December 2022

Crunchyroll released a new trailer of the upcoming The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War anime series.

Unlike the previous trailer, which was a bit coy, this one doesn’t refrain from revealing the series’ traditional hero Rean Schwarzer, who here covers the role of the antagonist.

The anime focuses on Lavian Winslet, a new character from the northern country of North Ambria enlisted in Zemuria’s Northern Jaegers mercenaries.

She’s assigned a mission to infiltrate the Erebonian Empire and to find out more about the “hero” Rean Schwarzer, who poses a threat to the ongoing war effort.

The trailer also provides a look at the cast of characters that we’ll meet, alongside a few action scenes.

Incidentally, Lavian is voiced by Makoto Koichi, who played Shizumaru Hisame in Samurai Shodown and the Receptionist in Monster Hunter: World.

Striking Distance Studios released a new patch for the PC version of its survival horror game The Callisto Protocol.

The update, which was promised yesterday, aims to address the stuttering and performance issues created by a shader compilation problem. According to the developers, you may still see stuttering in the menu right after you launch the game for the first time, but this should be temporary.

On the other hand, we also hear the promise that more optimizations are forthcoming “in the days ahead.”

The Callisto Protocol is now available for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. If you’d like to read more about this brand-new survival horror game, you can read our interview with Striking Distance Studios chief technology officer Mark James.

The game is directed by Dead Space co-creator Glen Schofield, and the legacy of the defunct development studio Visceral Games certainly appears to permeate The Callisto Protocol’s flavor.

It’s set in the year 2320, prompting the player to take on the role of Jacob Lee, an inmate at Black Iron Prison, a maximum-security penitentiary on Jupiter’s moon, Callisto. Jacob has been imprisoned for seemingly incomprehensible reasons, and basically finds himself with his life forfeited.

The Chapter 3 Season 4 of Fortnite had concluded on Saturday, Dec. 3, and the servers have been taken offline in preparation for the upcoming first season of Chapter 4.

The latest chapter and season ended with the finale “Fracture” event, teased earlier this week, which saw the island get engulfed by the recently introduced chrome goo and subsequently explode by the Herald. Then players were treated to an astral scavenger hunt, collected orbs, and caused the island to reshape into a different form.

The event ended with teases of The Hulk on a motorcycle, My Hero Academia, and YouTuber Mr. Beast followed by the player characters relaxing on a nearby asteroid looking at the newly reformed island floating in space.

Chapter 3 was one of the shortest chapters for Fortnite: Battle Royale, launching almost exactly one year ago in December 2021 and contained only four seasons.

Epic Games has not yet revealed when the Fortnite servers will be back online on all platforms with Chapter 4. Historically, the start of a new season has mostly come one day after the ending of the previous season, which would place the beginning of Chapter 4 Season 1 sometime on Sunday, Dec. 4.

The Game Awards are a prominent place for a developer or publisher to deliver a surprise announcement for a new title. Sometimes, though, one has to clarify when something isn't going to happen. That was the case with NetherRealm Studios Chief Creative Officer Ed Boon, who took to Twitter to announce that the studio is "not ready" to announce its next game. This means no Mortal Kombat or Injustice game announcement.

https://twitter.com/noobde/status/1598732410585088001

In the announcement (or rather, the denial of an announcement), Boon referred to the 2018 Game Awards event, when NetherRealm successfully announced Mortal Kombat 11, the current game in its hyperviolent fighting series. The game went on to sell more than 12 million copies by 2021.

Fortnite will be reborn on Sunday 4th December, when the game returns with its fresh Chapter 4 map.

The next era of Fortnite will welcome characters such as The Witcher's Geralt, Doomslayer and The Hulk, plus new gameplay mechanics such as the addition of motorbikes to Epic's hugely-popular battle royale.

Last night, Fortnite ditched its third map with shocking speed, as the game's ever-changing Island was quickly consumed by the invading Chrome in a brief cutscene. Then followed an extended 30-minute event mode where players were tasked with reforging the Island anew, using a mix of familiar and fresh locales that look set to appear in Chapter 4.

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I'm a sucker for strategy games which boil their mechanics down until they almost become puzzle games, particularly if they also involve building rather than war. I'm thinking of games like Concrete Jungle, Slipways, Terra Nil and now, maybe, Farlanders.

