Fear The Walking Dead’s New Season Will See “A Lot Of Time Pass”

Fear the Walking Dead is returning for a sixth season this year (a date has not been set yet,) and will pick up where season 5 left off. It will feature Dwight, another character who has crossed over from the main series into the spin-off, and will, of course, involve a lot of zombies. According to Scott M. Gimple, the chief content officer of the television franchise, we might see a time jump in this season as well.

Talking to Entertainment Weekly, Gimple responds to a question about whether or not the show will feature a time jump by saying that “time is actually going to be played around with on this season.” Although major chronology jumps and changes are likely to be “way down the line,” he says that “we’re going to see a lot of time pass” on the next season of the show.

What this means, exactly, isn’t clear–fans of The Walking Dead on television, comics, and in Telltale’s game series–are used to the franchise playing with time, although huge time jumps are rare.

Elsewhere in the interview, Gimple says that the show’s slow fifth season was “about setting up this journey that these characters on on through there to season 6,” and that while they pay attention to fan reactions, it’s hard to always follow exactly what they’re asking for.

He also says that, structurally, Fear the Walking Dead is “going to change quite a bit” this season, and it’ll be “a little less vignette-y” than before, more like “16 little movies.”

The Walking Dead has a third unique series coming as well, called Worlds Beyond. It will debut in Spring 2020. The flagship show, The Walking Dead, is currently in its tenth season.

Now Playing: Overkill’s The Walking Dead Opening Cinematic

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne On PC Is Deleting Some Players’ Save Files

Monster Hunter: World‘s major DLC adventure, Iceborne, has finally made its way to PC, but the release is not without its problems. As VG247 reports, some players have had a major issue with running the new expansion–it’s been deleting their save files.

When the game opens and performs a save file check, some players are reporting, an error message tells them that “no compatible save was found”–and then the game will create a new save, overwriting their completed file. Upon exiting out of the game, this new save will overwrite their cloud save, effectively deleting their completed file. This problem has been widely reported on Reddit.

Some players have been able to recover files with a community-created save transfer tool, and many have speculated that it depends on which mods players are running. The game also changed its save data format some time ago, and it’s possible that players who have not played the game in a while and are just now returning to Iceborne are having issues because of this.

Other players are reporting issues with the frame rate in Iceborne, which is currently being investigated. Otherwise, the game seems to have been ported well, judging by most player’s reports.

If you intend to play Iceborne but have not loaded the game up yet, it’s worth creating a back-up of your save file just in case.

Now Playing: Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Video Review

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Star Trek: Picard Boss Clears Up Any Timeline Confusion

Being a Star Trek fan can be difficult. After all, there are so many different casts scattered between the various TV shows and movies, not to mention more than one timeline. Most of Trek–including Star Trek: The Next Generation–is set in what has been dubbed the Prime timeline. However, the 2009 movie from JJ Abrams, which essentially served as a reboot, was dubbed the Kelvin timeline. Given that’s confined to those films, it should be easy to tell them apart. Unfortunately, the 2009 film also crossed over with the Prime timeline.

So where does the latest addition to the franchise, Star Trek: Picard, live? Thankfully, executive producer Alex Kurtzman cleared up any confusion at the TCA winter press tour panel for the show. “We’re in the prime timeline,” he explained. “Events from the Kelvin timeline impacted Picard, but if you look at that movie, the destruction of Romulus was in the Prime timeline. It is what enabled the Kelvin timeline jump to happen. So that is very consistent with canon.”

While it makes complete sense for Picard to be set in the Prime timeline, it’s an interesting question to think of in light of the Viacom/CBS merger, which brings the films produced by Paramount Pictures under the same corporate umbrella as the expanding Star Trek presence on TV and streaming. As for whether this series could end up a movie itself, Kurtzman isn’t closing the door on that possibility, but notes there has to be a reason to take it to the big screen. “What can we do in the movie that we can’t do on the television show? That’s the only reason to do it,” he said.

Picard picks up years after the end of The Next Generation and finds the titular captain living a reclusive life on Earth, long-retired from Starfleet. Patrick Stewart returns to the role he made famous and will be joined by a host of familiar faces from The Next Generation–Brent Spiner as Data, Jonathan Frakes as Riker, and Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi. Additionally, Jeri Ryan will reprise her role as Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager. For more about Picard, make sure to check out our guide to everything we’ve learned thus far, plus a look at why Picard’s dog may be one of the show’s most important characters.

Star Trek: Picard debuts on CBS All Access on January 23.

Disclosure: CBS All Access is owned by ViacomCBS, GameSpot’s parent company.

Now Playing: Star Trek: The History of Jean-Luc Picard

GTA 4 No Longer Available To Buy On Steam

For reasons that are not clear, Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV is no longer available to purchase on Steam. A member of the ResertEra forum recently discovered that the Steam page for GTA IV no longer has a purchase button where it once was.

The page does not offer any insight into why this is the case. Rockstar Games could not be reached for comment at press time.

