Fallout 76’s Wastelanders Update Broke The Budget On Voice Actors

The Fallout 76 team has had a lot to do in the last year, working to flesh out a world once populated only by players and monsters. It may come as no surprise to find out that some of the game’s upgrades came in over budget.

In an interview published by USgamer, Bethesda Vice President Pete Hines went into some detail about the process of developing Wastelanders, discussing both the project’s goals and what went into achieving them.

With a world of new NPCs to be integrated into the game, Hines reveals that the designers went a little ham with adding dialogue that would then have to be delivered by voice actors. “They went much beyond what they were budgeted to do because designers can’t help themselves. So they blew past their word count budgets,” he said.

The design on NPC interactions and quests has had a focus on replayability, as Hines is realistic about not being able to produce content as fast as players can play through it. “There’s just no reasonable cadence that you can put out large volumes of quest content, that will keep up with the extent to which players burn through it, because it’s gonna take you six months, nine months, a year to make content that they’re gonna burn through in two weeks,” Hines said.

He also discussed the similarities in the Fallout 76 reworks to the post-release updates Bethesda had to make to Elder Scrolls Online. The approaches are so similar that Fallout 76 is even getting a One Wasteland initiative to match ESO’s One Tamriel–a series of changes that will allow friends to play together even if they are in different factions, or if they are vastly different levels.

If there’s one thing the new update won’t touch much, it’s PVP. As we reported earlier, the original release of Fallout 76 had more of a focus on PVP than the majority of players were interested in, so the new update will balance out that error.

Wastelanders will be available as a free update for all PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 players on April 7, coinciding with Fallout 76’s Steam launch.

Now Playing: Fallout 76: Wastelanders – Official Reveal Trailer

Mario Kart Tour Multiplayer Update Has Finally Arrived

Mario Kart Tour‘s long-awaited multiplayer update has finally arrived. This is right on schedule, as Nintendo previously announced that the multiplayer update was coming on March 8.

All you need to do is update Mario Kart Tour to unlock multiplayer, which allows you to finally race against other human opponents. For “Standard Races,” the rulesets will change every day, which in theory should encourage people to come back each day to see what’s new. Players can also invite specific players to custom races where they decide the rules as it relates to items, laps, etc.

Another variant is called “Gold Races,” and these are locked behind a paywall. Players must buy the $5 USD/month Gold Pass to participate in these races, which include faster speeds at 200cc. The Gold Pass also comes with an allotment of in-game currency and badges.

Mario Kart Tour released in September 2019. The free-to-play game makes money from the Gold Pass and its various other microtransactions, which have brought in more than $85 million so far.

The latest Mario Kart game for console is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and it is the most successful game for Nintendo Switch with some 22.96 million copies sold. The game originally released for the Wii U, and it sold 8.44 million copies on that system, bringing its total to 31.4 million.

Now Playing: Mario Kart Tour on Mobile | GameSpot Live

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Batwoman: Season 1, Episode 14 Review

Warning: this review contains full spoilers for Batwoman: Season 1, Episode 14!

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For a while it seemed as though Crisis on Infinite Earths was just the shot in the arm Batwoman needed. No Arrowverse series improved quite so dramatically in the aftermath of Crisis, with the emphasis on Alice’s refugee doppelganger doing a lot to address some of this series’ biggest flaws. Unfortunately, that momentum seems to be waning the farther we get from the crossover. Batwoman is beginning to feel more and more like its 2019 self again.

A lot of that has to do with the renewed emphasis on Kate and Sophie’s romance – never one of Batwoman’s strong suits even on the best of days. The whole idea of Sophie carrying on a clandestine affair with Gotham’s newest costumed vigilante just seems silly, to say nothing of her inability to recognize the bottom half of her ex’s face. There’s something to be said for the need to give Kate a victory of some kind after everything she’s suffered in recent months, but there have to be better ways of accomplishing that than this painfully awkward and very fleeting relationship.

