Spin Master and CMON are finally inviting fans to jump into the world of DC Super Heroes United, which is now live on Gamefound and has absolutely crushed its initial $200,000 goal. The project is now sitting at over $770,500 and still has 18 days left, and as of now already features not just the core game but also a new Teen Titans expansion and a Gamefound campaign exclusive set of playable heroes. Those heroes are none other than the Wonder Twins and their adorable super monkey Gleek, which will come with any pledge alongside all of the unlocked stretch goals, and more stretch goals are presumably on the way. As for expansions, the Titans expansion is already up for order, but in past campaigns, we've seen multiple expansions released, so we'll have to wait and see if DC Super Heroes United follows suit.

Teen Titans Expansion

DC Super Heroes United currently has one expansion you can add to the core set, which is the Teen Titans expansion that is exclusive to the Gamefound campaign. Teen Titans features four heroes to play as, including Robin (Dick Grayson), Raven, Starfire, and Beast Boy. You will get two equipment cards to use, which are Robin's Batarang and Escrima Sticks, as well as eight Animal Form cards for Beast Boy's various transformations.

You'll need villains to battle of course, and the expansion comes with two of the Titans' greatest villains in Deathstroke and Trigon. Deathstroke will focus on deadly assassination techniques throughout his turns, and he will get a head start as well, as he gets to take two turns back to back at the beginning of the game. Then there's Trigon, who stands at 14 centimeters tall and can spawn in any game, tasking the Titans with having to banish him from this world.

Core Set and Stretch Goals

The core set features Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Cyborg, and Aquaman, and they will face villains that include Joker, Darkseid, Cheetah, and Lex Luthor. Each villain plays completely differently and will necessitate players to change their strategies as they work together to take them down. Meanwhile, the heroes will also play quite differently and will require players to take advantage of their heroes' unique abilities and work together to save civilians, defeat henchmen, deal with threats, and ultimately attack and defeat the boss to win the game.

In addition to the core box characters, the campaign has already moved through a host of stretch goals, unlocking even more heroes and villains to add to your DC Super Heroes United experience. So far the campaign has unlocked Wildcat, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Mega, Red Tornado, Black Lightning, Martian Manhunter, and Vixen as playable heroes. On the villains' side the campaign has unlocked Black Mask, Black Manta, Parasite, Gorilla Grodd, Despero, and Steppenwolf. Other stretch goals unlocked include Complications Challenge cards and New Super Hero and Super-Villain cards, and the next stretch goal up to bat is Ra's al Gaul, who will unlock soon. There is also a campaign exclusive Power Girl that is included for those who back the campaign.

Are you excited for DC Super Heroes United? You can talk all things DC and gaming with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

Outside of Steam's own sales, there's another worthwhile Steam deal going on right now through the third-party retailer Fanatical that makes a bunch of different Steam games as low as $0.50 each if you're bundling games together. More specifically, Fanatical's Jubilant Bundle promotion that's live right now lets you pick from 22 different Steam games that you can get for $0.50 each so long as you're getting at least 10 games. Some quick math shows that that means you can get 10 Steam games for $5 or 20 of the Steam games included in the bundle for $10.

That's a pretty good deal considering how buying all of the 22 Steam games in the bundle would cost you about $315 if you did so outside of this bundle. Most of the games included in Fanatical's Jubilant Bundle are between $10-20 on their own, so picking up 10 games for less than the price of one of them is a pretty easy sell.

All of the 22 games available as part of Fanatical's Jubilant Bundle can be found below. An end date for this bundle has not been shared, but as is the case with any of Fanatical's deals like this one, the games in the bundle only last for as long as Steam keys are available for them.

The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark

"Delouse your room with sage and pack up your travel-sized ouija board, it's time to re-enter Twin Lakes - America's 34th most haunted city. Join Detective McQueen as he puzzles his way through 6 chilling cases, risking life and pixelated limb to solve the macabre mysteries that plague the poor town."

Gedonia

"Gedonia is an open world roleplaying game, inspired by oldschool classics. Become a simple traveller and adventure seeker, explore huge world of Gedonia, progress your character any way you want, discover hidden treasures and mysteries and fight vast array of enemies."

The Darkside Detective

"Grab your trench coat, tune your sixth sense and join the Darkside Division as they investigate the outright bizarre, the downright dangerous, and the confusing cases of Twin Lakes. Flesh-hungry tentacles, mafia zombies, and the occasional missing sock are no match for The Darkside Detective."

Access Denied: Escape

"Access Denied: Escape is a 3D device-hacking puzzle game. Unlock the Data Vault, examine the devices around you, and use the notes to learn about events that took place here. Use your wits and powers of observation to discover the secret hidden within the walls of this laboratory. After all, it's the only way you can get out of here alive!"

You Suck at Parking Complete Edition

"Get ready to heat things up and experience You Suck at Parking(R), the only game where parking your ride is more important than your driving skills. It's a hot race against the clock as you drift, cruise, and occasionally go airborne over 100 frustratingly fun, wild levels."

Tunche

"Tunche is a charming hand-drawn action game with roguelike elements. Team up with your friends or play solo. Choose from 5 unique characters and restore peace in the Amazon rainforest!"

Mutazione

Mutazione is an adventure game where the juicy personal drama is just as important as the high-stakes adventure part of the story. Explore the community as 15-year-old Kai as she travels to the strange and secretive community of Mutazione to care for her ailing grandfather, Nonno. Make new friends; plant musical gardens; attend BBQs, band nights, and boat trips; and embark on a final spiritual journey to save everyone from the strange darkness at the heart of it all."

Valfaris

"Get ready for hack and slash heavy metal hell with Valfaris. With this Steam PC key, you follow the story of Therion, a fearless and proud son of Valfaris, who returns to his home to uncover the truth of its doomed fate and to challenge the arcane evil at its very heart. After mysteriously vanishing from galactic charts, the fortress of Valfaris has suddenly reappeared in the orbit of a dying sun. Once a self-contained paradise, the grandiose citadel now plays host to an ever-growing darkness."

Don't Touch this Button!

"You don't know where you are or how you got here... This place looks extremely strange, and the string of rooms ahead of you is fraught with deadly dangers... But I'm sure you will be able to overcome all obstacles on your way and get to the exit... The main thing is to remember the rule - never trust me!"

Ittle Dew 2+

"Ittle and Tippsie crash onto yet another island filled with loot, puzzles and mysterious inhabitants! They immediately set out to steal eight pieces of a raft from increasingly improbable locations including beaches, prairies, an art exhibit and some dude's basement."

Forests, Fields and Fortresses

"Forests, Fields and Fortresses is a mix of a puzzle and a board game in which you have to build your kingdom. Try on the role of a ruler, piece together your lands and ensure the prosperity of your people. Two game modes will be available to you, each with its own unique gameplay."

The Hive

"The Hive is an RTS RPG single player game where you assume control of insectoid hive mind, and explore the vast underworld on your journey to the surface. The emphasis of the game is in exploration, discovery and story telling via the RTS style game play."

Trifox

"Trifox is a colourful and cartoonish action-adventure featuring a phenomenal fox with a multitude of talents! Choose from a trio of classes - Warrior, Mage, Engineer - or mix-and-match abilities to create a tailor-made hero! Inspired by the golden age of 3D platformers."

Spinch

"Enter into a world thick with bubbling psychedelia. Descend deep into a new ecology teeming with multiple pathways, luminous levels, and complex obstacles. Transcend the material realm and assume your true form as Spinch, a hyper-agile organism consumed by the quest to rescue its litter of missing offspring from an endless invasion of misshapen and malformed offbeats and oddities."

Ittle Dew

"Adventuress Ittle Dew and her sidekick Tippsie crash onto a strange island, filled with loot and mysterious inhabitants. It quickly dawns on the duo that this might become their biggest adventure yet. Ittle Dew boils down the classic adventure formula until there is only fun left. Experience devious puzzles, timeless gameplay and lots of exploration!"

Labrys

"Labrys is a multiplayer (up to 5v1) horror game where one player becomes the minotaur against the human prisoners, trying to escape the randomly generated labyrinth. Humans can equip perks and find various equipment to aid them escaping the labyrinth. The minotaur has access to various abilities and augmentations to upgrade his abilities."

Tormentor X Punisher

"Everything in Tormentor X Punisher can be killed in one hit, including bosses and yourself. Bosses change the shape of the arena, conjuring rooms and traps to make it more hellish and brutal. Demons adjust to your play style and punish you accordingly. Explore and discover new ways of killing enemies to gain cool upgrades. Reload your machine gun by firing your shotgun. Yeah, you read that right."

Autonauts

"Fresh from your spaceship you must harvest stick and stone and begin your colonisation efforts. Create rudimentary crafting items from blueprints and slowly build a number of workerbots to aid in your efforts. Teach and shape their artificial intelligence with a visual programming language, then instruct them to begin the formation of your colony. Marvel as a planet you've shaped becomes home to a civilisation of workerbots, happy to do your bidding!"

I Am Fish

"In I Am Fish, you'll experience a charming, physics-based adventure that stars four intrepid fish friends who have been forcibly separated from their home and dropped in a pet shop fish tank. Experience their crazy adventure through Barnardshire -- the smallest country in England -- as they swim, fly, roll, and chomp their way back to the ocean!"

GoNNER

"GoNNER is a tough as hell score-based procedurally-generated platformer with roguelike elements. GoNNER is also a story about friendship between Ikk, Death, and a space whale named Sally. You will die. A lot. This is by design, but it's not made to feel unfair. You'll eventually get the hang of GoNNER, so don't lose your head. But even if you do it's okay cause we have a lot of replacement heads you can use."

Styx: Master of Shadows

"Styx: Master of Shadows is an infiltration game with RPG elements taking place in a dark fantasy universe, where you sneak, steal and assassinate your way through as Styx, a Goblin two-centuries of age."

From Space

"That's no bubblegum army, that's an endless horde of menacingly pink aliens taking over our planet! Enough sweet talk, grab your gear, we need you and your squad to defeat the pink pests!"

Game Boy Advance enjoyers already got several games to play this week thanks to Nintendo Switch Online adding three different titles that have never been released outside of Japan before, but that's not even all the Game Boy Advance news announced recently. It was also announced this week by WayForward that another classic Game Boy Advance game will finally be brought forward to modern platforms around 20 years after its release after it's only ever been available on the Game Boy Advance itself since release. That game is Sigma Star Saga, and it'll be rereleased on modern platforms and the Game Boy Advance again in 2025.

WayForward Technologies itself developed Sigma Star Saga back in 2005 for the GBA platform, so its return in 2025 will mark 20 years between the revival and its initial release. WayForward will be working with Bandai Namco Entertainment and Limited Run on this Sigma Star Saga rerelease of the "highly requested cult classic."

After its initial release in North America in 2005, the game was released in Europe a year later, but it's never left the GBA platform before. The redone version of the game will be available on the GBA again alongside a PC version and releases on "modern consoles." That'll presumably be the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch, though WayForward did not specify the platforms on which Sigma Star Saga would release outside of being on the GBA and PC platforms.

"Featuring a unique mix of top-down planetary exploration and side-scrolling shoot-'em-up space battles, Sigma Star Saga lets you suit up as Allied Earth Federation pilot Ian Recker, who infiltrates the alien Krill Empire as a double agent in a last-ditch effort to save mankind from their onslaught," WayForward said about its GBA classic. "To do so, you must work with both humans and the Krill, exploring six planets utilizing an ever-expanding set of tools and abilities, and jumping into the cockpit to engage enemy forces in intense shmup-style combat using more than 70 different Gun Data items. Gorgeous pixel-art graphics, epic boss battles, and a twist-filled story with multiple endings await."

An exact release date for the rerelease of Sigma Star Saga has not yet been set, but the GBA game is scheduled to make a return at some point next year.

Pokemon Go players recently got a chance at catching the coveted Mega Rayquaza during a series of Elite Raids last month, and while many were successful, many more found the event frustrating because of how it was rolled out. That's because the Raid Eggs in question which were supposed to have increased chances of spawning a Mega Rayquaza only started showing up in gyms at very inopportune times which left little time for players to coordinate taking on what was already going to be a difficult raid. As such, Niantic announced this week plans to allow for a makeup event where players will get another shot at getting a Mega Rayquaza.

Back in June when the Mega Rayquaza event got underway, Niantic said at nearly the last second that eggs would appear "at eligible Gyms at 6:00 AM local time on Saturday, June 29." Players quickly said that that wasn't enough time to coordinate Elite Raid attempts given that the Mega Rayquaza raids would be happening the same day and considering how players had to be there in-person to fight Mega Rayquaza.

Compounding this issue already, Niantic said at the time that it'd identified an issue which was limiting access to the Mega Rayquaza raids. It was after that problem was acknowledged that the Pokemon Go developer said it'd be prepping something for compensation.

"Trainers, we have resolved an issue limiting the availability of Mega Rayquaza Elite Raids," Niantic said at the time. "We are planning a make good for affected Trainers and will share more details as they become available."

Now, it's been confirmed that the makeup event will take place on August 3rd. This redo of the Mega Rayquaza event will only have two separate Elite Raid instances as opposed to original one which featured four rounds of the Elite Raids, but it'll at least give players another chance to try for Mega Rayquaza if they were affected by the original event's issues.

"Trainers, due to issues affecting Elite Raids featuring Mega Rayquaza, a special global makeup event will be held for all Trainers on Saturday, August 3, 2024 at 1:00 pm and 6:00 pm local time," Niantic said. "More details to be shared on the blog soon."

After going down at pretty much the worst possible time, PlayStation's digital collectible system called PlayStation Stars is finally coming back online for users in different regions. The PlayStation Stars feature went down amid the Days of Play event over a month ago which meant that many weren't able to capitalize on the sales to earn more PlayStation Stars points which could then be converted into collectibles or even store credit, but it's at least back now for people who still have more purchases to make. The only problem now, however, is that many PlayStation Stars users are reporting that some of their earned collectibles are missing and that some point acquisitions aren't being tracked correctly.

