Next week, Microsoft will be hosting a special panel called “Intentionally Inclusive Design: Building a Welcoming Future in Games,” focused on the importance of inclusivity in game design. This panel was originally planned for the Game Developers Conference, but with GDC being postponed Xbox is going ahead with their own live streams on game development.Managed by Katy Jo Wright, the Director of Play for Everyone at On Xbox, the panel aims to discuss how technology and society can interact with each other and make gaming better for everyone. The panel will include Dan Greenawalt, Creative Director on the Forza franchise, Elise Baldwin, Sound Director on the upcoming title 'Tell Me Why', and Dave Evans, Director of Studio at Flying Squirrel.The panel will attempt to cover topics such as the myth that inclusive features can cause a game to “lose its edge”, how to tell different stories in an authentic way, and explore how a “Gaming for Everyone” philosophy can be applied to games.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Spider-Man was briefly out of the MCU, but now that he's back for another movie, star Tom Holland has revealed where and when it's shooting. In an interview with Inquirer.net, Tom Holland has announced that the new movie will begin shooting in July in Atlanta, Georgia, and he describes the story as "absolutely insane."While Holland doesn't reveal any of the plot specifics of the film, he says that Zendaya is returning as MJ too. "As to the relationship between Peter and MJ, I’m not too sure what it will be," he told the site.Asked whether Spider-Man will show up in other upcoming Marvel movies, like The Eternals or Shang-Chi, he says that he's unsure. "I’m not sure as to what they want me to do," Holland said.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Call of Duty: Warzone is a very large game in terms of its download size. The standalone Warzone client weighs in at between 80 GB and 100 GB depending on your platform. Even if you already own Modern Warfare, which shares some of the same assets, the download size is still between 15 GB and 22 GB. Many have wondered why the file size is so large, and now Infinity Ward has responded.Production director Paul Haile said on Twitter that the file size is massive because Warzone includes "a ton of content." Additionally, Warzone shares progression with Modern Warfare, which means every weapon and character asset from Modern Warfare must also work in Warzone.Haile said Infinity Ward's production pipeline could be better, but at the end of the day, Warzone is simply a very large game. Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

It seems that even Pokemon Go is not immune to the wave of cancellations caused by the Coronavirus. Health organizations and government bodies have been asking people to stay home and indoors as much as possible, so it makes sense that we shouldn’t be out catching Pokemon right now.In the interest of reducing the chances of spreading the virus, the Pokemon Go team has made the decision to postpone the Abra Community Day event.Instead, the next patch will be making some different changes to the app. A one-time purchase bundle of 30 Incense for 1 Pokecoin has been added to the shop. Eggs will now hatch at half their usual required distance when placed into Incubators during this update. Pokestops will be dropping Gifts more frequently and Pokemon will be appearing more often in their habitats and the wild. These changes will be in effect until further notice.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Call of Duty: Warzone has launched on PS4, Xbox One, and PC with 150-player matches, making it one of the bigger battle royale games out there. However, it's not going to settle on that number for long--even more populated games are coming.Talking to USA Today, Infinity Ward's Patrick Kelly has said that Infinity Ward is currently running 200-person games in-house. "Actually, I can tell you we are already playing with 200 players," he says. "We are going to release that a little bit later."200 player matches have been a rumored target for Call of Duty: Warzone for a while now--long before it was officially unveiled--so it's good to have this figure confirmed. Kelly also says that bigger squads will likely be possible in the future. "I can tell you we have four-and five-player squads we are already playing with," he told USA Today. "But we want to launch with something we know works really well and we have tested to the nines and then play around with these different team sizes."Call of Duty: Warzone makes use of its huge numbers with a unique respawn mechanic, so it's suited well to larger player numbers. Of course, 200 players will make it even harder to win and see the game's excellent victory screen.Info from Gamespot.com

If you had asked me to write out a checklist of features I would expect to find in a Metroidvania, my final list would be pretty close to what I found in Mindseize. It's a decent one, too. Solid, even. And, for all that, just a little bit dull. There’s nothing wrong, per se, with an unimaginative adherence to the basic Metroidvania formula, but Mindseize also fails to inspire with its approach to theme-setting and story development. The final result is a competent but unspectacular action-platformer with precious few ideas of its own.You play a father bent on exacting revenge on an evil sci-fi organisation that, uh... seized the mind of his daughter. An early unsuccessful encounter with the Big Bad leaves Angry Dad disabled but, with the help of a good sci-fi organisation, able to continue his crusade by transplanting his own mind into a robot. It's nonsense, of course--though it's inoffensive nonsense, sparing in its narrative dumps and blessedly easy to ignore.More urgent matters involve exploring the various planets, each of which is presented as a vast network of 2D platforms appropriated from conventional stock--the jungle area, the industrial factory, the rainy dystopian nightscape, the caves littered with glowing crystals, and the caves that are a bit darker because there are no glowing crystals. They're all there, present and correct, and no more imaginative than similar scenes in countless other games.