Treyarch's first major post-launch content update for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 has gone live for some players. Operation Absolute Zero is now available on PS4 (with an Xbox One and PC release set to follow soon), and it introduces a new character, daily Zombies missions, a revamped Black Market, and more.Headlining the update is Zero, Black Ops 4's newest playable Specialist. She can be unlocked by completing tier 1 of the new Black Market and will be available to use in both multiplayer and the Blackout battle royale mode. Zero specializes in hacking, and she can use her skills to "disrupt and distract enemies."Additionally, Treyarch has introduced a new area to the Blackout map: Hijacked. Inspired by the fan-favorite Black Ops II map of the same name, the luxury yacht can be found in the northwest quadrant of Blackout's map. On top of that, the developer has added a new armored vehicle called the ARAV to the mode as well.Zombies mode, meanwhile, has received new daily challenges dubbed Callings. Completing these will reward players with XP and Nebulium Plasma. Treyarch has also added a new Black Ops Authenticity Stamp system to the mode, which allows players to share the results of their game online with others.Also of note, Treyarch has revamped the Black Market progression system to make it "simpler and more rewarding." The developer has also added a new Assault Rifle and a "fast-firing" SMG that players can unlock through Contraband tiers. You can read more details about the update on the official Black Ops 4 website.In addition to Operation Absolute Zero, PS4 players who own the Black Ops Pass now have access to another handful of content, including two new multiplayer maps, Elevation and Madagascar; a new Zombies chapter, Dead of the Night; and a new Blackout character, Reaper. PC and Xbox One players will get access to this content a little later due to Activision's ongoing timed exclusivity agreement with Sony.Info from Gamespot.com

The Dawning, Destiny 2's holiday-themed event, is always all about gift-giving, just like the Halloween-themed Festival of the Lost is about wearing masks. Activities during the December event usually have you finding and giving gifts to the various characters in Destiny 2, and this year those gifts have a different twist--you're baking treats for all the game's major characters.Destiny 2 is, of course, a game about shooting, so most of your confections will be crafted from the bones (and other parts) of your enemies. As you go marauding through the solar system, you'll gain items you can stick in a special oven in order to make treats. Eva, the character who puts you on your quest, gives you one recipe for cookies, but the rest you have to find through trial and error--unless you have our guide.Baking all the goods on Eva's list and giving them to the people around the Tower will net you an Exotic sparrow, as well as a number of Triumphs. The Dawning runs through the month of December, so there may well be more rewards in store as well, in a similar way to how the Murder Mystery quest of the Festival of the Lost turned out to reward players with Thunderlord. Here's everything you need to know to bake cookies in Destiny 2, as well as the recipes we've uncovered so far. We'll update this list as more information and more recipes become know.Get Your IngredientsThe stuff you use to actually make the cookies comes from out in the world and completing various activities. For each batch of cookies, you'll need three things: a common ingredient, a rare ingredient, and 15 Essence of Dawning.Killing enemies in the world yields common ingredients based on what kind of enemy you kill; there's something different for Fallen, Vex, Cabal, Taken, Scorn, and Hive. Rare ingredients drop based on the means of killing enemies. If you use explosives, you might get a Delicious Explosion ingredient; a sword kill could earn you a Sharp Taste. They're mostly pretty easy to figure out, but a few are a little confusing. Here's how to get each ingredient.Delicious Explosion: Explosive killsSharp Flavor: Sword killsImpossible Heat: Solar killsElectric Taste: Arc killsNull Taste: Void killsFlash of Inspiration: Create Orbs of LightPersonal Touch: Melee killsPerfect Taste: Precision killsBullet Spray: SMG and Machine Gun killsEssence of Dawning: Complete activities in the solar systemRecipesThese are the combinations we've found that yield specific cookies. Note that you need 15 Essence of Dawning for each recipe in order to make the oven work. We'll keep updating this list as more recipes are discovered.Gjallardoodles (deliver to Zavala): Ether Cane, Delicious ExplosionInfinite Forest Cakes (deliver to Failsafe): Vex Milk, Impossible HeatGentleman's Shortbread (deliver to Devrim Kay): Ether Cane, Perfect TasteVanilla Blades (deliver to Shaxx): Cabal Oil, Sharp FlavorRadiolarian Pudding (deliver to Asher): Vex Milk, Electric FlavorEliksni Birdseed (deliver to Hawthorne): Ether Cane, Personal touchChocolate Ship Cookies (deliver to Holliday): Cabal Oil, Null TasteTelemetry Tapioca (deliver to Banshee-44): Vex Milk, Bullet SprayTraveler Donut Holes (deliver to Ikora): Cabal Oil, Flash of InspirationJavelin Mooncake (deliver to Ana Bray): Chitin Powder, Sharp FlavorDark Chocolate Motes (deliver to the Drifter): Taken Butter, Null FlavorAlkane Dragee Cookies (deliver to Sloane): Chitin Powder, Bullet SprayIll-Fortune Cookies (deliver to Petra Venj): Dark Ether Cane, Impossible HeatCandy Dead Ghosts (deliver to the Spider): Dark Ether Cane, Flash of InspirationStrange Cookies (deliver to Xur): Taken Butter, Electric FlavorOnce you've baked one of every kind of cookie, you can upgrade your oven to a Masterwork, reducing the Essence of Dawning cost for making more cookies. That's good, because if you want to unlock everything in The Dawning, you're going to baking a lot.If you want to save yourself a little time (and it's very little), bake the cookies but don't deliver them until you get 12 sets finished. You'll need to deliver gifts as part of the quest that unlocks when you earn the Dawning Cheer sparrow.Don't Throw Away Your Failures!If you create a recipe combination that doesn't work, you'll get Burned Edge Transit cookies. You'll lose whatever ingredients you put in, plus your Essence of Dawning that you needed to do the cooking. But just because your cookies