Like a great detective novel, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles gives us clues in its opening moments that won’t pay off until its final hours. That trick is even more impressive here as the adventure games collected, The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures and The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve, were originally published two years apart and together tell one continuous 80 hour story. Clues, character arcs, cases--all are revealed slowly over the course of the two visual novels, culminating in one satisfying conclusion that ties it all together.Adventures, from 2015, and Resolve, from 2017, take players back roughly 100 years before Phoenix Wright ever entered the courtroom. Here, players take on the role of that famous ace attorney’s ancestor, Ryunosuke Naruhodo, at the dawn of the 20th century. The story begins in Meiji Period Japan before traveling to Victorian-era England, where the bulk of the action takes place. That action, as in Phoenix Wright, involves collecting evidence from crime scenes, waiting for the right moment to use it in court and then presenting it at the right time during a cross examination to make a witness’ testimony fall apart.As The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures begins, Japan and Great Britain have just entered into a trade agreement. The ink on the agreement is barely dry--historically speaking, that is; a character later suggests that the agreement has been in place for a decade--so when Naruhodo is caught with a pistol in his hand at the scene of a visiting British professor’s murder, the resulting trial carries with it the weight of the fragile alliance between the two empires. With the case all but decided against him, Naruhodo must prove his innocence with the help of his best friend, Kazuma Asogi, a law student set to embark the next day for a study abroad program in England. The katana-wielding Kazuma is strong-willed, confident, and believes wholeheartedly that his friend is innocent, and that belief motivates Naruhodo’s own practice of law as the game progresses, with the young defense attorney understanding well the difference that his belief in his clients’ innocence can make.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Modern Fortnite is largely defined by its huge collaborations. In the past few years, we've seen the game draw in heroes and villains from Marvel, DC, and Star Wars, some of the world's biggest streamers, musicians, athletes, and much more. The contents of a new Fortnite survey conducted by Epic Games suggests there may be a lot more yet to come.First shared online by reliable leaker ShiinaBR, the survey asked for respondents' opinions on a wide range of people and properties, ranging from real-life celebrities to beloved fictional characters and IP. The survey curiously name-drops some cosmetics that have already appeared in the game, such as Lara Croft, Daredevil, and the Epic-owned Rocket League, but there are many more that have never appeared in the game and would surely excite different fandoms.Yesterday, Epic sent me a survey in my emails asking for my opinion on many characters/people/franchises.I'll just post some of the most interesting ones here! 👀Remember that Guggimon (Season 7 BP) was also in one of these surveys before he came into the game! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/4il4WJJMiL — Shiina (@ShiinaBR) July 25, 2021Some of them we've heard before thanks to Epic versus Apple documents, such as Naruto, while others, like Breaking Bad, have never been mentioned until now. It's likely that at least some of these properties will appear in Fortnite down the line, though that timetable is unforeseeable given the continuing massive popularity of the game.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Microsoft Flight Simulator will make its console debut on Xbox Series X|S on July 27, and the reviews are finally live. Given the massive critical acclaim that greeted the technologically-staggering simulation game on its PC release last year, we shouldn't be surprised to find that the Xbox release of the game has received similar plaudits.Currently, the game sits at a Metascore of 92, which denotes "universal acclaim." For comparison's sake, that score makes it the best-reviewed Xbox Series X|S of 2021 so far--It Takes Two and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 are tied for number two with Metascores of 89.As a whole, critics have praised Microsoft Flight Simulator as an impressive game on every level, with Ars Technica's Sam Machkovech calling it the first true "next-gen" first-party console game on Xbox Series X|S.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Blizzard has canceled a planned livestream for Hearthstone's next expansion, United in Stormwind. This follows several streamers who canceled their own card reveals in light of allegations of sexual harassment and abuse at the company sparked by a California state lawsuit.United in Stormwind is scheduled to release next Tuesday, August 3. Typically the weeks before a new expansion launches, Blizzard spreads card reveals through various websites, streamers, and other influencers, culminating in a final card reveal event where it takes the wraps off all of the remaining cards. At that point the patch often goes live as well so that players can download it in preparation for launch. Today's stream had been planned for 10 AM PT / 1 PM PT.This year, however, the abuse allegations raised by a California suit against Activision Blizzard has disrupted those plans. Popular streamers Alliestrasza, Lt. Eddy, and Trump canceled their own card reveals in light of the suit, leaving those cards unrevealed. In recent days it has been an open question whether Blizzard would proceed with its reveal stream--and if so, if that stream would address the controversy.