First, Destiny 2 players noted that Jotunn, a fusion rifle that looks like Mega Man’s Mega Buster arm cannon, looked a lot like a toaster. It fired powerful Solar blasts that instantly cooked people, so it was a fitting description. Next, Bungie teased the community that if it donated enough during a charity live stream, they would create a real Jotunn toaster. And now, that toaster is, in fact, an item you can have in your own personal home.
As noted in its This Week at Bungie blog post, the Jotunn toaster is now available on Bungie’s web store. It toasts the Destiny 2 tricorn logo into your bread so you can share your fandom via sandwiches, and bears a Black Armory logo on the side, just like Jotunn does in-game. It also sports a plastic sandwich case so you can transport your food along with you through space or wherever.
Destiny 2’s Jotunn-themed toaster bears its color scheme and Black Armory logo, and also comes with a convenient plastic case for exactly one sandwich.
One notable thing is that while the toaster is themed after Jotunn’s art design, it’s not actually shaped like the notorious in-game toaster, seen below.
Jotunn’s square shape and the fact that it fires firey energy blasts that basically flash-fry its targets have led to many a comparison to toasters.
Bungie said that’s because a more Jotunn-like design drove up the price of the actual item. Apparently, the most efficient shape for a toaster to be is toaster-shaped.
The birth of this toaster dates back to a June 2020 Bungie livestream for Community Gaming Expo, in which the studio worked to raise money for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. The stream raised more than $800,000 USD, but as it was happening, Bungie told fans that if the fundraiser managed to hit $777,777.77, (Bungie has an unexplained thing for 7s) they’d consider making the Jotunn toaster. Of course, the number was surpassed, and here we are.
You can preorder the Jotunn toaster now on the Bungie store for $85–which seems pretty reasonable? I have no frame of reference on the cost of toasters. Buying it also gets you an in-game emblem called Burnt Edges, so you can show off your custom toast with an emblem themed on getting that bread. So that’s probably worth the money.
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Werewolves Within producer and star, Sam Richardson, sits down with Kurt to discuss Ubisoft’s upcoming film, Werewolves Within. Werewolves Within is based on the VR game of the same name, and features a whodunnit comedic mystery… with WEREWOLVES.
GameSpot’s Kurt Indovina sat down and chatted with Werewolves Within’s star and producer Sam Richardson about his dual role in front and behind the screen.
Werewolves Within is the film adaptation of the VR game, produced by Ubisoft’s Film & Television production company. Written by Mishna Wolff, the film was made in part with Ubisoft’s Women’s Film and Television Fellowship program, which offers opportunities to women writers to develop Ubisoft IPs into movies and shows.
Werewolves Within releases to theaters June 25, 2021, with a July 2, 2021 VOD release date.
Courtney theorized that part of the game would be playing the fall of Ganondorf, which begins the cycle of a hero battling a corrupted Ganon that happens in every game. He thinks that the hero from 10,000 years ago that has been teased is Ganondorf and that the character with the corrupted arm in the trailer–whose face is not shown–isn’t Link but in fact Ganondorf.
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“This game will be learning about the fall of Ganondorf the man and then saving him from the evil that has been ruling over him for generations. And in doing so, we’ll break the cycle started by Demise,” Courtney wrote.
He went on to say that he also has a theory on what the official title for the game might be, which Nintendo has kept secret because it might give away part of what the game is about. Courtney theorized it might be called “Demise of the Wild” which plays into the corruption caused by Demise and is a call back to Breath of the Wild, which seems very closely related to this game.
Lost In Random is the latest game from Zoink Games, a creative and artistically driven studio responsible for Fe, Ghost Giant, Flipping Death, and Stick It To The Man. Lost In Random is an action-adventure in a dark fantasy world, with a hand-crafted, stop motion-like aesthetic.
GameSpot’s Kurt Indovina sat down and chatted with Lost In Random’s game and art director Olov Redmalm and head of development Klaus Lyngeled.
In the above video, Redmalm talks about the creative process in designing the world of Random, and the importance of embracing imaginative and unconventional ideas and forming them within the game’s fantastical world. Klaus, on the other hand, talks Zoinks’ studio philosophy, the importance of art and story, and how it went from working with pixel art to Lost In Random–a big-budget AAA game. Lost In Random is the second Zoink game to be published as an EA Original, the first being Fe.
Lost In Random is expected to release in 2021 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Calendar Man has been unveiled as one of the key villains in Batman: The Long Halloween, Part 1, the hotly anticipated animated adaptation of the acclaimed miniseries by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale.
Warner Bros. Entertainment recently released a new clip from the comic-based feature, spotlighting Calendar Man at the forefront of Batman and Police Captain James Gordon’s investigations. The duo visits the in-the-know villain, who is acutely aware of every date of the year, in his appropriately decorated cell at Arkham Asylum as part of their attempts to ascertain the identity of the Holiday Killer.
