July is here, and it's shaping up to be another busy month for Pokemon Go. On top of all the in-game events Niantic has lined up over the next few weeks, a new batch of Field Research tasks is now live, and if you complete enough of them, you'll earn a new Research Breakthrough reward: Larvitar.Each time you achieve a Research Breakthrough in July, your reward will be an encounter with Larvitar, the base form of the powerful Tyranitar. There's also a chance that the Larvitar you encounter will be Shiny, so there's a good incentive to complete as much Field Research as you can this month.As a refresher, Field Research tasks are distributed via Poke Stops. The first one you complete each day will net you a stamp, and collecting seven stamps will lead to a Research Breakthrough. You can see the full list of July's Field Research tasks, as compiled by The Silph Road, below.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Animal Crossing: New Horizons has received the first part of its free summer content update on July 3, including the ability to swim and hunt for new marine life. You'll now be able to explore more of the world and see new creatures in this update. It isn't even the only summer update coming to the game, as the "Wave 2" update will arrive further down the road. But for now, you can start having fun in the sun. Go check out what it has to offer![Announcement]The #AnimalCrossing: New Horizons free Summer Update – Wave 1 is available now! Download the update and dive in today! #ACNH pic.twitter.com/AhSbn0fmvc — Tom Nook (@animalcrossing) July 3, 2020Wave 1 of the Summer Update lets you dive into the ocean from any edge of your island, swimming around in search of new marine life that you can donate to museum curator Blathers. This includes star fish (or sea stars), anemone, and garden eels, as seen in the trailer below. Blathers will have plenty of facts to tell you about your new finds, in addition to simply having new items to donate.The updatealso introduces the mermaid crafting set, which can be obtained through interactions with Pascal. You'll be able to get new DIY recipes from Pascal--a red sea otter that would appear weekly in previous Animal Crossing entries--by trading scallops with him, but it's unclear if he'll be around as sparsely as Redd (who was introduced in an earlier update). There's also a new encounter with Gulliver, although exactly what that results in isn't made clear.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

A lot of people are now working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Being at home means more time to spend with your pets, and the same is true for the developers of Halo.A new blog post from 343 Industries showcases many fine furry friends that belong to the developers of Halo Infinite and The Master Chief Collection. There are many adorable cats and dogs, along with a couple of horses, birds, and lizards. Some of the developers also own chickens and a pig.Not all Spartans wear armor, some wear fur. Meet the pets of 343! https://t.co/fMwBjHhkoH pic.twitter.com/m8miKpCHvZ — Halo (@Halo) July 1, 2020You can see all of the adorable creatures here on 343's website. Two pugs, Buddy and Gyoza, are actually contributing to Halo Infinite, as 343's audio team recorded their sounds for use in the game. Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Beyond A Steel Sky, which recently released on Apple Arcade, is finally nearly here for PC fans. The sequel to Revolution's incredible 1994 point-and-click adventure game Beneath A Steel Sky releases for Steam on July 16.The game returns players to the world of the original game, and once again has you playing as Robert Foster. Like the original, it features art from Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons, and it's set in a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk Australian city. The game is a direct sequel, with many Easter eggs for returning fans. The Apple Arcade version features gorgeous visuals and relatively intuitive controls, but many longtime series fans are no doubt excited to play the game on PC.The game is yet again developed by Revolution Software, best known for the Broken Sword series. A sequel to Beneath A Steel Sky was initially promised as a stretch goal in the Kickstarter for Broken Sword 5, and although the game's pledges did not reach the goal, Revolution decided to make the game anyway.GameSpot will have a review of Beyond A Steel Sky live closer to the game's PC release.Info from Gamespot.com

