It's never too early to get excited about the new football season. If you're thinking about picking up the recently announced Madden NFL 20, there are a few different editions and pre-order bonuses to consider ahead of the game's release in early August.The pre-order bonuses include things like early access to the games, content for the very popular Ultimate Team mode, and special abilities for the brand-new Face of the Franchise: QB1 mode that features college football. Below is a breakdown of the various Madden 20 SKUMadden NFL 20: Ultimate Superstar Edition$100 USDThis premium version of Madden 20 includes a series of nice perks. Starting off, this version unlocks three days early, beginning on July 30. It also comes with a unique QB legend superstar ability, in the form of either Steve Young, Kurt Warner, John Elway, or Randall Cunningham. The Ultimate Superstar Edition also includes MUT content like 16 Gold packs, 1 of 32 Core Elite players from any NFL team, and more.Madden 20: Superstar Edition$80 USDThe Superstar Edition also comes with three-day early access, as well as the same options for unique QB legend superstar ability. There is also MUT content as well, including 1 of 32 Core Elite Players, 12 Gold team fantasy packs, and 1 small training quick sell.Madden 20: Standard Edition$60 USDThe standard edition, meanwhile, unlocks on the regular launch day--August 2--and it also includes the same choice of unique QB legend superstar ability. Some MUT content is also packaged in, including one of the 32 Core Elite players and 5x Gold team packs.It hasn't been mentioned by EA yet, but most EA-published titles are available early for EA/Origin Access subscribers, so that may be another way to play early.Madden NFL 20 launches on August 2 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. For more on Madden 20, check out GameSpot's previous coverage here. Info from Gamespot.com

Now that the world is seeing Avengers: Endgame in record numbers, the final installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Infinity Saga, there are many questions to be answered. And that's before you consider what happens from here in the MCU. We know some of the movies still to come, but how will Marvel Studios top what it has already done? Warning: The following contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame.While most of the questions you have will likely be answered with time, there's some we can solve right now, whether it's if there was a post-credits scene or what the ending of the film means. However, there's yet another question--a minor one, but still--that is ready to be answered.Toward the end of the film, during Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) funeral, many of those he's has known throughout the first decade of the MCU are seen, from his fellow Avengers to the Guardians of the Galaxy, to even friends like Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). There was one face in the crowd you might not have recognized, though: that of a teenage boy. At a glance, you may have dismissed him as being Peter Parker (Tom Holland), but the answer is actually a really nice Easter Egg.The boy is Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins). You should remember him as Tony Stark's kid sidekick in Iron Man 3. In the 2013 film, Tony winds up in Tennessee after an attack by the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), where he befriends Harley. The kid then helps him track down the Mandarin and plays a big role in helping Tony cope with the PTSD he's suffering from due to the fallout of the first Avengers film.Harley was not seen or mentioned in the MCU after Iron Man 3, but including him in Tony's funeral is a very nice touch--and one that shows the impact Stark had on the young man. In fact, now that he's growing up, perhaps Harley could be a candidate to become the next Iron Man. That probably won't happen, but what a fun twist it would be. Regardless, the mystery is solved.Avengers: Endgame is in theaters now. Made sure to check out GameSpot's review of the film, as well as an accounting of everyone who dies, and a deep dive into figuring out Dr. Strange's plan between Infinity War and Endgame.Info from Gamespot.com

After years of development, Sony's next big exclusive, Days Gone, is finally here for PlayStation 4. We caught up with the game's composer, Nathan Whitehead, for a chat about the soundtrack to the post-apocalyptic world the Pacific Northwest. Whitehead previously composed the music for the Purge film series and Transformers: Dark of the Moon, among other things.In our conversation, Whitehead discusses how he came to be attached to the project, the challenges (and opportunities) of working with an interactive medium like video games, the overall tone and inspiration for Days Gone's music, and the task of not repeating himself after working professionally in music for so many years. We also asked what kind of music Deacon St. John and his biker gang would probably listen to--his response is pretty great.You can find our full interview with Whitehead below.For more on Days Gone, you can check out GameSpot's PS4 review here, as well as all of our written and video content here.Q: Can you talk about the origins of music in your life and your inspirations? Where did it all begin and how did you cultivate it into the career you have today?My parents constantly played music when I was growing up. We weren't a family of musicians but there was always music playing. Lots of The Beatles and folk/rock from the '60s. We even had this film score compilation cassette tape that we nearly wore out. I was eight or nine years old and had never seen old movies like Dr. Zhivago but I knew the music from that tape. I was fascinated by music as far back as I can remember and I was also very curious. I started by just picking out melodies I had heard on the piano in our living room. I remember loving the way music could make me feel and thinking, 'What if I could write my own music?' It felt like having a superpower. A huge part of the inspiration to become a composer was all those powerful experiences I had growing up listening to music, watching movies, playing games, etc. I migrated from piano to guitar and that eventually led to forming a band in high school.We played mostly punk rock. Punk is great but I always felt the urge to try writing all these different kinds of music that didn’t fit the band. One day it clicked that, as a composer, I could explore all these different genres of music and be a part of films and games and the sort of experiences that had been so special to me. It immediately felt like the perfect job and it still feels that way today. My career path was basically moving from Tennessee to L.A. and working my way up