San Diego Comic-Con is a celebration of everything pop culture, from movies to television to comics to video games and more. And of course, one of the cool things about this convention is all the exclusive toys and collectibles you can get while you visit the show. There have already been plenty of reveals from Funko, as well as Hasbro, Mattel, and more, but Lego has a cool Spider-Man minifigure you can take home if you attend the show.If you played through Marvel's Spider-Man on PS4, then you are probably very familiar with the specific suit Peter Parker wears in that game. Lego has taken that suit's design and created a cool minifigure you have a chance of picking up at the show. You can check it out, along with the packaging below.But how do you get this minifigure for yourself? Well, details for that have not been finalized, but we do know it will be given away to select attendees of Comic-Con, so you need to be at the show in order to get your hands on it. Additionally, not everyone who is at the show and wants it will get it, as there will be a randomized instant-win drawing on Thursday, July 18. More details about this drawing and the giveaway will be revealed closer to Comic-Con.The country's largest pop culture show takes place at the San Diego Convention Center July 18-21, and GameSpot will be there covering the show. The biggest news to come out before the convention is that Marvel is reportedly returning to the show this year. In previous years, Hall H was the place to be for movie and TV news, but Marvel didn't show last year, as there were no announcements to be made until after Avengers: Endgame came out. Competitors DC won't be there this year though, as its parent company Warner Brothers is putting its Comic-Con focus into upcoming horror movies It: Chapter 2 and Doctor Sleep. Info from Gamespot.com

Steam has apologized and clarified its Steam Grand Prix promotion as part of the Steam summer sale, after widespread confusion led to unintended consequences. In short, the entire process should be simpler and less detrimental to indie developers, and Team Corgi's dominance should wane.The promotion promised free games for random members of the winning team each day. The freebies would be the top game from the user's wish list, but some players believed that it may be an entirely random game from their wish list. This resulted in mass deletions of wish list games, especially lower-priced ones like indie games. This had a negative impact on indie developers, since being present on wish lists is important for visibility.Steam issued a statement clarifying on Twitter, and then updated its Steam Blog with more detail.Best Steam sale game deals"We've heard your feedback about the complexity of the Steam Grand Prix event," the company said. "We designed something pretty complicated with a whole bunch of numbers and rules and recognize we should've been more clear. We want to apologize for the confusion that this has caused, and also apologize for the broken mechanics that have led to an unbalanced event."To clarify one point: if your team makes it to the podium and you are randomly chosen to win something off your Steam Wishlist, then we'll grant you the top item. Just move your favorite item to the top of your wishlist and you should be good to go. There's no need to remove other items from your wishlist--keep them there so you'll be notified when those items release or go on sale."The update also noted that it has made some changes on the back-end to mitigate some problems that have led to Team Corgi getting an insurmountable lead so far.The Grand Prix minigame is running alongside the Steam Summer Sale itself, which is offering discounts on loads of PC games. You can pick up Devil May Cry 5 for $40 / 30 GBP / $66 AUD, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice for $48 / 40 GBP / $72 AUD, and more. Be sure to visit our Steam Summer Sale roundup and top cheap games or some of our picks on the annual sale.Info from Gamespot.com

Bill & Ted Face the Music is the hugely anticipated third movie in the time-travelling comedy series, and it will reunite Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter after nearly 30 years. The film is now in production, and the cast list keeps getting better. It has now been reported that some key members of the original movies have joined the new film.According to Variety, Hal Landon Jr. and Amy Stoch will appear in Bill & Ted Face the Music, reprising their roles and Ted's dad Chief Logan and his stepmom Missy from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) and Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991). In addition, SNL star Beck Bennett has been cast as Ted's younger brother Deacon.The roles of Bill and Ted's wives have also been cast--Princess Joanna and Princess Elizabeth will be played by Jayma Mays and Erinn Hayes. They join Barry star Anthony Carrigan as the movie's main villain, Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine as Bill and Ted's daughters, and William Sadler, who will reprise his Bogus Journey role as Death.After years of rumors that Winter and Reeves might return for a third movie, in March, the pair confirmed Bill & Ted Face the Music was finally happening. They recorded a short video thanking the fans for their dedication to the series and announcing that the movie would start shooting this summer. The film hits theaters on August 21 2020 and is directed by Galaxy Quest's Dean Parisot.As for what the plot of the film will be, it was revealed by co-writer Solomon in January 2018 that the story finds Bill and Ted in the modern day, as family men that go back in time to revisit their younger selves, using footage from the original film.Info from Gamespot.com

