Anime Souls-like Code Vein is slated to launch on consoles and PC later this month, and fans eagerly awaiting to wander the vampiric open-world will get the chance with a free demo that's available now on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.The free Code Vein demo lets you create a Revenant and dive into the game's beginning area. If you're looking for a challenge, the Code Vein demo also grants you access to a dungeon called The Depths. Bandai Namco shared an announcement video showcasing a variety of dark, gothic landscapes available to explore in the free demo. The video, below, also gives a look at some characters you can create and enemies you can face before Code Vein's launch.A network test for Code Vein went live back in May. The test provided access to the game's opening chapter and multiplayer. In an intriguing change for Souls-like multiplayer experiences, Code Vein features entirely supportive cooperative play. We chatted with producer Keita Iizuka at a preview event about the other changes Code Vein makes to the Souls-like formula, including respec-ing your character with ease, grouping up with other players, and more.Code Vein is publisher Bandai Namco's take on From Software's iconic Dark Souls formula with a very distinct anime twist. As a Revenant--a chosen undead--you'll battle against enemies called the Lost--husk-like remnants of Revenants--in a post-apocalyptic dystopia overrun with the scent of blood and the sight of death. The open-world action-RPG will land on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on September 27.Info from Gamespot.com

The industry is bracing itself for another seismic shift. This time the threat is twofold: both the massive, disruptive change possible with new cloud-based technologies, and a new entrant into the market as Google prepares to launch its Stadia platform. Microsoft has its own plans to offer streaming through a cloud service, xCloud, as a complement to its usual console services. But how much will cloud gaming shake up the industry, and how quickly?Currently, cloud gaming has three major hurdles to overcome: availability of high-speed internet, bandwidth data caps, and the public perception of digital ownership. To glean insights on the technical obstacles facing cloud gaming, GameSpot spoke with David Linthicum, a cloud computing expert and Chief Cloud Strategy Officer at Deloitte Consulting.High-Speed AvailabilityOne of the foremost threats to cloud gaming dominance is the simple limitations of the market. A recent NPD report found that roughly 31% of households in the United States lack any kind of broadband access. Though the report was bullish on the coming advent of 5G to bring broadband to rural markets, any new product is at a disadvantage if almost one third of the population can't use it from the outset."The so-called digital divide, between those that can or cannot make the best use of the internet, can be clearly felt in rural markets where the lack of broadband impacts everything from entertainment to the educational system," NPD connected intelligence president Eddie Hold said. "And even the state level data masks the underlying reality that in the most rural markets in America, less than 20 percent of households have a broadband connection."25/3 Mbps) June 2017. Source: US Federal Communications Commission" src="https://gamespot1.cbsistatic.com/uploads/scale_super/1585/15855271/3574433-3509205-broadband.png" srcset="https://gamespot1.cbsistatic.com/uploads/original/1585/15855271/3574433-3509205-broadband.png 2711w, https://gamespot1.cbsistatic.com/uploads/scale_super/1585/15855271/3574433-3509205-broadband.png 1280w, https://gamespot1.cbsistatic.com/uploads/scale_medium/1585/15855271/3574433-3509205-broadband.png 480w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" data-width="1280">2017 US Broadband Map (>25/3 Mbps) June 2017. Source: US Federal Communications CommissionHowever, there is reason for some optimism even in these numbers. The same report found that 43% of rural households own a streaming media player--nearly the same percentage as households nationwide--even without broadband access.That may be, in part, how broadband access is defined. Many colloquially think of broadband access as the required speed to run streaming services. In reality, that isn't quite the case. The US Federal Communications Commission defines broadband speed as greater than 25Mbps, but the actual speed requirements for streaming video are much lower. Roku, for example, recommends only 9Mbps for HD streaming content. And while the FCC broadband map shows much of the rural United States having only one or two broadband providers offering high-speed internet, very few areas show no options at all.Any other concerns regarding broadband penetration would appear to be a matter of timing. Google may not reach high market penetration immediately, but if the company is patient, the first-mover advantage could pay off."Going forward, I think if we get in a time machine and go forward five years, I think [game platforms are] all going to be in the cloud, just because of ease-of-use," Linthicum said. "For now, we're going to see hitches with pricing, impact on gamers who actually run software and them being able to monetize. I think the big thing's gonna be latency. I was an early Netflix adopter and that thing would have all types of issues even in high-bandwidth environments, but eventually they fixed it. I think people are pretty forgiving around new technology and they always understand that things are going to be continuously improving."Data CapsEven for power users with a high-speed connection, though, cloud gaming service introduces a secondary risk: data caps. If users are slapped with high overage rates simply for playing games, it could kill Google Stadia and similar services in the crib before the technology rises to meet the demand. Google VP Phil Harrison addressed the question of data caps in an interview with GameSpot, suggesting that ISPs would respond to consumer needs."Historically, ISPs have demonstrated that they are very responsive to [consumers' needs]," Harrison said. "When music streaming became popular, they lifted the bandwidth limit. When music streaming migrated to YouTube and Netflix streaming, once again the limits went up, and we expect that the limits will continue to rise over time. Partly driven by consumer demand, but also frankly, ISPs are in competition. There is a market dynamic, you know, that we believe will help continue to deliver a great service for