GameSpot is once again hosting its annual 72-hour Extra Life livestream. For three days, GameSpot’s teams will take turns hosting a livestream where staff members play all types of video games and help raise monetary donations for UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.

Every cent that GameSpot raises will be donated to the San Francisco-based hospital, which has a dedicated and passionate team of doctors, nurses, and other staff devoted to helping kids. By donating, you will be helping them and the children they care for. You’ll also be helping GameSpot reach certain stretch goals that unlock a wide variety of rewards–many of which are at our expense and all of which are for your amusement.

Below are details on how Extra Life is going to work this year, including the new loot box microdonations and battle pass. There’s also an outline for the overall schedule for the event and a list of the approximate times for when certain GameSpot staff members will be on the stream and the segments they’ll be doing.

Extra Life 2019 Start Time

This year, the worldwide Extra Life marathon begins on November 2. And, like always, GameSpot will be hosting its livestream the weekend before–so October 25. As per our tradition, we’ll be upping the usual 24-hour long gaming marathon to a 72-hour one.

Specifically, GameSpot’s Extra Life livestream will begin airing on October 25 at 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET / 8 PM BST, which is October 26 at 6 AM AEST. The stream will continue until October 28 at 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET / 8 PM BST, which is October 27 at 6 AM AEST.

Where To Watch GameSpot’s Extra Life Livestream

You can watch this year’s GameSpot Extra Life marathon on YouTube, though we’ll be streaming through the website as well–just go to our homepage and you’ll see the stream in one of the top promo slots. GameSpot’s Twitter and Facebook accounts will be promoting links to the stream all weekend too, and they will also alert you to which GameSpot staff members are playing on the stream next.

Though it won’t be hosting the stream, GameSpot’s Instagram account will be capturing behind-the-scene looks all weekend, allowing followers to see what mischief the GameSpot staff members are getting up to once off-camera. We’re a strange bunch and we’d love for you to come join us in our tomfoolery.

• Extra Life Livestream (YouTube)
• Extra Life Livestream (GameSpot Website)
• GameSpot Twitter
• GameSpot Facebook
• Extra Life Behind-The-Scenes (Instagram)

How To Donate

To donate, simply go to GameSpot’s Extra Life page. At the top is a big green “Donate” button. Click it, and then fill out how much money you’re willing to give. You can donate as many times as you’d like, and the page accepts payments from Credit/Debit cards, PayPal, and Amazon Pay.

Unless you would prefer to remain anonymous, please also add your name or preferred online handle to the donation. This makes it easier for us to thank you for the donation and for your help in supporting UCSF Benioff.

Also, it will help us know who to blame if you’re specifically giving money to unlock one of the many donation incentives that will force GameSpot staff to participate in any manner of embarrassing or painful activities. And speaking of incentives…

Uncommon And Epic Donation Incentives

We’ve added a new type of incentive to this year’s GameSpot Extra Life marathon: microdonations. You can buy a loot box with a $30 USD donation, allowing you to randomly unlock one of several different rewards. These aren’t physical items that we’ll be sending to you though. The prizes within these loot boxes are commands for GameSpot staff to do something that’s dumb and/or embarrassing–like calling someone’s mom or forcing two people to switch accents while speaking.

For $15 USD, GameSpot staff will spin a wheel on the stream. Like the loot boxes, the wheel offers several different stream rewards for you all to enjoy. The main difference is that the wheel’s offerings will likely change with each segment, as the rewards are either tied to the game being played or the people who are playing. The loot box rewards are constant throughout the stream.

Legendary Donation Incentive

As you most likely know, not all loot box rewards are created equal. Our loot boxes are the same, with uncommon and epic prizes making up the bulk of the rewards and one legendary prize that is harder to win–a chance to be featured on GameSpot.

We have our first winner: Reyna Olegario–who actually is an ex-GameSpot employee funnily enough. So thanks Reyna! You’re still helping GameSpot, even from afar. We appreciate your donation to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.

If you want to be featured on GameSpot, you’ll have to buy a loot box and nab the legendary reward. Remember all loot boxes are $30 USD apiece.

Donation Stretch Goals

Buying microdonations isn’t the only way to unlock special prizes though. This year, GameSpot’s Extra Life marathon will also have a battle pass, and donating money–regardless of how much–will work towards unlocking the marathon’s largest prizes. Unlocking the battle pass is a GameSpot community team effort.

