Almost six years after its launch, Axiom Verge is getting its first piece of post-launch content--and it's free! The new content is a Randomizer Mode, which is currently live in beta for the PC version of the game. The mode will be released for consoles (also for free) at a later date.Originally existing as an unofficial mod, Randomizer Mode has been worked on by Axiom Verge speedrunners NoReset Games, Chris Couture (aka VideoGameRoulette), Dimitrios Lianopoulos (GVirus), Mark Rawls (Willow), Lars Lehmann (Leemyy), and CrowdControl's Matthew Jakubowski (Jaku)--as well as the mod's creator, Pozzum, for years. Now, the mod is being officially implemented into the game."They spent years working on this and refused any compensation I offered," Axiom Verge developer Thomas Happ wrote in a blog post. "It was a labor of love, and I'm hugely grateful to all of them."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The Disneyland and Disney California Adventure theme parks in California remain closed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, once they open there will be a massive change at both parks: Disney has announced it's ending its long-running annual pass program.In an email sent to annual pass holders, Disneyland Resort president Ken Potrock said, "For nearly four decades, our Annual Passport program has been an important part of connecting with some of our most valued Guests. We are incredibly honored and grateful for that legacy, and the memories and magical moments you have helped us create over the years... I know that sunsetting the Annual Passport program will be disappointing to many of our Passholders who are just as anxious as we are to reopen our gates and welcome Guests back when the time is right." The company also released a statement on Twitter, which you can see below.pic.twitter.com/6Wir9aO5hy — Disney Parks News (@DisneyParksNews) January 14, 2021Those who have active passes will receive refunds from the company and, according to Disney, there will be "membership offerings" announced at some point. It remains to be seen what those would entail.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Square Enix has announced a release date for Dragon Quest Tact, a mobile spin-off in the Dragon Quest series. Originally launched last year in Japan, the strategy game will launch on January 27 in the West.Pre-registration opened today on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store. Pre-registering for the game will grant you a King Slime monster for use in the game once it launches.Dragon Quest Tact is a grid-based tactics game featuring monsters from the Dragon Quest series as playable units. You can take your army of Slimes, Hybirds, and Hammerhoods to fight against the evil forces threatening the land of Orchesterra. Each monster has its own strength and rarity level, and Square promises a range of free monsters that will let you build out your army without paying.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

New Predator challenges have come to Fortnite with the most recent update. Players will need to complete them in order to unlock the intergalactic hunter. One challenge will send you to three different locations across the map in order to talk to different NPCs. The challenge is to talk with Beef Boss, Remedy, and Dummy. These challenges just dropped this morning, so completing them will be hectic. This guide will show the best way to find all three NPCs and complete the challenge quickly.Where To Find Beef Boss, Remedy, and DummyBeef Boss, Remedy, and Dummy are all located right next to the Stealthy Stronghold where you find the mysterious pod. They each have multiple spawn points on the map--but it appears those have been tweaked so they always show up around the same area so players can complete these challenges. Here's a map with their specific location.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

GameFly is evolving in 2021 to offer more subscription plans for both video games and 4K Blu-rays. In addition to the standard subscription--which is still the same price--GameFly has now added Budget and Elite tiers as well as a plan dedicated to movies. The new subscription plans are live now, and you can still get a free 30-day trial to see if you like the service before committing. GameFly offers game rentals for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch as well as PS4 and Xbox One. Here's a quick overview of the new plan options:Budget: $8.95 per month, rent one disc at a time, excludes new releasesElite: $29.95 per month, rent two discs at a time, includes new releases and 4K Blu-raysMovies-only: Four subscription plans ranging from $8.95 to $18.95 per month See plans at GameFly The Budget plan is cost-effective at $8.95 per month ($5/month for the first three months), but it does come with a couple of significant limitations. With the Budget plan, you won't have access to new games until four months after release and movie rentals are limited to DVD and standard Blu-ray. The Budget plan also only allows you to rent one game/movie at a time.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

While developer Treyarch has been silent on its more competitive Ranked mode for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, the studio is insisting the playlist is still in the works.In response to a thread on the Black Ops Cold War subreddit, Treyarch community manager Josh Torres said Ranked mode is coming but no release date has been nailed down yet."Yes. Ranked Play will be a thing." Torres, who goes by FoxhoundFPS, said when asked if the mode is in development. "I currently don't have a timetable to share with you, however."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Originally penned for early 2021, the Odyssey expansion for Elite Dangerous has been delayed to later this year. Folks can expect the upcoming expansion to hit PC in late spring, and the Xbox One and PS4 versions will go live in the fall."Our PC plans have only been affected by a small amount, however our plans for the console release will unfortunately see a larger development shift," developer Frontier Developments wrote in a Steam blog post. "Please do know that these difficult decisions have been made with a focus on making Odyssey as incredible as it can possibly be for all our Commanders regardless of their platform, while also respecting realistic project deadlines for our teams during this difficult global situation."The difficult global situation being, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic. The studio writes that the ongoing impact of the pandemic and 2021's renewed lockdowns has "put added pressure" on the team.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

One of the biggest issues shared by both AMD and Nvidia is a constraint of GPU supply, with both companies struggling to serve demand with their respective ranges of new graphics cards.CES 2021 offered a chance for both to address the issue, but neither touched on it during the press conferences held earlier this week. Since then, both companies have given vague updates on the matter, and neither give a positive outlook for the near future.Speaking to The Verge, AMD committed to having more stock for its three new desktop GPUs--the Radeon RX 6800, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6900 XT--on its website soon, ensuring that the MSRP doesn't change from the original launch price. AMD didn't, however, confirm stock levels, which mean it could just as easily sell out as the first batch during the messy launch.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

