Warcraft III: Reforged is out now on Windows and Mac, bringing back the 2002 classic with new visuals, rebalanced gameplay, and a number of quality-of-life improvements. It's available through the Battle.net launcher for $30.Originally announced in 2018, Warcraft III: Reforged collects both the original campaign, Reign of Chaos, as well as its expansion, The Frozen Throne, into one package. Both campaigns have been brushed over to improve several gameplay elements and overall balance while maintaining the classic feel of the real-time strategy game. New visuals bring the four playable races to new life, with improvements extending to maps, environments, structures, UI, and more.Warcraft III: Reforged also brings improvements to multiplayer, with matchmaking, custom lobbies, and friends support through Battle.net. In addition, Blizzard will also be bringing in the classic version of Warcraft III into the same client as Reforged, so that players can challenge each other online irrespective of which version of the game they are playing. Blizzard also hopes to support all old mods for Warcraft III, although there's uncertainly as to whether each one will transition to the new client smoothly.In addition to the standard version, Blizzard is offering a Spoils of War Edition that includes several digital items for other Blizzard titles. Along with hero skins for Reforged itself, you can expect to get a Meat Wagon mount for World of Warcraft, a Mal'Ganis pet for Diablo III, a variety of UI skins for both Starcraft II and Starcraft Remastered, an assortment of player icons and sprays for Overwatch and more. The Spoils of War Edition retails for $40.If you're wondering whether your PC is equipped to handle all the improvements Warcraft III: Reforged is bringing with it, check out the system requirements below to make sure you're ready:Minimum RequirementsOperating System: Windows 7 / Windows 8 / Windows 10 64-bit (latest version)Processor: Intel Core i3-530 or AMD Athlon Phenom II X4 910 or betterVideo: Nvidia GeForce GTS 450 or AMD Radeon HD 5750 or betterMemory: 4 GB RAMStorage: 30 GB HDD spaceInternet: Broadband Internet connectionInput: Keyboard and mouseResolution: 800 x 600 minimum display resolutionRecommended RequirementsOperating System: Windows 10 64-bit (latest version)Processor: Intel Core i5-6400 or AMD Ryzen 7 1700X or betterVideo: Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 or AMD Radeon R9 280X or betterMemory: 8 GB RAMStorage: 30 GB HDD spaceInternet: Broadband Internet connectionInput: Keyboard and mouseResolution: 800 x 600 minimum display resolutionInfo from Gamespot.com

Tetris 99's next Maximus Cup event is set for this week. The competition kicks off at 11 PM PT on Thursday, January 30, and while there are no special crossover themes up for grabs this time, you do have a chance to win some credit for the Nintendo Switch Eshop.The Maximus Cup event runs until 10:59 PM PT on February 3. Each time you play an online match during the competition period, you'll earn points depending on how well you place. The top 999 players who amass the most points by the end of the competition will earn 999 My Nintendo Gold points, which is roughly equivalent to $10 in Switch Eshop credit.You'll need to have an active Nintendo Switch Online subscription to participate in the Maximus Cup. Memberships cost $4 for one month, $8 for three months, and $20 for one year. You can also pick up a physical copy of Tetris 99, which includes the game's Big Block DLC and a 12-month NSO subscription, at retailers for $30 USD.Nintendo has been holding Maximus Cup events for Tetris 99 on a near monthly basis since the game launched last February. While a few have previously offered My Nintendo Gold points as a reward, many of the events have given players a chance to unlock in-game themes based on other Switch titles, such as Pokemon Sword and Shield and Fire Emblem: Three Houses.Tetris 99 recently received a big update that added a new Team Battle mode to the game. This mode gives players the option to join one of four different colored teams at the start of a match and vie to be the last group remaining. If one member of the team is left at the end of the game, the entire team will be victorious.In other Nintendo Switch Online news, Nintendo is offering subscribers another freebie for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For a limited time, NSO members can claim a free Spirit Board Challenge Pack for the mascot fighting game from the Switch Eshop. This pack contains a handful of items that will help you level your Spirits up faster.Info from Gamespot.com

In the past, Nintendo refused to release its franchises or create new ones for mobile. That changed in recent years, and Nintendo's shift to mobile has been a huge success from a business perspective.SensorTower reports that Nintendo's six mobile games have together generated more than $1 billion in worldwide revenue across iOS and Android. The six games have collectively reached more than 452 million downloads globally.A whopping 61 percent ($656 million) of Nintendo's mobile revenue came from a single title--Fire Emblem Heroes. Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp (12 percent; $131 million) and Dragalia Lost (11 percent; $123 million) followed as the next highest-earning mobile games.What's incredibly impressive for Fire Emblem Heroes is that the game has only had 18 million downloads, but has generated the most money. That works out to an average revenue-per-download of $41 for the free-to-play game.Mario Kart Tour made up eight percent ($86 million) of revenue, while Super Mario Run--which remains Nintendo's most-downloaded mobile game ever with 244 million installs--amounted to seven percent ($76 million) of total revenue. Dr. Mario World was the least popular game in terms of revenue, attributing just 1 percent ($4.8 million) of the $1 billion figure for all Nintendo mobile games.Nintendo made most of its mobile revenue from Japan (54 percent; $581 million), with the US following in second, with $316 million, or 29 percent.The late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata maintained that whatever short-term benefit Nintendo might get from releasing its franchises for mobile devices wasn't worth the risk of harming its longstanding policy of offering its franchises exclusively on Nintendo devices. The executive said in 2014 that Mario was designed for Nintendo consoles, "so if we transfer them into smartphones as they are, customers won't be satisfied."Following Iwata's death in 2015, Nintendo's new management team announced a plan to develop smartphone games. Info from Gamespot.com

