In a press conference ahead of E3 2019, The Pokemon Company has announced a new cloud-based service for Nintendo Switch. Called Pokemon Home, the service will allow you to transfer Pokemon from all current Pokemon games--including Pokemon Go and the upcoming Pokemon Sword and Shield--to the cloud.Longtime Pokemon game director Junichi Masuda took the stage to detail the service. You'll be able to transfer Pokemon from Pokemon Go, Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee, Pokemon Sword and Shield, and Pokemon Bank on 3DS into Pokemon Home. According to a graphic shown during the conference, you'll also be able to transfer Pokemon from Home into Sword and Shield. This is much like how Pokemon Bank works; you're allowed a one-way transfer from older games, and from the cloud, you can transfer those Pokemon into the newest game (Sword and Shield in this case). If that's indeed how it works, it means you'll be able to transfer your shiny Pokemon from Go and Let's Go into Sword and Shield.Masuda added that you'll be able to trade Pokemon from within Home as long as you have a smartphone with you. The details are vague, but you'll apparently be able to use your phone to trade Pokemon locally and globally, both with friends and with others, so long as those Pokemon have been transferred to Pokemon Home.Pokemon Home is set to launch in early 2020 for iOS, Android, and Nintendo Switch; Pokemon Sword and Shield are set for a late 2019 launch. The Pokemon Company did not detail whether a Nintendo Switch Online subscription will be required to use the service.For more on the Pokemon 2019 Press Conference, check out the stories linked below:Pokemon Sleep Is A New App That Helps You Sleep BetterNew Pokemon Game, Pokemon Masters, Coming To SmartphonesDetective Pikachu Game Coming To Nintendo SwitchInfo from Gamespot.com

In Observation you play as SAM (Systems Administration and Maintenance), the AI assistant of a space station that represents the joint efforts of Europe, China, and Russia. Your abilities are limited by your absence of a corporeal form--for most of the game you're controlling the cameras dotted around the station and interacting with any computers or digital panels within their range of vision. You have access to a station map that expands over time, and you're able to jump between cameras across the entire ship at will. It might sound like a limiting conceit, but Observation uses your unique position of omniscient claustrophobia to craft a compelling, creepy, and extremely original narrative experience.The year is 2026, and you're on the station with Emma Fisher, a European crew member who awakens at the game's beginning to find that she has no contact with the rest of her crew on board. It's immediately clear that something catastrophic has happened; the station is no longer in Earth's orbit, and no-one is answering her attempts at communication. To say much more would be to spoil elements of a plot that are best left to surprise you--the first major twist happens within about 20 minutes. Suffice it to say that Observation's narrative unfurls slowly across the entire length of the game, with its mysteries growing all the more complicated and your sense of dread deepening as the game goes on.Observation absolutely nails its distinct lo-fi, sci-fi aesthetic. The cameras crackle and jump as you shift between them, and the stylistic film grain and distortion over every visual emphasizes your slight removal from the reality of the situation Emma is facing. Like many science fiction works of the last forty years, Observation is indebted to Ridley Scott's Alien--some of the tech aboard the space station feel like antiquated products of a decade long past. This aesthetic, paired with the game's too-near future setting, gives Observation the pleasant feeling of an uncovered classic or remake of an ambitious, older piece of work. SAM is far and away the most advanced piece of technology on the station, and even when you load up your own system menu (which lets you view the map, check system alerts, and perform other functions that unlock during the game) you're treated to some pleasantly analog and retro buzzing and whirring sound effects.You experience most of the game through the slow panning and zooming cameras, an effective tool at creating a creeping sense of tension, although the occasional cutscene is used to better capture action at a crucial moment. It's not about jump scares or personally being in danger; again, to say too much more would be to spoil the game's clever pacing, but it's a game that's incredibly effective at building dread more than overt terror.The actual gameplay is, for the most part, pretty simple. You need to explore the ship as much as you can from your various vantage points, scanning every document and inspecting every laptop you encounter, opening and shutting hatch doors, and interacting with the station's equipment. The bulk of the puzzles boil down to figuring out how to operate SAM's interface, finding schematics to help you operate certain programs, and learning the necessary procedures for the instructions you are given.The game does an excellent job of taking complex ideas and procedures and presenting them as simple operations. Everything from opening the airlock to securing the doors between sections of the station boils down to a few button presses; occasionally you'll have to take part in what is essentially a timed mini-game, but for the most part, you're just following basic instructions. The main challenge comes from figuring out how the different parts of the ship all work together, and reasoning through the impact of your actions and what information you do and don't currently have access to.At certain points, you'll need to control a spherical droid that can float around the station--and, more excitingly, outside the station--freely. It's a bit