New Screenshots Show What The Witcher 3 Looks Like On Nintendo Switch

One of the big announcements from Nintendo’s E3 2019 briefing was that CD Project Red’s celebrated RPG The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is releasing on Nintendo Switch this year. Now, Nintendo has shown more of the game by way of releasing new screenshots.

Images posted on Nintendo’s website show a series of characters, including Geralt, in a variety of environments and situations. he images are stamped with the message, “Captured on Nintendo Switch.” You can see them all in the image gallery below.

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The Nintendo Switch version of The Witcher 3 is developed by Saber Interactive, which also worked on Halo: The Master Chief Collection, World War Z, and another new release Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered.

The Switch is a comparably less powerful console than the PS4 and Xbox One, and the game only runs at 540p in handheld mode and 720p while docked with dynamic resolution. UI coordinator Alvin Liu told Video Game Chronicle that Saber had to make “hardware trade-offs” for the Switch edition, including shorter draw distance and less foliage. That being said, Liu said CD Projekt Red is “really happy” with how The Witcher 3 plays on Switch.

While the game might not look as good on Switch, it contains all of the content from The Witcher 3’s other versions on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It’s coming to Switch with the Complete Edition that includes the base game and all DLC, including the major expansions Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine.

The Witcher 3 launches for Switch sometime in 2019 though a release date hasn’t been announced yet.

Space Jam 2 Features All These NBA And WNBA Stars – Report

The sequel to the cult classic basketball movie Space Jam is still in production, and now it’s been reported that it’ll have a stellar cast of famous basketball players. Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reports that a series of NBA and WNBA stars will join LeBron James in the movie.

Damian Lillard, Anthony Davis, and Klay Thompson will feature in the movie alongside WNBA stars Diana Taurasi, Nneka Ogwumike, and Chiney Ogwumike. “Several more” NBA and WNBA players will have roles in the film, Charania reported based on unnamed sources.

The 1996 original Space Jam featured the world’s biggest basketball star at the time, Michael Jordan, in the lead role. Now it’s James, who is also considered to be one of basketball’s biggest names. Actress Sonequa Martin-Green plays James’ wife in Space Jam 2, but no other actors have been confirmed for the movie.

The original film featured numerous famous basketball players of the time, with Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, and others joining Jordan. They teamed up with Looney Tunes characters in a very high-stakes basketball game. Bill Murray was also in the movie.

Klay Thompson recently tore his ACL, but it’s not clear what effect–if any–this may have on his supposed role in Space Jam 2.

Black Panther director Ryan Coogler is set to produce Space Jam 2, with Terence Nance (Random Acts of Flyness) on board to direct.

The director of the original Space Jam, Joe Pytka, doesn’t think a sequel is a good idea; he thinks it’s “doomed.”

GOT: The Long Night Director Reveals Why the Battle of Winterfell Was So Dark

The director of Game of Thrones’ The Long Night Episode, in which the city of Winterfell is defended from an attack by the Night King, has defended the lighting of the episode, explaining that it is entirely intentional.

You may remember how many viewers took to social media to discuss how difficult it was to see anything in the episode. At the time there was talk about how HBO’s compression had negatively affected the episode, as well as the issues with incorrectly calibrated TVs. But while those issues certainly can cause problems, the episode was intentionally made dark and the action difficult to see.

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Epic, EA Executives Appear At UK Government To Defend Loot Boxes And Microtransactions

Executives from Epic Games, the makers of Fortnite, and mega-publisher Electronic Arts, appeared in a United Kingdom government committee meeting today where they got grilled by lawmakers over loot boxes and microtransactions in their games.

The game executives, which included EA vice president of legal and government affairs Kerry Hopkins and EA UK Country Manager Shaun Campbell, as well as Epic executives Matthew Weissinger (director of marketing) and Canon Pence (general counsel) spend more than two hours answering all manner of questions about their games and how they handle loot boxes and microtransactions.

In one particularly interesting breakout, Hopkins says she sees loot boxes not as gambling, but instead as “surprise mechanics.” This is similar to things like toys that come with surprises such as Kinder Eggs and Hatchimals. You can watch the breakout segment in the video embedded above.

She also described EA’s loot boxes–which are most popular and prominent in EA’s sports titles with the Ultimate Team mode–are “quite ethical.” She added that EA believes loot boxes do not constitute a form of gambling, as gambling commissions around the world have already said. People enjoyed being surprised, and this is no different in video games with loot boxes, she said.

