When you start up Sky: Children of the Light, numerous messages shoot across the screen as it loads. Messages informing you of server connections, the reception of in-game currencies, and the like are commonplace for games with an online focus, but there’s one short message that feels uniquely descriptive to thatgamecompany’s fourth title: "Finding new friends." It's just a simple notification that you’re being connected to other players in this intimately connected universe, but it’s also a strong message of what Sky is really about. Although it mimics many gameplay elements from Journey, it’s Sky’s evolution of those ideas that makes it a fascinating multiplayer experiment with deeply meditative qualities.Playing Sky is incredibly similar to Journey. You control a robed figure, recognizable as a small child, and navigate a series of small environments connected only by the constellations in the stars they share above. Sky keeps things simple by tasking you with navigating its environments and holding down a single button to soar into the air and take flight. Flight is central to Sky’s otherwise simple mechanics, letting you execute gorgeous maneuvers through the clouds or delicately glide between the remains of mysterious ruins. Expressive yet subtle animations make each movement in the air feel delightful, even though you’re doing little more than controlling your direction. Swooping down into the clouds only to tilt upwards at the last minute is rewarded with a cute pirouette, for example, letting the wind engulf your robe and accurately shape it in the wind.Flight isn’t free in Sky. Flying draws light from your robe, which limits how much aerial freedom you have. Light is collected from any light source you come across, and it’s your job to spread it around in turn. You ferry around light with candles, using them to spread fire to unlit lanterns and shrines. You can also use light to burn away corrupted vegetation or scare dangerous wildlife that will attack you in the dark. Glowing, faceless children are scattered around each new area you explore, bestowing you with wings that help you upgrade the amount of light you can store at a time, in turn letting you fly longer. You can lose wings when you’re carrying no light and take damage from enemies or environmental hazards, though you can easily pick them up again. Sky doesn't feel punishing at any point, but it does use these gentle nudges to remind you of how great it feels to have a bounty of flight at your fingertips and what it might feel like to lose it again.Collecting light is beneficial to getting around, which in turn lets you discover lost spirits that govern the central progression in Sky. Each area has a star constellation that you slowly complete by saving lost spirits and returning them to the skies above. Most of these are simple exploration puzzles. By diligently poking around, you find blue outlines of long-forgotten beings, each creating a breadcrumb trail to follow that tells a short story of the spirit it’s leading to. These are moments frozen in time, telling vague stories that can come across as anything from humorous to tragic. It’s cheerful to see a skit of two clumsy beings attempting to move objects far bigger than them from one room to another, and equally sober to witness another in anguish, mourning a painful loss. Sky’s story is intentionally vague so that you fill in the blanks, interpreting what purpose light serves in its world and why its sacrifice is meaningful.Sky is entirely playable alone, and you're not required to find any fixed number of its spirits to finish it. But it’s also a game with a big emphasis on sharing your experience with strangers. You aren’t a unique figure in its world, and certainly not the only one carrying light to its eventual end. Instead, your journey is consistently filled with other players, each on their own adventure that you can choose to partake in for just a moment or two. You can contribute in small ways. A passing player might hold out their candle for you to light, letting you replenish their light in turn if you choose to. To befriend another player, you need to share a candle with them, permanently linking you two and adding them to your friends list (which is suitably represented by a growing constellation). You never see these players' names; instead, you name them based on your interactions with them. It feels like meeting someone new for the first time, but not immediately being able to speak to them. You can use taps to let out audio pings that help gather other players around you, but you're also able to take a seat on a bench, wait for another player to sit next to you, and engage in a more direct, text-based conversation if you choose.The most interesting way to interact with other players is with emotes, which are unlocked with each new spirit that you free. You can use these emotes to express yourself to other players, with anything from a simple wave or a point in a direction to more intimate displays of friendly affection, like hugs. There are also separate emotes and actions you can unlock by increasing your friendship with other players. By rewarding each other with consumable candles, you’ll unlock unique abilities (which can also only be used between you two) that can change the way you navigate through each area. My personal favorite was the ability to form long chains of players by holding hands, with one player guiding the group to new places while using everyone's collective light to fuel the flight. This also helps new players see areas they might not yet possess the ability to reach, granting Sky a cooperative nature that's remarkably easy to engage with.This simplicity helps some of Sky's more demanding puzzles, where cooperation between multiple players--anything between a single pair to a full group of eight--is required. Some doors, for example, require two players to light urns at the same time to open. Other more demanding challenges task up to eight players to gather around an octagon and light old runes in a specific order. Although these challenges are rarely hard to decipher, and finding enough players to participate with was never an issue in my time with the game, simply trying to get everyone to alight in more group-focused tasks was slightly frustrating. Since none of these puzzles are required to continue through Sky, they're easy to overlook.Sky weaves its focus on forming friendships into its microtransaction model, too, which changes the rules of what you’ve come to expect from these systems in a big way. Hearts are used to purchase cosmetic items, but you can't buy them outright. Instead, you can purchase candles (which you can also get in-game) which can then be packaged and sent to a friend as a heart. This is