through assistant jobs. I always continued to write music for short films, student projects, anything I could get my hands on. For me, moving to L.A. was really helpful and I was fortunate during this time to have some great mentors like Steve Jablonsky. After several years helping out with programming and arranging for other composers, I started getting some small films on my own and never looked back.Q: How did you come to be attached to Days Gone?John Garvin, the creative director at Sony Bend Studio, heard a piece of music I wrote for The Purge: Anarchy that he liked. That led to some meetings with the Sony music team and eventually with John. I was extremely excited by the project from day one and I wrote a couple of ideas for John to check out. Things seemed to click and shortly thereafter I was invited to join the team!Q: Video games are highly interactive, unlike TV and movies. What were some of the challenges with Days Gone as it relates to making music for the game when you're not necessarily sure how the player will be interacting with the world at any point?Days Gone is this big, open world experience with a really powerful story. I think combining those two elements is one of the biggest challenges for the music. The story is usually served well by a score that’s more linear but the big, dynamic world means there is even more unpredictability in what could be happening at any moment.I really wanted the player to have this immersive experience and if there’s a weird music transition, it can take them out of that experience. The Sony team were geniuses at designing the interactive implementation and that informed the way I wrote the score. Rather than simply fading music out, I wrote longer transition pieces that would feel more like a band vamping and ending organically. I also wrote a lot of layered pieces where individual tiers could be turned off or on by the game engine according to what’s happening in-game and it can make those transitions on musical beats. Hopefully, this all results in the unpredictable gameplay feeling much more like it's being scored in a linear fashion, just on the fly.Q: A lot of music, at least early on, is grimy and spooky--sort of like Alice in Chains-style guitars but darker in a way. Was this something intentional to represent the Pacific Northwest where the game is set and where grunge bands hail from?I don't think we specifically mentioned grunge but the decision to incorporate guitars and other dark, grimy elements was very much informed by the Pacific Northwest setting. This mix of folk Americana and a touch of rock elements felt right for the place and also for the biker culture. I could see Deacon St. John listening to some classic Alice in Chains from time to time. These rougher textures in the score were also inspired by the way the world is now, two years after the apocalypse. Everything has lost its sheen and the music couldn’t be too shiny and polished, either.Q: What kind of overall tone and feel is the music for Days Gone trying to evoke?There's a lot of opposing forces to juggle in Days Gone--hope and tragedy, beautiful nature and a world that will kill you, and Deacon's internal struggle with regrets and fears. My aim was for the music to possess some of the determination and grit we see in Deacon and to also feel a little introspective. And that all needed to be believable in the biker culture Deacon is a part of.Q: You worked on Days Gone for two years, I think I heard; what was the process like? Is it creatively challenging or freeing to have so much time to work on a project, as compared to TV or movies where you have quicker turnarounds and deadlines?A little over two years! I found it really creatively freeing to have so much time. I loved being able to really focus on our musical vocabulary and keep iterating until the identity of the score felt right. That is hard to do on any project and you never get that much time on quick TV turnarounds. It's rare with movies. We talked a lot about the various pillars of the score--the various thematic or conceptual elements that help tell the story the music needed to tell. I think of this as musical world-building and I loved having so much time to focus on this phase.Nathan Whitehead / Photo credit: Leah MurphyQ: Can you talk about the creative process of working with a game studio and their own music/audio director; how much back and forth was there?One of the best things about scoring Days Gone was the amazing team I got to work with. I spoke regularly with Sony music producers Pete Scaturro and Keith Leary and also met with John Garvin as much as possible. There was a lot of back and forth and I loved that. I would write some music and we would talk about what worked and what didn’t and new ideas would always arise from those meetings. John was great at immediately articulating his gut response to the music and he spoke in emotional terms.To me, that is the most effective way to navigate this process – just discuss how the music makes us feel or talk about how we want to feel. A big part of the collaboration was also the tremendous support for my composing process. The team at Sony was phenomenal at managing all the details and logistics of music for a AAA game while also creating space for me to simply focus on writing music. It’s a wonderful spot to be in as a composer and I'm so grateful for the collaboration.Q: I think some of the best work oftentimes goes unnoticed or underappreciated, and this could apply to music. How do you feel about that, if it's even true?I think that is true sometimes. What really excites me is storytelling and connecting with people through storytelling. Music has such special powers to do both of these things and a truly great score might be easier to overlook because the player is so engrossed in the game. That’s a huge success in my opinion. I would rather someone be moved by experiencing Days Gone and not remember the music than have them disengage from the story but like the soundtrack.Q: You have written so much music over the years, for video games, TV, movies, and more; how do you go about not repeating yourself?I only really know if I’m on the right path if the music I’m writing makes me feel something. That goes a long way to helping me avoid repeating myself because the musical approach I took on one score will almost never feel good to me on another project. But if I feel stuck in a rut one thing that can help is to force some limitations on the project. If I chose to only use a string quartet and an analog synth on a score, it forces me into territory I might not have been before and makes it difficult to repeat past work. That obviously has to be right for the project at hand but that can be a great way to craft a unique sound.Q: Kind of a weird one, but what kind of music do you think Deacon's biker gang likes?Well, I think you nailed it earlier with the grunge connection. Alice in Chains and bikers go well together or hard-hitting Tom Morello stuff like Prophets of Rage. But Deacon is also a thinker and not simply an aggro biker. I could see him listening to Bon Iver or The National on occasion, too.Q: Anything else you want to share about the music for Days Gone?I’ve quickly learned how passionate and invested the game community is and I just want to say thank you to all the gamers out there for the excitement and anticipation they have already shown for Days Gone and for the music. It’s been such a challenging and rewarding project and I’m so excited to share it with everyone. Info from Gamespot.com

