The Pokemon Company is getting a pop-up store in the heart of London for a limited time, to pair with the UK-inspired Pokemon Sword and Shield. The store will be located in the Westfield London from October 18-November 15.According to the company, the store will offer a range of Pokemon products, including some exclusives. The announcement states that it is meant to pay tribute to the UK's role in inspiring the new Galar region featured in Sword and Shield, which will release on November 15.We're also going to learn more about Sword and Shield later this week. The Pokemon Company announced a new Galar Research Update coming on August 7. The most recent one revealed Gigantamaxing and Sword and Shield have version-exclusive gyms among lots of other details. We'll have to see what the company has planned for this next reveal.Sword and Shield will launch on November 15, just a week after the special "Zacian and Zamazenta Edition" Switch Lite on November 8. These games have been the subject of some controversy upon word that you can't transfer your entire collection. Producer Junichi Masuda even responded to the controversy in a statement.For more details on Pokemon Sword and Shield, check out our pre-order guide. And to get your Pokemon fill in the meantime, check out our chat with Pokemon Trading Card Game artist Mitsuhiro Arita.Info from Gamespot.com

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is out now on Nintendo Switch, but there's still a lot of content on the way for the game. In addition to an upcoming free update, Nintendo will be releasing several waves of DLC as part of the title's expansion pass, and the company has outlined when fans can expect that content to arrive.The first "wave" of DLC launched alongside the game and added male and female Officers Academy outfits for protagonist Byleth. Wave 2 is scheduled to release by October 31, 2019 and will introduce new Auxiliary battle maps, as well as "helpful in-game support items" and some additional content. The third wave of DLC will follow by December 31 and will add new quests and costumes, while the fourth is slated to arrive by April 30, 2020 and will introduce new story content, including additional playable characters and locations.All four waves of DLC will only be sold as part of Fire Emblem: Three Houses' expansion pass, which runs for $25 USD / £22.49 / $37.50 AU. You can read more details about the expansion pass on Nintendo's website. Everyone who purchases a copy of the game is also entitled to receive Byleth in the mobile Fire Emblem Heroes game. To qualify, you'll need to purchase a copy and register it via My Nintendo by June 29, 2020. You can read how to redeem the free gift here.In addition to the planned DLC, Nintendo will release several free updates for Fire Emblem: Three Houses, one of which will introduce a more challenging difficulty mode. Nintendo hasn't specified when that update will go live, only noting that it will be released "later this year." The company mentions a couple of other free updates for the game in its DLC roadmap, but it hasn't yet detailed what those will entail.Fire Emblem: Three Houses launched on July 26 and has already proven to be a big critical and commercial success for Nintendo. The game has held onto the top spot of the UK game charts for the second week and garnered positive reviews from critics, including GameSpot--you can read our full thoughts on the title in our Fire Emblem: Three Houses review. If you're just getting started, be sure to check out our spoiler-free essential tips and advice.Info from Gamespot.com

WayForward has released a new trailer for River City Girls, an upcoming beat-'em-up. The trailer highlights the personality of Misako, one of the two playable characters in the game. You can watch the new trailer below.In the trailer description, Misako is described by WayForward as "hot-blooded," just like her best friend Kyoko. She's also "tough, impulsive, and always ready for a fight." Misako seems to have a bit of an angry streak to her as well, having no patience for her classmates who get in her way and aggressively punching her boyfriend Kunio after he steals the last piece of food that she and Kyoko were fighting over. In the trailer, we also get to see a bit more of River City Girls' gameplay, which features traditional beat-'em-up mechanics like throwables, combos, and special attacks.River City Girls is one of the better anime-like games we played at Anime Expo 2019. Developed by Shantae: Half-Genie Hero's WayForward and overseen by Dragon Ball FighterZ's Arc System Works, River City Girls is the newest entry in the River City franchise. The game begins with franchise main characters Kunio and Riki being kidnapped. Their girlfriends, Kyoko and Misako, embark on a rampage across the different districts of the city to find and save them.To convey the same sense of style as the original River City games, River City Girls features 16-bit-style graphics, an '80s-inspired synthpop soundtrack, and both solo and co-op play. River City Girls is scheduled to release for Xbox One, PS4, Switch, and PC on September 5. Limited Run Games is also creating a physical version.Info from Gamespot.com

Fire Emblem: Three Houses asks a lot of you. Every piece, from battle to friendships to training your units, must be managed both individually and as part of a whole. It can be intimidating, but when it all clicks together, it really clicks. Mastering the art of thoughtful lesson planning as a professor improves your performance on the battlefield, where success relies on calculated teamwork and deft execution. Cultivating relationships during battle in turn draws you closer to each of the characters, who you then want to invest even more time into in the classroom. Every piece feeds into the next in a rewarding, engrossing loop where you get lost in the whole experience, not just in the minutiae.Three Houses casts you as a mercenary who, while out on a mission with their father, runs into a group of teens under attack. After a brief introduction and battle tutorial--which you shouldn't need, since you're apparently already an established mercenary, but we'll go with it--you learn that they are students at Garreg Mach monastery. Each of them leads one of the school's three houses: Black Eagles, Blue Lions, or Golden Deer. At the behest of the church's archbishop, who definitely gives off nefarious vibes but is also a gentle mom