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Transformers: War for Cybertron brought gamers and long-time fans of the Hasbro toyline back to the roots of the alien cybernetic beings, to the early parts of the war between the Autobots and Decepticons, before they came to earth forming the story of the classic ’80s cartoon. The best part of War for Cybertron, is that Activision and High Moon Studios brought a solid game to the market, something that was very much needed after terrible video game adaptations based on the first two movies of Michael Bay’s blockbuster trilogy of Transformers films....

Ubisoft RedLynx’s Trials series has long been a favorite franchise for players looking to experience a deft mixture of zany, over-the-top motorcycle trial racing and lavish, elaborately designed set pieces. Thankfully, Trials Rising continues this tradition with aplomb, by offering some of the most gorgeous and challenging 2.5D tracks to date, and by providing a deceptively simple set of physics-based controls that are easy to grasp, but difficult to master. Truly, based on everything that Trials Rising serves up, whether it be the smooth and addictive gameplay that will have players constantly telling themselves “just one one more try”, or even the new, albeit clunky experimentation with customization and loot boxes, the game is obviously a labor of love, and it shows....

Once again, Twitch has made a bold and public statement saying that they really do care about the safety of their community. After promising us “consistency” regarding moderation last year, something many feel they are still waiting for, this new initiative is said to have been set up to improve the Twitch experience for both players and streamers. In a blog post on Twitch’s website, they announce the formation of a Twitch Safety Advisory Council....

The Twitch hot tub saga continues as the live streaming platform has updated its approach once more to circumnavigate the pool of what it will and won’t allow from its creators. In a compromise, a new category has been introduced. It’s called “Pools, Hot Tubs, & Beaches,” a new dedicated section of Twitch that will enable creators to stream the very content that has been getting flack from the site over the past couple of weeks, while also “giving viewers and advertisers more control over their experience on Twitch....

This week, Virtual Realms announced they are ready to start closed beta testing within the month for Warhammer: Odyssey – a hotly anticipated mobile MMORPG. Warhammer: Odyssey thrusts players into the “Old World” of Warhammer Fantasy, created by tabletop miniatures juggernaut Games Workshop. The Old World era precedes the current Age of Sigmar timeline wherein current Games Workshop fantasy miniatures do battle. Thus, Warhammer: Odyssey will look comfortably familiar to tabletop players who rolled dice amidst Warhammer Fantasy miniatures between 1983 and 2018, but might be unexplored territory for new players....

The Viking-inspired survival game Valheim jumped onto the stage earlier this month, and has since taken Steam by storm. For the third week in a row, Valheim has topped the Steam best-sellers charts. Many players will find themselves searching for the best weapons to survive the game’s purgatorial enemies. Valheim will start players off with only one weapon, their fists. As players progress through the game, find new materials, and craft certain workstations, options for weapons will open up significantly....

Ho-ho-ho, Christmas is… over? Oh well, 2020 moves fast. Nonetheless, New Year’s is right around the corner, and Valve is celebrating by showing the world what they have collected in 2020 - sweet, sweet data. The best-selling, and most played titles of the year, with various categories have all been unveiled. The category that rounds up the best-selling overall is as good a place to start as any, with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Among Us, Cyberpunk 2077, Destiny 2, Doom Eternal, Dota 2, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, Grand Theft Auto 5, Monster Hunter: World, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege all making the cut....

There is trouble brewing behind the scenes for the upcoming Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines II, as Paradox Interactive has announced that Lead Narrative Designer Brian Mitsoda and Creative Director Ka’ai Cluney are no longer working on the game. The presence of Brian Mitsoda on the Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines II project has been known since the game was first announced. It was a key part in stoking the interest of the fans of the series, as Mitsoda was the writer of the original Bloodlines....

I didn’t think much of Venom when I first watched it. It’s a little confused, it doesn’t seem to know what it is, so it tries to be a lot of things at once. But, better to be a jack of all trades than a master of none, right? The beginning of the film has some great horror elements. Seeing Eddie Brock slowly unravel as he hears Venom in his head is a great way to portray the effect the symbiote has on its hosts....

