Gamespot

Fortnite's new Update 12.61 is out now, and as usual, there are no official patch notes to share from developer Epic Games. According to some voices in the community, including reliable leaker Lucas7Yoshi, the patch adds a smattering of new collectibles, including an emote for the Tootsie Slide, the dance that accompanies rapper/crooner Drake's number 1 hit of the same name. New offers also include a new Cyclo skin and the Windshear item, which are both apparently related to the upcoming Doomsday event. Note that these items are not yet live on the item shop and could be subject to change.

Developer Naughty Dog has a handful of pieces of new concept art for The Last of Us: Part II that showcase the developer's inspiration for the much-anticipated post-apocalyptic sequel.

The art--which is based on scouting trips to Seattle--was released in the latest Inside the Details episode, and you can see each of the stills in the gallery below. Be sure to click each image to see it in full size.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is continuing its rollout on PC, with Halo 3 and ODST added next. Developer 343 Industries has now confirmed that the first beta test, or "flight," for Halo 3 on PC will begin in mid-June.

Community manager John Junyszek confirmed this on Twitter. He added that more details on the Halo 3 beta test will be announced on May 29, so we'll know more very soon.

The beta tests for Halo 3 will start very small. Microsoft will kick things off with "Ring 1" testers, which is a very small group of people who work closely with the developer. After that, future beta tests will be available for members of the Halo Insider program, which is free to sign up for--go here to sign up.

After a long wait, the full Tetris Effect soundtrack by composer Hydelic is finally available to purchase or stream. The game, which was recently released on Oculus Quest, is known for its extraordinary soundtrack--and now you can listen to all 40 songs of it, lasting 2 hours and 50 minutes.

The Tetris Effect soundtrack is available on Spotify and YouTube, or you can purchase it on Bandcamp for $10. Limited Run was stocking an LP of the soundtrack too, but it has sold out.

The head of Take-Two, the parent company of Rockstar Games and 2K Games, has offered some high-level thoughts on what the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X can offer in terms of new experiences. During the Bernstein Annual Strategic Decisions Conference, Strauss Zelnick said the next-gen consoles will allow for lots of new richness and depth.

"We're very excited about what the new consoles will allow our creative folks to do," he said. "We've obviously been developing with new technology for some time [already] so we're very familiar with where that can take us. Generally speaking, what new technology in our business allows us to do is better memory, better graphics, more fidelity, more beauty, more subtlety, more speed, more richness, and more depth. More characters."

Zelnick pointed to Red Dead Redemption 2 versus Red Dead Redemption 1 as an example of how its developers leveraged new technology to make more in-depth experiences. Indeed, Red Dead Redemption 2 offered a much larger, richer world than the original game, which was released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Chad Muska, one of the iconic skateboarders from the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, is returning for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, and in a new video he has talked about the series' legacy and impact on both his life and skating culture.

Muska, who was 21 when he appeared in the first game back in 1999, says that "the games influenced my life in general," and was very important for the skateboarding industry. "To this day, people come up to me and they're like, 'Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, I picked you! If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have started skateboarding!'"

You can watch the short video below, and compare 1999 PlayStation 1 Muska to 2020 PlayStation 4 Muska.

A new game from publisher Devolver Digital is launching on the Epic Games Store today, May 28--and it won't cost a cent. The game, Sludge Life, has been on our radar since it was announced for its wild sense of style and mellow graffiti gameplay. It's also full of cat butts, and features a dedicated button for farts, as all games should.

The game involves exploring a small island on a planet with a serious sludge problem. You play as Ghost, a tagger looking to move up the graffiti food chain, and a lot of the game involves committing vandalism. There are no specific objectives given to you, but there are three potential endings to be discovered.

The game's launch trailer is below, and once you're done watching it you can jump onto its Epic Games Store page and download the game for free.

Phantasy Star Online 2 has finally released for PC in the west, eight years after its Japanese launch, but it hasn't been the smoothest experience. As reported by PC Gamer, players have been facing issues at the very first steps of getting the game going--installing it and logging in.

The game, which came to Xbox One a month ago, launched exclusively on the Windows Store for PC--and the game's official Reddit is full of complaints that the game is not working, failing to install or refusing to let players log in. Worse still, different players are getting unique error codes from one another, which makes the issue harder to pin down and address.

