Persona 5 fans in the US and Europe were delivered disappointing news today when Atlus announced that in order to deliver  the “gold standard” localization for the company, they needed to delay the game’s launch to April 4, 2017. Although that’s two months after it was originally supposed to launch, Atlus softened the blow with a neat, limited-time-only theme and avatar set on the PlayStation Store.

The dynamic theme comes with Ryuji eye candy and smooth music to listen to while you wait for the localization. You have until tomorrow, November 17th, to download the theme before it disappears. Here’s a link to its product page on the US PlayStation Store.

When Persona 5 launches on April 4th, you’ll have the option to listen to the English dub or download the free Japanese dub as DLC.

Earlier today, Kotaku reported that the game trailer you see above is for a real game that Ubisoft has been working on called Pioneer. That’s a fitting name, given the space travel tone of what we saw in the trailer. The sources also say that the game is in trouble with its current development.

According to one source, the game was supposed to be announced next year, but the game is being retooled so it will likely miss that date. Another source says when the company decided to make the game part of an easter egg appearance in Watch Dogs, those retooling changes hadn’t occurred.

When they decided to make the easter egg in Watch Dogs 2 they didn’t know it was going to be like this so it’s a bit awkward.

To that I say baloney. Massive video game companies like Ubisoft and EA don’t do things with no purpose. Ubisoft is especially on thin ice with gamers who feel as though the company is making all of their game franchises too homogenous. They’ve got a game they’re unsure about themselves, so they left the preview of it inside Watch Dogs 2 to see how the general community would react to the trailer itself.

Are people getting hyped about what they see? What does that amount to in terms of showcasing a new game that appears to be a space trucker sim survival horror game? Ubisoft wants to know what the world thinks of this game before it officially takes the lid off and commits to the creation.

They’ve been burned once before with gamers’ reactions to Watch Dogs when it finally released, as well as some of the comments the company made about why it chose not to have female assassins in their games. Ubisoft is learning from their mistakes. We got Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, which starred a pair of twin assassins (male and female) and now, they’re dipping their toes in the water with a new franchise without actually committing to it.

Under Pressure

It’s no secret that Ubisoft is in the middle of fending off a hostile takeover from French media conglomerate Vivendi. The company has been buying up Ubisoft shares like mad in an attempt to become a majority shareholder and there were some fears that the company would try and insert people onto the board of directors.

While that didn’t happen back in September, Ubisoft is far from out of the water. Vivendi has been sniffing around the company for months and continues to buy shares despite Ubisoft filling those two open board of director positions with people loyal to CEO and founder Yves Guillemot.

Ubisoft has a vested interest in keeping its current shareholders happy, which is why it has a vested interest in only releasing products that it knows will succeed. For a while, Ubisoft was riding the annualization train just as hard as Activision with titles in the Assassin’s Creed series, so much that gamers got fatigued on the bland gameplay and sales plummeted. Ubisoft can’t afford to have that happen while Vivendi is nipping at their corporate heels.

Some people might say video games are bad. Others might tell you that they rot your brain. You probably shouldn’t tell the kids who saved their family using video games though.

5. Racing games help hydroplaning driver

Hydroplaning, what happens when a car starts sliding on a wet road, is one of a driver’s worst nightmares. Not only do you have to deal with trying to steer your car away from any potential hazards while it’s spinning out, but you might have to do it in the pouring rain. However, for Sadiq Rahman, this is no issue. Rahman was driving with his wife, daughter, mother, and younger sister when his BMW E60 started hydroplaning. As you can see from the video above, Rahman effortlessly regained control of his car before anyone could get hurt.

So how’s he pull off such slick moves? According to The Daily Mail, Rahman plays a lot of racing games.

4. DOTA 2 saves streamer being held at gunpoint

Ok, so this one is more of an indirect save by video games, but hey, what can you do? The story follows: While hosting a DOTA 2 stream, one Nikki Elise, got up to answer the knock at her door. Her loving fans then saw her return, being held at gunpoint by two mysterious men. The fans were quick to call 911 who arrived at Elise’s house and saved her and her boyfriend.

So why’d the two men come knocking in the first place? Well, it looks like they were trying to retrieve some guns and drugs from another man, but got the wrong house. At least that’s how Elise’s statement pegs it:

“Two men kicked our door in and pointed their guns at us looking for the drugs and guns of some other man who was their original intended target but they got us instead”

Lesson learned: Never do drugs and try not to live close to drug users!

3. Xbox Live gamer helps talk online friend from potential suicide

Suicide is a very serious subject, which is why we’re highlighting this story in particular. While playing an unnamed game on Xbox Live, a Thunder Bay teenager noticed that something wasn’t quite right with his friend who he had met and played with previously online.

According to Thunder Bay Police spokesman Chris Adams, the teen says his friend was “indicating that he was feeling pretty down on himself, feeling pretty worthless, and it was a cry for help.” Luckily, the Thunder Bay boy jumped into action, asked his parents what to do, and from there, they were able to get a police officer to talk to the kid, pinpoint his location (in Texas) and get him the help he needed.

Suicide is never the answer. If you or someone else you know is battling depression (or even seems like they might be), please, please, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. You might just save someone’s life.

2. Mario Kart helps kid stop speeding car

The most important thing you can learn from playing Mario Kart is learning how to drive. You probably should still take a legitimate driving test before fully trusting your life to Mario Kart, but sometimes you don’t have that kind of time. Take Gryffin Sanders, a 10-year-old kid. He’s a little young to be driving, but not to be saving lives.

His story started when his great-grandmother passed out while driving down the Colorado highway at 60 mph. Since Gryffin had played Mario Kart in the past, he took the wheel and dodged traffic, safely guiding the car into a ditch. His four-year-old brother in the back was too busy on his iPad to notice anything was wrong. Kids these days. Gryffin attributes his driving skills to the time he spent playing Mario Kart and driving go-karts and ATVs.

