The next big expansion for Gears 5 is slated to launch next week, and The Coalition has announced a veritable Brumak-load of additions and improvements. The update will be called Operation 2: Free For All, and is scheduled to release on December 11 pending certification. You can see the new additions in the trailer above.The update leads with several new modes or additions to current modes, seven new maps, and a handful of characters. The Free For All versus mode will let 14 players battle it out to become the first to 30 kills. It will be available as a featured playlist at first, and then be added as a Ranked mode in January. Three new maps have been developed specifically to support the larger-than-usual FFA mode: Pit, Core, and Nethercutt.The new Arcade Blitz mode is an objective-based mode with constantly shifting goals. You can also play 2v2 Gnashers, and two maps are coming back to support the mode: Boxes and Foundation Mid. More 2v2 Gnashers maps are said to be coming in future updates.You'll also be able to play as one of two new heroes or three new villains soon. The heroes include Lizzie Carmine, a Tank who can summon a Silverback onto the battlefield, and Damon Baird, an Engineer who can summon a DR-1. The villains side will get Jermad, who has reduced headshot damage, and a Locust Drone with reduced recoil on DeeBee weapons. A third villain, Kantus, will be coming in early 2020. Plus, Scorpio Squad will be available to play in Horde mode.In addition to the new maps for FFA and Arcade Blitz, two more Arena maps are coming: Allfathers Arena and Lift. The update will also add 6 new Hives, to be dropped throughout the event, and 27 new Tiles.Finally, the update will come with quality-of-life improvements. The Coalition promises a better reward structure, more flexibility for earning rewards, a better experience for boosted players, and more tour objectives.You can pick up Operation 2: Free For All as a bundle that includes the new characters, Eclipse weapon set, 1000 Iron, and 30 days of boost, for $20. Or, you can purchase the heroes and villains individually for 500 Iron each.Info from Gamespot.com

Metal Gear Solid series creator Hideo Kojima's latest game, Death Stranding, is a little different than most big-budget video games. It's less about shooting or sneaking your way through intense firefights and more about delivering packages across gorgeous, desolate landscapes. That's not going to be for everyone, but for those who click with it, it could be one of the best games of the year. You can only get it on PS4 right now, though a PC version will be coming next year.If you're curious about playing Death Stranding, you can do it relatively cheaply, as long as you plan to spend some money on PSN in the near future. There aren't many great game discounts left in the aftermath of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but the best deal we've seen on Death Stranding is through Ebay, which is offering a brand-new copy of the game plus a $20 PSN gift card (email delivery) for $60, free shipping included. With that offer, you're effectively getting the game for just $40, which is by far the best discount you'll find on it this holiday season. See Death Stranding at Ebay In fact, this is the only worthwhile deal we've seen on Death Stranding over the past week, so if you're planning to pick it up for yourself or someone else this holiday season, we'd suggest jumping on this deal.GameSpot's review awarded Death Stranding a 9/10. "It's positive without ignoring pain; in fact, it argues in both its story and its gameplay that adversity itself is what makes things worth doing and life worth living," wrote Kallie Plagge. "It's a game that requires patience, compassion, and love, and it's also one we really need right now."Before Cyber Week comes to a close, be sure to check out our roundup of the best leftover Cyber Monday gaming deals, including the best PS4 game discounts. Cyber Monday 2019 Deals & News Best Cyber Monday Gaming Deals Still Available At Best Buy, Amazon, Walmart, And More Cyber Monday 2019 Gaming Deals Still Available Best Cyber Monday Gaming Deals Best Cyber Monday Nintendo Switch Deals 2019 Black Friday 2019: Xbox One S All-Digital On Sale For Lowest Price Ever Best Luigi's Mansion 3 Cyber Monday Deal: Get The Switch Game For $48 Cyber Monday 2019 PS4 Game Deals: Here Are The Best Deals On PS4 Games Amazon Cyber Monday Gaming Deals 2019: Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PSVR, And More Walmart Cyber Monday 2019 Deals: Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order, PS4 Pro, Xbox One S, Arcade Machines Info from Gamespot.com

Bungie revealed a bunch of new information about Destiny 2's Season of Dawn this week, with a trailer that gives a sense of the story and a livestream explaining some of the grittier details. During the stream, Bungie also dropped a content calendar for the new season, showing Guardians lots of what's coming when the new season starts on December 10. Destiny 2 News And Guides Destiny 2 Stream Confirms You Can Ride Sparrows On Mercury Next Season Everything Coming In Destiny 2's Season Of Dawn Destiny 2 Season Of The Dawn Live Stream: Start Time, How To Watch PSA: Everything Leaving Destiny 2 In One Week The story of Season of Dawn starts right where the current season, Season of the Undying, leaves off. During the current season, players took on the Vex, Destiny's time-traveling robots, to stop them from invading the moon. Defeating the Vex messed up time on Mercury, another place where the Vex have major operations. There, the Cabal are using time travel tech to try to undo their loss of the Red War, which was the focus of vanilla Destiny 2's story campaign."Fix the timeline" was the tagline Bungie used to first describe Season of Dawn, and to do that, it seems you'll be helping Mercury's major Guardian character, Osiris, activate some key artifacts. Those are four obelisks located on different planets throughout the solar system. You'll also work through a new six-player activity called the Sundial to protect the timeline from the Cabal's meddling. While you're doing that, you'll also go back in time to save a legendary Guardian, Saint-14, from death at the hands of the Vex.Bungie's content calendar details when some things will happen in Season of Dawn--although it also seems like the developer isn't sharing everything that will happen in Season 9.Bungie's content calendar details what we can expect from December 10 until about March when Dawn comes to a close. The Sundial activity has a number of boss enemies that will roll out over time, as well as a Legendary difficulty version that will require you to build a team of your own, rather than relying on matchmaking. The calendar also notes that two new Exotic weapon quests are coming in January, and dates Destiny 2's next two seasonal events: The Dawning, Destiny 2's holiday-themed event, on December 17, and Crimson Days, its Valentine's Day event, on Feburary 11.As was the case with the Season of the Undying, some offerings in Season of Dawn are free, while others require purchasing Dawn's season pass for $10 (or 1,000 Silver in Destiny 2's in-game currency). Check out the list below for a rundown of what you get for free and what you'll have to pay for.What's Coming In Season Of DawnFreeObelisk activitiesThe Dawning seasonal eventIron BannerEmpyrean FoundationCrimson Days seasonal eventLantern of Osiris Seasonal ArtifactPvP Mode: EliminationRusted Lands Crucible mapSolar subclass updatesRequires Season PassSundial activitySave a Legend Saint-14 storyExotic Quest: Devil's RunExotic Quest: BastionInfo from Gamespot.com

