A new character is coming to Apex Legends in Season 8, and we now know a lot more about his abilities, thanks to a new trailer from Respawn. This Legend is the explosives expert Fuse, and his kit is very much designed to fit that specific niche. We've got the full details on the kit below.First, Fuse has a passive ability called Grenadier that allows him to stack an extra grenade per inventory slot. His robotic arm also allows him to fire grenades faster, further, and with more precision than other Legends. His tactical ability, Knuckle Cluster, is a cluster bomb that deploys a large number of small bombs that explode into the air. Finally, his ultimate ability is The Motherload, a mortar that bombards a large area in a wall of flame.In terms of where he fits in the existing meta, Fuse seems to be a very offense-oriented character, similar to favorites like Bangalore and Wraith. His abilities will allow him to quickly flush out or finish a trapped team. However, his explosives can also be used as area denial by strategic players, especially in concert with more defense-oriented Legends like Wattson or Gibraltar.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Move over GameStop--Costa Rica-based online sportsbook and casino Bovada is currently taking bets on who will play Harry Potter in the live-action TV series that is reportedly being discussed over at HBO Max. Bovada is taking bets on specific actors and also the hypothetical future actor's age range.As of this writing, the odds are looking most favorable for James McAvoy (X-Men: Apocalypse) or Tom Hiddleston (Avengers: Infinity War), and also an actor between the ages of 30 and 40. The current dark-horse bets are a teenaged actor between the ages of 13 and 16, and also for Daniel Radcliffe himself to reprise the role. Given how early days the series is, literally anything can happen at this point--but it's best to temper expectations as The Hollywood Reporter recently indicated that the series is, as of this writing, only being discussed in "early-stage exploratory meetings."Something the series--and Harry Potter fans alike--will have to contend with is the fact that author J.K. Rowling has since the series of books and films concluded proven to be a controversial figure. Rowling remains a powerful steward of her franchise, despite becoming polarizing with recurring comments about gender and identity.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

A new Max Raid event is now underway in Pokemon Sword and Shield. All February long, certain Fighting- and Psychic-type Pokemon will be appearing more frequently in Max Raid dens across both games, including Gigantamax Machamp and Gigantamax Orbeetle.Specifically, players will be more likely to encounter Machamp, Lucario, Falinks, Gothitelle, Reuniclus, and Orbeetle in Max Raid Battles this month. As previously mentioned, Gigantamax forms of Machamp and Orbeetle will also be appearing more frequently. Gigantamax Pokemon are typically incredibly rare to find outside of events like this, making this a good opportunity to add them to your collection if you haven't yet.Before the new event Pokemon can begin appearing in your game, you'll first need to refresh your Max Raid dens. You can do so either by activating the Y-Comm to connect your game online, or by going into the Mystery Gift menu and selecting Get the Wild Area News. This Max Raid event will run through February 28.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Reboots and revivals continue to be very popular, and now the next potential one has been revealed. It's been reported that the famous NBC TV show Frasier could get rebooted for the new ViacomCBS streaming service, Paramount Plus (formerly CBS All-Access).According to Variety, the new show isn't very far along. Right now, the show is only an idea, and the supposed discussions are described as being in the "very early stages." Separately, TV Line's report about the show said the idea would be for Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce, Jane Leeves, and Peri Gilpin to return in some way. The site also reported that, should the project get the green light, filming could start this summer.Variety reported that Grammer has been lobbying for a revival for a while already but it's been tough sledding because of, you guessed it, money.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Respawn has released the full patch notes for Apex Legends Season 8: Mayhem, which starts tomorrow. The new season introduces new playable character Fuse, the 30-30 Repeater assault rifle, and map changes to Kings Canyon.All things considered, Season 8 doesn't make nearly as many game-changing adjustments as the past few seasons have. But Apex Legends just had a transformative second year.Of note, however, is an additional change to Wraith. Her hitbox has been slightly adjusted, with her upper torso, waist, thighs, and shins becoming slightly wider to better reflect the overall shape of her body. It should make her ever so slightly easier to hit, a welcome nerf in comparison to simply weakening her abilities again.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