Video game consoles like the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X have flirted with 4K for a couple of years now, but the upcoming PS5 and Xbox Series X are expected to take greater advantage of the Ultra HD resolution later this year. If you don't have a 4K TV, now might be a good time to invest in one, as Vizio is currently discounting a number of its models.Best Buy, Costco, and Sam's Club all feature deals on 4K televisions from Vizio's P-Series and M-Series lines. Vizio's TVs have great image and HDR quality, in addition to low latency, which makes them great for gaming. They also tend to be pretty good at upscaling lower-resolution content, including but not limited to 720p and 1080p. All of the discounted Vizio TVs boast either a 65- or 75-inch display.If you're looking to pair your new 4K TV with a good sound system, then you can save a little money with Best Buy. The retailer is offering a promotion that gets you an extra $50 off Vizio's 5.1.2 soundbar system if purchased with one of the Vizio 4K TVs.Costco offers the 65-inch M-Series at its cheapest price, though you do need a Costco membership to take advantage of that deal. You can see the full list of Vizio 4K TV discounts in the list below.Best Buy:Vizio 65-inch M-Series Quantum -- $650 ($800)Vizio 75-inch P-Series Quantum -- $1,300 ($2,000)Vizio 5.1.2-channel soundbar system -- $250 with purchase of 4K TV ($500)Costco:Vizio 65-inch M-Series Quantum -- $600 ($700)Sam's Club: Vizio 75-inch P-Series Quantum -- $1,299 ($1,599)Info from Gamespot.com

Dauntless developer Phoenix Labs has been acquired. The Canadian studio sold itself to Garena, the Singapore-based video game company owned by Sea Limited.In a joint statement, the companies said, "The teams intend to work together to continue building Phoenix Labs' world-class development team, supporting the growth of Dauntless, and exploring new opportunities in global markets and on mobile."The transaction closed "in recent days," but terms were not disclosed.Phoenix Labs CEO Jesse Houston said Garena--which was an early investor in Phoenix Labs--has been a great partner for Dauntless since its early days, and he is excited to scale up their partnership with this acquisition."With this next step, we're able to ensure that we can provide the best possible experience for Dauntless players around the world," Houston said. "We're extremely excited about what the future holds for Phoenix Labs, as we continue to support our ever-growing Dauntless community and explore future games."For his part, Sea Limited founder Forrest Li said, "Our skills sets are highly complementary, and we see many exciting opportunities ahead that our teams can explore together."Dauntless, which is a co-op action RPG, is the first title from Phoenix Labs following its founding in 2014. The studio has offices in Vancouver, San Francisco, and Seattle, and in total, it has more than 100 employees. It was founded by a team of former Riot employees.As for Garena, the studio is perhaps best known for its free-to-play battle royale game, Free Fire. The statement goes on to say that the leadership team at Phoenix Labs will continue to run the studio after the acquisition, while the two companies will work together to "add new features to Dauntless" and look to grow in places like Asia and Latin America.Dauntless is currently available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch; the PC version is exclusive to the Epic Games Store. A mobile version is also in the works.Info from Gamespot.com

It's a big day for the Warcraft franchise, as Blizzard has officially released Warcraft III: Reforged, which is billed as a "full-scale modernization" of the RTS classic.The PC title features the base game, Reign of Chaos, as well as The Frozen Throne expansion. The graphics and sound have been given an modern update, while there are new and improved social and matchmaking elements through Battle.net and user-generated content tool through the improved world editor.In addition to the base game, you can pick up the Spoils of War version that includes new skins for Arthas, Cenarius, Jaina, and Thrall, as well as in-game bonuses for titles like World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, and Diablo III.To learn more about the origins and specific details of Warcraft III: Reforged, we spoke with lead producer Pete Stilwell. In a wide-ranging interview, Stilwell talks about topics like why Blizzard chose Warcaft III for a remaster over some of its other titles, how the team at Blizzard is honoring the original design while revamping the story and other elements, and what the studio has done to make Warcraft III: Reforged stand out as more than a nostalgia-grab.Stilwell also speaks about how it is a "blessing and a curse" to have such a dedicated and passionate fanbase, and how Reforged aims to appeal to World of Warcraft fans who want to know more about the origins of the Warcraft universe. "Most of them probably don't know the origin story," Stilwell said of the millions of World of Warcraft players.Check out GameSpot's full interview with Stilwell below.Going back to the start, why did you choose Warcraft III instead of some of your other properties for a remaster?There were a few factors here. We had just come off of StarCraft: Remastered, so we'd put together a very RTS-focused team – so this was a natural transition. It almost followed Blizzard's own transition of making one into the other. We already had the right team for the job.Then there's also the fact that we wanted to, first and foremost, do service to the largest communities that still existed with our older games. There's plenty of games in the deeper catalogue that we probably could have gone to that would be easier. If you were doing it from a timeline perspective, it might be more logical to start with the first Warcraft or something like that.But Warcraft III still has a massive community in both the competitive and the creative scene, especially with custom games. One of the other fortunate things I've gotten to do in the leadership of this team is travel the globe and talk to our players. And while we were in Korea, talking about StarCraft, it made us more aware of how strong the custom scene still was, especially with Warcraft III there.And then it's just a