Dragon Age: The Veilguard is out tomorrow, October 31. Whether you’re a seasoned veteran of developer BioWare’s fantasy RPGs or a newcomer looking to see what all the fuss is about, it’s worth noting that The Veilguard represents a pretty drastic shift from the tactical, open-zone RPG gameplay of its predecessor, Dragon Age: Inquisition. So no matter what your previous experience, there are a few things worth noting before you dive into this long-awaited return to Thedas. I’ve put over 60 hours into the game, so here are a few things I’ve learned for you to keep in mind as you get started. – Kenneth Shepard Read More
Today, October 28, reviews went live for Dragon Age: The Veilguard. I reviewed it here at Kotaku, and despite being jaded toward the series for the better part of a decade, I really loved the long-awaited fourth entry. Right now it sits at a strong 84 on review aggregate site Metacritic, which is about in line with where these games typically land. The original Dragon Age: Origins sits at an 86, with Inquisition, the series’ third entry, landing close by at 84. Meanwhile, Dragon Age II, probably the most divisive game in the series, sits at 79. As much as I loved my time with The Veilguard, I knew it would elicit some pretty divergent reactions from folks. There are 10s and there are some more middling scores. You can even find some folks straight-up saying they “do not recommend” the game, like YouTuber Skill Up does while discussing all his problems with BioWare’s latest entry. But what’s the issue? What are folks so split on? Well, everything, it sounds like. – Kenneth Shepard Read More
Play it on: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC Current goal: Get some gaming spooks in for the season
This year, Halloween fell on a Thursday, and I was so busy with work and other things that I didn’t manage to make much time for spooky gaming in the days leading up to it. I still have a hankering for some interactive scares, however, so this weekend, I hope to play one of the landmark games in the history of survival horror, officially translated into English and released in the States for the first time: Clock Tower. The new version, Clock Tower: Rewind, comes to us courtesy of WayForward and represents my first real chance to play the 1995 SNES horror classic.
I actually don’t know much about the original Clock Tower, and I’ve kept it that way on purpose, as I want to go in knowing as little as possible and figure it out for myself. It’s scarier that way. But in short, it’s a 2D, survival horror point-and-click game that tells the story of Jennifer, a teenage orphan who’s adopted by a family with a big, spooky manor, and finds herself stalked by a horrifying entity known as Scissorman. WayForward’s release lets you play an enhanced version of the game “which features numerous gameplay additions and quality-of-life refinements,” and I may check that out as well, but for starters, I’ll be playing in Original mode, and experiencing the game just like it was when it scared the socks off of so many Japanese players way back in 1995. Sure, it may be November now, but I’m gonna linger in late October for just a little bit longer if it’s all the same to you. — Carolyn Petit
Kenneth Shepard, Moises Taveras, Carolyn Petit, Ethan Gach, and John Walker
Many of Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s choices are personal and focus on your team’s relationships and life paths. However, one of the big, world-changing ones comes early on, shortly after you recruit Davrin, the Grey Warden companion. Right now, you might be staring at a choice between helping either the Tevinter city of Minrathous or Treviso, the home base of the Antivan Crows, from coordinated dragon attacks. If you’re unsure of what decision to make and want to know what the results of each option are, we’re here to lay them out for you.
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This choice has an impact on your party and your faction allies, as both the Tevinter mage Neve and the Antivan assassin Lucanis are from the affected cities. You’re essentially making a choice on which city and faction will be in a better position to help you when the time comes, and putting Neve or Lucanis on a specific path in their stories and even combat roles. Here’s the rundown of the consequences.
The person you don’t help will temporarily leave the party
When they return, they will be considered “hardened,” which locks out parts of their skill tree and makes it harder to progress their relationship without higher approval throughout the game
You will lose some choice in Neve and Lucanis’ personal storylines, and they will be forced to go down one direction because of the circumstances
The city you don’t save will be blighted, altering quest lines and dialogue, and cutting off access to the local faction’s shop
The Shadow Dragons or Antivan Crows will have a baseline loss in allied strength points, meaning it will be impossible to max them out
Screenshot: BioWare / Kotaku
Overall, it’s still a binary choice that evens itself out, but it will have pretty direct ramifications on your relationship with Neve and Lucanis above all else. It’s still possible to reach the end of their storylines (including having them become a Hero of the Veilguard, which is the equivalent to reaching maximum Loyalty in the Mass Effect series) and make up for the loss in allied power, but it will take more sidequests to make it happen, and you won’t have the shop to sell valuables to in order to juice those numbers.
