The new Star Wars TV series The Mandalorian is coming to the Disney+ streaming service, which launches sometime later this year. It boasts an impressive list of directors, including Dave Filoni (Star Wars Rebels), Deborah Chow (Jessica Jones), Rick Famuyiwa (Dope), and Bryce Dallas Howard (Solemates). Another name that's taking the reins for an episode is Taika Waititi, who previously helmed Thor: Ragnarok.Appearing at the Television Critics Association press tour, Waititi shared some details about the "amazing" experience of getting to help craft his own little corner of the Star Wars franchise. "[Executive producer Jon] Favreau's a genius and so smart and so good at what he does and creating these worlds," he revealed during a post-panel group interview. "The scripts are really great. And yeah, it was really fun doing something in the Star Wars universe. It's every kid's dream just to see a Stormtrooper. When you're doing these scenes with like 50 or 60 of them, it's pretty amazing."He was also excited to direct a story involving bounty hunters like Boba Fett. "For most kids growing up with those films, he was one of the most favorite characters, even though he was barely in the films," the director said. "Bounty hunters, the helmets are so cool. So yeah, I mean just getting to see characters like that and getting to shoot with them was pretty cool."And if you're wondering whether Waititi was able to inject any of his signature style into this new Star Wars property, the good news is there was room for "a little bit" of that."You know that Star Wars, you know, is just very different to the Marvel style," he explained. "They know that whatever was set up in the tone of the first films really should be kind of adhered to and that's what the fans like and you can't really disrespect it, I guess, is a nice way of saying it. Can't have too many jokes, but there's a little bit. Definitely my tone is in there, with the dialogue and stuff like that."While he was able to put a bit of himself into the new Star Wars series, there's one other high-profile project he's not going to be involved in. Waititi revealed he will definitely not be directing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3., though he definitely sees a future with Marvel Studios.Info from Gamespot.com

A new game in the Titanfall universe, Apex Legends, was announced and released today for PlayStation, Xbox One, and PC. It's the only Titanfall game coming for a while, it seems, as developer Respawn has now confirmed that Titanfall 3 is not in development.Producer Drew McCoy candidly told Eurogamer, "The world thinks we're making Titanfall 3 and we're not--[Apex Legends] is what we're making."Apex Legends is the result of putting one of the best FPS dev teams in the world on a game focused on doing a few things really well. We look at battle royale as a genre, not a mode, and we're here to help mold it. Hope everyone is enjoying the game as much as we had making it! — Drew McCoy (@DKo5) February 4, 2019As for why Respawn chose to announce Apex Legends and release it on the same day, McCoy said the game would have faced a PR challenge had it been marketed traditionally."We're doing a free to play game, with essentially loot boxes, after we were bought by EA, and it's not Titanfall 3. It's the perfect recipe for a marketing plan to go awry," he said. "So why have that- let's just ship the game and let players play."According to Kotaku, Titanfall 3 was in development at one point in time, and Respawn reportedly wanted to get it out sooner rather than later. The report suggests Titanfall 3 became Apex Legends, though there are no specifics available about what differences may exist. Apex Legends does not include any titans or wall-running--those were hallmarks of Titanfall 1 and 2.No one from Respawn or EA--which now owns the studio--has said Titanfall 3 will never be made, so those looking to see the mainline franchise continue still have some hope. When EA purchased Respawn for hundreds of millions of dollars, the company also got the rights to Titanfall.Apex Legends will use the games-as-a-service model through which Respawn will continue to support, grow, and evolve the title over time. It is free-to-play, supported by microtransactions--here's a guide to the Apex Legends microtransactions.In addition to Apex Legends, Respawn is working on a new Star Wars game, Jedi: Fallen Order, along with an untitled virtual reality project in partnership with Oculus.More -- Apex Legends Gameplay Impressions: Respawn's Biggest Innovation Is Making Teamwork EasierInfo from Gamespot.com

Take-Two Interactive Software has announced that game industry veteran Michael Condrey has joined 2K Games as the head of a new Silicon Valley-based studio. Currently unnamed, the studio will be working on a new, unannounced project."At 2K, we offer our collective audience a variety of engaging and captivating entertainment experiences," 2K president David Ismailer said. "We continually seek opportunities to empower and invest in the right people and ideas. Michael's unparalleled creative, production, and leadership accolades are well-documented and deserved. We are greatly inspired not only by his passion but the potential for his new studio to complement our existing portfolio and development expertise.""Today's announcement represents a rare and special opportunity for developers to help build and shape a new Silicon Valley studio from the ground up," Condrey added. "I couldn't be more excited, or thankful, to embark on this next step in my career." Condrey's new studio joins the 2K umbrella alongside Firaxis, Hangar 13, Visual Concepts, and Cat Daddy.Previously, Condrey co-founded Sledgehammer Games, which is responsible for several well-received Call of Duty games, specifically 2011's Modern Warfare 3, 2014's Advanced Warfare, and 2017's WWII. Prior to that, Condrey led the Visceral team on a very different type of game: 2008's Dead Space. More than 10 years later, the influence of Dead Space is still felt today--specifically when it comes to more action-focused survival horror games like the Resident Evil franchise.Given the recent critical acclaim of Resident Evil 2--which we gave a 9/10 in our review--it would be awesome to see Condrey leading a horror game again. EA's decision to close down Visceral shut down one of the game industry's leaders in the survival horror genre, creating a void that no other studio has managed to truly fill yet.Info from Gamespot.com