You can earn some extra spell energy and XP in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite this weekend, thanks to a special event. An alert in the mobile game tells players about an upcoming Task Force Emergency, prompting all the wizards and witches to heed the call and lend a hand."A Task Force Emergency approaches! On Saturday [June 29], grab your wand and help the SOS Task Force contain a flare-up of Foundables. For a limited time, Inns will provide extra Spell Energy and Care of Magical Creatures Traces will award additional Family XP."The alert doesn't list a start or end time for the event, so it's unclear if it will be Saturday only or if it simply starts on Saturday. Whichever the case, try to get yourself some bonuses while you can.Niantic recently addressed one of the top complaints from the community by making spell energy more plentiful, and this special event should bolster it even further for participating players. The developer also announced its first fan festival event to take place in Indianapolis later this summer. That promises to shed more light on the story of Wizards Unite, as well as provide some unique bonuses for those who can attend. It will be holding a lottery through the official site to open ticket sales.If you're just getting started with your wizarding world career, you may want to familiarize yourself with how it compares to Niantic's other mobile hit, Pokemon Go. Or just read up on all of our Wizards Unite guides to be your best wizard or witch self.Info from Gamespot.com

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 is the return of a series that had largely been left to lie dormant for 10 years. At the height of its popularity, Ultimate Alliance represented the rare superhero game that was both fun to play and offered die-hard fans of Marvel enough meat to sink their teeth into. But in 2019, what Marvel is and who it appeals to has changed drastically.Alongside the longstanding comic book fanatics, there are now devotees of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and those who have been enjoying games such as Marvel Vs. Capcom, Insomniac's Spider-Man, the Lego Marvel series, and the now defunct Marvel Heroes (RIP). On the one hand, this means developer Team Ninja--best known for the Ninja Gaiden series--and Marvel stand to capture an audience much larger than ever before. But on the other, expectations are greater, and with so many tastes to account for, the challenge in meeting expectations is bigger.We spoke to Bill Rosemann, VP and creative director of Marvel Games, writer Marc Sumerak, and head of Team Ninja Yosuke Hayashi about these challenges. In the interview below the trio discuss bringing the series back and working together to create a game that fans can enjoy. We also try and squeeze a few new character reveals out of them.Marvel Ultimate Alliance as a series has been revered by gamers and also Marvel fans. How did you get to the point where you decided to bring this back, and how did the studio get involved in that?Bill Rosemann: So five years ago is when we reassembled Marvel Games, and we sat down and talked about what kind of games we wanted to do. We said, "Number one, who are we going to partner with? Who are we going to collaborate with?" We started brainstorming and dreaming and we said, "What matters most?" We want to make sure there is an awesome level of talent, big ambition, [we want the developer to have the] vision to own their game, and most of all passion. [We want them to] pour their heart and souls [into it]. In addition, we said, "Are there any games we want to bring back?"Top of the list: Ultimate Alliance. The first couple of years when we were on the road at conventions talking about other games, we would be asked, "What about Ultimate Alliance?" We wanted to wait [until we had] all those components, and it was a magic moment of planets aligning where we were shown the Switch. We got our hands on it and then we were told Team Ninja might be available. We said, "That's it." Now we can bring back Ultimate Alliance. Perfect studio, with the action and the love that they have for Marvel, and the Switch, all about playing together, bringing your team together. You add all that up and we said, "Now we're going to do it."Team Ninja is known for precision action, whereas Ultimate Alliance 3 is more arcadey, you're doing large sweeping attacks that take care of a lot of enemies at once--it's perhaps less focused. So, what is it about Ultimate Alliance 3 that has Team Ninja's fingerprints on it? What part of your studio are you putting into this game and where can we see it?Yosuke Hayashi: So, when we first heard about working on this game our first reaction was, "We love Marvel, and we're really excited to work on the game." In terms of experience we had with previous games, there's, of course, Ninja Gaiden. We had characters in there, they had claws, and, to tell the truth, those kinds of characters are inspired by Wolverine.We had a lot of hardcore fans on our team, and the first thing we wanted to do was play the previous two to see what we could bring to it. Marvel, of course, provided the roster and great story and we thought that we could add feel-good action to the game. We knew that this was something that Marvel wanted. So, our first priority was to make it feel really good playing these characters and we just really felt proud of the work that we did.As a writer working on this, how do you even find the starting point? How do you begin? Is it primarily coming first from the Marvel side or the development side or is it a little bit of both?Marc Sumerak: I think it was a collaborative effort. We knew we wanted to tell a broad-scope, original story for this game. We didn't want to rehash a story that had already been told. We wanted to draw inspiration from the history of the Marvel Universe--from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, other games that we've played--we wanted that all to be synthesized into something brand-new.But there are a lot of moving parts for something this big: there's what we already revealed, over 30 playable characters. There are dozens of villains, there are lots of NPCs, a slew of locations across the Marvel Universe, and putting all those puzzle pieces together can be very complicated. So it was a matter of working with Team Ninja and Marvel to pick the best pieces, from playable characters to locations, and then finding the right story that connected all of those elements; building the puzzle out of the best pieces. So, for us, it was starting