Remedy Entertainment's Control is a game that's difficult to shake off. Its familiar yet otherworldly setting--and the larger universe around it--is so intricately crafted and so compelling that it takes up long-term residence in the mind. You want to know more about what's there, conceptualize things that aren't, and explore parallels to our own, very real world. Control is a masterclass in world-building and this, along with numerous other aspects of it, earned the game a spot in our best games of 2019 list.Mikael Kasurinen, director of Control, is one of the architects of that world and, as a result, has a distinct vision for its future. Remedy has announced multiple pieces of downloadable content, which will build upon what the main game has established, but before the studio moves forward, we took the opportunity to reflect on what it achieved with Control.Prior to The Game Awards, and the release of the Expeditions DLC, we talked to Kasurinen about what Remedy has learned about itself from developing Control, potential changes the studio could make to the experience, the aforementioned DLC, and the things that Mikael enjoys playing, watching, and reading.Remedy, and you as someone who's worked super closely on the project, has been immersed in Control for so long. What's it like to finally come out of that shell and back to the real world?It's always something that you take with mixed feelings. Being in that world, working on the game, there's this passion and drive that we have every day towards making it happen. This is the excitement of seeing things come alive, things happening. Every day brings something new and it's your lifeblood. And, as a person, I play games probably too much and I absolutely love gaming. So, it becomes this thing that you live for.So, it is a bit ... with mixed feelings. When it's done you're happy that it's done. Shipping a game is the most important part. Every shipped game is a little miracle and once it's done, you walk away from it. Then you have this sense of detachment, almost, from everything else. You're reconnecting a bit and being able to walk away on what you did, and being comfortable with that and content. It's not always easy, because there's always this feeling like, "Oh, we could've still done that and that," and so on.It's exciting. I think you know, the reception of Control has been spectacular. What makes me happy is that people get excited about the world that we've created. They see a world they want to be in and they're already asking about expansions and sequels and so on. That to me is the best possible result and it puts me in a great mood because I can feel like, "Right, we can continue from here. Let's see what happens next."Remedy games are quite similar in a lot of regards. You effectively have fundamentals that you always bring from one game to the other. But looking back on something like Quantum Break, the response was mixed. Then you go away and almost scale down for Control and you get a very positive reception. What do you think, having filtered through both of those experiences now, you've learned from that about yourself and about Remedy?I think the importance of courage. I think it's being ready to be bold with your ideas and not be afraid of whether there will be people that are going to hesitate with the things that you're creating, or even hate it. Or whether it will divide people; will it be controversial? Being able to work with that drive, and just simply not worry about it and believe that when you're creating [it] is more important to do something memorable. Something that people, once they step out from that experience, they felt something because it sticks with them, even haunts them. The only way for you to do that is to accept that there will be people that might not be into this game. And I think to me, speaking about Quantum Break, [it] was an interesting project. It had a goal of trying to be [more] towards the casual audience. And that meant that we had to be more careful with certain kinds of things, and making sure we don't alienate anybody. So, in another sense Quantum Break was us going as far, in my eyes, as we possibly could with storytelling. It had a TV show, it had, I think, almost one and a half hours of cinematics, so you could actually do a small movie from the cinematics of Quantum Break. And high-quality characters, one to one mapping of actors. We built a lot of new tech, had Hollywood actors, and so on. Fantastic talent.But still, I've got to say the end results somehow felt... We achieved things we wanted to achieve, but still, it felt like there was nothing there that had a rough edge to it. Something that made you feel like, "Oh, what will they do now?" and something interesting that people get like, "Wow, what's happening there?" It was a bit grey in that sense--avoiding maybe too much of making statements.And coming off from that, I think there's this urge to shake away from that. But I feel like there was a longer trend happening where we've done games that [use] American life in many ways--looking at Max Payne, Alan Wake, and even Quantum Break. All of them are like very American games, with American characters, and American stories. With Control, I felt it was important for us to shake loose of that and create a world that feels like a known world. It's more detached from that American life than we've shown in our games before, in a place of its own, and brings in a Finnish character to be more bold with that stuff, be ready to show who we are and what we get excited about. Bringing color, flavor, and being bold with that.So that was like the biggest realization. That's not the right word even, but there's this revelation. Like, is it the right thing to try to make something that is not fundamentally who we are? And of course always when we do it, we do it through a lens, like with Max Payne it is these exaggerated elements coming together. Like film noir and John Woo, and comic book-style storytelling. It is always this enigmatic and in-depth dive into a stylized experience. Of course, we made it work for us, but Control was like, "No, let's do a world that is almost like inside of our head, this is the world that is tagging everything else and it's us, it's who we are."Right. If you ask me 10 years from now to name a character from Quantum Break or Control, I'm more likely to remember Ahti than Jack Joyce. If those rough edges and bold risks are key to the secret sauce, does that mean that you'll try and maintain this kind of scale? Or do you feel you can still have that and extrapolate it onto a game that is the budget and the ambition of something like a Quantum Break?That's a difficult question because I think every project is a rebirth of you going in and trying to detach yourself from what you did before, and orient yourself in a way that what you do will feel fresh. To me, when you look at Remedy, we've always done a new IP. Max Payne 2 is the only sequel that we've ever done. And it's interesting and it's a complex place that leads to those decisions. It's not always about creativity. It's also a business element that affects these decisions. But having said that, I think it's important to recognize that Control is us with a certain mindset, emotionally and how we're feeling at that time of creating this experience. I think it would be a mistake to try to mimic that later on. Instead, what we need to do is discover elements that get us excited about where we are today. And of course, if there are elements that we wanted, or let's say if we would do, someday, a sequel to Control, I wouldn't go at it in the way that's, "Oh, let's just, you know, refine and do the same game again." Emotion will be brought into a different and new place that does justice to what that franchise is about--it requires that. And it might be something very different, but people expect that if you would do a sequel.Has the reception to Control now made you want to do more in that world, or do you feel like instead, the reception has given you the confidence to move on and make something new and take a bolder risk?I'll be honest, it has strengthened my excitement of what could happen in the world of Control. We've opened the door a bit to what it can be, and to me the promise of that world is very exciting. I think there are elements [in the world] that we could take in many different directions, and that's what is so great about it. And it has this interesting