Die-hard PlayStation fans now have a new online destination for games-related merchandise and apparel: Sony just relaunched its online PlayStation Gear Store this week with officially licensed products inspired by PlayStation and some of its biggest games, like God of War, Bloodborne, Uncharted, and The Last of Us. As of right now, the PlayStation Gear Store is available only to those in North America and ships to the United States, Mexico, and Canada.The new store has a wide range of official products, from apparel and accessories to home decor. According to Sony's announcement, limited-edition items are coming soon and will include collectibles, seasonal products, and brand collaborations.Head over to the PlayStation Gear Store to check out the new offerings, and see some of the new products that caught our eye below.Controller Tee, $24.95BUY NOWSymbols Fizz Backpack, $14.95BUY NOWPlayStation Branded Gadget Decals, $12.95BUY NOWKojima Productions Logo Tee, $28.95BUY NOWInflatable Controller Chair, $39.95BUY NOWBomber Jacket, $129.95BUY NOWGod of War Pop Games Vinyl Figure, $14.95BUY NOWBloodborne Eileen the Crow Tee, $28.95BUY NOWUncharted Artifacts Coasters - Set of 4, $29.95BUY NOWInfo from Gamespot.com

A year after THQ Nordic handled development of the remaster, Red Faction: Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered Edition is making its way to the Nintendo Switch. The game initially launched in 2009, before seeing a current-gen remaster last year, and the open-world shooter will land on Nintendo's portable handheld on July 2.It will feature everything that came with the remaster and will retail for $29.99 / €29.99 / £26.99. THQ has also confirmed that there will be a physical release with an appropriately-colored red spine.Seize the means of destruction once again! Red Faction Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered Edition is coming to Nintendo Switch on July 2nd 2019.#RedFaction #SpaceAsshole https://t.co/Q8v2QY2My9 — THQNordic (@THQNordic) April 24, 2019Germany-based studio Kaiko Games, the developers who ported games like Darksiders Warmastered Edition and Legend of Kay Anniversary Edition, is in charge of the remastered Nintendo Switch port. Red Faction: Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered Edition will feature the choice between Performance and Quality modes, full reworked graphics and textures, improved lighting and shadow rendering, and reworked shaders and prostprocessing effects. The game will be on the Nintendo Switch, so it'll also come with the option of motion control activiation.Red Faction: Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered Edition is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.Info from Gamespot.com

Fortnite's 8.50 update is now live across PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch, and mobile devices, kicking off the game's highly anticipated Avengers: Endgame limited-time event. That isn't the extent of the crossover, however. Epic has also introduced an assortment of new Avengers-inspired cosmetics to the battle royale game, including a cool skin based on Black Widow.The Black Widow outfit, which you can see below, is available for purchase now from Fortnite's in-game store. It costs 1,500 V-Bucks and comes in two variants: one with red hair, and one with blonde. It also includes a matching Back Bling. On top of that, Epic is selling a Widow's Bite harvesting tool skin for 800 V-Bucks, as well as a Widow's Pirouette emote for 200.The Black Widow skin had been listed as a limited-time offer, to expire on the same day of its release at 5 PM PT / 8 PM ET. A day later, though, the skin is still available and the countdown has reset. That gives you at least a few more hours to grab it. There's no telling when or if it will cycle back again, but Epic has said another Avengers outfit will be going on sale "early next week."Meanwhile, the Fortnite Endgame LTM will run through to the end of Season 8. This special mode has players either siding with Thanos and his Chitauri Invaders or the Heroes trying to stop them. Those on Team Thanos must find the six Infinity Stones scattered around the island in order to power up the mad titan, while players on the Heroes' side will need to find the Avengers' iconic weapons and wield them against the villains. There's also a set of Fortnite Endgame challenges to complete, which will unlock more Avengers-inspired cosmetics.Epic has already issued a hotfix to the LTM, which buffs many of Thor's moves, nerfs Iron Man's gauntlet blast, and awards a little less health for gathering the infinity stones.On top of all that, Week 9's challenges are also live in Fortnite, which means we're quickly nearing the end of Season 8. That also means you only have a little more time to complete any outstanding challenges from this season and unlock the remaining Battle Pass rewards. If you need any help, we've rounded up tips for the trickier tasks in our complete Season 8 challenges guide.Info from Gamespot.com

