Last year, fans of Marvel's Cinematic Universe watched as the Mad Titan Thanos obliterated half of all life in the known universe with a simple snap of his fingers. Among the casualties were numerous heroes and in just a few days time the mission to bring down Thanos and undo some of his devastating actions will begin. Avengers: Endgame hits cinemas worldwide on April 25 and will be the culmination of numerous storylines interwoven throughout multiple MCU movies.Naturally, that means that for those who want to relive the journey--or even experience it for the first time--time is running out to get caught up, and doing so is a mammoth task. So, to make things a little bit easier we've put together a watch order that lays out the ideal path through the many MCU flicks, which will give you the best viewing experience you can have.You may think that you can just go back and watch the MCU movies in the order they were released, but since they aren't chronological events can happen parallel to each other or reference each other. Because of that, there's a great deal of merit in watching them in the order suggested in the video above.Additionally, we've factored in the Marvel One-Shots you should watch too. If you're not familiar with these, they are mini-movies usually included in the home release of a film on DVD, Blu-ray, or through digital platforms. Many of them aren't essential, but they do have some extra information and can provide little nuggets of context that color in the bigger picture some more. We've also put a list of the watch order below.Pre-Avengers: Endgame MCU Watch OrderCaptain America: The First AvengerMarvel One Shot: Agent CarterCaptain MarvelIron ManThe Incredible HulkIron Man 2Marvel One Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the way to Thor's HammerThorMarvel One Shot: The ConsultantThe AvengersMarvel One Shot: Item 47Iron Man 3Marvel One Shot: All Hail The KingThor Dark WorldCaptain America: The Winter SoldierGuardians of the GalaxyGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2Avengers: Age of UltronAnt-ManCaptain America: Civil WarBlack PantherDoctor StrangeSpider-Man: HomecomingThor: RagnarokAnt-Man and the Wasp (don't watch post-credits)Avengers: Infinity WarAnt-Man and the Wasp Post-Credits SceneDisney and Marvel has released another short teaser for Avengers: Endgame, and in this one we get a little more insight into how the team of heroes will be tackling the Thanos problem.Info from Gamespot.com

We're nearing the end of Fortnite Season 8, but there's still plenty to do before Season 9 of the hit battle royale game inevitably arrives. Week 7's challenges are now available across PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch, and mobile, giving players another assortment of tasks to complete. Clearing these will help level up your Battle Pass, which in turn will unlock some of this season's new cosmetic rewards.If you're a seasoned Fortnite veteran by this point, you'll know there's a secondary reason to complete as many challenges as you can. If you finish all of the ones from a given week, you'll complete a related Discovery challenge, the reward for which is a special loading screen that contains a subtle clue leading you to a free Battle Star (which levels your Battle Pass up by one tier) or a Banner (which can be used as a profile icon) hiding somewhere around the game's map.Complete seven weeks' worth of challenges this season and you'll earn the loading screen pictured below. This one features Luxe, the Legendary skin you can unlock at tier 100 of the Season 8 Battle Pass, plundering a treasure-filled cave. However, if you look closely at the left-hand side of the image (behind the words "Battle Royale"), you'll spot an unusual etching on the cave wall. This'll lead you to this week's free Battle Star.The etching is actually an inverted rabbit, which means the Battle Star can be found on the giant wooden rabbit you needed to visit as part of one of Week 6's challenges. If you don't remember where the structure is located, it can be found in quadrant A4, between Haunted Hills and Snobby Shores. Glide there at the beginning of a match, then make your way onto the rabbit's back and the Battle Star will appear. Collect it as you would any other item and finish the match to level your Battle Pass up by one tier.If you need more help finding the Battle Star, we've marked its location on the map below. We also show you exactly where you need to go in video at the top of this guide. Be aware, however, that the Battle Star won't appear unless you've completed seven weeks' worth of challenges, so you can't expect to just go to the right place and find it unless you've done all of the necessary steps. If there are still challenges you need to complete, you can find tips and guides for them in our full Season 8 challenges roundup.Fortnite's Week 7 challenges follow closely behind the game's 8.30 update, which introduced a big new feature to the game: Reboot Vans. These vehicles allow you to revive a fallen teammate during a match after you've collected their Reboot Card. The patch also kicked off a limited-time Buccaneer's Bounty event, which features its own daily challenges to complete and special rewards to unlock. You can read the full patch notes for the 8.30 update on Epic's website.Info from Gamespot.com

During its Investor Day 2019 webcast, The Walt Disney Company finally unveiled the first look at its upcoming streaming service, Disney+. As part of the presentation, the company revealed some highly-anticipated original programs--including Marvel's Falcon and Winter Soldier standalone series--as well as a look at how the app housing the service will look on multiple devices.One of the most interesting bits of information direct to consumer and international chairman Kevin Mayer shared, though, was that users will be able to download originals, movies, shorts, and TV shows to watch offline. According to Mayer, the downloaded copies of the programming will be available to users as long as they remain subscribed to the service.The Disney+ service will be launching later this year with a wealth of original programming. Among the shows already revealed are a reported Hawkeye standalone series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Star Wars series The Mandalorian, and a Monsters Inc. spin-off show.Disney+ launches on November 12 with a subscription price of $6.99 a month, or 69.99 for a year. For more information, check out GameSpot's coverage of Disney+, including information about other Star Wars and Marvel series expected to debut on the service.Info from Gamespot.com

