The showrunner of Netflix’s The Witcher, Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, has explained the decisions behind the controversial design of the Nilfgaardian army’s armour.
The armour, first spotted in set photographs leaked months ahead of the show’s launch, is oddly shaped and covered in ‘wrinkles’. It became the subject of much online confusion and even ridicule, with many unfavorably comparing it to the designs used for the CD Projekt RED video games.
Following today’s big Pokemon Direct presentation, a new Max Raid event has begun in Pokemon Sword and Shield. For a limited time, you’ll be able to encounter certain Gigantamax Pokemon in Max Raids much more frequently in each version.
Right now, Pokemon Sword players are more likely to encounter Gigantamax Coalossal and Gigantamax Flapple, while Shield players are more likely to find Gigantamax Lapras and Gigantamax Appletun in Max Raids. It’s unclear how long these increased spawns will last, so you’ll want to act fast and catch as many as you can before the event ends.
The new Max Raid event coincides with the release of a Pokemon Sword and Shield update, which adds a small slice of the games’ expansion pass content. Once you’ve installed the update, you can head to Wedgehurst Station, where you’ll encounter a new rival character from the upcoming Isle of Armor expansion. The character you meet will differ depending on your version: Sword players will encounter Klara, a Poison-type trainer, while Shield players will meet Avery, a Psychic trainer.
On top of that, you’ll be able to catch a new Pokemon: Galarian Slowpoke. Unlike a regular Slowpoke, this variant is a pure Psychic type. A special item you can find in the Isle of Armor expansion will cause it to evolve into Galarian Slowbro, while an item from the Crown Tundra expansion will evolve it into Galarian Slowking.
The Isle of Armor expansion is set to launch this June, with the Crown Tundra expansion following in the fall. Both are included in the expansion pass, which runs for $30 USD and is available to purchase now. If you do buy it, you’ll receive an extra bonus: a Pikachu uniform and Eevee uniform for your trainer. You can read more about Pokemon Sword and Shield’s expansion pass here.
There was a lot of news out of the Pokemon Direct, including the reveal of more new and old Pokemon for Sword and Shield. We also learned the Pokemon Home service will launch next month, and March will see the release of a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon remake for Switch. You can catch up on all the biggest announcements below.
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The studio behind Batman: Arkham Origins has revealed a new logo that teases its next game.
Warner Bros. Games Montreal updated its social media accounts today with a new logo that seems to be for its next Batman game. The logo comes with a caption that reads “Cape sur la nuit / Capture the Knight.”
Cape sur la nuit / Capture the Knight pic.twitter.com/cIJTEZgDj1
— WB Games Montréal (@WBGamesMTL) January 9, 2020
The new trailer for Birds of Prey is here. The movie is the latest DC release and it sees Margot Robbie reprise her role as Harley Quinn from 2016’s Suicide Squad, though it has no connection to that movie. It hits theaters next month.
The trailer opens with Harley performing a hold-up in typically hilarious style, before we are introduced to Harley’s new all-female crew. There’s Huntress, Black Canary, Renee Montoya, and Cassandra Cain, who come together to fight the evil Black Mask. Despite having an R-rating, the movie is clearly very different to last year’s Joker. It looks very funny and is packed with action, music, and hyper-stylized photography. Check it out below.
The movie’s full title is Birds Of Prey And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, and this new promo follows October’s first trailer. The film also stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress, Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary, Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya, Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra Cain, Ewan McGregor as Black Mask, and Chris Messina as Victor Zsasz. It’s directed by Cathy Yan and releases on February 7, 2020.
In terms of other DC movies, Birds Of Prey will be followed by Wonder Woman 1984, which is set to hit theaters in July 2020. The first trailer for that was released in December, and some new images were revealed this week. There are also 2021 dates for the standalone Batman movie and James Gunn’s Suicide Squad reboot, while Aquaman 2 will be with us in 2022.
For more, check out GameSpot’s guide to the biggest upcoming movies of 2020.
WB Games Montreal has been hinting at what appears to be a new Batman game, and the studio has now dropped another new teaser. The latest comes in the form of multiple images that fit together to form a crest.
The teasers dropped across social media sites Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter can be put together into one image. Twitter user Martin Breault composited them to show a crest, similar to American government iconography, with an eagle on top. The teasers were accompanied by the slogan “Capture the Knight.”
This is the same slogan as the last teaser, which also showed a series of crests morphing in rapid succession. This one is new, but no more clear as to the meaning of it. Fans have long speculated this next game will center on the Court of Owls, a shadowy Illuminati-like organization that brokers power in Gotham. The eagle crest could throw a wrench in that theory, but it’s too early to tell without an official reveal.
WB Montreal is the studio behind the spinoff prequel Batman: Arkham Origins. That game received mixed reviews, including a 6/10 from GameSpot, in part because it came so close to Rocksteady’s games that it didn’t stand out. Now with a years-long gap since the last Arkham game, Rocksteady’s Arkham Knight in 2015, Montreal might have more opportunity to make its own way.
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A brand new music video for the original song “Straight to Hell”, performed by Sabrina Spellman & Lovecraft, has given us our first look at Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Part 3.
This new music video, which you can watch here, arrives shortly before the premiere of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Part 3 on January 24, 2020.