Anthony and Joseph Russo, collectively known as the Russo brothers, have helmed four Marvel movies--including both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and two of the three Captain America movies--back-to-back. With Endgame here, the Russo brothers are taking the chance to say goodbye to Marvel Studios and the Marvel Cinematic Universe--at least, for now.According to a GamesRadar interview, the Russo brothers have no plans for more Marvel movies at this time. "It's our Endgame, at least for now," said Anthony Russo. "We don't have any plans for now to make any more Marvel movies." The key phrase is "for now," as Anthony confirms that the opportunity "certainly may come up in the future at some point."So what's next for the director duo? The two are teaming up with Tom Holland (Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming) on a smaller project called Cherry, with American screenwriter Jessica Goldberg (creator of Hulu's The Path) writing the script."[It's] loosely based on a real story about a veteran of the Iraq War, who suffers from PTSD ... gets a heroin addiction and ends up robbing banks to sustain that addiction." The book, also titled Cherry and published in August 2018, is the debut novel of currently-incarcerated Nico Walker, who robbed 10 banks around Cleveland in a four-month period in 2010. Walker was arrested in April 2011 and indicted with an 11-year sentence in 2012.In addition to Cherry, the Russo brothers have 21 Bridges and Dhaka in post-production. 21 Bridges, an action thriller, stars Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), J. K. Simmons (Justice League, Whiplash), Sienna Miller (American Sniper, Foxcatcher), and more. Dhaka, meanwhile, is an action drama featuring Chris Hemsworth (Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War), David Harbour (Hellboy, Stranger Things), Manoj Bajpayee (Love Sonia, Missing), and more.In our Avengers: Endgame review, we called it "an emotional, fulfilling ride [that's] a love letter to the entire MCU--the whole thing."Info from Gamespot.com

Years after its debut, Days Gone is finally available. The open world zombie game puts you in the shoes of Deacon St. John, a rough-and-tumble biker turned mercenary after the world went to hell. You'll take on Freakers (aka zombies) and factions of brutal survivors in an expansive open-world adventure.Though the game boasts high production values, reviews have been mixed. The adventure itself is often said to be dull or middling, and many critics agree the story fails to do anything interesting with its conflicted hero. This is reflected in GameSpot's own review."I did a lot of things in Days Gone," said 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."Many other outlets have published their Days Gone reviews as well. We've gathered a sampling of them below to give a view from around the industry. For an even broader overview, check out GameSpot's sister site Metacritic.Game: Days GonePlatforms: PS4Developer: Sony BendRelease date: April 26Price: $60 / £50 / $100 AUDGameSpot -- 5/10"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." -- Kallie Plagge [Full review]PlayStation Lifestyle -- 9/10"Days Gone checks all the boxes of a proverbial PlayStation exclusive, but never feels like it’s stepping on anyone else’s toes. Despite the games, film, and TV that you can easily draw comparisons too, Days Gone handles it all in such a way that it has its own unique identity. The more I played it, the more I loved it, until finally finishing the long journey and not wanting the adventure to end. Sam Witwer is brilliant as Deacon St. John, and his journey of survival, humanity, and self-discovery through a deadly world via motorcycle is a memorable one that shouldn’t be missed." -- Chandler Wood [Full review]Attack of the Fanboy -- 8/10"Days Gone is by no means perfect, but if you're willing to put up with some shortcomings the reward is one of the best open-world zombie apocalypse games to date." -- William Schwartz [Full review]Game Informer -- 7.75/10"Days Gone has good gameplay foundations. The scarcity of supplies and ever-present threat of zombies put me on edge as much as it gave me options to escape by the skin of my teeth. But the inability to fully deliver on either the story or open world fronts makes it a title of both possibilities and limitations." -- Matthew Kato [Full review]USGamer -- 3.5/5"The zombie apocalypse is well-trodden territory and the open-world spin of Days Gone can only differentiate it so much. There's a strong narrative focus, but Deacon St. John doesn't carry that weight as deftly as he could. There are highlights and fun tools available within, but the game doesn't push those forward initially, leaving the players to deal with some tedium first. Days Gone is a great foundation for something better though, so hopefully Bend gets the chance to improve upon it." -- Mike Williams [Full review]IGN -- 6.5/10"Days Gone feels bloated, like a movie that goes on for an hour longer than it needs to or should’ve. It’s messy and confused, but peppered with genuinely thrilling encounters with rampaging hordes of zombies and occasionally breathless firefights. There’s a good game in here somewhere, but it’s buried in a meandering storyline, repetitive missions, and just too much obligatory stuff to do without an eye on the smaller details that could have given it much more character. Some fine tuning and editing could have removed the tedium and celebrated what makes this game unique and interesting, but Days Gone rides strictly down the middle of the dusty road and never finds its rhythm." -- Lucy O'Brien [Full review]Destructoid -- 6/10"Days Gone ups the open world survival ante but doesn't have enough cash to pay for the rest of the rounds of betting, making it one of the weirdest AAA releases in recent memory. If enough people buy it, its stronger moments will likely be immortalized in YouTube videos for years to come. Yet, most people will probably remember it as the open world zombie game that didn't bring much mechanically to the table. With some tweaks to the pacing, it could have reconciled its warm, frank look at humanity and been something special." -- Chris Carter [Full review]Slant -- 1.5/5"Days Gone is the apotheosis of the more-is-more philosophy: more bars to fill, more gates to progress, more hours of playtime, more zombies per square inch because “more” is supposed to fill the hole where some semblance of meaning ought to be, bridging the gap between one mind-numbing mission template and the next. It’s the purest example yet of the video game as mere content to be consumed, down to the very fact that each storyline you’re supposed to be emotionally invested in is marked with a completion percentage. Days Gone is a void." -- Steven Scaife [Full review]Variety -- No Score"There is a living, breathing undercurrent of ambition undeniable in the scale and intricacy of developer Bend Studio’s creation. And you can tell the effort here is to apply to a naturally tense open-world survival structure the kind of high-impact narrative one would expect from a linearly-funneled action game. But the result is one of the best examples of why that can’t work, and of the damage such an effort can have on otherwise solid foundations. With the game’s pacing ground to dust in service of open world largess, expansiveness, and narrative potential, the core of “Days Gone” is buried too deep for even a zombified resurrection." -- Trevor Ruben [Full review]Info from Gamespot.com

