The Last of Us Part II features the Pearl Jam song "Future Days," but it wasn't easy to convince the band to allow Naughty Dog to use it in the post-apocalyptic game.Writer-director Neil Druckmann told GQ that studio owner Sony didn't think they'd be able to get the rights to the tune from Pearl Jam's 2013 album Lightning Bolt. Eventually, the team found the assistant of Pearl Jam's manager and got the manager to consider it.Druckmann pitched Pearl Jam's manager on the "whole story" of The Last of Us Part II and told him how the song is important to the narrative. Druckmann also confirmed that "Future Days" will be featured in the game "several times" as a sort of theme between Joel and Ellie.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

After several weeks in closed beta, Valorant finally launched on PC at the start of the month. Its first post-launch patch is update 1.01, which arrives just one week after Valorant released via update 1.0. Patch 1.01 brings with it a few notable changes, including a nerf to healer character Sage and a small addition to Spike Rush mode. There is still no word on when ranked mode is coming back. Read more about the changes, as well as the full patch notes, below.Sage, the defensive expert with healing capabilities--officially classified as a Sentinel--has received a 50% reduction to her Barrier Orb cast range, from 20 meters to 10 meters. According to Riot, this is to reinforce Sage's specialty in defending controlled territory, but discourage overly aggressive play. As the patch notes state, "The 20m cast range was allowing Sage to aggressively take control of neutral territory in a way that was inappropriate for her role in Valorant."Spike Rush mode now has a handful of new power-up orb types, including the Health Orb, Deception Orb, and a powerful one-shot, one-kill Golden Gun that grants the wielder other temporary benefits.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Destiny 2 is getting a big new expansion this year with Beyond Light on September 22, but in addition to finding out what new stuff is coming into the game, Bungie has revealed how it'll be cycling out older content from the game. Starting in the fall, some destinations and content will be removed to shrink its size and make room for the new location of Europa and other content coming in the expansion.Bungie revealed some of the details on its livestream detailing Beyond Light, where director Luke Smith explained the new "Destiny Content Vault." The DCV is where Bungie will shelf some content for periods of time, pulling it out while other content is cycled in. But the vault will also allow for Bungie to pull old Destiny 1 content and update it for Destiny 2, cycling it back into the game. The changes as to what content will be available in Destiny 2 will change once a year with the release of its next three fall expansions: Beyond Light in 2020, The Witch Queen in 2021, and Lightfall in 2022.Smith confirmed after the livestream that one of the first things coming back to Destiny 2 from D1 is the Vault of Glass, Destiny 1's first raid. We're also seeing the return of the Cosmodrome, one of Destiny's first areas, along with its three original Strikes. Those pieces of content will come to the game with Beyond Light in the fall.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Paramount Network has officially canceled the reality TV show Cops, which has been running since its premiere on Fox back in 1989, Variety reports. The decision comes after Paramount pulled the show from its broadcast schedule just four days ago.The cancelation was spurred on following the nationwide protests against racism and police brutality following the murder of George Floyd by Minnesota police officers on May 25. In addition to Floyd's murder, the recent investigative podcast, Running From Cops by Dan Taberski, brought to light some of the dubious ethics used in creating the show, including coercion into signing waivers and production which allowed police to edit out anything they found personally unsavory before episodes would air.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

343 Industries has taken to Twitter to update fans on the progress of Halo 3's upcoming beta test on PC. Members of the Halo Insider program will be able to take part in the beta this month, once the team has addressed some bugs.Tyler Davis, Community Support & Engagement Coordinator at 343, mentioned on Twitter that things were on track for the Halo 3 PC June beta test. He also noted that there were two "Ring 3 blocking bugs" that the team was currently prioritizing, and that there would be more updates incoming on the beta test's status once those bugs had been resolved.Morning everyone! The team is continuing work towards the Halo 3 flight for this month on PC. Right now they are working through the remaining Ring 3 blocking bugs with two left to be addressed. More info will come outlining the flight's details once these are resolved. — Tyler “Postums” Davis (@343Postums) June 9, 2020To participate in the PC beta, fans will have to register as part of the Halo Insider program. The Halo Insider program allows fans and community members to give feedback on Halo titles via participating in betas for upcoming Halo games and ports. Notably, the sign-up page for the Insider program notes that the Master Chief Collection was "the direct result of Insiders participating in flights and sharing feedback to the development team".Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Destiny 2's next big chapter, called Beyond Light, is coming in the fall, and it's poised to make some major changes to the game. Bungie revealed a bunch of details on its livestream, which included some details that players had guessed based on teasers for the expansion and other rumors.Beyond Light is due this fall with the start of the fourth year of Destiny 2 content. As shown in Bungie's teaser trailers for the livestream that revealed it, the expansion will add a new destination: Europa, the moon of Jupiter. It'll also focus heavily on the arrival of the Pyramid ships that's been teased since the end of Destiny 2's vanilla story campaign. We also know the expansion is coming on September 22, 2020.Bungie noted that Beyond Light will come with an all-new power for players: Stasis, a power born from the force known in the Destiny world as Darkness. Stasis joins the current three elemental powers--Arc, Solar, and Void--and will provide players with new Supers and abilities to use against enemies.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Destiny 2 developer Bungie has unveiled the game's next three expansions, taking the game through to 2022 with new content. During the livestream, which focused on the game's future and detailed September's Beyond Light expansion, Destiny director Luke Smith addressed what this meant for any potential Destiny 3--and it sounds like we'll be waiting a while, if we ever see it at all.On the subject, Smith simply said "we're not planning on making one," as the plan is to keep supporting Destiny 2 into the future. The game is even coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X, with free upgrades available for owners on current systems. While rumors of an impending Destiny 3 have persisted for years, including in speculation from analysts, this should put them to rest--if we do get Destiny 3, it'll be in 2023 at the earliest.It does sound as though Bungie is working on something new, though--in February they were looking for an art director for a "comedic and lighthearted" project, and more recent postings hint at a "whimsical" game.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Season 11 of Destiny 2's Year 3, the Season of Arrivals, is here. With it comes a whole new set of loot to chase, as well as a new public activity to compete in with other players. That activity is Contact, and it can be found on Io and Titan--although like last season's Seraph Towers, it won't be in both locations at the same time. It requires you to take on waves of enemies and to stay alive to succeed.Contact is similar to past activities, like the Seraph Towers or Escalation Protocol, with a slight caveat--it takes some cues from Gambit, as well. Your goal in Contact is to collect Motes of Darkness from dead enemies and deposit them in a bank. But there's a little more going on in the event than first meets the eye. Here's everything you need to know to win at Contact and advance this season.Collect MotesYour primary goal in Contact is just like in Gambit--kill enemies and pick up the Motes of Darkness they drop. When you collect them, you'll want to take them to the bank in the center of the public event area in order to deposit them. You'll need to completely fill the bank with Motes four times in order to complete the event, and each wave will get tougher as you go. You're only able to carry a maximum of 10 motes, and it's not clear yet whether you get bonuses for depositing more Motes at once. But as in Gambit, you run the risk of losing all the Motes you're carrying if you die before you deposit them.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Video game retailer GameStop has announced earnings for its first quarter ended May 2, and as expected, it was a tough period for the company. In total GameStop posted a loss of $165.7 million.For comparison, during the same quarter last year, GameStop posted a profit of $6.8 million.The poor results are due in part to the COVID-19 crisis. GameStop shut down all of its 3,526 stores in the United States; about 65 percent of these stores offered curbside pickup for orders. Internationally, Australia's GameStop-owned EB Games was a bright spot--stores never closed, and sales rose 35 percent.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The Pokemon Company has shared many new details about Pokemon Sword and Shield's upcoming expansions, The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra. Each expansion will introduce a variety of additional Pokemon to the games, including some brand-new Legendaries and alternate forms.Galarian SlowbroGalarian SlowbroIn Isle of Armor, Galarian Slowpoke will be able to evolve into Galarian Slowbro. Unlike a standard Slowbro, this Galar-exclusive variant is a Poison/Psychic type that can learn a special move called Shell Side Arm, which fires poisonous liquid from the Shellder that's clamped down on its arm. Galarian Slowbro also has a new Ability called Quick Draw, although no details have been shared about that yet.Gigantamax Venusaur and BlastoiseGigantamax BlastoiseKanto starters Venusaur and Blastoise will gain Gigantamax forms in Isle of Armor. Like other Gigantamax Pokemon, each will have its own exclusive G-Max move. Gigantamax Venusaur's attack, G-Max Vine Lash, damages non-Grass-type foes for four turns. Gigantamax Blastoise, meanwhile, is able to use G-Max Cannonade, which similarly damages non-Water-type opponents for four turns.