That last game may be less familiar. Farlanders is a turn-based strategy game about terraforming Mars via building placement and adjacency bonuses, and it's due for release next month.

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There are so many games released each year that I sometimes only notice a couple of years after the fact. Unfortunately that's sometimes long enough for a game to be unreleased again. So it is with Fuser, Harmonix's 2020 music game in which players create new works by mashing up other people's songs. It's being delisted from sale later this month and its "live services" are being switched off.

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Quality assurance testers at Blizzard Albany, formerly Vicarious Visions, voted unanimously to unionise on Friday. The move comes after months of attempts by owners Activision Blizzard to scupper the union and makes the QA testers, under the name Game Workers Alliance Albany, the second team to unionise within the publisher.

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Today, third-party developers had relevant news to share for Microsoft Flight Simulator add-ons including aircraft and scenery.

We start with iniBuilds, which released a new trailer of the upcoming P-40F Warhawk, which will be the first of a line of warbirds and is releasing soon.

We take a look at the history of the aircraft, the EFB, some of its additional features, the startup sequence, the flight model, the sounds, and the liveries.

You can watch it below.

Next, Orbx announced Oslo Gardermoen Airport (ENGM) in Norway, which is literally the third we’re getting after the recently released version by Just Sim and the one coming from Aerosoft.

This one will launch in January 2023 for approximately $21 with the following features.

At Anime Frontier 2022, Crunchyroll announced it will offer the The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel anime Northern War and six other shows on its streaming service in 2023. Four of the shows will debut in January 2023. Two will show up in April 2023. Masamune-kun’s revenge R has a tentative Spring 2023 release window.

Here’s the full list of Crunchyroll 2023 announcements from the event, alongside the release windows for each one.

So, you beat Pokemon Scarlet and are excited to head back to Area Zero for ancient Paradox Pokemon. However, you got there and can’t see any of them around! I mean, okay, you’ll probably see Scream Tail, the ancient form of Jigglypuff. It’s everywhere there even before you “beat” the game. But what about others like Brute Bonnet, Flutter Mane, Great Tusk, Roaring Moon, Sandy Shocks, and Slither Wing? Well, I’m here to help.

But, if you want to still find them on your own without more direct advice and just want a quick tip, searching around Research Station 1 and Research Station 4 will help you find most of these new Pokemon. They’re all in the late 50s and early 60s in terms of level, so be prepared.

Editor’s Note: There will be spoilers regarding Pokemon Scarlet’s Area Zero postgame and Paradox Pokemon below.

There were two major DNF Duel announcements at ArcRevo Japan 2022, concerning Spectre showing up as a DLC character and a Nintendo Switch port of the game. Spectre will mark the first add-on for the title. As for the Switch version, it will mark the four platform for the fighter when it debuts in Spring 2023. A Grand Balance Patch will also appear in December 2022.

First, the official trailer teasing the DNF Duel Switch port isn't on the official YouTube account as of 11:45pm ET on December 3, 2022. However, GamerPrey already uploaded it online. At the very end, the new version is confirmed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpu3Q_th-D4&ab_channel=MasahiroSakuraionCreatingGames

The teaser for the DNF Duel Spectre DLC, however, is available already. It doesn't actually show her in battle. Rather, after showing off some current cast members, it follows up with a quick peek at the character. There's no release window for her yet. In Dungeon Fighter Online, Spectre is a female Slayer who wields katanas.

The Next Challenger!#DNFDuel pic.twitter.com/jctSJHPxMj

— DNF Duel (@DNFDuel) December 4, 2022

HoYoVerse always releases character teasers for new Genshin Impact five-stars ahead of their debut, and the latest one for The Wanderer delves into Scaramouche's past and shares some spoilers. It begins by teasing the recent events involving him in Sumeru. However, after that it goes further back to another event that happened in Inazuma.

Editor's Note: The video below includes spoilers for Genshin Impact Archon Quest chapter 3, act 5.

Here's the full Genshin Impact character teaser "Wanderer: Ashes." It begins with a scene from after the Shouki no Kami boss fight in chapter 3, act 5. As Scaramouche reminisces, it then goes to a scene from his early life in Inazuma. It then teases what his future will be like as The Wanderer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR2n2TsJuNE&ab_channel=GenshinImpact

In addition to the character teaser, there are also two videos showing off what the playable Scaramouche's Talents will look like in Genshin Impact. First, here is the Elemental Skill Hanega: Song of the Wind.