PlayStation Stars users started seeing notifications around a week ago that said that the program would be back up and running soon, and in recent days, more and more people have said online that it's becoming available once more for them. The rollout doesn't appear to be 100% complete yet, but it's still ongoing.

The problem, however, is that not everything is as it's supposed to be even with PlayStation Stars coming back online. Posts within the PlayStation Stars subreddit have said as much with players taking inventory of what's in their collections and what should be there. One post in particular said that their preorder collectible from God of War Ragnarok's release has gone missing from their digital trophy case. Others in the comments said that the same thing has happened with a Symbiote collectible from Marvel's Spider-Man 2 with more chiming in to say that those two collectibles in particular seemingly the ones that many people are having problems with.

Others in separate posts showed screenshots of their PlayStation Stars activity logs where there should've been points generated from purchases made during June. PlayStation Stars has been down for awhile now, so it's reasonable to expect that some of the purchases might be playing catchup when it comes to having them accurately reflected in the points trackers, but it's another issue that some PlayStation Stars users are facing regardless now that it's back up.

PlayStation does not really share many updates on PlayStation Stars outside of notices in the app and the occasional PlayStation Blog post talking about what's new that month, though we'll perhaps hear more updates on fixes for these PlayStation Stars issues players have been experiencing after the rollout is finished.

If you're fan of games like Vampire Survivors and other shooters that feature seemingly endless waves of enemies and upgrades for players to unlock, there's a newish game on Steam right now that you need to get while it's still free. That game in question is called Pizza Hero, and it just landed on Steam towards the end of June for the very agreeable price of "free." That 100% discount is only going to last for awhile longer, however, with Pizza Hero set to return to a full price at an undisclosed date, so you should grab it for free now while you still can.

Pizza Hero has been out on mobile platforms for over a year now, but it only just recently came to Steam in June. A quick look at the YouTube Short below from the developer that shows off the game will show how the gameplay and even the art to a degree both very much take after experiences like Vampire Survivors and others in the bullet-filled roguelite genre, but in this game, you play as a piece of pizza instead of a monster slayer. You're still fighting monsters, but you're picking up things like pizza toppings instead to grant yourself extra powers for the runs.

"Pizza Hero is a swarm survivor, meaning that you'll need to use all of your skills and strategies to take down waves of relentless enemies. With randomly generated levels and power-ups, no two playthroughs are ever the same," an overview of the Pizza Hero game explained. "To help you in your quest, the game features an auto-rotate feature that allows you to easily switch between targeting groups without having to manually rotate."

To compare it to some other games in the genre, Pizza Hero has just over 20 different powerups to collect during a match and still lets you upgrade your overall stats after a run as well with those upgrades persisting between runs. A note added to the game's Steam page towards the end of June confirmed that Pizza Hero will eventually be a full-priced game, but it didn't specify when that change would happen nor did it say how much the game would cost.

"Attention, gamers! Pizza Hero is now available for free on Steam, but this offer won't last long," developer Astro Hound said. "Simply add the game to your library, and you'll have it forever.. for free! The promotion ends soon, so don't miss out on this exciting adventure!

Hunt: Showdown has now gone through a round of pricing changes for the base game and its DLCs that could come off as good news or bad news depending on whether you own the game or not and which DLCs you're looking to buy. Hunt: Showdown developer Crytek announced this week plans to decrease the price of the base game which is a welcome change for anyone who's still on the fence about it or those who want to get it on another platform. That base game change, however, was accompanied by some changes for DLC prices that Crytek said may see some DLCs getting more expensive.

Crytek determined now was the right time to adjust Hunt: Showdown prices due to the "profound changes coming in the August launch" which include a new engine upgrade and more. As of July 11th, the base game's price has already been adjusted on the PC platform. The game just came off a sale where it was being offered for under $15, but now that the sale has ended, the price has gone back up to $29.99. That's still a better deal than it was before, however, since Hunt: Showdown used to cost $39.99 before the permanent price reduction happened. That same price cut is scheduled to happen on August 15th for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game.

For the DLC, however, prices are going both up and down. Crytek did not specify which DLCs' prices would be changing but said that some of them would be increased while others would be decreased. Hunt: Showdown has a lot of DLCs to look through with over 50 of them offered on the Steam page alone, but a quick look at those doesn't yield many noticeable price changes at all. These DLCs usually consist of different Hunters as well as weapons, and right now, it looks like the most expensive one is $14.99 which isn't too egregious for DLC at all.

"These changes will also affect DLC prices, which will witness various increases and decreases across all regions. The Blood Bonds will follow a similar model across upcoming updates," Crytek said. "We have worked to make these changes at the right level to ensure that Hunt remains competitive, accessible and affordable worldwide, while still supporting future development and new content for the game."

Hunt: Showdown's pricing changes are live on PC now with console changes to happen next month.

Dragon Age fans are antsy for a release date for Dragon Age: The Veilguard - the release window of fall 2024 announced during this year's Xbox Games Showcase has officially reached the point where it's not enough for what's safe to say is vast majority of the fandom who grow more and more impatient by the day waiting to fully experience the game and its characters (and its romances...). Hopefully it won't be much longer to wait as we progress through the summer, and thanks to a new announcement it may be possible that a release date announcement could come as soon as later this month as part of one of the biggest pop culture events of the year.

"Exciting news Dragon Age fans, we're going to be at SDCC later this month! Whether you're a long-time fan or new to the community, we can't wait to see you there," today's exciting post on the official Dragon Age X (formerly Twitter) reads, confirming BioWare and their next game release will have a presence at this year's San Diego Comic Con. Per the image attached to the post, Dragon Age fans can look forward to the following series of events as SDCC unfolds:

• July 25th: Voice Over Talent Signing with talent for Neve, Harding, Lucanis, and Emmrich; Fandom Party at the Hard Rock Hotel
• July 26th: Voice Over Panel with talent for Neve, Harding, Lucanis, and Emmrich
• July 28th: Dev Team signing to meet the minds behind The Veilguard

The image also notes that BioWare can be visited at the Dark Horse Comics booth throughout the convention, located at Booth 2615.

While San Diego Comic Con is a great environment to announce a release date for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, that doesn't mean this is necessarily the platform BioWare will choose to do so and it's entirely speculation to say that might be part of the July 26th panel. Regardless of whether or not BioWare chooses to announce its fourth Dragon Age game's release date during this event it will be exciting to meet the cast behind some of the companions and romance options for the game, because for now this remains one of the great mysteries of The Veilguard despite plenty of additional information reveals recently thanks to the GameInformer cover issue and BioWare hosted developer Q&A sessions on Discord.

San Diego Comic Con will take place Thursday, July 25th to Sunday, July 28th.

If you don't know by now that Larian Studios absolutely knocked it out of the park with their 2023 release Baldur's Gate 3, it's fairly safe to assume that you've been living under a rock. Even if the Dungeons & Dragons based role-playing game didn't appeal to you for some reason or another (probably the turn-based combat), if you spend any time in gaming communities online you've seen or heard about the game that earned multiple Game of the Year awards during the year's awards season, and its characters have definitely been on your timeline likely more than once. Afterall, have you truly lived if you haven't asked Shadowheart how you're holding up in her estimations?

Larian Studios crafted beautiful settings, narratives, and characters for Baldur's Gate 3, providing immersive and rich locations to explore and characters so popular they're already considered some of the most popular video game characters of all time. Larian Studios and Dungeons & Dragons made a beautiful combination, so it came as a surprise when the developers confirmed they'd be moving away from the IP as a whole and would not be the studio to create Baldur's Gate 4. As it turns out though, Baldur's Gate 3 was only one of the RPGs Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke was interested in working on, as he recently revealed in an interview with Edge 400. "It would have been Ultima, it would have been Fallout, it would have been Baldur's Gate. There was not a lot to choose from," Vincke revealed, name dropping two large franchises.

While Larian obviously ended up with the license to craft Baldur's Gate 3 and flourished in the realm of Faer?n with an RPG that will continue to be celebrated for years to come for its contribution to the industry, it's interesting to see what types of projects Larian has been interested on working on in the past, especially when taking into consideration that Larian currently has two new projects in-development. Of course, we know Bethesda is making Fallout 5 while continuing updates on their live-service game Fallout 76, given that Larian likes to work on projects that excite them it's nice to be able to confirm some of the genres and games that have piqued some interest in the past while pondering what their next games will shape up to be.

Personally, I'm definitely hoping for a science fiction angle from Larian in the future, but for now I'm going to take some time to consider what a Larian Fallout game could've looked like.

Now that the world is a little over a month out from this year's Xbox Games Showcase and gamers have undoubtedly added multiple titles to the list of games they intend to play in the future, the dust has settled and for the most part it's a waiting game from here as titles like Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Fable, Black Ops 6, and plenty more games inch toward their eventual release dates. One presentation the excitement hasn't quite left me in full yet for is the entirety of the Blumhouse Games showcase, which introduced not one but six titles that are being developed by independent studios to be released under Blumhouse's venture into a new media form for them.

In particular I can't seem to get Perfect Garbage's Grave Seasons out of my mind, and I'm eager day by day for any additional information that may be announced about the game as time goes on. While the cozy farming simulator where it's definitely safe for your character and villagers to go outside at night and there's certainly not a murderer lurking in the darkness waiting to bury you and your friends in the fields is still in early development, Perfect Garbage has been introducing the villagers of Ashenridge to continue the buzz around the game.

Perfect Garbage previously introduced prospective players to the local florist Leilani and loyal farmhand Hari, and now they've released a video to allow people to get to know another villager - Noa. Per the short video, Noa lives by the docks and runs The Big Fish. Described as humble and hardworking, Noa is noted to intimidate people sometimes as he comes across "distant and untalkative." Underneath that harsh exterior (though come on...that long hair and comfortable sweater indicate there's a secret teddy bear in there somewhere) Noa apparently craves friendship and is trying to move on from a vicious past...one of the aspects that will almost certainly play into the mystery aspects of Grave Seasons.

Perfect Garbage also confirmed that Noa is "one of the bigger guys" in a reply to the video on X (formerly Twitter), and given that the other man we've met, Hari, is also fairly sizable, it's likely we'll get to meet some small kings in the future, though many players have already picked Noa for their future husband...regardless of whether or not he's the killer in their game.

GreedFall 2: The Dying World is still at least several months out from its full release slated for some time in 2025, but now that we're in the back half of 2024 the developers creating the game are ready to push forward into the next major stage of development - Early Access. The developers, Spiders, have unveiled a new video to not only showcase an additional look at the upcoming game, but also confirm the Steam Early Access launch date for September 24th, meaning the wait to experience the continuation of the RPG series is only a little over two months away now.

Last month Spiders released Community Update #1 for GreedFall 2 on the game's official Steam page to outline what early access will look like for the upcoming RPG, with the majority of the post focused on the changes to the game's combat system, which has thus far been met with some trepidation from fans. Regarding these changes, Spiders states they are "well aware that we will need your feedback if we are to make this new combat gameplay the most satisfying experience possible and not a blocking factor to your enjoyment of the game."

"We want the game experience to be pleasant, fun and accessible for everyone - be it for the seasoned tactical RPG players, newcomers to the genre, or those who simply wish to enjoy other aspects of the game that are more important to them, such as exploring the world, following the story, etc.," the post continues, communicating that Spiders goals in carrying out early access would be to ensure they're listening to GreedFall 2's players.

The early access post also notes some additional features that won't be implemented immediately upon launch, including difficulty sliders, choice of character outline colors, visual cues, and numerous other QoL (Quality of Life) options. Spiders notes that "Overall, the early access will be a way for us to add, improve and balance all the game content, and we are excited to be able to do it all with you, so that you can discover everything that the universe of GreedFall has to offer."

In the Steam Early Access release announcement Spiders notes that additional information on GreedFall 2 can be expected soon, with a new gameplay video due to be unveiled sometime in August and a Community Livestream to be hosted in September before the early access launch, where Spiders promises to reveal exciting new information and an updated Road Map.

The Wolf Among Us 2 has been in-development since 2017, and while the game had been set for a 2023 release at some point, fans are still patiently waiting for a release date confirmation. Unfortunately, official updates for the game have been few and far between lately - the last trailer was unveiled in 2022 and since then The Wolf Among Us fans have been waiting for anything substantial to indicate the game's development is moving along. Earlier this year an update did come in the form of a few screenshots from the game shared, and now the developers at Telltale who are crafting the game have provided some additional images. While screenshots can hardly be considered a major update by most people's standards, it's nice to see that The Wolf Among Us 2 is still in-development.

The two new images shared come from the official Telltale Games X (formerly Twitter) account in celebration of the studio's anniversary. "Today's a big day for us," the post begins. "It marks the anniversary of the OG Telltale's founding. We wouldn't be back without you. So, thanks, and enjoy some new TWAU2 screens to start your weekend right."

The new screenshots give a new look at the protagonist of the game franchise, Bigby Wolf, with a serious expression, likely facing serious circumstances given the overall mood and tone of the images. The first image shows Bigby in a snow-covered outdoor landscape, while the second shows him using that excellent eyesight to examine an object indoors. Bigby Wolf was also shown in some of the screenshots released in April of this year, but that hasn't stopped fans of the franchise from being excited about the photographic reunion with the protagonist - in the replies on social media, fans were quick to express their excitement both toward seeing Bigby himself and an update on the game.

While the update confirms Telltale is still moving toward completing the game and releasing the long-awaited sequel to 2013's first installment to the franchise, the post doesn't give any sort of indicator as to when the game's release can be expected. As mentioned earlier, at one point The Wolf Among Us 2 was set for a release in 2023, so it's not a wild thought to say that there's a chance we still may see the game release this year - though now that we're in the back half of 2024, if Telltale is planning on releasing the game in the next few months, announcements could be expected soon.