People are speculating that this has something to do with music licensing or how GTA IV still requires a Games For Windows Live account. Others are guessing that Rockstar might be moving GTA IV from Steam to its own Rockstar Launcher. For now, the real reason why GTA IV is no longer available to buy on Steam remains a mystery.

PC Gamer reminds us that Rockstar removed GTA Vice City from Steam for a brief period of time in 2012 due to a copyright claim related to the Michael Jackson song “Wanna Be Startin’ Something.”

Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas remain available for purchase on Steam. It’s also worth noting that those who already own GTA IV on Steam can continue to play the title.

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This Console Modder Has Created GameCube Joy-Cons For Switch

The Switch has a great controller in the Pro Controller, but many gamers (especially fans of Super Smash Bros. Melee) cannot look past the GameCube controller, so much so that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate still supports it. But if you’re playing in handheld mode, you’re out of luck, with no official GameCube controller-shaped Joy-Cons available–which is why one console modder took it upon themselves to build some.

Shank Mods‘ creation was made by tearing down a pair of standard Joy-Cons and recreating them inside the half-shells of a GameCube controller. This is not a theoretical render, but rather a new pair of working Joy-Con controllers that each look and feel like half a GameCube controller.

In the video below, Shank shows how he did it (it took months of work and involved 3D printing some parts,) and how they work.

The process of making the controller is pretty involved, as the Joy-Con pair features different buttons compared to the GameCube controller.

Shank even creates a Joy-Con cradle, so you can use the two halves snapped together like a Wavebird. These Joy-Con controllers he has created are compatible with any games that you can use the Joy-Con with, and feature gyro controls and amiibo support.

Unfortunately, the GameCube Joy-Con is not available as a commercial product.

Now Playing: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Review

Picard Star Patrick Stewart Explains Why Star Trek’s Popularity Never Dies

Star Trek: Picard is days away from debuting on CBS All Access, and at the TCA winter press tour, series star Patrick Stewart reminisced about his days working on The Next Generation and why Star Trek is still relevant.

The original Star Trek series first debuted in 1966, and more than half a century later, it’s still part of pop culture. But why? “Hope,” Stewart stated. “It is the dominant emotion behind everything we did on The Next Generation and as I’m beginning to discover, on Picard too. It has always been part of the content of Star Trek that it will attempt to create a better future with the set belief that a better future is possible.”

While Stewart wasn’t a part of the original series, his iconic character Jean-Luc Picard first made his debut in 1987 on The Next Generation, arguably one of the most important science fiction television series of all time. He portrayed that character up until his final appearance in the 2002 movie Star Trek: Nemesis. “I was proud of the work we did in seven years on the series and the four movies we made,” said Stewart. “That brought the franchise to a close. I was very content with that because I felt, as I said, very proud of the work we’d done, the context in which the work was done.”

Coming back to the character didn’t seem to be a huge obstacle to Stewart, since Picard is just as much a part of him, as he is of the Starfleet Captain. “It has been far easier than I expected to make this transition nearly 20 years later. Because, as I’ve said, the man exists inside of me. We’ve talked for days about the backstory, what happened in those 20 years. Little snippets of the backstory will creep into the series because it’s important our audience gets to know why we are living in the world that we are.”

Picard follows the former Starfleet Captain, years after the end of TNG, as he lives on Earth. There will be plenty of familiar faces popping up from the beloved Star Trek series like Brent Spiner as Data, Jonathan Frakes as Riker, and Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi. And don’t worry Voyager fans, Jeri Ryan will also be appearing as Seven of Nine.

For more on Picard, check out the announcement for Season 2 of the series, along with series star Patrick Stewart discussing why there is a dog on the show and how Picard fits into the already confusing Star Trek timeline.

Star Trek: Picard debuts on CBS All Access on January 23.

Disclosure: CBS All Access is owned by ViacomCBS, GameSpot’s parent company.

Star Trek: Picard’s Dog Means Much More Than You Might Expect

While the CBS All Access series Star Trek: Picard hasn’t aired yet, it’s already gotten the green light for a second season. But before the series airs, the show’s star Patrick Stewart explains just where Jean-Luc Picard’s dog, which we’ve seen in one of the promotional posters for the series, comes from.

At the TCA winter press tour, Picard had a presentation where Stewart was in attendance discussion the upcoming All Access series, including how this dog was incorporated into the series. “Like so many things on this show, it has a great deal to do with me,” Patrick jokingly explained. “The dog was my idea.”

“Picard’s life has changed. He’s troubled, disturbed, lonely, and with feelings of a strange, unnatural guilt. To just see him with a dog seemed to me to write a lot of things that didn’t have to be said. Because the presence of the dog alone shows he is looking for some form of comfort, which he can’t find anywhere else.”

The upcoming series, which takes place years after the events of The Next Generation, follows the titular character who has settled into a much calmer life, on Earth. A placard at New York Comic-Con, designed to share information about the series, read:”Since resigning from Starfleet, Admiral Jean-Luc Picard has lived a somewhat reclusive life on his family estate in La Barre, France. All of that changes when he receives an unexpected visitor and is once more drawn back to the galactic stage.”