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The one advantage here is the series is finally able to give Sophie some badly needed character development and finally give viewers reason to empathize with her. Before now, Sophie had mainly been defined by her weaknesses. She lacked the conviction to stand alongside Kate when their relationship was discovered at the academy. She couldn’t be honest with herself or her fiance about her sexuality. But this week, we finally get a sense of Sophie’s difficult upbringing and why she has such difficulty being true to herself where it comes so easily to Kate. It’s tempting to dismiss the bigoted, overbearing mother figure as an overused storytelling trope in 2020, but the sad truth is that it’s a trope for a reason.

The series also seems to be moving backwards when it comes to Jacob’s storyline. His prison stint ended so abruptly it’s a wonder that plot point was ever introduced in the first place. Granted, there are some ramifications playing out in terms of Jacob grappling with the corruption inside his own organization, but this seems like a very roundabout and inefficient way of getting from A to B. And based on this episode, it doesn’t appear as though Sophie’s suspension will do much to alter the status quo,either. Hopefully the payoff to this corruption investigation is at least worth the plodding buildup.

At least Episode 14 does a better job with its villain of the week subplot than Episode 13’s botched handling of Nocturna. This time we meet Duel Dent, a character who tends to go by the name Joker’s Daughter in the comics. There’s no hint of a Joker connection for now, and we can probably assume Warners is very protective of that corner of the Bat-verse. Instead, this version hearkens back to the early Joker’s Daughter stories when Duela was depicted as being Harvey Dent’s daughter (or in this case, his niece). An interesting shift, and certainly an appropriate one given her obsession with faces and hidden darkness.

Sidebar – it’s hard to parse Luke’s offhand mention of Harvey being “Gotham’s favorite DA.” Was it meant to be a sarcastic remark, or is Harvey still Gotham’s most revered public servant even this long after the rise of Batman? Maybe the Arrowverse’s Harvey Dent never became Two-Face? Or given how frequently this show pays homage to the Burton and Nolan movies, it may be using The Dark Knight as a model and we’ll eventually learn Batman covered up all evidence of Harvey’s crimes. Whatever the case, I’d like to see the series eventually dig into Harvey’s backstory eventually, along with some of the other key Batman rogues.

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Duela makes a strong impression despite playing more of a supporting role. Alessandra Torresani strikes a nice balance between a tormented, mentally ill young woman and a sadistic killer, helping give Duela a dose of humanity even as she targets social media influencers with all the gusto of a slasher movie villain. This episode probably could have benefited from a slightly more adult-oriented approach rather than trying to downplay the gore, though. One of these days The CW might want to look into swapping Batwoman and Supergirl’s time slots and letting the former get a little darker. Still, Duela is definitely one of the better minor villains of the season, and there’s plenty of potential for her to return in a a bigger role.

It should also be said that, as much as this episode slogs through unwanted romantic subplots and generally spins its heels, at least it presses its advantage the Alice front. Seeing Alice confront her old captor, Dr. Cartwright, is a treat. If you’ll pardon the pun, there’s a compelling game of cat and mouse developing between the two. It’s no longer clear which of the two will emerge as the final threat in Season 1. Even now, just as Alice seems to finally outwit Cartwright, he proves he still has the upper hand. Next week looks to be a very Alice-centric episode, so hopefully we’ll learn more about her time in captivity and get a better sense for where all of this is headed in the final two months of the season.

The Walking Dead: “Morning Star” Review

Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow…

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Man, the coolest weapons are almost always the most cumbersome!

A morning star would be the absolute last thing I’d grab to kill zombies, and yet Daryl looked so damn awesome wielding one here.

But he’s the king of making awkward weaponry seem badass, right? Daryl and only Daryl can get away with bringing a spiked ball and chain to the front lines of a huge war. Especially when one is fighting a herd of zombies that also contains real people hiding out as zombies – who can grab the chain and yank the weapon away.

“Morning Star” was pretty damn good. This back half of Season 10 is ramping up quite nicely. Hell, if we’re lucky, we’ll get through this Whisperer war before the season finale. It’d be nice to break the usual format and it would ditch a ton of the usual padding that goes into adapting these comic arcs into the show. Look, because of Beta’s ambush last week, Hilltop, as of this episode, has just about every single character we still care about in one place. The gang’s pretty much all together, save for Gabriel, Connie, and Michonne.

