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During the recent Nintendo Indie World Showcase, it was announced that the mind-bending narrative puzzle game, The Talos Principle, is coming to the Nintendo Switch later today. First released in 2014, the game puts players in the role of an android who has human-like sentience. While exploring a labyrinth full of different puzzles and other oddities, the protagonist will learn more about the mounting struggles as it comes to grips with its curiosity about life.

Given its balance of focusing on puzzle-solving and storytelling, The Talos Principle is a solid pick for the Switch library. It’s very much an intimate experience, and with the Switch’s portability and accessibility, it makes it seem like diving into a good book. This release will be the complete edition of The Talos Principle, which includes the DLC Road to Gehenna, which acts as a sort of epilogue to the main story.

In GameSpot’s review of The Talos Principle, former editor Jeremy Signor stated: “The Talos Principle is an absolute joy to play, packed to the gills with expertly designed puzzles and enough ancillary content to make any history of philosophy buff salivate. But all of that is almost beside the point in the face of the game’s thematic ambitions. It may seem like you’re alone in this world, but you’re really not, and that’s the greatest triumph of The Talos Principle: It serves as a fantastic representation of the human condition, complete with curiosity, speculation, wonder, fear, and a yearning to know the unknowable. But most importantly, it nails the role that isolation plays in the human condition. Because of all we don’t know, because of how seemingly out of control we all are in the cosmic sense, we feel alone. But, in reality, we’re alone together.”

Along with The Talos Principle, other games like Sports Story, a new character for Streets of Rage 4, and SuperSmash were revealed during the indie showcase.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle had a great premise (based on the Robin Williams film, via the original book) — sending human characters into a video game world — but a lot of time was spent in that 2017 film on the gimmick of it all. We never really got to know the people inhabiting these avatars outside of stereotypes. This time around in Jumanji: The Next Level, we do, and it makes for a much more entertaining story.

The sequel starts off a while after the kids — Bethany (Madison Iseman), Martha (Morgan Turner), Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain), and Spencer (Alex Wolff) — have returned to their normal lives. While the gang is thrilled to get back together on holiday break, Spencer ends up at home with his mom and ailing, grouchy and forgetful grandfather Eddie (Danny DeVito). There, we also meet Milo (Danny Glover), a former buddy of Eddie’s who he has a beef with. It’s a longer setup than we saw in the last film, but it allows the viewer to really spend time with these characters this time around before they inevitably end up back in the Jumanji game.

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Sony’s final State of Play of the year was full of announcements and new game reveals, one of which was a release date for Predator: Hunting Grounds, which is coming to PlayStation 4 and PC on April 24, 2020.

The competitive asymmetric multiplayer game is being developed by IIlfonic, the studio that brought us 2017’s Friday The 13th. Both games adopt a similar structure, pitting one player who assumes the role of a movie franchise’s killing machine against a team of significantly less cool humans. Predator: Hunting Grounds is a bit more like Evolve, though, as the squad of four humans are still armed-to-the-teeth soldiers as opposed to hapless camp-going teenagers.

The release date trailer reveals that there’s some customisation involved when it comes to playing as the Predator, as you can choose between three distinct classes and numerous armor styles. The Hunter class, for example, is a versatile style with a balanced weapon choice. The Berserker, on the other hand, has extra power and health, while the Scout comes with increased speed and stamina.

One of these classes is a female Predator, which project lead and game designer, Jared Gerritzen, has been eager to share. “One of the secrets we have been keeping since announcing Predator: Hunting Grounds has been the inclusion of the female Predator,” Gerritzen said on the PlayStation Blog.

“When we first came up with what this game would be, I knew we had to create a world where this ultimate female warrior would exist too. We had fun imagining her backstory which helped us create a fierce warrior that any gamer will have fun playing. She is agile, fast, and relentless. She is a huntress without fear and she thrives in the hunt. In the trailer we see her with a weapon that IllFonic created, the Yautja Bow. This is no ordinary bow, it deals massive damage to its prey and will pin the enemy to walls and other structures at death. She has access to the entire Predator arsenal as well.”