In his time at Firaxis as the lead designer on Civilization V, Jon Shafer showed he wasn't afraid to uproot a settled and successful series and venture forth in search of something better. With At The Gates, his first release under the one-man studio moniker Conifer Games and his first game proper since Civ V, you get the feeling Shafer challenged himself to pack up the whole 4X genre and find fertile new ground on which to start over again.Connections to the past remain--technologies are researched, resource nodes are exploited, wars are inevitably waged--but Shafer's pioneering vision here is of a genre that is narrower in scope and more concerned with how players respond to the figurative hand of cards they're dealt. At The Gates is a promising starting point that, with a few thoughtful additions, has the potential to develop into a thriving empire.It all starts with a settlement. At first, you play as the Goths on a randomly generated map that represents 400 A.D. Europe. On each map is a number of rival clans, some of whom are always vastly more powerful than you are right from the start, as well as two factions of the fading, but still intimidatingly large, Roman Empire. Your aim is to grow your settlement into an empire and eventually win via one of two victory conditions: by conquering the Romans by military force or by training your own Roman Legion to assume control, i.e. an economic victory. Cleverly, factions other than the Goths are unlocked to play once you’ve met and formed an alliance with them in a previous game.As the early turns tick by, clans of people will join the settlement and you can put them to work extracting resources from the surrounding tiles. Each clan can be trained in a profession drawn from one of six disciplines, all of which are unlocked by generating knowledge to progress through the tech tree. Early decisions are influenced by the mysteries of the randomly-generated map algorithm. If it has spawned you in an area with a lot of mineral deposits you will probably want to focus your efforts on metalworking professions, a couple of diggers to extract the iron, and, say, a dredger to multiply their production.But how should you employ your fourth and final clan? While the map informs your strategy in certain directions, the whims of your population will often be tugging you in the complete opposite direction. Clans are randomly rolled a handful of traits when they arrive at your settlement's door. Some traits are unambiguously beneficial, like a +1 bonus to their movement points or with a few levels already earned in the crafting discipline, while others are downright bad, like a tendency to commit crimes; others yet are merely circumstantial, like preferring an active profession like explorer over a settled one like cheese-maker.These elements quickly start to create compelling conundrums. What do you do when, on the one hand, the mineral-rich starting area of the map might be telling you to invest in mining, but on the other hand the clans you're being sent bear all the characteristics of some really effective soldiers? Or cheese-makers? Clans can, of course, be retrained as the need for new or more advanced professions arises, but it cannot be done instantly and any experience they had accumulated in their previous profession is lost. If you've only got a village of farmers and bards when the bandits turn up, you're quickly going to regret not training at least one of them to wield a spear. Balancing the demands of the map with the skills of your clans is the core strategic concern of the entire game. Along the way--and this is where At The Gates really starts to shine--there are many ways that relationship between the map and your people can change.For one, you're not committed to your starting position on the map. In fact, at any moment you can pack up your settlement, move to a new location, and resettle. For the first 50-odd turns you'll be living something of a nomadic existence, exploring the lands, foraging for food, hunting and trapping animals, and collecting wood before moving on, crossing those mountains to the eastern coast or trekking across the steppes to the lush riverlands of the south. On a mechanical level, all the early technology you have at your disposal depletes resources--send a gatherer to work a fruit tree and they'll keep picking until the tree is exhausted. It's not until the mid to late game that you're able to build structures that don't deplete a resource and, in the case of a fruit plantation, can even replenish it. And it's at this point that you'll want to have found somewhere to make your permanent home.This makes for an early game flow that is fascinating and unusual for the 4X genre. You want to be researching technology and training clans to suit your immediate situational needs, while also identifying (but, crucially, not yet exploiting) a resource-rich region you can later claim for your eventual empire. Sometimes this is straightforward enough--in one game I spawned on a narrow land bridge connecting two continents. I fished and picked berries until I was ready to journey southeast and declare my kingdom in a river valley full of wheat and horses. Other times it's more challenging, like the time I spawned on a tiny peninsula with only a bare handful of tiles separating my settlement from the border of the Huns. The beauty here is that even when the enemy is literally at the gates, you have enough flexibility to find an alternative--in this case, several hundred miles away, preferably.The beauty here is that even when the enemy is literally at the gates, you have enough flexibility to find an alternative...The map itself also intriguingly shifts in fundamental ways thanks to both seasonal and situational changes in weather. During cold months you have to worry about supplying any units traveling outside your territory, or else that scouting party might not make it back home. It's also vital to maintain a surplus of food for the winter as many of your food sources will no longer be operational. Heavy rains, flooding, and even blizzards on specific tiles also keep things interesting, as they can see units immobilized for multiple turns, potentially