In “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1”, The crew of La Sirena arrive at the Synthetics’ home world, Coppelius, with Narek following closely. Meanwhile, Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and the XBs take control of the Borg Artifact cube and follow after Picard.
Picard (Patrick Stewart), Soji (Isa Briones) and the crew meet the synths who populate Coppelius Station, along with Dr. Alton Soong (Brent Spiner) son of Noonien Soong. Soji warns them that a large fleet of Romulan warbirds is on its way to destroy them.
We also got another handful of Star Trek Easter eggs and references in this episode, calling back to The Next Generation and The Original Series.
Disclosure: ViacomCBS is GameSpot’s parent company.
We’ve been enjoying Animal Crossing: New Horizons for the past few weeks and, like previous games in the franchise, there’s a lot of systems to keep track of, activities to do, and milestones to meet. There’s definitely a bit of a learning curve to it all.
In the video above, Jake Dekker goes over the eight details that we all wish we had known about before beginning our own island getaway in New Horizons. If you’re just picking up the latest Animal Crossing game yourself, these tips should help you expedite the process of getting through the first few days.
For those looking for a bit more help, we have several other video guides that may help you out during your initial weeks in New Horizons. Admittedly, the game is a bit slow when it comes to progression, so you may feel like you’re getting nowhere, but trust us–commit the time and you will begin to see developments on your island.
More Animal Crossing: New Horizons Video Guides
In GameSpot’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons review in progress, Kallie Plagge writes, “New Horizons certainly has a slower pace than other Animal Crossing games, partially because you have to work to get things up and running on the island at the start. And while I’m impatient to discover what upgrades might be coming my way (and I need to mess around with Island Designer more), I still feel as though I’ve done a lot on my island. I’ve crafted tons of furniture, upgraded my house seven times, picked thousands of weeds, and done far too many drastic outfit changes. I’m as excited to see what random events await me each morning as I am to decorate my island and make it my own, and that’s sure to keep me coming back for the foreseeable future.”
Now that you’ve reached Doom Eternal‘s sixth mission, things are in full gear. You’re nearly halfway through the game, so keep at it! Below you can find a walkthrough detailing how to get through the sixth mission, including the game’s second major boss fight.
Time to go meet a familiar face! As soon as the mission begins, immediately punch through the wall and follow this corridor to an elevator shaft you can hop down. After the doors open there are a few fodder enemies to take care of, and you’ll eventually be faced with a Mancubus and Whiplash. Once all the enemies are dead, the demonic seal blocking the path forward will disappear.
Continue through the facility and you’ll find a consistent onslaught of enemies emerging from every nook and cranny, even the gift shop. Utilise your full arsenal to fight your way through them–whether that means using an Ice Bomb to freeze a Pinky in place, or peppering a Dread Knight with the Chaingun–until you eventually reach the building’s lobby. Go left and drop down the hole in the floor, then use the Plasma Rifle to cut through the Energy Shields being used by the Soldiers and Carcass in this area. Head down the stairs and continue following the waypoint down the corridor, defeating any enemies along the way.
Jump up a floor and drop down the hole on the other side to kill the rest of the enemies here. Follow the waypoint and you’ll eventually reemerge outside. The purple goo returns in this area, so try and stay out of it to avoid being slowed down. If you do find yourself wading through the goo, use the Super Shotgun’s meat hook to quickly pull yourself out of it.
Once all the enemies in this combat arena are dead, you can attempt to open the main gate. With the path blocked, you need to enter through the building a Pinky just emerged from. As you engage in combat with the enemies inside, a Cyber Mancubus will eventually appear. This enemy type is a heavily armored variant of the regular Mancubus, but a single Blood Punch will destroy all of its armor. A couple of Super Shotgun shells and rockets work well, too.
With the Cyber Mancubus and all of its pals dead, follow the waypoint and climb up a floor. Use the pole to swing over to the next building over and clear out the enemies inside before heading up the stairs. Jump down onto the jump pad below and then Dash across to the other building using the Dash Refill to reach it. More Zombies and Imps will swarm in here, so take them out and exit through the large gap in the wall. Swing across the two poles and launch yourself to the right to grab onto the wall. Turn around and jump to the next platform, then hop behind the pile of broken office supplies with the green light shining on it to find a block you can melee. Use that to reach the next floor, then swing across the next pole and onto the climbable wall. Now you’ll have to jump to the wall on the right that’s a fair distance away, and follow the waypoint through the gap in the wall from there.
Clear out the enemies inside, then use the elevator as a stepping stone to reach the next floor. Face the destroyed plane and you’ll see some more green lights projected onto the billboard beneath the wreckage. Jump down here and there’s a wall you can latch onto. Climb up and fight your way through the plane’s interior until you emerge inside another building. Take out the enemies in this arena until the demonic seal is broken, then make your way up the flights of stairs.
When you reach the top, jump across to the burning building and make your way down until you can hop in the elevator. There’s a tough encounter in the foyer, so just make sure you’re replenishing your health, armor, and ammo with the tools in your arsenal. Head through the door and there’s a few more enemies to take care of outside. Once they’re all dead, head to the waypoint and jump down to the right and into the portal. Now you can enter the turret and destroy the first tentacle blocking the path to Hayden.
Exit the turret and fight through the next corridor until you reach an elevator. Continue moving through the innards of the facility and you’ll eventually enter another combat arena. There are multiple floors and a portal you can use to get out of danger, so utilise the environment when you can. With everything defeated, a Cyber Mancubus will burst through the floor. Take it out and drop into the hole it opened up and you’ll find yourself in the sewer.
There’s more purple goo here so your movement speed is impeded. Use the Super Shotgun to clear out the enemies, including the tentacles, and melee the blocks right in front of you as you enter the larger area with a chain link fence. Climb up the blocks and launch off the pole to your right to reach the next platform. Continue moving through the facility, while making sure to avoid the electric traps, until you reach the second turret.