figure, you end up becoming a professor and must choose which of the houses to lead. There is a lot of mystery to the setup, with consistent hints that something is not quite right, and it's easy to get absorbed in trying to figure out what the archbishop and various other shady figures are up to.Your main role as professor is to instruct your students in matters of combat and prepare them for story battles at the end of each month. Battles in Three Houses feature the same turn-based, tactical combat at the heart of the series, albeit with some changes. The classic weapon triangle is downplayed quite a bit in favor of Combat Arts, which have been altered somewhat from their introduction in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. Combat Arts are attacks tied to a weapon type and can boost a unit's attack power at the expense of weapon durability; some are effective against specific enemy types, like armored units. You can also unlock skills outside of Combat Arts that grant you better stats with certain weapons, like a heftier boost for using an axe against a lance user, similar to the old weapon triangle. It's the same complexity the series is known for but less abstracted, making it a bit easier to strategize without sacrificing depth.One of the big combat additions is battalions, mini armies you can equip that provide various benefits to a unit during battle. They also give you a new type of attack called a Gambit, which varies based on the type of battalion--magic-focused, brute force, and so on--and stuns the enemies it hits. Gambits are limited-use and can be incredibly powerful against the right enemies. You can increase a Gambit's effectiveness even further if one or more of your other units are within attack range of the target, a tried-and-true Fire Emblem concept that applies to all kinds of attacks. There's also an anime-style splash screen as you attack that shows each character involved in the Gambit looking fierce, which adds a nice bit of drama.How much you use Combat Arts and Gambits depends on what difficulty you're on. On Normal difficulty, well-trained units will likely be able to dispatch most enemies in one or two hits without the help of Combat Arts or Gambits. On Hard, however, enemies hit harder and withstand your attacks better. You have to think much more carefully about unit placement, the best time to use a Gambit and take advantage of its stun effect, and how many Combat Arts you can fire off before your weapon breaks. This is where things get exciting; after a few turns of cautious setup, you (hopefully) get to knock out tons of enemies as your plans fall into place.Some of the early-game and optional battle maps are open spaces that don't require you to think too hard, especially on Normal. But the story battles throughout feature a variety of map layouts--from pirate ships to what appears to be a lava-filled cavern--that challenge you to consider where your units need to be, both in the next turn and several turns down the line. Many of them have different routes, enemies coming at you from multiple angles, optional treasure to chase, and other quirks that require you to split your party up or change their equipped classes to suit the situation. Thieves, for instance, can open chests and doors without a key, while flying units don't take damage from ground that's on fire.The depth of strategy in these elements really shines on Hard difficulty, but especially so when coupled with Divine Pulse, another limited-use ability. Divine Pulse allows you to rewind time in order to redo all or part of the battle, usually if one of your units dies. Rewinding with Divine Pulse shows just how important unit placement and attack choice can be, as even a slight change can make or break the encounter. It's also just a nice quality-of-life feature if you play on Classic mode, in which units who die in battle are lost forever and can't fight or train anymore. You might still soft reset from time to time, but it's great to be able to rectify a mistake right away and get a shot of instant gratification for a job well re-done.Battling, of course, is only one part of life at the monastery. The backbone of Three Houses is the monthly school calendar, and if you like organizing things, planning ahead, or school in general, this can be the most engrossing part. On Sundays, you have free time you can spend in one of four ways: exploring the monastery, participating in side battles, holding a seminar to improve your students' skills, or simply taking the day off. Mondays are for instruction, which consists of selecting students from a list and choosing a few of their skills to boost. The rest of the week goes by automatically, with a sprite of the professor running along the calendar and stopping occasionally for random events or story cutscenes. It sounds a bit hands-off, but there's a lot to think about as it is, and the week-by-week rather than day-by-day structure keeps things moving and ensures you never have to wait too long to progress in any area.The predictable structure of each month--and the fact that you can see the full month's schedule with events listed ahead of time--gives you the foundation to make effective plans. All that time management can definitely be overwhelming, at least at first. You have to keep tabs on your students' skills and study goals, your own skills, everyone's inventory, and various other meters and menus while planning for the lessons and battles to come. But you're treated to a near-constant stream of positive reinforcement as those meters fill up week by week and your students improve their skills. You're always moving toward the next thing: the next level up, the next skill you need to develop, the next month and what may unfold.To complement this, your activities when exploring the monastery (as well as how many battles you can participate in, if you choose to battle on your day off) are limited by activity points. You get more as your "professor level" increases, which means you have to balance activities that boost your professor level with ones that help your students grow. Activity points also ensure that the month continues at a healthy pace, preventing you from lingering on any one Sunday for too long. Seminars and rest days just eat up the whole day without consideration for activity points, which can break up the more involved weeks and provide their own benefits.How you choose to spend your