Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is full of tough enemies, like all of From Software's titles. Fighting them requires quick reflexes as you block and deflect attacks while looking for an opening to strike back. But some enemies can be dealt with in more creative ways than just hacking away at them with your sword. As you work your way through Sekiro, you'll also find additional weapons that often give you quick access to various baddies' weaknesses.These weapons get added to the Shinobi Prosthetic, the special prosthetic left arm that allows you to do all kinds of things in Sekiro, including grapple up onto buildings and trees. But in order to use the tools for the Shinobi Prosthetic, you'll have to find them. There are a bunch, and they're usually scattered throughout the game world. Some you can buy, some you'll earn from boss fights, and some you'll have to locate by exploring as you go.There are three prosthetics early in Sekiro that are extremely easy to miss, but if you have them, they can make the game's first few hours a whole lot easier. The Firecrackers, Shinobi Axe, and Flame Vent can give you the edge against a variety of different enemies, including a few tough early bosses. If you don't know where to look for them, you can walk right past them, though--and that can make your first few hours in Sekiro a lot more trying.Here's where you need to go to find each of these three key prosthetics within the first few areas of the game, and what they're useful for. Don't sleep on these Shinobi Prosthetics, or you're going to make the beginnings of Sekiro much tougher.While you're learning Sekiro's early game, you'll wan to read up on how death works. You may also want to check out our Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice review as well.Shinobi FirecrackerThe Firecracker prosthetic is pretty handy in a lot of cases, most specifically against animals. You can use it to distract enemies and knock them out of attack animations, while also opening them up to attack while they're momentarily stunned. Try firecrackers against the Blazing Bull and Gyoubu, the horseback general. You'll need 500 Sen to snag the Firecracker, so you'll want to save those coin purses you find in the first area of the game so you can snag it.You'll need to find a specific merchant to snag the Firecracker. He's located in the Outskirts Wall -- Gate Path area, near the stairs that lead to the Idol for the Outskirts Wall -- Stairway area. Just past where you meet the woman who thinks you're her son, you'll see a gate and a stairway just beyond. At the top of the stairs is a guy who will spot you from a distance and shoot cannonballs at you. Instead of heading toward him, look to your left for a place where you can grapple up.You're now at the base of a stone tower. Look for more grapple points above you until you reach the top. There you'll find a Merchant Mob tent and a guy inside. He'll sell you Robert's Firecrackers, which can be fitted into your prosthetic by the Sculptor back at the Dilapidated Temple.Flame VentThe Flame Vent is really easy to miss, but pretty essential against certain enemy types. You'll occasionally run across red-eyed berserker enemies that'll come hard for you and who won't be staggered by your attacks or deflections. The red-eyed enemies are afraid of fire, though--it doesn't do extra damage, but it will cause them to recoil and break some of their attack animations, giving you some breathing room. Fire attacks also can inflict burn damage on enemies over time.The Flame Vent is located in the Hirata Estate area that's accessible from the Dilapidated Temple. You'll first need to talk with the woman in the destroyed house in Ashina Outskirts. Let her think you're her son and she'll give you a bell as an offering to Buddha. Take that back to the Sculptor in the Dilapidated Temple and he'll tell you to offer it to the Buddha sculpture beside him. When you do that, it'll take you back in time to Hirata Estate as it's being attacked and burned by bandits.Once you're in the past, continue forward until you hit the Estate Path area. From the Idol Statue, you'll see a road ahead of you that terminates in a closed gate. To get around it, you'll need to jump the wall to the right and enter an area of small huts. You'll first pass a courtyard with three enemies in it, then hop another wall into an area with a row of huts where enemies are patrolling. There's also an archer on one of the rooftops ahead and to the left when you first enter this section.If you push to the back end of this area, you'll find several enemies standing around a small campfire near one of the huts. Take them out, then check the campfire itself to discover the prosthetic hidden among the flames.Shinobi AxeOne of the more powerful, harder-hitting prosthetics is the axe, and you'll want it for dealing with those annoying guys carrying wooden shields and the small assassins with the big hats. Swinging the axe at those guys smashes their defenses instantly, allowing you to go in for deathblows. You can also use it to send enemies reeling with it, which makes it handy in a lot of fights.The axe is easy to miss, but it's right after you find the Flame Vent. Again, head into the past using the bell you get from the woman in Ashina Outskirts and head to the Estate Path area. From the Idol Statue, head over the wall to the right and through the area with the rows of huts and the patrolling enemies. Past the campfire where several enemies sit and you found the Flame Vent, you'll find a path that leads up some stairs. This road takes you behind the closed gate you saw previously, and you'll find a hurt Samurai who will tell you to find the Shinobi Axe in a nearby shrine.When you get back on the main path, you'll see two enemies to your right standing in front of a closed gate. Instead, turn the other way, so you're headed back toward the closed gate. Hop up on the wall to your left and you should see two men standing in front of a small building. You can eavesdrop on them to hear them talking about deciding not to burn the shrine. Kill them and open it up to find the Shinobi Axe inside. Info from Gamespot.com

We all know Double Fine for its rich history of adventure games with an unmistakable, funky charm. Founder Tim Schafer is a household name at this point, especially because of games like Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, and Psychonauts, but there’s a lot more to the independent development studio than Schafer’s legacy. I'd say Double Fine's collection of games is already rad, and it's about to be even more so with Rad. The game is being led by Lee Petty, who has had a prominent role at Double Fine as art director for both Brutal Legend and Broken Age, and project lead for Headlander. And I was able to catch up with him and see Rad in action.At its foundation, Rad is a roguelite isometric action game set in a deranged, yet colorful non-linear wasteland, which may sound familiar. Rad has its own twists, though. Mutations act as randomized power-ups that add a necessary (and unpredictable) diversity to your moveset. One such mutation can be a cute, monster-like turret attached to your back that shoots enemies behind you or thrown down in a stationary position. Or you can grow irradiated feet that makes you immune to poisonous terrain and leaves a hazardous trail to trap enemies in pursuit. Variation is key to the roguelite genre, and appears that Rad gives that to you in spades.You start as a human character, but the world of Rad will transform you.Run-based action games have no doubt grown in number and popularity since Spelunky's debut more than 10 years ago, so I asked Petty about how he and the team plan to make Rad stand out in an increasingly crowded genre."I still wanted to find a way to create a memorable world in that space. For me, that was a simple choice, why would you want to basically be in a series of locked rooms? Because it's easier to balance combat because you're stuck in a room and have to clear it. But it's never felt like a world to me. We're going to have some dungeons, but you're going to be able to walk around this world. We're going to make exploration more interesting with stuff to find, and more opportunities for environmental storytelling."That shone through a bit in my short time with the game. Fundamentally, however, I had to find a number of certain objects in the world to advance as the game funneled me through encounters with unique enemies and a challenging boss fight. Everything flowed smoothly thanks to tight controls and a few effective abilities. But being a roguelite isn't the only area that's challenging for a game to stand out in, Rad's also playing on a familiar setting: a post-apocalypse. Even in 2019 alone, it's a frequent backdrop, so I asked Petty how he and the team are distinguishing Rad's version."One of the big things is we really wanted to make a game of a post-apocalypse that wasn't about killing other people for resources. This is really about having this surreal world that's undergone two apocalypses with little bits of like 80s culture. I was a teenager in the late 80s, as a lot of this stuff was happening. It wasn't the shocking post-apocalyptic movies that I found interest in. It was the weird stuff like Solarbabies or Miracle Mile, or even crazy stuff like Hell Comes to Frogtown. It's almost like they paved the way for an alternate fantasy role-playing game genre, but it was way more surreal and creative. It was science fiction, mutants, and weird off-shoots of human civilization."Petty's perspective is apparent from the start with Rad's lively presentation and visual quirks that build onto your character with each mutation. Naturally, I wanted to know more about the youthful character you play and how their story gets woven into the roguelite loop. Petty mentioned that you'll perpetually go to a hub world where you speak to folks who react to your progress and changes in the world. But playing in the post-apocalypse evokes certain worldviews that drive an overarching narrative. Petty had something to say about that."There is this arc of, 'Well, what town or elder is fine with just throwing their teens to the grinder to solve this problem?' You start to wonder, well, are these good people? Why are we doing this? Is there really a threat out there?"You have the sense that, and you see this in a lot of those 80s movies, the protagonists are the underdogs. Even back then, there was a sense that, like, the baby boomers fucked us all over. We all agree on it now, but even back then we were thinking, 'What the hell? We're going to fix this I guess.' I think that's the relevant point and why it's been on my mind lately. Like okay, we're going through stuff with climate change, right? Usually there are themes of transformation and bringing the world back, but there's some sense of hope underneath all of the mutation and mutants."It's refreshing to hear where Rad draws inspiration and see it in action. And it channels that quirky Double Fine personality in a genre and theme that can seem worn which certainly helps Rad stand out. Needless to say I'll be curious to see how the gameplay loop, increasing challenge, and narrative all coalesce in the full game. We'll see just how rad Rad will be when it launches in Summer 2019 for PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.Info from Gamespot.com

