Fans have called on Nintendo to release Mario Kart on mobile devices for a long time, and it's finally happening soon. Following a limited closed beta testing period, Nintendo's next big smartphone game, Mario Kart Tour, will release on September 25. The release date was announced via the game's brand-new Twitter account. Pre-registration for the game is now available, but it's unclear if there are any benefits to doing so.Like Nintendo's previous Mario mobile games, Dr. Mario World and Super Mario Run, Mario Kart Tour is a free-to-start title that offers optional microtransactions. It's not clear just yet how the microtransaction system works, but keep checking back with GameSpot for more on that.Pre-registration for Mario Kart Tour is now available! For more details, please click here: https://t.co/loB3wf6eOv#MarioKartTour will be available on 9/25. We hope you're looking forward to getting behind the wheel of this new game! pic.twitter.com/afPFp94iNi — Mario Kart Tour (@mariokarttourEN) August 27, 2019Some people who got into the Mario Kart Tour beta, including Ethan Gach of Kotaku, said the microtransaction system brings down an otherwise enjoyable game. All of the previews so far for Mario Kart Tour are based on the unfinished beta that was always subject to change, so it's possible Nintendo will tweak the in-game economy and microtransaction system for launch.Mario Kart Tour features a number of familiar courses from previous Mario Kart games, including Choco Island 2 from the SNES game and Dino Dino Jungle from Double Dash for GameCube. You steer your cat by moving your finger left or right. You can also drift to get speed boosts.There are 30 racers to choose from, while Mario Kart's iconic items are also in the game. The beta period only featured single-player, and it remains to be seen if the final release will add real-time multiplayer. There were also reports about Mario Kart Tour being locked to vertical screen orientation on iOS and Android devices; it's unknown if this will continue to be the case for the full launch.If you know how to use the internet you can find plenty of YouTube viMario Kart Tour was originally expected to launch by the end of March, but Nintendo later delayed the game to Summer 2019. The game's new September 25 release date is actually two days after Summer ends in the northern hemisphere on September 23, so this is technically another, albeit small, delay. Info from Gamespot.com

World of Warcraft's Classic edition is out now, and those playing the up-to-date version are getting a special treat to celebrate the release and the 15th anniversary of the genre-defining MMO.Blizzard is planning a host of celebrations for the coming months in the regular WoW, the first of which is an in-game event in WoW's latest expansion, Battle for Azeroth. The event is a "special raid" that challenges players to go up against some of WoW's most fearsome bosses.Players must have reached WoW's current level cap, 110, to take on the raid. Those who successfully take down the bosses will earn the Obsidian Worldbreaker mount. Blizzard said this creature was inspired by the mighty Deathwing the Destroyer.For those looking for something simpler, Blizzard is giving away a series of "limited-time bonuses" simply for logging into Battle for Azeroth. The items include the Lil' Nefarian pet, a special in-game achievement, and other bonuses; the full list will be announced in the upcoming weeks.WoW Classic is proving to be extremely popular, so much so that players are facing lengthy server queues, even though Blizzard added an additional four servers ahead of launch.WoW Classic, as its name suggests, is a re-release of the original MMO from 2004 with some functionality changes. It's free for existing subscribers of WoW. For more, check out GameSpot's rundown of everything you need to know about WoW Classic. Info from Gamespot.com

When you're so used to games that ease you in, the confronting nature of Control is immediately compelling. There's plenty of time to get to know characters, study the environment, and gradually pick up new mechanics and skills, but Control's sinister atmosphere is impactful, sending a rush of questions through your head from the moment you press start.Who is Jesse Faden? Why does she seem both lost and found on her first day as director at the Federal Bureau of Control? How can she possibly maintain her composure in the face of the haunting ethereal and material distortions that have overtaken the bureau? You may only have some answers to these questions by the time the credits roll. While being vague or opaque could be viewed as a flaw in other games, obfuscation is part of what makes Control so spellbinding. Impressively, the mysteries grip ever tighter as you navigate the bureau's headquarters in search of answers. Knowledge is power, but it frequently opens doors to possibilities you never knew existed--doors that are better left shut, so far as Jesse and surviving FBC members are concerned.If you've played past works from Remedy Games, you will instantly recognize the studio's footprint. Control's story plays with grim truths and strange themes. Everything is a serious matter, except when it isn't and a dark sense of humor creeps in to offer a momentary respite--which, yes, includes plenty of FMV shorts. The combat system is designed for you to be equal parts agile and destructive, bearing a notable resemblance to the studio's Microsoft-exclusive, Quantum Break. Combat aside, that game felt like a step removed from what Remedy does best. Control feels like Remedy has found its footing again.There is one major aspect that is decidedly new for Remedy: Control is non-linear, built in the vein of a metroidvania and filled with reasons to retrace your steps over time. This approach is largely handled well, though if there's any aspect of Control that feels lacking it's the handling of the map. It's an unreliable tool presented in a top-down fashion that often feels like more trouble than it's worth. Multi-level areas overlap with one another (you can't isolate them, or zoom in for a closer look) and it's practically impossible to track specific locations you have or have not visited. Broad areas can be tracked, sure, but not, say, a single meeting room in the executive branch.This would be a major issue if not for two things: The signage in the world is surprisingly helpful, and ultimately, Control makes wandering the halls of "The Oldest House" a consistent pleasure. If you aren't in awe of the architecture, you're probably getting your kicks from a battle that pops up when you least expected it. Referring to the FBC headquarters as a house is a bit misleading, though you'll grow to understand how in time. In practical terms, it is a massive multi-story facility that screams government, with angular interiors formed in stone and metal, with minimal flourish. It has the outward appearance of an