The NHL series normally releases in mid-September, but this year is different due to COVID-19. NHL 21 has been delayed to October 16, but to help with the wait, EA has begun to announce the player ratings for this year's professional ice hockey game.The developer kicked things off by revealing the rating for cover star Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals. He has a 93 OVR rating, which will surely make him one of the highest-rated players in the game.The official #NHL21 rating for your cover athlete @ovi8 is here 🔥🏒Agree with his rating? 🤔Pre-order 👉 https://t.co/z6jfPagmNt pic.twitter.com/2XGEPevAGL — EA SPORTS NHL (@EASPORTSNHL) September 15, 2020A closer look at how @ovi8's ratings have changed over the years 🧐 pic.twitter.com/NWY2xhJLfs — EA SPORTS NHL (@EASPORTSNHL) September 15, 2020EA also released a graphic that shows Ovechkin's ratings over the years, dating back to the first time he was an NHL cover star with NHL 07. In that year, he had a 95 rating. The lowest rating he's ever received for the NHL series was a 91 for NHL 08, and 91 being his lowest rating speaks to his consistent and impressive play in the NHL.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The upcoming Call of Duty League competitive series has announced a major platform change. For the upcoming season, competition will take place on PC, with one big catch.Players must use a controller instead of mouse and keyboard controls. "This means that all pro matches will be played on PC and all pro players must use a League-approved controller of their choice," Activision said in a blog post.The company said players will have an "expended choice" of controllers, but they must all be approved by the Call of Duty League. Further details about supported peripherals and more details in general regarding controllers will be announced later.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Assemble your Avengers by signing up for a chance to win a copy of Marvel's Avengers and a PS4 Pro console. In our review of of the game, Phil Hornshaw said that the game's combat systems showed a lot of depth, and that the multiplayer component provided some "great moments of teamwork that make you feel especially heroic."To register for the giveaway you need to read the official rules, accept the terms and conditions, and fill out the form below. If you don’t see the form, please make sure your ad blocker is disabled and refresh the page. If the form doesn’t show on your mobile device, please use this link. Remember that you have the option of performing any of the additional actions that are unlocked after filling out the form. Those actions will grant you extra entries that can increase your chances of taking the grand prize.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

A new trailer for The Crown Tundra, the second part of the Pokemon Sword / Shield expansion pass, has emerged. Interestingly, it comes from Nintendo South Africa, and hasn't been posted by the US Nintendo YouTube account.The trailer, though brief, squeezes in several Pokemon and gives us a preview of some of the expansions's new environments.It also shows off Regice, Registeel, and Regirock, just three of many returning Legendary Pokemon coming in the expansion. These are three Legendary Pokemon that were first introduced in Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire, and finding them required readers to read and translate braille. Whether this will be the case for Sword/Shield remains to be seen.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

South Park is returning for a 24th season, but ahead of that, Comedy Central will air a one-hour episode focused on, you guessed it, the pandemic. The episode is called "The Pandemic Special," and it debuts on September 30.In this episode, Randy capitalizes on people staying at home and smoking more weed than ever, while kids are heading back to school to find it to be a very different place. Here is the full description for the episode:"Randy comes to terms with his role in the COVID-19 outbreak as the ongoing pandemic presents continued challenges to the citizens of South Park. The kids happily head back to school but nothing resembles the normal that they once knew; not their teachers, not their homeroom, not even Eric Cartman."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

