Game of Thrones is getting a massive 4K UHD Blu-ray collection later this year. Game of Thrones: The Complete Collection is available to pre-order now at Amazon for a cool $255. Best Buy has an exclusive steelbook edition up for pre-order for $240 as well. Best Buy's edition is probably the way to go for serious collectors, but we wouldn't be surprised if Amazon's price goes down before the box set's release, making its edition more enticing.6479547 - Game of Thrones Complete Collection 4K UHD - Amazon and Best Buy pre-orders Game Of Thrones Box Set The Complete Collection comes with 4K, standard Blu-ray, and digital copies. $255 at Amazon Game of Thrones Steelbook Box Set Best Buy has an exclusive steelbook edition available to pre-order. $240 at Best Buy Though each season of Game of Thrones is already available to purchase individually in 4K Blu-ray format, now you'll be able to buy all eight seasons in one box set. The 33-disc set comes with both 4K UHD and standard Blu-ray discs as well as digital copies of all 73 episodes.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Blizzard has announced another set of balance changes coming to Hearthstone, and like the last few updates it focuses mostly on the new class, Demon Hunter. Though the update also packs balance changes for some other powerful decks currently dominating the meta, one class is clearly the biggest target.Of the eight cards getting balance changes in the 17.6 update next week, three of them are Demon Hunter class cards. Those include Metamorphosis, Kayn Sunfury, and Warglaives of Azzinoth--all reliably aggressive Demon Hunter tools that have helped the class remain strong.Other big changes are coming to strong cards used in popular Warrior, Mage, and Druid decks. And similar changes are coming to the neutral legendary Dragonqueen Alexstraza and the Rogue Galakrond. Rather than generating or drawing cards that cost 0 Mana, both of their effects will instead bring cards that cost 1 Mana. That retains the strong effect but keeps them from being played all at once or in conjunction with strong combo effects.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Twitch has received backlash on Twitter after sharing a Black Lives Matter video that featured very few Black streamers. The video, which Twitch has since deleted, featured mostly white streamers, primarily DrLupo, talking about Black Lives Matter. Twitter User @2leftjoycons reuploaded the video.I'm sorry, but this is maddening to me. Twitch talks about the importance of #BLMYET STILL 1. Has 90% of the talking done by white/nonblack people 2. Doesn't promote any black streamers/content creators Share and promote Black Twitch content, here or in retweets! pic.twitter.com/fMJ8DNq7yU — Uncle Fill™ (@2leftjoycons) July 9, 2020Twitch followed up with an apology stating that the video was supposed to be focused on allyship, a message Twitch said it "didn't make clear." People took issue with the video promoting the message of supporting Black Twitch streamers without showcasing and promoting more of them.We hear you. Our goal was to demonstrate the importance of allyship - a message we didn’t make clear. Only by working together can we create a positive change. — Twitch (@Twitch) July 9, 2020BlissKai and ZombaeKillz, two Black Twitch streamers featured in the video, expressed their feelings on Twitter.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Less than a month after The Last of Us Part II's launch, developer Naughty Dog is looking to fill multiple positions at its studio, with one role specifically scouting for a single-player Level/Environment Designer.The job listings on Naughty Dog's career site run the gamut from animators to programmers to lighting artists and everything in between. While it's unclear if Naughty Dog is working on a new project, a job post for a Tools Programmer confirms the studio is looking for someone to "work on our next-generation graphics analysis, profiling and debugging tool in conjunction with our sister technology group." If Naughty Dog is working on another game already, it seems likely it will arrive on PlayStation 5.Another listing for a Melee/Gameplay Animator says this hire will "help us create compelling gameplay for our future project(s)," with work possibly including "helping shape the hand-to-hand combat system" and more. It suggests that whatever Naughty Dog is prototyping may be some sort of action-adventure experience.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Team Rocket balloons have begun appearing in Pokemon Go, giving you a new way to battle the villainous group, and the team's most infamous duo have joined the fight. Jessie and James, Ash's recurring antagonists from the Pokemon animated series, have arrived in Pokemon Go, giving you a chance to challenge them.True to form, Jessie and James can be found piloting a giant Meowth-shaped hot air balloon. The duo will appear randomly in the game and only for a limited time, so there's no telling when you'll encounter them. If you do spot their distinctive balloon, however, simply tap it to initiate a battle with them.Coinciding with their debut, new avatar items inspired by Jessie and James have been added to Pokemon Go's in-game shop, letting you dress your trainer in their signature Team Rocket uniforms. The second weekly set of Pokemon Go Fest challenges also arrives this week, and this one focuses on battling Team Rocket, making Jessie and Jame's appearance quite timely.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

