Paying attention to the lead-up to eFootball PES 2020's release has sometimes felt a bit like following football's real-life transfer market. Having lost the official license of current Champions League holders Liverpool, Konami responded by replacing the Liverpudlian club with their archrivals, Manchester United. PES 2020 even got a leg up on the powerhouse of FIFA by nabbing the exclusive license to Italian giants Juventus, forcing FIFA 20 to settle for a facsimile called Piemonte Calcio. And while the inelegant esports-flavoured name change might be bad, the scrappy underdog has been wheeling and dealing in an attempt to make PES 2020 a more attractive proposition for those beholden to the church of FIFA. It's commendable and clearly important, but PES should attract people because of its on-pitch excellence.PES 2020 feels surprisingly different to last year's game once you emerge from the tunnel. The pace has been slowed down once again, delivering a realistic brand of football that's more methodical and less about ping-ponging the ball up the pitch in a matter of seconds. A palpable sense of weight to each and every player--not to mention the ball--can make the whole thing feel a tad sluggish at first, but it doesn't take long to adapt to this more considered style of play, and your input is as responsive as ever. Part of this is down to how smoothly the action flows. PES 2020 stitches each animation together with much more clarity than in previous years, effectively capturing natural movements that shift the simulation closer to reality. The new default camera angle helps with this, too, presenting the action at a slight curve that mimics what you see on TV every match day while giving you a broader view of the pitch.Click image to view in full screenThis increased visibility is important because there's a greater emphasis on space and positioning in PES 2020. The pace of play might be slower than in previous entries, but that doesn't mean there aren't moments in almost every match where an explosive injection of speed is introduced. The blistering acceleration of the fastest players in the game is immediately discernible without it ever feeling like an overpowered and one-dimensional crux. This is due to the fact that these players need space in order to utilize their game-changing speed. Most matches in PES 2020 tend to be fairly tight affairs depending on the tactics deployed by both teams, but a goal can significantly alter the outlook of a match in a hurry. Suddenly, acres of space open up for one team to exploit as the other pushes forward looking for an equalizer. And it's on the counter-attack where fleet-footed players really shine, able to burst forward into open grass and cause havoc for defenders.On the flip side, when there's limited space to work with player positioning comes to the forefront. The AI is intelligent enough to seek out pockets of space off the ball, and they'll helpfully offer an outlet pass if you ever find yourself wandering into a cul-de-sac. You'll also frequently see wide players such as Messi and Mbappe come deep to pick up possession of the ball, looking for a way to impact the match away from the isolation and tight coverage of the defense. Players will make smart runs in behind, too, though it's much harder to thread that inch-perfect pass behind the defense in PES 2020. You can still pull it off occasionally, especially if you have an adept playmaker on the ball and space to work with, but playing through ball after ball doesn't work with as much frequency as it has done in the past. This encourages a greater variety of goals, both by real players and the AI. You might see tidy one-touch passes splitting open a defense for a striker to wrap it up with an easy finish; a bullet header that's smashed in from a mouth-watering cross; or a 30-yard hit-and-hope that takes a wicked deflection off the back of a defender, rendering the goalkeeper helpless. Speaking of which, there's a lot more zip to long shots this year, making them a viable source of goals even if you might only score one in 15 attempts.The long-overdue addition of context-sensitive kick accuracy factors into all of the above as well. Now, a player's posture, position on the pitch, and the amount of defensive pressure they're under will impact the accuracy of both passes and shots. If a defender can't get a clean foot on the ball when a player is barrelling through the box, their presence might still be enough to put off the opposing attacker and send his shot wayward. Once again, this margin for error amplifies the importance of spacing and your ability to gain a yard of separation for a clear-cut opportunity. Sometimes a player's first touch is enough to escape the clutches of an aggressive defender, with PES 2020's litany of new animations and techniques allowing players to exhibit more intelligence when interacting with an approaching ball.This is another element that adds to the realism and inherent satisfaction of PES' football, providing you with an added degree of control that encompasses numerous variables such as the incoming ball's speed, the receiving player's body position, their skill level, and their playstyle. This aspect of PES 2020 grants certain players a sense of personality and individualism, with some utilizing recognizable skills and techniques to trap the ball. Along those same lines, AI teammates will even spread out to give skilled dribblers more room to work with, or make aggressive runs when a proficient passer has the ball at his feet. You'll only really notice some of this behavior with superstars like Ronaldo and Neymar, but there are other, smaller details that lend each player a tangible slice of humanity, too. For instance, the whole team has a tendency to remonstrate with the referee after the award of a free kick on the edge of their box, while a striker might wag his finger at the linesmen after a tight offside call. You may even notice the goalkeeper urging his defense to push up out of the corner of your eye, or see a defender crumple to the floor in pain after taking a shot to the midriff. Again, these are minute details, but they contribute to a sense of authenticity that elevates how enjoyable PES 2020 is to play.The latter example is also part of PES 2020's improvements to defending and an increased physicality across the pitch. Players aren't afraid to put their bodies on the line, blocking shots and crosses with reckless abandon to prevent the opposition from scoring. Sometimes this can lead to moments like the aforementioned deflected goal, and the ensuing goalmouth scrambles after some fortuitously blocked shots are also fantastically chaotic. Ideally, you'll put a stop to most attacks before they reach this point, which is helped by defending being genuinely enjoyable this year. There's a real wince-inducing crunch to some fouls, and a plethora of new tackling and clearing animations gives you more ways to win the ball back. There are no force fields around attacking players either, but they can use their bodies to get between man and ball, with physically stronger players able to hold off defenders more effectively than most. Referees are still maddeningly inconsistent, however--much like in real life. They're too whistle-happy at times and waste no time digging into their pocket to book players for innocuous fouls. Other times they'll ignore blatant penalties for no earthly reason.Fortunately, opposing team AI fares much better. The days of playing teams with a single-minded pursuit of drilling low crosses into the box are gone. There's a delightful variety of ways the AI will now approach each game, scoring all types of goals with a number of different tactics, whether they're bombarding you with long balls or passing between the lines. This makes the long-standing Master League mode a lot more enjoyable to play in PES 2020. The basic makeup of the mode hasn't really changed, but there are some new superficial additions. Instead of building a manager at the offset using a limited character creator, Master League now asks you to pick from numerous players and managers from the past and present of football, including Diego Maradona, Roberto Carlos, and the late Johan Cruyff. Throughout the season there are dynamic cutscenes that regularly present you with dialogue choices to help shape your manager's personality and allow you to set numerous objectives for your team. In truth, none of these scenes impact the game in any meaningful way. Your dialogue choices will affect how fans and the media perceive you, but this is entirely inconsequential.A more significant change in Master League revolves around transfers and how they're not quite as ridiculous as in the past. You'll still see teams pay exorbitant amounts of money for players they don't particularly need, but at least the fees are somewhat in the realms of reality. It's highly unlikely a team will splash out on a 33-year-old, for example, but that won't stop PSG spending triple digits to sign Sadio Mane. Beyond this, however, Master League is still stuck in the same holding pattern it has been for a few years now. Taking the default group of mediocre players up through the leagues--and eventually falling in love with them--is still engaging, especially now that the AI is a lot more fun to play against. But Master League still feels like a case of been-here-done-that.MyClub, the Ultimate Team-style fantasy team builder, is in a similar position, yet remains PES' best game mode. Constructing a team of legends and current players is still appealing, and the ability to play against the AI, other human players, and in co-op games gives you plenty of options to play PES however you prefer. Microtransactions are still present, but quickly assembling a competitive team doesn't rely on parting with real-world money unless you're impatient. PES 2020 also changes the way player ratings work, with every player you acquire starting with their default rating at a minimum. From there you can continue to upgrade them and exceed this rating or acquire special team-of-the-week players that are already rated higher, but you'll no longer have to worry about getting a lowly 82 rated Raheem Sterling that needs extra training.The licensing issue revolving around PES will likely never going go away, and people are still going to download option files to get all of the official kits and badges anyway. Like its predecessors, eFootball PES 2020 continues to do its talking on the pitch, refining and improving on last year's game to present what might be the greatest football game ever made. Sure, it's disappointing that you still can't play as Borussia Dortmund and the majority of the Bundesliga and a few other leagues, and its single-player offering is almost identical to what was included three years ago. But all of this effortlessly drifts to the back of your mind once you step between those white lines and simply start playing the beautiful game. Info from Gamespot.com