1. World of Warcraft saves siblings from moose attack

Since this article’s been pretty depressing, we’re ending this on a positive note! Hans, a Norweigan boy, was taking a shortcut through the woods with his sister when they stumbled upon a moose. Just as the moose was attacking, Hans’ quick thinking kicked in as he taunted the moose, a move he learned from World of Warcraft (WoW), to divert the animals’ attention away from his sister and toward him.

With the moose’s sites now set on Hans, the boy called upon another, very useful WoW move: Feign Death. Just like in WoW, the moose saw its potential prey laying on the ground, motionless, and became disinterested, so it left.

One of the most exciting aspects of following the game industry closely is waiting for big events like E3 and Gamescom where you know you’ll see new game announcement trailers. What’s even cooler is when you find out the developers snuck a tease right underneath your nose and you didn’t even realize it.

Keystone

Okay, so make this one isn’t quite fair to Digital Extremes, because they revealed information to someone they didn’t realize wasn’t authorized to have that information. While the initial story was posted on reddit and since deleted, Kotaku verified the original story as true.

The poster named UndercoverLegend says that he snuck into Digital Extremes’ office in Canada and started casually chatting with the employees there. They revealed the company is working on a new card-based first-person shooter called Keystone.

No one asked me if I worked there, I just sat in the chairs and moved around every now and then. at 12:01pm the lunch lady says that food is ready over the overcom and I join up the line. There’s a bunch of plates stacked and then you just grab the food buffet style. I sat down and enjoyed my free lunch and started talking to some people. They told me they were working on a new game called Keystone. They said it was a FPS with cards (like magic the gathering style perhaps) but didn’t explain that much about it.

Wolfenstein 2

Bethesda is just about as prolific as Ubisoft when it comes to hiding secrets about their upcoming games right under gamer’s noses. It hasn’t been announced by Bethesda, but it’s widely believed that the reference to the New_Colossus entry from a DOS screen in the company’s E3 presentation this year refers to the sequel to Wolfenstein.

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

And bringing up the last of our list of games that were teased well ahead of their official release, we couldn’t leave Hideo Kojima off of the list. He’s teased his future projects in interesting and creative ways most of his career and the last installment of Metal Gear Solid was no exception.

This .gif was put together after a random shirt advertising The Phandom Pain appeared online and the hints at lines in the logo looked familiar to what we already knew about the Metal Gear Solid V logo. The folks over at the NeoGAF forums whipped it up and showcased that the subtitle for the last MGS was hiding in plain sight with the right clues.

So you’ve just received your new PS4 Pro and before you sell off your old one or move it to another room, you want to transfer your old content. You could back it all up to an external hard drive and restore it on the console, but that takes a while. So what’s the easier way to do it? Why, by hooking the consoles up directly of course! Don’t worry, below, you’ll find the very straight-forward instructions on how to get through this lengthy but simple process:

What you’ll need

1. PS4 Pro
2. Another PS4
3. Ethernet Cable
4. Time and Patience

The process:

1. Sync any trophies you have on the original PS4 with the PlayStation Network.
2. Connect one end of ethernet cable to each console
3. Then turn on the PS4 Pro and go through the setup process
4. Once the set up is done, update the system.
5. With the system updated, sign into your PSN account.
6. After signing into your PSN account, the system will ask if you want to transfer over any content from a previous PS4. Click X to continue.
7. Turn on your other PS4 and click next
8. If the PS4 Pro doesn’t detect the first PS4, click “retry.”
9. With the first PS4 detected, press and hold the power button on that console until it beeps once.
10. Choose which content you want to bring over. The more content, the longer the transfer will take.
11. Choose whether or not to activate the PS4 Pro as your primary PS4. We recommend doing this if you do a lot of remote downloading or other people without a PS+ subscription will be using this console for online multiplayer.
12. If necessary, activate the PS4 Pro for any other PSN accounts being transferred as well.
13. Continue and wait for the transfer to complete.
14. With the transfer finished, enjoy your PS4 Pro!

HTC understands that, which is why they’re introducing the TPCast. It’s a $220 accessory that you can use to make your HTC Vive headset completely wireless and more like the Samsung Gear VR.

This is a step in the right direction for the future of VR headsets, especially as bigger players like Microsoft have announced their intention to support VR in the future, with partners like HP, Dell, Lenovo, ASUS, and Acer on board. Microsoft’s newest VR headset even features inside-out trackers, which removes the need for hefty setup of sensors and cameras that track your movement. By removing the connection to the computer, you’re removing the tether that reminds you that you’re just in a simulation.

Once the second and third generation VR headsets come around and the price is lowered, hopefully we’ll see manufacturers like HTC and Oculus Rift devising ways to use their headsets without having to remain tethered to the box that’s actually playing the game. Until then, most of the world will opt out and watch as a select few have fun with their bulky and cumbersome headsets.

Let’s face it, always carrying the burdens of every character you meet in a video game can get tiring pretty quickly. You’re always out to save the world from some unknown catastrophe or dark evil overlord that’s threatening to enslave humanity. But what about games that let you be that evil overlord? There are a handful of games that stray from the “good” path and let you do downright despicable things. Here’s the best of them.

Postal 2

Postal 2 is pretty much the gold standard game that gets trotted out any time politicians want to justify the amount of violence found in video games as a reason to ban them. There’s really no limit to the amount of carnage you can cause in Postal 2, which is one of the reasons its such a great game to play to blow off steam.

