Category: Games

Ford Motor Company wants to “step up its involvement in gaming” and esports in the immediate future, with a booth at this year’s Gamescom set to announce exactly what this entails for the car manufacturer.

“Ford will at Gamescom next week announce significant news regarding the company’s entry into esports,” the company’s press release states. Ford has become a regular fixture at Gamescom over the past few years, becoming the first auto manufacturer to reveal a new vehicle at the show in 2018. Its only foray into competitive gaming also occurred at Gamescom, when it partnered with Microsoft in 2017 to offer players who recorded the fastest virtual laps in Forza Motorsport 7 the opportunity to drive real-life “hot laps” in a Ford Focus RS around the famous Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.

Ford put up a job posting for an esports-focused marketing position a few months ago, seeking a candidate who “will lead the strategic direction, negotiation and ownership of partnerships with gaming and esports companies.” The most pertinent qualifications concern the applicant’s ability to “build senior-level relationships with global and regional gaming and esports partners e.g. Riot Games, Activision Blizzard, Epic, Stadia and esports teams, players, leagues, promoters etc.”

Brands such as Coca-Cola, Red Bull, McDonald’s, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz have sponsored esports teams, with more using the rapidly growing sport to advertise their products. Even professional soccer teams have got in on the act, as the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, Schalke 04, and West Ham United each have their own esports teams. Not to mention the fact Drake now co-owns an esports brand.

Ford might be looking to make its mark on esports, too, be it through sponsorship, advertising, or establishing its own team. We’ll find out what the company has in mind next week when Gamescom kicks off on August 20.

Forza Motorsport 6 is currently available at no additional charge on Xbox Games With Gold, but if you want to get every single expansion and car available for the game, you can pick up every last piece of DLC at a massively reduced price too – but make sure you act quickly, because this is a limited time sale.

The Forza Motorsport 6 Complete Add-Ons Collection is currently available at a 95% discount. If you’re in the US, that takes the price down from $99.99 to just $4.99, but the same discount is available in all other regions as well. This discount will be available for the next 4 days, so if you’re interested, get on it fast. It bundles together every single piece of DLC available for the game, including every single car, track and career mode that was released post-launch.

The Complete Add-Ons Collection includes both major expansions, the NASCAR and Porsche packs, which contain unique campaigns alongside additional tracks and cars. Also included is the Car Pass, over 50 additional car packs, and the VIP pass that doubles your race earnings (and contains even more cars). This is a significant amount of content if you’re looking to get the most out of Forza Motorsport 6, and it’ll make progression through the game easier. These pieces of DLC are not available at individual discounts, so you’ll need to make sure that you specifically purchase the Complete Add-Ons Collection for the discount.

Forza Motorsport 6 was originally released in 2015, and was received warmly. In his 8/10 review, Miguel Concepcion called the game “yet another great reason to get back in the driver’s seat.” The series is taking a break this year, making 2019 the first year without a new Forza game since 2010.

The Dota 2 International is happening next week, bringing together the best Dota 2 players to share in an enormous prize pool – the biggest that any esport tournament has ever offered.

The International has been held every year since 2011, and started with a prize pool of just $1.6 million. Now, with ten days of fundraising still remaining, The International 2019 has raised $33,009,045 for its prize pool, averaging $317,263 every day. The event, hosted by Valve, brings together the world’s best Dota 2 players, and this year the competition is happening in Shanghai at the Mercedes-Benz arena. 25% of proceeds from the sale of Dota 2 battle passes is currently being put towards the pool, adding up to an enormous total.

The International runs from August 20 to 25, and can be watched through either Twitch or SteamTV. Last year’s winner was the European team OG, which took home $11,234,158. As it currently stands, the winner of the 2019 International will take home $15,019,115, but that number is likely to rise as more money comes in.

The International also broke a record last year for having the most money up for grabs, which was then overtaken by the Fortnite World Cup just last month. The 2019 International has overtaken Fortnite’s $30 million pool, though, to once again present the largest sum ever for an esports tournament. Whatever the end figure ends up being, it’s going to be enormous.

The summer may be a slower time for new releases, but there is definitely no shortage of sales. Steam and Humble Bundle’s summer promotions are behind us, but we’ve still got some time on the calendar for more. The latest comes from Fanatical, which has a bunch of awesome Steam games (and a 10-game mystery bundle) discounted in its Summer Sale, with an offer for an extra 10% off with coupon code FANATICAL10.

