Pearl Abyss has released additional details for Guardian, the brand-new class coming to Black Desert Online, including when you can expect to play as her. For those looking to try out the class, Guardian pre-registration will start December 24 and the character will officially launch on January 22, 2020."The Guardian wields a battleaxe and shield and uses heavy melee attacks to suppress her enemies," Pearl Abyss writes in a press release. "She charges enemies and grabs them by the neck to smash them with her shield as her axe mercilessly hacks away at her foes. She is the bastion of the battlefield and strikes with perfectly calculated blows to fend off all who dare oppose her. The Guardian uses a variety of skills to control the ebb and flow of the battlefield with wide and powerful strikes of her axe and shield."Pearl Abyss details some of Guardian's abilities in the press release, such as Boulder Crush (a powerful melee attack that strikes three times) and Mountain Slam (an area-of-effect, earthquake-like attack). The Guardian has some notable combinations as well. Mutilation sweeps all the enemies in front of her off their feet, and also causes her to charge energy. This energy can be released with Black Blood Slaughter, giving Guardian a mid-range option to compliment her primarily close combat-focused abilities.Guardian is the 19th class in Black Desert Online, an MMORPG recognized for its extensive character customization options, which are more in-depth than most games. A recent update added new Succession skills to the hit-and-run specialist Musa and one-on-one duelist Maehwa, following updates that provided additional abilities for the Warrior, Ranger, Tamer, and Valkyrie. Succession skills are unlocked at level 56, providing characters with enhanced variations of their respective starter skills.Black Desert Online is available for PC, Xbox One, and PS4. A version for iOS and Android devices, called Black Desert Mobile, exists as well.Info from Gamespot.com

2020 is almost here, so we've asked GameSpot's staff to share which games they're looking forward to most in the new year. New consoles are going to dominate the headlines, but at the end of the day it's all about the games, and there are a ton of exciting ones to look forward to. When you're done reading this entry, follow along with all of our other end-of-the-year coverage collected in our Best of 2019 hub and our Most Anticipated of 2020 hub.The Last of Us is one of my favorite games of the decade, and back in 2013, I probably would have told you it had the perfect ending. I wouldn't have thought it needed a sequel, or that I particularly wanted one. But the more I see of The Last of Us Part II, the more I remember how much I loved those characters--and I desperately want to see more of Ellie and her story.Part II takes place a few years after the events of the first game, and from what we've seen of Ellie so far, she looks different. Hardened. Mad. The bits of gameplay Naughty Dog has shown portray a ruthless fighter; she moves fluidly from one action to the next, though she's still pretty scrappy. If I didn't know for certain the combat we saw at E3 2018 was all real-time and player-driven, I would have assumed some of it was scripted, given how natural it all looks.Writer/director Neil Druckmann said that, along with an overhauled engine, new combat mechanics, and a new stealth system, the team "revamped [their] animation system to fully express Ellie's desperation, resourcefulness, and unique agility." I'm interested to see how the combat has evolved mechanically since 2013, but more than that, I'm excited to see exactly how Ellie has changed and how her personality and emotional state are expressed through her movements.Games have the unique potential to portray traditional narrative beats--story, characters, themes--through actions you take as the player, and this is one of my favorite things about the medium. The Last of Us did an excellent job of it already, and I can't wait to see if Part II ends up taking it further. I'm also personally so excited to play as Ellie in general; I identify with her much more than I did Joel, and I want to see how that affects my experience in this world, if at all.Most recently, we learned that The Last of Us Part II has been delayed from February to May 2020. Some people take game delays as a bad sign, but I often see them as positives for both the final version of the game and the people working on it. If a game needs more time, it needs more time. And The Last of Us Part II is a game I'm willing to wait for--even if I also really want to play it right now.Info from Gamespot.com

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot will cover the entire Dragon Ball Z story, from the Saiyan Saga all the way to Buu, when it releases on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on January 17, 2020. It will even cover the series' filler content, including the episode where Goku and Piccolo learn to drive. But until now, one element of the classic Dragon Ball Z experience had been missing from previews--the iconic opening theme song.We're not talking about Rock the Dragon from the original English release here; Dragon Ball Z Kakarot opens with the original Japanese theme, Cha-La Head Cha-La, alongside scenes from the game that sometimes match with the original anime opening. The opening of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, featuring the tune that debuted alongside the series in 1989, is below.While Goku is the main star of the game, you'll also play as numerous other characters in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, including Gohan, Vegeta, and the fused Vegito.Preorder bonuses are shown at the end of the trailer above, and include a unique subquest, an additional cooking item, and early access to training with Bonyu, a new character designed by series creator Akira Toriyama.Info from Gamespot.com

Amazon's Lord of the Rings TV series is currently seeking members of the New Zealand public to play orcs. Specifically, according to LadBible's reporting on what casting agents are seeking, they're after people who have "wonderful noses" or "character faces," and people who are either over six feet tall or under five feet.Two casting agencies are reaching out in the hope of finding orcs for the series, and are reportedly looking for people of any background and ethnicity with a lot of freckles and hair. As the Lord of the Rings movie series was also filmed in New Zealand, it's theoretically feasible that some of the extras who played orcs in the movies could return.According to LadBible, they're also seeking "long lithe dancers," "stocky mean-looking bikers," and "redheads of all ages, shapes and sizes," to portray orcs in the series. The idea, they say, is to find people whose inherently interesting faces will require less make-up.According to stuff.co.nz, the casting calls for Lord of the Rings--for orcs or otherwise--are now "urgent," as Amazon looks to get moving on their enormous fantasy series.Amazon's Lord of the Rings has already been renewed for a second season before the first has been filmed. Morfydd Clark has been cast as a young Galadriel for the show, while Will Poulter has left the show over a scheduling conflict. The show will be set during the Second Age of J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world.Info from Gamespot.com