While the Nintendo 64 has its legion of fans today, there's no doubt that the all-conquering PlayStation decimated it in terms of sales, with most accounts putting the final figure at a ratio of three to one in favour of the Sony console. Much of this was down to the perception of the respective machines: the PlayStation was cool, appealing to an older demographic with a higher disposable income. The Nintendo 64, with its plastic cartridges and Mario games, despite Nintendo's best efforts, wasn't.

Maybe that perception would have changed if Nintendo hadn't decided to part ways with DMA Design, the studio that would go on to become the all-conquering Rockstar North. But Body Harvest, the game that emerged from the curtailed relationship remains a cult favourite, and the tale behind its development contains many twists and turns.

DMA began life in the late 80s, formed by Scottish entrepreneur and programmer David Jones, and initially developed games for chiefly the 16-bit computers such as the Commodore Amiga. Joining it a year later was artist Stacey Jamieson. "One day, my mum saw an advert in the newspaper and said, 'you love art, and you love games - why don't you apply for this?' So I did."

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Game of the Week goes out to all of our supporters as part of the Eurogamer Essentials newsletter. There's going to be a slight shake-up of the supporters program in the near future (don't worry - it's all good news) so stay tuned for more details, and thanks as ever for your support - it's much appreciated.

It’s been, I’m sure you’ve noticed, a big week for big new games. The Callisto Protocol (which I’ve just spelt correctly for the first time without having to correct myself, which feels like some small progress) is delivering its spin on Dead Space before we get the remake proper next year, while Marvel’s Midnight Suns sounds truly sublime, but - and this won’t come as a surprise, I’m sure - it’s another game that’s caught my attention this week.

We’ve yet to post our Need for Speed: Unbound review; EA didn’t supply any pre-release code (or any post-release, for that matter) so I’ve been making the most of the 10-hour trial on EA Play. Indeed, I’ve just squeaked beyond those 10 hours and the fact I didn’t mind paying up for the full product suggests I’m having some sort of fun, but dear lord is this thing slow to get going.

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Fortnite has a mixed track record when it comes to introducing new vehicles and movement mechanics to the game. What started out with a mere shopping cart to help you and a pal speed your way down hills eventually gave way to giant mechs and the X-4 Stormwing planes that divided the player base on a scale never before seen. With Fortnite Chapter 4 kicking off today, it appears as though Epic Games may be about to roll out the next divisive movement mechanic in Fortnite — wall-running.

The news comes via popular Fortnite leaker HYPEX, who claims that Epic Games is working on a wall-running mechanic in Fortnite Chapter 4. You can check out the tweet below.

What’s important to note here is that HYPEX doesn’t say that it’s coming this season only that it’s coming in Chapter 4. Given that the Chapter could run for as many as 10 seasons, that does mean that it’s unclear as to just how close wall-running is to arriving in Fortnite.

Fortnite Chapter 4 looks impressive in Unreal Engine 5, bringing new options to make the game even more beautiful while you mow down your enemies. Shadows will now be more detailed, and ray tracing has been added for increased fidelity of the world. However, if you’re used to running Fortnite on a PC that’s under Windows 10, we have news to share.

Starting with this new season, the official requirements to play Fortnite on PC will require having either Windows 10 or 11. These will be the only officially supported operating systems. While this means you can still run Fortnite, future patches will be explicitly aimed at Windows 10/11, so there is a likelihood they won’t work for Windows 7/8.

Epic Games give more reasoning for this change, writing:

As Fortnite continues to evolve, we are required to make support changes in order to grow our technology and expand the game to fulfill our vision of Fortnite’s future. In older operating systems, the growing risk of security threats as well as the lack of modern features we rely on causes us to spend an increasing amount of development time on workarounds, instead of investing that time into the game itself.

Epic Games further add that there is another option that will let you play the game regardless of your system, and that is through NVIDIA GeForce NOW. This operates as a streaming service, and they already have a place on the official Fortnite site to walk you through using it.