What I’m unsure of as of this writing is whether or not it locks you out of Neve and Lucanis’ respective romances. I saved Minrathous in my playthrough and my relationship with Lucanis was slow to progress for a bit, so I didn’t see any further options to flirt and eventually locked in my romance with Davrin. We’ll update this guide as that becomes clear.
If you’re reading this guide, you’re probably a decent way into The Veilguard, but if you’d like a few extra tips to help you as you take down the elven gods, we’ve got those, too.
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero has the biggest roster in the 3D arena-fighting franchise’s history, but some players still want more. Specifically, more costumes, accessories, and other ways to customize their iconic DBZ fighters’ looks, including with shirts and jackets that pull from deep cuts within the long-running anime’s history.
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One of the most requested outfits is Goku’s pre-Cell Games track jacket that he wears in his off time leading up to the tournament. Another is Piccolo’s yellow “Postboy” shirt he wears in the Trunks Saga filler episode in which he and Goku try to get their driver’s licenses. The streetwear fits aren’t just fan favorites, they also showcase more casual sides of the characters and express a range of personality outside the standard battle outfits.
The Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero subreddit has had fans frequently scratching their heads at why a game that’s bursting with fan service in other areas is missing these key costumes. Some are worried that it simply means Bandai Namco is planning to dole out each new style over months and years through a relentless drip-feed of microtransaction add-ons as it’s done with Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. SparkingZero seems destined to be the ultimate DBZ sim, but no DBZ sim is complete without more robust dress-up options.
Enter modders who are at least bringing some of these costume changes to the PC version of the game. A Piccolo Postboy outfit was added to the GameBanana mod repository yesterday. There’s also a mod for Vegeta’s pink “Badman” button-up at NexusMods. Of course, there are plenty of other outfits still missing, like Goku and Vegeta’s “SAB” winter jackets from the Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie and Gohan’s Kai outfit from the Buu Saga.
I can forgive some of these missing from the game at launch, but too many of the best alternate costumes seem MIA at the moment. I’m not above paying for them all if they get rolled out later. It would have felt more satisfying if they were all late-game unlockables, though.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6is a game about shadowy organizations causing geopolitical turmoil and well-timed headshots. It’s also an RPG about making the progress meters fill up. When it comes to the latter, Black Ops 6‘s first patch is already increasing XP rewards for certain modes to keep the level-ups flowing.
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An October 26 update for the game listed a handful of changes and bug fixes, including a series of map exploits, a problem with matches quickly replacing players that leave, and various glitches in Black Ops 6‘s well-received Zombies mode. The changes that are most noteworthy were to XP, though. Four modes will now get boosted rewards.
Increased XP and Weapon XP rates for modes that were awarding less XP than expected
Team Deathmatch
Control
Search & Destroy
Gunfight
“Our team is closely monitoring XP rates for all modes to ensure players are progressing as expected wherever they play,” the development team wrote. XP earned and other rewards often start out a little stingier at launch since it’s always easier to increase them later once the data from millions of people playing comes back, rather than the reverse.
There are already lots of different strategies for optimizing XP gain in multiplayer. Obviously, playing better—landing headshots, chasing objectives, and unloading killstreaks—all accrue rank-ups faster. Some players also recommend playing Hardpoint instead of Domination because players in that mode are more likely to actually play objectives. Others suggest grinding out all of those camo challenges. And, of course, no new Call of Duty launch is complete without sickos crushing cases of Monster Energy for double XP.
Black Ops 6 players had latched onto one easy trick for getting bonus XP by exploiting the decoy grenades for guaranteed kill assists. Treyarch nerfed that one in the above patch as well, though.
Photo: Roblox Corp / Kotaku, Image: Black Tabby Games, Bungie, CSA Images / Sony / Kotaku, Treyarch / Activision
This week saw the arrival of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and with it, the return of a classic Zombies experience. It’s terrific, and took our writer right back to the nights he spent happily playing the mode with friends back in the days of Black Ops 3. Meanwhile, the arrival of Destiny 2‘s latest content update, and the terrible drop rate for god rolls on its hottest weapon, has some fans certain that there’s a statistical disadvantage for that drop to occur. The result is a compelling conspiracy theory about how loot drops actually work in Destiny 2, and given that the community has the statistics to back it up, Bungie is now conducting its own investigation. Find these stories and more in the pages ahead.