throwing into chaos your carefully planned assault on a rival settlement or, if you're lucky, delaying that bandit raid on your logging camp.As the environment changes over the years, so do the people. Two clans might get into a feud and you'll be forced to pick a side. Another might be caught stealing and you'll have to decide their punishment. It's up to you to sort things out--retrain clans, shuffle them around to new locations, placate them with alcohol--before morale drops too low and everyone's unhappy. This might seem fiddly and a little prescriptive, but it's rarely as simple as it may sound. Clan Dankward may now hate Clan Waller, but the Dankwards are your best breadmakers and the Wallers your best blockcutters, you can't just send one of them out to run the sheep pasture. Besides which, the Wallers are afraid of animals and refuse to work in livestock. Working out a solution to these problems often means having to make tough decisions and uneasy compromises.None of these clans are fleshed-out characters; they're just a collection of buffs and debuffs attached to a random name and portrait. But the way their traits and desires are expressed through their abilities and little exchanges goes a long way to make you feel like you're ruling a loose collection of real people. They're not people, of course, but they're your people.The same cannot be said of the opponents you face, though. You’re always pitted against the same opponents on every map, but to my mind this is acceptable within the bounds of the scenario Shafer chose to depict. Instead, the more significant problem here is the lack of interaction with those AI opponents. To begin with, they don't particularly care about you--that's how small and insignificant you are in your initial nomadic phase. As you grow they start to take notice, but it's rarely more than a raised eyebrow here and there. Occasionally a dialogue box pops up and you can give a gift or rudely refuse one, and that's pretty much it until you're at war or you form an alliance. Essentially, you're either utterly indifferent to the AI, or you're their best friend or worst enemy, with barely any negotiating in between.Indeed, it feels like the late game in general is underdeveloped. The absence of compelling diplomacy with the AI factions plays a huge part here, as for much of the game it's perfectly possible to adopt an isolationist strategy and focus on the more economically focused victory. Pursuing the military route extends your interactions with the AI to throwing your stacked military units at theirs until you occupy their settlements and structures. Combat will be familiar to anyone who’s played Civ IV and it gets the job done in a similarly efficient, if tactically unspectacular, fashion.Even trade is handled in a curiously neutral manner, having you buy and sell goods through an anonymous caravan rather than through any interaction with the AI factions. Worse still, the concept of religion is relegated to a checkbox that has an unclear effect on an AI faction's disposition toward you. Shafer has admitted that the diplomacy features are still in their infancy and he has plans to continue to work on them post-launch. That's an encouraging sign, and one we hope also applies to these other areas, because the late game in its current form is desperately undernourished.That makes At The Gates difficult to wholeheartedly recommend. What's there right now is undeniably good; however, what's missing makes you yearn for how good it could yet be. It's a fresh, invigorating, more personal take on the grand strategy game. But at the same time, it's lacking in a few areas, and they really do hold it back from greatness. Jon Shafer has found that fertile new ground on which to settle. He just needs to give it a few seasons to grow. Info from Gamespot.com

Respawn's new battle royale game, Apex Legends, has arrived on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Much like Epic's massively popular Fortnite, while the game is completely free to download and play, it features microtransactions, giving you numerous options for spending real-world money if you're so inclined. Here's a rundown on what you can get.There are three different types of currency in Apex Legends: Apex Coins, Legend Tokens, and Crafting Metals. Apex Coins are the only kind that can be purchased with real-world money, and they're used to buy Apex Packs (the game's equivalent of loot boxes), Legends (playable characters), and featured items. You can purchase Apex Coins in the following increments:1,000 Apex Coins - $10 / £82,000 (+ 150 Bonus) Apex Coins - $20 / £164,000 (+350 Bonus) Apex Coins - $40 / £326,000 (+750 Bonus) Apex Coins - $60 / £4810,000 (+1500 Bonus) Apex Coins - $100 / £80The remaining two forms of currency, Legend Tokens (represented with a red icon) and Crafting Metals (blue icon) can both be earned within the game. You'll receive Legend Tokens for leveling up, and these can be used to purchase most the same items as Apex Coins. Crafting Metals, meanwhile, can be obtained in Apex Packs, and they are used to unlock weapon skins and other cosmetics.The Apex Packs themselves cost 100 Apex Coins and can contain a variety of different cosmetics. Much like the loot boxes in Overwatch, you can get weapon skins, poses, banners, voice lines, and character skins, including the highly desirable Legendary skins.To help get you started, EA is selling an Apex Legends Stater Pack for $5 / £4. It comes with 600 Apex Coins and two exclusive cosmetics: an animated Fresh Meat RE45 weapon skin and the Feeding Frenzy badge. The publisher is also offering the premium Founder's Pack, which runs for $30 / £25 and includes the following items:2000 Apex CoinsExclusive Legendary Demon Hemlok weapon skin3 Exclusive Roughneck character skins (one each for Wraith, Bloodhound, and Gibraltar)3 Exclusive Banner Frames (one each for Wraith, Bloodhound, and Gibraltar)1 Exclusive Founder’s BadgeRespawn has stressed that all of Apex Legends' microtransactions will strictly be cosmetic; players who elect to spend money on the game won't receive any gameplay advantages over those who don't spend a single cent. The developer has also taken steps to ensure the game's loot boxes are fair; they won't offer duplicates of items you already own, and there's "bad luck protection" to ensure players don't go too long without receiving something worthwhile. You can read more about how Apex Legends' microtransactions work here.On top of all that, Respawn will also offer a Fortnite-like Battle Pass each season in Apex Legends. Through this, players will be able to unlock Apex Packs and exclusive cosmetics. The first season is set to kick off in March.Info from Gamespot.com