are horrible doesn't mean these are a total loss. You can't get your lost ingredients back, but you can reclaim the Essence, which is something since every batch of cookies you make costs 15 Essence, and you need to complete activities to get more.To get your Essence of Dawning back, head to the Tower and talk to the Cryptarch. He'll accept your burnt cookies as gifts and trade you back 15 Essence--the complete cost of cooking the bad batch. You can then immediately try a new recipe if you've got the ingredients, without having to go find a Public Event or some other activity to complete. Earning Your SleighTo unlock the Dawning Cheer sparrow, you need to make a few specific cookies, as well as 12 batches in total. To unlock it to start, make Vanilla Blades, Chocolate Ship Cookies, and Eliksni Birdseed using the recipes above. Once you've delivered them, you'll unlock the sparrow.After you've got the sparrow, you can set about repairing it, which unlocks several additional perks on Dawning Cheer. To get them, you have to complete bounties offered by Amanda Holliday, which only unlock after you've got the sparrow.The bounties require you to cook a bunch more cookies for various characters. The first bounty, Titan and Warlock, requires Donut Holes for Ikora and Alkane Dragee Cookies for Sloane, as well as baking 48 cookies in total. It unlocks the Happy Dawning perk on the sleigh, which shoots out glimmer presents from your sparrow while you're boosting.The second bounty, Sniper and Scribe, requires Gentleman's Shortbread for Devrim, Radiolarian Pudding for Asher, and 72 total cookies baked. It unlocks the Dawning Dare perk on your sparrow, which spawns glimmer presents any time you land a trick.The final bounty is Gunsmith and Navigator, which you can complete by delivering Telemetry Tapioca to Banshee-44 and Infinite Forest Cake to Failsafe, along with completing 120 total bakes. Complete that bounty to unlock the Transmat Preloader perk on Dawning Cheer, which makes summoning your sparrow instantaneous. Info from Gamespot.com

Doctor Strange director and co-writer Scott Derrickson is returning to head the movie's sequel. There are no concrete details for Doctor Strange 2 yet, except that the film will occur after 2019's Avengers: Endgame during Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.According to The Hollywood Reporter, there's still a search for a writer for Doctor Strange 2's script. However, both Benedict Cumberbatch and Benedict Wong, who play Steven Strange and Wong respectfully, will be returning in the sequel. Rachel McAdams, who portrays Christine Palmer, is theorized to be in the sequel as well. The script for Doctor Strange 2 is currently scheduled to be finished by the end of 2019, with production on the film starting in Spring 2020 and the movie releasing in May 2021. Marvel has yet to confirm these details.Both Peter Parker and Steven Strange met their end in the final moments of 2018's Avengers: Infinity War, yet the confirmation of Spider-Man: Far From Home and Doctor Strange 2 assures that both heroes will return to life in some way during the events of Endgame. Whether or not that means the same for everyone who disappeared as a result of Thanos' snap remains to be seen.The MCU concludes Phase Three in 2019 with Captain Marvel on March 8 and Avengers: Endgame on April 26. 2018 saw the rise of King T'Challa as the new Black Panther, as well as Scott Lang once again donning the Ant-Man suit and partnering with Hope van Dyne, aka Wasp. However, Thanos' quest to eradicate half of life in the universe was realized in Avengers: Infinity War, which saw half of the Avengers, most of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and many other heroes dissolve into ash. Prior to Nick Fury's disappearance, he reached out to Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel and Earth's mightiest superhero. Hopefully her return to her home planet provides the strength the remaining heroes need to fight back against Thanos in Endgame.Info from Gamespot.com

Desert Child is a game of modern ambitions and sensibilities wrapped up in a retro aesthetic. It looks like an early-'90s DOS game rendering of a future where humanity has colonized Mars and built a city that feels like a mix between a Cowboy Bebop planet and modern-day Australia. The game's unique look, chilled vibe, and strong concept make for a great first impression, but unfortunately, by the end of it you'll realize that there's not much more to Desert Child than what you got in those opening minutes.You play as a young man who leaves Earth in the game's opening, looking to conquer Mars' speeder bike circuit and earn enough money to prove himself in an upcoming championship. At the beginning of the game, you choose between four weapons to have mounted on the front of your vehicle, each with a different difficulty rating depending on how useful they are. All races are one-on-one and play out on a 2D plane viewed from a side-on perspective, which is a strange--but also a strangely enjoyable--way to compete. There are a handful of different tracks, all with unique obstacles, and when you start up a race you'll be thrown into one of them at random. While there are obstacles to avoid, winning comes down to using your boost effectively and firing your weapon at TVs planted around the track. Each TV you take out gives you a speed boost, and to maintain your maximum speed you need to consistently destroy the televisions on the track before your opponent does.The first few times you race in Desert Child, it's thrilling. Your hoverbike controls well--it's floaty and fast but precise--and blasting away at everything in front of you and timing your boosts well is fun. The game captures the inherent excitement of hoverbike racing, but once it becomes clear that every race is going to be more-or-less the same, that excitement dulls considerably. You can't switch guns mid-game, the tracks all play very similarly, and the only real difference between opponents is that the very last one in the game is more difficult to beat than the others. I couldn't highlight a uniquely cool moment from any of the races I took part in across two playthroughs of the game, or a race where the game showed off a new trick or idea.Desert Child also has the thin veneer of an RPG system. You spend much of the game's short running time wandering around