The Steam Summer Sale is in full swing, and while you can currently find thousands of PC games discounted at Steam and Steam key providers like Fanatical, there's also a new free game available from the Epic Games Store. Starting June 27 and running through July 4, Last Day of June is free for Epic Store users, and once you claim the game, it's yours to keep forever. All you need is an Epic account, which is also free to create.Last Day of June is a story-driven experience that follows Carl and June, two lovers who are relaxing at their favorite spot by the lake when a series of events leads to a tragic accident. The story takes a Groundhog Day-esque turn, and you must figure out the exact order of events and key decisions that will prevent the tragedy and save June's life.In GameSpot's Last Day of June review, the game earned a 6 for its dreamy, watercolor-like visuals, compelling characters, and thematic approach to free will and fatalism, although critic Alex Newhouse took issue with its long loading times, unskippable cutscenes, and overall repetitiveness of the gameplay loop. "This repetitiveness is mitigated in part because of touching, relatable side characters and because Last Day of June explores the philosophical struggle between determinism and free will in a way that's fairly rare in video games," he wrote.Get Last Day of June for free »Create a free Epic Store account »The main story is only a few hours long, so you might as well grab Last Day of June while it's free now--you can always come back to it later. Next week's free game is Overcooked, a fantastic co-op game with up to four players who work together in a kitchen to churn out various recipes in time, all while navigating shifting stages, kitchen fires, and other obstacles.Info from Gamespot.com

By the late '90s, with Street Fighter II's saturation reaching an exhaustion point and Mortal Kombat's hoary violence no longer a unique draw, the arcade--that place of social gathering, low light, and the booming sounds of attract screens--began to wither. But like most nostalgic things, arcades have made a slow return as the millennium reached its teens. 1980's nostalgia took off. Gen X and millennials grew up, as did their disposable income. It took a decade--two even--but arcade games made their comeback. Looking at the rising collector's market for vintage machines and the likes of Wal-Mart embracing machines with their shelf space, it's almost like they never left.There are now a range of home arcade games to choose from, from My Arcade's roughly six-inch plastic replicas, foot-tall Replicade collectibles, and Arcade 1Up's four-foot in-between scale machines. Both My Arcade and Arcade 1Up reached the shelves of Wal-Mart, penetrating the vaunted mainstream consumer market. We've even seen SNK release a mini-arcade machine, and Capcom has licensed its games to Koch Media, who will issue a $250, two-player arcade stick with 16 Capcom arcade games included. No more hauling machines with 300- to 400-pound frames. The arcade of 2019 can fit anywhere.But why now? Shiloh Prychak founded Replicade based on the idea of selling foot-tall, accurate replicas of the most beloved arcade machines. He saw the market, ran a successful Kickstarter, and now sells a $99 replica of Tempest (and others) at a fraction of the real scale. "When I had the concept to shrink down the cabinets to sixth scale, there was basically only a company called Basic Fun," says Prychack. "Basic Fun made a Centipede and Q*Bert running NES ROMs. That was the only thing on the competitive landscape, plus a host of unlicensed products. The idea was, let's make the best collectible [for] these uber classic games… the idea was to build your own miniaturized arcade in your office… now you've got all sorts of people doing the same thing," said Prychack.Replicade's 1/6 scale replica of Atari's Centipede.Amir Navid is creative director at My Arcade, a company who also saw the potential in revisiting arcade games, and at a smaller scale still--around eight inches. "I feel that the interest in retro-era games is different between groups of people. There are those of us who lived through the time and are going back because of nostalgia, but there is also a whole new generation of young gamers discovering these games for the first time. With the rise of gamer as an identity, and esports, kids want to be knowledgeable about the history of the culture," he writes in an email response.It's crowded out there, though. Replicade found a niche targeting hardcore collectors with their online-only, $99 mini-machines designed as an accessory of sorts to the real thing. My Arcade produces plastic replicas that nestle comfortably in Wal-Mart's toy department for the more casual consumer. These enter a competitive market alongside cheap consoles stuffed with arcade ROMs. Why buy a machine with one or two games when another exists with 30 or more?"My Arcade's signature Micro Players are meant to be collectibles, comparable to small-scale figurines, and are more about the entire visual and packaging. The 8-bit games on them are great and make for a fun playable collectible while maintaining a price point that encourages our customers to collect them," writes Navid.For Prychak, it's an entirely different market. "We're not for everybody. If what you're looking for is the Data East collection and you're okay with the games being less than perfect, you're not for us. If you want the real artwork and the real profile of the cabinet and all this attention to detail and high-quality finish, we make our cabinets out of wood, our coin doors are die-cast metal, the stickers we use the proper type of vinyl, the LED temperature is correct, not to mention you're playing Centipede with a trackball. You're playing Tempest with rotary controls. All these things add on to our value. We're just trying to give you the ultimate experience," says Prychak.SNK also entered the mini-arcade market in 2018 with its NEOGEO Mini multi-game machine. Despite having a large library of beloved games, the technical execution left the dedicated fanbase with divided opinions.Customer reviews for My Arcade, Replicade, and Arcade 1Up vary wildly across Amazon and Wal-Mart. It's clear these machines do not replicate the durability of the real thing, from broken trackballs on Replicade offerings to My Arcade's that fail to power on at all and Arcade 1Up's decals that fade with mild use. Others find them to be a "little masterpiece" according to one Amazon user speaking of Replicade. From the 2018 Christmas rush, it