Category: Games

Entertainment giant Disney is reportedly taking another big step away from in-house game development. According to sources speaking to financial publication Bloomberg, Disney is planning to sell the game developer/publisher FoxNext, which it picked up through the acquisition of Fox earlier this year.

The site reports that different Disney executives, including direct-to-consumer boss Kevin Mayer, considered keeping FoxNext. However, Disney CEO Bob Iger reportedly shut that down, and it was ultimately decided to sell FoxNext. Officially, Disney had no comment.

FoxNext was founded in 2017 with the aim of handling Fox’s video game, virtual reality, augmented reality, and theme park endeavors. In 2018, FoxNext announced it was working on a new Alien shooter with a team made up of people who worked on BioShock, Borderlands, and Star Trek: Online.

In terms of games that FoxNext has already released, the company worked with Aftershock Studios on the mobile game Marvel Strike Force; it was released in March 2018. Earlier in 2019, FoxNext announced it created an program to fund the development of indie games; the first of these was the gravity-based puzzle game Etherborn.

If Disney does decide to sell FoxNext, that would be little surprise given that the House of Mouse has been moving away from internal game development for a long time already. In 2016, Disney shut down the Disney Infinity toys-to-life series and closed developer Avalanche Software in the process.

Before that, Disney closed down Tron Evolution studio Propaganda Games, which was working on Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned before its cancellation. Disney also owned the game developer Black Rock Studios that made the excellent racing games Pure and Split/Second before it shut down that studio, too. Disney also developed the Epic Mickey video games with Warren Spector’s Junction Point Studios, but the company ended the franchise and closed the developer in 2013.

Bungie founder Alex Seropian was heading up Disney’s gaming business before he left to form a mobile game studio called Industrial Toys that EA later acquired.

During an earnings call earlier this year, Iger talked about Disney’s rocky history with game development and publishing.

“Over the years we’ve tried our hand in self-publishing, we’ve bought companies, we’ve sold companies, we’ve bought developers, we’ve closed developers. And we’ve found over the years that we haven’t been particularly good at the self-publishing side, but we’ve been great at the licensing side which obviously doesn’t require that much allocation of capital,” Iger said.

One of Disney’s video game licensees is EA, which signed a 10-year deal with the company to make Star Wars games. Iger said these licensing arrangements have been a positive for EA on the video game side, and you can expect them to continue in the future.

There is no word as of yet regarding potential buyers for FoxNext, if Disney is indeed selling the company. Keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.

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Monster Hunter World’s first paid expansion, Iceborne, is now available on PS4 and Xbox One. Our review has now been finalized after a brief stint as a review in progress. For more, check out our Iceborne tips guide.

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is more of the same, glorious slog for everyone who’s ever been taken down by a fire-breathing facsimile of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and thought, “I can’t wait to do that 50 times over.” The franchise has always rewarded those willing to put in the hard yards, and Iceborne is no exception. It adds more of what set the base game aside from its predecessors without feeling overcrowded, even if its narrative could have used a little more work.

Monster Hunter World was an exercise in refinement upon its release in early 2018. Not only did it manage to simplify a franchise-wide burgeoning quest system, but it also had a very successful stab at creating an open-world ecosystem absolutely teeming with things to do and colossal monsters who want to hunt you. Best of all, these changes never overwhelmed–the new mission and upgrade systems that were introduced were relatively straightforward to grasp, all whilst leaving room for experienced hunters to master them.

Screenshot provided by Capcom

Since the game’s launch, the game has seen a steady drip-feed of DLC content in the form of in-game events. Many of these follow the formula of transplanting something fearsome into an already familiar environment–the Witcher 3 crossover saw a Leshenn loom large in the Ancient Forest, and the Final Fantasy XIV collaboration had you running for cover when Behemoth reared its head. The design philosophy behind Monster Hunter World: Iceborne takes a similar approach in implementing that sort of content, though on a larger scale; it uses touchstones in the form of storied foes and familiar locations to build upon the robust ecosystem of the base game to deliver an experience that will test your mettle without breaking you.

Iceborne is all about building on existing foundations. This is most evident in the narrative that has been spun out in the wake of the base game’s single-player campaign. Monster Hunter World was notable for introducing a clear-cut, story-based incentive to throw yourself against the biggest and baddest beasts out there. Iceborne takes a slightly crooked step forward by spinning a story that revolves not around you, but around your Handler.