The MCU’s favorite web-crawler will return to theaters in 2026. Spider-Man 4 will debut shortly after Avengers: Doomsday that year, with star Tom Holland confirming that production will begin mid-2025.
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“Next summer we start shooting. Everything’s good to go, We’re nearly there,” Holland said in an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon earlier this week. “Super exciting. I can’t wait!” Spider-Man 4, the follow up to 2021’s No Way Home, will officially release on July 24, 2026.
That puts it just a couple months after Avengers: Doomsday, which debuts on May 1 of that year, and stars Robert Downey Jr. as the titular Fantastic Four villain, as was revealed earlier this year at San Diego Comic Con 2024. That grouping recreates the previous one-two comic book punch when Far From Home released shortly after Avengers: Endgame, capping off the multi-year, multi-movie MCU saga.
The sequel will be directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, who made Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and presumably have some tie-in with the greater MCU, though it’s not clear how exactly yet. “I’ve been speaking to [Robert Downey Jr.] a lot, especially about him making his [Marvel] return, which is super exciting,” Holland said on the Rich Rollpodcast earlier this month. “That was a tough secret to sit on because I have a reputation for ruining things and I strategically have done no press.”
The young actor, who also starred in 2022’s Uncharted, an adaptation of the hit PlayStation games, said the script for Spider-Man 4 had him excited. “We have a creative and we have a pitch and a draft, which is excellent. It needs work, but the writers are doing a great job. I read it three weeks ago and it really lit a fire in me,” Holland told the Rich Roll podcast. “Zendaya and I sat down and read it together and we at times were bouncing around the living room like this is a real movie worthy of the fans’ respect.”
When I play a smaller game that really has an effect on me, I’m usually cool with not getting more of it. The advantage of artful, smaller-scope projects is that they can concisely say what they need to say without being beholden to all the forever-game nonsense that infects the AAA space. However, I’ll make an exception for Black Tabby Games’ horror visual novel Slay the Princess, one of the best games from 2023. The Pristine Cut expansion incorporates its new material smoothly with that of the original release, giving you more of what makes it so great and serving as a welcome reminder that this is an incredible game.
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For the uninitiated, Slay the Princess is, on its face, about killing a monarch. Your character wakes up in a strange forest, told by a narrator that he’s meant to find a cabin where a princess awaits, locked in its basement. Allegedly, she will destroy the world if she’s allowed to escape, but do you just take the narrator’s word for it? Whether you do or not will see the story go down one of several different paths. It could end in the princess’ demise, she could retaliate and kill you, or a number of other things could happen, but one way or another, someone will leave the cabin forever changed…until the entire scenario starts over from the very beginning.
Slay the Princess’ time loop starts the same way each time, but it never ends like it did before. Each time you descend the stairs of the cabin, you’ll find that what was once an unassuming princess has turned into one of several different unspeakable horrors. Some you’ll slay, others will slay you. Each route preys on different fears and disgusts, as the princess turns into monsters, animals, ghouls, and other terrifying creatures, all punctuated by Black Tabby’s stellar, evocative writing and the game’s excellent voice cast. The Pristine Cut mostly just offers more of all that good stuff, and the new routes it introduces are worth seeing. If you’ve never played Slay the Princess before, these new horrors are woven into the game for you to stumble upon, flowing naturally in its time-loop structure. Slay the Princess is the kind of game that can get swaths of new story without stepping on the toes of its core premise, so even after I’d had my previous experience with it, I was more than happy to dive into what new horrors Black Tabby had concocted.
Screenshot: Black Tabby Games / Kotaku
One of the new routes The Pristine Cut introduces to the game utilizes its time-loop structure to show the unspeakable horror that is monotony in your love life, and it reminded me that Slay the Princess’ horror comes not just from the terrifying forms the princess takes, but from how its situations play into human fears and phobias about our relationships with others. I spent a lot of time in 2023 singing Slay the Princess’ praises but after a year away, I wondered if I might have cooled on Black Tabby’s brand of romantic, psychological horror. It turns out coming back only solidified for me that this is an incredibly special game. If you’ve never played Slay the Princess, there’s never been a better time to walk down the stairs of the cabin.
Once in a while, a remarkable game comes along to the too-often underdeveloped space of VR, that challenges the belief that magic head-goggles are a niche product. Could Batman: Arkham Shadow be one such example? Here’s everything you need to know.