AMC's hit zombie show, The Walking Dead, will return for a 10th season. The network announced the renewal in a tweet that asks you to "listen closely." As you'll hear, creatures are whispering, "Season 10."It is appropriately unsettling. You can check out the brief clip below. Season 10 premieres in October, according to the video.Listen closely. #TWD pic.twitter.com/Kzs9BtQfPw — The Walking Dead AMC (@WalkingDead_AMC) February 4, 2019The announcement of Season 10 comes just before The Walking Dead returns for the second half of its ninth season later this month. The upcoming episodes will showcase a new group of villains, "The Whisperers," who wear the faces of the dead to blend in with zombies.The Season 10 announcement video also featuring The Whisperers suggests they'll continue to be a featured storyline. However, no firm details are available about Season 10 at this point.The Walking Dead star Andrew Lincoln is no longer on the show, but he is not done with the series entirely. He's coming back to play Rick in a Walking Dead movie. In fact, there are three spin-off films coming that are described as "big, epic entertainments."In other Walking Dead news, Telltale's The Walking Dead: The Final Season is coming to a close. The third episode was released in January, while the fourth is coming on March 26.Info from Gamespot.com

Twice a year the Television Critics Association press tour sees TV executives, actors, showrunners, and producers present their new programming to the press. Among those who regularly attend is FX CEO John Landgraf, who first coined the term "peak TV" and uses his regular executive sessions as what are essentially television state of the union addresses. Increasingly, his sessions has included a lot of talk about Netflix and other streaming services as they outspend and outproduce everyone. With this tour, though, he took particular aim at Netflix's viewership claims.In years past, Netflix has always been very protective of the viewership for its shows, often saying they don't release viewership numbers. That started to change with the release of The Christmas Prince in late 2017. "To the 53 people who've watched A Christmas Prince every day for the past 18 days: Who hurt you?" the company said in a tweet. From there, Netflix slowly began releasing viewership numbers with very little context for what exactly counted as a viewer--a move that has irked many. "[You] is on track to be viewed by more than 40 million members in its first four weeks on Netflix," one tweet from the streamer read, referencing the Netflix original series. Another claimed, "[Sex Education] has come out with a bang--the smart and emotional series is on pace to be watched by over 40 million accounts over its first month." Those numbers sound massive, but the vagueness of that claim has rendered it dubious. FX CEO John Landgraf has now reaffirmed those numbers are not what they seem.Taking the stage for his twice-annual executive session at the Television Critics Association press tour, the head of FX Networks spoke openly about his distaste for Netflix's reporting, which he called "cherry-picked and unverified internal data." Specifically, Landgraf took aim at Netflix's You claims, saying they were "not remotely accurate representation of a long-form program performance."Why is that? Because unlike the way TV ratings are gauged, technology companies count video starts, rather than average audience. That means if someone started an episode of You but turned it off after five minutes, they count as a viewer. Beyond that, these are numbers Netflix is providing about Netflix, leaving them free from independent oversight. "I don't like the notion that any one entity gets to decide what is true and tell you what is true," Landgraf said.Interestingly, even with more realistic viewership numbers, Netflix still boasts some impressive ratings. According to Nielsen--the company that measures traditional TV ratings--You was likely actually watched by an average audience of 8 million viewers, which Landgraf points out is "good, but it's not as good as 40 million, which would make you the number one show on television." Likewise, a show like Sex Education--which Netflix also claimed was on pace to be watched 40 million--only had around 3.1 million viewers.That's not to say the Nielson's numbers are remotely exact, but they go to show that the picture Netflix paints isn't quite accurate. The way Netflix presents their numbers is calculated, for lack of a better word.It makes sense that they would present their viewership in the best possible light. However, as Landgraf explained, that could harm the streaming service in the long run. "One way or the other, the truth will always come out," he said. "As it always does."Info from Gamespot.com

The Hong Kong Massacre aims to replicate the experience of a gun-kata-action scene, where characters shoot while diving through the air, performing acrobatic feats as they blow each other's brains out. It's an extremely violent riff on the twin-stick shooter, one clearly inspired by Hotline Miami and Max Payne. You play as a former detective in 1992 Hong Kong, seeking retribution against the Triad for murdering someone close to you. The exact specifics are unclear, but that doesn't matter too much--the plot elements are kept to a minimum, as the game focuses most of its energy into frenetic and satisfying action.At the start of each mission you equip one of four guns--a pistol, SMG, rifle or shotgun--and are then unleashed in a top-down level to kill everyone inside it. Because of the zoomed-out view you can see into rooms and scope out opponents well before they know you're there. The rules of engagement are established quickly: one shot from any gun is all it takes to kill either you or your enemies (until later levels where some enemies get body armor and can withstand two shots), and you also need to collect new guns from the enemies you kill, lest you run out of ammo. If