blend of ideas and concepts that are familiar that we can anchor to. But then there are also versions of that world that can be totally different compared to what we see in the first game, and what's important to us.I mean, I'm sure everybody already knows that there is this connection to the Alan Wake universe, right? I wouldn't even say, "Oh there's a Control universe," I would just say that there's a Remedy universe that is starting to emerge, and there is this shared lens into different experiences, but they are all part of the same thing. And that's what gets me excited. I feel like we are starting to establish something that is iconic and different and every time you go through one experience it feels like it's part of a bigger idea, a bigger world, a bigger concept, and it's larger than the sum of their parts.I guess I have to ask the chicken and the egg question: What came first? Before Control, every interview with Remedy was, "Are you going to do Alan Wake 2?" And the studio kept saying, "Maybe when the time is right." And then Control came out and it's got these connections to Alan Wake. Was the plan always to figure out a universe or was it like, "Oh, we can connect this"?I'll be honest, when we start concepting--me and Sam [Lake, creative director]--it was just the two of us sitting down and asking questions like, "What should we do next?" and on the table there are all kinds of different directions we can take. But what's crucial was we slap ourselves out from any kind of connections to our past. Right? We don't think about Alan Wake, we don't think about Max Payne, we don't think about Quantum Break. And that's essential if you want to build a new IP--that it can stand on its own legs. Right?That has to come first. Then you can ask the question. You've discovered these opportunities as you start building the idea of what it is. "Okay, could it work that this is shared?" When that question was asked for the first time--and it didn't take long [for it to be asked]--it wasn't there in the beginning. And then when you start to see that connection, it's like, "Oh yeah, what would this mean?" You start to explore that and magically things are starting to fall in place and see this whole idea come together.A part of the process is that, when you work in a creative industry, what you do is true to your life. When you play other games, watch movies, and watch TV shows, just like little nuggets of stuff get stored in your brain. Even sometimes subconsciously that we never realized and in the span of 50 years you have these little ideas and thoughts and so on. Every time you sit down and start conception, you tap into that. That's a box inside your head. I do like that.Then you look at them and I've tried to connect them in a way that is unique and interesting and I wouldn't be surprised if Alan Wake was there in some form. When you stop to say, "Okay, let's talk about parallelism, let's talk about a strange phenomenon, let's talk about new weird," there's this feeling, this vibe that maybe has been established because we worked on Alan Wake before. Sorry, I'm getting very philosophical.Please get philosophical.It's a complex process and it's a delicate process as well. You have to recognize and detect, like what is the right direction to pursue. Sometimes it's also about detecting what not to pursue.And as part of that, you've mapped out future, upcoming story-based content. How far in advance did you come up with that and, given how dense and connected the lore is? Is it constructed in a way where it will fit into that, or is it like we're taking the opportunity to explore the fact that this universe allows for strange other kinds of stories to be told and viewed? Can people expect this to be tonally the same or are you trying to swerve and do something that has the spirit of it a little different?Okay, so I'm going to start with that. It's a bit early to talk about the expansion we're doing, but I'll give you this. [The expansions] definitely are a part of the experience that we established in Control. I mean, of course, but we expand it and we explore different directions that it could be taken to. Both expansions are actually thematically different--that's going to be interesting. I'm going to talk more about it later, but to me, again, it's about creating this strong palette of ideas and really focusing on pushing it as far as you possibly can, instead of going and repeating what already existed. It's a yes and no answer. It's like, yes there's the vibe and tone of Control, but you want to explore the edges of it to see where it can be taken. It has to start from the mother lode. It has to start from where it all began.We're trying really hard to create a consistent world and we're really careful with the lore. We check it to make sure that it's complex and it's rich and so on, so it's not easy. I wouldn't be surprised if we find things where we pinned ourselves into a corner, but we'll figure it out once we step into that. The overall intent is to create a cohesive world even though it's strange and complex. We try our best to make sure that when we expand it, it's not something that we need to retrofit later on.We don't want to change the truth of what it was. Instead, I think the attitude is to make sure that whatever we establish fits what we've got going in the future. [When it comes to expanding on] the core ideas, I established a creative brief for them earlier this year, to set up the things I want to do. I went through it with the leadership of the expansion team. It has its own dedicated team now working on it. Those thoughts have existed for a while, but the actual work started in September, roughly. The team had a bit of time off after shipping the game, and then a group of really talented, dedicated people came together and continued on the expansions.What does Expeditions bring to the game from a narrative standpoint perspective?That's the thing, like, you know every single thing that we're going to release for Control will be different. Expeditions will be different from The Foundation or AWE. They will bring different elements. Expeditions is a dive into pure gameplay. It's a very gameplay-oriented thing, and it will challenge the players in a new way that they haven't been challenged before.Are there still secrets that are in the game that others haven't found? One thing specifically that fans are caught up on is the hidden message in Take Control.Oh, I knew it! [Laughs] I knew you would ask about that. Some secrets in the game are yet to be discovered ... but they might not be discoverable yet.Interesting.Yes.In terms of looking back at Control, is there anything that you wish you had done differently?I'm very proud of our restrained take on how the player discovers and navigates through the world. We really like that you have to read the environment to be able to find things, and so on, which I felt like that was the direction almost like from day one; that we don't want to have to hand-hold the player and want to let them figure it out, so getting lost is okay.But I do think the thing that we should have done a better job with is the checkpointing. It is something that we explored different directions with and we wanted it to be cohesive. We wanted it to feel like it's not random based on the situation. We wanted to be honest and consistent with it. That's the system that works for us in that concept we were building. Looking back, I think we could have taken a different approach with it that would have maybe worked better for more players. So, there's definitely room for improvement with many, many things in the game. That's maybe one thing that we get commented on.The other one is the difficulty. I specifically said I don't want there to be a difficult choice for the player. I don't believe in the choice of like is it easy, medium, or hard? I think it's a non-choice-- you don't really know what you're going to get. I wanted to address it in a way that there are areas and hotlines and missions that thematically, some of them are easier than others. I'll admit there are tough moments there, but most people should be able to get through the main paths of the game. Then there are side missions that are extremely hard. We wanted to create the content in a way that the content that you saw was the definition of the difficulty. The problem of course is, how clear is that to the player as they enter this world? I still believe