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Early word suggests that like Half Life: Alyx before it, Batman: Arkham Shadow could be a stellar showing for the VR world, that grants full control of the world’s greatest detective as he solves a new mystery in Gotham City—and beats down a bunch of bad guys in the process, obviously. If you’ve been curious about Batman: Arkham Shadow let’s see if we can answer your questions.
Is Batman: Arkham Shadow a direct sequel?
It’s been a long while since we’ve received a game in the Arkham series, so you might be delighted to hear that Batman: Arkham Shadow is set within that same universe.
Taking place between the events of Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Arkham Asylum, it casts you as the Caped Crusader once again, as he seeks to protect Gotham City from a fresh threat known as the Rat King. This new villain has abducted a variety of officials from the city, with plans for their execution, giving Batman only a week to rescue them and enact justice once more.
Despite being part of the grander Arkham universe, though, you shouldn’t feel the need to have played the other games in the series. While there are plenty of references and plot points that franchise fans will no doubt pick up on, Batman: Arkham Shadow remains a perfectly enjoyable standalone Gotham adventure.
Who developed Batman: Arkham Shadow?
Batman: Arkham Shadow was developed by Meta-owned developer Camouflaj, the team behind 2020’s fairly well-received PSVR exclusive, Iron Man VR. Before getting bought by Meta to work in-house on VR games, Camouflaj also made episodic stealth game, République.
What platforms is Batman: Arkham Shadow available for?
Batman: Arkham Shadow is exclusively available for the Meta Quest 3 VR headset. As of this writing, Camouflaj has not revealed any plans to bring the game to competing headsets like PlayStation VR2, although given they’re owned by Meta, that seems very unlikely. It’s Meta Quest 3 or nothing if you’re interested in playing it anytime soon.
The good news is that anyone who buys a Meta Quest 3 or Meta Quest 3S before April 25, 2025 will receive Batman: Arkham Shadow included with the purchase of the headset. If you’ve been VR-curious but haven’t taken the plunge yet, I’d say that’s a pretty good incentive!
That being said, the Meta Quest 3 can feel a bit pricey at $499. If you don’t mind the slight (though admittedly noticeable) downgrade in pixel count and resolution, the Meta Quest 3S retains a lot of the same technology for $299.
Who voices Batman in Batman: Arkham Shadow?
Screenshot: Oculus Studios / Kotaku
Fans will be thrilled to hear that Arkham Origins’ Roger Craig Smith returns once again to voice The Dark Knight himself. Smith, also known for voicing popular video game characters like Ezio from Assassin’s Creed and Chris Redfield from Resident Evil, is often rated as one of the best actors to bring life to Bruce Wayne and his ass-kicking detective alter ego, since the sad death of Kevin Conroy in 2022.
Other notable stars in the game include Elijah Wood as Scarecrow, Tara Strong as Harley Quinn, Troy Baker as Harvey Dent, and The Walking Dead’s Khary Payton as The Ratcatcher (not to be confused with the Rat King). All in all, it’s clearly a star-studded cast.
How long is Batman: Arkham Shadow?
Many VR games are on the shorter side, so you may be surprised to hear that Batman: Arkham Shadow can take quite a while to complete. As a matter of fact, clearing the game without any side content can take 8 to 10 hours. If you want to see and do everything in this VR recreation of Gotham City, you can spend up to 15 hours tracking down various types of collectibles and completing unique challenges.
Batman: Arkham Shadow is available now on Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest 3S for $49.99.
Streaming platform Twitch has banned several high-profile Arab streamers for a panel that took place at TwitchCon last month. The banned streamers include CapriSunnPapi, Fr0gan, Raffoulticket, DenimsTV, and Vio (who is not Arab), all of whom took part in a live-streamed panel during day two of TwitchCon San Diego called “Rating Streamers,” where they placed popular Twitch personalities on a tier list of who could or couldn’t say “habibi,” the Arab word for “friend” or “beloved.”
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The 30-day bans were handed out seemingly simultaneously and came after days of social media dialogue accusing several Arab and pro-Palestinian Twitch streamers of being antisemitic. A clip of Fr0gan saying that she “hoped” American soldiers got PTSD during a livestream was shared across X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit and commented on by YouTuber Ethan Klein and Steven Kenneth Bonnell II, aka Destiny.