At GDC 2019, we sat down with Google VP Phil Harrison to talk about Stadia, his company's new cloud-based streaming service for video games. The platform will allow you to play all types of games, both triple-A and indie, from a variety of devices.During its GDC 2019 keynote presentation, Google announced Stadia will release within 2019, and come to the US, Canada, UK, and "most of" Europe. The only games confirmed for the service as of this time are Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Doom Eternal. Harrison offered further details during our interview, including what exclusives will look like and what type of pricing model players can expect. He also confirmed Stadia will never support offline downloads.We have more information on how cloud gaming works, and have outlined the top companies investing in gaming's possible cloud-based future. Read on for our full chat with Harrison.I assume you've been monitoring all of the chatter, the reaction so far. What do you think?Very happy with the way that our message was received and I think that there's a lot of very thoughtful follow up which is starting to happen. It's exactly what I wanted.There's obviously a lot more to talk about in the months to come, but I wanted to start off with asking about latency and input lag. Are you confident that by the time the service is out, you'll be able to satisfy most of those concerns around input lag and latency?Absolutely, unequivocally, yes. And we believe that it's not just for when the server starts, it's actually, we've demonstrated it today. Having a studio with a very, very high threshold of quality and functionality from [id Software] and having id on our stage yesterday was very purposeful, because the way [Marty Stratton] tells the story is spot on. They were skeptical when we first started talking to them. They were skeptical that a streaming platform could support the level of quality and responsiveness that they needed to deliver on their game experience. What they have delivered with Doom Eternal, I don't know if you've had the chance to?I haven't personally, no.[Well it absolutely] demonstrates that. And it's because of the investments that we are making in the hardware, in the fundamental networking fabric, in the compression and encoder and the way that we transport the bits from our data center to your home. There's probably a hundred innovations there that each mean that we can deliver that quality of experience. There's a very thoughtful editorial on Digital Foundry, I don't know if you've had the chance to read?The Eurogamer article from this morning?Yeah, Eurogamer. It's a very deep technical analysis. And in summary, they're saying that it's indistinguishable from a local Xbox One X, which I think is a very good way to frame this.And then in more kind of serious but kind of jokey ways, we get the data, the video from our data center to your eyeball, quicker than your eyeball to brain to nervous system to finger. The human operating system is the slowest part of the operating system, and some humans are slower than others!Have you got a fix for that, then?I think that being about 12 is probably the best fix.One of the other big questions people have is about bandwidth and the requirements for that. I've read some of the stuff you've already talked about, and I think you've said between 25 and 30 Mbps? Is that right?Yes. [Happy] to clarify any questions on that. [For Project Stream], we asked gamers to have 25 megabits per second, although, in fact, we only use about 20 megabits per second on average in order to get a 1080p, 60 frames per second stream. Because of innovations that we've made on our compressor and encoder, we will deliver up to 4K, or deliver 4K at around 30 megabits per second. And then if you are still streaming at 1080p because of bandwidth or device, then we will use much less bandwidth.So how do you message that to the end user then? Like how do you tell them that, depending on infrastructure and bandwidth, this is the quality of experience you're going to get with Stadia?So there will be some objective and subjective ways that we do it. One, there will be some bandwidth tests that players will be able to perform in order to inform them about what the performance characteristics of their network are. There will be just information that we'll make available on our website and other places that will hopefully educate. And then there's a crucial bit in the middle which is, helping players optimize [in case] there are some environmental reasons inside their home that are restricting their experience. [We] will give them a knowledge base that will allow them to then--in some cases--move their wireless router or [maybe] upgrade their router. But we'll help the gamers as much as we can every step of the way.So how does that work in a practical sense? Will there be a tutorial or something that you're going to offer?I don't know how we'll do it practically but we're committed to doing it.Okay. So, I guess the next big question is data caps. A lot of people out there are throttled by how much data that they're able to get every month. Are you working with ISPs to come up with some sort of solution around that?The ISPs in the US where this issue is more prevalent, but not everywhere, so I think it's actually important to remember that this is not a national, nationwide concern. But historically, ISPs have demonstrated that they are very responsive to [consumers' needs]. When music streaming became popular, they lifted the bandwidth limit. When music streaming migrated to YouTube and Netflix streaming, once again the limits went up, and we expect that the limits will continue to rise over time. Partly driven by consumer demand, but also frankly, ISPs are in competition. There is a market dynamic, you know, that we believe will help continue to deliver a great service for gamers. [There are] trials going on with 5G streaming; [bandwidth in homes] that have no caps at all. So I think that we'll continue to see innovation with that.Is there something specifically that you, as Google, is doing to push ISPs along this path?We think that the ISPs understand the opportunity and will make the innovation.Right now, you've pegged Stadia as something to expect later this year. When you do launch, is it going to be staggered by region or city, or will a switch be turned on and it's just available?So we are already live in 12 data centers, from Project Stream from last year. We need to build out our infrastructure. And we will make detailed launch plans on [an exact] date in the summer.Do you have any figures or a percentage of the market that you are looking at, that shows you, this is the percentage of the US population that can get the service in its full capacity, when you launch? Is there a number that you're looking at there?We have a number of data points that show us, both from our internal data from use of YouTube to other publicly available information. Across the launch markets that we are focused on for 2019, it's measured in the hundreds of millions.In the US, is there like a number you can share?I don't have it broken down in my head, I'm sorry.But you're comfortable that you're hitting a significant part of the available market with the infrastructure that you're requiring?Absolutely.A big question mark is around pricing. I know you guys aren't talking about that specifically right now. But can I ask, is the pricing model, is that something that's already been decided and you've still got to?Yes.Okay, so it's already been decided and you're just going to reveal it at a later date?Correct.Can I ask what some of the factors were that led you to deciding on the specific model that you have, without obviously giving it all away?A lot of very deep conversations with our developer and publisher partners over many, many months and years in some cases. And a lot of deep consumer research. We have had a fantastic user research team as a core part of the Stadia team for two years now. And so, we have [our] point of view, [which we] then test [against various] hypotheses with consumers and with publishing partners, and then get to the right result.A lot of this is uncharted waters, though. How difficult was it to come to whatever this model is?Ask me that question in the summer.Okay, I will. So, whatever the pricing model ends up being, will resolution be respective of price? For example, are you able to offer me, for the same price, a 8K service versus a 4K service versus a 1080p service?We're not gonna get into those details today. I will confirm however that 8K is not in our launch window or scenario. And we'll talk about exactly how we're going to be bringing this to market in the summer.I totally respect [latency concerns], and that is why, one of the reasons why we allow and enable gamers with the devices they already own, to be able to try Stadia. So using a laptop they may have that runs Chrome with a USB connected controller that they already have. They have everything they need in order to try and prove to themselves that Stadia works great for them. And then they will be able to feel great about that and hopefully deepen their experience with us.Yeah. As we mentioned, this is somewhat uncharted territory for games and you know, one of the other key things that the audience keeps bringing up is the issue of ownership, right? So in a streaming platform, what do they actually own? How difficult do you think it will be for you to get traditional core gamers on board with the idea of streaming and not having that physical disc in their hand or a download that they have on their console?There is no denying, there is no download. There is no physical box for them to put on a shelf, and actually I can speak from some kind of personal experience on this, because I'm a music fan and I'm a film fan. And somewhere in crates, I actually don't know where anymore, I have thousands of CDs. And I can't remember the last time I bought a CD. I used to buy Blu-ray discs because I wanted that physical ownership. I can't remember the last time I bought a Blu-ray disc. All of the media that I consume has gone to streaming.But it took me a while to get to that point. It wasn't something, it wasn't a decision that I made overnight. It was because I recognized the value of being able to enjoy that music or those shows on all of the devices in my life seamlessly. It was like, well actually this is better because it's easier. This is better because it's more immediate.And so, I'm not gonna tell your readers how to think for themselves about how they will go on that journey. And I respect that some will be earlier, and some will be later. But