strongly in the direction that I don't think choosing a difficulty level is necessarily the right way to solve that problem. But I think it's something that we do need to do better in the future and we should strive to find a solution for it.Do you plan to go back and do the nips and tucks that you feel are necessary? And do you worry that, in doing so, you might inadvertently change what the game is as a whole? It could be argued that there's something about that checkpoint system--good or bad--that fundamentally contributed to the Control experience.Exactly. So there's definitely that desire to [do so]. I want as many people as possible--those who have even the slightest interest to play the game--to be able to play the game. Let me say that out loud right from the get-go, I mean everybody, like people with disabilities and so on. We're doing a lot of work trying to get everybody on board.I wouldn't change any of the fundamentals anymore. What we created, we created, and let's stand by that and move on. Once we tackle that or return to that same moment next time we'll have learned a lot and I think be able to do a better job with those elements. Having said that, I do believe in player choice. When you look at the menu, there are a lot of things that you can turn on and off. Like for instance, if people don't like health bars, they can turn them off. I can see us getting set on options on that meta-game level, like we'll step out from the core experience to say, "Okay, you can actually adjust these things and it might make your life easier." In that way, I can see us adjusting the experience, but I wouldn't touch the heart of the game.The world of Control has become beloved by a lot of people. Alan Wake and Quantum Break had tie-ins with novelizations and that kind of stuff. Is there a temptation to go down that path for Control? Do you want to tell stories in different ways outside of the video game medium? And if so, how do you balance that with overexposing it to people?That's a great question. My heart is with video games always. I love doing them. I think that would be a good question for Sam Lake actually because he's really into transmedia. He's really into comic books, and books, and so on. I think we both have been able to see a way to express stories of the world of Control in those different mediums. There's definitely no reason why we couldn't do that.But, what would make me a bit nervous though is that there is this danger of creating a picture of that world that breaks what we had initially. I'm getting a bit precious about the franchise here, but it's so carefully and delicately built and you don't want to break that if there's a novel out there that maybe goes in that direction that might compromise or undermine the main game. That [is] something that I don't want to happen. It would [have to be] be controlled--sorry for the pun--and done really carefully and with a sense of purpose. Like it has to actually serve something that makes the whole thing even better. Absolutely I would be all in for that stuff, but there needs to be this creative reason for it to exist.I know exactly how you feel because Bloodborne is one of my favorite games of all time and I love that world. And then that comic book series came out and that preciousness that you speak about feeling, I remember also feeling it. And having read a few issues, it didn't really add anything...Yeah. And I absolutely love Bloodborne. It's one of my all-time favorite games. And, again, the world as it is in that game is magical. It's so good. And I almost don't want to see anything else. I would never even touch those comic books because, again, yes, I almost feel nervous that it will break whatever I experienced when I was playing that game.What else are you personally consuming and enjoying for fun?Many people often ask, "What inspired you to do Control?" so I appreciate the question about what I enjoy.So things that really click with me are, I love pop culture and I watch a lot of TV shows and so on, but there is this aspect of me where I'm starting to get tired of tropes that I can foresee. So there are a lot of TV shows which I don't even give them a chance, but then there are shows that absolutely blow me away. And there's actually a little bit of Control with Leftovers, an absolutely fantastic show. And it was done with this sense of realism but dealing with this phenomenon--2% of the population of Earth have disappeared. And it seems like that's not a lot, but then it has this deep, complex emotional consequence on the lives of different people. It's like when you nick an artery and then you can see the world fall apart. And it was great TV, great actors, and great stories, nuance, and the delicacy of how they dealt with the lives of those people--it was absolutely beautiful.And the showrunner went on to do the new Watchman TV show, which is absolutely fantastic. It's so good. And it's so bold. It's not afraid of going in different directions and every episode surprises you and you're engaged. Even though it's jumping into a different time or a different place or it's in black and white, you're engaged. And that's just one example; I watched a lot of other shows but that stands out to me. If I had to pick, it's, yes, Leftovers and new Watchmen. Absolutely fantastic.And then from games, there was something in Dark Souls that deeply affected me and it's hard to put into words but it's that ... boldness, that courage, that conviction to say, "Here's the world. You're in it and it's yours to discover." Nobody is telling you what to do. Nobody is even telling you who you are or why you are there. And it's a scary, unsettling moment. But then you feel like you can start to build up this courage like, "I'm going to start dealing with this," and you bring down your first enemies and you have a boss fight and then you win it. And that was the whole point of the beginning sequence: to give you that confidence to be able to start dealing with this world. And then you continue to do it and you get bolder and bolder and bolder.There's something indescribable about that experience that I've never experienced in any other game. And it just dragged me in and I couldn't let go. I was obsessed with that game. And trust me, there were some fights I was almost gone mental and I had to stop playing and go outside. But I returned every single time. So it stands out to me as a truly exceptional game. I haven't tried Demon's Souls, which I'm ashamed of, but it's on an older platform. I never got to be able to...It's phenomenal.Yeah. That's what I hear, and maybe someday I'll get to play it.Have you played Sekiro yet?Yes. I started it, but it was...It's brutal, isn't it?Oh, yeah. It's even worse than Dark Souls. But it's still a work in progress for me.That feeling that you mentioned where you overcome a challenge and you feel empowered, there's a moment in Sekiro that is as powerful. The confidence you get from that point on to deal with that world is unparalleled. You should absolutely stick with it.I definitely will do. And Dark Souls III has one of the most beautiful boss fights I've ever had. It was the Dancer of the…Boreal Valley.Yes! I don't know what it is in that fight but it was beautiful and terrifying. It was slow and fast at the same time, which I still don't understand how that is possible. It felt like a dream and then sudden brutal violence. And it's, to me, one of my all-time favorites. And I talked with many people and many go, "Ah, ah, yeah. I don't know. It's fine." I don't know. For some reason, it sticks with me.It's the ethereal quality of the Dancer, I think. There's an elegance in the way it moves and you almost get sucked into the majesty of it, you're hypnotized, and then it strikes at you and you're like, "Oh." It's so good at taking you off guard and then coming at you.And there was something in the cloth physics, as well, it looked like it's underwater and, yeah, you get mesmerized by it. I never felt that in any kind of a boss fight that I ever had and that's what made it stand out to me. So emotionally and as a player as well, it was amazing.I play tons of different games. I love Assassin's Creed. I love to jump into this historical world and I absolutely love it that Ubisoft is doubling down on, "Let's take this history of the real world" and they have their own interesting interpretation of that. You feel like you rediscover a world that you already knew of, so I love