7 Games That Were Something Else Entirely

Games are hard to make and, often, don’t always get released with their original vision intact. From a gameplay pivot here, to a character swap there, most go through some pretty big changes throughout their development. But then there are some games that change course completely.

BioShock originally began life as a very ambitious game about a cult deprogrammer, with an asymmetrical multiplayer mode that would see you play as a monster in another player’s story mode. Assassin’s Creed was originally a follow up to Prince of Persia: The Sands Of Time, and its name used to be Prince of Persia: Assassins, before the Prince was dropped completely.

There are countless more examples, and the video above explores 7 games that were something else entirely.

The Sims 4’s Star Wars Expansion Is Out Now, Here’s What You Need To Know

It’s a big day for The Sims 4, as the immensely popular life-management game has added its newest expansion, Journey to Batuu. The Star Wars add-on takes players to the planet of Batuu and brings characters like Rey and Kylo Ren to the game.

There are a variety of popular Star Wars locations you can visit, too, including Oga’s Cantina which plays music from the robot DJ R-3X. Players can also create their own lightsaber and build a droid of their own who will travel with them.

Throughout the expansion, players will meet up with other NPCs from The Resistance, the First Order, and various scoundrels, all of whom are trying to take control of the Black Spire Outpost.

“Players can pledge allegiance to the group of their choice and complete missions to earn their trust and some galactic credits along the way,” EA said in the description. “As Sims take on new challenges and critical missions, they’ll increase their reputation and unlock new rewards like starfighter access, new clothing, artifacts, and equipment, and eventually meet the leaders of the forces on Batuu.”

Players can choose to align with Rey and Vi Moradi in the Resistance or embrace the dark side with Kylo Ren and the First Order. Hondo Ohnaka, a character from Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, is the leader of the scoundrel faction.

What’s more, players can bring some of the Star Wars items with them back to their home worlds. Specifically, you can fight against others with your lightsaber, play sabacc with friends, or even bring your droid around with you.

The Journey to Batuu expansion is available for $20 across all platforms.

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Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare, Warzone Playlist Updates, New Operator, And More

Activision has detailed everything coming to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone this week on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. This includes a new Operator, playlist updates, the return of a massive battle royale mode, and more.

New Modern Warfare Operator And Playlist Updates

The newest Operator to join Modern Warfare is the famous Italian rapper Fabio Rovazzi, playing a sharpshooter named Morte who loves Spaghetti Westerns. In the Morte Operator Bundle, players get the brand-new character, his “Sentenza” skin, and two Legendary Blueprints. Alongside Morte’s bundle is the Devourer package, which includes a Legendary Assault Rifle Blueprint.

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On the multiplayer side, Modern Warfare received a playlist update filled with party games. Dubbed the Party Mode Moshpit playlist, players can experience a curation of more casual game modes like Gun Game. An additional playlist, titled 2v2 Gunfight, is also live and features the standard version of the mode and Gunfight On-Site Procurement (OSP). The latter disables the loadout, instead forcing players to rely on weapons found at random spots around the map.

Further playlist updates include Standard Ground War replacing Boots on the Ground War and Demolition being moved from the Quick Play menu to the Feature Playlist spotlight. Meanwhile, Shoot the Ship hasn’t gone anywhere.

Warzone Rumble And Vehicles Returns

Warzone sees some changes this week as well, including the return of Warzone Rumble. The massive 50v50 mode is back and will feature an experience based around Verdansk Stadium. Additionally, classic Battle Royale and Plunder modes will rotate throughout the week; King Slayer Trios and Plunder: Blood Money has been removed, while Plunder Trios was added.

Developer Infinity Ward confirmed that, alongside the playlist updates across both Modern Warfare and Warzone on all platforms, vehicles have been readded to the battle royale title. Vehicles were previously removed because of a game-breaking bug, in which they caused server crashes and booted players from Warzone matches by driving them into specific out-of-bounds areas on the map.

Call of Duty Mobile gets a brand-new map this week–though it’s not “new” to long-time Call of Duty fans. Terminal, from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, will join the game’s map rotation. And at the same time, a cooperative, hoard-based game mode called Attack of the Undead will also go live.