ViacomCBS has decided to take an interesting rebrand strategy with its streaming service. Once called CBS All Access, the company plans to shift to a new name: Paramount+, beginning in early 2021. Not only that, but they will be bolstering the service with a new wave of content based on some very popular names, like Criminal Minds, The Game, and most notably, a brand new The Godfather TV series. When discussing the rebrand and new content, ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish had this to say: “With Paramount+, we’re excited to establish one global streaming brand in the broad-pay segment that will draw on the sheer breadth and depth of the ViacomCBS portfolio to offer an extraordinary collection of content for everyone to enjoy....

The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (MADE), also known as the Video Game Preservation Museum, recently announced the closing of its museum headquarters in Oakland, CA, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In response to its closing, MADE staff have launched a fundraising campaign with a $2 million dollar goal in order to find a new and hopefully permanent home. A press release for the closing announcement states all the museum’s “collection of over 12,000 video games, home consoles, and memorabilia” has been moved into temporary storage while MADE staff make plans “to raise funds for, plan, and design” a new museum home....

Waking reminds me a lot of a game I can’t remember the name of. Sold in hokey New Age stores and in yoga magazines, the game marketed itself as a pacifistic antithesis to mid-aughts gaming. Instead of killing and maiming, you’d look inward and learn to be a better person. To make matters worse, you couldn’t actually play the game normally, you had to use this weird breathing detection apparatus that you clipped onto your hand....

The presence of the agency known as S.W.O.R.D. may have come as a surprise to many viewers as they’ve made their way through Marvel’s trip of a show known as WandaVision. In fact, its entire existence may have been a surprise itself. Well, it turns out series creator Jac Schaeffer didn’t take the introduction of this counterpart to S.H.I.E.L.D. lightly. In fact, she was positively reverent about the whole thing....

Since boldly teasing the game all over its social media a few months ago, WB Montreal has driven the internet into a frenzy as they try to predict if and when a new Batman Arkham game will be revealed by the company. Many have been waiting years for the popular superhero franchise to return after all, with Batman: Arkham Knight dropping all the way back in mid-2015. However, it seems the studio has some bad news for fans expecting some form of an announcement in the coming days, with WB Montreal taking to Twitter to openly disclose what its current plans are....

A Call of Duty: Warzone player ended their SUV in a very Christmassy position, just in time for the festive season of mid-May. The unusual event was captured by Reddit user u/WolfeMan831, and posted to both the CoDWarzone and the GamePhysics subreddits. In the video, the SUV drives off a cliff, flying over a two-lane road and landing right on top of the tree, perfectly balanced. Coincidentally, one of the redittor’s teammates had the clan tag [TREE]....

Watch Dogs Legion is out now and offers players a huge open-world map set in the fictional post-Brexit city of London. Ever since the game’s announcement, Ubisoft has been extensively promoting a feature in Watch Dogs Legion that allows players to recruit any NPC they want to their team. Given the almost unlimited number of characters recruited in Watch Dogs Legion, picking the best ones may not be as easy as it seems....

There are now less than two weeks until The Taken King is unleashed on Destiny players, and Bungie is doing everything possible to promote the biggest drop of new content yet for its ambitious online shooter. Later today, the studio will give fans an in-depth look at a brand new game mode. We already know that the new location of the Dreadnaught will be core to many of the activities on offer in The Taken King....

After a year of Epic Games Store exclusivity, Wattam will finally be making its way over to Steam in the coming weeks. From the mind of Keita Takahashi, the creative force behind the original two Katamari Damacy games, Wattam is less a video game and more an experience. You can play as a piece of poo and join hands with other strangely shaped creatures as you sing happy songs and frolic in the fields....

Beginning with The Andromeda Strain in 1971, disease movies quickly established themselves as a commonplace cinematic subgenre, usually within the science fiction umbrella. In the years that followed, we got the likes of Outbreak, Contagion, Virus, The Stand, 12 Monkeys, The Crazies, 28 Days Later, most post-Night of the Living Dead zombie movies, The Omega Man, Winds of Terror, and dozens of others. It only made sense. Despite antibiotics and advances in medical research, new dread diseases continued to crop up on an annual basis, each one threatening (for a while there anyway) to become a pandemic that could wipe out millions....

Frogwares has surprise-launched The Sinking City on Xbox Series X/S with enhanced features for the next-gen consoles. Similar to the PS5 upgrade from a few months ago, The Sinking City has improved resolution, loading times, lighting, textures, and more thanks to the beefier hardware found on Microsoft’s next-gen console. In fact, judging by the trailer, it looks like The Sinking City will receive the exact same visual enhancements as the PS5 version from February....