those games.And I'm a big Destiny fan, as well. Raiding with friends is one of my favorite hobbies. Destiny is a... it's a unique one. I don't think there is a game like that out there. And I think many people are a bit unfair towards the game because they think, "Oh, it's just a looter-shooter," but it's a really complex, nuanced world with a lot of different elements. It has dragons, wizards, and it has sci-fi elements and it sounds silly initially but somehow they're able to bring it into a cohesive experience. And I think they're brilliant at what they're doing.It's one of the first games where I stop and watch two- or three-hour YouTube videos diving into the lore of that world. And it is enchanting. It's like, "Wow. There's so much thought and attention to detail, and you see the connection points in the actual world. So much that stuff... Maybe like what From Software does, is the same thing. So you can see the same elements going on, that there is passion and a heart that they've put into that world. And I can see it and, as a game developer, I immensely appreciate it.And especially because I feel like I'm personally a bit tired of games that go into this exposition mode. Like, "Let me tell you what is happening and explain everything to you." And then you don't have to think for yourself at all. And there are many games that do that. There's a certain kind of safety with that, I think. It's a comfort food for many people I'm sure, but to me I tune out or like I feel annoyed that I can't discover this myself. And that's a huge part of what I love about games.Books! So one of the books that I recently discovered--it's an old book, but I loved the epicness of it--is Three-Body Problem. It's by a Chinese author Liu Cixin. Do you know what the three-body problem is?No.So it's this physical thing like, if you have two objects floating in space and so on, the other one will naturally rotate around the other and you can create really predictable physics models based on it. It will always continue in a way that anybody could do calculations and then predict what's going to happen next. If somebody slaps one of the things and then it goes away, everybody can say, "Okay. This was what happened." But if you add a third thing into that, it adds that chaos. Everything becomes unpredictable and it's almost impossible to say what's going to happen next, even by physics and calculation. And this book series explores this.So that's a thematic core of what the book is about. It's sci-fi and it's a book about humankind discovering that there are aliens out there, that there's life in the universe. But it's realistic. It's epic. And it starts from Chinese Revolution in the '60s and it's an absolutely beautiful book. It dives into the psychology of human beings, what it means to live a life and so on. And then there are events that span through decades and generations. And it has psychological warfare basically between these two different sides. And it's just super interesting, very compelling, very different. And I don't know. If you love good hard-sci-fi, that's the one, that's your thing.Very quickly before we have to wrap up, any favorite comic books?Watchmen, again. And I absolutely love it. Sandman is fantastic. I gear towards graphic novels. I love the superhero stuff at Marvel and so there's a nice comfort thing there, but it's not necessarily a passion for me. So I go more into Sandman and Watchman and whatever Alan Moore did in the '80s and '90s, it's brilliant stuff. Info from Gamespot.com

Developer Respawn Entertainment is being mindful of Apex Legends' accessibility options, and the studio is now looking to further improve the game's accessibility for colorblind players.A Respawn designer named Chad Armstrong tweeted a request to Apex Legends players regarding the issue. Armstrong led with confirmation that the studio "recently changed armor to support colorblind modes," but acknowledged that Respawn still has a lot of work to do to ensure all colorblind Apex Legends players are on equal footing. As such, Armstrong asked for more feedback.Hey, colorblind Apex players!We recently changed armor to support colorblind modes. However, it sounds like for some of you this change has made things worse.I'm hoping to fix that, but to do that I need hear a description of what you're experiencing! Help me help you! — Chad Armstrong (@ShishkaTweets) December 19, 2019In a separate tweet, Armstrong called for specific colorblind experiences in Apex Legends. Armstrong also wants the community to describe their exact kind of colorblindness, as this will, according to him, "help a ton." He apologized on behalf of Respawn and said he hopes to rectify the problem.Community responses thus far have been both tempered and helpful, with many describing their specific level of colorblindness, what hurts them (or their gameplay experience), and how the studio could improve. The Apex Legends subreddit is bristling with recommendations from increasing the contrast between blue and purple to choose colors in the UI in a similar fashion to Overwatch.Respawn has been tinkering with Apex Legends' accessibility options since the battle royale launched on February 4, 2019 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. We praised the game in our initial review for how impressively accessible it is, and several patches since launch have only furthered the game's accessibility. Apex Legends News Apex Legends' Best Gun Is Still OP, But Respawn Plans On Fixing It New Apex Legends Update: Level Cap Increase, Full Patch Notes Apex Legends Crypto Guide: Tips For Season 3's New Character Info from Gamespot.com

The Witcher author Andrzej Sapkowski and game series developer CD Projekt Red have announced they've reached an agreement regarding a legal case filed in 2018, in which Sapkowski was seeking additional compensation for the games' sales.The statement, released by CDPR, did not disclose the details of the agreement, but it did state that it's intended to resolve the current legal case and set a clearer path forward. It also says that the agreement "confers new rights" upon CDPR while retaining its existing title rights for The Witcher games, graphic novels, board games, and merchandise."[T]he agreement satisfies and fully clarifies the requirements and expectations of both parties in light of previously concluded agreements, and establishes a framework for future cooperation between the parties," it reads."We've always admired Mr. Andrzej Sapkowski's works--a great inspiration for the team here at CD Projekt Red,” said CEO Adam Kiciński, in a statement. "I believe today marks a new stage in our continued relationship."Sapkowski had previously filed a legal demand for $16 million (£12.4 million), citing a Polish Act on Copyright and Related Rights that allows extra compensation when the original sum was too low based on "benefits obtained in association with the use of that author's work." Essentially, since the Witcher series took off, Sapkowski's lawyers contended he deserved a bigger cut. CDPR said it "will go to great lengths to ensure amicable resolution" but suggested that $16 million was simply too much.The popularity of the Witcher video game series may have helped lead to the live-action Netflix series starring Henry Cavill, which premieres today. In GameSpot's review, Michael Rougeau found the casting and production top-notch, but said the story was out-of-sequence and difficult to track.Info from Gamespot.com