of a pain to control in tight spots, and it's easy to lose your bearings because the concepts of up and down are relative in zero-gravity environments. But there's a real thrill in breaking free from the static cameras and floating through the station, and in getting used to the sphere's limitations. Observation doles these sections out expertly, using the droid when it needs to make you feel more a part of what is happening. It plays on the droid's symbolic sense of place extremely well; it's the physical element of SAM that sells Emma's growing friendship with him.Often what you need to do next, and how to do it, will be spelled out extremely clearly, though the game's instructions could stand to be a tad clearer in a few sections. One time it seemed like I had hit a particularly abstract puzzle, but it turned out that I'd actually encountered a glitch where a certain event didn't trigger properly, which necessitated a quick checkpoint reset. This was a pain, as the game's checkpointing can be a bit strict--you keep any information you've collected through scanning objects, but it doesn't save after major actions, so it's hard to know exactly what you'll have to redo when you exit out. But it's not too big an issue, as I never lost more than a few minutes of progress.Slowly discovering every system on board, inspecting every room, and unlocking more menus and commands within SAM's UI is an absolute treat. Observation is a visual stunner, with only the odd lip-sync issue occasionally distracting from the level of polish and craft on display. Later events ramp up the inherent creepy isolation of a space station perfectly, too. The story is compelling and exciting right up until the credits roll, and the game doesn't let up on revelations, twists, or the increasing tension of knowing that the game is building towards something wild. Observation also achieves the extremely rare feat of containing audio logs that are both compelling and make sense within its world.Observation is a wonderful example of how to do focused, self-contained science-fiction storytelling in a game. It's well-written and clever, and nails the sci-fi tropes and aesthetics it both plays to and builds upon. It's a game that demands to be analyzed and thought about further once you're done with it, and while the internal world of the game is small, inhabiting it is a real pleasure. Info from Gamespot.com

Hideo Kojima has posted a new teaser video for his mysterious upcoming project, Death Stranding. Released on Twitter, the video shows the outline of a hand and the words "Create the rope." Some eerie music plays in the background, while flashes of mysterious objects appear as well. A second tweet indicates more information will be provided on May 30.The teaser is hard to make sense of, which is par for the course with Death Stranding. Check out the video for yourself in the embed below and let us know in the comments what you've spotted.#deathstranding pic.twitter.com/5b470xUPnR — HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) May 26, 2019#DEATHSTRANDING の最新情報発表のカウントダウンが始まっています。公開は5月30日（日本時間）を予定しています。楽しみにお待ちください！CREATE THE ROPE! pic.twitter.com/r2xJrMBLEv — Kojima Productions (@KojiPro2015) May 27, 2019Death Stranding is Kojima's first new game since his split with Konami. Very little is known about the game, and that appears to be intentional, with Kojima weaving secrets into its new trailers and teasers like the one he released today.The game features a number of celebrities, including The Walking Dead actor Norman Reedus in the lead role, as well as Mads Mikkelsen, Lea Seydoux, Lindsay Wagner, Guillermo del Toro, and Troy Baker.Speaking to Metro, Reedus said he's never seen anything like what Kojima is doing with the game."The concept is so far out into the future. Instead of eliminating everyone around you, it's bringing everyone together," he explained. "It's a very positive video game, but scary and depressing at the same time. It’s kind of a new movie. I've never seen anything like what we're doing."At the Tribeca Film Festival in April, Kojima talked about how Death Stranding will make you cry.No release date has been set as of yet for Death Stranding. The game was announced for PlayStation 4 and PC, and it'll be released on console through a partnership between Kojima's new studio, Kojima Productions, and Sony. A recent report said Death Stranding might also release on PS5.Info from Gamespot.com

Legendary actor Harrison Ford is set to play Indiana Jones yet again in fifth Indiana Jones movie scheduled for July 2021. But who will take over once Ford is ready to step away from the role?No one, if Ford has his way. In an appearance on The Today Show, Ford was asked directly who he would like to see take over when he's done playing the archaeologist-adventurter.He gave a wonderful response: "Nobody is going to be Indiana Jones, don't you get it? I'm Indiana Jones," Ford told host Craig Melvin with a laugh. "When I'm gone, he's gone. It's easy."Actor Chris Pratt is reportedly one of the names in the mix to take over as Indiana Jones with a reboot of the franchise in the future. It appears Chris Pine might be in the running as well (or Ford mixed up his Chrises). He said in the interview, "This is a hell of a way to tell Chris Pine this. I'm sorry, man."Man, I love Harrison Ford. pic.twitter.com/JQ6HY3lyk3 — Tanooki Joe™️ (@TanookiKuribo) May 24, 2019Actor Shia LaBeouf starred alongside Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and some thought LaBeouf was being groomed to take over as the main character. Ford shot down that suggestion, telling Time, "Shia can get his own hat. I earned that hat."Indiana Jones 5, or whatever it's called, is being directed by Steven Spielberg, who helmed all the previous films, with Ford reprising his role as the iconic archaeologist. Jonathan Kasdan, the son of Raiders of the Lost Ark writer Lawrence Kasdan, wrote the newest draft of the story. He replaced the previously announced writer, Jurassic Park's David Koepp.Spielberg has said that Indiana Jones 5 will probably be Ford's final Indiana Jones film, though he expects the franchise to continue after that. Spielberg also said it is time for Indiana Jones the character to take "a different form," and this could be with a woman in the lead role. "We'd have to change the name from Jones to Joan. And there would be nothing wrong with that," Spielberg said.The Indiana Jones series premiered with 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark, which was followed up by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). Together, the movies have made more than $2 billion at the box office. Info from Gamespot.com