With the massive tentacles now gone, follow the waypoint down the next few corridors and into the car park until you’re back outside in the main courtyard. Now you can access the shutter doors and fight your way across the bridge to the Arc building where Hayden is.
Boss fight – Marauder
Now it’s time to fight Doom Eternal’s second boss. The Marauder is a defensive opponent who uses an impenetrable shield to block your shots. You want to stay fairly close to him, but not too close, and wait until his eyes flash green to counter his melee attack and damage him with the Super Shotgun.
Quickly dispatch the golden wolf whenever he summons it, and make use of the fodder enemies that come in to replenish your health, armor, and ammo. This can be a lengthy fight because of the Marauder’s defensive strengths, so you just need to be patient and wait for those openings when his eyes flash green, utilising your Dash to avoid his other attacks in the meantime. Damage him enough and you can end the fight with a gruesome Glory Kill.
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MLB The Show 20 suddenly finds itself in an unprecedented position. The COVID-19 coronavirus has disrupted sports across the globe, and baseball is no different, as Opening Day of the 2020 Major League Baseball season was recently postponed for at least the next two months–and even that seems optimistic. It’s an unfathomable turn of events, yet it also means Sony San Diego’s latest baseball sim is now one of the only ways to experience the 2020 season of America’s favorite pastime. It’s a good job, then, that MLB 20 maintains the series’ consistently high quality. Refinements to fielding and hitting may only be incremental this year, but they add more depth to what is still one of the most compelling sports games on the market, while new additions and modes off the field increase the game’s variety as you chart a course towards World Series glory.
Fielding and defense received a lot of love in last year’s game, so MLB 20 adds a few more wrinkles without rocking the boat too much. The distinction between Gold Glove caliber outfielders and mere mortals is now slightly more pronounced, particularly when the CPU is in control. The best outfielders in the game are much more dialed in this year, reacting to the ball off the bat with authentic accuracy and a dependable first-step. On the flip side, the square peg you’ve lodged into the round hole in left field might struggle when it comes to reading the flight of the ball, committing a fair few errors over the course of a season as balls careen off the edge of his glove instead of nesting in its palm.
There’s also a new Extreme Catch Indicator that identifies those bloop singles and hard-sinking line drives that are right on the edge of being catchable. If you have a player like Minnesota Twins center fielder Byron Buxton patrolling the outfield, you might take a chance and attempt a risky diving catch on one of these tough-to-reach balls, knowing full well that he’s skilled enough to pull off a spectacular grab. With an average defender hustling towards the ball, however, you might prefer to play it safe and get yourself in position to gather the ball after it bounces. Surrendering a single is a much more positive outcome than laying out for a catch and completely missing the ball, resulting in a triple for the fortunate hitter.
Snagging that single might even give you the opportunity to use MLB 20’s new Throw Home Indicator. Nailing the small needle in the center of an outfielder’s throwing meter will see them launch the ball towards home with as much power and accuracy as they can possibly muster, giving you a greater chance of recording one of those bang-bang plays at home plate. It’s a smart, albeit subtle, addition to the game, which is true of all of these improvements to the game’s fielding. It’s possible you won’t even see the Extreme Catch Indicator until 20 games in, but they each add more dynamism to the outfield, and the best defenders may even influence your strategy when stepping into the batter’s box, too.
When it comes to hitting, the Plate Coverage Indicator (or PCI) has been redesigned in MLB 20 to give you a better idea of the type of hitter you have at the plate and how you should approach their at-bat. When using the default PCI, the outer reticle displays your batter’s plate vision, while the inner reticle represents their ability to make contact. Previously, the PCI consisted of an average between these two attributes, so there was some vexing guesswork involved when trying to square up the ball and make solid contact. Splitting these attributes up with seperate reticles illustrates exactly what your hitter’s contact and vision are, offering an immediate distinction between good and bad hitters (with each reticle varying in size based on the player’s skill), and providing you with better feedback for lining up the PCI in the optimal position.
This all ties into the new Perfect/Perfect system that gives you the best possible chance of having a productive at-bat. The first part of this new mechanic is displayed by three dots in the centre of each player’s PCI. From top to bottom the dots represent fly balls, line drives, and ground balls. If a player’s top dot is bigger than the other two, then you know he excels at launching powerful fly balls into the stratosphere. A bigger bottom dot, meanwhile, means you’ll want to try and focus on sending hard-hit ground balls through gaps in the infield. If you manage to line up the PCI so that the ball connects with one of these dots and your swing timing is absolutely perfect, you’ll be rewarded with Perfect/Perfect contact and the auditory euphoria that comes from the crack of the bat.
This new distinction results in high exit velocities and a significant chance the ball will fall for a hit if it doesn’t just wind up in the stands. The redesign of the PCI and the addition of the Perfect/Perfect system adds more layers to MLB 20’s batting that rewards you for guessing a pitch’s location, having immaculate timing, and playing to each player’s strengths. With these new tools at your disposal, you’re given more control over the outcome of each at bat. That doesn’t mean you’re suddenly going to start hitting .500, and you may only execute a Perfect/Perfect hit once or twice each game, but the feedback you’re given after every swing of the bat feels more pertinent, and there’s a tangible consistency to the way hitting works, with solid contact resulting in hard-hit balls instead of weak lineouts, as was often the case in MLB 19.
As for new modes, MLB 20 enhances the Franchise experience with a couple of additions. You now have the ability to add custom teams to your Franchise by replacing a current team with one of your own. You can change the name, design your own uniforms, and select a home venue–whether it’s the historic Polo Grounds or the Texas Rangers’ brand-spanking-new Globe Life Field. The fact you can’t pick the roster means this isn’t quite the expansion team mode the community has wanted for years now. It’s a small step in the right direction, though, even if the execution is a tad underwhelming. If you opt for a fantasy draft or force some trades, you can somewhat emulate the experience of adding an expansion franchise to the league, but it’s not as involved as it could be.
