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The Viotek GFT27DB (See it at Amazon)is a 27-inch monitor that features a 1440p resolution, 144Hz refresh rate and a 1ms response time. It uses a TN panel to achieve its fast response time for buttery smooth gameplay, and it offers FreeSync technology to prevent tearing from a mismatch between your monitor’s refresh rate and your GPU’s output. While it is not among the few monitors stamped with Nvidia’s seal of approval for G-Sync compatibility, I can confirm that it does indeed play nice with G-Sync when manually enabled.
Fortnite has been slowly doling out teasers for an apparent Avengers: Endgame crossover event coming to its battle royale mode on April 25. The first two images showcased equipment from Captain America and Thor, so obviously, the third teaser to drop today had to feature the last remaining in the trio of lead Avengers, Iron Man.
The tweet is just like the others, in that it quotes the Endgame tagline “Whatever it takes” and uses a #FortniteXAvengers hashtag. This one shows a Fortnite character with Iron Man’s repulsor gloves, which he uses in the films and comics for both propulsion and offense. The previous teases showed Cap’s shield and Thor’s axe, Stormbreaker.
All of these teasers suggest that the battle royale event will let players equip iconic Avengers weapons, most likely in a limited-time mode. Alongside Avengers: Infinity War, Epic introduced a special crossover that let players equip Thanos’ devastating Infinity Gauntlet. It was nerfed almost immediately so that more players would be able to defeat the “Thanos” player and don the gauntlet themselves. So far Epic hasn’t detailed this crossover event, or if the Infinity Gauntlet mode will be returning in some form. These limited-time modes are all separate from the usual battle pass goodies.
Fortnite regularly rotates in special events and limited-time modes, along with rotating seasons on a fixed schedule. In fact it has begun teasing its next season already, with roaming runes that appear to be slotting into a vault in Loot Lake. But these frequent updates have apparently come at a cost, as developers have complained of crunch culture on a continuous loop.
Avengers: Endgame concludes the story arc of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe to this point, and reviews have started to release online in advance of its debut. We also now know that for the first time in the MCU, this movie doesn’t have a mid- or post-credits scene–a way of bookending this as the end of a story arc. It is still three hours long, though, so if you need to take a bathroom break, we have you covered with when it’s safe to pee.
“But most of all Endgame is a love letter to the entire MCU–the whole thing,” Michael Rougeau wrote in GameSpot’s review. “It’s messy and confusing, and there’s going to be a lot of discussion about whether the ending even makes sense–it basically breaks the rules set up throughout the entire movie leading up to it. But holy hell is it an emotional, fulfilling ride. I have no doubt we’re going to spend the coming weeks picking and pulling it apart until we’ve over-analyzed every single aspect imaginable. But right now, in the aftermath, Avengers Endgame feels like a win.”
The next James Bond film, known at present only as Bond 25, is to be revealed very soon. The official 007 Twitter account confirmed the movie will be revealed in a livestream starting on April 25 at 5:10 AM PDT / 10:10 AM EDT / 1:10 PM BST / 10:10 PM AET.
Little else is known about Bond 25 at present, and the aforementioned tweet didn’t give much else away. The reveal is taking place “from an iconic 007 location,” it said, and fans will have the opportunity to ask the cast questions.
The Bond actor himself, Daniel Craig, appeared reluctant to return for Bond 25. After wrapping Spectre, the previous film in the series, he said he’d rather slash his wrists than play the character again. He also said if he were to play Bond again, it would “only be for the money.” A year later, a report claimed that Craig was offered $150 million to star in the next two 007 movies, before the actor confirmed his return in August 2017.
More recently, it has been reported that Bond 25’s producers want Bohemian Rhapsody star Rami Malek to play the villain. While he’s yet to be confirmed, if he were to appear he would join a star-studded cast that currently contains Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, and Lea Seydoux, who are all confirmed to reprise their roles.
Hindsight 20/20 is an upcoming action adventure game developed by Triple I, an independent studio composed of former BioWare, ArenaNet, and Sucker Punch veterans. We played through a Hindsight 20/20 demo with Triple I creative director Hemanshu Chhabra, who previously worked on BioWare’s MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic. Prior to playing the demo, Chhabra pointed to both Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask as inspirations for Hindsight 20/20’s gameplay loop and combat, before adding The Wind Waker as an influence for the game’s art style.