With the announcement that Apex Legends Season 2 details will come in June, Respawn Entertainment has provided a much-needed update on the state of its battle royale title. Executive producer at Respawn, Drew McCoy, wrote a lengthy blog post discussing server performance problems, audio and hit registration issues, content update plans, and more.The post outlines how the California-based studio intends to deal with several issues impacting Apex Legends, including closely monitoring server performance at the beginning of matches, tracking incorrect (and inaccurate) hit detection and registration in-game, and more. "The stability of Apex Legends is very important to us," McCoy said. "And we’ve been doing a lot of work internally to improve our processes across the board." Respawn admits there's a growing strategy to deal with cheaters but hasn't announced anything yet "to avoid telegraphing our moves."Respawn has yet to confirm when Apex Legends will see these changes but will "talk more about the work that’s being done in these areas and provide updates about when we’ll be addressing them in future patches" over the next few weeks. You can read the full details below.Slow Server Performance at the Beginning of a MatchSo far, we know that it affects some datacenters more than others, it happens on many different server configurations, and it doesn't seem to hit multiple server instances running on the same machine. In other words, it's not that a machine is overloaded and everything on it is running too slow – it's that one instance on the same machine seems to be doing more work than the others, and we're trying to nail down what work it's doing and work backwards to understand the root cause. This is extremely high priority for us, and we'll keep you updated on our progress.Audio IssuesCurrently testing some potential fixes that will hopefully address many of the performance issues we’ve seen reported.CheatersWe’ve been doing a lot of work behind the scenes. This is something we will always be more secretive about to avoid telegraphing our moves to cheaters, but we’ll be sharing more on the progress made next week.Hit Registration IssuesWe are adding engine features to help track down and report instances of incorrect hit registration in playtests so we can force the bug and reproduce the issue consistently. While we have made some progress with some fixes locally, more work needs to be done to address the root of the problem.Season LaunchesThe beginning of each season will start big with a new Battle Pass, a new Legend, something new for the meta, and more.Thoughtful Updates Throughout the SeasonJust as we've done since launch, we will continue to address exploits, necessary balance changes, bug fixes, and small features throughout the course of a season. For complete transparency, our goal isn't, and never has been, to patch or update content on a weekly basis. We believe strongly in the importance of large, meaningful changes to the game that have lasting impact, thus our focus on a seasonal release cadence we laid out at launch. We will continue to follow this cadence in the future.Improved CommunicationWe need to provide more visibility into the future, and what we're working on. That doesn’t mean we’re going to start telling folks everything they want to know when they want to know it, but you can expect more transparency on future updates and fewer surprise drops.Transparency is paramount to Respawn, with McCoy stating that it "[needs] to provide more visibility into the future, and what we’re working on." Apex Legends players can "expect more transparency on future updates and fewer surprise drops."McCoy didn't shy away from the conversation around crunch. In a week when Polygon unveiled Epic Games' severe work conditions on Fortnite, McCoy said "the studio culture that we've worked hard to cultivate, and the health of our team are very important." He added that Respawn wants to avoid crunch because it can "quickly lead to burnout or worse." This means any future Titanfall projects are delayed indefinitely to fully support Apex Legend's longevity. "No resources from the Apex Legends team are being shifted to other titles in development here at the studio," McCoy confirmed. "Nor are we pulling resources from the team working on Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order."Info from Gamespot.com

A new month is just around the corner, which means Niantic will soon be rolling out a new set of Field Research tasks for Pokemon Go. The tasks are scheduled to begin appearing next Wednesday, May 1, at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET, and they'll be available through the end of June. What's more, they'll give you another chance to catch a couple of fan-favorite Legendary Pokemon.Each time you achieve a Research Breakthrough during the next two months, you'll be rewarded with an encounter with one of four possible Legendaries: Ho-Oh, Lugia, Latios, or Latias. Both Ho-Oh and Lugia were previously available through Research Breakthroughs, but this marks the first time you'll be able to encounter the Eon Pokemon this way, which is helpful if you missed out on their recent Raid events.As usual, you'll be able to receive the new Field Research tasks by spinning the Photo Disc at Poke Stops. You can complete as many Field Research tasks as you'd like daily, but you'll only earn a stamp for the first one you finish per day. You'll need to collect a total of seven stamps to achieve a Research Breakthrough and encounter the Legendaries.Additionally, you'll be able to hatch new Pokemon from Eggs beginning this week. The Gen 4 Pokemon Turtwig, Chimchar, Piplup, and Bonsly may appear from 2 km Eggs, while Cubone, Combee, Buizel, Glameow, Bronzor, Skorupi, and Croagunk may hatch from 5 km Eggs. Finally, 10 km Eggs may produce Mawile, Absol, Shinx, Cranidos, Shieldon, and Riolu. You can read more details on the Pokemon Go website.Also on the way in May is a new Pokemon Go Community Day. This time, the event will take place on Sunday, May 19, and the featured Pokemon will be Torchic, one of the three starters from the series' Gen 3 games, Ruby and Sapphire. You'll also be able to earn triple the usual amount of Stardust for every Pokemon you catch during the event.In the meantime, you have another opportunity to catch Shiny Meltan, as the special Mythical Pokemon is appearing again from now until May 5. If you're unsure of how to find one, check out our guide on how to catch Meltan. This is also your last chance to capture Origin Forme Giratina; the Legendary is scheduled to leave Raid Battles on April 29.Info from Gamespot.com