the only way to earn hearts, meaning you’ll need to depend on the gracious gifts of friends you’ve made in Sky to kit yourself out in some fancy new clothing. There are also options to purchase seasonal passes that unlock more straightforward daily quests and a few pieces of exclusive clothing, but for the most part you’ll be focused on forming new bonds with strangers and exchanging gifts with them frequently if you’re invested in standing out from everyone else visually.Your first flights through a temple in the sky or the hurried dash you need to make between awnings of large mushrooms in a rain-soaked forest are delightful.This means that you’ll likely be playing Sky well after the credits have rolled on your initial playthrough, which can take anywhere between four to six hours. You can collect any outstanding spirits you likely missed, especially since some aren’t even accessible without having played later areas in the game. You also need to reacquire your wings for flight again, due to story reasons you learn about during the finale. All of this means that you’ll be revisiting many areas you’ve already soared through at least once before, which can remove some of the splendor you experienced the first time around. This is especially true when you’re breaking from their intended flow to poke around the environment in search of small crevices you missed the first time. This feels like it goes against the natural harmony of Sky's intended path, signposted with simple nudges that point you in the right direction. When you’re solely focusing on completion, Sky just isn’t as compelling.Yet, there’s a meditative quality to return visits when you’re simply looking for a brief escape. Your first flights through a temple in the sky or the hurried dash you need to make between awnings of large mushrooms in a rain-soaked forest are delightful the first time around. Their mixtures of stunningly detailed environments and suitable stirring music are impactful, and less so when you’re running around in circles trying to see if there was a small crevice you forgot to explore.Sky is both different to everything thatgamecompany has made before but also a smart evolution of what makes its games special. It's simple to play while feeling incredible at the same time, making the act of flight exciting every time your feet leave the ground. It also features a fascinating spin on in-game purchases, locking its most alluring rewards behind the action of making friends and making a positive enough impression on them. That means you have to play a lot of Sky to eventually work towards what you want, which saps some life out of the gorgeous vignettes you're free to explore. But it's no less memorable for the ideas it presents or calming in the way it gives you the freedom to pursue them, making it another journey worth seeing through.Info from Gamespot.com

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will bring back killstreak rewards in multiplayer, publisher Activision has confirmed just ahead of the game's full multiplayer reveal. However, one of the killstreak options has caused some controversy. The three killstreak rewards announced so far are a juggernaut care package, an armored assault vehicle, and the chemical weapon white phosphorus, and it's that last one that has proven controversial.All three have been seen in some form or another in past Call of Duty titles: Juggernauts were used extensively in the Modern Warfare subseries, as were light armored vehicles. White phosphorus was previously used as a tactical grenade in the Black Ops series--where it caused "a small amount of damage on detonation"--but the framing of the weapon as a "reward" this time around paints it in a somewhat different light. GameSpot has contacted Activision for comment.Own the opposition - reap the rewards.Killstreaks make a return in #ModernWarfare. Tune-in August 1st for the full Multiplayer Premiere. pic.twitter.com/dUy6ZrkNzJ — Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) July 29, 2019In real life, the use of white phosphorus--also known as "Willy Pete"--against civilians and in civilian areas contravenes the Geneva Convention, thereby classing it as a war crime. Some Modern Warfare multiplayer maps take place in civilian areas, albeit without civilian characters present.Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward told GameSpot recently that it doesn't want to shy away from hard-hitting issues in the upcoming shooter. "Today, modern warfare means that the war isn't just over there," said the studio's narrative director, Taylor Kurosaki. "The war is everywhere. It's in our own backyards. It's in places that can suddenly become a battlefield at a moment's notice. It's about enemies who don't wear uniforms. It's about civilian collateral damage kind of being, unfortunately, part of the equation."Later in the same interview, Kurosaki said the game will punish you for making mistakes on the battlefield: "If you were a soldier and you actually deployed into a theater of war and you shot down a bunch of innocent civilians, you would be arrested and court marshaled. The game kind of does the same thing. The game does not allow you to get away with going rogue. You have a command structure that you have to follow and orders that you have to follow and if you try to just be a bad apple, the game is going to smack you down for that."However, Kurosaki was talking about the game's single-player campaign--which also depicts child soldiers, among other serious topics. It's unclear if the multiplayer mode will treat the use of white phosphorus as harshly as it sounds as if the story mode will treat "mistakes." It's this that is the root of some of the latest controversy.For more, you can read our full Call of Duty: Modern Warfare single-player interview. A full reveal of Modern Warfare's multiplayer offering is coming on August 1, but we've been given a sneak peek already with the new 2v2 Gunfight mode. Modern Warfare launches for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on October 25.Info from Gamespot.com

Epic has crowned the winners of the first Fortnite World Cup, and the big winner is teenager Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf. The 16-year-old player won the largest single pool of cash in the competition, taking home $3 million for winning the Solo tournament on Sunday. That large payout was part of a $30 million prize pool that Epic set aside for the World Cup, split between several competitors. All 100 players earned at least $50,000. The Duos winners Nyhrox and Aqua on team Cooler also earned $3 million, but they split the prize. The Creatives winners took just over $1.3 million each. You can see the final match of the Solos World Up, along with Giersdorf's subsequent victory celebration, in the video below.Meanwhile, Fortnite is preparing for the launch of Season 10. What exactly is coming in the next seasonal changeover isn't entirely clear yet, but Epic Games has started to drop teasers indicating that the Drift may be coming back.The new season is primed to start on August 1, which means you still have some time left to complete the remaining challenges and finish out your battle pass for the season.Info from Gamespot.com

