Following its reveal of the Xbox Series X last December, Microsoft finally revealed its other next-generation console, the Xbox Series S. It's a new approach to the launch of a new console generation, where both the premium and more affordable versions of the same platform are available from day one. Coming off a generation with half-step iterations--the Xbox One X and the PS4 Pro--it's clear that Microsoft wants to give everyone some way to get in on its latest hardware. Which leaves Sony in a precarious position.Sony has already revealed its hand with its own two versions of the PlayStation 5, albeit with a different philosophy in mind. Instead of providing two consoles that differ in terms of performance, Sony is simply giving customers the choice between having a disc drive or going all-in on digital purchases. The underlying hardware in both is identical, which suggests that their prices aren't going to differ by much. At least, not to the degree at which Microsoft has positioned its Xbox Series X and Series S, which will retail for $500 and $300 respectively. The Xbox Series S presents a potentially difficult marketing hurdle for Sony to overcome. At $300, it's priced way too low for the more powerful, and more expensive to manufacture, PS5 to compete with, yet the existence of two versions of the PS5 immediately lends itself to the idea that it can. For those who understand the architectural differences between the two, this is a moot point. But for most customers who simply see two Xbox consoles and two PS5 consoles, understanding why they don't trade blows at the same two price points could be very confusing. It's evident already over social media, with numerous suggestions that the PS5 Digital edition should be priced to match the Series S. It's just not feasible for Sony to make that move, never mind possible with the hardware it's touting.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Respawn has released a new hotfix patch for Apex Legends that makes a few player-requested bug fixes to the game. Additionally, the September Soiree limited-time event--which had been previously put on hold following game breaking issues--is back on.The new patch most notably addresses knockdown shields, which have been broken since the start of Season 6: Boosted. They will now do what they're supposed to do and consistently block bullets when you're downed. The full patch notes are listed below.Apex Legends September 10 Hotfix Patch NotesFixes: Improvements to ReconnectWraith portals disappearing if place in certain areasKnockdown shields not blocking shotsBeacons showing up in minimap but not in-worldImproved Ring logicSeveral game logic errorsThe September Soiree returns with a fan-favorite mode: Kings Canyon After Dark. The mode allows you to play on a nighttime version of Season 2's Kings Canyon--so yes, if you miss Skull Town, the mode will allow you to once again drop onto and fight in the popular landmark.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The countdown to Cyberpunk 2077's November 19 release has been steadily ticking and more details about the game are being shared. In the latest reveal, we got a more comprehensive look at Grimes' character, Lizzy Wizzy, on Cybr Magazine's cover.Lizzy Wizzy voiced by Grimes is @cybrmagazine’s new issue cover appearing in AR. The issue features exclusive Lizzy Wizzy artwork, @Grimezsz interview as well as a chat with Cyberpunk inventor Mike Pondsmith & even in-game adverts IRL.Get your copy: https://t.co/L8toJ523Fm pic.twitter.com/wue5DImB2k — Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) September 11, 2020My character in @cyberpunkgame !! 😛 hopefully they aren’t mad about my speech impediment when we start recording 😯 pic.twitter.com/XPi6q7jRcg — 𓏲Gℜiꪔ⃕es 𓆤ஐ (@Grimezsz) December 14, 2019Technically, it's not a first look, since we've seen a hint of what Lizzy Wizzy looks like from Grimes' tweet back in December 2019. Grimes also spoiled details about her character's storyline during a livestream. (Warning: spoilers ahead for Cyberpunk 2077.) She said, via Reddit, "I did my voice acting for Lizzy Wizzy, that game is going to be f***ing good...I play a pop star who committed suicide on stage, and they had to quickly come and perform emergency surgery and replace her whole body with cybernetics while she was dead for an hour. Then she finished the show as a cyborg." Grimes also contributed to the Cyberpunk 2077's soundtrack, along with artists like ASAP Rocky and Run The Jewels.Lizzy Wizzy getting a cover on a cyberpunk magazine is part of Cyberpunk 2077's accelerated promotional rollout. CD Projekt Red also announced a collaboration with Rockstar Energy on Cyberpunk 2077 energy drinks. Purchases come with Xbox credit and chances to win prizes. CD Projekt Red will also be hosting a third Night City Wire livestream on September 18 at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET. The episode will focus on Night City gangs and give a glimpse of the soundtrack developed by The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt composer Marcin Przybyłowicz alongside P. T. Adamczyk and Paul Leonard-Morgan.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Apple has made rule changes to its App Store guidelines, which could have a big impact on Microsoft and Google's plans to offer cloud gaming services. The rule changes appear more favorable to Microsoft xCloud and Google Stadia, but Microsoft has already issued a statement saying the requirements make for "a bad experience for customers."Apple's new guidelines explicitly say that game streaming services are allowed. However, those games would need to be downloaded from the App Store individually. Apple will allow providers to have a "catalog" app that manages these downloads, but each game would have to be its own distinct listing.That would appear to rule out cloud gaming, as both xCloud and Stadia rely on a model in which you don't download individual games at all. Instead, the games stream through the cloud, similar to watching a movie on Netflix--which Apple allows through its App Store, of course.