Video Games
This was the best Xbox showcase in years (and the hardest to root for)
AND campaign This looks like an Adam Curtis documentary prequel introducing fans to E-Day and the birth of the series’ iconic “Lancer” chainsaw, in addition to a trailer showing not only is he still alivepotentially blooming. Microsoft’s summer presentation for 2024 was the best the Xbox had looked since the Xbox One. But this comes at an enormous cost, which the company doesn’t seem ready to admit publicly.
Insiders have been raising interest in the presentation for several days, partly because the full list of disclosures and announcements has already been leaked to some media and others. Fans were already furious, expecting Xbox to finally turn the corner, just for football to be dragged out of the field once more and realizing that the platform was still in one other of its inevitable “recovery” years. The proof is at all times in the games themselves, and their effectiveness can only be truly assessed once they’re in the hands of players. For now, though, the presentation has been delivered.
There were over sixty minutes of games small and huge, offering every part from zombie survival to nostalgic teen hangouts, punctuated by massive first-party games and third-party teases. If you own an Xbox Series X/S console, there’s plenty to play this yr and next. Xbox gaming studios lead Matt Booty’s long-running promise of a consistent variety of quarterly Xbox games price appearing in may finally come true. The only thing missing from this event was accountability for what and who Microsoft sacrificed to get here.
Just over a month has passed since the company’s announcement closes three studios and reorganizes the fourth. One of the victims, Tango Gameworks and is the hit of 2023 , seemed to symbolize the best of Xbox in the Game Pass era: a highly stylized passion project from a more moderen team that wowed critics and won awards, and would not have been possible without the “let a thousand flowers bloom” strategy behind the platform go to a subscription library similar to Netflix. But in a devastating turnaround, the deep-pocketed tech giant has parted ways with the team together with renowned immersive sim creators Arkane Austin and others. According to internal comments from Booty and the head of parent company Zenimax, there was simply not enough bandwidth for one in every of the three Most worthy corporations in the world to manage so many studios.
The bad news and nonsense explanations wouldn’t have fallen like a lead balloon if Microsoft had not announced mass layoffs in several departments just a number of months earlier, including the newly acquired Activision Blizzard. The cuts affected everyone from the team to developers Sledgehammer Games and included the cancellation of , a fantasy survival game that would have develop into Blizzard’s first latest franchise in nearly a decade. Microsoft spent $69 billion on the acquisition, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer visited the Activision Blizzard King offices shortly after the deal closed last fall, after which in early 2024 the mask got here off.
In interviews with and , Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer blames the heel activate a mix of investor pressure and a stagnant console gaming market. In other words: capitalism. But completely shutting down Tango Gameworks, originally founded by director Shinji Mikami to train a brand new generation of creators, seemed particularly capricious. The Xbox team didn’t mention the developers it fired or their contributions in its remarks to the live audience before today’s presentation or during the pre-recorded event itself. (Even after learning his fate, Arkane Austin worked hard to post a much needed final update.)
Instead, Spencer opened the presentation promoting the company’s desire to bring one in every of its hottest franchises to much more gamers through the power of a $17/month subscription. This was perhaps unsurprising given the billions Microsoft paid to acquire the series, but the decision to open the series in this fashion underscored a brand new reality for the Xbox brand, which now must return a return worthy of all those investments. “I haven’t talked about it publicly because now is the time for us to focus on the team and the individuals.” Spencer said later that dayaway from the a whole lot of 1000’s of fans watching the show.
He continued:
It’s obviously a really difficult decision for them and I would like to make certain, through departures and other things, that we do the right thing for the individual people in the team. It’s not about my PR, it isn’t about Xbox’s PR. It’s about these teams. After all, as I actually have said again and again, I actually have to run a sustainable business inside the company and grow, and that implies that sometimes I actually have to make difficult decisions that, truthfully, usually are not decisions that I like, but decisions that somebody has to make.
Meanwhile, the presentation didn’t even explain itself the bar set a number of days earlier by Geoff Keighley during the Game Awards host’s presentation. Xbox CEO Sarah Bond, who he responded with a word salad of corpo when asked about the studio’s closure last month, he closed the Xbox presentation by pointing to the future fairly than dwelling on the recent past. “Our mission is to make Xbox the best place to play by including games from our own studios on Game Pass at launch, to take gaming into the future with our commitment to game preservation, to push the boundaries in our future hardware, and to enable you to play games, wherever you want, on Xbox, PC and in the cloud,” she said. “This is what defines Xbox today and in the future, and that’s why we’re working hard on the next generation.”
This was a pledge intended to reassure fans who are still reeling from the shock of the recent changes to the franchise’s history. But the future is built on the past, and every new shiny Xbox game now raises the question of what happens to the teams Microsoft has bought or partnered with when they no longer feel like they’re serving its bottom line.
IGN
Video Games
How to make your Pokémon TCG Pocket perform better and have more top tips for the week
There aren’t many MMORPGs you can simply run in the background on a second monitor when you watch Crunchyroll or listen to your favorite podcast about overseas baking competitions. Most require your input as you complete quests, grind mobs, and run dungeons with random players you may never see again. But it was unique in that it provided a playground for players who wanted to experience character development with minimal effort. Andrew Gower, one among the creators of , eventually left Jagex to found Fen Research, and now his first game is obtainable on Steam as a free-to-play point-and-click MMORPG. -Brandon Morgan Read more
Video Games
The Pokémon TCG Pocket Mass Outbreak Event is a great opportunity to strengthen your Fire-type collection
Hot on the heels of Meowth and Chansey Wonder Pick, there’s a latest reason to open your phone within the constant pursuit of more digital cards. The Fire Pokémon Mass Outbreak event doesn’t provide any latest challenges for a single player to overcome, so don’t fret about assembling the Misty deck you have been meaning to construct. Instead, this one specifically rewards those that like to take a look at Wonder Pick options throughout the day.