That arsenal is showcased in the trailer, which features plenty of new and iconic movie weaponry. As the Predator, you’ll be able to wield weapons such as the shoulder-mounted plasma caster, wrist blades, the Combistick spear, Smart Disc, and the aforementioned Yautja Bow, with the signature triangular aiming reticle featuring prominently.

The female Predator comes armed with the devastating Yautja Bow.

The Predator also gets to collect its trophies, with the trailer featuring some Mortal Kombat-esque executions as the relentless alien killer rips out skull and spine from its human victims. So far there’s no indication for how the soldiers intend to fight back against such a ruthless foe, other than by shooting at it with guns.

Those who pre-order Predator: Hunting Grounds will get bonus in-game items at launch inspired by the original movie. The ’87 Predator Skin lets you play as the Predator from the original film, and Fireteam players also get early access to the powerful “Ole Painless” mini-gun. Meanwhile, the Digital Deluxe Edition on PlayStation Store comes with exclusive in-game items like PlayStation-themed Predator and Fireteam skins, and a digital copy of the 120-page Predator: Hunters by Dark Horse Comics.

Time is running out to catch Pokemon Go‘s latest Legendary, Terrakion. The second member of the Swords of Justice will be available in the game until 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET on Tuesday, December 17, which means you only have a few more days to add one to your collection before it’s replaced by a new Legendary.

Until then, you can still encounter Terrakion in five-star Raids. To catch the Pokemon, you’ll first need to visit a Gym that’s hosting a Terrakion Raid and team up with other players in-person to battle it. If your group can successfully defeat the Legendary in battle, everyone who participated in the Raid will earn a chance to catch it.

Terrakion is a dual Rock/Fighting Pokemon, which gives it a plethora of vulnerabilities to exploit. Water, Grass, Ground, Psychic, Fairy, Steel, and other Fighting Pokemon all have a type advantage over Terrakion, so you’ll want to stack your party with monsters of those types–such as Metagross, Gardevoir, and Machamp–before challenging it.

As previously mentioned, Terrakion is a member of the Swords of Justice trio, alongside Cobalion and Virizion. The former appeared in Raids back in October, while the latter will presumably take Terrakion’s place when it leaves Pokemon Go next week, although that has not been confirmed yet. You can read more about Terrakion on the official Pokemon website.

In the meantime, there are still a few days left to take advantage of Pokemon Go’s ongoing evolution event. That runs until December 12 and makes it easier to get your hands on evolution items like the Unova Stone and King’s Rock, as well as Pokemon that evolve in unique ways, such as Feebas and Togetic.

Pokemon Go’s final Community Day of the year also takes place this weekend. This time, the event is spread across two days and gives players another chance to get all the featured Pokemon from previous Community Days in 2018 and 2019. You can read more about it in our Pokemon Go December 2019 Community Day guide.

Those hoping to get one final Vex Offensive run in are out of luck: Destiny 2 servers are down for maintenance, officially marking the end of the Season of the Undying. Fortunately, once servers are back online, there will be new content to check out. Specifically, the next season, Season of Dawn, officially begins today, December 10. Here’s when servers are expected to be back online and when Season of Dawn will be underway.

Maintenance is ongoing, although if you were already online, you’ll be able to keep playing for a short while longer–you’ll be booted at 8:45 AM PT / 11:45 AM ET. No one will be able to log in to the game until 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET, at which point Season of Dawn and its new content should be available. During the downtime, Bungie will release update 2.7.0–that’s expected to arrive at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET, so you can get it downloading then to ensure you can begin playing right when servers are back online. Full patch notes have not yet been released, though they were recently previewed in some detail, with changes to Exotics, an increased Power cap, and more.

Once servers are back, you’ll see that a bunch of Season of the Undying content has disappeared in favor of Season of Dawn’s new activities and offerings. Some of this will be available for free to all players, while other bits will require you to either purchase this season or the year-long season pass.