One of the best parts of Pokemon Sword and Shield was exploring the Wild Area, an expanse of rolling hills, sand dunes, and lakes that made collecting the games' 400 Pokemon especially enticing. The first DLC for the games, The Isle of Armor, improves upon the original Wild Area--in fact, the island is all Wild Area, with far more variety and much more interesting locales to explore. While it doesn't alter the game much, The Isle of Armor recaptures the joy of exploration and catching new Pokemon, and it makes me especially eager to see where the next DLC takes us.In my original Pokemon Sword and Shield review, I said that "the Wild Area is the show-stopping feature of this generation. Pokemon roam the fields and lakes, changing with the day's weather. They pop up as you walk by, and you can even identify Pokemon out of your direct line of vision by their cries. It's all too easy to set out for one destination only to be distracted by a Pokemon you haven't caught yet, an item glittering on the ground in the distance, or even an evolved form of a Pokemon that you didn't realize you could catch in the wild. There's constantly something new to do or discover, and it's there to engage you right out of the gate."Me and Kubfu enjoying the sights.The Isle of Armor doubles down on this. The island is bigger and better than the regular Wild Area, and its various biomes all feed into each other more naturally. Open fields transition to wetlands, which border a beach and a forest. Rivers flow out to the ocean, and following a river can sometimes lead you to a cave. Changing weather patterns make more sense than they do in the Galar region's main Wild Area, too, where weather shifts seemingly at random as you bike through similar-looking fields. Instead, because most areas on the Isle of Armor are separated by rivers or caves, the transition from rain to sunshine to fog isn't so abrupt. It's overall an even more satisfying place to explore.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The Big Show has had a long career in wrestling, debuting back in 1995 with WCW, and the larger-than-life athlete had many landmark moments throughout his career. From being a member of the New World Order to his numerous championship reigns in WWE, the Big Show is quite the big deal. While his in-ring career has slowed down a bit, Show has been on a roll starring on the new Netflix series The Big Show Show, in which he plays a fictional version of himself that's retired from professional wrestling.The move from the ring to the screen in a scripted series is something Show has wanted to do for years. He told us that being on Saturday Night Live with The Rock, Mick Foley, Triple H, and Vince McMahon--to promote Wrestlemania 2000--was something he really enjoyed. "And I started driving Vince nuts back then about it," said Show. "I wanted him to know that I could [be on a TV show]. This is something within my wheelhouse; this is in my gut. I can do this. And I think I drove him nuts for probably 14, 15 years."And when the partnership came up, Netflix had this idea of a retired WWE superstar, readjusting to being home all the time. And they wanted to do a comedy show. So when they partnered up with WWE, I had aggravated everybody so much, that I think WWE was just happy to give me this opportunity, to shut me up, I think."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

There are a lot of reasons to take a look at West of Dead. Cowboys and Wild West aesthetics are hot in games right now, in the wake of Red Dead Redemption 2. Run-based games are, likewise, very much a structure du jour. It's dusted with voiceover narration from Ron Perlman, who you might know from Guillermo Del Toro's Hellboy films or the FX TV Show Sons of Anarchy. And it certainly doesn't hurt that its core mechanical conceit, as a cover-based twin-stick shooter, helps Frankenstein it to original and, dare I say, innovative gameplay. Unfortunately, West of Dead is a textbook case of a half-baked concept: Though its big sweeping ideas work well, the minutiae, from scaling the difficulty of encounters to unrefined enemies and plain old technical issues, threaten to undo the experience at any time.West of Dead's conceit builds up a simple but interesting little tale. In Purgatory--which is apparently in Wyoming--the dead have stopped filtering "east" to heaven or "west" to hell. You play an undead cowboy called the Marshall who's lost his memory, save for his mission to kill the evil preacher holding up the afterlife. Though it's more narrative glue than captivating storytelling, the Marshall's inner monologue, in subdued performance from Perlman, keeps the story in mind, evoking a world that you might not see in its generic, monotonous Wild West-themed levels.Like so many of today's Rogue-inspired games, the story naturally falls away at a certain point, as you play and replay the game over and over, attempting to reach your goal. West of Dead retains many of the tropes established by the many, many rogue-lites that have launched in the last few years, and it cribs its structure specifically from 2018's wildly successful version, Dead Cells. West of Dead procedurally generates long levels, which are punctuated with a store where you must spend Sin points to permanently expand your arsenal of weapons. In each run, you find upgrades to your specs and more powerful gear--two weapons, two accessories, and a passive charm. By defeating optional bosses, you gain access to branching paths with harder levels. You carry an upgradable healing flask, which you refill between levels. There's even a hall at the start of each run where you can see all the weapons and upgrades you've bought. Though it comes dangerously close to getting branded as a "Dead Cells clone," using familiar structure makes it easy to focus on West of Dead's combat, where its real innovations lie.