The big hitters in this sale include Monster Hunter World for $26.45, Mortal Kombat 11 for $48.59, and Resident Evil 2 for $30.77, in addition to Devil May Cry 5 for $30.77, Borderlands: The Handsome Collection for $5.38, and Civilization 6 for $13.49. Other notable deals include discounts on Yakuza 0 ($13.49), Yakuza Kiwami ($12.59), and Yakuza Kiwami 2 ($23.75), as well as Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night for only $31.67, Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen for $8.09, and Dark Souls Remastered for $21.59.

The Summer Mystery Bundle costs $7 USD and comes with 10 mystery games. This bundle is, unfortunately, excluded from the coupon code, but with the number of games you’re getting, you’re already saving some money. Fanatical says it’s “jam-packed with a huge roster of AAA and indie Steam games” and adds that while each game in one bundle will be unique from each other, subsequent bundle purchases may result in duplicates. In the name of science, I purchased a bundle to see some of the possible gets.

The 10 games I received are The Flame in the Flood, Farm Mania 2, The Little Acre, White Noise Online, Twilight City: Love as a Cure, Northern Tale 2, Book of Demons, Forest Legends: The Call of Love Collector’s Edition, Smoke and Sacrifice, and Chronology. I didn’t get anything I’m particularly interested in, so it’s worth noting you might have a similar experience. Unfortunately, that’s the risk with random-chance bundles.

See the full offering of PC game deals at Fanatical, and check out some of our favourite deals below. Prices shown below reflect the full discount with promo code FANATICAL10 applied at checkout.

See all PC game deals at Fanatical

Since its launch in Summer 2016, Pokemon Go has been gradually introducing more and more Pokemon to collect. Most recently, developer Niantic implemented monsters from the series’ Gen 4 games, Diamond and Pearl, and the studio has begun dropping hints that Gen 5 Pokemon–those that originally debuted in Pokemon Black and White on the DS–are on the horizon as well.

One of the most beloved and unique Pokemon in the series is Eevee. While a fairly common sight in Pokemon Go, what makes Eevee special is that it’s capable of evolving into a variety of different forms. Normally, which Eevee evolution you get is up to luck, but there are a few tricks to ensure you get the evolution of your choice. If you’re hoping for a particular one, read on for tips on how to get any Eevee evolution.

How Many Eevee Evolutions Are There?

Eevee is categorized as the Evolution Pokemon, and fittingly, it can evolve into eight possible forms–more than any other monster in the series. The most recent Eevee evolution, Sylveon, was introduced in Pokemon X and Y for 3DS, and while it is not yet attainable in Pokemon Go, it will inevitably be added to the game at some point in the future. In the meantime, here are all the possible forms Eevee can evolve into in Pokemon Go:

• Vaporeon — Water-type
• Jolteon — Electric-type
• Flareon — Fire-type
• Espeon — Psychic-type
• Umbreon — Dark-type
• Leafeon — Grass-type
• Glaceon — Ice-type

How To Choose Eevee Evolutions

Eevee requires 25 Eevee Candies to evolve, which is fairly cheap by the game’s standards, so you shouldn’t have much trouble amassing the required amount of Candy to evolve it. Normally, the form it turns into will be determined randomly, but you can influence its evolution by giving it a specific nickname, guaranteeing it will evolve into a certain form. However, this nicknaming trick can only be used once per evolution. Here’s the full list of nicknames and the evolutions they’ll produce:

• Vaporeon — Rainer
• Jolteon — Sparky
• Flareon — Pyro
• Espeon — Sakura
• Umbreon — Tamao
• Leafeon — Linnea
• Glaceon — Rea

Once you change Eevee’s nickname to one of the aforementioned options, you’ll see the silhouette of the corresponding Pokemon appear on the Evolve button, signaling that you’ve done everything right. As previously mentioned, however, you can only use this trick once for each form; if you’ve already obtained a Jolteon by nicknaming it Sparky, you won’t be able to get another one using the same method, so think carefully before evolving an Eevee.

Other Eevee Evolution Tricks

In addition to the above nicknaming trick, there’s another method to guarantee which form your Eevee will evolve into, specifically if you want Espeon, Umbreon, Leafeon, or Glaceon. However, this will require a little more work.

Espeon / Umbreon

Set Eevee as your Buddy Pokemon, then walk 10 kilometers with it. Once you’ve traveled the required distance together and earned two Candies, evolve Eevee (while it’s still set as your Buddy Pokemon) during the day to get Espeon, or at night (between 8 PM – 8 AM local time) to get Umbreon.

Leafeon / Glaceon

To guarantee Eevee evolves into Leafeon or Glaceon, you’ll need to have either a Mossy Lure or a Glacial Lure–two new types of Lure Modules recently introduced in the game. You can purchase either of these through the in-game item shop for 200 coins.