The most significant new addition is the inclusion of full Minor League rosters. In the past, the community would create its own custom rosters from scratch, replacing every Joe Random with the top prospects and Double-A veterans from each team’s MiLB affiliate. Now these players are included straight out of the box, with real names, accurate stats, and even face scans in some cases. Instead of waiting weeks for the community to come up with the goods, you can now start Franchise mode and have an entire organisation’s roster at your disposal from the get-go, including players like Gavin Lux, Wander Franco, and Luis Robert.
Elsewhere, Online Leagues make their return in MLB 20. These are customisable one-off seasons that give you a lot of options when it comes to setting up a league with friends. You can even use your Diamond Dynasty rosters, which is a nice addition. The problem is that there are none of the aforementioned Minor League teams to call up players from, nor is there a draft or any sort of free agency. It’s a one and done season with no CPU teams–a far cry from the robust Online Franchise mode that was once a part of the season and is still a feature in other sports games. Again, Online Leagues is a small step in the right direction, and it’s great being able to play competitively with a group of friends, but one would hope Online Franchise returns in some form in the next iteration of The Show.
Diamond Dynasty also received a lot of love last year, so MLB 20 doesn’t mess with the formula too much. There’s a new Showdown mode that’s sort of like a mix between Moments and Battle Royale. You begin by drafting a skeleton crew of players and then play through a series of scenarios that are often based on significant moments in baseball history. You won’t know exactly what challenges await, but every playthrough ends in a Showdown against a formidable pitcher, where you’re tasked with coming back from a variable deficit before recording 15 outs. Each challenge you complete along the way gives you the opportunity to draft more players to improve your team, unlock special perks, and add runs to your final score in order to reduce the deficit you need to fight back from. It’s a fun mode that gives you another way to play Diamond Dynasty, sample some of the best players, and unlock rewards, especially if you don’t touch the multiplayer.
March to October and Road to the Show have received some similarly minor improvements. The latter still offers the same truncated season experience, only now you can influence your team’s roster moves with trades and Minor League call-ups. RTTS, meanwhile, allows player relationships to develop on the field as well as during locker room conversations. Building a rapport with your teammates will unlock useful perks throughout the season, and they now feel more natural. Play as a shortstop, for example, and you’re likely to improve your relationship with the first baseman by spraying accurate throws his way. The addition of Minor League players pays dividends in RTTS, too.
MLB The Show 20 doesn’t make any large strides forward, choosing instead to focus on refining areas that needed improvement from last year. This results in a game that feels more balanced in terms of variety across an assortment of game modes, while the action on the diamond has been tightened up with rewarding consistency and added dynamism that maintains the series’ lofty standards. It’s the ideal foundation to build upon as the PlayStation 5 looms on the horizon, and with the baseball season suspended for the foreseeable future, MLB 20 goes some way to filling an empty space in our pursuit for escapism.
Though it was previously set to premiere on April 12, AMC has postponed the debut of The Walking Dead: World Beyond, a two-season limited event series set in the world of the network’s zombie franchise, The Walking Dead. The delay is due to the ongoing COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.
The news was first revealed in a tweet that simply noted the premiere was moving. However, in a statement to GameSpot, AMC explained, “Given current circumstances, we have decided to shift the premiere of the new series The Walking Dead: World Beyond to later in the year.”
While World Beyond has already completed filming on its first season, it joins a growing list of delayed entertainment releases, including a long list of blockbuster films that are changing release dates because of the pandemic–from Disney’s Mulan to the highly-anticipated F9: The Fast Saga.
The Walking Dead: World Beyond is moving its premiere date from Sunday April 12th to later this year. Follow here for more updates. pic.twitter.com/1Ncc4VViUt
Meanwhile, Entertainment Weekly notes that production on Season 11 of the original Walking Dead was set to begin in early May, but has been delayed by three weeks. A planned week-long hiatus on production of Fear the Walking Dead has been extended by an additional two weeks.
The Walking Dead: World Beyond is set to feature an all-new cast of characters, following a group of young people who grew up in a world overrun by zombies as they venture beyond the safe barriers of their community for the first time. The series will star Aliyah Royale Iris, Annet Mahendru as Huck, Alexa Mansour as Hope, Nicolas Cantu as Elton, and Hal Cumpston as Silas.
Video game streaming is a popular and fun way to play games, entertain an audience, and interact with your friends and viewers. However, it can be incredibly confusing when it comes to getting started and figuring out what you need. That’s why we’ve tested a multitude of products–from microphones and capture cards to webcams and gaming headsets–to help you find the best streaming accessories that are perfect for Twitch, YouTube, Mixer, or anywhere else.
If you want to start streaming, then there are some things you need to consider. First and foremost, you need a PC that is capable of streaming. In most cases, dedicated desktop PCs will be able to handle this task much better than laptops, and if you’re also gaming on that PC, you should take your specs and settings into consideration as you’ll need to split the workload between the game and the stream. As for the type of accessories you’ll need, the bare essentials tend to be a capture card, microphone, headphones, and webcam. Some of the accessories that’ll improve your stream (but aren’t exactly necessary) include a second monitor and a controller like Elgato’s Streamdeck.
Of course, there are plenty of professional-grade products that producers and top-tier streamers take advantage of, but in this guide, we’ve focused on products that are affordable and accessible to those who want to start streaming or improve their setup. All of these microphones, capture cards, and other accessories are excellent and easy-to-use, and if you’re looking to get started, then this guide will be perfect for you.