orderly place of process, which, while true, undersells the reality therein, or the lack thereof.The dance between fact and fiction is at the heart of Control's setting and a fascinating narrative that unravels in Jesse's mind through a series of inner monologues and psychic projections. There are exchanges between characters that move certain elements forward, but so much of Control hinges on Jesse's discoveries and her interpretations of their meaning. Even though you're clued into her thoughts, there's an underlying element that Jesse fails to explain because, to her, it's matter-of-fact. Whatever it is has always been a part of her, creating a gap of understanding that you, for the most part, can only hope to fill in with your own inferences. There's a constant desire to know more, yet to also maintain distance from the truth in order to preserve the mystery. It's to Control's credit that it effortlessly facilitates this exchange.If it's otherworldly, if it seems to defy explanation, odds are the FBC is running tests to discover the underlying cause and contain the consequences from the outside world. Deep within the guts of the house lie experiments and studies that dig into paranormal disturbances, the collective subconscious, and alternate dimensions. The FBC posits that entities from beyond our realm have used objects of power--archetypical things that we know and take for granted--as gateways into our world. After years of the FBC gathering these strange objects for study, the house has become an amplified conduit for a force known as The Hiss, which can reshape and move matter. The source of this power, a dimension known as the Astral Plane, has crept into the bureau, and some far-off corridors bear its telltale monochromatic, geometric motif. Occasionally, you will get pulled into this strange world to undergo skill trials, but your visits are always short, which helps preserve the mystique in the long run. Back in the "real" world, lowly agents and high-ranking FBC enforcers have been corrupted en masse. Many float harmlessly in mid-air, chanting strange mantras in boardrooms, hallways, and research facilities. Generally, if there's headroom, there are floaters. The more aggressive of the bunch pop into existence before your eyes as you explore the bureau. They, like Jesse, fight with a mix of guns and telekinetic powers. They are generally fun adversaries, and battles are punctuated by some incredible special effects. Furniture and small props are whipped into a frenzy when you hurl a desk from a cubicle and into a group of enemies. Sparks and colorful plumes of energy fill the air when a nearby explosion cuts through the incandescent trails left behind by the hiss.There are only a few unique enemies or bosses to speak of, but by and large the AI, in conjunction with a great variety of architectural layouts, makes every fight feel engaging. Whether a simple encounter or a complex assault, you have to approach combat with a juggling act in mind, shifting between expending ammunition and psychic energy when one or the other is depleted. You also have to learn how to defend against and recover from harm. The only way to heal in combat is to pick up essence dropped by fallen enemies, which often requires you to throw yourself into the fray while also protecting yourself from further damage.New powers come with story milestones, but weapon forms are crafted from collectible materials. Their stats, and Jesse's, increase with the application of randomized ranked mods dropped by enemies and found in hidden containment chests. You will likely come across hundreds of mods, but because you can only hold and use a limited amount, you will end up dismantling most of them to make space in your inventory. Mods can make a tangible difference, especially once you start to find high-ranking ones, but they can't make up for a lack of skill or understanding of Jesse's tools during the game's greatest tests. Control is a great-looking game in general, from the overall art design to the technical execution, but combat is a notable standout in that regard. While the experience on PC can be tuned to run at a consistently smooth frame rate, the PS4 version (playing on a PS4 Pro with supersampling enabled) can exhibit stuttering when fights are at their most chaotic--no issues were spotted with the Xbox One version. This, thankfully, is an uncommon occurrence, but it definitely clues you in to how taxing the special effects and real-time physics are.With a fair amount of extracurricular exploration, it took me about 15 hours to get to the end of Control's campaign. Though I watched the credits roll, there are still plenty of side quests for me to tackle. Jesse isn't the only sane person in the bureau after all, and the handful of key NPCs that populate each sector have co-workers gone missing or projects left abandoned that might put the bureau at future risk. They not only give you more reason to spend time in Jesse's shoes, but the supporting cast is great across the board, brought to life with excellent voice acting and top-notch character design. They aren't deep characters and your conversations never go very far, but I'm more than willing to help them in their time of need, if only to see what quirky or oddball thing they say when I return.One of my favorite aspects of Control, now that I've got room to breathe, is spending quality time with its collectible texts and videos. I've managed to read most of the in-game materials while pushing through main missions and tackling optional pursuits, but there are so many fascinating threads to pull on that it's easy to imagine new possibilities lying in wait; if only I studied the evidence a little closer, or considered a new angle, maybe the missing pieces of Jesse's story would come into view. These tidbits can be educational, disturbing, and at times wildly entertaining, and they have inspired me to look deeper into topics like Jungian psychology.It's not often that a game invades my thoughts the way Control has. I'm at the point where I want to consume every last thing it has to offer. And if I'm honest, it also makes me want to go back and replay Remedy's past games, too. Sure, it's a faulty metroidvania in some respects, but there are so many exceptional qualities afoot that Control handily deflects any momentary ire. I can't wait to take part in discussions about the game, to see what others have figured out, and to better understand where it all fits into Jesse's story. Info from Gamespot.com