The saga of The Witcher is not an easy one to adapt. The Witcher games (with which you're no doubt familiar) had it simpler--as sequels to the original novels, they simply built on the foundation that author Andrzej Sapkowski laid down years ago. To adapt the book series--a hodgepodgey web of short stories and novels--into hour-long TV episodes with a trio of protagonists and a cohesive narrative throughline is a significantly different story.Netflix's The Witcher showrunner, Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, is the person who had to solve that problem."To me, there are challenges, and there are opportunities. And this, to me, was such a great opportunity," the showrunner told GameSpot during a recent interview. "You have all of these short stories presented in the first couple of books, in The Last Wish and in Sword of Destiny. There is no narrative thread between them, so Geralt doesn't grow and change that much between the stories, because that's not how they were originally written.""Well to me," she continued, "if you're adapting those for television and you're going from episode 101 to episode 108, you need to see the character grow and change from his or her experiences."The resulting show takes those short stories--tales like The Lesser Evil, A Question of Price, and The Edge of the World--and remixes them into a cohesive story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. The stories are perfectly recognizable to fans of the books, but they take place in a different order and sometimes involve different characters. And Schmidt Hissrich ensured there are throughlines that span the eight-episode first season."It was very important for me to start with The Lesser Evil as the first story," Schmidt Hissrich said. "You're starting with a character who's been living, let's say, close to a hundred years. He's a Witcher. This is all he's ever done. It's what he was trained to do. Does he love it? Who knows? We don't even care. It's just what he's best at. So he continues going back to it. And then we need to have something happen in that first episode that totally corrupts his worldview." The events of that first episode follow Geralt throughout the rest of the season--not in a way that's necessarily faithful to the source material, but in a way that enhances this version of the story."We very much had a sense of the stories that we wanted to tell. Some of them were just our favorites, or some of them were very iconic," the showrunner said. "It was really about taking the stories that were iconic and we wanted to tell them, and sort of tracking Geralt's journey. And it was very interesting to work with Henry through that too, because he read the same books that I did. So a lot of it was talking out our reasoning of why this is happening now, and not back then. What I think what we've done is craft a season for all of the characters."That's another massive change: While the original short stories, on which most of this season is based, put Geralt front and center, Netflix's The Witcher is a three-pronged story with a trio of main characters: Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri. Schmidt Hissrich's other big challenge--err, opportunity--was figuring out how to weave all three characters' plots together. She came up with a variety of solutions; for example, the Yennefer we meet in the show is much younger than the person Geralt first encountered in the story The Last Wish. The show spends several episodes exploring Yennefer's backstory over many years--a backstory that was invented for the Netflix version of events.That story came with its own unique hurdles. After the physical transformation that Yennefer undergoes when she becomes a sorceress, the character stops visibly aging--but she continues to mature emotionally, something actress Anya Chalotra had to convey.Read more: Netflix's Witcher Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich Says They Won't Adapt The Games"She stays in her 20-year-old body, and so I had to figure out a way to make this believable," Chalotra told us. "She does get older, and she does get more mature, and her thoughts do change, and her attitudes change toward certain things. She responds differently to things because of the life experience she's had. And I think I did that through breath...there's a rhythm and an energy that people have who are older and have been through something, certain experiences."For Ciri's part, actress Freya Allan contended with something similar. Ciri begins life as a princess who believes she's wise to the ways of the world, but finds out she has plenty to learn when her life gets thrown into chaos. Ciri's arc in Season 1 is a transformation all its own."She's got a very kind of bold, strong character right from the beginning. But then when she is thrown into this world, you do see her become vulnerable, but obviously she still has those built-in characteristics that we see right at the beginning in her, and that's what allows her to keep going," Allan said. "It was interesting to look at that, and also how the brutality of the world changes her and she becomes colder...definitely toward the end, you get to see that she decides, she's like, 'I'm sick of this now. I'm going to just--I'm just sick of it.' And she starts becoming a bit icier."The ways all these disparate storylines and characters come together will have to remain a mystery until The Witcher hits Netflix on December 20. But Schmidt Hissrich said the show's first season feels like "hitting the first domino and seeing them fall over"--and she promised "some surprises for existing fans" as well. We can't wait. Info from Gamespot.com