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Netflix and The Pokemon Company are working together on a new live-action Pokemon TV series, according to sources speaking to Variety. The production is said to be "in its early days" and it is not confirmed at this stage. The project is described as being near the beginning of development, not production, so it's not a done deal by any stretch, it seems.As such, there is no word yet on the plot, cast, or release date. However, it's reported that Joe Henderson (11.12.63, Lucifer) is boarding the project to writer and be an executive producer.Variety's report said the new Pokemon series would be similar to the 2019 movie Detective Pikachu, which blended live-action with CGI elements to bring the pocket monsters to life. The film, which starred Ryan Reynolds and Justice Smith, was an enormous success, becoming the highest-grossing video game movie in US history until Sonic dethroned it.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Forza Horizon 5 is hitting the roads later this year on Xbox and PC, and the developers at Playground Games have now shown off a lot more of the racing game as part of a livestream.The 30-minute broadcast below features creative director Mike Brown and associate art director Conar Cross showing off the different biomes of the game's setting, Mexico, and the new Emerald Circuit race. This is a live gameplay demonstration, and the game is certainly looking very good ahead of its scheduled release in November.The stream includes a first-ever look at Forza Horizon 5's new swamp location, which is filled with water and mud aplenty, with gorgeous scenes in the background. The water, in particular, looks lovely, featuring a nice blue-green hue. Some of the 10 other locations you'll explore in Forza Horizon 5 include the tropical coast, farmlands, arid hills, the jungle, the desert, a rocky coast, the city of Guanajuato, and a volcano with snow on top of it.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Splitgate, the free-to-play portal shooter from developer 1047 Games, has had its official 1.0 launch delayed into August so the team can work on server capacity after receiving $10 million from a venture capital firm.The game has exploded in popularity this month despite being on the market since May 2019. 1047 Games turned Splitgate into a cross-play, cross-gen title on July 13 and in the 14 days since, over two million people downloaded it. This surge in players caused widespread server issues, with many unable to get into matches because Splitgate's servers were reportedly always full.1047 Games tweeted on July 22 that current server capacity is only capable of handling 65,536 concurrent players; optimization is futile at this point.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Shadow of the Tomb Raider has received an update on PS5 that gives it a big performance boost. The 2.01 patch adds 4K support at 60fps on PS5 in the game's high-resolution mode.The update slipped out quietly, without much fanfare from Crystal Dynamics or publisher Square Enix, Eurogamer reports. Similarly, the game now carries an "Optimized for Xbox Series X|S" label on the Xbox store, suggesting it may have also gotten a performance boost for the new-generation version.Shadow of the Tomb Raider was the finale in the rebooted trilogy that Crystal Dynamics began in 2013 with Tomb Raider and its followup. The new take on Lara Craft began her journey as a younger woman on her first adventures and learning to cope with the weight of responsibility and danger. While Shadow maintained a lot of its previous games' core mechanics, it wasn't received as well as the critically acclaimed Rise of the Tomb Raider.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Gaming has become so commonplace and ubiquitous that it no longer makes sense to call someone a "gamer," according to Electronic Arts VP Elle McCarthy. McCarthy is the VP of brand at EA and her current mission is to reinvent and reinvigorate EA from a branding perspective.Speaking to AdWeek, McCarthy said gaming is "no longer a medium or an industry, it is simply 'interactive.' You can now interact with almost everything through play--from an interest area like interior design to a movement like Black Lives Matter or exploring your sexual identity.""I often get asked about how brands can partner with gaming or talk to gamers--but there's really no such thing as gamers at all and understanding that will be crucial," she said. "Did you know that only 14% of players self-identify as gamers and that is as low as 6% for women? It might be the safety someone finds in playing with people like them, free from the shackles of identity politics that can factor less in positive gaming spaces than they do in the world."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Originally, Ghostbusters: Afterlife--a direct sequel to 1989's Ghostbusters 2--was supposed to hit theaters last summer. Thanks to COVID-19 delays, it's not scheduled for November 11. Thankfully, you won't have to wait much longer to get a peek at the movie, though. A new trailer will be released Tuesday, July 27.Original Ghostbusters star Dan Aykroyd, who serves as an executive producer on the film and will be reprising his role as Ray Stantz, shared the news on Twitter--along with a short video of the Ecto-1 in action. "Something's coming, he wrote. "Watch the new trailer for [Ghostbusters]: Afterlife tomorrow!"Something’s coming 👻🚫 Watch the new trailer for @Ghostbusters: Afterlife tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/Y3DSYhJcB2 — Dan Aykroyd (@dan_aykroyd) July 26, 2021This is the first we have heard about the movie in quite a while. Back in April, a clip debuted, featuring Paul Rudd's character encountering an army of tiny Stay-Puft marshmallow men, while some toys released earlier this year offered some small hints at what the movie will look like.