The Nintendo Switch was updated with firmware 12.0.0 this week, with the inclusion of a line that suggested to some dataminers that Bluetooth audio might be activated soon. While Nintendo hasn't commented either way, the hardware limitations of the Switch (and most modern consoles) still make that improbable.Bluetooth audio has been a requested feature on gaming devices for years, but even with the most-recent hardware in the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S support for it hasn't been implemented. If you've ever used Bluetooth headphones for anything other than music or podcasts, you might have an idea why. Aside from the issues of interference with other wireless devices (such as your WiFi router or the 2.4GHz radio used for controllers), the biggest issue with Bluetooth audio is latency.[Nintendo Switch System Update]12.0.0 has added audio support to the Bluetooth driver.*However*, I’m not sure if anything is actually using this new support so far. No guarantees it will ever be used, either.(SOURCE: yellows8 via SwitchBrew)https://t.co/Zyn35f3dZd pic.twitter.com/Ag5I0h8nic — OatmealDome (@OatmealDome) April 7, 2021In general, Bluetooth requires 100ms or more to compress audio, beam it to a headset, and then decompress it for listening. That is much, much longer than a game takes to render a frame (that's 16.67ms for games at 60fps or 33.3ms for 30fps, coupled with the minor delay of displays) which will ultimately make the audio appear out of sync with the video. One way to combat this is to deactivate any Game modes your display might have to slow down the response time of the display itself to give the audio time to catch up. Not only is it still not slow enough at times, but it leads to a worse playing experience as your inputs feel sluggish and unresponsive.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Oh Rexy, you're so sexy! It's Rex Manning Day, that special day in the 1995 film Empire Records in which washed-up pop star Rex Manning (Maxwell Caufield) did a special appearance at the record store and ended up helping feed into the chaos of the day. How better to mark such a special occasion than with a rewatch of the cult classic '90s movie?If you don't have a DVD or VHS copy of the film you can dust off, never fear! You have digital options. Empire Records is available for rent and purchase at practically every digital movie retailer (Amazon Prime, Vudu, Apple TV, and even YouTube). However, if you're looking for a free way to check out the movie that helped launch the careers of Liv Tyler, Renée Zellweger, Ethan Embry, and more, you're in luck.You can watch Empire Records for free (with ads) on Tubi. So just head over there to relive Warren robbing the store, the greatest block party of all time, and the eternal struggle between Lucas and Joe.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Respawn's popular battle royale game Apex Legends is launching a new event called War Games that introduces a series of new events and more. The War Games event kicks off on April 13, but the first details and a trailer for it are available now.The War Games event brings new playlist modifiers that only run for a few days. These special playlists will offer up cosmetics--including the Rampart and 30-30 skins--as well as new Battle Pass levels. There will also be XP challenges that come online each day.The standard "Play Apex" playlists are also getting five special modes that will be available in "rapid succession" beginning with the War Games launch on April 13. One of these is called Second Chance, and it gives players one free respawn each match. Another is Ultra Zones, which adds multiple Hot Zones where players can replenish HP and shields inside them.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Video footage of a canceled Castlevania game has emerged in the wild for the first time. An anonymous collector posted a YouTube video that exhibits what appears to be a pre-E3 demo for Castlevania Resurrection, a Dreamcast entry in the series that never actually came out.The footage shows a handful of different areas that the player accesses from a debug menu, all of which are very much in the decrepit castle milieu that the series is known for. It's difficult to tell exactly how the demo plays because the player is controlling it with one hand, presumably holding the camera with their other. However, it very much resembles the early 3D games in the series, particularly Castlevania (N64).The Dreamcast game Castlevania: Resurrection was canceled back in 2000. It was intended to be a sequel to the Game Boy entry Castlevania Legends, which would have continued the story of that game's protagonist Sonia Belmont. What we know of Castlevania: Resurrection is based almost entirely on interviews with Greg Orduyan, the art director for the canned game.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Ubisoft has hired Anika Grant to become its new Chief People Officer in a role where she will oversee the publisher's efforts toward ensuring the company's workplaces are "anchored in safety, respect, and wellbeing." The hiring of Grant comes after Ubisoft was called out for having a "frat house" culture of sexism and abuse.Grant will also join Ubisoft's executive committee, and she starts today, April 8. Grant, who is an Australian citizen, was formerly the global HR director at Dyson. Before that, she was a senior director of HR at Uber, and before that, she held a high-level HR position at Accenture.Grant will report directly to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. In a press release, Ubisoft said Grant will also manage Ubisoft's "global recruiting, talent management, leadership development, and compensation and benefits, and will contribute to improving the company's organizational performance."