Seeing Astral Chain in motion may be what catches your eye, but the graceful execution of attacks is something you have to experience for yourself. Astral Chain delivers gratifying, kinetic, and inventive combat that goes beyond genre conventions--and it retains that excitement from start to finish. Couple that with an attractive art style brought to life through fluid animation and cinematic-style cuts in battle and you have yet another standout action experience from developer Platinum Games.As an elite cop on the Neuron special task force, it's your job to investigate the ever-growing presence of the otherworldly Chimera that threaten the world. Catastrophic incidents are abound as Chimera spill in from an alternate dimension, the astral plane, but of course there's more to the phenomenon than meets the eye. To get to the bottom of it all, you simultaneously control both your player-character and a Legion, a separate entity with its own attacks and abilities--think of it as a Stand from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. This dynamic is at the heart of Astral Chain's combat.Astral Chain's sense of style bursts at the seams with each battle.It takes time to get the hang of it, but once you do, working in tandem with a roster of Legions feels seamless. You earn Legions over time, accruing a total of five, and each one offers their own set of skills and cooldown attacks to upgrade via a skill tree. While they can be sent into the fray to perform auto-attacks, swapping between them effectively to juggle specific abilities creates the satisfaction of tearing down the monstrous Chimeras.Initially, there are so many variables at play that it can be daunting. You have chain binds to lock enemies down for a few seconds, timing-based sync attacks that unleash devastating blows, and showstopping sync finishers that top off the wild spectacle (and replenish your health to boot). You can even get creative with combos, like utilizing the AOE stun, gravity pull, and crash bomb--all from different Legions--to concentrate a ton of damage on. Even an unchained combo lets you briefly unleash two Legions at once. And if that already seems like a lot to handle, you'll also have to consider executing special attacks from directional inputs when it's best to use them.When you dig deeper into Astral Chain's systems, you see some of its lineage--particularly the chip system of Nier: Automata, the game which Astral Chain director Takahisa Taura was lead designer on. That system manifests as Ability Codes that you equip on each of your Legions to grant them specific buffs and perks, which can significantly change how they function.Astral Chain isn't about running head-first into fights against monsters that seek to destroy you, though. You have to be smart about positioning, dodging, and the limited energy of your Legion. Enemies are more than just fodder; they can overwhelm you with sheer numbers, size, or speed. Some may require you to meet certain conditions to defeat them, forcing you to use non-combat abilities in the midst of the chaos. And bosses come at you with unforgiving attacks that'll test your skill as much as your patience.You have options for creating your own cool anime cop, it's too bad they never really talk.With a multitude of factors and challenges at play, combat places much more emphasis on devising the right tactics for the right situation. Astral Chain provides a tremendous box of tools that are effective in their own right and an absolute joy to use.If there's a fault gameplay-wise, it's that movement can sometimes feel imprecise--don't expect the same buttery smoothness of Bayonetta. For example, the Beast Legion's mount mode winds up in an unpredictable direction, and the pistol combo forces you to flip backward. It may result in falling off ledges or unintentionally getting in harm's way. Thankfully, it's an occasional frustration that doesn't detract from the core experience.Astral Chain delivers gratifying, kinetic, and inventive combat that goes beyond genre conventions--and it retains that excitement from start to finish.If you watch gameplay carefully, you quickly see how slow-motion, camera cuts, and subtle audio-visual cues in combat serve to signify opportune times to make your move. These flourishes are also how the game cements its bold sense of style. Popular manga artist Masakazu Katsura lent his hand to lead the character designs, resulting in some of the best-looking anime cops around. And when your bombastic actions in battle are matched by visually-striking momentum and tenacity, it delivers a unique thrill that makes Astral Chain special to see in motion.Further complementing the game's grand spectacle is its soundtrack. The groovy house tune heard in the police headquarters is infectious and the somber guitar melody at the stray cat safehouse hits like a reprieve from the chaos that envelops the world. Tense instrumentals and hard-hitting rock remixes of songs seamlessly bounce between one another during some combat missions. Unrelenting metal tracks propel boss battles and an ethereal Nier-like theme plays in the astral plane. Sprinkle in some J-rock worthy of an anime OP and Astral Chain rounds out the musical spectrum to great effect.Astral Chain isn't just about flashiness and stylish action, though. You're given room to breathe between combat scenarios that comprise its chapters (or Files, as they're called). Structurally, it's somewhere between the traditional open world of Nier: Automata and segmented stages of Bayonetta--chapters funnel you through hub areas where you're free to take part in side missions or explore for optional activities. Not everything is laid out on your map, so it takes some detective work to unveil all the hidden content.Astral Chain's shortcomings don't overshadow what it does best. It's an incredible execution of a fresh take on Platinum Games' foundation, standing among the stylish-action greats.Investigation scenarios are peppered within the main missions, where you analyze the environment and talk to locals to solve the mysteries at hand. Piecing the clues together properly awards you with a top rank, and it's no sweat if you get things wrong. You'll often jump into segments of the astral plane, which feature the more intense fights, and these areas incorporate light puzzle/platforming elements that ask you to use Legion powers in different ways.The activities you undertake outside of combat aren't exactly groundbreaking, but they provide enjoyable ways to engage with Astral Chain's vivid world. It's a welcome variety that also helps the pacing from chapter to chapter. Astral Chain never sits on one particular element for too long; it knows when to move on.Investigation is just one way Astral Chain breaks up the pace.Now, style doesn't always equal substance. The overarching plot touches on the conventions of evil authority figures who abuse the power of science for their own agendas, and it also relates to the nature of how you're able to wield the power of Legions, which are tamed Chimera. However, these themes are hardly explored. Rather, Astral Chain relies on cliches within its story and exposition. As a result, the more pivotal moments feel a bit less consequential. While some anime-esque tropes are just plain fun to see play out, others