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San Diego Comic-Con 2020 Cancelled Due to Coronavirus Concerns

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San Diego Comic-Con has been officially canceled. The unsurprising news broke after numerous other pop culture events have been removed from the entertainment calendar over the last few weeks as the coronavirus pandemic continues to run virtually unchecked around the world. This marks the first time in SDCC’s 50 year history that it has been canceled.

“Recognizing that countless attendees save and plan for its conventions each year, and how many exhibitors and stakeholders rely upon its events for a major portion of their livelihood, they had hoped to delay this decision in anticipation that COVID-19 concerns might lessen by summer,” reads a statement on the CCI website. “Continuous monitoring of health advisories and recent statements by the Governor of California have made it clear that it would not be safe to move forward with plans for this year.”

If you’ve already purchased badges, SDCC assures everyone that “individuals who purchased badges for Comic-Con 2020 will have the option to request a refund or transfer their badges to Comic-Con 2021. All 2020 badge holders will receive an email within the next week with instructions on how to request a refund.” Similarly, any hotel reservations made for SDCC 2020 will be canceled and refunded automatically.

“Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures and while we are saddened to take this action, we know it is the right decision,” said David Glanzer, spokesperson for the organization in a statement. “We eagerly look forward to the time when we can all meet again and share in the community we all love and enjoy.”

An email sent to exhibitors promises that there will be some kind of online presence for SDCC 2020, however.

“Information will be forthcoming in the next few weeks regarding the Comic-Con@Home initiatives we have planned for 2020. Currently, we are in the planning stages of our Online Exhibit Hall, our Invited Guest Online Interviews and Panels and some special projects and options that we can’t yet discuss.”

Far more hopefully, they’ve already set the dates for SDCC 2021, which will be held at the San Diego Convention Center from July 22-25, 2021. SDCC parent company CCI also runs Los Angeles’ WonderCon, which would have taken place over Easter Weekend, but was also wisely canceled. WonderCon has similarly been rescheduled for March 26-28, 2021 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

It’s an unfortunate but unavoidable and wise move. The novel coronavirus still hasn’t been contained despite unprecedented social distancing measures that have swept the country over the last 6 weeks. While there are some early and encouraging results in some of the hardest hit regions that social distancing measures are starting to work, the idea of gathering hundreds of thousands of people together for an event on the scale of San Diego Comic-Con remains unthinkable at this time, and may remain so until a vaccine is found.

Stay home, stay safe, and look after each other, and we’ll all be able to enjoy SDCC 2021 together.

The post San Diego Comic-Con 2020 Cancelled Due to Coronavirus Concerns appeared first on Den of Geek.


GTA 6 Timeline and Era Rumors: When Will the Game Be Set?

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With Grand Theft Auto 6 reportedly in early development, everyone is talking about what will surely end up being one of the biggest games of the next console generation.

We’ve already talked about some of the locations we could see in Grand Theft Auto 6, but as Grand Theft Auto fans know, the timeline of a GTA game is sometimes even more important than its location or protagonist. From the infamous ’80s-inspired Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to the incredible trip back to the ’90s that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas sent us on, some of the best Grand Theft Auto games have been defined by the era in which they were set.

What about Grand Theft Auto 6, though? While just about everything concerning GTA 6 is somewhat speculative at this point, a series of persistent rumors and reports point to five distinct timelines that could be the subject of the next Grand Theft Auto game.

Modern Day (Post-Grand Theft Auto 5)

We’ll start with what seems to be one of the most popular and persistent Grand Theft Auto 6 timeline rumors.

The origins of this rumor are a little difficult to trace, but one of the earliest reports stems from an old “leak” that suggested Rockstar was playing with the idea of setting Grand Theft Auto 6 in modern-day Liberty City. That same report hinted at a grittier atmosphere, which was compared to The Wire, and more of a gameplay emphasis on building a criminal empire. Subsequent rumors have suggested a similar tone, but the idea that GTA 6 will be set in the modern era has died down a bit in popularity.

But a modern-day game makes sense. Grand Theft Auto 5 was an absurdly popular title that has reportedly sold over 120 million copies to date. Making Grand Theft Auto 6 a chronological follow-up to GTA 5 is a logical move that would also allow Rockstar to release a new version of Grand Theft Auto Online that doesn’t alter the existing build’s aesthetics or design too much. We’re not saying there’s much consistency to the Grand Theft Auto Online universe, but at this point, there is a sense of continuity within the confines of the content it offers.