Recompile, a 3D Metroidvania game with a unique sense of style, is the latest title to be confirmed for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. The game is not coming to PS4 or Xbox One, which makes it a rare next-gen exclusive indie title.The game, which mixes combat and 3D platforming with physics-based hacking (and you can apparently hack and change just about anything you encounter), will feature multiple endings depending on how you place. Players will control, according to the press release, "a rogue piece of semi-sentient code, trapped in The Mainframe--a sprawling digital wasteland dead-set on deleting trespassers."Publisher Dear Villagers also released a new trailer to celebrate the announcement and show off how the game will look on next-gen systems, below. It features the Aoife O'Donovan song Jupiter. Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Michael Bay is making a pandemic movie--because of course he is. But the film is now facing new controversy, as one of the biggest trade unions has told its members to not work on the film. Deadline reports that SAG-AFTRA has informed members to avoid the movie, Songbird, because it "failed to complete the signatory process and is therefore not signed to any applicable SAG-AFTRA agreement." The production company apparently did not file the necessary paperwork regarding health and safety measures related to COVID-19.The producers, Invisible Narratives, told Deadline that they expect this "Do Not Work" order to be resolved in due to course after it completes some paperwork.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Less than a month after the UK government launched a call for evidence into loot boxes to decide whether they should be further regulated, a House of Lords Select Committee on gambling has called for loot boxes to be immediately re-classified as gambling, GamesIndustry.biz has reported.The original inquiry into loot boxes led the government to establish an open call for evidence, with the results to be considered alongside the review of the UK's Gambling Act 2005. Now the latter report is in, and it condemns loot boxes in no uncertain terms."The liberalization of gambling by the Gambling Act 2005, the universal adoption of smart phones, and the exploitation of soft-touch regulation by gambling operators has created a perfect storm of addictive 24/7 gambling," the Lords report reads.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Whereas many of the games releasing at the end of 2020 will come to current- and next-generation consoles, Bloober Team's The Medium is skipping the older systems and only coming to Xbox Series X and PC.Jacek Zięba, a producer at Bloober Team, said in a new interview with Xbox that bypassing the current-generation consoles is in the best interest of The Medium. "We don't have any porting plans for current-gen consoles, so the Xbox Series X will offer the experience we always meant for the game," he said.Zięba said Bloober could have released The Medium on Xbox One, but this would have come at a cost. "Of course, theoretically, you could rescope any game idea, but in our case it would mean completely changing the core game features," he said. "Thanks to the power of Xbox Series X, we can develop the game the way we have always envisioned it."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum 'n' Fun launched on the Nintendo Switch in 2018, and since then it has enjoyed considerable success. The game has now sold 1 million copies worldwide, as announced on Twitter, and all players will receive free DLC to celebrate.The new songs, as reported by Gematsu, are all from other Namco Bandai titles. 10 songs will be added on July 9 in Japan; it's not clear when an international release will happen. The pack, called the "I Love Games Pack," contains the following songs:Boku no → Chikyuu Bokura no Chikyuu (Mr. Driller DrillLand)Moji Pittan Medley (Kotoba no Puzzle: Moji Pittan)Katamari On the Rocks Main Theme (Katamari Damacy)No Way Back (God Eater)The Arrow Was Shot (Tales of the Abyss)In the Zone (Ace Combat X2: Joint Assault)Brave Sword, Braver Soul (Soulcalibur II)Karma (Tatsujin Mix) (Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion)Namcot MedleyTanoshii Taiko DojoAn "Esports Tournament" mode is also coming to the game, and it will add an eight-player bracketed tournament mode for serious players. Whether the PS4 equivalent, Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum Session, will receive a similar DLC pack is unknown.Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum 'n' Fun received a 7/10 in GameSpot's review. Reviewer Heidi Kemps wrote that it was "a solid rhythm game package that's easy to get into and rewarding the more you play it."Info from Gamespot.com

As the November election approaches, a number of Roblox accounts have been hacked to share pro-Trump propaganda, the BBC has reported. The online game also functions as a social platform, with Roblox reporting that half of all American children between the ages of nine and 12 used its platform.Posts from Roblox players on social media show a number of accounts where avatars have been changed to wear a shirt with an American flag and eagle, along with a red cap with white lettering that resembles Trump's signature Make America Great Again, or MAGA hat. Each of the hacked accounts also now displays a profile message saying "Ask your parents to vote for Trump this year! #MAGA2020".BUGISBGSUGB A TRUMP SUPPORTER HACKED MY ROBLOX ACCOUNT IM DEADDDDD OMGGGGGG AND MESSAGEDF MY FRIENDS TO VOTE FOR HIM WHA THT UFSIGFBUGAGABIAG pic.twitter.com/5X3IKTRtOV — ariel (@mmilkdud) June 26, 2020Users have also reported receiving messages from hacked friends with the same "ask your parents" call to action that was posted on their profiles. One Twitter user claimed that the hacker accepted all their outstanding friend requests in order to send the message to more people.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