are borderline nonsensical even in context.While you choose to play as a customized male or female cop on a special task force, your sibling--who's on the same team--becomes the narrative focal point with fully voiced dialogue. Your own character is relegated to being an awkward silent protagonist. It's disappointing because Astral Chain has so much stylistic potential to build from in order to give its lead character a distinct attitude. I can't help but see it as a missed opportunity, especially when both characters are voiced when they're your partner. In the end, the narrative presents stakes that are just high enough that you'll want to see it to the end, and, thankfully, every other part of the game remains outstanding.Astral Chain's shortcomings don't overshadow what it does best. It's an incredible execution of a fresh take on Platinum Games' foundation, standing among the stylish-action greats. And its own anime-inspired swagger makes fights all the more exhilarating. You'll come to appreciate the calmer moments in between that add variety and offer a second to relax before jumping back into the superb combat. After 40 hours with Astral Chain, I'm still eager to take on the tougher challenges, and I'll be grinning from ear to ear as I hit all the right moves, one after the other, while watching it all unfold.Info from Gamespot.com

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey sure isn't afraid of throwing you into the deep end. My first foray into Panache Digital's survival game began as a young ape alone in a dark forest, the imagined laughs of hyenas and snarls of tigers echoing in the trees in a confusing cacophony. Before I could finish reading the message detailing my very first objective, a warning popped up and demanded I dodge out of the way--of what, I couldn't be sure. Not knowing what to do, I couldn't respond in time, and my ape was left alone, scared, hallucinating, bleeding, and poisoned, my screen a milky display of dark green and shifting shadows. I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do or where I should go. I began to wander and, thankfully, about 30 minutes later I found the rest of my clan.At first, I believed the entire ordeal was simply a poor start. As it turns out, that first journey through the confusion of a dangerous jungle, blindly limping in different directions in hopes of finding someone to help me, is a fairly accurate depiction of what your journey in Ancestors will regularly entail. My time with the game saw me suffer similarly disorienting fates over and over, testing me to figure out what I'd done wrong and then do my best to adapt. Ancestors prides itself on giving you as little information as it can and daring you to rely on your ingenuity and resourcefulness to survive. Though the game fulfills its promise to do the former, it fails to deliver a compelling reason as to why you'd even want to rise up to the challenge of the latter.You play as a member of an ape clan in 10 million BC Africa, and you try to ensure your lineage continues through to two million BC--the time period archaeologists say our ancestors' evolution finally transitioned us from ape-like beings into a new, more human species. To survive that long, you need to manage how much you eat, drink, and sleep while also steering clear of predators and taking care of injuries. As your life continues, and you interact with more aspects of the world, you grow smarter and acquire new skills, which you can then pass on to your descendants. Upon death, you take control of another ape within your clan and continue the process, striving to evolve into a brand-new, more human-like species before your entire clan completely dies out.Every second of real-world time translates into a minute in-game--except during sleep, which speeds this equation up. Your in-game progress produces opportunities for further clan evolution to then jump ahead in time by months, decades, or millennia. If you or one of your clanmates becomes pregnant, for example, giving birth to a baby will cause you to leap forward 15 months. For significantly larger jumps in time, exploring as an adult with a baby on your back will allow you to accrue energy to further improve your neurological network and unlock new abilities, which then allows you to advance a whole generation and move time forward a full 15 years. A jump in generation can be followed by an evolution, which moves you to a new, calculated placement on the timeline that's dependent on which advancements you make. Adapting your metabolism to new plants doesn't give you as huge a boost, for instance, as learning to use rocks as tools. Evolutions push you ahead tens of thousands of years, providing the most efficient way of getting from 10 million BC to two million BC.It's definitely not easy, though, especially since your clan needs to sustain itself throughout those eight million years in a single lineage. Though your clanmates learn what you do in real time, losing an entire clan means you have to restart from a brand-new lineage and relearn everything you've previously discovered. If your clan dies after you've adapted to eating fish, for example, you'll not only need to go through the entire process of reacquainting your diet, but you'll have to teach your new lineage how to make fishing spears all over again. When it's a few minutes of knowledge lost, it's not that big of a deal. But when you're losing hours of progress, it can be quite disheartening.Instead of saving your skills and knowledge between runs, Ancestors records your progress by keeping track of how far you travel. Initially, you can only begin a new lineage on a cliff within a jungle. However, you can discover and unlock other starting points in the jungle, and even reach other biomes, such as a lake-filled swamp and arid savanna. Unlocking these new start points provides welcome variety--as each environment contains its own unique ecosystem of creatures and plants as well as its own set of weather-based challenges--but your primates always begin in the same clueless state. Even if you already know what to do, you'll have to retrace your steps and go through the same motions over again to recreate the same conditions that pushed your ape's neurological network to evolve to where you were in the game before your clan was wiped out--ideally with more of your clan intact this time so you can go further.This gameplay loop can be immensely frustrating, and it's one that gets more drawn-out the more you play. By my fourth lineage, it was taking close to two hours to retrace my steps and redo everything I had already had to relearn a few times already. There's nothing in the game that allows you to recover from a failure and quickly rebuild what's been lost, either, which is demoralizing when your downfall is your own fault and downright frustrating when it's just bad luck. I've lost entire clans because of my own