The third and final Pokemon Go Fest of the summer kicks off in Yokohama, Japan, this week, and to commemorate the event, Niantic is making a new Shiny Pokemon available worldwide for a limited time. Beginning today, August 5, at 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET / 10 PM BST (6 AM JST on August 6), players around the globe will have a chance of encountering Shiny Poliwag in the wild.

That isn’t the only special Pokemon appearing during the event. A few hours after Shiny Poliwag arrives, hat-wearing Pikachu will return until 1 AM PT / 4 AM ET / 9 AM BST / 5 PM JST on August 12. The iconic mouse Pokemon will be sporting a different hat each day, so if you missed any of them the first time they were available, you’ll have a second chance to add them to your collection.

Just as during the previous two Pokemon Go Fests in Chicago and Dortmund, Niantic will hold a series of global challenges during this week’s event, so even if you aren’t able to attend in-person, you can still participate in the fun. As a reward for completing the first two sets of global challenges, Niantic brought the Legendary dogs Entei and Raikou back for special Raid Days, and the same will hold true for Suicune if players can clear enough of this week’s challenges.

In addition to the Pokemon Go Fest, Niantic is kicking off a new gift-themed in-game event this week. From August 5-19, the developer is increasing the number of gifts you can carry in your inventory to 20, while the number of gifts you can open each day is being raised to 30. On top of that, any Eggs you receive from said gifts will only need 2 km to hatch, but the Pokemon that will hatch from them are ones that would normally appear from 7 km Eggs. You’ll also have a chance to hatch a Shiny Bonsly from one of these Eggs.

In other Pokemon Go news, Rayquaza has returned to Raid Battles until September 2, and this time, lucky players will be able to encounter a Shiny Rayquaza. You can read some tips on how to catch Rayquaza in our guide. Team Rocket is also still appearing at various PokeStops around the world, and they have new kinds of Shadow Pokemon. You can read more in our Shadow Pokemon guide.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/pokemon-go-adds-new-shiny-pokemon-for-a-limited-ti/1100-6468904/

2K Games’ yearly WWE series made vast improvements last year with WWE 2K19, primarily with its Showcase mode, which was a documentary-style mode focused on the career of superstar Daniel Bryan. This year, WWE celebrates the evolution of women’s wrestling with WWE 2K20, arriving this October.

Two of the most popular superstars in WWE, Becky Lynch and Roman Reigns appear on this year’s cover of the game–which you can see below–and this year’s Showcase Mode will revolve around the Four Horsewomen: Becky Lynch, Charlotte, Bayley, and Sasha Banks. Players will get to relive moments in the careers of these four WWE superstars in this story-driven mode, which will appeal to both new and veteran players of the series.

In addition to putting one of the most popular WWE superstars on the cover and basing Showcase Mode around the women of the WWE, 2K has another first up its sleeve. WWE 2K20 will be the first time you can play MyCareer as both men and women superstars, as well as the return of Mixed Tag matches.

This also marks the first time since 2000’s WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role that Chyna will be a playable character. The late female superstar is a former WWF Women’s Champion and two-time Intercontinental Champion. In 2019, she was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a member of the over-the-top ’90s stable D-Generation X. She’ll be available at launch for those who buy the Deluxe or Collector’s Editions, and more than likely, she’ll be available for purchase as DLC at a later date.

Speaking of DLC, 2K seems to be changing things up a bit. While no roster packs have been announced, WWE 2K20 will be offering a new service model called WWE 2K20 Originals. Each of these Originals–which may require an additional purchase–will contain a playable world and its own theme, and more details will be announced at a later date. From the sound of the description in the press release, players may be getting more Showcase Mode-like content as DLC. Additionally, the gauntlet mode Towers returns, including a story-driven tower centered around the career of Roman Reigns.

Below, you’ll find the details for both the Deluxe and Collector’s Editions of WWE 2K20. More details about each version’s contents will be revealed at a later date.