After years of teasing out Death Stranding trailers and doing his best to explain Death Stranding, Hideo Kojima took the stage at Tokyo Game Show 2019 twice last week to dish out over an hour of new gameplay. We now know a lot more about exploration, customization, and the imposing Catchers--the otherworldly beasts you'll fight in the world's pitch-soaked battlefields. But in an effort to better understand where Kojima's touted Social Strand system is coming from, we spoke with him at Kojima Productions' Tokyo Office between his TGS demo days, where he also graciously posed for my new favorite photo.Death Stranding's Nov. 8 release will be here before we know it, and at that point all of his allusions, terminology, and even his post-Metal Gear reputation, will be put to the test. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Kojima doesn't care if we understand what he's going for with Death Stranding when we finally get to play it for ourselves. That, he says, could take years to make sense to some of us.It's also no surprise that he's already thinking of what comes next while the rest of us grapple with whatever Death Stranding turns out to be. Specific plans remain a closely guarded secret, but Kojima was able to shed some light on what we can expect from him, and from the industry, in the coming years--including a potential collaboration with Keanu Reeves. What follows is a closer look into Death Stranding, and the intent of its creator, in his own words.Kojima Productions' Aki Saito was the interpreter for the interview, and the transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and flow.GameSpot: The last time we spoke was at DICE 2016, and at that time I asked what the biggest misconception people have of you is, and you said that people think it takes you too long to make games, and you said that's not true. Looking at the scope of Death Stranding, I'm impressed that it's already ready to be released, and I'm curious if you did anything notably different this time around?Hideo Kojima: Don't get me wrong, I'm always quick. It's like, three years? I can't really say anything about Sony right now...maybe it will take 8 years, or maybe 10 years for first-party titles, like Nintendo as well. Cyberpunk has probably been worked on for more than 8 years. I've created in three years. When I was creating Metal Gear Solid 5, I needed more time because I had to produce the engine, as well as produce other titles.So, if you looked back at the interviews three or four years ago, I'm as consistent as I said about game design... I'm kind of very efficient in the way I make games in a short time. Every day, every hour, I decide right or left. I won't say, "I'll think about it" or "let's think about it," I make a decision on the spot. So, that's one reason I don't outsource so much because you have to answer emails and wait for answers, that's why I do it in house as much as possible.One of the reasons it's fast is because I do all the planning, design, and produce, and that kind of forces me to make quick decisions. There's no time lag. Like other developers might have different people doing boss battles, and different people doing the cutscenes--it's a bit chaotic when they have to pull everything together. But our team is only about 80 people, usually other big teams are 300 or 600. So that's what--with the short amount of time and [fewer] amount of people, and the direct feedback I give--allows me to make this game in this time.During that same interview, you said you were never going to change anything just so a game could sell more copies. Now that you're running an independent studio, and the stakes have obviously risen, do you still feel that way?There's an easier way to make money, like buying stocks... What I'm doing right now is really hard to do. I'm doing it the really hard way. Like with a new game there's a lot of risk, but I want to do that. And I think that's [the] destiny of my life, of the short lifespan that I have.In creating this new Strand genre, what are the challenges that came with that, and with implementing it into a game?So yeah, it was the same with the stealth genre before, but since I do most of, or part of, everything--like the game design, or the theme, or story, or the cutscenes--the theme was always there about connection, and that's why it's consistent. I think that's the key to making this new genre, as you say. If i was doing just the story, it wouldn't be what you see it today.Don't get me wrong, I'm not just trying to create new genres, I want to create new fun for the users. The genre can be named by them afterwards, so that's my goal. So what happened was that, when I showed the trailers to everyone, people said, "What's this game about? I have no idea." So I thought I should name it something, so I just named it Strand Game.Do you think other developers are going to pick up what you're doing and run with it in their own way?Probably not the carrying aspect, but of course the online aspect...maybe a lot of developers might use that element. When doing the Metal Gear games, when stealth was introduced, I deliberately made the player not use a weapon. But when competitors brought out stealth games, they used the stealth element but with a weapon, so probably a similar thing will happen.Since you're trying so many new things, are you anticipating that some players might not understand it, even when they play it?It doesn't really matter, they can play in their own style. I think, at the very least, they will understand through the story of connection, or even the meaning of not being connected. I have to kind of accept the fact that when you introduce something new, people will take time to digest the concept because it never existed. People will say, "Oh, I don't want to just carry things" because it never existed, so it might take time for that. So again, it doesn't really matter if people get it right away, maybe in five or 10 years it will make me happy if players realize what the game is about after time has lapsed, when each player has, at their own pace, digested.Recently, all the games are like: you play it, you know it, you feel good, they're fun, and that's it. I want to create a game where there's a hit to it, you can't swallow it and it's there for a long time. Maybe in a year, or in five years, suddenly there may be an experience in their life and they realize what Death Stranding is talking about. Maybe they will play it again and have a different perspective. That's why I said that I don't really care about people not understanding it on the first try.How do you feel about the feedback loop that exists on the internet, between game developers and players?I don't think it's real communication. For example, in Japan there's a word called "omoiyari" which means caring for others. Like if you go to a restaurant in Japan, you'll find this, where people care for you beyond just serving food. But in America you tip the people, so they try to service you more. In Japan, you don't have this tip system.So for instance, there's a letter--we're online now so it's really quick, you can FaceTime, it's right away--but 100 years ago, 200 years ago, there were only letters. There's a soldier in the war field back then who writes a letter to his wife. So he gives it to the military, it's sent by ship, it takes like four months, and then his wife opens the letter. This is what was written four months ago and maybe he's dead on the other side of the world [by then]. It's not real time, there's such a big lapse. The wife has to think about what the husband was thinking about four months ago, in this situation, and this is the omoiyari feeling--caring about others. In this era, it's a little different because it's instant, a lot of people are anonymous, and you can say bad things on there.In the game you see footprints but there's a time lag in the game as well, just like the letter theory, so you have to think about why they went that way. Or, there's a bottle of water in the locker, not in a private box but in a shared box. And you'll wonder if the player put it there because they had to lessen their load, or, were they serving other players? You kind of think about that. That's not happening in the real world on the internet. So the player gets thirsty, and they find this box, and they are really happy. And you'll remember that feeling; you'll be so thankful for people you've never met before. And if you continue like that, you will probably do that as well. That's the thought here.I don't think this is the correct answer, but currently, in games like first-person shooters you aim for a headshot, you try to defeat others. The, "I'm stronger" kind of thing. Of course those games are great as well, but for my game, I want it to use the letter theory and give that experience to players.For instance, if you climb mount Fuji [in real life], it's really rough. There's a cabin in between when you're climbing. Of course it's very easy if there's a path, but sometimes there's no path. And I always feel very thankful for the path and the cabin. I'm always grateful to the first person who makes it, and if I can drink coffee in that log cabin I am so happy about it. So I think if someone feels that way, they can then give that to other people as well. That's my hope for the game. It's not the main theme, but that's the hope.But what if people do the opposite in the game, and as you've mentioned before, leave a ladder to disaster. To what extent can the opposite be true?It might not be intentional. We do a lot of playtests in the office. So sometimes there's a bridge that crosses a deep river, and people feel grateful, but it only goes to the middle of the river. Of course you don't give that bridge a thumbs up, but it probably wasn't intentional. I pretty much feel that there won't be much intentional evil. I want people to think about that as well if they fall [off that bridge]..."I won't do that to someone." And you might make the same mistake.Say there's a cliff and you go down a rope, but you need to go down further, but you can only reach a certain point. So maybe then I see your rope and your footprints and I felt really thankful for it. But if I go down, I might see that it doesn't go all the way and think about the reasons you did that. The best thing would be to put a second rope so other people don't fall in the trap. When I check people playing the game, a lot of people only play for themselves, and they just use it. And others, these people change the way they think when they place the ladder, and think of a different perspective: what if I put the ladder here, will it be useful? It's interesting to see this, and especially [in] the footprints. You might get lost and your footprints will scatter around, but when you find the footprints of others you might feel very happy at first. But you don't know if that's correct and you just follow it and it goes off a cliff, you know this person was probably lost too. So when you think about that you want your footprints to be accurate or correct.In the game, when you follow someone's footprints, and then a person comes for a third time [to follow the footprints], the wilderness that was there will turn into a small path. People have a natural intention to follow the path, so it really depends on who you are playing