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Nintendo has announced a new livestream for tomorrow, July 10. While it's not a new Nintendo Direct, the company will show off a couple of titles as part of its Nintendo Treehouse Live broadcast, which is scheduled to begin at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET.Specifically, Nintendo says it will broadcast gameplay of the upcoming Paper Mario: The Origami King, which is set to release for Switch next week. On top of that, the company will reveal at least one new title from developer WayForward, the studio behind the Shantae series and other beloved 2D adventure games.Check out gameplay of the upcoming game #PaperMario: The Origami King tomorrow 7/10 at 10am PT on #NintendoTreehouseLive | July 2020. Plus, we'll feature a first reveal and gameplay for a title in a franchise new to developer WayForward!https://t.co/pWziqZZPd3 pic.twitter.com/ZeubOStUtD — Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) July 9, 2020What's most curious about the game reveal is the wording Nintendo used to describe it. The company says the game will be "in a franchise new to developer WayForward," which seems to suggest that whatever the studio is developing is part of an already-established IP that it hasn't worked with before. What that could be remains to be seen; however, in a follow-up tweet, Nintendo did confirm that WayForward is working on "a third-party property," so we at least know it's not something like a new Metroid or Legend of Zelda game.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

In the late '90s and early aughts, a little fellow named Mr. Driller burrowed his way into the hearts of puzzle game fans worldwide. The years that followed saw several Mr. Driller releases across multiple platforms, but after a while, Namco seemed content to entomb the series and focus on other things. Now, a little over a decade later, Bandai-Namco has decided to unearth one of the most beloved Mr. Driller games, the formerly Japan-and-Europe-exclusive Mr. Driller Drill Land, to release on Switch and PC for a new generation of fans to enjoy.Mr. Driller Drill Land focuses on the titular Mr. Driller, aka Susumu Hori, and his extended gang of excavator friends and family (including his dad Taizo, who you might remember from Dig Dug). They're off to visit a new underground amusement park called Drill Land, filled with attractions that very coincidentally are based around the colored-block-drilling gameplay that defines the Mr. Driller series--with some notable twists. Challenges, cards, and plenty of collectibles abound in Drill Land, and you'll have to see if you have the chops to conquer each of the park's different attractions for high scores and goodies. (And you might just save the world, too.)The core Mr. Driller gameplay is a neat twist on the "falling colored blocks" idea. You control Susumu (or one of his companions), using your drill to break up colored blocks and dig deeper and deeper into the earth. As you destroy blocks and work your way into the earth, you'll free up other blocks, which will fall and join up with (and also break) others of the same color. Your goal is to reach a certain depth, but that's easier said than done--you have a limited air supply that acts as a timer, and some poor drilling choices could lead to your driller getting smooshed under a landslide. This makes the game a tense, careful balancing act--while air pickups are frequently available, being too hasty with your drilling decisions when oxygen is limited could lead to disaster. It might sound intimidating, but it's much easier to understand once you play a few sessions and see for yourself how loose blocks fall, combine, and break. After you grasp the basics, you'll grow into a groove and skillfully obtain pickups, create chains to eliminate lots of blocks at once, and find safe spots among a cascade of falling earth.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

After years of waiting, Microsoft will finally show off Halo Infinite during the Xbox Series X first-party showcase on July 23. Now, developer 343 Industries has begun to set expectations for the event.In a blog post, 343 said fans can look forward to the "first look' at Halo Infinite's campaign. "We're excited to share what the team’s been working on--the first look at Halo Infinite's campaign is coming on July 23!" the developer explained.The wording here seems to suggest that the July 23 event will focus on Halo Infinite's campaign as opposed to its multiplayer component. That's probably a bummer for some part of the fanbase, but it makes sense that Microsoft would want to hone in one on component of the game at the start. Presumably the multiplayer reveal is being saved for a later date.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