small and bringing the characters in on a ground level of the story and building and building and building into something grand and cosmic.When you first start the game, it's with the Guardians of the Galaxy. You're a small crew, and you're exploring this mystery, and then things suddenly go worldwide or universe-wide, and you're back on Earth and you build and build and build towards something new and exciting as the action gets more intense.Rosemann: Part of the reason why we chose Marc to write the story is, years ago, I worked with Marc. We worked in Marvel New York in publishing, and Marc worked in one of the editorial offices that worked on some of the top hero books like Avengers and Fantastic Four. We knew at the very beginning, as Marc said, we knew the game was going to span the entire universe and unite the Ultimate Alliance. It's all the characters from across the Marvel Universe, and we needed someone who had that knowledge--and I knew Marc would have that--and be able to understand their voice, introduce them in a very accessible way but then sprinkle it with Easter eggs that long-time fans would appreciate at the same time.From a story perspective, it's very different now. Back in the day the series was treated like an arcade game where you could almost turn up and play, and the story stuff was nice but it was on the side. In a post-MCU world, in a post-Insomniac Spider-Man world, in a post-everything happening in the actual comics world, every Marvel product has this incredible weight on it. How do you approach a game like this where it's an arcadey experience but everyone is going into it wanting an arc for every single one of these characters?Sumerak: That's a really good question. As Bill will tell you, at Marvel, the story is first. The story is at the heart of everything we do. So, for us, it was really important not just to tell a good story progression and have the events be unique, but also to have a reason that each character fits into the story. Every character is someone's favorite. From Captain America all the way to Elsa Bloodstone. They make vastly different characters across the roster but everybody appeals to someone out there, and we certainly never want anyone to feel like their favorite character's being slighted in the story and not focused on.Our goal was to find situations where each member of this roster could shine, where their personality could come through and where their talents would be useful. So, it was about building around these characters and finding ways to let them step into the limelight and to really be on the big stage.Masks and powers are great, special abilities and combo moves are wonderful, but at Marvel, it's all about what's underneath the powersIs Gambit in the game?Rosemann: No comment.Because I want my favorite characters to be represented and if Gambit's not around...Rosemann: He certainly hasn't been announced as a character that I've seen.I want Gambit back in everything. I wanted him in Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite as well and he didn't appear and I was very sad about that.Rosemann: [Laughs] I'm glad you're educated. But Marc is right, if you just have two characters fighting, then on the surface it's fun and interesting, but then after a while, it doesn't hold your attention. Marvel fans are smart and they want to know, "Why are they fighting?" So that's what we worked very hard to set up. What are the motivations and goals of the heroes and the villains? So we clearly understand what they're trying to do and why they're trying to do it. When you add that, then you get a true, authentic Marvel experience.Sumerak: Masks and powers are great, special abilities and combo moves are wonderful, but at Marvel, it's all about what's underneath the powers and we wanted to make sure that that came through as well.From a development and design standpoint, how do you approach making sure each character feels unique and different from every other? Something like 30 characters punch stuff, so how do you make that interesting and then how do you balance that with every other character that's available?Hayashi: First of all, we thought the Switch was a great match with the Marvel Ultimate Alliance [series], and we pictured families and friends sitting on a couch together, playing and enjoying the interaction between various characters. That's why we wanted to create functions like the synergy and the alliance exchange so that players can work together to defeat villains. We really wanted to create an action game where people could use these characters to interact with each other on the Switch.Rosemann: You bring up a great point that many of the characters punch, but we really approach from a character point-of-view: Luke Cage punches, Captain America punches, Captain Marvel punches, but they all have levels of strength, and they all fight differently based on how they trained. It's a true mixture of gameplay and character together. So, if you don't know the characters, you're interested to see how they play; if you do know them you're like, "Yeah, this feels right." That's exactly how Luke Cage would come in and brawl differently from how he interacts with Hulk.Sumerak: A great example of that are the spider characters. You've got Peter Parker's Spider-Man, Miles Morales' Spider-Man, and Spider-Gwen. Many people might look at that and say, "Other than the fact that they're popular and exciting characters, why do we need three Spider characters?" And in terms of gameplay, Team Ninja was able to take them and bring out their unique aspects. Their abilities and their fighting styles are so different that as you're playing them you barely realize they're the same fighters, the same Spider fighters style.They're really unique in their gameplay. Miles has unique bio-electric abilities that he can use and he can camouflage himself, so those are attributes that Peter Parker doesn't have at all. Gwen has this ability to use dimensional portals because she comes from an alternate universe. So, you really get this unique twist on a classic Spider-Man fighting style with these other two characters that you couldn't