Be prepared to potentially encounter some issues once you are playing. Bungie’s Twitter support account offered a rundown on some of the known issues that may be encountered, such as receiving a CHICKEN error when first logging in once you have update 2.7.0 installed. In that case, the fix is easy: Simply restart the game. Other problems are unavoidable, like issues with the requirements for certain triumphs; as a result, Bungie will lower the requirements in a future update.

More notable are some of the Season of Dawn-specific problems. When playing the new Sundial activity, you should stick around–heading back to orbit too quickly can cause progress not to register for the A Matter of Time quest step. Additionally, you’ll need to link an Obelisk to the Sundial for the activity to net you any completion rewards.

You can check out the series of tweets below, and we’ll report back with any further problems that emerge.

Fallout 76 is undergoing server maintenance for its huge Update 16, which is coming to PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One today. The patch, under 3GB on PC and approximately 8GB on consoles, introduces a variety of changes and tweaks to the online-RPG. These include providing more map choices for Nuclear Winter, implementing a true solo mode for Private Worlds, and more.

Update 16 features new maps for Fallout 76’s battle royale mode, Nuclear Winter. The Forest map is returning alongside Morgantown, giving you more options for where to do battle. Further, the new patch provides you the option of map selection, letting you choose where the battle takes place before the start of each match.

Another option provided by Update 16 is a dedicated solo mode for Private Worlds. There are two means to play Private World servers now. “Team Only” lets you join a private server with an already-formed team or by yourself. “All Friends” works like Private Worlds now and it gives your friends the ability to jump into the server you’re on.

Elsewhere, Update 16 also addresses a plethora of bugs and aims to stabilize performance. These include fixing issues with the Pip-Boy, preventing corpses from disappearing shortly after death, changing how you use jetpacks, implementing “multiple improvements for server performance,” and more.

Check out the full patch notes for Fallout 76’s Update 16 below.

Full Fallout 76 Update 16 Patch Notes

General Updates

• Celebrate the Holidays with the Scorched!
  • Starting December 12, some of the Scorched will be spreading merriment this holiday season by dressing up in their most festive attire and wrapping presents. Take down these “Holiday Scorched” and they will drop Holiday Gifts for you to unwrap.
  • Open a Holiday Gift it to see what the Scorched have given you, which may be anything from crafting components to aid items, or even rare plans.
  • Holiday Gifts can be low, medium, or high-quality, and the higher the quality of the Gift, the better the chances for rare loot.
• Craft Your Own Holiday Gifts!
  • Be sure to check in with your favorite Vendors around Appalachia during the Holiday Scorched event, because they are selling Wrapping Paper that you can use to craft Holiday Gifts of your own to give to others.
  • Holiday Scorched Event Dates:
    • Start Date: Thursday, December 12 at 11:00 a.m. ET
    • End Date: Thursday, December 26 at 12:00 p.m. ET

Atomic Shop

• Now until December 31, you can bring a little holiday cheer to your C.A.M.P. by unlocking a free Santatron Collectron Station in the Atomic Shop.
  • Build the Santatron Station in your C.A.M.P. and your jolly Santatron bot will wander the nearby area to look for toys, candy, and other items for you.You will still be able to build and use your Santatron even after it has left the Atomic Shop, so be sure to claim yours before December 31.
    • While the Holiday Scorched event mentioned above is active, Santatron will also occasionally find a Holiday Gift of random quality.
    • Any items Santatron finds will be placed into the container attached to its Station, and you can collect them from there.
    • Players who also own a Scavenger Collectron Station can switch their Santatron to hunt for the items the Scavenger bot normally finds, and vice versa. However, only one type of Collectron Station can be built at any given time.

Challenges

• In response to community feedback, we have revisited many of our existing Challenges in order to make them more player-friendly and remove others that had too many requirements.
  • We have also updated our Daily and Weekly Challenges so they are more straightforward, simpler to complete, and to help them feel like they are part of the core experience of the game.
  • These changes will take effect starting January 1, 2020.

Sound

• Music:
  • New Holiday tunes have been added that will play while you browse the Atomic Shop.