that's the same with every innovation that happens in technology.Do you think there's something specific within the gamer experience and the gamer DNA that would make letting go of that a bit more difficult than with other media?I think our job as a platform is to demonstrate [value] to the gamer of, what it really means when they [login to your] platform. The game experiences that the gamers get are adding value to the experience in a way that is clear as day that you could never get this from a downloaded or packaged product. And that's the challenge that we have to be up for.And that's why we're building a first-party studio. That's why we are bringing the best of Google technologies in support of the game development process, so that we bring ML and AI and conversational understanding and things that are only possible when the entire data center is running the game.Now, I know you said no downloads, but we have seen in the past few years, places like Spotify and Netflix, eventually offer offline downloads. Is that something you'd ever consider?No. Not technically possible.Yeah, I was gonna ask, with the way Stadia is built, if you even could.It would be a compromise of our vision if we were to do that.What about the data collection and privacy side of things? What are you able to say now to people about how Stadia will collect or use the information you gather from player usage?Well we absolutely respect players' privacy and will hold very high standards, as you would expect from Google, around privacy. So I don't know that I have anything to add other than our account system will be built on top of the Google account system. You will absolutely have a different persona in a game than you have on your Gmail, so people don't need to worry about how they show up in the real world versus the virtual world. We will separate and make that distinct. And what we offer to game developers is I think a scale of reaching more gamers across more devices and so hopefully that is a win-win for the gamer, because they get better games, and it's a win-win for the developer.You mentioned you'll be separating profiles from Gmail. But with the integration of YouTube being so central to this, is it going to be off your YouTube ID as well then?No, it's off your, it's, without going into the kind of intricacies about how Google's account works, it's built on top of your Google account.What's the reaction been from the developers so far?Great, I mean I'm happily spending a lot of time with media since I came offstage, but… it's been fed back to me from other colleagues, you know, the meetings that they're having with developers who are seeing the platform for the first time. Obviously we have been sharing under NDA and [privately kept] plans with many developers. But we're able to make much more public what we're doing now and it's been great. Really exciting.One of the big confirmations from the Google keynote was the creation of Stadia Games and Entertainment. How long before we hear news about what that studio is working on? Is it a single project, multiple projects? What can you say?Multiple games. We're building our own in-house studios from scratch. That inevitably takes time but we're also working with independent external developers to publish and bring games to Stadia in very unique ways. So I think you'll hear from us more quickly about those games.The partner games?The partner games, and then [Jade Raymond] actually builds out her team and she has a--I actually don't even know if anybody knows what a Rolodex is anymore--but you know, she has a very powerful link to everybody. I've dated myself using Rolodex.How long has work been going on in the background with Stadia Games and Entertainment? I mean, GDC obviously wasn't the first time you guys started work. How long has behind the scenes stuff been going on?It was a conversation that I had with Google leadership before I joined the company. [My] point of view was [that in order] to really deliver on the promise of this platform, we had to build our own games. We had to build our own experiences, and that was a very fundamental, strategic direction that we needed to move in.This leads to my next question. I don't wanna put words in your mouth, but it sounds like you think exclusives are still a very important part of the platform?I understand that [for a gamer] the word 'exclusive' can sometimes be a challenging terminology. [I would] rather we moved the narrative towards [games] that are built specifically for a data center. And if those games also show up on other streaming platforms, that's okay, because what that means is that the developers are starting to innovate and think about the future and [build] a 21st century game, rather than a 20th century game.So you're not excluding the possibility that some things that Stadia Games and Entertainment create might appear on another streaming platform?No, the games that we make, that we invest in ourselves, will obviously only be on our platform.You're obviously going up against some very well established competition. And the way I see it, you guys have the infrastructure and the community when it comes to YouTube. But well established players like Sony and Microsoft have the edge in their respective game libraries. Assuming you get up to speed on the game library side of things, how important is the community side to the success of this?I think it's vital that we give game developers the tools and technology to allow them to create those new experiences that are both playable and viewable. And that this is a whole new game design language, that I reckon [will be in GDCs] two, three, four years from now. [It will] be a very clear talk track inside of GDC.I'm already having these conversations with teammates in some studios. Historically, you [had] a game producer [build] the game. But now, some studios are very thoughtfully thinking about, well I need to augment that with somebody who understands the viewership experience. The language, the rules, the meta--[the meta way] of doing this hasn't been defined yet. We're just starting to define that in [this industry], but that's a really fascinating transition.So you're saying that how a game is viewed on a platform, like YouTube, will become as important as to how it actually plays?Correct.Okay, that's super interesting.And this idea that the memorable moments that become the shareable stories on YouTube, which then become the click and play jumping off points for other people to enjoy or engage with that game, are really super valuable.So that'll be part of the DNA of any games that your own studio will be making, is that right?I hope so.Okay. One last question. Who's the audience? Like in your head, are you going for like, core audience--people who have traditionally played console--or are you going for a much broader group?Both. And I think we are building the platform with the highest level of technical capability so that you and people like your readers are excited by the technical capabilities. That's why we're going for 4K, 60 frames per second, HDR, which all those are almost like buzzwords or checkpoints. They're validations of intent of how important we respect both the developer and the gamer. And then there is another audience who is just super excited about the idea of being able to take those triple-A game experiences and not have to pay a huge upfront cost for a console or a high end PC. And those two worlds are maybe different, they speak different languages, but they get excited about the platform as well.Thank you so much, Phil. When will we hear from you guys next?In the summer.Can you outline what the next thing you'll wanna talk about is?So if you think about GDC as being our statement of intent and vision for [game developers], [then, we'll be spending] the coming weeks and months [with] the community of YouTube creators. And then in the summer, we will be focused on the gamer, on the player. What they can play, exactly when they can play it, pricing, business model. It's not really something that players think about but, you know, just the way in which they will have a commercial relationship with the platform and with the games and the launch date, etc. So we've got a busy few months ahead.This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.Info from Gamespot.com

It looks like IG-88 is coming to Disney's Star Wars spin-off streaming show, The Mandalorian--and he'll have a Marvel Cinematic Universe alumnus providing his voice.Showrunner Jon Favreau shared a photo on his Instagram feed of Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi in a voice recording booth, apparently working on The Mandalorian. The screen Waititi is facing in the photo shows a beloved bounty hunter: the spooky droid IG-88. From the context of the photo, it looks like Waititi is providing IG-88's voice. View this post on InstagramA post shared by Jon Favreau (@jonfavreau) on Mar 21, 2019 at 4:43pm PDT IG-88 first showed up in The Empire Strikes Back on Darth Vader's star destroyer. The droid was among the many bounty hunters Vader dispatched to find the Millennium Falcon, of which Boba Fett wound up being successful. (It's worth noting also that Boba Fett was a Mandalorian, which were a group of famed warriors in the Star Wars lore.) IG-88 and the other hunters never showed up in the movies again, but they had backstories fleshed out in novels, comics, and video games in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. IG-88 even showed up as a villain in the 1996 video game Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire on N64 and PC.With Disney's acquisition of the Star Wars franchise, the old Expanded Universe stories became non-canon. But it looks like IG-88 lives on beyond his turn in the original Star Wars trilogy. The Mandalorian stars Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones, Kingsman: The Golden Circle) and follows a lone gunfighter beyond the reaches of the Republic in the years between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, so IG-88 apparently survived at least that long.Waititi is among the directors slated to take on episodes of The Mandalorian. This isn't the first time he's lent his voice to a character in a project he was also directing--Waititi voiced Korg, an alien composed of rocks, in Ragnarok, and damn near stole the movie. Hopefully that means IG-88 will carry some dark humor to go with his murderous ways.The Mandalorian is set to appear on Disney's streaming service, Disney+, sometime in 2019.Info from Gamespot.com