The executives from both EA and Epic also confirmed during the committee meeting that neither company works with psychologists or behavioural scientists to understand the mental state of the player.

Fortnite’s executives added during that they were taken aback by Prince Harry’s comments about Fortnite being addictive. They also discussed how they are not interested in maximizing profit in the short-term but instead they aim to offer microtransactions that are “generous” and “sustainable.”

You can watch the entire broadcast here, and you really should to get a full and complete idea about the context surrounding their comments. It is a fascinating examination of loot boxes, microtransactions, and other topics that is well worth a watch for people interested in these subjects and hearing from two of the biggest companies in gaming.

Earlier this year, the UK government announced it would launch an investigation into things like loot boxes, as well as game addiction and more, and this hearing was one part of that. This was only an oral evidence session, so it remains to be seen if any legislative action will take place.

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Apex Legends Season 2 Weapon Changes Further Detailed

Season 2 of Apex Legends is just around the corner. The new season of Respawn’s battle royale game kicks off on July 2, and as EA revealed during E3 2019, it’ll introduce a new playable character to the game, as well as new skins, other cosmetics, and a few new weapons, which we’ve now learned some more details about.

In a post on Reddit, Respawn’s principal weapons designer on Apex Legends, Sean Slayback, discussed some of the weapon changes coming in Season 2, starting with the L-Star LMG–a returning weapon from Titanfall. The L-Star fires slower projectiles than other guns in the game; however, these projectiles are also much larger than normal, allowing players to get good hits in even if their aim isn’t completely accurate.

Respawn warns the L-Star will also overheat if you hold the trigger down too long; when this happens, the gun’s lens will break and need to be replaced. The developer says this process “takes some time,” so you’ll need to be careful using the weapon. The gun also comes with a limited supply of ammo, and you won’t be able to find additional rounds for it, so once you’ve run out, you’ll no longer be able to use the gun.

Beyond the L-Star, Respawn is also introducing two new hop-ups to the game in Season 2. The Disruptor Rounds are compatible with the Alternator and RE-45, and they dish out more damage to shielded enemies; the Hammerpoint Rounds, on the other hand, can be used with the P2020 and the Mozambique, and they deal increased damage to unshielded foes. Respawn is also adding new Energy Mag attachments for the Havoc, Devotion, and Triple Take guns.

Additionally, Season 2 will introduce a new set of gold weapons in King Canyon; Respawn says the full list of these will be shared in the Season 2 patch notes. The developer is also making some other balance tweaks to the Arc Star and adjusting ammo stack sizes. You can read more details on Reddit.

Season 2’s new Legend is Wattson, a young technology prodigy who can lay down electrical walls and pylons. Like Fortnite, Season 2’s Battle Pass will also be challenge-based, and Respawn is adding a new competitive Ranked mode. Season 2 is still a couple of weeks away, but ahead of it, dragons have started appearing in the game, potentially heralding some kind of world event ahead of the new season.

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Xbox Live Down On Xbox One And PC [Update]

Having issues signing into Xbox Live right now? It’s not just you. Microsoft has confirmed the service is down and suffering from issues right now, often producing the error code 0x87DD0006. This could mean you’re unable to get online or play games on Xbox One, PC, and any other devices that rely on Xbox Live. These problems have lasted for several hours now, and we don’t yet know how soon a fix might be implemented. [Update: Microsoft says it’s beginning to see improvements, so you might now have luck getting online.]

The news was confirmed on the Xbox Support Twitter account, which initially acknowledged reports of sign-in issues before delivering a more recent update that states, “We’re currently still investigating error code 0x87DD0006 when attempting to sign into our services across devices, we appreciate your ongoing patience. We’ll update again here, as well as our status page, when we have more info.”

The status page referenced in that tweet has slightly more encouraging news, stating, “We believe we have identified the issue causing some members to have problems signing in to Xbox Live. Thanks for your patience as the team works to resolve the issue.” That update was posted at 1:58 PM PT.

The page identifies the issues as impacting Xbox Live’s “core services,” which includes things like the ability to sign in–which is obviously essential for doing anything that relies on Xbox Live, such as playing games online or even accessing certain online-only games, like Fortnite: Battle Royale and Destiny 2.

There’s no word on when Xbox Live will come back online. We’ll update this story when more details are shared. In the meantime, catch up on all the recent Xbox One news.