Marvel Rivals is getting ready to enter its second testing period, and the announcements leading up to the Closed Beta Test have excitement building more than ever before for a game that is safely considered a highly anticipated release. With the beta testing period set to run from July 23rd through August 5th on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam, NetEase Games and Marvel Entertainment have announced the Closed Beta Test's tournament, additional options for obtaining an access code, and an in-game event that will allow players the chance to secure an exclusive costume for a new character - Venom. The companies circled back to the Venom news today by sharing a video showcasing the "Lethal Protector," with the video's description reading:

"Native to the planet Klyntar but once bonded to a certain infuriating web-head, the alien symbiote found his pair in the disgruntled Eddie Brock, together becoming the hulking Venom. After years as a hungering force of evil, these halves have found their way to becoming a one-of-a-kind lethal protector, evolving beyond their kin yet never surrendering their unmatched ferocity. Lost in the Timestream Entanglement, Venom remains unable to recollect their past, thrust into worlds unknown as they function on instinct to recuperate.

However, darkness stirs in the far reaches of the Multiverse as something ancient wriggles its tendrils into divine minds across all of time and space. Now, it's up to Venom to recover their memory and take the battle to the edge of space, whether dressed in black or blue!"

Not only does Marvel Rivals feature Venom in his iconic black-and-white look, the symbiote also has an alternative cosmetic option available to unlock during the Closed Beta Test in-game event. The in-game event for the Closed Beta Test is Galacta's Quest, in which players will be able to complete quests and earn event XP in order to unlock a variety of rewards, including the closed beta exclusive Venom costume -- "Cyan Clash."

The Cyan Clash costume can also be seen in the new video above, allowing players to see what the alternate cosmetic option for Venom will look like. This reward will only be available to Closed Beta Test participants and will be available on the official launch of Marvel Rivals as long as the same account is used, so if you want to ensure access to the Cyan Clash costume be sure to do your best at getting into the Closed Beta Test.

Everyone that uses Steam has another free game to claim this week thanks to the return of a classic that's never actually been on Steam before. That game is called "Classic Marathon 2" and is a rereleased version of the similarly named "Marathon 2: Durandal" which was developed by Bungie just under 30 years ago now. This is the second part of Bungie's classic trilogy that started with Marathon, and just like the first one which was also rereleased for free on Steam, you can claim the second at no cost right now.

Classic Marathon 2 landed on Steam on July 12th and is developed by Aleph One, a studio Bungie partnered with to release new versions of these classic Marathon games. Originally released for Windows 95 and Mac devices before getting ported to several other platforms later on, the second game in the Marathon series takes place years after the events of the first Marathon if you're familiar with that one either from playing the original or the rerelease.

"Fresh from your triumph on the colony ship Marathon, you are seized by the rogue AI Durandal to do his bidding in a distant part of the galaxy," an overview of the game via Steam said. "Within the ruins of an ancient civilization, you must seek the remnants of a lost clan and uncover their long-buried secrets. Battle opponents ancient and terrible, with sophisticated weapons and devious strategies, all the while struggling to escape the alien nightmare... "

As you might have imagined given the nature of the game and the original's age, Classic Marathon 2 requires pretty much next to nothing to run in terms of PC setups, so anyone interested should be able to play it. It's also got some newer features like "optional widescreen HUD support, 3D filtering/perspective, positional audio, and 60+ fps interpolation" for those who want to clean up the experience a bit compared to how the original looked.

With the first Marathon game and now Classic Marathon 2 both free on Steam as of this week, that leaves one more game in the trilogy to go. That game is Marathon Infinity which already has its own Steam page set up as "Classic Marathon Infinity" as well as an option to wishlist the game.

All these Marathon games are being given away in part because Bungie is making a Marathon reboot, though we haven't heard much about the game recently aside from rumors that it might've been delayed internally.

With Mortal Kombat 1's first Kombat Pack coming to an end soon, Mortal Kombat players have quite a bit to look forward to in the next few weeks. Takeda himself will be released on July 23rd, and ahead of that date, we're getting gameplay for the final Kombat Pack fighter much sooner on Monday, July 15th. In addition to the new fighter, Mortal Kombat 1 boss Ed Boon has also confirmed that there'll be an update releasing alongside Takeda that includes some "significant" improvements for several different Mortal Kombat fighters.

The gameplay reveal was confirmed on Friday with a small snippet of battle between Takeda and Peacemaker teased. Takeda had Ferra on his side, the final Kameo fighter who's set to be released at the same time as Takeda later this month, while Peacemaker had Janet Cage as his Kameo. The pairs stop short of actually fighting, but we'll see more of Takeda's gameplay and presumably one of his Fatalities come Monday. Takeda will also be playable even sooner than his July 23rd release date, Boon said, but only for those who are attending this year's EVO event in Las Vegas that's taking place next week.

In addition to the releases of Takeda and Ferra, the last DLC fighters from the first Kombat Pack will also be accompanied by an update. Boon shared a list of changes for different fighters which can all be found below, though we'll have to wait until the actual patch notes are shared to see precisely what's changing.

Early Look at Mortal Kombat 1's Next Update

• Nitara (some SERIOUS buffs)
• Li Mei (new pop-up combo string)
• Quan Chi (new portal boot kick)
• Scorpion (buff to EX-teleport)
• Krazy buff to uppercut jump
• Frost (new ambush move)
• Scorpion (new ambush move)
• Sektor (missile improvements)
• Cyrax (bomb improvements)
• Goro (many new ambush cancel options)

And finally, after all the dust around Takeda, Ferra, and the new update settles, Mortal Kombat 1 players still have one more thing to look forward to: a panel discussing the future of the game. As Mortal Kombat 1 approaches its first anniversary, Boon and NetherRealm are set to discuss what Year 2 holds for the game. The most obvious assumption there is that that'll include talks of Kombat Pack 2 and the DLC characters that'll be included in that, though we'll have to wait until SDCC to learn more about what's planned.

Over the last several months, developer Activision has increasingly been going down the Fortnite route with its new content in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone. Most recently, we've seen the developers partner with Fallout, but they've also added content from Gundam, Cheech and Chong, and Diablo. Earlier today, Activision teased its next big crossover, and it's going to make fans very happy. When Season 5 kicks off in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone on July 24th, players will have new WWE content to pick up. Unfortunately, details about what's coming are still relatively light, but we should be learning much more relatively soon.

The short, six-second teaser Activision posted to the Call of Duty Twitter account doesn't include any real hints about which WWE stars are joining the game in Season 5. The post leads with "It's about to be a smackdown," an obvious reference to one of the WWE's weekly flagship shows. It's also famously one of the catchphrases for former WWE star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, though it would be a big surprise if he's one of the characters coming to Call of Duty in this drop. The Rock has become a big enough star through his film career, that he would warrant his own campaign.

Instead, it's more likely these are current WWE stars. At the end of the teaser, you can see the shadows of three WWE wrestlers. It's tough to make out anything from those shadows, but it does seem like the character in the middle might be Roman Reigns. The shadow has a top knot hairstyle, which fits with Reigns' current look. Plus, he'd easily have the pull to headline a Call of Duty campaign. However, that's just a guess based on a shadow you can see for two seconds, so don't be surprised if it's someone else entirely.

Fortunately, we probably don't have to wait much longer to learn more about which WWE superstars are coming to Call of Duty. Usually, Activision drops the season roadmaps about a week before the season goes live. That means we should be seeing the new roadmap sometime next week. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone are available now on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC platforms.

Phasmophobia is currently only available on the PC platform, though consoles releases were supposed to have happened by now had the consoles release not been delayed indefinitely last year. Development problems compounded by a fire at the Kinetic Games studio resulted in the delay, but Kinetic Games finally has a better idea to share now regarding when the consoles versions will be out. There's also a price increase coming, however, with Kinetic Games saying that it feels the price change sufficiently reflects the extra content that's been added to the game since it was first playable in early access.

The PlayStation and Xbox versions of Phasmophobia will be out in October, Kinetic Games confirmed this week in its latest update. Referring to those releases as a "console update," the studio said it plans to have those out fittingly during the Halloween event which was when they were supposed to be out last year.

"We're thrilled to announce that the console update will be released this year, during our in-game Halloween Event," Kinetic Games said. "Once launched, all players will have access to cross-play, allowing you to play the newest version of the game with everyone, including those using VR on any platform."

Kinetic Games also said that it's working with Unity on these console releases to ensure that the PlayStation and Xbox versions run "optimally and to the high standards that we set for the game." Crossplay will be supported between the console, PC, and VR versions of the game with updates planned to release simultaneously to maintain parity.

One caveat with the console versions, however, is that voice recognition will not be available at launch.

"At the current stage of development console players will be required to use our Text input for Voice Recognition, we are working on a solution for this," Kinetic Games continued. "We will announce if this changes."

As for the price of the console versions of the game, it seems it'll be set at $19.99. The game currently costs $13.99, but Kinetic Games said the price will be increased across all platforms to reflect the amount of content that's been added over time, so if you haven't yet gotten the game on the PC but have thought about it, you'll have until later this year to get it at a cheaper price.

"We will be increasing the price of Phasmophobia on all platforms later this year to $19.99, due to the amount of content and playtime added since the start of early access we feel this is a fair increase," the post said.

While there are still three more games between the EUROs and Copa America, the developers at Electronic Arts have put together their Team of the Tournament promo team in EA Sports FC 24's Ultimate Team. This squad collects all of the best players between the two competitions, giving stand-out players like Lionel Messi, Vinicius Jr, and Kylian Mbappe new boosted cards. However, those player cards are usually very expensive on the Transfer Market, so EA Sports FC 24 also added a new Evolution. The New Nine evolution lets you take an already solid player and turn them into an incredibly powerful striker. Below, you'll find the full breakdown for the New Nine Evolution and the list of players you should use it on in EA Sports FC 24.

What is the EAFC 24 New Nine Evolution?

Fortunately, this Evolution is completely free, meaning you should use it to generate high-rated fodder even if you don't plan to use the player in your lineup. Here are the requirements you'll need to keep in mind:

• Max Overall: 90
• Max Pace: 89
• Min Shooting: 80
• Max Total Positions: 3
• Max PlayStyles: 8
• Max PlayStyles+: 2
• Position Must Not be: ST

Once you finish all of the Objectives, you'll earn +5 Overall, +5 Pace, +7 Shooting, +5 Passing, +6 Dribbling, +7 Physical, +10 Heading Accuracy, +1 Skill Moves, the Chip Shot and Trivela PlayStyles, and the Power Shot and Press Proven PlayStyles+.

The Best Players for the New Nine Evolution

The max overall for this Evolution is 90, which means you can use relatively high-rated players. Because of that, many of the top options are expensive, though there are a few players to use if you're working on a budget. If you have previous SBC players like Future Stars Claudia Pina or Centurions Martin Odegaard, you should use them. However, here's the list of players if you're working on a budget:

• Mo Salah - Liverpool
• Caroline Hansen - Barcelona
• Future Stars Harvey Elliot
• Neymar - Al Hilal

As you can see, there are several solid players you can use that are normal Gold Rare cards. For our money, Neymar is probably the best of those three, given his five-star/five-star skill moves and weak foot combo. Plus, he has maxed-out dribbling and solid stats in every other area that matters for an attacker. Meanwhile, Hansen and Salah will be better in front of the net, they just lack that extra sauce on the ball.

Finally, we like Elliot quite a bit if you want someone who has a good mix of everyone. None of his stats top the other three players, but his mix makes him a great middle option. However, he might end up being the most expensive of the four, making him less attractive.

EA Sports FC 24 is available now on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC platforms. The New Nine Evolution expires on August 9th.

The Karate Kid franchise will grow a bit larger this year with The Karate Kid: Street Rumble scheduled to release on September 20th for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC platforms. It's a side-scrolling game in the style of 16-bit classics, and as you might've expected given that it's Karate Kid, it's a beat-'em-up game. The game will go for $39.99 when it releases in September with preorders open now and only one standard version of the game available at this time.

As the name suggests, this game is more focused on the Karate Kid trilogy of movies as opposed to the Cobra Kai spin-off that's emerged in more recent years and has spawned several game adaptations itself. The Karate Kid: Street Rumble consists of 12 different levels and plenty of characters from the original movies including Johnny Lawrence, Terry Silver, and more.

"Set in the iconic locales of the first 3, classic The Karate Kid movies from the 1980s, you'll step out of the dojo and into the streets of the San Fernando Valley and Okinawa as you battle waves of enemies in this pixel art, side-scrolling, beat 'em up adventure. Play as Daniel LaRusso, Mr. Miyagi, Ali Mills, or Kumiko as you seek to defeat Johnny Lawrence, John Kreese, Terry Silver and others intent on establishing dominance over Miyagi-Do karate forever. This game features intense martial arts combat and a frenetic experience of constant fighting with a retro-revival feel from the original, iconic movies."

The Karate Kid: Street Rumble is being published by GameMill Entertainment, though GameMill was the only company listed in the game's announcement. GameMill is responsible for publishing tons of different licensed games including Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, American Ninja Warrior, and more. The same publisher also published Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues which released back in 2021 as another side-scrolling fighting game from the Karate Kid franchise albeit with a much different style than The Karate Kid: Street Rumble.

GameMill's new game The Karate Kid: Street Rumble will be out for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC platforms on September 20th.

This weekend, the EUROs and Copa America are both winding down after several weeks of great on-field action. To celebrate, developer Electronic Arts is launching a new promo in EA Sports FC 24. This promo, called the Team of the Tournament, collects the players who performed the best during the competitions. Sadly, EA Sports FC 24 can't add a new player in the form of "Own Goal," the player who scored the most points in the EUROs. Still, EA FC 24 leakers have been working hard to announce the full promo before its launch date. Below, you'll find a full list of leaked Team of the Tournament players in EA Sports FC 24 and the assumed release date for the promo.

EAFC 24 Team of the Tournament Leaked Players

These leaks come from Asy FUT Trader and FifaTradingRomania on Twitter. Over the last few years, the accounts have been a reliable source for leaks and haven't missed the previous few promos. Of course, you'll still want to take these leaks with a hefty grain of salt.