In a landscape already oversaturated with live games, differentiation is vital. Ninjala attempts to forge its own path through a combination of bubbly style and unique melee mechanics. And though it's light on content and heavy on microtransactions at launch, those two qualities are enough to make it stand out, and could give it the necessary staying power to live on long-term.The mechanical differentiation comes from eschewing the usual shooter tropes of competitive online games. Instead, Ninjala is a multiplayer game focused primarily around melee combat, forcing tight confrontations between kid-ninjas with limited range. That gives it a feeling akin to a game like Devil May Cry, as you may see an opponent from a distance and charge in to do battle and then dash off quickly. The attack button is mapped to the shoulder like a traditional shooter by default, but I found a different control preset that set it to a face button much more natural to the character-action feel.The weapons are limited to only three types--balanced katana, powerful hammers, and ranged yo-yos--but they produce a surprising amount of variety. The weapon types come with a handful of design variants, each with their own special properties and powerful ultimate ability. Finding your preferred playstyle is a matter of narrowing down the options, first by toying with the weapon classes themselves and then diving into the next layer to find which combination of special abilities suits you. None of the weapons feel obviously overpowered compared to the rest, so it really comes down to personal preference.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The release of Halo 3 on PC on July 14 also marks the start of Halo: The Master Chief Collection's Season 2--and there's a lot of new stuff coming to the game very soon. Developer 343 Industries spoke at length about the Season 2 update and Halo 3 on PC as part of a lengthy developer livestream today.Starting off, Season 2 will usher in a lovely looking new main menu screen for MCC. It shows off some iconic weaponry and vehicles from Halo 3, and it scrolls through different images if you hover over the page. You can see a still from the new menu screen below.For Season 2, MCC is getting over 100 new items, and these include things like weapon skins, visors, vehicle skins, and nameplates to customize your look in the game. Vehicle skins will be available in Halo CE, which is notable because it's the first time the game has ever had vehicle skins in its 19-year history.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Where so many VR games still fall back on restricted controls, the PlayStation VR-exclusive Iron Man VR asks you to learn and master its unique flight controls if you really want to feel like a Marvel superhero. Getting comfortable in Tony Stark’s iron skin makes you feel like you know what it’s like to "be" Iron Man in a way no standard game could. At the same time, the game around that core mechanic feels overly thin. With reused environments, recycled mission objectives, and a predictable story that overstays its welcome, Iron Man VR quickly loses its luster.For better and for worse, Iron Man VR tells a complete ripped-from-the-page Marvel comic storyline. Tony Stark squares off with a mysterious new villain, the Ghost, who uses an army of old Stark Industries drones to systematically terrorize him and his company. The Ghost invokes Stark’s past of making weapons and selling them indiscriminately, forcing him to reckon with his past self as well.Like Insomniac's Spider-Man, Iron Man VR is an original variation of existing Iron Man stories, with vague allusions to moments that comic book and MCU fans will know, which makes it easy for any Marvel fan to jump in and follow along. It's a bit too familiar, though. Retreading themes and issues you've already seen Iron Man work through in both the comics and films, Stark's struggles, both internal and the threats he faces on the battlefield, feel a bit stale. And though there’s a complicated, long-winded plot, you can identify every twist from a mile away.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

World of Warcraft has historically charged players to change their avatar's gender, but that is set to change with the new expansion. Right now, it costs $15 to change your character's gender, but Shadowlands will remove this charge entirely. In an interview with Eurogamer, executive producer John Hight has talked about this mechanic, and promised that in the future you will be able to change your gender along with your appearance at the barber shop. "As we were adding things up in Shadowlands, we realised, 'Gosh the only way you can change your gender in World of Warcraft is to go through this paid service,'" he says. "And we felt like that's not the right message."This change will not arrive until the next expansion does, as it's difficult to implement. "That's not something we can easily hotfix - unfortunately we can't do that right now," Hight explains. It's not clear if this feature will be added for all players, including those who don't buy the expansion, with the Shadowlands update--but hopefully this will be the case.This answer came from a question Eurogamer posed about Pelagos, a character discussed in a July 2 Blizzard forums post who many believe is Blizzard's first transgender character. According to Hight, it's likely that other characters designed in-house at Blizzard are trans, even if it is not explicitly stated in-game: "knowing some of our designers and having conversations with them, I'm sure that was the intent."Here are some more insights from GameSpot's own interviews with World of Warcraft game director Ion Hazzikostas.World Of Warcraft Is Getting Controller Support With Shadowlands, But Don't Expect A Console PortWhy World Of Warcraft Is Making Such A Big Change To Starting Zones With ShadowlandsWoW Game Director On Releasing Shadowlands During COVID-19 And Working From HomeInfo from Gamespot.com