Despite the numerous innovations it's been responsible for over the past three decades, Nintendo has also been notoriously slow to adapt to certain trends. The company was, after all, the last to earnestly embrace online gaming, and it seemed that would likewise be the case with virtual reality--which made the announcement of Labo VR, the fourth kit in its growing line of DIY games/toys, such a surprise. And while it may not be as sophisticated as a true VR headset, Labo VR is the most compelling Labo kit yet, although your enjoyment will largely depend on your own creativity.Like Nintendo's previous three Labo packages, the VR kit comes with its own game card and an assortment of cardboard sheets, stickers, rubber bands, and other crafting materials with which to assemble its various Toy-Cons. The full suite of projects includes the Blaster, Bird, Camera, Elephant, and Wind Pedal, plus a set of VR Goggles that works in conjunction with the other peripherals. The goggles are the key to the experience; they house the Switch console and slot into almost all of the other Toy-Cons, allowing you to play their corresponding mini-games in VR (though each activity also supports the option to be played in 2D).What's most immediately impressive about this setup is that it doesn't require any additional hardware or accessories to work, as PlayStation VR and other headsets do; you simply slide the Switch into the VR Goggles, then insert that into the Toy-Con you wish to use. We had reservations about holding the Switch up in what is effectively just a cardboard viewfinder, but the goggles feel surprisingly sturdy, and all of the Toy-Cons feature safety caps to lock it into place, ensuring the console doesn't accidentally slip out during use. That said, we'd still caution parents to supervise their children when playing with the Toy-Cons to prevent any mishaps.Of course, without additional cameras or input devices, the Labo VR kit offers a more limited virtual reality experience than proper VR headsets. Even so, head tracking felt accurate and responsive in our time with the kit, and all of the mini-games we played made good use of the 360-degree view the VR Goggles afford. If things do become wonky, however, you can recalibrate the Switch by removing it from the goggles, setting it on a flat surface, and pressing an on-screen button.Each of the five new Toy-Cons works with a different pair of activities. We only got to try a handful of these during our hands-on time with the kit, but the mini-games we did play seemed to suffer from the same problem as those in the Variety kit; namely, they didn't appear to offer much in the way of depth, so it's difficult to imagine spending more than a few minutes with them. That said, the games were amusing, and the Toy-Cons are intended to be passed between players, so your mileage will vary if you have family members or other loved ones to share the experience with. Of the bunch, the Blaster offered the most traditional gaming experience--a simple on-rails light gun game in which you shoot an army of adorable aliens that have invaded a city. The Blaster is also used to play a secondary competitive mini-game that is essentially a VR version of Hungry, Hungry Hippos, pitting two players against each other in a race to fire food into the hippos’ mouths.Another highlight was Bird, which has players soaring about an island in search of hatchlings to feed. The Camera Toy-Con lets you snap pictures of marine life in a simple underwater photography game, while the Elephant features the most unexpected activity--an art program that allows you to draw 3D artwork by maneuvering its trunk. However, the trunk's limited range of movement made this particular activity the least appealing of all the ones we tried. By contrast, the most memorable sensory experience came from the Wind Pedal. Like the pedal Toy-Con from the Labo Vehicle kit, this peripheral rests on the floor, but pressing down on it causes a fan to swing upward and blow air into your face. The object of its mini-game is to press down on the pedal at the right time to make a frog leap over stacks of balls that are fired from clockwork bears. The game itself is a rudimentary timing challenge, but feeling the gusts of air against your face as you see yourself ascending into the sky was a trippy sensation.On top of each Toy-Con's dedicated mini-games, Labo VR also includes a mode called VR Plaza, which features 64 bite-sized VR activities to play. These run the gamut from side-scrolling platformers to puzzle games, and each one was created using the series' flexible Garage function, which lets you program your own Labo activities. This is where the game's lasting appeal lies, as you can tinker about with the entire selection of pre-made games, editing them as you please or even creating your own VR games.The Nintendo Labo VR kit launches on April 12. This time around, Nintendo is offering the kit in two different configurations. The full bundle retails for $80 and includes all six Toy-Cons, while the starter set--which comes only with the Labo software plus the VR Goggles and Blaster--costs $40. The remaining peripherals can then be purchased across two separate expansion sets for $20 each. Info from Gamespot.com

Before Game of Thrones fans were introduced to the deposed and hunted royal Daenerys Targaryen, the actress behind the role was facing a life-threatening battle of her own. In a new essay for The New Yorker, Emilia Clarke revealed she suffered two brain aneurysms during her time on the show, the first occurring after wrapping filming of Season 1 of the HBO series."Just when all my childhood dreams seemed to have come true, I nearly lost my mind and then my life," she wrote. "I've never told this story publicly, but now it's time."It all started on February 11, 2011--two months before the series premiered. Clarke was working out with a trainer when she felt "as though an elastic band were squeezing my brain." She continued, "I tried to ignore the pain and push through it, but I just couldn't. I told my trainer I had to take a break. Somehow, almost crawling, I made it to the locker room. I reached the toilet, sank to my knees, and proceeded to be violently, voluminously ill. Meanwhile, the pain--shooting, stabbing, constricting pain--was getting worse. At some level, I knew what was happening: my brain was damaged."Eventually, someone came to her aid and Clarke was transported to a hospital. It's there she learned she was suffering from a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which she described as "a life-threatening type of stroke, caused by bleeding into the space surrounding the brain." According to the actress, roughly one-third of patients who suffer those don't survive. Soon after she underwent her first brain surgery.The surgery left her alive but in extreme pain. Later, in a series of cognitive exercises given to her by a nurse, Clarke realized she couldn't remember her name. She was experiencing a case of aphasia. "Nonsense words tumbled out of my mouth and I went into a blind panic," she wrote. "I'd never experienced fear like that--a sense of doom closing in. I could see my life ahead, and it wasn't worth living. I am an actor; I need to remember my lines. Now I couldn't recall my name."It took a week for the aphasia to pass and a month after her admittance, Clarke left the hospital. She did so with the knowledge that there was a second smaller aneurysm in her brain. "The doctors said, though, that it was small and it was possible it would remain dormant and harmless indefinitely," she explained. "We would just keep a careful watch."In the time that followed, Clarke often found herself weak, fatigued, and in pain. "Season 2 would be my worst. I didn't know what Daenerys was doing," she wrote. "If I am truly being honest, every minute of every day I thought I was going to die."Then, after finishing Season 3 of the series and spending some time in New York City, Clarke went in for one of her now-regular brain scans. It was discovered that the smaller aneurysm had doubled in size and she would again need to undergo surgery. Unlike the previous one, though, this procedure was not as successful."When they woke me, I was screaming in pain. The procedure had failed," she recalled. "I had a massive bleed and the doctors made it plain that my chances of surviving were precarious if they didn't operate again. This time they needed to access my brain in the old-fashioned way—through my skull. And the operation had to happen immediately."Again, Clarke spent a month in the hospital recovering from brain surgery. And once again, it took a toll on her mentally. "I spent a month in the hospital again and, at certain points, I lost all hope," she said. "I couldn't look anyone in the eye. There was terrible anxiety, panic attacks. I was raised never to say, 'It's not fair'; I was taught to remember that there is always someone who is worse off than you. But, going through this experience for the second time, all hope receded. I felt like a shell of myself."What's more, Clarke suffered in silence. She never went public with the struggles she was facing. Until now, that is. "In the years since my second surgery I have healed beyond my most unreasonable hopes," she wrote. "I am now at a hundred percent." Beyond that, Clarke also launched the charitable organization SameYou, which has the goal of providing treatment for those suffering from brain injuries and strokes.And now she's looking toward another accomplishment: the end of Game of Thrones. "There is something gratifying, and beyond lucky, about coming to the end of Thrones," she said. "I'm so happy to be here to see the end of this story and the beginning of whatever comes next."Info from Gamespot.com

While Bloodborne tweaked the combat dynamics of Dark Souls to encourage aggression, Sekiro rewrites the rules of engagement. The building blocks of its combat are recognisable, but this only serves to lure Soulsborne veterans into a false sense of security. Sekiro's combat is incredibly demanding, asking you to study your opponent, find the perfect moment to engage, and execute a split-second follow-up that, if done right, will end the battle in a matter of moments--or if done wrong will end you just as fast.This might sound akin to what every other From Software game asks of you, but Sekiro pushes these demands further than Dark Souls and Bloodborne ever did. Over the years, From Software fans have become accustomed to the language of Soulsborne games; we recognise scenarios and are wise to the tricks, we can identify viable strategies more quickly, and since the skills are transferable, we can execute these strategies with a measure of confidence. But Sekiro challenges this expertise. It invites you to try and then shows you how little you're actually capable of. Sekiro is affirmation that From Software hasn't lost its bite; that its games can make you feel vulnerable and strike fear in a way few others can. It's a heart-pounding, palm-sweating, and nerve-wracking gameplay experience that instills tension the likes of which I haven't felt since first playing Demon's Souls.Souls players predominantly hide behind shields and adopt a hit and run approach to combat, and Bloodborne's attack-focused dynamic was a response to this. Similarly, the crux of Sekiro's combat has its origins in Dark Souls. The Poise stat was used to govern how resistant a player was to being staggered or stun-locked by an attack. Sekiro reworks this into a defensive