Disney's Investor Day 2019 webinar shared a first look at the app functionality of the highly anticipated Disney+ streaming service set to come out later this year, which included some first glimpses into what content will be released shortly after launch. It also confirmed a rumored Marvel show: Falcon & Winter Soldier.The presentation featured a working prototype of the app, which showcased the title cards and logos of several MCU movies and one surprise: the Winter Soldier/Falcon series logo. You can see it in the middle of top row in the image below.It looks like the two Avengers' fan favorites really are getting a series, despite the lack of an official announcement after the leak-based rumor mill started to churn several months back.Bucky and Sam will be joining the other confirmed MCU spin-off Disney+ series like Loki, Vision and Wanda, and Hawkeye--though we wouldn't recommend making any big assumptions about any of these shows just yet. We know they'll be live action and we know several actors are confirmed to reprise their big screen roles, but other details are in extremely short supply. And with Avengers: Endgame just around the corner, it's probably best not to take anything for granted until we know for sure how the whole Thanos situation shakes out.No release dates were given for the Winter Soldier/Falcon series--or any of the other MCU spin-offs, for that matter--but we do know it won't be a launch title. The title card was situated among the "coming soon" shows in the prototype app. Disney also confirmed that the service will allow downloads.Additionally, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige suggested that Disney+ shows will play a significant part in the MCU moving forward. These shows will tie into and have an impact on the movies. Beyond these live-action programs, Feige also talked about an animated What If show that will explore alternate story concepts, such as what if Peggy Carter, not Steve Rogers, became a super soldier.Disney+ launches on November 12 with a subscription price of $6.99 a month, or 69.99 for a year.Info from Gamespot.com

Disney has finally what its new streaming service, Disney+, looks like. During the company's Investor Day presentation today, the company provided a first look at the UI--and it bears a strong resemblance to Netflix. Check out some images of the UI in the gallery below.As you can see, there are tabs for Disney brands like Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and others. In terms of specific content, Disney back catalog shows and films will be available, alongside new original shows like a Falcon & Winter Soldier show from Marvel the Star Wars show The Mandalorian from Jon Favreau.All content on Disney+ can be downloaded. The service will available on pretty much every screen you can imagine, including game consoles like PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.Disney+ is just the latest paid subscription service from Disney. The company's ESPN division has its own streaming package called ESPN+, while Hulu, which Disney owns 60 percent of, is also a paid streaming catalog. During the investor briefing, Disney management said it will likely offer a bundle for all three, but specifics haven't been announced yet.Disney+ launches in the US on November 12 for $7/month.Info from Gamespot.com

When it comes to launching its streaming service, The Walt Disney Company isn't playing around. During its Investor Day 2019 webcast, the company revealed its first look at the Disney+ service and many of the movies, TV shows, and original programs that will be available at launch. And that's good news for you Star Wars fans.The Mandalorian, the upcoming series from showrunner Jon Favreau, will be available on Disney+ at launch. According to Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, filming on the first season of the series has wrapped and Favreau is hard at work finishing the project. "We're trying to make it look like Star Wars," he joked. "A lot of visual effects, a lot of editing."The first season will consist of eight episodes and Favreau believes it will serve as a good entry point to those that might not be die-hard Star Wars fans. "Since we're starting with new characters in a new time period, it's a great way to bring new fans in," he said.Still, longtime fans should find plenty to love in The Mandalorian, including some old school techniques that have become a hallmark of the franchise. "Star Wars demands a certain nod and look back to history with audio-animatronics and puppets," he teased.Among those who stepped in to direct episodes of the first season of The Mandalorian are Star Wars: The Clone Wars creator Dave Filoni, Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi, and Bryce Dallas Howard. An official description for the series reads, "After the stories of Jango and Boba Fett, another warrior emerges in the Star Wars universe. The Mandalorian is set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order. We follow the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic."A clip shown to those in attendance at the event, according to The Hollywood Reporter, included new planets, new aliens species, and new starships, as well as a glimpse at a character that may very well be the titular Mandalorian.Along with The Mandalorian, the first two trilogies of Star Wars films will be available to stream, as well as Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. They will be joined by Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Solo: A Star Wars Story, and Star Wars: Episode IX in the first year.During Disney's Investor Days presentation, a slate of Marvel Studios shows were also revealed, including Falcon & Winter Soldier, which sees the two Avengers on a standalone adventure set in the MCU. Additionally, Disney+ will allows subscribers to download shows and movies to watch offline.Disney+ launches on November 12 with a subscription price of $6.99 a month, or 69.99 for a year.Info from Gamespot.com

Disney+ will launch on November 12, the company announced today. It'll cost $7/month or $70 for 12 months (which works out to around $5.83 per month). The price and release date is only confirmed for the United States at this stage. This was described by management as the "initial price point," which suggests it could rise in the future.Notably, $7 USD per month is below competitor Netflix and other streaming services.Disney+ will launch first in the United States and then "rapidly expand globally." Disney's plan is to release the service in "nearly all" major regions globally within the next two years. However, pricing for other markets was not announced.In Year 1, Disney+ will offer more than 25 episodic series, including the new Star Wars show The Mandalorian, which will be available at launch, or at least the first episode. There will also be more than 10 new movies/specials for Disney+ in the first year. In terms of back catalog content, Disney+ will have around 7,500 episodes of shows, along with more than 100 recent movies and more than 400 library titles.Netflix is expecting to get between 60 million and 90 million people to sign up for Disney+ by the end of Fiscal Year 2024. Around 1/3 of subscribers are expected to come from the United States, with 2/3 coming from international markets.All content on Disney+ can be downloaded. The service will available on pretty much every screen you can imagine, including game consoles like PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Info from Gamespot.com