Here’s how the Fire Pokémon Mass Outbreak event works: From now until November 28, a special “Bonus Pick” option will appear within the Miracle Pick menu. This will allow you to randomly select one in all five Fire-type cards free of charge, so it’s best to all the time select a bonus each time you see one. These may appear several times a day, so make sure to check your Wonders if you determine to play. At the identical time, you’ll occasionally see a “Rare Picks” pop-up within the Wonder Picks menu, which can feature a correspondingly rarer collection of cards. Rare types cost miraculous stamina that takes 36 hours to naturally regenerate.
Let’s take a take a look at what exactly you will get here:
All cards you possibly can get with bonus picks
The pool of cards that may appear as bonus picks is as follows:
Charmander
Charmeleon
Vulpix
Ninetales
Ponyta
Rapidash
Growlithe
Magmara
Heatmor
Blaine
Again, the bonus picks are actually free, so even when all of the cards are terrible, they’re still price grabbing. That said, the evolution lines of Charmander, Vulpix, and Ponyta will help improve your Fire deck, especially in case you can mix them with Blaine’s Trainer card. Nine-Tails with an extra 30 damage from Blaine can KO Pikachu EX in a single hit!
All cards you possibly can get from rare picks
In the meantime, here’s what the rare pick pool looks like
Arkanine EX
Charizard
Moltresa
Ninetales
Rapidash
Charmeleon
Blaine
Are rare types well worth the miraculous durability?
Admittedly, the worth perspective here is difficult. Charizard EX is probably the greatest cards in the sportbut this is on offer. Arcanine EX is the rarest pick here, nevertheless it’s not exactly a “meta” card. 120 damage for 3 energy can counter the Pikachu EX cards that always show up in online matches, so you certainly shouldn’t write this off. That said, you’ve no actual guarantee that you’re going to catch it, given how Wonder Picks works, so you’ll need to weigh whether the chance is well worth the reward. You can get Miraculous Hourglass and Shop Ticket by pulling Arcanine EX through the event, but that is more of a nice addition than a reason to specifically chase the cardboard.
Fortunately, unlike most regular Miracles, the consolation prizes listed here are pretty good. As mentioned above, Ninetales and Rapidash will be deadly when paired with Blaine. You will need Charmeleon in case you want to construct a Charizard deck. And in case you do not have Charizard or Moltres yet, this is a good opportunity to add to your collection.
Is it price ditching all your stored Wonder Hourglasses for Rare Picks as soon as you see them? Well, in case you haven’t any of those cards in your collection, you most likely don’t need to always chase them. But is this a great way to use up the Miracle Stamina you have already amassed and need to spend? Definitely, so long as you do not get sidetracked by seeing all of the cards you wanted to flip later.
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Video Games
The new tank hero in Overwatch 2 looks like an absolute menace
the most recent tank hero, Hazardwill officially debut next month when the 14th season of the shooter begins, but you may play it now until November 25. Just before the test period began, Blizzard released the primary footage showing Hazard in motion and an outline of the Scottish hero’s activities. In some ways, Hazard feels like an amalgamation of other characters’ skills, as well Juno. However, there’s enough variety here that I can see it feeling quite distinct and never like a carbon copy of the characters it borrows from.
Like most other tanks in , Hazard’s setup is all about taking over space and disrupting the enemy team. His primary fire is a series of mid-range shotgun-like spikes fired from the Gatling gun in his right hand, complementing the remainder of his playstyle as a mobile, capable tank in the vein of Winston or Doomfist. Hazard can jump like Winston after which perform a robust melee attack using the purple spikes growing from his armor. However, his mobility doesn’t end there, as he also can climb partitions like Hanzo and Genji. Both of those abilities help it easily reach high ground and chase down enemies that might otherwise cause trouble for a more stationary tank.
(*2*)
When Hazard does get to enemies at close range, he also can brawl and take up space along with his Spike Guard ability, which greatly reduces the damage he takes, regenerates ammo, and fires spikes from his back a brief distance in front of him. This is helpful each for engaging enemies and for retreating, but unlike Ramattra’s defensive ability, it has a closing date and can’t be used indefinitely.
Perhaps probably the most interesting tool in Hazard’s arsenal is the Jagged Wall ability. Much like Mei along with her Ice Wall, Hazard is in a position to construct a wall that may block incoming attacks, but is just not as wide as Mei’s. It makes up for this with additional advantages, including a spiky surface that deals damage and pushes away enemies who touch it, and the flexibility to construct it on the edges of partitions. This gives him the flexibility to construct a wall in certain places that Mei cannot, and perhaps even knock an enemy off the side of the map should you can do it at the fitting time.
Completing all that is his ultimate, Downpour. This ability shoots purple spikes a good distance in front of Hazard, keeping enemies caught in the, er, downpour in place. Those affected can proceed to fireside their weapon, but will remain motionless for a brief time frame, leaving them open to a lethal shot.
Overall, Hazard seems to thrive when he gains space, and fragile heroes are unlikely to be thrilled along with his arrival. But I’m curious how players react to it after playing it, because each time a champion is released there are weeks of dialogue about how they ruined the sport or aren’t ok to maneuver the needle. Where will Hazard fall? We’ll see in the approaching days.
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