hubris, sure, but I've also lost a clan because, after going through an evolution, the game randomly spawned my clan next to a tiger's den and there were no materials nearby to make weapons. I spent the final 15 minutes of that eight-hour run helplessly watching my entire clan be slowly devoured before needing to start over.I couldn't go back and try a different approach to escaping the massacre of that unfortunate run because there's no manual save feature in Ancestors. The game saves automatically when you discover a new location or go to sleep, with each lineage tied to one save file. You can manually back up your save to your PC, but there's no easy or straightforward in-game solution to help you avoid a punishing death.What small satisfaction the game does provide is consistently ruined by violent predators, though the threat does lessen once you make it far enough into the neurological network's expansive skill and perk tree.Having to redo everything you've already done also keeps you from discovering new things--which is paramount to surviving and one of the few good parts of Ancestors. With practically zero tutorials, Ancestors forces you to be experimental in order to succeed. There's joy to be had in bashing different items together to see what happens and then compiling and testing hypotheses. As much as I was frustrated by needing to redo the entire process of creating the aforementioned fishing spear in repeated playthroughs, I felt genuine accomplishment in figuring it out the first time. Most of Ancestors' puzzles can be solved with logical sense, so the challenge comes in figuring out where to find the materials you think you need. Granted, this being a game, there are occasionally arbitrary hurdles you need to jump through to build certain tools, but you'll typically only find these associated with more advanced, late-game tasks.You don't get to enjoy much of the satisfaction in discovering new things and regularly evolving, though. Predators repeatedly sneak up on you and interrupt your efforts, which typically causes you to drop whatever you were messing with. It's disheartening to want to explore and forge new tools, only to then have to put your odyssey on hold to limp back to your clan and deal with your injuries--and then be attacked again almost immediately upon heading back out. Yes, the jungle is a dangerous place. But when a tiger leaps out of the reeds to aid a crocodile that's trying to eat me, it's a stark reminder of how Ancestors upholds the need to rise to the challenge of survival above the experience of evolution. Historically, it makes sense, as our ape ancestors undoubtedly lived many more years as prey than predator. But in the context of a video game, the constant barrage of spawning enemies gets in the way of the gameplay loop of learning, responding, and evolving--a roadblock that's only chipped away at and eventually toppled once you acquire the skills and tools so that your entire clan can work together and put up an adequate defense against the creatures that hunt you. Much has to be done to get to that point, though, so contending with larger predators--especially the collection of deadly wildcats that stalk and pounce on you at seemingly every quiet moment--feels unfair early on, especially in areas where there are no trees to escape up into. Dealing with their near-constant attacks or the wounds they inflict can make it discouragingly difficult to actually experiment and evolve.The closest you come to feeling safe while playing Ancestors is when you're up in the trees. You spend a lot of time in the branches as a result, but unfortunately there's no easy way to travel between them. You can climb practically anything in Ancestors provided you have the stamina, so scrambling up into a tree is a quick, painless process. However, with no way to easily course correct yourself--and since trees are rarely positioned in a straight line--you typically only get to enjoy a few seconds of fast-paced, energetic movement before you run out of branch, plummet to earth, and possibly break your legs if you were too high up. And that's a shame, because it's actually pretty fun to leap from branch to branch once you've got the swing of things. There just aren't many opportunities to use what you've learned once you've got the mechanics down. Upon leaving the forest, your chances slim down even more, as the follow-up areas are sparse on the first environment's signature large trees.Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey lingers for far too long on its most toilsome aspects. The game does reward initial experimentation, but then asks you to repeat processes over and over again without any means of securing your legacy. It's an absolute grind to reach the closest that Ancestors has to an endgame goal--survive for eight million years--and one costly mistake, whether the game's or your own, can erase everything you've accomplished. What small satisfaction the game does provide is consistently ruined by violent predators, though the threat does lessen once you make it far enough into the neurological network's expansive skill and perk tree. But as it stands, investing in Ancestors' journey demands too much effort for too little reward.Info from Gamespot.com

The first details about Disneyland's upcoming Marvel-themed land, Avengers Campus, have arrived thanks to Disney's D23 Expo, including the first details of the new Spider-Man attraction W.E.B. or the "Worldwide Engineering Brigade."The ride will feature "web-slinging vehicles" and Spider-Bots, developed by Peter Parker, which are glitching out during the ride's story.Concept art for the new ride vehicles was shown during the presentation, teasing some of the ride's interactive features which will let riders experience the sensation of Spidey's iconic web-slinging moves as they work alongside Peter to round up the malfunctioning Spider-Bots. Info from Gamespot.com

Disney has made plenty of announcements throughout this year's D23 expo, but the company saved some reveals for Sunday. During the Disneyland parks panel, they shed some light on one of the new attractions headed to the upcoming Avengers Campus in the California Adventure park.The ride, which will be part of the Avengers Campus phase 2, will be based on the Black Panther corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but will feature many of the Avengers, not just T'Challa himself. It will open with a journey from Avengers HQ to Wakanda on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet, and guests will wind up in a major Avengers fight by the end, featuring an unnamed MCU villain.The Avengers Campus is a new park area scheduled to open at California Adventure in 2020, and at Disneyland Paris at an unknown date. The Wakanda ride has only been announced for the California Adventure location currently.During the Sunday D23 panel, Disney also revealed details about the Avengers Campus Spider-Man ride--as awkward as it may currently be to discuss. The Spider-Man attraction, called W.E.B. (Worldwide Engineering Brigade), will feature "web-slinging vehicles" and new Peter Parker inventions like the Spider-Bot, which will glitch out and begin to replicate itself during the ride's story.It's been an eventful D23. Throughout the weekend, we learned about more returning MCU characters in WandaVision's cast, the reveal of Disney Plus's Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, and Moon Knight shows, more details about the Loki and Falcon and Winter Soldier shows, Black Panther 2's release date, and more about Disney+ and the MCU phase 4.On the Star Wars side, Disney confirmed that Ewan McGregor is returning to the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi, announced the release date for Star Wars Clone Wars Season 7, and revealed a Disney+ show starring very dead Rogue One characters.Info from Gamespot.com