It's impossible to play or talk about Dangerous Driving without comparing it to Criterion's seminal Burnout 3: Takedown. This is by design, of course, as developer Three Fields Entertainment--a small indie studio comprised of former Criterion alum--set out to create a spiritual successor to the dormant racer; latching onto the groundbreaking Burnout 3 as a clear and popular focal point. Everything about Dangerous Driving's design, right down to small details like font selection and the phrasing used in its loading screens, is distinctly Burnout 3. It foregoes the advances made in its sequels--like traffic checking and the introduction of an open-world--to hone in on what made Takedown so special.My first hour or so with Dangerous Driving was fraught with bewilderment, however. There's a single song that plays on the main menu, but other than this there's a complete absence of music throughout the entire game. Licensed tracks are a crucial component to the Burnout formula, and after playing a few events in near-complete silence, their monumental importance can't be overstated. Obviously, this is true of most games, but particularly one where high-speed exhilaration is on the menu. After initially thinking this was either a bug or that music would eventually find its way into the game via a day one patch, I hopped into the audio settings and discovered the reason for its omission: Spotify integration.This is a smart idea for an indie studio that might not have the budget to splash out on licensed music, and after finding something suitably upbeat and aggressive myself, the experience of tearing around the track and wrecking other cars was improved tenfold. Yet asking people to own a premium service just to get music in their game is a fairly excessive compromise. It's an understandable trade-off for gaining access to popular music in a budget-priced game, but beyond the monetary requirement, it also has an effect on gameplay. Three Fields can't manipulate Spotify music in any way, so songs will just play through from start to finish without the incorporation of any interactive elements. This means that the music doesn't change its tone when you boost, or slow down and warp during takedowns, and that robs these moments of some of their potential impact.When you're out on the road, the handling of each car will feel instantly familiar to anyone who's ever played Burnout before. While most contemporary racing games are wary of fully embracing an arcadey style without featuring some kind of simulation element, Dangerous Driving is a full-blooded, balls-to-the-wall arcade racer. You'll hold down the accelerator ad infinitum until your finger aches, careen around corners by either scraping across the steel guard rails or tapping the brake button to effortlessly drift around, and weave between oncoming traffic at over 200-miles-per-hour as the nitrous oxide flames spewing out of each exhaust pipe propel your car forward.Unfortunately, the physics can be fairly wonky at times, often bringing your vehicle to a complete stop because you brushed against a wall; while other times it will shoot you straight up into the air, or force your car into a complete 90-degree turn. This can be incredibly frustrating during the latter stages of an event when one mishap is enough to send you tumbling to the back of the pack. Collision detection is also inconsistent; numerous times a head-on crash resulted in my car clipping through the floor and appearing unscathed on the other side. The face-distorting sense of speed, though, is genuinely electric, and the PS4 Pro version maintains a stable 60 frames-per-second with one notable exception: It has a tendency to hitch rather egregiously when you're driving through tunnels.The crux of Dangerous Driving's racing is centered around the need to drive recklessly and constantly put yourself in harm's way. By hurtling towards incoming traffic, performing near misses, nailing drifts, tailgating, and taking down your opponents, you earn variable degrees of boost that will help fire your chosen vehicle towards the finish line. There isn't a discernible difference in how each car handles, other than the fact that some go faster than others, but their pinpoint responsiveness coupled with the high framerate ensures that you're fully capable of serpentining in and out of danger if your reactions are quick enough. Again, this is quintessential Burnout, with the destruction of your fellow drivers doubling your boost meter and incentivizing the most perilous behavior possible. These takedowns are reminiscent of those that debuted in Burnout 3, although the slow-motion crashes in Dangerous Driving are surprisingly underwhelming. They're not bad, but they're also not impactful enough--which the aforementioned issues with music contribute to--lacking in any real dynamism or metal-crunching detail.There are exceptions to this rule, but vehicle collisions actually look a lot more violent when they occur near you in real time, with broken cars hurtling across the road in a furious cascade of fire and sparks. A wrecked car doesn't signal the end of its lifespan either. While Dangerous Driving unabashedly riffs on Burnout, it has its own ideas, too, like persistent wrecks. Now, if you're driving on a track with multiple laps, any takedowns that happen will leave the battered husk of that car out on the road as a smoke-billowing obstacle. This is rather ingenious, as subsequent laps gradually evolve the track until it's veritable minefields of dead vehicles.The slow-motion crashes are not impactful enough--which the aforementioned issues with music contribute to--lacking in any real dynamism or metal-crunching detailThe problem with this--and it's not a problem with the mechanic itself, but rather one with the game's overall structure--is that these multi-lap events, and the most stimulating moments within them, are too few and far between. Dangerous Driving excels when you're in the middle of the pack, trading paint with other cars, and fighting tooth and nail to move up the field. It's here where it's at its most exciting, and really latches onto what made Burnout 3 so brilliant in the first place. But reaching first place is relatively easy--I was taken down by the AI twice