time also comes down to how motivated your students are to learn. Each of your students has a motivation gauge that's drained when you instruct them, and they can't be instructed again until you interact with them and get their motivation back up. You can do this most effectively when exploring the monastery--where you get to talk to different characters, give them gifts, and share bonding time with them--whereas battle only rarely increases motivation levels. While you can skip a lot of the school life bits and even automate instruction, you won't get the best results. You're directly at a disadvantage in combat if you don't make time for your students, which is by design.Like all recent Fire Emblem games, keeping you invested in your units and their relationships is the glue that binds the whole experience together. It's incredibly effective in Three Houses, where your direct involvement in nearly all aspects of a unit's growth trajectory gives you a special stake in their success. After spending time and effort to help a character achieve their full potential, you're not just satisfied when they win a fight--you're proud. And the more you invest in someone--both emotionally and through months of lesson plans and instruction--the more cautious you'll be about putting them in harm's way, and the more you'll work to come up with a solid battle strategy.Considering you're a teacher, it's good rather than disappointing that there's almost no romance to speak of. Some students are flirty, but mainly, you're fostering camaraderie rather than playing matchmaker or romancing them yourself. As you unlock new support levels with different characters--both by interacting with them at the monastery and by using teamwork in battles--you get cutscenes that flesh them out more. Some are charming, lighthearted conversations between two friends, while many of them give you insight into more serious matters--a father forcing his daughter into marriage, discrimination within the monastery, the dark reason behind someone's lofty ambitions. For the most part, each support conversation is just a piece of who a character is, and as you slowly build support levels over time, you begin to uncover the full picture of each person. As a result, learning more about each of the characters and their place in the monastery is as much a reward for progress as the level bars that tick forever upward as you go.Every NPC is fully voiced in both English and Japanese, which brings a lot of life to the brief support conversations. Disappointingly, though, the professor is silent. They do have a voice--they'll occasionally say a line when leveling up or improving a skill--but in cutscenes and when talking to students and faculty, they just nod or shake their head flatly. There are brief dialogue options during conversations, but where they could give way to a full, subtitled sentence or two from the professor, you're just left with the other character's reaction. Characters do, however, refer to the professor's personality and how they come across throughout the game, which is odd considering they mostly nod at things. This puts distance between you and the characters you're bonding with, and it's a missed opportunity in a game where the protagonist has an otherwise set look, personality, and backstory.It's not hard to like a lot of the characters, though. They draw you in with anime archetypes--the ladies' man, the bratty prince, the clumsy but well-meaning girl--and surprise you with much more nuance under the surface. Some of the funniest scenes early on involve Bernadetta, a shut-in with extreme reactions to normal social situations, but her inner life is a lot darker and more complicated than those early conversations let on. You might discover a character you thought was a jerk is actually one of your favorites or slowly stop using a less-than-favorite character in battle. You also have the option of having tea with someone, during which you have to choose conversation topics according to what you know about them, dating sim-style. Knowing what topics they'll like is actually a lot harder than it sounds, and successfully talking to a favorite character--even if the tea setup can be a little awkward in practice--is a small victory.Each house's campaign feels distinct but not so different that one seems way better than the other. Every house has a mix of personalities and skills, and they all have their own advantages and disadvantages. Students from different houses can form friendships with each other, too, and you can eventually recruit students from other houses to join yours. Rather than being repetitive, on a second playthrough, recruiting gives you access to different relationship combinations; you can see a different side to a character through a different set of support conversations. And while the overall setup of the game is largely the same across the three houses, each has its own web of B plots, and the second half of the game will look very different depending on who you're with and the choices you've made.The first half concerns the church, its secrets, and the fact that the professor knows very little about their own identity. As the basic loop of each month pulls you forward, so too does the promise of learning the truth about something, whether it's why the archbishop wanted you to be a teacher in the first place or who a suspicious masked individual is. These threads remain pretty open, though, at least after one and a quarter playthroughs. You get different details in each route, and so far it's been a long process to piece everything together.Learning more about each of the characters and their place in the monastery is as much a reward for progress as the level bars that tick forever upward as you go.After a five-year time skip, you enter the "war phase" of the game. While the structure of the game is the same--you even instruct your units, since you still need to train for battle--the focus shifts to the house-specific stories. They involve a lot of hard decisions, with old friends becoming enemies, people you wish you didn't have to kill, and students who've changed either in spite or because of your guidance. Late-game battles are especially challenging, with higher stakes and multi-lane layouts that require a lot of forethought. Success in these battles is incredibly rewarding, as you're seeing dozens of hours of investment in your students reach a crescendo, but they're bittersweet in context.When all was said and done, all I could think about was starting another playthrough. I was curious about the mysteries left unsolved, of course, but I also hoped to undo my mistakes. There were characters I didn't talk to enough, students I didn't recruit, and far more effective ways to train my units. A second playthrough treads familiar ground in the beginning, but after learning and growing so much in the first, it feels fresh, too. That speaks to Three Houses' mechanical complexity and depth as well as the connections it fosters with its characters--and whether you're managing inventories or battlefields, it's the kind of game that's hard to put down, even when it's over.Info from Gamespot.com