As we test more accessories that are great for streaming, we’ll update this guide with our recommendations. For now, read on for the best streaming accessories we’ve tested and swear by.
Note: The prices shown below indicate a product’s standard list price and may not reflect any current discounts or other fluctuations.
Quick look: The best streaming accessories for 2020
Best streaming capture cards
If you want to capture and stream your PS4, Xbox One, or Switch, then you’ll need a capture card to bring the signal into your PC and out to your live stream. They come in compact form factors, sometimes even as internal PCIe cards that you can plug directly into your PC’s motherboard, and thankfully, there are a couple of great options to choose from.
Elgato 4K60 Pro
$250
Elgato 4K60 Pro
Once plugged into your PC’s motherboard, internal PCIe capture cards are the most convenient way to capture gameplay footage, and Elgato’s 4K60 Pro is one of the best. Capable of capturing gameplay up to 4K and 60 frames per second, the 4K60 Pro can also capture HDR10 and passthrough a 1080p signal at 240Hz and a 1440p signal at 144Hz. It’s more than enough to capture any video game console, but it’s also an absolute beast when it comes to capturing your own PC’s feed. If you’re looking for an excellent capture card that won’t kneecap your own gaming experience, then the 4K60 Pro is your best bet.
Elgato HD60 S+
$200
Elgato HD60 S+
The HD60 S+ is Elgato’s latest external capture card for 1080p60. The new model is powered by USB-C, and while it’s only capable of capturing 1080p60 and HDR10, it has the ability to pass through a 4K60 signal with no noticeable latency. It’s not the best card for capturing PC gameplay–it doesn’t feature 1080p240 or 1440p144 passthrough–but it’s an excellent card for PS4, Xbox One, and Switch. Elgato’s upcoming 4K60 S+ is exciting, especially with the ability to capture straight to an SD card, but streaming at 4K is a huge task that requires powerful specs and very fast internet speed, so for most people, the HD60 S+ will be an excellent option.
Razer Ripsaw HD
$160
Razer Ripsaw HD
The Ripsaw HD is Razer’s attempt at a capture card, and the company has managed to make a great capture option. Unlike most of Razer’s products, it’s incredibly discrete, making it easy to place anywhere around your setup and not bring attention to itself. It’s capable of capturing 1080p60 and passing through a 4K60 signal–though it’s not capable of HDR10 passthrough. One of the cooler features of the Ripsaw HD is the fact that you’re able to plug in and record a microphone with a 3.5mm cable as well as your headphones to actually monitor your audio–I was able to plug in my headset, which features 3.5mm jacks for both the mic and headphones.
Best streaming microphones
There are some really excellent microphones out there, hitting price ranges that are out-of-reach for most people. There’s no doubt these microphones are going to outmatch the ones on this list, but they’re also quite expensive and not as easy to use, as most will require a separate interface to connect to your computer. As someone who has spent a lot of time editing podcasts, audio interviews, and radio documentaries over the past six years, I have always been hesitant about USB microphones, but to my surprise, USB microphones have come a long way–the quality is quite impressive. We’ve selected the best microphones that are specifically optimized for streaming.
Razer Seiren Elite
$199
Razer Seiren Elite
The Razer Seiren Elite is one of the most impressive USB microphones I’ve ever used. The audio quality is great, and with it being USB, it’s easy to set up and start streaming. It features a switch that enables a high-pass filter, which gets rid of a lot of the static room noise you might hear and makes your voice come through more clearly. The Seiren Elite also has an LED ring around the microphone that lights up red when your voice is coming in a little hot, making it easy to tell when you need to lower the microphone’s gain. The Seiren Elite lives up to its name, making for a great streaming microphone.
HyperX QuadCast
$140
HyperX QuadCast
The HyperX QuadCast is a great mic for streaming, but it’s also quite versatile, making it an excellent microphone for a number of different activities. It has four different polar patterns, which helps it adapt to different settings–stereo, omnidirectional, cardioid, and bidirectional. The main polar pattern you’ll want to use for streaming is cardioid, which pulls in the audio from one direction–your voice. Stereo works great for recording music, omnidirectional is best for podcasts with multiple people, and bidirectional is perfect if you’re interviewing or doing a podcast with one other person. Thankfully, the QuadCast sounds great no matter which pattern you use, and if you need to mute the mic, it’s an easy tap on the top–the mic’s red light (pictured above) turns off in this instance. For the price, it’s an excellent, versatile streaming microphone that you’ll definitely love using.
Razer Seiren Emote
$180
Razer Seiren Emote
The Razer Seiren Emote rocks its gimmick well–syncing your microphone’s LED functionality to what emojis your chat is using most. You connect it to your Twitch account through Razer’s Streamer Companion app, at which point it can display a large number of different emojis, from smiley faces, salt shakers, and the infamous eggplant. Thankfully, it’s also quite good in terms of audio quality. It doesn’t quite match up to the QuadCast and Seiren Elite, but its fun, emoji-powered gimmick makes up for it.
Best streaming webcams
There are a lot of bad webcams out there, and it can be hard to tell which ones are worth your money. Thankfully, with the upturn in the popularity of streaming, companies have released higher-quality webcams that make it easy to set up and get your face on Twitch, YouTube, Mixer, or anywhere else. There’s even a great option to connect your high-quality DSLR camera to your computer and use it as your webcam.
Razer Kiyo
$100
Razer Kiyo
The Razer Kiyo is a webcam that features its own built-in light to brighten up your face and image for your stream. It’s quite effective if you happen to be streaming from a dimly lit room, and the convenience of not needing a separate light is appreciated. Thankfully, the image quality is great and smooth no matter how you’re streaming. It can handle up to 720p60 or 1080p30 and features auto-focus.