Look, every new Chapter and Season of Fortnite always adds or changes up the same things. We get a fresh new Battle Pass, some weapons are vaulted to make way for unvaulted weapons or entirely new guns, and the map gets an overhaul with entirely new POIs or Named Locations. All of this helps keep Fortnite feeling fresh while keeping its core Battle Royale gameplay in-tact, but with Chapter 4 Season 1, Epic Games is upping the ante with an overhaul of Fortnite’s visuals, and it certainly makes a difference.

Just from some of the promotional images for Chapter 4 Season 1, it’s clear that Fortnite’s getting a fresh look. I mean, just look at how vibrantly-colorful the world is. The improved detail in grass and dirt is evident, and tree branches look more densely covered in leaves. Shadows look sharper, reflections on the surface of water look more true-to-life, too, and I can make out the individual bricks making up the castle on the hill in the screenshot below.

Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1 is being rolled out as I write this post. The servers are down for maintenance and in the meantime, we’re getting a ton of information on what the new map looks like, a whole swathe of new weapons, and even confirmation that The Witcher’s Geralt of Rivia will be arriving on the Battle Royale island soon. But, amongst all of the new content dropping today, a popular Fortnite leaker has suggested a rather toasty weapon may be arriving in the coming months.

Fortnite leaker HYPEX shared with their followers that a flamethrower weapon may be coming to the Battle Royale title in the near future. HYPEX didn’t share any further details on when it can be expected to drop, but chances are that it’ll show up during the Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1, set to run from today until Feb. 11, 2022.

What they did share, however, was that the Flamethrower is being actively worked on by Epic and that the weapon will be able to spit fire — in the typical Flamethrower manner — but it’ll also be able to throw Fireballs at enemies and structures.

Getting 400 Pokemon in your Pokedex in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is an attractive notion. (Who wouldn't want a Shiny Charm that helps with catching Shiny Pokemon?) However, it also can mean a lot of work. It probably will be someone's post-game endeavor. When you do get to work on it, your current party and favorites might all be near level 70. That isn’t always great if you’ll be doubling back to go after weaker characters missing from your collection. However, the best Pokemon catching options in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet come down to three helpful moves: False Swipe, Super Fang, and Thunder Wave.

How Do You Get False Swipe to Help with Pokemon Catching in Scarlet and Violet

Good news! If you catch 30 different species of Pokemon and then go to Naranja or Uva Academy to take a Biology class, you can then go to Jacq after to get TM 57: False Swipe. The reason this attack is so good is because while it will damage the opponent, it will leave them with at least 1 HP. You’re guaranteed not to make it faint when you use this attack. To craft it, you will need 3 Chewtle Claws, 3 Kricketot Shells, and 400 League Points.

Pokemon with “claws” tend to be able to learn it via TM, like Meowth, Persian, Sneasel, Weavile, Pawniard, Bisharp, and Kingambit. Pokemon like Scyther and Zangoose will also learn it naturally as part of their moveset. I’d suggest getting a Jolteon and teaching it this move, as it can also learn Thunder Wave, another helpful ability when coming up with the best sorts of Pokemon catching moves in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.

While we didn’t know how much longer we could wait, Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1 has finally arrived, and players can jump on in. Though we certainly didn’t have to be that patient, as it has been less than 24 hours since the Fracture event ended spectacularly and the servers went offline.

In that span of time, we got the first trailer of the new chapter and season, with it a fresh peek at the battle pass. If you’ve loved the past few seasons with Marvel-related items in the Battle Pass, the Hulk seen in the trailer will only be in the Item Shop. However, the Battle Pass is getting some iconic gaming characters added in. Players will get to unlock Geralt from The Witcher as well as Doomslayer.

If you haven’t played all that much of the last few seasons, that might change. Chapter 4 is already kicking off with a massive new reveal that Fortnite will introduce Motorcycles. We knew about those largely thanks to the Object Coordinates. This is guaranteed to change the game, as the last several seasons have lacked an easy mobility option. All that has been shown off and more in the trailer for this new chapter.

Square Enix has confirmed it's releasing a vinyl record to celebrate ten years of Bravely Default (or Bravely Default: Flying Fairy, as its known in Japan).

Expected to ship later this month, the £31 vinyl features 11 tracks: Onward Into the Light: An Overture, The Horizon: Endless Light and Shadow, The Bell of Battle, My Ray of Hope, Where the Winds Blow, Fledgling, Romantic Vagrant, That of the Name, The Evil Wings, Uroboros, the Serpent That Devours the Horizon, and Onward Into the Light: A Ballade.

