Travis Strikes Again, the No More Heroes spinoff that launched in January as an exclusive for Nintendo Switch, is headed to new platforms. The game is coming to PlayStation 4 and PC, game director Suda51 announced at the Momocon 2019 event in Atlanta this weekend.

There is no word on when Travis Strikes Again will launch on PS4 and PC, what differences there may be compared to the Switch edition, or if it’ll also release on Xbox One. Developer Grasshopper Manufacture says it will announce more details in due course.

Travis Strikes Again takes place seven years after the events of No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. In a plot that is suitably absurd, Travis Touchdown finds himself stuck in a haunted game video console called the Death Drive Mk-II. Alongside Badman, Travis must fight his way out of the Death Drive’s six different games hack-and-slash style.

The game offers co-operative play with one player as Travis and the other as Badman; there are also unique co-op special attacks to pull off. Check out GameSpot’s Travis Strike Again video review in the embed above to see the game in action. GameSpot scored the game a 6/10 in our Travis Strikes Again review.

Looking ahead, Suda51 has said that there might be more No More Heroes news coming at E3 in June. The ending to Travis Strikes Again very strongly suggested that a new No More Heroes game was in development. Asked by Siliconera about the ending, Suda replied with a laugh, “I wonder what that was myself. It might be Travis messing around. [Laughs] I hope around E3 time I’ll have something cool to announce.”

The No More Heroes series started with 2007’s No More Heroes for Nintendo Wii. It was followed up in 2010 by No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, which was also released on Wii.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendo-switch-exclusive-travis-strikes-again-is-/1100-6467168/

The Overwatch League has lost its commissioner. Nate Nanzer, the OWL’s first-ever commissioner who led the eSports organisation from the ground up, has left Blizzard.

He left Blizzard to join Epic Games where he will head up the developer’s eSports and competitive gaming efforts for the massively popular battle royale game Fortnite. Needless to say, he is a huge get for Epic, as Nanzer was instrumental in the creation of the OWL.

In a Twitter thread, Nanzer said leaving Blizzard was the “toughest decision” of his entire life “because it means I won’t get to work with the best staff, players, teams, owners, partners, and fans in eSports anymore.” Nanzer said he is proud of what the OWL has achieved in its early days.

While he was the public face of the OWL, Nanzer stressed that the league’s success wouldn’t have been possible without the efforts of so many other people, and fans. “It isn’t about me; it’s never been. It’s about all of you,” Nanzer said.

He said he leaves Blizzard with the OWL “in great hands.”

“I can’t wait to see where the team takes the Overwatch League in 2020 — and beyond. And I’ll be cheering right there alongside you, every step of the way,” he said.

Activision Blizzard hired former Fox Sports boss Pete Vlastelica to take over for Nanzer as the OWL’s commissioner, according to ESPN.

As for Nanzer’s new job at Epic, the company said it’s “excited to welcome Nate to the Epic Games team, where he’ll be working with us on competitive Fortnite.”

In addition to Fortnite, Epic’s other big eSports game is Rocket League. Epic acquired Rocket League and developer Psyonix earlier this year.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/overwatch-league-boss-leaves-blizzard-to-join-epic/1100-6467164/

Valve’s latest Steam event, Spring Cleaning, has begun and will continue until May 28 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 6 PM BST. The event allows you to play several select games for free, and also complete specific tasks to earn badges.

In Spring Cleaning, you can unlock three different unique profile badges for your Steam account. The first badge is unlocked after you’ve completed five tasks, the second badge at 10, and the third at 15. There are a total of 17 tasks, so you have a bit of choice when it comes to which ones you complete.

Three daily tasks will require you log in four different times to fully complete, thus making up 12 of the 17 total tasks. The first, Speed Clean, is perhaps the easiest. All you have to do is play the free games offered during Spring Clean. There are some pretty good ones on the list, such as Left 4 Dead 2 and Black Desert Online. The other two require you to have used Steam for buying and playing games before. Spin Cycle tasks you with playing games from your Steam library that Valve will randomly pick out for you. Clear the Backlog, on the other hand, can only be completed by playing a game that you bought but never actually tried.

The remaining five tasks are not daily challenges and can only be completed once. To complete Nostalgia, you’ll need to play a game that you’ve already invested two hours into but “haven’t played in a while.” To nab Can’t Wait, you have to play a game you’ve purchased in the last six months, regardless if you’ve played it or not. Trusted Friend wants you to play a game that a Steam friend recommended to you, and Tag Contributor asks you to play a game you’ve applied a tag to or created a tag for. Last year’s Blast From The Past task is back, once again asking you to play the first game you bought on Steam. If you happened to complete this task last year, then this year you must play the second game you bought on Steam.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-steam-spring-cleaning-event-helps-you-clear-th/1100-6467162/

Google used its Stadia reveal event to explain the potential of its game streaming platform and sell some of its unique benefits, but some very big questions remained. Now the company has teased that we’ll get those answers this summer.

In an official tweet, Google promised more details are coming soon. More specifically, it promised a price reveal, game announcements, and launch information. Those are the three biggest lingering questions surrounding the platform, and it sounds as if Google is preparing a second big event to answer them.