with indirectly. The path might already be there if people are already follow it over and over again.How far can players shape the world and how long will that persist?One of the hooks is that it's not just making the path, but because of Timefall, because of the time lapse, that path might go away if people don't use it--then new ones would be made. But the most appropriate ones would probably persist.Is this connection mentality something you want to continue to explore after Death Stranding?Yes, the Social Strand system, I would like to continue, maybe. Like streaming games, if I want to do something new in that aspect, I might keep this thinking as well, but not the storyline or the gimmick.So Death Stranding won't be made into a series, necessarily?I'm not really sure. But the most difficult part is: when you create something new, you have to create a sequel and then a third version, or it would not remain as a genre. So that's one difficult part. When this game comes out there will be a lot of pros and cons, and [these elements could become the essence of the core part], but I think it's better that I keep it going in a sequel. Why I can't say it's definite is because I only have one body, and there's many projects that I have to be involved with. And it's really tough for me physically to do many things at once. Yeah, probably at least 1.5, and then 2, maybe, at least so that it remains and people are aware of the genre. There are a lot of other projects that come up like TV dramas and things like that. A lot of pitches come my way.Do you want to continue making games driven by technology, or do you ever want to pull back and do something that's a bit more primitive, in a sense?Well it's difficult to explain, but yes and no. Yes, meaning I want to use new technology like streaming and AI, but created in a more analog way, so to speak. So yes and no. Like, not really gamey-gamey like you see, but something with an analog feel to it. However, even if it might look primitive, the technology I use will be really advanced and state-of-the-art technology.When you think about game streaming, which company is taking the right path?I can't really say, I have a lot of connections with people, right? [Laughs] I can't say who will be the winner, but I can say that the streaming era will come for sure. VR is actually stagnant right now, but will probably progress in the future with AR as well. So the next five years will be the era of streaming where people can use their personal devices and everything will be streamlined, but the years after that will be when AI jumps in more.I'm being told this is my last question, so I have to ask: will Keanu Reeves be in Death Stranding?Keanu is a great guy. I have a close friend, Nicolas Refn, he introduced me to Mads and I made an offer to Mads to be in the game. I went to Denmark and talked to Nicolas again before I gave the offer to Mads, and I said I met Mads a couple of times but I really wanted to reconfirm with Nicolas that I really should work with Mads. Nicolas said, "I made Mads grow. He's great, but the best guy is Keanu," and he was doing Neon Demon at that time. So he was trying to persuade me to use Keanu, and I thought maybe I will change from Mads to Keanu.We were having this dinner, and there was this chef, and I called the chef and told him that I'm thinking of using Mads, and asked what he thought. Even the chef said maybe Keanu is better, even though he liked Mads a lot. But I did write the character for Mads, imagining him, so I am very happy that I offered it to Mads in the end.So as I said, Keanu is a great guy, and in the future it would be great if we could work together. It could be a game, or maybe a movie or TV I might work on, so maybe next time. But I want to say Mads is really great. When I met Keanu, I was shocked that he was so polite; a real good guy. Were are only one year apart in age, so the appreciation towards a lot of things are similar, I think. So in the future, I would like to offer something to Keanu. Info from Gamespot.com

Daemon X Machina is fundamentally about the satisfaction of making small adjustments to tackle a much larger problem. Faced with a quadrupedal robot the size of a city park, do you focus on defense to outlast it, or offense to bring it down as quickly as possible? Stay grounded for access to its underbelly, or fly far above the majority of its reach? Use rapid-fire weaponry to compensate for losses in accuracy, or a lumbering bazooka and line up each shot carefully? The game is at its best when you're diagnosing a mission and outfitting your armored mech suit to match. Most of Daemon X Machina is spent in combat, but it's the moments between missions, making these key decisions, where the game really finds its identity.As the newest mercenary surrounded by veterans, you're quickly labeled "the Rookie"--a name that you keep well past it being deserved, given that you rise in the ranks and even best most of your colleagues. The mercs are pilots of armored mecha suits called Arsenals, their actions governed by a centralized artificial intelligence that oversees their missions against Immortals--A.I. robots that have gone rogue against humanity. But you're all still mercenaries. Even if you're ostensibly on the same team against the Immortals, you're all really in it for the money, and often your objectives will come into conflict with your peers from other merc groups.Life as a newbie mercenary falls into a familiar pattern. You might tinker with your Arsenal's equipment, take on a mission consisting of attacking an Immortal outpost or defending a convoy, collect your pay, and then head back to the hangar to do it all again. Despite the simple formula, Daemon X Machina manages surprising variety in its missions. Sometimes you'll need to traverse a narrow hallway filled with the small, gun-fodder Immortal units, other times you'll need to battle against a rival merc on their own conflicting mission, and occasionally you'll discover a Colossus--a giant, screen-filling Immortal with a massive life bar.The pace of the combat differs greatly between encounter types. Smaller enemies swarm the battlefield requiring harried crowd control. Rival mechs often turn into aerial slugfests, especially as melee clashes jump to a sudden button-mashing event to overpower your opponent. And the massive Colossi are each fully unique encounters with their own individual attack patterns and weaknesses. Your backup weapons equipped to the pylons provide a little flexibility, but your Arsenal is no Swiss Army knife. No single build could be prepared for every battle type, especially in the late-game as enemies are able to absorb much more damage.The variety of these battle types call for different equipment to match, and it's the tinkering portion of the game that's strangely the most satisfying. Your Arsenal has tons of customization options, including two main weapons, two backup weapons stored on rear pylons, shoulder-mounted equipment, and auxiliary equipment, and that's without even touching on the swappable head, body, arm, and leg parts and the ability to paint and decal the whole rig. It's something akin to building a model Gundam, except you can go out and pilot it against hordes of enemy robots. Some of the most rewarding moments are when you hit a tough boss battle, step away from the game while you continue to think about how you could outfit your Arsenal for the challenge, and then return with a successful battle plan. And while this isn't exactly a loot-shooter, you can pick over a defeated Arsenal and select one part to make your own, fulfilling your equipment envy when you see an enemy with a shiny object you'd like.The wealth of customization options hits a stumbling block, however, when it comes to battles against the other mercenaries. Weapon options range from slow-moving bazookas to acid guns and swords, which are perfectly suited to dealing with standard enemies and Colossi alike. But as the game goes on, battles against other mercenaries become much more frequent, and most of the weapons aren't well-suited for them. Just like your own Arsenal, enemy rigs are airborne and extremely nimble, which means the majority of your options are just too slow. The lock-on function helps signal when an enemy is in your sights, but it doesn't really lock on to them, so you need to babysit the camera as they dash around the battlefield. I found myself defaulting to double assault rifles for the last third of the game or so, since the rapid-fire helped counteract the other mechs' evasive maneuvers. It consistently worked, but it sapped most of the fun out of tailoring my Arsenal to the situation.These mech-on-mech battles are delivered with a heaping helping of anime melodrama. The cheesy voice-acting and dialogue are just endearing enough not to distract from the excellent worldbuilding, as the characters and relationships reveal more about the history and nature of the conflict. The story throws you in the deep end without much explanation, but you'll slowly grow accustomed to the various mercenary groups and their differing philosophies and goals. The Bullet Works mercenaries are run with military efficiency, for example, while Immortal Innocence throws itself into battles with reckless abandon, and the Western VII are a gang of prisoners who fight for reduced sentences instead of cash. Each mercenary comes with their own fantastically absurd call sign, like Crimson Lord, Guns Empress, and Savior.While you build up familiarity with these mercs in the story, you also gain them as recruitable allies. That allows you to bring them along on side missions, though it is sometimes frustrating that you can't direct your allies to focus on a specific target. Their help comes at a price--sometimes a price even higher than the actual payout, in which case you're taking a net loss to make the mission a little easier on yourself. This is fine, though, because money has limited utility in the game’s economy. You can buy parts at a shop or fabricate them at a factory, but the ones you find scrounging around on the battlefield are generally better anyway.Most of your cash will instead go into small, passive upgrades for your Arsenal and humanoid avatar--called an Outer because, naturally, even your actual human body is defined in the context of being outside your Arsenal. You can pay a little money at a place called the Ice Cream Parlor for a one-mission buff, or pay significantly more to develop an upgrade tree. These upgrades make you appear progressively less human, which is thematically similar to transhumanism elements in the main story. Your inhuman appearance isn't ever remarked upon, though, so your choices don't connect with the larger narrative and it remains superficial. Instead, your upgrades and the accompanying cosmetic changes are just a matter of weighing whether you mind if your avatar looks less like you intended when you made them.Similarly, the story lands with less punch than it should have. You've been fighting other pilots so casually and with such regularity that when the stakes turn to life-and-death, it isn't really reflected in the gameplay. You're still shooting the enemy until their Arsenal becomes inactive, but then a cutscene shows that they die instead of retreating. It's a disappointing fizzle considering how fond I had grown of the various factions and their merry bands of weirdos.DXM does get a boost of longevity through its cooperative online play. Missions range from upgraded versions of the Colossus boss battles to taking on other sets of mercenaries. The lobby system and chat functions, while simplistic, perform their jobs well, and it’s cool to see your hangar bay filling up with your teammates’ mechs as they join up. Your rewards for co-op missions lean into the best part of the game by providing a constant avenue to obtain new loot like armor parts, weapons, and mod attachments. Oddly, though, there appears to be no clear way to swap your loadout or equipment when you’re in the multiplayer lobby. If you want your rig to be properly tailored to a multiplayer mission, you’ll either need to choose the loadout and then restrict your search criteria very narrowly, or deal with having a more broad-purpose build.The missed potential of the story and minor issues with mech-vs-mech combat and multiplayer loadouts make Daemon X Machina fall just short of its potential, but the foundation is strong. As a total package, it’s on the verge of greatness; it just needed a little more time in the shop tinkering. Info from Gamespot.com