hop, skip and a jump and suddenly you're in Shanghai talking to people there and they're saying, "Yeah, StarCraft's great, but what we're really all about is this Warcraft III." And I think it was just a natural progression on many fronts.What are you doing to honour the original design while also revamping the story and art and other elements?From a gameplay perspective, it's largely the same.From a visual perspective, Warcraft has continued to evolve since the original, and since the Third War was released. So, we drew on elements of Sylvanas and Jaina and all these other strong characters who have continued to evolve for their models in Warcraft III: Reforged. For a lot of them, it was their debut moment in Warcraft III and because they had all of 200 triangles to work with, there wasn't much definition of what people looked like or how they behaved.We looked around at all the amazing stuff other folks have done – be it the books or the comics or the games, all of the cool stuff that's out there, and tried to draw inspiration from that to pull the strands together.As far as other elements, again the custom game community is so strong and does so much cool stuff. We did a lot of research into what they wanted, and we looked at the creative ways they've found over the years to solve problems.We've done a lot of things under the hood that the average player may not directly benefit from, but hopefully when a map maker gets hold of it, they'll be able to make a cooler map with more performance, or can support more people. A ton of effort has gone into the fact that this community is really what has given this game legs and we want to re-energise them for the next marathon, if you will.What kind of technical work was required for this? It looks extensive!This was Blizzard's first 3D game. That's one of the things that we undervalued going into this. StarCraft was Blizzard's last major 2D game and they'd been doing it for years. They knew the technology and they were super good at it.Warcraft III was the result of a lot of experimentation. We have engineers like Jay Patel and Colin Murray, who helped build the original game, come in and help us with Warcraft III: Reforged, and they look at their code and go: "Oh, what was my young self thinking? We know better now."In terms of the gameplay, are you making any changes compared to the original?The fact of the matter is there's a good abstraction between game logic and game rendering. Most of our efforts went into game rendering and trying to get modern 3D standards in there, versus the game logic, which largely remains untouched. “Gameplay First,” one of Blizzard's best core values, is still really about, "How does this feel? Does it read as Warcraft III?"If you've played Warcraft III before, you're going to loosely remember the way units moved and things like that. And if you're a hardcore player, you're going to have it ingrained in your DNA at this point.Authenticity is really in that gameplay logic, which we tried not to touch. Whenever there's risk there we do a lot of testing and get it in the hands of pros or get it in the hands of folks on our team who are advanced players to make sure gameplay is intact.Part of what makes Warcraft III so enduringly popular is its passionate and communicative fanbase--what can you say about your fans and what their support means to you?The short answer is that our fans are why we do it. The fans and the fact that they're still playing this game and are voracious about what it represents is what gave life to this team. It's also our compass. It's a blessing and a curse sometimes, but it's mostly a blessing to have people who know the game so well and have such an expectation. It does make it more difficult to change and to evolve."Our fans are why we do it." -- StilwellBut that's also part of the conversation of what our agenda is as a dev team and as a group. And first and foremost, it's to preserve these games. The cool thing with Warcraft III is because we can extend the editor and keep the original game the way it was for all intents and purposes, we get to put the tools back into the hands of the community where they can help navigate that next chapter.The game is now updated with Battle.net functionality and support--what kind of work did this require and what does it allow for that you couldn't have all those years ago?The original games on Battle.net were very different – there wasn’t much functionality beyond the social aspect of Battle.net. Modern Battle.net now has even better social interaction because we can now be in a group chat together. You can be in one game and I can be in another and we never lose contact. That's awesome.Additionally, it means that your multiplayer experience tends to be more in league with other games that Blizzard makes, for example, matchmaking.Do you envision Reforged to appeal mainly to fans of the original game? Or to new players who might have played WoW and now want to learn more about some of the lore origins?We hope it's both. You can go boot this game up, choose to play in what we're calling “Classic” inside of the client, and you'll see all the original models, and play the original campaign. You can have that experience, and we even have guys on the team like that who believe the only thing we needed to do is get this inside of Battle.net so you can install it more easily. And then there's the rest of us that are like, 'Wait, look at the size of World of Warcraft's player base”. Most of them probably don't know the origin story.That's what this is, the kick-off to World of Warcraft. For example, seeing Eastern Plaguelands come out of Andorhal is just one of the core moments that are part of the story of Warcraft III. With WoW Classic last year showing the passion around this IP, the hope is those same folks will want to experience the “prequel” that is Warcraft III.Because if you missed it, there's over 60 missions, there's hours and hours of cutscenes. There's so much story and getting to see some of those characters who are giving you quests in their origins is really powerful if you're a fan of Warcraft. As I understand it, the voice acting remains the same in Reforged. Can you explain the decision to keep the voice acting the same?Part of this has been galvanising our identity of what our team was going to be.When we went to BlizzCon 2018 with the Warcraft III: Reforged demo and showed off what we could do, we were actually taken aback by a lot of the community's