Right now, you can nab the entire Dead Space trilogy for less than $15 USD if you have an Xbox Live Gold membership. And since all three games are Xbox One backwards compatible, you don't have to pull out your Xbox 360 to play them. Additionally, all three will be playable day one on Xbox Series X as well.Xbox One Dead Space DiscountsDead Space -- $3.74 ($5.24)Dead Space 2 -- $5 ($7)Dead Space 3 -- $5 ($7)I'll defend the Dead Space trilogy (including the third entry, warts and all) to my dying breath. Developed by Visceral Games, the Dead Space trilogy pushed the envelope when it came to horror games--providing an over-the-shoulder, more action-focused variation to the survival horror genre that encouraged you to quickly take careful aim and shoot enemies in specific places. All three games are incredibly immersive, utilizing a minimalistic hud and environmental storytelling to bring the player into the life of Isaac Clarke, a simple engineer who's repeatedly tasked with combating a horrifying, zombie-like threat called the necropmorphs.Over the years, Dead Space has shared a connection with Resident Evil, first taking inspiration from Capcom's horror series and then providing some of the blueprints for the format found in 2019's Resident Evil 2. Though the first game is now over 10 years old, Dead Space is still worth going back to--and if you're going to play the first game, you might as well see the entire trilogy all the way through.The Dead Space trilogy isn't the only collection of games on sale. Thanks to the Xbox Holiday Sale, there are discounts on a wide variety of titles, including GameSpot's 2019 game of the year (Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice) and 2018 game of the year (Red Dead Redemption 2). Other notable games from 2019 are on sale too, such as A Plague Tale: Innocence, Gears 5, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. And unlike the Dead Space trilogy, you don't need to be an Xbox Live Gold subscriber to take advantage of them.Below, you can find some of our favorite deals, but be sure to check out the Xbox Games Store if you want the entire list of discounted titles.Best Xbox One Holiday Sale Game DealsA Plague Tale: Innocence -- $30 ($50)Assassin's Creed Odyssey -- $19.79 ($60)Borderlands 3 -- $39 ($60)Call of Duty: Modern Warfare -- $45 ($60)Dead Cells -- $18.74 ($25)The Division 2 -- $18 ($60)Dragon Ball FighterZ -- $19.79 ($60)Far Cry New Dawn -- $20 ($40)FIFA 20 -- $36 ($60)Forza Horizon 4 -- $36 ($60)Gears 5 -- $30 ($60)Generation Zero -- $21 ($30)Ghost Recon Breakpoint -- $24 ($60)Hitman 2 -- $19.79 ($60)Jump Force -- $30 ($60)Madden NFL 20 -- $36 ($60)Mortal Kombat 11 -- $30 ($60)NBA 2K20 -- $30 ($60)Need For Speed Heat -- $39 ($60)No Man's Sky -- $25 ($50)Overwatch: Legendary Edition -- $24 ($60)Playerunknown's Battlegrounds -- $13 ($20)Rage 2 -- $24 ($60)Rainbow Six Siege Deluxe Edition -- $13.19 ($40)Red Dead Redemption 2 -- $36 ($60)Resident Evil 2 -- $19.79 ($60)Sea of Thieves: Anniversary Edition -- $25 ($50)Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice -- $45 ($60)Star Wars Battlefront 2 -- $15 ($25)Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order -- $54 ($60)Trials Rising -- $12.50 ($25)Void Bastards -- $24 ($30)The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt -- $12 ($40)World War Z -- $20 ($40)Info from Gamespot.com

Bake 'n Switch, which was revealed during the recent Switch Indie World Showcase, is a co-op baking game that looks a lot like Overcooked but with baking buns rather than working kitchens, and with combat thrown in. The game, which is coming to PC as well as Switch, has now announced a release window.Bake 'n Switch be available in summer 2020--that's the American summer, which could be winter, depending on your region. It's available to wishlist on Steam now. This is the first console game from developer Streamline games; the studio previously developed Nightstream for mobile devices.The game will feature battles and boss fights alongside all the baking, which should make for an interesting combination. You'll need to beat the buns up before you can hurl them into the oven for cooking, for example. There will also be a PvP mode, where teams compete to bake the most dough.The game will be playable at numerous consumer events throughout 2020 in the lead up to its eventual release.Info from Gamespot.com

You've earned the right to mess with the XCOM formula when you're the person chiefly responsible for it. Julian Gollop was the co-lead designer on the original XCOM: UFO Defense in 1994, and Phoenix Point, from Gollop's new studio Snapshot Games, is a self-described spiritual successor to XCOM. At first it feels all too familiar: You play the eponymous private military organisation defending Earth from an alien threat, patching holes in the sinking ship via tactical combat and strategic upgrades. But Phoenix Point reinvents the formula in both big and small ways, sending changes rippling across the strategic map and tinkering with the nuts and bolts of close combat. Not every new idea is equally successful, though many of them are welcome, and in sum deliver a refresh that points the genre in an exciting new direction.As with the first XCOM sequel, Terror from the Deep, the threat here comes from the ocean. A mysterious mist is creeping at the coast, luring people into the sea and returning them as Lovecraftian fish monsters--all scaly-skinned, newly betentacled, and packing crustaceous heat, an army of soldier crabs. Phoenix Point is joined in defending the planet by three ideologically distinct factions: New Jericho want to destroy the aliens, the Synedrion want to coexist with them, and the Disciples of Anu want to synthesize human and alien life. Many of the missions you undertake will inevitably involve offending at least one of the factions and so, no matter how impartial you to try to remain, eventually you're going to have to choose sides. It's a depressing, relevant example of humanity's failure to come together in the face of existential catastrophe. On the world map, presented here as it was in the original XCOM as the Geoscape, a rotatable globe pockmarked with scouted points of interest, the mist is a red miasma slowing enveloping the planet, a Doomsday Clock ticking closer to midnight one continent at a time. This strategic layer runs in real time as your Phoenix squads fly from one flashpoint to the next, while you work on increasing base capacity, manufacturing new arms, and researching new military solutions. All the while the red mist spreads, escalating the danger as new nests appear and strangling your ability to fight back as faction outposts fall. It's the perfect visual representation of the odds you're facing and the seeming inevitability of defeat. Despite the abstraction, it's genuinely painful to see the mist consume a settlement you had heroically rescued only days earlier.At a strategic level, Phoenix Point wants to let you pick your own path. The Geoscape is at the start shrouded in the fog of war. Through scanning nearby areas and aerial exploration it soon becomes a sprawling, cluttered morass of multi-coloured icons describing your own bases, factional havens, key quest destinations, potential scavenging sites, neutral colonies, alien nests, and other unidentified locations. You have considerable freedom in navigating your own route across this world. You can basically travel wherever you like and, when you arrive, you can usually decide whether or not to take on the mission you've encountered. Want to save this low-threat scavenging mission for some new recruits further down the line? Just hit abort and fly your veteran squad into more dangerous territory.It's liberating, at least early on, as you jet around, scouting the map, picking and choosing your next mission. Yet by the time you have multiple squads traversing the globe, and you're juggling a handful of different flight paths across a Geoscape that has exploded into a galaxy of competing icons, that liberation is swamped by confusion. It's not that it's hard to tell what you could do next--important story missions and factional quests are highlighted--it's more that there are so many things to do that it's easy to lose yourself in endless distractions or worse, drown under an overwhelming wave of map markers.Indeed, the chaotic, confounding clutter of the Geoscape is emblematic of some wider interface issues. The research screen throws every possible tech into a long list with scant attention given to how useful it might or where it might lead. There's a research order function, but you can only send one tech to the front of the queue, not adjust the order further down. Inventory management is a mess when it comes to comparing different weapons to equip and deciding which new gear to manufacture.The the freeform structure of the Geoscape guarantees no two campaigns will play out alike. What those campaigns have in common, however, is a mentally exhausted player. You're pulled in so many directions. Two colonies are under attack in India but an alien nest needs eradicating in