Let's face it: Space is scary. Between the endless, uncaring void, the potential for chest-bursting aliens, and the omnipresent threat of catastrophic tech failure and accident, the cosmos itself is already horrific enough just on its own. But, if you needed yet another reason to be made extremely uncomfortable by the prospect of the abyss--don't worry. Variety has reported that Paramount and Amazon are teaming up to develop a TV adaptation of the 1997 sci-fi horror classic, Event Horizon.Though no details are currently available, it has been reported that Adam Wingard (Godzilla vs. Kong, Blair Witch, You're Next) will be leading the charge. Whether or not the show will be a reboot of the movie, a continuation of the story set within the same universe, or something else entirely remains a mystery.Originally directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, the man responsible for bringing us the first live-action Mortal Kombat movie, Event Horizon featured Sam Neill and Laurence Fishburn on an ill-fated space mission that, eventually, culminated in them piercing the cosmic barriers between our reality and a horrifying hell-dimension, all while trying to run a rescue mission on a derelict space ship. That's right: Neill and Fishburn were sent to Space Hell, and it went about as well (and as brutally) as you could imagine.One part Alien, one part Danny Boyle's Sunshine, ten parts Hellraiser, Event Horizon blurred the lines between the metaphysical realms of spirituality, ghosts, and demons with the hard facts of scientific theory and space-age engineering with all the charm and practical effects of its late-'90s era.Don't worry, we may not have a ton of information on this one just yet, but there is still plenty of horror to look forward to this year. And some of it is already streaming. Info from Gamespot.com

With crunch becoming an increasingly hot-button topic in the games industry, many developers are speaking out against the ruthless work environments employees at high-profile studios like Epic Games and Rockstar routinely face. The Outer Worlds developer Obsidian Entertainment is one such studio, saying it is "very committed" to keeping its work environment crunch-free.In an interview with PCGamesN, The Outer Worlds' senior designer, Brian Hines, said crunch is not in the studio's development formula. "Obsidian is not a crunch studio, which is one of the things that keeps people staying there for a long time," Hines said. Though he admitted employees are sometimes asked to stay longer in order "to meet a deadline," Hines assured that these extra hours were "always [just] a request" and last for only "a week or so."Hines also confirmed the individual developers always have the right to exercise their autonomy, declining the request if they so choose. "There really hasn't been a crunch or a death march or anything like that with the studio for quite a long time, as far as I can remember anyway," Hines said. "That's definitely one of the things that as a studio we're very committed to. [W]e'd rather cut something than try and get people to not have a life outside of the industry."The Outer Worlds is set to launch on October 25 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The upcoming first-person RPG is also coming to Nintendo Switch, though no release date has been confirmed as of yet. It might not be "politically charged," but The Outer Worlds is shaping up to be a modern homage to Fallout: New Vegas.Info from Gamespot.com

2018's comic book movie Venom was a massive success at the box office, bringing in $855 million worldwide to become one of the most successful movies of that year. Now, Sony has announced who will direct the sequel.Andy Serkis, the Hollywood veteran who starred as Gollum in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and more recently directed the Netflix movie Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, has been hired to direct Venom 2, according to Variety.Other directors reportedly considered for the role included Travis Knight (Bumblebee) and Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes). The first Venom was directed by Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer, who couldn't come back for the sequel due in part to his work on Zombieland: Double Tap.According to Variety, filming on Venom 2 will begin later this year. Venom 1 writer Kelly Marcel (Fifty Shades of Grey, Saving Mr. Banks) is coming back to write screenplay for the sequel.Tom Hardy is set to return as Venom/Eddie Brock, with Woody Harrelson starring as the bad guy Carnage. Michelle Williams is also set to return as Anne Weying.While Venom 1 was a huge success at the box office, it received a very poor reception from critics. The film fared much better with audiences, however. Info from Gamespot.com

Even if you haven't picked up a Batman comic in a while, you probably won't be surprised to learn that things haven't exactly been easy on Bruce Wayne for these past few months. Not only was he left at the alter and then subjected to a series of horrible Scarecrow-induced hallucinations, he also recently uncovered a secret cabal of villains lead by his archnemesis Bane who has secretly engineered just about every misfortune Batman has faced for the last year or so. It was all, it turned out, part of Bane's master plan to conquer the unconquerable--to crush Batman so completely that Gotham City itself would belong to him.And now, it seems, Bane has succeeded. Gotham as we know it is no more, and in its place is a hellscape ruled by villains, puppeteered by Bane himself while Bruce is nowhere to be found.How are things going? Well, take a quick look at this exclusive preview of issue #76 to get some idea. The short answer is: about as well as you might expect.Issue #76 is part two of the appropriately named City Of Bane story arc, which kicked off in the last issue and will bring us through the grand finale of writer Tom King's work on the series. Can Bane be dethroned? And even if Bruce does somehow manage to take him on and win, can Gotham ever recover from the damage? It's been a long, long time since the city-destroying stories of epic events like Batman: No Man's Land or Batman: Zero Year, so here's hoping the city's infrastructure and population learned some valuable lessons--otherwise, taking Bane out of the picture may actually be the least of Batman's problems.Batman #76 hits shelves this Wednesday, everywhere comics are sold. Info from Gamespot.com