And if you care about Magna, well…it’s nice to like things.

Daryl, Carol, and the All-Stars

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Daryl rolled into Hilltop. Ezekiel went out and found Carol and brought her back. Rosita showed up with Gamma/Mary. Judith’s already there. We’re no longer splitting up the favorites between two communities. Plus, Alpha’s launching her big attack with her precious, powerful herd – and Negan’s with her, working his smarm and charm. Just about everything that’s still important on the show is about to collide. If the “war” drags on past this, and next week’s, episode, we’re in trouble.

Granted, most of this episode involved characters bonding, conversing, speaking their truths, and saying maybe-goodbyes to one another after discovering that Alpha had blocked all the roads out of Hilltop. But it still gave us a few minutes of cool violence at the end when it featured the beginning parts of the huge battle (that’s not dissimilar to the odds Winterfell faced when the Night King and his army came calling). It left us hanging, as our heroes got trapped in a fire circle while they themselves were covered in a flammable – er – sap? – but it all felt very vital and brutal. Most importantly, it felt like big names could die.

Of course, in that regard, Ezekiel is the top candidate to get smoked right now. Not only is he already dying, but he made the grave TV/movie sin of having sex before the big push. Yup, I’d be very shocked if he made it out of this. And if not for the sex, then definitely because of the spare words of respect he had with Daryl and their pact to protect the kids. There’s a good chance Ezekiel’s going down saving the children.

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Eugene might get taken out too, even though he finally moved past his love for Rosita and is now focused on the relationship he’s building with Stephanie over the radio. Odds are good that he makes it out alive so he can meet her in spot she told him to be at in a week, though they could also have Rosita sadly show up in his place. That being said, whatever fate has in store, his scenes with Rosita this week were very good. As mentioned last week, the three relationships that still matter on the series are Carol/Daryl, Rosita/Eugene, and Negan/Judith. Naturally, Judith and Michonne’s bond matters, but they’ll probably never see one another again. And then, after these, Daryl’s budding romance with Connie and “surrogate something” relation to Lydia are pretty cool.

Wild Card Negan

Negan might be the true tipping point here. He and Alpha are about to unleash hell on a community that he doesn’t know has Judith inside.

Yet.

And even without knowing about Judith, he’s still trying to convince Alpha to spare everyone by getting them to surrender. He’s already not fully on board with the Whisperer agenda. So I imagine once he sees Judith, it’s all over for Alpha and her ghouls. That will be the moment when he rolls back the tide somehow and turns on his hosts. The silver-tongued man who’s always just doing what he can to stay alive will break his hard-wired habit and protect her.

The only way this doesn’t end next week is if…everyone surrenders. If Alpha takes Negan’s advice and gets Daryl to bend the knee. And the only way that happens is if the kids are in danger. Yes, everything feels like it’s about to come to a head, but never doubt The Walking Dead’s penchant for dragging a storyline out.

You Can Finally Pet The Dog In The Division 2

The latest game to update with the highly sought after dog-petting feature is The Division 2, with the introduction of a cute pettable puppy in Warlords of New York‘s new hub space.

A number of high-profile games have added dog-petting mechanics in the last year, partially spurred by the popularity of Twitter profile Can You Pet The Dog.

In a moment of serendipity, The Division 2’s original lack of dog-petting was one of the reasons this account was started. The core game is littered with sad-looking stray dogs, but the player’s only option to interact with them is to shoot them (which, hopefully, no one has ever done).

Almost a year on from the original Division 2 tweet, the game has come full circle with its stance on dog-petting. Not only do you get an adorable German Shepherd puppy to lavish affection on, but one of the early safe houses to be unlocked is a literal animal shelter.

Sadly, as Polygon has pointed out, there is still a lack of kitty-cuddles in the new animal-friendly DLC. Who’s going to start the Can You Pet The Cat account and fight for head scratches for our feline friends?

Our review of the core game praised its post-apocalyptic Washington DC for its strength of environment and engrossing open world, and Warlords will hopefully provide players with a run-down New York that’s just as fun to explore.