have with Peter Parker. They shine on their own, and as much as I loved playing Spidey in the original Ultimate Alliance games, I'm hooked on Miles now because he has so many cool little twists on the classic Spidey fighting.Is Moon Knight in the game?Rosemann: Well, we all have our favorite characters, don't we? That does bring up the idea of, how do we choose?Yes, it does.Rosemann: And to start with the roster, number one we were like, "If we're going to bring Ultimate Alliance back, the fans deserve bigger." How can we deliver more? So our number one goal was, "How many can we pack into the game?" Based on other considerations such as gameplay, family, and who are the characters we want to know about. W began this many moons ago, and we looked ahead and knew Miles would rise, Spider-Woman would rise, Ms. Marvel would rise, and Captain Marvel would rise. So it was a combination of looking ahead at what people would want and then we talked about the true Ultimate Alliance.We looked across the Marvel universe and in our heads, we created these invisible families. There are the Avengers, Guardians, there's the Spider-Verse, there's the X-Men, there's the Inhumans, and we create these groups and say, "Hey, it's going to be a true alliance so let's have all these groups together." And then [we look at] gameplay, and personalities, how characters interact with each other, and then how can we surprise them with, say, an Elsa Bloodstone, where some people may say, "Who is that?" And then later, "Oh my gosh she's my new favorite character." And that continues the tradition of what Ultimate Alliance has done, it's delivered really popular characters and introduced people to new characters.And then looking ahead, we have the expansion. Same thing there, we began thinking there was so much we could do. We thought about who isn't in the game yet that people might want, and who isn't in the game that may have been in previous games that aren't playable yet? And then on top of that introduce characters they didn't know they were going to love.With that in mind, what's the process for the development studio making new characters?Hayashi: [There are] many, many discussions.Rosemann: That's what it comes down to. When you have the right people working together and you're lined up then it all comes down to simple talking and fanning up and being nerds and talking about what would be awesome. A lot of times there will be a request where it's, "We'd like to have this sort of mechanic." As Hayashi-san said, they're great Marvel fans, they're just like can we get this character, and we go straight for that. And that's the discussion back and forth, "Okay, yeah let's do that character." When it's like, "Well, what version? What should their costumes look like, what should they look like?"So, with that in mind, is Black Bolt in the game?Rosemann: He is mentioned. Yes, he's mentioned.Is Cable in the game?Rosemann: That has not been revealed yet.I'm going to keep trying.Rosemann: I know [he laughs].What makes the Switch unique or more interesting for Marvel's Ultimate Alliance? The natural thought is that you can play with a bunch of people together, but you can do that on any console. What is it about the Switch specifically that appealed to you?Hayashi: We talked to Marvel a little bit about this as well but, you can imagine a father playing on his Switch at home, and then one of his kids is like, "Hey, can I join?" And they can easily do that because they can pick up one of the Joy-Cons and play the game. So it's just an aspect of being able to join the game right away. That really appeals to us. And also the playable characters, you can just switch them at various points in the game. Some of the stuff Marvel had talked to us about the Switch and also, of course, we have, four-player online multiplayer, but there's something in these kinds of situations where you can just get home and share playing with people who are right there with you.Rosemann: The versatility in Switch's co-op is great for this game, because you can play online, you can play at home with multiple Joy-Cons, you can play on multiple Switches that are linked together, you can take it to a party where your gamer friends are hanging out and set in on a table, pop off the Joy-Con and play it together there. There are so many options to how you can play co-op with the Switch. Whereas with other consoles, it would be either online or on the couch. Here you could take it on the go and then when you're done playing co-op you can click it back on and play it on the airplane on the way back from E3--you can play it any way you want to. That's what's really exciting to me about the co-op--the broad range of possibilities to how I can play with other people.I've got loads of family and friends who are huge Marvel fans and huge gamers, so I think I probably have to ask on their behalf … is Toxin in the game?Rosemann: [Laughs] Wow, that's a deep cut!Sumerak: Toxin was--we were just talking about this the other day--Toxin was the offspring of Carnage?And Venom.Sumerak: Yeah! Well, there is a symbiote character in the game named Venom.Rosemann: That's the only symbiote character in the game that we can confirm.My family and friends will have to make do with that, I guess. Do you have any plans to bring Ultimate Alliance 3 to other platforms in the future or is it specifically a Switch game?Rosemann: We are proud that the Ultimate Alliance is explicitly for the Switch and, in all seriousness, it was created for that. We really thought about it, everything from the gameplay to the art style, [and] it was really handcrafted for the Switch. And that's why we waited so long, until we had the right platform. And I think you will get it when you see the artwork, oh, of course, it's perfect.It does look very vibrant and really colorful. I'd love it if I was able to see Taskmaster in that style.Rosemann: Oh Taskmaster, I love Taskmaster too, I love him.Is Taskmaster in the game?Rosemann: I love Taskmaster. I think he's a great character.Hmmmmm...Rosemann: I can confirm that Bova, the cow woman, is not in the game, sadly. I argued for her. She would be utterly cool.That was going to be my next question. I am very sad to hear that she's not in it, she would have been great. How far into the future have you planned to support Ultimate Alliance 3 for and how much do you expect players to keep hold of the game and keep playing for?Rosemann: We do want people to play this game for years to come, and we'll say we've announced expansion packs and we'll leave it at that. But you're right we do want people to play this for a long, long time.Will I be able to play as the Watcher?Rosemann: [Laughs] Well, Uatu knows all and watches all...Sumerak: It would be very boring to play as he Watcher. His superpower would be to stand there and not get involved.Sounds like a good tank if you ask me...Rosemann: [Laughs] He's not much of a puncher though. No, no. Info from Gamespot.com