Logitech C920S
$70
Logitech C920S
The Logitech C920S is a solid webcam that I’ve used for a long time, and if you’re looking for something on the affordable side of things, then it’s the way to go. You may need to adjust your lighting to get the best-looking image, but the C920S delivers a great picture for the price. It also now comes with a privacy shutter, which makes it easy to stop your webcam from seeing you when you don’t want it to–the webcam also has two blue LEDs that light up when the webcam is active.
Best streaming headsets
Gaming headsets aren’t going to compete with dedicated microphones in terms of audio quality, but sometimes, the convenience of getting your headphones and microphone in one package is hard to turn down. Thankfully, several companies have made great headsets with quality microphones that can definitely keep your stream entertaining and sounding good–one headset even boasts a unique feature that adds a little extra charm. And if you want to take a look at more options, check out our guide to the best gaming headsets of 2020.
HyperX Cloud Alpha S
$130
HyperX Cloud Alpha S
The HyperX Cloud Alpha S is our favorite wired gaming headset for good reason. It features a sturdy aluminum frame, extremely comfortable earpads, and top-notch sound quality. On top of that, its microphone is quite good, making it a great option for those wanting to go with a gaming headset as opposed to a dedicated mic.
Razer Kraken Kitty
$150
Razer Kraken Kitty
The Razer Kraken Kitty is a special headset, and it’s easy to see why–yes, it’s the cat ears. The LED lights fitted within the headset’s cat ears can sync up with your live stream through Razer’s Streamer Companion app. The audio quality is pretty good as well, though the microphone doesn’t match up against the HyperX’s Cloud Alpha S. The Kraken Kitty is a fun headset that is sure to get a reaction from your viewers, though it may be best to invest in a dedicated microphone if you pick them up for the light-up cat ears.
Controlling your stream in the middle of a game can be a difficult process, from switching scenes and sources to playing fun sounds and videos. Thankfully, there are some easy solutions to this that don’t cost nearly as much as a proper control board would.
Elgato Streamdeck – 15 keys
$150
Elgato Streamdeck
The Elgato Streamdeck is one of the most fun tools you can have at your streaming disposal. It gives you the ability to control your stream with just a button press and, in my case, play funny sounds and music at key moments. Elgato’s Streamdeck software is extremely easy to use, and there’s a community that has figured out ways to get it working with various other apps as well. The 15-key version is compact and small, though I wish the stand was built-in, as I’ve found it can easily slip out of its stand or fold in on itself on a crowded desk. Regardless, the Streamdeck definitely feels like an essential accessory.
Elgato Streamdeck XL – 32 keys
$250
Elgato Streamdeck XL
The Streamdeck XL is what I would go with. It features 32 keys, and while that might be a bit overwhelming for some, it gives you room to grow your desired actions. It’s one solid piece of plastic and feels much more sturdy than its 15-key counterpart. If you want a great-feeling device that will make you feel safe and secure in controlling your stream, then the XL is a great upgrade over the standard Streamdeck.
Best budget monitors
If you’re looking to get serious about streaming, then a second monitor is paramount. With a single screen, it can be hard to see your chat and monitor your stream’s feed as you try to game and entertain your viewers–and the best part is you won’t have to break the bank to solve this problem. There are a number of great monitors that you can get on the cheap and are perfect for that second-screen experience. We’ve got a guide to the best budget monitors, and we’ve selected a few you can see below.
Acer R240HY 23.8-inch, 1080p monitor
$130
Acer R240HY
If you’re looking for a cheap monitor that’ll be great for viewing your chat, monitoring your stream, or any other activity you need to do while streaming, then the Acer R240HY is a great option at $130. It features a 23.8-inch, 1080 display at 60Hz and 4ms of latency. That means you can even game on it if need be.
HP VH240a 23.8-inch 1080p monitor
$110
HP VH240a
The HP VH240a monitor is a popular one for a reason. It’s a solid cheaper option, and while it’s not the best for gaming, it will work perfectly for all streaming-adjacent activities. It features a 23.8-inch, 1080p display at 60Hz and 5ms of latency and is capable of being rotated vertically for a portrait display.
So you’ve found yourself choosing the peaceful embrace of living on a deserted island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. But if you’ve played through the introduction, you probably have a lot of questions regarding how to make the most of your time in a day. And if you’re an Animal Crossing veteran, you might also be curious about what you need to do to gain access to some of the series’ most well-known tools, utilities, and shops. Fortunately, we’ve got you covered with a wealth of guides answering some of the biggest queries you likely have about the game so far.
Below we you can find links to all our Animal Crossing: New Horizons guides and videos. If you’re more curious about our thoughts about the game, then be sure to read our review in progress. Otherwise, please read on!
We’ve outlined everything you should do on day one on your new island so you can maximize your early progress. You can check out our feature or watch the video above for a breakdown of all the essential tasks.
How To Get A Shovel
You get your hands on a lot of tools in Animal Crossing, but one of the most important is the shovel. It’s not necessarily clear how to get it at first or if there’s a recipe to craft it, so we’ve outlined the steps in our quick shovel guide. It takes a little time, but don’t worry; you’ll be digging holes in no time!
Things You Should Do Every Day
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11 Things You Should Do Every Day In Animal Crossing: New Horizons
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When it comes to Animal Crossing, consistency is the key to success, so we’ve put together a list of things you should do every day. In the video above, GameSpot video producer Jake Dekker walks you through 11 things you should do every day in Animal Crossing.
Essential Tips To Follow
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13 Essential Tips For Animal Crossing New Horizons
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If you’re just starting, here are 13 essential tips ranging from daily tasks you won’t want to forget about to advice on how to catch some of the most cunning insects. Give this a watch if you want a general overview of the things you should look out for as you play Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Building Guides: How To Unlock These Key Locations
Like previous games, Animal Crossing: New Horizons requires you to complete certain tasks to unlock new locations on the island. We’ve compiled guides to give you clarity on how to build and upgrade some of the game’s key locations.