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Xbox boss Phil Spencer's vision for Xbox is beyond consoles. A system that sits under or next to your TV will be important for years to come, but Microsoft is preparing for a future where the company doesn't need to sell you a console to become an Xbox user.Spencer expanded on some of these ideas in an interview with Wired recently. He said he wants gaming to grow to a place that is more platform-agnostic. He used Netflix as an example, saying it doesn't matter whether you watch on a TV or a mobile phone--the content is the same."You and I might watch Netflix. I don't know where you watch it, where I watch it, but we can have conversations about the shows we watch," Spencer said. "I want gaming to evolve to that same level."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The Last of Us Part II releases on June 19, and expectant fans will likely have been watching and re-watching all the footage and trailers available, such as the story trailer that revealed some details of Ellie's upcoming struggle. Thanks to one creative fan, you can experience that trailer again...but in Lego form.The Lego trailer below comes from Pavel Prokhorov and Pavesome Films, an account that specializes in Lego recreations. It's a scene-for-scene recreation of the Last of Us Part II story trailer, complete with Lego infected, Lego Ellie, Lego Joel, and lots of blood...but despite the violence, it's still pretty cute. Fewer bricks to the face, more faces made of bricks.Just be aware that if you've avoided any footage from the game so far, this contains spot-on recreations of moments that happen in the full game.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Nintendo and developer Game Freak are releasing two big DLC expansions for Pokemon Sword and Shield this year: The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra. The former launches next week, on June 17, while the latter is slated to follow this fall, and each will introduce a wealth of additional content to the titles, including new gameplay features, locations, characters, storylines, and even Pokemon.Since Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra were announced earlier this year, The Pokemon Company has been gradually revealing more details about the expansions in the lead up to their launch. To help get you up to speed on the upcoming DLC, we've rounded up everything we know so far about Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra below. Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Very little is known about Destiny 2 developer Bungie's next IP but a series of job listings have revealed some minor details about the title. Originally spotted by The Game Post, one of the job listings is for an Incubation Investment Designer."You are the glue between the sword and the reward. You will work in tandem with our sandbox and economy teams to build and distribute items to our players. Living inside a giant database of hundreds of baubles, weapons, and armor is nothing new to you. And neither is building a system to cleverly distribute those items in a necromancer's dungeon."The key information seems to come at the end, but it's unclear whether the game will in fact include necromancers or their dungeons, or if this is talking more in the abstract. The listing also mentions having experience with an "RPG game system at any scale."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics' video game take on Marvel Avengers will finally release this fall. Initially slated to release May 15, the game is now set to arrive on September 4 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. You can pre-order Marvel's Avengers now to receive guaranteed access to the game's beta and a three-day head start if you pre-order the special editions. Depending on which major retailer you get it from, you can also receive a different extra bonus.This upcoming Avengers game will give fans the chance to play as their favorite heroes and revisit other familiar characters and settings from the Marvel universe. You'll take on missions as some of the most popular Marvel superheroes: Thor, Black Widow, Iron Man, Hulk, and Captain America. The star of the game, however, is Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel), who brings the Avengers back together after a disastrous event at the start of the game. Kamala is an Inhuman who discovers she has developed shapeshifting abilities that let her grow in size and strength, adding a unique power to the group of heroes. Depending on which hero you play as, Marvel's Avengers has a wide range of gameplay options available.In addition to its solo campaign, Marvel's Avengers will include online co-op for up to four players. There will also be various character customization options. For more on the game, check out everything we know about Marvel's Avengers.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com