Earlier this year, GameStop announced that it would experiment with new store layouts--focused around eSports, retro games, and more--at some of its locations in the United States. Now, video has emerged from one of these "pilot" stores that shows the new look--and it's quite dramatic.The GameStop store in Pryor, Oklahoma posted a video to Facebook earlier this month that shows off what appears to be one of the "retro" pilot stores. The first thing you may notice is that the layout appears to be sleeker and more modern-looking, with the POS registers in the middle. Also immediately noticeable is how the store appears to have been designed to encourage people to spend more time in there than normal. There is a couch with a big-screen TV at the front, and CRT TVs at the back with retro systems like GameCube, Nintendo 64, and Original Xbox connected for multiplayer sessions.This all appears to be part of GameStop's ambition to become the "local church" of gaming. GameStop chief customer officer Frank Hamlin told GameSpot that the new store designs are meant to "celebrate video game culture in real life.""It is a really powerful thing to witness. My question around GameStop is, if you take the analogy of that Vatican, or Mecca, or the Wailing Wall, why isn't GameStop the local church, synagogue, or mosque?" he explained.IGN was first to report on the new GameStop store layouts in Pryor, Oklahoma. The site also confirmed the authenticity of the Facebook video.During an earnings call earlier this month, GameStop management confirmed that its pilot stores will be located in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area. Pryor is about 45 minutes outside of Tulsa.GameStop recently announced plans to close up to 200 stores, with more closures to follow, as part of the company's "GameStop Reboot" initiative aimed at turning things around.GameStop's share price is close to an all-time low, due to a number of factors. For the latest quarter, company saw its total global sales fall 14.3 percent to $1.3 billion. GameStop posted a net loss of $415.3 million for the quarter, which is far worse than the $24.9 million that the company lost during the same period last year.Looking to the future, GameStop said it expects total sales to continue to be down in multiple consecutive quarters to come, as the industry awaits the launch of next-generation consoles in Holiday 2020. In 2018, GameStop attempted to sell itself, but the company canceled those plans in February. Info from Gamespot.com

Actor Dan Aykroyd is a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and that means he gets to vote for what he thinks are the best movies of a given year. Now, the Ghostbusters writer and star has revealed which movie he plans to nominate for Best Picture this year.Appearing on the Joe Rogan Experience, Aykroyd said he plans to vote for Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood for overall Best Picture, at least based on what he's seen so far."This is going to win Best Picture. I'm a member of the Academy. I can tell you right now, and I'm going to get in trouble for this; that's my vote for Best Picture right now. How great are those two guys in that film? How great was that cast? Just superb filmmaking."Speaking about the two leads, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, Aykroyd said they are "masters.""I love to watch them work," he said.The Oscar nominations for 2019 will be announced in January 2020 before the awards broadcast takes place in February.If Once Upon A Time In Hollywood wins the Best Picture Oscar, it will be Tarantino's third Academy Award. He previously won writing awards for Django Unchained and Pulp Fiction. None of his movies have ever won Best Picture.Pitt told Entertainment Weekly that he doesn't plan to campaign himself for an acting Oscar this year, despite turning in some of his most acclaimed performances ever with Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and Ad Astra. "Oh, man. I'm gonna abstain," he said. "I mean, you never know, and it's really nice when your number comes up. But the goal is for the film to land, to speak to someone whether it’s now or a decade from now. I find chasing it actually a disservice to the purity of your telling a story, and a shackling thing to focus on."Info from Gamespot.com

If you've been playing Borderlands 3, you've probably been hearing a lot of talk about Shift Codes. These are limited-time codes you can use to potentially earn Golden Keys that unlock the Golden Chest in Sanctuary for high-tier loot. They can also net you unique cosmetics for your character.Shift Codes are often distributed via Gearbox's newsletters or social media accounts. During the game's launch weekend, Gearbox's Randy Pitchford shared a Shift Code on Twitter. This code has since expired, but there are still several active Shift codes making the rounds.Below you can find a list of every working Shift Code so far and its respective prize. We recommend redeeming them as soon as possible, as they're likely to expire sooner than later. Be sure to check back often as we'll be updating this feature with even more Shift Codes.Shift CodesZFKJ3-TT3BB-JTBJT-T3JJT-JWX9H (3 Golden Keys)HXKBT-XJ6FR-WBRKJ-J3TTB-RSBHR (1 Golden Key)ZFKJ3-TT6FF-KTFKT-T3JJT-JWX36 (1 Golden Key)Z65B3-JCXX6-5JXW3-3B33J-9SWT6 (1 Golden Key)9XCBT-WBXFR-5TRWJ-JJJ33-TX53Z (1 Golden Key)ZRWBJ-ST6XR-CBFKT-JT3J3-FRXJ5 (1 Golden Key)To redeem a code, go to input it in the Shift Codes section in the game's social menu. You can also login to the Borderlands VIP site to redeem Shift Codes. You can then acquire what you've unlocked from your mailbox one tab over. While it's not easy to predict when Gearbox will share new Shift Codes, we'll likely get more soon during the upcoming free Halloween-themed Bloody Harvest event scheduled for this October.For more Borderlands 3, be sure to check out our Borderlands 3 beginner's guide and our gallery of the best Legendary, Very Rare, and Rare guns we've found. We've also prepared a useful guide on which character you should choose before starting the game. But for everything else, read our roundup of all things Borderlands 3.In our Borderlands 3 review, author Jordan Ramee gave the game an 8/10 and said, "Borderlands 3 has a few stumbling blocks when it comes to bosses, but these fights are overshadowed by the game's rewarding gunplay and over-the-top humor. The game's character-driven narrative acts as a satisfying finale for the loot-shooter franchise, and the new mechanics and features--especially the reworked skill trees and weapon manufacturer effects--give you plenty of agency in how you want to play through it. If you've never been a fan of the franchise, it's unlikely Borderlands 3 does enough things differently to change your mind, as the game best excels at continuing what the series has always done: deliver a humorous tall tale of misfits looting and shooting their way to heroism." Borderlands 3 News Borderlands 3 Starter Guide: 17 Spoiler-Free Tips You Should Know Before Jumping In Borderlands 3 Review Borderlands 3 Review, Release Date, Preload, Unlock Times, PC Specs, And More Borderlands 3 Golden Chest Guide: How To Get Golden Keys And Shift Codes Info from Gamespot.com

With its new commentary team and updated presentation package, NHL 20 represents the franchise's biggest shakeup in years--and they're mostly positive changes. Combined with excellent controls, fluid gameplay, numerous fun and engaging different modes to play, a fine attention to detail and appreciation for hockey culture, NHL 20 is a step forward that is generally excellent.The biggest change for NHL 20 is its broadcast package. It is almost completely different this year, and the changes--which span commentary, UI, and graphics--are mostly positive but not always for the better. Commentators Mike "Doc" Emerick and Eddie Olczyk are out, while nearly the entirety of the NBC Sports Network license package, including live-action sequences, are gone, too. It's a jarring change, as Emerick and Olczyk have been the voice of EA's NHL games since NHL 15.The new commentators are Canadian sports radio personality James Cybulski and former player and current rinkside analyst Ray Ferarro. They do a mostly adept job at calling plays with style, flair, and personality, and their back-and-forth banter succeeds at capturing the essence of hockey culture with hockey IQ and knack. Some commentary lines are repeated too often, however, and Cybulski in particular sounds at times like he is hamming it up and acting like every game is Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.Outside of the new commentary team, NHL 20's updated broadcast presentation includes more colorful and dynamic graphics that display important information in more eye-catching ways. In addition to brighter colors and sharper fonts, NHL 20 introduces more dramatic, slow-motion highlights of goal scores, as well as Overwatch-style "Play of the Period" and "Play of the Game" highlights. These moments do a good job at breaking down key plays, and, with their unique angles and close-ups, provide nice moments to sit back and revel in your achievements.Part of this updated broadcast package is a new location for the score clock, which is the only major misstep. It's now at the bottom of the screen compared to the top-left in last year's game--and it cannot be moved in the Settings. The new score clock location opens up more space on the screen for action, but I found it positively difficult to quickly and easily see the important information like time left in the game, penalty minutes, and other datapoints while simultaneously keeping my eyes on the action. It's a baffling choice, especially considering many of NHL 20's various other