And yes I’m aware there’s a much newer Postal 3, but developer Running With Scissors themselves have stated that they don’t consider Postal 3 a good follow-up to the series but more like a spin-off that should have never happened. For true anarchy and a thousand unique ways to kill people, stick with Postal 2.

Dungeon Keeper 1 & 2

Dungeon Keeper 1 & 2 are the quintessential “let’s be evil” games birthed from the mind of Peter Molyneux, before he lost his touch with games. Before these two games debuted, you never really controlled the villains at all. Rather they were just vehicles for the player hero to overcome and win the game, easy peasy.

Peter Molyneux took the strategy gameplay from Theme Hospital and committed that to dungeon building, in which you attempt to build a huge network of minions capable of destroying the world while fending off heroes from invading your dungeon and wiping out your best laid evil plans. Both games are available on GOG and while they’re pretty old at this point, only a handful of modern games have attempted to emulate them.

Evil Genius

Ever wondered what it would be like to run an evil genius’ lair? You can answer that question with Evil Genius, which simulates a Bond villain’s lair similarly to the Dungeon Keeper style. You’re given a robust base you can fill with minions in order to achieve global domination, but you’ll forever have to keep the forces of justice at bay as they attempt to destroy your plotting.

The original Evil Genius debuted back in 2004, but Rebellion Developments announced Evil Genius Online back in 2013. It’s not quite as meaty as the original release because it was redesigned as a Facebook and mobile game, but it does a good job of providing the feel of the original game.

Spec Ops: The Line

Spec Ops: The Line is the only modern first-person shooter on the list and it’s interesting because the entire time you’re playing the game, your characters actions appear to differ from the narrative you’re told. As you explore the world and communicate with those that are left in the barren wastes of what remains of Dubai, you begin to doubt your character’s own sanity.

By the end of the game, you’re presented with choices that seem right at the time but you realize the’ve resulted in the hundreds of thousands of deaths that happened. The game directly places the responsibility for those deaths at your feet and that’s a unique position for a modern military shooter.

Black & White

Black & White is another Peter Molyneux brainchild before Molyneux become completely unreliable as a developer. You assume the role of God and guide a society of humans to greatness, either through helping them with kind acts with the aid of your creature or inspiring fear and terror.

The best part of the evil path here is the more you command your creature to perform evil tasks, the more evil it will become in appearance. In the screenshot above you can see the evil cow looks pretty dastardly. The player who managed to achieve this cow state must have been pretty evil, because here’s how the neutral cow pet in Black and White starts out.

Overlord

Everyone knows the best evil overlords don’t do all the work themselves. Codemaster’s Overlord and its sequel Overlord II put you in the evil throne, but instead of wreaking havoc all by yourself you’re given command of a horde of minions in order to terrorize the villages and assert your evil dominance.

The unique thing about these games is that you have to manage your minions by keeping them alive so you have enough to perform the mundane tasks you need to do, while also ensuring that you’re adequately destroying everyone and everything that stands in your way. As you gain power you can control more and different minions to achieve your goals.

Tyranny

Tyranny is the best evil simulator on this list. It’s an Obsidian RPG in the same vein as Pillars of Eternity, but instead of starting the game as a hapless hero seeking to find your way in the world, you begin as a Fatebinder to a really evil overlord who is enslaving the world Alexander the Great-style.

Kryos expects the player to mete out his justice in his absence and immediately you’re wedged between the overlord’s elite forces and his rabble-rousing gang of thieves and spies. You’ll have to keep everyone happy in order to achieve the Overlord’s ultimate goal, which is world domination. There’s no happy ending here and if your character appears weak in front of the armies, you could suffer at their hands.

Sandwiched between news of new three channels and a brief, positive explanation of the service was sour news for PlayStation Vue subscribers: Viacom-owned networks would be removed starting November 11th. The post on the PlayStation Blog gives three examples of Viacom networks: Comedy Central, MTV, and Spike. At first glance, you might think those are the only ones.

US PlayStation Blog Post:

darealerkilla:

No Sony don’t I need Nickelodeon for my daughter I don’t care about the others get the Nick channels or I’m gone ):

jumpman1229:

Uhhh.. Viacom networks are a big reason why I signed up in the first place. Starting at 12:01am Eastern Time on November 11, I will start looking for a new service

judasgoat:

Very disappointing to lose these (particularly, as a parent, the Nickelodeon/Nick Jr. channels). More transparency on how/why this happened would be appreciated, as well as whether negotiations to restore these are in process.

GIJoeHill:

Comedy Central is in my top 3 most watched channels and the Nick channels were one of the few kids options. I have really enjoyed Vue, but I’ll be cancelling this week. Add those channels back and I’ll come back after I finish the contract I will inevitably have to start with my local provider :(

NeoGAF:

Synless:

Well, my wife will be making me cancel this now. Fucking Sony and Viacom. I have to get cable now.

Blak_Status:

Man…. I forgot all of those were Viacom as well. The wife is going to be pissed. Might have to look at new options

enewtabie:

Nick Jr.. No Peppa pig for my daughter? I guess I can’t sign up now. We were converting over this month to Vue, but no way now.

WouldYouKindly:

Welp deff canceling thats too many channels for my liking to get cut

/r/Vue

waylo88:

I feel a little duped considering I paid in advance for Redzone under the assumption I’d be getting a certain lineup of channels. Yes, I could still cancel but I’d be out the Redzone fee.

Also, I know it’s likely that this isn’t Sony’s fault at all but rather greedy Viacom. It’s still annoying.

Thegoat1374:

Well, this is going to anger the wife and kids, I’ll miss Comedy Central…this move alongside the lack of an Apple TV app means I will cut loose from vue to at least try DirecTV Now.

DoubleJumps:

Drop the price.