response to it. Some asked, “what are you doing messing with this thing?”If we're saying that we’re using the community as a lodestar, as a guiding light, then we need to actually own that. We decided as a group that it isn't our job to take it that far.We as Blizzard should own our experience and we decided as a team, that means it should be more in concert with that classic experience.Remasters and re-releases seem to play on the appeal of nostalgia. Longing for a time gone by. So how have you gone about creating Warcraft III: Reforged to be more than a simple push at people's feelings of nostalgia and instead something that stands on its own in 2020?To me, the real modernisations have gone in that direction of handing the tools to the community. A lot of that is in the editor, with new art, new triggers and new Lua support, for example.Obviously, the visual facelift and the integration of the game back inside of modern Battle.net is important, but there is no doubt there is a nostalgia play here and that is why we kept the original VO and things like that. We hope it's a bit of both ultimately.Reforged has been available for some time now in a testing phase--what kinds of feedback have you received and how are you going about changing the final game?With the multiplayer beta, a big part of what we've done is changed this game to a new server infrastructure and again, get it onto modern Battle.net. There's a lot of risk there. Somebody playing in a different part of the world can't necessarily be emulated without a beta because the backbone they connect to that reaches our servers might have some weird switching station that we don't understand and can't test for adequately here. We have to get this out into the hands of the players to really know the state of an online experience.That was the focus of the beta – to find those weak spots and shore them up. Especially with the custom games, we've got somewhere in the neighbourhood of one billion custom games that have been published in the past 15 years. We are well aware not all of them will work day one and that some old bugs and exploits have been fixed. Because the custom online experience is such a hub of this game, creators could have time to see their maps breaking and start to make fixes and things like that.One of the big pieces of feedback from the reveal was that the art style look sort of mishmashed from the new HD character models and how other parts of the game stayed old. What's your reaction to that, and have you updated the game now for its final release?When we went to BlizzCon with the demo, we wanted to get feedback and first impressions. It was very work in progress. I think every single thing we showed at BlizzCon has undergone some iteration and that's natural. One of the things that we were having difficulties with at that point was the lighting. We had overblown it and that's why there's these really stark shadows.If you saw the entirety of the game, you'd realise that really bright light works well on Lordaeron Summer, but as soon as you start getting into the caves or all these other tilesets that are important parts of this game, you find out quickly that it doesn’t work. Once we figured out those values and level set, the most important thing at this point is if you put the original colours of the original tilesets next to the new ones, they match. They're very in concert in the right way, in that it's got higher fidelity and it looks great and it's benefitting from these new systems we brought in with physics-based rendering. It is not exactly what we showed that very first time, but most of us in the community and on the team agree that it's where it should be to be Warcraft III.What can fans expect as it relates to custom games and the map editor?The things that will help beyond what I've already talked about inside of the editor itself, is that we made unique assets for everything. One thing we understood with the campaign was that when you're looking at the same Dreadlords or the same Paladins, all standing there side by side, they are identical except the little glow around their feet is a different colour. We thought “we could do better than that," especially when the custom community is sitting over here thirsty for assets.They can't necessarily hire a group of artists to make assets at this fidelity and giving them more was going to be beneficial for everyone who plays custom games. So, we dogfooded ourselves by adding a lot more to the campaign in order to feed back into the custom game community. Then for the online experience, we revamped the lobby system, so getting in and out and finding the right game is a much better experience.Info from Gamespot.com

Birds of Prey, which releases in cinemas on February 7, brings back Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad, un-tethered from Jared Leto's take on the Joker. The star, who also produced the new film, had some say over what happened next with her character, and was reportedly eyeing two different comic properties--Birds of Prey and Gotham City Sirens.Speaking to Nerdist, Robbie talks about the challenges of getting an R-rated, female-led superhero film off the ground, and how she was inspired by the huge Harley Quinn fanbase she became aware of while promoting Suicide Squad. What ultimately drew her to Birds of Prey over Gotham City Sirens, though, was the opportunity to give a spotlight to some lesser-known characters in the DC universe.Robbie says that while she was researching the character, she started to read the Birds of Prey comic series, and that she "fell in love with Huntress." "I was like, 'Wow, there’s so many cool female DC characters and no one knows anything about any of them!,' Robbie says. "So what if we had a platform for fans to get to know and fall in love with some of these other amazing women?"Robbie says that Gotham City Sirens was less exciting because it focused on just three characters, and the other two--Catwoman and Poison Ivy--and already well-known. In fact, Catwoman will be appearing in The Batman, played by Zoë Kravitz."I thought that might be the perfect platform to introduce some female characters who might really have some legs in the DC Universe," Robbie says.Birds of Prey is expected to earn between $49 and $55 million in its opening weekend. It will be far removed from the much-maligned Suicide Squad, although Robbie is also set to reprise her role in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad.Info from Gamespot.com