This article references accusations of sexual assault. EVO 2020, which was to be an online tournament in 2020, has been cancelled. Earlier, it was reported that EVO CEO Joey Cuellar was being placed on administrative leave following several accusations of sexual misconduct. Following these events, several game brands announced they were no longer going to participate in the event, including Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. Now, the event will no longer go ahead, and Cuellar will no longer be involved with EVO.In a statement released to Twitter, it has been announced that Tony Cannon is taking over as CEO, and that he is "prioritizing greater accountability across Evo, both internally and at our events."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

It's not unusual for Fortnite's battle royale map to change and evolve throughout a season, but the end of Chapter 2, Season 3's water-themed event may see the map go through bigger changes than usual. As reported by Polygon, dataminers claim to have identified a new area filled with ruins that will be revealed as the water recedes. As of right now, we cannot see any of it, with the game's recent The Device event flooding a huge portion of the map. This came in preparation for Aquaman's challenges. C2S3 Map Final Stage (Updated thanks to @VollMitBotox's leak) from r/FortNiteBRA map posted on Reddit shows the potential upcoming state of the map according to datamined images, with a new location in the top left corner of the map called "The Ruins." Some have speculated that this area may have something to do with Aquaman, as the DC hero was introduced in the new Battle Pass. Our guide to all the currently available Aquaman challenges can be found here.Since the start of July, the high water levels introduced at the start of Season 3 have started receding to allow full access to formerly flooded locations. The leaks suggest that the new ruins area will also be revealed as the water levels continue to recede throughout the season.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The military has long had a foot in gaming, most notably as a recruitment tool with efforts like the early 2000s' America's Army series. The army's gaming arm came back into the public eye this week, after the U.S. Army's esports account tweeted "UwU" in response to a tweet by chat app Discord.UwU 💕 — U.S. Army Esports (@USArmyesports) June 30, 2020The tweet went viral, with many criticizing the army's use of the esports initiative as a recruitment tool to target young people. Naturally, hilarity ensued. The team was not in on the joke. uwu pwease enwist and commit waw cwimes uwu — jay is antifascist, pro-Black lives (@shutupfish) June 30, 2020Soon, a new speedrun challenge spawned on Twitter where users competed to get banned from the US Army esports Discord server the fastest, Polygon reported. The server was flooded with users posting in an effort to try and get banned--while some posted classic "copypasta" text, others simply linked to the Wikipedia page for "United States war crimes."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The musical Hamilton is now available to stream on Disney+. If you're reading this--and not watching Hamilton already--it's unlikely you'll need further context on Lin-Manuel Miranda's historical hip-hop tribute to American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. Inspired by the 2004 biography Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, the show's music and presentation has been described as "the story of American then, told by America now."The show premiered Off-Broadway in 2015--it hit Broadway later in the year--and has since quickly become a cultural touchstone and juggernaut in its own right. The show's popularity and influence has only grown since its debut--so much so that this Disney+ film has been fast-tracked by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic to shift from an October 15, 2021 theater event to a July 3, 2020 home-streaming event.In this filmed version--culled from a three-day 2016 shoot--Miranda stars as Hamilton. Leslie Odom Jr., Phillipa Soo, and Daveed Diggs also round out the cast. Jonathan Groff (Mindhunter, The Good Wife) sings the show-stopper "You'll Be Back" as King George III.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Call of Duty: Warzone has gotten a new update with some patriotic flair for Independence Day. While you're waiting on the Warzone lobby, you can watch the skies for a jet flyover with colored smoke trails like you'd see in an air show.The fansite CharlieIntel tweeted a look at the jet flyover with red and white stripes. The sky is also littered with fireworks which may be difficult to find this year in real life due to events being canceled in light of the coronavirus pandemic.Call of Duty stories often focus on the American military, in part as a coalition with militaries from allies like the UK. Activision has also closely tied the series with American military veterans with moves like its Call of Duty Endowment, a non-profit that helps veterans find civilian jobs after ending their service.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com