Malaysia. New Jericho wants to assist its research in China but the Synedrion wants you to sabotage Jericho's research lab in Australia. And all the while there are dozens of unexplored spots in Africa that you haven't even visited yet. But it’s worth battling through the stress and clutter to get to the combat.What typically awaits at a destination is a bout of small-scale, turn-based combat. Occasionally you will stumble upon a simple narrative event that will give you a decision to make and readjust your resources or factional reputation in response, but for the most part, you will find yourself engaged in a firefight.At a combat level, Phoenix Point is all about tactical flexibility. There are four primary classes--heavy, assault, sniper, and melee--but perk trees are semi-randomly rolled for each soldier, and you can also allow them to multi-class. This means no two soldiers have to be the same, and you have a lot of room to tailor each six-person squad to suit your preferred style of play. My first heavy was the typical tank character, lots of health and a big cannon, but later adopted a secondary class and would jet pack onto a roof and launch a few grenades to destroy the enemy's cover before switching to a sniper rifle to finish them off.Many of the man-made structures on a map can be damaged and destroyed. Grenades and other heavy weapons can remove that pillar you were relying on for cover. Even the humble pistol can shoot through a thin wall, hitting anything that was on the other side and leaving them more exposed for a follow-up shot. My jet-packing heavy nearly bit the dust one time when the roof they'd landed on gave way in an explosion, dumping them into the room below where a nasty crab creature lurked. Fortunately, on the next turn, they were able to jetpack to safety out of the newly renovated ceiling.When you take a shot, you aren't given a percentage chance to hit while some dice are rolled to see if you did any damage. Instead, bullet trajectories are said to be physically simulated, meaning if you can see something, you can hit it. There are two ways to take a shot. The default has you aiming generally at the centre of the target's mass. Take an aimed shot, though, and you're given a first-person view where what you point at is what you'll shoot. You can target an enemy's limbs or their weapon or even another object in the environment, and for the most part you're likely to hit it. There is a degree of fuzziness here--you'll see the crosshair surrounded by two rings, the inner one indicating where most of the shot(s) will hit and the outer accounting for any remainder--and the accuracy and damage of any particular shot is still affected by the weapon's range and other stats. But it's very satisfying to destroy an enemy's shield with one well-aimed sniper shot, then follow it up with an assault rifle round to the now-exposed head.The ability to target specific limbs becomes vitally important as more diverse enemy types start populating the battlefield--you'll very quickly need to worry about more than those wielding shields. The sheer variety of enemy types and behaviours issues an interesting challenge every turn and have you constantly thinking about cover, height, range, support, supplies, teamwork and priorities. In addition, every enemy is susceptible to a well-aimed shot that cripples a specific limb, thus slowing its movement, nullifying its special ability, destroying its weapon or inhibiting its mode of attack. As a result there's so much more to think about in combat than just methodically moving your squad forward and shooting the enemy when they appear.The flexibility is heightened by the action point system that provides more options than just moving and shooting. Every soldier has 4 APs, but different weapons and abilities use different amounts, and the ground a soldier can cover in 1 AP is affected by their speed stat. Two of my assault troops worked in perfect tandem: one was a shotgun expert with the speed to close quickly on their target and use a debuff that reduced the APs of nearby hostiles, the other hung back a bit, offering support with their longer-range rifle, entering overwatch every turn thanks to its cheaper cost, and running in with a medkit if the other took damage. Both characters started out the same, but the wildly different level-up choices I made for them, coupled with the capacity to spend their APs every turn on a mostly unique suite of options, meant they felt distinct--like characters whose behaviour I had authored and who I was personally responsible for. I'd invested in their stats, tweaking them in parallel to become complementary, and as a result, had become emotionally invested in them. When you lose a soldier it hits hard, of course. Any soldier that goes down in a fight is permanently dead, and you have to recruit a novice to replace them. Yet while your emotional investment can never be fully recovered, the stat investment can be at least partially reclaimed. This is because experience points earned from completing missions is awarded to each individual soldier who participated and to a common pool. You're free to dip into this pool whenever you wish--maybe you just need a few more points to unlock that next tier perk you've had your eye on--but my strategy was to save the pool for new recruits. Every time I hired a new soldier I was able to level them up several times before they had pulled a trigger. It's a clever, flexible system that means veteran troop losses are a setback, but never a debilitating or irredeemable one.The tactical combat doesn’t suffer from the clumsy interface design that plagues the strategic layer. There are convenient overlays informing you of movement ranges, AP consumption, and targeting possibilities, it’s easy to scroll between different terrain heights, and everything requires deliberate selection so you don’t end up performing an action you didn’t intend. However I did very, very occasionally run into a problem where the overlay would tell me I had line of sight from a certain tile if I moved there, only to move there and discover I couldn’t actually see the enemy. And after dozens of hours of play, I still have no idea why my soldiers would sometimes start a new mission with their weapons needing reloading, nor indeed how to reload them when not in a mission. But these feel like trivial concerns in the grander scheme of what is an overall robust combat engine.Phoenix Point has plenty of bold new ideas for the XCOM genre, but not all of them have the same level of shine. It can feel a bit unwieldy at times, a bit less user-friendly than you'd hope. But it's a game that feels more concerned with experimentation than perfection, that's more interested in discovering new paths to take than walking one that's already well-trodden. As a hybrid tactical/strategy game, it's dynamic and deep with the occasionally disorientating misfire along the way. As a contribution to the genre XCOM first defined, it's a well-aimed shot. Info from Gamespot.com