Once you’ve gotten your hands on a Mossy Lure, set it in a PokeStop, then spin its Photo Disc and evolve Eevee to receive Leafeon. Set a Glacial Lure instead and the Evolution Pokemon will turn into Glaceon. You can read more about the process in our guide on how to get Leafeon and Glaceon in Pokemon Go.

Pokemon Go Guides

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Every founding member of virtual reality company Oculus has now left the firm. The final member to leave is Nate Mitchell, who announced his departure on Facebook and Reddit. Most recently, Mitchell was serving as Head of VR Product at Facebook.

Mitchell said he’s taking time off to travel, spend time with his family, and recharge his proverbial batteries. He said he plans to remain part of the Oculus community in some capacity, though he acknowledged he will have a “much smaller role to play” going forward.

Social networking giant Facebook acquired Oculus in 2015 for $2 billion USD. Mitchell said he believes the team at Facebook will “continue to surprise and delight” fans with virtual reality platforms. “I can’t wait to see what comes next,” he said.

The other Oculus founders are Palmer Luckey, Brendan Iribe, Michael Antonov, Jack McCauley, and Andrew Reisse. Luckey left Oculus in 2017 and he now heads up the defense company Anduril Industries which works with the US government on various and controversial projects related to immigration. Iribe, the former CEO of Oculus, left the company in October 2018. He used some of the fortune he made from the sale to Facebook to give $31 million to his alma mater, the University of Maryland.

McCauley, meanwhile, left Oculus in November 2015; in July this year, McCauley told CNBC that he believes Oculus will never find success in VR. Another Oculus founder, Michael Antonov, left the company in May 2019 according to his LinkedIn page. Sadly, Reisse was killed in a traffic accident in 2013.

Going back to Mitchell, he said in his goodbye post that VR was “mostly the stuff of science fiction” back in 2012 when Oculus raised money for the device on Kickstarter. “We weren’t even sure we’d hit our original $250k target. But this community from around the world came together and helped make VR a reality. Fast forward just a few years later, and VR is changing people’s lives every day. This is because of you,” Mitchell said.

A spokesperson for Facebook told GI.biz that the company is currently looking for a replacement for Mitchell; the company is considering internal and external candidates.

After Facebook bought Oculus, Bethesda parent company ZeniMax Media sued Oculus over accusations that it stole ideas for virtual reality devices. A court eventually sided with ZeniMax and awarded the company $500 million in damages. That figure was later reduced to $250 million.

The latest Oculus product is Oculus Quest, a standalone virtual reality headset that doesn’t require a computer. In addition to working on the hardware itself, Oculus funds the development of VR games through its Oculus Studios division. Oculus also operated a studio that made animated VR movies, but Facebook closed the company in May 2017.

Actor and writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag, Killing Eve) was hired to contribute to the Bond 25 script, and now she has shared a little more insight into the “fantasy nightmare” of being James Bond. Not only that, but her reported pay for the movie has also been revealed.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Waller-Bridge said she’s been intrigued by how James Bond and the Killing Eve character Villanelle, who is an assassin, are similar. “They live a fantasy! But it’s a life none of us would ever want, if we’re honest. We don’t want to go put a bullet in someone’s head to sleep with people and have martinis,” she said. “It’s a kind of fantasy nightmare.”

Waller-Bridge is the fifth credited screenwriter for Bond 25; she joins director Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective, Beasts of No Nation), Scott Z. Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum, Contagion), and veteran James Bond writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade.

“A lot has been made of me coming on board because I’m a woman, and that’s wonderful. But also I can’t take credit for the movie that was written. It’s Cary’s movie,” Waller-Bridge said.

According to the report, Bond actor Daniel Craig personally requested that the producers hire Waller-Bridge to write “sharper dialogue” for Bond 25. The report states that she was paid $2 million USD for her contributions to the script.

Also in the interview, Waller-Bridge was asked to respond to the rumors that Captain Marvel’s Lashana Lynch is playing a new 007 in Bond 25. She didn’t confirm anything one way or the other, but instead gave a teasing reply. “The whole thing has potential to birth new iconic characters all the time,” she said.

In a previous interview, Waller-Bridge said she wants to see the James Bond franchise move with the times. “There’s been a lot of talk about whether or not [the Bond franchise] is relevant now because of who he is and the way he treats women,” Waller-Bridge told Deadline. “I think that’s bollocks. I think he’s absolutely relevant now. It has just got to grow. It has just got to evolve, and the important thing is that the film treats the women properly. He doesn’t have to. He needs to be true to this character.”

Bond 25, or whatever title is eventually given to the film, will release on April 3, 2020.