Speaking of continuity, the mainline GTA games since Grand Theft Auto 3 have all taken place in a more modern setting. While Rockstar doesn’t seem as interested in releasing GTA “spin-offs” these days, the notable timeline jumps in the modern GTA era have typically been limited to such games.

The 1970s and 1980s

In terms of popularity, no Grand Theft Auto 6 timeline rumor is more noteworthy than the idea that it will take place sometime during the 1970s and 1980s.

This rumor dates back to one of the most widespread GTA 6 leaks, which claimed that the game was being referred to internally by Rockstar as “PROJECT AMERICAS.” That same report alleged that GTA 6 would be split between the 1970s and 1980s and would focus on the drug trade happening between Vice City and some GTA-style variation of Rio de Janeiro. That version of the game has been compared to series like Narcos and will reportedly lean heavily on the idea of things changing over time.

Honestly, we’d love nothing more than to learn that all of those rumors are true. Not only have fans been begging for Rockstar to return to Vice City (and, by extension, GTA: Vice City‘s incredible soundtrack), but setting some of the game during the 1970s and some of it in a place like Rio de Janeiro is the perfect way to mix things up while offering a bit of fan service.

Furthermore, such a setting would allow Rockstar to embrace the slightly more serious tone of Red Dead Redemption 2 while still taking advantage of the inherent “fun” and nostalgia of that time period.

Multiple Timelines

There’s a theory that the next Grand Theft Auto game will jump between many different time periods. There is some disagreement regarding what, exactly, that means, but at a minimum, it’s been suggested that the game will include more flashback-style sequences such as what we saw at the beginning of Grand Theft Auto 5. Others have argued that the game could go so far as to feature a ton of chronological hops that span decades worth of storytelling.

Oddly enough, there is some precedent for that last idea. As Kotaku explains, the nature of Grand Theft Auto Online has basically turned Grand Theft Auto into a chronological anomaly. As we said, GTA Online‘s nature means it doesn’t really have to adhere to any kind of chronology, but the freedom of not sticking to one timeline could be very appealing to Rockstar.

Again, there’s also the possibility that Red Dead Redemption 2 was a preview of the kind of ambitious stories Rockstar wants to tell with these games. If that is the case, then we can hardly think of a more ambitious concept than telling years’ worth of crime stories.

The 1960s

An old report first suggested that Grand Theft Auto 6 could occur in London during the 1960s. While the source is somewhat sketchy, it’s hardly the only time that we’ve heard this rumor. Rockstar Games co-founder and former vice president Dan Houser indicated that the team was interested in doing a Grand Theft Auto game set in London and that GTA games weren’t necessarily tied to America. Of course, we already knew that the last part was true since Rockstar released an expansion for the original Grand Theft Auto that was not only set in London but took place during the 1960s.

Would Rockstar really return to 1960s London? That probably depends on whether or not the studio has an idea that would justify this departure. A new GTA game set in the ’60s would actually be kind of fascinating. First off, the soundtrack for a ’60s GTA game is basically guaranteed to be amazing. Second, we actually don’t see many crime stories in video games that emphasize that era (compared to other eras). Rockstar would have the opportunity to flex its creative muscles in such an environment.

The 2000s

The final GTA 6 potential time period is based on two factors. The first is the aforementioned rumor that the next mainline GTA game will be set in the present day. The second is an old quote from a 2018 GQ UK interview in which Dan Houser suggested that it would be difficult to release a GTA game in the present day due to “intense liberal progression and intense conservatism.” He also suggested that so many things would be “straightforwardly beyond satire” and that the usual GTA references would be “out of date within two minutes” because of the speed everything is moving at.

Houser is no longer with Rockstar, but it’s possible that some of his ideas linger within the walls of the studio. If that is the case, then it’s not out of the question to suggest that Rockstar could be interested in choosing a more modern setting — such as the 2000s or the 2010s — that isn’t explicitly set in the current decade.

Granted, that’s not the most exciting idea out there, but it could allow the team to get away with more and not risk dating Grand Theft Auto 6 by trying to include tons of topical references that may be out of date by the time the game is actually released.

The post GTA 6 Timeline and Era Rumors: When Will the Game Be Set? appeared first on Den of Geek.

The Best Nostalgic Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Sets

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This article is presented by Ebay Logo

For many Yu-Gi-Oh! players, the love of the card game evolved from watching the anime in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. Although the real game has evolved well beyond the accompanying show, there’s still a fervent nostalgia for that era’s classic cards, packs, and decks. The likes of the Dark Magician, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Kuriboh, and many more are ingrained for fans as part of why we took interest in the first place, and why we’re still playing.