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Capcom is investigating another bug in Monster Hunter Rise. As the publisher acknowledged on the official Monster Hunter website, an issue has been discovered with the Melding Pot, the feature that allows you to craft Talismans out of different materials. According to Capcom, the issue in question can cause the Melding Pot to produce the same Talismans in the same order, which could result in you wasting crafting materials."We have confirmed a bug for some players when using 'Melding--Wisp of Mystery' that results in the same Talismans being produced in the exact same order," Capcom wrote. "We are currently looking into the cause and how to fix it, so we will post another notification as soon as we find out more."This issue arises shortly after Capcom released a version 1.1.2 patch for Monster Hunter Rise. That update resolved a handful of other bugs in the game, including one that prevented some players from opening their save files after they set the Action or Hurt poses to the action bar and quit the game.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Developer People Can Fly has outlined the first major patch for Outriders that makes some tweaks to the looter-shooter, including addressing stability issues and nerfing some class-specific skills.A disappointment to some Outriders players will come in the form of balancing adjustments to loot drops and class skills. Some enemies, like the Coldclaw and Splittooth, will drop less gear because they were being too generous with their spoils. Meanwhile, Bullet abilities (such as the Technomancer's Blighted Rounds and the Trickster's Twisted Rounds) have been modified so they feel more "top tier," People Can Fly said. This includes increasing Twisted Rounds' cooldown to 25 seconds and reducing the "Vulnerable" status effect's power to 15%. The Technomancer and Pyromancer classes have also been nerfed, with the former's "Damage Against Poison" skill getting its power reduced and the latter's "Trial of Ashes" extra damage output decreased.A big feature for the game is cross-play between consoles and PC being re-enabled. A date for when this feature will be turned on has not been specified, as People Can Fly said there's a chance that this upcoming patch could release earlier than currently planned. In either case, cross-play will be activated next week.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Blizzard is introducing a new limited series of merch based on its various franchises to celebrate the company's 30th anniversary. The "From the Vault" series will introduce new collectibles every month through November, starting today with the Lich King Arthas premium statue and a special art print.The Lich King Arthas statue is 26 inches high and weighs more than 40 pounds, and it comes at a premium price of $1100. A Prince Arthas concept art print is also part of this month's offerings for $30, but only available for 30 days. Each month will introduce a new concept art print throughout the event, and each will only be available for 30 days.Lich King Arthas Statue See at Blizzard Gear Store Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

As part of Game of Thrones's 10-year anniversary this month, HBO has announced details for MaraThrone, its recently announced curated binge-watching marathon. The newly posted site offers six different playlists of episodes--or "routes"--that allows fans to relive the series all over again by hopscotching through all eight seasons with a focus on particular characters, kingdoms, or relationships.It's worth noting that while there are technically six "routes," the first one literally recommends fans watch each season consecutively from start to finish. For the others, HBO has made eye-catching print-outs you can use as a map when navigating on the app on your preferred devices and watching environments. HBO's site is indicating that starting April 10, these playlists may be available in-app.HBO has also indicated further announcements to commemorate the Iron Anniversary will be coming throughout the month. Earlier this week, the network cut together and released a trailer revisiting its polarizing final season, which aired back in 2019. Unsurprisingly, the clip has re-opened some wounds--and also put fuel on the fire for a renewed demand that HBO remake the final season. You can check out the clip below.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Google may have abandoned its efforts to create exclusive games for its Stadia streaming service through internal development studios, but the company still has plenty of games headed to its platform from third-party developers.Next week will see the first of ten new games headed to Stadia, starting with The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark by Akupara Games on April 15, and then a month later players can experience the joy of running their own wine-making business in Hundred Days.These aren't the only games coming to Stadia, as Google previously announced that 100 other games would be released on its platform, including Judgment, Killer Queen Black, Street Power Football, and Hellpoint. Most of the games have unspecified release dates, but you can see what's on the horizon in the breakdown below.