In an unexpected move today, THQ Nordic's parent company, Embracer Group, has purchased the Little Nightmares developer Tarsier Studios. The acquisition includes the studio, all 65 current employees, and intellectual property rights.Embracer/THQ Nordic announced that it had bought Tarsier for an estimated $9.3 million in cash and $1.2 million in shares. Tarsier's buyout also includes "a conditional earn-out, payable over 10-years to certain sellers who will remain with Tarsier."Tarsier was founded in 2004 and has developed several puzzle-platformers since then, including DLC for both LittleBigPlanet and LittleBigPlanet 2, LittleBigPlanet PS Vita, and Tearaway Unfolded. The studio is best known for the 2017 horror puzzle-platformer Little Nightmares, which received an 8/10 in our review. Tarsier is currently working on Little Nightmares II, expected to launch on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One sometime next year.Tarsier said it's looking forward to the newly-established partnership with Embracer and that it can continue to develop its potential as a studio with Embracer's support. "It feels exciting to, after a 15-year long journey with Tarsier, partner up with Embracer to continue [to] develop the potential that our Studio has," said studio head Andreas Johnsson. "We look forward to the opportunity to continue making exceptionally great games together with Embracer Group."Embracer shared a similar sentiment, saying it's impressed with Tarsier's output as a developer and plans to invest in the studio's projects. “Together with Tarsier, we want to invest in developing new projects, in the same manner they have done successfully in the past," said co-founder and group CEO Lars Wingefors. "We look forward to, together with management and all of Tarsier's employees, embrace the quality and creativity the Studio has, and take the Studio to the next level."2019 was filled with a plethora of acquisitions, from Microsoft buying Rad developer Double Fine to Epic Games picking up Rocket League maker Psyonix. Alongside Tarsier Studios, THQ Nordic also bought Warhorse Studios earlier this year, the Czech team behind the 2018 action-RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance.Info from Gamespot.com

We weren't crazy about the confusing way Netflix's Witcher series was structured, but there was still plenty to enjoy in the adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski's original short stories and books. Chief among those things: the characters themselves, not to mention the actors who played them.But what happened to Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill), Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), Ciri (Freya Allan), and Jaskier (Joey Batey) in the end? We've seen all eight episodes of Netflix's The Witcher, so we can break it all down for you now--and attempt to explain some of the more confusing parts.Geralt and CiriGeralt was told over and over during the series that he'd have to face his destiny eventually, and we found out in Episode 4 that that destiny has a name: Ciri, princess of the kingdom formerly known as Cintra.However, Geralt took a roundabout path to reach the same conclusion. By the time he arrived in Cintra to whisk the girl away from the impending danger of the Nilfgaardian invasion, her grandmother Queen Calanthe had become determined not to let her go. Calanthe threw Geralt in a dungeon, where he remained until the battle, during which he managed to escape--but too late to save the princess.Dejected, Geralt continued his journey, until a fateful encounter that, unbeknownst to him, would eventually lead to the person he'd been seeking all along. You see, Ciri's storyline, despite being stretched out across the whole season, actually only took place over the course of about two weeks (or so showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich told us). After escaping from Cintra, she spent some time as a refugee and encountered the Dryads in the forest known as Brokilon. Lured away by a doppler in Nilfgaardian employ that posed as her former mentor Mousesack, Ciri narrowly escaped, and eventually found herself being cared for by a kind woman.Well, that woman turned out to be the wife of the man whose life Geralt saved on the road after failing to rescue Ciri during the battle. When Geralt falls ill from a monster bite, the man carts the witcher back to his farm, where he and Ciri are finally united.This scene plays out slightly differently in the show than it did in the books, where Ciri and Geralt had previously spent extensive time together when she was younger, and thus already knew one another. Nevertheless, the end result was the same: Ciri is safe, and Geralt has embraced his destiny.Yennefer and JaskierHowever, there are two other characters in The Witcher who Geralt definitely did not embrace: Yennefer and Jaskier.Yennefer parted ways with Geralt on bad terms after a shouting match at the end of Episode 6. She met up with Istredd, who rejected her advances, and was approached instead by Vilgefortz, a mysterious mage who lured her back to the magic school at Aretuza. There, she took part in a conclave of sorcerers and sorceresses as they debated what to do about Nilfgaard's impending invasion.She accompanied Tissaia, Vilgefortz, and other mages to Sodden Hill, where they made a desperate stand against the invading forces. The last we saw of Yennefer, she had unleashed an avalanche of fire onto the battlefield, but neither Tissaia nor Geralt could find any sign of her afterward (or maybe, the scenes of them calling her name through the smoke and ashes were just fever dreams--it's not actually clear). For Jaskier's part, he and Geralt have their own falling out, also in Episode 6. After fighting with Yennefer, the emotionally raw witcher totally jumps down Jaskier's throat as the bard tries to lighten the mood. Geralt blames the events of the show--his "child surprise," the djinn that nearly killed Yennefer, and the current situation involving the dragons--on Jaskier, and begs the universe to be rid of the bard once and for all. Jaskier takes it in stride, but is clearly hurt--and that's the last we see of him in this season of the show. What's next?We already know that The Witcher Season 2 is happening. With the three disparate timelines now fully caught up to one another, we're cautiously optimistic.And there's plenty left for the show to cover: Geralt and Ciri are united at last, but if the show continues following the books, Ciri is far from safe, and they have plenty of adventures left.Yennefer and Geralt will have to make nice at some point, as will Jaskier and Geralt (although it will be a long time before Yennefer and Jaskier begin to see eye to eye).And don't forget about the side characters who are still kicking around: Cahir and Fringilla may have lost the Battle of Sodden Hill, but a battle is not the war, and Nilfgaard isn't defeated. And it's unclear what happened to Triss--whether she made it through the battle is a mystery.We're looking forward to finding out what happens next in The Witcher Season 2. Info from Gamespot.com

Video game winter sales are live all over the place, including Steam and Green Man Gaming, but if you want to try a game before you buy it, then Microsoft has a selection of titles that are available to play for free all weekend. The free-play weekend is available to all Xbox Live Gold or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers--Ultimate includes Gold in its subscription.Gold subscribers can play Valkyria Chronicles 4, Goat Simulator, and Puyo Puyo Champions for free until December 22 at 11:59 PM PT / December 23 at 2:59 AM PT. If you want to keep playing these games after the weekend, Microsoft is offering special discounts for Gold subscribers, which you can see below.Valkyria Chronicles 4 Standard edition -- $15 ($30)Complete edition -- $25 ($50)DLC bundle -- $20 ($25)Goat Simulator -- $2.50 ($10)Puyo Puyo Champions -- $4 ($10)If you want to become a Gold subscriber, Microsoft has an offer that gets you your first three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $1. The offer comes with three months of Discord Nitro, one month of EA Access, and six months of Spotify Premium. Unfortunately, the latter is only for new Spotify Premium subscribers. However, if you're already subscribed to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you can extend your subscription with an awesome deal: 6 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $40.In addition to the free-play weekend, there's currently an Xbox One winter sale that features quite a few of the best games that released in 2019. The discounted games include A Plague Tale: Innocence, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice as well as The Division 2, Borderlands 3, and Resident Evil 2. In some cases, Gold subscribers get even greater discounts. Best Christmas Deals This Huge Winter Game Sale Includes Resident Evil 2, DMC 5 For $18 Each 10 Free Nintendo Switch Games Are Up For Grabs--Here's How To Get Them Best Buy: Nintendo Switch, 4K TVs, And More Featured In Pre-Christmas Sale Switch, Xbox One X, PS4 Pro, And More Featured In Walmart's Holiday Sale 19 Last-Minute Christmas Gift Ideas For Gamers And Techies Info from Gamespot.com