Fortunately, Konami’s aware of this and, although the original starter decks for Yugi, Kaiba, Joey and Pegasus can now be quite pricey to get a hold of, several newer versions have been released that adhere to more modern standards of play. These sets still contain many of the cards associated with Yugi, Seto Kaiba and other favorites, but also come with spells, traps, and monsters that can lend more of a hand to contemporary strategies.

Here are the best nostalgic Yu-Gi-Oh! sets to pick up for a walk down memory lane that will also spruce up your current builds:

Yugi and Kaiba Starter Deck Reloaded (2013)

Both the Yugi and Kaiba starter decks received a make-over for a 2013 re-release that brought their fundamental themes up-to-date. Fronted by the usual Dark Magician and Blue-Eyes White Dragon, these decks contain several worthwhile additions to the collection.

Firstly, Kaiba Starter Deck Reloaded has a strong set of basic monsters. Luster Dragon, Vorse Raider, and Mad Dog of Darkness are each level-4 summons boasting 1900 attack, making them great for front-line offense that can be rolled into getting out the Blue-Eyes. Then, there’s the Shard of Greed, the replacement for the banned Pot of Greed that allows you to draw two extra cards after two turns. Dark Hole makes an appearance, always handy, and Burst Stream of Destruction, which destroys all enemy monsters if you have a Blue-Eyes on the field, a nice complement to the fearsome dragon. What’s more, the deck comes with two Blue-Eyes White Dragons, meaning you’ll only need one more to bring out the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon.

Then we have the Yugi Starter Deck Reloaded, which holds some sturdy effects monsters and traps. The emphasis on spellcasters gives some of the most useful, including Magician’s Valkyria, who draws fire from all other spellcasters on your side, and Skilled Dark Magician, who has 1900 attack and can be sacrificed when you’ve used three spells to summon Dark Magician. There’s a couple of reliable one sacrifice monsters, like Dark Magician Girl and Summoned Skull, and Mirror Force and Magic Cylinders, both useful traps for any occasion.

Given that these are older sets, and decks aimed at beginners, there isn’t a huge amount here if you’ve been following the archetype decks of the current 10th series, which ends this year with the upcoming Eternity Code. That said, traps such as Mirror Force, and spells like Shard of Greed and Dark Hole can prove useful in most any setup, and since Eternity Code rounds out the series, they should be able to find a place in the totality of the archetypes.

Yugi and Kaiba Mega Tins (2017)

A few years ago, Konami put out mega tins for Yugi and Kaiba that brought together many of the top cards from the 2016 and 2017 booster sets, which included the likes of The Dark Illusion, Shining Victories, and Raging Tempest. These tins are good value for a dose of nostalgia courtesy of Dark Magician and Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and getting a slew of modern cards in the three mega packs each contain.

The two boxes come with a Proxy Dragon and Pot of Desires as standard – Pot of Desires is another Pot of Greed variant that banishes the top ten cards of your deck to draw two cards, which can be extremely useful if paired with Necroface, whose attack is decided by banished cards. The Yugi tin also contains Dreamland, an ongoing spell card that produces various effects depending on if Fusion, Synchro, or Xyz types are on the field. Kaiba’s, then, provides the powerful Elder Entity N’tss, who’s summoned by sacrificing one Synchro and one Xyz monster, and who lets you special summon one level-4 monster to the field per turn.

Since Eternity Code supplements the Polymerization and Xyz archetypes, these tins can be extremely handy. The aforementioned Dreamland is already useful, as is Dimensional Barrier, which forbids monsters of a chosen type and their effects for a turn. Zoodiac Barrage, though now limited, can be a hefty component of any Xyz deck, allowing you to destroy cards you control to summon other Zoodiac monsters, as can Zoodiac Drident, whose attack and defense are calculated by attached Xyz materials, and can destroy cards by sacrificing said materials.

Yugi, Kaiba and Joey – Legendary Decks 2

If you have the cash and want a complete box-set of nostalgia and fearsome cards, the Legendary Decks 2 is the way to go. Three complete decks are included: a new version of Kaiba’s Blue Eyes White Dragon deck, Yugi’s Exodia deck, optimized for getting the five pieces together, and a modern iteration of Joey’s Red-Eyes Black Dragon deck.