The game's official Twitter account is also fielding complaints, and assuring players that their complaints are being passed on to the developer.

A new study has shared new insight on how people enjoy to eat and drink while playing games. The Newzoo study found that the overwhelming majority--80 percent--of all gamers eat food or drink regularly while playing games.

Crystal Dynamics has revealed a new character for their upcoming Marvel's Avengers game, and it's someone we've never seen in the comics or movies. In a new post on Square Enix's website, the team is introducing Cerise--a new "inhuman" team member.

Cerise is a wheelchair user, and the motion capture for her was provided by accessibility specialist Cherry Thompson. The post is light on details about the character, but game designer Mariah Robinson talks about the importance of accessibility and representation to the team. "We have been working on a variety of ways to represent diversity," she says. "We see all kinds of people in our society, so why not reflect that in our in-game world?"

Senior community and social media manager Meagan Marie shares similar sentiments in the interview. "The fantasy of being a Super Hero is universal, so options that allow players to customize their experience to fit specific needs and playstyles means we can share our vision with even more fans," she says.

The presence of Cerise suggests that there could be other original characters in the game too--hopefully we'll find out more when the next gameplay footage debuts on June 24.

Marvel's Avengers is due to launch on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia on September 1, 2020.

Minecraft Dungeons is the new dungeon-crawling spin-off of the illustrious Minecraft series. Aside from the blocky aesthetic and inclusion of some well-known Minecraft monsters, it’s pretty different from the crafting game people have grown to know and love.

For one, although Minecraft features a combat system, it’s nowhere near as complex as that of this action-adventure spin-off. In the latter, you’ve got melee weapons, armor, and bows, all of which can be enchanted to create a diverse range of character builds specializing in specific combat strategies. On top of this, you’ve got Artifacts, which are like magical spells from standard RPGs.

Although many of the builds are pretty simple, there’s a specific kind of combat in Minecraft Dungeons that requires harvesting Souls to deal with extraordinary damage or heal you up right before you fade away. For the uninitiated, Souls is a type of ammo that you get from defeating enemies, and it’s only used for certain types of Artifacts--you can tell which ones use it based on whether or not they have a Souls icon.

For the next week, Grand Theft Auto V Online is all about the Weeny Issi. Rockstar has declared this Weeny Issi Week, and they clearly want to get as many players into these diminutive cars as possible. You'll unlock bonuses by racing in the Weeny Issi, and there's apparel to be earned and variants to buy and win. Here's everything in the latest update.

This week, Issi Classic Races will give triple rewards to all entrants, so you'll want to make sure you know how to handle one of these things. Every player who jumps in this week will also be given a free Weeny tee, so if you really love this in-game brand you can now signpost your allegiance.

If you don't have your own Issi, every model of the car is on sale at 50% off. You can also win a Weeny Issi Classic at The Lucky Wheel in the Diamond Casino and Resort right now.

Microsoft is releasing a Halo Infinite art book, and pre-orders are now available. The book is called The Art of Halo Infinite, and you can reserve a copy now from Amazon and other platforms for $40 USD.

The official description of The Art of Halo Infinite states that the 200-page book, which is produced by Dark Horse, will showcase all kinds of art from the next-gen Halo title. The team at Dark Horse worked with 343 Industries and spoke with the artists, including art director Sparth, for the book.

Update: Call of Duty: WW2 is one of June 2020's free PS Plus games, but you can grab it early and start playing now. If you're about to dive into the game for the first time, check out our guides below for some helpful tips and tricks.

Call of Duty: WWII's focus on brotherhood and bonds are both refreshing and familiar as it shed its futuristic, sci-fi storytelling to return to its roots in war. From its moving story to the multitude of ways to play online, it maintains the jump-in-and-play attitude while breaking out of its recent tropes. While it's still a grab-and-go kind of title, there's a lot more depth here than meets the eye. Our in-depth guides are an easy way to get started and stay invested.

Be sure to check back here for changes to our guides as we do update them often. Some guides may contain mild spoilers.

