Alex Navarro, Brad Shoemaker, and Vinny Caravella have announced that they are leaving Giant Bomb. The announcement was made during a live recording of Giant Bomb's podcast, where the trio confirmed that May 7 will be their last day at the company.Giant Bomb was established by former members of GameSpot and, alongside Jeff Gerstmann (who will remain at the site) and Ryan Davis, Brad and Vinny were founding members of the website. Alex, who worked alongside the others at GameSpot, joined sometime later, having initially founded Screened, a website dedicated to movies and TV.in case you didn't happen to tune into this week's Bombcast, I should probably say publicly that I have given my notice, and this Friday will be my last day @giantbomb. It's been an incredible 10 years, but I made the difficult decision that it was time to move on. — Yeet Takeshi (@alex_navarro) May 4, 2021This Friday will be my last day with Giant Bomb as per the announcement on the Bombcast today. I'm so proud of everything we've accomplished over the years and so thankful for everyone that has been a positive part of it. It has shaped who I am. — Vincent Caravella (@VinnyCaravella) May 4, 2021Today was my last episode of the Giant Bombcast. Friday is my last day with the company. After spending a third of my life helping to build this thing, it's tough to make my fingers even type that out. (Seriously, what?) — Brad Shoemaker (@bradshoemaker) May 4, 2021In a statement, Giant Bomb founder Gerstmann said: "I've spent a lot of the last year thinking about what's next for Giant Bomb and most of those roads lead to a full-on rethink of what it means to be a Website About Video Games in 2021. While I certainly would have loved to solve these challenges with my longtime friends and coworkers by my side, it just wasn't meant to be. I wish Vinny, Alex, and Brad the best. Meanwhile, we have a pretty exciting opportunity to broaden our horizons, rethink every facet of our operation, and get to a place where we're truly able to build that bomb all over again... or die trying."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Diablo Immortal, the free-to-play title designed for mobile devices, will launch sometime later this year, Activision Blizzard confirmed during its latest financial earnings release.During a recent earnings call, Activision Blizzard confirmed that Diablo Immortal is "on track for global release later this year." Though a date or window wasn't revealed, the studio said the game has finally entered the second phase of testing. A technical alpha kicked off late last year, but it was relegated to Australia only.Despite being announced in 2018, Activision Blizzard has stayed relatively quiet about the mobile spin-off. Aside from the technical alpha that took place in December 2020, the last official news about the game was confirmation that Diablo Immortal is part of Activision Blizzard's wider strategy to push mobile experiences.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

On Wednesday, May 5, AEW Dynamite will present the first-ever Blood and Guts match. While we don't know the exact rules for the War Games-esque bout, it will involve a massive cage structure and see two factions--The Inner Circle and the Pinnacle--face off to hopefully end their vicious feud once and for all. For Inner Circle member Jake Hager, though, this match has even more meaning. According to him, it's about redemption.It all stems back to the March 10 episode of AEW Dynamite, where Inner Circle members MJF and Wardlow betrayed the group and launched a rival faction in the Pinnacle. They then laid waste to the Inner Circle, a group that has been a cornerstone of AEW since its inception. Since that moment, Hager admits the Inner Circle has been taking stock of how to re-establish itself."That's a humbling moment. I mean, anytime you make a mistake, you need to sit back, humble yourself, and look at the reasons that caused it," he said during an appearance on Wrestle Buddies, GameSpot's wrestling podcast. "I look at the other four members of the Inner Circle as men. Real men can admit their mistakes and learn from them, grow from them, be better from them, stronger from them. And I think that's what we're really eager to prove is that we are better, we are stronger. But we have to show you for you guys to believe that."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