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Nioh 2 is not to be trifled with. Building on the original's tough-as-nails reputation, Team Ninja's second samurai action-RPG brings back the original's penchant for punishing and highly nuanced combat. The sequel hones the original's distinctive take on the Souls-like without completely reinventing itself. The result is a long, tough slog that will push even the most challenge-hungry players to their breaking points as they fight for every inch of ground and become master samurai.Despite the title, Nioh 2 is a prequel, revealing the secret history of a decades-long period of war in medieval Japan. As the silent, customizable hero Hide, you fight to uncover the secret nature of "spirit stones," which grant supernatural power, and defeat hordes of Yokai across the country. The plot, which you mostly hear through cutscenes and exposition between missions, has an interesting historical bent, but it is really just glue to hold the levels together. Historically relevant names like Nobunaga and Tokugawa play into the saga, but whatever flavor they add in the moment fades the second you take control and it's time to start killing demons.But that's okay. Nioh 2's story gives just enough context for you to follow along and make you feel like you're making progress without getting in the way of the gameplay. Nioh 2's definitive feature is its challenge. With core mechanics refined from the bones of Dark Souls, Nioh 2 boils down to a series of battles and duels in all kinds of situations. These battles demand intense precision: Not only are your attacks and skills limited by a stamina meter--called Ki--but any extra attack or mistimed movement will leave you exposed, often to an attack that will cost you a substantial amount of health. Like other Souls-like games, there is a painful pleasure in mastering whatever opponents the game throws your way.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Limited Run Games, the physical game distributor that was first to announce its E3 2020 press conference, is still going forward with its "totally-live" presentation despite the event's cancellation.The company took to Twitter to confirm that "the show must go on" and said Limited Run Games Live, the company's third annual E3 livestream, will be held on June 8 at 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET / 7 PM GMT. It's said to feature "the biggest announcements in the future of physical games" and goes live on LRG's official Twitch channel.#E3Cancelled, but the show must go on!Join us for #LRG3, our third totally-live, totally-bitchin press conference for the biggest announcements in the future of physical video games: June 8th at 3pm ET on https://t.co/vzY9JjjJzs. pic.twitter.com/HbfCN6w13W — Limited Run Games (@LimitedRunGames) March 11, 2020While LRG's livestream is confirmed, the physical game distributor isn't the only company looking at digital experiences in lieu of a physical presentation now that E3 2020 has been canceled due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Xbox boss Phil Spencer said the company will hold an "Xbox digital event," while Ubisoft is exploring "other options for a digital experience" to bring news directly to its fans. The ESA itself, the organization responsible for the annual trade show, said E3 2020 may continue as an "online experience."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Doom Eternal is just over a week away, so it seems as good a time as any to decide which platform you're going to be ripping and tearing on should you have the luxury of choice. We already know that Eternal won't be running at the promised native 4K on Google Stadia, but what about every other platform?Here you have options, and all of them are centered on resolution. Doom Eternal targets 60 frames-per-second across all consoles, with the output resolution being adapted to accommodate that. One the Xbox One X you can expect a resolution of 1800p as opposed to the 1440p on the PS4 Pro. Both will be upscaled to 4K.On base consoles a familiar disparity is present. The PS4 will be able to render Eternal at 1080p, while the Xbox One and Xbox One S will upscale to 1080p from a native 900p resolution. All console versions will support HDR, with the exception of the original Xbox One. If you're planning to play on PC though, the sky is the limit, granted you have the hardware to support it.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The Disney+ Marvel show Loki has signed another big name. Following the news that Owen Wilson has joined the cast of the upcoming series, it has been reported that Richard E. Grant will also co-star.According to Variety, Grant will appear in one episode of Loki. Details about his character are unknown, he is likely to have a prominent role if he has only been signed for a single episode. The veteran actor most recently appeared as Allegiant General Enric Pryde in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and is also known for movies such as Logan, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Withnail & I, and Bram Stoker's Dracula.Loki will star Tom Hiddleston as Thor's villainous half-brother, a role he has played in numerous Marvel Cinematic Universe films. Wilson was announced in January, and the cast will also include Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Motherless Brooklyn) and Sophia Di Martino (Yesterday). Loki's showrunner is Kate Herron (Sex Education), and Rick and Morty's Michael Waldron is one of the writers. The series is scheduled to hit Disney+ in Spring 2021, and Hiddelston previously revealed that the runtime of first season will be "six hours."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