After a busy year of video games, the slower pace of January is a great time for us to go back and play some of the cool, smaller titles that we might have passed over while trying to keep up with the big blockbusters of the end of the year. In this article, we take a look at the wonderfully charming Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard, as well as two fiendish puzzle games for those who like a little more (well, a lot more) challenge: Superliminal and Kine.In retrospect, 2019 was actually pretty rich for the indie scene, and it's nice to see some of the games we'd previously mentioned in this column making it to a few best-of lists around the internet--if you missed them, you can go back and check out our takes on Eliza, A Short Hike, and Anodyne 2, as well as Mutazione, Wilmot's Warehouse, and Fit For A King. Don't sleep on these super cool games! Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible WizardI feel like we could do with a bit more wholesomeness right about now. The second and, if the unexpected post-credits scene is accurate, evidently not the last in the Frog Detective Investigations series offers a welcome respite from the bleak realities of raging bushfires, corporate greed, and bellicose presidents. It’s a world without crime, after all, despite the confusingly-named Frog Detective Crime Solving Agency.It’s also a world where the kind folk of Warlock Woods come together to throw a welcome parade to their devastatingly shy new neighbour, and reluctantly call in the services of the titular frog detective when they discover the parade preparations have been trashed. Everyone in Warlock Woods is just so damn nice… well, except for Victor perhaps, but he’s only a little grumpy because he’s so hungry. Still, they’re a friendly lot, a close-knit community of talking animals who have refreshingly progressive views on how to receive a complete stranger into their small town. Actual detective work is light on the ground. You cannot leave your office to travel to the town without first collecting your trusty magnifying glass, but it’s a red herring really, and utterly useless for the task at hand. Instead, you’re best served by chatting with the townsfolk and making gentle enquiries as to their whereabouts on the night in question. There are some trifling puzzles to overcome to push the story forward, but for the most part, you’re here to enjoy the witty dialogue and revel in the whimsical nature of it all.Be warned: this is a short game, as the Steam page makes very clear. In a sense, it’s almost a perfectly formed one, and best played in one sitting over the course of about an hour. The writing is sharp, the banter between the animals silly yet crammed full of genuinely smart and laugh out loud exchanges. It’s goofy without slipping into wackiness, and facetious without sliding into sarcasm. Hitting on a tone that’s just the right mix of playful and good-natured, Frog Detective 2 delivers a delightfully mischievous mystery to solve.It’s like: LA Noire spent a Night in the Woods in the Animal Crossing villageGet Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard on Steam and Itch.ioKineA musical trio featuring drums, accordion, and trombone may not suggest ear-catching potential, but when the three are asked to jam in this pop-jazz puzzler it's hard to resist toe-tapping along to the beat.Kine presents a series of discrete spatial puzzles that sprawl out across a kind of big band infused cityscape. Aesthetically it screams--well, rather shuffles and struts--early 20th century New York, all bright lights and big beats and Broadway. Each puzzle takes place on a small grid and you must maneuver your musical instrument, whether it's drum, trombone, or accordion, across the grid to a goal square.The catch is that the block-shaped instruments can only be moved by rolling them on their side, a task that's made trickier through the devious gaps in the floor and pillars that block the obvious path. Each instrument has different dimensions and movement mechanics to consider too--the accordion, for example, can extend either vertically or horizontally, changing its shape on the fly and thus the squares of the grid its now eligible to roll onto. The L-shaped trombone is even more complex. It can be reconfigured along two axes and is prone to find its movement impeded by the increasing number of obstructions around the grid.The difficulty ramps up gently as you’re introduced to the three instruments in turn. Later levels become fiendishly fraught when the trio finally comes together and you’re required to switch between them to solve the puzzle. Moving the drums just so to create a new platform for the accordion to land on which in turn will open up a route for the trombone, and so on. These later levels encourage you to visualise the shape of the board several moves in advance, which is exhausting in the moment but thrilling to solve.I had to take breaks after every few levels when my head was too cluttered with geometry. The compulsive, looping jazz soundtrack kept me returning, though, driving me forward onto the next puzzle grid of musical gymnastics with its percussive momentum.It’s like: Stephen’s Sausage Roll by way of Cadence of Hyrule and JazzpunkGet Kine on the Epic Game Store and digitally on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.SuperliminalSuperliminal is a puzzle game about how we see the world, and how much your perspective on the world matters. And it really wants you to understand that its core mechanic is also a metaphor for the infinite ways we collectively see the world. We’ve all got our own perspective, but wouldn’t it be good if we could see things from another vantage point? Maybe a change of perspective might, you know, change some perspectives.That core mechanic initially sees you able to pick up certain objects and alter their size depending on how they’re set back down into the environment. Walk real close to a tiny ball so it appears large, then pick it up and suddenly it’ll be enormous when you look up and drop it in the middle of a room. Conversely, grab something large from a distance and it’ll shrink in your hands, letting you set down a miniature version. It’s a startling effect the first time you see it, and that sense of wonder--that feeling you’re performing some kind of illicit dark magic every time you pick something up--only dissipates slightly over the course of the game.Other mechanics are added to your