How To Make Money Fast
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Make Money FAST In Animal Crossing: New Horizons
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There are a lot of ways to make money in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but if you want to maximize profits here are some tips to make a ton of bells. The video above covers fishing and bug catching strategies, deserted islands, and the Stalk Market.
Completing Your Critterpedia: Bugs And Fish Guides
If you’re the type who absolutelyloves to catch bugs and fish in Animal Crossing, and is willing to go exhaustive lengths to get them all, then you’re probably looking for a resource compiling every single one you can get in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Like you, we’re just as into catching every critter, so we’ve compiled extensive lists containing all our findings so far, where and when you can catch them, and even how much you can sell them for. Definitely bookmark each of our guides as we’ll be working around the clock to complete our collections so that we can give you all the data you need to catch every bug and fish.
Although it’s been 24 years since Scream hit theaters, it doesn’t seem as if the influential slasher movie has ever truly gone away. Three sequels followed over the next 16 years, followed by a spin-off TV show, which ran for three seasons between 2016 and 2019. And earlier this month, it was announced that the film was to be rebooted by Ready or Not directors Matthew Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett.
It’s clear that Scream is a movie that continues to resonate with horror fans and filmmakers, and that it had a huge effect on the genre. The first half of the 1990s was not a particularly strong one for American horror, and it’s hard to find many true classics in the six years prior to Scream’s release. And on paper there was nothing to suggest that it would stand out from the pack. While director Wes Craven was a much-loved horror veteran who had previously given the genre classic movies such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Hills Have Eyes, it had been many years since his last hit. Screenwriter Kevin Williamson was a complete unknown, and the two biggest names in the cast–Drew Barrymmore and Courteney Cox–weren’t exactly known for their work in the genre.
But somehow, everything worked. Williamson’s script was an inspired deconstruction of the slasher movie, while Craven’s experience ensured that while Scream was very clever and funny, it worked just as well as a straight-up scary movie. Established stars Barrymore, Cox, and Henry Winkler all subverted expectations in their roles, and the cast of young, upcoming actors were perfectly cast. And while the decision to release it a week before Christmas 1996 was seen as risky at the time, it totally paid off. The film was a smash, ultimately making more than $173 million at the worldwide box office.
So with Scream’s 25th anniversary approaching, and with the reboot in development, we’re taking a look back at this ’90s classic. And after that, check out GameSpot’s guide to the most underrated horror movies of the 1990s…
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1. The screenplay was written fast
While the end result quickly became a box office hit and a hugely influential movie, struggling screenwriter Kevin Williamson wrote Scream very quickly with no intention beyond a quick sale to help his precarious financial situation. He loosely based the concept on a real-life murder case he had seen on TV, and then isolated himself in Palm Springs to get it finished. “I went off to the desert for 3 days, locked myself in the room, and pounded it out,” he said in a subsequent making-of documentary.
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2. Wes Craven wasn’t interested at first
While many of the great horror directors that emerged from the 1970s either floundered in the 1990s or moved away from horror, Scream gave Wes Craven the biggest hit of his career. But although the Nightmare on Elm Street director was producer Bob Weinstein’s first choice to helm Scream, Craven turned it down several times. At the time Craven himself was tired of making horror movies, describing many of them as “misogynistic”, leading Weinstein to approach a variety of other filmmakers, including Robert Rodriguez, George Romero, and Sam Raimi. But they all turned it down too, and ultimately it was Drew Barrymore’s interest in appearing in the movie that persuaded Craven that there was more to the project than he had initially thought.
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3. Barrymore became Barry-less
Although Drew Barrymore was one of the first stars to sign on and helped get Craven on board, her role changed shortly before production. She was originally set to play the lead role of Sidney Prescott, but five weeks before filming was to start, commitments elsewhere meant that her shooting time would have to be reduced. Instead, she took on the role of Casey Becker, Ghostface’s first victim. It wasn’t the first time a big star had been unexpectedly killed off towards the start of a scary movie–Hitchcock pulled the same trick with Janet Leigh in Psycho–but it really worked in terms of subverting audience expectation in this scene.
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4. Alternate casting
A variety of upcoming actors were considered for the roles in Scream. Alicia Witt and Brittany Murphy both auditioned for the role of Sidney after Barrymore left the part, and Reese Witherspoon was also considered. Brooke Shields and Janeane Garofalo were among the notable names who auditioned for the role of news reporter Gale Weathers, a role ultimately played by Cox. While the Friends actress was a huge TV star at the time, producers didn’t believe she could play nasty as well as she played nice. “They didn’t really see me as a b***h,” she subsequently said, and it took her months to persuade them.
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5. The actors never met the voice of Ghostface
The voice of Ghostface is one of the most iconic aspects of the movie–his taunting and terrifying phone call with Drew Barrymore’s Casey is a big part of what makes the opening sequence so effective. While most directors would just dub his voice on afterwards, Craven decided that those scenes would be far more effective if the actors could hear the dialogue on the other end of the line. To add to the effect, he ensured that Barrymore and Neve Campbell didn’t meet the man who performed the voice (actor Roger L. Jackson) before filming these scenes.
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6. The Ghostface mask wasn’t popular with everyone
very good slasher movie needs a memorable killer, and many of them are defined by their masks–think Jason, Michael Myers, or Leatherface. Ghostface wears a weird, white screaming mask that joins the pantheon of great slasher villain masks, but it almost didn’t happen. The design was based on a Halloween mask created by a Fun World, who gave the filmmakers permission to use the design. It was then made even weirder and scarier by make-up effects designers KNB. Unfortunately, producer Bob Weinstein was less impressed and later stated that he thought the mask looked “goofy,” demanding at one stage that Craven film each scene with four different masks so the issue could be decided later. Luckily, a screening of the footage shot convinced Weinstein that the mask (and the movie) was working well, and he backed off.