Travis Strikes Again, the No More Heroes spinoff that launched in January as an exclusive for Nintendo Switch, is headed to new platforms. The game is coming to PlayStation 4 and PC, game director Suda51 announced at the Momocon 2019 event in Atlanta this weekend.There is no word on when Travis Strikes Again will launch on PS4 and PC, what differences there may be compared to the Switch edition, or if it'll also release on Xbox One. Developer Grasshopper Manufacture says it will announce more details in due course.We just announced that Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes will be coming to PS4 and Steam! Stay tuned for more information!#Momocon2019 pic.twitter.com/6mlDiTOrv8 — SUDA51/須田剛一 (@suda_51) May 25, 2019Travis Strikes Again takes place seven years after the events of No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. In a plot that is suitably absurd, Travis Touchdown finds himself stuck in a haunted game video console called the Death Drive Mk-II. Alongside Badman, Travis must fight his way out of the Death Drive's six different games hack-and-slash style.The game offers co-operative play with one player as Travis and the other as Badman; there are also unique co-op special attacks to pull off. Check out GameSpot's Travis Strike Again video review in the embed above to see the game in action. GameSpot scored the game a 6/10 in our Travis Strikes Again review.Looking ahead, Suda51 has said that there might be more No More Heroes news coming at E3 in June. The ending to Travis Strikes Again very strongly suggested that a new No More Heroes game was in development. Asked by Siliconera about the ending, Suda replied with a laugh, "I wonder what that was myself. It might be Travis messing around. [Laughs] I hope around E3 time I'll have something cool to announce."The No More Heroes series started with 2007's No More Heroes for Nintendo Wii. It was followed up in 2010 by No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, which was also released on Wii.Info from Gamespot.com

The new John Wick movie, Chapter 3, is very popular. After another strong performance at the box office in its second weekend, Chapter 3 has now made $175.4 million worldwide.What that means is John Wick 3 needed just two weeks to surpass the amount of money that John Wick 2 made during its entire theatrical run ($171.5 million). To put that number in context even further, the first John Wick made $88 million worldwide over its lifetime. The franchise is getting more popular with every release, which probably explains why John Wick 4 was announced so early. In addition, there is a John Wick film spin-off in the works, while a TV show called The Continental is also in development.The John Wick series stars The Matrix actor Keanu Reeves as an assassin with a price on his head. He mows down everyone in his path. The series also features Laurence Fishburn, Lance Reddick, and Ian McShane, while Chapter 3 added Halle Barry and Anjelica Huston. The movie was directed by Chad Stahelski, who also made John Wick 1 and 2.The creator of John Wick and the film's writer, Derek Kolstad, is presumably involved with John Wick 4 in addition to his newly announced job as the writer of the Just Cause video game movie.John Wick 4 is coming, but all we know so far is a release date: May 21, 2021. The ending to John Wick 3 certainly set up another story to be told. Here's to hoping that Reeves and Stahelski return for the fourth movie. Info from Gamespot.com

The writers and producers of Fox's iconic animated TV show The Simpsons are coming to E3 2019. They will appear on a June 11 E3 Coliseum panel where they will discuss ... well, we don't know. Given E3 is a video game convention, people are naturally assuming there will be a discussion about video games and potentially some news.But don't get too excited just yet. A sequel to The Simpsons Hit & Run would be fantastic news, but there is no word yet on if there will be any game announcements during the panel. We don't even know who from The Simpsons team will be there.Whatever the case, you can catch The Simpsons panel at E3 on June 11. Presumably it will be streamed live like the rest of the E3 Coliseum panels including the one where Netflix may announce video game adaptations of its shows. The E3 Coliseum is organized by games media veteran Geoff Keighley in coordination with the ESA, which owns and operates E3.More exciting #E3Coliseum news - join the writers and producers of @TheSimpsons for a panel on June 11! More info to come... #E32019 https://t.co/QOa74rE263 pic.twitter.com/I3fOzO8t2n — E3 (@E3) May 24, 2019There haven't been any new Simpsons video games for console/PC in a while. The latest one was 2007's The Simpsons Game, in which the Simpsons family discovers they have been licensed for a video game. Electronic Arts, which owns the license for The Simpsons video games, released a mobile game called The Simpsons: Tapped Out in 2012 and it was, at least for a period of time, a big-time money-maker.In 2014, The Simpsons TV producer Al Jean said a Simpsons RPG was considered, going on to say at the time that he thought more Simpsons games would be made someday. Might it finally be time for a new Simpsons game to be revealed? It's too soon to say but that would be exciting.The Simpsons franchise is now owned by Disney following the company's acquisition of the majority of Fox's entertainment assets. In terms of the TV show, all 30 seasons will be available for streaming on Disney+ when the service releases in the United States this November.For more on E3 2019, you can head to GameSpot's E3 2019 hub for everything you need to know.Read next: E3 2019 Schedule For Press Conferences: Times, Dates, And AnnouncementsInfo from Gamespot.com