Iterating on the Xbox One allowed Microsoft to solidify its vision for the Xbox Series X, the next-generation console revealed by Phil Spencer at The Game Awards. Speaking to GameSpot, Spencer recalled a showcase in 2016, when he indicated that the console could become upgradable and how that was originally one piece of a larger Xbox Series X picture."What was that the showcase event we did here like four years ago down in San Francisco where I went on my confusing rant about hardware upgrades?" he said in our interview. "We were working on both Xbox One S and Xbox One X, I don't think we had announced either one at the time. One of the stepping stones for us getting here [to Xbox Series X] was Xbox One X, a box that was 100% compatible with Xbox One S but faster."We created Xbox One S, created Xbox One X, took a lot of feedback from fans, tried to make that feedback loop from both customers and developers pretty critical to who we are, and that's been a pretty important part of our journey and we said we want to make that a core foundation of Project Scarlett."For Spencer and the Xbox team, the seamless compatibility between Xbox One S and the considerably more powerful Xbox One X speaks to the ethos Microsoft has for its gaming ecosystem, particularly for Xbox Series X."This idea that ... there's no boost mode, there's nothing you need to like query, you can play your Xbox One games on an Xbox One X and they play better … That was a stepping stone in our learning to say, 'Hey, well, how do we then take games to a new architecture but ensure that we get the benefits of that architecture with the game,'" Spencer said. "Because we didn't want to slow everything down so that you don't see all the benefits of what the new hardware gives you. Xbox Series X News Xbox Series X Price: Everything Microsoft Has Said About How Much It Will Cost Xbox Series X: Everything We Just Learned About Microsoft's Next-Gen Console Xbox Series X Exclusive Details: Say Hello To Microsoft's Next-Gen Console Inside The New Xbox Controller For The Series X Console Why You Can't Pre-Order Xbox Series X Yet Xbox Series X: Release Date, Specs, Price, And Everything We Know "I think on Xbox One X today, I can honestly say for almost all of the 360 games that run there, the best place to play them is no longer the Xbox 360. They actually play better on the Xbox One X and I want the same to be true here [with Xbox Series X]. And that kind of [goes] full-circle back to why the name is what it is, because this is the Xbox. This is where your Xbox games play."Microsoft has not yet announced when Xbox Series X will launch other than Holiday 2020, but it did say that it expects to have an exciting E3 2020. You may be wondering why it chose to reveal the new console at The Game Awards, and Spencer discussed this, along with other things, in our interview. Make sure to read our full exclusive Xbox Series X feature for more on the console and what Xbox has in store for us in the future. Info from Gamespot.com

Pokemon Go will kick off the new year with a big new gameplay feature. Niantic shared the first details on Buddy Adventure, a new feature that is rolling out around the world by 2020 and gives you more ways to interact and strengthen your bond with your Buddy Pokemon.Just as you can increase your friendship level with other players, you'll be able to raise your Buddy Level with your Pokemon once the Buddy Adventure feature goes live. After feeding your Buddy Pokemon a berry from the new Buddy Pokemon profile page, you'll become Good Buddies, and you'll be able to see your Buddy Pokemon following along behind you on the overworld screen. You can further increase your Buddy Level to Great, Ultra, and Best Buddies by playing with your Pokemon, using it in battle, and taking snapshots of it.Each Buddy Level also opens up different bonuses; you can see what each friendship tier unlocks below, courtesy of the official Pokemon Go website:Good Buddy: Your buddy can join you on your map view! You'll also see how your buddy feels on the Buddy profile page.Great Buddy: Having a hard time catching a Pokemon? Your buddy may help you out in Pokemon encounters! It can also bring you items that can help you in your Pokemon Go journey.Ultra Buddy: Your buddy will help you explore the world around you by letting you know about interesting places nearby! Your buddy will also bring you Souvenirs, which you can keep track of on the buddy profile page.Best Buddy: Become Best Buddies, and your buddy will sport a Best Buddy Ribbon to show off to everyone just how close you two are! Pokemon that you're Best Buddies with can get a CP boost in combat as long as they're still assigned as your Buddy Pokémon.On top of that, the new Buddy profile page will let you see your Pokemon's mood, its progress toward finding Candy, and a list of daily activities to complete that will earn you hearts and, in turn, improve your Buddy Pokemon's mood. Once your buddy's mood is maxed out, it'll be able to find Candy at half the distance it normally takes. On top of that, the Buddy Adventure update will make it so that changing Buddy Pokemon will no longer reset that Pokemon's progress toward finding Candy.Following the release of Buddy Adventure, Niantic teases that you'll be able to meet other players' Buddy Pokemon in a new "Shared AR Experience" mode. This feature will allow you to sync with up to two other players and take group photos with your Buddy Pokemon. You can read more about the feature on the Pokemon Go website.In the meantime, there are still a lot of events in store for Pokemon Go this month. The Legendary Gen 5 Pokemon, Virizion, is making its debut in Raid Battles today, December 17, while Ho-Oh and Lugia are returning for a special Raid Weekend from December 20-23. Pokemon Go's annual holiday event will follow beginning December 24 and will introduce a handful of new Gen 5 Ice Pokemon to the game. You can catch up on other recent Pokemon Go news below. 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

Back in 1997, classic game developer Westwood Studios released Blade Runner, a video game adaptation of the classic Harrison Ford-helmed cyberpunk film. Upon release, the game was a critical and commercial success, and it quickly found its way to being a classic in the genre that nailed the atmosphere and vibe of its source material. But as time went on, legal disputes and rapidly growing changes in technology kept the game firmly in the past, making it difficult to play on new platforms. But now, the digital distribution platform GOG has brought the game back to the market.Over 22 years since its release, Westwood Studios' Blade Runner is now available on modern PCs via GOG. Just revealed during the digital distribution platform's winter sale, the cyberpunk adventure game is now playable, DRM-free, on GOG for the low price of $10. Thanks to the winter sale, that price drops to $9 for a limited time. See Blade Runner on GOG Set before and during the events of the 1982 movie, you play as Ray McCoy, a blade runner who is searching for rogue replicants hiding out in alternate-2019 Los Angeles (yes, the game and the film were set in 2019, now making them period-pieces). Telling an original story, you explore many of the same locales while rubbing shoulders with returning characters as you uncover a vast conspiracy involving replicants and the corporations. With over 10 different endings, many of your choices and interactions with other characters will lead to different paths for McCoy to follow.What's notable about this adaptation is that it brought back several actors and other creatives from the film. In particular, Sean Young, Joe Turkel, and William Sanderson all returned to reprise their roles as Rachel, Edwin Tyrell, and J.F. Sebastian, respectively. Since its release, it's become something of a lost game due to being stuck in legal limbo and outdated software.The only way to have played Blade Runner today was by having the original game discs or running it through heavily modified emulated game files. Fans of classic adventure games online banded together to build a modified engine known as ScummVM, allowing newer PCs to run Blade Runner and other games in that style from the past. In a press release, a GOG representative stated that this port wouldn't have been possible without the ScummVM community.For more on what's available on GOG's winter sale, including a discount on Cyberpunk 2077, be sure to check out our roundup of games.Info from Gamespot.com