Virizion has arrived in Pokemon Go, but that's not the only Legendary Pokemon you can encounter right now in Niantic's hit mobile game. The Gen 2 mascots Ho-Oh and Lugia have both returned for a special Raid weekend event, giving you another chance to capture the fan-favorite Legendaries.Until 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET on Monday, December 23, players around the world will be able to encounter Ho-Oh and Lugia in five-star Raids. Each Legendary is part-Flying, so Rock and Electric Pokemon will prove to be effective regardless of which one you face. Water Pokemon will also be helpful against Ho-Oh, while Dark and Ghost types have an advantage over Lugia.During the Raid weekend, you'll also still be able to encounter Virizion, Pokemon Go's newest Legendary, in five-star Raids. Virizion is the third member of the Swords of Justice trio from Pokemon Black and White and is a dual Grass/Fighting Pokemon, so you'll want to bring along Flying, Fire, Psychic, Ice, Poison, or Fairy Pokemon when challenging it. Both Ho-Oh and Lugia will be especially effective against it if you can capture one of them before they leave Raids again.Shortly after the Raid weekend ends, Niantic will kick off Pokemon Go's annual holiday celebration. This year's event runs from December 24 to January 1. During that time, you'll be able to encounter holiday versions of Pichu, Pikachu, Raichu, and Stantler, as well as two new Gen 5 Ice Pokemon: Cubchoo and Cryogonal. You'll also have your first chance to catch a Shiny version of Snover.In other Pokemon Go news, Niantic recently rolled out a new Buddy Adventure feature, which gives you new ways to interact with your Buddy Pokemon. Once you've fed your Buddy enough berries, it will follow you around on the game's world map. You can also raise your friendship level with your Buddy Pokemon the more you interact with it, which in turn will unlock other bonuses.Niantic has also announced the date of Pokemon Go's January 2020 Community Day. The event takes place on Sunday, January 19, and runs from 11 AM-2 PM local time in the Northern Hemisphere and from 3 PM-6 PM local time in the Southern Hemisphere. However, the featured Pokemon for next month's event has not been revealed yet. Pokemon Go News Pokemon Go: New Legendary, Virizion, Now Available Pokemon Go's First Community Day Of 2020 Dated Pokemon Go Adding New Buddy Adventure Feature Pokemon Go December 2019 Field Research Task List New Pokemon Go Event Makes It Much Easier To Get Evolution Items Info from Gamespot.com

It's easy to think of how some of your favorite video game genres might fit together. In the space of just pure imagination, it’s possible to completely deconstruct familiar tropes and wildly throw them against a wall to see what sticks, challenging established norms without consequence. It’s this sort of unhinged creativity that makes Supermash initially hard to ignore. By making it easy to choose two genres and mash them together with randomly determined results, Supermash seems to promise a near endless supply of retro concoctions. But instead of delicately blended results, the games that Supermash does spit out lack any identity, while feeling too similar to one another when they do work and downright frustrating when borderline broken.The core conceit of Supermash is the ability to create new games from templates of genres. The genres on offer are varied, ranging from a classic NES action adventure in the vein of The Legend of Zelda to the sneaky steps of a Metal Gear-inspired stealth game. Each genre template plucks a core idea from its inspirations and uses that as the core mechanic for your eventual combinations. For example, a JRPG will lend turn-based combat to any game it’s matched with, while a shoot-'em-up will introduce vertically scrolling terrains to whatever other genre you choose to pair with it.Supermash is incredibly easy to get going--pick two genres, decide on a desired game length and difficulty, and use mostly single-use collectible cards to make small cosmetic and gameplay changes to the initial result. The rest is handled by Supermash’s procedural generation, which doesn’t always do the best job of masking the limited templates it's clearly working with. Within an hour, I was recognizing the same layouts in both stealth and action adventure mashes, and even routinely seeing the same visual palates used to dress them up in. Seeing the strings behind the puppetry would’ve been disappointing but forgivable, though, if the games themselves were any fun to play.Most of the creations lack any substantial differences between them. Whether you’re playing a shrunken-down Zelda-like dungeon or jumping through a Mario-inspired platformer, you’re generally doing one of three things: finding a specific character, retrieving a specific item, or killing a certain number of a specific enemy, all within a short timeframe. These don’t change with the genres you’re putting together, which often makes genres meant to be less linear pointless. Genres like JRPGs or metroidvanias are much more than just their styles of combat or collectible upgrades, but Supermash never gives you levels or goals that reflect this. And even when the objectives do coalesce with the main genre influence, they’re just unsatisfying to play. Platforming feels floaty and imprecise, dungeon crawling becomes nothing more than a repetitive checklist, and shoot-'em-ups never capture the exhilaration of their inspirations.Randomly assigned modifiers called "glitches" can somewhat differentiate one mash from the next, but more often than not, they result in more game-breaking issues. A glitch can, for example, spawn a new enemy every time you attack, or conversely heal you every time you take damage. These serve to either eliminate any challenge or increase it to frustrating levels, regardless of the difficulty setting you assign prior to making the game. Others are more frustrating, though. I had a glitch that moved me in a random direction for a few seconds after each attack, which made simple movement a chore. It forced me to just forgo combat entirely while navigating a dungeon, further restricting the already limited actions I had. There’s no way to turn these randomly assigned glitches off either, so when you’re dealt a bad hand, you just have to restart and hope for a better result next time.That isn’t to say there aren’t some combinations that aren’t at least amusing. Playing a 2D stealth game with the turn-based combat of classic Final Fantasy games doesn’t work mechanically (having to go into an action menu to perform a stealth kill is ridiculous), but it does remind you of how good each of the individual parts are in other games. But Supermash’s multitude of little games never come close to reaching the entertaining heights of the genres they attempt to recreate, which makes it difficult to want to test the abilities of its random generation further after your initial attempts.Encompassing all of this experimentation is a thin story about three friends trying to keep their video game retail store open, with the crew hoping to package and sell some of these new creations to spark some interest. Story objectives set some parameters for your next mashup, indicating what genres and modifiers to use, without really steering you towards any great outcomes. There’s an additional journal to work through with objectives tied to each genre you have at your disposal, each connecting small but throwaway stories within them.Progressing this journal is incredibly frustrating, though, since the items required for completion are populated into your generated levels at random. You’re forced to repeatedly mash together the same genres in the hopes of finally getting one that has what you need, which only serves to expose the repetitive nature of them even faster. Each chapter culminates with a boss fight specific to the genre you’re completing, and despite being some of the only handcrafted bits of retro action in Supermash, they fail to be any more exciting than the random contraptions you put together. Most are one-note and devoid of challenge, only requiring repetitive attacks and simple movements to overcome. They’re not worth the time you need to invest to unlock them.It’ll be rare for you to want to save any of the creations Supermash lets you construct, which is indicative of how shallow and unsatisfying they all are at their core. In a bid to try and do so many things right, Supermash forgets the fundamentals of all the genres it tries to encompass, while also overreaching by trying to make them all work in some way together. None of Supermash’s creations feel close to replicating the joy of their inspirations, and instead serve as reminders that there are far more focused and polished attempts at each individual one that will reward your time better. There’s no doubting the imaginative idea at Supermash’s core, but it ends up choking on its ambition.Info from Gamespot.com