It's opening day for Avengers: Endgame, and the latest Marvel movie made good on its name, and it delivered plenty of resolution and closure for the MCU characters, and most of them were actually great. However, one of these endings did not work, and it nearly ruined the entire movie.Consider this your spoiler warning.Steve Rogers finished out his tenure as a main line MCU hero by not only wielding Mjolnir and surviving a truly brutal beating by Thanos, he also (apparently) volunteered to be the person to deliver the Infinity Stones back to their respective points in the timeline. You know, to avoid all the branched timelines that the Ancient One warned Bruce Banner about with the help of their handy cosmic infographic. Steve does this completely alone for some reason, which also doesn't make a lot of sense, but we'll let that slide for right now.The real problem is that Steve doesn't actually succeed at his mission. He gives the Stones back, sure, and returns the Mjolnir he's been using to Asgard, apparently, but then he decides to take a detour and go live a full life with Peggy Carter somewhere in the past. This results in him showing back up in the present not by taking the quantum portal, but by walking (or maybe he took an Uber? Who knows) to a bench about 50 feet to the left of the portal, returning as an old man who has lived an entire life in the blink of the audience's eye.We even get a little flashback of Steve finally sharing his dance with Peggy back in the '40s (or maybe the '50s, after the war) in what is obviously intended to be a very romantic, fulfilling coda to his story.Or, maybe it would be, if it worked at all either in terms of Steve's thematic arc throughout his MCU tenure or by the rules that Endgame itself established.Getting Technical With Time TravelLet's take a look at Endgame's time travel logic first. As explicitly stated, by Endgame's own rules, you cannot change the present, you can only create new timelines--i.e. If the Infinity Stones weren't placed back in the exact places in the exact moments they were taken from, the MCU would be dealing with a bunch of branching timelines where various characters and entire movies either couldn't exist or would be completely doomed. A few of those branched timelines definitely still exist--an alternate 2014 where Thanos brought his forces to Earth years earlier than he originally did, an alternate 2011 where Loki escaped with the Tesseract after the end of Avengers 1, and so on--but the ones that were taken care of, were handled by Steve. That was his mission.But in the process of closing off all the potential branches, Steve apparently made a new one. Or, rather, he should have made a new one, but somehow didn't. Steve changed his own past, and the past of Peggy Carter, by being present for those 70 years he originally spent frozen and marrying her--which, for whatever reason, allowed him to still exist as an old man in the main timeline he left--our present.If Steve had actually created a branched timeline, he wouldn't have been an old man in our present. His reformed existence in the past should have changed events to the point that the movie’s present day would be different not only for Steve but for everyone. We'd be seeing a different timeline all together.In the interest of mitigating the confusion here (and make no mistake--this is confusing as hell) let's break it down. There are two potential possibilities.Possibility 1 is that Steve did create an alternate timeline that we just never got to see where he and Peggy were married, possibly went off and were superheroes together, stopped HYDRA from infiltrating SHIELD, rescued Bucky, prevented Howard Stark's assassination, and negated the need for the Avengers entirely. In the process, he erased the entire life that he knew Peggy had without him, including her husband and the kids she had while he was in the ice. Poof, gone.Then, happy and old, Steve miraculously jumped back to our timeline unassisted, which ought to be impossible, and for no real reason, just in time to pass the shield on to Sam. Seriously, why would he bother coming back at all if he was so confident that the present day world didn't need him anymore? Why leave the timeline he made, especially if it really were so much better? What incentive does he have to go through the trouble?What About Option 2?Possibility 2 is that Steve did not create a branched timeline by going back, just lived his life as quietly as possible through the post-war years. That would make him complicit in the knowledge of all the horrific things happening to the people he loves during those years. This would also mean, in order for the timeline not to be fundamentally broken, that our version of Steve would have always been married to Peggy, even if he didn't know it until this exact moment. This not only contradicts the entirety of the Agent Carter TV show and various parts of the MCU up to now (like Steve's meeting with dying Peggy after he dethaws), it also means that Steve would be Sharon Carter's uncle--and, uh, that's pretty gross, even if he didn't know it at the time.Even discounting the potential for unwitting incest, there are some other major problems here. Remember when Steve said when he sees a situation headed south, he can't turn his back? Remember how Steve's entire origin story revolves around his inability to sit back and let a conflict run its course without him? How he doesn't like bullies no matter where they're from? How he literally submitted himself to a potentially lethal science experiment rather than not fight in a war? How he jumped into German occupied territory without an army backing him up just on the off chance that there was something he could do to help his friend? How he can "do this all day?" Started a war to clear the name of his ex-assassin bestie? Still acted as a hero even while he was an international fugitive?In what world does Steve Rogers, even a beaten down and jaded Steve Rogers, just sit on his hands and let the future deal with its own problems?The answer should be none of them.This doesn't even begin to broach yet another uncomfortable topic. The people who returned from the Snap were very literally dropped into a future when no time had passed for them at all--the miniature version of Steve's experience waking up from the ice back in 2011. But apparently he's totally fine with just bailing on a world experiencing a level of trauma that he is uniquely qualified to help them through."He's earned the right to be selfish!" You say? Sure. If anyone deserves a vacation, it's Steve--but that doesn't mean he's going to take one. We've spent the last 8 years learning the ins and outs of this character in the movies, and the last 7 decades learning about him in the comics. Letting things just happen is fundamentally not something he'd do. It's just not. He could retire, pass the shield over to Sam, and take a major step back, but there's no way Steve is ever just going to give up the fight altogether--and this has literally happened in the comics. Steve's even been an old man, but he still doesn't stop participating in superheroic world. It's simply not in his nature to quit--that