Ahead of the release of Borderlands 3 in September, Gearbox Publishing boss John Vignocchi is heading out. The games industry veteran announced on Twitter that he's left Gearbox for his "dream job" somewhere else."Leaving the company was one of the hardest decisions I've had to make and I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for the love and support of everyone there," Vignocchi said on Twitter. "They understood and encouraged me to take this role as it is truly a once-in-a-lifetime gig."Vignocchi said he had a great time working at Gearbox, where he served as executive producer for Gearbox Publishing for about a year. He specifically praised Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford and head of publishing Steve Gibson, saying they both know "how to bring out the passion and excellence of all the amazing [developers] that work there."Vignocchi didn't say where he's going after Gearbox, but he noted that he is going on a "bit of a road trip," which suggests the new job is not close to Gearbox which is in Frisco, Texas.‼️BIG NEWS ‼️Here we go! ☺️ pic.twitter.com/PVLsKZJNW9— John Vignocchi (@JohnVignocchi) May 25, 2019Vignocchi joined Gearbox in October 2018 after a long run at Disney where he oversaw Disney Infinity and other products and projects. He spent less than a year at Gearbox before leaving. Pitchford said goodbye to Vignocchi in a post of his on on Twitter in which he wished Vignocchi well in his new job.Gearbox's next game is Borderlands 3, which is due out in September for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The company has made headlines recently not always for Borderlands 3, but behind-the-scenes controversy involving Pitchford and former employees.Info from Gamespot.com

Nintendo has already announced the date and time of its E3 2019 Direct, but that isn't the only presentation fans have to look forward to next month. Ahead of the expo, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company are also holding a special Pokemon-focused Direct presentation, which will showcase some new details about Pokemon Sword and Shield.The Pokemon Direct is set for Wednesday, June 5, at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET / 2 PM BST. According to The Pokemon Company, the presentation will run for approximately 15 minutes and will reveal "new information" about the upcoming Nintendo Switch games. You'll be able to livestream it on Nintendo's website, YouTube, and Twitch channels. GameSpot will also have a stream up so you can tune in right here.Tune in on June 5 at 6 a.m. PT for roughly 15 minutes of new information on #PokemonSwordShield for #NintendoSwitch in a livestreamed Pokémon Direct presentation.https://t.co/d1Xx3bDbhq pic.twitter.com/sNypwrc09d — Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) May 27, 2019This marks the first new information Nintendo and The Pokemon Company will discuss about Pokemon Sword and Shield since the games were officially unveiled this past February, during a special Pokemon Direct that took place on Pokemon Day. While that stream was fairly brief, it did give us our first look at the highly anticipated Pokemon games and revealed some important details, including the games' setting--the Galar region--and three new starter Pokemon. It also raised some questions.Pokemon Sword and Shield are slated to launch exclusively for Switch in "late" 2019. Given their impending release, it was presumed Nintendo and The Pokemon Company would share more details about the games around E3 2019, which officially kicks off on June 11, after Nintendo's other Direct presentation concludes. Be sure to check out our roundup of what we know about Pokemon Sword and Shield, as well as what we want and expect from Pokemon Sword and Shield at E3.Ahead of the Pokemon Direct, The Pokemon Company has also announced it is airing a Pokemon press conference tomorrow, May 28. That presentation is scheduled to begin at 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET (2 AM BST on May 29) and will "cover a number of topics of interest to Pokemon fans."Info from Gamespot.com

You're facing down the scattered remnants of the last, great Han warlords, and your entire adult life so far has been building to this moment. Ever since you first took up arms at the age of eighteen against the corruption bleeding China dry, vengeance has been the one thing driving you forward. People call you the Bandit Queen, spitting the title at your feet in battle before your twin axes cleave their heads from their shoulders. As your forces pursue routed, scarlet-clad warriors, you feel the gaze of one of your lieutenants upon you, pivoting almost too late to meet their steel with your own. However, you're resigned to this by now, and he meets a gurgling end like so many before him who disagreed with your methods. No general suffers any threats to their rule, even when the peasantry starts to mutter about you and the old tyrant, Dong Zhou, in the same breath. There are no saints in Total War: Three Kingdoms, just a castell of death and destruction with its apex pointed squarely at the throne.The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is essentially the Chinese version