Our initial goal is to raise $1,500 USD for UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. But we’ve created 10 stretch goals that are unlocked at different tiers in the battle pass–leading all the way up to $15,000 USD. At $6,000 USD, the GameSpot staff will temporarily stop playing games to take a class to learn how to floss (a very important life skill to have), for example, and at $12,000 USD Peter and Tamoor will shave each others’ beards.

GameSpot Extra Life 2019 Schedule

Unfortunately, GameSpot’s UK office will not be participating in Extra Life this year, but staff members from the San Francisco and Australia offices (as well as contract workers from other locations, like Canada) will be on camera to entertain you with some of their favorite games. As the stream is around the clock, you can tune in anytime throughout the weekend. If you can show up, please stop by and say, “Hi!” Even if you can’t donate, we enjoy spending time with you all.

This year, we have a jam-packed schedule. After a year of writing articles and producing videos for incredible, but lesser-known games–like the mobile titles that make the platform worthwhile for gaming and the story about a plague that manages to capture what it feels like to be an older sibling–Edmond, Eddie, and Jess from the Australia office are playing through a collection of games that you probably haven’t gotten around to yet but should definitely check out. They’ve left room for more mainstream games too, though, like The Sims 4 and Mortal Kombat 11.

The San Francisco office is primarily tackling mainstream titles this time around, such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Bloodborne, Rocket League, Destiny 2, and Pokemon Ruby. Be sure to check out at least parts of the larger blocks, like Michael leading a raid in Final Fantasy XIV or Tamoor and Jake having a speedrunning competition through Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. You can find all the times in the schedule below. Keep in mind, all times are listed in PT.

Friday, October 25

12 PM – 2 PM — Jack Box Party Pack 6

Lucy James, Tamoor Hussain, Michael Higham, and Mat Paget kickstart the stream with the roster of minigames included in the newest Jack Box Party Pack.

2 PM – 4 PM — Metal Gear Solid Challenge Run

Tamoor Hussain, Jake Dekker, Ben Janca, and Matt Espineli take a nostalgic trip through the original Metal Gear Solid. Viewers can weaponize their donations to make the experience more difficult (and way more fun to watch).

4 PM – 6 PM — Lynel Hunting

Max Blumenthal, Peter Brown, Evan Langer, and Rob Handlery participate in a competition to see who can hunt down the most Lynels in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

6 PM – 8 PM — Monetize Miku

Michael Higham and Ben Janca steal away Hime’s girlfriend to host a Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Future concert. Viewers can request songs by donating.

8 PM – 12 AM — The FFXIV Raid Block Party

Michael Higham, Ben Janca, Matt Rorie, and Jan Ochoa embark on a 24-player Final Fantasy XIV raid with members of the GameSpot and Giant Bomb community. Afterward, viewers can donate $10 USD to enter into a Glamour Competition for the chance to win 1 million gil.

Saturday, October 26

12 AM – 3 AM — Rock(et) Band

Rob Handlery, Peter Brown, and Jordan Ramée dunk on fools in Rocket League. Viewers can donate to unlock the trio’s true power: using musical instrument video game controllers to control their supersonic acrobatic rocket-powered battle-car.

3 AM – 5:30 AM — Destiny 2 Dungeon Speed Running

Destiny 2 veteran David Ahmadi leads novice Jordan Ramée and newbie Evan Langer through some of the loot shooter’s dungeons. Viewers can donate to make the experience more difficult for the fireteam.

5:30 AM – 8 AM — Becoming A Legend

Jordan Ramée, David Ahmadi, and Evan Langer jump into ranked Apex Legends to raise their respective rankings to Gold tier or higher. Viewers can donate to unlock penalties that will make that journey much more difficult.

8 AM – 11 AM — Competitive Sekiro

Jake Dekker and Tamoor Hussain face off in competitive Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, with points allocated for killing enemies and bosses. To ensure fairness, the competition will be overseen by Lucy James, Mat Paget, Peter Brown, and Kallie Plagge.

11 AM – 1 PM — Spooky Dreamcast Games

Take a walk down memory lane with Peter Brown, Mat Paget, and Jean-Luc Seipke as they play through some of the scarier games found on the Sega Dreamcast: Illbleed, Zombie Revenge, and Nightmare Creatures II.

1 PM – 3 PM — Devil May Cry 5 Stylish Run

Alessandro Fillari shows off some of the coolest combos in Devil May Cry 5 while Jean-Luc Seipke, Ben Janca, and Matt Espineli cheer him on. Viewers can mess with Alessandro’s flow by donating and unlocking in-game debuffs.

