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Master Chief has become an enduring pop-culture figure and an important video game protagonist since his debut in 2001’s Halo: Combat Evolved, but his design could have been very different. Marcus Lehto, the co-creator of Halo, was largely responsible for the Master Chief design that made it into the game, and in an interview with IGN he explained the process that led to the character’s creation.

Lehto remembers how Halo started–a two-person team, consisting of him and Jason Jones, working on a sci-fi strategy title. “Even at that time, there was a character that we called ‘The Super-Soldier’,” he recalls, “and that super soldier was, in all honestly, the very root of what became the Master Chief.”

Eventually they built a vehicle for him to drive (which would ultimately become the Warthog) and switched to a third-person camera, which meant continuing to beef up the character’s design. “Through that time frame, of course, the Master Chief continued to turn from… this really, really simple block model to something that started to look more like this armored, true ‘Super Soldier,'” he told IGN.

However, a different iteration of the Master Chief was also worked up, and could have made it into the final game if things had gone differently. “One of our concept artists at that time, whose name’s Shi Kai Wang, who is a fantastic, great, talented person… had worked on some early concepts that were more anime-inspired,” Lehto recalls. “We built that character, and it was much more slender and agile-looking, at that time. That’s the character that we showcased in the Macworld demo.”

However, the stockier Master Chief eventually won out, because, as Lehto puts it, “he needed to look like a tank that could take on an entire army.”

Halo fans on PC have finally been able to dive into several games that were previously Xbox-exclusive thanks to the slow rollout of The Master Chief Collection. Halo 2 Anniversary arrives very soon, and Halo 3 is right around the corner.

Lehto is no longer with Bungie, and his new game is Disintegration, which combines FPS and RTS elements. It’s due to release on June 16 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is venturing into another new culture and era for the series–the nomadic Vikings as they founded new settlements during the Dark Ages. And to help capture the time period, Ubisoft has brought on a composer best known for another pop-culture depiction.

The German Ubisoft store listing states that Einar Selvik has been brought on to help compose the score. Selvik is best known for the Vikings TV series, which ran for six seasons. He worked various roles in the show’s music department from 2014-2019, and composed the score for 11 episodes.

Selvik joins Sarah Schachner (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Assassin’s Creed Origins) and Jesper Kyd (Borderlands 3).

This German listing is the same one that seemed to reveal Beowulf DLC planned for Valhalla. That content is said to be coming as part of the season pass, and will reveal the “cruel truth behind the legend” of the epic poem.

Ubisoft also just announced Ubisoft Forward, an E3-style digital showcase that will outline its coming announcements. That’s likely to include a lengthy look at Valhalla, after its creative director apologized for the relatively little we saw from Microsoft’s recent Xbox Series X event. The short tastes of gameplay left a bad taste in the mouths of some fans, even prompting the Xbox marketing head to issue a mea culpa

Developer Infinity Ward has announced that alongside a host of additions coming to both Modern Warfare and Warzone, the studio will add a new map to Call of Duty Mobile later this week.

That new map is Saloon, a 1v1 western-themed locale meant for duels. Saloon is part of Call of Duty Mobile’s latest Once Upon A Time in Rust update. The new season, which kicked off earlier this month, included an additional game mode, a brand-new season pass, and a bunch of other changes.

The Gold Rush limited-time event, which began on May 7, is still live in-game. In both Battle Royale and Kill Confirmed, you can trade in the gold bars you collect for a variety of new weapons that can be used in multiplayer. Infinity Ward has not specified when the LTE will end.

With the launch of Once Upon A Time in Rust, Infinity Ward outlined the content coming to Call of Duty Mobile this season. The studio promised that these roadmaps will become more regular, showing up just before a new season goes live.

Infinity Ward also detailed some new additions coming to Modern Warfare and Warzone. This includes a new Operator and legendary weapon bundles, additional weapon blueprints, playlist updates and new game modes, and more.

