Pokemon Go Adds Shiny Meltan, But Only For A Limited Time

Another new Shiny Pokemon has arrived in Pokemon Go. Beginning today, February 5, players will have a chance of encountering the Shiny form of the series’ newest Mythical Pokemon, Meltan, but it’ll only be around for a limited time.

Meltan is unique among Pokemon in that its appearance is tied to the Mystery Box–a special item you’ll receive in Go when you transfer a Pokemon over to either Let’s Go Pikachu or Eevee on Nintendo Switch. Once the Mystery Box has been opened, Meltan will spawn in the wild for 30 minutes. After that time has elapsed, the Mystery Box will close, and you’ll need to wait seven days before you can transfer another Pokemon to Let’s Go and open the item again.

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Thanks to this new event, any time you open the Mystery Box through March 4, you’ll now have a chance of finding a Shiny Meltan in the wild. You can tell the Shiny variant apart from a typical Meltan by its slightly darker head and blue (rather than red) tail. Moreover, Niantic has reduced the time you need to wait to open the Mystery Box by three days, allowing you to find Meltan much more quickly than before.

Unlike other Mythical Pokemon, Meltan is capable of evolving, which means this is also your first opportunity to get a Shiny Melmetal. You can read more on how to catch the Mythical Pokemon in our Meltan and Melmetal guide. Additional details about the Meltan event can be found on the Pokemon Go website.

In addition to Shiny Meltan, Pokemon Go players have their first chance to catch Shiny Spoink as part of the game’s Lunar New Year event, which runs until February 13. As part of the event, players will also receive twice the normal amount of XP for catching and evolving Pokemon, and certain monsters such as Dratini, Electabuzz, and Torchic will appear more frequently in the wild.

Microsoft Announces February 2019 Xbox Game Pass Games

During today’s episode of Inside Xbox, Microsoft announced the new games coming to its Xbox Game Pass service in February.

Games coming to Game Pass in February include Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Crackdown 3, Pumped BMX Pro, de Blob, Batman: Return to Arkham, and The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season.

Here’s when you can expect each game to hit the service:

  • Shadow of the Tomb Raider – February 7
  • The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season – February 7
  • Pumped BMX Pro – February 7
  • de Blob – February 14
  • Crackdown 3 – February 15 (Also on PC via Play Anywhere)
  • Batman: Return to Arkham – February 21
  • Continue reading…

Battlefield 5 Fails To Meet Sales Targets, And EA Explains Why

Electronic Arts announced earnings results for the all-important holiday season, and it wasn’t the kind of performance the company wanted to see. Amid a “tumultuous” year, EA said the company overall did not perform up to expectations. One title that failed to hit targets was the World War II shooter Battlefield 5.

The game sold a massive 7.3 million units in the time between launch in November and the end of the year, but this was 1 million short of what EA had projected. As for why the game struggled, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said the marketing campaign failed to capture the attention of players. The campaign lacked a “creative center,” the company said, though it shared no other details.

Wilson added that the game’s delay from October to November hurt Battlefield 5 because it meant that the game was going up against titles already discounted for the holiday season. Not only that, but Battlefield 5 struggled because of “unprecedented competition,” Wilson said. He mentioned Fortnite, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, and Red Dead Redemption 2 as titles that ate away at Battlefield 5’s sales to some degree.

Not only that, but Wilson suggested that EA’s decision to prioritise Battlefield 5’s single-player over the new battle royale mode, Firestorm, hurt Battlefield 5’s sales. Firestorm is launching in March, and it won’t be the first battle royale game from EA, as it just recently launched Apex Legends from Titanfall studio Respawn Entertainment.

Overall, Battlefield 5’s launch failed to catch on with players and it never caught up, Wilson said. Despite Battlefield 5’s commercial underperformance, the game was generally well-liked by critics, and the franchise remains strong, Wilson said. As such, the focus for EA and developer DICE now is on bringing new players into the title going ahead.

EA has many months of new content planned for Battlefield 5 over time, including new maps, customisation items, the battle royale mode, and more. Despite all the new content coming, EA said it only has “modest expectations” for Battlefield 5’s live service revenue. The same can be said for Anthem, EA said, and this is because both titles have yet to prove themselves.

Overall, EA generated $1.29 billion during the quarter ended December 31 and profit of $262 million. Keep checking back with GameSpot soon for more from EA’s earnings report.

A ‘Premium’ Titanfall Experience Is Coming Later This Year

Update: On a call reporting Q3 financial results for EA, they said they plan to introduce a “premium” Titanfall experience  — which likely means a traditional, non-free-to-play game — later this year and that it will be a “twist” on the franchise. No additional details were revealed.

Hot on the heels of the release of free-to-play battle royale, Apex Legends, Respawn has assured fans there is “more Titanfall” coming, too.

On Twitter, CEO Vince Zampella teased there is more than just Apex Legends in Respawn’s future, saying “We are also working on more Titanfall for later in the year.” He continued by saying “We love being able to experiment in this crazy universe!”

Continue reading…

Telltale’s The Walking Dead Ends Its 7-year Run in March

The fourth and final episode of The Walking Dead: The Final Season will be released on March 26.

Titled Take Us Back, Episode 4 will be released alongside the physical version of The Final Season. According to Skybound Games, the retail version will be available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

Telltale’s The Walking Dead: The Final Season box art (via Skybound Games)

Take Us Back will conclude the story of Clementine, which ran for nearly seven years across four seasons, beginning with the series’ first episode back in April 2012. The final chapter of Clem’s story will presumably pick up after the explosive events of The Final Season’s third episode, Broken Toys.