Over the last few days, we revealed what we believe are the 10 best games of 2019, organized by release date. Today, December 17, we reveal which of the nominees gets to take home the coveted title of GameSpot's Best Game of 2019. You can follow along with all of GameSpot's other end-of-the-year coverage using our Best Games of 2019 hub.The fear of failure is incredibly powerful. It has the ability to cloud the mind, jumble the senses, and unsettle the hands. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice understands this fear and leverages it to orchestrate challenges that feel impossible to surmount. It's an unsparing game that relishes the opportunity to undermine your abilities and tear you down. But, crucially, it does this so you can pick up the pieces and learn to be stronger. Its methods are harsh, but the lessons are profound.Sekiro has garnered much praise for its gameplay, which we described as "heart-pounding, palm-sweating, and nerve-wracking." Few games offer swordplay that feels as sharp, as tense, and as satisfying, and this alone makes it a standout game in 2019. But what makes it our favorite game of the year is how it uses this gameplay to speak directly to the player.Sekiro is a game about growth. Not just the mechanical kind you get from learning to parry a blade, hop over a shuriken, or strike at the perfect moment, but something altogether more valuable. Perhaps the strongest example of this is the now infamous battle with Genichiro Ashina, who you must face head-on to overcome. The demands Sekiro puts on you in this fight are heavy and, for most, failure is all but guaranteed. To stand before Genichiro for hours upon hours, only to be cut down over and over, can be an arduous experience, but eventually, it all clicks into place.It's here that almost everyone has an epiphany: Sekiro needs to be played on its terms. Unlike From Software's other games, it affords little room for freedom in approach. The enemies you face--big or small, human or inhuman--aren't designed to accommodate a variety of strategies; the path to success is singular, and it almost always demands you face overwhelming odds and be willing to fall so that you can eventually stand up stronger. In a game where the difference between life and death can be a split-second press of a button, the smallest of successes are hard-fought, but their impact carries weight.Sekiro is a reminder that failure isn't to be feared and, in fact, it can be a springboard to betterment.The game instills in you all the qualities necessary to overcome the hardship it presents. Unrelenting adversaries teach you that staying calm allows you to have the presence of mind required to process the challenge you face. It shows you that persevering through one hardship makes the next just a bit easier, and it proves that incredible strength can be found in the toughest adversity. These lessons, in conjunction with the thrill of doing the impossible, inspire a sense of achievement that lingers long after a virtual enemy has been felled, you've put down the controller and stepped away from the screen.For years now the cycle of death and rebirth has been the cornerstone of From Software's games, but Sekiro looks beyond its mechanical function to also give it narrative consequence. Like the studio's previous games, story is delivered in small but meaningful ways, after all, From Software relishes subtle strokes that suggest details instead of painting in every color. Sekiro's main story is perhaps the studio's least ambiguous, but beneath the surface there are fascinating themes to contemplate.Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a game that I still play almost every day. The war-torn land of Ashina is hostile and its inhabitants aggressive, and even all these months later, the challenges are no less daunting. But my experience has given me an understanding of it all and the self-confidence to face it--Sekiro is a reminder that failure isn't to be feared and, in fact, it can be a springboard to betterment.Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice co-director Hidetaka Miyazaki accepting GameSpot's Game of the Year awardGameSpot: What's it been like to see such a positive response to Sekiro?Miyazaki: To be honest, it's been a huge relief. For us, Sekiro was a game that came with several challenges and new endeavors, such as its Japanese world design, it being single-player only, as well as it being centered around the new posture system, and intense one-on-one sword battles. We feel these challenges contributed to a very unique game design, which led us to be constantly worried throughout development.Do you remember how you felt and what you were thinking when releasing the game? What expectations did you have for it?We were mostly anxious and unsure of how it would be received. We of course always believed that Sekiro was a fun game, it was more so the anxiety behind whether players would feel the same way or not.Now that it has been released and you've had time away from it, how do you feel about the game?Having time away from Sekiro development has provided many opportunities to reflect on points of improvement. Many times I find myself thinking how Sekiro might have been better had we "done this" or "changed that." However, even more than that, I feel an increased love for the title. Sekiro's world and its characters have become a very important part of my life. This is the same for most of the games I've been involved with and is something that fills me with great joy.When creating Sekiro, how did you challenge yourself to make sure it stood out as a unique among the games you made?As far as game design, we made the decision to leave out several features from our previous titles in order to focus on Sekiro's dynamic movement with the grappling hook, and intense sword-on-sword combat with the new posture system. We felt that focusing on these aspects would result in a much more Sekiro-like experience.Aesthetically speaking, we focused on the unique beauty behind the game's Japanese setting, putting heavy emphasis especially on its vibrant, yet withered color pallet. In addition to that, there is the focus we put on the character-driven story with the inclusion of a fixed protagonist. We feel that these were among the biggest challenges we had when making Sekiro.As a studio primarily known for the Souls series and Bloodborne, what kind of statement did you want to make with Sekiro?We aimed to provide a new, more vibrant take on the action and excitement we've expressed through the combat in both the Dark Souls series and Bloodborne. It is a fresh presentation of our desire to invoke a feeling of joy and accomplishment in the player when they overcome challenges.What did you want players to feel when playing Sekiro? What were you hoping they'd take away from it?We wanted players to experience the feeling of joy and accomplishment through overcoming the game's many challenges, and we wanted them to experience this in a way that is both fresh and more exciting than before.How do you feel knowing that people play Sekiro and by overcoming the challenges in the game, they find strength in themselves and take that into real life?This is something I am very, very happy to hear. I generally don't make games with the intent to specifically teach something to the player. However, as someone who focuses their game design philosophy around this idea of the player feeling a sense of joy and accomplishment by overcoming challenges, hearing that players are taking away valuable lessons from this is one of the greatest compliments I can receive. It is truly inspiring.What part of the game are you most proud of?I personally can't help but look for points of improvement, which could in part be the reason why I still haven't thought too much on this. There is no doubt that I am proud of Sekiro, I just haven't personally been able to pick out what parts specifically I am proud of (either that or I am still just too reluctant to do so). However, one thing I can say for certain is that we feel a great amount of pride when we hear about players applying things they've learned through our games to their real lives.What has making Sekiro taught you about yourselves? What lessons are you taking away from it?I would say we learned a lot about ourselves. We, of course, learned a lot through finding solutions to various problems during development, as well as through our teamwork with Activision throughout the project. If I were to give an example of this, it would be the effectiveness of intentionally focusing on one aspect of the game during the early stages of development after deciding on the core concept. Of course, eventually, we had to shift this focus to the project as a whole, but I feel that there were several challenges that we couldn’t have overcome had we not gone with this method.Does this game and the positive reception to it give you the confidence to pursue more original unique ideas?As far as confidence goes I would say I am, and always have been, lacking thereof [laughs]. However, the positive voices from players serve as precious fuel as we continue to make games. Because of this, I feel we will continue to make From-style games going forward.What would you say to the fans out there that love this game?We want to say thank you to all the players who have played and supported Sekiro. Your voices are what keep us going, and we are truly lucky to be able to make games in the same day and age as you all. We plan on working hard to make fun, From-style games going forward, so please look forward to what we have in store. See Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice at Walmart Info from Gamespot.com