Based on the 13-issue comics story arc first published in 1996, The Long Halloween chronicles an early period in Batman’s crime-fighting career that sees him on the trail of the Holiday Killer, a serial murderer who claims a new victim on each major holiday. Batman’s mission to catch Holiday also sees him cross paths with supervillains such as Joker, Catwoman, Scarecrow, Calendar Man, and Solomon Grundy.
The animated adaptation’s all-star voice cast features Jensen Ackles as Batman/Bruce Wayne, together with Billy Burke as James Gordon, David Dastmalchian as Calendar Man, Troy Baker as Joker, the late Naya Rivera as Catwoman/Selina Kyle, Josh Duhamel as Harvey Dent, Titus Welliver as Carmine Falcone, Amy Landecker as Barbara Gordon, Julie Nathanson as Gilda Dent, Jack Quaid as Alberto, Fred Tatasciore as Solomon Grundy, and Alastair Duncan as Alfred, amongst others.
Superman: Man of Tomorrow and Voltron: Legendary Defender veteran Chris Palmer directed Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One from a screenplay by his fellow Man of Tomorrow colleague Tim Sheridan, with producers Jim Krieg and Kimberly S. Moreau. Butch Lukic served as a supervising producer while Michael Uslan and Sam Register acted as executive producers on the feature-length animated movie, which is being distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on Digital and Blu-ray on June 22, 2021.
Tetris Effect’s updated edition, Connected is coming to PlayStation next month after launching exclusive for Xbox – and it will feature cross-platform multiplayer.
Tetris Effect launched in 2018 and was exclusive to PlayStation 4. Then in 2020, an upgraded version of the game called Tetris Effect: Connected became an exclusive launch title for the Xbox Series X and S. This enhanced version of the game developed the base experience, bringing improved competitive and cooperative multiplayer to Tetris Effect. If you were holding out for the update’s release on other consoles, we have great news.
On the PlayStation Blog today, it was confirmed that Tetris Effect: Connected is coming to PlayStation, and will launch in late July. Those who already own Tetris Effect on PlayStation will be able to update their version of the game to Tetris Effect: Connected for free. It will also be playable on PlayStation 5 via backwards compatibility.
Tetris Effect: Connected on PlayStation will feature a number of new multiplayer modes where players can team up to take on boss opponents or compete in Zone Battles, where player’s avatars punch eachother as they clear lines. The game’s multiplayer modes will be cross-platform, meaning you can invite players from other console formats to your online games with a Room ID code. A Spectator Mode will allow users to watch intense Tetris showdowns too.
If you want to get a taste of Tetris Effect: Connected on PlayStation ahead of the update’s full release in late July, those who own Tetris Effect already will be able to download a beta version of the game in late June. The beta will be available starting June 23, 8pm Pacific.
You can check out our review of Tetris Effect here, which we scored an 8.5,, calling it “something you’ve likely never experienced.”
With their tight mechanics and tons of challengingly satisfying gameplay, developer Roll7’s OlliOlli titles have garnered a place in the hearts of skateboarding game fans. OlliOlli World very pointedly doesn’t fix what isn’t broken, and at first blush, it might just kind of feel like “more OlliOlli.” What’s notable about the third game in the series, however, is that it feels like it’s improving on Roll7’s ideas in every way, from art style to course design. In a sense, this may well be OlliOlli’s final form.
We got a chance to play about an hour of OlliOlli World with an early build of the game. Fans of the skating franchise should know that, despite the updated art style, bigger levels, and big Super Mario World-style overworld map, OlliOlli World is still pretty true to the earlier titles. Side-scrolling courses are filled with opportunities to do tons of different tricks as you jump, grind, and ramp through the level. Flicking and rolling combinations on the analog sticks, utilizing patterns similar to fighting games, allows you to do tricks, and building combinations amps up your score. That’s the underlying mechanical loop of the series, and here, OlliOlli’s DNA hasn’t really changed all that much.
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Now Playing: OlliOlli World – Official Reveal Trailer
What Roll7 has done is improve on that DNA pretty significantly, though. Throughout the first two areas you can access, you’ll play through courses that feel very similar to the OlliOlli levels of the past two games. You skate from one side to the other, landing all the tricks you can to build your score by the end. But everything about each of these levels feels bigger and more involved, from their layouts and included elements, to the broader context of the game.
First, OlliOlli World brings a story to the franchise for the first time. You play a skater trying to distinguish yourself in Radlandia, a paradise for people of your type. You join up with a crew of like-minded skate folk who cheer you on, help you out, and eventually take you on a road trip across the island. Radlandia includes several biomes and a bunch of levels in each one, so it seems like there will be plenty to explore.
The fun thing about the addition of characters and story tidbits between runs is that they add a lot to OlliOlli World’s actual gameplay. On every course, you have records set by the other skaters in your group for you to surpass. Some of them provide you with distinct challenges, similar to the ones available in levels in the earlier OlliOlli games. And other times, you’ll find folks on the courses or in between them who can point you in the directions of new challenges and levels you wouldn’t be able to open otherwise.