After four years on the market, Bandai Namco Entertainment's Dragon Ball: Xenoverse 2 will get some new DLC. The announcement of the new content comes just as the game's worldwide shipments and digital sales have surpassed a new milestone, with six million units having shipped across Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Stadia, and Xbox One.

According to the latest issue of V-Jump magazine (reported by Ryokutya2089 and translated via Gematsu), DB: Xenoverse 2's newest DLC will add the Supreme Kai of Time, Chronoa, as a playable character after a major update comes out on all platforms. Alongside Chronoa, the update will include a Broly wig and armor set, a Supreme Kai of Time costume, and an expanded Partner Customization feature. This new feature will allow previously unplayable characters to now be playable. No release date or pricing information for this DLC has been revealed as of yet.

Following the extended gameplay video for The Last of Us: Part II, Naughty Dog has released another video for the much-anticipated post-apocalyptic PS4 game. The latest "Inside the Details" video shines a light on the level of detail that Naughty Dog has put into the game--and it's a lot.

In the video, developers speak about bringing the game's characters to life through things like veins that pop on a character's forehead when they're in a stressful situation. Additionally, the game has a new animation system that lets the developers adjust how tears flow off the eyes and face.

Another way that Naughty Dog has focused on details is by giving enemy characters names. When you kill an enemy, their friend might call out in anguish. The enemies you kill may also scream in blood-curdling pain. It's all part of helping increase the tension and immersion you feel as the player.

The Witcher series has sold 50 million copies to date, with CD Projekt Red's flagship property hitting a new sales milestone this year. After the success of the hit Netflix adaptation, it looks like the adventures of Geralt have captured everyone's attention.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has sold around 28.3 million copies all on its own, contributing to over half of the figures now being celebrated by CD Projekt Red.

PC copies of The Witcher 3 further accounted for around 12 million of total units sold for the game, with PlayStation 4 copies coming in a close second at 10.8 million copies.

The Corrupted Cauldron is a boss at the end of the Soggy Swamp area in Minecraft Dungeons. It's not the most challenging boss fight in the game, but it can be a little tricky--mainly because it's one of the first proper bosses you'll come across.

The Soggy Swamp itself is home to many witches who have been brewing a variety of potions to distil a terrifyingly potent concoction for the Arch-Illager. The Corrupted Cauldron is where said concoction ends up, so to stop it from reaching the Arch-Illager's kingdom, you'll need to take it down in the deepest part of the Soggy Swamp.

Below we detail how to defeat the Corrupted Cauldron boss. But if you're looking for extra tips on how to get better at Minecraft Dungeons in general, check out how the enchanting system works, or consult our list of essential tips and tricks. We've also put together a handy piece on everything you need to know about Minecraft Dungeons. You can also read our Minecraft Dungeons review.

Minecraft Dungeons, the new dungeon-crawling adventure game from the creators of Minecraft, is pretty different from the game it’s spun-off from. Instead of mining, woodcutting, farming, and gallivanting across diverse biomes in first-person, you’re tasked with exploring dungeons packed with all kinds of nasty enemies. One of the most prominent differences outside of the overall genre shift, though, has to do with the implementation of Artifacts.

Artifacts, although magical in nature, are different from enchanting, so we’ve put together a separate guide for how the enchanting system works. If you’re only starting out, though, you should start off by checking out everything you need to know before playing Minecraft Dungeons, before consulting our list of essential tips and tricks guide. You can also read our Minecraft Dungeons review.

What Are Artifacts?

Artifacts in Minecraft Dungeons are sort of like the spells you’d expect to find in a traditional RPG. You can equip up to three Artifacts at one time, meaning that you have three different spells to make use of when you go dungeon-crawling. Just remember that they are set to cooldowns, so each Artifact will be temporarily off-limits after you use it (fortunately, some cooldowns are remarkably short).

While 2K Sports has a football game on the horizon, it's EA that has walked away with a coveted, multi-year exclusivity deal to make the officially licensed NFL simulation games. This announcement comes hot on the heels of an NFL vote concerning who to cement as the organization's partner in the game, esports, and media sphere.