You can’t say we are losing Viacom to keep Vue as a good value, and at the same time charge us the same despite the loss of all that content.

innuendobot-5000:

Just joined… And now just cancelling and requesting refund. Won’t even be 30 days in.

Waylo88 makes a rather good point, though. This development might be due to failed negotationas with Viacom. In the past, Viacom has threatened to take away channels from Dish Network, DIRECTV, and Time Warner subscribers unless the parties could come to an agreement over pay rates.

In 2015, Suddenlink, a cable company located in 16 states, decided to take a stand against Viacom and stopped negotiations entirely. That bold move resulted in a loss of 34,800 subscribers during Q4 2014.

The most recent numbers we have regarding PlayStation Vue’s subscriber count is “near 120,000,” an estimate that comes from a Bloomberg report in June 2016. With such a low pool of users already, high number of channels lost, and very few gained, the service’s future isn’t looking too bright.

Nintendo’s upcoming NES Classic is a handheld retro reminder of games from our past that continue to influence games that are in development today. The retro console includes 30 of Nintendo’s classic games, but before you jump into those familiar Super Mario Bros. 3 levels, have a look at these games.

We’re highlighting these because they each brought something to the table that had never been seen before in gaming and you should know why Nintendo thought them important enough to select for a retro remake of the home console that really kicked off Nintendo’s fortunes in the video game industry.

Ghosts n’ Goblins

Ghosts n’ Goblins is one of the games that lent precedent to the phrase “Nintendo hard.” Before there was Dark Souls or Bloodborne, this was the game you smashed your controller over. Unlike the arcade version of this game that accepted an unlimited number of quarters in exchange for lives, you have a set number of lives to defeat the entire game twice. If not, game over for you. Prepare to die indeed.

Who will like this game? Fans of Dark Souls, Demon Souls, Bloodborne, and just about any self-proclaimed hardcore game in the last few years should take a peek at this game to see where it all started.

Galaga

Fans of bullet hell shooters and shoot ’em ups have Galaga to thank for their genre. It’s one of the earliest examples of a game where reflexes really do matter and strategy can only get you so far. Between shooting up alien bugs and defending your ships from attack, modern bullet hell games all branch off from this base game.

Who will like this game? If you’re fond of bullet hell shooters like Jamestown, Undertale, Nuclear Throne, and Enter the Gungeon, then Galaga is a must. This is a classic arcade game brought to life and really one of the games responsible for the bullet hell genre.

Castlevania

Castlevania and Metroid are often credited together in giving us the “open” 2D world to explore that is described by the moniker Metroidvania. Castlevania on NES is the start of that and despite being more than 30 years old at this point, it still features one of the best laid out stories and cohesive level designs you’ll find in any game.

Who will like this game? Do you like exploring expansive environments in games like Ori and the Blind Forest and Owlboy? Did Salt and Sanctuary and La-Mulana scratch all the right places for you? Then Castlevania is where you should start to see how those games built upon its foundations.

Metroid

Metroid’s initial success on the NES can be attributed to multiple factors that came together to create a truly amazing experience for the times. The game handles well and features a huge map to explore, a feat that it shares with Castlevania in this list above it. Accompanying this massive world is a mood-setting score you won’t forget.

Despite all that, Metroid is another game that lends itself to the Nintendo Hard moniker, so be prepared for a challenge if you want to tackle this one.

Who will like this game? Fans of action RPGs that are somewhat unforgiving will be right at home with the original Metroid.

Kid Icarus

Kid Icarus is another of Nintendo’s action RPG games from its early days, this time hearkening back to ancient Greek mythology. The world of Kid Icarus isn’t quite as vast as Metroid, but great controls await to show you how platformers and RPGs have evolved over the years. Don’t let the cutesy graphics fool you however, this game is pretty challenging.

Who will like this game? Anyone who likes challenging action RPGs or platforms should consider giving this game a quick go.

Balloon Fight

Balloon Fight’s concept first appeared in the game Joust, but that doesn’t make it any less fun. It’s also a great game to introduce kids to the concept of playing against someone else in a video game since the graphics are easy to follow and the rules are easy to understand. This one is best played with multiple people, since the AI for the game can be rather basic.

Who will like this game? Anyone who appreciates the couch co-op days of yore will love Balloon Fight. If you don’t like the Joust mechanics, Excitebike is for you.

Excitebike

Excitebike is best experienced with friends, especially when you get together to build crazy race tracks in Design mode and then try to beat each others’ scores. It’s a simplistic game but one that’s a lot of fun when you get together with another person.

Who will like this game?Are you highly competitive when you play games? Then Excitebike is for you. There are some interesting strategies to getting the best time on obstacles that you’ll encounter when you and your friends are designing courses in the game.

Ice Climber

Ice Climber is another great multiplayer game, so long as you’re willing to lose friendships over it. Just kidding. Mostly. Ice Climber’s popularity can be attributed to the devious levels that come later in the game, as well as leaving behind those who just can’t make the cut. You’ll have plenty of frustrating moments playing by yourself but adding another player will ensure you two are at each other’s throats shortly.

Who will like this game? Have a best friend you want to be your worst friend? Do they suck at making jumps in platformer games? Invite them to play Ice Climber with you to promptly ruin that friendship. All joking aside, those who really like hardcore games will get a kick out of Ice Climber.

Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream

Yeah the game is the same as Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!!, complete with palette-swapped Mike Tyson at the end. This is another good party game that comes with the NES Classic because beating each character requires some pretty good button-mashing knowledge.

Who will like this game?Punch Out!! is one of the first examples of a sports game back then, so if you enjoy playing any sports games these days you have Punch Out!! to thank for that success.

The Legend of Zelda

With a new Zelda game due out on Wii U and Nintendo Switch soon, we figure this is a great time to go back and play the original to see how far the series has developed. Just about every action RPG on the face of the earth has The Legend of Zelda to thank for its mechanics, so if you’re an RPG fan this one is a must.