More vague is the timing of these reveals. It says this summer, which could mean an announcement during or near E3 2019. We haven’t yet seen Google stake out a time for an E3 press conference, though, so the company may be avoiding the spectacle of the annual event and looking to carve out its own time with less competition.

Google Stadia is a streaming-only platform for games, which means it can run through your browser as easily as your TV with a pass-through box. Google plans to sell a dedicated controller optimized for the device, but otherwise says standard controllers will just work. Our hands-on showed impressive potential, but the pricing model is still a total mystery.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is preparing its own Project xCloud streaming solution to compete with Google Stadia. That appears primed for an E3 debut, and Microsoft recently announced that it has moved into a testing phase with select developers. By comparison to Google, Microsoft is stressing the ease of development on familiar hardware, as well as a vast back-catalog of existing Xbox, 360, and Xbox One games.

For more on cloud gaming, check out our primer on everything you need to know.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/google-stadia-price-and-more-to-be-announced-this-/1100-6467158/

Along with Forza and Halo, one of Xbox’s most highly regarded exclusive franchises is Gears of War. Developed by The Coalition–formerly Black Tusk Studios–Gears 5 aims to up the scale of the series, while also shedding more light on returning Gears of War 4 character Kait Diaz, who is now the protagonist for the next game. Though the series has always stuck close with its cover-to-cover shooting gameplay, Gears 5 looks to be the most significant departure we’ve seen yet for the franchise, placing more emphasis on exploration and traversal across planet Sera following the events of Gears of War 4.

We haven’t heard too many details about the game following its reveal last year, but that hasn’t stopped us from coming up with ideas about what we want to see from the game at E3 2019. So here’s a quick rundown of everything we know about Gears 5 so far, and what Microsoft should reveal during its E3 press conference.

What We Know So Far

Gears 5 was officially revealed at E3 2018, and it will release simultaneously on Xbox One and PC. Along with that, two spin-off games were also revealed, the strategy-focused Gears Tactics and Gears Pop!–a Funko Pop tie-in game. With Gears 5 being a direct sequel to Gears of War 4–this time dropping the ‘of War’ from its title–it shifts the focus to returning character Kait Diaz, who is trying to learn more about her connection to the Locust. Though the once fearsome hive from the original trilogy was long thought to have been destroyed, GOW4 revealed that they evolved into a new foe called The Swarm–the primary antagonist in the new trilogy. The last game was very much a fresh start for the series, bringing several storylines to a close in favor of introducing some new characters–including the son of Marcus Fenix, JD. Alongside JD was Kait, who played a rather significant role in the story.

Much like the previous games, Gears 5 will feature a story campaign that is playable solo and in co-op with another player. From the debut trailer, we got to see some of the locales you’ll come to visit, including a jungle and frozen lake. The latter section even allowed Kait and her companion to use a snow-skiff to travel across the ice, which seems to suggest that there will be some sizeable levels to explore. Gears 5 will also feature an expanded competitive multiplayer mode, but those details haven’t been revealed just yet. Recently, Xbox head of business Phil Spencer stated that he’s seen Gears 5 in action and that it’s “looking great.”

What’s Confirmed For E3 2019?

So far, Microsoft has been keeping most details about the game close to the vest. One thing we do know that is Microsoft will be revealing new competitive gameplay on June 14, the Friday of E3 week. This ties into the debut of its new esports series Eleague, which will show off some new footage of Gears 5’s multiplayer. Given that this will debut shortly after E3 2019, it’s fair to say that we’ll be seeing more of Gears 5 at the show. However, what we’ll see from the game exactly is still a mystery.

What We Want From E3 2019?

Gears of War 4 was something of a fresh-start for the series, focusing primarily on the next generation of COG soldiers on the planet Sera. During the campaign, we saw several new monsters, weapons, and even a new faction that teased what was to come for the future of the series. It would be great to see Gears 5 further expand on the story. One thing that would be fantastic to show off is the increased scale of the campaign. In the trailer, we saw Kait piloting a skiff and exploring some jungles; during E3 2019, we’d love to see more of the moment-to-moment action, and how it’ll weave in the familiar cover-based shooting.

With the announcement of the Eleague, it seems like Gears 5 will lean heavily into competitive multiplayer. Gears of War 4 featured some substantial multiplayer offerings, which carried over several game-types and objectives from previous games. So it would be fantastic to see Gears 5 continuing on the tradition of brutal combat and team-oriented tactics. Along with traditional team deathmatch and CTF, we’d love to see some gameplay of the Horde mode, which has become a staple since GOW2. Also, we definitely need to see footage of someone get killed with a chainsaw-rifle.

Lastly, the thing we want to see most from E3 2019 is for Microsoft to reveal the release date for Gears 5. There have been some teases about it arriving later in 2019, and with a mostly light Fall 2019 schedule at this time–and likely the newest Xbox console coming next year–now seems like the perfect time for the next entry in Microsoft’s shooter series to see its next installment.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/e3-2019-gears-5-what-we-know-and-what-we-want-to-s/1100-6467134/