With Microsoft's decision to lean heavily into marketing games as cross-generational for Xbox One and the upcoming Xbox Series X, it had to figure out how to convey this effectively to players. The initial solution was to slap a big, green sticker on games' packaging, which has now quickly been moved to the back.The "Optimized for Xbox Series X" sticker was a clear indicator that the game in question will get updates for the Xbox Series X make use of the most powerful hardware. It's an important feature to market, but the issue on physical boxes was just how much space it was taking up. The box art for Dirt 5 showed this off clearly and is the first game to show its removal too.The sticker isn't entirely gone though. Industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, who originally shared the sticker's relocation, notes that it isn't gone entirely. It's being redesigned and moved to the back of the box, letting the game's own artwork do more of the talking on the front. It looks cleaner for sure, especially when you now compare the box art to that of the PS5. We've reached out to Microsoft for comment. UPDATE: We have received a response from a spokesperson at Microsoft: "Retail boxes and online product description pages will clearly denote if a game is Optimized for Xbox Series X with specific iconography. We have nothing further at this time."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

In the past year or two, games streaming services have become a big deal, with high-profile initiatives like Google Stadia and Nvidia GeForce Now representing the latest attempts to dive into the market. Now, Ubisoft is the latest big name in games to dip its toe in the waters, with the announcement of a partnership with streaming firm Parsec to bolster its streaming capabilities.What exactly this means to an everyday player is fairly murky at this point. However, this much is clear: Ubisoft will be able to use Parsec's tech for demo events and in-game experiences and events. We don't have any further specifics beyond that."We are delighted to complete this deal with Parsec," said Stéphanie Perotti, VP Online Services, Ubisoft. "The streaming technology they have developed provides the players a new way to discover video games while providing an optimal quality of experience. With this deal, we are strengthening our streaming capabilities for our internal and player facing platforms."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

While Chris Hemsworth has traveled the cosmos as the character Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, back on Earth, he'll be hosting a new show for Nat Geo's Sharkfest in the summer of 2021. And it's all about keeping people safe from sharks.Revealed at the TCA summer press tour, Shark Beach will feature Hemsworth--who aside from acting is an enviromentalist and surfer at his home in Australia--as he learns more about the ocean's ferocious fish and how humans and sharks can co-exist."I've spent a great deal of my life near or in the ocean, sharing the same backyard with sharks, and recently there's been some growing concern regarding an increase in shark activity," said Hemsworth. "It's crucial that we both revere and respect sharks. Our oceans depend on these apex predators for a biodiverse ecosystem; however, we must also learn how to protect ourselves, and that's my main objective in Shark Beach."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Developer Crystal Dynamics has confirmed that Spider-Man will join Marvel's Avengers' roster as free, post-launch DLC. The studio also confirmed that the webslinger will be exclusive to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.The team shared no specific information about how Spider-Man will play. There are also no screenshots of Spider-Man in-engine, signaling that Crystal Dynamics and co-developer Eidos-Montreal are still hard at work on the playable character.Still, in a lengthy PlayStation Blog post, Crystal Dynamics' associate art director Jeff Adams outlined what we can expect when Spider-Man arrives in the game after Marvel's Avengers launches on September 4. Adams said Spider-Man's "impressive acrobatic abilities will complement the experience, allowing you to seamlessly transition from navigation to combat," stating he wants players to feel "graceful and light" while playing him.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The Amazon Prime Video series will be getting a second season, the streaming series announced in a statement released today. The conspiracy thriller's first season premiered February 21.The show was created by David Weil (The Twilight Zone), who also serves as executive producer and co-showrunner along with Nikki Toscano (24: Legacy). Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us) is also an executive producer on the series. Al Pacino stars as Meyer Offerman, a Polish-Jewish philanthropist and Holocaust survivor who recruits and leads the hunters.Hunters, which is loosely inspired by a number of real Nazi hunters who have existed through the decades, followed a diverse band of fictional Nazi hunters living in 1977 New York City. In the Amazon series, the titular hunters have discovered that hundreds of high-ranking Nazi officials are still surviving, thriving, and conspiring to create a Fourth Reich in the United States.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone will begin Season 5 this week, and Activision has rolled out a trailer detailing some of the new features and changes. Those teases include new maps, and big changes to the large-scale Warzone map.The trailer starts with a Warzone change that has been rumored in the community. The stadium is getting its enclosed roof blown off, opening up a huge new area for firefights. It also shows what appears to be a supply train making the rounds in Verdansk, with several players landing directly on pieces of cargo.From there, it moves into new maps for traditional Call of Duty multiplayer. Suldal Harbor and Petrov Oil Rig are both 6v6 multiplayer maps, while Verdansk International Airport will debut with Ground War and the Livestock map will be playable in Gunfight. The trailer also makes a point of showing some flashy new skins and cosmetics, though it doesn't give them names.