Nintendo Switch just had its best week of sales in the US ever, according to the company's internal records. Nintendo says that the week of Thanksgiving (November 24-30), which includes Black Friday, the Switch and Switch Lite systems sold a combined total of more than 830,000 units in the US. The company also noted that it broke internal Cyber Monday records, though it didn't give exact figures.Nintendo credits the impressive figures to the addition of the Switch Lite to the lineup, a wealth of Black Friday offers, and the recently announced Nintendo Switch bundle that includes Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Total Switch sales in the Americas have reached 17.5 million units. Nintendo didn't note in the announcement if these figures are sell-in (to retailers) or sell-through (to customers).Software was no slouch during the holiday week either. Pokemon Sword and Shield have now sold a combined total of more than 3 million copies in the Americas, continuing its record-breaking successful launch. Other notable lifetime software sales milestones include Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (8.5 million), Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (8 million), Super Mario Odyssey (6.5 million), and New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (1.5 million).2019 was a big year for Nintendo Switch as a whole, so check out our Nintendo Switch 2019 Report Card for more detail on how the hybrid console-handheld system made waves this year.Info from Gamespot.com

On December 20, the current Star Wars trilogy--and the Skywalker Saga as a whole--comes to an end with the release of Star Wars Episode XI: The Rise of Skywalker. Fans will finally see closure to the latest journey for characters like Rey, Finn, and Poe Dameron. On December 4, a press conference was held for the upcoming movie, giving fans more insight into the film.GameSpot was on hand to cover the event, and you can get a more in-depth look at the press conference here. Find out what will be revealed about the movie and its characters as GameSpot's Michael Rougeau tweets what's happening live.#StarWars #RiseofSkywalker press conference about to begin pic.twitter.com/yZgWGXL82r — Mike Rougeau (@RogueCheddar) December 4, 2019Here's the full cast, JJ, and everyone else coming out! #StarWars #RiseofSkywalker pic.twitter.com/DzNuio6XUN — Mike Rougeau (@RogueCheddar) December 4, 2019JJ: "Because we had worked on Force Awakens...we had talked about quite a few things back in the day. So it was a bit of picking up where we left off. And the fact is that what Rian Johnson had done in Last Jedi had set up some things that were sort of wonderful for this story." — Mike Rougeau (@RogueCheddar) December 4, 2019Billy Dee Williams: "This has been a great pleasure for me, coming back to do Lando. I didn't think that it would happen. I just wrote it off, you know? And I said, 'Well, I did what I had to do, and that was it.'" (1/2) — Mike Rougeau (@RogueCheddar) December 4, 2019Williams (cont.): "But when I got the call from J.J., and then when we met, I just sat there and I just chuckled, because I thought it was just a wonderful gift. So I'm a very, very happy human being right now. Thank you very much." (2/2) — Mike Rougeau (@RogueCheddar) December 4, 2019Driver on whether Kylo has fully rejected his past as Ben Solo: "When people are actively trying to deny a certain part of their lives, I think they can do it pretty successfully. And it just turns into what is happening around them that brings it out of them." — Mike Rougeau (@RogueCheddar) December 4, 2019Oscar Isaac on Poe's role in Rise: "He's kind of always been a wild card energy. I remember J.J. being excited about dirtying up the squeaky fly boy image he has...I get to join my friends this time, and you really get to see the interaction with these three." — Mike Rougeau (@RogueCheddar) December 4, 2019Anthony Daniels on his changing perspective now that he's done playing C-3PO: "I am so close to it, and I say this, rather like having your nose up against the planet, you can't see how big that planet is. And gradually now I'm beginning to get a perspective on it." (1/2) — Mike Rougeau (@RogueCheddar) December 4, 2019Daniels (cont.): "And that comes from talking to fans--people who say what Star Wars has meant to them over the years." (2/2) — Mike Rougeau (@RogueCheddar) December 4, 2019long JJ quote incoming: — Mike Rougeau (@RogueCheddar) December 4, 2019"We live in a crazy world, we live in a crazy time, and Star Wars for me was about hope and it was about community. It was about the underdog and it was about bringing people together and seeing all oddballs represented and the most unlikely friends and the most unlikely places." — Mike Rougeau (@RogueCheddar) December 4, 2019"And the family you make is really your family. To tell a story that is, of course, a giant spectacle, and like you say, the blockbuster wrapping--but the thing that mattered to me most...is really the people who are sitting here and what you're watching..." — Mike Rougeau (@RogueCheddar) December 4, 2019"And the eyes of the characters and the heart of the characters...It really is about hope, and it's about coming back to a sense of possibility about unity, and if Star Wars can't do that for us, I don't know what can." — Mike Rougeau (@RogueCheddar) December 4, 2019And that's basically it! Thanks for following along. I really hope this movie is good! #StarWars #RiseofSkywalker pic.twitter.com/Jh9Zyh85A2 — Mike Rougeau (@RogueCheddar) December 4, 2019The Rise of Skywalker arrives in theaters on December 20 and is directed by JJ Abrams, who previously helmed 2015's The Force Awakens. The movie stars Daisy Ridley as Rey, John Boyega as Finn, Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico, Lupita Nyong'o as Maz Kanata, Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux, Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, and Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian. Star Wars News The Mandalorian Episode 4: 18 Star Wars Easter Eggs And References You May Have Missed Star Wars Timeline: How To Watch It All In Order On Disney Plus The Mandalorian Schedule: When Does Episode 5 Release On Disney Plus? Star Wars: Everything We Know About Every Movie And Show Announced So Far For more on Star Wars, you can check out the latest promo for the December movie which teases the return of Emperor Palpatine. Recently, the director responded to fans who some would call toxic as well as the return of Knights of Ren in Episode 9. Outside of the movies, get a first look at the new Rise of the Resistance ride at Galaxy's Edge in Disney World.Info from Gamespot.com