in all my time playing--and once you're there the rubber banding isn't aggressive enough to ever compete with your driving unless you crash. Rivals drivers will hover just behind you, waiting to capitalize on any mistakes, but there are far too many instances where you can take a leisurely drive in first place, resulting in a feeling that you're missing out on all the action.It doesn't help that the track design is bland. Visually there's a lot of variety with a cohesive theme of North American National Parks that encompasses sunswept canyons, beachside cliffs, snowy mountain ranges, and so on, but the tracks themselves are made up of the same kinds of long, winding corners that it almost feels like they were copied and pasted from one track and into another. They rarely deviate from this standard blueprint, and there's nothing that sets the tracks apart from one another either. This compounds the issues with difficulty and AI during race events, and also results in a dearth of engaging racing in other game modes. There are face-offs against a single opponent, the takedown-centric Road Rage, time trials, a survival event that tasks you with reaching checkpoints to stave off an ever-depleting timer, and even a nod to Criterion's work on Need for Speed in the shape of police pursuits. Again, there's a decent amount of variety here, with familiar modes returning from Burnout (including one that was previously its namesake, re-titled to Heatwave here), but the lack of interesting courses and a scarcity of racing events depletes much of the excitement.Online multiplayer is being added in a future update, and playing against other people might allay some of these problems. But the more I played the more I began to realize Dangerous Driving lacks that magic spark the Burnout games had in abundance. That kinetic energy, palpable sense of danger, and the heart-racing thrill that something could and would go wrong at any moment. The AI was aggressive--competitive--and the satisfaction of taking them down was born of more than just getting to watch their car crumple against the nearest brick wall. The tracks were inventive, too, more interesting in their environments, and full of diverging paths and risky shortcuts.Dangerous Driving nails the basic feeling of driving a car in Burnout, but the lack of small details quickly begin to add up and peel away at everything that doesn't feel quite right. The most damning criticism I can level at it is that it's often dull and lifeless. There are too many events that fail to capitalize on its strengths, and those that do can only reach those heights in fleeting moments. I was concerned that maybe I'd feel the same way about Burnout; that one of the greatest racing series ever made just doesn't fit in 2019. So I went back and played Burnout 3 again and it quickly alleviated all of those fears with a rapid combustion of thrilling vehicular mayhem. The potential was there for Dangerous Driving to latch onto that magic, and there are brief moments when it feels like you're playing a brand new Burnout. But the truth is, I'd rather play a 16-year-old game than pick up its spiritual successor again, and that's a disheartening outcome. Info from Gamespot.com

Disney's new paid streaming service, Disney+, is launching this November in the United States, and there will be quite a lot of content available right at the start. This includes all 30 seasons of The Simpsons (totalling more than 650 episodes), as well as at least the first episode of the new Star Wars show The Mandalorian.Also available at the start will be 18 Pixar movies and every one of their theatrical shorts, as well as numerous Star Wars movies. Not only that, but the entire 13-movie "Signature Collection" of Disney classics will be there as well, including Bambi, Snow White, Pinocchio, and others. There will also be a new Lady & The Tramp live-action movie, and more than 5,000 episodes of Disney Channel TV shows.Launch is just the beginning, as Disney has major plans to develop lots more original TV shows and movies over the first year and beyond.Disney+ launches on November 12 in the United States. It costs $7/month or $70 a year. The service will launch first in the United States, with plans to release in other markets later.Disney+ Launch Lineup:Movies:101 DalmatiansA Bug's LifeAladdinAvengers: EndgameBambiBeauty and the BeastBraveCaptain MarvelCarsCars 2Cars 3CinderellaCocoFinding DoryFinding NemoFrozenInside OutIron ManIron Man 3Lady & The TrampMoanaMonsters Inc.Monsters UniversityPeter PanPinocchioRatatouilleRogue One: A Star Wars StorySleeping BeautySnow White and the Seven DwarfsStar Wars: A New HopeStar Wars: Attack of the ClonesStar Wars: Empire Strikes BackStar Wars: Return of the JediStar Wars: Revenge of the SithStar Wars: The Force AwakensStar Wars: The Phantom MenaceThe Good DinosaurThe IncrediblesThe Incredibles 2The Jungle BookThe Lion KingThe Little MermaidThe Mandalorian (at least Episode 1)The World According To Jeff GoldblumThor: The Dark WorldToy StoryToy Story 2Toy Story 3Toy Story 4UpWall-EZootopia100 Various Disney Channel Original Movies TVThe Simpsons (Seasons 1-30)The World According To Jeff GoldblumThe MandalorianDisney Channel (5,000 episodes of various shows)250 hours of National Geographic shows Info from Gamespot.com

Disney+, the new subscription streaming service from Disney, will not feature video games. Disney CEO Robert Iger confirmed this during Disney's investor day briefing, where he stated that Disney's plan is to only offer television and movie programming on Disney+.The DisneyLife service in Europe offered video games as part of its overall content package. Iger acknowledged that a big learning from that was people were more interested in TV and movies than video games."What we learned there is the consumer is mostly interested in movies and television shows. We wanted this to be a pure movie and television play for the consumer," Iger said about Disney+. "So we do not have any intention of adding more types of media to [Disney+]. I'm not going to get into the history of video games at the company; every time I mention it I seem to get myself in trouble."That last comment is surely a reference to when Iger discussed Disney's rocky history with internal game development and publishing. That's why Disney now pursues licensing deals for video games, like the one it has with Electronic Arts.While Disney+ itself won't offer games to stream, you'll be able to use a game console like Xbox One, PS4, or Nintendo Switch to stream the service.Disney+ launches on November 12 in the United States. It costs $7/month or $70 a year. The service will launch first in the United States, with plans to release in other markets later. Info from Gamespot.com