gamers."That answer didn't satisfy some awaiting Stadia, especially upon word that the company had revised its estimates upward--from 30Mbps for 4K to 35Mbps. Some watchers multiplied that figure into an hour of play, coming up with 15 GB per hour. That roughly squares with Linthicum's prediction that a server-based gaming platform would demand roughly twice the bandwidth of a 4K movie, which Netflix estimates at 7 GB per hour."We haven't put a meter on Stadia," Linthicum said. "But I suspect that for home-based networking systems everybody is going to be well below it. It looks like they're going to, in essence, put metering embedded with the Stadia-based system so people can see how much data they're using."I think people are always a little misinformed about how much information actually comes down via the systems like Netflix or another streaming service," he continued. "It uses less data than people typically think it uses and I suspect that may be the same here. With that being said, we're dealing with people who have all sorts of bandwidth restrictions and capping and some people are still using hotspots and things like that. Obviously you have to keep an eye on how much data you are using to make sure you don't go over."Linthicum said that the additional data is due to the need to be more aware of latency to maintain the gaming experience, but stressed that this is an educated guess without having metered the service.Source: Xfinity Data Usage FAQAssuming that roughly 15 GB per hour of play is accurate, though, it adds up fast. An avid gamer who is the most likely early adopter for Stadia might play 10 hours or more per week. That's 600 GB of data per month, just spent on video games, and not counting any other activities that might impact your bandwidth usage like movie streaming. By comparison, Internet Service Provider Comcast recently reported that median customer data usage had reached 200 GB per month.It's easy to see how gamers could blow past the bandwidth limitations quickly and get hit with overage charges. But like Harrison, Linthicum says he expects that ISPs will work to capitalize on the opportunity with consumer-friendly packages, rather than simply punish them with extra fees."I suspect [ISPs] want to know what's coming down in terms of the bandwidth requirements and the behavior of Stadia and other gaming servers, cloud-based gaming services that are going to be coming out and making sure they are able to adjust expectations accordingly. Because they obviously make money from this if people increase bandwidth or increase speed. That costs additional dough and so they want to make sure they're marketing correctly but also make sure they're accommodating the needs of the users. I think we're going to see some bundling of systems and some marketing campaigns show up around this."Digital OwnershipThe biggest obstacle to cloud game streaming may not be technical, but perceptual. The community may not be ready to accept a streaming future in which they don't own their digital purchases. Though most digital goods are merely licensed by consumers, the public often thinks of content stored on a local device differently than streaming. Consider the difference in mindset during the era of vast MP3 collections versus widespread adoption of services like Spotify. While customers largely never actually owned their iTunes MP3 collections, they had an inherent sense of ownership, whereas Spotify subscribers largely understand themselves as paying for access to an ongoing service.Game prices on Google Stadia will match those of new physical copies, which may exacerbate the perceived differences between physical goods and digital streaming. Similar to Spotify, Netflix segued a successful DVD rental service into one of the largest video streaming services around, but that was at a single low, all-you-can-eat price point.Google is very explicitly not doing that, and it has stated that its subscription service with the Stadia Pro will only include one new game per month. A more comparable model to Netflix's approach might be Microsoft's popular Game Pass service, if wedded to streaming as the delivery mechanism. But Microsoft has not given any indication as to whether or when that might happen, and Xbox boss Phil Spencer told GameSpot that he believes dedicated cloud gaming is "years away from being a mainstream way people play."However, where it may sacrifice in appeal to the core gaming audience, it could make up by broadening the appeal of video games. The average PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or power-PC owner may not see a reason to purchase a streaming game for $60, but that audience already owns the hardware to play it natively. The in-roads awaiting the game streaming future could come from consumers who have enjoyed games in the past or occasionally, but haven't been able to justify the cost of dropping hundreds of dollars on hardware every few years."We're going to get gamers that weren't traditional gamers, even guys like myself that do it every once in a while, but don't really habitually game on a daily basis," Linthicum said. "But if it's easy for me to just go ahead and take a few minutes and click on something within YouTube and have something pop up, that's a very rich experience. The net new users, I think, is probably going to be their biggest market growth: traditional non-gamers that are going to find Stadia just compelling, because of ease-of-use."Microsoft seems suited to compete in this market as well. It has accented that it wants to use its xCloud platform to bring game streaming to a wide array of devices, and Google will begin introducing Stadia streaming to more Android phones sometime in 2020 after its initial premium launch. Once both services are up and running, we may have a better idea of whether the democratization of video games to anyone with a screen is enough to overcome the pitfalls.Info from Gamespot.com