The Joey deck is the most interesting prospect here, giving a Gemini rejig of his common Red-Eyes build, in addition to re-introducing old favourites like Jinzo. Included are the Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon and the Red-Eyes Archfiend of Lightning Gemini monsters, in addition to the usual cast of Red-Eyes variants like Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon. Being a legendary deck, this is already built to hold its own, containing one The Black Stone of Legend, a powerful spell that allows the summoning of a level-7 or lower ‘Red-Eyes’ monster, and can be re-shuffled into your deck after use. What’s more, buying this now gives you some extra cards to work with when the Red Eyes Dragoon tin drops in August, which merges Yugi’s Dark Magician and Joey’s Red Eyes decks. 

The Yugi deck is the ideal choice for any lapsed player who wants to jump back in, because in addition to having Exodia and Dark Magician, this also gives all three of the Egyptian Gods; Obelisk the Tormentor, Slyfer the Sky Dragon, and the Winged Demon of Ra. Many of the inclusions are standard to what’s already been mentioned here, but there’s a couple of curveball reprints, most notably Secret Village of the Spellcasters, which forbids your opponent from using spell cards if you control a Spellcaster.

The Kaiba deck is essentially a Blue-Eyes-fusion deck, containing Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, three regular Blue-Eyes and a number of ways to bring them all together for fusion. Anyone looking to build the latest Blue Eyes gameplans will find a solid competitive foundation here that will no doubt be bolstered by what emerges from combinations opened by Eternity Code.

Likewise, Yugi’s deck contains Ties of the Brethren, a spell that trades life points for summon low level monsters of the same type to the field, a fine tool for many of the archetypes Eternity Code will serve, such as Dragonmaid and Generaider.

You’ll be able to find powerful first edition Yu-Gi-Oh! cards in this $.99 no reserve auction event!

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Star Citizen Update Delays Raise New Development Concerns

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Star Citizen fans are upset by the latest series of update delays which once again negatively impact the already controversial development trajectory of the game.

Recently, the Star Citizen developers posted what they call a “Roadmap Roundup” which includes several delays to previously announced features and updates. Most of the delays largely focus on the technical side of the game. For instance, it seems a server to client update has been delayed as well as an update to the game’s death animations.

Some of the more substantial content delays include the removal of a PvP bounties system (which was seemingly never meant to be publicly discussed in the first place) and a delay of the release of the game’s latest world, Crusader.

There are a few problems with these delays in the minds of some Star Citizen fans. Some of the delays cause problems in and of themselves. It seems that server to client update would have helped instances of in-game cheating and poor user connections, for instance. Also, the delay of a new world for the game is (as in-game content delays usually are) an annoyance.

The bigger issue here, though, is that this is another in a long series of delays which have, thus far, come to define much of Star Citizen‘s prolonged development cycle. Many fans are calling out the Star Citizen team for their habit of promising features and then delaying them rather than just releasing them when they’re ready or providing road maps that largely focus on updates the team feels confident they can deliver on time.

Some of those fans have pointed out that it’s certainly possible that the spread of the coronavirus has contributed to these delays, but it’s also been accurately stated that Star Citizen delays have occurred long before our current situation.

Recounting the entire Star Citizen saga until this point would be a daunting process, but the long and short of it is that Star Citizen began its life as an incredibly successful crowdfunding campaign that promised an epic sci-fi adventure. Since then, Star Citizen has been defined by delays, lawsuits, further funding requests, and accusations of gross mismanagement of resources.

As it stands, you can technically play a much smaller version of Star Citizen that features some impressive visuals and ideas. However, much of the game’s most anticipated content (including a long-delayed single-player mode) remains delayed and doesn’t currently enjoy a reliable release window.

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Facebook Gaming App Launches for iOS and Android

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Facebook is looking to expand the reach of its video game streaming platform with the launch of the Facebook Gaming app.

“Investing in gaming, in general, has become a priority for us because we see gaming as a form of entertainment that really connects people,” says Facebook executive Fidji Simo in an interview with The New York Times. “We’re seeing a big rise in gaming during quarantine.”

We’ll come back to that last part in a bit (don’t worry), but it’s worth noting that this isn’t an entirely new initiative from Facebook. The company has long allowed people to stream video games via their Facebook page, and they’ve even been testing this app in limited markets for over a year now. Facebook has also worked to sign some streamers away from Twitch and other popular platforms.