Disney World in Orlando is getting its very own Guardians of the Galaxy ride as an answer to Disneyland's Guardians Of The Galaxy: Mission Breakout in Disney's California Adventure--and it won't be a re-skin of an already existing attraction.During the presentation at Disney's D23 Expo, the first details were revealed, including the name and story. A high-speed indoor roller coaster, Guardians Of The Galaxy Cosmic Rewind will take park guests from Earth to Xandar and back in a ship belonging to the Nova Corps. The ride starts in the "Galaxarium" (think planetarium, but, you know, for a galaxy) where guests will be invited to board a Nova ship to get a look at Earth from space.Unfortunately--as things are wont to do when the Guardians are involved--something goes terribly wrong, and chaos ensues.The coaster will feature the first-ever "reverse launch into space," so brace yourselves for some backward thrills.The ride will function as a sort of satellite area, tying into the story of the Avengers Campus lands coming to both Anaheim and Paris. While Orlando will not be getting a full-fledged Marvel-themed land (that we know of yet, at least), Guardians Of The Galaxy Cosmic Rewind is featured on the map of Avengers attractions featured on the D23 Expo show floor. Info from Gamespot.com

Disney has finally revealed details of the upcoming Star Wars hotel, the Galactic Starcruiser, a virtual space cruise experience that will send guests from Disney World in Orlando, Florida to a galaxy far, far away aboard a ship called The Halcyon.The experience will last two nights and two days, and is designed for all intents and purposes feel like you're on a cruise ship in space. Of course, anyone who's actually been on a cruise and stayed inside an interior room with no view of the ocean outside will be wondering about one feature in particular: Yes, every cabin aboard the Halcyon has a view of space outside your window. During the Sunday morning D23 panel focused on Disney parks, Walt Disney Imagineering EP and creative director Ann Morrow Johnson took the stage to introduce attendees to the Galactic Starcruiser resort.She described an immersive experience that starts before guests even board the "ship." They'll begin in a launch pod boarding vessel that will travel up into orbit and dock with the Halcyon, then emerge into the vessel's atrium, where they'll be shown to their cabin. The crew and staff will all be in character as various aliens, and there will be familiar characters on board, including Rey and Chewie--plus some more nefarious characters, as Kylo Ren and some Stormtroopers were also teased.During the "cruise," guests will make choices that determine the course of their story, and take place in various onboard activities, including training with a lightsaber against a remote droid like Luke Skywalker in A New Hope. Guests can also visit the star cruiser's bridge and take a turn steering the ship themselves, or sneak away to the engine room to find rebels plotting the resistance. The ship will also stop on Batuu, the planet that houses Disney World's Galaxy's Edge is based in. In other words, guests will leave the hotel and head over to the Blackspire Outpost in Galaxy's Edge as if going on a shore excursion while on a real cruise.There are still a few key details we don't yet know about Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser--most importantly, the opening date and pricing.It's been an eventful D23. Throughout the weekend, we learned about more returning MCU characters in WandaVision's cast, the reveal of Disney Plus's Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, and Moon Knight shows, more details about the Lokiand Falcon and Winter Soldier shows, Black Panther 2's release date, and more about Disney+ and the MCU phase 4.On the Star Wars side, Disney confirmed that Ewan McGregor is returning to the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi, announced the release date for Star Wars Clone Wars Season 7, and revealed a Disney+ show starring very dead Rogue One characters.Info from Gamespot.com

Normally, New Releases highlights five of the biggest games launching on a given week, but there's just too much on the horizon to limit ourselves this time. We've got new games from respected developers like Patrice Désilets' Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey and Remedy's Control. We've got horror games like Blair Witch and The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan. Nintendo is bringing the Switch-exclusive Astral Chain and a new mobile adventure with Pokemon Masters. On top of all that, the MMO crowd can relive the glory days with World of Warcraft Classic.Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey -- August 27Available on: PCAncestors comes from Patrice Désilets, known for his work on the Assassin's Creed series, and you'll definitely be doing plenty of climbing and leaping since this game puts you in control of an ape clan in Africa. Your goal is eat, drink, sleep, and just survive in a dangerous world full of predators until you evolve. To do this, you'll have to level up, procreate, and pass traits onto new generations of your clan.More Coverage:The First 20 Minutes of Ancestors: The Humankind OdysseyAncestors: The Humankind Odyssey Is An Uncompromising, Relentless Survival ExperienceControl -- August 27Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PCThe latest game from Alan Wake and Quantum Break developer Remedy gets its name from the Federal Bureau of Control, a fictional government agency that handles cases where the laws of physics and conventional science just don't add up. Enter protagonist Jesse Faden, who can fling bad guys and float around using her psychic powers. She's infiltrated the FBC to find her missing brother, and she'll have to shoot her way through a few men in black to find him.More Coverage:PC Specs For Remedy's Control Are Actually Lower Than Epic Originally