Watchmen is one of the fall's most anticipated shows. The HBO series is based on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' classic graphic novel, which was published by DC in 1986, and the showrunner is Lost co-creator Damon Lindleof. The show's premiere date has now been announced.HBO has confirmed that Episode 1 of Watchmen will screen on Sunday, October 20. The news was revealed in a tweet that uses the comic's distinctive Doomsday Clock, which shows how far the world is from destruction, and the words "everything begins." Check it out below:10/20. Tick Tock. #WatchmenHBO pic.twitter.com/RsEq8Fh3es — Watchmen (@watchmen) September 3, 2019Watchmen stars Regina King, Jeremy Irons, Don Johnson, Tim Blake Nelson, Louis Gossett Jr., and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. While many of the roles are currently under-wraps, but we do know that King will play the show's lead, a superhero character called Angela Abar, while Irons will play the villainous Adrian Veidt (aka Ozymandias). Check out the Watchmen trailer here.Lindelof is best known for co-creating Lost with J.J. Abrams, as well as showrunning the acclaimed The Leftovers and writing the scripts for movies such as Star Trek Into Darkness and Prometheus. In 2017, he explained that Watchmen is not an adaptation of the comic book, but a continuation of its story and themes."Those issues are sacred ground and will not be retread nor recreated nor reproduced nor rebooted," Lindelof said. "They will however be remixed. We are not making a 'sequel' either. This story will be set in the world its creators painstakingly built… but in the tradition of the work that inspired it, this new story must be original."Info from Gamespot.com

The first wave of Pokemon Go's Ultra Bonuses has arrived. This batch of rewards will be available until September 9, and it includes the return of three fan-favorite Legendary Pokemon, as well as the debut of a couple of new Shiny variants.First, the three Legendary dogs from Pokemon Gold and Silver--Entei, Raikou, and Suicune--are appearing again in Raid Battles, as are a few other monsters originally from the Johto region such as Tyranitar, Ursaring, and Skarmory. On top of that, you'll have a chance of encountering the Shiny forms of Sentret and Gligar in the wild, and Unown U, L, T, R, and A may hatch from 10 km eggs.Two more waves of Ultra Bonuses will follow later this month. From September 9-16, players will be able to hatch region-exclusive Pokemon such as Farfetch'd, Kangaskhan, and Taurus from 7 km eggs, and all four forms of the Mythical Pokemon Deoxys will appear in Raid Battles. The following week, from September 16-23, will see the first Gen 5 Pokemon make their debut in Go. You can see the full list of Ultra Bonuses and when they'll be available below.Pokemon Go Ultra BonusesSeptember 2-9Entei, Raikou, Suicune, and other Johto Pokemon will appear in Raid BattlesUnown U, L, T, R, and A may hatch from 10 km Pokemon eggsShiny Sentret and Shiny Gligar will appear in the wildSeptember 9-16Farfetch'd, Kangaskhan, Mr. Mime, and Tauros may hatch from 7 km eggs. You may also hatch their Shiny formsAll four forms of Deoxys will appear in five-star Raid BattlesPokemon effective against Deoxys will appear in other tier RaidsSeptember 16-23Klink and Shiny Klink will appear in Raid BattlesShiny Patrat and Shiny Lillipup will appear in the wildMewtwo that know Psystrike will appear in five-star Raids, as will Shiny MewtwoIn addition to those bonuses, Niantic has also kicked off a new Special Research questline called A Thousand-Year Slumber, which leads to an encounter with the Mythical Pokemon Jirachi. You can see the full list of those quests in our Thousand-Year Slumber Special Research guide.That isn't all that's happening right now in Pokemon Go. Niantic has also rolled out a new batch of Field Research tasks in the game. If you complete enough of them to achieve a Research Breakthrough, your reward will be an encounter with a flower-crowned Eevee, which first appeared in the game last year to celebrate the launch of Let's Go, Pikachu and Eevee on Switch. Meanwhile, Pokemon Go's next Community Day takes place on September 15 and features the Gen 4 starter Turtwig.Info from Gamespot.com

As promised, Bungie has released a new update for Destiny 2. Patch 2.5.2.2 makes a number of very welcome changes, addressing a variety of common complaints regarding some hard-to-obtain weapons (namely, Mountaintop), item management, Reckoning, and more. Here's a look at what's changed and the full patch notes.First and most notable are the changes to a pair of pinnacle weapon quests to make them a bit more reasonable. As first revealed last week, Mountaintop and Wendigo GL3 have seen their respective quests cut down significantly. Whereas Wendigo could be obtained by simply grinding out Strikes, Mountaintop has proven especially challenging for many, requiring a significant amount of grenade launcher usage in Crucible (with a focus on Competitive). Here's how the requirements now look for each:Wendigo GL3 - New Quest StepsGrenade Launcher kills are worth 100% more for each objectiveDeath Penalty no longer exists for the final objectiveGrenade Launcher multikills grant 50% more progressCompleting Playlist strikes grants a significant amount of progress towards the final objectiveMountaintop - New Quest StepsRequired number of multi-kills has been reduced from 200 to 75Required number of medals has been reduced from 100 to 25Points earned in Competitive has been further increased relative to other PvP modes roughly 1x for Quickplay, 2x for Iron Banner, 3x for CompetitiveOther areas of complaint addressed by this patch involve inventory management. Stacks of certain items--Planetary Materials, Gunsmith Materials, Vanguard Tokens, Crucible Tokens, and Iron Banner Tokens--now max out at 9,999, rather than the previous limit of 999. This should prove particularly useful for more hardcore players with stacks upon stacks of these items. Destiny 2 News Destiny 2 Getting A Fortnite-Style Battle Pass Destiny 2 Patch Notes: New Update Makes These Hard-To-Earn Guns' Quests More Doable Destiny 2 Mars Community Challenge Is Live: What To Do And Rewards You'll Get Reckoning has been a contentious component of the game since its launch, and Bungie is trying to address that by making it more forgiving (and rewarding). Enemies now have less health and deal less damage, and both Reckoning and Gambit Prime will be more generous with weapon drops. Tier 3 Reckoning in particular will be even more likely to drop weapons, though bad luck protection will ensure that anyone in Reckoning or Gambit Prime will periodically get a drop.Finally, Bungie has tweaked the way Braytech Schematics work to make the related weapons easier to obtain, and it's stopped selling Forsaken character boosts. The full patch notes can be seen below.This update coincides with the start of the Mars Community Event, which tasks players with collectively playing a lot of Escalation Protocol and certain other Mars-centric activities. Those who participate will be eligible for a special emblem if all the objectives are met, and everyone will be