Leaked Team of the Tournament Players

• Jude Bellingham - Real Madrid
• Lionel Messi - FC Miami
• Kylian Mbappe - Real Madrid
• Cody Gakpo - Liverpool
• Lautaro Martinez - Inter
• Marquinhos - PSG
• Vini Jr. - Real Madrid
• Jamal Musiala - Bayern Munich
• Theo Hernandez - AC Milan
• Kevin De Bruyne - Manchester City
• Fabian Ruiz - PSG
• Joshua Kimmich - Bayern Munich
• Christian Eriksen - Manchester United
• Marc Cucurella - Chelsea
• Granit Xhaka - Leverkusen
• Stanislav Lobotka - Napoli
• Riccardo Calafiori - Bologna
• Ferdi Kadioglu - Fenerbache
• Marc Guehi - Crystal Palace
• Raphina - Barcelona
• Federico Valverde - Real Madrid
• Jon Aramburu - Real Sociedad
• Mathias Olivera - Napoli
• Jose Martinez - Philadelphia Union
• Maxime Crepeau - Portland Timbers
• Moises Caicedo - Chelsea
• Jeremy Sarmiento - Brighton & Hove Albion
• Davinson Sanchez - Galatasaray
• Daniel Munoz - Crystal Palace

Of course, that's only a small selection of players who will likely be included because EA has done a better job than usual of keeping the new team under wraps. However, we'll probably see several names added to that list when the team drops. Plus, it's worth noting that EA has been releasing new International Stars cards through Squad Building Challenges. We may see some of those added during the promo to boost the number of cards available. . Finally, EA usually likes to hold back a few players to release in Squad-Building Challenges and Objectives, so don't be surprised if all of the players listed above aren't available on day one of the promo.

EA Sports FC 24 Team of the Tournament Start Date

The Team of the Tournament promo will presumably start on July 12th at 1 p.m. ET. That's when the Path to Glory Team 2 promo ends and generally when EA starts new promos in Ultimate Team. As it does most weeks, Electronic Arts will likely drop a new loading screen in the coming days letting us know when to expect the promo and a hint of who might be coming. Some of the cards listed above might drop later in the week, depending on how EA decides to break things up.

EA Sports FC 24 is available now on PlayStation, Switch, Xbox, and PC platforms.

At last year's BlizzCon, the developers at Blizzard Entertainment announced that it's working on a new expansion for Diablo 4. Vessel of Hatred is due out later this year and will take players to the jungles of Nahantu. The team is also introducing a new class into Diablo 4 that has never appeared in the franchise's long history. Recently, Blizzard announced that the class is called the Spiritborn and calls them the "apex predator of the jungle." However, fans haven't learned much more about them besides the name since they were revealed. That all changes next week because Blizzard is pulling back the curtain to discuss the Spiritborn's "class design, gameplay, lore, and much more" on July 18th.

As mentioned, we don't know much more about the class than its name, so it's great to see that we're finally getting a big new drop of information. Of course, there are some assumptions to be made based on how the Spirtborn character looks in its key art. We can see that the Spiritborn is using a massive spear weapon as its main damage-dealer. However, if you look closely, you'll notice that they also have claw bones attached to their wrists, giving them a Wolverine-like look. You'll likely be able to use both weapons while adventuring through the jungle, though it wouldn't be surprising to find out that the wrist claws are abilities and not something you earn gear for.

It's also worth noting that the Spiritborn is wearing a headdress that looks like a massive jungle cat. With that in mind, we might see the class use different forms of stealth to attack from the shadows and deal big damage. Fortunately, we don't have to wait much longer to learn the character's full kit. Remember, the big livestream starts on July 18th at 11:00 AM PT.

The Spiritborn isn't the only new addition coming in the Vessel of Hatred expansion. Blizzard is also adding the new jungle region and more story content that further explores Mephisto's "malicious agenda." There are also new mercenaries to hire and a new co-op end-game dungeon to take on with your friends. Diablo 4 is available now on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC platforms. Vessel of Hatred launches on October 8th

Nintendo Switch Online users got a welcome surprise on Thursday night with not just one but three different Game Boy Advance games added to the Nintendo Switch Online catalog of games. GBA games and others from different Nintendo platforms are routinely added to Nintendo Switch Online, too, but what makes this particular drop special is that none of the three GBA games added this week have ever been available outside of Japan before, so for most subscribers, it'll be the first time that you're able to play these.

The games in question are all part of the same series with the newly added trio consisting of Densetsu no Starfy, Densetsu no Starfy 2, and Densetsu no Starfy 3. These games feature a protagonist named Starfy, a star-shaped being who's the prince of Prince of Pufftop and platforms his way across all the levels in the three games.

The Densetsu no Starfy series was said to be successful in Japan but never got a release outside of the country despite that. An overview of each of the new games can be seen below:

Nintendo Switch Online's New GBA Games

• Densetsu no Starfy: No sleep 'til Pufftop! A sudden storm has caused Starfy, prince of the floating sky kingdom Pufftop, to plummet from his lofty home into the sea below. Luckily, he is rescued by an old lobster named Lobber who sets the adorable hero on a grand journey back to Pufftop. The way home is full of dangers, though, and Starfy will need to employ a variety of abilities - including Star Spin and Glide - and vehicles like the mighty Mole Tank, to overcome the challenges that await. The legend begins here!
• Densetsu no Starfy 2: Help Starfy save his mother and bring peace back to Pufftop Kingdom in this action-packed sequel! Ogura - the villain of the first game - is back to seek vengeance against Starfy, and this time he has Mama Star in his sights. The revenge-driven ruffian ransacks Pufftop and steals away Starfy's mother in the ensuing kerfuffle, leaving Starfy no choice but to dive head-first into his next adventure. With his best friend Moe in tow and challenges aplenty to face, Starfy has his work cut out for him.
• Densetsu no Starfy 3: Starfy's sister Starly joins him and Moe for their third adventure on Game Boy Advance! Discover the truth behind the mysterious villain that's been pulling Ogura's strings all this time and put a stop to their nefarious plans once and for all. Spin and float with the starry siblings and save the day across action-filled stages with the help of familiar friends, including ... Wario?! You read that right: Wario crosses paths with Starfy and Starly to help them through the Undersea Ruins in Stage 8 (while hunting for treasure, of course), so be sure to check it out. Go, Starfy and Starly, go!

Firewalk Studios' upcoming online player versus player hero shooter Concord is approaching its Beta Early Access period now, with the beta set to begin Friday, July 12th at 10am PST. Pre-ordering any edition of the game grants players access to the Beta Early Access weekend, as well as four additional codes to share with friends to be able to team up with a crew familiar and comfortable to you to take on rivals, though notably these codes will only be available to redeem on the same platform the pre-order was completed on. Additionally, PlayStation Plus subscribers are also invited to participate in the Beta Early Access weekend, with the Open Beta set to begin next week, from Thursday, July 18th at 10am PST through Sunday, July 21st.

During the Beta Early Access period and Closed Beta period players will be able to experience all 16 of Concord's launch Freegunners, with each one unlocked and available to play and customize. The content included in these beta periods also includes four maps - Freewater, Star Chamber, Water Hazard, and Shock Risk; as well as three modes - Cargo Run, Clash Point, and Trophy Hunt. When the Open Beta begins next weekend an additional map and game mode will be available as well - the Bone Mines map and Area Control mode.

It's noted that progress will be carried over between the weekends but not into the game's official launch on August 23rd. Still, Firewalk is providing a few of rewards for players who participate in the beta periods as a thank you: a Frog Weapon Charm ("From Orbit to Ground," the name of the Northstar's drop ship, not a literal frog...unfortunately), a Star Flare Icon and Business Card.

The beta will also support cross-play for those who wish to team up with someone playing on a different platform than them, as Concord will also be available to PC players. The Concord Beta will also support:

• 4K: Compatible PC and display required.
• Ultrawide 21:9: Compatible PC and display required.
• Uncapped Framerate: Compatible PC and display required.
• KBM and DualSense Controller Support
• Custom Key Mapping
• FSR 3: Compatible PC and graphics card required.
• DLSS 3.7: Compatible PC and graphics card required.

The PlayStation blog post regarding Concord's beta periods also outlines the PC spec requirements to experience the game, which you can find toward the bottom of this page.

Dungeons & Dragons is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year, and it seems like every few days for a while now there has been some sort of exciting announcement, new release, merchandise pre-order, or collaboration to continue the celebrations for a long beloved franchise that is more popular than its ever been thanks to an explosion of interest in recent years. The newest announced collaboration comes from the United Kingdom's postal service, the Royal Mail, who is set to release a variety of Dungeons & Dragons stamps featuring iconic monsters and figures from the franchise - with artwork from an artist just as iconic.

Each of the stamps is beautifully designed by Wayne Reynolds, and it's nice to see his talents being utilized for Dungeons & Dragons again after previously working on previous releases like Dungeons & Dragons 3rd and 4th Editions, Dungeons & Dragons and Forgotten Realms, amongst others for Wizards of the Coast. Those most excited to see Reynolds' art on for Dungeons & Dragons again can also order two signed enlarged versions of some of the stamps as a framed print signed by the artist himself. These signed prints will be limited to 150 each for the enlarged Mimic and Vecna pieces, with the Miniature sheet limited to 200 pieces. At the time of writing this the Mimic and Vecna pre-orders appear to be closed, but the Miniatures signed pre-orders are still available.

The other limited edition item up for grabs when the collection release July 26th will be a Prestige Stamp Book, "a fact-filled, 24-page publication containing all eight Special Stamps, the Miniature Sheet stamps and a definitive pane of stamps unique to this issue." The book is presented in a souvenir folder that resembles a Mimic and is limited to 2,000 pieces.

Outside of the limited edition items there's plenty of options for Dungeons & Dragons fans to take advantage of including a variety of framed options for sets and the more iconic characters, as well as sheets of the full set of stamps, fan sheets with four stamps each, and even a Dungeons & Dragons themed envelope to complete a fan's postage needs. The franchise icons represented on the stamps include:

• Owlbear
• Vecna
• Gelatinous Cube
• Red Dragon
• Mind Flayer
• Mimic
• Displacer Beast
• Beholder

Postcards for the collection feature some of the above options plus a Tiefling Rogue, a Halfling Cleric, a Human Bard, an Elf Fighter, a Dragonborn Wizard, and a Dwarf Paladin.

After an incredibly successful series of play tests brought an impressive number of players to Dungeonborne, Mithril Interactive's upcoming dungeon crawler has been announced for an Early Access period launch of Thursday, July 18th. Earning as high as 14,448 players last week, the first-person PvPvE has shown it's ready to move down the development pipeline and continue giving fellow dungeon crawler Dark and Darker some heavy competition.

Early access of Dungeonborne will allow players to experience eight classes - Fighter, Priest, Rogue, Swordmaster, Pyromancer, Cryomancer, Death Knight, and Druid, each with their own abilities, skills, and spells you can utilize in battle alongside the use of weapons to take on the battles the game has to offer. As this is early access for the game and it's still in-development, these classes will see more content added in the future whenever Dungeonborne is ready for a full release, which for now has no confirmed date.

Dungeonborne touts that the game "seamlessly blends the immediacy of first-person action with iconic fantasy class design for an unparalleled experience," as well as a combat design that provides first-person clarity where players can "feel the power of each spell, the weight of your weapons, and the strategic impact of every decision."

Features noted for Dungeonborne per the game's official website include:

Embark on a Plunderers Quest

• Choose your destiny with complete freedom. Choose from a diverse array of classes and races - Mage, Fighter, Rogue, Priest, Human, or Undead and dive into a world brimming with hidden treasures ripe for the taking.
  
• Venture into ominous dungeons and castles long forgotten. Battle ruthless monsters, outwit competing adventurers also seeking to claim these prizes.
  

Strategic Gameplay

• Use darkness and reconnaissance to assess enemy weaknesses.
  
• Engage swiftly, blending tactical items with crowd control abilities to disrupt the enemy lines.
  
• Lure foes into traps and exploit terrain to gain advantage. Utilize both items and skills in cunning combinations for maximum impact.
  

Thrilling PVPVE Challenges

• Stay vigilant against ambushes in the most unexpected places; turn their ambush into your victory, claiming their hoarded treasures as your own.
  
• Seek out hidden portals, challenge high-difficulty bossesand acquire legendary gear with unique effects and mysterious, exotic treasures.
  

High-Stakes Adventure

• Exercise wisdom: seize the moment to secure your fortune or risk it all for unparalleled rewards.
  
• Choose your actions wisely, as one misstep could make you lose it all.
  
• Enemies lurk, waiting to ambush the unwary. Be vigilant, counterattack swiftly, and vanquish those who bar your path.
  

Frontier already saw a massive success with their first Planet Coaster game with its release in 2016, and the new announcement trailer for Planet Coaster 2 is a strong indicator they've set out to do it again with the sequel - only bigger, better and...wetter. Planet Coaster 2 is set for a fall 2024 release window and is available to pre-order now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Steam, and the Epic Games Store. Not only will the sequel allow players to build the theme park of their dreams, this time around players will also be able to make a splash with water-based ride creation, which was a highly requested feature for the predecessor.

The water park aspects aren't the only improvements and additions, of course. Planet Coaster 2 has also improved the piece-by-piece build experience to make it less of a hassle compared to the first game and path construction, added additional rides and revamped old favorites, introduced new mascots and management tools, and answered another popular fan request by adding plazas. Check out the trailer and key features below:

Planet Coaster 2 Features

"Dive into the thrilling world of Planet Coaster 2! Construct the theme park of your dreams with an intuitive piece-by-piece building system, as you meticulously craft and customise every aspect of your park down to the smallest detail. From towering rollercoasters to spectacular twisting water slides, let your imagination reach new heights to delight and thrill your guests."