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Many countries might be slipping into a recession caused by the ongoing coronavirus crisis, but some in the video game space are enjoying record revenue and profits. Recently, Capcom announced that it had its most successful first-quarter to a year--that is, the three-month period from March to June--ever in 2020.According to the press release, these numbers were driven by impressive sales for catalog titles Monster Hunter World: Iceborne and the Resident Evil 2 remake. The release of the Resident Evil 3 remake also drew a strong response. As previously announced, this period brought lifetime sales of the Resident Evil franchise to over 100 million units for the first time.Not all aspects of Capcom's business were quite as rosy, however. Net sales for the company's arcade operations were down more than 50% from last year due to closures caused by COVID-19, and its amusement equipment numbers were down 20% as well. Overall, net sales went up 32.2%, and the company's operating income increased 39.1% year-over-year. No word yet on how much Zenny that translates to.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

It's no secret that Netflix has become a haven for slickly-produced documentary films and series on all sorts of topics, from true crime to exotic animal ownership. Later this month, designers and artists behind some of the most successful video games of the '80s and '90s will get their turn, when the Netflix series High Score premieres on August 19.A press release describes High Score's focus as the "golden age of video games," a descriptor that some enthusiasts might quibble with. Examined games include arcade classics like Space Invaders, Mortal Kombat, and Street Fighter 2, as well as home console hits like Sonic the Hedgehog, Final Fantasy, and Madden NFL.While High Scores may prove to be the most high-profile video game documentary yet, it's far from the first. Indie Game: The Movie chronicled the struggles of high-profile indie developers like Super Meat Boy's Edmund McMillen and Fez's Phil Fish back in 2012. The most famous video game documentary might still be The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, which documented (and arguably dramatized) the feud between now-disgraced arcade champ Billy Mitchell and rival Steve Wiebe as they competed for the top score in arcade Donkey Kong.Info from Gamespot.com

Another week means a new crop of deals at every retailer, and Best Buy's deals have been better than most recently. This week's game deals are no different, featuring a nice group of games for Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One at lower-than-usual prices.Notably, at least one game is at its lowest price yet: Burnout Paradise Remastered, which just launched on the Switch in June. As with many Switch ports, it was priced considerably higher than what you'd pay for the game on other platforms, selling for $50 on Switch compared to $20 on PS4 and Xbox One. This week, however, you can snag Burnout Paradise Remastered on Switch for $30--still higher than other platforms, but a $20 discount on a new Switch port isn't anything to sneeze at. If you're in the mood to play a fantastic racing game, Burnout Paradise Remastered is worth grabbing on sale. Burnout Paradise Remastered $30 (was $50) The acclaimed open-world racing game is discounted to the cheapest price we've seen since it was ported to Nintendo Switch. Naturally, Amazon is price-matching Best Buy's deal. See at Best Buy See at Amazon Of course, Best Buy has many other games on sale this week to help you pass the time during this never-ending pandemic. PS4 players have some particularly great picks, including the critically acclaimed open-world adventure Red Dead Redemption 2 for $30 and the definitive edition of a JRPG hit, Persona 5 Royal, for $40. The Xbox One offerings are less notable, but you can pick up the excellent survival horror game The Evil Within 2 for just $11 on Xbox One. The brand-new 3x3 shooter Rocket Arena has already received a steep discount as well, with its $40 Mythic edition now going for $10.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Last month, Fanatical hosted its July Madness Sale, discounting a ridiculous number of games over several weeks. While it would be easy to assume that was Fanatical's big summer promotion, that's not the case. Fanatical has kicked off its official Summer Sale with another round of massive savings on Steam games. Thousands of games are up for grabs for discounted prices until August 16, including Death Stranding ($48), Resident Evil 2 ($18), Monster Hunter World ($18), and more. Like usual, Fanatical also has flash deals that expire in just a few hours, so you'll want to hurry to get some of the best discounts.Fanatical is also throwing in a bonus game if you spend $10 or more. You don't get to see the bonus game until you finish checking out, but you will get to pick from a number of titles. Most games in Fanatical's Summer Sale are Steam keys, except for titles from publishers with their own launchers such as Ubisoft and Rockstar and the occasional Epic Games Store key.Best deals at FanaticalA Plague Tale: Innocence -- $15.29 ($45)Assassin's Creed Odyssey: Deluxe edition -- $24 ($80)Batman: Arkham Bundle -- $10.79 ($60)BioShock: The Collection -- $13.79 ($60)Borderlands 3 - Super Deluxe edition -- $46 ($100)Civilization VI - Platinum edition -- $40.52 ($119.19)Death Stranding -- $48 ($60)Devil May Cry 5: Deluxe edition -- $23 ($50)Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen -- $8.39 ($30)Kingdom Come: Deliverance -- $15 ($30)Monster Hunter World -- $18 ($30)NBA 2K21 -- $54 ($60)The Outer Worlds -- $28.19 ($60)Red Dead Redemption 2 -- $46.19 ($60)Resident Evil 2 -- $18 ($40)Resident Evil 4 -- $4.59 ($20)Resident Evil 7 - Gold edition -- $19.14 ($50.38)Shenmue I & II -- $6.89 ($30)The Yakuza Bundle -- $26.49 ($70)Yakuza: Like A Dragon - Day Ichi edition -- $49.79 ($60)XCOM 2 Collection -- $28 ($100)*bold indicates flash dealContinue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Developer Blizzard Entertainment has announced Overwatch's Summer Games event starts tomorrow, August 4, on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The event runs until August 26.While Blizzard has yet to outline what else is in the new event series, it does feature a brand-new skin for DPS hero Pharah. It's her Legendary Lifeguard skin, which suggests that some sort of fun-in-the-sun event--where characters are dressed to hit the beach--will take place over the next few weeks.Long time no sea.Dive in as Lifeguard Pharah (Legendary)! 