of The Iliad in construction. Larger-than-life characters, an at-times heady mix of romance and intrigue, and a hell of a lot of fighting are what define it. However, it's almost entirely unique as a text because of the fact that it is widely treated as a reasonable record of the events of the turbulent period of 169 AD to 280 AD in Chinese history, despite embellishment. The Total War franchise is no stranger to adapting the militaristic trials and tribulations of our world's past, but Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a work that has at times straddled the dual worlds of academia and fantasy.While the popular Dynasty Warriors games have very successfully depicted the fantasy, it's not been as easy to capture the intricate, personal stories of now-recognisable figures like Cao Cao, or to capture how they played into the wider scheme of the world as we know it. Total War: Three Kingdoms focuses keenly on those key figures and their motivations, using the literature's extensive canon as fodder for your own strategic in-game actions. Thrown into the thick of the battles and diplomacy of 190 AD, you'll need guts, gore, and perseverance to either unite China or to break the chains of oppression that hold its people fast, and Creative Assembly has succeeded in translating the themes from a decades-long, larger-than-life epic into a form that will appeal to both Total War enthusiasts and rookies alike.For the uninitiated, Total War is a mix of turn-based strategy and real-time battles where you take full control of squadrons of warriors and watch them duke it out against your foes on a picturesque patch of blood-stained grass. When you're not exerting military might on everyone else, entries in the series have historically focused on strategy elements akin to those that you would see in traditional 4X games like Civilzation. You have to balance expanding cities with diplomacy, manage population growth and happiness, and also deal with the very real concerns of keeping enemies off your tail. You do this by managing a series of complex, interconnected systems that influence everything from your inner circle to what a certain township might have to trade in winter. Give a town a governor with a green thumb and see trade flourish, or marry off a dissenter to an enemy and see previous peace treaties wither. As with every strategy title, the consequences of your choices are far-reaching, and Total War is an exercise in choosing wisely.The first thing that will stand out with Three Kingdoms is how it puts its best foot forward on its production values. Dynamic weather, lighting, and beautiful watercolour environments--ranging from mountains to besieged cottages--paint a striking backdrop for the conflict and bloodshed to follow. Your generals themselves remain rendered larger than life and in great detail, and their idle chatter (fully voiced in Chinese, if you so choose) lend them a lot of personality when you're taking your time deciding on your next move. The UI is also clean and well-designed; Three Kingdoms is a return to the usual gamut of interactive windows providing the minute details and statistics seen in older Total War titles, but information can be pinned and dismissed at will so you aren't fighting a battlefield of clutter.Detailed mechanics from previous titles return, which means a lot of information for more recent Total War fans to contend with. This is particularly noticeable when wrangling your allies, which is now essentially a full-time job. Managing relationships within your own coterie is no longer as easy as paying them to look the other way, nor are the effects almost instantaneous. It's now a long game of min-maxing retinues, victories, ideal reforms, and placation. While you're picking a general, faction identities are not as set in stone in practice as they may have been in previous titles. Playstyles ranging from expansionist and war-mongering to diplomatic can all be found in the same faction, and this translates nicely to create a dynamic inner circle.Some of the streamlining done in recent Total War titles has been walked back, potentially to emphasize Three Kingdom's focus on cults of personality in adherence with the source material for the game; your advisors and family members are all fully-fledged characters of their own with personality traits that will conflict, sometimes fatally, with your ethos. Making concerted decisions over a long period of time that are in line with your vassals' beliefs are necessary to keep them keen, lest you cop a challenge and a sword in the back when you least expect it. The threat of defection from your wider allies is always on the horizon too; the factions fighting over China are as fractured as the land itself. Where Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia invited you to ruminate upon keeping your faction cohesive so as to ensure that your reformations would live on, diplomacy and faction politics in Three Kingdoms feel much more like putting pressure on a bleeding wound. Everyone starts at each other's throats, with the major balance of power being in favour of the Han Empire.Whether you were part of the Yellow Turban rebellion, an independent warlord, or a former seneschal of the Empire, everyone at the time was clamoring for a piece of the pie, and having that reflected in Three Kingdom's mechanics is a nice touch. But you can sometimes feel pigeon-holed into conflict in a way that restricts your agency as a player. War declarations come hard and fast, with AIs as mercurial at decision-making as their portrayals in the source material. Sure, you can suggest marriage or pay a tithe, but taking the peaceful road often shakes out to be incredibly costly in negotiations. By the time you're staring down a line of cavalry encroaching on your territory, you can often feel like you only have one real option: to