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7. Scream originally had a different title
The original title of Scream was Scary Movie. Production on the movie had almost wrapped before Weinstein decided to change the name, choosing “Scream” because of the popular Michael Jackson song of the same title. The cast and crew weren’t happy about the change–co-star Rose McGowan later said “I was really mad when they changed it,” and in the movie’s DVD commentary, Craven also states he didn’t like the new title. Of course, Scary Movie was subsequently used as the title for the Wayans brothers’ popular series of horror spoofs.
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8. Cameos to watch for
There are a couple of cool cameos to look out for in Scream. Linda Blair, who became a horror icon for playing the possessed Regan in The Exorcist, appears as a reporter in the press scrum who shouts “people have a right to know!” at the police. And Craven himself appears briefly as a janitor in the high school, dressed amusingly in a jumper that is suspiciously similar to the one worn by his greatest creation–Freddy Krueger. The principal, played by Winkler, even refers to him as Fred.
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9. Scream had trouble getting an R rating
The filmmakers didn’t have an easy time getting Scream through the US censors. Craven had to submit it no fewer than eight times to get it passed with an R-rating by the MPAA. In the movie’s DVD commentary, he reveals that he lied to them at one point, telling them that there was no alternative footage of the opening scene for him to use, instead of the gorier shots in the movie. In the end, it took a direct appeal from Bob Weinstein to the MPAA, who successfully argued that they were focusing too much on the horror aspects and not enough on the humour and self-referential storyline.
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Disclosure: ViacomCBS is GameSpot’s parent company
Family Guy recently returned to airwaves. Here are the funniest cutaway gags from the show’s first three seasons.
Family Guy returned to the airwaves recently for the second half of its 18th season. Who could have guessed that this show would have lasted over two decades since its rocky beginnings? It was cancelled after its third season due to low ratings, but the show’s young, college-aged fans were persistent, and as a result of strong DVD sales, Fox revived the show.
Since then, creator Seth MacFarlane has become a mainstream success, authoring additional animated shows, several films, and a sci-fi send-up of Star Trek. He even has a moderately successful career as a singer, specializing in big band American standards.
What has kept Family Guy unique and distinctive for 18 seasons is its reliance on cutaway gags. These are rapid fire non-sequiturs, that are framed either as flashbacks or intrusions upon the episode’s main plot. Good cutaway gags allow the show to indulge in the bizarre and the nostalgic, and make Family Guy easy to binge, because even the weaker episodes can have fantastic individual jokes scattered throughout.
We’re looking at the best cutaway gags from the first three seasons of Family Guy–the original run of the show from 1999-2003, before it became a mainstream success. Family Guy is currently streaming all its episodes on Hulu.
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1. Kool-Aid Man
Episode: “Death Has A Shadow” – Season 1 Episode 1
Trigger Line: “Oh no!”
The biggest laugh in the show’s pilot episode came from this gag, when the Kool-Aid Man broke through the wall of Judge Blackman’s courtroom. “OH YEAH!” The show has continued to reference this early, classic moment; the Kool-Aid Man has made at least 10 appearances in subsequent episodes.
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2. Do Not Push Button
Episode: “The Son Also Draws” – Season 1 Episode 6
Trigger Line: “Rules were made to be broken!”
What makes this gag work is the unexpected effect that pressing the button has. One would expect a bomb to go off, or for some other, mechanical chain reaction to take place. Instead, a karate master walks into the room, bows, and kicks Peter in the head.
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3. Hit A Deer
Episode: “Brian: Portrait Of A Dog” – Season 1 Episode 7
Trigger Line: “Yeah, except for the time Dad hit that deer.”
It’s a nightmare situation for every driver: You’re in a fender bender, and you have to interact with the other driver. Is this worth calling the insurance company? Do you call a cop? Do you take down the other guy’s information? You just want to get out of there before one of you starts screaming. Or grunting, in the deer’s case.
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4. Fixin’ The Shed
Episode: “Brian: Portrait Of A Dog” – Season 1 Episode 7
Trigger Line: “Can’t you two go back to the way things used to be?”
Family Guy created this loving tribute to black and white cartoons from the pre-synchronized sound era. Especially nice touches include Brian’s black pupils, the flexible stretch-and squash physics of the characters, and the subtitle placard at the end of the short. “ha-ha-ha-ha!”
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5. One Horse Town
Episode: “Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater” – Season 2 Episode 1
Trigger Line: “Quahog? That one horse town?”
This gag is simple but effective; it’s a figure of speech, taken literally. For whatever reason, Family Guy has the best horse characters. This is one of many examples.
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6. Chicken Fight #1
Episode: “Da Boom!” – Season 2 Episode 3
Trigger Line: “I don’t take coupons from giant chickens. Not after last time.”
All this over an expired coupon? This is one of those things that people who don’t even watch the show know about. The Family Guy chicken fights are a loving sendup of every action movie trope. This first one, which has Peter and Ernie fighting on a truck, on a helicopter, and in an office building, got the proverbial ball rolling on one of the show’s longest running gags.
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7. That’s Tom Selleck’s Food!
Episode: “Da Boom!” – Season 2 Episode 3
Trigger Line: “When I think back at all the food we’ve wasted in this house…”
When Peter wastes money, he wastes it in a way that benefits no one. Remember the Peter-copter? Or the gold tuxedo? Or how about this cutaway, where he takes time to feed beans to Tom Selleck on Magnum P.I.? None for Higgins though. He already had his.
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8. I’m Not Stephen King
Episode: “Brian In Love” – Season 2 Episode 4
Trigger Line: “He suggested I go out into the world and pursue my dreams. I’m leaving tomorrow.”