modes keep the score clock where it was. This inconsistency worsens the experience, as you have to train your eyes in multiple ways depending on which mode you're playing.Authentic HockeyNHL 20 succeeds the most with excellent, tight controls that give you the freedom to execute basically any hockey move you can think of. There are also changes to animations and skating mechanics that make the game appear more lifelike. Building off what was already the franchise's best foot forward with NHL 19, this year's entry feels faster and more fluid with better animations that more realistically depict important transitional moments like catching a pass and getting intro stride at a quicker pace. Overall, the on-ice gameplay feels faster and more true to the real NHL experience.There are new shot animations as well, which are contextual in nature and better represent what a shot might look like from a particular part of the ice and depending on angles, power, speed, specific player attributes, and more. In NHL 19, your player would oftentimes still complete the shot animation even if the puck never got to them, which looked very strange, but that rarely happens this year. NHL 20 also introduces "Signature Shots" for a number of the league's best players; one of these is P.K. Subban's booming slapshot and Alex Ovechkin's electric one-timer. It's a treat to see player-specific animations in NHL 20, and it's yet another part of the way NHL 20 faithfully represents the real NHL experience. Additionally, goalie AI appears to be smarter this year, with netminders giving up fewer soft rebounds and making generally smarter decisions during important scenarios.NHL 20's in-game attention to detail and careful consideration of the sport is astounding. Players look and react as you'd expect them to on a TV broadcast, down to the way players subtly peek back toward their teammates during a face-off to the sharp crackle of skates gliding over outdoor pond ice. On the outdoor rinks, the crimson red glow of sunset over the pond is something to behold. On the ice, the physics system is so realistically presented that I found myself wincing after big open-ice hits.Unfortunately, NHL 20 doesn't do much in the area of improving player models. In fact, the character models for players, referees, and the crowd appear largely unchanged from last year. When the replay camera zooms in on fans on the glass, you might be wondering what kind of time vacuum the NHL series exists in for people to never age or look at all different from year to year.Dirty DanglesThe NHL series is known for its tight, precise controls, and this level of excellence continues with NHL 20. No matter what control setup you're using, the controls allow for a complete command of your player with astounding simplicity and a lot of depth at the same time. Puck possession and clever play-making are paramount in NHL 20, and the controls never fail to provide you with many different options to keep the puck, get around defenders, make the extra pass, and light the lamp. You have the freedom to play with as much creativity as you want. The game also features a slick and smart on-ice trainer that reacts to how you're playing and provides dynamic feedback that, for the most part, helps you improve your game.There is such a level of fine precision with the controls that you can determine the specific angle of a poke-check or toe-drag the puck at just the right time to open space up to make a shot on goal. In essence, the controller's analog sticks feel like an extension of your on-ice stick. The excellent baseline controls stand out even more once you move on to trying out more more advanced techniques. It takes time and practice to learn the dirtiest dangles the game has to offer, but it's deeply rewarding to perform spins and dekes that together combine to give you ample opportunities to play with style and pizzazz.In addition to the standard hockey simulation, NHL 20 has an abundance of arcade-style modes. The pond hockey mode, Ones--which sees three players on a small, outdoor rink competing against each other--introduces four new locations, including a rink set on a secluded farm and another inspired by the Rideau Canal in Canada. These new locations, in addition to weather effects like snow coming down during games, make Ones an even more authentic and holistically representative depiction of the outdoor hockey experience.Ones is lots of fun with its stripped-down, back-to-basics recreation of outdoor hockey with fast-paced play and lots of goals. Outside of the new locations, the biggest change for Ones is the introduction of offline play for couch co-op, and this is a very welcome addition after last year's game left it out in a head-scratching move.The Threes mode, meanwhile, remains NHL's flashiest and wackiest mode with completely unhinged commentary, mascots lacing it up, lots of goals, and big hits. It's the mode I found myself coming back to the most due in part to its quick games relative to the standard simulation mode and constant progression rewards in every game played.The social hub, World of Chel, returns with NHL 20 with some noteworthy updates. The biggest introduction is the "Eliminator" mode, which is NHL's spin on battle royale. You can go it alone in Ones or team up with two others in Threes to try to survive four consecutive rounds in a bracket to win the tournament. It's a thrilling, incredibly challenging, high-stakes challenge that, like the battle royale games it's inspired by, encourage you to keep coming back and improve your skills.There is a robust character-creator and you earn XP for everything you do across all of World of Chel's modes. It's rewarding to invest in your character and know that, whatever mode in World of Chel you're playing, you're working towards growing your character with meaningful advancements like new player traits, in addition to nice extras like cosmetic gear. New for World of Chel with NHL 20 are weekly challenges that track your performance and reward you with cosmetics around a particular theme. For example, the launch-week theme is NHL 94, so you can earn all kinds of themed cosmetics like jerseys and other gear. I anticipate coming back regularly.Elsewhere in NHL 20, the career-minded Be A Pro remains a satisfying and rewarding ride to take as you start your character from the ground floor and build them into a superstar, though there are no noteworthy updates to speak of this year. Franchise, meanwhile, features a new system that gives you multiple team coaches who have influence on the direction of your team today and in the future. The system, which also includes a light conversation mechanic where you can gauge the morale and interest of your coaches, adds a further level of strategy to the already robust Franchise mode that helps you feel like you're really the GM of a pro team. Franchise also introduces a trade-finder system that makes it less laborious to find and make trades.Ultimate Team returns as well, and its noteworthy addition is the introduction of Squad Battles. These function the same way they do in Madden and FIFA where you go up against HUT squads created by other players or, after launch, sports stars and celebrities. Hockey Ultimate Team is all about grinding to collect new cards, and it remains a fun experience to build a fantasy team comprised of legends and current stars alike, and compete against others.NHL 20 successfully captures the ice hockey experience from the ponds to big games under the bright lights, with a fine attention to detail and simple yet deep controls that are best-in-class. Once you get over the shock of Eddie and Doc being out of the game, the new commentary team do an adept job of providing informative and playful banter, while the game's multitude of varied modes each have their own distinct feel and appeal that go a long way to make NHL 20 an excellent representation of hockey culture across the board.Info from Gamespot.com

There's religious fanaticism, and then there's Inquisitor Aloysius from Greedfall, a man so excessively villainous his whole schtick borders on farcical. A member of Thélème, one of the game's six factions, he appears when you first step into the town square of the city San-Matheus. What draws your eye is the sight of a hulking woodland beast howling in pain while tied to a stake in an enormous burning pyre, as a captured native islander looks on helplessly. When asked why the creature and his people are subjected to such cruelty, the Inquisitor bellows an odious response about cleansing the corrupt souls of his tribe. Then in one swift movement, he yanks the islander's head, stabs the poor soul with a knife, and yells obscenities about heresies into the sky.That uncomfortable scene is emblematic of the plot in Greedfall; its tales of colonialism and political subterfuge are tackled with such little nuance that it verges on parody. The islanders wear face paint, have heavy accents, and venerate the woodland beasts as deities, while the cardinals, bishops, and alchemists refer to them as savages that need enlightenment or salvation. Greedfall relies heavily on these kinds of blunt narrative tropes for its setting, much in the same way it does on a very familiar open-world RPG structure. And while it's very easy to lose yourself in its competent, if comfortable, formula, it means that Greedfall ultimately feels unremarkable at best. You play as the charming diplomat De Sardet from the Congregation of Merchants, who's in charge of brokering peace between two warring factions: the Thélème, a theocratic nation that preach their gospel heavily and want to convert as many natives as possible, even if it's by force, and the Bridge Alliance, home to a nation of alchemists who wield their vast and incomparable knowledge of science for political ends.Both factions want to colonize a mystical island called Teer Fradee, which is brimming with fantastical flora and fauna. They, as well as the clans of indigenous people who are resisting their incursions, seek your help for their own ends. But that's not all; you also have something you want from the island: the cure for the Malicor, a mysterious plague devastating your home. In short, everyone wants a piece of this enchanted isle, and your task is to navigate through this political minefield for the best outcome--whatever you think that is.Greedfall attempts to tweak certain aspects of its otherwise conventional colonialist plot (the islanders aren't depicted as crazed natives or hungry cannibals, and the factions are somewhat multicultural), but beyond a vague sense of awareness about its oppressive legacy, Greedfall's heavy-handed themes never make way for anything more nuanced or interesting. Sure, it highlights the exploitative behaviors of the Thélème and Bridge Alliance factions, but their actions are so moustache-twirling malicious that they become mere caricatures of evildoers. Even your companions and other characters are cookie-cutter emblems of their group: Siora is the native princess who wishes to seek peace for her clan; Petrus is the religious Thélème advisor with tons of political savvy; and Kurt is the