Update: GameStop employees will not be allowed to enforce the mask policy, according to Vice Games. In an internal memo employees were told, “Do NOT refuse service to a customer that refuses to wear a mask/face covering. Do not ask a customer to leave the store if they are not wearing a mask/face covering.”
When dealing with a customer without a mask, employees are to assist them and complete their transaction as quickly as possible. The memo states that employees can inform the customer of the mask policy and even offer a complimentary mask, but ultimately they cannot refuse service.
Original story: GameStop will require all customers to wear face masks in US stores effective July 27, the company announced. This announcement comes shortly after other retailers, like Walmart, have started requiring masks in stores.
“We believe this is the right thing to do to ensure the health, safety and well-being of our associates and customers from the growing spread of COVID-19,” said George Sherman, chief executive officer for GameStop. “Providing a safe environment in our stores for all customers and store associates continues to be our top priority and wearing a face covering is a simple step every one of us can take to ensure the safety of others in our stores.”
GameStop also offers a pick-up in store option when purchasing online and offers a contactless option for picking up.
When shutdowns began occurring in the US at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, GameStop attempted to argue that its stores were “essential business” and even defied state closure orders before eventually closing their retail stores. The company also announced the closure of over 300 stores during 2020 in March. US businesses have started reopening in recent weeks as the number of COVID-19 cases have spiked across the country.
Surgeon Simulator 2 is getting even weirder with new co-op gameplay and a suite of options for custom levels. It’s also not far from launch either, with Bossa Studios announcing an August 27 release date for their trauma center sequel.
Surgeon Simulator 2 expands on the original game’s scope by opening the operating room doors and letting you interact with other wings of the hospital. New challenges will require you to ferry objects between rooms, now with the help of up to three friends in increasingly complex operations. It has retained its wacky humor and charm too, spreading to the entirety of the ER.
The game’s latest trailer doesn’t focus on campaign content, but rather user-created modes that you’ll be able to play alongside it. Surgeon Simulator 2 will include the same level-design tools that Bossa uses internally, letting you create and share new challenges for like-minded surgeons to undertake. The suite looks extensive in the footage above, letting you craft experiences well beyond the premise of Surgeon Simulator.
Surgeon Simulator 2 will launch exclusively on the Epic Games Store on August 27 for $25. Pre-orders will earn you access to the pre-launch beta, which takes place between August 7-9.
If you want to experience the unparalleled freedom, creativity, and adventure of Dungeons & Dragons, now is an excellent time to jump in.
While you may not be able to visit your friends in person, you can hop on your favorite video conferencing software with your friends and have deep adventures set in a world of your choosing, and save some cash while you do it. Right now Amazon is having a sale on the core rulebooks, including a bundle that has everything you need to get started.
Brian Barnett writes wiki guides, deals posts, features, and much more for IGN. You can get your fix of Brian’s antics on Twitter and Instagram (@Ribnax).
Pokemon Go Fest 2020 is only a week away, but there’s still one more set of challenges to complete before the event arrives. The third and final batch of Go Fest challenges is now live in Pokemon Go, giving players around the world one more chance to unlock additional Pokemon to catch during Go Fest weekend.
Whereas last week’s challenges revolved around defeating Team Rocket (including Jessie and James), this final batch is all about friendship. The tasks for this set involve earning hearts with your Buddy Pokemon and sending gifts to friends. If enough players on all three teams are able to complete the challenges, Niantic will make three more rare Pokemon–Togetic, Dratini, and Litwick–available to catch during Pokemon Go Fest next week.
The Pokemon Go Fest friendship challenges will be available until July 22, 10 PM local time. Coinciding with the challenges, Niantic is also holding a summer event in the game right now. For the next few days, summery Pokemon–including the debuting Petilil, a summer-style Pikachu, and Shiny Bellsprout–will be appearing more frequently in the wild and in Raid Battles.
Pokemon Go Fest 2020 takes place July 25-26. Tickets for the event are available to purchase from the in-game shop and cost $15 USD. Unlike previous Pokemon Go Fests, this year’s event will be a digital experience open to all players around the world, and there will be global challenges to complete as well as rotating virtual habitats that will cause different types of Pokemon to appear at certain times. Niantic has also teased that the Mythical Pokemon Victini will make its debut during the second day of Go Fest.
Fans of The Sims can spend hours building their own storylines and perfecting their dream houses, but they’ve never been able to compete with each other on live television. That’s about to change, thanks to The Sims Spark’d, a reality competition show that stars fans and enthusiasts from The Sims community, all competing for a $100,000 prize.
Based on the trailer, the 12 contestants will be issued timed challenges to create in the world of the game. Their output will then be weighed by a panel of judges, including Maxis game developer Dave Miotke, YouTube personality Kelsey Impicciche, and singer-songwriter Tayla Parx. The competition will run for the next four weeks on TBS and Buzzfeed Multiplayer.