Who will like this game? RPG fans who have long enjoyed games might want to get a peek at how it all started with The Legend of Zelda. Probably the singularly most inspiring game to be released on the NES system outside of the original Mario games.

Looking for something fun to play while we wait to see which talking head will lead the United States for four years? Look no further than our list, which is a peek at the best free-to-play PC games you can enjoy in 2016. The list is pretty comprehensive and there’s something for everyone no matter your genre.

Valve breathed new life into an old Warcraft 3 mode with Defense of the Ancients 2, or DOTA 2 for short. While Blizzard has their own take on the now-known-as MOBA genre, DOTA 2 remains supreme in the eSports scene thanks to its huge International event every year.

While the competitive scene in DOTA 2 can be crazy, the game features the best pricing model compared to any of the other MOBAs on this list. The game is 100% completely free to play and you’ll only need to pay for something if you want to buy a Compendium during the International tournament every year, or you want to buy cosmetic items. All heroes are unlocked from the get go and you can select any one of them to master.

League of Legends

League of Legends is a free to play MOBA that takes its inspiration from the original Warcraft 3 mod and while it and DOTA 2 are similar, League of Legends streamlines gameplay so you don’t have to worry about technical things like last hits in DOTA 2. It makes the game easier to pick up for those who aren’t familiar with the MOBA genre, but it also has more restrictions and more in your face micro-transactions.

The pool of free heroes each week rotates, so if you find a hero you like in the free rotation you’ll have to buy it in order to keep access to it after the free period ends. It’s not as free as a game like DOTA 2, but plenty of fun can still be had with the game.

Warframe

Warframe has the distinction of being available to both PC and console players. It’s a free to play third-person shooter and while it does feature some free-to-play grinding elements found in most games, the currency generation rate is actually pretty fair and the game is actually fun to play with friends.

Your first avatar is free, but if you want additional warframes, you’ll have to pay for slots to unlock them. Warframe is available on the PlayStation 4 and PC for free and you won’t need a PlayStation Plus membership in order to play it.

Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2 is an old one but a good one for the first-person shooter crowd. The game first debuted in 2007 alongside Valve’s The Orange Box, but it was quickly made available on Steam as its own thing within a few years. The over-the-top characterization instantly grabbed plenty of gamers and while all the Meet the Team videos are now released for you to enjoy, Team Fortress 2 is still receiving updates.

Since TF2 is a Valve product, it has a better free to play model than most but there are still some modes that you can only enter by forking over cash. The Mann Up mode is most notably the costliest way to play if you want guaranteed drops after each mode.

Killer Instinct

Killer Instinct was an Xbox One launch game that went free to play for both Xbox One and Windows 10 after Microsoft gave the project to Iron Galaxy. The game is one of the more restrictive free to play games as only one character at a time is free, but you can get entire seasons worth of content for a reasonable price. Plus, the game is cross-platform for Xbox One and Windows 10 so you don’t end up double dipping.

The PS4 Pro officially launches on November 10th, but you don’t have to wait until then to get a feel for the device. Today, the review embargo for the new 4K powerhouse lifted, flooding the internet with reviews from various outlets. We’ve gathered the opinions of Eurogamer, Gamespot, and IGN to see what they thought on the design, games, and performance on 1080P displays.

Eurogamer

On design:

“The console itself uses the same design language as the recently released CUH-2000 PS4 Slim, and booting up the console and navigating the menu systems produces an uncannily similar experience. There’s no acknowledgement of any kind of upgrade at all, aside from the addition of 2160p support in the video output menus, along with a new information screen that scans your display and lets you know whether HDR is supported, and what content DRM systems are supported.”

“As Sony’s new console uses the exact same front-end system as the existing model, the same options are utilised – you can back-up your system to an external hard drive, then restore it on the Pro. Alternatively, hook up both consoles to your router via LAN cables and the entirety of your drive contents can be beamed across to the Pro (but be warned, this may actually take longer than the drive back-up option).”

On games:

“Rise of the Tomb Raider is one the best 4K titles we’ve seen on Pro – it’s checkerboarding, but only the most intense scrutiny reveals that it’s not a native 4K game. In action it’s simply beautiful.”

“The big surprise is that Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4 Pro patch actually seems to be using conventional upscaling, though admittedly it does avoid most of the usual artefacts owing to its excellent temporal super-sampling anti-aliasing technique. However, base resolution is in the region of 1440p and while it remains a beautiful game, it does look a little soft on a 4K screen. The game’s multiplayer section gets an upgrade though, it’s boosted from the standard model’s 900p to full 1080p.”

“At its best though, the results can look stunning – and it’s not as if we’re limited here simply to older titles. Rise of the Tomb Raider and Call of Duty Infinite Warfare both checkerboard up to 2160p and provide some remarkable results for a box with limited GPU power compared to the latest and greatest PC graphics hardware.”

On 1080P gaming:

“At the most basic level, you should get super-sampling as standard – the process where a higher resolution image is downscaled to 1080p. It may not sound particularly thrilling, and the boost to image quality basically depends on how good anti-aliasing was in the base PS4 title to begin with. Titles like Uncharted 4 are already extremely clean, but the difference in others can be dramatic.”

“Rise of the Tomb Raider has real issues coping with sub-pixel detail, resulting in shimmering and pixel-popping that severely detracts from what is otherwise a simply beautiful game. PS4 Pro, running in super-sampling mode, cleans up nearly all of the artefacts and looks simply sensational.”

“On the more incidental level, Call of Duty Modern Warfare Remastered appears to stick more tightly to its 60fps target while retaining the 1620p internal rendering resolution – so you are getting more performance and increased image quality. However, some games do see the developer stick to 1080p rendering, instead pushing the Pro’s GPU to pump out more frames.”