The Ultimate Coaster & Water Park Simulation

• Create your dream park piece-by-piece in Planet Coaster 2! Shape the terrain, use enhanced and improved building tools to lay paths and scenery, and populate your creation with glistening swimming pools and thrilling rides for your guests to enjoy.
  

Push the Boundaries of Creativity

• Construct incredible water rides, slides and swimming pools seamlessly interconnected by piece-by-piece construction. Enjoy all-new scenery from five exciting themes, and design sensational animatronics shows with the event sequencer!
  

Master Management

• Flex your management muscles with new and enhanced tools. Oversee every aspect of your park's operation, from finances to staff management. Fix rides, maintain attractions, ensure the safety of your guests, and keep everyone entertained.
  

Share the Ride

• Team up with friends in Sandbox and Franchise mode to build asynchronously on a shared save across platforms, share your creations in-game and on the Frontier Workshop, and embark on park-hopping adventures to experience the delights of fellow players' creations.
  

The Closed Beta Test for Marvel Rivals is approaching its previously set launch date of July 23rd on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam, set to run through run through August 5th. While the initial announcement for the Closed Beta Test already built plenty of excitement for the next stage in Marvel Rivals' development by confirming some of the iconic characters that will be included for players to experience and four different maps across the multiverse, NetEase Games and Marvel Entertainment have confirmed additional aspects of the next test period for the game, including an in-game event, a tournament, and more ways to bring in additional players to the test in the future.

In-Game Event

The in-game event for the Closed Beta Test will be Galacta's Quest, in which players will be able to complete quests and earn event XP in order to unlock a variety of rewards, including the closed beta exclusive Venom costume -- "Cyan Clash." This reward will only be available to Closed Beta Test participants and will be available on the official launch of Marvel Rivals as long as the same account is used.

War of The Realms - 6v6 Tournament, Go For Glory!

Players will be able to sign up to take place in the War of the Realms, which is split into two phases:

1. Registrations open from July 25th to July 30th (UTC)
2. Tournaments run from July 30th to August 4th (UTC)

Champions will face off in the War of the Realms across four thrilling tournaments:

• War of The Realms for PC - North America
• War of The Realms for PC - Europe
• War of The Realms for PC - Asia
• War of The Realms for Console - Unified

Competitors are able to join any one of the four Tournaments regardless of their region, subject to platform registration restrictions, and it's noted that opting for a distant region may result in high-latency matches.

Extra Invite Codes

Players that reach level 6 can claim an additional invite code from the in-game event page for a limited time. These codes are distributed daily on a first-come, first-served basis with a daily limit in place.

Twitch Drops

Participants in an upcoming Twitch Drop event will be able to secure Closed Beta Test access through the event. The announcement notes drops will be up for grabs from 00:00 on July 25th UTC to 00:00 on July 28th UTC, and that additional information on the Twitch Drops is still to come.

The next PlayStation 2 game that Sony is set to port to PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 consoles is one that most fans will likely find underwhelming. After a prolonged period of requests, Sony finally began the process of adding more PS2 games to its expansive library on the PS Store in June when it let loose Tomb Raider Legend, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus. At the time of these releases, Sony made it known that it would be bringing more games from the PS2 era to modern PlayStation consoles in the future. Sadly, July's forthcoming addition on this front is a bit disappointing.

Set to roll out next week on July 16th, Sony will be releasing Summoner on PS5 and PS4. Developed by Volition, Summoner was originally released in 2000 on the PS2 and was one of the console's launch titles alongside others such as Armored Core 2, Ridge Racer 5, Smuggler's Run, and SSX. Summoner was followed by a sequel in 2002 with the aptly-titled Summoner 2, but since that time, the series has been left untouched.

One of the reasons why Summoner is a pretty lackluster addition to PS5 and PS4 is because the game was never all that well-received. It happens to boast an aggregate review score of 74/100 on Metacritic, making it a pretty forgettable title in the PS2's vast catalog of great releases. While there might be some nostalgia tied to Summoner since it was a PS2 launch title, the game itself is one that many PlayStation fans likely don't think about often.

There's also the fact that Summoner has already been accessible on Steam for many years. As a result, its release on PS5 and PS4 won't come with the added novelty of being available on modern hardware for the first time. Still, this version of Summoner should boast features that include trophies and visual improvements, so it's not all bad.

If you'd like to learn more about Summoner and what it entails, you can watch a throwback trailer for the game and read PlayStation's latest description of this PS5 and PS4 port below.

Summoner

"In this PS2 action-RPG, Summoners have toppled empires and challenged gods. With rings crafted by the ancient Khosani, the gifted can call forth demons, dragons, and elementals, but only the strongest can control the forces they unleash. Born with the mark of the Summoner, Joseph possesses a power greater than emperors and gods. As a child, he summoned a demon to save his village, and watched in horror as those he loved were destroyed. Nine years later, the armies of Orenia invade, and Joseph must confront the prophecy he was born to fulfill."

Dungeons & Dragons has revealed new details about the class abilities and features of its reworked Bard character class. Today, Wizards of the Coast published a new video and article about the updates to the Bard, which will appear in the 2024 Player's Handbook due for release later this year. Like several other core classes that received an update, the Bard's new and reworked class abilities provide more access to core abilities and adds features that can be used in more specific situations. Additionally, the Bard receives one of three new subclasses found in the Player's Handbook - the College of Dance, which focuses on agility and movement.

The Bard's Bardic Inspiration receives several small but pertinent buffs in the 2024 Player's Handbook. Bardic Inspiration now lasts an hour instead of 10 minutes and players who receive it can now use the extra Bardic Inspiration dice after they've failed an attack roll, check or saving throw. Previously, players had to commit to using the dice before they made their roll, which lead to hoarding the resource unnecessarily. Bardic Inspiration can now be given to any creature who can see or hear the Bard, another notable shift in the rules.

Bards now receive their Expertise class ability at 2nd level, but they lose the Song of Rest feature, which previously granted access to extra hit dice during Short Rest. The Font of Inspiration ability returns but now allows a player to spend a spell slot to regain Bardic Inspiration uses at 5th level, providing the Bard with the option to either cast spells or focus on Bardic Inspiration use.

Countercharm has received a major update and is now a 7th level feature. Countercharm is now a reaction that can be used when the Bard or an ally is Frightened or Charmed. Countercharm allows the target to make a new saving throw against that condition with Advantage. The ability can also be used every turn, which makes it highly useful when fighting vampires or dragons.

Magical Secrets, at 10th level, also receives a major upgrade - Bard players can now choose from the Cleric, Druid, or Wizard whenever they change their prepared spells. The Bard also receives a new capstone feature - Words of Creation - that allows Bards to use Power Word Kill and Power Word Heal on up to two targets that are within 10 feet of each other.

As mentioned previously, the Bard received a brand new subclass in the College of Dance, which provides boosts to a Bard's defenses and uses Bardic Inspiration to boost unarmed strikes. Three existing subclasses also return, with the College of Glamour adding the ability to charm or frighten a creature that sees the Bard cast an Enchantment or Illusion spell, the College of Lore losing restrictions to its Cutting Words ability, and the College of Valor now able to cast a cantrip as part of their Extra Attacks feature.

With today's reveals, Wizards of the Coast has now outlined changes to all 12 classes. You can check out more changes that appear in the 2024 Player's Handbook here.

PlayStation has had a surprisingly quiet 2024 to this point in time. Outside of a few exclusives from third-party developers, the PS5 hasn't seen much support from Sony when it comes to its own studios. Despite this, the PS5 Pro is all but known to be around the corner and rumors are growing when it comes to a new PlayStation handheld.

With so many questions surrounding PlayStation, how do we feel about the future of the brand and the next phase of the PS5? All that and more is discussed on this week's episode of Quick Save!

You can listen to the full show right here:

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PlayStation has formally listed Bloodborne for PlayStation 5 consoles in a move that is likely accidental. Since the arrival of the PS5 back in 2020, fans have been clamoring for Bloodborne to either be upgraded or remastered for the current-gen consoles. To this point in time, PlayStation hasn't delivered on these requests, but that hasn't stopped them from pouring in almost constantly. Now, a new move from PlayStation has seen Bloodborne appearing for PS5, but it almost certainly doesn't mean anything.

As reported by PlayStation Lifestyle, Bloodborne's lone piece of DLC, titled The Old Hunters, was recently found to be listed for PS5. The place where this transpired, however, was a bit of an odd one. Rather than showing up on the PlayStation Store in this manner, Bloodborne: The Old Hunters was said to be available on PS5 through PlayStation Stars. For those unfamiliar, PS Stars is a rewards program that is part of the PlayStation App. It's here that members can accrue points through their purchases on the PS Store that can then be swapped for money or full game downloads. The Old Hunters recently became one such title that could be redeemed for 5,000 points on PS Stars, and when it was added, it was said to be on PS5.

So is there even a remote chance that this mention of Bloodborne for PS5 on PlayStation Stars could point to the game getting a native upgrade for the platform? Well, possibly. But in all likelihood, this is nothing more than a simple error that someone working at PlayStation happened to make. At the time of this writing, there is no native PS5 update, remaster, or remake of Bloodborne that has come about. That could always change in the future, but it doesn't seem like anything PlayStation is pushing to make a reality soon.

As for PlayStation Stars itself, the service recently went down for nearly a whole month across portions of June and July. Recently, though, Sony was able to fix the errors that had been transpiring with the platform and has been pushing it live once again on a region-by-region basis. Those in North America have yet to see PS Stars back online yet, though it likely shouldn't be gone for much longer.

This week saw Blizzard's Overwatch 2 deliver their latest collaboration effort, working with Hasbro to bring Transformers to life in the world of Overwatch 2. The collab not only includes four skins featuring four Overwatch 2 Heroes as Transformers characters, including Reinhardt at Optimus Prime, Bastion as Bumblebee, Illari as Arcee, and Ramattra as Megatron; plus Transformers themed voicelines, highlight intros, and player icons that allow fans to show off their Transformers fandom within the game. Following the release of the Overwatch 2 x Transformers collab, ComicBook spoke with two members of the Overwatch 2 team to learn more about the characters that are available, and the ones that didn't make the cut.

Overwatch 2 x Transformers Origins

Blizzard's collaboration with Hasbro to bring this Transformers collab to life began way back in 2022, and according to Aimee Dennett, Overwatch 2's Associate Director of Product Management, has "been a long time coming." The length of time it took to get this one right also resulted in a stars aligning moment as the Transformers collab arrived during season 11, wherein the game's battlepass is themed to Tokusatsu style characters.

Naturally, like with the Overwatch 2 x Cowboy Bebop collab, deciding which characters would make the cut for Overwatch 2 x Transformers was incredibly easy, but as Overwatch 2 Art Director Dion Rogers revealed, "there was not a shortage of ideas for this one."

"Pretty much right away Optimus Prime had to be Reinhardt," Rogers adds. "Our concept team cranked out actually quite a few ideas for multiple characters. Reinhardt was always Optimus and Ramattra just felt like that was our Megatron no matter what. But we did explore a few other heroes like Pharah as Starscream actually, and Lucio, we tried to make Soundwave work on him. There's some favorites on the team that we landed on. The concept team did a really good job of just exploring a bunch of ideas."

Another Overwatch 2 hero that was considered for the Transformers collab is Wrecking Ball, who would have been paired with Unicron, the planet-sized Transformer. In the end however, with only a select few slots available, it came down to what characters are fans going to expect to see.

"(Unicron Wrecking Ball) was another one where we were like, Oh my gosh, such a great idea," Dennett said. "And Transformers fans would love it, but it was sort of like, Are you going to do Bumblebee or are you going to do Unicron? It's a balance, but it's definitely something we take into consideration."

Overwatch 2 x Transformers: Reinhardt as Optimus Prime

Players and fans have flocked to the Reinhardt/Optimus Prime skin since it was first revealed, loving not only the design but the additional voice changer that makes him sound similar to the Transformers character. One question many had however was why he isn't sporting Optimus Prime's signature energon-axe rather than his hammer, especially since some Reinhardt skins swap out his hammer for an axe anyway.

"We need to keep some elements that remind the player of who the character is within the Overwatch universe," Rogers said in response to this. "So his iconic hammer is one of those things that you recognize that silhouette whenever he's running around in gameplay. So part of the reason is to maintain Reinhardt while pushing the boundary of what his basic cosplay of this hero is."

The team also confirmed that the idea was at least floated that Optimus Prime Reinhardt would transform into a truck when he initiates his charge ability. It didn't make it far though.

"I remember it being mentioned, and I think our tech artists would've murdered us if we had gone down that route," Dennett said. "You'll notice on the play of the game intro though, our animators did a really good job of having fun with the angles. So it does look like a semi is come towards you, but I mean, even with Bastion who physically transforms, it's still really challenging to get those elements just right. It actually gave us a ton of respect for the actual Transformers toys. There's just so much engineering that goes into it to make it look great, both in the non transformed state and then into the vehicle state. And man, we definitely thought about it, but it was a little bit too (much)."

Overwatch 2 x Transformers: Bastion as Bumblebee

Overwatch 2 hero Bastion turning into Bumblebee not only make sense from the larger perspective (neither character speaks) but also from the transforming perspective. With this new Bumblebee skin, Bastion's sentry form takes on the appearance of a little car driving around, an element that Aimee Dennett called "a huge opportunity." That element of the Bastion skin may open things up for the team moving forward to try alternate designs with future Bastion skins.

"We're always trying a lot of ideas for Bastion," Rogers said. "He's a hard character. We really made a pretty complex model to adjust, but he's super fun when we find an idea like this, but it definitely did unlock more things for him. So you never know."

Another key details of the Bastion Bumblebee skin that players may have noticed is the license plate on the skin, whith Rogers confirmed to us it's supposed to be the onomatopoeia for the Transformers' signature "transforming sound."