Stephen King once said that Dean Koontz’s work is “sometimes… just awful.” Clearly, Brian Griffin agrees with that assessment; this cutaway is a send-up of the infamous car accident that nearly killed Stephen King. Brian is initially worried he ran over King, but when he finds out it’s actually Koontz, he backs over him again for good measure.
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9. Albert Einstein, Patent Thief
Episode: “The King Is Dead” – Season 2 Episode 7
Trigger Line: “Peter, a lot of creative people have mindless jobs… Albert Einstein worked at a patent office.”
Albert Einstein is more a myth than a real person these days; his name is shorthand for “genius.” So when Family Guy exploded that myth in one, hilarious cutaway, it hit that much deeper. Smith’s Theory of Relativity is now Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, thanks to a cutthroat attitude and a booth window to the back of the head.
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10. Infinite Monkey Theorem
Episode: “The King Is Dead” – Season 2 Episode 7
Trigger Line: “Put enough monkeys in a room with a typewriter and they’ll produce Shakespeare.”
The Simpsons did it first and best, but Family Guy’s take on the infinite monkey theorem, which imagines the monkeys as the occupants of a burnt out writer’s room, is a close second.
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11. Mr. Fargus Dissects A Clown
Episode: “Running Mates” – Season 2 Episode 10
Trigger Line: “Oh my God! That’s Mr. Fargus! He was my favorite teacher!”
Morbid and distasteful, this cutaway took the cool, fun teacher trope to its most ridiculous extreme. There’s a fine line between outside-the-box lesson planning and emotional disturbance.
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12. Big Bird
Episode: “A Picture Is Worth 1000 Bucks” – Season 2 Episode 11
Trigger Line: “[Whistles]”
Big Bird is such a recognizable, beloved figure, that his very presence in Family Guy is hilarious on its face. When Meg practices one of her bird calls in Rockefeller Center, a very grouchy Big Bird shows up to answer it.
“Yeah? Well, whaddya want?”
There’s that New York hospitality. He nearly punches Meg in the face for inconveniencing him.
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13. Please Sir, I Want Some More
Episode: “Let’s Go To The Hop” – Season 2 Episode 14
Trigger Line: “‘Oliver Twit’ if you ask me. I would have done things rather differently, I can tell you that!”
One of the most famous scenes in English literature is when Charles Dickens’ protagonist, Oliver Twist, asks for more gruel from the overseer. In the novel, this leads to a beating. In Stewie’s fantasy, it leads to pure wish fulfilment.
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14. Cavity Creeps
Episode: “There’s Something About Paulie” – Season 2 Episode 16
Trigger Line: “She doesn’t want to see me fall in with a tough crowd again.”
This is the type of gag where Seth MacFarlane dates himself. Everyone who came of age in the late ’70s and early ’80s knows exactly what this is: a sendup of a classic ad campaign, featuring the squeaky clean Crest Team against the evil, rock-like Cavity Creeps.
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15. The Dating Game
Episode: “There’s Something About Paulie” – Season 2 Episode 16
Trigger Line: “What if something happens to you? I’m too old to start dating again!”
The real-life Dating Game was filled with double entendre questions like these, and Peter suffers humiliation from a particularly mixed metaphor.
Woman: “I’m an ice-cream cone. How are you going to eat me?”
Peter: “Well, I would try to eat you really fast, before I got flaccid!”
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16. Peter Sees Cats on Broadway
Episode: “Brian Does Hollywood” – Season 3 Episode 2
Trigger Line: “It wouldn’t be the first time you’ve disrupted a performance.”
Now that the Cats movie just flopped at the box office, this cutaway is even funnier. Peter runs over Munkustrap with his car and inmediately begins babbling excuses.
“I didn’t see it! It jumped right out in front of my car!”
At the time the episode originally aired, Cats was the longest running Broadway musical in history, and played at the Winter Garden Theatre for 18 years before closing in 2000.
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17. Evil Monkey Origins
Episode: “Ready, Willing, And Disabled” – Season 3 Episode 15
Trigger Line: “You know, the sad part is? He wasn’t always evil.”
The Evil Monkey was one of the earliest viral characters on the show, and this cutaway gives him just enough of a background story. He would later finally get the full story treatment in the Season 8 episode “Hannah Banana.”
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18. Expressed Written Consent
Episode: “A Very Special Family Guy Freakin’ Christmas” – Season 3 Episode 16
Trigger Line: “Sorry, the VCR hasn’t worked since you tried to tape Monday Night Football.”
There’s lots of laws and regulations that are on the books, technically, but no one follows. You’re not supposed to tape Monday Night Football, and Peter learns the consequences of doing so, the hard way.
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19. Stewie’s Sexy Party
Episode: “From Method To Madness” – Season 3 Episode 18
Trigger Line: “Well at first, I wanted you to fail. But then I realized you’d be out of the house five days a week! Which means I’d be free to throw some of my sexy parties!”
This Hugh Hefner fantasy is oddly innocent (Stewie is a baby, after all) and has made repeated appearances in subsequent episodes. Apparently, Stewie has that ship captain’s uniform underneath his clothes at all times. The kid is ready for a sexy party at a moment’s notice.
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20. Eye Surgery
Episode: “When You Wish Upon A Weinstein” – Season 3 Episode 22
Trigger Line: “I just don’t think it’s [laser surgery] safe.”
Family Guy would eventually create full-length Star Wars spoofs of the original three movies. But in this cutaway from the “banned episode” of Season 3, Luke accidentally kills a woman by using a lightsaber to do eye surgery. Obi-Wan’s suggestion–to use The Force to guide him–doesn’t help matters. A frustrated Luke turns to his mentor:
Luke: “Are you happy?”
Obi-Wan: “I’ve never been happy.”
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Disclosure: ViacomCBS is GameSpot’s parent company