GameSpot

On design:

“The PS4 Pro also comes with a larger 1TB hard drive–though it’s unfortunately still the slower 5,400rpm variety as opposed to the slightly faster 7,200rpm equivalent. Luckily, you can still swap out the HDD for a solid-state drive, and because the Pro supports the SATA III interface, SSDs installed in the console can now reach up to 6Gbps speeds. This is double the frequency of the original PS4’s SATA II interface.”

“The original PS4 featured a very loud optical disc drive. While the PS4 Pro’s ODD is certainly audible, it’s not obnoxiously loud. The system, in general, is pretty quiet.”

On games:

“Some games may run natively at 4K, but Sony says the majority of games will use a 4K upscaling technique the company calls checkerboard rendering, essentially a 4K rendering shortcut that isn’t as taxing on hardware. It’s not quite as sharp as native 4K, but it does look surprisingly close.”

“Instead of cranking up the resolution, developers may choose to increase graphical fidelity, offer improved frame rates, or use better anti-aliasing techniques. This means the Pro could bolster visuals at 1080p. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, for instance, uses super-sampling anti-aliasing to mitigate jaggy edges on regular HD displays.”

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare

“COD Infinite Warfare: With both systems hooked up to the 4K TV, I noticed slightly richer textures on the Pro. For instance, I could more easily see fibrous textures on clothing. The game also has better anti-aliasing with edges that look less pixelated. They’re not huge improvements, but the Pro once again offers more clarity and less noise than the Slim on the 4K TV.”

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

“Shadow of Mordor offers different graphical enhancement options with the Pro. One option allows you to favor resolution. This dynamically scales the game’s resolution up to 4K and smooths out unwanted jaggies. Once again, the Pro’s video quality looked clearer at 4K as a result.”

On 1080P gaming:

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare

“When I hooked up both systems to our 1080p TV, I was able to see better AA and slightly sharper textures from the Pro, but they weren’t as noticeable at this resolution.”

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

“When the Pro runs Shadow of Mordor on a 1080p TV with resolution favored, it switches to a super-sampling anti-aliasing mode to render the game at a higher-than-1080p resolution and then shrinks the image down to 1080p. This does a decent job of making a regular HD display appear sharper than it actually is.

Alternatively, Shadow of Mordor also has a setting that allows you to favor quality. This forces the game to run at 1080p, regardless of the display, but it increases graphical fidelity. Unfortunately, outside of extra wrinkles on faces, I couldn’t notice any other visual enhancements.”

IGN

On design:

“At 11.6 inches wide, 2.2 inches high, and 12.9 inches long, it can fit into practically all the same spaces your launch PS4 can, unless it was a really snug fit already. It is significantly heavier though, by around 30%.”

“Overall, its weight, curved lines, and glossy-finished PlayStation logo give the PS4 Pro a substantial, premium feel, but the cheap-feeling and comically tiny physical eject and power buttons betray the aesthetic just a bit. They’re also a little tough to find until you get used to their odd placement at either side of the Pro’s middle “blade.””

On games:

“Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Rise of the Tomb Raider, for instance, both look fantastic with the “enhanced resolution” option selected on a 4K screen. Lighting has a wider color range and everything looks significantly cleaner, especially around the edges.”

“On the other end of the spectrum is something like Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, which ups the resolution to an unspecified degree and upscales to 4K. Not only is it hard to find any appreciable difference in visual quality, but the higher resolution seemed to cause deeper framerate dips than I remember from when I played Mankind Divided on a standard PS4.”

On 1080P Gaming:

“Especially in the case of Tomb Raider, this mode boosted performance dramatically over the standard PS4 version. Simply put, while the ambiguously named “enhanced visuals” option helps some shaders and reflective surfaces to pop a bit more, the difference was negligible compared to the roughly 50 to 100% increase in performance I witnessed in high frame rate mode. I’d love to see developers provide this option on every game going forward – but again, there are no guarantees.”

“Mordor in high resolution mode supersamples on 1080p TVs for a smoother image; do other games do that and just not mention it? I don’t know, and neither will you, which is a real problem.”

Still thinking of getting a PS4 Pro this holiday season? Let us know in the comments below.

Google’s Deepmind AI is an advanced artificial intelligence that the gaming world should pay attention to with its latest announcement. Earlier this year, the AI managed to beat the world’s best Go player in what is probably the most astounding victory for an AI in the short history that it’s been technologically possible.

Now, Google is partnering with Blizzard to turn Deepmind to Starcraft II. In today’s current landscape, many of the world’s best human players can easily beat current AI opponents, which means Deepmind should be up for quite a challenge. While Go itself is a mathematically calculable game, Starcraft II has lots of hidden information thanks to the game’s “fog of war”, which keeps maps hidden from players unless they have a unit within line of sight.

The challenge here is putting an AI against a human in a game that is ever-changing. The map of a Starcraft II game doesn’t present the computer with a perfect presentation of all possibilities at that moment because the map changes so much if it’s not monitored with quick efficiency. But what happens if Google’s Deepmind can figure this out?

Tackling imperfect games with perfect AI

While the ability to adapt to ever-changing information is in the human players favor, one thing that has always dominated the competitive scene of Starcraft II is the number of actions per minute (APM) that a player can perform. That simply means the number of times a person can click each minute. This is where Deepmind has the advantage, because it can naturally outclick a human player.

While there have been attempts at creating an AI that’s better than humans at playing the game, those attempts were programmed with a set of actions that need to be performed at the start of any Starcraft II game, so technically this AI was an extension of its creator. Google’s Deepmind AI goal is machine learning, which means the machine teaches itself to play the game, learning as it goes.

