which attracted massive crowds, based on photos shared via social media. Fans arrived to watch the episode and celebrate the upcoming end of the series before a movie arrives in Japan later in the year.

However, Toei Animation–the company behind Dragon Ball Super–was not thrilled about unauthorized screenings of their show. “We have become aware of plans to exhibit episode #130 of Dragon Ball Super in stadiums, plazas, and public places throughout Latin America,” the company wrote in a statement on March 12. “Toei Animation has not authorized these public showings and does not support or sponsor any of these events not do we or any of our titles endorse any institution exhibiting the unauthorized episode.”

It’s also been reported that a letter was sent to the Mexican government from the Japanese embassy, asking that all screenings be suspended. However, local news outlet El Diario de Juárez (via Kotaku) reports that Toei and government officials in Ciudad Juárez were able to come to an agreement ahead of the screening event, authorizing at least that one gathering.

There is still one final episode of Dragon Ball Super to go. Then fans will have to wait until December 14, when the new film releases.

Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger Gets New Poster Ahead of Trailer

A new poster for Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger series has been released ahead of tomorrow’s trailer.

Marvel shared the poster on Twitter today, and it features the show’s two main characters, Tandy Bowen/Dagger (Olivia Holt) and Tyrone Johnson/Cloak (Aubrey Joseph), on a rooftop in front of a neon Roxxon Corporation sign. Check out the poster below:

New Cloak and Dagger poster, image via Twitter

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PUBG Mobile Gameplay Live

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