AdvertisedHow Remedy's Control Will Trust Players To Figure Out Its Unreal StoryWorld of Warcraft Classic -- August 27Available on: PCIf you've been yearning to return to an older version of WoW, Classic is exactly what you've been waiting for. Classic looks and plays the way WoW did during version 1.12 (the Drums of War update), a time before The Burning Crusade even launched. WoW subscribers get access to Classic at no additional cost.More Coverage:World Of Warcraft Classic Release Date Announced, Beta BeginsWoW Classic Will Have Australia And New Zealand ServersPokemon Masters -- August 29Available on: iOS, AndroidIt may be a Pokemon game, but Masters won't ask you to catch 'em all like Sword & Shield. Masters is set on the island region of Pasio, where trainers battle alongside a single Pokemon, and these duos are known as Sync Pairs. You can recruit Sync Pairs to your side and engage in 3v3 battles as you seek to become champion.More Coverage:Pokemon Masters Is Light On Microtransactions, Heavy On BattlingPokemon Masters - Anime Trailer And Gameplay IntroductionAstral Chain -- August 30Available on: SwitchIf you know Platinum Games' portfolio of titles like Bayonetta and Vanquish, then you know what to expect from Astral Chain. Your police offer protagonist is chained to a living weapon known as a Legion, and the two of you can swing around the battlefield to battle monsters in stylish combat. As you might be able to guess from the name, you can even travel to the Astral Plane to discover where the monsters originate.More Coverage:Astral Chain Hands-On: Two Characters Make Combat A Fast-Paced BlastSwitch-Exclusive Astral Chain's Silent Hero Feels Really StrangeBlair Witch -- August 30Available on: Xbox One, PCLayers of Fear developer Bloober Team is revisiting the cult classic movie franchise with this canonical video game entry, featuring the studio's signature psychological horror flavor. You play as a cop looking for a missing boy in the famously haunted Black Hills Forest. At least you have your canine companion Bullet to help sniff out any witches.More Coverage:E3 2019: Blair Witch Game Announced During Xbox Press ConferenceThe Blair Witch Game Is Canon (And You Can Pet The Dog) | E3 2019The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan -- August 30Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PCBlair Witch isn't the only horror game dropping this week. Man of Medan is the first entry in The Dark Pictures, a new anthology series from Until Dawn developer Supermassive Games. Like with Until Dawn, your choices in Man of Medan can completely change the outcome of the story, a tale which involves teens on a ghost ship in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean. You can experience the spooky story in singe-player, pass the controller around for local co-op, or try online multiplayer, where the story actually splits into different characters' perspectives.More Coverage:Man Of Medan Developers Discuss How Until Dawn Led To The New Multiplayer ApproachThe Dark Pictures: Man Of Medan Has Co-Op, Here's A Look At How It WorksAugust is at its end, so the next episode of New Releases will take a look at what the new month is bringing to the table. September has big-name shooters like Gears 5 and Borderlands 3, plus reimagined classics like The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening on Switch.Info from Gamespot.com

The sequel to Suicide Squad that's being directed by Guardians of the Galaxy's James Gunn has landed another big-name actor. Deadline reports that Nathan Fillion is joining The Suicide Squad in an unspecified role. It would be just the latest time Gunn has cast Fillion in one of his movies, as Fillion also had parts in Guardians of the Galaxy, Slither, and Super. He has some experience with superhero movies, too, as he voiced Green Lantern in the animated movie Justice League: Doom and others. Fillion is perhaps best known for his roles in Castle, Firefly, and Serenity. He also plays Edward Buck in the Halo video game series and Cayde-6 in Destiny. Fillion also appeared as Nathan Drake in an Uncharted fan film.The new Suicide Squad movie is a "total reboot," and not a sequel to David Ayer's 2016 film. Gunn wrote the script and will direct the movie. He reportedly signed on to the movie in the midst of his fallout with Disney, though Gunn has since been re-instated to direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.The 2016 Suicide Squad received mixed reviews, but it was a massive commercial success. It made more than $746 million worldwide, and it won an Oscar for Makeup and Hairstyling.The Suicide Squad enters production in September and is slated to hit theatres in August 2021. It stars a number of actors from the original, including Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, in addition to newcomers like Idris Elda, David Dastmalchian, and Steve Agee. Info from Gamespot.com

One of the biggest entertainment stories of the month unfolded earlier this month when it was reported that discussions between Marvel and Sony about the future of Spider-Man movies broke down. Years ago, Sony--which holds the theatrical rights to Spider-Man--and Disney/Marvel cut a deal that allowed Spider-Man to appear in MCU movies, starting with 2016's Captain America: Civil War. It was reported last week that Disney went to Sony in search of more favourable terms, but the two sides couldn't agree, according to reports. Now, Marvel boss Kevin Feige has spoken more about the matter, saying he never expected the deal to run forever and strongly suggesting that Spider-Man is officially gone from the MCU."I'm feeling about Spider-Man gratitude and joy," Feige told Entertainment Weekly. "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."Among the long list of unanswered questions about the dispute between Marvel and Sony is if Spider-Man: Homecoming and Far From Home director Jon Watts will come back for the third new Spider-Man movie starring Tom Holland. According to Deadline, Watts' deal with Sony was only for those two movies, the latter of which made $1.11 billion worldwide, surpassing Skyfall to stand as Sony's highest-grossing movie in its history.Deadline reports that "it's no certainty" that Watts will return for the third movie, adding that Marvel is looking to hire Watts for a new movie presumably unrelated to Spider-Man.Holland appeared at the Keystone Comic-Con in Philadelphia this weekend where he confirmed he'll return as Spider-Man again. He also said he and his team pitched Spider-Man 3, which he described as a film that will be "very different" from the others."I'm just so grateful that Marvel changed my life and allowed my dreams to come true and Sony allowing me to continue living my dream," he said, as reported by GameSpot sister site ComicBook. "It's a crazy week and it's never been done before so we'll see how it goes and it'll be as amazing and as fun."In