appears Arcade 1Up made for fine gift-giving. Conversely, Capcom's upcoming arcade stick has come under fire for using an open source emulator.Arcades breaking into the mainstream doesn't mean this is all contained in the home; that just makes things accessible to a mainstream shopper who's happy enough with a facsimile of the real deal. Longtime arcade game collectors, on the other hand, started using their full-size vintage cabinets to recreate the unmistakable atmosphere of true arcades.Take California's Megan and Shawn Livernoche. Via auction, they purchased their first arcade cabinet in 2007. In time, their one-bedroom New Jersey apartment became so crowded with actual hardware, their multi-piece sectional became a single piece. A dining room table? That went too. "Once we got to like 15 or 16 games in our one bedroom apartment, it started to not make a lot of sense," says Megan, laughing as she recalls the memory of that packed living room.Then they moved all of this cross-country to California and opened High Scores Arcade in Alameda. Shawn saw the market explode even before the advent of things like Arcade 1Up, and a time when the collector's market for actual games was weak. "Before the prices ballooned out of control, people just wanted to get rid of [arcade games]. They were sitting in warehouses. They were no longer of contemporary value to the video game market. That kind of changed around 2010 or so," says Shawn."Here we are trying to re-interest people in arcade culture, bending over backwards to keep these old dinosaur machines running," says Shawn. Megan quickly replied, "And if people can just buy them at Wal-Mart, what does that say about the real thing?"What caused that jump in collectibility? "King of Kong drew a ton of people in back into it," says Shawn, referencing a 2007 documentary that chronicled a battle for the world record score in Donkey Kong. "There was still a kind of community that existed, even though it wasn't prevalent like it is today with the barcades. The community existed," said Shawn. Also, Disney's 2012 animated film Wreck-It Ralph brought arcade characters to the forefront and used an arcade as its central story piece.Both in their 30s, Megan and Shawn represent the expected audience for arcades--those who grew up alongside Missile Command and Defender. But then comes Steven Van Splinter, a 20-year-old who represents the demographic noted by My Arcade. Van Splinter started tinkering with older pinball machines, fascinated by their mechanics. He was only 16 when he acquired his first cabinet in 2014. Now, he's opening a museum/arcade called Gameseum in his home state of Pennsylvania. He first discovered a small collection of older machines at a campground, an example of the arcade's far-reaching impact."I experienced this arcade phenomenon in my own little way. Probably 10 to 20 years after the heyday, but in a way, it was the same kind of experience. It's interesting how that reflected on me, that similar, same experience," says Van Splinter.Those who run arcades and collect original hardware see the purpose of these mainstream home machines, even if they ultimately don't see them as replacements. "Most of the purists have really negative opinions of them because they're cheap and junky compared to the real thing. But I recognize they serve a certain purpose for the regular consumer. Even those people recognize they're not the real thing and they're more of a toy but it runs the real software for the game," says Van Splinter.No matter what lengths new companies go to in order to recreate the true arcade experience from the '80s and '90s, there's no way to authentically duplicate the distinct look of a CRT, as seen here, despite how close some HD filters can get with simulated scanlines and bloom effects."The reason why we're in our business, there's something about the environment of the actual cabinet. You want to be able to play with those original controls. They were designed to be enveloped with their art," says Megan.Shawn doesn't agree. "I feel like they're a lame, cheap attempt at capturing something in the past that some people settle for if they're not experienced or exposed enough to know what a real cabinet looks like. If you look at the [replica] cabinets, they're constructed poorly, the screens look bad, they put a bunch of games into one machine where the game and control optimization doesn't exist." Shawn also noted the price of an Arcade 1Up Machine, questioning the production cost to turn a profit. Arcade 1Up machines retail between $199 and $299.Shawn then found a way to correlate the whole thing to the gum stuck to the underside of an arcade game's control panel. "I want you to imagine any good arcade, imagine that as a bowl of fruit that has fresh kiwi, bananas, strawberries, peaches, plums. One of these [replicas] is like a piece of gum that's strawberry, kiwi fruit, watermelon flavored. You can chew it and taste the flavor of these different things, but it's not the same thing," Shawn says.It's a trip back to a simpler time when the limits of technology forced developers to be clever and really focus on making gameplay fun and challenging. Just like a piece of music that was written 30 to 40 years ago, these games still have the power to move us,However, they do serve a purpose. Inaccurate to their source, yes. Impure in the eyes of collectors? Certainly. "Where they serve the market well is that any old mom or dad that wander into [a store] and say how much does it cost to put one of these in my basement? And they don't care at all about how these buttons feel or even how long it's going to last. They want a novelty sitting in their basement. For their interest level, they only need it to last a year or so. They're not going to nitpick. It's as disposable as their interest," responds Megan.Owning an actual arcade machine, with a bit of work and additional luck, can be done for around $300, assuming this turns into a small fix-it-up hobby. Of course, issues of size and weight come into play. Grandma and Grandpa likely won't strap a real machine to their backs and drag it to their basement to get rekindle the Pac-Man affair of their youth, no matter how cheap the real thing is. Megan recounted a story of a machine falling on her leg, resulting in a broken bone.And with Replicade, even at only a foot in height, accuracy still matters. The company sources their ROMs carefully. "We go through about 40 versions before a product is done and complete. We make sure everything is proper," says Prychack. Replicade also uses