3 PM – 5 PM — Battle For The Grid

Samantha “Persia” Hancock is joined by the combat developers for Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid. Viewers are encouraged to boot up the game and challenge us–by donating, they can force the devs to play with certain restrictions.

5 PM – 6 PM — Let It Rip! The Beyblade Hour

Tamoor Hussain, Lucy James, and numerous other members of the team break out the ol’ plastic stadiums to oversee the first inaugural GameSpot Beyblade Battle Tournament.

6 PM – 9 PM — Pokemon Ruby Nuzlocke Run

The SF office’s resident Pokemon expert Kallie Plagge embarks on a journey through the Hoenn region, with the stipulation that she can only catch the first Pokemon she encounters in each area and must abandon any that faint. Lucy James, Jake Dekker, Ben Janca, and Tamoor Hussain will commentate and viewers can donate to add rules and make the run harder. See how far she can get!

9 PM – 10 PM — Vine Theater

GameSpot meme Slack channel leaders Lucy James, Ben Janca, Tamoor Hussain, Kallie Plagge, and Jean-Luc Seipke showcase some of their favorite Vines and try and get to the bottom of why they love them.

10 PM – 12 AM — The Definitive Smash Bros. Cop Ranking

Jake Dekker, Jean-Luc Seipke, Kallie Plagge, and Ben Janca discuss how much of a cop each of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate‘s characters is, and then decide on a definitive, completely correct tier list.

Sunday, October 27

12 AM – 8 AM — GameSpot After Hours

Chastity Vicencio, Ben Janca, Evan Langer, and Alessandro Fillari amp up the stream all through the night with intense multiplayer sessions of Killer Queen Black and Tekken 7, followed by an energizing Just Dance competition and Deadly Premonition spooks.

8 AM – 10 AM — More Rocket League

Rob Handlery and Peter Brown return to play some more Rocket League. This time, they’re joined by Ben Janca.

10 AM – 12 PM — Fortnite Tips From A 10-Year-Old And Ninja’s Book

Randy Ramsay brings in his kids who will first explain how adults are playing Fortnite incorrectly and then delve into how you can use Ninja’s Tips For Influencer Success to become a pro gamer. If there’s time, there will be a special follow-up makeup tutorial segment.

12 PM – 2 PM — The Bard’s Tale Singalong

As GameSpot’s Australia office takes over, Jess McDonell kicks things off with The Bard’s Tale. There will be singing too. Donate for a solo or donate for them to stop, totally up to you.

2 PM – 5 PM — Gaming Mashup

Eddie Makuch dives into a trio of games, switching things up every hour. He’ll first play the opening hour of Strange Brigade, then show off some of the wacky challenges in What the Golf, and finish his time with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, the latest entry in the shooter franchise. Ask him to eat an onion like it’s an apple–he’ll do it! (If you donate).

5 PM – 7 PM — Sims 4 Speed Run

Jess McDonell is going to get her Sim famous as fast as possible. Or get them to the top of the career ladder. She hasn’t decided–but one thing is for sure: she has a system and a plan. Viewers can influence said plan by donating and helping or hurting her track to Sim stardom.

7 PM – 8 PM — Some Very Dangerous, Life-Threatening Kombat

Edmond Tran plays an hour of Mortal Kombat 11.

8 PM – 9 PM — Spin Rhythm

Edmond Tran plays an hour of brand new rhythm action game, Spin Rhythm XD.

9 PM – 11 PM — Taking On The Blair Witch

Eddie Makuch dives into the creepy world of Blair Witch while Jess McDonell tries to keep the shrieks to a minimum. Every big scare comes with a reward for those who donate so come for the laughs and the spooks!

11 PM – 12 AM — SpyParty

Jess McDonell, Eddie Makuch, and Edmond Tran rotate roles in SpyParty, a two-player game where one person must guide characters through a mission at a party filled with NPCs and the other person is a sniper who must figure out who the player-controlled characters are and kill them.

Monday, October 28

12 AM – 2 AM — Siege The Day

Jean-Luc Seipke, Mat Paget, and Evan Langer jump into some Rainbow Six: Siege online multiplayer matches as the stream reverts back to the San Francisco office.

2 AM – 4 AM — Luigi’s Mansion

In preparation for the release of Luigi’s Mansion 3, Jean-Luc Seipke and Evan Langer play the opening hours of the original GameCube game.