However, the launch of this app greatly expands the reach of Facebook’s video game streaming service by allowing people to more easily access streams away from their computers. It even supports mobile game streaming (the most exciting video game streams of them all).

As Facebook executive Vivek Sharma puts it, “With mobile, if you have the app open and you’re using the app, it’s in the foreground. You can’t do anything else on your mobile phone, and that is extremely powerful.” Well, that’s not creepy at all, is it?

Speaking of creepy, can we talk about that quarantine hype? Yes, we imagine that it’s true that streaming services like Twitch are seeing an increase in viewership now that more people are at home. We’ve even recommended some great free games for you to play while you’re doing your part and staying in quarantine. People need safe ways to entertain themselves during this time, and we’re glad that there are companies out there trying to offer more options in order to keep us sane.

However, to suggest that the spread of the coronavirus is somehow the perfect time to move up the launch of this app is more than a little strange. It doesn’t help that at least one Facebook executive seems thrilled at the prospect of using mobile devices to capture people’s full attention. We’re pretty sure that was the basis of The Riddler’s plan in Batman Forever.

In any case, the Facebook Gaming will launch immediately for iOS and Android. There will be no ads at first, but Facebook will take a percentage of “Star” currency donations made to streamers.

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Hardspace: Shipbreaker Release Date, Trailer, Gameplay, and News

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Blackbird Interactive, the studio behind the underrated 2016 RTS, Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak, has revealed a new sci-fi game called Hardspace: Shipbreaker.

Hardspace: Shipbreaker tells the story of a blue-collar worker trying to make his way through space as a cutter: a kind of sci-fi scrapper who must break down and salvage broken space ships. As you might imagine, that’s not exactly the easiest way to make a living. It’s also not the typical set-up for a sci-fi gaming adventure.

According to Blackbird Interactive, telling a different kind of sci-fi story with Hardspace is kind of the entire point of the project.

“In most games you go out to the world and you experience the story of how the game takes place,” game director Trey Smith told PC Gamer. “In Hardspace: Shipbreaker, the story comes to you by way of these ships. In each one of these ships we have PDAs and we have audio logs that you can kind of discover, and they’re almost like messages in a bottle from crewmembers and from some of the stories of where this ship has been, who made it, what did it do while it was out there. And slowly but surely the more ships that you break down and the more stories that you collect and you listen to, you start piecing together all of the puzzle pieces that make up the Hardspace universe.”

One of the biggest pieces of that puzzle is the presence of major corporations who seem to have monopolized space. Much like in The Outer Worlds, the corporations pretty much control everything at this point, and as a contract employee, you’re subject to their greedy desires in order to continue securing further work. Interestingly, that element of the plot even bleeds into the gameplay as corporations have your DNA on file and can resurrect you in the event of an on-site accident.

That’s a good thing for the player as, based on what we’ve seen so far, Hardspace will likely offer a challenging gameplay experience. The details are a little vague at this time, but the idea seems to be that you’ll need to enter the floating debris of these broken ships in order to salvage as much as you can and complete certain objectives. Based on what we’ve seen so far, things can go very wrong, very quickly. For instance, Blackbird has said that it’s possible to cut in the wrong area and trigger a chain reaction that causes the entire ship to be destroyed with you in it.

Check out a gameplay dev diary below:

Hardspace is shaping up to be a unique sci-fi adventure built on tense gameplay and fascinating plot concepts. We’ll certainly be keeping our eyes on this one as it nears its PC launch via Steam Early Access on June 16.

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Artifact Reboot Will Include Single-Player Campaign

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Valve’s controversial CCG project Artifact will be getting a new single-player mode as part of the title’s overhaul updates.

“We are doubling down on that effort through a single-player campaign which will both teach new players the game and continue the story that began with A Call To Arms,” says Valve via a Steam blog update. “Tying into our progressions systems, we want people to feel rewarded no matter which way they choose to play the game, whether it be in competitive play or the campaign.”

As Valve points out, this single-player game will not only capitalize on the fact that there is actually a story in Artifact (we wouldn’t blame you for not knowing that), but that Artifact is based on the rich lore of the DOTA 2 universe. Much like Riot is showing with their League of Legends spin-offs, there are, theoretically, quite a few stories to tell with the DOTA mythology, and we’re interested in seeing what Valve does with that lore.

There aren’t many further details available regarding Artifact‘s single-player campaign at this time, but if the Hearthstone single-player campaigns are any indication, then you should basically expect them to emphasize A.I. boss battles that utilize the game’s basic CCG mechanics.