accurate controls, including trackballs, just shrunk down into a manageable scale so you can keep your couch.All of this combined, no matter personal feelings toward Arcade 1Up or toy-like devices, it all leads to the same place: reigniting interest in a once-lost culture. The business of arcades in the home and arcades as a separate place of business survive on a co-existence. They feed one another. Wal-Mart instills the idea, the separate arcade sells the authentic nostalgia."These toys, the Arcade 1Ups or whatever, they're not going to affect the business. I think if anything, they're going to draw more people in. They're on that part where they're genuine enough to give the interest to people and for them to play them, but they're clearly not the real thing to nearly everyone who plays them. I would definitely say it's going to draw more people in to play the real thing. I can't see any negative effects," says Van Splinter."It's a trip back to a simpler time when the limits of technology forced developers to be clever and really focus on making gameplay fun and challenging. Just like a piece of music that was written 30 to -40 years ago, these games still have the power to move us," writes Navid.For Prychak, he sees the long- terms possibilities. This isn't just a sudden burst of those looking to recapture their youth. "The community is growing and it will continue to grow… we're just scratching the surface at this point."Editor's note: Quotes for My Arcade were incorrectly attributed to PR representative Blane Humphries and have now been corrected to be from Amir Navid, creative director at My Arcade. GameSpot regrets the error. Info from Gamespot.com

While Cyberpunk 2077 won't arrive until April 2020, players may need to start making preparations for the massive first-person shooter. Quite literally, as the game's install size allegedly hovers around 80GB.The European PlayStation Store reveals the 80GB minimum required to install the game. (The US PlayStation Store doesn't show a minimum space amount required to install.) It's possible the install size is an inaccurate placeholder, as Reddit user PhoOhThree allegedly confirmed in the Cyberpunk Discord that CD Projekt Red isn't "done with the game" and that the install size "can be more or less at the end."CD Projekt Red's 2015 action-RPG The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with all its free and paid DLC, requires at least 50GB minimum to install. The Polish developer has made no official announcement on the size of the game.Prolific action star Keanu Reeves, who plays "legendary rockerboy" Johnny Silverhand, appeared on Microsoft's Xbox stage during E3 2019 to reveal the game's release date. We saw an extended gameplay demo on the show floor, which will be made public during PAX West this August. (PAX West takes place between August 29 and September 2.) In the meantime, a free Cyberpunk 2077 theme is available now on PSN.Cyberpunk 2077 will launch on April 16, 2020.Info from Gamespot.com

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is off to a fast start, and soon you'll be able to meet up with other wizards and witches in real life as part of an official event. Niantic and WB Games have announced a real-world event or Wizards Unite to take place in Indianapolis starting on August 31.During the event, participating SOS operatives can explore the White River State Park to find magical activity spilling over into the Muggle world. You'll be able to encounter fantastic beasts, find artifacts, and cast spells out in the wide open space of the park. As the first major event, Niantic hints that it will start to unravel the mystery of the Calamity that has smashed magic into Muggle spaces.Tickets will be available for purchase, but Niantic appears to be expecting a crowd and will be setting up a lottery system for tickets. You can check the official event site for more details and watch for your chance to enter the lottery. The event will take place August 31 through September 1.Niantic has hosted similar events for Pokemon Go on a fairly regular basis. Those events have typically also had some element or prize that goes out to those who couldn't attend as well."Real-world events are part of Niantic's DNA, bringing players from all walks of life together in the name of adventure, exploration and creating lasting friendships," said Niantic live events VP Bill Kilday, in the announcement. "The incredible White River State Park is surrounded by the rich culture and history of Indianapolis and will be the perfect location for our inaugural Harry Potter: Wizards Unite event."The event is still a couple of months away, but in the meantime you can get your wizarding skills up to scratch by playing the free-to-play game now. Check out our challenges guide and how to get more spell energy, plus where to get ingredients for your potions.Info from Gamespot.com

During publisher Focus Home Interactive's latest gameplay walkthrough of The Surge 2, developer Deck13 Interactive revealed the upcoming Souls-like game is borrowing another feature that's prominently included in From Software's Soulsborne games. Like in Dark Souls and Bloodborne, you'll be able to leave behind messages in The Surge 2 for other players to discover in their game if they're playing online."Here you can see our new online feature, one of our several new online features," Deck13 head of game design Adam Hetenyi said in the video, which can be watched below. "Players can craft these graffiti messages and place them in the world using a spray can attached to their drone. You can leave messages for other players: friendly things like, 'There's loot over here,' or 'Oh no, a dangerous sniper.'"Though the rest of the video did detail several other changes between The Surge 2 and its predecessor, such as more intelligent AI behavior and a directional parry mechanic, Hetenyi did not discuss any of the other new online features alluded to in his comment. For now, all we know for sure is that these other features are not related to co-op play. Back in June 2018, during an interview with Twinfinite, Deck13 creative director Jan Klose said, "We really do love multiplayer gaming, and right now we have planned lots of online features there. There's no synchronous co-op or multiplayer gameplay planned right now, but so far we're starting with some online features where you can influence other gamer's experience in a way."The Surge 2 is currently scheduled to release on September 24 for Xbox One, PS4, and PC. Though similar to its predecessor, Deck13 has announced The Surge 2 will be more tactical when it comes to limb-targeting during combat. The fairly linear mission structure of the first game has also been ditched for a more open-ended one that allows players to fight or overcome obstacles in more than one way.2017's The Surge is a Souls-like game that differentiates itself from Dark Souls with its dismemberment mechanic, which allows you to target and cut off specific body parts of enemies to steal the armor, tech, or weapons attached to them. In GameSpot's The Surge review, Daniel Starkey wrote, "[The Surge] is far from perfect, but none of its problems are deal breakers. They're minor bumps that come from an otherwise inventive, exciting new entry in a packed sub-genre. It bucks the trend towards creative bankruptcy, adopting some fresh ideas and layering those together with aesthetics, tone, and play to create an inspired adventure."Info from Gamespot.com