Overwatch 2 x Transformers: Illari as Arcee

The biggest surprise for some Overwatch 2 players was that Illari would become Arcee, not only because Illari hasn't gotten a lot of skins as of late. That was one reason that Illari was put in the spotlight too,

"We did want to get a new skin for Illari, so we tried a couple ideas with her," Rogers said. "Arcee is actually one of my favorite characters in the Transformer universe. When we first started down this path, we started to do some research. So I rewatched a movie again... but Arcee obviously stood out as a female Transformer, so her body and things, it just fit Illari pretty well when it came to doing the skin. And I love the way Illari's weapon transforms. So it also hearkens back a little bit to the transforming that we can't fully transform the character, but we can still hint at the ability. So that's why we landed on it for Illari."

Overwatch 2 x Transformers: Ramattra as Megatron

As easy as it was to decide Reinhardt should be Optimus Prime for the Overwatch 2 x Transformers collab, it was just as a easy to land on Ramattra as Megatron.

"When we first started searching for the right characters, he's another one that stood out as he could make up potentially a really great Megatron," Rogers added. "He also transforms, so we wanted to pick a few characters that could simulate a little bit of what a Transformer would do in their universe. So this what made Ramattra a good pick for this, and you can see in his ultimate mode, he tries to emulate some of the guns or the state that Megatron would be in when he transforms as well. He's also ultimately our villain in the game, so it makes a good choice for Megatron."

Overwatch 2 x Transformers Collab: No Free Skin

Overwatch 2 fans were quick to note that unlike the collab with Le Sserafim, Cowboy Bebop, and One Punch Man, there was no free skin to be found in the Overwatch 2 x Transformers collab. When asked about this, Dennet replied:

"We felt that because Transformers has such an iconic Autobots versus Decepticons that that's maybe a fun way to play through that, and this one was less about like, 'Oh, let's give away a free skin, and it was more like how can we let players show their fandom and their affinity towards the property.' Maybe someone who loves Decepticons, they're going to grind harder and really want to get that Decepticon player icon, that name card, that title. So we felt that we really wanted to play with the theme of the property on this."

Overwatch 2 x Transformers: Hidden Details

As long as it takes to get skins for their collabs just right, there's plenty of details that were quickly found, and some that may not have been noticed by regular players. Hardcore Transformers fans may have noticed that the highlight intros for both Ramattra and Reinhardt are reminiscent of key frames from Transformers: The Movie, emulating a specific pose that both Megatron and Optimus Prime had in the big battle from that movie. Another key element of that highlight intro is that players will notice the explosion behind Reinhardt only occurs if they have the Optimus Prime skin enabled, it won't appear if any other skin is equipped.

Overwatch 2 x Transformers Could Return for More

Unlike previous collaborations that Overwatch 2 has carried out, the Transformers event feels like one that could be just the first of many. As Dion Rogers told us before the team had a lot of ideas about what could be done, even generating ideas for other Overwatch 2 heroes as Transformers characters. When we asked if the potential for another collab was in the cards, they seemed optimistic about it.

"We're definitely never counting out doing something again where there's so much idea and passion for it," Aimee Dennett said. "Like Dion said that the issue was much less like, 'oh man, who do we do' and is more like, 'okay, we can't do all of these.'"

Fans keeping their fingers crossed for further Overwatch 2 x Transformers characters should know they're not alone either, as Dion Rogers offered us one last element he toyed with that he wished could have made the cut.

"Grimlock is actually one of my favorite Transformers and I wish we had a chance to include Dinobots in some way in this collab."

Like Optimus Prime said, "The future is built on dreams."

Overwatch 2 x Transformers collab is available now through July 23rd.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre players can soon expect to see big changes to the way that Grandpa perks work in the game. According to Gun Media, the developers have been looking for ways to make the character a bigger part of each match, and to do that, they've decided to lock Grandpa's perks behind different levels. If Slaughter family players want to unlock these perks, they have to make sure that Grandpa eats enough so that his Family Bond reaches that level. The change will go forward on July 16th, and players can expect the perks to fall into the following categories:

Level One:

• Animal Farm
• Experienced Stalkers
• Well Well Well
• Windoom

Level Two:

• Always in Sync
• Barge to the Point
• Brute Strength
• Suffocating Grip
• Swing for the Fences

Level Three:

• Don't Have All Day
• Excited Grandpa
• Exterior Alarms
• Nobody Escapes Hell
• Well Fed Young'uns

In theory, this change is going to add more strategy, and could have a major impact on each player's build. As Gun Media notes, if every Slaughter family member goes into the match with a Level Three perk, it's going to be a lot more important to make sure that Grandpa is well fed. The goal of this update is to change things up, and hopefully make Grandpa a more vital part of the game. Of course, encouraging the Slaughter family to focus on feeding Grandpa early could also help Victims, giving them more opportunity to escape while the Killers are distracted. That possibility should encourage players to work together as a team and divide up the work.

It remains to be seen whether that will actually happen, but reception to the change has been mostly positive on social media. Some players seem genuinely enthusiastic about these changes, while others are more cautiously optimistic. It's easy to see what the developers are going for with these changes, and Gun Media has already said that it will be listening to player feedback to see how people feel once the new update goes live next week. That's not the only thing players will have to look forward to on July 16th, as that day will also see the release of Sonny's Outfit Pack II.

How do you feel about these changes to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre? Do you think this will make for a better game? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

A new free trial for Apple TV+ has been revealed for PlayStation users. The trial will last for three months, and is applicable to those with either a PS4 or PS5. Naturally, there are a handful of requirements, including a PlayStation Network account and an Apple ID. The deal is also only available to new Apple TV+ subscribers, as well as "qualified returning" subscribers. The deal will be available to claim through September 22nd, and the subscription will start to automatically renew once the trial date comes to an end. The offer can only be redeemed through the Apple TV app on the console itself.

To redeem the offer, the PlayStation user must first download the Apple TV+ app on their console (which is a free download). On PS4, that can be found in the Video section, while on PS5 it's been moved to the Media Home. The user will then be prompted to sign-in or create an Apple ID if they don't have one already. Once the process is complete, the free trial should be activated.

While this particular Apple TV+ trial can only be redeemed through a PlayStation console, once the redemption process has been completed, the service can then be streamed with any other compatible device. That means the user can go ahead and watch on Xbox, through Roku, Fire TV Stick... pretty much anything, really. For those that don't currently subscribe to Apple TV+, this is a pretty great deal! Unfortunately, even if subscribers wait until the very last day to redeem, the trial will still end before the new season of Severance drops, but it is a way that newcomers can see the first one.

Severance Season 2 might be out, but Apple TV+ does have a number of other well-regarded exclusives, including Ted Lasso, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, and Dark Matter. Video game fans might also want to check out the biographical thriller about the creation of Tetris. The original programming is the real highlight of the service, but there are also a number of movies currently available to stream through the service, including Argylle (though your desire to watch that may vary).

Are you planning to redeem this free trial for Apple TV+? Do you like it when PlayStation offers these kinds of deals? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

Star Wars Outlaws is very much about blending firsts with established pieces of the Star Wars universe. This being the first open-world game and featuring a new protagonist, Kay Vess, are perfect examples of such as are the planets that players will be able to explore in Star Wars Outlaws. Some of those confirmed planets are ones that we've seen in past Star Wars movies and other mediums including Akiva and Tatooine, though there are also brand new locales to explore.

One of those is called Toshara, and it's 100% new to the Star Wars universe thanks to Star Wars Outlaws just like Kay Vess and her companions are. While the other locations mentioned previously are indeed planets, Toshara isn't and is classified as a moon instead.

But in the Star Wars universe where there are already so many different planets that have played countless roles in different Star Wars stories, where does Star Wars Outlaws developer Massive Entertainment start when making a brand new one? During a recent hands-on opportunity with the game, we spoke with art and world director Benedikt Podlesnigg to learn more about Toshara and the work that went into it.

"So, creating a planet that is completely distinct from everything that we've seen was very interesting because in Star Wars, there are many planets. It's a big galaxy," Podlesnigg said. "We have already seen a lot, so the first thing was 'What do we want it to look like? What is the biome?' Star Wars planets usually have just a single biome, but for a game, we wanted to push it a little more to have more variety. So we're looking at 'What could we do?' and one thing that we honed into was the savannah, and especially the African Savannah which was fairly untouched, and it gave us the freedom to add an exotic element onto it."

Along with seedy undertakings, bandits, and more, Toshara is home to a striking topography filled with canyons throughout the moon as well as a unique orangish color made possible by the windiness of the moon and the effects those breezes have on the land.

"Taking that kind of familiar element of the African Savannah, pushing that very strong wind element into it that really shapes the landscape," Podlesnigg continued. "So having an exotic element, that the wind scrapes the crust off this moon, brings forward as an element to create this kind of contrast, [an] orange kind of material. Something I've never seen. Looking at a planetary scale, down at the moon, it's even more substantial so you can see the big canyons."

Star Wars Outlaws is scheduled to release on August 30th.

Yesterday, Nintendo got the whole internet talking when it released a brief teaser trailer for a new horror game, which seems to revolve around a character named Emio. At this time, Nintendo has offered no further details about the game, and the trailer gave us nothing in the way of information. However, we now have an indication at some of the subject matter the game will tackle thanks to the Australian version of the game's trailer. In the region, the game has been given a MA 15+/Restricted 13 rating, due to "violence, cruelty, domestic abuse, and suicide themes."

This might sound pretty dark for a Nintendo published game, but it's not totally unheard of. Games like Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem and Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water were published by Nintendo on GameCube and Wii U, and both games touched on similar themes; Maiden of Black Water in particular deals a lot with the topic of suicide. Obviously this doesn't offer us any idea what to expect from Emio's gameplay, but it does give us some clues about the game's narrative.

Unfortunately, Nintendo has given no indication when we'll learn more details about Emio, including when we'll be getting a gameplay reveal or even a release date. The only thing we saw in the teaser trailer is a man standing with a paper bag mask on his head with a changing face drawn on in marker. It's very unlike Nintendo to just drop a random teaser trailer with no information about the game itself, so we're in completely uncharted territory for the publisher!

At this time, it's impossible to say whether Emio will be released this year. Following last month's Nintendo Direct, Switch's first-party line-up has filled up considerably over the next few months. Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition comes out next week, while The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is arriving in September, Super Mario Party Jamboree in October, and Mario & Luigi: Brothership in November. Nintendo already has a few games announced for 2025 as well, including Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, Pokemon Legends: Z-A, and Metroid Prime 4. Hopefully we'll learn soon where Emio slots in with the rest of those plans!

Are you excited to learn more about Emio? When do you think we'll learn more? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

[H/T: Wario64]

Epic Games has given players Floppy Knight for free this week as of July 11th, and in doing so, it's also confirmed what next week's free game will be. But in this case, it's not just one free game that'll be available next week with Epic Games doing another of its double giveaways instead where you can claim two games. One of those games is fueled by 90s nostalgia while the other is a very different experience in that it's a first-person horror game, and you'll be able to claim both of those starting on July 18th.

Starting with the much lighter of the pair first, the first free game for next week is Arcade Paradise, a game that'll be perfect for those with a fondness of the 90s and especially for those who spent a lot of time in arcades growing up. Arcade Paradise is a game where your objective is to turn a rundown laundromat into a much more appealing venue filled with arcade machines.

"Welcome to Arcade Paradise, the 90's-fuelled retro arcade adventure," an overview of the game explained. "You play as Ashley, and you've just been given the keys to the family laundromat. Rather than washing rags for a living, you decide to turn the laundromat into the ultimate arcade."

Arcade Paradise itself features over 35 different games you can put in your arcade, but you can actually play those games yourself as well. Some of them can also be played with and against others if you convince someone else to get Arcade Paradise with you.

The other game banks not so much on nostalgia and instead focuses on fear. It's called Maid of Sker, and it'll be free during the same timeframe from July 18th to July 25th. Similar to other first-person horror games that focus more on survival and evasion rather than fighting back against the creatures you encounter, Maid of Sker uses sound gimmicks and builds off the story of a Welsh folktale.

"Maid of Sker is a first-person survival horror, set in a remote hotel with a gory and macabre history from British folklore," an overview of the game explained. "Armed with only a defensive sound device, you'll utilise stealth tactics to avoid death amongst a cult of sound-based AI enemies"

Both Arcade Paradise and Maid of Sker will be free via the Epic Games Store starting next week on July 18th.

Last year's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem proved to be a hugely successful take on the heroes in a half-shell. Players will soon get a chance to revisit the world of that film in a brand-new video game called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed. Images and details about the game were shown off earlier this year, but publisher Outright Games has now revealed a gameplay trailer as well as a release date: October 18th. The new game takes place after the movie's events, and the trailer features some returning foes, including Rocksteady and Leatherhead. There will also be some new faces, and these designs were handled by Woodrow White, who served as lead character designer on Mutant Mayhem.

The new trailer for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed can be found below.

As can be seen from the trailer, Mutants Unleashed is a 3D brawler. The game's campaign can be tackled solo, or with a friend in two-player co-op. Each character will apparently have their own unique playstyle, and players can unlock new moves through that turtle's skill tree. Levels will feature "a dynamic night and day cycle," and players will be able to explore the game's New York based locations by grinding on rails with skateboards.

The problem with a lot of games based on movies is that they often don't feel authentic to the source material. From everything shown so far, Mutants Unleashed is already doing a great job capturing the heart of the film. It's not just the character designs, either; the game's world evokes the sketch book designs that appeared in the movie. A good example of this can be found around the trailer's 00:22 mark, where viewers can get a good look at the game's fire effects. If that's not enough connectivity to the film, players can also expect to hear some familiar voices. Nicolas Cantu (Leonardo), Brady Noon (Raphael), Micah Abbey (Donatello) and Shamon Brown Jr. (Michelangelo) will all be reprising their roles in Mutants Unleashed.

This year is turning out to be a pretty packed year for TMNT video games, with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Wrath of the Mutants released earlier this year, and Splintered Fate dropping on Nintendo Switch next week. It remains to be seen whether Mutants Unleashed will prove to be one of the better options for fans of the franchise, but it certainly looks promising so far! A collector's edition of the game will be released through Walmart, and readers can learn more about that right here.