You may also be interested in Square Enix's Bravely Default 10th Anniversary Set. For £150, you'll get a tote bad, a mini folding screen, an "adorable" four-piece plush set, a "crystal" motif 3D laser engraved glass on Airy, and two "clear files featuring 3D images of memorable moments from the game". Shipping is expected in April 2023.

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HBO has released a second teaser for its highly-anticipated adaptation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us.

Starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, the teaser gives us a glimpse into the dynamic between the two leading characters, as well as a peek at the show's cinematic moments. You can check it out below:

There's even an appearance from a-ha's Take On Me, which some may remember from a particularly emotional scene in the game's sequel, The Last of Us Part 2.

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If you're off today and are looking for something to do, it may interest you to know that Battlefield 2042 is currently free to play on PC and Xbox so that you can "experience the game after a year of evolution, improvements, and three Seasons worth of content".

You've only got until 8am tomorrow morning (UK time), but from now until the end of the free trial you'll get access to "15+ maps (including 4 reworked battlefields), 100+ weapons and gadgets, 40+ vehicles, 13 Specialists, and 6 game modes", and the premium battle pass (if you're prepared to buy it, of course).

All players who login during this time will also get the Battlefield 2042 Welcome Pack, which includes season 1 specialist Ewelina Lis, season 2's Charlie Crawford, and epic skins for the Grin Reaper helicopter, the Evergreen gun, and rare weapon charm, Lucky Break. And should you decide to stick around and buy the full game, your progress will carry over.

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There is an easier way to find free trials for PS5 games, as a demo section is now available in the PlayStation Store. This can be found when browsing on the system or in a browser. Searching it from a computer or tablet includes access to additional filtering options.

The PlayStation Store PS5 demo section offered 352 game trials as of time of writing. People can search by criteria like most downloaded, price, release date, or name. It is also possible to narrow down the list by genre.

Here are some of the most notable recent PlayStation Store PS5 games available in the demo section in December 2022.

An experiment run by Women in Games Argentina has revealed how many females are really treated in competitive multiplayer games.

As shared by TikToker KristaByte and then tweeted by streamer LuluLuvley, the organisation tasked three male professional Valorant players to jump online and play as usual, only halfway through, the players were asked to enable voice changers to make them sound more female.

"What do you think would happen if men disguised their voices in a Valorant lobby as women?" Krista asked on TikTok.

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Fortnite is is certainly known for adding interesting new mechanics to shake up the game, but Chapter 4 has brought perhaps the largest change to the popular battle royale experience in years. This time around, we haven't just received an exciting new map and some fresh weapons--Epic has introduced game-changing Reality Augments that function like perks for your character. This new system can completely change the flow of a match, so you'll want to know everything you can about which Augments to get and how they work. Don't worry--we've got you covered here.

Fortnite Augments list

Throughout each match, you'll be given the choice between two random Augments that can help give you a leg up on your competition. The longer you survive, the more Augments you'll be offered. These will last until the end of the match, but they do not carry over into the next game. If you don't like the randomized Augment, you can reroll for a chance at one you do want--but be aware that you only get one free reroll. If you want to keep rerolling, you'll have to spend 100 gold bars each time.

Like other collections in the game, Augments have their own tab where you can see which ones you've discovered so far. Epic is almost certain to add more Augments in the weeks and months to come, so make sure to check back in the future to see which ones you may not have found yet.

Here is every Augment currently available:

Fortnite Chapter 4 has arrived, and maybe more exciting than anything else is its new map. The new Fortnite map has some touchstones of past maps, like various biomes, a mountain range, and a wintry section that will no doubt be the focal point of the forthcoming winter event. Here's a breakdown of everything we've learned about the new Fortnite Chapter 4 map.

New POIs

It's a whole new island this season, so naturally there's a lot more to see than just a few new landing spots. Still, a few locales might look familiar if you've been playing Fortnite for a while. The Citadel is a medieval village somewhat like where Geralt of Rivia might pass through--which is perfect since he's in the Chapter 4 Season 1 battle pass.

To the northeast is a snowy section that includes drops such as Brutal Bastion and Lonely Labs. Whose labs? It's hard to say for now, but we'll be investigating it this week, no doubt. Frenzy Fields marks the lush green space of the map, though such visuals extend to Slappy Shores and, to an extent, Faulty Splits, as well.