you go into a dive, you cannot be hit until the dive is over. Your enemies can dive too, and the same rules apply for them.The one major advantage you have over the bad guys is your ability to slow time. This is how the game lets you fight at the speed and fury of the action cinema choreography it is paying homage to, and it makes you feel like a badass. In almost every situation, the best way to excel is to enter slow motion, dive into a position where you have a line of sight, and fire at your enemies. Often this will mean shooting through a window, or a door, or the paper-thin shoji screens that are used to separate rooms in just about every building you enter. In its wildest moments, The Hong Kong Massacre turns into a wonderfully violent ballet of shattered glass, splayed bodies, and bullets from a variety of guns all firing at once in slow motion.The meter and cooldown for your slow motion ability is extremely generous, as it takes quite a while to drain and fully recharges within about two seconds. So as long as you plan to be in cover by the time it runs out you can use slow motion almost continuously. The star rating system for each level encourages you to try not using slow motion at all, though. Complete a level without it and you'll be awarded a star that can be spent on weapon upgrades--but not only does this make things considerably harder, it would make some levels all but impossible to complete. If you're playing on PS4 with a controller, your aiming reticule moves slowly, which is important for lining up long shots and maintaining some sense of tension and realism amidst all the madness, but it also means that completing the more difficult missions at full speed would be extraordinarily difficult.Even with these abilities, The Hong Kong Massacre can still be extremely hard. Your enemies are not the smartest, but when there's so many of them and it only takes a single bullet to kill you, you'll likely die an awful lot. There are plenty of mistakes you can make and traps you can fall into, too. Every now and then a dive won't go as planned, and you'll slide up against a door jamb instead of leaping through the door, for instance, or end up surrounded by gunfire. It's quite tricky to pay attention to both your person and your aiming reticule, and often I wasn't sure exactly when a dive animation had ended.Each failure requires a restart of the whole level, and even though the absolute longest one will ultimately take less than three minutes to finish once you've got a handle on the situation, there will likely be many, many failed attempts on the way there. But there's a certain pleasure in how you begin to memorize the layout, the patterns of the bad guys (which can change slightly), and weigh up the pros and cons of the different strategies and approaches you've tried thus far. And when you're in the zone, completing levels back to back with very few deaths, you'll really feel like an action hero.Five boss fights change up the level format and see you and your opponent both moving down parallel hallways, taking shots whenever there's an opening through a window (bosses take multiple shots to kill), and every now and then you'll need to take out an enemy on your side to collect their gun. At the end of each boss stage, you'll both end up in a more open area where you'll need to finish them off, and they work well enough as a change of pace. Some levels also make you dive between rooftops, which is satisfying and fun as you fire at enemies while making an almost-impossible sideways leap.But there's a lot of repetition across the campaign, too. The level designs aren't distinctive; while layouts and aesthetics change, the basic building blocks never do. Even as you shoot your way through a police station, you'll still notice that they're using shoji screens to separate some rooms. After a while, it becomes clear that the game is, essentially, the same few seconds of gameplay over and over. The four-weapon selection also feels slightly hamstrung by the general uselessness of the shotgun, unless you pump all the points you earn from completing levels into upgrading it (for my money it's better to focus on the SMG and pistols).The game's strangest oversight is its lousy leaderboards. While you can see your top time for every level from the menu, there is no friends leaderboard, nor does the game show you where you sit on the global total. In fact, only the top 99 are shown for each level, and even if you've made that list you need to scroll to find yourself. This removes some incentive to replay levels and try for a faster time.The Hong Kong Massacre is a game with a specific goal--to capture the feeling of an over-the-top John Woo-style slow-motion diving kill shot, and it succeeds. The game's faults are washed away whenever you leap out of the way of a bullet and quickly take out the person who fired it. It's a game that sticks with you when you're not playing it, as you think through different approaches to the room you died in last time. You'll fail frequently, and the repetition can wear you down, but it's hard to resist the temptation of bursting through a window and perfectly lining up three kill shots.Info from Gamespot.com

The annual Lunar New Year event has returned in Pokemon Go. From now until February 13, certain types of Pokemon will appear much more frequently in the wild than normal, and Niantic is offering players extra XP for catching and evolving monsters--as well as a chance to catch a new Shiny.Throughout the event, players will have a much easier time of finding Rattata, Ekans, Mankey, Ponyta, Electabuzz, Dratini, Mareep, Miltank, Torchic, Poochyena, Spoink, and Buneary--all Pokemon that correspond to the Chinese zodiac. To commemorate the Year of the Pig, Shiny Spoink will also be available for the first time.On top of that, players will earn twice the normal amount of XP when they capture and evolve Pokemon. Additionally, monsters that are traded during the event will have a higher likelihood of becoming Lucky Pokemon, which require less Stardust than normal Pokemon to power up. You can tell Lucky Pokemon apart by their sparkling backgrounds.Shortly after the Lunar New Year event concludes, Niantic will host Pokemon Go's next Community Day. That event is scheduled to take place on Saturday, February 16, and it features its own pig-like Pokemon: the Ice/Ground-type Swinub. Players will also receive triple the normal amount of Stardust during this month's Community Day.Niantic recently introduced a new wave of Gen 4 Pokemon to Go, including Lickilicky, Tangrowth, Froslass, and Gallade. A new Gen 4 Legendary, Palkia, also debuted in Raid Battles following the end of the recent Hoenn celebration event. Players have until February 28 to catch the Spatial Pokemon before it leaves Raids.Info from Gamespot.com