According to a press release from EA, this multi-year deal has been inked between the publisher, the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), and the NFL itself. With Madden NFL 20 being the most successful game in the franchise's history, and Madden NFL 21 due to drop later this year, now appears to be as a time as any for the NFL to capitalise on that momentum.

The deal between the three bodies will encompass developing "games in new genres, expanded esports programs, and additional experiences for fans across more platforms," as per EA's statement.

Niantic's annual Pokemon Go Fest event is returning once again this summer with some major changes. While the event is traditionally held in-person at Chicago's Grant Park, this year developer Niantic is transforming Pokemon Go Fest into "an entirely global event in a virtual format."

Pokemon Go Fest 2020 will take place on July 25-26. Not many other details about the event have been announced yet, but Niantic says that all ticket holders will be able to attend both days and the new virtual format will allow players to join the festivities regardless of where they're located.

"While we'll miss the traditional congregation of Pokemon Go fans, we're thrilled to bring a special Pokemon Go Fest experience to Trainers," Niantic wrote in a blog post. "Not only are you in for an exciting weekend of bonuses, Pokemon encounters, and Special Research, there will also be exciting ways to connect with other Trainers and experience other fun surprises throughout the entire summer."

Minecraft Dungeons, the recently launched spin-off of global blockbuster Minecraft, differs from its predecessor in a variety of ways. There’s no mining for diamonds in the depths of a cave, nor is there an option to build your favorite landmarks out of sand, stone, or netherrack. Instead, your goal is to make your way through dungeons filled with monsters, slaying all kinds of enemies as you make your way towards the castle of the dastardly Arch-Illager.

This is made a lot easier by enchanting your weapons and armor. Minecraft Dungeons, like Minecraft, features a full-fledged enchantment system of its own, but it works a little differently in this case. Although it’s easy to understand once you get the hang of it, it might take a little while to figure out how it actually works. Fortunately, we’ve put together a handy guide on how the enchantment system works in Minecraft Dungeons.

If you’ve got the hang of enchanting already, be sure to check out our essential tips and tricks for Minecraft Dungeons. On the other hand, if you’re curious about what Minecraft Dungeons even is, here’s everything you need to know about Minecraft Dungeons. You can also read our Minecraft Dungeons review.

The Redstone Monstrosity is one of the most challenging bosses in Minecraft Dungeons. It appears at the end of the Fiery Forge, and is aesthetically similar to the smaller--but no less irritating--Redstone Golems.

The Redstone Monstrosity is a massive piece of machinery engineered by a variety of Pillagers at the deepest depths of the Fiery Forge. Supposedly a weapon for the Arch-Illager, it is completed before you arrive to sabotage its manufacture--as a result, you have to fight the proper, hi-tech version fresh out of the forge. It’s a tough fight for sure and involves some pretty involved combat strategies, but there are ways to make this seemingly tricky fight incredibly easy--you need to know how to use the map to your advantage.

Before you read, make sure you’re familiar with how the enchanting system works. You should also check out our list of essential tips and tricks guide and everything you need to know about Minecraft Dungeons. You can also read our Minecraft Dungeons review.

Minecraft Dungeons introduces a brand new spin on the classic Minecraft formula. Instead of collecting resources, crafting items, and building custom structures from a variety of block types in first-person as you would in Minecraft, you'll be mostly third-person dungeon-crawling in Minecraft Dungeons, which places a bigger emphasis on looting treasure and combating enemies, all along the way in your quest to reach the nefarious Arch-Illager’s castle and take him down once and for all.

Although Minecraft Dungeons is not the most difficult game, there are definitely some things you should take on board before booting it up--especially so if you’re a Minecraft fan who hasn’t got a lot of experience with dungeon-crawlers. Luckily, we’ve compiled a handy, spoiler-free guide for you to bring you up to speed while you’re waiting for Minecraft Dungeons to install.

In this guide, we've highlighted nine of the most essential tips and tricks that we gleaned from our time playing Minecraft Dungeons. Once you think you've got a handle on the basics, stay tuned for more guides focussed on things like how the enchantment system works in Minecraft Dungeons. If this is the first you've heard about the Minecraft spinoff game and you have unanswered questions, consider reading our article that collates everything you need to know about Minecraft Dungeons.