Shortly after the successes of dealing with the base game’s Elder Dragon predicament, a mass migration event shakes the recovering ecosystem of Astera and prompts you to investigate. What comes next is a tale of family legacies, mysterious scales, and your Handler embarking on her own personal quest. To shift the focus of a story from the protagonist to what is essentially a side character is a bold one–for all the aid and assistance that the Handler gives in Monster Hunter World, she’s still fundamentally a living, breathing quest board. Monster Hunter World players will no doubt have become attached to her over the course of their travels, but is that attachment is deep enough to shoulder a full expansion’s narrative conceit? Not quite.

Screenshot provided by Capcom

As soon as you’re introduced to the latest curveball about Iceborne’s new signature location, Hoarfrost Reach, and how that intersects rather conveniently with your Handler’s past, you’re immediately whisked back to lands and territories from the base game to cull a couple of monsters that have gotten too big for their boots. It’s not exactly narrative whiplash, but it’s certainly not as compelling as it would have been had we been the ones to follow the Handler from the first step of her journey to the new lands of Iceborne.

That said, revisiting those familiar locations early on to take down new and improved versions of killer dinosaurs that you’ve faced before is one of the most compelling parts of Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. As with the DLC strategy, the building blocks of the expansion are steeped in elements that existing players are already acquainted with. You’ll cut your teeth on monsters like the Nightshade Paolumu–a variant on the oversized flying squirrel encountered early on in the base game, though this time with the lethal ability to put unsuspecting hunters to sleep. The expansion arguably doesn’t open up until you’ve also vanquished the Viper Tobi-Kadachi–a souped-up version of its cousin from the Ancient Forest, albeit with poisonous projectiles and a bite that’s much more dangerous than its hiss.

The changes that Iceborne makes in the form of these variant breeds has a twofold effect: First, they provide you with a motivation to form new strategies to slice and dice their way to the next story beat. Secondly, they’re just distinct enough in terms of attack patterns and additional elemental considerations that you never really feel like you’re just fighting a reskin of something that you made mincemeat out of 80 hours ago. It’s as if there’s been a concerted effort to balance the difficulty of what many fans might rightfully view as the second coming of the coveted “G-Rank” in this latest iteration of Monster Hunter.

Screenshot provided by Capcom

Despite some focus on iterating established systems, there are innovations introduced in Iceborne that truly set it apart from its predecessor. Brand-new monsters and the implementation of legacy series favourites like Nargacuga look and feel impressive thanks to all the new ways monsters can interact with other beasts and the various locations. But more importantly, there is a library’s worth of new weapon moves for you to take advantage of.

Charge Axe users can now cancel into a particularly fun multi-directional attack when caught unawares, and Gunlance users no longer have to worry about running out of ammo in an emergency before getting to use their new signature move that is, quite literally, explosive. Hunting Horn users have also had their ability to do damage buffed, with the addition of a new move that lets you stick your horn in the ground and spin it like some kind of demented Beyblade to catch whatever’s charging towards you off guard. That’s just a few new examples, but overall these additions seem to be informed by the dual precepts of style and lethality.

However, the biggest quality-of-life addition has been something called the Clutch Claw–every hunter can use this alongside their primary weapon to grapple onto their foe and, depending on what other sharp object is equipped, do anything from steering a rampaging wyvern into a rock face to weakening a specific part of its body that needs to be lopped off.

Screenshot provided by Capcom

Using the Clutch Claw is by no means compulsory, so it fits in that nice niche where it can make your hunts a little bit easier or a little bit more exhilarating in equal turns. But you’re not forced to use it to feel like you’re getting your money’s worth if, say, you’re a veteran player trying to do your own version of Nuzlocke rules but with items. However, having the option and ability to scale up the side of a monster after landing a savvy shot with the Clutch Claw feels ridiculously satisfying, and so does driving a beast to its doom in the many treacherous terrain pitfalls that dot the newest, snow-covered region of Hoarfrost Reach.

That new, frosty landscape is beautiful and treacherous in equal measure. With new foes, more verticality than the Coral Highlands, and frozen terrain that can crack and send you plunging to your death, it really is a sight to behold. More than ever, it feels like the environment can be turned against you; some monsters will uproot trees and throw them at you, while the wrong move on cracked ice can mean certain death.

By that measure, however, there are also more opportunities to get the jump on your enemies, especially with the Clutch Claw giving you the ability to walk them into vine traps, blinding light, and more. Having a grasp of every bit of the map is integral to truly mastering what Iceborne has to throw at you, and it’s incredibly satisfying when everything suddenly clicks and you go from the hunted to the hunter leading their prey to a painful trap that attempts to even the scales.

