When the Night King and his armies of the dead finally reached Winterfell in Game of Thrones Season 8's third episode, The Long Night, it marked the show's greatest battle. After seven seasons of preparation, the forces of the living would finally face their most fearsome enemy in one final showdown.After watching the Battle of Winterfell, though, a lot of viewers have wondered what the hell Jon Snow and his comrades were thinking. The battle seemed like a disaster from the start, and whatever game plan the heroes had for fighting the Night King didn't make a ton of sense. A lot of people died seemingly needlessly (sorry, all the Dothraki), and their most powerful weapons, like Daenerys's dragons and the castle's huge trebuchets, weren't much of a factor.While no plan survives contact with the enemy--as the cliché goes--Jon did have one. In the previous episode, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, he gave a brief overview of what to expect during the battle. Essentially, it came down to a piece of information Jon and his allies discovered during Season 7 when they went north of the Wall to capture a wight. There, they killed a White Walker; when they did, all the wights it had created died with it. Jon extrapolated that bringing down the Night King would destroy the entire army and all the other White Walkers, so the battle plan at Winterfell was all about getting to the Night King. Here's how it was supposed to work:During the war council, Jon laid out that the key was to take down the Night King, but the worry was that if killing him was the key to victory, he wouldn't expose himself, as Jaime Lannister pointed out. But Bran said that the chance for the Night King to get to and kill Bran would draw him into the open. Let's ignore the fact that any wight could easily eliminate Bran, rather than the Night King himself, and assume there's a reason the Night King had to do it himself.This shifts the entire battle plan for the living. Trying to defeat the Night King's army in a straight fight is expected to be impossible--there are too many wights, they don't feel pain or tire, and their numbers can be bolstered with every single soldier they kill. Instead, the heroes are trying to last as long as they can against the dead, while leaving Bran in the godswood with a small detachment, made up of Theon and the Ironborn, protecting him. The idea is to use Bran as bait for the Night King, with Daenerys and Jon and their dragons waiting to ambush him when he shows himself.The combined armies of the North, the Unsullied, the Dothraki, and the Freefolk appear to be too many people to leave inside the walls of Winterfell, which is why so many troops are arrayed outside the walls. They're hoping to do as much damage as they can to the army with siege weapons, cavalry, and foot soldiers. But the plan has Daenerys and Jon, and the dragons Drogon and Rhaegal, specifically sitting out most of the fight. The dragons are great at destroying ground troops, especially wights, but the worry is that if the Night King sees the dragons, he'll stay back out of the fight. The only chance the forces of the living have is to draw him into the open as quickly as possible, and that means holding the dragons in reserve to fight the Night King himself.Then there's the trench, a line dug around Winterfell that's filled with flammable pitch and wooden barricades outfitted with dragonglass spikes. When the army of wights becomes too much, the Unsullied and the rest of Winterfell's forces are meant to fall back behind the trench, drawing the wights into it. On the castle walls, Davos will use torches to signal Daenerys, who will light the trench with Drogon's dragonfire. That will create a huge barrier that'll kill a bunch of wights and leave a bunch more unable to press the attack--at least for a while.That's not how it goes down, though. The Dothraki charge the dead (for some reason, since that seems like a really bad use of them), but are wiped out almost immediately. It's unclear if this was part of the plan--in which case, what the hell--or if the eager and confident Dothraki simply jumped the gun. Either way, seeing her people in trouble, Daenerys refuses to stay back, and instead hops onto Drogon and joins the fight. She and Jon strafe the army of the dead with dragons, killing a bunch and helping the fighters on the ground weather the attack, but it messes up the plan to try to hide the dragons to draw the Night King to Bran.And then the snowstorm blows in, presumably summoned by the Night King and his icy magic. The storm blinds Daenerys, Jon, the dragons, and the fighters on the ground, giving the wights a lot more ability to close in on them. The Unsullied are then meant to guard the retreat back behind the trench for a new line of defense on the castle walls, but the storm means Davos's signal to Daenerys doesn't work, and she can't light the trench. Luckily, Melisandre is there to handle the job with magic.Jon's battle plan seemingly doesn't account for one big problem: The Night King's dragon. Winterfell has nothing in place to deal with a flying undead dragon, and when the Night King and the wight Viserion show up, they mess things up pretty good. Still, Jon and Daenerys are running their part of the plan by tangling with the Night King and Viserion--if they manage to kill him, the game is won, so it's much more important to fight him than to help the soldiers on the ground.The portion of the plan to lure the Night King to Bran does work, in the end, but not as Jon and Daenerys envisioned it. Jon's plan was to get to the godswood to either blast the Night King with dragonfire or to take the King down with Longclaw, Jon's Valyrian steel sword. Fighting in the air with the dragons means both Jon and Daenerys are both stranded away from the godswood and never make it to the final fight; what's more, Daenerys and Drogon manage to blast the Night King with flame, but it doesn't work.Luckily, the Ironborn hold back the wights long enough for the Night King to come out into the open. And the Night King didn't account for Arya, who is probably the best and deadliest fighter in the Seven Kingdoms by this point. Small as she is, she manages to use all her training to sneak in close to the Night King, fake him out, and stab him with her Valyrian steel dagger.So that was the plan: Let the forces of the living fight and die for as long as they can manage, hoping the Night King will show up and try to go after Bran, so Daenerys and Jon can dragon or Valyrian steel him to death. You can argue that many of their forces and assets were arrayed improperly and deployed illogically, but the episode itself simply wasn't concerned with the logistics of how cavalry should be used or where catapults ought to be placed--and neither were the many viewers who enjoyed watching it.In the end, the dragons didn't turn out to be deadly to the Night King at all, and a lot of people died fighting the army of the dead without air support from Dany and Jon. But the Night King's overconfidence and obsession with Bran meant he still fell into the trap, and thankfully, Arya Stark was there to seal the deal at the last second when Dany and Jon failed to appear.Need more Game of Thrones? Check out our review of Season 8 Episode 3, a rundown of who has died this season, a list of the Easter eggs and references you might have missed in The Long Night and some theories for the rest of Season 8. We can also catch you up on what happened to Jon Snow's dragon, Rhaegal, and his direwolf, Ghost--who both made it out of Episode 3. Finally, we explain why it's really dumb to say Arya Stark is a Mary Sue.Info from Gamespot.com