loyal, headstrong mercenary whose stoic demeanour can barely disguise his world-weariness. Most damning of all is your character, De Sardet, who, as the big hero, embodies the "white man's burden" allegory that also plagues other colonial-themed narratives; it's all on you to liberate the natives or unite the factions against them.Greedfall's saving grace is that its role-playing systems are adequate, and the game's greatest strength is how well it sticks to what is tried-and-tested. It features mechanical design that's common in the genre--exploring, looting, questing, etc--but it's also savvy enough to incorporate the best versions of these elements--most notably it feels like it draws inspiration from CD Projekt Red's The Witcher 3, a title I couldn't stop making mental comparisons to.At the beginning, you're given the choice of playing as one of three character archetypes: the melee-focused warrior, the stealthy gunslinger, or the spell-wielding tactician. But you're also given the flexibility to break out of these standard classes through an array of skill trees. As you progress through the game, you can freely invest hard-earned points, which opens up a variety of methods you can approach combat with and even how you resolve quests--be it bludgeoning your way through conflict with a two-handed axe or wearing a horde of rampaging beasts down with poison traps. And, as has become common in open-world RPGs, Greedfall also comes with a crafting system. Materials are in abundance--enemies, from human foes to wild animals, drop them frequently, while crates and jugs across most cities are bursting with goodies you can loot. One constraint, however, is that you can only craft upgrades to armor and weapons you own, rather than cobble brand-new equipment altogether. This streamlines crafting, and it also encourages you to still seek out better equipment. Meanwhile, combat is more than just a frenzied blur of swords and gunplay too; you can make tactical pauses to examine your enemies closely, change your target, consider your combat options, or silently contemplate how stunning your swashbuckling buccaneer looks in the heat of action.Greedfall suffers from some bugs, primitive systems, and even glaring spelling errors, however. Some dialogue is clearly skewed towards a male De Sardet; in my playthrough as a female De Sardet, several characters still referred to me as "he." The stealth mechanism is also unintentionally hilarious. When on a stealth mission, enemies tend to treat companions as invisible; they will not notice two big, oafish men blundering about in front of them, but will jump out of their skins when they notice De Sardet peeking out from behind a nearby crate. Romancing your companions is also another thing you can do in the game, but the moves you need to make to get into their hearts (and under the sheets) is so perfunctory, it’s almost unmemorable. You engage in a three-part companion quest with the lover of your choice, where you'll find conversations that give you the chance to maximize your romance meter. But the game makes it obvious when you've said something wrong (characters will retort back unhappily, accompanied by a numerical drop in your reputation), so it's an easy process to save scum, and the ultimate reward is a not-very-saucy bedroom cutscene. In spite of the game's blundering narrative issues, it's still easy to get hooked into the rhythm of exploring, crafting, brawling, investigating, and interacting with the host of characters and beasts, while getting lost among the beautiful lush greenery of Teer Fradee. Running into more challenging enemies or engaging in boss fights are a particular treat, since it's an opportunity to pit your hard-earned combat abilities against formidable foes. And tucked within the story, as hackneyed as it is, are occasional glimpses of genuine humanity, such as De Sardet's close relationship with their cousin Constantin, who's also the new governor of Teer Fradee.But ultimately, because Greedfall is so cavalier about its colonialist themes, and because it plays it safe by sticking so closely to the template of open-world RPGs, it doesn't really feel revelatory in any way. Instead, it's content to be just another digital playground--just another world filled with magic, riches, secrets, and monsters for players to shoot and loot at will. I did have fun when I got lost in its familiar RPG loop, but its lack of nuance or innovation prevents it from being truly remarkable. Info from Gamespot.com

AI: The Somnium Files is an adventure game that combines two classic storytelling genres: the murder mystery and the buddy-cop movie. On top of that, the "buddy" for AI's lead character, detective Kaname Date, isn't human. Or animal, for that matter. Rather, it's a snarky, quirky, super-powered feminine artificial intelligence in the shape of an eyeball--named Aiba--that lives in his left eye socket and has a direct connection to his brain. Oh, and she also helps Date by transforming into a humanoid avatar form to explore the dream worlds of various characters you meet throughout the game. Talk about an odd couple, huh?It's an intriguing concept for sure. Thankfully, the near-future sci-fi detective story that AI: the Somnium Files tells lives up to the promise of its unique premise, delivering a great dialogue-driven adventure that sucks you in and doesn’t let up until all of its twisted mysteries have been unraveled.Date is a detective for a secret, experimental Tokyo police division called ABIS. When the body of his best friend's ex-wife is found displayed in an abandoned amusement park, Date soon finds himself swept up in a complex investigation to find the culprit before they strike again. Along the way, he crosses paths with a bubbly up-and-coming internet personality, her diehard fanboy (and his beleaguered mother), a Yakuza group, a corrupt politician, and the victim's young daughter, amongst many other odd, interesting, and sinister personalities. And that's not even mentioning the oddest personality of them all: Aiba, his quick-witted and sharp-tongued AI partner and confidant in exploring the case.Having a smart-alecky AI constantly feeding commentary into your brain might sound nightmarish, but Aiba comes with some special skills to aid Date with his investigations: X-ray vision, heat sensing, zooming to check up on faraway places, and even the ability to help Date in quick-time event-style combat. But Aiba's biggest role is to help Date get information from the various characters by acting as his avatar in their dream worlds. When interrogation gets tough, ABIS staff hooks a subject up to a Psync machine, which allows Date and Aiba to explore their subjects' subconscious "somnium" dream world to uncover clues and deeply hidden (and sometimes forgotten) secrets. The excursion is under a strict time limit--otherwise their consciousnesses become forever intertwined.Gameplay in the exploration and investigation sections of AI: The Somnium Files follows a fairly typical point-and-click adventure game style: You look at objects in the environments for clues and talk to characters by making comments and asking questions. The way AI handles these sections makes you less likely to get stuck than in other adventure games, however. You're only given the option to move to a new area once you've done everything necessary to advance the story in one particular location, which ensures you won’t need to backtrack or worry that you're missing anything important. If you can’t move to the map, you know there’s still more to do.While exploring the various environments will yield a fair amount of clues, it's the interactions Date has with the various characters (and Aiba’s reactions to those interactions) that really move AI's twisting mystery along. Each character you interact with is unique and memorable in their own way. There's Iris, the cheery aspiring internet idol whose mischievous personality causes Date much consternation; Ota, a devoted fan of Iris with numerous nerdy pursuits; So, a slimy politician with his fair share of secrets; Boss and Pewter, two eccentric personalities that work with Date at ABIS; and Mizuki, Date's friend's daughter with a sour attitude and strength beyond her years. There are many more interesting faces you’ll meet, too, each with an important role to play in the story and a strong personality to match. The excellent character designs by Yusuke Kozaki (Fire Emblem Awakening, No More Heroes) also give each NPC a striking visual element to match their distinct characterizations.At certain points in the story, you encounter other modes of gameplay, like interrogation scenes where you present evidence to a character and action scenes involving quick-time event-style button presses to help Date fend off threats. However, the most important parts of the game take place when Date uses the Psync machine to explore another character's somnium worlds. Using Aiba as an avatar, you interact directly with elements within these characters' surreal, illogical, and often very disturbing dream worlds, with every action she performs costing precious time. If Date and Aiba can’t solve the puzzles in the somnium within the time limit, they’ll be forced out, and you will have to start the somnium exploration over from the beginning.Solving the puzzles to progress in the somniums involves performing certain actions in a certain order on certain objects--and since these are bizarre, often illogical dreamscapes, sometimes the solution isn’t obvious or runs contrary to common sense. You can earn and use items called TIMIEs to help conserve time, but if time grows short, your best option might be to restart. This involves repeating much of the same actions and dialogue to get back to where you were, but skipping all the previous, time-wasting actions you tried before. If you don’t want to do the whole event over, you can go back to checkpoints within a somnium to try and save time by only performing necessary actions. However, you can only do this up to three times before you are forced to restart. Making this even worse is that sometimes you’re saddled with time-penalty TIMIEs from certain actions, meaning that your next action will cost significantly more time than usual and possibly even lead to unwinnable situations. As a result, the six-minute time limit winds up being a source of stress, discouraging you from exploring and appreciating the well-crafted dreamscape environments as much as you’d like and sometimes standing as a roadblock to further progressing the story.Besides revealing important story beats, the somnium sequences serve another important purpose: Depending on your actions within the somnium, the overall story will branch down one of many different potential paths, with different events taking place on each story branch. Only by seeing all of the various story possibilities, good and bad, will the whole truth behind AI's saga be revealed. Fortunately, you’re able to jump around to various points in the game’s saga (and replay somnium sequences) whenever you want, so you can put one story branch aside and pick up another anytime you feel like--though there will be roadblocks in some spots if certain plot points have yet to be revealed. As the various branches of the story give tantalizing tidbits of information and reveal more about each of the main characters, you feel like you’re piecing together an elaborate puzzle, which makes it all the more satisfying when big revelations happen.Despite the occasional frustration in exploring its dream landscapes, the whole of AI: the Somnium Files winds up being a fun, thrilling, and engaging experience. The story is filled with intriguing twists and shocking surprises, and the characters and their individual arcs inspire you to care about what happens to them. The somnium dream worlds add a layer of psychological horror to the ongoing mystery, and Date and Aiba’s constant back-and-forth interactions provide levity to make every investigation all the more amusing. AI's unconventional detective story is one you won’t soon forget.Info from Gamespot.com