Screenshot provided by Capcom

Being dropped into this intricately-designed location as a relatively new player may be overwhelming, but no matter your experience level, joining up with other hunters and picking your way through this icy dens of beasts together is incredibly rewarding in its own way. Iceborne benefits from the matchmaking improvements introduced since the release of the base game, which have made it relatively seamless on console to find fellow hunters–no more messing about with PlayStation parties and friends lists–and dropping into a party to help friends tackle these fearsome monsters is easy.

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is at its best when you’re fighting tooth and nail against something that you know could crush you within its teeth in a second, even though this might feel like it came at the expense of a more interesting narrative. Nothing is quite as good as the biting chill cutting through the furs of your armor, the shrill cry of your Palico as it comes to your aid, and the wind roaring in your ears as you latch onto a beast’s flank and climb up its side while it bucks and roars.

This expansion is rife with moments like that; all of the tweaking and the improvements feel like they were done with the excellent building blocks of Monster Hunter World in mind, which means that getting to the meat of the matter is quicker and more satisfying than ever. There’s no more fussing about with new systems or worrying about ruffling the feathers of hardcore fans with a direction change in the series; those teething problems have already come and gone. Iceborne is a confident step into the future of the franchise, and it’s hard not to think about what might come next.

The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.

The Xbox One‘s latest set of game deals is a good one, with the likes of Red Dead Redemption 2 and Resident Evil 2 headlining the lot. In fact, many games from the Resident Evil series are discounted, and if you’re a Gold subscriber there are even more deals for you to choose from.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is currently $36 USD / $48 CAD / £36 for Xbox Live Gold subscribers. Unfortunately, there is no discount for non-subscribers. Battlefield 5, on the other hand, is discounted to $19.80 USD / $26.40 CAD / £19.80 for everyone. The Resident Evil series’ deals are also available to all. Resident Evil 2 leads with the discounted price of $36 USD / $48 CAD / £36.

Xbox is also holding a Double Discounts with Gold and Ultimate sale. All of the games included in this sale are discounted for regular Xbox users, but if you’re subscribed to Gold or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you’ll be able to save up to 50% more until September 16. This includes games like Cuphead, Rocket League, and Overcooked. You can see all of our favourite deals in the list below. All of the prices shown include the extra discount for Gold members.

It’s no secret that Mayans MC has been loaded with Easter eggs from and nods to the Sons of Anarchy universe the show is set in, which is undoubtedly exciting for fans of FX’s original motorcycle club series to see. In the show’s latest episode, though, the show took aim at some fans that might take the world of Sons of Anarchy a little bit too far.

In the new installment, titled “Xaman-Ek,” EZ (JD Pardo) and Angel (Clayton Cardenas) are on a road trip when encounter a strange motorcycle club neither have heard of before. Two members of the club try to intimidate the Mayans, proclaiming the bikers are on their turf. Showing that the Mayans aren’t to be messed with, Angel pulled a gun and chastised the duo that didn’t know any better.

“You poser f***ing douchebags. You guys watch some bulls*** TV show and think a vest and two wheels makes you a club,” he mocked, clearly making reference to those who saw Sons of Anarchy and decided starting a biker gang was easy to do. “Hmm. I’m guessing Brad and Todd here got all their totally awesome gym bros filling up their table.”

“Jesus, man, you guys are an embarrassment,” he concluded before himself and EZ rode away.

That wasn’t the end of that particular plot, though. The Reyes brothers later ran into the small-time gang again, this time with their entire membership. Again, Angel went for his gun and fired off a couple of shots to attract the attention of police, before leading the low-level club on a chase through town. When law enforcement tracks them down, the elder Reyes points out to the rival gang the credo of “patches over badges,” meaning even clubs at war will ceasefire when it comes to getting away from the law.

At that point, the “poser douchebags” broke off from the Mayans, claiming this quarrel wasn’t over. While it likely will come back to bite EZ and Angel in the future, it was a clear victory for the titular club over the fanboys. Angel, a tried and true outlaw biker, knew the bullets he fired would draw in the police and would force the local gang to take off. While EZ may be considered the genius in his family, it’s Angel that is smart to the ways of the MC world–and protective of it to those who think they can just claim their stake in it.

This is a moment that serves as a public service announcement to fans of Sons of Anarchy that may have taken their love for the show far enough to hope on a bike and throw on a kutte. The world of outlaw motorcycle clubs is very real and very serious. Those who inhabit it may not take kindly to those playing biker and infringing on something they hold dear.

Mayans MC airs Tuesdays on FX.

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