Groudon has returned once again in Pokemon Go, but that isn't the only Legendary Pokemon making an encore appearance this week. As a reward for completing enough Global Challenges during the recent Pokemon Go Fest event in Chicago, Niantic is also bringing Raikou, one of the three Legendary dogs from Pokemon Gold and Silver, back to Raids for a limited time tomorrow, June 29.Raikou is a rare sight in Pokemon Go, making tomorrow's Raid Day a good opportunity to add one to your collection if you had previously missed it. To help you get ready, we've rounded up all the most important details about the Raikou Raid Day below, from its start times to your chances of finding a Shiny Raikou and more.Start TimesMuch like Niantic's monthly Community Day events, this weekend's Raikou Raid Day will only run for three hours, from 4-7 PM local time. During that window, Raikou will appear as a Raid Boss at Gyms, giving you a few hours to battle and capture the Legendary again.Shiny RaikouDuring the Raikou Raid Day, you'll have a chance of encountering a Shiny Raikou when you battle the Legendary at Raids. Shiny Pokemon are quite rare, so your chances of coming across one are down to luck, but it's worth going out during the event hours and participating in a few Raids.How Do I Participate In Raids?To take part in a Raid, you'll first need an item called a Raid Pass. You can obtain one of these from the first Photo Disc you spin at a Gym each day. While you can typically only receive one for free per day, Niantic is giving out up to five free Raid Passes during the Raikou Raid event as an added bonus, giving everyone a chance to participate.Once you have some Raid Passes, head to a Gym where a Raikou Raid is taking place and team up with other players in-person to battle the Legendary. If you defeat it, you'll earn a handful of Premier Balls along with the opportunity to capture it. Raikou is a pure Electric-type, which makes it especially vulnerable to Ground Pokemon such as Groudon (which is also currently available as a Raid Boss), Rhyperior, and Golem.There's plenty more to do in Pokemon Go besides the Raikou Raid event. To commemorate the game's third anniversary, Shiny Alolan forms are appearing in the wild, and trading Pokemon requires a quarter less Stardust than normal for a limited time. As previously mentioned, Groudon is back in Raids until July 10, and the next Pokemon Go Community Day takes place on July 21. The featured Pokemon this time will be Mudkip, the Water starter from Ruby and Sapphire.Info from Gamespot.com

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a smashing success for Marvel, generating over $370 million and walking away with two prestigious awards in early 2019. Despite its myriad successes, a certain cameo fell through the cracks--Spider-Man actor Tom Holland was "supposed to be in" Into The Spider-Verse.Holland (Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home) revealed to Joe.co.uk that he was slated to make an appearance alongside Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore), Peter B. Parker (voiced by Jake Johnson), and the various other Spideys. "At one point I was supposed to be in it," Holland said. "There was going to be another Peter Parker… There was like a scene in a train station or something, and it was going to be like an Easter egg."EXCLUSIVE: Tom Holland was meant to cameo in the excellent Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse - here's what would have been in his cut scene... pic.twitter.com/R6nUx6XeNT — JOE (@JOE_co_uk) June 26, 2019Though "heartbroken," Holland has his sight set on future prospects of the two Spideys meeting. "But I'm just excited to introduce Miles into our own universe, one day," he said. "I think that's going to be really cool." With news that producer Amy Pascal (Spider-Man: Far From Home, Venom) and her team are "definitely hard at work on the sequel," the two may meet after all. We did learn the sequel will contain "more surprises."Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Man recently made its way to Netflix. In our review, we said, "It manages to blow right past the dangers of sinking into after school special territory by believing wholeheartedly in its own message and delivering it with appropriately genuine stakes."Spider-Man: Far From Home swings into theatres on Tuesday, July 2. If you can't wait, we've collected excerpts from various reviews. We've also published our own review, saying, "The parts that work, work very, very well. But the parts that don't tend to feel like stubbed toes or irritating splinters--not life-threatening by any means, but distracting at best and annoying at worst; like someone pulled the curtain back on the MCU's systemic shortcomings a little too far. Still, if you can ignore that--and it'll be easier for some than it is for others, depending on your relationship to the MCU at large--you're in for a pretty good ride."Info from Gamespot.com