It's a good week to be a Nintendo Switch owner. This episode of New Releases takes a look at The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening remake, Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns, and Castle Crashers Remastered--all coming to the handheld console. Those aren't the only remasters either; Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is also launching this week. Finally, the zany indie Untitled Goose Game is also on the way.Castle Crashers Remastered -- September 17Available on: SwitchThe 2008 Xbox Live Arcade classic is out now on Xbox One, and this week Switch owners can enjoy the beat-'em-up action in four-player co-op or take each other on in the arena. This remaster includes the original game, plus all of its DLC, all running at 60 FPS. There's also a new mini-game called Back Off Barbarian.More Coverage:Castle Crashers Remastered Gets A Release Date on Switch; PS4 Version To FollowCastle Crashers Remastered - New Mini-Game GameplayPuzzle Quest: The Legend Returns -- September 19Available on: SwitchFor the uninitiated, Puzzle Quest is an RPG where you battle foes by playing a match-three puzzle game. Once you choose a class, you can cast spells and make attacks based on combinations of colored gems as you clear the board. The Legend Returns includes the original game and all previous expansions, plus a brand-new one titled Attack of the Golem Lord.More Coverage:Puzzle Quest Remastered "The Legend Returns" Announced For Nintendo Switch15 Minutes Of Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns GameplayThe Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening -- September 20Available on: SwitchThis is a full-on remake of Link's Awakening on the Game Boy. While it offers the same story and dungeons across Koholint Island, there's also a completely fresh art style, reimagined soundtrack, and even a special dungeon editor. Tap an Amiibo, and you can unlock extra mini-games and chambers for that dungeon-builder. Tap the Link's Awakening Amiibo specifically, and you'll summon Shadow Link.More Coverage:Zelda: Link's Awakening - Everything We Know About The Nintendo Switch RemakeGameStop Announces Exclusive Pre-Order Bonus For Link's AwakeningNi no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Remastered -- September 20Available on: PS4, PCNi no Kuni's Studio Ghibli-inspired visuals were already impressive when the original released in 2010--the beloved studio actually animated the game's cinematic cut scenes--but the remaster somehow looks even better, running at 60 FPS. Otherwise it's the same RPG from nearly a decade ago. Speaking of which, the original Ni no Kuni (not the remaster) is also headed to Nintendo Switch on September 20.More Coverage:Ni no Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch Remastered RevealedNi no Kuni PS4 Remastered Breathtaking Gameplay | E3 2019Untitled Goose Game -- September 20Available on: PC, SwitchAs the name says, this game is about a goose, and that goose's mission is to bother the citizens of a small village. You'll do that by running around, flapping your wings, honking, grabbing items, and generally causing mischief. Oh, and this is a stealth game at its core. Why, what were you expecting?More Coverage:Untitled Goose Game Release Date RevealedE3 2019: Why Going Epic Store-Exclusive Was The Right Choice For Untitled Goose Game DevsThere's still more games to come this month. Next week, New Releases will shine the spotlight on some soccer with FIFA 20 and turn up the action with Code Vein and The Surge 2.Info from Gamespot.com

Borderlands 3 launched on PC as an Epic Games Store exclusive, a decision that generated some amount of controversy. Now, Gearbox's Randy Pitchford has revealed that the PC version of Borderlands 3 is off to a tremendous start.The executive said the number of peak concurrent players--that is, the highest number of people playing at the same time--is around double the all-time peak concurrent player record set by Borderlands 2. "WoW! You guys are great!" Pitchford exclaimed.The launch-day peak concurrent user milestone didn't stand for long, as Borderlands 3 grew even larger in the days after release, Pitchford said."This greatly exceeds expectations, and our systems seem to be holding strong!" Pitchford said about the record-breaking numbers.Fun Fact: On PC, the data is that the launch day peak concurrent players of Borderlands 3 is about *twice-as-high* as the all time peak concurrent players of Borderlands 2. WOW! You guys are great! — Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) September 13, 2019Somehow, today’s concurrent player numbers are *higher* than yesterday’s record breaking numbers. This greatly exceeds expectations, and our systems seem to be holding strong! — Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) September 15, 2019Borderlands 3 is exclusive on PC to the Epic Games Store until April 2020, at which time it may launch on Steam and other digital storefronts.There is no word on how the PS4 and Xbox One versions of Borderlands 3 are performing from a user perspective, but more information should become available in due course.For more on Borderlands 3, check out GameSpot's Borderlands 3 review and extended coverage in the feature below: Borderlands 3: How Long Is It, Review, Guides, Endgame, And MoreInfo from Gamespot.com

Quentin Tarantino's newest movie, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, will go down as one of his most successful at the box office. After another weekend in theatres, the movie has now made $136.9 million in the United States and Canada and $195.5 million from foreign markets. Globally, the period movie has now pulled in $329.4 million to become Tarantino's second-biggest movie ever.Once Upon A Time In Hollywood passes 2009's Inglourious Basterds ($321.5 million) to become Taraninto's second-biggest movie, only behind Django Unchained ($425.4 million).Tarantino's ninth movie, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt as an actor and his stunt double in 1969 Hollywood. Margot Robbie appears as Sharon Tate, while a long list of famous people have roles including Luke Perry, who passed away in March.GameSpot's 9/10 Once Upon A Time In Hollywood review said, "It succeeds immensely at being a fairy tale--a recounting of a time and place, an attempt to capture the essence of Hollywood's golden age, one that came to an end in 1969--but, maybe for Tarantino, never really ended at all." Info from Gamespot.com

Spider-Man is apparently officially out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and now the directors of the latest Avengers movies have spoken about the decision. Speaking to the Toronto Sun, directors Anthony and Joe Russo commented on one of the biggest off-screen superhero movie storylines of 2019.Anthony Russo commented that the "marriage" between Sony--which holds the movie rights to Spider-Man--and Disney was not built to last."We had a wonderful experience with that and I think audiences really appreciated that marriage. But we know how hard that marriage was to make in the first place, so the fact that the marriage fell apart isn't really that surprising to me and Joe," he said.Anthony Russo added that is was an "extremely long and hard process" to get Spider-Man into the MCU in Captain America: Civil War, which was his first appearance. Spider-Man would go on to appear in the MCU movies Avengers Infinity War and Avengers Endgame, as well as his own movies Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home.Joe Russo, meanwhile, said the relationship between Disney and Sony was "a tenuous, fraught union throughout the whole process." Marvel boss Kevin Feige was at the heart of the Spider-Man deal, and he was also working with Sony as a producer on their Spider-Man movies. That won't happen in the future, however, and Joe Russo thinks it is a "tragic mistake" on Sony's part."But, I will say, stepping back and trying to be objective as possible, that I think it's a tragic mistake on Sony's part to think that they can replicate Kevin's penchant for telling incredible stories and the amazing success he has had over the years. I think it's a big mistake," he said.Feige previously talked about the break-up between Marvel and Sony, saying, "We got to make five films within the MCU with Spider-Man: two standalone films and three with the Avengers. It was a dream that I never thought would happen. It was never meant to last forever. We knew there was a finite amount of time that we’d be able to do this, and we told the story we wanted to tell, and I'll always be thankful for that."Even with Spider-Man no longer in the MCU, Disney will continue to benefit from Spider-Man as it currently receives 100% of merchandise sales from Spider-Man.In other news, just this weekend, Feige revealed a never-before-seen Iron Man deleted scene that references Spider-Man and X-Men, suggesting Marvel wanted them in the MCU from the beginning.Info from Gamespot.com

A newly revealed deleted scene from 2008's Iron Man, the first Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 1 movie, has been revealed--and it seems to contain references to X-Men and Spider-Man.At the Saturn Awards this weekend, Marvel boss Kevin Feige shared a never-before-seen post-credits scene from the original Iron Man that he said he never intended to show to anyone outside of Marvel."I'm about to show you a deleted scene that has never been seen by anyone before right now," Feige said. The scene shows Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) speaking to Tony Stark about the Avenger Initiative and how he's dealing with "gamma accidents, radioactive bug bites, and assorted mutants." No doubt these are references to Spider-Man and X-Men.At the Saturn Awards, Kevin Feige revealed an alternate version of the post-credits scene from ‘IRON MAN’ with Nick Fury mentioning “mutants” and “radioactive bug bites”. It will be included in the upcoming INFINITY SAGA boxset. (Source: @BRMarvelNews) pic.twitter.com/AqzTokEc67 — DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 14, 2019The implication here is that Marvel was interested in having Spider-Man and X-Men become part of the MCU, all the way back at the beginning. That didn't come to fruition completely. Tom Holland's Spider-Man appeared in multiple MCU movies, but he's out of the MCU now because Marvel, which is owned by Disney, and Spider-Man movie rights owner Sony couldn't come to terms.As for X-Men, Disney acquired the franchise when it purchased the majority of Fox's entertainment assets. However, there are no plans as of yet for the X-Men to join the MCU, though Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds has teased that Deadpool may join the MCU.The actual post-credits scene from Iron Man cuts off when Fury talks says, "I'm here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative." Info from Gamespot.com