In Hindsight 20/20, you play as Jehan, an orphan who lives in a city that prides itself on being nonviolent. Despite this, Jehan’s father is killed–for reasons unknown–by Aurthur, a headstrong man whose influence in the city grows by the day. Jehan seeks vengeance for his father’s death, as well as answers in regards to a mysterious virus that is infecting the populace and transforming them into seemingly monstrous creatures called Raakshasas. We faced off against Aurthur in Hindsight 20/20’s demo, which can be seen in the video below.
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Hindsight 20/20 Switch Gameplay: Being A Hero Who Shows Mercy
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Combat is relatively simple; you utilize dodges, melee attacks, and special abilities to manage groups of enemies. While fighting, both you and enemies have two meters: one for health and the other for morale. Non-lethal attacks wound someone’s morale, while lethal ones chip away at a person’s health. Your enemies, or you, are defeated when either of those meters is reduced to zero.
Jehan is armed with a stun baton that damages morale and a sword that damages health. The former gives him a more defensive playstyle that pushes enemies away and allows him to send out bolts of lightning to zap foes into submission. Wielding the latter gives Jehan a far more aggressive fighting style, one that allows him to utilize the sword as a deadly boomerang or summon a field of blades that impale everyone around him. You can switch between either one at any point in the game, and boss enemies will respond differently depending on whether you’ve shown yourself to be a peaceful fellow or a murderer.
However, combat choices didn’t create major changes in how enemies fought–Aurthur being the one exception. There weren’t enough enemy types to warrant the use of one of Jehan’s weapons over the other, so the choice of weapon felt arbitrary, at least during the demo. Simply picking whichever matches the type of run you’re going for dialogue-wise seems like the only real decision you need to make. Chhabra said there are several other enemy types, introduced later in the game, but whether these enemies push you to weigh the moral ramifications against any benefit either weapon might provide remains to be seen.
As is, combat isn’t all that engaging. Every encounter is reduced to waiting for an enemy to attack so they expose themselves for a counter. That style of gameplay has worked in games before, such as older entries in The Legend of Zelda, but Hindsight 20/20 seemingly lacks a wide enough variety of unique enemy types to make its combat stand out.
The best parts of the demo were the tense conversations with the main NPCs, knowing that one wrong word could change the outcome of Jehan’s story in several different ways–ranging from whether friendships were maintained to who would survive by a mission’s end. I can see those moments having a butterfly effect on the story that a player would want to correct.
As an example, we played through the Hindsight 20/20 demo a second and third time, making different choices in each one–deciding to be selfish in the second run and a merciless killer in the third. As seen in the video below, these choices lead to very different outcomes in comparison to the merciful run shown above. Some of the changes are minor (NPCs and enemies condemn Jehan for his behavior) while others have much larger, more story-driven effects (saving Jehan’s friend, Andrew, from committing suicide).
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Hindsight 20/20 Switch Extended Gameplay: Becoming Ruthless To Save A Friend
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The concept of choice is at the center of every part of Hindsight 20/20, a game aptly named for the expression, “Hindsight is 20/20.” Chhabra said that the game has seven different endings, and the campaign is about six hours long. The game tracks every major choice you make, ranging from who you killed and spared, to how you responded in certain conversations. At the end of the campaign, Jehan is born again at the beginning of the story with this record in hand, and you can use what you’ve learned from every previous life to fix your mistakes in the next one.
“There’s no ideal ending,” Chhabra clarified. He continued by saying three of the endings have some overlap but the other four are all “very different, very distinct.” It’s impossible to save everyone and get a completely good ending–you’ll just have to replay the game until you get the conclusion that you think is best for Jehan.
It’s an intriguing concept–utilizing the replayability of an RPG as an in-game feature–but it’s certainly one that feels more prominent when it comes to dialogue. I’m not wholly convinced the combat side of the game matches that level of intricacy. At the very least, there definitely needs to be some more variety when it comes to the kinds of enemies you fight in order to challenge how you think about approaching combat.
Hindsight 20/20 is scheduled to release on Xbox One, PS4, Switch, and PC in Q2 2020.
At the end of the live concert special Persona Super Live 2019, a full trailer for the updated version of Persona 5, called Persona 5 Royal, was shown. There was a ton of new stuff revealed including the new party member for the Phantom Thieves, additional areas for social activities, new attack animations, and a whole bunch more. As for release date, Persona 5 Royal is set to launch in Japan on October 31, 2019 and worldwide sometime in 2020 exclusively for PlayStation 4.