a Martian city, exploring and poking at its different stores, NPCs, and the odd jobs it offers. There are only a handful of different environments for your unnamed protagonist to mosey through, and while they're lovely to look at the first few times, the game's small scale begins to feel limiting when you realize that the game world never changes in any significant way. After each race or job you take, the day progresses, and while some NPCs shift around and store stocks change, Mars very quickly starts to feel small and static.Your major objective is to raise $10,000 for a tournament while keeping yourself well fed, your bike in good working order, and not attracting the law by taking on too many dodgy missions in the nightlife district. The goal seems to be to capture some of the tedium of life in this town--there's a lot of walking around, visiting ramen stores, and switching between odd jobs. Some of these jobs are fun, but generally only for the first few times that you play them. For example, you can work as a pizza delivery person, riding a bicycle through one of the game's tracks while shooting pizza boxes at people; you can herd kangaroos, which involves following a group of them through a field and maneuvering your hoverbike behind any slackers so that they don't drop away from the pack; you can enter and intentionally lose a race for the local crime boss.There are a few different minigames like this, but ultimately none of them really offers anything that feels like a meaningful twist on the existing racing (with the possible exception of the "hacking" minigame, in which you're attacked by floating Windows logos and marble busts--I could not figure out this job's victory conditions). Once you've quickly seen everything Mars has to offer, and especially once you've bought the game's entire soundtrack from the record shop (which is worth doing, because the music is great), there's nothing exciting to find or unlock.There are a lot of references in Desert Child that will hit harder with an Australian audience. There's a bridge dedicated to the welfare program Centrelink, complete with a job board that you can access different tasks from; the constant casual profanity is very Aussie; and there are little nods to local cultural touchstones dotted around Mars. The "Bring Back Tim Tams" graffiti might not hold the same appeal for all players, but it made me smile.Before long, your focus will shift to saving up for the tournament, which boils down to racing and completing tasks over and over while storing your earnings in your bank to accrue interest. It's an uninteresting progression model, and the tournament itself is unexciting--you race three times, and if you lose any of them you must start again. You earn huge amounts of money even if you lose the first two races, which lets you buy all your hoverbike's potential upgrades and make things a bit easier on yourself. Winning the third race promptly ends the game, even though, narratively and mechanically, it really feels like things are just getting started. Desert Child exhibits a number of smaller issues, too. While the numerous misspellings feel like they could plausibly be an intentional part of the game's aesthetic, the lack of a pause option during races feels like an oversight, as does the fact that selecting "New Game" from the menu automatically starts up a new game without warning you that all previous data is going to be erased. Sometimes the equipment I'd put on my bike, like a laser sight for my gun, arbitrarily wouldn't work during a race, and I could never figure out why there were TVs scattered around during the pizza delivery game with seemingly no way to destroy them. Problems like this pop up all over Desert Child, and while most of them are minor, they add up.Desert Child has a wonderful sense of style, and there are moments when it clicks. When you jet across the water on your bike firing a shotgun blast that shatters several televisions in front of you, or when you first start to wrap your head around the aesthetic of Mars, the game briefly, but brightly, shines. But Desert Child doesn't quite hang together, and by the end of its very brief runtime the things that seemed exciting just an hour prior have lost most of their luster. This could be a lovely proof of concept for a bigger game; as it stands, it's hard not to get caught up thinking about all that it could have been. Info from Gamespot.com

It's difficult to talk about Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom without discussing Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap and its 2017 remake, because despite being produced by an entirely different development team, this game is, in fact, an official successor in the Wonder Boy series. But even though its history might be confusing, Monster Boy is a fantastic adventure in its own right, one that distinctly builds upon the best parts of Wonder Boy and adds some welcome modern conveniences for good measure.You play as Jin, a blue-haired young man who must stop his drunk uncle Nabu from inflicting curses upon the kingdom's inhabitants and transforming them into animals. Unfortunately, the plot doesn't really expand beyond that initial premise. With the exception of some moments of levity provided by the cast of interesting supporting characters, the story is uninspired and concludes on a final act that feels shoehorned. But where Monster Boy's narrative lacks in imagination, it more than makes up for it with its well-honed character transformation mechanic.Over the course of the game, Jin unlocks an arsenal of equipment and gains five animal transformations--pig, snake, frog, lion, and dragon--each of whom has their own unique abilities. Jin's human, frog, lion, and dragon forms are also able to equip a variety of weapons, shields, and armor, all of which can be upgraded. Equipping items unlocks new abilities--one type of boots allow you to walk on clouds, while another allows you to double jump, for instance. Quickly swapping between all these different forms to take advantage of their strengths adds a continually enjoyable layer of thought to the platforming experience, and its strengths are regularly showcased by Monster Boy's excellent puzzle design.You're eased into each new animal form and piece of equipment with some basic obstacles and enemies before being set loose to explore the titular