Fortnite Chapter 4 is here, and in its inaugural season, a new slate of weapons has arrived for you to scavenge and, with a bit of luck, carry to victory. While some items in this season's loot pool return from past seasons and chapters, each new chapter of Fortnite has also introduced wholly new items and guns never before seen. Chapter 4 continues that tradition. Here's a breakdown of all new Fortnite guns and items in Chapter 4 Season 1, plus a look at what else has been vaulted or unvaulted.

Fortnite Chapter 4 weapons

Fortnite adds a ton of new weapons to the game with the launch of Chapter 4. Here you'll find images and details for all of them, but first let's get you familiar with their names. Brand-new weapons making their debut to Fortnite include:

Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1 has arrived. Coming after the shortest chapter in Fortnite history at just one year long, Chapter 4 may signal a new way forward for Epic's battle royale where players get a major overhaul every December going forward. In Fortnite Chapter 4, a totally new map has arrived, though it's not without some allusions to past landing spots, like always. New Fortnite weapons are here too, as is another new battle pass and totally new mechanics such as motorcycles and a perks system called Augments. Consider this your all-in-one explainer on what's new and unusual in Fortnite Chapter 4.

These guides will be quickly filled in as Fortnite downtime ends, so bookmark it and spend your launch day with us. Happy Chapter 4, loopers!

Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1 battle pass

The Chapter 4 Season 1 battle pass contains another eight characters, V-Bucks, and dozens of other cosmetics to earn as you play through the season. Fortnite loves a crossover, and this season is no different with The Witcher's Geralt of Rivia making his debut on the island, as is the Doomslayer from Doom. We're actively capturing images of every battle pass reward in the game, and you can find a full rundown here.

Fortnite Chapter 4 is just hours away. Though Epic hasn't publicly stated when Fortnite's servers will be back up, some historical precedence and reasonable deductions give us a pretty clear window of time. The short answer: You won't be waiting long. For a more detailed answer, keep reading. Here's when you can play Fortnite again.

When will Fortnite servers be back up?

Fortnite is currently in scheduled downtime following the Chapter 3 finale. This means Chapter 4 is upon us and with it will come new weapons, a whole new island, and a new battle pass, among other things. But none of that matters until the Fortnite servers are letting players back into the game. Epic likes to keep this a surprise, but recent history suggests Fortnite will be playable again sometime around 4 AM - 7 AM PT / 7 AM - 10 AM ET tomorrow, December 4. This three-hour window is our best guess based on having covered several seasons of Fortnite by now, and as always, the actual time is subject to change for a number of reasons.

For one, downtime is needed to apply the game's latest patch, and patches can be delayed. Even if Epic is shooting for the earliest possible time to launch Chapter 4, things can get in the way of that plan. It's also worth noting that for the last year, new seasons (and the launch of Chapter 3) featured a queue system that slowed players' ability to get into the game past the main menu. You should absolutely expect--and plan for--a queue when you first boot up Fortnite tomorrow. A new chapter launch is about as big as it gets in Fortnite, so it's going to be a very busy day for Epic and all Fortnite players.

Fortnite Chapter 3 has come to an end, and as usual, the existential threats proved real, as The Herald made swift work of the loopers' most recent island. If you missed the Chapter 3 finale Fortnite event, we're breaking it all down for you right here. It'll be a few hours before Chapter 4 begins, so use that time to get caught up on the story and join us as we await the discovery of strange new terrain coming in a short while.

Fortnite event recap

The Fortnite Chapter 3 finale event kicked off with a cinematic. With the Chrome continuing to spread across the island, a band of resistance fighters taking up arms atop the Reality Tree fired an onslaught at The Herald to try and halt her march across their home. It briefly looked hopeful, as a bevy of rockets splattered the mysterious villain into chromey little bits, but she quickly undid that hopefulness when she merged into the Chrome tidal wave and re-formed as a gigantic version of herself.

Kaiju-like in size, The Herald needed only to swat away the resistance like gnats at a barbecue. The heroes floated away as chromified victims of her unceasing march, and soon thereafter--remarkably soon, I'll add--the island was destroyed. Before players could even lift a finger to assist, it seemed The Herald had won.

