Respawn has finally detailed how Quests, the new mode coming to Apex Legends in Season 5: Fortune's Favor, will work. Though Quests is primarily a PvE mode, it will incorporate the PvP side of Respawn's battle royale game.Season 5's questline is called The Broken Ghost. Each week of Season 5, new weekly Hunts will unlock--you can tackle them solo or as a squad. These Hunts are PvE missions that will see you go up against AI-controlled enemies and escape Titanfall-style in a drop ship at the end.To participate in a weekly Hunt, you'll need five treasure packs. Treasure packs are found randomly in the PvP side of Apex Legends--Trios, Duos, Ranked, and limited-time modes--and you can only pick up one a day. So you'll need to play Apex Legends at least five days each week in order to play the new weekly Hunt when it comes out. Or just begin stockpiling treasure packs with those extra two days your afforded each week.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

If you've played Final Fantasy XIV previously and fallen off the game since then, you can currently dive back in for free for a limited time. To encourage people to revisit Final Fantasy XIV, Square Enix is offering up to eight days of free playtime for people who have previously purchased and registered Final Fantasy XIV. To be eligible, your account must have been inactive for at least 30 days, and it must be set as inactive during the free play period.Unfortunately, there's not much time left to take advantage of the offer, but if you start playing this weekend, you'll still have time to make full use of the free period. The campaign kicked off April 14 and will run until May 17 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET. Once you log in, you have eight days to play the game for free--after that, you'll have to purchase a subscription to FFXIV to keep playing. It's also important to note you can only log in on platforms your account is registered to. For more details on the free login campaign and eligibility, see the offer page at Square Enix.Of course, for players new to the game, there's also a free trial period that lets you play up to level 35, but eventually, you'll have to get a subscription to keep playing FFXIV. The standard membership costs $12 for your first month; after that, it costs $15 a month for 30 days, $14 a month for 90 days, and $13 a month if you opt for a year-long subscription. But if you're not ready to commit, you can also buy 60-day time cards at Amazon for $30 each.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

In the Apex Legends Season 5 gameplay trailer, we see the first few shots of what happens to Kings Canyon when the new season starts next week. It's a lot more than the destruction of Skull Town--much of Apex Legends' original map has changed.In the screenshots embedded beneath the video below, you can see how Kings Canyon has changed. Loba's actions in the Season 5 launch trailer completely destroyed both Skull Town and Thunderdome, revealing a new underground area for squads to explore. Almost on the opposite side of the map, a new installation dominates the previously more rural area of Kings Canyon.Alongside Loba, Season 5 adds a brand-new battle pass and cosmetics to Apex Legends. The season implements Quests as well, a new story-focused mode that adds a PvE option to Respawn's battle royale. Like the battle pass and daily/weekly challenges, Quests seems aimed at getting you to play Apex Legends almost every day--the new mode encourages you to drop into matches in order to unlock chapters in the mysterious new The Broken Ghost questline.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