The first island you visit in The Touryst is a tiny, perpetually sunny place, and it's full of spots to have a sit or a lie down. Having a rest doesn't achieve anything, but I found that my immediate instinct was to give my character a moment to luxuriate on a bed in one of the island's small personal rooms--this is a game about vacationing, after all, and on any vacation it's important to relax. The Touryst is a soothing and relaxing experience thanks to the lovingly rendered voxel graphics and the (mostly) gentle gameplay, and despite some occasional moments of frustration, playing it really does feel like taking a mini-vacation.You play as a moustachioed man in a loud shirt who is tasked with travelling between different island vacation spots and collecting cores that rest within the game's scant few monuments--essentially short dungeons. You move between beach parties under orange sunsets, lush tropical expanses, and Mediterranean tourist spots, before diving into murky underground caverns that contain jumping puzzles and non-violent boss encounters. It's a strange combination of elements, but The Touryst wears its strangeness on its sleeve.This is, above all else, a game about the joy of a holiday. As you play, you unlock new islands to visit, and while each one is small, they also all have their own distinct flavor, as well as unique activities to discover and engage with. The superb voxel art style imbues each setting with personality and makes the simple act of sightseeing a pleasure. Simply existing in these beautiful locations is inherently enjoyable, and while each new setting won't take long to fully explore, I found walking around each one calming.The monuments themselves contain puzzles and tests of your dexterity, and working your way through them is essential to unlock every island and complete the game's story. They're ultimately the least interesting part of the game, but they're certainly not without their charms. They can be quite challenging, but the key is usually to just remember that there's an optimal solution to the puzzles, even when it seems like they're just asking you to nail precise jumps. Often, how you're manipulating the camera to line up your angles and judge the space you're in is as important as your ability to control your trajectory; if you're messing a jump up often, it's because you haven't quite cracked what that room is asking of you.Even so, every now and then, the game asks for a greater level of precision from your actions than the controls want to give you. The controls are a bit floaty for how small some of the platforms you're landing on are, and one jumping puzzle took me, at a conservative estimate, 25 attempts to get. The rooms inside monuments are viewed from an isometric perspective, which can make judging gaps difficult. Any situation that requires you to throw an object with great precision is frustrating too because of how the throwing arc works, but these moments of frustration only stick out because they are rare.Outside of these moments, The Touryst is a game with a lot of chill. One island doesn't even have a monument at all--instead it has a movie theatre that shows a short highlight reel of moments from the rest of the game, an art gallery that you'll eventually populate with your own photography, and, best of all, a retro arcade with three cabinets. There's a racing game (based on the studio's own Switch game Fast RMX), a strange platformer, and a Breakout clone, all offering brief diversions that successfully sucked me in for an hour. Completing the high scores in these arcade games (and earning the arbitrary cash reward) is challenging, but there's something almost zen about a game that encourages you to waste your time like this--it perfectly captures my very specific childhood memory of discovering arcade machines in local pubs while on holiday and shovelling coins into them. The Touryst, appropriately, frames everything you do as an act of tourism.Completing sidequests will earn you money, but cash is largely inconsequential to completing the game--by the time the credits rolled I had hundreds of coins left with very little to spend them on. The sidequests play into the shaggy nature of the game--you don't complete them because they're helpful, but because you want to see everything the game world has to offer. I spent a long time down a mine you encounter on one island, engaged with a spelunking challenge that lets you collect gems that can then be exchanged for money. I spent so much time down there not because I needed money--I never even traded the gems in. I did it because the mines are particularly enjoyable--they let you abseil down cliffs, swing between ledges, and even ride rickety minecarts as you delve deeper and deeper.There are plenty of other activities scattered across The Touryst's small world. You can fix up a boring beach party, then liven it up further by buying new records for the DJ; you can show off your sporting prowess in surfing, soccer, and pull-up minigames; you can search the game world for photography subjects with the camera you're given early on, or hunt down several carefully hidden scrolls. The sidequests are often very simple and easy but watching as island life slowly shifts and changes based on your actions is a delight.I found that as the credits rolled on The Touryst's strange ending, I was keen for them to finish so I could jump straight back in and mop up the remaining objectives. Admittedly, even if you want to do absolutely everything, The Touryst isn't very long—my completion total sat at 94% after five and a half hours. But perhaps it's better this way--after all, the best vacations often end before you've had a chance to really get homesick. It's the next best thing to an actual holiday. Info from Gamespot.com

Borderlands 3 is preparing for the festive season with a new trailer, a sale, and some new footage from its new DLC, Moxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot, which is out now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. A new hotfix patch is also coming later today on all platforms. First up, the new holiday trailer encourages you to "give the gift of mayhem" this Christmas. You could certainly do worse--Borderlands 3 earned an 8/10 in our review.The new DLC, which launched on December 19, has been shown off as part of The Borderlands Show, which can be watched below. This includes sections and gameplay that we have not seen yet, giving us a taste of how the heist will go. There's about 15 minutes of footage from the campaign in here, followed by discussion about the game. You can also check out our own footage from the DLC here:The sale, which includes the newly released Stadia version of the game, takes 35% off the price of the standard, deluxe, and super deluxe versions of the game. The discount runs on different dates for each separate version of the game, but here's when you'll be able to get the discount:Stadia: December 17 – January 7Xbox One: December 19 – January 2Epic Games store: December 19 – January 7PlayStation 4: December 20 – January 6Borderlands 3 has continued to update with new content since launch; if you want to play with any friends who get the game for Christmas, make sure you've downloaded the latest updates. Borderlands 3 News New Borderlands 3 Hotfix Update Coming Today; Full Patch Notes Revealed New Borderlands 3 Story DLC Releases Next Month Info from Gamespot.com