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Since debuting on Netflix, scores of new viewers have been exposed to the first two seasons of Cobra Kai, which picks up 30 years after the initial Karate Kid movie. Those who have watched the show, which originally debuted on YouTube Premium, have witnessed the role reversal between the characters Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka).In the original film, Daniel is cast as the hero, with Johnny being his nemesis. As adults, though, that's not quite the case. Instead, Johnny is an antihero, trying his best to survive and thrive while his old opponent is living in the lap of luxury as a used car salesman, seemingly with the world at his fingertips.For Zabka, the role reversal is a gift he never expected. "To get a chance to do that after living with being the bad guy from Karate Kid for 30 years and to have this new stage that's like this, it's a dream come true," he told GameSpot.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Fortnite's Coral Buddies are on their way out, but there are still a few secret challenges you can tackle in Season 4. Epic Games has snuck another series of challenges into locations across the map--only one is available now, but more are likely to come. The first known secret challenge is called Event of the Year. This guide will show you where to go and how to complete the challenge with ease.Check back throughout the season as more secret challenges are added to Fortnite.Where Can I Locate Season 4's Secret Challenge?The first secret challenge can be accessed at a few different locations. One of the easiest to find is on the right side of the map in the H4 tile of the grid. You'll find the entrance to an old named location that's now abandoned. You'll see a gnome looking at a sign on the edge of the concrete circle. All you need to do is walk up to it to complete the challenge. Here's a map with the exact location:Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Bloober Team, the studio behind Layers of Fear and the upcoming Xbox console exclusive The Medium, wants to be known as the Blumhouse Productions of the video game industry."From the first day we talked about [making] horror games, we said we wanted to be the Blumhouse of the games industry," Bloober Team founder Piotr Babieno said in an interview with GamesIndustry.Biz.According to Babieno, prior to Layers of Fear, Bloober Team abandoned "the ambition to create huge [narrative] horror games" as investors wanted the studio to tackle projects "that would bring in money." However, following the poor critical reception to 2014's Basement Crawl, Bloober decided to forgo trying to make commercial hits to instead pursue the horror stories that the team wanted to tell, regardless of how much money they would ultimately make.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

This week has been a big one for Xbox news, and more details about the next-generation consoles continue to come to light. Microsoft will release Series X and Series S on November 10, both supporting backwards compatibility with previous generations. However, the exact way they handle enhancements for those games works a little differently from one another. The Series S is the cheaper option and is designed for 1440p resolution, rather than the Series X's 4K.As a result, Microsoft says Series S will not apply the exact enhancements seen on Xbox One X, although it will still offer improvements. A Microsoft spokesperson told GameSpot, "Xbox Series S was designed to be the most affordable next generation console and play next generation games at 1440P at 60fps. To deliver the highest quality backwards compatible experience consistent with the developer's original intent, the Xbox Series S runs the Xbox One S version of backward compatible games while applying improved texture filtering, higher and more consistent frame rates, faster load times and Auto HDR."Xbox One X enhancements often revolve around running games at 4K, which isn't the focus for Xbox Series S. But the system will still see visual improvements when playing backwards compatible games, including its impressive ability to introduce HDR to games that don't natively support it.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Developer Ember Lab has announced that Kena: Bridge of Spirits has been delayed to Q1 2021 because of working from home complications due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The game was originally due out later this year on PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5."The Ember Lab Team is overwhelmed and humbled by the positive response and outpouring of support for Kena: Bridge of Spirits," the studio said, "Your kind words and excitement for the game have been an inspiration to the team. This year has brought many challenges and our transition to working from home has caused development to move slower than we hoped."For this reason, we have made the difficult decision to delay the release of Kena: Bridge of Spirits to Q1, 2021. We have not made this decision lightly, but feel it is best for the game and well-being of the team. We will use this time to give the game the polish it deserves and deliver an experience that meets our vision and your expectations. We look forward to sharing more about Kena in the coming months and delivering an amazing experience early next year."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

During the '90s, two video gaming companies were engaged in a war. Nintendo and Sega were battling each other for consumers' cash. Now, a documentary about the battle, giving viewers an inside look is debutting later this month, and the first trailer has arrived.In Console Wars, viewers will finally have an answer to the age-old question "Does Sega do what Nintendon't?" The documentary will arrive on CBS All Access--owned by ViacomCBS, GameSpot's parent company--on September 23, and you can check out the first trailer below.The film follows the story of Sega and Nintendo in 1990, two of the biggest video game companies in the world trying to one-up each other. "For the first time ever, the men and women who fought on the front lines for Sega and Nintendo discuss this battle that defined a generation," reads a synopsis.