With the release of the final episode of Life is Strange 2, Sean and Daniel's occasionally tragic, but ultimately uplifting journey across the Pacific coast of North America reaches its end. Following the release of Episode 5, we sat down with Life is Strange 2 co-creative director Michel Koch and writer Jean-Luc Cano to talk about its development, the leftover threads from the original game, and their hopes for Life is Strange 3.Life is Strange 2 kicked off a brand new direction for the series with new characters, perspectives, and mechanics, while still offering up a few hints as to what happened to Max and Chloe from the original Life is Strange after all this time. Read GameSpot's reviews to see what we thought of each Life is Strange 2 episode below. Life is Strange 2 is out now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Life Is Strange 2: Episode 1 Review - What Doesn't Kill UsLife Is Strange 2: Episode 2 Review - With Great PowerLife Is Strange 2: Episode 3 Review - Choosing SidesLife Is Strange 2: Episode 4 Review - Gotta Have FaithLife Is Strange 2: Episode 5 Review - Beyond Good Or Evil Editor's Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and readability. Minor spoilers for Life is Strange and Life is Strange 2.GameSpot: So, with Life is Strange 2 finished, how are you guys feeling now that it's all out there and what's the reaction been from fans?Michel Koch: You know, it takes a long time to make a game and we've been working on this game for almost four years--considering the final episode and Captain Spirit. So finally having the whole story released and starting to see that both the players and the press are enjoying the whole experience, the whole journey--it's a big relief and a big enjoyment just to see that here we are, we've been able to share this whole story with the players.Jean-Luc Cano: Yeah, and on the other end, there is also a little bit of sadness and nostalgia, because we're travelling, we went on this journey of four years with these characters. And now, letting them go and seeing that the journey is over--we feel a little bit of sadness, also.It must have been very different writing for two brothers instead of what it was like writing for what Max and Chloe had in Life is Strange 1. Would you agree with that?Cano: Yes, you're right, but, our job is to create relatable characters, you know, and as for Max and Chloe because obviously we are not teenage girls, and we are also not teenage boys like Sean and Daniel. We did a lot of research to be as accurate as possible. But it was the same process to do research, to watch a lot of documentaries, to portray them as well as we can.Koch: Yeah, and it's the same team from the original. It's the three of us--Jean-Luc, myself, and Raoul Barbet, the other director who created the whole story in the beginning, and we still worked with Christian Divine for writing the English dialogue, and with the narrative designers. So we had to adjust to this new story, new characters, but as Jean-Luc says, I think what is great when you're creating characters is to document yourself, to interview people, to try to put yourself in the shoes of those characters, to listen to stories from people you interview. I mean, that's what's really great when you're telling a story. You learn so much about the people you're writing for. I think it's great, and also humbling to try to convey those new characters in a way that's realistic in the writing and with their story and what's happening to them.Yeah, I suspect that your research must extend to how you guys write dialogue. I found it very interesting how genuine your dialogue feels, particularly to the ages of the characters. What are your considerations when writing that, is it particularly hard to try and write for American teenagers?Cano: The story is written in French, with a lot of notes about dialogue and after that, I'm writing the main path of the game and the narrative designer, Masha and Mattias making the branching--Koch: Yeah, all the different branches and choices and the variations that we are adding, really on top of the big story that Jean-Luc writes.Cano: And the last part is written by Christian Divine, which is our "dialogulist" on this game and on the first Life is Strange. So it's a process to be as accurate as possible and not to be too cheesy. You know, we always want to sound right. And yeah, it's a long time job, but it's cool to do it.Koch: I think that for Life is Strange 2 with the narrative team, we pushed ourselves, I think more because, you know, in the first Life is Strange, it was taking place like a school drama, and I think that in the back of our mind, we added a lot of references--pop culture references of TV shows or movies that take place in this kind of setting. So I would say that we tried our best in the first Life is Strange to blend those references with realistic writing, but maybe we were still sometimes [including] too many pop culture references. For Life is Strange 2, it was quite a bigger challenge because it's a story that has, I think, been less told in literature or movies so we had to do way more research and directly talk to people to just get their stories and try to represent them the best way possible in the game.I think, personally, that every work of creation, be it a movie, or book, or video game is inherently politicalI found it so admirable the direction you went with your story, to go out of your way to highlight voices whose stories don't tend to be told. I think it's especially interesting because 2019 was a year full of game developers insisting their presumably political games were not political, yet you guys along with many others devs went a different way. Can you talk about your approach to taking that head on?Koch: I think, personally, that every work of creation, be it a movie or book, a video game is inherently political in a way because you have some human beings behind the story while writing. Of course, we have some opinions of our own, we have some beliefs, and I don't think that you can write a genuine, sincere story if you go against some of your beliefs. I think that if a game or a story doesn't talk about a subject or shy away from dealing with something, it is already political by not talking about something. So I don't really think that any work of art can be completely apolitical. So we just decided, I think, for this game to go with it and just try to tell the most genuine story about those people. I mean, you see, we are--Jean-Luc, Raoul, myself--we're just white guys. We basically have a really easy life. We don't face oppression or anything systemic. I mean, it's easy for us.So we weren't sure if we were the right people, if we were allowed, even, to tell this story, but we met so many people, we interviewed people when we were travelling in the United States to just try to recreate the journey of Sean and Daniel. We met hitchhikers, we met people who were working into pot farms, and just by talking with them and trying to learn about their life, about their issues, about what they were facing, we wanted somehow to tell their story, to give them a voice and just to try to show their struggle in the game.Cano: Yeah, and as creators, we also think that, you know, our world is becoming more and more intolerant every day. We think our job is also to talk about communities or people that are not always well portrayed or well represented in video games. So we want to give them a voice and maybe talk about subjects that are not always dealt with in video games.Why did you decide to bring back David of all characters? I actually really enjoyed that because he's a complex character, and I--Okay, I mean, he was like, kind of a dick, right? But