attribute called Posture and uses it to underpin its engagements. Attacks chip away at Posture and will eventually break through the defense, leaving an enemy open to a Deathblow or to having their health attacked directly, which in turn makes their Posture slower to recover. However, this is a very laborious way to wear enemies down, and they will often defiantly counterattack to deal big damage to you. Instead the goal is to deflect an attack the moment before it hits you, which wears down Posture considerably faster.For low-level enemies it takes just a few encounters to get into the rhythm of it, but as more foes are introduced, it becomes much trickier. Each one has a variety of attacks that have specific tells and counter timings, so spending the time to learn how they all behave and how you should react is vital. Thematically, this style of combat is also coherent with the subject matter of the game in a way that I really appreciate. Battles are measured--a ballet of back and forth movements, the outcome decided by a deadly flourish--swift and precise, as any contest between swordsmen should be.However, the true test is when you're faced with Sekiro's boss enemies. Calling these encounters "challenging" would be a severe understatement. The attacks these enemies unleash are deadly, to the point where just a single blow can often be enough to kill you. Their moves can be as erratic as they are diverse, and for some of them parrying is simply not an option. Occasionally a red kanji symbol will briefly appear to signal that an unblockable attack is on its way, and in this situation the options are to either jump, dodge to the side, or hope you can sprint away fast enough. In a single second you'll need to identify the attack and execute the appropriate action to save yourself. Bosses have the most Posture and usually require you to land multiple Deathblows on them before they fall, so attempting to simply chip away only draws the battle out. The longer you spend in the battle, the more mentally taxing it becomes. The stress of repeatedly nailing split-second counters begins to mount and just a single slip-up is all it takes to lose everything. As a consequence, these boss battles feel designed to force you to engage with the enemy, to take the fight to them and hope that you've got what it takes. In the moment it can feel unbearably frustrating to keep banging your head up against the challenge, but that frustration pales in comparison to the sheer exhilaration of finally breaking through. After almost every boss battle I completed, I was so overwhelmed by the adrenaline that I had to put the controller down and give myself the time to settle.Death isn't necessarily the end, however, as Sekiro gives you the option to either submit and die to respawn at a checkpoint, or revive on the spot and continue fighting. This mechanic makes the game just a touch more forgiving by allowing you to recompose yourself and get back in the fight, but it comes at a cost. Each death and each revival has an impact on the world around you. More specifically, it has an impact on the characters you've met on your journey. To explain exactly what that is would be to spoil one of the most interesting parts of Sekiro, so I won't do that--and also, at this point I'm not completely sure what the ramifications and consequences are, such is the mysterious nature of it all. However, the fact that death has a consequence beyond making you lose experience and money is fascinating.In battle, your character, Wolf, has his fair share of tricks. He's equipped with a prosthetic arm that is capable of having different sub-weapons grafted to it, and they're essential in giving yourself an edge in combat. There's an axe that, while slow to swing, can break through shields; a spear that allows you attack from further away, and can be used to pull weaker enemies towards you or strip armor; firecrackers which can stun enemies; or a flamethrower that can inflict burn damage.Using these prosthetics comes at a cost, however, as they consume Spirit Tokens. These are scattered around the world and can be purchased using Sen, the in-game currency awarded for killing enemies, but you can only hold a limited quantity of them while in the field. This limitation reinforces the idea that they are to be used as part of a strategy instead of relied on as the primary way to defeat enemies. Using them unnecessarily could mean that they're not available when you need them most. Resources such as scrap, gunpowder, and wax can be found to upgrade your prosthetic arsenal and open up new ways to use them.Wolf's own shinobi abilities can also be developed by spending experience points gained from killing enemies. Unlike previous From Software titles, there isn't a steady stream of new weaponry; the katana is your mainstay throughout, but new Combat Arts flesh out how the sword can be used, and they have a more active role in skirmishes. Whirlwind Slash, for example, lets you control space, while Ichimonji is a heavy overhead strike that has a long windup but dishes out big posture damage. Again, they're designed as an additional strategic consideration. Only one of these can be equipped at a time, so this forces you to think about what you're taking into battle and be methodical in utilizing it. Shinobi Arts, meanwhile, allow you to access skills such as mid-air deflections, vaulting over enemies to deliver backstabs, and specific counters for deadly special moves that enemies will occasionally execute. These various upgrades aren't diverse enough to support dramatically different playstyles, but they do offer just enough room to find a favourable loadout and then develop its effectiveness.Wolf also has a suite of Innate Abilities, some of which come into play outside of combat. It's here that Sekiro really distinguishes itself from previous From Software titles by revealing itself to be a stealth action game--one that proudly wears its origins as a spiritual successor to the Tenchu series. Most areas have a heavy enemy presence so the odds are stacked against you. Engaging in open combat will draw attention to your presence, so the smarter strategy is to thin out the opposition by systematically picking them off. In previous From Software games, this would involve an awkward kiting process where you edge closer to a single enemy and use items or ranged attacks to lure it into a safer zone to do battle. However, Sekiro has mechanics to support stealth play more directly. You can use your grappling hook to take to the rooftops and scout out a location, taking a note of enemy placements and watching their patrol patterns. You can skulk around buildings, pressing yourself against surfaces to peek around corners. You can shimmy up walls and hang of ledges to reposition, leap off elevated points to plunge your katana into enemies below, or slither under raised buildings and into grass, creeping towards unsuspecting victims. Innate Abilities such as Suppress Presence will make your footsteps quieter, while the ceramic shard item can be thrown to make noise and manipulate movements to your advantage. Being effective with stealth can allow you to circumvent standard combat encounters entirely, so it's in your best interest to take it slow and steady. Enemy behaviour can be inconsistent, however. Sometimes they'll stare through you as if you're not there, and other times they become hyper aware and capable of perfectly tracking your movements during an alert phase, even when you're behind walls or hiding on roofs. They're not particularly sophisticated, but their lethality means they're not to be taken lightly.The absence of modern stealth conveniences means you place greater scrutiny on your surroundings, and you'll notice just how thoughtfully they've been constructedThere's a simplicity to Sekiro's stealth mechanics that is refreshing. There's no Detective Mode or on-screen indicators to signify how much noise you're making, and instead you're entirely reliant on your basic senses. The absence of these modern stealth genre conveniences means you place greater scrutiny on your surroundings, and you'll notice just how thoughtfully they've been constructed.The geography of From Software's game worlds are much lauded, with praise heaped upon the way seemingly disparate locations slowly reveal themselves to be interconnected and part of a cohesive whole. That strength of world design is present in Sekrio, and the fact that it's more immediately visible within these contained locations makes taking the stealth approach even more satisfying. Buildings are placed together to encourage exploration and reconnaissance, with roofs almost touching so that you can leap between them and scope out all angles. They overhang just enough that you can take a running jump and use your grappling hook to swing up and across for better vantage points. Pathways diverge and reconnect, creating that satisfying feeling of venturing into the unknown and then emerging into the familiar. Thick tree branches protruding out from the side of mountains can be grappled to and used to sneak into the heart of an area undetected, or around it entirely. There were more than a few occasions where I spotted a temple in the distance, traced the pathway there back to where I was standing, and followed it to discover a hidden area.Sekiro takes place in Japan, in a land known as Ashina. As a consequence, it is by and large more grounded in reality than the likes of Lordran or Yarhnam. The location remains both striking and memorable, however. Encircled by an ever-visible snowy mountain range, Ashina is built up of dilapidated temples scattered around, housing mercenary warriors and corrupted monks, among other dangerous foes. Man-made pathways dissolve into perilous valleys, where mountainsides must be scaled to reach remote forests patrolled by club-wielding ogres. Fortified castles tower above abandoned towns seized by an army. Ornate statues fill the homes of royalty, while questionable characters linger in the dungeons below. Without spoiling it, Sekiro also takes the opportunity to delve into the supernatural and pull from Japanese mythology.That juxtaposition of the real and the fantastical is echoed in the story Sekiro tells. It begins simply, with a shinobi that is called into action to save his kidnapped master and uphold his iron oath. But beneath the surface there's more at play--Ashina is a nation on the brink of collapse, its people beset by a mysterious stagnation, and you have the power to decide its fate--familiar themes for From Software. However, the story quickly moves from the realm of warlords driven by ambition to one of mythical bloodlines, demonic monsters, and otherworldly spirits. While the story is undoubtedly told in a more direct fashion than Dark Souls and Bloodborne, there are still numerous nuances to explore, and mysteries to solve, perfect fodder for a rampant community that has built up around From Software's games to mine. Softly muttered lines from Ashina's denizens hint at