Darkest Dungeon is a fantastic, challenging roguelike that tasks players with crawling through horrifying, calamitous dungeons to slay monsters and claim treasure. The game puts an emphasis on the psychological tolls that adventuring brings, and if you're up for the challenge, then you can do so for free all weekend on Steam. This comes in time for the release of the free Butcher's Circus DLC, which launches today and adds a PVP mode.

Darkest Dungeon's free weekend runs from now until June 1 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. If you decide you want to keep playing Darkest Dungeon after the free period ends, you can snag it for $6.24 USD. There are a number of great DLC expansions that are also discounted. The Crimson Court DLC is $5, the Shieldbreaker is $2.74, and The Color of Madness is $2.49. You can buy Darkest Dungeon and all of its DLC in the Ancestral Edition for $16.38.

New aerial shots of Super Nintendo Land, Universal Studios Japan's new video game-themed expansion, show off Bowser's castle and other familiar Mushroom Kingdom locations.

An Instagram user shared several different angles of the new expansion which include a far-off look at different rides. You can see Peach's castle, various warp pipes and blocks, and even a Yoshi ride similar to Fantasy Land where park-goers take the green dinosaur for a spin. You can check out various shots of the park below.

Outside the Yoshi and Mario Kart rides that have been previously confirmed, no other rides have been announced. You can check out more shots here.

Nintendo is finally giving its heralded Wii RPG, Xenoblade Chronicles, another go on the Switch, and it's out this Friday, May 29. The Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition is joined by a new 250-page art book dubbed Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Works that will be bundled with the US-exclusive $80 Definitive Works Set, which is currently back in stock at GameStop one day before release. Meanwhile, fans in the UK can grab the Collector's Set, which comes with a few more goodies.

The biggest addition to the Definitive Edition is the brand-new epilogue, Future Connected, which provides some incentive for those who have already played Monolith Soft's grand adventure to grab it again on Switch. The Switch version also includes some quality-of-life improvements, including remixed music, updated controls, and enhanced visuals. Menu screens will be more user-friendly and feature easier-to-read text, too.

Our Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition review is live now, and the game earned a 9/10 for its rewarding combat, fantastic soundtrack, and diverse, gorgeous world. "Although not every aspect of Xenoblade Chronicles has aged as well as others, Definitive Edition proves that Xenoblade Chronicles is still a fantastic JRPG with an immense amount of strategic depth that's still impressive in 2020. Its bevy of improvements and additions, as well as its fantastic epilogue, make this an adventure worth embarking on a decade later," wrote GameSpot's Jake Dekker.

Immediately after the Xbox Series X was announced, fans remarked that its refrigerator-like design makes it an excellent canvas for custom editions. Microsoft has yet to announce any special-edition Xbox Series X designs, but one fan has put together a very good-looking one for Halo Infinite. It's sharp and rugged, yet it isn't gaudy, and it looks good enough to be an official design if Microsoft launches a limited-edition console when the game releases.

Noted designer Xbox Pope created the lovely-looking mock-up that you can see below. It features the Halo franchise's signature green color scheme and a distressed "117" in reference to Master Chief's name. Xbox Pope also created a mock-up for an Xbox controller that matches up with the console design. Check it out below, but remember again that this is not an official design.

A new firmware update for Nintendo Switch arrived at the start of this week. Version 10.0.3. is out now, and it's not a very notable or substantial update. The patch notes are only one sentence long, and if you're accustomed to looking at these update notes, you probably already know what to expect: "General system stability improvements to enhance the user's experience."

As always, it's possible there are other, unnoted changes that the community will have to discover. But for the time being, you shouldn't update with the expectation of getting folder support or anything of the sort.

This update follows the 10.0.2 patch that was released on April 30. This update also included general stability improvements along with a fix for an issue with the Pro Controller. Before that, version 10.0.1 was released, and it did almost nothing.

Apex Legends has been steadily getting better and better with each new season, and with the latest content in Season 5, EA says it's experiencing the best uptake from a season launch yet.