It's been a long week but let's end on a high note with some more fun, cool, and quirky things from around the video game world. If you're new to this, Good News Gaming is a show that brings you positive and uplifting stories from gaming, so you can start the weekend with a spring in your step.This week we've got a sweet story about the Fallout 76 community coming together to help one of their own. In the land of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, one fan has put together a fake Nintendo Direct that we really wish was real. It's full of amazing quality of life improvements that the game really needs, so we hope Nintendo is paying attention.As a fun aside, Facebook has been cracking down on one group that it has identified is talking about "weed." More specifically, weeds from Animal Crossing, but we all know that Facebook isn't smart enough to make that distinction. Still, a weird little moment for a bunch of New Horizons fans nevertheless.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Horror fans had quite a bit to chew on during the Inside Xbox stream that showed off a slate of games coming to Microsoft's next-gen console--one of which is the Xbox Series X-console exclusive The Medium. Before the reveal, we spoke with the developers at Bloober Team (known for Layers of Fear, Observer, and Blair Witch) about their upcoming game, and we had to ask: how did Akira Yamaoka get involved?Yamaoka is best known for his work as the composer and sound director for the Silent Hill franchise. He created a tremendous blend of heavy industrial rock and downtempo alongside the horrifying and suspenseful sound design; and now he's lending his talents to Bloober Team's next game. Lead designer for The Medium, Wojciech Piejko, told us the quick story of how the partnership came to fruition, prefacing, "We have been raised on Silent Hill. So when we got in contact with Akira Yamaoka, I was super excited and super nervous.""We met after the Tokyo Game Show. Akira-san came to meet [with us] and he was without any agent, so I was thinking, 'Okay. This will be a great evening.' And we showed our game to Akira-san," Piejko told us. He continued, "Back then we were developing The Medium and Blair Witch. And we said to him that we were working on the two projects and we would really love to show The Medium to him. And of course, we asked if he wanted to create the music and score for our game."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The COVID-19 global pandemic has led major sports leagues to cancel or postpone their seasons, and the world of esports has been impacted as well. One league that has adapted to the new challenges is the Call of Duty League. The current season is continuing, albeit with some significant changes. The change is dramatic--all on-site matches have been transitioned to an online format.The move has not been without its own set of challenges and new considerations under the strictly digital format. To get an inside understanding of this transition, GameSpot spoke with various professional gamers, team owners, and casters to hear directly about this change. These interviews were conducted just ahead of the Florida Mutineers Home Series event, which runs May 8-10. Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Predator, the 1987 film, is defined by its cheesy dialogue, testosterone-filled cast, and tense cat-and-mouse action between its platoon of soldiers and a crafty alien hunter. Predator: Hunting Grounds seems to, at first, hit all of those notes. There are cringe-worthy one-liners that are initially worth a chuckle, a host of customization options to make your gun-toting hero as ridiculous as you like, and streamlined gameplay that lets you play both sides of the hunt with ease. The problem isn't with the initial impression Hunting Grounds makes, but rather how quickly it loses its appeal.Predator: Hunting Grounds is an asymmetrical multiplayer game, pitting a team of four human soldiers against a single roaming Predator across three almost indistinguishable maps set in dense jungle environments. When you're playing as part of the human fireteam, you have a string of objectives to complete before a timer expires, shuffling you from one AI enemy-filled camp to another. When you're the Predator, your objective is even simpler: Hunt down the fireteam and take them all out before they're able to complete their mission and extract, while avoiding confrontation with AI enemies and using the chaos they create to your advantage.Playing as the titular Predator is the most appealing part, and while its mechanics often allow for smooth, fun, and engaging moments, Hunting Grounds' framework doesn't adequately support them. The brutish assassin is as fast and nimble as you'd expect, with an easy-to-use parkour system letting you effortlessly navigate the twisting mazes that the canopy of trees create. A single button press sends you scampering up a tree, after which you can automatically move between branches and adjacent trees by moving in any direction. It lets you focus on hunting your prey instead of having to focus on intricate navigation, while also making you feel empowered through the sheer speed at which you're able to traverse the map. The press and release mechanic for the Predator's leap is less elegant, however, and tricky to use when you really need to get some distance between you and your enemies.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Eager to see what changes are coming to Apex Legends in Season 5: Fortune's Favor? Well, Respawn is scheduled to release a gameplay trailer for the upcoming season tomorrow, May 8, at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. You'll be able to watch it below.If tradition holds, the trailer will be used to showcase any map changes (like the destruction of Skull Town), new legend abilities (in this case, Loba), modes (Quests), and new cosmetic items. The only new addition that the trailer is unlikely to show is battle pass rewards, which are typically revealed on the launch day of a new season--which, for Season 5, is May 12.We'll probably get the Season 5 patch notes alongside the battle pass trailer, which could reveal new buffs or nerfs for existing legends and weapons--Respawn has traditionally reserved the start of new seasons to address balancing changes. Given the falling utility of Mirage and Octane over the past couple of seasons, it would be nice to see at least one of the two get a much-needed buff.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The critically acclaimed open-world action-adventure Western, Red Dead Redemption 2, has finally hit Xbox Game Pass. Now, subscribers of either Xbox Game Pass on Console or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate can enjoy the hijinks of Arthur Morgon and the Van der Linde gang on Xbox One. It's worth noting that RDR2 is only available on console, as its PC version is up on both the Rockstar Games launcher and Steam.But of course, the addition of Red Dead Redemption 2 to Xbox Game Pass's vault coincides with another Rockstar title leaving Xbox Game Pass. Grand Theft Auto V, which has seen massive success since its launch nearly seven years ago, will no longer be available through the subscription service after today. You can still buy the game for $30 on Xbox One, though. That price extends to both the PlayStation and Steam stores.RDR2 isn't the only game joining Xbox Game Pass, as six other titles will get added to the service this month. This includes DayZ--which is out now on the service--Final Fantasy IX, Halo 2, and more.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Though there hasn't been a new Friday movie since 2002's holiday-themed Friday After Next, Ice Cube has said that a fourth installment to the comedy series was planned for release until very recently. In an interview with Seth Meyers, the host mentions that the original Friday's 25th anniversary passed last week, and Ice Cube responds by noting that everything "was ready to go for the fourth Friday" before the 2019 death of actor and comedian John Witherspoon (Friday's Willie Jones) "threw us all back.""We're still grieving over the loss of such a talented, special man," Ice Cube continues. "He wasn't just funny. Everybody saw his funny side, but he was also a serious, thoughtful guy."Last year, Ice Cube was still hopeful that Last Friday--the fourth movie's working title--would be released in time for 2020 and the first film's 25th anniversary. Now, it seems far less certain when, and if, the movie will release. "Hopefully we'll figure it out," Ice Cube tells Meyers. "But for now, it's really on the back burner." Witherspoon portrayed Willie Jones, the father of Ice Cube's character Craig, and was a central character in each of the three Friday movies. "We feel like we all lost our pops, our grandpops, our uncle," Ice Cube says of the production's reaction to Witherspoon's death.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