In one of the wilder and more unexpected pieces of film news in recent years, it was reported that legendary filmmaker Quentin Tarantino--who is known for his original scripts and creative control over projects--was attached to a new Star Trek movie that he would direct. With the future of the Star Trek series seemingly in question, it was believed that Tarantino may no longer be involved. But now, Tarantino says it could happen--but probably not soon."It's a very big possibility," he told SlashFilm.Tarantino has been busy with his next movie, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, so he hasn't caught up with Star Trek producers Paramount recently. However, he said the script for the new Star Trek has been written, and he expects to return to the project after he recovers from Once Upon A Time In Hollywood."I haven't been dealing with those guys for a while cause I've been making my movie," he said of his discussions with Star Trek's producers. "But we've talked about a story and a script. The script has been written and when I emerge my head like Punxsutawney Phil, post-Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, we'll pick up talking about it again."In 2016, Tarantino said he only plans to make two more movies before retiring, so if he does make Star Trek, that could be his last movie. His eight previous movies were Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, and The Hateful Eight. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is his ninth.Tarantino won Best Writing Oscars for Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained.Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is due in theatres on July 26. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie, along with other huge names like Al Pacino, Kurt Russell, James Marsden, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Timothy Olyphant, Lena Dunham, Emile Hirsch, and Dakota Fanning. Bruce Dern came aboard the movie last year to play a part meant for Burt Reynolds who died in September 2018. Luke Perry filmed scenes for Once Upon A Time In Hollywood before his death in March.Info from Gamespot.com

Avengers: Endgame has been in theatres for less than a week, and it's already one of biggest box office successes in the history of cinema. It's now made an astonishing $1.342 billion worldwide, which makes it the 10th biggest movie ever.It edged out Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ($1.341 billion) to take the No. 10 spot. Endgame will surely continue to make lots more money as its run in theatres continues, so it'll be interesting to see where it lands when all is said and done.The No. 1 biggest box office smash worldwide is Avatar, which made $2.78 billion. You can see the full Top 10 list below, as compiled by Box Office Mojo.According to The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel has raised the bonus threshold for Avengers actors. Years ago, actors would receive bonuses when a Marvel movie passed $500 million; it was later raised to $700 million, and now bonuses aren't paid until Avengers movies hit $1.5 billion. Endgame will surely reach that amount, which the actors should be happy about.Top 10 All-Time Worldwide Box Officevia Box Office MojoAvatar -- $2.788 billionTitanic -- $2.187 billionStar Wars: The Force Awakens -- $2.068 billionAvengers: Infinity War -- $2.048 billionJurassic World -- $1.671 billionThe Avengers -- $1.518 billionFurious 7 -- $1.516 billionAvengers: Age of Ultron -- $1.405 billionBlack Panther -- $1.346 billionAvengers: Endgame -- $1.342 billionRead next: Chris Pratt Shares "Illegal" Avengers Endgame Video From Film SetInfo from Gamespot.com

Blizzard, the gaming giant behind franchises like World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch, will not attend Gamescom this year. The company said in a statement that it's not attending the show in Cologne, Germany as part of its "renewed effort" in 2019 to focus on game development.Blizzard plans to return to Gamescom someday, but it's not clear when."As part of a renewed effort this year to maintain our focus on development, for our current games and our future projects, we won't have a booth at Gamescom 2019," Blizzard said. "The show is an important one for the European and global gaming community, and we’re going to miss meeting players in Cologne this year. You'll still be able to find Blizzard gear in the gamescom 2019 shop area, and we're looking forward to returning to the Gamescom show floor in the future."Blizzard also teased in its statement that it is eager to talk about upcoming, unannounced projects "when the time is right."The confirmation of Blizzard dropping out of Gamescom comes just days after the company announced a bigger presence for BlizzCon 2019. The company has even more activities planned for the event, and seemingly as a result, ticket prices are going up.In December last year, Kotaku reported that Blizzard was undergoing cost-cutting measures to prepare for a "lean 2019." Operating a booth at a major show like Gamescom is likely no small cost, so dropping out of the show is no doubt saving Blizzard some money.Gamescom, which is open to the public, is believed to be the world's largest gaming show. Around 370,000 people from 114 countries attended the 2018 show, according to GI.biz. By comparison, the all-time attendance record for E3 is 70,000 from back in 2005. E3 only just recently opened to the public, while Gamescom has been public for years. Info from Gamespot.com

The Red Woman Melisandre has been wandering around Westeros for most of the run of Game of Thrones, trying to prepare people for the Great War--the big throwdown between the living and the dead. When the Night's Watch was trying to convince the lords of Westeros that the White Walkers were coming, Melisandre believed it immediately, and convinced Stannis Baratheon to help the Night's Watch prepare for them.When the army of the dead finally reached Winterfell in Episode 3 of Game of Thrones Season 8, The Long Night, Melisandre had already had a big influence on everything that happened leading to that point. She resurrected Jon Snow after he was betrayed by his Night's Watch brothers; she led Stannis to his doom fighting the Boltons at Winterfell, which led Davos to join up with Jon; and she suggested Daenerys meet with Jon and hear what he had to say about the threat of the Night King. And when Melisandre ran into Arya Stark during the battle, she had an influence on her, as well--one that recalled their earlier meeting, way back in Season 3.If you don't remember the interaction between Arya and the Red Woman, it's because it was pretty fleeting. It happened back in Season 3, when Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie were nabbed by the Brotherhood Without Banners. Gendry had decided to stay with the Brotherhood and