In other Call of Duty news, the multiplayer reveal for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is scheduled to go live on Wednesday, September 9 at 10 AM PT. Details on how to get into the game’s beta have been sparse, but we’ve rounded up everything we know about it so far. And check out our Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War pre-order guide to learn about the editions and bonuses available, and how to get the next-gen version.

Now Playing: Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Story So Far

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Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Champions Amiibo Are Getting A Reprint

While the Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel is still a ways off, Nintendo is releasing a prequel to the game in the form of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity this November. Alongside the new spin-off, a handful of Breath of the Wild Amiibo will be getting another printing.

Figures of Hyrule’s four Champions–Daruk, Urbosa, Mipha, and Revali–will be re-released on November 20, the same day that Age of Calamity launches for Switch. The figures will presumably interact with the game in some capacity, although Nintendo has not yet announced what they will do or unlock.

Set during the Great Calamity that befell Hyrule 100 years before the start of Breath of the Wild, Age of Calamity is a Dynasty Warriors-style action-adventure game developed by Koei Tecmo, the studio behind the original Hyrule Warriors. As in that title, players will be able to control a variety of different Zelda characters–Link, Zelda, and the aforementioned four Champions–and battle against swarms of Ganon’s minions.

Age of Calamity launches exclusively for Switch on November 20. The game is available to pre-order now at various retailers and on the Nintendo eShop. Those who spring for the digital edition will get a free bonus weapon in the game: the Lucky Ladle. You can learn more in our Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity pre-order guide.

As for the Breath of the Wild sequel, series producer Eiji Aonuma says that the team is still hard at work developing the game, but fans will have to wait “a bit longer” for an update on it. “Regarding the sequel, in order to make the vast world you enjoyed exploring in the original game even more impressive, the team is working hard on its development so you’ll have to wait a bit longer before we can provide more updates,” Aonuma said in a video message. The Breath of the Wild sequel does not yet have a release date.

Now Playing: Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Calamity – Official Announcement Trailer

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Series Gets New Details, Will Be Episodic

While contemporary television series typically take a whole season to tell a story, the upcoming CBS ALL Access Star Trek show Strange New Worlds will be taking a different approach, by utilizing episodic storytelling.

During the Star Trek Day panel for the show, the cast and crew of Strange New Worlds discussed what we can expect from the new series. “It’s a ship, and it’s traveling to strange new worlds, and we’re gonna tell big ideas, science fiction adventures, in an episodic mode, so we have room to kind of meet new aliens, see new ships, visit new cultures,” explained executive producer Henry Alonso Myers.

However, while the show will be episodic, there will still be carryover from one episode to the next via character arcs. An example Myers uses is if someone falls in love, but that all falls apart by the end of the episode, that will still weigh on him in future episodes, bringing “modern character sensibility to the classic episodic storytelling.”

The show, which was announced back in May, will focus on the characters Captain Christopher Pike, Spock, and Number One. It was given a full season order and will be set a decade before the original Star Trek series and will star Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, and Rebecca Romijn–all reprising their roles from Star Trek: Discovery.

“We’re turning to a more episodic model, so that the storytelling is more contained with episodic values, while the character arcs are stretched in more serialized continuity,” added executive producer Akiva Goldsman. “Unlike the new shows–Discovery or Picard–this exists in its own space. In a space where it is both imagined generally by those who came before us but never has actually been delved into specifically. “

There is already one specific plotpoint for the show that will carry over between episodes, according to co-executive producer Akela Cooper. “While we’ll have like individual, one-off plots, the character arcs are what’s going to carry us through in a more serialized fashion,” she said. “I will say there is one plot point that we will be sprinkling through the series until we actually get to the episode, and that’s all I can say about that.”

At the time of this writing, no release date has been set for the show, as it is still in pre-production.

New Xbox Console Exclusive Sees You Spend The Day With The Hitman Who Plans To Kill You

Developer Mischief has released the first official trailer for Adios, an upcoming first-person adventure game about a pig farmer who used to dispose of bodies for the mob but decides he doesn’t want to anymore. The game is scheduled to launch for Xbox One and PC.

Adios doesn’t have a release date yet, but in a tweet, the developer says that players can expect the game will come out “very soon.”