With Spider-Man: Far From Home debuting in theatres worldwide on Tuesday, July 2, one question looms over the Homecoming sequel: is it any good? Read below to see what some critics think of Spider-Man's new adventure.Once again, Jon Watts (Cop Car, Spider-Man: Homecoming) sits in the director chair. Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige (Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel) and film producer Amy Pascal (Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, Venom) serve as producers, while Ant-Man and the Wasp writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers penned the script. Tom Holland (Avengers: Infinity War, Pilgrimage) stars as Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man/Peter Park alongside newly-added Jake Gyllenhaal (Southpaw, Velvet Buzzsaw) as Mysterio/Quentin Beck.The 23rd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and a direct sequel to 2017's Homecoming, Far From Home sees Parker and friends off on a school trip to Europe while baddies from another dimension show up to do some serious harm. With Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) gone and Mysterio handling the brunt of the elemental threats, Parker is asked whether he'll step up to save Europe.Reviews for Far From Home have begun appearing online. We've collected excerpts from these to help you decide whether the film is worth your time and money. Swing over to GameSpot sister site Metacritic for more critical reactions.Spider-Man: Far From HomeDirected By: Jon WattsWritten By: Erik Sommers, Chris McKennaStarring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Marisa Tomei om Holland, Samuel L. Jackson, Zendaya ColemanRelease Date: July 2 (United States)Runtime: 129 minutesGameSpot"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." -- Meg Downey [Full review]CNET"Spider-Man: Far From Home manages to act as a sequel to both Homecoming and Endgame, giving us a superior follow-up to the former and a wonderful epilogue to the latter -- reminding us that MCU goes on in a joyous ride. Let's hope Phase 4 gives us plenty more Peter Parker." -- Sean Keane [Full review]Comic Book"It doesn't seem like we're swinging to any crazy conclusions in calling Spider-Man: Far From Home the best Spider-Man movie ever. Top to bottom, it is a complete moviegoing experience. It is thrilling, it is fun, it is unpredictable, and it is full of heart. Spider-Man: Far From Home is by far a home run." -- Brandon Davis [Full review]Entertainment Tonight"Far From Home sticks the landing, and that might be the most important thing it needed to do after an utter behemoth like Endgame. The fallout from that movie feels effortlessly worked into the fabric of the universe by the time the end credits roll here, opening Marvel's saga up to a new beginning. And then the post-credits scenes change everything." -- John Boone [Full review]IndieWire"But the Spider-Man we find at the end of the movie is no different than the one we met at the start; he's more confident now, and ready to accept a truth of his own design, but you can't help but feel like he could have learned all of the same things without leaving Queens or wasting our time." -- David Ehrlich [Full review]Slant Magazine"Yet the film is ultimately on more solid ground when positioning Peter as the new emotional fulcrum on which the MCU can turn, with Tony's sarcasm and megalomania replaced by Peter's humility and guilelessness. It all suggests that the next phase of the MCU may be less cynical and emotionally resonant than the prior one." -- Jake Cole [Full review]Variety"By the end, this Spider-Man really does find his tingle, yet coming after 'Into the Spider-Verse,' with its swirling psychedelic imagery and identity games and trap doors of perception, 'Spider-Man: Far From Home' touches all the bases of a conventional Marvel movie. It doesn't take you out of this world. But it's good enough to summon the kick—or maybe just the illusion—of consequence." -- Owen Gleiberman [Full review]The Verge"But it's Far From Home in a nutshell: an acknowledgement of small emotions amid big moments, a reminder of the ever-building continuity that's made these stories so memorable and so satisfying for fans, and a moment taken for grief between action beats. It's a beautiful little pause in a beautifully big film. But moments like these are what make Far From Home feel so heartfelt and relevant. It's a breathless and admirably well-assembled movie that proves the Marvel formula still isn't tired, but it's also a capper on more than a decade of building powerful feelings around powerful heroes." -- Tasha Robinson [Full review]Info from Gamespot.com