With Amazon Prime Day right around the corner, Twitch is getting in on the action with a whole host of giveaways and events. That includes exclusive in-game goodies for Respawn's popular battle royale shooter, Apex Legends, as well as content for several EA Sports franchises.Then on July 13, right before Prime Day, Twitch will host celebrity gaming tournaments in London and Las Vegas for both Apex Legends and FIFA 19. Lastly, Twitch will celebrate Prime Day itself on July 15-16 with "Twitch Sells Out," a television-shopping-channel-style show featuring top streamers hawking gaming products that are on sale at Amazon. Although watching the esporting events and shopping show will be free, snagging the goodies and the Prime Day deals will require an Amazon Prime subscription. Check out the details below.Free giveawaysOn July 3, all Prime members will be rewarded with an exclusive Legend skin and weapon skin for Apex Legends. Then, throughout July and August, they will get three more Apex Legends skins, along with EA Sports content that has not yet been specified. As with other gaming subscriptions such as PS Plus or Xbox Live Gold, Twitch Prime also gives away free monthly PC games to subscribers, as an added bonus.Twitch Prime Crown CupOn July 13, the Twitch Prime Crown Cup comprises two separate events in both London and Las Vegas. Both events will stream for eight hours starting at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 6 PM BST. In London, fans will watch athletes and celebrities compete at FIFA 19, including Olympic gold medalist runner Sir Mo Farah, footballer Thierry Henry, and X Games gold medalist street skateboarder Leticia Bufoni.Meanwhile, over in Las Vegas, musicians and other celebrities will go head-to-head in Apex Legends, including producer Murda Beatz and DJ Dillon Francis. For that tournament, Twitch promises that subscribers in Vegas will have the opportunity to actually jump into the game and directly compete against the celebrity players.Twitch Sells OutOn Prime Day itself (which is now two full days), Twitch will host two 12-hour streams from 10 AM PT to 10 PM PT in which top streamers will showcase gaming products and accessories on sale for Prime Day in the style of TV shopping channels, as a funny fusion of old and new media. The full roster of streamer hosts will be revealed on July 10. Twitch also promises to pepper the streams with previously-unseen demos and gameplay footage from anticipated upcoming titles. Co-streaming will be enabled for the entirety of both streams, allowing for any streamers to get in on that juicy affiliate revenue with the Blacksmith extension.Twitch merch discountsPrime members will also be able to save on hoodies, T-shirts, jackets, and other Twitch apparel and accessories from July 3-16. Use promo code PRIME2019 at checkout, and you'll get 30% off your entire order. You can scope out everything that'll be discounted at Amazon's Twitch store. Info from Gamespot.com

Super Mario Maker 2 is now available on Nintendo Switch. Not only does the game feature nearly all of the tools available in its Wii U predecessor, it adds a ton of new features and items to tinker around with as well, such as some classic Mario enemies like the Angry Sun. But while the game makes most of its tools available from the outset this time around, there are still a couple of things to unlock, including an obscure power-up from the series' past.Spoilers follow for Super Mario Maker 2's story mode.Clearing Super Mario Maker 2's new story mode will unlock a handful of goodies, including Game Boy graphic items for your Mii. The best rewards, however, are two new power-ups, one of which is the Superball Flower from the original Super Mario Land. This item can only be used in the Super Mario Bros. style and looks and functions similarly to the standard Fire Flower, except it allows you to lob "Superballs," which will bounce around the level and ricochet off walls.The other new power-up you receive for clearing story mode is the Super Hammer. This one can only be placed in the Super Mario 3D World game style, and it'll transform Mario into his Builder form. It works somewhat like the hammer from the original Donkey Kong arcade game, allowing you to smash enemies and even break through hard blocks. Builder Mario is also able to conjure up boxes that you can then stand on.Story mode is one of the many new features in Super Mario Maker 2. In this mode, Mario is tasked with helping rebuild Princess Peach's castle. To do so, he'll need to earn coins by taking on jobs, which come in the form of 100 Nintendo-made levels to complete. Mario Maker 2 also introduces local and online multiplayer. At launch, you'll only be able to play online with strangers, but Nintendo will release an update that adds the option to play online with friends as well.Super Mario Maker 2 has been received very positively by critics. GameSpot awarded it an 8/10 in our Super Mario Maker 2 review-in-progress. Critic Peter Brown wrote, "With the story mode and dozens of custom-built stages under my belt, I'm anxiously waiting for the floodgates to open upon Mario Maker's 2 release. What I've played so far has proven, once again, that the Mario series is worth all the admiration it gets, and Mario Maker 2 is an excellent tool for picking it apart by pushing its enemies, mechanisms, and Mario, to their limit."Info from Gamespot.com

The Nintendo Switch's surprising battle royale-like Tetris 99 is getting some competition. A new Tetris battle royale game, Tetris Royale, is now in development for iOS and Android.The Verge reports that the game is a mobile version of Tetris 99. It will feature a Solo Marathon mode and daily reward challenges, alongside its 100-player competitive mode. Though no release date has been announced, beta testing for the game will start sometime later this year.Tetris 99 was announced during and released after a February 2019 Nintendo Direct. It's free to download and play for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers and pits you against 98 other Tetris players around the world. Tetris 99 also recently added paid DLC that includes offline modes (CPU Battle and Marathon) for $10 USD / $14 AUD / £8 GBP.In our Tetris 99 review, we said, "Tetris 99 may not be a proper battle royale game, but it taps into the same emotional well, where a large number of players vying for supremacy creates an ever-present intensity that's difficult to shake. Add that layer to a game that's plenty capable of instilling tension on its own, and you've got a riveting experience that even at its worst is still a game very much worth playing."Info from Gamespot.com