In addition to watching the show, fans can play along by participating in the Spark’d Challenge Program. Those who excel at the listed challenges may even be considered for future seasons of the Spark’d show. The first challenge, Destination Wedding, starts today, and you can check out the details at the game’s website.
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Tove Lo, a singer known for her songs “Habit” and “Talking Body”, is hosting a DJ set inside Animal Crossing: New Horizons this weekend. Six lucky players who show the artist their best in-game outfits will get to visit the island while the show is happening.
“Any of you babes Animal Crossing it?” the singer wrote on her Instagram. Tove Lo, like the rest of us, got hooked an Animal Crossing’s addictive and relaxing day-to-day gameplay.
Animal Crossing has been the replacement for all sorts of events while countries around the world are on lockdown due to the pandemic. Weddings, birthdays, family reunions and more have been hosted within the game despite its poor online multiplayer infrastructure. The life simulation game came out at the perfect time.
“New Horizons has a slower pace even than other Animal Crossing games, and at times, that can feel unnecessarily restrictive,” said GameSpot’s Kallie Plagge in her Animal Crossing: New Horizons review. “But there’s still plenty to do, and each of those activities feeds into the next brilliantly for a rewarding and relentlessly cheerful experience. New Horizons certainly came at the right time, and its strengths are particularly comforting right now. I’m as excited to see what random events await me each morning as I am glad to have it during hard times, and that’s sure to keep me coming back for the foreseeable future.”
Netflix has launched a Cursed Virtual Experience that invites users to discover more about the Arthurian legend series, created by comic book icon Frank Miller and writer Thomas Wheeler, which is available to stream as of today.
The online hub at DiscoverCursed.com offers an interactive and immersive experience for fans to virtually enter the rich world of Cursed from the comfort of their own homes, without having to download any apps to devices.
Image credit: Netflix
Augmented Reality Challenge
An augmented reality challenge can be accessed when visiting the website on a mobile device or by scanning the QR code on the homepage. From there, fans are presented with a quest of three challenges to follow the path of magic and discover their power. Users have the ability to channel their inner Nimue and conjure up roots or step into Merlin’s shoes and strike lightning from their fingertips to ultimately receive the sword of power. At the end, participants can share their challenge experience by taking photos and downloading videos of themselves trying the effects and filters.
Virtual Panel With the Cast
The website menu invites visitors to join “a conversation with the cast” hosted by co-creator and showrunner Thomas Wheeler, who is joined on the virtual panel by Katherine Langford, who plays the magical Nimue in the fantasy series, as well as Gustaf Skarsgård, who portrays the ageless and enigmatic Merlin the magician, Devon Terrell, who stars as the young mercenary Arthur, and Daniel Sharman, who plays the mysterious Weeping Monk. Over the course of the discussion, the cast reveals behind-the-scenes secrets, mysteries and fun facts about the making of the show.
Exclusive Content
From the menu, users can also discover more about the story and how it links to the classic Arthurian legend by clicking to learn more about the series, as well as its characters, who are showcased in a carousel of profiles on the site. There is also a library of videos featuring exclusive content from the cast and crew, including a tutorial from Frank Miller on sketching Nimue, a featurette about the process of adapting and crafting the series, and a Q&A with Miller who answers fans’ burning questions and offers fans a peek into the world fo the Netflix original series.
Netflix describes its newly-launched fantasy series as a coming-of-age story whose “themes are familiar to our own time: the obliteration of the natural world, religious terror, senseless war, and finding the courage to lead in the face of the impossible.”
The developers behind Ghost of Tsushima had to lengthen some of the game’s loading screens as Sucker Punch found that they were so fast, players couldn’t read the tips.
In an interview with Kotaku, Sucker Punch lead engine programmer Adrian Bentley noted that the team had to “artificially extend downtime” when the player died so that the loading screen tips could appear for “more than a fraction of a second.”
According to Bentley, this is down to Sucker Punch’s engine loading strategy, which requires “as few disk reads as possible.” “When you die, we only need [to] re-run this quick ‘spawn’ process with most of the data already loaded. In contrast, many other engines use serialization-based approaches, which require reloading a substantial amount of data to run again,” Bentley told Kotaku.
Having played the game myself, the window between even longer loading screens felt ridiculously small, even when jumping from one end of the map to the other. Kudos to Sucker Punch for the coding tech, but it’s still quite funny that the studio has had to make loading screens take longer so that players can actually read the flavour and tip text in the interim. It begs the question as to what loading screens will look like in the next-generation, as the PS5 and Xbox One adopt high-speed solid-state drive technology.