smith for them, but that changed when Melisandre caught caught up with them.In exchange for the money they needed to feed and arm themselves, the Brotherhood--led by the moral outlaw Beric Dondarrion--sold Gendry to the Red Woman. She intended to use his king's blood--Gendry is King Robert Baratheon's bastard--for her spells to help Stannis defeat his enemies and take the Iron Throne.Arya confronted Melisandre briefly as she and Stannis's men were carting Gendry away."You're a witch," Arya said. "You're going to hurt him."Melisandre, for her part, was arrested by seeing Arya and immediately did her magic vision schtick."I see a darkness in you," Melisandre replied. "And in that darkness, eyes staring back at me. Brown eyes, blue eyes, green eyes. Eyes you'll shut forever. We will meet again."It wasn't clear what Melisandre was foreseeing during the interaction, other than the fact that Arya was going to go on to become a frighteningly effective killer. "Brown eyes, blue eyes, green eyes" seemed to refer to the many victims she's racked up over the years. But then Arya found Melisandre at Winterfell, and both instantly recalled their last meeting and how Melisandre said they would meet again."You said I'd shut many eyes forever," Ayra said in their final meeting. "You were right about that too.""Brown eyes, green eyes--and blue eyes," Melisandre answered. The two locked eyes as Arya realized what Melisandre meant in that moment: She was referring to the blue eyes of the White Walkers, and it was that revelation that sent Arya to the godswood.While it seems like Melisandre's prophecy for Arya was realized once she took down the Night King, we know Arya still has scores to settle--her kill list still includes Cersei Lannister and the Mountain. There's a theory that speculates that the rest of Melisandre's prophecy refers to the Lannister queen, who has green eyes (they're even called "emerald green" in the A Song of Ice and Fire novels on which Game of Thrones is based). Now that the focus of the show is returning to the war for the Iron Throne with the final three episodes of the series, Arya might finally get her chance to cross those final names off her list.We've got even more Game of Thrones coverage in Season 8. Check out our review of Season 8 Episode 3, a rundown of who has died this season, a list of the Easter eggs and references you might have missed in The Long Night, and some theories for the rest of Season 8. We can also catch you up on what happened to Jon Snow's dragon, Rhaegal, and his direwolf, Ghost--who both made it out of Episode 3. Finally, we explain why it's really dumb to say Arya Stark is a Mary Sue. Info from Gamespot.com

Game of Thrones fans expected a lot of characters to die during the massive battle at Winterfell in Episode 3, "The Long Night," and technically, the episode didn't disappoint. All told, seven minor-to-main characters were killed, if you including the Night King--not to mention the entire Dothraki horde, down to the last man, and by the looks of it, most of the Unsullied too. On paper, it sounds glorious.So why were so many fans--myself included--disappointed once the credits began rolling? Despite being viewed by a record-breaking 17.8 million people, "The Long Night" has emerged as Game of Thrones' second-lowest-rated episode ever on Rotten Tomatoes, next to only the Season 5 episode in which Sansa got raped. Plenty of people thought the episode was great--trust me, I've heard from them on Twitter since writing my review--but many fans also agree that the episode was oversimplified, underwhelming, and just plain disappointing.Technically speaking, this episode was full of good deaths. So why did it leave me feeling so cold? As I watched characters like Dolorous Edd, Theon Greyjoy, Beric Dondarrion, Jorah Mormont, and even little Lady Lyanna die gruesomely on the battlefield, I felt nothing but a growing dread that this most crucial of episodes was shaping up to be a major letdown. And I think I know at least one reason why.Many fans have felt mildly traumatized by Game of Thrones' most shocking deaths over the years, whether we read them on the page or watched them unfold onscreen first. Nevertheless, I was prepared for more as the final battle at Winterfell approached. I wanted to feel that feeling again--the electrifying despair of Ned's execution, Robb's murder at the Red Wedding, or even Jon's more recent (and very temporary) trip to the afterlife. There's a specific reason those deaths were so effective: These characters had a lot left to do.They didn't die like storybook heroes; they died like real people in real life, with work undone, promises unfulfilled, and regrets weighing heavy on their souls. Ned never told Jon the truth about his parentage, left his daughters to be devoured by lions in King's Landing, and never even said goodbye to his wife. Robb won the battles but lost the war, and all because of his foolish devotion to lofty ideals like love and honor. He led his loyal subjects to an all-encompassing slaughter, and left the surviving Starks--his brothers and sisters--more vulnerable than ever. All his plans for revenge and strategies to take the Lannisters down died with him. And Jon died without even a hint of the knowledge of who he really was, with the Night's Watch in ruins and his most important battles unfinished.Even many of the series' villains got similarly ill-timed ends. Tywin's scheming may never have stopped if Tyrion hadn't sent a quarrel through his gut, and the subsequent battles would have turned out much differently. When Khal Drogo gave Viserion his crown of molten gold back in Season 1, he cut short the would-be Targaryen king's entire life work--conquering Westeros and regaining the Iron Throne for his family. Viserion believed he was the Last Dragon, which made his death somewhat tragic--even if it was also well deserved. These deaths hit fans hard because they rang true. In real life, very few people get the privilege of fulfilling their "character arcs" before they die. Unlike in stories, there's never a good time to go. This is one of the many ways Game of Thrones has always adhered to a relative sense of realism, and it's one of the things that has made the series so beloved and addictive. These deaths weren't devastating gut punches simply because they were unexpected or shocking--it was because their victims left so many plot threads hanging, so much undone and unsaid.This is one of the many failures of "The Long Night." Look at most of the major deaths: Jorah, Theon, Beric, and Edd all had no possible role to play going forward. Yara has secured the Iron Islands and has no need for Theon, Jorah returned to his queen and died protecting her, Beric fulfilled his purpose of protecting Arya, and Edd doesn't need to uphold the Night's Watch anymore, because there is no Night's Watch after this. They all died with their character arcs complete, their farewells given, their failings redeemed or forgiven, and their plot threads tied up into neat little narrative bows.Certainly Lyanna Mormont, who Jorah recently reminded us was "the future of their House," is an exception. But she was by any definition a minor character in the grand scheme of things, and the dooming of House Mormont is