it seemed like there was so much more to him and like room to grow--Koch: [Laughing] He was really the most beloved character from the first game, so we figured, just bring back the one that everybody wants. No, I'm just kidding.Cano: We knew from the beginning that we wanted David to come back because he can survive regardless of the ending of the first Life is Strange. If you choose to save Arcadia Bay, David lives, and if you choose to save Chloe, David was safe in the basement in that ending. We also wanted to show that everyone can have some redemption. As you said, David was behaving like a dick in the first season, but he had his reasons and we wanted him to find redemption in this season. It was also the fact that via David, we could have some news about Max and Chloe. We didn't want to put back Max and Chloe in a big way, we just want to have some little hints of what they have become.Koch: I actually wouldn't say that David had his reasons to be a dick in the first season. He was a damaged character and he realised later--and that's what we show in season two--that at a point he came to realise his mistakes and tried to make amends. We thought it was interesting to show that some characters can evolve, can get over some of the darker aspects of their lives and maybe come clean and try to be better. Another reason why we chose to have David is that we also wanted this cameo character to work for players who know nothing about season one, if you didn't play Life is Strange 1, he is still a guy living in Away that works with with our story.Speaking of the endings, I personally found that they vary in really interesting and satisfying ways. I had a few different playthroughs and, well, the one ending that I got on my true playthrough, the jail time ending, made me cry so much that I had to be late for a PR meeting, so thanks--Koch: [Laughing] Oh, sorry for that.Cano: [Laughing] Sorry for that.It was like once the credits were done rolling, I was still crying, like I was remembering it and crying. So that was good. Was it important to you that the brothers could end up in very different places depending on your choices, and was it intentional that all the endings are hopeful, but not necessarily purely happy or good?Cano: Yeah, we knew from the beginning we didn't want to havelike a right ending or wrong ending. We really wanted the player to feel happy with the endings they should have in regard to their previous choices, and that's why every ending has a bittersweet mood.Koch: I think it was important that you know, the game is about education and about everything you're teaching Daniel over the course of the five episodes. So it was really important that we found a way to make those endings feel logical based on what you told Daniel, like he is ultimately making the final decisions after you make your choice. It was also important that there was no possibility that everything would be perfect because that's not how it works in the real world, especially for people like Sean and Daniel who are facing a system that is against them. So we saw that it was important that there would always be some hope in those endings in a way, but also showing that realistically it's still hard on them. Because it's not just Sean and Daniel deciding, it's also the world around them reacting to that decision.How much of the story is completely nailed down before you get underway and how much sort of unearths itself as you go particularly given your episodic format, so you have some time to see how things grow and develop?Koch: So, when we started to work on the game almost four years ago, we always start by thinking about the big story. Like the big story beats and the structure, and what will happen to the brothers over the course of the five episodes was written almost right in the beginning. But of course, when we work directly on the game there are a lot of different reasons why we might need to adjust. There is of course production issues where sometimes we might reduce the length of an episode because of costs and because it was maybe a bit too long in the way we were envisioning it. We can also look at player feedback when an episode is released and see what worked best, what didn't work as well. I don't think that we changed much from that feedback during season 2 but definitely, it adjusts how we write or how we create some smaller choices.Cano: The episodic format also allows us to make some changes. For example, the flashback at the beginning of Episode Three was meant to be in the beginning of Episode Four in the first draft, when Sean was in the coma in the hospital. We wanted to begin Episode Four with a flashback in Seattle, but we decided to put it in the beginning of Episode Three, because it resonates with the themes of this episode, and the fact that with Daniel, we took a little bit more of his independence in that episode.Well, this is probably a big question you probably can't answer but will we ever see Max and Chloe again, or Sean and Daniel for that matter?Cano: You know, we don't really know what we are going to do now because the game has just been released. For the next adventure we don't really know yet, but we have some ideas and stuff we want to explore, but we don't really know what will be our next game. The thing that I can tell you is for us the story of Max and Chloe in Life is Strange 1 is done, it's told, and the story of Sean and Daniel is told in Life is Strange 2, so, maybe we can see them again one day but--Koch: You saw just a bit of Max and Chloe in Life is Strange 2, so definitely, if we are going to work on another Life is Strange, it's a shared universe so there are possibilities. But definitely as a full story, I think those games are both a beginning and an ending for them, and I think we really want to continue to explore new characters, new themes, and new ways of storytelling.So if there is a Life is Strange 3, I assume you're likely to approach it in the same way you did with 2 where you'll have a brand new story, new characters, a new duo or something like that?Cano: I think it would be a new story.Koch: That's what I think we would personally like to do, of course Life is Strange is owned by Square Enix so it's a Square Enix decision. But to us as creators, we really enjoy this anthology format, and it's really interesting for us to try to think about brand new characters and brand new stories. So we could also share new scenes and bring something new for the players and just to not, again, have the same ideas and just maybe bring them some new perspective on another story.Life is Strange games tell such relatable and human stories. So I want to ask why is the addition of the supernatural elements which have been in both of your games been important to you to include on top of that?Cano: Yeah, good question. I think we always imagine the supernatural element as linked to the main character as a metaphor of his trigger. You know, for example, in the first Life is Strange, Max was a shy girl who was a bit afraid to grow up. So that's why the power of rewinding time and changing her decision was directly linked to a flaw, you know, to a weakness. In Life is Strange 2 the main theme is education. So you are in the shoes of Sean, we have to take care of his young brother and to raise him and to teach him some lessons. So we give the power to Daniel to show the consequences of your actions, or of your decisions in a more spectacular way. You know, because when a child is really angry, you know, it's bad, but it's okay. In the case of Daniel and because of his superpower, when he gets angry, he can explode a house, you know, he can, he can make catastrophic stuff.In the first Life is Strange, Max was a shy girl who was a bit afraid to grow up. So that's why the power of rewinding time and changing her decision was directly linked to a flawAs you look to the future at the studio, do you see Nintendo Switch as being a part of that? Are there any plans to bring the franchise there?Koch: We would love to, to be honest. And I think it's something that needs to be decided by Square Enix, but definitely, I love playing games on my Switch so I would love to see some Life is Strange on Switch for sure.Cano: I have