DC Comics has started to really develop its own brand of horror comics with Hill House Comics. Curating this new label is the writer behind Locke & Key and N0S4A2, Joe Hill--who is doing a Sandman/Locke & Key crossover this fall. While he writes two of the books at the label--Basketful of Heads and The Plunge--he's also helping others bring unique horror stories to DC.Hill was inspired by early horror comics, before the Comics Code Authority forced censorship within the industry back in 1954. But what exactly is Hill House Comics and what can readers expect? "I've described Hill House Comics a couple of ways," Hill explained to GameSpot at C2E2. "One of the things I say a lot is that it's sort of Blumhouse for comics. Actually, the best comparison for Hill House Comics is when I was a kid, my favorite pastime was to go to the local mom & pop video store, and I'd go to the sleazy old horror section, and I'd groove in the sleazy horror section for an hour hunting down straight-to-video schlock horror to watch over the weekend. And every once in a while you'd find one, you'd find some schlocky piece of garbage horror. [One] that was actually brilliant, like Reanimator. I mean, without Reanimator there was, there was no Basketful of Heads."I look at Hill House Comics, I sort of like this video store of the mind. It's what's in the horror section in this impossible video store that exists outside of time. So you can dip in and find that horror film that you always hoped you would see."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Devolver Digital may be "bummed" that E3 2020 is canceled due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), but that isn't stopping the independent publisher from doing something this June in lieu of a big presentation.The company hasn't clarified its exact plans as there is "lots to juggle" at the moment, but Devolver does intend to do a Nintendo Direct-style livestream or press conference of some kind in the absence of E3. Devolver also notes that "possibly more" could be coming from the company but nothing is set in stone right now.Whatever is coming this June will probably be digital as the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the organization responsible for the annual trade show, said E3 2020 may continue as an "online experience."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Spring is nearly here, which means it's almost time to start some serious cleaning. However, today is all about Ebay's new Spring Tech Sale. There is a deluge of awesome deals on things like the Nintendo Switch Lite, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, and the most exciting PS4 Slim bundle ever as well as MacBooks and one of the best gaming laptops out there.Ebay's Spring Tech Sale runs through March 22, but supplies are limited, so act fast if you're interested in any of the deals. All of these are official Ebay deals and come with free shipping; these are also brand-new products unless otherwise stated. We've collected an assortment of the best offers below, but be sure to check out the full sale at Ebay for all of the discounts. See all Spring Tech deals at Ebay Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Fanatical just launched a huge Spring Sale on over 3,400 PC games, and it includes fantastic deals on games like A Plague Tale: Innocence and Red Dead Redemption II as well as pre-orders for upcoming games like Resident Evil 3 Remake. You'll also find a nice pre-order discount on Doom Eternal, but if you're interested in the upcoming demon-slaying shooter, you'll also want to take advantage of Fanatical's current flash deal on Doom (2016), which is down to just $5.59 (normally $20). You'll get a game key that must be redeemed on Steam. As a flash deal, the Doom discount ends in less than 48 hours, so act fast. See Doom (2016) at Fanatical 2016's Doom was a reboot of the Doom franchise, with the previous game, Doom 3, releasing in 2004. In Doom, players take the role of the Doom Slayer, who battles the demonic forces of Hell in a research facility on Mars. The game features both single-player and multiplayer modes as well as a level-creation tool. It earned an 8/10 in GameSpot's Doom review for its satisfyingly chaotic combat, wonderfully grim landscapes, and fantastic soundtrack.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

E3 2020 has been officially canceled due to ongoing concerns over large public gatherings being a transmission point for the coronavirus pandemic. Several publishers like Xbox and Ubisoft have issued statements supporting the ESA's decision and sometimes outlining future plans. Nintendo has now joined with its own statement, offering concern for those affected by the outbreak and hinting at its plans going forward.The full statement from a Nintendo spokesperson:"Nintendo supports the ESA's decision to cancel this year's E3 to help protect the health and safety of everyone in our industry--our fans, our employees, our exhibitors and our longtime E3 partners. We would like to express our concern and support for all those affected by the COVID-19 outbreak during this challenging time.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com