But The Paradigm planned for all contingencies and using the help of the player and other loopers, she quickly got to work on stitching together some semblance of a safe zone, as part of a plan she called Zero Fusion. First she needed to heal and restore the Zero Point, which players were able to do themselves across a long series of puzzles and mini-games. Locating Zero Point fragments, completing time trials, and even finishing bounty missions by snowballing "enemies" in their lobby all contributed to restoring the life-giving force at the center of the makeshift world, and little by little, the heroes re-tooled the Zero Point back to working order.

If you are a huge fan of Charizard, one of the most recognizable Pokemon (and dragons, for that matter), you may have been disappointed to hear the fan-favorite flying/fire type Pokemon isn't readily available in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Fret not, however! There is still a way to get Charizard (although it is quite difficult), so read on and we'll walk you through everything you need to catch the fiery Gen 1 starter.

Charizard event times

Keep in mind this is a limited-time event. The times it will be available are as follows:

• Dec. 1-4, 2022
• Dec. 15-18, 2022

Beat the game

First, you'll need to beat the game, and roll credits. In order to do that, you'll have to complete the three story threads, and all the post-thread events.

Here is everything you need to do to beat the game:

Complete Victory Road

For Nemona, beat every gym, then complete the Champion Assessment and beat the Elite Four and Geeta.

Complete the Path Of Legends

For Arven, find and defeat every Titan, feeding the Herba Mystica to Miraidon / Koraidon, powering it up and gaining new movement options in the open world.

Complete Starfall Street

For Cassiopeia, defeat every Team Star leader, then confront Cassiopeia themselves.

Complete The Way Home

After completing the original three storylines, meet up with Arven and travel to Area Zero and clear it, which will roll credits.

Complete the post-game

After you've completed the game, you'll be prompted to join a new tournament, but Geeta will need help with something first.

It appears that CD Projekt Red plans on releasing a Game of the Year edition for its most recent game, Cyberpunk 2077.

In an investor meeting reported on by Insider Gaming, CD Projekt Red CEO Adam Kicinski stated that the studio intends to release a Game of the Year edition after the launch of the game's upcoming DLC Phantom Liberty.

The report states that Kicinski said the following about the upcoming rerelease of Cyberpunk 2077 next year:

"It's the natural order of things--it was the same with The Witcher, which after both expansions was finally released as a Game of the Year Edition and has been on the market that way ever since. The same can be expected in this case."

It was previously reported that Phantom Liberty would be the only DLC for Cyberpunk 2077. Following its release, CD Projekt Red will reportedly begin working on Project Orion (the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel's code name) in 2023.

For more Cyberpunk 2077 news, check out these stories:

Gran Turismo 7 will be celebrating its 25th anniversary of the franchise by rewarding players with special in-game items, bonus rewards, and more.

From now until December 5, players can increase their rewards for each race in Sports mode. This mode features a race similar to the one in the World Finals, but will allow players to earn up to five times the amount of credits upon completion. Players will also be able to earn additional credit through Online Time Trails, which task racers with completing tracks of the World Finals races in a limited amount of time.

Those who tune into any Gran Turismo 7 live streams will be rewarded the Viewers Gift, and if they watch the World Finals and answer the Day 4 question, they'll receive the Ferrari Vision Gran Turismo. The last day to earn these rewards is December 4 at 7:59 AM PST / 3:59 PM GMT.

Lastly, the special GT World Series World Finals liveries will be available until January 3 via the Recommended section in the Showcase pavilion.

For more GameSpot news, check out these stories:

• The Callisto Protocol Review - I Don't Belong Here
• Margot Robbie's Pirates Of The Caribbean Movie Script May Not Be Dead Just Yet
• Ed Boon Says No Plans For Mortal Kombat Or Injustice Announcement At The Game Awards

After making a pair of surprise appearances earlier in the year, Tekken 8 has been confirmed for an appearance at The Game Awards next week.

The official Tekken Twitter account posted simply "GET READY" along with a brief teaser video telling viewers to "save the D8" for the awards show. No other information was confirmed, and no other hints have been posted since the video went live.

Tekken 8 was first teased at Evo 2022 in August, where a seconds-long teaser showed Tekken mainstay Kazuya Mishima's face--complete with glowing eye--and the franchise's iconic phrase "get ready for the next battle."