Rockstar's open-world western Red Dead Redemption 2 has now shipped 25 million copies. Parent company Take-Two Interactive announced the new shipment figure during an earnings report.The new shipment figure of 25 million counts copies shipped through June 30, and it's up from the 24 million figure announced in May (copies shipped through April 31, 2019) and 23 million announced in February 2019 (copies shipped through December 31, 2018).Red Dead Redemption 2 shipped 17 million copies right at launch back in October 2018.All of these figures are for copies shipped to retailers and not necessarily sold through to consumers. However, sold-in stock is generally a good indication of how many copies a title has sold through to people.Red Dead Redemption 2 also makes money from Red Dead Online's microtransactions. During an earnings call, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said he is excited by the "continuing momentum" of Red Dead Online, though he did not share any specific numbers for player spending. Whatever the case, Zelnick said he expects Rockstar Online--comprising Red Dead Online and GTA Online--to set a new revenue record during the current fiscal year.For both Red Dead Online and GTA Online, Zelnick teased that players can expect "much more" content to come in the future. Both games are regularly updated with all manner of new content, including multiplayer modes, items, and more. GTA Online recently introduced the Diamond Casino update, and this helped GTA Online enjoy its biggest day and biggest week ever.Also in the report, Take-Two announced that Grand Theft Auto V has now shipped more than 110 million copies, adding that it has been in the Top 10 sales charts in the US for five of the past six months in terms of combined physical and digital sales, according to NPD data.The company also shared new sales updates and insights for its other popular franchises:NBA 2K19 has now shipped nearly 12 million units; it's already the 2K's highest-selling sports game ever.Civilization VI has now shipped more than 5.5 million copies; it is the fastest-selling entry in the Civilization series.The Borderlands franchise has shipped 48 million copies; Borderlands 2 alone has shipped 22 million copies. The post-launch DLC plan for Borderlands 3 will be announced and detailed at upcoming events such as Gamescom and PAX West. Info from Gamespot.com

[UPDATE] The Evo organizers have now confirmed that the teaser video for Snake was only "a little joke." The group said it was "not intended to imply a character reveal, and was done on our own, without consulting Bandai Namco."Just to clear things up, the Snake cameo video that we showed during Tekken finals was our idea of a little joke. It was not intended to imply a character reveal, and was done on our own, without consulting Bandai Namco. Sorry for any confusion! — EVO (@EVO) August 5, 2019David Hayter, the original voice of Snake, responded as well.EVO,You also failed to consult me, or Konami. Please do not use my voice to promote other games. Ever. DH https://t.co/6ZgCEPVddU — David Hayter (@DavidBHayter) August 5, 2019The original story is below.Tonight during the Tekken World Tour 2019 Evo event, Bandai Namco announced new details about Tekken 7's ongoing post-launch support. A brand-new character, Leroy Smith, is coming to the fighting game through its Season Pass 3. The character Zafina, who was first introduced in Tekken 6, is also in Season Pass 3.Two more DLC characters, as well as a new game feature and a new stage will be added to Tekken 7 through the Season Pass 3 as well in between September 2019 and Spring 2020. However, no further details were shared during the presentation.Bandai Namco did, however, share some light story details about Leroy:"50 years ago, a young boy was caught up in a large-scale gang conflict in New York, losing his family and home," reads a line from his description. "Missing for decades, he has finally returned to New York, now as a seasoned master of martial arts--and he's out for revenge."As for the mysterious upcoming DLC characters, one of them could be Snake from the Metal Gear Solid series. A brief teaser shown to those in attendance (see below) contained what might be a reference to the classic game character. The codec screen appeared, and it contained a line attributed to Snake: "That was some good ass Tekken."Commentators on the livestream referenced this tease and strongly suggested that they knew what it was about but wouldn't share more details. Snake is already featured in Nintendo's Smash Bros. fighting game series, most recently appearing in Smash Bros. Ultimate.Tekken 6 Season Pass 3 launches in September for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.SNAKE?!!??!!? pic.twitter.com/fUIsQnDo8S — FADEL - 🖤🦅 HYPE @ EVO🕹 (@MTLSaiyan) August 5, 2019Tekken 7, which was originally released on console and PC in 2017 (following its debut in Japanese arcades two years prior), has sold more than 4 million copies.GameSpot's Tekken 7 review scored the game an 8/10. "Tekken fans will find their next favorite game--one that's the product of decade's worth of refinement," reviewer Peter Brown said. "And while some of this depth will be lost or out of reach for newcomers, there's enough fun to be had outside of hardcore competition to keep players from all walks of gaming thoroughly entertained."Info from Gamespot.com