Cursed Kingdom. Puzzles scattered throughout require some thought; on several occasions, you'll be forced to combine the use of several different powers and abilities in creative ways in order to progress forward or reach a treasure. It might be juggling two different animal forms, using particular equipment abilities, or taking advantage of environmental items, and when you eventually figure out how to get there, it always feels rewarding. Puzzles become increasingly complex, the variety of enemies becomes tougher, and the platforming sections feature additional obstacles that require more precise timing as you progress, but the growing challenges are balanced out well by a forgiving number of checkpoints, which help you keep motivated to give things another try.While the game is primarily linear, the Cursed Kingdom itself is enormous and features several different secret-filled areas (discovering everything will likely blow out your playtime to roughly 15-20 hours), and the variety of puzzles and charming locations that you find in far corners of the world are themselves an attractive incentive to reach. The experience is doubly rewarding when you unearth new paths while revisiting a previously-discovered area armed with a bigger arsenal of animal forms and skills, and Monster Boy even implements a teleportation mechanic to alleviate frustrations of excessive backtracking.Monster Boy also boasts a brilliant visual and audio presentation that makes the Wonder Boy aesthetic shine, featuring a meticulously detailed hand-drawn art style. Each character is beautifully realized with their own delightful animation--little details, like the pig's sheepish look as he farts after eating a power-up plant or the frog eyeballing some flies as part of his idle animation, adds volumes to Jin's characterization and the game's charm. Every area of the Cursed Kingdom is also visually distinct and beautifully animated, and a couple of superb anime-style sequences that bookend the game help give it a slick, cohesive feel. The game's strong soundtrack helps round out the package and features both original pieces influenced by Wonder Boy's soundtrack, combined with new, rock-influenced arrangements of Wonder Boy's most memorable tunes, making it a great collection of music both new and old.Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom not only pays faithful homage to Wonder Boy, particularly The Dragon's Trap, but by refining the solid foundations of its spiritual predecessors with modern affordances, it becomes a rich platforming adventure in its own right. With a well-realized world filled to the brim with secrets and excellent platforming mechanics that always keeps things interesting, the Cursed Kingdom is a place you will want to discover every corner of. Info from Gamespot.com

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate might have only launched for Nintendo Switch a few days ago, but it's already breaking records. The fighting game has become the console's biggest ever launch, according to sales monitor Chart-Track, meaning it also performed better in its opening weekend than Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee did combined in theirs.Red Dead Redemption 2 remains at No.2 for the week ending December 8, while FIFA 19 drops two places to No.3. Below these, Battlefield V spends a third consecutive week at No.4 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe benefits from hardware bundling with Switch consoles and Smash Bros. to finish at No.5.Three new entries hit the chart this week: Just Cause 4 debuts at No.6, PUBG's PS4 release helps it re-enter the ranking at No.22, and Sega Mega Drive Classics' Switch debut helps it break back in at No.33.Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has been a critical success as much as a commercial one. Edmond Tran awarded the game a 9/10 in our Super Smash Bros. Ultimate review-in-progress, saying its "diverse content is compelling, its strong mechanics are refined, and the encompassing collection is simply superb."You can read the full top 10 sales chart for this week below, courtesy of UKIE and GfK Chart-Track. Note this table does not include digital sales data, and so should not be considered representative of all UK game sales.Super Smash Bros. UltimateRed Dead Redemption 2FIFA 19Battlefield VMario Kart 8 DeluxeJust Cause 4Call of Duty: Black Ops 4Spyro Reignited TrilogyPokemon Let's Go PikachuFortnite: Deep Freeze BundleInfo from Gamespot.com

Monster Hunter World is getting a icy-themed expansion, though its release is still far out. Following a tease at The Game Awards, Capcom held a special stream dedicated to the game where it revealed Iceborne, a massive expansion set to launch for PS4 and Xbox One in Fall 2019, with a PC release also to come.Iceborne will introduce new quest ranks, locales, monsters, moves, and gear, according to Capcom. It'll also offer a new story that picks up from where World left off. Despite being compared with some of the standalone, expanded versions of previous games, Iceborne is explicitly a DLC expansion for World and will require that game to play. A price was not announced.That wasn't the only Monster Hunter World surprise unveiled on the stream, though. The company also announced Geralt from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt would be appearing in the game through a collaboration with CD Projekt Red. The presentation referenced Geralt finding himself in the New World, so it will include a new type of Witcher gameplay and even Geralt's own voice actors. That will come early next year.If you're curious about Monster Hunter World but haven't dipped in yet, you can sample a free trial version of the base game on PS4 and Xbox One for a limited time. The Trial Version lets you play quests up to 3-star level and online multiplayer up to Hunter Rank 4. You can transfer your save data from the trial into the full game. That will kick off on December 12 and end on December 17.For current players, the special event Kulve Taroth Siege event will come back on December 20. This time the monster will be an Arch Tempered version, offering even better rewards. A special Appreciation Fest event is planned for January 2019, with celebratory decorations in the Gathering Hub and some new quests and gear.Monster Hunter World recently won Best Role-Playing Game at the 2018 Game Awards, beating out strong competition: Dragon Quest XI, Octopath Traveler, Pillars of Eternity 2, and Ni No Kuni 2."Ever since the title was first announced, it was clear that Capcom was gunning for something grander than Monster Hunter Generations," critic Ginny Woo said in GameSpot's Monster Hunter World review. "It has succeeded, and this is likely the biggest and best that the franchise has ever been. It's not just the comparative depth of the narrative; it also boasts almost seamless integration between combat systems that were previously incomprehensible for amateurs. The Monster Hunter formula has definitely honed its claws, and all the above factors play their part in making Monster Hunter World a meaningful evolution for the series at large."Info from Gamespot.com