A presentation for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate detailed the new Dragon Quest heroes being added to the game today as downloadable content, but they're not the only changes coming. The 4.0 update, coming alongside the DQ heroes, makes several changes of its own.As detailed in the presentation, the patch will add a time limit to your Final Smash meter, making it more difficult to play the waiting game. This change appears like it was designed to encourage players to go ahead and use it while they have the chance, making for more active battles. An Online Tourney mode has also been added to competitive play, and it will occasionally offer special rule sets to create some variety.For players who just want to get through Adventure Mode without too much hassle, the game is adding a Very Easy difficulty. Or if you want to kick back and watch other people play, the Spectate Mode now offers rewards for placing a prediction on the winner. You can use the tokens you earned to purchase rewards, but there's no wagering involved in placing a guess, so there's no real downside risk to playing along and placing a prediction. The update also makes tweaks to sharing functions, like the ability to add screenshots to your video clips.All of this is in addition to the new Hero character, who is also coming with the 4.0 update starting today (July 30). He's available for $6, or with the Fighter's Pass of five characters for $25. We already know the next DLC character will be Banjo-Kazooie, on loan from Rare. For more details on how Dragon Quest's Hero plays, check out all the new gameplay details from the presentation.Info from Gamespot.com

As promised, Nintendo shared a load of new details about Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's next DLC character, the Hero from Dragon Quest, during today's special video presentation. Not only did game director Masahiro Sakurai give us a detailed look at the Hero's moves, he confirmed when the DLC fighter will go live, and it's very soon.The Hero will join the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster today, July 30. This news doesn't come as much of a surprise. It was expected the Hero would release this month when he was featured among July's other big Nintendo Switch releases in a recent promotional video.The Hero's default look is based on the Luminary from Dragon Quest XI, while his alternate costumes are the heroes from Dragon Quests III, IV, and VIII. Each of his special attacks are inspired by different spells from the Dragon Quest series. His neutral special fires off a Frizz that can be powered up to Frizzle or Kafrizz depending on how long you charge it; his side special unleashes Zap spells; and his up special unleashes Woosh spells. However, you won't be able to use these spells if your MP gauge is too low.The Hero's down special, meanwhile, is the Command Selection. This pulls up a command menu just as you'd see in a true Dragon Quest game. The commands are randomized each match and allow you to select a spell or other move, such as Oomph, which buffs Hero's attack power for a limited time, or Kaclang, which will temporarily turn him metal. Between all of these possible attacks, Sakurai says the Hero has the highest number of moves of any character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.Arriving alongside the Hero is a new stage called Yggdrasil's Altar, which is based on a location in Dragon Quest XI. Occasionally a chest will appear on the stage; if you open it, you may either receive an item or be attacked by a Mimic. Additionally, a handful of new Dragon Quest Spirits are being added to the Spirit Board. A couple of new Mii Fighter costumes based on the Dragon Quest series will be available for purchase as well; these will each run for 75 cents apiece.The Hero is included as part of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's Fighters Pass, which costs $25 USD and grants owners access to five DLC characters as they're released, including the already available Joker from Persona 5 and the upcoming Banjo-Kazooie. Each DLC fighter can also be purchased individually for $6 USD and comes with a brand-new stage, an assortment of music tracks drawn from their series, and a handful of new unlockable Spirits.The aforementioned Banjo-Kazooie are the next DLC characters coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The bear and bird duo are slated to arrive sometime this fall, although no release date has been announced just yet. Nintendo still has two other unannounced fighters on the way to the game by February 2020.Releasing alongside the Hero today is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's 4.0 update, which adds a few new features to the game, including a Final Smash meter time limit and a Very Easy difficulty setting for the World of Light adventure mode. The patch also introduces an Online Tournament mode, which will occasionally host special event tournaments, as well as a new spectate mode that allows you to try to predict who will win a match; guess correctly and you'll earn tokens that you can then exchange for items. You can rewatch the Hero presentation above.Info from Gamespot.com

FIFA 20's cover stars have been revealed, with one of three different players adorning the case depending on which version you buy.Eden Hazard is the star of the standard edition following his move to Real Madrid this summer. The Champions edition, meanwhile, is paraded by Liverpool defender and PFA player of the year Virgil Van Dijk. Finally, France legend Zinedine Zidane is on the cover for FIFA 20's Ultimate edition and will be available as an Icon card in Ultimate Team.FIFA 20 launches for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on September 27. Legacy editions will come to Switch and older consoles, with updated kits and squads but lacking any substantial changes. The PS4, Xbox One, and PC standard editions come with three rare gold packs for FUT, while the Champions edition comes with 12 and will be released three days earlier, on September 24. The Ultimate edition also unlocks that day but comes with 24 rare gold packs as well as a guaranteed untradeable FUT Ones to Watch card. The three versions cost $60 / £60 / AU $100, $80 / £80 / AU $120, and $100 / £90 / AU $140, respectively.EA's search for a new cover star has seemingly been a tricky one. Last year, Cristiano Ronaldo was all over FIFA 19's marketing material, but the Portuguese forward was later accused of rape, with EA stating at the time it was "closely monitoring the situation." The charges have since been dropped, but Ronaldo's move to Juventus--who are no longer licensed in FIFA--apparently scuppered any lingering chances of him remaining on the series' cover.Halfway through last season, EA replaced the FIFA 19 cover featuring Ronaldo with one focusing on Kevin De Bruyne, Paolo Dybala, and Neymar. This time around Dybala was a no-go due to his ongoing employment at Juventus, while Neymar was also accused of rape. Those charges have been dropped because of a lack of evidence, pending a final review.For more on this year's game, check out all the new features in FIFA 20 Pro Clubs.Info from Gamespot.com