Respawn, the developer behind Titanfall and Titanfall 2, has released a new battle royale game called Apex Legends. Much like Fortnite, Apex will have a Battle Pass, and it works just like the one in Epic's battle royale game.Although the game is already out, Apex's first Battle Pass won't launch until March. Each season runs for about three months, with the start of Apex's season two scheduled for June, season three for September, and season four for December. Respawn has not announced the exact dates that each of these seasons start, but they have revealed what buying a Battle Pass will get you.Like Fortnite, each Battle Pass includes a collection of limited-time cosmetic items. Each Apex Battle Pass will include around 100 different rewards, which you can unlock through playing the game. Several items in each season can be unlocked without the need to purchase a pass, but you'll need to buy one in order to earn everything. Once you unlock something, it's yours to keep--even in following seasons. Every Battle Pass will only include exclusive, seasonal cosmetic items and random Apex Packs, the latter of which is an assortment of weapon and Legends skins of various rarities. So you won't miss out on unlocking new Legends if you don't buy the Battle Passes.Apex Legends implements similar mechanics and features from previous battle royale games, but adds its own spin on the formula as well. In Apex, you have to fight in squads of three, and each member of your team will control one of eight unique Legends (all of which have some pretty cool Legendary skins). Although every Legend can use any of the weapons and equipment scattered throughout the map, each one has their own unique assortment of abilities--much like Heroes in Overwatch or Operators in Rainbow Six: Siege.Although Titanfall's staple wall-running and Titans aren't in Apex, the game does incorporate other elements from Respawn's franchise, such as vaulting, sliding, no fall damage, and traversing great distances with jump jets. Almost as if a play on the developer's name, you're also able to respawn in Apex, as your teammates can bring you back from the dead--albeit without any of your loot--if they act fast enough.Apex Legends is free-to-play and available for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.Info from Gamespot.com

The Ted Bundy movie Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile is coming to Netflix. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix paid $9 million to get the movie following its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in late January. The film stars Zac Efron as Ted Bundy, with its story told from the perspective of his girlfriend Elizabeth Kloepfer (Lily Collins). The film also stars John Malkovich, Kaya Scodelario, Haley Joel Osment, Jim Parsons, and Angela Sarafyan. It's directed by Joe Berlinger, who worked on the Oscar-nominated Paradise Lost series about the West Memphis Three murders.According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netlix went up against Lionsgate and STX in bidding for Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile before winning out. Netflix makes a lot of sense for the film, as it already has Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, which was created by Berlinger. You can check out the first full trailer for Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile in the embed above. No release date has been set yet for Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, but it's also expected to have a limited theatrical run along with its showing on Netflix.Info from Gamespot.com

While the future of the X-Men remains unknown due to Fox's upcoming merger with Disney, even though there's still two movies slated for release, franchise producer Lauren Shuler Donner is confident that whatever happens will be for the best and said as much while promoting the third and final season of Legion at the Television Critics Association press tour.While Marvel Studios will take control of the X-Men characters under the leadership of Kevin Feige--and Donner isn't sure she'll have any role in future films--the popular superheroes are in good hands. "He's got a great story sense," Donner says of her former assistant Feige, who she worked with on the first X-Men film. "He's got a great ability to weave each world and weave those worlds together. I trust him and I trust that he will take care of the X-Men."Unfortunately, though, with the ownership changing hands, several projects are in flux. Gambit, X-Force, and Kitty Pryde are all movies Donner said are in Disney's hands now, should they happen at all. "This is all now in Disney's playground and they get to decide," she said. "At least we know it's in good hands. Everybody's worked really hard on the Fox side, but now it's going to be Disney's call."Meanwhile, there was one interesting X-Men tidbit Donner was able to share. When asked if producers had begun thinking about finding a new actor to take over the Wolverine character from Hugh Jackman, she offered a short, "Yes."While Jackman has made no secret that he considered Logan his final curtain call as the character, many fans were holding out hope to see him one day team up with Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) or appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Unfortunately, that just doesn't seem to be in the cards."Just the physicality of it all, just to bulk up, this man worked so hard to bulk up. He'd get up at 3 in the morning to bulk and eat protein meals every two hours," she explained. "His natural state is a very skinny guy. Once you reach a certain age, the body just won't go anymore. I think he was wise to say, 'I'm at that point. I can't do it.'"Still, even Donner stipulated that you can never say never when it comes to comic book movies. "Now, that doesn't mean he can't come