2064: Read Only Memories has released the first issue of its comic sequel, simply titled Read Only Memories. The comic, which is published by IDW, follows the events of the game, and features Lexi Rivers working as a private investigator in a beach town 50 miles away from Neo-San Francisco.According to the press release description of the issue, "her usual work of tracking down promiscuous partners gets turned upside down when the seemingly simple case of finding a robot’s human lover drops her into the middle of the town’s feuding factions."The main story in this issue was written Sina Grace, with art by Stefano Simeone. It also features a short story titled Angels Don't Cry, written by Mary Kenney and drawn by Christina Antoinette Neofotistou. The 36-page first issue has a standard cover and two variants, all shown below. The comic is available in both physical and digital forms. Buy Read Only Memories #1 Read Only Memories will run for four issues, with the second part releasing in January 2020. A preview of the first issue is available online.2064: Read Only Memories is an adventure game developed by Midboss, and it received an 8/10 in our 2015 review. Reviewer Daniel Starkey praised the game for its tackling of important issues of identity. "In the face of a world and a society that is still struggling to accept lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and transgender people, ROM clearly says that if you can relate to a pretend gender-fluid robot, you can relate and connect with anyone. It's a bold, declarative statement backed with aesthetic skill on nearly every front. ROM is a resounding success and one of the most affecting adventures I've ever had."Info from Gamespot.com

Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper's new movie, Cats, is out in theatres this weekend. Reviews have begun to appear online ahead of the premiere, and the movie sounds like an unsettling CGI nightmare.The film--which features unsettling CGI-cat versions of actors like Ian McKellan, James Corden, Idris Elba, Judi Dench, and Taylor Swift--currently has a 31 percent rating on GameSpot sister site Metacritic. We've collected some quick-hit highlights of the movie's critical reception below.Cats is based on the iconic Andrew Lloyd Webber stage musical of the same name. It's Hooper's second musical movie, following 2012's Les Miserables. It also stars Jason Derulo, Jennifer Hudson, Rebel Wilson, and Francesca Hayward. It hits theatres on December 20, which is the same day that the divisive Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits screens.What The Reviewers Are Saying About Catsi09's Cats movie review went with the headline, "I Have Seen Sights No Human Should See." Reviewer Alex Cranz elaborated, "You will witness things no eyes should see and things nobody should be able to do, and you will be in awe. And that's more than enough."The Chicago Tribune used the headline, "Wrong Animal. It's A Dog" for their Cats review. "Is it the worst film of 2019, or simply the most recent misfire of 2019?" reviewer Michael Phillips said. "Reader, I swear on a stack of pancakes: Cats cannot be beat for sheer folly and misjudgment and audience-reaction-to-Springtime for Hitler'-in-The Producers stupefaction."Lena Wilson of The Playlist said of Cats, "Tom Hooper’s Adaptation Of A Broadway Classic Is A CGI Nightmare.""Once Hooper’s 110 minutes of Cats are over, theater is dead," Wilson said. "One lucky Jellicle cat is dead. And we unchosen ones are left, tragically, to continue living."The Los Angeles Times writer Justin Chang wrote: "For the most part, Cats is both a horror and an endurance test, a dispatch from some neon-drenched netherworld where the ghastly is inextricable from the tedious. Every so often it does paws--ahem, pause--to rise to the level of a self-aware hoot."USA Today's Brian Truitt described the movie in this way: "A furry Taylor Swift sprinkles the contents of a bedazzled can of catnip to create a fog of intoxicating magical dust, and that's not even in the top five truly insane things that happen in Cats."Collider's review of Cats said, "You can never get swept up in Catsbecause it’s so abrasively weird and anti-narrative that you needed some kind of fearless auteur like a Jonathan Glazer (Under the Skin) who would lean into those sensibilities rather than flail desperately at making it palatable for audiences."For more on the critical reaction to Cats, go to Metacritic. Info from Gamespot.com

Socks are the classic bad holiday gift, but what if they were also prohibitively expensive? Enter the Puma Active Gaming Footwear sock, an absurd example of capitalism run amok that you can wear on your feet. Next time you ask "where we droppin' boys?" your feet could be swaddled in luxury.That luxury costs about £80 through the Puma store, or about $100 USD--though they aren't available to purchase in the USA, where we appreciate our rugged foot freedom. These monuments to excess promise a "knitted upper" for comfort and breathability, a "low rubber outsole for grip," and a custom fit. All of these features suggest Puma believes video gaming involves a lot of athletic foot movement, so we're not entirely sure what they think gaming actually is.Pictured: A sock.But wait, there's more! It also features three "modes," by which they mean features. Sock features. Those include a medial wrap-up grip ("SEEK mode"), lateral wrap-up support ("ATTACK mode"), and heel wrap-up stability ("CRUISE and DEFENSE mode"). So basically, these are just different weaves to support different foot parts.If you happen to live in the UK or Australia, you can order the socks now with free express shipping. And if you do, and then you rocket to the top-tier of Fortnite competitive play and win millions of dollars, make sure to thank your socks in the acceptance speech to teach us a lesson. Info from Gamespot.com

The Johnny Knoxville-created Jackass film franchise is coming back. Paramount Pictures has announced that the film series based on the MTV show will return in 2021 with a fourth movie. The untitled movie will premiere on March 5, 2021, Deadline reports.The first Jackass debuted in 2002 with numerous sequels coming thereafter. In total, the franchise has grossed more than $335 million at the box office. The Jackass films were directed by Jeff Tremaine, who also directed the Bad Grandpa movie starring Knoxville.It's expected that the new Jackass movie, which would be the fourth in the main franchise, will follow the format of the earlier ones with Knoxville and his pals performing all manner of dangerous and awkward stunts played for laughs and shock value.There is no word on who else beyond Knoxville will return for Jackass 4. The MTV series was co-created by Knoxville and Spike Jonze, who would go on to earn an Oscar nomination for Being John Malkovich and then win an Oscar for the Joaquin Phoenix movie Her.Jackass 4's March 5, 2021 release date puts it up against Sony's Masters of the Universe movie. Info from Gamespot.com

Borderlands 3 has launched its new holiday DLC and is rolling out a hotfix patch to go alongside it. As usual the patch will populate automatically if you're in the main menu, though you may need to quit out and wait until the sign appears to make it happen if you're in-game at the time. You can check the full patch notes below.The hotfix addresses several concerns and bug reports, and decreases the shields and armor on Maliwan Deathspheres in the Takedown at the Maliwan Blacksite event. Gearbox says that the most recent patch improved the navigation of the Deathspheres, but that made them harder to hit, so the lowered shields and armor compensate for the change. The studio has also made some back-end changes to improve matchmaking in Takedown."The Takedown matchmaking service now won’t transition players into the Takedown until a full party of four players have been found," it said. "We believe players would prefer matchmaking take a little longer in order to enter the Takedown with a full party. We'll be monitoring this change and will adjust as necessary."Many of these changes are to the Takedown, and soon you'll be able to jump in regardless of party size. From December 31 through January 16, you can play with any number of players, and matchmaking will be updated to get into parties quickly instead of necessaaraily waiting for a full party. The game is also on sale on most platforms. Borderlands 3 December 19 HotfixAddressed a reported concern that Terror was sometimes not dropping his loot when re-running Agonizer 9000Addressed a reported concern where loot could sometimes fall through the floor surrounding the Agonizer 9000Addressed a perceived progression blocker where enemies would sometimes not spawn immediately for the objective “Kill Traitors” in the mission “Porta Prison”Addressed a reported concern that Zane’s “Trick of the Light” skill was sometimes reporting lower bonus damage values in its description than what it was awardingAddressed a reported concern that Moze’s “Desperate Measures” skill sometimes wasn’t awarding the damage bonus to Iron Bear’s Right GunInfo from Gamespot.com