nothing compared with the tragedy for which fans had prepared in this episode. There are many more characters whose deaths would have been more shocking, emotional, and impactful, precisely because they would have left acts undone, things unsaid, and destinies unfulfilled: Daenerys or Jon, Bran, Arya, or Sansa, Tyrion or Jaime, Sandor, Varys, Sam, or even Gendry. Obviously, I want as badly as any Game of Thrones fan to see the Hound light his brother the Mountain's stupid, giant head on fire, for Sansa to rule the North with Tyrion at her side, for Jaime to turn on Cersei and end her reign of terror once and for all, for Gendry to be legitimized and revive House Baratheon from the ashes, for Sam to write the Song of Ice and Fire, and a million other things. You know what else I wanted? For Ned Stark to expose Cersei's lies, for Catelyn to hug her children again, for Robb to conquer the South, for Stannis to retake Winterfell from the treacherous Boltons, for Kahl Drogo to lead the Dothraki across the Narrow Sea with Daenerys at his side and conquer the Seven Kingdoms in her name--you get my point.The shocks of those threads being left hanging in the wind made Game of Thrones a better story, and knowing there were real stakes in the show's biggest battle ever would have too. This was literally the fight between life and death, the heroes' last stand against a seemingly unstoppable force of nature itself. And the main characters all had so much plot armor that Sam was able to spend large swathes of the battle simply lying on the ground sobbing with a mob of hungry zombies piled on top of him, and come out fine on the other side.It may make for a happier ending when the final three episodes have aired and all is said and done, but this is not the Game of Thrones I used to love. Image: HBO/Helen SloanInfo from Gamespot.com

This review contains minor spoilers about mission structure and overall story direction. There are no spoilers for major narrative moments.Around 10 hours into Days Gone, you're thrown into a hunting tutorial apropos of nothing. The over-the-top libertarian character takes you out with a rifle and shows you how to track a deer, although you've already had a tracking tutorial. You're then tasked with getting more meat for you and your buddy because your supply is running low, something you never have to do again. You also don't cook or eat; you can only donate meat to camps around the map to earn a negligible amount of trust and money with them. After a little while, even stopping to get meat off wolves that attacked you doesn't seem worth it.Like many things in Days Gone, hunting exists just to be there, an idea that is picked up and then abandoned at random. Unlike hunting, some of those ideas are even good in the moment. But most aspects of Days Gone lack purpose. Its many narrative threads flirt with being meaningful and interesting but never quite commit, with characters whose actions and motivations don't make sense. Riding a souped-up motorcycle through the world and taking out zombie nests and hordes is satisfying in the way that completing open-world checklists often is, but by the end, you're left to wonder what the point of it all was.The first act of the game--about 20 hours or so--sets up quite a few narrative arcs. Two years after the initial "Freaker" outbreak, biker buddies Deacon St. John and Boozer have become drifters doing odd jobs for nearby survivor camps and keeping mostly to themselves. Deacon's wife, Sarah, had been stabbed at the very beginning of the outbreak; Deacon put her on a government helicopter bound for a refugee camp so she could get medical attention, but when he and Boozer arrived, the camp has been overrun by Freaks, and Sarah had apparently died. Deacon is understandably not coping with it well. Boozer suggests riding north and leaving the memories behind, but Deacon's bike breaks down and is subsequently looted for parts, so one of your main goals is to earn trust and credits at the nearby camps in order to rebuild your motorcycle.The motorcycle is central to everything you do in Days Gone. Getting anywhere, including by fast travel, requires your bike, and if you want to save while out in the world, you better be right next to it. Getting off your bike is a matter of both your entrance and your exit; you need to stop far enough away from enemies so they don't hear you coming, but you also need to be able to run to your bike quickly if things go south and you need to escape. And, as you're sneaking past Freakers to loot things like bandages and ammo, you also need to be on the lookout for a gas can and some scrap metal to keep your bike in top shape--if it breaks down or runs out of gas, you're basically screwed. That said, gas and other loot do regenerate if you leave and return to a location, so you'll never truly run out of anything so long as you put in the time to look for it.At the beginning, you do jobs for two camps: Copeland's conspiracy theorist stronghold and Tucker's hellish forced-labor camp. Copeland's has a mechanic capable of upgrading your bike, while Tucker's has a well-stocked weapons merchant. Your starter junk bike gets about a mile per gallon, and you can't store a gas can on your bike or your person, so you either have to return to a camp to fuel up or constantly scrounge for gas cans out in Freaker territory. This makes wandering around and doing things in the open world frustrating at first, so you do a lot of throwaway missions for the two camps to start.Many of these early missions consist of cookie-cutter bounty-hunting and rescue jobs in which you go to a place, track a person using your apparently psychic Survival Vision to highlight footprints and other clues, and then kill some bandits or Freakers. Some of these require you to take the target alive, which often means chasing them on your bike and shooting at their tires with your pistol. If you happen to run out of gas or ammo, or if your bike is already weak and breaks down after a couple of bumpy turns, you auto-fail these missions and have to start over. You also accelerate with R2 and shoot with R1, which, while not horrible, is clunky and awkward.One early scene involving a drug thief kicks off a series of missions like these that, once completed, has no bearing on the rest of the game despite initial appearances; once you track down the stolen drugs you have to choose which camp to return them to, but there are no consequences either way, and then the situation is dropped entirely. The only result is getting some trust and credits with one of the camps--I chose Copeland simply because I wanted money for a better fuel tank. A lot of the story missions going forward, as you discover a third, more narratively relevant camp, follow the same structures as these earlier missions. But the focus on Tucker and Copeland specifically amounts to hours of nothing in the grand scheme of the story. Tucker's forced labor doesn't come back to bite anyone, and while Tucker and Copeland don't seem to like each other, doing work for one camp doesn't affect your relationship with the other. Once you get to the third camp, Lost Lake, Tucker and Copeland cease to matter at all, not least because Lost Lake has both a better mechanic and better