More limited-time seasonal items are now available in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. From now until February 14, players can order two special Valentine's Day items: a chocolate heart and a heart-shaped bouquet.Both items can be purchased from the Seasonal tab in Nook Shopping, and they cost 1,200 bells apiece. A couple of other seasonal items are also still available until February 3, including a football rug and cheer megaphone to celebrate the Super Bowl.The new seasonal items arrived as part of Animal Crossing's January update, which also added the Festivale event to the game. That takes place later this month, on February 15. As part of the event, Pave the dancing peacock will visit your island, and you'll be able to catch different colored feathers and exchange them for rewards.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The Fallout: New Vegas mod The Frontier was in development for a long time, but it was only up for less than two weeks before concerns about its inappropriate content resulted in its development team temporarily removing it from Nexus Mods. Now, the mod has returned, but some elements of it are missing due to the controversy.A new post from project lead "tgspy" explains the situation thusly: the mod was taken down due to a team member posting "inappropriate content involving anthropomorphic minors" on their personal art page, as well as the negative feedback to some of the mod's more questionable elements, such as the ability to have sex with lizard-people. Some of those elements have been removed from the mod, including the ability to make one of the characters your "slave."Haven't played Fallout Frontier yet but I am absolutely astounded by this one character just being a surrogate for the writers barely-disguised fetishes pic.twitter.com/pi4UOl2X9p — C-Gay-Y (@seinfelddahog) January 21, 2021If the lizard people were the main draw for you, do not fear: though they are "locked" in the current build, the team will soon add a file that will allow you to experience them first hand if you so desire. The team has also removed several characters' worth of voice acting, since the contributors involved no longer wanted to be associated with the mod. Those characters will be re-voiced in the future. Though it was previously stated that this new version would be the final build of The Frontier, it now seems that the project will be released on Steam at some point in the future.Info from Gamespot.com

It's no secret that RPGs have certain standard mechanics when it comes to gameplay, but developer High Level Studios is looking to buck that trend with its new title Void Arena, an RPG that will not have character leveling up or skill points.Those familiar with RPGs, whether they're Western or JRPGs, know that a core part of the gameplay loop for these titles is having your character/s complete different tasks or quests to gain more experience and level up. By leveling up, you're able to make your characters stronger and they can usually gain access to better equipment and abilities as they advance. Changing this progression scale would really shake the RPG genre up, and that's exactly what High Level Studios is aiming to do."One of the core pillars of our game is 'unique progression experiences'," Sad_Gandalf, owner and operator of High Level Studios, said in an interview with TechRaptor. "Something that we are really after is making your decisions feel as if they are directly driving the growth of your character. With this said, we veered away from a path where your character's main form of progression was dictated by some arbitrary numbers in a spreadsheet. Instead, your character progresses mainly through exploring the world and learning new skills while also both finding powerful gear and the materials necessary to create it themselves."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The Apple AirPods Pro are a quality pair of earbuds, and if you've wanted to snag yourself a pair at a good price, you'll be happy to know that their Black Friday price is back for a limited time. Right now, you can buy the Apple AirPods Pro for $190 at the Amazon-owned store Woot, down from their regular price of $250. This deal is only valid for the next two weeks or while stock is available; however, if stock runs out at Woot, Amazon and Walmart both have the AirPods Pro for $200. Best Buy also has refurbished AirPods Pro for $170 for today only. Apple AirPods Pro $190 (was $250) AirPods Pro come with three different sizes of silicone ear tips and boast 4.5 hours of listening time in addition to 24 hours of battery life in the wireless charging case. The earbuds themselves feature sweat and water resistance in addition to a capacitive touch sensor that lets you control music, answer calls, and more. $190 at Woot $200 at Amazon $200 at Walmart The touch sensor also lets you switch between the AirPods Pro's two different sound modes. Active noise canceling allows you to block out sound, while the transparency mode makes it easier to hear your environment. This is particularly helpful if you're running, cycling, or doing another activity where hearing cars or people is paramount to safety.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Universal Studios Japan's Super Nintendo World was originally scheduled to open on February 4 before being delayed indefinitely due to COVID, and hardcore Nintendo fans still hope to check out its take on Peach's Castle in the flesh someday. However, let's face it: this in-progress Minecraft recreation of it is as close as most of us are going to get over the next few months.Planet Minecraft's Dippy22 has been working on a one-to-one build of the park since late December, and the project is around 45% complete. This isn't the first time that Dippy22 has worked on a project like this: the Minecrafter previously created a hypothetical version of the park based on leaked models and concept art earlier in 2020. They also worked on a 1:1 recreation of Earth, which is a major undertaking to say the least.We previously saw Shigeru Miyamoto himself walk around Super Nintendo World back in late 2020, complete with a warp pipe and the Super Mario 64 castle music, which certainly inspires nostalgia in gamers of a certain age. Super Nintendo Land is scheduled to come to Universal's Singapore, Orlando, and Hollywood parks, each with unique rides, but we don't know when those projects are scheduled to begin.Info from Gamespot.com