A new week means a new set of video game deals is available at Best Buy. Whether you do your gaming on a PS4, Xbox One, or Nintendo Switch, you'll likely find something worth playing available at a nice discount. This week finds quite a few games on sale, including recent hits like Black Ops 4 and Battlefield V, plus discounts on consoles and accessories. Let's look at some of this week's biggest savings opportunities at Best Buy.All Xbox One consoles are $50 off between now and December 16. If you buy the Xbox One X Battlefield V bundle on sale for $450, you'll also receive an extra controller for free. Select Xbox One controllers and three-month Xbox Live Gold subscriptions are $10 off as well. A one-year subscription to Xbox Game Pass is just $70 right now as well. That gets you access to a selection of over 100 games, plus first-party Microsoft games (like Crackdown 3) the day they launch.If you're looking for freebies, you have a few options. The digital standard edition of Battlefield V comes with a free set of dog tags. Buying FIFA 19 gets you a pair of shoelaces. And My Best Buy members who pre-order Anthem get a $10 reward certificate (sign up for free here). Select other pre-orders qualify for that deal as well.A number of the biggest recent games are on sale for $40 each this week, including console exclusives like Spider-Man on PS4 and Forza Horizon 4 on Xbox One. Other great deals include Battlefield V for $40, Octopath Traveler for $50, and Star Wars Battlefront II for just $10. Best Buy also has a selection of digital Switch games on sale for $10 off. And if you still have your 3DS in rotation, you can pick up select games with a "buy one, get one half off" deal.You'll find more standout discounts below, or you can hop over to Best Buy's deal page to find the full list.PS4Battlefield V -- $40Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 -- $40The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition -- $25FIFA 19 -- $40Grand Theft Auto V -- $20Madden NFL 19 -- $40MLB The Show 18 -- $20NBA 2K19 -- $40NBA Live 19 -- $23Need for Speed Rivals -- $15NHL 19 -- $40Spider-Man -- $40Star Wars Battlefront II -- $10WWE 2K19 -- $40Xbox OneBattlefield V -- $40Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 -- $40The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition -- $25FIFA 19 -- $40Forza Horizon 4 -- $40Grand Theft Auto V -- $20Madden NFL 19 -- $40NBA 2K19 -- $40NBA Live 19 -- $23NHL 19 -- $40Sea of Thieves -- $30Star Wars Battlefront II -- $10State of Decay 2 -- $20WWE 2K19 -- $40Nintendo SwitchThe Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ -- $30Carnival Games -- $30Cave Story+ -- $20Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 -- $30Fire Emblem Warriors -- $45Hello Neighbor -- $30Legendary Fishing -- $20Octopath Traveler -- $50NBA 2K19 -- $40SNK Heroes Tag Team Frenzy -- $40Sonic Forces -- $30SteamWorld Dig 2 -- $20Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido -- $40Info from Gamespot.com

Everyone's favorite super-fast blue hedgehog makes his big screen debut next year, with the release of the Sonic the Hedgehog movie. The first poster has now been released, and it hints at a slightly different look for Sonic.It's a motion poster, which shows several bolts of blue light zooming across the screen, before it forms a partial silhouette of Sonic. He's instantly recognisable of course, but there's a few differences worth noting, presumably because in the movie he'll have to interactive with human actors. His limbs are definitely a bit more humanoid, with noticeably muscular legs. He's also wearing realistic sneakers, rather than the more cartoonish type we're used to seeing him (they're the right color at least). Check it out below:Sonic The Hedgehog's first movie poster has been revealed! Coming November 8, 2019 #SonicMovie pic.twitter.com/RAkWPSdzgB — GameSpot Universe (@GSUniverse) December 10, 2018Sonic the Hedgehog is released on November 15, 2019. It's set to star Westworld's James Marsden, with comedian Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic and Jim Carrey as the evil Dr. Robotnik. It's directed by Jeff Fowler, who is making his feature debut, but won an Oscar in 2005 for his animated short Gopher Broke. It's produced by Deadpool director Tim Miller.2016 marked the 25th anniversary of the Sonic franchise. The latest instalments in the series were Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces, both of which were released in 2017. A new Sonic racing game, Team Sonic Racing, is due out next year.Info from Gamespot.com

Capcom has pulled back the curtain on a load of new content on the way to its hit action RPG, Monster Hunter World. Along with the "massive" Iceborne expansion, the publisher announced that a new collaboration featuring Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is coming to the game, and it'll be available early next year.The famed Witcher finds himself in the New World after being transported by a portal. According to Capcom, players will "get to utilize his signature fighting style" to take on an assortment of Witcher-inspired quests, which will "offer a unique gameplay experience blending RPG mechanics of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with Monster Hunter World's game systems."No further details on the Witcher collaboration have been announced yet, but Capcom says it will share additional information "at a later date." The crossover event is slated to arrive as a free update on PS4 and Xbox One in early 2019, with a PC release set to follow soon afterward. You can watch the first trailer