At its heart, New Pokemon Snap is a game about discovery. As you travel about the different islands of the Lental region photographing Pokemon, you'll need to use the various tools at your disposal to lure monsters out of hiding, encourage them to interact with each other, and uncover other rare photo opportunities.For those unfamiliar with the original Nintendo 64 game, this can mean a lot of repetition. You'll be playing through the same courses multiple times in order to snap better photos of Pokemon and increase your Research Level, which in turn will open new courses to explore and Pokemon to photograph. Moreover, the game can be cryptic; it's often unclear how to access new islands or trigger certain Pokemon reactions, so you'll need to experiment frequently to progress. If you ever find yourself at a loss for what to do or how to advance, here are some beginner's tips to help you out in New Pokemon Snap.Scan Your SurroundingsEarly on in your adventure, you'll unlock the scan function--an entirely new mechanic for New Pokemon Snap. Pressing the X button will cause your camera to emit an electrical signal over the immediate area, which will mark the names of any nearby Pokemon and other objects of interest on your screen. This isn't just a good way to see if any monsters are lurking out of sight; many Pokemon will also react to the signal and may even exhibit a special behavior you wouldn't normally see.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Hot on the heels of their Castlevania Season 4 trailer, Netflix has released a collection of new images for the gothic action-horror show ahead of its release next week.The images show us most of the show's principal characters, from Trevor and Sypha getting ready to fight, to series antagonist Carmilla wielding a blood-red blade. Plot details are light. Here's the synopsis offered up by Netfilx:"Wallachia collapses into chaos as factions clash: some attempting to take control, others attempting to bring Dracula back from the dead. Nobody is who they seem, and nobody can be trusted. These are the end times."Gallery The series is based very roughly on the plot of 1989 Nintendo Entertainment System game Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. It follows Trevor Belmont and his vampire-killing whip as he befriends young sorcerer Sypha and Dracula's wayward son Alucard. The trio works with them to defeat the legendary vampire in his teleporting castle. With the big man out of the way, vampires like Carmilla and other powerful magic users like Isaac have their own designs on seizing power.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The Flash is still running full-steam ahead in its seventh season, renewed for Season 8, but two of the show's original cast members won't be along for the ride. Tom Cavanaugh and Carlos Valdes will depart during The Flash Season 7, Deadline reports.Carlos Valdes, who has played the part of tech genius Cisco Ramon--and his super-powered alter ego Vibe--will reportedly end his run with the Season 7 finale.Tom Cavanaugh has played a variety of characters in the show. He has to be in the running for most characters portrayed in a live-action series, right? He began as Reverse-Flash/Eobard Thawne, disguised as scientist Harrison Wells. Upon Thawne's initial defeat, Cavanaugh returned as Harry Wells, H.R. Wells, Sherloque Wells, and Nash Wells--not to mention a whole host of silly one-shot Wells variants. Cavanaugh's departure is a bit muddier. The actor was reportedly set to end his run with the Season 6 finale, but The Flash's season was cut short like so many others.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Apex Legends Season 9 launched to an enthusiastic response from players--but developer Respawn's servers weren't prepared for just how enthusiastic they would be. Since the season's release earlier today, players have faced an array of problems with Apex Legends due to overloaded infrastructure, including extreme difficulty getting into matches.Respawn has been sharing its progress on rolling out fixes all day today on Twitter, but it has yet to fully squash the issues plaguing its servers. In its latest tweet, Respawn stated that unlocked characters and marketplace services should be returned to normal soon. In addition, some players have increasingly had success joining matches, but the problems seem to persist for others.It's always a shame when server issues pester a game during a launch window like this, but scaling server infrastructure is always extremely hard and Respawn has committed to focusing on regaining stability. We'll update this story when all of the issues are resolved.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Call of Duty: Mobile may not capture all of the headlines that the full Call of Duty releases do, but it nonetheless has accumulated a huge audience. Activision has announced that the game has passed 500 million downloads across mobile platforms since its launch in October 2019.This is an enormous number of players in comparison with the console entries, which generally top out around 30 million in sales. Unlocking that many more players is likely a huge reason why Activision pursued a mobile Call of Duty at all, as it has undoubtedly brought in millions of new people to the series.It's also been very lucrative for the company. As Activision revealed in its earnings call, the free-to-play game has brought in over $1 billion since its launch from in-game transactions. Its rate of growth may actually be accelerating, too. It took a year for the game to cross 250 million downloads and reach $500 million in revenue; it took just six months to double those numbers again to their current values.