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The film that terrified audiences is coming back. Universal and Peacock have announced they have acquired rights to create new movies based on the Exorcist franchise, while partnering with Blumhouse and Morgan Creek. Halloween reboot director David Gordon Green will helm the first of three movies.Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton) will star in what's being called a "fresh new take of the beloved property." These films will be a continuation of the original series. Joining Odom is Ellen Burstyn, who will be reprising her role as Chris MacNeil from the 1973's Exorcist, of which Burstyn was nominated for an Academy Award for actress in a lead role."Blumhouse has always experienced incredible partnership from the team at Universal, and I'm grateful to Donna Langley and Jimmy Horowitz for believing in the vision of David's film and having the foresight to be flexible with distribution, so the team feels top notch support through the lifeline of the film. They're committed to theatrical exhibition and will also serving streaming viewers well by bringing an exciting franchise like the Exorcist to Peacock too," said Jason Blum, CEO and founder of Blumhouse. "I'm grateful to be working with David Robinson and the great team at Morgan Creek on this iconic franchise."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Rockstar North's long-running Grand Theft Auto V is poised to leave Xbox Game Pass sometime soon, according to the service's official website.Under the "Leaving Soon" filter on Xbox's Game Pass subpage, GTA V is listed alongside It Lurks Below, The Touryst, and UnderMine. It's unclear exactly when these four games will leave Xbox Game Pass, but titles tend to be removed from the subscription service during the month's second week.GTA V is of particular mention. The open-world action-adventure game rejoined Xbox Game Pass on April 8 after initially being added to the service back in 2020. Now three months later, GTA V is leaving Game Pass again. Subscribers looking to own the title will get a 20% membership discount.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The eighth operation for Gears 5 is set to launch soon, with developer The Coalition introducing a fan-favorite character from Gears of War 3 and multiple Gears of War novels as a new multiplayer character option.Bernie Mataki, a seasoned COG veteran that links up with Marcus Fenix and company during the events of Gears of War 3, is being introduced into Gears 5. She's known for her excellent sharpshooting skills, which are keenly shown in the new teaser for the game's latest, and last, operation. Also included in this latest season is a new map called Ritual, which is set on Mataki's home of the Galangi Islands. Another Locust character, the Ketor Vral, is making a debut in multiplayer, too.Operation 8 will also include a new Tour of Duty, which The Coalition says will continue being refreshed in the weeks after release to give returning players something to look forward to. That's in part due to Operation 8 being the final planned content drop of this kind for Gears 5, with the studio now moving resources over to games that will utilize Unreal Engine 5. Gears 5 servers will remain online while support will continue, but content additions will be largely wrapped up according to The Coalition's senior community manager.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

One of the surprises to come out of the recent EA Play showcase event was Battlefield Portal, a new scenario builder coming to Battlefield 2042. In a new interview, its developer, Ripple Effect Studios, talked more about what the mode is and how it differs from the base game.Speaking with Battlefield Nation, design director Justin Wiebe explained that the mode is meant to be a throwback to past games, and as such it will attempt to encompass the best of both worlds between older titles and the new game. For example, Ripple Effect is implementing two distinct tuning sets for weapons: One will bring the older games' arsenals more in line with Battlefield 2042, while the other will stay as true to the original tuning as possible.In addition, Wiebe said that servers will be free for everyone who owns Battlefield 2042 at launch. This means that anyone can go in and customize servers to their liking, and the server will persist as long as at least one person is playing. Players will be restricted to only one server at launch, but the developer is discussing the possibility of including a server rental program to expand these restrictions.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Capcom is distributing a special Palamute to all Monster Hunter Rise players. The critter is named Wanogre, and it's based on one of the Palamutes used by a member of the Monster Hunter Rise development team.To add Wanogre to your party, you first need to speak to Senri the Mailman in Kamura Village and receive the Palamute from the Add-on Content option. After that, head to the Buddy Plaza in the eastern portion of the village, speak to Iori the Buddy Handler, and select Hire a Special Buddy to pick Wanogre up.A special Palamute from the #MHRise Dev Team has joined the fray! 🐶Check in with Senri the Mailman, then Buddy Handler Iori to hire the one and only Wanogre! ⚡ pic.twitter.com/1QrqtZgBSV — Monster Hunter (@monsterhunter) July 23, 2021That isn't the only new piece of content available now in Monster Hunter Rise. Capcom recently distributed another new Event Quest called An Icy Blade So Bright. This quest can similarly be claimed by speaking to Senri the Mailman and downloading it from the Add-on Content menu, and completing it will net you a stylish pair of shades.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com