HBO's new streaming service, HBO Max, is just around the corner and already boasting an impressive catalog of originals and classic streaming content, from Friends to the second season of cult-classic DC Universe original Doom Patrol. And while some content planned for launch, like the highly-anticipated Friends reunion, has been delayed thanks to the global COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, the streaming service is still finding ways to sweeten the deal for day-one subscribers.HBO Max will be partnering with Crunchyroll to offer 17 anime titles at launch, including the entirety of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, the recently released Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, and the cult classic Kill la Kill. Check out a full list of every anime title HBO Max will offer on May 27th below.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

There are plenty of exciting games releasing on PS4 and Xbox One this year, but naturally, we're all hungry for new information on next-generation games that will launch on Xbox Series X and PS5. While info on PS5's games is extremely limited right now, Microsoft's May Inside Xbox stream revealed a slew of upcoming games coming to Xbox Series X--one of them being Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. The dark vampire RPG will release on Xbox Series X as well as Xbox One, PS4, and PC in late 2020. A PS5 version hasn't been announced yet. No exact release date has been confirmed, but the game is up for pre-order with several special editions and pre-order bonuses.Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 was originally planned to release in Q1 2020, but publisher Paradox Interactive announced late last year that the game was delayed to later in 2020. While it's unknown whether Bloodlines 2 will release this holiday season alongside Xbox Series X or will have a separate release date for the next-gen console, Microsoft has confirmed Bloodlines 2 supports Xbox Series X Smart Delivery. That means you can safely pre-order the game for Xbox One and automatically receive the Series X version as well. The game also features cross-gen character saves so that your progress on Xbox One will transfer over to Series X.Bloodlines 2 is an RPG and the sequel to 2004's Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. The game takes place in 21st-century Seattle within the "World of Darkness," where vampires, werewolves, demons, and other supernatural creatures exist among humans. Your character is a human recently killed and revived as a "thinblood" vampire, one with weaker powers than full-blood vampires. In this world, there are various vampire clans with different strengths and abilities, and there are also five different factions representing different ideals and positions in society.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Back in January, National Treasure 3 was announced, and fans of the America-centric Indiana Jones-esque franchise could not have been happier. Now, it looks like a TV series is currently in development.Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer behind the National Treasure franchise, revealed the news in an interview with Collider. "We're certainly working on one [National Treasure] for streaming and we're working on one for the big screen," Bruckheimer explained. "Hopefully, they'll both come together and we'll bring you another National Treasure, but they're both very active… The one for Disney+ is a much younger cast. It's the same concept but a young cast. The one for theatrical would be the same cast."It's unknown if by a "young cast," Bruckheimer means all new characters or just a younger version of Nicolas Cage's character Benjamin Franklin Gates. The producer went on to say that the pilot episode is written, and there is an outline for future episodes.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

May 2020's Inside Xbox event has come and gone, and while it did deliver Xbox Series X news and some gameplay, it didn't turn out to be what anyone was expecting. Microsoft positioned this as the gameplay reveal for third-party games, with Assassin's Creed Valhalla spotlighted as the big-ticket item. The stream's new Valhalla "gameplay" trailer was seemingly devoid of any standard gameplay footage, and the entire event was not the showcase we were hoping for.The hunger for next-gen news and details remains at a fever pitch, and Microsoft did appropriately caveat this event in one key way, telling us we'd be waiting until July's event to see Halo Infinite and other first-party games. But we were still expecting some normal gameplay from the third-party games on display, including Valhalla, which didn't see any in its reveal last week. This was a chance for Microsoft to beat Sony to the punch and showcase what next-gen games will look like. Instead, almost everything shown had the air of cinematic trailers. Even if the footage was "in-engine," there wasn't much throughout the broadcast that resembled what you'd see if your hands were actually on the controller.There are, of course, some challenging obstacles to overcome. Games are being showcased on livestreamed video feeds that are, generally, sub-4K quality, when a 4K source and display would be the optimal way to showcase these games' improved visuals. And developers around the world are now working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially placing further restrictions on what could be assembled for the purposes of an event like this.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

WWE is expanding its unscripted TV series catalog for 2020. Currently, the company has Total Divas and Total Bellas on E! and Miz and Mrs. on USA. Now, the sports entertainment giant is launching a new show on A&E, which is being developed under the working title The Ques. Additionally, A&E made two more announcements for upcoming series.Following in the footsteps of other shows like American Pickers, Pawn Stars, or the new Disney+ series Prop Culture, the official synopsis for The Quest for Lost WWE Treasures reads, "WWE's Stephanie McMahon and Paul 'Triple H' Levesque, will lead a team of collectors, WWE superstars, and legends as they investigate, negotiate, bid and travel across the country to hunt down and reclaim some of the most elusive WWE collectibles."The show will give viewers a unique look at historical items from WWE's past along with taking them into the WWE Archives, which holds thousands of items from WWE's history including PPV ring signs and plenty of Undertaker coffins. The first season will consist of 10, one-hour long episodes.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com