Decades later, these remakes haven’t fixed their racial representation issues

Enlarge / Barret was a complex character in Final Fantasy VII. Then you hear him speak in the remake... April saw the release of both Final Fantasy VII Remake (FF7R) and Trials of Mana, two 20-plus-year-old roleplaying games recreated for modern times. These re-imaginings have received solid receptions from both critics and players and introduced...

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Ensigns are the scrappy underdogs in new Star Trek: Lower Decks trailer

Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid lend their voices to the new animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks, premiering next month on CBS All Access. With the success of Star Trek: Discovery and Picard, CBS continues to expand its offerings within the Star Trek universe, this time with a new animated comedy series: Star Trek: Lower Decks. The series boasts a...

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Watch Dogs: Legion hands-on: Play as anyone, care about no one

Enlarge / If you're looking for an open-world adventure full of generic, unclear rebellion, Watch Dogs: Legion might hit the spot when it launches later this year. (credit: Ubisoft) Last year, Watch Dogs: Legion emerged from Ubisoft's coffers with an ambitious pitch for the open-world genre: play as any character in the game. Security guards, grandmas,...

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Assassin’s Creed Valhalla hands-on: An incomplete Witcher-ization

Enlarge / Assassin's Creed Valhalla stars Eivor, a Viking in the Early Middle Ages. Note: all images in this article were captured directly from live demo gameplay, not altered or sweetened by the publisher. (credit: Ubisoft) Assassin's Creed's many-year transition to becoming a full-blown RPG is complete. The November 17 launch of Assassin's Creed...

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Ubisoft’s “most powerful creative force” resigns in wake of sweeping allegations

Enlarge / Ubisoft's Montreal headquarters. (credit: Getty Images) Ubisoft's chief creative officer tendered his resignation from the video game publisher behind series like Far Cry and Assassin's Creed on Saturday, one day before its biggest gaming-reveal event of the year. Longtime CCO Serge Hascoet, described by Bloomberg game industry reporter...

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Review: Palm Springs is a fresh, slyly self-aware addition to time-loop trope

Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti relive the same day over and over in Palm Springs, now streaming on Hulu. Last year gave us two innovative multiverse twists on the well-worn time-loop trope: the Netflix comedy series Russian Doll, and the horror/comedy Happy Death Day 2 U (a sequel to 2018's Happy Death Day). One would think there wouldn't be many...

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Why is this copy of Super Mario Bros. worth a record $114,000?

Most boxed copies of Super Mario Bros. look a lot like this at a quick glance. But they won't sell for $114,000. [credit: Heritage Auctions ] A sealed, early copy of Super Mario Bros. for the NES sold for $114,000 Friday at specialist...

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Review: Charlize Theron shines as a world-weary immortal in The Old Guard

Andy (Charlize Theron) and her right-hand man Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts), aka Sebastian le Livre. [credit: Netflix ] Four immortal warriors who have secretly protected humanity for centuries become targeted by a corporate CEO keen...

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For the second time this year, Amazon Games puts a new title into hiding

Enlarge / An ominous explosion of a previous release window, as seen in this New World obelisk. (credit: Amazon Games) After years of fumbling with game launches, mostly in the mobile and free-to-play sector, Amazon Game Studios seemed poised to make a splash in 2020 with two major new games with heavy online components. Today, that count drops back...

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Unreal’s new iPhone app does live motion capture with Face ID sensors

A workstation running Unreal Engine with an iPhone for motion capture. [credit: Epic Games ] Unreal Engine developer Epic Games has released Live Link Face, an iPhone app that uses the front-facing 3D sensors in the phone to do live motion...

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