The Joker is, unquestionably, one of the most popular characters in comics--and yet, there's a good chance that every Joker fan you talk to will have a completely different idea of just who and what the character is. Unlike his nemesis, Batman--whose origin story remains set in stone no matter the incarnation--Joker seems to shift at random, never actually settling into one idea or conceptualization for too long. Really, the only thing consistent about Joker over the years is his inconsistency.But every comic book character has to come from somewhere, right? So what is the Joker's deal? Where did he actually come from?The answer, unsurprisingly, is just as complicated and ambiguous as the character himself.The Golden AgeWhile not Batman's first supervillain, Joker was one of the three antagonists featured in Batman #1 by Batman creators Bill Finger and Bob Kane back in 1940--the other two being Hugo Strange (who had previously appeared in Detective Comics) and Catwoman (here known only as The Cat). At this point, superhero comics hadn't even begun to settle into the genre we know and love today--Batman still regularly used guns, staple characters like Alfred Pennyworth had not yet been introduced, and Gotham City had yet to really be developed at all--but somehow, this initial outing for Joker managed to be, well, exactly what you'd expect from him even by modern standards. It included several heists, a couple of murders, his catch-all murderous chemical "Joker Venom," and a disgruntled mobster furious that Joker was pulling off crimes in his city without his say so.Later in the same issue, Joker had his second story, "The Joker Returns," which features more of the same--daring prison escapes, booby-trapped chattering teeth toys, you name it. The art and the style of the writing would give these stories away as Golden Age relics, but the ideas behind them are the same things you could easily find in a Batman comic today. His purpose in the story, much like every early comic book antagonist, wasn't to add depth to the story as much as it was to create an excuse for action to happen. Batman needed a reason to swing into action, and the idea of the costumed supervillain was just beginning to come into vogue, so what better way than to make him fight a murdering thief dressed as a clown? The concept of the terrifying rictus grin was already very much in the pop culture zeitgeist--the idea of Joker was largely inspired by the 1928 silent film, The Man Who Laughs where the protagonist is a man whose mouth is forced into a horrifying smile.Of course, these early stories actually included an explanation for who the Joker was or what motivated him--but this wasn't really anomalous at the time. The Golden Age wasn't big on fleshed out origin stories--Finger and Kane spoke candidly about their bare-bones conceptualization, emphasizing that they wanted a villain for Batman who would be "visually interesting" and not much else. It would actually take another decade or so for that particular piece of the puzzle to slot into place, all while Joker had spent 11 years cropping up in Batman stories again and again with no history to speak of.The Silver AgeAs superhero comics solidified their conventions--and as the social and political climates of America began to force sanctions on their content in the form of the Comics Code Authority, a self-governing ratings organization similar to the MPAA--things began to get a little odd. A lot of the "terror" and violence typical in Golden Age stories had to be phased out for the sake of the CCA's seal of approval, and readers who had stuck with their favorite characters for the last 10-plus years began craving more and more detail in the stories they read. Things like shared universe connections between different characters and books were beginning to form, and DC's slow experimentation with superhero teams like the Justice Society and Justice League had only just begun.But a new comics culture demanded fresh methods of storytelling and new spins on familiar characters, and Joker was no different. In the early 1950s, he was finally given his first proper origin story in Detective Comics #168 by Bill Finger and Win Mortimer. The issue was a retroactive look at a classic Batman story featuring a villain named the Red Hood. It was revealed that Joker had been a disgruntled blue-collar worker who began moonlighting as a supervillain--The Red Hood--in an attempt to garner fame and fortune for himself. However, during one of his robberies (at the Monarch Playing Card Company--later known as Ace Chemicals), Batman caught him and, inadvertently, threw him into a vat of toxic chemicals. Red Hood survived the experience but was driven insane and physically mutated to look like a playing card Joker.Get it? Because it was a playing card factory?This was a pretty typical Silver Age story--unexplained chemicals causing physical and mental abnormalities, weirdly inexplicable coincidences playing into themes, the works. It didn't really matter that it only sort of made sense--this was the origin that stuck with Joker the longest, and wound up adapted and tweaked again and again over the years. After all, there was something poetic about the idea of Batman himself creating his own greatest enemy, and people had had a decade to get to know and become invested in their feud, so the twist resonated with fans.Not that Batman had many fans in the '50s--his popularity had dwindled dramatically and would continue to do so until the advent of the live-action, Adam West-helmed Batman TV show in the mid '60s, which included yet another incarnation of Joker played by Caesar Romaro, complete with all of the camp and absurdity and none of the Shakespearean drama.The silly, mustache-twirling, pie-throwing Joker of Batman '66 quickly overtook the tragic figure implied by his comic book persona's history and people stopped caring about whether or not Batman had created his nemesis or not. Everyone was having too much fun with the candy-coated pop-art explosion to care.The Bronze and Modern AgesRecovering from campy, goofy '60s shlock took some doing--and a whole new tone for Batman stories, spearheaded by Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and by Tim Burton's live-action films. The goofiness was still there, for the most part, but the darkness was creeping back in around the edges, and a new, more serious tone began crystallizing in Gotham City. The Joker's heel turn away from his Batman '66 camp wasn't abrupt or immediate, but it was undeniable--especially when he went on to full-on murder one of Batman's teenage sidekicks, a moment that would go on to inform Batman comics for decades to come.Shortly after the murder of Robin (Jason Todd) in A Death In The Family by Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo, Jack Nicholson was tapped to play the Joker for the 1989 Batman, which adapted a variation of his 1950s origin story with one important twist: In this version of events, it was revealed that Joker had been the murderer responsible for the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne, creating a sort of cyclical origin between both he and Batman--each with a past that caused the other's future.The idea that Joker had, in fact, been the one to murder the Waynes didn't necessarily make the jump to the comics--but it did spark an interesting trend. Creators began using Joker as a tool to ask "what if?" hypothetical questions in the Batman universe--what if he had killed the Waynes? What if he was lying about