User Interface

• Private Worlds: Following community feedback, we have added a new button to Private Worlds mode on the Play Screen so that Private World owners have more choice in how friends can join their World.
  • Item Transfer:
    • It is no longer possible to transfer items into a dead enemy’s inventory. The button can be toggled between “Team Only” and “All Friends.”
  • Team Only:
    • When “Team Only” is enabled, only the Private World owner and players they have already formed a team with can enter the Private World.
  • All Friends:
    • Switching to “All Friends” will allow any players on the Private World owner’s friends list to enter the Private World.

Nuclear Winter Updates

• Vote for Your Map of Choice
  • After receiving requests from Overseer Candidates who would like more choice in map selection, we have added the Flatwoods map back to Nuclear Winter and Candidates can now vote for the map they want to play on during the upcoming match.
  • Map voting begins at the start of each match while Candidates are in Vault 51.
  • Once voting starts, you can press the Map button to open the new voting interface and make your choice.
    • Your vote cannot be changed after it has been cast.
    • The map that receives the majority of Candidates’ votes will be selected for that match. In the event of a tie, ZAX will choose the Map randomly.

Happy Holidays, Candidates!

• Halloween-themed challenges Are Back
  • It’s the Nightmare Preceding Christmas and our Halloween-themed Nuclear Winter challenges are making a comeback for a limited time.
    • All six challenges and their cosmetic rewards will be available at once. You can also pick up right where you left off, because any progress you made toward completing them in October will be preserved.
    • Nightmare Preceding Christmas Challenge Dates:
      • Start Date: Wednesday, December 11 at 7 PM ET
      • End Date: Monday, December 16 at 7 PM ET

Unlock Festive Cosmetics With Six New Christmas Challenges

• We’ve added six new Challenges and themed cosmetic rewards for the holiday season that will begin appearing in the Character Challenge menu next week.
  • One new challenge will appear each day until all six are available. However, before you can begin earning progress toward any given Challenge, you must first complete the Challenges preceding it in order.
  • Rewards include wrapped presents for your C.A.M.P. from ZAX, Wrapping Paper Hunting Rifle Paint, a Snowflake Metal Armor Skin, a new outfit, and more, so start racking up Overseer XP to claim them while they’re available.
  • Christmas Challenge Dates:
    • Start Date: Tuesday, December 17 at 7 PM ET
    • End Date: Monday, January 6 at 7 PM ET

A More Festive Vault

Matchmaking

• We’ve updated Nuclear Winter so that the Storm will now automatically constrict the starting area to account for the number of players that begin a match .
  • When this occurs, the Storm will not deal increased damage at the start of the match, even though the playable area is smaller.
  • This will help encourage combat from the beginning of a match and reduce time spent hunting for other Candidates. It will also make for a quicker match overall, so that you can requeue to find a better match.
  • We made these changes so that players can spend more time on the battlefield, less time in the matchmaking queue, and get to the fun more quickly in cases where creating a full match may take longer than expected.

Sound

• Deployment Selection:
  • A sound effect will now play to notify Candidates that Deployment Selection has begun.
• Emotes:
  • Inside Vault 51, Emote music and sound effects will become quieter or stop playing the farther a Candidate moves away from someone who uses an Emote.
• Overseer Tickets:
  • New sound effects have been added that will play when earning or spending Overseer Tickets in Nuclear Winter.

User Interface

• Tutorials:
  • New tutorial entries have been added to the Terminals in Vault 51 that offer instructions for the Choose Your Perks, Color-Coded Item Rarity, and Map Voting features.

General Bug Fixes

Art and Graphics

• Graphics:
  • Fixed an issue that could cause the Pip-Boy light to flicker when turning it on or off.
  • The electric visual effects for The Invader no longer appear black when previewing the weapon at a Workbench.
  • Fixed a hole in the neck portion of the Makeshift Ronin Helmet.

