Pokemon Nintendo Direct: Start Time, Watch It Here

Just a few weeks after Nintendo’s big February 2019 Direct, the company has announced another presentation, this one focusing entirely on Pokemon. The broadcast will air on the series’ anniversary, February 27, and it promises to offer exciting “new information” that fans “don’t want to miss.”

The presentation is scheduled to begin at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET / 2 PM GMT (1 AM AET on February 28) and will provide “roughly seven minutes of new information.” As usual, Nintendo will host the stream on its website, YouTube, and Twitch channels, but you’ll also be able to tune in right here on GameSpot via the video below.

As for what we can expect, Nintendo hasn’t revealed any details about what will be discussed during the broadcast, although fans are hopeful this will offer our first glimpse at the upcoming core Pokemon RPG for Switch. The Pokemon Company has said the game would be released in the latter half of 2019, and it seems only fitting that it would be unveiled on the day the series first launched in Japan.

Aside from its general release window, we know very little about the upcoming Pokemon game for Switch. Developer Game Freak has previously said it is looking into allowing players to use their older Pokemon in the new title, although nothing concrete has been announced. You can read more about the game in our roundup of everything we know so far about Pokemon for Nintendo Switch.

The latest Pokemon games, Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee, released on Switch last November. The pair are remakes of sorts of Pokemon Yellow, featuring the same setting and the original 151 Pokemon. However, they also diverge from the series in some dramatic ways; unlike most mainline games, they don’t feature abilities or held items, and they eschew wild Pokemon battles for Pokemon Go‘s catching mechanics.

Xbox One: Two More Games Added To Backwards Compatible List

Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb has announced via Twitter that another two titles are now Xbox One backwards compatible. If you happened to own an Xbox 360, you’ll probably recognize both as Xbox Live Arcade titles.

The first title, Hydrophobia, is a survival adventure game first released in 2010 for Xbox 360 before making its way onto PC and PS3 the following year. The game takes place on a massive ocean vessel where the wealthy elite can live in comfort while the rest of the world suffers from overpopulation. You play as Kate Wilson, an engineer aboard the vessel who must reluctantly become its savior after a terrorist attack leaves the ship susceptible to flooding. In our Hydrophobia review, we criticized the game’s “poor dialogue and voice acting, as well as stereotypical supporting characters” but praised the “impressive” water visuals and “tense atmosphere.”

The second game, Marathon: Durandal, is the 2007 Xbox 360 port of Marathon 2: Durandal, a first-person shooter made by Bungie that first released on PC in 1995. Durandal puts you in the shoes of a security officer who must search the ruins of an alien civilization on another world in search of something that will help stall an invasion of Earth. The Xbox 360 version of the game supports four-player splitscreen and eight-player co-op over Xbox Live. In our Marathon: Durandal review, we remarked how even back in 2007, the game “really shows its age” but it’s still interesting to play as “the spiritual predecessor to [Halo: Combat Evolved].”

Last week, four more games were added to the full list of Xbox One backwards compatible titles. For both Hydrophobia and Marathon: Durandal, you’ll need to already own or buy their digital versions from the Xbox Live marketplace to play them. However, for backwards compatible Xbox and Xbox 360 games that have a physical version–of which these are our favorites–you can use their original disc in your Xbox One.

Overwatch Roster Could Eventually Get Seasonal Rotation, Hero Bans

Overwatch‘s new hero, Baptiste, brings the roster up to 30 playable characters. Blizzard doesn’t plan to stop developing new characters and has several concepts in the works already. But the studio has toyed with the idea of using tools like hero rotation or bans to help manage the roster if it grows too unwieldy.

“We have a bunch of heroes that we’re playing with, a bunch of ideas, a bunch of gameplay concepts,” lead hero designer Geoff Goodman said during a Q&A with media attended by GameSpot. “As long as people are playing Overwatch we’re looking at adding content to it.”

That may eventually lead to a roster that’s simply too big to be manageable. Though the company has no immediate plans to implement fixes for this hypothetical problem, it has considered a few options of how it could mitigate such an issue.

“We talk a decent amount about [rotating heroes]–that, and what’s paired a lot with it is hero bans, hero picks, things like that because they’re both kind of related to roster size,” Goodman said. “We don’t have any plans about that right now. It does come up in conversation. If we get a big enough roster that we feel like we would benefit from that, or maybe each competitive season we could do something like that. We sort of idly talk about it; we don’t have any plans. Right now we don’t feel like we’re at the point where we have enough heroes where that seems to make sense. But if we reach a point that it just feels like too many then yeah, we might do something like that.”

Baptiste is now available on the PC test server, and will roll out to public servers and other platforms sometime soon. He’s a combat medic with a three-round burst rifle, and he can lay down a field that makes all allies within it unable to be killed for a short time. His Ultimate ability puts up a window-like structure that amplifies allies’ projectile damage or healing that passes through it.

Trials Rising Review Roundup

Trials Rising‘s release date has finally arrived, with the series’ unique biking gameplay returning to PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and coming to Nintendo Switch for the first time. In fact, it’s the first Trials game to ever come to a Nintendo console.

The franchise’s last game, Trials Fusion, was warmly received upon its 2014 launch, but how does the latest entry fare? GameSpot’s Trials Rising review awards the game a 7/10, and you can see more reviews below. Alternatively, check out GameSpot sister site Metacritic for a wider view of the game’s critical consensus.