The Matrix 4's official title was reportedly leaked, and it's fitting in with the rest of the sequels. The movie set to hit theaters on December 21, 2021 is Matrix: Resurrection.How did this supposed name reveal come about? Let's go on a journey. According to Yahoo, a Reddit post on /r/Matrix explains that an Instagram user named love_lana_wachowski had gotten a hold of a video that was originally posted by the makeup artist for The Matrix 4. The video was of a wrap gift that came with a card, revealing the title of the film.In addition, there was a cool trenchcoat shown in a video allegedly posted by the makeup artist, and on the inside is the title of the film, in the cool Matrix font. Check out below.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Apex Legends Season 8: Mayhem officially starts tomorrow, adding plenty of new content to Respawn's battle royale game. Per usual, players can expect a brand-new playable character, battle pass rewards, and in-game balancing adjustments (detailed in the Apex Legends Season 8 patch notes). Season 8 adds a brand-new weapon, the 30-30 Repeater, and map changes to Kings Canyon as well.Season 8's new playable character is Fuse, a laid-back man with an enthusiasm for explosives. As seen in the animated Stories from the Outlands "Good as Gold" short, Fuse has had a tumultuous life leading up to his addition to the Apex Games. Fuse--whose real name is Walter "Wally" Fitzroy--grew up on Salvo, fighting for his planet's freedom alongside his best friend, Maggie, all through their teenage years and young adult lives. However, Fuse dreamed of new glories, taking his talents to the Apex Games.New Character: FuseFuse is known as the "Bombastic Explosives Expert," possessing special abilities that allow him to aid his squadmates with explosive style. His passive ability, Grenadier, allows him to stack two grenades per inventory slot and naturally fling grenades further, faster, and more accurately. Fuse's tactical ability, Knuckle Cluster, fires a cluster bomb that's great for dealing damage and explosively breaking closed doors. And finally, his ultimate ability, The Motherlode, fires a bombardment that encircles an area in fire, both dealing damage and trapping foes.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The PlayStation 5 launch title Bugsnax from developer Young Horses is selling extremely well, it appears. Co-founder and president of the studio, Philip Tibitoski, revealed on Twitter that Bugsnax has already exceed the launch sales of the studio's previous game, Octodad, despite Bugsnax being free for PlayStation Plus subscribers for a good amount of time."The team at Young Horses is so grateful for everyone's support," Tibitoski said.Bugsnax has been out for a few months now, and it's wild that even after being free for PS5 PS+ users for most of that time it has outsold Octodad's launch PS sales. The team at @YoungHorses is so grateful for everyone's support! — Philip Tibitoski (@PTibz) February 1, 2021Bugsnax was free on PS5 for PlayStation Plus members until January 4, so Tibitoski is presumably referring some combination of PS4 sales, non-Plus members, and those who bought it after the free period ended. There is no word on how many free copies the game shifted during its PlayStation Plus promo period. Neither Sony nor developers typically share those details for competitive reasons.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Actor Dustin Diamond, best known for his portrayal of a lovable nerd on popular '90s NBC sitcom Saved by the Bell, has died in hospice according to TMZ. It was recently revealed in mid-January that Diamond had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. At that time, he was taken to a Florida hospital a few days after reportedly feeling unwell.Diamond came to fame with his role of Samuel "Screech" Powers on Saved by the Bell--the role of best friend and sidekick to the show's main character and offered comic relief as a kind-hearted geek. The actor's declining health was likely a reason for Screech not having a presence in the recent Peacock revival series. Aside from Diamond and Dennis Haskins (Mr. Belding), many familiar faces returned to the series including Mario Lopez (Slater), Elizabeth Berkley (Jessie), Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Zack), and Tiffani Thiessen (Kelly).Diamond never quite broke away from being known as Screech, but he embraced a similar comic-relief geek role on reality shows including Celebrity Boxing 2 and Celebrity Fit Club. He also had a short-lived side career as a musician, performing with alt-metal band Salty The Pocketknife, which released a self-titled album in 2006.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The game-streaming platform Google Stadia is making a big change, announcing that it will no longer develop games. In a blog post from industry veteran and head of Stadia, Phil Harrison, the executive said Google is focusing on fleshing out Stadia's technology and will back away from actually developing games for it."Given our focus on building on the proven technology of Stadia as well as deepening our business partnerships, we've decided that we will not be investing further in bringing exclusive content from our internal development team SG&E, beyond any near-term planned games," the statement said. "Over the coming months, most of the SG&E team will be moving on to new roles. We’re committed to working with this talented team to find new roles and support them."Google's game-making studios in Los Angeles and Montreal are closing as part of this news, according to Kotaku. Around 150 developers are said to be impacted. According to the report, Google is trying to place the affected developers in new positions within Google.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com