Venom’s New Evolution Thrills

More than any other new series in 2018, Venom truly realizes the potential of Marvel’s Fresh Start relaunch. It retains just enough of the core of what made this character so ridiculously popular in the ’90s, while also blazing ambitious new ground for the character. No Marvel book has done so much in such a short span of time to help Venom stand independent of the Spider-Man franchise.

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Issue #5 continues Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman’s ongoing quest to shake up and reinvigorate Eddie Brock’s status quo. Reeling from his first encounter with Knull, god of the symbiotes, Eddie now finds his mind reeling and his very connection to his symbiote called into question. This allows Cates to begin crafting a new dynamic between Eddie and his suit. The symbiote is more eloquent following its recent exposure to its master, allowing for more exciting interplay between the two characters. On some level, this status quo change does seem a bit overly reminiscent of that period where the symbiote was “fixed” during the Guardians of the Galaxy days. But on the other hand, that status quo deserved more attention than it received before Venom was so abruptly dragged back to Earth. After a lull period, this character is making real forward progress again.

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5 Things We Learned About The Division 2

With the gameplay of The Division 2 already on display a couple of months ago at E3 2018, the team at The Division 2 developer Massive Entertainment took a different tack for its behind closed doors demo at this year’s Gamescom. I was given a deep dive into the lengths that Massive is going to in order to present a compelling and authentic open-world to players, and here are five big takeaways.

It seems like an obvious choice that a game about an ongoing civil war in the United States would take place in the nation’s capital, but Washington, D.C. wasn’t always going to be the setting for The Division 2. Developer Massive Entertainment originally considered both Seattle and New Orleans as potential settings for their open-world shooter sequel, but ultimately settled on D.C. largely due to the sheer diversity in environments that would help push the game experience far beyond the slightly one-note concrete jungle of the original’s New York City.

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Monument Valley Is Heading for the Big Screen

Big news for Momument Valley fans – Ustwo Games’ mind-bending puzzler is making its way to the big screen, with Patrick Osborne (whose 2014 film Feast took way the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film) taking the reins as director.

As reported over on Deadline, the film will be produced as a collaboration between Paramount Pictures and Akiva Goldsman’s Weed Road Pictures, with Goldsman himself producing. No screenwriter has been hired as of yet, so it could be a while before the film sees a release.

“The rumours are correct. There’s going to be a Monument Valley movie! In collaboration with Paramount Pictures and Patrick Osborne. We couldn’t be more excited, ” Ustwo wrote on Twitter.

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Teamwork Is Key in Team Sonic Racing

Years of playing kart racers has made me a little aggressive. When I’m leading the pack and suddenly a projectile knocks me back five spots, a blind rage tends to take over.

But in Team Sonic Racing, even when the worst happens, you can get a little bit of help. Instead of braving the tracks alone, you’ll have two teammates who can bail you out when you’re offroad, transfer you items from afar, and even join with you for a massive synchronized speed boost.

Each character in Team Sonic Racing has a specific class: Power, Speed, or Technique. In our demo at Gamescom, example teams were made up of one character from each class — Sonic, Tails and Knuckles on one team, Shadow, Rogue and Omega on another, and Chao, Big and Amy on a third. We also saw an additional set of three characters that SEGA isn’t ready to talk about just yet. A SEGA representative confirmed to us that in the final game you’ll be able to mix and match to your heart’s content, including a team of three Sonics or three Bigs, for example.

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18 Big Things Coming From Marvel and DC in November

November is shaping up to be an especially big month for both Marvel and DC. Marvel is bringing back Uncanny X-Men and celebrating a major Avengers milestone, while DC is launching the weekly “Drowned Earth” crossover and debuting some high-profile new creative teams on books like Green Lantern and Wonder Woman.

Scroll down to see all the major new series and storylines hitting comic shops in November.

The Return of Uncanny X-Men

Uncanny X-Men #1 cover by Leinil Yu. (Marvel Comics) Uncanny X-Men #1 cover by Leinil Yu. (Marvel Comics)

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Gabe Newell Voice Pack For Dota 2 Announced, Watch The Silly Trailer Here

During the huge Dota 2 The International tournament today, Valve announced something unexpected: A Gabe Newell voice pack for the hugely popular free-to-play MOBA. That’s right, the Valve founder’s voice is coming to Dota 2. And in a very smart move on Valve’s part, the company is offering the voice pack in Dota 2’s Battle Pass for $10. A quarter of Battle Pass sales are contributed to the overall The International prize pool, which is already the biggest in the history of eSports.

We can only imagine the prize pool will increase significantly now that players can pay for the ability to hear Newell announce Dota 2 matches. Valve made the announcement today in a silly skit where Newell struggles to express any emotion or enthusiasm during the voice over process. The actual in-game voice lines are pretty great; they include things like, “Fundamentally, piracy is a service problem” and “As you can see, games are indeed art.” Check out the video at the bottom of this post from DotaBoyz to hear the new Gabe Newell lines that are in the game now.

The International’s Main Event began on Monday, August 20, and runs through the finals on Saturday, August 25. Keep checking back with GameSpot for more on the event.

The current prize pool for The International 2018 is almost $25 million. The winning team will take home more than $10 million, while the team that places last–18th place–earns more than $60,000. You can learn more about the prize pool and the tournament here on its website.

US Congressman Indicted for Spending Campaign Funds on Steam Games

United States Congressman Duncan Hunter of California and his wife Margaret Hunter have been indicted by the Federal Election Committee for spending campaign funds on personal expenses, including over $1300 on Steam games. The indictment has just been unsealed.

CNN has provided the full indictment, which was officially unsealed on August 21, 2018, and mostly includes non-gaming related charges including hotels, flights, rounds of golf, movie tickets and much, much more. In total, the alleged charges add up to over $250,000. Hunter has reportedly reimbursed his campaign account about $65,000 after the FEC began questioning the campaign’s spending, specifically on video games, in 2016.

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New Overwatch Map Announced, Is Themed After D.Va

Blizzard has announced a new map for its competitive shooter, Overwatch. The map, called Busan, is a Control map and is themed around D.Va. A trailer for the map was shown during Korea Fanfest, where Blizzard held an event and shared some more information about it.

“Travel to Busan, South Korea and battle for control across three distinct locales within one map: Sanctuary, Downtown, and MEKA Base,” reads the trailer’s description. “Explore the serene setting of the Sanctuary, surrounded by an ancient temple, beautiful gardens, and historic architecture. Clash in the bustling metropolis of Downtown, where players will fight across a busy PC bang, flashy karaoke bar, and central light rail station (just watch out for the train).

“Contest for position in MEKA Base–home of South Korea’s frontline defense against the gwishin omnic attacks: D.Va and the rest of the MEKA squad,” it continues. “Teams must fight to hold each of the three stages to establish complete control of the city that refuses to surrender its way of life to any threat.” Check out the trailer above.

During the show the Lego Group also teased that an announcement concerning a collaboration between Overwatch and Lego is coming soon. It showed the outlines of six Lego figures that are styled after various Overwatch heroes. During a recent interview, the developers behind Diablo 3 on Switch discussed working with Nintendo’s console, saying Overwatch on Switch is feasible.