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The enemy outnumbers us two-to-one and reinforcements are still days away. The raucous Gaul army is at our gates, baying for blood; each enemy soldier is coated in white and blue war paint and a select few operate battering rams that'll plough through our modest wooden defenses in a matter of minutes. The scent of death is in the air and we've got no choice but to stand our ground and fight. "One of you is worth any number of them," bellows our general, shattering the tense silence with an impassioned war cry. "We face adversity, a band of brothers, dedicated to the warrior's code of strength and victory," he continues, rallying the troops. "But we will never know defeat while we stand together! This day we add another triumph to the history of our people! We will be honored as men!"Whether you go on to achieve victory or succumb to overwhelming odds, moments like this are part of what made Rome: Total War such a beloved strategy game when it launched in 2004--and why its popularity still persists today. It put Total War on the map and laid the groundwork for what has since become a blockbuster series in the strategy genre. With Total War: Rome Remastered, developer Feral Interactive has updated Creative Assembly's seminal title by overhauling the visuals and adding a number of quality of life improvements that make it slightly more appealing for modern sensibilities. Under the hood, however, this is still very much the same game as it was back in 2004, for better or worse.Total War: Rome Remastered hasn't messed with this engaging setup, although you can now play as the other 15 factions without having to unlock them first--unless you'd prefer to do it the old-fashioned way by defeating each faction during the campaign as one of the Romans. When it comes to upgrades, the most obvious ones are visual, with improved lighting and more detailed terrain making both the battlefields and world map pop with added vibrancy. Environments are still overly sparse, which does make battles fairly lackluster to watch unless elephants are hurling soldiers 30 feet in the air, and the updated units aren't nearly as impressive either, falling some way short of the graphical fidelity we're used to seeing in modern Total War games. As a trade-off, however, Total War: Rome Remastered does feature an experimental "Extreme" setting for unit sizes, allowing you to partake in chaotic battles with an overwhelming number of forces, provided your hardware can handle it. Though loading times are still lengthy no matter which unit size you choose--even if you're running the game off an SSD--which can make the campaign fairly laborious at times.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Sony and Discord are getting into business together. Sony has announced a new partnership and investment in the popular messaging and communication app, which will see Discord connect "with your social and gaming experience on PlayStation Network." The integration between Discord and PSN is expected to happen in early 2022, though exact details on what it will consist of have not yet been announced.Sony president Jim Ryan said in a blog post there are teams already "hard at work" bringing Discord to the PlayStation Network. "Together, our teams are already hard at work connecting Discord with your social and gaming experience on PlayStation Network," he said. "Our goal is to bring the Discord and PlayStation experiences closer together on console and mobile starting early next year, allowing friends, groups, and communities to hang out, have fun, and communicate more easily while playing together."Sony also announced a minority investment in Discord as part of its Series H funding round. The figured attached to this investment was not publicly revealed.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

There are now 97 games for Xbox that have the FPS Boost feature, platform spokesman Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb announced on Monday. This number comes after the feature rolled out to a large number of new games, including Wasteland 3 and Halo Wars 2. Based on an image attached to Hryb's tweet, other notable games with the feature include Hollow Knight, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Far Cry 5, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider.As the accompanying blog post notes, FPS Boost was first unveiled as an Xbox Series X|S feature back in February. True to its name, the feature offers a frame rate boost, offering 60fps for Assassin's Creed Unity, 60fps for Shadow of the Tomb Raider, 60fps for Far Cry 5, and 120fps for Hollow Knight.Today, we're releasing our largest drop of games featuring FPS Boost to date, bringing the total titles boosted to 97, many of which are included in @XboxGamePass and @EAPlay (included with an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription). https://t.co/eCyB8KgAbQ pic.twitter.com/DDjMbRB9TL — Larry Hryb 🏡🎮☁ (@majornelson) May 3, 2021The blog post also says that the resolution of certain games has to be reduced in order to achieve the desired frame rate, so FPS Boost isn't automatically enabled for these games. Users can toggle it off and on from the Compatibility Options menu, under "Manage game and add-ons." If you don't see this option for the specified game, you likely need to update your Xbox.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