eligible for bonus Menagerie rewards until the release of Shadowkeep on October 1.Destiny 2 Update 2.5.2.2 Patch NotesINVESTMENTInventoryUpdated the stack size limit from 999 to 9,999 for Planetary Materials, Gunsmith Materials, Vanguard Tokens, Crucible Tokens, and Iron Banner Tokens.Braytech SchematicsBraytech Schematics are no longer limited to 1 per day, per accountBraytech Schematics have a 25% drop chance when opening any Rasputin Data CacheThe four Braytech weapons offered by Ana Bray, and also tied to the Wayfarer seal, now have a greater chance of granting a weapon you do not currently have.NOTE: The description of the item will be incorrect and still mention that it's limited to 1 per day, per account. This will be addressed in a future hotfix.Pinnacle Weapon QuestsWendigo GL3 Grenade Launcher kills are worth 100% more for each objectiveDeath Penalty no longer exists for the final objectiveGrenade Launcher multikills grant 50% more progressCompleting Playlist strikes grants a significant amount of progress towards the final objectiveMountaintop Required number of multi-kills has been reduced from 200 to 75Required number of medals has been reduced from 100 to 25Points earned in Competitive has been further increased relative to other pvp modesroughly 1x for Quickplay, 2x for IB, 3x for compACTIVITIESGambit Prime and ReckoningEnemies in Reckoning adjusted to have less health and do less damage to playersIncreased weapon drop rates in Reckoning and Gambit Prime Further increased bad luck protection to each activity, so players should receive a weapon reward after playing multiple matches without one droppingTier 3 Reckoning will have even higher drop rates, as it is more challengingEververseRefunds Fixed an issue that would cause wrapped items to no longer be refundable when transferred between charactersCharacter Boosts The Forsaken character boost is no longer available for purchasePlayers will continue to receive one free character boost when accessing Forsaken for the first time Info from Gamespot.com

The newest limited-time event in Apex Legends has begun. Called Voidwalker, the event will only last a few weeks (similar to Iron Crown) and it introduces a new town takeover, limited-time mode, and additional in-game challenges.In Iron Crown, Octane took over the small settlement outside Thunderdome and transformed it into a skate park complete with launch pads, ramps, and a ring of fire. Likewise, in Voidwalker, a portion of King's Canyon has transformed. If you drop at the base camp behind Hydro Dam, you'll now find the remains of the mysterious facility where Wraith was once held captive.Or at least, where one Wraith was held captive. As discovered through a brand-new animated short (embedded below), we learn that the Wraith we play as in Apex Legends is actually from another world. She escapes to this one through a portal, her counterpart taking her place in order to find the answers she seeks in the alternate reality. The counterpart's appearance can be unlocked as a new Legendary skin for Wraith during the Voidwalker event.You shouldn't have any trouble finding the new map change. Just look for the giant Wraith-like portal that extends into the sky. Falling into the portal will teleport you directly into the facility for a faster drop. Once inside, you can exit through the front door or head back through the portal to redeploy back into the sky. In the facility, you can find additional Apex Legends lore details as well. Although we haven't found any yet, we imagine there are a few Crypto-themed clues to be discovered--considering, based on the aforementioned animated short, it looks like the hacker aids Wraith in getting into the facility (his insignia pops up when she injects a flashdrive into the computer) and recent leaks suggest he'll be the new Legend that comes in Season 3.Instead of the return of Solos, Voidwalker introduces a brand-new limited-time mode called Armed and Dangerous. In it, loot is much harder to find and the only weapons you can discover are shotguns and sniper rifles. In a press release, Respawn wrote that it plans on rolling out these type of limited-time modes more often between season changes. Voidwalker, like Iron Crown, also adds limited-time, thematic challenges to complete and rewards to earn.Voidwalker continues until September 17, so you only have until then to participate in Armed and Dangerous, complete the event's challenges, and unlock the limited-time rewards like the Legendary Wraith skin. However, the Wraith town takeover is likely permanent, given that Octane's skate park remained after Iron Crown ended, though, both town takeovers may disappear with the massive map change planned for Season 3.Info from Gamespot.com

Blizzard is preparing to help adjust player counts on certain World of Warcraft Classic servers, and it'll allow some players to make the move for free.A World of Warcraft community manager shared the news in a forum post, specifying that free character server moves are coming to select WoW Classic realms in the coming days. Once the service opens, you'll see the option to start a transfer on either the character select screen or the realm queue screen. Currently, there are three restrictions outlined in the post: You can't transfer a character if it's a guild leader, has active auction listings or bids, or has mail. The community manager said a full post with further character restrictions and other details will be shared once the service goes live.There's no clarification on when the free character move service will be accessible, nor is there a confirmation on what servers will see the service.In other WoW Classic news, more than 300,000 people watched as the game got its first level 60 player. Dot Esports reported that "Jokerd" leveled a gnome mage to 60 in three days, 20 hours, and 40 minutes, playing on the Mograine server in Europe. The game's garnered so much attention, in fact, that it has surpassed Fortnite and all other games as the most popular title on Twitch. In a feature story, we examined why WoW Classic is great and concluded that it's more than just nostalgia.Info from Gamespot.com