for the Witcher 3 Monster Hunter World collaboration above.The crossover event is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg of new content on the way to Monster Hunter World. Next fall, Capcom will release the aforementioned Iceborne expansion, a "massive" update that will introduce new quest ranks, environments, monsters, and gear. Iceborne will also add a new storyline that picks up after the ending of the base game.Before either of those arrive, Capcom will bring back the Kulve Taroth Siege beginning December 20. This time around, the quest will feature a more formidable Arch-Tempered version of the monster that offers a chance to get even more powerful rewards. The publisher also announced it is hosting an Appreciation Fest in January to celebrate the game's first anniversary. This will encompass new anniversary quests that give players a chance to earn "special equipment."In the meantime, there is still time to take part in Monster Hunter World's current seasonal event, the Winter Star Fest. The event is scheduled to run through December 17 and features "almost all" previous Event Quests, along with a handful of new ones, daily limited bounties, and new hunter and Palico gear to forge.Info from Gamespot.com

Mortal Kombat 11 was announced at the Game Awards, and it's already just around the corner with an April 23, 2019 release date. You can play early, though, by pre-ordering to earn yourself a spot in the beta. The test will kick off for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in March.The announcement mentions select retailers for the beta but doesn't specify which are participating, so be sure to check with yours. The beta won't be available on Nintendo Switch or PC, each of which are also getting MK11. Pre-ordering will also net you Shao Kahn as a playable character.NetherRealm will be giving the first extended look at the game on January 17, 2019. The event will feature a keynote talk along with the gameplay debut. It will take place simultaneously in both Los Angeles and London at 11 AM PT / 7 PM UTC. It will be livestreamed on Twitch.The announcement referenced a "time bending story," which fits what we saw in the debut trailer at the Game Awards. In it, we saw two different versions of Scorpion from different eras of Mortal Kombat. It seems likely that this time the alternate retro costumes won't just be for cosmetic purposes, but rather different versions of characters will play heavily into the story. NetherRealm has become known for its unique fighting game campaigns in both Mortal Kombat and Injustice, which interweave several characters stories to tell one larger meta-plot.Naturally, it's pretty gruesome too. The debut trailer made a point of showing both Raiden and Scorpion being roughed up in a handful of ways, so be sure to check out the trailer if you missed it the first time around.Info from Gamespot.com

There's no shortage of ways to get great deals on PC games. Steam has regular sales, as do storefronts like Green Man Gaming, Fanatical, and the Humble Store. But best deals are generally on bundles of games. And right now, you can get a 12-month subscription to Humble Monthly for $99. The deal ends at 11:59 PM PT December 15 (2:59 AM ET December 16), so don't wait too long.What comes with a Humble Monthly subscription? Each month, you receive a bundle of around eight or nine PC games, some of which are announced and made available at the start of the cycle, and the rest come as a surprise at the end. The value of each month's games generally adds up to around $200. Considering this deal's pricing breaks down to $8.33 per month, that's quite a deal.The catch is that you're paying for the games sight unseen. You can look at the contents of previous bundles here to get an idea of the kinds of games the service includes. Heavy hitters from recent months are Overwatch, Hitman: The Complete First Season, Destiny 2, Cities Skylines, and Conan Exiles. Each month also comes with a number of indie titles, with recent highlights being Hollow Knight, Battle Chef Brigade, and A Hat in Time.The games revealed so far for this month are Just Cause 3 XXL Edition, Project Cars 2, and Wizard of Legend. If you subscribe, you can download and play those titles immediately. The rest of the month's games will be revealed and made available to subscribers on January 4.In addition to the monthly game bundles, a Humble Monthly subscription grants you access to the Trove, a collection of dozens of games you can download and play any time as long as you have an active membership. A cut of your subscription payment goes to charity as well. Finally, all Humble Monthly subscribers get 10% off Humble Store purchases. You can find more information in Humble Monthly's FAQ.Info from Gamespot.com

The spectacular new trailer for the upcoming Godzilla: King of the Monsters is here. The movie is the sequel to 2014's Godzilla and it sees the legendary monster joined by several other giant creatures, including the fearsome three-headed King Ghidorah.While the first trailer only gave us fleeting glimpses of the new monsters, this latest one puts the emphasis on the epic action that the movie looks set to deliver. We see Ghidorah emerging from a volcano, the winged Rodan doing battle with jet fighters, and the moth-like Mothra swooping into battle. There's also a few humans in there, including Stranger Things star Millie Bobbie Brown, The Conjuring's Vera Farmiga, and Game Night's Kyle Chandler. But really, this one is about the monsters. Check it out above.Godzilla: King of the Monsters is directed by Michael Dougherty, whose previous credits include the Christmas monster movie Krampus. It also stars Thomas Middleditch (Silicon Valley), Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water), Ken Watanabe (Inception), O'Shea Jackson Jr (Straight Outta Compton), and Charles Dance (Game of Thrones). It hits theaters on May 31, 2019.It's the latest entry in Legendary Pictures' so-called MonsterVerse, following Godzilla and last year's Kong: Skull Island. The fourth movie in the series will be Godzilla vs Kong, which is now in production and scheduled for a May 2020 release. The cast includes Alexander Skarsgård (Hold the Dark), Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta), and Demián Bichir (Alien Covenant).Info from Gamespot.com