back as older Wolverine, you never know. Future Wolverine, you never know," she said. "I don't know what Kevin is thinking. I don't even think Kevin knows yet. I think Kevin's still dealing with this wealth of characters and trying to make sense of it."In the meantime, there's no telling what the future of the X-Men looks like. Donner isn't scared, though. She has faith that Marvel Studios will do right by the heroes she's spent so much time with since 2000's X-Men.Of course, she also realizes that superhero fatigue can become a real thing, both for audiences and a studio tasked with creating movies for such a wide array of characters in a singular universe. "The problem is, as you guys well know, you cannot have too many Marvel/X-Men/superhero movies out there because we would cancel each other out," she admitted. "Each one has to be distinctive and yet you have so many story canons to follow through and yet we want new ones. I don't think you can have more than four. Four is a lot. People are going to get sick of it, so he has to be careful with it."Thankfully, there's still at least two more X-Men films on the way. X-Men: Dark Phoenix is currently scheduled to hit theaters on June 9. New Mutants, on the other hand, might arrive on August 2, though it's been delayed more than once.Info from Gamespot.com

For over a decade, the Etrian Odyssey series has been keeping the old-school dungeon crawler RPG alive and well on the DS console family. We've created our own adventurer's guilds and party members time and time again, painstakingly drawn tons of dungeon maps step-by-step, and slain countless numbers of deadly enemies in turn-based combat. Etrian Odyssey Nexus is the series' swan song on the 3DS, and it's a farewell celebration well worth attending, combining many beloved elements from across the whole of the series.As is usual for the Etrian Odyssey series, you find yourself almost immediately thrust into the game's main story. The floating islands of Lemuria are filled with strange, unexplored lands and a Yggdrasil tree, the secrets of which adventurers come from all the over the world to discover. You must assemble a guild of adventurers, name them, customize their looks and voices, give them basic adventuring skills, and gather them together in a party to explore the mysterious floating islands, dungeon by dungeon, floor by floor.Character creation and customization in the Etrian Odyssey games has always been a key component, and in Nexus, it's taken to new heights. The interesting fantasy races of Etrian Odyssey V (and their various race-based bonuses and skills) are gone, but that's fairly easy to forgive considering that you have a whopping nineteen classes from across the entire series' history to choose from at the beginning of the game for each character, giving you an incredible amount of freedom in constructing your own personalized band of explorers.It can be a bit overwhelming at first to assemble an effective party out of the huge amount of choices you're given, especially when several classes have overlap--for example, Pugilists, Ronin, and Ninjas are all "glass cannon"-type classes that emphasize offense and speed over defense, but each will evolve and function very differently over the course of the game. Things get even more in-depth with sub-classes, which become available much later in the game and provide yet another layer of intense customization, allowing you to either augment character strengths or compensate for weaknesses with additional skills from other classes. Sub-classing isn't new to the series, but this feature unlocks far later in Nexus than I had hoped, leaving me sitting on banked skill points I probably could have better used to boost main class skills.At the very least, if you're unsure which classes would work well in your ideal composition--or you just want some backup you can swap in as situations dictate--you can create a few extra party members and keep them in reserve at the adventurer's guild. You'll get an item early on (the Memory Conch from EO5) that will let you give some EXP earned to members in reserve, so you don't have to level-grind to make lesser-used teammates and new additions viable.Similarly to Etrian Odyssey IV, once you venture outside of town, you're not given one gigantic dungeon to explore floor by floor but instead presented with a world map that grows as you progress through the game, with multiple sub-areas and dungeons that you explore and map out individually. The airship-flying exploration sections of EO4 that connected these dungeons are gone, replaced with a very simple map you select locations from, which is a bit disappointing since it means fewer fun expeditions and less discovery outside of dungeons--but it also eliminates many of EO4's exploration frustrations like having to navigate hazards.The meat of Etrian Odyssey, however, has always been its dungeon exploration, and Nexus does not disappoint in that regard. You wander through intricate labyrinths step by step, exploring every nook and cranny for treasures, exits, gimmicks, and various points of interest, jotting all of your findings down on the map on the 3DS's touchscreen. The dungeons themselves take on lives of their own as you spend hours within them; they're filled with distinct graphic flourishes, unique hazards, and terrifying enemies that give a sublime sense of ever-present danger to the often-serene environments. Longtime fans will also recognize callbacks to previous titles in some very familiar enemies, areas, and musical tracks presented throughout the game.While most of the core Etrian Odyssey games outside of the Untold spin-offs have less of a focus on story than other RPGs, Nexus' storytelling is a high point for the series as whole. EO has traditionally let its story unfold through gradual exploration and careful, well-placed NPC dialogue when necessary, rather than through lengthy text dumps and cinematics. Over the course of the Nexus adventure, you encounter numerous NPCs both in town and while exploring, all of whom have flavorful dialogue and well-conveyed personalities without being overly wordy. You also encounter various points of interest in the dungeons, described to you in richly detailed text as if hearing it from the mouth of a storyteller, where you have to make careful choices about how to