Eiichiro Oda's long-running One Piece series has reached 900 episodes and 93 volumes after debuting more than 20 years ago. Now, after its widespread success, Oda seems intent on ending the series after just five more years.A YouTube comedy group named Fischer visited Oda at his home, where the famed manga creator was asked just how much longer Monkey D. Luffy will sail around looking for the elusive One Piece. Oda has a very set goal in mind. "I want to end it after five years," he told Fischer.Oda said the manga was 80 percent finished last year, but it remains unclear whether One Piece as a whole or just the Straw Hat Pirates' voyage will come to an end in five years. Either way, it seems Oda is prepared for One Piece to anchor ship in some capacity.In other One Piece news, Bandai Namco announced the latest One Piece game, One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4, at Anime Expo 2019 in July. The upcoming action-adventure hack-and-slash romp is slated to launch on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One sometime in 2020.The biggest One Piece game before the Pirate Warriors 4 reveal was One Piece: World Seeker, which released on March 15 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Jump Force, the Shonen arena brawler mash-up from earlier this year, featured a handful of One Piece characters, including Luffy, Roronoa Zoro, Vinsmoke Sanji, and more.Info from Gamespot.com

Rockstar is rolling out a big update for Red Dead Redemption 2's online component, Red Dead Online, next week. The game's Summer Update arrives on PS4 and Xbox One on September 10 and adds a variety of new challenges, Dynamic Events, items, and gameplay adjustments, along with new specialized roles for players to take on called Frontier Pursuits.Rockstar describes the Frontier Pursuits as "an ongoing series of Roles for players to inhabit, delivering a wide array of themed activities that each offer unique items, skills and more as you progress through each Role." As you complete these activities, you'll earn Role XP that will help you unlock new Role Ranks, which in turn will net you Role Tokens, special items, new skills, and even role-specific Free Roam events. The first three pursuits are the Bounty Hunter, Trader, and Collector, with additional roles coming in the future. The Bounty Hunter focuses on tracking down criminals; the Trader lets you open up a shop and sell animal pelts and meat; and the Collector specializes in searching for valuable treasures. You can read a more detailed breakdown of the three roles on Rockstar's website.In addition to the Frontier Pursuits, next week's update will include new Free Roam events for each of the new roles, as well as other welcome tweaks like additional Stable slots and the ability to reset your character's appearance without resetting your progress. Rockstar is also making balance adjustments to "reduce reliance on headshots as the primary kill method in PvP."In other news, Red Dead Redemption 2 recently surpassed 25 million copies shipped, Take-Two Interactive announced in its latest earnings report. Rockstar was also listed as the publisher of something called Bonaire according to the Australian Classification website. It's still unclear what Bonaire is, although there has been speculation that it could be some kind of DLC for Red Dead Redemption 2. That, however, is unconfirmed.Info from Gamespot.com

It Chapter 2 hits theatres this week. Reviews for the sequel to one of the highest-grossing R-rated movies of all time are mixed, but one thing that cannot be debated is that it has a fun cameo from author Stephen King.Adult Bill, who is played by James McAvoy, is an author in his grown-up life. As part of a gag that extends through the whole movie, he is taken to task for writing unsatisfying endings. The joke here, in case it wasn't obvious, is that King's work is criticized for failing to stick the landing. That's what makes the cameo from King so good.Bill visits an antique shop in Derry, Maine, and it's none other than King--wearing a Neil Young Harvest Moon t-shirt--himself who is behind the counter. The character King plays recognizes Bill as the author of books with bad endings, and the meta joke continues with King himself delivering the line.It 2 is directed by Andy Muschietti and stars James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, James Ransone, Andy Bean, Isaiah Mustafa, and Bill Skarsgård.GameSpot's It 2 review called it a "messy finale."Info from Gamespot.com

A biopic about Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling is in the works, and now it's found a director. Richard Kelly, who directed the cult classic Jake Gyllenhaal movie Donnie Darko, has signed on to not only direct, but also write the screenplay, according to TheGww.The untitled Serling biopic would be Kelly's fourth feature-length movie and his first since 2009's Cameron Diaz-starring movie The Box (2009). Kelly already has some kind of limited connection to Serling and The Twilight Zone. The Box was itself based on Richard Matheson's short story, "Button, Button," which was adapted into an episode of the '80s version of The Twilight Zone show. Serling lived an interesting life, with lots of material for the movie.From Collider: "Immediately after graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and trained as a paratrooper. Since he was raised Jewish, he had hoped to fight Hitler and the German Army, though he was sent west to fight in the Philippines, where he saw death all around him each day. Though he was honored with a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, Serling's experience in the military haunted him and had a profound effect on his later work. After being discharged, Serling attended Antioch College, where he began writing and performing in radio shows on campus. At school, he had a reputation as a ladies' man as well as a daredevil, as he took on the dangerous job of testing parachutes."Serling later worked for television shows, but he grew irritated with needing to compromise his vision for advertisers and censors, so he made his own show, The Twilight Zone. GameSpot parent company CBS Corp. currently owns the rights to The Twilight Zone. The newest version of the show, from the mind of Get Out writer Jordan Peele, premiered this year on CBS All-Access. The show was very popular, and CBS ordered a second season.There is no word yet as to who may play Serling in Kelly's movie. As can be the case in Hollywood, there is no guarantee that the movie will ever even be made. Info from Gamespot.com