On October 20, Fr0gan issued an apology on X, writing:
the us military has conducted some of the most horrific crimes against humanity in the modern era in countries such as iraq, afghanistan, syria, lebanon, and palestine my anger is directed at individuals who are currently championing these war crimes as if they “liberated” my people. it’s horrific and disgusting. the beginning of the clip was worded poorly and i do apologize for that. i go onto clarify in the clip that i do not mean “all” military, but specifically those with no remorse. what i said was out of frustration as they are currently bombing my family in the name of “liberation”. i realize that wishing people harm isn’t the best way to talk about these issues and that i could have talked about these topics in a more sensitive way.
However, it appears Fr0gan was not banned for what she said on her more recent stream but instead for the Rating Streamers panel from September 21. During the panel in question, the streamers utilized a popular internet meme called a tier list, in which the top of the tier is the “best” or, in this case, the person for whom using “habibi” is most acceptable and the bottom was the least acceptable. At the TwitchCon panel, the tiers were labeled “Arab Coded, Asks Permission, Thinks It’s a Slur, and Loves Sabra,” a reference to Sabra Hummus, a popular brand of hummus manufactured in the United States. The VOD for the entire second day of TwitchCon (which was when Rating Streamers aired) has been removed from the GivePlz Twitch channel, which hosts all of the TwitchCon videos. The video is still available on the Ayyrabs YouTube page.
Fr0gan, Capri, and Raffoul are all Arab (Fr0gan is Muslim, Raffoul is Jewish, and Capri is Christian) and host a podcast called Ayyrabs together. DenimsTV is an Arab woman and Vio is Middle Eastern. Two other streamers who briefly took part in the panel were not Arab or Middle Eastern. They were not banned at the time of publication.
On October 19, Klein posted a video to YouTube titled “Twitch Has a Major Problem” in which he said that panel was “kinda Arab good, Jew bad,” because Sabra is a “very popular Hummus brand” in Israel that is “the subject of [a] pro-Palestine boycott.” He also shared a clip from the panel in which Denims jokingly says that Klein deserved his own category for “Zionist.” Then, on a live-stream on YouTube today, October 20, Klein discussed Fr0gan, the “Tier List,” Twitch CEO Dan Clancy, and Hasan “Hasanabi” Piker, another noted political streamer who used to host a show with Klein before the two had a falling out. The livestream was titled “Dan Clancy Must Resign As Twitch CEO.”
The ban wave (which also appeared to include a permanent ban of popular streamer Sneako, who Klein mentioned in his October 19 YouTube video as an example of someone who should not have been allowed to return to Twitch) occurred while Klein was streaming. “30 day ban for saying people like bottom of the barrel hummus but other people get 2 WEEKS for advocating for the genocide of palestinians. got it,” Fr0gan posted on X after the bans were announced, referring to Twitch banning streamer Zack “Asmongold” Hoyt for 14 days after he said that Muslim people come from “an inferior culture” and that he’s “not going to cry a fucking river when people who have genocide that’s baked into their laws are getting genocided” on a recent stream.
Before the ban but during the heat of the online dialogue about the alleged antisemitism of the panel, Raffoul, who is Jewish, wrote on X, “These fucks are so anti semitic I’m the one who made the list on ‘who can say habibi’ and they try and spin this as ‘Frogan ranking people from Arab to Jew’ keep Jews out your fucking mouth.”
On October 21, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) shared on X that it had spoken with Twitch staff “after becoming aware of several concerning incidents on the social media platform and/or involving Twitch streamers in the past week.”
“We appreciate @Twitch making the right decision to finally suspend the streamer Frogan for abusing her platform and the @TwitchCon event to spread antisemitic vitriol during this time of intense apprehension for the Jewish community,” the official ADL account posted in a thread. “@Twitch must learn from this situation and improve how they address antisemitism and hate on their platform, which is an ongoing and significant challenge.”
It is unclear why Twitch chose to issue a ban for a panel that took place a month ago, the contents of which the company was aware of, Kotaku has confirmed. During TwitchCon 2024, the company emphasized that the platform was “no place for hateful conduct” after announcing new changes and advancements to its ban policies.
Kotaku reached out to the ADL and Twitch for comment and will update this story accordingly.
Update: 10/21/2024 at 11:20 p.m. ET: Updated story with more context regarding Sneako ban.
Halloween is on a Thursday this year, which means those parties you’ll be hitting will arrive almost a full week earlier than the spooktacular holiday. With the festivities beginning as early as Friday, October 25, your annual chance at costumed debauchery is frighteningly close, and you have even less time to procrastinate on getting your outfit together than usual.
Luckily, we nerds here at Kotaku love a good costume (including non-spooky cosplay costumes). If you need some last-minute inspiration, take a look at a few of the Halloween costumes we’ve covered this year.