All 30 seasons of The Simpsons will be available on Disney+ when the subscription service launches in November. Management said during an investor briefing today that Disney+ will become the exclusive subscription video on demand source for The Simpsons.The Simpsons became a Disney property when Disney acquired Fox.Disney also released a funny video showcasing The Simpsons family joining the Disney family. Notably, a painting of Fox executive Rupert Murdoch can be seen in the trash can.Welcome to the family, @TheSimpsons. #DisneyPlus pic.twitter.com/OYAN1ziGsy — Disney (@Disney) April 11, 2019Disney+ launches on November 12 in the United States. It costs $7/month or $70 a year. The service will launch first in the United States, with plans to release in other markets later. Info from Gamespot.com

With all the high-end hardware requirements typical of VR gaming, you'd think of the Nintendo Switch as the least likely candidate to adopt it. But one of the many things Nintendo is unequivocally good at is making the most of its tech and working within its limitations. The new Labo VR Kit is yet another example. While it doesn't always overcome its inherent shortcomings, Nintendo's latest cardboard-based do-it-yourself package cleverly transforms the Switch into a light, inventive virtual reality gaming experience with the tools to go beyond the initial library.First things first: You have to build. Thankfully, assembly is part of the fun. Like the previous Labo packages, the software contains detailed and digestible step-by-step instructions, which are animated to show you how to put everything together without a hitch--the encouraging communication also helps take the edge off the laborious, time-consuming aspect of it all. Construction is almost fool-proof since each cardboard sheet has precisely cut lines and slots for everything to be folded and snapped into place. There's no denying the satisfaction of seeing little bits of cardboard gradually come together as an intricate device solidly held together by rubber bands, exact creases, and plastic grommets.So, how does the Switch become a VR headset? You first build the mount that contains the slot you slip the Switch into, which also holds the packaged goggles. The mount keeps everything in place nicely and the adhesive pads keep the Switch safe. Once you set the Labo software to VR mode, the screen transforms to a stereoscopic view for the lenses. Since there is no headstrap, you'll need to hold the Switch up to your face throughout your time in VR mode. It's worth noting that the Switch's 720p screen resolution is well below that of any other VR platform, resulting in a distinct lack of visual clarity--luckily, this limitation doesn't detract from the types of experiences Labo VR delivers.With the headset ready to go, you can physically look up, down, left, and right by moving your head. But because the Switch isn't able to do positional tracking, forward or backward movements aren't recognized and could be nausea-inducing. Tracking relies entirely on the Switch's built-in gyroscope and accelerometer, which results in a relatively smooth viewing experience. Looking in and around in VR works pretty well, and in combination with the Joy-Cons' own gyroscope and accelerometer (and the right Joy-Con's IR sensor), the cardboard devices become functional pieces of hardware.By and large, the creative process is what drives the Labo VR Kit to become more than its packaged contents--but to see that, you should experience its roster of games, minigames, and proof-of-concept sandboxes. Once you've assembled a new cardboard toy (called Toy-Cons), Labo then walks you through a specific game made for it. The Toy-Con Camera transports you to the middle of an ocean where you can snap photos of marine life, or look upward to float to the surface and see a bigger world. Twisting the Toy-Con Camera lens works just like zooming in with an actual camera lens because of the Joy-Con placed inside recognizes those small movements. Despite the Toy-Con Elephant being the toughest one to work with, the Marble Run game it's tied to is a series of smart physics-based puzzles for you manipulate platforms, gravity, and trampolines to get a marble through a goal.The novel applications don't end there, either. The Toy-Con Bird delivers flight movements for its open-area collectathon and racing game because the Joy-Con, which is placed on the "bird"'s beak rocks back and forth when you flap the cardboard wings. A personal favorite is the Toy-Con Blaster; it's a pump gun for with tactile feedback that matches the launching of explosive balls for its on-rails shooter game. There's impressive cleverness in how Nintendo makes use of the motion-tracking capabilities and cardboard components, and how they translate to sensible control schemes. These aren't intended to be long-form experiences; rather, they're bite-sized showcases of VR functionality for each of the cardboard devices you assemble.The Labo VR Kit is much more than just VR gaming for the Switch; it's educational, accessible, and imaginative, with a robust suite of programming tools. And that's what makes it wholly unique from anything else on the VR market.On paper, it may seem like a hassle to constantly hold the Switch headset to your face without a strap to hold it in place, but it's not as bad as it sounds--each Labo VR device is designed with this in mind. Take the Toy-Con Blaster, for example; your view in its rail shooter game is essentially a persistent aim-down-sights, and the ergonomics of the Blaster itself make it a comfortable experience. With the Elephant, you get a handle beneath the cardboard face to hold it up as you extend the trunk to move your in-game hands. And of course, the physical act of holding up the Toy-Con Camera to your face coincides with the real-world action.The content in VR Plaza distills it down even further by isolating certain aspects of each toy's potential in 60+ minigames/sandboxes. They essentially act as the building blocks for the inventive Toy-Con Garage and this is where the Labo VR Kit lets your imagination run wild--it's literally the toolset used to program the minigames contained in the VR Plaza section. It's a part of previous kits as well, but this version adds tools to create VR experiences. Toy-Con Garage is extremely complex and much more than a level creator you may find in other games. It's possible to teach yourself and eventually get to a point where you can wrap your head around the logic and programming for something and see it come to fruition, but it'll take significant time and effort if you don't have prior experience with programming. What's neat is that you can edit every sandbox/minigame in VR Plaza using the Garage tools and basically use them as the foundation to create your own thing. By virtue of seeing the programming guts of