Jade Raymond Joins Google as Vice President

Jade Raymond has revealed that she’ll be moving to Google in the role of Vice President.

The announcement came in the form of a tweet from Raymond’s personal account late Tuesday afternoon.

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Raymond is probably best known as a founder of both Motive Studios and Ubisoft Toronto, where she served as the executive producer on games like Assassin’s Creed 2, Watch Dogs, and Splinter Cell Blacklist before leaving in 2014.

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This Twitter Account Tells You Which Dogs You Can Pet in Games

Look, we’ve all been here. You’re playing a game and happen across a dog. Whether it’s roaming the countryside, hanging out next to a house, sitting inside by the fire, or waiting to sniff out items for you, you’ve seen it, and you’ve probably taken the time to walk up to it and say hi.

And the one thing we’re all secretly hoping for is a button prompt allowing us to pet the dog.

In an age where we love to romance game characters and have our choices feel like they mean something beyond shallow interactions, being able to do something as arbitrary as pet a virtual dog sometimes feels as satisfying as a harrowing combat encounter. But, how can you know if the game you’re about to start will allow you to pet the dogs?

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The Division 2 Review in Progress: One Day In

After the first day of The Division 2 I’m sitting at level 18, which means I’m more than halfway through the initial leveling progression – but hopefully have experienced much less than half of the content this shared-world sequel has to offer, because that would be disappointing. The Division 2 has already succeeded in many areas where the original faltered, and as a result my impressions so far are largely positive. Gunplay is punchier, enemies are more mechanically diverse, loot is generous and interesting, and its wonderfully realized recreation of Washington DC is sufficiently populated with fun activities and hidden goodies. Based on what I played of the private and open beta tests, I’m still concerned that the combat may revert to its spongy state in the endgame, but for now, The Division 2 feels very good.

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Project Blue Book’s Season Finale Ends on a Major Cliffhanger

This interview contains spoilers for the Project Blue Book Season 1 finale, “The Washington Merry-Go-Round.”

At the end of the Season 1 finale of Project Blue Book, J. Allen Hynek is a man on his own. Following the Washington Flap — a series of famously well-documented real-life UFO sightings in 1952 fictionalized on the show — he is warned by mysterious allies they can no longer protect him. But as Hynek looks to the stars from his observatory, Aidan Gillen, who portrays the UFO researcher, is looking ahead to the second season of the History show.

Gillen didn’t know about the Season 2 renewal when the finale ended on that cliffhanger, which also showed Hynek – in a move worthy of the actor’s character Littlefinger from Game of Thrones — apparently doublecrossing his partner Quinn (Michael Malarkey), only to reveal he was actually pulling the wool over the government’s collective eyes.

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The Flash’s Big Twist Is Too Little, Too Late

Warning: Full spoilers for The Flash Season 5, Episode 16 below. If you need a refresher on where we left off, check out our review for Season 5, Episode 15.

This week’s Flash episode may be a classic example of “too little, too late.” The season has been perpetually bogged down by the underwhelming Cicada storyline – one that started off well enough but quickly proved it didn’t have the legs to last an entire year. Had “Failure is an Orphan” come along in November or December, that would be one thing. But to be this deep into Season 5 and see the Cicada conflict only beginning to kick into gear is frustrating, to say the least.

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Minecraft, Halo: Master Chief Collection Are Center Stage During Inside Xbox Stream – GS News Update

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Call of Duty Black Ops 4: Snagging A Win In St. Patrick’s Stockpile Game Mode

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See Teaser For Google’s Big Gaming Announcement

Google is set to make a big-time gaming announcement next week during the Game Developers Conference, and now the company has released a teaser video.

Google plans to reveal its “vision for the future of gaming” during the March 19 event, and this teaser video may contain some initial clues. As you can see, it appears to reference a number of different game genres, including sports, racing, action, fantasy, and others. The suggestion could be that Google’s new gaming platform would be a place for all of them.

Whatever the case, we’ll learn more soon. The event is scheduled for 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET on March 19. The event will be streamed live, and GameSpot will bring you all the news from the show as it happens.

One part of Google’s reveal might be related to Project Stream, the company’s ambitious game-streaming platform. Last year, Google partnered with Ubisoft to make Assassin’s Creed Odyssey playable in a browser. There are also rumors about Google’s “Project Yeti,” which could be the company’s take on a home console.

For more on cloud gaming, check out GameSpot’s primer that explains what cloud gaming is all about and how it could shake up the industry.

In other Google news, the company recently hired former Ubisoft and EA boss Jade Raymond as a new vice president. Given her background, it seems likely that she’ll be contributing to Google’s new gaming division, but nothing is certain yet.

“Please Don’t Send Any More Pizzas,” Halo Dev Says

Halo developer 343 Industries made some big Halo announcements today, and excited fans responded by sending pizza to the studio. Now, the developer has pleaded with fans to please stop sending pizza. Community manager Brian Jarrard wrote on Twitter that he and the studio are appreciative, but it’s just too much pizza.

“The Halo community is awesome. We’re excited, too! Please don’t send any more pizzas to 343 Industries,” Jarrard said. “The building receptionist isn’t here, so it’s getting logistically challenging and we really don’t want to see food go to waste.”

Why the pizza? Before all the big Halo reveals today, Jarrard tweeted the pizza emoji for some reason, and now people are running with it and flooding 343’s offices with pizza.

Here is a visual rundown of some of the pizzas that 343 received today:

Some of Microsoft’s announcements today included Halo: The Master Chief Collection for PC and Halo: Reach being added to the collection. Those are two things that fans have been requesting for a long time, so it’s understandable that there would be significant excitement over the announcements.

For more on all the big Halo and Xbox news today, check out this rundown that covers everything you need to know.