The Fast & Furious series might be nearly 20 years old, but it shows no sign of slowing down. The first spin-off, Hobbs & Shaw, hits theaters this week and the next film in the series is also in production. Now regular series writer Chris Morgan has suggested that a future movie could have an usual setting--outer space.Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Morgan revealed that no setting was off-limits for the franchise, as long as it fulfilled some simple criteria. "I would never shoot down space," he said. "Never, never. I would literally never shoot down anything, as long as it hits the parameters: 'Is it badass? is it awesome? Will the audience love it? And will it not break faith with the audience as they're watching it?' I'm down for whatever."While a space adventure for Dominic Toretto and crew might happen at some stage, it won't be the currently-untitled ninth Fast & Furious movie, which hits theaters on May 22, 2020. It's directed by Justin Lin, who has made four of the previous movies, and stars series regulars Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, and Tyrese Gibson, with Charlize Theron and Helen Mirren both returning from 2018's The Fate of the Furious.Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson won't be in Fast 9, but can be seen alongside Jason Statham in the spin-off Hobbs & Shaw, which releases on August 2. You can watch the latest trailer here. For more, read GameSpot's guide to the biggest upcoming movies of 2019.Info from Gamespot.com

Obsidian's RPG The Outer Worlds is coming relatively soon, but if you can wait a little while longer you'll be able to play it on the go. The studio announced that it will be bringing the game to Nintendo Switch sometime following its launch on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.A brief video with senior producer Matthew Singh details the basics of the game and its port to Switch. This version is being developed in partnership with Virtuos, a studio that has pitched in on Switch versions of games like Dark Souls Remastered and Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age. The video didn't detail a firm release date, only that it will come sometime after the other versions that are slated for October 25."It kind of blends two of my passions," Singh said. "I've been a lifetime Nintendo fan ever since I was three, I've had the NES all the way through every single console and every single handheld. I'm super excited to be able to take the type of experience we have and to be able to finally play it on a handheld platform. Today we can play a full experience, on-the-go, anywhere you want. Hopefully we can find an audience for people who may have never had this type of experience before."#TheOuterWorlds, the upcoming single-player sci-fi RPG from Obsidian Entertainment and Private Division, is coming to #NintendoSwitch! Learn more about @OuterWorlds from the Senior Producer in this video. pic.twitter.com/b1wcmD07AA — Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) July 30, 2019The Outer Worlds looks similar to the modern Fallout games--sensible for the studio that made New Vegas--but the setting is instead a space-hopping adventure. Like those games, though, it's defined by open-ended choices, and you can even become the villain. Microsoft recently purchased Obsidian, but The Outer Worlds is being published through Take-Two's Private Division label.Info from Gamespot.com

Nintendo has issued its earnings statements for the quarter ending June 30, and once again we have updated sales data on Switch hardware and its top games. The console/handheld hybrid is nearing 37 million lifetime units sold, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is gaining ground in the software charts.The Nintendo Switch has reached 36.87 million units sold, with software topping 210 million units. The ranking of the highest-selling software has remained the same, relative to each other from the March sales figures, but strong sales of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate suggests it will be overtaking Super Mario Odyssey for the second place spot soon.As of March the number two and three spots were occupied by Super Mario Odyssey (14.44 million) and Smash Bros. (13.81 million) respectively. The latest figures show Odyssey staying relatively steady with only a half-million more sold, and Smash Bros. making a much bigger leap of almost a million units. That has put it only 200,000 copies behind Odyssey, so those two will probably swap places by the next set of sales data.Both of them are still behind the top seller, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. And Pokemon Let's Go, a fairly recent entry, has held onto its spot in the top five. And while it wasn't part of the top sellers, Nintendo did share sales on the newly-released Super Mario Maker 2. That game has sold 2.42 million units through the end of June. Check out the full list of top sellers below.Nintendo Switch Software SalesMario Kart 8 Deluxe -- 17.89 millionSuper Mario Odyssey -- 14.94 millionSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate -- 14.73 millionThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild -- 13.61 millionPokemon Let's Go -- 10.98 millionSplatoon 2 -- 9.02 millionSuper Mario Party -- 6.99 millionNew Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe -- 4.10 million1-2 Switch -- 3.01 millionMario Tennis Aces -- 2.75 millionInfo from Gamespot.com