CES 2021 has been full of big announcements, from the RTX 3060 to Razer's new smart mask and gaming laptops. LG has also made a number of reveals, including a new portable gaming soundbar that has a built-in mic for party communication. The 20-watt LG UltraGear GP9 soundbar can be plugged in or run on battery power, allowing you to bring it with you on the go to friends' houses, LAN parties, or anywhere else you may need to game. Unfortunately, no images have been revealed, and LG hasn't yet announced a price or release date.According to CNET, the GP9 soundbar's built-in mic uses an "Eco-sound" feature that lets the mic cut through your game's audio and pick up your voice. Additionally, the soundbar features a large volume knob and several different simulated surround sound modes for genres like first-person shooters and strategy. You can also plug a headset into the soundbar via a 3.5mm jack for private listening.As for connectivity, the GP9 features ports for USB-C and optical digital audio as well as Bluetooth wireless. These ports allow it to be connected to PC and consoles via the USB-C and optical ports. If you want to utilize the Bluetooth connectivity, then you'll need a Bluetooth-capable PC or compatible Bluetooth adapter for PS5 and Nintendo Switch--you won't be able to connect this wirelessly to an Xbox console.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Among Us, the multiplayer game where you try to seek out an imposter, had a banner year in 2020. The game saw a massive spike in popularity; the game got so big that even Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez got in on the action with her own record-breaking stream. Victoria Tran, the community director at developer Innersloth, has now shared her thoughts on the surge in popularity for the game in 2020. Speaking to GameSpot's Lucy James during sister site CNET's CES 2021 coverage, Tran said of the renewed interest in Among Us, "That was terrifying and amazing and wonderful and there is really no English word to make people comprehend how surprising and amazing it was."Asked what might have contributed to the big success of Among Us in 2020, Tran said it came down to a number of elements. Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Earlier this year, a waiver protecting GPU manufacturers from additional tariffs in the ongoing trade war with China lapsed. ASUS recently announced plans to increase GPU prices as a result, and now EVGA and Zotac are following suit.EVGA has added a note to its website making customers aware of the price hike, stating that it has attempted to minimize the impact to consumers. This includes honoring the price on preorders that have already been processed.EVGA has increased the prices of all RTX 30-series GPUs, from the RTX 3060 Ti to the RTX 3090. Surprisingly, the increase is relatively standard across the board, with each card now retailing for $70 more than before. The RTX 3080, for example, is now $800 after previously launching at $730.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The Last Guardian was a prestige game on PS4, but you can play it with a performance boost on PS5. The game from the studio behind Ico and Shadow of the Colossus had an unstable frame rate on its original hardware, but with a little work you can get it to run at a smooth 60 FPS on the new generation.According to an analysis from Digital Foundry, The Last Guardian barely ran at 30 FPS on most PS4 hardware iterations, and sometimes would drop even lower than that. The PS5 can run at 60 FPS, but only under certain conditions. The game has to be running directly from the disc, which means you need to forgo any patches that attempt to auto-install when you insert it. That means you'll be running version 1.0, straight from the disc code, to enjoy your smooth frame rate.The analysis does note that the frame rate dropped below 60 once in its tests, to around 55 FPS, but that was both temporary and a very minor drop. It appears that overall the increased horsepower of the PS5 makes a big difference in the game.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Pokemon Go's January Community Day is only a few days away, but Niantic has already shared details about next month's event. February's Community Day will take place on Sunday, February 7, and the featured Pokemon next month will be the Grass/Poison type Roselia.Throughout February's Community Day, Roselia will appear in the wild much more frequently than normal, while its pre-evolved form, Budew, will hatch from 2 km eggs. You'll also have a chance to encounter Shiny Roselia in the game, and there will be Timed Research tasks to complete. These will reward you will Sinnoh Stones, which you'll need to evolve Roselia into Roserade.🌸 Relax with Roselia during the upcoming February Community Day! Evolve Roselia during #PokemonGOCommunityDay to get a Roserade that knows two exclusive attacks! 🌸 https://t.co/d9NW6x5gaF pic.twitter.com/eaNz8QniLR — Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) January 13, 2021If you do manage to evolve Roselia during the event, your Roserade will know two special moves: the Fast Attack Bullet Seed and the Charged Attack Weather Ball. The latter's typing typically varies, but Roserade's Weather Ball will deal Fire-type damage. You'll have up to two hours after the Community Day ends to evolve Roselia and learn the special Community Day moves.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The next movie from director David O. Russell (The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook) continues to add to its impressive cast. Deadline reported that Oscar-winner Rami Malek has signed on for a role in the untitled movie.Malek, who won an Oscar for his performance as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, joins a cast that includes Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, and Zoe Saldana.The movie is an original idea that Russell came up with. The plot is being kept a secret for now, however, so we don't know what it's about.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

With climate change being one of the greatest existential threats looming over humanity's survival, gamers may wonder what role they play in the fate of the environment. A new study seeks to answer that question, and the findings don't look all that reassuring.The Natural Resources Defense Council, a US-based non-profit dedicated to climate advocacy, published a study looking at the environmental impact of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. The organization found that both consoles use between 160 and 200-plus watts of energy--more than previous generations. They also need roughly the same energy as the TV they're likely plugged into, which uses between 120 and 200 watts depending on size.Of course, the energy used dips pretty low when either console is low-power mode or on standby. In fact, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S use less than 1 watt in these states, according to the NRDC. However, that changes with Xbox's "Instant On" setting enabled by default and PlayStation's inability to smartly adapt to console inactivity. As a result, the wattage used by both consoles can jump to double-digits if gamers forget to turn them off.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com