WWE 2K20 Deluxe Edition:

• Copy of the game
• Accelerator–Gain access to unlockable content at launch and control playable character’s stats
• Kickstart–25 additional attribute points and 8 additional skill points for MyCareer. Also, 25,000 VC starting bonus, 15 free boosts, 2,000 free tokens, and 400 free deluxe tokens.
• Complete set of WWE 2K20 Originals content packages (details will later be announced)
• Additional playable characters: Chyna, Hulk Hogan, $500 shirt The Rock, and Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection Mankind
• WWE Supercard Limited Edition Cards (physical versions only)

WWE 2K20 Collector’s Edition:

• Everything in Deluxe Edition (Accelerator, Kickstart, Originals package, Additional characters, WWE Supercard LE cards)
• Exclusive WWE Smackdown Ring Skirt Relic Piece (2002-2008)
• Limited Edition WWE Smackdown Legend Autographed Plaque (Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio, or Edge)

WWE 2K20 goes on sale October 22, 2019 and will be available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/wwe-2k20-celebrates-women-superstars-including-chy/1100-6468889/

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is coming to PC, and now developer 343 Industries has shared some new insight on two hot-button issues: mods and anti-cheat.

In a blog post, 343 said it continues to be in “full support” of modding games within The Master Chief Collection on PC, but there are some important details to be aware of. First, all mods must conform to Microsoft’s terms of use. Also, players must have a legally purchased copy.

“We encourage the modding community to update the games the way you see fit to play with your friends. This is something the Halo community has done for a long time and as long as it follows the Xbox Content Usage rules there should be no reason to stop,” 343 explained.

Moving on to anti-cheat, 343 said it will make use of an “industry-leading anti-cheat solution” to lessen the impact of bad behavior for games played on dedicated servers. “We are doing this in order to allow modded content to be used by the community for other game modes they would like to customize,” 343 said. “Our goals are to protect players while also providing freedom to players who mod as long as it doesn’t negatively impact others. We will have a lot more to talk about on this in the future as development progresses.”

343 did not specifically mention the name of the anti-cheat software it will use likely because doing so would give cheaters a head start on devising ways to get around the system.

343 launched the first beta test, or “flight,” in the Halo parlance for Halo: Reach on PC in July. It was promptly illegally distributed, and Microsoft was swift to threaten bans.

In other news, 343 shared a series of videos of some of the silliest bugs they encountered in development; you can see these posted below.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/halo-the-master-chief-collection-pc-dev-talks-modd/1100-6468901/

Halo Infinite is releasing in Holiday 2020 as a launch title for Microsoft’s new and more powerful next-generation console, Project Scarlett, as well as the standard Xbox One in addition to PC.

Halo boss Frank O’Connor spoke about this distributed release in an interview with YouTuber Blackmist523. O’Connor said the Halo development team worked alongside the hardware developers behind Scarlett to allow for the game to look and perform “amazingly” on the next-generation system.

That being said, O’Connor said people playing on the standard Xbox One (and presumably the Xbox One X) will still have a good experience. “The Xbox One is not going to be a second-class citizen. We’re building it so it plays and looks fantastic on Xbox One,” O’Connor said.

Halo Infinite is also launching for PC, on the same day it comes to consoles. That’s a big change for the series, as Microsoft never released the mainline instalments after Halo 2 on PC (though they are coming to PC now through The Master Chief Collection). The PC version of Halo Infinite might end up being the best version of Halo Infinite–provided your rig is beefy enough, O’Connor said.

Here are his full thoughts on the matter:

“Obviously the special citizen [for Halo Infinite] will be Scarlett, and we’ve worked with that hardware team to make sure the game shows up amazingly on it, and work with them to make sure that we know how to make sure the game look amazing on it, but it will be for Xbox One and it will look incredible. And it will also be for PC for the first time, day and date so that’s exciting for us too.

“That’s changed the way we develop and the way we think about things, but we are always shooting for the best possible hardware target. This time it’s going to be up to you to decide–is it going to be Scarlett or PC; it kind of depends on your PC at that point. But the Xbox One is not going to be a second-class citizen. We’re building it so it plays and looks fantastic on Xbox One, and then everything else is plus-plus-plus, but we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeves that we’re thinking about. “

Given the increased horsepower of Project Scarlett, and O’Connor’s statement that developer 343 Industries is developing toward the “best possible hardware target,” it remains to be seen if the standard Xbox One version will be limited in any capacities. Presumably the better hardware with Project Scarlett will allow the game on that platform to look and run better, but any other differences between the versions are unknown for now.

Also in the interview, O’Connor spoke briefly and at a high level about Halo Infinite’s story and how it is connected to the events of Halo 5: Guardians but also aims to be approachable to newcomers. O’Connor also talked about how while the E3 2019 Halo Infinite trailer did not show any new gameplay, it did introduce players to some of what to expect about how the game will look and feel at the start.

While Halo Infinite isn’t scheduled to release until Holiday 2020, a beta for the game will be held prior to release.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/halo-infinites-xbox-one-version-wont-be-second-cla/1100-6468898/