proceed. It's all fantastically done and does a spectacular job of letting you feel like part of the world without being overbearing.Nexus' storytelling is a high point for the series as whole... It's all fantastically done and does a spectacular job of letting you feel like part of the world without being overbearing.There's not much new to combat--it's still turn-based, and you've got the Force Boost/Break system from Etrian Odyssey Untold 2 for every class--but it's just as intense as ever, with even low-level enemies poised to offer a serious threat if you aren't paying attention. The flora and fauna of each area varies slightly, requiring you to do your homework and observe enemy types and their attacks--especially the FOEs, extremely dangerous enemies that roam the dungeons (usually in patterns) and can absolutely wreck you if you bumble into battle unprepared. Sometimes, however, it feels like Nexus' pacing in terms of hazards and enemy threats feels off.I played on standard ("Basic") difficulty, and there were a few times where I'd finish one dungeon and head to the next only to get totally trounced from the standard enemies there, as though I were still a few levels behind. There are also a few points where the game springs some major battles on you without much warning. For example, at one point fairly early on, there are two major boss battles one right after the other, the latter being a complete surprise. While you do get a free health refill between these two fights, springing the extra battle on you so early without giving you a chance to regroup is rude and exhausting even by the series' standards of challenging encounters.Despite a few small stumbles, the grandiose adventure Etrian Odyssey Nexus delivers is a rewarding, engaging journey you'll be glad to take. The feeling of discovery as you and your band of merry adventurers venture bravely into the unknown, fighting one fierce battle after another and growing stronger along the way, is tremendously fun, and Nexus does it better than any other game in the series yet. This is definitely the last EO game on the 3DS, and it has an air of finality to it that makes it feel like it could be a closer for the series as a whole--which I hope isn't the case. I'm ready for many map-making expeditions in the future. But if this really is the end, then Etrian Odyssey goes out on a high note.Info from Gamespot.com

Super Bowl LIII is underway and sees the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams facing off against each other. Of course, the Patriots are no strangers to Super Bowl wins, but the night could present a landmark win for the Rams. Either way, it's sure to be a thrilling game of football. But, if the game itself doesn't get your blood pumping, there's plenty of other entertainment on offer--including the Avengers Endgame trailer and Captain Marvel trailer.The Super Bowl kicked off at 3:30 PM PT / 6:30 PM ET / 11:30 PM GMT, and it is airing on CBS. This means you can watch the pre-game broadcasts and the actual game on your local CBS affiliate channel. Alternatively, you can stream the Super Bowl at CBS Sports. If you've got CBS All Access, you can also watch it live through that; if you don't, you can sign up for a free trial.This year's half-time show will include a performance from Maroon 5, along with Travis Scott, who is coming hot off the success of his acclaimed 2018 album ASTROWORLD. Also joining them is Big Boi, one half of the legendary Atlanta rap duo Outkast. There's going to be plenty of other stars at the show, and you can head to ET to see exactly who is in town for the game.Naturally, outside of the football we're expecting trailers for the biggest upcoming movies. It's already been confirmed that Disney will show off Toy Story 4 during the game, but we expect more from the company in addition to this. After all, 2019 is the year Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel, and Spider-Man: Far From Home will all be releases, so we reckon we'll get another look at one, if not all, of them.There's also going to be plenty of other fun commercials, and some companies have already started teasing what they'll have. You can check out all of Super Bowl 2019's commercials so far if you want to get ahead of the commercial game. We've also got a look back at the best and worst Super Bowl commercials of all time--that'll keep you entertained until the event begins.Disclosure: CBS is GameSpot's parent company. Info from Gamespot.com

The first trailer for Us, the new movie from Get Out director Jordan Peele, was an internet sensation. It mixed an unsettling concept with terrifying visual imagery and backed it with an unnerving take on a hip hop classic. Now, a second trailer has been released on Reddit, and while not as artful, it is just as chilling. The first trailer revealed Us would be about a family being hunted by a disturbed versions of themselves. This new trailer teases some of the strange goings on that happen before it all kicks off.Adelaide Wilson, who is played by Lupita Nyong'o, can be heard talking about how frequently coincidences have been occurring since the family arrived at their beach house. Before long we're given a quick showcase of the chaos that ensues, as the family are tormented by their darker reflections and forced to deal with the realization that they are up against themselves. Alongside Nyong’o as Adelaide Wilson, Us also stars Winston Duke (Black Panther) as Gabe Wilson. Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid's Tale) and Tim Heidecker join them as members of the Tyler family, with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II from Aquaman and Anna Diop from the DC Universe streaming series Titans, also appearing.2019 is set to be a big year for Peele. In addition to Us, his take on a new Twilight Zone series will debut on CBS All Access on April 1. Peele will host and narrator of the show, and his production company, Monkeypaw, is set to produce the series. Other cast members for the The Twilight Zone include Ike Barinholtz, John Cho, Lucinda Dryzek, Taissa Farmiga, Greg Kinnear, Luke Kirby, Sanaa Lathan, Kumail Nanjiani, Adam Scott, Rhea Seehorn, Alison Tolman, Jacob Tremblay, Jefferson White, Jonathan Whitesell, Jessica Williams, DeWanda Wise and Steven Yeun.Us comes to theaters on March 19, 2019. Info from Gamespot.com