As the holidays are the season of giving, developer IO Interactive is giving out free content for its stealth-action game Hitman 2 this month. The batch of new content includes additional contracts, seasonal events, and elusive targets.Beginning on December 5 and going through early January 2020, you can play an assortment of new missions in Hitman 2. A few of the game's locations will receive some form of new content throughout the month. These include an Escalation Contract in Santa Fortuna on December 5, an Elusive Target in Paris from December 6-16, a Seasonal Event in Hokkaido on December 17, and more.Hitman 2's seasonal events, Holiday Hoarders and Snow Festival, are now a permanent part of the game. Holiday Hoarders allows you to unlock the Santa 47 Suit, while the Snow Festival gives you the opportunity to get the Snow Festival Suit and Ice Pick. Check below for a full list of Hitman 2's upcoming free content.The Truman Convention Escalation Contract in Santa Fortuna (Colombia) – Available Dec. 5The Raaz Algorithm Escalation Contract in Mumbai (India) – Available Dec. 5The Chef Legacy Elusive Target in Paris (France) – Available Dec. 6-1612 Days of Contracts Community Curated Contracts – Available Dec. 12The Han Encasement Escalation Contract in Mumbai (India) – Available Dec. 12Holiday Hoarders Seasonal Event in Paris (France) – Available Dec. 17Snow Festival Seasonal Event in Hokkaido (Japan) – Available Dec. 17The Rafael Misadventure Escalation Contract in Isle of Sgàil (North Atlantic) – Available Dec. 17The Kotti Paradigm Legacy Escalation Contract in Paris (France) – Available Dec. 17IO Interactive’s Monthly HITMAN 2 Livestream on Twitch – Dec. 17The Stowaway Legacy Elusive Target in Isle of Sgàil (North Atlantic) – Available Dec. 20 through Jan. 6While Hitman 2 is getting ready for a bevy of new content this month, IO Interactive confirmed that it is shifting its focus to the studio's next project. According to a blog post, development on this unnamed game is "well underway."Info from Gamespot.com

Disney held a press conference for Star Wars Episode IX: Rise of Skywalker Wednesday morning in Los Angeles, and although the cast and filmmakers in attendance were mostly tight-lipped, J.J. Abrams did address his approach to the story following Rian Johnson's controversial The Last Jedi."Because we had worked on Force Awakens...we had talked about quite a few things back in the day," Abrams said. "So it was a bit of picking up where we left off. And the fact is that what Rian Johnson had done in Last Jedi had set up some things that were sort of wonderful for this story, one of the things being that the cast was separated. The characters weren't together for the entire movie essentially."The characters are sure to come together again in the conclusion to this trilogy--and we have no doubt it will be immensely satisfying for fans. Abrams went on to discuss his process for coming up with specific story beats:"We just started doing the thing that you do, which is you say, 'What do you desperately want to see? What feels right?' And then my job as the director was to make sure that all the pressures of all the obvious things--fan expectation, and studio [expectation], and all those practical, logistical issues as well, weren't brought to set...we needed to keep the thing feeling as human as possible, and not like some massive machine."The panel included Anthony Daneils (C-3PO), Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca), Naomi Ackie (Jannah), Kelly Marie Tran (Rose), John Boyega (Finn), Daisy Ridley (Rey), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), Keri Russell (Zorii Bliss), Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian), Richard E. Grant (Allegiant General Pryde), director J.J. Abrams, writer Chris Terrio, and Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy.Kennedy shared some kind words about Abrams--including the story of how they met."I met JJ actually along with a filmmaker by the name of Matt Reeves when they were 15, and they had won a contest for movies that they had made, and I said to Steven Spielberg, 'Why don't we hire these two young guys to come in and take your home movies and clean them up, and give them a break, and see if we can't give them a start in the business?'" Kennedy recalled. "So needless to say, for years, Steven and I watched JJ and his career just take off from that point."Billy Dee Williams, who returns to Star Wars with Rise of Skywalker to reprise his iconic role as Lando Calrissian, said he didn't rewatch the classics before jumping back into the character."I have a lot of admiration for this young man called monsieur J.J. Abrams," Williams said. "When I worked with George [Lucas], that was an opportunity to work with somebody who was really extraordinary, and here again I have an opportunity to work with somebody who is really extraordinary."Williams said he had worked with Abrams previously on Lost, and he described the filmmaker as "fabulously crazy.""This has been a great pleasure for me, coming back to do Lando," Williams continued. "I didn't think that it would happen. I just wrote it off, you know? And I said, 'Well, I did what I had to do, and that was it.' But when I got the call from J.J., and then when we met, I just sat there and I just chuckled, because I thought it was just a wonderful gift. So I'm a very, very happy human being right now. Thank you very much."The panel was hosted by filmmaker Ava DuVernay, who has seen Rise of Skywalker and had plenty of praise for it. At one point, she addressed Adam Driver as Ben Solo--then asked him whether it's appropriate to call his character by his original name, or whether he's fully rejected his past now and left that part of him behind."Yes and no," Driver replied. "When people are actively trying to deny a certain part of their lives, I think they can do it pretty successfully. And it just turns into what is happening around them that brings it out of them." He added that before filming Force Awakens, he and Abrams discussed making Kylo a character who wasn't sure where he fit, and that echoed Driver's experience being a new character in this well-established franchise. Oscar Isaac briefly addressed Poe Dameron's role in this movie, saying we're going to see a new side of the character."He's kind of always been a wild card energy," Isaac said. "I remember J.J. being excited about dirtying up the squeaky fly boy image he has...I get to join my friends this time, and you really get to see the interaction with these three."Anthony Daniels, who has played C-3PO in every Star Wars film so far, said he's starting to see the franchise from a new perspective now that he's donned the golden suit for the final time."I am so close to it, and I say this, rather like having your nose up against the planet, you can't see how big that planet is," Daniels said. "And gradually now I'm beginning to get a perspective on it. And that comes from talking to fans--people who say what Star Wars has meant to them over the years."Actress Keri Russell plays a new character in Rise of Skywalker named Zorri Bliss. During the panel, DuVernay revealed that Russell, like Gwendoline Christie as Captain Phasma before her, keeps her mask on for the entire movie. DuVernay said she didn't realize the character was played by Russell until she saw the credits roll."Personally, I love the mask," Russell replied. "That's my fantasy dream sequence--that I can see everyone...and no one can see me. That's my dream. It's a real power play, in a way."As the panel drew to a close, DuVernay asked Abrams one final, open-ended question: What does this movie mean to him, and what does he want it to mean to fans?"I like to think that when you're working on something [like this]...the truth is that there's the movie that you know you are presenting to the world, and then there's the thing that you're doing--not necessarily secretly, but meaningfully," Abrams said. "We live in a crazy world. We live in a crazy time, and Star Wars for me was about hope, and it was about community. It was about the underdog and it was about bringing people together and seeing all oddballs represented and the most unlikely friends and the most unlikely places, and the family you make is really your family."To tell a story that is, of course, a giant spectacle, and like you say, the blockbuster wrapping--but the thing that mattered to me most...is really the people who are sitting here and what you're watching and the eyes of the characters and the heart of the characters...It really is about hope, and it's about coming back to a sense of possibility about unity, and if Star Wars can't do that for us, I don't know what can."Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker hits theaters December 20. Info from Gamespot.com

