With Microsoft’s acquisition of quirky indie studio Double Fine Productions, announced during the company’s E3 2019 presentation, Microsoft now has 15 studios under its Xbox Game Studios umbrella. While president Tim Schafer has confirmed the purchase will have no effect on how the California-based studio conducts its business, the company did take to Twitter to satirize the news.

Schafer, in a 30-second video posted to the official Double Fine Twitter account, basically said Microsoft rolled up with “a bunch of money” and made the team an offer they couldn’t refuse. The video features all the slow-mo head movement and melodrama that would make any soap opera jealous.

The studio’s next game, Rad, a post-apocalyptic action game published by Bandai Namco, is set to release on August 20 for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Psychonauts 2–set to arrive sometime in 2020 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One–will mark the studio’s first game published under the Xbox Game Studios moniker.

More E3 News:

• Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 teased
• New Xbox console, Scarlett, revealed
• Xbox Scarlett details: 8K, 120 FPS, SSD
• Elden Ring is From Software and George RR Martin’s new game
• Cyberpunk 2077 release date announced
• Final Fantasy VII Remake release date announced
• Marvel’s Avengers revealed

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-truly-heartwarming-tale-of-how-microsoft-bough/1100-6467847/

Fortnite‘s Week 6 challenges have arrived on PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices, which means you now have another chance to earn Battle Stars and level up your Season 9 Battle Pass. As usual, there’s an extra incentive to complete as many of these challenges as possible; if you clear all seven from a given week, you’ll also complete one of Season 9’s Utopia challenges, which in turn will lead the way to a secret item hidden somewhere in the game–including another Fortbyte.

Each Utopia challenge you complete in Season 9 will reward you with a special loading screen that contains a secret clue pointing you to a free item. Odd-numbered Utopia challenges will lead to a free Battle Star, which will level your Battle Pass up by one full tier; even-numbered challenges, however, will direct you to the aforementioned Fortbytes–a new type of collectible introduced in Season 9.

Fortbytes resemble computer chips, and each one you collect unlocks a portion of a larger picture. There are 100 Fortbytes in total, and while most of them can be acquired by achieving certain milestones, a handful are tied to Utopia challenges. That’s the case with Fortbyte #2. The clue for this particular chip can be found in the loading screen you earn for completing the Week 6 Utopia challenge–or, more specifically, its description, which reads, “Only the best snipers can take out a holo-clock tower lamp from the rooftops of Neo Tilted.”

Just as the description says, you’ll need to go to Neo Tilted to find this Fortbyte. The item will appear on top of the aforementioned clock tower, so simply make your way to the area to collect it. We’ve marked the Fortbyte’s exact location on the map below; you can also watch where we go to collect it in the video at the top of this guide.

Unlike secret Battle Stars, which will only appear once you’ve completed their corresponding Utopia challenge, this Fortbyte is available to everyone who has purchased a Season 9 Battle Pass, regardless of whether or not you’ve finished enough challenges to unlock the above loading screen. That means you can head to the right area and collect it without much hassle. If you do need help completing this season’s challenges, however, you can find tips and guides in our complete Fortnite Season 9 challenges roundup.

Week 6’s challenges arrived shortly after Fortnite’s 9.21 update, which added another new weapon to the game: the Proximity Grenade Launcher, a gun that lobs bouncing explosives at opponents. The Proximity Grenade Launcher comes in Epic and Legendary varieties and can be found in chests, supply drops, vending machines, or from Loot Carriers. The update also kicked off a new limited-time mode called Horde Rush, which features its own set of challenges to complete. You can find the full patch notes for the update on Epic’s website.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/fortnite-week-6-secret-fortbyte-2-location-guide-s/1100-6467837/

During Bethesda’s E3 2019 presentation we got a good look at the upcoming first-person shooter Wolfenstein: Youngblood. Though this year’s E3 may have ended, news about the convention’s biggest games continues to trickle out. One such piece of information is the length of the Wolfenstein spin-off.

Machine Games’ executive producer Jerk Gustafsson sat down with GamesBeat to talk about Wolfenstein: Youngblood and discussed the new characters–BJ Blazkowicz’s twin daughters, Jess and Soph–the game’s length, and more.

GamesBeat asked Gustafsson just how long Wolfenstein: Youngblood is, to which Gustafsson said the game is the studio’s “biggest game yet, but it’s a pretty short production time.” Gustafsson said, “I think we’re looking at at least 25 to 30 hours if you play through everything.” He added that the “level progression and the non-linear narrative” makes the game longer than their previous titles. Game length statistic site How Long To Beat reports that Wolfenstein: The New Order and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus both have main storylines that take approximately 11 hours to finish.

GamesBeat also asked how Machine Games settled on two-player co-op. Gustafsson said, “We know that Anya [Blazkowicz’s wife] was pregnant with twins. It made sense to do something fresh and new in the ’80s when the twins were older. We also wanted to do a story about growing up and the transition between adolescence and adulthood. Those were the main reasons for going with the two characters.”

Wolfenstein: Youngblood launches on July 26 for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/wolfenstein-youngbloods-estimated-game-length-reve/1100-6467839/

Last month, The Pokemon Company began distributing a free Shiny Pikachu and Eevee for the Let’s Go games on Nintendo Switch. If you’ve yet to claim one, however, your time to do so is running out. The distribution is set to end this Sunday, June 23, making this your last opportunity to add the free Shiny Pokemon to your collection.

To claim the Pokemon, you’ll first need to download the free Pokemon Pass app on your smartphone. You can grab it from Google Play or the App Store. Once the app has been installed, you’ll need to visit a participating Target store, then find a sign with a QR code for the free Pokemon in the toy aisle. Scan the code using the Pokemon Pass app and you’ll receive a serial code that you can then input in the Let’s Go games.

The Pokemon you’ll receive will be the opposite of the version you own, so you’ll get a Shiny Eevee in Let’s Go Pikachu, and a Shiny Pikachu in Let’s Go Eevee. Each Pokemon comes at level 10 and knows the following movesets:

Pikachu

• Thunderbolt
• Double Kick
• Double Team
• Thunder

Eevee

• Double-Edge
• Iron Tail
• Helping Hand
• Facade

Once you’ve gotten a serial code from Target, fire up your copy of Let’s Go and select the Mystery Gift option from the game’s main menu. Choose the option to receive your gift with a code/password, then the serial code and the free Pikachu or Eevee will be downloaded into your game. You can find step-by-step directions in our guide on how to get your free Shiny Pikachu or Eevee.

Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee are available now on Nintendo Switch, but those aren’t the only Pokemon RPGs coming to the console. A new pair of Pokemon games, Pokemon Sword and Shield, are set to launch on the system on November 15. We learned a lot more details about the titles at E3 2019; we got our first look at their new Dynamax mechanic and learned how Max Raid Battles work. You can read more about the games in our Pokemon Sword and Shield pre-order guide.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/pokemon-last-chance-for-a-free-shiny-pikachu-eevee/1100-6467832/