each game, you can then start to unravel how they're built. Things like Make An FPS Game and Make An Action Game in VR Plaza are specifically designed to let you use them as templates. And editing doesn't have to be solely done in VR thanks to the ability to select a 2D editing mode.Like the other kits, the Labo VR Kit does so many great things outside of its more standard game experiences, and it's really about what you do with the technology.In addition to the games and programming tools, Discovery Mode works as a laudable educational tool. Discovery offers a series of cheeky dialogue scenarios between a few Labo-based characters that effectively walk you through the Switch's technology, asking you questions along the way to make sure you're keeping up. Think of it as a crash course in physical science and electronics that explains everything from how the right Joy-Con's IR sensor works to showing you why gyroscope drift happens. Not only does Discover further contextualize what the hardware is doing, but makes knowledge of complex tech accessible to a wider audience.However, there are a few cases in which the Joy-Con tracking can be frustrating due to gyroscope drift. It's fairly easy to constantly recalibrate the Joy-Con position in a free-hand experience like shooting hoops, hitting a ball with a paddle, or moving blocks in a 3D space. But it becomes an issue in something like the Doodle application or the Marble Run stage creator, where you have to use the Elephant to craft a 3D sculpture or build a course, respectively. Your plane will always drift off-center. You can recenter yourself by accessing the pause menu, but it's frustrating to frequently wrestle with the motion-tracking in these cases. As a result, it's difficult to keep your work consistent and gets in the way of certain parts of the creative process with VR mode.The Labo VR Kit is much more than just VR gaming for the Switch; it's educational, accessible, and imaginative, with a robust suite of programming tools. And that's what makes it wholly unique from anything else on the VR market. Despite all its limitations and seemingly makeshift appearance, each contraption is an example of a creative vision in action, most of which works exceptionally well in bite-sized portions. In a broad sense, Labo VR is a smart, clever use of existing tech and expertly designed cardboard devices. The biggest factor in the lasting appeal of Labo VR (and the Labo lineup in general) lies in the Toy-Con Garage, because there's no denying the barebones aspect of the packaged gaming content, which is more of a collection of proofs-of-concept for VR's potential. Like the other kits, the Labo VR Kit does so many great things outside of its more standard game experiences, and it's really about what you do with the technology.Info from Gamespot.com

Marijuana. The Devil’s Lettuce. Sweet Mary-Jane. All words for the same thing rolled up and smoked as a jazz cigarette. In Weedcraft Inc, you're not a smoker, but an entrepreneur tasked with making sure your floral-smelling empire expands beyond its rinky-dink beginnings.Weedcraft is a management sim, and a fairly complex one at that. While it seems a bit sparse in scope at first, you'll be experimenting with temperature, humidity, and mineralized soil before you know it. At the same time, you have to make sure your electricity output isn't suspicious to the keen-nosed authorities hellbent on sending your delinquent bottom to a cold jail cell. Unless you're willing to bribe them, of course.Click image to view in full screenWhen you boot up Weedcraft, you're treated to a soundtrack composed of percussive hip-hop beats and instrumental vocals. Next thing you know, you're Johnny, failed MBA student who has turned to drug dealing. In order to make ends meet, you need to sell astronomical amounts of weed. At the start you're only selling a couple of grams at a time, but you'll be shifting top-quality greenery for tens of thousands of dollars a pop before you know it.Weedcraft's management sim systems are designed quite well. As your business expands, you start to spend less time growing weed and more time managing employees, all of whom have three stats: growing, selling, and interpersonal skills. These workers can grow weed for you, sell it on the streets, or run a front business designed to make your operation inconspicuous. As you progress through the game and go national, they can run weed from cities where it's legal to cities where it isn't--for a small fee, of course. At the same time, they can slip up and get arrested, at which point you’ll need to decide what to tell the cops. Maybe you’ll play dumb and let them take the hit for you; maybe you’ll lie on their behalf, saving their skin and earning their gratitude (until they ask for a raise two days later). Or maybe, just maybe, you’ll go down with them, your empire of dirt collapsing inwards on top of you. Although this sounds interesting in theory, there’s not much to it in execution. You assign your employees jobs by dragging their portraits into a little box and then just leave them be. Every couple of minutes they'll ask for a raise, even if you're going under, and every other day they’ll mention that they were threatened by a rival gang member, which decreases their motivation to work for you. Because they only come to you to discuss money or threats, there’s no real sense of building a relationship with them. The management sim mechanics in Weedcraft are clean and intuitive, but not in any special or new way.You've got your own list of perks, too, which are separated into two strands: decent and shady. These can provide you with bonuses when you're bargaining with employees over wages or assist you in convincing a cop that there's no smell coming out your chimney. You unlock these very gradually throughout the game, but their effects are usually significant enough to make even slow progression worthwhile, as the benefits they provide can have an astronomical impact on day-to-day dealing. You can headhunt the best growers in town, or get better at convincing rivals that you're genuinely trying to help them before you bring them down.A lot of Weedcraft's core play comes down to property management. You need to pay leases, rent, utilities, wages, and materials on a monthly basis. As you progress through the game, employees notice the rate at which your empire is expanding and ask for raises. Properties in new cities are fancier than the ones in the small town you started out in, and people are used to more experimental strains of weed that cost a lot more money to cultivate. The prospective employees you'll come across are usually a little more skilled too, and they know it. While you may have gotten away with paying an ex-con $250 a month for holding the fort in your front