C.A.M.P., Crafting, and Workshops

• Artillery Piece:
  • Smoke Grenades can now be looted correctly from the container attached to the Artillery Piece.
• Lights:
  • The Light Bulb Letters Set has been moved to the Lights section of the Build Menu.
• Outfits:
  • Ranger Armor Outfits no longer appear craftable in Workbench menus if the owner lacks the materials required to craft them.
• Refrigerator:
  • Toxic Soot Flowers and Frog Legs can now be correctly assigned to Refrigerators.
• Signs:
  • Adjusted several Warning Signs that previously counted toward the maximum Light count in the C.A.M.P. budget.

Combat

• Stagger Locks:
  • Added mitigation for an issue in which ranged enemies could repeatedly cripple a player’s limbs, causing multiple stagger animations to play back-to-back.
    • Please note: While this issue is now much less likely to occur, it is still possible that you may encounter it. We are investigating a more complete fix for a future update.

Enemies

• Corpses:
  • Enemy corpses no longer sometimes disappear shortly after death.

General

• Exploit:
  • Implemented multiple fixes to address exploits that could be abused to create an unfair advantage
  • Addressed an exploit related to the Purveyor.

Items

• Jet Packs:
  • No longer activate automatically when performing a normal jump. To activate a Jet Pack, players must release the jump button and then press it again.
• Legendary Weapons:
  • Reloading a weapon that has the “+250 Damage Resistance While Reloading” legendary effect no longer negates the effects of that weapon’s primary legendary attribute.
• Ranged Weapons:
  • Fixed a rare issue in which, under specific circumstances, a player’s ranged weapons could emit a continual humming sound.
• Loot Bags:
  • Loot Bag skins now remain equipped when returning to Adventure Mode after a Nuclear Winter match.
• Outfits:
  • Glasses can now be worn while the Turkey Mascot head is equipped.
• Targeting HUD:
  • Fixed an issue that could prevent players from crafting the X-01 Targeting HUD for their Power Armor.

Localization

• Patch 16 brings a large wave of fixes for localization bugs across all aspects of the game for our players around the globe who play Fallout 76 in languages other than English.
  • This includes fixes for untranslated, partially translated, and mistranslated text in-game menus, item names and descriptions, notifications, Terminal entries, Holotapes, Quests, Objectives, Subtitles, and more.
  • In addition to this set of fixes, we plan to address many more localization bugs with the Wastelanders update next year.

Performance and Stability

• Performance:
  • Implemented multiple improvements for server performance.
• Stability:
  • Addressed multiple issues that could result in a server crash.
  • Fixed a server crash related to Player Vending Machines.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause the game to crash on Xbox One.

Quests and Events

• First Contact:
  • A quest target now appears correctly at Pennington’s location during the First Contact quest.
• Miner Miracles:
  • Players under level 25 who have acquired the Miner Miracles quest no longer receive a pop-up message about the quest’s level requirements every time they log in.
• Monster Mash:
  • After joining Monster Mash, the optional objective to “Use the SMART Vending Machine” will no longer appear over the player’s Survival Tent on the Map.
• Officer on Deck:
  • Fixed an issue that could prevent players from progressing past the “Speak with MODUS” objective.

User Interface

• Main Menu:
  • On Xbox, switching User Accounts after reaching the Main Menu no longer causes error messages to appear.
• Scrapbox:
  • Fixed an issue that could cause the yellow selection bar to appear twice in the Scrapbox transfer menu.
• Scrap Kits:
  • The prompt that appears when using a Scrap Kit has received updated wording to clarify that Junk which does not scrap automatically will be placed into the Stash.
• Turrets:
  • Corrected placeholder text in the names of the Halloween Machine Gun Turret and Halloween Heavy Machine Gun Turret in C.A.M.P. Build menus.

Nuclear Winter Bug Fixes

C.A.M.P.

• Build:
  • The Scavenger Collectron Station is not useable in Nuclear Winter and will no longer appear placeable in C.A.M.P. menus.

Combat

• Exploit:
  • Addressed an exploit that could allow players to remain in Stealth longer than intended.