turmoil from days gone, while item descriptions speak to arcane practices. Talk of far off lands colours in the world around Ashina, while vague mentions of enigmatic figures leaves you questioning what unseen forces are involved in the events that are transpiring.The unflinching way Sekiro punishes you for missteps and the repetition of trial and error are clearly suited for people of a certain temperament and with a very specific, slightly masochistic taste in games. These are the people that are willing to endure devastating defeats for hours on end and watch as their progress is undone time and time again, just so they can have the intoxicating thrill of overcome a seemingly insurmountable challenge that awaits at the end. In that respect, Sekiro is unmistakably a From Software game--but one unlike any we've had so far. When all is said and done, though, it's the combat that has left the deepest marks on me, for better and for worse.Atop Ashina Castle I stood before a swordsman. It wasn't my first attempt at the duel; we'd been trading steel for close to six hours, and each time the swordsman ruthlessly cut me down. I became desperate. I started making bad decisions. The losses were really getting to me. But I persevered.My plan was a familiar one, honed through years of repeated Dark Souls and Bloodborne play: observe, dodge, wait for a slow attack, and use the opening to strike--it never fails. He swung his sword and I was out of range. The recovery on the attack was slow so it was the perfect opportunity to land a blow--I'd done it hundreds of times by that point. Except, this time it was different. As I charged in, he quickly corrected himself and fired an arrow, then chased behind it to close the distance and delivered a crushing blow. I lost my composure and finally snapped.I picked myself up off the ground and rushed at him. He began an onslaught of attacks and, after six hours of learning his style and developing the muscle memory, I just started parrying on instinct. Each one of his swings and each arrow he fired was met with a perfectly timed raise of my sword. Every unblockable attack he lunged at me with was sidestepped or hopped immaculately. I watched as his Posture deplete, edging closer to the breaking point, and at the same time I could feel my breathing become more rapid, my thumbs beginning to tremble. I wore him down and delivered a Deathblow, backed away, and did it all over again, and a third time. In that final moment when I pierced through him with my katana, I was completely overcome with emotion. After six gruelling hours of failure, the winning battle lasted just six minutes. I'm not too proud to admit that I cried, and I'd do it all over again.Sekiro marries From Software's unique brand of gameplay with stealth action to deliver an experience that is as challenging as it is gratifying. At the time of publish I haven't completed Sekiro. While I have invested upwards of 30 hours into it, there are still a few more locations I need to explore and bosses I need to beat before the credits roll, and I'm excited to do it. This review will be finalized in the coming days. Info from Gamespot.com

I don't know why I'm in Washington DC; some lady just told me to be here. But there are civilians in distress, armed gangs roaming the streets, and me, my pals, and the second amendment are apparently the only ones who can actually do anything about it. I have no idea what, if anything, is going on with the seemingly important people I meet. But so long as I'm helping folks, sending (presumably) bad people to bed, walking the pretty streets, and picking up a new pair of gloves every so often, I'm very happy to hang around.In the world of Tom Clancy's The Division 2, the USA has been ravaged by a virus and society has crumbled. While those who remain try to survive by banding together in groups of various dispositions, the Strategic Homeland Division activates highly specialized sleeper agents to try and restore order. It's a setting ripe in potential, perhaps to tell a ripping techno-thriller story that scrutinizes the structures of our modern society and government, or perhaps to make a video game that leverages the chaos that occurs when multiple idealistic groups clash in a vie for power in a lawless city. The Division 2 only does one of these things. It's not the story. Throughout the entirety of The Division 2's main campaign, never did the game spend a satisfactory amount of time on any semblance of an overarching plot, or the predicaments of its supposedly important figures. There are no character arcs, only abrupt setups and consequences. Narrative devices, like audio logs found in the world, add little of consequence. Even the game's biggest macguffins--the President of the United States and his briefcase containing a cure for the virus--have a minimal amount of absolutely forgettable screen time. The opportunity to use The Division 2 to create meaningful fiction is wasted.Instead, The Division 2 focuses its narrative chops into worldbuilding. The city, a ravaged Washington DC, initially feels a little homogenous in the way most Western cities do. But after some time, the personality of the different districts--the buildings, the landmarks, the natural spaces, and the ways they've been repurposed or affected by the cataclysm--begins to shine through. It's this strength of environment which lays a very strong foundation for The Division 2 as a video game, creating an engrossing, believable, and contiguous open world.Moving from your safehouse to the open world and your next mission area is almost entirely seamless. It's something that was also true of the original Division, but that doesn't take away from the fact that the simple act of going from place to place in The Division 2 is one of the game's more rewarding aspects. One road may lead to a skirmish with a rival patrol or an optional activity, another might simply give you another stirring scene of urban decay in the morning sun. An obscured shortcut through an apartment block might turn up some useful items in an abandoned home, which you might decide to donate to the makeshift settlements where civilians have attempted to rebuild their lives.Visiting those settlements--initially as hovels, before they gradually grow and become more charming, vibrant places thanks to your efforts in the world--becomes a strong motivator early on in the absence of a plot to chase. Outside main missions, which are dedicated to the weakening of rival factions and achieving indiscriminate objectives, the game's "Projects" are one of the most lucrative means of earning experience to better your character. Projects ask you to donate resources you find out in the world and participate in side activities, encouraging you to spend more time in the world, see new areas, fight new battles, search for new equipment to use, and find enjoyment in that. The Division 2 is, after all, a game devoted to providing you with a continuous stream of gripping conflicts, valuable rewards, and a perpetual sense of progress and satisfaction from doing these things. It does those things very well.You spend a lot of time hunkered behind cover, popping out to fire at any enemy dumb enough to expose themselves. With the large amount of weapon variety available, this familiar facet of combat is solid in itself. Add to that the ability to equip two special skills from a possible eight--which include tools such as riot shields, drones, and from what I can gather, robot bees of some sort--and combat gets pretty interesting. But the vector that really keeps The Division 2's combat lively for upwards of 60 hours is the behaviour and diversity of its enemy types.That time you spend in cover? The Division 2 doesn't want you to just stay there. You can go down very quickly if you're out in the open, but the game has a dozen ways to always keep you taking those risks and finding better firing positions--aggressive melee units, remote control cars equipped with sawblades, even the regular assault units frequently attempt to outflank you. Those special abilities? You absolutely need to use them to their full potential to survive some encounters, whether by throwing out the seeker mines or the automated turret to keep enemies at bay while you focus on a priority target, or perhaps utilizing the chemical launcher to start a fire and create a zone of denial.The effort needed to take out an adversary is relatively reasonable for a shooter that prioritizes the RPG nature of its combat model, but some of the tougher enemies have additional, visible layers of protection which you need to focus on breaking if you want to land critical hits. On the flip side, some enemies have additional, obtuse weak points which can work to your advantage, but only if you can hit them. The fuel tank on the back of a flamethrower unit might be feasible, but when you start running into the terrifying robotic quadruped in post-campaign activities, whose tiny weak point only reveals itself seconds before it fires its devastating railgun, you have to assess whether you can afford to take on that challenge among all the other things pressuring you. The Division 2 throws a lot of hurdles at you, but also gives you the means to quickly counter and resolve them. Whether you can juggle that many balls at once is what keeps combat continually tense and exciting.What's also exciting is the treasure at the end of these gauntlets. The Washington locations, refashioned into memorable combat arenas, are often rewarding in their own right (a fight in a planetarium is an early standout). But improving your equipment is the vital, tangible part that keeps you feeling like you're making progress. You receive new gear in generous amounts, some dropped by an enemy or looted from a container found in the world, others rewarded for completing a mission, and the next dose always feels in reach. The weapon variety forces you to consider something completely different to take advantage of a power boost, and the armor variety provides an impressive number of different cosmetic looks. The Division 2 incorporates a microtransaction and loot box system for its inconsequential clothing options, though these can be found in the world and earned of your own accord, too.Like combat, gear remains intriguing throughout The Division 2 not just because of the abstract desire to have bigger numbers attached to your person and progress further through the game's challenges, but also through a raft of "talents." These add unique perks that complement particular skills or styles of play, like providing bonuses within a certain range or when enemies are burning or your armor is depleted. The brands of armor also have a part to play, whereby equipping a number of pieces from a single manufacturer provide additional advantages. These bonuses become particularly attractive to obsess over in the endgame, when the world is retaken by a tougher, more merciless enemy faction called Black Tusk, and you need to ensure your ability to fight them is the best it can