Are you excited for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed? Did you enjoy the movie last year? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

Longtime Stumble Guys players with wins under their belts will finally now have a way to show off just how good they are at the game thanks to the newest update which has now added a ranked mode. Just like other games with ranked experiences, this one will be driven by ranked seasons where players progress as far as they can up the ranked ladder during a given season while earning rewards along the way before starting fresh during the next season. The same update also added things like abilities, too, which essentially give players unique skills to be used during runs.

A ranked mode in Stumble Guys is something players have asked about for awhile now, and with it comes a seasonal challenge system as well. These challenges are what players will complete while ranking up and earning different prizes throughout the season with this season's them called "Blockdash." To start with, the ranks players move through will consist of wood, bronze, silver, gold, platinum, master, and finally, champion.

"Ready to put your skills to the ultimate test? Ranked is finally here!" the Stumble Guys team said. "It's time to show the world what you're made of and climb the ranks from a humble beginner to a Champion Stumbler. Get set for fierce competition, epic rewards, and endless bragging rights. Let the Ranked games begin!"

The new abilities feature is an evolution of the emote system with special emotes now turned into abilities, but normal emotes and taunts are still equippable alongside these new abilities.

"Traditional Special Emotes have been transformed into Abilities!" the Stumble Guys team explained. "Just like Special Emotes, players can equip Abilities and use them during matches. Normal Emotes and Taunts can now be equipped separately, so you can have four Emotes/Taunts and four abilities equipped at any given time. As before, Abilities add a strategic layer to the gameplay, allowing players to choose skills that complement their playstyle in a specific map or experience and give them an edge in the competition."

Stumble Guys' latest update is rolling out today on July 11th with these features set to be available throughout the day. The Stumble Guys team said more information on both the abilities as well as the ranked mode will come soon.

When Pokemon Go Tour: Sinnoh took place back in February, Niantic added the Origin Formes for Dialga and Palkia. The two Pokemon were the first in the game to get their own Adventure Effects, which are basically moves that can be used outside of battle. Since then, we haven't seen any additional Adventure Effects added to the game, but that will change during Pokemon Go Fest 2024. During the event, Necrozma will be making its Pokemon Go debut, and will be able to fuse with Solgaleo or Lunala to form Dusk Mane Necrozma or Dawn Wings Necrozma. Each one will have their own unique Adventure Effect.

Niantic has clearly refined Adventure Effects since the last ones that were added, making them a bit easier to afford, and easier to come by. Sunsteel Strike and Moongeist Beam cost three Necrozma Candy and 3,000 Stardust each time that they're used; players can also add time to the Adventure Effect timer by spending more. Unlike the previous Adventure Effects, the two versions of Necrozma will automatically know each of these moves after using Fusion; players won't have to simply hope that they find a Necrozma that knows either of these moves, as they had to do with the Origin Formes of Dialga and Palkia.

Sunsteel Strike

The first of the new Adventure Effects in Pokemon Go is Sunsteel Strike. Sunsteel Strike is an Adventure Effect unique to Dusk Mane Necrozma. The move basically does two things: it acts as Incense, and it makes the game act like it's daytime, even if it's dark outside. For 10 minutes, the player will see Pokemon that normally appear during the daytime attracted to their location, including Alolan Exeggutor, Solrock, and Fomantis. Pokemon that only evolve during the day can also be evolved when this Adventure Effect is in use.

Moongeist Beam

Like Sunsteel Strike, Moongeist Beam allows players to change the time of day for 10 minutes, but in this case, allowing the player to make it nighttime. The move also works like Incense, attracting Pokemon that would normally appear at night, such as Munna, Lunatone, and Hoothoot. Pokemon that only evolve during the night can also be evolved when this Adventure Effect is in use.

Using either Sunsteel Strike or Moongeist Beam will give players a chance of encountering a Rockruff with the ability to evolve into Dusk Form Lycanroc. That Pokemon can be a bit of a pain to come by, so this could be a big help! Players should not that Adventure Effects can only be used one at a time, and cannot be combined with the effects of items like Incense or the Mystery Box.

Are you excited to try these new Adventure Effects in Pokemon Go? What do you think of this in-game feature? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

The podcast Midst will continue later this year with a four-part sequel that brings in Critical Role cast members Liam O'Brien and Marisha Ray. Announced last night, Moonward is a new four-part miniseries set in the world of Midst that brings together O'Brien and Ray with Third Person, the troupe behind the original Midst show. Third Person's Matt Roen and Sara Wile (who had previously been anonymous until a Critical Role live stream this week) will join O'Brien and Ray as "players" while Third Person's Xen will serve as the "Guide Narrator" for the series.

Moonward will feature a cast of characters on an expedition to locate the sunken remains of Midst's destroyed moon. The series will run four episodes and was filmed in Critical Role's studio. Midst was originally a podcast but was acquired by Critical Role and extended for an additional third season. Remastered versions of the podcast aired on YouTube, but with few visual elements outside of largely static animation that ran throughout the episodes.

There's more to come from the Cosmos, keep your eyes peeled for updates as we leave the wake of MIDST behind and head MOONWARD... ? pic.twitter.com/yCsW7dt5Tm

-- MIDST (@midstpodcast) July 11, 2024

Unlike Critical Role's other narrative content, Moonward is not an Actual Play series, but rather an improv storytelling show in the vein of the first Midst series. There are no rules or dice, just actors sitting around a table describing a story as it unfolds. A full trailer for Moonward will be released on July 24th.

Critical Role has worked to expand its programming over the past two years to supplement its main Dungeons & Dragons-focused programming. In addition to Midst, Critical Role also launched a Candela Obscura monthly series that focused on gothic horror, and also launched a new podcast called Re-Slayer's Take on their Beacon streaming service. Critical Role is also simultaneously developing seasons of The Legend of Vox Machina and The Mighty Nein for Amazon Studios alongside animation partner Titmouse Inc.

Brennan Lee Mulligan returns to Critical Role with another dark tale of Exandria's past. This week, Critical Role will launch Downfall, a new three-episode arc featuring Mulligan and Critical Role cast members Laura Bailey, Ashley Johnson, and Taliesin Jaffe as well as guest stars Noshir Dalal, Nick Marini, and Abubakar Salim. The arc is set during the Calamity, a 150-year long war between the gods, and explores the downfall of Aeor, a flying city that developed god-killing weapons. While past Critical Role arcs have explored parts of Aeor's history, Downfall will explore the role of the Prime Deities (a pantheon of "good" and "neutral" gods) in the downfall of the city.

Sitting down with ComicBook's The Character Sheet last week, Mulligan noted that the series explores an important moment in Exandria's history and more importantly what that moment means. "Obviously we've seen a ton of Aeor, not only in Campaign 3, but so much of Campaign 2, our initial descent into Aeor," Mulligan said. "And all we know about the downfall of Aeor is that, in the lore of Critical Role, is that the Prime Deities and the Betrayer Gods, whose great war is the foundation of the Calamity, paused that war to lay low the City of Aeor. Within that sentence of lore, I think there is so much weight, given all that is signified by that action."

Stories about rising up against the gods aren't uncommon in high fantasy, but Mulligan pointed out that Downfall really explores the cosmology of Exandria and its intricacies. "There's so much complexity to the literal cosmology [of Critical Role,] Mulligan said. "Not only in the motivations for how gods became Primes or became Betrayers, but also the fact that yeah, Aeor rose up to kill the gods, but gods had died or been destroyed or vanished before the ascension of the Matron of Ravens. We learned about Predathos in Campaign 3 and all the things that signifies about beings that are on the level of the gods, but not gods themselves. The Chained Oblivion, is that really a god or is that some other kind of entity or being? Downfall shows an examination of something that I think can get glossed over if you read it in a history text. You read the Prime Deities and Betrayer Gods briefly called to truce in their war to lay low the City of Aeor. And I think what Downfall does is dig into what that means."

When asked about preparing for a story that digs so deeply into the lore of Matt Mercer's world, Mulligan compared his work to archeology, especially in how it captured some of the "lost" story of Aeor. "Matt will have these structures in place, but as you populate those structures with the detail work, with the grit of the human element, we see Aeor as a architectural structural wonder of the Age of Arcanum, but it had been living through the Calamity for a hundred years," Mulligan said. "One of the interesting things about Aeor is that the city has a ton of refugees from the Calamity who haven't necessarily impacted its civic architecture. Because those people don't survive to the modern age, that element is lost, so you end up seeing these things that are large and civic, and other realities can be missed if they're just not recorded." Mulligan also compared Aeor to the last human city in the Matrix series of movies, one of the last bastions that mortals have fled to as their world has gone up in flames.

Of course, Mulligan previously explored a different flying city during his last miniseries, Exandria Unlimited: Calamity. However, he stressed that the two stories will feel very different. "To the casual observer, it feels like I'm the guy they call in when a sky city collapses, like the guy you call when you have raccoons under the porch, okay?" Mulligan said with a laugh. "I'm just going to tell you this, given that each of these two stories is about a fabled city of the Age of Arcanum, falling to Exandria below in wrath and ruin, you could not have two more different stories. I think that the themes and the things that Downfall is wrestling with are just so different from Calamity. The brief, the mission briefing for the players, was totally different."

However, Mulligan also said that we would see ties to other bits of Critical Role history, especially the robot-like Aeormatons and their role in the culture of the city. "I have to keep it vague, but I'll tell you this - I'll be dead in the cold earth before I miss a shot at seeing magic robots. Okay? 10 out of 10 times, if you give me the shot, I'm taking it," Mulligan said.

While many of the details about Downfall were kept under wraps until the arc's premiere, Mulligan ended the interview praising the work of the cast and how the portrayed a critical moment in Exandria. "I'm so incredibly excited for people to dive in to this story, this time period, the performance of these six cast members, and what they played through," Mulligan said. "I think I had the best seat in the house to watch the absolute clinic on roleplaying and depicting this moment in time in history that these six people tell us this incredibly dark and tragic tale of Exandria. I can't wait for people to watch it."

Downfall will air on Thursday on Critical Role's Twitch and YouTube channel, with VOD versions of the show posted on Beacon and YouTube. The arc requires no prior viewing of Critical Role and can be enjoyed as a standalone story.

Developers Infinity Ape Studios and publisher Iceberg Interactive have just recently sent their upcoming wave-based first-person shooter for multiplayer zombie game into the last stages of Early Access, indicating that people looking forward to the game wouldn't have to wait much longer for its full release. Now, the teams bringing the game to life have announced Hellbreach: Vegas for an August 14th release.

In Hellbreach: Vegas, players explore eight maps on a whistlestop tour of the titular city's most iconic locations and memorable locales - from the glamorous casinos to the shotgun wedding Love Chapels and even Area 51, all while fighting hordes of zombies when and where they can. At launch five game modes will be available, including a brand-new mode called Nightmare for players ready to truly test themselves against zombies...virtually, at least.

So far, Hellbreach: Vegas has earned a "Mostly Positive" review score thus far during its early access period, with the recent reviews taking it up a level to a "Very Positive" review score on Steam. Many of the reviews consistently compare the upcoming game to Call of Duty: Zombies, filling a gap that players have sought a filler for from the franchise for a long time now - a purely zombie-focused game, not just including zombies as a game mode. Despite some negative aspects mentioned in the reviews, what's nice to see is the one-man developer team, Ash, responding to concerns and thanking players for giving the game a try and assuring them their feedback is heard.

Additional features for the game include:

Play the game of chance

• What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, so you might as well play the slots! Run the 'Win A Weapon' machine for a wide variety of weapons, or try your chances on our 'Spin A Boost' for a power-up. Not done winning? Give the 'Bag A Prize' or 'Rand A Bang' machines a shot. Are you just looking to unlock those awesome cosmetics? Play our 'Pull A Skull' Machine for a chance to increase your end-game payout.

Explore the possibilities

• Endure endless rounds in our 'Survive' mode to see demon bodies pile up and go for a high score. Looking for something more confined? Play on a challenging smaller version of the map in 'Trapped'. Alternatively, just looking to hone your marksmanship? Try 'Gun Pro' instead to train your accuracy with every weapon type.

Features

• 4 game modes: Survive, Trapped, Gun Pro and Royale.
  
• 7 maps
  
• 18 guns
  
• 3 melee weapons
  
• 11 perks
  
• 5 slot machines
  
• 9 enemy types

On July 23rd, Takeda and Ferra will be added to Mortal Kombat 1, marking the end of the first Kombat Pack. It's been nearly a year since MK1's release, but NetherRealm still has big plans to support the game. Thankfully, fans won't have to wait long after the first Kombat Pack comes to an end to find out what's next in store, as the game's year 2 plans will be revealed at a San Diego Comic-Con panel on July 26th. The one hour panel will begin at 2 p.m. PT, and will reveal "what the future holds" for the fighting game.

A teaser for the MK1 panel at SDCC was shared on the official Mortal Kombat account on X/Twitter, and can be found below.

While NetherRealm has been quiet about its plans beyond the first Kombat Pack, a recent datamine might have revealed six additional DLC fighters. As with any rumor, readers should take this with a grain of salt, but Kombat Pack 2 will apparently feature three classic Mortal Kombat characters and three guests. Cyrax, Sektor, and Noob Saibot will apparently return, while Ghostface (Scream), Conan the Barbarian, and T-1000 (Terminator) will supposedly appear as guest Kombatants.

Even if this list is accurate, little else has been revealed about year 2. We don't know if the game is getting any additional Kameo fighters, and no details have leaked about the game's next story expansion. Mortal Kombat 11 received a story DLC called Aftermath, and we know Mortal Kombat 1 will be getting the same. Aftermath was a pretty big deal, as it set the stage for Mortal Kombat 1's narrative, and it's possible this new story DLC could do the same for the next game. Presumably, NetherRealm will offer details about this at SDCC, or they could just focus on some of the fighters. There's really no way of knowing right now!