business in Michigan, hiring someone to sell weed outside a church in Colorado can amount to as much as $750 a month, and that's before they start making demands.After a while in Weedcraft, you'll stop selling outside diners and flea markets and start to take larger orders, reflecting the way empires are built on weed on the silver screen. These will come from people who are coordinating events, celebrities, and politicians who don't want to be seen at a dispensary or in a shady alley. Naturally, these gigs pay a lot more than the minor deals you were doing when you started out. They're also harder to work up to though, and clients are a lot pickier. If you want to avoid bankruptcy and prison, you'll have to be crafty in your attempts to balance the legal and the illegal, and the minor and the major. In theory, larger orders should work swimmingly. In execution though, they're a bit deceptive, offering more bang for your buck in the short term, but also drastically undercutting the prices of your day-to-day sales. I got several consecutive game overs from neglecting my clients at the burger joint to grow 800g of top-quality Grandaddy's Purple. Because you're micromanaging employees instead of growing your own weed at this point in the game, getting high-quality pot mostly boils down to good RNG. And if you consider buying a basement to set up your own personal operation, you'll miss out on employee prompts, rival threats, and police warnings. It's just not really worth it, and that's an issue. If these people want to buy your best strains in bulk, they should offer something more enticing than market value to make it worth your while.Weedcraft also has another game mode in which you start off as a 50-year-old man who has just been released from prison. Formerly a junior brand manager, you'll end up meeting with your old friend Matty after deciding that legal weed is a business you're well-equipped to take on. In this mode you'll start off with a decent amount of capital, including a hefty amount of weed to sell straight away. However, this is much more advanced and will involve you sycophantically dismembering the competition. This mode is a lot more difficult, and the assets you're gifted at the start are deceptive. Here you'll probably need to take out a loan just to get by, which you'll need to repay within 30 months at 8% interest. This might seem like a long time, but weed takes a long time to grow, so naturally there's a fast-forward setting that powers through months in minutes. Bankruptcy is never too far away so long as there are competitors desperately seeking to undercut you for an inch of your territory. This mode is a lot more engaging than the other one because it makes use of the game's full systematic ensemble. Here you spend more time combining strains in a laboratory to create the next big thing than you do on the streets, which gives you an insight into where the easier mode will end up about 10 hours in.Visually, Weedcraft finds style in simplicity. As with most management sims, the overall area you're operating within is viewed from a top-down perspective. Cars drive along the roads wrapped around shady neighborhoods, rundown burger joints, and sky-kissing hotels, all of which serve as hubs for operations you wouldn't want your parents to know about. In your growing rooms you actually get to watch your budding trees bloom, which is very satisfying with fast-forward enabled. These rooms are the most dynamic places in Weedcraft because the progress is meaningful. Most of the time, zooming cars just boil down to background noise designed to convey the passage of time. They become furniture almost immediately, before being interrupted by fleeting conversations with police officers and rival dealers. When these dialogue encounters occur, characters appear on either side of the screen, still portraits with clear, if not caricatured, personalities.None of the personalities in Weedcraft are remotely nuanced. You've got maniacal metalheads, somnolent stoners, and highfalutin hipsters, all of whom are paired with their own preferential strains of weedCaricature is an important word here. The thing is, none of the personalities in Weedcraft are remotely nuanced. You've got maniacal metalheads, somnolent stoners, and highfalutin hipsters, all of whom are paired with their own preferential strains of weed. People known as "vagrants" prefer whatever's cheapest, whereas a hipster is more than happy to pay above market price if the quality is there. Sometimes, these people will utter a short line after you sell them a bag. Most of these are generic, something along the lines of, "I'll take the usual, Super Lemon Haze." And in the case of talking to other dealers, every time you're met with a prompt to ask them about a certain point of interest, the exchange will literally consist of, "Let me ask you about…" and "Well, what can I say about that!" Here, the ellipses are used to make this generic conversation applicable to every dialogue encounter with potentially major characters in the game. Because of this, none of them ever become particularly intriguing, which is not to say that they even were in the first place. From Los Muertos in Michigan to the health-loving businessman living in an "eco-house" in weed-permitting Colorado, every character you meet is a character you've probably seen in a movie 100 times before.While it's relatively harmless to write tropey characters like the ones above, some of Weedcraft's clientele is horribly designed. Alongside the kinds of people you'd expect to find in a game like this, you'll find people who suffer from cancer, PTSD, and epilepsy, all of whom are accompanied by very unflattering portraits. The cancer patient is doubled over, ghostly pale with bags beneath their eyes, and attached to a drip. The PTSD patient is wide-eyed and open-mouthed with both hands on their head, wearing an expression torn between fear and confusion. People who smoke medicinally in Weedcraft will only buy from registered dispensaries, so you’ll need to get a license to sell before they’ll do business with you, but their representation in the game is extremely distasteful. It may be true that people suffering from illnesses are sometimes prescribed marijuana to help them deal with pain, but to present them in such an appalling way in a game is nothing short of shameful.Click image in full screenThis really did sour the game's initial tongue-in-cheek charm. The beginning of Weedcraft starts to get towards something interesting, presenting itself as an experience capable of playing with the cultural and socioeconomic impacts the devil's lettuce has had on society since it assimilated into the mainstream. Blending such a polarizing substance with the management sim genre seems ingenious, especially