It's been 20 years since the first Fast and the Furious movie roared into theaters, introducing the world to Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his family of misfits, street racers, and an undercover cop with a heart of motor oil. The franchise nearly looked very different, though. Diesel wasn't the first choice to play Dom. In fact, it was Deadwood star Timothy Olyphant that could have been the head of the family.It's been discussed before, but a new oral history of the first film from Entertainment Weekly is shedding a little light on what could have been. At that time, The Fast and the Furious, which was going to be called Redline, was set in New York City, rather than the Los Angeles the Toretto family calls home."The studio said, 'If you get Timothy Olyphant to play the role of Dominic Toretto, the movie's greenlit,'" producer Neil H. Mortiz remembered. "We went to Tim and he passed, and we wondered if we were going to get to make it."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

As part of the Epic vs. Apple trial that began today in California, numerous documents were made public as part of the evidence registry. One of these pertained to just how much money Epic Games is making from Fortnite, and surprising no one, it is a heck of a lot. According to The Verge, Fortnite made $9 billion in revenue in 2018 and 2019.We don't know how much profit the game made, however. Overall, Epic as a company had a profit of $5.5 billion in 2018 and 2019.An Excel file obtained by The Washington Post reveals that, between January 2017 and October 2020, the overwhelming majority of Epic's payments made to Microsoft and Sony related to Fortnite, the report said. A smaller percentage came from Rocket League, which Epic owns, and other Epic games.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

If you're a PlayStation Now subscriber, you now have three new games to play. Nioh, Streets of Rage 4, and Jump Force are available on the PlayStation streaming service across PS5, PS4, and PC.All three games can now be streamed across Now-compatible devices. However, while Nioh will be available indefinitely, Jump Force and Streets of Rage 4 will be taken off the service later this year. Jump Force is playable until August 2, while Streets of Rage 4 will leave the service on November 1.In other PlayStation Now news, Sony is actively rolling out 1080p streaming for games that support that resolution. You'll need an internet speed of at least 15 Mbps, but it's a welcome improvement in quality for a service that's been capped at 720p since its launch. As a reminder, some PS Now games can be downloaded instead of streamed to PS4 and PS5 consoles, and these games already support native resolutions up to 4K. Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Players have figured out a way to reset the 60-minute timer on the final Resident Evil Village demo on Steam. The demo is available now on many gaming platforms, and a lot of curious players are checking out the upcoming game's creepy environments for the first time.While most players find the time limit to be generous enough to explore both the Castle and Village halves of the demo, Steam users have determined a method for resetting the timer so you can replay both to your heart's content. After all, that photo mode can suck up your time in a hurry. A Steam forums user detailed a six-step guide to zeroing out the timer, and it's fairly straightforward. However, it does require the use of an external utility called Steam Achievement Manager (SAM). (If you're an old-school Steam user, you may have used SAM to unlock weapons in Team Fortress 2.)This is due to the fact that Capcom took the unusual step of using Steam's achievements system to track the time you spend in the demo. The final Resident Evil Village demo is available on most gaming platforms until May 9. The demo was originally slated to run for only 24 hours, as were the previous Village demos, but fan backlash prompted Capcom to extend it by a week. If you're excited to play Village on PC, make sure to grab the latest Nvidia drivers, which bring optimizations for the upcoming game. Resident Evil Village releases for Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4, PS5, Stadia, and PC on May 7.Info from Gamespot.com