fight to the death.Combat in Three Kingdoms' main campaign has two distinct strains depending on which mode you're playing in: Romance, or the more traditional Historical option, which is more reminiscent of how Total War usually operates. While you can delegate combat to a dice roll of AI-generated auto-battling odds, getting bogged down in the minutiae of the battlefield is incredibly thrilling. You'll marshal your forces and pit them against those of your foes' in the pseudo weapons triangle of cavalry, infantry, and assorted others, all in real time. Whether it be a relentless siege against a settlement, meeting the Han empire in open combat, or simply trying to hold it together as someone else knocks on your gates with axe-wielding bandits, Total War's depiction of battlefield conflict is where it has always excelled, and Three Kingdoms is no different.However, the distinctive, much-trumpeted difference between Three Kingdoms and previous titles is the aforementioned Romance mode. This is where the fantastical merges with the historical in a way that offers you a new way to dominate opponents on the battlefield. In this mode, your generals stand head and shoulders above the rest, capable of single-handedly taking out entire squadrons on their own even as they yell out orders to the men rallying around them. In Romance mode, the strength of said generals grows in epic scale and scope over time, much in line with the fantastical deeds they perform in the source material. Generals also have the option to engage in duels with each other, which provides a spectacular, clash of the titans-style combative satisfaction. Three Kingdoms also lets you take these types of confrontations one step further in the new Battle mode, which lets you reenact famous skirmishes from Chinese history as these storied generals. It's both nicely educational and a refreshing change of pace.The game's tutorial is decent at helping you parse the essential mechanics from the math soup, but it feels like a large expository information dump as Three Kingdoms attempts to get you up to speed on both the world's ingrained politics and what to do with all these damn menus and buttons. You're given a crash course in everything from how to wage war to how to manage the people under your rule within the first 20 turns, which is mechanically almost a lifetime in-game, but not very long at all for someone who isn't familiar with Total War or the Three Kingdoms story to get properly acclimatised. But to its credit, Three Kingdoms does provide plenty of helpful supplementary material and difficulty adjustments to help rookies learn what they need to know to succeed, given enough time--from instructional videos to the pace in which the game unravels its conflicts on Easy difficulty, as well as the ability to streamline processes like waging war and building prosperous townships (the latter mostly through a one-size fits all approach to reformation). With enough patience, it's easy to be infected with Total War once you finally get your mouth around that first, overly-large bite.Three Kingdoms feels like a breath of fresh air. By harkening back to the intricacies of older titles and builds on some of the foundations laid by Thrones of Britannia, it offers a distinctly contemporary and thorough experience. This is the most ambitious that Total War has ever been, from the variety of different ways that you can enjoy the game to the sheer scope of the stories that they've weaved around each unique character's playable experience. Three Kingdoms feels like the rightful evolution of the series, pulling from its roots in historical military tactics to come up with an engrossing modern strategy game that is always a delight, even in its less well-oiled moments.Info from Gamespot.com

Battlefield V is adding a new map very soon, and now DICE has released a trailer for it. The new map, Mercury, is coming to Battlefield V on May 30 through a free update.As you can see, Mercury is set in Greece in the Mediterranean. The map is part of Battlefield V's Chapter 3: Trial By Fire Update. "Based on the events of Operation Mercury in 1941, this map lets you deploy on the coast of Crete where the British take on the invading German forces," reads a line from the map's official description.In a blog post, DICE said the gameplay for Mercury is focused on "verticality, all-out war, and asymmetrical vehicle forces." The British side have tanks and only a small number of plans, with the German side commanding the skies with more planes.DICE says Mercury has been designed for a number of different playstyles, and the map itself borrows characteristics from maps like Guadalcanal (Battlefield 1942), Altai Range (Battlefield 4), and Monte Grappa (Battlefield 1)."Due to the size and verticality of the map, tempo will vary. Find holes in the defense to flank or engage in a hot firefight around one of the flags," DICE said. "There';s a place in the map for SMGs to clash with shotguns, while Recon players can snipe at Support players, who in turn suppress enemies with their LMGs."You can read this in-depth blog post to learn more about Mercury and how to see some tips for have the most success on the battlefield.Battlefield V launched in October last year and it was one of the year's biggest games with more than 7 million copies sold in two months (though that was below EA's commercial expectations).DICE has steadily supported Battlefield V with numerous free updates adding a variety of things like new maps and modes, including the uber-popular battle royale mode Firestorm.Info from Gamespot.com