puzzle-solving repertoire, letting you utilise negative space to your advantage or allowing the seemingly infinite replication of interactable objects, among others. Some of these additions are more successful than others, and while they do extend the palette of puzzle types, it’s that core “is it big or is it small?” conceit that conjures the most satisfying conundrums to crack, especially the second-to-last series of challenges that take the core idea and twist it back in on itself in an unexpectedly giddying manner.The denouement to this Portal-esque series of puzzle chambers is a little anticlimactic in terms of its difficulty, though it never fails to throw up fascinating new environments that you’ll want to thoroughly explore. And it’s here where the “how about a new perspective?” narrative metaphor becomes laboured to a point verging on parody, though the earnestness of its all-too-obvious message did make me feel bad for rolling my eyes.Don’t let the clumsy theme deter you, Superliminal remains an inventive and eye-opening puzzle game throughout.It’s like: Portal enrolled at the Stanley Parable and brought a bag of Photoshop tricks.Get Superliminal on the Epic Game Store. Info from Gamespot.com

The 2011 Steven Soderbergh movie Contagion has surged in popularity following the emergence of the real-life Coronovirus that has killed more than 100 people around the world.You may recall that Contagion--featuring Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, and other stars--told a story about a fictional deadly virus that originated in China before spreading around the world, leading to chaos and scientists scrambling to find a cure. Some part of that storyline is now happening in real life.The Hollywood Reporter noticed that Contagion climbed up to No. 10 on the US iTunes movie rental chart. It's the oldest movie on the charts by far, and it's recent climb can surely be attributed to the real-world outbreak of the Coronavirus.The majority of the deaths from the pneumonia-like illness have occurred in mainland China where the virus originated, according to the state-run China Global Television Network. China has quarantined entire cities as it tries to prevent the spread of the disease.The Coronavirus outbreak also caused a huge surge in popularity of the video game Plague Inc., which is a real-time strategy game related to how diseases spread around the world. James Vaughn, the creator of Plague Inc., has advised people to seek out local and global health authorities for information on the Coronavirus, rather than relying on Plague Inc. as a learning tool.Here is the latest on the #CoronaOutbreak as of Jan. 28- At least 4,630 confirmed cases in China- 106 deaths - 57 confirmed cases in 14 countriesFollow live updates: https://t.co/6BdYYOcwGh pic.twitter.com/jVcGRhiq2v — CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) January 28, 2020Shanghai Disneyland has temporarily closed down amid concerns over the virus, while McDonald's has closed thousands of locations in the country.Go to GameSpot sister site CNET to see a detailed breakdown of the latest in the Coronavirus health crisis.Info from Gamespot.com

From the outset, Respawn showed it would be doing things a little differently with Apex Legends just by how it released the game. Unlike other triple-A games that launch after weeks or months of preview events and trailers, Apex Legends was announced and released on the same day. It was a bold strategy--one that could have doomed the Titanfall spin-off from the start given that fans were clamoring for Titanfall 3, not another battle royale game. But the game didn't die out, and Respawn's willingness to continually advertise Apex Legends with unorthodox methods has allowed the battle royale to thrive in an industry that is, now more than ever, always battling for your time.In preparation for Season 4: Assimilation and the one-year anniversary of Apex Legends, Respawn utilized another risky strategy: killing off a character before he even had a chance to appear in the game. The move concludes a months-long cat-and-mouse game between Respawn and the Apex Legends' community, one that has ultimately done a stellar job at selling the story behind the game.If you haven't been keeping up with Apex Legends over the past few months, here's a refresher. Revenant has been a name that's been circulating in the community since 2019 when dataminers discovered the name in the game's files. It's been theorized for a while that the character would be added as a playable legend--something that seemed all but confirmed when an Apex Legends developer released, seemingly on accident, an image that featured the character in an early concept of Octane's Gauntlet on Kings Canyon. When pressed by news outlets for further details or confirmation on Revenant's existence, Respawn remained coy on the matter.Revenant's inclusion in the game seemed even more certain during Season 3: Meltdown, though, specifically during the Halloween-themed Fight or Fright event, which saw Pathfinder accidentally wandering into a different dimension, the setting of the Shadowfall mode. The announcer and host of the mode was a robotic entity whose overall shape and voice lines matched that of the datamined Revenant files. Given Respawn's track record of teasing legends ahead of their release through in-game hints, it seemed likely Revenant would be Season 4's new character.Then Respawn dropped a bombshell during its Season 4 Reveal Devstream: the season would add ex-MMA fighter Forge to Apex Legends, not Revenant. To lend credence to the reveal, dataminers found files for Forge in Apex Legends long before the announcement--some dating back nearly as far as the ones for Revenant. For all intents and purposes, it seemed like fans had just gotten the prediction wrong. Several members of the community then assumed that Forge would come to Apex Legends first, to be followed by Revenant later--maybe within the same season or perhaps at the start of Season 5. The game itself seemed to further support this theory, with in-game assets changing to reflect the arrival of Forge and only minor details hinting at Revenant's further involvement. Respawn followed-up these map changes with the announcement that an interview featuring Forge would debut on January 27. The interview would be held in the Sorting Factory on World's Edge, and a news station set even appeared in the in-game location ahead of the video.This was all revealed to be a