CD Projekt Red is ending console support for Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, the company has announced. In a post on the game's official website, the developer explained it has made the decision to discontinue the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game in order to focus on the PC and mobile versions."When we launched the console versions of Gwent back in 2017, our intention was to provide console players with the same level of support as their PC counterparts," the company wrote. "However, having just launched Gwent on iOS, and with the Android version coming, the number of supported platforms would significantly increase. Looking to the future, we do not believe we can support a growing number of different versions of Gwent while improving feature parity between them."Because PC and mobile are the most popular platforms among Gwent players, CD Projekt Red will continue to support those versions with new updates and content. The PS4 and Xbox One versions, meanwhile, will be "frozen" in their current state until they are discontinued next year. Players will no longer be able to make in-game purchases using real money as of today, December 4, and matchmaking on consoles will no longer be supported following an update on December 9.While the PS4 and Xbox One versions of Gwent are being sunsetted, CD Projekt Red is giving console players the option to copy their accounts to GOG and carry their progress to the mobile and PC versions. This will be done through a website that will go live on December 9. Players will be able to copy their accounts this way until June 9--when the console versions will cease operation. Here's how the developer explains the process:"Starting from December 9, 2019, console players will be able to access a webpage where they can request to copy their progress from their console account to a new or existing GOG account. Since we do not support the 'merging' of accounts, we will only be able to copy progress to existing GOG accounts that do not have any Gwent progression on them at the time the request is made."This process will allow players to copy the following progress:All collected ornamentsOther currenciesCardsDeck listsAccount levelCurrent rankThronebreaker rewardsContractsOn top of that, Xbox One players will be able to copy their Meteorite Powder; PS4 players, however, will not, as CD Projekt Red explains "transferring Meteorite Powder from PlayStation 4 to GOG.com is not possible." The developer says it will share more details about the account-copying process when the website goes live on December 9.Info from Gamespot.com

Bungie's Destiny 2 Season of Dawn livestream showed off a few new things that are coming with the season, including its content calendar and new Sundial six-player event. It also confirmed an item that appeared in the Season of Dawn trailer that Destiny players have been wishing was in the game for a while: Sparrows on Mercury. Destiny 2 News And Guides Destiny 2 Stream Confirms You Can Ride Sparrows On Mercury Next Season Everything Coming In Destiny 2's Season Of Dawn Destiny 2 Season Of The Dawn Live Stream: Start Time, How To Watch PSA: Everything Leaving Destiny 2 In One Week In Destiny 2, Sparrows are the speeder bike-like vehicles you can summon to help you get around in patrol zones, the open public areas situated on various planets. When it was added with the Curse of Osiris expansion back in the first year of Destiny 2, Mercury was a relatively small zone--so Sparrows were disabled, forcing you to walk wherever you wanted to go.We're headed back to Mercury for Season of Dawn, in order to use some time travel Vex tech run by Osiris, Curse's main non-player character. Though the zone doesn't seem like it's changed too much outside the addition of the new Sundial activity, Bungie showed the ability to summon Sparrows on the planet during its stream. That's going to make hanging out there a whole lot less irritating.The stream also gave a few other tidbits of information. We saw the new seasonal artifact, the Lantern of Osiris, which will dish out several season-specific mods for armor and weapons as you level it up. Those mods are mostly focused on armor with Solar affinity, as opposed to the mods that came in Destiny 2's last content season, the Season of the Undying, which were mostly aimed at Void and Arc abilities and armor. Undying's weapon mods were also mostly for close-range, rapid-fire weapons, where Dawn's play more with precision guns that function better at long ranges.Bungie also showed some Sundial gameplay during the stream. The six-player activity includes a variety of bosses that will roll out slowly over the course of the season, and looks like it'll include multiple encounters, similar to the Menagerie activity from the Season of Opulence. Completing it is part of the season's story, which sends you to Mercury to stop the Cabal from trying to use time travel to rewrite the ending of the Red War, the conflict from Destiny 2 vanilla's story campaign.While Bungie showed off the new content calendar, it seems like it's holding some things for the season closer to the vest than it did for Undying. We got a sense of the content that will roll out next season, but altogether, the calendar seems a little thin. That might be a result of Destiny 2's seasons being a lot smaller than its major expansions, like the recently released Shadowkeep--but it also seems likely that there are some secrets coming next season that Bungie has yet to divulge.The Season of Dawn kicks off on December 10, so make sure to finish whatever you still have left to do in Undying by then.Info from Gamespot.com