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Stevie Lee, who wrestled as Puppet the Psycho Dwarf and appeared in Johnny Knoxville's 2010 film Jackass 3D, has died at the age of 54. Lee died this past Wednesday in his home, according to a GoFundMe page set up to help cover his funeral costs.The crowdfunding page also includes a statement from Lee's family, which reads in part: "He was beloved by many and has many friends that were family, fans that adored him, but only his brother Jim left to take care of final arrangements… Puppet has put smiles on people's faces across the world with his hardcore attitude and lifestyle."It is with great sadness that we learn of the passing of Stevie Lee, better known as "Puppet The Psycho Dwarf" in the early days of TNA. We send our deepest condolences to his friends and family. pic.twitter.com/tdVdCFkNCJ — IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) September 10, 2020Lee, born Stevie Lee Richardson, made his wrestling debut in 1992 and after years on the independent circuit, the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance, and the Eastern Championship Wrestling, he made the jump to on-camera wrestling in 2002's NWA: Total Nonstop Action. Eight years later, Lee erupted onto TV screens across the country with Spike TV's reality series Half Pint Brawlers, and also the big screen with Jackass 3D.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Destiny 2's Gambit mode has morphed into a strange beast since the release of the Forsaken expansion. The original mode merged PvP and PvE elements into a competition against another team that involved killing AI-controlled enemies. In the Season of the Drifter, things got even more complicated when Bungie added a faster, tougher version of Gambit called Gambit Prime, which included new mechanics. In the upcoming Beyond Light expansion, the two modes are going back to just one, but this version will be something of a merging of the two modes to make something new.Bungie detailed the changes in its This Week at Bungie blog post, outlining alterations it's been hinting at since it first started talking about major changes to Destiny 2 earlier this year. Consolidating the two Gambit modes into one is something director Luke Smith has talked about for a while, along with reducing the overall size of Destiny 2 by "vaulting" locations and content to make room for new things. The blog post explains that we're going to get a new version of Gambit that sounds a lot like Prime, but with a bunch of key alterations from the original Gambit.The original Gambit mode took place over three total rounds, with the victorious team winning two of them. Two teams play independently of one another, killing AI enemies to make them drop "motes," which players then pick up and deposit in a bank in the center of the area. The "gambit" portion of the mode was the risk you run as you pick up motes. Depositing a certain number of motes at a time sends a powerful "blocker" enemy to the other team, which prevents them from depositing their motes until they kill it. The more motes you drop at once, the tougher the blocker--but if you die before you deposit, you lose everything you're carrying. Once your team fills the bank to a certain level, you have to fight a big Primeval boss enemy, and the first team to kill their Primeval wins the round.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

We know the Xbox Series X is a hefty console when compared to Xbox One and One X. We also know the PlayStation 5 is one of the taller systems coming to the market. But just how big is Microsoft's "smallest Xbox ever," Xbox Series S? You only need to check out Phil Spencer's shelf to get an idea.According to the official Xbox Twitter account, the head of the company has had the system on his shelf in livestream since July 1. In fact, the company pointed it out with a magnifying glass like it's a game of Where's Xbox. It's so small, it's just been hiding next to some white stuff like binders and such.It's difficult to point out. The zoom, while helpful, doesn't exactly make it apparent that what's behind Spencer is, in fact, the Xbox Series S. However, that's likely a testament to the discless system's size.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Hades, the godly roguelike developed by Bastion and Transistor maker Supergiant Games, won't have the previously announced cross-save option available when it launches on Nintendo Switch later this year. The studio said it delayed the feature so it wouldn't have to delay the full release of the game."During our preparations for launch, we encountered some setbacks in the final testing for this feature," the studio tweeted. "Rather than postpone our V1.0 launch plans until the feature is complete, we're going to reintroduce cross-saves in an update later this year."pic.twitter.com/dfWJhevjBB — Supergiant Games (@SupergiantGames) September 11, 2020Hades originally launched in Early Access in 2018. Supergiant announced that the full release of the game would be coming in the fall of this year on Steam, the Epic Games Store, and Nintendo Switch. That release window is still intact, but cross-saves will come sometime later on. A specific release date for the feature was not shared.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

As the release of the Xbox Series X/Xbox Series S and PlayStation 5 comes closer, one question in particular becomes ever more relevant: How many game-as-a-service titles are getting next-gen ports? And, of course, there is the follow-up: How many of them will keep the hundreds of hours of save data that I've invested into the game already?Below, we take a look at all the major game-as-a-service titles that are still receiving new content drops, updates, and hotfix patches and listing whether they are getting next-gen ports. If they are (or if there's a possibility that they could), we also list whether they support cross-play and cross-progression. We also let you know whether you'll need to buy the game again. To help you find what you're looking for, the games are listed in alphabetical order.AnthemBioWare has announced that it plans on giving the loot-shooter a complete overhaul following Anthem's rocky launch, but next-gen console ports haven't been announced as part of those plans. We assume that Anthem 2.0 will get Xbox Series X/S and PS5 ports, but we can't know that for sure--it could remain on current-gen hardware, only playable on next gen via backwards compatibility. On current-gen platforms, Anthem does not support cross-play or cross-progression.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com