Part 3, according to Netflix (SPOILERS AHEAD), will find Sabrina reeling from the harrowing events of last season following her defeat of her father Lucifer. The Dark Lord remains trapped withing Nicholas Scratch, her boyfriend.
While the biggest news coming out of the Pokemon Direct was the Pokemon Sword and Shield expansion pass, Game Freak had an exciting surprise in store for fans of the Mystery Dungeon spin-off series. Nintendo Switch owners will be able to pick up Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX for Nintendo Switch on March 6, and you can lock in your pre-order right now.
Rescue Team DX is a remake of the original pair of Mystery Dungeon games, Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team. Both of those games released back in 2006, with Red Rescue Team appearing on Game Boy Advance and Blue Rescue Team gracing the Nintendo DS. The remake merges the two very similar games into one.
For those unfamiliar with the Mystery Dungeon series, the Rescue Team games follow a human who wakes with amnesia to discover they’ve been transformed into a Pokemon. In a world filled with chaos, Pokemon have joined forces to create “rescue teams.” Throughout the adventure, you and your team complete jobs in a series of randomized dungeons. Rescue Team has a more stripped down version of turn-based combat than the mainline games.
The Rescue Team games were the first in the spin-off series, and they also happened to be the best. Rescue Team DX features significantly overhauled graphics and a new, quite charming, art style. You can download a demo of Rescue Team DX at the Eshop and transfer your progress to the full game come March 6. Pre-orders for physical and digital editions of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX are available now.
The Rescue Team games originally released in 2006
As Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX was just announced, it’s not widely available for pre-order. You can currently pre-order at Best Buy and pre-purchase through the Eshop. Physical and digital editions cost $60.
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Pokemon Home, the cloud-based Pokemon storage service, will release in February 2020.
Designed to essentially replace Pokemon Bank, Pokemon Home is compatible with Pokemon Go, Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee, and Sword and Shield. It can also be linked to Pokemon Bank, which means that it is effectively compatible with all the 3DS Pokemon games, too.
Because of the link to Pokemon Bank, theoretically, Pokemon you have collected from as far back as the Sapphire and Ruby generation on Game Boy Advance could be transferred into Pokemon Home.
With all your monsters in Home’s storage, they can then be transferred into Pokemon Sword and Shield, provided the game supports them. And with the new Sword and Shield Expansion Pass adding more older Pokemon to the game, you should be able to take even more of your collection into battle.
Pokemon Sword and Shield are receiving a paid expansion pass, and you’ll be able to get a taste of it later today. Following the Pokemon Direct broadcast, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company will release an update for Sword and Shield that adds a “small slice” of expansion pass content to the games, whether or not you’ve purchased the pass.
Once the update is live, you’ll be able to go to Wedgehurst Station and meet a new character who appears in the games’ first expansion, Isle of Armor, which is slated to release this June. The character you meet will differ depending on which version you play and will be a new rival you face off against in the expansion. Sword players will meet Klara, a Poison-type trainer, while Shield players will encounter Avery, a Psychic-type trainer.
That’s not the only new content coming to the games today. You’ll also be able to claim a new Pokemon: Galarian Slowpoke. Unlike a standard Slowpoke, this new regional variant is a pure Psychic-type, and its Ability can be either Gluttony or Own Tempo. You can evolve this Slowpoke into a Galarian Slowbro after you’ve obtained a special item in the Isle of Armor expansion, while an item in the Crown Tundra expansion–which is coming this fall–will cause it to evolve into Galarian Slowking.
The Pokemon Sword and Shield expansion pass costs $30 USD and will be available to purchase today. It covers the aforementioned two expansions, each of which adds a new environment to explore, a bunch of new and returning Pokemon, new clothing items, and more. You’ll also receive a free bonus for purchasing the pass: a Pikachu uniform and Eevee uniform for your trainer. You’ll get a download code for the bonuses via email, which you can then redeem in the games via Mystery Gift to claim your outfits.
There was a lot of other news out of today’s Pokemon Direct; you can catch up on all the latest stories below.
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Pokemon Sword and Shield are getting brand-new Pokemon post-release. During today’s Pokemon Direct, three new creatures were revealed: Kubfu, Urshifu, and Calyrex. The first two will arrive with Isle of Armor expansion coming in June, while Calyrex is coming with The Crown Tundra in Fall 2020. The two DLC packs comprise the contents of the newly announced Sword and Shield expansion pass.
Kubfu and Urshifu are classified as the Wushu Pokemon. Kubfu is a pure Fighting-type with the ability Inner Focus, and according to lore, it used to live in Galar before moving to the mountainous areas of the Isle of Armor. After undergoing “sufficient training,” Kubfu evolves into one of two forms of Urshifu: Single Strike Style or Rapid Strike Style. Single Strike Urshifu is a Fighting- and Dark-type and favors brute force, while Rapid Strike Urshifu is Fighting- and Water-type and attacks more calmly. Both have the ability Unseen Fist, which is new to Pokemon. Each form of Urshifu also has a respective Gigantamax form.
The Crown Tundra expansion, meanwhile, will add Calyrex, the King Pokemon. It’s a Psychic- and Grass-type Legendary Pokemon that “ruled all of Galar in ancient times.” According to lore, “it’s said to see every past, present, and future event.” It has the ability Unnerve.
New Pokemon aren’t the only thing coming in Sword and Shield’s expansions, however; there are also old, returning Pokemon coming, among other things. Catch up on all the announcements below.
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