Upon release in September 2018, NBA 2K19 was heralded by critics and fans alike as an excellent professional basketball sim with a microtransaction problem. Despite the controversy surrounding the game's microtransactions, NBA 2K19 is the biggest sports game success in 2K's history.During an earnings call today, 2K owner Take-Two said NBA 2K19 has now shipped 12 million copies; that makes it 2K's most successful sports game in the company's history.Not only did the game ship a record-breaking number of copies, but NBA 2K19's microtransactions are proving to be incredibly popular. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said NBA 2K19's "recurrent consumer spending" revenue, which includes microtransactions, was up 140 percent during the quarter ended June 30.Zelnick said NBA 2K19 is seeing "extraordinary growth in average games played and daily active users."NBA 2K19's microtransactions come in the form of Virtual Currency (VC) that 2K sells in various allotments and corresponding price points from $2 USD to $100 USD. Players can spend the VC to upgrade their custom-created character and buy card packs to fill out their fantasy team.GameSpot's review stated that "microtransactions loom over everything" in NBA 2K19. Numerous other reviews from critics and fans alike expressed some level of dissatisfaction with the way in which NBA 2K19 employs its microtransaction system.Beyond microtransactions, 2K added seemingly unskippable pre-game ads to NBA 2K19 in another move that rubbed some fans the wrong way.Despite all of the controversy surrounding NBA 2K19, the franchise is praised every year for its impressively faithful representation of the NBA experience with excellent controls and presentation and numerous modes to play.In the earnings call, Take-Two boss Karl Slatoff said people enjoy the NBA 2K series because it is an "industry-leading" simulation game; players also enjoy the "lifestyle" elements of creating a character and progressing through the career mode, he said.Zelnick, meanwhile, spoke about the evolution of how players connect with and experience 2K's NBA games over the years. People are spending more time with NBA 2K games these days, and that in turn creates an opportunity for 2K to encourage players to spend more over time."I think six or seven years ago, basketball was a three-month experience. And now it's a nine- or 10-month experience and we think it's going to grow to be a full, one-year experience," he said.Slatoff added that the 2K League, which is an eSports organization dedicated to the NBA 2K series, has helped promote the NBA 2K video games and draw in new players. Additionally, the game's mixture of modes and features has gone a long way to attracting and retaining players, he said."If they're more engaged with the game, they're going to spend more money ultimately," Slatoff said. "There's a lot of dry powder there. We're still in the early beginnings of learning how to do this the best way."NBA 2K19's recurrent consumer spending growth rate of 140% is far ahead of Take-Two's overall growth rate for recurrent consumer spending. Total recurrent consumer spending revenue--comprising virtual currency, add-on content, and in-game purchases--jumped 31% during the latest quarter and made up 58% ($313.5 million) of Take-Two's total GAAP net revenue for the period ($540.5 million).NBA 2K19 was the single-largest contributor to Take-Two's GAAP net revenue during the quarter; it performed even better than GTA Online and Red Dead Online, according to the company.Take-Two also measures what it calls "net bookings," which is the "net amount of products and services sold digitally or sold-in physically during the period, and includes licensing fees, merchandise, in-game advertising, strategy guides and publisher incentives."Net bookings from recurrent consumer spending for the three-month period ended June 30 jumped by 55% and made up 67% ($282.9 million) of Take-Two's overall net bookings ($422.2 million. GTA Online was the biggest contributor to net bookings for the quarter, followed by the GTA V base game, and then NBA 2K19. In terms of digitally delivered net bookings, however, NBA 2K19 was No. 1NBA 2K19 series producer Rob Jones told TrustedReviews that microtransactions are an "unfortunate reality of modern gaming."“Every game, at some point, in some way has currency and they’re trying to get additional revenue from each player that plays the game. You know, the question has to be when does it feel like it’s a straight money grab versus when does it feel like it’s value added, right?"NBA 2K20 launches on September 20, and given how immensely popular microtransactions have been in NBA 2K19, you can expect them to return in some capacity in the new game. Overall, Take-Two has said it wants to put microtransaction opportunities in every game it makes.It's not just the NBA 2K series that is criticized for its use of microtransactions. EA's stable of sports games, including Madden NFL, FIFA, and NHL, all feature controversial "Ultimate Team" modes that allow players to spend real money to build out fantasy teams. As with the NBA 2K series, Ultimate Team is big business for EA, which makes hundreds of millions annually from it. Info from Gamespot.com

With MachineGames at the helm, Wolfenstein has enjoyed a resurgence during the last couple of years. Wolfenstein has managed to captivate with its strong characters and intriguing world-building, giving you a glimpse into an alternate future where the rules are rewritten and whole new terrifying possibilities are waiting to be explored. None of this is present in the series' first venture into VR, however. Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot isn't just lacking the elements that make its universe intriguing, but it's also dated by recent VR standards, with flat, unexciting action and little reason to return after one short playthrough.Set in 1980s, Cyberpilot puts you in the shoes of a pilot working for the French Resistance at the same time as the events in Wolfenstein: Youngblood. Your piloting skills are alluring to two French hackers who have managed to smuggle away a few Nazi war machines, giving you the chance to aim these monstrosities back at their creators. If you've ever cursed at being mauled by a Panzerhund, Cyberpilot initially seems like a great opportunity to flip the script.It doesn't take long for that feeling to fade, though. Three of Cyberpilot's four missions give you control of a new machine to pilot. The Panzerhund lets you dash towards enemies before melting them down with a mouth-mounted flamethrower, a small airborne drone makes sneaking around a Nazi bunker simple, and the more straightforward Zitadelle