While Donkey Kong Country has been re-released many times, Donkey Kong Country 2--which many view as the best game in the SNES DKC trilogy--is harder to get your hands on these days. But for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, that's about to change--the Diddy-centric sequel headlines a strong September line-up of retro games.On September 23, four new games will be added to Nintendo Switch Online. Here's the full list.SNESDonkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong QuestMario's Super PicrossThe Peace KeepersNESS.C.A.T: Special Cybernetic Attack TeamMore classic games are headed to #NES & #SNES – #NintendoSwitchOnline on 9/23! Super NES – Nintendo Switch Online• #DonkeyKong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest• Mario’s Super Picross• The Peace KeepersNES – Nintendo Switch Online• S.C.A.T.: Special Cybernetic Attack Team pic.twitter.com/69qbUtg3L4 — Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) September 16, 2020In DKC 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (like conquest, get it?), Diddy teams up with Dixie Kong, whose helicopter spin ability lets her float short distances, to rescue Donkey Kong from Kaptain K. Rool. There's a lot of pirate theming going on in this classic from Rare, and the game's levels are tough but fair. It's a true classic--one of the SNES's best games. Mario's Super Picross will be a welcome addition for picross fans, and it features two-person multiplayer, too. The game has actually never been released in the US, and if you're not familiar with picross, you might struggle--but thankfully, Nintendo has released a helpful instructional video for how to get started and how to play.The Peace Keepers is a scrolling beat 'em up, with character-specific super attacks and a story that changes depending on your choices. It's part of a loose trilogy of games, following Rival Turf and Brawl Brothers.The lone NES entry, S.C.A.T., is a challenging action shooter set in the year 2029 (which used to be the far-flung future). You need to take down an alien menace, and it looks pretty fun.If you've downloaded the Japanese Super Famicom collection from the Japanese Eshop, you can access a new SNES Fire Emblem title. Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem will be added to the SNES collection in Japan.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts' new game, Star Citizen, was announced back in 2012, and--though parts of the game have been released--fans are still waiting for the final product. Roberts has now written an in-depth forum post that seeks to address concerns about the game's development status and why the project is taking so long."This is the game I've dreamed of my whole life. Now I am in a position to realize it, I am not willing to compromise it's potential because it is taking longer than I originally envisioned," Roberts said. "What I will commit to, and what is an internal priority is to improve the current gameplay and quality of life as we go, as Star Citizen is already fun in many ways, even if more buggy and not as stable as I would like, and just finishing off and polishing the basics will make it play as well or better than most other games."Roberts went on to say that the gameplay elements for Star Citizen is "not a pipe dream," and he doesn't expect it to take 10-20 years to deliver. "I described systems we either have working, or are working on; we've even shown early versions of some of this like fire on Inside Star Citizen. I can't promise you exactly what quarter it will come together but once the new Road Map web work is done you'll be able to see the teams progress to achieving what I describe in real time," he said.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout has been a huge success, but it didn't come out of nowhere. In a feature interview with PC Gamer, Paul Croft, founder of developer Mediatonic, has spoken about the team's history--and the many, many games that led up to Fall Guys.As PC Gamer points out, Mediatonic had worked on about 130 games before Fall Guys, including many web and flash games--here's an incomplete list. In fact, it's not even the first game the studio released in 2020--that would be picross narrative game Murder By Numbers. Other games they've worked on include Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess, Foul Play, Hatoful Boyfriend, Gears Pop!, Fable Fortune. The studio has also worked with Disney, Nickelodeon, Sega, Adult Swim, and other companies on major brands. Croft talks about the studio's first big success, 2008's Amateur Surgeon--which was, on some level, much bigger than even Fall Guys. "That was a sort of huge moment for us," Croft says. "It exploded online with 100 million players and that was a sort of turning point for us in terms of moving towards creating our own games as opposed to creating or porting games for brands."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The set-up for Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York, the second V:TM visual novel following last year's Coteries of New York, is irresistible. The protagonist, Julia, is a newly turned vampire whose life as a struggling freelance investigative journalist is now thankfully behind her. But instead of living a glamorous, exciting vampire existence, she essentially becomes a glorified immigration officer, overseeing vampire movement in and out of New York. It's a rather drab existence until her background as a journalist gifts her an opportunity to head up an investigation concerning the locked-room murder of a high-profile vampire, and her future within New York's vampiric society will depend on whether she's able to solve the crime.In practice, Shadows of New York is less exciting than this premise indicates. There's a murder, yes, and Julia has to solve it. But you, the player, are barely involved. This is a five-hour visual novel that's very low on meaningful choice and consequence, and while there will be some differences and unique elements to different playthroughs, your impact on the investigation is negligible. But even though it's light on player input, Shadows of New York is an entertaining visual novel for the most part, with an interesting central character, solid script, and strong presentation.Shadows of New York is somewhere between a self-contained spin-off and a direct sequel to Coteries of New York. Julia and a few other characters are new, but most of the main cast carries over directly from that first game, including the murder victim. The main thrust of Shadows of New York's story involves meeting with the four characters who you could choose to serve in the first game's titular coterie, all of whom have some insight into the case and what happened… kind of. In truth, the investigation into the murder never really coheres into a satisfying whodunnit--you spend most of your time reading text that's projected over animated backgrounds and character portraits, and occasionally you get to make a choice about what Julie says or does next. However, these don't lead to meaningful consequences, with most of the major reveals happening right near the end. None of them are particularly surprising either.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