Game developer Insomniac confirmed that the studio has no plans to develop story DLC for 2023’s action-adventure Spider-Man 2, likely disappointing many fans who had been hoping for more content.
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On October 18, Insomniac and Sony announced that Spider-Man 2 was coming to PC in January, just 15 months after it launched exclusively on PlayStation 5 to rave reviews. It’s one of the fastest turnarounds we’ve seen for a PlayStation-published exclusive title to make the leap to PC and seems to indicate that Sony is fully committed to bringing its hit games to Steam. But for fans hoping that today’s PC port news would come alongside the reveal of story DLC for Spider-Man 2, well, bad news: That’s not happening.
In a post on the official PlayStation Blog announcing Spider-Man 2‘s PC port and what fans can expect, Insomanic’s senior community manager Aaron Jason Espinoza confirmed that the studio isn’t working on or planning any further story DLC for Spider-Man 2 on PC or PS5.
“While we have no additional story content planned for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, we’re delighted to bring all of our previously released post-launch content to the PC version, including New Game+, new suits and color variants, Photo Mode features, and more,” said Espinoza.
Fans had hoped for Spider-Man 2 DLC after the first Insomniac Spider-Man game received three paid DLC episodes that made up an expansion known as The City That Never Sleeps. However, Miles Morales, a standalone Spider-Man spin-off game launched in 2020, never got DLC. Still, fans were hopeful, even wondering if they’d get more Venom content. Today’s news confirms that Insomniac is moving on from Spider-Man 2. The studio is working on a previously confirmed Wolverine game as well as an unannounced X-Men game, which we learned about via malicious hack in late 2023. A Spider-Man 3 is also reportedly happening, too.
Disney has announced a new way to skip the lines at its parks. But depending on where you go and when, you might have to spend over $400 a day per person to take advantage of the new Lightning Lane Premier Pass.
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On Wednesday, Disney announced its plans to roll out a new tier of Lightning Lane, a pre-existing program that lets visitors pay extra to skip the lines for certain rides in Disney World and Disneyland. Previously, Lightning Lane Multi Passes, which let you skip the line on multiple rides, cost $32 a day per person, though the price could increase for various reasons. These passes forced guests to select a time to arrive for their “line skip,” which could cause problems if you were late. This newly announced tier of line skipping, Premier Pass, does away with that restriction, but at a steep cost.
As spotted by GameSpot, the new “Premier” pass—which will be available later this month—will cost up to $450 a day per person at Disney World. The price varies depending on the park and when you go, with Disney saying that the highest prices will be found on a “limited number of days over peak travel periods.”
Here are the prices for each park, but keep in mind that you still need to buy a ticket to the park, and at Disney World, only folks staying in Disney World hotels on property will be eligible to buy these new, limited passes.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom: $129 to $199
EPCOT: $169 to $249
Disney’s Hollywood Studios: $269 to $349
Magic Kingdom: $329 to $449
Meanwhile, at Disneyland, the Premier pass will cost $400 per person until December 31. In 2025, the pass will drop to $300 to $400 a day per person, based on what dates you visit.
In 2023, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that the massive company had been “too aggressive” about increasing prices at the parks and wanted to make them more “accessible.” This, uh, doesn’t seem like a good way to do that. And sure, you can argue that people don’t need to buy these passes, that they can just wait in line, but ride queues can get quite long and waiting sucks. Besides, the big appeal of Disney World and Disneyland is the rides! And making it more expensive to actually enjoy them seems like the opposite of making your parks more accessible to more people.
Every dragon can grant help completing an Episode Battle. Choosing that wish will give you an exclusive item called a Dragon Orb. These can be used only when hovering over an Episode Battle with branching paths, as they make the secondary objectives easier to meet. Even though a lot of these objectives just require you to win within a certain time, using a Dragon Orb for a bit more leeway can be a big help. The only caveat is that you won’t earn victory rewards from it, but that’s not too bad of a trade-off to see some really fun what-if stories.
This option won’t pop up until you’ve come across an Episode Battle with potential branching paths. Although that occurs early on in Goku’s story, those who immediately spent a lot of time in multiplayer modes or received a free Shenron summon—depending upon which edition they purchased—would likely not have seen this. Make sure to keep an eye out for this option if you didn’t see it during your first summon(s)!
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero doesn’t spend much time explaining the nuances of summoning the dragons, and leaves it all for us to discover. As fun as that idea is, nobody likes to feel like they made the wrong choice, especially with how rare it can be to see Porunga and Super Shenron.