As seen in the trailer, embedded above, the game begins with the pig farmer telling a mob hitman that he no longer wants to participate in the organization’s dirty dealings. Knowing he’ll be forced to kill his friend if he no longer works for the mob, the hitman tries to convince the farmer to keep feeding bodies to his pigs. The two of you spend the day together completing odd jobs and exploring the farm–both knowing that the hitman will kill you if he can’t convince you to stay with the mob.

It looks like a fairly interesting premise. Mischief writes on the Adios Steam page that your choices will “determine the rest of your life,” implying there may be some agency in how the narrative ultimately ends.

The minimum PC requirements for Adios are listed below.

Adios PC Requirements

  • OS: Windows 8/10 (64-bit OS required)
  • Processor: Intel Core i5-750 2.68Ghz / AMD II x4 945 3.0Ghz or equivalent
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 560 2GB/AMD Radeon 6870 HD 2GB or equivalent (Integrated graphics not supported)
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 5 GB available space
  • Sound Card: Yes.

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Apple Seeks Damages From Epic In Newest Court Filing

In Apple’s September 8 court filing, the tech company is now seeking damages from Epic over breach of contract. “Although Epic portrays itself as a modern corporate Robin Hood, in reality it is a multi-billion dollar enterprise that simply wants to pay nothing for the tremendous value it derives from the App store,” the company stated in the filing.

In addition to wanting Epic’s external payment system permanently stopped and removed, Apple wants all earnings and profits generated as a result of Epic making it possible for players to bypass the App store’s payment system. Apple also claimed that it has been “injured in its business and has suffered damages, loss of goodwill and product image, and other harm.”

Apple’s filing is in response to Epic’s preliminary injunction against Apple to get Fortnite back on the App store. Epic’s Apple developer account was terminated on August 28, and prior to that, Epic’s appeal for a restraining order was partially denied. The judge ruled that Apple will not be forced to put Fortnite back in stores, but also that Apple cannot touch Epic’s Unreal Engine, which is used by many other developers.

After Apple terminated Epic’s development account, the company told GameSpot, “We are disappointed that we have had to terminate the Epic Games account on the App Store. We have worked with the team at Epic Games for many years on their launches and releases. The court recommended that Epic comply with the App Store guidelines while their case moves forward, guidelines they’ve followed for the past decade until they created this situation. Epic has refused. Instead they repeatedly submit Fortnite updates designed to violate the guidelines of the App Store. This is not fair to all other developers on the App Store and is putting customers in the middle of their fight. We hope that we can work together again in the future, but unfortunately that is not possible today.”

Both Apple and Epic are not backing down, and it’s likely that Fortnite will not be on an iOS device anytime soon. You can read GameSpot’s full explanation on what is exactly going on in Apple and Epic’s lawsuit.

Now Playing: Fortnite Drama Heats Up: Epic To Lose Apple Dev Accounts | Save State

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Jason Momoa Stands With Justice League Co-Star Ray Fisher Amid Warner Bros. Battle

Jason Momoa has just expressed his solidarity with Justice League co-star Ray Fisher, who over the summer made allegations of “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable” mistreatment while filming with Joss Whedon on that movie. In a tweet back in July, Fisher said Whedon was “enabled, in many ways, by [producers] Geoff Johns and Jon Berg.”

Momoa posted an Instagram story on Tuesday with a photo of Fisher bearing the caption “IStandWithRayFisher.” Whedon has not yet publicly commented on the accusations, nor has Fisher elaborated on what conduct comprised the above patterns of behavior, but Berg told Variety that it was “categorically untrue that we enabled any unprofessional behavior.”

Over the weekend, Fisher tweeted about his meeting with a Warner Bros. investigator, and how he wants to “ensure a fair and protected process for all witnesses.”

This is not the only recent reason that Justice League has been making headlines again: Momoa (Aquaman) and Fisher (Cyborg) are among those returning for Zack Snyder’s cut of Justice League–a director’s cut of the comics adaptation that Whedon wound up stepping in and completing when personal issues on Snyder’s part prevented his involvement in completing the production. The four-part series is expected to hit HBO Max in 2021.

Destiny 2 Update Makes Some Important Changes To Perks, Full Patch Notes Detailed

Bungie has rolled out a new update for Destiny 2 on PC, PlayStation 4, Stadia, and Xbox One that tweaks how Perks operate and are consumed. The full patch notes for Update 2.9.2 are detailed below.