weapons.Once you upgrade your bike a bit, though, the world opens up. No longer bound by low gas mileage and a weak arsenal, you can head further out and more handily take on enemy-controlled areas around the map. You clear ambush camps by killing everyone present and eliminate Freaker infestation zones by burning all their nests. In addition to trust and credits, clearing an ambush camp nets you resources to loot, a map of the area, and a new fast travel point; destroying an infestation zone allows you to fast travel in the area. Unlocking the map and neutralizing threats is satisfying in the way that cleaning up clutter bit by bit is, and you can see your work pay off in your bike's upgrades. However, there's little variety between each ambush camp and infestation zone, and they get repetitive early--especially because Deacon dry-heaves and whines about the nests smelling horrible at each one.The real motivation to do all of this is twofold. Early on in the game, Deacon's best friend Boozer is attacked by a group of Rippers, a doomsday cult with a number of bizarre rituals. The Rippers singe a tattoo off Boozer's arm and leave him with third-degree burns, so Deacon's purpose in life is to keep Boozer alive and healthy. This mostly involves finding sterile bandages and the one mission where you gather meat for him. On top of that, though, Deacon sees a helicopter belonging to the government agency NERO, which had been involved in the initial relief effort, flying overhead. That gives Deacon a bit of hope that Sarah might still be alive, since he'd put her on a NERO helicopter after she was stabbed, so you start stalking the NERO soldiers and scientists to investigate further.There are a number of flashbacks to Deacon's relationship with Sarah before the outbreak, bolstered by his hope that she's alive. They're largely awkward cutscenes interspersed with short sections of walking slowly while Sarah and Deacon talk about surface-level topics, and they don't ever provide a convincing reason why they're together. Deacon is a biker and Sarah is a "nice girl" scientist, which is fine, but "opposites attract" isn't enough to make their relationship compelling. It's romantic in that Deacon hasn't given up on Sarah, but the main takeaway from the flashbacks is that they're physically attracted to each other and that Deacon doesn't talk about his feelings.The NERO arc is where things really pick up. Spying on the NERO scientists consists of insta-fail stealth missions. They can be frustrating before you unlock abilities to improve your stealth skills, but the conversations you overhear are legitimately interesting and answer questions that other zombie fiction often neglects. For example, you learn from one eavesdropping on a scientist studying Freaker scat that they eat more than just other people and each other--they also eat plants, and that means they're not going to starve any time soon (like in 28 Days Later). Deacon quickly gets in contact with a NERO researcher who uses government resources to track down what might have happened to Sarah. Even though their relationship is confusing, it is a tempting mystery.Abandoned Nero medical units and research sites contain more small details, including recorders that play snippets of scenes--a scientist studying a Freaker specimen, the moment a camp got overrun, or just banter between soldiers. Getting inside a unit is a matter of refueling the generator, making sure to find and disable every speaker nearby so the noise doesn't attract Freakers. Finding each speaker can be a bit tricky at certain sites, which makes the moment you turn the power on more exciting and the realization that you're in the clear more of a relief. And in addition to satisfying your curiosity, you're also given the more tangible reward of an injector that improves your health, stamina, and bullet-time-like focus ability.As you learn more about NERO and the Freakers, you're introduced to new, more powerful types of Freaks, including a berserker and an all-female variant that screams to attract more Freaks your way. They don't really provide new challenges so much as slow you down, and they feel like a stopgap measure to tide you over until the first horde-based mission around 40 hours into the game. That first horde mission is exhilarating--running around while using tight spaces and molotovs to keep the horde off you, eventually taking out hundreds of Freakers, is a well-earned victory. But that mission is followed very quickly by another one, and after a short break, you have two more nearly back-to-back horde missions that lead up to the end of the main story. Without any breathing room, the hordes are exhausting to deal with, and you'll likely have to stop everything to loot and rebuild your stockpile of resources after each one just so you can progress.Ultimately, though, Days Gone isn't about NERO or Sarah or the Freakers. It's about Deacon, and what he wants is what matters. Narrative threads are dropped as soon as Deacon no longer has a use for them. Copeland and Tucker only matter until Deacon gets to a camp that has better supplies. Boozer's health is only important because it's Deacon's reason for living. Even the fascinating little details about the Freakers are useless to Deacon, who only cares about Sarah--but not what Sarah wants or needs, just that his "ol' lady" might be alive somewhere. Every character is seen through this Deacon-focused lens, and as a result, they're two-dimensional.Deacon is selfish, and it's simply boring that the game is uncritical of him.Deacon does not learn anything over the course of the game, and the story is concerned with validating his actions and feelings above all else. When one character urges him not to kill anyone in cold blood, Deacon "proves" that murder is better than mercy. As Boozer nearly breaks through to Deacon about learning to let go, Deacon learns something new about NERO and clings to his hope even harder. Deacon also has a policy where he doesn't kill unarmed women, which does not affect the story in any way and goes completely unexamined. There's no introspection here; Deacon is selfish, and it's simply boring that the game is uncritical of him.I did a lot of things in Days Gone. I burned every single Freaker nest; I cleared every ambush camp; I maxed out my bike; I took out a few optional hordes just because. Like Deacon with Sarah, I kept going because I hoped to find something, to follow a thread to a possibly fascinating or satisfying or impactful conclusion. But at the end of it all, I'd only gotten scraps.Info from Gamespot.com