EA states in a press release that Season 5 of Apex Legends has encouraged lots of new players to join in, with many more choosing to stick around than in the past. Season 5 introduced a new character, Loba, and made changes to the map, including the destruction of Skull Town on King's Canyon. The ongoing expansion of the game's lore is also allowing developer Respawn to experiment with new ways to tease upcoming content, with the "Stories from the Outlands" series of shorts helping to introduce new combatants to the game.

Season 5 also introduced Quests--a feature which Respawn didn't think possible back when they launched Apex Legends' first season. We spoke to game director Chad Greiner about this evolution, where he explained that Respawn continually keeps learning from previous seasons while trying to shake things up with each new one.

The Division 2 will undergo a short maintenance on Tuesday, May 26, starting at 12:30 AM PT / 3:30 AM ET. It's expected to last for three hours. According to the patch notes, this tiny update will stomp out some of the game's bugs, including a mission-breaking issue and one that prevented players from earning progress on Global Event challenges. [Update: The maintenance has concluded and The Division 2 servers are back online, complete with a small new update. You can read about the small tweaks it makes in the patch notes below.]

In other Division 2 news, Ubisoft recently released the delayed Update 9.1. That patch focused on overhauling the game's NPCs, which the developer deemed too powerful in certain situations. The game's upcoming Title Update 10 is now live on The Division 2's Public Test Server, but only on PC. This new update will make several big changes to the game, including buffing most of the game's weapons and adjusting the drop-rate for high-tier loot to make the game's stouter difficulties more rewarding.

Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest showcase is now teasing some sort of "console announcements" that will take place sometime in the near future.

In partnering with Twitch, the Summer Game Fest posted a lengthy blog about some of the news viewers can expect throughout the summer. SGF simply said that some console announcements are coming but is keeping whatever this information is close to its chest for the time being.

The Summer Game Fest is slated to run from May to August, with several livestreams happening over the course of the next four months. A look at the schedule shows that none of the announced streams have anything to do with the next-generation systems, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

Pokemon Sword and Shield's first expansion, Isle of Armor, launches next month, and The Pokemon Company is celebrating by giving away a handful of free Pokemon. Over the next few weeks, you'll be able to claim a Galarian form with its Hidden Ability, starting with Galarian Mr. Mime.

From May 22-28, you can download the free Mr. Mime via Mystery Gift. This Mr. Mime has the Ice Body Ability, which allows it to restore a little health every turn during hail. Alongside the Pokemon, you'll also receive a handful of rare Poke Balls, specifically one Lure Ball, Moon Ball, Heavy Ball, and Dream Ball.

To claim the free gifts, go through the following steps:

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition arrives on Switch tomorrow, May 29, but an update for the game is available before it's even launched. Nintendo has rolled out Xenoblade Chronicles' 1.1.1 update. The company has yet to release English patch notes, but the update appears to resolve two fairly specific issues concerning the Arts Palette that could arise when using a Chain Attack.

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition is a remaster of the classic Wii RPG, featuring improved character models, a redesigned UI, and other visual touchups. The game also boasts a new epilogue story called Future Connected, which is available from the outset and takes place a year after the main game. According to game director Tetsuya Takahashi, Future Connected's story is about 10-12 hours long, while those who clear all of its side content can spend upwards of 20 hours with the epilogue.

Xbox Series X is scheduled to be released in Holiday 2020, and when it does, Microsoft should offer a service similar to the once prominent Xbox Live Arcade. Combined with the welcome practices and services that Microsoft has made since the release of Xbox One, something like Xbox Live Arcade could be a beneficial way of both promoting and curating the indie game library on Xbox Series X.

Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) launched with Xbox 360 back in November 2005. The service promoted and hosted games that weren't a part of the rest of the Xbox Live Marketplace. Each game on XBLA was priced under $20 USD and had free trials, creating a library of games with a much lower bar for entry. You could try them out prior to deciding whether to buy them and they were much cheaper than the traditional $60 USD retail price of a AAA game. Right from the start, XBLA was used to promote games created by small teams and indie studios that were released for Xbox 360--a market that had traditionally only excelled on PC, not consoles.

Borderland 3 developer Gearbox has unveiled the next DLC for the game, a "harsh" revenge tale called Bounty of Blood: A Fistful of Redemption. It's a western-themed expansion that pits you against a bloodthirsty gang called the Devil Riders. Bounty of Blood will be released on June 25, and Gearbox also offered a slight taste of what to expect after that. It will feature one of the game's most iconic enemy types.