Items

• Bobbleheads:
  • The description text for Bobblehead: Unarmed in Nuclear Winter now correctly states that it increases damage and no longer displays an incorrect percentage.

User Interface

• Player Names:
  • Are now correctly displayed during Nuclear Winter matches, even if the “Show Other Players’ Names” setting is turned off.
• Spectator Mode:
  • Updated the “Changing Spectator Target” text that appears in Spectator Mode to “Finding Spectator Target.”
• Subtitles:
  • Corrected subtitles that did not match the voiceover for holotapes found in Vault 51.
• Subtitles:
  • Corrected a typo in the subtitle for one of ZAX’s voice lines.

Resident Evil 2 was one of the biggest hits of 2019, and now it seems Capcom is aiming to recreate some of that success by bringing another classic Resident Evil game to modern audiences. In Sony’s December 2019 State of Play livestream, the company announced a Resident Evil 3 remake is coming to PS4 on April 3, 2020. The game will also be available on Xbox One and Steam.

The new trailer shows protagonist Jill Valentine running through a building from a first-person perspective, fleeing a powerful creature known as Nemesis. However, a Capcom blog post confirms the game will have the same over-the-shoulder third-person perspective as Resident Evil 2 rather than first-person scares in the vein of Resident Evil 7.

Cover art for Resident Evil 3 leaked ahead of the State of Play stream, displaying Jill, her partner Carlos Oliveira, and the monstrous Nemesis looming above them.

The State of Play also confirmed Resident Evil 3 will come bundled with Resident Evil Resistance, an asymmetrical 4 vs. 1 online co-op game in which one player controls the Mastermind, setting traps and hunting down a group of Survivors as the other players race against the clock to escape.

Resident Evil 3 pre-order bonuses

If you pre-order Resident Evil 3 ahead of its April release date, you’ll receive an exclusive Classic Costume Pack that includes Jill’s original outfit and Carlos’ original hairstyle.

Pre-order Resident Evil 3 standard edition

The standard edition of Resident Evil 3 will come with the base game, Resident Evil Resistance, and any pre-order bonuses. Best Buy is the first retailer to open up pre-orders, but more stores will begin offering pre-orders later today.

PS4

Xbox One

Pre-order Resident Evil 3 Collector’s edition

Fans in North America will be able to snag the Resident Evil 3 Collector’s edition, which will be sold exclusively at GameStop. The Collector’s edition includes a physical copy of Resident Evil 3, Resident Evil Resistance, any pre-order bonuses, a Jill Valentine statuette (similar to the Leon figure offered for Resident Evil 2), a hardcover art book, a double-sided poster featuring a map of Raccoon City, and a digital Resident Evil 3 soundtrack. It will retail for $180 USD at GameStop. The listing isn’t live yet, but we’ll include the link here as soon as we spot it online.

Untitled Goose Game debuted on PC and Nintendo Switch, but we recently got indication it would be expanding to PS4 and Xbox One before the end of the year. That was confirmed during Sony’s State of Play, with a PS4 release date announcement of December 17.

Developer House House hasn’t detailed yet if that same release date applies to the Xbox One version.

The news was announced with a short trailer featuring the meme-favorite goose stealing the groundskeeper’s keys from the first stage and chucking it in the water alongside other gathered treasures. Why would a goose do such a thing, you ask? Because geese are horrible monsters, the game answers.

House House had previously stated interest in bringing the game to other platforms, including PS4 and Xbox One, and possibly even mobile devices. The game’s release on Switch and PC led to a flurry of fandom for the comedy game, which you can now immortalize with Goose merch.

“The important thing is that Untitled Goose Game is a hoot,” James O’Connor wrote in GameSpot’s review. “It’s a comedy game that focuses on making the act of playing it funny, rather than simply being a game that features jokes. Wishing that it was longer speaks to how much fun I had with it. There’s nothing else quite like Untitled Goose Game; it’s charming and cute despite being mean, and both very silly and very clever. It’s also probably the best non-racing game ever to feature a dedicated ‘honk’ button.”