While the 3DS has been slowly winding down since the launch of the Nintendo Switch last year, the handheld still saw the release of several standout games. Throughout its history, the 3DS has offered a variety of games that take a unique approach to familiar concepts. Whether it's an involved JRPG experience, a narrative-focused adventure, or a bizarre puzzle-action game, the 3DS has always had something for everyone, and that certainly continued throughout 2018. In our look back on 2018, GameSpot has rounded up some of the best 3DS games released this year, some of which revived classic games in a particularly interesting way. For more roundups focusing on the best games of 2018, be sure to visit our hub page detailing the highlights of this year's titles.The Alliance Alive[Read the review]Following in the footsteps of The Legend of Legacy, developer Cattle Call's The Alliance Alive kept the familiar JPRG mechanics and style while also telling a darker story. This role-playing game focused on a band of characters as they traveled across several continents, facing against challenging foes to save the known the world. It all seems like traditional fantasy fare, but The Alliance Alive embraces it wholeheartedly throughout. With a clever twist on traditional JRPG character growth, where your characters gain power by repeatedly using their familiar skills, The Alliance Alive gives you plenty of options to advance the power of your band of adventurers. This JRPG was a throwback to the more straightforward games of past and as a result was one of the highlights for the 3DS in 2018.Detective Pikachu[Read the review]While the Pokemon series has seen its fair share of creative spin-offs, Detective Pikachu is an especially unique addition to the series. The strange point-and-click detective game stars a wise-cracking Pikachu with a grown man's voice, and it is up to him--and you--to solve a series of crimes. This Layton-esque turn for the Pokemon series is a clever and worthwhile entry in the 3DS' impressive library of games. Many Pokemon spin-offs have come and gone, but Detective Pikachu's endearing charm left such a lasting impression, that it even spawned the first live-action film for the Pokemon series. In case you missed it, here's the debut trailer for the film adaptation of Detective Pikachu.Luigi's Mansion 3DS[Read the review]The original Luigi's Mansion was a particularly odd title for the titular character's solo outing, but it still managed to play to all the strengths of the GameCube and to the character's endearing charm. It eventually got a sequel on the 3DS in the form of Dark Moon, and after its success, the same developers revisited Luigi's original adventure. Luigi's Mansion on 3DS is largely the same game as the original, with some added innovations to take advantage of the handheld's hardware--including Amiibo support. Luigi's Mansion on 3DS turned out to be a particularly fun remake of the original, giving the character more deserved time in the spotlight.Radiant Historia Perfect Chronology[Read the review]As one of the Nintendo DS' most unique JRPG titles, Radiant Historia offers a compelling blend of complex strategy and role-playing mechanics, along with a sprawling story set across a detailed and ever-changing time period. With the remake on 3DS, Radiant Historia Perfect Chronology went even further with its predecessor's time-travel focused narrative, while also adding in a number of worthwhile updates and revisions to the original. It not only offers returning fans new story beats to admire but also gives newcomers a better appreciation for the constantly shifting nature of the game's complex narrative. Radiant Historia new outing on the 3DS not only improved upon the original's impressive systems, it also gave added incentive for fans to dive back into the complex time-travel plot.WarioWare Gold[Read the review]It's hard to fathom that the WarioWare series has already been around for 15 years--but it has, and we're all the better for it. In WarioWare Gold, the nightmare gallery of over 300 micro mini-games are sent your way in rapid succession--things like plucking someone's nose hair, sumo wrestling an opponent, and even repeating basic gameplay actions from classic NES games. Though there's a story mode that justifies the nonsensical spitfire of out of context micro-games, the why is quickly thrown by the wayside in favor of having you dive head-first into the madness. WarioWare's weird and carefree style is what made the series so endearing over the years, and its WarioWare Gold shows that the game's charm hasn't overstayed its welcome just yet.GameSpot will be unveiling our picks for the best games and entertainment of 2018 throughout December. Head to our Best of 2018 hub to see all the winners so far.Info from Gamespot.com

PlayStation 4 is riding high. Having hit its stride early in this generation, it has maintained momentum with big exclusives that add to an ever-growing and impressive library of games. Two of the year’s best games, God of War and Spider-Man, were only on PS4. Those came alongside competitive console versions of popular cross-platform titles like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Dead Cells. Tetris Effect, meanwhile, capitalizes incredibly well on the PlayStation VR, Sony’s consumer-friendly virtual reality contender. In alphabetical order, here are our picks for the best PS4 games of 2018, and what made them standouts in a year chock full of great games.Dead Cells[Read the review]This surprising indie game is a prime example of the phrase “more than the sum of its parts.” At first, the mishmash of influences and homages seem to contradict one another. It's a Metroidvania game--a genre known for its character progression--but this is also a roguelike, meaning it's built specifically around dying and resetting from near-zero. Though Dead Cells does have a handful of permanent abilities tucked away in obscure corners, for the most part you’re no more powerful on your 20th run than your first. What truly makes the difference is how you shape the game’s economy and weapon selection organically as you progress through each run.Purchasing a new weapon or secondary gadget from the vendor will also add it to the pool of items you can find in the world during a run. By steering your choices toward the weapons that fit your playstyle, you can increase the chances of finding the right set