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Netflix has reached a deal with Sony Pictures to bring the movie studio's 2022 films and beyond to the streaming network exclusively following their run in theaters and home video. This includes movies like Uncharted, Morbius, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel.The Sony films will come to Netflix after the first "pay window," which means after they finish up in theaters and aftertheir home entertainment release. The "pay one" window is historically about 18 months, according to The Hollywood Reporter.Netflix is also getting access to a library of back-catalog Sony Pictures films, including movies from subsidiaries such as Columbia. What's more, Netflix has announced it will finance "a number" of movies from Sony Pictures in the future under the deal.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Australian artist BossLogic has taken to Twitter to announce that he's been tapped to create the official IMAX Mortal Kombat movie poster. That announcement, which also thoughtfully shared the striking poster, can be viewed below.The upcoming Mortal Kombat film hits theaters and HBO Max on April 23, and expectations for the movie only continue to climb. The film has a lot to live up to as it's continuing the legacy of one of the most iconic video game franchises of all times--but it's been a few decades since its two predecessors, Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation in 1995 and 1997 respectively.GET OVER HERE!Honoured to create the official @MortalKombatMovie poster for @IMAX. See it on the big screen in theaters April 23.Team ❄️ or 🦂? #MortalKombatMovie pic.twitter.com/5brzdVsHlB — BossLogic (@Bosslogic) April 8, 2021Australian commercial director Simon McQuoid is making his feature directorial debut with Mortal Kombat, and he has leaned into making a splashy start to his film career. In a recent interview, McQuoid said he aims to have the best fight scenes ever committed to film, which will "drive character forward and story forward within the fight." Whether he and the cast and crew managed to pull this off remains to be seen and will be revealed later this month--the fact that the film has been rated R is a good sign, however. Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation were both rated PG-13.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The latest weekly playlist update for Call of Duty: Warzone is out now, serving up new playlists for the battle royale game and removing some others.The new playlists added to Warzone include Mini Royale Trios, Pulder Quads, and Resurgence Quads for Rebirth Island. The modes that have been removed include King Slayer on Verdansk, Plunder Trios, and Resurgence Duos for Rebirth Island.Here's your weekly #Warzone playlist update! Now live.Adding: • Verdansk – Mini Royale Trios • Plunder – Quads • Rebirth Island – Resurgence QuadsRemoving: • Verdansk – King Slayer • Plunder – Trios • Rebirth Island – Resurgence Duos — Raven Software (@RavenSoftware) April 8, 2021In other Warzone news, the game's sixth new weapon to be added to Warzone (and Black Ops Cold War) arrived this week in the form of the ZRG 20mm sniper rifle.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Having made headlines for breaking Satan's neck after giving him the lap dance of his life in the new song "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)," rapper Lil Nas X has released a browser-based rhythm game that lets players twerk to the bop on repeat.The game, called Twerk Hero, can be played right in your browser. It's a bonkers, imprecise rhythm game that tasks you with destroying floating arrows known as temptations. That's done by using the mouse to shake Lil Nas X's butt to the song, which cycles through the main chorus ad nauseam. Check it out in action below.MY NEW GAME “TWERK HERO” IS OUT NOW! CAN U MAKE IT THROUGH ALL LEVELS?! pic.twitter.com/Juhr1jiZx4 — nope 🏹 (@LilNasX) April 7, 2021There are four levels in total, all matching various sequences from the "Montero" music video. Twerk Hero starts with Lil Nas X in that lush magenta-colored meadow before sliding down the pole to Hell to give the penultimate lap dance to Satan. It's just a challenging playthrough because Lil Nas X's butt doesn't accurately hit the arrows. And you can't recreate the music video's ending--that is, you can't break Satan's neck.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Hot Wheels Unleashed is the next game in the decades-long toy and video game franchise, and GameSpot has an exclusive new gameplay video showcasing the fast-paced micro-racer in action. Announced back in February, with an expected release on September 30 this year for current platforms, it will feature many of the familiar aspects of Hot Wheels, such as cool racing vehicles and complex orange tracks with some bizarre loops and turns.Our recent hands-on with the game gave us a chance to check out three unique tracks: Spider Trial, Speed Vault, and Dragon’s Den. In keeping with Hot Wheels' style and aesthetic, which features a variety of stylized muscle and sports cars, the races turned into hectic brawls on the track where crashes and conflicts with other racers were common.What's interesting about the pedigree behind Hot Wheels Unleashed is that it's coming from developer Milestone, the same team behind racing sims like the MotoGP and Ride franchises. Just before the reveal, we spoke with lead game designer Federico Cardini from developer Milestone about the making of the game and what it was like jumping from one side of the racing genre to the more over-the-top side of an arcade racer.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com