Motion Twin and Evil Empire have announced that additional content will continue to come out for Dead Cells in 2020, starting with a brand-new DLC expansion. Both teams revealed that Dead Cells will continue to be supported going forward, with about two years of content planned.In Q1 2020, Dead Cells will get its third DLC expansion: The Bad Seed. In a Steam blog post, Motion Twin and Evil Empire write that The Big Seed "brings two new early game biomes and a big #$&%-off boss for you to bash your head against." The Bad Seed will cost $5 USD.When The Bad Seed goes live, you'll be able to journey to The Arboretum, a location described as "tranquil" with "nothing dangerous of note." The other location, The Swamp, appears to be much more difficult, described as a "putrid, tick-infested cesspool inhabited by spear-wielding, blow dart firing jerks." The teaser image of the boss isn't much, it looks like a purple vine (and possible eyeball) extending out of the muck, but there's an assortment of spooking-looking, crucified individuals in the background.In the blog post, Motion Twin and Evil Empire wrote that both teams want to make gameplay adjustments and add plenty of new content to Dead Cells, including balancing changes to "glaring problems" and "building out a bunch of new creatures and replacing some of the more tired types with biome specific beasts." Both teams plan on adding new weapons, additional secret areas, and lore too.Beyond this two-year plan, Motion Twins is working on two prototypes for brand-new projects and Evil Empire will continue to prototype new content for Dead Cells.If you haven't picked up Dead Cells yet, you should--GameSpot picked it as one of the top 10 games of 2018. In GameSpot's Dead Cells review, Daniel Starkey wrote, "Dead Cells is a phenomenal effort to blend together some very disparate genres into a tight, cohesive whole. It's one of the better examples of how to remix ideas without losing their individual strengths."Info from Gamespot.com

December has just begun and EA is already in the spirit of giving. The publisher's Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville has received a holiday-themed update that includes new maps and modes, balance tweaks, and more.The Feastivus Holiday update features a brand-new map for Team Vanquish, Ops, and Mix modes--Oozevoir. This map includes a springy pink goop that lets you bounce around for better vertical positioning. Other locations, like Giddy Park, have been reworked to fit into the holiday-theme.You can earn seasonal costumes through Battle for Neighborville's newly-implemented Festival Prize Map. Unlock holiday-specific wares like the Super Rare Abominable Chomper, Legendary Feastivus Master Engineer, and more by completing certain requirements on the prize map.Actor Patrick Stewart narrated a trailer outlining everything available in the update. EA also released the patch notes for the Feastivus Holiday update, which includes a new "Casual" setting for free-roam regions, updates to battle arenas, the opening of Rux's Emporium, bug fixes, adjustments to things like controller settings and aim assist, and much more.Plants Vs. Zombies: Battle For Neighborville Holiday Feastivus Update Full Patch NotesGeneralAdded an all-new Map: OozevoirUpdated Giddy Park’s loading screen to a winter-themed versionAdded new Grandmaster Ranks to the game so character levels now go up to 50 (current top rank is 20)Updated the Social Tab to show the Grandmaster Ranks of all players in Giddy ParkUpdated the Player Rank plates to make them easier to readMoved completed Free-Roam Region Medals to the bottom of the screenUpdated the last Weekly Challenges so they now give Rainbow Stars instead of coinsAdded a Vanquish/Vanquished Ratio to the end-of-round scoreboard for multiplayer gamesAdded new UI icons for Character Perks, including attack, defend, speed, and character-specific perksTurf TakeoverDecreased capture time for certain objectivesMade it easier to hit targets on the final objective in Goopy GullyFree-Roam RegionsAdded new 'Casual' setting, reducing the amount of damage players will take when at low healthAdded a cooldown timer to region Bounty Hunts and Gnome activitiesGiddy ParkAdded two new Festivals: Feastivus and Snowday New set dressing for each festival with “snow” terrain and visual effectsAdded three new activities in Giddy Park for Snowday Festival in January – Treasure hunt, Bounty, and Coin captureBattle ArenaUpdated so that the last player standing will now get a spotting and 10% speed increase buff to help them fight the enemy teamRux’s EmporiumIncluded the ability for players to now purchase Costumes, Gestures, Emotes, and much moreIncluded the ability for players to purchase Rainbow Stars for use in Rux’s EmporiumMajor Bug FixesFixed the Scoreboard so that it can now be viewed when the player is vanquishedAdjusted mouse sensitivity options to have a wider range, allowing the user to adjust them to a much finer extentFixed the heal beam so that it’s no longer canceled when its target sprintsFixed the issue where players could get a completed challenge after re-rollingController SettingsIncreased max aim accelerationReduced scale factor (ramp-up) for aim accelerationOptionsExtended our max value for controller sensitivityExtended our max value for controller aiming sensitivityExtended our max value for controller aim accelerationAim AssistAdjusted assist settings when set to lowAdjusted acceleration thresholdsReduced multiplier when facing aim assist targetsReduced aim assist when pushing sticks to extremesReduced base aim assist area when aiming at a targetPC ControlsAdjusted ranges and step values for mouse sensitivityAdjusted min mouse sensitivity valueGame ModesIncreased disarm time in Gnome BombReduced max time to be revived in Team VanquishInfo from Gamespot.com

The never-ending saga of the Snyder Cut, the rumored extended, original version of DC's 2017 Justice League, just got a bit more interesting. Today, Zack Snyder himself took to Vero--a social media website everyone thought was dead long ago--to post an apparent confirmation. "Is it real? Does it exist? Of course it does" written overtop of film canisters labeled "JL Director's Cut" with a runtime of a whopping 214 minutes, which clocks in at a little over three and a half hours. For those of you playing along at home, that's about an hour and a half longer than the theatrical cut of the movie, which was around two hours long.Still, the confirmation of the Snyder Cut's reality doesn't actually mean the film will ever see the light of day. Dedicated fans have been working nonstop for two full years, even going as far as to rent out billboards and advertisements at major pop culture events like San Diego Comic-Con to beg for the movie's release to no avail. However, with this latest development, and the recent support shown by Justice League actors like Gal Gadot on social media, it certainly seems like there might be something brewing.Regardless of the Snyder Cut's hypothetical potential release, DC does have a new film coming that is right around the corner. Wonder Woman 1984 is going to hit theaters on June 5, 2020. Perhaps there will be some sort of cross-promotional Justice League re-release to celebrate the release of Diana's latest solo outing? Only time will tell.Info from Gamespot.com