be.For the hundreds of pieces you will inevitably want to discard, the ability to sell or dismantle them for parts to either purchase or craft pieces you want gives value to everything you pick up. Or you might retain them in order to move their talents to better gear of the same type, And, as a wonderful convenience, The Division 2 implements numerous features to inspect, mark, dismantle, or equip things you find so quickly and elegantly--sometimes without ever having to enter a menu--that it improves the whole experience of being in its world.The same can be said of the game's multiplayer integration, which allows you to easily group up and progress with friends (the game will scale any underpowered players to match the most powerful). You can also start or join a clan, which opens up a variety of weekly challenges, granting valuable rewards, and features integrated game-wide group communication options. Even if you're only interested in playing alone (which is more challenging, but entirely feasible for everything but the most demanding of endgame activities), the ability to matchmake with other players at any time, whether that be in the open world, before you start a mission, or when you're at a final boss, is a very welcome and useful feature.And when you beat that final boss of the game's final mission (though, such is The Division 2's lack of plot framing, I honestly couldn't tell you his name to save my life) and you think you've finally run out of treasure to keep luring you through more fights, the metaphorical table gets flipped. Flipped hard. The Washington DC you spent so long liberating from rival factions becomes completely retaken by the aforementioned Black Tusk. You unlock three unique class specializations, each with their own skill trees to build out. Your focus on growing two-digit numbers on your character (your level) moves to three-digit numbers (the quality of your gear). The wealth of activities available to you once you complete the campaign is enormous, and it capitalizes on your momentum. It motivates you to continue seeing more, doing more, and growing more.More challenging, remixed versions of campaign missions and lengthier stronghold missions featuring Black Tusk become available. These "Invaded" missions often leverage the new enemy types to create terrifying new combat scenarios that maintain the steady ramp-up of challenge, and they give you a fantastic reason to revisit the memorable combat arenas with purpose. Open-world events become more dynamic and riskier--factions clash more frequently for control of territory, and your involvement in certain activities can dramatically increase the danger and rewards in others. Limited-time challenges, which take the form of new Projects, higher difficulty missions, and additional bounty targets found in the world, offer avenues for more lucrative bonuses. There are even more activities beyond that, and the strength of The Division 2's endgame is not just in the wealth of content available, but how viable it all is in improving your standing in the world.The journey to bolstering your Gear Score to qualify for higher tiers of challenges and content is always clear. The game continues to make sure you're always meaningfully rewarded no matter what you do, and that feeling of bettering your character persists throughout.It's remarkable how straightforward the game makes it for you to see the full breadth of its content and maintains that feeling of continual advancement all the way to the bitter end, especially in spite of its unsubstantial plots, characters, and narrative themes. Once I finally hit the game's current soft cap for progression, I was impressed by how much there still was to pursue. The world of The Division 2 also features three separate Dark Zone areas, systematically accessible throughout the campaign, which promise the possibility of high-quality equipment but pose more risks beyond the regular open-world. The power dynamic between you and enemies are normalized, and there's the uncertain element of having other players to interact with. In the Dark Zone, players can choose to cooperate with others in the world to clear out enemy outposts and explore the regions for equipment, but the option to go 'Rogue' and undermine the work of other players provides the opportunity for greater rewards at the risk of greater losses if you fail to get away with it. Exploring the Dark Zone is a fascinating aspect of The Division 2 that adds additional facets of tension, distrust, and dishonesty to a game that already features high-stakes combat. Moreover, it is a completely optional pathway to reaching the game's highest tiers of achievement. The game's similarly optional Conflict activities offer gear incentives for participating in traditional team-based multiplayer modes, which felt serviceable in the few matches I played, but were comparatively underpopulated compared to other avenues of matchmaking at the time of writing.The setting of The Division 2 is ripe for potential, and it's a shame the game doesn't use it to say anything. I have absolutely no clue why I'm here, what anyone's motivations are, and I wish I had a strong narrative driver to fuel a purpose behind my endless hunger for progression. This letdown is hard to ignore for the game's initial hours, but the strength of the systems and design that fuel The Division 2 as a game are compelling enough to keep you captivated for dozens more. The range of enemy types continues to keep combat encounters challenging, the equipment I earn and pick up continues to feel different, valuable, and asks me to consider new ways of play. The ravaged environments continue to intrigue, and sometimes they're so stunning I find myself needing to take screenshots before I move on. It might not have much to say, but The Division 2 is a perpetual cycle of tension, relief, and reward that's difficult to stay away from. Info from Gamespot.com

As part of its presentation at the Game Developers Conference, Epic Games announced a massive grant program, and it's thanks to the popularity of Fortnite. The Epic MegaGrants program will award shares of $100 million over the course of five years to aspiring game developers, educators, and other professionals using the Unreal Engine and open-source tools.This is the next stage in Epic's grants program, which started in 2015 with a $5 million pool. That funding has expanded significantly, which Epic chalks up to "Fortnite's unbelievable success."The grants will be awarded ranging from $5,000 to $500,000. Those who receive grants will still own their IP and be allowed to publish. Epic says that these grants have no strings attached, which means you don't need to sign any kind of exclusivity arrangement to receive them. There is no firm deadline for grant applications.Specifically, Epic is looking for grant recipients across five categories: game developers, media and entertainment, enterprise, education, and tools and open-source development. Each application should focus on how you plan to use Unreal Engine 4 in your work, curriculum, or research. You can check out the official site for more details."At Epic we succeed when developers succeed," said CEO Tim Sweeney in the announcement. "With Epic MegaGrants we're reinvesting in all areas of the Unreal Engine development community and also committing to accelerate the open sourcing of content, tools, and knowledge."Info from Gamespot.com

Nintendo highlighted a ton of games during Wednesday's Nindies Spring Showcase, but one of the biggest announcements came right at the beginning, when the company revealed Cuphead is coming to Nintendo Switch next month. The acclaimed platformer arrives in the Switch Eshop on April 18, but you can pre-purchase it from the digital store starting today, March 20.Nintendo specifically thanked its "friends at Microsoft" for helping it bring Cuphead to Switch. The game first launched for Xbox One and PC as a Microsoft exclusive in 2017, garnering critical acclaim for its challenging run-and-gun gameplay and beautiful hand-drawn visuals, which evoke the style of classic 1930s cartoons.On top of that, Microsoft announced that Cuphead on Switch will support Xbox Live, allowing you to unlock Achievements when you play the game on Nintendo's console. In a blog post on the Xbox website, the company explained it is working with developer Studio MDHR on implementing Xbox Live features into the Switch version later this year as a post-launch update. This follows Microsoft's previous announcement that it plans to expand Xbox Live to Switch, iOS, and Android.GameSpot awarded Cuphead an 8/10 when it first launched on Xbox One. "Cuphead has been a longtime coming, and it's great to see that it lives up to its initial promises," critic Peter Brown wrote in GameSpot's Cuphead review. "It's beautiful to look at, and with a pitch-perfect soundtrack, it flawlessly captures the era its developers so clearly revere. It's also an intense action game that pulls no punches."An expansion for Cuphead titled The Delicious Last Course was announced during Microsoft's E3 2018 presentation. The expansion is slated to arrive sometime this year and will introduce new challenges, bosses, and another playable character, Ms. Chalice.That certainly wasn't the only announcement to come out of the Nindies Spring Showcase; Nintendo also unveiled Cadence of Hyrule, a Zelda-themed Crypt of the NecroDancer crossover coming to Switch this spring. You can check out all of the trailers from the Nindies Spring Showcase here.Info from Gamespot.com

Nintendo's "Nindies" showcase ended with a surprise crossover. The rhythm game Crypt of the NecroDancer is getting a new spin-off featuring characters and enemies from The Legend of Zelda called Cadence of Hyrule. It's launching on Nintendo Switch this spring.The game is being developed by Brace Yourself games, the studio behind the original Crypt of the NecroDancer. The art style has been revised heavily, appearing similar to games like The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap, and it features both Link and Zelda has playable characters. Link can be seen doing his signature spin attack, while Zelda wields magical attacks.Crypt of the NecroDancer was a rhythm-based roguelike released in 2015, and received a positive reception for its clever twist of a genre mash-up. The original game is available for $20 on the Nintendo Switch through the Eshop."Regardless of your musical tastes, Crypt of the NecroDancer takes a proven but basic recipe and improves it with a seemingly simple twist," wrote Britton Peele in GameSpot's review. "It would have been a fine roguelike game without its musical side, but the rhythm mechanic makes it a truly special experience."For more on all of the indie games announced during today's Nindies showcase, check out our wrap-up.Info from Gamespot.com