The Walking Dead comic book might have come to a surprise ending this month, but the TV version of the zombie franchise keeps on growing. Season 10 of the main show premieres in October, and the spin-off Fear the Walking Dead was recently renewed for a sixth season. There's also a second spin-off on the way, and the first teaser has now been released.The teaser doesn't show any footage from the show--and we still don't know the title. However, it does reveal some of the young cast members, talking direct to camera about what we can expect from the show. "There have been things going on in The Walking Dead universe since the very start of the story, all happening over all these years," we are told. "In other places we haven't seen. With people we haven't seen. With the dead we haven't seen. But we'll see it all this spring." The teaser also features various shots of intriguing concept art--check it out below.A new world of #TheWalkingDead is coming this Spring... pic.twitter.com/CQsY6fyCaf — The Walking Dead (@TheWalkingDead) July 30, 2019The new Waking Dead series stars Aliyah Royale as Iris, Annet Mahendru as Huck, Alexa Mansour as Hope, Nicolas Cantu as Elton, and Hal Cumpston as Silas. Kong: Skull Island director Jordan Vogt-Roberts directs the first episode. Plans for the new series were first revealed in March.The Walking Dead featured at San Diego Comic-Con earlier this month, where news emerged about the three upcoming spin-off movies. The films will focus on Andrew Lincoln's character of Rick Grimes, and a teaser for the first movie was screened. While the film doesn't have a release date or title yet, we did learn that it will get a theatrical release. It was also announced that longtime star Danai Gurira, who plays Michonne in The Walking Dead, will be leaving the show after Season 10.Info from Gamespot.com

One of the most interesting character arcs between Avengers: Endgame and Infinity War is Bruce Banner/Hulk's transformation into Professor Hulk. Taking essentially two different characters and smashing them into one creates a exceptionally unique character arc; however, it's one we never get to see take place on screen. With the digital release of Avengers: Endgame, the audio commentary for the film explained that at one point, the audience did get to see Banner and Hulk become Professor Hulk, but it actually wasn't in this movie.While the character's transformation was a surprise for viewers in Endgame, originally, fans got to see the scene in Infinity War. "We called him Smart Hulk throughout the shoot," explained screenwriter Steve McFeely during the commentary for Endgame. "The creation of Smart Hulk, used to take place in Infinity War. He was fighting in Wakanda. The whole arc of the story was Banner and Hulk were not getting along. Hulk wouldn't come out to help him. And at his hour of greatest need, they make some sort of compromise, and Smart Hulk rips out of the [Iron Man] armor and beats the crap out of Cull Obsidian and destroys him. It was pretty clear that the movie could not handle this weird success. The movie needed to just stay in its succession of losses in the third act, which meant some hustling on the part of VFX late in the game."That scene was part of the movie until late in post-production. "Cutting that out was a decision made during the editing process on Infinity War, by which point we had already shot Endgame," screenwriter Chris Markus stated. Apparently, this was even shown to test audiences, and people had trouble accepting it. Director Anthony Russo went on to say that they didn't have enough space to tell this story, as everything was happening so quickly during the climax of the film."Imagine before Thanos shows up, we had a scene where Hulk comes out of the bushes, and Natasha says, 'Hey, big guy, sun's getting low.' And [Hulk] says, 'Oh Natasha, that's not… We don't need that now,'" continued McFeely. "And speaks in perfect English, and you're supposed to be kind of delighted and jarred by it, and then they're all gonna get dusted. It was just tonally off."The Snap worked out for him in a way, right? He is his best self. He is sort of the last remaining superhero. Many [fans] want to take pictures with him in the diner. For most other people, I guess Tony aside, it didn't work out... I think the core conflict of who Banner is, is that there are two characters fighting over a host body, and they hate each other, and that's been the story with him for years. At some point, Banner, who's an intelligent human being, decides, 'What if we put the hate aside, and we try to resolve this in a way that is holistic?' And he merges the two of them."Avengers: Endgame is available now digitally through various retailers. The home release contains the aforementioned audio commentary with the writers and directors of the film, as well as deleted scenes, numerous featurettes, and a gag reel. The 4K/Blu-ray version of the movie won't hit stores until August 13.Buy or Pre-order Avengers: EndgameBuy it digitally on Amazon (7/30)Pre-order on Blu-ray at Best Buy (8/13)Pre-order the steelbook version at Best Buy (8/13)Some links to supporting retailers are automatically made into affiliate links, and GameSpot may receive a small share of those sales.Info from Gamespot.com

The PlayStation 4 has reached a huge milestone. According to Sony's latest earnings report, the console shipped 3.2 million units worldwide during the first quarter of the fiscal year 2019, up from the 2.6 million it moved during the final quarter of FY2018. When combined with the 96.8 million units the system had sold as of this past April, that brings its global lifetime numbers up to a staggering 100 million.According to video game analyst Daniel Ahmad, the PS4 has now become the fastest console to hit the 100 million mark, surpassing both the PS2 and Nintendo's Wii. It took the PS2 five years and nine month to reach that milestone, while the PS4 was able to do so in five years and seven months. Sony expects to sell 15 million PS4 systems this fiscal year, which would bring console up to 111.8 million units by March 31, 2020.Hardware wasn't the only milestone Sony surpassed. In the same earnings report, the company revealed that digital purchases of full PS4 games during this past quarter hit 53%, the first time more players had purchased digital copies of games over physical ones. Meanwhile, PlayStation Plus reached 36.2 million subscribers--up year-over-year from the 33.9 million it had in the first quarter of FY2018.These are especially impressive results considering the PS4 is entering its seventh year on the market, and its successor, the PS5, is looming on the horizon. While the next-generation console isn't expected to launch until at least 2020, Sony has already begun revealing tidbits of information about it. The company has already confirmed it will be backwards compatible with PS4 games, and we know the system will still have a disc drive and use a solid state drive.While PS5 may be approaching, there are still a few major releases in store for the PS4. Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima's enigmatic Death Stranding launches on November 8, while the highly anticipated Final Fantasy VII Remake arrives on March 3, 2020. The Last of Us: Part II is also on the way. While it doesn't yet have a concrete release date, Ellie actress Ashley Johnson teased it could be launching in February 2020.Info from Gamespot.com