Like clockwork, Xur has returned to Destiny 2 with another slate of Exotic items for purchase. There's a lot happening in the game right now, with even more to come in the near future, but as always you'll likely want to set aside a moment to head to the tentacle-faced merchant for some easy Exotics. Here's where Xur is located this week and what Exotic weapon and armor he has for sale.Where Is Xur?Xur is located in the Tower for this visit. He can be found in his usual spot in the Hangar. Simply spawn in at the standard Courtyard landing zone and head to your left, making your way into the Hangar and then taking a left when you see Amanda Holliday. In the back of this section, near the open area, you'll find Xur hanging out on a set of stairs just behind where the Dead Orbit vendor would be situated.What Exotics Is Xur Selling?It's the standard lineup of one Exotic weapon and one piece of armor for each class, as always. The weapon is the pulse rifle Vigilance Wing, which fires five-round bursts and heals you when an ally dies. Of the four items Xur has this week, it's one of two Exotics from the base game, rather than any of the expansions.Hunters are the unlucky ones this week, also getting an Exotic from the base game: St0mp-EE5, the leg armor that buffs your sprint, slide, and jump. Titans get the One-Eyed Mask helmet, which marks targets that damage you (in Crucible, this lets you track their location through walls for a short time, which is tremendously useful). Successfully killing that enemy then gives you an overshield and damage boost. Finally, Warlocks get the Chromatic Fire chest armor, which causes elemental explosions when you pull off precision kills with a Kinetic weapon.Vigilance Wing -- 29 Legendary ShardsSt0mp-EE5 (Hunter leg armor) -- 23 Legendary ShardsOne-Eyed Mask (Titan helmet) -- 23 Legendary ShardsChromatic Fire (Warlock chest armor) -- 23 Legendary ShardsBeyond this, you can get a Fated Engram, which you can only buy one of per week but will decrypt into an Exotic you don't already own. That costs a whopping 97 Legendary Shards. You can also pick up an Invitation of the Nine for nine Legendary Shards, giving you some special objectives to complete, or the Five of Swords challenge card to adjust Nightfall Strike modifiers.Xur will stick around until the weekly reset on Tuesday, July 2, so make sure to visit him before then if you're interested. That week will see some new content arrive, include the Lumina quest for Annual Pass owners. Additionally, Crucible players will see the return of Breakthrough.In the meantime, make sure to knock out Werner 99-40's bounties; once you do, you'll get a set of treasure maps pointing to a reward. Check out our guides below for help doing that.Salvaged GoodsGolden ExperienceGaze Into Death's EyesInfo from Gamespot.com

Id Software's Doom is leaving the fiery pits of hell and making its way to television screens. American television company USA Network has ordered a TV pilot for Masters of Doom, produced by brothers Dave and James Franco.Masters of Doom is a 2003 non-fiction book written by Rolling Stone contributing editor David Kushner. It recounts the story of id Sofware co-founders John Carmack and John Romero, best friends turned bitter rivals as they create one of the most influential first-person shooters in gaming--Doom. Deadline reports that Masters of Doom, who's television script is being written by Tom Bissel (Gears of War: Judgment, Batman: Arkham Origins, Battlefield Hardline), is an anthology series.Dave and James Franco's production company Ramona Films will produce the series, alongside The Gotham Group (Abduction, The Maze Runner). Universal Content Productions (Mr. Robot, The Umbrella Academy) is also attached. No further details are known, including casting announcements and release date.2016's Doom released to universal praise. In our review, we said, "Doom is the product of a tradition as old as shooters, and while it's not the model to follow in every case, modern shooters could learn a thing or two from Doom's honed and unadulterated identity." The sequel, Doom Eternal, is slated to launch on November 22 for Google Stadia, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.Info from Gamespot.com

For the first time since their launch, the console versions of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds received an update that the original PC version doesn't. In the latest quality of life patch for the Xbox One and PS4 versions of PUBG, a new auto equip attachments feature--that works similarly to the one in Respawn's Apex Legends--was added."[We're adding] the auto-equip attachment feature to make looting more efficient," PUBG Corp. console live service manager Kate Lee said in the company's latest Quality of Life Console Update video. "By reducing the time it takes to equip an attachment, we're hoping that players can find more time to focus on the strategic part of PUBG, but still enjoy the realistic feel that PUBG is known for."When it comes to automatically equipping attachments, you'll have three options available: Auto Equip Attachments, Auto Equip Scope, and Auto Replace Attachments. All three can be enabled or disabled.When enabled, Auto Equip Attachments automatically adds any attachment you pick up to your equipped firearms, provided the attachment fits. In order, PUBG will initially try to attach anything you pick up to your first primary weapon, then your second primary weapon, then your sidearm. Items that cannot be equipped will be put into inventory. Auto Equip Scope follows the same structure but only applies to weapon scopes. Finally, enabling Auto Replace Attachments transfers all applicable attachments from weapons you drop to the ones you pick up, so you don't have to unattach everything before looting a new firearm.The console update implements several more quality of life improvements as well, including bug fixes, minimap adjustments, and loot rebalances. The full patch notes are linked below.PUBG June 26 Quality Of Life Console Patch NotesXbox OnePlayStation 4PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is available for Xbox One, PS4, and PC. A mobile version, called PUBG Mobile, exists as well.Info from Gamespot.com