smokescreen, however. During the interview, Revenant appeared and stabbed Forge in the back. In the game, the interview set was trashed and Forge's chair was replaced by a death box that contains his medallion (which is unlocked as a gun charm if you loot it). After promoting Forge for nearly a week, Respawn just killed the character off--his reveal and inclusion in Apex Legends designed for a plot twist and shocking reveal of a completely different character.Telling their dedicated playerbase that they're going to do one thing when they actually plan on flipping the script is not a normal strategy for video game developers to take. Blizzard and Ubisoft do not announce new Overwatch Heroes or Rainbow Six Siege Operators only to then turn around and kill said characters before players even have a chance to try them. Tricking your playerbase and getting them hyped for something that never actually arrives in hopes the surprise twist will draw even greater interest can backfire if players think that you're now delivering something that's less than what you originally announced.But it's because this strategy is so unorthodox that I believe it's going to work out for Respawn and Apex Legends. Apex Legends launched into a battle royale genre that was already beginning to feel a little stale and a games-as-a-service market that's been feeling overstuffed. However, Respawn's game stands out because of how it's structured around its narrative and not the other way around. Even without a single-player campaign, Apex Legends has a story, and Respawn is willing to subvert the expectations of how to market a games-as-a-service title in order to tell it. The developer has a narrative vision, and it's sticking to it.In a traditional single-player game, Forge's story would likely transpire over several cutscenes and in-game conversations, only for his murder to catch players by surprise. Respawn has managed to capture this shock value by selling this narrative through a created Twitter account that acts as a news station for events that occur in the Titanfall and Apex Legends universe. So, of course, Forge would be announced as the new character with no mention of Revenant--news reporters don't know athletes are going to be murdered ahead of time, they report the news as it happens. This means Respawn (which, again, is roleplaying as a news station entity) is as surprised as the rest of us when it comes to the narrative it's building. Respawn is acting as if it's not an all-knowing overseer of its world, allowing the developer to have a bit more fun with us, its audience, by leading us in one direction before surprising us with something else entirely. It's a nice bit of meta storytelling in a genre that traditionally hasn't told stories outside of cinematic trailers.New details are emerging as 3 Hammond Robotics employees failed to show for work today. While little is known about the presumed missing employees, the same (now corrupted) data file was found at all 3 scenes.If you have any information, please contact the Syndicate. pic.twitter.com/7mepHFeNsP — Outlands Television (@PlayApex) January 28, 2020And all that being said, it's still not a foregone conclusion that Respawn has finished tricking us yet and that Forge is definitely out for good. The gun charm in Forge's death box describes the man as "often imitated but never defeated," and the Forge in the interview has a scar on his eyebrow while all previous images have had no scar--which could imply that the Forge that Revenant killed is just a body double. There is still no definitive proof that Forge is dead and that Revenant will be the new playable legend. With the style of storytelling it's using for Apex Legends, Respawn has put its fans into a position where we'll be guessing right up until Season 4 begins to see which character actually gets added.And ya know what? That's kind of exciting.Info from Gamespot.com

One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows is expanding its roster out further, with three new fighters having just been announced for the game. Child Emperor, Spring Mustachio, and Handsome Ikemen have been confirmed for the anime brawler, and you'll be able to add them to your team in fights.Child Emperor, a young fighter who uses mechanical arms to battle, is an S-Class Rank 5 professional hero in the anime. Spring Mustachio is a gentlemanly rapier user, and Handsome Ikemen--also known as Sweet Mask--is, well, very handsome.They'll join the other previously announced characters when the game launches on February 28, 2020. And, of course, Saitama will be able to take them down with one punch (although, cleverly, it takes him a little while to arrive and do so--meaning that if you pick him, your other two team members will have to survive longer against your opponent's team of three.)The second season of the One Punch Man anime aired in early 2019.Info from Gamespot.com

Ahead of the start of Season 4: Assimilation, Respawn has been teasing something new for Apex Legends. The developer runs Outlands Television, which acts as the official news outlet for events that occur in the Titanfall/Apex Legends universe, as a way to tell Apex Legends' story without a traditional single-player campaign. And ever since Revenant stabbed Forge in the midst of an Apex Games interview, someone has been stirring up trouble.After a brief report on Revenant's attack, Outlands Television went quiet--only to resume reporting the very next day about break-ins occurring in the Hammond Robotics Facilities on Talos, the planet that the World's Edge map takes place on. Later that day, Outlands Television managed to get an exclusive scoop: a statement that had been emailed to all Hammond Robotics employees.EXCLUSIVE: As an update to this morning's Hammond Robotics story, OTV has exclusively obtained an email sent to all Hammond Robotics employees regarding this month's break-ins. pic.twitter.com/RqSSzQsyPy — Outlands Television (@PlayApex) January 28, 2020The statement, which can be read in full in the embedded tweet above, informs Hammond Robotics employees that an intruder managed to breach the Talos offices near World's Edge. After killing three security guards, the thief made off with the personal information of nearly 300 employees, though Hammond states that there is no current threat to any worker's well-being.Outlands Television's next report--which comes in just a few hours later and is embedded below--proves just how wrong the higher-ups at Hammond