The new Star Trek series will feature many familiar faces from Star Trek: TNG, including Brent Spiner as Data, Jonathan Frakes as Riker, and Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi, plus Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager. For more, check out the latest trailer and GameSpot’s guide to everything we know so far about Star Trek: Picard.

Star Trek: Picard debuts on CBS All Access on January 23.

Disclosure: CBS All Access is owned by ViacomCBS, GameSpot’s parent company.

Now Playing: Star Trek: The History of Jean-Luc Picard

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare Is Raising Money For Australian Bushfire Relief

Activision is raising money for the ongoing bushfire relief effort in Australia through an in-game charity campaign with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The “Outback Relief Pack” is available now, and it contains Australia-themed items and gear.

The Outback Relief pack costs 1,800 Call of Duty Points, which works out to around $18 USD. 100 percent of the net proceeds will be donated to help fire relief efforts in Australia. It’s unclear exactly where the money is going, but GameSpot has followed up with Activision in an attempt to get more details.

The content includes a Bushranger operator skin, a koala charm, and the blueprints for the legendary “Big Game” sniper rifle. There is also a new sticker, gun art, operator quip, and finishing move, as well as a token to skip one tier in the Modern Warfare Battle Pass.

Here's everything in the Outback Relief DLCHere’s everything in the Outback Relief DLC

In a tweet, Activision said, “Our thoughts go out to all those affected by the bushfires in Australia.” The message also confirms that the donation campaign runs until January 31.

Activision is not the only gaming company that is giving money to help support the firefighting efforts in Australia. Ubisoft Australia has also donated, while Bungie is raising money through a Destiny 2 campaign to raise funds.

As of January 12, there are still more than 100 bush and grass fires burning in Australia, 40 of which are not contained. The New South Wales Bureau of Meteorology is projecting a good amount of rain across Australia for the coming week, which the NSW Rural Fire Service says would be a very good thing.

Go to GameSpot sister site CNET to see an extensive and informative breakdown of the national crisis and find out what you can do to help.

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How The Feature That Almost Sunk Disco Elysium Was Made

Who would have thought that, in a year with game releases from Nintendo, From Software, Remedy Entertainment, Capcom, Respawn, and numerous other well-known studios, a CRPG from a small, unknown team would become one of the most talked-about titles of 2019?

Disco Elysium is a game that commands attention. Whether it’s the striking watercolor acid trip aesthetic, the moody and melancholic music, dense lore, or satisfyingly verbose writing, there’s a lot to get caught up in. At the same time, Disco Elysium is remarkably ambitious, offering players an incredible amount of freedom to define their character and role-play.

It’s easy to forget that this is Studio ZA/UM’s first game, especially when you encounter something like the Thought Cabinet–the subject of this episode of Audio Logs. At its simplest, the Thought Cabinet gives the player insight into the mind of Disco Elysium’s main character, but–as with real people–the mind is a complicated, messy, and often chaotic place. Needless to say, realizing it on-screen and as a core part of how the player progresses through the game and develops their character proved to be a challenge.

Disco Elysium designer and writer Robert Kurvitz breaks down the creation of the Thought Cabinet in this episode, describing it as a “quagmire” feature that almost sunk the entire project.

Kurvitz also discusses some of the other design decisions Studio ZU/AM made to modernize the CRPG genre. Among these is the way text is displayed on-screen, which–as genre enthusiasts will know–hasn’t changed all that much since the early days of CRPGs. However, Disco Elysium’s devs decided to mix things up and it found inspiration in Twitter, of all things.

Beyond the design of the game itself, this episode is a look into Kurvitz himself, who has been building the world and lore of Disco Elysium for years. He has some fascinating insights into player behavior and the tendencies of modern-day video game players. He also talks about some of the ideas he’d like to explore in future projects, offering a tantalizing tease of what we could see next from 2019’s breakout studio. Needless to say, this is a must-watch episode of Audio Logs, whether you’ve played Disco Elysium or not.

This is the third episode in Audio Logs Season 2 and, if you haven’t already, make sure to watch the first two. The season began with legendary developers Hideo Kojima and Yoji Shinkawa breaking down a pivotal scene from Death Stranding. Episode 2, meanwhile, is a deep dive into Control’s Ashtray Maze. Game director Mikael Kasurinen shows exactly how Remedy executed the memorable sequence from one of 2019’s best games. Both of these episodes are available on YouTube. Be sure to subscribe to GameSpot on YouTube to see more episodes as they’re released every Sunday.

If you haven’t already checked out Disco Elysium, you should. In our Disco Elysium review the game was awarded a rare 10/10. Critic David Wildgoose said it is “a mad, sprawling detective story where the real case you’ve got to crack isn’t who killed the man strung up on a tree in the middle of town–though that in itself, replete with dozens of unexpected yet intertwined mysteries and wild excursions into the ridiculous, is engrossing enough to sustain the game. Rather, it’s an investigation of ideas, of the way we think, of power and privilege, and of how all of us are shaped, with varying degrees of autonomy, by the society we find ourselves in.”