Madden NFL 18 introduced the story-focused single-player mode Longshot, which focused on two aspiring football players, Devin Wade and Colt Cruise. It even featured a performance by Oscar winner Mahershala Ali. The story continued with Madden NFL 19, and it added Rob Schneider and Joey King from the Netflix movie The Kissing Booth.It appears the story is over. [Update: it's now confirmed that Madden 20 will not bring back the Longshot Mode from the two previous games. "Devin and Colt's stories wrapped up in Longshot 2, and we're looking forward to players experiencing Face of the Franchise: QB1, our new career campaign," an EA Sports representative told GameSpot]Madden NFL 20 was announced last week with no mention of Longshot. Instead, EA focused on a new career mode called Face of the Franchise: QB1. It appears this new mode is replacing Longshot.Game Informer's extensive interview feature with creative director Mike Young is worded as if QB1 is replacing Longshot. GameSpot has followed up with EA Sports in an attempt to get more details.For the new QB1 mode, players will take on the role of a backup QB at a big-time college school who has to step up in the biggest spot: in the College Football Playoff. College football is featured in Madden NFL 20, and that's a big deal because it's been away for so long due to various lawsuits and other issues. There are 10 colleges featured in Madden NFL 20, including powerhouses like Clemson and Oklahoma.Go to Game Informer to read their extensive and in-depth preview of Madden NFL 20's exciting-sounding career mode.In addition to the new QB1 mode, Madden NFL 20 introduces "Superstar X-Factor," which is a progression-based system that lets players perform jaw-dropping abilities with skilled players. It also "modernizes" the offensive playbooks, adds a new Urban Symphony soundtrack featuring traditional sports music like marching bands, and new player celebrations, among other things. Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes is on the cover.Madden NFL 20 launches on August 2, but you can play early by pre-ordering one of the game's premium editions. Here's a breakdown of all the pre-order bonuses and how to play early. Info from Gamespot.com

Game of Thrones Season 8 continued tonight with the dramatic Battle of Winterfell episode, the franchise's longest episode ever, but what's coming up next?HBO has now released a teaser video for Episode 4, and it hints at yet another battle to come. We don't want to give anything away ... so check out the video below to see the teaser video.The next Game of Thrones episode airs Sunday, May 5. It's another long one, coming in at 78 minutes. The final two episodes, Episode 5 and Episode 6, are each 80 minutes in length.While the mainline Game of Thrones show is ending, George R.R. Martin is working on new books, and at least one prequel TV show is on the way. Info from Gamespot.com

The eighth and final season of HBO's beloved fantasy drama Game of Thrones continued tonight in dramatic fashion. The third episode showcased the Battle of Winterfell, the dramatic showdown between the Night King and his army and forces at Winterfell.It was indeed a dramatic episode with a lot to take in and consider. HBO has now released a nice "Inside the Episode" video in which showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff break down the key scenes and moments. You can check out the video below. Of course you'll probably want to actually watch the episode first. At 82 minutes long, week's episode was the longest in the show's history. Next week's episode is 78 minutes long, while the final two after that are 80 minutes each.HBO has already released the first teaser for Episode 4, and it hints at yet another dramatic showdown coming soon--check it out here.Info from Gamespot.com

HBO has officially passed on one of the Game of Thrones prequel shows it was exploring. One of the show's writers and producers, Bryan Cogman, had been working on the concept with George R.R. Martin, but he's now revealed that HBO is going in a different direction."My prequel show is not happening and will not happen. HBO decided to go a different way," he told The Hollywood Reporter. Cogman is now working at Amazon on their own shows."I am done with Westeros. It's wonderfully bittersweet. I'll certainly miss it, but I'm excited to go out on my own and try to be in the captain's chair of my own projects, armed with everything I've learned," Cogman said. "I've learned more than I could possibly imagine from eight seasons of this thing. I'm eager to start the next chapter, but a part of my heart will always live with Game of Thrones."Cogman wrote many episodes of Game of Thrones over the years, including Season 8 Episode 2, "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," which was much-loved by fans. He's also an executive producer of Game of Thrones overall.Regarding the prequel show he was working on, George R.R. Martin said it was set in a "very exciting" period of Westerosi history. "Bryan's series will be an adaptation, and one that will thrill most fans of the books, I think, set during a very exciting period of Westerosi history," he said. "And I'll be working with him every step of the way; we're going to be co-creating the show."Things can change, and they did, it seems. It's not immediately clear why HBO decided to pass on Cogman's Game of Thrones prequel idea, but HBO programming boss Casey Bloys previously talked about why the network was commissioning so many--as many as five were reportedly considered."The idea was, if we're going to try it, let's take a couple of shots and see," he said. "My hope is at least one lives up to the level of quality [showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss] have set."HBO is producing at least one Game of Thrones prequel, from Kingsman and Kick-Ass writer Jane Goldman. The spinoff will follow the progression from the Age of Heroes into the Long Night, which takes place roughly ten thousand years before the events in the original show. None of the characters or actors from the main Game of Thrones will appear in the new show.HBO has ordered a pilot for the new show, but not a full series. Naomi Watts is reportedly going to play the lead actress role in the show. Following Watts, HBO has added another person to the Game of Thrones prequel cast.Meanwhile, Game of Thrones just aired its longest episode ever; you can check out our Episode 3 review for our thoughts. We also have a breakdown about Ghost.Info from Gamespot.com

Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 3, "The Long Night," left us cold. Read on to find out why. Then, if you want to dig deeper, check out what happened to Jon's dragon, what happened to Ghost, and our new theories based on Episode 3. You can also refresh yourself on everyone who's died this season, including at the Battle of Winterfell, and pore over all the Easter eggs and references you might have missed this week. What did you think of this episode? Let us know in the comments below.Through all the twists and turns over the last eight seasons, Game of Thrones has never been straightforward--until now. Season 8 Episode 3, "The Long Night," brought one of Game of Thrones' main storylines to its conclusion. The battle with the dead is over, the Night King is defeated, and the forces of the living are victorious. And it happened in the least inventive, most predictable way imaginable.It's possible that I've been immersed in the world of Game of Thrones theories, speculating, and prophecies for too long. But that's a huge part of the fun of being a Game of Thrones fan: The books, and sometimes the show, are crafted so densely, with layers on layers of meaning and allusion, that combing through line-by-line to suss out every last secret feels endlessly rewarding. Fan communities across the internet have been cranking out theories for literally decades, even as the