Another Legendary Pokemon is returning soon to Pokemon Go. To celebrate the launch of Remote Raid Passes, Niantic is bringing Virizion, the Grassland Pokemon, back to five-star Raids from May 12-19. Not only does this give you another opportunity to add the Legendary to your collection, but this time around, you’ll also have a chance to catch its Shiny form. If you need help defeating it, we’ve rounded up some tips to help you battle and catch Virizion below.

Virizion Raid Hours

Virizion will appear in five-star Raids until 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET on May 19. These Raids can happen pretty much any time, but you’ll receive an in-game notification before one is about to begin nearby, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble tracking the Legendary Pokemon down.

If you’re eager to add Virizion to your collection, your best chance to find one will come on Wednesday, May 13, when Niantic hosts its next Raid Hour event. From 6-7 PM local time that day, there will be more Virizion Raids occurring than usual, effectively ensuring you find one. The increased rate of Virizion Raids also makes this day your best chance to find a Shiny Virizion.

Virizion Weaknesses And Counters

As a Grass/Fighting type, Virizion is especially vulnerable to Flying-type Pokemon, making those your best bet to defeat it. Lugia will be particularly helpful, but Dragonite, Moltres, Tornadus, Rayquaza, and other Flying Pokemon that know Flying-type attacks will also be useful when challenging the Legendary.

Virizion has a few other weaknesses you can exploit. The Legendary is also weak to Ice, Psychic, Fire, and Fairy Pokemon. Gardevoir is a great choice because it can know both Psychic and Fairy attacks, while Mamoswine is a great Ice-type attacker. Other good Pokemon to bring along include Togekiss, Granbull, Glaceon, and Chandelure.

Remote Raids

Thanks to the aforementioned Remote Raid Passes, you don’t need to physically travel to a Gym to join a Virizion Raid. If you have a Remote Raid Pass, you can use it to participate in any Virizion Raid that appears on your Nearby screen without leaving your home.

There are a few caveats to keep in mind concerning Remote Raid Passes. First, only a maximum of five remote players can join the same Raid. Second, Pokemon used by remote players have lower attack power than those used by players physically at the Gym. You can learn more about how to get and use Remote Raid Passes in our guide.

Gears of War’s unlikely foray into the world of strategy games, Gears Tactics, is getting its first update. The title update will launch at 11 PM ET / 8 PM PT on Tuesday, May 12, and will focus on fixing bugs and improving the game experience. This includes a variety of crashes and a nasty issue that prevented players from selecting units in certain chapters of the game. According to the patch notes, the developers are working to introduce additional stability fixes in the next update.

Gears Tactics first released in late April, and it garnered high marks from many reviewers. In our Gears Tactics review, critic Mike Epstein praised the game’s ability to recreate the chaotic, gory feel of the franchises’ firefights, as well as its surprisingly deep tactical chops. If you’re struggling to get started, check out our beginner’s guide to the game. If you’re a subscriber to the Xbox Game Pass on PC, Gears Tactics is included. While it’s only available on that platform at the moment, it will be coming to Xbox One later this year.

Full patch notes below:

Gameplay

• Fixed an issue where units can’t be selected, most notably seen in Act 1 Chapter 6.
• Fixed game turn getting stuck when using the Vanguard Distraction ability on a Sniper Drone that is pinning the Vanguard.
• Fixed the Vanguard Breach ability re-applying the AP/Heal buff more than once.

Visuals

• Fixed an issue where characters could appear with untextured armor when editing armor in the Barracks.
• Improved image quality while using Variable Rate Shading.
• Fixed untextured parts of the Mammoth in Act 1 Mission 4.
• Fixed holes seen in the environment in the Act 1 convoy while using ultra-wide monitors.

Stability

• Fixed a crash when targeting more than 4 units in cover with a grenade.
• Fixed a few rare crashes that could occur on boot of the game.
• Fixed a rare crash that could occur on a hit reaction.
• Fixed a rare crash that could occur when a unit is killed.
• Fixed a few rare crashes that could occur in gameplay.
• Fixed a rare crash when using the narrator.
• Fixed a few rare crashes that could occur while transitioning to a loading screen.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when the user settings file is edited by external sources.
• Updated the minimum recommended driver version for GPU drivers. Drivers below this version will display a warning on boot of the game.