Gears 5 features an extended Easter Egg that is very clearly inspired by and in reference to Lin-Manuel Miranda's blockbuster Broadway play Hamilton. In a sequence in the game's Act I: The Tide Turns chapter, JD Fenix and company escape the Swarm and find themselves in the "Palace Theatre," which is currently hosting a play called "Embry."Nassar Embry is an important historical politician and the founder of the Coalition of Ordered Governments in the Gears of War universe. So basically he is the Gears of War franchise's equivalent of Alexander Hamilton, or something like that.The play "Embry" is Gears of War's take on Hamilton, and the Easter Egg is very in-depth. There is even a secret collectable you can find that contains the lyrics to a song called "Nassar Embry (That's My Name)," which is very clearly the Gears take on the song "Hamilton" that opens the play. You can read the lyrics and sing along to the tune of "Hamilton."What's more, once you make your way through the dressing rooms you'll reach the stage. It's presented like the actual iconic Hamilton stage, featuring a wraparound wooden set and even a rotating section like the actual production. Even better, when the fighting breaks out, the music breaks from the franchise's tradition and takes on a more theatrical score. And you can stand on the rotating stage and fight as you move around the circle. It's really great.Gears 5 launches on September 10, but people who buy the Ultimate edition or subscribe to Xbox Game Pass can start playing on September 6. For lots more, check out GameSpot's livestream of Gears 5's campaign here. Info from Gamespot.com

Imagine that you wake up one morning and, to your horror, discover that you had inadvertently committed an act of infidelity. Think about the kind of confusion and dread that might race through your head at that moment. How did it happen? What the hell are you going to do? How on earth are you going to explain and amend the relationships with all parties involved? What kind of deep-seated anxieties might have led to this moment? In 2011, Atlus' Persona studio explored this predicament with Catherine, using a peculiar blend of social simulation and Sokoban-influenced action-puzzling. Eight years later, Catherine: Full Body is a remaster that demonstrates how well the game's distinctive premise and exploration of adult themes still hold up, even if its new additions to the plot don't fit in seamlessly.Vincent is a 32-year-old man in a long-term relationship with his girlfriend, Katherine, and at a stagnant point in his life where he isn't exactly sure what he wants for his future. His core group of friends are in different circumstances, but they share similar dilemmas; being in your thirties is hard. Vincent has recently found himself plagued by frequent nightmares of scrambling up a crumbling tower, and he's losing sleep and in a constant haze because of them. One morning, after a big night of drinking, he wakes up next to someone who is absolutely not his girlfriend, and what follows is a frantic, weeklong crusade to try and deal with the repercussions and decide what he wants to do with his life before Katherine can discover what's really going on.Central to Vincent's coping process is his aforementioned core group of friends. Every night after work, they all get together at their local bar, The Stray Sheep, to hang out. It's in these regular social scenarios where Vincent can confide in his friends, talk through his state of mind, sound off on his next course of action, and, hopefully, find a resolution. The conversations between characters are mostly predetermined, though the onus to spend Vincent's limited time having them is on you. A key component which you do have influence over, however, is your cell phone. Vincent will regularly be contacted throughout the night (by Katherine and his new fling, Catherine), and how you choose to respond to their text messages and calls, if at all, will impact Vincent's ethical compass--represented as a meter with opaque binaries.Time ticks along as you perform actions in the bar, and its patrons will come and go. You can skip these social sections entirely if you wish, but doing so robs you of the game's most engrossing component. Vincent's journey is a deeply introspective one, and though the plot's major beats unfold in the cutscenes that bookend each day, the nuances of his character come through in his interactions with other people. Managing Vincent's connection to his phone, and, in turn, how he treats the women in his life from a distance, sways how he might later react to significant plot points and revelations. Getting to know Vincent's deeply flawed but sympathetic friends, as well as peeling away at the backstories of the other bar patrons as the week goes on, helps to explore themes revolving around maturity and the nature of human relationships. Full Body's inclusion of the Japanese vocal track also provides an interesting and different take on character performances if you've already experienced the English version before.The ebb and flow of your social actions--chatting to your friends, ordering another drink, checking your phone intermittently, and spending time with Vincent's idle thoughts--make the ritual of whittling away time at the Stray Sheep strangely satisfying in its mundanity. The evocative soundtrack helps to foster this relaxed contemplative state, as does the game's holistic but understated audiovisual style. It's an incredibly pleasant atmosphere to be in, and it succeeds in replicating the quiet delight of spending a night drinking with friends with no particular occasion.It's nice to have that safe haven, because when Vincent goes home to bed each night, the nightmares start, and that's when things get really stressful. What's causing the nightmares is a mysterious unknown at first, but from the outset, it's clear that they act somewhat as a lucid metaphor for Vincent's internal strife. You need to guide Vincent up a sheer, crumbling tower constructed entirely of cubes and other cuboids, sometimes while being chased by a monstrous personification of one of Vincent's objects of anxiety. The tower is rarely more than three cubes deep, and while its construction might sometimes form a natural staircase for Vincent to climb, you'll frequently need to create a path upward yourself by pushing and pulling the cubes around in strict, grid-based arrangements.This task quickly escalates in difficulty, as the sheer tower faces become higher and harder to navigate. There will be fewer pieces to work with, while blocks with unique properties will also appear, such as being immovable or shattering after being stepped on twice. These scenarios stop you from creating an ordinary staircase, and they force you to think of more unorthodox ways to arrange and move around the tower. Vincent can hang on the edges of blocks, and blocks will support each other so long as a horizontal edge connects; both these