the same answer, I love the Switch and I would love to see Life is Strange and Life is Strange 2 on this console.You touched on this previously, but in your view, how has Life is Strange grown from the first series to the second?Koch: I think, even mechanically, we really try to think about what we're saying in the story of the game. So, for example, in the first Life is Strange, you had the rewind power, and we were trying to create big choices in a way that would surprise the player. So Max would rewind and try a lot of different consequences, and it would resonate with this theme of her having a really hard time to settle in her life and to make a decision. In the second game, we decided to have a lot more smaller choices and consequences, and maybe less big, important choices. It was all resonating with the education of Daniel, where you are basically needing to think about almost everything you're saying when he is around you. Every small action you do, because he would be looking at you and maybe sometimes learning from that.So that's where we are trying to think about our mechanics. There is of course, some improvements that we made in Life is Strange 2 where we have what we call dynamic dialogues where you're still walking, you have control of your character, and you can still choose your answer and talk to Daniel or to some other people around you. So this was an evolution we realised, and it was more thinking about how we can make the game more smooth for the player more enjoyable. So it's a bit more of the impression that he's in control of his character. I think on the last part, where we really like to try to always improve and evolve is in how we write branching dialogues. The dialogues and conversations are really important in those games, and I think they are still, sometimes, maybe too scripted or too static. There should be a way to try to make them even more organic and fluid where you have more agency over the course of the conversation. So that's something I think that we can continue to try to improve. Info from Gamespot.com

A new set of Xbox One games will become available to Xbox Game Pass subscribers. As revealed on Xbox Wire, this week's list features varied experiences on Xbox One.Starting today, you can download indie studio House House's breakout smash-hit, Untitled Goose Game. We gave the charming puzzle game at 8/10 in our Untitled Goose Game review, saying, "There's nothing else quite like Untitled Goose Game; it's charming and cute despite being mean, and both very silly and very clever. It's also probably the best non-racing game ever to feature a dedicated 'honk' button."Three other games are on offer later this week as well. On Thursday, December 19, you can download Life is Strange 2's fifth episode, action-RPG Pillars of Eternity, and open-world RPG The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. CD Projekt Red's The Witcher 3 has seen continued success since its 2015 launch, receiving a Nintendo Switch port in October 2019 and a Daemon X Machina crossover content drop at the beginning of this month.All four titles are available to download for subscribers of Xbox Games Pass for Console or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.Xbox Game Pass Lineup December 16-20December 17Untitled Goose GameDecember 19Life is Strange 2, Episode 5Pillars of EternityThe Witcher 3: Wild HuntThe Xbox Wire post also makes a few other notable announcements. Two games are leaving Xbox Games Pass soon: Double Fine's 2016 Metroidvania Headlander and Xbox Live Arcade classic Tecmo Bowl Throwback. There's no date on when these two titles will no longer be offered through Xbox Game Pass; however, both are currently 20% off since they will be leaving the subscription service in the near future.Three games are available to pre-install right now on Windows 10 PC and Xbox One. The recently-revealed Gears Tactics can be pre-installed on PC ahead of its April 2020 release. Similarly, Ninja Theory's multiplayer combat game Bleeding Edge and Moon Studios' Metroidvania Ori and the Will of the Wisps are also up for pre-installation on both PC and Xbox One before they officially launch in March 2020.Info from Gamespot.com

It's been nearly 30 years, but Bill and Ted are on their way back to theaters. The party-loving metalheads, played by Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, return for the third movie in the time-travelling comedy series, titled Bill & Ted Face The Music. The first images from the film have now been revealed.The images come via Entertainment Weekly. The main photo shows Bill and Ted, looking older but not particularly wiser, in the telephone box that they used to skip through time in 1989's Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and its 1991 sequel Bogus Journey. There's also an image of their old nemesis and bandmate Death, played once more by William Sadler, and their now-adult daughters, played by Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine, alongside Kid Cudi, who will appear as Ted's younger brother Deacon. Check out the first image below, and the others over at EW's site: View this post on InstagramMost excellent! 👌🏽 We have an exclusive first look at Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter in 'Bill & Ted Face the Music.' Click the link in our bio to see even more photos. 📷: Patti Perret/Orion PicturesA post shared by Entertainment Weekly (@entertainmentweekly) on Dec 17, 2019 at 7:18am PST Bill & Ted Face the Music releases on August 21, 2020 and is directed by Galaxy Quest's Dean Parisot. The movie also stars Hal Landon Jr. and Amy Stoch as Ted's dad Chief Logan and his stepmom Missy, plus Barry star Anthony Carrigan plays the film's main villain.The movie is written once by franchise creators Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, and in an interview with EW, Matheson provided a few hints about to expect from the new movie. He explained that 30 years later, Bill and Ted and their band Wyld Stallyns are still struggling to create the world-saving music that they were told they would write in Excellent Adventure. "They were told when they were teenagers that they were going to save reality, and they've been working on it the whole time," Matheson said. "Now an emissary from the future comes and says, 'You've got to do it right now. We've got literally 80 minutes or all of reality will come to an end.'" Info from Gamespot.com

Now that Pokemon Go's final Community Day of 2019 has come and gone, Niantic has announced the first details for the game's next monthly event. In a new post on the Pokemon Go website, the developer reveals the date of January's Community Day, which is set for Sunday, January 19.As usual, next month's Community Day will run for three hours, from 11 AM to 2 PM local time. Beyond that, however, Niantic hasn't shared any further details about the event, so it remains to be seen what the featured Pokemon will be next month and what other Community Day bonuses will be available.That isn't the only thing the new year will bring to Pokemon Go. Niantic has also unveiled a new Buddy Adventure feature for the game, which will roll out globally by 2020. Once the feature is live, you'll be able to play and increase your friendship level with your Buddy Pokemon, which will cut back on the distance it takes for it to find Candy and unlock perks like a CP boost during battles.While January's Community Day is still a few weeks away, there are plenty of events still lined up for Pokemon Go this month. This week, the Gen 5 Legendary Virizion is making its debut in the game. You'll be able to encounter Grassland Pokemon in five-star Raids until January 7. The fan-favorite Legendaries Ho-Oh and Lugia will also return for a special Raid weekend from December 20-23.Finally, Pokemon Go's annual holiday event kicks off on December 24. This year, you'll have a chance to encounter holiday versions of Pichu, Pikachu, Raichu, and Stantler in the wild and Raids. The Gen 5 Ice Pokemon Cryogonal and Cubchoo will also make their debut, and you'll have your first chance to encounter a Shiny Snover. You can read more about this year's holiday event on the official Pokemon Go website. 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