Perks that give ability energy upon Super activation–think Apotheosis Veil, Radiant Largesse, and the like–will now initiate after Super energy is consumed. This means these perks will no longer be free, instead being consumed so players can no longer exploit the way perks used to provide additional ability energy by canceling a Super during warm-up.

Update 2.9.2 also makes a number of gameplay adjustments, including displaying the correct Power level required to complete the “Become Legend” step of the New Light quest, making Redrix’s Broadsword reclaimable from Collections, fixing issues with Trials vendor engrams, and more.

Elsewhere, the patch addresses some issues with armor and weapons. For example, Transmutation Spheres can’t be picked up by players whose Super abilities are active when the Ruinous Effigy is equipped. And the Solstice of Heroes’ glow intensity has been increased.

Full Destiny 2 Update 2.9.2 Patch Notes

Activities

Gambit

  • Fixed an issue that caused players to freeze when spawning into Gambit.

Prophecy Dungeon

  • Fixed an issue where enemies could stop spawning in the Hexahedron area, blocking players from progressing.

Nightfall

  • Fixed an issue where enemies would stop responding to players if they carried motes from a Contact event into the Savathun’s Song or Festering Core Nightfall.

Gameplay and Investment

Investment

  • Fixed an issue where players who completed Tommy’s Matchbook catalyst pursuit were re-awarded it.
  • Fixed an issue where the Trials vendor engram advertised rewards at zero Power level.
    • Note: This was simply a display error; the actual Power you would receive was not affected.
  • Fixed an issue where the Cold Denial ornament ADS view looked very different from the base weapon.
  • Prestige Eater of Worlds and Spire of Stars ornaments can be viewed in collections.
  • The “Become Legend” step of the New Light quest incorrectly asked players to reach Power level 950.
    • It now correctly asks players to reach Power level 1000.
  • Redrix’s Broadsword will now be available to reclaim from Collections.
    • Note: This will be locked to the first roll rewarded when completing the Broadsword quest.
  • Made improvements to Sleeper Node RNG on Mars.
    • When combining Resonate Stems, it is very unlikely that the resulting Override Frequency will unlock a node in your current area. For example, if you need to unlock a node in Heatsink, you should leave Heatsink before creating an Override Frequency.
    • Destiny 2 has an internal checklist of nodes you have unlocked. This checklist is separate from the count you see in-game, and prior to this fix, the checklist would frequently be cleared. Clearing this checklist is the reason duplicates were so common. Going forward, the checklist will never be cleared.
    • Note: If you create an Override Frequency for a node that you have opened in the past, you should open the node again instead of deleting the Override Frequency. This will allow the internal checklist to be updated, and help prevent future duplicates.
  • Spider will begin offering three weekly Wanted bounties, up from one.
    • Note: These bounties will now award 10k Glimmer, down from 15k.
  • Fixed an issue where the Guardian Games quest was still present in some players’ inventories.
    • Seriously, if this Quest isn’t fully removed this time, we’re going to need to talk to Zavala about how Titans are rubbing their win in everyone’s faces.
      • It’s not very nice of them to do that.
        • Please stop reminding me that Hunters lost.
  • Fixed an issue where players could block quest progress by acquiring Calcified Light without the quest active.
  • Reduced amount of Shader drops from Umbral Engrams.

Weapons

  • Exotics
    • Ruinous Effigy:
      • Transmutation Spheres can no longer be picked up by players with active Super abilities.
    • Perks that provide ability energy on Super activation (Apotheosis Veil, Radiant Largesse) now activate after Super energy is consumed.
      • These perks used to activate during the Super’s warmup, but that allowed players to cancel their Super during warmup to gain ability energy without consuming their Super energy.
      • This change will prevent activating these perks for “free.”
    • Fixed an issue affecting the perks on Jade Rabbit and Merciless.
      • Perks that activate “on hit” weren’t triggering properly when projectiles over-penetrated their target.

Armor

  • Solstice of Heroes:
    • When in first-person view, most of the Gauntlets are invisible except for the gold trim and hands.
    • Fixed a misaligned solstice glow on the Hunter Solstice leg arrangement.
    • Increased glow intensity.

General

  • Fixed an issue on Steam where certain player persona names could cause Weasel errors.

Now Playing: Destiny 2: Beyond Light Trailer | Gamescom 2020

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