to progress further than you have before. It’s this constant push and pull on the game’s economy that creates a meta-strategy running throughout the experience. Do you reserve your hard-earned cash for only a handful of weapons to increase their odds, or do you collect everything you can in an effort to find what works? Over time Dead Cells becomes an experience of tinkering with the game’s systems, and then fine-tuning the smaller variables nested inside it, with each passing run.God of War[Read the review]This year Sony Santa Monica showed how to modernize a classic with impeccable grace and style. Gone was Kratos’ unfocused rage, replaced by a weary, simmering anger kept barely contained under the surface. The new Kratos is aging, tired, and skeptical. Most significantly, he’s now a father, trying to avoid leading his progeny down the same path that caused him so much pain in his own life. This Kratos feels beaten down, just short of broken, when the inciting events begin.The level design is cleverly built around his new weapon, the Leviathan Axe. Both a melee weapon and a projectile, the game's puzzles and combat are built around the Leviathan Axe's ability to boomerang back on command, a la Thor’s Hammer in the Marvel universe. It's a unique differentiator to the usual gameplay style, providing a synthesis to the the overall experience's various component parts.When the mayhem does start, it carries a new level of emotional resonance that had been missing from the series. Kratos is far from a perfect father, but his world-weariness carries real tenderness for the boy. The ultimate revelations at the end of the game set the stage for more God of Wars to come, with a newfound resonance. This new take on Kratos manages to move beyond his legacy without rejecting it. Instead, it embraces those violent and sometimes campy roots and contextualizes them as mistakes from his past, while building for the franchise's future.Red Dead Redemption 2[Read the review]Rockstar has gained a reputation for its bombastic action and cheeky humor. However, Red Dead Redemption 2 subverted expectations by being quiet and somber, and making its gameplay meticulous in a way that aimed to put you into the worn leather boots of an Old West gunslinger. Those who embraced the experience were rewarded with a rich story of loss and distrust in the waning days of westward expansion. Prequels can often feel unnecessary or staid thanks to the audience already knowing events that come after the story. Red Dead Redemption 2 sidestepped this pitfall by focusing less on what happened and more on how it felt.The vast open world presents almost every environment and weather pattern one can imagine. The plains and mountains are teeming with wildlife to hunt for food or trade. Your horse is a stable companion and bonds with you. Your guns can be crafted and customized to a degree that it feels like a cowhand's old reliable tool. The bank heists and train robberies are just as carefully crafted as the rest, putting you in tense scenarios where anything can and often does go wrong. These moments, paired with the camaraderie at camp, build the gang to be much more than a plot device or set dressing. The bonds you build between characters touch on themes of loyalty and honor, even among thieves.Spider-Man[Read the review]To truly capture the feeling of embodying Spider-Man, the one element that stands above all others is the web-swinging. Through a combination of sophisticated physics systems, Spider-Man's traversal is fluid and versatile in a way few games can hope to match. The mission waypoints spread widely across a realistic Manhattan backdrop were easy to manage thanks in large part to this intuitive system. Combat is also given a distinct personality that expressed the wallcrawler’s individuality. The webslinger is light on his toes and improvisational, making his animations slightly off-kilter. The character carries himself with a grace that always looks moments away from losing his balance, and the combat expresses that beautifully.Insomniac also crafted a resonant story that pays homage to the spirit of the world while building its own surprising continuity. Characters like MJ and Miles are given their own agency and practical parts in the story, while villains like Mr. Negative and Norman Osborn are given sympathetic motivations. The heart of the story lies with Otto Octavius, Peter’s scientist boss, friend, and mentor. Through it all, though, Spider-Man--both the character and the game--never becomes cynical. Peter Parker spends his spare time volunteering at a homeless shelter, even after a tough day of trading blows with superpowered weirdos. Doing and being good can be difficult, even heartbreaking, but Peter does it regardless. That’s the kind of inspirational message superheroes were made for.Tetris Effect[Read the review]Tetris has been done dozens of times on almost every platform, so it may be difficult to see what would set a new one apart. The involvement of Rez and Lumines designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi has made this version of Tetris distinct in a way that few others are, pairing a variety of musical styles and genres with the gaming perfection of Tetris, set against various backdrops and visualizer styles. The result will have you engaging with--and experiencing--music you may not have tried before. Somehow, though, the selections fit the mood so well that it’s difficult not to get caught up in them.A new Zone mechanic lets you build up a meter to pause the action and hover your tetriminos, giving you more time to consider your choices. For newcomers it provides an assist tool when the board feels overwhelming, while also opening up more scoring opportunities for veterans. It’s this inventive reconsideration of Tetris fundamentals that makes Tetris Effect an inviting playground for any level. It also ties nicely into one of the game’s other standout features, VR. Enveloped in a VR headset, your consciousness can sink into the game and focus on it with all the intellectual and emotional wrinkles that it brings. The experience can be profound on a level you may never have expected from a classic puzzle game.GameSpot will be unveiling our picks for the best games and entertainment of 2018 throughout December. Head to our Best of 2018 hub to see all the winners so far.Info from Gamespot.com