4 AM – 8 AM — Jackie Chan Stuntmaster

Kurt Indovina and Evan Langer play through True Fiction-related video games, make balloon animals, shoot confetti, and reveal strange facts about one another’s lives. Things get weird at four o’clock in the morning.

8 AM – 10 AM — Baby’s First Bloodborne

Rob Handlery has never played Bloodborne, but he hears it’s a decent game so he’s going to try it out. Bloodborne fanatics Tamoor Hussain, Jake Dekker, Kurt Indovina, and Mat Paget are on standby to make sure he doesn’t make any significant blunders.

10 AM – 12 PM — More Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

Michael Higham concludes this year’s Extra Life with more online multiplayer matches in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Kallie Plagge (who’s reviewing the game) and Jake Dekker will be joining him to commentate on his performance or take over if he needs a break.

Livestream Segment Explainers

Some of the segments in this year’s Extra Life marathon are a bit more complex than the others. Below, you’ll find a list of articles that expound on certain Extra Life segments in a bit more detail.

• Monetize Miku: Hatsune Miku And Persona Rhythm Game Jukebox Segment
• The FFXIV Raid Block Party: Final Fantasy XIV Alliance Raid Party Segment

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/gamespot-extra-life-2019-schedule-featured-donor-r/1100-6470829/

Respawn has released a new update for Apex Legends that severely nerfs the Charge Rifle, the new firearm added to the battle royale at the start of Season 3: Meltdown. This patch follows on the heels of an October 17 update that also nerfed the Charge Rifle–though these latest adjustments lead to more significant changes.

The most significant change in this latest patch is in regards to the Charge Rifle’s attachments. You can now no longer equip extended energy magazines to the Charge Rifle. To balance this out a bit, the base magazine size of the Charge Rifle has been increased to 12, which was the size of the weapon’s magazine with a level one energy extended magazine equipped. So the Charge Rifle will now be able to fire four shots per magazine (every shot uses three ammo).

The Charge Rifle’s fire rate has also been reduced. The laser itself still charges and fires at the same speed as before. However, you’ll have to wait longer between each shot before you’re able to fire again. Finally, the damage falloff for the Charge Rifle has also been modified. Though the weapon will continue to fire in a straight line without bullet drop, the Charge Rifle will do less damage on all targets that are 150+ meters away (it will only deal 90 damage) and even less on those 400+ meters away (it will only deal 30 damage).

When combined with the slower fire rate and loss of extended magazine slot, this damage fallout nerf will make it significantly harder to kill a far-off target that has a rare (blue) or higher-tiered body armor and helmet equipped. Despite being a sniper, these changes will likely encourage players to use the weapon more often as a mid-range option.

The Charge Rifle wasn’t the only new content drop for Apex Legends’ third season though. The battle royale also got a new map, World’s Edge, and playable character, Crypto. Apex Legends is currently in the midst of its Halloween-themed Fight or Fright event, which adds a limited-time zombie mode called Shadowfall to the game and teases a new playable Legend. Also, until 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 6 PM BST on October 28, you earn double XP for both account level and battle pass progression for placing in the top 5 or winning a match.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/apex-legends-charge-rifle-gets-a-huge-nerf-in-new-/1100-6470911/

Just last week, Amazon slashed the price on some of 2019’s biggest games in competition with a same-day pickup sale at Target. Now, the retail giant is back at it again, offering discount upon discount on some great games for PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. If you’re an Amazon Prime member, all of these deals come with free one- or two-day shipping.

Remedy’s new supernatural thriller, Control, is back on sale for $33.74 on both PS4 and Xbox One. Borderlands 3 is also back down to $33.74 on both platforms, and its Super Deluxe Edition is available for $75, down from $100. NBA 2K20, which released in September, is already on sale for $30 on all consoles, including Switch. Meanwhile, some great games that have been out for a while are much cheaper, including Assassin’s Creed Odyssey for only $15 on Xbox One, Mortal Kombat 11 for $28.87 on Xbox One, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice for $30 on both PS4 and Xbox One. A few Switch game deals are also worth noting, including Super Mario Maker 2 and Daemon x Machina for $49.94 each.

See some of the best games on sale at Amazon below. Please note that for some of these, the full discount will appear during checkout. When you look at a product page on Amazon, you can see how much extra you’ll save by looking underneath the price on the top right–there should be a sentence in green indicating the extra discount.