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ABC Boss Wants a Lost Reboot, But One’s Not in Production Yet

It might be time to heed Jack’s advice and go back to the island.

ABC President Karey Burke told reporters today that she is interested in a possible Lost reboot for the network, which was the home of the hit drama series from 2004 to 2010.

According to /Film, Burke clarified that she had not had any discussions with Lost co-creator J.J. Abrams, showrunner Carlton Cuse, or ABC Studios about a reboot. Burke said a potential reboot was “just what I dream about when I go to bed at night.”

ABC isn’t a stranger to the reboot game. Last year, the network brought back the ’90s sitcom Roseanne, which later transformed into The Conners. ABC is also currently working on a possible Bewitched reboot and a sequel to Designing Women.

Continue reading…

EA Confirms Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Is Still Scheduled For This Fall

EA has released its financial report for the third quarter of its current financial year. Although the report began with a rather negative take on EA’s 2018 performance, there was mention of a hopeful future for the company, including the confirmation that Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is coming this fall.

“Looking forward, we’re delighted to launch Anthem, our new IP, to grow Apex Legends and related Titanfall experiences, to deliver new Plants vs. Zombies and Need for Speed titles, and to add Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order to our sports titles in the fall,” EA COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen said.

At E3 2018, Respawn Entertainment CFO Vince Zampella announced the new Star Wars game is scheduled specifically for 2019’s holiday season. This suggested Fallen Order would arrive in late November or early December. It’s probable this is still the case, although the use of “fall” in the EA financial report instead of “holiday season” could suggest the game is now scheduled to release a little earlier.

Set between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, Fallen Order puts you in control of a Jedi Padawan who survived Order 66 and is now on the run. No other plot details or gameplay mechanics have been confirmed, but Zampella did announce that you’ll be able to use a lightsaber.

EA’s history of developing Star Wars games hasn’t been very good recently. Battlefront II, though mechanically sound, was plagued by unfair, pay-to-win microtransactions that players managed convinced EA to drop prior to the game’s launch. Visceral was working on a single-player Star Wars game, but EA shut the developer down and transitioned the project to its Vancouver studio before cancelling the title altogether. Respawn is currently the only known EA studio continuing development on a Star Wars title, which it has been working on alongside the recently released Apex Legends and an unannounced VR title.

X-Men Producer Trusts Disney To Stand By The Franchise – GameSpot Universe News Update

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Hearthstone Community Event Spreads Viral Card Back

Blizzard is kicking off a new Hearthstone community event today that will spread a nifty reward around like a virus. The “Curse of Hakkar” event features a new exclusive card back that has been distributed to a small group of players, but will infect everyone who comes in contact with it.

Playing against a player with the new “Mark of Hakkar” card back will reward you with it. Then you can equip it and begin spreading it to others. You’ll need to play a full match to spread the item, so conceding or leaving immediately won’t get you the reward. If you want to gift it to your friends, you can queue up friendly matches to distribute it to them.

The community event is a reference to one of the cards from the most recent expansion, Rastakhan’s Rumble. Hakkar the Soulflayer is a neutral Legendary card that shuffles “Corrupted Blood” into each player’s deck upon dying. That Corrupted Blood replicates and multiplies itself, so if a match goes on long enough it makes going to fatigue much more risky. It also serves as a hard counter to Mecha’thun, which requires an empty deck to function.

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Recently Blizzard announced a new set of balance changes coming to Hearthstone, which strike particularly hard at classic mainstays that have been used in multiple decks across the game’s lifespan. This all comes in advance of the new Standard rotation, which will cycle when the first expansion of 2019 releases. That will rotate out all the cards from Journey to Un’Goro, Knights of the Frozen Throne, and Kobolds and Catacombs, to make room for this year’s new sets.

New Need For Speed, Plants Vs Zombies Games Coming

EA reported its third quarter financial results, expressing disappointment at its performance. But in the process of promising to make-good in the coming year, it quasi-announced two more games: a new Plants vs. Zombies, and a new Need for Speed.

“Looking forward, we’re delighted to launch Anthem, our new IP, to grow Apex Legends and related Titanfall experiences, to deliver new Plants vs. Zombies and Need for Speed titles, and to add Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order to our sports titles in the fall,” said COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen, in the announcement. In a subsequent earnings call, the company confirmed the new PvZ game is a shooter, and the official game account tweeted that it’s coming for PC and consoles.

Last year a retail listing appeared to have leaked Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 3, but no official announcement has been made. In an interview with Edge Magazine (via Xbox Achievements), EA Motive’s Jade Raymond mentioned another PvZ was on its plate, likely assisting PopCap. More recently, though, Raymond left EA Motive altogether, leaving Samantha Ryan (who runs the mobile, BioWare, and Maxis studios) in charge of that studio.

The most recent Need for Speed game was Payback in 2017, which was among our worst-reviewed games of the year of its release. Either or both of these teases could mean mobile games or other spin-offs.

Jorgensen’s comment is also the second recent indicator that another Titanfall is still in the works. Respawn’s Vince Zampella said that the studio is working on “more Titanfall for later in the year,” alongside its new game Apex Legends. Apex takes place within the Titanfall universe, but doesn’t use the series’ mech combat or wall-running.