In the trailer, you can hear a new theme song and watch gameplay from areas that were not included in the original version. Particularly, you can roam around Kichijoji, visit an aquarium, engage in new social scenes with new characters, and play pool and darts with the whole team. You can also see additional attack animations, specifically one featuring Haru and Morgana in a sort of partner attack similar to those added in Persona 4 Golden. Makoto can be seen throwing lightning-fast fists Kenshiro-style. It also appears that there is a new palace (or at least a new area to fight in) going off of where Haru and Morgana’s new attack was performed.
The new party member goes by the name of Yoshizawa Kasumi, and she’s also a transfer student who’s a sort of gymnast. You can see her critical hit animation in the trailer for a brief moment as well. She’s going to play a major role and change up the original storyline; brief snippets of new cutscenes can be seen as well.
The new character Yoshizawa Kasumi in her Phantom Thief outfit (via Famitsu)
There is a lot more to breakdown, which you can expect from us soon. You can watch the new trailer for the Japanese version of Persona 5 Royal above.
How did the US video game industry fare in March 2019? The NPD Group has released its report for the month, shining a light on the best-performing consoles and games in March.
Starting with games, The Division 2 was the top-selling game of the month, and it becomes the second best-selling title of 2019, only behind Kingdom Hearts III. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice came in at No. 2, and it is the second-highest launch-month sales for FromSoftware; it’s only behind Dark Souls III.
Another highlight in March was MLB 19: The Show, which came in at No. 3. The PS4-exclusive set a new franchise record for first-month sales; it also set a new all-time record for first-month sales across the entire baseball category. Devil May Cry 5 also came out in March, and it enjoyed the second highest launch-month sales in series history; only Devil May Cry 4 outperformed it. One final highlight was that Kingdom Hearts III, which released back in January, is now the best-selling Kingdom Hearts game ever.
Overall, total game spending in March 2019 amounted to $547 million; that’s down 11 percent year-over-year.
Moving to hardware, the Nintendo Switch was March 2019’s best-selling console, and the first quarter of the year overall, across units sold and dollars spent. The Switch’s strong performance wasn’t enough to stabilise the entire hardware sector, as total hardware spending for March 2019 dropped 15 percent to $282 million.
With games, hardware, and accessories sales combined, total US industry video game spending reached $1.2 billion in March; that’s down 11 percent year-over-year.
March 2019 US Sales
Top 20 Games All Platforms
The Division 2^
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice^
MLB 19: The Show
Devil May Cry 5
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
Red Dead Redemption II
NBA 2K19
GTA V
Yoshi’s Crafted World*
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4^
Anthem^
Mario Kart 8*
Jump Force
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe*
Far Cry New Dawn
Minecraft#
Battlefield V^
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
Borderlands
Assassin’s Creed : Odyssey
2019 Year-To-Date Top 10 Games
Kingdom Hearts III
The Division 2^
Anthem^
Resident evil 2
Red Dead Redemption II
Jump Force
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate8
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice^
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4^
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe*
All Platforms 12 Months Ending March 2019
Red Dead Redemption II
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4^
NBA 2K19
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
Madden NFL 19^
Spider-Man
God of War
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
FIFA 19^
Mario Kart 8*
March 2019 Xbox One
The Division 2
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Devil May Cry 5
Anthem
Red Dead Redemption II
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
NBA 2K19
Battlefield V
Far Cry New Dawn
March 2019 PS4
The Division 2
MLB 19: The Show
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Devil May Cry 5
Red Dead Redemption II
NBA 2K19
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
Jump Force
Spider-Man
GTA V
March 2019 Nintendo Switch
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
Yoshi’s Crafted World*
Mario Kart 8*
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe*
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
Super Mario Party*
Super Mario Odyssey*
Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu*
Pokemon: Let’s Go Eevee*
Mario & Rabbids: Kingdom Battle
March 2019 3DS
Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn*
Pokemon: Ultra Sun*
Pokemon: Ultra Moon*
The Legend of Zelda: Marjora’s Mask 3D*
Super Mario Maker*
Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey*
Super Smash Bros.*
Mario Kart 7*
Super Mario 3D Land*
Luigi’s Mansion*
* Digital sales not included
^ PC digital sales not included
# Minecraft digital sales on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One included
Anthem developer BioWare has announced some changes to the game’s extra-content release schedule. Writing on Reddit, the developer announced seven planned releases have been delayed, including the major Cataclysm event.