rules are fundamental to many of the techniques required to work your way up.Finding that potential path takes careful consideration and forward-thinking, and this can be nerve-wracking. You need to keep up your momentum, lest the stage crumble under your feet and you fall, and the soundtrack--rousing renditions of an inspired selection of classical pieces--ratchets up the urgency of your ridiculous predicament to a high degree. It's very easy to put yourself in a dead-end situation, even with the game's generous undo mechanic, and at times you might stare at the pieces you have to work with for what seems like an eternity without any inspiration. But when you do have a sequence of moves in mind, successfully put them into practice, and start flying up the tower without pause, that sense of mastery and accomplishment is incredibly exciting.This remaster also includes a number of additional difficulty options and assists, however, if reaching those moments of elation are too few and far between. These include, among other things, a "Safety" difficulty level, which eliminates failure, and an auto-climb option that can be disabled on a whim. Catherine's puzzle difficulty does spike in places, so it's a boon over the original for anyone who wants to keep up the momentum with Vincent's story. If you love the puzzles, though (and I certainly do), Full Body also includes a handful of additional modes, which dramatically increase the amount of available stages. The story mode offers a "Remix" variant featuring new block types and stage layouts; the in-game "Rapunzel" arcade cabinet boasts a buffet of new stages in the same vein, too. Babel returns as a discrete puzzle mode with challenging, randomised stages for one or two players, and there's also a head-to-head competitive mode with local and online options. There's a lot here, but the biggest addition to Catherine is the inclusion of another potential love interest for Vincent, named Rin.While Katherine is sensible and Catherine is uninhibited, Rin acts as a sheepish but wholehearted personality for Vincent to fawn over. She's introduced right from the get-go and woven into the game's existing story beats, both in new cutscenes and into the social segments at the Stray Sheep. However, perhaps unsurprisingly, Rin's integration isn't an entirely seamless one. On a superficial level, story moments involving Rin will often play following whatever cinematics were part of the original game, and with that come some pacing issues. These new scenes have a strong, stylish direction, featuring more interesting edits and creative shot compositions than existing ones, but they unfortunately make the rhythm of cycling between social simulation, nightmare puzzles, and stretches of cinematics feel a little unbalanced. More significantly, though, the integration of Rin completely dismantles the game's enigmatic sense of mystery.If you've played the original version of Catherine through to one of its many different endings, then you'll have at least some idea of how Vincent's real-world difficulties and his nightmarish tribulations are related. However, it was previously hard to get any tangible sense of how things might fit together until the original game's penultimate chapter. Conversely, as soon as Rin appears on screen in Full Body, it is immediately clear that something is amiss, and this feeling of peculiarity is ever-present whenever Rin is involved in a scene. Even though her arc is an enticing new mystery in itself, and does feel additive to someone who already knows everything about the original Catherine's narrative, it's a shame. As soon as Full Body starts, Rin acts as a big, flashy distraction from the largely grounded and plausible story that Catherine revels in during its real-world sequences for most of its running time.Chasing Rin through the new branching path in the story feels a little inelegant overall, too. Actively choosing to pursue either Catherine or Katherine as Vincent's ultimate goal always feels like trying to hit a moving target. Trying to push Vincent in a certain direction on the game's ethical meter was difficult because of how hard it was to decipher which choices represented what--not just in Vincent's text messages, but also during the series of confronting "confessional" questions that you're asked in-between nightmare levels (eg. Would you rather kiss an alien or a corpse?). Pursing Rin feels far more blatant--a series of questions are flagged upfront as opportunities to "break" the meter and set off on a whole new path.Once you do break onto that new path, things go to some fascinating places. But the broad feeling of the new story branch is that it feels, well, too broad. Rin's enthusiastic earnestness rubs off on the direction of the new content a little too much, and even though the scenarios posited are genuinely interesting to see unfold, it lacks a more grounded subtlety that invites a similar level of contemplation to the existing branches for Katherine and Catherine. What's more dismaying is that the ultimate conclusion to Rin's story branch actually feels like it undermines the otherwise positive themes the new chapters work so intensely to convey, seeming to suggest that the kind of love that Rin and Vincent can potentially share is fantastical in nature.But Rin's presence still brings an intriguing new edge to Vincent's crisis, and Full Body still tells a fascinating, personal tale. The nightmarish block puzzles are still weirdly intense and satisfying to surmount, and the Stray Sheep is still a wonderful bar to spend your nights in. Full Body does a great job in refining and refreshing the Persona studio's fascinating foray into the social lives of adults, and Catherine continues to stand out as a game that feels both incredibly bizarre and authentically intimate. Info from Gamespot.com