There's a fine line when playing a deliberately awkward game. On one hand, unreliable physics and purposefully clunky controls can yield hilarious results, as the struggle to perform basic actions is delightfully silly. Much like other absurdist "simulation" games such as Goat Simulator and the original Surgeon Simulator, Surgeon Simulator 2's best moments come from facing a ridiculous scenario while being woefully ill-equipped to deal with it. However, the laughs eventually die down, replaced by exasperated sighs as surgeries become more complex and picking up a scalpel doesn't get any less cumbersome.Played from a first-person perspective, Surgeon Simulator 2 is far closer to a wobbly puzzle game than a proper simulation--albeit one with tongue firmly planted in cheek. In addition to performing surgery, you'll be navigating hospital labyrinths, solving conditional logic puzzles to access medical supplies, and generally trying to prevent the surgical dummy affectionately known as Bob from dying. Surgeon Simulator 2 features a story mode, playable solo or cooperatively with up to four players, where you're learning on the job using allegedly state-of-the-art simulation technology instead of bothering with stuffy medical school. This takes place over a series of levels, beginning with a tutorial, after which you'll be attempting your first heart transplant--a completely natural progression for medical practitioners, surely. Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The original pilot for HBO's Game of Thrones is something of an urban legend. Throughout the years, the cast has talked about the big, and small, differences between what was initially shot and what fans ultimately watched when the show finally premiered. The tales and tribulations of getting the acclaimed fantasy series to television will be told in the upcoming book Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon, by James Hibberd.Hibberd posted a preview with an excerpt about the making of the pilot on EW's website, with quotes from the cast detailing the chaotic atmosphere, including the showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss admitting they really had no idea what they were doing. Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon $34 at Amazon Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

YouTube is getting into the short-form, 15-second multi-clip video business with a new feature, according to an announcement from the platform. The feature, Shorts, will be launching an early beta in India "over the next few days" with more countries and features rolling out "in the coming months" based on feedback."User-generated short videos were born on YouTube starting with our first upload, a short 18-second video called 'Me at the zoo,'" said Chris Jaffe, YouTube's vice president of product management, in the announcement. "[YouTube Shorts is] a new short-form video experience right on YouTube for creators and artists who want to shoot short, catchy videos using nothing but their mobile phones." Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Fortnite players can now soar through the skies with the X-Wing from Star Wars. The fighter was added to the battle royale as a glider to help promote EA's new space dogfighting game: Star Wars: Squadrons.The glider is available in the Fortnite item shop for 1,200 V-Bucks or around $10 USD. There's no way to only purchase 1,200 V-Bucks so you'll have to purchase more of Epic's virtual currency than you need or you'll need to unlock V-Bucks by leveling up your Fortnite battle pass. Players who buy Star Wars: Squadrons on the Epic Game Store will get the glider for free.📣 PILOTS WANTED 📣Buy #StarWarsSquadrons on the Epic Games Store and receive the Vanguard Squadron X-wing Glider in Fortnite!https://t.co/3bHoaY5Sor pic.twitter.com/ICQufN8tB8 — Epic Games Store (@EpicGames) September 14, 2020This isn't the first time Star Wars has come to Fortnite. J.J. Abrams premiered a trailer for The Rise of Skywalker within the game. A crossover also brought Rey, Finn, Kylo Renn, and other characters to the game. This glider is one of the many crossovers Fortnite has had during its new season--Stark Industries just became a new location on the map.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Call of Duty players have complained about cheaters ever since the days of the Xbox 360, when players would illegally modify their controllers to shoot faster. Now, Activision Blizzard has filed a cease and desist letter against another Call of Duty cheats manufacturer, and it appears that the site has stopped hosting cheats for Activision Blizzard games.According to a statement posted by GatorCheats on their Discord and obtained by CharlieIntel, Activision Blizzard first sent the site a cease and desist letter back in May 2020, but GatorCheats only closed sales of Modern Warfare and Warzone cheats to new customers, continuing to support those who had already made a purchase. In September, a person hand-delivered a second cease-and-desist letter to the owner of the site, which indicated that if they didn't completely remove the cheats from their site, they would move forward with litigation.Following this, the owner of GatorCheats decided to remove all Activision Blizzard products from their site, as well as urging all customers to not seek out cheats from "alternative sources." This decision follows the similar closure of another cheats site, CXCheats, which stopped selling COD cheats back in late August.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Sony has released its newest TV ad for the PlayStation 5, just ahead of a planned event on September 16 where we may hear more hardware details. Like the first PS5 TV ad, it eschews game footage or hardware specs in favor of dramatic imagery to convey a mood.This time, the feeling is boundless exploration and possibilities. It features a rickety boat venturing into an unknown light, and being joined by other travelers from all sorts of time periods and realities. Eventually the fleet of travelers ventures right off the edge of the world and into the cosmos, so the ad is appropriately called "The Edge.""It's really just talking about who we are as a brand and exciting and thrilling our fans," PlayStation marketing head Eric Lempel told Variety. "We want to excite and thrill you. We want to show them a path to the mysterious unknown… what you're seeing is them coming to the edge and then going beyond. And really, that's what we're trying to signal here. It's not about the features. It's a brand spot."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com