being the Red Hood? What if everything Batman understood about him was a lie?In that spirit, new spins on Joker "origin" stories began to crop up--some twisting the idea of the Red Hood around into new inventions, others turning the whole idea up to 11 and positing that Joker is some sort of immortal, eldrich being linked to Batman through ancient magic, time travel, and alternate dimensions. Live action efforts like The Dark Knight and Gotham threw their hand in the action, allowing actors like Heath Ledger and Cameron Monaghan to explore multiple possibilities that actively contradict one another. In fact, in current DC continuity, there are actually three different Joker entities existing simultaneously--all the same person, technically, but all completely different, too.And that's the beauty of it, really. The last eight decades have shaped Joker into a character who is uniquely suited for these purposes--no version of his story is incorrect, so no version is correct, either. Even the addition of his own solo movie later this year--an origin story, this time without Batman in the mix--will do little to change that. Joaquin Phoenix will play a version of the character the same way actors like Nicholson, Romero, and Ledger did before him. He'll posit some answers to some of the questions everyone seems to have about who Joker is and why he does what he does. But whether or not those answers stick--or whether they are really even true at all--will all be a matter of perspective.Info from Gamespot.com

Microsoft revealed a new batch of indie titles heading to its Xbox Game Pass service during an ID@Xbox presentation. Now that the company has introduced a new PC Game Pass tier, it is splitting its announcements up by platform: one set that will appear on both Xbox One and PC, and another that is PC-only.On both platforms, Game Pass will be adding My Time At Portia, Bad North, GoNNOR, The Banner Saga 3, Yoku's Island Express, and Worms WMD. On PC, it will add Undertale, Timespinner, Unavowed, Machinarium, and For The King. It's worth noting that some games being added to PC, like For the King, were already available on the console service, so Microsoft is still catching up to give the two versions of Game Pass parity.Xbox Game Pass is a subscription service, offering a library of more than 100 games for $10 per month. Microsoft recently launched Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which bundles the PC and console service with Xbox Live Gold, for $15 per month. But thanks to a quirk in how the system works, you can actually save a bundle on it.The company tends to announce a few weeks of Game Pass games at a time, most recently announcing the new additions through the end of June. Those included Rare Replay and Goat Simulator, among others. Some games also regularly rotate out, but you can purchase any you want to keep forever at a 20% discount.Xbox Game Pass Indies (Xbox One, PC)My Time At PortiaBad NorthGoNNORThe Banner Saga 3Yoku's Island ExpressWorms WMDXbox Game Pass Indies (PC Only)UndertaleTimespinnerUnavowedMachinariumFor the KingInfo from Gamespot.com

Today marks the third anniversary of Pokemon Go's release, and developer Niantic is celebrating the occasion with some exciting in-game events. For the next few weeks, players will be able to encounter a variety of new Shiny Pokemon. Niantic is also offering in-game bonuses to take advantage of, as well as new Special Research quests to complete--and the studio seems to be teasing some more Pokemon and features that may be on the way to the game.The festivities kick off on Friday, June 28. Beginning that day, you'll have a chance of encountering Shiny Alolan forms of Rattata, Sandshrew, Vulpix, Diglett, Meowth, Geodude, Grimer, and Exeggutor. There will also be new avatar items inspired by each team leader's personal style available to purchase in the Style Shop.Party hat Pikachu is returning to the game for a limited time as well. From June 28 to July 6, the special Pikachu may photobomb one of the Go Snapshots you take once per day; if that happens, the Pokemon will appear in the wild, giving you a chance to capture it. You'll also be able to hatch a party hat-wearing Pichu from 7 km eggs.Niantic is also rolling out new Special Research quests. These will be available from June 28 to September 2 and are aimed at catching up lapsed players or jump-starting new ones. The quests will be open to everyone level 10 and up and will dole out "helpful rewards." Additionally, Niantic is reducing the amount of Stardust you need to use to trade by a fourth during the same time frame, and players who manage to defeat Raid Bosses quickly will earn extra Premier Balls when they battle alongside friends.Most intriguingly, the special key art Niantic released to commemorate Pokemon Go's third anniversary--which you can see above--appears to tease some new additions to the game. Among the many Pokemon featured in the piece are Snivy, Tepig, and Oshawott, the three starter Pokemon from the series' Gen 5 games, Black and White. Niantic similarly featured the series' Gen 4 starters in Go's second anniversary artwork, and they would eventually make their debut in the game a few months later, so we could see the first Gen 5 Pokemon arrive later this year.On top of that, if you peer closely at the right side of the picture, you can spot two members of Team Rocket lurking in the shadows. Just what that signifies is unclear, but Pokemon Go dataminer Chrales recently discovered text about "purified Pokemon" within Go's code following its most recent update, so the Team Rocket tease may be related.There's a lot more happening in Pokemon Go. Niantic is bringing the Legendary Raikou back for a special Raid day on June 29. The Pokemon will appear in Raid Battles from 4-7 PM local time. July's new Field Research tasks will roll out on July 1, and the game's next Community Day is set for July 21. The featured Pokemon this time will be Mudkip, the Water starter from Ruby and Sapphire.Info from Gamespot.com