During the Borderlands Show broadcast, DLC director Matt Cox called it a "harsh story of revenge and redemption" and teased an unseen narrator, who is said to be a new character. In fact, Bounty of Blood stars a new cast of characters, like the reformed brawler, Juno, and your guide, Rose. And no western epic would be complete without a steed, so you'll get to ride a Jet Beast mount.

The main town Vestige, located on the frontier planet Gehenna, will change based on your actions in the DLC, like storefronts reopening and the theater showing lost film reels. NPCs themselves will change based on your choices in side-missions as well.

Gearbox has issued a new Borderlands 3 hotfix, but unlike most of the weekly updates this one is particularly light. In fact, it only addresses a single issue, but the team notes that it's working hard on a bigger patch to come next week.

As detailed in the announcement, this week's hotfix only addresses one bug: reports that the "Talk" prompt would sometimes fail to appear if you were in multiplayer during the Pandora's Next Top Mouthpiece mission. That bug risked blocking progression for players, but it should be resolved as of May 28 at 12 PM PT.

The update suggests that fixes next week should be more substantial since the reason this week update is so light is that "testing resources are currently being directed at the upcoming patch on June 4." That date will also mark the end of Revenge of the Cartels, which will be replaced by the next mini-event, Takedown of the Guardian Breach.

Fresh off of giving away Grand Theft Auto V and Civilization VI, the Epic Games Store is offering another popular title for free for the next week. Borderlands: The Handsome Collection is up for grabs until June 4 at the same time. The collection comes with Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, so really you're getting two free games this week. To claim Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, simply sign up for a free Epic account and turn on two-factor authentication.

Normally, Epic reveals free games a week ahead of time, but during the ongoing Mega Sale, Epic has chosen to tease mystery freebies each week. Epic revealed Borderlands: The Handsome Collection as this week's freebie before its unlock time in a now deleted tweet. A leaked list of the mystery freebies has proven to be spot on so far, which leads us to believe next week's free game will be Ark: Survival Evolved.

Snagging Borderlands: The Handsome Collection from Epic will also net you a $10 off coupon--if you don't already have one--to use during the Mega Sale on any game $15 or more except for pre-orders. Each time you purchase a game priced $15 or more, you'll earn a new coupon.

In a Xbox Wire blog post, Xbox partner director of program management Jason Ronald wrote about backwards compatibility support for Xbox Series X. Microsoft's next-gen console will support backwards compatibility for original Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One games and Ronald promises that thousands of those titles will be playable on Xbox Series X on day one. New backwards compatibility techniques will allow the games to run at higher resolutions and with HDR support they originally lacked, too.

"With more than 100,000 hours of play testing already completed, thousands of games are already playable on Xbox Series X today, from the biggest blockbusters to cult classics and fan favorites," he wrote. "Many of us in Team Xbox play on the Xbox Series X daily as our primary console and switching between generations is seamless. By the time we launch this holiday, the team will have spent well over 200,000 hours ensuring your game library is ready for you to jump in immediately."

Series X won't just play your old Xbox games--it will also improve how they look. "The team was not content to just rely on the increased hardware performance to improve your playing experience," Ronald wrote. "Xbox Series X delivers a new, innovative HDR reconstruction technique which enables the platform to automatically add HDR support to games. As this technique is handled by the platform itself, it allows us to enable HDR with zero impact to the game's performance and we can also apply it to Xbox 360 and original Xbox titles developed almost 20 years ago, well before the existence of HDR."

Outriders, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X game from the developers of Gears of War: Judgment and Bulletstorm, is getting a monthly video series. Titled "Outriders Broadcast," the monthly program will deliver news and information about the game, which is due for release later this year.

Episode 1, titled "Built for the Core," will release on Thursday, May 28 at 9 AM PT. It will focus on Outriders' gameplay features, environments, character classes, and special abilities, featuring insights and commentary from the developers at People Can Fly. The embedded video stream is available below.

In a statement, People Can Fly creative director Bartek Kmita said the studio came up with the idea for a video series to respond to the current climate.