While such a mode could certainly be entertaining in its own right, there are arguably two bigger stories at play here.

The first is the continuing evolution of Artifact. Valve has already stated that they intend to essentially reboot the CCG following its unsuccessful launch, and the addition of a story mode (as well as a variety of gameplay and quality of life updates) certainly emphasizes their commitment to turning that ship around. There’s a lot of work to do before Artifact is ready for primetime, but we’d bet that Valve has the resources and talent to get it there eventually.

It’s certainly also worth noting that this means Valve is working on yet another single-player story. Granted, this isn’t the way many people probably hoped to see them return to this format, but between this and Half-Life: Alyx, it’s been fascinating to see Valve return to telling stories in video games again.

Considering that Valve is also seemingly determined to make Artifact as free-to-play friendly as possible, we’re eager to jump back into the game whenever it does relaunch in order to see for ourselves where it fits into the proud legacy of the CCG genre.

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Xbox Series X Logo Reportedly Leaked

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A new trademark filing by Microsoft seems to reveal the logo for the Xbox Series X, the tech giant’s upcoming next-gen console, which is due to release later this year. The trademark was filed on April 16 and it includes the rights to print this logo on consoles as well as keychains, jewelry, posters, calendars, books, backpacks, clothing, and plenty of other merchandise.

As far as the logo itself goes, it’s a bit of a departure from what Xbox fans might be used to. Compared to the Xbox 360 and Xbox One logos, the Xbox Series X logo is a very different approach, especially when it comes to the design of the “X” itself. Give it a look for yourself:

With Xbox taking a different approach than PlayStation when it comes to logos — Sony’s new console features a very familiar logo design, in fact — we’re left to wonder how else Microsoft’s new machine will stand apart from its competition. We’ve already seen the console’s specs, which include a powerful CPU and an impressive-sounding 12-teraflop GPU. On paper, it does look like the Xbox Series X might be slightly more powerful than the PlayStation 5, although the latter console’s beefier SSD is being touted as a real gamechanger for the industry.

Ultimately, the next console war will come down to the games, though. There aren’t many next-gen consoles confirmed at the moment, but Microsoft has already confirmed two big first-party releases for the Xbox Series X: Halo Infinite and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II.

The highly-anticipated next installment in the Halo series is said to be a more open-world experience and a “soft reboot” of the franchise that takes it back to its roots. We haven’t seen much from the game besides a couple of cinematic trailers that tease Master Chief’s return to a Halo ring. While the game was on track to release this Holiday as a launch title for the Xbox Series X, it remains to be seen if delays across the entire games industry due to the coronavirus emergency will mean that the game — and the console itself — gets pushed back.

Third-party titles set for the Xbox Series X include People Can Fly’s loot shooter Outriders, the Gothic remake, the next-gen port of Cyberpunk 2077, and The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. These aren’t launch titles, but you’ll see them on the console down the line.

The Xbox Series X is out this holiday. In the meantime, we’ll keep you updated on the Xbox Series X as we learn more!

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GameStop to Reopen Select Stores Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

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GameStop intends to re-open stores in certain regions while reducing pay and bonuses for employees and executives as part of the company’s latest response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Today, we announced salary reductions for our senior management team and board of directors, as well as wage rate reductions for some other corporate and field support staff,” GameStop chief executive officer George Sherman said in a press release. “In addition, we have offered certain corporate and other support team members the option to work under either half-time/half-pay structure or a temporary furlough program.

“The situation remains very fluid and a great deal of uncertainty remains, however, we entered into this time with a strong balance sheet and believe that we have sufficient cash and liquidity for the foreseeable future and will continue to take all of the necessary steps to ensure GameStop remains a strong and vibrant company at the end of this crisis.”

GameStop has outlined that pay cuts will result in a 50% reduction in salary for George Sherman as well as a 30% reduction in salary for CFO Jim Bell and the rest of the “executive leadership team.” GameStop’s board of directors members have also taken a 50% reduction in cash compensation.

On a non-executive level, GameStop notes that “certain other employees across the Company’s worldwide operating units” will have their pay cut between 10% and 30% beginning on April 26th. It’s not currently known how many employees will be affected by those reductions or how the exact percentage of those pay reductions will be determined.

GameStop also intends to begin re-opening stores in Italy, Germany, and Austria as well as South Carolina and Georgia. The company also says that it is keeping its eyes open for opportunities to re-open in other states and countries in the coming weeks as the coronavirus situation develops.