Kyogre has officially left Raid Battles in Pokemon Go, but another Legendary Pokemon has taken its place. For a limited time, the Legendary Ground-type Groudon will appear again in five-star Raid Battles--and on top of that, you will have a chance of encountering its Shiny form.Groudon will be available again until July 10, giving you nearly two weeks to capture it. As usual, you'll first need to team up with other players in-person at a Gym where a Groudon Raid is taking place and battle the Legendary before you can earn a chance to catch it. Groudon is a pure Ground-type, so your best bet is to bring along Grass and Water Pokemon such as Breloom, Milotic, and the aforementioned Kyogre.Even if you miss your chance to battle Groudon, you'll still be able catch it through other means. Groudon and Kyogre are among the Legendary Pokemon you can encounter when you achieve a Research Breakthrough in July's Field Research tasks. You'll also have a chance to find a Spinda with a new spot pattern. You can read more details on the official Pokemon Go website.Groudon isn't the only Legendary Pokemon returning this week. On Saturday, June 29, Niantic is holding a special Raikou Raid Day. The Legendary dog will return to Raid Battles from 4-7 PM local time, and you'll have a chance of encountering its Shiny form. On top of that, you'll be able to receive up to five free Raid Passes during the event hours, which you'll need to participate in Raids. Meanwhile, Speed Forme Deoxys is available in EX Raids.Pokemon Go's next Community Day is set for Sunday, July 21. This time, the event will run from 4-7 PM local time, and the featured Pokemon will be Mudkip, the Water starter from Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire. You'll also be able to earn three times the normal amount of XP for each Pokemon you catch during the event.The Pokemon Company has a brand-new mobile game called Pokemon Masters on the way this year. The game is launching for iOS and Android devices this summer and is set in Pasio, an island region where the most famous trainers from throughout the series have gathered to take part in the Pokemon Masters League Tournament. You'll be able to recruit these trainers to your teams and battle alongside them in three-on-three matches. You can read more Pokemon Masters gameplay details here.Info from Gamespot.com

Apple's chief design officer Jony Ive is set to leave to form his own independent design company. Apple states that Ive is expected to depart later this year but it will continue to work closely with Ive on a range of projects. Additionally, Apple will remain a primary client of his new company.Ive has been at Apple for around 30 years and defined the look and feel of many of its most popular products, including the iPhone, iPad, and Macbooks. Given the impact that the iPhone has had on the technology of the modern day, it wouldn't be a stretch to say technology wouldn't be what it is today without him."Jony is a singular figure in the design world and his role in Apple's revival cannot be overstated, from 1998's groundbreaking iMac to the iPhone and the unprecedented ambition of Apple Park, where recently he has been putting so much of his energy and care," said Apple CEO Tim Cook."Apple will continue to benefit from Jony’s talents by working directly with him on exclusive projects, and through the ongoing work of the brilliant and passionate design team he has built. After so many years working closely together, I'm happy that our relationship continues to evolve and I look forward to working with Jony long into the future."Ive has appeared on stage over the years at various keynotes to reveal new devices in the iPhone, iPad, iWatch, Macbook, and iMac lines, and his design sense has been key to revitalizing Apple as a company and brand, which as led to it having the ubiquitous presence it enjoys today."After nearly 30 years and countless projects, I am most proud of the lasting work we have done to create a design team, process and culture at Apple that is without peer. Today it is stronger, more vibrant and more talented than at any point in Apple's history," Ive said."The team will certainly thrive under the excellent leadership of Evans, Alan, and Jeff, who have been among my closest collaborators. I have the utmost confidence in my designer colleagues at Apple, who remain my closest friends, and I look forward to working with them for many years to come."Apple is expected to reveal the 12th iPhone this year and early whispers indicate that it may opt for a larger screen and a smaller screen option. You can read the latest iPhone 12 rumors on our sister site CNET.Info from Gamespot.com

Monster Hunter: World's new Iceborne expansion isn't slated to release until September 6, but the beta start times have been revealed. PlayStation 4 Hunters can jump into the Iceborne beta bright and early this Friday, without needing a PS Plus membership.The official Monster Hunter twitter account announced the beta start times. The Iceborne beta starts Friday, June 28 at 3 AM PT / 6 AM ET / 11 AM BST / 8 PM AET. It will conclude on Monday, July 1 at 2:59 AM PT / 5:59 AM ET / 10:59 AM BST / 7:59 PM AET. Similar to the first Iceborne beta, which took place from June 21-24, this second beta is exclusive to PlayStation 4.Hunters, gear up and face some frosty foes on the #Iceborne Beta, open for all for PS4 players! ❄️ https://t.co/IRxxbLjmQlBeta starts June 28 at:3:00am PDT6:00am EDT11:00am BST12:00pm CEST pic.twitter.com/NQ7J9DjfDH — Monster Hunter (@monsterhunter) June 27, 2019Both single- and multiplayer content will be playable, according to the official Monster Hunter website. The Iceborne beta will also include difficulty scaling (depending on the number of players in a party), new actions and combos for all weapons, Tailraiders that can be summoned and ridden in the world, and more.Capcom unveiled the new Iceborne expansion during Sony's State of Play in May 2019. Along with some returning monsters like the Nargacuga and the Tigrex, Iceborne will introduce new areas, monsters, weapons, and more.Monster Hunter World: Iceborne launches on September 6 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. PC hunters will have to be patient, as Iceborne launches sometime this winter for the platform.Info from Gamespot.com