are. Three employees have been reported missing after not showing up for work, with a mysterious corrupted file appearing at the three locations each one was last seen at.New details are emerging as 3 Hammond Robotics employees failed to show for work today. While little is known about the presumed missing employees, the same (now corrupted) data file was found at all 3 scenes.If you have any information, please contact the Syndicate. pic.twitter.com/7mepHFeNsP — Outlands Television (@PlayApex) January 28, 2020Though the file is a bit choppy, it appears to showcase a mechanical (possibly prosthetic) arm transforming over four images. It begins looking very human, before aspects of the forearm extend as tendrils onto the hand's fingertips. These tendrils harden onto the hand into sharpened claw-like extremities and the final and fourth image showcases the arm in its new shape--it's abandoned its human appearance for one that's more animalistic-looking, almost like that of a wildcat. It's unclear as to what this prosthetic's purpose is, though it looks like it could be used for either combat or climbing.Though not exactly the same, Revenant's arm has a similar transformation right before he kills Forge. Originally human-looking, the arm morphs into a blade-like form that Revenant uses to stab Forge. So these could be additional Revenant teases, but it's still not quite clear. Apex Legends News Apex Legends' New Season 4: Assimilation Weapon Is Another Sniper Rifle New Apex Legends Season 4 Character Revealed, And It's Not Revenant Apex Legends Kings Canyon Map Returns In Season 4: Assimilation Apex Legends Season 4: Assimilation's New Character, Weapon, Map Changes, And More Apex Legends Season 4: When Does It Start? Info from Gamespot.com

Just like that, Arrow, the series that launched a universe of superhero shows on The CW, has come to a close. The series finale gave closure to nearly every character on the show. However, it also teased something that could come in the future.Warning: The following contains spoilers for the Arrow series finally, titled "Fadeout." If you haven't watched yet and don't want to be spoiled, walk away now.In the final minutes of the series finale, Arrow finally paid off a fan theory that's stretched over multiple seasons. As he was packing up his family to move to Metropolis, John Diggle (David Ramsey) was knocked off his feet by a meteor crashing to the Earth. Upon inspecting the crater, he found a box that contained something glowing and green.While it's not confirmed, this seems to point to Diggle's future as a Green Lantern, which was teased on the show during the Elseworlds crossover. As for what this means for the larger Arrow-verse, that's a bit more complicated."This was something that was worked out over a year ahead with DC Entertainment," executive producer Marc Guggenheim revealed during a post-screening Q&A. "We very specifically negotiated and discussed the parameters and I feel like, to say anything beyond, you know, what we have showed you would violate our agreement with DC."However, for those keeping up with what's coming to The CW, it was recently announced that Superman & Lois, a Metropolis-set series about the Man of Steel and the ace reporter, was ordered to series.With Diggle and his family moving to Metropolis, does that mean we'll see him again? While Guggenheim wouldn't confirm that one way or the other, he explained, "We've actually talked a lot about Diggle's and David's post-Arrow future. We've got some really good ideas. And I'm going to stand pat on that. I will also say David has become a remarkable director. And so we're as interested in him behind the camera as we are in front."That certainly is not a confirmation, but it's also definitely not a denial. There's also that Green Lantern series being developed by Arrow executive producer Greg Berlanti for HBO Max, though it has not been revealed whether or not that particular series is set in the Arrow-verse. Whatever the case, there's hopefully plenty more Diggle (and by extension, Green Lantern) in the future of these shows for years to come.Info from Gamespot.com

Destiny 2 players had a bit of a scare earlier, as servers were taken down after the latest patch saw players lose currency and materials. The game has not been playable, and Bungie has assured affected players that their goods would be returned to them.Bungie has now confirmed, via Twitter, that the promised rollback is complete. The game is due to return online around 7PM PST on January 28, so there's not long at all to wait if you need to get your Destiny 2 fix.Rollback for player accounts is complete. Destiny 2 will be brought back online around 7 PM PST. — Bungie Help (@BungieHelp) January 29, 2020Players who were playing the game between 8:30-10AM PST were impacted. Here's all the information that might affect you:Players may have to redo any progress or quests they completed between 8:30 - 10 AM PST.Purchases made between 8:30 - 10 AM PST will need to be redone. Silver spent during that time will be restored.Destiny 2 Silver purchases from the platform store will be added back to player accounts.'The Pidgeon and the Phoenix' Lore being removed is a separate issue and will be resolved in a future update"The good news is that the bug has been squashed, and players do not need to worry about their materials being lost. Freebies are coming to the game on January 29 for Twitch Prime subscribers, too, and the latest Exotic weapon, Bastion, is now up for grabs.Info from Gamespot.com

Fans of The Division 2 can gear up for the game's third free episode next month. The episode will take players to a new location in search of a cure for the virus that kicked everything off. Episode 3 of The Division 2 will open up Coney Island, and will make use of the island's amusement parks.As is standard for the game now, the island has been seized by Black Tusk--but you'll be able to take them out by equipping a flamethrower.Episode 2 of The Division 2 released in October 2019. The game has received several major additions since launch, but this one--which looks like it could move the series' plot forward in a meaningful way--is particularly exciting.Ubisoft also released some screenshots from the episode, which are below.You can currently nab The Division 2 on PC for just $12, but act fast, because that deal won't last long. A movie based on the game series is being planned, with David Leitch attached to direct it for Netflix.Info from Gamespot.com