There’s quite a lot to break down here, and little of it looks good for GameStop. First off, we need to remind you that internal memos and insider reports suggested that there was a point when GameStop was insisting on staying open during the spread of the coronavirus despite a lack of proper sanitary equipment and procedures. Furthermore, it was reported that GameStop was looking into ways to defy state shutdown orders. What we’re saying here is that the company has a recent history of acting irresponsibly during the coronavirus outbreak.

With these moves, the company clearly looks to further its controversial approach to this situation. While executive pay cuts make sense, GameStop’s full policies suggest that it is not only considering opening stores in potentially dangerous areas but could be sending people to work in those areas for less money.

Furthermore, Sherman suggests that the company has retained “90% of our planned sales volumes in the two-thirds of our stores that are conducting curbside operations” and the GameStop press release notes that “the Company had approximately $772 million in total cash and liquidity” as of April 4. GameStop even claims that “U.S. store sales grew approximately 3%” since the company “closed its stores to customer access.”

When you put it all together, you’re left with the conclusion that GameStop is pushing for these re-openings out of greed, stupidity, and its desire to fill its war chest with as much cash as possible as it prepares to battle an ever-growing digital marketplace that threatens to fully expose the company’s growing cultural irrelevance.

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How World of Warcraft: Shadowlands’ Torghast Dungeon Could Change the MMO

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Every World of Warcraft expansion tends to have at least one big feature that provides a new way to play the game. When Shadowlands releases later this year, the biggest new feature will be Torghast, Tower of the Damned. The dungeon is instanced endgame content that will scale for one to five people and features a roguelike structure, with players climbing the floors of a literal tower until they die.

We had a chance to play Torghast during the Shadowlands Alpha and have some thoughts on how this new endgame feature could be a major game-changer for World of Warcraft long after Shadowlands is over.

MMO Meets Roguelike

Blizzard’s official preview of Torghast, Tower of the Damned explains that the new content is “highly replayable and inspired by rougelike games.” In the Alpha, players can queue for multiple difficulties just for testing purposes, but when the game goes live, players will start on the first floor and have a relatively easy time making it to the goal. As players climb the tower, each floor will offer a progressively harder challenge.

Twitch personality Towelilee interviewed Blizzard developer Paul Kubit on his channel last week, and Kubit shared quite a few details about Torghast, including the fact that, while each level’s design is fixed or static, the creature spawns on each floor will be procedurally generated. Each playthrough for players will be different, although Kubit did say that you’ll eventually learn the strategies for everything once you’ve played through the dungeon enough times. There will also be a list of set events that happen in every run, like a boss fight on every sixth floor.

One of the most interesting things about Torghast is that it can be run solo or in a group of up to five people like a traditional dungeon. When I first jumped in, I queued solo as a Frost Mage. It was…pretty slow going. I used my Frost abilities to kite the mobs one or two at a time, being careful to stay out of range of their attacks as much as possible. Just making it to the sixth floor and the first boss fight felt like a huge accomplishment.

But for the next run, I queued up with another player. The more people that queue with you, the more enemies the Tower will throw at you, but teammates also help make progressing from floor to floor feel like a smoother process. I was a shadow priest for my second run and played alongside a fire mage. I would deal some damage, hit the mage with a bubble or a heal, and then go back to killing. Whenever I got in trouble, the mage was able to jump in and take aggro off of me or distract the mobs long enough for me to get away.

In Torghast, death is a very big deal, so having at least one or two people around to have your back when you’re in trouble might end up being the optimal way to play.

In The End, Death Claims Us All

If you do die too many times, the game does give you a chance to push reset on your mistakes and continue the climb. When a solo player or group hits a pre-determined number of deaths on the same floor, the Tower will summon a spooky figure called the Tarragrue.

The Tarragrue slowly marches from the start of the level to the end. If he catches you, you are kicked out of the tower and the run is over. Beat the Tarragrue to the level exit and you’ll be able to start the next floor with the death count reset to zero. I only encountered the Tarragrue once on my runs, but I can confirm that having a figure that is basically the Grim Reaper hunting you down does add quite a bit of excitement (and stress) to the dungeon.

While this is an Alpha and certain elements are subject to change, the current death caps are three per floor for solo players, five per floor for 2-player groups, seven per floor for 3-player groups, nine per floor for four-player groups, and a whopping 11 per floor for 5-man groups. Groups share these death caps, with each death counting towards the group’s total. So if you have a 5-player group and four people are doing well but the fifth person dies 11 times, all group members will have to deal with the Tarragrue.