OPINION: If the reality of what Google is promising with Stadia is accurate, then we're looking at the future of video games.Yes, that could read a little hyperbolic given that outside of the Project Stream beta last year (successful as it was), we're not exactly sure just how well Stadia will cope with fluctuating latency in widespread, real-world conditions. And no, we're not saying that Google and specifically Stadia is the one and only future for games. But Stadia's promise--a hardware agnostic world for consumers that can deliver the best gaming has to offer on whatever device you happen to have in front of you (as long as you have a decent internet connection)--feels like where we're all headed. And while we've had other companies try to deliver on this, Google seems uniquely positioned to actually make it work.That promise is certainly intoxicating. A new gaming platform, delivered completely online and with all the processing handled in the cloud, is revolutionary for consumers in a few ways. It removes a lot of the friction we normally associate with playing games: having to spend hundreds of dollars on console or speccing up a PC to run the latest and greatest; having to buy physical discs or download gigabyte upon gigabyte of data to local drives; or being surprised by hefty patches or updates when all you want to do is play.Will Doom Eternal's performance on Stadia be on par with consoles and PCS? And of course, there's the convenience. You can watch Netflix on your TV or PC at home, and then continue watching on your phone on your way to work. You can do the same with music on Spotify, switching from device to device seamlessly. If you want to play The Division 2, however, you're stuck to the screen your console or PC is tethered to. Even the most convenient gaming console ever--the Nintendo Switch--is "locked" to one device. A service like Stadia makes playing games more accessible than ever.It will also seemingly have a major impact on how games are made. Google made a big song and dance at its GDC reveal event about all the ways Stadia could help developers create games, the biggest of which is the added power that a cloud-based development platform can offer. Google is saying game development no longer needs to be tied to finite processing and hardware specs, or that only one "instance" of Stadia infrastructure is what design should be pegged to. Imagine a scenario where the world's best game makers weren't constrained by the processing power of one unchanging piece of hardware? How will that impact the types of games we'll all be playing in the future? "As a developer, you're used to being forced to tone down your creative ambitions that are limited by the hardware, but our vision with Stadia is the processing resources available will scale up to match your imagination. In this new generation, the data center is your platform," Stadia's head of engineering Maj Baker said during the Stadia briefing.Of course, all of this dazzling potential could be undone if Stadia doesn't provide a smooth, seamless gaming experience when it launches later this year. The bane of online game streaming--high latency leading to lag--is a problem Google claims to have answered thanks to a combination of its geographically widespread data centers and other infrastructure solutions, but just how well it has solved this won't be known for sure until the service is released. Will this only be a viable alternative to a PC or console if you live somewhere like San Francisco or New York? What if you're in a remote location? And location isn't the only thing standing in the way of Stadia's widespread success. If you're one of the millions on fixed data caps every month, is this service viable for you (especially with the 8K video Google is saying is coming down the line)? And of course, there will always be those who prefer a physical device to game on, either because of the visual fidelity, the want to fully control one's gaming environment, and the fact that owning a game on a disc you can hold in your hand is simply more... tangible.But even if you're someone who thinks a platform like Stadia isn't for you, what is undeniable is the promise of a purely online, hardware agnostic platform is a massive disruption to not only the way we play games, but to the video games industry as a whole. If Stadia works as well as advertised, then the future of games is no longer tied to hardware. It's all about connectivity. Info from Gamespot.com

Nintendo's Direct-style Nindies Spring Showcase stream brought a bunch of new game announcements for Nintendo Switch. Titles such as Cuphead, Neo Cab, and Cadence of Hyrule were all revealed and look exciting. However, a pair of games unveiled during the stream are available to download right now, so let's take a look at those.First up, Vlambeer's Nuclear Throne is out today for Switch. The roguelike shooter boasts a colorful cast of characters and a wide variety of weapons. It first launched for PS4, PS Vita, and PC in 2015, but will be available for download today on Nintendo's hybrid console. It's one of three Vlambeer games that were confirmed for Switch during the stream; the other two are coming later in the year and one is an entirely original title, Vlambeer Arcade.Blaster Master Zero II, meanwhile, is another of those that'll be available to download in the next few hours from the Switch Eshop. It's a sequel to the 2017 3DS platformer Blaster Master Zero, itself a remake of the NES's 1988 title Blaster Master.While those are the only two games from the stream you can download and start playing right now, there were two games featured that aren't launching until later in the year but that you can pre-purchase right now. Those are Katana Zero, a 2D side-scrolling combat game; and Cuphead, a port of the previously Xbox One- and PC-exclusive platformer. The latter will feature Xbox Live support following a post-launch update, and Nintendo's broadcast shouted out Microsoft for helping to make this release possible.Finally, an Eshop sale is now underway in the US on many existing indie Switch games, including Donut County, Inside, Moonlighter, and many more. That runs until the morning of March 27. Meanwhile, a separate promotion that involves free access is currently live for Splatoon 2.Some of the most exciting news to come from the Direct presentation was the announcement of a new Zelda game--sort of. It's technically a new Crypt of the NecroDancer game, but it features Link and Princess Zelda herself. The game is titled (take a deep breath) Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer feat. The Legend of Zelda, and it's coming to Switch this spring.Info from Gamespot.com

In case you haven't heard: The Epic Games Store is giving away a free PC game every two weeks this year to celebrate its first 12 months in business, and all you have to do is create a free Epic account to claim it. For the past two weeks, Epic members have enjoyed free access to Slime Rancher, a charming game about collecting slimes and running a farm--but starting tomorrow, Slime Rancher will be replaced by Oxenfree, a supernatural mystery game from Night School Studio. Oxenfree will be available for free from March 21 to April 4--and once you claim the game during that time period, it's yours to keep forever. You don't even have to install it.Oxenfree is a story-driven adventure where you play as a teenage girl named Alex on a weekend trip with her friends to an island. After they accidentally trigger the release of a supernatural force, Alex and her friends must find a way to set things right and escape with their lives. Alex has free rein to explore the whole island, and the main gameplay centers around dialogue bubbles that appear above her head as she talks--at any given time, you have multiple dialogue choices to pick from, or you can choose to say nothing at all. Player choices have a significant impact and multiple endings are possible."The rabbit hole of influence goes deep in Oxenfree--from playing matchmaker among Alex's friends to destroying or strengthening her own relationships with them--and it's entertaining to repeat it all in an effort to learn what could be," wrote Alexa Ray Corriea in GameSpot's Oxenfree review. The game received an 8/10 for its amazing dialogue, unpredictable story, fantastic soundtrack, and deep influence of player choice.Oxenfree generally sells for $20 on PC, so don't miss this chance to pick it up for 100% off. And if you fall in love with its style and story, keep an eye out for the next game from Night School Studio, Afterparty, which is set to release this year.Get Oxenfree for free in the Epic Games Store »Info from Gamespot.com

Red Dead Redemption 2 released to a wave of positive praise. However, its online mode, Red Dead Online, hasn't been met with the same positive reception. With outlaws incessantly griefing players out in the Wild Wild West, Rockstar Games has tasked itself with addressing the problem in a new update releasing later this spring.Alongside the release of a new game update, a blog post on the official Rockstar website details some of the additions and changes coming to the game. Keeping in line with anti-griefing methods implemented in February, Red Dead Online will add a hostility system. Players who defend themselves against attackers won't receive a bounty or an increase in their hostility meter as long as they don't initiate the gunfight. If you happen to gun down your griefer, your hostility meter won't increase. The hostility meter won't affect Free Roam events and missions, Showdowns, Races, and other structured events either.Rockstar acknowledges not every cowboy's an outlaw. "Some players just want to immerse themselves in the world, riding, hunting, and fishing in peace," the post reads. To this effect, the developers are including two modes of play: Offensive and Defensive. Offensive play lets players interact with the world however they see fit, like the current Free Roam mode. Defensive play is, according to Rockstar, "a more evolved version of the Passive Mode concept," giving players access to the entire open world while de-emphasizing conflict.Choosing to play in Defensive changes some of the game's mechanics. For example, Defensive players can't be lassoed, but if you, in Defensive play, lasso a player, you'll be removed from the playstyle with a "significant Hostility level increase." Further, you won't be able to lock-on to players in Defensive play. But in the same token, players can't lock-on to you either. Sounds like a fair trade-off for those looking to bask in the world a little longer.Additionally, this Red Dead Online update will bring about new A Land of Opportunities missions, more Free Roam missions, an introduction to dynamic events (ambushes, resues, etc.), and more. And another Red Dead Redemption classic weapon, the LeMat Revolver, will make its way to the game with this update.In our Red Dead Redemption 2 review, we called the game "an excellent prequel, but it's also an emotional, thought-provoking story in its own right, and it's a world that is hard to leave when it's done."Red Dead Redemption 2 is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.Info from Gamespot.com