The next patch for Nintendo's mascot fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will arrive this week, the company has announced. The update brings the game to Version 3.1.0.The full patch notes do not appear to be available at this stage, but Nintendo says players can expect things like unspecified "fighter adjustments." It's unknown what changes are coming but Nintendo did confirm that the update will make previous version replay data incompatible. Nintendo advises that players convert their replays to video by visiting the Vault and selecting Replays then Replay Date and the Convert to Video prior to updating.Ver 3.1.0 of Super #SmashBrosUltimate is coming this week! This update will include fighter adjustments, meaning replay data from previous versions will be incompatible. Convert your replays by going to Vault -> Replays -> Replay Data -> Convert to Video, before updating. pic.twitter.com/3IUqibNCD3 — Nintendo Versus (@NintendoVS) May 28, 2019With more than 13.8 million copies sold, Smash Bros. Ultimate is one of the best-selling Nintendo Switch games ever, only behind Super Mario Odyssey (14.44 million) and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (16.69 million).For more on the Smash Bros. series, you can check out GameSpot's feature, "Super Smash Bros. At 20 -- Celebrating Two Decades Of Punching Pikachu."Info from Gamespot.com

To mark the 10th anniversary of Sucker Punch's action game Infamous, the studio shared a number of fascinating behind-the-scenes secrets and insight from the game's development.In a Twitter thread, Sucker Punch revealed all manner of things, including how the game at one point had motorcycle parkour (see in action in the GIF below), that it had the working title True Hero, and that the team wasn't sure if they would legally be allowed to call it Infamous so they created a second trailer with a different title for E3 2007 where the game was officially unveiled for the first time.8) At one point, the hero could do vehicle stunts including motorcycle parkour. pic.twitter.com/r0qeCSyotZ — Sucker Punch (@SuckerPunchProd) May 26, 2019Sucker Punch also shared that, earlier on in development you could change into civilian clothing in phone booths throughout the city and that a feature where the player could use super-powers to create new types of shops in the city to keep inhabitants happy.Sucker Punch also toyed with the idea of adding "light" character customizatin to allow players to change things like clothing and hair and considered adding the ability to basically become super-Tony Hawk and skate through the city by riding an invisible energy field.These are just some of the cool takeaways from the Twitter thread--you can see them all here.Infamous was released in 2009, and it was followed up with Infamous 2 in 2011 and the standalone game Infamous: Festival of Blood that year. The franchise moved to PlayStation 4 in 2014 with Infamous: Second Son. The standalone game Infamous: First Light was also released in 2014.Game development is an iterative process; things change all the time, and it's fascinating to see how Infamous changed over the course of its development. This information is only just coming out now, 10+ years after the game's release, and that might be due in part to the industry's culture of secrecy.Sucker Punch's new game is the samurai action game Ghosts of Tsushima. The title is in development for PlayStation 4 but no release date has been announced.Info from Gamespot.com

A listing for what could be a new Ubisoft streaming service has emerged online ahead of E3 2019 next month. Members of the Resetera forum (via VG247) spotted a placeholder listing for something called "Ubisoft Pass."The listing has since been removed, but VG247 reports that the Ubisoft Store also had a page dedicated to subscription services that has also since been taken down. That is curious since Ubisoft does not currently operate any subscription services.The original placeholder image was for a "Premium" version of the Ubisoft Pass. This wording suggests that the service, if it is real, may be available in different tiers.Ubisoft's CEO, Yves Guillemot, is a big believer in streaming as a technology that will be a huge deal for gaming going forward."With time, I think streaming will become more accessible to many players and make it not necessary to have big hardware at home. There will be one more console generation and then after that, we will be streaming, all of us," Guillemot told Variety in 2018.For a streaming service to have success, you need content. As one of the biggest publishers in gaming, Ubisoft is not lacking in content, as its back catalog is deep and rich with major franchises such as Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Splinter Cell, Rabbids, Watch Dogs, and many others.Ubisoft worked with Google on that company's streaming platform, Stadia, and it wouldn't be surprising to see Ubisoft be announced as one of Stadia's third-party partners this summer.We've contacted Ubisoft to see if the company has any comment on the Ubisoft Pass listing.If not a streaming service, it's possible that Ubisoft Pass could be an EA Access-style offering where people can pay a monthly fee to get access to a variety of titles. This is only speculation, however. For now, you should take all of this with a grain of salt, as Ubisoft has made no announcements.Ubisoft's E3 2019 briefing takes place Monday, June 10, beginning at 1 PM PT. GameSpot will have all the big news from Ubisoft's E3 briefing and all the other ones, so keep checking back for more. Info from Gamespot.com