pace of book releases slowed to a crawl (and apparently stopped altogether at some point).All these years of deep-digging have sometimes made it hard to enjoy the show, which is (understandably) simplified compared with the source material. But it also gives the series' biggest fans a huge amount of perspective: We can see all the possibilities for which the groundwork has been expertly laid over the years. And in "The Long Night," those possibilities all amounted to basically nothing.Where do I even start? I guess with the fact that it seems like Game of Thrones, the show, has just missed the point of the entire series: that the squabbles between the great houses of Westeros are nothing compared with the unstoppable force of nature slowly bearing down on them from the wintery north. Game of Thrones was never supposed to actually be about the battle for the throne--it's supposed to be about the characters coming together to realize what was really important. The quintessential human fallacy, according to the brain of George R.R. Martin, is believing with absolute certainty that your personal battles are the most important fights that exist. It's a failure of perspective.Now, with three episodes left, the series' ultimate threat died with a whimper, and its most short-sighted characters turned out to be right, their selfishness justified. As we saw in the preview for next week's episode, the survivors are going right back to their squabbles. They won the great war, but lost the thematic throughline. Why did any of this matter? To give Arya a cool hero moment? So Bran could keep doing absolutely nothing? So Theon could die pointlessly?The litany of "whys," "whats," and "wheres" won't stop marching through my mind: What has Melisandre been doing in Volantis since last season? Where was undead Rickon Stark (or any other recognizable character) when the Stark corpses came alive in the crypts? Why was there so much foreshadowing about the crypts if nobody important was going to die down there? Why does the show refuse to acknowledge Ghost or include the direwolf in any meaningful way? Why did Jon's revelation to Dany--one of the most important plotlines in the entire series--occur right before this battle if it wasn't going to have any bearing on the events of this episode? There's no catharsis or payoff in anything that happened in "The Long Night." Yes, it was cool to see Jon and Dany tearing through the sky on their dragons laying waste to the army of the dead with massive gouts of flame. But this episode felt weirdly self-contained, like everything that's happened leading up to it didn't matter. Every fan theory I've seen about the battle with the dead--whether it's a theory from the books 20 years ago or from Reddit last week--is immeasurably more interesting than what actually happened.One of my favorites until now was that the Night King wouldn't actually show up at this battle--that the attack on Winterfell was a feint, and he was flying to King's Landing to roast Cersei on her throne. There was a ton of evidence for it, but it still would have been a shock. And even better, it would have fit that ultimate series theme--that the fight for the throne was a petty squabble, and the people who failed to see the big picture (i.e. Cersei) would pay a price for it. Instead, the Night King took the bait at Winterfell and died like an idiot. He took his entire race with him, and we never learned anything about them besides "White Walkers=bad."There are so, so many things that will just never be paid off now. Dany unified the Dothraki tribes and brought them to Westeros so they could die, one and all, in a single ill-conceived charge (seriously, what was the strategy there?). What was the point of Melisandre's entire storyline--the Lord of Light, the resurrections, the Prince that was Promised? Was it really all so she could light some swords on fire and tell Arya to go stab a dude?Even within the confines of this episode's story--Night King is just a dumb Big Bad Guy after all, he comes to Winterfell, he gets killed--there are endless more rewarding ways it could have gone down. Remember when Dany magically survived Khal Drogo's funeral pyre in Season 1? Now imagine Jon hadn't told Dany about his true identity last season, and instead she had realized there was more to him than she thought when he stepped into her dragonfire, unharmed, and stabbed the Night King in the back. Or it's Arya--but instead of nonsensically jumping onto the Night King's back, she employs her Faceless Men magic to pose as Bran. Bran stabs the Night King, removes his face, bam, it's Arya.That's payoff. This was boring. The battle wasn't even that cool, for all the show's creators hyped it up. Long, yes, but much of it was so dark that it was hard to read the action and tell what was happening. And all their strategies were terrible: They wasted the Dothraki in a single pointless charge, Jon and Dany flew around in the clouds doing nothing for minutes on end, and they sent their most vulnerable people underground to the place with dozens of pre-packaged zombies just waiting for the Night King to pop them into the microwave. Dany sat on the ground for no reason and didn't notice the horde of undead crawling onto Drogon's back, and the Night King and all his generals didn't hear the young woman sneaking up on them through the snow. Every single character, living or dead, acted in the stupidest ways possible. It's incredible to me that this episode was written by showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss, because it feels like it was written by somebody who's never seen the show before, much less has any understanding of the source material.With three episodes left, Game of Thrones has pulled one of its final twists: It subverted all our expectations in the worst ways possible. We expected some real, impactful main character deaths in this episode, and it turned out the stakes weren't nearly as high as we thought. We expected some payoff for things Game of Thrones has spent seven seasons setting up, and the reality is much of it was simply pointless. And worst of all, we expected the culmination of Game of Thrones' most important storyline--the literal battle between life and death--to matter.We expected Game of Thrones to be better. And unfortunately, the show did what it's done so many times before: It turned our expectations upside-down. But being surprised by Game of Thrones has never felt worse. Info from Gamespot.com