“It’s been 10 weeks since the early access release of Anthem. While we have been quiet publicly, we have been hard at work in the background and we wanted to provide an update on the state of the game,” BioWare said. “We have learned a lot since the game went live. We have heard a lot of feedback from all of you, and we have been working diligently to improve as many things as we can in the short term.”
BioWare has supported Anthem with bug fixes and additional changes (including the new 1.1.0 update that’s out now) that help “point us in the right direction for the future.” However, BioWare acknowledged that it still has “a long way to go before Anthem becomes the game we all want it to be.”
Looking ahead, BioWare said it plans to prioritise fixing bugs and improving the overall stability of Anthem. “The reality is there are more things to fix and improve than we planned for. While this is the best thing to do for the game, it means some items from the calendar will be delayed,” BioWare said.
The following Anthem features have been delayed:
Mastery System
Guilds
Legendary Missions – Phase II
Weekly Stronghold Challenge
Leaderboards
Some Freeplay Events
Cataclysm
For now, BioWare is keeping quiet on these delayed features, but new information should come in due time. “We want to make sure everything we add to the game has a purpose and fits with our long term goals. When we have information to share on the items above, we will do so,” BioWare said.
The studio did, however, address some part of it. For example, the Cataclysm event is a “big focus,” and BioWare said it sees it as an “important addition to the game.”
“The Cataclysm will bring new challenges and rewards and pushes the story of Anthem forward. As our work continues, we will share more with you in May,” it said.
BioWare also said it’s aware of the concerns some have about end-game loot. “We agree that our loot and progression systems need to be improved and we are working towards this. When we have more information to share, we will,” BioWare said.
Also in the post, BioWare admitted that it hasn’t done the best job at communicating with fans. Going forward, BioWare said it plans to stay quiet for longer.
“A lesson we have learned is we have been talking about things too early. There are so many factors that can cause us to pivot on our plans–whether it’s bugs & stability issues, player feedback, or complications with a feature that require us to take more time to deliver it,” it said. “Our goal is to tell you about new content and features once the work is closer to being done.”
While that is true, BioWare is also hoping to communicate better with players earlier, too, through a test server on PC. BioWare will launch a Player Feedback Environment (PFE) where players can check out new content before it’s released publicly to share feedback with BioWare.
In closing, BioWare said Anthem faces an long, uphill battle to get where it needs to be.
“We believe in Anthem. We believe the game will be great, but we recognize getting there will take a lot of hard work,” the developer said. “We want to do that work and we want you all to join us on the journey to get there.”
Anthem launched in February behind mixed reviews. Despite that, it had a strong first month of sales, in the United States at least.
A new, cheaper version of the Nintendo Switch will launch “by the end of June,” according to a source speaking to Bloomberg. This is at least the second time this year that we’ve heard reports about a less expensive Switch model, as The Wall Street Journal reported in March that Nintendo would release a pared-down, less expensive Switch system in 2019.
That report also mentioned a second new Switch model, one that has “enhanced” features that is targeted at “avid” gamers. However, the specs won’t match PS4 Pro or Xbox One X, the report said. Bloomberg’s sources, meanwhile, suggest that the current Switch model will get a “modest upgrade” in 2019. However, it’s unclear what the upgrade will entail. Whatever the case, Bloomberg reported that the more powerful Switch system “is not in the works.”
The Wall Street Journal’s report suggested that the new, less expensive Switch would cut features like controller vibration to save on costs. Bloomberg’s story had no details on that.
It could be a big week for Nintendo news, as the company is holding its next earnings report on April 25. It could be here that Nintendo confirms it’s working on new consoles. That also might not happen. We’ll have to wait a few days to find out for sure.
Another big news story surrounding Nintendo currently are the rumors and reports about the company launching the Switch in China with the help of Tencent. Nintendo might share more details about this during its earnings report this week.
The new Switch consoles are rumoured to be announced at E3 and then released relatively soon thereafter. Keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.
It would be no surprise at all to see the Switch get a hardware revision. Historically, Nintendo–along with Microsoft and Sony–have released hardware revisions over time.