Even the most mundane, everyday things can seem full of mystery and adventure when you're a kid. Especially when you have a like-minded friend to bounce ideas off and encourage your flights of fancy. Knights & Bikes channels this familiar childhood experience in a knock-about co-operative (but you can still play it solo) adventure that remains endlessly charming even when its core mechanics don't join in the fun.Nessa is a stowaway on a boat that's just docked at the holiday island home of Demelza. Quickly, the two girls meet and, in that way only children can do, become firm friends almost instantly. Nessa is slightly older and seemingly orphaned; Demelza lives in the island's caravan park run by her single dad, who is struggling to keep the business afloat. The pair seize the opportunity to escape into each other's imaginations, setting off on a grand adventure to recover the island's legendary buried treasure and, Demelza hopes, use it to reverse her father's financial misfortune. The girls may have a treasure map to guide them, but things aren't quite so straightforward as realizing X marks the spot. Getting around town is a challenge. Nessa and Demelza can run--and if you hold down the run button they'll do that thing kids do where they spread their arms like wings and yell "Vrrrrrrrmmmm!" like they're a plane arcing through the air--but it's often not entirely clear where they ought to be running to. Luckily, Demelza's pet goose, Honkers, has a good nose for direction and will run off in the right direction, honking his little heart out if the girls fall behind. Oh, and don't worry, you can absolutely pet the goose.Early on Nessa and Demelza procure the eponymous bikes which allow them to zip around the island much faster than on foot. The bikes can be upgraded, too, with all kinds of handlebar grips, paint jobs, spoke decorations, and so on. All of these are purely cosmetic, save for one--a particular set of wheels that lets the girls traverse pools of mud that would otherwise be blocking their progress. Cycling around the island is hugely entertaining in itself, not because it's especially interesting to navigate the many crisscrossing paths connecting the handful of major points of interest, but because the presentation does such a great job of capturing the carefree abandon these girls are feeling. You mash to pedal and build up momentum then hold down the button for a short burst of extra speed, all the while the girls are hooting and howling and, it must be said, not necessarily obeying strict road safety procedures.Their adventure takes them from the caravan park to a mini golf course that doubles as the site of some historical battle to a maze-like scrapyard that transforms into a terrifying dungeon with seemingly no way out; to a hiking trail through the woods that twists and turns back in on itself in the manner of other more famous Lost Woods. Every step of the way the girls imbue the world with unwarranted but understandable wonder. The history book the local librarian is reading is obviously full of clues to the whereabouts of the treasure. That old man with a beard is very probably a wizard. And, clearly, every stroke of misfortune they encounter is a sign of the horrible curse afflicting the island. It's all great fun. The (probably) consensual hallucinations of the two girls are for the most part light and breezy and carry them headlong into one thrilling scrape after another. Their humour is infectious and their bonds of friendship, forged so fast in the fire of fantasy, are never in doubt. They're both such superbly written characters, flinging one-liners at each other and building upon the other's latest witty invention. And they're vividly expressive, each new close-up of their comically contorted faces frozen in shock, disgust, awe or sly realization will never fail to bring a smile to your lips.Where Knights & Bikes falters is in the moment to moment, the rote combat and light puzzling that knits together its seat-of-the-pants dash through childhood curiosity. Each girl finds three pieces of gear over the course of the game and these are used to both fend off enemies and negotiate numerous environmental puzzles. Nessa's water bombs, for example, can be thrown to deal damage to enemies, extinguish fires (and do extra damage to fire-based enemies) and, when splatted into a puddle on the ground, conduct electricity.But combat is mostly trivial. Enemies aren't especially hard to defeat and the girls can heal each other (via a cute high-five) as long as they have enough of the bandages that drop in consistently plentiful amounts. Combat has the same knock-about energy that infuses the rest of the game, so it's sort of fun to button-mash your way through. But it's never interesting enough to look forward to. The puzzles fare slightly better. There were a few occasions where I had to pause for a minute to think about what I needed to do next to progress. And I always enjoyed watching the next nonsensical triggered event play out after solving a puzzle even if I wasn't always sure what I was trying to accomplish. Most of the time I just chuckled and wondered what was going to happen next.Remarkably, for a game clearly designed for two-player cooperative play (locally or online), it works well when played solo. Here, you can switch between the two girls whenever you wish and the capable AI will assume control of the other. In combat, the AI controlled girl will use her abilities effectively and, even more impressively, when required to help solve a puzzle she'll smartly move to the right spot and perform whatever is necessary. Even if you don't have a co-op partner, you're not really missing out on much.Knights & Bikes was created by a small team featuring several people who worked on LittleBigPlanet and Tearaway, and you can feel that all these games share a similar creative vision. There's a kind of wide-eyed, rough and tumble spirit of adventure running through all three games that is hard to resist. Knights & Bikes is a wonderfully warm, effortlessly inviting experience that'll make you feel young again. Info from Gamespot.com

Cyberpunk 2077 looks to be a massive game, and part of that will be the wealth of sidequests. These "Street Stories" are essentially how you live out your life as a mercenary, and CD Projekt Red says that its experience with The Witcher 3 taught the studio just how meaningful sidequests can be. So much, in fact, that it set up a dedicated team for them."After [The Witcher 3:] Wild Hunt, we actually founded a completely new team, the open-world team, which is creating some amazing content to fill this world with things that are meaningful," said quest designer Phillip Weber. "We want to make this [so that] you can do many, smaller things around the city, but they're all cool and unique in their own way."Senior level designer Miles Tost added that the lesson from The Witcher 3 was that "even simple tasks can be fun and exciting if you pack them up in a cool story."This came as part of a larger discussion on how sidequests will work in the upcoming open-world RPG. The deep-dive presentation covered everything from character creation to why the studio hired actual city planners to help create a vision for Night City.Info from Gamespot.com