Of course, Google isn’t without help when it comes to this venture. Blizzard is working on a special AI API that can be used to help teach bots fundamental aspects, like the layers of the game screen versus the mini-map. Blizzard said their goal in helping with the project is hopefully finding ways to improve their own games.

“Is there a world where an AI can be more sophisticated, and maybe even tailored to the player? Can we do coaching for an individual, based on how we teach the AI? There’s a lot of speculation on our side about what this will mean, but we’re sure it will help improve the game.”

In the future game developers could use AI input from projects like Deepmind to more thoroughly beta test their games, without requiring human testers that can find bugs and work out problems. This is especially helpful with the release model that Blizzard uses for its current games, where they’re added onto with expansion packs that brings entirely new content and new ways to play.

This generation of gaming has focused on a battle between frame rate and resolution. In one corner, you have a group of people who firmly believe that the prettier a game is, the better and so they side with greater resolutions. They want to be fully engrossed in the worlds that developers are crafting. If a higher frame rate means sacrificing resolution, they’re not too happy.

Another, upcoming game that allows you to choose your experience is Team Ninja’s Nioh. As detailed earlier today, Nioh players who opt to game on a 1080p display will be able to prioritize a smooth, 60fps experience over visuals, or shoot for 30fps with improved visuals. If you’re gaming on a 4K set, you’ll have the option to set it to 4K/30fps, or 1080p/60fps. Although the picture isn’t 100% clear about the final option, we assume this means they’ll use a checkerboard rendering technique, like other developers, to upscale the 1080p game to 4K while maintaining 60fps.

Jonathan Blow’s The Witness will also let you tinker with graphical settings. On a 4K display, you can choose between a 1440p resolution rendered at 4K with 60 FPS or 4K with 30 FPS. Meanwhile, on a 1080p display, you’ll enjoy a 1080p resolution (higher than the game’s previous 900p on the standard PS4) at 60 FPS.

If you’re worried about choosing the 60 FPS option on 1080p displays, you shouldn’t be. Multiple developers have already stated that they will be utilizing supersampling to provide a good image quality. Essentially, supersampling takes the 4K-rendered image and displays it at 1080p, resulting in a crisp image that you wouldn’t get from a standard PS4. For more on supersampling, you can visit this very helpful NeoGAF thread.

Going forward, hopefully, all developers provide graphic options on PS4 Pro (and eventually Microsoft’s upcoming Scorpio console). until then, will you be picking up a PS4 Pro next week?

Throughout the year, fast-food giant Arby’s has been showing their gaming side with some rather amazing social media posts.

Ths is actually pretty genius due to the hybrid nature of the Nintendo Switch. Since it’s a device that can be played on your TV or on-the-go, no longer do you have to stop gaming when you want a roast beef sandwich!

We’re not sure why this post was made, seeing as how there isn’t a new God of War game launching this year and the new God of War footage was shown in June, not September. Regardless, we’ve never felt a greater need to take a bite out of Kratos than right now.

There’s even an Owlboy post!

And no, they didn’t forget Overwatch.

Whoever came up with this marketing plan deserves a raise.

Back in August when No Man’s Sky released and the world discovered the game wasn’t exactly what Sean Murray of Hello Games promised, a huge campaign took off on reddit to get refunds from Sony and Steam. Some gamers reported that they were able to get a refund of the game despite being past the 2 hour time limit for the game thanks to the misleading advertising featured on No Man’s Sky’s store page.

I can confirm myself that I had 15 hours of play and was able to obtain a refund from Steam support after stating that I felt misled by the game due to the advertising that appeared on the game’s store page. The primary problem with this advertisement is it featured a UI that is not in the game and the first video was the infamous E3 trailer in which several pieces of content showcased were found not to be in the final game.

Now it looks like Steam is finally taking some action against how developers present their games on the storefront, starting with themselves. In a new private post aimed at informing developers of upcoming changes to the Steam store, Valve outlined how it will be changing the images and advertisements surrounding games, starting with their own content.

Valve admits that the way they advertise DOTA 2 is inconsistent with their new policy, which they highlight as one of the things they’ll be changing when this policy goes live sometime in the next few weeks. Here’s the portion of the post that says developers must now only use the screenshot section in Steam to show actual screenshots of their game instead of concept art, pre-rendered stills, and whatever else game developers use to try and market their game.

We haven’t been super crisp on guidelines for screenshots in the past, so we’d like to take this opportunity to clarify some rules in this space. When the ‘screenshot’ section of a store page is used for images other than screenshots that depict the game, it can make it harder for customers to understand what the product is that they are looking at. Additionally, we’re going to start showing game screenshots in more places as described above, and these images need to be able to represent the game.

We ask that any images you upload to the ‘screenshot’ section of your store page should be screenshots that show your game. This means avoiding using concept art, pre-rendered cinematic stills, or images that contain awards, marketing copy, or written product descriptions. Please show customers what your game is actually like to play.

These changes aren’t live on the Steam store yet, but it’s heartening to see Valve require that publishers stop misrepresenting their games with their screenshots and videos. This hurts Valve too, because when they have to refund games that are falsely advertised, they give up their 30% cut of that sale, too.

No Man’s Sky wasn’t the first time customers were able to use advertising as a way to recoup their funds from a game they felt didn’t deserve it, but hopefully, it will be the last with these new guidelines in place.

Video game bosses come in a lot of shapes and sizes. Some are large, while others small. Some are humanoid, while others might be large piles of feces. We’ve put each type under our patented microscope to bring you the seven weirdest gaming bosses of all time.

Mecha Hitler, Staatmeister to some, makes an appearance as the Episode 3 boss of Wolfenstein 3D. This is weird because, well, it’s Hitler and he’s wearing a suit of armor. Try going back to that time and playing this game for the first time. Would you expect to fight Hitler? I think not.