Make it to the next floor and the group’s count always resets to zero, without or without a Tarragrue summoning. Fall off the tower (or get knocked off by a boss) and your death counts as two against the cap. Not that I would know anything about that.

Anima FTW

Fighting procedurally generated mobs is a lot of fun, but the most interesting part of Torghast is the numerous Anima Powers you can collect along the way. Anima Power is essentially borrowed power that you can only use within Torghast.

Every time you complete a floor, you will be given the opportunity to power up an ability or learn a special new skill that will make your character more powerful. For example, when I played as a Mage, I could pick up an ability that would increase the strength of my shield or bubble or increase the cast speed of various spells. There are also some quite flavorful buffs, such as one that allows Time Warp to last 200 percent longer but kills everyone in the group when it expires.

Other abilities let you transform into a mount or use some of the Tower’s enemies against it. For example, the Tower has tiny little creatures called Mawrats that are sometimes a part of the various mob groups. I picked up an ability that caused any Mawrat I blinked through as a Mage to immediately explode and deal damage to any other enemies around it.

The best part of Anima Powers is that they stack. So that exploding Mawrat might only do a small amount of damage at first, but find and stack enough of that specific Anima Power and you can decimate entire groups of mobs just by blinking through the rats.

Collect enough Anima and your character will become extremely overpowered, but keep in mind that the Tower will continue to grow in difficulty as you progress through its floors. Basically, get ready to see some very big numbers.

There’s A Lot We Don’t Know

Blizzard developers have said in multiple interviews that they normally wouldn’t release content like Torghast onto an Alpha in its current state. That is to say, a state that’s not even close to finished. For example, when I killed a boss, it technically dropped loot but the loot simply said “PH” meaning Placeholder. We also know players will be able to farm crafting components to make legendary items in Torghast, but those items were placeholders as well.

Across my multiple runs, I found multiple treasure chests and vase-like things to break. Sometimes this gave me additional Anima Powers but we’ve also heard that it might be possible to get cosmetics in Torghast. Again, it’s not ironed out yet.

This is to be expected in an Alpha, and overall it’s good that Blizzard is investing in a more in-depth testing period than with past expansions. Blizzard just can’t afford to repeat the mistakes it made with Battle for Azeroth. Given that Torghast is such a big part of what makes Shadowlands feel new and exciting, here’s hoping Blizzard gets the dungeon’s gear and itemization right at launch.

Torghast Could Last Forever 

Torghast is this year’s big new World of Warcraft feature, But one recurring problem with this game is that Blizzard tends to simply move on to The Next Big Thing once an expansion is out, leaving old features behind. Features like the Garrison in Warlords of Draenor or Artifact Weapons in Legion have either been forgotten or nerfed into the ground in order to push players towards the next expansion’s content.

For the last two years in Battle for Azeroth, players have been collecting Azerite Gear and leveling up their Heart of Azeroth while running Islands and Warfronts. All of this content will likely also be nerfed, removed, or forgotten as soon as the Shadowlands pre-patch goes live.

As Torghast is located within The Maw, one of Shadowlands‘ outdoor zones, it’s likely that this too will be abandoned down the line. But unlike Islands or Warfronts, Torghast has real potential when it comes to longevity.

Torghast can best be compared to the Challenge Mode dungeons in Mists of Pandaria. That was the first time since the 45-minute Baron run in vanilla that Blizzard asked players to try and complete a five-man dungeon run on a timer, and players could earn special rewards if they succeeded. Today, Challenge Mode dungeons aren’t a thing, but Mythic Plus absolutely is. Mythic Plus dungeons are an evolved version of what Blizzard learned from Challenge Modes, and it’d be hard to imagine the game today without them.

Those original Challenge Modes in Pandaria can be credited for paving the way for a permanent new feature to World of Warcraft‘s endgame content. It’s still early days, but the core concept and replayable nature of Torghast is once again making instanced dungeon content feel new and exciting, just like Challenge Modes or Mythic Plus did in their day. Torghast will only shine if Blizzard nails things like itemization, including the gear and legendary crafting drops. If Torghast succeeds, it’s quite possible that this new MMO-meets-roguelike approach could become a permanent fixture in World of Warcraft long after Shadowlands is over.

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is out later this year on PC.

The post How World of Warcraft: Shadowlands’ Torghast Dungeon Could Change the MMO appeared first on Den of Geek.





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