In Observation you play as SAM (Systems Administration and Maintenance), the AI assistant of a space station that represents the joint efforts of Europe, China, and Russia. Your abilities are limited by your absence of a corporeal form--for most of the game you're controlling the cameras dotted around the station and interacting with any computers or digital panels within their range of vision. You have access to a station map that expands over time, and you're able to jump between cameras across the entire ship at will. It might sound like a limiting conceit, but Observation uses your unique position of omniscient claustrophobia to craft a compelling, creepy, and extremely original narrative experience.The year is 2026, and you're on the station with Emma Fisher, a European crew member who awakens at the game's beginning to find that she has no contact with the rest of her crew on board. It's immediately clear that something catastrophic has happened; the station is no longer in Earth's orbit, and no-one is answering her attempts at communication. To say much more would be to spoil elements of a plot that are best left to surprise you--the first major twist happens within about 20 minutes. Suffice it to say that Observation's narrative unfurls slowly across the entire length of the game, with its mysteries growing all the more complicated and your sense of dread deepening as the game goes on.Observation absolutely nails its distinct lo-fi, sci-fi aesthetic. The cameras crackle and jump as you shift between them, and the stylistic film grain and distortion over every visual emphasizes your slight removal from the reality of the situation Emma is facing. Like many science fiction works of the last forty years, Observation is indebted to Ridley Scott's Alien--some of the tech aboard the space station feel like antiquated products of a decade long past. This aesthetic, paired with the game's too-near future setting, gives Observation the pleasant feeling of an uncovered classic or remake of an ambitious, older piece of work. SAM is far and away the most advanced piece of technology on the station, and even when you load up your own system menu (which lets you view the map, check system alerts, and perform other functions that unlock during the game) you're treated to some pleasantly analog and retro buzzing and whirring sound effects.You experience most of the game through the slow panning and zooming cameras, an effective tool at creating a creeping sense of tension, although the occasional cutscene is used to better capture action at a crucial moment. It's not about jump scares or personally being in danger; again, to say too much more would be to spoil the game's clever pacing, but it's a game that's incredibly effective at building dread more than overt terror.The actual gameplay is, for the most part, pretty simple. You need to explore the ship as much as you can from your various vantage points, scanning every document and inspecting every laptop you encounter, opening and shutting hatch doors, and interacting with the station's equipment. The bulk of the puzzles boil down to figuring out how to operate SAM's interface, finding schematics to help you operate certain programs, and learning the necessary procedures for the instructions you are given.The game does an excellent job of taking complex ideas and procedures and presenting them as simple operations. Everything from opening the airlock to securing the doors between sections of the station boils down to a few button presses; occasionally you'll have to take part in what is essentially a timed mini-game, but for the most part, you're just following basic instructions. The main challenge comes from figuring out how the different parts of the ship all work together, and reasoning through the impact of your actions and what information you do and don't currently have access to.At certain points, you'll need to control a spherical droid that can float around the station--and, more excitingly, outside the station--freely. It's a bit of a pain to control in tight spots, and it's easy to lose your bearings because the concepts of up and down are relative in zero-gravity environments. But there's a real thrill in breaking free from the static cameras and floating through the station, and in getting used to the sphere's limitations. Observation doles these sections out expertly, using the droid when it needs to make you feel more a part of what is happening. It plays on the droid's symbolic sense of place extremely well; it's the physical element of SAM that sells Emma's growing friendship with him.Often what you need to do next, and how to do it, will be spelled out extremely clearly, though the game's instructions could stand to be a tad clearer in a few sections. One time it seemed like I had hit a particularly abstract puzzle, but it turned out that I'd actually encountered a glitch where a certain event didn't trigger properly, which necessitated a quick checkpoint reset. This was a pain, as the game's checkpointing can be a bit strict--you keep any information you've collected through scanning objects, but it doesn't save after major actions, so it's hard to know exactly what you'll have to redo when you exit out. But it's not too big an issue, as I never lost more than a few minutes of progress.Slowly discovering every system on board, inspecting every room, and unlocking more menus and commands within SAM's UI is an absolute treat. Observation is a visual stunner, with only the odd lip-sync issue occasionally distracting from the level of polish and craft on display. Later events ramp up the inherent creepy isolation of a space station perfectly, too. The story is compelling and exciting right up until the credits roll, and the game doesn't let up on revelations, twists, or the increasing tension of knowing that the game is building towards something wild. Observation also achieves the extremely rare feat of containing audio logs that are both compelling and make sense within its world.Observation is a wonderful example of how to do focused, self-contained science-fiction storytelling in a game. It's well-written and clever, and nails the sci-fi tropes and aesthetics it both plays to and builds upon. It's a game that demands to be analyzed and thought about further once you're done with it, and while the internal world of the game is small, inhabiting it is a real pleasure. Info from Gamespot.com