Even the levels themselves offer options for exploration. While courses have you skating from left to right (or right to left) on a single track most of the time, you’ll often find places where you can shift up or down onto a new pathway. Sometimes, you’ll need to take these paths to complete certain challenges, but others will lead you to secrets and additional characters to talk with. And once you get the handle of a level, choosing which paths to take and when can allow you to boost up your score pretty significantly.
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OlliOlli has included plenty of challenges and additional objectives throughout the series, but they feel expanded on in OlliOlli World. In past games, you’ve been encouraged to find all of a certain object or hit tricks at certain points, and those kinds of objectives are here as well. There are also more that encourage you to pay attention to the levels and their backgrounds, to avoid characters and animals as they populate a track, and basically, to become a better, more engaged skater. Level design in the portion we played throws in new additions like billboards you can wall-skate into tricks, and half pipes that change your direction, which give you more opportunities to plan routes so you can complete the more varied-feeling challenges OlliOlli World offers.
It’s all basically similar to what fans have seen in past games, but improved. It also feels like Roll7 has made some tweaks to how OlliOlli World plays to make it a bit more approachable for new players. Landing tricks generally feels a bit easier than it has been previously, for example, with the requirement of timing a button press with hitting the ground to nab your points seemingly being removed. But there’s still quite a bit of challenge, it seems, and returning fans will be rewarded for knowing OlliOlli well. Spending the time to build up your stick-flicking skills to pull off tricks, and carefully timing for landing grinds and wall-rides, are still essential. It just feels like OlliOlli is providing a bigger world so you can relax into building up those skills, and giving you more ways to engage with it than just hitting the highest score you can.
And generally, OlliOlli World comes off as a place that’ll reward you for the time you put in there. Its bright, animated art style is a joy to behold, and there’s just enough story to give you a reason to wander around its weird environs and uncover new things off the beaten path. More than anything, though, OlliOlli World just feels good to play, in the same way that past games in the series have. Tricks are easy to pull off but difficult to master, skating is quick and rewarding, and while slams are plentiful, it’s easy to quickly restart a course and feel yourself getting better as you play it.
OlliOlli World feels like it’s full of little tweaks and smart additions to Roll7’s underlying ideas, and with a big world to skate through full of weird people to meet, it seems like skateboarding fans are going to find plenty of places to lay down tricks and explore.
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Apple has released the first trailer for the upcoming Will Ferrell/Paul Rudd TV series The Shrink Next Door, showing off the two comedic actors in their latest project.
The Shrink Next Door is based on the real-life story of a man and his therapist and the journey they have together. Ferrell plays Marty, while Rudd portrays Dr. Ike. “When he first meets Dr. Ike, Marty just wants to get better at boundaries. Over 30 years, he’ll learn all about them–and what happens when they get crossed,” reads a line from Apple’s description.
The trailer shows off some of what to expect in what looks to be an emotional, heartfelt story that may also go to some dark places. In one sequence, we see Ferrell’s character using a shovel to burying something or someone in his lawn. Here’s the trailer:
The Shrink Next Door premieres November 12 on Apple TV+. In addition to Ferrell and Rudd, the show features WandaVision breakout star Kathryn Hahn.
After announcing that Cyberpunk 2077 will return to the PlayStation Store on June 21, developer CD Projekt Red has updated the game with a series of further improvements.
Update 1.23 for Cyberpunk 2077 is out now across console, PC, and Stadia, and it fixes dozens of bugs across the game. A bug that could cause some Arasaka guards to clip through doors is now fixed, while the patch also fixes a problem that made an Arasaka officer’s body inaccessible, which in turn prevented players from progressing.
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The patch notes also mention fixes for Johnny’s spectral appearance in a number of quests, while rocks in the Badlands should now look better. Additionally, instances of clipping for NPC clothing have been addressed with the 1.23 patch.
Xbox Series X|S owners can now update their consoles with the latest software from Microsoft. While the update doesn’t include many revolutionary changes for all players, it does add new accessibility options in the form of speech-to-text and text-to-speech.
After downloading this update, players will be able to turn on speech-to-text and text-to-speech via the settings menu. From there, head to the ease of access menu and then to game and chat transcription. Speech-to-text will convert all the words spoken by party members into text that’s displayed in a small overlay placed on top of whatever game you’re playing.
Text-to-speech on the other hand will let players type into a party text chat and have their words be read aloud to other players by a synthetic voice. Both options can be accessed while in a party by heading to the options menu there and then to the configure ease of access settings menu.
Xbox App users will also notice an update today. According to a news post from Xbox, the app is becoming its own social network. Players will start seeing posts from games that can be liked, shared, or commented on. “Stories” are also coming to the Xbox mobile app, although it’s not clear when.
While not listed in Xbox’s news post, some games are also being optimized with the June Xbox Update. According to Jason Ronald, the director of program management at Xbox, the update will also fix “frame rate issues in Alien: Isolation and Yakuza 3 when an external HDD was connected.” While Yakuza 3’s new potential frame rate isn’t detailed, Ronald said that Alien: Isolation should run at 60fps with the fps boost option enabled on both the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.
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