6. Agni and Rudra (Devil May Cry 3)

The sword-wielding duo from Devil May Cry 3 may not seem particularly weird at first glance, but upon further inspection, you’ll see why they’re on this list. Still confused? Well, look close and you’ll see that their heads aren’t just missing, they’re on the hilt of their sword!

5. Belcha (Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble)

Have you ever played any Donkey Kong game and asked yourself “but how do the barrels feel?” Of course, you haven’t! That’s why Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble answers that question for you with the very first boss: Belcha. This boss is a giant barrel with a face. As creepy as that is, the boss battle itself is pretty easy. Simply throw bugs into his mouth and watch him belch his way off the stage.

4. Mad Midget Five (God Hand)

God Hand in general is a weird game, but when you throw Power Rangers (Super Sentai in Japan) homage Mad Midget Five into the mix, that takes things to another level. This team of not-spandex wearing enemies go full force with just about every Power Rangers convention including weird poses, lasers, and combo attacks.

3. Bob The Killer Goldfish (Earthworm Jim)

Bob The Killer Goldfish might not be our number 1 pick, but the fact that a simple goldfish is a boss makes him dear to our hearts. Defeating Bob is a joke; all you have to do is knock down his bowl or (in the second game) eat him.

2. The Great Mighty Poo (Conker)

We really don’t have much to say about this one. Conker was always a funny, yet slightly risque series, so a poo boss is pretty up its alley.

1. Slot Machine (Star Fox)

And top spot goes to the galactic slot machine in the original, SNES version, of Star Fox. By venturing to the secret level “Out of this Dimension,” you’ll come face to face with a gargantuan slot machine. To beat this fearsome foe, all you need to do is fire the handle until you can get a triple 7. Creative? Yes. Weird? Double yes!

Who’s the weirdest boss you’ve faced? Let us know in the comments below.

We’re far enough into the generation that it’s about time we started looking at some key games from the last generation. Today, we’re focusing on games that were criminally underrated.

MAG came around during a time when the flame that fueled war between Battlefield and Call of Duty fans was at its brightest. Battlefield has 64 multiplayer matches on consoles, a feat that was incredibly impressive and chaotic. Then MAG came along. This game from defunct Socom developer Zipper Interactive boasted 256 player online matches! It might not have worked well, and that’s probably a large contributor to its eventual death, but it’s still impressive nonetheless. Sadly, in 2014, servers for the game were shut down, and since it was an online only game, MAG will forever be a game that’s lost to history.

6. Blue Dragon

The Xbox 360 didn’t have many Japanese exclusives, so when one came around, it was a big deal among niche communities. Not so much among the mainstream, though. Despite being a turn-based, JPRG, Blue Dragon wasn’t all too popular. There are a number of reasons that could have caused people to overlook it, the primary one being that it was a niche exclusive on a console that was primarily seen as the go-to shooter platform. Despite not performing well commercially, the game was received rather well by both fans and critics alike. With it now available on the Xbox One via backwards compatibility, maybe it’ll get another chance to shine.

5. Alice: Madness Returns

A sequel for a game most people probably don’t remember. In fact, most of you probably don’t remember this game period. Either way, Alice: Madness Returns was a dark, twisted take on the fairytale about a girl who was transported to the odd Neverland. Designer American McGee’s vision for Madness Returns captivated us as we played through a game filled with colorful, seemingly happy levels with the oddest interpretations of everyday objects we’ve ever seen. Also, the combat was pretty good.

4. Spec Ops: The Line

If there’s one game that we didn’t expect to accomplish much from a narrative standpoint, it’s Spec Ops: The Line. At this time in the gaming industry, we were bombarded by shooters with muted color palettes left and right. When Spec Ops came around, we initially wrote it off, thinking it was just another run-of-the-mill shooting fest with tacked-on multiplayer. It wasn’t. Spec Ops was a game that tactfully took a stab at real-world issues in an eleventh hour moment that you’ll need to play to believe.

3. Split/Second

Arcade racers are a dime in a dozen these days. It seems that with rising development costs and potentially falling sales, developers and publishers don’t see them as a worthwhile investment. Regardless, Split Second was a game from the last generation that took us for a ride. One second you could be doing a casual race then all-of-a-sudden, cliffs could come crashing down or earthquakes rocking the level, changing up the terrain and your way to the finish line. It was like playing an action movie. A damn good one.

2. Yakuza series

Shenmue fans have been clamoring for a Shenmue 3 for years. Now that Shenmue 3 is in development, they’re much closer to receiving exactly what they wanted, but what about before Shemue 3 was announced? Well, before that, Shenmue fans had the Yakuza series to fall back on. This was a series of games set in Japan with a similar asthetic to Shenmue. Seeing as how most of the series has stayed exclusive to the land of the rising sun, not many gamers have gotten to experience the fun that is running errands, and punching the ever-living shit out of people in the Yakuza universe.

1. Saints Row: The Third

In a world where the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series is by and large the dominant sandbox game with little-to-no competition, Saints Row: The Third was a breath of fresh air. Instead of trying to directly compete with GTA like they did with Saints Row 1 & 2, developer Volition took a different route. They went balls-to-the-walls crazy with the series. It started out relatively tame with your usual assortment of weapons like assault rifles, grenades, hand guns, and giant dildos (this is tame for the series).

Saints Row The Third marked a departure from the norm for the series, daring to dabble in the most insane of side missions, mini games, and risque antics. Follow-ups to The Third have only gotten crazier with players visiting hell, and developing super powers. We could go on and on about Saints Row, but that’s an article for another day.

Think we missed a game? Let us know the comments below!