would be like Tony suddenly deciding not to be an engineer just for the hell of it.But say the goofy, esoteric time travel logic doesn't matter to you either way--there's still an issue. It has less to do with the mechanics and more to do with Steve's place within the MCU's meta-narrative.Let's Ignore The Time Travel All TogetherFor a second, let's just pretend that we don't have almost 100 years of comics to look at and focus exclusively on the 60-some hours of film we've been given. Thematically, Steve is a guy who has lost a lot in these movies. Arguably, that's his most defining quality--he went into the ice 70 years ago, and he thinks a different guy came out--his words, not mine. The motif of being unable to go home again is repeated poignantly again and again and again--and through all of that, through everything, Steve has learned how to keep going. And that's a good thing--or at least, it was a good thing. By moving on, Steve was actually doing exactly what Peggy Carter had hoped for him ("the world has changed, and none of us can go back. All we can do is our best, and sometimes, the best that we can do, is to start over.")Sure, there are a few beats in Endgame specifically where it looks like he's finally hit his breaking point ("some people move on, but not us"), but that only means he's been beaten down, not taken out. Hell, he even manages to summon up the force of will in the 11th hour to be worthy of wielding Mjolnir, making him only the third character and only mortal in the MCU to do so. That's nothing to scoff at.Steve may be defined by loss, but the power of his character comes from turning that loss into strength. Sure, he's a super soldier, he's fast and strong and can take a major beating, but his actual superpower is his indomitable will. If there's one thing you can count on in the world, it's that Captain America is not going to give up, even when things are at their absolute worst.Except for when he does, apparently. Giving Steve a temporal get-out-of-jail-free card may seem like a good idea on the surface, but at the end of the day all it does is recant his entire journey. What's the point of emphasizing the perpetual motion machine that is Steve Rogers--the constant assurance that no matter how dark things get, no matter how much you lose, you can still move forward--if the ultimate reward is getting to do the exact thing he was told he couldn't do; that he spent his life and five movies moving beyond?Which is to say nothing about the completely squandered pay off for every moment of his solo trilogy. Remember how important his "I'm with you till the end of the line" refrain was with Bucky Barnes? Hopefully you do--there's officially licensed merch with that line printed on it. Fans got it tattooed on their bodies. It comes up a lot, and for good reason. It wasn't exactly subtle as far as big symbolic gestures are concerned and it was a major part of not one, not two, but three individual movies. Funny how now it's more like "I'm with you until the exact moment I decide I don't want to stick around anymore." Funnier still how that line, maybe the most memorable Captain America line of the entire MCU next to "I can do this all day"--another thing that was, apparently, not true--doesn't get a single shout out or call back in a movie that is about 90% shout outs and call backs to memorable MCU moments.It's cheap, not romantic, and a needlessly dull edge to an otherwise powerful arc. The lesson that ought to be about processing grief and turning toward the future became a carelessly handwaved wink-nod at returning to the past, at which point Steve's journey is no longer about the process of recovery, it's a message about working really hard until you're miraculously presented with a magic bullet to make all your hard work and effort no longer matter.Which, frankly, sucks.And, really, none of this is even touching on the fact that Steve and Peggy's soul mate level connection was fostered over the course of, what, like a week back in 1945? Maybe he should have gotten over it. She definitely did. There was a whole TV show about it.They both deserved so much better. Info from Gamespot.com

Avengers: Endgame gets its title from a key line uttered by Doctor Strange toward the end of its predecessor, Avengers: Infinity War. After losing the fight with Thanos on the planet Titan, Strange tells Tony Stark, "We're in the endgame now." It's a reference to the fact that Strange has a plan for beating Thanos, and even though it seems like the Avengers are losing, there's more to the fight against the Mad Titan than just this battle. (Check out our Endgame review to see if the finale measures up to the setup.)Infinity War ended with Thanos's victory and his snap, in which he used the Infinity Stones to eliminate half of all life in the universe. Among those who ceased to exist was Doctor Strange, who never got a chance to explain what his big plan was. Now that Avengers: Endgame is here, we can see what he was thinking--and why he changed his mind about allowing Thanos to get the Time Stone.First, it's important to remember exactly what Strange said in Infinity War. Originally, his plan was to keep the Time Stone away from Thanos by any means necessary, but he was unwilling to let Tony destroy it or otherwise take it away from him--Strange was insistent that he keep the stone. After he was kidnapped by Thanos's lieutenant, Ebony Maw, and rescued by Tony and Spidey, Strange reiterated that the most important thing in the fight was the stone. He pointedly told Tony that no matter what happened, he would protect the stone, even at the cost of the lives of Tony, Peter Parker, or both.When they reach Titan, Doctor Strange spends part of the discussion of how to take down Thanos using the Time Stone. He watches some 14 million possible timelines, and as he tells Tony, and only saw one in which the Avengers won the battle. The fight ensues with the team coming close to getting the Infinity Gauntlet away from Thanos, which could have allowed them to stop him, but they're unsuccessful. In the final moments of the fight, Thanos stabs Tony in the gut, then prepares to finish him off.This is the moment where Strange changes things. He makes a bargain with Thanos: Spare Tony's life in exchange for the Time Stone. It's a big shift from Strange's earlier declaration that the stone was more important than anyone on the team. Strange's comment about being in the endgame comes soon after, once Thanos has departed from Wakanda. That reveals that Strange changing his mind and saving Tony services some greater agenda, more important than keeping the Time Stone away from Thanos.We all know what happens next: Thanos wins. But Endgame reveals why Strange made the decision that he did, because Tony's