Blizzard has announced a clarification for Overwatch's upcoming Patch 1.43. There's been speculation that the patch will release this week, but Blizzard has confirmed that it is, in fact, scheduled for next week."We've been seeing quite a bit of misinformation being spread about our December patch (1.43)," Overwatch head Jeff Kaplan wrote in a blog post. "The patch is scheduled to go live next week. Short of some unforeseen circumstance causing a delay, we're expecting to go live with the patch next week."Patch 1.43 will launch alongside Winter Wonderland, Overwatch's annual winter holiday-themed limited-time event. "I'm guessing everyone is as excited as we are for the changes to go live as soon as possible along with Winter Wonderland," Kaplan said.Kaplan has admitted that players should come to expect fewer content updates for Overwatch as development on Overwatch 2 gets into full swing. Overwatch won't have any new Archive events, for example.Overwatch is getting somewhat of a unique sequel in Overwatch 2, as a majority of the content included in the new game (at least at launch) will also release in the original Overwatch. The two games will get the same new characters and maps and both games will feature multiplayer cross-play with each other. The content exclusive to Overwatch 2 will be all of the new Story Mode content--which doesn't look like much at first but could possibly grow to a much more significant difference over time.Currently, the only new playable character scheduled for Overwatch 2 is Sojourn, who's been hinted at in the original game's lore for quite a while now. Though they haven't been confirmed, four additional characters have already been teased.Info from Gamespot.com

Capcom is back with another huge update for Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. Arriving for free tomorrow on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the action-RPG's 12.01 update will add new weapon trees, a plethora of adjustments and tweaks, the Stygian Zinogre monster, and more.The headlining feature of the 12.01 patch is the inclusion of the Stygian Zinogre, a fanged wyvern found in Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. Additionally, a tempered version of the Ruiner Nergigante monster is available to hunt. Of course, you'll be able to craft weapons out of their fragments.The 12.01 update also includes new weapon trees, armor pieces and sets, additional skills, and more. Further, you'll get access to the Tundra Region, a new frost-covered cavern littered with frigid beasts and area-specific materials for you to hunt and gather.Elsewhere in the patch, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne will get more Horizon Zero Dawn content later this month. The second collaboration quest will open up on December 13, with the third collaboration quest following just two weeks later on December 27. These events will be available until January 9, 2020.Check below for the full patch notes on Monster Hunter World: Iceborne's upcoming update.Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Full Update 12.01 Patch NotesRequired SpacePlayStation 4 (v. 12.01): About 2.1GB (only this update)Xbox One (v. 12.0.0.1): About 2.8GB (only this update)GeneralAdded cutscene that unlocks the Tundra Region in the Guiding Lands.Added new weapon trees, armor, and skills.Added Stygian Zinogre (Stygian Zinogre will appear in a cutscene in the Guiding Lands, after finishing the story of Iceborne).A tempered version of Ruiner Nergigante will now appear in the game.ActionRemoved the damage reaction from the startup of the sword & shield's Claw Uppercut.The sword & shield's Claw Uppercut can now soften a monster's hide.Adjusted damage on the sword & shield's Perfect Rush.Adjusted design on how other players are knocked back from explosions caused by the gunlance's Wyrmstake Blast.Adjusted various dual blade actions.Instead of dropping slinger ammo, the dual blades' Spinning Rising Slash will now wound parts easier.Fixed an issue where cluster bomb reload speed was normal or reload wouldn't perform while aiming when using the heavy bowgun.Adjusted design on the hunting horn's Extended Health Recovery so health could be regained even when taking damage over time.Adjusted how much ammo is used by the flinch shot when the Slinger Capacity skill is active.Adjusted the Frostcraft skill so that the insect glaive will no longer consume its gauge when performing a moving mounted attack.SystemNew decor can now be placed in your room in Seliana.New BGM can now be played in your room in Seliana.New designs for the Squad Card added.New Pendants added.Starter-friendly Defender weapon line added (forgeable at the Smithy).Starter-friendly Defender α armor set added (purchasable from the Armory).New feature added to upgrade armor to its maximum level automatically with the available armor spheres.When obtaining analyzed special tracks in the Guiding Lands or when analysis is finished, other players in your expedition will now obtain the same special tracks.The leader of the Guiding Lands expedition can now decrease specific region levels manually by speaking to the Handler.New layered armor added.New Weapon Pose added. Your hunter will perform different poses depending on the equipped weapon.MiscellaneousRegion Level Fix option available while in the Guiding Lands.Changed design so all ammo types are reloaded when exiting your tent with a bowgun equipped.Red, white, and, orange Kinsect extract can now be harvested from the training area's wagon.Shining Wyvern Blade was renamed to Platinum Dawn. (This name was changed to match its appearance)Lowered the frequency of the Palico's voice playback while in standby mode.The following decorations are now easier to obtain:Blaze Jewel+ 4, Stream Jewel+ 4, Frost Jewel+ 4, Bolt Jewel+ 4, Dragon Jewel+ 4, Venom Jewel+ 4, Paralyzer Jewel+ 4, Sleep Jewel+ 4, Blast Jewel+ 4Bug Fixes and Balance AdjustmentsBase/FacilityFixed an issue with the priority level of certain meals added to the canteen in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne.Fixed an issue that wouldn't allow you to create Rajang items obtained from the Guiding Lands at the Elder Melder.Fixed an issue where the music player in your room in Seliana wouldn't appear.Fixed an issue where the game would freeze when displaying certain dual blades in the Equipment Display in Your Room in Seliana.Fixed an issue where when placing pets via the Housekeeper, specific steps would cause an error.Adjusted the conditions to unlock the BGM "The Invading Tyrant – Bazelgeuse" for the music player.Fixed an issue where after eating a meal at the Canteen, the time before your stamina is reduced isn't reset.MonstersFixed an issue where Brachydios would get stuck on top of ledges in the special arena.Fixed an issue where during multiplayer, the explosions caused by Tempered Brachydios' slime would not be synchronized between players.Fixed an issue where certain monsters would always be displayed during low-rank quests in the Ancient Forest even if they don't appear in the quest itself.Tweaked the rewards upon breaking Zinogre's head, along with adding rewards.Fixed an issue where Legiana would continue to walk instead of