arms you with a high-powered machine gun and rocket launchers. Despite these varied abilities, Cyberpilot doesn't provide interesting challenges for you to test them against. Each mission is linear and frustratingly one-note. You keep moving forward through cramped and visually bland spaces, mowing down enemies in your way and occasionally taking a breather to heal up before the next encounter. The drone mission at least tries to shake things up by pivoting from all-out action to stealthy engagements, but the unresponsive AI and cramped level design don't allow you the satisfaction of a well-planned stealth kill.Since you're using machines armed with flamethrowers and unlimited rockets, combat should presumably be explosive and adrenaline-pumping. But Cyperpilot gives so little feedback to your actions that it's difficult to feel their impact at all. Enemies, for example, make no sounds when engulfed in flames or blown back by nearby explosions, and they almost always use the same animations when dying before disappearing from sight. The devastating weapons at your disposal offer no satisfying animations and subsequent sound effects that give them a real kick, which makes action feel limp and uninteresting.In between each mission, you can explore a multi-floored resistance bunker, using a lift to transition from a spacious loading bay to a dimly lit reception area adorned in abandoned Nazi regalia. These spaces look great and do a good job of reminding you of the imposing grip your enemies still have on European soil. Although this bleeds into the handful of missions you're sent on, Cyberpilot doesn't offer anything new or interesting to say about this alternative perspective on the resistance. The only other characters are your resistance handlers, who occasionally engage in some quirky banter between each other, but outside of that you're nothing but a tool to them, and you disappointingly get no new insights into Wolfenstein's world as a result.These brief interludes between missions also introduce you to each new pilotable machine in intimate fashion. Before being able to remotely control them, you need to hack your way past their security, which Cyberpilot makes out to be far more complicated than it really is. While you're being fed descriptions of intricate wiring and defensive subroutines, all you are doing is using motion controls to remove a chip from the machine in question, plugging it into a nearby monitor, and then replacing it after a brief pause. Getting to see the details of each chillingly monstrous Nazi machine up close, in VR, without fearing death is surprisingly fascinating, but there's not much else to do during these sequences. That makes each of these forced interludes feel drawn out and unnecessary.Cyberpilot can be played with either the PlayStation Move controllers or a DualShock 4, and neither is great. With a DualShock 4, combat feels more familiar. You use the thumbsticks to freely move around and rotate (either smoothly or in adjustable segments) while using motion control to aim. In this configuration, your two hands move as one, which makes activities outside of combat a chore. The PlayStation camera can only track the front-facing light from the DualShock 4, so reaching for objects on either side of you is borderline impossible in some cases.Using the Move controllers changes that immediately, and also gives you more freedom in combat. Moving your arms independently from one another lets you bash on your special attack button and heal at the same time, which is impossible to do when you're tethered together by a seemingly invisible set of handcuffs. As a tradeoff, movement is trickier using the Move controllers. Rotation is mapped to face buttons while lateral movement is controlled using the big, mushy PlayStation button on the face of the controller. It's far less ideal than the DualShock 4, leaving you with a decision to make between the lesser of two evils.There's no reason to jump into Cyberpilot if you're looking for another avenue to explore more of Wolfenstein's world. You won't have too much time to adjust, either, given that Cyberpilot's four missions can easily be finished in less than 90 minutes. Beyond reaching its flat ending, there's nothing else to do to make what time you do have more engaging. There are no collectibles to find, alternative mission routes to explore, or exciting mission set pieces to replay for the thrill of it. It gives Cyberpilot a distinct tech demo feeling; since VR games have become increasingly more adept at using the hardware in unique ways, Cyberpilot feels outdated by comparison.There's no reason to jump into Cyberpilot if you're looking for another avenue to explore more of Wolfenstein's world. This straightforward shooter lacks the punch to make its action exhilarating and breaks up combat with even more repetitive and slower-paced interludes where you'll do the bare minimum with motion controls to achieve simple and mundane repair tasks. Beyond looking striking for a VR game in some places, there's nothing about Cyberpilot that warrants your time.Info from Gamespot.com

Destiny 2's next chapter, Shadowkeep, has been delayed from its September release date. The upcoming expansion is now slated for October 1, but the good news is, 2019's Moments of Triumph has been extended. And at least it's time for the arrival of Xur, Agent of the Nine, who is always on time. He's back with another haul of Exotics you can use to complete your collections as we near the completion of Destiny 2's Year Two--and he has a particular helmet that Titans won't want to miss, even if you already have a copy.Where Is Xur?Head to the Tower and down the stairs on the Hangar side to find Xur. He's chilling out on a catwalk toward the north end of the area, up a flight of stairs and near the edge of the Tower.What Is Xur Selling?As is always the case, Xur is offering an Exotic weapon and three pieces of Exotic armor, one for each character class. It's a pretty good haul this week if you're a Titan: Xur brought One-Eyed Mask, a Year Two Exotic he's only sold rarely--and it has a great role with Enhanced Hand Cannon Targeting. If you need something Xur isn't carrying, you can always snag an expensive Fated Engram, which will guarantee you an Exotic you don't already have--but only from the first year of Destiny 2 content or Forsaken. Anything that has come from the Annual Pass expansions over the last year