survival in Infinity War is essential to everything that happens. When Scott Lang returns from the Quantum Realm, he reveals that Hank Pym's shrinking technology can make time travel possible--but it's Tony Stark who figures out how the team can travel to specific places and times, without getting lost along the way. Strange knew that the Avengers couldn't beat Thanos in a straight fight, but that they'd be able to eventually undo the snap--if Tony was still alive to help them figure out how.Strange and Tony have another big moment during the climax of the film. As Tony is battling Thanos, trying to get the Gauntlet away from him so he can't use the Infinity Stones again, he catches Strange's eye. The pair have already had a conversation about the future; as Strange puts it, telling Tony about what was going to happen would cause it not to happen, because the knowledge would cause Tony (and potentially everyone else) to change how they would act.In the final moments of the fight, Strange, meeting Tony's eyes, raises one finger. It calls back their earlier discussion--this is the one successful version of events, telling Tony they're on the right path. But Strange is also signaling what Tony has already realized: that it's up to Tony to defeat Thanos, and to use the Infinity Stones to do it. And Tony knows from seeing both Thanos and Hulk use the Gauntlet that it'll likely kill him.The reality is that Strange has known this was how things had to go the whole time. He stopped Thanos from killing Tony in Infinity War because he knew that Tony had a huge role to play in the rest of the fight. Tony would be essential to helping secure time travel; he'd be necessary to get hold of the Space Stone and build the gauntlet that would allow the Avengers to use the Infinity Stones; and he'd be the one to finally defeat Thanos.And when Strange said he couldn't tell Tony the outcome or it would change, it was because he knew that Tony still had one more role to play: He'd have to sacrifice himself to beat Thanos.The bummer is that Strange knew all this, but in 14 million timelines, couldn't see another way forward--maybe one where Tony got to live a long and happy life with his family. But with the Marvel Cinematic Universe's big arc beginning with Iron Man and closing with Avengers: Endgame, it's pretty fitting that the key to everything would be Tony Stark, doing the very thing Steve Rogers said Tony was incapable of during their first mission together in The Avengers: sacrificing himself for the greater good. Info from Gamespot.com

Following the first details about the PlayStation 5 announced last week by lead system architect Mark Cerny, Sony has now officially confirmed a next-generation console. In the company's latest earnings report, Sony said its gaming division experienced an "increase in development expenses for the next generation console."That's all Sony had to say on the subject of the PS5, however.According to Kotaku's Jason Schreier, Sony's decision to seemingly randomly announce the PS5 was not completely random. Schreier says that one reason is because Sony just started to deliver PS5 devkits to third-party studios, and they wanted to get ahead of leaks.Also in the earnings report, Sony announced that it shipped 17.8 million PS4 consoles during the fiscal year ended March 31. That's down from 19 million during the year prior. In all, the PS4 has now sold 96.8 million consoles worldwide since its release in 2013.PS4 sales have been falling annually for years now, which makes sense given the console is so old. For the current fiscal year, Sony expects PS4 sales to drop yet again, falling to 16 million.It was also confirmed in the earnings report that Sony has 36.4 million paying PlayStation Plus subscribers. Sony's digital offerings are doing very well. PlayStation Network revenue, including full-game downloads, DLC, PS Now, and PlayStation Plus, amounted to over $12.8 billion for the year, which is a new yearly record.Sony's video game division overall, called Game and Network Services, saw revenue of $20.9 billion. PS4 sales dropped, as mentioned, but this decline was partially offset by more PS4 game sales and PlayStation Plus subscriptions. Some of the numbers and analysis here was compiled by Niko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmad. Info from Gamespot.com

Game of Thrones is famous for killing off, well, pretty much everyone. There are a few characters who remain or simply go missing, of course, but a decent proportion of its ensemble cast end up six feet under.Season 8 is still ongoing, of course, so we're asking you to name all the main characters who've died up until the end of Season 7. That means extras and unimportant side-characters with credits like "man in hat" are excluded. To help you out we've provided the name of the killer and the cause of death--be careful though, some of the spellings are pretty tricky! Give the quiz below a go and let us know your scores in the comments.For more on the hit series, you might want to take a look at our review of Game of Thrones' Season 8, Episode 2; alternatively check out these photos from the set of Episode 3. Info from Gamespot.com

Microsoft has released its Q3 earnings, and it suggests the current console generation is slowing down and ready for another refresh. Xbox console sales fell by 33% year-over-year, which the company attributes to a simple decrease in sales volume. In other words, people are simply buying fewer Xbox consoles.However, the news wasn't too grim for Microsoft. Overall game revenue actually increased by 5% year-over-year, thanks to strong third-party software sales and subscriptions. Xbox Live's monthly active users hit 63 million, up 7% from last year. Altogether the games division raised $2.36 billion in revenue for the quarter, an YOY increase of $112 million.The Xbox One is more than six years old now, so the decrease in console sales suggests Microsoft is hitting a saturation point. That's when console manufacturers tend to eye a new generation, and Microsoft may start to explain its vision for the next Xbox at E3. In the meantime, it introduced the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition, a new SKU of the console that lacks any disc drive and only plays downloaded games.Meanwhile, Microsoft's competition has gotten first to the gate in starting to explain its plans for the coming generation. PS4 architect Mark Cerny began to outline some details on the next generation of PlayStation, including backwards compatibility, a solid-state drive, and other tech specs. It won't be disc-less, which may set it apart from the next Xbox, but that remains to be seen. Microsoft is planning a streaming service that likely will integrate with its future console plans.Info from Gamespot.com