Thankfully, SDCC is just about two weeks away, so fans will have a lot more answers in the near future. The last year or so has given Mortal Kombat fans a lot to celebrate, but between the new content for MK1 and a new live-action movie on the way in October 2025, the future for the series is looking even brighter!

Are you excited for the Mortal Kombat 1 panel at SDCC? What are you hoping to see? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

Amazon is hosting its tenth Prime Day event on July 16th and 17th next week, and as per usual with this event comes millions of deals exclusive to Amazon Prime subscribers. As Prime Day 2024 approaches, Amazon has announced that they will offer three additional games for subscribers to claim for free - Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Chivalry 2, and Rise of the Tomb Raider. The trio of games will only be available for a limited time beginning July 16th at 12am PST, with the opportunity to claim them at no additional cost only lasting 48 hours.

Information for the three Prime Day games available next week can be read below:

• Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League [Epic Games Store] - From the creators of Batman: Arkham, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is a genre-defying third-person action shooter where the ultimate band of misfits must do the impossible: Kill the Justice League.
• Chivalry 2 [Epic Games Store] - Players are thrust into the action of every iconic moment of the era - from clashing swords, to storms of flaming arrows, to sprawling castle sieges and more in this multiplayer first person slasher inspired by epic medieval movie battles.
• Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration [Epic Games Store] - Embark on an adventure into Siberia as Lara Croft in search for the legendary city of Kitezh while battling the paramilitary organization Trinity, which intends to uncover the city's promise of immortality. Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration includes the base game and Season Pass content. Explore Croft Manor in the "Blood Ties" story, then defend it against a zombie invasion in "Lara's Nightmare".

If the three games being added next week don't entice you into taking advantage of the Prime Day free gaming downloads, there are still other options available now. Deceive Inc., Tearstone: Thieves of the Heart, The Invisible Hand, Forager, Card Shark, Heaven Dust 2, Soulstice, Wall World, Hitman Absolution(TM), Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood and Call of Juarez available to claim now, and Star Wars(TM): Knights of the Old Republic(TM) II - The Sith Lords, Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge and Samurai Bringer available to claim starting today.

Prime Gaming is one of the benefits to an Amazon Prime subscription, with the gaming specific advantages including a constant collection of free games to download all the time, a monthly Twitch channel subscription, and more benefits through the service over time.

By its very nature, the Fallout franchise can always at some points be categorically recognized as a partial horror property - even at its surface level nuclear war and fallout followed by its lasting effects on the planet is horrifying enough. When you take into account the actions of Vault-Tec, however, a new layer of horror is realized - a horror where corporations and governments treat people like no more than their playthings and deliberately take steps to make their lives harder, even torturous in certain instances. Vault-Tec's villainy is reflected throughout the games and Prime Video's live-action series, their actions an appalling representation of what humans are capable of inflicting upon one another in the Fallout universe.

It's this villainy that is the very lifeblood of Fallout, and Vault-Tec's evil deeds and corruption have always been on display in the form of the Vaults they built to "protect" citizens of the States who were able to afford a place in them - though as anyone who has experienced any of the franchise knows, the majority of these Vaults were either built to fail or built to carry out often horrific experiments on its inhabitants.

Producer, writer, and co-creator of the original 1997 RPG Fallout, Tim Cain, has discussed these Vaults in his newest YouTube video regarding the franchise (as originally pointed out by PCGames), after he recently addressed what it would take for him to return to Fallout on his channel last month. In the latest Fallout Video, Cain can be seen speaking about the quantity of Vaults originally intended by Vault-Tec, why they didn't quite reach that number, and why the company went a different direction with them (the human experimentation direction), though he stresses what he's relaying shouldn't be taken as canon at this point.

"The original design for Vaults was that there were going to be 1,000," Cain explains. "Much later we started revisiting this idea. If each of these Vaults hold 1,000 people, that's only a million people, which is way less than the population that we imagined in the US. There are 50 states, 1,000 Vaults. That means every state should have about 20 Vaults. Bigger states would have more, smaller states would have less. I'm sure it's not distributed evenly, but we're looking at about 20 Vaults per state. Fallout 1 was in the middle of California and then southern California."

"Fallout 2 was that area and the north, so together, Fallout 1 and 2 were pretty much the entire state of California. California is a pretty big state, but Fallout 1 and 2 combined only had about four to six Vaults in them. The TV show, which is also set in California, they added four more. That still only gets us ten - ten Vaults for the entire state of California. You'd expect at least ten more out there."

Cain also continues to address why states audiences have previously seen like California and Nevada have so few Vaults, which Cain points the finger at Vault-Tec again to answer. "Vault-Tec," he says. "They didn't build all 1,000 Vaults. They didn't even come close. I know some of the Fallout games show Vaults still under construction when the bombs fell, so you could argue they were planning to do all 1,000 and they just never made it - they never got there.

"If you look at all the games together and the show, I think my estimate would be Vault-Tec had probably built fewer than half - probably far fewer - than the Vaults they were supposed to. And then you have to go 'well, why was that? What's going on?' Not only did they [Vault-Tec] win the contract from the government by underbidding - severely underbidding - they probably also under-planned and under-scheduled, and probably just didn't think they were going to do them all."

It's the under-planning and under-scheduling that would eventually lead the company to decide to use the Vaults for more...creative purposes. "When you add in the fact that Vault-Tec probably knew they weren't going to build 1,000, and the ones they were building were really bad, you can see where the experiment idea might have come in," Cain concludes. "It's like, 'hey, we're not going to build all these, so we're not going to get a lot of people saved, so saving people obviously isn't the goal. What if we did this other thing instead?'"

The Vault experiments range from a simple question of "What would happen if we designed a door that intentionally won't close? for Vault 12, to extreme and unexpected isolation in Vault 77, to what I'd consider the worst thing Vault-Tec has been shown doing (...so far?) which would be the AI-mandated sacrifices in Vault 11.

Disney Lorcana has announced that it is releasing an errata to a card that has become a major terror in competitive play in recent months. Today, Ravensburger NA announced that an errata to Disney Lorcana, a first for the popular card game. The errata will be made to Bucky - Squirrel Squeak Tutor, a card from the game's second set. The errata increases Bucky's cost to 3, removes Bucky's Ward keyword, and also modifies Bucky's discard ability to only activate when its player uses Shift to play a Floodborn card. The change goes into effect with the release of Shimmering Skies, which comes out on August 9th.

While Bucky - Squirrel Squeak Tutor didn't see much play in early sets, Ursula's Return opened up the ability to discard multiple cards from opponents' hands as early as turn 2 with Bucky being one part of the game's current combo. When explaining why they nerfed Bucky, Ravensburger noted that the card was "creating a stressful environment that just wasn't fun" and that Bucky's Ward keyword removed players' ability to deal with the powerful card. The nerf was necessary to promote a "positive play environment" and was being made "in the best interest of the players."

In the official announcement, the Disney Lorcana TCG Global Organized Play Team stated that "We apologize for missing the mark on this card and hope you understand why we're taking steps to preserve a fun experience." The team also asked players to be helpful with those who may have missed the change, and that they were working on updating the app with the new card rules as soon as they could.

Fan reaction to the errata was mixed, with some fans complaining that an errata was hard to follow compared to simply adding the card to a ban list and then removing it once a counter to the card was added in future sets. However, other fans believe that Bucky needed dealt with, as it had quickly become part of a dominant meta deck that apparently had no imminent counter in future sets.

Dark Horse Books has announced Marvel Snap will be amongst the games for the publisher to release an artbook for, setting The Art of Marvel Snap for a January 7, 2025 release date. In collaboration with Marvel Games, Nuverse, and Second Dinner, the hardback book will feature full-color imagery to showcase the incredible artwork from the cards the mobile game is centered on, allowing players to look at their favorite Marvel characters' card artwork in a physical media format rather than strictly digital. Since Marvel Snap's 2022 release a large draw to the game has been to see the artwork for Marvel fans' favorite characters, so an art book feels like a release that likely many have been hoping for.

The cover for the upcoming art book gives Marvel fans just a taste of what's inside the book, including artwork for a variety of Marvel heroes and villains such as Deadpool and Wolverine, Venom, Iron Man, Dr. Doom, and more. The Art of Marvel Snap's 256 pages celebrates the digital collectible card game by including over one hundred characters and locations from across the entire Marvel universe (or universes!), allowing the original artwork to be observed with a bit of a closer eye versus the digital only versions of the cards. In addition to the detailed artwork gallery, the designs are noted to be further explored through developer insights included alongside the artwork, offering insight into Marvel Snap developers Second Dinner's creative and design process for the game.

As for the game itself, Marvel Snap is described as "a fast-paced collectible card game with innovative mechanics that has won multiple Game of the Year Awards. Build your deck of 12 cards. Each Card represents a Marvel Super Hero or Villain, each with a unique power or ability. The goal of the game is to outsmart and outwit your opponent. Learning to play only takes a few minutes, and matches only take 3-minutes." The game recently started a new season called "Maximum Effort," offering (of course) a Deadpool theme for the duration of the season, which nicely aligns with the theatrical release of Deadpool &Wolverine set for later this month.

Release Details

• Release Date: January 7, 2025 bookstore release; January 8, 2025 comic shop release
• Available for pre-order now wherever books are sold, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble
• $49.99 USD retail price
• Format: FC, 224 pages; HC; 9" x 12"
  

One of the most acclaimed games to ever be released for Sony's PSP handheld is set to arrive again soon on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 next week. More so than any other legacy PlayStation platform, Sony has made a concentrated effort in recent years to bring back titles from the PSP era on current consoles. Now, this trend is continuing once again with a new release of a tactical RPG that many PlayStation fans might have forgotten about.

Set to be released next week on July 16th, PlayStation announced today that it will soon be porting Jeanne d'Arc to PS5 and PS4. Developed by Level-5, Jeanne d'Arc was released on PSP originally in 2006 before later coming to North America in 2007. The game notably tells the story of the historical figure Joan of Arc and is set within the structure of the tactical role-playing genre, which was quite popular on the PSP.

In case you're wondering why this is a big deal, it's because Jeanne d'Arc is one of the best-reviewed games to ever hit PSP. Upon its release, Jeanne d'Arc accumulated an impressive 87/100 aggregate review score on Metacritic. According to Metacritic's rankings, this makes it the 11th best game in the PSP library alongside titles that include Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, Persona 3 Portable, and God of War: Chains of Olympus.

As for what this new version of Jeanne d'Arc will feature, Sony is adding enhanced visuals, quick save options, and rewind functionality to this port, much as it has done to ever other PSP title that's brought to PS5 and PS4. As expected, Jeanne d'Arc will also be available to purchase individually for both PlayStation platforms and can also be downloaded for "free" to those who have a PlayStation Plus Premium subscription.

If you're unfamiliar with Jeanne d'Arc and would like to learn more, you can get a look at a throwback trailer of the game and its latest description courtesy of PlayStation below.

Jeanne d'Arc

"Enter the 15th century, as France and England battle during the Hundred Years' War. A mysterious and powerful armlet appears on the wrist of a young crusader named Jeanne. Commanded by an oracle from above, Jeanne wields the armlet to turn back the dark invading army to save her homeland once and for all. Experience Jeanne d'Arc, originally released on the PSP, enhanced with up-rendering, rewind, quick save, and custom video filters."

Dungeons & Dragons has provided fans with a first look at the brand new Cleric class, with several functional upgrades to the class's core features. Today, Wizards of the Coast released a video and article about the rules update to the Cleric, which will appear in the 2024 Player's Handbook. While the Cleric's core abilities remain largely unchanged, several abilities have either had their rules redesigned to make them more applicable in more situations. Notably, the Cleric class (like other classes) now receives its subclass at 3rd level, and thus has several new low level abilities to make up for its subclass activating at a higher level.

Clerics receive a new Divine Order ability at 1st level, which either grants them access to an additional cantrip or gives them proficiency in martial weapons and heavy armor. The cleric's Channel Divinity ability now comes with an additional "Divine Spark" option that can either provide a burst of healing towards a creature within 30 feet or deal Radiant damage to a creature at the same distance. This change was made partially to provide Clerics with a Channel Divinity option that can be used even when not dealing with the undead.

Destroy Undead has also received a functional upgrade and has been renamed Sear Undead. The new ability causes any undead affected by Turn Undead to take Radiant damage if they fail their Turn Undead saving throw. The amount of damage is determined by a Cleric's Wisdom modifier and there's no CR limit on what undead are affected by the ability, the latter providing a huge improvement over the Destroy Undead feature.

Divine Intervention has also received a significant rework in the new rules, with the feature now providing players with free access to any Cleric spell of 5th level or less once per Long Rest. Players can cast this spell without expending a spell slot or Material components, meaning that players can cast spells like Revivify or Raise Dead in a clutch situation. Greater Divine Intervention (at 20th Level) grants players access to the Wish spell, although players can only cast it once every 2d4 days.

Another new ability is Divine Strikes, which grants Clerics their choice of dealing extra Radiant or Necrotic damage with every weapon attack or increases the potency of their spellcasting by adding their Wisdom modifier to a cantrip's damage. At 14th level, this feature improves to deal even more damage or by granting temporary HP to an ally within 60 feet of them when they deal damage with a Cleric cantrip.

In terms of subclasses, the Light Domain, Trickery Domain, and War Domain have all received significant tweaks in the 2024 Player's Handbook. The Light Domain's abilities have shifted to be more about "vision" instead of just fire-focused spells (for instance - See Invisibility has been added to the domain's spell list). The Trickery Domain's illusionary duplicate no longer requires concentration to use and can be activated as a Bonus Action. The War Domain's Guided Strike can now benefit other players from the offset, and players can use the 6th level War God's Blessing ability to cast certain spells as a bonus action instead. The Life Domain is also featured in the Player's Handbook and benefits from the improved healing spells also found in the Player's Handbook.

You can check out additional details about the 2024 Player's Handbook here.