🏊‍♀‍Start your training for Overwatch Summer Games, arriving on August 4 ⚽ pic.twitter.com/nzQA5hd625 — Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) August 3, 2020Pharah isn't the only hero to have gotten a new skin in recent weeks. Tank hero Sigma received a Legendary skin last month for those who secured enough wins during his Maestro Challenge event.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Sam Neill, the New Zealand actor who portrayed Dr. Alan Grant in 1993's Jurassic Park and 2001's Jurassic Park III, has been increasingly sounding off and sharing his excitement about his role in 2021's upcoming Jurassic World: Dominion. His enthusiasm cannot be understated: Over the weekend, Neill tweeted that Dominion is the "best yet."Hold onto your hats- gettin' my old one back on this week , and facing off dinosaurs once again. Best yet .Excited and terrified- these things will kill ya. With @LauraDern @BryceDHoward @prattprattpratt #JeffGoldblum @colintrevorrow I'm obviously a little more ...grizzled now.. pic.twitter.com/zYtG5uadB2 — Sam Neill (@TwoPaddocks) August 2, 2020There is reason to believe this outsized claim isn't in the category of standard hype leading up to any major tentpole blockbuster. Dominion's director Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World) recently shared in a Comic-Con@Home panel that the upcoming film is continuing a tradition that may have gone unnoticed for many."We've actually gone more practical with every Jurassic movie we’ve made since the first one, and we’ve made more animatronics in this one than we have in the previous two," Trevorrow said in the recent panel. "And the thing that I've found, especially in working in the past couple months, is that we finally reached a point where it's possible to… digital extensions on animatronics will be able to match the texture and the level of fidelity that, on film, an animatronic is going to be able to bring. And you didn't use to be able to really mix them. You could really see the seams. And so that part of it is very exciting for me."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Despite originally releasing in 2002, Final Fantasy XI is still being supported by developer Square Enix. Producer Akihiko Matsui announced on the game's official forum that August's update will see the first new story content in the game in nearly five years. The new storyline, called "The Voracious Resurgence," will take place over "many version updates," so don't expect to finish it soon. Square Enix says that the story will revolve revolve around the appearance of small eggs of unknown origin and it's up to adventurers to figure out "a conspiracy that threatens the very fabric of the world."Due to the success of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, updates for Square Enix's prior MMORPG have been sparse. In 2015, the game received a scenario called "Rhapsodies of Vana'diel," which was meant to be the final storyline. Players will have to complete "Rhapsodies of Vana'diel" in order to access the new content, which Matsui claims "explores a side of Vana'diel that's never before seen the light."The new storyline isn't all that the August update will have to offer as the beastmaster job will be receiving an adjustment as well. Changes to the job type's magic accuracy have been made to encourage beastmasters to battle alongside their pets. There are also unspecified additional pets arriving in August that include "very specific strengths and weaknesses."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Editor's note: This review evaluates Ooblets based on its early access state. We plan on reviewing Ooblets again once it gets a full release.Ooblets is a charming little game, which is immediately apparent upon booting it up. You're greeted with a loading screen that lets you know the game is taking the time to "delete negative reviews" and "make you wait" before getting blasted with an onslaught of bright colors and an adorable soundtrack that you can really groove to. I've seen firsthand what this game can do to people: My roommate sashays to the beat whenever he walks by my door while I'm playing. I'd make fun of him for it if I didn't catch myself doing the exact same thing.Ooblets maintains its cutesy tongue-in-cheek humor and visuals all throughout. The catchy soundtrack never lets up either, firmly establishing Ooblets as another one of those relaxing life simulator games that will assuredly take an embarrassing amount of hours from my life by the time it's done with me. It's not locked up inside during quarantine with me; I'm very much locked up inside with it. Which isn't to say the game doesn't have its problems--I've run into more than a few throughout my 15 hours with it--but there's definitely an enjoyable gameplay loop here.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Take-Two Interactive was the first publisher to break the next-gen price seal with the announcement that NBA 2K21 will cost $70 on next-gen consoles, $10 more than the standard current-gen price. Just ahead of its earnings call, CEO Strauss Zelnick explained why he feels the price hike is justified."There hasn't been a price increase for frontline titles for a really long time, despite the fact that it costs a great deal more to make those titles," Zelnick told GamesIndustry.biz. "And we think with the value we offer consumers... and the kind of experience you can really only have on these next-generation consoles, that the price is justified. But it's easy to say that when you're delivering extraordinary quality, and that's what our company prides itself on doing."Pressed further on the subject, in light of Ubisoft not following suit, he explained that he can only speak for Take-Two, and he doesn't expect the industry to all move to the same price point in a coordinated fashion.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com