its own statement, Sony said the news about the fallout between it and Disney has been "mischaracterized." One part of the drama involved Feige's involvement as lead producer on Sony's Spider-Man movies, which reportedly will not continue for the next movie."We are disappointed, but respect Disney's decision not to have him continue as a lead producer of our next live-action Spider-Man film," Sony said. "We hope this might change in the future, but understand that the many new responsibilities that Disney has given him--including all their newly added Marvel properties--do not allow time for him to work on IP they do not own. Kevin is terrific and we are grateful for his help and guidance and appreciate the path he has helped put us on, which we will continue."Marvel series producer Jon Favreau said he is hopeful that Sony and Marvel can come to terms, but that might not happen. Deadline's sources said, "It has gotten so bad that some wonder if it would even be possible for them to rethink things and come to terms on Spider-Man."Even if Disney and Sony can't agree on a new deal, the House of Mouse will continue to benefit from Spider-Man as it currently receives 100% of merchandise sales from Spider-Man.Whether or not Spider-Man stays in the MCU, Marvel is planning loads more superhero movies. At D23 this past weekend, the company announced even more shows for Disney+, including Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, and Moon Knight.Info from Gamespot.com

World of Warcraft Classic is officially launching very soon on August 27, and ahead of that, developer Blizzard has announced some important changes and updates.Starting off, Blizzard will eliminate the previous character limit of three per account. At launch, players can make up to 10 characters per realm; that works out to 50 across all Classic realms.On top of that, Blizzard announced it will open four more Classic servers to help what are expected to be potentially lengthy queues at launch. The four new servers can be seen below. All the names are pretty good, but "Bigglesworth" probably takes the cake.New WoW Classic ServersNameTypeTimezoneIncendiusPvPEasternBigglesworthPvPPacificOld BlanchyNormalPacificWestfallNormalEastern For those lucky enough to be playing WoW Classic early, Blizzard said if players see servers marked with "Full" or "High" population, they should try to play on any of the new realms."We urge players on realms marked Full or High to plan to play on one of these new realms to avoid the longest queues, and to help spread the player population as evenly as possible and provide the best play experience for everyone," Blizzard said.WoW Classic bills itself as "Azeroth as it was." Blizzard says players can expect a "faithful recreation of the original World of Warcraft," featuring character models, combat mechanics, and skill trees that are as they were more than 10 years ago. Access to WoW Classic is included with the standard WoW subscription fee. Info from Gamespot.com

Disney+ will be home to a new spy series based on Star Wars: Rogue One, featuring two characters from the movie. Diego Luna, who plays Cassian Andor, will be joined once again by Alan Tudyk, who voiced the droid K2SO. The new series was officially confirmed during the Star Wars section of the Disney+ D23 panel.The show wasn't given an official name, but it was confirmed that it's a prequel, indicating it will take place before Rogue One. It is filming in London in 2020. In earlier announcements, Disney has described the show as a "rousing spy thriller" that will "explore tales filled with espionage and daring missions to restore hope to a galaxy in the grip of a ruthless Empire."In a statement, Luna said, "Going back to the Star Wars universe is very special for me. I have so many memories of the great work we did together and the relationships I made throughout the journey. We have a fantastic adventure ahead of us, and this new exciting format will give us the chance to explore this character more deeply."During the Star Wars portion of the panel, Disney also announced a release date for The Clone Wars Season 7 and revealed an official trailer for The Mandalorian. Both shows are huge draws for subscribing to Disney+, the company's soon-to-released streaming service.The Mandalorian is a brand-new TV series that stars Pedro Pascal in the title role, plus Deadpool's Gina Carano, Breaking Bad's Giancarlo Esposito, Supernatural's Emily Swallow, Predator's Carl Weathers, American Gods' Omid Abtahi, Grizzly Man's Werner Herzog, and Affliction's Nick Nolte. Lion King director Jon Favreau is the series' showrunner and Thor Ragnarok's Taika Waititi, Jessica Jones' Deborah Chow, and The Clone Wars Dave Filoni are all signed on to direct individual episodes. The series debuts on Disney+ on November 12.Info from Gamespot.com

The first full trailer for The Mandalorian is here. The first-ever live-action Star Wars TV show will premiere on Disney+ in November, and the trailer was revealed during the studio's annual D23 convention.The trailer contains a lot. It begins with Stormtrooper helmets thrown in the dirt and held up on spikes before transitioning to the titular Mandalorian's ship flying over both a green landscape and a desert. We see black-armored stormtroopers being led by a character played by Breaking Bad actor Giancarlo Esposito. The Mandalorian ends up killing his targeted mark in a cantina and we see an alien getting frozen in a familiar-looking carbonite prison. You can watch the trailer below. Also, IG-88 is in it!Bounty hunting is a complicated profession. @TheMandalorian, an original Star Wars series, starts streaming November 12, only on #DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/CTpflCJSJe — Disney+ (@disneyplus) August 24, 2019The release of the trailer follows that of the stylish poster for the show, which was also revealed today. The Mandalorian stars Pedro Pascal in the title role, plus Gina Carano (Deadpool), Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad), Emily Swallow (Supernatural), Carl Weathers (Predator), Omid Abtahi (American Gods), Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man), and Nick Nolte (Affliction).The showrunner is Lion King director Jon Favreau, and the line-up of directors for individual episodes includes Taika Waititi (Thor Ragnarok), Deborah Chow (Jessica Jones), Dave Filoni (Star Wars: The Clone Wars), and Jurassic World star Bryce Dallas Howard. It premieres on Disney+ on November 12, which is also the launch day for the service.In related news, it was reported last week that Ewan McGregor is in talks to reprise his role of Obi-Wan Kenobi for another potential Disney+ Star Wars show. There's also a show centered around the Rogue One character of Cassian Andor in the works for the service. For more on Disney+, check out GameSpot's guide to everything that will be available on day one.Info from Gamespot.com