because of how significant property is. In one of the first lines of the game, your younger brother explicitly mentions issues with gentrification, but the problem is that the idea is almost immediately dismissed thereafter. With weed being legal in some US states, but not in others, Weedcraft could be a remarkable way of studying the impacts of the drug in legal and illegal settings alongside each other. You learn about creating artificial climates to support optimal growth, checking soil quality to determine strain strength, and combining seemingly immiscible substances in order to invent something new. At the same time, you're faced with the case of buying the proper licenses to adhere to legislation and establish a legitimate business. It's obviously not as in-depth as I imagine the real-life process is, but the fact that it attempts to replicate it even in a minor way gives us a little insight into how these intangible things work. It places you, an ordinary person, in a highly unusual string of circumstances, and allows you to waltz your way through the sale of the most controversial plant on the planet. But it does it in a way that lacks nuance, commentary, and maturity. From terminally-ill patients to hackneyed depictions of dealers, it relies more on stoner symbolism than genuine critique.Weedcraft is a well-designed management sim with stylish art and catchy music. Generally, it does its job well. Managing things is hectic and engaging, and you can't afford to take your eye off the ball for too long, lest someone take advantage of your ignorance and kick you out of the market and into prison. However, its characters are stale, its dialogue is boring, and its depiction of ill people is really disgusting. These aren't minor flaws by any means and they drastically affect play. I felt particularly uncomfortable when I saw the picture of the cancer patient because of how grossly caricatured it was. For these reasons, Weedcraft really shot itself in the foot. For a game that could have engaged in a globally-significant discourse, all Weedcraft really amounted to in terms of cultural and socioeconomic discussion was a jaded look at stoners and the people who sell them drugs in the back alleys of dodgy neighborhoods. In doing so, it fails to say anything meaningful about the human cost of weed and relinquishes the opportunity to grapple with weed's impact on the zeitgeist. It's the kind of game Ashton Kutcher would laugh at in Dude Where's My Car, which means it's not the kind of game that has anything of merit to say in 2019. Info from Gamespot.com

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's battle royale mode Blackout added a new map, Alcatraz, on PS4 earlier this month, and now it's also available for Xbox One and PC. This comes alongside a new update that's now available on all platforms.Black Ops 4's version of the island prison off San Francisco is a close-quarters map that sees players fighting among buildings and watchtowers and inside through cells and tight corridors. In addition to being smaller than the standard map, it's changes how you drop into the map, and it features zombies throughout. Additionally, like Apex Legends, you're able to respawn on Alcatraz. You can see it in action in the video embedded above.Blackout is currently free on all platforms until the end of the month. Normally, you'd have to own the full Black Ops 4 to play it, but that's not the case during this promotional period.In other news, an update for Black Ops 4 added a new Infected game mode on PS4, while there have been some updates to weapon balance: the KN-57 now has increased four-shot range but increased recoil. Additionally, in a curious decision, Duos was removed from Blackout, but it'll be coming back on April 10 for PS4 and Xbox One players. Go to Reddit to see a full rundown of the changes made to the game with its April 9 patch.2019's Call of Duty game is rumoured to be Modern Warfare 4 from developer Infinity Ward, though nothing is confirmed at this stage. Activision typically announces new Call of Duty games in late April or May, so it should be soon that we know more. What we do know for sure is that the game will have a traditional campaign after Black Ops 4 left it out. Info from Gamespot.com

Sea of Thieves has been out for just over a year, and while many enjoyed the pirate game, others felt it just didn't have enough content. Developer Rare is further attempting to address that feedback with the game's Anniversary Update, comprising a new narrative-driven questline called Tall Tales: Shores of Gold and an entire new PvP mode named The Arena.The Arena is a competitive mode for five teams of four set in smaller, distinct areas. At the beginning of each 24-minute match, every team receives the same set of treasure maps. You must proceed to one of the X marks in order to retrieve chests, which can then be cashed in for Silver at a number of special ships.Of course, other teams are competing for the same chests to cash in, so you might find you run in to some resistance on your travels. Killing other players or sinking their ships nets you a small amount of Silver, and respawns are active. Particular to The Arena is a new damage model for ships, which can now have their wheel, masts, and anchor destroyed--though these can be repaired with wood in the same way you would fix a hull.Tall Tales, meanwhile, is a new questline for people who wanted more direction in Sea of Thieves' classic adventure mode. It's set in the game's usual shared world--which will also gain a new island that Rare says is its biggest island yet--and will see you complete a number of puzzles and riddles in the search for treasure. The mode includes new enemy types, items enchanted with new abilities, and a new faction that will buy fish and meat off you after you utilise new fishing and cooking mechanics.Sea of Thieves' Anniversary update will be released for free on April 30. For more on the new content, check out our thoughts on why it could breathe new life into Sea of Thieves.Rare's pirate game launched in March 2018 and was awarded a 6/10 in our Sea of Thieves review. "There may come a time when Sea of Thieves is able to entice me back, and I imagine that will be with a mix of new mission types and hopefully the promise of rewards that allow for new types of interactions, if not improve my character's capabilities," wrote Peter Brown. "For now, it's a somewhat hollow game that can be fun for a handful of hours when played with friends, and something worth trying out if you happen to be an Xbox Game Pass subscriber. Even though it's hard to wholeheartedly recommend, I like enough of what I see to hold out hope that things will eventually improve as the game continues to be patched and updated with new content."Info from Gamespot.com