won't be in the Fated Engram pool, so make sure you know what you need before you buy. You can also grab a Five of Swords card, which lets you adjust Nightfall runs for higher scores, and an Invitation of the Nine from the Season of the Drifter if you haven't completed them all yet.The Huckleberry (Exotic submachine gun) -- 29 Legendary ShardsST0MP-EE5 (Exotic Hunter leg armor) -- 23 Legendary ShardsWinter's Guile (Exotic Warlock gauntlets) -- 23 Legendary ShardsOne-Eyed Mask (Exotic Titan helmet) -- 23 Legendary ShardsThe HuckleberryIf you like submachine guns, and especially if you haven't yet unlocked The Recluse pinnacle weapon, The Huckleberry is a gun you should consider. It chews through enemies in PvE situations very quickly. Its Ride the Bull perk increases your fire rate the longer you unload while reloading part of the magazine when you earn kills. It also carries the Rampage perk, making this a bullet firehose that absolutely devastates groups of enemies at close range.ST0MP-EE5If you don't have ST0MP-EE5 by now and you play Hunter, buy them. This Exotic is essential for some troubling platforming moments, especially in Raids. The boots greatly increase your jump height and maneuverability, while also amping up your sprint speed and slide distances. There's too much utility in ST0MP-EE5 for any Hunter not to own them.Rolls:Slot 1: Fusion Rifle Dexterity; Submachine Gun Dexterity; TractionSlot 2: Arrow Scavenger; Scout Rifle ScavengerWinter's GuilePunch-happy Warlocks will enjoy Winter's Guile. Kill enemies with melee attacks, and the Exotic increases your melee damage. Nothing simpler than that.Rolls:Slot 1: Rocket Launcher Loader; Momentum Transfer; Enhanced Impact InductionSlot 2: Shotgun Scavenger; Sniper Rifle ScavengerOne-Eyed MaskA favorite among Titans in the Crucible, One-Eyed Mask marks enemies who damage you. If you manage to then track them down and destroy them, you get an overshield and a damage increase. This is a great one for helping you clear bounties and Solstice of Heroes requirements in PvP.Rolls:Slot 1: Unflinching Pulse Rifle Aim; Pump Action; Enhanced Hand Cannon TargetingSlot 2: Linear Fusion Rifle Reserves; Special Ammo FinderInfo from Gamespot.com

At long last, Showtime's upcoming adaptation of Halo is coming into focus. The project has been in the works for a very long time, but since the news broke that American Gods alum Pablo Schreiber will portray the iconic role of Master Chief John-117, not much has been revealed. That all changed at Showtime's TCA press tour presentation, though, with several major casting announcements.The biggest is the addition of former Californication star Natasha McElhone, who will play two roles on the series. First, the actress will play Dr. Catherine Halsey, the person behind the Spartan supersoldier program that created Master Chief. Taking a page from the games, she will also play the artificial intelligence construct Cortana, which is based on a cloned copy of Halsey's brain. Showtime describes Cortana as "the most advanced AI in human history, and potentially the key to the survival of the human race."Beyond Cortana, five additional castings have been announced. Bokeem Woodbine (Overlord) will play Soren-066, a character who first appeared in the short story Paria from the Halo: Evolutions--Essential Tales of the Halo Universe collection. Showtime describes Soren-066 as "a morally complex privateer at the fringes of human civilization whose fate will bring him into conflict with his former military masters and his old friend, the Master Chief."Shabana Azmi has taken on the role of Admiral Margaret Parangosky, a character mentioned throughout multiple iterations of Halo. The character, who made her first appearance in the Halo: Ghosts of Onyx novel, is in charge of the Office of Naval Intelligence. While Showtime says little else about the character, in Halo lore she has a not-so-friendly history with Halsey.The rest of the new roles are for characters created for the series--all Spartan soldiers. Bentley Kalu (Avengers: Age of Ultron) plays Vannak-134. This cybernetically augmented troop is essentially Master Chief's deputy in the USNC, which he was conscripted into as a child. Natasha Culzac (The Witcher) is taking on the art of Riz-028, "a focused, professional and deadly, cybernetically enhanced killing machine." Lastly, Kate Kennedy (Catastrophe) plays "an all-new courageous, curious, and deadly Spartan supersoldier" in Kai-125.It was previously announced that Halo would also see newcomer Yerin Ha play Kwan Ha, "a shrewd, audacious 16-year-old from the Outer Colonies who meets Master Chief at a fateful time for them both." Halo is currently scheduled to debut on Showtime in the first quarter of 2021, with filming set to begin later this year in Budapest.Disclosure: Showtime is owned by CBS, the parent company of GameSpot.Info from Gamespot.com

The past few months for the Sonic the Hedgehog movie have been a trying one for everyone involved in the film. Now, Jim Carrey--who plays antagonist Dr. Ivo Robotnik in the upcoming 2020 film--has given his take on all of this.During the Television Critics Association presentation for Carrey's Showtime series Kidding, the actor opened up for the first time about the controversy.He discussed fans loving these characters since they were children and claiming ownership of them. "I don't know quite how I feel about the audience being in on the creation of it. We'll see what that entails because sometimes you find that the collective consciousness decides it wants something and then when it gets it, 'I just wanted it, I didn't care about it. I just jumped on the bandwagon,'" Carrey explained. "Ownership of anything is going out the window for all of us."The first trailer was released in May, and after fan backlash about the titular character's look, director Jeff Fowler announced the character would be getting redesigned, which ended up pushing back the movie to a 2020 release. This has been the first time that a major studio has given in to fan backlash after the release of a trailer.Sonic the Hedgehog is voiced by Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation) and features Carrey as Dr. Robotnik. James Marsden (Westworld) plays a state trooper who catches onto Sonic's super speed. Obviously, both Marsden's character and Sonic are trying to stop the evil Robotnik. Sonic's new release date is February 14, 2020.Info from Gamespot.com