The best choice for you depends entirely on preference and how far along you are, but you should be better equipped to select a more favorable option. Go out and make your wishes in confidence!
With the release of Vessel of Hatred, Diablo IV has seen its most significant changes since its original launch in June 2023. Adding a completely new region, Nahantu, along with a wealth of added characters and modes and a brand-new story, the expansion pack is the very definition of a game changer. But it goes even further than that, bringing in entirely new ways to upgrade items, a revamp of the World Tiers, new animal-morphing classes, and a new level cap. However, we meet change without fear, offering a litany of guides to get you up to speed.
For instance, Diablo IV now has NPC Mercenaries you can hire to come with you on your brawling, but you’re only going to find them by following a specific series of quests. Then there are those Spiritborn classes that let you pick between being able to possess the powers of a Jaguar, Eagle, Gorilla, or Centipede…Wait, centipede? No, we’ve checked, that’s definitely correct—and apparently one of the best choices for end-game content.
And this all follows on from piles of massive changes earlier this year, which saw the introduction of loot-fest The Pit, a new way to improve loot called Tempering, the addition of Mythic Uniques, and Infernal Hordes to battle. It’s mayhem!
But worry not, as here we’ve collected every guide we’ve published for Diablo IV’s big changes, which will see you flying toward the new level cap in no time at all.
Play it on: PC, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox Current goal: Make my stronghold a little nicer
If I’m honest, most of my gaming time this weekend will probably go, once again, toward the incredible UFO 50. (I now have my first two cherry carts!) However, it’s probably time I start mentioning other games on occasion here in the Weekend Guide, so instead I’ll talk about something else I’ve been playing lately, Pillars of Eternity, the 2015 fantasy CRPG from Obsidian Entertainment which follows in the footsteps of genre-defining classics like Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale. It’s absolutely epic in scope, immediately thrusting you into a world with its own rich, captivating history and lore—a world we’ll soon get to revisit in Avowed—but it’s also intimate and personal, with exceptionally well-written characters navigating life in a world filled with conflict and strife.
Early on, your character is awakened to their skills as a Watcher, someone who can see and interact with the souls of others. This not only allows for some great fantasy RPG plot hooks, but also brings the history of the game’s world to life in a way it otherwise wouldn’t be. You might, for instance, encounter someone who, in a past life, was part of the marauding hordes driving others out of their homes, and see how their soul was marred by the trauma of participating in something so monstrous, or you might be pulled into the experience of someone who was persecuted by those hordes. William Faulkner famously wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” It’s true of our world, I think, and in Pillars of Eternity’s Eora, you really feel the way that the past lingers, shaping and haunting the present.
Of course, all the great pleasures of CRPGs are here—gorgeous lands to explore, engaging tactical combat, epic quests—and all of that is crucial to what makes Pillars of Eternity so exceptional. But for now, I’m particularly smitten by the writing, so smart and so rich, and characterized by a tremendous respect for the player, trusting us to come to grips with the world and its history upon being thrown in head-first, and trusting us to appreciate its profound thematic depth without needing to spell things out for us or lampshade what it’s doing. It’s so great to encounter genuinely mature writing in a game, especially when it’s married to gameplay as rich and captivating as what’s on offer here. — Carolyn Petit
Kenneth Shepard, Carolyn Petit, Zack Zwiezen, Ethan Gach, and John Walker
Hurricane Milton, one of the biggest storms in recorded history, is set to make landfall in Florida on October 9. It will likely cause tens of billions of dollars of damage and could kill or injure many people who are unable to evacuate Tampa Bay and the surrounding region in time.
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And yet, some influencers, TikTok content creators, and streamers are claiming that they will stick around and livestream through the historic storm. It’s a horrible idea and yet another example of how some creators are willing to do anything just to get more views, clicks, and subscribers.
On Tuesday, Forbes reported on numerous influencers who suggested in videos posted online that they would be sticking around even as Hurricane Milton makes its way closer and closer to Florida.
Influencer and writer Caroline Calloway posted on Twitter that even though her house is located in the evacuation zone and is on the beach, she won’t be leaving. Instead, she tweeted about how she’s not leaving and included an ad for her upcoming advice book. “I have champagne and four generations of Floridians in my veins. It’ll be fine,” tweeted Calloway.
Another TikTok creator, kricketfelt, has been posting videos about how her home is made out of concrete and she and her husband are going to stay and not evacuate. She’s continued to upload videos, making light of the situation, as the storm gets closer.