Two months later, during the PlayStation State of Play in September, Tekken 8 was officially unveiled for the first time. The gameplay showed Kazuya and his son Jin Kazama battling during a heavy storm, with the video showcasing updated graphics and effects. No other info about the game has been revealed since the State of Play.

Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon wants everyone to press pause on expecting an imminent announcement of a new entry in his fighting game franchises. Specifically, he says don't expect to see a new game from NetherRealm Studios to appear at The Game Awards next week.

Boon possibly wanted to get out ahead of any predictions for Mortal Kombat 12 since his studio unveiled the 11th installment at The Game Awards in 2018. History won't repeat itself this time, the chief creative officer of NetherRealm made clear on Twitter.

This reinforces what Boon said back in October. He explained that NetherRealm was focusing on celebrating Mortal Kombat's 30th anniversary before any new game announcement. That would come in due time.

In addition to games like Starfield, The Elder Scrolls 6, and Fallout 5, Bethesda continues to push into the mobile games space. Bethesda's Todd Howard has now teased the company's next mobile game, which hasn't been announced yet.

"We have a new mobile game that we're working on that we haven't announced yet that I'm in love with," Howard said on the Lex Fridman podcast recently, as transcribed by VGC.

So far, some of Bethesda's mobile releases have included Fallout Shelter, The Elder Scrolls Legends, and The Elder Scrolls: Blades.

Howard didn't have anything else to say about the new mobile game, but he observed that Fallout Shelter players enjoyed playing the game "for hours a day."

"You know, if you look at kids these days, they can stare at their phone for hours, that's all they do; that's where they watch everything, so it's also like a demographic thing," he said. "The younger audience, they would rather sit and stare at their phone than play it on a big screen."

It's the start of a new weekend in Trials of Osiris, and if you've been battling to get your hands on the coveted Aisha's Embrace and Reed's Regret, this will be your last weekend to obtain one of those Adept weapons before they're cycled out of the loot pool. Here's where you'll play Trials of Osiris this weekend and what weapons you can earn.

Map: Altar of Flames, Exodus Blue, and Bannerfall

• Reputation Rank 4: Upgrade Module x 2
• Reputation Rank 7: Enhancement Prism x 3
• Reputation Rank 10: Trials Weapon (Changes for each rank reset)
• Reputation Rank 13: Upgrade Module x 2
• Reputation Rank 16: Trials Weapon (Changes for each rank reset)
• Flawless Reward: Forgiveness (Adept)

Trials weapons now carry the Alacrity Origin Trait. It gives you increased aim assist, reload speed, stability, and range on your Trials guns when you're the last living member of a fireteam or running solo. You can also choose to swap to the Crucible Origin trait, One Quiet Moment, which greatly enhances your gun's reload speed when you reload while out of combat.

As always, Trials becomes available from Friday's daily reset at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET until the weekly reset at the same time the following Tuesday. During that time, you can also pay a visit to Xur to see what Exotics he's selling. Make sure to pay a visit to Saint-14 in the Tower to pick up a Trials card, which will dictate certain bonuses (such as whether you get bonus rewards at certain milestones or if a loss will be forgiven).

The U.S. Army planned to use Call of Duty streamers on Twitch as a means of gaining more Gen-Z recruits, according to military spending documents recently acquired by Vice. The Army has reportedly spent millions on the project--or planned to, anyway--with the hopes of winning over young adults and minorities who, historically, have plenty of interest in playing war games, but considerably less interest in enlisting in real life.

Vice acquired the documents via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, and according to their report, the U.S. Army had millions earmarked for the project's 2021-2022 goals. Over the course of those years, the Army aimed to use esports tournaments and high-profile streamers as advertisement platforms, with the ultimate goal of reaching an audience that has evidently proven elusive in terms of recruitment.

The documents openly state the desire for the ad campaign to target Gen-Z in particular, noting the preferred age range (18 to 24) in addition to other subgroups the Army hoped to reach via advertisement. "Focus on the growth of females, Blacks, and Hispanics," reads one section of the document.

Much of the document focuses on proposed spending for events like Twitch's HBCU (Historically Black colleges and universities) Showdown, along with many others. One page in particular displays a tiered list of advertising prospects. "Twitch x HBCU Showdown" tops the chart, with a proposed budget of $1 million. Further down the list is Call of Duty League, with a note that such a move was pending a discussion with Activision Blizzard.