Best game deals at Amazon

• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Xbox One) — $15*
• Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition (PS4, Switch) — $41.88
• Borderlands 3 (PS4 and Xbox One) — $33.74*
• Borderlands 3 Super Deluxe Edition (PS4, Xbox One) — $75
• Control (PS4 and Xbox One) — $33.74*
• Daemon x Machina (Switch) — $49.94
• The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan (PS4 and Xbox One) — $18.74*
• Devil May Cry 5 (PS4) — $25
• The Division 2 (Xbox One) — $20
• Hitman 2 (PS4) — $17.24*
• Mortal Kombat 11 (Xbox One) — $28.87*
• NBA 2K20 (PS4, Xbox One, and Switch) — $30*
• Samurai Shodown (Xbox One) — $30*
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (PS4 and Xbox One) — $30*
• Skyrim VR (PSVR) — $20
• Steins;Gate Elite (Switch) — $37.94
• Super Mario Maker 2 (Switch) — $49.94

*full discount shown during checkout

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/another-wave-of-ps4-switch-and-xbox-one-games-stee/1100-6470899/

With the release of WWE 2K20 this past week, both critics and players alike noticed the game was filled with glitches. While some of these glitches are hilarious, it’s extremely frustrating for players expecting a finished, polished game. 2K Games has addressed the problems, and a patch is coming.

In a tweet from the official WWE Games account, 2K said, “We are listening closely to the feedback that’s been shared regarding WWE 2K20 and are aware of the concerns some players are reporting. We’re working hard to investigate these concerns and address them as necessary. We expect to have an initial patch ready in the next two weeks, with others to follow. Stay tuned to WWEGames social media channels for more information.”

This response comes three days after the initial release of the annual game, and on launch day, #FixWWE2K20 was trending on Twitter, as players uploaded screenshots and videos of the glitches within the game.

Aside from things like characters’ hair wildly flying around the screen, Becky Lynch’s face disappearing, and characters getting tangled up in the ropes, other issues players have come across include certain menus never getting past the loading screen–like for create-an-entrance–or the game crashing. Additionally, character models don’t look as good as they did in previous incarnations of this series.

While this is Visual Concept’s first year working on the game solo–as Yukes wasn’t involved–the studio had to recode much of the actual game, and it’s pretty clear it wasn’t polished before launch. This was also a problem GameSpot noticed during a press trip for WWE 2K20 a few weeks ago, as there were response issues with the gameplay.

Additionally, the most fun part of the game, WWE Originals mode, wasn’t available at launch and won’t arrive until October 28. Hopefully, the patch coming within the next two weeks can fix a majority of the problems, as many consider the game, as is, to be unplayable.

WWE 2K20 is available now on Xbox One, PC, and PS4.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/2k-acknowledges-problems-with-wwe-2k20-patch-comin/1100-6470906/

Despite Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu / Let’s Go Eevee being a success, selling an approximate 11 million units worldwide, developer Game Freak has confirmed there are no plans to expand the Let’s Go catalog at the moment.

Eurogamer sat down with series producer Junichi Masuda and game director Shigeru Ohmori to chat about Pokemon Sword / Shield, the pressure fans put on the studio, and more. In the interview, Masuda was asked if Game Freak is considering making more Let’s Go-style Pokemon games following Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee’s success. It seems like more Pokemon remakes in that vein aren’t in Game Freak’s cards right now.

“So, at the moment there [are] no particular plans,” Masuda said. “But if the fans really like it then definitely keep those voices coming out to the Pokemon Company and Nintendo, and make sure we hear them! We wanna hear those comments!”

Game Freak currently has its hands full with Pokemon Sword and Shield, which launches on November 15 for Nintendo Switch. Unlike Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee, Sword and Shield will not include Pokemon Go integration. “In Pokemon Sword and Shield there’s no direct communication with Pokemon Go,” Ohmori said. “But you’ll have seen the announcement for Pokemon Home, where there are plans to be able to send Pokemon from Pokemon Go, and take them around with you, so that’s something we do have.”

However, those who played Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee will receive a special bonus in Sword and Shield: Gigantamax versions of both title Pokemon, Pikachu and Eevee.

Game Freak recently responded to backlash regarding Sword and Shield’s smaller Pokedex, explaining that “for the overall game, focusing on creating the richest experience we could within that game, leaving the Pokedex as we did was the best solution overall.” Despite this, Game Freak assures that Sword and Shield are “comparable” in length to previous titles.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/pokemon-dev-has-no-plans-for-more-lets-go-remakes/1100-6470903/