Meanwhile, a clip of controversial Kick Streamer Adin Ross supposedly offering people $30,000 to stick around and livestream through the hurricane went viral after being shared on Twitter and TikTok. However, during the full seven-hour livestream, it’s clear Ross isn’t offering this money to anyone and in fact, was just joking around with a friend. During that same stream, he also told viewers to evacuate Tampa Bay and suggested the hurricane was being used to “distract” people from the upcoming election. So a mixed bag.
Kotaku has reached out to Adin Ross for comment about his stream and statements.
Even though the offer wasn’t real, that didn’t stop some streamers from claiming that they were streaming live from Florida in the path of the hurricane. One Kick streamer, MikeSmallsJr, claimed to be streaming from Florida with nothing but an air mattress and some snacks. During one moment of his stream, he admitted that Ross’ offer wasn’t real and was taken out of context, but suggested the streamer still should pay him something for what he was doing.
“At the end of the day, I was the first Kick streamer to do this shit during Hurricane Helene. I’m out here busting my ass to entertain the people,” said MikeSmallsJr. Later he reportedly heard he wasn’t getting anything and wasn’t happy.
Another streamer, JamesWorley, claimed to be streaming during the storm and, when asked what he would do when or if he lost cell service, said: “I guess the stream will end.” A few moments later, his stream cut off. It returned a minute later.
Kotaku wasn’t able to verify their locations, but some did at least seem to be in Florida and were streaming during large amounts of rain. The storm isn’t set to make landfall until 8 p.m. EST, though thunderstorms and tornadoes are already covering much of the Sunshine State.
The reality is that even though Adin Ross didn’t actually offer large sums of money to encourage people to stream through the storm, the comments sadly might have inspired some people to stick around even as a deadly, incredibly powerful hurricane is about to hit where they live.
For some content creators, a massive hurricane is just an opportunity to risk their lives, troll their viewers, or create “edgy” content while possibly earning more views and subscribers. All of this in an effort to conquer the algorithm and rise above the thousands and thousands of other creators out there, all trying to desperately make money on social media and streaming platforms that, more and more, feel like sinking ships and not the future of entertainment.
The PlayStation 4 and Xbox are nearly 11 years old, but they are still surprisingly popular and used daily by a lot of people. That probably explains why Goat Simulator 3, released back in 2022 as a current-gen-only game, is now getting ported to the older consoles later this month. And this isn’t the first time that’s happened this year.
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Released on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in November 2022, Goat Simulator 3is the sequel to the original Goat Simulator. (No, there isn’t a Goat Simulator 2.) The sequel expanded on the original 2014 game’s open-world antics and was well-received by fans of the first game. But perhaps you have yet to buy a PS5 or Xbox Series X/S and still want to play this wacky goat-filled sequel? Well, good news: Goat Simulator 3 will be available on PS4 and Xbox One on October 24.
On October 8, Coffee Stain announced that Goat Simulator 3 was making the leap backward to PS4 and Xbox One. (In August of this year Goat Sim 3 was ported to Switch.) This upcoming version of the game will include all the free content updates that Goat Sim 3 has received since 2022. Goat Sim 3‘s Multiverse of Nonsense DLC will also be available to buy separately on last gen.
If you already own the game on PS5 or Xbox Series X/S, you’ll be able to play it on the old consoles without having to buy it again thanks to cross-buy support. And the Xbox ports will support cross-saves across generations, too. It’s a nice gesture, though I’m not sure how many people who own Goat Sim 3 on PS5 will be loading it up on PS4 anytime soon.
This situation reminds me of what we saw with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. That game launched on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC and skipped last-gen machines. But then in August 2023, EA confirmed it was porting the blockbuster game from Respawn to PS4 and Xbox One. Those ports arrived in September of this year and look pretty good. But it does feel like the last generation of consoles are lingering around more than usual.
Happy Sunday, gang! The weekend’s half-gone (or half-full, depending on how much you’re dreading Monday). We’ve got our Sunday mental workout ready for you, and then you can head off and get your gaming grind on. (We’ve got the new Assassin’s Creed teed up this weekend.)
Yes, your daily sweet 16 words are back and ready for your best grouping efforts. The popular Connections brainbuster from The New York Times has four groups of words with a shared theme or commonality, but they’re shuffled into random order for you to figure out. Remember to take your time—many words have multiple meanings, so think twice before you click.