Now Playing: Everything New in The Division 2: Warlords of New York Expansion

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Here’s Another Look At How Resident Evil 3 Remake’s Gameplay Compares To The Original

Prepare to be scared just like you were in 1999–but this time in higher resolution. While we’ve already compared old and new in a side-by-side video, a new Resident Evil 3 remake video shows extended sections of gameplay against their retro counterparts.

After the success of the Resident Evil 2 remake, we’re all looking forward to seeing what will be done with the next game in the series. This video gives a bit of insight into how 2020’s gaming technology can make the game (but mainly Nemesis) feel so much bigger, badder and scarier.

Like its predecessor, the Resident Evil 3 remake isn’t a shot-for-shot remake of the original game, but will include changes that will keep you on your toes.

Seeing the two games presented back-to-back really shows off some of the remake’s graphical strength, such as the intense firefight with Nemesis at the end. Though we now know that Nemesis won’t actually be able to break into safe rooms, his remake incarnation already looks terrifying enough as it is.

For more about the upcoming remake, check out everything we know so far about Resident Evil 3.

Now Playing: Resident Evil 3 Remake Vs. Original Gameplay Comparison

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New Mortal Kombat 11 Spawn DLC Trailer Features Two Never-Before-Heard Trivium Songs

The brand-new Mortal Kombat 11 trailer for Spawn contains a special surprise for fans of the American rock/metal band Trivium. It’s now been confirmed that the trailer featured the world premiere snippets of two new Trivium songs, “IX” and “Scattering The Ashes.”

Trivium singer and guitarist Matt Heafy said on Twitter, “What a freaking honor to have our band in this trailer! I grew up with Spawn and Mortal Kombat, so this is un-freakin-real!”

Trivium is signed to Roadrunner Records, which is owned by Warner Bros., which owns Mortal Kombat developer Netherrealm. Talk about synergy.

“IX” and “Scattering The Ashes” are two of the tracks from Trivium’s upcoming album, What The Dead Men Say, which is scheduled to debut in 2020. The first single, “Catastrophist,” was released earlier this month. The full versions of “IX” and “Scattering The Ashes” have not been released yet.

As for Spawn, the Keith David-voiced character comes to Mortal Kombat 11 starting on March 17 with Early Access and then for everyone on March 24. For lots more on Spawn, check out GameSpot’s full coverage of what we know so far.

Now Playing: Mortal Kombat 11 – Official Spawn Gameplay Trailer

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E3 Responds To Losing Another Key Company

The organizers of E3–the Entertainment Software Association–has released a statement in response to the news that E3 2020’s creative directors, iam8bit, have resigned from their position. The organization thanked iam8bit for their contributions to 2020’s show, and also mentioned that E3 2020 won’t be lacking for creative design.

The ESA confirmed that it’s working with creative agencies including 160over90, Mat + Lo, GES, Dolaher Events, and Double Forte on E3 2020’s vision and design.

“We can confirm that iam8bit is no longer part of the inter-agency group working on E3 2020,” reads a line from the statement. “We greatly value their passion for the video game industry and the contributions they brought toward our vision for this year’s show. We have an innovative and experienced team in place including Endeavor’s creative agency 160over90, event innovators Mat+Lo and longtime E3 partners, GES, Dolaher Events and Double Forte—all collaborating to bring to life an exciting and authentic experience for fans, the media and the industry.”

iam8bit announced its decision to leave E3 2020 in a tweet.

“It’s with mixed emotions that has decided to resign as Creative Directors of what was to be an evolutionary #E32020 floor experience. We’ve produced hundreds of gaming + community events and it was a dream to be involved with E3. We wish the organizers the best of luck.”

In addition to iam8bit, Geoff Keighley, the games media veteran who hosted and organized the E3 Coliseum since 2017, won’t be returning to E3 this year either. For his part, Keighley said he decided to part ways with E3 “given what I know about the show as of today.”

Additionally, PlayStation decided not to attend for the second year in a row. Microsoft is still planning to come to E3 in a big way this year as it will show off more of Halo Infinite and hype the Xbox Series X ahead of its release later this year.

Los Angeles, the city where E3 is held every year, recently declared a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus). The ESA is closely monitoring the situation and will make announcements about E3 2020 as necessary.