July is wrapping up, which mean it's time for New Releases to tackle a fresh month of video games. Speaking of tackling, Madden NFL 20 releases for everyone at the start of the month. Later on you'll be able to sling bullets and psychic powers in Control and revisit the early days of the world's biggest MMO with World of Warcraft Classic. August wraps up with the action-packed Astral Chain and the terrifying Blair Witch.Madden NFL 20 -- August 2Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PCSome of you might already have early access to Madden 20, but its public launch kicks off the new month. This year's game includes new features like Face of the Franchise, a campaign that takes a player from a college career up to the NFL proper. Some pros can also use special abilities during games thanks to new Superstar X-Factors.More Coverage:Madden NFL 20 Early Access Is Now Live, Here's How To Get InMadden NFL 20 Ratings Revealed For Every Player And TeamControl -- 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 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:Control PC Specs Outlined, First Of Which Is An Epic Store AccountHow 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 ServersAstral 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 BlastPlatinum Games On Making A New Kind Action Experience With Astral ChainBlair Witch -- August 30Available on: Xbox One, PCLayers of Fear developer Bloober Team is revisiting the cult classic movie franchise with this canon game, 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 2019August is creeping up, and the next episode of New Releases will look at more new games the month is bringing along. You have a chance to revisit some previously released titles with the Guacamelee One-Two Punch Collection and Metal Wolf Chaos XD.Info from Gamespot.com

A new month means new free games for Xbox Live Gold members, who can claim two Xbox One and two Xbox 360 games (which are backward-compatible with Xbox One) as part of Games With Gold. August's free games have finally been revealed, and it's a solid batch of games for Xbox owners this month.The first freebie that'll be available starting August 1 is Gears of War 4, which isn't a huge surprise considering this game was also included in Twitch Prime's recent "spend $15, get $15 credit" offer. Gears of War 4 is a third-person shooter with a story campaign that includes both local and online co-op. If you're interested in its upcoming sequel, Gears 5, which releases September 10, this is a great time to hop into Gears of War 4, where Gears 5 protagonist Kait Diaz is first introduced. Plus, you'll be able to play on both Xbox One and PC.During the first half of August, you'll also be able to claim the hack-and-slash dungeon crawler Torchlight for free. Developed by the creators of Diablo and Fate, the game is set in the town of Torchlight, where you'll control a lone hero to explore randomly generated dungeons, take down monsters, gather loot, complete quests, and more.Then, starting August 16, Forza Motorsport 6 and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow will become available. Racing game Forza Motorsport 6 will be available for a full month (until Sept. 15) on Xbox One and features 24-player races, 27 total tracks, a new story mode, night racing, weather elements like rain, and more. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, which will be available only during the second half of the month, first released in 2010 on consoles as a pseudo-reboot of the Castlevania series. The 3D action-adventure follows Gabriel Belmont on his mission to resurrect his wife and take down the evil Lords of Shadow.Games with Gold August 2019Gears of War 4 -- August 1-31 (Xbox One, PC)Torchlight -- August 1-15 (Xbox 360)*Forza Motorsport 6 -- August 16-September 15 (Xbox One)Castlevania: Lords of Shadow --August 16-31 (Xbox 360)**Also available to play on Xbox One due to backward-compatibilityInfo from Gamespot.com

Avengers: Endgame is finally available to watch from the comfort of your living room and, naturally, in addition to the three-and-a-half-hours of confusing time travel and "hey remember that?" MCU wink-nods, it also comes packed to the gills with special bonus features and commentary. Bizarrely, however, one of said bonus features is actually only available on the digital release of the film as opposed to the more expensive Blu-Ray. (Perhaps some sort of deadline was missed here? Who can say.) Welcome to "Steve And Peggy: One Last Dance," a 5-minute montage featuring some clips from The First Avenger (and one from heavily truncated from The Winter Soldier) a handful of pointedly fluffy interviews (almost entirely recycled from the other featurettes) in which cast and crew recap Steve's journey in the MCU for the first 3-minutes, and then Anthony and Joe Russo do their level best to convince us that the Captain America trilogy, two movies of which they directed, actually wasn't about what they made it about for the last two."I always found it very endearing about Cap," Anthony Russo says in the featurette, "that for all that character has sacrificed--and he's sacrificed a lot--the one thing he could never let go of was Peggy Carter."Cue the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme song, please.Sure, the first movie in the Cap trilogy, Captain America: The First Avenger, is all about the sacrifice. But that's not where the story ends for either character--in fact, it's not even the part of the story the Russo Brothers themselves directed. The First Avenger is act one of a three-act play, and like every movie in the MCU, is not designed or intended to be viewed in a vacuum, no matter how badly the Russo Brothers seem to wish, now, after the fact, that we would all do just that.The irony here is that the movies they seem to hope we forget the most are the two they themselves directed, all in favor of one major last-minute change to Cap's thematic arc in their final MCU movie. But to really get a sense of just how completely bizarre these assertations are, let's take a closer look at just how the Russo Brothers shaped Steve Rogers' narrative and thematic arcs with regard to Peggy Carter.Recapping The First AvengerFor the sake of argument, we'll be taking a few things in good faith. One, The First Avenger really does put in the work to emphasize a connection between Steve and Peggy, and that connection is extremely meaningful. Two, the connection between them is served up over roughly 40 minutes (I did the