Fortnite's Season 9, Week 8 challenges are now live across PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, and mobile. Given that it's an even-numbered week, this would normally mean that a new Fortbyte is available to collect in the game, but if you're hoping to find it, you likely aren't having much success. Here's what's going on.Fortbyte #97 should have arrived in the game alongside Week 8's challenges. Unlike the secret Battle Stars you can collect when you complete this season's Utopia challenges, you don't need to clear any challenges in order to find the Fortbyte; you simply need to have a Season 9 Battle Pass and know where to look. However, while many have already pinpointed the Fortbyte's location, it appears the collectible isn't actually live in the game yet, so it won't show up when you go looking for it.This isn't the first time something like this has happened; Week 4's Fortbyte similarly didn't go live alongside that week's challenges, instead arriving a few days later. That will presumably be the case with Fortbyte #97 as well, so we'll continue to monitor the game and have a Fortbyte guide up once the item goes live. In the meantime, you can still complete Week 8's challenges if you haven't already. The trickiest of the bunch is to visit three different clocks. If you don't know where those are, be sure to check out our clock location guide.Fortnite's 14 Days of Summer event is also underway. For two weeks, Epic will be unvaulting a different weapon in the game and offering a new LTM to play each day. There are also 14 Days of Summer challenges to complete, which will unlock exclusive rewards. The first involves dancing at beach parties, while the second asks you to bounce a giant beach ball in five different matches.Info from Gamespot.com

San Diego Comic-Con is just weeks away, coming July 18-21 to the city's convention center. This is a big time of the year for movie and television news, as networks and studios release info and footage for their upcoming projects. HBO recently announced in a press release that it is headed to Hall H--the biggest panel room in the convention--for numerous upcoming events.Kicking things off on Thursday is the upcoming series His Dark Materials, based on the novel series of the same name by author Philip Pullman--which the 2007 film The Golden Compass was also based on. The series will be set in a fantasy world where humans have what's called "daemons," which are animals that are the manifestation of souls. The show follows Lyra (Dafne Keen), an orphan who is living with teachers in an Oxford college. Many of the cast members from the upcoming series will be in attendance for the panel.On Friday, select members of the cast from Game of Thrones will head to Hall H for a panel. While the TV series has completely wrapped up, the cast and showrunners will be there, and they will more than likely discuss the final season of the hit series. They'll also probably answer questions from the audience, which should be interesting considering the negative response from some vocal fans of the series. It was recently revealed HBO would be releasing a very cool-looking collector's edition of the entire Game of Thrones series.Finally, on Saturday, Hall H will host a Westworld panel consisting of the cast and directors of the series. The first trailer for Season 3 was revealed recently, and it seems the latest installment of the western/sci-fi HBO series is a bit of a departure for the show. Additionally, fans got their first look at Aaron Paul's role.What's missing from HBO's Hall H invasion is their upcoming series Watchmen, based on the limited comic series of the same name. However,HBO has stated there will be a "surprise in-world opportunity" taking place in the Gaslamp District, but nothing else has been revealed as of this writing. Check out all you need to know about these panels and who is on them below.Hall H Panel Times/Dates:Thursday, July 18, 4:45 PM: His Dark Materials - Cast members James McAvoy, Dafne Keen, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ruth Wilson, and executive producer Jane Tranter on panel.Friday, July 19, 5:30 PM: Game of Thrones - Cast members Jacob Anderson, John Bradley, Nikolaj Coster-Walda, Liam Cunningham, Nathalie Emmanuel, Iain Glen, Conleth Hill, Maisie Williams, Isaac Hempstead Wright, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, and executive producer Miguel Sapochnik on panel.Saturday, July 20, 1:15 PM: Westworld - Cast members Ed Harris, Thandie Newton, Aaron Paul, Tessa Thompson, Evan Rachel Wood and Jeffrey Wright, and executive producers and directors Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy on panel.Come back to GameSpot during San Diego Comic-Con for coverage from the show floor as well as some of the biggest panels.Info from Gamespot.com

Ahead of Season 2's launch on July 2, Apex Legends is already beginning to undergo changes. Next time you drop in Kings Canyon, head on over to Repulsor Station and you'll notice the once dormant facility has reawakened.First noticed by Reddit user RozenFroh, the IMC Repulsor Tower at Repulsor Station has begun to spin. Titanfall and Titanfall 2 fans may remember the huge towers from Respawn's popular shooter franchise. When the towers spin, they emit a painfully loud sound at a frequency that's inaudible to humans. However, it's excruciating to animals, and so the IMC (the antagonists of the Titanfall franchise) use the towers to keep the alien Flyers and Leviathans away from important structures.Since Apex Legends' launch, the Repulsor Tower has remained inactive. The tower is most likely being turned on now in response to the growing Flyer population, which have begun invading Kings Canyon. However, as we know from Apex Legends Season 2's launch trailer (embedded above), a mysterious hacker--most likely the rumored character Crypto--is about to destroy that tower. With its destruction, there's nothing keeping the Flyers and much larger Leviathans at bay, and their invasion of Kings Canyon will make huge changes to the battle royale game's map.The start of Season 2 is right around the corner, and it introduces a bunch of new content and features in Apex Legends. The most notable change is the aforementioned transformation of Kings Canyon, which sees the destruction of several landmarks and the creation of a few new ones. Titanfall 2's L-Star is also being added as a Legendary Gold energy-based weapon, randomly dropping in Supply Drops like the Kraber and Mastiff. The Season 2 battle pass offers more Legend cosmetics and weapon skins to unlock, as well as brand-new Skydive Emotes. You'll also gain access to a ranked playlist with the launch of Season 2, giving you the chance to climb the six-tiered ladder between Bronze and Apex Predator. Finally, just like Season 1, Season 2 introduces a brand-new Legend for you to play: Wattson, the daughter of the man who built the Kings Canyon arena.In GameSpot's Apex Legends review, Phil Hornshaw wrote, "Apex Legends is a mix of smart shooter ideas that makes for a competitive, team-based game that gets at all the best parts of battle royale while addressing a lot of the weaknesses. Respawn's intense focus on team play makes Apex more than just a worthy addition to the genre; it's an indicator of where battle royale should go in the future."Info from Gamespot.com