Sony released the PlayStation Classic mini-console in December for $100 USD. It was very quickly discounted to $60, and now you can get it for $40 or less. Now, we've finally reached the point where the console is being given away for free (kind of). As part of a one-day flash sale at Best Buy, you can get the mini retro console as a free bonus when you buy a PS4 Pro, which is selling for $400 USD.BUY A PS4 PRO AND GET THE PS CLASSIC FOR FREE »This deal is available for today only--Best Buy's flash sale ends tonight at 10 PM PT / 1 AM ET. For what it's worth, the sale also includes some solid deals on laptops, Apple products, monitors, TVs, speakers, and home accessories, so it's worth checking out the full list of deals if you've been shopping around for any of those items.SHOP BEST BUY'S FLASH SALE »A warning of sorts is in order for the PlayStation Classic. In GameSpot's PlayStation Classic review, critic Peter Brown wasn't thrilled with the retro console. "The PS Classic doesn't feel like a celebration of PlayStation's formative years the way Nintendo's systems do," he wrote.The PlayStation Classic comes with 20 games pre-installed, including classics like Metal Gear Solid and the original Grand Theft Auto, as well as Resident Evil Director's Cut, Rayman, and Twisted Metal. You can see the full list of games below.PlayStation Classic Full Game ListBattle Arena ToshindenCool Boarders 2Destruction DerbyFinal Fantasy VIIGrand Theft AutoIntelligent QubeJumping FlashMetal Gear SolidMr DrillerOddworld: Abe’s OddyseeRaymanResident Evil Director's CutRevelations: PersonaRidge Racer Type 4Super Puzzle Fighter II TurboSyphon FilterTekken 3Tom Clancy's Rainbow SixTwisted MetalWild ArmsInfo from Gamespot.com

Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 3--The Long Night--aired last night, marking the longest-ever episode of the show. It also featured the show's biggest battle. You can check out our Episode 3 review for our impressions as we move on toward the last three episodes of the series.Game of Thrones reached a major climax in its final season in The Long Night, the third of the show's final six episodes. With the army of the dead at its gates, the forces of the living, led by Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow, faced a final showdown with the Night King. Along with the forces of the North, the Freefolk, the Unsullied, and the Dothraki, there was Jon Snow's long-missing direwolf, Ghost, joining the fighters for the living--least for a second.We've been wondering what the deal is with Ghost for quite a while. He last had any real screentime back in Season 6, when Melisandre resurrected Jon from the dead. He basically vanished after that, on account of the effort and cost of animating the direwolves being actually pretty high. But we saw him briefly return in Season 8's second episode, establishing that the pup was hanging around Winterfell with Jon. And finally, we saw him get into the action at the start of the Battle of Winterfell.Ghost charges into the fight with Daenerys's Dothraki screamers and Jorah Mormont, who lead the battle against the army of the dead. Slowly, however, we realize the Dothraki are completely overmatched, and only a few horses and Jorah Mormont seem to survive the attack. Ghost isn't among the survivors who come fleeing back to Winterfell--so what happened to the direwolf?It seems there's no wight version of Ghost out there in the fields around Winterfell, despite the suggestion that the direwolf might have fallen in battle. Though he never shows up again in Episode 3, HBO gave a super-quick hint that there's more Ghost to come, at least in the next episode of the show.You can very briefly glimpse Ghost with the survivors of the Battle of Winterfell in the teaser for Episode 4, which aired at the end of The Long Night. Look extremely closely on the right side of the frame, behind Daenerys and Samwell Tarly, and you'll catch sight of Ghost hanging out with everybody else just outside the Winterfell gates, as the survivors ostensibly prepare to burn the many, many bodies piled up outside the castle. A flash of white fur and four legs is about all we can spot, though.Not seeing what Ghost got up to in the Battle of Winterfell was definitely something of a bummer. In the early seasons of the show and in George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" novels on which they're based, the direwolves and their connection to the Stark children always seemed like a very big deal, and a relationship that was leading somewhere. The show has all but written the remaining direwolves out altogether, though. Summer, Bran's wolf, died protecting him at the cave of the Three-Eyed Raven, and Rickon's wolf Shaggy Dog died off-screen before the Battle of the Bastards in Season 6. Ghost pretty much vanished from the show, along with Arya's wolf Nymeria, who showed up briefly in Season 7 to give Arya an emotional moment before disappearing back into the woods. In fact, there were some fan theories that suggested both Ghost and Nymeria would have a part to play in the battle against the Night King and in saving their respective Starks. That the direwolves and their relationships with the Stark family has seemingly amounted to so little is one of the bigger disappointments with the show's adaptation of the novels.It's not clear what role Ghost might have, if any, going forward. We know Daenerys means to head south to King's Landing with her remaining forces to take the Iron Throne, and one assumes Jon will be in tow to help. So maybe Ghost is heading down to rip out the throats of some Golden Company dudes. Maybe Ghost will take a page from his sister and go be free, now that the threat of the Night King has been eliminated. It would certainly help keep the effects budget down for show's last few episodes. Info from Gamespot.com

Days Gone is the UK's biggest launch of the year so far, according to sales monitor Chart-Track. Sony's PS4 exclusive has received a mixed response from critics, but that hasn't stopped it outselling fellow new entry Mortal Kombat 11, which debuts at No.2.The rest of the top 10 paints a familiar picture for the week ending April 27. FIFA 19 is at No.3, while Red Dead Redemption 2 continues its strong chart performance at No.4. The Division 2 slips two places to No.5, and last week's No.1, World War Z, drops to No.10 this week.But this week's No.1 received a 5/10 in our Days Gone review. "I did a lot of things in Days Gone," wrote Kallie Plagge. "I burned every single Freaker nest; I cleared every ambush camp; I maxed out my bike; I took out a few optional hordes just because. Like Deacon with Sarah, I kept going because I hoped to find something, to follow a thread to a possibly fascinating or satisfying or impactful conclusion. But at the end of it all, I'd only gotten scraps."Our Mortal Kombat 11 review-in-progress, meanwhile, awards the fighting game an 8/10. Edmond Tran wrote: "MK11 isn't just a sequel for series fans and Netherrealm devotees, it's a gateway into the realm of fighting games for anyone who has a passing interest in watching ruthless warriors beat each other silly. Streamlined mechanics keep the act of fighting furiously exciting no matter what your skill level, and comprehensive tutorials encourage you to dig into the nitty-gritty. There's a diverse roster of interesting characters and playstyles, and the story mode is an entertaining romp. The unfulfilling approaches to the game's dynamic single-player content and progression may feel like they've totally whiffed (at least at this early stage), but Mortal Kombat 11 hits where it matters."You can read the full top 10 sales chart for this week below, courtesy of UKIE and GfK Chart-Track. Note this table does not include digital sales data, and so should not be considered representative of all UK game sales.Days GoneMortal Kombat 11FIFA 19Red Dead Redemption 2The Division 2Mario Kart 8 DeluxeSekiro: Shadows Die TwiceForza Horizon 4New Super Mario Bros. U DeluxeWorld War ZInfo from Gamespot.com