math, don't worry) and 13 major scenes--these numbers are pretty significant. That's a little less than half of the entire movie's runtime.Of those major scenes, nine of them are clearly intended, for better or for worse, to have some sort of romantic under- or overtones. From the cringe-y misunderstanding about the meaning of fondue to the first actual kiss, The First Avenger put a lot of weight on the shoulders of the chemistry between Steve and Peggy and for the most part, it paid off. The end result is a sweet, heartbreaking story of a missed connection that serves to build the foundation for Steve Rogers as a character within the wider MCU. Their last bit of dialogue with one another sets a date, "8 o'clock, The Stork Club, don't you dare be late," for a dance they both know they'll never have. Cue the waterworks.No matter where you happen to fall on the spectrum of buying into Steve and Peggy's soulmate-level connection, it's clear that director Joe Johnston and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely wanted it to do a lot of narrative legwork. It's a nice shorthand and a quick way to make audiences emotionally respond and empathize (who doesn't love a good doomed love) with new characters. It's also an easy, no-muss-no-frills way to build drama and tension in not a lot of time. According to the text of the film, Steve and Peggy were in love, and that love never really got to come to any meaningful fruition because Steve is just too damn heroic and too damn selfless. What a jerk.But in addition to all of that, we also need to establish something else: That in the scope of the shared universe and series of interconnected films that make up the MCU, those qualities run out of gas pretty fast. There has to be more to Steve Rogers than being the guy who sacrifices things if he's going to be a tentpole character in a multibillion-dollar franchise, the same way Tony Stark can't just be the snarky drunk and Thor can't just be the old English jock. He has to actually move from where he started. The First Avenger doesn't exist in a vacuum.Enter The Winter SoldierThe Russo Brothers' MCU debut was, inarguably, a smashing success as they cranked out one of the most beloved and universally acclaimed entries into the line up to date with Captain America: The Winter Soldier.While not technically our first look at present-day Steve Rogers--that dubious honor belonged to The Avengers--TWS was the first time we got to really experience him outside of a large ensemble cast. The Avengers relied heavily on the most basic principles any audience member would know about Captain America to establish who he was on the team: He's a soldier, he has a shield, he's from the 1940s. TWS took the ball and ran with it.Stripped of those basic tropes and cliches, what would a strategist from World War 2 actually be like in modern society? How would someone with such a staunch moral code cope with working in the sometimes less-than-moral modern military sector? How was Steve Rogers, the man, rather than Captain America, the symbol, responding to his life being flipped completely upside down?The answers to those questions weren't simple or direct. TWS found forward momentum for Steve's character everywhere it could. It introduced Sam Wilson, Steve's first real modern friend who allowed him to showcase a sense of humor and self-aware wit about the things he'd missed in pop culture; it partnered him up with Black Widow, who delightfully kept him on his toes and tested his limits; it gave him a brand new fighting style, a new attitude, and a new costume. But, perhaps most importantly, it completely pivoted his dynamic with his own history through a recontextualization of Peggy Carter.Unlike The First Avenger, Peggy only gets a scant four minutes of screen time in The Winter Soldier. She's still alive, but well into her 80s here in 2014, struggling with dementia quietly in a civilian home. Obviously, this Peggy is no longer a romantic aspiration, she's become a sort of role model. She's "lived a life," and hopes Steve can go on to live his own. Her small scene is juxtaposed against video footage showing her back in the 50s, well after Steve's death, where she talks about all the ways in which she moved on after Steve's sacrifice and all the ways he positively affected her life. These clips are mirrored against her back in the modern-day telling Steve that "the world has changed, and none of us can go back. All we can do is our best and sometimes the best we can do is to try and start over."The weight of this scene could be nostalgic if it weren't for the time taken within the first two minutes of the movie for a conversation with Sam that allows Steve to directly confront the fallacy of living in the past. "You must miss the good ol' days, huh?" Sam asks. "Well, things aren't so bad. Food's a lot better, we used to boil everything. No polio's good. Internet, so helpful," Steve responds. This is not a Steve who longs to go back, even if he still feels the loss of his old life in a very real way. He's growing and changing in a way that is anything but easy, but in a way that matters.To lean in even harder to that idea, TWS includes a subplot in which Natasha keeps trying to set Steve up on dates. This sparks the beginnings of a precarious romantic tension with the newly introduced Sharon Carter, who is eventually revealed to be a SHIELD agent and Peggy's niece.Sure, it's really awkward when you think too hard about it, but one or both of the Russo Brothers made the call to keep that particular bit in not just this movie, but their next one too--it didn't just sneak by accidentally. And, when viewed in the context of the rest of the story, it's impossible to ignore the (admittedly extremely half-hearted) positioning of Sharon as Steve's new flame. Again, we're back to a place where we're meant to see Steve moving on. Weirdly, begrudgingly sometimes, and in the most awkward way possible, sure--but moving on nonetheless.There's not much time for bizarre inter-generational love connections, however. Things get sticky when the climax of the movie pits Steve against some literal ghosts of his past, revealing that his dead best friend is alive and brainwashed by the organization he gave his life to destroy in The War. The figurative, internalized fight Steve is having with himself is now both very literal and very external. Steve may be trying to be done with nostalgia, but nostalgia certainly isn't done with him.At this point, the symbolic weight of the past is shifted entirely off of Peggy and placed squarely onto the shoulders of Bucky Barnes, removing Peggy from the narrative equation entirely for the rest of the movie. Unlike Peggy, Bucky doesn't represent a success story--he didn't survive Steve's death