fly after an avalanche is triggered in area 4 of the Hoarfrost Reach.Fixed an issue where Nightshade Paolumu wouldn't drop a shiny after a turf war with certain monsters.Fixed an issue where Velkhana wouldn't sustain damage in its turf war with Ruiner Nergigante.Fixed an issue where stamina wouldn't decrease while mounted on top of Gold Rathian.Fixed an issue where master rank Lunastra wouldn't use its flare attack.Fixed an issue where Gold Rathian would take more time than usual to land after attacking with its hellfire breath.Fixed an issue where, in the Coral Highlands, Namielle would sometimes fall into an area it isn't designated to go.Fixed an issue where certain attacks from monsters would hit twice.Fixed an issue where the clutch claw would work during certain monster actions even when it shouldn't.Fixed an issue where the color of Seething Bazelgeuse's scales wouldn't correspond to its powered-up state.Fixed an issue where Namielle's water pools wouldn't react to the monster's electric attacks.Fixed an issue where Gold Rathian would roar non-stop if led to a specific area of the Elder's Recess.Fixed an issue in Ver. 11.50 where analyzed special tracks could be obtained while mining from Uragaan or Radobaan's back in the Guiding Lands. We apologize for not notifying players of this earlier.Adjusted how long an elder dragon and certain monsters stay in the same area of the Guiding Lands.PlayerFixed an issue where the Long Sword's Foresight Slash or Iai Slash or the Evasion Mantle would successfully trigger an evade when the monster is knocked down, even if no attack hitbox was present.Fixed an issue where Lunastra's info in the Guiding Lands menu wouldn't appear under certain conditions.Fixed an issue where if you don't have the Surveyor Kit, and under certain conditions talked to the Lynian Researcher, the first tutorial for the Surveyor Set wouldn't appear and you wouldn't be able to obtain the item.Fixed an issue where in the Coral Highlands, monsters would get caught in environmental traps instead of being knocked down as a result of colliding with a wall from a clutch claw flinch shot.Fixed an issue where Health Boost skill increases wouldn't display properly to other players during multiplayer.Fixed an issue where only the effect sound plays in certain situations after the heavy bowgun autoloads its ammo.Fixed an issue where icon colors would not display correctly when upgrading a weapon.Fixed an issue where the upgrade state of equipment wouldn't be reflected when updating an equipment loadout.Fixed an issue where in specific situations, slinger ammo would get embedded into walls, etc., when performing a clutch claw weapon attack on a monster.Fixed an issue where the Master Gatherer skill effect wouldn't activate when mining with the pickaxe.Fixed an issue where auto shoutouts would display unintentionally after using the clutch claw to slam a monster into a wall.Fixed an issue where the attack and control guide would not match after a backwards evade with the sword & shield.Fixed an issue where skills related to draw attacks would be consumed if the draw attack came into contact with Velkhana's frost.Fixed an issue where a flinch shot would occur when grappled onto a monster, even though no button had been pressed.Fixed an issue where a critical hit effect would appear when wounding a monster's hide after hitting it with the sword & shield's Claw Uppercut.Made adjustments to the dual blades' Spinning Rising Slash along with increasing some elemental scaling.Fixed an issue where players would still be inflicted with an elemental blight even when guarding certain monster attacks.Fixed an issue where the position of certain weapons while sheathed was inaccurate.Fixed an issue where, while searching under specific criteria, the 2nd page of SOS flares couldn't be viewed.Fixed an issue where the effect for the charge blade's Power Axe Mode would continue to display.Fixed an issue where player character behavior would become erratic if the player becomes zombified in mid-air while close to a ledge.Fixed an issue where some skin color on the player character would not display properly when the zombification status is removed.Fixed an issue where the default color for the Gastodon layered armor was unnatural.Fixed an issue where correct defense numbers were not being shown when defense-related skills are activated when forging or changing equipment.PS4 –Fixed an issue where, when holding down the Triangle button to continue to reload while aiming the Heavy Bowgun, the reload would not continue after reloading Cluster Bombs.Xbox One – Fixed an issue where, when holding down the Y button to continue to reload while aiming the Heavy Bowgun, the reload would not continue after reloading Cluster Bombs.Fixed an issue where Palico commands would change places in the item window after switching Palico gadgets.Fixed an issue where the hunter would not perform an action when a button is pressed after the player uses the left stick and a buffer input is recognized.MiscellaneousFixed an issue where the directional button camera controls wouldn't respond at times when using Item Control Settings Type 3 or Type 4.Fixed an issue where the Select Ammo/Coating entry in the long-range weapon control guide would not display when using Item Control Setting Type 2.[PS4] Fixed an issue where multiple actions would be performed at the same time when the player uses the Surveyor Kit, and the functionality of the L1/R1 buttons is switched in the Control Settings.[XBOX] Fixed an issue where multiple actions would be performed at the same time when the player uses the Surveyor Kit, and the functionality of the LB/RB buttons is switched in the Control Settings.Fixed an issue where characters could fall off the map in the Coral Highlands.Fixed an issue where the analysis gauge would disappear when the player obtained analysis in progress special tracks or analyzed special tracks.Fixed an issue where Molys would continue to dig into the ground.Fixed an issue where activation conditions for skills that raise elemental power wouldn't display properly when inspecting other player's equipment.Fixed an issue where the monster's information wouldn't sync properly between players when the monster is near death.Fixed erroneous information in the "A Man and his Shield – 5" and "The Boaboa Challenge – 6" treasure tip.Fixed an issue where multiple monster BGM would frequently switch and play during a quest.Fixed an issue where the order of the item pouch would unintentionally change upon closing the application.Fixed an issue where ranking information couldn't be retrieved if a deleted player was registered in the rankings.Updated an error message that is displayed when saved data is damaged.Fixed an issue where portions of save data would be erased under certain conditions for users who have cleared the "Paean of Guidance" and "To the Guided, A Paean" quest.Other minute game balance tweaks and minor bugs fixes have been made.Info from Gamespot.com