Popular live-streaming platform Twitch is giving creators a new way to engage with their most ardent fans. Subscriber Streams, broadcasts exclusive to channel subscribers, launched as a beta on June 26.Twitch's vice president of commerce Matt McCloskey penned a blog post about the news. "Creators often ask us for new and better ways to reward their viewers," he wrote. "VIP badges and custom Sub emotes are just a few examples. The next gadget we’re adding to their kit is Subscriber Streams."McCloskey describes Subscriber Streams as "an exciting new way for streamers to offer another benefit to some of their biggest supporters--subscribers, VIPs, and Mods." GameSpot sister site CNET reports that viewers subscribed to a channel at any tier can see a streamer's Subscriber Stream. Non-subscribers will only see a preview of the Subscriber Stream, but can immediately begin viewing by subscribing.There are requirements to broadcasting a Subscriber Stream: you must be a Twitch Affiliate or Partner, you must broadcast a minimum of 90 unique days as an Affiliate or Partner, and you must fall in line with Twitch's Community Guidelines and Terms of Service.McCloskey believes Subscriber Streams will give creators more exciting ways to involve their fanbases, saying he could see "competitive streamers taking requests on heroes or champions to play, tabletop streamers running a weekly campaign for Subs, music streamers making all-request set lists, and a whole lot more."United States senator and 2020 Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders now has a Twitch channel. We recommended a few games he should stream, including Hitman 2 and Persona 5.Info from Gamespot.com

Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers is now available for those who pre-ordered it, and within this third expansion for Square Enix's MMORPG are brand new Jobs (or classes). Dancer falls into the Ranged DPS role, throwing bladed chakrams to attack and using rhythmic steps to provide buffs. On the other hand, Gunbreaker is the new Tank and wields a gunblade (a la Squall Leonhart from Final Fantasy VIII) to lay down damage while taking hits for the team. You can see both classes in action during their Job quests in the video above.Both Dancer and Gunbreaker require players to have at least one other Job/Class (Disciple of War or Magic) at level 60 before taking on the new Jobs. There are some important changes that come along with Shadowbringers and the 5.0 update--like the removal of TP, charge actions, and the higher level cap--and you can check out our breakdown of the biggest changes in Shadowbringers. You can also get the full rundown of what's new in the 5.0 patch, or see a preview run of a new dungeon called Dohn Mheg.Where To Find The Dancer Quest And How To FightThe quest to unlock Dancer is called "Shall We Dance" and it's located in Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks close to the main plaza Aetheryte--the coordinates are X: 9.8, Y: 12.0. After watching a few scenes you'll be given your starting weapon and a chest to open containing your new gear.The default Dancer gear set.Dancers largely rely on chances for their stronger attacks (referred to as procs). Two basic attacks Cascade and Fountain both have a 50% chance of opening more powerful versions called Reverse Cascade and Fountainfall--use these when you can. You then have a 50% chance to build your Fourfold Feather gauge, which gives you access to the Fan Dance moves (these are attacks you can use freely outside of cooldown). The attacks Windmill and Bladeshower are the AOE equivalents that can open up the stronger Rising Windmill and Bloodshower.The other mechanic to note is the rhythmic Standard Step--activating this will turn your attacks into button prompts to match a sequence. After two successful steps, you'll get a a 60-second damage buff (similar to how Ninjas cast Huton through Ninjutsu to increase their attack speed).The main challenge for the level 60 Job quest is in the final fight. You'll want to be extra careful when whirlwinds are cast across the arena--avoid these at all cost. This is especially dangerous when the enemy is casting their auto-lock column attack that you can't escape; if you're hit while standing in a whirlwind, you'll die immediately.Where To Find The Gunbreaker Quest And How To FightThe quest to unlock Gunbreaker is called "The Makings Of A Gunbreaker" and it's found in New Gridania near the Aetheryte--the coordinates are X: 11.5, Y: 11.9. It'll take you to Hawthorne Hut and around for an easy fight, then you'll get your gear chest and weapon.The default Gunbreaker gear set.Like all Tanks, Gunbreaker specializes in pulling enmity (or aggro) and it'll be necessary to have the ability Royal Guard active--to pull extra enmity, you have Provoke and to divert it when you're in trouble, you have Shirk.Gunbreaker's basic attack rotation is pretty fun to execute and it basically goes like this: Keen Edge, Brutal Shell, Solid Barrel, then gain one cartridge in your Powder Gauge. With just one cartridge, you can go into a more powerful combo: Gnashing Fang, Savage Claw, Wicked Talon--these moves are also subject to cooldown, so when they're not available, just use the strong standalone attack Burst Strike. And don't forget that the Danger Zone attack lives on its own cooldown; use it when you can.You also have a two-part AOE combo of Demon Slice and Demon Slaughter, which is very effective against groups of three or more enemies. This combo also generates a cartridge for the Powder Gauge in just two attacks, making Gunbreaker even more effective as a damage-dealer.Buffs like Rampart, Nebula, and Reprisal help stave off damage taken while No Mercy boosts your attack power for a short period.There are plenty of more details to parse in order to become the most effective Dancer or Gunbreaker, but those are the basics to help get you started. Note that these tips are based on the Jobs as they are at level 60.Info from Gamespot.com