to lead a happy and fulfilled life and he doesn't have a valuable lesson to impart about the necessity of never slowing down. Peggy's singular scene emphasized the fact that she no longer needs Captain America to save her. Bucky, however, has never needed him more.An interlude, and a Civil WarIt's important to note that there was one movie featuring Captain America that the Russos themselves did not make in between The Winter Soldier and Civil War. Avengers: Age of Ultron is a bit of an odd duck in the sequence--but one that, nonetheless, did pick up some of the threads TWS had laid. Peggy was featured in this one as a Scarlet Witch-induced hallucination that not-so-subtly highlighted just how troubling the idea of Steve "going home" to the 1940s actually would be--troubling enough that the thought actually clued him in to the fact that it was all an illusion.Later, in a conversation with Tony, Steve really brings it home. "I don't know. Family, stability. The guy who wanted all that went in the ice 75 years ago. I think someone else came out." Melodramatic, sure, but the point holds true. Steve's priorities have changed. We knew that from TWS, but here we see it spoken into existence on screen even more clearly.Those new priorities don't just go away. Against all odds, the Russos' next Captain America movie managed to make Peggy's symbolic position in the Steve Rogers story even less subtle than her literally speaking the words "start over" to his face. Like TWS, Peggy is only given one scene in Civil War--but this time, she's not actually in it. It's dedicated to her funeral.After tearfully acting as a pallbearer, Steve listens to Sharon give a speech about her aunt, which inspires him to really commit to the tension brewing between him and Tony. They're actually fighting over superheroic accountability (among other things), but the argument manifests in the text as an emotionally fraught, diplomatic tug-of-war over the fate Bucky Barnes.Remember how Peggy acted as a thematic springboard for Bucky's new position in Steve's life back in TWS? We're doing that all over again, this time with the stakes cranked up to 11.Peggy's off-screen role in Civil War is, in that way, to drive Steve even closer into the proverbial (or literal, depending on who you ask) arms of his best pal Bucky. Or, alternatively, to wingman her niece from beyond the grave into one of the weirdest on-screen kisses in the MCU, when Steve and Sharon "finally" admit they have feelings (?) for one another after their minute or so of pointed anti-chemistry back in The Winter Soldier.Either way, the narrative throughline of the Russo's take on Peggy Carter has reached its inevitable conclusion. She is gone. The past is literally buried. And her memory is the fuel in the engine that keeps Steve pressing forward as a constant reminder that there is life after great tragedy--even if he has to really, really fight for it.Also, yeah, making sure to include a scene of Steve kissing her niece is maybe the least subtle way the movie could make the point that he's moved on--next to, you know, actually burying her, I guess.So where does that leave Endgame?Here's where things start to get strange. If the bonus features and the final cut of Endgame are any indication, we're meant to believe that the arcs occurring in both The Winter Soldier and Civil War, as well as the little grace notes found in Age of Ultron, were, somehow, unintentional. That the repeated motifs that painted Peggy as the center of Steve's forward trajectory, and the constant refrains involving "starting over" were actually just very sneaky ways to say that Steve had, in fact, never gotten over her.It's not that that is the wrong or an invalid story to tell--The First Avenger tee'd up a timeless love story with Steve and Peggy at the center just fine--but that's not the story that the Russos elected to tell. Instead, they used Peggy for a grand total of two scenes, each built to emphasize something wholly other than romance, and then pivoted Steve into the arms of another woman--or, perhaps more honestly, onto a collision course with Bucky Barnes.Each moment the Russos' included in their films was deliberate. It's not an accident that the compass Steve carried with him in The First Avenger with Peggy's photo made only one split second appearance in one of their films (and never again in any of the other MCU films until Endgame for that matter). Nor is it an accident that Sharon Carter was painted, however briefly, as a romantic lead. It wasn't incidental that Bucky Barnes was the crux of the drama for years, and it certainly wasn't for nothing that Peggy's scenes were built to emphasize looking toward the future. Steve's stories could have, very easily, been constructed around his inability to let go of his lost love--but they never were.At least not until Endgame. Not until the Russos--or someone at Marvel Studios--had a very abrupt change of heart. It turns out all of Steve's heroism has really, secretly, revolved around his inability to get over his sort-of-girlfriend from The War. It was all just waiting game; putting in the hours until he could be given his prize (a literal trophy wife in this case) one way or another, even if that meant returning to the halcyon days of the 1950s. Stranger still, it wasn't even the actual dance date that was promised--The Stork Club, 8 p.m., 1945. It was something else entirely, which is apparently supposed to be just as satisfying, because who cares about the details when you're cherry-picking which parts of your stories you want people to remember?The scene is meant to be understood in a vacuum, devoid of any and all context of Steve's cinematic journey and relying specifically on the information contained within Endgame and only Endgame. We're meant to feel happy, that he's finally gotten the thing he's secretly wanted all this time, despite what the other stories have told us over and over again. We're supposed to feel like he deserves the "win," or that he's "earned" this moment of selfishness.But like every MCU movie, viewing things in a vacuum isn't the name of the game. So much for liking the internet, modern food, and polio vaccines. So much for starting over being the best we can do. So much for the guy who went into the ice being different from the guy who came out. So much for never being able to go back. So much for a narrative arc that doesn't suddenly wrap around on itself to become a complete circle. Part of the journey is the end, right? And sometimes the end is right back where you started, I guess.So, please, if you could just casually forget all of this, and pretend a little over two-thirds of the Cap trilogy doesn't exist at all, the Russos would, apparently, really appreciate it. Info from Gamespot.com