GameSpot — 7/10

“Trials Rising maintains the engrossing, challenging, and occasionally slapstick gameplay from past entries in the series, building upon it in small ways with a smartly implemented school to teach fundamental skills and modifiers to make events worth revisiting. But it also doesn’t fix issues from the past, either. Its track editor remains uninviting to learn, and the more outrageous stunt events and course obstacles frustratingly lean more into random luck than calculated skill. Trials Rising isn’t a reinvention of the franchise–it’s an invitation to lose more hours to new exhilarating, technical, and ridiculous Trials courses.” — Alessandro Barbosa [Full review]

GamesRadar — 4/5

“Leveling up adds an extra layer that Trials really didn’t need–it’s always been about chasing after faster times and flawless runs, not grinding for levels and loot. Perhaps fixing the leveling issues would be as simple as a post-launch patch tuning some Contract reward numbers. But whenever you’re actively revving up your bike in Trials Rising, the XP faff falls away, and all you can think about is maintaining your smooth, speedy ride.” — Lucas Sullivan [Full review]

IGN — 7.9/10

“Trials Rising offers some of the coolest levels in the series to date, and its new tutorial system does a better job of teaching you how to actually execute its hardest techniques than any game before it. That wide variety of tracks is unfortunately bogged down by the frustrating grind it takes to unlock them all and some strange decisions that lead to a more discouraging experience, but it’s still satisfying to get back on the bike and try for better medals if you can make it to the finish line.” — Tom Marks [Full review]

Trusted Reviews — 4.5/5

“Trials Rising isn’t going to set the world on fire, but it achieves what it sets out to do with aplomb. It’s a simple concept, executed with flair, and if that’s not worth applauding then what is? It’s also worth applauding as a return to form for the Trials franchise, which hasn’t made much of an impact with its recent releases, but here still manages to feel like a polished release that can stand up amongst a recent period of solid AAA releases.” — Jake Tucker [Full review]

Devil May Cry 5 Could Be The Best In The Series So Far

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How Bonnie Ross Is Shaping the Future of Halo

343 Industries studio head and AIAS Hall of Famer Bonnie Ross discusses her entire career in this 70-minute interview, from her start on an NBA basketball game to how she came to ask for – and get – the keys to the Halo franchise, including the trials of Master Chief Collection and the lessons being applied to Halo Infinite. She discusses taking over Halo from Bungie, the mistakes of the Master Chief Collection, the reception of Halo 4, what they’ve learned from Halo 5, and what 343’s approach is for Halo Infinite.

If you’d rather listen than watch (but we encourage you to watch!), here’s an audio-only download link of the full episode.

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Fortnite Season 8 Teaser 3 Continues The Pirate Theme

Epic Games has dropped another teaser for Fortnite Season 8. In keeping with the previous two, this one comes in the form of a short, cryptic poem, which is accompanied by an image that offers a peek at what is presumably a new skin coming in the new season.

“Awaken beasts / Of fire and ash / Battle it out / And loot the stash,” the poem reads, further reinforcing the pirate theme hinted at in Epic’s previous Season 8 teasers. The accompanying image, meanwhile, features a fearsome-looking tiger head in the background–presumably part of a new skin the developer is introducing to the game.

The previous two teasers thus far have suggested Season 8 will have a pirate theme, with references to treasure and “those who arrive on the waves,” although it’s unclear how this will translate to gameplay. Interestingly, when all of the teasers are combined, they form one large image of a skull, as pointed out below.

Epic has confirmed that Season 8’s start date is February 28, which means you have until then to complete any remaining Season 7 challenges. As an added incentive to do so, the developer is giving the Season 8 Battle Pass for free to players who finish Season 7’s Overtime challenges. The Battle Pass typically costs 950 V-Bucks, so this is a good opportunity to get it without have to spend any money.

In the lead up to Season 8, earthquakes have been occurring in the game. These first started following the release of Fortnite’s 7.30 update, and they’ve been growing in intensity since, so much so that cracks are now appearing in the island. What this portends for next season remains to be seen, but it’ll presumably lead to some significant changes to the map.

Rotten Tomatoes Bans Pre-Release User Input

Rotten Tomatoes has decided to remove the option for fans to comment and “rate” films via the site’s “want to see” feature before their release in an effort to stop users trashing films they haven’t seen yet.

The change is part of a site overhaul that’s intended to “more accurately and authentically represent the voice of fans, while protecting

data and public forums from bad actors,” explained a recent blog update. The update reads: “As of February 25, we will no longer show the ‘Want to See’ percentage score for a movie during its pre-release period. Why you might ask?  We’ve found that the ‘Want to See’ percentage score is often times confused with the ‘Audience Score’ percentage number.” The blog notes that the “Audience Score” percentage is the percentage of all users who have rated the movie show positively with a rating of 3.5 stars higher and is only shown once the film or TV show is released.

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Escape Room 2 in the Works for 2020 Release

Escape Room is getting a sequel for release on April 17, 2020.

Deadline reports that Adam Robitel is returning to direct. He’ll be joined by the original film’s writer, Bragi F. Schut, and producer, Neal H. Moritz.

Escape Room released back in January and more than made back its $10 million budget, raking in $119 million at the worldwide box office.

Although it was filled with tropes, we gave the PG-13 thriller a 6.5/10 in our IGN review, calling it “A fun throwback to thrillers from the ’00s.”

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