With its new commentary team and updated presentation package, NHL 20 represents the franchise's biggest shakeup in years--and they're mostly positive changes. Combined with excellent controls, fluid gameplay, numerous fun and engaging different modes to play, a fine attention to detail and appreciation for hockey culture, NHL 20 is a step forward that is generally excellent.The biggest change for NHL 20 is its broadcast package. It is almost completely different this year, and the changes--which span commentary, UI, and graphics--are mostly positive but not always for the better. Commentators Mike "Doc" Emerick and Eddie Olczyk are out, while nearly the entirety of the NBC Sports Network license package, including live-action sequences, are gone, too. It's a jarring change, as Emerick and Olczyk have been the voice of EA's NHL games since NHL 15.The new commentators are Canadian sports radio personality James Cybulski and former player and current rinkside analyst Ray Ferarro. They do a mostly adept job at calling plays with style, flair, and personality, and their back-and-forth banter succeeds at capturing the essence of hockey culture with hockey IQ and knack. Some commentary lines are repeated too often, however, and Cybulski in particular sounds at times like he is hamming it up and acting like every game is Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.Outside of the new commentary team, NHL 20's updated broadcast presentation includes more colorful and dynamic graphics that display important information in more eye-catching ways. In addition to brighter colors and sharper fonts, NHL 20 introduces more dramatic, slow-motion highlights of goal scores, as well as Overwatch-style "Play of the Period" and "Play of the Game" highlights. These moments do a good job at breaking down key plays, and, with their unique angles and close-ups, provide nice moments to sit back and revel in your achievements.Part of this updated broadcast package is a new location for the score clock, which is the only major misstep. It's now at the bottom of the screen compared to the top-left in last year's game--and it cannot be moved in the Settings. The new score clock location opens up more space on the screen for action, but I found it positively difficult to quickly and easily see the important information like time left in the game, penalty minutes, and other datapoints while simultaneously keeping my eyes on the action. It's a baffling choice, especially considering many of NHL 20's various other modes keep the score clock where it was. This inconsistency worsens the experience, as you have to train your eyes in multiple ways depending on which mode you're playing.Authentic HockeyNHL 20 succeeds the most with excellent, tight controls that give you the freedom to execute basically any hockey move you can think of. There are also changes to animations and skating mechanics that make the game appear more lifelike. Building off what was already the franchise's best foot forward with NHL 19, this year's entry feels faster and more fluid with better animations that more realistically depict important transitional moments like catching a pass and getting intro stride at a quicker pace. Overall, the on-ice gameplay feels faster and more true to the real NHL experience.There are new shot animations as well, which are contextual in nature and better represent what a shot might look like from a particular part of the ice and depending on angles, power, speed, specific player attributes, and more. In NHL 19, your player would oftentimes still complete the shot animation even if the puck never got to them, which looked very strange, but that rarely happens this year. NHL 20 also introduces "Signature Shots" for a number of the league's best players; one of these is P.K. Subban's booming slapshot and Alex Ovechkin's electric one-timer. It's a treat to see player-specific animations in NHL 20, and it's yet another part of the way NHL 20 faithfully represents the real NHL experience. Additionally, goalie AI appears to be smarter this year, with netminders giving up fewer soft rebounds and making generally smarter decisions during important scenarios.NHL 20's in-game attention to detail and careful consideration of the sport is astounding. Players look and react as you'd expect them to on a TV broadcast, down to the way players subtly peek back toward their teammates during a face-off to the sharp crackle of skates gliding over outdoor pond ice. On the outdoor rinks, the crimson red glow of sunset over the pond is something to behold. On the ice, the physics system is so realistically presented that I found myself wincing after big open-ice hits.Unfortunately, NHL 20 doesn't do much in the area of improving player models. In fact, the character models for players, referees, and the crowd appear largely unchanged from last year. When the replay camera zooms in on fans on the glass, you might be wondering what kind of time vacuum the NHL series exists in for people to never age or look at all different from year to year.Dirty DanglesThe NHL series is known for its tight, precise controls, and this level of excellence continues with NHL 20. No matter what control setup you're using, the controls allow for a complete command of your player with astounding simplicity and a lot of depth at the same time. Puck possession and clever play-making are paramount in NHL 20, and the controls never fail to provide you with many different options to keep the puck, get around defenders, make the extra pass, and light the lamp. You have the freedom to play with as much creativity as you want. The game also features a slick and smart on-ice trainer that reacts to how you're playing and provides dynamic feedback that, for the most part, helps you improve your game.There is such a level of fine precision with the controls that you can determine the specific angle of a poke-check or toe-drag the puck at just the right time to open space up to make a shot on goal. In essence, the controller's analog sticks feel like an extension of your on-ice stick. The excellent baseline controls stand out even more once you move on to trying out more more advanced techniques. It takes time and practice to learn the dirtiest dangles the game has to offer, but it's deeply rewarding to perform spins and dekes that together combine to give you ample opportunities to play with style and pizzazz.In addition to the standard hockey simulation, NHL 20 has an abundance of arcade-style modes. The pond hockey mode, Ones--which sees three players on a small, outdoor rink competing against each other--introduces four new locations, including a rink set on a secluded farm and another inspired by the Rideau Canal in Canada. These new locations, in addition to weather effects like snow coming down during games, make Ones an even more authentic and holistically representative depiction of the outdoor hockey experience.Ones is lots of fun with its stripped-down, back-to-basics recreation of outdoor hockey with fast-paced play and lots of goals. Outside of the new locations, the biggest change for Ones is the introduction of offline play for couch co-op, and this is a very welcome addition after last year's game left it out in a head-scratching move.The Threes mode, meanwhile, remains NHL's flashiest and wackiest mode with completely unhinged commentary, mascots lacing it up, lots of goals, and big hits. It's the mode I found myself coming back to the most due in part to its quick games relative to the standard simulation mode and constant progression rewards in every game played.The social hub, World of Chel, returns with NHL 20 with some noteworthy updates. The biggest introduction is the "Eliminator" mode, which is NHL's spin on battle royale. You can go it alone in Ones or team up with two others in Threes to try to survive four consecutive rounds in a bracket to win the tournament. It's a thrilling, incredibly challenging, high-stakes challenge that, like the battle royale games it's inspired by, encourage you to keep coming back and improve your skills.There is a robust character-creator and you earn XP for everything you do across all of World of Chel's modes. It's rewarding to invest in your character and know that, whatever mode in World of Chel you're playing, you're working towards growing your character with meaningful advancements like new player traits, in addition to nice extras like cosmetic gear. New for World of Chel with NHL 20 are weekly challenges that track your performance and reward you with cosmetics around a particular theme. For example, the launch-week theme is NHL 94, so you can earn all kinds of themed cosmetics like jerseys and other gear. I anticipate coming back regularly.Elsewhere in NHL 20, the career-minded Be A Pro remains a satisfying and rewarding ride to take as you start your character from the ground floor and build them into a superstar, though there are no noteworthy updates to speak of this year. Franchise, meanwhile, features a new system that gives you multiple team coaches who have influence on the direction of your team today and in the future. The system, which also includes a light conversation mechanic where you can gauge the morale and interest of your coaches, adds a further level of strategy to the already robust Franchise mode that helps you feel like you're really the GM of a pro team. Franchise also introduces a trade-finder system that makes it less laborious to find and make trades.Ultimate Team returns as well, and its noteworthy addition is the introduction of Squad Battles. These function the same way they do in Madden and FIFA where you go up against HUT squads created by other players or, after launch, sports stars and celebrities. Hockey Ultimate Team is all about grinding to collect new cards, and it remains a fun experience to build a fantasy team comprised of legends and current stars alike, and compete against others.NHL 20 successfully captures the ice hockey experience from the ponds to big games under the bright lights, with a fine attention to detail and simple yet deep controls that are best-in-class. Once you get over the shock of Eddie and Doc being out of the game, the new commentary team do an adept job of providing informative and playful banter, while the game's multitude of varied modes each have their own distinct feel and appeal that go a long way to make NHL 20 an excellent representation of hockey culture across the board.Info from Gamespot.com